Happy Birthday Adam!

Adam turned one on January 23rd.  We had a small get together with the family here in Logan to celebrate.  We got him a small little cake and he really enjoyed it.  It is the first time he has had both cake and chocolate.  He wasn't quite sure what it was but when he got into it he went to town on that cake.  He got some great toys and books that will keep him busy the next little while....thank you everyone!  He loves hanging out with his cousins.  He will just watch them so intensely and he loves to play with them.  It was a great day for us all.  Happy Birthday Bubba!

Here are some photos to enjoy.

 

My amazing husband.

I don't know if I have ever really wrote how much I love my husband, David.  From the first day I met him I knew that he was a man who was going to make something of himself.  One of the most attractive features he has is his ambition and desire to leave this world better than it was before he was in it.  I personally think that he has already accomplished this in so many different ways.  I feel that anyone who is lucky enough to know him knows how much he cares for all his friends and family.  He bends over backwards for anyone that has a need of anything.  As his wife, I feel that he has made me a better person.  I am a better mom with him as the father to our Adam.  I am a better wife because he has taught me what it means to be a partner to someone.  His love for the gospel pushes me to learn and grow in my own testimony so that one day I can feel the love for the gospel as he does.  I am a more patient person, not because he does things that try my patience, but because he has the patience of such a loving soul for everyone around him and I desire to obtain maybe a fraction of the patience that he has.  Our son, Adam, is in awe of his Daddy.  David will leave his mark on the world if by nothing else than this amazing little boy who adores everything about his father.  I already watch Adam as he does things to make his daddy proud...be it copying a facial expression or trying to walk.  When Daddy cheers for Adam, Adam knows no other joy as great.  He loves David.  Adam is one of the luckiest boys in the world to be able to grow up with David as his father and his example of what a man should be.

David had three interviews at the end of last year.  All three places quickly figured out he would be an amazing asset to each of their companies.  After long consideration, prayer, fasting and a trip to the temple, David made the choice to take a position in Bremerton, WA at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard as a nuclear engineer.  It wasn't an easy decision and as I watched my love go through the process of pros and cons, I was so touched with how he found his answer.  One job stood out from the rest as the job David really wanted to do.  It was research and he would get to use all his fancy skills and most likely would never be boring.  One job would be interesting to him, but not nearly as exciting.  Although this job was in a location David knew our family would prefer and the economic advantages were substantial compared to the other.  This man of mine, this man who I love more than anything, he chose the job that would be the best for our family as a whole.  Some men would choose the job that they wanted and not consider the family element, but not David.  His most important items on the list were us and I just love that he is mine forever.  I know to some this isn't a big deal, but to me...the fact that he was able to look past his wants for his family and their needs...it show me that my son will grow up to be just as amazing and I will forever thank the Lord that David is my husband and the father to my children.

There you have it.  David graduates in May 2012 with his Masters in Mechanical Engineering and we will head to Washington State to start the next chapter in our life together.  I am so proud of him and so excited for this change.  I know that as long as David and I are together, we will love where we are.  As long as we have each other, we can take on anything.  He is my rock.  I love you, David Nani.

Graham cracker lovin'

 Adam is having a love affair with graham crackers.  It is impossible to explain to you how excited he gets when he places a piece in his mouth.  Here is the graham cracker love session from today.  The many faces of Adam when he is loving on some graham crackers....

More Christmas...

A few photos I wanted to put on from Christmas.  Adam got the dragon puppet from Baby Einstein that he is obsessed with.  It is adorable.  And of course we can never get enough of Auntie Kai.

From Christmas to the New Year, we stayed busy.

After Christmas we had a our friends, the Carpenters, come stay with us for a day or two.  It was fun having them here.  Their two year old, Damon, is a lot of fun and we hope that he and Adam will get the chance to grow up together like their fathers, David and Rob.  You can tell that Damon knows who is boss...he had Adam pushing him on the Lion all over the room.  Adam didn't mind at all.  We were all laughing at the two of them playing together.  It was a fun visit, just lots of relaxing and food.  Thank you for coming you guys!

Then that weekend was the New Year.  Kendal, Kendra and family all came up on Saturday to spend the New Year with us.  We went bowling Saturday afternoon and then spent the evening playing games (the Name Game that Rachel taught us) and about died laughing.  I think it was a great way to start a New Year...games and laughter and surrounded by family.  The next day was Church and then we spent some time at the park swinging.  It was such a nice day here...about 50 to 60 degrees.  Then just more games (David was excited about that because he is obsessed with games and should they not happen, he turns into Mr. Cranky-Pants) and more laughter.  Once again it was a great way to start off the New Year.

Christmas Day with the Nani's

We woke up early this morning to a little man who had one full diaper.  We figured that would be a good time to open our presents since we could get that done, get ready and go to Chruch at 9am.  Adam seemed to be more interested in the tree because for a month he hadn't had a chance to touch it since we put it up.  He would grab all the ornaments and pull them off and then try to eat them.  It was fun trying to get him interested in the wrapped gifts for him under the tree.  Finally, we got all the presents unwrapped.  We kept it pretty simple and most everything we got came for our loving family.  Thank you all so much!  There were a few things from us for Adam...puzzles and books and Megablocks.  He made out like a bandit but not so much that we feel we'll need to hide some of the things so they can be used at another time.  Adam has A TON of toys already.  Clothes, too.  I am sure that had no one got him one thing he would never know a difference.  But how can we do that to our amazing little man?  So presents it was.  Anything that has wheels he will flock to.  I love how he is just fascinated with the way they move.  Christmas was incredible and I can't wait for next year and Adam being able to comprehend what exactly this whole Christmas thing is about.  I love it and I love my family.

Christmas photos of our family.

We took a bunch of photos at Thanksgiving to be used for our family Christmas card.  Here are some of our favorite shots.  Hope you like them as much as we do.  We pretty much think all photos of our little man are worth showing off to the world.  We are bias like that.

Jessica is one year away from 16!

Happy Birthday to Jessica!  I was able to get myself out of be to go over and do Jessisca's hair.  It looked really cute and she was able to put the new headband that Grandma Jessie gave on.  Great job, Grandma Jessie!  She loved it.  Then we went to breakfast at Kneader's with Grandma Janet.  Later that evening, we all got together to celebrate.  It was so much fun and I love to see how much love everyone has for our Jessica.  She is one-of-a-kind and such an amazing girl.  We love you, Jess!

Christmas lights and Santa hat.

I saw this idea on Pinterest and wanted to try it out.  I like how they turned out, but I think I want to try doing it again.  He is such a trooper.  After I was done I started to think letting him put the lights in him mouth may not be such a great idea.  Mom of the Year award goes to me after I electrocute my child trying to take a photo.

Reading

David and I both want Adam to grow up loving to read.  We take every chance we can to sit down and read with him.  He really loves to listen to you and he knows how to turn the page when it is time to do so.  He actually likes to look at the books more than wanting to stick it in his mouth...which is what he wants to with most everything else (see the bottom two photos for his attack on Eeyore).  I hope he continues to develop a love for books.

O, Christmas tree...

Yes, we set up the Christmas tree yesterday and Thanksgiving hasn't even come yet.  Here is my justification (although I would probably still have set it up without an excuse)...we are spending a week in California before Christmas and I don't want to miss any of the opportunities to wake up to a Christmas tree or staying up late listening to Christmas music, sipping hot chocolate and watching the sparkle of the Christmas tree lights.  Plus, we were so excited to set it up with Adam.  He wasn't too much of a helper, but it was really fun watching him trying to eat the decorations.