December Delights

Our December was full of many delightful moments and memories! Here are a few that didn't make it into our other posts- enjoy!!!

Here is Tori totally enjoying her yogurt - I think the more she likes it the more she gets it all over the place!!!

Tori has a really cute pair of jeans that I love her to wear. The only problem- they are a little too big around the waist and she has figured out how to wriggle out of them!

I have no idea how this is a comfortable way to take a nap?!!

Attacking a pillow pet is great fun!

Tori blew her cover! Now we know that she knows exactly what bows are for and how to wear them!!!

Tori had so much fun playing with Aunt Anna!

What a big helper - definitely earning her keep at Grandma's house!!!

Tori also had a fantastic time playing with Aunt Terrah and Uncle Jake! I think that Aunt Terrah was super excited to play with Tori's bear puzzle as well!!!

Taking a little break to chill!

Tori and Daddy took a little New Year's Eve nap together- looks like a pretty good nap to me!!!

Happy December and Happy 2011! We hope the new year is just as grand as the last!!!

The Allen Curse

When Jared and I started dating, he informed me of his curse with flying. It seemed like he was always having a bag lost or getting delayed. Since I had never had problems flying, or very few, I was hoping that my Harrison non-curse would out way the Allen curse. Nope, the Allen curse hit shortly after we were married - our bags were lost on the flight to Jamaica for our honeymoon, there was a hurricane coming when we were flying from Texas to Utah for our second reception so we had to change all of our flights and go later, and so on. But we have found that flying at Christmas seems to bring out the worst of our curse. Two years ago we were stuck in the Denver airport for about 10 hours - not fun at all!

But this year we were not even thinking about our flying curse, until we got to Utah and found out that Tori's car seat didn't make it with us. Losing a car seat is so much worse than losing a bag. Without a car seat you are stuck, no driving home and having them bring it to you whenever they find it. So, after searching the airport for about an hour and a half, we gave up and had to rent one for $90 - not fun! At least they did find Tori's car seat the next day (it made a trip to California instead of Utah), and they are supposedly reimbursing us for the rental cost!

Which brings us to our return to Indy today. Usually the curse only strikes once, so we were feeling pretty good. We made it to the airport and to Denver in record time. We had a 3 hour layover (don't know what I was thinking with that one), so we settled down for a bit in a quiet spot. Tori even took a great nap and we were able to get a breathing treatment done!

Everything was on time, we boarded, and then we just sat there for an hour and a half. We were up near the front so we could see mechanic after mechanic come in to check something out. After the hour and half, they told us one of the smoke alarm sensors was broken, they were having us get off the plane, and they would decide in the next hour if we were taking that plane or getting a new one. Our 3 hour layover turned out to be a 7 hour layover. The finally got us a new plane, gave everyone a $100 voucher for a future flight (we were really excited about this), let us watch TV for free on the flight, and, most importantly, got us home.

While today was not fun, at least we made it home with all our bags and a car seat. Tori was a champ and did such a great job! I think everyone on our flight enjoyed watching her run around the airport in her little Christmas footie pajamas!!! And our house was fine and waiting for us to get home! While we are not fans of our flying curse, at least it gives us some good stories to tell!!!

Snow Fun

It seems like Tori has been sick since September. Of course, it hasn't been a constant thing, but it feels like once we finally get through one cold, another sickness comes along a few days later. Because of this, we have never dared take Tori out to play in the snow. We were so thrilled when her cough finally went away and then it snowed a couple of times while visiting in Logan. Jared and I weren't sure how Tori would take to the snow - she generally doesn't like cold things. But playing in the snow is an entirely different matter- she loved it!!! After the first snow, Tori had a fabulous time helping Daddy and Grandpa Harrison shovel the walks!

I think she decided to take more of a supervisor role!!!

She had so much fun following Daddy all over the place! (This is my new favorite picture of Jared and Tori!)

After all the hard work was done, we did get to really play in the snow- a great time was had by all!!!

Anna has been dying to take Tori sledding, so we made a little trip to the front yard this afternoon. All I can say is Tori is not a fan of sledding - at least not yet. We'll have to work with her on this one so we can really go sledding next time!!!

