This baby. Oh how he makes our hearts happy!
Love a decorated house. We moved furniture around and it's so cozy! Our Christmas lights didn't all work on our tree
Beckham is always good for a laugh. He is always wearing some sort of dress up attire-even when they're just regular clothes. Seriously funny kid!
Zac and I were asked to be Mary & Joseph {with Fischer as baby Jesus} for the Ward Nativity Christmas party. With Grayson still so sick, we were pretty hesitant up to the day about doing it. Wendy volunteered to stay home with the two older boys so we could run sing & come home. Thankful for her! That made us feel much better. We sang "What Child is This" and it went well. Grateful for a husband who will do that kind of thing with me. He is such a strength. Fischer was laughing {hard & loud} in the foyer at the 16 year old girls and they were all swooning over him beforehand. Then about 5 minutes before it was our turn, he fell asleep & stayed asleep the whole time. Such a sweetie! I had to get a picture with Santa {uncle Burdette Pratt} too before we left & he sent home some candy filled candy canes for the boys.
Sometimes Fischer feeds himself. He's advanced like that.
Not quite advanced enough to sit in the bumbo for too long before leaning a lot, though.
This baby. Seriously cute!
We used a kit from Grami to make gingerbread Ninjas! The boys liked it, but Grayson mostly liked eating the dough/frosting/cookies, & Beckham saved his to give to Grandpa Farrel, Grandma Marge, and Uncle Mark. We went to visit them after the cookies were done & they all got a kick out of the boys. Mark even wore Beckham's Batman mask! He loves Beckham because he can tickle him & torture him and Beckham just keeps coming back for more. He is a tough kid, for sure.
Got some cute shots of the littles together all ready for church. Best presents ever.
Grami Tami & Grandpa Alan spent a week in Hawaii! We missed them {although it was during our quarantine with Gray's sickness, so it's unlikely we would have really seen them anyway}, and all got together for lunch the Sunday they got home. They brought us t-shirts {Grayson was ecstatic & immediately stripped to put it on & Beckham was horrified at the thought of clothing as a gift-ungrateful child!} (; They also brought the boys shells & these funny light up glasses. The boys ate ice cream in them & thought they were pretty cool!
The boys got much needed hair cuts from Talon. Beckham bawled the entire time. Why is this such an issue?? At least we don't have to do their hair on a daily basis!
Have I mentioned it's been freezing??! Our windows aren't super great, so we often have frost & ice INSIDE, haha!
We fed the missionaries. Elder Tupou {Tonga} and Elder Weston {UT}.
Beckham was immediately enamored with Elder "Po." He grew up with 5
brothers, so he knew just how to act. They wrestled, chased, and even
wore super hero capes! They brought a great spirit to our home and it
was SO good for our boys to be around them. Bex was very sad when they
had to leave and Elder Po said, "You're my boy, right?" He nodded yes
& gave him a fist bump. Adorable! These elders are going to
make a great impact with their willing hearts and love for the Lord. I
hope our boys can follow in their footsteps. One thing that impressed
me was when Zac was talking to Elder Weston about the fact that he
didn't serve a mission and it makes him nervous about how to teach our
boys about the importance of it & how he sometimes feels
inadequate about that. Elder Weston said, "My dad didn't serve a
mission either. He always said "when" we served our missions, not "if,"
and we grew up knowing we'd go. All three of his sons have served
missions. And, he is the most Christlike man I know-without serving a
mission-I'm sure your boys will feel the same about you." What a
perfect sentiment for my sweet husband to hear! And so so true.
Grayson helps me tremendously with Fischer.
I had a massage envy membership for a while and had several massages built up that I'd paid for, but hadn't used yet. I gifted 2 of them to Taylor & Kelsey and the three of us went over for massages. So fun! We had fun visiting, too. We went to Target afterward and met our three guys. Lance wasn't feeling great, so he and Kelsey went home early & we were bummed. T&T and Zac and myself went to Red Robin to eat. Taylor & I drove her car and when we were almost there, her lights turned off & we pulled in, parked, and the car quit. Dead battery! Crazy! We ended up eating & then by total happenstance, an angel showed up next to us to help jump the car so we could leave it in the home depot parking lot. The angel was Trent Holcomb & his wife! Such a small world-so grateful!
Zac & Talon took the big boys to the Nyssa Nightlight parade while Taylor & I kept Fischer home and out of the cold. It's a pretty lame parade if we're being honest {more of a chance for every siren in town to make sure it works}, but Grayson said, "That was the best parade I've ever been to!" Definitely can't take him to any that are better or his expectations will be way up! And, they did get some good candy this year instead of the hard choking candy that's usually there.
After the parade, the guys picked us up & we went next door to Tommy & Tara's house for a cookie exchange. They were so brave & invited several other couples from our ward + kids! The boys had fun playing & we had fun visiting, playing games, tasting & sharing cookies, and getting to know our neighbors better.
I snuck a quick pic before church started when I saw this adorable sight. Grayson LOVES Fischer and is always sweet to help me out with him. And, this is the first non-open mouth smile I've gotten voluntarily {or ever} in over a year...he's growing up!
Grayson often asks to watch Fischer at bedtime. He talks to him, tells him stories, and makes him laugh. Sometimes they both fall asleep.
