December

What a crazy month it has been!  So many holiday parties, so much food, shopping and fun!!  We had a wonderful christmas this year!

decorating cookies at my moms christmas party

I forgot to post this pic on my bday post

 

OK-the next pics are awesome!  At Gabes family party, the Santa they had coming for the kiddos didnt work out, so last minute, they pulled Gabe aside and asked him to dress up as Santa.

It was soooo funny! And he was such a good sport about it!

Andi was laughing so hard and kept saying how embarrassed she was!!

It was the highlight of the month!  HAHA

Andi with her dad Santa

Alex with Santa

Josilyn was so confused--so funny!

Gideon with his dad

Pinata fun

 

Christmas morning! The kids actually slept in! It was amazing!

 

Hope everyone had a wonderful christmas!!

 

Oh, and the best thing, Gideon has been scooting around on his tummy for a month now, but he officially started crawling christmas morning!  I guess the presents really motivated him! HAHA

And now that he can crawl, he is into everything!!  AHHHH!

 

Happy 27!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!!
This birthday has been pretty good so far!!  Gabe and I went out this past weekend and celebrated, we went out to dinner at Ruth Chris Steak House downtown.  OMG!!  I remember it being expensive and fancy when I went a few years ago..... but we spent $70 on just the 2 of us.... and I didnt even get a meal, I only got a salad!!!  Can you believe it!!???!! But it sure was nice to get away from the kids and just have some alone time with my man!  The food there is also amazing!!!  I had to have a bite of Gabes steak.... wow!  Best Steak EVER!!!  Also, the best frenchfries in the world!!  So delicious!!  I also went shopping this weekend with my mom! It was so fun, we shopped for christmas and then she bought me some new pants and shirts for my bday, which was so nice!!  I definately have needed some new clothes!!  Plus, sometimes with your bday so close to christmas, some people get you one thing and say Happy Bday and merry christmas!!  It gets annoying some times... but my mom has been good about separating the two. 
When I turned 25, for some reason it was a really hard birthday for me, maybe because I had just had a baby, and I felt so young to have so many kids, yet so old because of my kids, and man... I donno, it was just really emotional and crappy!  But this birthday has been the complete opposite!!  I think its because I feel like my family is complete and even though we have had a really rough and trying year, somehow we have made it through all the crapiness and its been fine.  We are surviving and learning and growing and I have just come to terms with life.  I think that things are looking up, even though I am getting old  haha  Hopefully when I turn 30 it wont be a crappy bday.  I hope all the rest of my bdays are this fun!

8 months

How is it that I had this little chunk only 8 months ago!??!?!! 

 

He is my everything!  I love him more than words can describe!!  He is learning more and more everyday!!  He is a joy to have in our home and I am so grateful for him!

Gideon is starting to get up on all fours... pretty soon he will be crawling everywhere!!  I have to vacuum daily to keep the house clean enough for him, because he rolls everywhere.  He loves to eat, and actually has started to wean himself from nursing, its very nice.  He usually only wants to nurse when he is super tired.  He would rather have baby food and snacks.  He still has no teeth (SO WEIRD) but he will suck on baby crackers and things until they are mushy and then he will eat them.  He is still very nervous around new people, he would rather be with his mom and dad.  He jabbers a lot and I cant wait till he actually starts talking.  It will be so fun to see how he grows up with all his big sisters!  Life is a joy and I am just trying to take it all in everyday!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

 

My 2 brothers from out of state came to visit for thankgiving-so it was pretty much this huge crew all week long at my moms house!!!  It was crazy but fun!!  I miss these guys already!!!!!

 

My brother and his wife had a baby the same day that I had Gideon, so we were able to put the two birthday twin boys together for the 1st time, it was awesome!!  Cousin Cody is only 6 hours older than Gideon! 

They were best buds!

 

Jo and Gideon

 

October went way too fast!!  We have done a lot of fun things, and I always seem to forget my camera when we go out.  But I have some fun pics of Josilyn and Gideon, so I guess this post can be about them! 

 

These 2 pics are of Gideon falling asleep in his Hop-n-Pop.  He was crying for me, but I was trying to make the girls some lunch, so I just ignored him.  He slowly nodded off and stayed asleep when I put him in bed.... so cute!

