3 months old!

Gracen is growing way too fast! We just went and got his 3 month pictures taken and they turned out so cute. It was hard to narrow it down to just one pose. It was kinda funny while I was looking at the pictures on the screen (its a pretty big screen) Gracen was turned out facing them and he saw himself and started to laugh. It is so much fun to have such a smiley, happy little guy, he sure is a joy to have!

It's Cold!!

We have been freezing this past week, and unfortunately our heater can't keep up. We wake up with 66 degrees in the morning and warm up to a whoping 68 degrees by bedtime. As cold as it has been we have been staying in a lot. It is great that we have neighbors, otherwise I think I might lose my mind being cooped up like this. There was one day this week after it had snowed that I decided to brave the sub zero temperatures and take Brynlee out to play in the snow. She loved it and I froze but we lasted about 20 minutes and it was fun to see her playing in it. Lets hope we warm up soon!

Gracen likes to sit in his exersaucer, he is still a little wobbly so we just put his arms up over the edge and stick a blanket behind him. Usually this entertains him for at least 15 minutes.
Brynlee loves to read to Gracen.


Uchenna makes me laugh. I'm not so sure that chess will appreciate this picture too much. Brynlee kept trying to make him put on her princess clothes. I think he just liked the crown. Brynlee loves to play with him, I think it is because most of the time she gets her way. One day Uchenna will learn.

Gracen's Blessing Day

On Sunday, December 30th we had the opportunity to bless Gracen at Nate's parent's ward. It was such a blessing for us to be able to be with family and friends for this wonderful occasion. He was given a beautiful blessing and after Nate was done his dad walked over with a smile on his face and said "he was just smiling through the whole thing." It was such a great day for us all.

Christmas

These are the rest of the pictures from our trip. We spent Christmas and the following week with Nate's family. We had a great time seeing everyone. We were able to make a trip down to visit Nate's Grandparents, they are all so sweet and fun to visit. We miss being closer to them. We also played in the snow a few different times and Brynlee wasn't too sure of sledding down hills. She would say she didn't want to go and I would pick her up and stick her on it and make her go.(I am such a mean mom) She would laugh the whole way down and when I asked if she wanted to go again she would say NO! She sure did enjoy every minute of it. We have really been blessed to be able to make trips back to visit family and are so grateful to have them in our lives!! We sure do miss them when we come back and look forward to being able to see them again!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom and step dad's house. We had dinner and opened gifts. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled us all! We had a great time and appreciated being able to be there to spend time with them.

Our Utah Vacation

When we got to Utah it was so great to be back. We were so excited to see our family and friends. We started our trip with my best friend Kassie's wedding. It was really nice, and we had a good time. It was so awesome to go into the temple with her and be at their sealing. I was also able to see some friends that I have not seen in years, it was fun to see them!

Kassie and Josh Weight

Brynlee wanted to be in all the pictures with Kassie. All night she kept asking "Where my Kassie go?"

We stayed at my sister Amy's house a lot of the time. It was great to see her and my niece Shyley. We had a lot of fun!!

Brynlee and Shyley playing in the snow. It seemed to snow a lot while we were there. Brynlee just couldn't get enough of it.

We went and had dinner with Nate's whole family. Gracen got to meet all of his Aunts, Uncles and cousins. He also got to meet Grandpa Thompson. It was fun to see everyone.

Brynlee was a Guitar Hero!! She loved "playing" the game.

Uncle Brian and Brynlee playing.

Me and Amy played this game a little too much, the room was moving when we were done.

Gracen got to meet Great Grandpa and Grandma Bill. It was fun to see them!

They had so much fun, and too many late nights.

We had a murder mystery dinner with my dad, aunt Becky and Uncle Kirt, Grandma and Grandpa, Amy and Brian (my brother). It was a lot of fun. Becky's twin ended up being the murder. Brian and my dad made all of the food. It turned out really good!!

Amy and I had the brilliant idea of going snowboarding two times while I was there. The first I have been in five years and the first she had ever been. On our first run I didn't make it on the same lift as her because I slid off the side. She had no idea how to get off the lift so she just fell off and rolled. I pretty much just fell off too. We took at least an hour to get down the hill and had lots of people stopping to see if we were okay. Thanks to our new friend Triston, who felt bad for us and stopped to give us some tips, we were able to make it down safely. Amy was too tired to go again so I went down one more time. About a week later we had healed enough and decided to go again. Somehow Triston talked us into going to the very top of the mountain (picture is us inside the lodge before going down) and I have to say Amy and I did an excellent job of snowplowing the mountain. We had fun and Triston was great for sticking with us and helping us. Now we are expert snowboarders, maybe I'll go again in another five years!!

Shyley, Gracen, Brynlee and Grandpa

Brynlee and Grandma Evelyn looking through some of great grandma Smith's jewelry.

Brynlee and Grandpa Wally had fun playing with Scruffy (a.k.a. Halley, she used to be me and Nate's dog. )

Just a few things I wanted to mention that I didn't have picutures of...

We had the opportunity to see a few good friends while we were there. We were also able to attend the blessing of Kimberlee Schwendiman, it was fun to see her for the first time and good to see Mark and Heather. We also ran into Monica and Kylee Udink at Walmart and talked with them for a minute. Brynlee played with her first friend Ethan while I talked with his mom Emalee. I was able to go and visit my good friend Jenny as well. We ate dinner with Mark Barksdale and his family and went to temple square to see the lights. I love to go there and look around, it is always so beautiful. I was so sad that I forgot my camera. There were so many friends that I wanted to see and wasn't able to. It just seems like there is never enough time no matter how well I think I plan.

Not so little anymore...

Gracen had his 2 month well check today and all I can say is that he has really learned how to gain. All those pep talks must have paid off. He is now weighing in at 11lbs 5 ozs which puts him in the 97th percentile. He still looks kinda little and doesn't have the chubby cheeks I am hoping for but we still have time to work on that. We were happy to see such a good weight gain after the way he started out. Everything else went really well also he is very healthy. He is now 23.5 inches long and that puts him in the 75th percentile for height. He has been so much fun and is such a good baby, always very happy and rarely cries. We are so blessed to have him in our lives, and we love him so very much!

As for the rest of our family we are doing well and happy to be home from our wonderful trip back to Utah. I will be posting about that soon, we had such a great time and I have so much to share about it that I need more time to put it together. I have lots of fun pictures to share too so keep checking back with us! We hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year!!