A Very Merry Christmas!

We had such a fun Christmas this year! Landon was so stinking cute to watch - it made a wonderful holiday even more magical and amazing! Landon had so much fun and got really excited about everything - which made it so much fun for us! We feel so blessed to have gotten to share the day with both sides of our family!

Now for a picture overload ... it is really hard to get a picture of Landon when he isn't moving, but here are a few. I'm pretty sure he was getting annoyed with all the pictures because he really just wanted to play ... hence the look he is giving the camera in a couple :)!

Christmas Eve at Grandma & Grandpa Wuthrich's ... new jammies and a new toy! (I don't think yellow has ever been so cute ...)
Reading the "Night Before Christmas" with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle James
Talking about baby Jesus with mom and dad before bed...
What Santa left on Christmas Eve...
Do not be fooled by the serious face (we interrupted play time!) this was definitely his favorite toy. I'm fairly certain he opened and shut the computer 100 times that day alone!
Some of his other favorite presents were books! This kid LOVES to read!!
Landon got a push along/ride on fire truck from Grandma & Grandpa ... and he is very proud of himself for sitting on it!
The three of us Christmas morning!
After these festivities we headed to St. George for Christmas dinner with the Terry side of the family!

After dinner the big boys decided to play a little basketball (we were at the church):
Landon doing some post-dinner bonding with Grandpa Terry
Landon was a bit confused about the whole cousin-gift-exchange ... but very excited about his new toy (and the tag that came with it :)!).

Here cousin Emily is helping him ...
And Marin is making sure he doesn't eat something he shouldn't! Such nice cousins!!Overall it was a really wonderful weekend! We hope you had a Merry Christmas as well!

Holiday Happenings

What a busy December we've had so far! It's been so much fun getting ready for Christmas this year since it's Landon's first. Here's a recap so far:

We've done some Christmas Dinner Party-ing:

Then Jeff took me up to Temple Square to see the lights. It's a tradition of ours. This time we tried an Italian restaurant called Cannellas. It's super tasty - we recommend it!
The lights were beautiful as always! I just love being there!

Then we took Landon to see Santa. We got such a cute picture of him, but of course they print it right there so I don't have it digital (and they don't let you take any pictures yourself! So dumb!). Landon didn't quite know what to think of Santa or the whole process, but he did sit there long enough for the picture to get taken :)!

Afterward Jeff was shoe shopping and Landon was hanging out with Grandma. This is one of my favorite pictures of them together! So cute!
This last Friday it was my mom's birthday (I won't say which one :)!)! We celebrated in style. First with a trip to the Texas Roadhouse (where they make the birthday person sit on a saddle so the whole place can give them a ye-haw!) ...my mom was a good sport and hopped on! Then we went up to Temple Square as a family. Can you tell it was a bit cold? Then we finished off the next day with cake and presents.
We finished off the month so far with Landon's 9-month "birthday!" I can't believe he is getting so big! He has been moving and scooting around for a while, but he started crawling for real! He still isn't super fast, but it is so funny to watch him! And he is so sweet! He gives "kisses" now. I woke up this morning with a bad cold so I was hanging out with him on the living room floor relaxing when he came over and wrapped his little arms around me and gave me a big "kiss" on the cheek. I just about melted!

We took him and to have some pictures taken of him. We don't have them yet, but looking at the proofs was a blast! They captured his personality so well we had a hard time not buying all of them :)!

Now the countdown to Christmas begins! We better get wrapping!

A Fishy Project

A while back Jeff and I were at Gardner Village. And Jeff spotted this very adorable stuffed fish pattern ... it would look perfect in Landon's room ... so we decided it was a must have. Fast forward several weeks later ... I talked to my friend Tamara and she is very excited to help me make these fish! Thank goodness she is both crafty and persistent. This is one of those things I have a tendency to get started and then never finish. She on the other hand loves doing projects and was even nice enough to call me to ask when we could do it! So this week we got together ... and she let me take up her entire day. But we got it done! Okay, Tamara may have done the majority of the sewing, but I helped the entire time, and even sewed one together by myself! We think they turned out so cute!! What do you think?

