Lights at Temple Square

 We have not been able to go see the lights at Temple Square for quite a few years (since we were dating) so we were really excited when Andy's family called us and said that they were all meeting in Salt Lake to go see the lights!! 

The weather wasn't too bad but we bundled the boys up with extra coats, hats, and mittens just in case!

 Tegan got bored of riding in the stroller after about an hour so I took him to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to warm up!  We had a fun time people watching while everyone else finished looking at the lights!

Our family*Christmas 2011

Christmas-Part 2

We celebrated Christmas with my family in Richfield.  We spent Christmas Eve with the Crimin Family (which has been tradition for our family for as long as I can remember.) When we got home the boys got their traditional Christmas Eve pajamas!  Paxton was so excited about his "choo-choo jammies"  so excited in fact that it took a lot of bribery to get him to take them off for church the next morning!

We woke up the next morning and headed out for church at 9:00.  I love having Christmas on Sunday!!  When we got home we changed back into our pajamas and opened presents.

Our stockings...

The boys were very excited about all of the wrapping paper they got to play in!

The final mess...

Later that day I found Paxton and Gracie laying under the Christmas tree enjoying a little snack.  I think he was secretly scoping out the extra presents that were under there for my sisters and their kids who were coming later! 

I forgot to get pictures of the boys and their presents but Grandma and Grandpa spoiled us like usual!  Andy got a juice and a fire pit for our backyard and I got new pots and pans and a bathrobe!  Paxton and Tegan both got tons of toys, books, and clothes!! 

Christmas Eve Gingerbread Houses

This year I decided I wanted to start a new Christmas Eve tradition and decorate gingerbread houses! So I gathered those who were willing and lots and lots of candy and we went to work! It was a lot of fun...for about 10 minutes!! I think next year we will try to decorate them sooner than Christmas Eve so that we have more time to enjoy them! Here are some pictures of the big event!

Jerika and Jessica showing of their decorating skills...Paxton and Jessica with their houses! Notice Paxton's face...I think he ate more candy then he actually put on his house!Paxton and Jerika with their gingerbread houses!Grandma and Tegan watching us decorate!!

Christmas-Part 1

We got to celebrate Christmas twice this year! We knew that we were going to spend Christmas Day with my family in Richfield so we decided to let the boys open their presents from us before we left so that we wouldn't have to haul everything down to Richfield with us! They were pretty excited when they woke up and saw all the presents under the tree!

Paxton super excited about Christmas this year! He loved his tree, the lights, and the decorations around the house but it got even better when he saw the presents!! He would open one as fast as he could, give it a courtesy glance, toss it aside and request "more presents!"Even Tegan caught on to the excitement of present opening...I think this is what started his obsession with paper!!Once the presents were all opened the real fun began! Paxton and Tegan discovered the paper!

Tegan just wanted to eat it!Paxton just wanted to roll around in it! He even managed to convinced Andy and Tegan to join him in the fun!Paxton was spoiled as usual with new clothes, lots of toys and games, and about 5 pairs of pajamas since that is his current outfit of choice! His favorite toys were his Phineas and Ferb dolls!Tegan got some new clothes and lots of fun toys (which Paxton immediately claimed as his own!) his favorite thing was his musical soccer ball!

Chuck E. Cheese

We were so excited when we got invited to Chuck E. Cheese for our nephew Kaleb's birthday. Believe it or not I had never been there before and I thought it would be so fun for Paxton! Unfortunately, he hated it!! The only thing he loved was holding all of the tickets that we won playing games! He got to cash them in for a "big ball."

Here are some of the cousins and Tegan posing with Chuck E. Cheese...While Chuck E. Cheese was visiting with the all the cousins, Paxton tried hiding on the bench and under the table. I think we won't be going to Chuck E. Cheese again for a while!Of course once we were getting ready to leave (after 2 hours of trying to get him to ride rides and play games) he finally decided that it wasn't so bad and then we had a hard time getting him out of there! Oh the joys of dealing with a 2 year old!

A Visit with Santa

Santa made a visit to the preschool that I work at and I thought that it would be fun for the boys to be able to come to school and see the people that I work with and to get the customary picture with Santa! I prepared Paxton the whole way over that he was going to get to see Santa and he was so excited...then we walked in the door! Paxton started crying right away and refused to take off his hat or his coat and would not let go of his sippy. Tegan, on the other hand, thought Santa was great! He happily posed for picture after picture!

