Instagram Life

A quick snapshot of our December through the eyes of Instagram. I love that my phone can capture these moments when the big camera isn't handy!

Lights at Temple Square

Saturday night we loaded up the gang and headed downtown to see the lights. As usual, it was crowded, but well worth it! The weather was unusually warm that night (only in the 40's) which I was very appreciative of. Owen loved the lights, especially all the blue lights on the trees. But his favorite part of the whole experience was probably watching all of the TRAX trains coast by. He loves trains!

 Love this picture!

 

 Thank you to the nice couple who stopped to take our picture amidst the massive crowds!

 

 Beautiful nativity!  Beautiful temple!

 

Porter wasn't impressed with the whole experience.  He'd rather sleep!

Quiet Book

Ever since Owen was born I've wanted to make him a quiet book.  So earlier this year I started to gather ideas from the internet.  Including: Modest Maven, Oopsey Daisy, Crafty Chic, Homemade by Jill, Camille's Casa, Serving Pink Lemonade, and quietbook.blogspot.com.  All fantastic helps!  Ultimately, it became a hodge-podge of ideas and my own creation.  After I got all the ideas together, I put it away for a few months.  It was too overwhelming!  So the cycle continued of working on it for 2-3 weeks, putting it away for 2-3 months.

Finally with my mom's help a few weeks ago we were able to finish it!!  And I LOVE how it turned out!  There are 20 different pages...

Matching letters

 Fishing page: the hook on the pole, and the fish are magnetic.

 

 Apple picking: the apples snap on/off into the basket

 

3 different puzzles.  A basketball, heart, and star

Barn with finger puppets inside

 Lace the football (Go Cougars!)

 



 Gumball page: matching colors & Tic Tac Toe

Matching letters

Feely fingers with different textures & matching shapes

Car page: garage holds 5-6 different cars (taxi, bus, fire truck, car, etc.) that he can drive around

Ice Cream: Make a cone w/ all different toppings & Mailbox page: write notes, doodle, etc.  (The flag goes up and down!)

Getting dressed: 4-5 different outfits of choice.  I realized as I took the pictures that I forgot to give the man a face... oh well.

Here are 2 outfits: 

 BYU Football

 

 Missionary

 

Flower page: Flowers come on/off the buttons

 

 

Jury is still out on whether Owen likes it or not (he better!)... but at this point-- 10 months &  60+ hours later-- I am just glad it is done! 

3/27 months old!

Porter turned 3 months old on the 21st.  We celebrated by spending the morning at Primary Children's Hospital getting a biopsy of his colon.  Because of some digestive issues he's had since birth, the Doctors were afraid he may have Hirschsprung's Disease.  Good news-- the biopsy came back negative and all is well!

Besides keeping us on our toes with the Doctor's visits, Porter has been a pretty easy baby.  Recently we have found his ticklish spots, and we love to hear that cute little giggle.  He is sleeping great at night-- giving us an 8 hour stretch most nights!  Naps are becoming more of a challenge, with a recent boycott of the swing and a loathing of his crib.  So we have resorted to the carseat.  It works for now!

Cheering on our Cougars in the Poinsettia Bowl!

Somebody loves bathtime

Ah!  Those eyes.  That smile.  Gets me every time!

Owen is 27 months now and suddently seems so grown up!  His favorite time of the night is bathtime, because he loves to "help" give Porter a bath.  His vocabulary has exploded recently, and now includes correct intonation of words like "Where?" and "What?" and correct conjugating of verbs.  He loves fruits & vegetables, but eating dinner is still hit and miss.  His favorite store is the "Fishy Store" (Walmart) & the "Pizza Store" (Costco).  Takes after his Mom on those!

Bathtime is always full of smiles in this house!

 



This picture was taken at 23 months... he has already changed so much since then. 

