Summer Vacation

I know, I know....Layton is only 4 months away from turning two and my last post was on his 1st birthday!!! Ahh....how time flies when we are so busy chasing a little one.
This Summer we took a family vacation to New Mexico to escape the Texas heat and it was wonderful! Our fun friend the Gaspard's own a great vacation house with plenty of room for our family to all stay under one roof. It was so much fun! We sure did miss Christy, Todd, Gray and Kye who could not make it this year. Here are some pictures from our stay in the mountains.

(the picture above is in the basement which is a full size fun game room with a pool table, tv, bar, game tables and much more....we spent a lot of time playing in this room)

Matt took Layton on his first little man fishing trip....where they caught little fish:) Guess they did not bring home any dinner but Layton had tons of fun watching Matt bait the hook and watching the caught fish wiggle on the hook. And....you guessed it, Matt had fun keeping Layton OUT of the lake. Ahhh fishing with a 19 month old:)

Matt and I went to a little wine tasting shop in town. It was fun and we took home a bottle of our favorite wine.

Of course I had to do a little shopping......Matt found a friendly "deer" friend to sit with while I shopped.

Matt and my aunts and uncles all played golf for 3 days. They played three pretty courses and the weather was just perfect. Matt was still in his cast on our trip but he was such a trooper and did not miss out on any of the fun.

Nancy and Diana (my aunts) on the golf course.

Such a pretty course!

ahh...green trees and grass!! Everything was all burned up in Texas from the heat this Summer so it was nice to see a whole lotta green.

Sweet Layton giving kisses through the gate for the stairs.....looks like he is in jail:)

We ate dinner on the porch almost every night. It was between 63-80 degrees while we were there depending on the time of day. Just perfect!

Thank goodness I survived the bear attack!!

It was a good time had by all. I wish I had taken the time to take more pictures of everyone having fun.

Layton's 1st Birthday Bash

Well....my sweet baby Layton turned 1 year old on January 22, 2010. We had a wonderful Circus themed birthday party. I have posted a TON of pictures so I never forget this special day. What a gift the Lord has given us in Layton. Bubby, Mommy and Daddy love you more than words can express. Here are some facts about you:
*You LOVE the outdoors more than Mommy ever will....if I stayed outside with you all day that would not be enough.
*You love books and can turn the pages all by yourself. Your favorite books are "Color Zoo" and "Brown Bear, Brown Bear"...I think we have read each of them 1,000 times. Mommy loves lap time with you.
*You are an awesome sleeper. You still take two naps and you sleep through the night.
*You are a picky, picky eater....wish you would eat more veggies
*You can say Momma, Dada and Doggie
*You are so sweet and so determined at the same time
and oh so much more..............

Mommy and Daddy love everyday spent with you!

Welcome to Layton's GREATEST show on Earth!

Party favors for everyone and a special book for the birthday boy that everyone signed that attended the party.

We just HAD to be under the Big Top Tent of course!

Gumballs, Dum Dums and Gummies galore!

Great parties always end with too much Apple juice!

My sweet Mom and Christy. I took a lot of pictures before the party but I was so busy during the party that I missed getting pictures of a lot of the action and guests:( My Nana came from Houston and she was a BIG help during the party. She loves spending time with little Layton anytime she can.

Layton's cute smash cake.....oh and cake was EVERYWHERE by the time he was done with it

Big boy cake that matched his Circus invitations

The cake table

Layton getting the party music ready

The Concession stand

What better to serve than Carnival food...Nachos, popcorn, cotten candy, corny dogs and Cracker Jacks.

Dudley the Clown.....lots of fun!

Pleasing the crowd with balloon animals

Present time!

Layton LOVES his new ball pit!

Happy 1st Birthday Layton! We LOVE you!

Fun Christmas Season

We had such a wonderful December spent with friends and family. This Christmas was so special to us because we got to share the season with Layton. Children make life so much sweeter and we are so thankful for everyday we get to spend with Layton. This is a big post of a lot of pictures from last month. We did a lot of family activities and some I had to leave out because I left my little camera in Midland. When I have some **free** time (yeah right!) I will upload some of the pictures when Santa came to visit Layton in Midland. This little cutie was such a big helper when it came to wrapping gifts during the month of December. He did not **wink, wink** tear any paper, eat any tape, pull on any bows....he was the perfect little wrapping angel and left all of my gifts alone;)

Santa was so good to Layton and brought him some fun, FUN new toys that he plays with daily. He got this really cute ball popper that uses air to make the balls pop all over the room. He really enjoys this toy. It is neat to see which toys he likes the most....some stuff he plays with a lot and other stuff he could care less about. I think I am getting this boy only clothes for his birthday seeing as his birthday is around the corner.

We traveled to Midland this Christmas to be with my Mom's side of the family. We had such a great time. Layton enjoyed having a new house to explore and plenty of people to spoil him. He is sporting his new Red Raider hat.

Check me out on my new wheels................

Santa brought me a 4-wheeler oh yeah!! Bonus it is battery powered and he knows how to use the "go" button. It is so funny watching him ride it around the house. Now if he could just steer it in the right direction we would be all good. I can't believe my precious baby is big enough to know how to operate this thing on his own.....where did this year go?? Oh and my little man took his first steps on Christmas Eve. That was like almost 4 weeks ago and he is walking all over the place now. He still crawls but he is walking more and more each day and he can go all the way across the room with no problem. I never thought he would be walking at 11 months.

We took a family trip to the Gaylord Texan to see Snoopy on Ice. It was REALLY cold but REALLY cool to see. I don't know if a trip to see it every year is necessary but seeing everything carved out of ice was pretty neat. Layton had no idea what was going on so we could have left him at home....plus WHO knew you could not use a stroller there so taking turns carrying a 24lb boy was just so much FUN!!

Mom and Layton...the big jackets swallowed him but he needed it took keep from freezing!

Next week took Layton to Santa's village in Richardson. If you have never been you should take the kiddos. It is free and on the weekends Santa arrives every night by firetruck....lots of lights and sounds and they make it a cute production. Then if you want to wait in line you can have your picture made with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Here Matt and Layton are watching Santa's arrival. Layton was so cute as he followed Santa with his eyes all the way to his house. I don't know how he really knew who to watch but it was cute.Love this picture....my favorite "little" man!!

Layton meets Frosty!

I took Layton to North Park to visit Santa.....based on the look on his face waiting in line this might have been just for me:) I think he was over the long wait in line to see the guy with a beard.

In his picture with Santa that the photograhper took he is giving us a half smile. This picture Matt took with our camera and he looks a little disappointed:) Hey at least he is not screaming.

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