a playmate for parker

it's the middle of january,

and we have no snow on the ground.
seriously?!?! are we even in idaho?
im LOVING this warmer, snow-free winter!

parker got a new playmate a few weeks ago.
my friend and next door neighbor
has a little boy who is just 6 weeks
younger than parker.
we get to play with him in the mornings
while his mama goes to class.


parker was not a fan of him the first week and a half
but we are slowly warming up to hayden, and they will sit
and play for a few minutes together everyday.

parker also got another new playmate this past week.
marcus kade myers was born to chuck and diana on wednesday!
we went to see him today, and oh my heavens...
he. is. precious. all 6 pounds of him.i may have thought for one split second,
''awwww, i might want another one of these!''
but the thought left as quickly as it came when diana
mentioned she had been up ALL. NIGHT. with him.
i was happy to pass him back to his mama
and leave, knowing i was going to get a full night sleep.
because did i mention with hayden coming over to play
parker has been sleeping like a champ.
8:00pm-8:30am. love it.

but marcus is adorable, and charlee is one great big sister.

we all thought parker was so little,
but after seeing him next to marcus today,
we decided he sure isnt so little anymore!

he is understanding so much.
when we ask him to go get his shoes,
he brings us his shoes.
he does the same with his socks too.
and after we get his coat on, he is walking over
and banging on the door to go outside.he can sit down when we ask him to sit down.
he recently learned how to spin in a circle.
he can give kisses, and blow kisses.
and we are practicing our spoon skills.
he is becoming a great little helper.
he especially loves to help with vacuuming, sweeping,
and folding the laundry. he is also starting to figure out how to
"push my buttons"
and throwing small temper-tatrums.
especially after all his fruit snacks are gone.
holy hannah, you'd think the world was gonna end.
i often hear myself praying for patience every day.
he loves books, and any kind of ball.
and loves to play with his daddy.
he loves to eat, and would eat all day if i let him.
his favorite snacks include cheese, graham crackers, yogurt,
fruit snacks, and anything im eating.
though some days im not quite sure
if we will make it to bed time alive,
i sure love this little dude of mine.

moscow... russia?

i turned the tv on this morning

and saw it was suppose to be 43 degrees.
can you say heat wave?


so this afternoon parker and i headed over to the park.
i took him out of the stroller and let him wander.
boy did he sure love to be outside again.


who would have thought,
on january 2 in rexburg, idaho
we would be out for a walk.
it's a miracle!


he wasnt quite sure what to do when we got to this crack.
and how in the world is it already a new year?
time goes way to fast.
we are very much looking forward to 2012.
we are hoping it brings us
*another bachelor's degree,
*a move to moscow... (russia?)
*and a 2 year old!

jared starts his LAST semester at BYU-idaho.
and he will graduate in april!
WOOHOO!
a few weeks ago we learned he was accepted into grad school
at the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho.
not Russia.

so it looks like we will be packing up and moving north
probably sometime in august.
his program is only 2 semesters,
which we are thrilled about.

its nice to see that we will one day be done with school.

lots of celebrating

holy hannah,christmas is over.

parker is a year old.
and a new year is less than 2 days away.

the last two weeks we have been doing lots of celebrating!
it started on december 18.
parker's aunt diana was kind enough to share her birthday
so we celebrated parker's first birthday
and diana's birthday with the rucks family.

he didnt like his cake.
and he was spoiled rotten by his
grandma and grandpa rucks
and aunt diana.
he got lots of clothes, toys,
and the CUTEST little pair of nike's.

we then traveled to colorado
and had a great time.
while we were there we did lots of fun things.

parker got his first hair cut:
decorated sugar cookies:

played in the snow:

parker did not like the snow.
maybe if he had a snow suit on, he would have enjoyed it more.
we will try to be a little more prepared next time.

celebrated parker's first birthday:
again, he didnt like his cake.
i still cant believe his birthday is christmas eve.
he was again spoiled with lots of gifts from
G&G allred, and his (my) cousins.

met santa:

enjoyed unwrapping gifts christmas morning:

and went to church sunday afternoon:


though we didnt get an ipad, or iphones, or a house,
or any other kind of fancy gift,
we were still spoiled rotten.

now here's to a new year,
good-bye 2011, you sure were good to us.
hello 2012!

the other side

growing up i couldnt tell you what i got for christmas.

but what i do remember about christmas growing up,
is much more important than any present i ever got.

my family would choose another family from church.
and then we would do an anonymous 12 days of christmas for them.

on the first night,
we would slowly drive by their house
to check and make sure they were home.
and to also look for a good hiding spot behind a tree or bush close by.
then my parents would drive around the corner and park
while we proceeded to get out of the car, our arms full of goodies.

we would slowly creep up to their door step,
our hearts pounding in our chest with all the adrenaline pumping through our bodies.
then with a few loud knocks,
we'd take off running as fast as we could to our hiding spot
so we could watch their faces when they opened the door.

it was priceless.
and i learned it was far better to give than to receive.
(cheesy? maybe.)

the first christmas jared and i were married,
we choose another couple in our ward.
we were a little too poor to do a 12 days of christmas,
so we opted to just leave them something one night.

but then our second christmas came,
and then it went.
and we didnt choose any family to serve.

and then our third christmas came,
and then it went.
and again, we didnt choose any family to serve.

and now here we are,
our 4th christmas married.

a few nights ago,
after we put parker down for bed,
we heard five loud, fast knocks on our door.
at first neither one of us moved.
we sort of looked at each other like, 'who could that be?'

then right as jared opened the door, i said,
"i bet someone doorbell ditched us"
and sure enough there on our doorstep sat this:

i was so giddy the rest of the night.
i couldnt believe that someone had thought to leave us something for christmas.
it was a different experience being on "the other side" of things.
and then the thought occured to me.
we've missed the opportunity to serve others for the past few years,
maybe this was a reminder to get our butt off the couch
and return the favor.


we have no idea who left this for us,
but to whoever you were, thank-you!