happy christmas!

christmas this year was spent in idaho falls with the rucks' family.

we drove down from moscow, making it our 3rd trip down since august.

crazy? possibly. this trip took us a little longer, with the snowy roads we encountered. 

 

but it was the first time we have all been together in at least 2 years.

so it was fun to see everyone all together again.

we took parker to see santa with his cousin charlee, hoping he would see her with santa

and then not be afraid of him. boy were we wrong. 

 all smiles while waiting.

and then......

BAM!

maybe next year buddy. 

christmas eve was parker's 2nd birthday. still cant believe i have a two year old.

and i still really cant believe his birthday is christmas eve. 

we took him to chick-fil-a for his birthday lunch, because its my favorite, and he doesnt

have a say yet. can you believe jared's family arent really fans of chick-fil-a? 

crazy right?

i sure enjoyed it. and i think parker did too, since he ate 6 chicken nuggets. plus some fries. 

they gave him a balloon, a stuffed cow, AND a free cookie,

plus they sang to him. and he covered his face with his balloon the whole time.

we came home and had some cousin bonding time

then had some papa murphey's pizza and opened presents.

he.was.spoiled.

 happy 2nd birthday little dude! 

you drive us nuts but i guess we will keep ya.

with all of us home this year, there sure was a lot of presents under the tree.

parker got just as many presents christmas morning as he did for his birthday.

he very much enjoyed eating candy for breakfast.

im afraid to know how much he had.

he most definitely had a very thomas filled birthday and christmas.

thank you to everyone who helped make parkers birthday and christmas very enjoyable.

between his aunts/uncles/cousins/grandparents and me and jared, he sure made out this year.

we had a white christmas this year and a few days after christmas jared took parker out to play in it.

i was sure he wouldnt last long, but an hour later he was still out there playing. he loved the snow

and didnt complain one bit about being cold. even after jared threw a snowball in his face.

good thing jared enjoys playing in the snow, because i would not have lasted 

that long out there with him. 

it was a great christmas, and so fun to see parker get SO EXCITED over everything.

we were all very spoiled this year.

we are definitely very blessed to have such good families that take care of us. 

parker boy

Ive been rather grumpy this week. For one reason or another.

And poor parker, has taken the brunt of it.

My mom must have sensed my grumpy vibe and called me yesterday morning.

She asked me how I was, I told her I was grumpy, and that parker was driving me nuts. Our conversation went on as she asked if I heard the news about the school shooting, we discussed that and then I vented to her for another minute before she had to go. But she told me to go play with parker, and to be grateful he was here to play with.

And so I did. Soon it was time for his “rest” and I sighed a sigh of relief as I sat on the couch after putting him down. Being a mom is tough.

But I cant even begin to imagine how tough being a mom has to be to those that lost their innocent children yesterday.

today my heart literally hurts for them. Im sure their sweet children drove them nuts as well, but Im also sure they are wishing they could hug them one more time.

So this morning, I woke up and decided id put my grumpy pants away, and try to have a little more patience with my parker boy.

i sure do love this dude.

thanksgiving

we flew to colorado for thanksgiving this year.

and boy was it a fun trip! full of lots of family,

shopping and eating. what else is better than that?

it was parker's first time ever flying. 

and thanks to the ipad, he did GREAT! 

it was a really full flight, so parker had to sit on my lap.

that was a little squishy, but we survived.

once we made it to colorado, parker had the time of his life

running through the house, playing with new toys, terrorizing 

the dog, playing with cousin kyler, having the undivided attention of

grandma and grandpa and his aunts and uncles.

 im not sure who enjoyed this activity more... aunt stacey or parker.

he loved the stickers. and just might be getting some in his stocking this year.

we also took him bowling for the first time.

he LOVED it. it was so cute to watch him.

see for yourself....

he did that dance/gallop/clap after EVERY turn.

seriously, so cute.

enjoying some pie with grandpa on thanksgiving.

and helping grandma make lots of stuffing. 

he got a little carried away.....

 poor kid.... he loves to watch this video over and over and over.

and shouts OH NO! when he falls. so funny. 

cute matching cousins.

i cant believe we caught them both looking AND smiling!

we took him to see santa, but he didnt want to sit with him.

but he was all about this barney! 

helping grandma make some dinner.

the weather was BEAUTIFUL up until the day we took our family pictures.

it was so cold!

