Following Our Family

Summer and Stuff

2011-10-25T09:47:00.000-07:00

This is going to be random again (and a little out of order). I am basically trying to do a quick recap of random summer happenings so I can do a full post all about sweet baby Pyper and getting her. So here goes....

First off, Landon started pre-school. The pre-school here is amazing!! He goes Tues-Thurs from 1:10-2:10. It is in Cowley so he rides the bus which comes right to our front door. So nice. He just loves it. I go in on Tuesdays to help and I love seeing him interacting there with his buddies Tucker and Matthew. He is getting so big it is hard to believe.

This is what he does everyday as he waits for the bus. He plays with the cats, this one here is Fighter.

My awesome sister-in-laws in Buffalo came over the mountain and threw me an a sweet baby shower once we were home with Pyper. I am lame and have zero pictures of the shower, but it was awesome. I didn't even think anyone would really come. Boy was I wrong, there was a wonderful turnout and it was lots of fun! Once we got home I had to take a picture of this awesome diaper cake Kristin made. I have never seen one so huge! She also had a cute tile that I can hang in Pyper's room on the cake. Thank you to all of them, everything was so nice!

Landon and I also spent some time at the kids swimming pool in Lovell. It is awesome because it is free and only kids 8 and under are allowed so that paired with the fact that we are in Lovell, Wyoming meant there was hardly anyone ever there and we could just take it over. :)

Landon also managed to get his second set of stitches this summer. Right smack in the middle of his forehead. Awesome. It happened at the Lovell Rec swimming pool. I took him there with his cousins Dawson and Hyrum. After awhile Landon decided he was done so we got dressed and went up top on the bleachers to watch the boys. Landon was climbing on the bleachers having fun. Well a little boy came up to climb on them too, although he was soaking wet. Landon slipped on one of them and before falling to the ground he hit his head on the corner of a bleacher. Ouch! Lots of blood, but it wasn't as bad as his first one. He was once again quite brave when it came time to get the stitches.

So this is where Landon loves to sit and watch the cats if he isn't outside playing with them. Love his face! What a goofball.

Such a happy day when I found out that my gorgeous friend Yolanda and her family were in Buffalo. We were on our way home from Colorado with Pyper so we stopped and stayed the night in Buffalo so we could spend a couple of precious hours with them.

We LOVE these guys and so wish that we lived closer....Michigan is waaay too far away. It doesn't matter if we haven't seen eachother for 2 years, whenever we see these guys it is as though no time has passed. We pick up right where we left off and we always laugh a ton and hate saying goodbye! This was a major highlight of the summer!!!

We had our Comin Family Reunion in Casper and all I can say is that I am sooo happy that everything worked out perfectly so that I could go. I really wish Joe could have come too, but we were using his time off for something that was a lot more important (bringing Pyper home). Danie was the photographer so I didn't really take pictures. I only have a couple. We had such a great time though. We were thrilled that we got to see Danie, Brighton, and Porter (we missed you Kyle), we loved the zipline, minute to win it games, and just spending time with family!

Landon in the sandbox with his reunion shirt on.

We also got to spend several days with my Val and her kiddos. It was nice that they were visiting Utah while we were there! Landon and Alexandria had fun outside as you can see.

Casey and Landon gracefully running through the sprinkler.

Landon enjoys practicing his ninja skills on the trampoline.

More sprinkler fun

No one loved the sprinkler as much as crazy Kohen. He would have stayed out there all day long with that thing in his face.

Olivia, Violet, Kohen, and Landon

Cute cousins

More water fun

Landon spent most of his time pouring water on anyone but himself. Luckily Alea didn't seem to mind.

Kohen, had to put this one on because he is just so cute!

I was so so excited that I got to see Mallory, Brittney, Kim, and Holly (below). They were so sweet and threw me a 'surprise' baby shower. I ended up finding out about it a couple of days before. ;) I miss these girls so much! Serving in the primary has been by far my favorite calling and serving with these girls was a huge reason why.

I miss all of you and your cute kiddos!

Mallory did this, so adorable. She even changed the i to a y in Pyper's name so we could hang it up when we brought her home.

Holly made the cute diaper cake. Lots of the little flower you see on there are hair bows!

Landon and litttle Jack. Landon was beyond excited that we were able to spend one day at 7 peaks. We miss our summer days there a lot. But this day was a lot of fun with Mallory, Holly, and later my family came too.

Upon leaving Utah we met up with Joseph in Casper and headed to Colorado to meet Pyper's birth mom. We stayed with Mike and Sarah at their new house. Their pool was a big hit.

Silly boys.

Landon braved the slide and the diving board!

What is summer without a parade (or 2 or 3). Joseph was in 3 parades this summer. He drove the truck for the Big Horn Federal float in the Lovell, Cowley, and Byron parades. Dawson and Hyrum were here for the Cowley parade and were super excited to be in it.

It was a no brainer for Landon, he didn't want to be in any of the parades throwing candy, he wanted to be catching all of the candy.

He did a great job of it too, I'm pretty sure we are still eating parade candy. Well there you have it-- a brief rundown of some of the things we did this summer.

Welcome to Wyoming

2011-10-24T14:56:00.000-07:00

The move was just not fun, it never is. However, I do have to say that having Amy and Kade there helping made a world of difference. We were so grateful they came down with the trailer and they were just aweseme help. So we made the big move on Easter weekend. I think that ended up being a good thing because right when we got there Landon had lots of cousins in town to play with. They decorated cookies and colored Easter eggs. Unfortunately I only took these couple of pictures on Easter.

Chase, Hyrum, and Landon He had such a fun weekend with them I don't think he even had time to be sad about leaving Provo. All the boys were best buds whether it was sliding down the sandhills outside or hanging out in the cubby hole upstairs scarfing down their candy.

Landon started his first swimming lessons. Yay. The morning he was supposed to start he was in tears because he was scared. I told him there was nothing to be afraid of and that he would have fun. Well lets just say he did. At the end of the day he said he couldn't wait to go back...and that happened everyday for the next 2 weeks. This is also where he made his first friend Ryer. I will post more about him later though.

I was not sure how Landon would adjust to Wyoming. We left a townhome community in Provo to come to Wyoming and live on a farm with no close neighbors. Needless to say I was a little nervous. Turns out there was no need, Landon has told me that Wyoming is sooooo much more fun than Utah. Phew! He is outside all day long running around everywhere (I don't even have to be out there with him all the time because I don't have to worry about strangers). He loves to play outside and he also loooooves cats! Who knew? The farm has plenty of them. We found this little guy outside in the rain. We tried to nurse him back to health but he didn't make it.

Landon was so cute with him though.

Do not worry...we had plenty more kittens to love. This one Landon named Greykin. We had a picnic outside one day for lunch and Landon shared his leftover bbq pork with him.

Landon and his cats, they have been his new best friends since moving here. He eats at the window seat so he can always see them and when he isn't watching them he is outside playing with them. I will actually do a seperate post about all the cats later.

Some friends were having a little bike parade at the park so we went. Landon had fun, he was very very shy but he did have fun.

Daddy taking Landon and cousin Kaylee on a horse ride.

Angela and Troy came for the 4th of July weekend. We had a picnic in the mountains with Amy and her girls on Saturday. On Monday we went on a family horse ride. I am mad that I have no pictures of that. My butt has not been that sore for a long time but it was still awesome. Landon had a ball. He rode with Joe and their horse had the worst gas. Everytime it would fart Landon would say "There's a little kiss for ya Papa" to Joe's dad and he would just laugh and laugh. I wonder who he got that from? He thought this was hilarioius! It was such a fun day!

That night we did a few fireworks at home.

Troy, Angela, Joseph. Happy Fourth!

Leaving Utah

2011-10-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

I am attempting to get completely caught up on my blog so my next few posts will be kind of scattered. Hopefully after that I will be back to current daily blogging. :) Yay. Anyway, leaving Utah came so suddenly. One day we were thinking Utah was probably home forever and the next we find out we are moving to Wyoming in less than a month. Our final days were filled with trying to spend as much time with close friends and family as we could. Here is Landon with his buddies Taylor and Keaton on my last day of babysitting them.

Keri came from Hyrum to hangout one more time too. Landon sure misses living close to his cousins.

I miss this little cutie a ton. For some reason Violet has taken a great liking to me (okay, I basically give her anything she wants :), she is hard to resist) and I am sad we will be so far away.

Awww, my cute sister Keri. It makes me sad moving away. When I told her we were moving she started to cry and said that she wished we would have spent a lot more time together...we both thought we just wouldn't be leaving Utah. :( Love her!

We also had to go one more time to the Children's Museum with the Marshall's. Such a fun day, we miss being so close to you guys!

This was also a main priority....getting my hair done one last time. Who knows what my hair will look like in Wyoming. I am quite sad to leave me hair stylist. That sounds dumb I know, but if you knew how many hair stylists gave me the "she mullet" before I found her you would be sad too!

Casey, Tyler, and Kohen even came up from Cedar City for one last hurrah. We decided to go to the zoo (Kohen's first time). Man, it stinks being far away from these guys too. We always have a lot of fun with them. And this little stinker I can never get enough of. He always wants me to hold him and he has a neverending supply of kisses for me....and especially Landon. Secretly Landon will miss Kohen's raspberries and hugs.

This was actually our best picture, seriously.

Oh my dear sweet friend Tara. I have never been so thankful for visiting teaching...it brought me to her!

There are so many other people I spent time with or that we wanted to but it just didn't happen. We loved our 8 1/2 years in Provo so much! Leaving our ward was quite hard, we cherish the friendships we made there. I seriously can't believe I do not have a picture of my girls from Primary. I LOVED serving with you and I miss you so much!

I told you this was random. I wish I would have taken pictures with everyone...and one of our town home. Oh well.

Pyper

2011-08-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

I have been away from my blog for way too long. However some recent happenings have brought me back. Let me fill you in on a couple of things. First off, we moved to Wyoming Easter weekend. Joseph was offered a position as the Branch Manager at Big Horn Federal Savings Bank in Lovell and we accepted. It was very out of the blue, but we are loving Wyoming and we are grateful for the new opportunity. Secondly......we have been sooo blessed to be able to adopt a beautiful baby girl! Words cannot adequately express the joy she has brought into our lives. I promise I will fill you in on all the details at a later date. For now here are some pictures of our precious daughter, Pyper.

(Sorry, I put the pictures in the wrong order)

Pyper

Landon (proud big brother) all dressed up for church

Snuggles with daddy.

Landon meets Pyper for the first time. He picked out a special stuffed animal for her and was so excited to give it to her.

All bundled up in the hospital.

Just born, weighed in at 6lbs 11oz, and 19 inches long.

I will return with more later. Also I will be making this blog private so leave your email address in a comment if you would like an invite. :)

Christmas at Last!

2011-02-20T18:48:00.001-08:00

Christmas was spent in Wyoming at the farm this year. It was absolutely wonderful and we loved every minute of it. This year Papa put our family in charge of the Christmas Eve program. This is always one of my favorite parts of the holiday. It was fun to have Landon be so involved. He sang 'Stars were gleaming', told a very brief version of the birth of our Savior with some finger puppets, and told everyone why he was thankful for Jesus.....because he died for us so we can live with our families forever in heaven.

