Here We Are Together

Christmas 2011

2012-01-14T19:54:00.000-08:00

My attempt at caramel. Let's just say, don't double the recipe in a small pot especially when the fire alarm is close to the oven. My second batch was a success:)Cute Jimmy

We still haven't made a snowman due to powdery snow, but Eliza is a pro at snow angels.

Jimmy isn't so sure about the snow.

Eliza loved telling the donkey to go to Bethlehem

Jimmy made a great sheep

Mary and Joseph

"Hey, unto you a child is born!"

Jimmy really liked Baby Jesus

I love this pic of Eliza. She was such a sweet Mary for over a month, but I also thought of Imogene Herdman everytime she would grab Baby Jesus from Jimmy and yell, "He's my baby."

It was so fun to have a piano to sing Christmas carols around.

Jimmy adores Tsering! They had fun watching the Nativity together.

So excited on Christmas morning!! Thanks everyone for the calls and gifts.

Eliza woke up before 6 needing to go potty and then realized Santa had stopped by. Jimmy was wishing he had slept in.

Natural cowboys

Eliza calls Bhuti and Tenzin her sisters and prays for them and always wants them to come play!

I love this kid

and this one!

I love Eliza's random fun

What a fun Christmas! It was awesome to have it on Sunday and go to church to help us remember the whole reason for Christmas -- Jesus Christ.

Christmas Glamour Shots by Deb

2011-12-18T19:51:00.000-08:00

Eliza was "a little excited" about Daddy's cowboy hat.

I tried taking some of Jimmy

but he just really wanted the camera.

Daddy built this awesome train track while I was making way too many pies.

No wonder it is more fun playing with Daddy.

Eliza sampling the cherry pie while Daddy is carving the roast beast (I mean turkey).

I wonder where she learned this face

We opened Grandpa and Grandma's Christmas package early...thanks!!!

This is Eliza's, "Oh, baby, you're okay baby" face.

Not sure what Jimmy is thinking in this one.

Yummy left overs. I found out not everyone is pie eaters like our families.

Almost every doll has turned into Baby Jesus.

She did this all by herself.

We love when Daddy is home in the mornings.

What a cheeser

Eliza had to have a birthday party for Naomi. Happy birthday Naomi.

Daddy really loves huts!

Sporting his new tooth.

Caught! I was making dinner and heard nothing. I asked Eliza what Jimmy was doing. She said, "just eating a cookie." I thought, what cookie? A year old one from the Christmas tree.

We can't wait for Christmas. Eliza asked Santa for a rainbow and he laughed. We couldn't find his reindeer all through the mall. We are definitely ready and excited for Christmas.

We had a fun ward Christmas party, a work party, and lots of Christmas activities. How grateful we are for our Savior's birth, life, and Atonement for us. We love Christmas time and the joy it brings to us and our family. We have the greatest family and friends. We love you all and hope you have a very Merry Christmas.

Trip to the Zoo

2011-12-18T19:13:00.000-08:00

Daddy thought he and Eliza could take a nap. This is how it turned out.Jimmy loves helping me and Eliza cook.

Eliza loves helping Daddy.

Eliza loves riding this turtle. There are 2 desert tortoises, an awesome snapping turtle, and lots of little turtles that ate a fish right in front of Eliza and she was a little upset about it.

Can't quite see the flamingos behind them, but we sure like them.

Eliza loves the emu and ostrich. She always runs up to the emu and talks to him. We definitely need to watch Swiss Family Robinson with her.

The fast giraffes

We have only seen this guy a few times. He is huge and hides really well when there are so many leaves.

Our favorite are the seals. They are always out and sometimes even bark at us.

We have a daddy, mommy, and baby lion and we love hearing them roar.

The penguins are pretty boring, but Eliza sure makes a cute one.

Snuggling up on a cold day.

At the zoo...hunchback camels, talking lamas, jumping kangaroos.

October

2011-12-18T18:59:00.000-08:00

Eliza loves playing the piano with anyone who comes over.Happy kids in the morning

I left Jimmy in their room while I finished Eliza's bath and couldn't find him when I came in three minutes later. He was stuck under his crib and thought he was so funny hiding from me.

We had fun carving pumpkins. Thanks G'pa and G'ma.

