Christmas 2010

(Catching up... Very late, but at least documented) :) (and Beware... this is a LONG post, but it does cover all of our Christmas adventures).

Christmas this year was so much fun, for so many different reasons. It was Addison's first Christmas, pretty much ALL of our family was able to come home and be around, and since me and Stewart weren't moving two days before Christmas (like last year), we were really able to get into the spirit and make the most of the season. We bought a real tree again this year and it was absolutely the perfect tree. Unfortunately it dried out early due to a lack of watering (note to self for next year), but it was still gorgeous. Addison was very good about not touching it. She didn't really like the pokey feel of it so she steered clear (unless she thought she could reach an ornament... then anything went :)

Addison LOVED playing with the ornaments. Stewart would pick them up and she would just tear them out again. (It was quite cute).

Daddy and Addison decorating the tree!

I love this picture of Addison. She crawled under the tree and couldn't sit all the way up. Then she couldn't get out and got mad. (too cute).

We made gingerbread houses for the first time this year! We even baked our own gingerbread. Next year I'm going to find some cookie cutters so we can have all the sides meet up right (it was a tricky task to assemble the house when the walls weren't straight). Since we always joke about living in a trailer house, Stewart made his a single wide gingerbread trailer, complete with a pimped out Escalade (with big black sugar drop tires). He's such a fun husband!

Mine was more boring, but I did put Christmas lights on it!

Addison really loved helping too. Her favorite thing to do was play in the flour :)

This Christmas we were also able to go on a few trips with some friends to look at Christmas lights. We went to the South Hills with the Rigbys and Williams. Even though it rained we still had a lot of fun looking at the lights and visiting the camel.

This camel is so stinkin huge! Addison wouldn't take her eye off of him. (Heck even I was a little timid to go up to him!)

We also got to take a quick trip down to Salt Lake to go see the lights at temple square. It was so cold when we got there I couldn't believe it! We made Addison wear her heavy "stiff" coat and her warm hat. She absolutely HATED it! On top of that we put her in the stroller with a blanket on her. We'd take her out and unbundle her when we went into buildings, then she'd scream and cry when we had to re-bundle her to go outside. We went to the top of the Joseph Smith building and looked at all the lights and the temple. It was so beautiful. I think Addison was a little warm up there because she kept pressing her face cheeks against the glass. She was sure a good girl for going on such a long day trip.

Our group at the Christus statue. Jalyn and Alan Branch, and Hank and Mekala.

Our little family at one of the nativity scenes. (See how miserable Addison looks? :)

As for the rest of Christmas, I was a bad mother and didn't take any pictures at all! (My parents took a whole bunch so I figured they'd have plenty to share). On Christmas eve we had an "ugly sweater party" at our house. It was SO much fun! A tight squeeze for sure, but I'm pretty sure everyone had a good time. We had a whole bunch of different soups, crackers, dips, and desserts to choose from. We even had an ugly sweater contest. JoAnna won for the girls and Robert Odell won for the boys (he had his own home made dickey that no one could compete with). We had my parents, Jon and JoAnna, Jason and Cheryll (and Daniel and James), Josh, Dorothy and Weston, my Grandma and Grandpa Jensen, Grandpa Funk, Mardi and Lanae and their four kids, Wally, Nancy and Spencer, and Robert and Sheryl Odell. It was so fun to have all our family together, and we especially loved having the Odells with us. They are truly our long lost family, and we're SO glad they've finally moved to Idaho! At the end of the evening we read the nativity story and had a family prayer. It really put the perfect touch on the evening.

Christmas morning came and (unlike last year) we didn't get up at four am. Instead we got up at 6:30 and woke Addison up to open her presents. (I don't know what we will do if our kids don't wake up terribly early every Christmas morning.... Stewart won't be able to survive if they're not as excited as he is :) Addison did okay opening her presents. She would tear off a little section of paper and try to play with whatever was under that little piece of paper. It was fun though to see her get excited for new and fun toys. Stewart got me a toy story game for our X-box and I absolutely loved it. (In fact we were "late" to my parent's house because I couldn't stop playing it :) I also got my traditional Christmas boots. This year I got the ostrich skin bottoms with a blue and purple design on the top. They fit very well (for me being pregnant and them being brand new). I absolutely love them. I didn't really get Stewart anything too exciting.... just a lot of little things. We went out to my parents around 8:30 and hung out with the whole family all day. Christmas dinner was at Grandma Jensen's house, and she had a housefull!

