Sledding

We definitely had a white Christmas this year. What's better than sitting on the couch, drinking hot chocolate and watching the snow fall from your huge front window? Playing in it!! We introduced Jack to sledding this year and to be honest, he did really care for it too much. He didn't like the "snow in eyes mommy!" So we put goggles on him, and he was much happier :-)

When he wasn't sledding, he really enjoyed hanging out in the warm car with mommy. Thanks Aunt Kyanne for last year's Christmas present (gloves and hat). Thanks Aunt Adena for his winter coat. Thank you DI for the $2 snow pants. And thank you Baba Gochnour for the awesome snow boots. This little boy wasn't about to be cold!

One very sad story: John lost his wedding ring while we were out playing in the snow. The cold weather makes fingers shrink... and that's not good when you're constantly taking your gloves on and off to help your two year old. Darn it... once we got home and realized it was missing, we immediately went back to the coldisac where we were playing and they had just plowed the snow. We are so sad... no chance of finding that ring.

Pre Christmas

December 11, 2008

I'm the Enrichment Leader in our ward and we had such a fun time putting on this year's RS Christmas dinner. The theme was "Celebrate His Birth" and our table center pieces were nativity sets (donated by sisters in the ward) and then my wonderful enrichment committee decorated the rest. Didn't they do a gorgeous job?

Sunday Dec. 14th, 2008

Jack got terribly sick. I went early to church because I sang for our ward's Christmas program. When Jack and John walked in I could tell something was miserably wrong...Jack looked horrible. I took him home right after sacrament meeting and he had a temp of 102.6! Luckily he was already scheduled for his 2 year old appointment the next morning, so we just had to hold him off until them. Turns out he had bad ear infections, a horrible cough and poor little guy was miserable all around. (Other than that, his 2 year old stats are all average!)

As much as I hate for him to be sick, it's the only time he'll let us snuggle him. For FHE we snuggled on the couch and watched Finding Nemo. Sweet Daddy even got to take a little break from studying for finals and spend a little time with his son. Dr's orders was to use a nebalizer to break up the cough in his chest. Jack pretty much had the system down and insisted on holding it by himself...Cute little mask!

The next morning Jack and I were off to Utah. Amoxicillan (sp?) does wonders...he was feeling so much better by the time we left Tuesday afternoon. We were able to find really cheap flights on Southwest ($99 per person/each way) so Jack and I left Tuesday and John stayed behind to finish a few more finals. Obviously I prefer to fly with John because it's just so much easier, but I was especially not looking forward to it because 1) Jack was sick and I was sure his ears were going to be bothering him 2) I'm 25 weeks and my belly is getting bigger (thank goodness he had his own seat, but he still wanted to sit on my lap) 3) I don't think there is anything more stressful than going through security with kids. I had to take out all liquids (his medicine etc), they had to fold down the stroller, take off both of our shoes off, make sure he doesn't go running through the security without me... But we made it and all is well. I can't wait till I get to do it with 2 kids ;-)

I came very prepared with snacks, DVD's (big thanks to Grandpa Ray for that much needed DVD player), stickers, coloring books. And of course, all he wanted was the Southwest safety guide because it had a picture of an airplane on it. Go figure!! That night we stayed with John's sister, Kyanne then headed down to Provo to see Jaren and Jenica.

Although most of our days were spent visiting with family and friends, we stayed the night with Amy (Duffin) Clark and her cute little family. Jack and Ivy became great friends!! Thanks for letting us hangout with you Wed and Thurs night!

Jack had a great time at Jenica's apartment... destroying her temple gingerbread house. At first he was very good to "just look" but in the end, he couldn't resist. Of course Uncle Jaren's encouragement to "try the candy treats Jack, they're really yummy" didn't help either. He knocked the whole thing over and it crumbled all over the place! Sorry Jen.

Friday Dec 18th, John made it to SLC just before the HUGE storm rolled in. We ate lunch at Cafe Rio with Jana and McKay (they flew in for a funeral one hour before John did.) We were originally going to eat lunch all together (Gochnours, Marriotts, Jaren and Jenica) because John hasn't seen Jaren since he's been home from his mission and we weren't going to AZ during the break, but as soon as we heard the storm was coming, we pushed them out the door ASAP Friday morning. Bummer! We were planning to drive up to Burley right after we satisfied our tastebuds with the deliciousness of Cafe Rio, but the weather was so scary and cars were sliding off the road left and right...we decided to stay the night in SLC. Thank goodness for Kyanne. She's so great for letting us stay with her. That night we went to visit our good friend Scotty Zwick then came back to Kyanne's and ate Chinese takeout. Watching the news that night it said that there were over 80 car accidents between Provo and SLC during the storm that afternoon. We were so glad we stayed!

