christmas past

So much for posting more frequently... I apologize; I got sick Christmas evening and have been wiped out since. I am still sick, but I am finally free of Christmas crafts and obligations. For once, I may finally have some time for my self (as the baby wakes up from his nap and starts crying)... So maybe not.
For me, the holidays were stressful; I took on too many projects. Luckily, I was able to finish all my crafts in time. My projects included decorating wood letters, scrap booking calendars, and baking Christmas goodies. With one exception, all turned out great! Christmas was good to us this year.
On Christmas Eve, we went to Robert's parents' house for dinner (delicious) and caroling. We also opened gifts from Robert's sister, Sarah, and her family. She made me a gorgeous jewelry set. Her husband made Robert a nice wooden pen. Afterward, we went to my parents' house to open our gifts. The best gift, a 32" HDTV. It is amazing! We had previously been watching TV on an old 17" pathetic TV (seriously, it had no outlets for DVD or VCR players. lame). I got some more nice jewelry and Robert some little tools. Baby got a lot of books and toys.
Robert and I woke up at 6:15 Christmas morning to share our gifts. Robert gave me a gift card to Scrapbooks ETC (and later an ASU sweater at his parents' house). He also "gave me" the chance for professional family photos (which I will post when we received the cd). I gave him a new watch, a nice shirt, and "The Dark Knight". We gave baby some rattle/teething toys, a plush blanket, Wall-E, and a floor play mat (which he loves).
Christmas morning was spent eating omelets and opening more gifts at Robert's parents' house. My FAVORITE Christmas gift came from Robert's parents; we received the book "Christmas Jars" and a jar with $50 in quarters (no, the quarters were not my favorite part of the gift). We were given a couple more books (one was for Joel) and some food storage cans. Baby got a cute hoodie towel, as well. Our gift to Robert's parents was a calendar with each of their grandchildren representing a different month. Unfortunately, in my last-minute, crazed state of mind, I placed a wrong name on one of the pages. Mom didn't even catch it; one of my sis-in-laws caught the "typo". Luckily, the misspell was fixed by the next day.
When we got home mid-morning, I continued working on family Christmas gifts while baking a red velvet cake. Um, yes. I take on too much. We left for my grandma's house at about 2:30 (during the ridiculous storm). Dinner was delicious and enjoyed by all. Well, all except for my cousin who spent the entire time on the phone with her missionary. Baby got a bunch of great gifts including some much needed clothes (he is almost 3 months, but fitting into size 6 mo). We got a vacuum (sorta random), small knick knacks, and money. We gave my grandma, grandpa, and parents calendars with month-specific pictures of Joel (my parents' calendar had the most detail).
Christmas evening was spent with my best friend Jodi, whom I love. I am so excited; she is expecting in August. I am going to have to find some way to fly out to Texas and be with her when the time comes...
I hope all of you had a great holiday! I look forward to a new year.

The tree I decorated for my parentsThe wood letter craft I did for Jodi's giftA photo I took and Photo shopped for JodiMy red velvet cake!Yummy!Baby's First ChristmasWall-E, Baby's new favorite movieTowel head!GorgeousThe best giftI love you Jodi!Mom Root's calendarMy mom's calendar

freedom

This past week has been crazy! I thought being out of school meant more time for me; I was wrong. I have been busy preparing for graduation and the holidays.
Yesterday I received quite a pleasant surprise. Robert was on ASU's website all day, checking grades. I got a call at about 10am from him, telling me that two of my four grades were A's (I already knew that the other two grades were A's). Curious, I asked what my GPA was. The two A's (which I thought would be B's) were enough to bump me from Magna Cum Laude to Summa Cum Laude! I had played the GPA game during the summer to see what I would need to reach Summa. I thought it was just out of reach, but apparently not! My final cumulative GPA upon graduation was a 3.82, this semester's GPA was a 4.08. Um... holy cow.
I didn't go to ASU's HUGE graduation ceremony... asking my family to go twice (with an often-screaming baby) was too much to ask. Instead, I elected for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Convocation ceremony (Convocation is where they actually call your name individually). Graduates had to meet at 7:15am outside of the Wells Fargo Arena... FREEZING! I found my little group of Geography graduates (there were 13 of us in all) and waited for the ceremony to begin. It was crazy hearing Pomp and Circumstance, knowing that I was graduating from Arizona State University. My friends Cody, Krysten, and I all had nervous jitters. The speakers were well-versed; we even had a guest appearance by someone famous (see the graduation pictures). Hearing my name read has to be one of the greatest feelings I have ever felt; I accomplished something of magnitude (not that giving birth was not of magnitude, this was just a little less physically painful). Unfortunately, the Dean of the college asked us not to throw our mortarboards (lame).
After the ceremony was over, I ran into my uncle and birth-mother on my way to find my family. I had NO idea that they were planning to attend the ceremony; I was pleasantly surprised (yet again... Summa Cum Laude was the first pleasant surprise). We found my family and did the picture-taking thing. After my family had congradulated me, Robert and I (with Baby, of course) headed to the Geography Graduates Party.
Now that the day is coming to a close, I am contemplating what to do next. I am really interested in the Masters program, but we need to get Robert through his Bachelors degree first. For now I am content with being a mommy.
Since it has been a while, I have a bunch of photos. I have a lot of random photos. Enjoy! I will post again soon (hopefully)!

