my week via iPhone

 

< our stockings! devin and I built a cute coat rack right before chrismas that we hung them on

> some more cooper christmas love

 

< snuggle pup

> cooper's finally teething! we are so glad he's loosing these dagger baby teeth, but it's been a pretty constant challenge to make sure he's still okay. and it's also been pretty bloody...

 

< man to man

> sunday at the dog park - in december. it was freezing.

 

< when dad plays with cooper...

> this man.... i'm beyond grateful for this man lately. 

>< post-christmas exhaustion

 

>< the next several photos are virtually the exact same: of a sleepy, snuggly cooper. my favorite kind.

 

< an excess of oranges around christmas time. always. so this time, i made orange juice!

> saturday = 800 days since our first date. don't ask me how or why i know that. but it's pretty cool. it's weird to look back at pictures of us when we were starting to date and realize that at that time, i had no idea devin would be my husband, but there he was.

 

< our saturday night agenda while devin works: the second half of season 3 of gossip girl and sleeping (2 days in a row at the dog park make for a very happy, very tired cooper)

> one of those times when an outfit i thought of in my head turned out to be as good as i imagined (and also, i finally own a curling iron. and a blow drying that actually blows air, and doesn't burn my skin...)


< new years eve fondue
> envious of our friends' bouldering room in their basement


>< one of my resolutions taking place. i was devastated a few months ago when i sat down at the piano and realized i had forgotten how to play my favorite song. after running through it about 10 times, i've got it back. i can play it again comfortably, just not memorized like i used to (yet). 2013 is going to bring with it my love for piano (again.)

 
< my mom's hilarious updates about kayla's surgery while i was at work
> diet coke is bad day fuel


< painting kayla's toes, post-op

Christmas Day 2012

I was up by 6:30, along with Cooper. We were tired, but too excited to do anything about it. I gave Devin about 30 more minutes, and then woke him up. We had our own little Christmas morning, where we opened a few gifts from each other, including our ornaments this year. 

< Devin got me a red Hunter boots ornament, because he knows how badly I want actual Hunters

> I got Devin this classic piece: Ralphie in his bunny pajamas from "A Christmas Story" 

We had a lot of fun getting cooper a few treats, a new tennis ball, and his very favorite: a big stuffed alligator. That thing became his new best friend, and even though it was just as long as him, he carried it everywhere. He loved it so much! It was just like how he was as a baby puppy with his little stuffed lion. He has since ripped all the stuffing out and his friendship with Gator ended far too soon. Gator found his way to the trash within a few days. The joys of a dog! haha

 

After we got ready, we went down to my parents' house and did Christmas morning with my family. I love my family so much and we had so much fun just being in each other's company. I'm sorry I failed miserably at documenting our Christmas! 

From there, Devin and I went to Grandpa Willis and Virginia Rae's for some food and more celebrations. Grandpa Willis is the most stylish and classy guy around. We love seeing them, along with Devin's aunt and his cousins. 

Next up was Grandma Houston's, where we missed breakfast, but made it in time for everything else. We opened a few gifts and had a blast hearing all about Santa's visit from my cousin's 2 small kids. My grandparents gave all of the couples in the family a Belgian waffle maker for Christmas - which is perfect, because ever since Devin and I discovered our obsession with Bruge's Waffles and Frites in SLC and our lack of funds to fuel that obsession, waffles are happening at our house at least twice a week! 

My mom LOVES owls so this was one of her christmas presents from her mom. Creepy or cool? I really can't decide...

She has already titled herself "Grandma Hootie" even though she has no grandchildren yet, and none on the way. Ha! I love my mom :)

After that, we went back to my parent's house to relax a little. Devin, Sean, Kelli and I spent most of the afternoon outside in the hot tub at my parent's house. It was a pretty sunny Christmas Day, but deceivingly chilly. We finally got out once we realized how pruney we were! 

Devin and I headed home once we were cleaned up, because we had left Cooper there all day. It was so hard for me to leave Cooper! Devin kept reminding me that Cooper doesn't know the difference between holidays and regular days, but I couldn't help but miss him. 

When we got home, we cleaned up the house and made waffles! haha! We ended the night with the second half of The Polar Express, and just like that, Christmas was over.

