Not a little baby anymore....

Well, I am finally posting on here about our little boys first birthday!!! Graydon turned 1 on Dec. 27, but because we were in Albuquerque we didn't get to have his birthday party until January 10th. He was very cute and loved all of his gifts. He was so excited that all of his friends made it to his big party!!! Here are some pictures!

This is Graydon playing in his new soccer toy before the guests arrived!We got him dressed and did his hair just in time! We've taught Graydon how to say "please" in sign language. Here he's showing off his skills!

This is the "cake" I made for Graydon, out of cupcakes. It says "Happy First B-day Graydon"
We had to strip him down so he could eat his cupcake!He loved it! I think he was wondering why we've been holding out on him all this time!!!!

Here are all the boys playing! Mason, Graydon and HunterDaddy decided he needed to play too!

Albuquerque

I mentioned in my last post that Mike's mom had to miss Christmas this year! Unfortunately her brother in law Leonard lost a long time battle with his liver, among other things. Leonard had been sick for quite some time and December 22 he went to be with our Lord! Mike's mom quickly got on a plane to be there with her sister Linda and the rest of the family. On Dec 26 Graydon and I, along with Mike's dad, sister and her boyfriend got on a plane to fly there as well. Mike drove that same day, 10 hours straight! Although we would have liked to have been there under different circumstances we had a really great visit. Most of Mike's Mom's family hadn't met Graydon yet, so it was wonderful to spend some time with them. Leonard's funeral was beautiful and I'm glad we were able to attend. Graydon also got to meet his cousin Jaymz who is about to be two. They got along really well, with the occasional push and hair pull here and there! Graydon did really well playing with him and was really well behaved on the drive back. Yes, we drove with a one year old for 12 hours! Well, 5 to Lubbock one day and about 6 to San Antonio the next. But still, I wouldn't reccommend it! He was really good until about the final 3 hours. Who can blame him though! I wouldn't want to be strapped into a seat for 11 hours either! Here are a few pics from our trip. Here we are on the shuttle van after getting off the plane! It was 75 degrees when we left Texas and about 30 when we got to New Mexico!Graydon and Jaymz had almost the same pjs! We had to take a pic, although Graydon wasn't really in the mood!Graydon eating his first biscochito (its a hispanic thing, like a sugar cookie, not sure if I spelled it right). Graydon and Jaymz playing. Below is a picture of sweet little Jaymz! He's named after Jaymz Hetfield of Metallica! Mike's cousin Eric is obsessed with them! In a good way though. We had such a great time watching the boys play and being able to hang out with Eric and his wife Amy. They were nice enough to let us stay with them the 3 nights we were there! It was fun, but makes me think twice about having another baby for a while! Two little boys were a handful!

After we left Albuquerque we drove to Lubbock and stayed in a hotel. This was Graydon's first hotel experience. He had such a good time running around, playing with things. Including the ice bucket, which is on his head in another picture. He even had fun jumping on the beds, with Daddy's help of course. All in all, we had a good time visiting family and taking our first family road trip. I was so glad that everyone got to see Graydon, I just wish it would have been for a different reason. Leonard was a great man and will be missed greatly! We love you Leonard!

Graydon's First Christmas

Here are some pictures from Graydon's first Christmas! He didn't really understand, but was able to tear some of the paper from his gifts. He was a real trooper, because this Christmas was really busy for us. We started off with Mike and I being really sick... with stomach viruses so we weren't really in the Christmas spirit. Mike actually ended up in urgent care needing two IV bags because he was dehydrated! Mine wasn't that bad, but we were both pretty under the weather! We had Christmas with Mike's family at Meme's house on the 21st just as we were both starting to feel bad and then had Christmas Eve at home alone, just the three of us. We had a few places to go, but decided to pass since we both weren't feeling well. Luckily, by Christmas morning we were both doing better. We opened our presents as a family and then had Mike's sister Kris, her boyfriend Jason and their dad over for breakfast. His mom had to miss Christmas this year, because she was in New Mexico. (more details in the next blog).