Teacher gifts for both boys schools.
Beckham had his preschool Christmas party. I was a bit nervous because they had drawn names to have a gift exchange. Beckham's love language is gifts-in a BIG way. Earlier in the week Grayson had brought home a gift for each member in our family that he'd picked out at school from Mr J's Junk store. He had wrapped them & they were under the tree. Beckham wanted his and Grayson said he could open it early. Beckham kept asking if it was a super hero thing or a star wars thing and Grayson would say, "No, I couldn't find anything like that, but it's something we can play with together." He was so excited to see Beckham's reaction & anxiously waited while Bex opened the gift. It was two toy cars. Beckham threw them down, started bawling, and went off about how he didn't want those cars & didn't like them. HUGE fit! I marched him to his room and explained that we don't act like that when we receive a gift and then went to give Grayson a big hug and thanked him for so thoughtfully thinking of his brother. Thankfully Beckham's reaction didn't seem to bother Grayson-he was still pretty happy with himself for doing a good deed. (; Later Beckham and I had a talk about his reaction and Grayson wandered by. He said, "Beckham. Christmas is about giving, NOT getting....but you get stuff too. And, you get what you get & you don't throw a fit! And, how would you feel if you gave someone something and they said they didn't like it? Bad, right? You should always say thank you when given a gift. What if someone gives you clothes? Say thank you. What if someone gives you a book? Say thank you!" hahahaha! I guess I'll have them teach each other from now on. So his party was quickly approaching and I feared a repeat performance would be going on when he received his gift exchange gift. We practiced saying thank you beforehand no matter what & got to the party. They decorated Christmas "trees" and then sat in a circle for their gift exchange. When Lyla opened the gift from him {random, huh?!} she loved it. Then he opened the gift from Ryan and it was 3 different blow up super hero things {sword/shield, etc.}. He got excited and said, "Thanks Ryan!" Phew! (;
Beckham and I, along with Taylor & Chloe, Mom, Meg, and Barbara, had lunch with Tracy for her birthday. She is such a beautiful gift in my life! So thankful she was born and that I was raised-in part-by her. She has showed such strength and grace through really tough trials this year and I appreciate her sweet and positive attitude and faith. Beckham was quite the ham the entire time and said some funny things! He warmed up to Barbara and snuggled up to her. So funny!
Beckham got to go with me to Grayson's Christmas party at school. They treated Bex just like a member of the class-Max especially is always so sweet to him. Beckham always tells Grayson that Max is "both their best friend." (: They got so much junk food! Haha! It was a fun day & we are excited to get Grayson home for 16 days!
We got more snow than I can remember getting in a long time. The boys were so excited!
We had dinner with the Peterson & Hartley families at Hartley's house this year. It was yummy as always, and so fun to watch our kids play together. Meg, Tad, & boys gave our family a set of Captain Underpants books and we've been reading 2-3 chapters a night. The boys {and I} are LOVING this new routine. I'm hoping it will just further a desire to have a love of reading like their mama!
Jillian-one of the boys very favorite & most seen babysitters-brought the boys a sweet Christmas gift. We are all big fans of Jill and so thankful that she is willing to watch our boys almost weekly!
Sent Christmas cards out to our immediate family + our far away friends.
Zac had his annual birthday xbox party. They used his moms new game room which worked perfectly and we appreciate his folks being so flexible while their house was invaded by guys gaming & eating. He had a great turnout: Layne & Jeffery, Connor, Louis, Talon, Mason, Chris, Aaron, Darin, Chris, and a couple others. Taylor spent the night here with me & the boys. We watched Netflix and went to bed far earlier than our husbands.
The night following the xbox party, Taylor called us crying because Darin Thomas & Chris Alder {two of the boys at the party & Talon's cousins & bff's} were killed in a car accident. They were both recently returned missionaries and had been BFF's their entire lives. They were traveling home from the temple where they'd been for a college roommates wedding. It was such a shock. Zac knew them much better than me and we cried for T&T, the boys families, and all those touched by this tragedy. It was such a surreal thing. The next week leading up to their funeral, T&T shared some of the blessings and testimony building experiences they'd had with their family. Talon has a huge extended family on both sides, but they are one of the closest families I've ever seen. The cousins especially have awesome relationships. Sunday morning I told the boys what had happened and that we needed to show T&T lots of extra love because their hearts were really hurting. T&T were in sacrament meeting & the boys scooted onto the bench to sit by them. Beckham went over, put his hand on Taylor's shoulder and said to Talon, "Uncle Talon, did your friends die wast night?" Talon nodded and cried. We all cried. It's tough watching your siblings struggle and even though we know, believe, and have faith in God's plan, it's hard. Zac attended the funeral of the boys with my parents-I desperately wanted to go, but had sick kids and thought I better stay home with them. He said it was an incredible service. They had pictures of the boys together from birth til death. Pretty awesome. We are so thankful to know that those boys are together with God and that we will see them again.
My parents took the big boys to see the movie Frozen with Doll & Mason and then met up with T&T for dinner at Winger's. Such a sweet gesture & made the boys week. They had a blast & Zac and I didn't know what to do with ourselves with just Fischer for the day! haha!
