Turkey Lurkey

We cooked our first turkey. Behold!

This 23 pounder is going to feed us for the next month. I stuffed butter under the skin and such, but it still turned out a little dryer than I wanted, but not bad. I didn't have a meat thermometer and was scared of under cooking this bad boy, I think that's why it turned out kinda dry. So I guess that means there is an excuse for more gravy and cranberry sauce! Mmmm.

Rick's Birthday

We invited some of Rick's classmates over for his 31st birthday. There is a girl named Julie in his class that shares Rick's exact same birthday, so we made it a double party!

Sara made these sweet mint brownies and a killer sign to go with. (I did have a couple of people wish me happy birthday...2 Julie's got a little confusing I guess.)

Three of Rick's classmates also have kids, so we decided that after we ate some goodies we would go out to the golf course and do a little sledding...there may have been some blood and tears shed. Our bad! We didn't do a pre-run to try out the hill. That little hill was a lot quicker than we expected, but Julie's boys loved it! Those 3 little guys were fearless!

Here is Tyler racing Julie's husband, Jeremy, and 2 of his boys.

Dustin and Hollis. I can't believe Hollis agreed to get back on the sled, he had already wiped out pretty badly twice before. What a tuff guy!

Rick and Truman getting ready to go.

Julie and one of her boys.

Dustin's little girl opted to make a snow angel instead (try to find it, it's to her right). She actually went down on a different hill and biffed it pretty good with her little brother, so I can't blame her for choosing to be the cheerleader for the rest of the sledders.

T's first time out on the slopes.

It was really fun for me to get to know some of Rick's classmates and their families and I think they enjoyed doing something social with their classmates as well. I did go down on a sled with Rick and somehow snow managed to go down the front of my shirt even though I had a ski coat on zipped up...impressive.
Rick said that he had a good birthday and that is what really mattered (I think it partially had to do with the amount of cake we had left over). Cheers to the best husband in the universe!!

Idaho

We headed up to Idaho after Christmas to spend a week with our Berry family. I didn't take enough pictures, but we had a great time. All of Rick's sisters and their families came up to Twin for a couple of days. Some of the highlights included, meeting Tyler, the newest addition to the family, having a big family dinner, watching all of the kids play together, going to the church to play games in the gym, spending time with Rick's friends, and having a quiet New Year's Eve with just Rick & I. (Low lights included the 24 hour flu hitting just about everyone except Truman and I...ewww.)

 Truman loved crawling after the ball in the gym. Baller!!

 Everybody watching Legrand fly Liam's new helicopter that he got for Christmas.

 Truman loves his Grandpa Berry! He would always smile or giggle when he would see his Grandpa.

You can kind of see his "fangs" in this one. He got his side teeth in before his front teeth. Vampire baby. Truman did really well on the airplane both ways. On the way there he slept almost the entire way and on the way back he snoozed a little and played like a good little boy.

We miss Rick's family and wish we were closer, but we are lucky we aren't too far and that we still get to see them a few times a year.

Truman's First Christmas!!

We spent Christmas Eve and morning in Flagstaff. We had a fire and Christmas Eve sandwiches on Christmas Eve, then we woke up and opened presents! Truman opened a handmade wooden firetruck made by my Uncle Chuck, a ukulele, and Scout, a stuffed dog that talks.

 After we opened our presents at home, we headed down to Scottsdale to spend the rest of the day with my family. And look who we saw on the freeway!!

 This was our favorite present! Amanda painted this picture of Truman using a photo of him as her guide. We absolutely love it!!

Snowman

Rick had finished finals and there was snow everywhere, so it was time for Truman to meet a real, live, Snowman. We galloped down to the golf course and Rick went to work while I took pictures and "supervised" both he and Truman. This was the first time T crawled around in the snow. He was intrigued with the snow sticking to his mittens and of course enjoyed trying to throw the snow. He also ate a little bit too (don't worry, I warned him about yellow snow).

These first 4 pictures were taken with my old 35mm film slr camera. I'm pretty excited to start playing with it again. (I need some practice!)

 "I can't put my arms down!"

Not a big fan of the restriction of movement while wearing a snowsuit.

A fun family outing :)

Family Pictures

I kind of decided at the last minute that I was going to do a Christmas card. It was Sunday, so I text Kristina and asked if she could do us a favor and take some family pictures for us. She kindly agreed and her and her friend Amy hoped in the car with us and we drove out to this museum that we had passed once before. (Maybe we ditched out on part of Church, don't judge us.) I thought the trains could be fun for some Flagstaff pictures, since you can hear the trains from just about anywhere in this town.

Here are the ones that actually turned out descent. It's always an adventure taking pictures with little ones!

 A big thanks to Kristina and Amy for using everything in their arsenal to capture Truman's attention and for being patient with me while I changed camera settings and poses. We owe our fun Christmas card to you ladies!!

Swim Lessons

Truman has taken 2 sessions of swim lessons. Rick and I get to swim with him in the parent/tot class. Truman absolutely loves being in the water, splashing, kicking, swimming after toys and observing everything that is going on in the Aquaplex.He has learned to move his arms and kick at the same time, put his face in the water and "blow bubbles" (kind of), and most recently he has gone all the way under water. Truman is so fun to watch and we are so proud of him!