Christmas 2009

James and I have truly loved this holiday season with our little baby boy. We were most excited this year thinking about our little Grant waking up on Christmas morning. For me, Christmas Eve seemed to just crawl by. I kept looking at the clock and thinking how it never seemed to change. I can't wait till Grant is old enough to do this too! We were missing St. George, so James went online and found a Cafe Rio recipe for their pork salad. My goodness, what and involved recipe! It took us all day to make them-we even went to Wal-Mart and found the tins to serve them in, because it just wouldn't be the same! The pork and the house dressing turned out exactly, but the recipe we found needs some tweaking as far as the beans and rice are concerned. It was a good meal though, and I am thinking this might be a tradition for us. We decided this year, that we could open one present on Christmas Eve. For Grant, we opened up Green Eggs and Ham the DVD, since this is one of Grant's favorite books, we thought he might enjoy watching it on TV. Well, not so much. Grant has never been one to sit in front of the TV (thank goodness). He wasn't that interested, needless to say, so hopefully when he's older he will enjoy it more, but I also think right now that he is getting that the book is always better than the movie anyway! :)

Grant still hasn't gotten the hang of opening gifts. I think we would still be sitting here waiting for Grant to open them, if we weren't right there to help him. I remember being the same way when I was little, so it will probably be awhile before he just tears into them!

Grant has a new favorite story to read. Twas the Night Before Christmas has been read so many times at our house, I think James and I both have the entire thing memorized. Grant loves it! Sad that it has to go back in our Christmas box till next year. I don't want Grant to get tired of it!

This was the first present from Santa on Christmas morn:ing. I think James had more fun showing Grant how to play with it, than Grant had learning about it! Grant finally did take a few shots right up close to the basket!

With all the toys Grant received on Christmas morning, he most played with the Hot Wheels cars that were left in his stocking. My boy loves his cars!

One of the first presents we opened was from Grandma and Grandpa Killpack-a glow in the dark shirt!

Grant loved his fire truck that he got from Grandma Jeanne, he didn't even wait for us to take it out of the box before he started playing with it!

Grant got a Mr. Potato Head kit from Santa.

Something kind of funny-we had to stop everything after a little bit to let Grant eat breakfast! This is probably the only year that this will happen! Grant had a waffle for his Christmas breakfast. James and I made crepes-well I made the crepes, James and I wolfed them down. James gave me a great gift-mixing bowls (we desperately needed some) and some new pans. My mom will appreciate this, because you have to have a really good pan to make the crepes in, and I was a little concerned about what I was going to use to make them in, so I got to use James' present on Christmas morning. Can I just say, too, that I am a wonderful crepe maker? They all turned out perfectly golden brown, and were positively delicious with my strawberries and whipped cream. What a great Christmas tradition. I'm glad that I got to make them and keep this tradition alive in my own home. When I was growing up and even today, crepes are a tradtion on Christmas morning with my family.

We had a great Christmas with just us up here in Wyoming. I can't wait for next Christmas, when our new little one joins us! How fun will that be?! :)

Our Holiday Season (so far!)

Our holiday season so far has been wonderful. We spent a few days in St. George for Thanksgiving, and we had such a good time. James didn't get off of work till 4:00 in the afternoon, so I had Grant jammied up, and the car packed and ready to go when he came home, so we could just leave. We arrived in St. George at 3:30 in the morning. It was a long car ride, and Grant did surprisingly well. He slept off and on till we got there, and then was lulled to sleep by the lullabies he listens too before going to bed. (Actually, it lulled everyone to sleep. We weren't the most quiet when we arrived! :)) We spent Thanksgiving day with the Killpack's. Dinner was wonderful, and as always, the conversation very interesting! :) Grant did well on this Thankful day, and we did take a few pics. He is in this stage where, he can't just smile any more, he has to try to smile, and the result is just funny. See for yourself:

We got to spend some time with both of our families, and even got to squeeze in a movie, New Moon, which we didn't find as intriguing as Twilight. We left Grant at home with my parents and he had a good time with them!
This month my friends Lyndi and Kelsey threw me a baby shower. It was so fun, and they did such a cute job. It was on December 12th, and we invited people from our ward to come. We got a lot of little baby girl things, and I feel so much more ready for her to come. Here are some pics of the shower, including the adorable cake made by a very creative lady in our ward. Her name is Katrina and she is an amazing cake decorator!



My friends Lyndi and Kelsey who threw me the shower.

Loving the snow just before Christmas! I am home with Grant, and I am totally loving this time that I get to spend with him before our new little one comes. We have had a good time. Grant loves to read. He will sit and listen to books any hour of the day. One day last week, I grabbed a stack of books from his room, and pulled him into my lap, and watched the clock. My 20 month old sat and listened to stories from 1:00 to 1:55. And not just any book either. He is loving The Cat in the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, Dr. Seuss' ABC, and a new favorite 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

James and I are most excited about this Christmas more than any other Christmas we have shared! We are both excited to wake up Christmas morning and see Grant open his gifts. It will be a fun Christmas this year. James bought Grant a much needed toy chest this week. I think Grant likes it. What do you think?

