Yuma is good people!

Jon and I spent Thanksgiving Day with the Carlson's, then the next day went to Yuma for the Hall's Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration. Just about everyone was able to make it this year and it was so fun to see everyone after so many months in Memphis and Utah. Friday was Thanksgiving and Birthdays (Pax and Lucy are only a few days apart) and Saturday was Christmas.
It was so much fun to hang out with everyone and to see Pax with Lucy. They werent too interested in each other but still had fun. I learned that its pretty much impossible to get two 1-yr olds to smile at the same time. Oh well, better luck next time :)

(learning to walk with Daddy)

(How big is Paxton? SO BIG!)

Friday we had the birthday party for the two babies. Pax picked at his cupcake with his dainty little fingers and Lucy smashed it into her mouth as fast as he could. It was a really funny dynamic to watch.

(How big is Paxton?)

(SOOOOO Big!)

After cake, it was time for a bath. The water had frosting and cake floating in it but the babies looked so cute, all naked and covered in goo.
We didnt get any other pictures of Yuma. Not really sure why, but we had fun eating Thanksgiving twice, participating in the cousin gift exchange for the first time and doing the adult white-elephant gift exchange. We ate Mr G's rolled tacos and bean and cheese burritos and Stan's breakfast burritos and had a lot of fun hanging out with family. We cant wait to visit again!

Paxton Turns 1!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAXTON!

A year ago, yesterday, our sweet little baby came into this world and changed our lives in the most amazing way. Since that December day, it has been one diaper change, one cry, one sleepless night, one spit-up, one date-less weekend, one laugh, one giggle, one snuggle, one smile, one peek-a-boo game after another. Its been the hardest and best year of both of our lives. We adore and love our little Paxton so much.
Paxton is the sweetest little boy. His favorite thing to do is snuggle into his mommy. I swear, that kid would sit on my lap, laying his head on my chest for hours if I let him. He gives open-mouth kisses whenever I ask, he recently learned how to wave and cant stop telling hi and bye to people. He also recently learned "So Big" and cant stop doing that either. (You'll notice him doing it alot in these pictures) He currently has 7 teeth and weighs 20 1/2 pounds, which still puts him in the 20th percentile for weight. Our poor little guy just cant seem to chunk up! He's healthy though, and happy all day long so we couldn't be more thrilled.
A couple of his favorite games right now are imitating us when we stick out our tongues and make silly noises. He recently has starting initiating the games, and always at the funniest times-like during the prayer or as he's falling asleep. He's a total blabber-mouth, always talking and trying to imitate us when we say things.
He crawls like a champ and is starting the walking process. he hasnt taken any solo steps yet, but he can get around the room pretty good these days by holding on to his surroundings.
He's so careful with everything he does. He uses his index finger and thumb, aka his pinchers, to do just about anything, like pick up food, unwrap presents, touch mommy's hair.


Since we were in AZ for Thanksgiving and just a few days shy of his birthday, we decided to have his birthday party then with our family. Thanks everyone for being there to celebrate with us!
Where on Earth would we be without this little boy in our lives. He has made every day, even the HARD HARD days, a little more joyful and happy. His cheesy smile makes my world spin. We love you Pax, you wont always be our little baby, but you will always always be the world to us. Happy Birthday!

Mt Timpanogos Hike

A few weeks ago, we (us and Shelly) decided to hike up to the caves at the top of Mt Timpanogos.

It was a beautiful day, gorgeous hike and a the caves were really cool. Of course, to get to the cave, we had to hike uphill nearly a mile and a half. I dont know why I was expecting it to be a little more leisurely, because it was anything but. Still, being outside was a nice change and the exercise felt great!

this is us just about to go into the caves

these weird looking things "growing" off the cave ceilings are apparently extremely rare to find, and almost never in this large quantity

Pax slept most of the hike and even afterwards, was hard to keep awake

So our goal is to do this hike again in 6 months and *hopefully* not be so winded. We'll see how that goes :) It was a really fun way to spend a Saturday. We are loving our new life here in Utah and trying to take full advantage of the beautiful landscape/environment.

First sNoW day!

So we had our first snow day! It was a while back, just a few days before Halloween. It had rained for a few day beforehand and gotten pretty cold, then one morning we woke up to a blistery snowy landscape. I have to admit, it was fun. But dang, was it cold! Lucky for me, it mostly melted by the end of the day but the mountains just behind our place were beautifully dressed in white for quite some time after. Its supposed to snow again on Wednesday. Not sure if its gonna stick but either way, winter is coming so I guess I better get used to it!

isnt Pax SO cute in his winter jacket!!!!

this is the view from our place, right at the base of Mt Timpanogos

Paxton actually had fun touching the snow, which totally surprised me

Im pretty sure we were the only people crazy enough to be outside that early in the AM!

Thanksgiving Point

Thanksgiving Point is a farm/petting zoo/lots of other fun stuff venue in American Fork near where we live. We had a Saturday with no plans so we ended up there at the petting zoo. Pax LOVED it. He gets so excited whenever he sees any type of animal. It was such a fun way to spend our day together. No work, outside in the beautiful weather and together. We are loving Jon's new work schedule with Saturdays off.
We had him ride a pony. He really didnt care, it was mostly for the enjoyment of his parents... like so many things we make him do :)

So Pax was crazy about all the horses, goats, pigs, chickens... everything except one crazy goose that kept honking all loud when Pax and Jon got close to it. Paxton hated it, and yelled back through tear-filled eyes. We couldnt help but laugh.



Happy Halloween/Fall everyone! We love and miss you wherever you are!

3 years ago...

Jon and I met/fell in love/got engaged conference weekend 3 years ago. October always reminds us of that wonderful time when we found each other and instantly fell in love. Not many couples can say that they have their first kiss photographed, but we can!!!! I love you babe. I always have, and I always will!

Temple Square, Crackers and Monkeys!

I havent been able to blog much since we did our big move to Utah. But, we finally moved into our new place, unpacked our stuff (well, most of it anyway) and Pax is napping in his crib so I FINALLY have my blogging time :)
We've done a lot since we've been here. The late summer weather was so beautiful compared to the yucky Tennessee air and we spent every second of it that we could outside. We went to Temple Square and walked around and toured the Conference Center. It was so cool to see all of that at a time when we werent there for conference.




On Labor Day, we picked up Shelly and the 4 of us went to Touccanos, which is an amazing Brazilian BBQ place. I had a gift certificate for my birthday so we decided to celebrate a day early. Seriously, so tasty. I was full for about a week after that. We also bought a Frisbee and a basketball and played at a park nearby. We gave Pax a Saltine cracker for the first time to help keep him busy and he was so stinkin cute eating it!



It was my birthday on Sept 7th. I turned 24. It was a weird birthday, being away from my family in AZ but my amazing husband made it a wonderful day. I woke up to a bouquet of beautiful flowers and yummy crepes! Oh, and my cake was a chocolate eclair cake. Mmmmmm.......

And lastly, my mom sent Paxton this adorable little monkey costume. He wasnt too phased by it, but he looked so cute; his parents definitely enjoyed the dress-up time!



Stay tuned for hiking, fall fun and SNOW!