A Few December Highlights

December is a busy month for us. Not only do we have Christmas to plan for, we also have Tripp's and Bryant's birthdays, as well as a few of our other family member's birthdays. Before these occur, however, we have our wedding anniversary at the beginning of the month. I have a tin can on my dresser collecting loose change. It is called the "December 2009 Can." I'm sure you can figure out why I feel it is necessary to have such a can. December 8th was our second wedding anniversary. Last year we went to the Anniversary Inn and really loved it, so we decided to do it again. I researched all the different rooms and decided on the Hollywood Room. It's one of their newer ones and we were very impressed. Going there is like going on an instant vacation-overnight. The first thing we saw when we walked in was our own soda fountain...complete with lots of Dr. Pepper:

There was a huge TV and a bathroom that took up half the room. They have this huge jetted tub/shower and the water comes out of the ceiling like a waterfall.

If you look closely you can see the water pouring down from the ceiling:

Once we checked in, we decided to splurge a little and eat at The Melting Pot in Boise. It was great! It took us 2 hours to eat dinner, with four courses of fondue. It was pretty pricey but well worth it. We really loved the cedar plank salmon and lobster tail.

It was really great to be able to spend so much time together without having to worry about anything else. I am so grateful for Bryant and feel so blessed to be married to such a wonderful person. He is so amazing and I admire him so much. Two years flew by and I can't wait to see what the future brings!

December 17th was Bryant's birthday. He told me he didn't want a party...he's not all that excited about getting older. :) I cheated just a little and still wrapped all his presents and made him shrimp fettucini for dinner that night.

He doesn't like cake, so I got creative and made him a cake out of rice krispie treats, which he loves. I put crumbled snickers on the top and it turned out pretty cute-and tasty too! It was a good night for us all, and even though he was turning a year older, I hope he realized how much we love him.

As for Tripp, he has had a good month. He got his second tooth, and is walking around the house like he owns it. We have a lot of fun with him. He has decided to use a tray from the dehydrator as his personal indoor sled. Every time he can get his hands on it, he sits in the middle of it and wants me to spin him around. It's hilarious!


He also really like getting into bags and boxes we use for wrapping presents. He is so tiny still that he can get away with it.


We were hoping this month would bring the 20 lb mark with it so we could switch him to a new carseat, but no luck. He's not quite 19 pounds. I'll add a few random December pics to this post...and then my blogging will be caught up until December 25th!

A look at our Christmas tree this year:

Tripp and Daddy being silly:


Trippster Chillin in his new winter gear:


Last but not least...I have created a marshmallow monster. Ever since the rice krispie cake, he cannot get enough of them! They stick to everything-his hands, face, you name it!

Puppy Party!

Well, our little guy turned 1 year old on Friday December 5th! We can't believe how fast it went. He is walking, has 1 tooth, says a few words (daddy, mom, wow, thank you, nummy, uh oh, and Chase), and does a variety of other crazy things. He is a very active kid and is always investigating something new. Once he sets his mind on something, he won't forget about it no matter how much we try to distract him. Sunday night we had his birthday party. We decided to make it a puppy theme because he seems to love them so much, and always laughs when his daddy barks at him. Macey and Mom helped a ton with his party. They decorated and helped get the food ready while we were still at church. I ordered an adorable puppy cake that turned out just perfect (thanks for the contact Julia!)...here is the picture:

Tripp had many guests come to wish him happy birthday. His Great-Grandma Gibbons, Grandma Trudy, Uncle Allen, Grandma and Grandpa Hessing, Aunts Macey and Lainey, Uncle Trey, and Mommy and Daddy of course. it was definitely a full house. We started off the evening by letting Tripp open his presents. He was pretty confused at first and I think Trey ended up opening more presents than Tripp did.

Opening dump trucks from Grandma Trudy:

I'm pretty sure he was more excited about the toys than about the coat he received:

He had a hard time realizing that he needed to rip off all the paper. After he tore off that little piece, he reached inside and started playing with the toy:

He got a really neat "car" from Grandpa Bret and Grandma Julia, that I'm pretty sure is his favorite present. He and Bryant played with it together for quite some time.

As always, Uncle Allen got Tripp a huge, exciting, noisy toy. :) We love it and so does Tripp! It's a zebra that he can sit on and bounce up and down on...plus it makes all kinds of sounds. Tripp was just as much intrigued with the assembly as he was with the actual toy!

He received many more great gifts...far too many to post pictures of all of them! What great family support we have!

