Life As We Know It

Super Bowl Weekend

2012-02-10T14:14:00.001-07:00

We originally were going to be the hosts for the Super Bowl party this year, but one of Dave's brothers (Zach) asked if they could host the party since they'd have a brand new kitchen by then. We agreed, but unfortunately weren't going to be able to attend their party (in Tremonton) because of Dave's work schedule at Target. As Super Bowl weekend got closer, they realized their kitchen would be nowhere near complete so we moved the party back to our house, which worked out nicely with Dave's schedule! Because Tremonton is almost two hours away, Zach, Tammy, Lily, and Tammy's brother, Chad, decided to come down Saturday and spend the night. I was super excited to have Lily here so that Miles would have a play buddy around. I unfortunately caught another cold right before they arrived so I'm sure I wasn't the greatest host in the world. Being sick makes me grumpy!

Overall I think the weekend went well. I'm sure Dave wished he could've spent more time with his family, but at least he got to see them and watch the big game together. Dave's other brother, Jake, also came over for the party. Our little house was full! Miles felt it was his responsibility to entertain everyone during the Super Bowl and got super hyper! I finally had to intervene and make him sit down and watch an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on our new tablet. He definitely needed to calm down!

We took Lily and Miles to the park earlier in the day so they could run off some energy (and hopefully take a great afternoon nap) and see the ducks. They both had a great time running around. We spent the rest of our time together eating, watching movies, and playing card games. Although I probably stress out too much about hosting such events, I do enjoy it and wish it happened more often!

Here are some pictures from our weekend together.

Playing Monopoly (card game style)

Miles with his shades

Lily seemed to enjoy the swing that goes in circles until she got going too high

Ducks!

Together on the traditional swings

Miles loves to hang like this in the baby swings

Miles loves slides

Lily was a little hesitant at first

Miles loved to drag poor Lily around

What a cutie pie!

If only Miles could pedal they would've had a blast!

Free day at the zoo

2012-01-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

During the winter months, the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City has free admission days on the last Wednesday of each month (Dec., Jan., & Feb.). My sister-in-law, Megan, invited us to go with them in December, but we were en route home from Kansas for the Christmas holiday. When I saw how gorgeous the weather forecast was for January's date (yesterday), I quickly looked into whether or not they were planning on going again this month. They were, so I started brainstorming how to make the timing of it all work out so that Miles could still get his desperately needed nap for the day and we could make the hour drive up and back and still allow plenty of time to see the animals. Well, Miles helped out with the nap issue. He decided to get up super early yesterday morning which meant he'd be ready for a super early nap! When he woke up around 1 p.m. we loaded up and headed to Hogle Zoo. We met Megan, Gwen, and Ira there and had a great time seeing the animals, riding the carousel, and playing on the playground equipment. I didn't dress Miles appropriately for the occasion so by the end his pants were completely soaked and pretty dirty. There was lots of snow to play with and lots of puddles to jump in. He is definitely all boy! We had a great time and Miles enjoyed seeing all of the animals. He especially loved the snakes, turtles, and carousel ride. He screamed bloody murder when the carousel ride was over!

Miles & Gwen by the BIG (fake) elephant

Mom & Miles on the carousel (don't know what I'm doing with my eyes)

(I hate the way my voice sounds on video. Anyone else feel the same about their voice on video?)

Ira & Gwen on the carousel

Miles found an iguana in the tree

Miles watching two birds fighting. He called the animals in the background "Buddy." He must've thought they looked like doggies.

Miles liked the sleeping "cat"

The turtles/tortoises seemed fairly active and Miles loved watching them

Ira, Gwen, & Miles by the giraffe

Watching the tiger

Playing on the playground

Miles loves slides!

Tumbling Tots

2012-01-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

I enrolled Miles in a Tumbling Tots class offered through our local rec center for 2 and 3-year-olds for the month of January and part of February. He is such an active little guy that I figured having some time twice a week to run around and burn some energy off would be the perfect thing to do this winter! He loves the free time they get during each class. He isn't a huge fan of the structured learning time, but I'm sure as we go along he'll get the hang of it. I think I get a bigger workout then he does just simply by chasing him around trying to get him back on task, but I'm not alone. The other moms in the class are having to do the same thing with their toddlers. It is pretty chaotic most days!

Balance beam fun

Miles loves the bar

He especially likes to hang upside down

Bryce Canyon

2012-01-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Call me crazy, but I love adventures! Even adventures that require spending most of the day in the car for a few hours at a place we've never been to. Last weekend happened to be a long weekend for Dave. It worked out that because of MLK day he got a three day weekend from teaching and it also was his weekend off at Target. We decided to take advantage of this. Dave agreed, with some encouraging from me of course, to take a day trip down to Bryce Canyon in Southern Utah on Saturday, Jan. 14th. Bryce Canyon is about 3 1/2 to 4 hours south of us and we drove down and back in one day! I don't know very many people that would do such a thing, but I love those kind of adventures...and we got to sleep in our own beds that night.

Due to the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, all national parks had free entrance last weekend so it only cost us the gas money to get down there and food/snacks while away from home.

I think we all had a good time. It is such a pretty national park (although I don't think I've seen a national park yet that isn't pretty). It was a first for all three of us too so that was fun. We did as much hiking around as Miles could handle and then headed home. Miles had a blast having races with his dad. He'd also point at the pretty scenery around and say, "Look at that!" He is a bit of a chicken though and was scared to get too close to any of the edges, which made me very happy! Dad, on the other hand, was trying to convince him to go out further than I would like either of them to go. It was a great day and we were home by 8 p.m. to put Miles to bed. At the end of the day we both agreed that it was pretty crazy of us to do such a trip in one day, but we had fun and made some memories and that is all that matters. Hopefully next time we go we'll have a tad bit more time to explore!

Taking a stroll

Posing by a drop-off

He is too interested in taking his gloves off then to smile for the camera

Dad trying to give Miles and Mom a heart attack (they are right on the edge)

Taking our own family photo (we took lots of these kinds of pictures)

Southern Utah is so pretty

Notice how he cautiously walks up to the fence in this video

While I was taking pictures of the scenery, Miles stood in this spot and waited for me to take a picture of him! That is the first time he has ever willing wanted his picture taken.

Miles & Dad racing

Another family photo taken by me

Dad trying to get Miles to go closer to the edge

Dad stuck Miles in a crack in the rocks

Some nice stranger offered to take a family photo for us

Mom & Miles

Miles saw a little girl getting her picture taken on this rock so he wanted to sit on the rock too, but he refused to look at the camera and instead had fun stomping on the snow

Miles wanted to go up a slick hill so Dad offered to take him up on his shoulders

Had to get a picture by the sign

Playing in the snow, finally!!!

2012-01-08T09:36:00.005-07:00

Yesterday we woke up to some snow on the ground! It wasn't much, but it was exciting for us because it has been such a dry winter so far. Even though we haven't been feeling well around here, we decided to get bundled up anyway and go play in the snow while it lasted. We built a snowman, rode around on a sled, admired the snowman and snow-dog work of some neighbors, made snow angels, and ate lots of snow (most of these were done by Miles). Within about a half hour of us coming in to warm up, the snow was pretty much all gone. So glad we took advantage of it while it lasted. Miles wasn't a huge fan of wearing his gloves so his hands got really really cold which in turn made him cranky, but overall he had a great time eating the snow!

Pulling around the neighbor's sled

Eating our snowman

He then knocked the snowman's head off and proceeded to crush it

Saying "hi" to the neighbor's snow-dog

Mommy's snow angel

Christmas Break Part 4, The Finale

2012-01-06T13:04:00.004-07:00

The day after Christmas we spent the majority of the day just hanging out with my grandma and grandpa. I also was able to squeeze in lunch at my favorite taco place (Taco Grande) while we were in Wichita. I love that my grandma and grandpa live close to one! Miles got in a great nap in their dark basement. We even had to wake him up so that we could head to Halstead for dinner at my mom's. My brother and his family came over for dinner as well. It was nice to see him and his girls again. The girls both loved Miles' new instruments and basically took over them for awhile. Miles didn't seem to mind 'cause he had lots of exploring to do at Gra-Gra's!

Our band

Silly Dave

Laiken loved the trumpet

Isn't that just music to your ears

Grandma's guitar was a favorite as well

The next day was Tuesday and it was our last day in Kansas. We didn't do a whole lot that day but play with grandma as much as we could. My Uncle Fred (from Colorado) has been staying at my mom's for a bit so we got to see him as well. We did take Mom and Fred out to the house that I want to buy so badly just to check on it. It is still for sale and it looks like the builder hasn't done anything to it to finish it up. Maybe someday it'll become our house! Wishful thinking!

We then left for home on Wednesday, December 28th. Because of our horrible experience in the hotel room on the way to Kansas, we decided to just push on through and do the entire trip in one day. It was a LONG day, but it was so nice to be at home in our own bed. We made it home at 11:50 p.m. Miles was wide awake for the last hour or so of the trip. He is such a silly boy when it comes to sleeping anywhere but his own crib.

Dave went back to work at Target the next day and resumed teaching on January 3rd.

We did manage to see some of Dave's family on New Year's Day (for some reason I forgot to take pictures). His sister from Washington was in town with her family so we had a big family dinner. I'm so glad we were able to see both sides of our family during the Christmas break. Now life has resumed to normal again and we are looking forward to what 2012 brings for us and our family.

**Congratulations if you made it this far in reading my blog! I did all of this for posterity's sake so kudos to you if you cared enough to continue reading!**

Christmas Break Part 3

2012-01-05T12:57:00.004-07:00

Christmas day was so much fun! Holidays are definitely more enjoyable with a little one around. He was so excited about his presents and reacted just like we thought he would to all of them. He really got the hang of opening presents this year and only needed assistance from Dad a few times.

We made the mistake of letting him open Santa's gift first (a toy violin). He was so excited about it that he couldn't quite focus on the other presents. He would open another gift with our encouragement and would say things like, "Play! Play!" and then would set it down and pick up his violin again and say, "Ah-lin!" It was too funny! He also got a toy trumpet and carried the trumpet and violin around for the next several days. Miles got lots of other great toys and some cute clothes. He was taken care of for sure! He got lots of "big trucks," some books, some wooden puzzles, a train set, and the blanket I had made. He really has enjoyed every gift he got and just goes from one toy to the next all day long.

Grandma showing him how to play his violin

A "big truck"

Playing his trumpet

Grandma helping him with his trumpet

George with a book he got

Cathy with her mug we gave her

Grandma got a big picture of us

Sporting my new necklace from my aunt

Dave got a new sweater

After we were done opening gifts, we then had our traditional Cowboy Christmas Breakfast Casserole. Yummy! We then got to spend a few more hours hanging out before loading everything up again to head south to Wichita for Christmas with my dad's side of the family.

Miles slept almost the entire way to Wichita (about a 3 hour drive) with his violin and trumpet in hand! We all got more wonderful presents and had a delicious meal together. We spent the night at my grandma and grandpa's so we could spend more time with them. I'm so glad we got to spend that time together, it isn't often we get to!

Grandpa helping Miles open his "BIG truck"

Miles playing with his truck with the violin in one hand and the trumpet close by

New clothes

A big truck

Grandpa with his mug we gave him

Great Grandpa opening his mug

We had a wonderful Christmas Day! Thanks to everyone who made it so. We love you all and miss you terribly!

Christmas Break Part 2

2012-01-04T12:43:00.003-07:00

Grandma drove up to Kansas City Saturday morning (Christmas Eve Day) and made it just in time for breakfast so we got to spend almost the entire day with her as well. She needed to do some last minute shopping so while she and I went to Wal-Mart, the rest of the crew took Miles and the dogs for a walk down to the lake in my aunt and uncle's neighborhood. It was such a nice sunny day! I'm glad Miles was able to burn off some energy since he had been in the car for two straight days prior. Wal-Mart was busy, but not as crazy as I had pictured.

We spent the rest of the day chatting, relaxing, and eating wonderful food. My Uncle George made a delicious turkey and my Aunt Cathy had many wonderful sides to go with it. It was a fantastic Christmas Eve Day!

George and the bird

Our feast that Miles slept through (he did get some later)

The Christmas Eve tradition that my family has is for my Uncle George to read "Twas The Night Before Christmas" and then we each get to open one present. With Miles we've started the tradition of giving him Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and apparently my aunt had the same idea. We were all dying of laughter by the end because we all got pajamas and the pajamas we bought were almost identical to the pajamas my aunt had bought. Great minds think alike!

George reading to us

Miles loved Aunt Cathy's tree

Opening his first present (he really got the hang of it)

Grandma's pajamas

Opening my pajamas

Dad's pajamas

By the end of our opening presents adventure, Miles was yelling, "Pajamas!" and "Yea!" It was too cute! He was so happy for everyone to get new pajamas!

After Miles went to bed we watched our traditional "The Muppet Christmas Carol" and then called it a night. We tried to watch some of it while he was awake, but he didn't seem too interested. Maybe next year.

Christmas Break Part 1

2012-01-03T13:06:00.002-07:00

Christmas Break for us began on Thursday, December 22nd. This was the day we left for a very quick trip to Kansas for the Christmas holiday. Even though it was a fast trip, I'm so glad we got to go! Miles doesn't get to see that side of his family very often so any chance we have to make the long trip back to Kansas, I like to take it.

The day before we left Miles' face/eye started to look slightly swollen to me and of course I started to panic. I was nervous about sticking him in a car for two days if he had something major going on. So, I called our fantastic neighbor who is a Nurse Practitioner in a pediatric office. She was so kind and very willing to come over and check Miles out. She listed a couple of possibilities, but figured the most likely cause was an injury. She offered me the reassurance I needed! She also warned me that it could potentially look worse in the morning and it sure did!

