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.