After the program it was time to open up our Christmas Eve presents which are always pajamas, or some type of lounging clothes. :)

Landon loved his new "basketball workout" clothes.

After that it was time for bed so Santa's helpers could get to work. Landon went right to bed as always, but as I was walking away he called me back. He looked quite sad when I turned around (almost near tears) as he asked, "Mommy.... is Santa really coming because sometimes I 'beed' bad." Oh, I felt so bad. Poor kid. I assured him over and over again what a good boy he was and that we were so proud of him. He felt better once I told him that Santa actually called me to find out for sure where Landon would be for Christmas because he had some awesome presents for him since he had been so good.

Of course Santa made it....dolphin pillow pet and all.

He thought this was great because he had just opened the same thing (different color) from his stocking. Nannie and Mommy were thinking the same thing I guess. ;)

Landon still loves superheroes. He has a batman and superman shirt, but was always telling me how he wished he had a spiderman one too. He was very happy to get this Spiderman shirt from Papa and Nannie.

Laughing at this silly dog with Nannie.

We made another gingerbread house, this time with Kaylee, Troy, and Angela.

Turned out pretty awesome.

Helping daddy play rook.

Uncle Kade provided great entertainment for awhile one evening.

Stand on his hands,

and jump onto the couch.

Landon, Jesse, Hyrum, Aubrey, and Chase watching 'How to train your dragon'.

Monday night for family home evening Alivia picked musical chairs for the activity. It was Landon's first time playing and quite the hit.

Go daddy.

As always... I wish I would have taken more pictures. It was a great Christmas though and we loved spending time with family!

As always....the day after we get back from a trip Landon conks out somewhere to make up for lost sleep. This guy must take after his daddy ;)

A Letter to Santa

2010-12-31T06:30:00.000-08:00

One Sunday night a few weeks before Christmas I was hanging out with Landon when he asked me to write a letter to Santa for him. It caught me off guard because I had never talked to him about how we can write to Santa, I was just going to have him sit on Santa's lap at the Christmas party. Anyway, he told me exactly what to say. Thought I would share:

Dear Santa,

Can I please have the dolphin pillow pet? Thank you dear Santa.

From,

Joe, and me, and Landon, and Annie

Thank you dear Santa.

Jingle Bells

2010-12-31T06:18:00.000-08:00

Landon isn't singing any of the words to Jingle Bells but it is pretty funny watching him do the actions. Poor kid next to him almost gets whacked by Landon's antlers a couple of times. :)

Pre-Christmas Stuff

2010-12-30T15:45:00.001-08:00

Here is a quick catch up on some of the things we did in preparation of Christmas. We went to Kevin (Joe's bro) and Terri's house and decorated gingerbread house with them.

Sorry, I guess I am doing this a little out of order. Don't the finished products look so good though!

Maiah had the smallest house although I am pretty sure she managed to get more candy on there than anyone else. :)

Tyler and Haley

Ashlin and Ali

Annie and Landon

One day Landon showed me this. I had to document it because this is the first picture of me (just in case you couldn't tell) that he has drawn. Actually it was moments before this that he drew Joe (it was really quite good but I didn't get a picture of it) and that was the first time we had ever seen him draw anything besides scribbles. We were quite impressed.

For weeks straight Landon had been asking me when it was going to snow we could build a snowman. Finally he decided to build one anyway. He insisted on taking my picture with it.

Although there was no snow it was way too cold to play outside. Some friends of ours were so nice to let us borrow one of their play kitchen sets for awhile. Landon could spend hours playing with this stuff!

Landon discovered this old turkey I have had for years a couple several weeks before Thanksgiving. He has barely left his side since. Turkey comes everywhere with us, he and Landon have the funniest conversations together, and Landon thanks Heavenly Father for turkeys and chickens everyday in his prayers. So cute.

Eventually the snow did come!! And a lot of it! Someone was very happy indeed. :)

We decorated for Christmas of course. I think it is so funny that I find Landon under the tree like this fairly often.

Landon had a little Christmas program for pre-school. Once again they were told to come in anything Christmasy :) He was set on a reindeer. A cute one if I do say so myself.

I will post a video of this a bit later.

Can you believe Santa showed up at our house one night? Landon was already in bed but we figured he might want to get out to come see this guy. He was super shy, but finally manged to tell Santa that he wanted some legos for Christmas.

Santa insisted Joseph and I also take a turn. I'm sure Joe will be so happy I included this picture. There was one of me too but I couldn't find it. Seriously!

Best Surprise Ever!!

2010-12-30T15:31:00.000-08:00

So the day after we went to the Children's Museum I was sitting on my living room floor with Landon putting together some neighbor christmas gifts when there is a knock on my door. I ask Landon to answer it, he says no. I ask again, he says no. I say ok, I will get it. He jumps up and goes to open the door with me right behind him. I stand there with my mouth wide open in shock. I think...this can't be real! I realize it is. I burst into tears (happy ones) :) My dear, sweet, kindred spirit friend who moved to South Dakota in August is there!!!

Best Surprise Ever!!!!

Unfortunately it was her Grandma's funeral that brought her back to Utah, but I was so grateful for the chance to spend a little bit of time together. Too bad these are the only pictures that were taken. Andrea--thank you, thank you, thank, you!!!

The Children's Museum

2010-12-30T15:01:00.000-08:00

This was the coolest place! I don't know how we have lived here this long and never taken Landon before. My friend Lisa invited us to go with her and her kids and let me just say that we were so glad we did. I basically just followed Landon around taking tons of pictures.

The Children's Museum at the Gateway in SLC has everything you can imagine. Seriously, we could spend several days in a row there and Landon would not be bored. Here is a cute little house, just their size.

Taking a peek at the little mouse house. It was complete with a bed, couch, kitchen too!

It's so fun because kids get to do all of the grown up things they could ever want! Work at a construction site, be a mail carrier, be a farmer, go grocery shopping,

drive cars,

even check the tires, and fill up with gas.

Or change it up and be the checker at the grocery store.

Super fun, big water table

Outside on the roof they had a real emergency helicopter that we played in for quite awhile. The 'passengers' Taylor, me, Keaton, Lisa.

Landon was only interested in being the pilot. This helicopter even made all of the sounds and everything.

He spent the most time right here with the legos.

This was a cool metal wall with magnetic pipes that you could stick anywhere and make a cool design to have a ball roll through.

They dressed up and acted out plays.

They even had this thing where you could create your own movie! Awesome, it was a super fun day. The only tears that came were once we got home because Landon wanted to go back. :)

Thanksgiving in Wyoming

2010-12-21T09:29:00.001-08:00

These are a bunch of random pictures from our trip to Wyoming for Thanksgiving. It was a lot of people and a lot of fun. I think there were 16 kids 10 and under. Landon was loving every minute of it... even bedtime believe it or not. Only because he got to sleep with his best little buddy Chase. :)

There were 2 adorable new little ones there so we got to to do lots of snuggling. This is Jordan.

Chase and Landon being boys. He could wrestle and fight ALL day long if there was someone to do it with.

The babies. Amy and Kade's boy: Carter is on the left. Josh and Kristin's boy: Jordan is on the right. Aren't they so cute?! The crazy thing is that they are only 5 days apart....you would never guess by their size difference though!

Kristin and Amy with the boys

We also had a good friend (Kyle) of Kevin and Terri's join us for the holiday. Kyle, Maiah, Joe, and his brother Jake.

Landon with his cousins Hyrum, and Chase.

The girls being girls! Kaylee, Haley, Alivia, Ali, Aubrey, and Taylin

The magnetic dart board is always a hit.

One day we were able to be there for Tyler's baptism and celebrate Nannie's birthday. Kevin and Terri made a delicious 'seafood dump dinner' and then we ate this gorgeous cake that Terri made for Nannie. It was so awesome..and tasted good too!

Joe and sister Amy

Nannie holding Jordan, Annie, and Angela

This is Papa blowing up this queen size air mattress. Yes, HE is blowing it up! Apparently he does this all the time, no problem. I struggle with blowing up a balloon! I had to get a picture of it cause I thought it was pretty awesome!

It was great spending time with everyone. Thank you Nannie and Papa for all you do!

Preschool Program

2010-12-21T09:22:00.001-08:00

Landon's class did a little presentation for thanksgiving. They were supposed to dress up in anything thanksgiving-ish. Landon wanted me to make him a turkey costume (does he even know me!?) Fortunately I was able to convince him that a paper bag Indian costume would be just as cool! He loved that he got to help decorate it.

I know it doesn't look like it in this picture but he was sooo excited for this!

Landon Singing

2010-12-21T08:37:00.000-08:00

This is Landon singing one of the songs from his Preschool Thanksgiving program. He was so proud to know all of the words and you can definitely hear him!

Comin Family Reunion 2010

2010-11-22T08:02:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe I am finally posting about this reunion that happened in August! Better late than never I guess. We spent a few days with almost everyone on my side in Utah for a little reunion. I am going to do a quick run-down of some of the things we did, but mostly share a ton of pictures!

Landon and Brighton were soooo excited to see eachother. She lives far away in Texas now so they were pretty much inseperable during the reunion. They are getting ready to make some smores.

Roasting the marshmallows.

A visit to temple square.

Landon found 2 pennies and is trying to put them in his eyes I guess.

Some of the grandkids taking a rest at one of the visitor centers.

One day we went up American Fork Canyon to have a picnic. Let's just say that once we all finally ended up in the same spot it was fun. (at least I got to hangout with Danie on the neverending drive) :)

The kiddos played in the water.

Some of the adults took a turn on Will's bike....I particularly love this one of Casey! After I saw this I chickened out. j/k She was a pro, I still chickened out though.

Will

Casey, Kohen, Dad, Ty, Annie, Henry, Aaron, Val, Violet, Keri, Dan

We hiked to the Timpanogas Caves one day. We made it in very good time thanks to Jeremy who set the pace! Good thing we had a little time to rest cause I needed it.

Inside the caves--they were soooo cool. Landon thought it was awesome we were in a cave just like Batman!

Beautiful view

On the way down I got to look at this lil' cutie! Not Kyle, Porter (just to be clear). He would yell "Guys, guys" until we looked at him and waved, or play peek-a-boo the entire walk down. It was quite entertaining. He was so much fun the whole reunion, I wanted to bring him home with us!

Brighton was a champ and walked the whole way down.

Mike and Sarah brought their awesome water slide. The kids loved it!

I just love these pictures of Brighton and Landon that Danie took.

They are such great lil' buddies.

We also had a family talent show. Some of the talents consisted of telling jokes,

juggling,

and my personal favorite...a lip sync to 'Kiss the Girl' by Casey, Annie, Danie, and Val. I think we had more fun just practicing it than anything else!

Grandpa and Grandma

Love this picture! Tyler really likes chocolate!

We also did some more 'Minute to Win it' games. Pretty fun, but we didn't get very many pics.

The 2 highest scoring couples were Kyle and Danie & Casey and Ty. Casey won it for their team in the tie-breaker. So wish I had a video of her doing the last game as she almost spun to death. ha ha. And that is it for the Comin Reunion! Great fun!

Visiting Grandpa & Grandma Comin

2010-11-01T07:15:00.000-07:00

I am still a little behind in blogging so here we go to catch up.......

