Wonderful, CRAZY Time of Year

December has been a circus...Thomas started call at the hospital...for the full month. So we sadly don't see much of him and when he's home, he's exhausted and needs to get some sleep before he is called back into the hospital again. I had a Christmas party to put together...our car's motor went out and has been in the shop for 2 weeks, with another 2 weeks to go..Ruby got pink eye...our toilet flooded everywhere...Brielle and Hudson got the flu...Let's just say Mom is finished cleaning up bodily fluids! And it's only December 16. I'm nervous to finish out the month. Can I crawl into a safe hole for a couple weeks?

The Primary was in charge of our Ward Christmas Party this year...that meant I was... AHHH! Fortunately for me, I had an a amazing couple (the Allens) to help me put it together. Not much notice for any of us, but I think it turned out:) The kids seemed to have fun at the hot cocoa bar, photo booth and the cookie decorating stations. We had a ham dinner with salad, rolls, potatoes, corn, pies, cakes, punch... the works!

I was taking these pictures in the dark so they didn't turn out great...but the place was lit with tons of Christmas lights and candles for a nice, warm mood...

We covered the tables in burlap, fresh pine bows, pinecones, and cuties for a splash of color and the lanterns had some ornaments inside as well. 

This picture looks awful...but to the side of this was the photobooth backdrop where they could pose with some festive props.

Grandma Marian gave us the 12 Days of Christmas for this year's family gift! We are having lots of fun opening something each day until Christmas:) Thank you Marian!!!

This year, Hudson could actually write Santa a letter! Hudson did such a great job---I'm pretty proud of him:) and I think Santa will be too.

Our Ruby is getting around with an "almost crawl". It's effective, but not official yet. She gets on her hands and knees rocks and then pulls herself wtih her arms. Working on getting the legs to help her with all this...It's super entertaining. She is working up an appetite with all that movement. She LOOOOVES food---it's genetics I guess. I am OWNED by my DNA makeup and its love for food. Not my fault! Sorry that passed on Ru...

Filling the Family Cup

One of the main benefits of being here in Phoenix is that we have been able to see more of our family. The drive is somewhat long, but doable after being in Chicago. We'll take 11 hours over 24... We were also excited to get some snow time! What??? No snowup north until we were driving away? I had a pretty disappointed 4-year old. He ties snow to Christmas and currently prays for snow so Christmas will come too.

Some Turkey Bowl Happenings....

That's mah boy! Loving his Thanksgiving icecream experience ...

Some more footabll footage...

The kids eating their feast with cousins: Lincoln and Winston:) 

These two girls are so so so much fun for me. Brielle loves her baby sister and can't help but kiss her incessantly:)

Being with Grandma and Grandpa Wright for Thanksgiving was so great! It's been three years that they've been away so sharing the holdiay with them  again was wonderful.

Now, that's a good football-watching face.

Thanksgiving morning football was so fun for the Wright brothers. This tradition one they all look forward to. After taking a bunch of pictures, I realized I should have done some video footage to capture the morning a little better...oh well. Imagine competitive brothers that love to tease each other, but don't want to look like they care much about the score when actually ALL of them do:) I love the Wrights!

The kiddos all dressed up for the big night! We got a spidey, bassett hound and a beautiful ladybug this year. Thank you for making the drive down from St. George to be with us, Nana and Papa---we love you!

My beautiful parents with Ruby!

Halloween pumpkin carving was a lot of fun over here. I LOOOOVE pumpkin seeds so that was my job. They turned out amazing this year! I think I perfected the art. Dad took over the pumpkin carving and made a pretty horrifying pumkin that had a spider eating a face...and Hudson was the monitor to see that it was done according to his standards:) when given many options for pumpkin faces, Hudson decided to go with a happy face. Didn't want to scare the neigborhood kids or anything...

Here they are folks!

My Babies Are Growing Up

Possibly the happiest baby on earth. Ruby is full of smiles and is eager to smile at anyone and anything...she is too much adorable-ness!!!!! 

We went camping again and had a BLAST being up in the coolness of the mountains. AND now that we had chairs to actually sit down by the fire...AND Brielle was a little farther along in the potty training stages. Strange how much you take some simple commodities for granted until you have to go without them. Hooray for life lessons and appreciating the simple things:)

I really am so proud at how well Bri has done picking up the whole potty training thing. She is a lot like her Mom in that, we become extremely motivated when fruit snacks are invloved. AND STICKERS?!!! SAY WHAT? I'll do anything.

Hudson is taking on the older brother role very well. He is totally responsible even though Ruby is quickly outgrowing him in size. She is growing, growing, growing at the speed of light! AH! Stop. It's happening too fast for me. Don't you wish you could freeze them and then when you are completly finished with a stage press play...Oh, and fast forward through some other parts...You know the ones I'm talking about. 

This was such a better experience from our last camping trip. Last time we pulled in after the sun had gone down...setting up a tent and building a fire in the dark isn't what we would call "ideal"conditions. This time we arrived early enough to enjoy the mountains in sunlight, get everything set-up and then watch the sunset as we roasted hotdogs and mallows.

Never buying the cheap hotdogs again. The fire kind of masked a lot of the nasty flavorless-flavor. Costco hotdogs are soo much better. But hey! We're camping guys!

