Bosten at 2 months

Today we took Bosten to the doctor for his 2 month check up. In addition to starting immunizations, which were NO FUN, we found out that he has an upper respiratory infection AND a double ear infection. Poor kid! No wonder he's been so miserable....

Here's the latest stats:

height: 22.25 inches (25th percentile)

weight: 11.1 lbs. (25th percentile)

head circumference: 15.75 (50th percentile)

Bosten LOVES his big brother, playing in the bath, eating and silly faces that everyone makes at him.

He is smiling like crazy and cooing all the time. He's usually getting up only once at night.

He HATES the carseat, having lotion put on his face, and getting out of the bath.

We sure love this little boy and are so glad to have him in our family!

Christmas fun

Christmas Eve day we headed down to Riverton to spend the day with my family. Kaden was completely THRILLED to go sledding for the first time with Papa.

Kaden was pretty excited all day and kept telling Bosten that Santa was coming after they went to bed!

Bosten in his Christmas shirt...thanks Uncle Devon and Aunt Michelle!

Kyle came down after work, and we had Christmas with my parents, brother and his family, and one of my sisters (and her family).

Mimi made these great capes for all the kids...Superman on one side, their favorite color and initial on the other:

Of course, Kaden's is Orange (Go Beavers!) He told me "this is my favoritest best cape I ever saw in the whole wide world!". Guess he liked it! :)

We came home after dinner to open new jammies before bed:

Christmas morning Kaden woke up at 8am...how great is that?! He was so excited to see that Santa had been there, even though we don't have a chimney (he was quite worried about it!)

a new game

look, its a big one!

a pirate ship...arrrgh!

Geo trax (thanks Santa!)

A new tool belt and tools from Bosten

We spent the rest of the day with Kyle's family and had fun just hanging out. We came home just before the crazy snowstorm hit...the biggest snowstorm on record for Christmas!

The Twilight Before Christmas

I saw this online and thought it was pretty funny! Enjoy all you Twilight fans! (Just click on the picture and the movie will start).

Bowling season

We won't talk about the Las Vegas Bowl from Saturday....BUT, the Beavers are coming up in the Sun Bowl! In honor of this one last game of the season, Kaden has something to say:

GO BEAVERS!

To our family and friends

We hope you know how thankful we are for you and for all you do for our family! We love you!

p.s. Sorry for the lack of posts lately...we've all been SICK. Hopefully we're on the mend soon, and I'll get back to business! :)

Kaden's pictures

Kaden is always asking to take a picture with the camera or my phone. When I took the boys' picture the other night....

he wanted to take some too:

We think its so funny how Kyle is barley in the 2nd one. When we asked Kaden how come he didn't take Daddy's picture too, he told us that he only wanted Bosten. Sorry, Daddy!

SNOW fun

I know its not THE first snow of the season, but its OUR first snow (we were on the way home from Disneyland when the last snow came). Anyway, Kaden was SO EXCITED to see it and DYING to get out in it....not to build a snowman or have a snowball fight, but to shovel the driveway. Silly kid!

Cute boys

Yesterday we went to the Bountiful temple for a sealing. While they were taking pictures outside, we got this picture of Kaden and Bosten with 2 of their cousins and a friend. Trust me when I say this is the happiest and most still that they were the entire time! :)

Kaden was so excited to go to the temple! He asked me, "Are we getting married to Bosten today?" Sweet little boy!

6 Straight!

Last night Bosten slept 6 hours straight! HALLELUJAH! It was so nice to get in a good chunk of sleep. Hopefully this wasn't a one time occurance because it was SUPER GREAT! Way to go, Bosten.

A new yummy treat

I was reading one of the scrapbook blogs that I follow, when I saw this receipe. Its super easy, Kaden could help, and they were so good!

PRETZEL HUGS

1 bag pretzels

1 pkg. M&Ms

1 pkg. Hershey "Hugs"

Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. (Believe me, its much better if you do!) Place pretzels on cookie sheet. Place a Hug on each pretzel and bake at 200 degrees for about 8 minutes (just watch for the Hugs to melt). Remove from oven and promptly place a couple of M&Ms on each pretzel, pressing into the melted chocolate. Allow to cool before serving. The picture shows square pretzels...I used regular ones and it was fine.

Kaden's masterpiece

Last year we decided to start a new family tradition. Kyle and I never did gingerbread houses growing up, but thought Kaden would like doing one. Last year's was a total fiasco and ended up in a big pile. I have pictures somewhere, but they're not pretty.