My Dad was headed to Wyoming on business and he took Will, Casey, Kohen, Me, and Landon with him and we spent a few days with my Grandparents in Casper. Sarah and her boys were staying in Casper too so we spent a lot of the time with them as well. It was so good to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa! We kept plenty busy, we went on a walk to the park a few times.

The babies, Peter and Kohen all snuggled up for the walk.

Timmy and Landon loved coming to the park so they could run off all of their energy (or try at least).

Will giving Casey a ride on his Razor scooter.

Landon giving it a try. It was his first time riding a scooter with only 2 wheels and he did quite well. Of course he thinks he needs one now.

Casey and Kohen. This kid was very quick and loved to explore everywhere! We had to keep a very close eye on him.

Landon had a good time playing with his Great Grandma.

Playing pool was very popular with him as well...he plays it a little differently as you can see. Casey was a natural, I needed some definite help. Casey and Grandpa tried very hard to help me, but I seemed to do much better once my Dad was there to guide me.

Sarah and cute little Pete. What cute little pirate clothes!!

Will's favorite hang out spot.

I put on the movie 'Up' for Landon to watch and then left to do a few things. When I came back I found him holding hands with his Great Grandma. Thought it was pretty cute and had to get a picture.

Awwww, one of my favorite memories. This is a hill (it is more steep than it looks) by the park we went to. Casey, Will, Landon and I were playing sardines---where one person hides and when you find them you hide with them--. Well Landon and I were it and hid in the long grass at the top of this hill. Casey and Will spotted us at about the same time and both came running. Will slid down next to us. Casey tried to stop but ended up falling on top of us and then continued rolling all the way to the bottom of the hill. It was quite hilarious! I haven't laughed that hard in a looooong time. ;)

Oh yes! The childs puzzle that took Will and Casey 30 minutes to complete. I was sure I could beat their time by myself (for some reason almost everything we did became some sort of a competition). I was close to beating them but not quite. It took 33 minutes.

Next up we have a game that Sarah forced us to play. She had a box of jellybeans and there would be four that looked exactly the same only 2 would taste good like popcorn and the other 2 would be nasty like moldy cheese. Gross, I know. That is how it went, we would put all of the ones that looked the same in a pile, count to 3, and then each take one. Some of the battles were: peach vs. vomit, or black licorice vs. centipede, or chocolate pudding vs. dog food!

Sometimes you got lucky and got a good one. Phew! (I wouldn't know what that was like because all of mine were the bad ones).

Sometimes you would be eating the 'boogers' one and you would say, "what's the big deal, this actually tastes pretty good"!

ha ha, j/k Sarah

I believe Landon got the centipede one. All he said was "this is Disgusting"!!

Will getting a nasty one.

And my favorite picture of Casey! I have to say that it is so nice to be the one with the camera.

Sarah realizing that maybe boogers aren't that good after all!

Me-- dry heaving into the sink, I believe this one was vomit. Don't ask me why we actually went through with this game.

Landon hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma before bed.

He shot Grandpa under the pool table.

Uh-Oh! He came back to life to steal his gun!

Making pictures with the pegs. I used to love these when I was younger. Landon seriously had so much fun there. He was sure to ask Grandpa if he could come back and visit soon.

Maybe not too soon, I think we wore Grandpa out!! Thank you so so much for a really fun week Grandpa and Grandma. We love you!

Halloween 2010

2010-10-31T14:34:00.001-07:00

Here he is: the Amazing Spiderman himself. For the past couple of months Landon has been very set on being a cowboy for Halloween. That was until this costume came in the mail from Nannie and Papa for his birthday. Yep, there was no turning back after that! :) (thank you so much, as you can see he LOVES it)

Spiderman vs. Iron Man

In preparation for Halloween we did a little bit of baking and made pumpkin cupcakes. Landon is always up for helping in the kitchen and loved decorating them.

So proud of his work (the bottom 4 if you couldn't tell) ;)

A scary scary haunted house too!

Here is our pumpkin this year. I carve one every year and it is always the same face, triangle eyes and a huge toothy grin. Landon really threw me off this year when he was determined to have a scary pumpkin. I don't love scary so much so we compromised on a face of the pumpkin being scared. After we cut the top off he was a tremendous helper once I assured him that, no...there weren't any spiders in there! Oh yeah, the best part was this guy won the pumpkin contest for Jr. Primary at our ward party!

Speaking of our ward Halloween party...here we are! Family of super heroes this year. Landon and Joe are obviously self explanatory. I borrowed Landon's cape that has a big "L" with a lightning bolt through it and called myself 'Lightning Girl'. It worked.

Landon and his friend Emi so so excited to get candy!!

Christian (one of Landon's fav people) took him around trick-or-treating.

Landon with buddies Taylor and Keaton exhausted (but still excited) from all of the fun. What a fun Halloween! We hope you all had a great one too.

Landon Turns 4!!

2010-10-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

I really can't believe it but yesterday this little guy turned 4! We celebrated the day before with some family that lives nearby. Landon is very into super heroes right now so we ended up with this awesome cake. I would love to take credit for it but I cannot. We had a service auction in our ward a couple of weeks ago and I scored a free cake! Sweet, it was just in time. Landon loved it and if you want to see more of what this gal can do or order one go to www.abccakes.blogspot.com

Make a wish

Opening presents, I just love to see the look on little kids faces when they get so excited.

Wow!

He was so happy to have his cousins here! We wish they all lived close enough to come but we will take what we can get. :) Landon, Ashlin, Tyler, Ali, Haley, Maiah

Troy, Angela, and the Birthday Boy

Grandma and Uncle Will

Practicing his basketball skills.

Thanks to Troy and Angela I haven't seen Landon the last 2 days, just Iron Man! He loves it!

Monday (his actual birthday) we had lunch with some friends at his favorite place to eat ever! I'm sure any of you moms could guess what place that would be. (McDonalds)

A few of his very best friends couldn't make it, he sure missed Ezra, Thomas, and Henry but he was so happy to celebrate with Taylor, Emi, Tyrell, and Jarom.

Later that day we went to Trafalga to spend some time as a family. Daddy and Landon had fun on the go-karts although Landon was a little disappointed that they couldn't hit the other cars.

Love this one of him on the carousel.

Bumper cars was a favorite for sure. He got to drive all by himself and believe me he definitely was bumping the other kids driving. He thought it was quite hilarious. Between these cool rides, laser tag, and mini golf he was in heaven. On the way home he said he had the best day! We love you so much Landon! You bring so much joy to our lives! Happy Birthday!!

Staying Dry

2010-10-19T10:41:00.001-07:00

Landon has been potty trained since he was 2 years and 5 months old. However, over the past several months he has started to wet the bed at night. I thought I just lucked out and we wouldn't ever have to deal with that. Surprise, surprise that wasn't the case. Anyway, he has been working very hard to stay dry for 15 days in a row. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but with the right reward I guess anything is possible! :)

He changed his mind between a sword and a gun several times, but as you can see he is quite thrilled with the outcome. Now lets just hope he can keep it up!

A quick catch up on July (most of it)

2010-09-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

So here are some pics of a few of the things we did during July after we got back from the Hatch Reunion. Landon got to be Spiderman for a whole day....a dream come true. Seriously, he was loving this. They had all of these fun things for families to do at a park nearby and this was Landon's favorite.

He is a little obsessed with Spiderman, Batman, Ironman, and Superman right now. When we got home we were just hanging out in our house and Landon was constantly running into the bathroom to make sure his face was still on all night. Bath time was a sad sad time that day. :(

Going down one of the inflatable slides.

Landon and I went to Hyrum for Olivia's 4th birthday! We are so glad they live close enough that we can be a part of these special events. I love this picture of them because it is typical Livie dressed up in anything princess/sparkly she can find, and Landon...it is not uncommon for him to have some sort of weapon attached to him in some way. Gotta love that boys will be boys and girls will be girls!

Uncle Dan lit some fireworks for the kiddos. Love this pic! Landon loving anything that is loud or has fire, Livie thinking this is cool but really loud, and Violet thinking we are crazy for thinking this is even remotely fun!

The kids played together so well, we had yummy food and cake, got to watch Toy Story 3 and just had a great visit. Happy Birthday Liv, we love you!

Shortly after reunion we were lucky enough to have Nannie come for a visit for a few days! We missed Papa, but we are happy to take what we can get! It was sooo fun having her here. This is one of our favorite spots to come and have a picnic/ roast marshmallows.

Landon and Nannie! He was thrilled to have her here.

We also got to spend the weekend with Ange and Troy which is always a blast! Thanks for coming Nannie. We love the late nights, good laughs, and just having you around. The following weekend we actually got to see Nannie and a lot more of Joe's side of the family. Everyone came to Utah to be here for Josh, Kristin, and Taylin because they were sealed in the Draper temple. We are sooo happy for them and we were so grateful to be there! It was a fun, busy weekend with everyone in town and somehow the time flew by with me getting zero pictures. I am very disappointed by that, I will do better next time for sure.

Pre-School

2010-09-21T09:44:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have a ton of catching up to do from the summer but I thought I would first do a little update on Landon. He started pre-school in August and is loving it!!! He is very excited about having something just for him that makes him feel big. He goes Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30-12:15 and it takes just a few minutes to walk there. I thought he would be pretty nervous about going all by himself but that is not the case. When I drop him off he gives me a thumbs up and marches right in without looking back. He's getting sooo big!

Landon's First Stitches

2010-09-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, 5th we were at Sunday Sundaes (an ice-cream get together our ward does in the summer). Anyway, Joe had to leave early to go to another meeting and when Landon saw him leaving he started crying and running after him. Lets just say that tears, running in flip flops, and bumpy sidewalks don't mix too well.

Poor little guy fell pretty hard in just the right spot. He must have hit something kinda sharp because it left a pretty deep little gash. We hurried home, grabbed some wipes and were off to the Springville Insta-care (nothing instant about it I might add).

Lucky for all of you, once we were in the car I noticed I had my camera in my purse!

The wound after the nurse got it all cleaned up for the stitches. No he is not asleep, the light was just really bright (although he did fall asleep during the actual stitches).

Daddy helped hold some gauze with a topical numbing gel before the Doc came in to give him shots to get really numb! The nurse and Dr. both said that they were pretty sure Landon was the bravest little kid they had ever seen. Joe didn't have to hold him down or anything, he seriously didn't even move. He just layed there very straight with his arms at his sides and his hands in tight little fists when he gave him the shots. It was so sad!! He was trying so hard not to cry by rubbing his tongue on the inside of his cheek. A few huge tears escaped which broke my heart. Seriously, watching your child hurt (for any reason) has to be one of the most painful things to endure in this life.

Anyway, he got nice and numb and took a short nap while he got stitched up. A layer or two of dissolvable stitches on the bottom and then 7 stitches on the top. He did awesome and got a 2nd wind on the way home so we celebrated with ice-cream when we got home despite the fact that is was 10:30. The End.

The Thief and the Snake

2010-08-22T17:17:00.000-07:00

So August 11, 2010 was a day of firsts.....a first (and hopefully the last) for Landon, and a first (hopefully the last) for Annie.

