Runnin' and "Cheese!"

So Parker's new favorite thing is to RUN and RUN and RUN and RUN around the circle at our house. It's even more fun if someone is chasing him, or if he has something in his hands or on his head. I don't know why he gets such a kick out of it, but he loves it! Trey came to visit and spend the night and they had so much fun chasing each other around the circle. Eventually Trey wanted to play with other toys, but Parker kept going for a while.

Trey also taught Parker to say "cheese" at Christmastime. So now every time I get out the camera I get "cheese" and it is usually a very fake smile. Then before the picture is done he wants to see it and so I usually get a blurry picture of him running toward the camera. But it is still cute. Here he is in his new church clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Crockett. What a handsome boy!

Here he is "cheese"n it with dad.

Christmas

We had such a fun Christmas!!! It was so nice to be able to spend so much time with both of our families. We had Christmas at our house first.

Parker was a pro at opening presents.

It really is amazing, but Parker had no problem knowing what this basketball hoop was for. He picked up the ball first thing and put it in the basket. I have no idea how he caught on so quickly! It's not like we watch sports ALL the time at our house...HAHAHA. Let's just say that he is a daddy's boy!

I got what I had been dreaming of for years... A RED BARN!!! :) Even though I ordered it myself, I was still SUPER excited to open it.

I just have to say, the most exciting part of Christmas for us was having Parker around. He loved opening presents and playing with his new toys. The excitement and joy of Christmas seems to be so much more real with children around.

After our house we headed down to the Falslev's for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. We had so much fun playing games--especially blindfold. That was one of our favorite games to play growing up and so it was fun to play it with the little boys and know that it is still as fun as it was when we were kids. :) It was also good just to have fun talking and watching Trey and Parker run around playing together.

Christmas morning at the Falslev's.

I just have to say that Curtis got this game from my parents, and we have played it so many times since Christmas. We love it!

My parents also got this little car for the boys...it was definetly a hit! They didn't want to get out of it, so they both decided that they could fit together.

Christmas afternoon we went to the Crockett's house and played games and talked. We spent the night there and had Christmas with them the next day. (Yes, it was 3 days of Christmas, and we loved every second of it!!!)

Here the kids were all watching a movie together...zoned out! Parker has so much fun playing with all his cousins!

The next day we opened gifts, played more games, talked, and had a good time.

Mike wasn't very happy that I took this picture...but it is the truth. I am sure that all the men I know like playing with the little kids toys just as much as the little kids.

We had such a fun Christmas!!! Christmastime always reminds me how truly blessed that I am. Not necessarily because of the gifts (which were awesome) but because of the good families that we have. It is always so nice to be with family and to have such a good time.

Temple Square

The week before Christmas we went down to temple square with Alese's family to see the lights. We went down early and went to the Church History Museum and played in the children's museum inside it. Parker loved the truck and the fish.

Mostly, he played with these fish. I kept trying to get him to play with other things, but he would have none of it.

We then met up with my family at temple square and walked around to see the lights.

Parker wanted nothing to do with his stroller by this point, and only wanted to be carried...mainly on Grandpa.

Just having fun...

The whole family. It was so pretty to look at the lights with just a little bit of snow falling.

We had so much fun! Thanks to our family for coming with us!