Its been a LONG time since my family has had family photos. Luckily Brady was willing to take some shots for us. Here are some highlights from our photo shoot
^^^Sisters: Kate, Marie, Jenny and Jodie^^^
^^^In my 9th grade art class I chose a picture of my sisters and I flexing to paint. It's currently hanging in my parent's kitchen. For some reason my parents love it and wanted us to reenact it :) ^^^
^^^The women: Abi, Marie, Kate, Jenny, Jodie, Mary Ann and Kendra. Kendra and I dwarf everyone. ^^^
^^^The famous grandkids with grandparents shot. Always harder to take than we think it's going to be. Mary's smile is sure cute, though.^^^
^^^Brothers: Seth, Andrew and Barry.^^^
^^^The Men: Brady, Seth, Andrew, Don, Barry, Doug and Kash. Apparently I picked the worst one but I'm too lazy to upload a better one. Sorry men.^^^
Click here for the first Thanksgiving this and that post.
There are a lot of years between my siblings and I. Barry (the second youngest) and I are seven years apart so for awhile it felt like I was an only child. We used to get together pretty often during the holidays and then for some reason we just stopped. I remember during high school just wishing we'd all stay together in a big house for a couple of days playing games, eating food, opening presents and...well...just being together. This year, after nagging my parents constantly, my dream finally came true. We all crammed together in a big house in Utah, ate lots of food and just sat around soaking each other in. I was beyond excited! And guess what! We get to do the same thing in 2014 and every other year after that. Here are some of the highlights from our every-other-year Thanksgiving/Christmas get together :)
^^^My nephews Jack and Parker or should I say Peter Parker 1 and Peter Parker 2?^^^
^^^Making gingerbread houses with the kids.^^^
^^^Mary and Auntie Kendra.^^^
^^^Get a load of that sweet face!^^^
^^^Everyone gathered together for gift giving and decorating the christmas tree. Can I just say my sister Marie is gorgeous? Glad we got a close up :) ^^^
^^^Aubrey and Ashely opening gifts from grandma and grandpa.^^^
^^^Sweet Lizzy.^^^
^^^Hooray for gift giving!^^^
^^^Mom and dad got me all of the Jane Austen movies...NBD :) ^^^
^^^Mary and "baby Sessa." The whole trip she was asking, "Can I hold him? Can I hold him" Pretty dang cute!^^^
More "This and that" posts to come. It was a really great Thanksgiving/Christmas. Wouldn't you agree Spider Man?
On the 20th Brady, Tessa and I had my parents house to ourselves. Remember in this post how I talked about how much I loved watching Melissa and Brady together? Well I think I found something I love watching even more. I got to spend the whole afternoon snapping shots of Tessa and Brady napping and playing with daddy's guitar. My life is so blessed.
^^^Daddy had a little photo shoot with Tessa (more of those pictures to come)^^^
^^^Mommy trying to get pictures like daddy got in this post^^^
And now for my all time favorite pics:
Tessa loves to dance and sing along when dad plays his guitar.
Yesterday we went to temple square with my family for a carriage ride and hot chocolate. My gosh it was fun! Seattle only had a handful of houses with christmas lights and we left all our christmas decorations here in Utah so it hasn't really felt like Christmas until now. It was so nice to be able to go to temple square and just be surrounded by the lights and festivities. My mom and my sister bought extra hot chocolate to give to some of the freezing performers and homeless people outside. It made me realize that the feeling of christmas doesn't necessarily come from the lights and laughter and festivities around us. It comes from remembering Christ, and at the very least remembering what he taught. Thank you mom and Jodie for making it feel more like Christ-mas instead of just christmas. May we all take time this season to reach for the hands that hang low and lift up the hearts that seem heavy. Just like the Savior did.
Here are just a few of the pictures we took:
^^^Mary and her black eye. Mary-zero Swinging gate-one^^^
^^^Macy's had an awesome window display! Those ornaments are made completely of candy. It literally gave me cavities there was so much candy.^^^
^^^It looks like I'm just carrying an empty snow suit but I promise Tessa was somewhere in there. It was a little too big, I guess :)^^^
^^^He may seem like just a regular boy but under that blue coat is his spiderman outfit. Yes, Peter Parker took a break from saving the city to ride in a carriage around temple square.^^^
^^^Brady and I call this boy "Big Ben." Seriously, by the time this kiddo is one he'll be the same size as Jack.^^^
^^^Jack's lyrics to "Jingle Bells":
jingle bells,
smatman smells,
rothers raised an egg.
batmobile lost a wheel and the joker got away.
(delayed) hey!^^^
^^^See, I told you there was a baby in there!^^^
I'm so grateful for my little family and for this holiday season.
Psst... hey all. Kate's husband Brady here. I caught these two sleeping beauties trying to catch up on sleep after a long day of traveling yesterday. I thought you all might want a peek. Pretty precious. Keep it down with your little "oh!"'s and "cute!"'s because if you wake them up YOU'RE putting them back to bed.
Headed to Utah for 10 days to celebrate the holidays with the fam. We're beyond excited! My mother-in-law has a calendar all filled out with awesome activities! It's going to be an amazing, busy, wonderful christmas this year. Especially because I get to spend it with these two!
We went to Discovery Park yesterday for our Friday date. Tessa decided that she wanted her own date with mom, so her and Kate didn't stay out long before going back to the car to eat. Dad stayed and took a few pictures. Enjoy!
Nobody rocks a penguin on the bum like my girl Tessa.
Oh and P.S.- Dad aka Brady used to love to tease mom aka Kate about how Tessa always peed on the bed while she changed her but never when he changed her. Well today Tessa decided to show him who's boss. She got him good and he'll never tease mom about it again. That girls got my back :)
Sorry everybody. Tessa seems determined to make sure to cry every time I sit down to blog. This is attempt number 5 today :)
My parents have a baby video of me that I used to love to watch when I was living at home. There are a couple of things in there that I really didn't understand; even laughed at because I thought it was silly.
My mom and dad decided to videotape the night they put me in my crib for the very first time. My mom, through tears, kept asking, "Do you think she'll be alright?" And my dad, crying as well behind the camera, kept reassuring her. I'd watch that and always think to myself, "Gosh you guys, you're only putting me in the other room. What's the big deal?" A week or so ago we put Tessa in her crib for the very first time. Now I completely understand. Even though she was just in the room next to us, she felt so far away... too far. I have to admit her first night she didn't stay in the crib very long. I gave the excuse that I didn't want to have to get out of bed to feed her but really I just needed her closer. Brady still likes to check on her a couple times during the night, so I guess it's not just me.
Another little video is of me sitting on the floor playing with toys. My dad had taken the day off and they both just sat on the floor watching me play for hours. I couldn't believe that they were able to do that so long. A few days ago Brady and I sat on the floor and just played with Tessa. I felt like I could just sit there and watch her for hours. Now I understand what they meant when they told me having me was like having a first baby all over again. You just can't get enough.
Finally, while I was living at home my mom would always come in to my room at night to watch me sleep. I'd always tell her it was weird and that she didn't need to check on me any more because I was all grown up. She'd always reply by saying something like, "I can't help it... I'm your mom." Yesterday and today I caught myself watching Tessa while she napped. I went in there quite a few times. I can't really explain why I kept going in there. I guess I just couldn't help it... I'm her mom.
In celebration of my parents I've added our video of putting Tessa in her crib for the first time. She smiles so look REALLY closely and you'll catch it:
In a matter of about 15 mins Tessa managed to spit up, have a blow out, and pee all over our bedsheets. My poor sheets didn't know what hit 'em. Just look at that innocent face
