Mollie-Dog pt. 2

I was too quick to post the last blog- Mollie has been a very present person in our home lately! The other day, both Jasons were working, so Aubrey and Mollie came over, and we let Mollie and Hazen entertain themselves. Mollie took a bath with Hazen, and Hazen returned the favor by eating her food. His breath stunk so bad the rest of the day! Good thing we have toothbrushes!

Mollie-dog to the rescue!

I've found the new best baby sitter in town. She's short, black, a little furry, and can jump on you if you're not careful, but MAN does she entertain Hazen! Meet: Mollie Robison.

Jason and Aubrey got Mollie a few weeks ago. It's taken Hazen a little bit of time to warm up to her, but now, he says Puppy, and walks around with her toys all day long. If he's feeling cranky, I know that a little visit from Mollie Dog will cheer him right up! Not only does she not fight back when we stick her in shopping carts, but she goes home at the end of the day. That's my type of pet!

Where's my BABY????

Does this look like a baby to you??? NO!

I normally don't love all things character, but PJs are an exception. So this year, when Hazen's Aunt Janet sent him a pair of Batman PJs, I was slightly skeptical....until I put them on him. They look SO stinking cute on him, but in some ways I hate them. They make my itty-bitty little baby look so OLD! What happened to little Hazen, and when did he turn into such a big boy? He kills me as he tottles around the house in his big boy jammies. Didn't Janet know that little babies are only supposed to wear onesie sleepers? :) Janet, don't you dare buy him a bike or anything, because I don't know as though my heart can handle it!!

Hazen's Christmas

Because Jason and I are mean parents, we actually did Christmas for Hazen the day after. He didn't know the difference, and it was fun for us to have a little bit of downtime to allow him to enjoy his presents without being in the hustle and bustle of Christmas Day. Hazen really scored this year! Santa brought him a basketball hoop and a shopping cart with food to fill it. Mommy and Daddy got him blocks and play dough, and Grandma and Grandpa got him a Marble Racer, but the marbles are actually pretty decent sized so he won't choke on them. I was pleasantly surprised to see that Hazen likes to play with ALL of his toys; so thus far, nothing is sitting unattended in the playroom! Merry Christmas, my sweet!

Best Friends!

*We told them to give kisses. CUTE!*

Quite possibly my favorite thing about living in PG is the fact that we're only 2 minutes away from Heather and her kids. When we both found out that we were pregnant, I didn't really think TOO much about what exactly that would mean. What I've found it to mean is that we both have little boys who love each other very much. As they've gotten older, not only have they learned to play with one another, but it's really apparent that they LIKE each other, too. Sometimes they fight when they want the same toy, but at the end of the day, they just want to hug it out.

Merry Christmas!

This Christmas was so much fun for me! For our entire married and engaged life, Jason has always trumped me with gift giving. We'll set a price limit; he goes over. I tell him something I want, and not only does he get me that, but he gets me more! It has made me feel slightly crappy about my gift-giving talents. Until this year! I've been working like a little elf for the past month or so trying to get Christmas all ready, and I really enjoyed it.



Christmas Day started by us WAKING Hazen up at about 8:20. I remember my mom used to have that problem with me. They would wait until 9 or so, and then finally wake me up, because they didn't want to have to wait until noon to do Christmas! We headed over to my parents house in a snow storm- we definitely had a white Christmas this year. When we got there, everyone was waiting for us. I couldn't hurry us over though, because one of the rules of Christmas is before you can open presents, you have to have your bed made, hair and teeth brushed, so we had to do that!
We took our traditional picture on the stairs. I have one of these pictures for every year of my life! It's strange though, because this year, instead of being the one ON the stairs, I was the one at the foot of the stairs taking the pictures. My, how things change. The Hazen kids had already opened their family presents, but Santa was sure to follow them to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Finally, the fun for Jason began! The gifts started off with a helmet flashlight and hook for his turnouts. I also gave him a red Turnout bag. I think he was excited about it! Then, for the past month, I've been sneaking off to the Robison's house everytime that Hazen would take a nap and sewing Jason a giant fire quilt. It's roughly 8.5 ft by 9 ft. It's giant. We can probably fit a village in it! He was very impressed with my sewing skills. Lastly, I surprised Jason with an Ipod Touch from Hazen! It was engraved on the back, and Jason says that other than having Hazen home for Christmas last year, it was the best present he's ever recieved!

After presents, the Danielsons came up, and we had waffles by Grandpa- another tradition in our family! Who wouldn't love the holidays when you have such wonderful traditions in your family? This year's waffles didn't disappoint- they were delicious, and had plenty of melted butter and whipped cream to top them with.






Jason had to work for 6 hours on Christmas, so while he was at work, Hazen and I came home and had naps for a few hours. It was so enjoyable! For Christmas dinner, we had YET another Hazen family tradition, and had Prime Rib. It was melt in your mouth delicious, and my dad even made creamed horseradish! Max went to town on the mashed potatoes, and Hazen surpised us all and fed himself with a fork with only minimal mess!



