Merry Christmas!!

I've just posed a month a half worth of posts and the kids are needing my attention again. These pictures will have to go without captions. Merry Christmas!!

Crafting

Last year my friend Julie posted a game her sister had made for Julie's son. It was a card game with family pictures on it. I thought it was such a sweet gift especially since Julie had just moved out of state. So I just knew when my sister in law Eliza moved out of state that I would make her a cousin memory game for Gabriel. My niece Chloe picked Gabriel's name this year so I asked her if she would like to help me make it for him. It was so much fun. Seriously I loved making it.And then the whole family got involved. Nathan cut and Pasted. Chloe cut out the pictures. Emma cut out the papers. Parker cut his papers. and Nixon ate cereal and then made a huge mess!

Thanks for your help everyone. I had a great time!

Snow days!

This picture reminds me of the Chirstmas story. Poor Nixon could barely move. And I was laughing so much and running to get my camera that I wasn't much help. Once we were outside Nixon was fine as long as i was pushing him in his car that he got for his birthday.
The boys loved our new train for our tree. I'll be honest though, I don't think they were quite old enough for it. It spent most of the time knocked over on the floor. I'd even leave it that way for days, finally set it back up and within 10 min it was back on its side. It got old after a while. But now we have it for when they are older.
Nathan and Parker built a snow man a few weeks ago. They were outside shoveling and then Parker asked Nathan "Do you know how to build a snow man Dad?" So cute, so they got right to work! We even used our potato head pieces for the face. I need to find those kits that are specifically for snow man because the potato head pieces had a hard time staying in. Does anyone know what I'm talking about and where to find them???
Nixon is finally getting old enough to sit through a story or two every other night. So we all climb up in our bed and Nathan reads to us. Sometimes I have to take Nixon out early and other days he is fine to sit there and finish with the scriptures.
We saw Santa! Parker was mesmerized by him. He told him exactly what he wanted and Santa said he's see what he could do. When we left the building Mrs. Claus walked by which was perfect because Parker has been very concerned with what she does while Santa brings us our toys. I tell him she makes his dinner and cleans the house so that he can relax when he gets home. If only I could do the same for Nathan every night!

Thanksgiving

Its been so long since I've posted. I'll start with Thanksgiving. Nixon woke Nathan and I up at 3 in the morning. He had more than a few teeth coming through and he wanted us to all know it. As you can see by this picture. He was very tired and sad all day long. His face is so sweet though. Look at those beautiful eyes!After the food, that I didn't get a picture of the girls beaded watch bands. (I may or may not have bought my rolls from golden corral and picked them up on my way to my grandma's for the day. Best idea ever)

It was a lot of fun even if my face in both of these pictures doesn't show that it was.

Parker had a great time with our cousins. He loves them and loves their attention. Nathan took most of the pictures and was a good sport to watch a very grumpy Nixon while I made my watch band and then my grandma's. He was there but since he took the pictures I don't really have proof.

Fall

We have been enjoying the great fall weather lately. Parker asks me to rake up the leaves so we can jump in them. Its been a fun activity for us.
Nixon is the boss at our house. When he points his fist and screams people listen. He definitely isn't a push over. He will let you know how he feels. I think this is a good characteristic for the second child, even if it sometimes hurts our ears.
This is my dad. He installed a fan in our bathroom over the weekend and Parker was his big helper. He could follow my dad around for hours and loves his tools.
On Halloween Parker and Nathan carved a pumpkin. Parker was so excited to put a face on his pumpkin.


This was the end result. Its blurry because I took a bad picture. It looked really good in real life. We've never made pumpkins like this before and I think we will have to start making it a tradition!
And we have two big announcements!! Nixon took his first step today! It happened at my parents house so I will have to take pictures tomorrow. And Parker is potty trained. After he uses the bathroom he usually runs circles around the front room dining room and kitchen until I can catch him. This is my view for a few min!! He thinks he is so funny!!!
Nathan promised Parker Lego's after he went number 2 twice in the toilet. And not those baby duplo's either(which would have been easier to clean up). Real live Lego's. And the had a deal going where we got a free Lego city tractor. Parker loves them! I can't believe my baby is potty trained.
Tomorrow its supposed to snow. Bring it on!!! This family welcomes the white stuff and Parker has been asking for a month now, Can it snow yet? I hope we wake up to it on our lawn but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Happy Halloween!!

We are excited to go Trick or Treating at our house. Parker has been asking me for a whole month if it is time yet to go. A few weeks ago I took the boys shopping to the mall to get some items I needed for Nixon's Costume I was making. While there we wandered into the Disney Store and Nixon spotted the Nemo costume. He doesn't even watch the movie but he loved how soft and cuddly it was. And when I saw that it was only $20 I also fell in love with it. Then Parker saw the Pooh costume I thought they looked so cute we had to buy them.

