life lately :: december

I know we are halfway through January but it's been crazy! Sometimes just getting back into a normal routine after the holidays takes some adjusting. But for documentation purposes, here we are! Our month of December in a nutshell.

^ Christkindlmarkt at This Is The Place with Maddy & Jude ^

 ^ finally ordered Mckai's first photo album and he may be as obsessed as I am! he will flip through it almost every day. ^

^ Christmas shopping at Traverse Mountain with grandma, cousins, and my sister Ashley ^

^ This was Santa visit attempt #1...^ 

Mckai tripped and got his first ever goose egg on the way there so I let him have his binky while to keep him from crying...

^ date night at The Riverwoods ^

and, Santa visit attempt #2... see him cowering against me? yeah that's about how it went...

^ decorating the Christmas tree with my little ornament thief ^

 ^ walks to the mailbox because it was too cold to walk any further than that! ^

^ Mckai's first time playing in the snow! ^

It was with daddy just before I got home from work. When I drove up and saw my family out in the snow, my heart melted and any stresses from that day at work instantly went away...

^ Luminaria with my siblings ^

^ Mckai's new thing this month is accidentally taking pictures on my phone and I love it! it's so fun going through my pictures and discovering them, especially his chubby cheeked selfies! ^

^ Zackrison family Christmas party ^

and Santa visit attempt #3. it's official, Mckai doesn't like Santa this year

^ visiting the Tree of Life in Draper ^

^ just a few more Christmasy pictures because I love them ^

^ The North Pole at Seven Peaks ^

we met up with Jenn, Todd and their kids who were in town visiting and it was so fun to see them again! Mckai was obsessed with Annie... if she was anywhere nearby he would reach for her. and poor girl could barely hold him, he's getting so big!

we also went with Kenzie, Ryan and their little girl. it was the first time I had met them though Tristan had told me a lot about them. it was so fun! and I'm excited for them to come out with us this summer!

^ Christmas Eve ^

I got to work the night before Christmas Eve, the night of Christmas Eve, and the night of Christmas. My mom prepared our traditional Christmas Eve dinner early so that I could join before heading to work. I was so grateful! We also got to read the Christmas story from the bible and open our Christmas jammies before I left. It was so hard leaving but if there is any place I have to spend my holidays, the NICU is pretty great.

[also... those cousins in matching jammies... so cute I can't even handle it!]

^ Christmas Day ^

I woke up after just a few hours of sleep to head to my parents house. I had this thing in my head that Christmas only happens once a year, I could survive on no sleep for just a few days. That backfired. I made it to my parent's house and was able to watch my siblings open presents but there were a few misunderstandings between me and Tristan (who wasn't there yet due to that), that I ended up having a bit of a breakdown, sleeping the rest of the day in a twin bed upstairs before heading to work. Kind of a bummer but oh well. I know I don't do well on no sleep. Mckai was so spoiled though and loved opening his presents! I can't even choose a favorite present because he loves them all and still to this day uses them all the time. A top three though: his slide, the truck that he can pull with a string, and his three little pigs foam book.

^ our Christmas day ^

because of my work schedule, we decided to have Santa come Christmas night instead. it was so fun to wake up in our matching Christmas jammies and open all our presents! by the end, Mckai was so done opening presents, he just wanted to play with his toys. we got him wooden building blocks, his elephant rocker, and a few small things such as cars, crayons, stance socks, beanies and books.

^ our Christmas day continued... ^

Tristan's mom also worked Christmas (that nurse life...) which worked well for us! after we finished opening our presents at home, we headed to his parents house. they made a big Christmas dinner and the boys spent the majority of the night building Mckai's new mini cooper. he loves it so much and so does Tristan because he gets to be the one to drive Mckai around with the remote control. Seany also gave Mckai a wagon which he thought was so fun! he now loves to put all his things in it and pull it around the house.

^ a drive up the frozen canyon ^

^ and of course... new years eve! ^

I'm going to be honest... I didn't even make it to midnight. poor Tristan is living with an old lady but nightshifts just throw me off...

happy new year, friends!