Goodbye 2011

Today's plans were a bust. sort of. We had a few things planned this afternoon, including a visit to Discovery Green Park downtown. It's our annual NYE tradition. The parking situation wasn't working in our favor, even though the New Year's celebrations were still hours away. We went to another park instead and did some of Clark's favorite things, like got really excited about ducks:

  picked up handfuls of gravel and dirt and refrained from eating most of them (sigh),

 looked cool with Dad,

  and climbed things. What a way to spend the last day of 2011!

See you next year!

Christmas at Home

We woke up to a smiley little boy on Christmas morning. After our breakfast of allergen-free pancakes we turned Clark loose on his little pile of gifts.  

He started getting the hang of opening gifts after a little help.

In case you missed Clark's unwrapping technique, here it is again. My favorite is the "close your eyes and rip violently" step.

We went to church with the whole family and Clark and his boy cousins all matched in their cute outfits from Grandma B.

We had a wonderful Christmas season this year! This is my last post about it. I promise.

The Night Before

'Twas the night before Christmas and all gentlemen and ladies

were playing with children and holding sweet babies.

The young ones were filled with wonder and glee

to see so many presents under the tree!

We all sang carols and used smartphones to keep

track of the words before falling asleep.

Christmas Lights

We got to see a lot of Christmas lights this year while we were visiting my family. My cousin invited us out to "The Lights Before Christmas" in Layton which is a big display of animal and character lights. Clark was fast asleep for the first little while but when he woke up he was amazed to see the sights.

On another night we went to Ruth's Diner up Emigration Canyon...

...where Clark showed us his iPhone skills...
(he's proficient in unlocking it in one swipe, scrolling through screens, finding and launching Peekaboo Barn, and occasionally making phone calls)

...then we headed downtown Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square. This is what bundled up looks like:

We took a break inside the geneology center for a minute where Clark was delighted to have his dad help him color with some other kids.

Merry Pre-Christmas!

We celebrated Christmas twice this year--once with each of our families. We had a pre-Christmas Christmas with my family last week where we ate some ham, exchanged gifts, watched the little ones play, danced to Christmas music, and enjoyed each other's company in the frosty mountains.

Boot Scootin'

I'm not sure who likes my boots more: Clark or me. He dances around with them, carries them around, and sometimes when I go to put them on I find mysterious objects inside of them like toddler shoes and toys. He's a Texas baby, so perhaps his love of boots is innate.

Laundry Love

Getting laundry done around here is a breeze with my eager helper. When I tell him it's time to put clothes in the washer he toddles off to retrieve the baskets and happily pushes them around. The other day I put him in a full basket and pushed him around on the carpet. It must've been a fun ride because I turned around 2 minutes later to see him sitting in the basket again. ???? I grabbed my camera and asked him how he got inside. This is what he showed me:

Those little legs aren't tall enough to step over the sides but he still figured out how to get in and out without tipping the basket over.

15-Month Well Check

Clark had his 15-month check-up on Monday.  Still small, but he's not 5% small anymore. yay! and obviously his growing priorities are still on those brains.

Height - 29½" - 9^th percentile

Weight - 22 lb 6 oz - 20^th percentile

Head Circumference - 49 cm - 92^nd percentile

A Day of Thanks...and more

and now...our Thanksgiving Day recap as captured by a phone camera:

Our day started bright and early outside the Galleria mall to run the Turkey Trot 5k. The streets were flooded with other people that had the same idea. The middle shot below was just a small fraction of runners lined up for the race. I have to thank Steve's dad for the earphones I have in the photo below. In all my haste to exit the car as we were dropped off I forgot to grab my music. BIG mistake! Charlie walked a good distance back to the car to get it for me. what a lifesaver! 

 The "race" was much more a game of human dodging than an athletic contest for me. I was pushing Clark in my jogger through the sea of people--many of whom weren't so speedy--so Steve was able to easily leave us in the dust.

 I caught him in the end, though, and finished in 26:36. Steve finished just 13 seconds later. I didn't make my goal of 24:00, but either way I'm still champion of the year. and I didn't run over anyone with my stroller, so that probably counts for something.

 On our way back to the car we stopped to play with some ducks.

 Once home, we made our Thanksgiving contribution before heading over to the feast.

I had a wonderful helper in the kitchen to keep me company.

 There was some book reading as I finished getting ready, then we were off

 to play with family.

 I caught a few z's before we headed out to brave the frenzied midnight crowds on Black Friday. 

 We didn't last long at that early hour, so we got some sleep then took Clark out with us for more shopping.

 Here we are, a few dollars poorer, but looking so cute in our matching shirts.

the end.