Some cute pictures

I thought you would all enjoy some of these pictures.

Joshua has completely figured out how to turn over in his bouncer. I guess its time to find another method of setting him down.

He loves faces, but he usually scratches whatever gets under his fingers.

MMM...carrots.

He's figuring out how to sit!

Matching shirts

Toga Party!

On Saturday, Jan 29, our friend, Greg Sorensen, threw a Toga Party complete with elk meat (SO good!), grapes, grape juice, and olives. Most of the rest of the party stayed to watch Hercules, but Joshua enticed us to go home early. We had a great time and quite enjoyed dressing up and dressing Joshua up.

7 months old!

Wow! We never knew we could be so happy!

The Wilsons come to play!

On the Martin Luther King Jr Day weekend, Jon, Becky and their kids all came to visit. It was so fun to have them here!

In the last 7 months, three Monson grandkids have been born and we were excited to get them all together! Here was my favorite of the ones we took:

Joshua Monson, Tyler Wilson, and Nathan Mosbacker

We got all but two of the Monson grandkids in this shot. We're missing Ben and Rachel Coons.
Joshua got to bond with a few new relatives. It was fun to see them play with him.
Becky

Jon

Pat

The Wilsons stayed at one of their timeshares in Midway. It was a really nice apartment and they also got one for Pat and Shauna. We opted to drive up there everyday because of school and everything. Right next to this condo, there were some really neat ice sculptures that someone has been working on. Here are some fun shots.

A cute Swedish village

Siblings!

Some other fun things that we did was swimming, lots of games, excellent food, Saturday Night Live videos, more games, and lots of time to just talk. We had a great time!

Games and Clothes

For Christmas, I went through my old stuffed animals, picked two and didn't worry about getting Joshua anything else. Lately we've been playing "Where's the Dog?" and "Peek-a-boo" with this one. This is the first game. The second consists of putting the dog over his eyes and asking "Where's Joshua?" He'll then pull it off and we'll go "There he is!" He giggles everytime! Today even, he held it over his eyes for longer waiting to see what would happen and he just seemed so thrilled with himself! :D

Josh got his first cell phone.
We love shopping for his clothes. He is so fun to dress!
Mom, thanks for these two outfits! We love showing this kid off!

These shorts are SUCH a Steve thing! We call them picnic shorts and he is just adorable!

Home for the Holidays

For Christmas, Steve, Joshua and I all got to fly home to Ohio. It was so fun to be there!
But first, we celebrated our own little Christmas at our home. Steve gave me a very soft pink robe and I got him a key chain that says BYU dad and a picture collage of when Joshua was born.
Joshua enjoyed the present that my visiting teaching companion, Lila, gave to him. It is a ball that glows and rolls around the floor. He can't quite chase it yet, but I'm sure it will be lots of fun in the near future.

Joshua was a great little traveller. As soon as we could get him to stop looking at everything, he would go right to sleep. He had some great naps in the Denver airport at our layovers there and back.

At home, he had many people to spoil him and make him happy. He got so used to people holding him that he forgot that we don't usually hold him all day everyday. It was a fun transition when we got back home!

Great Grandpa Nufer sure loves his grandkids!

Grandma Nufer time!

Grandpa Nufer time!

While we were there, I got to see my former roommate, Tasha Priddy. It was fun to catch up!

We also got to see some of my best friends--Monica and Mallory Morse. We had a lot of fun just sitting and talking. By the way, Mal is officially engaged now! I am absolutely thrilled with the wonderful things they are doing with their lives! Monica is doing Teach for America in Florida and Mallory will be doing the same when she graduates in April. They are wonderful girls and they make me happy!

Josh sure loved being all snuggled up in his grandma's arms!

I got to bond with Ben. It was hard to get to know him when there were so many relatives around, but we finally got the chance to be with the Coons' family one-on-one. It was so fun!

Josh zonked on the planes home!

Trip details:

Monday Dec 21--fly home and get met by the Nufers in the Columbus airport

Tuesday Dec 22--shopping for food with mom, the Coons came to play, BYU Vegas Bowl game!

Wed Dec 23--Fairborn trip--showed Steve my stomping ground, visited with the Hancock family, went to Young's Dairy for ice cream, cooked dinner for the Nufers, went carolling to our neighbors

Thur Dec 24--briefly talked to Scott in Brazil, searched for dad's missing cell phone, wrapped presents, enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Laura and Chris's family, performed the Nativity, drove around looking at lights, didn't get enough sleep because of excitement!

Fri Dec 25--carolled our parents awake, stocking opening, waffle breakfast, presents, games with the Coons, talked with Scott on his mission, movie at the Coons, Kev and Kristen came

Sat Dec 26--JCPenney outlet, visit with the Morses (secretly found out when Tyler would be proposing!), Karen and Zac came!, more carolling

Sunday Dec 27--mostly church and being with family

Monday Dec 28--see Princess and the Frog with family, Chipotle run, games with Coons

Tues Dec 29--date to the German village with Laura and Chris

Wed Dec 30--bowling with the Nufers, visit with Tasha, New Years Eve celebration with Chinese food, packing

Thur Dec 31--no sleep, exhausting travel, buy books at bookstore, real NYE celebration--bed before 10:30p

It was a wonderful trip and we were so happy to have seen all of you! Sorry there is kind of a lack of pictures. For someone who must have her camera with her, I sure don't take all that many pictures!

Christmastime!

I truly believe it is the most wonderful time of the year! I love the holidays, probably because I get to spend it all (postfinals) with Steve and Josh. We are very excited to go to Ohio for Christmas and we are excited to see our family!

When I was visiting teaching my friend Lisa, I saw her Bucilla stockings on her walls and I was instantly in love with them. Steve and I decided that this was what we wanted to do for our family's stockings, so we started with mine. I wanted to make sure that I was up to the challenge before I tried anyone else's stocking. This one is called "The Procession".

We decorated our door for the holidays and hung a few lights outside to match some of our neighbors. Its fun to drive into the complex and have our door be the first thing that we see. (Although the silver is rather blinding in the morning sunshine!)
It was fun to set up our (tiny) Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Mom Monson gave us a "Baby's first Christmas" ornament with Joshua's name on it. We think it is adorable.

By the way, when we bought the tree, we weren't expecting it to be flourescent. :D

I love the pictures of my dad holding his sweet little babies up next to their first Christmas tree, so we thought we would do the same.

Joshua is figuring out all sorts of fun things and it is so fun to watch how excited he gets about it.

Here, he figured out how to suck on his socks without needing his hands.

This little outfit was a sleeper with Mickey Mouse on it. We thought it made him look more like a little thug.I set him down for just a minute in the laundry basket and he ended up loving it!

I love this picture!

Oh, I broke my first dish. The flower vase fell from the refrigerator onto one of the dishes. It was a sad day for me.

Josh is so funny when he sleeps. He'll turn himself onto his stomach and often get stuck someway or another.

He very frequently puts his hands behind his little head when he is in his carseat or crib.

Isn't he cute?!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We hope you are all happy, healthy and safe. We also want you all to know that we know that our Savior lives and loves us all! Happy Holidays!

Something to watch over and over again