January 2010

Is January over already? Wow, that was quick. . . and I'm not complaining! I'm done with Utah inversions and cold...bring on spring. :)
We have been keeping busy between work, school, and the boys. I started driving this month with my drivers ed students. So far, they have all been excellent drivers (thank goodness!).

We have been having tons of fun with our boys. Earlier this month, we took them to see the ice castles in heber.

They were really neat, the size and color are amazing! While we were up there, Max got a chance to go inside the Homestead crater and he loved it. We have also been visiting the Dino Museum a lot (one of our wintertime favorites). Max has been sad that there hasn't been a lot of good "snowman snow" this year to play in.

Both of our boys are growing like weeds! Max has almost outgrown all of his school clothes, and Sam continues to amaze us with his crazy eating skills. Sam is starting to talk more and more and adding new words to his vocabularly every day. I love watching Max and Sam play together. Sam adores Max and tries to be just like him.

We are looking forward to the adventures February has in store for us!

Happy New Year 2010!

Our Annual New Year Picture. Yes, Sam is eating. He is usually eating. And Max does have a crazy red juice smile. What can I say, our pictures have personality. :)

2009 was our year of change. When you have kids, which year isn't? But this year, we seemed to have more than usual. The BIGGEST change, Riley and I have lost a total of 90 lbs. between the two of us. Riley and I have both made some major changes in our diet/exercise and hope to maintain our new healthier lifestyle and fun new wardrobe through 2010. Some of our other changes:
*Max started Kindergarten and we were lucky enough to get him into a local charter school! He LOVES school. His teachers are fantastic. He has also enjoyed his Kindergarten Enhancement class this year, Pat is amazing with him!
*I changed jobs, going from Preschool to High School. And, Driver's Ed. Craziness!
*Sam transformed from sweet baby to Danger Kid. He is VERY adventurous with no fear. Luckily no major issues yet, but bandaids are coming in handy. He is also becoming our little eater. He eats more than Max daily. :)
*We made it through some major road projects out here. The construction seemed neverending and extremely frustrating. Glad it's over (though I hear it's starting again in Feb.).
*Riley and I both turned 30. Although it seemed major, it was fairly painless.
*Max started piano lessons. He is becoming an excellent little pianist and he is loving it! He has performed in 2 piano recitals already. He also enjoyed his first year of soccer, t-ball, tumbling, arts and crafts, and performing in The Nutcracker.
*We became proud owners of a Polaris Ranger, and then spent every weekend in American Fork Canyon. We loved our hiking/camping/exploring adventures, even in the rain!

This year for New Year's we decided to start a new tradition. After taking down the decorations, we shoot the stale gingerbread house. Max and Riley love our new tradition, I'm sure if Sam had been awake he would've enjoyed it too.

My hopes for the New Year:
*To have more patience.
*To lose the last stubborn 10-15.
*To find a better balance between work/play/and cleaning the house. :)
*To find some of my lost motivation. Especially the exercise motivation, but cleaning the house motivation would be good too. I have an over abundance of shopping motivation. Maybe I can channel that energy.

Things to look forward to:
*Mexico 2010!
*All day school for Max. He is so excited to eat lunch at school. :) Mom is sad.
*A talking Sam. He is learning new words daily. Love it!
*California. A little bit of San Diego mixed with a lot of L.A. Fun times will be had by all.
*Summer Vacation. Riley has some weeks off that have yet to be planned, but I'm sure they will be filled with non-stop fun-ness.
*American Fork Canyon. The ranger begs to be ridden.
*A new garden...if I find some of that motivation. Riley and I plan to start a garden to go with our fruit trees this spring/summer.
*Las Vegas. Though it's not planned, I'm sure we will sneak in at least one trip. Possibly Cirque included. There are some new shows I am excited to see.
*Our 10th anniversary!
*Christmas break 2010. Not because we have anything fun planned, but because we love Christmas break...mostly because nothing is planned. It is 2 weeks of fun nothingness. And video games. Nuf said.
*Sam's kidney issue to finally come to an end. Hopefully.
*Potty training 2010 beginning in September. Wishful thinking, I know, but I'm determined to try.

