Happy Birthday Jeff!

We had a lot of fun with family celebrating Jeff's 28th birthday!

The boys gave him a travel chess set (he loves chess) and Trav & Shar gave him a painting that Trav made of Christ. SO neat. Trav has since completed it and we are going to get it framed for Jeff's office.

(about the 'cake': I told Jeff I would make him ANY dessert he wanted for his birthdy. Ice cream was his request!)

28 years young and even more handsome than the day I married him:

We had a little celebration with the boys on Jeff's actual birthday and that's where I gave him his gift from me:

We were also able to go on an awsome date of Jeff's choice: the temple followed by a delicious and FREE dinner at Red Robin. (you must sign up for their birthday club!)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful, incredible and fabulous husband.
I can't imagine my life without you and love that each year with you just gets better and better.

Here's to the rest of our lives!

My kind of blogging: Tag you're it!

A friend posted this 'tag' on her blog and I thought it was fun and even better- FAST!

You just open the first picture folder on your computer, and pick the 10th photo. Then tell us a little bit about it.

Here's mine:

This was taken in September 2008. Tave is only 4 months old. I look at this now and can't believe how big my little baby has gotten.
Just look at those adorable little cheeks I could squeeze and kiss and smooch and kiss on some more. (And I still do!)
I love that we have technology to help us capture those sweet moments in life that are so fleeting.
I sure love my babies!

Now I tag: Anyone and everyone who wants to do this!

Another Switcheroo!

My friend, Alli, and I did a product swap. She makes these adorable, adorable chef sets:

I made her some beanies and she sent these in time for Christmas!

Perfect since the boys got a kitchen set!!

The boys are SO cute in them and love to wear them when they help me bake.

Of course, they were wearing the hats all morning until I pulled out the camera, but I did snatch one shot with Weston in his. LOVE it!

You can find them here.

12 Weeks

Well, here I am: Alive, sort of.

I have not felt so great over the past 6 weeks and have been WAAAAY more tired than I have ever been in my life. Seriously. I can fall asleep ANY time. ANY place. Jeff has been such an incredible and amazing husband to give me breaks when I need them. (which pretty much means all the time!)

And as you can see...my bump is there and it's only going to get bigger!

(Weston likes to remind me of this every day.... "Mommy, you have a baby in your tummy and it's going to get big and big and bigger." sure love this kid!!)

But you know what?

A new life, a new baby, a new little person to hug and cuddle and love

makes it ALL worth it.

And I can't wait.

ps Christmas pics ARE coming...there a TONS to sort through so I kind of skipped over them to get up to date!

December's Favorite Faces

Once a month my sister does a 'favorite faces' post for each of her girls.

I think it's a fun way to get those hilarious, random, and adorable moments all in one spot.

So without further ado, I give you December's favorites:

Weston has decided, lately, that he much prefers being behind the camera than in front of it! However, I have managed to capture some pretty fun times of my crazy and hilariously sweet super hero (because that's what he is now, did you know?!):

Tave, on the other hand, has turned into our little ham. He LOVES to cheese it up for the camera and thinks he's pretty darn funny. Which, honestly, he is. We are loving the personality that is coming out of this guy! Ps. it's all about the diaper and shoes at our house. Very stylin combo:

And last but not least, the best buds:
We have officially hit that awesome age where they truly are 'buds'.
Of course, no sibling relationship is perfect, and they have their daily (often hourly) frustrations. But overall they love spending time together and really do miss each other if they are not together. They play together all the time and get into more mischief than I ever knew possible.
Oh heaven help me if this next one is another boy!

Festival of Lights!

Our final stop for New Year's Eve was the Festival of Lights!!
The boys had so much fun pointing out their favorites and driving up front with us.
Happy New Year everyone!