Our original plan was to leave fairly quickly after Miles woke up on Thursday so we could make it pretty far down the road before needing to stop for the night, but Wyoming had received some snow overnight and the roads didn't look too good. So we slowly got around and eventually headed out at about 10:30 a.m. The roads in Wyoming weren't perfect by any means, but they could've been a lot worse. During the worst parts we at least had one lane that was entirely cleared of snow. The passing lane on the other hand was pretty much snow packed. We made it as far as Cheyenne, Wyoming the first day which left us another 10 1/2 hours of driving to do on Friday. My aunt was the host for Christmas this year which meant we were heading straight to Kansas City instead of my mom's house down by Wichita, KS.

Our night in the hotel in Cheyenne was rough! Miles just wouldn't settle down and fall asleep and was still going strong at midnight. Once we all finally got to sleep, I woke up an hour or so later in sort of a panic because I couldn't breathe. The room had become so hot and I was starting to come down with a bug. Needless to say it was a rough night for all three of us.

The next day I pretty much slept most of the way (I was feeling pretty awful). Miles did a good job of staying entertained by his movies and Dave did a great job of getting us to Kansas City alive! My aunt said we all looked like raw hamburger when we arrived! That pretty much summed up the way we felt. We didn't spend too much time chatting before we all headed off to bed. Miles did not move once the entire night (which is abnormal for him)!

Miles playing in the hotel room

Buddy wishing he was in the backseat with Miles so he could steal some snacks

Captain Dave

Miles and Momma hanging out in the backseat

Temple Square

2011-12-29T20:26:00.003-07:00

Before leaving town for Christmas, on Tuesday, December 20th we made our annual trip to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the lights. We invited Dave's brother, Jake, and his family to join us for the evening now that they are living close by in Bountiful. I'm glad they were able to meet us there. It was great to see them all again!

It was a fairly short evening because the children all needed to get to bed, but it was so cold that I think all of us adults were ready to leave as well. I think fun was had by all. Shortly after we got to Temple Square we decided we were all hungry so we took Trax (the train downtown) a few blocks to The Gateway Mall and had Rumbi Island Grill for dinner. It was a first for me and I have to say I thought it was pretty yummy. Miles, of course, LOVED the train ride. He wanted to stay on and ride it all over town. After we got back to Temple Square we walked around for a bit. We even let Miles out of his stroller to run and he decided the funnest thing to do was to play in the fountains. It is freezing cold outside and our child still wants to get wet. What a silly boy!

While walking around we had a moment of excitement. One of the lead singers from Vocal Point, Jake Hunsaker, was there with his wife. If you watched The Sing Off then you know who I'm talking about. It was kind of fun to whisper and point at him as he walked by. Lol!

Family photo in front of the temple

Family photo in front of some lights

Jake, Megan, Gwen, Ira, and Sam

Pretty trees at The Gateway

Riding the train

So pretty

We put Sam in the stroller with Miles for a bit, but Miles wanted him out!

Probably my favorite "scene" at Temple Square

Miles getting wet while Ira watches

Trying to get a picture of Miles with the lights

This video has nothing to do with Temple Square, but it is so cute I just had to add it. I didn't have enough lights turned on when I recorded Miles singing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" so you can't see him in this video, but once the lights came on he wouldn't perform for me anymore.

Ward Christmas Party

2011-12-19T13:19:00.002-07:00

Saturday night was the Christmas party at our church. Every year Santa makes an appearance! I was curious to see how Miles would react to Santa this year since he at least sort of knows who/what Santa is. Last year Santa was just some stranger and Miles cried when we tried to put him on his lap. This year he was a little more open to seeing Santa as long as he could keep his distance. He took the little goody-bag from Santa and even gave him a high-five, but when Dad tried to put him on Santa's lap he did not want to have anything to do with him. He never really started crying, he just made it very clear that he did not want to be alone on Santa's lap. Santa even had Dad sit on his lap for a bit as well to warm Miles up to the idea. Still a no go!

The rest of the evening consisted of Dave and Miles getting to eat a nice dinner while enjoying Christmas karaoke from the kids in our ward followed by a live nativity scene. This year the young men and young women were asked to do the live nativity. I am the Secretary for the young women group. Our President informed me a while back that she could not make it to the party and that pretty much none of the other leaders would be there as well so that left me to be in charge. So my evening consisted of running all over getting everything ready for the live nativity. I think overall it turned out okay, but I probably should have put a little more planning into it ahead of time. The evening was a little chaotic for me! I did at least have the Holy Family picked out a week ahead of time and the narrator, but the small details weren't worked out. Ha ha! Maybe next time, although I hope there isn't a next time!

Getting goody-bag from Santa

Sitting with Dad

Get me outta here!

I'm done! Mom stop taking pictures!

Dad is being silly while Miles is getting frustrated 'cause he can't open the candy cane wrapper

Coloring on the tables

Trumpet solo by one of the young men
(Miles LOVES trumpets and apparently when Nate finished playing Miles said, "More!")

The Holy Family with the choir of angels and the shepherds that are hiding behind the angels

The entire scene with our narrator (Cory) in the plaid jacket way off to the right

The wise men bow down to Jesus

Our Holy Family (Our friends/neighbors: The Lapiolis)

Baby Jesus (aka Ian)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

2011-12-12T14:41:00.003-07:00

I'm having a hard time believing Christmas is less than two weeks away! It seems like Thanksgiving was just a few days ago.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas this year. We are traveling "home" (Kansas) for the holiday which we haven't done since Miles joined our family. Plus, he is at such a fun age that I think he'll enjoy opening his presents and playing with his new things. I'm especially excited for him to see what Daddy and Santa got for him. I think he will be so happy! I'll post more on this after Christmas.

This year our Christmas tree only has plastic ornaments on it, but Miles has managed to break one of them. It was an older ornament though so it wasn't entirely his fault. He loves to smell the tree even though we have a fake tree that has no smell to it. LOL! He also loves to grab a hold of the garland I have wrapped around it and yank as hard as he can. He can be so ornery sometimes! Needless to say that doesn't happen all that often 'cause he knows he'll get in big trouble. He is a typical toddler though that has to make sure the rules stay the same from day to day!

We took Miles for a drive around last night to look at the lights. He loved it and would say, "There's another one!" when we'd approach another house with lights. He especially loved the houses that had those blowup things in their yards and also the metal reindeer that are lit up with heads that move. Any time he sees a Santa he yells, "San-Ta!" real loud. We are trying to teach him the words to Jingle Bells 'cause when my nephew was little he sang us Jingle Bells one year (I think he was 3 maybe) and it was the cutest thing ever! I'm hoping Miles will follow in Joe's footsteps.

When I was working full-time from home, I'd put the baby gate up at the bottom of our stairs so he'd have to stay on the main level with me and play. Now that I'm not working I've been leaving the gate down more and Miles LOVES having the extra space to explore. He has made some pretty big messes in his room!

I'm almost done with my Christmas gift to Miles; a blanket made out of his crib sheet from when he was an infant. I'm definitely not the world's best seamstress, but I tried. Hopefully he'll enjoy it. I've made it big enough that it could be used as a blanket on a toddler bed. Those days of transitioning him to a toddler bed are fast approaching us. I'm not looking forward to that at all!

And here are pictures to go with all of this...

Smelling the tree

Since he's not supposed to touch the tree, he likes to climb on the couch and point at all the ornaments. In this picture he has discovered the Mickey Mouse ornament.

Trying to get a picture of him with the tree
(almost an impossible task)

One of his messes in his room. He loves to take all of the books off the shelves.

When I walked in the room Miles was sitting on top of the dog box (which came from our bedroom down the hall). It appears that he was building a tower with his table and chairs as well.

Miles' blanket
The border and the back of the quilt are made out of minky which I'm using for the first time. What a learning experience!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T13:04:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving was low-key this year which was really nice! My mom has been here visiting from Kansas for the week. Miles LOVES having his "gra gra" around! We know that isn't an easy drive to make, but we are so thankful she continues to make the long haul here to see us every once in a while. We love to have her around!

Instead of preparing a big Thanksgiving meal for the four of us, we decided to have our Thanksgiving feast prepared by someone else, Tucanos. Tucanos is a great Brazilian restaurant where freshly grilled meats and vegetables are brought directly to your table for your selection. In honor of the holiday they also had turkey prepared many different ways and the traditional sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, etc. It was so nice and relaxing! I stress out way too much over preparing a big meal like that so I'm particularly thankful I didn't have to do that this year! Plus, we got extra goodies like my favorite garlic sirloin. We even sort of got to celebrate the occasion with our dear friends and neighbors who were with their family at the table right next to us. Too funny!

Miles particularly loves the tongs he gets to play with while at Tucanos

Happy Thanksgiving Dada and Miles

Our waitress took a family photo for us

Towards the end Miles had lost his patience so we
brought out his "big truck" for him to play with

Happy Thanksgiving Gra Gra and Mommy

Even though we had pumpkin pie at Tucanos, I decided to also make a pumpkin pie just so we'd have some to enjoy later. This was my first attempt at making a pumpkin pie completely from scratch (well, sort of...I bought pumpkin in a can and didn't prepare that straight from an actual pumpkin). Dave helped out with the crust (he pretty much did 99% of the crust actually). Our pie got rave reviews from those who ate it.

My dear hubby doesn't necessarily agree with this, but since it is the day after Thanksgiving we've been busy putting the tree up and making sugar cookies. I just love this time of year! I think we need to get some shatterproof ornaments this year though since we have a VERY curious 2-year-old.

Grandma leaves tomorrow so we have to get as much holiday celebrating in as we can!

Family pictures

2011-11-25T08:20:00.002-07:00

Our photographer, Aynn Thurman, posted a preview of our family photos we had done in the middle of October on her website. I think they turned out great despite the fact that Miles was way more interested in playing than cooperating for pictures. I've also realized how much weight I've gained back and it makes me disappointed in myself. Where did all of my motivation go? Ugh!

If you are interested in seeing the preview, visit her website by clicking here.

Projects Galore

2011-11-14T14:20:00.003-07:00

For the last five weeks I've been unemployed and have enjoyed every minute of it! I've been spending my free time working on projects. I've probably gone a little crazy with how many new projects I've started as well as working on older projects I never got finished. I am a bit overwhelmed at this moment which seems so silly to me! A few of my projects have deadlines though (Christmas gifts) so I need to keep trucking along. Here are some pictures of my latest projects.

I got this idea from a fellow blogger who got the idea from a craft blog.
I don't have any Halloween decorations really so I decided to start with a homemade wreath.
(this was made back in early October)

I finally finished Miles' stocking that I started shortly after he joined our family in 2009

We started a cabinet refinishing project on October 20th.
What a HUGE project! We'll be lucky if we are done with this project come spring.
I'm very pleased with how our first finished cabinet looks though!!!!

Miles even helped me while I was painting one day!

With the help of a friends' step-mother, I'm attempting to crochet dishcloths
for the first time in my life

These are the squares that we cut out when Miles & I went to St. George. I haven't even begun to sew them together yet, but I laid them out to get an idea of what it will look like and I'm excited to work on it when I get a chance.

Trick-or-treating

2011-11-01T13:12:00.002-06:00

Dave unfortunately had to work last night so Miles and I were left to figure out what to do on Halloween with just the two of us. We fortunately live in a great neighborhood and were invited to tag along with a few of our neighbors for trick-or-treating. Last year we only went to a couple of houses of people we knew so this was his first experience with real trick-or-treating. I figured he'd love running around the neighborhood with his friends.

We had a great little group of trick-or-treaters and even picked up a couple more along the way. One of those added to the group was an older boy dressed up as a vampire. Miles was scared to death of him! He ended up in the stroller for a while. He did some trick-or-treating that way which was making me laugh so hard. I finally "forced" him to get over his fear and join the others in running around and he agreed. He caught on to the process fairly quickly and would even say his own version of trick-or-treat, "oo oo treat!" He was very polite and would say "thank-you" too. He is such a sweet little boy.

We didn't make it as far as the others did before a full blown meltdown began to happen, but for his first official trick-or-treat I think he did a great job. It was pretty much bedtime anyway so we came home and handed out candy for a while before we called it a night. We had a lot of fun and are so thankful for such wonderful neighbors and a great neighborhood!

Attempting to get a picture of him before the fun began

Trick-or-treating companions
(the three little ones are all pretty close in age)

Miles' version of trick-or-treating

Our fun neighbor, Kory, handing out candy
(his house is always decorated so fun)

Miles couldn't wait to crack open the candy

Returning from his last house
(right before the meltdown began because mom wouldn't let him have another sucker)

St. George

2011-10-31T14:17:00.002-06:00

Amongst all of our Halloween fun, Miles and I made a fast trip to St. George last week for a few days to see my friend who lives down there. We haven't seen her in a while so I'm glad we were able to go. Miles was a great traveling companion! He does really well in the car. He doesn't sleep so well when he isn't in his crib, but we managed. We were both pretty tired though when we got back last Friday. It was such a whirlwind because our time was short and I didn't get very many pictures, but we had a great time catching up! Another bonus from the trip was that Erin helped me cut out some squares so that I can make a quilt out of Miles' old crib sheet. She has this nifty machine that makes cutting squares easy-peasy! Now I just need to get my other projects done so I can start making him a blanket.

Miles and Brynlee (Erin's baby who isn't much of a baby anymore) at McDonald's

Erin & Brynlee making a spiderweb at Brynlee's preschool Halloween party

Miles had a blast on this little bike thingy even though he biffed it in this video

Halloween Fun

2011-10-31T13:15:00.003-06:00

Every year the young men and young women of our church put together a Halloween carnival for the little kids the Tuesday before Halloween. It is so much fun to see all of the little ones dressed up and having a good time. Miles enjoyed running around the gym of the church and eating candy! He really lived up to his costume and "flew" everywhere! Because I "work" in the young women organization of our church, Dave had to get Miles ready for the event and put him to bed alone that evening, which I was told was not an easy task. He was so stimulated by everything going on!

