Here Comes Santa Claus...

Last night, we attended our ward Christmas Party. They catered a delicious dinner, the Primary did a Nativity scene story-complete with donkeys and camels that tried to eat the Baby Jesus in the manager.
The Young Women and Young Men mumbled out a funny version of "Jingle Bells" (well, we think it was funny, we couldn't really understand them very well-thus the mumbling), and there was a special visit from Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus.

  I thought Ethan might cry when he sat with Santa but, to our surprise, he just sat there, leaning away from him and staring at him and Mrs. Claus. No tears or anything.  He was happy to take the candy cane from Mrs. Claus and come running back to Momma to show off his new treat.

He sure loved crawling all over Daddy while we were eating dinner.

Thanksgiving and Fall Leaves

This year we weren't able to make a family trip to Texas for Thanksgiving since Dan just started his new job this week so instead we spent it up at my sister Lisa's house with all my siblings and parents.  It was really fun to have all 10 of the kids there--they loved having so many cousins to play with. Ethan happily followed his older cousins around everywhere. Dinner was impressive, but then, when is a Thanksgiving anything less than impressive? I even made a pie that was gluten-free and my own rolls. Everything turned out very tasty! A big thank you goes out to Lisa & Cody for hosting it at their house.

As for Black Friday- I'm afraid I've never been one for the midnight sales, but since Walmart opened at 10pm, I thought I'd give it a try. Epic fail! There's a reason I don't do Black Friday sales. The Walmart near my parents had so many people you would have thought it was Free Admission day at Disney World! It was crazy and even though I had a predetermined list of items I would have liked, there was no way I was going to be fighting a gazillion people and waiting in 2 hour lines for a few dollars in savings. So we just left. Then I went shopping online. Much more my style! And I still got the discount prices I was hoping for.

 Shopping online left me with plenty of time on Friday to spend time outside with my little boy (Dan, unfortunately, had to work on Friday). My parents have some huge trees in their backyard and Ethan helped with the raking and bagging.

 At least until he found more fun things to do like going down the slide or playing in the swing.

 He came back in with some very, very rosy cheeks and some cold fingers but was smiling and chattering away!

Cousins

My nephew Cole stayed with us for a few days this week and Ethan absolutely loved having him here! He followed Cole everywhere and wanted to do everything he did and play with everything Cole was playing with.  Cole has a younger brother the same age as Ethan so he was pretty accommodating (well, as accommodating as a 2 1/2 yr old can be) and played with him.

They watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and shared the Little People toys.

Cole explained the alphabet magnets to Ethan (they were all I's and B's)

And they shared treats as they were waiting for Cole's Grandpa Calderwood to come pick him up. 

Ethan was a very happy toddler at the end of Cole's visit and was sad when he left. He started wandering around the house looking for him as if they were playing hide & seek. 

Thanks for visiting Cole!

Trick-or-Treat!

For Halloween this year, we decided to go to my sister's house so Ethan could trick-or-treat with his cousins. Ethan and I drove up with my Mom earlier in the day and let Ethan play with his cousins while we helped my sister get ready for their Halloween Party with Cody's family.  We ate a dinner of cornbread and homemade chili that Cody's mom made, which was delicious! After dinner, we got all the kiddos dressed in their costumes and tired to take a successful picture of them...we were partially successful.

Cole-Pirate, Ethan-Alligator, Aubrey-Tinkerbell, Blake-Cowboy, Tucker-Bat, and their other cousin, Winston-Pirate

I can't get over how cute Ethan was in his little Alligator costume! He held onto his pumpkin bucket the whole night and wouldn't let go.

 He toddled down the street after his cousins (who were all running as fast as they could to the next house) and even though he couldn't keep up, he still thought it was pretty fun.  Dan got there just when the kids were going out trick-or-treating so Ethan got to walk around with his daddy. 

Ethan was adorable at the door. Usually one of his older cousins would ring the doorbell, say "Trick-or-Treat, get their candy, and take off running to the next house, but Ethan would just stand their until the older kids were gone and stare at the people giving out candy. This usually got big smiles out of everyone since he wasn't scared of them. He loved it when they let him pick out a treat. He'd carefully choose one and drop it in his bucket then stare at them some more until Dan or I carried him away.

 Ethan and Tucker sat together in the truck checking out their loot.

 Ethan and Grandma Sue

Ethan was extremely tired at the end of the night and so he looks half asleep in our family picture.

Happy Halloween!!

Meeting Addyson!