Tonight we did this year's masterpiece. We pretty much let Kaden do the whole thing by himself:

Not bad for a 3 year old! Even Bosten got in on the action. :)

Our "fresh cut" tree

Before I say anything else, I'm sorry if I offend any lovers of fake trees. :) Growing up in a (if not THE) Christmas tree capital of the world, I've always gone out into the muddy tree field to cut a fresh tree. Its pretty fun, usually cold and wet, and we deliberate for more than a couple of minutes to find the perfect tree. Well, since moving to Utah its been a whole different story....both years we've been here we've gone to a tree lot to get a tree. I'm sure they've been cut for awhile (since I know when harvest season is in Oregon), but there's nothing like the smell of a fresh tree in the house! Yes, I can see how just pulling a tree out of a box, not dealing with pine needles or keeping the tree watered, etc. could be real motivation to get a fake one....BUT, this Oregon girl won't succumb....

Kyle and Kaden went without me this year to get our tree (yes, a little scary!). They did great though. I put lights on the tree during the kids' nap, and then we decorated when Kyle got home from work.

Family Pictures

We recently had family pictures taken by Emily (Dave's sister). She's taken them the last couple of years, and we're always happy with how they turn out and the miracles she works with Kaden! (You can check out her stuff at http://www.carpediemportfolio.com/ or http://carpediemphotography.blogspot.com/ ) We wanted to go outside again, but decided that Bosten was too little for this year!

Success!

We have taken Kaden every year to see Santa, whether it was at the mall or at the ward Christmas party or wherever. He always wants to go see him, but once we get there he says he's too scared. Usually our pictures end up something like this:

Notice how they're both crying? Kaden because he doesn't want anything to do with Santa once we get there, and Kyle because I want him to so bad! :)

We decided to give it a go today. We've been talking about how we get to show Santa what we'd like him to bring us and his new favorite movie (Polar Express) has the little boy sitting on Santa's lap at the end....

So, armed with the catalog of toys that came in the mail (with everything that he wants circled) and the camera we headed out. We thought Bosten might get in on the action too, but he fell asleep in the carseat and there was no way I was getting him out to get a picture. Anyway, Kaden went pretty much right up to talk to him and show him the toys he'd like:

Pretty good, huh?! Santa was great and there wasn't anyone else waiting, so Kaden got to talk to him for a few minutes. And, he even sat on his lap for the long awaited picture!

Success!

THIS is what a circus looks like

This is what you get when you have 8 grandkids plus Mimi and Papa trying to get a picture for my parent's Christmas cards. It was hillarious to try and get everyone sitting where they were supposed to, to be looking at the camera, to smile, and to NOT TOUCH whoever was next to them. We had 4 cameras going, so hopefully they got one that works! :)

"Momma, where's Rudolf?"

Yesterday (Thanksgiving) we took the kids to see "Santa's reindeer". They were resting for their upcoming date with Santa in a pasture near my parents house. Kaden thought it was super exciting, but all he could ask was "Where's Rudolf?"

Black Friday

This morning my 2 sister-in-laws and I decided to get up early and go shopping! We were at our first stop (Walmart) by 4:45am and out the door by 5:20am with all of our new treasures. Between the three of us, we accomplished pretty much all that we set out to do. Here's every where that we went:

Walmart

ShopKo

Target

Smith's Marketplace

KMart

Ben Franklin Crafts (2 locations)

We go every year and have learned some tips and tricks to get in and out the easiest as we possibly can. We were home by 10am and it was a fun morning.

Thanksgiving

Its Thanksgiving week! I love the meal planning and the anticipation of spending the entire day with our family and the extra conversations on gratitude we've been having (and recognizing our many blessings!). Happy Thanksgiving to all of our family and friends! We are so thankful for you and all that you do and are in our lives. We love you.

It all comes down to this

This weekend is the BIG rivalry weekend in Oregon with the Civil War. This year its even bigger, if that's possible, because if the Beavers can beat the Ducks, then we're headed to the Rose Bowl. This is HUGE. It would be the first time in 44 years since they last went to the Rose Bowl. I am DYING that I'm not going to be there. Seriously dying. My sister and I tried to work out a quick road trip, but logistically it just wasn't coming together. DANG IT! We'll all be wearing orange and watching the game Saturday night. GO BEAVS!