Flashback: Henry turned TWO!

On December 15th, my little baby turned two years old. WHAT THE HECK!?! I just can hardly believe that he is already two. I love Henry to pieces, and although we try each others' patience sometimes, I am completely obsessed with him. He still loves Elmo, so I decided to throw an Elmo themed party. And at the time, his favorite foods were zzaa-zzaa (pizza) and ah-kee's (cookies).

the invitation :)

I checked out the Dollar Store to look for Elmo balloons, and I completely lucked out. They didn't have any hanging on their display wall so I got a little nervous, but then I asked someone and they found a whole stash. I got ten. (Which, funny enough, was the same price I could have paid to get ONE Elmo balloon at Sesame Street Live!).

they were a big hit

I made Henry a Happy Birthday banner. And wow...that took forever. It seems so simple, yet took SO LONG! I'm keeping it and totally plan on using it for future birthdays. Because for real, it was pretty labor intensive haha.

I got Sesame Street stickers and decorated party hats because I couldn't find a store that sold Elmo party supplies... Doesn't Walmart know that Elmo is still huge, and parents don't want to do anything?! Get with the program, peeps!!

he didn't like the hats so much...

Mimi and Bear came to town for the weekend to celebrate. We loved having them here, and they got him a big Hug Me Elmo. It talks, sings, and gives hugs. Which means it's inherently a little bit creepy, but Henry loved it ;)

see the fear in George's eyes? toys that talk on their own are totally freaky ;)

Some of our friends were able to make it to the party as well, and Henry got spoiled with toys. IN FACT, I think I've decided I'm never buying Henry a birthday present ever again. He got SO MANY toys that it was kind of insane. I think Josh's head might have exploded from the OCD-induced panic that comes along with a house overrun with toys. (Totally joking...sort of...). Henry was having so much fun playing with all his new toys that we decided just to give him a couple small presents from us, and keep the bigger ones for Christmas. He didn't even notice the difference.

New shopping cart. New vacuum. Ready to go!

We had to force him to open each new toy, since he was still busy playing with the last one. #toddlerproblems

Overall, the party was a really fun time. We had pizza (obviously), lots of cookies, and a cookie birthday cake. Because it was Bear's birthday weekend too, we also had a second birthday cookie cake for him too :) We really like our cookies around here!

birthday collage!

His birthday party was a great time, and Henry had an absolute blast! Thanks to everyone who helped make it so awesome! And a big thanks to my mom who came up and visited the weekend before, since she couldn't come for his birthday weekend. :)

On December 17 we went to the pediatrician for Henry's two year appointment. Here are his stats:
Weight: 28.4 lbs -- 56%
Height: 35.5" -- 79%

bff's

We love you so much Henry! It is so fun to see you grow up and learn and explore. Happy second birthday!

Flashback: Family Pictures 2013

As I mentioned in my last post, our dear friend Emily was kind enough to take some family pictures for us while her and Dave were visiting. You can tell how amazing of a photographer she is just from looking at her pictures, but add the fact that our kids were NOT cooperating, and I'm amazed she even got any decent pictures at all (let alone awesome ones!!). A HUGE thank you to Emily!!

hehehe

Emily worked photoshop magic on this pic, which gave me the final push I needed to finally dye my hair purple.

Thanks so much Emily, WE LOVE YOU! And Davey too, duh ;)

Flashback: Thanksgiving VIDEO!

Our vacation, captured and pieced together beautifully by Dave:

Flashback: Thanksgiving vacation

Thanksgiving was awesome. Our dear friends Emily and Dave came out to visit us from Ohio!! We hadn't seen them for a year, which felt like an eternity. Obviously they just need to come live in our house so we never have to be separated again ;) This post is definitely the short version of everything. I lost a lot of my pictures from my phone recently, so these are all pictures pulled from Instagram (and some stolen from Emily!).

To start our vacation, Josh and I drove up north so we could party at Josh's parents' house. Once again, I got out of cooking Thanksgiving dinner (woot woot!)!! Emily and Dave drove from the airport to meet us so we could all enjoy a lovely meal together.A big thanks to Mimi and Bear for hosting us all! :)

Road trippin up north!

Mary is so nice and cooked the entire meal for us. Josh had to help ...prepare... the turkey. And it was hilarious.

"Just grab it right there, and pull!!"

After all the fun/festivities/fabulous meal, we hung out for a bit and then made the journey back home. That night we played games and caught up. George played some video games too ;)

Thumbs are tasty

Our vacation consisted a lot of hanging out, eating food, and holding babies. With some park-playing, football watching, and more eating thrown in there. We had so much fun with Emily and Dave, and we were SO HAPPY they could come visit. Dave played videographer the whole time, and made the best video ever made in the history of ever. I'm trying to upload it to youtube, so we'll see if that works out... Because it sums up our entire vacation perfectly.

I swear George actually liked him... haha

Henry's favorite part of Aunty Em and Uncle Davey's visit was probably watching videos of their dog Finn on their phones. "Doggy? Doggy?" And asking them for snacks, obvi.

