A Christmas Story, Part 1

That smile pretty much sums up Tagg's first Christmas! All laughs and joy and even though you can't see it, his shirt says "Best Gift Ever." Ain't that the truth?! It's so amazing to see the holidays through a child's eyes, in spite of the fact that he's too young to get Santa and presents and thought that a silver bow was about the coolest present of the day.

Tagg really had a haul of gifts and we are so grateful for everyone's generosity. The gifts were awesome but knowing that they represent so much love for our little man is really heart warming. Tagg now has a loot of new clothes which he actually needs because he's growing like a weed! He got a very cool WVU outfit from his birth family, and a pair of cute little bath slippers and a Santa hat from Aunt Kris and Uncle Hank. He got a bunch of fun new books that we're starting to read and new toys to play with. Mommy and Daddy got a jogging stroller, bike trailer, a Flip video camera to record all the big moments to come, and a Wii so those gifts will all be fun for him too.

Tagg's birth family sent him a ton of sweet gifts, including a copy of The Night Before Christmas which is one of their family traditions that we'll share with Tagg and a Baby's First Christmas ornament which he promptly stuck in his mouth and started chewing on! We feel so blessed that their family has so much love for him and that we're able to have them as part of our lives. It's very special.

We got to go to Grama's church choir program and spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with both families, eating way too much and playing games and oohing and aahing over the baby. Tagg really had fun with his grandparents, aunts and uncles, and all of his cousins. He's like a magnet for the kids! Ashley says "baby, baby, baby" over and over and tries to feed him her dolly's bottle. And Hunter and Bailey literally fought over who got to help change him and feed him and ride in the car with him. Pretty cute! Tagg impressed us with his first tooth (bottom left) and his first roll over from back to front. He's very advanced! So advanced apparently that his father decided they needed matching tattoos. Mom was not thrilled, but you have to admit - that's pretty dang cute! And with a little baby oil, all gone!

Kris, Hank, Amy, Bailey and Hunter arrived from California with about a foot of snow to greet them. The kids loved it and Scott built snow forts and spearheaded a snowball fight. We all went sledding, although Tagg had to watch from the sidelines. He probably would have been fine with all the padding in his snowsuit (poor little guy could hardly put his arms down, but at least he was warm!). Scott and Lisa took the fam snowboarding on Sunday and those adventurous, quick-study, first-timers bombed some pretty hard blue runs with us...with only minor injuries to show for it! Scott is a great teacher, for the kids and Amy! He has so much patience and a great sense of humor. If he ever decides to quit selling boats...nah!

Instead of exchanging gifts this year, we all decided to donate to our favorite charities and help those less fortunate this year. It was a really good decision, and helped us put the focus back on the important things...family and friends, sharing and joy.

Overall, it was the perfect first Christmas to spend with Tagg. Everything we always dreamed that it would be. We look forward to many more early Christmas mornings and snowy holidays! We'll have more pictures and video for part 2. Happy holidays everyone! We love you all!

Happy Holidays!

We kicked off the holiday season (which, judging by the appearance of Christmas music and wrapping paper the day after Halloween has been going on for some time now) with a slight variation on our normal Thanksgiving tradition. Scott's parents went to visit the Seattle family so we had turkey dinner the week before with them and then on Thursday with Lisa's family. It was great to not eat Thanksgiving dinner twice in one day - for the first time in almost 10 years! This year we were especially appreciative of all we have to be thankful for: Tagg, Tagg, Tagg!, our families, Tagg's birth family, our friends, our health, our good fortune in these difficult times. We are very, very blessed in every way.

We headed down to Lake Powell for our final trip of the year on Friday. The weather was beautiful!! Lisa had a nasty cold which Tagg managed to avoid - there's something else to be thankful for!

