New Year's Resolutions

i usually don't even bother to do resolutions, because i know i won't remember to do them, but this year i decided it was worth a try. i'm hoing i'll be able to stick to them, and to help with that i decided to tell everyone about them so maybe i'll feel like i actually have to follow up with them. so here they are:

• Make My House A Home - i want to make our apartment cute and homey and i want it to be the kind of place that people can walk into and know its a good place to be. i love nicely decorated homes, but i don't have the skills for it. so i'm going to do my best to learn. i hate that our apartment looks like a bunch of junk just thrown together. i want to learn how to decorate our house in the style i like. but just fyi i'm probably not going to start this goal until after we move. i think theres no sense in redoing everything when i've got to start packing it up soon anyways.
• Cultivate My Talents - i want to spend more time doing things i used to love doing, but always find myself saying i don't have time for anymore. i used to love photography, but quit doing it. i used to love playing the piano, but don't ever practice. i want to improve the talents i already have this year, as well as discover some new ones.
• Learn To Love Exercise - i'm hoping that this year i can learn to make exercising  a consistent part of my life. i hate that i feel like even doing 20 minutes is a horrible chore. tons of people LOVE working out, and do it every single day. i am hoping that i can become one of those people eventually and not have it be a torture for me. i'm sensible enough to know that it won't come automatically, so the goal i'm going to try is to do some sort of activity atleast 5 times a week, even if its short. its hard to do workouts with Connor, so my "exercising" usually isn't much of a workout, its often only 20 minutes or just a long walk. but i'm not pushing my self to loose a certain amount of weight or anything like that, i just want to have healthy habits. thats why i think even small efforts will accomplish the job.
• Catch Up on Scrapbooking - by the end of this year i hope to be caught up on the last two years. i haven't done anything since i scrapped our wedding and i've barely started Connor's book. but i know its just going to keep adding up if i don't start soon. i don't particularly like scrapbooking, but i feel like documenting our lives is something important to do, so i'm hoping if i set the goal it will encourage me to do it.

they may not be the best goals you've ever heard of, but they're the right kind for me. i've got all year to do them, so i'm not going to be beating myself up about not doing them fast enough. i didn't want any goals that would make me feel discouraged. i think all of these goals are ones that i can easily restart if i slack off and still be able to complete the main point without having to feel like a failure. i'm hoping that each goal will help enrich my life and be a good experience for me.

The Ending of a Great Year

i can hardly beleive that tomorrow starts the new year! this year has gone by faster than i thought possible! i figured in honor of that, i'd do a little summary of all the major events that have happened this year for us. i know anyone who got one of our Christmas cards is probably already aware of it all. but i'm including pictures in this one! so don't just pass over it in boredom :) and i might add in fun stuff i didn't even mention before! here goes nothing!

January - Caleb left for Basic Training. Jessica came to stay with me for a few months! She took pictures of us the night before he left.

 


February - My birthday passed without Caleb, and i was sad. but i worked hard and kept busy. and i wrote him a letter every single day.

March - Caleb and i had our first anniversary! i thought it would be miserable, but Caleb secretly had Jessica buy me roses to surprise me with! and she cut out what he wanted her to write on the card so it was in his handwriting :) and i even got a phone call from him :)

April - I got to fly to South Carolina for Caleb's graduation and then drive him to his AIT in Georgia! it was very exciting to see him again!

 

May - probably the most exciting event of our year, CONNOR WAS BORN! my mommy was there with me for it.Caleb came home memorial day weekend to meet him. :)

          

June - My bestest cousin Bethy came to visit me!



July - nothing too eventful happened. except for the fact that i was able to fit back into my pre-pregnancy jeans. and that was exciting for me lol. we were anxiously awaiting Caleb's return home.

August - Caleb graduated as a Distinguished Honors Graduate and FINALLY came home!

  

September - We went to Idaho to visit our families and be in my friend's wedding! Caleb's family met Connor for the first time, as well as my siblings and all our grandparents. Connor and his cousin Eli got to meet! (they are only 6 weeks apart!). Caleb was ordained. and we did Connor's baby blessing! it was a VERY busy trip!

Connor's Baby Blessing                                          Eli and Connor
                      

October - Connor and i flew to Idaho for my cousin Bethy's wedding!

Before the Reception                                              On the Airplane

November - Caleb and i went throught the temple for the first time. We were sealed together, and to Connor, for time and all eternity in the Mesa Arizona Temple!