The next morning we woke up to a foot of snow on our car. But, the sun was shining and the roads were plowed so we decided to go for it. We made it to Burley with no problems at all, plus can't complain when Jack slept most of the drive up there! John's family was very anxious to see us but then again, who wouldn't be? We are pretty cool :-)

That night we went to the ward Christmas party. The theme was "Christmas around the World" and they had different countries represented and what they had contributed to the entire Christmas holiday. For example: St. Nicholas was originally from Thailand, Gingerbread cookies came from Germany, hayride and candycanes from America... They had activities for every country. It was very fun.

Avoiding all eye contact with Santa. He wasnt' scared, he just wouldn't look at him!

Jack couldn't take his eyes off the horse.

It was FREEZING cold that night. I guess little kids don't really have a concept of weather because Jack wouldn't stop at anything... he wanted to be outside with the horses!

John's cousin Greg and his daughter Eva. She's 2 weeks younger than Jack.

Oh it's so wonderful to be done with finals!! It's such a relief... for all of us :-) Now we just get to wait for grades to come, that's always fun.

2 Years Old

You've had a birthday, shout hooray...

December 9th, 2008

I offered to watch these cute boys so their moms (both of whom are on my enrichment committee) could go to the fabric store (to buy stuff to decorate for our RS Christmas dinner) without them. We had a great time playing play-do and running around in the back yard. Jack thought it was pretty cool to have friends over and the fact that it was his birthday was a plus. Even though he didn't know it was different than any other day, it made me feel like a nice mom!

He didn't want to take a nap on his birthday. I heard him happily playing and talking to himself for quite a while and walked in to find that he had thrown all blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals overboard, taken his pants off, reached over to his crib and grabbed a shirt off his changing table and tried to put it on... when I walked in and started laughing at the sight, he got a little embarrassed. Then he got even more angry when I pulled out the camera!

Growing up, we always got to choose what we ate for dinner that night. So, when I asked Jack what he wanted for dinner he said, "Pizza/Hotdog" (one word). Which,of course, by translation means SAMS Club.

He ate the whole darn thing...
After dinner we came home, had cake and opened presents.

After he ate cake, opened his ABC blocks, Thomas the train shoes, Henry choo choo train with a "Percy Saves the Day" DVD, we gave him his "biggest" birthday present... A giant dumptruck. He was not as excited as he was with all the other presents, but give the guy a break, at this point he was so over stymulated! He liked it much more the next day.

He carried his choo choos around the entire night.

Then I told him it was time for bed, and he wasn't too keen on the idea of putting them down for anything!

2 year old stats:

He is right in the middle of the charts in every category!

Height: 33 inches

Weight: 27 lbs

Head: can't remember

2nd Annual Double Birthday Party!

When 2 best friends are just one week apart, how can you NOT do a double birthday party? On Dec 7th, 2008 (the Sunday night between the 2 birthdays: Ethan=Dec 1, Jack=Dec 9th) we had a little get together for these two monkeys. Although it was a VERY low key celebration, we had a great time. Pictures say it all:

Jack: "Ooohhh, Look at those yummy cup cakes!"

Ethan: "Could life get any better? All of these treats at my fingertips!"

Their faces say it all! We pulled the cupcakes away, pushed the dirt and Tonka trucks a little closer, and they couldn't resist...

We were planning on giving the kids the cupcakes, and the adults this yummy "Oreo Madness" cake, but I guess the boys wanted to stake their claim on what they thought should be rightfully theirs!

There was some definite "double digging" :-)

As soon as I took Jack's church clothes off, I felt much better about letting him dig into whatever he wanted (no pun intended). Afterall you only turn 2 once, right? He literally had frosting all the way up his arms. OH I love his pudgy little fingers.

Ethan couldn't decide which one he wanted more, the cupcake or the present! I'm pretty sure that was his 5th cupcake in about a 2 minute span... and he's still being so polite using his utensils.

