and a Merry Christmas too!

I just decided to do this in two posts, so see below for our Christmas Eve affairs.

Christmas is such a magical time. This year was the best Christmas so far because I got to watch the joy in Cannon's eyes as he was surrounded by people that love him. It was surreal as I helped my baby open presents. He is such a blessing and the best present a mom could ask for.

Cannon was absolutely spoiled this year. He barely even knows what's going on, but he sure loved seeing all the pretty packages. He especially loved chewing up the wrapping paper and bows.

Grandma and Grandpa Stewart got this Exersaucer (aka baby paradise) that he could spend all day in if we let him. He loves it. He can jump and spin and it sings and rattles and does all kinds of amazing things.

Grandma and Grandpa Becar got him a TJ Bearytales bear that talks and moves and tells stories. Cannon thinks he's a little friend to play with and pokes him and yanks on him a lot. It's cute. Guess you had to be there. He also got a little ball popper thing that throws balls into the air and then they roll down a little slide thingy. It's cool. He likes that a lot too.

Here they are with Cannon.

It was fun to be with both of our families on Christmas. We kind of shuffled back and forth all day. We loved spending time with everyone we love. Through all the craziness of having visitors and trying to juggle presents and events, we just feel so blessed and lucky to have such supportive friends and family. I can't think of a better way to spend a day than lounging in my pjs and laughing, celebrating, eating, giving, joking and just BEing with family.
Here's one of the three of us on Christmas morning. Jarom held the camera and I pushed the button. :)

I don't want to forget that the purpose of the Christmas season is to celebrate the birth of Christ. He has given me everything and for that I am eternally grateful.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve

Christmas is over. I have taken down my digital Christmas decor and I'm ready to get back to reality. But, first I will tell you about our Christmas holiday.

Jarom's family came from Cali. and stayed with the Becar's in Taylorsville. We were so glad to spend some time with them. We started out Christmas Eve by taking the Cali Becar's snowboarding up at Sundance. My brother and dad joined them. They did GREAT for first-timers and Dawn Noel was a sport. :)

From l-r Brady, Dad, Dawn Noel, Ammon, Jordan

Cannon had to get in on the action and we let him watch them come down the hill. He was so cold but stayed in a good mood long enough to get a picture.


He had a minor tantrum right after this which resulted in our speedy trip down the mountain to the Stewart's for Christmas Eve dinner. It was SO yummy. Grandma W made this soup that was amazing. It was some sort of chicken with white beans and lots of basil. The Davis family (my mom's sister) was there so we had a blending of Christmas Eve traditions. We usually have fondue for dinner, but that was switched for the Davis soup tradition. We also usually read the Christmas story from the bible. That was modified for a reenactment of the Nativity. Cannon got to be baby Jesus and Jocey made an ADORABLE Mary.

Then, we opened our traditional Christmas Eve pjs. Ummm... Cannon had some too. He just wasn't in a pj mood. For some reason, he HATES getting into his pajamas. Then we had baklava for dessert and watched Christmas movies like the Grinch before going to bed.

Rise and Shout!

I watched from home as Jarom cheered on the cougars to a narrow victory against UCLA in the Las Vegas Bowl. He got to fly down to be with his family. His little bro. wore a Santa suit and was in a lot of newspapers and on TV about 5 times (we counted). In this picture, which was the front of the sports section in the Deseret News, you can see Ammon (in the suit) and Jarom in the bottom left-hand corner. Yay honey! I was so excited because I did see Jarom on TV once. They had GREAT seats on the 4th row and it sounds like the had a blast. Jarom came home without a voice if that gives you any indicator his level of excitement. :) What a game!

Merry Christmas!

Happy Half Birthday, Cannon!

I had a little party on Sunday with just my parents, siblings and family. I know some of you may consider it not a major thing, for some reason I am SO excited for 6 months. We are half-way to a year and why not celebrate?

I made my very first non-sheet cake. I'm a bit proud of it if I do say so. It was a canolli cake. Canolli is an Italian pastry tube filled with creamy goodness, it's also a little nickname we have for Cannon. I thought it was fitting... also it was yummy.

We ate baked potatoes and homemade chili. Very good and perfect for a cold day. We also had a crisp salad and rolls.

