First Birthday!

Gideon turned one on January 14th. We decided to postpone the birthday party for a week so I could get all caught up from the trip to Cali and school. We spent the whole day with him, though and took him to IHOP for some chicken strips and fries.

After IHOP we picked up some cupcakes and blew out a candle. Oddly enough, Gideon doesn't really like sweet things so we had to prod him a bit to eat it.

He does, however, like the feel of frosting.

My dad and Gideon both have their birthdays in January. Gideon got a whole new outfit, including his first tie.

Gideon got a lot of presents, but the one with the best story was definitely these Air Jordan sneakers. My cousin Nate bought them for Gideon while he was at the store buying his own. The day they came out. They're the ones that Jordan had the year he retired and on the bottom it lists all of his accomplishments in basketball.

Snow Day

There was quite a bit of snowfall the first week of January so we bought Gideon some snowpants. Nate took these pictures while I was in my last all-day residency at Westminster College. That means I graduate in May! That's beside the point, though. Here's Giddy playing in the best snow on Earth.

San Diego Zoo

While we were in California, we got to visit San Diego Zoo with Wendy and her boys. I have a lot of good memories there and I was excited to take Gideon. Unfortunately, you can't cover as much ground with three little kids so we weren't able to see everything, but everything was still interesting.

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Newport Beach

The week between Christmas and New Years I don't have to work. Luckily my friend Kristen didn't have to work, either, so we went to her family's beach house in Newport, CA.

This is Gideon with his first box of animal crackers from his Christmas stocking at the beach house.

This is Gideon's first time at the beach. He loved the sand.

Going to meet the ocean for the very first time.

I took this picture to show how much sand he got in his mouth. He kept trying to clear it out with his hand, which was also covered in sand.

This is Kristen (my mission trainer) who went with me and Wendy (one of my mission companions). Wendy is holding her little boy Benj who we also got to meet for the first time.

This is Gideon first thing in the morning. I've decided I want a pair of pajamas just like his.

First Christmas!

Gideon's first Christmas was so much fun! Here he is helping us put up Christmas decorations the week before Christmas. (Don't worry, we kept them up until his birthday so we had enough time to enjoy them).

This is when he got exhausted from all the work.

Christmas Eve my family came to our house to open family presents and have pizza. This is Gideon with my Grandparents Hansen.

This time last year I was taking my 9 month pregnancy picture. It's so nice to have him out of my belly and ready to play.

This is a Christmas tree we borrowed from one of my friends last year and never returned. Hopefully we'll be able to get our own this next year and give this one back to them.

Gideon's Haul.

And this is Christmas morning when he was exhausted from all the blinking lights and sounds and just wanted to rest his head in my lap.

To Thanksgiving...and Beyond!!!

So these pictures downloaded in a weird order, but we'll just go with it. This first drunkenish picture was taken just a few moments ago to commemorate that he is officially 11 months now!! Let's look back at the past months and re-live the awesome moments.

 This was Gideon's first Thanksgiving! He had a shirt that said "GOBBLE GOBBLE GOBBLE" on it and a turkey on his bum that Ama Sokia gave him (by the way, he's started calling my mom "Ama" instead of grandma so we're just going to go with it).

 This is Gideon keeping a lookout for all of our Thanksgiving guests. I cook for my family every year and I use the opportunity to try out some new recipes and clean my house once a year.

 We have a weird a wall that we can't really hang pictures on because the railing and the chandelier make everything look wonky. Until I figure out a way to fix that, I've been cutting out and taping seasonal decorations to it. For Halloween I cut out over a hundred bats and it looked awesome! But I forgot to get a picture of it. Instead, I will show you the leaves we cut out and put some of the things we are thankful for, like, The Atonement, Naptime, and Phineas and Ferb.

 On Fridays, I telecommute from home and sometimes Gideon helps me answer e-mails. He's so thoughtful.

And finally, this was last week. I think bath time is my favorite part of the day because we get to splash, sing, and laugh together every single time. He's only been grumpy in the bath once and that was when he had an earache...right after he had the flu...but before he had a cold. Luckily, he made it through all of the sickness and is back to his happy smiley self. One more month and we've officially made it through a year. Wahoo!!