The church had bats flying around!

Miles, our little airplane

Miles pumpkin bowling

The daughter of one of the ladies I "work" with in YW
She is so adorable!

Miles waiting for dad to give him some CANDY!

Miles fishing

We finally got our pumpkins carved last night. I was half-tempted to not even carve pumpkins this year because it was getting so close to Halloween, but we went ahead and did it and I'm glad we did. Miles enjoyed the process a lot more this year than last year. He still isn't big enough to have much of a say in what his looks like, but he enjoyed watching us do the dirty work while he munched on the pieces. He is such a little boy!

He'd put his hand in it, but wouldn't pull anything out

It's a cup!

Helping mom with the eyes

Dad is working on the mouth

Yummy pumpkin!

Miles with his pumpkin

Our finished pumpkins

I love how they look lit up!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-14T13:50:00.002-06:00

The three of us went to a pumpkin patch this week and picked out our pumpkins! This is one of many "events" that we did in the past just because, but now that we have Miles it is SO much fun to go and do these things with him! He loves to do new things and loves to get out and explore. He had a great time running through the corn maze, looking at the live animals, bouncing in the bounce house, and picking up every pumpkin he could and then throwing every pumpkin he could all the while saying, "heavy!" We are trying to teach him that you don't throw pumpkins, but it isn't sinking in yet! He loves to take our pumpkins off the porch and throw them as hard as he can. It'll be amazing if they make it to Halloween.

You'll notice in 99% of these pictures he isn't looking at the camera. His new ornery thing is to ignore mom when the camera comes out. I have to get creative to get any shots of his face.

Running through the maze

For some reason he thought it was his responsibility to give this scarecrow a kiss

"Look Miles, an airplane!"
At least I got a picture of his face

Our little family

Look at those BIG pumpkins!

He pointed at this goat and said, "Cow!"

Miles and his pumpkin

Cute things he says

2011-10-13T13:13:00.005-06:00

I've been horrible at keeping a journal and not so great at keeping updated with Miles' baby book so this blog is a way for me to keep track of the comings and goings of our lives. Lately Miles has been saying some of the cutest things and I know if I don't post them here, I'll forget all about these things when he is older. He really tries his hardest to say things correctly, but there are a few things that he has come up with his own words for.

For example...

"Gua-gua" is grandma and lately it has sounded more like "gra gra"

"Mow-y" is his word for either a lawn mower or motorcycle

"Lin" is his word for violin

"Tee-tee" is what he says when he wants to watch one of his shows

"La-la" is lion

"Shracker" is tractor

He is getting better about saying "Buddy" (our dog) versus "Bu-ee" and is clearer when he says "milk" so that it doesn't sound like "book." He also says "Ein-stein" now instead of a word that mainly sounded like "stein." He loves to point out any airplane, tractor, or bus that we see when we are out and about and says those words pretty clear as well. He just is so darn cute!

It's a Whole New Era*

2011-10-07T15:12:00.002-06:00

Ever since I met her, she has had a paying job. When we first met she was a certified nurse assistant. She did that before and after we got married. After we moved to Kansas, she went back to school. All the while she kept working. On top of being a CNA, she did other jobs like Subway (wanted to be like me I reckon :) and some babysitting for some friends of ours.

After a while, she grew tired of the CNA job and while she finished getting her degree she joined the medical transcription world. After she graduated, she stopped doing medical transcription and successfully acquired a job with the American Cancer Society. She worked there full-time while I finished school. At the end of my second to last semester of college, she moved to a new division of the American Cancer Society. She continued to work for them until I found a job in Provo, UT and took her away from that job.

Once we got to Provo, she became a medical transcriptionist once again. We had high hopes that we would be able to have kiddos at this point, so it was a temporary stopgap until the kids came. The idea being that she would be able to make motherhood a full-time job. Well, the kids just never came, so she kept working doing the same old thing over and over and over again. She was bored with it, but kept plugging along. She held on to this job even while she went out and worked full-time as a manager of a portrait studio and then taking pictures of newborns at local hospitals.

She switched transcription companies in August of 2009. As a new employee, she was excited about what this new company had to offer her in terms of time off and benefits as well as being able to pay off some bills with the amount of work she could get done. Shortly after she started with the new company, the kid came. While we endured the saga of getting our precious little one, she didn't have any time off. She kept working even while away from home. We finally received Miles and she kept working. There was not time for her to take time to enjoy being a mom. Most moms get some sort of maternity leave, but she didn't. Adoption was expensive and we had to pay for it somehow, so she kept working.

All the while, Miles required a mother and she still kept working while being that mother. She did both for a bit over 2 years now and has done an amazing job! She is a great mother and has worked so hard and has endured plenty. And at last, she can put all of her focus on being a mother. I am so excited for her! She has hoped for this day to come for a long time now, and it finally came to fruition.

A whole new era in her life has just begun! The good news, it is what she has looked forward to for so long. The bad news, she still has to work!

I love you honey! Thanks for all you do to make us such a great family. I am so proud of you!

*I (Holly) was confused at first as to where this post came from and then I realized Dave hijacked my blog and wrote this! LOL! What a sweetie.

Warm fall day

2011-10-07T14:22:00.002-06:00

Dave had Monday, 9/26, off of work (I'm not exactly sure why the district gave the teachers this day off, but I'm sure they had a good reason). I had promised Dave a round of golf for his birthday back in July, but he never had the chance to go because it was too hot in Kansas this summer and then when we got back things were just busy. So, that morning Miles went to daycare and I stayed home and worked while Dave went out to play a round of golf. He had a great time and wanted to go back again later in the day! We made a compromise and decided to go miniature golfing with Miles instead. We bought this great pass that gives us free admission to a few of the local attractions such miniature golfing, swimming, etc. With it being Miles' first time at miniature golfing I wasn't sure how it would go over, but he ultimately has a great time doing anything as long as he can explore. He covered every inch of that miniature golf course and even hit the ball a few times with dad's encouraging.

Dad teaching proper technique

Miles was too interested in all the rocks...

and checking out where the balls were going

He had fun retrieving the balls from the holes

He almost got to ride a go-cart for his first time too, but the line was too long and there was only one worker running the show so it was taking an extremely long time

SAHM vs WAHM

2011-09-30T10:57:00.002-06:00

I've had the privilege of working from home for a little over six years now. I had a few occasions where I really wanted to do something different so I ventured out and got a job being a portrait studio manager and the like, but I've continued to work from home at least on a part-time basis. It was my hopes that we would receive children into our home at some point and me having a job at home would make things easier, for example not worrying about having to find daycare, etc.

When I became a WAHM (work-at-home-mom) I had no idea how hard it would actually be to work full-time while taking care of all of the mother and wife responsibilities. I thought being a WAHM would be the perfect fit for me and my family because I would still be involved in the daily routine of raising Miles, but would also be able to contribute to our finances. Everyone who knew I was working from home would say things like "that is so wonderful that you can work and be at home." Although it was a huge blessing, it was also a HUGE struggle for me as well. I remember when Miles turned four months old and his sleeping habits changed and I literally cried every day. I didn't have enough hours in the day to get everything done. I felt like a failure at motherhood and at being a good employee. I finally approached my boss about cutting back my hours to what they call mid-time, between part-time and full-time. He agreed to let me do this with the end result of me working back up to full-time again as soon as possible.

Well, here it is about 1 1/2 years later and I'm still only able to do mid-time. Miles keeps me so busy and it is hard to find time to devote just to work...hence the reason Miles joined the daycare world in August, which he LOVES!

But, the good news is that on October 7th I will become a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom)! I couldn't be more excited! Because of recent help from the government we received in the form of the adoption tax credit and our dedication this past year to getting our debt level paid down, I'm able to finally quit my job and see what it is like to be a SAHM. I always thought I'd be a SAHM from day one, but because of a few bad decisions we made early in our marriage financially, our efforts to try and conceive naturally (four rounds of artificial insemination and two rounds of in vitro), and ultimately Miles' adoption that cost us about three times what we were "prepared" for, I just wasn't able to quit when Miles joined our family. I had also just started with a new company and had no time off when we flew out to North Carolina to pick baby Miles up so my work went with me. I worked the whole time we were there and also from the second we got home until now. Needless to say I'm ready for a break and ready to enjoy some great times with Miles.

I am a bit nervous about what we will do to fill our time, but everyone around me says I'll be surprised at how fast our time is filled up with "things." I have a long list of things I want to get done too like finishing his Christmas stocking I started shortly after we brought him home, make a blanket out of his old crib sheets, paint the kitchen cabinets, and do some deep cleaning to our house. I also want to take him to story time at the library and to the transracial adoption playgroup weekly. It makes me giddy to think about all the fun we hopefully will have! Having no job is a whole new world to me since I've pretty much worked nonstop since my first job back in high school. This should be fun....

And here are a couple of unrelated pictures for you to enjoy...

Miles put both of their hats on for them...to cute!

We went for a drive through the mountains to see the fall colors...so pretty!

Grandma's last day

2011-09-24T14:32:00.002-06:00

Grandma was here for only a short time, but we are so glad she was able to come and help us celebrate Miles' birthday. Her last day here was last Sunday, 9/18. On their way out of town we decided to follow them to Provo Canyon. We stopped at a park along the way and let Miles play and spend a few more minutes with Grandma and Dale before they took off for their long journey back to Kansas. We were sad to see Grandma go, but hope to see her again soon!

Miles loved going down this slide and would do it over and over and over again!

Trying the balance beam with mom's help

Group picture
(Pickles - the dog - wasn't too interested in cooperating! Ha ha)

A visit from Washington

2011-09-20T21:00:00.000-06:00

This post is out of order. Last week was busy getting ready for the party so I didn't have a chance to blog about this before all of the birthday stuff happened...

Dave's sister and her family were here for a quick visit from Washington the weekend of Sept. 10th. It was so good to see them if even for a short time. It has been way too long! The weekend was full of good conversation, good company, and good food!

The girl cousins

Miles and Grandpa Kent

Nate showing off his Wii skills

Ann with the babies (Milla & Sam)

What we did to celebrate...part 2

2011-09-19T14:41:00.006-06:00

We had Miles' birthday party last Saturday (9/17). We decided to take our chances with the weather and have it outdoors at the Scera Park in Orem. Miles and I went to this park for the first time with playgroup a while back and I fell in love with it. It has everything I wanted for his party: Playground equipment for the kids to play on, open grass areas for the adults to play games on like Bocce Ball, bathrooms, a covered pavilion, NO river close by, NO traffic close by, etc. etc. The weather turned out to be great as well! It was a nice little party for a very special 2-year-old little boy!

For some odd reason I wasn't fully thinking through the logistics of everything. We rented the pavilion for the 4-9 o'clock block of time and I invited everyone to show up at 4 o'clock. This left us NO time to decorate the pavilion. Dave and I had come up with this plan on how to deck out the pavilion in primary colors and Little Einstein decor (the theme of the party), but it didn't quite turn out like we had planned. I sent Dave over to the park around 3 hoping the pavilion would be empty so he could start decorating. When he got there there was a large gathering of people using our pavilion. After he got that all straightened out, it was pretty much 4 o'clock. The first guests to arrive got to help Dave decorate! Needless to say it didn't quite turn out how we had planned, but it looked great anyway. Miles was late to his own party because my mom and I were having a bit of a crisis with the "Rocket Juice." The basics of that story is that I need to toss my blender, it is a worthless machine!

Since we had the pavilion rented from 4 to 9 I had envisioned this nice leisurely party with no rush to get anything done at a certain time. Because we were late to the party and had all of the food items with us, I sort of felt rushed to get that all set up in case everyone was starving. From there we just went right into the cake and presents 'cause people were starting to leave. Needless to say it didn't happen leisurely (at least for me), but we got it all done and it left time for the kids to play on the playground equipment and the adults to play Bocce Ball at the end.

When it was time to leave, Dave had to carry a screaming boy to the car because he was having so much fun and wasn't ready to leave! I think everyone had a good time including the birthday boy! It was fun getting friends and family together to celebrate. I do enjoy planning a party. Now I just need to work on enjoying them even if things don't quite go as planned!

Miles got some really great presents and has had tons of fun playing with his new toys. Thanks to everyone for your kindness to our sweet little man!

All the grub

"A grandma sandwich"

Gwen & Ira

Megan & Sam

Baby Ian

Dave's beautiful decorations

My attempt at a Little Einstein cake

My attempt at centerpieces

The birthday boy stealing licks of the icing

At the very end of this video you can hear him say, "Again!" So cute!

He pretty much destroyed it, but didn't actually eat very much of it

Our neighbors wrapped their gift in a diaper. Miles thought that was pretty cool.

Opening presents

Playing on the playground

He got that yellow bat from his uncle, aunt, and cousins and
wouldn't let go of it the rest of the evening

Swinging

What we did to celebrate...part 1

2011-09-18T20:11:00.004-06:00

This week has been a fun-filled week celebrating Miles' 2nd birthday! It also was a tad bit stressful (at least for me) because I'm a tad bit OCD and want everything to go perfectly, which it rarely does, but it all works out in the end. My mom and her friend, Dale, came to town for a very quick visit this weekend for Miles' party. I'm so glad they could make it and share in Miles' special day.

On his actual birthday, Sept. 14th, it was just the two of us (Dave had to work at both jobs). I thought it would be fun to take him out for a mommy/son date. Pretty much the only thing he will eat these days is pasta so we went to Chili's for dinner to have their yummy Cajun Chicken Pasta. Miles isn't a huge fan of the waiting that happens at restaurants and provided the people around us some great entertainment (even throwing his plate full of noodles crashing onto the floor at one point). After our adventure at Chili's I took him to The Cocoa Bean to get a cupcake to celebrate. No birthday is complete without some cake! He took a bite or two of the icing and then was off running to explore the cafe. He isn't much of a sweets fan which is so foreign to me!

