christmas 2012

Well... after Zion I swore up and down that I would NEVER be pregnant and in my first trimester over the holidays again.  I was 10 weeks pregnant with Zion on Christmas, this year I was 8 weeks pregnant with our second baby on Christmas.  I guess that's what I get for trying to pretend like I'm in control of my life plans.  I was pretty dang sick on Christmas, and I was too scared to take anything for it but we still had an amazing holiday.  Zac worked the morning of Christmas Eve because we had so many clients that wanted to come into the gym, so me and Zion went to the cabin with my dad for the Houtz family Christmas party.  My mom, Heather and Zac all joined us later that afternoon when they were done working.  We had fun relaxing and spending time with all of the family, and Zion had fun playing in the loft with his cousins.  This was the first year without my grandpa Houtz.  In years past, each of us grandkids make a special ornament that represents something about ourself or something that happened that year, and we give it to grandpa on Christmas Eve.  Without him here, we decided to have each family do one final ornament that represented grandpa.  My dad made the ornament for our family.  He cut the word "DAD" out of wood and put a really nice finish on it.  My dad and grandpa spent so many hours working in the shop and building stuff together, that this was the perfect ornament to remember him.

After the Houtz family party we went over to Gary and Leesa's for a little party.  It was fun for us to see some of the family that we never get to see.  Leesa's son Justin and his wife Cecile and their kids were able to make it up from Vegas, and so was Zac's brother Isaiah his wife Sharee and their little boy Cooper.  It was fun to just have some time to just catch up with the adults, and let Zion play with his cousins that he doesn't get to see very often.  After that we went over to my mom and dad's to open our Christmas Eve jammies from my parents and hang out for a while.  Me and Zac were so excited to get home and put Zion to bed so that we could play Santa.  We bought Zion an awesome train table and we were so excited to put it together.  I took a couple pictures of the set up before we went to bed.

Zion is in love with trains right now, so he was beyond excited when he came downstairs Christmas morning and saw it.

 He wasn't very happy when we pulled him away to try to get him to open other presents, but once he started opening them he was totally fine.  I'm kind of sad we didn't get a picture of Zion with all of his presents after he was done opening them.

After we opened all of the presents we made breakfast for my family and granny Houtz.  I love having them come over Christmas morning.  Zion was so excited to show them all of his new toys.  Later that afternoon we popped into Gary and Leesa's house to wish them a Merry Christmas and then we finished off the night back at my parent's house.  This was by far my favorite Christmas to date.  Zion was so much fun, and me and Zac just felt so blessed to have another baby on the way.  We love Zion and being parents so much that nothing could possibly mean more than knowing we get to experience that kind of love again.