Brotherly Love

I guess Annie better just get used to this. Here is a video of Cole playing with her - "nuzzling" is what he calls it. She thinks he is so funny - I wonder how long that will last...

So far behind...

Wow, I am just as bad at staying caught up with my blog entries as I am my journal entries. Life gets busy, and I get behind. Here are a few pictures of things we did this month...


We made gingerbread houses for family night...and Cole actually left the candy on the house this year.







Happy Birthday Cole! Cole turned 3 on the 13th, which also happens to be our anniversary (6 years). We had a birthday cake and opened presents and then had a party with cousins on the 15th. Annie wanted to give the birthday cake a try. Dad was pretty willing to sneak her a few bites of ice cream. I don't know why it is so exciting for dads to sneak treats to babies.



Floyd's little sister, Candace, got married on the 14th. We learned our lesson at the last family event that too many people taking pictures = nobody looking at the same camera, so this is the only picture we have from the wedding. Too bad, Candace was a pretty bride. Annie looks cute too.

O Christmas Tree!

One of our Christmas traditions is to go to Idaho and cut down a Christmas Tree. It seems like it's always a winter wonderland up there, so it gets us in the Christmas spirit. It was pretty cold, but little Annie was a trooper and didn't make a peep as I paraded around the mountains with her in the Baby Bjorn. Cole had a good time playing in the snow with his cousins and both families found trees, so I guess it was a success.

First Kiss!

Last week, we took the kids to SLC to visit Grandma Donna and Aunt Karlee, do a little Christmas shopping, and see the lights at Temple Square. It was on the 28th, which is the 10th anniversary of our first kiss (oh, and Happy Birthday Kim). We had gone to Temple Square that night to see the lights with a group of friends, so it was a nice coincidence to be there on our anniversary. It wasn't a real date, but thanks to some behind the scenes planning by Brooke and Jed, Floyd ended up driving me home...and the rest is history! So, I'm posting then and now pictures so you can see how we've aged in the past 10 years.

California Dreamin'

We spent Thanksgiving in sunny (sort of, still a little hazy from the fires) Southern California. We went with Floyd's parents and his brother. We had a great time at Disneyland. The height restriction for most of the "big kid" rides is 40" and, as luck would have it, Cole is exactly 40". He got to go on everything except Indiana Jones and Space Mountain (he was actually tall enough for Space Mountain, but since it makes me want to puke, I vetoed that ride). After he rode Big Thunder Mountain, he told us he "got a little bit scared," but he said it with a big smile on his face.

We also went to Sea World (my favorite) and spent some time at the beach. It was a little chilly one day when we went to the beach and when we pulled up, Cole asked if it was the North Pole. I laughed, but then realized it did look a bit like it - white sand, white water, white sky.

One interesting aspect of the trip was that two days before we left, Cole decided he wasn't wearing diapers anymore. Great timing. He did pretty good wearing underwear and I lucked out since Floyd was around to take him to all the public restrooms. If you ever need a laugh, ask Floyd about those trips!



Cole hasn't seen a lot of Disney movies, so most of the characters meant nothing to him, but he has seen "Cars" and was pretty excited about Mater and McQueen.



Disneyland was all decked out for the Holidays - they even had fake snow. I can't believe how much work it would take to put up all the decorations they had...I was tired after decorating just our little house.



This is Cole telling us no pictures - I guess I got a little carried away.



A shot of the castle - pretty much an obligatory photo when you are in Disneyland.



Our little beach baby - she was interested in it for a bit, but quickly fell asleep. I guess the sound of waves really is sedating.



Cole was crazy at the beach. It was pretty cold, but he dove right in (and under) the water.



Sea World - of all the incredible shows and animals there, his favorite was the starfish.



One more shot of Cole at the beach - we stayed to watch the sun set. It's amazing how fast it falls below the ocean.

etc, etc, etc...

Here are a couple of miscellaneous pictures of things we have done lately -- we love autumn!




Cole at the Dinosaur Park - he especially loves Sharp Tooth. He likes coming to the park, but I think his favorite part is feeding the ducks on the pond here - nothing to do with dinosaurs.




Cole found some of my old roller skates at Grandma Rose's house a while ago, so he likes to "skate" around the neighborhood. His skating is more like walking, but maybe he'll get the hang of it sometime...



Annie likes her little swing - it takes her breath away every time she swings. We just have to keep Cole away because he doesn't really understand what a gentle push is.

Spooky!

