Christmas & New Years

Dean's first Holiday's sure were special for us this year. Things are just so much more exciting when you have children, even though Dean didn't completely understand what was going on. Dean and I were so excited to have Andrew home after a LONG quarter of school. I felt like a single mom most of the time during this quarter, but especially near the end. He was studying all of the time, but he has passed all of his classes and I am so proud. He has a three week break this winter, which we are so happy to have him around.

Dean is officially done with wearing his helmet! We were so excited and didn't know for sure if he would be done or not. His head isn't completely perfectly shaped but we are happy with just the fact that we were done before Christmas. He is pulling up on everything and cruising everywhere. He is eating less and less baby food and is loving eating whatever we eat. He is saying more words like "dog" and "ball" even though you can't completely tell what it was. He is so happy these days, and we just love him to pieces.

My grandparents and uncle flew in for Christmas to spend with us. They hadn't met Dean yet, so it was exciting for them to come. We did so many fun things before Christmas like have a gingerbread house contest, watch Christmas movies, shop, bake, go out to eat, go to the temple, and drive through the Lights of Life which is just beautiful every year. It is especially exciting to drive through because Andrew goes to school there. We took Dean to see Santa at the mall, and he didn't cry one bit... It was so precious, because he just stared at him and was mellow as can be. Aw, Dean is so sweet!

delicious caramel apple cider while driving through the lights

beautiful lights

waiting to see Santa... Dean doesn't look as excited as I do 

Christmas Eve was exciting and super busy. We baked some cookies for neighbors, wrapped lots of presents, had fondue, Dean opened his pajamas, read Luke 2 as a family, watched Scrooge, and sorted our presents. We have so many traditions on Christmas Eve! Dean was tired and went to bed early... :(

Christmas morning Dean was the first one up around 8 am which wasn't bad. He didn't get into unwrapping gifts which was a little sad :( He did love his Santa gift which was exciting! Poor guy was so exhausted from opening all those gifts, but he didn't want to miss out on anything. He was spoiled and got so many toys which is so fun to watch him play now. As parents, we were so much more excited to see Dean's reaction to his gifts than our own. Andrew did get an awesome chiropractic table for Christmas which he has practiced with several times since. I got a breadmaker and a season pass to the zoo which we are so excited to use.

Dean's Santa

adjusting Christmas morning

Can you say spoiled?!

We loved this gift from Grandma Owen :) She made each piece herself

For New Years, we didn't do too much. We went out to eat and came home to play games and watch the ball drop. Dean didn't stay up late, but we did do our little tradition of blowing up our gingerbread houses with fireworks before Dean went to bed. He loved watching the bright lights of the fireworks but wasn't a fan of the loud noises.

The year 2014 was such an amazing year for our family! Dean was born and has been the best baby we could have asked for. He has had so many "firsts" this year which we have been able to enjoy with him and family. Dean was quite the little traveler with us this year going to Helen, Georgia, San Francisco and Visalia, California, Florida twice, and Salt Lake City. We look forward to another great year with dean, and who knows what will 2015 will hold for our family?!? :)