Moving Day - Moving Out of PROVO!

The day finally came where we moved away form Provo! I never really felt at home in Provo. I was getting sick of the college town. But it was pretty bitter-sweet leaving the apartment...the only home the boys have come to know. I cried when I left their bedroom for the last time. It was sad. We lived there for about four and a half years.We'll miss our wonderful neighbors too! We have come to make some really great friends! But on to the next chapter. We moved in temporarily with Andy's parents in Kaysville. We've been looking for a house! We found one that we really like, and put an offer on it. So far so good. Nothing is set in stone yet, but hopefully it will be ours in a few weeks!

Now...the whole reason we moved out of Provo, Andy got a job!!! In Salt Lake City. He's working for the state doing computer software development. We're so happy he got this job! It's been a blessing! He's liking it so far and is doing a great job!

We're so thankful for everyone who helped us on our moving day!

Here's some pictures from the day:

Charlie had fun helping, and playing in the truck! Max just got cuddled the whole time. He was a little confused with what was going on.

Max's 2nd Birthday!

My baby is two!

Max turned two on January 12th!

We started the day by letting him open his main gift. (He got the rest of his presents during his party)

He got a Sesame Street playset. Max and Charlie loved it!

Then later Molly and Jeremy came over for some cake and ice cream.

The next Monday, the 16th, we had a birthday party for Max.

I almost planned to do nothing but serve cake and ice cream, but as the days got closer to the party, I decided to do some sort of theme. My boys like the book "Where The Wild Things Are", and the name of the boy in the book is Max. I have wanted to do this theme for a party sooner or later. I figured it was a good theme for keeping the party low key.

*Side note: The reason I wanted a simple party is because we moved in with Andy's parents on the Saturday between Max's birthday, and the party day*

I got a few ideas off Pinterest, and found some cardboard crowns at a party store, and emailed these invites that I designed:

No dinner or games...just cup cakes and ice cream...that's how I kept it simple.

I can't do nothing. I have to make it special somehow. Andy always (playfully) teases me, saying I cant do anything simple. That I must decorate and do a theme...And it's true. :o)

My sweetie pie...

My boys and their cousins...

The "Wild Thing" opening his presents...

Max has been talking SO much. He's a gabber!

I have been keeping track of how he says certain words. I've been meaning to blog about them for months, so some of these are out of date, but they're still cute.

Wa la = Water (now he says "wa doe")

Ba la na = Banana (now he says it normal)

Ma mo = Elmo

Tway = Train (now he says it normal)

Wa wo = Marshmallow

Fa fee = Butterfly

Za ba = Pizza (now he says it normal)

Daba Daba = Yo Gabba Gabba

Chi chin = Chicken

De dew = Thank you (now he says it normal)

Yep = Yep, but he really puts an emphasis on the "p"

duh dole = cuddle

Dam ma = Grandma

Dammy = Grammy

Cha dee = Charlie

Mo den = Morgan

Pa pa = Grandpa

He's starting to say I love you, but I can't remember quite how he says it. It's something like, "I Fa foo".

Oh, I love that boy! He's so cuddly. Gives sweet hugs and kisses. Always says sorry, thank-you, and bless you. He knows how to wink! Loves to run and jump. And is always up to mischief.

Christmas Stockings

I've wanted to make new stockings for our family ever since we had Charlie. Now, almost two years after having Max I finally made some.

I didn't want to only use red and green. I get a little sick of those two colors during Christmas time.

So, I chose some modern colors you don't normally see for Christmas stuff, along with your usual Christmas colors.

A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into making these stockings...literally!

These took hours and hours before I finally finished them! I was worried that I wouldn't get them done before Christmas, but I luckily finished them only a few days before Christmas.

Christmas 2011

By golly! It's about time I post about Christmas!

December 14th...

We went with my parents to Thanksgiving Point to see their Christmas lights.

(You drive through them in your car)

It was pretty thrilling, I tell you what! At least the boys thought so.

Christmas Eve...

Our tradition of making sugar cookies, decorating them, and leaving some for Santa.

Charlie was really into it this year! He made himself an apron out of a dish towel.

In the past I would make a big fancy dinner to eat on Christmas Eve, but after spending the entire day in the kitchen last year, I finally decided NOT to cook dinner on Christmas Eve anymore. So this year, we went to Red Robin. And every year, from here on out, we will eat out on Christmas Eve!

