My First Christmas Letter

I don't know if this really counts as a Christmas Letter since all I am doing in posting it on to my blog but I figured it is better than nothing. :)

Greetings from the Bell Family. We have had a really good year and would love to update you on the happenings from Rexburg, ID.

It has been a year since we moved up to Rexburg and have really enjoyed our experience up here. We have had to make some adjustments since we were moving from Las Vegas and were no longer used to all the snow.
Eric has really been working hard this year on his undergrad in Accounting. He has been juggling school full time, part-time tutoring job, and his family. He has really done well in school this year as he has been studying really hard. He has really enjoyed being back up at BYU-Idaho and enjoying the wonderful spirit this school brings. He has one more year of classes up here and then he will be looking for an internship and a job. He plans on continuing in some graduate classes so he can qualify for the CPA exam. He is working part time on campus as a math tutor. Although he doesn't get paid nearly what he used to in Vegas he still loves his job and enjoys being called a "genius" almost everyday. When he is not too busy with school and work he loves just being a dad. He looks forward to coming home and seeing Aaron and playing with him.

I have had a year full of ups and downs. In January I accepted a job as a dorm manager. We live in the dorm with 120 other girls. It has been a challenged to be on-call 24/7 however I enjoy the opportunity to work and stay home with Aaron. My job consists of working 4 office hours each day and being available when problems arise. There are some quiet weeks and there are some weeks when everyone is about to kill their roommate and I try to convince them to get along. However, I really enjoy my interaction with each of the girls and I am learning so much from these girls. I have seen myself grow because of them. I also had the opportunity to take a couple of classes on campus. I just finished my clothing construction class and I was able to learn how to make pants, shirts, and skirts. I learned from the whole experience that it is cheaper and easier to just buy the clothes at the store instead of making them myself. I love learning how to sew and plan on developing that skill in the future. The best part of each of my day is being a mom and watching Aaron grow up and learn. I love to see him laugh and play. I am so grateful that I can be home with him and learn how to be a good mom. I am learning as I go so I know I am not doing everything right but I love to figure it out.

Aaron is now 17months old and is looking forward to nursery in church in January(well he has no idea but mom and dad are looking forward to it). He is getting so smart each day. I am shocked almost everyday when he learns something new. He definitely knows what he likes and what he doesn't like. Things we have discovered that he loves are his green blanket(he drags it everywhere), his Binky, his favorite show is Elmo's World, his favorite toy is the stacking cups (he can stack all 10 cups without any help), his favorite foods are green beans, peaches, taquitos, and milk. He also loves to play with balls. "Ball" was his first official word. He can't say much else yet but he is trying and mimics us when we talk. He does play around with different sounds. He loves it when mommy sings to him to calm him down. His favorite song right now is "Popcorn popping" because he loves the hand motions to that song. He is one happy boy and brings a smile to his parents faces everyday.

Baby Bell is just relaxing and growing in mommy's tummy. I am 4 1/2 months along (halfway there). The baby is scheduled to make an appearance some time around May 9th. We find out if the baby is a boy or a girl on January 8th so come back to the blog then to find out. We are so excited to have another little spirit join our family.

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope you all have had a good year. I look back over the last year and find myself grateful for the many blessings we have been given. I love this time of year when we can reflect on the life of Christ and celebrate his birth and life. He was a great example to me and I try to live everyday for and in behalf of him. I am truly grateful for all that he has done for me and my family.

More from Texas

Friday after Thanksgiving we had a big family outing to Jump X-treme. It was an old Walmart filled with lots of blow up slides. The kids and adults all had a blast. We had it rented out for our family for 2 hours. Aaron had as much fun as he could. We had to get him used to walking on these things since they were not sturdy at all. He had a lot of fun bouncing around.

Eric and Aaron are on the outside looking in on all the fun.

Aaron loved to get in and play with the balls. I think that was his favorite part.

They had a few toys for the little kids too.

