Parker’s 1st Christmas

Well I can’t believe our Arizona trip is over. It was a great week but it really flew by.
Parker did great on our flight to Houston, but then was sick of flying when we had to get on another plane to fly to Phoenix. She wasn’t too bad, though, and bothered us more than the other passengers.
We got out to my parents’ house late on Saturday night. Parker slept great through the night. On Sunday they had friends over and we got to see some we’d met and some new ones we hadn’t. There was a baby that came and Parker loooved to hug her:)
She had lots of fun in Sedona. She jumped right back into the swing of things and couldn’t get enough of Grammy. Jared kept sharing his candy canes with her and she LOVED that.
At one point she found a little bag of my mom’s and started carrying it around like a purse. She was cracking us up. Such a little girly-girl.
Jared and I were happy to be able to go to a breakfast restaurant that we’ve been looking forward to going back to since we were there in July. We got to go once on our own and then again with the whole family. Delicious!
On Tuesday we threw a little birthday party for Parker since none of my family will be in NC for her party next weekend. She got to blow out a candle and eat a little cake ball. She really enjoyed opening her presents. It was nice to be able to celebrate it a little bit with my family.
That night we went to “Red Rock Fantasy” where a bunch of yards are decorated for the holidays with all different themes. It was really cool to see and Parker looked extra cute bundled up in her stroller. While we were there it actually started snowing. It was more of a “real” snow than the one we had gotten here in NC. Ours was more icy than actual good packing snow. The next morning when we woke up the view was BEAUTIFUL. The snow on the mountains was such a nice sight to wake up to. We went to the Grand Canyon that day and saw even more snow. I’m not sure Parker cared at all that we were there but it was fun to take her for her first experience (and Jared’s).
On Thursday night we went to the Christmas Eve church service. Parker actually did great. At one point she crawled under our seats and up into the lap of a lady sitting behind us. She is just a little social butterfly. Jared ended up in the “crying room” with her at the back and she fell asleep.
On Christmas morning we were all so excited for Parker to open all of her presents. But, of course, she couldn’t care less about any of it. She wanted her oranges and then wanted to play with her toys from home. Eventually all of her gifts were opened and was able to enjoy her new stuff.
We came home yesterday and she did great again on the flights. She made little friends on each of our flights home (one to Memphis, then one to Charlotte). She kept everyone smiling on the plane with her funny faces and big grins. She waved to everyone she saw.
Today we went to the Melting Pot to celebrate a friend’s birthday. It was delicious!! Parker had fun running around with Jackson and Eddie.
Once home we opened a couple more gifts from my parents. There are some pictures and videos of Parker trying to open them.
It was a great week and now this week it’s time to work on Parker’s party and get ready for the Jessops to come! We’ll miss Grammy, Grandpa, and Uncle Matt and can’t wait to see them all again!

For some reason a lot of the thumbnails for the pictures won’t load correctly. I’ve tried a few times to fix it, but nothing is working and instead of taking so much time trying to fix that I’m just giving up and working on getting this page up. You should be able to click on the pictures to see the large view even though the thumbnails don’t work.

Arizona Christmas trip 12-19-09 to 12-27-09