Jimmy especially enjoyed the evening.

Eliza wasn't so big on pulling out the seeds. She loved watching Daddy work.

Halloween night itself was pretty uneventful. We hit 3 neighbors due to Eliza having an ear infection. She didn't know all the candy she was missing out on. I was just a little bummed.

My two guys in scrubs.

Eliza was the cutest brown cat.

My friend gave Eliza this Santa that lights up. She carries him around everywhere.

He has to be present in all our family activities.

Jimmy has a tooth. He loves his toothbrush and says, "da-da" every time he sees it. He gets so excited to brush his teeth. Hope that sticks.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Naomi!

2011-12-03T05:01:00.000-08:00

We had a great time with Grandma, Grandpa and Naomi.We went to the zoo.

Played in the park

Naomi makes a pretty fierce jungle cat :)

Eliza looks like she's trying to pry herself out of the lion's mouth

This is the beach outside the zoo.

Eliza loved playing with these guys

James also had a great time

We celebrated Naomi's birthday and made a cake

James was kind of ornery starting a few weeks ago, only for us to find that he had a new tooth.

Naomi gives good hugs

Here's Naomi with her birthday presents--a scripture bag, some fingernail polish, and a pretty shirt. Happy Birthday Naomi

In all we had a great time. Most of what we did was eat--we went to a German bakery and got brats, we went to the National Mustard Museum and sampled mustards, and then went to a cheese factory and got cheese. Then we went to an ice cream shop. Thanks for coming guys, we love you!

Even More Random Fun

2011-10-12T18:52:00.000-07:00

Eliza was cracking herself up wearing Jimmy's hat.

Jimmy thought it was pretty funny too.

Then she tried on some Halloween attire.

Eliza built Daddy a hut under Jimmy's crib.

Jimmy had fun pulling down the blanket.

Jimmy sitting up.

I left Eliza to fold the laundry and out she came wearing "Daddy's dress."

Eliza got an awesome surprise in the mail.

She loves her Molly. Thanks Paul and Lynda!

We took Daddy to a pumpkin patch (a little too late 'cause all the pumpkins were gone).

Joe's work Halloween Eye Ball was a blast. It was a super warm day, but Eliza had to wear her costume the entire time.

It was fun walking through the zoo having people stare and laugh at Joe:)

We went to an apple farm and had a blast!!

Eliza loves picking apples and eating them. She ate about 3. It started out as a cold day, but ended up beautiful...definitely not a hot cocoa day.

James was along for the food.

Eliza making sure James didn't eat her pumpkin.

Their new favorite past time... running through the house!

Well...there it is.

Random Fun

2011-09-22T12:16:00.000-07:00

I love watching these two play together.Eliza has been practicing sitting cross-legged so she can hold Jimmy. He isn't so sure...

...and then he gets really excited.

Eliza loves laundry day / sleeping in the laundry basket.

She found a shirt saved for Jimmy and wanted to look like Daddy.

Then she put on her snow pants and climbed into the bundle me like a sleeping bag. I was in shorts and thought it was hot. She makes me laugh.

It was raining so we had fun inside.

We love Sunday afternoons when Daddy is home.

I didn't get pics of going to an apple orchard with black sheep picking apples. It was so much fun and beautiful. Eliza loved eating apples and feeding the sheep. She even sang them "Baa baa Black Sheep." We made apple pie for FHE and Eliza couldn't resist digging into the sticky apples.

Liza loves building me houses, towers, etc.

We had fun with Daddy's shaving cream while Jimmy was sleeping.

Well, there ya go.

It's Always Fun When Grandpa & Grandma Come

2011-09-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

Eliza was so happy that her friends came to play (Grandma and Grandpa).
She had been talking for weeks about taking them to the zoo.
Grandma was lucky enough to be picked to ride the "merry-go-round" with Eliza.And Grandpa got to ride on the giraffe train.

Daddy made it for about 10 minutes and then was pretty busy the rest of the weekend.

We sure had fun playing and showing Gma and Gpa some of our favorite spots here.

Jimmy was in heaven having so many people to hold him and play with him. He sure was comfy on Grandma.

Thanks for coming all the way here to see us. We love you and miss you!