The big boys had a race climbing up the steep steps and sliding down. They all went around five times as fast as the could. I don't think all of them finished because they wore themselves out. They all had to rest for a few minutes to catch their breath.

Charles got a little rip in his pants in the knee at the beginning of the day. By the time we left jump x-treme it was a big rip. He then started to rip it more until he accidentally ripped his pants a little too high. :)
Family Picture

Aaron and his cousins on the Bell side. There are 17 grandkids and will be 18 in may. The grandkids range from 14years to 3 months old. As you can see Aaron wasn't too happy being held by anyone other than his mom or dad.

Earlier in the day Eric got to go shooting guns with his dad and brothers.

Thanksgiving Day

We had a great Thanksgiving day. There was a lot of good food and a lot of people. As I said in my previous post, we had a family reunion for Thanksgiving. There are eight kids in Eric's family and all of them and their families were there with the exception of Eric's brother and brother in law who were both out of town for work. Eric's parents also have the missionaries living with them so there were four extra grown boys there to help eat the food. :)
We fed the kids first and then sent them to watch a movie while the grown-ups ate. It was a tight fit around the table but it was a lot of fun.
Unfortunately, Aaron didn't get to enjoy his thanksgiving dinner. When we arrived to Texas Aaron got sick and didn't really eat much for days. We think it was from the stress of traveling and lack of sleep. He had a fever for two days and was miserable in an unfamiliar environment with unfamiliar people. It basically took him until the end of the trip for him to warm up to some people and eat a decent meal.
We had 18 pies for Thanksgiving. Eric's mom made most of them and his brother Rob made the rest. They were really good and it was great to have pie leftovers for a couple of days.

We all got to go outside and enjoy the weather on Thanksgiving day and play a few games outside. It was hard on me because I am out of shape and couldn't run very much. We still had fun playing kick ball and spud.

Sugar

Last Christmas we had to give up our dog, Sugar, because we were moving in to the dorms and they don't allow pets. Eric's parents have been so great to dog sit for us. I was so excited to see my "first born" as my mother in law would say. She was really excited to see us. I am positive that she remembered us from the moment we walked in. She would follow us around. It was so hard to leave her again. Hopefully we can get her back in a year when we leave Rexburg.

Aaron had fun playing with his cousins although he was very clingy to us because there were a lot of people he didn't know. He prefered to play by himself a lot of the time.
Here we are playing with his stacking cups. Notice my pregnant belly is starting to show. I am 4 months along now. :)

Eric playing ping pong and feeling rather confident.

Having fun in Texas

We had the opportunity to go to Weatherford , TX for our Thanksgiving Break. Eric had the whole week off from school so we thought it would be a good time to go visit his family. Some how from that idea we created a family reunion and everyone else came out too. It was a lot of fun to see everyone. It had been over 2 years since I had last been there and seen some of the family. Eric went Summer 07 for his dad's birthday but I was stuck at home because I was 8 months pregnant. The first few days we were there were on the calm side since mostly everyone didn't get there until wednesday.
We took the kids out to the park and they had a blast. Aaron was still too small for the fun stuff but he still enjoyed himself on the swings and slide.

Aaron really enjoyed swinging with me. Every time I put him down he wanted back up.

Here is Charles pushing Taneal and Cami on this pole that twists around.

This was the kids favorite part of the park. I am amazed how those kids just hung on. I tried it and I couldn't make it around once without letting go.

Aaron loves the slide. He would go down and then climb back up for another turn. He still needs someone at top to push him and someone at bottom to catch.

Here is Aaron and his cousin Spencer swinging together. Spencer is just a year older than Aaron. They played a little bit together over the week but I think they need more time to mature.

Eric turns 28!

Last week we celebrated Eric's 28th birthday. We didn't do a whole lot since it was a school day and I had a lot of dorm stuff to do. We did get the chance to go out to dinner without Aaron. Charles babysat Aaron while we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner. It is amazing the difference without him.

