Photo of the Week 60

Been doing a lot of self reflection lately and found this picture that my good friend, Jason, took of me a couple years ago while he and Janelle were in town visiting.  I love how you can see his reflection in my eyes.

I miss him.

Our little Snow Bear

The rest of Christmas break was spent in our beds or at the walk-in clinic.  Between the three of us, we had four ear infections and a viral sinus infection of sorts.  I'm sure mom and dad were thrilled with our company.  The one good thing about have a sick baby...lots of snuggle time.  By the time that we were ready to head home, both Dallas and Daxton were on the tail end of their sicknesses.  I, on the other hand, was just starting on mine.  As we were packing up the car for our drive home, I realized that we didn't have a single picture of Daxton playing in the snow.  He had been sick for almost the entire break so we hadn't spent anytime outside.  Dallas showed his amazingly patient side as I threw sweet Daxton in his snow outfit for an impromptu photo shoot before heading back to California.
Here are some of my favorites from our 5 minutes in the snow...

Daxton was so fascinated with everything around him.  He kept staring up at the snow covered branches and how the breeze would blow snow down onto our faces.  I absolutely adore watching him explore the world around him.

I sure do love these two!

 It was fun to see his little eyes light up while playing in the snow, but I'm pretty happy we don't have to live in it anymore.  I am totally content with my mild temperatures of California!

Christmas Break: Bair, Adams, Rundle Party

There is nothing more beautiful and tender than the love of my life snuggling with our baby.

The day after Christmas we celebrated with our adopted families, the Rundles and the Bairs.  We've been celebrating together for as long as I can remember (30 years?)  To my parents delight, my oldest brother Bryan and the Bairs' oldest daughter Heather married back in 1998 legally forming our family bond.  Pretty amazing for them that all of their in-laws are best friends!

Basically it's a night where we come together for a great meal, laughter, presents, and an all-around good time.

Daxton loved being able to meet Grandpa Bill and Grandma Doris for the first time.  He was very interested in Grandpas glasses and wheel chair.  He also loved all the snuggles from his grandmas.

Us with Grandpa Bill and Grandma Doris

It was so much fun to catch up with everyone and introduce Daxton to all of his extended family.  He also loved hanging out with his cousins Max and Natalie.  It's crazy to think back when Max was his age.  I was attending BYU and offering to babysit all the time.  Both he and Natalie have grown up so much!  Max is now the same height as me and Natalie is definitely on her way there as well.

Grandma is amazing and spent countless hours crocheting us all blankets for the holidays.  I feel so blessed to have such a loving and generous family.  Thanks again, Granny D!

Daxton, of course, loved the wrapping more than his presents.  This little bow kept him quite occupied for some time.

For Christmas we all pitched in to buy Grandma and Grandpa an iPad.  It was pretty funny to watch Jay show them how to work it.  Needless to say, they are still figuring things out, but loving all the fun games they can play now.  

It was another successful party and we loved being able to catch up with everyone.  I feel so blessed to not only have an amazing family and extended family, but to also have an incredible adopted family as well!  Love you all!

Christmas Break: Christmas Day

Daxton's first Christmas morning was probably more exciting for us than for our little guy.  Being 9 months old, he was way more excited by the shiny lights, ornaments, and wrapping paper than his actual presents.  I guess it's a good thing we didn't get him anything too special!
In true mommy fashion, I took a bazillion pictures and video.  Daxton was quite cooperative through the whole process, even smiling with his santa hat on every so often.  I've trained him so well!

We filled his stocking with lots of fun little, chewable toys and then "Santa" left him some Mega Blocks as well.

After everyone was finished looking through their stockings, we started to pass out presents.  Daxton had a blast hanging out by the tree and playing with the ornaments.

Getting Christmas morning snuggles from Uncle Stuart, Uncle Bradley, and Grandpa.  Someone is VERY loved!

Such an attractive early morning family picture!

I can honestly say that I got everything I wanted for Christmas in being able to share it with my little sweetheart.  We had prayed for him to join us for so long; there's not much more I need.

Daddy teaching Daxton how to open presents...

Showing off some of our fun presents.

It wouldn't be a true Adams party if there weren't a few gag gifts mixed in with the bunch.  Erik and Heather sent some amazing t-shirts for everyone.  Bradley ended up LOVING his cat shirts!

