It's a boy!

We had our ultrasound to see how the baby is doing and found out it's a boy and that everything looks great so far. We are excited to have another little boy, and I am sure Andrew will love having a great playmate.

Vernal Temple

After Christmas we had the great opportunity to go to Vernal and visit the Temple there. It was a snowy drive but we made it just fine. The Temple was a Tabernacle that was converted to a Temple in 1997. It was beautiful inside and a wonderful experience. Isaac was born in Vernal and this is a picture in front of their home there.

New Found Joys

Andrew has found two extremely exciting new things to do....SHOVEL SNOW and CUT WITH SCISSORS!

Smith Family Christmas Party

We had a great time celebrating the holiday season with the Smith Family at Linda's house!

Matt recited the Cremation of Sam McGee. We always enjoy the tale.

Christmas Traditions

It has been fun to start Christmas traditions with my own family. At the beginning of December each year we are able to go to the Festival of Trees. This year we went along with Isaac's parents and brother Caleb. When we first arrived we stood in line to see Santa and then walked through most of the trees. I love to look at the trees and gingerbread houses, it is amazing to see the creative ways that people come up with to decorate the trees. I kept trying to take pictures of Andrew and everytime I would squat down to get at a more appropriate level to take them Andrew would squat just like mommy. It was so cute! We finished up at the festival by buying a little bit of homemade fudge and then went out to dinner. It was an enjoyable night!

Meeting Santa

Well, my hope for Andrew to like Santa this year fell through. As soon as we got to Santa, Andrew started screaming. He wouldn't get anywhere near his lap. When Santa gave him his treat he was a little bit happier...oh well...maybe next year!

Christmas decorations and more...

I am really excited to take Andrew to the Festival of Trees tonight. We are hopeful that he will like Santa as much as he likes this Santa decoration. Last year we put him on Santa's lap and he proceded to freak out...we'll see how it goes.

Andrew was being quite the character after lunch today...he hasn't been feeling well for the last week so it was nice to see him acting a little more like himself. He has been cracking me up lately. I will ask him to show mom a big smile and this is usually what he gives me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great time in Rexburg for Thanksgiving this year. We don't often have the chance to get home to Idaho for the holidays with my work schedule. This year it all worked out that we could spend a few days there before I had to be back to work on Friday. We drove up on Tuesday and left Friday afternoon. I was supposed to work at 11 pm Friday night, but ended up getting cancelled....what a blessing. We had a great Thanksgiving meal with my parents and Tawna, Tassa, and Tawny. The turkey was made in the roaster oven and turned out moist and delicious. Andrew helped grandpa with making pies on Wednesday (I think he just ate the bananas while grandpa worked). It was such nice weather that we played outside a little. Andrew wanted to ride the scooter but wouldn't do it with grandpa until after Tawny had taken him out first. He loved it! I love this time of year and the opportunity to reflect on our blessings!

Priceless!

Well, I guess it is time I get around to posting our exciting news since most everyone already knows what it is. We are going to have a baby! Andrew has been aware of this from the get go since he is always head butting my belly or resting his head on me or wanting to be held more than ever. I think he is already feeling competition or something. So far, everything is going well. I loved the way my friend Susan announced her baby so I copied her...thanks Susan!

Happy Halloween!

What a fun Halloween! We waited for daddy to get home from work and carved the pumpkin. Andrew lost interest fairly quickly, but the pumpkin sure turned out cute. We dressed Andrew up again as a T-Bird and I dressed up in my poodle skirt to go trick-or-treating. We left around 6 when it was still light out. The first door we went to he walked right up to and knocked on the door. I was quite proud of him. We went around the circle and then came home to eat some dinner. He didn't want to stay inside after dinner so we went out to a few for more doors in the neighborhood. I am not sure if he was tired or a little nervous about the dark so he had to be carried and that is a taxing job. We came back home and called it a night. I thought he looked so cute in his costume and carrying around his Halloween bag. He is growing up too fast!

Halloween Carnival

Girls in their poodle skirts
Playing golf

The cool t-birds
All the guys
Grease Family
We had a great time this year at the Halloween Carnival. We dressed up in 50's costumes. I made all of the poodle skirts after deciding that was the best way to dress up in 50's attire. I made mine and showed it to Isaac's mom and agreed to make the rest of them. It was a long few days making costumes, but I think they turned out pretty cute. The boys dressed up like T-birds...they looked pretty hot! We enjoyed the evening. Andrew went trick or treating to the doors at the church house with Aunt Emily. She said he cried at every one of them which makes me nervous for actual trick or treating. We hit the golf ball and then Andrew went running for it to keep it. Andrew and Emily also jumped around in the bounce house. We had dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs and then had a cake walk for cup cake desserts. Andrew was worn out by the end of the night. All in all, it was a great carnival and a fun time spent with family.

More Family Pictures

We had new family pictures taken after Nathan's mission return address. A family friend of Isaac's parents took the pictures and did such a great job. I am very excited about how they turned out!

S'mores anyone?

We love getting together with some work friends of mine to have dinner. We decided to have a hot dog roast and campfire night up Big Cottonwood Canyon. We had a great time! Andrew loved being out in nature. He was very intriqued by the fire and sat down about 4 feet from it to watch it...then the marshmallows were opened for s'mores. He had to put them in the fire too, but was way too impatient for them to be completely done. He grabbed one and shoved it in his mouth and by the end of the night had had four of them. I am quite surprised that he fell asleep on the way down the canyon with that much sugar in him!

Singing in the Rain

We had a great rain storm the other day which was such a novelty after a long dry summer. Andrew had a great time playing outside on the balcony in it.

Welcome Home Nathan!

Isaac's brother Nathan just returned home from his mission to California. We went to the airport to greet him and let Andrew meet his uncle for the first time. It is fun to have him home.

Funny Pictures

Andrew loves to play with mom's cool stuff!

A boy that loves water!

Andrew can spend hours playing in the water. He loves soaking himself with the hose and would rather water himself or the sidewalk than the grass. This was at Aunt Tawna's house when we were celebrating grandpa's 60th birthday.

Happy Birthday to Us!

After we went to the zoo, we came home and let Andrew take a nap before we went to Isaac's parents house for a party. We had dinner, cake and ice cream, and opened presents. It was fun to share our day with some of both of our families. Isaac's dad made us a giraffe cake and we floated the cake as is tradition in his family. The day went by so fast, but we couldn't have asked for a better birthday!

Hogle Zoo

In seeing the Ghost of the Bayou, the rare white alligator.
Too bad we didn't get to see his eyes...legend has it that if you gaze into his blue eyes you will be blessed with good luck for the coming year.

We love the baby giraffe!



The elephant exhibit was great!

Isaac and I were born on the same day, just 5 years apart. We love to celebrate each year together. This year we decided to take Andrew to the Hogle Zoo for his first time ever for our birthday. It was a busy and very hot day, but we had a lot of fun. Andrew enjoyed all of the animals. We bought him a hat so that he didn't get burned and lathered him with sunscreen. He looked like a little safari hunter.