Hudson update (December)

Nine months old!


Hudson has decided that he likes to feed himself now, and he makes a huge mess! He will often spit food out unless he can put it into his mouth himself.

Nothing is safe from this kid anymore.

Hudson has such a calm personality. He doesn't get mad very often, but it's not all that common for us to really get him laughing either. He gives great, slobbery kisses, if we're lucky. He even gave Noah a raspberry on the cheek, which was so cute. Nobody else could get him to do it on them.

He's discovered new uses for his tongue - we can often hear him clicking it while he's playing or motoring around. He also sticks it out like he's concentrating hard on something.

Fondue night

On Christmas night we had our good friends, the Shupes and the Chipmans over for fondue. Good times for all!

Telling stories on the bunkbed

Hinging out in a box watching "Matilda"

Doesn't this remind you of the end of the Prodigal Son?

Christmas morning

We let the kids sleep in the same room on Christmas Eve (same rule applies as under the tree - you have to be at least three to participate, so Hudson slept in a room by himself). They also wanted Christmas lights on while they slept. Those two elements combined with all three kids sleeping on the floor (even though there were two perfectly good beds in the room), and the fact that it was Christmas Eve meant not much sleep for anyone.

Annie, Noah, and Brig were all awake at 5:00 a.m. We told them they couldn't come in our room until 6:30, so they were good and stayed relatively quiet in their room. But Chris and I couldn't sleep anymore, so we dragged Hudson out of bed around 6:00 or so, and we went downstairs to see what Santa brought us.

Brig's trying to talk to us with a chocolate santa stuffed in his mouth.
Annie was thrilled with the dishes, books, and other accessories for her fairies.


Army men just like Noah wanted!

Hotwheels Trick Tracks - Santa did read Brig's mind!

Tag team camera action - we're trying to capture every moment!

Thanks and hugs all around





In school Annie had to do whole project on an animal that she made up, including it's habitat, maps of the area it lives in, ect. In art she made a sculpture of it, the "marian fisheater." She gave the sculpture to Chris.

I have to add one more thing - I got some scented soaps in my stocking, and I was letting everyone smell one of them. Noah said, "Mmm, that smells good. It smells like hair." Hair??

Christmas Eve

Cookies for Santa and Mrs. Claus, with oats and carrots for the reindeer. Brigham got his words a little mixed up, and he asked me if I wanted a "sugie cooker."

Our Shepherd's dinner. Other things we do every Christmas Eve are: we read the scriptural account of Christ's birth, and we think of something we are going to work on this year as our gifts to Christ. We write them down and put them somewhere so we can see them all year.

Instead of pajamas like a lot of people do, the presents we open on Christmas Eve are socks. Noah was in charge of picking them out this year. Notice the Lightening McQueen ones on Brig. He was sooo excited when he saw them.

We also get a new Christmas book that we read together before we go to bed. I try to alternate between fun Christmas books, and spiritual ones. This year it was a spiritual one, and this is the one I chose this year. It's from President Monson's talk during the Christmas Devotional a few years ago. It is my favorite. If you haven't read it, it's a MUST!

Playing in the snow

Annie and Noah are out of school for winter break, and we didn't have anything planned today (I love days like this!), so the kids had time to play out in the snow.

Christmas festivities

One of the things we do every year before Christmas is sleep out under the tree one night. The kids absolutely love it.

It's always a terrific night's sleep for me and Chris, too.

One of the Saturdays before Christmas we go out to breakfast, then we visit Santa at the zoo. This year we ate at First Watch - YUM.

We were expecting Hudson to break into tears at the sight of Santa, but he didn't! He's the first of our kids who hasn't.

Brig, on the other hand, refused to even go near Santa without Chris. He wouldn't tell Santa what he wanted (Santa can read minds, right?), although he did stretch as far as his arm could reach so he could get the candy cane Santa offered, then he ran.

We had to visit the reindeer before we left. Brig wouldn't get into the picture - I think he was still traumatized by Santa.

Happy Birthday to me

Our good friends, the Shupes, had a job interview, so we watched their three older kids for a few days. That means we had a big party for my birthday!

Chris was so nice, and he bought me a cake and two of my favorite kinds of ice cream. The kids designed the plate for me.

Days 7-9

Absolutely no pictures!!

We did have a great time with the Christiansens. They have four kids also, and our kids had a blast together. We went out to eat, they took us to a great ice cream place, and we caught up on each other's lives. But our family was all starting to get sick, and Chris and I didn't sleep well for the last three nights of the trip. So I completely spaced taking any pictures. It was a great trip, anyway.

Day 6

We said goodbye to our family (sniff sniff), who all went back to Utah and Illinois, and we planned to stay for a couple of extra days in St. Louis. Our friends, Tyler and Angie Christiansen, are doing residency there, and we haven't seen them since we all graduated from med school 4 1/2 years ago. Before we got to their house, we stopped by the Science museum. What a cool place!

This T-rex roared and moved it's head, which scared the kids a little. Brig wouldn't even get close to it.

This picture cracks me up.

Day 5

Today we went to the arch. We were expecting temps in the upper 40's or low 50's, so we just brought jackets with us on the trip. It was sooo cold!! We were frozen by the time we walked to the arch from the (faraway, but cheap) parking garage. But it was worth it. This was my first time in the arch, and it was amazing!

I must admit, I was a little nervous about going up so high (I think I'm developing a bit of altophobia in my old age), but once we got up, I forgot about being up so high, and just enjoyed the view.

With Ariah, Shelleen, Shimayne, and Sharene


After we put the kids to bed that night we played games in one of our hotel rooms. I was having flashbacks of my college days, staying up late, eating junk food, and laughing so hard that my stomach hurt. This was one of the treats that Mike picked up at the gas station. Have you ever seen such a big rice krispie treat?? Me either.

Day 4

Today the twins, Enoch and Elijah were blessed. It was wonderful to be at church together!

Annie (she told me she doesn't know why she's in the picture), Teah, Tenny, Elijah (I think?), Donovan, Enoch (I think?), and Trey.

Annie and Hudson with their Aunt Shimayne. Our kids have the greatest aunts and uncles!

After church we ate lunch, then cleaned up and drove to St. Louis for a couple of days.

Day 3

First thing this morning we dressed up in our team shirts for family pictures. Go Aggies!!

So we didn't get any "perfect" pictures of the four kids together, which is pretty typical. But that's fine with me - the pictures we have are telling of the stage we're in. I thought the kids' faces were pretty funny, though.

All the teams!!

After pictures we celebrated Treytion's 6th birthday at Golden Corral, then we spent the rest of the day at the church again.

Annie, Noah, Trey, Brig, Tenny

All the guys (and Shell-what a woman!) played some basketball. Brig really wanted to join in. Despite being run over a couple of times, he had fun with the big boys.