Our little RAY OF SUNSHINE at 4 months

Brielle and Ruby splashing in the bathtub together.

I don't know why I feel like Ruby is growing faster than my other two babies. I can't handle watching it happen in fast motion! She loves bathtime, is not a fan of pureed foods, but loves to chew on everything else, rolling all over the place and is soooo close to crawling. 

Our little cuties after a good hard hike and a much-needed bath.

I love Brielle's expression. What is on her mind? She is obsessed with babies and particularly, Ruby. She is all about holding her, talking to her when she's crying or squishing her with love:)

RUBY KISS in the flesh! So edible...I mean kissable. 

She is 5 months old today! 

I DID IT!!!!

Back in July, we were able to attend Joseph and Emily's wedding in Draper, Utah. It was a beautiful day and a weekend of much-needed-Wright-family-catch-up.

We got the kids the "Let's Go Fishin'" game from Brielle's birthday money from Great Grandma and Pa Montague.  Just practicing for the big leauges. We are sea bound. I'm sure of it.

My monkeys: realigning their organs. We love this activity. Pretty sure Brielle's form is all off and she just might snap her neck...but why stop the fun???

I upholstered this patio furniture after a late discovery that they didn't come with any covers...Thanks furniture auction dudes. Getting these cushions finished was my HUGE accomplishment this year after having Ruby and moving to Phoenix (switch that order). Thomas and I had a hobby of attending a furniture auction every Wednesday night in a ghetto part of town. This was WAY too much entertainment to pass up. Regardless of the fact that we were going to find a kitchen table and couches, we just had a good time keeping up with the homies in AZ that are too cheap to buy furniture the normal way. Hollar

My girl turned two and BOOM. I got motivated to have only one child in diapers! Eager beaver to potty train has been successful thus far...Let you know how it sticks. NOTE: DON'T TAKE YOUR POTTY-TRAINING CHILD CAMPING ON DAY #2. OH WAIT...we don't have any sense when it comes to these matters, so we did just that.

Here we are! Camping in simplicity with our dutiful potty chair in tow.

It was literally a breath of fresh air to head to the mountains, escape the heat and pretend for a minute that September is cooler than 100 degrees in most normal areas of the world. A nippy 65 degrees was amazing. Our blood has definitely acclimated to the heat. Mostly...

Our Ruby is a light in every way! I love this chunkin' baby. She is rolling all over the place and seems to be showing more personality all the time. What an incredible little butterball.

Birthday Trek

Guess who is now 2???! Little Ms. Brielle celebrated her birthday and has now turned the corner. She is the most adorable thing though and still seems to get away with murder. We won't hold it against her:)

Hudson has been more excited for Bri's birthday than the birthday girl. He is all about birthdays, getting bigger/older and, of course, eating loads of frosting to malaise. 

Down in Carlsbad, California we stayed in a beach house with my Montague clan. Uncle Spencer was so kind as to make the trek to CA with me since Thomas had to stay in AZ and work. Ash was a champ on the other end to get us back to AZ. Love my familly. Hudson was all about the pool (since apparently swimming everyday in AZ just doesn't constitute as enough swim time for this guy--EVER). He is doing great with goggles and even taught himself to swim without floaties. This big boy amazes me with how fast he picks up things!

Ruby is three months old now and has been a complete joy of a baby. I cannot get enough snuggle time wtih her. She is all smiles and lovin'. The girls are just enjoying the AMAZING weather (we were actually a little cold with the weather dropping to the low 70's/high 60's...not to mention our pool that is baked to a comfortably warm 94 degrees). I thought it would take more time, but our blood has already acclimated to the hot dryness of an AZ summer. We are looking forward to getting out again though! This being stuck inside has got to end.

We made it back to the Storyteller Cafe at Disneyland with Nana and Papa round 2!!! Daddy will eventually get to be with us...Bri is now much older since our last visit and after adjusting to the large rodents dancing around the place, the kids started to warm up and dance along with them. We stuffed ourselves royally and had no regrets:)

Here we are outside Splash Mountain. Hudson made the cut this time around and was loving every minute, sceraming and getting soaked, with the big kids (Spencer, Ashley, Aaron, Stephen and Mom).

Just after riding Splash Mountain for the first time and just before riding Thunder Mountain with Spencer and Mom. Hudson had his arms up in the air the whole time, yelling wtih a big smile on his cute little face. 

Bri's birthday bash. We celebrated her birthday for a couple days and only at the end did she agree that is was her birthday instead of Hudson's or Ruby's (she insisted that we insert Hudson's or Ruby's name into the birthday song---not hers...) I didn't get it, but eventually she let us make it about her! Did somebody say, "I'm 2." ???

We made Bri a cupcake birthday cake and she WENT TO TOWN on the thing. I think she had a third helping, all in one sitting. That's my girl!

She didn't get the "heavy, heavy hang over concept" with the well wishing after a bonk on the head. I'm with Bri. Where did that come from anyway?

Oh, but she was all about the princess dress up and bling to boot. It is so fun spoiling little girls! 

The evidence is astounding and cannot be denied: This girl loves her cake and did her part in eating it the best she could.