Its Christmas Time!!

I love this time of year! Absolutely my favorite. Not only do we get to spend a lot of time with family, but its also great to have such a wonderful time of year to remind us of what is really important. I love that we get to celebrate Christ and everything he represents. This time of year is definitely about giving what you can, not getting everything you want. We have gone through a lot of not-so-fun things this last year but we are still so very blessed. We have phenomenal family and friends, wonderful neighbors and a great ward. Brian also has been blessed to have a job. Mind you, its the cause of a lot of our not-so-fun things but he still has a job. Ethan has stayed very healthy and gets cuter every single day. I love Christmas!! I can't believe its in 3 days. Crazy how time flies so fast.

We've had a lot of fun things go on the last few weeks. We celebrated Christmas at my mom's house a couple Saturdays ago. It was so much fun and crazy as usual. We had to stay the night there because of the bad weather in the canyon. We probably wouldn't have made it home in one piece so we had one huge sleepover with four of my sisters and their families.

Saturday this last week, we were able to receive a wonderful gift from Brian's parents. They like to take us to a show/movie and dinner every year for our present. It is the best! They also supply the babysitters to watch all the kiddos and it was so nice. Ethan had so much fun playing with his cousins and we had a great time out. We saw Princess and the Frog, which was adorable. Then we went to El Toro Viejo for dinner and it was very tasty! Thanks again to Brian's wonderful parents for a great night.

We hope everyone has a merry and safe Christmas!

My Movie Star Husband!

So Brian got a great opportunity yesterday to be on Studio 5 to do a spot for Scentinel. He did an amazing job and I have decided he is made for television. I asked him if he was nervous because you can't even tell. He said not until they changed everything last minute and then started filming. Me, I would've been freaking out the whole time and shaking from head to toe. He was so calm and collected. I am so proud of him. I just hope that him doing this will help boost Scentinel's web sales. That would be awesome! Way to go babe! If you'd like to check out my famous hubby, click here.

Other news, Ethan is sick again. He was up half the night last night with a bad fever. I had given him Ibuprofen but it wasn't really working. He was so hot and couldn't get comfortable. His fever was really high and it was starting to scare me so I asked Brian to give him a blessing. What a wonderful thing, the priesthood. Brian gave him the blessing and within ten minutes, Ethan's fever was almost gone and he was ready to play. He is doing so great today, just sleeping a lot, which is exactly what he needs to do. He took a 3 hour nap today after waking up at 11. It was such a huge testimony builder for me to see again, the blessings of the priesthood, firsthand. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband and his worthiness to hold the priesthood. We have benefited from it many times and I'm sure this won't be the last.

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

Wasn't long enough. It was nice to have Brian home a little more than usual and I really didn't want him to go back to work today. We had a fantastic weekend though. Thursday was spent at Brian's parents' house. The food was fantastic but the company was better. It had been a long time since we had all gotten together so it was a lot of fun to see everyone and watch Ethan play with his cousins. He skipped his afternoon nap and you wouldn't have known. He was having way too much fun with his cousins. Friday, Brian had to work till about 1:30 then we spent some time putting up Christmas stuff. I love it! We had Christmas music playing in the background and an evergreen candle burning so when we put up our tree, it smelled real. Fantastic! Then Friday night, I had a girls' night with most my sisters. We went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse in Ogden then saw New Moon. I have to say, its better the second time. I loved it the first time but knowing what to expect made it even better. My wonderful husband stayed home with Ethan so I could have a night out! It was so nice! Saturday, we hung out at Laura's and watched a movie. Sunday, we just stayed home for most the day and relaxed, enjoying each other's company. I have to say, for having a long weekend, we didn't get much time together. But it was nice to have a day to prepare for the new week. I love Sundays. Oh and of course I didn't get any pictures of our adventures this weekend. I apologize for all the words. Maybe I'll be better next year;)

Some things I'm grateful for:

1. The truthfulness of the Gospel. Can't imagine life without it.

2. My wonderful and handsome husband. He is the most giving, understanding person I have ever met!

3. My handsome, happy little boy. I love Ethan so much and continue to love him more and more every day!

4. My family. And by family, I mean all my sisters, my brother, and all the in laws. I absolutely love everyone and am so grateful for all that they do for my little family.

