James and Marc's First Christmas!

This year for Christmas, Billy, the boys and I stayed home in Phoenix. We missed our family that lives out of state, but it was nice to be home with the boys. We spent Christmas Eve at Marc and Margaret's house and went to Uncle Bob's and Aunt Shelley's for a few hours on Christmas. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing our boys experience Christmas for the first time. They loved the presents, and kinda got the idea of opening them, but once they opened one present, they just wanted to play with it and not move on. Next year will be a little more "crazy" I am sure! :)

Marc is playing with Toby at Marc's house...Toby is so good with the boys and they love crawling around him and playing with him. (I love how Marc is holding his paw...so cute!)

Here is Marc, Billy and James at Grandpa Marc's for Christmas Eve. Grandpa Marc is really close with his neighbors and so a lot of them came over for dinner and it is typical for them to eat in the garage...so that's where we had Christmas Eve dinner! Where did you have yours?

Family picture! :) The boys are intrigued by the fire pit that was going on the sidewalk.

CHRISTMAS DAY

James and Mama opening a present from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Hill

Marc and Mama opening a present from Grandpa Marc and Grandpa Margaret. He and James each got a Nike outfit and a book....Perfect!

Marc and James waiting for Mama to get the Farm Truck open so they could play with it! They can't wait! Thanks Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Dave! We love it!

Marc is playing with his CAT Tracker. He and Marc got two CAT Trackers.

James with more toys!!!

Grandpa Marc and Grandma Margaret reading a book with James. I love how intent James is with the book! :)

Grandpa with James and Grandpa with Marc on Christmas Morning. (Gotta love how Marc has his hands in his mouth...its a normal scene with the boys since they are both teething like crazy!)

Elizabeth (my friend from BYU) came out and spent Christmas with us this year. Elizabeth is holding James (her favorite...I called her out on it! :)) and I am holding Marc with their Christmas stockings!

Before Christmas, I got this walker for the boys. Marc is really starting to use it and is getting pretty good at walking with it! In the background, there is a Toy Story Tunnel that Grandma Cathy got for the boys. They love crawling through it and playing hide and seek in it. Love it!

We had a wonderful Christmas Season and are so grateful for all the good times and trials we had this year. Even though we had a lot of tough times, we feel extremely blessed and look forward to the new year!

Zoolights

Last weekend our family went to Zoolights with some of our friends. It was crazy how many people were there (I guess that's what happens when you wait to go the weekend before Christmas...lesson learned) and we were grateful we didn't have to stand in line to buy tickets! It was my first time going and the lights were fun and festive and we enjoyed ourselves.

Papa is pushing the stroller...notice how curious Marc is looking at the lights. Both boys had their eyes glued to lights the whole time! :)

James (left) and Marc (right) hanging out in the stroller

Our Cute Family! (Billy is holding Marc and I am holding James) We are so excited to celebrate Christmas in a few days and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

Congratulations Billy!

I have the most amazing husband. He is the most kind, loving, loyal, hardworking person I know. He works so hard for our family so I can stay at home with our boys...which I am so grateful for! About a year and a half ago, Billy had the opportunity to make a job change. He was recruited by a company called EDMC that owns 4 private universities to be a recruiter. At the time, his crazy job with the French owned company, called Auralog, was going extremely well. He was on track to exceed his goal (which would have meant an all expense trip paid to Europe) and was really building great relationships with his clients and schools in his area. Out of no where, EDMC contacted Billy because his former Director at Auralog worked for EDMC and she wanted him to go and work for her. To make a long story short, Billy and I felt that it was a good move to leave Auralog and move to EDMC. After 4 months, Billy was promoted to be a manager and after about a year of being a top performing manager (who always met his goals!!!) he was promoted today to be a DIRECTOR of admissions at The Art Institute!!! I am so proud of him and grateful that he has this opportunity. He has always wanted to move up in management, and he is finally having that opportunity at EDMC. We are so blessed and know that Heavenly Father is looking out for us. He is so excited for this new challenge and I know he will be successful!

The Little Things...

...my boys do that bring such a big smile to my face!

James (left) and Marc (right) both love to crawl and move under the kitchen table. Since we got home from Thanksgiving, the boys have been playing together. They constantly are following one another around the house and it is just so cute!

The boys love to play behind the curtains together. Here is James is escaping!

Marc coming out from behind the curtain (sorry it's blurry!)

I love how James gets Rosey cheeks when he wears pants and a long sleeve shirt!

I turned my back for honestly a minute and when I turned around this is what I found. I couldn't help smiling and laughing...it is so cute!

