Happy New Year! (and lots of updates)

Happy New Year everybody! I can't believe it's 2009 already. Wasn't it just 1999? Okay, I feel old just for saying that. Anyway. We're excited for what this new year will bring and extremely grateful for all that we experienced this last year.

Since I've been a major blogging slacker as of late, I'm going to update you as to what's been going on around here and even share some pictures!!! (We finally got the internet at our new house so I should be able to update this blog a little bit more.)

TATE
This little two-year old has been one busy boy. He's been adjusting to new glasses, a new house, a new bed, and the idea that a new baby will be living in his new house all at the same time. Add to all of that the excitement of Christmas and Santa and being spoiled by grandparents/aunts/uncles, and I'm surprised this little boy is still standing. But he's a trooper and has adjusted well to all of the new and exciting things in his life.

Tate sleeping in his new "big boy" bed. He just discovered a few days ago that he has the power to get out of bed by himself. But after being put back in bed a few times, he usually stays there and sleeps all night, so we can't complain.

Surprisingly, Tate was a big fan of Santa this year. I expected him to cry and not want anything to do with this cheery bearded fellow, but Tate could barely wait his turn to sit on Santa's lap and get a present.

He was also a big fan of cousin Mitchel's little tractor and tried to drive it through the snow.

Daddy and Tate sledding. He was okay with this for a little while, but soon wanted back on the tractor.

Man. I wish we had sledding hills like this in our backyard.

Christmas morning. Tate, of course, was spoiled rotten and received far too many gifts for his own good, including another set of tractors from Grandma and Grandpa and a Tate-sized tractor to ride outside when the weather warms up. He was thrilled.

Apparently Shane needed a little help opening his presents.

Shane and Tate trying to be matchy-matchy on Christmas day. Pretty cute pair of boys, don't you think?


Popcorn and tractors- the true Grandpa's house experience. (Sorry. I didn't take the time to crop my foot out of the picture.)

For some reason this is what Tate thinks I mean when I say, "Smile."

Who wouldn't be excited about all that loot?!

PHIL

Phil just enjoyed a long, two-week break from work. Lucky. In my next life, I'm doing something in public education. Just before Christmas break, Phil received a major haircut in front of all the students in his school at an assembly. The students were challenged to collect a certain amount of money and toys for Toys for Tots, and if they reached their goal, they got to take advantage of any willing counselors/teachers/principals. Phil agreed to shave his head, hence his buzzed head in the previous pictures.

Luckily, the secretary for the counseling office was chosen to cut Phil's hair. When Phil first told me about this, I pictured a 13 year-old with a razor blade in his hand. I think this turned out much better.

If you look close you can see that they left a nice mohawk. The kids even insisted he spike it up, which he did. Luckily, he came home and shaved it off right afterward.

SHANON

Um, no pictures for this one. I spend my time behind the camera. I've just been busy trying to keep up with work, a new house, the holidays, a two-year old, and baby preparations. We're excited to have our little girl join our family in only two months! I can't believe it's already been seven months. Until I looks down and see my ginormous belly in front of me. Maybe I should post a picture of that . . . nah.

Oh, and I do have a new love in my life. It's commonly referred to as a dishwasher, but I call it a miracle worker. I've been without one for far too long!

Merry Christmas!!

I know, I know. It's been forever. But we're all still alive and well. We've just been crazy busy this last month and half and I have zero pictures to show for it. So for now I'll just tell you what's been happening and you can just use your imaginations and picture it in your mind. I'll try to get some pictures up soon.

First, Tate got glasses. (Picture a cute little two-year-old in tiny glasses looking like he's a child genius.) We noticed a few months ago that his right eye would float inward and he'd go cross-eyed. After talking to the pediatrician, he recommended that Tate see a specialist. We took him to an opthomologist up at Primary's and found out that he's pretty far sighted so when he tries too hard to focus on things, his eye will go cross-eyed. So the glasses should correct the situation and the doctor said that as Tate grows and his eyes grow, he may outgrow the problem. I was really bummed about this diagnosis at first. I'm thinking, "How am I going to get a two-year old to wear glasses?" But he actually does really well. Unless he's bored, he pretty much leaves them on and likes to wear them. I really think they're helping him, and they have completely fixed the cross-eyed problem, so we're happy.