Here are the Christmas pj's Kristin bought for Graydon! Aren't they cute?

Kristin carrying the best Christmas gift! After all the wonderful toys he got Graydon still prefers to play with the broom!

After we had Christmas at our house we headed to my parents house to celebrate with them!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas this year!

3 years! Woo Hoo!

Well, Mike and I have made it to our third year of marriage!!! Today is our anniversary and we had the best time celebrating it this past weekend! We took a trip to Dallas and got to hang out (just the two of us) and even went to a Cowboys game! It was so nice to have some time to ourselves! Although we missed Graydon terribly, we knew he was in wonderful hands! My parents kept him one night, and Mike's the next. They were so excited that they finally got to keep him overnight! It was hard to leave him, but we did have a great time! We did some shopping at the Galleria on Saturday, and then went to the game Sunday night. Here are a few pics from our weekend. This is me getting ready in the hotel room!! We bought sweatshirts and beanies because it was supposed to be cold... the entire game it was 78 degrees!!! It finally did get cold during the fourth quarter so thank goodness we had them! As you can see by the picture below we weren't exactly close to the stadium! We had quite a walk when we were leaving so we would have been miserable without our warm clothes!

These are my not so healthy but oh so scrumptious nachos, that cost $8.00!!!! I knew the food/drinks would be pricey, but give me a break... they were so expensive they were deemed worthy of a photo... as was the beer below! This is by far the most expensive bud light on the planet... it cost me $7.50, and no it was not draft... it was a bottle of bud light that they poured in a cup. Needless to say, it was my one and only!

Here we are during the game! A nice little boy behind us to the picture for us! Below is Mike celebrating after the boys won!!!! Our weekend was truly one of the best we've had in a long time! Being a mom is by far one of the most rewarding things I have ever done, and it has changed my life completely for the better. It was nice to have some alone time with the hubby though, I've missed that!

SNOW DAY

Graydon got to see his first snow today! When we woke up there was a white blanket of "snow" all over our yard and deck. I say "snow" because it was only about a cm deep, but hey, it still counts!!!

And yes, we just woke up, so please don't judge me! Haha!

Graydon meets SANTA!

As promised, here are some pics of Graydon meeting Santa for the very first time! He did such a good job and wasn't scared at all!

He and Santa really enjoyed getting to know each other!

Graydon even let Santa read him a Christmas book! It was all smiles and giggles until another baby at the photo session starting crying... then it was all over!!!!

Thankfully he was able to regain his composure and say bye to Santa so he could get back to the North Pole to make sure everything is ready to go for Christmas!

What's new with us...

Well, i just realized that I had two comments on my blog so I was excited! (Thanks Ashley) However, one was from October and the other a few days ago... I'm a little slow!

Mike and I are gearing up to move again, this Friday! It's going to be a great opportunity for us, we're going to hometend a house. America's Hometenders is Mike's company and we are going to be living in our new house rent free, praise the Lord! We'll be able to save some money and hopefully be able to buy a house in the future! It's hard to explain what hometending is, so check out this link for more info http://www.woai.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoid=623014@video.woai.com&navCatId=5&articleID=623014

WOAI just did a story on Mike and his dad, so hopefully it will bring in some more business for us! For those of you that don't know, Mike and I moved back to San Antonio from South Carolina almost a year ago for various reasons, one being so Mike could take over the company. So far, he is doing great and is really enjoying it! The other reasons were of course because I was pregnant and we wanted our families to be around. It has been such a blessing!

Graydon is doing wonderful and will be 11 months old on the 27th! I can't believe how fast time flies! That sounds so cliche, but it is so very true! He'll be taking his Santa pictures tomorrow so I'll be sure to post some pics soon! He's also walking!!! It is amazing how quickly they learn things. Just last week he was taking 2-3 steps at a time and now this week he's walking across the room! Still a little wobbly, so it's super cute! Here's a recent pic of our little man walking towards the camera!