Blast from the Past!

1999
Mark's Senior Ball and
Andrea's Junior Prom

Around the time one of us said, "Hey, I really like you."
The other, "I really like you too."

This turned into:
6 1/2 years of marriage
2 Crazy Kids
1 1/2 degrees
A whole bunch of student loan debt
Less hair, more pounds
Lots of crazy and lots of love!

Mark is going to be on TV tonight!

Channel 2 news is doing a story on Mark's graduate research. It will air on the 10pm news. He and his professor Dr Hawkins were interviewed today while at work. I am so excited and proud of Mark's hard work!
Here is video footage of Mark working in the clean room:

http://byunews.byu.edu/archive09-Dec-labonachip.aspx

The Best Christmas EVER!

I love my sweet family. I love celebrating Christmas with my sweet angels! This was Sean's first Christmas and Claire's first "real" Christmas being old enough to understand what was going on. We had so much fun opening presents, spending hours with our extended family and eating yummy food. I took over 70 pictures today but have selected some of my favorites to share. I love sharing Christmas with my Sweetheart. This is our 7th Christmas together. It's hard to believe that each year can be better than the last.

This picture sums up how much Claire loves her new cars! (YES, my 2 1/2 year old daughter received a semi-truck full of cars and she couldn't be more happy!)

Opening presents with a little help from Mom and Dad

My little guy didn't know what was going on! He likes his new toys though.

Sean's new big boy car seat. Sean has the Hamblin concentration tongue.

New ride on toy from Grandma and Grandpa Hamblin. He loves it!

We enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner with my parents and my two Grandmas. We spent today at the Hamblins. Claire and Sean are so blessed to spend this Christmas with 6 Grandmas and Grandpas. We feel your love for us and appreciate the relationships you foster with our kiddos.

Christmas celebrations

Sitting on Santa's lap at the Hamblin Family Christmas Party

Shepherd baby Sean

Displaying her artwork. Claire draws smiley faces!

Two of the craziest, most fun kids ever! I'm in love!

Staying warm and busy and baby steps

Seeing raindeer at Thanksgiving Point

We try to have lots of fun staying indoors. Claire keeps busy taking care of her babies, organizing her cars, playing with play-doh, blocks, and ornaments from the tree, coloring, reading books, drinking milk and cuddling with Mom. She is a fun girl! She recently started smiling for pictures. She loves when I tell her how beautiful her smile is. I love taking pictures of her.

Playing in the snow with mom and the snowman

Wide open mouth for eating snow

Sean cut three teeth in one week and started taking steps on Sunday. After less than a week, he has been able to walk four steps at a time. He is in to everything and will be running around this house in no time at all.

November Happenings

Finally a picture of me with my two kiddos.

This is Sean's "Ducky Mommy". He loves this duck.
He smashes his face into it and cuddles it.
What is the deal with the Hamblin kids and their ducks?

Helping decorate the tree

Claire and Daddy having fun in the leaves.

Pictures of me and my best bud. I love being Claire's Mommy.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Hamblins this year. We had a great group of people together. The kids played nice, the adults had fun and the food was great. Claire played independently of her parents. She ate at the kids table by herself and loved playing with all the kids. Mark and I enjoyed watching her interact with her friends.
We spent all Friday rearranging our house. We switched rooms with the kids and put them and all their toys in the big bedroom. This change has been wonderful. It gives the kids ownership of their possessions and it helps reduce the clutter of the living room. Mark and I stayed up every night and watched the X-Man trilogy, awesome as always. Mark got injured playing football and limped all weekend but was well enough to attend the BYU game on Saturday. Go Cougars.

first tooth

Sean finally cut his first tooth. The second one is not far behind. He has been the saddest, most miserable baby. He wakes up every 2-3 hours, wants to be held for his naps and requires lots of extra love. I hope that we get a teething break after the second tooth comes in. Mark and I could really use some sleep.

PS He is free standing. Yikes!

update

Thank you for your concern for my sweet girl. Claire is doing great. She was shaky and nauseous for the first 24 hours but quickly bounced back to her usual fun self. She really likes her hospital ID bracelet and wants to know when she can go back and get another one! My concern is making sure that she is careful and doesn't hit her head again but she is a free spirit. It's hard to try and keep this girl down.

Crazy Daddy put the Christmas lights up! Mark has outdone himself this year. Please stop by and enjoy our display.

ER visit/concussion

Playing peek-a-boo with Ducky and her new dolly that the nurse gave her for being a good patient.
Around 9:45 this morning Claire smacked her head on the door frame of her bedroom. She was in a hurry to grab her ducky from the living room. The poor girl tends to fall and get hurt a lot but this time was different. I was unable to console her and I knew she wasn't okay. I asked Mark to come home from work, arranged to have Sean dropped off to Grandpa and packed our bags to take Claire down to the urgent care. A few minutes after Mark got home Claire threw up. Plan B: Sean went to the next door neighbors and Claire bought herself a trip to the Emergency Room. After throwing up all over the ER waiting room, we were escorted back and met with a super nice doctor. It was determined that she probably just had a concussion but a CT scan was ordered just in case of internal injury. At that point Claire was so out of a normal state that she didn't mind anything that was done to her. We got permission to let her fall asleep while we waited for the CT results. After a healthy wait and a healthy nap we received good results from the scan and Claire started to perk up. She is currently eating crackers and apple slices while watching "Cars". She is shaky and we are watching her close but I think she is going to make it!!

That was one of the scariest parenting moments to date. I won't try to express my emotions except that I will be eating a big bowl of ice cream later on! That was a lot for a Mommy to try and process.
Blessings:

• There was no internal damage and she really is going to be okay.
• A husband who was able to leave work and come help.
  
• We have the most amazing next door neighbors that were willing to take Sean in a moment's notice. They changed his diapers, got him asleep for a nap, fed him and entertained the little guy. You know who you are and you are the best!!!
• A sweet Grandpa who stayed with us at the hospital and held all of our hands.
  

It looks like the crackers and juice are about to come back up. Wish us luck today.......

Hamblin Halloween Fun!

Lady Bug Claire

Baby Penguin Seanzee

Sorting through candy from the Ward Trunk or Treat on Friday night. It was cold and wet but the kids were great sports.

Claire helped us rake leaves. She called the rakes "Shovel Breakers". Sean slept.

Frosting Halloween Sugar cookies.

Posing with the Hamblin "Mario Brother" cousins.

9 1/2 month old Sean
This may be the only outfit that I get to compare my kids in.
5 1/2 month old Claire

My 20 pound butterball turkey

Sean Hamblin
20.3 lbs
27 3/8 inches
9 months
ALL BOY!

Family Fun at the Zoo!

Mark spent three days down in Moab mountain biking with his brothers. To celebrate his return we spent the day at the Hogle Zoo. Mark and I were fascinated by these amazing animals that we never get to see. We liked the baby elephant, the gorilla, tigers, penguins, zebras and the giraffes. Claire enjoyed her ice cream cone! Well, we did our best. She refused to smile for pictures and I forgot to take any pictures of Sean. Mark and I had a blast taking our kids to the zoo.

Sean got a new button-up shirt for church. I think he looks so handsome.

Welcome Fall

Family walk around the block. That dolly stroller has been pushed for miles.

Sean's new winter hat to keep his bald head warm.

Claire flashing her beautiful smile