I finally handed my camera to my assistant Amber and told her to take the picture as soon as I put Pax on Santa's lap. The results were just as expected! A happy content Tegan and Paxton freaking out with his coat still on and his sippy still hanging from his mouth and honestly the picture couldn't have turned out any better! It is these things that I want to remember, not necessarily the perfectly posed portraits!Almost immediately after this picture was taken, Paxton handed me his sippy, took off his coat and got down to business in the preschool! He loved it so much that I let him stay for playtime and snack time and of course the meltdown resumed as I tried to get him out the door! I am pretty excited for him to start preschool next year!

Christmas Time

When I found out I was pregnant with Tegan I was terrified about having 2 babies so close together. It is moments like these that make me so greatful to have these 2 boys close enough in age to be able to share these moments...they really are best friends!

The boys are so excited about the Christmas tree and all of the decorations that we can only turn the lights on when we want to be in there supervising! Paxton loves to rearrange the ornaments, play with the lights and sing Happy Birthday to the tree (he thinks its a cake and tries to blow out the lights!) It really is the best time of the year!!

Tegan*8 Months

Tegan turned 8 months old in December! He is changing from a baby to a little boy right before my eyes! Here is a little bit about Tegan at 8 months:

Tegan is still a big boy weighing in close to 21 pounds. He is wearing 12-18 month clothing and still in size 4 diapers. This boy will honestly eat anything in sight! He wants to be a big boy and eat what we eat so we have been experimenting with little things here and there and he will eat it all!!

Tegan is quite a mover and a shaker lately...army crawling all around our house and trying to pull himself up to all of the furniture...we had to lower his crib because he could reach the rails and was trying to pull himself up! He loves his walker and cruises around the house until he can find the nearest person and then tugs on their pant leg until he can convince them to give him a treat!

Tegan had 2 ear infections during the month of December so I am afraid we are headed towards getting tubes in the near future. He also is finally getting some hair and has popped out 2 teeth on the bottom!

Now that Tegan is starting to show his personality a little bit more we are quickly figuring out that he has quite a temper! He can be so sweet and mellow one second but then if he decides he wants to be held or wants something to eat...watch out because he will sure let you know about it!

Tegan is definitely a mama's boy and loves to be with me! He wants me to hold him and follows me around the house until I do!

He sure is a cute boy!! We love you T-Man!

Seen and Heard at the Hamberlin's

There are funny moments going on around our house everyday...I know I am going to regret it if I don't start writing them down! SEEN:
*Yesterday I told Pax to give Tegan "just a few" pieces of cereal on his tray...apparently Paxton interpreted that as "dump the whole container of cereal treats" on Tegan's tray!
*Paxton insists on getting lots of kisses before bedtime...not just regular kisses...monster kisses. This consists of me running like a monster across his room and smothering him with kisses ...can I count that as exercise because i usually have to stop after about the 10th time across the room because I am totally out of breath, pathetic huh!
*Tegan is up and going more and more these days...he can now get up on his hands and knees and is usually pretty content as long as he has a large pile of toys in front of him! Of course issues arise quite frequently when Paxton discovers that Tegan is playing with one of his toys, reading one of his books, or playing with his dad...I guess we need to work on sharing!
*Paxton is obsessed with wearing pajamas...pretty much everyday for the past 2 weeks he has refused to get dressed in the morning...sometimes we can convince him to put on normal pants but then whats the point when he refuses to change the shirt!

*Paxton is finally showing some interest in potty training!! Yay...if only his mother could get brave enough to actually let him wear underwear all day then maybe we would get somewhere!

HEARD:
*Paxton has started talking in his sleep lately...last week he was yelling out "Brobie" in his sleep and we went in his room and he was totally asleep wrestling with his stuffed Brobie on his bed. That same night he started yelling out "Jerika" in the middle of the night...again totally asleep!
*Paxton has a pretty typical 2 year old vocabulary right now. His favorite words are MINE, NOW, and COME HERE. He has also recently learned to pound his fist down on the nearest piece of furniture for added effect to his demands. It usually goes something like this "Dad, sippy (followed by a fist pound and a dirty look) NOW!"
*My other favorite Paxton phrase right now is "hold you" any time he wants you to hold him he comes up to you with a sweet innocent look and then begs "hold you mommy, hold you." I love it!!

*And on a final note just as I was about to push publish on this blog post my always entertaining son ran up to me buck naked and demanded "pj's"...he actually got dressed today so I though we were making progress on his jammies phase...guess not!

