Checkin' it out

So, Carter's Dad and wife Carol recently were given a new home by one of her sons. Yes, given. It's a pretty crazy story, but I won't go into all those details. Anyway, we went over to have a after Thanksgiving/pre Christmas get together with them a few weeks ago. The house is amazing and the kids totally loved it. They had a fun playroom with toys for all the kids and dress up clothes, which as you can see, Savannah took advantage of.

Here's Cooper before we left, at our house.

At the new house.

Yeah, she knows she's cool. Can you tell?

I am not a fan of the cold, but....

I kind of love it when he has to wear this coat.

Thanksgiving Festivities

This year we really wanted to host Thanksgiving. We'd never done a turkey before and that was the main thing we were worried about. Well, coincidentally, I happened to buy one that didn't require a lot of work. The giblets and all the junk was already taken out. Sweeet. It cooked itself and even finished earlier than expected. Everything came together pretty nicely. We had our meal with my family and then later in the day went over to Larissa and Jake's house to spend time with the Cherry family and 8 pies.

It was actually a pretty relaxing day, which I hadn't really expected. That's probably why I don't have many pictures either cause I was chillin. I know I ate way too much pie, but you gotta try it all right?

I'm super excited for Christmas and hosting again.

We are a Jazz Family

We've been fortunate enough to be able to go to a few Jazz Basketball games lately. In late October, Carter and I went to one of the pre-season games. Carter heard a promotion on the radio that if you brought canned foods to a certain place they'd give you tickets. So we did! Then a couple weeks ago we were at the mall looking for some Jazz gear and they were running some awesome promotion at the sports store. If you spent a certain amount of money, they'd give you tickets to a game a few days later. We thought surely they'd be crappy tickets, but in fact they were like $130 per ticket! Score! So we totally did that deal and those seats were great. You could see the guys faces and everything was so much better. That game was crazy and had a double overtime. Very exciting. About a month ago we got tickets to go on a "Family Night" with Shelby, Steven and Kacey and we decided to take Savannah. In due time Cooper will be able to go. So we went to that game this Monday. Savannah had been sooo excited to go. She was talking about it all the time. It was her first game that she would remember; we took her twice when she was a baby. She enjoyed herself but towards the end was asking if it was time to go yet. And sorry, these pictures got all out of order; I haven't done them like this in awhile.

My parents watched Cooper for us on Monday, so we had to snap a picture of him in his gear before we left.

At the game.

She would clap when we made a basket, scream DEFENSE, and she was cheering for Paul Millsap. I'm guessing that's because at McDonalds their is a big cardboard cut out of him and we see it a lot (which is a sign that we need to frequent that place a lot less) and tell her it's Paul Millsap. Although, he is a great player and maybe she recognizes that. Maybe.

Aunt Kacey and Savannah. And Carter sneaking in there too.

At home watching the Jazz Game. Since we have tv now, we're able to watch the games and have caught most of them. Some of them have been so exciting lately that while we're trying to put the kids to bed we've got our tv on in our bedroom and are running in there every few minutes to check it out. Or we just DVR it, because DVR is the best thing ever.

This night they tried to serenade us during the game.

These were the awesome seats we had, although they don't seem that great in this picture. Just believe me. Best seats we've ever had; even a little better than our first date. Did you know that a Jazz game was our first date?! It was my first basketball game ever too. Now I love them.

I'm pretty sure this was our faces when we went into double overtime.

We're excited to watch and go to these games as a family for many years!

More movies

He is saying Spider in this one.

Ahhhh's on a pretend rock = Ariel impersonation

You'll probably need to pause the music at the bottom of the blog to be able to hear.

Pumpkin Picking

We went pumpkin picking at a local house a couple weeks ago. It was a small little patch, which was good for the kids. They really didn't seem all that interested in actually picking one for themselves. We ended up with 4 and carved one into a Cinderella slipper. But then it started growing something inside so I put it outside and then the rain got to it and now it is broken mush. I would say we're not huge on the whole decorating and carving pumpkins, but it was our first time to do it as a family, so maybe as the kids get older it will be funner.

