It's a Wonderful Life

This is a rather large posting. What can I say? Christmastime equals lots of activities and lots of pictures. Which is why it's one of my most favorite times of the year! Shall we begin? We kicked of the Christmas season with a couple of trips to the Mesa Temple to see Christmas lights. The boy LOVED it...which is why we went more than once.

Just trying to hop in the picture. Gotta love the self portraits.

Trip #2 to see the lights with the Trendler clan.

Spaghetti and hot dogs are Eli's favorite foods...here, eating the former.

He's just a tiny baby!!!

Playing outside in his playhouse....another favorite.

Getting to help the mom make Christmas sugar cookies.

Obviously his bath happened between making the dough and cutting them out.

Before heading down to San Diego for Christmas, we took a little detour to Orange County and went to Disneyland for two days. It was Eli's first time going with Dad. We had a super fab time.

This is me pointing to the Mom and Dad Trendler's Disneyland tile outside of the entrance....Dad was actually at Disneyland on opening day. We've been a Disneyland loving family ever since....and I'm so glad I married into another Disneyland loving family. It truly is a small world after all. :) Ha ha!

Pointing of course in line at the rockets.

Wooo hooo! Rocket ride!

Happy as a clam.

"Just give me the wheel and no one gets hurt." No Beth, he didn't actually say it, that's just what we think he was saying in his head.

Needless to say, it was a VERY tight squeeze....a lot of beef and not a lot of front seat...but great fun nonetheless. :)

Eli actually wore that hat for part of the time when it was cold. Just one of many Christmas miracles.

Eli's first set of ears which he wore for maybe .000000000001 seconds if that even counts as wearing them. Again, reiterating the fact that the above picture was a miracle. As for the ears, they hang proudly in his room...maybe never to be worn again.

Autopia again...Eli can barely see...cracks me up.

This picture cracks me up even more because you can barely see that Eli is even in the car. Must have been a nice view for him.

Just happy to be walking around a bit. We had just left the haunted mansion which didn't scare him at all...pretty funny.

Small World, of course.

Moving on to Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa Faas' house. All decked out in the Christmas sunday attire. Eli may have stolen his velvet overalls from Santa. But they were oh so cute!:)

Favorite Uncle Andrew

At a park in Del Mar on Christmas Eve. It was a BEAUTIFUL day.

That's a pretty nice shadow stripe on my face, don't you think?

Looking a lot like John Travolta in Grease.

Is that a cool looking dad or what? I can't speak for Eli but I'm pretty happy with him. :)

"Helping" with the traditional Faas family bingo game on Christmas Eve.

Mine and Andrew's second bi-annual Christmas duet showdown. I play the easy parts. :)

Eli's new found love for doggies.

The "spread."

Lots of cars. Perfect.

Ewwwwing and Oooooooohing

Sheer delight.

Buttons? Count Eli in.

After Christmas we went the S.D. Wild Animal Park again. Always a good time.

Eli's first "snow." They had a little patch of snow/ice for the kids to play in.

Christmas#2...as if we needed one. But we ended up having a little Christmas at our house when we got home because we left most of our presents in AZ.

"Spread" #2 which inclued a myriad of used gifts from Blain and Heather. I'm a big, big fan of the recycle gifts program. Thanks guys!

The Cozy Coupe....an American classic.

Don't even worry about the pink stroller in the background. All you need to know is that it was free and that is was something for Eli to push. No dollies included. :)

Our new favorite game. We both enjoy food and I especially enjoy the food network so it was a perfect gift. And the fact that Matt has been calling Eli's food "foodies" ever since he was born.

Uncle Buddy and Aunt Toria gave Eli this very fashionable t-shirt..so here's a shout out to you guys!

We went to McCormick Train Park. Eli woudn't look at the camera because of the large train in the background. Much more exciting than Mom's musings to make him smile.

On the train that goes around the park.

Well, I think that about does it for the longest post in the world. I don't post often but when I do, man, they're long. :) Hopefully 2008 will be better for shorter posts more often. We'll have to see about that. Either way, that wraps it up for a wonderful 2007. Onward and upward!

So, on with October. During the last week in October, Eli got his first big boy hair cut. I must admit, I was pretty sad to say goodbye to the curls but I knew it had to be done. Matt was thrilled with the new do.

These are two of my favorite picture of Eli. He was experiencing pure bliss riding in this little car. We were at a party for Matt's work.

Caught in the act of saying his favorite word..."ooooo." I think he has a vocabulary of at least a 1000 words...they just all come out sounding the same.

Halloween night. We were all very sick with colds. It was all we could do to carve the pumpkin we had already bought and take this picture at my insistance. Eli will have to learn the ins and outs of trick-or-treating next year.

A nice place to nap when it's toasty outside...and believe me, AZ was still toasty that day...even after Halloween!

Our bi-annual Thanksgiving golfing trip with the Trendlers. Eli loved the whole thing...he just sat in his stoller during all 9 holes! And yes we have a double jogging stroller (which I love by the way)....I've had it for a year. No announcements...just practical about planning ahead. :)

How many people can say they've golfed like this before?!

Uncle Chris and our little caddy. It really convenient to give Barry the clubs. He's training for when Matt makes it into the PGA.

"Finally, I get to run around!"

Holding his golden ticket to Grandpa T's Polar Express Bus for Thanksgiving Night. A fun tradition.

Almost asleep with Grandma on the bus.

How could be forget the very happy conductor? Nice Chris.

I'm pretty sure in addition to being a pro golfer and Noble Peace Prize winner, Eli will also be a concert pianist. Just look at the concentration. Brilliant.