15 Months

We came back from our staycation yesterday afternoon and headed straight to Addie's 15 month checkup. Thankfully she's up to date on all shots so none were needed but Addie still hated the visit. As soon as we walked in she looked around and said "all done, bye!". She is definitely not a fan of that place. 

Miss Addie Rae finally reached 20lbs! She weighs 20.24 lbs and is 31 inches long. She's still tall for her age. Her doctor was completely impressed with her speaking skills and called her an over achiever. He said he was hoping she could say three to six words, but our little lady can currently say 40 words. I love this sweet girl of ours. 

Since her first birthday she has learned to say: 

Meow
Again
Addie

Num nums (food)

Up

Ba ba (bottle)

Look

Night night

All done

What

Achoo

Yeah

Teeth

Nose

Help

Ball

Bite

Hi dude

George

Naina (Jaina)

'Tis the Season

This month has been party after party, lots of family time, full of activities and I loved it! We started the month off with our ward's Christmas party but we didn't get there early enough to see Santa Clause. I'm sure Addie was happy about that though since she gets major stranger danger around him. 

Our fake fireplace my cousin Allen set up for us as a surprise.

I've discovered that she doesn't like having tinsel on her. She happened to play the angel in the nativity story twice this month and both times she freaked out over the tinsel on the angel outfits. She continues to teach us something new everyday. This was the first year that Danny's family has been able to throw their own Christmas party because for the first time in over a decade their schedules are no longer determined by Papa Murphy's. 

My parents are also experiencing new freedom this month because my dad has officially retired from his job. Addie and I went with Pollyanna and Aria to his retirement party which was nice. We tried really hard to get a good picture of Aria and Addie together but it was impossible to get their focus off this giant tree or to have both of them looking at us at the same time. 

The weekend before Christmas we had three parties in a row. The first one was with Danny's research lab group. We scored that night with some pretty great white elephant gifts. The next night we had the Rueckert Christmas party with all my extended family. I was surprised yet also not surprised that the Santa Clause that night was a gorilla. The thing that I did find shocking is that Addie seemed less scared over this Santa over all the other ones she's seen. 

The third party that weekend was with my immediate family at my parent's condo. A couple weeks ago when my family went to The Forgotten Carols I mentioned that we should all dress up in pajamas to the party and keep it a secret from my parents. This started off as a joke but my sister Beckie heard it and loved the idea. It wasn't hard to convince the rest of the family and on the night of the party every single one of us showed up to this fancy party in our pajamas. I did feel bad at first that my parents and grandma felt out of place in their nice church clothes but they all mentioned they saw it as a fun prank. 

For the last three years Danny and I have spent our Christmas Eve with Danny's grandparents and the rest of their extended family. This is a tradition that I've come to love! Since their family is so big they always rent out a place to fit everyone and this year it was the classic skating rink. We had the entire place just for the Ferguson family. The employees weren't even there that night which meant we had access to everything. Addie was a bit cautious at first but in no time was running around and climbing on the inflatable play areas. She also loved riding around the scooter and would get frustrated when it would stop moving. We finally left that place around 11:30pm to a blizzard outside. It was definitely a fun Christmas Eve. 

For Christmas we decided to get gifts in the following categories:

Something you need 

Something you want

Something to wear

Something to read

And an extra gift from Santa 

We did pretty well following this outline except we did throw in an extra gift or two for Addie. We couldn't help it. Danny's idea of a perfect list would be a book in each category but he was really happy with what he got instead. 

We waited for Addie to wake up on Christmas morning to open presents which meant that we had to wait till after 10:30am. We almost felt like we wasted the morning but the wait to see her with her presents was well worth it. Before any gifts were opened we read Luke 2 about the birth of our Savior. Addie did so well that morning. The big gifts this year was a Fitbit for me, laptop for Danny, and a toddler basketball hoop and Minnie Mouse couch for Addie. 

I always thought I'd be the mother who hides the handcrafted ornaments near the back of the tree but this little face has proven me wrong. This ornament was too cute to keep it hidden so it was placed front and center of the tree. 

We spent the rest of the day with Danny's family eating Donna's famous Belgium waffles and relaxing with the family. We originally planned on seeing my family that night but the snow storm changed our minds and by 4pm Addie started struggling with missing her nap. 

We traveled to Tooele the day after Christmas to spend time with my mom and Bob. Sam, Camila, Pollyanna, Rick and Aria were also there which was fun. 

I think my favorite activity this month happened this week. We were invited to go see the lights at Temple Square with my in laws and Jaina. We met up for dinner at Teppanyaki Japanese Steakhouse which was amazingly fun. It was a first time for me and I was so close to catching the shrimp that the chef threw in the air. Donna was the only one in our group who succeeded. We then drove to Salt Lake and walked around Temple Square. It was snowing and Addie wore the cutest puffiest snowsuit. She got a lot of comments by people walking by. It was so puffy that she could barely move her arms or see the ground but it kept her warm. 

We spent that night at a nice hotel downtown that Dave and Donna arranged for us. We had Addie sleep on a mattress on the floor in our suite. Even though the hotel was really nice no one really got great sleep except for Jaina. The breakfast served was amazing though. We ended our little staycation by exploring the planetarium before coming home yesterday. It was so much fun spending all that time with Dave, Donna and Jaina. 

