Santa

This weekend we took Rocklin to go meet Santa. I was curious if he'd scream for dear life or if he'd like it. Well, he LOVED Santa!! As soon as we brought him up to sit on Santa's lap, he just started giggling and smiling so big. He looked right at the camera and smiled, as if he knew exactly what he was supposed to do. He kept reaching for Santa's beard and playing with it and the cute Santa was so nice and just smiled and let him play with him. Here's a picture; I know it's tiny, but when I tried blowing it up it just gets fuzzy.

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! We're heading out to meet up with my family in snow country for the next week or so and I doubt I'll be blogging while I'm there. Be sure to check back around the new year and I'm sure I'll have lots of fun pictures to share!

Temple Lights

Last night we met up with some friends at the Mesa temple to look at all the beautiful Christmas lights they have on display. The weather was great; it wasn't even that cold really! Here are some pictures from our night:

Doesn't Adam look like he's having fun? haha...

Adam & I Rocklin all bundled up

Brad & Gaven (Brad has just lost over 100 lbs.!! We're so proud of you Brad!!) This is just a random picture from the other night, but cute so I thought I'd share:

Friends

Last weekend some of my friends from GA (Dan and LaLona) were in town and we got to meet up with them for breakfast. It was so fun to see them! Here are some pictures of LaLona and I with the kids:

Simple Truths

I just wanted to share something that happened to me yesterday, something that was a simple reminder to me that the Lord watches out for us. Rocklin has been sick this week, and whatever he has I got it too...bad. Yesterday I was miserable and couldn't even get out of bed without getting sick. Luckily Adam was able to get home from work a little earlier than usual and was great about taking care of Rocklin while I rested. I told Adam a little later that night that I think I need a blessing to be able to get through the sickness, especially so that I could take care of Rocklin without him around the next day. He said no problem and went ahead and got Rocklin ready for bed and then was going to come in and give me a blessing. Then we heard a knock on the door. It's unusual that anyone comes to our house late at night, so we weren't sure who it could be. Adam opened the door and there were the missionaries, just saying they were in the neighborhood and thought to stop by and say hello to us. They've never been to our apartment before, and I know it was the spirit leading them to our place. The missionaries were able to help Adam give me a blessing. And funny enough I had put together some Christmas goodies in a package for the ladies I visit teach, but was unable to deliver them since with Rocklin sick I wasn't able to go. I had two little goodie packages - one for each missionary.

While I'm still not feeling 100%, I am feeling a lot better than yesterday and I know it's because the Lord was watching out for me and I was able to get a much needed blessing last night. I am so thankful to have the priesthood in my home and also thankful to be able to recognize the simple truths in my life!!

Weekend Fun

We had a lot of fun this weekend. Saturday was our friend Gaven's 4th birthday party. It was at the park and we had gorgeous weather! Rocklin got to play in the grass and he was so excited.

Daddy and Rock

Mommy and Rock

Our little family

Then on Saturday night we went up to a local mall where they were having the lighting ceremony for a 90 foot Christmas tree that Adam was the Project Manager on. It was HUGE and so pretty!! Rocklin looks like a bit of a Scrooge in this picture!

Then after the Christmas tree lighting, we head over to our ward party. No pictures from the ward party, but we had a good dinner and a very nice time. We love our ward! If/When we move, we will be very sad to leave this ward.

Rocklin was loving the Christmas lights we put up on our little 3 foot Christmas tree. I was so sad we couldn't get a real tree, but I also did not want to spend my entire day keeping Rocklin off the tree. Our tree is up on the bar and out of his reach. It's still pretty and actually the perfect size for our little apartment this year.

I hope all of you are enjoying your holiday season!!

Caught in the Act

Check out Rocklin's favorite thing to do these days when Mom and Dad aren't looking...

Yep, that's Rocklin rolling the toilet paper off the roll and eating it. I know it's gross, but I had to get a few pictures of this!

Notebooks

I've been wanting to make these cute notebooks that I saw online made out of simple 99cent composition books and mod podge. I love mod podge!! We're celebrating three of Adam's nieces birthday's this weekend (Alexis, Emilie & Kate), so I thought these would make cute gifts. (And inexpensive!) I already had all the scrapbook paper, embellishments, etc. so all I had to buy were the composition books. I thought they turned out pretty cute, so I wanted to share:

I covered the backs too...

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!! We'll be celebrating with Adam's entire family (parents/siblings) so I'll be sure to take my camera with me so I'll have something fun to blog about this weekend!

Busy time of year!!

I know, I know...I've been sparse on the blogosphere lately. I swear I've been so busy lately! It's a busy time of year. Not to mention we're looking at purchasing a home and it's kind of taking over our lives for now. I think I want to be on that HGTV show 'Property Virgins' where they present you with three houses that fill all your wants and needs within your price range and bada-bing-bada-boom, you're a homeowner. I wonder if they're auditioning right now...

So I started meeting up with some girlfriends in my ward for a once a month card club where ... you guessed it ... we make cards. This was my second month doing it and it's so fun!! This month we did Christmas tags (although I ended up doing a card...and another girl did a candy bag). Check out our handy work:

I think this one is my favorite. Who doesn't love a little glitter and bling?
By the way, Santa, if you're reading this post, I'd like one of THESE for Christmas. Thanks.

Oh, and I avoided the weekend madness and waited until tonight to go see Twilight. I have avoided reading any reviews on it, so I hope I like it!