We'll start with Landon. It was a pretty normal day, played in the morning, ran some errands in the afternoon. Nothing out of the ordinary. That evening I was busy on the phone with Comcast trying to get our cable to work when I look over at Landon and he pulls these two things out of his back pocket. Toy Story 3 collectible sticker packages. I had seen them earlier that day at the $1 store. However, I didn't buy them for Landon! He stole them. He admitted to it pretty quickly and we had short discussion about what stealing is and how we never ever do it. Then I told him I would drive him back to the store so that he could tell them what he did, give the stickers back, and say sorry. He was very shy and pretty much whispered everything he had to say, but he did it. I was hoping in return the check out person would have a nice response about how much she appreciated him telling the truth and giving it back. Nope, not at all. She just looked at us like we were kind of weird and said "uhhh, ok." So it doesn't always work out like those stories in the friend magazine. If that were the case the checker would have said something like I was wanting her to and Landon would remember it forever and never steal again. Even without that I do think Landon learned his lesson. That night when he was saying his prayers he said that he was stuck and wanted some help. I helped him out by saying "and please forgive me for stealing"......poor little Landon could barely get the words out before tears took over. He quickly ended his prayers and just curled up in my lap and cried for a good 3 minutes. It just broke my heart. He felt sooo bad for what he did. We had a good talk after that about how proud I was of him for being brave and telling the truth, and how happy he made Heavenly Father and Jesus for giving it back. I assured him that we all make mistakes, that is how we learn and that we can all be forgiven. He felt much better after that, and so did I. I'm so grateful for him and the good boy that he is......always being a good example to me.

So that brings me to the other thing that happened that day. Occasionally we get water snakes in our backyard. I despise the things and there is pretty much nothing else that I terrifies me more. In the past when I have seen one I would scream and freak out and then go get Joe to cut its head off and dispose of it. Well that started to rub off on Landon and he was becoming just as scared of them. I decided that perhaps I shouldn't talk so badly of snakes because I didn't want him having nightmares. So I made a slight switch, when we would see a picture of a snake or something I would say how snakes aren't that bad, etc. So we went to the backyard to get his bike and low and behold there is a nasty little snake laying on the cement. I calmly texted Joe to hurry out here and kill this thing. Turns out Landon went from being terrified of them to being their protector! He started crying and begging his Daddy not to hurt it. Seriously. I just couldn't do it....have Joe kill it when this cute little teary eyed face is pleading with us to let it live in our backyard. So, much to my disliking I told Joe that we wouldn't be needing him after all. Luckily I haven't seen that sick snake since and hopefully never do. The things we do for our kids. Sheesh!

Hatch Family Reunion 2010

2010-07-15T14:41:00.001-07:00

Over the 4th of July weekend we had the Hatch Reunion. It was such a blast! We spent a few days at a fun lodge in Wyoming. The days were filled with fun activities, tons of delicious food and the best company! Here are just a few of the things we did......

Aunt Shanell taking all of the grandkids on a lion hunt!

We had a photographer come and take a family pictures (which I will post when we get them). Kristin made all of the kids these cute t-shirts that on the front say: Hatch Family Reunion 2010, and the back says: their name and age. They were super cute. This is Nannie and Papa with almost all of the grandkids (2 are missing) and a couple are still in the oven. :)

I love Landon and Chase on the end. They were the best of friends in no time at all.

They were walking around with their arms around each other all morning.

Kristin also hand made all of the kids these adorable treat bags. It was so cute because she personalized each of them with their name and a picture of something they like, so Landon's of course was a giraffe.

We had a family softball game one day.

Landon is anxiously waiting for his turn to bat again.

Fun games like Don't Eat Pete,

and Guesstures.

Troy had a birthday over the reunion so the kids got to break a pinata....

and enjoy much candy!!!

After eating way too much dessert we decided to dance it off....come on ride the train!!

Just relaxing a bit before major competition time......Minute to Win It games! Oh yeah, Josh and Kristin put this together for all of the adults one night and it was a hit! If you have never seen the game show what they do is give you a task such as: you have to place 7 ho ho's on your forehead (stacked on top of one another) and hold it there for 10 secs. And you only have 60 seconds to accomplish it. As you win each task you earn more and more $. So they set up a couple's competition and it was sooo funny to watch. Here are a couple pictures so you can get an idea.....

Yikes I know. You couldn't use your hands. You had to dip your nose in vaseline and then dip it in a plate of cotton balls and run across the room and shake it into a bowl. I think you had to get 7 in there in 60 secs.

This tissue box attached to Joe's behind had 8 ping pong balls in it and he had to move like crazy to get them all out! I almost peed my pants watching people do this one!

This one looks easy enough right? Hit paper plate with broom, send marshmallow flying, have spouse catch it with a cup. Not so my friends, not so. At least not for me anyway.

Poor Joe spent most of the time on the floor due to my lack of skill. Seriously, I was soooo bad at this one. We couldn't have done any worse. But hey, if I can give people a good laugh--even if is is at my own expense-- what the heck!

All in all it was such a fun reunion and we will always remember it! Thanks to Amy and Kade who put it all together this year!!!

"The Yellow Stone"

2010-07-15T13:30:00.000-07:00

We visited Yellowstone National Park as a family for the first time! Landon kept calling it "the yellow stone". We were headed to Wyoming for the Hatch reunion and drove through Yellowstone to get there. I hadn't been there for years, and Joseph and I had never been there together, so we made some stops along the way and enjoyed some of the sights. Although Landon was confused for a little while....he never did get to see a yellow stone........we kept telling him he was going to see lots of animals instead. I have to admit that he was a little disappointed that there were no giraffes or monkeys. Nevertheless, he still had fun looking at the animals we did see.

No....this is not a moose (as the 2 grown men next to me kept saying).

This is as close as we were going to get to the bison. However, there was a lady there taking pictures by one and she could have touched it if she took about 2 little steps closer. Crazy, crazy. There was a good chance that if we stayed a little longer we would have been witnessing someone getting gored. She didn't....but very well could have. I'll be honest, a small part of me was hoping that Bison would at least scare her a bit. It would have been fun to watch. :) As long as no one got seriously injured of course.

This is a picture as we were walking down to Canyon Falls.

The view of the lower falls, rainbow and everything! So gorgeous.

I am getting less and less courageous as I get older I have decided. When I was little I would go right to the gate and lean over to see better. Not now, no way. I was making myself sick just holding Landon right here to get a picture. I just kept thinking to Don't Drop Landon!! It is scarier in real life than it looks in the picture by the way.

All day Landon kept asking if we were going to see a grizzly bear, I told him only if we were lucky. After a few minutes he informed me that he wasn't lucky! Well, with a little bit of patience it all paid off when we saw a mama grizzly with her 3 cubs. They were awesome! They were kind of far away so they had a ranger there that let us look through her telescope. For Landon wanting to see a grizzly so bad he sure didn't act like it when we did. He got pretty scared, even though it was far away. Joe finally convinced him that they weren't going to hurt us and he looked through the telescope. Silly boy. In his nightly prayers he now says "...and keep us safe from all the bears".

On the way home from the reunion we drove back through Yellowstone and stopped to see Old Faithful. It is the one on the left getting ready to erupt.

Josh, Kristin, Taylin, Angela, and Troy met up with us there which was a nice surprise.

I think Landon was a little disappointed once it did erupt. I guess he thought it was a lot of waiting for a little bit of water. Even though we told him over and over it would be lots of water coming out of it, he was convinced it would be fire. Sorry to disappoint.

It really was cool to see even though you can't really tell in this picture because of all of the clouds.

The gang (minus Ang who is taking the pic). It was fun to see you all there! And, it was cool to see Yellowstone, although I say next time we go there should definitely be some camping involved.

Colorado Trip!!!

2010-06-06T12:46:00.001-07:00

Beware...this is a very long post with lots of pictures. We just got back from a very fun, very busy week visiting my sister Sarah and her family in Colorado so there is a lot to post about!

First off, Landon got to go on his very first plane ride. I was nervous....not about how Landon would do....more about me. I just don't like doing things I don't do very often (like flying) by myself. It is pretty lame actually, sometimes I just get so nervous and shy about weird things. In highschool I would even make my little sis Keri pretend to be me over the phone to make appointments for haircuts or reallly dumb things like that. Lame, I know. Needless to say, this was pretty big for me and I am happy to say that it all went really well! Landon had fun playing basketball and soccer in the airport while we waited for our plane. Once we got in our seats it was about 10-15 minutes of him buckling and un-buckling his seatbelt over and over, and repeatedly asking me "is it time to blast off yet"? He was just so excited he could barely contain himself! I have to say it was so much fun sitting next to him on the flight because everytime there was any turbulence( and there was a lot) he would just start laughing and say very loudly how much fun this was!!! He kept everyone around us pretty entertained. Once we arrived in Denver we had to take this little underground train and dozens of escaltators/moving sidewalks. These are all some of Landon's very favorite things so we could have went home right then and he would have thought our trip was awesome!!!! However, there was lots more fun ahead. We went to Casa Bonita that night where we got to eat, watch divers, and play lots of skeet ball.
Monday night we went to this fun Rec Center with a cool little water park. Landon and Timmy had a great time running around while I had so much fun snuggling their new baby Peter!

Landon just looks so grown up to me in this pic!

Baby Pete all worn out from swimming.

I am pretty sure Landon was never bored for a minute while we were in Colorado. There was alway something really fun to do. Driving the Jeep was one of his favorites. It was so cute watching him and Timmy. Behind Mike and Sarah's house there is just a ton of green open space with paved sidewalks so these two would just take off and drive all the way to the park.

Oh ya, the Rec Center we went to also had this free indoor play area that we went to after swimming. It was soo cool....and free!!! This would be so nice to have close by in Utah during the winter.

So this is Landon enjoying his first ice-cream cone ever!!! Can you believe it? Don't worry....this kid has not been deprived of ice-cream for 3 1/2 years, he IS a Hatch ya know! He has had plenty of ice-cream believe me, just never in a cone before. The idea that he could eat the part that was holding his ice-cream was just so cool to him.

One minute I was getting him ready for a bath and the next I couldn't find him anywhere....until I heard the piano. This just cracks me up because he was so serious and all I could do was laugh and of course snap some pictures which he will just love when is all grown-up!!!

Dan and Keri and their girls were able to stop by one day and stay the night which was really fun to see them. Uncle Mike was kind enough to read them all bedtime stories.

Landon and Timmy playing with the electric train.

They have these cute little birds in the canal behind their house, I think they are sandpipers. They had 3 babies and they are so funny because they will run around and when they think they are in danger they will just fall to the ground and play dead.

Here is 'Jumpy' the squirrel that I kept trying to catch.....no luck, but he did eat my granola I left for him. I was also very close to catching a baby rabbit, and I saw a coyote.

So Landon was supposed to help Timmy become potty-trained while were visiting. Sarah had all sorts of incentives and prizes for the boys whenever there was success. Unfortunately that didn't go so well, but somehow they ended up with all of the prizes anyway! :) One of the things was matching shirts which the boys were thrilled to be twins!!!

We planned on going to Boulder Falls one evening but it was closed so we had a picnic nearby instead. I just couldn't resist taking this picture. His little bum is red because before we ate Mike took the boys on a little hike and he kept falling on the way down.

The Sunday before Memorial Day they blessed baby Pete. Joseph drove up for the weekend, and my parents also came. It was so nice to have them there for a couple of days.

Mike, Sarah, Timothy, and Peter

Me and my Dad hanging out before a good game of croquet. Who won that game you ask? Me!!! I have to brag because I'll admit it....when I am playing with my Dad and Joe it is usually one of them who wins.

