Catch Up Post - January 2010

Aren't you all impressed? After this post I'll only be 2 months behind! We had kind of a lot going on during the month of January so be prepared for a marathon post.

XANDER'S FIRST HAIRCUT

Upon arriving in Utah for my brother's wedding it occurred to me that Xander was looking a little scruffy with his crazy long hair that likes to stick straight out the sides. I decided we should get it cut so that he'd be cute in all the wedding pictures. My sister knew about a really fun place in Draper called Cookie Cutters Haircuts for Kids. It was such a cute place all decorated in bright colors with fun things like cars for the kids to sit on and even a little indoor playground to entertain them while they wait for their haircut.

Here's the 'before' picture...

during (did not like those clippers much)....


the balloon made things all better...

and finally, the handsome 'after' picture...

I'm proud of you buddy! You survived you first haircut! He even got a cute little certificate with his picture on it. We tried to make it fun for him but I think he was probably hoping we wouldn't have to do this again anytime soon!

At least he'll be handsome for the wedding pictures!

THE WEDDING

Unfortunately I didn't get very many good pictures from the wedding, but Tony promised to send me some soon so maybe I can do a re-post later on. Here are a few of the half decent ones we got with our camera.

Here's the whole wedding party on the steps at the temple.

Here's a candid shot of Tony and April that I thought was pretty sweet. They are such a beautiful couple and I think they have a really loving relationship.

Here's the happy couple at the family dinner (held at the Joseph Smith Memorial building).

Here are the kids in their matching outfits. Grandma Jennings was thoughtful enough to buy these cute little outfits in the wedding colors for all the grandkids so they would feel included.

It's been a while since I've posted a decent photo of me and Jason...one of us is always on the other side of the camera it seems!

Here's me and my little bro... who's not so little anymore. Tony, I'm so happy for you and April and for the life you are starting together. I'm proud of you for being so accomplished and successful for your age and for never losing your charming sense of humor.

Me and the Xand man...those cheeks are just so kissable.

Cousins and best buddies, Rachel and Tressa.

brothers

We are so happy to have April in our family and we felt so blessed to be able to make it to the wedding and share that special time with them. We wish you both the best!

FAMILY TIME

Before and after the wedding we got lots of good quality time with both sides of the family. Here's a cute picture of all the Jennings grandkids (sitting in order by age) taken at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I can't believe we got them all to look at the same time! So cute. My kids sure had a fun time hanging out with all their cousins. It makes us want to live closer!

Here's Corbin with his cousin and new friend, Zeke. This is our first visit where Zeke was big enough to play with Corbin. It was fun for him to have another boy to play with (he's used to playing with sissy). They loved playing with Tony's trains together. What cute little buddies.

I really like this picture of Rachel all snuggled up with her new cat. If you look really close you can see that Rachel is wiggling her loose tooth with her tongue. She cracks me up. Rachel and Tressa spent quite a bit of time playing together with the cat. Unfortunately I think it may have involved repeatedly throwing it off of Rachel's bunk bed, but I can't be sure since they closed the door and wouldn't let anyone in.Speaking of animals, Xander got his first exposure to Grandma Briggs' pugs, Maxx and Sadie. I was nervous about taking him over there because they can get a little wild and I thought he would be terrified. Tressa and Corbin are even still nervous around them sometimes. Sure enough he started fussing immediately when he saw the dogs, but then we noticed he was reaching down and trying to jump out of my arms. Apparently he was fussing because he wanted to touch them...he wasn't the least bit frightened. Here he is petting Sadie. He loves dogs and ever since he met Grandma's babies he makes this funny little panting/barking noise whenever he sees one. It's so funny.

Here's a cute picture of the Briggs grandkids piled on Uncle Jordan's lap. I was so glad we were able to get them all together during our visit. Even though there's quite an age difference, Becky and Brandon have always been so fun for my kids to hang out with. They are such sweet kids.

We also got to meet Jordan's girlfriend, Kelsey on this trip. She seems like a really good match for Jordan. She was really fun to hang out with and so sweet with our kids...she personally protected Corbin from the scary Chuck E Cheese robots (he was terrified of them!) Here they are winning a bunch of tickets for the kids.

Tressa was pretty excited about winning a few tickets of her own (with Grandma's help).

Even Xander got in on the action this time. he loved driving this little car.

One thing we really wanted to do before going back to Oklahoma was take a drive up the canyon to show the kids what mountains and real snow look like. They spotted the mountains from the airplane and kept pointing them out when we were out driving around. It's one thing Jason and I really miss about Utah. Here are a few pictures we took up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Isn't it beautiful?

All in all it was a wonderful trip. Not only did we get to spend some good quality time with the family, but we also got a much needed break from the stress of everyday life. Writing all this makes me want to go back again already...or hey, how about permanently! Even though we have lots of friends here and have enjoyed our time in Tulsa, I miss my family so much and there are a lot of things I miss about Utah too.