Somebody's Four

Well, my babygirl is 4 today and that is beyond crazy. She had a fun party yesterday at my parents and then had one at our house tonight with the Cherry side. She was spoiled, like always. I think she was most excited about her new Tinkerbell movie. She started screaming and jumping up and down. Never seen that reaction before. She's been playing with her new toys all day.

Year three had lots of sass. I'm sure year four won't be any different. That's our girl! Gotta love her.

Mobile uploads from the last year or so.

So this afternoon we had Acacia over for a few hours. The kids played outside for awhile and then came in and we watched the new Tinkerbell movie that just came on video. I gave the kids popcorn and sat them on my old tinkerbell blanket. After awhile they weren't so much watching the movie, but running around, maybe like fairies, I don't know. It comes to a point in the movie were they're trying to save one of the fairies and the girls start going, "We have to save her!" I think Carter said something like, "How will they save her?" or something like that. Savannah says to him, "Well, we have to save her, but we can't jump in the tv! If we jump in the tv, it will break!" We both just looked at one another and grinned. Oh, the mind of an almost 4 year old.

Another funny thing that Savannah has been saying lately, as well as tonight for whatever reason it was, is goonies. Yes, as in boys goonies. As most Dads will agree, you don't want to be hit there. And with kids, it's very likely. So, whenever the kids get a little too close, Carter will have to remind them to not hit his goonies. Anyway, one day she got hit down there or something and said, "Oh, my goonies!". I laughed and said, "Sweetie, you don't have goonies, boys have goonies". She'll occasionally reference it now, but she makes sure to clarify. "Girls don't have goonies. Daddy has goonies. And Cooper has goonies. But you (me) and me don't have goonies". Yes, that is correct. And I don't think she really even knows what "goonies" are, thank goodness. She's never been one of those kids that sees her brother and starts asking "What's that?". Anyway, I know that's a funny topic, but it's still cute to me.

Playdate with Acacia

Acacia came over for a playdate the other day while her Mom had to run an errand. We had fun! We made some cute little bags while Cooper napped and then went outside to play. Cooper heard us outside and woke up because of course, he wanted to play too. They had popsicles and played on the jungle gym. They all had some much fun and Acacia is coming over again tomorrow! Oh, and these pictures were pre-haircut for Cooper. See how out of control it was....

Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum about a week and a half ago. We've been wanting to go for awhile now. You should know that Savannah loves dinosaurs. She watches the "Dinosaur Train" on PBS every morning and has never shown any fear of dinosaurs. Until she saw the large boned dinosaurs up close and personal. She wouldn't even look at them. Totally afraid and covered her eyes until we moved on to something other than looking at dinosaurs. She did however love searching for little dinosaurs in this large water sand area. Both the kids didn't really want to leave that area but we had to so we could make the movie they were showing in time. It was about a fly who goes to the moon and it was 3-D. Mommy and Daddy aren't such a fan of the 3-D. Makes us all wooozzy. I think it actually scared Savannah a few times with things jumping out at her. After that short movie we went into the sand pit area where you get to use paint brushes and search for large dinosaur fossils. They really loved that part too. Cooper tasted some sand and threw it around. We had this large area to ourselves for quite some time and then a ton of kids came in. Of course, right when we wanted to leave. And Savannah never wants to leave her "friends". It was a fun time for the kids, eventhough their wasn't a lot of time spent on looking at dinosaurs.

Crazy Kids Videos

My tiny dancers.

This one's for you Lesli.

August Happenings

Our Anniversary was on the 13th and we had made plans for a fun evening, and then somehow I came down with some 2 day bug right smack in the middle of it. I had the worst sore throat, body aches and other stuff that now I can't even remember, but I wasn't even sure if I wanted to do anything. Luckily, that evening I was feeling a little better and my throat pain wasn't feeling like razorblades anymore and I felt like I might be able to actually eat and enjoy some food. We decided to take the kids with us because we didn't want anyone to get sick while watching them. We felt like we had some kind of bug in the house. We went to "The Pie" pizzeria. We'd never been together. I went with a bunch of girls from work before Carter and I got married and he went with friends once or twice. Anyway, I remember the pizza being good. And huge. Anyway, this pizza wasn't the best. It was a hawaiian one and I was totally expecting some really great canadian bacon on it. This tasted like deli ham slapped on there. And, no joke, their was like an inch of cheese on the whole thing. And you know how I feel about cheese. Carter even though it was a little weird. We like to refer to it as the "slab of cheese". However, their breadsticks were really good. I think we just ordered the wrong kind of pizza for us. After dinner we had to go looking for a new carseat for Cooper because his was broke. We then went to Maggie Moos and got brownie sundaes and all shared. It wasn't the day we thought it would be, but we still managed to do something. And we were able to see two movies the next week!

