A Colorado Christmas!

A few weeks before Christmas, we found ourselves in St. George for the weekend. We went and saw the lights at the temple and Madilyn was in awe! She was so cute running around saying, "Look! Pretty lights!"

This year we got to go to Colorado for Christmas. We drove over two days before Christmas. On the morning of our trip, we woke up and looked outside. There was no snow at all! We started getting the kids ready and loading the car. All of a sudden, with-in the time span of about 3 minutes, it went from no snow at all to a blowing white-out blizzard! We panicked a little, thought, "Holy cow, we have to leave NOW!", and ran around like chickens with our heads cut off. We made it on the road just a few minutes later and traveled very slowly up the canyon. Visibility was not very good and we just prayed the car in front of us did not go off the road because we would follow! Once we got to Price the weather and roads were a little bit better. 

Things started to pick up again just before we reached Vail. By the time we got to Silverthorne, traffic was stop and go. And the "go" part was only about 3 mph! Cars all around us were spinning out because we were stop and go on a (snow-packed) hill. We had 4-wheel drive and never had a problem, but we saw at least 12 cars just abandoned in the middle of I-70 because they could not go anywhere. Our wiper blades kept filling up with ice so Lucas would reach out the window every now and then to snap them to make the ice break off. On one snap the wiper went flying! Luckily, it landed on the hood and he was able to grab it. He then had to reach his arm out the window to wipe the windshield with the wiper in his hand until we were stopped long enough for him to jump out and put it back on! I was laughing hysterically! As we made our way towards the Eisenhower Tunnel, they closed the freeway not very far behind us. We were lucky to be one of the last to make it through because every hotel in Silverthorne filled up fast! A trip that normally takes us about 7 1/2 hours took us 11, but we will never forget it! The kids were so happy to be out of the car when we finally arrived at Lucas's parent's house!

Normally you can see beautiful mountains!

We waited until Christmas Eve to see Santa because we wanted to go with our friends, the Wastarts. The only problem was that they were out of tickets to see him at the Bass Pro Shop (where we love to go) and he was no longer at Cabellas. The malls still had Santa, but they do not let you take your own pictures and they charge an arm and a leg for their photo packages. Luckily, we had the hook-up with Santa and he made a special visit at my parent's house!

The kids got new pajamas on Christmas Eve! This is a tradition that my parents did with us that Lucas and I decided to carry on with our kids.

In addition to normal gifts, my family does a Secret Santa gift that we exchange the first time that we are all together. This year I had my dad and I made him this shirt!

Madilyn and her cousin, June. Christmas is magical!

We had a fun Christmas seeing all of our family! Lucas's family all lives in Colorado, my parents and sister do, and my brother was there from Texas! Since all of our family was there, we took a few family photos.

It was so freezing that we didn't take off our coats for the group shot. I would love to go to this location again next time we are in Colorado and it is warmer!

On the drive back to Colorado we we in a little bit of traffic and suddenly smelled something strange and sour. We thought Idaho Springs was having a stinky day! about 45 min later we pulled over thinking that the smell had to be coming from the truck. Lucas discovered the source- Tyson! He had puked all over himself and then just went to sleep. Since he is still rear-facing, we had no idea. When Lucas opened the door to get him out, Tyson woke up and just had a huge smile on his face! It was -1 degrees outside and all we had to clean him up was a pack of baby wipes. We wiped him down, wiped his seat, and changed his clothes. We had to drive the rest of the way home with the stench! So, I guess we will never forget our trip home, either!

11 Months Old

December 15th was Tyson's 11 month mark! He is starting to eat more and more foods and thinks it is fun when he gets to sit in the high chair with us all at the table! He has now had a second round of croup and it breaks my heart when I hear that barking cough. Tyson loves looking at the Christmas tree and actually does really well when we tell him not to touch! (Yay, we don't have to have a bare bottom half of a tree!!) He loves stealing Madi's sippy cups/straw water bottles and thinks it is so cool to drink out of them! He is still not walking on his own, but he has gotten a little braver and will walk holding just one of our hands. He thinks he is so cool when he climbs up on Madilyn's toddler bed and he does it every night then looks at us with a proud look on his face. Tyson now has a big boy car seat (still rear facing) and is growing up too fast.

        He would NOT hold still, so this picture is really blurry (see his hand?) but at least it shows his size compared to the "T".

We were blessed to have my in-laws here for Thanksgiving! They had never seen the lights at Temple Square, so we had to take them! It was freezing, but beautiful!

The kids got new penguin pajamas! (Don't mind Madi's crazy hair!)

