Baby's First Christmas...

So we had our first christmas with Tara, and it was wonderful. She's still too young to know about Santa, or how to open gifts, or to even eat a piece of Grandma's fudge. But she did know how to make us all smile~she really took to certain presents, like a doll she fell in love with. She also couldn't stop playing with these soft blocks that grandma Becky gave her! The girls were definitely spoiled this year...Tara's cousin Rylee, and Tara made out well :) Tara got lot's of books, toys (including bath toys), another blanket from Grandma Becky, a snow jacket with a matching one for cousin Rylee, a snuggle bear, a blanket from Uncle Jake, and the list goes on. Sean's parents got us a new laptop, so Sean can continue his writing; his old laptop's been busted for almost a year now; and we never had the money to get it fixed. They also got us clothes, movies, games, perfume/cologne, earrings for me, shave kit for Sean, I got a new scarf which just happens to match a jacket we have for Tara :) Sean's brother Jake got us a jump drive for the computer, which is pretty cool. The sad thing with the new laptop is we still don't have enough money to have monthly internet. Maybe when Sean hits the big time with his writing, right? So it was a pretty neat christmas, and it was so nice to be able to spend it with family here in Idaho. Although, I must admit; I missed my mom like crazy, but I knew we'd be returning soon. All in all, though, we had a wonderful time here; and some pretty special experiences. And I had a white christmas!!! We hardly get that in Eugene, that's another reason I love christmas here in Burley :)

This last week, Becky wanted to have the girls open an early christmas present. It was matching jackets that are hot pink, with a white faux fur lining. She put them in the jackets along with white longsleeve shirts, and jeans for christmas portraits together. They were adorable, let me tell you...SO cute together :)

Then on saturday afternoon, Sean and I escaped for about an hour to go have a short date with each other. We shared a hot chocolate, and Sean took me to a local book store. It's called the book plaza, and it's inside a building that looks like a mini castle; it was pretty cool. Once inside, Sean and I found a ton of LDS books that we just fell in love with. We left wishing we had a ton of money, just so we could add a bunch of good literature to our collection. Someday...

Well, we're flying back to Oregon tomorrow; and I've still got a couple things to do before I go to bed. I hope everyone had an amazing christmas, and that you were able to spend some special time with family. I hope everyone had good treats to eat, sang a bunch of christmas songs, and felt the spirit of the holiday season. We missed everyone in Eugene, and can't wait to see you guys!



She was incredibly amused at how we kept taking pictures of her :)



And she's out again :)



Ooh...pretty paper!

Whadup broseph?


She didn't stop playing with those blocks throughout the rest of the opening of the presents...

She loved the soft block set from Grandma Becky :)

Dad was a little sleepy too


She was barely hanging on...and by the time this picture was taken-so was I! Can ya blame me? I had a five and a half month old who kept waking up during the night :)


So very tired...






Seriously. There are no words available from the english language that come even close to describing how ADORABLE this picture is!!! I love how tiny she looks :)

Aww!!!

Yup-that's our baby underneath that big 'ol hat! It swallows her up :)

Tara with her Uncle Jake :)

Baby was a bit tired, since we got her up earlier than normal (since it was christmas morning). She never really recovered that day...

New jacket from Grandma Becky and Grandpa Bill

Trying to fit inside the stocking...


Sweet baby girl...





Our early christmas present...We unwrapped her in July :)

I love the look on Tara's face~"I wanna drink out of a big girl cup too!"


Tara, with Grandma Becky


Tara's cousin Rylee was a wee bit jealous that this new baby was sitting in her high chair-she's never had to share it before!

Not much to say, just a lot of pics...

So I've come across some more pics of the baby to put up, I just can't believe how much she's learning...She's doing all these new things, and every day it seems like she's get older and older. I mean, technically she is; but you know what I mean :)

So back when Tara was about 3 months old, I was out shopping for her; and came across a really cute little santa dress for a 6 month old. With how tall she is, Sean and I wanted to take some photos of her in it before she outgrew it. So towards the end of November, we put her in the dress; and went to town with her. She was so adorable in it, and was such a ham for the camera :)

I'll be home for christmas...

So, we're back in Burley for christmas. Wow, I just realized that the last time I blogged was when we came to visit at the end of October! Two whole months guys, I'm sorry! Well, I'll just stick to the highlights: On November 19th, Sean had his 28th birthday :) I made him a birthday cake; pretty amateur, but he liked it. That's what the photo of the cake is all about...

