Fall

Blowing Kisses

I love this Kid!!!

Christmas Memories

This year has been full of Christmas bliss. It has been so much fun to watch Ethan meet Santa for the "first time", feel snow for the first time, look at the christmas tree and see the Christmas lights. I hope to always remember these special moments and never ever forget the magic of Christmas.

Ethan has always been a very social little guy. In result meeting Santa was pretty easy. He looked up at him with his white beard and red suit and said "HAAA" which is Ethan's way of saying HI.

Last year my Grandma gave me one of her Christmas decorations that always was my favorite decoration for Christmas

She made these about 30 years ago out of things around the house. If you look closely you may find an old dish soap lid, a golf T, some canning lids, a playing piece from the game Sorry and many other things you may find around your home today. As a child I thought they were special. They reminded me of what the wise men would have put their frankincense and Myrrh in to give to the baby Jesus.

I think they are beautiful and I am so glad to have them as a part of my Christmas collection.

A Childhood Dream Come True

Many little girls dream of becoming a Ballerina, getting a Pony on your birthday or marring a Prince and living happily ever after. As little girl I dreamt of having my very own baby grand piano. I remember dancing as my Grandma played the theme of Sleeping Beauty on her piano. At age 10 I started piano lessons. I had a wonderful piano teacher who taught me many wonderful things about the piano.

One day I was talking with my husband (Brett) about my ambition. At the time we were living in a very small house that we had bought when we were first married. There wasn't much room for many things especially a piano. Brett said "We can get a piano when we move into our next home." A few years later we started looking for a new home. Spotted a home we wanted to buy and I started my search for my baby grand piano. We looked at a couple and decided to check out one more. It was beautiful! I was so nervous as I stroked the keys. The sound was incredible. Now the funny part was that we were not going to be able to move into our new home for another two months. Gladly the man who sold us the piano agreed to hold the piano in his home until we were able to move into our new home. My piano was the first thing we moved into our home. It was better than Christmas.

Its the most wonderful time of the year

It has officially started. Christmas music, Christmas shopping and all that's wonderful this time of year. Ethan loves it too. He stands at the patio doors and pats the glass like its a whole new world.

Happy Halloween

Saturday was filled with spooky spiders and Halloween fun. Ethan had two costumes again this year. He started the day dressed as a BYU Cougar fan for the party at aunt Lynetts house and then dressed up as a penguin for the ward Halloween party. I dressed as the tooth Fairy and Brett dressed up as the famous Indiana Jones.

Gumpa is Ethan's favorite word these days. He doesn't say Gama yet... but we are working on it.

Fun at the ZOO

We went to the Zoo on October 24th and had a great time. We met Ethan's birth mom Kirsten, Her Dad and Mariana there for a day filled with Zoo Adventure. We quickly found out that day was a busy day, for it was Trick or Treat at the Zoo day.

Costumes everywhere. We thought there were Baboons out of their cages and Lions on the run. Though we did not show up in costume, we joined the crowd and got some candy too.

We saw Lions and Tigers and Bears oh My!!! Our favorite were the babies. Baby Elephant, baby Giraffe, baby Monkeys. There were babies around every corner.

Ethan even found someone his own size to chase around.

Mischievous ??? You tell me

so today while I was otherwise occupied, I noticed my house quieter than usual. And we all know what that means. Ethan's getting into something he shouldn't. :) So I looked around the house and found this

Ethan just found out that if he stands on top of a toy it will make him taller and will allow him to reach things just out of his reach.

Am I in trouble??? Or is this little guy a mischievous genius? I have never seen a one year old with this much creativity. You tell me

Fun At The Park

A few weeks ago we were able to tend my Sisters kids while She and her Husband went to the BYU game GO BLUE. We went to the park just down the street. Here are some proof of the Blast we had:

Happy 1st Birthday Ethan

Happy Happy Birthday Ethan Dear. Happy days will come to you this year. If I had a wish then It would be a Happy Happy Birthday to you from me! I'm a little bit behind on posting this :) On August 19th my son Ethan celebrated his first birthday. The day started when I heard him wake up and I rushed in singing the Happy Birthday song. It made me cry. Memories of the day he was born and the first glimpse I had of him flooded my mind. How grateful I am to have this little guy.

We spent the day singing and playing. I was trying to help Ethan realize that today was a special day and his day. I spent every moment he was awake playing with him and during his nap time I worked on his Birthday Cake.

I am following the tradition of making homemade birthday cakes and I think this cake turned out pretty good. In Brett's family it is tradition for the birthday kid one their first birthday to have their own cake to dig into

How is this for your first cake?

The Theme for his birthday party was "Ethan's reeling in the Big ONE" So naturally the theme was centered around fish. We served Salmon and Halibut and everyone brought pot luck. I put together a fish pond for the kids. It was a hit. It was a lot of fun seeing the kids get excited to see what they had caught.

He got lots of presents. Family and few friends came to celebrate his big day. It was so much fun to organize a party for my son.

ALASKA The last frontier

This summer we had a great time in Alaska. We drove the famous Alaskan Highway. Beautiful sights, hairy bears, buffalo and some crazy things. Its great being married to a Teacher who has the entire summer off to take time to go on great trips like these. On the way to Alaska we stopped in Canada to pick up Brett's old mission buddy Frank and his brother in law Winston (who really goes by the name Boy) to go along. It took us about five days to drive from Cardston Canada to Anchorage Alaska. When we arrived in Anchorage we picked up my Parents (Rod and Roxann) at the airport. The next day we headed to our destination - Homer Alaska. We stayed with a Friend in one of her many cabins there. Its a lot like the homes in the movie The Proposal. You load your bags on a boat, take a 20 minute boat ride and you are there. Its beautiful! I wouldn't want it any other way. The men went fishing as soon as they could and caught 17 Salmon the first day

We ate Fish and Potatoes almost EVERY MEAL. Dad says there is nothing better than fresh Salmon for dinner. I do have to say it was pretty good.

Winston, Brett, Frank and my Dad Rod

While the mighty fishermen were out catching "dinner" Ethan, Mom and I would go out sight seeing and checking out the shops.

Ethan was our "Little Captain"

We went on a Glacier tour in Wittier. It was incredible. Getting up close to those glaciers was awe inspiring. One of the glaciers even calved a few times while we were there. The sound was incredible.

This trip was so much fun. Alaska has a place in my heart. I would recommend going to Alaska to everyone I know. But then I recommend going to a lot of places... Ghana, New York, England, D.C. I love to travel and am so glad I am a world traveler. I look forward to the many more trips in store. :)

On the way home. When we would stop for diesel we would get Ethan out to let him stretch and get some wiggles out. We would let him crawl on top of the Tonneau cover because I knew that every patch of grass had been urinated on by the many Canines who travel the Alcan with their owners :( Yuck

This Bear even looked Both Ways before crossing the street. :)