Thanksgiving Fun

I thought I would insert some holiday photos in between my love notes. We had a very fun and very busy Thanksgiving break. We ran in the Human Race again this year which is the 5K they do in Draper. We have been doing it now for 4 years. We did it the first year they had it and there were maybe a hundred or so people. This year there were thousands. It was packed. We still had lots of fun.

It was really cold to start out with, but warmed up as the sun came out. Zac got all bundled up and my parents walked with him while Jon and I ran.

We had dinner with Jon's family. Zac posed with his uncle Ryan by the fireplace. How holidayish.
My sister has taken over making cake pops. She came up with the idea to make turkey ones. They turned out so cute!
The next morning my sisters and I braved the stores early in the morning. I don't think I would ever so this alone, but we have lots of fun going together (right Kris- remember how fun it was checking out at Shopko:)) . I really did find some great deals. On Saturday we did crafts together with my mom and sisters. It's so nice to know such creative people.

Can't show everything- it is Christmas time you know.
Last Friday Jon and I finally got around to putting up the tree (not Jon's favorite activity).
But it was so worth it. Zac was in absolute joyfulness (my grammar is awesome!). We turned out all the other lights and turned on the Christmas lights and he just started clapping and cheering and saying "lights, so pretty". He had to get as close as he could to the tree- he slid his little legs under till he was nose to nose with the lights. He just kept clapping he was so excited.


I so love this time of year. It makes it even more fun that Zac is enjoying it this year as well. We hope all of you are having fun too.

Day 6

I love Jon's passion. He finds things to love or to work hard on and becomes passionate about them. I'll give a few examples. First his love of batman. The day his sister Megan was born, Jon's dad took Jon and his brother to see the first movie, and the love began. Jon now has seen all the movies, and has all kinds of batman paraphernalia around the house. Batman does reside in the fan and watch over our house, I didn't put it there for effect.
Jon lives for the days when the new movies come out as seen here .
Another passion he has is his love of the Yankees. He has stuck by them through the good and the bad. We were able to go to New York this summer and watch them play in their new stadium.

Jon was in heaven. It was quite the game too. It went for 15 innings ( that equals many hours!) which means we basically got 2 games in one. Jon couldn't have been happier.
He also decided to compete in a triathlon last year. He trained for months and had a great time doing it. The most important passion though that Jon has is his family. I have no doubt of his love for Zac and me. His number one goal all the time is how best he can take care of both of us. I love that we can be number one among all the loves in his life!

Day 5

Jon has a hot front right tooth. Sorry- this one is a total inside joke. Before Jon and I dated, he liked my best friend and for Christmas her sister and I were goofing off and writing Jon an email pretending it was from her and so we were coming up with really silly things that she liked about him and one was his beautiful front right tooth. The funny thing is that Jon happens to be a little sensitive about this particular tooth because he hit when he was young and the tooth died and he had to have it replaced. Really, it made it all the more funny. First, I love that Jon is someone I can joke around with. Second, I love that we have a lot of history together and that we can look back at things like this and laugh.

Day 4

Jon is a great cook. He grew up making the best chocolate chip cookies in his family (I think Mallory would now like to take that spot, however.) Now, Jon will eat something at a restaurant and try to figure out how to make it for us at home. He'll even watch Food Network with me every once in a while and gets some ideas there. He makes a really great pasta with all kinds of vegetables that was a hit for my grandma.

He also makes a really great turkey cheese steak sandwich. It is always so nice to have someone else cook for me and I love when Jon is feeling adventurous and makes us dinners.

Day 3

I love Jon's smile and laugh. If you know Jon, you know that we laugh a lot at our house. He's very sarcastic and cracks jokes all the time. I love when he smiles that all around his eyes crinkles up. (Zac's does the same and I love that he got this from his dad)

When he laughs he puts his tongue up against the roof of his mouth and lifts his chin, raises his eyebrows and kind of snickers. It's so cute.
I love that I married someone who is happy almost all the time. It makes our home a fun place to be!

Day 2

I love that Jon lets me eat off his plate. Somehow in my brain as long as I didn't put it on my plate then the calories don't count (I'm sure this is how it works!) Things always look better when someone else gets it. I'm not quite sure when this habit started, but Jon has never complained or gotten upset when I steal his food. At this point he just quietly gets bigger servings of things he knows I'm going to be eating. We laugh so hard at this Friends episode where "Joey doesn't share food."

Probably the thing I am stealing most often is french fries, so I'm so glad that Jon doesn't need a plate for the table. Jon not only doesn't get upset when I take things from his plate, he usually saves me the last bite of things (always the best), and most importantly he always gives me huge bite of the tortilla from his Cafe Rio salad that he saves for the end and I have always already eaten as I went. This is the truest form of unselfishness!

