Bye Bye Old Friend

Tegan has been addicted to his binky since the day he was born.  I seriously can't remember a time that he didn't have a binky either in his hand or in his mouth!  In the past 21 months he has gone through at least 20 binky's!

He even learned to do some pretty cool tricks with his friend binky!!

 Since he was about 18 months we have been trying to get rid of the binky but every time we got close he would get sick and it was the only thing that would comfort him...so I would give it back!  We finally got to the point where he only had it at night and I was content to let him keep it for a few more months but only have it at night. 

Well, about a week ago we had been out and about one night running errands and he fell asleep in the car on the way home so we just put him in his big boy bed with no binky.  Did we dare hope that he would make it through the night without waking up and asking for it?

 Well he didn't...not only did he not ask for it but he slept through the whole night for the first time in months.  Who knew it would be so easy!! We are now one week binky free and loving it...he hasn't asked for it once!! 

Good Job Tegan!!

Going to the Jazz Game

My brother, Jeffrey, gave us tickets to a Jazz game for Christmas!!  We were so excited because we had been wanting to take the boys to a game but just hadn't picked a date or gotten tickets yet! 

When we got to Energy Solutions Arena we were looking for somewhere to eat and we stumbled upon the Lifetime Store play place!  After we dined on the customary hotdogs, pizza, and brown juice (root beer!) the boys had a blast playing on all of the playground equipment while waiting for the game to start!

The Jazz Dancers were hanging out at the play place taking pictures and playing with the kids!  I hurried and grabbed Andy's phone and ran him over to take a picture with the girls...apparently I don't know how to work an IPhone camera because it was the worst, blurriest picture ever...so sad.

 We finally went in to find our seats and after climbing up and up and up we realize that we were sitting on the very top row!  I actually liked it because we didn't have to worry about people behind us and it wasn't super crowded up there.  Plus we could lean back against the back wall and have some head support!  Here is the view from the top!!

We all had a great time at the game!  Paxton insisted on holding his program and ticket throughout the game and kept asking what team he was supposed to cheer for.  He loved the big blimp that flew around the arena dropping off prizes and he always kept an eye out for that darn Jazz Bear so he wouldn't come visit us (not that he would have made a visit to the top row anyway!!)  Once we got settled he had to have some popcorn to go with his brown juice!

 

 Tegan actually did pretty good and ended up falling asleep during the 4th quarter!

 

 The people sitting next to us bought their son a foam finger and Paxton thought it was the coolest thing so he had to have one as a souvenir of his first Jazz game...luckily it was the cheapest thing in there!  Tegan was still trying to wake up so Pax picked out his prize, a mini Jazz Bear, but by the time we got to the car Pax forgot it was for Tegan and claimed it as his own...good thing Tegan was scared if it!

Big Boy Bed!!

We have been debating about putting Tegan in a toddler bed for awhile...finally we just decided that we would bring it up and try it out!  I had Andy bring it up and get it all set up while the boys were watching a movie...then we brought Tegan in and gave him his surprise!

Of course the first thing he wanted to do was jump on it...then he realized that he could climb right from his new bed to the crib so we had to move it! 

 It took him a while but he finally figure out what it was for!!

 It has been hit or miss...some nights he sleeps great some nights he wanders into our room a few times a night but it is totally worth it...he loves being such a big boy! 

Now it is time to take the crib down...I don't know what's worse putting the big boy bed up or taking the crib down!

California!!

A few months ago my parents mentioned that they were planning a trip to California to visit my sister Jamie and her family.  I quickly convinced them to take their SUV and let us hitch a ride with them!  The weather has been miserable this year and we were definitely looking forward to a little fun in the sun!  On the way down we stopped in St. George for some Mongolian BBQ.  My family loves this place and have been going there for years but somehow we are never with them when they go.

It was so good...even my picky Paxton loved it!  They gave him some trainer chopsticks and he took off!  My mom kept trying to feed him and the little ladies would come over and say
"No Grandma, he do it himself...leave him alone."  They also kept coming over and giving the boys different origami animals for being good eaters!

 I called my sister to let her know where we were and how the drive was going...she said "bad news, it snowed last night."  After a very very long drive we finally made it to California, it was 30 degrees not the warm sunny paradise I was hoping for!  The boys immediately took off with their cousins and we spent hours catching up on all the comings and goings of our household!  On Friday we knew we had a few stops to make...first Hometown Fabrics where my sister lives is going out of business so of course we had to go.  Everything was $2 a yard so we stocked up!! Next we knew we had to make a trip to IHOP...breakfast for dinner and kids eat free...who can beat that!  Well it was our lucky night because the balloon man was there and he hooked up all of the kids with some awesome balloon creations.

