Thanksgiving 2011

I am very proud to say we hosted our first Thanksgiving this year. It sure made me appreciate and miss my mom when I saw what it really takes to pull of a Thankgiving dinner! We are so thankful to have our WONDERFUL friends (and substitute family) the Hones to spend Thanksgiving with not to mention Danielle is the best cook ever so as soon as we decided to do dinner together I knew it was going to turn out awesome all thanks to her. I did my first turkey, I didn't know you had to defrost it way ahead of time and I wanted to do it in the crockpot cause it sounded good and easy, so the night before I got it out of the fridge and it was still frozen plus it was twice the size of my crockpot so I had to cut it in half and use 2 crockpots and since it was frozen me and Dane spent well over an hour hammering a knife through our frozen turkey haha I bought a backup frozen turkey loaf cause I expected that I would somehow mess up but my turkey actually turned out and I didn't even need the backup. It was a good lazy day with good food and great company

This happy little gal is keeping me busy! She is into EVERYTHING everytime I turn my back she is eating something off the floor, climbing up the stairs, or pulling things out of drawers and off shelfs. The first few pictures were taken within about 5 seconds of eachother - she just moves non-stop. 8 months is such a fun age but I don't know how she's not completely exhausted cause I am!!

Thief

Well we finally weaned Beck off his binky and now he's taken it upon himself to wean Quinn off her binky. Every night and nap I lay Quinn down with her binky and blanket and many times I come in and find that the binky and blanket have made it from her crib to Beck's bed

Fall

One of my favorite things in the world - Virginia in the Fall

Carter Mountain

Apple picking at beautiful Carter Mountain

Happy Halloween

I can't tell out of me, Dane, and Beck who loves Halloween most - we are all crazy about it so it's a tough call. I would maybe say Beck based on the fact that everyday since Halloween we get out his trick or treating candy 50 times just so he can smell every piece since he knows he can't eat it all. But then again I would maybe say me because I have a sugar tooth like most people will never be able to even comprehend and I LOVE watching all my favorite Halloween movies like Practical Magic and Double Double Toil and Trouble. But I actually might vote Dane as being the biggest Halloween fan because he gets true joy just from standing at the door handing candy out to kids, he is always more than willing and very excited to dress up in any costume I have for him, he also wont watch any movie thats not a Halloween movie for the whole month of October, and I've mentioned before I think that pumpkin carving is one of the top 3 highlights of Dane's year every year . Oh but wait, Dane doesn't like candy so I guess he can't be the biggest Halloween fan since thats the whole meaning of the holiday.

Now that I talked Dane up I hope you aren't disappointed in his pumpkins. Mine is the first one and he did the other 2. I bet you would never guess mine only took me about 10 minutes to carve, when I told Dane that I was done he looked at my pumpkin and then looked back at me in total disgust. I had it pictured being a little bit cuter in my mind.

Beck loves our pumpkins, to Dane's delight everynight he wants Dane to light them as soon as he gets home. We had to make an emergency candle run to the store the other night because they've already been through 3 candles and we didn't have any more. Beck walks out to look at them multiple times every night. Every time he will look at Dane's and say "ooh a scary pumpkin" and then he will look at the one Dane made for him and say "ooh a spider pumpkin for me!" and then he will look at mine and say "what's that?" EVERY TIME!!! Rude!

This was Dane's costume - he was a synchronized swimmer, so he wore this hat with a robe I was glad and very surprised that he was classy enough to choose to wear a robe instead of a swimming suit to our friends Halloween party haha. I never got a picture of Dane in his costume but Beck had no problem modeling it for me.

The Friday before Halloween was our ward's trunk-or treat. Beck and his buddy Benson (one of my favorite little boys in the world) looked so darn cute together in their twin dragon costume.

Ashlee, Me, Lara, Paige - LOOOOVE these gals

I think next year for Halloween I am going to go as something cute like a cowgirl or a princess I feel like Lindsay Lohan in means girls in this picture. I loved Ashlee's captain hook costume her whole family looked awesome in their Peter Pan costumes.

Dane and Tom Selleck - I definitely vote that Derek makes the mustache a permantent look. Dane didn't have time to dress up for the trunk or treat

Family Pictures

Thanks so much to my talented friend Alicia for taking our family pictures last month!

This little boy just keeps me laughing - a few of my favorite things he's said/done this week:

Saturday morning Dane was sleeping in (much deserved considering he's been getting up to go to the hospital at 3:30 am!) and Beck climbed up on the bed next to him and woke him up to tell him that if he gets out of bed then Beck would have to shut the door and put him in time-out. I bet you can't guess what we tell Beck everynight as we put him to bed

When he asks me for candy and I tell him no he just says matter of factly "ok I'll ask dad"

Quinn was in her room crying and Beck ran in ahead of me and before I went in he shut the door to their room and kept saying to Quinn "now just tell me whats the matter sweetheart"

Since Beck asks for fruit snacks 50 times a day I usually give him a pack and tell him to just keep them in his pocket until after dinner, half the time he sneaks away and eats them and half the time he actually saves them and doesn't ask again. So the other day he asked if he could have some for his pocket and I told him no because he had already had some and he started throwing a major tantrum, then mid tantrum he goes straight from crying and screaming to laughing hysterically and between giggles said "I don't even have a pocket!". I thought it was funny that he appreciated the irony of realizing he was wearing his basketball shorts which don't have pockets.

