A Christmas Wedding

And last, but certainly not least, the wedding! Jon's cousin Dana (really like a 3rd cousin, I think), got married. Jon is really close to these cousins because they lived around the corner from each other in Farmington, where Jon grew up. The wedding was at a ranch in Lawrence, KS which is about 30-40 minutes from the airport. We rented a car and drove in. Our side of the family got to stay at the ranch, rather than being in town, which ended up being great. Lots of games and cards were played and Hannah (along with Jon & me) got some good quality time with the family. The best pictures that I have are from the day of the wedding, so hear goes.

Hannah had been unable to nap all morning because there was so much going on, so she finally just ended up passing out from exhaustion. She is actually asleep like this! Also, it's the only picture I got of her in her hat, so I will have to put the get up back on to take some pictures. The outfit was definitely a hit and she was quite festive for the Christmas wedding.
Beautiful bride coming down the "aisle/stairs" to start the wedding.
Dana and Dave.

Hannah going for a ride on the horse with Ryan, except that neither he nor Jon had ten cents, so she just faked it. That's okay though because the still got some good pictures.

Hannah and Abby. Hannah loved Abby this time! She didn't so much like her last time, although it really had nothing to do with Abby and everything to do with the fact that she was just grumpy from being in the car for 6 hours. Nonetheless, Abby was a hit this time and we were so happy! I kept telling Hannah before we got there that she had to like Abby or it would hurt her feelings. What a good kid, listening to her Mom like that!

Jon and Matt at the reception.

Jon dancing with the bride. He was so excited to dance with her...he jumped in line quickly to be one of the first! He loves his cousins!

Kansas City & Visiting Grandpa

We went to Kansas City for Jon's cousin's wedding, but decided to go a little early in hopes of seeing my dad. It's only about 4 1/2 hours from his house, so he drove up and spent Thursday and Friday morning with us. I am so glad that he got to come. We had a great time with him, and of course it's always good for Hannah to see her grandpa.

Hannah has started to get really excited about certain things and you can tell that she genuinely enjoys things now, where as before we were just kind of guessing at the emotion. Well the airplane is one of those things. She LOVED the airplane. She is quite social and thinks that everyone should pay attention to her, so an airplane full of people is kind of her element. The flight wasn't full and people tend to avoid you if you have a baby, so we ended up having an extra seat between us! Hannah loved it. I think she felt like a big girl when we were in the air because she got to sit in her own seat. The flight attendant also kept coming by and talking to her, which also made her very happy. She showed off her sweet little smile and her new waving skills.
She loved playing with her toys and was quite content to sit in her seat. I decided to try to get her to take a nap since it was really late for her, and I was afraid that her good mood would soon change to a grumpy, sleepiness. But, when I picked her up, it was like she suddenly realized what she was missing. People...lots of people! One lady that was sitting behind me waved at her and the nap that I was working on was history. She squealed with excitement and began waving like crazy. She was even so excited that she was snorting with her giggles. She wanted the attention of the entire airplane (or at least everyone she could see) and would stare people down with smiles until they would reciprocate the gesture. It was a riot! No sleep for any of us, but such is life. I would rather have a happy baby that people smile at than a crying miserable one that people glare at unforgivingly! So good times on the airplane!

Since our flight got in at 11:00pm central standard time, it was pretty late by the time we got to the hotel. So we had agreed that my dad would just meet us in Kansas City the next morning. Hannah was ready to bust into her gift...again, totally doesn't get it, but loves the sound of ripping paper.

I think the highlight for Hannah was the swimming. Dad and I took her down to the swimming pool at our hotel and Dad took her for a spin in the pool. She has only been in the pool once before and didn't really mind it, but definitely didn't love it. Well things have changed now. She loved being in the pool with my dad. He would put her on her belly and let her swim around.

It was so cute! She even kicked and moved her arms, like she was actually trying to swim! One of the reasons I haven't taken her swimming again is because I didn't have a swimming suit in her size, so we picked this cute little thing up at Target. Adorable!

Chilling out with Grandpa after the swim. You know swimming always makes me hungry and tired too!

One last shot with Grandpa before we left to go to Lawrence. I think this is such a sweet little picture, don't you?

Wrapping Presents

Hannah LOVES the wrapping presents side of Christmas. She doesn't get it at all. All she knows is that there is a lot of pretty paper, that makes noise when she crinkles it, and that glittery ribbon is awesome.

