9 months

Shane is 9 months old today. Nine months. I can't believe it. He is getting so big that it almost makes me cry. I really need him to stay a baby, but he insists on crawling, getting more teeth, and getting closer to that "toddler" stage.




He sure is cute though.

Our Christmas

Temple Square



Shane's debut as baby Jesus in the family nativity



The wisemen gave an Oscar-worthy performance this year.



Christmas Eve



6 stockings!



Christmas morning









(please ignore the sack of poopy diapers in the background)


family gift from Santa: a guitar!






Good morning Allison!



Couldn't resist the photo op with this hat!



Allison loves Pinkalicious



Matthew with his new webkinz (a calico cat he named Cathy)


Just as we predicted, Shane liked the wrapping paper better than the presents!

It was a great Christmas and we had very happy kids at the end of it! We asked our kids what their favorite gift was, and Matthew said "Just being together as a family." Well said Matthew.

I hope you're happy, Suz...

I just joined Facebook.

what makes Allison happy this holiday season?

A nice cold glass of "og neg".

buddies {part 2}

I posted this two and a half years ago, and here we are with two more little buddies hanging out in the same crib after naps.












Allison gets a little intense sometimes with Shane and we have to tell her to back off and be gentle. Shane is so tolerant of all the love and adoration (or pokes, squeezes, and smothering hugs!)

halloween 2011

Our Halloween was fun with a ward "trunk-or-treat", a Harry Potter themed party with cousins, and of course trick-or-treating.

Corinne was Hermione from Harry Potter (and boy did we work on that hair 'til we got it just right!).





Matthew was Harry Potter for the theme party, but for school and trick-or-treating, he wanted to be a "worn-out zombie", a costume he came up with on his own. (I think the idea came to him when he went to his first cub scout den meeting and they did first-aid. He got to have gauze taped to his head with blood (red food coloring) on it. He fooled a lot of people, even adults who thought he really hurt himself. He thought that was pretty cool, so he worked it into his costume!)






Allison was a girl from the '50's thanks to Corinne's old dance recital costume.





And Shane was our little pumpkin, because he really is our little pumpkin!






Harry Potter Party:










Ready for trick-or-treating:






The End.

the irony of my life

Last night was the first time that Shane slept completely through the night.

I am talking 8:00pm to 8:00am.

Twelve full hours!

Miracle!




Matthew was up from 2 to 4 am with the stomach flu.