I LOVE Christmas time!

Here's just a few more reasons why I LOVE Christmas time......how can you not love a good Christmas smile in a cute Christmas sweater! I loved seeing all the red sweaters at church today---seriously, I don't know why but I love the Sunday before Christmas and seeing all the red sweaters. Notice how Cash has picked all the leaves off our Poinsettia....oh wait, that would be me forgetting to water it so they all fell off!

Look at the excitement on Cashy's face thinking he's totally going to get that ornament off the tree! .....................and success!!

So many of you know that I have a small obsession with the chocoate pretzels at Costco.....if you haven't tried them I HIGHLY recommend them---seriously, they are so delightful--the combination of sweet and salty (to quote my dear friend Missy) just hits the spot....if you don't believe me just ask Cash. I've been waiting for the day that they brought them back to the shelves (they're a "seasonal" item---I think they make them that way to make you buy more of them for fear they won't be there the next time you go) Needless to say...Cashy is a fan also!

Here's a fun picture of Cashy with Grandpa B.-- they're quite the buddies. Cash LOVES to ride in the truck or on the 4-wheeler with Grandpa and even helped heard cows last week! He's quite the farmer.

Daddy's helper!

So yesterday I got home from work and this is what i found.......Cashy riding on the 4-wheeler with his dad plowing snow. It was seriously the cutest thing ever! He thinks he's such a big boy when he gets to ride on the 4-wheeler with Jed. He likes to hold on to the handle bars like he's steering. I would think he would get cranky from being cold but nope---he would stay on there forever if I would let him and the faster Jed goes the more he loves it!

A little anal.....or maybe not so much!!

So many of you who know my husband might know this and some of you might not.......he's quite opinionated as to how I decorate the house. When it comes to Christmas time this comes out to the extreme!!! Take for instance our Christmas tree.......he brings me the container full of ornaments and I sit on the couch and carefully unwrap them and then oh so carefully hand them off to him and he decorates the tree. Yip, my bum doesn't leave the couch....I simply unwrap, hand over the ornament and watch him work his magic. The first year we were married I tried to help but after he took off every ornament I put on and placed it in a better spot I simply thought "this is not a battle I'm willing to fight!" Now don't worry--I have of course thrown in a few gay comments regarding this obsession of his (although I can testify he's not gay! wink, wink!) But then the obsession stops for some reason when it comes to our white trash lawn ornaments outside! Notice the leader of the pack reindeer in this picture doesn't even have lights on it.....what the hell is up with that??? This girl at church on Sunday said "hey, I sure like your deer in the front yard." It was one of the moments when I smiled and was all "thanks" not totally sure I understood her and then as I got too far away from her to go back and say something it hit me.....she was totally making fun of us!-----and totally deserved! Everyone knows I hate tacky lawn ornaments and I'm afraid we're the Griswalds of the neighborhood! Honestly at this point I think Jed does it just to mortify me more than anything!

Christmas PJ's

So I got a package in the mail the other day from my BFF Sarah and it had the CUTEST pair of Christmas PJ's for Cash inside! Everyone at work was making fun of me because I went crazy about how stinkin cute they were! Don't worry---I called Sarah and she said it was ok for Cash to wear them before Christmas. I know there's lots of families out there that have a Christmas tradition of getting PJ's each year and getting to open them on Christmas Eve.....I think it's a definite tradition I want to start with my own little family. Maybe I'll even let Jed pick out a pair of "PJ's" for me!!!

Temple Square Lights

Nothing quite like the lights at Temple Square to get you in the mood for Christmas. Of course we admired them from our nice and toasty warm car tonight. We basically did a "drive by" of Temple Square you might say. Ben and Kami are in town visiting before he heads off to Iraq for a year (Kami will be back in a month---she's going to be living with us while Ben's gone so she doesn't have to be all alone in Hawaii---yes, that's right---she's choosing good ole Utah over Hawaii---I know, I know--she's CRAZY!) So we started out the night with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then headed downtown for our drive-by. Below is a nice action shot of Cash waiting for another bit of mashed potatoes while thinking to himself "I wish my mom would put down that freakin camera already and give me some grub!"

What a difference a year makes!

Pretty crazy to think that it was only a year ago that I was 6 1/2 months pregnant and wearing the elf hat and being dumb with Jed. Now Cash is 9 months old and big enough to wear the same goofy hat! I have to admit it's probably been the best year of my life so far having this little man in our family. Christmas has a whole new meaning this year. Even though Cashy is still small the Christmas spirt has an excitement that I've never felt before. I'm going to try to post at least one picture a day from now until Christmas of things that I'm grateful for and that help me feel the true spirit of Christmas.