Yummy pasta

Look at all those yummy cupcakes

The front part is what I had eaten and the back part was all that he had eaten

Playing in the cafe...on the floor nonetheless (yucky!)

Look who is 2!

2011-09-14T07:28:00.003-06:00

Today is Miles' 2nd birthday! The past two years have flown by so quickly! Even though it brings me great joy to watch Miles grow and develop, it also saddens me that my baby is getting so big. Miles is such a cute little guy and everyone who meets him falls head over heels for him. He has a great personality and a huge heart. We are so blessed to have him in our family and I'm so lucky to be his mom! He teaches me how to be a better person on a daily basis and how to have fun along the way. Happy birthday Boo! We love you and hope you have a fantastic day!

Those eyes just melt my heart!

Water baby

2011-09-04T09:45:00.003-06:00

It is hard to believe it is September already! We've all settled into our new routine quite nicely. Miles is really enjoying daycare and mom is enjoying the small break to get some work done. He enjoys it so much that last Friday he woke up and said, "Play?" When dad gets ready to take him to daycare he asks if Miles wants to go play so now daycare is known as "play." Daycare was closed Friday because of the holiday weekend so Miles was a little disappointed he had to "play" by himself while mom worked.

Even though we are back into our "normal" routine, we've still managed to have some fun together. We've played in the pool in the backyard and have even gone swimming at the public pool a couple of times (of which I got no pictures). Fall is in the air now so our swimming days are numbered.

The other exciting thing to happen in August was the arrival of our newest neighbor! Ian was born on August 27th to our good friends/neighbors, Wes & Michelle. We are so excited for them and this new adventure in their lives. Plus, we love having babies around to squeeze and hold.

Last day of freedom

2011-08-26T09:31:00.004-06:00

The day before Dave started back to work teaching (8/16/2011) we took some time out of our morning to take Miles up to Bridal Veil Falls up Provo Canyon. We haven't been up there since last summer so we figured it was time. I knew Miles would have a great time running around on the Provo River Trail. He also enjoyed sticking his feet in the very cold water! On the way home we ran into some neighborhood friends and chatted with them for a bit while Miles and their kiddo ran around some more. It turned out to be the perfect little morning get-away that we all needed.

Posing with dad

Posing with mom

Miles doesn't walk anywhere!

"Oooo!"

Very cold water

Taking a dip

"Ooo! Look mom!"

Horrible

2011-08-24T19:48:00.003-06:00

I've been so bad about updating the blog lately and frankly it is because I've had no desire to do it. When we got back from Kansas (about 2 1/2 weeks ago) we hit the ground running trying to get all of our "chores" done from being gone for six weeks and then also getting Dave ready to head back to work at both of his jobs. Needless to say it has been busy and I've been tired!

We decided to put Miles in daycare for three mornings a week to give me some devoted time for work. I was very anxious about this at first, but now that he has been going for a week I can see how much fun he is having there and how much better it is for him then being here with me with the television being his babysitter. He has a hard time when dad drops him off initially, but then she claims he is fine the rest of the time and he is very happy when I pick him up a few hours later.

We also decided to get a second car. It has been years since we've had two cars (we both can't even remember when it was). We live so close to Dave's work that he just walks normally so we never felt the need. When Dave took on his second job about a year ago I started feeling like maybe a second car would be nice because Miles and I are stuck at home in the evenings. Dave's brother decided to sell their 2005 Hyundai Tucson and we decided it was a good time for us to go ahead and buy a second car so we took their vehicle off their hands. It was nice getting it from someone we know so we can ask questions like when were the headlight bulbs replaced last, etc. (They are probably sick of all of our questions!)

So, to finish up our trip to Kansas I need to post pictures of the projects Dave did at my mom's house. Enjoy!

The finished floor in the "breakfast nook"

The faux copper ceiling in the "breakfast nook"

Dave putting the floor down in the kitchen

A new threshold between the kitchen and dining room

A few of the boards were broken in the hallway and Dave replaced them

The finished "breakfast nook"

Dave sanded, stained, and polyurethaned all of the baseboards in the "breakfast nook" so that they would match the laminate floor. He also sanded, stained, and polyurethaned the window frame and the door and door frame that leads into the "breakfast nook." This project is what took the majority of the time! He is now a pro at staining! We had hoped to be able to sand, stain, and polyurethane all of the hardwood floors in the rest of the house this summer too (as you can tell from the pictures of the threshold and the hallway), but Dave just ran out of time. Maybe on our next visit???

Dave always does such a good job at everything he does! I'm absolutely positive my mom appreciated all of his hard work this summer. He is a life saver!

Time to ponder

2011-08-13T13:19:00.004-06:00

The last week in Kansas was pretty hectic for Dave trying to get all of his projects at my mom's done. He felt like he wasn't very productive this summer at her place, but he had no reason to feel that way! He got a lot done for her and I know she appreciated all of it. In my next post I'll put some pictures up of the projects he got done. It all turned out fabulous!

Even though he was busy, we did take some time to visit a memorial bench and plaque that was put up at Hadley Middle School in Wichita, KS in honor of my sister. She was attending that middle school when she died in 1996. I've always been so impressed that her fellow classmates and the school decided to honor her in some way. It was a very nice gesture indeed. All these years I've wanted to stop and take pictures of it, but for one reason or the other it has never happened. This time I made sure we got pictures. I think it was extra special visiting it this time too now that Miles is a part of our lives. It makes me super sad to think he'll never get to meet his Aunt Sabrina in this life, but hopefully in the eternities they'll be buds!

The plaque

Family photo
(we didn't notice there was trash in the background until we took this photo)

Miles wouldn't sit still

Hadley Middle School

Birthdays Galore

2011-08-04T07:00:00.000-06:00

The end of July/beginning of August is a busy time for our family. There are lots of birthdays to celebrate during that time. We ended up having about six official/unofficial birthday parties during that time this year. It was a busy week, but I'm so glad we were around to be able to celebrate with so many people. I also probably gained 10 pounds with all of the cake consumption unfortunately!

My mom started off the week of birthdays. Her 60th birthday was on Sunday, July 24th. We decided to have a small party on the official day. She got to pick out the cake flavor for me to make and requested a white cake with butter cream frosting. Yummy!

Dave's birthday was Tuesday, July 26th. For his birthday he chose to eat dinner at Abuelo's in Wichita. Mom watched Miles so we could go out for a nice peaceful evening. After dinner we stopped by and visited with my grandparents before heading off to Lowes to buy Dave a sander. He wants/needs it for projects at my mom's, but he also said it would come in handy when we paint our kitchen cabinets...if that ever happens. LOL!

My brother and his two girls came over on Thursday, July 28th, for a combined birthday party. We celebrated mom's, Dave's, and my birthdays. Dave got to pick out the cake flavor for me to make since he didn't get an actual cake on his birthday. He picked out a spice cake with white icing.

Getting dinner ready

These three were mesmerized by Little Einsteins

Attempt at getting a posed picture of the three of them

We only had the 6 & 0 candles so Dave had to pretend he was turning 60 too

Patiently waiting for the cake!

We then went to Kansas City for the weekend. Friday, July 29th, a group of my friends from high school and their spouses got together to celebrate birthdays. We had a great evening catching up with old friends! My mom and aunt Cathy watched Miles again (we've been so blessed this summer to have "adult" time) so we could just go and have fun. We stayed out WAY too late and paid for it the next day. We definitely aren't young chicks anymore. LOL!

Me, Erika, Mike, Jill, & Sheena
(our spouses are taking the pictures)

On Saturday, July 30th, we had another combined birthday party with my aunt Cathy and uncle George. George cooked a fantastic meal on the grill and I made a triple layer lemon cake with lemon cream cheese frosting. It was my pick for the flavor. Boy was it yummy! Once again we celebrated mom's, Dave's, and my birthdays.

On Sunday, July 31st, after we got back from Kansas City and Miles woke up from his nap, we drove into Wichita to have a combined birthday party with my dad's side of the family. My grandma's birthday is July 27th so it is squeezed in there with the rest. My grandma ordered the cake this time (I think she felt sorry for me having to make all those cakes earlier in the week although I enjoyed every minute of it). She only put Dave and my names on the cake though because I think she refuses to celebrate her birthday. She can be ornery sometimes!

Miles, me, and my dad waiting for cake

Happy birthday David, Peg, & Holly is how it should read!
(Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting)

Grandma apparently doesn't like to have her picture taken

Our gang

He loves ketchup

2011-08-03T07:00:00.001-06:00

Miles loves ketchup and really anything that he can use for dipping. We were trying out a new restaurant in Newton (Huddle House) and decided to see if Miles would like ketchup on his waffles. And the verdict is...YES! He apparently will eat ketchup on anything. So, when we are struggling to get him to eat something we just bring out the ketchup and he eats it right up.

The Zoo!

2011-07-31T13:19:00.009-06:00

In honor of my mom's 60th birthday (7/24), we decided to take her to the Sedgwick County Zoo. We went on Saturday, July 23rd. It has been 100+ degrees almost every day that we've been here in KS so going to the zoo was a risky decision. We headed out to the zoo as soon as Miles woke up hoping to beat the heat, but it still got HOT and fast. We were all pretty much wiped out by the end of our visit. I think we all had a good time though. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Miles riding the fake horse

Trying to get food out of the machine (with some help)

Feeding the obnoxious goats

More obnoxiousness

Miles enjoyed feeding all the animals

Wandering through the rain forest
(It actually felt nice in there compared to the outside temperature)

Grandma taking a break

Posing by the bear statue

Most of the animals were just laying around trying to stay cool

I love that the gorilla is "stretching" in the background

This guy was swinging from the ropes and banging against the glass
before posing for this picture

A few more...

2011-07-28T14:19:00.003-06:00

For some reason all of my photos/videos from the concert didn't upload to my computer. The other day I noticed them on my camera and noticed there were a few that I felt were blog worthy.

In this video Donnie recognizes the guy in front of us that he gave the hat too

Boston Boys

Boston and Orlando Boys

Weekend in KC part 2

2011-07-25T13:09:00.015-06:00

After our swimming adventures with Aunt Cathy, Dave and I got ready for our date night at the NKOTBSB (New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys) concert. I've been trying to get Dave to attend a NKOTB event with me for a couple of years now and he, rightfully so, has refused until now. I'm so glad he finally agreed to go with me. I had a blast and it was great having him by my side. He is a GREAT guy! He is such a goof too. He'd scream right along with us crazy girls every once in a while (especially when Donnie ripped off his shirt!). Below are some pictures and videos from our evening. I know there are a ton, but I had a hard time limiting them. Between the two of us (we both had cameras) we got a lot of pictures that night!

Opening act - Matt Morrison from Glee

Proof that Dave was there

The beginning of the show

NKOTB

So happy to be there!
We had pretty good seats - row 5 from the end of the stage

I'm such a dork!

NKOTB

NKOTBSB

NKOTB

Joe McIntyre

BSB

NKOTB

Jordan Knight in the crowd behind us

Donnie Wahlberg

Kansas City love

A hat signed by Donnie*

*One of the bigwigs with NKOTB came up to a guy who was sitting in front of us during the concert. This guy had very visible scars from what looked like a very bad burn covering all of his visible body. This guy was a very proud BSB fan and would sing and scream along whenever they were on stage. The bigwig asked him and the lady that was with him a few questions and then disappeared. A few minutes later he came back with a signed ball cap from Donnie Wahlberg. Donnie must have noticed him out in the audience and decided to do that for him. How sweet! It really made me smile even bigger. Later in the concert this guy started screaming for NKOTB and the lady who was with him leaned over and asked, "I thought you didn't like these guys?" We couldn't quite hear his response, but by his body language you could tell that he had changed his mind. That was a fun moment to be a part of!

On Sunday we had lunch with some of my aunt and uncle's friends that we've met on past skiing trips. They recently moved from Arizona to Kansas so it was fun to see them in Kansas. They also got to meet Miles for the first time. After Miles' nap we met one of my friends from high school, Mike, and his family at a frozen yogurt place (yummy!) for a quick visit and then headed back to my mom's house in Halstead. The weekend went entirely too fast, but we had a great time!

Weekend in Kansas City Part 1

2011-07-19T19:53:00.009-06:00

Last weekend (7/15-7/18) we went up to Kansas City. My aunt lives up there and I also have four friends that live in that area as well. The main reason we went that particular weekend though was to see the NKOTBSB (New Kids On The Block and Backstreet Boys) concert. An added bonus was to see friends and family! We had a great weekend. Time just flies entirely too quickly and we weren't able to see two of my friends, but we have a return trip planned on 7/29 so hopefully we can see them then.

Friday night a friend of mine from college, Brook, invited us over for dinner with her family. We had a great time chatting and catching up. Her kids are so big and so grown up! Thanks for the wonderful visit Brook!

It was close to bedtime and Miles started to get really crazy so her kids turned on one of their video games and Miles chilled right out. He never just lays down on my lap and relaxes so Dave had to take a picture to prove that he can do it.

Brook, Miles, and I

Brook and her family

There was a beautiful harvest moon Friday night.
Too bad a picture just doesn't do it justice!

On Saturday Aunt Cathy took us swimming at the community pool. Miles had a lot of fun walking around in the shallow end.

Playing in the water with grandma

The top of Dave's head was starting to burn so he
borrowed my aunt's gorgeous hat!
We had to pose for a cheesy family picture. Lol!

More fun

2011-07-19T19:07:00.008-06:00

I'm not doing such a hot job at keeping the blog updated this summer. We've just been having too much fun and there is a lot to share!

