christmas.

15 months old on xmas morning - and loving his toys!

christmas eve was spent with just the three of us. link, jay and me. we went to our awesome church, wilshire, for the christmas eve service. watching link's face light up during "silent night" with candlelight all around us was definitely a moment. one of those that pulled me in and brought tears to my eyes. link knew this night was special and it definitely was for us, too.

after the service we went to the grape. what a wonderful place and so close to home. love it. we came home, put the boy to bed, and started our work as elves. jay had a couple of clark griswold moments putting together the toys. but heck, jay has clark griswold moments everyday, which is part of why we love him. but seriously, what a great night. a great time of worship, a great meal, and spending time with my husband preparing for our child's christmas. beautiful.

so christmas morning came, and just as we expected, link was THRILLED to see his new toys. we had so much fun here and then headed to my parents for time with some more family, games, more presents, and some seriously good home-cooked food.

still loves the car and his stocking

with big o on xmas eve

i love christmas. it is such a wonderful time for reflection of our faith, time with family, and lots of fun!!!

what a weekend...

we had the link family christmas, went to the big 12 championship, and ran the rock! WHEW! let me say before i even start, that is too much in one weekend, even if it was reeeeeaaaally fun. :)

so friday we just played around at my parents house, had christmas dinner and opened presents. link had such a blast. he LOVES his big link cousins (all seven of them). and they all get the biggest kick out of him. after all, it's been several years since we've had a baby around, so it's pretty fun for all involved.

HOOP IT UP!

SLAMMA JAMMA with josh

papa taking caroline and link in the wagon :)

saturday we shopped here in big D, had dinner at the new babe's chicken house in arlington, and headed to the big 12 championship! it was so much fun and an incredible game. OU and nebraska are old rivals and to have nebraska's final game as a big 12 participant played against OU was fun for all involved. we got hooked up with great seats from our friend, craig (thank you!) and took most of the fam. BOOMER SOONER!

big 12 trophy presentation

sooners take the field!

OKLAHOMA, BIG 12 CHAMPS, AGAIN!!!

after a VERY short nights rest at my parents house, we were up bright and early to head back to dallas and run the white rock marathon relay. i really wish i had more pics of the day. it was my nephew, kyle, dad, brothers, (josh and jarrod) and me, running in that order. everyone runs between 5 - 6.5 miles to complete the race. it's like a scavenger hunt getting everyone in place and jay did a great job helping us out and getting the rest of the fam to different locations to cheer us all on. white rock is such a great event and this is definitely something we will all do again. the family that didn't run all seemed to want to participate next year because it is just so fun! we had a goal to run it under 4 hours and beat our own goal, which was exciting!! i got to finish the race, which was so much fun. there were thousands of people cheering us on at the finish line. what a pumped up feeling that was! great event, great cause. and can you believe we didn't take ONE picture? we may have to pay to order a few since we were too pooped to remember!

we wrapped it all up with a trip to our favorite spot, mi cocina, after the race. it was a GREAT way to start off the holiday season and totally got me into gear. december, i LOVE you! not only do we get to share the advent season spiritually, but it is such a wonderful time of year to enjoy our family and friends. good times this weekend and good times ahead. HAPPY HOLIDAYS!