It's kind of a joke, trying to get these two to hold still for a picture together.

This was the result of my effort to try and photograph them together in their new Christmas PJ's. I wasn't very successful.

I did manage to get this cute one of Max though.

I had the fantastic idea to take a picture of everything we got for Christmas before I wrapped it all. Now we can see what we got, before chaos occurs on Christmas morning.

The boys were so happy Christmas morning! Charlie had been asking for this Bumblebee Transformer for a really long time. Lucky for him Santa brought it for him! And Santa knows how much Max loves to color, so he brought him an art easel.

Charlie in his new fire fighter costume.

We visited the grandparents. Here's my studly boys hangin' out at Grandma & Grandpa Ancell's house.

And here they are opening presents and relaxin' at Grammy & Grandpa Hartvigsen's house.

Also...Andy's birthday is the day after Christmas!

So Happy Birthday to my sweetie pie! One more year in your twenties!

I made him a cake, and we went to dinner. I always feel a little bad that his birthday is kind of in the shadow of Christmas, but we always find a fun way to celebrate anyway.

Pictures, Christmas Card & Ornaments

This is a bit of a random blog post. I'm just trying to catch up a bit on blogging, so here's a few random things put together...

Aaron (Andy's brother) and his family came to town for Thanksgiving. They live in Washington, so we don't get to see them very often. They recently adopted a two year old girl, Sylvia, so we got to meet her for the first time! She's a total cutie! We also took advantage of them being in town, and had a little photoshoot of all the cousins together. That was difficult, to say the least. Aaron's girls were perfect angels, but my boys decided they wanted to run around instead.

This is the best group shot I could get:

Here's a cute one of Allegra and Sylvia:

I had to take this one of Charlie and Max on a different day, because they were being so difficult. And it was a miracle that I got them both looking and smiling at the camera in this shot!

Grammy and Grandpa with their grandkids:

And this is Merlin. Aaron & Josephine's puppy that they brought along. The boys loved him so much! They wouldn't leave him alone.

On to the next topic...

We did a photo swap with Andy's cousin's wife Ashley Webb (who is also a photographer). I took pictures for her family, and she took pictures for ours.

Here's my favorite picture of our family:

I used it for our Christmas card this year. I created it in Photoshop:

And finally, the last topic of this random blog post...

Every year around Christmas time we go eat out at Cracker Barrel for dinner, then shop in their little store for one ornament each to take home and put on our tree. Andy and I started this tradition the first year we were married.

We went a little late in the season this year, so the Cracker Barrel store was a little picked over. So we decided to go to Hobby Lobby to find some ornaments. They had slim pickin's too. Most of what they had were the fragile glass ornaments, like these ones we ended up getting:

Max got two, he's spoiled. And he broke one while we were waiting in line to buy them (it got replaced obviously). So I quickly took pictures the next day, because someday I'm sure these ornaments will break.

That's all for now. I have a lot of Christmas photos to post...someday...

365

I'm starting a project...one that will take a whole year to complete!

Today I started a 365 photo challenge! (Technically it should be 366 since it's a leap year).

I'll take at least one picture everyday for a year.

Then weekly, if not daily, I'll post the pictures on my 365 blog. You can click on the link to the right, and it'll take you there.

This project is one of the items on my "30 Before I'm 30" list.

This is something I've wanted to do for years. I started this challenge once before...it was the month I gave birth to Max. Needless to say that didn't work out too well. I only made it a few months before deciding to quit. I didn't have the time or energy to keep up with a photo challenge while having a newborn!

So, since I'm newborn free and it's a new year, I've decided to challenge myself to it again! Wish me luck!

And Happy New Year!!!

P.S. ANDY GOT A JOB IN SALT LAKE!!!!! WE'RE GETTING THE HECK OUT OF PROVO FINALLY!!!! ...just a little tid bit of info you might like to hear about. ;) But more about that at a later time.

Lights, Family, Santa

Andy's brother, and his family were in town over Thanksgiving weekend. One thing we did together was look at the lights at temple square.

Here's the boys all bundled up...

We also went to the "This is the Place Monument" on another day. There were all kinds of old-timey Christmas things to do.

My boys were able to sit on Santa's lap. Charlie told Santa that he wants a Bumblebee Transformer....I have a feeling Santa will bring it. ;)