We made a return visit to the Hesston Splash Pad and this time we were prepared with bathing suits and towels. Miles enjoyed it more the second time. He had warmed up to the idea and had a great time. There also were more kids around and he enjoyed watching all of them playing in the water.

Dad forcing Miles to be brave

Dad once again forcing Miles to be brave

He probably drank several gallons of water or at least his diaper later in the day appeared as if he did

Dave working on the laminate floor. Since this picture was taken he has now finished that room and has moved on to the laminate in the kitchen. There are still several small projects to do, but he is slowly getting to them all. It is hard to work while watching a toddler!

The girls came over to play in the pools

Keaghan and Laiken in the boat

It is really hard to get a picture of these three together

I found a house that I really want to buy! It is still in the process of being built and is on about 1 acre of land. I just can't get over how much "cheaper" real estate is here than in Utah. Too bad our townhouse in Utah has lost so much of its value!

First week

2011-07-05T10:51:00.020-06:00

Our first week in Kansas has flown by rather quickly! We've been busy visiting with friends and family and taking full advantage of grandma's backyard and all it has to offer (including chiggers)! We haven't even begun working on the projects that we came to help my mom out with yet, but we did squeeze in a trip to Lowe's last Saturday to order the supplies for Dave to put in a new laminate floor. I'm excited to watch that project start to come together when everything gets here later in the week.

In addition to the pictures below, we also got to spend some time with a friend of mine from high school, Jill, and her son Alex. Alex is such a cutie and a VERY smart kid. The last couple of trips I haven't been able to see him because of scheduling conflicts and boy has he grown up since the last time I saw him. Jill is doing a GREAT job! We also were able to attend a baptism of one of my old roommate's (Julie) 2nd child. It is crazy to think that my friends and I are old enough to have not one, but two kids that are of baptism age (which is 8 years old in our church). Where does the time go? I'm so glad we could attend that baptism because this family currently resides in Louisiana on an army base. Julie's husband is currently stationed in Afghanistan and is on leave for 14 days for R&R. It was great to catch up with him as well!

Miles all set for a LONG trip with a blanket up to block the sun, snacks to eat, his favorite stuffed animal watching over, and his favorite DVD to watch!

Day #2 and fast asleep

Miles really is a great traveler!

Grandma has a great old claw-foot tub

Miles playing on grandma's fun teeter-totter

Laiken playing with one of grandma's fun books

Keaghan petting grandma's dog (Pickles).
She is a tad bit scared of dogs if you can't tell.

I don't think I've ever mentioned on the blog Miles' way of comforting himself. I want to mention it because it might be one of those cute things that we forget about after he outgrows it. He doesn't take a pacifier or suck any of his fingers, but he loves to take his big toe and rub it on his lips. Sometimes he'll even just rub his pointer finger on his lips which is actually how it started, but then he moved on to his big toe. It sure is an interesting form of comfort, but whatever works!

Miles and grandma

Miles and mom

First trip to Menards. Apparently this hardware store is popular in the northern mid-west part of the country. We had never heard of it before and weren't real impressed, but we did get a swing for grandma's backyard there.

Impromptu visit to the splash pad in Hesston

He had a lot of fun playing with the cannon

Getting wet

Grandma even got in on the fun!

Gotta love Dave's song writing abilities

He loves the swing

He loves his pool and the slide

Just chill-axin'
What a stud muffin!

Miles got his arm stuck between the wall and the crib! Oops!

Miles and his great grandpa

We spent the 4th of July on the lake with my dad and his wife, Lisa. I was so excited for Miles to be on a boat for the first time. He had a blast and enjoyed every minute of it. Here he is wearing grandpa's hat.

My dad riding the air chair

Mom, Miles, and Grandpa in the boat

Miles on the knee board. Lisa wanted to see if he would ride it while being manually pulled back to the boat. Towards the end I think he got the hang of it. He might be actually water skiing before we know it.

Dad and Miles driving the boat

My stud muffin!!!

Happy Independence Day!!!

Warm welcome

2011-06-30T20:32:00.004-06:00

The bugs in Kansas have given us a very warm welcome. Apparently they love the taste of our Utah blood! Thankfully Miles seems to have been spared from the warm welcome. This is Dave's waistline if you are wondering.

Chiggers are the pits!

Father's Day Visitors

2011-06-23T17:00:00.000-06:00

Zach, Tammy, and Lily came down on Father's Day to spend some time with us before we leave for our big trip to Kansas. It was great to get to spend some time with them. Even though we only live about two hours away from them, we don't get to see them as often as we would like. Lily is growing up fast, just like Miles. I hope these two become good friends!

Miles is a thief! He kept stealing Lily's favorite monkey.

Miles needed a bath and when Lily heard the word bath, she decided she needed one too!

Apparently in all of the years that we have lived here we have never taken Zach and Tammy to the Provo River Trail. We decided to take a stroll and risk getting rained on. By the time we started to head back, it started raining pretty good. Everyone was pretty soaked, but we had a good time. Zach even "rescued" two snails to add to his fish tank.

Misc. fun

2011-06-22T17:00:00.003-06:00

Lately Miles has been mimicking our dog, Buddy. He likes to eat things directly off of the table without using his hands. When we go outside if there happens to be any water on the back patio he'll get down on his knees and drink the water off the ground, just like Buddy does. I have to say that although I'm not too excited about this new "thing" it is entertaining and I've had a few good chuckles from watching him do this.

Apparently he even likes to lay in it

In the last day or two Miles has figured out how to climb up on our TV stand. He loves to watch "movies" (his favorite is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse) while I'm working. Yesterday I noticed he was being quiet so I turned to check on him and this was what I found.

Miles loves to run around and dance. I have added a couple of videos below for those of you who care to see him in action. We are enjoying his cute personality and awesome dance moves!

First swim of the summer

2011-06-21T21:45:00.008-06:00

About a week ago we took Miles swimming for the first time this season. We went to our favorite pool in Lehi because it is partially indoors and also has lots of fun things for smaller kids to enjoy. Since we've had such a crazy spring, it has been slow to warm up. We thought a partial indoor pool would be more enjoyable, but it was sort of breezy that day which made it chilly. Miles' bottom lip wouldn't stop quivering the entire time we were there. Poor kiddo! I thought he'd run around and splash in the shallow water, but he was glued to whoever was holding him at the time and did not want to let go! I think had it been warmer he probably would've reacted differently. We'll definitely try it again!

He was infatuated with the big bucket that drops water and kept pointing at it and saying, "ready, set, go!"

"Dad, don't leave me here alone!"

Safety

When we first got there Dave took him down this slide and it spooked him. Later he did okay as long as Dave held him up above the water.

What a handsome boy!

Splashing

Having a good time

How we kicked off the summer

2011-06-01T21:19:00.007-06:00

Dave is done teaching for the year! Yippee! I couldn't be more excited! For two weeks we'll get to enjoy life with him only working one (part-time) job. He then will start teaching summer school which will only last for two weeks and is only for a few hours a day. It'll be nice to have him around more.

We decided to kick off the summer by going to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City this morning. Since moving to Utah we had yet to visit. Dave says he went as a child, but it was so long ago that he couldn't remember details. Miles loves to see all the animals on his "movies" that he watches so I assumed he'd love the zoo. That kid is easy to please. Give him the opportunity to run around and explore new things and he is as happy as a lark!

My mom asked me if there was anything in particular that he liked and I couldn't think of something that stood out. I think he just enjoyed seeing everything. We rode the train and he loved that. He loves to say, "choo choo" when he hears the train in our neighborhood so it was fun for him to get to ride on one. We also had perfect timing in seeing the elephant show. We got to see the baby elephant, Zuri. She is 2 years old and is dang cute!

We were only there for a few hours, trying to squeeze it all in before nap-time. I think we managed to see almost everything. We also couldn't leave without getting him a souvenir. As a child I had a stuffed polar bear as a souvenir from a zoo trip. Miles picked out a stuffed giraffe. We also scored big because they were 50% off. Yea for mom and dad!

"Look at the Raven"

Miles among the prairie dogs

Playing on the playground

Train ride

"Ooooo"

Posing by the elephant

It's Zuri!

Watching the show

Christie, Zuri, and their trainer

Posing by the rhinos

This guy was walking right above our heads

Miles' reaction to having a "cat" above him

I was lucky to get a profile pic of Miles. He was interested in that giraffe.

Hangin' out

He loves his new stuffed animal!

Fun Run 4 Kids

2011-05-28T14:10:00.005-06:00

Last Saturday Miles participated in his first official race! Our neighbors organize the Fun Run 4 Kids every year to raise money for children in Africa. It is a 5K race for adults and they also have races for children. Miles was in the 0-2 year old group and ran the 100 meter dash. I was so excited for him to participate because as most of you know, he doesn't walk anywhere, he only runs. When the kids started lining up for his race, I got a tad bit nervous because he started to get grumpy. We ended up at the back of the pack because he wasn't cooperating. But after the race started Miles quickly made his way towards the front of the pack. With that age group most of them headed off in their own direction, etc. It was so much fun to watch and be a part of. When we got close to the finish line and everyone was cheering, Miles got a little spooked by it all, but as long as I was running in front of him he kept following me. When we crossed the finish line the lady asked for his name so I knew he had placed, but I wasn't sure in what position. The boys and girls ran together, but they had 3 winners for the boys and 3 winners for the girls. During the award ceremony I learned that he had gotten 2nd place! Yea Miles! He got a fancy medal that he refused to let the lady put around his neck. He also got to pick out a prize and picked a bucket full of toys to play with in the sand.

While we waited for the other kids races to happen (we rode to the park with a neighbor who had entered her kids in the races too) I got my workout in. The race was held at a park up Provo Canyon. The Provo River runs through that park and it was booming! Miles, of course, was interested in the river so he kept running over to it to check it out. I'm such a worry wart and was afraid he'd jump in and we'd never see him again. It was a tad bit stressful to say the least!

Ready, set, go!

Making a pass

Coming around the last corner

Crossing the finish line

2nd place!!!

He did not want to stand there for a group picture

Checking out his medal

Indoor fun

2011-05-25T20:41:00.006-06:00

Because the weather has been so rainy lately, playgroup last week was moved to an indoor location. We went to Lowes Xtreme Air Sports in Provo. I figured Miles would have a blast running around and jumping on trampolines, etc. He was pretty much in constant motion the entire time running from one place to another. He did get sick of the "kiddie" area after about an hour so we ended up leaving earlier than the rest of the group. Notice that in most of the pictures Miles is blurry because he wouldn't stop for one minute. He just loves getting out and running around!

Stare down

Won't even stop for a pic with mom

Miles enjoyed being bounced by the older kids unless they got too crazy

Run, run, running

Lawyers are Taking Over My Family

2011-05-22T19:50:00.008-06:00

As of May 14th, 2011 I have 2 brothers that have completed the daunting task of law school. Congrats to the 2nd for finishing up and graduating on that day! It was a fun but short trip to go and see him and his awesome accomplishment. I took Miles with me so that he could hang with my family that he doesn't get to see all that often. Holly got to stay at home and have some peace and quiet for a day or 2.

Miles and I flew into Spokane the evening of Friday the 13th. Miles did great on both flights and was a fairly good traveler overall. We got into Moscow, ID around 10:30 (11:30 in our heads) and put Miles straight to bed. We both got up around 7:30 Saturday morning and went out to the living room of my brother's house. The pictures below help tell the story of the time in Moscow and the graduation.

Miles and his cousins sitting down to a lovely breakfast to get the day started off right.

My sister decided before the graduation ceremony that I needed 2 eyebrows instead of just one. I tried to convince her that it would be okay and that I needed to take care of my son, but she viciously attacked and I was without choice. (Miles was fine playing)

Once we got into the building for the graduation ceremony, we ended up on the 3rd floor balcony of the student center food court to allow the kids to run around during the ceremony (which worked out nicely for the kids, but I still don't know what really happened). Miles was infatuated with this statue in the space where we were. His smile is adorable, so that is why I put this in.

Of course when the camera comes out, he wants it. He is a determined little kid. He of course didn't sit through any of the graduation. I am still trying to recoup some energy from that adventure.

This is my little brother (the JD) after a long drawn out ceremony (he would agree). He was probably more relieved than us since he was in the robe and all. In reality, it is always a relief to be done with school.

In all my mother and 5 of us kids and some of our families were able to make it. It was great to get as many of us together as we did. With such a large family, it is quite a feat.

It was a short, but great trip. Miles, my mom and I left first thing the next morning to fly home. We ended up on the same flight. It was nice having my mom available to help out. Thanks, mom! Plus Miles got some time to get to know her better. Miles did great and for that I was very grateful.

Pond-front property

2011-05-21T15:46:00.004-06:00

Apparently we purchased pond-front property and didn't even know it! We've had so much rain this spring. The last storm that made its way through dumped on us and the field behind our house looked like this when I woke up Friday morning.

By the end of the day the sun made its appearance and this little pond was full of people having a good time. It appeared to me as if it might be about 3 feet deep based on where it was hitting the adults who stood in the middle of the pond. Apparently there used to be a pond there several years ago and it was decided for safety reasons to drain it and fill it in. We've been here for almost five years and not once have I seen water in that corner of the field. This definitely explains the big rocks that I've never understood the placement of.

A guy was busy pumping out the water last night and today we have a much smaller pond. We still have tons of people gathering to play in it though. I know I'm weird, but that doesn't at all sound appealing or sanitary!

It's finished

2011-05-18T12:54:00.002-06:00

Our helper

2011-05-14T12:12:00.004-06:00

Last week I was getting the house ready for the babysitter (thanks again Alice for watching Miles!!!) to come over on our anniversary. I'm one of those people who hates to have a dirty house when visitors come over and will go crazy cleaning in preparation. I knew that Miles probably wouldn't be content just watching me dust, vacuum, etc. and I was right. While I was dusting he got a little grumpy so I decided to get him his own dust rag so he could help. He LOVED it! He followed me around the house dusting everything I had just dusted. He is such a cutie pie!

