Orson's Frist Birthdays

We celebrated Orson's first birthday throughout the month of January, which turned out to be a good thing, since two of his planned parties were canceled due to the accident. We started out with a celebration when my sister and dad were still in town out the Outback. Orson got some great gifts, had his first ice cream (blue bell like all true Texans should), and made a regular mess.

What is this?

Yeah for me!

Let me see

Holy cow, that is cold

Auntie Anne wrote me a book and the bear is named after me

Grandpa bought me an awesome musical instrument set and Uncle Nate made me a beautiful picture

The after party back at the house....the music was rock'n

A few days before we left for AZ Matt and I finished up our big gift for him and gave him his train table a little early :) He loved it.

After not making it to AZ, we spent the day of his birth in and out of the hospital. Jon and Dani helped me pick up a carrot cake at Trader Joe's (not the gluten free, berry and home made whip cream cake I had planned) and we met up with Grandma and Grandpa Pat at the local Wendy's. Orson had his first Happy Meal (he only liked the oranges) and then his cake. When it came time to open presents, we went back to the hotel and Pat and Pat took their computer up to Matt so he could watch the festivities over Skype.

The gang at Wendy's

Uncle Jon trying to get me to just go for it

It looks like he ate a ton here but really we had just served some slices to everyone else :)

At the hotel opening presents....I was more interested in seeing Daddy for the first time in days

You can see us both in this picture

We did have a big party planned with Lucy and Olivia (all born the same week as Orson) at the Dolphin Swim School here in Sac but because of operations and not knowing when we would be home from Bakersfield we had to postpone it till a later date.

Even though nothing went quite as planned this month. I am so thankful for this year and all the joy Orson has brought to our lives. It has been a crazy roller coaster but a really fun one and I can't wait to see how this next year turns out.

Happy Birthday, my son.

Oh my....wow

So I'm not sure where to start this post, so I will start at the beginning.....

For Orson's birthday we were invited to go down to Lake Havasu and meet up with Matt's parents and his brother and sister-in-law. We were really excited and got all sorts of stuff together, in fact I even made party favors using the materials from my monthly

craft challenge

for Orson's cousings....a party hat with wooden beads as tassels, a knitted balls with a cow bells in them and a thank you card with Orson's hand print on them...and the best part was that the hat turned into a party favor bag.

Anyways, we were really excited to go, seeing family is always such a fun way to spend a long weekend and Matt had planned a great off-roading return trip through Death Valley.
So we left Thursday night, after checking the weather and figuring out that we would make it through the pass before the snow started (although we did buy chains just incase) because Orson is a much better road tripper when he is asleep ;)
Well, things didn't go exactly as planned....around midnight we made it up to the pass and were just fixing to make a stop and reasses the roads (we saw someone in the median and even though it was dry out and the temp was above freezing, we were a little worried) when a 22 year old kid in his dad's ford f350 lost control on the other side of the road, flew across the median and hit us head on. It was the scariest, most horrifing moment in my life so far....as I saw the truck fly towards us, I knew that one or all of us would be dead as a result....The miricle is that we are not. Orson walked away without a scratch....I am covered from head to foot in brusies and have a spranged ankle (this will heal) and Matt is alive but in the hospital with a smashed hip and knee....

Orson at the hospital (he has been such a supertrooper):

Some pictures of the cars:

My side of the car

Matt's side

His car (and yes he walked away):

I can't believe that we are still here....so many miricles and angels were/are with us...I have much more to write but I needed to start to get this out.

To end, we can never ever say Thanks enough for all the support, prayers, love and aid from family and friends....We will be saying Thank You to all of you for the rest of our lives.

New Videos

First Smiles

Orson will be a year in just two days...time flew by and I can't believe he is so big now. We are driving down to AZ to celebrate with Matt's family this weekend and the following weekend we are having a party at a swimming pool in town to celebrate Lucy and Orson's birthdays together. I just want to put up four new videos really fast.....

The first is for his Auntie Anne. She taught him to cheers when she was visiting and now he wants to chink his glass with everyone.

We have been celebrating Orson's birthday all month long, so when we finished his big gift we just had to give it to him (have I mentioned Orson loves trains). I think this is the first time Orson has really reacted with knowledge and excitement to something we give to him, it was really neat to see!

Strawberries (he is my child after all).

And finally and most cool!!!! Orson took his first steps yesterday! He actually took more face-plants and tumbles then steps but we all had a lot of fun, none the less :)

New Smiles

Goofy Wednesday

Most of Orson's friends came over for a visit on Wednesday and Orson decided to learn how to stand up on his own, in the middle of the room, to show off. He also spent some time trying to catch the sun, dancing and play Mix Master DJ for his friend Maddox. I got a few videos that I think are pretty funny. Of course he didn't perform quite as well once the video was rolling but, oh well.