He loves playing alone on the floor, rolling everywhere and getting his toys all over too!

Josilyn comes up from the playroom every few minutes to check on him all the time!! She is a great big sister!!

And here He is, trying to be a big boy.... he hates bottles, but he thinks cups are hilarious and fun!! He is such a stud!  He also wont let me feed him anymore, unless he is holding his own spoon... such a silly kid!

7 months!

Gideon is 7 months old!!  I cant believe it!  The time is really flying!  Well, he is turning into a very opinionated little boy, but I love it!  He enjoys eating anything I feed him, obviously, look at all that chub!  :)  I cant leave him alone anywhere anymore, because he gets into everything!!  He cant quite crawl, but he can scoot around on his belly and roll anywhere he wants.  I am trying to enjoy the fact that he only nurses.... but its hard!! This is the longest I have ever nursed!!  Its crazy that people do this for a whole year!!  I have started giving him a cup, which he is slowly catching onto.  Hopefully he will get better at it soon!  Taking his monthly picture is getting harder and harder!  He could care less about looking at the camera now, and he wont hold still.  Also, he was trying to eat my paper, and so I only got a few pics this time before he was screaming!

Love You Handsome!

Snow already?

Yesterday morning we woke up to tons of snow at our house!!  I hated it, but the kids were sooo excited!  Andi asked if she could miss school just to play in it-HA!  I seriously think it snowed more yesterday than it did the whole season last year!! No joke!!!  But today, it has almost completely melted away.  I hope this was just a little taste of snow and that it wont snow again until December! I hate driving in it!!  Taking Andi to school was the worst!!  But the other 2 girls and I did have fun for a bit in the morning.  We even built a little mini-snowman!  It was fun, but freezing! When Gabe got to work in Salt Lake that morning, he said there was No snow there!! Guess thats what we get for moving up north into the mountains!

 

Hopefully we can enjoy a bit more of Autumn before another storm like this comes back....

Trunk-or-Treat

 

Our ward does a trunk-or-treat for all the kids in the neighborhood every year for Halloween. This year it was really fun. They had a chili cook-off, a pumpkin carving contest, tons of games, and everyone could come in costume and just hang out. The kids had a great time and got lots of candy already... which is no good, because I have been eating all of it :) They cant wait till next week when we can trick-or-treat around the neighborhood!



 Alexandra was the little mermaid this year.  The costume was super big on her.  I think I ended up using about 15 safety pins to keep it on her! But she was excited and I think she looked really cute!  The main reason I love this costume is because how modest it is.  All the other costumes like this were really scandalous for a 4 yr old!!!  Plus the long sleeves will keep her warm for trick or treating!

Andi says that you have to be something scary for halloween, so she decided to be a Dementor-those scary things that fly on Harry Potter.  She loves harry potter.... my dad got her into it  :)  The whole reason we got this costume was for the cool mask it came with, but masks arent allowed ANYWHERE during Halloween-so dumb!!  So we thought this face paint looked ok with it.

 Josilyn was Belle for halloween.  She is throwing a straight-up terrible 2 yr old tantrum here.... She didnt want to wear the pink undershirt with her costume, so she laid down with Gideon and was holding his hand...so cute, and so naughty!












 

We had a little chicken costume for Gideon, but seriously, do little babies need to be uncomfortable for halloween?  I dont think so.  So, I just put him in a spiderman shirt for the party.  Its just as cute, and he was comfy and happy all night!



Zoo Adventure!

Andi's fall break from school was definately not long enough!! But we did end up going to the zoo on friday, and that was a lot of fun!!!  One of my best buds from High School has a pass there, so we all got in for free, and my mom was nice enough to watch Gideon so I didnt have to drag him and I could enjoy some time with just the girls!  It was a beautiful day and I think everyone in utah decided to go to the zoo that day.  A new baby giraffe was just born there too, so it was crowded!!  The new polar bear exhibit is amazing!!!  I havent been there in a few years, and lots has changed.  And they are doing even more construction there.  Cant wait to go back when its all done!!  It was so fun-we were all exhausted at the end of the day, and we had to rush home to feed the baby.  He did pretty good without me, but he still refuses all bottles.  Crazy kid!!!  Thanks LG to a WONDERFUL day at the zoo!! Love ya girl!!