New Year's Eve

We had a fabulous New Year's Eve!
We spent a fun, relaxing, wonderful day with our beloved little boys.
Then we had a classic New Year's Eve dinner: Pizza. Perfect.
Boys were bathed, pjd, storied, serenaded, and placed in their cozy beds.

Our wonderful neighbors, Liz & Ammon, came over for some partying. Okay, really we were all tired, so partying consisted of the most awesome game: Ticket to Ride.
We had lots of fun: talking, snacking, and building train tracks. It was great.
We all meant to call it a night early (we're party-poopers, I know) but we talked so much that pretty soon it was midnight.
So out came the martinellis and the ball dropping and all that good stuff.

Unfortunately, we failed to capture all of these delightful moments on camera. So Jeff & I had a little midnight photo shoot. It was late, folks, that's all I have to say. But we sure laughed and laughed and laughed. I can't think of a better way to ring in the new year!

Thanks, friends & hubby, for a lovely New Year's Eve!

Meeting Ava

We just met our beautiful little niece
Ava Kathryn.
She was born December 26th to James & Amy.
Isn't she just the most darling little baby!
We love her to pieces already and are so thrilled for James and Amy.

We were lucky enough to get to spend some time holding and cuddling her. I think newborns are the best therapy ever. Their spirits are so strong and sweet and they leave you feeling better for having spent time with them.
James & Amy are already such amazing parents.
We love you all so much!

PS. Weston & Tave had colds, so we didn't bring them in to meet Ava. (Jeff & I took turns getting to visit...it was definitely NOT long enough with this precious baby girl...we'll be going back very soon) Weston has been SO sad about that...he is REALLY excited to meet her and keeps talking about her. He kept telling us over and over that he loves baby Ava. We made this little video on our drive home so he wouldn't be quite so upset. So, Ava, this if for you:

And ps again: yes Weston is burping, I think it is so gross, but Jeff thinks its hilarious, what do you do? He was really cute about Ava, so overall its a cute one.

Good Friends...good times

On our drive home from CA we stopped in Vegas. How could we pass up an opportunity to see one of my most favorite college roomies?!

We had a blast chatting, watching the kiddos, and just catching up. It was way too short!!!

Of course we had to capture a shot of our cuties together:

Weston 2 1/2 yrs, Tave 7 months, Aloria 6 months, Joshua 2 1/2 years

Notice a trend here? My kiddos are a few months/weeks older than Annie's. SO..she has warned me that I better consult her before I get pregnant again. ;)

I love to see the Temple

One of Weston's favorite songs is "I love to see the Temple"

He especially likes when Jeff and I sing it together. I'll admit, it usually brings a tear to my eye. He loves talking about the temple and pointing out pictures of each one when he sees them.

So we definitely had to make a trip to see this one in person.

I can still remember the day my Grandparents first brought me to the San Diego Temple grounds. It was under construction then, but they told me what was being built there and how special it was. They told me that one day I would be able to go inside.

Four years later, when I was 12, the temple opened for viewing. I was so excited to be able to see it during the Open House. My parents, siblings, and I all went together to see this beautiful House of the Lord.
I was immediately impressed by the Spirit that was felt upon entering its doors. My mom pointed out the bride's room and told me that one day I would stand in that very room, as I prepared to be sealed to my husband for time and all eternity.

A few months later the Temple was dedicated. My mom, dad, Shar & I all went together to this most special of days. As we took our seats, some of us had to move because of space. I ended up sitting on the end of a row. (I have never liked the end of rows) My memories of the actual dedication are a little bit hazy. I remember songs were sung, the prayer was said, and most importantly--I felt the Spirit. So strongly.

As the Prophet and Apostles exited the main room, they passed through the room we were in. They all walked right down the aisle I was sitting beside. President Monson stopped, smiled at me, and shook my hand. I was surprised and so glad that I was sitting on the end.

It was sweet day, one that I will always cherish.

12 years later I was standing in the bridal room again. This time I was dressed in white and ready to be married to my sweet husband. I love every moment about that day, but most of all, I love that I was sealed to Jeff for eternity in the Temple of my childhood. Eternity is such a long time to learn, grow, and love together.

As Jeff and I showed Weston this most special of places, we realized it was the first time we had been back (to the San Diego Temple..we've been to others lots of times!) since we had been sealed there 3 1/2 years ago. What a beautiful moment it was to share with our two little boys.

I am grateful to have married someone who holds dear the values that are such an important part of my life. I am grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who gives us these amazing temples where we can make covenants that allow us to be together as a family ~ forever.

So, Weston, I am humbled and overjoyed that you 'love to see the Temple'.

