ETHEL M CHRISTMAS LIGHTS

We kept our tradition going this year and went with our friends, Mike and Alleen and their kids, up to view the Christmas lights at Ethel M's cactus garden. We also met up with Kyle and Shauna Lainhart and their kids. The kids love looking at Christmas lights and I think they enjoyed it.

Here a few in the gift shop before going out in the cold

Here is a picture of us with the Nelsons

Kyla really was just hugging Jake not trying to choke him!

Our bundled boy!

ARIZONA

Mike and Kyla went down to Arizona just after Thanksgiving and spent a few days with Cori, Blades and family and Cynthia, who was there from Wyoming. Here are just a few pictures from their visit.

Not sure why Kyla looks so out of it in this picture - maybe they spiked the candy with Benadryl!

Jake and I stayed home due to my lack of wanting to travel thanks to being nauseated with my pregnancy. It was really relaxing and kinda nice only having to fight one kid during church. Jake hollered for DADA and KYLA several times and kept looking in their rooms and up the stairs waiting for them to appear.

IT'S OFFICIAL!

I had my first doctor appointment last week and we will be adding to our family in June! Kyla has already decided that we are having a girl because "we already have a baby brother" and is picking out names already.

JAKE

Here is Jake on the day that we brought him home from the hospital. He looked like he had a nice tan but it was really the coloring from jaundice.Here he is on his 1st birthday!Here is a current picture showing off his mouthful of teeth and big blue eyesThese are a few of his favorite things . . . he loves watching cartoons (this was his chosen position for the day) and he tends to carry around DVD cases. Sometimes he even naps with a DVD case - some kids have stuffed animals, Jake's chose is just a little less cuddly.Here is our sweet boy in his Sunday outfit. His first Sunday wearing it, he puked all over it in the middle of church. Luckily, Michael was sitting by us, instead of on the stand, because it was the Primary program and so I had extra hands to help.

Jake brings a lot of fun and smiles into our lives. He loves Kyla and likes to do what she is doing. He loves being outside and races for the door whenever he hears the word. He loves blocks and cars and will sometimes pick up a doll to play with Kyla. We are working on trying to get him to talk a little but he just looks at us and grins. He does a few signs, "more" and "milk", and loves to yell "MAMA" and "KYLA." If I am on the phone, he wants his few minutes and does babble a bit.

HALLOWEEN 2008

This is Jake after Trunk-or-Treat. We forgot his hat and he hated wearing it so we have no pictures with him in it ... so if you can't tell he was a scarecrow.

Jake LOVED candy! He was trying to eat it as fast as he could if he wasn't dancing circles in the parking lot.

Here is Kyla in her Tinkerbell costume (THANKS to Grandma Dill). She loved it and was so excited to wear it!

She actually enjoyed passing out the candy to kids about as much as she liked going around and getting her own.

TOFW and Balloona-Pallooza

Michael was kind enough to let me spend Friday and Saturday at Time Out For Women (TOFW) that was here in town. For those of you who do not know what TOFW is it is put on by Deseret Book and includes amazing speakers and musical numbers and is designed specifically for women. It really was 2 days that were full of the teaching, learning, laughing and crying. It was awesome to be there and really hard to sum up all I learned. I went with a friend in the ward and her mom and on Friday we went to the Paris to have crepes in between sessions. YUM! I will definitely go there again. All in all, I enjoyed the whole weekend.

Michael was left in charge of the kids and he is such a great dad! On Friday he bought pizza dough and Kyla got to help him roll out the dough for their pizza crust! What a fun activity for her to help with.

On Saturday, he was brave enough to take them to Balloona-Pallooza. They went to a circus, some safety training and then to the carnival for some rides. They had a blast! Here are just a few pictures he snapped throughout the day.... After their fire safety class with their junior fireman hats on.
Kyla riding the dragon rollar coaster. Michael said she laughed the whole ride but afterwards said it was too scary to go on again.
Here's Jake riding on a little car.

I am so thankful for Michael and the amazing dad he is to our kids!

I love this picture! We are now able to enjoy being outside without sweating in the summer heat. The kids are loving being outside more!

The kids love spending time in Grandpa's pool and Kyla is getting pretty good at swimming.