Christmas

Santa delivered!

Much to my dismay, Max has grown out of his thomas bed/crib mattress. This year, he asked Santa for a loft bed with a desk, and since he made sure that he was on Santa's (mostly) nice list, Santa delivered! When Max talked to Santa about this present, he made sure to tell Santa that he could bring it into our house in boxes since it probably wouldn't fit very good through the door or up the stairs put together. When he came downstairs on Christmas morning, the first thing he said was "that Santa is so clever! He brought my bed in pieces! I knew he would figure out something!" Santa also brought Max a new mattress, some bedding, and tinkertoys. Sam didn't seem to care much for waking up on Christmas morning or opening presents, but when he finally decided to get out of bed, he was lucky enough to score a learning table, a singing coloring board, and a cash register from Santa and various toys with noises and buttons from me and Riley.

Riley and I decided to get Max a DS for Christmas this year. We had told Max that he could have one when he was 8, so he had NO IDEA he was getting one. When he started opening presents from us, he opened a few DS accessories and said "oh, this will be fun to use with your DS mom" (since he always plays on mine). When he got to the DS, he looked at me and said "MOM, what is this?" Until I opened the box and put the DS in his hand, he couldn't believe we had really gotten him one. It made his day! After his bed was put together (thanks dad and Gary!) he got up on it and played DS for a while.

As I mentioned earlier, Sam was in no rush on Christmas morning to get going or opening, so he opened his presents around noon. He was very excited to have new toys with noisy buttons, keys, and a PHONE! He loves playing with his new toys and figuring out new ways to climb on, smash, or otherwise ruin them. What can I say, he's all boy!!!

Riley and I had fun this year getting each other some clothing and Wii accessories and our annual trip to MEXICO! I can't wait! :)

I hope everyone had an amazing Holiday Season this year!

Christmas Eve 2009

Christmas Eve was great this year! Riley had to work, but we made the best out of the time he was home. We went to a matinee of the Princess and the Frog with my parents, Riley's parents, and Nat and Craig. Riley, Max, and I loved the movie! She is one of my new favorite Disney Princesses. The story was great, and I loved the setting and music. After the movie, Cody and Stormy joined us and we ate at Mi Ranchito...yummy! Before Riley went to work we came home to open our Christmas Eve jammies. :) Then, the boys and I made sure our house was ready for Santa's arrival.

I have a little dreidel, I made it out of clay!

We were invited by some great friends of ours to share in their Hannakah traditions this year. Max was in total shock and a little mad to find out that there was a holiday being celebrated yearly that he has not yet been made aware of. We all had a lot of fun learning all about the holiday, enjoying the yummy food, playing games, etc.

Max loved playing dreidel. He was very protective of his "money", and with a little luck (and some help) he won! He was even able to bring home a dreidel of his own to practice up for next year. :)

So Much to be Thankful For!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope your thanksgiving is filled with happiness, love, family, and yummy food!

Halloween 2009

I love Halloween! It is so fun to find costumes for the boys and get them all dressed up!

This year Sam is going to be a lion in Max's old costume. It is getting pretty snug on Sam, but I had to use it, it's just too cute!

Max decided this year that he was going to be Heat Blast from Ben 10. I miss being able to choose his costume (the animal costumes are so fun), but it is so fun seeing how excited he has been for his Ben 10 costume.

Happy Halloween 2009!

Sam is 1!

I cannot believe it has been a year, but it's true! My baby is 1!

Some things that I am loving about this stage:

*He is a major cuddler. He loves hugging and kissing!

*I love how much he looks up to his brother. He thinks Max is the greatest. They are playing so great together!

*He has inherited the stubborn gene! It seems to be dominant. :-) I'm sure he could be walking at this point, but he doesn't want to. Everything has to be his idea!

*I love hearing him "talk" to me. He babbles all day. He says mama, mom, dada, Max, and dog. He calls everyone Max (exept mom and dad) and he calls all animals dogs. He has learned the sounds for monkey, lion, dog, duck, and lamb.