We came home and had cherry cheesecake. That is the tradition in the Bell family. Eric likes homemade cheesecake for his birthday. Then we opened presents and then Eric got to play with his new toys. Eric has been enjoying the new expansion to "world of warcraft" and his new ipod. He got a few other things like a new wallet and socks. I think he did very good this year.

On a side note: This is me showing off my new BYU-Idaho jacket. I had a gray jacket that I always wore but Eric really didn't like that jacket. He said it always made me look worn out and like white trash. So he bought me a new jacket. Much better!

Halloween Pictures

I know I am the last one to post my Halloween pictures but at least I am finally doing it. :)
Halloween was fun but Aaron is still a bit too young to understand what was going on. He at least got to enjoy the candy this time. We didn't buy him a costume until the day of. The nice thing about that is that the prices for the costumes are half price. I have a hard time paying 20 dollars for a costume that we will never use again. Eric got Aaron a really cute tiger costume. I waited until 5pm that night to try it on Aaron. It didn't fit. So Eric ran back to the store and all that was left by then was this dog costume. He still made a cute dog. We took him to our ward Trunk or Treat. He just wandered around because he just likes to walk around.When we got home from that we just took him around the dorm. He would go from door to door knocking and then walking away. The girls thought that he was so cute and I think they enjoyed him coming to wish them a happy Halloween. It will be fun next year when he will understand that he gets candy for free. :)

Happy Birthday Uncle Choo Choo

This was from a month ago, but we did celebrate Eric's brother's birthday up here in Rexburg. He turned 24 years old. We took him out to dinner to Hard Hat, a good steak restaurant. Then we went back to our apartment where we had a Strawberry Cheesecake waiting. YUM!
We gave him some pots and pans so that he could cook macaroni and cheese in a pan instead of the microwave.
It has been fun having Charles up in Rexburg with us. He comes to visit a couple of times a week. Aaron has gotten to know his uncle Choo Choo and loves to play with him. It is sad that he is the only one of the family that Aaron is really familiar with. Happy Birthday Charles!

End of September Pics

GOOD NEWS! I finally found my camera. I just found it a few days ago because it was at my parents house. I did leave it there and it got lost in the couch there. So I have pictures from my trip to Utah from the end of September. We went down for my sister's birthday. She is now 18 years old. We went to Olive Garden for her birthday and then on Sunday as we were rushing out the door she opened her presents. It was a quick weekend but we had fun celebrating her birthday with her.

This is Rebecca with Aaron while we are waiting for a table at Olive Garden. He loves his aunt, Becca.

Sunday Afternoon

Our camera is still no where to be found but thanks to Eric's brother, Charles or Uncle Choo Choo, we were able to get some pictures of our Sunday afternoon. We are actually having a beautiful fall season and I wish it would stay like this and never snow. I know it is bound to happen though.
Today we took a walk and ended up at Porter Park. There were leaves everywhere and since Aaron has recently discovered leaves we made him a pile of leaves.
These leaves were a little more hard then the other ones we have played with in the past but we still had fun.

Our family fall picture

Eric then wanted to play in the leaves so we buried him. He wanted to play with Aaron in the leaves but I think Aaron didn't really like the big pile of leaves as much as we thought.
After our fun in the leaves we went over to the playground. Now that Aaron is walking and a little older I think he might actually enjoy going to the playground every once in a while. He is still a little too small to play by himself but he loved the slide. We started him out on a small slide. Once he got the hang of that then we took him to the bigger slide. He loved going down the slides. He just needs someone at the top to give him a good push.
We had a lot of fun but then we had to walk back home to eat dinner. What a relaxing day! Thanks again to Charles for letting us use his camera.

