Our Time Spent In Utah

So I thought about breaking this post up into sections, but what the heck! Lets just do a long one!

My mom put together an evening of soup & salad with my best girlfriends! We all grew up together in the same ward & neighborhood. It was so fun to see them & their babies & catch up. I can't believe we are actually moms! It seems like just yesterday we were playing night games, playing with our American Dolls & have taste tests & late overs. Man, time flies!

Jenn w/Serelle, Julianne w/Savannah, Me & Gavin, Em w/Kate

Lilianna (Jenn's) & Ellie (Em's)

All of us had babies in 2009 so we just had to line them up & snap some shots. The picture on the left goes from youngest to oldest (L to R)

Gavin - 3mos, Savvanah - 4mos, Kate -7mos, Serelle - 8mos

I just love the about Right picture! Jenn warned us that whomever was next to Serelle would indeed get smacked. No worries, Gavin took it like a champ! He was quite the ladies man that night too!

Jenn R., Alisha w/Aniston & Liz

I was able to get together with some of the cute girls I use to work with from the salon. It is always fun to eat, chat & laugh with good friends!

I was really excited to go see my friend Jamilyn! She had her little Jayda just 4 weeks after Gavin was born. It was so fun being able to go through our pregnancies together even though we live so far from one another. Jayda is adorable & has so much hair!

I love these two pics best! They are pulling the same face in the first & all was good. They are going to date one day so we decided to start it off now & we put them a little bit closer together. Jayda must have thought Gavin was gettin fresh or something because she just turned & started screaming!!! You can tell by his expression that he's like, "What ma?! What did I do?"

Gavin was spoiled rotten by attention from our families!

Aunt Laura & Uncle Hyrum

G'ma JoDee & G'pa Steve Shaw

They loved cuddling him while he took his naps! No wonder he has had a hard time falling asleep on his own. ;)

The girls in my family make it a tradition to go out to lunch & shopping. We didn't do the shopping this year, but we sure did enjoy the Training Table!

(we missed you Becki!)

Mom & Laura - Me, Sophie & Anne

My sister Laura got Gavin his Christmas PJS so he got to open his first gift before we headed over. He's so excited can't you tell?

He had a big party Christmas Eve Party over

at the Shaws, but unfortunetely I didn't get any pics. It was a lot of fun seeing cousins, aunts & uncles. We played christmas songs on the chimes & played a few rounds of Bingo! The Christmas Story was told & then the best part....the GIFT EXCHANGE!! It is always fun stealing from each other & trying to hide the gift if it was one you really wanted!

Christmas Morning!

Here is Dave with his two favorites! Gavin & his pup Roxy!

A 4 generation shot!

Great G'pa Shaw, G'pa Steve, Daddy Doug & Gavin

We headed over to my parents around 11am to do Christmas there. Hy & Anne showed up shortly after & it wan't long before we were all ready to dig into our gifts! This year we had a homemade christmas. We had to make or refurbish something for the person we drew. It was really fun watching everyone open their gifts. Everyone put a lot of work & thought into it all.

G'pa Madsen w/Sophie & Gavin

Laura, Anne & Sophie

Laura & I were very happy with our candycanes! Doug got lots of loot in his stocking!

My highschool girlfriends always have a holiday get together so that we can catch up & have a good time. This year we gathered at Jami & Clarks new house. So fun to see everyone! We played a white elephant game & Heidi's fiance always got his gift stolen! It was hilarious!

Lisa, Jami, Me, Holly, Heidi, Laura, Rachelle & Em (minus Court who was about to have her babe) I love these girls & miss them so much!

Bob & the new dads, Doug & Clark - Holly & Heidi gettin their baby fix

Me & my Emily!

Explaination of the below video:

Gavin was in his carseat & was clearly exhausted to the point of deep snoring. It was so funny, I wanted to get it on video. I did not however want to wake him up by turning on a light. Hence the darkness of the video. So I know you can't see him very well & you might have to turn up the volume on your computer to hear it, but it is just the cutest!

We did a lot of fun things over the holiday vacation. Even though I don't have any more pictures to document it. We visited a lot of friends, ate out at our favorite places & just tried to relax! Doug was able to go snowmobiling 4 times!!! Lucky dog! Thank you family & friends for making our time spent in Utah simply fabulous! We love & miss you all!