Merry Early Christmas to US!!!!!

We don't have Nick for Christmas this year so we had to have ours when he was with us this weekend. I was so excited for Christmas because I knew it would be so fun with Matt and Nick. They both really liked their presents and it was fun to see them get so excited.

Nick got a BIKE, books, puzzles, and movies. Matt got some fun accessories for his truck. And I got a NIKON D5000 D-SLR! Which I am SUPER excited about! I spent all day playing with it.

So excited to open his gifts.

His loot from Papa and Grammy. THANKS! He loves them!

Matt looking pretty excited about his cold air intake. He already installed it himself (which I was pretty impressed about).

Really excited about my camera!

Nick showing his dad how to put the bike together, haha.

My fav pic. That face is priceless.

Nick's bike is pretty sweet! But it's a little big for him and he has a hard time riding it. Hopefully he grows quick! In the meantime he has plenty of other toys to keep him busy so I am not too worried.

I know that all this "stuff" isn't the real the meaning of Christmas but watching them open their gifts and be so happy was a great feeling. And "we are that we might have joy"! I do believe in Jesus Christ. I know that He lives as an example for all of us. That He sacrificed His own life so that each day I can be forgiven of my many weaknesses and be given the strength to overcome them. I am so grateful for the testimony that I have and that I have the opportunity to continually learn and grow in His gospel through His restored church. He is my Savior and my Redeemer!

Merry Christmas Everyone! We love you!

Temple Square

We braved the cold last weekend and went to see the lights at Temple Square. Nick was such a trooper and did really good. He loved seeing the lights and the Temple. He was a little wary of the Christus at first but got used to it after a while.

Matt and I really enjoyed the lights and the Spirit and I think Nick's favorite was riding the Trax Train to get back to the car!

Colorado

Last weekend I went to Colorado to go visit my little brother and sisters. It was bitter cold there (yes, even more so than Utah) but all the cuddling with my little nephew and nieces kept me plenty warm. The weekend went by way too fast and I can't wait to go back again, those kiddos grow up way too fast.

This was my first time I have ever met my 15 month old niece Serenity. She is a spunky little thing with beautiful blue eyes that make it hard not to give her whatever she wants.

Noah was so excited to see his Auntie Chanci and even though the weekend went by quickly I think we had a lot of fun playing together and watching Mickey's Playhouse.

And I was lucky to be there right when my other niece Serena Emily was born. She was so tiny at 6lbs 11oz and as beautiful as ever. Congratulations Chay and Tori!

It was so good to be able to see my family around this special time of year. Thanks for spending time with me! I love you and miss you all.

Nicks 3rd Birthday!

For Nick's birthday we had a party at our house with a few family and friends.

Nick had fun playing with his buddies...

and singing happy birthday, opening presents, and eating yummy cake!

Thank you everyone for coming and celebrating with us!

Nick had so much fun playing with all of his presents!

He loves them all. Thank you!

Mexico!

My sweet, wonderful, very attractive, thoughtful, loving, husband took me on a fabulous trip to Mexico a few weeks ago. It was so sunny and warm and the water was beautiful and crystal clear. Mmmmm, I wanna go back right now.

While we were there we swam with dolphins which was incredible! We got to swim with them for a whole hour and got to do tricks with them like they do at Sea World and such. We got to kiss them, hug them, dance and sing with them, and then we got to do dorsal fin rides and lots of foot pushes (where the dolphins come behind and push your feet so you are pushed across the water standing up).We have a DVD of it all but as much as I like Mac's I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get the movie into iMovie. So you will have to settle for the pictures

Halloween!

All dressed up and ready to go!

We sort of let Nick pick out his costume. He loves frogs so he was pretty excited about getting to dress up as one. He did a really good job saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" all night when we went around from house to house. The funniest part was when we were driving home he made Matt keep the light on in the car so he could look at all of his candy. When he wanted a piece of candy he would hold it up and say "trick or treat!" to Matt and I as a way of asking if he could eat it. It was so funny!

Our first stop was Grandpa and Grandma H's. They loved to see the little kiddos all dressed up.

Then we went to Aunt Cathy's and Michelle's and then over to Sam and Rachel's. The Baker's were just getting ready to go out trick or treating so we got a picture of all the great costumes! Matt and I didn't dress up :(

Here is Nick checking out all of his loot when we got home. Isn't he the cutest little frog?!

I'm a Princess

Today we were getting ready for church and Matt and I were chasing Nick around trying to wrestle his shoes onto him and all of a sudden Nick stops running around and looks at me all wide eyed and says in a very awed tone "Chanci, you are a princess"! Matt and I nearly fell over laughing. I usually wear pencil skirts and stuff to church but I got a new dress and it's one of those shirt-dresses with the sash you tie at the waste with a fuller skirt and he thought it looked like a princess dress. Then when I sat down by him he pet my dress and kept saying "you are a princess". Haha. It was so funny. So for the rest of the day any time Matt said something to me or asked me to do something I would say "I don't have to, I am a princess".

