and so the new year begins...

I went back to vegas at least once a month for the next couple months until we eventually moved back... we finished off our new years trip with lots and lots of playing with axel... daniel and axel just get along so well... the run and chase each other all over the place. non stop.  its pretty dang cute to watch them together.

While in vegas we also went and toured a couple dental offices that we could possibly purchase,,, the first being this small ish office or it seemed small as in my opinion it had too much crap everywhere... the guy had very gaudy style decor.  but he wanted way too much money for what we wanted to pay. the second one was really nice and huge.  could fit 3 dentists if it wanted to... but his office was in such financial mess and the guy who owns it is in terrible health that he's desperate, but chris isn't super eager to work in a fixer upper project office...

we also had the typical sunday dinner at moms house with everyone but emily's family.  it of course ended with me making no bakes and then having them half eaten before they are even set.... hahaha

we then flew back to tucson....

around this time I got a nasty cold... that went on for the next 2 months and included one nasty sinus infection and zero weight gain for me... pregnancy is awesome... here's me at 17.5 weeks! really popping out and still hadnt gained any weight.

we celebrated our 4th anniversary! go us!  we did our usual fondue night... which we love... i struggled a little as it was difficult to chew being sooooo congested. 

Daniel and i enjoyed our typical lazy.... ish days at home... with him generally not clothed and using several types of media at once... and lots of sleeping in funny positions... and places

i also thought it would be fun to let him play with some rice in a bin.... yeah HUGE mistake.. rice everywhere... we were vacuuming up rice for the next 3 months... especially in the carpet.... it was bad.  lesson learned..

I also started work on this massive quilt for my mom's guest room... which she is calling the beaver cabin room... it has fun memorabilia from grandpa's cabin and now will have this awesome quilt made by me! 

I felt the baby kick for the first time this month... always a fun experience... and a little creepy... alien inside me.  

the end of the month i flew back to vegas to see Joseph and the Amazing technicolor dream coat with mom, emily, jack, laura, meesah, amanda... emily's friend brian from NAU was in it as one of the brothers, so he gave us a tour backstage and we even got to walk out onto the stage... very fun. 

christmas comes but once a year...

i sure miss my grandpa vern.... it was this time last year that we knew he was very sick and would most likely be his last with us.  it was a sad christmas for sure.... this christmas it was much better but his presence was still terribly missed.  i spent most of the month pretty sick.  pregnancy hit me pretty good this time... nauseous all the time.... and cant stop sleeping.  we did decorate the apartment a little.  we had decided to stay in tucson and have christmas with jeff and stevie.  daniel really enjoyed this dumb little felt tree thing i bought at target...

chris and i went on a double date with jeff and stevie to this neat movie theater that has recliners and waiters to bring you food during the movie...  it was really fun.

my belly started popping out enough that now when i do dishes it always ends up getting super wet... haha baby number two already showing...

daniel and i enjoying a  nice fruit snack moment... 

our apartment also has this nice little park... daniel enjoys sliding his cars down the slide... more than sliding down it himself... haha

this apartment also has a very large patio... so daniel spends lots of time out there... either playing with trains or cuddling up with a blanket and pillow... he will lay on that floor forever.... 

daniel and i had fun decorating this little house... and then he spent the next two days eating it... including the actual house... hahaha

for christmas eve we had jeffs family over and we had dinner and played little christmas games... do you want to build a snowman?  we wrapped chris and stevie in toilet paper,  we did snowball bowling with cups, played dont eat pete.... the favorite of the night... my friend sara taught me that game while in north carolina.... i also pulled out my super special christmas sweater for the night...

my boys looked super handsome in their plaid shirts....

i set everything up once the boys were in bed... i remembered last minute that i needed to put together daniels scooter.... woops! 

this little man was super excited about his scooter... rode it all over the apartment that day.... chris and i gave each other fun little stuff... he got a neat camping spoon and i got our traditional bathroom calendar... 

daniel also got some really fun magnet puzzles and letters... and of course legos... both boys got legos.... and enjoyed putting them together all day... 

after we finished with presents we headed over to jeff's where i made my family's traditional christmas crepes.... then we spent most of the day over there....