While we were busy Tamara's daughter and Landon were left to fend for themselves :)! They seemed to do okay ...
And here they are in his room:Thanks again Tamara!

Monday Mornings

I love mornings. (That is actually only a half-sarcastic statement). Please take this morning as an example. It was quite the morning... Landon peed through his diaper ... his OVERNIGHT diaper. Again (this is like the 3rd or 4th time in a row). To the point where the entire left side of his jammies (his left) were wet … all the way to his armpit. HOW is that even possible?! My mom suggested plastic pants … and moving him to a bigger size. That would mean our 9 MONTH OLD (because he'll be 9 months in a few day ... not even sure how that is possible!) wears a size 5 diapers. FIVE. Then he pooped in the tub twice. Seriously. Gotta love those kind of mornings :)!

But some of my favorite moments are when I first get Landon out of bed and we sit in his chair and he just snuggles while he eats … and then we chat for a while before we move. It makes me so happy. Snuggling and chatting with him (and giving him kisses) are just some of the best parts of my life.

I think we might have a first word ... He keeps looking at his bottle and then saying ba-ba as he reaches for it. He seems to think ba-ba means several things but he consistently seem to understand it means bottle. Trust Landon to learn that first :)!

I just love quiet morning moments. It’s just us and nothing else matters … and he is so content just to sit on my lap. The pooping in the tub I could do without ... but I'll take it if I get the other!

An Early Christmas!!

A few days ago my parents brought everyone together for a family meeting. They talked about how they were really struggling with what to buy everyone for Christmas ... so they decided to break the mold and do something different this year ... they are taking us all to Hawaii for 10 days next summer!!! AMAZING!! We are all so excited ... but I'm pretty sure Jeff and I are the most excited! We have talked about it non-stop since then.

With such a favorable response (and work approval on the dates they had selected) they booked all of our tickets. Now all the activity planning can begin!!

We'll be here:Probably doing a little sunbathing like these folks:
And possibly taking in one of these:
And we plan to pay a visit here:
Have any favorite spots on Oahu? By all means ... please tell us!! We can't wait!!

It's that time again!

It's December 1st. Can you believe it? Me neither! But I am VERY excited ... because I love this time of year. Love is an understatement ... but I couldn't think of a bigger, more adoring word, so I'll stick with love. This one is pretty special because it's Landon's first! And I'm pretty sure we are way more excited than he is (although he did try to open one of his presents today!).

So that brings me to my next topic ... Christmas cards! I love sending Christmas cards. I kind of think it is becoming a lost tradition to some people. We don't get nearly as many as I'd like (hint, hint) ... but each one we do receive is received with child-like gladness. They adorn our fridge and counter top until January (seriously!) and I run to the mailbox each day (even though it is freezing) just to see if there is something inside that isn't a bill!

This year I'm extra excited ... because it will include a picture of our little family! So I started looking early this year ... and I found some cards on Shutterfly that I started to drool over (I told you this Christmas card thing is a big deal to me) and then I made Jeff look through all of them with me :)!

THEN I found out about this really cool promotion they are doing ... since I am posting this they will give me 50 FREE Christmas cards. Um, yes please!

And since I love looking through them so much I am going to share some of my faves with you ...
This Ornament one is simply adorable - it's actually the first one I fell in love with a few weeks ago. And this Sparkle and Shine? So cute! I like this Kaleidoscope Stars one as well. I normally go with my signature snowmen ... but I am loving all the bright, modern colors and designs this year. However ... this Snow Pals gives me the best of both...I could go on and on ...

But if you want to take a peek ... here are some of their other cool products: Photo Calendar (what Grandma wouldn't love one of those for Christmas?!), Birthday Cards, and Holiday Party Invitations (so much more adorable and unique than the ones you buy from a local store!)