T-Ball

Max started T-ball this year and so far it has been a blast to watch! He is doing such a great job.

He loves to catch the ball and throw it to first. We had to make him stop tackling the kids for the ball at the first game. He would run for it wherever it landed. :-)

We have discovered that he is a leftie batter (but still seems to be ambidextrious at most other things). He has been having so much fun practicing batting and catching with Riley in the backyard.

This picture was at the last game when Riley was helping fill-in for Max's coach. Max loved having dad's help!

Pittsburg Lake

A week after we got home from Yellowstone, Riley and I still had a hiking bug, so we decided to go exploring close to home. We went up American Fork Canyon, set up camp, and hiked to Pittsburg Lake. It was such a great hike. . .steep and rocky, but well worth it.

Riley standing on a raft in the lake. There was still enough run-off that there were a few little waterfalls.

Max and mom at the lake.

Heading back to camp. Max had a much harder time hiking down because of all the loose rocks on the trail. Roundtrip, a little over 2 hours. That night, it felt as if we had the canyon to ourselves. It was so quiet!

4th of July

For the 4th of July, Riley had to work. We were bummed, but tried to make the best of it. While he was awake, we had a BBQ at my moms house. Max made his cute shirt in his arts and crafts class. He was so excited to wear it!

Max and Sam love playing outside at Grandma's.

Sam watching the fireworks. He loved them! He watched for a while and then fell asleep.

Max doing his signature ear covering. Pleasant Grove put on a great firework show!

Yellowstone

For our summer vacation this year, we decided to pack the tent and venture up to Yellowstone. Max has been reading a lot of volcano books that talk about Yellowstone and he was so excited to go! We stayed 5 days at a KOA in West Yellowstone, Montana that was really nice. Swimming pool and everything.
Yellowstone was a blast. Our days were packed with exploring, and the Frommers Guide that we bought was very helpful. We were able to see a bald eagle in her nest with her babies, dozens of bison, elk, deer, 2 black bears, and hundreds of squirrels, chipmunks, and pot guts. We also enjoyed the interactive trails through Yellowstone showcasing the vast array of landscapes. Max was very intrigued and asked millions of questions about everything we looked at. He loved the paint pots, hot pots, mud pots, and especially the geysers. While we were exploring the geyser basin around Old Faithful, Beehive Geyser happened to go off (it only goes off once a day). It was amazing. It shot off right in front of us, higher than Old Faithful, and for much longer (about 5 minutes). Max tried to run away from the water thinking it would burn him, but didn't make it far before we were all drenched. . .and the water ISN'T hot. :-)
Many miles were walked and hiked and much fun was had. Both boys were fabulous, Sam loved being packed around in the backpacks and Max, our little Jr. Ranger, walked and hiked wherever we went with little complaints. We can't wait to go back and see some of the things that we missed!

My Baby is Getting So Big!

Sam is now 10 months! He is getting so big! He loves to follow Max around and do whatever he is doing. Max is such a great big brother and MOST of the time he lets him share. Max has also learned to "lure" him towards things, which doesn't always work in Max's favor. Sam loves to follow Max up the stairs. I keep thinking I should get a baby gate, but he seems to be doing great at getting up the stairs and "yelling" at me to get down them.

He is crawling all over the place and pulling himself up onto everything. He has let go a few times, but when he realizes he's standing alone he falls down. His legs are so strong, I'm thinking he'll be walking soon!

He loves to be outside. He will sit at the door and yell trying to get someone to take him out. If you're wondering, YES this is dirt in his mouth. I don't think he liked it, he hasn't tried it again, but it made for some fun pictures! :-)

He loves to be independant. He wanted to sit on this chair all by himself. When we would touch him, he would grunt and push our hands away. He also loves sitting in the cart at the grocery store (as long as Max doesn't try to push it...I don't know why, but it makes Sam so mad!). He is such a fun little guy, it's so fun to watch him learn and grow everyday.