2009!!

I can't believe it is already 2009! This past year has flown by. It was quite an eventful year for our little family. Here are a few of the highlights! In March, we purchased our very first house in Rexburg, Idaho. In April, we welcomed our newest addition, baby Natalie, to our growing family! In July, Mark and I graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho!! In August, Mark was hired on with URS Washington Division and we moved to Avon, Ohio (very unexpected...so in September we rented out our brand new home we purchased).



It feels like the more little munchkins you have the quicker the year goes by! 2008 has been a very busy year for us and we are excited to see what is in store for us this upcoming year! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!' (Christmas pictures are coming...they are on my moms camera so I am waiting for them to get e-mailed to me!!)

Does this look like a football to you?

Josh is a funny boy. He likes football. Mark plays it with him quite a bit. Josh likes to put both his hands on his knees and say "FOOTBALL" in a gruff tone of voice (well I guess about as gruff as a two year olds voice can get!). It is the cutest thing! The other night I was giving Josh and Natalie a bath together and Natalie had pulled herself up so she was standing leaning on the side of the tub. Josh was playing and then all of a sudden he looks at her bum, grabs one of her cheeks and says "FOOTBALL!" I was cracking up and said thats Natalies bum Josh, not a football. He shook his head, grabs it again, and says "FOOTBALL" (in that gruff tone of voice)! It was funny! I don't know what it was about her little cheek...but to Josh it was a football!

I love my little monkeys!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I love everything about it! I love putting up decorations, I love listening to christmas music, I love buying gifts for my family, I love taking plates of goodies around to the neighbors, I love making gingerbread houses, I just love absolutely everything that has to do with christmas. When we got back from Thanksgiving we took all our fall decorations down and got the christmas boxes out! We put on christmas music, I lit the cinnamon candles (don't you love the smell of christmas too?!!), and we started putting it all up! Mark always puts the tree up and I do the rest of the house! Josh and Natalie were very big helpers too! Here are some pictures of all the christmas fun taking place at our house!!

The kids helping Mark put together the tree.

My little bucket heads!

Josh thought it was pretty funny to put it on Natalies head too!

Josh ran around with his and Natalies stockings or "socks" as he called them on his feet!

He wore them all night!

Decorating the tree.

The finished product...

We are all ready for CHRISTMAS!!

"I'm a Monkey Mommy"

Josh's newest craze is being a monkey. No matter where we are or what we are doing he finds a way to be a monkey. In Target I usually get those monster buggies that seat both kids and Josh, of course, won't sit he likes to stand and hang/swing on the bar saying "Mommy, I'm a monkey" followed by a screaching "Ooo-ooo, Ahh-ahh". Heads are turning in the store to see what that horrific sound is! I then proceed to ask him to be a quiet monkey so he then whispers "Mommy, I'm a monkey" followed by the same loud screaching "Ooo-ooo, Ahh-ahh". Oh well, whatever makes him happy!!

Yesterday, I hear Josh yelling "Mommy, I'm a monkey" over and over from my bedroom. I can only imagine what he is doing this time. I'm a little nervous, I walk in and he has climbed onto the tall dresser in our bedroom and is jumping off of it saying "Ooo-ooo, Ahh-ahh." Luckily, we had to move our lovesac into our bedroom so we could put our Christmas tree up in the sunroom so he was landing in the lovesac. It actually looked like a lot of fun!

I love this age. Josh has such a cute little personality and is learning new things so quickly. He amazes me. He always adds some excitement to my days! I love you my little monkey!

What a cute little monkey!!

I just love this kid!

He also likes to prove he's a monkey by hanging on the doorknobs!!

Thanksgiving

What a great holiday Thanksgiving is! Not only is it a time to sit back and think about all the blessings in your life but you get to stuff your face while you do it! This year we went to Mark's sister Michele's for Thanksgiving. His sister Cindi and her family drove in from Virginia and his Mom was there as well. We had a great time playing games and eating all weekend long! Josh had a ball playing with his cousins. There are 5 kids in Cindi's family and 3 in Michele's and then our 2 made 10 little munchkins running around and it was fun! The weather was fantastic so the kids spent most the weekend playing outside. On Friday the boys stayed home with the kids while all of us girls went out and hit the sales!! We took advantage of this time without the kids and stayed out until 10 that night! It was a nice relaxing day!!

Mackenzie, Carter, Audrey, Lauren, Tyler, Josh, Connor, and Jonathan

Drew, Lance, and Mark sneaking turkey before the feast!

Josh, Audrey, and Lauren (they are twins, aren't they adorable!!)

Who Needs Pockets?

