What a Month!!

I've gotten a little behind on our blog and I can't seem to figure out how.  It feels like I just posted our Halloween pics and now we're only a week away from Christmas.  It's been a busy month.  Thanksgiving was fantastic as always.  We had two huge dinners with both my family and Clair's family.  I truly feel blessed to live so close to both our families.  I don't think I could ever move away because of them.  I'm grateful that Noah is able to see his Granparents, cousins, aunts and uncles regularly and knows who they are.  He loves them and I love watching him run up to them excited to say hello.  We have been so blessed with good health, good jobs and a good ward that helps us strengthen our testimonies of the gospel.  

As Christmas is quickly approaching, I have been thinking alot about Mary this year.  She was so strong and I admire her greatly.  The worry and fear that must have come along with having to tell Joseph that she was pregnant and not knowing what he would think or how he would react, being turned away from the Inn and delivering her baby in a stable must have been heart-wrenching, knowing she was delivering the Son of God who would one day save the world must have been over-whelming...but what other choice did she have?  She was the chosen one, who God knew could handle the task.  I admire her strength, courage, and willingness to bring forth the Christ child...i'm grateful for her more now than ever before because having my own child has brought with it humility, patience, learning and unconditional love.  Within these few emotions, I feel that i'm able to relate to Mary as i'm sure she felt these same emotions also.  

I hope this Christmas Season allows you the opportunity to reflect upon the birth of Christ and find some way to relate yourself to one of those who played such a vital role in that glorious night weather it be Mary, Joseph, the Inn keeper or someone who came from afar just to have the chance to see the special Boy.  Merry Christmas.

Decorated Gingerbread houses with my famiy.

Noah was the sheep in the Ernest Family Nativity this year.  An adorable sheep at that!!

We made blankets for the patients at South Valley Dialysis during the Rosenberg Christmas party.  Hopefully they will keep them warm during their treatments.

 

And we saw Santa at the mall.  I'm surprised Noah didn't freak out and scream..he did really good!  But remember the days when Santa wore a big red costume and hat and had bells that he shook.  This santa didn't have any of that and I don't even remember hearing a Ho Ho Ho or Merry Christmas.  Humm...blue shirt with snowmen on it? I guess beggers can't be choosers!

We had a really fun Halloween this year!  My family came over for a quick dinner, picture taking and then headed out for some trick-or-treating.  I wasn't sure how Noah was going to do with the costumes or the trick-or-treating but it didn't take him long to catch on.  Open your bag and you get candy!  It did get a little embarrassing when after just a house or two he decided that one piece of candy per house wasn't enough so he began reaching in to help himself to a whole handful or two.  Luckily he's cute enough that he got away with it and the neighbors laughed it off!  This boy has a sweet-tooth like his Mom's!

When I couldn't find a monkey costume that I liked, my sweet friend Elaine offered to make him one...I would say she did a FANTASTIC job!  It was adorable on him.  Thanks again Lains, you're amazing!

I took this pic of my nephew Colin.  I think it's a little creepy!

Group photo of my nieces, nephew and Grammy!

Don't we make a hot couple!!

Just a few randoms from the last few weeks.  I Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!  I can't believe it's here already!

My nephew Cooper wore these jammies a few years ago.  We joked that he looked like a mini Hugh Hefner.  It cracks me up now that Noah is wearing them.  I'm so glad Alisha saved them for me so that Noah could take his turn (not that we condone Hugh's way of life at all...i guess you just had to be there to think it was funny...sorry)!

Picking out pumpkins at the patch.  Trying to get this kid to stop running and look at the camera for one second is next to impossible.  I think I need a faster camera for sure!

I'm such a lucky girl!

I love, love, love this picture.  It melts my heart.

We are doing well overall and can't complain.  Noah is crazy busy into everything and often times emptying cupboards as fast as I can clean up the last.  He has found a good buddy in Oscar, although i'm not sure the feeling is mutual.  Noah's latest tricks are throwing the balls at Oscar and laughing as Oscar tries to catch them, he loves playing computer games on pbskids.org, trying everything on his own at first and if he can't accomplish his task he gets upset and throws whatever he has in his hand (it's really cute and funny and hard not to laugh at while turning it into a teaching moment...it reminds me very much of one of my brothers)!  I love Noah to death.  I can't really remember how our life was without him, although I know if was good, but now our life is great (aside from the everyday struggles that our hand is dealt).  I feel so blessed to have this little boy as mine forever.

Mullet be gone!!

