My Forever Family January 23, 2012

Since we’ve been married, we’ve only gone out twice to have our personal family pictures. Both times, we procrastinated until November and chose to do them outside. Cold red noses, freezing temperatures, and young kids just isn’t a very fun combination, but Amanda was able to get some fun family pictures for us. Jake was sick, and Emma had had enough, so we went home and bundled up. I took the pictures of the kids a month later at our home, where I threw them on the back porch for 5 seconds, took a picture, and threw them back in the warm house! One goal for this year? We WILL NOT procrastinate — we will have a family picture in the warmth of the summer.

            

These were some of my favorites with Brad and Jake. Something about a father and son together just melts my heart.

             

                   

A couple of my favorites of the kids (I’ll get to editing these last two later) — there’s my procrastinating again….

        

November at a Glance January 8, 2012

 

Emma’s learning how to bust’a move, and it’s hilarious! I love watching her dance and “shake her booty!” Jake’s still smiling away; loving life, food, and his sister.

                        

Jake outgrew his bathtub, so I had to buy him this duck bath that he loves. He’s my waterbaby. The second he hears the bath running, he’s right by the bathtub hitting the sides and trying to push me out of the way. Then when his bath is done, and Emma’s in, he’s right back in there trying to splash her. I tried to give them a bath together last week, and he was so excited, I had to have him in my hands the entire time because he wouldn’t stop moving and slipping and trying to drown himself in the process. Yes, he still has rolls and rolls, but if you can believe it, I think he’s starting to thin out a bit.

                   

We had a great Thanksgiving in Twin Falls with the Family — only missing two families (Brian & Amber). Fabulous food and company! Parry made a fried turkey, and it was delicious! I’m usually not a big Thanksgiving eater, but that was great! (What isn’t great when it’s been fried in fat?). Anna made rolls with people and things we’re thankful for on pieces of paper baked inside of them — big hit with the kids. They filled up on bread, just so they could find the paper! And Thanksgiving’s always complete with Angela and my mom doing most of the baking — Delicious! Emma on the other hand, just doesn’t appreciate a good meal. She filled up completely on potato chips. Anytime I lost track of Emma, I’d just watch the snack table, and time after time, she’d plop her chair next to the potato chips. As long as everyone’s happy right? Truly thankful for a wonderful family, fabulous husband and kids, and the many blessings that have been poured on us this year!

                   

SpookTacular Halloween November 20, 2011

Once Emma started seeing the Halloween decorations going up, the daily question became, “Is it Halloween time yet?” She was so excited to be a purple dragon with a purple pumpkin to get a bunch of candy in. I’ll have to sneak a group shot from Amanda, but we had Brad as Darth Vader, Gary as the Hulk, and Amanda as a construction worker. They ran around with the kids while I stayed with Jake and handed out candy. This was the first year I’ve actually had that role… at my parents we would only get about 3 trick or treaters, and every other year, Brad and I just ran around with Emma. It was pretty fun to see all the fun kid costumes and all their excited faces!

                   

I had originally planned to have Jake be The Hulk, seeing as he is humongous, but couldn’t find just a simple green pair of jammies… So that night, I grabbed some red jammies and drew on his face with eye liner. Cutest little devil I ever did see!

          

Pumpkin Carving November 20, 2011

This is the first Halloween where we actually carved the pumpkin instead of letting Emma color on it. I wasn’t sure how she was going to react to reaching in a slimy pumpkin and pulling out the guts, but she thought it was great!

             

              

The kids really enjoy wrestling with Brad… something about being repeatedly tossed to the ground seems appealing to them. 3 on 1 with a blanket over his head — this man’s got Skilz!

        

 

Black Island Farms November 4, 2011

The kids and I joined Amanda’s preschool group to go to Black Island Farms for pumpkin patch fun and a few activities.

They had cool shaped swings made from tires; here’s Emma riding the airplane and going down the haystack slide.

