Marty

It's about time I introduced the interwebz to our dear friend Marty The Monkey (voice by, Grandpa Pat). We first met Marty on our holiday visit to Utah in 2010. Marty is quite the guy. He's funny, witty and sure to turn even the grumpiest of grumps into a happy person. Cooper LOVES Marty. He was an integral part of our family throughout our stay with my parents last year. Of all the toys my parents have in their arsenal (believe me, they have tons), Marty shines above. He is very special to us all.

My Dad and Marty are a great team. They can turn Coop's mood around just like that. And his timing is impeccable. Often, when Cooper was on the brink of having the mother of all tantrums, Marty was the only one that could turn his mood around. Marty will always have a special place in my heart and he makes me smile every time he and my Dad hit the stage.

Our first encounter, December 2010.

Hey Marty, how have you been?

Ringing in the New Year with a dear friend.

Grandparents

Several posts into my holiday recap and I haven't even mentioned the Grandparents! Shame on me as they were the main focus of our visit. We were so lucky to have the opportunity to spend time with both Grandmas and Grandpa Pat all at once. It really made our holidays special and unforgettable. In this day and age with everyone so often scattered across the country, it's rare that families can spend time together all at once. It really was the best Christmas present we could have asked for.

Of course, it wasn't far from our hearts that we were missing a very important piece of the grandparent puzzle, Grandpa Toby. He is missed, loved and thought about every day. His absence made our time together even more special and appreciated.

Santa 2011

You may recall from last year that our Santa visit wasn't all that successful. Actually that depends on who you ask because truth be told, there's nothing funnier cuter than a crying kid on Santa's lap shot. I was quite pleased with last year's result but don't tell Cooper that.

I thought for sure this year would be different (can you sense the foreshadowing?). Cooper couldn't get enough of talking about Santa, pointing out all the Santa decorations throughout the month and going down right bananas when he saw Santa in the Christmas Parade. He even had his speech down for what he was going to ask Santa for when he saw him: A scooter and a Thomas with a Snow Plow.

With all the Santa talk, I thought for sure we'd get a great photo. Jenny and I couldn't wait to take the boys to see the big guy and we decided earlier in the month that we'd wait until we were all in St. George so that the grand parents could enjoy all the fun and the boys could do it together.

When the big day arrived we prepped the boys and dressed them up in their Going to See Santa best. They were excited and all for it (or so I thought). Jenny got her shot. Two darling boys in matching sweaters soaking in all the Santa love. When it came time for our boys to sit with Santa, Cooper suddenly went blank. Santa? Who's that? I'm busy now. Can we go explore the rest of the mall? Didn't you say we needed to look for some picture frames? He wanted NOTHING to do with the man.

The picture below of Pete and Charlie was taken by yours truly. Before I noticed that "outside cameras weren't allowed on the Santa Set"......Ooooops...... I was THAT Mom that barged on set with her camera without reading the sign. I immediately put the camera away as soon as I noticed the sign. I would have to buy the Mack Daddy Photo Package if I wanted to get "my shot".

Cruz wasn't a big fan either. Before we realized that Cooper was going to completely ignore Santa, we put Cruz on Santa's lap. It didn't take long before he started crying. If I wanted "my shot" I'd have to hurry and convince Cooper to climb on board. Mind you, I'm all about crying kid shots but I'm not all about scarring them for life. I knew I had about a 20 second window before the innocent cries would turn into a future of NEVER wanting to see Santa (or anyone dressed in red) EVER again. So there we sat, Pete and Charlie happily eating their candy canes that Santa gave them and still grinning ear to ear over their experience. While Big C slips into nothing to see here mode and Little C is sitting all by his lonesome and crying on Santa's lap. One of Santa's helpers took a shot of Little C. I got half of "my shot". I politely declined while Mark rescued Cruz. I figured if we were going to have to buy the Mack Daddy Photo Package then by George (keeping it clean for the kids), I was going to have 2 miserable children in the shot. Not just one. It was a package deal.

Mark tried to console me as we walked away by joking that we could just photoshop our kids onto the "illegal" pictures I took of Jen and Ryan's kids. So that is exactly what I did.

These are for you, Mark.

Pete and Charlie

Coop 'n Cruz

Togetherness

You'd think after spending 4 days together I'd get at least one perfect picture of all 4 boys together. That was not the case. Every attempt we'd make went a little something like this...........

Take 1.

Boys, stand in front of the tree so we can get a picture of you.

Wait. Where's Charlie?

Bring in the other baby.

Take 2.

Great. Now smile and look cute.

Don't just look cute.

I need smiles!

Take 3.

Cruz, stop pulling on Charlie's ear.

Work with me here.

Say "Cheeeeeezzzzee".

Take 4.

Cruz: "Cheese?...did someone say cheese? Or was that clap?

I get the two confused all the time."

And yet another attempt at getting them together in their jammies.........

I finally just gave up.

Christmas with Cousins

Jenny, Pete and Charlie were nice enough to drive from Salt Lake to spend time with us the week before Christmas. It was so much fun. I love that the boys are getting to know each other so well. They really are great friends. We spent our time playing, laughing, wrestling with Grandpa and EATING. Oy, did we eat. It was wonderful to get to celebrate the Holidays (a little early) with them.

Gingerbread decorating eating.

Tree decorating or something like that........

Gift exchanging.

Drive

We couldn't talk about our trip without mentioning the drive. The drive was doable but long. The boys and dogs really did surprisingly well. Truthfully, we were shocked at how great they did. The weather on the way there was very cooperative as well. On the way home.....not so much.

Mark and I woke up at 4AM, finished the last minute things that one might do to head out for 3 weeks and were on the road by 4:45am. Cooper woke up because he was so excited to hit the road but Cruz pretty much stayed asleep.

Since we were bringing the dogs with us, we didn't have much room in the car. Everything we took with us had to go on the roof or scattered amongst the seats but the waaaaayyyy back was reserved for the dogs. Not the most ideal situation for them but it worked.

The drive took about 12 hours (including about an hour and a half of stretch our legs time and potty breaks). We arrived in St. George at about 4pm which was perfect. Early enough that we were able to drop the kids and dogs off at my parent's while we found our rental house. The trip was pretty uneventful thanks to a DVD player and games. The only negative (which I'm embarrassed to admit) was a diaper leak by Cruz. He was so good that he didn't let us know that he was wet and when his diaper hit maximum capacity, he remained content. When we stopped to let the dogs run around about 2.5 hours away from our destination, I realized his car seat was soaked! Poor kid didn't even care. That's what a trooper he was.

Exciting road trip photos...........

Cooper's face when we finally turned on the DVD player.

Pit Stop time. Brothers holding hands.
This was back when Cruz LOVED holding hands. Three weeks later, that is no longer the case. How quickly things change. Cruz can no longer be bothered with silly hand holding.




More hand holding.

Doggie Play Time.

To sum up the drive home, the kids and dogs did great again but the roads SUCKED. The drive took about 2 hours longer and was bumper to bumper for about the last 2 hours. Luckily the boys slept during that time but that meant that they were AMPED when we got home at 10:30pm. Mark and I were spent and ready for bed but the boys weren't having it. They (which meant we) stayed up playing until about midnight when we finally forced them to go to bed. We were lucky to have a 6 AM tandem-ready-to-play Wake Up call the following morning. Needless to say, I am still tired.

Home with a Recap

We've returned home from our fabulous Holiday vacation. And Fabulous it was! I couldn't possibly try to recap 3 weeks into words.....Well, I could but call me lazy. Why would I when I have pictures to tell the story? Excuse me while I photo bomb the heck out of this ole blog.