Mark forwarded this video to me and I thought some of you would get a kick out of it! I don't know how this mom could stand there and watch her little girl do such a thing! I know I would be freaking out...how about you??

Fun at the Science Center

So my good friend Haylie stopped by today because she wanted to show me this cool application she found where you can do fun collages with your pictures. This is BAD news! I thought blogging was addicting enough...no I was wrong. This application is way too much fun! It is like scrapbooking but digital and for your blog. I LOVE IT! So this is my first little creation and I am sure there will be many more to come!! Thanks Haylie for having patience with me and my 2 little munchkins as you taught me all the tricks!

A couple of weekends ago Marks sisters family came to visit. We had a great time with them! It was a rainy weekend so we took the kids to the Great Lakes Science Center in downtown Cleveland. It was a lot of fun! There is this great kids section there and they really enjoyed playing. I don't know who enjoyed it more though, the kids or the dads! Mark and Lance filled up this big bucket with the balls and then had all the kids lay under it and dumped the balls on them!! Josh loves being able to play with his cousins and asks me all the time if he can go to "Shells" (Michele's) house. It's so nice to live just a few hours away!!

Oh Where, Oh Where Has Fall Gone?

I really enjoy living where there are four seasons. I don't think I could live somewhere that didn't have all four. I love the changing colors during the fall and the crisp days, cool enough for a jacket or sweater but not so cold that you need a coat. This year is flying by. It seems as if here in Ohio the fall has come and gone and winter is setting in. For the past couple of days it has been snowing and believe it or not, I LOVE it! I love that we had a nice warm summer, a decent fall, and now it is time for winter! It's coming just in time for the holidays! I feel like this time of year feels complete with a little bit of snow on the ground!

Living in Rexburg for the past 3 years, I really missed the changing colors of fall! It seemed out there, despite the fact that there aren't many trees, that fall was almost non-existant. It felt like it would go from summer to winter and back to summer! So I am really enjoying being back out east with all four seasons and so many trees!!

A few days ago we went to Huntington Beach, it is right on Lake Erie, and had a picnic. Mark and Josh played a little football (as much as you can with a 2 year old!) and Natalie and I cheered them on! The trees were gorgeous, the air was crisp, it was the perfect fall day!

Better late than never!

Over the river and through the woods to Grandma's house we go! (Actually more like just a 6 hour drive!) A couple of weeks ago I got up the courage and drove, by myself with both kids, to my parents house in Maryland! If you know me, I am not so good with driving. I don't know what it is about the car, but once it starts moving I get sleepy. So I was a little bit nervous about driving out there without Mark to keep me awake, but I got up the guts and gave it a shot! We weren't even out of Avon (the town we live in) and I almost turned around and went back home. Natalie was crying and Josh was yelling "I want out! I want out!" I was thinking what the heck am I getting myself into! Well we kept on going and 2 stops to feed Natalie and 6 hours and 45 minutes later we made it! Alive...in one piece! I was pretty proud of myself and we sure are glad we went. We had a great time! Josh LOVES wrestling around with his Uncles and reading with Grandma. And of course, Natalie just eats up all the attention she gets! I figure that while I live so close to family I need to take advantage of it and spend as much time as I can with them. We went down for the entire week and loved it!

Uncle Aaron and Josh playing around! Josh adores Aaron and likes to tease him!

Playing Wii Mario Kart. Let me tell you it is NOTHING like N64. I would dominate in the N64 version. But on the Wii I am lucky if I even finish the race! It was fun though!

Uncle Max has a paper route and Josh thought it was pretty fun to play in them that morning!

Grandma and Natalie having a good time together! That little girls smile is contagious!

Josh thought it was pretty funny to wear Grandma's glasses!

While we were there we went to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. It was such a great park to take little kids too because there were so many kiddie rides. I wasn't quite sure how Josh would like it but he absolutely LOVED it! There were some rides that we had to go on over and over and over because he liked them so much!

When we first got there we measured Josh to see what candy bar he was so that we knew which rides he could go on. He wasn't quite tall enough to go on the Hershey Kiss rides he was a Miniature Kiss!

This was Josh's very first ride to go on and I wasn't allowed to go with him. I didn't think he would actually go without me but he climbed right on in, I buckled him up, and off he went all by himself! Most parents would be so excited for their little ones and I was, but I have to admit a part of me was sad. My baby boy is growing up. He is starting to do things on his own and it tugged at my heart strings a little! But I was proud of him too!!

The rides that go round and round make me sick so Uncle Aaron would go on those ones with him! This rocket ship would go up really high if you pulled on the steering wheel inside and Uncle Aaron showed Josh how to do it so the entire time Josh had them flying high!