A Merry Little Christmas

We had an amazing Christmas this year! And it had nothing to do with presents or anything like that- although we were really spoiled. I think that my favorite thing about Christmas is that we just spend time with the people that we love most. Whether that be in person, or on the phone, or by web cam - that time is what I cherish and treasure once all the wrapping paper has been thrown away. Jared and I also thoroughly enjoyed seeing Christmas through Tori's eyes. It was so much fun watching her delight in the magic and wonder of everything! And of course, I love that during the Christmas season we turn our lives more towards the Savior. And that we can really focus on His life and sacrifice - that is by far the best and greatest gift we have been given!

We hope you enjoy all the numerous pictures of Tori - I had so many adorable ones that I couldn't narrow it down!

When Jared was little, Grandma Jones would make each of her grand kids pajamas every year for Christmas. She would make sure their name was on them along with their grandchild number, for instance - Jared was the oldest grandchild, so his always had a 'Jared 1' on them. Grandma and Grandpa Allen decided they would carry on this tradition and sent Tori her very own 'Tori 1' pajamas! I think we are safe to say that she really liked them!

Tori ate many a Christmas ornament this year!!! By the time we left, the Christmas trees at both houses only had ornaments on the top half of the tree!

Who needs presents (or a sword) when you have a wrapping paper roll?

Getting all ready to have yummy pizza for our Christmas Eve dinner!!!

Here is Tori harassing the tree yet again, but this time in her super-cute Christmas pjs!!!

Getting all settled down for a long winter's nap- with Puppy, of course!!!

Jared's long winter's nap wasn't long enough so he took a little snooze on Christmas morning. Stuffed kittens really make wonderful pillows!!!

Santa must have known that Puppy needed a playmate - Tori and Puppy were both really excited to welcome Freckles into the family!

Tori had such a great time playing with this basket of oranges...

and I have no idea what she was planning on doing with them. Any ideas?

Tori received several cute new outfits, some she wanted to try on right away!

Christmas evening we went down to Dad and Charlene's house. Tori was in heaven watching a movie with her Aunt Anna and enjoying a bowl of popcorn - it can't get any better than that!!!

Merry Christmas everyone! We hope that the wonderful warm glow of the season found you wherever you were!!!

Catchin' Up

This year we were able to spend our Christmas vacation in Logan, Utah with my family. As we were preparing to leave, it hit us how much Tori has changed since we were there in May. At that point she was almost crawling, and now she is running around like a big girl. We were all excited for a little catching up time! I think that vacation mode set in pretty quickly and I didn't get near as many pictures as I would have liked. But the ones we did get are priceless! I think my favorite thing was watching Tori turn on her charm- she soon realized that she had a captive and very willing audience. Whenever we do get to visit, we wish all the more that we lived close to family - one day, hopefully!!!

Tori and Aunt Anna had a great time playing together!

Grandpa and Nana had some fabulous blocks ready and waiting for Tori to arrive. She had so much fun dismantling everything we tried to build!

Grandpa Harrison has always been able to make the craziest sounds. I loved watching Tori try to figure out how to make them too!

After a hard day of playing, it is always nice to take a rest on a pillow pet (these are actually way more comfortable then I thought they would be)!!!

Hurrah for visiting home - there really is nothing quite like it. We just wish that Utah and Texas could be the same place for our visits home - then it would be absolutely perfect!!!

All the way home...

I don't know if most of you have seen the commercial with the Little Pig saying wee, wee wee all the way home, but it is one of Douglas' favorites right now - and ours too, for that matter. So it totally cracked us up when Tori started doing this about a week ago....

All we can say is that this one if for you Uncle Douglas! Let's see if she does this all the way home to Utah on Sunday!!!

Sickness Update

After Tori got over her stomach virus, she came right down with a cold. But after the other, a cold seemed like no big deal-except for her cough. We have been doing breathing treatments for the past 5 or 6 weeks, so we just kept plugging away and hoping that they would help her to get better. But it didn't seem to be helping at all. In fact, her cough kept getting worse and worse. So today we went in to visit Dr. Duck. I am so glad we did- Tori has pneumonia! Having had pneumonia in the 5th grade, I can still remember how horrible it was. But luckily, Tori only has it in her right lung and only a little bit. Apparently the breathing treatments had already helped - I am so glad we kept those up! So, now Tori has an antibiotic and we just keep doing the breathing treatments with a few alterations. And we can still travel to Utah on Sunday!!! Hurrah for modern medicine- what a blessing it is!!!

Christmas in Indiana!!!