If the trucks on top of the mud cake weren't enough, we gave the boys some real Tonka trucks! Jack got a bulldozer and Ethan got a dump truck. Pretty much the best birthday ever. What more could a little boy want?

Double Baby Shower

What's better than one baby shower? A DOUBLE baby shower! On December 6th we had a very fun baby shower for Natalie Pelfrey (welcoming a baby girl) and Lindsay Mills (welcoming a baby boy). These ladies are just 2 of 7 of us in our ward having a baby within the next 6 months (Lindy- Dec, Nat- Jan, Lindsay- Feb, Rachel-March, Mel-Mar or April?, Anna-April, Bridget- June). Am I missing anyone? Kinda crazy. It's going to be one CROWDED mothers room in a few months :-) We might have to BYOC... bring your own chair!

Natalie and Linds opening the goods. Each of these ladies are pregnant with their second, and they are both having opposite genders then they already have!

Natalit got a "Little Black Dress" for her little girl and Linsday got a handsome tux for her little man! Very clever...

We never seem to run out of food at these events. Yummy chicken salad sandwiches on Loralee Warner's homemade rolls (which always been a neighborhood favorite, but even more so since she taught us how to make them for Thanksgiving dinner). Veggie and Fruit platers, lemon bars, and spinach artichoke dip. Soooo yummy and of course very fun.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving! This year we decided to stay in Durham and enjoy a little family time to ourselves. It was a hard decision to stay home especially because we had the option of going to NYC like we did last year with the Pelfreys, but for some reason, we just felt like we should stay home. When all is said and done, we were very glad we stayed in our cozy little house. Jack ended up getting a really bad cold and cough and we enjoyed some very relaxing, quality family time. This semester was so busy, it felt so good to just hangout. It was finally a weekend where John wasn't traveling, writing a paper or competing in some type of mock trial.
John woke up Thursday morning, ready to decorate! He loves Christmas decorations more than anyone I've ever known. He had the tree up before I had breakfast cleaned up! After cleaning/decorating we went on a beautiful walk Thursday morning (some do a turkey trot... ours was more of a nice nature walk! Between a pregnant woman and a toddling 2 year old, a walk is about all we could handle!) On this walk we each listed the top 5 things we were thankful for. It was such a great conversation. It's so wonderful to be reminded of the many things we have to be thankful for. We are so blessed! Jack threw in his 2 bits as well... Thomas the Tank engine, fruit (nanas, orange, appies), dump trucks, Ethan (friends), and mommy/daddy!
Then we came home, I finished baking a few things, while John took a nap and Jack played in his crib (silly little boy would NOT take a nap. I guess he was too excited to eat turkey). We then headed over to Anna and Andy Despain's house and joined a few other law friends: Dan Leslie and his mom Lauri, and Melissa and Doug Hansen (8 adults and 4 kids... it was a perfect size group).
Thank you Despains for hosting Thanksgiving dinner. Food was delicious, the table was beautiful, the conversation was great, the game was fun, Jack's 1/2 hour nap was a life saver, and you guys are wonderful :-)

Turns out almost ever single thing I contributed to our Thanksgiving dinner contained at least one package of cream cheese! Spinach Artichoke dip, strawberry jello pretzel cheesecake, cheese ball and crackers, pumpkin roll, and the famous 7 layer salad (no cream cheese, but very tasty).

The beautiful turkey dinner :-)

Friday Nov. 28th we went to the Duke Bball game against Duquesne and we won 95-72. It's not very often that kids are allowed to go to Duke Bball games, but on games that are a little lower in attendance and not quite so intense, coach K opens the gym to families! We thought we'd take advantage of this chance to introduce Jack to Cameron Indoor Stadium... he LOVED it.
During offensive free-throws everyone puts their arms up in the air and if the shot is made we say, "Woosh". Jack thought it was really funny, he did it more often than just free throws!
The next day we decided to try out a Duke football game. Although nothing will ever compare to Cougar football, we had a pretty good time. At halftime we were so cold we decided to go home and drink hot chocolate. Jack's nose was runny and he kept looking up at me saying, "I'm beezin (freezing) mom" it was then we decided to go home.

