Here Comes Santa Claus

Carlie and Joseph were so excited to see Santa, Davis was just excited for his candy cane! We didn't do Christmas cards this year so, just pretend you got this picture in the mail. We had a great time at our ward Christmas party. It was fun to see Joseph smiling with Santa. We hope everyone is having a magical Christmas season!

Quick Hawaii Pics

I am sure Monica will write something one of these days about how nice of a husband I am to take her to hawaii. Until then here are some pictures for those who are interested. By the way, the trip was awesome and Maui (and Monica) is (are) beautiful!

Hawaii Pictures

Here Comes Trouble

What's going on? My other babies didn't crawl until they were 9 months old. Joseph really shouldn't be crawling yet! He is only 7 months old. I really should have two more months to prepare myself for another moving child. He is already getting into so much mischief, and we had to put up the gate at the top of the stairs. Each day he is getting faster and faster and more independent. My little baby isn't so much a baby anymore. I better prepare myself, he will be walking before I know it.

I LOVE this kid!

Just had a couple of pictures of my baby growing up! He is sitting up really well and is now crawling (slowly) to get things out of his reach. Everyday he gets a little faster and I am worried about having 3 kids moving around the house. He is pretty fun though! Our version of a bumbo. He wanted to help me make dinner (Yes, waffles are dinner at our house).

Our Happy Halloween

I know, I know, I'm a little late posting about Halloween. I promised my mom pictures of the kids so she could see them all dressed up, so here you go... Our trick-or-treating groupCarlie and her Snow White friends
Joseph sleeeping through all the trick-or-treating fun

Hope you had a spooky Halloween!

No Training Wheels!

If Carlie hasn't shown you yet, here is a video of her riding her bike without training wheels. She is quite proud of herself and is happy to show everyone (including strangers) her new skill.

My little girl is getting so big!

Look Who's Potty Trained!

I never thought this day would come! I'm so proud of my boy, as you can tell he is pretty proud of himself as well! I'm sure we will still have a few bumps along the way, but so far so good, he even stayed dry throughout the night. Way to go Davis!

San Diego Zoo

Rick and I have been wanting to visit San Diego for awhile now, so when I won tickets to Sea World and a couple nights at a hotel we decided to go right away. We packed up and drove 12 hours (each way) with a 4 year old, 2 year old and a six month old. The kids did pretty well on the drive. Surprising, Joseph was the best traveler of the bunch. Davis had a hard time sitting in his car seat for very long. We heard a lot of crying about his legs hurting. Needless to say, we made lots of rest stops. Our hotel in San Diego wasn't very family friendly and Rick was mistaken for the valet attendant a few times while we were there (ask him about it, he loves sharing his story), but we enjoyed the somewhat free room at a luxury hotel in La Jolla (we had to pay $25.00 a night for valet parking). We also spent a night at Scott and Amy's where parking was free (thanks guys). It was nice to visit and go to Sea World with them as well as our friends Ryan and Christin. We spent a day at the zoo and a day at Sea World. Here are a few pictures of our visit to the zoo:

Carlie and Davis enjoyed walking around the zoo. The zoo had lots of shade which was nice since we visited San Diego on the hottest days of the year (around 90+ degrees and very humid).

Davis is a wanderer so this puppy leash came in handy. He didn't like it very much!
Carlie admiring the rhinoceros. Love the polar bear statue!

Davis checking out the giant snake.
Carlie didn't want to miss the koala bears. You can see it just behind her in the tree.

Carlie also wanted to make sure she saw the panda bears. Here is the baby panda sleeping in the tree.
Carlie petting a goat. Davis didn't want to go near any of the animals at the petting zoo.We can't forget our little Joseph. He was such a happy boy on this trip to the zoo.

Sea World and Ocean

Here are our pictures of Sea World. I love this picture of Carlie, her face is priceless. We had a chance to feed the dolphins, which gave us an up-close experience with them. Davis kept a safe distance, but Carlie loved it.

Examining the starfish.