Dusting the picture

Making sure it is clean

How we celebrated it

2011-05-13T19:19:00.004-06:00

I've been wanting a nice cake stand for a while. I was hoping to find one that would become a family heirloom and one that we used for everyone's birthday cakes now that I'm obsessed with making cakes from scratch! After looking around at different cake stands I realized that I didn't want to spend the money for most of them because I couldn't personalize them. After hearing about a local pottery studio (Color Me Mine) from a couple of friends, I thought it might be nice to check it out and see if they had a cake stand that we could paint ourselves. So, after a very nice anniversary dinner at Olive Garden Dave kindly agreed to take me to Color Me Mine to check it out. I know it was probably the last thing on his list of fun things to do to celebrate our anniversary, but he is a great guy and went along...and even helped me paint! He didn't have much say in the matter though...LOL!

We decided to paint a fairly basic design on the cake stand. We decided to paint it using our wedding colors; periwinkle and yellow. The base or main paint color is the periwinkle and the accent swirls are yellow. After we decorated it they then dipped it in a clear glaze and fired it which in turn makes the paint a more vibrant color. Because of this process, we can't pick it up until Monday though. I'm so excited to see the final product and can hardly wait for Monday to come!

Here are a few pictures of our masterpiece!

Painting the first of three coats

Dave's hands are steadier than mine so he got to do most of the 2nd and 3rd coats of paint on the swirls

Stamping the swirl design

The finished product (well, sort of)

I'll have to add a picture of the officially finished product when we go pick it up on Monday!

11 years together!

2011-05-11T13:19:00.003-06:00

It is hard to believe that we've been married for 11 years!

We had only known each other for a short six months before we were married. You could say that we didn't completely know each other on our wedding day and were both taking a huge leap of faith, but we were madly in love and knew that we were meant to be together.

We've had some really fantastic times together during the past 11 years that I'll never forget. We've also had some really tough times together, but we loved and supported each other through it all and I think came out the other side stronger together as well.

It might sound cheesy to some of you, but I know that Dave is my soul mate! He is the perfect other half to this relationship. He balances me out in ways others are not able to do. He lets me have my "crazy" moments and doesn't hold them against me. He is so understanding, loving, and forgiving. I sure am one lucky girl!

Thanks babe for sharing the past 11 years with me. I love you with all of my heart and am continually thankful to the Wedels for setting us up! I look forward to many many more years together!

I did a post back in 2008 about our fun love story. If you care to read it, click here.

Spontaneous

2011-05-04T20:11:00.006-06:00

After the snow we woke up to Saturday morning, I was beyond ready for a change of scenery. We decided mid-morning to pack up and head to St. George for the weekend! I always have these grand spontaneous ideas, but normally talk myself out of them. This time I decided not to. We reserved a hotel room and loaded up. We were on the road in time for Miles to take a nap in the car and arrived in St. George at dinnertime.

I texted my good friend, Erin, who lives down there to tell her we were coming. She unfortunately had to work Saturday evening, but it worked out because we were able to eat dinner at the restaurant she works at. Saturday night was a very rough night. Miles came down with a cold or has allergies or is teething or something. He had (and still does) a horrible runny nose and was so congested it made breathing hard. He absolutely did NOT want to sleep in his pack-n-play. We finally got him to sleep in our bed somewhere around 11:30 p.m. We tried everything, even driving around St. George, but nothing seemed to work until he just finally gave up and crashed. He is a crazy sleeper and covers every inch of the bed he is sleeping in. He even would throw himself on top of myself or Dave and still be sound asleep. Needless to say we didn't get hardly any sleep. He then woke up at 6:00 a.m. and was ready to start the day. UGH!

Because he had such a short amount of sleep overnight, we decided we'd offer him a morning nap in the car while we drove down to Mesquite. I think the drive between St. George and Mesquite is pretty so it was a nice excuse to make the drive. We ate breakfast at the hotel and then loaded everything up. When we got back to St. George we went for a little hike. Apparently Miles is scared of big rocks! It was funny watching him. He didn't want to get too close. After our hike we grabbed some lunch and then met Erin and her family at a park. The kiddos played at this really neat park while Erin and I got to catch up. When Miles started to look sleepy again we said our goodbyes and then headed home. Although we got almost no sleep, it was still nice to get away and to soak up some vitamin D and warmer temps that St. George almost always has to offer.

My boys in their shades

Miles was not thrilled to be surround by rocks

Getting a little braver

Buddy enjoyed the hike

Mr. Explorer

He loves slides

Still a kid at heart

Erin & Brekan

Miles' turn

Spinning round and round

Miles helps himself to everything!

It was so good to see you and the kids again, Erin! I'm glad you guys were available to hang with us! Hope to see you again soon.

No thanks!

2011-04-30T08:44:00.003-06:00

On Thursday at the playgroup we were wearing short sleeves and sweating (and I even got a stupid sunburn)! Now this...

To this I say, "No thanks!" I'm ready to get off this roller-coaster ride we've been on all spring!

Playgroup

2011-04-28T19:48:00.004-06:00

After some persistence and being a tad bit nosy, I was able to find a playgroup in our area for Miles and I to attend. I've been thinking for a while that it would be nice to find or create a group where the parents and the children are different races like our little family is. Good thing I didn't have to create this group because it probably never would've happened! I am so excited about this new opportunity! I want to provide Miles as many experiences in life that I can and I think providing him time with other families that look like his can't hurt at all.

I did a little blog hopping or stalking as some people call it and ran across this blog of a lady who is involved in this playgroup. I made a comment on her blog about wanting to get involved. She emailed me back and pointed me in the right direction. This group meets on Thursday mornings. I'm hoping Miles and I can make it a weekly thing!

This morning was our first time. Everyone was very welcoming! Because the weather didn't cooperate last week, they decided to move their Easter egg hunt to today. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We met at a park. The kids played on the jungle gym and ate lunch together and then went on an egg hunt. Miles LOVED every minute of it. He isn't quite at the age of playing with others yet, but he enjoyed watching the other kids and moms and also "borrowing" all of their stuff including their leftover food!

Here are some pictures from our adventure.

Group shot that was NOT easy to capture!

He loves climbing up slides

Hunting for eggs

Enjoying the goodies

Our little parrot!

2011-04-27T10:57:00.005-06:00

The time has come for us to start watching what we say around Miles! He is learning so many new words on a daily basis and loves to mimic everything we say. I do not have a "bad" vocabulary by any means, but I do have at least one bad habit that I would've rather Miles not pick up, but of course he did. Apparently I say, "Oh shoot!" a lot. For the last couple of weeks he has been walking around the house saying, "Oh shoot!" He doesn't always use it in the right context, but he sure loves saying it! I do have to admit though that I chuckle just a little bit when I hear him using it. He is a cute kid even if he is picking up his mom's bad habits!

Also, the other day I had a sneezing attack and at the end of it I said, "Oh man!" A few days later I noticed every time after he sneezed he said, "Oh man!" He even would say it if dad or I sneezed. It was like he was using it instead of the common "bless you" phrase that most people use after you sneeze. The funny moment came while we were at church last Sunday. In our religion, after someone says a prayer the congregation follows the prayer by saying "amen" in unison. Shortly after one of the prayers and the congregation said "amen" in unison, Miles perked up and said, "Oh man!" Dave and I both had to control our laughter! Amen and oh man sound so similar!

And on the subject of Miles being so darn cute, here are some pictures of him doing one of his favorite activities these days.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T19:53:00.008-06:00

Holidays are so much more fun with children around! Pre-Miles our Easter holidays were pretty low key, but this year we did a few extra fun things to celebrate the day. Here is a recap of our festivities.

We had Miles' pictures taken in his Easter outfit.
He is at such a tough age to photograph!

Last night I decided to get creative and made a bunny cake.
I think it turned out okay.
Dave requested a spice cake, which I'm not normally a fan of, but it actually tastes pretty darn good!

Miles & momma all ready for church.
He is always a pill just in time for church.
It doesn't help that church is during his nap time!

Easter basket goodies!
Because of Miles' age we had to get creative with the things we put in his Easter basket. We got him a set of plastic golf clubs (which wouldn't fit in his basket), some bubbles, and a couple of hardback books that talk about the Savior and what Easter really means.

Easter egg hunt in the backyard

He was even able to find them in our jungle!

He had so much fun finding the eggs

Golfing for bubbles

Dad had fun too!

Eager to eat the bunny

When eating just isn't enough

2011-04-21T21:02:00.003-06:00

Lately Miles hasn't been so cooperative in the eating department. On this particular night we (mainly Dave) decided that it would just be easier to let Miles do what he wanted at dinner instead of fighting with him to eat. This is what he came up with...

See if this works...

2011-04-21T10:53:00.002-06:00

On the ride home Miles apparently thought it would be fun to empty his entire sippy cup of water down the front of his shirt. Boy did he have fun!

*I finally had to resort to You Tube after trying for hours and hours to get Blogger to upload this video. Frustrating!

Spring break

2011-04-20T20:29:00.009-06:00

After the boys got back from their trip to Tremonton we were able to squeeze in a few more fun things together as a family before spring break was over. Provo has a new indoor activity center called the Provo Beach Resort. They have a toddler area that I thought Miles would LOVE so we decided to check it out. I forgot the camera though, so no pictures. He did enjoy the toddler area, but he enjoyed the arcade with all of the lights and music more. Seems we didn't need to spend the money for him to play in the toddler area (good thing it is only $1).

We wanted to take Miles to the zoo, but the weather and the timing of it all just didn't work out. Instead we decided to take him to the Thanksgiving Point Farm Country. He loved running around and seeing all of the farm animals. He especially liked the cows and the goats. The goats got very vocal begging for food when people came by and Miles would "yell" right back at them. It was funny!

"If I could just get this open I could go play with the baby cow!"

Hay rack ride

Too busy "flirting" to stop for a picture with mom

"Look mom, it's a horse!"

Babies!

Noisy goats

On the ride home Miles apparently thought it would be fun to empty his entire sippy cup of water down the front of his shirt. Boy did he have fun!

(I have a video of him doing this, but it won't let me upload it right now)

Trip with dad

2011-04-12T21:10:00.003-06:00

Dave and Miles are currently on a father/son get-a-way. Dave is on spring break this week so we decided that it would be nice for those two to spend some quality time together while I stayed home and worked on a few things around the house. They are in Tremonton visiting Dave's brother and are scheduled to come home Thursday morning. It hasn't even been 24 hours yet and I miss both of them TONS although it is nice to have a little break from being mom and wife. I took today and tomorrow off of work so that I could tackle our laundry room. When we got new carpet a few months ago everything (aka junk) in our closet and Miles' closet ended up in our tiny laundry room and there it has sit. I decided it would be good to devote some time to going through it all and organizing it. Spring cleaning! Gotta love it!

Dave has sent me a couple of pictures from their trip so far.

Golfing with Dad and Uncle Zach

"Say cheese!"

Government Shutdown

2011-04-09T20:07:00.002-06:00

I have to say that I'm very glad that we avoided a government shutdown! Normally this kind of thing wouldn't affect me too much, but this year it would've really irritated me because of other events that have happened in our life related to our tax return and the adoption tax credit we are eligible for this year. Am I being selfish? Probably so. I know a government shutdown would've been a bigger deal to lots of other people, but let me feel sorry for myself for one moment...after all, this is my blog. Hahaha!

The story begins back on February 16th when we mailed in our tax return. We would've sent it in earlier than that had the final draft of the adoption tax credit form been complete. Within a couple of weeks the "where's my refund" option on the IRS website said that due to a processing delay it would be April 12th before we could expect our return. We were a little confused about what this processing delay might be, but there wasn't anything we could do about it. A little more time passed and then one glorious Friday we had a nice deposit in our checking account from the IRS, but it was missing the adoption tax credit and was just our regular refund money. We checked the "where's my refund" option online again and it now said that we would be receiving a letter to explain what further information was needed from us to complete our refund. It took a couple of weeks, but our letter finally came. This letter said that our return had been picked for review since we were claiming the adoption tax credit and that we should expect to hear something from them regarding their decision on our return within 45 days. The end of that 45 day period was scheduled for May 12th.

Yesterday we received yet another letter. This letter informed us that our return was being reviewed and that now we needed to submit our adoption finalization forms, receipts from adoption related expenses, etc. etc. This is all information that was required to be submitted with our original tax return. Dave immediately got on the phone to find out what had happened to all of this information we already submitted. Some lady at the IRS told Dave that the office that we mailed our return to is a completely different office then where the actual review is taking place and that we need to fax the same information we had already sent in to this new office. They could send our information between offices, but it would take at least six to eight weeks. So on Monday we'll resubmit our information and hope that they don't delay this any longer and just give us our tax credit!

I have to keep reminding myself that there are people out there that do fraudulent things which leads to these kind of measures needing to be taken so that only those who truly do qualify get the money, but...it is so frustrating to have to jump through all of these hoops to prove we are telling the truth. Ugh!

I am thankful though that our country values adoption and wants to financially help out families who adopt because of the high cost of adoption.

No different

2011-04-04T13:24:00.004-06:00

Unfortunately this spring is no different than every other spring we've experienced since living in Utah. This state really likes to tease us! We get nice beautiful spring-like weather and our spring flowers start to pop up out of the ground and then we wake up one morning with this view out our window (pictures taken yesterday morning).

My bleeding hearts

Apparently the wind was blowing rather fierce with this storm (I slept through it all) and snow was blown back behind things that normally never get any moisture on them. The snow stuck to the side of the shed and also on to the siding on the townhouse. It is all pretty much gone today though so hopefully we can start to warm up again!