Girls Night Out

So you may laugh at me but I saw this movie last night. I am very proud of myself because I actually called up a couple of other girls to come with me to a 10:00pm show. I knew Eric wouldn't care to see this movie even though he was willing to take me to it. I don't know why but it has been out of my comfort zone to call people to hang out. I think I have gotten too comfortable with having Eric around all the time. I had a blast with my friends Bekka and Charisa. I have only been to a movie about 2 other times since Aaron was born so I was excited to go out. Eric enjoyed it too because Aaron was sleeping the whole time so he got to play his game for the night.
I had actually enjoyed High School Musical 1 and 2 even though they are super super cheesy I think they are cute movies. If you go into that movie expecting cheesy of all cheesy then I think you will be able to enjoy it. I laughed really hard through out the movie how all of a sudden people would break out into song out of no where. The plot line wasn't the best and sometimes the acting was a little over the top but I still thought it was fun to watch. It is nice to go to a movie and not worry about anything bad being in it. The language was clean and there was only one scene where the main characters kissed for like 5 seconds and it didn't lead anywhere. I would say overall it was a feel good movie that let me leave with a smile on my face.

Fall Leaves

I still haven't found my camera and I am getting more and more nervous that it is gone for good. I really hope it turns up soon. So once again sorry for the lack of pictures.

Today was a beautiful fall day and I thought I would take Aaron out to experience the best part of fall. Right out side of our dorm is a big tree that has a lot of fallen leaves. At first Aaron didn't care much about the leaves until I picked some up and threw them at him. I did it a few more times and each time the smile on his face got bigger and bigger. He loved the dried up leaves on the ground. Soon he was picking them up and attempting to throw them. Then he started to try make me eat some. I had to tell him that it wasn't food. Since I feed Aaron he loves to feed me. He is always picking up a cracker or something and trying to make me eat it.

Aaron is definitely getting smarter. I finally feel that he understands me most of the time. Today he was throwing a bit of a fit and I asked him if he wanted to put on his "shoes" and go "outside" to play with his "ball." He immediately stopped his fit and walked into his room and brought out his shoe. I helped him put on his shoes and then I told him that he need his "jacket" and so he walked across the room and grabbed his jacket and handed it to me to help him put it on. He loves to go outside and play. I wonder how much longer we are going to be able to go outside to play. He sure doesn't talk yet but he is slowly picking up on signs. One day out of the blue he started to do the sign for more. Usually he uses it when he is done with one food and wants something else.
This past week he has had a fever come and go as the drugs wear off. In the middle of the night when we are tired and just want some sleep we will turn on the dvd player for him and run baby einstein on repeat play and just let it go for hours. He is watching "My first Signs" over and over again. I hope he picks up on some more signs from that show.
I know that it might sound bad that we put on a video but it keeps him happy and lets us get out sleep. We think he falls alseep after watching it a couple of times. One morning I woke around 6 am. I figured since the dvd player had been going for about 4 hours I should sneek in his room and turn it off. Much to my surprise he was sitting up in his crib watching the video. I am pretty sure he fell asleep during the video but when he woke up again, instead of crying and waking us up, he got distracted by the video. I think he is feeling better today so hopefully he will start sleeping through the night again. It has been hard not getting a good nights rest the last week. I am trying to figure out how I did it before when I was getting up two or three times a night with a new baby.

Pregnancy Update: So I am now 11 weeks (2 1/2 months) along and so ready to be done with this first trimester. I am always nauceous and tired. I probably throw up 2 or 3 times a week and the other times I am trying really hard not to throw up. It is no fun so far. I am really looking forward to the second trimester because as I remember that is when I started feeling somewhat back to normal besides the growing belly and I have some energy. I am really looking forward to when I can start feeling the baby move and possibly even see it moving. I remember those days where I would just lay on the couch and watch my bare belly moving all over the place. The best part of being pregnant is feeling that little one move around. Of course it can get hard when you approach your due date and you can't handle being kicked in the ribs one more time. My goal is to feel better by Thanksgiving.

We are excited for Thanksgiving because we get to go Texas for a week. We will be at Eric's parents home and it will be chaos as all of his siblings and their families will be coming home for Thanksgiving. It will be one big party. I am excited to see everyone and I am especially excited to reunite for the week with one of our family members, Sugar. We have missed our dog so much while up here in Rexburg but I know that she is getting spoiled by Eric's mom. It will be hard to convince her to come back home with us when the time is right. We do appreciate Eric's parents for watching over her for us.

