Frosty Day

Right before Christmas a cloud descended on us here for over a day. When it finally lifted, this is what we were left with...

Everything was frosted
And I get to live here and enjoy this beauty
Boy did I get lucky

Before Christmas Happenings

December was busy getting ready for Christmas, and of course we had to visit family. First we went to Twin Falls two weeks before Christmas for Nathan's cousin Tyson's wedding to his lovely new bride Kaylee! Welcome to the family (there are a lot of them, and now comes the job of learning everyone's name;) )! The night before was the dinner, which had a great Mexican theme. That night though while we were staying with Jason and Nicole, James came down with croup, and Nathan ended up sleeping in the car with him for most of the night so that the cold air would help him. It worked for James, Nathan though got one of the worst nights sleeps ever.

Daddy of the Year award goes out to him.

Grandma and Jackman at the family dinner for Tyson and Kaylee's wedding in Twin Falls

Grandpa and Grandma Haworth and their seven beautiful daughters
I see them and think of the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, but in reverse.
They are all amazing, and I am very lucky to be a part of their family.
And Grandpa and Grandma are amazing for raising seven daughters!

Tyson and Kaylee, just married on a very windy Twin Falls morning outside the temple.

Then before we went to AZ for Christmas we saw a lot of our family in UT and Franklin. I didn't get a picture with Grandma Hiller though. Those can be though to get, and so are treasures :)

It was cold, but James wanted to go see the cows...so we did


James all bundled in the cold

Playing on the floor at the Haworth's


Grandpa and Jack-Jack


James opening his awesome Mater from the Kutterer's.


Kira and Jackman opening his splash bathtime ducky,
which he LOVES by the way


We also took some cute pictures just around home before Christmas.
Mommy and Jack-Jack with our beautiful tree and Dicken's Christmas Village.


"aahh-goo"
Jackman looking especially cute in the sailor suit that used to be his daddy's!


James running with the stick horse

Daddy and Jackman, he is almost five months and looking so big and alert!

Jackman Tried Rice Cereal...

...and didn't really care for it. In fact, I'm not sure how much even got in his mouth let alone swallowed. We'll try it again in a few weeks :)

Mom, I don't think I like this, can i just have milk please?

Mommy making funny faces to get Jack-Jack to eat

Tow Mater that's who!

James and I found a real Tow Mater in Orem! He was just on the corner near a Christmas Tree yard. We had to stop. Jack stayed in the car, it was cold, but James loved it. Mater is becoming one of his favorite Disney character's.

In James' hand is a car that he calls Doc, who is also from Cars for those who didn't know.

For those who are interested, he was by the Target in Orem.
There is usually a fruit and veggie stand there in the summer, winter has Christmas Trees,
and Mater.

"Look at the detail on that rust, it must have cost a fortune"
quote from Cars 2

Kendra's Birthday!

I had a great birthday surrounded by family. The only sad part was that Nathan left that night before dinner was over to go to Houston for business (and my birthday was on a Sunday, so I thought that I was safe to have him home, bummer). We did get to have both of my sisters, Kirstin and Ann, over for dinner, and Mike, Kira, and Tanner. Thank you guys for coming up to make it special. And it is Christmas time, and I love the decorations, especially around my birthday. Growing up we would always put the tree up the day after. This year I wanted to have it ready for when people came to dinner, so we put it up a day or two early.

Here's to hoping that 27 is going to be a great year.

Family

Kirstin, Kendra, and Ann
I think this picture just shows how much Kirstin and Ann look a like,
but I think that we all look pretty similar

A Full Thanksgiving

This year was Thanksgiving in Colorado.
Boy did we do a lot of things in the few days that we were there:

Went to downtown Littleton, and saw Santa light the lights on the trees. It was cold, and then it got windy, but it has been a tradition from the time I was a little girl.
I was glad I could share it with my sister, my parents, and now my little boys and Nathan

Went to the Butterfly Pavilion! It is this neat place that is a giant indoor tropical paradise, and there are butterflies everywhere that you get to see.
You have to be careful not to step on them, too.
Look at James' face showing his daddy one that was flying! And that wasn't posed.
There was also a fun learning and exploring area for little kids like James, and he climbed the rope spider's web.

