The Loot!

Christmas was very fun and exciting this year! Drezden was so fun to watch as his eyes lit up with every present he opened. For some of the presents he would stop and play with them before moving on! He even tried to put on his new clothes before going to the next gift- what a champ! Thank you so much to family and friends for your fun gifts- he loves all of them!


































We are getting excited for the new year. Personally I am just excited that James has more time off to be at home before his crazy LAST semester starts! For those of you who haven't heard the news- we are expecting again this summer! We are very excited to add another member to this crazy family! We also plan to buy a home this year after James graduates and we find out where we will be living.

We hope the new year brings much happiness, success, and love to all of you:)

Santa!

We went to our ward Christmas Party tonight and had a great time. Drezden wanted to run all over the stage and under the tables- so I definitely got my exercise in for the day! He got his picture with Anna (Santa) and was more worried about the candy cane he gave him than smiling for the camera!
During dinner they had some ballroom dancers preform for entertainment. After each person danced Drezden would clap and either yell "Yeah" or "Ah Man!" It was really funny. He learned how to be a critic from watching Dancing with the Stars I am sure:)

James is relieved to be done with his classes for this semester and found out that he passed all of them with good grades! Hooray- 1 semester left! As for me- I teach one more class tomorrow and then have Christmas Break until January 4th.

We hope each of you have a fun, happy, and safe Holiday and we will post some pictures of Christmas next week. That is if Drezden has any left to open- at the rate he is going he might not. He is definitely my child and likes to know what he is getting before Christmas!

HO HO HO. Merry Christmas.

Welcome to December!

Drezden woke us up this morning at 5:30 am and to our surprise - tons of snow! As you can see by the picture- it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas:)


















Because Drezden woke up at 5:30 am- he fell asleep multiple times throughout the day. In the picture below, he literally just fell over on the couch and was out! His dad was also sleepy....

Drezden has been so funny lately. After he does something or after something happens he says, "Ah Man!" For example, when he woke up this morning and saw the snow he said, "Ah Man!" He has mastered a lot of animal sounds too. Our favorite being the answer to what an elephant says. He pushes his lips together and blows really hard! It is adorable.

He loves the "Baby Movie" (Ice Age) and Lilo and Stitch. He would watch them all day if we would let him. He loves to say Elmo. Whenever he sees Elmo, Nemo, or Lilo- he points and says Elmo! It must be one of those combo words!

We are getting excited for Christmas! The tree is decorated, the stockings aren't quite finished...! Soon:) We hope that ya'll have a great Holiday Season.

Family Pictures

James turned 26 last week!! Thank you to all of the family and friends that called, sent cards, took us out to eat, etc.! He had a great birthday and already "feels old!"

We went and took our family pictures for our annual Christmas cards on Saturday. Trying to get Drezden to hold still long enough to take a picture was a challenge! The photographer was trying to get him to keep his hands crossed and so James and I told him to fold his arms. Well, not only did he fold his arms, he bowed his head and closed his eyes too! Definitely not conducive to a taking pictures! It was so cute though- one of those sweet cherished moments.
Watch the mail for our really cute Christmas Cards!

We went with James family to take some family pictures a few weeks ago. Here are each of his siblings, their families, and his parents. Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Ghost and goblins- what a sight:) Drezden officially carved his first pumpkin! He wasn’t quite sure what to think of the goop and seeds so he just put them on the newspaper and pretended they weren’t there!

We are not going to dress up this year. Drezden is still pretty young and none of us need the candy! Next year I am sure he will understand more and want to dress up. Instead we are going to answer the door and see all of the cute neighbor kids dressed up in their costumes!

F.Y.I.: Taking someone’s pumpkin off of their porch and smashing it in the street is against the law! I had a juvenile parole officer visit my class and she informed my students of this. To which the reply was, "The law doesn’t want anyone to have fun!"

Be safe tonight and enjoy the treats... unless you get tricks!

Let it Snow...

Well the weather outside is frightful! It has snowed!!! I posted some fun pictures of the snow while falling and then what outside looked like in the morning. Drezden didn't know what to think about it- he just kept saying, "Oh!"















Drezden's newest thing that he loves is apples! I put a picture of him tackling an apple all by himself! He also really likes the little neighbor girl Hannah, and every time I turn around he is hugging and kissing her- what a ladies man! He is also into the kick of "Myself" which translates into, "Don’t help me, I can do all by myself!" As you can see in the picture, he ate or tried to eat the yogurt all by himself!


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James and I are doing well trying to balance work, school, and Drez. I must say that I really enjoy my job! I have some great kids in my classes and I look forward to teaching them everyday. James really enjoys his job as well and is excited for the quickly passing weeks that will take him to graduation.

We hope that you are all doing well. I am getting so excited for the Holidays coming up. We are already half way finished with our Christmas shopping! If anyone knows where to find a Little Tykes Basketball Hoop/Stand toy please let me know. We are going to try and channel Drezden's love for throwing things towards a net!

Mr. Silly

Ok. Drezden is OBSESSED with our neighbor’s dog! He seriously sits at the door and yells dahdah....dah dah....(dog dog) on and on and on until someone finally opens the door and he scoots down the steps and walks over to the fence to see the dog. The dogs name is Silly and he is really good with Drezden. Drezden bent over to pick up a rock the other day and Mr. Silly licked Drezden's head- he laughed so hard!

