christmas eve & christmas 2014.

Welp, since it's April, I guess I'll post about Christmas last year, since that's where I left off.

Christmas Eve was spent with Zac's family. We had a Christmas Eve feast as well as a live nativity scene that all the grandkids performed. Franz was much too interested in the toys they had to be bothered by being a wise man. Later in the night, Franz and his cousins sat on the floor with Grandpa Lyle and watched the train go around the Christmas tree. Franz was in awe--and this was before his obsession with trains! 

We spent Christmas morning opening presents (which I have no pictures of, only video). Franz got a little red piano that's just his size, and it was a hit! Santa also got him a few necessities, like plates and utensils and a pair of moccasins that match his mama's that he wore that day. After we got ready for the day, we headed up to my parents' house and spent the day with family, eating food, opening more presents, and skyping Sara who's on her mission in Kansas. It's crazy to think that she's never met Franz!

Christmas was laid back this year, but so much fun!

franz's first vacation: our trip to st. george.

We took a few days over the weekend after our anniversary and drove down to St. George for a little vacation with my family. The first full day we were down there, we all drove up to Sand Hollow reservoir and spent the afternoon playing on the beach. Have you ever seen a beach with red sand? It was so pretty up against the blue water! We watched my niece and nephews play in the water and let Franz dip his feet in! He was amazed, I think. 

The next day, we woke up early and headed to the Farmers' Market. Note to self: the Farmers' Market at Ancestor Square is not stroller friendly. We say in the grass and watched some old guy sing and play his guitar while we ate some bread we got from one of the booths.

After that, we walked a few blocks over to 25 Main for some real breakfast and shared a smoothie while Franz took a nap, and then crossed the street to a toy store and bought Franz the only shiny thing we could find (he's really into things that shine--watches, my wedding ring, necklaces), a Mickey Mouse toy with glittery gloves, shorts, and shoes.

For lunch, we met my family back over at 25 Main and I had a cupcake for dessert. I would make a trip down to St. George for their cupcakes alone. My favorite! I took some funny pictures of Franz and Zac, and found out that Franz is apparently a wizard.

That night, we threw a surprise birthday party for my dad. The theme? Pink and girly. Props to Emily for thinking that one up. :) We played Minute to Win It games, ate KFC, and had birthday cupcakes! 

We stayed a couple more days, and somewhere in there, we took Franz swimming for the very first time (he LOVED it), went on a long drive all over St. George and surrounding areas while Franz napped in his car seat, hung out on the bed a few times as a family making Franz crack up, got frozen yogurt, and found a really good pizza place for lunch called Riggatti's. 

We were sad to leave and go back to normal life where Zac's gone most of the time and there are no 25 Main cupcakes. It was such a fun trip! And we survived it with a baby who's not a very good sleeper! I'm already looking forward to our next vacation, whenever that will be.

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easter weekend.

^^^Easter Bunny poop

We had such a good Easter this year--Franz's first!--with two big dinners and two Easter egg hunts: one at my parents' house and the other at Zac's parents'. 

Saturday we drove up to my parents' and ate a dinner of ham and potatoes, went on the most elaborate Easter egg hunt (with eggs scattered around the perimeter of the entire house), where Aiden shook every egg he picked up to make sure there was something inside, and ate carrot cake made by yours truly for dessert! My belly was pretty happy that night. 

And on Sunday, Franz played with ate his toys that the Easter Bunny got him, and we had a turkey dinner with the Swensons, went on another Easter egg hunt there, where we lost one egg filled with ten dollars to the garden (seriously, no one could find it, and we spent about an hour looking for it), and then Zac and I taught the FHE lesson. 

Having Franz with us to enjoy the holidays this year (and the last part of last year) has been so much fun. Even though he's tiny and doesn't react much to the things we do, I just love starting our own holiday traditions with this little family of mine. And I am sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for next year when he'll be a little bigger and little more excited about things! :)

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franz's blessing.

Today was Franz's blessing day! His papa gave him such a beautiful blessing, and we had a handful of family there to share it with. It was such a wonderful time. 

At the luncheon afterwards at our apartment, Franz got so overwhelmed with all the noise and people there, and started crying! It broke my mama heart, so I took him into his nursery and nursed him, even though I had nursed him just an hour before. I realized right then that he didn't want to eat, but he wanted to feel close to his mama, and that made my mama heart just about burst. It was really sweet to share that with my baby boy.

So enjoy these few pictures! I think my favorite is the one where Franz is sitting on my baby blanket from 23 years ago. He sleeps with it every night. :)

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a merry little christmas.

Christmas with a newborn is a totally different experience. This year, we spent Christmas Eve with Zac's family and Christmas Day with mine.

On the night of Christmas Eve, we pulled up to the Swensons and saw the lit up Christmas trees floating on the pond across the street. I would've loved to take a picture, but I wasn't about to bring Franz out in the cold. We went inside and had some delicious appetizers at the Swensons, where we listened to stories and set goals for the new year. 

On Christmas Day, we spent the morning just the three of us, opening presents and eating a breakfast of fried eggs and bacon that Zac made on paper plates. Then we headed up to the Barlockers, and missed my missionary sister's Skype call by just about 20 minutes! Up at my parents' house, we opened presents (my mom got Franz a play mat, among other things, and he LOVED it--full of smiles the whole time he was under it!), ate a dinner of ham and funeral potatoes, and in the evening, stopped by Matt's and Steph's house to say hi.

And maybe I didn't get a lot of pictures because I was too busy feeding my baby every hour or so, but I'm loving the ones I did get, especially the one of my son throwing peace signs.

Merry Christmas!

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thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving this year was spent up in the mountains with my family. Zac, Franz, and I slept over the night before so we could get up more easily for breakfast early in the morning at our usual spot: Village Inn. And that Franzy boy of ours slept 5 hours straight that night, and hasn't since. It was nice while it lasted.

After breakfast, we went went to the movie theater and saw Frozen. It was hilarious! And Franz slept through almost the whole thing, and when he wasn't sleeping, he was either eating or staring at the movie screen. 

The rest of the day was spent making the last of the food, holding my baby boy while Zac played video games with Daniel, and eating a Thanksgiving feast with  grandparents and my aunt Marsha, her fiancee, and their two kids. It was a full house, but it always is these days.

And who knew that taking pictures with a baby is the hardest thing ever?! Happy Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas! 

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visitors.

Over the last ten days, we've had a few visitors for Franz, and I always try to get pictures of everyone with him. I hope it'll be important to him to see who was there with him when he was so brand new and little. These people are so important to me, and I'm so glad they're here to share this special time with us!

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