Christmas #1

Our first Christmas this year was on Sunday when my brothers and sisters flew in from all around and we had our family Christmas dinner and gifts (since we aren't all going to be around on the real day). We ate appetizers and played games all afternoon and then opened our gifts. Athen still isn't the best at opening gifts yet but he got a lot of great ones. He got some old school FAO Schwartz toys like a jack in the box and a super big top. He also got some cool "ball" toys that he loves - the ball popper and the the little ball house. He has been having fun with all his new toys.






After gifts we ate a delicious dinner of BBQ beef brisket, rolls, corn, asparagus, salad and mashed potatoes. We had tons of desserts, I can't even remember.




The girls then got dressed up in to our Norwegian costumes. Growing up my great grandma would always wear her Norwegian costume on the holidays. We still have her costume from back in the day. It is beautiful and very old now. The costume was always a little too big for us girls to wear so we decided a few years back to have our own made similar to the one she had. So each year when we are together we put on our costumes and take pictures. Here are our pictures - the Norwegian girls:


Lauren (the younger sister) Me, Mariah (the twin sister)


(I love that I still look the smallest and I am 4 months pregnant - heehee)

Santa came to Oakland

We went to our ward Christmas party on Saturday night and guess who was there? Santa Claus. Athen's first time sitting on Santa's lap. He didn't cry like most of the other kids but he was a little boggled by him. I don't think he was boggled by the dark skin (because he is pretty use to seeing that), but that big white fluffy, curly beard coming down from his face was a pretty strange site to him.






Athen is going to be in for a surprise next Christmas when he visits Santa.

We definately don't need to make an extra trip to see the temple lights since we are up there every other night for church anyway. We are lucky to go to church on the temple grounds.

Birthday Party Part II

Athen had some of his little buddies from the ward come to his party.







Athen enjoyed his rainbow cupcake.





He opened a few gifts - practice for Christmas.






On Monday night which was Athen's actual birthday, Ricky came home late with a big bundle of beautiful flowers. He said "Happy Mother's Day". I was a little boggled at first but then he said, this was the real day I became a mother. What a sweet husband. I love this guy!

Birthday Party

We had Athen's first birthday party on Saturday night. We invited some friends from the ward and had a nice evening. I enjoyed the birthday party prep. I used my new sewing machine to make a birthday banner and some birthday garland to hang from the ceililng. I used my new CS5 Photoshop and Illustrator to design his birthday invite. I used my new color printer to make tags and labels for the birthday table, and I used my new crafting skills as a stay at home mom to make a birthday balloon wreath and party hats.

I have been all about color for Athen. Everything in his room is different colors. That is exactly how his birthday party was. So to add to the colorful theme we had I made rainbow cupcakes and a fondant cake with colors. We also had chicken salad sandwiches, pasta salad, green salad and artichoke dip with crostini. We also had some candy jars for everyone to fill up their boxes and enjoy some yummy treats.

The lighting wasn't the best so the pictures aren't that great but you get the idea.





















I'll get to the party part in the next post.

Happy Birthday Athen

Happy Birthday Athen!



- Athen loves to take baths in his rubbery ducky bathtub.
- Goes right down for naps and bed time, sleeps from 7:00pm to 7:00-7:30pm
- Plays with his toys and keeps himself entertained
- Loves to read books with mom
- Loves yogurt, bacon, pureed meats, bread, and quesadillas
- Loves playing with his grandma
- Uses the more sign for "he wants food"
- Walks
- Climbs on things, and loves to sit in boxes and his rubbery ducky bath
- Knows how to say mom, dad, ball, car, dog and clock
- Points to the Christmas tree when you ask him where it is
- Knows who baby Jesus is and gives him kisses (from his toy manger)
- Doesn't like to sit still in sacrament meeting
- Knows how to screech and whine

This little boy is our DCT (dream come true). We are so happy to have him in our family. Happy Birthday Athen, we love you!

First Mishap

Right before church I ran back into the bedroom to grab Athen's shoes and came back to this. I guess he wasn't done eating breakfast.

Christmas Tree

It was Athen's first birthday yesterday and as much as I want to blog all about it right now, I have decided I better get caught up on the happenings before his birthday first.

We started our Christmas family tradition of cutting down our Christmas tree in the Santa Cruz mountains every year when we first got married. This year was a little different then years in the past. In the past we have gone with our friends to cut down the tree but this year our schedules did not allow. We also have had 70 degree weather in the past and have enjoyed warm sunny days in the mountains. This year was Athen's first time and we headed to Cress Ranch only to find a cold and very rainy day. We loaded the little mister into the Bob and headed along the trail with winter coats, gloves, ponchos and umbrellas in hand. In the past we have spent many hours in search of a large and beautiful Christmas tree. This year we spent minutes searching for a very small beautiful Christmas tree. We or I guess I should say I decided this year we needed a small tree to put on our side table instead of a large tree that stands on the ground. For one, we are in a new place and our new place doesn't have 16 foot ceiling and doesn't allow very large trees. Secondly, I didn't want the mister thinking it was a toy and grabbing at all the ornaments. He has done good so far. He just looks and points at the Christmas tree rather than grabbing and pulling on it.





Our little four foot tree is beautiful. We decorated it with all my ornaments from growing up rather than all my new beautiful expensive ornaments. Each year I got a new ornament for Christmas which is something my dad did when he was a little boy as well. He still decorates his tree with his antique ornaments from when he was young. I figured this little tree fits well with our little family. Our new place is pretty small so I put about 7 bins of Christmas decorations back into the storage unit for another year when we have more space. It still feels cozy, warm and like Christmas.