Ryan, Steph, and the Boys: January 2014

Warning: This is a major picture-dump post. I have a new camera (Happy Early Christmas to me!) and I just couldn't help myself. If you don't want to look at lots of pictures of my kids, this post (well, blog, really) is not for you.

We kicked off the Christmas season with a long weekend in Draper, Utah! By now our kids are becoming airport and airplane-ride pros. The flight was a piece of cake this time! There was no crying, no major spills, and I even got to read the in-flight magazine. I was in shock. Also in love with the man of my dreams who held our sleeping baby.

Before our plane had even touched down, the boys were revved up by all the snow they saw from the air. They couldn't wait to get outside and play!

Thank goodness for Aunts who are game for impromptu snowball fights!

Ryan, on the other hand, couldn't wait to get his hands on the good old family Yamaha. Our little digital piano sounds kind of pathetic in comparison.

Day 2, Austin's 3rd Birthday!!! He started off the morning with lots of presents...

And finished up with a ROWDY Walker Family Game Night/Birthday Party! (Because there really are no other kinds of Walker Family Parties. Let's be honest here.)

Grandma Susan went all out planning a fun Minute-To-Win-It game night. The highlight game had to be the Reindeer Relay with the younger Great-Grandkids (Enoch, Sam, Nia, and Talia)

Way to go Sam! You were amazing at this game!!!

Presenting, the Birthday Boy and his cake! Austin's 3 year old stats: Height - 3' 2" (55%ile) & Weight - 30 lbs (31%ile). Austin loves to smile and have fun. He has turned into Mr. Personality and loves to be silly and laugh. He adores his big and little brothers. He loves Mickey Mouse and Superman. Most days you can find him wearing a blue shirt and a red cape and little else. He is a natural wrestler and can sometimes take down his big brother. He eats everything in sight and thinks utensils should be optional. He knows his ABC's, can count to 10 (sometimes beyond), loves to read books, and always surprises me with what he knows. We love this little man!

Austin blowing out his candles. I am a loser and was trying to show everybody there and missed his actual blowing out of the candles. Luckily, there were other cameras out so I could watch it later!

Great-Grandma Walker with most of her great-grandchildren. Only missing 4!

Austin's "I'm eating chocolate cake" face. Yum!

Grandma Susan was prepared with lots of crafts for busy little boys.

On to the best part of the weekend...Christmas Morning 2 1/2 weeks early!!!

Grandma Susan was in her element :) Could she be more adorable?!

Christmas Ornaments!

And presenting our newest nephew! Baby Lincoln is the sweetest little guy around and the big boys love him! I managed to catch him shooting a little smile at Grandpa Jeff.

Eli was pretty sure these cars were for him.

Wondering what kind of ice-cave Austin managed to climb into?

There you go. They were both pretty excited about opening their presents early!

I couldn't resist cuddling with Baby Lincoln. Could you?

Lincoln's AMAZING momma, Lauren!

Aunt Carly is my boys' hero. She BUILT an entire SLEDDING TRACK in the backyard out of SNOW for Sam & Austin!!!

Wheee!!! Thanks for the push Grandma Susan!

This is where Sam was for almost the whole weekend. Grandma pulled out a big tub full of Legos and he was in heaven!

Testing out the Christmas Jammies!

Sunday afternoon we headed to Grandma-Great's house for the annual Stanley Family Christmas Party. There was lots of baby holding all around :) (Grandma-Great with Lincoln and Auntie Kim with Eli)

Grandpa-Great with Eli

Be quiet Grandpa Jeff...I am trying to listen to Grandpa-Great's mission stories!

One of my favorite pictures of the trip...two little burrito babies asleep on Grandma-Great's bed.

So, you're telling me I can't eat this candy cane?

Oh Lincoln. I just want to squish those cheeks.

More fun with Grandma! Gingerbread Men!

Thank you Grandma Susan and Grandpa Jeff! We had a fun visit!

Then it was home again for a big box of birthday fun from Gammy and Grandpa Earl!

In his preschool nativity, Sam played the part of the innkeeper.

Love this kid.

Sam and his wonderful teacher Miss Carolyn.

Happy 9 months Eli!!! Here are your stats: 18 lbs (12%ile) and 29" tall (74%ile) and 46.3 cm head cir (77%ile). All you wanted for Christmas were your two front teeth, and you got them! By now you are a crawling pro, eating almost anything in sight (must be a family trait), and generally a happy-go-lucky baby.

We love you Eli!

What's the point of having 3 boys if you can't dress them up in matching outfits for Christmas Sunday?

After much anticipation, it was finally time for the big night!

Christmas Eve, complete with cookies & milk for Santa.

We got up SUPER early on Christmas morning and opened presents. Anyone else think Christmas is 1,000 times more fun with kids? They were so excited and practically screamed for joy while opening their gifts.

Baby's 1st Christmas!!! Eli wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing.

Mostly he just wanted to play with the wrapping paper.

Santa planned ahead and stuffed the boys' backpacks instead of stockings this year. Why? Because as soon as we were done here, we hopped on a plane and went...

...HERE! Ahh, hello Texas. Plenty of sunshine and it was even warm enough to swim a few times. Most importantly, Grandma and Grandpa to spoil us all rotten!

The rest of our Gibbs Family visit To Be Continued...

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, here are a few things we were thankful for during November:

We were thankful for a few more sunny days before the rain began.

I was thankful for kids who can play independently on the playground now!

We were thankful for our baby who turned 8 months old this month!

We were thankful for Eli's first 2 teeth. (Look closely!)

We were thankful for Auntie Rae coming to visit one more time!

We had fun helping her get ready for her mission.

We were (and ARE) thankful for our Veterans...especially Uncle Jon! Sam had the chance to tell his preschool friends all about his Uncle who is a soldier and protects our country.

We were thankful Eli learned how to crawl this month.

We were extra thankful that he learned to crawl backwards first. Because really, how cute is that? Also I could use the quote: Nobody puts Baby in a corner...except himself, because he can only crawl backwards. Haha I couldn't resist.

We were thankful that Uncle Chris could visit for Thanksgiving break!

I was SO SO SO thankful that Ryan smoked the turkey. Made my Thanksgiving prep so much easier.

Plus, really...could it be any better than this? YUM!

We were thankful to have most of the Pedersen family (Ryan's Uncle Jim, cousins Kari and Kyle, and their families) join us for Thanksgiving! It made the holiday so much more fun!

The adults were thankful for kids who could entertain themselves while we all passed out on the floor after eating too much turkey! (Look closely for the adults laying on the floor while the kids ran around them :)