Utah!

We'll be in Utah tomorrow! Yeah! Merry Christmas!

A new niece!

A new niece! Congratulations to Bekah (Mike's sister) and her hubby Chris. What a beauty! - and the first granddaughter!

Love it!

Lately I have been loving baking - cookies and apple pies! Especially with this guy. :)

Such a great little helper

The Goose-Egg

So we recently learned another lesson. Don't let your kids run up sidewalks with their arms inside their coats - (as in, not in their sleeves...inside their coat) - because if they trip, all they have to land on is - well, their head.

Checking out the wound. Right before he saw it he put his hand up and said "I feel a bump". Mike and I looked at each other like "kid, you have no idea".

So as parents we were both obviously concerned about this bump...we got him ice packs, a pillow, had him lay down on the couch and cuddle with us, Mike let him choose a movie..etc... we really didn't realize how badly we were smothering him until he yelled "EVERYONE JUST CALM DOWN!". Mike and I laughed so hard.

The New Obsession

Some of you have probably seen this because I posted it on facebook...but for those of you who haven't...here is Damon doing his new favorite thing.

Riding his bike at the skate park. Mike was so excited to have an extra long weekend last week (he didn't have to work Wednesday either) - so he

picked Damon up from pre-school and they headed out to two different skate parks. They were both excited that it stopped raining right on time. I

am the horrible parent who gets too much anxiety to take him to places like this....that's what dad is for. Enjoy Damon's explanation at the beginning

of the video of what he is about to do.

6 months

I know I recently did an updated picture of Brixton but I just honestly can't understand how the last 6 months have gone by so quickly. It doesn't seem real to me. We sure do love this kid and can't believe what an amazing little guy he is. We love his gigantic smile - even if it isn't the most photogenic look, we love his big big blue eyes, his sweet giggle, the way he's always trying to talk to us, and we even love his lack of interest in moving around! He's a wonderful boy and we are so lucky that he's ours.

Always Check the Oven

Lesson learned the hard way......So as my oven was pre-heating I started to smell something funny....I looked around my stove burners (which were being used cooking the rest of the dinner) - but nothing looked odd...I then noticed a little bit of smoke coming out of a small vent on top of my oven... I open the oven..and wah - lah....yes, those were two of my plastic bowls, which were put into the oven by my 4 year old the day before, without our knowledge. After a little chat about it, I think I will still be checking my oven before ever pre-heating it.

Thanks so our awesome friends, Andrew and Aly who cooked the rest of my food in their oven, and allowed us, and the people we were having over for dinner (the missionaries) - to eat at their house instead of our own due to the smell of burnt plastic. Also, a thanks to my husband for cleaning up the plastic mess.

"Follow the Gospel"

This past Sunday the General Primary President visited our Primary meetings. Our Stake President also joined her. Our Stake President wrote her an email to thank her for coming out to Washington DC ...etc...so to make a long story short...our Primary President and our Bishop's wife both sent me the email that he wrote to show me a little bit of what he said.

"And, I was so touched by the young 4 yr old boy, Damon, dressed in a pressed shirt and tie on the front row. Whenever there was a Q/A session, he would raise his hand and if called on, no matter what the question, he would respond, “Follow the Gospel”. Perfect. We all should be so simple, yet so precise in our approach to life."

I thought it was so sweet and to read this put a big smile on my face. Although he seems like such a crazy little kid sometimes, and might drive me nuts most of the time....It was nice to read this and be reminded of how important it is for us to be like little children.

Growing Up...

Someone is growing up wwaayyyy too fast.

8 days old

check out the difference in those thighs/ankles

5 months old

Batman and The Penguin

So once again...October was crazy fun with Halloween parties. Church, School, and a fun little friend party that Damon was invited to kept us very much in the spirit of Halloween. Damon insisted in being Batman - lucky for me I found a costume for cheap. My mom called after finding an adorable little penguin costume for our little Brixton. I didn't even put two and two together until after the fact, that my little boys are going to be rivals for Halloween!