Next we decided to let him skip dinner and move right on to the cake. We decided to get Tripp his own personal cake so we could all enjoy eating the puppy cake without little fingermarks in it. At first he wasn't sure what to do and was a little cautious. Eventually Allen smeared frosting all over his cheeks and that got him started on the fun. After about 5 minutes, frosting was everywhere and he had almost eaten the entire cake!

It was a successful first birthday party for our little guy. We love you Tripp!!!

More Thanksgiving Weekend Fun...

Well the weekend after Thanksgiving was a blast as well. Everyone went to the Festival of Trees on Friday and we had a lot of fun looking at all the creative displays. Lainey and Trey did a scavenger hunt and wrote letters to Santa. I think Tripp had a lot of fun being around all the people and helping us eat our cookies and pretzels. :)

The cousins at Festival of Trees:

John, Morgan, Jill, Me, Garrett, and Dylan

Lainey and Trey in the St. Al's "helicopter":

Saturday I was able to eat lunch with my friend Allison! She and I went to nursing school together, and apparently we were friends as babies because our parents have known each other since they were married. Sadly Allison lives in Utah but lucky for me her family is here in town...so we get to hang out during the holidays! We went to Red Robin and had a blast catching up.

Me and Al:

After lunch, I was able to go to my friend Sheila's baby shower. It was really fun and her mom and sister did a great job with games, food, and decorations! Sheila looks so good for being 31 weeks along. She is in school full time too and I am proud of her for working so hard. She ended up with a lot of awesome baby gifts too!

An excited Sheila :)

All in all it was a great weekend to see family and friends.

Tripp and his second cousin Dylan getting to know each other:

Mom and Lainey

Tagged

Okay, so my good friend Sherri tagged me in this blog and now I'm supposed to do it too, so here goes.

5 T.V. Shows I love to watch
1. Biggest Loser
2. Law and Order: SVU
3. Oprah
4. American Idol
5. Life

5 things that happened yesterday
1. Ate out with my long lost friend Allison!
2. Went to Sheila's baby shower
3. Studied for my balloon pump course
4. Made popcorn/craisin strands for the Christmas tree for 3 hours!
5. Played tag with Trippster

5 favorite places to eat
1. PF Chang's
2. Carino's
3. Taco Bell
4. Texas Roadhouse
5. My house when Bryant is cooking :)-really this is my #1

5 things I look forward to
1. This holiday season
2. Paying off debt
3. Having more kids
4. Building a house someday
5. Every time I get to spend time with Bryant

5 things on my wish list (none of these things are in order by the way)
1. To be home with Tripp all the time and not have to work
2. To lose those last 10 pounds
3. A brand new Audi
4. To have a family strong in the gospel
5. To be a more knowledgeable nurse

5 people I tag...anyone who wants to fill it out!

Thanksgiving 2008!

Thanksgiving morning, Tripp was filled with excitement. He couldn't wait to eat and eat and eat. The truth is, he's filled with excitement over food every day regardless of the date. So for him, it was just another normal day. Bryant was up early and went hunting with my dad, so I put the ham that Bryant had prepared in the oven and he glazed it when he was back from hunting. It turned out really well. We actually kept about 1/3rd of it for ourselves and took the rest to Grandma's. :) We met at Grandma Gibbon's house at about 2:30pm for the big dinner. Some of our cousins made the trip from Provo to Meridian the night before to be with us and we are so glad they came! Garret, Jill, Dylan, Morgan, and John Gibbons all came! The rest of the guests included My parents with Macey, Lainey, and Trey, as well as Kevin, Pat, Jasper, Chelsie and Michael. It was quite the crowd.

We got a cute family picture:


Grandma Gibbons made a lot of the food herself and was really busy. Everything turned out great and it was nice having a break from making the turkey this year. Before dinner the boys got together and arm wrestled for a while, which really amused Tripp and Trey both.




After eating, Bryant and my dad were both exhausted from hunting and eating...so they both tried to rest a little while the rest of us talked and browsed the newspaper for the Black Friday sales...

A bit later Bryant, my mom and dad, and Kevin and Pat discussed handguns and Bryant had the chance to show off his new 40 calibur he got a few weeks ago. Later that night, most of us went to the movies, our favorite Thanksgiving tradition. Some of us saw "Four Christmases" which I would not recommend, a few saw "Bolt" in 3D, and the smart ones saw "Twilight." I have seen it twice already so I opted for "Four Christmases," but I definitely regret my choice! Morgan and John really loved "Twilight" which I think is great. I thought that movie was really well done.

Me and Chels:

Aunt Macey feeding Trippster:

Overall, it was a really great day and I am so thankful to have my wonderful family. They mean everything to me and it's so great to have a holiday that reminds us to reflect on all the blessings and joys we have.

Here are just a few more pictures of the family.