Getting up-close with the animals from the "Pets Rule" show. I love Carlie's dance pose in this picture.I think this pictures sums up the way we ended our day at Sea World. The kids were worn out and ready for bed. We made a quick stop to check out the ocean before we headed home. It was a cold, rainy day, so we took a short walk along La Jolla Shores. We planned to let the kids play in the water, but of course the weather didn't work out as we had planned. We had fun admiring the ocean from a distance.

What Would We Do Without Our Davis?

San Diego Here We Come

I won! I won a two night stay at Estancia La Jolla Hotel and tickets to Sea World for the family from Kosy. I entered literally a million times to win the Disneyland-A-Day Vacation, but never got the phone call. I entered maybe a total of 30 times for this trip and they called this morning and told me we were going to San Diego. I never win anything. So Kirby's and Attebury's we are coming your way sometime soon!

Six Months Old Already!

It's hard for me to believe Joseph is six months old, it feels like he was born just a month ago. Time Flies! Here is a list of a few things Joseph can do at six months old:

1. Roll over
2. Hold his own bottle
3. Snuggle with his favorite green blanket
4. Grab everything in sight
5. Play with his toys
6. Smile and squeal at his brother and sister
7. Push up on his hands while on his tummy
8. Scoot around in circles while on his back
9. Sleep through the night, but rarely does :)
10. Eat! Especially rice cereal. Yum, yum

We are lucky to have such a sweet, happy baby in our family! We love our Joseph!

The difference between Carlie and Davis

Sweet and Silly Pictures

Joseph and Carlie bright and early. They are both such morning people! They always have lots of smiles.

Caden and Carlie swimming at Liberty Park

We couldn't pass up this perfect photo-op at the county fair.

Grandpa and grandkids at Gardner Village.
Joseph's face makes me laugh, I love it! Carlie and Joseph at Gardner Village's Luau.

Once in a Lifetime

Here is a picture of something I never thought I would see. I walked into the family room to see Davis sitting in Carlie's lap watching television. It was a miracle they were that close and not hitting each other. Within a minute Davis was passed out on the couch. I guess this is what I get for skipping his nap today.

Hooray for School!

Carlie started preschool this week. Hooray!! Carlie, Davis and Mom are so happy! We miss our Carlie the couple of mornings she is gone, but it has been great for me to spend more one-on-one time with Davis. All summer Davis has had to listen to Carlie tell him exactly what he should be doing and how to do it. Aren't big sisters great? Davis really wanted to go to preschool with Carlie the first day and spent the morning crying, but once I told him he could pick what he wanted to do for the day he got over his sadness pretty quickly and we headed to the park. Carlie loves the neighborhood preschool we have set up and she is happy to be back with her cute little friends. Here are a couple of pictures from the big day! Even dad got to be home for a little while on her first day of school.

Chunky Monkey

Rick wanted to get lots of pictures to document our chubby Joseph. He is now 4 1/2 months old. At his 4 month checkup he weighed 17 lbs 14 oz (95%) and he's still gaining. The picture above is of Joseph in the middle at 4 months with my friends babies, Holland on the left at 6 months and Harrison on the right at 3 1/2 months old. The pictures below show off his chubby body and the fact that he has no knees. He is a super sweet baby and we can't get enough of his chubbiness!

Swim Little Fish!

It has been HOT!! Thank goodness we have had lots of fun times in the water this last week. Carlie has become our little fish. She can't get enough of the water and can stay in the pool for endless amounts of time. We spent the past weekend in Park City with Rick's extended family. Carlie spent most of the time in the pool playing with cousins. Davis also loved the water and spending time with his cousins Hunter and Kade.

We spent the 24th of July with our friends just relaxing in Kelly's parent's pool. This was Joseph's first time in the water and he loved it!

We spent an evening at Echo Reservoir boating with our neighbors. This was Carlie's first time riding on a tube behind a boat. This picture was taken after all the kids were dunked into the cold water. I'm surprised they all got back on the tube. The kids were still a little apprehensive about trying the tube out again and cried the entire ride. At least they got back on!