Remember me?

Hi everyone! It's been a while. Remember me? I'm that weird girl who snorts when she laughs...ring a bell? I can also pop my shoulders out of socket. Anything?

*crickets chirping*

Hmm...

Well, you know you haven't blogged in a while when you have 107 pictures to upload from your camera!

Things around here have been pretty crazy. Not bad crazy, just busy crazy what with the holidays and all. We had a fantastic Christmas! And let's hear it for the snow on Christmas Eve! What a shocker! Too bad I'm too much of a wimp to take Jonathan out to play in it. What can I say? My feet get cold.

Ok. First things first. My mom and I met The Pioneer Woman, also known as Ree Drummond, on December 1st at the Borders in Dallas off Preston. Her book signing started at 7:00 so we got there around 5:15 thinking we would be out of there in time to go to dinner. Boy were we wrong! I had no idea that Borders was handing out colored wristbands to determine what group you would be put in to meet Ree. When we got there, our wristband was yellow. I soon found out that we were the 5th group to meet Ree.

That doesn't sound too bad. How many people are in a group?

Oh...100 per group?!

CRAP!

Needless to say, we were there until 11:15 and we had Jonathan with us. He was such a trooper! Thank goodness Borders had an incredible kids section with books and toys otherwise I probably would have pulled my hair out. Instead of a nice meal at a sit down restaurant, we had McDonalds. Disgusting!

Also, my camera died (or so I thought) right when we got to the front of the line. Little did I know that it was on the video setting, so both of the pictures I attempted to get are videos. My brain farted big time!

Ree was super nice to take a picture with her camera and she even took a close up of Jonathan, saying he had the greatest hair. The next day, I was looking at her blog and there was a picture of me and my cute little kiddo! We're famous! Woo! Check it out here. Too bad I hate the picture of me, but Jonathan was super snuggly, it being 11:00 at night and all.

We had our Annual High School Girls Night Lingerie Party on December 19th. For those of you who aren't familiar, no we do not get together and wear our lingerie. It's a Chinese gift exchange and the present has to be lingerie. We've been doing this since our sophomore year of high school. The most common present back then was just panties, but now most of us are married so there's more of a demand of "outfits". It's crazy fun and I always like to bring the skankiest and classiest outfit I can find. I say, if you're gonna dress up, why not go all out? This year, I brought a bustier and panty set that was "classy" and a fishnet crotchless body stocking that was oh so "skanky". Needless to say, I took home my own gift and was PUMPED! I had to steal it to get it but the bloodshed was well worth it! :) Here's a picture of me in it...

Haha! Just kidding! That's a whole 'nother blog. One I don't own.

All the girls had a blast. We were missing Chaney and Lauren but everyone else was able to make it.

All the ladies

Me & Whit - she has the most ADORABLE twin boy & girl!

Love this picture!

Jenifer & Krisi

Me & Staci - in all the years I've know this one, I've never seen her hair as straight as it is in this picture. We were all mesmerized!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

From the Martinos!

Christmas Eve

What a crazy white Christmas Eve! My parents and brother were planning on coming up to Denton to spend Christmas Eve with us and Joseph's extended family. I was so excited for them to see the Nativity Play the kids put on each year since this would have been the first year for Jonathan to participate in it. Unfortunately due to the weather, they weren't able to make it. They loaded up the car and drove for an hour (which would have put them at our doorstep) and only made it 18 miles from their house! The highways were like a parking lot so we told them to go back home. It took them another hour to drive back! Bummer. But at least we took pictures.

This year, the Martino Christmas Eve was quite small as compared to other years. Normally there is between 70 - 90 family members there (Martinos are baby making machines. We're Mormon, what can I say?) but this year we only had around 50 due to people going out of town. Still, it was fun. We had a wonderful dinner, lots of great conversation, the Nativity Play and then Santa came! Jonathan was so pumped. He loves Santa - as in, sees him and lights up. No tears, no fear. He goes straight up to him and sits on his lap. It's super cute and tonight was no exception.

After everyone left, Joseph's family stayed around and we all opened presents from Nona and Papi. Joseph got his shotgun he's been begging me for and I got an incredible leather jacket and some great books - The Giving Tree, Putting on the Armor of God and The Peacegiver. I can't wait to read them! Jonathan got a slide from Nona and Papi and he loves it. It's in our living room right now since it's been so cold and snowy, and he climbs it and slides down all day long.

Here's the Nativity Play:

Jonathan was a shepherd

Happy shepherd!

The angel telling Mary not to be afraid and Joseph that she's cool to marry even though she's preggo.

Mary riding a donkey around Bethlehem

The donkey fell asleep.

Presley, Carter & Landon

Cute baby angel Katie

CJ being a shepherd wrangler

CJ & Baby J after the play. Best buds

SANTA CAME!: Look at that face!

Grabbin' from the goody bag

Hey Santa! I'd like an Elmo doll and a tricycle. Make it happen old man!

And I'd like a baby...You don't have to make that happen. I'll do it myself.

Yay! A good one of me and the hubs! A rare find.

Say cheese!

Little boys in Christmas jambos...

...You can't go wrong.

Cousins

I watched two of Jonathan's cousins one day and took some cute pics.

Hanging out watching WALL-E

Love this picture

Poor Katie piggybacking Jonathan. She was not happy after this. Jonathan, on the other hand, had a ball.

Good ol' Gunshow

Katie loves dogs and Gunner loved Katie. He's not a licker at all. In fact, I've even put peanut butter on my face to get him to give me a kiss and he turns away, yet he loves peanut butter. The ONLY thing he'll lick are babies. It's pretty cute actually. Katie just laughed and laughed.