For more information about Temples go here.

A day at the Park!

What is missing in this picture????
Hint: it's cold and white and all over Utah right now!!!

The kids ran around, climbed, layed in the sand, swung, drew pictures.
All of those wonderful things that aren't as much fun in the cold, wet snow.
This is the beauty of sunny southern California.

I'm so proud of my guys:
Weston hasn't been to a playground in a few months. In those months he has suddenly become a HUGE daredevil. He's able to climb pretty much everything now and he had a blast showing off his skills.
Tave also tried swinging for the first time ever! He loved having Grandma push him and tickle his little feet. He laughed and had such a blast.

I love the park. Spring ~ please come quickly.

Bates Nut Farm

Feeding the animals is always so cool. I love being a kid with my kids!

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning just gets better and better.

I loved watching my little guys get excited over gifts, wrapping paper, and maybe even something inside that beautifully wrapped box. ;)

I also loved watching my family open their gifts.

I am a gift-giver. I love it. I wish I had all the money in the world-- I would shop for every single one of you. ( and then probably spoil all the surprises by telling you exactly what I got you before you opened it...it's so hard for me to hold things in!)

I loved watching my dad help each of the grandkids open their gifts.

I loved watching my mom get excited over helping the kids play with their gifts.

I loved watching all the guys laugh, tease each other, and play rock band with their new stuff.

I loved sitting with my mom and sister and just soaking it all in.

I loved seeing everyone all comfy cozy together.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Dear Family & Friends,

This has been a wonderful, busy, sweet year for our family. We would have loved to send cards to you all, but in our attempt to save money and go a little 'green' for Christmas, we opted for the digital version. Hope you all feel our love for you this holiday season.
Here are the highlights from our year:

January: Snow. Snow. Snow. And building snowmen. Jeff turned 26.
February: House hunting. And more snow. We found a home, put in an offer, and it was accepted! Traveled to CA to visit my family, saw Wicked the musical and went to the beach. Awesome trip!
March: Moved into our new townhome. LOVE having more space and a place to call our own.
April: Both sides of the family visit for Amy's and Trav's graduations. Tons of laughs and good times. Lots of fun Weston-friendly activities before baby boy #2 is born.
May: Tave Daniel is born! We sure love this beautiful addition to our family. My mom is able to visit and help.
June: Weston turns 2, Tave is blessed, and both sides of the family get to be here for both. Jeff's side of the family is here for a fun-filled family reunion. Jeff starts working on his Master's Degree at BYU. We find three new babies will be joining our families in Jan/Feb. Yay for nieces/nephews!
July: Lots of good summer days filled with little boys and days at the park. We are adjusting to Jeff being back in school. We celebrate our 3rd Anniversary! Shawn & Abby come out for a visit!
August: We get to go on a date for Nicole's birthday. It was a blast!! We find out the three babies-on-the-way will be: a niece and 2 nephews. SO FUN!
September: Jeff starts teaching at a new school and begins a new semester at BYU. We get to watch our darling niece, Kapria, for an entire week while her parents go to New York. My mom comes to visit and help. We had a blast, but boy, was it a busy week!
October: My dad comes to visit after a hunting trip. We love having Grandpa here. Tave's first Halloween and Weston's first time really enjoying trick-or-treating.
November: We get to travel to CA for my Grandma's funeral (we miss you Grandma) and Thanksgiving. It is a bittersweet trip, but definitely full of good family moments.
December: A whirlwind month full of family, friends, fun, and lots of snow. An adventurous road trip to CA for Christmas and a wonderful holiday. We are loving spending time with family!

We hope this season is filled with only the best for all of you. We are so grateful to have you in our lives. We have a deep love for our Savior Jesus Christ. May His spirit fill your hearts and homes.
All our Love,
Jeff, Nicole, Weston, & Tave

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful evening.

We had the traditional Christmas Eve dinner with Mom's side of the family. This year was a little different ~ it was at Mom & Dad's new home for starters. and Grandma wasn't here. We missed her so much. More than I can say.

But we filled the night with yummy appetizers, a delicious mexican meal, tasty desserts, fabulous company, lots of fun and laughter. We watched a musical slideshow of pictures of Christ's birth and then enjoyed watching the kiddos open gifts from each other.

It was so great to be together.

Baby Bear

Weston has a sweet side.
He absolutely HAD to take this little bear to bed one night. He called it 'baby bear'.
When I went to get him the next morning, baby bear was all snuggled in his very own crib.

Cue the ooohs and ahhhs.
Just too cute, isn't it. :)

My little helper

I worked on some Christmas projects today. Weston wanted to help, so I put him to 'work'. I think it turned out rather well:

+

=

A happy little helper.

