It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We are only about half way through December and already we have been so busy with fun Christmas activities. 

First of all we decorated our house for Christmas. Caden and Kayla posed for pictures by the stuffed Santa. 

Elmo had to join Makayla in the picture.

Makayla was great to help us decorate the tree. She loved putting the ornaments on the tree then taking them off over and over again.

Caden got the honor of helping Daddy put up our headless doll decoration.

Here's our downstairs tree all decorated

And the fireplace...

Here's our upstairs tree in the piano room. I love this tree because you can see it from our front window. 

Daddy has been serenading us with some Christmas tunes. The kids love to play under the piano when he's playing and sometimes they even get to play along with Daddy. 

Last week Tracy and Jeremy invited us to go with them to Discovery Gateway to see a Christmas movie in the IMAX theater. It was Makayla's first time in a movie theater and she loved it! She got to sit on Grandma Terry's lap the whole time. It was Caden's nap time and miraculously he slept through the whole movie and more!

After we walked around to look at all the space stuff. Makayla was amazed at everything.

The kids got to walk on Mars

And Tyler and Terry showed us their moon on the moon.

After that we thought it would be fun to go look at lights on Temple Square. Our original plan was to be there right when it got dark and leave before it got busy. We took too long at dinner and we missed one of the Trax trains, so by the time we got to Temple Square it was so busy and crowded. We still managed to have fun looking at lights.

This little girl is just growing up way too fast! I love my little girl.

Makayla loves hanging out with her cousins!

It was hard to drag Makayla away from the water. She wanted to keep putting her hands in it.

The Jones Family!

And my cute family (Cute Caden slept almost the whole time)

The whole group (minus me, taking the picture)

And us again (minus Terry taking the picture)

Makayla and Daddy. Oh I just love these two.

Yep, this is pretty much like what he looked like the whole night. He was one tired little monkey!

I love going to Temple Square. I think the temple looks so pretty with all the lights at Christmas time.

So I made my family pose for yet another picture in front of the temple. 

Some of the other fun things we have been up to this month include: 

Going to see the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional with one of Tyler's co-workers. It was such a humbling night to hear their talks about the true meaning of Christmas. One of our favorite moments was when the presidency walked into the room and every single person (about 10,000 people) went completely silent and stood up to honor him. It was pretty special to be there in the presence of the president of the church. 

Making a countdown to Christmas chain. We put both kids' hand prints on it then Makayla got to color it. 

Caden played with Makayla's blankies. What Makayla doens't know won't hurt her! :)

We thought it would be fun to do Angel Tree with the kids. We picked out two kids who were the same age as Makayla and Caden. Makayla picked a little girl named Mabel. We got her clothes, a tinkerbell doll that Mabel wanted, and Makayla picked out a baby doll that she wanted! :)

Caden got a little boy named Humberto. He wanted music toys, so we got him a few toys that he would like and some clothes.

The kids are too young to understand the whole idea of helping out others in need, but I hope they can look back on this someday and realize how important we feel it is to help, not just at Christmas time, but all throughout the year. 

One of my favorite traditions now is to have our lasagna/Ginger bread party. We started this when we lived in Richfield 4 years ago. Everyone would come down to Richfield to go to the Light Parade. Since we moved we wanted to continue the tradition. We had so much fun this year. All the families got a gingerbread to decorate. As you can see we were all hard at work.

Our ginger bread house had a few bite marks in it before we could decorate it... it may or may not have been done by this cutie!

 Makayla had so much fun decorating. I think she ate more candy than ended up on the gingerbread house.

 She was so proud of her house. I think our house turned out the cutest!

 Although the award for creativity would have to go to Ryan and Aubree. They made a "crack" house complete with boarded up windows.

Caden turned into Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer at some point in the middle of decorating. I think Grandma and Grandpa even let him taste the frosting. 

 Our family is growing pretty big, but I love that we still get together all throughout the year.

I love my little boy!