So the real question now is ... have I shown you the Christmas card that we are going to use?! Hmmm .... guess you'll just have to wait and see when yours arrives in the mail! (How's that for suspense?!)

Happy browsing!

A Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a really fun Thanksgiving weekend! Thanksgiving day we spent at my parent's house - the food was delicious and the whole day really relaxing. Landon LOVED his first Thanksgiving dinner. He ate as much as the rest of us and then took a long holiday nap :)!

That night Ale spent the night at our house so Jeff and I could do some early morning (crazy) Black Friday shopping. We were at Target at 3:45! There were two HUGE lines - one from each door that wrapped around the entire parking lot (so clearly there were a lot of people more dedicated that we were!). Jeff had to park in another parking lot and meet me in line. As soon as the doors opened people started running ... it was a madhouse. Luckily there were a lot of security people there to make sure no one cut in line. Once we got in it was crazy! Carts should not be allowed on Black Friday - people are seriously vicious. We got both things we went for, which was great! We wanted an external hard-drive (for Christmas) to back up our pictures and we got one!! And Landon's "big" Christmas present was 50% off as well there!! We were pretty proud of ourselves! And we even got home in time to sleep a little more before Landon woke up!

Landon had a cold all weekend - it was quite sad! And apparently Benadryl doesn't sit well on his tummy. We had our first real throwing up experience with him. And if you know me ... you'll know how traumatizing that is. Seriously if I know someone doesn't feel well I will avoid them like the plague (so if that is ever you please don't take it offensively!) and to have him sitting on my lap throwing up about sent me over the edge. But luckily we both survived! Apparently it was just the medicine, because he was so happy after ... he took a bath and then he drank another full bottle! And then went to sleep for the night as if nothing happened.

The rest of the weekend we had Jeff's parents in town for a visit! It was fun to have them up to spend time with us and with Landon. Landon was really happy to show off for them and to watch football (seriously he actually watches it) with them. We were so happy and thankful(!) to spend our weekend with so much family!

Eight Months

Landon is 8 months! I can't believe this first year is going so fast ... I feel like tomorrow he'll be driving and in a few weeks off at college! He is almost crawling ... and trying SO hard. He rocks and rocks, and he understands he can reach things he just hasn't quite gotten the motion down. I don't mind waiting for him to figure it out! He LOVES to eat baby food, Cheerios, puffs and yogurt melts (shocker!) but it still a bit unsure about what we give him from our plates. He got his first two teeth within the last week and a half. You still can't see them when he smiles, but I assure you they are so stinking cute! He loves to shake his head no (although we are praying he doesn't know what he is doing ... surely he can't learn that word for a while!), clap and play the "where's Landon?" game, and he gets pretty ticked off when someone else is playing "his" piano. Naturally we think he is adorable and brilliant :)!

What a Day!

Today was one of those days that didn't quite go the way I had it pictured in my head.

I'll start at the beginning ... a couple of months ago I applied to throw a House Party. If you don't know what they are you can check them out at: www.houseparty.com. Basically companies are marketing their products through consumers who apply to host a "party" for friends and give out/demonstrate their product. There isn't actually any selling per se just fun, coupons and free stuff (it's pretty sweet). I was selected to host a Gerber Generations party and set the date for today.

Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when Jeff found out he had to get 6 crowns done. Today. Well, we knew he would be sedated, but neither of us really pictured how today would go so he insisted that I still host the party since changing it would be a pain and we arranged for my mom to pick him up after he finished.

I assumed he would be about as loopy as he was when I dropped him off. Totally able to walk, but saying silly things and talking about how he could see double and then laughing like a kid when it turned out what he was looking at was really just one of something. It was a pretty amusing drive to the dentist :)!