Tagg is growing like a weed! At his 4 month check up, he was 26.5 inches (96th percentile!) and almost 16 pounds (70th percentile) so tall and thin. He's incredibly healthy and active. One of our big goals in life is to get him to smile so we can see the cute dimple in his cheek! The Christmas tree with all of its lights are a new favorite of his. Tagg is rolling over and loves to stand up (with a little help from whoever is around!). He's started playing in his jumpers, which he loves. Even though he's pretty tall he does need a little help from the yellow pages so he can get a real good push off. He's even learning to drive the boat...he seems to have quite a natural knack for it! ;-)

Lisa and Tiffany and our friend Anneli just completed their first half-marathon (13.1 miles!) in Las Vegas on December 7th. It was a really fun race, if you can believe that!, complete with fireworks, jogging Elvises and a run-through wedding chapel. These are not our running outfits but we look a lot cuter in this picture than we did at the end of the race where we looked sweaty and kind of like we'd been run over by a tractor trailer!

Trick or Treat!!

With Tagg, it's always a treat! Our Little Monster-Alligator-Dragon (depending on who you asked) had a great first Halloween. Kind of. It's really not as much fun, apparently, when people keep putting you in a hot dragon outfit that you've almost grown out of (note the highwater sleeves!) and dragging you around town so people can see how cute you are, stopping only for 8 million photo opportunities that you refuse to smile for. Hah! Take that, mom and dad! I'm no show pony - or show dragon. Maybe he'll like it more next year, when he can actually appreciate the fact that everyone we know is giving away FREE CANDY!

We went to our friend's annual Halloween party as a prince and princess (Tagg was the little dragon who slayed us...get it? he didn't get to go to the party - past his bedtime!). Scott's outfit was notably missing a big giant sword. And armor. Alright! It was technically a Muskateer outfit but hey! At least he didn't have to cart a stapler around all night like I did, just to keep my top together. Thank goodness for the lifelike wig, which really made the outfit. And makes me want to grow my hair! There were so many great costumes, but my favorites were Marc & Becky's beer maiden and the keg, the Wizard of Oz group, and Tiff's Lara Croft - the cheapest costume ever!

Since my costume failed to survive party #1, I ended up throwing together a Hippie Love Child costume for actual Halloween day - out of stuff in my closet. Sad but true. Now Tagg is...you guessed it, "Puff the Magic Dragon." How cute is that?! We couldn't find Scott any decent hippie clothes although I really tried to talk him into fro-ing his hair and growing out a cheesy 70s moustache. No dice. The best part? I went to vote in that outfit! You should have seen the looks! One woman actually asked if it was my real hair. Uh yeah. And I often put flowers in my hair and wear flip flops when it's 45 degrees out just to cause a stir!

Three for Three

Three months old, three trips to Lake Powell! We went to Powell last week to celebrate Scott's birthday (October 23rd). The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we had a great beach on a little island all to ourselves.

We built sandcastles for Tagg (he is not into them yet, but we had fun!) and decided we better test out his cute little board shorts before he grows out of them. Scott was such a proud papa! This picture is now his screensaver. So dang cute!






Tagg has been an awesome boy, as always. He loves to play songs for mommy on his puppy playyard. He'll play with it for hours and his little arms and legs just get going like he's doing crazy jumping jacks. He's getting really good at rolling over on his side and pushing up on his hands when he's on his belly. He took to sleeping in his crib like a champ and usually goes 6 to 8 hours at a stretch. Although Friday night he had his first sleepover at Gramma and Bompa's house so mommy and daddy could have a date night. They were all excited to play with him - so of course he sacked out at 7:45, slept till 3am and then went right back to bed till 8! That makes it easy to take care of him for sure!

Tagg went to his first Jazz game with us last week. He slept through most of it, which was pretty impressive considering they won. We're getting excited for Halloween to get here. It's going to be a squeaker if he can still fit in the costume we got for him! Look for pix next week!

