3rd Annual Christmas Eve Party

We have stayed in Boston the last 3 years during Christmas. We have really enjoyed starting our own traditions and getting together with friends while family is so far away during the holidays. One of our favorite things we do during the holidays is host a Christmas Eve Party for those friends we have who also stay in Boston. Each year we have a different crowd, but each year we have a fabulous time.
We always start out with a delicious Italian dinner, including stuffed shells, vegetable lasagna, salad, bread, cheese ball, dessert, and oh soo much more.

Each year we read this Nativity Story, but this year we assigned some of our guest parts, and they all dressed up and did fantastic with their parts.

Above we see Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus with the Wise Man, Woman and Child visiting them.
Below is our Angel, she is a shy little angel, but a cute one nonetheless.

Berkeley had the big role of a sheep this year, he was pretty cute. The shepherds did a great job watching their flock.

Then we sang Christmas sons while Christian played the piano. We had a pretty big crowd this year so it sounded nice. We then had our annual Yankee Swap and ended the night with chatting and getting ready for Santa to visit.

At the end of the night, Berke put on his Sponge Bob Square Pants Santa PJ's from Great Grandma Evans, they were pretty adorable. As you can tell from our family photo, the party wore the little man out!
We had such a great time and are glad we could spend the holiday with our friends.

It's Begining to Look a lot Like Christmas

The snow hit us this weekend. All the white flakes have found their way back to New England as history shows. All the town was a buzz on Saturday hearing about the storm headed our way, and after seeing the damage done in DC, I was anxiously awaiting the down fall. EVERYONE on Saturday was hustling an bustling around trying to do last minute Christmas shopping, get their homes filled with food, and do whatever errands they needed to complete before the storm hit.
The Gentry family was no different, Christian hit Market Basket up at 7:00 a.m. for groceries, only to find out they opened early at 6:00 a.m. and thus the parking lot was full. He was glad he went then however, as we drove past a few hours later, there were major traffic jams on all streets around the Market Basket. They had to have a cop directing traffic into the parking lot.

We also didn't want to miss what may have been our last chance to get Berkeley's picture taken with Santa. So we headed to Meadow Glen aka "Ghetto" Glen Mall for a visit with the Jolly Old Soul himself. This Santa was about as cute as they come; he was so sweet and patient with all the little kids going crazy. Berke didn't mind Santa at all. The workers instructed me to not let Berke look at Santa so he wouldn't start crying. Well it wasn't easy getting a good picture because as soon as Berke was sitting on Santa's lap, he started doing his ever famous rock back and forth. He looked at Santa a few times, smiled, no big deal. We finally got a smile out of him when he got to play with Rudolph, he gave him a little honk on the nose for good luck.
I cant believe this is Berke's first Christmas, cause he looks like such a big guy in this picture.
(Sorry about the quality, it is a picture of a picture)

What else should a family do on a snowy weekend? Well if you are Berke, you find great joy playing on McDuff's bed; it is so much better than his crib.

We also did lots of movie watching, we watch ELF every Christmas, it is a family tradition. We also watched Julie and Julia, totally loved it. I was hungry the entire movie, looking at all of that delicious food. Church was cancelled, so we basically stayed in our PJ's all day and were pretty lazy. We did get laundry and dishes done, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday this week!

The Candy Man

Christian LOVES to bake! It is a Holiday tradition for him to make Christmas candy each year, this year he got together with his pal, Jeremy . I love seeing men in the kitchen; to be honest Christian is way better there than I am. I can make eggs better than him, but that is about it.
When all was said and done, we ended up with a whole lotta candy, three types of fudge, Boston creams, peanut brittle, peanut butter balls, and toffee. It is all DELICIOUS and we need to give it the neighbors ASAP before I gain 10 lbs.

While Dad was busy in the kitchen, Berke and I hung out, read books, played, and had fun with the camera. This kid gets cuter by the day!

Poor Kid

We have had one snow storm this winter thus far; of course it fell on a night when we had to go out to a Christmas Party. We dressed Berke in his winter get up and this was the final result. Poor kid looks like the kid in A Christmas Story, yep the one who cant put his arms down because he has so many thick layers on.

All I Want For Christmas

are my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth.

Wait, Santa! I changed my mind!

Thanksgiving in Utah

My parents, wanting to see their grandson, and not wanting to fly to Boston, decided to buy us tickets to Utah instead, for Thanksgiving this year. We usually stay home for the holidays and travel in the summer, but since the tickets were free and we were ready to experience the FREE grandparent babysitting I have been hearing so much about, we went.
Berkeley did very well on the 3 out of the 4 flights. The last stretch home, he was DONE being confined, but all the other flights he was a champ. Everyone comment on how well he did and of coarse how adorable he is.