Orson catching the sun:

Orson dancing, standing and mix'n it up:

Part 2

With Christmas over, we went on quite a few day trips with Grandpa, Uncle Nate and Aunt Anne (and Daddy when he didn't have to work).

On Saturday, we went to Big Trees State Park. Matt checked the weather and it was suppose to be warm with a little rain, imagine our surprise when we got there and there was snow on the ground and a very cold breeze! We swapped up clothes to make sure Orson was warm enough and then set off on a hike. The trees here are BIG :) and very pretty. Matt and I have been to the park before and enjoyed showing it to my family. Nathan and Dad got in a snow fight, we saw a few people in snowshoes (although we were in tennis shoes and did fine, so I think it was a little over the top) and ended up with some great pictures from the day.

That Monday Matt had to work and I had Lucy to watch as well as Orson (this is so much easier with a house full of helping hands!). So after morning naps, we headed into Old Town Sacramento to see the train museum. I'm not sure I have mentioned it here yet but Orson is in love with trains! He will spend all day with an engine in each hand going from person to person asking them to go ChagaChaga Choo....We went to MSN one day a few weeks ago and there was a train table set up that Orson spent over an hour at, then to Barnes and Noble...same things, well the train museum was just amazing to him. He loved the noises, he and Lucy loved the trains that went around on their own and he loved, loved, loved the train tables they had out to play with. (In fact, he threw fits every time we had to leave it). Unfortunately the museum is really dark and we didn't end up with great pictures but I will always remember how happy both he and Lucy were the entire time we were there.

At the train tables (it almost sounds like a gambling problem :)

On Tuesday, thanks to some great recommendations from Matt's Aunt and Uncle, Nate, Anne, Dad and I headed out to Sonoma Valley to taste wine and cheese. The first winery we stopped at, Homewood, was wonderful and had a great promotion going on (we ended up drinking their wine at dinner for the rest of the week). We then headed into Sonoma's square to taste cheese! We went to both the Sonoma cheese factory and another one off the beaten path, Orson loved tasting all the cheeses and we did too. We also played at the playground and then headed out to a few more wineries. It was a wonderful day.

Auntie Anne tried to feed Orson his lunch in the car.....Orson thought it would be more fun to see how much juice is in one blackberry.

A whole lota catch'n up to do...part 1

Wow, so much has happened in the last few weeks, I barely know where to start! Aunt Anne, Uncle Nate and Grandpa Jones all came in for Christmas and we have been moving fast every since. So hang with me...I have a lot to post over the next little while :)

Anne came in on the Sunday before Christmas and helped me take Orson and Lucy to see Santa and hear a story (we met up with Jessica and Maddox). Orson and Maddox thought him to be very interesting, Lucy....hated him. We still got some fun pictures and enjoyed a day in town.

Dad and Nathan came in Wednesday night, so we started straight into Christmas Eve with them the next day. We all went to mass (it was so nice sharing mass with my family), took some pictures all dressed up in front of the tree, had fajitas, put Orson to bed and played a great game of catch phrase accompanied by a few bottles of wine. I think it was the best Christmas eve that I can remember. I haven't been that relaxed in a long time!

Quite the evening!

Christmas morning came bright and early, well for Matt anyway. He was so excited he couldn't sleep. I thought this was because he wanted to see Orson open his presents but, come to find out, Matt had bought himself something he really wanted! That isn't completely fair, he really put effort into picking out presents this year and he wanted to see how happy we all were with his choices (and we all were). Anyway, Orson did not cooperate and waited until past 9 am to wake up! We had breakfast almost ready by the time he made his appearance, so we quickly opened up our stockings and then sat down to a big meal to start the day.
Orson really enjoyed looking in his stocking for things and we all enjoyed watching him (and helping. I didn't get a any really great picture of the stockings but you can get the feel.

I spent the last week up to Christmas hurriedly making Matt and Orson's to hang on our new mantle...I think they turned out pretty well. You can just make out Matt's on the far right and I did remember to take a picture of Orson's before I hung it up.

After breakfast we started in on the presents. It was a lot of fun, and Orson got some really great stuff from everyone. I think his favorites were the dragon Annie bought him, the hanging airplane that Nate got him and the car that Matt has been totting around for years. Of course, Grandpa was the real winner....he brought some of our old Brio train track with him....Orson is in love with trains and is really excited for Matt and I to finish building him a train table.

John and Dani sent Orson some great little cars....that he drove straight into the fire place (his legs look sooo long!)

Nate got a great hat and goggles from Anne

Orson took opening the presents very seriously, as you can tell by his tongue :)

He loved the car!

I made him a Christmas onesie to wear...he decided to do it up with a scarf.

Later that night, Nate's present and his got combined :)

And here is the whole gang....wish you had made it Matt.

We finished the day up by going for a hike along the river. It was a lovely, lovely couple of days.