Yesterday we took Noah to get his first hair-cut! His mullet is way overdue and people were starting to stare! We have been growing his hair out hoping the back would go curly, but he inherited my pin straight hair and it just grew into a mullet. I like the shaggy, long-hair look on littleboys, but it was time for a trim. I envisioned it to go very smoothly as he is a very easy-going kid...boy was I dreaming! He had a great time playing on the toys, but the minute we set him in the airplane and the cape went on all hell broke loose! No amount of toys, suckers or even Barney movies could get him to stop screaming...and he screamed the whole haircut. The stylist said it could have been alot worse, so that made me feel better.

The Mullet from the back

The mullet from the side (so attractive)!

The tantrum

The finished product and happy to be home

Mullet be gone!!

Summer Recap!!

Ok, i'm back from my blogging hiatus! It's been a fun, busy summer with alot going on. Clair is doing great. He is super busy at work and we look forward to seeing him pull in the driveway every night. He has been riding his bike more and really enjoys it. I started working part time for the post office at night. I go in at 9:30 pm which is great. The lack of sleep issue is still being worked out but I am enjoying having my brain challenged again in a different way. Noah is fantastic. He is at such a fun, adventerous age and I love being home with him. He keeps me on my toes, laughing all day. He is 17 months old and went into the nursery at church a few weeks ago and did great. I was outside the door watching, but he didn't look for me at all. I was very proud, but it was also a little emotional to see my little boy playing in the nursery like a big boy. Since he had tubes in July, he has become such a talker. It's amazing how much they have helped and made a difference...he actually talkes and says words!

Savannah, Racheal and Leah stayed with us for 3 days while their parents were in Hawaii. We had alot of fun and Noah LOVED having them around as much as I did. They are such cute, fun girls with alot of energy! This pic was at Tracey Aviery.

My mom, Noah and I took a quick trip up to visit Alisha and the kids while Jay was out of town. It is always fun to visit them in Idaho and wish we could see them more.

We have been lucky enough to spend alot of time at the cabin with both my family for a full week and Clair's for a weekend. We had a blast with both families and are grateful for the time we got to spend together in this beautiful place!


Noah and Taylor had a naked party running around on the top deck at the cabin. There's something about being naked cause they LOVED it! We made a joke about who would be the first to pee and I must admit I was pretty proud when it was my kid who was not only the first to pee, but aimed just right to shoot off the deck and water the trees!

Noah has become a serious Daddy's boy this summer and I love it!

Licking the beaters! He loves anything chocolate!

Noah has also become very skilled at climbing. We were cleaning his room putting outgrown clothes in rubbermaids and pulling bigger clothes out and the smartie pants tipped the rubbermaid over, pushed it to his crib and proceeded to climb in. He is going to be a monkey for Halloween, needless to say!

While cleaning we came across a pair of Cousin Colin's hand-me-down "muckin boots". For a full 3 hours this kid wouldn't take them off! He played outside, had storytime on the couch and also had a snack in his high chair with the boots on. It was very cute. By the way...Noah does own a few t-shirts although you wouldn't be able to tell since almost every pic he isn't wearing one! His belly is just so cute!

Thank goodness for Tubes!!

If you know us well, you know that Noah inherited bad ear infections from his Dad. Scott & Bonnie spent countless hours through-out Clair's childhood pacing their halls at night trying to calm Clair down from the pain of such horrible infections...and unfortunately he still has problems to date. Luckily Noah's ear infections haven't been that bad or gotten to that point but we have truly felt that since his first ear infection last December he would be needing tubes. His ear infections haven't ever gone away with the help of antibiotics, ear drops etc. and subsequently led to a ruptured ear drum last month. Luckily we found Dr. Craig Stephens (just a little plus to the Dr. we like so much), who listened to our concerns, did a thorough check-up and agreed with our gut feelings of proceeding with tubes before things got worse. July 17th was the day our little boy had surgery. Yes, having tubes put in is a minor surgery and it is so quick, but it's still hard to watch your little child walk away with the nurse knowing he would wake up hurting and scared once the anesthesia wore off (and they don't let parents in the recovery room at all, which I think is a load of crap). Anywho, the surgery went great and Noah is doing fantastic. He doesn't pull and dig in his ears at all, which is amazing considering he was constantly pulling and digging in his ears pre-surgery. We feel very fortunate and grateful for modern technology and great Dr's who are willing to listen to our concerns as parents. The surgery was definetly harder on me than on Noah, but at this point, all we can say is thank goodness for tubes!

6:30 am Getting dressed for surgery. Nice yellow socks! He typically doesn't get his binki except in bed, but since they wouldn't let him eat/drink it was the exception!!