25 Days of Christmas- It Still Feels Good!!!

For Valentines Day Jon wrote 20 things he loves about me. I decided for Christmas this year I would take time each day to list SOME of the things I love about him. It started out being a good idea of a gift I could give to him that didn’t cost money (and then I impulsively went out and got him a big gift anyway- woops). I tell Jon that I love him all the time, but I don’t often tell him why, so I hope you will bare with me over this next month as I take this time to share with him (and I guess all of you) some of the things I love most about him. The first can be told through the song that is playing. It is called “Still Feels Good” by Rascal Flats. Every time this song comes on the radio I think about how well it describes how I feel about our relationship. Jon and I started dating when I was 16. When we first started dating of course there were the those jittery new love feelings of being excited to see him, hug and kiss him, and just hang out together. I am so glad to say that after 5 years of dating, 2 years of writing letters, and 6 ½ years of being married, it still feels good. Like the song says, I think about the first time I held his hand and compare it to now, and it still makes me happy. I still am so excited to see him when he gets home from work and walks in the door. I think about the first kiss after getting married and our kisses now still feel good. I love when we plan dates and he still gets all ready so he's looking nice to take me out. I am so glad to be married to my best friend- someone who makes me feel beautiful, important, and loved everyday. I hope you have a fabulous Christmas season this year Jon. It doesn't matter I've held you a million times- cause it still feels good!

Bribery

One night I turned around to find Zac looking like this. It's always good to have bribery pictures for the future! This kid cracks me up.

A Trip to the ER and a New Baby

So last week I was in the middle of my last parent teacher conference for the day and my phone rang. I thought it was strange because I knew Jon knew I was in the middle of conferencing and it wasn't the best time to call. After I was done I called back to find that Jon and Zac were in the ER and I needed to meet them there. They had been over a t friends house and Zac had fallen and hit his head on a wooden bench. This made for a very long day, and I teased Jon that even though it was his first day working in the ER at IMC that he didn't need to start practing on his own son.
Luckily they were able to just glue it together instead of doing stiches. Much less tramatic. He is now healing great. He doesn't really seem to notice it unless you ask him about it, and then he'll point to it and say bandaid, owie. I'm sure it could have been much worse, but I'm still glad that Jon was there to take care of all the blood, and I was just there to sing songs with him after the bleeding stopped.

The next night we got to abysit for Jon's cousin that had a baby a few weeks ago to give them some time to go out. We had lots of fun playing with baby Berkly.
She has the cutest cheeks and red hair. Zac was very soft and sweet to her.

He had to hold her hand while she was getting her daiper changed.
Jon had fun with her too. I think he held and played with her more than I did. He's decided that we need a girl someday becuase Zac is always wanting his mommy, and he just positive that a little girl would always be wanting her daddy. I'm sure he's right.

Argh Mateys- Happy Halloween

We had a fun couple of days last week. It has been fun the past few years to come up with costumes for the 3 fourth grade teachers to all wear. This year we decided to be be Alvin and the Chipmunks. It turned out really fun.

My mom brought Zac in to be in the parade with me. He was a pirate this year. He wouldn't wear the hat for the parade, but he still was pretty cute.

On Halloween I had to work on my report cards, so we headed up to Michelle's so Zac could play with his aunts while his mom worked. (By the way, going all the way to Woods Cross on Redwood Road is not the fastest way to get there if anyone asks.) After I finished, Zac got all dressed up again and we went to a Trunk or Treat that Kristen's ward was putting on. Kristen looked pretty scary, but Zac figured out what to do pretty quickly. He was all about the suckers!

After, we went to both grandmas' and got some more candy. It is so fun to celebrate holidays now that Zac has a better idea of what is going on. I'm getting so excited for the holidays coming up in the next few months. If I can just make it through Parent Teacher Conferences this week, life will be good.

Learning to feed yourself is funner in CHOCOLATE!

So Zac is getting very independent these days and is learning to eat all by himself. He does really well with a fork. The spoon food is a little harder, but what better way to practice than with chocolate pudding?
Saying "cheese" for the camera.
Honestly, don't you just want to eat him? He is so much fun these days. He definitely has his demanding moments, but he is learning and talking and playing and making everyone laugh all the time. I love this boy!!!!

Cake Class

My cake class is now over- can 4 weeks really go that fast. My sister Kristen and I had such a great time. She took most of the pictures of our adventures, but here are a few. I think a second class might be on the horizon.
Zac, after eating a cupcake. He now knows the word cake very well and asks for it every chance he gets.

Our last night we worked on learning the Wilton Rose.

Thanks Kris for being my cake decorating buddy. So when's the next class?