Merry Christmas!

Boys only weekends.

Tate has always been a daddy's boy; he will copy Jord and follow him everywhere, and I love it. It's so cute to see him idolize his dad and want to do everything like him. Every morning they take their vitamins together and brush their teeth, and every night they have to "shoot hoops" together and wrestle. They are best buddies. Tate lives for the weekends because they are inseparable (and I get a little break:) and this weekend was no different:

eating their corn dogs

making their first snowman

laying on the couch watching football...

Let the season begin!

I love Christmastime! I like to get all my shopping done in November because December is so crazy and busy, and then I can actually enjoy everything going on. So here's what we've been doing so far this season:Enjoying all the fun decorations. Every year my grandma gets us the cutest presents--this was last years. It plays songs and has a train that goes around inside it; Tate's mesmerized by it. But we got everything up a few weeks ago and my pint size destroyer has already had lots of fun with them...2 broken ornaments, 2 broken glass balls, a broken nutcracker...you get the picture. I try so hard to not get mad because I know he's just curious, but I feel it will be a long season if this keeps up.

Eating delicious dirty icicles and playing in the snow...

Seeing the lights at Thanksgiving Point. This is the way to see lights--warm inside my car. It's fun, you just drive through this big maze of cool light displays, and Tate loved it. Why can't temple square have a drive through?

After the lights you can go see Santa's reindeer and get hot chocolate. Tate was so excited to go see Rudolph, it was all he talked about all day.
And seeing Santa! Last year was a little different--Tate was terrified and hated him. So I was worried how he'd react but apparently Santa's grown on him over the past year. He loves him and gets so excited to sit on his lap, we've already seen him twice. Maybe the more we go the more presents we'll get for Christmas...

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year, nobody was sick (note: last years post) and it was alot of fun! We were with the Wakefield's and in years past that meant really quiet and low key...not anymore! With 9 adults and 10 grand kids, it got a little loud and crazy but so much fun. There was deep fried turkey (delicious), homemade rolls, lots of pie, game playing, and lots of lounging while the kids went downstairs to play...

Jord and Tate watching my dad carve the turkey

Paige, me, Meg and Macy patiently waiting to eat...

Hailey, Tate and Zac at their little table

playing games...

6 1/2 Months...

This is my belly at about 26 weeks...you luckily can't see it in this picture, but I've already got the turkey-timer belly button. I had it really bad when I was pregnant with Tate. Everything so far is going good, I don't feel the best, but she's growing right on track and she kicks and moves around a ton which is great! 3 1/2 months left to go...

Halloween week.

This past week was very busy with fun Halloween activities...none of which Tate would put on any sort of costume. He's in a phase where he doesn't want to be dressed period, so he usually spends his day in just a diaper. So there was definitely no way he was going to wear any costume and there are some things that just aren't worth a fight. That said, we had a really fun week with cousins going to a primary Halloween party, carving and painting our pumpkins, going to my mom's library to see all the school kids in the parade, a party at grandma Love's, and of course Halloween night...making "shots" at the ward party...he didn't even care about the candy, just the games.Tate loved painting the pumpkins more than carving them. He was so proud of his paint job in the end even though it had turned into a big brown blobAll of our decorated pumpkins...we are amazing artists.
All the cousins at Grandma Wakefield's library....notice everyone dressed up except for Tate in his jammies..
Did I mention Edward Cullen stopped by my house on Friday to say hello? I am one lucky lady
Jord went to the Utes blackout game, so me and Tate headed to my parents house and my mom came trick-or-treating with us. I was at least able to get him to wear his spider beanie, which is better than nothing I suppose. But his favorite part of the whole night was helping my dad answer the door and hand out candy.

Viva Las Vegas!

So this past weekend we spontaneously decided to go to Vegas. Jord's family was going for the Utah game, and we up and decided Friday morning to leave....that same day! So in about 2 hours we decided, booked our room, packed up and drove out. I was so worried about how Tate would do on the 6 hour drive, but he did amazing. Lots of movies on the dvd player and lots of chocolate...those kept him occupied!

On Saturday we walked the strip and it was so hot! It was nice having 90 degree weather again. We saw the Bellagio fountains, Coke and M & M Factories, and the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay. It doesn't sound like much but walking to all of them took all day--we were exhausted! I was so proud of Tate too, he didn't nap the whole weekend and acted so good, I couldn't believe it. He loved all the people, lights, and chaos of it all. Maybe I should be worried that my son already loves Vegas??This was the best family picture we got...whateverThat's right....we stood on a corner right next to K-Fed and he is getting pretty fat. Jord thought I should go ask for a picture with him but I think he's a dirt bag so I didn't really want to. The distant shot was good enough.Drinking the best Coke slushees EVER at the Coke Factory. I got about 3 sips and Tate chugged the rest, he wouldn't let it go. I have no idea why he was hyper the rest of the day. (Can you tell we are a Utes family??:)Grandma Kathy let the boys all pick out one thing at the M & M Factory to buy...this is what Tate chose. A big dorky car with the M & M guys in it, super.

Since the Utah game was pretty late that night and I wasn't going to take Tate to it, Jord stayed with us so we weren't alone. We went swimming and just relaxed at the hotel. Then Sunday the boys just swam and we left that afternoon for home. I'm so glad we ended up going even just for a few days, it was so much fun, we had a great time!