My parents even brought gifts... a big teddy bear and Cannon's stocking that my mom and I were working on. Okay, she mostly worked on it. I ironed! Have I mentioned my mom is amazing? For some reason I didn't get a picture of Megan. SORRY MEG! I put together a little slide show in iphoto. It was kind of long and I tried to upload it to youtube to no avail. I'll keep trying because I really worked hard on it and I'd love to share it. Maybe you'll get the condensed version. :)

We really had a lot of fun. It was just nice to share my excitement with my whole family. They were excited too and didn't think a half-birthday party was weird at all. That's why I love them.

Happy Half Birthday Big Boy!

Hair

One thing I've always loved to do is hair. I always wanted to go to beauty school and I just never did. Maybe someday I'll do it, but then again, who knows. My favorite thing to do is fancy hairdos for special occasions. I did my SIL's hair for her wedding, Haley's for a pageant, and a couple of other things here and there.

Whitney had Preference on Saturday and asked me to do her hair. I had a blast doing it and it turned out so pretty. It doesn't hurt that Whit's a beautiful girl to start with. She looked so gorgeous for her dance and she said she had fun. I'd just like to share how she looked. Isn't she GORGEOUS???

6 Months!

He's not actually 6 months until Sunday. I just wanted to do this post before the weekend, because we have a lot to do before then. I took these yesterday morning. Every morning we get to snuggle in my bed for about an hour before it's time to wake up. It's my favorite part of the day. Here are a few things he's doing these days:

*Rolls all over the place.
*Squeals and says "BABABA"
*Gets up on his hands and knees and lunges for things.
*Gives "kisses".
*Laughs when he hears my voice.
*Smiles at daddy.
*Sits on his own.
*Stands with help.
*Tries to pull himself up.
*Sticks his tongue out ALL the time.
*Tries to grab everything in front of him.
*Loves to hear stories before bed.

Anthony & Duncan

I got to do a little photo shoot with Erica's boys. Anthony is 3 and Duncan is 7 months. They were SO cute and that little Duncan is so smiley. I hope she finds some good ones to use for their Christmas cards. This was my first official photo shoot for someone else. So fun! Click on the picture to see it bigger. They turned out small. There were SO many cute ones, but I didn't want to overload it. :) Speaking of photo shoots, Cannon turns 6 months on Sunday. I've got to get some cute ones of him this week. Maybe I'll just give it up and go to Sears. :)

p.s. I tried to do some in color, but for some reason when I brought the pictures onto the blank page for a collage, they ALL turned B&W. Hmmm... just another kink I need to figure out in photoshop. :)

This is a test.

I'm just playing with my new toy. I've had a lot of fun and figured out some new tricks. I have a LOT to learn still.

Merry Christmas to ME!

Santa came a little bit early this year. Well, actually Jarom just couldn't contain his excitement and called me not five minutes after he bought it to tell me that he had. He used to be really good at keeping secrets.

Photoshop Elements is the dumbed down version of photoshop. I actually have regular photoshop on my PC desktop. However, I LOVE my Macbook and I needed something for it. In fact, I don't think I have downloaded my pictures to my desktop in MONTHS. I'm SO excited to start playing with it. Jarom wanted to wrap it up and make me wait until Christmas! I informed him that if he was going to spoil the surprise, then I get it now. Hehe... I'm such a brat sometimes.

I had planned on getting the rest of our Christmas shopping done today. But, I just know that as soon as I put the disk in, I'll be consumed for the better part of a day. ;)

An Attempt

My good friend Mandy had a baby girl last week and name her Haven (cute, huh?). I wanted to get her something simple but really cute. I thought up this idea and good ol' Walmart had all the stuff I needed. (Yes, in all reality it's a bedazzled onesie.) The flowers are actually a bow for her hair. This is my first try at making a bow. I'll have to get Kyrsten to show me how it's really done. :) Here is the finished product. I really hope she likes it.

GO COUGARS!

What a game! I'll admit it was slow to start, but I think BYU fans will agree that we all nearly had a heart attack at the end. We had to sport our BYU gear and thankfully Cannon finally fits into his jersey. :) There was much rising and shouting and the Cougs dominated. YaHoo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great day on Thanksgiving! I just love that day. It's possibly one of the best days of the whole years. MMmm! Turkey!

Jarom played a little football in the morning with some guys from the neighborhood. He was working up his appetite for some amazing food. Then, we saw "Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium." It was a great flick. Then, we went to my parents house for some grub.

Here we are ready to eat. Cannon is not interested in the camera as usual.
Cannon got some sweet potatoes. Obviously, he's not a fan.