Double Digits: Tyson is 10 Months!

We have been hit with sickness! ALL of us! It all started when Madilyn started getting a little bit of a runny nose. It gradually got worse, and a few days later Tyson started getting one too. Then my throat was sore and I was getting a stuffy nose. Before long, the three of us were constantly wiping our poor noses (thank goodness for Boogie Wipes!) Lucas was the last to get hit (it was bound to happen). He ended up getting the worst of it, as it turned into a bad sinus infection for him. Luckily, right in the midst of it all, I got a FREE humidifier in the mail from Influenster! Now Lucas and I could have one in our room too! This sickness consumed most of our November, but I did manage to get some 10 month photos of Tyson on a day when he was feeling well enough.

Tyson is such a sweet baby boy! He gives the best snuggles and has the cutest little voice! He is learning what the word "NO" means and hangs his head and pouts whenever you tell it to him. It kinda breaks my heart, but I also can't help but laugh a little whenever he does it! Tyson loves to eat and the second Lucas sits at the table with food, Tyson is at his feet begging for him to share. He still is not walking on his own, but sure gets around by holding onto things. He will walk with the walker or with Madilyn's Minnie Mouse car back and forth across the room over and over. He always does it with a proud look on his face, too! I think he may be going through a growth spurt because he has been waking once during the night to eat, which he doesn't normally do! His latest favorite thing to do is bang his head against the wall. I'm not joking! It's funny and weird at the the same time!

He seriously spent a solid 10 minutes playing with his shadow!

Madilyn is at such a fun age! I really think Christmas will be fun this year for her! Last year she liked seeing Christmas lights, but this year she just can't get enough! Whenever we go anywhere at night she is constantly saying, "Look! Pretty lights!" As we were decorating the house for Christmas, she found a Santa and exclaimed, "Santa Claus! Ho, ho, ho!" She now says that every time she sees a Santa! One Sunday we were heading out the door for church and she was really eager to tell me something. Since we were in a hurry I was a little irritated when I said, "What, Madilyn?" She just looked up at me and said, "You're beautiful, Mama!" That melted my heart and I was sorry for being irritated. One night we were out to dinner when Lucas's parents were here. They had ordered some big round mushrooms that kind of looked like little potatoes. Madilyn really wanted to try one so I cut up a little piece and put it on her plate. She took a bite and her smile turned to a frown and she slowly stopped chewing and pulled it out of her mouth. She spent the next few minutes yelling at the mushroom and telling it to go away! 

Madilyn and I got to meet Miss Utah!

We decided to start a new tradition this year with a Thankful Tree. Lucas's job was to make the tree (which, as you can see, he took very seriously). Madilyn and I made the leaves and she picked where they went on the tree. Each day in November we wrote on a leaf something we are thankful for.

We enjoyed having Lucas's parents here for Thanksgiving. We went with them down to St. George for a couple of days to look at winter homes for them. The kids loved having them here and Madilyn is still asking where they went. They had never seen the lights at Temple Square, so we took them! It was really cold and we could only stay for a bit because we had dinner reservations for their anniversary, but we did get a couple pictures!

The Pumpkin Patch & Halloween

We were excited to go back to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch because we had so much fun there last year! Madilyn thought it was pretty cool last year, but this year she enjoyed it a lot more! We got to go on a hay ride through the patch and saw TONS of pumpkins! Madilyn's favorite thing was the hay mazes. She was a little scared of them last year, but this year she thought they were the greatest thing ever! We found some pretty great pumpkins for an awesome price and had fun looking at the animals they have, too! 

(Disclaimer: I forgot that my camera settings were not set to what I wanted, and failed to actually look at my pictures until we were leaving, which resulted in some seriously over-exposed photos! I salvaged what I could!)

Tyson would not look at me once. He was too interested in the hay!

If you are little you can take shortcuts in the hay maze.

She just HAD to help Daddy pull the pumpkins to the car!

For Halloween this year we dressed as Minions! I made our costumes and we had fun wearing them to the church Trunk or Treat and to my grandma's house for dinner on Halloween. Since my dad is the oldest of 5, I have a lot of cousins who are still kids. They had fun taking Madilyn (and Tyson) trick or treating on my grandma's street.

Madilyn's pumpkin (Minnie) and Lucas's (Darth Vader)

My pumpkin (witches brew) and Tyson's (Pluto)

It's a little blurry, but we made our monster door again.

When we were first married Lucas decided it should be tradition for me to make pumpkin pie every Halloween.

Madilyn thought it was pretty cool to pass out candy to all the kids.