Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve we had Bob and Diana come for dinner. it was fantastic (both the company and the dinner). Since we were spending christmas day with my family, they brought our present over to open on Christmas Eve. I was completely shocked! they got us a camera! it was exactly what i wanted...so needless to say i'm obsessed with taking pictures now even more than ever.

Christmas Eve

Christmas morning we all woke up at 7:00 with smiles on our faces

We opened presents


flew in the air


and shook our tail feathers


Colby played with his toy from Santa


and ate his toys from us

Hope you all had a great christmas too!

graduation and more

The last week has been crazy! Prepare for TONS of pictures. Last Friday morning, we went to the dedication of the BYUI Center, and the rededication of the MC. We were so excited to go and to be in the building. Too bad we missed the whole thing (thanks Colby). He was either super cute and wouldn't stop talking so we had to take him out, or he was fussy. Oh well, it was still amazing to be there.

At the dedication of the BYUI Center


Friday night, Andrew and Britt graduated!!! Such a huge accomplishment, I'm so excited and proud of them!

Before graduation (PS Britt made this dress)

Lovin on Colby

Getting ready to graduate!


Thor!


Can't get enough of this kid!

These pictures were before Andrew graduated, but you have the take the opportunity with a happy and awake baby!

Such proud parents!


Dan and Britt - So happy!


The graduates!


So happy for them!


Right after graduation, Andrew and I hurried back to our almost empty apartment so finish cleaning it out. Not gonna lie, i shed some tears as we drove away knowing it was the last time i'll ever see our place. We had a great apartment, amazing neighbors, and a fantastic ward. I couldn't ask for more and we lived there for so long, it was definitely hard to leave.

our empty place:

We missed the commencement Saturday morning and took that opportunity to head home early. We were making great time considering the massive amounts of snow falling everywhere. The Blues were pretty intense, and we make it to La Grande before they closed the freeway. We thought it was going to be for a couple hours, but then we read that there were numerous cars sliding off the road and finally made the decision that we should make it over the rest of the Blues in the morning, so we got a motel. Definitely a good decision. BUT we made it home Sunday a half hour before church and were able to go in time for the christmas program.

With that being said...IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME! We got a tree Monday! I got a picture of the tree when it was finished, but i have to take a picture with the flash on or else it's crazy blurry and the flash doesn't give the tree justice, so i didn't put it up. we didn't realize until we turned the lights on that we have a very patriotic tree (red, white, and blue).

Trying to bite santa

Colby is very curious about the christmas tree. so cute!

I just love the Christmas season!

payback

Lately, Colby has been having explosive diapers. I'm thinking it's the rice cereal, but they are out of control, and his diaper changes often involves a change of clothes too. As i was changing his diaper and trying to get his onesie off with the least amount of poop getting on him, i was thinking that i would love if andrew were home for one of these diaper changes, just one. But since Andrew can't be home to await that diaper change, colby decided to take things into his own hands:

i think that spit up makes up for it.

a little bit of christmas

This past weekend a lady Andrew works with was throwing a Christmas party for the students that work with her in the office. We first went to her ward christmas party (mostly for the roast) and then went to her house for more food and games. it was a lot of fun! Her ward christmas party had the whoville christmas program thing going on, so some dressed up like Whoville characters. Andrew and i put a santa hat on, that's about as festive as we get. we were pretty proud of ourselves.

Rockband

love/hate relationship

Over thanksgiving we gave colby this a lot:

This is why i love it:

if i'm desperate for him to stop crying, i can pop it in and he easily takes it

i don't have to worry about going out in public and have him start crying with no way to sooth him

he falls asleep easily with this

This is why i hate it:

he doesn't know how to put it back in his mouth, so if it falls out in his crib i have to keep running back in to pop it in

he wakes up in the middle of the night crying for it

he will NOT go to sleep without it now

what is a mom to do? still can't decide if i want him to have it or not....