I just figured he come home the same way and head upstairs to take a nap ... right? Wrong. My mom went to pick him up ... and almost literally had to pick him up. It took the dentist and her to get him into the car. He was chatting like a 6 year old to her on the way home (he has NO recollection of anything ... which really makes me wish I had the foresight to video this and post it on youtube ... he had some awesome lines).

The party was in full force when they got to our house ... but luckily we were up at the playground so no one witnessed any of this! After giving Jeff strict instructions to stay in the car (she was worried he would fall) my mom tracked me down. I was still in la-la land of what I thought he would be like so I just assumed she was coming to let me know he had put himself in bed. Wrong again.

It took both of us (and a nice party-attending neighbor holding Landon) to get him up the stairs and into bed. By this time the party migrated back to our house. So my mom took over grandma duties and stayed with my guests so I could finish getting a VERY out-of-it Jeff settled. The whole time I felt terrible! I felt like I was rushing to help Jeff to get back to my guests ... but neglecting him by doing so!

After another hour or so of chaos things started to calm down a bit. Jeff was sleeping peacefully, Landon went down for a good afternoon nap, and happy guests (at least they claimed they had fun ... I've never thrown anything kid-focused so I really have no idea how it went) were on their way home with goody bags and full stomachs.

As he woke up intermittently Jeff and I continued to have the same conversations off and on throughout the rest of the day. What time did he get home? What really happened when he was there? And most importantly: Did the dentist gave him a free toothbrush (when I told him no, Jeff gave a few colorful responses ... because naturally he asked this question multiple times. He must have really wanted that toothbrush is all I have to say!)? And when I complimented his new teeth he asked "Do I look skinnier?"

And his best line of all "I peed my pants!" said like a proud 6-year-old. He was correct ... he did ... which is typical for the type of sedation he was under. But wow ... was he proud!

Again, there were a lot of great lines, but most of them were a bit too colorful for this blog (apparently that stuff really loosens the tongue!).

Then I had to be the bearer of bad news. All this was just to put the temps in. He has to go back in 2 weeks to have the real ones set.

Really?! This was actually news to me too (it is a good thing I called the office when things quieted down ... I found out a lot of useful info!).

And I can assure you when Jeff found out it wasn't pretty. Pretty funny though :)!

All in all we survived ... and it leads me to the next three things I am VERY thankful for today.

31. My mom. She was the hero of the day! She did so, so much for all three of us ... and then she made sure we were okay the rest of the day. She offered to pick up Jeff's prescriptions, etc. and we had some great laughs about what Jeff said :)! And to top it off she is coming to babysit Landon AND Jeff tomorrow while I am at work.

32. Naptime. It was a sanity saver today ... for me and for both my boys!

33. Our dentist. He seriously has to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. Jeff isn't super nice to dentists and it doesn't even seem to phase this guy. He actually called Jeff at the end of his work day today to check on him and give him his cell phone number just in case he needs anything over the weekend. That is priceless in my book. So if you need a good dentist in the area Dr. Griffiths at Mapleton Family Dentistry is amazing!

Family Pics

Every single day I'm thankful for this guy:
And that I get to snuggle with him! I'm one lucky mama!

I am also so, so thankful for Jeff. I know I technically listed both of these guys once on my list already. But I figure you can never be too thankful for the main men in your life!

Can you blame me?
These are from our family picture shoot. You know ... the one where it was pouring rain so we canceled the actual photographer and took some ourselves. My dad and Ale took turns taking pictures and they both do a pretty good job for being self-taught. We even got one of all of us using the tri-pod!
Another one I just love...

Veteran's Day

Today I am thankful for:

26. Our freedom. What we have is priceless.
27. Our troops - there are so many brave men and women who put aside their own lives to go out and defend our nation and keep us safe. So often they go unrecognized - let's take today to recognize them and keep them in our prayers. This hits home in particular today for our family - my cousin is in Afghanistan right now - we are so proud of him!
28. Our boy scouts. They get up early in the morning and put flags in our yards to help us be a little more patriotic on these special holidays. I love looking out our front window and seeing the stars and stripes proudly flying.