The day after Christmas is boxing day in England. Back in the day when we had the most amazing neighbors from England (Mick and Jeanne Grant), we celebrated our first boxing day. Since they've left us to continue their adventures around the world, we haven't celebrated another boxing day... until this year! Sheryl Odell's family is from England and they had us over to celebrate with them. We had some great traditional English food, played some fun games, and just had a great time with them. We look forward to continuing this tradition for many years to come ;)

Later in the week we went out to be with Stewart's family. This was his family's year for Christmas, but Rick got called back East and wasn't back till after Christmas. Lee and Becca had just had baby Ammon so they stayed in Council. We did have a late(r) Christmas dinner with the whole Bingham family (minus Lee and Becca) and it was a lot of fun.

So that basically sums up all of our Christmas adventures! It was such a fun time and it makes me excited already for Christmas next year!

James Baby Blessing

A (long) while ago we went to Rexburg for Jason and Cheryl's little baby James' baby blessing. Me and Stewart got a hotel room (just for fun) and we were all able to go swimming at the pool. It was a lot of fun to hang out and play with everyone. We sure love Jas and Cheryl's little family and we're sure going to miss them when they move to Texas :(

(these pictures are in a total random order... for some reason blogger won't let me move them around like I usually do). But enjoy anyway!

Our little family

Flying with Grandpa! Addison sure loves Grandpa!

These pictures aren't in the right order and blogger won't let me move them around so here's the story (just look through the pictures and you'll be able to put them in order). Addison originally just wanted to give Daniel some loves and kisses, but I guess he got a little frightened by her forwardness. He started crying and crawling away... so Addison gave him a little shove to help him on his way. He REALLY didn't like that. So we gave him Addison's animal book to make him happy... which just made Addison mad. That's when she became a bully (hey- she wanted her book back!) When she got in trouble she started crying... and that ends the story of us trying to get them to take "cousin" pictures :)

She just wanted to give Daniel some loves...

Great Grandma and Grandpa Jensen. (This is the Grandma Addison was cloned after ;)
Great Grandpa Jensen and Addison. I just loved this picture
Eating crackers in the hotel room! (How can you not LOVE that face?!)
Addison loves the water! And she also loves her uncle Jon (who is a lot of fun to play in the water with)
Almost everyone in the hot tub (yes... it did overflow) :)

Journaling

The other night Stewart pulled out his journal he started in college. He only had four or five entries in it, and started reading me what he wrote. His first entry he basically wrote how he made a goal to write in his journal everyday. His next entry wasn't till three days later (not bad) and he just talked about his day and a few thoughts he had. A few weeks later (smile), was about the time we started dating. He read me what he wrote about how he felt about me, and it made me cry. His next entry he wrote not long after we were married. (Again, made me cry), but also made me remember that "so in love" feeling I had on that special day.

It was a sweet moment when Stewart shared his journal with me, but it also made me realize how bad I am about journaling. I love how just reading about what I was feeling at a specific point in time can make me go back to that exact memory. Not only do I want to remember these sweet times in life, but I also want to be able to share them with my kids someday. So- here is my ode to be better at journaling. Hopefully it works!

Baby Bingham #2!!!

So I went to the doctor yesterday for my 20 week ultrasound (the one to find out what it is!...) Are you ready for this? ....It's a boy! I knew from the begining that it would be a boy (mostly because it would be only too easy to already have all the girl clothes in the world already washed and easy to get to). So now we are on the hunt for boy things. But no worries... I've already found some of the cutest outfits (and Stewart is stoked about putting him in some cute little nikes he found).

The ultrasound was really fun and made us both super excited! The nurse was probably the best nurse we've ever had. She joked around with us and spent pretty much forever trying to get good pictures of his face, feet, hands and "other parts" ;) Since I'm actually 22 weeks along the pictures turned out surprisingly cute (not so alien). And you could actually see his muscles being defined in his legs (which are SUPER long!) It was funny when the nurse first found him on the ultrasound the VERY first thing she said was -"WHOA BOY!" Of course me and Stew had no idea where to look, but she found him for us and he showed off his "parts" quite proudly :) This appointment was just so fun! It was neat- I'd say oh boy he just moved a lot- and sure enough he'd dissapear from the screen. It was also neat to be able to see him kicking me. I've been feeling it now for awhile, but it was fun for Stew to be able to actually see that he REALLY IS kicking me when I say that :)

Some other things that got me really excited: -He played with his feet a lot which was totally cute! -We also got to see the biggest yawn! (that totally melted me). -He kept his hands up by his face most of the time (just like Addison did after she was born). -He also rubbed his eyes (just like Addison does). AND he is measuring to be a big baby. Already weighs 1 lb 4 oz. (don't know if that excites or frightens me ;)

Overall I'm totally excited to be having a little boy. As far as names I think we're pretty set on Brogan Lee. We've talked about a lot of other names, but that one really sticks with us. (I had to give up my Braiden Grey... Stew didn't "fully" like it ;) He does however like the names Bubba and Pierre. ? We came to the agreement that if he comes out black we'll name him Pierre ... hehehe.

