Wednesday, December 24, 2008

merry christmas!

every year i say i'm gonna get a christmas card out and every year i seem to fail to do so, so here's my blog version of a christmas card! we'll say we're going "green" since that seems to be the good reason this year! for those that don't normally see our blog just wanted to give a few updates.

brennan is an official chiropractor and just moved to a new office right here in gilbert about 5 minutes from home! yeah! he's still teaching the 14-15 yr olds in church and enjoys it!

rachael is a mom who trys to juggle life w/ 2 crazy kids! she enjoys going to the gym and lunch dates w/ friends and her hubby! she also just got her dream calling in church to the laurel advisor and is enjoying working w/ such cute girls (slash the anxiety to teach every sunday)!

carter is our energetic 3 1/2 yr old and is really so fun! he is very passionate. he loves super hero's. he goes to pre school and loves his teacher mrs. stacey and all his friends! he just started his first sport, soccer in the fall and we hope for him to play tball in the near future.

savanna is our lovable 21 month old! she is a big time lover. she'll pretty much cuddle w/ anyone. it's really cute. she's learning to say more words and LOVES to follow her big bro carter around.

those are a few quick updates on the bates fam. we want to wish you all a very merry christmas and a happy and healthy new year! we are mindful of our savior and for his special birth. we feel so blessed to have friends and family like you!

love to you all!
the bates fam

christmas sunday dec 21, 2008

Monday, December 22, 2008

it really is the most wonderful time of the year!

the weather outside is delightful! i can't believe it's almost here! it seems like dec seriously goes by in a blink of an eye! we have been all about it the past few days! last thurs carter's pre school class had their "pj christmas party" and carter was all excited to wear his "cool" incredible hulk pj's i got him. he was SO excited. they ate lots and lots of treats, and got to have a book gift exchange. carter's book was so cute. i love how much he's enjoying pre school!

going to school in daddy's truck!
the kids in carter's class and mrs. stacey

we went to the temple lights on sat night and it was SO beautiful! they really do a great job and even the palm trees have lights in them. then we came home and hot cocoa and the kids opened presents from grandma! she came into town for the weekend for a visit!


sunday we had a good day at church and carter had his last day of nursery (at least in our ward). sister jepsen gave them some cute little christmas treats. the kids LOVED having grandma come for a visit. savvy calls her grandpa though and it's too cute. thanks annette for the visit!

annette bought these "cracker" things from costco and you pull them apart and a treat pops out. here we are in action.

the feast was delish. thanks everyone for coming!

carter and his buddy ryker

savanna always putting random things on

Friday, December 12, 2008

here comes santa claus!

tonight we went to dinner at chipotle and then we were off to visit santa at the santan village. but seriously do we have to have the craziest kids on the block! they were all over the place running everywhere and just not holding still, while all the other kids are patiently awaiting there chance to visit santa. so after about an hour in line the much anticipated visit came. i was nervous that savanna would start crying, but we tried to keep her excited to tell santa she wanted a "doggy" for christmas (not gonna happen). and carter was excited to tell santa he wants a spiderman on a motorcycle for christmas. i think my shopping is gonna be real easy this year! anyway, yeah for a fun night out as a family!

bren was really excited to see santa......

snow!


can you see anyone in the ornament?

finally they got to meet santa!


awww look how little they look. santa visit to the chandler mall dec 2007

Sunday, December 7, 2008

holiday cheer!

this week has been so crazy busy. i feel like i haven't even had a moment. so now i finally do and i wanted to document some holiday fun! as i've said i LOVE this time of year, but i'm reminded how quickly this time flys by. it's so fun to see more and more people getting into the holiday spirit and we've been taking drives to find more houses w/ fun lights up and the kids love it! i saw on someone's blog a reminder though that "this is christ's birthday not ours", so it's good to keep things in perspective and to be mindful of our savior at this christmas time.

so i forgot where we lived for a sec and had the kids all bundled up to go get our christmas tree. haha they were sweating bullets like no other so the jackets lasted about 5 minutes before i noticed sweat dripping down savvy's face!

playgroup was at our house this week and i wanted to be a super fun mom and let the kids decorate sugar cookies and it was hilarious to watch these boys try and decorate. carter poured a gallon of frosting on his cookie and sprinkles everywhere (didn't have a bite), gunner put a drop of frosting on his (and had a bite), and sam frosted it and ate it all up! so cute these little boys!

so we were in a fight w/ our tree this week. we bought it on monday and after an hour and a half trying to get it straight we gave up and thought we would have a crappy looking tree this year. but tuesday brought new light and we put books under the tree and now it's sitting pretty! so finally by thursday we put the decor on!


christmas tree 2007


sat night we did a date trade w/ the smiths and the kids were so cute all sitting on the couch watching "shrek the halls" and eating popcorn. they all had such a fun time playing together. it's good to be close to some family living out here :)!