Timmy rarely sees Joe but just went right up and curled up next to him to watch a movie. I thought it was pretty cute.

That is the last of my pictures from our trip to Colorado. We did lots more stuff that I don't have pictures of like the Comin family picnic on Memorial Day, and visiting the family graves. Oh well, these will have to do. It was soooo much fun, thank you Sarah and Mike for a wonderful time!!!

I thought I would throw this one in real quick. The day after we got back Dan and Keri were able stop by for a few hours. While I was unpacking from our trip Landon and Livie found some eye shadow to play with! Livie was very proud of her work of art, and Landon seemed just as proud to show it off!

Catching up........

2010-06-06T11:50:00.000-07:00

I have been a huge slacker as far as my blog goes lately. Here is a brief overview of the first couple of weeks in May. First we have Landon's very first attempt at flying a kite. This is at my parent's house and Uncle Will was kind enough to help Landon learn.
A quick lesson and he was off!
Not for too long though.....unfortunately this is what happens when you try to fly 2 kites in a backyard where there is only so much room to run in. We had to do a lot of running to get these kites up because the wind was hit and miss and kept changing directions on us. Landon still thought it was pretty awesome, but I think next time we will go to a park on a good windy day.

So my sister Melanie is having her 2nd little girl in August so we threw her a baby shower. Yep, we made this cake!! I like to say "we" but to be perfectly honest most of the credit goes to my other sis Valerie. I think I rolled out all the baby heads, and did the letters and the rest was all Val and Wendy (actually, Alexandria and Landon did the blocks if you couldn't tell). :)

Anyway, it ended up being very small but very enjoyable with lots of yummy food.

Congratulations to Mel and Cameron! We are so excited to see this little girl in August.

It was nice because Val and her kids were able to come for a visit from Virginia for a couple of weeks. Landon and Alexandria played sooo well together. They were cooking up a storm and playing house right here...Val and I stood at the door and spyed on them for a little while because it was just so cute listening to them talk to eachother and try to tell eachother what to do! :)

This was my first time seeing Val and Aaron's little boy Henry (who is actually not so little). He is only about 6 months but I kept forgetting that if I was holding him I couldn't just go set him down and walk away when he got too heavy......he is young, (not quite sitting up on his own yet) just not little. :) He is a cutie though, and always has a huge smile on his face.

The day of Mel's baby shower was also Will's 15th birthday so here is a little candy gram that we quickly put together (it's a little hard to read cause I kept messing up...it was a looong day--fun, but long and this was the last thing we did that day).

It was pouring rain in this picture! These two were soaked to the bone and were having so much fun running around with their mouths wide open trying to catch the rain.

I should have taken more picture while these guys were visiting but I just kept forgetting. I loved seeing you Val, and I wish it could have been longer!!!

Blaze & Archie

2010-05-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

A few weekends ago we took Landon to his first football game. It was arena football, Utah Blaze. Ang and Troy came with us which made it extra fun! Landon always loves to spend time with them. So as far as the game was concerned....2 thumbs up from Landon and Troy.

Before the game started Ang and I got to meet David Archuletta (he was there to do the halftime show). I'll admit I kinda felt like a dork when we first walked in the room to wait for him because we were definitely the oldest girls there. While everyone else was refreshing their lip gloss we took silly pictures of ourselves. Oh, and within 5 or so minutes tons of other people came in and we were definitely not the oldest ones anymore! Score for us!! :)

His much anticipated arrival!

He was very shy and made me feel a little bit tall. :)

Landon got to have a sleepover with Ang and Troy that night. They had tons of fun the next day (Landon did anyway). Playing with trains at the toy store...

driving "the fastest car ever".....

and other sweet rides!

This is Joe and Landon spinning his wedding ring on the table. He thought it was so funny and could have kept him entertained for quite awhile. Thank you so much Ang and Troy for a fun weekend!!!!

Silly boy, keeps us laughing!

2010-04-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

On Sunday Joseph and I were sitting on the couch talking when Landon walks over to the arm of the couch and puts his elbows up, and rests his head in his hands and says...."Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I need a baby brother! " Too funny, and we couldn't agree more! :)

Easter Weekend

2010-04-14T08:11:00.000-07:00

We were able to spend Easter weekend with Casey & Tyler. I had been meaning to color easter eggs with Landon all week but I just totally spaced it. Luckily, Casey and Joseph helped him do it on Saturday.
He was very quick coloring eggs this year. No stickers, or anything fancy, and each egg only went in one color...no brown eggs this time!!

The Easter Bunny made it to our house!

We spent Sunday at my parenst house. Unfortunately we woke up to a couple of inches of snow Easter morning. So lame. Luckily it was melting pretty fast so Grandpa took Landon out to try out his new golf clubs. He could care less about trying to get the ball in the hole though, he just wants to see how far he can hit the ball.

Just a cute pic.

Playing with legos.

Happy Easter to us!

We finished off the evening by playing with the hard boiled eggs. Will started spinning them just for fun....in no time at all everyone was into it. We were trying to see who's egg could spin the longest. Landon thought it was hilarious to smash the spinning eggs or use an egg to hit another egg as hard as he could to make it fall on the floor. Great idea Will!! :)

He was so funny to watch during this little game!

As soon as he was buckled in he zonked!!

Playing House

2010-04-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

Ever since Landon's cousins left he has been really into playing house. Having girls here opened up a whole new world of play I guess. I thought it was kind of cute so I snapped some pictures. Here he is rocking the baby to sleep.
Here is "our son" waiting to be fed.

Baby is awake, new diaper, and hungry!!

The Dad "cutting pieces of oatmeal" for the kids. Sweet!

Quality Cousin Time!!

2010-04-07T15:00:00.000-07:00

Landon was able to spend some time with 3 of his cousins (Ashlin, Ali, and Maiah) the past few weeks. They live all the way in Chicago so he didn't even really know who they were. Well he certainly does now....he was a little nervous about having 3 girls and no boys come to visit. In the end he realized girls are just as fun!!
The whole clan getting ready for the day.

We did lots of stuff while they were here. Here are some pictures of a few of the things they did together. LOTS of wrestling/tackling.

Just as much dancing.

Finger painting (or just eating) :)

Play-dough. Ash made a snowman family, Ali made a duck family, and Landon broke the only rule we had (don't mix the colors). Yep, he made a big ball of turqoise and pink. Lovely.

We went to the Library a few times and read lots and lots of books.

And of course played outside every chance we got with the weather!! It was fun to have them here. I am so glad Landon knows who they are now. They've been gone a couple of weeks now and he is feeling it. It was really nice having constant playmates!

Snow!!!!

2010-03-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

This was a couple of weeks ago I think. Anyway, it had been cold here for awhile just no new snow. So when this little guy walked by the window on this particular day he could not have been more excited. Luckily he mangaged to get his shoes on before he ran outside to enjoy it.
Landon loves his cape by the way, he wears it (or his other one most days). He is very into all superheroes right now...batman, superman, spiderman. I just love how boys will be boys, he has never even seen any cartoon or movie about these guys but he just knows who they are and what they do and is obsessed. How do they do that?
On a different note: one of Landon's favorite places to wear his cape is the grocery store. He used to not mind shopping with me but lately he just gets so annoyed and tells me constantly he doesn't want to go, etc. The cape has been a big help there. As I am pushing the grocery cart he likes to stand in front of me with his hands on the bar and rests his feet on the lower bar yelling "faster mommy faster"...(he feels like he is really flying with his cape on). As we zoom past people I sometimes think to myself that I really shouldn't be doing this...yet I still do.

Happy Birthday Joseph!!

2010-03-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

Yep, that is right...Joe is 31!! His birthday was on the 13th and I promise I had lots of cool stuff planned. However due to Landon being sick and other things that came up last minute I have to admit that we didn't really do a whole lot. I felt really bad....I will make it up to you though honey!
Landon sick? I know he doesn't look it, he was though. What kid wouldn't be smiling with lots of his favorite candy bars on the mirror and cool presents. Yes cool presents. Everytime I asked Landon what he wanted to get his Daddy for his birthday he said the same thing....toy beetles and a snake. I tried to talk him out of it but he insisted that this is what would make Daddy happy. Who looks happy to you?
Needless to say, he was very excited when it came time to open gifts.

Joseph of course was thrilled when he saw what it was! Or maybe it was because his son was so darn excited....yep I think that was it. What a good sport! Happy Birthday Joe, we love you!

Cousin Violet's 1st Birthday

2010-03-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Landon and I headed to Hyrum to celebrate Violet's Birthday.
We opened presents which was very fun because Violet was so entertaining to watch. She would just squeal and be so excited with each present. Keri made a super yummy cake too!

Landon loves loves loves Olivia's kitchen set. He could entertain himself for hours with that thing. Do you love his pants? Unfortunately he was having so much fun playing that by the time he decided to take a potty break he didn' t quite make it. Thanks to Livie for letting him borrow the cute butterfly capri's and panties. As soon as I put them on Landon he looked down and said "These look good"! He also refused to change into pajamas that night so he slept in these and really wanted to wear them the next day too. I told them they had to get washed and no worries, I hid them until we see Livie again. :)

Since the weather was kinda cool Keri had this fun tub of rice that the kids has so much fun playing in.

It was great seeing you guys! Thanks for a fun time!

Valentine's Day Cookies

2010-02-28T17:50:00.001-08:00

The last couple of years we always make sugar cookies for Valentine's Day. It is lots of fun, but we make a lot of cookies so it ends up being a whole day long event. Landon didn't mind at all. He was over the moon excited to see his 2 buds Thomas and Henry. They live in Springville now so we don't see them nearly as often as we'd like!

The boys put frosting on a couple of cookies, scarfed them down and ran outside to play. I thought our cookies turned out pretty cute (although I did not include Lisa's SWAK cookie in the pic) ha ha

I couldn' t resist sticking this one in here. Cutest crack I've ever seen!

Landon actually does love decorating cookies. However, since he was so busy playing with his friends and didn't really get to decorate we did some more the next day.

We didn't go all out on the decorating this time, but I think they still looked pretty.

Still playing a little catch up...

2010-02-28T17:30:00.001-08:00

So I had another birthday...the big 28 now! Seriously, typing that just now felt weird. I really don't think I should be that old....not that that's old...It's just that time goes by SOO fast. I swear I was just turning 22 and that felt so weird!!! Anyway, yes I had a birthday and it was so much fun! I like birthdays--some people don't care for them but I do. A whole day just to celebrate you, whoever came up with that is awesome!!! I got to eat some of my favorite foods, little surprises here and there, time with my 2 favorite people (Joseph and Landon :)), and phone calls from people I love very much but don't talk to as much as I'd like. It was great!
I was also very fortunate to spend time with 2 of my best buds Christina and Lisa. A couple of weeks later they took me to Color Me Mine for my birthday. It was my first time going there and it was a blast! We all made birthday plates for our families (when it is someone's birthday they get to eat on the special plate all day). We spent 3 hours there and not one of us finished. I will be sure to show the finished product when it's complete. Hopefully soon, Joe's birthday is March, 13th. Thank you thank you Cina and Lisa!!! I loved it!

"Arm Swimsuits"

2010-02-24T13:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this picture has nothing to do with my little story--I just like to always have a picture with a post and since I had no pictures of the actual happenings, this will have to do.