Summer in a Jiffy

It seems that this summer has flown SO quickly! And you better believe we've been making the most of it. We were able to go to a family reunion, have lots of family visit, and take a few mini weekend trips to Utah.

I guess I should start with the biggest news first. I'm pregnant (yes again). I'm due March 17. It was pretty cool because just after I'd told all my family members, that made is so that all my sister in laws (on both my side and Stew's side) were expecting (minus JoAnna of course) . First Dorothy had hers, then Cheryll, next will be Debi, then Becca, then me, then Lindy! It'll be so fun for all these little cousins to grow up together!

Next big thing would have to be school. I'm going to school full time this semester at CSI. I'm taking all online classes (which is a little crazy) but hopefully I'll just be able to get through it. Stewart is now an Idaho Vandal (which he's not terribly proud to admit). He's taking a few classes through the CSI campus and a few online. He's still working full time, and starting dairies like crazy, but we've been working through it.

And the last big thing would have to be that I'm coaching high school volleyball. I'm the C-team coach, which I didn't really enjoy at first, but now that the season has really started, it's been a lot more fun. It's fun to watch the girls learn and grow as a team. I'm so grateful for my mom and Stewart for being able to watch Addison so I can go to practice and games each day.

Oh yes- and on a smaller note, I got a new primary calling. I absolutely LOVED teaching my 4 year olds with Stewart and wish I could have stayed in that calling forever!!! But of course just as you settle in and start enjoying your calling they yank you out and put you in a calling you've only dreaded. For me that is primary chorister. Yep. I'm the new primary chorister! (just in time for the primary program). So I'm going to work hard to enjoy it and learn whatever I'm supposed to learn from it!

I think that's about it for this summer in a jiffy! I promise to be better about posting more regularly and more in depth. I'm SO looking forward to the fall and Christmas season and am SO excited to start baking and decorating for it! Stay tuned for more!

Date night

So Stewart has been really good about making sure we have a weekly date night. Since lately there really hasn't been much to do, we've gone to dinner (or he's surprised me with tickets to the Eclipse movie... {I know right?!} ,but it's gotten rather expensive lately. So I took a turn to be in charge of date night. It was a total surprise for Stewart (Even though he guessed every part of it... turkey) and (It wasn't planned terribly well)... (Like we went to the dead horse caves and I couldn't find our flashlight, so we took Jon's mag light that the battery was dead on) and we got quite a ways in before our light started dying and I got super creeped out. So we ditched that and had dinner on the dock of Dog Creek. I packed a chicken and potato salad picnic, complete with kool aid and CChip cookies! :) It was fun just to hang out the two of us and do something we would probably do if we were still only dating. Can I just say how much I love this man!?! (Cause I do!)

Poopin face... he he he

(Some day Addison is really going to kill me for this)... SO I'm going to get my kicks while I can :) Addison has a super cute poopin face! You might think she's just randomly smiling, but as soon as she starts grunting you'll know to expect a little present! :)

Poor Pickup :(

Last week for date night we went out to the crater in Dietrich to shoot some skeet (and I shot my little target with my 22). Anwyays, it was TON of fun to hang out with Hank and Mekala! They are such fun and we love to be silly with them! Unfortunately for us, on the way out we went over this little hill and hit a rock. It knocked off some thingy mabobby and our pickup was pretty much no longer leveled (as you can see in the pictures). Luckily it wasn't the axel, the oil pan, or the transmission. (It was a sway bar, or a stabalizer bar??? Something to that effect). We managed to limp it to Nancy's house, but we decided to have it towed to Shoshone. $450 later it's fixed, but we're still waiting for the $450 to appear first :) I guess that's what you get when you think you've just got out of the "vehicle crapper" you just go right back in!I don't know what's more sad in this picture... the truck being on the tow truck, or Rudy limping around trying to be an active dog. Poor Rudy!

We really did have a lot of fun! Had some hotdogs, smores, and LOTS of Dew!!!

Poor Pickup :(

Addison's Blog

So, one of my friends has a blog for each of her kids. She posts big and little things about them, which is neat, because later in life she can print it and make it a journal book for them to read. SOOO, I've decided that I'm going to start doing this for Addison (and eventually all the others to come). So if you want to you can keep up with her on her blog! :) the address is addisonkaybingham.blogspot.com Love you all! Hope your summer is going great!