We arrived in Utah on Wednesday evening and ate at my favorite...CAFE RIO!!! Then Christian, my brother, Stevie and I got up early Thanksgiving morning for a 5k Turkey Trot. It was FREEZING while waiting for the race to start, but once we started running things were good. I am glad I ran, because it was the only exercise that occurred on our trip and we did a whole lot of eating. It is weird, how much I have come to love to run (short distances). After I ran my first 5k in Louisville I never thought I would run again; but hey this year I have run 3, so never say never.
Thanksgiving was delicious and fun to be with my entire family. It is nice to be with family for the holidays; it has been awhile.

Friday morning, my Mom, Marci and I were crazy and got up at 4:30a.m. to hit the sales for BLACK FRIDAY. I am not sure why, I have never seen Target so insane, it was somewhat traumatic for me. But we did get some good deals and we felt pretty happy about that. Black Friday was also my 29th Birthday. I spent the rest of my day having lunch with many of my friends at Leatherbys and eating lots of ice cream. Below is Joel and I who just happen to share the same birthday, but until this year never got to celebrate together.

Later that evening, we used some of that WONDERFUL FREE grandparent babysitting and went to Wendover with my Dad and Lori to see Dwight Yoakam in concert. It was a fun time for all. Thanks Dad for the tickets!

Berkeley loved spending time with his grandparents. By far his favorite activity was watching the choo choo train go around the Christmas tree with grandma. He was just sit and watch it, it was adorable.

Tristen and Berkeley are cousins and only two weeks apart. They could not be more different from each other, but they both have the cute factor happening for them. It made me a bit homesick to realize how much family time Berkeley is missing out on; he could be so close to his cousins and grandparents if we just lived a few thousand miles closer.

Saturday I got my hair did. I love how cheap it is to get your hair done in Utah and how fabulous it looks when you are done. Oh to feel beautiful again.....priceless. We had the opportunity to get together with the Sorrels family at Chili's as well.

Here is Berke with his Grandpa and Grandma Sorrels. He was wearing his Utah shirt for the big BYU vs. Utah game, but we don't really need to talk about that, other than he wears RED well.

Grandma and Grandpa Sorrels with all four of their grandchildren, next year they will have FIVE. Nope, it's not me adding to the family, it is Stevie and Marci. I love seeing my nieces and nephew, they are so stinkin' hilarious.

My mom really wanted to celebrate Berkeley and Tristen's Birthdays while we were there; the boys started to find joy in unwrapping presents. They also each enjoyed a chocolate cupcake for the occasion. Berke was more interested in using the cake as finger paints than eating it, but he did manage to suck some of the frosting off his fingers.

Maren and Brock recently moved to Provo, Utah; since we were so close we couldn't pass up a chance to see their new house and their adorable kids. Berke was excited to play with his cousins even if this picture would suggest otherwise. We love the Kirwan family.

We went with the Kirwans and my parents down to Temple Square. We haven't visited Utah in the winter time for awhile, so it was nice to do the old tradition again. It really was so beautiful.

We also got to visit the Taft family on Thanksgiving and by taking the famous "Taft Park City Outlet Shopping Trip." There is nothing we Tafts like more than a really good deal!!!

Check this out:
Berkeley with his Great Great Grandma Taft

Berke with his Great Grandpa Taft

Berke with his Grandpa Taft

It was nice to have Berke see all of his family in Utah, even though I think he was a bit overwhelmed with all of the people all of the time. It was a really fun trip and I am so thankful for my wonderful family.
Christian and I realized we are not Westerners any longer; our skin was sooooo dry, we were not used to it at all. I would wake up every morning with a dry throat. Berkeley's cheeks turned bright red from being so dry. We also kept a steady stream of chap stick flowing.
Overall, great trip to Utah. Very busy, very fun, very needed.

He's a Mover and Rocker

Our Little Man is 10 1/2 months. It is insane how fast the time has gone and how much he has grown and changed. In the last month he has become much more active, pulling himself up onto everything and pulling everything off of every shelf in the house. He absolutely loves chasing McDuff around as well.

Berkeley finally started eating cereal, the solid version. He doesn't like baby food with chunks in it, but he LOVES eating cereal. I am just so proud of how adorable he is when he picks up his cereal with his little fingers and puts it in his mouth, it is the cutest thing ever!

When I say he is a rocker, I REALLY mean he is a rocker. This kid rocks back and forth any time he hears music, anytime he gets bored in his high chair, anytime he can. The last two weeks he has also been getting up on all fours in his crib when he wakes up in the middle of the night and starts banging his head into his crib. He is sleeping or trying to get back to sleep when he does this. It is very loud, creeps me out, and goes on for sometimes 15 minutes. His doctor assures me he will not be getting brain damage from this action. Some mornings we come into his room to find the crib several feet away from the wall. That is what the picture below is showing. Obviously, Berke is proud of his strength.

Last is a little video that shows Berke's new tricks. He LOVES music and is no doubt his fathers son. He will move any time he hears music and his favorite thing is to play the piano at any time. He also started clapping this week, which we have been working with him on and is so amazing to watch him learn how to do things. Gosh I sure do love this boy!