One Year

This is what my boys looked like a year ago.  Look at that tiny little baby!  This year his eyes turned from blue to green, he went from cooing to talking, and scooting to walking.  Not to mention he also went from eating baby food to stuffing his mouth with crackers and cheese and all thing edible.  It was a wonderful year and 2012 will always be memorable because it was the first whole year we got to spend with the mini.  We lived 2012, together.  And I'm very much looking forward to what 2013 holds for our little family.  Happy new year everyone!

Heard Museum

We heard lots of good things about the Heard museum (pun intended) so we jumped on the 2 for 1 groupon deal a few months ago.  We finally got around to going during Jake's Christmas vacation.  Another reason we went this week is because the groupon expires at the end of the year.  I have found that buying Groupons actually adds stress to my life; I get extremely upset when an unredeemed groupon expires.  Anyhow, we had a fun afternoon at the Heard.  I was mostly fascinated by the "baby carriers" and I wish that I had one to carry Ethan in when he was a newborn because it would be so much easier and less awkward to carry around than the carseat we had.  The museum also has an area for kids with simple crafts and coloring projects.  That was pretty fun for me.

A Few Pictures from Christmas Day

This was the very first Christmas we spent on our own.  After a delicious breakfast, we started opening presents.  Ethan didn't really know what was going on but he loved his presents.  He played with each toy after opening it and since he loved every one of them so much it was hard for us to persuade him to move on to the next present.  After a couple hours of playing and opening presents, he was exhausted and he kept saying "night night" so we decided it was time for a nap (for all of us).  Other than opening presents, we also Facetimed with some of our family abroad, watched a movie, played with our new toys and read lots and lots of books.  The day ended with a Christmas dinner of ham, baked potatoes, steamed carrots, and rolls.  It was a good day but we sure missed our family who all live so far away from us.

Newest Christmas Tradition

A few months before Christmas, Jake was telling me how he thought that we should create more Christmas traditions for our little family.  He said that when he was a kid he slept under the tree on Christmas eve.  I thought it was the cutest idea ever (even though I think it might make things challenging for "Santa" to put presents under the tree in the future when our kids are a little more grown up) so we decided that we would adopt it into our list of family Christmas traditions.  But on Christmas day when we Facetimed with Jake's parents, his mom asked us why we had an aero bed right next to the tree.  I proudly told her that we're continuing the Hunt family tradition of sleeping under the tree.  She had no clue what I was talking about.  It turns out that Jake's dad and little brother couldn't remember ever sleeping under the tree either.  Busted!  I wouldn't want to call Jake a liar; maybe he really did sleep under the tree...  in another lifetime.  Either way, we're keeping this tradition.

Christmas Card 2012

We hope that you have a very Merry Christmas today!  Here is our Christmas card and letter this year.

If you, like so many of my family members and friends, are wondering--no, I didn't do the artwork.  It was done by a very talented girl I found on Etsy.  Jessica was so easy to work with.  I absolutely love her.  Her shop is temporarily closed right now because of the hurricane (she lives in New York) and the holiday season, but go check her out if you ever need any art or design work done.  She's amazing.  It's now time for me to go back into the kitchen and clean up the yummy Christmas breakfast that we just had.  Merry Christmas!

Botanical Garden Take Two

Remember when we went to the botanical garden with Ethan's Grandma in the summer?  We decided that it was time we take daddy to see all the cool cacti.  We had a lovely stroll around the garden and E had so much fun roaming around.

On a side note, today I was wearing a pair of designer jeans that I bought a while ago.  It took me a long time to finally decide to buy them and all I have to say is: what took me so dang long!?  I have always had trouble finding jeans that look good on me mainly because of my shortness and those meatless thighs that I was cursed with.  But gosh these jeans fit so well on me they are worth every penny!  I have decided that there are a few things in life that are worth splurging on and designer jeans have recently just made the list.

Ho Ho Ho

One of Ethan's newest tricks is to say ho ho ho when you ask him what Santa says.  He also points at all and every Santa-look-alikes and say ho ho ho.  It's pretty darn cute.  It's only two days until Christmas!  I can't wait!

Goodnight Gorilla

Somehow going to the zoo at night made me think of Goodnight Gorilla.  We went to the Phoenix Zoolights a couple days ago.  Ethan absolutely loved it.  We expected him to fall asleep in the stroller but he stayed awake the whole time pointing at the lights and squealing.  We thought it was fun but not amazing.  Then again it's really not fair because both Jake and I have seen some of the most amazing Christmas lights in the world like Salt Lake's Temple Square and the Hong Kong Harbor.  I still had a great time though, mainly because of the fantastic company.  What's better than strolling through the zoo with your very own happy panda?