New Year's Eve

Jeff & I took the boys to the Aquarium on New Year's Eve. It was tons of fun and the boys loved it as much as they always do!
Afterwards I invited us over to Shar & Trav's for New Year's Eve dinner.
I love that my sister doesn't even think I'm rude, she just laughs and says "of course we would love to have you!" Since they made the meal, we stopped and picked up french bread and salad stuff.
I have been extremely picky during this pregnancy, and let me tell you, if you can ever have Shar's lasagna...TRY! It is the best. Wow. I'm officially hooked and craving more.
We had a blast and the kids always love to play!!
Thanks again, for a wonderful New Year's Eve, Shar & Trav!!

Winter Wonderland...

We definitely had a white Christmas!

One of the things I really wanted to do while Jeff was home was build a snowman.

So we put on the snow boots and headed out on New Year's Eve Day to play in the snow!

Tave HAD to hold one of our hands, and then he was one happy kiddo to be trudging through the snow. It was higher than his knees, but he didn't mind one bit!

the minute we got out, Weston started making snow angels!

Oh he makes us laugh every day!!

The snow wasn't sticking the best so we had to prop our snow man up against the fence:

Weston found and placed his eyes (rocks) and we could only find one stick.
But that just gave him character:

Expected

July 20-something 2010

Dear Weston & Tave,
You are the most wonderful little boys. You have such a fun, hilarious, sweet, and loving relationship and are becoming the best of friends.
You adore each other and make our days better and sweeter than ever before.
We love being your parents and we love seeing you learn and grow.
And now.
We are more thrilled than ever to see how you will welcome another little baby into our home.
We are sure you will both be the best older brothers and we can't wait to grow to a family of five.
Together.
We love you,
Mom & Dad

Peanuts

** I am trying to get all caught up on our lives. I'll be posting one post a day until I'm there...if you're lucky maybe I'll do two. ;) Eventually everything will be dated correctly. **

The boys received a Christmas package from their Texas cousins a few days after Christmas. They LOVED getting to open something new after all of the festivities were done! They were very excited about the gifts, but this is what they had SO.MUCH.FUN playing with:

I think the photos speak for themselves!

12-28-09

Christmas Day!

Christmas was wonderful this year. We loved making a few of our own traditions and being in our home together. The boys are both at SUCH fun ages and I can honestly say this was one of my most favorite Christmases.

We started with stockings & Santa gifts (all on the couch) and then had a delicious breakfast of cinnamon rolls.

Then we headed over to the tree to open our gifts from each other and from family. We talked and laughed, and opened things slowly. We took lots of pictures and played with each item before moving on to something new. We talked about Jesus and why we really celebrate Christmas and sang songs.

It was magical in every way.

The setup

They were so excited, this was the best we could get in their adorable Christmas pjs. They LOOOOVE these superhero pjs- these pjs make them faster, stronger, and able to fly. Truly. ;)

The boys were so cute together. They loved watching each other open things and had a great time playing with EVERYTHING!!!

Weston:

Tave:

Jeff & Nicole:

We went simple this year and got each other what we needed: coats and scarves! We LOVE them!


We saved the *biggest* for last:

This fun kitchen was a gift from the grandparents and us. We pooled all the money everyone sent and then some. They LOVE it and play with it all the time.

I did a switch with one of my friends for the darling chef sets. They love the aprons and West thinks his hat is so cool, but Tave insists on wearing underwear as a hat. so funny!

Merry Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve- Later

The very very best Christmases come when you are a parent.

At least for us.

It is so fun to pick out each gift for the boys and to get excited about seeing their little faces on Christmas morning.

And of course, the Christmas Eve set up:

This is a combined gift from the Texas grandparents (the goods and the greats)

and us.

You'll get to find out in the next post how the boys liked it!

Christmas Eve

This was the first Christmas that we haven't been with one of our parents.

It was just a little bit strange~

But we were so lucky because both of my sisters stuck around for the holidays as well!

We went up to Chels & Rob's for a delicious Christmas Eve dinner.

And pictures of kiddos eating are always much cuter than the adults, right?!

It is so much fun to see the kids get excited to give each other their gifts.

And then we just hung out, laughed, talked, and had fun. I love my sisters (and their men!) and am SO glad that we all live close. It is such a blast seeing the kids together.
Being with family makes the holidays that much more special!
Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Merry