Aunty Em!

George's favorite part was all the snuggles and extra attention he got. Such a spoiled baby!

sleepy time!

We love having such amazing people in our lives who are so sweet and loving to our kids. We're very lucky to have such wonderful friends :) Also while they were here, Emily was nice enough to take family pictures for us. I will have them up in my next post!! She's the bestesttttttt! 

kisses!!!!

Everyone was sad when Emily and Dave had to leave. I may have cried a little bit. And I did not want to ever let go of Emily. Speaking of Emily, she tried to stuff Henry in her suitcase. We told her to return him when he was potty trained.

"I'LL NEVER LET YOU GOOOOO!!!"

Like I said, this is a very condensed version of a fabulous vacation. To sum it all up? IT WAS SO FUN!!! We have missed these crazy kids so much, and it was almost surreal that they were actually here! Thank you Emily and Dave for making the trip, and making our Thanksgiving break absolutely amazing. We love you and miss you. Now please come live in our compound. Thanks ;)

Flashback: George's baby blessing

On November 3rd, George got blessed at church. It was not only a special occasion because of his blessing, but also because our friends and family came to visit. My parents drove up from Arizona, Josh's parents and sisters family drove down from up north, and our BFFs Jeff and Darci also drove down. It was a party! On Sunday our friends Ryan and Natalie also came to the blessing. The weekend was definitely a whirlwind, but we all had such a great time. There's not much better than being surrounded by your favorite people ♥

snuggling with Grandma

My mom made George's blessing outfit, and it had that cute vintage feel that I love. He was a major stud :)

always a happy camper

family picture! complete with Henry's shiner

with Mimi and Bear

with Grandma and Grandpa

the funniest face ever

We had a wonderful day and a fun-filled weekend. We're so grateful for all the sweet people in our lives who give so much love to our boys.  Thank you to our friends and family for being a part of our special day :) To our friends who couldn't make it because we now live super far away (sorry), we missed you! ♥

world traveler, part 2

For part one of my traveling saga, refer to this post. I left off talking about going to Vegas. So the same day I drove back home from Eagle Mountain (3 hour drive), I also drove to Vegas (2.5 hour drive). I got carsick on the way to Vegas, which was really fun, but it was like a billion degrees and I'm pregnant. So...it happens.

 We went to Vegas with our friends Ryan and Natalie to go see Ke$ha in concert. Her music is just so fun to dance to, and since watching her show on tv I actually really like her, so we planned a little weekend getaway around it! Friday night was spent eating and looking around at shops on the strip. We also watched some street performers, including a little dance crew--who actually pulled me in to dance with them. There were three guys with a whole routine they performed, and one of them pulled me out of the audience and started slow dancing with me. Then all of the sudden the music changed and they all started booty-poppin' around me. So of course I joined in. The audience got a big kick out of it, and I'm sure it was because I have a bowling ball stuck on my stomach ;) It was fun. Ryan got it on video and I still need to download it from him!!

Saturday morning was spent relaxing at the pool. We stayed at the Renaissance, which had a pretty decent pool that we took advantage of. And because my husband and friends are all juiceheads (into fitness), there were lots of funny posing pictures involved.

Natalie and I are ready to rock n roll

Juiceheads

the group :) or as i referred to us on instagram, #juiceheadcrew

Saturday consisted of pool time and some shopping. I love Vegas because there are so many fun stores to shop at. The only sad thing is that when I'm pregnant it's sort of hard to shop for my first love--clothes. So I mostly looked at accessories haha.

Saturday night we were ready to go see Ke$ha! The concert was really fun and we danced our booties off! The weird thing is that Ke$ha was touring with Pitbull. And while he has some fun dance music, their audiences are pretty different. It almost felt like 2 separate concerts. And surprisingly in Vegas, most people were there for Pitbull. So we were like "YAYYY, KE$HA!!!" and everyone around us was just sitting down, waiting for Pitbull to get on stage... kind of awkward... Hopefully when she goes on tour again in the future she'll pick someone better to tour with that has a similar audience...

we all look ridiculous, so no one be mad i'm posting this picture hahaha

i met a Pitbull lookalike. he was loving all the attention. and his friend felt left out so i let him pose with us too ;)

Sunday was cut short a little as I realized that there was a time difference from Vegas to Utah, and that I had told my SIL I would pick up Henry at a certain time. Oops. So we got to sleep in a little, and then it was off again to drive home. So we drove the 2.5 hours home, and then I traveled solo back up to Eagle Mountain (3 hours). By the time I got to Henry I was pooped, but soooo happy to see my little munchkin! Of course he was so happy with all his cousins he had barely noticed I was gone. Allegedly he walked towards the door and asked "mama? mama?" a couple times over the weekend. But Sarah might have made that up to make me feel better ;)

