Merry Christmas!

First up...Ho Ho Ho! Hope Santa was good to all of you this year. And I hope you actually deserved it too! ;)

We mixed things up a bit this year with a Christmas Eve dinner and then our traditional nativity. Doing dinner on the 24th led to a very laid back 25th. We took our time opening gifts and then enjoyed leftovers rather than cooking all day like we usually do.
And look who had his first Christmas...Can you see why I'm a cheek squeezer? Seriously look at those three month old cheeks. They are practically begging for me to pinch them.

Three Months Old Today!

Can you believe it? Spencer has been with us for 90 something days now. We LOVE this little boy to pieces. We did our own measurements on him since there isn't another doctor visit for another month and he weighs 14lbs 14oz and is still 25 inches long - he's getting chubby and smiley.Since Elijah's three month picture is the only other one easily available I thought I'd put it up here for comparison.Yeah, they could be related.

Linford Family

Erin and her family were fun and so easy to work with. Their family shots are my favorite. I can't wait to get what she is making for me for trade. I love talented creative people. I love it more when they want to trade with me. ;)

Glenn Family

I still have a lot of editing to do, but I know the momma is itching to see something. I got to play with her three week old sweetie pie Maryn and we got some cute shots with more to come.

I can't decide which one I like better of this one - color or black and white. Man she is cute!
Oh my. Sweet little baby fingers.
The great pictures of the whole family were... well... a little harder to come by. I do love this one. Okay so taking these pictures was an experience. It took me right back to being one of seven kids on picture day. Getting everyone looking at the camera and in focus proved to be a challenge. Good thing they look so cute in vintage.
Thanks so much for the practice Glenn Family. I'm up for trying again this Friday.

Mister Jensen

Thanks Renae for taking a chance on me! Here's your sneak peek!

He's getting bigger

Spence had an appointment a week ago for his two month checkup. Too bad he was way past that. I am so bad at getting them in on time. His last appointment was at 7 weeks and for this one he was 2 months and ten days. So about ten weeks old. He weighed 13lbs 9 ounces (85%) and was 25 inches long (94th %). I need to find the pictures of the other three at this age posed on my couch the same way to compare. Anyway, I get that this isn't the most flattering pose and so I'll share this picture of my sweety pie. Ahhh! Don't you just want to kiss those little lips?

And this...
This is my new best friend. This blanket was made for Spencer by my good friend Deanna Clement, and it's magic. The first night I wrapped Spencer up in it he slept from 10:30pm until 5am. And he's done that for the 3 weeks since. I wondered why he didn't sleep as good as the other kids did. I think he was cold and Deanna solved that problem for me. Now, if I'd just go to bed when he does....

Volunteers Needed

My sweet friend let me experiment on her family. They were so great to work with. We fight for light here in the evenings in AZ, and her hubby had to work most of the day so we only had thirty minutes of light to try to get something. We ended up with some fun shots and I hope she was happy with them.

So...I've got a idea. Let me practice on you, your cutie pie, or your whole family. Now I can't guarantee anything - it might be a total bust. But I need the practice and you never know, we might get something great. Plus I'm pretty cheap. I work for cookies or trade right now. ;) Let me know if you're game.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad

My sister Melissa did all the work and put this on her blog. When I watched it I bawled through the whole thing. So I stole it and I'm putting it up here.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I just spent a few days with my parents last week. They are truly wonderful people. As I have gotten older I have come to realize that the "perfect" parent doesn't exist. I used to hold them to that standard when I was younger. It's nice to be able to just love them for who they are and hope that they do that for you too. Thanks so much Mom and Dad for just being yourselves and loving my little family and trying to take care of us.

Spencer's Blessing Day

I know this is coming incredibly late, but I wanted to post it anyway.

Because our ward was reorganized and boundaries were redrawn the day we intended to bless Spencer, we had to do it at our home. It was nice...different, but nice. Darren and I each had our parents and a sister there with us that day. Our bishopric, home teachers, and visiting teacher came as well as a few friends. Because it was done in our home I was able to video it and I went back and typed up Spencer's blessing. Here are a few pictures from his special day as well as the words from the blessing given to him.
Spencer with our then bishop (for another hour), Bill Guttery.

One big happy family

Darren's parents, Jerry and Teressa Stewart

My parents, Marion and Shauna Wells

Our Father in Heaven,
By the power of the Holy Melchizedek Priesthood, we take this infant into our arms to give him a name and a blessing. The name that we give him that he will be known throughout this life and on the records of the church is Spencer Chase Stewart. At this time Spencer, we give you a blessing. We bless you with the power to fight the influences of Satan in this world. We bless you that you will have strength, that you will have confidence. We bless you that you will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We bless you that your body will be healthy and strong that it will be able to accomplish all of the tasks which your Heavenly Father has for you. We bless you with a sound mind that is able to reason, to think, and be able to learn. We bless you with a desire to learn, to study out the great things of this world; the scriptures, the prophets and the good books that have been written by many authors, that you will have the desire to know what is right and what is wrong and that you will develop yourself. We bless you as you continue to grow in this life, that you will have the desire to serve a mission. That you will be able to act on that desire - that you will serve. We bless you that you will have the desire to marry in the temple for all time and eternity and covenant with your eternal companion. We bless you to be happy; that you will remember, even when life is hard, that these are the times to be happy. We give you these blessings in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Two Months Old Already!!

This was last month...
This is today.

It's been a fun two months.

Can you tell who his barber was?

Can you see the remorse in his eyes? Pshaw...yah right!

People are always asking me

"Where did he get all of that hair?"Apparently it runs in the family! ;)

Me
My mother

You gotta love a baby with a head full of hair!

Can we talk about this?

I was looking through some old picture files and I came across these...WHAT HAPPENED?

Where did these two sweet little things go?
With cheeks like that surrounding me, you can see why I am a cheek squeezer.
Okay forget it... I can't talk about this...
Talk amongst yourselves...I'm getting vaklimped.
(PS. Mom, you're not going to get it...it's a generational thing.)