Christmas 2014

We were all ready for a different experience for Christmas this year, without family. We had everything ready to go to our friends house then the day before Christmas Eve Walt and I got sick and Olivia had been sick for 4 days already. I had the common head cold and aches but Walt was sicker than I have ever seen. He had a fever of 101.8 for 5 days. It was so sad seeing him so lethargic and out of it. He cried for 5 days straight if I put him down. It was hard. Luckly Michael was home for all 5 days. He made it more so much easier.

Despite us being sick we had a very magical Christmas. We hung around the house Christmas Eve and made an amazing Christmas dinner with things we had around the kitchen. Olivia fell asleep on the floor watching the "Georgie" (Curious George) Christmas movie so we laid her by the tree. It was so sweet! Walt was in the carrier attached to me so he was content. I was able to help Michael make dinner and we watched Home Alone. It was fun and so exciting! After dinner we read The Nativity and watched the Bible Videos The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints made of The Nativity. We then opened our Christmas jammies but by then Walt was so uncomfortable he didn't want anything to  do with it and Olivia is never perky after waking up from a nap.

We put Walt to bed and Olivia and I made sugar cookies while we watched the cartoon The Grinch and Holiday Inn. It was fun seeing her get excited to make cookies for Santa! 

After we finally got Olivia to stay in bed around 12:30!!!! I set Christmas up and went to bed. 

Christmas morning was fun and slow. Walt felt miserable and just sat in Michael or my lap in a daze. We got him to open a few presents but Olivia helped a lot. Olivia was so excited to open all her presents and Walt's and Michael's and mine haha that was until she opened her Elsa dress. Once she put it on she only wanted to twirl and pick up her dress.

We had a yummy breakfast! We made money bread and sausage egg and cheese roll ups.

The rest of the day we just relaxed and played with toys.

We made a lot of fun traditions and had a really fun time being all together. 

We ended the night reading The Grinch for the 500th time this month! 

Our 5 year Anniversary!

Our 5 year anniversary was low key this year and probably will be every year since it's a week away from Christmas. It's fun saying happy anniversary all day and talking about how fast it had gone. In 5 years we have had 2 kids, bought a home, graduated from collage, and settled into a perfect little life for is. I am so blessed to be Michael's wife. We make a really good team! 

Happy Birthday Michael!

Happy Birthday Michael! He will be 30 next year! We are so blessed that he is ours! He is an amazing father and wonderful husband. He makes us laugh and takes such good care of us. We love him so much! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I love decoration for the holidays! I love crafting and creating and rearranging things till it looks how I want it! This year I redid my tree. It is no longer a brightly colored rainbow. I went for the classic look and love it! 

Christmas lights at the Salt Lake Temple

Last weekend we went down to Utah for our 5-year-anniversary get away... With kids. It was an adventure and we will have memories of this trip forever!!! It had it's good and bad moments. Poor Olivia had croup a few days before we went down and we hoped it would go away but it didn't. It transformed from a croup cough to a really bad cough and runny nose that has gotten worse now that we are home. 

The purpose of this trip was to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square and to visit my cousin and her new baby. There was no way we were going to take Olivia around Klhoe and I am so sad I didn't get to meet her. Hopefully I will see her soon. 

After staying with my Aunt in October on our way to Colorado and having our number one worst night of sleep with kids we decided not to make my poor aunts family miserable again so we got a hotel next to Temple Square. It was perfect! We walked to the City Creek Mall and to the Temple and walked back and never had to deal with traffic. 

Olivia was in awe with the Temple all lit up and we visited it the next morning and she loved it even more. I have never been in the Christmas spirit as much as I have been this year. I love my Savior and my understanding of Mary had grown. The magic of Christmas as a child has changed as I have gotten older. I truly understand the importance and feel an overwhelming amount of love in my heart.

The next day we woke, up check out of the hotel and went to breakfast at kneeders. Walt ate all of my breakfast. That kid can out eat anyone! Then after walking around the temple again we headed to Orem to visit my roommates. It was fun being all together again. I'm grateful to have such good friends. After lunch we headed back to Idaho. It was food to be home. It was a fun trip!

Walter is ONE!

