Holly Jolly Christmas!

Just a warning... This post is out of control for two reasons, the first is that our lives have been crazy for the past two weeks and the second is that I took 123 pictures over Christmas so I squeezed in a ton of them into my Christmas post. I hope it's not too overwhelming. This is also my third post today so hope you enjoy my novel!

Tyler's birthday was the 19th... my old man, just kidding babe! We celebrated by going to the Cheesecake Factory with his family and that night we went to the live nativity scene out in Eagle with Ben and Claudia. My present to him was a new rash guard for wake boarding this summer. He can't use it yet but that didn't stop him from wearing it around the house.

On to Christmas. Here is am overview of our holiday:

Christmas Eve we spent the morning lounging and trying on Parker's cute Christmas outfit. Then we did some last minute shopping in the crazy hustle and bustle of procrastinating shoppers.

Lounging...

Parker's cute "My first Christmas" outfit with adorable reindeer slippers.

So Cute!

At 4:00pm on Christmas Eve we went to my family's house for dinner (so yummy!), games and opening one present each.

Spoons! 

Parker opening Present number one!

Our Christmas Eve presents are always pj's. So cute!

Parker with Grandma and Grandpa.

With my brother Jake and sister Kristen.

We love our mom.

After that... we went up to Tyler's parents' house to watch movies and spend the night. Christmas morning, Tyler's younger brother and sisters woke us up at 5:30 am to open presents. We didn't even go to bed until after midnight so we were a little sleepy!

Uncle Jae home from Rexburg.

Tyler and his musically talented siblings playing some Christmas music late at night.

Early morning love. Looking great at 5:30 Christmas morning!

Libby opening presents.

Then at about 9:00 Christmas morning we went back to my families house to open more presents.

Daddy helping Parker stay warm with his reindeer slippers.

He loves opening presents! He seems more interested in tearing the paper than the actual present

Parker opening his book- I'll Love You Forever. I love that book and now I cry every time I read it.

Jake's present. Rock Band! We all rocked out!

One of Parker's many great presents! He is so spoiled. Thanks Grandma!

And our holiday does not end there! We then went out to Tyler's Grandma's house for dinner and more presents! We are so blessed to have such wonderful families and so much love to share at Christmas. We are also so lucky to have the gospel and to know that the true meaning of Christmas is to celebrate the life of our Savior and his atonement made on our behalf. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

A White Christmas

One of the most exciting parts of Christmas this year was all the snow! We got about 2 feet out in Eagle! Of course I grew up in Truckee where we'd get 2 feet of snow over night but this was the closest I've seen to that in Eagle so it was a blast! These pictures were actually taken a couple days after Christmas, we were trying to get to Nick and Vanessa's wedding in Logan but we were a little snowed in and it didn't stop snowing until about 2 hours before their reception. Sad! But we made the best of the snow.

Tyler and Parker about to take on the huge task of shoveling!

Parker after Tyler tossed him into the snow. He loved it!

So snowy!

Tyler loves to shovel... not!

Brrr....

Family Pictures

Christmas time means picture time and I thought I would start off the photo frenzy with some family photos we had taken over the holidays!

Our happy little family!

Tyler' not-so-little family! We have lots of fun!

Yay for Christmas sweaters, ha ha!

Babies everywhere! Unfortunately something weird happened to Parker's eye in this picture. Oh well still cute!

It was a blue Christmas at the Pooligan (Pooley + Milligan) Family!

Our Cougars may not have met their quest for perfection but we're still loyal!

They are so gangtsa!

We have such wonderful families and we love them so much. They made our holiday so very merry! Thank you to our parents and siblings for all the joy your bring to our lives. We love you!

Tree Hunting

We finally had a day to devote to Christmas tree hunting last Saturday! It had to be a big deal, especially since it's Parker's first tree, so we made a fun day of it. We went to lunch first, unfortunately we thought we'd be brave and try a new Italian restaurant and it was not very good... oh well. Then the real fun came... Tree Hunting! We went to the lot at the Boise Hawks Stadium first. It was snowing so that added to the fun because it was Parer's first adventure in the snow. He loved it despite it being wickedly cold! Unlike last year ( we went to like 5 tree lots with the Johnsons before we found our tree- fun, we missed you guys this year!) we found the perfect tree right away.

 

Here are my handsome boys sitting in the back of the truck with our tree! In the SNOW!

Parker insisted on helping decorate.

He was in charge of our bows!

Our beautiful, crooked Christmas tree, despite our endless efforts t get it straight. Ha ha. Still beautiful though!

Later that night we had Tyler's work Christmas dinner at the restaurant Six One Six in Eagle. It was fun to eat at such a "fancy shmancy" restaurant as I refer to it. Parker hung out at Grandma and Grandpa and Jake's for the night. He loves his grandma!

Momma's Little Buddy

Now that my semester is over, I have had lots more time to spend with Parker and we have had so much fun! He is always laughing and loves to come up with silly games. I have enjoyed it so much. He is also getting so big. He looks like a little boy in these pictures instead of a baby... growing up so fast. He has gotten so good at sitting up too. 

Demonstrating his mad sitting up skills.

Oh how I love this little smile. Good thing they are in large supply these days!

This is a video (I finally figured out how to get my videos on the computer) of our new game we have to play every time we change his diaper. I love his giggle... so fun!

This is the definition of Joy!