There was a fight over the last drumstick and guess who won? Haha!
For those of you panicking right now, he did not actually consume
the turkey leg.

Then Cannon and daddy crashed on the carpet after dinner.
I couldn't help but notice how similar their hands look in this pic. Crazy!

We finished out the day at Grandma's for some awesome desserts. MMMMmmm! It was so great to be with the family, and just relax. It has been three years since we had Thanksgiving with my family. I was just glad to be home and not have to drive to Cali. I am thankful for a lot of things. I'm mostly grateful for my husband and son. They are my world. I am also thankful for my friends, family, blessings and of course, the Gospel. I hope you had a great day and got to be with the ones you love.

Meg

If you know my sister, you know she raises guide dogs for the blind. Well, the Daily Herald did an editorial about her.

You can read it here. Cool, huh?

Way to go MEG!!

Tag! I'm IT!

I got tagged 2 weeks ago by Cami. Sorry Cami!!! I wasn't ignoring your tag. :)

Here it goes:

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

5 THINGS I WAS DOING 10 YEARS AGO:
1. Lip-Syncing to the Spice Girls -- SPICE UP YOUR LIFE!
2. Hitching rides to Stake Dances.
3. Wearing WAY too much makeup.
4. Talking on the phone with my BFF Alisha.
5. Playing the flute in 8th grade band.

5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY:
1. Go shopping for Thanksgiving food. (Major procrastination on that one.)
2. Finish the laundry.
3. Go on a walk.
4. Pay the bills.
5. Snuggle with my "boys."

5 SNACKS I ENJOY:
1. Vanilla tootsie rolls
2. Bagels
3. Dried apples
4. Chips & Salsa
5. Frozen Grapes

5 THINGS I WOULD DO IF I WERE A BILLIONAIRE:
1. Build my dream house.
2. Travel
3. Get a really nice boat
4. Buy a private island
5. Throw lots of parties with yummy food and fly all the people to my house just because I can.

5 OF MY BAD HABITS:
1. I bite my nails.
2. I twirl my hair when I'm tired.
3. I procrastinate.
4. I leave cups of water all over the house.
5. I don't finish projects.

5 THINGS I WILL NEVER WEAR AGAIN:
1. Majorly flared bell bottoms.
2. Really oversized shirts with really undersized pants.
3. Blue or Purple eyeshadow.
4. Sequins
5. Mini-micro shorts. yuck!

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. Provo
2. Orem
3. Lindon
4. Logan
5. Eagle Mountain

5 JOBS I'VE HAD:
1. Concession worker at a movie theater.
2. Manager at a copy/mail store.
3. Teachers Aide at Bonneville Elementary.
4. I taught English to foreign students at USU. I think my title was a conversation ... something.
5. I taught 3rd grade.

5 THINGS PEOPLE PROBABLY DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME:
1. When I was 16, I rear-ended a pregnant lady in my parents minivan. She went into labor and had a boy later that day. He was totally healthy and she later thanked me because she was quite overdue.
2. I'm still afraid of the dark. Jarom makes me turn the lights off. I run and jump into bed as quick as I can.
3. Sometimes when I am eating, my throat closes up. It's really strange and it hurts. I have had a procedure done three times to open it up because my throat is so narrow. I'm due to have another one done again soon.
4. Jarom and I have a deal. If he gets a motorcycle, then I can get a dog. It works both ways. ;)
5. My next door neighbors are hermits. I've spoken to them once, because they didn't see me coming. Every time we go outside and they are out there, they run back into their house. It's really strange! We share a parking strip and if they drive up and we are outside, they drive into their garage and close the garage door before they even get out of the car. Are we really that intimidating? :)

I tag Scott, Jessica (two people, one blog!), Kyrsten, Megan and Allison

5 Months!

Wow! That was one fast month. It was so fast, that I FORGOT to take any pictures of him yesterday! So, these pictures are actually 5 months and 1 day, but who's counting?

He has really grown up this month. He is rolling over ALL the time. It gets pretty frustrating when it's naptime and he gets mad because he rolled over and doesn't really like to be on his tummy. He is playing with his toes all the time too. He blows raspberries to Jarom and I. That always makes us laugh. He is giggling and grinning and I absolutely love this stage. It is SO fun!

Love You

Today Oprah made me cry. That's not totally unheard of because it has been known to happen from time to time. But, let me tell you why.

