Christmas 2012

We had a fantastic Christmas this year. Over the week we spent time with both families and enjoyed conversing with everyone, usually over delicious food, too. :) But even before all the family festivities started, we were so lucky to host a Christmas Eve breakfast with our close friends, most of whom now live out of state and don't get to see very often. They were in town to spend the holidays with their families here in Utah and we're so grateful they all made time to see "the gang".

It's funny to see how the group is growing with the kids popping into the picture!

It was also fun to see Jaxon a little more involved in the unwrapping of presents. His attention span was still a little short, but next year will be even better.

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

Staying Warm

I usually like to post more often than I recently have, but Blogger's now enforcing this photo limit and I've been trying to find a way around having to pay for more storage. But that aside, there really hasn't been anything happening to blog about anyway. :) Lately, we've mostly spent our days inside cuddling up to stay warm.

When we get stir-crazy, we take trips to "la biblioteca." We go multiple times a week just to get out! Jaxon loves going to story-time (singing and puppet show included) and to climb all their "escaleras". He'll sign "biblioteca" at random times throughout the day, so either he's asking to go or is just thinking about it.

We've also been able to spend time with friends. I'm so lucky to have close friends who have babies in the same age range as Jaxon. Play-dates are as much of a treat to me as they are to him!

Can't wait for Christmas!

Goodbye Fall, Hello Winter!

This morning we woke up to snow.

Hard to imagine it was 70 degrees yesterday! I guess that's Utah for you. We heard we were in for our first winter storm this weekend, so we took advantage of the warm weather this week by going to the park every day. Yesterday was the last time we'd be able to go before it snowed, so I brought our camera. Remember, these were taken just yesterday! Unbelievable.

(It was so warm, we didn't even need jackets!)

Jaxon has learned to climb up slides and once he reaches the top he slides down backwards on his tummy. He loves it!

To help us transition to winter, we had warm and delicious soup and rolls for lunch today. It's sad to see fall go, but we look forward to enjoying the many perks of winter.

Halloween 2012

Even though Jaxon is still to young to go trick-or-treating (maybe next year), we still found a costume for him and had a wonderful Halloween.

In the morning, we went to the library for a special Halloween-themed story time, and for dinner we had yummy chili dogs and homemade root beer! My family would always make homemade root beer on Halloween growing up, so I thought I'd continue the tradition. Although Jaxon didn't drink any, he was still fascinated by the dry ice, which is really the best part about homemade rootbeer. :)

It was also the first time he had ever had a hot dog! He practically ate the whole thing- bun, chili and all. I'm telling you, he eats like a monster. Happy Halloween!

Here Comes Trouble

This kid is into everything these days. I turn my back for two seconds and...

Jaxon's playing in the flour. He even ate a handful of it before I could reach him. I guess I have no one to blame but myself. Today (when he was all too quiet...) I found he had gotten into the vaseline and had not only spread it all over his clothes and carpet, but also eating it. I would've taken a picture, but I decided to panic and call poison control instead. Luckily we're okay. :)

Speaking of trouble, Jaxon is also walking! His whole walking-thing was very gradual, and is still a working progress. He still prefers crawling long distances like from room to room. But he'll definitely walk between pieces of furniture and other random times. Not really the typical "Come to daddy/mommy!" thing, but we'll take it. :)

Pumpkinland 2012

 My friend and I kind of started a tradition of taking our boys to Pumpkinland every fall. Our boys were only a couple months old the last time we went, so I was excited to see how Jaxon would do this time.

They had fun climbing over pumpkins and getting licked by goats. I think it's safe to say they had a more fun this year than last year. :) Can't wait till next year (if we're still around, that is!)!

Big pumpkin!

Chatting and Canning

It's been great to be back with friends and family again in Utah. Much of our "catch up" time has been spent over canning. My mom and I canned peach-raspberry jam, and my friend and I canned grape juice!

