The Wilcox Family: January 2009

Multitasking

You know sometimes as a mother you have to get really creative when you are trying to get something done. It was one of those days when Carson wouldn't let me out of his sight and doing laundry in our little laundry room can be a challenge with him...So here was my quick solution! Carson thought it was great.

Big Decisions and a Nice Vacation

Well once again there is some big decision making going on in our home. Chill has spent much of the month of January traveling around applying for residency. He went to Portland for an interview the first part of January and then to LA to take a test. When he got back from there he packed up and was off to Minnesota. He got back on the 17th and the next day we packed our bags, jumped in the car and were headed for Arizona . We made a stop in St. George to visit Grandma Gen and Grandpa Blaine. Chill, his dad, and brothers golfed on Monday and then Monday evening we headed to Arizona. I was finally able to see Hoover Dam. I had never seen it before and it is pretty cool. Chill actually ended up cancelling his interview in Arizona, but decided we should go anyway to take a little vacation and visit my sister. We had so much fun and the weather was awesome. We were able to swim, shop, go to the Wild Life Zoo, go to the park, eat lots of yummy food, and visit our friends Nick and Morgan. It was so fun to spend a few days with Nat, Jared, Lexi and Logan. They were so sweet and let us stay at their house. We spend Friday night with Nick and Morgan. We went to Taco Bell (one of our favorites) and then Nick took us on a tour of the Law School he attends at ASU. We went back to their apartment and talked while Nick and Chill played some games. We spent the week in Arizona and then it was back to St. George where we spent another night at Chill's grandparents. We got back late Sunday night. It was a nice family get away. Carson did so good in the car which made the trip go much smoother than I had thought. So now that we are back home it is time to decide where it is that we want to be next year. It is narrowed down to Utah or Minnesota, but our minds change daily. When we decide I'll let you know.

A serious game of Scrabble

Nick showing Carson how it's done

Hanging out in the Library

Morgan playing the piano with Carson

Little Beans

Nat Jared and Lexi at my new favorite place,

THE GOOD EGG

Don't we look good???

New bridge being built at Hoover Dam

Beans at the Pool

Carson playing in the sand

Hoover Dam at night

Hoover Dam

Recap of the Holiday Season

Like always things come and go and I don't get on the ball and blog about them. Our holiday season was super busy but so fun. We spent most of (okay all of) our time with family. It started all the way back at the 1st of December with my sister's birthday and from then on the fun never ended...

Zoo Lights
We packed all the little ones up in the car and off we went to the zoo. Although it was a little cold and we all had to bundle up, it was a lot of fun.

Mom's Birthday

I just love my mom so much. She is such an amazing person. She does so much for me and I can count on her for anything. I was so glad that we were able to celebrate her birthday with her. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner (on of my favorites) and then it was home to open gifts and eat cake.

Logan

My mom, sisters, and I decided we'd make a quick trip to Logan. Nat wanted to visit some friends and we also wanted to see my mom's cousins. We visited, ate lunch, and had some yummy goodies. It was a nice little get a way for the day.

Denver

Chill was able to go on a road trip to Denver for the Broncos vs Bills game. I think they had a great time (in the freezing cold weather) 5 guys squeezed into Steve's Ford Focus. They claim it wasn't that bad, but I can't imagine driving for 10 hours that way.

Rickster, Swasey Bills, Chill, Fossom, and George

An Early Visit from Santa

While Chill was Denver I stayed at my parents house. One night when we were getting the kids ready for bed, there was a knock at the door. When we opened it, to our surprise it was Santa and Mrs. Claus. They came to visit Lexi and Carson and bring them gifts. Lexi just couldn't believe that Santa was actually in Grandma and Grandpa's living room. Car

son didn't know what to think but took to Santa pretty quickly.

Ward Christmas Party

I went with my parents to their Ward Christmas Party. It is fun to visit their ward because I grew up there and I was able to see a few of my good friends. We had a great time and there was a surprise visitor...no not Santa, the Grinch. Yeah I thought it was a little strange, but whatever.

The Special Visitor

Jared, Nat and Beans

The Crew

Wilcox Family Christmas Party

We have a family party with Chill's Dads side of the family every year and it is always a lot of fun. It is a progressive dinner and we hit about 3 house. We ended at Doug and Claudia's house this year for the main course. It was really fun, we had yummy food, and Santa even made an appearance! We always end with a little white elephant exchange which always brings a lot of laughs.

Grandma Gen and Santa

Brett and his new hat

Exchanging Gifts

Claudia and Santa

Carson Loving Santa

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve. For the past few years we have spent part of Christmas Eve with Chill's family and part with my family. We were able to eat dinner and exchange gifts and Chill's grandparents. It is alway fun because we are able to spend time with his family, cousins, aunt, uncle, and grandparents. It was so fun to have Carson this year and to share the holidays with him. After we were done there, we headed to Bountiful to spend the rest of the night with my family. We always open our pj's on Christmas Eve. It was off to bed not long after that so we could be well rested for the big day.

Dinner

All the Girls

My family in our pjs

Uncle Brent and the Kids

Merry Christmas

Christmas Day started really early, and ended pretty late. We opened gifts with my family in the morning and then it was off to Lehi to celebrate with Chill's family. We were definitely spoiled by everyone. I think Carson enjoyed Christmas just as much as we did. He got a lot of fun toys that play really annoying sounds and music, but he's happy and that is all that matters. It is so fun to be starting Christmas traditions with our own baby.

New Toy

Dad and his new Grill!

Carson's Favorite place to be- Grandpa's Shoulders

Dominos

Chill and his brothers

Bear Lake and New Years
A few days after Christmas we packed up and spent 5 days up at Bear Lake. We had a great time hanging out, playing dominos, doing a puzzle, swimming, playing rock band, relaxing, and of course EATING! We thought it would be fun to get a way for a few days because the whole family was in town. It was so fun to ring in the New Year with the whole family. We even got Carson out of bed to celebrate.