Sunday, November 30, 2014

November Happenings--2014

We had a wonderful November, and like always I can't believe that we are already in to December.  Here is a little of what we were up to during the month of November.

One day Mason insisted on eating marshmallows.  He doesn't really like marshmallows, so as soon as he got them in his mouth, he just spit them right back out.  Also, on this particular day Mason wanted to wear his planes jacket around the house with his hood on the entire time. 

Mason loves wearing his daddy's hat around the house. 

Mason likes to pull out all the kitchen tools from the drawer.  I usually put a yardstick down the handles so he can't open them, but he has learned to pull out the yardstick and get into the drawers anyways.  One day after getting them out, I told him he needed to put them away.  He listened and put them away, just not exactly how I wanted. 

We love our smiley Tanner!!



One day in November my grandma and grandpa were playing in a Symphony.  They were going to be playing the 1812 Overture where grandpa would be shooting off his cannons.  Growing up, grandpa and grandma would often play in symphonies and shoot off their cannons during the last piece, the 1812 Overture.  I really wanted to go and watch grandpa shoot off his cannons, yet again.  Casey stayed home with the boys and I was able to go with my mom and dad and a few siblings.   The symphony didn't last as long as Casey thought it would so he insisted I go out to dinner with my mom and dad after.  It was such a fun night out for me. 


Mason loves checking on Tanner in his crib.  He'll usually pull over this toy to stand on so he can see right in and check on Tanner.


Amy and I love taking the kids to the library to pick out books.  This particular November day was so nice, so we let the kids play around in the secret garden area at the library.  They loved running down this hill.


The weather through November was pretty mild so we took the kids to the park.  Tanner rode in the swing for the first time and loved it!!

This picture is so blurry, but I wanted to document about the music class Meg and I took Mason and Mabel to a few times.  It was held at the Orem Public Library.  They would sing songs, play musical instruments, and the kids had a fun time dancing around. 

We got one side of our back yard fenced in. 

Found Tanner sleeping on his tummy for the first time.


Mason insisted on borrowing this little table from my parents.  He loves eating his lunch on it. 

Tanner and daddy playing together.

Went down to the shop and let Mason play on the tractor.  He loved every minute of it!!

Mason broke his arm.


Played outside on the deck in the warm November weather.

Mason loves trying on my jelly shoes.

Bought Mason a new winter coat.

I really wanted to go to the Lights On at the Riverwoods.  It was held on Friday, November 21st.  Since Casey had school on Fridays, I called Ry to see if he would want to go with me.  Meg went out, so Ry was babysitting Mabel and Maccoy, but we decided to go down anyways.  The event ended up being super crowded, so finding a parking spot was near impossible, but we found one, got the kids unloaded and started walking in.  All the hassle in getting there was totally worth it.  Santa road in on a Harley and his elves rode in on motorcycles too.  Mason loved seeing the parade of cycles.  They did a count down to when the lights turned on and when they did, it was absolutely beautiful. 




Casey and I took Mason and Tanner down to the Riverwoods to meet Santa.  Mason and Tanner both sat on Santa's lap and they were not even scared at all!!  Mason asked for a train set and Tanner asked for some new baby toys.  After meeting Santa, we took the boys into PBR to play a few of the arcade games and ride the carousel.  It was such a fun night!!



Mason helped Casey rake up the leaves, then Casey taught him how to jump in them.  Mason loved every minute of it.

One day I made Mac and Cheese for lunch.  I found Mason making this train of noodles.

Having fun on Mason's bed before bed time.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We started the day by going to get Krispy Kreme donuts (a tradition of Casey's).  Thanksgiving this year was spent with my family.   We had so much fun remembering what we are grateful for, eating a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and playing a few games. 




That following Satruday after Thanksgiving, Chris and Roz held their second annual grandchild Christmas party.  Mason and Tanner loved every minute of it.  Roz read Christmas stories and told us the story of the birth of our Savior.  We also made cookies, decorated Tanner's Christmas tree for his room, opened presents, and tried to get one good picture of all the grand kids with grandma and grandpa.  We had a great time at the grandchildren party.





Mason got a few candies at the grandchild party.  When we got home Mason got into the candy without Case and I knowing.  This is what we found a few minutes later. 

Mason and Tanner riding in the cart together at Target.  Mason loved riding by Tanner until Tanner tried a million times to grab his bink out of his mouth.

We had a wonderful November.  I always love this time of year and the chance we get to really reflect on all our blessings.  I'm so grateful for family and a loving Savior that scarified so much so that we can be together for eternity. 

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Tanner at 8 Months

Tanner turned 8 Months old on November 25th.  He is the happiest and smiliest baby and we are so grateful he is part of our family.  Here are 8 things about Tanner at 8 months old. 

1.  Tanner still has only two teeth.  They are the front ones on the bottom.  His top front ones will soon follow I'm sure.