        

Then we jumped behind a tractor for a ride out to the farms. Our driver, Farmer Casey, stopped by the carrot section and gave the kids all some vegetables to feed to the animals. I should have taken a picture of him. First farmer I’ve seen in “skinny jeans,” but he talked to the kids about the farms and different vegetables, and it was fun.

          

Then we rode to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. Here’s Emma trying to decide what one to take home. Such an important decision to a 3 year old, and there were so many pumpkins! They even threw one in for Jacob, which Emma decided to claim as her own because it was smaller and she had an easier time carrying it.

          

They had the animal section with a whole bunch of different farm animals. Emma chose to give her delicious carrot to the donkeys, who downed the whole carrot in a couple bites.

                     

And of course, my little guy was smiling and happy the whole day! What a trooper!

 

Temple Square November 3, 2011

This weekend’s family excursion was to Temple Square. I remember going here once before, and it was just packed, but today was perfect. We didn’t have to rush through anything — and it was great to be able to talk to Emma about all the different things we looked at.

                         

I wish my camera took better pictures in low-light, but this tabernacle was awesome! I loved the pipes!

Emma loved all the fountains. I know we had to stop and touch at least four of them, and she thought that was pretty cool.

                   

And Jake just loved being out and about!

 

 

 

Snap-shots November 3, 2011

This is the happiest little guy ever! It’s a rare occasion to catch Jake in a bad mood; it’s such a joy to have him around!

        

He may look upset here, but this is just his “I’ve found something I want, and I’m going to get it” face. Super funny!

        

Thought it was funny that I caught both of them at the same time with their “disgusted” face. So Attractive!

        

Double Dose November 3, 2011

Brad went to a work conference in Anaheim CA (though, I don’t know how much work was done). He went to Disneyland, Baseball games, and came home with a bunch of toys for Emma from the conference. But, since it was just the kids and I for a week, we took off to Twin. Luckily, it was the same weekend that Amber was baptizing her oldest, Madelyn, and blessing her youngest, Cooper. What a great week to be down with all the family! I had a lot of fun with my sisters & in-laws during the day, and then spent the nights staying up late with my mom watching movies and eating “Death by Chocolate” ice-cream. I went to lunch with the sisters and my mom to Sushi Tokyo… great company, not a big fan of sushi though.

Amber’s always passing clothes down to me from her kids, which has been a super awesome blessing; so when she had a boy just 4 1/2 months after mine, I thought I might be on my own to clothe Jake. Well, obviously from the picture, Cooper’s got quite a bit of catching up to do. Surprisingly the problem may be Jake catching up to Jack’s (Amber’s 2 year old) size. We were pulling stuff out of his closet that he had just barely outgrown, that will fit Jake now…. Yes, that’s right. My 6 month old is in 18 month clothes…

          

This was also the week Jake decided it was time to CRAWL! One day before he turned 6 months! I was not prepared to have this one moving so fast.

He sure looks proud of himself though! He’s so happy to be moving around and discovering everything around him. He’s my little adventurer! Always looking for something new, and a new corner to explore. Emma on the other hand, not so excited about him attacking her Dora Memory game and trying to share her toys. She’s a great big sister though; always telling me when Jake’s found a new stash of wires or another outlet plug.

         

Now, right before turning 7 months, he is pulling himself up to standing positions and will walk along some of the shorter furniture items.  He keeps attempting the stairs, and so far, has done 3 steps. Boy am I in for it!  I have a feeling he’s going to be my child that constantly is in need of stitches…

Hill Air Museum November 2, 2011

Since being in Utah, we’ve tried to find an activity each week to just go and spend time with the family. It’s been fun to have a family date! This weeks adventure was the Hill Air Museum. Much better than the museum in Nampa. Super cool planes!

            

This is my sad attempt to get us all in a shot with an airplane behind us. The kids only had patience enough for one attempt, but at least it shows everyone there, and a few propellers.

           

BUSTED! November 2, 2011

Jake’s first misdemeanor… I thought I’d seen it before. Pulled up Emma’s picture, and it’s the first thing she snuck into when she learned to move around…