Well thanks to all who read this long blog without pictures. I will keep looking for my camera and I guess I need to pull out my old one. I need to find that one too.

Has Anyone seen my camera?

I have seemed to misplaced it. Last I saw it was in Utah when we went out to dinner with my parents. I hope I didn't drop it. Did I leave it at your house, mom?
Sorry for the lack of pictures. I had some moments today where I asked, "where's the camera?"
Today it snowed for the first time this season. It was very cold. For some reason I can't stay in my apartment all day or I just feel sick. Last night we went shopping for some good snow pants and a coat for Aaron. So when I was ready to get out of the house we dressed Aaron up in his new snow pants and winter coat and took him for a walk in the snow. At first it was not snowing but by the end of the walk it was snow mixed with rain. We were worried that Aaron might be cold but he didn't complain the whole time. He is just happy to get out whenever he can too. He looked so adorable all bundled up. I wanted to take a picture so you all can see how cute he looks in his winter clothes. As soon as I find my camera I will take a picture of him. He definitely looks older in that coat.
The funny part is that reminds me of that kid from the movie "A Christmas Story" when the little kid is in a big coat and cant put his arms down. Whenever Aaron fell down he couldn't get back up. I can tell Aaron is going to love playing in the snow.

9 a.m.

It is now 9:15am on a Monday morning and my little boy is still asleep! This is the third day in a row that he has slept until 9am. He normally gets up between 7:30am-8:00am. By all means I am not complaining. I just can't believe he is still sleeping. I guess it is because he is not going to sleep until 9pm instead of 8pm. The last week he has really struggled with going to bed at his bed time so I let him stay up a little longer. The questions is: would I rather have that extra hour at night or in the morning? I really don't know. I love having a couple of hours at night to relax and hang out but I also like to sleep in the mornings.

Aaron is going to be...

...a big brother!

That's right, I am pregnant with kid #2. I went to the doctor today and everything looks good. I am almost 9 weeks along and my estimated due date is May 9th. We actually didn't find out that we were pregnant until just a little over 2 weeks ago. Those pregnancy tests are expensive so we waited 2 and 1/2 weeks longer to take the test; plus, we were somewhat expecting the test to say negative. We were excited to see it say "pregnant".
The baby just looks like a lima bean right now but it will be fun to see him/her grow. I will be excited when the morning sickness goes away but I have a feeling that it will take another month or two. Yuck!

These are a few of my favorite things

Aaron is no longer a baby. He is officially a toddler now that he is walking all over the place and he constantly throws tantrums when he doesn't get his way. We try very hard not to give into those tantrums.

I thought I would share with you a few things that Aaron loves:

For starters, the following picture shows three of his favorite things.
1) his green blanket, yes, Aaron has a favorite blanket. He is always dragging this blanket everywhere eand he has a hard time sleeping without it. It is always hard to take it from him just so we have can wash it.
2.) Elmo - This is another thing Aaron can't seem to sleep without and he loves taking Elmo everywhere with him.
3.) How do I get a 14month old to sit so still like that for a picture? Well he is watching his favorite baby Einstein show, "Baby Noah".


Did I mention Aaron loves Elmo? Sometimes when he wants to walk around the apartment he needs both hands to explore so Elmo is held by his mouth. Even as I write this Aaron is exploring the kitchen with Elmo in his mouth. I think it is funny when he holds him by the eye.


Walking is Aaron's new favorite activity. He loves it so much that he could spend hours just walking around the apartment. Crawling is definitely a thing of the past. The only time Aaron crawls is when he falls down he can't get back up all by himself. So he crawls to the nearest wall or furniture to help him get back up. This picture is funny because he got a straw from a restaurant and he kept it in his mouth all night just chewing on it.


And last but not least, Aaron loves bath time. Once he hears the bath water running he can hardly sit still for me to undress him. Then once I do get him undress he immediately goes into the bathroom and tries to climb in himself. He always has a smile on his face when he is in the bathtub.