It's Always Fun When Grandma Comes!

2011-04-03T19:34:00.008-06:00

My mom made the long journey from Kansas to Utah this last week to visit us. It was a short visit (or the time went by too quickly), but I'm glad she made the effort 'cause I know making that drive is a real effort, especially with storms along the way. We all had a great time. Miles really enjoyed having Grandma around. He hadn't seen her in almost three months, but he acted like it was just yesterday. I'm so glad that his little brain remembered her! I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

While she was here towards the end of the week the weather was beautiful so we were able to get out and enjoy it together. A few of the highlights of her trip were our visit to Cabelas, story time at the library, and playing at a local park. Below are some pictures of our week with Grandma.

Looking at the fish at Cabelas

Cheesy Miles with the moose at Cabelas

Giving Dad "loves" at one of Mom's favorite burrito places

Mesmerized by the entertainment at story time

Watching with Grandma

Looking at the ducks at the park

Slide time

Dad is too big for the slide

Swinging with Grandma

Any time Miles hears a plane fly over he points to the sky
He loves airplanes!

Forced to stop for a quick picture with Grandma

On the big swing
He loved swinging and looked as if he could fall asleep!

It's a little hard to hear Miles, but if you listen closely you can hear him saying, "Weeee!"

Business idea

2011-03-12T19:23:00.003-07:00

I'm not sure this will ever happen 'cause I'm not very brave when it comes to things like this, but it is fun to dream about.

A little background information...on Valentine's Dave took me to a dessert cafe in Orem that he had heard about from friends and co-workers. When we pulled up to this house on the main drag in Orem, I have to admit I was a little apprehensive, but as soon as we walked in the door and looked around for a bit I was in love! The Chocolate is this stinking cute and fantastically wonderful place to get desserts such as cakes, cookies, cupcakes, cheesecake, bars, brownies, pastries, etc. The fun thing about it is that they've taken an old house and spruced it up so that each room has a couple of tables in it and maybe even a couch or chair so that you can sit down and enjoy your dessert. On Valentine's it was "Dessert by Candlelight."

As we sat there that night eating our delicious "Cazookie" (a big cookie freshly baked with vanilla bean ice cream on top) I thought it would be so much fun to open up a place like that myself someday. Anyone that knows me really well knows that even at 31 years of age I still struggle with what I want to be when I grow up. The idea of opening my own dessert cafe got me really excited and the wheels started turning in my head.

We decided to splurge and get me a KitchenAid stand mixer so I could start experimenting with different dessert recipes. So far I've used it to make two cakes from scratch (which I've never done before in my life) and pizza dough. I absolutely love the thing! My cakes haven't turned out exactly how I would like them too, but that is the point. My dessert cafe is years away from opening, if it ever even does! I need to start sharing my desserts though because the pounds are slowly going back up. UGH!!!

The catch in this little dream of mine is that I know I could not open something like this in this area because obviously it already exists. I'm thinking it would have to be something I tried to do if/when we ever move back home (Kansas). I envision this cute little cafe in some small downtown area in some small town in Kansas. How fun!

My first chocolate cake.

It looks horrible because I didn't have enough of the right size of round cake pans so I just used those disposable pans you can buy at most stores and they don't have straight sides. Also the icing didn't set up quite right and it was super runny. I think the taste of it was all right. The icing was made with semi-sweet morsels so it was a bit overwhelming. I need to try another chocolate icing recipe for sure!

My first white cake with butter cream icing.

This cake tasted delicious, but the icing was too thick! You can tell in the picture that I kind of just pasted the icing on there because it was so thick. I'll have to try it again and make sure I add more of the liquids (possibly more of the whipping cream???).

I'll just have to keep trying until I find the perfect recipe for all of the desserts that I would want on my menu. I've thought about taking a cake decorating class, but I've decided that I don't want it to be about how pretty the cake is, but how good the cake tastes! Simple!

It's been a while

2011-03-11T19:27:00.004-07:00

We haven't had a lot of stuff going on lately, just normal life, so I haven't really felt the desire to blog. But Miles continues to learn and grow daily and I figure some of you might be interested in hearing what he is up to these days.

Miles' vocabulary is expanding tremendously. He still sort of focuses on one new word and says it over and over and over and doesn't really say the other words he has learned as much, but he still knows those words and will use them occasionally. One of his new words is "mess." If his sippy cup leaks a little onto something he'll say "mess" and wipe his hand over it to clean it up! He'll also say "mess" if he dumps his toys out all over the floor, etc. It is entirely too cute.

One day while we were eating lunch he held his sippy cup up to me and said something that sounded like "cheers" so I took my glass and clinked it on his and said, "Cheers!" Now every time we are drinking something he has to clink our glasses together and say "cheers." I'm not exactly sure what he was trying to tell me the very first time he did that, but to me it sounded like cheers and we've run with it. It is pretty comical!

He is becoming such a great helper. He loves to clean up his highchair tray after he eats and wipe his face and hands. Yesterday it was such a beautiful day outside so we went out and raked some leaves and he did a fantastic job at helping me put the leaves in a trash bag. He LOVES to be outside and begs for us to put his shoes (which is another word he likes to use these days) on so he can go out. I'm glad we've had a couple of nice days lately and am looking forward to it getting warmer and warmer.

Miles is starting to get a little picky when it comes to food. It is so bizarre to me too because what he devours one day he won't even touch the next day...so it has been hard to buy groceries for him. I've been able to get away with him eating something different than what I'm eating for breakfast and lunch up until lately. He has decided he wants exactly what I'm eating. I'm not very good at eating vegetables or a wide variety of food so that is becoming an issue.

With the weather being a bit nicer, we've been able to get out and explore. Miles has discovered the moon (during daytime hours) and loves to point it out and say "moo!" He'll point it out about a hundred times in the matter of 15 minutes or so. He also loves to point to the sky when he hears a plane flying over. Sometimes he gets lucky and can actually see the plane and that makes him super happy.

He is learning body parts and knows where a nose is although he refers to it as a "no." He also knows where eyes are. We are working on where our ears are because he currently refers to them as "eye" as well.

He likes to bark at dogs and loves to pick up things off the ground and hand them to whoever will take them from him.

It is so much fun to watch him learn and grow! We aren't quite as excited about the "fits" he throws when he doesn't get his way these days, but I guess that is to be expected in his toddler-hood.

Miles' new friend

2011-02-16T12:57:00.004-07:00

Miles got this bear for Valentine's Day. He loves to sit on its lap and drink his milk!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T06:40:00.001-07:00

So ready for spring!

2011-02-12T14:46:00.005-07:00

It seems like at least one of us has had some sort of illness that we've been dealing with for the past month or so. This week we all got the pleasure of feeling icky! I think we caught some sort of stomach flu while visiting family last weekend. Needless to say it was a rough week and I'm ready for warm weather to get here now!

Miles discovered the purpose of his chair this week (he hasn't really been interested in it before) and spent a lot of time relaxing in it because his tummy was hurting. We went through a lot of pants this week as well so I just gave up and let him run around in his diaper instead. Poor kiddo! I'm happy to report though that we are all feeling better, at least for the moment.

New things

2011-02-03T19:49:00.005-07:00

We got new carpet last Friday and I absolutely LOVE it! It makes our house look a lot different, which is a good thing. To save ourselves a few bucks we decided to do the furniture moving and removal of the old carpet ourselves (I say we, but it was really Dave doing most of the work). After the carpet was installed, but before we put everything back in its place, I got this crazy idea to paint our bedroom. I've been wanting to do it for a while, but just haven't had the motivation. An empty bedroom was all the motivation I needed. It always amazes me how a coat of paint can change the entire look/feel of a room. I think it turned out pretty nice. Below are before and after pictures.

This was taken last May
The bottom step really shows the wear

Isn't it pretty?

Before

After

Since I'm horrible at keeping a journal, but do an okay job of keeping our blog updated, I've wanted to try out Blog2Print so that we would have a hard copy of all of my blog posts. I started this blog in 2007 so I'm only four years behind! I knew it would be too large of a book if I tried to have it all printed out (it might not have even been an option) so instead I decided to break it down into years and start with the most recent year we completed, 2010. It isn't exactly perfect because the editing options on Blog2Print are very limited and of course videos aren't included, but it is nice to have it. Now I just need to work on 2009 which was a busy year for us because of Miles' arrival.

Just because

2011-01-25T20:49:00.003-07:00

Miles' new favorite place to sit
(on the back of the chair in the bay window so he can keep an eye on all the comings and goings of our neighborhood)

I can't get enough of that face!!!

Watching the snow fall earlier today

Cutie

2011-01-18T19:18:00.002-07:00

We were told that between 15 and 18 mos. that Miles would start learning more and more words and that he would change so much during that time frame as well and so far he hasn't disappointed us. It is amazing to see how much he is learning!

A few of his new words include hello, back, no, and please. Of course some of those words don't sound exactly right, they sound more like ow (hello) and pwease (please). If he hears a phone ring either on television or in our house, he runs to where the sound is coming from, puts his hand to his ear, and says, "ow." He also loves to tell Buddy (our dog) to get back when he is eating treats and Buddy is trying to steal them from him. He also likes to say, "no no no!" to Buddy when he gets mad at him. Most of the time it is because Buddy has run away from him because he is being pinched by Miles. Our poor dog gets a lot of abuse these days. Dave taught Miles to say please when he wants something and it is entirely too cute.

Another big event for Miles happened this last Sunday at church. In our church the children have to be 18 months old to be able to attend Nursery while the adults go to Sunday School, etc. Well, Dave was asked to teach a class of children (I think the 10 year olds??) each Sunday and I'm in with the young women of our church so Miles was allowed to go to Nursery two months early. I was a little worried because our church is during Miles' nap time and he can be super cranky when he is tired. The adults in Nursery said he had his moments, but that overall he did okay. What a relief. I'm sure he enjoyed playing with all the toys. I'm glad he is also getting some social interaction with other children close to his age. This will be good for him!

Christmas money

2011-01-10T08:00:00.002-07:00

While in KS we spent some time with some of my friends from high school. My friend Mike hosted the party. He has two kiddos so Miles had tons of new toys to play with. He latched on to one particular toy, a vacuum. Mike even joked that we would probably have to take it home with us. Well, when we got home and settled again Miles and I went shopping with some of our Christmas money and bought him a toy vacuum. He absolutely loves it and plays with it all day long.

Our time in KS

2011-01-09T08:00:00.001-07:00

It was so good to see everyone at our old church. I think several of them didn't even know about Miles so they were all surprised but super happy for our little family. It was also good to see my nieces. All of the activities and food that I brought for Miles ended up being put to good use by those two girls! They are entirely too cute!

On Monday I had the opportunity to go to an old friend's funeral. She passed away from lung cancer and never smoked a day in her life. She was an amazing woman and will be missed by all. Her funeral was a very nice funeral, if funerals can be nice. I'm so glad I had the privilege of knowing M'Lisse.

Miles and I had a good trip. We got to see a few friends and spent some wonderful quality time with family. Miles has his moments, but overall he is good about just going with the flow and being happy no matter where he is. He is a great traveler. He kept me busy the entire week though because we were in non-baby proofed homes and he is such a curious little guy. Thankfully he didn't break one thing, but we did move a lot of things out of his reach!

Grandma's baby proofing at her friend's house

Keaghan

Laiken singing

Eating like a big boy at Great Grandma & Grandpa's house

He figured out where the crackers were at Great Grandma & Grandpa's and would NOT leave them alone. I think he ate almost an entire box of crackers in about three days.

Visiting mom's friend Jill

Eating at mom's favorite taco place with Great Grandma & Grandpa, Grandpa Randal, and Lisa

Being tickled by Grandpa

Taking a bath in Great Aunt Cathy's jacuzzi tub
He LOVED it!

Going for a walk with Grandma and Great Aunt Cathy
Boy was it COLD!!!

He was so happy to be outside

Going home!!!

I didn't do such a hot job at taking pictures and did not even take one picture at my friend Mike's house. The two Miles got to meet each other too and I didn't get a picture.

Our trip home was pretty eventful. When we arrived at the airport we were informed that our flight was delayed by about 30 minutes. Thankfully Grandma had parked and was able to spend that time with us. We were on the runway getting ready to take off when one of the engines shut off. The pilot told us we would be returning to the gate for some maintenance. They had us all get off the plane so they could jack it up to work on the breaks. About two hours after our original leave time, we were finally on our way home. Miles didn't get a very good nap that day so it made for a long day! He absolutely refuses to relax enough to sleep anywhere besides his crib too and my saving grace of the DVD player was as dead as a doornail (not sure how I managed that one). Needless to say I was a tad bit stressed out by the end of the day, but we made it safely. He crashed almost immediately in the car on the way home.

Again, we had a wonderful time and are glad we could see some of you. It seems like we always miss seeing people that we really want to see, but it is hard to fit everyone in every time, so...maybe next time!

Christmas morning, but not really

2011-01-08T19:23:00.006-07:00

A little background information...my mom decided a week or two before Christmas that she wanted to move back to Kansas. The deal she had with my brother for him to buy her house in KS fell through so she decided she wanted to reclaim it and move back "home." She realized by being out here renting that she missed being a home owner and also that she missed her house. We are all sad about the decision, but know she had to do what she had to do and we'll all make an effort to get back and forth from Utah to Kansas as much as possible so Miles doesn't forget her

My mom asked for our help in moving her back. Dave had already agreed to work at Target over the holidays, so Miles and I went alone. Dave's mom was nice enough to come down from Logan to spend the week with Dave while we were away so he wouldn't be alone.