5. Our house. I am so grateful we have a warm place to live and a wonderful neighborhood to live in.

6. Our friends and neighbors. We couldn't ask for better people.

I probably could go on forever so I won't bore you with that. I just love this time of year, to focus on what's really important in life. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

Who Does He Look Like??

So we get a lot of mixed opinions about who Ethan looks more like. I just think he's a great mix of both of us. Looking at these pictures, you decide.

Please excuse the crazy hair. He just had a bath:)

Me??

Or Brian??

Brian's the blond in the middle.

This is my absolute favorite picture of Brian when he's little by the way. So dang cute! Look at the way he's holding his hands. How could you not love this little chunkster?

Check Up!

I took Ethan in to his year check up yesterday and it was madness! Seriously, I was at the doctor's office for almost two hours because of all the sick people there. Ethan was having a ton of fun throwing items from my purse up in the air and watching people's reactions. Such a silly boy. Then he saw the doctor and he got really shy. Such a silly boy. Then he saw the nurses and started to give his flirting smile. Such a silly boy. Seriously, I love this kid. He is getting more fun everyday. Except he has his first sickness ever! He has a very minor cold. The doctor said he didn't think it was a cold, just more teeth coming in but that it could be a minor cold. He didn't cough or flem as much with the other teeth that came in so I'm pretty sure its a cold. He acts just fine most the time. He was a little sensitive yesterday but I'm sure its because of all the shots he got. Poor baby. He was loving the nurses until they stuck him in the legs with six different needles! Anyway, his stats are great. He weighs 21 pounds (25%) and is 30 inches tall (50%). He looked so grown up standing up on the scale. My baby's all growed up!

Some things he does now:

-He walks like a pro! Seriously, you would never know he learned to walk a little over a week ago. He is also trying to run.

-He says uh-oh anytime he drops something.

-He throws things up in the air and laughs every time.

-He gives fake sad faces, shy smiles and cheesy grins. Love it!

-He knows the sign for all done so when I put him in his highchair and he doesn't want food, he starts waving his arms like crazy!

-He now understands what night-night is and likes me to put him to bed. Most of the time, he is a major daddy's boy but nighttime is my time. I love it because he'll cuddle with me on the way to his room. Oh how I love my baby!

-Any time I ask if he wants to see dada, he starts to wave because most of the time we have to leave to see Brian.

-He sits and looks at his books forever sometimes.

-He understands more how to play with his toys (i.e.-putting balls in holes, blocks in blocks).

-He knows how to play peek-a-boo by putting something over his head and then uncovering himself multiple times. Sometimes when he's eating, he'll put his fists over his eyes and want to play then. He laughs pretty hard when Brian plays with him. He loves his daddy!

Ethan's First Birthday!

Yesterday was a very crazy, fun day. We didn't do much during the day except get ready for Ethan's party last night. I cleaned like a mad lady, sending Brian out with Ethan so I could get it all done before everyone came over. Then everyone came at about seven to have some cake and ice cream. We first had Ethan open his presents because I didn't want him to do it all covered in cake! He got a ton of fun things from everyone that came. Thanks again for the gifts! He got lots of new toys, books and a super cute outfit. He didn't quite get the concept of ripping open the presents but he had a few cousins who helped him out :) Anyway, after presents we had cake. I just put a big piece of cake in front of him, instead of a whole cake to himself. Kudos to those who actually make them a separate cake but I didn't. I figure a huge piece of any cake would do him just fine. And it did. It took him a minute but he went at it! He loves anything chocolate so I made a chocolate cake with chocolate icing for him. It was a huge piece and he ate the whole thing (a lot ended up on the ground and on him of course). He was a mess but he also had some aunts who helped make his face even more messy! Thanks Tara and Emily! Brian is such a good dad, he took Ethan from his highchair straight to the bath. We just let the kids play for a little bit after the cake. Ethan was going crazy with all his new toys. He especially likes the fridge magnet animals from his cousins Taylor and Clint. He can't put those down. This morning he's been reading all his new books too. He got this one from his other cousins, Connor and Noah, that has googley eyes and he loves it! So cute! I love seeing him chill out and pretend to read a book. Ethan has been such a huge blessing in our lives and we love him so much! Happy birthday baby!

A year ago(date's wrong on the camera)

One year old!!

My Baby's One Year Old!!

