Christmastime!

We love Christmas. To us it is definitely the "most wonderful time of the year" and the "hap, happiest season of all." In spite of Andrew's getting sick on his birthday eve (Friday) he felt much better by Dec 24 and had a great birthday celebration. Andrew got to make a request per Megan's (WONDERFUL) tradition and I asked her to make a tasty and ultra-rich chocolate cake. It was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s. Thanks babe!

All of the Joe K and Marion Holyoak clan was able to be there for the wonderful weekend (though we had to share some of them with in-laws) and we really enjoyed our time together.

It turns out Alex is very good at opening presents. He was so intent on the opening that he generally discarded the contents of the bag or box to find the next thing to unwrap!

Happy Birthday Andrew!

This is a great gift Megan came up with for Joe and Marion. They each received a memory book to fill that their posterity can enjoy. The books are full of questions about their past experiences which they can write out while spending their time up at the cabin. They agreed to make an effort in filling in the prompts.

We just about filled up the basement with all the presents and people. What fun!

Alex really enjoys his gift from Grandma and Grandpa Holyoak. Thanks!

Here Dad helps Alex try out his new rocking horse!

We had a great time in Moab and really appreciated the time spent together. As the new year approaches and we consider our favorite time of year again, we can't help but shout one last time: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Thanksgiving and A Growing Baby

So this was supposed to be a post about Thanksgiving but it's probably going to end up being mostly a collection of pictures of our bouncing baby boy. Alex is now quite mobile. He took FIVE steps unaided yesterday so walking may not be too far away. We're hoping it'll happen during the break while we're both around to help encourage and cheer him on!

This is Alex in his zen pose. I think he was trying to prep himself for some kind of martial battle to the death he never told us about. Apparently he won because I haven't seen him strike the pose before or since.

We had so much fun playing with the cousins in Heber! Thanks for letting us come stay and play!

There were so many of us we had Thanksgiving dinner at the church. Before dinners we all helped prep or take care of the kids and after activities included basketball, Clue, and Dominion.

The video isn't pro quality by any means but I feel like you capture a lot more of a person's personality in video than a simple picture so I hope you enjoyed!

These three loved thanksgiving dinner!

Andrew's beautiful bride and grandmother. It was Alex's first time meeting his great grandmother Colleen. Thanks for coming GG!

Anna was our clean-up crew. She went around and finished up all the leftovers at the kids table. Waste not, want not!

Obviously there's some bias simply because we're his parents, but isn't he just one of the cutest babies you've ever seen?

We're working on teaching Alex to feed himself with a spoon. As you can see he's only missing a few details :-P

Look at the gleam in that boy's eyes.

We're all ready for Christmas! We'll put up a post in preperation for Christmas soon so you can meet our Christmas tree. Her name is Cilia the crooked pine.

Lions and tigers and bears...

We got this costume for Alex some time ago. When we found out our ward was having a Halloween party Megan decided we should all go dressed up. She made her ears and Andrew got to make a lion's mane using an old hat, a glue gun and lots of felt. Megan helped on Andrew's mane and ears --thanks Babe!

Andrew (a lion), Alex (a tiger) and Mom (a bear)...Oh my!

We had a great time at the party! Together with our ward we had Halloween treats and carved a pumpkin!

Megan made the tails for she and Andrew. Great job Megan!

Pumpkin Carving!

We carved our pumpkins on Tuesday and watched The Nightmare Before Christmas. We have now made Halloween cookies and candy, decorated, visited the Frightmares at Lagoon and seen the witches at Gardner Village. The only things left are to finish our costumes, watch Casper, attend the ward Halloween party and hand out candy on Monday. You'll have to wait to see our costumes in another post. I like Halloween now way more than I did as a kid!!


So cute!!!!!!!!!!




Lindsay and Carson's pumpkins
Mine and Andrew's, he would like you all to know that he carved it even though all the pics only show me working on it. He is quite skilled though.

Busy month...

A lot has been going on since the last post. Things are great and Alex is growing more wonderful every day! Here is a quick glimpse at what's been going on:



Oct 23, 2011. The day before Megan and Lindsay's golden birthday. Happy 24th! We had a great time with some of our good friends that live here in Cedar City.

We played a couple good games and had some laughs...

...and tasty cake and ice cream! Megan and Lindsay liked their birthday brownie (two layers of brownie frosted with chocolate and vanilla icing).

Megan's hard at work With Carson, Lindsay, Courtney and Zach from left to right.

We had family and friends over for some Halloween sugar-cookie decorating. The taste of these cookies make all the hard work worth it in the end.

Here we are back home after the trip up north. Alex and Dad love their story time together!

Alex loved spending some time with Grandma and Grandpa Alton

You never know what the witches of Gardner Village will be up to!!

Here's Alex posing for his mom at Gardner village. We went up north for Spencer Soderborg's blessing. He's Alex's cousin on Andrew's side.

We took an early birthday trip to Lagoon this year. This is one of the most important stops we make. Family bumper cars! Can you spot Jeremy, Megan, Payton, Nathan and Parker? You can tell Parker means business.

Alex loved his time in Lagoon!

Here we see Stacy, Jeremy and Parker make a big splash (above) following Tonya and Nathan's turn going down with the girls (below).

Everybody loved Rattlesnake Rapids!

The little ladies on a boat ride

Holyoak Reunion

Labor Day weekend was spent in Moab for the Holyoak Family Reunion. I was seriously looking forward to going on this trip for about a month and a half. I was so excited to see my family. We got to see everyone except Jeremy (we always miss you Jer). The weekend was filled with games, family, friends, laughter, cooking, food, service, time at the cabin and reunion staples, watermelon and Stan and Cheryl's homemade ice cream.

I enjoyed this little mini-vacation so much. I always enjoy seeing my parents and chatting with my sisters and listening to my funny brother. Brennan and Emma came to play with us and I got to spend a night laughing and feeling so grateful for life-long (and then some) friends.

Tori and Adam blessed sweet little Cheznie on Sunday and it is always fun to see my huge family fill the chapel. During the "Brothers Dinner" on Sunday Stacy had my uncles share stories about Grandpa Glen since this year would have marked his 100th birthday. That was so fun and special. I feel so lucky to come from such a wonderful heritage. My Dad and his brothers are the best of men and I love being around them and feeling of their conviction of truth, and their love of heritage. They are also some of the best examples of service that you will ever find and I feel so blessed to be a witness to their goodness. In an effort to not sound too sappy I will point out they all can be gruff and ornery as well, and they know how to tell it like it is, that just kind of makes them a little more interesting.

Monday was spent tying quilts to donate to some good causes and working on an addition to Paul's cabin. I'm glad that we were able to spend the day working and doing some acts of service.

I love seeing these two together. My dad loves feeding people.

Alex thought it would be so fun to roll this new little girl around on the floor. Isn't she a new toy?

I just love those big eyes!

I laugh at this picture, but I don't really find any part of it surprising.

My mom wanted Andrew to take a grandkids picture for her. This is one of the better ones. Though the picture is not quite "picture perfect" she told me she put it on up on her piano and when my dad looked at it he said they sure are cute kids. I just love family so much!!!