Christmas 2015

Christmas this year was filled with new traditions, old traditions, and even some Spanish traditions. Christmas began a week early for us. Mark's sister and brother-in-law were going to be gone over the holidays so we did an early Christmas so they could see Jack play with his new roller coaster.  The box was huge, and even though Jack was old enough he finally was interested in unwrapping, he still lacked the skill to take less than 20 minutes for unwrapping. He loved taking "bih piece" (big pieces)and would make piles of the ripped paper- how very much like mom and dad. 

Everybody got kazoos and a silly book from Luke. Maria had never played the kazoo before- she was a natural once she figured it out! 

It was a big box!

slowly making progress....

Picking out our tree. It was 7 feet tall. Next year we will have to hire someone else to help us carry it! 

 This year on Christmas Eve, we joined Mark's Aunt and Uncle in Riverton, a few of the Martin cousins and his Grandparents for yummy soup and celebrations. Uncle Craig is a model train collector. Jack hung out with his buddy/cousin Max and checked out the train. We were given one as well from Craig last year but didn't put it up because we were afraid he would break it. He did great so I guess next year we'll try putting it under the tree!

After dinner we sang some traditional Christmas songs. This was "Must Be Santa"- complete with Props.

I pull off the beard quite well! 

Chilling with uncle Luke. 

 After some fun, we went home and prepped for Santa to come. We left out milk and some carrots for the reindeer.

 I totally failed and didn't get a picture of the tree beforehand. Let me assure you there were a lot of gifts under the tree and it looked pretty magical at 9am....also at 1:45 AM but maybe that extra glisten then was just from my eyes trying to close on me.

Maria got Jack a build-a-bear. It is a puppy (since we didn't get one for Christmas obviously) that plays the Charlie Brown theme song. 

In Spain they don't do stockings, Maria liked this tradition for sure! 

Jack with his stocking--and mom's soda. 

Modeling his bow tie from Aunt Cheriss.

Christmas selfie- mostly to show off his bowtie onesie. 

Exploring the roller coaster box with Uncle Luke

The unwrapping aftermath.

Modeling the hat made by 6 year old cousin Grace- he actually likes it quite a bit! 

Maria got Mark a star wars fighter ship. Jack had fun helping him put it together.

We celebrated New Year's Spain style- well sort of. Maria went to a dance but came home at 11:30 to celebrate midnight with us. The tradition in Spain is you eat 1 grape each of the last 12 seconds before midnight- so yes, you attempt to eat 12 grapes in 12 seconds. Maria did it twice- once with her family and again 8 hours later with us. I got roughly 6, Mark gave up after 4. Next year I think we will have to carry on the tradition- but pick smaller grapes. Though Maria says that's cheating!

A few days later, we celebrated 3 Kings day. We enjoyed this Roscon and gave Maria a gift card to Panda Express (her favorite "American" restaurant). I don't think I'd get the roscon again. I'll stick with my sweeter more cake-like desserts. But Maria and her other friend from Spain had some and according to them it tasted just like it does back home. Win!

We really enjoyed this past holiday season. It was fun to see Jack start to grasp the holiday more, and to share traditions and make more memories with Maria- next Christmas will seem more dull I'm sure.

December Shenanigans

December was a busy, cold month. I can't remember the last time we played outdoors. Jack doesn't even ask to go outside. Fortunately, he does not seem to enjoy the snow so even while there was snow to play in, we knew he didn't want anything to do with it.


December also brought a lot of new words and cute moments. Here are a few I captured on video:

Over the break, we went sledding at my parents. I was so excited, thinking Jack would surely love it as much as he loved his new roller coaster. Failing to grab a before shot, I pulled Jack with me into a taboggin and took a run down the "track". Unfortunately Jack got a faceful of snow and was crying halfway down the run. I figure it's okay we don't have a traumatic experience documented- he has an incredible memory so I don't think we need photos for him to recall the event!

I waited so long to upload pictures I really can't put all these shots in chronological order. So here are some images of December happenings

Helping mom bake

Hey mom! Look what I can do! 

We have a thing for lining toys up....see below pictures

Yes that is Ernie amid Charlie Brown characters

At least he is organized! 

Enjoying his Santa treat with his buddy cousin Logan at the mall. 

Just chilling with Maria. Actually, I think in this picture he was running away from GranMary to Maria because GranMary was ticking him. 

He looks a bit chubbier here but I love how relaxed he is to hang out in Maria's lap. 

This was a "paint" machine at the Provo Beach resort. It had a touch screen to paint a picture and at the end it takes your picture and prints out your artwork. This was Jacks. I love that it only captured half of his face in which he looks completely thrilled about the whole thing. Haha!

Reading books with uncle Ryan

After we discovered the art of Kazoos, we also learned they fit well onto fingers. He uses kazoos the same way you would put people house on your fingers. He also has specific ones. Blue- Daddy, Green- Mommy, Orange- Maria (Nana), and "Dak" (Jack) is the purple. 

Apparently he needed a good ride on toy for Christmas...

We got a good snow storm Christmas Eve night. This was Mark and Maria having a bit of a snow-dust fight. Jack wasn't so sure about it all. 

Mark and our neighbor shoveling. Unintentional but I like how the clouds turned out. 

One morning I was putting a bag of sugary cereal together as bribery for our shopping trip. He likes to look at the back of the box since it's colorful. I turn back around to find him happily helping himself to the newly discovered unlimited supply of cap'n crunch. 

At the Provo Beach Resort. We were waiting for Dad and Maria to finish playing their game so I let him climb up and we took a few action shots. 

We love our roller coaster....but did you know it can also be a slide?!?! 

Mostly I just love his Santa pjs. Santa and shades just make me giggle. 

Saturday afternoon cuddles with Dad. Daddy was really trying to nap, Jack was tired enough to lay there, but kept poking Mark every time a new character appeared on the TV screen. 

A few days after Christmas, my sister Brenda was in Utah with the family she nannies in New York. My sister Cheriss and I went up to the ski resort they were staying at and visited for a few hours. I'd never been to a ski resort so it was fun to look around- and also see how much snow the back country really does get! 

Our visit overlapped with my parents so we grabbed a group picture.

And just like that...Christmas break was over. It was a good balance of busy but also relaxing. Mark was able to take a few days off, albeit he was sick for the whole break, but it was nice to not have school and only a little work for 2 weeks. As always though, I was happy to get back into a routine- and get on with our last semester of college. Life is pretty grand at the moment. Mark is home every night of the week by 6pm at the latest (barring work emergencies) and it's nice to not have Jack go an entire 2 days without seeing Mark. Only a week into the semester and I'm loving it. Here's to only 15 more weeks of school!