The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I love the holidays!  The thing I love the most is being able to spend time with my family.  This was a tough year for us, and very soon after my last post, my grandfather passed away.  We were very close, he was a wonderful man, and with everything going on.....I just couldn't bring myself to write a post that wasn't depressing.

We miss him dearly and think of him every day.  Though he isn't with us today, he is in our hearts. 

On a happy note.....we are in Snowbird!!  Finn & I flew in yesterday, and my parents & Grandma Marie drove from Sacramento to meet us here.  On Monday night Lauren & Chris arrive, & Tuesday morning Ben, Krista & James fly in!

We've been coming here since before I was born.  The Iron Blosam Lodge was one of the first timeshare properties in the world & the first timeshare development in a ski area.  My parents bought the unit in 1979 after coming to Snowbird on a spring break ski trip & attending a time share presentation.

I have so many amazing memories of this place.  We've been coming here almost every other year since 1979.  I learned to ski here when I was two years old, and my sisters both learned here when they were very young as well.  We started on Chickadee Hill & moved on to Big Emma, and then the more difficult runs.

As little kids, my grandparents, on both sides of the family, often came with us.  I vividly recall eating grilled cheese & soup at lunch time with my grandparents, while my parents were still out on the slopes.  We always took a lesson at least the first day or so we were here, in the mornings & then meet up & ski with my parents in the afternoons. 


We always do one night of dinner at The Steak Pit, one night at the Mexican Food restaurant, & Thanksgiving dinner at the Cliff Lodge.  The other nights of the week we stay in, have soups, lasagna or order pizza from the Snowbird Center.

If you know anything about our family, you know we love our traditions.  This year however, we are changing things up a bit.  Everyone was able to make it this year, and for the first time ever, we are going to be making a traditional Thanksgiving dinner in our unit!  Grandma came with us to make sure we had our cornbread dressing, and my parents drove so that they could bring all the things we would need.  As our family grows, so do the wonderful memories. 

Here's to being with family, new traditions, and the many more adventures to come.  Happy Holidays!

Sleepy Sundays

Finn had an exhausting week having fun with GG & Gramps. Today, it finally caught up with him. He woke up hungry, as he normally does at 6:45am, but after some milk, cuddled up with mommy & daddy. Normally he would relax for no more than 15min or so, but this morning, he fell back asleep & didn't wake up until 9am!

What that meant, was mommy & daddy got an extra 2 hours of sleep as well. I feel like a new person! It's amazing what a little extra sleep will do.

Maybe Finn was really tired, or maybe he made a secret deal with daddy to sleep late, so he could stay up & watch the Bears game tonight.

When Ben & I got married over 2 years ago, we registered for a waffle maker. Like many of our wedding gifts, they were stored until we had a place with a bigger kitchen to use all of our fun household gifts. On October 17, 2009 we moved into our current place. We broke out almost all our wedding gifts & the waffle maker was one of the first ones we used. We've had a tradition ever since. Happy (almost) 2 year anniversary Waffle Sunday!!

Ben is the waffle maker & I make the sides. Sometimes eggs, sometimes potatoes, & lucky days like today, I'm just in charge of pulling out the syrup!

Today's special: Fresh blueberry waffles! Mmmm, Finn & Mommy's favorite!

Here's to homemade waffles, Football, BBQ, & Beer!

Happy Sunday everyone!

We're Going to Try This Again

I thought I would give blogging a try, but like I said before, being a mommy isn't easy. There are a million things I should be doing on any given day, but the only thing I want to do, is play with my little guy.
My little man, that isn't really that little anymore. He is still small, but getting smarter & doing more everyday. Finn's a little shrimp of a guy at only 17lbs and 28inches tall. We've been taking him back in to the doctor for monthly weight checks, but this kid refuses to grow. He eats like a pig, and is normal in every sense of the word. My thought is, that he just moves too much, and eats too healthy.

Finn's favorite snack is frozen peas & corn. He's been eating them since he started on solids, and he loves them frozen, I think because it feels good on his teething gums. The little guys eats a balanced diet of fruits, veggies, lean meats, and potatoes and rice. And still, he does not grow. I don't mind, as long as the doctor says he's healthy. I think it's adorable to see this sweet small boy of mine running around, just like I was at his age (I was only 15lbs).

Just a few fun facts about Finn:
*Finn has been on an airplane more than 5 times
*Finn has been on vacations to Solvang, Santa Barbara, Yreka, Seattle, Disneyland, Sacramento, & Palm Springs
*Finn says "bye bye", "Momma", "Dada", "Baby", & "Dog"
*Finn no longer crawls, but walks everywhere
*Finn likes to skype with family
*Finn loves to swim & likes playing at the beach
*Finn loves to give kisses
*Finn is the sweetest baby on earth (I'm biased of course)

So......I'm going to give this a try again. Hopefully it will last more than just 1 post. It's amazing how the world changes when baby bedtime is 7pm!

Being a New Mom isn't Easy

Blogging has been the last thing on my mind for the past 6 months or so. I'd been furiously trying to prepare our home for our new addition, and once Finn was brought into our lives, there was nothing I wanted to do besides spend time with my little man.

Now that he is sleeping 10 or so hours at night, and taking naps throughout the day, I may have a little more time for blogging. That is, once dinner is made, the house is clean, and the laundry isn't overflowing.

I never knew what it was like to have someone else run your life, but a new baby definitely does it. Your priorities change, and not much else seems important, besides that beautiful baby looking up at you!

Baby Bear

It's so hard not to run out and buy every cute little boy outfit you see, now that we know what we're having. Ben is the kind of shopper, that if you really want something, you get it, while I wait for sales and am an ultimate bargain shopper.

I've been doing a little online shopping for cute onesies with funny sayings on them, sports team apparel, and educational toys.......but Ben has been a little different. He hadn't bought anything until now.

A little background: Every time we go to Disneyland (at least 4-5 times per year), we always walk through the shops in downtown Disney at the end of the night. There is a big Anne Geddes store with some of the most adorable photos, dolls and little baby outfits. Everything is beyond cute, but crazy expensive.

I about died when we got back from our cruise and Ben had a little Birthday present that he said was for me, but not for me........meaning he had an excuse to buy something he knows I never would have purchased. It was an Anne Geddes box and inside was the furry baby bear outfit we've looked at a hundred times. It's got the one piece outfit with the bear ear cap and booties. Ben's excuse was that it was just so cute and we always looked at it when we were in the shop...... and it would be perfect when we visited Yreka at Christmas time.

I will admit, it is one of the cutest things I've ever seen, although it's a bummer we'll be waiting over 6 months before he'll even be close to fitting into it!

Getting a head start on our Little Man's Room

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I seem to always have something more important to do, or I'm just too exhausted to sit down at the computer and write anything.

However, we found out a couple of weeks ago, we are going to be having a little boy. I've already found a super cute bedding set that I love! I knew that if we were going to have a boy, I wanted to do a jungle themed room. I wanted to avoid something that was way too babyish, and fit more of the the contemporary feel of our house.

Ben will be starting on the painting of the room shortly, and we've been shopping around for a cute crib and dresser for the room as well. We've started our registry and this is what we're starting with.

The Big News!

I have been hiding from my blog, because I haven't thought of anything except the one thing I really wanted to write about. Ben is so excited, but wanted me to be far enough along before we announced........

We are having a BABY!!

As of now, I am 16 weeks and counting. We are thrilled to find out the sex of our little one at our 20 week appointment and start the process of designing the nursery.

Here are a couple of the bedding sets that I'm liking right now.
I think this ocean themed one is cute for a baby girl

And I love this one for a baby boy!

Just another month before we find out!!!