It was really cold on Saturday here- cold enough to put on winter coats and watch the snow. Yup- I said snow! I started reading a book in the morning and finished at midnight Saturday night. I hate starting books because I have no self control to stop reading and put them down. It was the perfect weather to read in- snuggled up with a blanket.For those of you wondering, the book was Twilight. If you haven’t read it you really should (Mom- yours is coming for Christmas:)) It took me 9 hours to read the 500 page book and I couldn’t even sleep when I was done because I was still thinking about it!

I posted some pictures of Drezden in his coat, Mr. Silly, and Drezden taking off his shirt- a great new habit that he learned and thinks is so cool! Christmas is only 2 1/2 months away- can you believe it is already October?!? We love you guys:)

Drezden's Favorite Things

I have been able to capture some of Drezden's favorite things on camera so I thought I would share... These past 18 months have been so fun and he is becoming his own little person with each new day.

Drezden loves to:

• Scowl! He makes his eyebrows come down over his eyes. He will do it to us or to things that he trips on or makes him mad!
• Blow kisses! This one is my favorite- Picture 1. He blows one everyday to James as he leaves for work.
• Wear shoes. He is obsessed with wearing shoes whether they are his or someone else’s. See picture 3- he is wearing moms flip flops!
• Play the keyboard with Grandpa Quintero. This is a daily occurrence and they really jam! Picture 2.
• Watch curious george with Grandpa Q. Picture 4. He records it everyday so they can watch it together! Drezden lasts about 10 minutes!
• Balloons. Everywhere we go he seems to find balloons and he gets so excited! We went to James work party last month and there was a balloon artist that made Drezden a dahdie (doggie) with floppy ears. picture 5. Unfortunately it didnt make it home... or last 15 minutes for that matter. Good thing I got a picture!
• To talk. He is saying all kinds of words such as airah (sarah), midahl (michael), dahdie (doggie) , balloo (balloon), shoe, dink (drink), etc.
• To throw things. This just shows that he is all boy! Unfortunately, it hurts and he gets put in time out!

James has started school again and is finding it challenging to balance family, full time school, and full time work. He is doing a great job and really enjoys where he works and what he does.

My classes are very interesting. The kids are so great and have a lot to offer... if only I could speak spanish and communicate with some of them. Why didn’t I pay attention in high school??!?! We hope you all are well:)

Graduation

Well the day has finally arrived. I graduated from BYU this past Friday! I received my Bachelors of Science Degree in Secondary Education in the field of Family and Consumer Sciences! I am teaching part-time this coming school year at Lakeridge Junior High in Orem. I start on Tuesday- yikes!

In family news: Alex and Hillary closed on their new home this last weekend and it is beautiful! Ruth delivered a beautiful baby girl: Talia Daphne Gordy. Kyle blessed the sacrament in Spanish, and James starts his last year of school on Wedensday.

We feel very blessed as a family. We hope all of you that are in school have a great year learning and accomplish the goals that you have set for yourselves. We love you:)

Houston, Texas

Hey all! We are having a blast down here in the hot summer sun! We have enjoyed visiting with family, going to the beach, and going to an Astro's game and they actually won!!!

Drezden's first beach experience was really fun for him. He enjoyed running out into the waves and then coming back onto the shore to work on his sand castle.

The Astro’s game ended up going into the 10th inning with a score of 1-1 against the Chicago cubs. In the bottom of the 10th, with 2 outs, and a runner on third base, Bruntlet hit a ball and got the runner in to home plate to end the game with an Astro’s win!

Joe celebrated his 62nd birthday down here with us and we had an awesome dinner with this yummy cake!

We will be heading home on Wednesday and get into SLC around 3:30pm. Our vacation has been a blast! Back to school, work, and life!

Austin, Texas

Well we made it to Austin after a crazy flight. Drezden did really well considering he loves to run around! We got to the hotel and found out that we had to wait to check in so we decided to go and visit some family.

We went and took out James' Grandma and Aunt to Ryan’s- an awesome Texas restaurant! We then went back to the hotel to check in and went swimming as you can see in the pictures! The next day we went out to breakfast at a Mexican Restaurant called Casa Garcias. Michael ate some cow stomach and James and I stayed with the normal breakfast selections.

We made it down to the University of Texas campus and got some awesome gear. We "bleed burnt orange!" We then went out with some of my very best friends from High school and ate some more Mexican:) I am sad that I didn’t get any pictures but it was awesome and so good to see Kelsey, Chuck, and Becca again.

We finished up our vacation in Austin by going to Ihop with the family, hitting up some really sweet brand new outlets, and then headed to Houston on the toll road. We made it into H-town and played hours of guitar hero, saw the Bourne Ultimatum- really good movie!, and are headed to sleep at this moment!

We will post more of our Houston adventures as we experience them! We hope you all are well:)

To Texas we all go...

Hi All! We thought we better join the blogging world as to not be left behind... plus it is easier to post pictures this way:)

We just moved from our apartment in Provo up to American Fork. We are all moved but unpacked is a different story!

We are headed to Texas on August first. We will be leaving at 4am! That will be a blast with Drezden.... We fly into Austin and will be going to San Antonio and then on to Houston.

Tomorrow is my last day of college... I will be a BYU graduate! James graduates next April and it will be adios to school for now...

Before we moved Drezden fell between 2 boxes and couldn't get out- here is a picture!

Until later....