Enjoy the video...Weston insisted I make it!

Thank You!!!!!!!

Grandma & Grandpa D and Uncle Guy & Aunt Sharon gave the boys this awesome table for Christmas! Due to travelling.. we gave it to them early.

To say it is a HIT would be an understatement!

It is THE happening place at our house: snacks, meals, coloring, playing, hiding places-- you name it, the table is used for it!

thank you thank you thank you! We LOVE it!

Family Christmas Party!

Since we will each be in seperate states for Christmas, we wanted to have a family shindig for the holidays. It just so happened (or maybe not 'just so' I think James & Jeff had something to do with the timing!) that we planned it for the weekend Amanda was here!
Perfect!
We definitely missed the rest of the family (back in Texas) but we had a blast with the Utah crew!
Sugar cookies were made & decorated, good food was eaten, gifts were passed around, games were played and the entire night was full of the delight that is family (+ one awesome friend).

Thanks everyone for making it such a Merry Christmas!
Love to you all!

Surprise Surprise!

This past weekend was absolutely fabulous!
Jeff had told me we were having a surprise weekend. I couldn't plan anything. I couldn't know anything. I hate surprises. I really do.
But, when a surprise comes in the form of a much-loved sister in law from Texas, and it includes a day with both of my-very-favorite-sister-in-laws together -- well, that kind of surprise is appreciated, loved, and accepted!

We packed our 2.5 days full of shopping, baby-talk (since they are both expecting darling, sweet, bundles of joy very soon), laughing, smiling, hugging, good food, sweet husbands, Christmas partying, more good food, late nights, games, and overall perfection.

Thanks, Amanda, for coming out here on the spur of the moment. And thanks to a wonderful hubby who took the kids for an entire day so we could have some much needed girl time. I'm not going to think about how far away our next visit is. And, of course, since I'm not thinking about that, then I'm not going to cry either.

I just love these wonderful, beautiful, amazing ladies.

Tave - 7 months

December 14, 2008

I am just loving watching Tave grow up. But at the same time, I want him to stay my little baby forever. He has changed so much in the past month.

Tave's stats: 15 lbs 4 oz for us to love, 27.5 inches to tickle and snuggle and hug!

Here are a few of Tave's highlights from his 7th month:

• He is on a wonderful nap-schedule: 3 naps a day aprox. 1-2 hours each. Heaven.
• He is sitting pretty well, but is still a little tipsy. Every day he gets better and better!
• He is, as always, our smiley guy. He loves to give a grin at anyone who looks his way.
• He rolls from front to back and back to front now. But still hates tummy time. :(
• He still loves holding those cute little toes!
  

• He absolutely adores his brother. Even more than before. He laughs at Weston and watches everything he does.
• He loves to play-- shoulder rides, tickling, having daddy hold him and run, he loves it all.
• He doesn't like rice cereal anymore, but he loves oatmeal. He is a fabulous eater and has tried lots of new foods: green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, applesauce, prunes, bananas, pears, peaches. He loves most of them.
• He has given up the binky at night to suck on his first 2 fingers. He LOVES those fingers. (I can't decide what I think about this development)
• He loves to be held.
• He really enjoys bathtime, especially if it's with Weston.

Visits this month:

• He got to meet Grandpa & Grandma Dean again. So fun!
• First road trip- he was not a fan of the looooong car ride.
• First time meeting Uncle Mckenon (and lots of other relatives)
• He absolutely LOVES his Grandpa Dan. They were buds the whole trip.
• First trip to the beach! He was fascinated with the sand and the waves. He just liked looking down and watching the water come in and out.
• Aunt Amanda came out to visit, she got to hold him and snuggle with him a LOT since she'll have another little guy the next time we see her. (pics of this coming soon!)
  

Dear Tave,

You have been such a joy this past month. I fell even more in love with you on our trip to California. You and I were able to have 6 whole days to be together. So much snuggling, holding, laughing, playing, and loving. It was heavenly. You truly are a special little baby. We are so grateful Heavenly Father sent you to our family. You make each day brighter and better than ever before. Thank you for all that you teach us.

We love you to pieces!

Love, Mommy & Daddy

Weston - 2 1/2 years!

He makes us laugh every single day and is such a delight in our home. Here is a bit of what Weston is like at 2.5 years old:

Weston loves: reading stories, music, singing, dancing, running around and being chased, jumping on everything, the Beach-- he talks about the beach daily and wants to go back, his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents, back scratches and head rubs, splashing, bathtime, snow, helping in the kitchen, wrestling with Daddy, playing with Tave, tickling Tave, kissing Tave, laying on Tave, pretty much anything to do with Tave.