A Thanksgiving to be Thankful for

We had a wonderful and busy Thanksgiving this year. It was full of family, delectable (Tyler's favorite word) food, football, and Parker showing off!! It was great! It went like this.....

Thanksgiving morning Parker had a tasty meal of baby rice cereal for the first time! He wasn't quite sure what to think of it at first but he got the hang of it eventually. Yum!

Next it was off to Grandma and Grandpa Pooley's for Thanksgiving dinner. The food was great and we had lots of fun with Tyler's big family including grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. The guys played football on the Playstation and the girls hung out with all the babies. After everyone left, we hung out with Tyler's parent and the kids and watched Journey to the Center of the Earth. It was a very fun night.

We discovered Parker is quite the show-off. This is his new favorite trick... standing and balancing on Dad's hand. It scares me but I love how proud of himself he gets. He preformed all weekend long!

Here are Lacey with her baby girl Mikaela and Tyler's mom with Parker.

Friday we went to my grandparent's house in Idaho Falls. Once we got there we ate lots of left-overs and had our annual Milligan/Pooley vs. Ottersburg football game. It is an ongoing rivalry every Thanksgiving! No turkey coma or freezing temperature can keep us from playing. Fun fun! That night Tyler and I took all the kids to the movies to see Madagascar 2. Parker stayed with my mom, aunt, and grandma who fought over him all weekend.

My cute cousins with Parker. Kids make the holidays so fun!

Parker and his great-grandma (GG). We love her!

Parker's last trick was sitting up on his own Friday night! He just decided all of the sudden that he was going to sit up and he was going to do it all on his own. He sat up like this for a good five minutes before he got so proud of himself, he fell over. My little boy is growing up. Well, that was our holiday. Such wonderful memories! You can check out more pictures of our holiday by clicking on our picture link on the left side of our blog. Can't wait for Christmas!

Things I am Thankful For

Things that I am thankful for........

Last week I had the opportunity to observe a surgery of a two month old baby with a cleft lip and palate in order to have the birth defect repaired. There were some complications but in the end the baby was fine however it got me thinking about all the things in my life that I have to be thankful for. There are so many!

I am so grateful for such a wonderful and handsome husband! He is my best friend and we fit together so perfectly. He is a wonderful father and I can't wait to see him once Parker is a little older and the two of them can run around and get into trouble together. And he works so hard to provide for our family. If there was ever a match made in Heaven, it would be us!

I am so grateful for this wonderful little boy who scooted his way into my life and has completely taken over it. I love every minute I get with him. Parker has brought so much Joy to our lives. So much emphasis has been placed on women being successful with important jobs and such but I still believe being a mother is the greatest thing any women could ever accomplish, and I would give up an elite job to spend every minute of every day with this little stinker!

Along with these wonderful boys, I am so thankful that we are all healthy! We are so lucky to be healthy and strong!

I am grateful for my parents  and siblings. They are such a comfort and support in my life and I would be lost with out their friendships and love. They are my best friends along with my hubby. Tyler's family is also wonderful to me and I am thankful for their love and acceptance of me into their family.

I am so grateful for all of the wonderful people I have come into contact with through out my life who have become some great friends. All the way back to high school up until now I have been blessed with great friends who have blessed my life in many ways, helped me get through some tough times, and celebrated all of the wonderful times with me.  

I am thankful to live in America, even though times are getting a little crazy, we are still so lucky to live free to choose the kind of life we want.

I am thankful for my education. I find myself complaining about school but I love the things I am learning in nursing school and education is so important.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, I am very grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. My testimony of this gospel is what gives meaning to everything in my life and knowing I get to be with my family forever is the greatest gift ever. I am very thankful for that!

A Tragedy

We watched with heavy hearts as our team fell to the devil's University of Utah tonight. It was not pretty. Of course we all went into the game with our high spirits, knowing BYU would prevail however, that was not the case. The saddest part was that it wasn't even a close, jumping up and down, pacing around the living room, screaming at the TV, nail-biter kind of game- yes you would have found me doing all of those things the last few games against the U. But after BYU's 5th turnover, I went in the kitchen and did the dishes. Anyway, I don't handle defeat well so this is the last I want to discuss of this tragedy. We'll get 'em next year team! The Pooley family still loves you!

On a brighter note... Kristen is home again for Thanksgiving, YAY! We had a sleep over at my parents' last night which was fun and then they came over to our apartment tonight for the game and I made ribs for dinner, so it really ended up being a fun night. Tyler's family also stopped by for a bit and we got to see Jay, who is home from BYU-I. Also.. it SNOWED! Just a little bit for about 15 minutes or so but it was fun to see big flakes falling! Lastly, next week we don't have school!! I still have a ton of hw but oh well. I'm looking forward to one of my favorite holidays!

November is Flying By

Not too much to report except that November is flying by and we are so excited for Thanksgiving!!! Other than that it has been all school, work and a little goofing off as evidenced by the following pictures.

Parker is our happy little camper these days. He is so much fun to play around with. Loves to laugh and tell stories.

He has been trying so hard (with the help of his boppy) to sit upon his own. He'll flop backwards and then lift his head and neck has high as he can and then look at us as if saying "Hey look, am I sitting up yet?"

He also has a new friend named "Raffy". He is quite fond of the little guy and usually sucks on his nose.

Here he is telling Grandpa Doug a long story about his adventures.

And here he is goofing around with his goofball dad. They are pretty entertaining!

We are just trying to survive til Friday and then it Thanksgiving Break! Hurray!