All dressed and ready! Oh he looks so cute! He was glued to a Sesame Street movie.

7:30 am Sweet Nurse Kathy had an amazing ability to charm him into walking with her to the surgery room. He didn't even look back to see if we were following.

8:00 am Boy was he grumpy after surgery. And they made us wait for 40 minutes until we could leave. Noah didn't want to be looked at or touched except by his daddy. I love the pen holder!

By 4:00 PM Noah was doing well and some homemade oreo cookies helped brighten his mood!

We are in!

We are finally moved in and trying to get settled in our new home. It's taken us some time, but we feel like we are finally getting a handle on all of the little projects such as painting all of the inside doors, to changing all of the outlets and switches...by no means are we done with projects, but slowely we are making progress! We are so happy in our new home and love being back in Sandy and so far our neighbors and Ward are treating us great! Thank you to everyone who helped us out as we prepared the house for our arrival. We couldn't have done it without you and we love you so much!

We finally hung a few things on the walls which really helped it to feel like home.

The front room.

A view of our dining area in the kitchen...and Oscar.


My craft room!! I'm still working on getting it put together, and filling my shelves because Noah just loves to pull it all off!

Shout out to my Man!!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY BABY!!

I am so lucky to have this man in my life forever and I just wanted to let him know how incredibly grateful I am for him. Our marriage isn't always smelly roses and it is tough sometimes, and i'm the first to admit i'm not the easiest person to live with, but Clair continues to put up with my crap and is very patient with me. He works so hard to be the best at everything he does and tries to set a good example for Noah and me at all times. Clair is an incredible dad and I love watching him and Noah together. They have a special bond that only a Father and Son can have...sometimes i envy it, but i'm so grateful they share it. Clair-i love you so much and am thankful that we will be together forever. Thanks for making me smile everyday. Happy Father's Day Baby!

Every family needs a monkey!!

Noah has certainly turned into our little monkey man. I'm not sure where he gets it, or who taught him or why he loves it, but he climbs EVERYTHING! As we are packing up our home to move, I had this 4 foot ladder out taking some things off the walls while Noah was enjoying watching The Wiggles. I walked out of the room for literally 30 seconds and this is what I found when I came back in. He was grinning with pride from ear to ear and I too felt the pride only a Mother could have (although it scared me to see him up on the ladder) and I couldn't resist catching the moment with my camera. If there would have been more steps for him to climb i'm positive he would have kept on going! My baby is 14 months old today and turning into a little toddler...i'm still not sure i'm ready to accept the fact that he's growing so fast and slowely becoming more and more independant of me.

Another New Niece!!

MOLLY AFTON ERNEST

Another precious little girl has joined our family!! My brother Levi and his wife Amy are the proud parents of Molly who was born on none other than Mother's Day!! What a special surprise! She must have been super excited to come to this earth because she was born two weeks early and made a quick delivery! She is sweet as can be and loved by many. Our family has been so blessed over the years and the love our Father in Heaven has for us continues to manifest itself through these little ones.
Congratulations Levi, Amy and Taylor. You are great parents and Taylor is going to be a cute, loving big sister to little Molly.

A hamm already?

A few days ago I was bringing in groceries so I left Noah in the yard to play (don't worry, it's completly fenced in so he couldn't go in the road). Our storm door was open but somehow he managed to shut it from the outside and then proceeded to make these silly faces in at me. I was dying laughing, tears rolling down my face so of course, he kept hamming it up. At one point he was even licking the door. I'm grateful Noah has a good sense of humor because he keeps me laughing everyday!!

Even his left eye is squished into the door...

Yep, he's definetly an Ernest!!

Here's a much more flattering picture of our little boy posing

for his 1-year pictures in his favorite wagon!!

My new niece!!

Meet my new niece! Isn't she beautiful!! She doesn't have a name yet, although there are a few being thrown around so i'll keep you posted, but nonetheless she's perfect in every way. She was born Monday morning at 9:04 via scheduled c-section, weighing 7 pounds 14 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. We are so grateful that we were able to drive to Idaho Sunday evening to help with the other kids and meet this new little girl only a few hours after she was born. There is something so special about new babies. While at the hospital holding the baby for the first time, my newphew Cooper, who is 4, asked his Mom if the baby had germs...it was a teaching opportunity for my sister to let him know that she is clean and pure and just sent from Heaven, so she didn't have germs. My neice is so lucky to have chosen such a great family to become apart of. She is already very loved and adored beyond measure.

Doesn't my sister look fantastic for just having had major surgery!! What a trooper!