stitches

 so here is our first experience with stitches ever.  frankly, i'm surprised it's taken us this long.  jack was running around at the grocery store with shawn, ran smack into the edge of a table and popped his chin right open.  thankfully, shawn is so calm in these situations, he grabbed jack's jacket, shoved it on his chin and we walked out of the store and drove down 2 block to his office.  there are awesome benefits to being married to a PA.  

 unfortunately, i was remiss in thinking that jack would sail right through this cuz he's usually a pretty tough nut.  he screamed and wrestled like we were cutting his leg off without whiskey, as shawn says.  dr. preston came in and tried to put a cloth over his face so he wouldn't be able to see and that freaked him out.  he went ballistic.  took us about 2 hours to get i think 5 stitches in.  poor kid.

 the final product.

 his face was swollen because of how hard he was crying.  he actually popped blood vessels in his eyelids.

we managed to get blood everywhere, including the back of his shirt.

more boots

 this guy loves his boots.  packing them away for the summer was traumatizing.

 come on.  is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen.

 this is sam's stretch.  he just said one day, "mom, watch me stretch."  it's a good one.  especially if you wear boots, it adds 5 lbs to each leg.

 even relaxing on the bed.

 these are good looks, above and below.

shorts and boots, always a good combo.  at least he has pants on.

tough guys

 who needs a gun sling when you have a diaper?

this is the football stance.  when it's time for bed, shawn says "football stance!", the above position takes place, and everyone runs up the stairs.  we are intense.

headpieces

 mmm-hmmm.

 at the aquarium in sandy.

christmas 2011

 we saw a couple of santas this year and it was a little more exciting for jack.  this was a ward party.  sam is showing the big guy his sweet wristbands.

 love the riverwoods at christmas time.  sam looks a little stoned.

 sam loooooves trains.  he got three different thomas trains this year.

my family has started doing a christmas show each year.  this year jack and sam sang "When Christmas Comes to Town" from Polar Express.  so stinking cute.  they knew every word.

we had a great christmas this year.  because it was on a sunday, christmas morning was all to ourselves.  went to sacrament meeting and then met up with family for the rest of the day.  perfect, if you ask me.

random

 the first day of snow.  didn't get much of those this year.

 we drew pictures for uncle mike on his mission, and shawn asked sam to show us his. it's facing the wrong direction.

 the thanksgiving indian.

we went to eric and patty's cabin for thanksgiving this year and shawn caught sam watching a movie like this.

GRADUATION

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?! i am updating. bout time.

gotta start chronologically here. the hubby GRADUATED from the physicians assistant program at touro university cleeaarr back in november. so proud of him. we were all relieved and excited to move on. we drove back down to vegas to attend the ceremony. and our families (both sides) were sweet and supportive enough to come. so grateful for them. we had a great time spending a few days down there playing. we stayed in a marriott residence inn with shawn's parents and therefore had a cool suite. jack was in heaven. he thought it was the greatest thing and that we should all "move there". wouldn't you know I FORGOT MY CAMERA?! HA!!! no surprise there. sadly i don't have any pics of all the fun we had, but my mom graciously sent me these from the ceremony, which was the most important part anyway.

above, the paxman family joined us. shawn and aaron studied, sweated, and poked holes in each other throughout the course of the didactic year. and jen and i cried, screamed, and laughed a lot to make it through. couldn't have done it without her.

another good buddy, tim. i heard many a crazy story about their shenanigans.

i am so grateful for shawn. he worked his backside off, never let up, studied from morning till night EVERY DAY (other than the beloved day of rest). those who have been through grad school know that that is no exaggeration. it was a lot of work, and we made it. i love you, babe.

much more to come...