Christmas Parties

For us, Christmas started on the Saturday before. Grandma Angie came down with Great Grandma Addie, Don, Megan and Damian. We all had a party at Amber's house to eat yummy food and open presents. Aiden was mainly interested in the wrapping paper until a toy cellphone (Handy Manny) was unwrapped and then he held onto that for the rest of the night. We got a corn hole game and ladders and washer toss so we can party in the new year!

Monday night we had Christmas with Grandpa Doug and all the siblings and grandkids. From the grandparents we each got some money and mine got me a nice new camera! Finally I can take pictures again!!!! :)

Christmas Eve we invited Grandpa Doug and family over to our house for dinner. We had some pork tenderloin, salad and potatoes and I ate way too much! (Did I already mention that at each of the Christmas' I ate way too much??) I think I gained 10 lbs this holiday season and that is not exaggerating. After dinner we played some Wii and even chose Santa as one of the people.

Christmas morning we opened presents at our house and Aiden loved tearing the paper. Nikita got a new chew bone and some tuna fish in her stocking, which kept her entertained (the bone) all day.

Christmas afternoon we got to talk to Ryan's step-brother, Cory, who is on a mission in Mexico. He sounds so happy to be serving the Lord and it was a great feeling to talk to him on Christmas day. We ate some more, even though Ryan and I ate us out of our house for breakfast, and then we played some games. Overall, Christmas was a blast seeing all of Ryan's family and it was so neat having so many little kids now to really enjoy the Christmas season.

Huge Betrayal

What was I thinking?

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Fatso's Eating Challenge

They went, they ate, they won (mostly).

Ryan, Chris and Jonny decided to try the Fatso's Burger contest. 2lbs worth of meat, plus the huge bun the size of a loaf of bread and a side of broccoli. Yikes. Well I am happy to say that 2 of the 3 did it. They didn't have to pay for it if they finished it, saving $25 each, and they got a t-shirt and their names on a plaque. I don't think any of them are planning on doing another contest for a while! :)

Ryan after he finished his.

Chris working on his last couple of bites.

All of them looking so happy having no idea what they are about to get themselves into. Well maybe an inkling... I mean look at the size of those burgers!!

Gorgeous Oregon - Can we move here?

My two week vacation included a trip to Oregon to visit my sisters. This meant that we had to make a 13 hour drive in a car with a 1 year old. Can you picture the bliss? Yip, imagine the worst and you probably covered it. The drive to Oregon wasn't actually too bad even though there were 2 one year olds. My sister, Lani, drove down to Utah from Idaho (where she lives) and picked me up. The first day we drove to Idaho, spent the night and then drove to Oregon the next day. I loved that I FINALLY got to see my sisters new house and the area that she lives in. I didn't know Idaho could be so beautiful! The drive back though was a straight shot from Oregon to Utah and Aiden cried for about 6 hours of it and nothing would make him happy. My mom, Kurt and I all were going insane and we were sooooooo relieved when we finally made it to the house.

Before Lani and I headed to Idaho, we stopped and had lunch with our step-sister Kirsten at Cafe Rio. Yum! Once in Idaho, we went for a walk with Lani's two very funny and semi-crazy dogs. (And yes, that is Aiden wearing a pink coat and wrapped in a pink flowery blanket.)

The first day we made it to Oregon we went on a hike to a waterfall. When we left Cami's house it was pretty warm outside and I thought I would most likely have to take my hoodie off once we got there because it would be too hot. UNFORTUNATELY when we arrived after the 45 minute drive it felt like we had arrived in the Arctic. It was FREEZING!!! I put my hood up and I had an extra pair of my socks with me which I put over my hands as gloves (I was still freezing and wishing for my winter coat). I layered Aiden in 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 1 jacket with a hood and a beanie. I then also used a pair of his cousin Ashlyn's socks for his gloves. Then to top it off I wrapped him in a blanket in the carrier. The hike was for sure worth it though because it was so beautiful and it warmed up some once we got on the trail.

That Saturday was my nephew, Calder's, baptism. He was so excited to get baptized and his brothers sang for him at the baptism and did a great job.

Aiden and Ashlyn played together ALL WEEK LONG. If I could suddenly have another baby around Aiden's age, I know he would be in heaven. He loves to play with other kids and he smothers them with hugs (we may have to work on that when he's older). Overall, the trip was fantastic and I was so happy I was able to spend so much time with family.

Utah - Friends and Family

Aiden and I left daddy behind and went to spend time with my family and friends over Thanksgiving. I was really worried about traveling with a 1 yr old by myself with a layover in Denver but Aiden ended up doing pretty well. Our first flight had issues (the nationwide system went down so we were stuck on the plane on the runway while they had to manually write up our flight plan) so we missed our connecting flight in Denver. Luckily the flight attendants were wonderful to Aiden so it made the flights really nice. The first day in Utah we just rested at my mom's house recouping from traveling. The second day (Friday) we headed down to spend the day with Grandpa and Grandma Harrington.

At Grandpa's house we petted the horses, which Aiden was not so sure he wanted to do, and played with the dogs. We also went on a four-wheeler ride in the cold and saw the beautiful mountains up close. I REALLY miss the mountains. There was snow on the ground farther up the mountain so I am a mean mama and wanted to see what Aiden thought of the snow and I put him down in it. He was fine until he put his hand in the snow and then he got really angry that I sat him down in this cold stuff! Sad that he doesn't have snow experience, but I'm glad he can play in the snow every couple of years when we go to grandpa's house.

Saturday my cousin Julia and her husband came to visit and brought their parents new puppy to show us as well. The puppy is so so cute and Aiden absolutely LOVED him. We actually had to rescue the puppy away from Aiden a couple of times because he got a little carried away trying to hug the dog.

Sunday we had a get together with my aunts and uncles and some cousins and also gave Aiden another birthday cake. He was NOT interested in the cake but Grandpa Lindorff had fun smearing the cake on Aiden's face.

The Monday after Thanksgiving I traveled down the Ephraim with my cousin Rebecca to visit our grandmother. I had so much fun spending all that time with Rebecca and grandma telling old stories and remembering grandpa. My cousin Jared's little kids loved Aiden and played with him most of the time. Grandma fixed us a yummy lunch and we enjoyed her homemade peach jam - yum yum. Aiden got to sit in the ANCIENT high chair with no straps to hold him in so we had to wrap a blanket around him and the chair to secure him enough so he wouldn't fall out. Thanks grandma - we love you!

Aiden got some presents for his birthday from grandparents while we were there and he definitely enjoyed tearing the paper off and playing with them. Grandma Lindorff's gift of books was really enjoyed once opened because he thought the books were perfect for hiding his face behind to play peek-a-boo.

The last day I was in Utah I was able to have lunch with my girlfriends at Los Hermanos in Provo. It was SOOO good to see them! I haven't seen some of them for 3 years so I had so much fun catching up for a couple of hours. I am so glad you all could make it! Love you all!

I will be posting pics from my Oregon part of the trip over Thanksgiving later. Adios!