Jasper and Michael

My beautiful mother

Bryant's Deer Hunting Adventures

Bryant had a very eventful week of hunting...he has decided to uncover this past hobby and become really excited about it again, which I think is great for a couple of reasons. First, he needs to have some fun after all the stress he has been under. Secondly, he is able to spend more time with his dad and brothers, and third, our deep freeze space will hopefully be filled! Bryant has informed me that he has not been deer hunting since he was twelve until this past week. Now I wasn't there so I may not get all the details right, but I will do my best to explain his rather interesting hunting adventure. Bryant, his two brothers Allen and Joe, his dad Bret and their buddy Virgil left to go deer hunting in Northern Idaho (Dworshack Dam) last Friday the 21st. They left sometime around 2am...crazy. They stayed in a fifth wheel parked on Virgil's daughter's property and hunted nearby. Apparently that part of the state is known for it's large whitetail population. Bryant set off early Saturday morning and by 9am saw a huge 8-point buck. He took the shot and the buck went down. Bryant radioed Joe and told him, "Well, I'm done!" He took off his gear and got about ten feet from the buck when it jumped back up and ran away! It had been shot, there was blood where it had been lying. Bryant tracked it all day and all throughout the next without success. Allen and Bret both shot a deer, and they all made the trip home, Bryant and Joe empty-handed.

This picture is not for the faint of heart; Allen and Joe cleaning away...

Bryant and Joe found this truck and described it as the most redneck truck they've ever seen. "Captain Lee" is written on the side, and my favorite embellisment is the beer can on the hood. We're pretty sure it's permanently attached to the truck.

Bryant apparently needed a boat to cross the water to find his Buck, so the morning after he came home he hitched up his dad's boat and he and Joe took off again to find the buck. I'm proud of Bryant for trying his best to find it-he is a true sportsman. Any of you who know Bryant's luck will understand the irony of what happened next. The boat wouldn't start. After driving the 5 hours back to Northern Idaho, the boat was useless. They tried a new battery only to find the starter had frozen up and the boat was no use. So Joe was able to hunt and get his deer. Bryant hunted with no further success. He was the only one who didn't bring home a deer. It was one of the largest bucks he has ever seen...and he laughs and says his family doesn't believe that he ever shot it in the first place, though we know they are kidding. At least he got some beautiful scenery shots (not to mention the nasty deer cleaning pics as well).

He did say he had a blast, and I'm really glad he got the opportunity to do something fun. I'm sure he will have more success next month on his next hunting adventure...which will be for elk!

Follow Our Blog!

Hello friends and family,

It has occurred to me that it's tough to get blogging started for multiple reasons. First, setting up our background, layout, etc took a bit of time. Second, now that it is ready to go, we need followers! And this is no easy task...we can't add you, you have to add yourselves. Please do us a favor and add yourselves to our friends and family list. Thanks!!

Hello again! I have decided to catch up a little and post a few Halloween pictures on here for my number one fan...aka Stacy, who happens to be my only blog follower at the moment. :) We dressed Tripp us as a fireman and he was so bundled that he could barely stand up. It reminded me of that kid on "A Christmas Story." He actually fell asleep in the car right away so we took our time getting out to Bryant's Dad's house. We went car shopping for about an hour and a half and all the salesman thought we were nuts for doing it on Halloween night. Luckily Tripp woke up at Bryant's Dad's house and was able to have a good time playing with Bret and Julia. Then we took him to see my parents. Lainey and Trey (my little bro and sis) were home from trick-or-treating. Trey was Darth Vader and Lainey was a piece of pizza, courtesy of my dad who made the costume. They looked great! Tripp and Bryant played on Tripp's little bike for a while that my mom keeps there, played with the Darth Vader sword, and then it was time to call it a night. It turned out we were gone throughout the entire trick-or-treating time frame so we still have a hug bag of chocolate in our deep freeze-and I won't complain about that!















And here's a great shot with Tripp on his super awesome bike...

So here we are at last! Bryant informed me the other day that he had started a blog for us...so here I am, writing the first post. About two weeks ago we took Chase to the MTC. He's going to the San Fernando, CA mission Spanish speaking. We took him to Salt Lake City and stayed the night at Aunt Debbi's house. It was really great because a lot of our cousins were able to meet us there.

Chase was pretty nervous, but also really excited. He cried and cried during his farewell talk, so he promised us he wasn't going to cry in the MTC. Amazingly enough he didn't...but the rest of us did of course! We are really proud of him and his choice to serve the Lord. We have already heard from him and he is loving the MTC. He can pray in Spanish and is loving learning the language. He also told us he is getting along really well with his companion. We miss him but we know he is where he should be!