the next day they left for disneyland... we had a couple days with chris home for the weekend then daniel and i flew off to vegas while chris went back to work... he flew out on new years eve to meet us there... 

while in vegas we had a good time going bowling with everyone... daniels first time bowling... he liked it for a minute but bored after a while... he and axel sat at the table and ate chocolate...

daniel and amanda had a good time decorating cookies... or daniel had a good time eating the candy meant for the cookies.. too funny....

mom also had these big blue balloons she blew up and the kids had a great time hitting each other with them.... it was chaos but totally fun....

for new years eve we had jack and laura over.... and emily for a little while... we pulled out the glow sticks and had a dance party.... it was totally silly... but man we had a good time.... then everyone left and i went to the airport to pick up chris!!! glad we get to spend the new year with him!!!  its been a tough year for sure... but man it ended nicely.... expecting baby number two, nice transition out of the military, chris working and learning a ton.... being so close to family.... i will say we are so blessed and looked out for.  i'm grateful things get hard sometimes so we can more easily recognize when blessings come into our lives... thanks 2014.... you were not my favorite year, but you set up 2015 to be a great year so thanks for that!!!!!

november... thanksgiving with santa...

we started off november in tucson with a trip to the open house of the new lds temple in phoenix.  beautiful temple inside and out.  i haven't been to a temple open house since i was like 5 and our whole family went through the las vegas temple.  i don't have many memories of that time, but do remember going with our very large family of cousins aunts and uncles.  the phoenix temple was beautiful.  the celestial room was really beautiful, but very interesting to be in there before the temple is dedicated and becomes the incredible peaceful room holy room.  we had a good time with jeff and stevie and their kids.  after we went to dinner and then headed home.. i believe the boys spent the afternoon in the pool with the kids.

the next day daniel and i hit the road to vegas to see my family.  our stuff had arrived before us and luckily my mom was there to tell the movers where to put everything.  i'm still impressed they backed the massive semi up the properties alley way so they could unload it right next to the barn where our things will be stored while we are in tucson.  

we had a great time with cousins in vegas... we went to the children museum... went shopping with grandma... played in grandmas backyard a lot... and even had a little bonfire marshmallow roasting fun.... 

daniel also took a pretty nasty spill on the rocks in grandmas backyard and got quite the fat lip.  this boy rarely hurts himself... but almost every visit to grandmas he manages to face plant and give himself a fat bloody lip.

after two weeks chris showed up to help load up the uhaul and drive with us back down to tucson... luckily we had master packer jack slade to help us load the truck... he and chris had great fun playing tetris with the boxes and furniture and perfectly loaded what we were taking with us on the truck.  

here's our first little picture of the newest soon to be addition to our little family... so far so good!!

soon after we got back to tucson and settled in it was time for thanksgiving.  this year most of chris' family traveled to tucson to spend it with us.  susan and ed, david, aunt sharon and her family, aunt marge, grandma rose and grandpa mitch... it was a full house.  we had thanksgiving dinner at jeff and stevies... my contribution was jeans beans, sweet potato casserole, and rolls... i always love making rolls and they turned out quite pretty this year.  we also had a surprise for the family as most didn't know i was expecting.  we put daniel in a shirt that said only child (until june) and didn't say anything... surprisingly it took forever for anyone to notice.. hahaha  daniel also had no problem helping himself to stevie's pantry to find the cheeto puffs.... hahaha he probably ate half the bag.

the next day we all drove up to flagstaff to ride on the polar express train.  i love flagstaff.  had so much fun visiting my sister emily when she was in college there.  its such a pretty town in the middle of these beautiful mountains. we got in line and got on the train... all in our pjs... and yes i wore a onsie.  they gave us hot chocolate... which was amazingly the perfect temperature.,.. and we got cookies... we sang christmas carols.... and then the train arrived at the north pole... all lit up beautifully... and on the way back to the station santa came through and visited our car!!! i was so shocked that daniel was so excited to see him... like... really liked him.  big smiles and laughs and santa handed him a bell.... one happy boy.

after the train ride we went to dinner with everyone... daniel was exhausted by then so we quickly ate and headed back to the hotel.  we spent the next couple days with family and had a really nice time seeing everyone after being gone across the country for the last couple years.  happy to be back on the west side of the country to more easily see our families.