 And my cute family! I am so blessed to have such a great family!

 All the kids started to watch a movie and somehow Grandpa became the couch to lay on. I think he was in heaven.

Can these cousins get any cuter with their Christmas jammies from Grandma and Grandpa?

 After we were done decorating and cleaning up, a few of the family stayed to play card games. We were laughing so hard until midnight when they decided they were partied out! Seriously one of the funnest nights!

Only 16 days left until Christmas and we have so many more fun things planned! I love this time of the year!!

Oh These Two

What can I say? These two are the cutest little kids ever!! And they LOVE each other... well most of the time. Caden follows Kayla all over the house and Kayla is always looking out for her brother. I love that Makayla's arm is around Caden in this picture. 

Caden got upgraded in the tub and no longer requires the little tub, so that means more room for toys in the bathtub!

Makayla was being a sweet heart and cleaning Caden's back

And hair 

Here they were just chillin in the laundry basket. 

I love that our kids are so close in age. People told me that it would be hard (and don't get me wrong it is) but now they are starting to play together and things are getting a whole lot easier. I love that Kayla is very protective of Caden at daycare. Tyler said he dropped the kids off and the dog came running over and started sniffing Caden. Makayla ran over to Caden and got right between him and the dog and told the dog, "STOP!!". I also love when I'm in the kitchen getting dinner ready and I can hear the two of them playing on the stair and hear Makayla say to Caden, "come on broder". Oh the happy moments of having two under two. 

Early in November we went out for FFD. We started out at our favorite restaurant El Rancho Grande. They brought us chips and salsa and Makayla started chowing! She kept saying "dip" and even though we told her it was hot she still wanted to keep eating salsa. Then they brought out our dinner and Makayla ate almost two whole cheese enchiladas, rice, and beans!  

Caden ate a napkin for dinner

 Then we thought we would go to Sheels. They had an aquarium and Makayla loved looking at the fish.

 Our trip to Sheels didn't last long because Makayla had her very first public temper tantrum when we wouldn't let her hold a toy, so we left with her SCREAMING the whole way out of the store. Probably the first of many TT's.

Crazy hair day? Nope. This is normal. 

And of course, trying on Mommy's shoes is always a highlight of the day. 

Some other things about Makayla at 22 months: 

-If she gets hurt she runs over to us and says "bonk" and wants us to kiss it better. 

-Tyler taught her how to laugh like Count from Sesame Street. Now when she is reading her book you can hear her say, "One, ha, ha, ha!"

-She loves songs and is starting to sing. Some of her favorite songs are: Itsy Bitsy Spider, One Little Monkey, Patty Cake, Little Tea Pot, and Ring around the Rosie. 

-If she knows she did something to hurt Caden, she goes, "Sorry. So sorry broder"

-She is starting to put full sentences together. The other day she said to us: "Where's moon?" "I can't see him... Dere it is!!"

-Her patience with Caden is minute by minute. One moment she'll be finding toys for Caden to play with and the next moment she is yelling at him. 

Oh this little Monkey just gets cuter by the day. He is crawling ALL over the house and he is starting to try to pull up on the furniture. Caden loves to follow Makayla all over the house, but he loves it most when we carry him around. 

 Caden loves bath time and loves to play with all the toys. He is especially a cutie when we wrap him up in his towel.

 He's not the cleanest eater, but he does love his veggies. Caden loves squash, carrots, green beans, and sweet potatoes. Don't you just love his puppy dog eyes in this picture?

Some other things about Caden at 7 months: 

-He is wearing 9 month clothes

-He has a very high pitched scream. And sometimes he growls like a dinosaur. 

-He is the BEST snuggler. He loves to be held and when he is, he puts is head on your shoulder. 

-Caden snuggled with Tyler for over an hour the other day. I don't know who loved it more, but I know I was very jealous!

-He gives the best kisses!

-Caden is still not sleeping through the night. He wakes up at 3 every morning and can't go back to sleep unless he is snuggled in our bed. 