Pumpkin Carving

Nick is growing up so quick. He calls Matt "dad" instead of "daddy" and he talks all the time now! Today him and dad carved a pumpkin. Nick didn't like the inside very much but now that it is all cleaned out and carved he loves to just lay by it and look at it!

Getting into the Groove

Matt and I went hiking up to Desolation Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon over Labor Day weekend. The trail really kicked our butts and it wasn't even that difficult. Marriage really gets you out of shape. The leaves are still nice and green even at the very top, hopefully we can go a few more times when the leaves are turning!

Other than that, lets see...we bought a truck which Matt spends ALL of his free time looking at accessories for. Football season started, so Matt watches every game he can while recording another game simultaneously while looking for accessories for the truck. Hahaha. Matt has also been really busy with work, the company is making a lot of changes and expanding right now which is really exciting! Work has been busy for me too which I am grateful for. I decided to run a half marathon in November in St. George and now have to start training for it, I needed something to motivate me to get back in shape. I am also submitting my application to start my Masters degree, finally! I am really excited to go back to school but missed the spring deadline so I have to wait til next summer to start, hopefully the enthusiasm stays around til then!

And of course we have been having a ton of fun with Nick! He grows and learns so quick. He recently learned how to sing the ABC song, he now LOVES going to nursery and saying his prayers, and as you can see taking bubble baths! My favorite though is he will ask me "Chanci love me?" and then I get to tell him how much I love him and give him big hugs and kisses. I think he is starting to realize I am a part of his family now so that's why he asks me that. It is so darn cute!

Whitewater Kayaking

Yes, Matt and I do actually have fun by ourselves sometimes when Nick isn't with us. Surprise, surprise! A couple of weeks ago we decided to go white water kayaking on the wild Snake River just below Jackson Hole, WY. The weather was absolutely beautiful and the whitewater was great! The water was pretty low so the Big Kahuna was in full force. The first time down the river Matt and I FLIPPED the kayak over! It took us a while to get back in and we lost all of our food as well as some of Matt's clothes. It was pretty hilarious, I can only imagine what we looked like out there. All in all we had a GREAT time!

The Dino Park!

A few weeks ago when the weather wasn't too good I was looking online for fun things to do with Nick. I remembered that several people had told me how much fun the dinosaur park in Ogden was so I looked it up online and was pleasantly surprised to see that admission was FREE that day! Which made the drive up there totally worth it!

The park was really fun! There were tons of HUGE dinosaurs everywhere and in some parts they had dino sounds to accompany them. Nick LOVED the dinosaurs! There is also a big playground, gazebos with grills if you want to have a party, a sand pit to dig up dino bones in, and a little museum with dinosaur skeletons too. Lots of stuff to keep the kiddos entertained.

Nick was so excited to get his picture taken in these things. He is so cute!

Shaking hands with the dino.

The Fam.

As you can see some of the dinos are really BIG!

The reason that admission was FREE the day we went is because of a thing called RAMP that Weber County does each summer. I don't know exactly how it works but every saturday during the summer they open up several pools, museums, parks, and other fun kid activities in Weber County for free. You can get a schedule of what is open when by Googling "RAMP, Weber County". It is over for this summer but I am definitely going to keep it in mind for next summer!

10 Days in Arizona

Matt and I were originally going to get married on July 24th and my parents offered to put on an open house in AZ on the 25th, so even though we eloped earlier on we decided to spend a week in AZ on "vacation". 

We had a great open house on Saturday! Thanks to all of my family and friends and Matt's parents to coming and celebrating our marriage with us. It was so good to see all of my family and introduce them to my wonderful new husband. 

Here are the photos and videos that document the rest of our trip...

Nick and Matt playing in the pool at my parents house, where we spent most of our time on the trip...

I love how cute Nick is in this pic even though he was trying not to let me get a pic of him.

My boys, always goofing off...

Nick and Matt enjoying the lake. Nick was scared of the jet ski at first but once he got used to it there was no getting him off of it. He actually fell asleep on Matt's arm while riding on it.

Very funny videos of Nick with a kitty and a frog. These were all taken at my aunts house in the small town where I grew up, Nick had a blast running around on their little farm, playing with the animals, riding the horse and the tractors, etc. He caught quite a few different frogs and became quite attached to them so we put two in a plastic bottle with some air holes and took them home. The next day we bought a whole tank and were excited to take them back to Utah with us for Nick. We soon discovered that 2 year olds and frogs don't mix really well, Nick constantly wanted to hold the froggies and unfortunately neither of them survived the trip home. Nick was very sad and misses the frogs but we still have the tank so maybe someday we will get him another little animal to keep him busy. 

Riding bare back!

Boys and their toys...

The Grand Canyon! Matt really wanted to go see it because he never had, I am not sure if it was all he expected it to be (especially with a grumpy two year old), but we had a good time. Nick was being very independent and wanted to sit on his own rock!

He wanted to run on the rocks instead of the trail too.

All in all it was a good week. It was nice to take some time of off work, see my family, and spend time with Matt and Nick.