A Blast From the Past

When Tagg was 6 weeks old, our fabulous friend Chery who is an incredibly talented photographer did a little photo shoot for us. We finally hooked up this week to get the pictures and it's amazing how much he's changed in the past month!! More fat rolls. More dimples. More chins. Not more hair.


Look at that form...he's a natural!

That was the only day he got to wear his little baseball outfit - which says "Dad's Team" on the front. He grew right out of it!

Not only was Chery sweet enough to do all these fabulous photos for us, she and Shawn even fed us dinner. You don't get that kind of treatment at Kiddie Kandids and we think the pictures are way better! We are so fortunate to have such generous, talented and loving friends!

Of course, not every shot was perfect. ;-) Usually when Tagg's pulling faces, it's more like Elvis, not Groucho Marx!

What you don't see are the behind-the-scene shots. The ones where our patient little man had a binkie stuffed in his mouth long enough to calm him down, mommy yanks it out, - snap! - , quick! put it back in before he gets really mad. And sometimes we just weren't fast enough.

He was really good the whole couple of hours, even though we were changing his outfits and blinding him with the flash! He didn't even pee during the naked shots, and believe you me... that is unusual!


You are an awesome guy, Tagg! We love you!!

(Sorry about the bum shot...kind of.)

The Newest Ute Fan!

Start 'em young...that's how we Utes roll! At the ripe old age of 9 weeks, Tagg Davis went to his first U of U football game. Well, technically he just made it to tailgating but it counts! He was sporting his school colors and may have been the youngest fan there, although we did run into another little 16-week-old named Easton in the same exact outfit! They were pretty cute and we promised to hook up again in 18 years or so when they're in the game, not the stands! We emailed pix of Tagg in his Ute gear to Papa, who was in California at his 50th reunion. Tagg actually enjoyed the game, through his eyelids mostly! We told him later that they won. He said "ooo."

Tagg had his 2 month immunizations on Tuesday. He did pretty well but, due to a little fever and sore legs, he was not a happy boy that evening - at Grandma's birthday dinner. Woops... bad timing! The good news? He was 12 lbs 13 oz - holy cow! - and 24 inches long. We're amazed! He's just getting so big, you can practically see him growing every day! He's very evasive about being photographed with a smile on his face, but it's not for lack of trying! We must take hundreds of pictures of him trying to catch that cute baby grin on film and this is about as good as it gets. Sneaky little guy!

He's so strong. Pushing with his legs, almost rolling over, and definitely lifting his head up. We were pretty impressed that he's able to use the Bumbo (funny little infant chair) already but he seems to like it. For a minute or two anyway! He's also starting to smack at the toys on his playmat so he can hear the doggie song which usually makes him smiling. Of course, every time he does it, Morgan comes over to check it out and give him a little lick on the head!

With all this activity, sometimes a little guy gets worn out...and so does mommy!

Who's the Coolest Baby?!

Tagg Davis, of course! He spent his 2nd birthday (in months, that is) with his 2nd trip to Lake Powell. What a cool dude!! The weather was gorgeous so we cruised the lake a bit. Tagg loves to ride in the boat... more than he liked these cute little sunglasses!

Mommy and Morgan did a little sunbathing while Daddy and Tagg chilled out in their beach chairs on the lanai - also known as the front deck of the boat - sporting their fancy shades.

Daddy started teaching Tagg how to drive the boat, explaining all the controls to him and how to watch for shallow spots. Morgan likes to hang out where she can keep an eye on her baby and she thinks his little chubby toes are pretty fascinating!

Tagg is smiling a lot these days and there's just nothing more endearing than his little grin. He also has his serious face, his Elvis face, his squishy face...we're getting to know them all! He's getting pretty good at getting his fist in his mouth and sometimes even just the thumb. He's figuring out where his tongue is so he sticks that out at us whenever he sees fit.

One unexpected bonus from having a baby is that we get to watch the sunrise come up over the lake during his morning bottle! It's so absolutely stunning! But nothing really compares with our little man! Happy birthday, big boy!