Also at the Butterfly Pavilion there are other area's that you can see other things, like underwater creatures, neat bugs, and spiders!
You can even hold Rosie the Rose-haired Tarantula, and we all did it!
Look at James, he did it too, and he giggled and thought it was neat.
I on the other hand had to wait until I was holding her before I would look, it did get the adrenaline pumping holding such a big spider.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner at my Uncle Kyle and Aunt Carol's house.
I love getting pictures with Uncle Kyle and his namesake Jackman Kyle.
Kirstin actually surprised everyone and drove out right from Utah, and made it right as we were leaving to go to dinner. Man were mom and dad surprised. It was so hard for me to keep it a secret, especially because they kept asking about her, and I
kept thinking just wait an hour and you'll see her!
I am thankful for family!

We rode Cinnamon our horse. James loved it! He wanted to go around again, and again, and again. It was his first time up on the horse, and I think he is hooked, which is good because someday I'd like to have one.
We got everyone up who wanted to go, and Jack-Jack got to touch her.
She has always been so good with kids, and she changed when we brought the baby over, incredibly calm. And Jack liked it.
Kirstin introduced Mom and Dad to "planking", and they all had a turn "planking" in the barn.

Family time at Kyle and Carol's

We had lots of great family time.
James got to play with his second cousins Landin and Dakota, Grandma Kitty and Gramies got to have quality time with the kids, and we got to visit and take pictures with everyone.

Four Generations
Julie, Kitty, Kendra, and Jackman

Happy Thanksgiving! We hope yours was filled with family, food, and fun:)

The Best Way to Visit Santa

We visited Santa at Sears Portrait Studio.
Best idea. Ever.

No lines, you get a time, show up at that time and sit on his lap.
You get pictures too that turn out great.
Our last two years attempts to visit with Santa have fallen flat due to lines over an hour and a half long.
First year we have a picture next to a manequin Santa.
Second year was worse, you didn't even see Santa, had to wait in line to get a number, to then come back at a time indicated by the number to wait again to see Santa, and you had to pay to see him still.
Both lines were over an hour long (so technically the second year had two lines over an hour each, um, yeah right).
I will never try that again.
James was a little scared, but then warmed right up when they were reading a book together.


And I think the pictures turned out great.


P.S. They are really cheap too:)

Check those pictures out, no crying kids.
Did your Santa photos turn out that good?
Hope that the start to your Christmas season is merry

Jack's Stats: 4 Months

Wow, 4 months already? Now I feel like the kiddo's are growing up too fast. I can't believe all the progress Jack has had lately. We had his four month appointment exactly at four months. Poor little thing got shots, but he's doing great now, and they are too keep him healthy so that is fine.
See how he's grown:

Weight: 13.1 lbs (25th %tile)

Length: 24.7 in (50th %tile!)

Head Circ: 16.2 in (25th %tile)
All %tiles were up!


Jack-Jack is also one of the happiest babies you'll ever meet. He is always smiling. He goes down for naps great. He sleeps seven hours at night consistently. He eats great.
I saw a friend from my childhood in Colorado while at church, Emily Ricks, and I loved how she summed it up:
"Heavenly Father gives babies like this to say, "Look, you can do it, you are doing it!"


He doesn't really take a binky, but does prefer his fingers.
He doesn't latch on anymore, but will take a bottle of breastmilk readily.
He can roll from his tummy to his back in an instant, but doesn't really care to do the other way.
He loves bathtime!
He is so wiggly, always moving now.
How did I get to be this blessed?

tall, TaLl, TALL!

This was the second snow we had so far this year, but it was enough to go out and play, and make a snowman...tall, tall, tall!

Working on the snowman, long way to go still....


Yeah! A snowman with Daddy and James.
Complete with a carrot nose

And did you know that tractors work in the snow too? Awesome!

And yes, in the sun he melted, small, small, small :(
No more snowman, for now at least

James Right Now, 28months

There are a few things about James right now that I want to remember. He can be so funny, and so frustrating, but that's being two right? These are some of the funnies to remember when he can talk better, and I'll be wishing for the days that he couldn't communicate as well because it was cute.

~mumersalt= a somersault, he does them pretty well

~lightning McTween= Lightning McQueen, a favorite around here, Disney has got something

~his absolute favorite person in the world is his daddy

~Jack-Jack= it is always Jack-Jack. And he likes to give him kisses, on the lips

He wanted to lay with his brother, on his big bed, with the pillow over their legs

~Matt Bird= this is always a toucan bird. He has a rainforest book, and in it there are mommy birds(light colored parrots), daddy birds (dark colored parrots), Aubey birds (also light colored birds), Quinn birds (smaller parrots), Jack-Jack birds (very small birds), and for some reason, Matt bird is the big toucan that takes up a whole page with its beak.

~football= James wants you on the floor, runs into you, and then you both fall down. That's not all though, then he will dog pile on your head, just to make sure you are down. He'll also run, then fall on the floor, and roll, that is also football.

