New Address

Kenneth was transferred from Baytown, TX, where he had been serving these past months; he is now serving in "mini-Mexico" in downtown Houston! He says some areas nearby are definitely not safe ones, but they are meeting great people there who are anxious to improve their lives.
He was just asked to be the District Leader, which is thrilling and a lot of responsibility.

Elder Kenneth Price
910 Fair Oaks Road Apt. #2027
Houston, TX 77023

Laura and Bobo

Laura with "Bobo" the elephant, her 10-day-old picture (we did the same with Jared and his horse, Shasta, for the first year).

This is why you have to be quick with the camera...




Two seconds later...Waaahh!

Laura Mackenzie

Laura Mackenzie Pearson
7 lbs. 15 oz.
20 1/2 in. long
2:11 am
Sunday, January 11, 2009

Big milestones: umbilical cord fell off (day 5), pooped (day 2 and day 6)
Favorite sleeping spot: Tom's chest
Favorite sound: Jared playing right next to her as she sleeps, Pride & Prejudice movie piano music (Beethoven)
Still sleeps heavily during the day and is awake from 2am-6am (Mom and Dad are taking shifts now).
She smells really good. Jared still thinks she is "cute" and said today, "I want to be a baby again."

Too much info

Where is baby Pearson? Well, if she does not make her grand entrance into the world before this weekend, we will be helping her along a little bit at 7:00pm Saturday night. We hope this means we will have a new baby in our arms by Sunday, January 11th at the latest. My tummy skin is grateful to have a goal in sight. Both mom and baby are healthy andbaby is happily head-down. This will be fun (well, as fun as a birth can be)! We'll let everyone know via phone when we have news to share.

What 9.5 months looks like

The baby should have come by now...I think so anyway. I'm being stretched to the max at this point.

Christmas Traditions

Being "great with child" this season, we stayed close to home and tried out our own family traditions. Uncle Steve was here on a business break and was game for all the festivities. We made gingerbread cookies (with Red Hots and sprinkles, of course), Tom recited the Christmas story scripture chapters by memory, Jared illustrated the Christmas story with felt cut-outs, we cooked a delicious ham-and-all-the-trimmings dinner, Jared and I made and folded the "Christmas Napkins" (complete with candy canes -- maybe we won't do that with a hungry 3 year old next time), and had fun getting ready for Santa. In the morning, Jared didn't realize there were presents out in the living room -- he woke early and walked right by them to read books on the couch (thank goodness) so we just took him back to his room and told him it was Christmas and did a "re-take". These Star Wars figurines in his little stocking were a big hit. His pirate presents will wait until his birthday since he had no interest in anything else after seeing his stocking loot. I definitely believe in small stockings.

Next year, I want to remember to do the Pajama Tradition, where we all get a new set of pajamas for the year and open those on Christmas Eve.

Why Kathryn doesn't go to the mall

On December 22nd, my first rainy-day "mall" outing of the season, we lasted all of 25 minutes. Here is Jared's "Food Court Injury". He was so excited to see his cousins there. Jared and Kayden were literally running in tight circles around each other, laughing and giggling when BAM! He didn't look where he was going and ran face-first into the sharp edge of a wooden chair, busting a hole in his lip and bruising the underside pretty good. It was bleeding a lot, of course, and looked a little gaping, so we quickly took him to the Kaiser building where we met Tom who could give a pre-diagnosis before we went in to the doctor. The good news is by then, after 15 minutes of direct pressure, the bleeding had stopped and it was obvious it wouldn't need a stitch, so we went home and had a popsicle. Jared did not cry much, but the sad look on his face on the way home... I don't think we're meant to hang out at the mall. The park is safer.

Mommies Love Their Babies

I have clear memories of something Mom would do when we watched movies or TV shows together. When there was a touching moment on screen (usually a tear-jerker moment), Mom would lean over, hug us and say, "Mommies love their babies!" And kiss our heads. We would roll our eyes and say, "Moooommmm!" But...it looks like the next generation will hear that a lot, too! And secretly they like it.

We love grandma & grandpa!

We loved having Mom and Dad here in California for Corbin's baptism. Any extra moments we could spend with them were thoroughly enjoyed. Here is Jared enthusiastically kissing Grandma Stephanie's cheek -- he wouldn't let go! We love and appreciate them both so much.



P.S. Another "Thank you" for the new crock-pot, mom! We are enjoying homemade split pea soup today. Mmm.

California Winters

December 12th
Jared with friends at Altisima Park. I'm amazed that he is (A) looking at the camera, and (B) is smiling naturally. Trips to the park are never to be underestimated in value...