Been in a holi-daze...

Holidays are hectic. 

There is no questioning that.

The hustle and bustle. 

Cramming in as many activities you can to create memories can be,well, exhausting. 

Add to that a 5 month old baby and you're pretty much sinking in a pit of quick sand.

I know this may sound cynical. Perhaps, what I'm about to say is "taboo."

But I am sincerely glad the holidays are over. 

I am incredibly happy there are no big holidays in January.

I am in dire need of a recovery period. I am just so tired.

Maybe that's why we have no holidays in January... well whatever the reason and whoever's idea that was, I applaud you.

Here are our lives the past month and a half for your viewing pleasure.

(This is the part where you can stalk our family in a socially accepted manner)

Rylan now weighs 19lbs. More than a few one year olds I know. 

What can I say? 

My baby is a monster.

My baby could probably eat your baby.

She kind of already looks like she ate your baby.

Our little butter ball turkey.

Merry Christmas from this very mischievous elf!

We had another successful Christmas Party. 

We named this years, 

"Eat, Drink & Be Ugly"

Brian's Christmas sweater was so fun to make!

He tied for 1st at his work's Christmas party.

It all came down to a dance-off...

Brian's dancing skills, well, let's just say he got 2nd place.

Haha!

This is by far the scariest white elephant gift I have ever received.

The sweetest.

Rylan got to wear her fancy dress a week earlier than anticipated.

My sister-in-laws and I all planned a secret 50th birthday party for Kara.

We celebrated at Carrabbas in a private room and then went back to Sarah's for cake and ice cream.

It was a lot of fun.

Brian and I were in charge of the cake. 

We got it from a yummy bakery in SLC (Glaus French Pastry Shoppe).

It was chocolate cake and almond buttercream with almond slivers along the side.

 Decorated with gold embellishments for her Golden Birthday.

Our little Family.

All of the sneakies, lined in a row.

Rylan and the birthday girl.

Brian and I fought taking Rylan to see Santa as long as we could.

I don't know if it was because of the perceived hassle of it.

Or maybe because we both honestly find a mall santa a tad creepy...

perhaps a combination of both.

Regardless, when Brian told me that Santa would be at Overstock, I relented and took Rylan.

She had a lot of fun.

It was fun to meet all of Brian's coworkers too.

Brian and I at Temple Square.

Rylan and I on Christmas Eve.

Rylan's Christmas Eve Pajamas.

Rylan looking at the gifts Santa left on Christmas morning.

Basking in luxury atop a mountain of bounteous gifts.

Snuggles with Dad.

More snuggles with Dad and now Kyoto has joined us.

The holidays have Rylan pooped.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Holiday Cray Crays

I feel like the holiday crazies begin earlier and earlier every year. We have so many plans to make this year's holiday season complete awesomeness! 

It's Rylan's first Christmas, so it's gotta be special. 

But seriously she's not going to remember a thing, so we'll just make it seem awesome, when in fact it will probably be pretty lame, haha!

Rylan has been doing tons of cool new things. 

She is liking tummy time a bit more.

She loves the sound of her own voice and scream-sings all day long.

She schooches a bit on her belly. We'll put her down and go to the bathroom. When we come back she is facing a completely different direction.

She is wearing 6 months clothes cause she is super fat.

She likes to hold her bottle, if it's not too heavy.

She is going to start eating rice cereal tomorrow. 

She is drooling everywhere.

She has the chunkiest little legs in the world.

It's the best. 

Rylan modeling her bling that Amalia made for her.

This color matches her disposition.

Bright. Bold. Happy.

This outfit is for 6 months old, it's already getting too small because she is sooo chunky.

Glad I took it out and gave it a try.

It would be so sad if she hadn't gotten a chance to wear this!

Rylan sporting the shoes Lita bought her. 

Another thing that shouldn't fit until she is a year old...

But that fat thing again. 

:D

My dad's super nice secretary gave us all of her little girl's clothes that she outgrew. We now have tons and tons of clothes! Now I just have to paint her dresser and we'll start putting things in it!

I'm doing that tomorrow, so I may post some pics if I have time.

We are so close to finishing her nursery, it's INSANE!

More pics/posts after Thanksgiving for sure!

Pumpkin head

Rylan's First Halloween.

There are a few things you must know about Rylan:

She is cute.

She is social.

She has her own fan base.

This year was the first year we attended a ward Halloween party, just because I think attending one without having children is awkward.

Not that I think others doing it is awkward.

It's only when I do it that it is weird.

Brian didn't dress up because he got home late. 

I was a scarecrow (like last year) and Rylan was a beanie baby.

We also took Rylan to the Pumpkin Parade down at the Riverwoods. 

She absolutely loved it. 

She loves going to the Riverwoods at night because they turn on their twinkle lights and the fires.

Rylan might grow up to be a pyromaniac, just saying.

The fire soothes her troubled soul.

Move it Charlie. 

Rylan is the star of this show!

Angry birds next to an angry baby.

