The Whiting Family

Monday, January 26, 2009

Christmas in Utah 2008

We had quite the busy week in Utah for Christmas! We always have several birthdays to celebrate, traditions to follow and family to spend time with, and we love every crazy minute of the trip!

I am SO, SO happy that my whole family is always together this time of year - it just wouldn't be the same if we all weren't there! And we don't even like to talk about the possibility that we won't all be at my parents for every Christmas for the rest of our lives...:)

Jake and Em were the ultimate troopers this year by taking a 5 a.m. flight Christmas morning to get back to Indy to spend Christmas day with her family. Thanks guys!

Teag was determined to try skiing, because he has never been allowed to in the past due to sports, then injuries, etc. I was SO worried that I was going to get a phone call from his bro Chad saying he did something to one of his knees and we would have to go thru the surgeries, physical therapy, etc. all over again! But who am I kidding, I am married to a true athlete...his first day he didn't fall once, and he was going down black diamonds by his last run. So he got another day in before we left and loved it just as much! Not to mention, he had to get all the gear, down to his own ski's, so now he can go whenever he wants in Boise (which is just not the same when you grew up skiing in Utah!)

WILLOW CREEK

We started out with a Christmas buffett at Willow Creek with the Reynolds family

It just wouldn't be Christmas without Santa and Mrs. Clause arriving via helicopter, right?!

poor Dallas wasn't so sure of Santa...

...but he was fine once Jer was holding him and was with the rest of the cousins

cute Reynolds cousins!

cutest Grandma Reynolds with Santa

ANNUAL WHITING CHRISTMAS PARTY
this year was at Blair and Linda's house and it was so, so fun to see everyone!

a lot of Teag's cousins we see maybe once a year and sometimes not even that often!

This year was especially great because of the gift that we were all given by Grandma Whiting (and Linda because of all the love, time and work she put into it). Linda has been working with grandma on her biography and asked that we contribute pictures and a little story, but had NO idea the masterpiece it would become! We were all given a copy of

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DALE ATWOOD WHITING

hard-bound, with her life-history, stories from her missions (all SEVEN!!) and little remembrances from events of all her grandkids from getting their eagle scouts, to weddings and births. It was absolutely AMAZING! She is such an incredible woman and we are so lucky to have something like this to keep forever and pass down to our kids. We are so grateful that Dallas has been able to know 2 of his sweet great grandma's!

Grandma Whiting, dallas and Teag

I love how grandma always tells me that she's always held a special place in her heart for Teag :) The Whiting Family

(minus Jonathon who was on his way home from Afghanistan, and Judd, very-pregnant Amberlynn and Valerie in Florida at flight school)

THE POLAR EXPRESS

one night we got the kids all dressed in their pj's and headed up to Heber to go on 'The Polar Express'! It was SO cute and fun! We took the Heber Valley Railroad to the North Pole, where along the way we read the story, had some of Mrs. Claus' cookies, did some karaoke and dancing with the elves, had a visit from Santa and laughed all the way!

No suprise, the Reynolds family took over the car we were in...the other families were LOVING us I'm sure :)

the younger cousins with the conductor

Dallas with his cute Grandma and Grandpa Reynolds

Dallas LOVED the train ride and looking out the window

me and my sweetest boy!

Dallas and Isaac dancing to Christmas songs - his cousins are so good to him!

Alexa bustin' a move at the front of the train

Josh and Jer were good sports (and reminded Santa how good they had been all year)

It was my dad's birthday so we convinced (or forced?) he and my mom to get up and sing jingle bells. Dallas couldn't resist when he saw them up there and had to go join in

Jake suprised us all when he was the first one to get up and start off the karaoke! What a cute uncle :) He and Em will be the greatest parents (not an announcement)

DALLAS' FIRST DENTIST VISIT

Grandma Whiting works at a dentists office, so we took Dallas in over Christmas to have his first check-up. He wasn't thrilled about the exam, but was very excited about getting a new toothbrush and a little toothpaste

CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER AT GRAM REYNOLDS

Helen, Lisa and Eliza

Helen was missing our favorite Santa hat this year

Jake and Scott carving the turkey

Dallas and the silly O'Neil girls!

Dallas and Eliza were being HILARIOUS together...this is in the midst of one of their screaming contests

Awwwww! Giving loves

my poor dad!

He went to the dentist earlier in the day and had to be completely knocked out, unbeknownst to any of us. My mom got a call at about 3 in the afternoon saying someone needed to come pick him up. They said he could very easily sleep for 24 hrs. so we were all so sad and worried he was going to miss Christmas Eve and Christmas - his FAVORITE time of the year.

But, mom to the rescue - she had him drinking red bull so he would wake up and wouldn't miss out. We just laid him down on the bed, but he kept getting up and coming out to chat and have cookies! He finally came around, but later told us he had no recollection of being at my grandma's at all

Dallas and Ben getting ready for the story.

Every year my mom read's the cutest Christmas Story, then my dad reads from the Bible

we LOVE doing the white elephant exchange! There weren't any frozen trout this year, but Teag was the lucky recipient of a Brighton Bengals t-shirt

HAD to get a pic of Em with her self portrait from 4th grade...we were all crying we were laughing so hard! the white elephants just keep getting better and better!

we were SO happy that Jay felt semi-okay and was able to spend some quality time with everyone! He and Dallie are best buddies :)

CHRISTMAS DAY

Dallie checking out the goods from Santa

wouldn't you know, he goes right for the Diego sippy cup

then it was into Dad's lap to read a book left in his stocking

after we checked out what Santa brought we headed over to the Whiting's for a yummy breakfast and more presents!

