Professional Pics

So this post has been long overdue... only by about 3-4 months! A few of you have asked who did our pictures, so in answer to your questions... Blush Photography- Brooke Kinsey. Her website is www.blushbybk.com/blog. She does an incredible job as you can see. You would never know that Crew was such a stinker! (Only you Brooke!) We got our prints a few months ago and are so happy with them! They turned out awesome! Thanks Brooke for giving us this incredible memory!  (You can pause the picture by holding the curser over the picture).

Professional Pics

Sweet Little Moments Like This...

Today we went to another ward to listen to one of Broc's friends. We were a little late to the meeting (does that shock you?) and the chapel was filled (of course). We noticed that it had a balcony with extra seating, so we climbed up there and that was pretty much full as well. We had to climb over a few people to get to an empty seat and then I thought, man this is going to be a pain if Crew needs to be taken out (which is not unusual for Sacrament meeting). About two minutes after we had just sat down, Crew decides he wants to run (remember there is no room), so Broc tries to grab him but before he can get him Crew bumps his head on another pew and instantly begins the LOUD cry. Broc tried to quiet him down as he was taking him out, unfortunately with no luck. After a few speakers, Broc brought Crew back in, (climbing and squeezing their way in). Crew looked like he was about to make a run for it again and then the Primary Children started singing Primary Christmas songs. Crew instantly was still and listened so intently. It was almost as if he could feel the message they were singing about. The spirit was so strong as those children sang of the birth of Jesus. Such a simple tune with an over empowering message. As I looked at Crew, tears ran down my cheeks, thinking of the most important things at Christmas time... our Savior! I am so grateful to have these sweet little moments to remind me of the most important things that only a child can teach. I feel so blessed to be a mother and have such a special little boy who brings a piece of Heaven into my life!

Thanksgiving

A new post has been long over due. I can't believe I really haven't posted Thanksgiving yet. Well here it is! We went up to Morgan and ate 3 dinners! Yep I think I gained about 40 pounds in one night! But it was definitely worth it! We started at the Hopkin's for our first round and of course the boys had to play their Turkey Bowl! 

Crew getting a few passes in. Look at that spiral! 

Football is definitely not a spectators sport for Crew. This is him being so mad that he couldn't play with the big boys. The big guys were crazy out there, I was afraid he was going to get ran over. What a mean mom!

Nice catch babe!

Grandpa threw a few passes to Crew! Of course Crew loved it!

Me and Kaibs doing silly faces!

Look at what great manners this kid has... eating dinner with a knife and spoon! 

Crew's favorite part of Thanksgiving... giving Aunt Jilly's doggy kisses!

The night didn't end there... me, Raegen, Aubree, Riley and Chelsey went to South Town for some midnight shopping! What were we thinking. It was a first for us and the lines were crazy long! We got a few good buys that made the trip worth it! 

Becky's Birthday!

It was my best friend Becky's birthday on Nov. 26. We have been friends since the 1st grade! We lived just around the block from each other and since we were both the youngest we practically lived at each others homes. We loved making up our own games like making tapes, stealing our neighbors rocks- seriously who does that?, riding our bikes with one hand, one hand, no hands - yep pretty sure we both crashed, and dressing up in the same outfit so people thought we were twins. There was one time in 5th grade that we discovered her mom and my sister had the same shirt so we stole the shirts and totally planned to where it on the same day. Pretty sure it was the ugliest thing ever, and it did have shoulder pads. We were such nerds! We have had some great times together! After High School we were roommates at college. She has been such a great friend through some pretty crazy times and I am so grateful to her for that! Any of you who know her know that she is so fun to be around. We would stay up late at night and laugh about the dumbest things! I feel so blessed to have such a great friend that I know will always be there. Thanks for your friendship Beck! Hope you had the greatest birthday ever! You deserve it!

Hot pic- huh! Man, nothing better than colored socks, brown belt with black shoes and a big bow to top it off! Why didn't anyone help me?

We celebrated the day walking around Gardner Village

Beck even got some birthday kisses from Santa's Elves!

She really couldn't resist them!

We ate at lunch at Archibalds

and what's a birthday without being sung to at the restaurant!

Beck played the balloon game with Crew... he loved it. He kept saying "again, again".
He really made her play the game like 30 times! Crew loves Beck so much, he always says, "call Becky, Becky and Bandon" (that's Becky's husband).

Beck enjoying her birthday treats!

Happy Birthday Beck! Love ya- girl!

I Can't Believe This!

A few months ago we bought Crew a "big boy potty". He was so excited about it. We brought it inside and sat him down on it and he instantly did pee pees in the potty! I couldn't believe it. That never happens, at least from the stories I heard. I thought we had Crew potty trained in 5 minutes!

The next morning I tried to sit him on it and he absolutely refused, threw a tantrum and would not sit on the potty. So we backed off and thought maybe he just wasn't ready. Then on November 25 he heard Broc get up for work (he has to leave at 5:45AM) and woke up. He would not go back to sleep and I was not a happy camper! I am not so much a morning person! Then he said "potty, potty". I thought this was his creative way of getting me up! So I thought what if he really does need to use the potty. I don't want to confuse him, so I reluctantly got up and sat him on his potty. I brought a few stories in for him to read  and he did "pee pees" in the potty! Yay! I set a timer for 20 minutes and then sat him back on the potty and he actually did pee pees again! That was about it for that day! But I was just so excited that he did it twice in one day! I was so proud of him! The rest of the day- nothing. 

I had to give you that background in order to appreciate this! So tonight we were trying to put him to bed. He kept getting out of his big boy bed and would not go to sleep. So I went in to lay by him and he was fine for a while then he said, "milk"- he started the list of excuses, anything to get him out of going to sleep! Then he said, "potty". I asked him if he needed to do "pee pees or poo poos" (sorry for the terms but that is what we call them in our house!)  He said, "poop poos". So the whole time I am thinking, ya right you just want to get out of going to sleep! So again I reluctantly took him to his potty and sat him down, of course he wanted to read a few stories. 

Then I heard him grunting, and.... 

HE DID POOPS IN THE POTTY! What!? I couldn't believe it! What a big boy!  This is him cheering after he did poops in the potty! Yay for Crew! I seriously am in shock but am so proud of him that he actually knew what he needed to do and did it! My baby is growing up so fast! 

So what now? I think he is definitely ready for potty training, but what do you do at church or in a store? He will only sit on his little "big boy potty". And it is pretty hard for boys to sit on a regular potty. So what do I do about those times? Any advice would be appreciated!  
Yay for doing poops in the potty!

The Big Game...Still #1 to Us!

Saturday we had a party with some friends from Provo to watch the BYU vs. Utah game. It was so much fun to see everybody and watch all of our kids play together. Crew was in heaven having so many friends to play with! 

What was on the menu...  

Pulled Pork Barbeque Sandwiches

Crab Salad in an Avacado

Spinach Artichoke Dip with Bagettes

Bacon Wrapped Waterchestnuts

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Football Truffles

The Jacksons

The Churchs

The Gages

All the boys (baby Jackson didn't make it in this pic)

It was so funny to watch these guys. The little boys kept stealing each others drinks. This was Crew trying to feed Brady his drink! 

Crew and Brady. Crew is such a camera hog sometimes!

Fun times on the stairs

Crew loved sitting in Ethan's car seat. As you can see he was a little distraught from the game! 

Despite the depressing game, we are still Cougar fans and there is always next year! And as Crew says, "ra ra ra ra go Cougas!"