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).