To finish our Christmas Day celebrations, we decided to see what would happen when you let off fireworks in a blizzard. We most definitely let them off too close to the house, but that's part of the excitement, right? Right????? It was a wonderful Christmas Day, and I'm so grateful that I was able to celebrate with those I love most in the world!

Christmas Eve

I daresay that traditionally, I enjoy Christmas Eve even more than Christmas Day. We have so many traditions in our family, that all make me so happy. Christmas Eve Day was most definitely a very busy one- not documented in pictures though! Hazen was getting a pretty nasty cold the night before, so I had doubts of if we'd be able to do anything that day, but he sure pulled through! We woke up; Jason was at work, so it was just Hazen and I, and headed over to Heather's house. It's a Danielson family tradition to go to the homeless shelter and bring them clothes, gifts, and food. We deviated slightly from her exact tradition this year, but we were able to still enjoy the gift of giving. Heather made each family unit grocery lists, and we went to Walmart to get food and other items that the Food Coalition in Provo was in need of. It was a great opportunity for the kids to see how much they have and how little others have. Heck, it was great for everyone to see!

Once we had dropped everything off at the Coalition, we sang a few songs. Just in case you're ever in the position to carol to homeless people, it might not be in the best taste to sing, "Let it Snow" to them, ahem....Heather.... :) We were all really hungry after our hard work that morning, so we went to Lon's Barbeque for lunch. Mmmmm, Fried Cauliflower......





That night, we had our traditional Christmas Eve "walkaround". It had all of the food that I remember from growing up, and my mom even added Brie in the mix because she loves me. Heather had arranged for a puppet show, so we watched that, which discussed the gift of Christmas. Afterwards we went around and discussed gifts that we had recieved the prior year. I mentioned that I had been given a gift in the form of Jason, because he's such a wonderful husband and works so hard for our family. Also, Hazen, because he's such a blessing, and he's my buddy all day when Daddy works. I honestly don't know what I did to deserve such a good little baby. Lastly, I mentioned Heather, because she's always there for me, and is more than a sister; she's my best friend and I love her so much! Jason mentioned that I was his gift this year because I've been patient with him while he worked and accomplished things, and also because I take good care of him and boy. I know that I can do better- and I will strive to do just that in the upcoming year!

We rounded out the evening with our yearly PJ exchange. This year, I made matching PJs for Jason, Hazen, and I. They seemed to turn out really well- but time will only tell after a few loads of laundry. We all had hugs and kisses goodnight, then the Lees went home where we snuggled into our beds to await Santa's arrival the next day!

Hazen Loves the Trumpet

While my family was here, the trumpet was pulled out many times. My dad was an accomplished trumpet player back in his day, Jason played all through High School, and RJ just started playing a few months ago. It was so fun to see them play and harmonize together. I feel confident in saying that Hazen enjoyed the mini concerts more than anyone!

He would walk right up to the boys, and look straight up at them, so entranced by what they were doing. I would have thought that he would be a little nervous from how loud it was, but he truly enjoyed the music! After the boys were done playing, Jason let Hazen put his mouth on his trumpet- he was so cute! I'm so grateful to have so many talented people in my life that can teach my kids how to do things!!

Feliz Navidad!!

On Tuesday night, we decided to celebrate by having a Feliz Navidad party. Jason and Aubrey came over, seeing as Jason is a real-live Mexican and all. We had the most delicious pork tacos, which we gorged ourselves on! Jason also made his salsa, and it was gobbled up before the meal was even served.


After dinner, we went downstairs and played a rousing game of Bingo. Heather and Aubrey cleaned up, while my Jason and I....well, we didn't do so hot! It was so much fun though. I forgot how a little competition; read, Bingo gets the heart rate racing. I probably shouldn't get into gambling.



Jason, RJ, and Skinny Santa...errr, my Dad rounded out the evening with some trumpet playing. I had never seen Jason play his trumpet before, so not only was it fun for me, but it was really cute! After the trumpet songs, we all loaded into the car and went to see some Christmas lights.

Bowling

On Tuesday, Jason had the day off of work, so we decided to go bowling. The rest of the family was supposed to join us, but the aforementioned doughnuts didn't sit well with the lightweight's stomachs. The Lee family was there, though, so we stayed and bowled! The second that we walked into the building, Hazen starting going crazy, running around yelling, "Ball!", and laughing when he would see people holding their bowling balls. It was all we could do to keep him from running onto the greased bowling lanes!

He was also quite transfixed with the ball return. We had to keep a pretty close eye on him to make sure that his fingers didn't get smashed. Jason and I had a pretty close game until he had 3 strikes at the end and beat me by 30 points. Next time I'll show him who's boss. This was a fun little family trip for us, because so often I think that Hazen's too young to take him certain places, when in reality, even though it's a little bit more work for us, he has such a fun time. What a sweet little family I have!