A Murder...

Last weekend Ale threw a murder mystery party. Jeff and I helped out as the "host and hostess" and as the bartenders. It took place in a 1920's speakeasy ... hence the flapper dress and drink in my hand. My friend Laura had this as an old Halloween costume and let me borrow it ... cool huh? I felt very authentic (and didn't know you know that all true flappers wore Shade shirts underneath their dresses?). Especially when serving non-alcoholic specialty drinks to a bunch of over-21 college students :)!

Everyone seemed to have a good time ... and so did we! (Don't mind the pic ... James was our photographer :)!)
And to add to my thankful list:

19. A warm home. Especially at this chilly time of year.
20. Food on our table ... and the ability to know when our next meal is.
21. The library (I am stealing this off my friend Missy's blog because it is so true!). A place to check out free books? Um, hello ... genius!
22. Fresh drinking water. My friend Tamsin did a spotlight on how little clean drinking water there is in the world, the fact that we have it ... priceless!
23. Parties. This might seem really silly and insignificant to some people. But I LOVE to throw parties. Someday, if we live in an appropriate area, I would love to do it professionally. But for now I just love to get our friends together!
24. Our cars. They get us just where we need to go safely. Again, it's those little things that sometimes I think we take for granted.
25. A great pediatrician. He is honest, kind and Landon and I both like him. I think a good one is hard to find ... and something to hold on to!

Dear Aunt Carla and Cousin Maddie,

I did it! I finally learned how to use the sippy cup you gave me!! And now it is my favorite because it says my name on it and is a cool orange color! It's my mom's favorite now too because I don't get as much water on my clothes when I use it. Thank you very much for getting it for me. I can't wait to see you next month ... and show off my mad sippy cup drinking skills.

Love,

Landon
He actually kept posing for us when we tried to take these! What a goof-ball!

In other unrelated news I wanted to add a few things to my thankful list ...

12. Date night! I LOVE going out just Jeff and I (or with friends) ... it reminds us why we got together in the first place, and let's us let loose and have fun. And I have a firm belief that us going out is good for Landon too.
13. Sippy cups! Seriously ... hours of fun for Landon. Who knew?
14. The fact that Landon is a great eater (I'm pretty sure that is obvious from all his pictures). But I always rest easy knowing he has eaten enough to fill him up :)
15. But on a similar track ... I am also very grateful that Landon is eating less formula overall! Wow ... that stuff is like liquid gold!
16. The park. We have so many really cool ones close to us. We spent 2 hours yesterday walking around (or being strolled eating a leaf), playing on the swings (no matter what Jeff says I was totally higher than he was), and having a picnic. Thank goodness for these parts of our city!
17. Sunday Family Dinner. We don't do it every Sunday, but most. And it's fun ... and crazy ... and usually really, really loud. But it's family ... and there is always good food!
18. Chocolate. Do I even need to explain that one?

I have been blessed...

We're having one of those weeks where I feel like the statement "when it rains, it pours" applies. First Landon got his helmet (which the insurance does not pay for), and then when Jeff was in San Francisco his front tooth broke. When he went to the dentist yesterday we discovered he needs 6 crowns (yes you read that correctly ... 6)! And Christmas is just around the corner. We were feeling a little overwhelmed to say the least. We sat down to talk about it, and couldn't help but marvel at how blessed we have been. Yes, these things came at a yucky time (especially since they happened together!), but we have so much to be thankful for. And this time of year we get to recognize that even more.

Then on my way to the grocery store I heard Blessed by Martina McBride (a personal fave). I bolded the chorus for you.

