Francom Family Blog: This is the post that never ends, yes it goes on and on my friends...

Welcome to Texas! Home of the Francoms'! Well here are some pics of stuff we have been doing the past two crazy months. Now, mind you this is not an all-inclusive post, but it does include some very fun things!

There is a little path right near our house and one day Alex and I decided to go for a walk and we found this little area that was just covered in leaves. Most of the path was like this and we had fun crunching in the leaves. It really was amazing because it was like you had just stepped out of the city and into the forest.

I took some pictures and then realized that I didn't have my memory card in my camera and since I currently have no idea where the connector cord is, we will have to settle for the not very good pictures. Here are some of the really pretty fall colors from December.

Getting a little tired, but still interested in going for a walk and seeing the colors of the leaves.

Very bright and beautiful leaves at the end of November. We have been having some pretty nice weather somedays, upwards of 70+ degrees. Those days we really love to go out to the park and enjoy the sunshine.

You ever get the feeling someone is watching you....Well I did and I looked out my window one afternoon and saw this! I guess he really does see you when you're sleeping and knows when you're awake. Haha!

Little goof ball going out to play on the patio. He didn't like wearing the hat, so he would take it off and then try to put it back on again.

Phill celebrated his 30th birthday this month. Unfortunately he was out of town the week of his birthday, so we celebrated a little before and a little after. We went to Red Robin for some Jalepeno Burgers (Phill) and an Oreo Milkshake! It was delicious and Alex has been doing really good at restaurants lately, I'm sure that will end soon enough!

After Red Robin, we came home and watched the Jazz lose a basketball game. Not so fun, but we still enjoyed spending the time together!

In Texas, as a missionary effort, each stake frequently puts on Nativities, where people bring their Nativity sets to be put on display for everyone to see. They also have choirs and musical events come and sing/play while people are looking at the displays. They did a really great job and the stake center looked beautiful. We went with some friends and took turns for photo opps! It wouldn't be family pictures without multiple attempts right?

Pretty good, but can we get a smile?

Probably not.

Here is when Phill came back from out of town. He got some computer games for his birthday and we also got a new computer for him to play them on. So now he can really have a nerd-fest!

This year Phill had Christmas Eve and the next Monday off, so it was really nice. We were able to spend some real quality time and relax.

We made some sugar cookies and of course Alex was a big helper, by getting flour everywhere!

Fast forward to Christmas morn. Alex slept until about 8am and then we got him out and he immediately wanted to get down and start playing with the new things in the living room. He was a little out of it, not completely awake really but did have fun. He does not really care for boxes or paper....and his favorite gift was the new plates and silverware that I got him from Ikea. He carried those around all morning. We had a wonderful Christmas. We LOVED being home and not having to go anywhere, and I guiltily say that I purchased a Christmas dinner from a grocery store and so all we had to do was warm stuff up. It was WONDERFUL! Our highlights were the time spent together and being able to talk to family that day.

I do have to admit that I have felt a little like an Ebeneezer Scrooge lately because I really felt like Christmas was going to be awful. But it has turned out to be the absolute best. I hadn't felt like I had quality time with my family in a little while, or time to relax and this past Christmas weekend was just what the doctor ordered!

In case you were looking for your last can of Who-Hash...here I am. No comments from the peanut gallery. Here is Alex with his spoons as we try to get him excited about his other presents.

Phill was a good boy this year and Santa came and gave him a football. Alex was tasting it to see whether it was real leather. It's not, but still good.

On Christmas Eve, We went over to our friends the LeSueurs' made candy trains and played some games. Here is my candy train, minus some snickers from a snitcher. Also we played a really fun game called Jack Horner, that we will have to share with others sometime. Had tons of fun and really got into the Christmas Spirit.

Last but not least. Phill got me a fancy-dancy Belgian Waffle Maker for Christmas that I absolutely love. Here is our first ever waffle made with it and it was delicious. Kudos to Phill on the excellent present!