Sacrilege

This is something I don't want to forget:

On Sunday, we're sitting in church waiting for the Sacrament to be passed. Jonathan is sitting on Joseph's lap and is getting really snuggly. After they say the Sacrament prayer and begin to pass the bread, Joseph is showing Jonathan the front of our church bulletin which has a beautiful picture of Jesus on it. We've been speaking a lot about Jesus at home and I even taught Jonathan the sign for Jesus so he knows who he is. As Joseph is talking to Jonathan, he's telling him that we think of Jesus as we take the Sacrament and Jonathan starts snuggling with the piece of paper, laying his head on it, softly touching His face and giving Him kisses. Seriously, one of the cutest and sweetest things I've ever seen! My heart is melting and right about then, Jonathan slaps Jesus in the face. Joseph, being the discreet parent he is, pulls Jonathan really close and fiercely whispers, "No son! We do NOT hit Jesus!". I about died! I'm laughing so hard and trying my best to be quiet, all the while trying to hide my reaction from my hilarious albeit inappropriate son. Joseph unknowingly fuels the hilarity fire by making Jonathan apologize to Jesus. I'm crying at this point, desperately trying to hold in any snorts threatening to erupt. And the next thing I know Jonathan, looking devious as ever, points at the paper with his chubby little hand and says, "POW!".

Yeah...we're definitely working on our church etiquette.

Surprise Visit to Pennsylvania

A few weekends ago, I went to Pennsylvania to surprise my very best, very pregnant friend, Alexa. This girl is IMPOSSIBLE to surprise because she's very analytical and she asks too many questions but I got her!

I flew with Jonathan for the first time since he was born and he did such a great job. Our flight left Love Field at 6:55 am so we were up at 3:00 am and we didn't land until 1:30 pm. It was a looooong day. He only cried when the plane was descending and loved watching the sky out the window. He got antsy a few times during the flight and layover and my saving grace was the portable DVD player and the movie WALL-E my friend Kara let me borrow. Thanks Kara and Kaiya! You saved my life!

Once we got to Alexa's house, her mom took me around back to knock on the door. I'll never forget the look on her face once she opened the door! We haven't seen each other in almost three years, since my wedding to be exact. My visit was totally unexpected; especially since, every time we spoke on the phone, I told her there was no way we could afford to fly me up to see her. I surprised myself by crying at the sight of her! She's so cute and pregnant!

We had a blast that weekend. I went to her last baby shower and we mainly hung around the house. I tasted a Philly Cheesesteak which was awesome but they told me it wasn't the most authentic one I could have. Still good. We also ate really good pizza. (Why do I love food so much?)

They loved Jonathan and he was so well behaved. Thank goodness too! Who wants a bratty child? I was very proud of him. Everyone was also impressed by his golf skills. Tiger Woods, watch out!

On my last full day there, Alexa and her mom, April took me to Lancaster, PA to shop and I got to see so many Amish people. Alexa used to tell me stories about how she would drive to school and see all the Amish kids going to school in their horse drawn carriages. It amazed me and I was so excited to see such a vast culture difference! I took pictures of them as we passed and felt a little weird doing so, but I couldn't help myself. They live in a completely different world! I even got to see one Amish girl sitting outside her home, in her dress and bonnet, reading. I seriously felt like I was in another century. It blew my mind how simple their lives are. I can't go one day without turning a light on. I check my iPhone constantly for email or Facebook. Heck! If my power goes out for even ten minutes, I still walk into a room and hit the switch or try to dry my hair and feel frustrated that I can't. We rely so much on electricity for our everyday routine and they go everyday without it. I truly don't know if I would survive! You could tell which farms were Amish ones because zero power lines led to them and their horse and buggies were parked out front. We drove back from Lancaster as night was falling and you could see candles in the windows. I think one of the funniest things I heard about the Amish in Lancaster is that they're starting to migrate to Ohio because they feel the area they were in was becoming too commercialized. Yet we were out in the sticks!

Monday morning came too soon and Jonathan and I were packed and ready to embark on yet another flying adventure. This time, it was old hat. He was a pro. Never cried once nor did he fuss. Neither of the planes were completely full so he had his own seat which made all the difference in the world! Plus, I sat next to really nice people all 4 times which was really relaxing. Who wants to have a monster sitting next to you complaining about your kid crying when you can't help it at all? Southwest Airlines was great, too. They gave him a little booklet to color and it had a little set of pilot's wings for him. So cute!

All in all, this was a great weekend! I love you Alexa and I'm so pumped I got to see you!

Oh! And, after leaving on Monday, she had their little boy on Thursday! Welcome to the world, Spencer Steven Wildman! Congratulations Jon & Alexa!

Lining up at an intersection

The Amish only wear dark clothes - mostly black and purple. It was unusual to see such a bright color of blue. He must be the trendsetter of his group. Or the black sheep. It could go either way.

Trust me...they were NOT going 45 mph.

Me & Baby J in the car on the way to shop. He was such a trooper the whole weekend!

Alexa posing with the burp cloths I made her. My favorite is the flames one. Very rock n' roll.

This is pretty much how Jonathan spent his evenings - with Alexa's dad, Gary. They watched golf and football all weekend long. Here, they're watching the Cowboys beat on the Eagles. We wore our Cowboys regalia all day long. Surprisingly enough, I was neither punched nor spit on. Good day!

The ladies after a long day of shopping

I love this picture. I'm so disappointed it came out so blurry. :(

Buddha belly - the girl was about to pop!

This is why I love Alexa - she never ceases to crack me up!