James' 18 month stats~

Well we finally got James to his 18mth checkup a little late but oh well! He did great as always, the shot hurt him but he didn't cry as long as the last time just cried for like 15seconds maybe then he was just fine after that!! What a trooper - we got a tough little boy here! He checked out great, has a little bit of a skin issue, nothing bad or serious just gets little sores every so often on his face usually just out of the blue and of course I can't remember what the doctor called it but it's something very treatable - also he still has some issues w/indigestion so we got some med's for that and hope he grows out of it soon, his attacks are very hurtful and it makes me so sad for him! Other then that he is GREAT - here are his stats:

Weight:  28lb 3oz - 77th percentile

Height:  34 1/2 inches - 97th percentile

Head:   18 inches - 50th percentile

The four faces of James - he lights up our life and we love him so deeply, he's a joy to have in our house! We love you sweet boy...

Halloween 2011

So this year was honestly one of the best Halloween years by far I think! Not sure what came over me but felt like a kid again and had the BEST time being w/friends and family that night! We do pretty much the same thing each year but this year we added some neighbor/friends to the mix when we trick or treated and it turned out so awesome! We live on really steep hills so the only way to do it here and have a great time is pulling trailers behind our four wheeler - it truly makes it an adventure!

Also my best friend/sister-in-law came w/her 2 kids and stayed the night so that was a lot of fun too - even though we always stay up so late talking then have to wake up early to do a workout BUT it's the best moments w/her b/c we get to chat and talk w/absolutely NO kids interrupting us so it makes it ALL worth it :) Love it when she stays! Also I usually don't ever dress up and feel like a loser mom - but this year I decided to change my whole mind set about it and have fun w/it instead of feel so stressed out and try to enjoy the holiday! So I put on an old Bee costume from when Brooklynn was a toddler and had lots of fun w/it! I've realized as I'm getting older that no one makes your happiness we are in control of how happy we want to be or can be and although 'some' people in our lives can have an effect on it, it still is truly up to us to be happy and make each moment in our life a positive moment and try to look at whatever it is in a positive way! I had a blast and the kids were smiling from ear to ear w/the loot they got that night so I know they enjoyed themselves as well!

Grandpa Hirschi came over and Uncle Jeff too for dinner, our traditional Halloween night Chili in a Pumpkin w/scones! Grandpa came trick or treating w/us for a little while then they went home - We were w/some great friends and stayed out the latest I think we've ever stayed out - we do stay out a long time usually but this time took a little longer b/c we went up to the top of all the hills to the houses that were handing out FULL SIZE candy bars - it will definitely become a yearly tradition I think and hope all of you had just as great of a time as we did this Halloween and now onto being thankful this month and being grateful for what we all have :)

 Our scary corpse bride...

 Cutest Hershey kiss ever and the other awesome hero of a Spiderman!

 Out on the trailer w/the crew!

 Randi and her kiddo's!

 The scary faces of the Hirschi Family! (well from some of us anyway) ;)

 The duo superhero's, they both ended up wanting to be Spiderman this year! Spencer is on the left Gavin on the right..

 Is everyone ready??!! We had two trailers and four wheelers between us and made it work!

 Trick or Treat...

 My sweet little monkey!

Before the rest of the crew came aboard :)

Life always revolves around TIME...

Since time is the reason I never post on my blog then I obviously don't have time for a LONG catch up post so I'll try and just keep it to a couple pic's per month as much as I can and give the 'short' version of this past year since I've posted last - here it goes!!
February~

 Happy Birthday 1yr old! (He wasn't so sure about the cake as you can tell)

Happy Valentines Day! And Brian and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary too :)

March~

 James became famous, he/we got interviewed for a fundraiser on Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia's!

 Happy 4th Birthday Spencer!!

 Zaxton, Gracie & James at their combined Birthday party!

Had a combined party for the 3 cousins all born w/in weeks of each other!

April~

BYU Women's Conference - Stayed at my beautiful friends place in Park City, good times!

 Spring Break in Las Vegas - took Brooklynn & Ezzy to The Lion King - amazing!

 Girls Weekend in Arizona w/my besties from High School and forever!!

 Spencer on his bike w/out training wheels for the first time like he was a pro :)

 Happy Easter and General Conference Weekend :)

May~

 Spencer graduating his year of swim lessons!

 Happy Birthday Daddy!

Graduated his first year at All Academy Preschool :)

June~

 Spencer @ 11mths

 James @ 16mths - at least James gave me 5mths longer till the terrible two's started...

 Spencer's 1st season of Soccer - and he played T-Ball as well all in Bear Lake!

July~

 All the Penning grand kids w/their gifts from Grandma & Grandpa from Italy!

 Exactly what me and my 3 girl cousins would be doing when we were growing up in the summers :)

 Happy Birthday Mommy!

Good times at the Hirschi Hideout...

August~

 Ice Skating in the middle of summer :) Brooky missed out :(

 Hooley's visited us in Bear Lake - Awesome family!

 School day's & carpooling begins...

 Lagoon day - very hot day but FUN!

The new 'official' McCracken family, got 3 new incredible niece and nephew's!

September~

 Bear Lake Heritage Day's - 'Fish Catch' poor Spencer was super scared of doing it for some reason...

 Sunday Hike w/Randi and the kiddo's up Limber Pine Trail in Logan Canyon!

 First day of his 2nd yr of Preschool for Spencer - James REALLY wanted to go too!

Our awesome friends Becky & Eric, he rode in Lotoja and I got to be a cheerleader at the Montpelier stop :)

October~

 Traditional pumpkin carving FHE night!!

 Boo at the Zoo - Grandpa Hirschi took them while sitting for us during our trip!

 Traditional Fall picnic at Green Canyon w/fishing and hiking!!

Pumpkin Walk at Elk Ridge Park!

We got the opportunity to go to Cancun, Mexico in October as well so I'll leave that for the next post b/c there's so many great pic's and this is already full of so many - so to be continued :) Hope you all had a great summer and just recently Halloween now onto Thanksgiving and the holiday's I just can't believe there already here - soooo crazy but lots of fun to be had :)