Wednesday, June 18, 2014

What We've Been Up To - Part 1

After a LONG absence from the blogging world, I figured it was about time to update.  Between school, work, being pregnant, and spending the little free time we've had as a family, the blog took a major backseat.  But hopefully now that I'm done with school (more on that later), I'll be able to write a little more often!

The last time I did an update was October, so I'm going to do a quick recap since then, with lots of pictures.  This is really more for us than for anyone else, so feel free to just browse the pictures if you want :)

NOVEMBER
In November, we earned a Southwest companion pass from building up points, and decided to take advantage of free flights to go visit our good friends the Mackays in CA!  They also happened to know someone that works for Disneyland that offered to get us in for free!  Jackson was a bit overwhelmed at first and it took him a while to enjoy the rides.  He also really liked seeing the characters from a distance, but they kind of freaked him out when we got close.  Overall though, it was a really fun day and Jackson was a trooper.  He stayed up all the way until 8pm taking everything in, and then finally crashed in the stroller.  The rest of our trip was very relaxing, and we enjoyed being able to catch up with Richard, Kate, and the girls.

Jackson chilling in Mickey's house
This was Jackson's initial reaction whenever we got too close to the characters



Addi found a comfy chair in Minnie's house


Jackson was also not a fan of the carousel


Shawn and Richard were pretty excited to see the Iron Man exhibit

Jackson was blowing kisses to Chip 
Jackson passed out in the stroller.  The girls were nice enough to let him borrow a blanket.
Jackson and Richard reading a book
November also means Thanksgiving!  Unfortunately, all of our friends and family nearby that we would typically get together with had plans with other family.  So we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on the Saturday before with the Stuarts and the Johnsons.  We had an awesome feast!  And it worked out great, since Jackson ended up being sick over the real Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures.

DECEMBER
I love December because that means it is Christmas time!  I love putting up Christmas decorations, and Jackson really loved looking at all of the lights this year.  Often on our way home from running errands in the evening we had to take detours so Jackson could look at the lights around our neighborhood.  We also went and saw the lights at Salem Pond once and we drove through the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork twice!  They were never enough, Jackson always asked for more :)  
At Salem Pond
Our ward had a Christmas party at the beginning of December.  Santa came to visit at the party, so we took Jackson to get his picture taken.  Unfortunately, Santa was kind of like the characters at Disneyland ... great from a distance but scary up close.  
This is the,"Mom, what are you doing to me??" look

This year was our turn to spend Christmas with Shawn's family.  We decided to invite Shawn's parents to come down to UT to spend Christmas with us and the Kaouks.  We had a great time with them while they were here!  Jackson got a lot of practice opening presents on Christmas morning, and was quite the pro by the end.  
Shawn picked that sign out especially for his parents :)


On December 28, Shawn turned 30!  I surprised him with a night away at a bed and breakfast up in Salt Lake City, and Shawn's parents were nice enough to watch Jackson for us.  We had dinner at Happy Sumo and went to see Catching Fire that night.  Then we had a delicious breakfast in the morning and decided to take advantage of our time away and catch another movie, the second Hobbit movie.  It was a really nice, relaxing way to spend Shawn's birthday.  We headed back to Payson after the movie, and Jackson had barely noticed that we were gone!  He sure loves his Grandma and Grandpa!  We had cake with family and friends that evening.    

Stay tuned for the rest of our update!