I decided I would share this experience because it was a major first for Landon, and for me!!! Yep, first time Landon fell into a swimming pool....and my first attempt at saving someone's life.

When we were in Cedar City a few weekends ago Casey, Landon, Kohen, and I went over to the hotel my parents were staying at to use their swimming pool. Well the last day me, Casey, Will, Dad, and Wendy were handing in the hot tub getting warm before we headed back up to the room. Landon was having fun going back and forth sitting on the stairs of the pool and the hot tub. That is until he decided to to to the far end and sit in a chair....not very long until he wanted to see what the water looked like. I did not see this part, but me Dad did....Landon got down and walked to the edge just to look at the water and before we knew it he fell in. My dad could see what was happening and started quickly walking over there. Not me, I heard a splash...turned around, saw Landon in the water, and took off. According to Casey (who is the exaggerater in the family) I was running like a crazy person with my arms up in the air screaming, "My baby, My baby". Just for the record...I wasn't. Unfortunately I do have to admit that I did do some things that upon looking back I would change. For instance I would have assessed the situation better. I would have looked at Landon and realized that although he was scared...he was not drowning (thanks to his arm floaties, or arm swimsuits as he call them). Yep, unfortunately he didn't really start drowning until I jumped in right next to him and the splash from my jump swallowed him up. So sad, I thought I was being such a good, brave mom! Turns out all I really had to do was calm down, take about 2-3 steps in the water and gently pull him to the side. Yeah, I'll remember that next time! :) So the moral of the story is: if your kid isn't drowning, don't drown them. Oh, and those $1 store floaties really do work! The end.

Kohen's Blessing

2010-02-05T07:49:00.000-08:00

Sorry, these are a little out of order....I couldn't get it to do what I wanted. Anyway here is a quick sister pic, with Kohen.

Landon, Alea, and Olivia

This weekend we were in Cedar City to be there for Casey and Tyler's baby's blessing.
Gregory Kohen Romeril. Here he is, what a little angel.

Landon and I were able to catch a ride with my parents and go down early, Joseph came on Sunday. It was so fun seeing them and spending some time with family. We ate good food, played games and laughed quite a bit. Landon's favorite part was swimming at the pool (more on that later).

We had to snap a picture of Landon and Kohen when we found out they had matching pj's. Who knew there were 2 cutest kids ever?? (that's what the jammies say) :)

Part of the gang watching a movie.

Landon took this picture of Grandpa, I thought he did a pretty good job.

A nice moment with Landon and Livie. :)

Grandma and Kohen

Kohen used to be as bright red as his Grandpa, fortunately for him he is growing out of that. he he :)Landon also took this one of Keri and Violet.

How nice of Casey...she is helping Landon eat his brownie which he had been waiting for all day (we made them before church). Casey can't have ANY chocolate right now but she helped Landon. What an Aunt!!

Thanks Casey and Ty for a fun weekend!

Weekend Wedding

2010-01-12T12:52:00.001-08:00

We were able to celebrate my sister Melanie's wedding this weekend. Congratulations to you guys!
Unfortunately Joseph couldn't be there because he was out of town. Here are a few of us who were there though.....Annie, Casey, Kohen, Melanie, Cameron, Violet, Keri, Landon, Alea, Olivia.

New Years Eve

2010-01-12T12:39:00.001-08:00

We spent this New Years Eve partying it up with 2 of Landon's favorite people: Angela and Troy
I thought it was funny cause the 2 girls matched...

and so did the 3 boys.

We spent the night eating, watching movies, eating, playing games, eating, talking, and eating. A wonderful night it was!

Landon spent a lot of his time climbing up Uncle Troy and jumping off of the couch....

as you can see he had a great time too.

One of the best parts of the night were the tradition...banana splits at midnight! Yummy!! Angela made homeade ice-cream, hot fudge, and caramel. Needless to say they were delicious.

Merry Christmas!

2010-01-04T18:09:00.001-08:00

This year we stayed in Provo for Christmas. It was our first year not traveling anywhere for the holiday and just doing it on our own. It was fun relaxing and having a nice time with just the three of us. After our little program for Landon about the birth of Jesus he got to open his Christmas Eve gift. Then off to bed so Santa can come!
When Landon woke up in the morning he was off to his normal routine....crawled in bed with me ready to snuggle up for a bit. I had to reming him that a certain someone was supposed to come to our house last night. Once I said that he remembered that it was Christmas and couldn't wait to go downstairs to see if he had brought him a guitar.......which was the only thing he asked for. Score! He was pretty excited. After a good 15-20 minutes of singing, dancing, and guitar playing he noticed that there were more presents for him to open.

Among those other gifts were some Superman walkie-talkies,

and an awesome new tool set which he loves. He is quite the little handy man too, he is always telling me all of the stuff he is going to fix, and he builds me many houses a day! :) I am one lucky mama.

Later that morning it was off to Cedar Hills to spend some time with Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Will. Will got a guitar too.....so they were practicing their skills.

Dan, Keri, Livie, and Vi came to join us. The kids had a lot of fun decorating sugar cookies. (Doesn't my sis Keri look so darn cute?)

It was fun watching these 2 decorate. All of Livie's cookies were decorated completely...every spot was covered. Then there was Landon who would dump a whole pile of sprinkles in all of the colors right in the middle and leave the rest blank.

A yummy Christmas dinner of ham, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rolls, and cranberry salad. One of these days I will learn how to use the self timer on my camera so nobody has to be left out. Yes, Joseph is taking this picture of all of us.

Making more music.

A nice hug for Daddy......which quickly turned into a tackle, which turned into wrestling...surprise, surprise!

A little catch up first

2009-12-30T12:12:00.000-08:00

Landon went to the Home Depot for his first kids project. Unfortunately he was stuck with his mom to help him. Yikes! I thought to myself--hey this can't be that hard, I don't need to read the instructions. Not a good idea after pounding in the 1st two nails I began to put the next piece in (or tried at least). Not only had I put the piece in wrong, I used the wrong nails. I didn't realize we had short and long nails. Embarassed I quickly moved from the table to the floor so the other dad's there couldn't give me weird looks anymore and began a very long process of trying to get those nails back out. It was much harder than you might think since the nails were very tiny and the hammer was huge. Eventually I did succeed. Long story short-- once I put my pride aside and let this Asian dad who didn't speak much English give me a few tips we finally had a finished project.
A cute little wagon---we did it! The wheels actually turned and the whole thing didn't fall apart when Landon put his candy cane in! It was a good learning experience but, I think this might have to be more of a father/son thing. :)

Aaaahhhh, the first snow of the season.

Landon was outside immediatly...and his good friend Wilson the cat came to join him for some fun in the snow.

He loved climbing up the 'mountains' that the snow plow had made.

It was pretty cold after awhile but it didn't even phase him.

This is when we were up at my parent's house one day. Uncle Will has a couple of nerf guns that shoot darts. Landon thinks they are sooo cool. After he got shot in the eye once we found these babies!

He was just cracking us up wearing these. The funny thing is I think he liked the goggles just as much or more than the gun.

Poor poor Grandpa caught in the middle. ha ha

Thanksgiving weekend (a little late)

2009-12-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

A quick recap of our Thanksgiving. We were lucky enough to spend some time with both sides of our families (some of them anyway). Above: group sister hug....although we are missing a lot of sisters.
The boys hanging in the basement....I am pretty sure I know what they are watching too, yep football. I guess that is why all the girls were up stairs taking pictures instead!

I thought this was great. Anytime Landon wants to watch a movie he always asks for "a nice movie, not scary". Well, Livie wanted to watch one of her favorites 'A Night at the Museum'. Landon had never seen it but I figured if Livie loved it then Landon would too. Hmmmm...I think perhaps he is not quite ready for it. :)

Landon, Alea, and Olivia were inseperable basically the whole time. They played so well and so much fun the whole time. Don't ya love Norbert's holiday getup!

We also got spend a very short but VERY fun time with some family from Joseph's side. We stayed up way too late and laughed way too hard (my cheeks hurt when it was time to go to bed). We played games, this is Landon taking his turn at Guesstures (he calls it the dancing game). I guess that tells you how we all looked when it was our turn.

*lucky for everyone I didn't put pictures of everyone else playing this game* :)

Saturday was Nannie's birthday. We were so happy to spend it with her.

It was a great weekend. Landon was in heaven playing with everyone. He didn't get naps and was in bed pretty late every night. Early Sunday evening I went upstairs to get stuff for FHE and when I came back he was already passed out.

It was a wonderful weekend with family, thanks everyone!!

i CAN fly

2009-11-30T13:37:00.000-08:00

For the past few months Landon has been very intrigued by flying. He was pretty okay with just pretending to fly too...that is until he watched Peter Pan. It was just not okay that he couldn't just up and fly whenever he wanted to like Peter Pan. He would ask me countless times to throw him up "really high in the sky" and then he could do it. I had tried to explain to him that it was just a movie...but we could pretend to fly and that was just as fun. He didn't buy it.
Not without the help of a dishtowel anyway. We found this one day and it made the perfect cape. Now he can 'really fly' all he wants! Who knew that is all it would take?

Congratulations to Will

2009-11-30T13:13:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we had the honor of attending Will's court of honor where he got awarded his eagle. We are so proud of him and were happy that we could be there. Go Will!

Up until attending this court of honor Landon's only experience with the scouting program was going around our with Joseph and I collecting donations for "Friends of Scouting". Landon was the only one that was SUPER excited about going knocking on people's doors in the cold. At one poing Landon asked if he could be a boyscout, we of course told him that when he got bigger he could. He was so excited as he proceeded to tell us, "When I get big and I be a boyscout, I knock on doors and people give me money!" He couldn't wait to get big enough. So his view of scouting is a little messed up right now, we'll have to straighten that out when the time comes. :)

Dan and Keri and their kids came up for this event as well. It was really fun to see them. One day Keri and I took the kids and went to look at cute crafts at the Quilted Bear. Well the carts there are super tiny but we wanted the kids to be in one because there are too many breakable things in this store. Well, Landon and Livie became a lot closer (they had to because there was no room).
It was funny to watch them because one minute they were giving kisses and hugging being the best of friends and the next they were pushing eachother and saying things like "don't touch me", or "that's my jacket...don't touch", or "mommy, Livie's leg is touching mine". Ahhhh, cousins...gotta love em"!

Fall Fun

2009-11-30T13:04:00.000-08:00

Fall is my favorite season for many reasons...the beauty, fall fashion (wearing sweaters...but you don't have to deal with huge puffy coats yet), and of course playing in the leaves.

Welcome Kohen!

2009-11-23T12:37:00.001-08:00

My sister Casey and her husband just had their first little baby. Isn't Kohen so handsome!

Landon and I were able to visit them for a couple of days in Cedar City.
Whenever Ty was home Landon was basically his shadow...thanks Ty for letting him 'help' you.
However, Landon had plenty of fun with Casey too. After a tiring game of Landon making Casey and I take turns pushing him down he was ready for a hug.
*just so you know, he invented that game...not me, i personally didn't think it sounded like that much fun but he thought it was great*

And I got plenty of snuggle time with the baby!

So cute.

Landon finally said he wanted to hold him on the second day. I think he liked him but he just kept asking over and over when Kohen was going to get big.

