Pierce

Pierce never ceases to amaze me. He LOVES oatmeal, as in he has eaten it every morning for breakfast for the past two months. It has to be the instant maple brown sugar flavor. This little boy can eat an entire package for breakfast. He isn't much of an eater, but every morning he will eat all of his oatmeal. I keep asking him what he wants for breakfast and every morning he says, "oatmeal". We can't even sway him with monkey cereal (This is what we affectionately call Life cereal because when Allee was little Curious George was on the box). He won't hear of it. Perhaps this should be the new face of Quaker Instant Oatmeal.

When Pierce decides to do something he is in it whole heartily. Lately he has been my little helper when it comes to unloading the dishwasher. Every time I start unloading he will come running. He hands me all the silverware, puts the Tupperware away, and to my dismay will hand me every glass to put in the cupboard. I just enjoy the moment because all too soon he won't want to have anything to do with chores! I sure love this little guy and all his cute quirks.

Something that definitely took on a lot more meaning this year was going to Temple Square. It had been a couple of years since we had gone, and it really was breathtaking. I think one of the things I miss the most about living in Cache Valley is looking at the temple every day. It is amazing how much I miss it. Pierce was able to eat snow for the first time there, and loved it. Every time we put him down he was eating yet another glove full of snow. I hope at least most of it was clean, but if not, at least he enjoyed himself!

Family Time
It was a blast to spend time with our families. We were able to go to Cold Stone, MMM how I miss GOOD ice cream! We ate at P.F. Chang's, MMM how I miss GOOD food. Are you sensing a theme? Yes we ate out A LOT while there, lets face it, there is a wealth of great food out there, and we have been deprived for two whole months!

We also went to Hardware Ranch and went bowling with Derek's family (I would have pics except I didn't bring the battery charger, and well, you know the rest of the story).

A BIG thank you to everyone who made our stay so memorable. Thanks to Mom and Dad for putting up with us and our circus for two weeks, thanks to Dave and Steph for letting us interrupt their lives at our whim, thanks to Judy for planning a family activity, and thanks to all our friends who made time during the busy holidays to hang out with us. We were rejuvenated with each experience.

Christmas Morning

Allee was so excited for Christmas this year and Pierce picked up on it. He could tell you that HoHo was coming and that he was bringing everyone a ball. It was a wonderful morning and even though Santa had to bring all of the big presents to Missouri, he did a pretty awesome job getting fun stuff to Utah as well.

Christmas

This Christmas we were very blessed to go back home for the Holidays. We were able to spend two full weeks enjoying all our family and friends. Before we left I had to take the traditional family pic in front of our tree, Derek and Allee humor me with this and I know they think it is silly, but otherwise I don't get pictures in their Christmas outfits!

I thought this was an excellent picture with Santa, Pierce wasn't even screaming. He was only willing to sit on Santa's lap because he was giving out suckers, his favorite right now.

Christmas Eve and Gra and Papa's. It was so nice to spend the whole evening with our family. The kids were able to play with Livie and we were able to play cards and enjoy adult conversation.