New Hair

I got my hair cut and colored yesterday. I haven't had time to fix my hair like I should be, and I had such bad split ends I decided it was time to part with it. Above is how long my hair was, and below is my new "mom do". It's not terribly short, but compared to what I'm used to it's pretty short. I love it though. What do you think?

And isn't Addison just the cutest little girl? She went to the salon with dad and mom yesterday (Stew got a haircut too). Addison however, didn't get her haircut.... she's working on growing it out :)

VOTE FOR ME!

I know I may sound pathetic to all you out there, but the competitive spirit has really come out of me!! I enter this contest called "name that bling" every time a new watch band is introduced from this site "Chunkybling.com". FINALLY I am a finalist for one of the latest ones! SO here's what I'm asking you to do, Go to chunkybling.com. Find the tab "freebies and giveaways" (on the right side of the page) and under it click on "NAME THAT BLING". On the left side of the new page click the "vote for names". Go into that and vote for my name "CALIFORNIA DREAMIN". If I win I'll get a free watch band (and Stewart has already informed me on how lame this is) but like I said before... it's the competitor in me! You can only vote once from your home computer, but if you have a work computer you should vote from there too ;) SO COME ON! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!??!! GET OVER THERE AND VOTE.... HELP ME KICK OLD CLEMENTINES BUTT!!! :) Thanks guys. Love you all! (and actual Bingham news will be on the way sometime soon. For now we're just kicking and screaming all the way!)

2nd Annual Shooting for Hank's Birthday (for lack of a better name...)

For Hank's Birthday we went out to my parent's house and went shooting, just like we did last year. This year was quite different for just a few reasons.

1. Hank & Mekala are now married. Last year when we did this they were just "flirting" around the whole dating idea :) Now they feel free to do this...

2. There was the whole situation with the bullets. First Hank forgot them at our house, so we had my mom bring them home with her. When she got home Hank realized he didn't grab the right shells. (yup, true story). Thanks to my little brother, we still had a good time using some of his shells and guns. (Thanks Jonny boy :)
3. I was able to shoot something!!! :) I had to use a 22 and set up the clay pigeon in the sage brush, but by the endish of the night I wasn't doing too bad! I've decided that I really like shooting a 22. No kick, lightweight, and super easy to load! :)
4. And the last difference is this year Mekala had to go pee pretty bad so I told her just to go around the old swather. She didn't think twice about it, but was pretty surprised when I popped out from behind the swather and yelled "say cheese!" (Don't worry, it's all G rated), but nonetheless it was pretty hilarious!

It's funny cause these next two pictures are almost identical to last year's shoot! These will have to be annual pictures!

And of course we have the lighting the candles on the twinkie picture! It's a classic!

We have so much fun with these guys- and you can bet this will definitely be an annual party! (We'll just start putting Stewart in charge of getting the ammunition) ;)

More Stuff

Addison LOVES her aunt JoAnna! But on this particular day she'd just woken up and was getting quite hungry... and it made for a pretty darn cute little pouty girl! :)

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this picture! What a cutie pie!

And recently, we found that we could trick mom by making a "fake" Addison. After a diaper change nobody put her pants or socks back on Addison! And the funny thing was the socks stayed in her little pants just like this! Uncle Jon picked them up and wrapped them up in a blanket and went over to my mom with a "here, you want to hold Addison?" It didn't take her long to figure it out that it wasn't really Addison, but it got her! (And for whatever reason, we just thought we were SO hilarious! I think we were in one of those giddy moods ;)

And last but not least, we finally have some naked pictures of Addison :) She really didn't like the "stink bug" position, but she was a good sport about this little photo shoot. Isn't she just so cute?!!

Yes- We've been up to stuff!

Our little cutie pie!

Addison loves our doggie Rambo! and I think he likes her just as much!

Addison meeting our new kitty Puss. Our other cat Boots ran away... but we're glad we still have Puss! :)

Stewart got a new work car recently! Above is his new (brand new) car! When he got it, it only had nine miles on it! (and that's after his boss took it for a test drive!!! It's a cute little thing, and so much nicer than his old work car! It's a jeep version of the dodge caliber. It's much roomier and SO much quieter! We're glad that his boss Marty takes care of us!

Stew's old work car. It was bout time for a new transmission, so they decided to upgrade! Notice how much taller the new car is compared to this one. I know that Stewart really likes not bonking his head everytime he gets in the car!

And yes- we've been up to more stuff... you'll just have to stay tuned for more details!

Let's just give it away

You guys should totally go check this out!
http://www.letsjustgiveitaway.com/