2.  Tanner still is being swaddled for one nap a day and at night.  He's getting better at staying asleep after he gets out of his swaddle, but he still can't fall asleep on his own without being swaddled. 

3.  We moved Tanner up to size three diapers.  Tanner loves mostly any kinds of food.   He eats three solid meals a day and drinks 3 6oz. bottles/day. 

4.  Tanner takes 2 2-3 hour naps/day.  He still wakes up once in the night.  Sometimes I can get him back to sleep by just putting his binkie back in and rubbing his blankie around his face, and sometimes he's hungry and wants a bottle. 

5.  Tanner loves playing with his toys.  He loves having Mason play with him too. 

6.  Tanner is full of smiles and loves to laugh. 

7.  Tanner says da da da and mom mom mom.

8.  Tanner has blond crazy hair and we love it!!

We are so in love with our little Tanner.  We love him so much and we are so grateful he is part of our family. 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Happy Halloween--2014

I don't think I've ever celebrated Halloween as much as we did this year.  Every weekend in October seemed to be full of events where we celebrated Halloween.  Halloween definitely is more fun with kids and it's even more fun the more kids you get. 

Casey's family celebrated Halloween on Friday, October 17th.  Casey's mom had a fun night planned with dinner and then trick or treating in the backyard.  We had fun dressing Mason and Tanner up for the first time this year and spending time with family. 
The next day Casey's family decided to go to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch in Springville.  Mason loved every minute of the pumpkin patch this year.  We started off by playing in the corn kernel pit, then off to the slides.  After the slides we took a ride on the wagon pulled by the tractor.  Mason was in complete heaven riding the wagon, he loved watching the big tractor pull us.  After our wagon ride we went and saw the animals in the petting zoo, then spent the rest of our night playing around in the hay bale mazes.  We had such a great time.
















Our celebrating continued the next Saturday, October 25th with a trunk-or-treat with Casey's extended family.  Everyone takes their cars and backs them into Casey's grandmas's yard, then the kids go around to each trunk and trunk-or-treat.  Everyone looked so cute in their costumes and it was so fun visiting with family that we don't get to see very often.



That night we went down to the Riverwood with Casey's cousin, Adam, and his wife Kristie and their 3 kids.  The Riverwoods was doing their Pumpkin parade and we had fun walking around looking at all the different pumpkin displays.  The pumpkin displays included Frozen, Lego Movie, Avengers, Frakenstein, Batman, Madagascar penguins, and Harley Davidson.  After looking at all the dispalys Kristie and I went and did a little bit of shopping while the boys watched the kids and listened to the band play.  Mason loved dancing to the music from the band.  We had such an enjoyable evening!!

That following Tuesday, October 28th was mom and dad's ward Truck-or-Treat.  They invited us to come to it.  Mason got a huge haul of candy and he loved going to the different decorated trucks to get even more candy. 

The day before Halloween, Casey and I decided to carve pumpkins with our little family.  We went to Papa Murphy's and got a jack-o-lantern pizza then came home and carved pumpkins while the pizza cooked in the oven.  I loved spending the night with just our little family. 



Finally Halloween was finally here.  Mason, Tanner, and I woke up early and got ready for the day so we could go see Bud and Lydia in their school Halloween costume parade.  After the parade, Amy, Lin, the kids, and I went to Target where we got the kids Halloween decorated donuts.  Then it was home for lunch and naps. 



After Mason and Tanner woke up from their naps we went Trick or Treating.  Our first stop was The Sweet Tooth Fairy.  They were giving out free cupcakes if you took your kids in trick-or-treating.  Then we stopped at mom and dad's then went to a few neighbors (4 to be exact).  Mason's idea of trick-or-treating consisted of just wanting to run up and down the sidewalk as fast as he could. 
Our last stops were Bridgette and C.J.'s, Lin and Justin's, Grandma and Grandpa's, and lastly Myrn and Garrett's.  Our last stop was Myrn and Garrett's because they had a little Halloween party full of witches fingers, eyeballs, blood juice, pizza, and Halloween cookies.  We ended the night by playing a few games at Myrn and Garrett's, then took the boys home and got them ready for bed. 


 


We ended our Halloween celebrating with another party with my whole family on Saturday, November 1st.  Mom made her homemade chili and bread sticks and everyone came over.  We had a fun night eating dinner, munching on treats, and visiting with family. 

We loved every minute of celebrating Halloween this year and I loved every minute of dressing up Mason and Tanner.  We also loved seeing everyone in their cute costumes.

Casey--Mario

Myrn--Ladybug
Lydia--Elsa
Landon--Spiderman
Parker--Knight
Ashley--Bee
Weston--Dragon
Canyon--Mario
Oakley--Pirate
Jack--Mickey Mouse


Mabel--Clown
Maccoy--Pinata

Mason--Nemo
Tanner--Pumpkin
Parker--Bugs Bunny
Isaac--T-Rex