Christmas Eve

We had such a quiet and relaxing Christmas Eve day and decided to take a walk to the park before dinner.
Preston was so cute riding on daddy's shoulders.


Aaron shocked Hillary and I with his monkey bar skills. He could even do a flip!


It was a little chilly so walking home we put Preston's hood on. When we took it off this is what his hair looked like! We were cracking up.


After a nice, delicious dinner of tri tip and other goodness we opened one present each. Aaron and I got Dee and Hillary matching Snuggies!

Aaron had to try it out.

Wow!!!

We're pregnant and we really cannot believe it!! I was so anxious to know for sure that I was going to be having a baby that I couldn't sleep through the night and got up at 4am to take a test. I didn't believe the line that said I was pregnant so we bought another test and it's for sure!


We decided not to wait to tell the family so on Christmas Eve day we got creative and told the Carter's. Our stockings hang on the wall and all the grandkids stockings are hung together. We found this little bitty stocking and stuck it up when no one was looking. It was up for quite a while without anyone noticing so we decided to draw attention to it. Even after Dee and Hillary saw it they still didn't say anything. After a while Dee said, "Who put that up there?" and I just said, "We were missing a stocking." She got it right away and started squealing. Hillary said she knew it!

I am still in shock but couldn't be more excited about another baby coming August 30th!

Seeing Santa

I went back and forth wondering if I should take Preston to sit on Santa's lap this year. I finally decided we would take him to Bass Pro to see Santa there, thinking the line would be way shorter than the mall. Too bad I was wrong. It was over an hour wait so we didn't sit on Santa's lap, but we did see him. Preston didn't seem to mind.

We also got to see the Reindeer!
The lights, snow and running through the fishing isles was just as exciting.


We'll try Santa again another year. I do wonder if he would have cried on his lap though...I kind of don't think he would. He loves Santa.

Preston's First Basketball Game

As you know, Preston is a serious sports fan so it was such a perfect opportunity to take him to his first Basketball game when Grandpa (Jim) was announcing a Sierra high game. It was so cute to watch him sit there and take it in, although he did his fair share of climbing around.





He was especially sweet with his Aunt Hilly. Notice his hand on her leg? Too cute.

I'm sure there will be much more of this to come in the years ahead....although it won't be long before he is out there himself!

Carter Family Christmas

This year we did part of our Carter Family Christmas a week early so we could all be together. We opened a few gifts each and Preston was absolutely thrilled with his new soccer ball from Auntie Hilly.
(I really wish I took more pictures, and not just on Aaron's phone....)




We had a great time and loved our presents from Hillary too, A Christmas Story theme. Aaron got a Red Rider BB gun and I got bunny slippers. So clever!

Coons Family Christmas

It has been years since the extended Coons family has gotten together and we are so glad my cousin Cherie suggested it and made it happen. Here is a group shot, we are still missing many (Preston was asleep). Wish you were there Jim, Emily, Julia, Eliza Kate, Jacob, Brian, Jeff, Katrina, Khloe, Trevor, Dave, and Travis.
Violet was so sweet with "Grandpa Greg". She didn't want to let go of him.
Cousins Preston and Luke always have fun together.
And even though Luke is giving me the evil eye here he has begun to warm up to me a little bit. Like, he actually lets me touch him instead of running from me like he always did.
Levi is adorable and loved Aaron. He was just cracking up at him.


Hope that we can get together again soon. We had a great time!

Fab 40's Lights

For FHE we decided it would be fun to go check out the lights in the fabulous 40's neighborhood. It is huge houses and beautiful lights. Preston was all bundled up with his polar bear hat and gloves.

One house was especially decked out with tons of cartoons and Disney characters. Preston loved it and wished he could go check everything out a lot closer.

We had such a great time and Preston learned about Santa when we saw quite a few Santas in peoples yards. Now he asks to see Santa all the time but we told him he had to go ni-night and that seems to make sense to Preston.

Christmas Decorations

We absolutely love decorating for the holidays and we don't waste any time in doing so. The Monday after Thanksgiving we got our tree and begun decorating. The finished product is so festive and makes me happy!



Too bad this is what our tree looks like now because of our sweet toddler :)
Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving was with the Coons this year and we were so happy to get to spend 4 whole days in Alamo. There are always a lot of people and it's sometimes overwhelming, but we always have a great time.

Alyssa helping set the table, well one of the 3 tables.
My mom bought flowers at Costco and her and I did arrangements. Look at this beautiful cornucopia she did!
I did these little arrangements.

Caitlin, Uncle Brad, Luke, Aaron and Preston by the drink and snack table
This is where we laid out the food
We had a TON of people, it ended up being 27 of us. And despite having that many people, we still missed Anna and Kayden who were in Utah.
Dad and Preston
Some group shots around the table


Good food!
And great company!
Awww, he makes me melt.

Family shot

My mom always makes the BEST pies.
Us :)
One exciting thing for us this year was taking advantage of all the great couponing deals. We went to Walgreens and CVS on Thanksgiving and this is our loot.
I ended up spending about $48 out of pocket for over $180 dollars worth of product. What's amazing, though, is that I got $48 in rewards to use on my next purchase. So in essence I got all this for free!!
And here's just some cute shots from the weekend.

It was so fun reading to all these kids.Preston absolutely loves running around the sunroom, aka Turbo's room. He jumps on Turbo's bed and just goes crazy.

And he loves the trampoline even more. He would stay out there for hours if we let him.

We are so grateful for this holiday season when we get to focus on all our blessings. We know we are truly blessed and that everything we have is from our Heavenly Father. In Him we are most grateful.