Monday, December 1, 2008

thanksgiving 2008

we just got back from a fun trip to utah! we wished for snow, but only got to see it on the very tip top of the mountains. it was nice to have a chill in the air. we were only there for a few days and every day was filled, but we enjoyed being w/ family and spending the thanksgiving holiday in utah. we are grateful for so much and we know we are truly blessed. i LOVE this time of year. and it's fun starting traditions w/ our own little fam. i took too many pics as always, but it makes story telling more fun!

savanna got in the hot tub for the first time, but i didn't bring swim suits, so it was just the diaper. she loved it!

after the hot tub i put her in carter's undies and she was so cute just walking around w/ her fingers in her mouth, and her little buddy pascal in her hand.

turkey day! i was feelin navy for the fam. there were over 50 people over for feasting and fun!

i seriously don't know what it will take to get both kids to look at the camera. maybe we won't be doing christmas cards again!

this is bren's step sis mitch and her husband niall. they live in london so we got to meet him for the first time this trip. it was so fun to chat and see how they are doing! the kids loved them and they bought carter super hero cards and carter was in love from the start! thanks guys so fun to see you both!

the miller fam came up to the house that night and it was fun to chat and paint our nails (lovin the dark nail polish for the season :). thanks for coming up for a visit!

carter was trying to wrestle uncle gerrit's dog elvis and so he was in all of his protective gear. uncle gerrit is carter's hero. he was following him around everywhere and wanted to be by his side whenever he could. it was really cute. they even walked to church together just the two of them!
my good buddy gordon came to the house for a visit too and brought his cute girl friend lisa. hopefully there will be a wedding one day too!

if you know me i'm NOT a dog lover at all. not even kinda, so being in a house w/ FIVE huge dogs is a bit of a challenge. but this girl is SO obsessed w/ them i don't even know where she comes from! i guess that comes from her dad. even on the day we left i looked outside and she's being trampled on by 2 big dogs and i'm almost in tears and she's sad for a sec and then wants to get down and play! crazy girl! i hope she'll get some fear one of these days!

we went to my fav sandwich pub at trolley square. so yummy!


seriously though how cute is this girl!

on the polar express train in heber, ut. it was really fun and the kids loved it. we all wore pj's and had hot cocoa and a yummy choc chip cookie. the lady read the polar express book and we sang christmas songs. thanks scott and annette for takin us!


even santa stopped in for a surprise visit!

i tried soft curlers in savanna's hair, but it didn't turn out that curly, so i'll have to try again overnight, but i thought she looked so old w/ them in her hair.

bren's step sis charlotte got married on nov 29th, 2008, so it was fun to be there for the festivities. her new husband is a really sweet quiet man, and loves her to pieces! congrats to you both! we are so happy for you guys. funny thing is char doesn't need to change her last name because john's last name is clark too (no relation, or at least we hope)!

awww me and my honey

bren and his bro gerrit


annette and scott

cool ice sculpture

all char's bro's, step bro's, and bro n law (niall is from scottland hence the kilt)

john is in a band and so he was playing one of his fav's "the devil went to georgia".

the kids were having a blast dancing the night away. savanna is giving a love to maggie (bren's cousin's little girl).


k this is a big dork moment, but whenever we go to bren's mom's house i always see my wedding dress in the closet and i've wanted to know if i can still fit in it. i'm sure there have been many times where i couldn't, but i'm proud to say after 6 1/2 years and 2 kids later i can! woop woop!



and we are home. or almost. this was the 10 minutes of good on the plane. the rest savanna and carter were being crazy and i'm sure everyone wanted us kicked off the plane!

keep counting.....