Krysten, me, and Cody.
I graduated!
Thanks for everything Dad, especially believing in me.
I couldn't have done it without your support either, Babes.
We did it!
Baby rocking the ASU onesie.
Celebrating my birthday (Dec. 16th)
Lifting my head.My new favorite thing to do!Such a sad face!Doesn't look so bad from above......Doesn't look so GOOD from the side...Huh?!
Baby talking to one of his bears...

done!

I just had to post that I am DONE with school! Well, I still have a final, but even if I flunk that I will still graduate! I can't believe I am finished with college; I never thought I would graduate.
Joel is two months old today. I would say that I can't believe it, but I can. He is two months old, 25 inches long, and 15 pounds. Yes, my child is gigantic (I am the one who has to carry the little hippo around). He has been in size 3 diapers for over 2 weeks; he just hit size 6-9 months in clothes. It is a bit ridiculous. Thank you to everyone who gave me cute little clothes. Unfortunately he can no longer wear them, which makes me extremely sad.
I will post pictures and such later... I have a sleeping (snoring) baby on my lap at the moment.

butt-load of pictures!

I am no longer making excuses for not posting; I have a baby, I'm a full-time student, and it is the start of the holidays. Okay, NOW no more excuses. For now, I will not be doing the "weekly updates" for Joel (and me & Robert), at least not until school is out and the holidays are over. I will post when I can... which may mean a day in between posts or two weeks in between posts. But since I haven't kept up with posting, I have a butt-load (seriously, a TON) of pictures to share.
The first few are some pictures we took while waiting for a recception to begin. They are the first "family photos" that we have taken - "family photos" being photos with all three of us in it.

These next pictures are some shots I took at the temple for my ASU graduation announcements. For those of you who think it is silly that I am going to the graduation ceremony (well convocation, anyway), tough. I have more than earned the right to walk with all that I have accomplished. How many LDS girls do you know that have graduated from a major university? Not many. How many LDS girls do you know that have graduated from a major university with a baby? Even fewer. How many LDS girls do you know that have graduated from a major university with a baby who was born during midterms (and the proud mom still graduating Magna Cum Laude AND maintaining a 4.0 GPA for the semster)? Maybe like two. December 19th is MY day.
The following set of pictures are all of the cooking creations I have undertaken the last week. The first is the yummy birthday dinner I made for Robert on Monday (the 24th). The second is the chocolate frosting that I made a mess of in the microwave (a reminder that hazmat should be on-call when I am in the kitchen). The third is the non gluten-free, Funfetti cake I made for Robert. The fourth is the awesomely delicious gluten-free pumpkin cake I made for Thanksgiving. The fifth and final is the scrumptious gluten-free apple pie (with crust leaves) that I also made for Thanksgiving. I have met my monthly quota for cooking; too bad tomorrow is a new month...

A generation picture from Thanksgiving follows. From left to right in the photo are: Robert, Robert (Joel), Jess, and Jess (Barry) Root. One of the neat things about having a son was being able to have a picture like this where everyone has the same last name. PS... Robert's grandpa will be 100 and freakin' 2 in two weeks. crazy.

On Thanksgiving, Robert was finally able to eat his cake. We didn't have twenty four candles on hand, so I arranged the candles in the shape of the number 24. The smoke from the candles looks awesome (please excuse my husband; he is like a four-year old sometimes)!

We went to Temple Lights the night the lights were turned on (by Brooke White, all you American Idol fans). Baby didn't care too much for the lights; he wanted to eat the entire time.

