Aidan at school

One of the perks about Aidan's preschool is that his teacher's sister, Jocelin (who I went to high school with), is a fabulous photographer which makes for really awesome school pictures. You can visit her site here: http://www.photographybyjocelin.com/ . I love these pictures because most of the time he can't sit still long enough to get a good picture (along with the fact that he refuses to make eye contact) and she still got some good ones!

The whole class

I just love this picture. This boy is so full of life and laughter and I am so happy she caught that.

This picture made me laugh a little because it so reminded me of this next picture, which was taken by my friend Amanda- another fantastic photographer (http://www.amandaalexanderphotography.com/ ) when he was 2. Same serious face.

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween with a fun few days in Las Vegas first. We had a couple of free hotel nights that had to be used by November so we took the boys and had a fun vacation with just the four of us. Unfortunately our camera broke the first day we were there so I don't have any pictures to document the occasion, but we had fun going to the M&M factory (have you tried the new coconut M&M's? They are SO good!), Coke factory, Hard Rock Cafe, Shark Reef, saw the movie "Where the Wild Things Are," amongst seeing a few of the hotels and eating yummy food! The highlight was actually the night we went out to see the volcano at the Mirage and the fountains at the Bellagio. The boys just loved that- except Ethan was scared of the volcano. We went down last Tuesday and came back Friday night, just in time to escape the crazy's arriving for Halloween weekend!

For Halloween this year, the boys dressed up as matching vampires. I have a really cute monkey costume, that was Aidan's, for Ethan to wear but couldn't pass up him being a vampire with his long hair. My parents and Anson and Julia came over before for chili and then we all went out trick or treating. The boys had a great time- it was especially fun to see Ethan get into the spirit of it. Between the vacation and Halloween they've been tired and cranky for a few days but we're starting to come down from all of it and get back on a normal schedule again.

We're looking forward to a visit from Brett's mom for Thanksgiving, so we're busy working on the house to finish up some projects before she gets here. We're painting and decorating the boy's rooms, possibly building a new shoe shelf/bench to go under the coats, and trying to get the yard/garage/shed cleaned up and ready for winter. Lots to do! I'll post pictures as we finish things.

This week...

Just trying to keep up with my blogging duties and write a little about the week. The most fun we had was last night! Brett and I were able to get discounted tickets to the Odyssey Dance Theater's production of "Thriller." I was so excited to go- I have wanted to go to this for years and was thrilled to be able to go. We had such great seats and the dancing was fantastic! Every time a see a dance show like this, my heart aches a little. I enjoyed all my dance training growing up so much and really miss it. I feel like somewhere inside of me I was meant to be that back up dancer for Janet Jackson. Ha. Ha. Maybe I shouldn't admit that out loud. Well, now I know I just need to go see more productions like last night and live vicariously through those awesome dancers. I know for sure that we won't miss another year of going to this!

Much to the disgruntlement (is that a word?) of my lungs, I went run/walking with my mom, a couple times this week, and really enjoyed it. I need to go more often so I can work on running more and walking less but it was nice to be outside early in the morning (5:30 am!) and get to talk to my mom before the day started. I'm fighting a cold/sore throat that is dying to get out but I think exercising and the vast amounts of ImmunoShield and Emergency C that I'm taking is holding it off. I just don't have time to be sick.

Ethan has started fall with a bang and has been fighting his usual cold/asthma that comes with this colder weather. We had such a nice, healthy summer and I'm hoping that this fall/winter/spring won't be like last year. When I took him in for his follow up appointment(from spending last Sunday afternoon at the dr) he was keeping his lungs clear and his tonsils have gone back down to an average size so that's encouraging. I was grateful to get both him and Aidan vaccinated against H1N1 and am hoping that it will work. Ethan is in a high risk category if he gets this flu, due to the complications with his asthma, and I'm feeling anxious about it but just trying to keep us all clean from germs and as healthy as possible. If you come to our house this winter, don't be surprised when you see the giant bottle of hand sanitizer! He is such a sweet boy as always and I'm really enjoying our alone time together while Aidan is at preschool. He always makes me feel loved and I just can't get enough of him.

Aidan is really enjoying school,except for being out the door by 8:30 am. Not that he isn't up, he just likes to take his time in the morning- but he's doing better. Cute story- early this week we got ready to have family prayer before bedtime and Aidan wanted to say it. I reminded him that we are praying for our family and to pray for things the family needs. Here is what followed: "Dear Heavenly Father, Please bless... We need Milk. Amen" Can't say I blame him- we were out of milk.