I love grape juice. My parents have grape vines in their side yard so Natasha and I went over and picked tons of plump, purple grapes. They smelled so sweet and were definitely ready to juice. Our boys had fun eating the grapes as they were.

We got lots of juice in return! It tastes delicious!

Go Cougars!

After our memorable summer in Wisconsin, we're back home in Utah just in time for Travis to start his final year of school (can it be?)! And since it is his last year at BYU, Jaxon and I decided to treat him with All-Sports passes and game day shirts for his birthday.

We are thoroughly enjoying the football season! The games are so much better being there in person. Jaxon was even able to go with us to a recent game and he loved it! It was a warm afternoon, but we were so lucky to get seats in the only shade available in the whole stadium. It made everything just perfect!

Another touchdown! Cougars win!

Jaxon's One!

One year ago today, we became parents! To celebrate Jaxon's first birthday, I thought I'd fill his day with activities he loves the most. So we went to the library where he pulled book after book off the shelves, went on walk, swam at the pool, and of course, ate his favorite food- pasta! His birthday cake was an angel food cupcake with whipped topping and strawberries. After just staring at it for a while, he finally picked it up and shoved it in his mouth. He ate the whole thing, and would've eaten more if we had let him.

Playing with his new car...Jaxon looks on. ;)

There we go.

We are so grateful for Jaxon and the love and joy he brings to our family.

In Honor of the Olympics

To celebrate the Olympics and our summer in Wisconsin drawing to a close, we went canoeing at Governor Dodge State Park. We've been wanting to go canoeing all summer, so we finally up and went. I was a little worried with how Jaxon would do, but he did great! He especially loved it when Travis would rock the canoe side to side.

We didn't want to risk bringing our camera in the canoe with us, but you'll just have to take our word for it that it was a beautiful trip around the lake. We saw cranes, lots of fish, thick forests, rocky cliffs, and sandy beaches. Not to mention the weather's been in the 70s, which has been a nice break for us!

Hyde's Mill

Yesterday, we took a nice scenic drive to Hyde's Mill. It was such a pretty site nestled in trees and corn fields. :) We're really going to miss the beauty of this state. Enjoy the pictures!

Time to go home!

Chicago

It's now been four wonderful years since Travis and I tied the knot! We celebrated by spending our anniversary weekend in Chicago.

We spent most of our time on Navy Pier and from there, went on a scenic boat tour that let us see the Chicago skyline. It was a lot of fun, and the weather was perfect!

Rainbow!

Once the boat docked, we raced down towards Millennium Park to see the iconic Cloud Gate, aka "Bean".

We underestimated how long it would take to walk there from the pier, and we knew we wouldn't make it back to Navy Pier in time to see our Cirque Shanghai performance. So after some panicking, Travis hailed a taxi and we got there just in time! It was a fantastic performance. Even Jaxon liked it. I kept having to turn my head away because I was afraid some of those acrobats would fall!

After the show, we went on the Ferris Wheel and got a beautiful look at all the city lights in the night sky. Being on the Ferris Wheel reminded me of one of my college history classes, where the whole class was about the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. It felt so nice to actually be there after learning so much about it.

The next morning, Brady invited us over for a yummy breakfast. It was a whirlwind weekend, but maybe that's appropriate for a visit to the "windy city". :)

Pioneer Day, Wisconsin Style

Even though we're in Wisconsin, we decided to celebrate our own Pioneer Day, but in Wisconsin style! We went to the park and grilled brats (aka bratwurst), and even got some root beer to go with the occasion. Not exactly the traditional drink that goes with brats, but we put a Mormon twist to it. :)

They were so yummy!

Mississippi River Walk

On Saturday, we drove to Dubuque, Iowa and strolled along the Mississippi River Walk. The weather was nice and cool, and Jaxon had fun watching the cargo and river boats pass by. It was a lot of fun! Travis and I decided that one day we'd kayak down the whole Mississippi.

On our way home, we stopped by a highly recommended ice cream shop and got some very yummy and very unhealthy ice cream. See for yourselves!