It was a day full of lots of family and lots of parties and lots of things to do, but I wouldn't have it any other way. It was stressful at times to rush from house to house, but I'm glad that we even have that option. I love that all of our families live so close, and we don't have to trade off which holidays we spend with who. We wouldn't want to have to choose anyway, because our families are so amazing! 

This year, Devin and I have had a lot to be grateful for, and instead of focusing on presents and material things, we spent most of the holidays feeling extremely humbled. We have been on the receiving end of a lot of service, and could not be more thankful for the people in our lives. It definitely wasn't a big, showy holiday - but it meant so much more to us than any gift ever could. I am so grateful for Devin, and the example he sets for me, and everyone else, and for his willingness to serve and work hard. He and I have been our own little team lately, and we've been handling everything that comes our way as best we can. I think this Christmas, we were most grateful for the opportunity it gave us to take a step back and look at our lives and be truly grateful for where we are and what we are doing, and it's been the most meaningful Christmas yet.

Oh, and although I did fail miserably at documenting our Christmas, we at least remembered to take a family photo by the tree, even though cooper is blurry and we look like giants! And, we do have a few photos from setting up our Christmas tree, thanks to Devin!

as you may remember from last year, almost all of the ornaments on our tree, I made. we do have some small gold balls that we bought, but I have had so much fun making the ornaments. This year I added pinecones I collected from the park and spraypainted gold, and the salt dough ornaments I posted about earlier. It's coming along! 

Christmas Eve Funtivities

Man! Christmas is no break! We were constantly on the move, seeing so much family and doing so many fun things. We had a blast, but it was exhausting! That being said - I hardly had any time to take any photos! I'm so sad! I think I'll add "be better at taking photos" to my list of resolutions...

Christmas Eve, we slept in and when we got ready, we headed down to Devin's parent's with Cooper. From there, we went to Nana and Grandpa's for their "Christmas Eve Open House" they've been doing for the last few years. We helped Nana make some chicken salad and we feasted (literally. Nana is such a good cook!) and munched and snacked while we skyped with the babies in Vernal. They had been tracking Santa all day on norad.com.

From Nana's, we headed up Rock Canyon to give Cooper some time to run around and get out some energy. Next we went to my parent's house, just in time to see my dad's best friend Kevin, stopping by with a big box of oranges, just like he has every single Christmas all my life. When I was younger, I legitimately thought Kevin was one of my uncles. It was indistinguishable. He and Dad have been friends since they were kids.

From there, we went to Grandma and Grandpa Houston's for a chinese food dinner (Christmas Eve is also my Uncle Tim's birthday, and this year he turned 50! So he got to choose dinner). We couldn't stay to eat, because we had another party to go to (naturally!).

Devin's parent's was next. We did all of our family gift exchanging and had the Wagstaff's on skype again so they wouldn't miss anything. We had a pretty great time watching Koda and Cooper rip up all the wrapping paper (Koda's an awesome teacher). And Riley was the fun police, he would come growl at them when they were having too much fun, ha!

 

Amanda made all the dogs bandannas! Cooper loves his and looks so handsome in it. Yellow is a perfect color on him! 

One of my favorite gifts this year was what I got from Brandon (devin's brother). He drew my name for the family gift exchange and this year we decided to go home made. Remember how Brandon is an amazing chef? His gift to me was the meal of my choice, cooked by him in my home! What more could you ask for!? Devin and I have gotten really close with Brandon this year, and spend time with him as often as we can. He is very quickly becoming one of my best friends.

Devin and I drew Sean and Chloe for christmas this year and had a ton of fun making these racks for them!

After that, we went back to Houston's and just missed the white elephant gifts, but don't worry. The family left us some awesome movies (including Win A Date With Tad Hamilton!! i love that movie!) and a bunch of airplane toiletries. Classic. We spent the rest of the night hanging out with my cousins and laughing hysterically at their funny stories. We also spent most of the night trying to tackle the Logo Quiz app game - unsuccessfully!

We went home pretty tired, and finished the night off in bed with the first half of The Polar Express - my favorite christmas movie. (I need the book!)

What I love most about Christmas is the chance we have to set everything in the world aside and spend 2 full days (at least) solely with our families. Devin and I are surrounded by some pretty incredible people, and devoting this time to them is such a blessing - but also a lot of fun! We are so lucky to have so much family all in the same city - or at least really close.

A Very Merry Throwback Thursday

Miss this girl and the rest of her family! Merry Christmas from A-rae!