 December - Connor's very first Christmas! we missed our families alot, but were glad to atleast be with eachother.

More pictures of this are on a different blog entry.

      In Christmas PJ's      Looking Cute After Presents

Wishing Everyone A Happy New Year!!!! can't wait to see what's in store for us in 2012! it was a pretty awesome 2011! :)

First Time At The Park

Today i took Connor to the park for the very first time! i had so much fun, but he didn't seem too impressed lol. it was nearly 70 outside and beautiful. he's been teething really bad and was throwing the biggest tantrums today. i wanted to cry cuz everything i tried didn't help. but while we were at the park he didn't cry, so for me it was a nice break. he didn't even make a single sound the whole time.... but he didn't smile at all either. so i was having fun, but i'm not sure what he was having. but, i got some cute pictures to share. he was most interested in playing in the sand, thats when he was the most animated. but i definently enjoyed the slide. but my favorite picture i got has the be the swing one :). such a cute little guy! he's wearing the cute outfit he got for Christmas from his cousin Eli! love him!

I'm thinking i will have to take him to the park alot more often. and hopefully next time he'll enjoy it more! maybe we'll even convince Caleb to come along with us. the park is just down the street from our apartments. super convenient for us, so i've got no excuse not to take him and have some fun! :)

Connor's First Christmas!!!

We started off our Christmas time with our ward party on the 17th. Caleb had to work, so just Connor and i went. we had lots of fun, and Connor wasn't scared of Santa at all and tried to take his glasses right off his face haha

We had an AMAZING Christmas day! Caleb really spoiled us this year! He got me a Canon Rebel, and i have been thouroughly enjoying using it to capture all the cute little things Connor does! We got Connor ALOT of presents lol as well as all his grandparents sent him presents, and his great-grandparents. So, needless to say, our little guy got plently spoiled! Caleb got lots of clothes, plus a few fun things.We started off our Christmas by making a gingerbread train on Christmas eve, and letting Connor open one gift (which was of course, Christmas pj's!) we ended up staying up kinda late just
spending some time as a family, since Caleb had work on Christmas evening.


Then the next morning our sacrament meeting started at 9, but i was up at 7 wishing my boys were up to open presents! didn't happen though haha. i had to wait patiently til after church! luckily it went by fast :) we had a blast watching Connor open his gifts, even though he'd get really mad at us for taking away the new toy after it was opened and trying to give him another gift to open. he didn't like that idea so much. we helped him open most of the gifts, but he did open a few all by himself! he loves all his new fun toys, and mommy is really excited about his cute new winter clothes! we got to talk to both our families on the phone, and it made me feel a little bit less far away from them! i made us a nice meal before Caleb had work, which was meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy and corn. we tried to make it a nice memorable christmas since it was our little guy's very first! hopefully we succeded. all-in-all, it was a great day :) we hope everyone else had a great one too! i took some pictures for you all to enjoy! a couple of them i took today while Connor was playing, just fyi. :)

Bath Time!

Connor loves his baths! Lately he's obsessed with his little whale his favorite cousin Eli gave him. He insists on chewing on it! I'm usually not crazy about showing bathtime pics/videos, but i figured he was decently covered, so it won't be humiliating for him when he grows up haha. The last time i gave him a bath he tried climbing out of the tub! he's getting so big! its probably about time i just gave up on his little tub and bathed him in the big tub. but it DOES keeps him from hitting his head. He is getting to be at such a fun age! so energetic and giggly and smiley! we are loving every minute of it! since he's ear has been hurting him he hasn't been splashing in the tub lately, and i have to admit, it makes clean up lots easier for mommy!!!

Playing In The Crib

Every day for the past week i've found Connor standing and playing in his crib after naps. The video and pictures i've got are too cute not to share!

 

These are from today. He was soooo funny to watch! i made Caleb help me lower his mattress down so he wouldn't fall out!

A Crawling Cutie

As promised, i got a little video of our boy doing his cute little crawl! I call it the "crippled crawl" because it cracks me up how he sticks his leg to the side to do it. but he's so darn cute! Today he got even better at it, and crawled clear across the room!

And, i have a cute bonus for you all! Connor keeps trying to do a bear crawl, and it makes me laugh so hard! i got a really short clip of it. :)

 

And, because i got some super cute pictures of his crawling on another day, here's a couple of them :)

first he wasn't quite so happy

 

then he was adorable

When Daddy came home from work we showed him how well Connor is doing! he got all the way across the room to him!