Oh Christmas Tree

We set up our Christmas tree last week and we love having it up. It feels a bit more like Christmas and our house is decorated and we are getting presents ready! its funny though because Dallin LOVES the Christmas tree! I can stick him under it and he will play for 45 minutes with the tree and all his toys hung up on it! It is so very cute!



This is after I had gotten the lights up on the tree. Chris was busy and the lights is a one person job on such a tiny tree so I did it! I had walked away from the tree and Dallin and then when I came back he had shimmied over to the tree and looked like I had caught him playing with it!



There is a specific branch that hangs down a bit lower than the others and so when Dallin can wiggle over to it he will put it in his mouth. Chris doesn't like that because he is afraid Dallin will eat the little needle pieces but they are just tiny plastic. I am sure he would live. And it is so cute to watch him!



We hang up toys for him on the tree and he goes around and takes them all off of the tree. He has a lot of fun and by the time he is done our living room is a mess!



This is my stocking. Chris's Mom makes these for everyone in the family and we don't have Dallins yet but we will soon so I stuck him in mine because he fit so well and took a picture! I thought it was really cute! You see my foot in the picture because he kept rolling over so I couldn't get the "Merry Christmas" so I had to hold him in place!



Here we are cutting fabric for Christmas presents. Dallin was so tired and fussy and hungry so Chris got him a bottle that he could eat while we kept on working! I was impressed. He drank the whole thing and never dropped it!



We gave Dallin a bath in the kitchen sink one night. He is too big for his baby tub and I don't like sticking him in the big tub on his back because I don't like the water in his ears so we tried this one night to see how it worked. He didn't really enjoy it. I think he felt that it was just a bit too cramped.



And this is one of my favorite pictures of all time with Dallin. He got a yeast infection on his booty again and so we were keeping him out of diapers and in pants all day and this is one of his pant changes. I just love how he is looking over his shoulder at Chris while he takes the picture. My baby has got a cute bum!

Things are going really well for us. Chris is very very positive about his project, that he will finish this week, by Wednesday it is due so it had better be done by then! He made a lot of progress last week though so that is good. He says he is pretty much done! Dallin is continuing to be a happiness and a frustration. He has decided that he doesn't like to be left alone in a room when he is on the ground and so he cries if I leave the living room while he is playing. But he has also been very interactive! Probably because he cries if we aren't around. We love him so much and even though his bum hurts a lot of the time he is still so happy! We are just getting ready for Christmas and really looking forward to going to Maryland!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we went up to Alaska and it was wonderful! My entire family was there and it was the first time in forever that we have been all together at the same time. Unfortunately we forgot our video camera in Alaska and it has lots of pictures on it and so we really didn't have many pictures from our trip. So these are the pictures that I do have, in sequential order.



This is Chris and Dallin hanging out at the airport in Colorado Springs. Our friend dropped us off at the airport about two hours early so we just had to wander around and play with Dallin.



Dallin totally enjoyed being out and about. He is a people watcher and it was so cute to watch him stare at the people walking around. Unfortunately there wasn't enough traffic in the airport to interest him so he got fussy so Chris would walk him but before that Dallin was very happy to lay on the ground. It was in this airport that Dallin rolled over from his back to his tummy for the first time. As Chris likes to say, that is where I terrified him! He was rolling onto his side and he was so close to rolling onto his tummy that I got frustrated and gave him a pat on the booty from behind him so it startled him and he rolled onto his tummy and after that he learned that he could do it so he did it over and over again the rest of the day and now he wiggles all over the living room and rolls over. It is so cute. Sometimes he even tries to drink his bottle while on his tummy. It doesn't work so well unless it is full but he loves to do it!



After having a wonderful few days in Alaska one night at my parents house, right before bed, we were feeding Dallin and my mom said to put him in the little table chair that she has for the grand kids. I have one just like it rather than a high chair because it isn't a huge piece of furniture to crowd my kitchen with and he was so cute that we had to take some pictures of him!



He got so messy but he loved it. I wish I had a picture of it but right after his meal we gave him a bath in the kitchen sink and he really enjoyed that since my parents have a huge sink for him to play in!



This is Mousse and was once my cat but is devoted to my mom and dad now. Dallin loved playing with her. He would bat at her front paws and she would bat back and Dallin found it to be so hilarious that he would laugh and laugh at her. And Mousse was so good about letting him touch her.



This is my Grandpa. We stopped in Phoenix for a few hours on our way home and they got to meet Dallin. They came to the airport and we sat and talked for the whole time and Grandpa was really good playing Dallin. It was very cute.



This is a nice little family picture of us. We don't get them very often due to the fact that one of us is usually taking the picture.

Now, it was very nice to go home because we were able to be there for Jonathon when he came home from his mission and see his slide show of mission photos. It was a really neat experience and it made me somewhat jealous of him, going to another country and learning the language and learning to serve and love the people. I will admit though that there was something that was just as nice, if not better than Jonathon coming home. Chris, Dallin and I went to the temple and were sealed for all time and eternity as a family unit. It was such a wonderful experience and the peace of mind that comes from knowing that I have my husband and baby forever is so wonderful. I love to not have to worry that I might lose them forever. Its a scary thing, being alone. Chris and I were also about to go and do our own endowments and though I felt overwhelmed and didn't understand much, I knew it was a good thing. I even got to go to the temple with my friend Gaylene today and that was a wonderful experience. All in all, our trip was wonderful with lots of time with our wonderful family and such a happy event with Jonathon coming home and us going to the temple.

Small miracles...