This is right before we started wrapping gifts. Reading ESPN magazine & getting caught up on what's going on in the NBA (see cover). It's what every dad could hope for right? She was, however, willing to put her magazine aside to help with the gift wrapping.
Then, let the fun begin. Since Hannah is an expert roller, it didn't take her long to get wound up in the ribbon that I was using to decorate boxes. Plus, it's shiny and glittery (as stated above) so, awesome! This is the view from the front. Doesn't she look so happy?!? The back is what's really impressive though.

Check it...that's right she did this all on her own. I swear we did NOT assist her with any of this! Good times for Hannah!

Zoo Lights

We went to Denver to see the Zoo Lights and met up with some of our friends from Laramie that were in town. We were planning to go to the zoo and then to grab some dinner at a restaurant called Twisters. It is a place in Denver that we heard about that has good, New Mexico green chile. Apparently they have it shipped in every couple of days from Hatch, NM so we were quite excited to go. We drove out there after the zoo and it was already closed, so we ended up just grabbing some Red Robin and then heading home. It was really good to get to hang out with Ryan & Sarah, and the lights were pretty impressive. We even got to see a few animals too! Here are a few pictures from our day...and I realized when I got home that we didn't take any pictures with the lights, but that's okay! Enjoy!

Jon and Ryan decided to snuggle with Hannah in the backseat. I also didn't get a picture of Sarah, so you'll just have to trust me that she was there!
Hannah sporting her Dad's hat.

Stopping for a picture with me.

I love this picture! Adorable!

Warming up in the gift shop before heading out.

Busy Little Girl

Hannah has been quite the busy little girl this month. As you can see from the pictures below, she is getting much more mobile and is trying so hard to crawl. Here are a few of her highlights from the last few weeks.

Putting the star on top of the Christmas tree...she needed a little help from her Dad, but eventually got in on there.
Trying to crawl...

She can stand on all fours, but when she moves her hand to move, she falls. She'll get there soon, I'm sure.

Hannah loves the Christmas tree when the lights are on. She just sits there and touches it.

She wants to pump, YOU up! That's the air pump to my exercise ball that she pulled off of the ottoman.

She's balancing on her own. She's just started this in the last few days and has gotten MUCH better at it.

Except that she really has no fear and doesn't understand that she has limitations. So she tries to do stuff, falls, then does the exact same thing again, and falls again. At least she isn't falling as hard anymore, and mostly lands on her butt.

Week of Christmas-ing

We have had quite a busy week of Christmas preparation. I have been arranging decorations inside, shopping for things that we are lacking, and re-arranging furniture in the living room to make room for the tree. Jon also put Christmas lights up outside this morning and we got the tree out last night, only to find that one of the strands of lights wasn't working! After decorating outside, Jon messed with the tree and was able to get all of the lights up and running. We also went to the Christmas parade downtown tonight and while it was cold and we didn't stay the whole time, it was still fun. It makes me excited for Hannah these next few years because I know she will love it later! Here's a few photos from the weekend so far. We got a new angel for the top of of tree this year...

Hannah's Christmas outfit...doesn't she look like a little Christmas present???
What to do, what to do??? Should I help Dad with the lights or pull on the tree?

A snapshot of the lights outside...do you see the penguin? Isn't he awesome? Our Saudi friends got that for us a couple of years ago and it's one of our favorite decorations!

At the parade...Hannah was NOT happy to be there at this point. She might have been mad that we put eight million layers on her, or possibly it was that she was hungry and we didn't realize that it was time for her to eat!

Getting happier...Dad always makes things better!

Yea! She's not mad at me anymore! Watching the parade lights with Dad just before we decided to head out.

Mmm...Milanos...

Please notice: Hannah, on the right...half eaten Milk Chocolate Milano on the left. That's right...that's me taking it away from her. Apparently I wasn't paying close enough attention to Hannah because she had grabbed the bag of cookies that was sitting next to my chair. I knew that she had it, I guess, but it never crossed my mind that she would actually be able to get a cookie out of closed bag. Well she did and I have no idea how long she had been sucking on it before I noticed...but lets just say that she had done some serious damage when I found it. And, if you can't tell, she was LOVING it! So, despite the fact that she is not quite eight months old, she has already had chocolate. Lucky!