On Monday we had a free day so we were able to meet up with a couple of our friends last minute. We saw my friend Jen and all her chilluns, which was fun. Henry had a runny nose so I made sure he didn't get anywhere near her sweet baby!! Monday night we met up with my friend Betsy (and her husband and adorable daughter Presley!), and after some dinner we all hit up their pool for a bit. They had a little toddler pool which was perfect for Henry to splash around in. I wish I'd gotten a picture with him and Presley together, but I've been trying to be better lately about not being addicted to my phone. So I just pulled it out once to snap this :)

water baby

On Tuesday we had Henry's pediatrician appointment. That is the reason we stayed up north for a couple days, because I am in love with Henry's doctor. Her name is Sarah Ashby and she works for UV Pediatrics, so if you are looking for a pediatrician she is AMAZING!!! For real. This was our last appointment with her though, because now that George will be coming soon I'll have to actually get a doctor down here. Booo :( I tried asking Dr. Ashby if she would move to Cedar City. It didn't work... To see all of Henry's percentiles and even more cute pictures, check out his blog here.

After his appointment Henry and I hit the road for our last leg of the journey. We drove the three hours back home and arrived last Tuesday night. Since then we have been recuperating!! I told myself I wasn't leaving my house ever again, but this weekend I have a baby shower to go to up north, so it looks like I'm breaking my promise. I'm trying to drag Josh along with me though so I don't have to drive. I've had enough of that! ;)

world traveler, part 1

Well...not exactly world but the past few weeks have included a lot of traveling for me. Which is one of the reasons (besides general laziness) I haven't been blogging. A few weeks ago I went down to Arizona with Henry to visit with my family, and to help them pack their house. They are downsizing, and with my mom's recent injuries she can't really lift anything heavy at all with her hands. So I helped her pack up her whole craft studio, and some other stuff too. It was really fun to see everyone, and I was glad to be able to help them out as well.

my mom has 2 of the big 4x4 ikea bookcases that we packed up. Henry climbed right in to help out. 

I found an old dance costume of mine and put this flapper-style on Henry's head. hehehe. 

Henry loved the dogs, as usual. Here he is laying down next to Paisley and giving her love

Deep in conversation with Poncho

"Ready to go home, mommy!"

We were there for 5 or 6 days before we made the journey back to Utah. We got home and tried to recuperate. We got to sleep in our own beds for two nights, and then we set off again. This time Henry and I drove up north. We got to spend the night at Darci and Jeff's, and it was so awesome seeing them again. It's only been a couple of months, but that felt like ages!! Darci and I took the kiddo's to a secret pond (located somewhere in Pleasant Grove) and  got to play and work on our tans. The wind was so crazy that we almost blew away, but we still had a good time :)

Henry's signature face

Mona and Henry getting a ride in the stroller. Warren was chillin in his car seat

Fighting...I mean sharing...in the tub. 

Henry and Mona are really funny with each other. Now instead of just Mona stealing toys from Henry, they both can steal toys like champs. Which sometimes results in meltdowns... They really do have a love/hate relationship, because they loved playing together. Until Henry either wanted to escape from Mona (she would shut the door so he'd be stuck in her room with her haha), or Mona got upset because Henry stole a toy or did something equally terrible. We had a fabulous time playing with them though, and I'm so glad we were able to see them!!

The next day I dropped Henry off at my sister-in-law's house, where he stayed for the weekend. I knew he would have a blast with all his cousins, and of course his wonderful aunt and uncle took good care of him. After I dropped him off I drove back home, took a shower, and then Josh and I left with our friends to go to Vegas (are you tired yet thinking of all that driving??? I am!!). We stayed at Vegas for the weekend so we could go see Ke$ha in concert! And because this post is getting really long and I'm tired, I'll talk about the rest of my whirlwind trip in another blog post!! :) Stay tuned...

Afternoon at Sand Hollow

Yesterday afternoon we went to Sand Hollow, a lake near Saint George, with our friends Ryan and Natalie and their chilluns. Lake day!! We had an absolute blast, and I think I was the only one to get a little sunburnt :) I was sick (I have a cold, booo!) but I just sucked it up, and we had so much fun I barely noticed it. This will be a picture heavy post, so let's jump right into it!

Henry didn't want to have anything to do with the sand or water. So most of the time he was on a chair. 

these juiceheads were loving getting their tan on

he's pretty cool i guess ;)

Henry enjoyed stuffing his face while the juiceheads "fought"

we made Henry go in the water a few times. he didn't like it. 

fun with Daddy (click on pictures to view larger)

"what's this??"

cliff jumping. there goes Josh!

Natalie cliff jumping. As Ryan said, "blondes away!"

we like making faces

"yo, wassup?"

again...on the chair...

within the last 45 minutes that we were there, Henry FINALLY realized he liked the water. 

after that, we couldn't get him away from the water

packin it up. 

There was lots of swimming, posing (haha!), jumping off cliffs, sunbathing, and having an overall fabulous time. Afterwards the babies got a quick nap in the car while we drove to Saint George to hit up Target and go to dinner at Smashburger. It was delicious. So what do you do when you're in the desert and it's hot hot hot? Go jump in a lake!!