I found an amazing website that allowed you to personalize presents, so we ordered some fun ties for daddy and grandpa.  What a fashion statement to have that cute face staring back at you!

Dallas had some fun with wrapping presents again.  I don't think I've ever seen anyone use that much tape and only use scraps of wrapping paper.  He's so talented.
Our buddy James, living in Hong Kong, sent us both a pair of awesome Superman socks with attached capes and everything!

In the afternoon, Richard and Leisha came out with their girls to open a few more presents.  It was so cute to see them get so excited and squeal over all their new princess attire and dolls.  Grandpa even got a little emotional as the girls excitedly tried on their new outfits he had found in Seattle.  Grandpa's quite the tender heart these days.

Some more highlights from presents received.

It was a wonderful Christmas day and we all had so much fun hanging out with family, laughing, and eating yummy food.  

Christmas Break: Christmas Eve

We have several traditions on Christmas Eve, several of which I can't repeat... couldn't tell the surprise.  But I'll just suffice it to say, that I LOVE being home for the holidays.  I love walking into my parents' home and being surrounded by fun decorations, beautiful colors, and twinkling lights.  And there was an added element of magic this year with the excitement of little Daxton.  His face lit up every time he saw the lights shining and was so curious.

I guess it's a good thing he wasn't too mobile for our time at home. He absolutely loved the tree and probably would have torn the decorations down if he could have...something to look forward to next year!  As it was, he would lie next to the tree and roll close to the presents.  He was really cautious with the bulbs he could reach and would touch them gently and watch them swing back and forth.  He was also fascinated by the shiny wrapping paper of the presents.  It was fun to just sit back and watch his little mind work as he explored his world around him.

After the bulk or our holiday traditions, we all congregated in our family room to hear the Christmas story, read scriptures, and sing songs.  Daxton loved all the extra attention from his grandparents and cousins.

Nora and Emma were super cute singing and dancing to the music.  Nora was also quite the conductor and led us in several holiday hymns.  I sure do love those girls!

Our last Christmas Eve tradition is everyone unwraps one present.  It's always a pair of pajamas and a book.  This was Daxton's first experience opening a present and it was pretty funny to watch him get so distracted by the wrapping paper.

I threw in a little santa hat for him to wear as well.  Thought it would make for some cute pictures in the morning :)

I have to admit it was quite weird to take the parent role this Christmas.  We filled Daxton's stocking with lots of chewable little toys and set things up all ready for the next morning.

After the stocking was ready and we were headed to bed, I couldn't help but look back one more time.  I felt so blessed to be surrounded by family and so unbelievably grateful for the knowledge of the gospel.  It was a perfect Christmas Eve.

Christmas Break: Dallas' 32nd Birthday

(January is proving to be pretty difficult to get things done, lots of different reasons why, but I made a promise to myself that I would at least get caught up on the blog before the month is over...let's see if I can keep that promise!)

Dallas swears he loves that his birthday is right before Christmas.  I always worry that it's going to get lost in the shuffle and bustle of the holiday season, but he doesn't seem to mind.  This year we had just made it to my hometown, Ephrata, in the midst of a massive storm.  Needless to say, Dallas was exhausted after having to get us to Washington safely and just wanted a relaxing day with family.  I was totally ok with that!
The big news, when we arrived home for the holidays, was my little brother Stuart had proposed to his girlfriend, Angelica.  This was our first time meeting Angelica and we were all so impressed with her.  She's such a sweetheart, down to earth, loving, and most importantly...puts up with all of Stuart's shenanigans!  She's also on the BYU girls' soccer team so she's got some spunk in her.  Our time together did not overlap too long, but we enjoyed getting to know her and are so excited about welcoming her to the family in April.

Like mentioned above, Dallas wanted a relaxing day, so there was a lot of napping, football watching, and hanging out with the family.  That night we had a big family dinner with my three younger brothers and family.  Richard and Leisha are living in Ephrata and we loved the chance to hang out with them and watch their two little girls interact with Daxton, Emma especially loved to give him hugs.  Although I think he was more impressed with Leisha's iPhone and her fun baby apps!

After dinner Dallas opened presents, blew out his candles, and ate his favorite yearly tradition...checkerboard birthday cake.  Maybe one of these days mom and I will get it so the squares actually look like squares in the middle!

Happy Birthday, sweetheart!
Our little man wanted to wish you a big happy birthday as well...