On another note - i was reading a baby book that Andrew's mom gave me when i was pregnant called "Your baby & Child from birth to age five" the pages are turning yellow so i checked when it was published: 1983. it's older than me! anyway, i turned to a teething section and i quote

"So as soon as toys go in your baby's mouth, he or she should be given hard foods to put in too. Peeled pieces of apple are good; so are hard crusts or zwiebacks, raw scrubbed carrots and even cooked, smooth chop-bones."

ummm excuse me? no i didn't type that wrong. chop-bones. now i don't know if you've tried this, but personally...seeing how I'M NOT RAISING A DOG, i think that might be slightly confusing for, not only colby, but to those who may see my child gnawing on a bone. not sure how i feel about this book. and i'm not sure if andrew's mom gave him chop-bones to chew on. i'm scared to ask.

Thanksgiving in Arizona

This year for Thanksgiving we spent it with my family down in Arizona. I was super anxious to get down there and have a week to spend time with my family, and to mostly be able to spend time with Andrew while he had a little break from homework. Friday night before Thanksgiving we loaded the car up with a little bit of stuff for me and andrew, a little bit for jason and francisca, and a ton for colby (can't believe such a little guy demands so much room!), and the 5 of us headed out on our 15 hour journey to beautiful sunny, hot arizona (only it was kinda cold). we made it a night trip so that colby would sleep most of the way. he was such a little angel! i'm so impressed with how good he was for being in a carseat for so long. the only time we struggled a little with him was when we were only 15 miles away and he woke up hungry, i didn't want to stop to feed him so we tried to distract him, and it worked for the most part!

Arizona was full of family, hiking thunderbird mountain, FOOD, shopping, card games, and SUNSHINE! We even got our family pictures taken. it was such a great week! i loved being able to actually spend time with my hubby. we held thanksgiving day at my parents house and there were 36 people there! CRAZY! so exciting though. my only regret is only having one slice of pumpkin pie :( we had so much food that i forgot to eat more! at least there's always christmas!

on the flip side of our wonderful vacation...there was colby. he was sooo entertaining during the day. and then there was the dreaded night. he was sleeping in the same room as me and andrew, and apparently he didn't want to let us forget that he was there. he was waking up every 1 1/2 to 2 hours just SCREAMING and the only way to calm him down was to feed him (which he wasn't even really hungry). i was so confused and getting sooo incredibly emotional from the lack of sleep. we were giving him a binky for his naps because i didn't want anyone to have to deal with the crying during the naptimes, so i was worried he was completely hooked on that, but in the back of my mind i was thinking maybe he just knew we were in the room with him and wanted attention. after a sleepless week, i found out why he was such a pill! little man has a tooth! it popped up on friday when we were headed back home! i can't believe it! (and i'm sooo glad there was a reason for his sleepless nights). apparently diarrhea is a symptom of teething - do you have any idea how fun that is to deal while in a car when he blows through his diaper?

on our way home we were going to make another night trip saturday night, but we heard there was supposed to be a storm on sunday in utah and idaho, so we left at about 10:00 on saturday morning and i was worried colby wouldn't do so great during the day. WRONG! he was even better! he didn't even cry when he was getting tired, he would just close his eyes and fall asleep. he was sooo good and that made me soo happy because i have always struggled with getting him to sleep. on our way home we wanted to see the hoover dam, but they built a new bridge that had the walls too high to see the dam, and we looked at the exit and saw an endless line of cars that would take hours to get through so we skipped it (sorry jason and francisca - we'll see it another day!) we were driving up to salt lake city and staying there saturday night and i was so excited! i've never seen the christmas lights at temple square! we were cutting in close though! they turn the lights off at 10:00 and guess what! we got there at 10:00 - so we saw them close the gates! (we'll have to do that another day too). but we saw the city lights and they were so pretty! Andrew's parents were on their way back from spending thanksgiving in colorado and stopped in salt lake that night too, so we were even able to see them and andrews neice and nephew, Daniel and Alli. they were sooo cute with Colby. Everything he did just cracked them up and they'd fall on the bed laughing. we woke up to lots of snow and we went to breakfast with andrews parents the next day (yes it was sunday....i payed for that later). and then we headed out (dan and britt also stayed in the same hotel so we were all able to caravan). the roads were HORRIBLE! i was scared for colby's life, not to mention i wasn't feeling well (probably from lack of sleep) and i just wanted to get home. once we got home it hit. yes, i was going to pay for going out to eat on sunday. i couldn't unpack, i could hardly hold colby. all i could do was lay on the couch and run for the bathroom. i couldn't keep my food down! poor andrew had to deal with colby while trying to get his homework done because i couldn't take care of him. it was so nice though! i went to bed at 9:00 dreading the night (i was thinking colby was going to keep waking up like he did in arizona). he only woke up once in the middle of the night to eat, and then he slept the rest of the night! oh i am one happy mom! plus i'm feeling much better, so i'm hoping it was that belgian waffle i had. i really really don't want to get colby and andrew sick.