We attended a super fun family Halloween party at Brian's aunt and uncle's house. 

It was fun to see everyone and to break in Rylan's costume once again.

This time Brian and I were both lame and didn't dress up.

I don't know whether Kyoto was helping us pack or just trying to make sure we didn't forget her...

Japanese name.

Soy sauce box.

Winning.

On Halloween night we drove up to SLC and attended a Halloween party. 

Brian's brother and sister-in-law put it on with their friends and it was awesome!

Brian and I dressed up as a leopard and a Vegas cat trainer.

The best part of the night was seeing Brian in his make-up.

He's never looked better.

I mean, seriously, look at that healthy glow.

Here we are in front of an awesome backdrop with our legit pillow pet prize.

Spooooooky!!!!

King of the Jungle.

King of the hallway.

Basically the same thing.

Most awkward part of this costume?

Going to the Hot Topic and buying that whip...

"It's for a costume.."

"Sure. Sure it is."

No, but really.

We had a great time.

The next morning we woke up SUPER SUPER early and started moving.

It was bittersweet. 

Packing is the absolute worst.

I highly recommend the USA feds using it as a form of torture.

Just have their prisoners endlessly pack and unpack items.

We are currently in our new place living like hoarders.

Don't judge.

You've been there.

If you haven't you will.

Happy Halloween,

The Campbell's

1st Family Vacation

Brian and I love taking little weekend trips to Park City and Deer Valley. 

We figured taking Rylan on one would be a good introductory vacation because if it became too annoying, we could easily drive home without problem.We had fun and Rylan did okay.

However, I now know why my parents always seemed to be in a bad mood on vacations.

Vacationing with children = exhaustion.

I felt like I needed a vacation from the vacation!

Here are some photos of our first family "vacation" (lol!) to Deer Valley:

Before we drove up to Deer Valley, Brian wanted to take us to a place he has been raving about since he started working at Overstock. It is a super delicious Vietnamese restuarant called Oh Mai. I got a honey glazed pork sandwich... Delicious! Brian got Pho and I snuck a few bites of that as well... delicious again! 

Then, we drove to City Creek to do a bit of shopping. Rylan was mesmerized by the water/light show in the middle of the mall. If we turned to leave she would start to fuss. She was completely entranced by it. 

Rylan lives a very posh lifestyle...

It was a bit cold on our way up. We enjoyed warming up by the fire together. 

This fireplace kept us sane.

If Rylan started fussing, we would set her up next to it. She would watch the dancing flames and the warmth often put her to sleep.

Rylan had a rough time going to sleep, most likely due to her unfamiliar surroundings. 

Much to our dismay, she fell asleep around 3 AM.

Yeah...

The next morning we woke up around 9:30 and rushed downstairs for breakfast. They serve an amazing breakfast. Cheese blintz, canadian bacon, eggs, potatoes, oatmeal, banana walnut pancakes, fruit... scrumptious!

After we got back to our room, we took a nap.

We let Rylan have the bed and we slept on the sectional. 

Then we all got ready to go on a drive/nature walk.

On our way to Brighton. 

Brian pondering life alongside a cliff... 

:)

While the colors of the leaves changing were incredible. My favorite were the mountains covered completely in pines. 

Christmas Mountain.

While Rylan was sleeping, we ran out of the car for a grand total of 45 seconds to take a scenic selfie.

When we got to Brighton, we spotted a loud waterfall and decided to take a very short, very very short, nature walk to it.

This picture cracks me up because Brian looks like a mountain man.

Ugh, that beard and mustache though....

CREEP FEST!

Chilling by the "waterfall"

It looks small, but it was seriously loud.

Kind of like Rylan!

Later that night we decided to go into town and eat dinner. We went to a pretty good Greek place. It wasn't anything like Greek City Grill, but it filled us up.

Afterwards, we went to the store and got a couple of yummy treats and a scary movie. 

We enjoyed a relaxing night by the fire and jacuzzis. 

While also judging people walking around outside in their robes.

We seriously saw a lady in our hotel 6 or 7 times through our 3 day stay and every time we saw her she was in a robe... 

The next morning we woke up early to eat breakfast (seriously, it's gotta be good if I'll wake up early for it!)

But as we were heading out, Brian noticed it was snowing!

We took a couple of shots of Rylan's first snow fall.

It's kind of hard to see the flakes, but you can see it on the roofs.

By the time we left the hotel, all the snow had melted. 

I'm glad it didn't follow us home.

I'm not ready to start cleaning snow off my car in the morning...

I don't even want to think about it!

It was a super fun vacation. Rylan made a ton of friends. Seriously, that kid has way more friends than I do.

But I don't blame them.

It's easy to become obsessed with a chubby, red haired baby.

Especially when she has a smile that lights up the room along with her Emerald green eyes!

Who could resist?!

And speaking of resisting....

She must get her irresistible nature from her dad

Oh gosh...

Sorry if this image haunts your thoughts for the rest of eternity.