Growing Up

Our boys are growing up so fast! They are turning into toddlers right before our eyes! Marc is "cruising" along the furniture and is getting closer and closer to walking. James is now crawling and he and Marc seem to always be together. It is so cute to see how much they love to get together all the time.

Marc is definitely a climber. He climbed onto my suitcase when we got back from California and he loves to climb on the treadmill. Thankfully we haven't had any head first falls...knock on wood!

My cute James in the crawling position. He started to army crawl right before we went to California for Thanksgiving and by the time we got home, he became an expert at it. He can get around so quickly it's amazing.

So funny story...today I put both boys in their cribs for their naps before they fell asleep. We have gotten into the bad habit of rocking them to sleep since they share a room and sometimes they played for hours before falling asleep. Anyway, last night we decided that we needed to not rock them to sleep anymore. When I was done pumping, I decided to go and check on them since they were being quiet. I peeked in the door and saw Marc with his pants off and wide awake. He must have been working so hard to get them off that he was so quiet. Meanwhile, his brother, James was in the next crib over sound asleep. It made me laugh!

P.S. The two boards on the floor used to be leaning against the wall between Marc's crib and the dresser. Don't worry...he knocked them both down today while he was standing up in his crib banging on the wall.

Thanksgiving

Our family was able to go to California for Thanksgiving this year. We had a great time spending time with my family. We were there for about four days and the boys loved it...being in a new place, exploring Grandma and Grandpa Hill's house and meeting some relatives they hadn't met before. We flew to San Francisco late at night hoping that the boys would sleep throughout the flight and in the airport. That was a bad decision because their sleep was interrupted as soon as we got to the airport. Security was a hassle and there was NO WAY they could sleep through it. Since the airport was a new thing, they were just so interested in everything around them and didn't want to even think about sleeping. On our way to California, our flight was delayed about an hour and a half and we always get to the airport in plenty of time to avoid missing flights, so after being in the airport for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, both Billy and I and the boys were done. Thankfully, as soon as the plane took off, Marc fell right to sleep, but James wasn't interested. He finally fell asleep after about an hour on the flight and then before we knew it, we were landing and had to get off the plane, only to wake both boys up again. The story goes on and on and it was about the same story on the way home except for the flight wasn't delayed. Anyway, those who plan to travel with babies, don't plan to fly late in hopes that your kid or kids will sleep...they won't.

On Thanksgiving we drove to Napa to spend the afternoon with my dad's side of the family. It has been a tradition my whole life to spend it with my dad's cousins and their kids. We had a fun time seeing Uncle Gil and Aunt Sharon along with the Reid family. We missed seeing Kyla and her family along with Diane, Tess, Dusty and her family and Uncle Ken and Aunt Shelly. However, we were able to meed Bay's girlfriend and her family...who knows, maybe there will be a wedding in the future. I didn't get many pictures at the Thanksgiving celebration, however, I was able to snap a few of the kids playing area.


This is a normal site at our house...Marc climbing all over James and James is happy about it. If you enlarge the picture, you can see he has a happy face.


Once again, Marc climbing all over James...the good thing is that since we have been home, James has been crawling A LOT and isn't such an easy target for Marc anymore. He can defend himself so hopefully the mauling time period is over...

Grandma and Grandpa had tons of "new" toys for the boys to play with. Here Billy is playing with Lego's with James...Notice how jealous Marc looks in the background! :)

Gotta love that smile...Grandma is playing with James and he obviously is enjoying it!

Marc loved this train cause he could use it as a walker...He loved pushing cousin Alise around!

Marc can find any crack or cranny to crawl and explore in. He figured out how to get behind the love seat and in the corner by the end table one day while we were there...he had to be rescued because he couldn't figure out how to get himself out!

Grandpa is helping Marc with the train...so fun!

Since Uncle Ken and Aunt Shelly were unable to make it to the Thanksgiving celebration, they came over to my parents house on Friday to meet the boys. Aunt Shelly is holding James and Uncle Ken has Marc.

Here is Great Grandma Hill with James...we love her!

Marc with Great Grandpa Hill...I love this man...he is the hardest working person I know. He does not love to hold kids, but I think he does it just for me, so I can get some pictures. He is so cute too, because he is going to be 89 in January and he is planning a trip to Phoenix with my Grandma, Aunt Shelly and Uncle Ken and my parents so he can come visit the boys again. I love that even though most people his age are in a care facility, he is still living life and enjoying it!

Great Grandparents with the boys (James left, Marc right)

It was such a great Thanksgiving and I have so much to be grateful for...especially this year as we have been blessed with our two boys Marc and James. It wasn't easy for us to conceive the boys, but after having faith, we were blessed with the best two boys ever. They make us laugh daily and are so cute and precious! We are so lucky!