California Christmas

We had a great trip to CA and a very fun Christmas! We got to see a lot of extended family for the first time in awhile and spend some down time with my parents and sisters and the kids. Here are a bunch of pics from the trip. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday as well! Enjoy!


Weston could barely contain himself before the present game started.

Me and Jules at the Olson Family Christmas party.

Christmas Eve dinner of chicken scampi at my parents house.

Weston snuggled up with his new laptop computer at Aunt Teri's house.

Grandma Bowles helping navigate the new computer she gave Weston.

Me and Tasha singing at the Snowball Family Christmas party.

My crazy mom and Weston checking out the nuttiness. ;)

Weston wasn't real happy about sharing the blue car with his cousin.

It was the Christmas of the hoodie. Aren't my boys adorable?!?

Ian and his new screwdriver on Christmas morning.

Weston loved sitting on Santa's lap on Christmas Eve.

Weston was in awe that Santa came to visit.

Ian and the Green boys playing wii at our Green/Olson fondue party.

Weston being silly and dancing around in a necklace with Grandma B.

Lizzie and her favorite auntie.

Weston, Lizzie, Colin, and Tanner at the Snowball's on Christmas Day.

Here's the happy boy not having to share the blue car at the Olson's on Christmas Day.

Weston's Birthday Party

While we were in California I decided to throw Weston an early 2nd Birthday party so that his cousins could come. He thought it was the best with balloons, fire truck sippy cups, fireman hats and cupcakes. We played "throw the balloon through the hoop" (which the kids all LOVED) and "freeze dance" (which mostly Mimi loved).
Weston did pretty well playing the games with his cousins but got pretty protective when he was opening his birthday presents. Eventually he managed to share a bit. :) He loved getting a mini vacuum from Grandma B and Grandpa Bob. He has been following me around with it now whenever I say it's time to vacuum. It was definitely a success. Yay!


The party set up pre-party.


Weston with his party regalia, drinking juice and noshing on his cupcake.


The party kids: Weston, Lizzie and Mimi.


Playing the hoop game. Unfortunately we were a balloon short so the kids had to take turns, but they managed.


Playing games.


The cupcake tray with candles. I was pretty proud of myself.

The Trip... Day 1

Depending on how you look at it, I am either writing this very late on the end of our first day of vacation or very early on the second. We drove down to vegas today after digging the car out of 7 inches of fresh powder this morning. We are staying with Shannon's Aunt & Uncle. They have 3 kids, the youngest of whom i believe is 6. They all love Weston, and Weston loves their toys. He has been playing nice with the kids as well. There was a slight incident when he stumbled upon a toy spider that looked a little too realistic for Weston's taste, but otherwise he has been a very good little boy. He was great for us on the drive. It's so much nicer to break up these long drives into two days for him.
After he and I watched "Toy Story" on the lappy I decided it was time to listen to some Headlights. Apparently Weston thought this was a pretty awesome idea. He began to rock out.

When we finally got to St. George.... our car was a mess...



More to come i'm sure....
Now its off to bed...
Still have to drive to LA tomorrow.

Our Little Christmas

On Saturday morning we had our little family Christmas since we will be out of town for the actual holiday and we had work and a gazillion other things going on this week before we leave. I, of course, woke up at 6:30am and couldn't go back to sleep because I was too excited. We had a nice morning opening presents and playing with toys and having fun breakfast. Weston loves his new bakball hoop and his chairs.
After the festivities we all got dressed and took Weston to the doctor to diagnose another ear infection and get antibiotics started before our trip. Overall, a very fun, festive Saturday.



Weston making his first basket. This is the only ball, of the 4 that fit, that he will use.


A picture of the everything set up the night before.


Weston wanted to open all his presents sitting at his new table.


Retrieving the actual basketball that came with the hoop from Dad.


Right after he took the bow off the table and was climbing into a chair.

Family/Weston pics

While in Oregon for Thanksgiving we had a Bowles family photo shoot to take some extended family shots with everyone there. We also did some breakout sessions of the smaller families. Here are the pics of us and the adorable Weston portraits. I'm in love with the close up of his smiling little face. These are just the sneak peak proofs, so ignore the "do not copy" printed across them.


Our little family, soon to be growing.

My sweet boy. He's just so stinking cute!

He was loving the big boy chair and the entire extended family were making faces at him to get some good smiles.

Temple Square

Sunday night we went to look at the Christmas lights at Temple Square with our friends, Becca and Alann. Weston was very excited but got irritable fairly quickly once we got there since he was tired and it was really cold. We also didn't bring the stroller, which was probably a mistake, but he loved all the lights and running around. He was particularly fond of the one fountain in the middle of temple square. We spent about 15 minutes there. Anyway, it was a good time and I'm glad we made the time to go. Here are some of the pics from our outing.



The whole gang.


Our little family . . . a new Christmas tradition?


Weston wasnt too comfortable up there because his coat got all bunched up.


Hanging out by the fountain. It was the coolest part to Weston.


Weston and I checking out the lights.

Baby Jesus

In the past week or so, Weston has discovered that Mommy and Daddy have actual names that other people call them. Mommy is Shannon and Daddy is Ian and Weston is Weston, so he was sitting with me on the couch while Ian sat at the computer and he was laying his head on my belly and listening to the "baby" (aka my digestion). So when he sat up I asked him what all of our names were and he told me and then I asked him what we should call the baby. What should baby brother's name be? He thought about it for a second and then said "Jesus" and looked quite proud of himself. I tried not to laugh and explained that Jesus was a special name and that baby Jesus was born a long time ago and that's why we celebrate Christmas. Then I asked him if there was another name we should call the baby and he muttered something that sounded like Wyatt, but we didn't all agree on that one. Anyway, it made Ian and I laugh that Weston thought that baby brother should be named Jesus. Hope everyone is enjoying the season and remembering that it is all because our Savior came into the world that we celebrate.