We went to the game with our good friend Dan Leslie (he and his mom joined us for Thanksgiving dinner). They live in our complex and Dan in his first year of Law School at Duke. Go Blue Devils! Overall, a great Thanksgiving weekend.

Where's baby brother?

Me: "Hey Jack, where's baby brother?"

Ummm... I'm not quite sure!

Actually... I know where he is!

Jack: "Een Jack beyye"

Me: "Are you sure?"

Jack: "No. Een Mommy's beyye!"

Although Jack is still a little confused where baby brother is, he's pretty excited. Jack and I have been going over the alphabet letters together and he doesn't know or recognize and letter except "B" is for "baby, boy and brother". He is at such a fun stage right now learning so many words and just oozing with personality. His favorite things are trucks, (dumptrucks, tractors, fire trucks, you name it!) He's a HUGE fan of Thomas the tank engine (or anything that has to do with choo choo trains), and cars... He's such a boy! His favorite movies are Finding Nemo, Cars, "Jesus" (aka animated stories) and Farmer Joe (a movie we bought on a road trip in dire need to help him last just a few more hours. He loves farm). His favorite foods are oranges, bananas, apples, cheese and hotdogs. I'm thinking I should buy that new cookbook "Deceptively Delicious" to hide some veggies into his diet! He had a few melt-downs this week over who knows what? Perhaps I'm seeing foreshadows of "terrible two's"? I'm not looking forward to it. He is still the cutest thing I've ever seen and is becoming more sneaky, funny, and smart every single day.

I'm fighting a cold this week but I just discovered the goodness of Theraflu... WOW that stuff is yummy. Nothin better than a warm cup o tea! For all you pregnant ladies fighting colds this winter, Dr. said Theraflu is OK, but Airborn is not (too much vitamin C I think?) We're looking forward to quality family time this upcoming week. We're staying here in Durham for Thanksgiving and I've been dreaming of cooking the past few nights. I'm very excited!!

John is still recovering from the very sad Utah vs. BYU game last night. The call from his sisters celebrating in SLC after the game was over didn't help much either!! Hee hee j/k ladies, he loved hearing from you. It was the first time I'd ever watched that game with fans from both sides in the same room. It added a fun dynamic. Thank you Warners for ordering the special sports package so we could enjoy "the MTN" in your home. You're the best.

Fall Photos

Update:
It's snowed for about 10 minutes today, which would explain why Jack and I were so FREEZING on our little 2 mile walk this morning. I usually go walking then let him play at the park where we park our car. He played for about 3 minutes then came running to me saying, "Hold you mommy, Freezin!" That was my cue to put him in the car and drive home with the heat on high!!
-John is busy at school, preparing for the hard month ahead... finals. Yuck! He made it to the quarter finals of moot court and those round will be held sometime in Jan/Feb. Congrats babe. With all thats going on, he still spends a considerable about of time with us! Obviously, some weeks will be worse than others, but he's so good at balancing daddy time, wife time, church time and school. He's pretty much the coolest guy I know.
-Jack sings all the time. Most of his songs are to the tune of ABC/twinkle twinkle. Why are those the same tune? Jack gets so confused... He's still cute as ever and I can't kiss him enough times in the day. He doesn't cry any more when he wakes up from his nap or in the morning. He simply just calls for me until I come get him! "Mommy...Mom? All done! Get out!" This morning he called out for Daddy (that made John VERY happy considering he's been the one getting him up and ready the past couple mornings... thanks hun).
-I'm 21 weeks along and feeling great (most of the time). I can't believe I'm half way done. Time goes by way too quickly. Baby is kicking lots, which is perhaps my favorite part of pregnancy. Due date is still on for April 1st, 2009 and I'm getting so excited for the holidays I can hardly stand it.


So... maybe I should have done a slideshow for this post! I didn't realize how many pics there were. Last week we took pictures around Duke campus and Jack did pretty well for the most part. I was playing around with my camera's settings and it wasn't until I got home that I realized that most of the pics I took were all fuzzy. Darn it! Oh well, besides that, he was in major need of a haircut! So, I uploaded the pics and gave him a haircut, and he's still the cutest kid around.

I think everyone should live on the east coast some time in their life. We love it here. The colors are like nothing I've ever seen in my life. (Granted I did grow up in Mesa, AZ where there are pretty much 2 seasons: HOT and bearable.) Need less to say, we love the fall in Durham, NC!