The holidays and thoughts on turning 30

Well here we are. The last day of my twenties. Tomorrow I will turn the big 3-0 and I don't know quite how I feel about it. I mean, it doesn't really matter how I feel, it is going to happen no matter what, but for some reason it just feels weird. Like the end of an era. When in fact I know that tomorrow I will wake up and feel pretty much the same as I have being 29, but still I feel like reflecting on this milestone of mine. As this day was approaching I kept thinking about how a lot of people do a 30 before 30 thing where they pick 30 amazing things to do all before their 30th birthday. I thought about making a list but decided not to. Even though I might not have the most spectacular life, I feel pretty good, and pretty proud of it. I have two college degrees. I interned for the US Senate. I lived out of state. I have traveled from coast to coast and many places in between. I finally made it out of the country, yes Canada counts. I became a teacher after many years of waiting and was able to test that career out when I thought I never would be able to. I married my best friend and have a wonderful marriage. I became a mom and have the most amazing son. I have overcome personal challenges and increased my testimony of Christ despite life's challenges and hardships. I feel like there is nothing in this life that I have truly wanted that I have not been able to achieve through hard work and patience. So I can go on to tomorrow with no regrets or sadness. My 20's were great and I am in a little bit of denial that I am aging, but I feel like life has so much to give still and I am excited for this new decade of my life.

But before my birthday, there was the holidays. For some crazy reason I decided to host Thanksgiving this year. I have never been able to host and I have never cooked a turkey and since all my family would be scattered and it was Sam's family's year, I decided to go for it. I will say it was a success but I was exhausted. I felt like I needed a week to recover from that one day. Everything did turn out, but I ended up just being so tired that I didn't enjoy the food or the day nearly as much as if I would have just let my Mother in Law host. Oh well. We really only took a few pictures. I didn't even take one of the Turkey, but it was delicious.

Gavin and his baby cousin Hyrum on Thanksgiving

Pretty much after Thanksgiving I lost all my desires to cook at all. So we have been scrounging for the entire month of December except for the occasional time I manage to make a real dinner. Despite Thanksgiving wearing me out, I really felt like I was in the Christmas spirit this year. Compared to last year everything just seemed so much more enjoyable and merry. Funny how getting sleep at night does that! It wasn't without its challenges though. I felt like everywhere I looked, or everyone I talked to was a total scrooge as well as having some things happen, like our basement flooding yet again during the holidays and us all being sick on Christmas. But despite it all we really kept in the Christmas spirit, focused on Christ and family time, and managed to have a pretty good holiday. We spent Christmas Eve with my family doing out traditional Bethlehem dinner, which is always a favorite of ours. Then Christmas morning we opened presents and ate breakfast with my parents. Poor Gavin really didn't feel well so I went to church with my parents and Sam stayed home with Gavin. I actually really liked going to church on Christmas. It was nice to sing Christmas hymns and to have special musical numbers and talks. It just added to the day. After that we visited Sam's parents and opened gifts there and ate lunch. I felt bad that we didn't stay as long as we normally would have because Gavin was not feeling well. Christmas night I made a Ham dinner and my sister Bethany and her family came over to eat. It was a pretty easy going day and it was nice to just spend it with family.

Gavin playing in the snow for the first time

Christmas Card picture

Gavin sitting on Santa's lap for the first time. It was super awkward and he was mad he couldn't have all the candy canes in the basket. His face is priceless.

Just looking cute

Lights at Temple Square, it was cold and Gavin was pretty quite except for the occasional "oooh, and woooow"

Christmas Eve at the Millers

Christmas morning with all of his toys. He was so cute and played with each present after it was opened. He was so sweet about it. It is so fun to have him be more aware of what is going on. Even though this wasn't his first Christmas, it kind of felt like it because he actually was excited about the toys and lights and songs. Having a child during Christmas makes it so magical.

We are excited for the new year with the hope and changes it will bring. 2016 was definitely the year of challenges for us, but I feel like we are so much stronger because of it. We have come such a long way from the beginning of last year, which was very low and very hard for us. We are seeing the world in such a brighter and happier way and the thoughts of the new year make it even better. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!! 

Gavin at 12 Months

Our little man is a whole year old now! And I am so excited about it. I love that Gavin is growing up and becoming more independent. We had a fun birthday party for him in which I went way overboard and planned way to much. I think everyone had a good time though, and there was a ton of candy involved so that makes it fun right? Get ready for a picture overload!

12 Month Measurements

Weight 22.8 pounds 50%
Height 31 inches 85%
Head 17.5 inches 7%

Gavin is such a sweetheart. He genuinely makes me laugh every day. He also is a little stinker and makes me want to pull my hair out, that is if he hasn't already pulled it out for me already! Gavin crawls at full speed, but really does not have a lot of interest in walking. He stands up to everything and has figured out how to balance without holding on to anything but he won't really take any steps. He doesn't even really cruise along furniture. He can, he just doesn't do it. I am not worried. I know he will walk when he is good and ready.

One thing that is amazing is that Gavin sleeps through the night almost every night. Every now and then he will wake up in the night, but it is very rare. He was sleeping in until about 7:30 every morning until the dreaded daylight savings time. It seriously messed everything up! I don't know how but not only did he wake up an hour earlier, but he started waking up at 5 in the morning! It was terrible. But now he is starting to sleep longer again. Gavin is still a pretty good eater, but he spits out his food and it drives me crazy! He is also in to everything of course. He has to put every tiny little thing he finds in his mouth. I am pretty sure he has swallowed a lot of things I don't even know about. Last weekend we went up to East Canyon to go fishing and he ate a rock. So yeah.

Despite him being a little pain sometimes, he is mostly just a sweet heart. He is silly, and crazy, and funny. I love how much he loves to just sit quietly in his room and "read" book after book. He will pull every single one off the shelf and look at them one at a time. Its so cute. I love how much he loves his family. He absolutely loves his aunts and grandmas. Almost too much. He loves playing with other kids, especially his cousins. He loves playing with Dad and gets to be a lot more rough with him than I will let him be with me. He loves animals, especially out cat Nala. They have a weird sort of friendship, I think. Gavin says Dada, Uh-oh, and kitty. He hardly ever says Mama anymore. He also just chatters a lot and makes a lot of crazy sounds and words. He likes to "sing" and makes this kind of "woof" sound when he sees any animal, even on TV. He has the most beautiful dark eyes and lashes but his real show stopper has become is golden curly hair. Everyone comments on it because it really is just the cutest. It is getting pretty long but I couldn't bare to cut it quite yet.

I just love being Gavin's Mom. I feel like a year into it, I finally have some things down. We are sleeping more. We have a pretty good schedule. Gavin plays really well. He is mobile, I am more confident. If I could just have told myself a year ago that everything would indeed get easier like people said they would, I would still probably not have believed it. But they have. And I am grateful. I love being a mom more than ever now. This first year has probably been the hardest year of my life for so may reasons, but at the same time Gavin has been my biggest blessing. I know there will be challenges ahead but I am ready to face them. We love you Baby Gavin! Even though you are not really a baby anymore... Now get ready for picture overload!

We went to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden for his Birthday and it is so much fun.

He was Yoda for Halloween, Sam was Han Solo, and I was a pumpkin. I know I am lame.

Just reading books

Fishing at East Canyon and eating a lot of sand

Birthday Party Photos! We had a photo booth, pumpkin painting, face painting, bobbing for apples, potato sack races, pin the spider on the web, other games, a pinata, and lunch. It was crazy but fun!