Jimmy loves rolling around and around! He is pretty fast and is happy as long as he doesn't get stuck under a bed or up against something.

Eliza loves posing like Jimmy for pictures--looks comfy.

Jimmy was laying on this giraffe for a long time. I thought it was cute.

I can now see why it says not to put the bumbo on elevated surfaces. Jimmy doesn't like to just sit in it. He has to always be grabbing something. Luckily, Eliza loves grabbing him stuff.

One Sunday Eliza really wanted to play pin the tail on the kitty. Luckily I had saved it. Daddy is so much fun!

James likes food okay...

but it's the water he is crazy about.

Liza posing again:)

Joe had labor day off so we went to the arboretum! It was awesome! I love this guy!

Eliza loves walking through fields of flowers taller than her.

Our first cold day.

Eliza found a new favorite food!

Camping and Stuff

2011-08-29T19:40:00.000-07:00

We finally made it camping! On our way there Eliza asked, "It's not raining?"She was so excited to help Daddy cook hot dogs and set up the tent. She kept asking, "Daddy what are you doing?"

It is so beautiful here. James couldn't get over all the trees. He wouldn't eat and just stared at them until it was too dark to see any more leaves.

Eliza took us on a hike to some pine trees and hasn't stopped talking about them. Not sure what she thought was so cool about them?

We found a cool Indian burial mound and tons of huge spider webs! We went swimming in the lake and played in the sand. We can't wait to go again!

I put the cookie sheet on top of the flour and next thing I know James had grabbed it and was pulling it closer and closer to him.

The cookie thief got caught!

Eliza climbed in our bed while the cookies were cooking. She said she was sick and needed a treat. So Daddy pulled out all his gear and I grabbed a cookie and water (with a straw).

I'm pretty sure it was the straw that made her better:) A few days later she tried that trick again, but unfortunately we didn't have any cookies...bummer.

Happy Jimmy!

Eliza loves feeding him bottles. James puts up with her pulling it out and shoving it back in only when he is really hungry.

My cute kiddos!

Jimmy found his thumb on Sunday. It was so cute I had to get a pic.

Eliza loves calling her daddy all day. They talked like this for a while when he actually got home. We are always so excited when Daddy comes home!

Fun Summer

2011-08-19T12:22:00.000-07:00

Some friends showed us this awesome park that used to be a farm. We love it and go there all the time. We missed the peak of sunflower season, but we love exploring the fields and wildlife.

Eliza loves taking us different ways.

James absolutely loves trees! We had a picnic under an oak tree and he was in heaven!!

Eliza always wants to hold James and rock him. He just wants to eat her or grab her hair. She says, "James, no mess up my hair."

What a cutie!

She kept saying, "Best Buddies" while I was trying to get a picture. James would have to agree:)

I love Jimmy's facial expressions!

Poor James usually ends up in the stroller while Eliza plays at the parks. He is such a happy kid and is pretty content if I stick him under a tree.We found an awesome splash park.

Eliza was in heaven splashing with Daddy.

Happy Birthday Two Eliza

2011-08-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

Eliza turned two!! She had fun playing pin the tail on the pink kitty.I love her faces. This is really all she cared about...blowing out the candles on her pink kitty cake.

She loved her books!!

And mostly the wrapping paper:)

She insists on holding Jimmy many times during the day. He is a good sport and is learning to pull her hair to make up for all the pokes

Wow--let me say that again backwards--woW!

We are still playing pin the tail on the kitty. And yes, that yellow one is mine.

Jimmy rolled from his tummy to his back!! He was pretty happy with himself...especially with me and Eliza cheering for him.

This is what happened while I was on the phone/feeding Jimmy. I heard splashing and knew something was up, but wasn't quite prepared for this one. There was literally water everywhere and Eliza loved it! I love how the bib to keep her dry totally didn't work.

The water did something to her and she went crazy. She put these glasses on Jimmy...

and then insisted on wearing them the rest of the night. It was pretty much awesome!

My cute family! We sure do love our Daddy!

Happy Birthday Eliza! We sure love you and are so glad you are in our family. Thanks for making us so happy, being so much fun, and making us laugh all the time.

At the Fair

2011-08-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

We went to the fair and had a blast!!!