So, as you all know because I have been saying it in the last few posts, we are going to the temple soon. There is a lot to do before you can go to the temple. Such as interviews with the bishop and the stake president. Then you also have to get the temple clothes and the appointment for the endowment and the sealing. Lots to do! Well, we have done almost all of that and it has gone off without a hitch. It's as though Heavenly Father wants us to get there! In my opinion he does. Anyway, I had a small miracle happen to me today and I wanted to share it because it just shows how the Lord works in small ways to get great things to happen.

I ordered my temple dress yesterday. I think it is cute and it looks comfortable and I really like it. I was reading and it said that it could take up to 5 days to be shipped due to the fact that they sew them and sometimes they don't have them in stock. So I ordered it and got my confirmation email and felt that I was all set for the temple. Well, Dallin decided that he wanted to get sick and not sleep almost all night so at about 5:30 this morning I woke up in bed. I had kicked Chris out of bed to the couch at 4:30 so that I could get some sleep in bed and Dallin was in bed with me. So, I woke up for no reason. Dallin was just fine. But I had this thought that I didn't order the right size of dress. I needed the large and I didn't remember ever putting in the size and I didn't want them to get it shipped out on the off chance they had my dress and order all ready to go in the morning. So I thought about it and decided that before I left for our medicaid application appointment I would call to get the dress size changed.

Well, 9:45 rolled around and I called the company and asked them if they could change the size to large and the lady was nice enough and she did it immediately. Then she thought to look at the availability for that dress and she told me that it could take up to two weeks to send out because they didn't have any currently and the seamstress had to make one. So she asked if that would be a problem and of course I said yes! We are going through on the 28th so I need it before Thanksgiving hopefully! So the lady said that she would call the seamstress and ask if she could put my order in first so that it could be there in time!

So I went to my appointment and came home and let Chris get some sleep and Dallin some sleep and cleaned some bottles and the house a little and was doing that when I got the phone call from the lady and she said that the seamstress just happened to have one for a different order that she could send out today so that I get it in time in Alaska.

Wow... Just think what would have happened if I hadn't woken up thinking that I didn't choose the right size? Just think what would have happened if I had seen the place where I put in the dress size... Just think how incredibly frustrated and upset I would be on Friday the 27th without a temple dress. It is my belief that the Lord helped me out by knowing that I needed to call them so that could they help me out to send the dress earlier than they would have if I hadn't of called. Sometimes it is amazing to see the way that the Lord works in our lives. Especially when we have something so important. It definitely makes me feel like the Lord wants us to go to the temple to be endowed and be sealed as a family. Its nice to know that I have divine help on my side.

Getting ready...

We leave for Alaska this week! I am so excited for so many reasons! So thankful for so many reasons! It is a good season for being thankful. I think that the number one thing that I am thankful about is that it seems like the Lord is on our side right now and has caused it so that everything has been so perfect for us while getting everything ready to go to Alaska and go to the temple. It was the perfect time for our family to do this. The first step was to have Chris meet with the Bishop for the interview to get the Melchizedek Priesthood. That was last Sunday. Once his name was submitted to the high council, he had to be sustained and it just happened to be stake conference today so as soon as he was sustained and it was over, he was ordained and then we went and met with the bishop who that day had been called to be the 1st councilor to the new stake president and then after the three of us got our recommends from the bishop, we went back and met with the new stake president and were interviewed by him and got him to sign our recommends and then on Tuesday they will be scanned and then we will be ready! I still need to call and schedule our endowment and our sealing but the fact that everything has been working out so perfectly helps me know that the Lord really wants this to happen!

So we leave on Friday for Alaska, my parents and Jonathon get home on Sunday and it will be a nice home coming for him! Haven't seen him in over 2 years... Once he is home we will have Thanksgiving and we will have snow and winter! I am looking forward to that. And then on Sunday the 28th we will go to the temple. Chris's brother Russ is coming up to be with us for that and then we leave on Tuesday morning. We just bought our plane tickets to go visit Maryland for Christmas and are looking forward to that, especially meeting Russ and Jess's baby that will be born shortly before Christmas.

As for things that are coming up, lots has been going on. Chris got that part time job and are just waiting to hear back from them about work for Chris to do. Dallin is getting so big and strong and I am a happy mommy!



You can tell Dallin is gaining lots of weight now because his legs are finally starting to chunk up. It isn't a bad thing but I have noticed he is getting a lot heavier. Chris weighed him yesterday and we guesstimate that he is about 14 and a half pounds when he doesn't have his clothes or cloth diaper on. Such a big boy! He loves his jumper and will sit in it for 30-45 minutes at a time just jumping up and down and staring at us. And he smiles the whole time.



I like to have a fruit with breakfast so I had apples the other day and since I give Dallin apple sauce I figure I can give him apples so any time I eat an apple I give him a slice to gnaw on. He loves it even though we have tart apples.



This is Dallin being tired. We were out and about doing something that day and when we got home he was out and still drinking his apple juice. Chris always says that he would love to be able to eat while sleeping like Dallin.



You have to enlarge the photo but you can see his two teeth in this picture! He isn't a biter at all which is nice because I still nurse twice a day.



As for me, I decided that I didn't like my flat dead feeling hair! My friend Joyce permed it for me!



This is the best picture I have of my hair. I think it turned out really well and I love having it curly. I am still not used to it but I definitely like having the curl in my hair. I feel silly for saying it but in the back of my mind I ask myself who gets perms? Its what old ladies do... But I think it is because I don't know anyone who perms their hair. They all get body waves, which in the end is a perm. Anyway, I love my hair and so do Dallin and Chris.