Not sure what to think...

For Christmas Miles got this funny dog from his Great Aunt Cathy. She is hopeful that he will laugh and laugh at it someday, but right now he is not quite sure what to think of it. He does follow it around the room though and seems interested in what it is doing. We get laughs just watching him watch it. He is such a cute boy!

Christmas "bump"

For Christmas I asked Dave if he would put a hole in our wall (window) in between our kitchen and dining room so that the kitchen isn't so isolated from the rest of the house. Our kitchen is so tiny too that I thought a hole might open it up as well...and add more light to the dining room/living room from the kitchen windows. If Dave is at class and I'm in the kitchen cooking dinner I'm always worried about what Miles is doing out in the living room all by himself. The hole was the solution we came up with and Dave provided! I think it has turned out GREAT, but we had a few bumps along the way and I, of course, wanted the project started while my mom was here only days before Christmas...probably not the best idea ever!

Before:

Dining room side

Kitchen side

After:

Dining room side

Kitchen side

Dave's brother came down from Tremonton to help with the project. After they had everything pretty much done and put back together (minus the "pretty-ifying" part...texture and paint) and Zach and Tammy had made it back to Tremonton, I was in that corner of the dining room cleaning up a little bit and noticed that the baseboard was pulling away from the wall. Everything in that area felt wet. Dave went down in the crawlspace and realized a water pipe they had to re-route around the opening in the wall was now leaking. He turned the water off and started tearing the wall apart again to investigate where the water was leaking from. He found the leak and repaired it, but then noticed another pipe leaking as well, but by now all the stores were closed as it was Christmas Eve. The pictures below are what our project looked like all Christmas Day. Ugh! Early Saturday morning when the stores reopened Dave was able to get the parts and repaired everything. Now I have a beautiful opening that has already come in handy many many times. Thank you honey and Zach for making my Christmas wish come true! LOL!

In the words of a fellow blogger...

Best. Christmas. Ever.

Sure there were a few bumps along the way, but it was so nice to have Miles around to celebrate Christmas with! Being at home and having my mom around for Christmas was icing on the cake. Here is a recap of what we did the week leading up to Christmas and Christmas itself.

Miles met my dear friend Erin and her family

We had lunch at Tucanos, a Brazilian Grill. Yummy!

Decorating sugar cookies

Miles & Grandma showing off his "1st Christmas" outfit from Erin


Christmas Eve:

Miles opening his first Christmas gift

Christmas pajamas!!!

We all got Christmas pajamas






Christmas morning:

Miles with his gifts. He got the space saver high chair that he is sitting in for Christmas from Grandma as well, but we "broke it out" before Christmas so he could use it! He loves to sit upright and so the high chair was perfect!

Pictures of Miles for Grandma

"Your Story" book maker! I'm excited to make some books for Miles!!!

Miles got a mobile for his crib

and a Baby Einstein jumper!

Dad putting together the toys

Miles in his "1st Christmas" outfit from us

Miles LOVES his mobile!

As you can see, we had a great Christmas! In my next post I'll talk about a "bump" that we had during Christmas, but for now you'll have to wait. This post is entirely too long already! Ha!

Hard to believe...

but today Miles is 3 months old! He is growing up way to fast! In honor of the occasion we are taking him to Kiddie Kandids this afternoon to have his professional 3 mo. pictures taken. Wish us luck!

Update

I haven't been very good at keeping this blog updated lately and for that I do apologize. This post will get you updated on what we've been up to for the last month. Do enjoy!

So You Think You Can Dance:
As mentioned previously, in mid-November I enjoyed a wonderful girls weekend in Vegas. The three of us (Shandra, Erin, & myself) had a great time eating dinner on "the strip" at The Cheesecake Factory and also at the SYTYCD show. I have no pictures to share because I have yet to receive a copy from either of the girls that I went with (*hint hint* Shandra & Erin). The SYTYCD show was basically a recap of season 5 with all of the memorable dances, but there were a couple of new group routines added. They each got to perform a solo as well and Phillip got a standing ovation. He may not have been the best overall dancer, but he sure is good at his style and is very likable. Hopefully someday I'll get to add some pictures to the blog from that weekend! LOL!

Miles' 2 mo. checkup:
Miles went to the doctor for his 2 mo. checkup on 11/19. He is doing good and is growing like a weed. He is in the 86th percentile for weight & 98th percentile for height. He definitely is a big boy! He wasn't a huge fan of the three shots he got that day, but he survived them and rebounded fairly quickly.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra:
Our neighbors were so very gracious and invited us to go see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert in Salt Lake City with them the day before Thanksgiving. We both were very excited to go and were so thankful our neighbors invited us. What an amazing show! The music was great and the show was even better. We were blown away by the pyrotechnics and the light shows. Words can't even describe how cool it was. Dave even got a high five from one of the female singers as she ran down the aisle by him. I think it was a perfect way to start our holiday season! Thanks guys, we had a GREAT time!

Thanksgiving weekend trip to Tremonton:
The Saturday after Thanksgiving we took our first "trip" with Miles. We drove up to Tremonton to Dave's brother's to spend the day with some of Dave's family. Miles got to meet some more family! The drive up there is about an hour and a half and I was little worried how he would do in the car seat for that length of time, but we timed both trips just right so he slept the entire way. He had a hard time taking naps while we were there because of all of the extra "activity" going on around him, but I'm glad we were able to see everyone and that he could meet more of his family.