Natalie was the best baby all day! She just hung out in the stroller and didn't complain one bit. In fact she was so smiley all day! It was a bit chilly so we kept her bundled up in the stroller!

Josh will eat ice cream anywhere. It doesn't matter if it is cold outside or not. He really liked the Dippin Dots and just for the record that wasn't his only cup of them that day!

Josh rode the "Choo-Choo" with Grandma!

Uncle Aaron and Josh fed the ducks from the top of the bridge!

We all rode the Sky Tram around the park. Natalie enjoyed this part not being in the stroller!

Josh loved riding the airplanes. This is one of the rides he went on over and over and over. It was so sad because the last time he went on the ride he said "Ouchie Mommy" and pointed to his tummy. I can only imagine what riding that thing 7 times in a row would make your stomach feel like!

The Frog Hopper was Josh's all time favorite ride. I can't begin to count how many times we went on this ride! I didn't mind it at all because it just took you straight up and then dropped you. Josh thought it was hilarious! He had so much fun on the froggy ride!
We stayed the weekend for General Conference and then we headed home Sunday night.

Natalie and Grandpa watching Conference together.

Josh, Uncle Max, Me, and Uncle Aaron watching Conference together.
We had such a great time visiting my family. I know that we will be making the trek out to see the fam a few more times before we leave Cleveland! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for letting us come crash for the week! We had too much fun!!

tRicK-or-TreAt

This was Josh's first halloween to go trick-or-treating. Last year our little apartment complex did a trunk-or-treat for the kids but it was little. So this was his first year to get in on the real thing. My parents and little brother came to visit for the weekend so "Uncle Mack" went with Josh up to the doors. At first I don't think he quite understood the whole concept. But by the end he was going right up to those doors and sometimes when they would answer the doors Josh would walk right on in! It was cute. Josh had a ton of fun trick-or-treating!

Uncle Max taking Josh up to his first house...

Walking along with Grandpa...Josh was a little slow especially when his bucket got so full!

There was someone dressed up as Elmo and Josh was fascinated by him. He didn't want to leave. He sat right next to Elmo and even gave him a hug!

Josh went as a zebra, Natalie was a little kangaroo, and Uncle Max was a samurai!

Thanks for coming to visit Grandpa and Grandma! We had a great time!

Sweet Natalie...Growing So Fast

This morning Josh and I were eating breakfast and I had left Natalie back in her bedroom on the floor playing. Usually she won't stay in her room, well make that any room, by herself. She doesn't like to be alone. But we were almost done eating and she still hadn't started crying so I went back to check out what she was up to and sure enough she was being naughty!! She isn't even crawling yet, but she knows how to scoot herself around, and this is what I found...

Babies grow up way to fast. Natalie turned 6 months about a week ago and she has changed so much! She is turning into such a sweet little girl. She is so full of life and already has the cutest personality. She is so smiley and giggly all the time. It is fun to have her in our family!

Her and Josh are becoming good friends. Josh is sweet with her and will share his toys with her (for the most part) but there is one thing he isn't so good about sharing and that is his cup! She loves to drink out of his cup and he will let her have sips but he won't let her hold it which she LOVES to do. So I went out and got Natalie her own cup. Now that she is sitting up by herself Josh loves to sit right next to her. He is a good big brother!

WE LOVE YOU NATALIE!

Bye Bye Paci!

I am finally rid of the blasted pacifier! I don't know what it is with those things, but to Josh it was like crack. He NEEDED that darn thing in his mouth at all times. He wouldn't even be sucking on it. It would just be sitting in his mouth or hanging half way out of his mouth but it HAD to be in his mouth! Anyways I got sick of him always freaking out when it wasn't in his mouth and he didn't know where it was so we went cold turkey...bye bye paci! Actually, the baby turtles at the zoo needed them so they took them!

We went to the zoo this past friday and had a great time! I really like the Cleveland Zoo. It puts the Idaho Falls Zoo to shame! But we loved the Idaho Falls Zoo while we were there. Josh was very fascinated with the bears at the zoo but his all time favorite this time were the turtles, which are actually in a section of the zoo that is open all year long called The Rainforest. He went nuts over the turtles and wanted to stand and watch them all day! It was a good thing we did the zoo first and then the rainforest because I don't think we would of got to the zoo had we done the rainforest first!

Anyways, I am so glad that we are done with this whole pacifier business. I swear we were keeping NUK in business with how many we were buying here towards the end. Josh would rip holes in them every other day it seemed like. Although we have rid our house of them, Josh has not forgot about them. Everyday he asks about his paci and then says baby turtle in the same sentence. So he knows that the baby turtle has his pacifiers. So yes, we are having withdrawals over here...but we are done! Next on the list is potty training...any ideas??