Santa Claus Came

We were all surprised to see Santa come to our house on the 26th - literally arrive at our house. Thanks to mom and dad, Santa made a special appearance, shocking the heck out of me (I screamed and fell off my chair when I saw a fat stranger pressed up against the window, peeking in). Kaden was so excited, Eli and Kennedy weren't to sure what to think about him. Eli got a Tickle-Me Elmo from Santa.

All the kids and Santa.

Kaden, overcome with excitement.

Merry Christmas

Well, we have over 200 pictures to sort through from the last 2 days (thanks to Grandpa the camera-man), but here is our family Christmas picture, so Merry Christmas!

Keep On Truckin

Just Like Gramps

This is Eli's Christmas present from Grandpa Frazier. He hasn't gotten off of this truck since it arrived yesterday. It's like a tricycle with pedals inside. I've been pushing him all over the house and apartment complex.

Zoo Lights

Isaac, Eli and I went to Zoo Lights this week, one of my favorite Christmas events here in Mesa. While it wasn't as good as last year, Eli loved it and gave lots of "oooohs."

The Offical Cookie Taster

I was making cookies last week and set a cookie on the table for Isaac. I thought I had pushed it far enough in that Eli couldn't get it, but I was wrong.

When I tried to walk towards him to take the cookie away, he started running away and shoveling the cookie in faster.

And you wonder where these chins come from?

Santa & Eli

Eli with Santa last year: This year:

He was pretty indifferent to Santa and spent most of his time picking his nose. Maybe he'll get it next year.

Temple Lights

Eli and I at the lights at the Mesa Temple.

Gym Woes

So Isaac and I go to the gym close to our house. There is a Kid Care, where Eli goes while I am in class and since the gym is close to our house, we always run into people we know, which has made for some interesting experiences. Such as, when I went to spin class and made the mistake of taking the bike right next to my 55 year old Relief Society President from church. Little did I know that until recently, she had been the class instructor and boy, is she gung-ho. Although the instructors are constantly trying to get us to cheer and yell along with them, I am not one to do that, knowing full well that if I open my mouth while I am sweating and about to pass out from over-exertion, a stream of profanities will leave my mouth instead of a cheer. However I was unaware that my RS President would not only cheer along, but decide to be my own personal cheering squad, screaming at me in front of the entire class to go faster, work harder and "push Heidi, push". Throughout the class the instructor tells you to turn up the resistance on your bike, but by the end I usually turn it down every time she says to turn it up, because by the end of class, I am about to die. Normally no one knows though. Gaylene (my friend from church) however noticed. It was like sitting next to the class tattletale. She started screaming, "I saw that! Turn it up! You can do it, don't be a sissy!" And at the end of class when we would go through a really hard cycle and the instructor would give us 20 second breaks, she would scream "push through the break, push through it! Do you want to lose weight?! Huh? Push!" Needless to say, I now avoid her like the plague and try to make sure never to be near her in class again. It's never good for the ego when a 55 year old lady kicks your butt at the gym.

Today however, I went to yoga, feeling glad to not see her. It was a crowded class, so we were a little close together. Midway through the class, the instructor demonstrated a move and then added, if we wanted to take it a step up, to try another move, that looked like this:



I decided to give it a try, not knowing she wanted us to hold this move for about a minute. After only a few seconds, I felt my body was tipping further and further forward and before I knew it, I was falling forward and did a full on (accidental) somersault, landing on by back, knocking down the kind old man in front of me (who was successfully performing the pose) with my flailing body. It ended up causing a domino effect, as not only did the man in front of me fall over, but the woman next to me, who was also successfully performing the pose, tipped over from laughing so hard. Now, there may be people that I avoid at the gym, but I have a feeling that after that last class, there are people who will be avoiding me too.

What Happens When Isaac Is In Charge Of Dressing Eli

Need I say more?

A Hug Gone Wrong

Well, Thanksgiving is over, and the best part definitely was a visit from my friend Tapia who I haven't seen in 8 years. Last time I saw her she was heading off to Alaska to pull an Int0-The-Wild (but with a different ending) and I was heading off on my mission. I wish my friends came to Arizona more often! It was so great to catch up on the last 8 years, and we needed more than the 3 hours we had. Other highlights of this last week include going to Twilight with Isaac (or dragging Isaac to Twilight, however you want to phrase it), sporting my very own Twilight shirt that Candice surprised me with that day. Ah, how proud Isaac was to be holding my hand, as 1 girl said to her friend "is that adult wearing a Twilight shirt?" Now I'm looking forward to putting up our Christmas tree, although I am really wondering how I am going to keep Eli out of the tree and from taking all the ornaments off of the tree.