Second, we bought a house!! (Picture a modest home in a suburb of Salt Lake and us jumping up and down for joy.) Yes, that's huge. And we're really excited. We spent a few weeks looking, a few weeks buying, and a few weeks fixing it up. As of Saturday, we're all moved in. Of course, we still have some unpacking to do, but so far we're really enjoying having a place of our own. We are so grateful for the circumstances we've been in and where we've been able to live for the past three years. Our neighborhood has been wonderful and we have been very blessed. And we are so lucky that we have such great friends and family that have helped us through this process. Phil's parents have been amazing! They babysat Tate nearly every Saturday for a month while we went house hunting and they've spent hours and hours helping us get everything painted and ready to move in. My family has been awesome, too. My mom came down and helped us paint last weekend, and, of course, kept us well fed. She and my dad also kept Tate last weekend so we wouldn't have to worry about him during all the moving. Shane and Darcee came over for a few hours and helped us paint and clean up the house, too. Phil's brothers/brothers-in-law were our professional moving men and got all of our stuff packed up and unpacked within only a few hours during a major snow storm! We so appreciate everything that everyone has done to help us out. We love you guys!!


Third, Tate graduated to a big boy bed. (Picture Tate in his footie pajamas all curled up with his pillow and blankey with no bars surrounding him) With the move, we decided it was time for Tate to say goodbye to his crib, especially since the baby will be needing it in a few months. I was really worried about this transition, but so far he has done great. He is excited about his new bed and slept in it for the first time last night. He laid right down and slept all night like a champ. He didn't even try to get out of bed even though he's no longer caged in.


Well. I think that's pretty much it. We feel so very blessed this time of year to have been given so much. We're especially grateful for all of the wonderful people in our lives, and that includes you. We hope you all have the Merriest Christmas and the Happiest New Year! (Oh, and this counts as our Christmas card because with all that's been going on, official Christmas cards are just not going to happen!)

Halloween Festivities

Happy Halloween, everybody! We started off the week with the traditional pumpkin carving. I always love this because Phil does the dirty work (spooning out the guts and scraping down the walls) so I can focus on creating a jack-o-lantern masterpiece. Other wise known as taping a stencil to the pumpkin and following the pattern :)

That's "Noah's Ark" on the left. And "A Wink and Smile" on the right. Tate calls them "Cry Pumpkin" and "Happy Pumpkin".

You have to turn out the lights to get the full effect.

This is our happy little devil. Tate was a little nervous about his costume at first and kept asking me to put it away. But after I explained that he got to wear these special clothes to a party where he would get candy, he was on board. He now refers to his little red suit as his "Party Clothes" and he asks if he can wear them every morning.

The black kitty that roams our neighborhood fits right in with the Halloween theme. And Tate LOVES her. So he followed her around for a while before we got down to trick-or-treating.

Now this is what Halloween is all about. Diving into a great big bowl of the good stuff. More candy than this little boy has ever seen before. He loved every minute of it.

It's a Girl!

The ultrasound yesterday went great. We got a sneak peak at our healthy, beautiful, active baby girl! We were a little surprised when the technician made this announcement, but we're so excited to welcome her into our family. I'm so glad I live in this age of technology where we get the chance to see these little babies so early on in their development. It's just so cool to see this little person growing and moving around inside of you. Amazing. Anyway. We couldn't be happier, but we're going to need some input on names because we just don't have any ideas. For now, we're calling her Baby Boo, after the little girl in Monsters, Inc. (That's one of Tate's favorite shows so when we asked him what the baby's name was, he said Boo. So we're going with that for now.) Yay for girls!

Big News!

That's right. Tate's a big brother! Well, it won't be official until the middle of March, but as you can see he's pretty excited about it already.

We used these pictures to tell Tate's Uncle Tyson, who is serving a mission in Brazil, about the big news since we can't tell him in person. We're all pretty excited to welcome a new little person into our home, and happy that everything with the pregnancy is going great. The ultrasound is scheduled for Friday, October 17, so we'll most likely find out then if Tate is getting a brother or a sister. (His Aunt Andrea has already trained him to say "I want a sister.") We'll let you know!

Li'l Punkin

Tate loves pointing out pumpkins everywhere we go, so he didn't even mind posing amid Grandpa and Grandma's pumpkin patch during our visit this weekend. Which pumpkin would you pick?

My buddy, my buddy

Our buddies Mac and Janie visited us last week and we had a fun afternoon at Wheeler Farm. The boys loved the tractors, the animals, the water, and the open space. Their favorite activity was running along the paths while the mommies followed behind. It was so funny to watch them pumping their little legs, each of them running in their own unique style.

Potty break! They just had to see the inside of the outhouse.

Going in the chicken coop. (The chickens in here were actually pretty scarey looking)

Peering down at the water. I love how they both decided to crouch down and watch the stream flow by.
Throwing leaves, grass, and dirt in the ditch. This was also at the top of the list of favorite activities.

Don't these two make a handsome pair? We sure love our boys!