My favorite thing about December isn't necessarily the gifts or the food we eat at all the parties. I love having my days filled with family time. It's something I hope Addie and my future children will come to appreciate. 

Merry Christmas To My Wife

Growing up, whenever I thought of marriage I thought of a husband and wife that were meant to be together, were always happy, never fought, and never ever disagreed about anything. Now that I have grown up, and have learned a little more about love I understand that is not the case. Marriage is wonderful at times and hard at other times, but all in all it is very much worth it.

I am a believer that you could marry anybody, and live happily ever after. However, in order for this to happen a lot of hard work goes into making that happen. You may find someone that makes it easy, you may find someone that makes it hard. When you find that person, and you love them do whatever you can to make it work; if you do it will be amazing, wonderful, and bring you so much joy in your life. I am glad that in my life, I was able to find someone I work well with and who makes marriage mostly easy. 

I got lucky with my wife Gina. She is the most important person in my whole entire life, the things I would do to make her happy are endless, and the love I feel for her is the same. It is crazy to think that I have been married to her for a little over two years; what is more crazy is that two years ago I thought I loved her. The truth is, I did, but now I think as my marriage grows, my ability to love her has grown as well. I feel that my love for her is so much more than it was two years ago. I cannot wait to see where we are ten years from now to look back at these times and think the exact same thing. I cannot wait for our family to keep on growing, I love seeing my wife be a mom, and she is the best mother for our little daughter Addisyn. It brings me so much joy seeing them together. I hope that as our family grows our kids may learn at least two things. The first thing is that they learn to love the Lord and trust with all their hearts. Second, I hope they know how much I love their mother. I love her so much, she is the cool to my whip, the stars in the sky and the apple of my eye. I love you Gina, I hope you have a Merry Christmas. 

Love,

Danny

Thank you.

This letter was dropped off at my "mama's" doorstep on 12/19/15. I'll always be grateful for her.

Mama,

I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. Maybe it’s because I’m a mother now. Or maybe it’s because it has to do with this Christmas season. Whatever the reason I have a lot to thank you for. Thank you for your unconditional love. Thank you for including me in your family traditions as if I were just another one of your daughters. Thank you for always having an open door and for welcoming my random, late and long visits. Thank you for trusting me with the garage code for those times when the door wasn’t open but I was in a mood for a nap on your couch. I’m sorry for all of my house pranks over the years but thank you for putting up with that as well. Thanks for all of the late game nights and for playing even though you knew the game would end with me somehow cheating. Thank you for never getting mad whenever I used the word “parc”. Thank you for all of your cooking although I’ll still say your “Mexican” food is really just Americanized tacos. Thank you for including me in FHE and family prayer. Thank you for listening and sitting in your car while I rambled on and on about whatever was on my mind. Thank you for hiding in the supply closet with me because you knew I was embarrassed from crying over giving a talk in front of people. Thank you for sharing stories about how important “stepmoms” can be. I might not have acted like it but I did listen to you. Thank you for the many rides home even though I was quite capable of walking the one block from your house to mine. I’m sure you knew I could do that so thank you for caring enough to give me rides anyway. Thank you for continuing to be a leader and friend even though it’s not your official church calling and I live in a different county now. And thanks for being such a great leader way before you even had such a calling. Thank you for being so kind to me when I was an awkward seven year old girl. Thank you for not getting flustered during our political debates even though half the time I was purposely trying to push your buttons. Thank you for being supportive and there for me on my temple day. Actually thank you for being there for me on all of my important moments (receiving my medallion, opening up my mission call, being my temple escort, watching me be set apart as a missionary, and for when I was sealed to my husband). Thank you for being the kind of mother I hope to become to my own daughter.

You might not be my mom through birth, adoption, or marriage but you’re my mom nonetheless; so thank you.

Love always,

(Your daughter)

Gina Ferguson

Winter Family Pics '15

The Fergusons decided to get some updated family pictures taken since Ty married into the family and Jill and Mike had a baby. Danny and I plan on updating our own family pictures annually so it was nice to get it done at the same time. I have to admit that I was not a fan of the clothes that Danny's mom had originally picked out for Addie but in the end she looked cute so it all turned out fine. Here's just a few of the ones we had taken of us.

And here's two of the whole group together.

Meet-Aversary

Three years ago on this day my life changed forever. It was the day that Danny and I first met! All thanks to Courtney! 

I never would've guessed that today my biggest fear is the idea of losing the man I met that winter night. It's a little ironic considering that when we first started dating my fear was that I would find myself really liking him and now I can't picture a life without him. I know this is mushy lovey talk but my feelings for him aren't secret. I've changed as a person because of him which is okay because I like who I am when I'm with him. 

Well I guess there is one thing I don't really like about myself, but it has nothing to do with Danny. I've somewhat developed separation anxiety when we are away from Addisyn. I always thought it would be her with this issue but the problem is definitely mine. Even though it wasn't easy I'm glad Danny and I were able to get away this evening to celebrate and go to The Forgotten Carols with the rest of my family. Thanks Dad for the tickets!

Happy three years Daniel George!