christmastime

*all of this loaded backwards, but you get the idea!

mom and dez

dinner with the fam at spaghetti factory

stella and dez playing together

aunt holly reading to dez

darling friends, maeve, jada, jen and rose

grandpa in his element.

on the plane to utah. he did so good this time!

desmond and bridger (bridger was desmonds favorite new playmate)

a hike up red rock canyon in vegas

david, diane dez and big froggie

david and diane in front of their billboard in vegas

jason, me, dez, jer, david and diane in city center, vegas

diane holding up her new ring, it was gorgeous!

jer and dez, christmas morning

finally on the airplane after 12 long hours at the airport!

dez, at about hour 10 watching yo gabba gabba. he really was a trooper, never cried.

christmas had a bit of a rough start this year. we planned to fly out to las vegas at 1 pm on christmas eve day, but because of a freakish snowstorm in dallas, we were stuck at the airport for 12 hours. we did finally leave that night, but by the time we got to vegas, we had missed all of the christmas eve fun and were super exhausted. But, christmas day on was a lot of fun. we spent the first part with the lemmon's. david and diane were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary a few days after christmas and all of the kids and grandkids were there to join in the festivities. all of the kids had spent months planning the event, and it all went really well. we had a great time all being together, it doesn't happen a lot because everyone lives far away from each other. desmond had a great time playing with cousins he never sees, i made me wish we could live closer to everyone.

after we left vegas, jer came back to dallas to start studying for the bar exam and dez and i went on to utah to spend a week with my family. it was a lot of fun catching up with family and friends, we had a wonderful baby shower for holly and ty, who are adopting a baby, and desmond was smothered with attention (which he loved, of course!) we felt so lucky this year to see all of our family, on both sides. we are truly blessed!

thanksgiving (yes, i'm way behind)

i have been a horrible blogger lately. here is an attempt to catch up a bit. thanksgiving this year was wonderful. my mom and dad came and spent a week with us here. we had a great time, we always do. desmond was in heaven having the undivided attention of his grandparents. he loved having them here, they make awesome playmates! thanksgiving dinner was great. mom taught me how to make homemade rolls (which turned out beautifully. thanks to her help), we made a pecan pie from pecans my parents gathered, and shelled from the pecan tree in my front yard (very southern)! and the rest of the thanksgiving staples all turned out delicious. my darling friend reagan and her fiance also joined us for dinner. it was a great time.