Dallas playing with Grandma Whiting

the kid LOVES books!

He got the cutest little penguin book from Hailey, so it was into Dad's lap again to read

sweet Hailey and Grandpa Whiting

JUST PLAYING AROUND!

Dallas and Eliza hanging out on the animals watching a show

Dallas and Eliza - so cute watching Dora together

these two sillies kept running to the front door to do "1, 2, 3, go!" then they would just run around the house like crazy!

Dallas and the O'Neil girls playing in the snow in grandma and grandpa Reynolds backyard

poor guy took a little face plant into the powder!

He was ready to go in and snuggle by the fire with mommy after that :)

HEADING HOME

this little guy thinks nothing is better than 'driving' so at one stop when dad went into the gas station he was DYING to hop into the drivers seat (Diego baba in hand) once his diaper was changed!

BABY COLT - AND HIS BROTHERS

Ethan, Avery and Elliott in the back, Colt and Dallas in the front

we were SO excited that Isaac, Lea and these cute boys stopped in Boise for a sleepover on their way home to Washington!

I just couldn't get enough of Colt! He is so tiny (compared to Dallas), but he is a BIG baby!

He looks like a miniature Isaac! It was so great seeing the proud and happy new parents! Lea definitely has her hands full with 5 boys on her hands, but they couldn't be a cuter little family!

Elliott and Avery were so funny and wanted us to lock them in the kennel with Ruby

We had a great Holiday and feel so lucky that we have so many great people to spend it with!

In the words of Jake,

PUT IN THE TIME TO BE GREAT IN '09!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Thanksgiving

We were so excited to have the Whiting side of the family up for Thanksgiving!

This was the first time we have hosted, so I was a little nervous...but was so much fun and I loved all the preparation and cooking!

Teag didn't want anyone to go hungry so we had 2 turkeys and a ham, plus all the typical sides!

Teag smoked one of the turkeys and did the other in the oven. It goes without saying that Teag's was AMAZING! (I think Tara said it was the best turkey she has ever had?!)

And mine wasn't so bad either! I thought it was so pretty when it came out of the oven!

Over the weekend we had plenty of food, fun watching the kids play together and a great time just hanging out together!

Dallas and daddy at Thanksgiving

Teag carving the turkey

Whiting boys

the kiddos watching a show together

cute cousins

my turkey!

Dallas at Boondocks - of course he has to do the basketball!

playing skee-ball

My friend Terri and I made the connection between her dad and Brent (my father-in-law). She mentioned that her dad was from Aberdeen, ID where Brent is from, so I asked him if he knew of her dad. Turns out they were best friends when they were growing up! They were both in town for the holiday so we got them together to reminisce. It had been over 30 years since they had seen each other, so it was so fun to sit and chat with them!

I love how much this boy loves his daddy!

They are just the cutest and best buddies

November

"helping" me in the kitchen

so silly!

this is the fun stuff that daddy does with him!

playing around at little gym

talking on the phone

Sesame Street Live!

such a big boy coloring...

he really wanted to mow the lawn with Teag one last time before winter!

with Uncle Jay at the hospital on one of our trips to Utah
-

well, it looks like my updates have pretty much gone from weekly to monthly! our little man keeps us pretty busy and we are still loving every minute of it! He was 20 mo. on december 9th and he will be 2 before we know it! He is so big and into so much! every day is a new adventure and I love being with him for it :)

- he is talking more and more every day! he still calls teag 'baby' all the time - I love it!

- he has to try to do everything by himself

- he LOVES the xmas tree, and is luckily kindof afraid to touch it, so it hopefully won't get knocked over!

- he is the total boss of the dogs...when they are in their kennels he will go up, crouch down, shake his finger and tell them 'no!'

- the kids LOVES egg nog! we were trying to help him gain some weight (he is tall and skinny like Teag was) so we introduced him to egg nog. now it is egg nog baba's all the time!

- he runs his little gym class! all the other moms and kids will be sitting together in the circle and I am by myself singing while dallas is off in the gym hanging from the bars, jumping off things or running wild!

- the tantrums are becoming more frequent, and it takes everything we have for Teag and I not to bust up every time! When he runs into the corner or throws himself on the ground crying it is still cute to us :)

- he is such a good little helper - he cleans up after himself very well

- he still LOVES watching sports! he will watch football with Teag all day on the weekends, and he is rarely seen without a ball. He loves playing basketball, and especially loves it when I cheer and jump around for him!

- he will grab my hand and pull me down to the floor to color with him - so fun!

- he likes to pick out his own clothes

Friday, December 05, 2008

busy, busy, busy!

I feel like we have just been going non-stop for the past little while!

I went from lap top to desk top and am rarely on the computer anymore. I have a lot of catching up to do, so luckily I can edit the dates on posts!

a little of what we have been up to:

- hanging out with Dallas

- visits to Utah to see my bro Jason

- Ruby (the pug) went bye-bye for a little while, but now she is back - at least for the time being

- Gma Reynolds in town for the day (12/04)

- Whiting Family in town for Thanksgiving

- getting ready for Christmas

- much needed (and appreciated) weekend getaway to McCall with some girlfriends

- oh, and Teag had an idea...we both want to go to graduate school, so we are both studying for the GRE and whoever gets the higher score gets to go first. Advice appreciated :)

- just having so much fun and loving each other so much!