I get kissed by the sun

Each morning

Put my feet on a hardwood floor

I get to hear my children laughing

Down the hall through the

Bedroom door

Sometimes I sit on my

Front porch swing

Just soaking up the day

I think to myself, I think to myself

This world is a beautiful place

I have been blessed

And I feel like I’ve found my way

I thank God for all I’ve been given

At the end of every day

I have been blessed

With so much more than I deserve

To be here with the ones

That love me

To love them so much it hurts

I have been blessed

Across a crowded room,

I know you know what I’m thinking

By the way I look at you

And when we’re lying in the quiet and

No words have to be said

I think to myself, I think to myself

This love is a beautiful gift

(Repeat chorus)

When I’m singing my kids to sleep

When I feel you holding me

I know

(Repeat chorus)

Hearing it made me smile. Then, in the checkout line the cashier and I were chatting. She gave me the sale price on an item because they were cheaper at Smith's and she figured she would pass that info along and said "you know, everyone could use a little help these days." I thought that was so sweet! The .40 or so didn't made a big difference to my grocery total, but her wanting to help everyone she could inspired me and made my day.

And I'll be honest. I am not often inspired while at Wal-Mart.

Generally I make one huge list of things I am thankful for in the month of November. And I still am going to ... but in smaller groups.

1. My wonderful, sweet husband who is my best friend.

2. The sweetest baby in the entire world. He makes me feel like my heart is walking (okay more like scooting and bouncing currently) outside my body.

3. A wonderful family who is so willing to be there for us.

4. Jeff's family - they are also so wonderful.

5. The gospel. We are very blessed to have it in our lives.

6. Friends. We have so many who care about us and are there for us no matter what.

7. Jobs - I feel so blessed in this economy for us to both have our jobs.

8. Eternal Families - knowing we can be one comforts me more than you know.

9. Book Club. These ladies make my month brighter. I love to read and to share that passion with others makes me really happy!

10. The sunshine! I am looking outside right now thinking about how gorgeous this world is!

11. The Wal-Mart cashier.

That is all for now. But I am going to leave with the these words again "you know, everyone could use a little help these days" and challenge you to ask yourself ... who could use my help today?

An October Review

I can't believe October is already over. It seems like time goes so quickly - and I really don't want it to! We had a busy month with a lot of fun Halloween activities:

We got invited to a Halloween party in the neighborhood. Landon had SO much fun playing with the other kids and the toys. This is him and a friend of his ... playing with a pink oven :)!
We made a visit to the pumpkin patch. We love the Big Red Barn in Santaquin.
They added a lot of fun things this year - like this truck. Landon's favorite book is called "The Little Blue Truck" and it looks just like this one! He liked it so much he licked (yes, licked) the steering wheel. Hence the dirt on his face :)!
He (okay we) picked out a perfect little pumpkin that is just his size!
Then we carved pumpkins! We actually didn't carve Landon's since it wasn't very big. But he LOVED the whole process. There was so much goo he could squish between his fingers, and his belly kept getting in it ... so he had to have a sink bath which was probably his favorite part of all! I have to steal these pics from my family - Jeff and I forgot our camera. But I'll post them soon because they are pretty hilarious!

We attempted to do family pictures TWICE and it rained both times! Seriously ... what are the odds? It was beautiful almost every other day of the month - go figure! So on Saturday we were all dressed up, and it was raining - but we decided just to take some ourselves anyways. In the rain. Some of them still turned out pretty cute! Again ... I will have to steal these and post them soon! However, taking pictures wore Landon out ... and we were able to snap this when he fell asleep in the car seat! His hat fell down like that on its own ...cute huh?
And then of course we had Halloween! We went to a Halloween brunch that morning that was so fun! I forgot to take my camera - but we were actually all dressed up! Then we went trick or treating that night. Grandma & Grandpa's house was best because Landon got a slinky (he thinks they are awesome) which was cool since the whole candy thing doesn't really work for him yet! We went to a few houses in the neighborhood, but it was really cold, so we called it a night.

He is a Cubs baseball player ... you know ... just in case that wasn't obvious!