5 years!!

Five years ago this very day I got to walk out of the temple sealed to my best friend for time and all eternity. Oh how lucky I am. I love Nathan with all my heart. He always makes me laugh, He has a great sense of adventure and he isn't afraid to take a risk. I love his testimony of the Church, and his faithfulness to it. He is always willing to help and loves doing it. My love grows for him as I watch him interact with our boys. He is their hero. Just last night Parker woke up at 2 and called for me when I got to him he said "Where's Daddy?"

Nathan will sleep next to Parker when he is scared. He will run in circles with Parker until they are both exhausted. On the weekends Nathan is on duty full time with Parker because Parker only wants Nathan. I'm not going to lie its a nice break!
Nixon follows after Nathan all over the house and he is Heartbroken when Nathan leaves for work. During Nathan's showers Nixon will sit at the bathroom door and babble to him. And Nathan loves those boys right back. We are so lucky to have him and I am so happy we got married!!! It has been an exciting five years.

Nixon is 1

Nixon turned 1 three weeks ago! And obviously we can't believe that time has gone by that fast. We had a fun family weekend for his birthday. We gave him this car and he absolutely loves it. It makes being outside so much better. He thinks he is too big to be held but he isn't quite walking yet so crawling on the cement is too painful for me to watch. But now we can push him all over the place if we need.
Nixon and Parker were entertained by riding the car in circles around our house while Nathan and I made Breakfast. We had buttermilk syrup and Nixon got a pancake shaped as a 1 while the rest of us had waffles. Nathan is so good to shape the pancakes for our boys.
Nixon ate it right up. Who wouldn't thought buttermilk pancakes with buttermilk syrup mmm... we might need to make more tomorrow for breakfast.
After breakfast we took Nixon out on a walk to try out his new car.

The next day we invited our families over to sing to him. We had costco chocolate cake that was so yummy. Nixon really got into it after a while.We love this sweet face at our house!

Family Fun

I just subscribed to Family Fun Magazine. I am really excited for it to come. When you sign up you also get a digital copy in your email inbox 2 min later. I have a goal of trying to do a project or activity with Parker every day so that we don't get too bored here in the Young house. So when I saw a recipe for play dough I knew that would be Mondays project. Parker loved helping me make it and he loved it so much that it ended up being our project all week long. The dough is dyed by household items so we made brown with coco powder. It made me want a little snack every time we got it out, but the look on Nixon's face when he tried it told me it wasn't worth it.
Nixon kept eating it so I took it away from him because thats just gross.....He was very very unhappy with me

It was one of the first things we did every morning. Thats why my kids are still in the PJ's so back off. And sometimes we stay in our PJ's for a few hours in the morning. Judge me, thats fine.
It was so much fun I can't wait to plan the next activity for next week. I think we might tackle finger painting during Nixon's morning nap. I'm a little worried about that one though.

California

Last month we headed to California for a wedding of Nathan's good family friend. My mother in law thought it would be fun for us to go to Disneyland for a few days before the wedding. We had so much fun!! Parker loved having Cecelia there with him.
The dads decided that Parker and Cecelia needed a really fast ride on the teacups. They are lucky that the kids didn't lose their breakfast all over them. They were spinning really fast.
Shannon and Nixon on the carousel.

Dumbo
Teacups again. On our second day we were the first people on the ride and it was just our little families on the ride. That was fun.
Heimlich's chew chew train
Flick's ride

Tuck and Roll bumber cars. In feb Parker was too small to ride these and you can tell by his smile he was happy to make the height requirement.
The wedding had a live band and dance floor at the reception. The kids loved dancing all night long.
Parker didn't want to cooperate for the picture.
And the band was so cute.
Our flight left at 7:00 the next morning. We got there at 6:35 and they wouldn't let us check in because they stop check in 30 min before the flight. So we had to rent a car and drive home. Talk about a stressful half hour. ps it was a teeny tiny airport and we totally could have made it. Even as we were checking out another airline and rental cars they were still calling people for our flight to head through security to board the plane. It was like we were in the twilight zone of not making our flight. Our GPS gave us wrong directions adding a few min to our travel. We hit every red light. The Gas station denied our card because Nathan put in our zipcode and in California you are supposed to put the zipcode of the city you are in-stupid. And then once in the station he had to play a guessing game with the attendant as to how much money he thought we needed to fill up. and then head back in and get the remaining change. Anyway if we would have known it was that close I could have dropped Nathan off to check us in and I could have dropped off the rental car and we would have made it. I'm tired just remembering it again. Someone on stand by must have really really really needed our seats. Our boys were so good on the ride home. I think it helped that they were exhausted after 2 long days at Disneyland and a wedding day. They slept a good portion of the ride. Overall it was a great trip.