I am so in love with my little man! He is so perfect! I haven't been very good about a monthly update so I'll just update about a few things he has been up to. 

Walter is the quite kind of trouble maker. He quietly goes into the kitchen and pulls EVERYTHING out of the cupboards or goes and plays in the toilet. He keeps me on my toes. 

Walt took his first official, self motivated steps on Thanksgiving and hasn't stopped walking since. He only walks now. It is really wobbly and all over the place and falls a lot but he is quick to get back up and back on the move.

Walt waves, claps, and does all the typical mile stones a baby has. He shakes his head no like a mad man and recently started shaking it yes but it's more of a head bob when dad lays down a sick beat! It's really funny! The other day we went to the mall and every store we went into he bobbed his head to the beat. I was laughing so hard! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen!

His first word was amen! So sweet! And says da da dad da all day long so Michael naturally says Walt Walt Walt Walt back to him. It's funny!

Walt screams so loud and so high! We didn't go out to eat very much for a while because he screams to let you know he wants food in his mouth NOW and although we are use to it and ignore the screams we found it startles others and they gave us enough looks that we avoided eating in public. We went out for our anniversary and remembered really quick why we haven't been to a resturant with him in a while.

He does this new thing when he wakes up that I LOVE! He gets really snuggly! Then he lays all spread out and limp and rolls his feet in circles.  He looks like he is laying on the warm beaches of Hawaii. Then he closes his eyes and smiles. This kid is the cutest!!

He is a very good little brother and puts up with Olivia. She is so sweet and helpful then he takes her toy and wack!! He cries and comes to me them we have a talk with Olivia. We are learning over here how to share. Walt on the other hand is always sharing. Walter had a bink in his mouth the other day and Olivia was crying because she wanted hers but lost it so Walt took his bink out of his mouth and handed it right to Olivia. He knew what he was doing. It was the sweetest thing ever! 

Walt climbs! Olivia NEVER EVER climbed.  He makes me nervous! He likes to climb the slide and chairs the most.

I stopped nursing the day after his first birthday but he got shots the next day and was super cranky and had a slight fever so I started nursing him again. I was hoping to stop but when he wakes up in the middle of the night to nurse he gets really mad if I don't and my mind isn't capable of handling the cry it out method after I have gone to sleep. Then the poor little guy got really sick and I couldn't bring myself to cut him off when he needed me the most. I stopped nursing him at nap time then at bed time and finally one night Walt slept through the night and that was that! It happened really nicely because I never had to pump or ever got uncomfortable! I'm so happy I made it a year but I am also a little sad that our special connection has come to an end. I'm glad he is such a mommy's boy!

Lately Walt LOVES to put balls in his basketball hoop or throw balls around. I love that he loves little boy things! 

I'm so blessed to be his mommy!! I love him so much!! I can't wait to watch him grow every day!! 

Late night thoughts

It's 5:30am. I'm laying in bed awake with Olivia in between Michael and me. Walter is crying in his room. I feel like this has been the story of my life for the last 3 weeks.

Walter has a 102 fever all day today and it makes me so sad to see him sick. I'm 80% sure it's teeth but I could be 100% wrong. I always thought it was teeth with Olivia when she was sick and when she was perfectly fine one would pop up.

I have been rocking and nursing Walt since 2am and when I couldn't sit up any longer I figured letting him cry it out was the best option for both of us. 

I can't sleep when he cries. 

I don't know who I'm writing this for. I guess myself because I'm told I'll miss these sleepless nights. To be honest, I really don't think I will right now. I'm beyond exausted and I'm a walking time bomb. Anything any one in my sweet family does can set me off. I hate that. 

2014 Family Pictures!

I wanted family pictures but didn't want all the editing and filters on my pictures so we asked our good friends The Hendersons to take our pictures with their nice camera. They live in Driggs Idaho at the base of the Teton Mountains. The weather was overcast and started to rain on us as we finished up but it made for the perfect cozy look I wanted. I love my little family and I am so grateful to have these pictures! Family pictures are quickly outdated with growing little babies. It was cold and Olivia got a little tired at the end but I love those pictures even more now! Also, thanks to my friend Avery for letting us use her type writer and her suitcase! Also, also, I never realized how short I am next to Michael!