Mana's giraffe, Misi's helicopter, Paxton's Spiderman, Ofeina's Hello Kitty, and Ami's rattlesnake

 Paxton was loving the guitar the Mana got for Christmas and kept serenading anyone who would sit still long enough to listen!

 *The Cousins*

Misi, Ami, Ofeina holding Meilani, Tegan, Paxton and Mana

This is how they really act most of the time!!

 We left California on Sunday morning and were not too excited about heading back to Utah because there had been a huge snowstorm while we were gone.  It had snowed 2 1/2 feet at our house in the 4 days that we had been gone!  We got to Richfield about 7:00 p.m., had a quick bite to eat, and were on the road again about 7:30.  We got to Scipio about 8:10...as we were pulling into town we saw tons of cops and flashing light close to the freeway onramp and thought oh great a wreck.  Well it turned out that a gas truck had caught fire on the freeway and both lanes were closed.  They diverted us to a frontage road where we sat for an hour waiting for the lanes to open...once they realize how serious the situation was and that the freeway was not going to reopen for hours they just sent us south back to Scipio.  By now we had been on the road for 11ish hours so we decided just to head back to Richfield, spend the night, and go back again in the morning...so we walked back in my mom's door about 10:30 and crashed for the night!!

The next morning we made it back to Payson but right when we walked in the house knew something was wrong...the furnace had gone out and it was 44 degrees in our house!  I was planning on staying home from work but knew we couldn't sit around in a 44 degree house so off to work and the babysitters we went!  Luckily the furnace got fixed that afternoon but it took a good couple of days for the house to get back up to a reasonable temperature so we spent a lot of time on the couch like this!!

What a great break but what a major stress to come home too...oh well it was totally worth it to see my kids having such a great time with their cousins (and to get such a great deal on some awesome fabric!!)

Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

Paxton is finally a Sunbeam!! 

 In our ward they have been letting the future Sunbeams come to primary for a little bit to help them with the transition from nursery to primary...ever since they started Paxton has been so excited to be a Sunbeam!

 The first week they did a little spotlight on each of the Sunbeams and they got to pick their favorite song for everyone to sing with them.  Paxton told everyone his favorite animal is a giraffe and he wanted to sing "The Wiseman and the Foolish Man."

New Years Resolutions

Like every other year I am determined to start off the new year with some resolutions for self improvement.  This year I finally realized that I needed to set some realistic goals for projects that we have been trying to get done for a long time, that are easily attainable and then write them down and just get them done ASAP!  I forced the family to sit down at dinner one night and come up with a good list of resolutions and goals!  Here is what we came up with!

FAMILY:
1. Hold weekly FHE

2. Save more and pay off some
student loans or car

ANDY

1. Maintain weight loss 

 2. Get the yard in shape

JALIZABETH

1. Build 72 hour kits for our family

2. Learn to use my
nice camera

 

 PAXTON
1. Learn all his letters and letter sounds 

2. Be better at sharing

TEGAN

1. Bye bye binkie

 2. Get potty trained

Happy New Year!!

We had our annual New Years Eve party with Andy's family at Anita and Jared's house this year!  We celebrated with tons of family, food, games, and, fun!!

The kids decorate masks to wear when the ball dropped...unfortunately the glue didn't dry so they didn't get to wear them!

Everybody brought different finger foods and desserts...we all ate way too much!

 You can't have a party at the Hales' house without wings!! 

After we ate we sat down for our usual round of games...halfway though a crazy round of spoons Tegan took a hard fall off of a barstool right on his head.  Then about 20 minutes later, halfway though a game of MadGab he started throwing up like crazy.  We called Grandpa and he said Tegan had likely gotten a mild concussion.  Luckily he bounced right back and was his usual wild self the rest of the night! 

Somebody brought the kids noise makers...luckily we were so involved in our games that we forgot to break them out until about 10 minutes till midnight!

 We broke out the apple cider, fancy glasses, and noisemakers and counted down till midnight!

 

 The kids ran wild and crazy for another 45 minutes while the adults laid around complaining about how tired we were!  Finally we forced our kids to the car and made it home and into our beds around 1:00!

We are so excited about 2013 and the new adventures that will come for our little family!

Happy New Year*Hamberlin Family 2013