1 Month in 1 Post: December

December has come and gone, quick as lightning like usual. This is going to be a big fat post just to warn you.

The December festivities kicked off with a visit toTemple Square, which is pretty much a tradition every year when you live so close to it. The lights are amazing and it's unbelievable to think about how much time must have gone into it. This year we went with our neighbors, the Steadmans. They are in a similar, "living-with-the-in-laws" situation this year and it's been great getting to know them. Their daughter, Makayla is ADORABLE.

P.S. Cameron is there, but it's hard to see him under all of his layers of glory. ;-)

Jayce and I got to drive David out on another one of his dates. Cute date idea: They were going to an ugly sweater dance together so at the beginning of the week they exchanged old sweaters with each other so that they could be decorated and then gave them back at the end of the week. They then wore their sweaters all day at school as well as at the dance that night. Fun, huh? David did an extremely good job at making Alena's sweater hideous and Alena did a fantastic job at making David's rock! Alena's bells jingled all day during school and David's glowed all day from the lights.

Jayce and I had our own private little Christmas morning opening each other's gifts and some gifts that had come in the mail.

Cam-bam loved his new clothes from Aunt Tee and we loved his new chocolates!

We then ventured up to the cabin with Jayce's family and opened some more Christmas presents from Grammy and Grampy Porter up there. It was so fun to relax at the cabin for a few days before flying to VA.

And on to VA we went! I was so excited for my family to see Cameron (only my parents had seen him up until then) but I was also nervous for the plane flight. Surprisingly enough Cameron didn't fall asleep at all on the first flight, but luckily didn't get too upset either. He played with one of his new toys almost the entire flight. By the end of it he was so wasted that he fell asleep on my shoulder all through getting off the plane and gathering our luggage. *I love it when he does this!!* The next night the party began at David and Talia's place.

Halo!!!!

We had two TV's going. :-)

Saturday morning we all went to see Santa water ski on the Potomac down in the D.C. area. We had never gone to it before, but I read something about it online so I threw it out there to see if anyone was interested and bite they did! I mean, who doesn't want to see Santa water ski, right??

Good old Frosty. It ended up being pretty cold and a little too slow for our liking, so we ended up leaving early. Better luck next year Santa!

Christmas morning everyone gathered at my parent's house to open presents together and between all the families our family room was packed with Christmas loot. One of the highlights of the morning was when Ben's stalking caught on fire...sorry about that!! But in the words of my Mom, "Oh, that's fixable." :-)

As long as I live I will never stop loving Cameron's chunky thighs!

The gift to my parents was a family calendar. It took a while to put together, but I was very pleased with the outcome. We also made some for Jayce's family. I recommend Picaboo for anyone wanting to do it too!

One of my goals that I set at the end of summer was to make aprons for my Terry sisters. I hadn't sewn anything outside of BYU sewing classes and since I got a sewing machine this summer I thought it was about time to put the skills to use. It took a few months before I completed all three and when you look at them up close and personal you can see mannyyyyyy mistakes, but I finally did it! Now they can bake in style. ;-)

Cameron had more wrapping paper fun and Mommy had more fun admiring his new wardrobe.

Somehow bowling always makes it into the agenda when we all get together. My favorite is watching the grandkids now.

Dear Rebekah, I bet Kate Middleton would say you're a babe.

We also got to go downtown to see A Christmas Carol which was playing at Ford's Theater. The booth where Lincoln was shot is set up as it would have been that night and it is always empty. They have flags and a picture there as a sort of shrine to President Lincoln.

The play was great, we both really loved it. It was also our first time leaving Cameron with a babysitter that wasn't Mom Porter. Luckily, it was a success! However, you can't really go wrong with the Schmutz's. ;-)

I love that Cameron already has 8 cousins and that there are just going to get to be more and more! He can't interact too much yet, but it was fun to see the others interact with him. Clara especially loved showing off her Mommy skills when Cameron was around and it was so precious.

The flight home was pretty spectacular because we ended up with an empty seat between us!! Cameron slept there for the first hour and a half of the flight and got to play there for a lot of the rest of it. We even changed his diaper there. Don't judge--if you have ever changed a diaper in an airplane bathroom you'll know why. He got fussy here and there, but overall he was great on both flights. I could not have been more pleased with how it worked out.