The Holidays

Alex and I are blessed to have both families within minutes of each other. It makes it easy to always go to the same town every holiday, but it is also very difficult managing time between the two families. This year, Thanksgiving was with my family and Christmas was with his. 

I was particularly suuuuper excited for Thanksgiving for this reason:

Mr Henry!! 

We hadn't met Henry yet and I couldn't wait to get my hands on that squishy little boy! Ooo I just want to squeeze him! Henry is 2 months older than Annie. They're already good pals.

Have you ever seen a Thanksgiving Tree?!? These pictures don't do it justice. Simply magical!

My wonderful grandparents whom I absolutely love and adore!

My great aunt Marian.

Henry!! (And his beautiful mama!)

"Nuggle me, Mommy!" (picture courtesy of Lucy)

My parents' dog, Brodie. According to Lucy and Todd, every dog they see is "Brodie" 

(picture also by Lucy)

Christmas at the Geyers

The traditional Christmas Eve program. 

The kids have an absolute blast dressing up and sharing their talents!

I tried dressing Todd up as a shepherd, but he insisted on being a Storm Trooper instead.

The newest addition to the family - Corbin! Just the sweetest little guy! I love brand new babies. Especially him!

I especially love this guy right here too!

Another gorgeous tree! I need some of this tree decorating business to rub off on me

 Lucy giving the baby Jesus some loves 

Christmas morning

I'm amazed at how relatively patient my children are on Christmas morning. 

They loved seeing a couple over-sized gifts with their names on them. Santa's pretty great. 

The one thing Lucy begged Santa for - a Doc McStuffins doll! I'm telling you, this girl knows and loves anatomy and anything involving doctors. She's a daddy's girl.

This Boy!

gosh, I love him

iLovin

Christmas Card 2013

We started out 2013 with a move into a cute little house with an awesome backyard. By awesome, I mean a giant tree that shades the entire yard! That’s a big deal for living in Arizona with two very energetic, outdoor-loving kids. Top it off with a swing set given to us by loving neighbors who couldn’t take it with them on their cross-country move, and this momma is one happy, less stressed lady! The kids love it too, of course. Especially when dad comes home and pushes them on the swings.

Alex started his second year of medical school at the University of Arizona where he is excelling in his school work and is loving every second of it despite the long study nights before a big test. He does a fantastic job at balancing being both a student and a father. Outside of fatherhood and school work, he has enjoyed playing intramural football, going to the gym, riding bikes with the family, and serving in our church. He is scheduled to take his first board exam this coming year. Late nights, many prayers, and lots of cinnamon gummy bears up ahead!

I have had a few late nights myself, whether it be up with the kids, blogging, or editing pictures. Photography and writing are a big part of my life outside of my family. I plan on starting school at the U of A next semester and I’m extremely nervous with how I’m going to keep myself from drowning in diapers and homework. But somehow I’ll manage. My excitement for going back to school outweighs my hesitations. Wish me luck!

Lucy (4) started preschool this year, and my goodness does she ever love it! When she gets home, she can’t stop talking about what she did that day and often wants to play “school”. She insists on playing the part of teacher. We are amazed at her impeccable memory and her ability to learn. She fills our home with songs, stories, and an enthusiasm for all things big and little. She is constantly being reminded to lower her voice level through her frequent bursts of excitement! She is the best big sister anyone could ask for and is always eager to help mom.

Todd (2) is a little charmer and can’t help but grab the attention of the sweet old ladies at the grocery store. He loves to snuggle, and although his insistent begging to be snuggled drives me nuts at times, I secretly love it and relish it, because I know he’ll one day be too cool for his parents. He is working on his speaking abilities and is drastically improving on a daily basis. He has no shortage of creativity as he is constantly building and assembling things into toddler masterpieces! And I’m not talking about the crayon on the doors, walls and floor. :) He loves robots and trains, and Buzz Lightyear is still a favorite.

Anna (8 months) joined our family in April. She is such a breath of fresh air and mellows us crazies down. She greets everyone with an open mouth smile and constantly gets comments about her big, wide eyes. Her adorable little ringlets above her ears are enough to kill you with cuteness! She is on the verge of crawling as well as on the verge of joining her siblings in making many messes.

We hope that you and your family have found much joy this past year, and we wish you the best in the year to come! We are grateful for our Savior, His birth, sacrifice, and love on behalf of us all.

Merry Christmas!

Love, The Geyer Family 

Birds Flying High, You Know How I Feel!

I am always entering dumb contests, and the odds are always stacked against me.
"Why not?!" I justify.
"One of these days I'm bound to win something!"
Then I heard on the radio that they were giving away Michael Buble tickets the week before he was coming to town. WHAT!?!?! I had to win. I was going to win. Of all the concerts I would ever want to go to, this would be it.
I have never called into a radio station before in my life, but that whole week I called three times a day at the cue to call because I was determined! I was even caller Number 2 twice! Ugh! So close! Friday came and I was down to two more chances to win. But the problem was that I had to take Todd to a doctor's appointment during one of the call times. (I'm embarrassed to say that I even called to try to change his appointment so that I wouldn't miss the "sounder" as they called it). Instead, I asked my mom, aunt, sister, and husband to all wait by the phone while I was at the doctor's office. (Why didn't I think of that sooner?! That would have quadrupled my chances from the beginning!) I left the office, anxiously rushing back to my car to load up the kids and to call my family to see if they had any luck. But the sounder hadn't gone off yet. Oh yay! Now I could join in.
But we waited...
And waited...
Alex was smart enough to get back to his school work, and my aunt and sister were also smart enough to not linger by the radio anymore. But me and my mom (who was in California) kept waiting. Too long I might add. I called the station a few times asking if they were going to do the sounder anytime soon. (Crazy lady with a Michael Buble concert on the brain right here!) Long story short, we were never caller number one. I was bummed, but oh well. Go figure. Just add this one to my list of contests I don't win. It would have been so fun to have this romantic evening with the love of my life! Some other time when we have $400 to fork over. (ha! Probably never! At least not for a loooong time!)
Well, the next morning I decided that I wasn't going to give up just yet. I knew they had at least a couple of tickets left because they never did do the 10:30 AM sounder. I figured I had nothing to lose. I emailed the radio station, giving them a little bit of our story- medical school, three kids, yada yada - and basically asked that if there happened to be any tickets left over if I could maybe be entered into some sort of raffle of drawing to win the tickets. Fingers crossed!!
The whole next week passed by. I hadn't heard anything back from the station. And I actually hadn't thought much of it. It was Thursday now, I was driving home from dropping off Lucy at preschool, listening to the radio, and I was thinking about how the concert was the next day and how much fun that would have been, again thinking "oh well". I got home and while feeding Annie some yummy green beans, I checked my email and I see this:

Good afternoon Shauna!

I got your message that you submitted on our My 92.9 website, please give me a call at your earliest convenience and let’s see if we can work something out for you and your husband.

Best,

Aly

I JUMPED up from my chair! What!? Oh my gosh!! I saw that the email had been sent only three minutes ago. Should I wait a little bit to call so I didn't look like some psycho? Nah...I just hurried and called!! Another long story short, she had me play a little game where I had to name three of the DJ's on the station. I named them with ease (I had only been listening to the radio religiously for the last forever), and I won!! Freak out central! I couldn't believe it!! I couldn't wait to tell Alex!! He basically was over the moon excited and even apologized for ever doubting me. :) This was all for you, Lovie! For us!

For the last long story short...we had an amazing, romantic, magical, dance-filled night!! Pinch me please!!