We celebrated Kacey's birthday last week!

Too funny.

We ate pizza at the park and then went to Chuck E Cheese with Acacia, Larissa and Jake on the 31st. The boys were nice and mostly watched the kids and us girls got to chit chat. The kids always have so much fun together! Cooper was not a fan of the "on stage Chuck" who moved a little. Cooper freaked out! Carter and I can't get over how gorgeous Savannah looks in her car seat!


We came home from Chuck E Cheese and the kids were hungry again after all the playing. Cooper scarfed down on pizza. He can't get enough of it apparently!

Let's see...what else did we do this month? We saw Shrek 4 at the dollar theater. We made some fun purchases and have been re-arranging furniture and decorating. I'll post and talk about that when it's done....so don't hold your breath too long. And we got TV again!! With DVR! Oh, the little things....oh wait, that was this month.

Cooper

Coopers personality is really starting to shine through. He is silly and loves to laugh. And that laugh, when it gets going really good, is seriously the cutest thing. He doesn't say a lot of things; he mostly says ba-ba, da-da, da, hot, hat, ball and other mumbo jumbo. Thing is, he uses those words for multiple things, all of which we mostly understand. He is a pretty good listener and understands what we're saying. He cleans up when you ask and makes messes when you don't ask. He LOVES cars right now. And balls. If he sees a ball anywhere he starts screaming BALL! BALL! He plays with his cars all day too. He makes great sound effects too. He listens to Carter's sound effects and totally copies them. Recently, Carter does this beat boxing thing, and Cooper starts dancing and then tries to make the same sounds. Mostly it sounds like "WikeWike". It's so cute though. He's still a pretty good sleeper and takes a nap around 10-10:30 in the morning, for a couple hours. Sometimes in the late afternoon he gets sleepy but he doesn't always take a nap then. He goes down pretty easy with his binky and blanket. You give him the blanket and he just starts loving on it and puts his head down on your shoulder. Works like a charm. Most of the time. He runs, fast. He is just quick and it's so cute to see him run. He really doesn't like when Savannah is mean to him. He still loves cookies and ice cream. He's a pretty good eater in general, and a messy one. He throws his bottle/sippy cup on the ground really hard when he's done with it. Carter thinks he's spiking it like a football. Of course. I just hate that the milk spills everywhere when he does this. He climbs on everything. He figured out how to get on the kitchen chairs and then the table. That freaks us out for sure because we know that would not be a good fall. He's been going up the stairs since 9 months, but we haven't really let him try going down them because he would just lunge forward without looking most of the time. He has now figured out how to scoot down on his bum or sometimes on his belly. His hair grows so fast. Already needs another haircut. He makes this cute victorious giggle when he gets something he wants, like cookies or fruit snacks. He's got lots of teeth now, 9 I think. 1 is a molar. You can't always see his upper teeth when he smiles, but when you do, they are so cute! I love it. We don't let him run around in just a diaper anymore because he took it off one day while I was upstairs and well, it wasn't pretty. Their was yelling, and bathing and lots of carpet washing involved. So, pants are a must for him. He loves dogs too. He calls them De De. He's a pretty easy going little guy, except when he's been teething. He's had a few screaming fits in the middle of the night because of those darn teeth. And during those times, I don't care that it's 2 am, I just give him ice cream to help with the pain. It helps a little. We had to get him a new carseat last week because the old harness in his other one broke. So now, he gets to sit forward and has the same carseat as Savannah, but a different color. We think he weighs approx. 22 lbs and is 31 inches. Definitely approx. He goes to his 15 month check up this week (1 1/2 months late), so we'll see where he's at for sure. He doesn't like to have his teeth brushed. Problem. We've always had to fight with him on that. But, lately Carter holds him forward for me and he'll put his feet out to "block" me kind of and I pretend that he's pushing me away or kicking me and he thinks it's so funny. He starts laughing and opening his mouth real big so I've actually been able to brush his teeth really good lately. We'll see how long it takes for him to figure out it's a trick. Speaking of figuring stuff out. Baby gates are useless in our house. They work only in two areas of the house because of stupid molding. I was just starting to have relief with the gate at the top of the stairs. The kids could play in their rooms and walk around and I could do whatever. Well, that little bugger just doesn't like the gate and pulls it straight down. It's starting to wear in certain areas so I bet it doesn't have much time left. Well, I thought this would be a shorter post and that I would write about both kids, but it's turned way long, so I'll have to write a seperate one about Vannah another day. Besides, I know I need Carter's help to remind me of all the things she does. Cause it's a long list.