Tara is learning so many new things; her latest is doing crunches in her bouncer. She's developing her abdominal muscles, and man; is that girl strong! She's still as vocal as ever, and getting more adorable every day. Her hair is starting to come in a little bit more. She's got this blond fuzz all over her head, and it's so precious :) Also, this last Saturday night just a few hours after we flew into Boise; we crashed at my sister-in-law's place, and we had Tara have some tummy time on the floor. Normally she prefers her back, and as soon as you put her on her tummy, in two seconds flat she's on her back again. But this time she not only stayed on her stomach, but she started to wiggle and scooch and attempt to crawl!! It was a proud moment for mom and dad, and I was so proud of her. It was actually a night of firsts for her...A few hours before that when we had been at the Boise Airport, gathering our luggage off the carousel, and loading up to head out; she amazed us with a new move. I had just snatched her car seat as it had come around the carousel, and I went to put her IN her car seat; and she was inches from it when she yelled out with complete intent, and did the splits mid-air! Her little legs were on both sides of her, and she would have been straddling the car seat had I completely set her down! So I scooped her back up and started laughing hysterically :) I got a glimpse of toddler hood-to-come...can we say "Miss Independent"?

Tara sat on Santa's lap for the first time-mommy and grandma Laurie took her to see him last Friday, and she had her photo taken with santa. I'll post it soon...She's good with strangers, and there was no crying; however, I didn't get the ear to ear grin that I was hoping for. She was so distracted by all the Christmas lights, and the people watching, and Santa's helpers, that she had this expression the whole time of "oh my goodness, so much to take in at once!" I just wish dad was there...but he had to work. I'm crossing my fingers that next year she'll take to him well. My cousin's husband was telling us though that with their two boys, the first year they're pretty little and just sleep. The second year they cry because it's not mommy or daddy holding them, and at around the third year you might start having luck with them taking to it better. We'll just have to wait and see with this little girl...

Speaking of my cousin-my cousin Heidi just moved to town a couple of months ago, along with her husband Jared and their two boys, Logan and Jack. Sean and I have been able to spend some time getting to know them, and it's been so nice. I've rarely had a chance to get to really know Heidi, because she grew up on the east coast; I was only born there. We've been over for dinner, we took Tara trick or treating on Halloween with them and their boys, and we've babysat for them a couple of times. Their boys are SO cute, and just plain entertaining. This last Friday evening, the night before we flew here to Idaho; we babysat the boys again. Logan's almost four, and Jack is not even two yet. Logan is a very smart boy, and he's at the point where he's very worried sometimes that he might not make it onto Santa's nice list. Sean and I had quite an entertaining evening with him, seeing as how every time he didn't listen, he would ask us "does this mean I'm on the naughty list?" or "Am I gonna get coal for that?" At dinnertime Logan kept sliding off his chair and getting distracted. We tried to keep him on track and at one point I told him that if got down one more time, he wasn't going to have the dessert that his mom had set aside for the boys if they had all their dinner. He said "Okay. I understand." He got down to the two last bites of his pizza, and about three sips of milk. He went to slide off his chair again, and scamper of to do something; and before I could say a word he slid right back onto his seat and said loudly "Oh yeah!" He finished his dinner without any more distractions :) About 45 minutes later it was time to get ready for bed. After about 20 minutes or so of asking him repeatedly to please get his pajamas on, and using every trick in the book to reason with this strong willed little boy, I discovered who I was up against. He had taken to hiding under his bed, and insisting that he wasn't coming out. His little brother had already had his jammie's on, and was brushing his teeth a second time while waiting on his big brother to come around :) I had just come back into the bedroom to reason with him (although I had felt it was a losing battle..) I said "Logan, Jack already has his p.j.'s on, and has already brushed his teeth. Because he's been a good boy and listened the first time, he's going to have a bedtime story. If you want a bedtime story as well, you'd better come out now and get your jammies on. At that point, Sean had just approached the bedroom door. We both heard Logan say from underneath the bed "well that's just not going to HAppen...." in a sort of mocking singsong voice. I simply said "okay" and shut the bedroom door behind me. It took everything we had to walk down the hall, and into the living room before Sean and I busted up laughing. After Heidi and Jared got home, and Sean was buckling the baby in her car seat; I was talking to Heidi. She and Jared could barely contain themselves when this earlier encounter was shared with them upon arriving back home. Heidi was telling me right before we left, that Logan is just one dramatic little boy. She said that earlier that afternoon, Logan had asked for a cookie. She said no, and he held his hands up to his cheeks and said "this isn't HAPPENING to me!!" Man, can you tell now why it's so entertaining when we go over? he he

Anyway, I'm exhausted. I'm waiting on the laundry to finish, but I think I'm just going to head to bed. I'm going to include real quickly just some cute photos I've taken over these last two months. If you guys don't know this about me yet-I'm a photo freak! I love taking pictures, and you're going to learn that soon enough. I'll always have cute pictures to put up, and most of them are going to be the baby :) Anyway, I'll write soon-goodnight guys!