Finally (yes, there is an end to this picture madness), below are pictures from my friend Jason's reception. He married a cutie! It was random, one day he couldn't talk to a girl to save his life and then (magically) the next day he was engaged. I love how life can throw you in a different direction in a matter of moments.

Speaking of different directions, Joel has been sleeping in his own room for the past week. Yay! He adapted to the change by sleeping longer through the night; mommy and daddy now get about 7 or 8 hours of sleep a night.
Besides a week filled with school and weddings and birthdays and family and food and holidays (Black Friday counts as its own holiday, right?!), this week has been just another week. Hopefully I will get time this upcoming week for Christmas crafts (oh yes, there will be pictures)! I will leave you with one last glimpse at our life... enjoy this video (this song may be permanently stuck in my head).

a little late

I am a little late in posting this... Joel reached six weeks two days ago. That's what happens when you have school and a baby; you are late for most things. Honestly, I really have no recollection of what has happened this past week. I know I made an apple pie on Saturday evening (didn't finish until like 11pm). Amazingly enough, the apple pie turned out pretty well for it being my first try AND for it not having wheat flour. We have started taking videos of Baby since he does more than cry, eat, sleep, and poop. The short video we have posted below is of him crying; hilarious. I really want to capture some of his pathetically sad(in the cutest way) faces. He's a keeper... even if he is demanding (I think he gets that from Robert...).

Yum!

This is how you can be fat AND skinny at the same time...

all about us

Robert so graciously decided that I needed a break from Baby on Friday. Joel had been screaming all day and I was frazzled. We dropped him off at Robert's parents' house and went on a date! It was so nice to be alone with Robert again; I've missed "us" time. We went to As You Wish, the most awesome place on earth, if you ask me. As You Wish is a paint-your-own pottery shop; Robert decorated a snowman and I decorated a plate. We got to talk and laugh like we did when we were first dating. I enjoy being silly with my hubby. Our crafts turned out well (though we don't get them back until tomorrow). I don't think it will be hard on me to leave Baby with someone once a week for a few hours for Date Night; I need Robert time!

a lesson in gratitude

So, just now, as I was contemplating how horrible my day has been because of my screaming baby (seriously, pretty much screaming and crying nonstop ALL day) I got a lesson in gratitude. I was blog-hopping (to the blogs of people I don't even know) and read of two cases of newborn deaths in the lives of friends of friends. The first case was the death of newborn twins; the second case was of a baby born two weeks early. I cried for both families. Even if I may have miserable days, I HAVE them and should be grateful.

what's all the HUB bub, bub?

The most EVENTFUL thing for me this past week involves my car. Now, I am not one to name my car or consider it my "baby", but I do take some pride in it. Well, as I was loading Baby in the back of the car to go to the in-laws', I realized something was off. I couldn't figure out why the back tire looked like a donut. Then I realized that the tire was too large to be a donut. I stepped back from the car. This isn't my car! Wait... the car seat base is in the back and my shell necklace and otter are hanging from the rear-view mirror... This IS my car! But... but... SOMEONE STOLE MY FLIPPIN' HUB CAPS! Seriously, people. Who would do such a thing, especially since they were dinged up like crazy?! Now I have a ghetto car. At least it looks relatively decent now that it has been through the car wash. I would have a picture, but the situation so.
Robert is doing MUCH better (this evening he told me he knew he was better since he had the "munchies"). Luckily for me, he is back to helping me 100% with Joel.
Baby Joel has hit a few milestones this week. On Saturday, he "turned" one month old. I was going to take pictures, but his little face was BRIGHT RED with baby acne (it made me so sad). On Sunday, he was blessed by his Daddy. The blessing circle consisted of Robert (daddy), Barry (grandpa), Jess (great-grandpa), Jess (uncle), James (uncle), Troy (uncle), Jared (uncle) and Bishop LeBaron. Thank you to all who came and/or participated. He was perfect during the blessing; no tears or crying. Later on Sunday, he smiled voluntarily at me for the first time. It was such an amazing feeling to know he was smiling in recognition of my voice and face. Joel was able to "meet" with all but one cousin this past week (Little Seth, we may see you in April). Joel knows exactly how to handle such a LARGE family; sleep. He is good at that!

Blessing Day
Smile!
He never looks the same from picture to picture (I promise it is the same baby). It's weird, I know.