Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. In fact, it was one of the better ones my family has had. We just kept it immediate family. Kristen and I stayed up late the night before and made pies and Brandon helped make his beloved pumpkin roll. The morning of, the kitchen was full of people. My mom worked on a wonderful table setting and probably overdid herself cooking so much good food. Seth loved having so much good food around, however, he is not a turkey fan. We also found out he is not much of a sparkling cider fan (he didn't get that from me. My siblings and I probably require a bottle a piece on Thanksgiving...we love it). We asked Seth if he wanted to try some "special juice" and he quickly said okay! After he drank it, he made a face and said "its spicy juice. I don't like spicy juice." I guess he doesn't like carbonation:)

The day after Thanksgiving we went to the Christmas Tree Farm. It was CRAZY windy! Seth hated the wind so he spent most of his time crying, and eating their free popcorn and cider. I had a great time picking out a LIVE wreath to supplement our FAKE tree:)


At my mom's we set up Seth's new scooter, bought with birthday money from Brandon's parents. Brandon was a great teacher, however, Seth prefers to push the scooter to the top of the driveway and roll down, instead of pushing himself....smart!

Daren, and Shae had the great idea to go to Fenton's one night and get ice cream. This is the ice cream shop featured in the movie "Up." Their ice cream is HUGE and more messy that ever. We got a "black and tan" (however I also added marshmallow cream....yes it is a necessity!).

Seth's best friend is my mom's dog Kai! He chases her around the house and is always trying to play with her. One day she is going to get sick of him. Seth got to walk her at the park. This pic was taken about 10 seconds before she laid him out flat, by bolting towards some other dogs.

Seth and his buddy!

It took us 9 hours to get home from my mom's (a trip that normally takes 6). Even though we got home late Brandon dug out our Christmas boxes so we could decorate after work the following day. (Yes, my kid is standing there in underwear. Everyone needs one of those pictures:)

Our tree!

October = Party, Party, Party

Our October has been filled with so much partying that it overwhelms one blog post. We have had a great month. Brandon's out of town work trips and crazy work hours ended mid month and so we geared up to make up for lost time.

Seth and I took a trip home to my mom's house to celebrate her 50th birthday and for my 10 year high school reunion. My brother, sister and I were all anxious to start the fall frenzy so we headed to the pumpkin patch on Oct. 3rd. Uncle Randy scored him a ride on the tractor.

This patch had the best pumpkins by far! Seth graffitied on one, so that one became his!

Pumpkin patch number two was a visit to Riley's farm. It was a full day event...but so worth it. Pumpkins, BBQ, live music, cider, and homemade apple pie!

Yes...we owned quite a few pumpkins this year!

While Brandon was in Florida for work, Seth and I took a trip to Fresno to visit Uncle Blake and Aunt Andi. Blake took Seth to a pumpkin patch as well. Trust me, the idea of picking out pumpkins was no less fun by this point. Seth LOVES pumpkins!

After Brandon took a trip to Florida, and before his Puerto Rico trip he took a day off to devote to hanging out with Seth and I. We joined our friends at Disneyland, which was decked out for Halloween. The fireworks were amazing and Seth will still reference them to this day if you mention the word Disneyland.

Seth LOVES Lightning McQueen...and can say Kachow like a pro!

Once work settled down a little we spent one night carving pumpkins...Seth did the dirty work:)

After carving we had a movie night with popcorn and watched Its The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. Seth eats popcorn like his dad...

Everything must have caught up with us because Seth got sick the week of Halloween. A fever lasted all week, so we cancelled our YMCA trick or treat, our friend's halloween party, and our play groups party that was supposed to take place over here. (Yikes that would have been a lot:) Luckily Seth felt better Friday night, but we decided to wait until Saturday to really let him out of the house.

Sick Seth: binkie in, holding hair, wearing sweats. Poor kid!

He must have known how much I was anticipating Halloween because he got better just in time to wear the costume that I spent hours making (I enjoyed every second of it). Aunt Shae and Kristen bought him these race car pj's that inspired the costume since it looked like a real uniform. I bought a 6 dollar racing hat then made the car out of a box and foam. My favorite part was that the sponsor "Pampers" is on his rear bumper:)

Seth was the slowest trick or treater EVER that night. Paige ran from house to house. Seth protested and wanted to just hang out and eat his sucker. He liked the race car outfit for a while, but wanted to take it off. The prideful mom I am made him wear it for part of the time, then we stripped it off him at the end and set him free (although he didn't speed up at all...he still just wanted to eat his sucker).

Nate and Brandon sometimes carried him from house to house in order to speed up the process:) These boys were so patient!