~he'll spin in circles and fall down, that is helicopter

~thanks to daddy who taught him the "big circle button" will turn on the tv, and the "triangle button" will turn on the movie (vhs or dvd). So when we unplug them and he try's to turn it on, he's not too happy

~nok= that is his favorite drink/food, milk, which he knows now comes from cows. When he says ol' nok, it sounds like whole milk, but really he means its cold milk :)

~when he sees fire, he says it's hot, then blows. If his food is warm, it is on fire, and he blows on it.

~tractor tippin' is funnnnny=again thank you to Cars, he brought the tractors into the kitchen, jumped up and down twice behind them, then tipped them, and made a noise like they burped each time, just like in the movie.

Tractor tippin in the kitchen

He brought all his tractors/vehicles in to tip

~he loves to point out everything! from shapes, to colors, to tractors we see (of course), to now letters because he is learning them.

~he is learning his letters. sometimes M is an upside down W, and the capital E is also an M sometimes, or a W, if he turns the puzzle piece just right...he is right too

~ scriptures= they are now referred to as scripture power, after the primary song.

~when I say, "look at mommy" usually after I do his hair and I want to check it, he looks at me and makes an "0" with his mouth.

~ daddy cows/mommy cows= he has a male cow that is more spotted than the female cow. So now all cows that are more spotted are daddy cows, if they are more black, and the spots are bigger, they are mommy cows.

~he can categorize anything into either daddy, mommy, james, or jack-jack, according to size.

~he likes to talk to his "dramies"(Grammies) on the phone, and will describe everything he sees over the phone.

~sometimes he will take everything off his bed and make a little "nest" on the floor, and he'll sleep there too. If I go in to put him back on the bed, he'll hide in the nest, and he's pretty good at it too.

James in his nest

Bath Time

What a happy little kiddo. He loves bath time, and his daddy.

Love this Little Guy

Mommy and Jackman
I love this little boy. So cute:)

An Incredible Family

Our family is incredible. But I am referring to the movie, "The Incredibles" for this post. Jack-Jack is the baby in the movie, and since that is our baby's nickname, it was the inspiration to our Halloween costumes this year. I am very, very proud of myself for making these costumes. I don't consider myself very crafty or creative. These costumes though turned out fantastically .

We wore them to the ward Trunk-or-Treat and they were a big hit. We were watching the movie "The Incredibles" before hand to get pumped up. James was running everywhere just like Dash. Jackman was being adorable like Jack-Jack. I was trying to run around getting everything ready just like Elastagirl. And Nathan was a little distracted by his phone, or watching the movie, or playing with the kids, just like Mr. Incredible. I'd say we were pumped and in character. Then we put on the costumes. James' favorite was the mask.

Yes, those costumes were incredible. What is more important is that family is incredible. Do you know the story behind how the powers were choosen for the Incredibles? The mom is flexible, because mom's have to flexible, so they made her very, very flexible. Dad's are supposed to be strong, so they made Mr. Incredible really, really strong. Teenagers want to be left alone, and sometimes feel invisible, that is why the teenager Violet's powers are to turn invisible and put a force field around her to keep everyone out. Little boys are full of energy and run everywhere, so they made Dash the boy very, very fast. Babies are full of potential and can be anything, that is why Jack-Jack the baby has all sorts of powers from turning to lead, to becoming a fireball, to laser beams from his eyes, to going through walls, to becoming that little devil thing, right back to becoming the adorable baby.

The movie also shows that when the family works together and uses their different talents, that they can overcome all forces of evil and do "incredible things".

My family is incredible, and we can do incredible things too.

Bet you'll look at the movie differently now, eh?

Monkey Mountain

James, Jackman, and I went to Monkey Mountain in Park City with Aubreigh and Quinn, and her sister Amber and her little boy Tucker. Monkey Mountain is a big jungle gym for little kids. Turns out it was a little big to have the boys climb on by themselves, but us parents got in it as well to help them out. There was this slide that was at least a story tall, and it was so fast. And it was a spiral slide. I seriously felt sick, but it was fun. There were also all these animals that were a sort of soft rubber material, and when you sat on them, they made the animal sounds! How cool is that?

James and Jack-Jack with the big rubbery elephant

A happy James going up the spiral staircase into the jungle gym.
Nothing shows you that you are bigger than climbing into that following your two year old!

Afterwards we had a very yummy lunch at Kneaders. Thanks guys, James is asking to do it again soon:) He loves saying Monkey Mountain.