What Does Mr. Turkey Say?

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

To help us get ready for Thanksgiving we had a craft night for FFD... (yes, I'm one of those moms that makes her family do crafts!) We traced out Kayla's foot for the body of the turkey and then traced her hands for the feathers. 

Then we had to glue it all together

 And here's the finished product

We wrote what Makayla was thankful for on the feathers. We had the following conversation with her earlier that day: 

Me: We need to think of some things you are thankful for. Are you thankful for Mommy? 

Makayla: Mommy.

Tyler: Are you thankful for Daddy? 

Makayla: Daddy. 

Me: Are you thankful for Grandma and Grandpa?

Makayla: Grandma, Grandma. 

Me: What else are you thankful for?
Makayla: Jeremy. 

Yes, Makayla is thankful for Tracy's husband Jeremy. I don't know what he did to impress her and make it on the thankful list, but whatever he did worked!! :)

Even though Makayla said she was thankful for Jeremy, he didn't make it on the finished project. What was included was: Mommy, Daddy, Brother, blankie, and Sesame Street. 

Caden was napping during craft day, so we didn't make him a thankful turkey, but if we did make a list of what Caden is thankful for it would include: Mommy, Daddy, Makayla, baby food, and toys.

Mommy is thankful for: Daddy, Makayla, Caden, all of our extended family, our health, our home, two fantastic jobs, living in South Jordan and being so close to family, being raised in the LDS church, my beliefs, the fact that I'm not pregnant this year, and the best life together as a family!

Daddy is thankful for: Mommy, Kayla, Caden, extended family (he did say that he was more thankful for his extended family, not mine, but then retracted his statement), our house, his job, living in the USA, our blog, and bedtime. 

Then Thanksgiving day finally arrived...

This handsome little man got to celebrate his very first Thanksgiving!! He had so much fun that he crashed from all the excitement. 

We started out our day at Great Grandpa and Grandma Evans' house. They had a lot of people there that we got to meet for the first time. We enjoyed our first of two turkey dinners and then sat around and talked for hours. Then we went to Tammy and Bruce's  house for our second dinner. We had so much fun playing a Turkey dice game and winning lots of prizes. We sat around talking and laughing until 10:30.  We love being with our family on Thanksgiving day and feel so grateful for all of our extended family. Since we switch off holidays now, we missed my family's Thanksgiving dinner, but I'm sure they still had fun with out us. 

One day a year is not enough to express how grateful and blessed I feel. I truly feel like I have the best life and am so thankful for all of my blessings! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Shhhh... Don't tell Makayla

As Makayla is getting older, she is becoming very protective of "her" stuff. When Kayla and Caden are playing on the floor she spends the majority of her time taking toys away from Caden. And poor Caden just goes to find another toy. I feel bad for him because he doesn't get to play with any toys. 

So....

 When Makayla is taking her nap I let Caden play with all of her toys. 

Shhh... just don't tell Makayla!! :)

The First Snowfall

A few weeks ago we had our fist snowfall of the winter season. Kayla was very amazed by it. She kept saying "raining" until we told her it was snow. We spent 20 minutes bundling her up with at least 3 layers of clothing and then she and Daddy went out to play in the snow. 

 They tried to make a snowman, but the snow wasn't right, so they made snow angels instead.

 Kayla still wanted to play on her swing set so Daddy cleared off the snow from her slide.

 Landing was a little harder in the snow. Makayla face planted it a few times.

But she got right back up and wanted to go again. 

 It must have been pretty cold out there because Kayla only lasted about 20 minutes. All that work to put on her winter clothes and then she was ready to have them off again.

Since Caden was too little to go out in the cold, we hung out together in the warm house. I could just gush him all day long!! I love my little man!!