Tegan*7 Months

How cute is this boy!! Time has got to slow down a little bit because there is way too much growing up going on around my house!!

He is such a big boy...we have not weighed him this month but I can guarantee that he is still above average in height and weight! He is wearing size 4 diapers and is in mostly size 12 month clothes! We are paitently waiting for him to sprout some teeth and grow some hair...maybe next month!! Tagan has grown up alot in the past month...he is learning new thing everyday!! He recently learned to get up on his hands and knees!! Once he gets to that point he either rocks back and forth, gets up on his hands and toes, or launches himself forward to get to whatever toy he has his eye on! He can finally sit up pretty well but will only roll over once from his back to his belly and then he is too excited to get up on his knees to go anywhere else!
Lately Tegan is loving:
His Binkie...he can't go to sleep without it!
TV...Yo Gabba Gabba, his brother's favorite show!
His brother...I love watching these 2 interact with each other it is so fun!
Baths...he loves bathing with Paxton, they would probably stay in there all day if I let them!
Eating...he could eat anything!

We love you so much Tman!!

Halloween 2011

Halloween is not my favorite holiday but I think I am starting to enjoy it a little bit more because the boys getting older and I am able to see how much they love it! This year we did the typical Halloween celebrations...

We carved pumpkins at our house! Paxton was not about to touch the insides and wasn't to interested in watching Andy carve the pumpkin so we improvised...

And let him color his pumpkins instead! He was so proud of his creations! He loved coloring pumpkins so much that once we got through all of the pumpkins... We moved onto the squash that we had decorating the porch!

The Saturday before Halloween we had our ward Halloween party and chili cook off...

Paxton dressed up as a pirate!

Tegan was a skeleton!

All of my boys!!

It was really fun to watch Paxton play all of the games they had! He did the ring toss, the cake walk, the fish pond, and many more! Since I am in Young Women's, the girls in the ward love Paxton and they spoiled him with lots of treats throughout the night!

I had planned on boycotting Trick or Treating on Halloween because Andy had to work and I didn't want to try to talk to boys to Trunk or Treat by myself but then that little thing called Mothers guilt set in and I knew I would regret it if we didn't go!

So I called in the reinforcements!! Jessica came down to help us Trunk or Treat! She and Paxton made one round around the block and then Pax was done!

The Crew!!

We tried to convince Paxton to take another trip around the block but he was more interested in handing our candy to all of the kids! Eventually he ran out of candy and just starting giving them candy out of his own bucket...he is so cute!!

I am definitely glad that we decided to go Trick or Treating this year!! I love watching my boys experience new things and this was not exception...even if Halloween is not my favorite!

Thanksgiving Point

Apparently we don't get out much because our most recent family adventure (minus the trip to California) took us all the way to Thanksgiving Point to use some free tickets courtesy of Natures Sunshine!! Luckily we were joined by most of my "single siblings" Jake, Jerika, and Jessica...some of Paxton's favorite people!! Here are a zillion pictures to document our fun day!

Paxton and Uncle Jake at Farm CountryPaxton and Dad feeding the goats
Tegan spent most of his time hanging out in the stroller or being loved by his aunties!!

Paxton was not too interested in the horses and cows. He was more interested in climbing the fence...typical 2 year old behavior right!
It was fun to go around Halloween because they were having the Barnyard Boo party that day! Paxton and Jessica in jail!Riding the tractor at Farm Country

We went on the tractor ride around Thanksgiving Point!

Jessica and Jerika were obviously enjoying the ride! The tractor driver promised us a long ride and even let us get hit by the Crazy Tree...

The Family!

You can not go to Thanksgiving Point without enjoying a $.50 ice cream cone...free for kids under 3!! I think Pax would have eaten 5 if he could have!

Then he found this and wanted to take it home...such a cute picture of our handsome little man!

Next we ventured off to the Dinosaur Museum...I though Paxton would love all the huge dinosaurs but this was the first thing he found when he got in there and pretty much the only thing he liked about the museum!

I know this is probably not allowed but we did let him climb the dinosaurs a little bit to see if it would get him more interested...didn't really work!

Walking in dinosaur footprints with Dad

He thought the "build your own dinosaur" was just a bunch of pillows so he laid down and declared that it was time for night night...

Until he decided he could ride it!!

We had a great day at Thanksgiving Point! Luckily we will get to go back again because Andy picked the right square on Barnyard Bingo (you guess where in the corral the cow is going to do its business...no I am not making this up) so we won free tickets to go back in the spring!! We can't wait!!