We brought it in the house and he spent at least 45 minutes playing climbing on it. Even a few days later, the novelty still hasn't worn off and he will be in his room just climbing all over it.

A few days ago, James and I took Grant to see Santa at the mall. Last year, Grant was thrilled with anyone that held him. This year, he was a little scared of the man in the red suit. It seemed to progressively get worse. Our poor Santa asked, "Did you get one yet?":

The first picture of Grant on Santa's lap.

The last picture of Grant on Santa's lap. I do have to say though, how authentic this Santa looked. It's a shame Grant didn't pose and smile like he usually does. Maybe next year, he will be warmed up to Santa.

This past Tuesday, we had a visitor at our house. Our friends, the Daly's, brought over their little girl McKinley to our house. Grant and McKinley had such a good time together, I had to take some pictures. They loved the wagon ride James gave them, and tried to pull each other around themselves. Too fun!

Still more to come! :)

Home with Grant/James Birthday!

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking care of Grant by myself for a few days. James had to go to Vegas to find some cars to repossess and planned a whole road trip that lasted from Wednesday afternoon to Sunday night. I have one little baby to take care of and honestly he was a piece of cake! We had so much together. I had to find a sitter for Thursday morning, and my friend Lyndi said she would do it. For which I am very grateful. We had a small playdate on Thursday afternoon and then we went home. I didn't have school on Friday because of a fall break, so I just go to be home with Grant! He is such a good baby. So easy to take care of. It was fun eating with him, and bathing him, and taking him shopping. I do have to say though, that I am so eternally grateful for James! He really does a lot to lighten the load around the house. Not only with helping to take care of Grant, but with household stuff. Since he left on the weekend, I was in charge of laundry, dishes, grocery shopping-things that James and I do together (well, James is actually better at laundry than me :)) Unfortunately, this was also a weekend where I had tons of church obligations. I had to be at the church on Saturday at 9:45 for our Primary program practice and I had to set up for the quarterly activity afterwards. It was crazy keeping up with Grant in the cultural hall. And I have to say there was this not so nice lady who was setting up the gym for a dance that they were going to have later. She didn't reserve it (well, neither did we) and she was a bitty about sharing it for a half an hour. She was a peach to work with. But we ended up having our activity amidst the chaos of all that. I was super happy to get it over with! Then on Sunday we had our actual Primary Program. Since James was gone I had to find someone to watch Grant, while I was up on the stand. Lucky for me, a cute lady in my ward volunteered last minute to do that. Kind of a busy week to have James be gone. But all in all, Grant and I had a good time, and he honestly was such an easy baby to take care of. We are truly blessed to have little Grant in our home.

James' birthday was on a Saturday this year. A few of my birthday plans got foiled, but I think it was a special day for James. He wanted pumpkin layer cheesecake for his birthday cake, and he wanted his presents in the morning which was kind of good, since both gifts could be used throughout the day. Grant gave him a new toaster (James loves toast, and our old one was on the fritz), and I gave him two new shirts. I wanted to do something special for dinner. James and I had a conversation once about comfort food. I seem to have a lot of recipes that remind me of home (my mom's date bread, red chicken, peach cobbler etc. The list goes on...) James couldn't really think of any, until he mentioned his mom's chicken noodle soup. Unfortunately, they were out of town so I couldn't get the recipe in time. I guess James' comfort food will have to be our Christmas Eve dinner since we will be here in Casper this year. We went out to dinner instead, and I have to say, James and I have such a good time together! He can make me laugh like nobody else can. So fun. Grant was great at dinner, and the food was delicious. We went to a place called Old Chicago which is an Italian food restaurant. It was way fun. When we got home we had our pumpkin cheesecake. James wanted to know if I was really going to put 32 candles on it ("It'll get ruined!") so instead I put them on in the shape of 32. I think he appreciated that! :)

Funny Things and Halloween

Some funny things about Grant:

He loves Wheat Thins. He will eat Wheat Thins all day everyday if we let him. I'm not complaining. What a good thing for him to like! James has him at work all morning, and he tells me how he just chows down on them all morning long. He's even gotten a few stuck in that mouth of his! Too funny!

Grant also loves Dr. Seuss. We got the ABC book for him, which he loved, and then we decided to move on to Green Eggs and Ham. He will sit and listen to them three or four times through. And when he reads I love that he has to have his arms tucked behind his head. Every time we read he will do this! It's like he's totally relaxed and ready for anything. Honestly, does it get any cuter than this?