 

that poor little christmas tree has served us well the last 5 years....

and to think jared almost threw it away! 

we are SO excited to head down to idaho falls in a week

to spend christmas with the rucks family.

i just cant believe parker is going to be TWO! 

and still cant believe his birthday is christmas eve.

it's a job!

Recruiting season has FINALLY ended.
Talk about the longest but shortest 2 months ever.

Let me break it down for ya.

Jared applied to 9 different companies.

From those 9 companies he received

6 first round interviews.

From those 6 first round interviews, he received

4 second round interviews… in 4 different states.

Spokane Washington

Medford Oregon

Boise Idaho

Crete Nebraska.

And from those 4 second round interviews,

He received 2 (HOLLER!) job offers.

A job in Medford, Oregon

And a job in Boise, Idaho.
***
EDIT 11.30.12
make that 3 job offers... we just heard back from Crete Nebraska!
***

We were THRILLED.

But pretty stumped on which job to take.

Remember how I said jared wanted a job in public accounting?

Well, the job offer in Medford was his ideal job.

A Public Tax Accountant.

so i thought for sure Medford Oregon

was going to become our new home.

and then Boise Idaho threw in a very

unique offer working for a private company.

And so we needed to choose,

between 2 VERY different career paths.

The public route, like jared had always thought he would do,

or the private route.

It was a VERY difficult decision to make,

but after lots of prayers,

we knew the job in Boise, Idaho was

Jared’s.

*insert happy dance here*

I am SO EXCITED to be moving back to southern Idaho.

i grew up living and traveling all over the world,

And never in a million years would I have ever thought

that Idaho would become my home.

But truth is, i LOVE it here.

We are so very excited and feel so blessed to have

a job when so many don’t.

Now we just need to get jared through 1 more semester

of school, and then it’s off to BOISE IDAHO

at the end of may to *finally* start our adult career.

We can wait!

superheros

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

our weekend has been full of fun festive things.

friday night we got together with some friends and had dinner and carved pumpkins.

their little girl josie is one of parkers best friends here.

she is exactly 1 year younger than parker. 

well, 1 year and 1 day younger. 

parker did not like touching the insides of the pumpkins.

a few weeks ago, we were walking through goodwill

and saw a spiderman costume for parker that was $1.99.

an idea started brewing in my head, and i couldnt pass up a $2 costume.

fast forward to the morning of our ward trunk or treat.

i put the spiderman costume on parker, and.....

it didnt fit! it was way to small.

so i whipped up a batman costume, just in time.

the first thing parker said when he saw it? "BAT!" 

we've been learning about bats in our books.

so cute to see him recognize one.

ghetto home made costumes are the best.
maybe we should have gotten a family picture
before we got chili all down our cute costume.

and because we live in idaho, we have to cover up

our costumes with big heavy coats because its so stinkin cold out.

parker did great carrying his pumpkin around.

and saying thank-you to everyone who gave him candy.

oh, holidays are so much fun with a little one.
even if he has no idea whats going on.
and dont worry, i already have an idea for next year!

one VERY quick trip

jared's brother got home from his mission last week.

so we made ANOTHER trip down to good old

south east idaho. what can we say? we love it there.

we left friday morning, and made it down to his parents house

just in time for some yummy dinner.

parker was beyond thrilled to be out of the car

and had a BLAST running around and playing with charlee.

i loved seeing my rucks family,

jared loved watching college football,

and it felt like chris had never even left.

its crazy how fast 2 years goes by. 

i was huge and pregnant when he left 

and now i have an almost 2 year old. 

saturday morning we spent hanging out at G&G rucks' 

house. again parker loved all the space to run and play.

and loved even more having a someone other than 

boring old mom to play with.

he sure has some cute cousins.

we spent saturday afternoon up in rexburg with 

carissa and her cutie patootie kyler.

he is such a teeny, sassy, cute little thing.

if you arent holding him the right way, he isnt

afraid to let you know! 

 oh how i miss living around the corner from carissa.

have i ever mentioned that before?

saturday night was spent back at the rucks'.

after quite a few dramatic melt downs from parker,

he decided it would be kind of fun to run around and play

with charlee again. and boy did he wear himself OUT.

he slept so good that night again. 

before we knew it, sunday morning had creeped up on us,

and we had to make the long 8 hour drive back to moscow.

*sigh*

only 27 more days till we leave for colorado to spend 

thanksgiving with my family.

and then 3 weeks after we get home from that,

its back to idaho falls we go for christmas!

im so excited. i love this time of year.

im gonna be one sad little girl once january comes,

and we have no more vacations or spur of the moment trips to go on.