Surprise! This is Emily posting today as Brad has much less time this semester now that he is doing a 20 hour a week internship, has a busier school load, and has a more demanding church calling than I do right now. He is amazing! He does so much, and still finds time to spend time with Thomas and I. We really appreciate that and all that he does for our family.

Me on the other hand...I get to spend most of my time with this little guy:

He is the cutest, sweetest, most smiley red-headed baby in the world. We love what everybody says about him. We get everything from, "look at that Hair", "I have never seen a red-headed baby before", "He looks like a little man", "He looks just like his dad", to our favorite, "He looks like a mix between Brad and Benjamin Button." But mostly he just looks like his dad. Occasionally, people will say he looks like me, but usually it is said sarcastically.

Since Thomas has been born, we have filled our days, months, and weeks, with lots of things that have kept us busy. We went to Utah to see friends and family and were there for just over 3 weeks! It was a long time to be there, but it was a lot of fun! We were able to introduce Thomas to lots of his Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and some of his Grandparents that hadn't seen him yet. While we were there, we also celebrated the Holidays. Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

Our first Friday in Utah, we went ice-skating with my siblings, and their spouses and kids. We went to the Gallivan Center in down-town Salt Lake. It was decked out with Christmas lights, and we were skating to Christmas tunes. It was a really festive way to celebrate Christmas and be with family.

We blessed Thomas while we were there. We thought it would be really neat to bless him with his twin cousin Emery. Emery was born in Idaho just 2 hours before Thomas. Brad's sister Carin was due to have Emery 2 weeks after I was due to have Thomas. When we were experiencing that long period of time after Thomas' due date up until he was born, the hardest part was hearing about all the people that were due after me that had already had their babies. Each time I heard about one, I was sort of jealous and bummed, but always thought, "at least Carin hasn't had her baby yet". But sure enough, she had her baby 2 hours before me. Alas! But now we both have healthy, happy babies, and celebrated with our family on their blessing day, Dec. 23rd. It was such a great day, and Brad did a wonderful job blessing Thomas.

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional Christmas Eve Breakfast with Brad's family.  It was really neat, and fun that Thomas was able to play the Baby Jesus in the nativity.  He did pretty well as long as he had his binky.  Brad's parents just got back from the mission in Belgium, so they gave us spiritual gifts for Christmas.  It was really neat to get an illustrated copy of the Book of Mormon for the LDS Family.  It is such a beautiful book, and we are excited to be able to study it with our family.  Thomas got a church board book with illustrations to the song, "I'm so glad when daddy comes home".   They also gave us and Thomas a beautiful delft Christmas ornament from their mission.

We also ate a yummy breakfast and opened presents from siblings and cousins.  Here are some pictures from the party:

We didn't do a fabulous job of taking pictures of everything while we were there.  We also spent Christmas eve with Brad's parents going to see the movie Hugo, and out to Macaroni grill for dinner.  We left Provo at about 8 to spend the rest of the evening and Christmas morning with my mom and sister Eliza.  We didn't take any pictures of this, and again on Christmas day didn't take any more pictures.  We were able to spend time with my dad, my siblings for lunch, and Brad's family again on Christmas day.  Sad we don't have pictures of this, but we will do better next year.


On the 27th, Brad and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! We went to Snake Creek grill in Heber for the 4th year in a row (on our honeymoon, and then every anniversary after that). We love that restaurant as it has such a quaint, calm, quiet atmosphere, but it also has amazing food. I got a pork tenderloin with roasted root vegetables and polenta, and Brad got a tortilla crusted red-trout fish with beans and rice. It was really good.

Other pictures we took on the trip are:

Napping with Thomas.  I love when he falls asleep like this...as long as I don't fall asleep with him.

Our dear friends Mike and Tiffany Andrews.  We spent 4 weeks with them in Europe last summer, and it was great to see these two again.

 Brad and his family spent lots of time playing tennis, as usual.  It was fun to be with everyone, and watch them play.

 Cute pictures of Thomas:

Our last celebration with my siblings and their spouses at Red Rock in Park City.

 Sammy and her Justin Bieber shirt.  She is probably the youngest Bieber fan out there.