October Highlights

 I don't know what it is with my family, the flu, and Halloween, but for two years now we have managed to be sick with the flu around Halloween. Despite the flu, we had the funnest time getting ready for Halloween, and taking the kids trick-or-treating. Makayla wasn't feeling the best that night and she threw quite the fit when we tried to take her out to get candy. After a lot of coaxing and a bribe with one of Grandma's cookies, we got her to go to the first house. Once she realized she got candy she was pretty happy, but then threw another fit when we wouldn't let her eat the candy in her pumpkin bucket. Trick-or-treaging was an experience. Probably not the funnest experience, but what do you expect with two under two? And sadly,  no pictures of trick-or-treating... oops. 

Here's some of the other things we have been up to during the month of October: 

Saturday and Sunday mornings are my favorite. We don't have anywhere we need to be and we don't have to rush to get the kids ready for daycare and out the door. We can take our time snuggling with our kiddos. 

At 6 months Caden is becoming very mobile. He mastered sitting up all by himself. 

And now loves to play with his toys from his new sitting position. 

He loves to play with his toys and put EVERYTHING in his mouth.

And by the end of October, Caden learned to crawl! He can now get anywhere he wants to go, and we had to re child proof our house! I love that he is getting more mobile, it makes it a little easier on me. 

Do we have a narcissist in our family? I'll let you be the judge! :)

Caden is the best baby. Seriously, he is so chill and just goes with the flow. He rarely cries and is usually so happy... like this...

And he's just too adorable when he sleeps... TOUCHDOWN!!

Some other things about Caden at 6 months: 

-He is the best snuggler and loves to be cuddled. 

-He is still not sleeping through the night. Most of that is my fault because it is just a whole lot easier to put him in bed with us, let him eat, and drift off to sleep than to spend an hour awake trying to rock him to sleep... This working mom thing is kind of difficult sometimes. 

-He loves rice cereal. He is iffy with veggies, and rarely likes fruit. He's not a big eater, despite my attempts to chuck-ify him. 

-Caden is discovering his voice and loves to make "dinosaur" noises. 

-He adores Kayla and wants to be on the ground playing with her. 

At 21 months Kayla has quite the mind of her own. She knows what she wants and tries so hard to communicate those wants to us. Most of the time she does pretty well and we can figure out what she needs, but sometimes when we don't understand it leads to MAJOR meltdowns. Like yesterday morning for example, she had a meltdown because we made her put on her shoes before we left the house. Terrible twos have started and we're not even into the two's yet!!

Kayla can also be a sweetheart. Here's some of the things she has been up to: 

Playing the piano with daddy

 Lookin like an 80's girl with her headband

 Wearing her Princess crown on the stairs

 Coloring with Daddy... one of Makayla's favorite things to do now is color!

 Letting Mommy do her hair. When I do her hair she says, "pretty". 

Playing "running" in our bonus room. She likes to start at one end, count "one, two, go", and run to the other side screaming "running" the entire time. 

Although Caden adores Kayla, Kayla doesn't have much patience with Caden. She gets frustrated if he touches her toys or gets in her way. Occasionally we find her being nice to Caden. One morning she was pretending to feed him. 

(I promise we do put her in clothes sometimes)

 Some other things about Kayla at 21 months: 

-One of my favorite sayings of Kayla is "Come on Ma ma" as she motions her hand for me to come see what she's doing. 

-She loves to help me do the dishes

-She loves pumpkins.

-Kayla loves going for walks in the stroller

-She loves to swing on our swing set and then says to you, "swing?" Meaning you are supposed to swing on the swing next to her. 

Yup... October was a pretty busy month for our family. We were on the go so much that when we would  drive home it only took a few minutes for the kids to look like this: 

As for me and Tyler? Well we do the normal things everyday: get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, play with the kids, put them to bed, and clean up. Our weeks are pretty mundane, but we live for the weekends when we can play with our kids all day! I did get a night away from the kids to go with my Bestie, Emily to Thriller. I have been to Thriller over 10 times now and I still love it as much as the first time I went. Plus hanging out with Emily makes any night fun!