Milestones and the Treehouse

Each of our boys hit milestones today!!!

Jace finally rolled over (while we were watching)! He has actually been rolling belly to back for over a month now, we just have never witnessed it. I would put him on his stomach and run to the other room, when I got back, he'd be on his back. Another time Rick was sitting in the room with him and still didn't see it. Today I had just missed it again while across the hall doing laundry so Rick rolled him over and he rolled 4 or 5 times in a row for us! It was fun to see him figure it out.

Levi hit a milestone of his own... He pooped in the potty!!! The past few days he has been wanting to sit on the toilet a few times but never accomplished more than playing with the toilet paper and frustrating me (though I did sit there patiently with him). Today before nap he wanted to go on the toilet and after 15 minutes and me asking several times if he was done... he pooped!

Last Monday Rick didn't have to work so we took Levi to the Children's Treehouse museum. He had a great time...

sitting in the "oval office"

"going" to Japan and many other countries, and just being a kid. He didn't care much for the slide, it was too fast and flipped him upside down.

Last week my best friend Kertsi was in town from Chicago with her girls and stopped by for the afternoon. Levi was not in a sharing mood and wasn't very nice to Ava. The next morning he kept asking "Ava play?" and was sad she was gone.

Left to right... Jace, Ava, Amelia, Levi.

Kertsi and I have shared so many memories together. We met in college about 6 months before my mission and for the 3 months prior were inseperable. Since then we have done a lot together, traveled to Europe, camped, shopped, played and have even shared many milestones of our own together. We were married 2 weeks apart, had our first kids 1 week apart and the second kids 1 1/2 months apart. I wish we lived closer so that we could see each other more.

Levi discovered stickers this morning, not really a milestone, but he had a grand time.

Oh sooo gooodt and "snow fun"

Levi received some scratch-n-sniff books for Christmas and he loves them. I read one to him and scratch-n-sniffed it and said "oh, so good" the first time I read it to him. Now he loves to scratch-n-sniff it himself and says "oh, sooo goooodt". He also loves to cheese it for the camera, if you couldn't tell. I'm hoping to get a video of him rocking out to the music while we're driving sometime. It makes me laugh every time. I'll try again later to download the video, but can't get it to work right now.

Jace always wants to sit up now. We have to make sure to strap him in everytime we put him in the swing or bouncer.

The other day we went to my friend Erin's house (she watches the boys while I'm at work). I had originally planned on going to my parents but due to the snow I opted to stay close to home. She was kind enough to let me use her washer as mine died and the new one is on back order and I won't get it till Feb. (I got it the day after Thanksgiving) Her husband was off work that day so while we stayed in with the little kids, he played out in the snow with them. He taught them to make and throw snowballs, pulled them around in the tobaggan and then built a little ramp at the top of their 5 ft hill for the kids to sled down. They were all laughing and having a great time. I had to run out and get some pics of Levi's first time sledding. We finished the morning off with hot cocoa and then headed home for naps. Thanks guys for helping us so much. It's awesome to have such good friends.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!!!
Levi really loved Christmas this year. Everything was entralling for him, from the "kwismas ites", to the tree, the presents "more pwesents...pweeease". Christmas definitely is more fun when you have kids. Levi's favorite toy was a race track that he can race up to 4 cars at a time, even though he tries to do all 10 at the same time.


Jace LOVES his exersaucer (a regift since it was Levi's hand-me-down)


Rick and I enjoyed our stocking stuffers and revelled in how we have been blessed during the past year. We decided that we had enough gifts this past year with buying a home, a new van, and most recently a new washer/dryer.
On the 23rd of December we got a lot of snow during the night so Levi and I played in the snow while Jace took a morning nap and before I had to go to work.

My favorite pic of Levi in the snow.

Our pitiful attempt at a snowman. It was too powdery to stick together so our snowman was all of about 10 inches high.

In reflecting on the past year, we have been extremely blessed, we have 2 handsome boys, (I have to digress for a moment, last Sunday as I got Levi ready for church I told him a couple times he was very handsome. While Rick and I were getting dressed, Levi went into our room, tilted the full length mirror so he could see himself and cocking his head to the side said "handsome", what a hoot!) we have a nice home and wonderful friends and neighbors, a loving, supportive family and our most important blessing of all is the Gospel of Jesus Christ which binds us together eternally and brings so much peace, joy and love into our home. I am grateful for the experiences that we have had recently that have increased my testimony. I hope that others have been as blessed as we have been.

Christmas Village

Last night we took the boys to Christmas Village in Ogden. We originally planned to go the night before but due to weather we took them to see the mall Santa for FHE and then went to the lights the next night. Levi was very excited to see the "kwismas lights".

We lucked out and there wasn't much of a crowd there. We were able to let Levi walk around and run ahead without worrying. He loved looking in the little houses with Christmas scenes in them. He was especially enamored with the Elementary kids that were singing Christmas carols in the amphitheater.

Jace was in the Snugli front pack and slept a good portion of the time. With a blanket covering him, he was probably the warmest one. He is growing leaps and bounds. He rolled over from front to back on Monday night. I had put him down for tummy time and Rick was sitting with him downstairs and all of a sudden he was on his back. Of course we didn't see it but no one turned him over. He is also a very happy baby and loves to smile!

Family Photos

We had our family photos taken 2 weeks ago and got them back today. I'm excited to get them printed and on the walls. They were taken by © Melissa Seamons 2008. She did an AWESOME job. If anyone wants her info just let me know. She was fabulous.

Decorating

The first ornament of 2008

We usually decorate the tree the Sunday after Thanksgiving but since we were out of town we got around to it yesterday. I actually set up the tree Monday, put the lights on Tuesday during naptime and we decorated after I got home from work we decorated. Levi had a grand time decorating and now wants to redecorate the tree every chance he gets. In fact, this morning he pulled the tree over trying to get an ornament. Rick picked it up before I could snap a pic. Any ideas on how to keep him from pulling it over again???

Later that night Rick had scouts so the boys and I went Christmas shopping and Levi picked out ornaments for himself and Jace.

Family Vacation

This past weekend Rick and I took the boys down to Moab. Rick only had to work 1/2 day on Fri. so we left shortly after. We first stopped at the Living Aquarium down in south Salt Lake, had lunch then headed to Moab. We stayed until Sunday and then headed home. We spent our time at Arches National Park. What a beautiful place that Heavenly Father created for our wonderment. I'm always amazed at how many beautiful places there are on this earth. I'll post more pics later but we're low on sleep (the boys didn't do too great at the hotel). We had a GREAT time!!!