Happy Halloween! Cole has been really excited for Halloween this year. He decided back in March that he would be a ghost, the baby would be a pumpkin, Mommy would be a witch, and Daddy would be a scary truck. The remarkable thing is that he never changed his mind. He liked scaring people and when I suggested that his name could be Casper, he said, "No, because Casper is a nice ghost and I am spooky." He went trick-or-treating at Daddy's work on the 30th and got two pumpkins full of candy, so on Halloween he mostly visited grandparents and played with cousins. Annie was just about the cutest little pumpkin ever. She never made a fuss through all the Halloween commotion, but didn't look overly excited about Mommy's witch hat.


Annie our little pumpkin


Cole, Annie and Mom - Cole wanted everyone to dress up


Savannah (fairy), Annie (pumpkin), Cole (ghost), Landon (bear), and Josh (cowboy)


The happy crew - Grandma Rose calls these two her "salt and pepper" babies because of their hair - they are both as sweet as can be

Leaf Party

My sister bought my grandparent's house a few years ago. It has one of the best trees in the entire world in the front yard. It is a great climbing tree and has huge leaves that are really fun to play in during the fall. When we were kids,our cousins would come visit and we would always rake the leaves into elaborate houses with one huge pile underneath the tree to jump into. Now that we have kids of our own, she invites the cousins up for a leaf party each year. They aren't quite old enough to get into the house-making yet, but do like playing in the leaves and mostly just being with each other. Here are some pictures of our fun day...


Cole loading up the leaves.


Josh about to drop in.



There were other fun things to do - like drive Josh's tractor. Everyone got a turn -- thanks for sharing Josh!


Savannah - the easiest one to snap pictures of because she will hold still for a minute to pose.


Ellie was always on the go - she took Grandma Donna on a long walk with her.



Abby - my cousin Traci's little girl - I think she looks a bit like Cole.


The babies, Annie and Landon, didn't get into the leaves much. Maybe next year.


Spencer liked driving things - a true little boy!


Cole and Josh in the fort together.

Cole at the Train Station

One of Cole's favorite activities is going to the train station. They have a little museum at the old Union Station here in Ogden. Luckily for him, we have to drive by it to get to a lot of things, so he sees it a lot and always begs to go there. And I give in a lot since we have a membership. We have been there so many times that I think they should make us honorary tour guides.



Cole underneath the trestle bridge



You can blow the whistle in this train - it's really loud!



Cole driving a train - he always tells people that he is the kind of engineer that's for trains and that his daddy is the kind of engineer that's for water.

Fishing at Cold Springs

Well, for the first time in my life I actually caught a fish on a fly rod. I cheated a bit, however, since it was at a fish farm. We went fishing at Cold Springs Trout Farm for family night. Cole and I caught some nice trout (after Floyd got our poles ready) and Floyd cooked them for dinner. Fish is the only kind of meat that Cole will eat--and he devours it every time we have it. Cold Springs is a pretty place just about a mile from our house - it makes us want to move back to the country and start a fish farm of our own.

Pumpkin Walk

We spent a cold day at the North Logan Pumpkin Walk with our cousins, Savannah, Josh, and Landon. Cole's favorites were Wilbur in Charlotte's Web and Thomas. He remembered that last year he got a cookie at the Pumpkin Walk, so he couldn't wait until he got another one. It was chilly, but we had a lot of fun.

Cole in front of the "Click, Clack, Moo" display


Cole's favorite - Thomas the Tank Engine


Daddy and Cole in front of Elvis - Daddy is making an Elvis lip


Cole and cousins in the old west



Mommy, Cole, and Annie on our way into the Pumpkin Walk

snakes and snails and puppy dog tails...

We were at a pond near our house the other day and Cole noticed some tadpoles in the water. He was thrilled and wanted to dive in and get them right then, but I told him we would have to come back another day. He didn't forget (surprising, I know). So, we headed back with our net and jar and caught some tadpoles. It turns out they are actually baby fish, but not being a real pond creature aficionado, I didn't notice until we brought them home and saw that they had fins instead of little tails. He keeps wondering when they are going to turn into frogs, and I don't have the heart to tell him they are actually fish. We also found a caterpillar (I definitely know that's what it is) on our trip and "Charlie" came home with us too. Charlie isn't moving much and I've told Cole it must be because he is getting ready to make his cocoon, so now we are waiting for frogs and a butterfly to appear. I don't think either will really happen. I'm not quite sure how I'll get out of this one, but I'm afraid it will involve a trip to the pet store. So I have two jars on my kitchen counter that really add to the ambiance. Ya gotta love little boys!

Looks like she's daddy's girl!