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