We were at the grociery store and instead of saying goodbye to the man that helped bag our grocierys Beck blew him kisses until he was finally out of sight.

And lets not forget our doctors visit last week to get the raisin he stuck up his nose! I don't know what he was thinking but I watched him as he shoved it in there and I tried to get it out with the tweezers which wasn't working so I called my mom and she googled it and read that if you blow into his other nostril and it might come out but I decided I would rather make a trip to the doctor than try that one. So I took him in and the doctor pulled out the giant raisin and after we left I put Beck in the car and he said "that was unreal!".

Last weekend we went up to DC to go to the temple and then after we went to the temple we went downtown and walked through some of the monuments. I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing everyting in DC I love it and of course it was wonderful to go to the temple and spend time together as a family.

I am SO IN LOVE with these two


I'm also SO IN LOVE with this guy

Quinn - is the happiest baby in the world, if you make eye contact with her your sure to get a smile (except for Lara and my mom haha). She's getting her 2 bottom teeth right now. She hates baby food - even the fruits! She loves her dad and won't let him out of her sight. She thinks everything Beck does is hilarious, he's still the only one that can really make her laugh.

Beck - I didn't think it was possible but he has a sweet tooth as bad as mine and can sniff out any sugar I have in the house nomatter where I hide it, and then he will find a hiding place to eat it in and as soon as he is finished he will find me and say "I'm so sorry for eating....", if it wasn't for his honesty I'd never even know he had done it. He's been praying for Santa Clause everynight. Love's the songs Firework, Soul Sister, Bad Romance, New York, I am a Child of God, Popcorn Popping, and I Hope they call me on a Mission. When he leaves the room he tells me to stay right where I am and be a good boy until he gets back.

Dane - The hardest worker I know...but in my opinion he has mastered the "work hard play hard" whenever he has some spare time he wants to be doing something fun! He's super busy doing rotations but still makes time everyday to spend with me and the kids even if its just a quick trip to the grociery store or helping me get the kids ready for bed. And he definitely keeps me laughing...the other day we were at the mall and he tried on a pair of pants and then came out to show me, I told him I didn't love them and he agreed, then without even thinking he took them off right then and there....IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE!!! And the worst part is that I didn't notice what he was doing either until we both looked at him holding the pants and then looked down at him wearing his nice white silk underwear in the middle of the store!!! For anyone who knows Dane they know that he walks around shamlessly in his undies all the time even in front of my family or anyone who knocks on our front door haha but in the middle of a store at the mall...thats a stretch even for him!!

What would we ever do without our good friends to entertain us everday!?

Beckett and Jack on the train at the childrens museum

Lily brought some treats over and I told Beck he couldn't have one until he ate all of his Macaroni so Lily totally backed me up and saw to it that Beck at every bite before she would give him his candy kiss. She cheered him on everybite and kept telling him how many more bites he needed to eat before it would all be gone...and he insisted that she blow on every single spoonful before he would take a bite.

I know Beck isn't going to remember all the fun he had as a 2 year old with all his Virginia buds, but he sure loves them and I hope they will be friends forever and I'm sure there will be many more good times to come!

BFFs

We finally moved Quinn from our room to Beck's room and even though it's a huge pain because they keep eachother up and then wake eachother up it's also the cutest thing ever to listen to them laugh and giggle together after we put them to bed I can't get enough of it! Quinn is starting to react to everything Beck does, she thinks he's so funny and he just eats it up. And you better not mess with Quinn or else you will without a doubt get in trouble from Beck his favorite phrase is "My Quinn!" anytime anyone touches her. I hope he's always that protective of her ( well maybe not THAT protective)

I thought when I made these bows that I was making them for Quinn...but Beckett is really rockin them so I guess they can share

Labor Day Weekend

For labor day we went and stayed at a cute little Bed & Breakfast (owned by REALLY rude children hating people) in Staunton VA with our good friends Eric and Ashlee.

When we first got there we had a picnic at a cute little park with a pond and a train. Me and Ashlee waited with our babies while the boys took the older kids on the train. While we were waiting we made friends with A LOT of hillbilly kids who were waiting to get on the train. I was sitting next to a couple of little hillbilly looking girls with really thick accents and I asked them if they had been on the little train before and they said yes, then I asked them what grade they were in and the smaller of the two said "second grade" and then pointing to the bigger girl she said "she's done it four times!" I wasn't at all surprised by this sadly...but then I realized that she meant she had been on the train 4 times not repeated second grade 4 times haha.

Finn and Quinn hanging out together in their strollers (no - me and Ashlee are not obsessed with Glee...it's all just a coincidence haha)

After the park we went and walked around downtown which was REALLY cute. They had some kind of festival going on so the kids had fun getting balloons and riding tractors there and then we went in some fun stores and went to eat.

Beck and Lily at Shenandoah. I've told both my kids that at least one of them has to marry a Stettler...they're just so darn cute together!

Our last full day we drove through Shenandoah National Park and then went to Luray Caverns which were really cool!

I love seeing new things and places and I'm so glad we have such fun people to do it with!!