THANKFUL

Our crazy little man turned 1 last Friday! Can you believe it's been a year? We can't! This boy has brought so much joy (and some exhaustion) into our lives in the last year. We've had such a fun time getting to know his personality and see how it changes as he gets older. He has had quite the personality since the day he was born. He lets you know EXACTLY how he's feeling. If he doesn't like something, you know it. His personality is the exact opposite of his big sisters. She was quiet and timid and shy. She was very mellow and enjoyed just hanging out on your lap and being held. Not Cole. From the second he wakes up in the morning he is out of his room and down the stairs. He is constantly on the move and rarely sits still. He follows the dog everywhere and loves on her a little too much. He has started walking full-time this week and it's the cutest thing to watch. He's still a little uneasy but insistes on walking anyway. He is too smart for his own good. Leave it to him to get a childproof bottle cap off of anything. He doesn't love shoes but is slowly getting used to them. He has 7 teeth and a full head of shaggy hair. We can't bring ourselves to cut it so we will see how long it gets. I'm not totally sure how much he weighs, I didn't want him to get shots during his birthday week so are waiting until next week. But about 6 weeks ago he was 21 and a half pounds so he's definitely a healthy boy! He's a great sleeper at through the night but is already down to one nap a day, little stinker. He's too busy to sleep. He's still a mini-Ryan, both in looks and in attitude. I've been told by the Taggarts that when Ryan was little, he was curious and a little naughty just like Cole. Naughty or not, he's the sweetest little boy in the world and we feel so lucky to call him ours. Life would just not be the same without our crazy little Cole-Cole. We love you baby boy!!

Birthday cupcakes

He had no problem finishing his cupcake. Which is why we stayed with just a small cupcake for the birthday boy. I sometimes miss these days of holding our tiny little miracle all day...
Coley's very first smile, 3 weeks old
I miss that little baby, time goes so fast! But they just get more and more fun.

Sound asleep after his birthday party. He loves his new big boy car seat. Last month we had our great friend and photographer, Julie Bailey, take our family pictures. Here are a few of them. Thanks for capturing our kiddos so perfectly Jules!

Thanksgiving is 2 days away. I feel so blessed to have the kids, the family and the friends that I have. My life is full. I'm so excited for the holidays to be here. Allie is finally at the age where she knows what Christmas is all about. And she remembers and loves the songs and traditions that are repeated every year. It's so much fun. The Christmas music is all organized on the iPod and ready to start playing the day after Thanksgiving, and the Christmas tree lots are filling up with trees for us to choose from! Sersiously, my favorite time of year. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Our fall so far...

Do you like how I'm so good at keeping our blog updated? I hope you're ready for some pictures because I've got a lot! A little catch-up...Allie is loving first grade. We are finally used to the early mornings and the homework every night thing. She is loving her 2 dance classes. She has a ballet/tap class and then a cheer class. With school and homework and dance and friends, I can hardly keep up with her. She's also busy being a big sister to the craziest little boy ever! Cole is hilarious and so so fun! He hits new stages every week it seems. He's finally out of that newborn stage and now he wants to play with Allie constantly. It's so funny to watch. Anything she's playing with, he wants. And he's not shy about trying to take it from her. Luckily she's stronger than him right now, but I don't think it will be long before he can put up a pretty decent fight. She does get a little annoyed with him these days. Especially when she has a friend over. He follows them WHEREVER they go. Upstairs, downstairs, in the toy room, in Allie's room. Anywhere they go, you see him crawling after them. She's so good with him though, I have such a good little helper, I don't know what I would do without her. He is just about walking, he takes about 5 or 6 steps and then falls. It's so exciting to see your little baby learning new things, we love these milestones. He's so busy in the day, there is never a dull moment with him. It's no wonder that once 8pm rolls around, he's down for the count. All night long. I am loving his sleep schedule and just hoping he sticks to it for good!

I'm finally back to my normal self, no crutches! My parents ended up staying with us for close to 8 weeks (minus the weekends). We had such a good time with them and they were such a HUGE help with the kids. We are forever grateful for them. So here we go...