CORBIN'S FIRST BIG BOY BIKE

Switching gears now (no pun intended)...Corbin has been too big for his tricycle for some time now. We've been holding off giving him a two wheeler because it was the only thing we could use to bribe him to sleep good at night. Well, he finally filled up his chart and earned his bike so here it is! He was SO thrilled. He jumped right on and took off. That kid has no fear...he is all boy.

I can't wait for the weather to warm up a little so that the kids can take advantage of the quiet culdesac we live on and ride those bikes to their hearts content!

XANDER UPDATE

Every little kid has to endure the embarrassing bathtub photo that Mom couldn't resist putting in the family photo album right? Here's yours little guy. Xander loves taking baths now that he can sit up and move around really well. He loves to splash around and play with all his bath toys, especially a little basketball hoop we got him recently. I'm pretty sure ball was his first word too...anyway it's his favorite word these days. I think he's gonna be a lot like his brother...totally into cars, trains and balls.

Catch Up Post - November & December 2009

So here's part 2 of my catch up posts. November and December were pretty busy months for us.

THE MOVE

We found a little house just a few miles from our apartment that we decided to move in to at the beginning of November. Over all I think the move has been worth it...now the kids have some safe outdoor space to play and we don't have to deal with noisy neighbors and such...but boy is moving a pain! I still have boxes in the garage that I have not even gone through and I haven't hung any pictures yet...sad isn't it!? I don't know what we would have done without the help of some of Jason's co-workers and students from the flight school. Here's a picture of some of them hanging out in the moving truck. It was funny because Tressa and Corbin just climbed up there and joined them. I had to get a picture. We also would not have survived the move without my Mom who flew out to help us. She single handedly packed and unpacked the kitchen and the kids rooms which made the transition SO much easier on our whole family. It was especially nice for the kids to be able to walk into their new house with their rooms all set up so they felt like they were home. We also had lots of help from friends with watching the kids during the week of the move so that I could pack and clean. Thanks everybody!

Speaking of friends...

FRIENDS

Shortly after the move we had a little get together to say goodbye to the Carney's (who moved out of state around the same time). It was good timing because we got to have one last hang out before our move too. It's silly that we only moved a few miles away and now we don't see everyone nearly as often, but we are in a different ward and stake now so we don't get to see them at church functions anymore. I've had a few nights out with the girls since then, but we are definitely due for another group hang out. We are so blessed to have had such a great group of friends here in Tulsa. It has made being away from family a little easier. We miss you all!

the guys...
the girls...

me and Lacey...

I totally miss this girl! We lived in the same apartment complex for a while and had lots of fun hanging out together. She was such a good friend...always offering to do things for me (everything from watching kids to coloring my hair to taking pictures of the kids) and SO much fun to just chill with. Our kids were pretty good buddies too so we had lots fun play dates. Miss you guys...hope you are doing well!

FAMILY TIME

It had been a while since we went flying and Xander had never been, so Jason took our family to Ponca City one day in November. There's a fun little Mexican restaurant at the airport there so we just flew out for dinner and then flew back. The kids had a blast. They love sitting up front with Daddy and getting their turn to fly the plane. Xander did really well for his first flight too. He enjoyed watching the take off and landing and he pretty much slept through the rest.

Corbin, pilot in command

Jason is always happy when he's in the air...maybe not so happy that I was trying to take pictures of him while he was prepping the plane though. :)

TRESSA'S 5th BIRTHDAY!

Can't believe my baby girl is 5! She had school on her birthday so I brought a cake to share with her class. She LOVES school and is friends with all her little classmates, so that was really fun for her.

Later that day we opened presents and went out to eat. It was kind of a low key birthday this year since she had a big friend party last year, but she got to do some of her favorite things...school, ballet, eating out, and spending time with the family. You could tell she felt really special and grown up on her day. She is such a joy to have in our family and we love her to pieces. Happy birthday Tressa!

CHRISTMAS

It was kind of weird being away from family this year for Christmas, but having a nice quiet day all to ourselves turned out to be pretty great. It was nice to not have to go anywhere or be in a rush. We let the kids open their presents at their own pace and stop to play with stuff if they wanted to. We didn't even get dressed until much later in the day when they wanted to go out and play in the snow. Can't believe we actually had a white Christmas! That was so much fun for the kids.

Here's a picture of the kids next to the trees that they decorated all by themselves.

We went and saw the lights at REMA again this year...it's become sort of a tradition for us. All three kids really enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures from Christmas morning:

"I can have chocolate before breakfast?! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!"

Corbin can't get enough of anything that has to do with cars. He was thrilled with all his new toys and literally spent all day engrossed in play.

Xander got pretty excited too. He was way more into opening presents than I remember the other kids being at this age. He helped rip the paper off and got really excited about everything he opened. It was so cute!

The big gift for the kids this year was a play set for the yard, but we weren't able to set it up because of the weather. I'm sure they will get plenty of use out of it when it warms up...they were super excited about it.

Jason was pretty excited about his new toy too! His parents surprised us with a Wii.

Group hug with Mommy...sweetest kids ever!

The kids had a blast "shoveling" the snow and building snow men and a snow car (Corbin's request) later that day.

We missed our extended family this Christmas, but we had some great quality time with the kids. We couldn't have asked for anything more!