Great Article

I generally try not to get political here on my blog, but today I was sent an article that I really liked and thought I would share. I am sure by now that most of you have heard of the Proposition 8 in CA that passed with this most recent election, thus not allowing same-sex couple marriages to be recognized as a marriage. There are many people upset with this decision and are placing blame on religious groups, especially the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka the Mormons) saying that their rights are being taken away.

I think that this article sums everything up very nicely in a few sentences:

"Government intrusion on religion is what's at stake. What's at risk in this fight is not the civil rights of homosexuals. What's at risk is religious freedom for every American. That and the not-so-small problem of undermining what has been for centuries the very foundation of society."

The article is a little longer so I am not going to post it on my blog, however please feel free to read it here:

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Perspectives/Default.aspx?id=323704.

You many not agree with me, however this is an issue that I feel is important to me, especially now that I have a child. I certainly do not want the government dictating what must be taught to my child as "correct" morals and principles. As a parent, that is my job, and I take great pride in having the right to raise up my children with the morals I teach them...not the government. That is a freedom I enjoy as being a citizen of this great country.

Holiday Traditions

Now that I have my own cute little family, I really want to start incorporating our own family traditions during the holiday season. Rocklin will be almost a year at Christmas, so he will not yet understand the reason for the celebration and presents and such, but I want to start now while he's young with some of our very own family traditions. Something my child(ren) can look forward to year after year.

I remember growing up and always reading the Christmas story in Luke 2 on Christmas Eve and getting to open one present (sometimes two...depending on how convincing we could be). Then Santa would come that night and we'd get to open the rest of our gifts the next morning. I also remember the year our family bought some gifts for less fortunate friends of ours and left a big bag of presents on their doorstep and ran so they would be surprised.

What kind of traditions do you have in your family now? What is your favorite holiday tradition memory you have of growing up?

And since no post is complete without a picture, he's the latest of little man modeling his new Christmas gear (minus his pants):

Weekend

We had a fun and busy weekend! Saturday was Katie's MS Walk at the Phoenix Zoo. We got up really early and bundled up because it was chilly!! We walked 5 miles through the zoo. Sadly, I only have a couple pictures from the walk. And check out Adam - he's recently lost just over 30 lbs. Looking good Adam B!!

Daddy and Rock staying warm

Rocklin and his cute cousin Gracie

On a completely different subject...somehow I either lost my credit card or someone stole it. I called to cancel it last week, but didn't get online to check to see if there were any charges until tonight (Stupid me...not sure why I waited so long...I think I was afraid of what I might find). Anyway, someone spent over $100 on it at a local grocery store...good thing I canceled it! But sheesh, that ticks me off!!

Boo-Ya

OK, I know this is totally dorky of me to post, but I'm so proud of myself that I just had to. Those of you who like to save a dollar here and there will appreciate this.

Today I went to two grocery stores and ran up a total retail bill of $113.45. Between store sales and a triple coupon promotion, I was able to save $93.30!!!

I spent a TOTAL of $20.15 on all this:

And if you're wondering, yes, I did pull all the food out and stack it on my coffee table for this photo op. And if you're also wondering, yes, I probably do have too much time on my hands. Is it OK to admit I'm becoming a self-proclaimed coupon queen?

(Oh yeah, and a shout out to Brittany, who left me all her coupons when she moved to UT! Thanks again Brittany!!)

The Great Outdoors

I think Mother Nature finally got the memo that it's November! The weather is starting to get nice here; a much needed reminder that living in Arizona is awesome this time of year. Rocklin and I were getting a little cooped up in the apartment today so I decided some fresh air would do us good. We went outside to the little kiddie play area at our apartment and I put Rocklin in the baby swing. The first time I put him in it, he had a total death grip on the chains, but today he just kicked back and enjoyed it. And do notice the go-to hands behind the head position. :)

Also, Rock has started to pull himself up on things - coffee table, large toys, etc. You can tell he's so proud of himself...

UN-Happy Halloween

Last night as we were getting ready to go to a friend's for a Halloween get together, Rocklin put something in his mouth. When we went to get it out, he had already started choking on it. (Not exactly sure what it is, although when I put my finger in his mouth to try and get it out, it felt like plastic). Rocklin started choking and gasping for air, so needless to say we were freaking out!! Our poor baby couldn't breathe so Adam gave him the baby version of the Heimlich maneuver and hitting his back to try and get the object to come out. He threw up, but still the object did not come out so we ended up rushing him to the ER since he was struggling to breathe. When we got to the ER they saw us right away and did an x-ray to see if they could see if something was stuck in his esophagus. We think he must have ended up swallowing whatever it was he was choking on because he started breathing on his own and by the time we were waiting on the doctor, Rocklin was his happy little self.

Needless to say this wasn't the SCARY Halloween we were hoping for!! Poor little guy didn't even get to wear his dinosaur costume, although I think he's secretly happy about that. I took some pictures with my phone in the waiting room so I could document Rocklin's first Halloween experience.

Adam entertained Rock by blowing up a plastic glove balloon.

As you can tell, little Rock man loved the balloon.

Mommy and Rock (and also a shot of my new haircut/color).

Daddy and Rock chillin. Whenever you feed Rocklin, he likes to grab and squeeze the skin on your neck like he's doing to Adam here...It hurts!!

I had to capture this moment because Rocklin NEVER holds his own bottle. He likes for us to feed him, but Adam got him to hold his own bottle for a bit. Yahoooo!! Let's hope he keeps it up.

This is just a random picture, but I like he's beautiful hair in it!