Holiday Snapshots

Hello!

We're alive! 

I know it's been a while since I've written a real update. 

With the holidays I decided to take a little break and spend time with the little family. 

I wanted to share some of the fun things we did while I was away. 

So here are a few {lot} pictures from our holidays. :)

We had a really wonderful and simple Christmas with my parents and got to start some of our own Christmas traditions as well. Christmas has become so much more special and exciting with a little kid and seeing all the magic of Christmas through his eyes. Writing a letter to Santa, making cookies, seeing all the Christmas lights... It was like a magical wonderland for a 3-year-old. 

Some of our Christmas highlights: 

- decorating a {broken} gingerbread house 

(that Adam had to rig together to keep the walls from falling. he's a genuis.)

- making sugar cookies and decorating with way too much frosting & sprinkles for Elijah

- having Grandpa Gary and Grandma Laurie here for Christmas! 

it was the first time my parents got to spend Christmas with us and see Elijah open presents. it was a lot of fun and Elijah had an extra Christmas surprise when he woke up and saw Grandma & Grandpa sleeping in the living room :) 

- celebrating my grandparents birthdays and having a little mini reunion. it was also the first time in a loooong time that {most} of all the great-grandkids were together. 

- celebrating my dad's birthday with Elijah's very favorite cake. 

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

a California wedding in film

for Christmas, Adam got me a really nice Canon film camera.
me and Adam both commented how we love to hear the shutter *click*
it makes us feel totally legit
:)

these pictures are from my brother-in-law’s wedding which i know is super late but we just barely got the pictures developed. [film is not for lazy people like me, p.s.]
and i absolutely LOVE how they turned out so i still wanted to share!

so a little wedding recap!

[Kristina & Nathan just coming out of the temple and our niece Camilla]

[clapping when they came out of the temple]

[our nephew Dane]

 
[Adam’s dad and Dane]
  
[story of our life]

  [Oakland, California temple]

[Holli]
 
[Adam’s brother, Josh]
 
  i think there was a little dust on the lens but all in all i liked them!

the guy that Adam bought the camera from gave him a bunch of film too but some of it was expired.
i actually love how the expired film makes the pictures look though, kind of old and vintage-y in a way.
it will be fun to test it out some more and learn how to use it better.

do any of you use film cameras?
do you have any tips for me?
do you like digital over film cameras or does film have it’s benefits?
i’m kind of loving film a lot more!

note: i’m incredibly behind on emails. mainly my own doing by putting them off and going on a date with my lover instead. but “irregardless” i know i have a lot to catch up on! so please know i’m doing my best. and giveaway winners, i will be emailing you and all the sponsors tomorrow. so sorry!
p.s. who knows what “irregardless” is from?? 

family carnival

a few weeks ago, our apartment complex had a little carnival
it was a lot of fun!

me and Eli rode on the little barrel train
{which Eli loved, of course}

they had cookie decorating/eating
{which Eli loved, of course}  

they had a bounce house
{which Eli was scared of but liked to watch the other kids, of course}

and balloons
{which Eli was obsessed over, of course} 

[i love this picture that Adam took]

and after all that fun,
this was the end result
{of course!}

 

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p.s.
i’m really sorry i haven’t announced the winner of the Feed Your Soul Art giveaway yet
it’s been a crazy weekend! 

so here is the winner……

#4: Rachelle

CONGRATULATIONS, RACHELLE!
i will be in contact with you 
:)

a big THANK YOU to all who entered!
and be sure to check out Harmony’s shop here!

Eli’s swim lessons

Gigi (Grandma Robinson) taught Eli some beginning swim lessons while we were in California

if you haven’t noticed in some of the other pictures/videos i’ve posted, Eli is:
A. a big mover!! always go, GO, GO!
B. he LOVES the water!
C. has a little temper & is really stubborn
{that’s from me}

so with all these put together, we were really interested to see how he would handle swim lessons

he actually did very very well and was really good at kicking his legs!
[see point A above]
but he really did not like it!

it wasn’t that he was scared, he was just M.A.D!
so {naturally} we were laughing really hard 
cause we’re awesome parents like that
:)

but in the end, Gigi is a master baby whisperer and worked her magic 
& got the little E-shark to relax and enjoy the ride!

proof:

 

we gots the makings of a little Michael Phelps over here, ya??

{make us famous, E-man :)}
[i’m kidding. i would never exploit my children for money! unless it was for Toddlers and Tiaras]
[again, i kid.]

much needed vacation: the lounging-around part

this was the best part of our vacation by far!

not that we didn’t love the. other. parts.
but after a grueling year of school, taking care of a toddler, and dental school application drama, relaxing & lounging was a fabulous change of pace!!

and it.was.
GLORIOUS!!!

first of all, i cannot thank my in-laws enough for their amazing hospitality and taking the best care of us! i know i totally lucked out in the in-law department and i am truly blessed!!
{i cried really hard as we drove away from their house & that is not an exaggeration}
THANK YOU THANK YOU!! 

one of the best parts of the trip was….
WE GOT TO SLEEP IN!

{seriously! it.was.AWESOME!!!}

E-rock was in another room down the hall so we got have the guest room all to ourselves.
since their house is {obviously} a lot bigger than our Wymount squalor, it was really hard to hear Eli wake up in the morning. but Mama Robinson graciously & lovingly would get him and make him breakfast while we slept.

at first i felt really guilty like i was a terrible mother for totally ignoring my baby in the morning and sleeping while someone else took care of him. maybe they thought i was lazy the whole time and were just being nice to me…. {hopefully that’s not true}

but by the end of the stay i decided to enjoy it rather than feel bad since we were soon headed back to our busy Provo-reality of school & work
{and i wasn’t feeling good so i wanted to sleep anyways :)}

so thank you thank you for that!!

some other highlights of the trip include:
-boat rides
-going on dates
-PERFECT WEATHER
-going shopping & girl time with Mama Robinson
-Eli being obsessed with some annoying pink robot dog…
[Camilla & Dane too, right Amber? that dog is bewitched!]
-Eli also being obsessed with Chloe the cat and wanting to see her every morning
-and Mr. E also eating the cat food….
-Eli & Daddy swim time
-seeing The Help with my mother-in-law and crying my eyes out
-going to a Stockton Ports game & Eli being totally obsessed with going up and down the stairs.
-ad i was obsessed with the AWESOMNESS of a cool dry-ice bomb drink!!
[doesn’t it just look totally phasing??]
-little E getting swim lessons (separate post to come)
-having a backyard
-having a dishwasher
-having a washer & dryer
&
-spending lots of time with our wonderful family!

 



 

& that’s a wrap on our little vacay!
whew that was long… sorry!

until next year…..

i’m already having withdrawals!