Miles with Grandma Dorothy

Cousin Gwen

Aunt Megan & Cousin Ira

Miles with Grandpa Steven

Decorating for Christmas:
I'm a sucker for everything Christmas! It is my favorite time of year. I convinced Dave to get our decorations out of the attic the day after Thanksgiving and began decorating the house. If we did things Dave's way, the tree wouldn't go up until the day before Christmas probably, but I usually win the battle and get to put it up after Thanksgiving is over, especially since I'm the one doing the decorating, not him. This year Dave surprised me and actually put lights up outside. AMAZING! We have only had lights on the outside of our house one other time in our entire marriage and that was when we were renting a house in Halstead, KS several years ago. I've asked Dave to do outside lights pretty much every year, but typically he comes up with some excuse as to why he can't/won't do it. So, it was a pleasant surprise to see that our little townhouse was all lit up. Thank you hunny! They look wonderful.

Missy posing by the tree

Miles' first Christmas ornament

Our outside lights!!!

First snow of the season:
We finally got some snow in Provo! It seems like all of the recent storms have missed Provo so when we woke up this morning we were pleasantly surprised to see snow on the ground. It wasn't much, but definitely exciting since it is the first of the season. Now come March or April if it is still snowing like it normally is, then I'll be ready to head south for some reprieve. LOL!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. We didn't go anywhere or do anything (except make a FANTASTIC turkey dinner), but we had a great day hangin' out just the 3 of us. Miles slept through most of the dinner preparation, but woke up just in time to help with the green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, etc. I put him in the baby carrier and he helped with those final meal preparations. Good times!

We have so many things to be thankful for this year and at the top of that list is having Miles in our lives! He brings us so much joy and happiness. He truly is a gift from God. We also are so thankful for all of our wonderful friends and family. We love you all and hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Two months

Miles turned 2 months old last Saturday! He is getting so big and is starting to show his personality more. We absolutely adore him and are enjoying every step of his life. I had two favorite pictures this month on his chair and I couldn't choose between them so you guys get to see both.

Smiling at my silly dad!

For those who pay attention and care, it is the same chair as his 1 month picture, but we bought a cover for it so it would match his nursery colors better.

We are slowly getting his nursery put together so one of these days hopefully I'll have pictures of that too.

In honor of his 2 month birthday (not really!!) I got to have a girls weekend in Vegas. Before we even knew about Miles my mom had purchased tickets for us to go see the Season 5 So You Think You Can Dance tour in Vegas. My mom was originally going to come out for the show, but because of her recent trip out here to meet Miles she decided not to come again so quickly so I invited my friend in St. George and Dave decided not to go as well so he could stay home and watch Miles (what a GREAT husband!!) so I invited a friend from here. The three of us girls had a blast. I didn't take any pictures because I wanted Dave to have the camera in case Miles did something new (didn't want to miss out!!). Shandra and Erin both took tons for me though so when I get pics from them I'll post them on here.

Miles of Smiles

We've had a fun couple of weeks because Miles has learned how to do something VERY spectacular! It makes all those late night/early morning feedings worth it! We think he is adorable and are enjoying him sooooo much!

After he gets done eating we have a routine of him then sitting in my lap for a while so he can look around and take in his surroundings, we sing songs, and it also wears him out! While sitting in our chair in the living room he will always look at the same spot and get such a HUGE smile on his face. He could be looking at our brown wall, but I like to think he is looking at our newly updated family picture on the wall of the three of us.

Here he is with Dad looking at that same spot on the wall

And my favorite smiley picture by far!

His smiles are so hard to capture because as soon as he sees the camera he gets interested in its little red light instead of smiling so these smiley pictures will have to do for now!

Happy Halloween

From our little pumpkin to you!

My favorite part of the outfit!!

Outing with the neighbors

We love spending time with our neighbors and have made it sort of a tradition to go out to eat with them every few weeks or so. We rotate the restaurant choice between the four of us so we get to try new places that we might not normally try. We always have a GREAT time!

Yesterday we decided it had been too long since our last outing with the neighbors so we agreed to go with them to Michelle's pick and ended up getting yummy breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. This was Miles' first outing with the neighbors. I'm sure there will be many more outings in the future!

Miles is sporting a Halloween outfit someone at our church gave us! Too cute!

Miles can poop!!!

Miles brings us so much joy! He makes some of the cutest faces and some pretty cute noises as well. I've been trying for weeks to get a video of his "pooping face." We laugh soooo hard when he does this and the other day I was finally able to catch it on video!

Miles is a month old

On October 14th Miles turned one month old. I am copying a friend's idea and am going to take his monthly picture on the chair in his nursery so we can see how much he grows from month to month!

Since we've been home

Miles is growing like a weed! He has gained a lot of weight and is doing really well (I'm keeping track of his development in the right-hand column for those of you who are interested). The following is a recap of what we've been up to for the last four weeks...

First bath at Miles' new home

Look at those curls!

Meeting dad's coworkers

Meeting Mark, a close friend and coworker

Grandma Carr came from Kansas to visit

Grandma Dorothy came from Logan

Miles at the doctor's

Dad helping at Miles' doctor's visit

Michelle (a dear friend and neighbor) threw us a baby shower

The guests of honor

The gorgeous shower cake!!!

Good times!!!

Everyone loved meeting Miles!

Miles loves his swing

Quality time with dad

Tummy time