Licking the Wall

December 4th 2011

Right now, Eithan is standing on his kid's chair leaning against the wall and licking it.

Collin and I are trying to figure out what is so 'tasty' about the wall.

We are both coming up blank on this one. 

Any ideas?

P.S. Eithan's first top tooth has finally broke through. 

It is the one on the left. 

Thanksgiving Family Pictures

November 25th 2011

I wanted to take some family pictures over Thanksgiving.

Collin's good friend Tyler was kind enough to help us out.

We really wanted to play around with a few different locations.

Unfortunately, it was really windy, cold and some of the lighting conditions weren't ideal.

In all of this, we persevered and were able to get some fun family pictures.

Oh... and once we were all done, Tyler had taken around 260 pictures. Whew.

{A big shout out to Hillary for coming with us and helping us all look good.}

{This one is my favorite.}

What do you guys think??

After taking all these pictures, Collin said something really sweet.

He told me how he appreciated having pictures of our family through the years.

So, to all you women out there who may not want to fight with your families...

DO it anyways.

They will appreciate it in the years to come. 

Easy Children's Birthday Card

Nov. 18th 2011

I made this card for a little friend of ours named Cy.

He was turning 4, and I saw this great card idea here.

So, I had to make it. 

This is so easy, and you could use it for a couple of different ages. 

Besides you can use whatever it is that you have on hand to make it!

I love how it turned out.

And I love how simple it is.

Just wanted to share the idea with you!

12 Months

November 18th 2011

Eithan Owen is ONE!

I cannot believe that my little baby is one year old!

He is just growing up way too fast.

{don't we all say that?}

Says 'Mama' and 'Dada'.

{and he actually says it to each of us correctly}

Is walking everywhere!

{Though he still falls a lot and crawls around still.}

Really starting to experiment with different sounds he can make.

{He likes to smack his lips.}

Interacts with other children when they are around.

{He loves to watch what they do and follow them around.}

Has started doing a crazy nap schedule.

{Sometimes 1 nap, sometimes 2, and they are never for the same amount of time each day.}

Is very curious.

{If there is ever anything new around, he will promptly go investigate.}

If I'm not giving him enough attention, 

he will go back to the office and knock on Collin's door.

{I think it's his way of tattle-telling on me.}

Is climbing up on his new jungle gym, climbing on the couch, climbing on the futon.

{getting the idea?}

Starting to feed himself more.

{I gave him some frozen veggies the other day, and he started shoveling them in his mouth.}

(I'm starting to work with him on holding his spoon. He likes holding it a lot.)

Hands us what he is holding when we hold our hands out to him.

{Whatever he has, he will give it to us.}

Hates to have his diaper changed.

{No matter what we do, the boy still fights and fights us on having his bum changed.}

Has a personality the size of Texas.

Baby E,

This has been one amazing year.

You have taught Collin and I so much.

We can't wait to keep growing and learning with you.

We can't wait to see where your life will take you.

We are so glad that you came to be a part of our family.

Happy Birthday!

Love,

Mom and Dad

P.S. We call him Baby E, because we are friends with the Schmidts. 

And their little girl Macy couldn't say Eithan when he was first born, but she could say 'E'. 

Thus, the nickname 'Baby E'.

Staying Up Late

November 17th 2011

I am publicly admitting this. 

My friends and I went to the midnight showing of Breaking Dawn Part 1.

I had a wonderful time!

I loved staying up late.

Waiting in a line that went almost around the whole theater.

{who knew such a small town would have such a big reaction to this?}

Having girl talk.

Drinking delicious McDonald's Hot Cocoa.

Then eating junk food in the theater because we had an hour and twenty minutes before the movie started.

All in all, the movie was better than expected. 

If you girls need a girls night out.

I would say go see it.

It was fun.

Megan Lang, Brittany Schmidt, Joy Winks and Diane Schmidt.

{My friend Aubrey Asay was here too, but we missed her in this shot!}

Birthday Party # One

November 16th 2011

We celebrated Eithan's first birthday a few days early!

We wanted to be able to share this day with some of our friends here in our 'lil town. 

{We'll be having a family party this weekend.}

Everything went beautifully.

There were wonderful people.

Lovely Presents.

Good Junk Food. 

Happy Children.

It was simply delightful.

Eithan loved having all our friends over.

We had the Schmidts, the Christensens, the Asays, and the other Asays over.

He especially loved getting his first cupcake all to himself.

He didn't really know at first if he could truly have it.

Once he figured out that it was all his. And that he could eat it....

You gotta love the frosting face.

It is probably one of the most precious pictures we all get as children. 

We then opened presents.

And, I have to admit, I was hoping that Eithan would get crazy with it.

But he didn't.

I guess all those times of telling him not to rip something finally paid off. {smile}

It went mostly like this...

With a little bit of this...

And a whole lot of cuteness!

But sorry.. no ripping, excited, squealing with delight pictures for this little boy.

And I forgot to take pictures of all the company. There were only these two.

Mike Asay, Marsha Asay, and Kevin Asay

{With Eithan on Marsha's lap}

Lane Christensen, Will Christensen, Anika Christensen, Brittany Schmidt and Macy Schmidt

If you look behind the castle jungle gym.. you'll see Sydney Schmidt too.

So.. who are we missing? 

Aubrey Asay, Tim Schmidt and Cy Christensen.

They were there too!

All in all, simply wonderful!

I think everyone had a good time, and we LOVED having people over.

Now, I get to do this one more time with family.

Wish me luck!

P.S. To all those who may be reading this and feeling slightly left out because you weren't invited. Please know that we thought of you... but our tiny apartment cannot accommodate that many people... so know that we thought of you... wished you were there... and hope you enjoy experiencing his first birthday through pictures. 

Climbing

November 12th 2011

Eithan just climbed onto the couch.

By himself. 

I feel our world changing again as I write this.