Since we are travelling for Christmas, we decided to have our Indiana Christmas before we leave. We aren't headed to Utah until next Sunday, but with finals for Jared, Jared finishing up his first semester of teaching, grading, and swim meets, we knew that this weekend would be our best opportunity to spend some time together as a family to enjoy our little Christmas! I just have to say a big thank you to Santa - he took time out of his super busy schedule to pay our house a visit early!!! And on top of that, he even took a picture of our Christmas tree when he was all done!

Here is Tori checking out her new stroller and doll!

Yeah for a new baby doll! (As a side note, the Pooh Bear she is holding was one of her favorite presents from last year - thanks again Uncle Alec!!!)

Jared and I had so much fun watching Tori try to figure out the stroller!

Especially when she would carry her doll and push the empty stroller or with a golf club inside!!!

Daddy had a great time helping Tori check out her golf clubs- with her doll in hand, of course!

Taking some time to pick out just the right club!

And here she is taking her first couple of swings - watch out Daddy!!!

I don't remember what happened to cause this sad face - but I think it is really cute! I also hope Tori lets me wear my beautiful new necklace at least a couple of times - thanks Nikki!!!

Thank you to everyone that has sent us gifts. We feel very spoiled and extremely loved! Thank you for thinking of us and being a part of our lives! We love you all so very much!!!

Christmas PJ's

One of our favorite traditions is getting new Christmas pajamas. I don't know why, but going to bed on Christmas Eve in new pj's just makes everything more magical and exciting! This year we added a new twist to our tradition. Jared and I got Tori's pajamas first. Then we each tried to get pajamas for the other that matched hers. This way we would all match as a family, but Jared and I could still surprise each other. It turned out to be so much fun- I think we are going to keep this new addition!!! We know it isn't really Christmas Eve yet, but we decided to move things up a bit since we won't be home for Christmas!

Tori is really starting to get the hang of opening presents - yeah!

Here are Tori's pj's - so cute!!!

Here are the pj's Jared got for me - he did an awesome job!!!

And here are the ones I got for Jared - I think we did a pretty good job with the matching thing!

Hurrah for fun Christmas traditions!!! (Now we just need to get a family picture of us in our new pj's!!!)

Being sick is for the birds!

Especially when you are only 15 months old! This past week Tori has been fighting a stomach virus. She had a few things going on, but nothing really bad hit until Wednesday. When Tori first wakes up in the morning, I usually give her a cup of milk which she downs pretty quickly. I love this time because we get to snuggle on our bed while she drinks. As soon as she was done she threw up all of her milk. Not such a fun time anymore. It went all over Tori, all over me, and all over our bed - yuck. After a few seconds of wondering where to start and what to tackle first, we started to clean everything up. After consulting with the doctor's office, Tori was put on a liquid diet for 24 hours. And if she threw up again the 24 hours started over. Our other task- to give her 1 teaspoon of clear liquids every 10 minutes and then, as she could tolerate it, we could start giving her more. It was horrible- Tori was so weak that she could barely walk in a straight line. She was content to cuddle with me or lay on her boppy and snuggle with a blanket and Puppy for most of the day - so not like our little girl that never holds still!

Here she is on her first day - I do love that even though she didn't feel good, she still has both hands back behind her head!!!

Luckily, we didn't have anymore throwing up, so the next day we started on the BRATY diet. It was so nice to see Tori starting to get some more energy back. But along with the extra energy came a ton of whining and crying. I really don't know which day was worse!

Of course, we couldn't be done there! Thursday evening we noticed a rash on her tummy and back. By Friday morning it was so much worse and had also spread up onto her face. Another frantic call was made to the doctor and apparently this can be part of the virus as well. Friday and Saturday we made sure to keep hyrdocortisone cream on her rash and gave her benadryl to try and help with the slight swelling and itching!

I love that even though she really didn't feel good, and had a crazy rash, she is still smiling!

Which brings us to today! The rash is now almost gone, hurrah! Tori has so much more energy and we think she is finally almost over this bug! It is so nice to see her playing and running around again! Although, there are a few things that she has picked up during this bought - keeping her hands back behind her head!

Here she is eating a snack - with one hand behind her head!

And here she is peacefully taking a nap this afternoon!

While it has been awful seeing Tori sick this week, it has made us appreciate her health so much more! And it has made us realize how much we really do love her getting into everything and spreading her toys and books all over!!!