There was a couple that has written love letters to one another EVERY DAY for the last 27 years. Wow! I honestly can't think of something I've ever done every single day for the last 5 years. They just write them in simple notebooks and they follow the same outline every night before they go to bed. First, they write about how they are feeling about the other that day. Second, they write a reason that they love the other that particular day. Lastly, they answer the same question about their relationship. Then, they swap letters and talk about them.

Okay, so I KNOW that I couldn't do this every day like they do. I also know that Jarom would roll his eyes at the suggestion of even trying it. But, here is my attempt at a letter to my sweetness...

Dear Jarom,

Today I am feeling happy because we got to spend so much time together yesterday. We hardly ever get time together and I honestly love being anywhere with you. You just make everything so much fun. I am looking forward to the next time when we get to just be. I know it probably won't be until Thanksgiving, but that's just fine.

I love you because you are such a hard worker. You know what you want and you have determination like I've never seen in anyone.

My favorite time of the day is when you have your work done and you call to talk on your way to class.

Love,
Me

AWESOME!

So, Friday after work, my AWESOME husband came home with a gift. Not flowers, not chocolates, but the 3rd season of The Office on DVD. So, that's how I spent my weekend. Oh man, this show cracks me up! Haha, my favorite was when Jim convinces Dwight that Jim is a vampire. Haha!

A Public Service Announcement

Want to know how I got this huge burn on my arm? A cool story would be that I saved a lady from a burning building. However, that is not my story. Notice the cascades of barrel curls in my hair in the picture. This is the result of an unpleasant encounter with a curling iron. A VERY unpleasant encounter. Please for the sake of all upper arms, be cautious while curling.

'Nuf Said. :(

Crawling??

No, he's not really crawling already. He's doing this weird thing where he can spin himself in a full circle. It's actually really funny. I guess it's pre-crawling. When he gets mad, he goes really fast. Poor baby is frustrated and spinning himself in circles and mommy is laughing her bum off. That's comedy. Has anyone else's baby ever done this? I just haven't heard of it before. I know some babies rock or scoot, or even flail, anyone else have a spinning baby?

Speaking of Remodeling...

Here is what my living room looks like now. I know I said I would post pictures clear back at the beginning of October, but isn't this close enough? Oh, and try to ignore the Halloween candy I was snacking on. The evidence is on the couch.

Remodeling

I've been working on a new look for the blog. What do you think? Want to change your own blog? I discovered this blog www.sjhblogdesign.blogspot.com (her name is Suzanne) and she gives really easy to follow directions on how personalize your blog. I used paper that I found on shabbyprincess.com. I love how it turned out, but I'm working on fixing my title. :) Go ahead and have fun with your blog!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great day. It started out at the MTC saying our final goodbyes to Chrissy. Oh, a funny story really quick. We were waiting outside the chapel. We sat on these benches as a mom, dad and a young Elder started looking around for someone to take a picture for them. My MIL announced to them that "Ashley should do it, she's a photographer." She is SO sweet for thinking that I am a true photographer, but I honestly am not. I never really thought of myself that way, but I timidly stepped up to do it. The lady handed me her camera and it was the biggest most confusing contraption I've ever seen. The thing had a zoom lens on it that was at least a foot in length. I managed to snap a quick photo for them. Then, she asked me to zoom in and get a closeup. Uh, err, hmm.... I bashfully asked her where the zoom was and she said you just twist the lens. OH! Of course! You just twist the lens! So, obviously I am NOT a photographer. I only wish I was. I am looking into taking some classes and hopefully, someday my MIL will be right!

Okay, but back to Halloween. Cannon was a lion! ROAAARRRR! Well, actually he was a lion for approximately 5 minutes and 42 seconds. He was annoyed that we put him in his outfit to put it nicely. We wanted to take him trick-or-treating and everything, but our attempts were in vain. He was awfully cute for those few minutes he let us parade him around in his outfit. maybe next year he'll last 10 minutes. I'm writing that on our long-term goal sheet.

Here are some pictures while he was tolerating his giddy parents gawking at his misery...

Called to Serve

Crissy & Cannon

Cannon is truly his father's son. He wanted some "All Meat" pizza too.

Jarom, Chrissy, Cannon, Me

Chrissy and BYU friends

We had dinner with Chrissy and the Becar crew at Brick Oven the night before she went in to the MTC. First of all, YUM! Second of all, sad! We will miss Chrissy a lot. She is so much fun and always keeps things entertaining. Of course, we were late to the MTC, so I didn't get any pictures of her with her name tag or anything like that. Hopefully I'll get some from the in-laws and I'll post them when we get them. The MTC was bittersweet. We know she'll be a great missionary and Uruguay won't know how lucky they are to have her.

