Haymond Cabin Trip

Sunday was a crazy day. It was the day of Norwegian Christmas but FIRST we headed up to my family's cabin in Island Park. The weather was PERFECT! The sky was super blue and I just loved the view we had as we drove into the valley. The contrast of the dark trees with the white snow and the blue sky were awesome. And then we saw this up a head. UH OH!
It looked a lot scarier than it was. It looked like a WALL of fog but it ended up just being a light fog over a river and we drove through just fine. Zach got to hand out with some of his second cousins. He was completely fascinated with one of the girl's braces.
He just couldn't figure out what those shiney things were on her teeth.
We had an antler making contest- Our team won! As we put the antlers on my cousin's head Zach decided he wanted to join in.
Here's my cousin Natalie modeling our "antlers"
And again with all the pregnant girls! Holy Moly!!! We are everywere! On the far left is my sister Shaila. She is due 3 days before me and in the middle is my dad's girlfriend's daughter Lisa. She is due about 2 weeks after me. There were giant bellies everywhere!

Norwegian Christmas

This last month has been pretty crazy and we have finally come home to our quiet little house. It's a stark contrast to all of the adventures we got to enjoy while visiting family in Idaho. We spent most of our time staying at the Gundersen house with my in-laws and Norwegian Christmas brought some great food along with ALL of Zach's Gundersen Cousins. Here's a pic of the whole gang.

Zach loved every minute he got to spend with his cousins. He was the youngest one there but he sure didn't know that and he would join in whatever fun the kids were having.
Pregnancy was in the air and I got to go to a baby shower for Jason's cousin Heather (far left) who is due mid January. (I think?) We got to take this fun pic with all the pregnant girls in order of due date. I'm next with March 13th, then Heather's friend (missed her name) Alicia, another cousin was due April 6th and Brendi, my newest sister in law who is due April 26th (day before my b-day! hooray!)
Zach joined his cousins for a sleepover (until mom took him upstairs) Here he is with his one and only boy cousin Roy, who really took him under his wing. They got along so well despite the age difference. Zach followed him around like a little puppy, copying everything he did.

Then, the BIG PARTY began...

Jason's cousin Shelly arrived with her little girl in the CUTEST Christmas dress I've ever seen. I guess it helped that it was modeled by such a doll. Believe it or not... She MADE this dress herself! No Pattern!!! She is a Crochet Genious!!!!
My pictures are a bit out of order, sorry! Zach sat on Santa's lap and didn't cry at all! I was so proud. Jason had been telling him Santa was going to bring him a train so that he would be excited. When his turn came he was all business. He sat, grabbed his gift and was out of there to open it and start to enjoy. Completely fearless, as usual. He didn't get a train but he was definitely not disappointed. What he opened instead was this totally awesome Mega Blocks Mack Truck. I can tell you, he hasn't stopped playing with it since we came home. He has been taking it apart and reassembling it over and over and over again. At first we had to help him out a lot but now he pretty much can assemble it himself.
Here's the traditional Santa pic as Zach picked up his annual Scandinavian candy bar (promptly confiscated by mom and dad). Notice, No tears! No panic! That's my boy.
Every year the highlight of Norwegian Christmas is the dance around the Christmas tree as we sing English and Norwegian Christmas carols. Again, pictures are out of order, this happens BEFORE Santa arrives and then he joins in for the last few songs. Once again Zach figured he was just as big as the other kids and he even joined in the fun. He held hands with his cousins and they skipped (or ran frantically, depending on the song) around the tree. He giggled and giggled the whole time.
Once and a while he would get scooped up by dad as he went. Obviously, you can tell by the grin that he was just loving it!
Here's the whole gang, Santa included.
Finally, a priceless pic of Zach with Aunt Brendi. I'm not sure what they spotted, but it was apparently VERY exciting. Maybe it was Santa? LOL!!

Shh... don't tell Jason

Zach has loved seeing his cousins. He basically just runs around the house all day trying to see what everybody else is up to. When his cousin Sara pulled out her princess shoes he was thrilled to join in the fun. He only toppled a few times. Every time he slipped out of them he was running straight for me to put them back on. What is so fun about heels?!? Don't they know how much the rest of us HATE to put those things on?

More travel adventures

As I said on the previous post. Zach was pretty excited about getting to fly on an airplane. He also thought these railings were pretty fun while we waited. He was actually swinging back and forth. I was surprised he had the strength in his fingers to hold himself up. I also had a video but I wasn't thinking and took it sideways. Who does that!! (A photography person, that's who... I'm not used to shooting video)
Sadly, Zach did not get to arrive looking like his sweet perfect (in mom's eyes anyway) self. He's been fighting off stys for about a month now. Nothing serious, he just always looks like he's been punched in the eye.

I always stress when travel time comes. I picture him jumping up and down and screaming for the entire flight while everyone on board glares as me, branding me a "terrible mother" for not being able to control my child. Everytime, he surprises me with his perfect travel skills. Our first flight was nearly empty so we got a whole row to ourselves. He slept for the first hour and a half or so and then sat nicely watching movies or reading books for the next two hours. He LOVED take off and Landing. The second flight we didn't get quite as lucky and were sqeezed in with two big guys but once again, he fell asleep before the plane had even reached it's cruising altitude. He slept about 45 minutes and then, once again, sat nicely for the remainder of the flight. Sadly, after this trip he won't be able to qualify as a lap child but we at least we know we have this to look forward to...

It's an Airplane!

Well, we've been here in Idaho for a few days now and, sadly, I've been doing a terrible job of posting our adventures. I'll start at the beginning. We flew out Sunday morning and Zach was so excited to go on the airplane.

Merry Christmas Jason!

Well, after 7 years of collecting and cutting and piecing together, I FINALLY completed Jason's quilt. I've actually been really close for some time now but it was just so big that I wasn't sure how to finish it off. I have to say, this thing is the BIGGEST quilt I have ever seen. It fits our King sized bed and actually hangs down almost to the floor. I wish I could figure out a way to get a picture of the whole thing but I don't have a single spot of floor in our house big enough to lay it out on. to give you an idea of the size, I used almost 10 yards each of the batting and the flannel on the back. Needless to say, I am pretty darn proud.

I've actually enjoyed it quite a bit myself as Jason is out of town doing interviews and he usually serves as my personal heater. This baby is so thick and heavy, I slept great last night despite the cold.

We are spending Christmas in Idaho this year so we actually had our own personal gift exchange last week so don't worry, this wasn't a spoiler.

P.S. for those of you who saw the "Zach's First Gumball" post earlier. Don't worry! He didn't actually Eat the gum ball. He just thought it was a bouncy ball so he kept throwing it. We traded it out for a real bouncy ball after the video. I don't know that gum balls are recommended for 2 yr olds. LOL!