Our Halloween was pretty mellow this year. I was too tired to even carve the pumpkin we bought, and on Halloween night, we cozied up in our house and handed out treats to the trick-or-treaters. I was told by a lot of parents to enjoy this while we can, because next year and years to come, it will be different. We did go to our wards Halloween carnival and chili cookoff. We had a good time. Grant loves chili and ate pretty well. He was a Red Sox player and James and I were his fans. He looked pretty darn cute in his costume:

The pants are actually baseball pajamas that we bought a long time ago that still fit him. We lucked out and he was a pretty cute baseball player (it seems like I can't say that enough :))

Missionaries, Music boxes, and Home

Well, our week started off with feeding the missionaries on Monday night. What a great Family Home Evening to have. Although, I have to say, I was monsterously tired by the time I was finished! I made oven fried chicken with cream gravy, garlic mashed potatoes, and and garlic zucchini and squash, and rolls. We served cheesecake for dessert. And I have to say, I made so much that we ended up having leftovers this week. I loved the spirit that the missionaries brought into our home, and I love our ward for always providing this opportunity. We never had the pleasure of doing this when we lived in Utah.







One thing that Grant has enjoyed himself doing is leading me down the hallway to his room so he can play with this music box we got when he was born. He is enthralled with this! As soon as we get to his room he is looking up and reaching for the music box on his bookcase. I sit in the glider rocker, wind it up, and let it play for him, and he loves it. I think he really likes music. It seems to calm him down a lot. (Well, he's pretty mellow to begin with :) )





This week was a short week for me work wise. I ended up staying home with a sore throat on Thursday. I don't know what it is, but when I am pregnant the sore throats come in droves. I think someday the day may come where I need to get the ol' tonsils out. So annoying. Anyway, Grant and I enjoyed our morning together by taking a walk, and then later on visiting Daddy while I went and had the throat culture done. All is well, and today (Saturday) I think it is finally gone. I wonder how many more of these I will get before the end of the year?

Cuddling and more...

I love that Grant is such a cuddler. He is not really attached to just one stuffed animal, but he will take whatever one is in the toy box, and just snuggle with it! I caught Grant with this teddy bear just this morning:

On Friday, we were invited to a friend's house for a get-together. It was at seven in the evening, and I was sure Grant wouldn't be able to wait that long for dinner, so I made him a grilled cheese sandwich. I cut a few pieces of it for him to stab and eat with a fork, but I left most of it whole so Grant could take some bites out of it. I gave him one bite of his sandwich, before I turned and went back in the kitchen to get me drink. Honestly, it took me twenty seconds. When I came back to Grant's side, I was met with Grant's empty plate and a VERY happy looking Cooper.

One Final Hurrah!

So the summer has officially ended. I started back to school two weeks ago, and the kids have started coming back this past week. It is all over, and it went by so incredibly fast. A lot of good memories over this summer, and a lot of milestones have been met.

Some of my faves this summer has been:

Sitting with Grant on the lawn and blowing bubbles! He doesn't look too thrilled in this picture, but trust me, we had a good time!

Getting Grant used to the swing. He loves it! This wasn't always the case. The first time he ever went on a swing, it was a disaster. 

Going to the pool and splashing with James and Grant. Sadly, no pics of this memory. But we had a great time. 

Teaching Grant how to stack blocks and watching him watch me when I start to clap. He gets really excited!  He has grown this summer to building three and four block towers.  

Having a break from Physical Therapy. We only got to see her about three or four times during the summer. She's really nice, and fine with great, but a break is always nice. 

Father's Day for James was so much fun! Grant gave James a keychain with photos on it. I gave James some pictures of me and Grant. 

And finally last night we had a ward potluck at the park. It was so fun to be with friends. We have a wonderful ward with great people. Too fun. Grant, James and I went for a canoe ride in the little lake they had at the park with some friends of ours-the Daly's. They have a little girl that is about the same age as Grant. It was just fun. I guess the summer is officially gone.

It makes me sad, but I am also excited for the seasons to get here and change, because that means our new addition will be here sooner. We can't wait! So excited!

K, I have totally fallen off the wagon since my last post! A lot has changed! First of all, we have news!

WE ARE EXPECTING!

We are due in January and we couldn't be more excited! I totally found out late about the pregnancy, so it has already gone by so fast! We've been to the doctor and so far everything is great!

Thus, the reason for my absence. Some people have aversions to food and smells during pregnancy, but my aversion is so much weirder than that. I have been just nauseous even thinking about going on the computer! Isn't that the craziest thing ever? I haven't had any other pregnancy aversions, just that one. I'm feeling much better now, so I think I'm over it!