If you look closely you can see the people passing out candy cracking up because Paige and Seth were so tired by the end they didn't even make it to the door. They pooped out and just sat down on the lawn and refused to go any further. I think we ended up carrying Seth the rest of the way (by we I mean Brandon and Nate:)

November 1st...Seth had (what we suspect) was a 24 hour bug. He had no fever, but vomited most of the morning (no, not because he had too much candy...he only actually made it through that dumb sucker he sucked on all night). By the evening he was better, thank goodness. We have a much slower month this month....for now:)

My Baby Boy

My baby boy turned two this past Thursday! Where does time go? I feel like in this short two year time on this Earth he has learned so much.

Allow me a mom moment:

He can speak SO well, count to twenty, say his ABC's and identify about 10 letters, express his opinion quite clearly:), count backwards from 10, work my computer and ipod, identify any Toys R Us from their sign (he calls it the "new toy store," is already a back seat driver and tells me where to turn (he has a great sense of direction), he tells red lights to turn green and sing multiple songs on his own. This makes me feel so good to watch him grow and develop. How can one person make Brandon and I so happy?? He always makes us smile, and has the cutest things to say. Being his mom has been such a blessing that I am thankful for everyday. I'm seriously so blessed:) (that one's for you Katie:)

I totally botched the ending... oops

if you wanted to laugh

These kids really know how to shake their bums. My favorite part is the last 10 seconds or so when Seth's washing machine move really kicks into overdrive. Nothing like a Disney parade to get them shakin'.

Small stories of our week...

Saturday was a glorious day! After many weeks of Brandon's long work hours, stake conference, and numerous other responsibilities, we finally got to spend time together as a family. AHHHH, it felt good. We went to Downtown Disney in the evening for dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. Seth was way into his surroundings, the fake rainstorms, fish, hanging monkeys, etc. That is, until they seated us. We were seated near the main waterfall....good....and right next the the alfa male gorilla who made noise and pounded his chest every few minutes....bad! Seth was terrified of this gorilla. Actually, it was one freaky looking gorilla. To put an end to his anxiety and misery we asked for another seat. Seat #2 was much better (less ambiance), but SO MUCH better. The night was great and Seth grooved to the live band playing just below us on the first floor.

Seat #1 (Seth couldn't concentrate to smile. He just stared apprehensively at the gorilla)

Seat #2 (As you can see, much happier. In fact, we are having a hard time snapping shots of him these days because when you say "smile" or "say cheese" he gives the hugest, most goofy smile he can muster).

This is his cheese...

When their is a new sound Seth will put his hand to his ear and say "Hear it?" and look for the noise.

Our household is way into trains these days. This occupies a good portion of the day. He insists on building most of it himself. He focuses so hard on building and creating new patterns. He is such a boy...I love it!

Yesterday he took a bath in the morning. I wrapped him in a towel and he ran into the kitchen. I was rounding up his clothes when I heard some clanging and then heard cereal pouring. AHHH! My morning cereal bowl was left out with some milk in it (not for very long). He had climbed up to the table and poured himself some Cheerio's. He sat buck naked and ate happily. The scene I walked into was actually messier than this because the cereal bowl was filled to the top.

Note the abandoned towel on the ground.

Finally, at our ward's achievement day the girls were making beaded bracelets. Seth was joining in by stringing some Fruit Loops on a string (making a snake...much more manly than a bracelet:). I told the girls to hold up their bracelets and Seth donned a very serious face and proudly held his up too. I cracked up!

sharing

I just put Seth down for a nap and decided to take a few moments to check my email and blog before I started in on my "to do" list. I have not checked it in a while, so there were many updates. More times than I can count, after having read my friends' blogs (and sometimes things on fb) I am often inspired to do some of the same things you have been doing, or just try harder at some of the goals I have. I am so happy to have such uplifting friends who are always sharing what they are up to (the good and the difficult). Weather it is recipes, crafts, ideas of places to go, trials written about, joys and woes of kids, or activities, I am thankful for shared thoughts. I was always told "you become who your friends are." Well, I sure hope so! You make me do better and try harder when I feel in a rut or am just flat out of ideas. What a good way to re-focus and get new ideas...just poach off of friends:) jk

The sedentary life...

Since my last appointment, my doctor has told me to "take it easy," to avoid any complications with the baby since the placenta is low lying and there have been a few scares. This is only a temporary order (although still hard to follow.) To be completely honest, I have not been the best at following it to the T since there are things during the day that require lifting/chasing:) However, because of my new, more sedentary life, I have had to find more ways to keep Seth and I occupied.

making cookies

building block towers

coloring

playdough

tunnels and couch cushion jumping

playing with the train

rolling canned food across the kitchen (actually, he does this w/o me, or my permission:)

I miss exercise more than I can say. I had no idea how much it really affects my mood, even a simple walk. I can't wait until my next appointment to see if she clears me to do more, especially since this is a crazy work month for Brandon.