Happy Birthday Ethan! We love you and are so lucky to have you as part of our family. You make life so much fun and we can't imagine it without you! Love you baby!

Walking Fool!

So Ethan has just decided he wants to walk. It happened yesterday and he has been doing short walks all day today. He still prefers to crawl but I'm sure he'll soon learn he's faster when he runs :) I just can't believe it! He's growing up way too fast. He'll be one on Saturday. ONE YEAR OLD! I can't believe it. I love this kid so much. He is so dang cute and fun. He's also learned how to sign more, wave and say goodbye and know what it means, and he says uh-oh to everything that doesn't go his way. For example: he can't reach something he wants, he says "Uh-oh". He drops food from his tray, "Uh-oh". I love it! Here are some clips of our handsome boy.

Workouts and scary costumes!

Just so you know, this dvd is awesome! I have only done it a couple times but man, I'm sore. Its great. I needed to find something that I could do at home that would actually produce results for me. We'll see how it goes, but so far, so good. Its fantastic!

Anywho, on to our weekend. We didn't do a whole lot this weekend. Friday night, we watched Transformers 2. Not a fan. It was long and had a few inappropriate parts. And the fighting seemed to go on forever! Anyway, we went to my mom's Saturday night to hang out. Sunday we had Emily's Halloween party, which was so fun. We didn't dress up but we were the odd ones out. Everyone dressed up and it was fun to see the different costumes. When we got there, Ethan freaked out. He grabbed onto me and wouldn't let go. He was so scared of everyone's costumes. It was kind of funny. We dressed him up for a couple minutes, which he didn't like. We got a quick photo then he was right out of his costume. The party was a lot of fun and hopefully will become a family tradition!

This was his face most of the party.

Riley, Laura, Steve, Jacob, and McKay is the bee.

Don't ask. I have no idea why I was making that face. Check out Brian's though :)

Heather, Robert, Carson and baby Leishman.

Mason, Clint, Tara and Taylor

Heidi and Casey

Mom, Marc, Emily, Kylie and Carter

Amy, Savanah, Eric and baby Lindsay

Jason and Debbie(she is dressed like her 15 year old son and Jason was dressed good lookin';))

Our little Eeyore

Bailey, Jayden, Mary and Brennan

King Kong and the Empire State building

The scariest looking werewolf I've ever seen!

Hello Fall!!

I absolutely love this time of year! I love the colors around outside. I love being able to cuddle up in a blanket and drink hot cider or chocolate. I love the smells. And I love that my favorite holidays are all bunched close together. I am so excited for Halloween this year because we're dressing Ethan up and going Trick-or-Treating. Only to a few neighbors houses but it'll still be fun. I borrowed this costume from my neighbor across the street and its huge on him! But he looks so darn cute I couldn't resist. When I put it on him, I started laughing so hard I was crying. I could barely keep the camera from shaking to take a picture. But he looks so cute and he loved it!!!

Don't you just want to eat him up? Love it!!! And I also love the activities that go on this time of year. We went to the Haunted Forest again this year (last year's experience). Our friends, the Norton's, came and stayed Friday night at our house and went to the Forest with us. It was so much fun and I love those guys. I wish they lived closer because they are so much fun! I can't get enough! Anyway, Saturday night, I went with all my sisters (minus Amy) and my mom to the Paradise corn maze for a girls' night out. It was so much fun! Creepy scary!

Friday morning, I was getting some stuff done for my calling in our extra bedroom and Ethan just loves to look out the window because the window sill is down far enough he can use it to stand and look outside. So he was playing by the window, as he's done a million times before, and decided to get down fast. He bonked his forehead just right and it swelled up huge!! Luckily, he's just fine and it went back down pretty fast. But he has had a black eye since and it is almost gone now. It made me physically ill when I saw this though.

I hate it when he gets hurt. This is his first real bad one.

Anyway, this week has been a long one for sure. Ethan has been pretty ornery because he's getting more teeth. And he's not taking very good naps so that just adds to the orneriness. Brian has been working A LOT at Scentinel which is great but hard at the same time. But he's such a hard, devoted worker that I can't help but admire his devotion. I have the best husband ever, by the way. He hasn't done anything big to bring this on but I just can't help but marvel at the man he is. Amazing father, wonderful husband and is always so positive. My goal is to be more like him. Love you babe!