My brother Kevin and his wife Lisa had their 5th baby last week. Little Addyson is so incredibly cute! We drove out to their house last Friday so we could meet our newest little niece and Ethan could meet his cousin.  We picked up some pizza and ate dinner and the kids all play together. Ethan absolutely loved some of Hayden's toys!

While Dan and I were talking with Kevin and Lisa, the cousins sat on the couch and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Kevin's phone.  Ethan didn't really acknowledge Addy. He did look vaguely interested when I was holding her but otherwise he was content to play with Hayden and Halle's toys.

I loved holding Addy! I'd forgotten just how little newborns can be. It definitely makes me look forward to having our baby in February...well, not the no sleep part, but all the other stuff!

 

 It was really fun going out to visit them! I'm glad that Addy and Baby Brother will have cousins their age. 

The Hot Dog Dance

Ethan's favorite TV show (actually, it's the only show he watches) is the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel. 

He absolutely loves Mickey Mouse and gets the biggest smile on his face when the show comes on.  The Mickey Mouse characters solve problems on their adventures with the help of special items brought by their tool friend, Toodles. Whenever they need help they call out, "Oh Toodles!" so Ethan quickly caught on and starting saying it a few months ago. Now as he watches the show, he has started singing and dancing along to the "Hot Dog Dance" that they sing at the end of every show. It is the cutest thing ever watching him sing along with the show and come up with his own Hot Dog Dance!

 

IT'S A BOY!!

Yesterday morning, Dan and I went down to Alta View Hospital to have my 20 week ultrasound and found out that we are having another BOY!!  My doctor tried to find out a few weeks ago for us but Little Brother wouldn't cooperate and we had to wait. The tech said that he's measuring a week behind in growth but I'm not really concerned since 3 weeks ago my doc said he was right on track and Ethan was always a little small too. 

So Little Brother is a healthy little guy and growing like a weed. He flails his little arms all the time now and I've been feeling him get stronger in the last couple of weeks. Dan even felt him moving around and using mommy like a punching bag. I feel like I'm starting to "pop" and now actually look like I'm pregnant. I still get a few comments of, "Oh! You're pregnant?" so maybe it's all in my head but I think I'm starting to show and I've definitely made the switch to the comfy maternity pants with the stretchy waistband.

Big thanks goes to my sister Lisa who is letting me use all her maternity clothes!

So Ethan is getting a little brother to play with, I get to have a new little handsome man to dress up, and Dan is absolutely thrilled to that the Pelfrey Soccer/Football/T-Ball team is gaining another member! Everybody's happy!!

Pelfrey Family Pictures 2011

This past weekend, my wonderful cousin April and her husband Nate (from New Element Films) took our family pictures again at the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. As always, they did a fantastic job and I absolutely love them!

Oh, how I love my little family!

Incognito

Ethan has the makings of a pretty great spy.  

He's a natural at undercover work.

 He can fit right in at any football practice.

He is excellent at finding all the best hideouts.

And he's the best at disguises.

Yep.  He'd be a great spy.

Moved

I have been terribly behind in updating our blog for the last few weeks due to our sudden relocation!

For the last 3 years (and 2-3 more years before we were married), we've lived in Logan, UT. We bought our home shortly after getting married, rented it out to college students for a year, lived in it for 2 more years and then a few weeks ago, we moved out! We'd been planning on renting it out again this fall and spring to college students again and moving back into a townhome or apartment somewhere in Logan but when Dan was offered a job in Salt Lake, we decided that moving to the valley was what we needed to do. So, instead of moving to a new place in Logan, we packed all our stuff (and it was a LOT of stuff) and loaded down several trucks, trailers, and cars and hauled it to my sister's unfinished basement.

I didn't realize how much crap and stuff we'd accumulated until we moved it!

Since we didn't have the time to look for a place in SLC, we are currently staying with my parents in Sandy until we find a suitable place to live. We didn't want to rush into a place just because we were in a hurry so we've decided to save a little money and find a place that we really like since we will most likely be in Salt Lake for a while. 

There are a few good things about moving down to the valley, though. Ethan and I were able to go to a family campfire up Millcreek Canyon.

In the midst of the moving madness, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary with a wonderful dinner at Hamilton's Steakhouse in Logan. We've gone to the Living Aquarium with my sister, Lisa, and her kids. Ethan loved ooh-ing and aah-ing at the fish.

 We also played at the Herriman Splash Pad with my friends Kami and Suzanne and their kids, gone swimming at Grandpa Foster's, helped Grandpa up at the cabin with the horses and cabin remodel, went to $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Points Dinosaur Museum, and a whole bunch of other fun activities.

I miss Logan and all the friends I've made there dearly but I have to admit it's nice to be in the valley and we are definitely keeping busy!