Damon, Brixton, Sienna and Gavin, Halloween Night

Damon inviting sweet Sienna to join him under his umbrella. They just love each other so much

party at the church

my own little Batman, one of the only times he actually put the mask on

aawhh...he doesn't look so mean, right?

his sweet little friend Laura had a Halloween party. The kids made little lanterns and went for a walk into the woods and down to a river. They had so much fun walking through the mud.

A shot from the pre-school program.

Happy Halloween!

I Just Love Him

I didn't go on the pumpkin patch trip this year w/ the pre-school, because I didn't want to worry about toting around the baby...but another mom took this picture and sent it to me today. I really do just love this kid.

As my day has gone on today....more wonderful mom's from Damon's school sent me some more pictures of him....So sweet.

Such a flirt

D & B

Not much to blog about lately....but here is a recent picture of our boys....Brixton's head looks huge in this picture....but it doesn't look that big in person. I promise.

The Little Lame Playground

This is a post dedicated to the little lame playground at our apartments, and to our friends Tiana, Ches, and Ellie who are not lame. So if you look in the background, you can see this little tiny playground. We are so grateful for this little tiny playground, and how it can keep our kids entertained for years. Literally years...our boys were playing on this playground when they were learning to walk, climb, jump...etc. Somehow they still find it as entertaining as ever (even though Tiana and I might not). Damon and I love the late afternoon texts, or calls to meet at the playground. They have saved us so many times in that late afternoon crunch of needing something to do before we go nuts. We are so glad that our friends have lived in these apartments for almost as long as we have, and that they are always there for us when we need a quick drop off babysitting favor, or a couple of eggs. Tiana and I sit at the park and talk it up for hours while the kids play, play, and play some more. They haul their trucks, buckets, shovels, footballs, and whatever else they can fit in their wagons to keep themselves entertained. All they really need is each other, and I am very grateful for such great friends, and a park where we can just meet in the middle - almost every day.

The Most Fun Day

After Mike had taken Damon on a long early morning bike ride, and to hit balls at the driving range, we went up to Rockville to meet up with Mike's cousin Heather, her little boy Gavin, Mike's aunt Tamara, our good friends Richard and Dana, and their daughter Sienna. We all went to this awesome Fall Festival at this big Farm. They had little stations for the kids to do all kind of little farming chores. It was so cute. They ground up corn, fed the chickens, painted the fence, cleaned the rugs, dug potatoes, and sawed the logs. They also just got to dig around w/ farming tools, pet goats, go on hay rides, go through a corn maze, and do other fun stuff. We had so much fun with our awesome family and friends!

Damon, Gavin & Sienna - ready for the hay ride

feeding the chickens

I know this is a weird picture, but Damon and Sienna kept hiding in the corn and jumping out to scare us. I personally think this picture is great

Beautiful Heather and her sweet boy Gavin

the kids being crazy after the corn maze

just digging around

pigs, w/ Mike and Damon in the background

yes, Brixton was there too...just in his stroller most of the time. poor kid

the men of my house...sawing away

grinding up some corn

paint the fence

digging potatoes - my dad would be so proud

Daddy...You know what I always dream about?.....

A few weeks ago we were all just driving along when Damon said "Daddy? You know what I always dream about? SPORTS!!!"

We thought it was pretty cute, and it did not surprise us one bit to hear him say that. This kid really is obsessed with sports. Although we complain that he doesn't show as much interest in other things as we would like him to, we do love that he loves sports.

his first day skiing

i need new pictures of him on his bike. He goes up ramps and off curbs now.

he gets down in this position and tells me we are going to play "ready hike", rather that just playing catch.

bedtime?

So about a half hour ago my little baby was getting fussy...so I looked at the clock and thought - alright, it's bedtime.  So I wrapped him up tight, gave him a kiss and tucked him in.  I heard him babbling for a while, then it was quiet.  I went into my room, excited to be going to bed early...I looked in his bassinet...and this is what I got back.  A wide awake - VERY happy baby.  Gosh I love him.