You Are Getting Sleepy. . .

Too tired to make it to the crib.

Baking Like a Maniac

I've been baking like crazy lately, trying to find some new holiday recipes to give out for Christmas treats. I've been trying to organize these recipes, remember which ones I liked, didn't like, which recipes I have or haven't tried, etc. Anyway, I decided to start a blog to organize everything, and help me remember what I did, so if you want to check it out it's:
http://heidistestkitchen.blogspot.com/
Currently, it's mostly treats, since I have a huge sweettooth and am trying to find good treats to give out, but there will be more on there too!

Heading Home

We fly back to Arizona today, but here's more pictures of Eli enjoying Grandma and Grandpa's - especially all of their outside toys!

Trick or Treat

Eli and I are in Oregon for a weeks and he got to trick or treat with his cousins down here.

Eli and Gramps

Oh the shame!

Today my friend Katelyn and I were running errands with our babies. On our way home we decided to hit our favorite restaurant, Oreganos, for their great lunch specials. Our car has broken down 3 times this month, and the money in our bank account is only for bills, but I had just enough cash and between Katelyn and I we knew we had just enough for our meal and tip. The kids were good and the food was great. And then the bill came. . . we forgot to factor in a few things:
1. Taxes - I'm an Oregonian. We don't have sales tax in Oregon and I always forget to factor it into the equation.
2. Rounding - When you are looking at 100 cents in a dollar, if the item is .49 cents or less, you round down. However, when you do that to about 4 items (meals and drinks), you end up with a few extra dollars that you didn't think about.

These 2 factors combined meant that we only had enough for our bill exactly - not for the tip. Embarrassed, we rifled through our wallets and diaper bags for extra money, and found one dollar in dimes and nickels. I looked around our table, now covered in broken goldfish crackers, food all over the floor, wadded napkins and wipes we used to clean off the kids and felt bad for our waitress who was stuck cleaning up our mess for only a dollar tip. Embarrassed to leave that as the tip (I used to work in restaurants and hated people who left 10% or less tips), but still wanting to leave something, we decided to stick our cash/change in with our bill and make a dash for the car, before our waitress realizes what cheapskates we are. However, our running was held up by 1 thing - no keys. Katelyn couldn't find her her car keys anywhere. We retraced her steps, checked the bathroom where she changed her daughters diaper, checked our booth, but still couldn't find the keys. Finally we remembered that the kids were playing with them. I check in the cushions of the booth, between the cushions, etc. can't find the keys. Then I push my face against the wall and try to peek at the impossibly small space between the wall and booth, unbelieving that keys could fall into such a narrow space. But yes, they could. We get our waitress for help, pushing our bill as far away from her as possible, knowing if she picked it up, dimes and nickels will go spilling everywhere.
The waitress talks to the manager and together they proceed to do the only thing possible to get our keys - take apart the booth. They have to move the table and literally pull off the cushions on the booth, and take the booth apart. The waitress has to contort her body around the table, avoid wood splinters that were underneath the cushions, and sweep her hand through the dirt, dust and ickyness underneath the table to get our keys. Oh what a waitress! Going above and beyond the call of duty, covered in dirt, not knowing that her only reward was our dimes and nickels. Looking back, I realize that I should have asked her name and gone back at a later date to leave her the tip she deserves. However, instead we took off as fast as we could, determined to never show our faces again.

More Fall Pictures

My Big Boy

Yesterday I got him ready for church, and he just looked so old! I don't miss the baby phase usually (since for Eli it involved lots of colicky screaming and never sleeping), but sometimes when I see how big he is getting, I think I do.

Halloween Preview

Got some fall pictures of Eli and Kamrynn this afternoon in their Halloween costumes.

