because i am getting PRIT-tee sick of the christmas post.

tucker got a keyboard for christmas. and tagg loves it. if tagg ever gets loose he makes a b-line to tucker's room and starts banging away on the keys. what can i say? he is a boy with some rhythm.


another place that tagg rushes to is the our bathroom drawers. he loves all the crap inside of them and makes it his job to clear them all out. but this time was especially cute because he was brushing his teeth WHILE he worked. teeth are very important in our family.

spectacular, spectacular
the original short kids. our christmas festivities started with a scrumptious christmas eve dinner at outback. we should own freaking stock in that place.

my mom and dad.

two brothers. they love having craig around because they get all his old clothes! that red and white shirt used to be craigs and now both of my brothers wear it. so cute.

i LOVE this picture: tucker is flashing a real smile, sam looks so incredibly happy and cody looks great with his braces off! yay!!

the two hooligans. these boys love each other so much.

holy crap. this picture gets me every time. sam is loving life! after outback, we headed back home to eat dessert and read the nativity.

peppermint ice-cream cake.

me, with my little baby jesus. i felt a little weird that "baby jesus" was wearing a onsie that read: santa is my homeboy.

i could not stop giggling about taylor being the donkey. we didnt have donkey ears, so he was wearing rudolf antlers. it was a hoot.


my dad got the other pair of antlers. i love this picture. we had such a great time sharing christmas eve with our good friends. we were so grateful that they let us crash their evening and even sang us their traditional christmas eve songs! it was a christmas eve to remember. for sure.

tagg's first christmas morning! our little baby enjoyed a morning filled with elmo, elmo, and more elmo. he loved it! the constant attention from all of us didnt hurt either......

best friends.

thats right. a white christmas morning! we couldnt stop pinching ourselves that we got to open presents while looking out at the fresh snow falling. it was amazing.


we all walked over to the elementary school to watch tucker go off some jumps with his snowboard. taylor and i were laughing because we both agreed that the short family has always had the most white trash snow gear. there are some families look like they just stepped out of an REI catalog. the shorts? we have been known to hit the slopes in jeans and baseball hats. we just dig thru a bin that has crap from the 80's and pile it on. whatever works, right?


tucker is going to hate me for putting the picture on here, but i dont care. i think he looks so happy and handsome.

speaking of white trash. we rounded out christmas day with a classy dinner at bullwinkles pizza (sam made a special request). instead of the candle-lit dinner with china, we thought it would be fun to gorge ourselves with greasy pizza and nachos. it was a complete blast.

what a perfect way to end a fabulous christmas! this year, we did things a little differently, but it was still a great christmas. happy first christmas, taggy.

the boys' trip

tucker, craig, taylor, and my dad (not pictured) had a fantastic time in hawaii last week. it was an all boys trip and they lived it up on the island of maui for eight days.

are you kidding me? gorgeous.

taylor, with his sweet sunglasses. look at how dark he gets! i wish i would have inherited that gene.....

the fab four. dont feel too sorry for my mom and me though.... missing out on the trip and all..... we had one of the best weeks of our lives. we shopped and baked 'til we dropped in a seattle winter wonderland. loved it!

one happy snow day

yesterday, we woke up to snow everywhere! tagg and i spent the entire day all cozied-up eating treats and wrapping presents.


i didnt take tagg out into the snow because i dont really have snow clothes for him. but he loved staring out at the white stuff.


doesnt my mom's house look like a cute christmas cottage?! we are SO lucky to live here. its paradise.


louis also enjoyed the snow. he is always so desperate to get out and play in it. but i try to explain to him that he would get his beautiful fur all dirty and it wouldnt be worth it. (really i just would rather die than chase him around in the cold.)

tagg's favorite part of christmas so far is this snow globe i bought from home depot. it lights up, plays music and swirls snow around. added bonus: its also sam's favorite toy!

i got these little reindeer socks for tagg at thanksgiving point in utah. the package also came with a green pair. i love the little tails!


tagg is such a brat! he only wants to touch the stuff i tell him not to. and to make it even worse, he will not only disobey me, but shakes his head "no no no" while doing it. wow.


i got this little santa in leavenworth. i am obsessed with him because he clips onto the tree instead of just hanging. love it!


my mom's house after the seven inches of snow!

i hated traipsing thru the fresh snow but i had to get some pictures.

i put lights on this tree a couple of weeks ago and thought it was pretty. but its ten times better with the snow!!

all in all, it was a fabulous day. however, it would have been a FABULOUS day if craig would have been here. we are so glad that he is taking a well deserved break but monday cant come soon enough! :)

leavenworthk, so my family's favorite christmas movie is i'll be home for christmas starring jonathan taylor thomas. and one my favorite parts of the movie is when they go to a little bavarian village in the middle of the desert. the village is all decked out in christmas lights and decorations and everything is so..... bavarian! welp, last weekend our friends invited us to go up to leavenworth with them. and leavenworth is EXACTLY like that village in the movie. i loved it!

the temperature had to be in the teens while we were there. it was FREEZING. but i still had to get the shot of tagg with the nutcrackers. (they were kinda creepy. anyone could be under those masks....)

our friends and the drunk santa. this guy's beard was falling off he was so wasted. and i am pretty sure he was slurring his speech...(someone please explain to me why i feel the urge to lean down when my picture is being taken? as if i am not short and fat enough.) we had a fabulous time in leavenworth with our amigos. the girls talked their heads off while the boys played games. perfection! i cannot wait until the cabin in cle elum is finished so we can do it again. thanks, guys.

tagg

tagg is about ten and a half months. since this blog is basically my journal, i thought i would write down a few things my little man has been up to lately:

- loathes having his diaper changed or getting dressed (basically anything that requires sitting still for ONE SECOND)

- pulls himself up on anything and is cruising around like a champ 

- visited santa and was pretty indifferent about the whole experience 

- loves "talking" on the phone (i have tried to document this but to no avail....)

- dances like i fiend when he hears a beat

i cannot imagine what i did with my time before tagg....... he keeps my QUITE busy. craig and i love him very much. enough so, that i might think about having another one someday.... :)

christmas time againmy uncle, david judged all the gingerbread houses this year. my house won: house santa would most like to visit on christmas eve. yay!

last night, we were able to go the christmas carol at the ACT theater downtown. we love it. we had reservations at PF changs but at the last minute they called and said their power was out..... so da da da daaaa.... outback saved the day again.

the entire gang. honestly, this is my favorite tradition of the season. i was sad (not too sad though..) to leave tagg at home with this first official babysitter but i still managed to eek out a little bit of fun with these guys.

at the ACT theater. we had to wait in a big line to get this scenic shot. it felt like disneyland with the tourists.

the girls. i look like a freaking shrimp!

my favorite little elder. we were SO EXCITED to have taylor join us for this tradition (we started it while he is was on his mission). we didnt sit right next to each other during the actual play, but i kept looking over at him to see his reaction. he loved it!

the aloha boys! on monday morning, these guys (plus my dad) are off on a christmas vacation to hawaii. i know they are going to have a great time. i better get one amazing souvenir....

my family. we never get sick of each other. if that isnt a christmas miracle, i dont know what is.

a couple weeks ago, we ventured out to get our christmas tree. it was incredibly cold but tagg still had a great time.

in between all the photo-ops he totally helped us pick out the best one.....

the finished product. i love the window effect in this picture. it looks like we have ten trees! happy christmas everyone!