A couple months ago, Allie's school had a magazine drive. You know how it goes, depending on how many you sell you get different prizes. She won lunch with the principal and they got to ride to lunch in a limo! Here they are getting ready to go.

The lunch fell on Colombus day so Ryan had the day off so him and Cole came to see her go. Ryan is loving his new job and he'll be done with school next week! We are so excited to have him home at a decent hour everyday.

Last month Plain City Fire Station had a carnival where you could go learn about fire safety. The kids got to use a real fire hose and go on a fire engine ride. It was a lot of fun and I love that they learned a lot at the same time.

We loved taking grandma and grandpa everywhere with us!

I love this blondie. At first I was sad that I wasn't going to have another redhead but I can't get over this blond!

We went to Lagoon for the last time of the season before it closed.

Allie, Addi and Berklie. Such cute little bugs :)

When the holidays roll around I'm all about making treats. So on this night we made chocolate dipped oreos and decorated them for Halloween. We also made chocolate dipped bananas. It took a few tries, but we finally learned the best way to do it.

Ryan got home from his church meetings just in time to be a taste-tester.

The finished product. I know they're a little messy but when you let a 6 year old do whatever she wants, this is what you get. In the past I've always tried to help her and make sure everything is decorated perfectly. I've since realized that that wasn't really fun for her. So I've learned to let go and just let her go at it. We put some mint flavoring in the chocolate and they were so good!

Last weekend, my brother John and his two boys, Jarod and Kevin, came to visit from California. We love it when they visit and had such a fun weekend. On Friday, my parents took us all to Tepanyaki. There were so many of us we had to sit at two tables but we were right next to each other and it was so fun for the kids. They loved this place.

Jarod attempting to catch a shrimp in his mouth. No luck.

And Emma! No luck.

And Allie..She caught it on her 3rd try! This picture makes me laugh so hard.

Thanks for the fun dinner grandma and grandpa!

After dinner Jake and Ry taught Cole how to play soccer.

On Saturday we went to the Bingham Canyon Mine. It's a HUGE open-pit copper mine. The kids were so excited to see the huge hole, especially once we told them that it was so big you could see it from space.

Jarod, Kevin and Allie on the way to the mine

Self portraits. I'm looking at the screen, Ryan's looking at the lens. Oh well.

You really have to see it in person to appreciate the size of it.

There are these huge trucks all over the place hauling dirt here and there. This is just one of the tires.

They had a little museum about the mine that was really interesting.

Ryan's parents called from Africa where they are serving their mission while we were there. So fun to hear from them. They are doing great, they come home in April! That will be here before we know it, we need to figure out where we want to live!

Cole loves grandpa. If grandpa is holding him good luck trying to take him. He won't go to anyone.

On to pumpkin carving! John and Ryan went crazy and carved all these pumpkins after the kids drew the faces on.

Well done!

After pumpkins we made caramel apples. The kids are a little excited about the toppings.

The finished products! Christmas card photo? Too bad we're missing Cole who can never stay awake for the late night parties.

Now on to Halloween! Allie's dance class had a halloween party. This is Allie's teacher, Miss Chricia, who just happens to be the best, most sweetest teacher ever. (And we also have super fun girls nights which makes me love her even more!).

Halloween school parade. We love this little fairy ;) On Halloween night we went down to Provo to my sister's house. They had this really weird ghost costume. We thought we might be able to freak Cole out a little bit but no luck. This kid is not afraid of anything.

Emma and Mary, the cutest mimes ever.

Emma the mime, Sophie as Ron Weasley, Allie the fairy, Cole the puppy.

Happy Halloween!

The hat didn't stay on for long

Counting their goodies. Coles coming in for the kill Sometimes Cole likes to sit on the things he's playing with. I don't know if it's to show us that it's his and we better not touch it, who knows. Just another reason why we love this crazy little kid.

And now we're in November. This year is going by so fast, in just a couple weeks our little baby will be 1! We are so grateful for our kids, life would just not be the same without them. Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!