I'm out of time to post pictures but I'll get more up soon!

St. George Marathon

One of the oldest traditions my family has is going down to St. George the first weekend in October to watch my dad run the marathon. We've been doing this since I was 5- so this year made for a special year because it was his 25th year! Almost our whole family was able to make it down this year (we missed Jordan's husband, Danny) and we had such a fun time! We were able to get a great hook up with a condo down there (thanks Julia!) and it was so fun to be able to stay there with the rest of my siblings and have some good times together. It's always a short weekend, but I look forward to it every year and am always so proud of my dad and all the work and commitment he puts into this.


At the half way point, up Snow Canyon. I think this is such a cute picture of the boys (all 4 of them).

Running in at the finish line


My mom made us all cute shirts to surprise my dad- they look like the sign Joseph and Juli are holding on the end


The back of the shirts


This is about the best that can be expected when trying to get a picture of 4 kids under the age of 5.

Happy 5th Birthday Aidan!

I'm always emotional on the kids birthdays- the time goes by so fast! I'm especially emotional today because 5 seems like such a milestone to me. I'm so grateful for this sweet child of mine. He brings so much laughter and love and ENERGY into our home. He fills my days with so much conversation and learning. He is such a good big brother and we are so blessed to have him. Some of Aidan's favorites right now are: FOOD (doesn't matter what- I'm starting to see that raising boys is going to bring a big grocery bill), playing with his animals and jungle set- he loves any kind of African or exotic animal, playing with his sweet friends across the street, riding his bike, spending time with dad (has always been a daddy's boy), reading Grandma's Smithsonian magazine or any other learning books he can get his hands on, and being with all his family and friends. This boy is our social bug! Happy Birthday Aidan! We love you so much!

Newborn


1 Year Old

2 Years Old

3 Years Old

4 Years Old

This Year- First day of school pictures

I'm really back this time...

I have a new goal to be much better about this. My problem is that I get so far behind I feel like I can't post again until I'm caught up, but I'm changing my thinking. I'm just going to make a fresh start. Even though we're half way through September, I didn't post much this summer so he is a quick recap: It flew by way too fast, but we started out in May with Brett and my ten year (!!!) anniversary (and a quick 3 day trip to St. George), and a week of fun swimming lessons in June (Ethan and I did Mommy and me and Aidan was in his own class). July brought a week on the Oregon Coast (the highlight of the summer), with my family; Ethan's 2nd birthday, my 30th birthday (and fun BBQ party that Brett threw for me), Aidan's summer preschool camp where he learned all about bugs, my sister and her family staying with us for a week, and a fun weekend of camping with my family. In August we had a fun day at Lagoon with Brett's work, I ran my piano camp with my students (best year yet), and a couple last minute trips to the swimming pool before the summer ended (we didn't go nearly enough this year), mixed in with the boys playing all day long outside with the neighbor kids. Sounds like a lot when you put it all together, but we actually relaxed a lot and are finally starting to get back to our regular routine.

I'm teaching more students than I've ever had, which is keeping me really busy, but surprisingly the boys are transitioning back into it really well. It helps that I have a couple neighbors helping me out and they get to go play with friends most of the week while I teach. Aidan started a new preschool this year and is really enjoying it. Since he missed the deadline for kindergarten by 2 weeks, we tried to find a preschool that would step it up a notch from last year. He goes 3 days a week for 3 hours and is having a great time! Ethan continues to do well, even though my heart is starting to beat faster with anxiety now that fall is here. We keep praying that he will have a better fall/winter/spring then we've had in the past. I think that about sums it up! Here's to hoping that I can stick with my goal!

More Birthday Pictures

We had a fun day celebrating Ethan's birthday with my family and the Burningham's and Gleaves. We had initially planned to have a pizza party at our house and then go swimming, but Ethan's been fighting a cold the past few days and woke up much worse that morning so we didn't feel good about taking him in the pool (btw- this means we got through 2 months of him being healthy! I'm sure its our longest stretch yet!), not to mention it was threatening rain. So we still had a fun pizza party and then we all went over to Provo and saw Ice Age. It was a fun day, the boys had a great time, and we're enjoying how occupied they are with all of Ethan's new toys! By the way- if you can't tell from the pictures, the ball from Aunt Jordan's family was the biggest hit of the afternoon. That boy loves to play with balls!