Because of the trip to Kansas and the timing of it all (I wanted to make it back in time to go to church at our old church so everyone could meet Miles and I also wanted to attend a funeral while there) we pretended Christmas Day was the 24th. We had our traditional Christmas breakfast and opened presents before my mom, me, and Miles headed off for Kansas around 12:30 p.m. on 12/24. After we left Dave drove up to Tremonton and spent the weekend at his brother's house.

Christmas pajamas & a pre-breakfast snack

Christmas pajamas

Grandma & Miles

one piece at a time

Miles' new piano

Ooo, dad got a new shirt

and mom got slippers

Miles' new tricycle

and the best part...it has parent handles!!!

After the festivities were over, we loaded up and headed out for Kansas. We made it to Ft. Collins the first night. Around Laramie we hit some pretty dense fog so we were beyond ready to get in our hotel room that night. Miles had a rough time falling asleep in the hotel, but eventually did and slept the rest of the night. We got up on the real Christmas Day and made it the rest of the way. Traveling on Christmas Day was not the greatest idea I've ever had. I didn't even think about the fact that no food places would be open. We had the privilege of eating gas station food all day! Ugh! But, we made it back in time to have a good night's sleep before we went to church on Sunday morning.

Feeling behind...

2011-01-06T08:44:00.002-07:00

I'm feeling behind in many areas of my life and am a tad bit overwhelmed!! Ugh!

I'm behind in my work for the week, which really isn't anything new I guess (this happens almost every week which means I have to work the weekend).
I'm behind in updating the blog. I have all of Christmas and our trip to Kansas to put on here.
I'm feeling behind in parenting Miles. We haven't been good at letting Miles learn how to feed himself with a cup, a plate, a spoon, and a fork. I think Dave and I both suffer from OCD when it comes to cleanliness at mealtimes (or whatever you want to call it). We both hate the mess of letting Miles feed himself and so we just end up doing it for him. Dave said the other day that he is totally okay with still spoon feeding Miles when he is 18 as long as we don't have to deal with messes! Funny, but sad all at the same time too.
I'm also behind in letting Miles learn how to manage the stairs in our house. He only knows how to go up and down them if he is holding our hands. By now he surely is capable of learning how to maneuver them on his own???

I post this all not so that you'll feel bad for me, but as for motivation for myself to do better. It is a new year, right? I should start off the new year by being better!!

Provo's turn

2010-12-21T07:29:00.002-07:00

What we woke up to this morning:

This storm system is coming to us from California which means Provo finally was included in the significant snow totals! Yippee! Most storms come through from the north and Provo seems to always get ripped off when that happens. It is still snowing too and is supposed to off and on for the next 48 hours or so. So exciting...except that we have a road trip planned for this weekend to help move my mom back to Kansas.

Christmas Party

2010-12-18T22:27:00.003-07:00

Our church has a Christmas party every year and Santa makes a special appearance to visit with all of the little girls and boys. We also get to eat yummy food including all of the traditional foods like turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc. The party was this evening and Dave unfortunately had to work, but my mom was kind enough to go along with us. I figured Miles would be scared to death of Santa and he did not disappoint! Santa thought it might help to have Grandma sit on his lap with Miles, but no such luck. I got a few good laughs watching the little ones freak out! After Santa was done visiting with all the children, he walked by our table as we were eating and Miles started crying again and wouldn't stop until Santa was gone. Too funny! I have a picture of me as a little tiny girl sitting on Santa's lap reaching for mom while screaming so it is only fair to have the same sort of picture of Miles. He'll laugh at it someday.

You could color on the tables so Miles was having fun playing with/eating the crayons

"Ooo Li"

2010-12-17T22:31:00.008-07:00

In the words of Miles, "Ooo Li!" He LOVES seeing all the pretty Christmas lights everywhere we go! We thought it would be fun to take him to Temple Square to see more lights. He had a blast, until he got tired. I'm glad we were able to go with him this year.

A Nice Surprise

2010-12-11T14:44:00.004-07:00

We found out Thursday night that Dave's brother from Alaska was going to be in Salt Lake City on an overnight layover Friday night. We were both very excited for the opportunity to see him! Dave's mom also made the trip down from Logan to see him. It was great to spend a few hours with both of them! We hung out at the Gateway Mall and had a fabulous meal at Tucanos! We were going to go see the lights on Temple Square, but it was already past Miles' bedtime and he made the decision for us that we should probably head back to Provo.

Dorothy, Dan, & Miles "exploring" at the Clark Planetarium

Miles enjoyed running around looking at everything

David, Miles, & Dan outside Tucanos

Grandma Dorothy added to the picture

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-09T21:31:00.004-07:00

Mom helping me put together the tree

Miles playing
(the TV is a dead giveaway to what Dave was doing)

Not having such a good time with the star garland stuff

I was a little worried about having a tree up with a toddler in the house, but he has done a great job of leaving it alone. As with anything else, if he is involved in the process he is less curious about it and treats it as if it belongs. I'm glad we got him involved versus doing the decorating while he slept!

Project

2010-11-28T19:54:00.004-07:00

It would not be a holiday break around here if we didn't have some home improvement project going on! My poor hubby...I'm sure he hates doing home improvement projects on his time off, but he never complains! He is a great guy. This time we decided to do a little more "updating" in the kitchen. We found a counter-top refinishing kit at Lowe's and thought we'd give it a try. We aren't completely satisfied with how it turned out (not as smooth as we would've liked), but overall it looks good and completely changes the way the kitchen looks. We also replaced our white cast iron sink with a stainless steel sink. Yea!

Before

Dave putting down the decorative chips

After

What a dusty messy project! It is so rewarding though to have a new look in our kitchen that Dave was able to do himself. We have some touch-up painting to do because the tape we used to tape off the counter-tops pulled off some of the green wall paint and Dave needs to caulk around the sink still, but other than that the project is done and it only took him about two days to do it. Yea for Dave!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T19:52:00.005-07:00

We spent a lot of time in our car and on the road this year for Thanksgiving. Some people think we are crazy for making a day trip to Logan (about 2 hrs. 15 mins. away), but it worked out for us. Miles does such a great job at traveling so we can do crazy things like this. In fact, he does better on day trips then he does at sleeping at different places so we chose the day trip option this year so he could sleep in his crib at night. He didn't nap very well in the car, but he had a good attitude all day and put the charm on for his family! He is definitely a cutie patootie!

We had lunch at Dave's brother's house and the whole crew that is left in the area (everyone else has moved away) was there. It was good to catch up and see how big all the kids are getting. Miles doesn't see Dave's side of the family as much as he probably should, so he spent a big portion of the time being shy, but he eventually warmed up and was giving everyone high fives! After lunch was over we drove over to Tremonton to spend some more time with Dave's brother, Zach, and his family. Lily is now 9 mos. old and is mobile so it was fun watching Miles and her interact although Miles was a bully to her most of the time pulling her hair, etc. She is a tough girl though and took it all! After all that fun, both of the kiddos started to get cranky so we packed up and headed home only to get stuck in a stupid traffic jam on I-15 in SLC. I HATE that stupid highway! We finally made it home though and got Miles tucked into his own bed. He was so happy to be home. It was a GREAT day and we have TONS to be thankful for! Too bad we both had to work today or we would've loved to stay longer. Here are a few pictures and videos from the day.

Uncle Dave giving Lily some love. I LOVE the expression on her face!

Miles loved playing with their piano

I was telling Zach & Tammy about how Miles reacted to soda pop and they wanted to see for themselves. Zach insisted we needed a video of it. The video definitely doesn't do it justice!

Where shy Miles spent a lot of his time, on mommy's lap. He isn't much of a snuggler, so I enjoyed every minute of it!

We got Lily this "Lil' Steeler" hat. Her parents are huge Steeler fans and I thought it was cute since it said "Lil' Steeler" and her name is Lily! LOL!

Zach & Tammy have a swing for Lily in their living room and Miles enjoyed every minute of it. Beware, this video may make you nauseous!

Lily crawling

We tried to get a picture of Lily & Miles together & this was the best we could do!

Miscellaneous

2010-11-14T19:21:00.006-07:00

Not much exciting is happening here in Provo these days, just living life! Miles is getting bigger by the day (he turned 14 mos. old today) and learning so much. He loves to mimic us when we make sounds. He is too cute. Dave has been sick with a cold this weekend and Miles has had fun mimicking his dad's cough and clearing of his throat. I often find myself asking Miles to do things thinking that he doesn't really know what I'm saying, but being pleasantly surprised to find him actually doing it. The other day I asked him where his Mickey Mouse stuffed animal was, really just thinking out loud to myself. Not too much later he walked up to me and handed me his Mickey Mouse doll. I had a grin on my face from ear to ear! It is fun watching him grow! Right now we are struggling with the idea of transitioning him to just one nap a day and aren't quite sure how to go about it. He has about 90% of the time over the last two weeks not taken his afternoon nap. That has made for a couple of weeks of some really ROUGH evenings 'cause he has been awake for about 6+ hours straight. He gets SUPER grumpy and SUPER ornery when that happens.

He also has been bottle-free for about a week. The doctor recommended we wean him off the bottle ASAP after he turned 1 and we started to slowly wean him. He doesn't seem to miss his bottle at all and enjoys getting his milk out of a sippy.

Now that he understands more, I've been trying to teach him that mommy has to work and he has to entertain himself for a bit. Up until recently I've only been able to work while he was sleeping. It is nice to be able to get some work done while he is awake. I can only accomplish it during the morning after he first wakes up and so far I've only been able to do it for about an hour or less, but he is learning and that is HUGE for me. Below are a couple of pictures of what he does to entertain himself while I'm working.

Sitting inside his tunnel in it's closed position

Sitting inside the ottoman that we use to store his toys

A couple of weeks ago we got a nice surprise in the mail from my Grandparents. With this surprise we were able to purchase new bedding. In our 10 1/2 years of marriage we have never had a nice bedding set. We've looked for years at them, but have never been able to really agree on one or agree on spending the money for something we weren't totally in love with, etc. After doing some searching, we found a set at JCPenney's that we both love and it goes really well with our overall color scheme in the townhouse. It's so fun to have a nice bedding set and makes me feel like a grownup! Now I just need to figure out what color to paint the walls and what curtains I like. So fun! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T20:01:00.010-06:00

This is going to be a mega post about all of our Halloween related activities for the last couple of weeks since I'm behind. The good news is, I'll be all caught up though! Yea me!

About a week and a half ago my mom and I took Miles to our local nursery to pick out pumpkins. We had heard from our neighbors that they had great pumpkins for a great price so we had to check it out ourselves. When we got there we were pleasantly surprised to find that they also had a corn maze, farm animals to pet, etc. Dave wasn't able to go with us unfortunately because of his evening schedule at Target and we were running out of time to get them especially with yucky weather in the forecast for the next weekend. Miles had a great time running around in the corn and picking up everything imaginable off the ground and shoving it in his mouth. He also seemed to be enthralled by the goats. He stood there and pointed at them for forever. We finally had to drag him away.

Last Monday while Dave had the evening off, we carved our pumpkins. Miles is still a bit young to understand what was going on. I was hoping he would help pull out the "guts," but he was more interested in eating the lid. Gross. He kept biting into it and then would make this face like that was the grossest thing he had ever tasted, but he kept doing it. Such a silly kid!

"Dad, give me my pumpkin!"

It took me a couple of days to get a picture of all of our pumpkins together and the morning I remembered to do it, we got our first dusting of snow!

The next evening was our Young Men/Young Women sponsored Halloween Carnival at our church. Miles wasn't technically old enough to go, but because I currently serve in Young Women's we took him anyway. He had a blast running all over the gym and seeing all the other kids dressed up in their costumes. He even helped Dad win three cupcakes in the cupcake walk! Cheating? Maybe so!

It was so hard to get pictures of our cute bag of M&Ms! He was in constant motion that night!

Fishing at the fishing pond

The cupcake walk

The donut on a string game

Our church had planned a "trunk or treat" activity for everyone last night since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year. Dave unfortunately had to work! I figured since Miles is still a bit too young to actually go trick or treating, that the trunk or treat activity would be perfect for us to attend. About 30 minutes before the activity was scheduled to begin, it began pouring cats and dogs. We never made it over to the church, but heard a few people showed up during the short break of no rain and then packed things up after the rain started again. We hung out with our neighbors for a bit trying to decide what to do when the rain finally stopped. We decided to go to a few houses in the neighborhood of people that we knew and then came back and answered the door for trick or treaters. It wasn't exactly what I had planned for the evening, but I think Miles had fun anyway which was the point. He got a few pieces of candy to give to Dad too!

Eating leaves along the route (don't you know leaves are WAY better than candy!)

More interested in the Halloween decorations at houses than getting free candy

Part 4 (finale)

2010-10-30T21:51:00.005-06:00

After we ate lunch, but before Miles woke up, Dave was able to squeeze in one ride on a ride that Miles couldn't go on. It was a roller coaster-type ride so he had to do it alone (I'm not a big fan of rides these days, especially not roller coasters). After Miles' nap we thought it would be fun to take him through Mickey's house and our timing couldn't have been any better. We ended up getting there right in time to get our picture taken with Mickey Mouse. Later that afternoon we took the train ride around the park, watched the Celebration Parade, and did some souvenir shopping. After all of that was done Miles was pretty much done too. We decided to head back to the hotel and get dinner on the way home. After Miles went to bed, my mom once again offered to stay with him so that we could go back to Disneyland to watch the fireworks show. We both were so tired, but I'm glad we went back. We had fun watching the show and did a little bit more wandering before we gave up and headed back.

Our blurry picture with Mickey
(I'll have to buy the park's picture since ours turned out blurry, of course!)

So happy

Playing the piano in one of the play areas

Watching the parade

The Celebration Parade

Riding the train

So in LOVE with that face!!!

The castle at night

The water show before the fireworks