My sister in law Jen is taking up photography, and I might add that she is very good at it. Over the Christmas break she took pictures for Matt's family and of course I didn't object when she offered to take a few of Blake. Here are a few samples:

Okay, so there are more than a few pictures, but I think I am a little conceited about how cute my little boy is. I think Jen did a wonderful job especially with Matt's family. It takes a lot of work to get 22 people (3 of those people are 2 year olds!) to look at the camera and smile.

I Love to Laugh

Another Update

Well, we finally have the Internet!! Yeah! Now hopefully I will be better at updating the blog.

We are really enjoying our time here in Arkansas. Matt recently finished his first semester of Law School and did very well in all his classes (They say it is the hardest semester). Before he finished we got a much needed break for Thanksgiving to visit family.

Thanksgiving started off with the Mesa Turkey Trot 5k. It has become a tradition with the Backus' to run the 10k. This year was the 4th year Matt and I have run together! Matt's brother Scott, sister Joni and her husband Tim all competed and did very well. This year I was able to convince some of my family members to join. My sister-in-law Jessica (she did awesome), my sisters Nicole, Nellie, Noelle, and Nellie's good friend Justine all came. I can't speak for them, but I know I had a really great time with them there.

After the 10k we went back home and enjoyed a wonderful meal my mom prepared and of course ate lots of pie. This was the first Thanksgiving my family has had with just the immediate family. (usually we have Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family which usually consist of 95+ people). During the break we also had a nice picnic with the Backus' and a fun game of kick ball. The break of course was way to short, and we went back to AR to finish off the semester.

The weeks flew by and we celebrated my birthday and Matt's completion of the semester. Next thing we knew we were back in sunny AZ! This vacation was a little longer and we had a wonderful time being with family.

Here is a list of just some of the things we did:

Made Gingerbread cookies

Went to Zoolights

Ate

Played Milles Bournes

Madyline's Baby Blessing

Ate

Taylor Family Talent Show

Acted out the Nativity

Shopping

Played Milles Bournes!

Played Scum

Saw National Treasure

Went to the Museum

Dance Parties

Ate

Played SCUM!

Played Milles Bournes!!

Made really really cute boxes

Played Scum!!

Amazing Jake's

Taking Noelle driving, Yikes! (JK, Noelle you did great)

Blake's first Christmas. Christmas day was spent with the Backus family.

All the grand kids opening up their presents from Grandma and Grandpa. They all got pajamas with matching flashlights. I thought that was a really cute idea and the kids loved it. They even gave us a pajama fashion show!

We also had a lot of fun with the Santa Pinata that Phil brought for the kids to break. He said that the kids could now get back at Santa if he hadn't brought what they wanted this year for Christmas.:)Grandpa Backus playing songs on his guitar.
Blake giving Grandma Backus lots of love and a big slobbery kiss!
Grandad holding his two grandsons, Carter and Blake.Blake meet his Great Grandma and Granddad Wyeth for the first time at the Wyeth family reunion.

My sisters and I had a girls night at Jen's. We thought Blake might have been feeling left out so we put on his cousins Addylin's headband to make him feel like one of the girls. (Matt hates this picture:))The headband thing didn't last to long and I think Blake felt a little more "manly" (according to his dad) and had a better time playing in this car.

Noelle turned sweet 16 on Dec. 27th. I can't believe she is old enough to drive and to date! She is a wonderful sister and a great example to me. To end Noelle's B-day celebration we had a Wyeth girl dance party!We had a great time in AZ and we can't wait to go back!

Side note: I'm sure you have noticed that our blog background keeps changing. I am just learning how to make my own backgrounds and I have some mixed feelings about the current one so don't be surprised if it changes a few more times. (Any tips about making cute blogs would be great!)

Family Pictures

This Thanksgiving weekend we had family pictures. I am sure it was a headache to the photographer (Jamie Hammond) to get everybody to look and to smile. I love my family and it was so great to spend Thanksgiving with them. We have so much fun together! It is amazing how fast my nieces and nephew have grown in just three months. I leave AZ tonight and I wish it was already time to be back for Christmas!!

Enchanted

Last night my family and I went and saw the movie Enchanted. It was super cheesy and silly and I absolutely LOVED it!! I think I could watch it over and over! If you like corny chick flicks you have to go see it. I don't think it is much of a guy movie because my dad repeatedly said, " I can't believe we spent money to come see this!" Thanks dad. I had a great time.

It's about time!

I am finally updating our blog! We have been with out the internet for awhile so I haven't been able to post. I am visiting my family for Thanksgiving and I thought I would take the opportunity to use their internet and let you all know what is going on in our lives!

Well, really things aren't that much different since the last update. Matt has been studying hard and is looking forward to the December break! He loves learning about the law and will come home and tell me what he has learned. Suddenly the judge shows on tv are more interesting to me now. Blake and I spend most of our days at home playing and enjoying each others company. Occasionally we get the car and we will take a trip to the store or the library. I have also made some friends with the other moms in our ward and we will get together for lunch, a movie, or just to visit.

Blake had his baby blessing during conference weekend. We were so happy to have our families come for the occasion. We had fun playing games, picnicking, going to the dam, and just visiting!

Matt's mom made Blake's blessing outfit. She did a great job and Blake looked so cute.
Matt and I have decided to explore Arkansas. We haven't discovered to much yet, but we had fun hiking Pinnacle Mountain. Some of the leaves started to change and it was beautiful! We tried out Blake's baby carrier for the first time and he did great. In fact he slept the majority of the hike.
Blake reminds me of a body guard in this picture.

Here are some weird mushrooms we found

Blake was a chicken for Halloween. I don't think he liked it very much, but I sure thought he was cute.

There is a place in Little Rock called the Old Mill. Some people restored this mill and planted trees and plants all around. It was really beautifully and apparently a good place for family pictures. I think there was at least 20 or more families there getting their picture taken.

Blake has been smiling so much. I love it and one little smile makes my whole day!!

Blake loves it when his daddy comes home and plays with him.

The Big Dam Bridge..

Here we are at the famous "Big Dam Bridge." We went there for FHE. It had a pretty view of AR!