One time Kohen had one arm raised above his head and Landon said, "I think Kohen has a question". So I asked him what he thought Kohen wanted to ask. His reply, "How do I get big"?

One more picture for all of Kohen's other Aunt's out there.....Kohen has a message for you (read the shirt). :) he he

Halloween Weekend (finally) :)

2009-11-09T13:31:00.000-08:00

Yep, Landon was a pirate for Halloween this year.
And yes, as I am sure you can tell by the look on his face he was VERY excited about it. Poor little guy didn't even know what a pirate was until after we found his costume. I showed it to him and he said he didn't want to be a pirate....that is until he found out that they live on big ships in the water and get to carry swords! The fact that our neighbor let us borrow Peter Pan also helped. Needless to say he was quite happy being a pirate and has been one for at least part of the day every day since I believe.

Our neighborhood had a little carnival with games and early trick or treating that we went to. Here he is with his little friend Emi.....it may not look like it here but Emi really does love him!

And a couple more of his good lil' buds...Calvin and Hobbes (Taylor and Keaton).

My mom got to spend the weekend with us as well which was very fun. She was always making up new little games to play with Landon. Ring toss with the kitchen chairs was a hit.

November 1st was my mom's birthday so we celebrated with pear pie. Much to her dismay we did not have enough candles in the house to show her true age! (it is a lot) :) Love ya mom!

Thanks for spending a fun weekend with us!

Celebrate at the Zoo

2009-11-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry, more birthday stuff. This is the last I promise. Landon really wanted to go to the zoo for his birthday so here we are. Nannie, Angela, and Troy joined us for the very fun day.
I had so much fun this time because there were some really cute baby animals around. This little monkey was so fun to watch.

Joseph and Landon waiting to see the baby elephant. She was my favorite.

Landon liked the elephants but they were not his favorite. He couldn't wait to see the giraffes.

He didn't mind stopping at the carousel for a couple of rides before moving on to the giraffes though.

Ta da, another cute baby!

Nannie and Landon

Don't let this picture fool you. I know from the look on his face you might be thinking that this must be one cool train ride. Let's just say I would tell you to spend your $1.50 on another carousel ride unless you are dying to climb aboard this train to listen to really loud static as the conductor tells you all of the neat things you will see....what were those again.....oh yeah, a goat, a covered wagon, and a teepee. Yay.

All in all it was a great day though! And thank you so very much to Nannie, Ang, and Troy for making his birthday so fun for him!

Landon's 3rd Birthday

2009-11-05T12:21:00.000-08:00

I Am 3!!!
Landon had a great birthday. Lucky little guy actually got to celebrate a couple of times. The week before we had a little party in Cedar Hills with Dad, Wendy, and Will.

When you let this car go it crashes into whatever and the doors pop open and the bumper falls off, he thought that was histerical.

Nannie made the long trip all the way from Wyoming to come for his birthday. Landon loved spending time with her. By the end of his birthday Landon got very good at 'reading' his cards. He would open it and say, "It says, Happy Birthday Landon" then close it and go for the present.

What little boy isn't going to be excited for a gun? The vacuum cleaner attachments used to be his guns, this is working much better. However, the attachments and hoses are now used as swords when he is a knight. Sadly I am afraid Landon gets way more use out of the vacuum cleaner than I do. :)

Enjoying a new game, I call it fishing for aliens. Amazingly Landon wins every time! He finds a way to win anyway, whether it means he uses his hands instead of the pole or he steals your aliens from your pile while you aren't looking. I did not teach him that!

This was definitely the easiest cake I have made yet. About a month before his birthday I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. He said he wanted a black cake with letters on it. I did brown frosting...sometimes he calls black, brown and brown, black. He just LOVES letters. We have been doing our own little pre-school at home and I think it his favorite part of the day. He knows the names of all the letters and the sounds they make. He helped put all of them on his cake.

Wow, big bite!

Do you think he liked it?

I think so!

A look back...

2009-11-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that 3 years have gone by. After 2 1/2 years of trying to get pregnant.... on October 18, 2006 at 6:18 a.m. , weighing in at 8lb 12 oz. this sweet little boy came into our lives. Words cannot express the joy that he has brought into our lives!

The days that you just wanted to have us hold you and cuddle in our arms did not last long enough.

Before we knew it you were wiggling out of our arms and working hard to crawl around on your own.

Those first wobbly steps were not too far behind.

And look at you now.....our running, jumping, smilin' (not so little) boy. We are so grateful to be your mommy and daddy! We love you.

(Birthday pictures to come)

Bye bye binky....hello bike!

2009-09-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

For the past 1 1/2 years or so Landon has still had a binky during his nap and sleeping at night. I have been wanting to get him off of it for awhile but I have just had a hard time doing it because it is such a comfort to him (if Joe and I are gone or if we wakes up crying in the night). Anyway, I have seriously been stressing over this for almost a year.
I kept thinking it was going to be this super traumatic experience when I took it away. However, Landon has really really really wanted a bike for awhile now. I told Landon that only big boys get to have bikes, and since he still had a binky he wasn't a big boy yet. I decided that after our last traveling excursion this summer I would get him off the binky. So about a month or so ago he was asking about a bike again and I told him the same thing. We ate dinner, and then went to feed the ducks. As soon as we got home he went right upstairs, got his binky, came back down and threw it in the trash. He quickly came and got me to show me that he was ready to be a big boy. I was reluctant because we did not have a bike yet, but we just went with it anyway.

As you can see, it was a success. He went right to sleep without it, and didn't wake up at all during the night asking for it. He hasn't asked for it since either. Oh, and he LOVES his bike! It took him a couple of days to really get it down so he could go all by himself without getting stuck. Now he does great and this is what we spend a lot of the day doing. Yay for my big boy!

More summer fun

2009-08-31T10:36:00.000-07:00

Here are some "catching up" pictures from the summer. We have spent a lot of time this summer up at my parents house in Cedar Hills because we have had family in town a lot. This is one evening playing with cousins and Grandma's cool paper lanters.
We also made a lot of smores!

This is Alexandria wrestling Landon. Val and Alex were here for several weeks so Landon really misses her now that she is gone and far far away. :( And I miss Val!

This is Landon making (or eating) more roasted marshmallows with the help of his bud, Tommy.

Joseph taking Landon for a swim at a friends house.

While hanging out in Cedar Hills most of the time this is what the kids spent their time doing...eating of course,

digging in the sand and water table

and swimming! Landon was LOVING Alex on this particular day because she was the only one that would let him spray her in the face while she got a drink! They did this for quite awhile, it was so funny.

Gotta love summer.

Missionaries, and Munchkins

2009-08-20T12:54:00.000-07:00

Dan and Keri were in town for a couple of days, it was so fun to see them. I was so surprised how much Landon loved baby Violet! He kept asking to hold her, and he would say cute things to her like, "Look at your eyes, they are pretty blue like mine". And, "Hi Violet you are so cute, cute little feet". It was fun to watch him. It looks like I am not the only one who can't resist pinching her chubby little cheeks.
What a good big brother he will make one day!

All three little munchkins, Olivia, Violet, and Landon.

This week my cousin Joseph went into the MTC. We are so proud of him, he will be a great missionary! I am so glad the MTC is in Provo so we got to spend some time with him, my mom, and my Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Rob, and cousin Maggie.

It was so fun seeing you and spending the day together!

Comin Family Reunion 2009

2009-08-11T12:38:00.000-07:00

Last week Landon and I attended the Comin reunion held in St. Anthony, Idaho at Three Peaks Lodge. There were 78 of us there and it was so much fun! My sister Casey and I were husbandless so we were tent buddies. That in and of itself was a special treat, full of laughs! We had a great time being with cousins, grandparents, and aunts and uncles that we hadn't seen in a long time. We had a "Survivor" theme, full of fun challenges (go yellow :) ), and had a great time just hanging out with everyone. Unfortunately my camera spent most of it's time in our tent. So, I am posting my 3 awesome pictures from the entire reunion. Ooops! (Sorry Danie)

These pictures are from one of the cool play rooms for kids. They had fun bikes, a slide, chalkboard walls and all sorts of fun stuff. Between this and the room that was full of big foam blocks, a giant twisty slide, and Indian teepes I'll bet you can guess where Landon spent most of his time.
And last but not least, somebody caught this tiny baby frog which I thought was pretty cute.

I am sad that I did not get any pictures of the many fun things we did such as, me killing Will at scum, Casey finding an earwig in her shirt (priceless and hilarious), survivor challenges, and listening to Casey talk (those of you who have spent any time with Casey know that this can keep you entertained and laughing for hours). Anyway, we had a great time and were were happy to see all that were there!

Angela & Troy's Wedding

2009-08-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

Joseph's sister, Angela got married this weekend. It's been a busy weekend, but certainly fun having so much family around. Landon and his cousins Taylin, and Kaylee had fun running around the temple grounds while pictures were being taken.
Troy and Ang with some of their nieces and nephews. I love how Landon has his hand on Troy's niece. :)

Deep in thought at the reflection pool.

I asked Joseph to take a picture of Landon sitting on my lap...he wasn't really cooperating so I told him he could go play. Luckily he gave me a kiss before running off and Joseph was still snapping pictures.

Angela with 4 of her brothers...Jacob, Joseph, Kevin, and Josh.

Landon's favorite part of the whole day was dancing at the open house.

Amy teaching Hyrum how to dance with a girl.

Papa and Alivia.

Nannie and Landon.

Landon and Alivia.

Congratulations to Angela & Troy, we love you guys!

Kangaroo Zoo

2009-07-29T22:00:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks a lot of my family has been in town and we have been able to do some really fun things (I will be posting more of these activities later). Yesterday we went to Kangaroo Zoo with Val, Alexandria, Sarah, Timmy, and Will. This place has tons of huge inflatable slides, obstacle courses, and bounce houses. The kids were basically in heaven.

Landon thought this was pretty awesome too. Air was constantly blowing out of this yellow cone, so this ball would be floating in the air for him to practice his swing. Pretty cool!

On his way up one of the big ladders to go down a slide.
The first few times Landon was a little nervous to go down the slides by himself; however, it did not take too long for him to decide he could do it on his own.

Alexandria, Landon, Will, and Sarah having fun on one the jumping things.

Baby On The Way!

2009-07-29T21:40:00.000-07:00

No, not ours....This weekend we put on a baby shower for my sister Casey who is expecting their 1st (baby boy in November). Here a few pics from the festivities (Danie, these are mostly for you since I know you were dying to be there).
This is Casey trying out her new sling on baby Violet. Looks like she is gonna be a great momma!

The best part of the day...the food of course!

The best part of the day for Casey....presents! Oh, I mean spending quality time with loved ones! :)

Thanks to all who came, and congrats to Casey!