Weston's favorites: Color- green, Animal- tiger, giraffe, hippo Toys- cars, little figures, little animals, balls Food- fruit snacks, apples, grapes, cereal, crackers, oranges Books- he really loves all books, right now the favorite is Aladdin & the Nativity story Songs- jingle bells, rocket song, fish song, monkey & the alligator, following the leader Places- Kapria's house, James & Amy's house, Evie's house, the park, outside, nursery, and the all-time FAV: the Beach!

Weston's recent skills: He can use a spoon & fork really well now, help clean up, turn off/on tv and close it all up, open twist containers, take pictures, help around the house, open & close doors, puzzles, coloring and lots lots more!

He talks ALL the time. He is using full sentences now and loves to tell us everything that is on his mind. The crazy thing is, he can tell us about things that he did last year...he really remembers that long ago- and finally has the words to describe it!

He started telling us about things that he likes and loves. He started by telling us he "loves Tave" and now he tells us "I love mommy" and "I love daddy" every day. We, of course, just melt when he says it.

Weston's latest phrases:

"I like ______." "I want______." "I need_____." (he definitely has the basics down!)

"Let's make some craps." (crafts)
"Mommy, I sorry."
"I call ______." (insert Grandma, Grandpa, aunts, uncles, and cousins names) He loves to call people.
"One more. Just one more."
"Tave is cute baby."
"Tave sad, give binky."
"Go play in sone" (snow)

"Mommy/Daddy Watch!"

"What's that?"
He is really great at saying "Please" and "Thank you."

I am constantly amazed by this little guy. In the past 6 months he has learned so much and changed in so many ways!

Weston, we love you!

Beach Pictures

I was just doing some editing on our beach pictures and wanted to see how to blog them straight from Picasa. I am LOVING these new tools! How fun. Enjoy this preview. More to come!

Yee-Haw!

Jeff was playing with the boys and they all came running into the kitchen like this. I started laughing. Tave's face was priceless: he was lOvInG it and so was Weston. I had to grab the camera and share!

This kicked off a night of shoulder rides:
Weston, Tave, me, and, yes- even Jeff.
We all had to have one.

We laughed and laughed and then we laughed some more.

What a great night. Thanks to all my guys for making it so happy!

Enjoy the video, it makes me laugh every time I watch it!

We tried to have Weston take a picture of me on Jeff's shoulders (and then Jeff on mine) but he couldn't quite catch it. Oh well..we're working on his photography skills. ;)

Oh Christmas Tree!

Oh how I LOVE this season. The sights, the smells, the warm fuzzy feeling you get from serving those around you. I love it all. We put up the Christmas tree last Monday and it was a blast. Weston is at such a fun fun age. He was so excited. He was jumping up and down and couldn't wait to get started.

It has been really neat teaching him about Jesus. He recognizes pictures of Him and talks about Him a lot. I love teaching my boys about Christmas: that it's Jesus' birthday and how we give gifts to others because of Christ's gift to us. I don't know how much Weston understands, but he sure listens and he loves saying 'Christmas' and 'Jesus'.

He has been asking for 'Jesus song' constantly, which is 'Away in a Manger'. I just LOVE singing it over and over with my boys. It has really helped us get into the true Spirit of Christmas!

What a special time of year.

California Trip - November 19-29th

Okay, okay-- I know I went a little collage crazy here, but for good reason. Shar, Chelsea, and I traveled to CA to visit our family and attend my Grandma's funeral. It was good to be with everyone, to see family we hadn't seen in years, and to laugh and cry over the fond memories of my Grandma. It was a week packed with good times, good food, good memories, and everything in between. Maybe my pictures can tell the story better than I ever could. At least they'll give it a try.

1 van + 3 sisters + 3 kiddos under 3 years old + 15+ hours on the road= one cRaZy adventure.

Try it sometime.
I dare you. (It's totally worth it!)

Grandma's Life Celebration:

It was a beautiful service. I think Grandma would have loved it.

Family Time:

It was great to spend time with family we hadn't seen in years.

Jeff & Weston were able to have a fabulous week together while Tave & I were in CA. It was really good for each of us to have some individual time with one of the boys. They drove down with Trav & his Grandma just in time for Thanksgiving. Thanks go to those who helped with Weston when Jeff had to work. We can't tell you enough how much we appreciate it!

Thanksgiving Day:

We are so blessed. Here are a few of the many things for which we are thankful:

Just for fun:

This trip went by way too fast (as most do) but we filled it with all the sweet goodness that comes with family.

Thank you everyone.