To The Ridiculous Rowdy Reindeer

I was driving in our car the other day, listening to Christmas music (yes, starting Oct. 1st, I listen to Christmas music) and I started thinking about Christmas last year. Eli was only a few months old, so colicky, cried all the time, was still sleeping only 2 hours at a time and was generally up 3-5 times nightly. I was sleep-deprived, exhausted, stressed about the costs of Christmas, and in general, a mess. Usually I love Christmas, but last year, I was not loving it at all. I had no Christmas spirit whatsoever. All I wanted from Santa was a good night’s sleep, and he was not delivering.
About 3 weeks before Christmas someone knocked on my door in the middle of the day. On my doorstep was a poinsettia and a loaf of fresh bread, with a typed note saying it was from the Ridiculous Rowdy Reindeer.
And thus began the funnest 2 ½ weeks ever. Everyday something was left on our door. There was a CD of Christmas music for Eli, gift cards to the movies, treats and all sorts of surprises. They were all left with cryptic notes from the Ridiculous Rowdy Reindeer. We spent HOURS (literally hours) discussing who the RRR could be. We tried non-stop to catch them, to figure out who it was. Once they left something on our door on a rainy day. Isaac ran outside, looking at the footprints left from the rain. He measured them and went around for weeks starting at the soles of our friends shoes, trying to see who had matching tread and feet the same size. We held all of our conversations in the kitchen, right next to the window so that we could see someone sneaking up to the door. Once Isaac literally spent 3 hours standing in front of our peep hole, waiting for someone to walk up. And when he finally took a 2 min. bathroom break, there was a knock on the door (I am not kidding you – he spent 3 hours staring out that peep hole, left for a second and they came).
We became more obsessed and increased the hours we spent staring out our kitchen window, constantly trying to think of ways we could catch the RRR. But the Ridiculous Rowdy Reindeer was tricky and started being sneakier. Once they had a neighborhood kid bring our treat up to our door and the little girl refused to answer our questions about the RRR (we finally stopped grilling her when she started looking like she might start shouting ‘Stranger Danger’). Once a pizza boy came with a pizza, rootbeer and a note on the inside of the box from the RRR. We tried bribing the pizza boy to tell us who bought the pizza, asking him to look at the credit card receipt, but to no avail. One night we stayed up so late, waiting for the RRR and they never came. We were really bummed and getting ready for bed when my phone rang. There was no caller number on my cell, it just said ‘unknown’. I answered and a voice cackled and said ‘The Ridiculous Rowdy Reindeer strikes again!’. We looked on our front door and there was another surprise from the RRR.
We kept a detailed list of when the RRR came, what the notes said, if the handwriting matched other notes, etc., trying to find any clue that would tell us who the RRR was, and while we had suspicions, we never found out anything.
1 year later and we still think about the RRR and try to figure out who it is. Everything that the RRR did for us last year seriously made our Christmas. We had the best time ever trying to figure out who it was and wondering what would happen that day. I am assuming that the RRR is someone we know and there is a possibility that they read our blog, so RRR, if you are out there and reading, THANK YOU! You made our Christmas last year so great! It gave me something to look forward to, in my sleep deprived, crazy, stressed out state, and something to be excited for. Look out Santa; you’ve got some major competition!

I'm Becoming an Arizonan???

Yesterday Isaac and I went to Oreganos, my favorite restaurant, thanks to their fabolous dessert pizzoki. It was actually cool yesterday and for the first time since April, we turned off our AC and opened the windows. When we went to Oreganos there was a wait for indoor seating, so since it was so cool, we decided to sit outdoors. Sitting outside, in the breeze, I WAS FREEZING! And I wasn't alone. All the other customers were shivering in this freak cold chill that suddently hit us. Finally, the waitors noticed us all shivering, teeth clattering, and opened a closet that was filled with blankets and began handing out blankets to anyone who wanted one. So, I sat there in my blanket, which was still too thin and left me cold, wondering how Arizona got to be so cold. I went home and checked weather.com, to see what storm could have caused such cold temperatures to come our way. According to weather.com, it was only 79 degrees with wind. 79 degrees and I was wrapped in a blanket, shivering! And I was even wearing jeans! I think I've been in Arizona too long.

Kisses for Grandma

This video is for my mom.

Oregon, here we come!

We were supposed to go to Oregon this week, but we decided to change our tickets as my parents are adding onto their house and it isn't as far along as we'd hoped. With all the construction going on during the day, lack of walls, etc., we decided that it would be better if we came home later. So, we'll be coming to Oregon in Nov. to visit. I've been trying to find Eli a warm winter hat for our November and Christmas visits. We finally found this hat and it makes me laugh like none other to see him wearing it - he looks like a mini-logger. The best part - it is size 4-5 years old. Yup, at 13 months old his noggin is enormous! We couldn't even get the size 2-3 year hat on his head.


I had hoped that as he got older the drooling would get under control, but no such luck. This kid can drool like no one's business. We have to change his clothes 2-3 times a day because they are SOAKED in slobber (yes, I realize that a bib would be a good alternative, however, unless I duck tape them to his body, he just pulls them off and throws them on the ground).

Going Private

Sorry folks, but we're taking our blog private. If you would like to continue viewing our blog, send me your email address. Too many questionable people out there and I want to know who's looking at our pictures.

So Long to Summer

Isaac, Eli and I went to the So Long to Summer Festival tonight. They had a great blues band playing and lots of fun booths. My favorite was the massage therapists giving free chair massages. It was great - here's how our conversation went:
Her: Girl, your back is full of knots! What do you do all day?
Me: I stay at home with my son.
Her: Well, no wonder girlfriend.