Movin' on up!

The day we left for California, we got word that Jarom was approved for a promotion of sorts.

He has been working toward his Master's degree for the last 2 years. He graduates in April (Hallelujah!). This is crunch time for him. He's been applying for Administration jobs and working on his resume for the last few weeks. We are applying everywhere from Salt Lake to Saint George in hopes that he'd get something. Administration jobs are hard to get especially right out of school.

Well, it just worked out that one of the assistant principals at his own school is being transferred to Lone Peak High School to fill a vacancy there. Jarom's principal requested that Jarom be the one to fill in the open position for the remainder of the year with the chance to keep the position next school year as well.

It was approved by the school board last Tuesday and starting in January, he'll be the assistant principal at his school. He'll be a TSA for the rest of the year since he's not completely finished with his degree. We are absolutely floored about this. I couldn't be more proud of him.

Yay Hubby! :)

Back from California

Chrissy, Cannon & Gma Sheri

Wow. What a trip! We almost didn't go because of fires in Southern California. It was a bit smoky, but it turned out fine. We got back in record time (interesting since it was the first trip with the babe). We had a blast with the Cali. Becar Family. It was so fun to spend time with Chrissy before she goes on the mish.

We only ate at IN-N-OUT once. That's a crying shame. We did have a blast at the Becar home and hopefully stayed out of the way as preparations were made for the farewell and the mission home. Jordan's football game was cancelled and so was the BYU game that we had tickets for. Dang fires! We still managed to spend some quality time as a family and had a few good laughs here and there.

I sang a solo at Chrissy's farewell. I used to do this all the time and never felt an ounce of stage fright. This time was much different! I was shaking in my boots and thought I might pass out one the spot. I was actually pleasantly surprised that I didn't choke or crack. I know in my glory days, I wouldn't count it with my best performances, but like I said I was happy with it. It just tells me how far I've come and how much practice I have if I am ever going to be in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. (It's been a goal of mine for as long as I can remember.) Chrissy accompanied me on the piano. That girl has mad skills. She's amazing! Her talk was great too. She spoke of missionary work and told some pretty great stories. She's already a great missionary and we're stoked for her!

I didn't take very many pictures. I will definitely get some more this coming Wednesday as Chrissy enters the MTC here in Provo.

Cannon with Grandma Sheri

Yummy Toffee Dip for Apples

Okay, I totally stole this idea from my cousin. (shout out to Shelly!) I made this apple dip and then made a plate to share with my visiting teachees, Jarom's home teaching families, our presidencies, and some neighbor friends. It is so yummy. While I was making it, I couldn't help but sample each batch. :) It's creamy, and the toffee adds just the perfect crunch.

Ingredients:
1 pkg. cream cheese (8 oz.) - softened.
3/4 C. brown sugar
1/2 C. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 bar (8 oz.) of Heath Toffee (pound into small pieces using a ziploc bag and a rolling pin.)

Mix all the ingredients together in a mixer or with a hand mixer until blended and creamy.

Serve with sliced apples.

Yum!

Naptime

I just wanted to share another mini photo session from yesterday. I put him down for a nap on my bed yesterday. I don't nomally put him there for a nap. He has been so difficult with naps. I had a lot to do so I laid down next to him until he was asleep. Anyway, when he woke up, he was being so darling and snuggly in my comforter, I just had to snap these pictures.

p.s. Jarom, if you are reading this... I'm not getting distracted... we're ALMOST packed!!

FYI

We are going to back back to Cali Cali...

It's our first trip with the babe. Wish us luck because we'll need it! He started teething this week. Can you say... headache! So, I'll be gone for about a week. But, I will have lots of fun pictures and stories to share. Chrissy is going on a mission to Uruguay. We are so excited for her and we'll miss her a lot!

3rd Best Chili This Side of Utah Lake!

We had our annual neighborhood chili contest last night and it was a tight race with about 25 entries and I took 3rd place!! Yahoo! Check out the awesome chili trophy I got! I also made a yummy apple pie and a Hawaiian scarecrow. :) Jarom was the emcee for the night and we had a blast!

Afterwards we went to our neighbors house and watched Transformers. (more than meets the eye!) Well, okay, we watched half of Transformers and we both fell asleep so we went home. Haha! So fun!