The Joys of Motherhood

2009-07-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Landon woke up from his nap crying. That isn't normal so I rushed in to get him and he immediatly said he needed to go poop. We ran into the bathroom and I quickly discovered that he had already went in his underwear.....diarrhea (sorry this is kind of a gross story). There was so much in there I didn't think he could go more, but oh did he! Poor little guy. Once he was all done I told him he would have to take a bath and he started crying. He seems to be fine taking baths if Joe is there, so I went downstairs and got him. I told Joe about the diarrhea and how a lot of it ended up in his underwear and that it was too much and too sick to clean out so I was just going to throw them away. I didn't ever do this when he was a baby when he would have massive blowouts, I would scrub and scrub those onesies...but this was different, he is no baby now and I just couldn't stomach it. Well Joe of course thought this was such a waste, so I hastily decided I would just clean them. About halfway through Joe came in and saw them and quickly said that there was no way I should be cleaning those and that I should throw them away! Nice. During all of this Landon was done going potty but he was still sitting on it. Just before I was about to get him off he decides to look down in the potty. Plop! There goes his binky!!! So sick, I know. He still sleeps with a binky, and I was planning on having him give it up at the end of August...we might just have to do it sooner! Sorry if this totally grossed you out, but sometimes you just have to share the great mommy moments right?

Weekend in Wyoming

2009-07-09T20:36:00.001-07:00

We had a very busy 4th of July weekend. Here is the rundown... Thursday evening we arrived at my in-laws house in Wyoming. That is where we were able to see this cute little colt, less than a day old. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of us petting it-which it did let us do! It was so cool! The next morning we headed to Billings, Mt. Joe's sis Angela went through the temple there (she is getting married in a couple of weeks). We were so lucky that Jeremy and Cerissa recently moved there so we were able to stay with them that night. Thank you so much for watching Landon and letting us stay with you. We had tons of fun! We are so happy we have you guys so much closer now!
Saturday we headed to Buffalo where our nephew Dawson was getting baptized. Way to go buddy! Following the baptism we went to Jake and Shanell's to hang out for the rest of the evening. We had great food, and they put on quite the fireworks show too!

Landon was loving the fireworks, he loved guessing what color was going to be next. I just loved my cuddle time with him!

And another thanks to Josh and Kristen for letting us stay with you too. We had a great time! As you can see Landon was quite intrigued by the fish--he was helping Uncle Josh feed them. Oh ya, there were cute little baby frogs in there too which he really liked.

He also spent a decent amount of time on this horse that night too. Shocker!

It was so great seeing everyone, we love spending time with family!

Sorry boys, no train!

2009-07-06T09:01:00.000-07:00

So I had seen on my friends blog that Disney was having this cool train tour to promote a new movie: Dickens' A Christmas Carol. They have this train all decked out just like the movie and they are going across the country making several stops in certain cities for people to check it out. My biggest reason for going was the 40 minute train ride! Did I mention it was all for free? So we decided to go with some friends of ours because the traind was stopping in Ogden. Now I will make a very long story short. We drove 1 1/2 hours to Ogden, to wait in line on an extremely hot day for over 3 hours (thank goodness we brought snacks, and there were 2 of us so 1 could walk around with the boys). I kept hearing rumors that there was no train ride...but I tried to ignore them because I was positive my friend had said that was part of it. Needless to say once we FINALLY got into the train there truly was no ride. So sad! I felt awful because I had dragged my poor prego friend and her 2 boys all this way for nothing really.
Unfortunately, the highlight of the day was going to the nearby gas station on the way home for rootbeer slurpees.
Side note: As soon as I got home I checked out my friends blog, and sure enough where they were they did get to for a 40 minute train ride! We got jipped I guess.

We're gonna miss you guys!!

2009-06-25T21:14:00.000-07:00

So a couple of weeks ago my brother Kyle and his family moved to Texas. Good for them, but I can't help but be a little sad. They are so far away and as you can see it was fun to have them close. They came up for one last weekend before the move, and I am grateful for that.
Brighton and Landon are good little buddies.

We went to a fun park nearby where Uncle Will and their other cousin Alea got to come as well.

We are excited for guys, but we already miss you tons!

Aaaahh, summer time

2009-06-07T17:31:00.000-07:00

A day of summer fun spent at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Silence....

2009-05-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

You know there is trouble when all you hear is...nothing. Those of you who have spent any amount of time with Landon lately know this to be true--he is quite the talker lately. Anyway, we just got back from a very fun filled trip (CO to see my sis Sarah and her fam) last night, so I was busy unpacking and cleaning things up when I realized Landon was very quiet. Yep, he struck gold--or at least as good as gold to him. Chocolate, lots and lots of chocolate!!!

***A special reminder to Sarah***

I forgot to bring my camera on our little trip so please please send me all your pictures from this weekend so I can add them to the blog! :)

Thanksgiving Point Farm Country

2009-05-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

Landon enjoying a pony ride.
Petting the horses.

Checking out another horse.

Trying to talk the horse into coming to the fence so he could pet it (sadly it didn't work).

Posing with the llama.

My personal favorite, the kid.

A big goat here who thought that Landon had food.

All in all it was fun evening visiting farm country. I have to admit I was a little disappointed because I thought it would be more like a petting zoo where you get to go into the animal pins and pet them. Too bad, they didn't let us hold any animals. However, that didn't stop Joe from reaching into the bunny cage and letting us hold a couple of rabbits!

Just Because

2009-05-26T12:06:00.001-07:00

Who doesn't love getting flowers 'just because'? I sure do, thank you so much sweetie!

2009-05-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

After Angela's graduation we all went to dinner at Rodizio Grill which was delish. This is Landon, Taylin, Nannie and Papa at the water fountain outside the restaurant.

The next day we spent the afternoon at a park up Provo Canyon and had a picnic. I like this picture of three generations....doing what they do best! :) j/k

Aunt Ang playing with Landon on the slide.
The look on Landon's face saying "Stop telling me to look at the camera, I'm trying to play"

And of course once you go down the slide, you have to fill up the bottom of it with wood chips.

I am pretty sure by the looks on their faces this was the kids FAVORITE activity all weekend.
Bouncing and jumping off of the air mattress. This particular one converted into a couch so you could jump off the top and still have a soft landing.

Running to do it again.

Weeeeeeeeeeee!

A snuggle with Nannie.

Joseph with his mom and sis enjoying a family favorite, ice-cream.

We had so much fun seeing all of you this weekend. Thanks so much and we can't wait to see you again in July!

Congrats to the Grads!

2009-05-11T12:55:00.001-07:00

We have spent the last couple of weekends helping some siblings celebrate college graduations. Here is Angela (Joe's sis) who just graduated from the University of Utah in speech pathology.

Family photo of us with Kyle (my bro) who just graduated from Southern Utah University in nursing. We are very proud of both of you!!

Hospitals are way too much fun

2009-05-06T09:00:00.001-07:00

Sometimes we like to go to the hospital so Landon can go for wheelchair rides.

So fun!! We were really here to visit our great friends Jonathan and Lisa who just had their 2nd little boy. Thank goodness Jonathan is very good at keeping Landon entertained...he really needed something to grab his attention other than the emergency pull cord in the bathroom. Yep, he did pull it. It was a tiny bit embarassing when about 6 nurses and the respiratory person came rushing down the hall to Landon' aid. Oops!

All that was worth it though to see sweet lil' Keaton. Isn't he so cute!

Family Carnival

2009-05-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

A school nearby recently had a fundraising carnival for families so we decided to check it out. They had tons of fun stuff for Landon to do.
He even got to go inside the fire truck.

Squirting the duck game. Joe showed him how to do it first.

Then of course Landon has to try it all by himself. He was doing pretty good too...

until he found an even faster way to get the duck to the end! :)

Out of all of the fun stuff they had to do there, his very favorite was of course the really tall twisty slide at the playground.

Landon in the bouncy house. He did like this, however, there were a bunch of bigger kids in there kinda going crazy so he wasn't so sure about it at first.

Sunshine+Cousins=Fun!!!

2009-04-23T21:11:00.000-07:00

Landon was super excited when he learned that Brighton was in town and was coming to our house to play.

At the park Brighton was a little bit nervous to go down the slide.It is amazing how much holding one little hand can make you so brave!

I think he could have sat in this swing all day if I was willing to stand there that long to push him.

This was Brighton's first time on a big kid swing, she did so good!

Cute little Porter.

Thanks Danie and Kyle for coming (even though we didn' t see much of Kyle), we loved hanging out with you for the day.

Snow Day

2009-04-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

This is what we woke up to just a couple of days after Easter. How lovely.

We decided to take advantage of it since it will hopefully be the last snow before Christmas! Fingers crossed of course. Thanks to Kyle and Danie I think our snowman turned out quite nicely.

After the snowman I looked at the clock and we still had an hour before lunch and nap time, so...we made a snow couch as well. Originally I was going for a snow cave, but that wasn't working out so well.

Ta Da.

Landon took right to it, just like our couches inside the house. Jumping off the arms and everything!

What else are couches really good for besides jumping platforms,

and diving boards?

Great Deals

2009-04-20T13:13:00.000-07:00

I love this website! They have the greatest stuff for moms, and kids. There is something new everyday and they have the BEST prices. Check it out, you won't be sorry.
www.babysteals.com

Easter Weekend

2009-04-16T20:20:00.000-07:00

I am finally getting around to posting our some of our Easter pictures. Saturday we colored Easter eggs, so fun!
I actually really do love this, I would like to say that we were doing this activity for Landon.....but it was for me too! :)

Don't let Joe fool you, he got in on the fun too. He did color one egg; although he mainly just assisted Landon.

Look at those eggs!

Landon finding his Easter basket on Sunday.

The Easter Bunny hid lots of eggs around the house because Landon loved looking for them!

He kept saying things like, "Silly rabbit". Every time he found a new one he would say, "He brought me a green one" (or whatever color it was). The cute part was that he was just as enthusiastic each time.

We forgot to get a picture of just Landon in his new outfit for church, so this will have to do.

Happy Birthday Christina!

2009-04-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Just a cute picture of Landon with his buds, Henry and Thomas.

And a Happy Birthday to the mother of those 2 boys, Cina! We surprised her for a fun girls night earlier this week. I had so much fun watching Bride Wars and eating good food (I felt like it was my birthday)! I really hope I didn't tell you that I wouldn't post this pic, cause yeah, I did.

Cabela's

2009-04-11T13:13:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love cheap entertainment? We told Landon we were going to take him to go see some animals, he of course assumed the zoo. Ooops. Ever since we took him in September he STILL talks about it and can't wait to go back. So, I was afraid he might be disappointed when we got to Cabela's. I am happy to report from the following pictures that that wasn't the case at all. As a matter of fact he did get to see a zebra (even if it was only its head mounted on a wall), he thought it was so cool. Landon laughing with delight as he feeds the REAL fish!

The polar bear.

Landon looking at the polar bear.

And an elk, I know he looks a little nervous here but he really loved it.

Happy and Sad (but always cute)

2009-03-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

I know I have said this several times...Landon loves loves loves to be outside. This is what I have to look at when it is time to come in for lunch and a nap. So sad. I try not make eye contact usually (it is much easier to not give in that way). I missed his super pouty face darnit. Then you would really feel my pain!
This however brings pure joy! Another thing Landon likes to do lately is fixing his own hair. He likes to get it super wet, comb it straight down with his hands, and then he asks me to take his picture. Check out that pose! :)

Weekend Fun

2009-03-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

A lot of my siblings were in town this weekend for various reasons, but we loved being able to see them. Here is Landon with Alea, Olivia, and Brighton.

Landon would be outside every day, all day if I would allow it.

Trying to unlock the gate with one of favorite lil' pals, Norbert (Landon calls him Borbert). All of the cousins love Uncle Will, especially when he jumps on the tramp with them.