Three Holidays Wrapped Into One Blog

On the first day of Christmas my vacation gave to me a new found respect for parents with babies on planes.
On the second day of Christmas my vacation gave to me 10 more pounds of fat.
On the third day of Christmas my vacation gave to me not one good night of sleep.
On the fourth day of Christmas my vacation gave to me the realization I don't want six kids anymore.
On the fifth day of Christmas my vacation gave to me more unconditional love for Xander.
On the sixth day of Christmas my vacation gave to me more much needed patience.
On the seventh day of Christmas my vacation gave to me an updated wife.
On the eighth day of Christmas my vacation gave to me a new found love for Guitar Hero.
On the ninth day of Christmas my vacation gave to me 21 babysitters to watch Xander for two weeks.
On the tenth day of Christmas my vacation gave to me a new found respect for my parents in law.
On the eleventh day of Christmas my vacation gave to me the understanding that even though you live in a ghetto apartment, there is nothing better than your own bed.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my vacation gave to me the scary feeling that as our vacation is over, I have to find a job and do something productive with my life.

That basically sums up what happened over our little break. We flew up to Utah, with barely a peep from Xander, and spent two weeks in Provo with the Kendells. We relaxed and took a well needed break, even though we needed a vacation from our vacation.




Then, Xander turned one on December 29th. We had a little party. He didn't care for his cake much and had very little reaction to his presents but the other kids had a good time. Thanks for all the presents guys.

I Done Graduated

Well, the end has come and I have officially graduated. It feels really weird. I have been in school for six years and have no clue what I am going to do next. I received my Masters in Business Administration with specializations in Marketing and International Business. I have been applying to jobs everyday, and if anyone has any connections, let me know. I will do just about anything, and if worse comes to worse, I will get my PH.d I will eventually get it, but I hope to pay off these student loans before accruing other student loans.

I owe a special thanks to Codilyn for all her support. When I get stressed out, I become a jerk, and she patiently put up with it. Thanks babe.

Happy Thanksgiving Yall!!

We hope that everyone is having a wonderful Thanksgiving. For most people Thanksgiving begins the anticipation for Christmas and in anticipation of Christmas, my sister Lindsey made this for us and we just had to let everyone see it. Enjoy!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9567751806

IF YOU THINK I'M CUTE... YOU SHOULD SEE MY DAD!

For those of you who don't know.... Zach is blessed with great sense of style. In fact, many of the times in which I have received compliments on my outfit, or shoes... they have been items which Zach has either told me to buy, or bought for me himself (yes ladies, my husband does know my sizes and can fit me to a T!). Apparently our little Xander has inherited this trait from his dad and I have the pictures to prove it. See... Xander HATES to get dressed. If he could be naked all day long, HE WOULD BE (another trait he inherited from Zach). So in an attempt to make getting dressed fun for him I decided to let him pick out his outfit for the day all by himself. Granted, he probably had no idea what was going on, but the outcome was quite entertaining. We began with the pant drawer, from which he chose a pair of light blue and white striped pants. I immediately began seeing all the mismatched shirts he could possibly choose to go with the pants as we moved on to the shirt drawer. To my surprise however he chose a white polo shirt that matched perfectly. Thinking it a fluke (especially since the polo was closer to the back of the drawer and surrounded by many other colorful options), we moved on to the onesies where to my astonishment the little guy pulled out a light blue onesie that perfectly matched the above mentioned pants. So there you have it.... I am a woman surrounded by good looking men, with great sense of style. It's enough to make one extremely self-conscious. Do I look okay?

Hallo-Weenie

So we have had a wonderfully fun last week. I am not much of a Halloween person, even though I love free candy and scary movies, but I feel that Halloween is a time for guys who want to dress up like women and for women to dress like sl#ts. But Codi is slowly making me enjoy Halloween. Last Friday we had out ward party and it was really fun, except that we were one of two couples who actually dressed up for Halloween, and I don't know how we won first place with such competition. Xander was a hot dog, which he loved being in because it kept him warm and Codi and I were ketchup and mustard. It was fun.
Then, on Saturday a group of friends, the Lee's, the Wright's and some other couple, went to the ZOO and they had a little themed activity, and by little I mean little. We waited in this huge long line and overall walked two miles to occasionally pick up a couple pieces of candy, a Dr. Pepper, and baked Cheetos. It was worth the six bucks.
Then, on Halloween night we went trick r treating, and Codi and I were a little embarrassed. We felt kind of dumb walking around with a kid who could not even eat candy. So after only 30 minutes of trick r treating, and having people give us dumb looks, one guy, while he was putting candy in the basket said, "well, here is some candy, even though it is really for dad anyways." So we stopped doing that and headed over to the Wright's for a little party. We had a pumpkin dinner, Jell-o eyes, snake bread, fruit, and a graveyard cake. It was really fun. I am beginning to like Halloween a little more, I guess Holidays get more exciting when you have kids.

P.S. Xanders two teeth popped through this past week, he is taking it really well, just a little clingy.





And another picture of everyone dressed up. We are loving the family themed outfits.

Flipped Upside Down

So our lives have completely changed as we knew them. First, Xander has been drooling a lot more and has been a little more onry, so we think he is teething, but the worst thing is that he is now standing on his own. Codilyn put him down in his crib while she was running the bath and when she came back he was standing up. Now when we put him down to take a nap he has too much fun standing up, how do you teach kids that the crib is the place to sleep and now have fun.


We all took a WALK the other day just to get out of the house. Xander had a good time and it was a really good workout for me carrying him. I now know why overweight people breathe heavily.

THE WEEK OF WEEKS!!!

So we have had some hard times this past two weeks. First, my laptop, which has all my school stuff on it, especially my graduate thesis, broke and I tried taking it to the Mac store but they have become so popular you have to have an appointment 48 hours in advance with them. I went and they told me that it would cost $1500 to fix it. So we decided to think on it for a while. Then, I found out I did not get the job that I wanted, but it turns out it was a good thing because I only wanted to do it temporarily. Then, my professor has been riding my butt about my thesis because he decided he wanted me to turn it in early. Then, my dad is having a lot of complications with his back surgery and I cant stand hearing my wonderful dad in pain. And some other stuff, but we gained a testimony that Heavenly Father looks after us and helps us in times of need.

Example #1: General Conference was this past weekend and the Priesthood session had a great impact on my week and overall helped us a lot.
Example #2: Heavenly Father sent inspiration to a couple of people that we were having a bad week and helped us greatly. (Thanks Jennifer Roberts, Michelle, Carma, and Grandpa Kendell)
Example #3: We were able to buy a new computer with the help from Grandpa Kendell at the perfect time, when the new Leopard system was announced and when we could not wait anymore.

We are lucky people. Here are some pictures of our little one. The playdate group went to Chesters Party Barn about two weeks ago. Xander had a good time with the pumpkins, which he loved by the way, and actually rode a pony with a smile on his face. We also got him a new little toy. The toy is supposed to help him walk but he is so tall that he can actually use the toy.