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Our Busy July

In early July we put Savannah's big girl bed together and she was pretty happy about that! She has done great in it. She plays a lot in her room, but she sure does make a mess.

My Aunt Ann & Uncle Chris came up for a visit and we went to the Thanksgiving Point Petting Zoo. The kids got to see all kinds of animals, feed them and ride these horses; 3 times each! Then we headed up to Salt Lake for dinner and ate at the Blue Iguana mexican restaurant.

We got together with some family for dinner before Taylor moved to Texas.

Savannah went to a Princess Dance camp for 3 days, an hour and a half each day. She got to dress up like a princess everyday and I even let her wear some make up. They taught them a little dance (which I wish I could put on here but the file is just way too big), made some crafts and on the last day had a princess party and performed their dance for us.

I never wanted to stray too far from her since we've never left her in the company of someone we don't know. So we watched outside or went to the grocery store or Arctic Circle right by there.

We all went with my parents one Friday to the Scera Pool in Orem. Savannah talked about going for days beforehand. I was worried if it would live up to her expectations because she was sure hyping it up. I think they had a lot of fun and her and I went on the big slide once. I don't think she wanted to go again because she wasn't a fan of waiting in the line for all of ten minutes.

For the 24th of July we got together with S&S&S, and Larissa, Jake & Acacia for some food, fireworks and games. This bean bag toss game is really fun and different than the traditional kind. Sierra is getting so big and is so cute. Cooper got to hold his first sparkler with Daddy's help of course!

I attempted my first double french braids on Savannah. I don't know why I thought to do it actually. I was going to put her hair in pigtails and just thought I'd try out the braids. I didn't think she'd hold still for long, but she was pretty patient. For my first time I think they're not too bad. My friend Jeni and her girls, Mom and sister came out to visit us on the 31st. The kids got to play and I know Savannah had such fun making friends with Makenna and Bryn.

So, that was July. I felt like we did so much. Probably because normally we don't do that much. You know, I think their was even a Chuck E Cheese trip with Acacia and her parents somewhere in there but we didn't take any pictures! haha.
We kicked off August with Sierra's baby blessing on the 1st!

She's A Hoot

Sometimes I'm not sure what to do with my girl. The stuff that comes out of her mouth is priceless. Like when she doesn't want to go to bed and will find any excuse to come out of her room. 10 times. Here was the dialogue she gave me tonight.

Savannah comes out of her room, into mine.

"The light is on downstairs."

I know, I'm going to go down there later.

"Well, it's pretty dark outside so are we going to get some pa-corn and watch tv or a movie or something."

No.

(She went on to talk about some other things like her hi-hos (7 dwarves) while putting them all over my keyboard.)

You need to go to bed.

"....we have to go downstairs together. Please. Please!" (with a big sweet grin)

How am I supposed to resist that!? So, Savannah came downstairs and did pilates with me. For a few minutes at least.

And can I just say, Carter and I love when she adds, "or something" to the end of her sentences. The way she says it is just too cute.

Peak-A-Boo...I See You

I took these tonight and I just thought they were so cute I just had to post them. He's learned peak-a-boo and it's pretty cute. Sometimes he covers his ears rather than his eyes, which is pretty funny.