Santa Trauma

Saturday was our ward Christmas dinner and Owen was so excited to see Santa.  This is the first year he actually understands some of the Christmas traditions, so it has been fun to explain to him about Santa, snowmen, The Nativity/Baby Jesus, etc.  He was so excited to see Santa, so I thought we would be in for a repeat of previous years (see here or here).  Not to be!  He was terrified!  I guess every kid has a sad Santa picture, so here is ours:

 

 "Smile Owen!  Santa is nice!  Owen, it's okay, he's your friend!"

 

Porter, on the other hand, could have cared less.  (Love those Christmas jammies!)

Once Owen saw Porter with Santa, he warmed up to the idea.  I love this picture because you can see Owen smiling at Porter.  He sure loves his 'baby Porter'.

Owen & his buddy Kaden in their matching argyle sweaters.  Such handsome little guys!  They had so much fun running around all night, laughing, holding hands, eating dinner together, etc. 



Mimi's Extended Visit

The day after Porter's blessing Brad went on a business trip to India for 12 days!  Because my family was already in town, I was able to convince my mom to stick around for another week so I wasn't alone.  I don't think I could have survived without her!  I have been spoiled having her here so often since Porter was born.  The next trip out our way isn't until March-- I hope it comes quickly because we all love her (& the kids') visits. 

We spent the majority of her time sitting at the kitchen table in our PJ's sewing Owen's Christmas present-- a quiet book that has been 10 months in the making.  7 days, 40+ hours later, and all that is left is the cover.  Once it is fully complete, you better believe I'm posting that baby on here!  I couldn't have finished it without my mom's expert sewing skills... if I was doing it alone, Owen would be lucky to get it before he turned 5. 

Between our sewing parties, we lived it up at Costco (have to go at least once when she's here), Tai Pan, Wood Connection, and Iceberg (Twice!  Love those shakes.)  She also stocked my freezer with meals and cookies.  Lucky me!

 Mimi & Owen making some yummy cookies!

 

 

 We put up the Christmas decorations while she was here. I couldn't wait 2 whole weeks until Brad got back! Here's Owen "hanging" his first ornament.

 

 

 

 P-man spent a lot of time chilling in his swing. Not that he minded... he loves that thing!  

 Thank you Mom/Mimi!  We sure love you! 

Two Little Owls

Brad's cousin is one of those super-crafty-amazingly-talented-do-it-all ladies and she recently made these adorable matching owl hats for the boys.  (I'm sure you've seen them floating around Pinterest lately.)

Obviously Owen wasn't the most thrilled about taking pictures, but he's still cute nonetheless!

 

 "Cheese!"

Porter's Blessing Day

 We were able to bless Porter in church on Sunday.  Brad gave Porter a beautiful blessing and we were so grateful to have so many family members there with us.

 

Porter wore the same blessing outfit as Owen and the same shoes Brad was blessed in almost 30 years ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 Can't forget this little cutie!

 

 So happy to have my parents there.  They are pretty wonderful!

 

 Four generation picture with Brad's grandma & mom.  They are equally as wonderful! 

(Don't you love Porter's expression in this picture!)

 

We are truly blessed!

Porter at 2 months!

 

 

 

Porter is starting to show more of his personality, which is so fun!  He is a pretty mellow baby, which I am grateful for since Mr. Owen is always on the go!  He is getting better at sleeping (6 hr stretches-- I'll take it!) and at entertaining himself during the awake moments.  Just this week we have started to get lots of smiles which are just adorable.  He still has crazy hair and there's nothing I can do about it!  People are always commenting "Look at that hair!"  I'm pretty sure that he will have blue eyes just like his big brother, now we just have to wait and see if his hair goes blond too.  

 

 

We had family in town this week for Thanksgiving & Porter's blessing, so he got lots of snuggles from Mimi, Papa, Aunt Taryn & Uncles Grant and Luke. They all adore him as much as we do.

 Here's P-man getting some quality time with his look alike Luke.  Here is a picture of Luke at around the same age as Porter:

 

 

 

Porter spits up quite frequently so we use lots of bibs & burp cloths.   Luckily it seems like he may be outgrowing it a bit as it has gotten less frequent the past few weeks! 

We sure love this little boy, spit up and all!