Our summer has gone by so unbelievably fast! As far as being home with Grant, he has grown so much. The cutest thing he's done is building towers of two blocks, and he looks at me right when he's done, with a huge smile because he knows I will clap and make a huge deal out of it! So fun! On the long car trips we have taken this summer, he likes to play his own peek-a-boo games with his blanket in his carseat! He gets so excited! I love hearing the pitter patter slap slap of his chubby feet on my kitchen floor, and knowing exactly where he is, because you can hear him moving the dining room chairs, and his high chair around the kitchen. He is a mover and a shaker, and it can be so exhausting chasing after him, but he is such a cute, sweet little boy, and I have adored spending so much time with him this summer!

Families have come to visit! Our first visitors were my family from St. George. I was a little disappointed because I was supposed to see them on Tuesday through Sunday, and their visit ended up being from Wednesday to Saturday. We had a great time with them in Casper and Yellowstone, but when they live so far away, every minute counts. Our first events of the visit was seeing James play softball with his city league. I had never been and finding the field was a challenge. We finally found it though, and it was so fun sitting out there in the nice weather watching James. We got ice cream after it was over. Thursday, my mom, Kirk, and I headed out for some shopping. Grant is now in the stage where he wants to walk everywhere, so riding in the stroller can sometimes be a challenge. This day was a challenging day. I wanted to head over to Toy Town and grab Grant a few new toys. He wasn't very patient to say the least! We ended up grabbing him some farm toys (which thanks to Grandma for purchasing :))

The next part of our trip was to Yellowstone! We had such a good time, and we got to see lots of animals including bears! So we all had a good time, and we even got to see some waterfalls that we would have never have seen if we hadn't of gone with my family.

We actually saw a grizzly bear from a far!


You can't go to Yellowstone without seeing Old Faithful. The trip ended all too soon and we headed back that Sunday.

Our next huge event was camping with the Killpack's at Ferron Reservior. I have to say, Grant is such a good baby at home, but he is exhausting to camp with. He is just everywhere. And the nights were so cold that Grant would just wake up and cry, and thus waking up all of our family. James had a wonderful time four wheeling. Since I was still in my first trimester at the time, I didn't think four wheeling for me would be the best idea. We were supposed to camp for three nights, but it rained on the last evening we were there, so we decided to head to St. George where we could shower and get Grant and all of us ready for Brayden's baby blessing. We also stayed for an extra day and drove home that Tuesday. It was wonderful. More time with my family. There is only one pic of this whole trip, because we forgot to charge our camera battery. We were so bummed, not to take any pictures, but hopefully we learned our lesson for next time.

The only picture of Grant I managed to get before the battery went out.

Our last trip this summer happened over my birthday. Kind of eventful, since this is the year I turned 30! James and I left on Wednesday night and stayed the night in Colorado, to kind of break up the drive. We wanted to see a place call Black Canyon National Park, but we got sidetracked at the Royal Gorge Bridge which was, at one point, the tallest suspension bridge ever made. We walked across the bridge and then decided to take the incline railroad to go down to the bottom of the canyon, but Grant was very wiggly. He did not want to stay in line at all. We were thrilled when the ride finally got going. Grant is at the stage where he just has to move!

We also headed for Mesa Verde where you can see these old indian ruins. Grant wanted to be everywhere though, so it was exhausting keeping up with him. He was ready to leave in these pictures!

There is our summer in a nutshell. Sorry for the long delay, but hopefully things will get back on track now that I am feeling better!

Mr. No Bottle

Love being off of work. I have to say, staying home is agreeing with me and Grant. We are making headway on his goal of getting weaned off the bottle. He's doing pretty good, it's just taking some getting used too.

We made it through 2 days of being off of it, except on Saturday, when I had to go to a Primary activity, I came back to an exhausted James, and the story of how Grant wouldn't stop crying till he got a bottle, and how he spilled everyting in the sippy cup down himself. That's been the only relapse and I have to say, I hope it lasts!

Grant also this week had his first homemade chocolate chip cookie which he LOVED! I love finding out all the things Grant will eat (although frustrated at finding out what he won't!) So far, spaghetti takes the number 1 favorite spot.

This past Saturday on the 30th of May, Grant also went to his first birthday party. Our friends the Daly's have a little girl who turned one just after Grant. It's funny because Grant was the only boy there, surrounded by all of these one year old girls.

My boy loves to be read too. McKinley received some books at her party and Grant just couldn't help himself. He had to find out what those books were about!

The party was way fun, and Grant had a good time. Thanks to Lyndi for inviting us!

One day, I found Grant in the kitchen with two of his favorite toys. I thought this was pretty innovative that he thought of a way to play with both at the same time!

We have yet to see a true summer day in Casper. And by true summer day, I mean nice and warm and having to wear shorts because its too hot. Yeah, we didn't make it out of the 40s today. It rained and we are supposed to see more of this mild weather this week. Isn't winter supposed to be OVER? :)