chillin in the carseat

after one of his explosive diaper changes, Colby drove over to the dumpster

Aunty Kami with colby and a cute hat

4 Generation picture

Papa reading to Colby

little blessing

This morning i was cooking myself some breakfast (actually heating up oatmeal) and i couldn't stop smiling. i could hear colby through his monitor just laying in his crib cooing. usually i'm welcomed in the morning with a desperate cry to get food, i was pleasantly surprised that he was just in there talking to himself. so i let him talk to himself for a while until he started to cry, when i went in there he had rotated himself and was facing the wall just talking away. when he saw me he got the biggest smile on his face. (i totally forgive him for crying for hours last night instead of sleeping). this was the first morning he woke up happy and i LOVE it :)

he also had to get his 4 month shots today. sooo sad, but he's a trooper!

always trying to chew on his hands

still being adorable

here's his stats at 4 months:

weight: 12.1 lbs - 6%

height: 25.5 in - 73%

Head: 16 in - 14%

what a great trilogy! i can't believe 'back to the future' came out in 1985 and i had never seen it before! guess i thought they would be super strange, but they were so good! i highly recommend them.

it officially started snowing monday, i was going to get a picture of us outside for colby's first snow, but by the time andrew got home from work to take the picture it was dark, not to mention it's freezing out there! the snow doesn't seem that bad this year, i guess it's because i see an end to the snow.

10 days until arizona.

39 days until we say goodbye to rexburg forever.

Colby's blessing

Alright I know this is just a few months late, but i'm finally blogging about Colby's baby blessing! I just recently got some pictures from the blessing (i, of course, forget to take pictures with my camera that day) We had the blessing on September 26 after church in the clubhouse here at our apartment complex. we had a lot of family and friends that were able to make it. andrew gave an amazing blessing, and colby helped make it memorable. colby decided that right in the middle of the blessing was a good time to fill his diaper...loudly! (apparently the 2 minute long blessing was much to long to hold it in) it was way hard to keep from laughing, but andrew somehow managed to make it through the blessing and we all had a good laugh afterwards (and some even had a good laugh during the blessing). overall, it was a great (and very memorable) day.

It was really hot in the clubhouse, so we ended up just taking his blessing outfit off

so busy being a mom

Just showing off our attractive side :)

Colby is growing so fast and is so much fun! he's a huge blessing in our lives and we just love him to death! Here are few things that he loves doing at 3 1/2 months old -

- sitting up (with help of course)

- attacking his toys

- talking and mimicking us

- standing up (with help)
- chewing on his hands (both of them at the same time)

- tummy time ( actually he hates it, but he's doing much better! still not rolling over completely on his own though)

He's still sleeping the majority of the day, but i love those precious moments when he's awake.

He just loves his daddy

He's actually hooked on the TV here

His new best friend and the first church outfit he fit into

Spending time with daddy

Tummy time - he's not sure if he likes it or not

It's hard to get a picture of him smiling - might have something to do with the bright orange focus light that comes on, but he LOVED the box

He twitches so bad that he has to be swaddled, but dang it if he's gonna try and break free! He always gets his hands out

Our pumpkins!

i was getting anxious to put him in his johnny jumper - apparently he's still too little

So maybe this is mean, but we just love his reaction when we blow in his face

Copying his daddy - so cute!