Eliza loved the bunnies.

Jimmy really likes purple.

Daddy helped Eliza hold a duck, a chick, and a white bunny. She was in heaven.

Joe loved these deep fried cheese nuggets. They were really yummy!

Cute Liza

She talked about this pony for days after. She loved riding him.

Jimmy was jealous he couldn't go for a ride.

Eliza put Jimmy to sleep for me one day. She was so proud of herself.

My silly girl.

Decided to hike up her pants like Eurkel one day.

We love tummy time!

Daddy and Eliza love playing the piano together.

Eliza loves to sing, I Am a Child of God to all her stuffed animals.

We are having a fun summer!

Doctor Dad

2011-07-12T11:55:00.000-07:00

Here is our awesome Doctor Dad!
He is loving it here and we sure love being here with him!His first day in clinics.

Joe took us on an awesome walk Sunday. We love how green and beautiful it is here. We even got to eat tons and tons of black raspberries (Eliza was in heaven). Jimmy was in heaven with all the leaves and trees.

One day Eliza decided she was a bird. So, we read Ernie's Big Mess (to see Big Bird's nest) and made a nest out of the boppy with a blanket. She loved it!

Jimmy loves shoving everything he can into his mouth.

This day we were dogs and this was our tea party.

Eliza and James love when Daddy is home. They both want to sit on his lap and steal all of his attention. We had a fun 4th of July with some friends and saw some awesome fireworks across the lake and a few bottle rockets too.

Here is our apartment.
This is the bathroom...Eliza and Jimmy had their first bath together and loved splashing each other and giggling.

This is from the front door.

Our bedroom...yes I found a place for Joe's antlers:)

The kitchen

Our view from the deck

Jimmy loves watching all the leaves in the windows. He is usually this happy.

Our front door and dining area

Eliza was helping Joe pick out a tie and came in wearing my skirt. What a silly girl!

Well, we love it here! Glad to be in an apt instead of a motel.

The Big Move

2011-06-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Mike, Bryan, and Joe with their kids Oakley, Grace, and James. Can't wait for Nate to hold baby Lacey.Eliza excited to go...or so she thinks:)Joe in the truck of his dreams!

Jimmy loves being outside!

We stopped at Bryan and Susanne's to have a fun cookout with the fam!
Grandma with Oakley and James.

Joy loves smores!

Mike and Bryan...master marshmallow melters.

Ummmm...

Cute Naomi!

Someone really loves smores!

Grace wanted some too.

Eliza trying to steal some more.

Thanks everyone for the fun evening! We sure love you all and will miss you like crazy.

Eliza just loved getting out of the car.

James loved staring at the trees for all our picnics.

Joe was thrilled with my find of a cemetery for a lunch break.

Goofy Eliza!

I think I was even more glad to be out of the car.

Eliza loved dressing up like a pioneer. She would have made a great one!

Oh, how I love this girl!

We loved the Winter Quarter's temple and visitor's center!! It was so humbling and amazing to be on such hallowed ground and feel the spirit of these amazing saints who sacrificed so much for the gospel of Jesus Christ!

We got to touch the Mississippi river! It was beautiful and I felt a little like Huck Finn (ok, just thought about him).

Can't wait to move into our apartment with a bathtub. Jimmy isn't quite sure what was going on with the shower and we didn't try to get a pic of Eliza screaming in hers. She isn't a huge fan of showers. At least we have a microwave and fridge.

We are glad to be here and too bad I didn't get a video of Eliza shouting for joy when we got here. It is beautiful and we love it!!!

Getting ready for the Move

2011-06-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Eliza loved playing in her hiking back pack. I think we may use this for the next move.I hated saying good-bye to my good friends.
Kelly was such a good friend for me and also Eliza. Eliza adored her and loved when she would baby sit. Thanks Kelly for everything! We love you!

We went one last time to the zoo.

Cute Liza!

And threw a baby shower for our friend, Brittany! We are so excited they are having a girl. Eliza loved all the baby clothes...almost as much as she loves Brittany. We hope your move goes well.

Grandma got this gun for Eliza. She hasn't figured out quite how to use it. She loves pulling it around everywhere with her.

Happy Jimmy!

Liza was such a good help packing. She got in almost every box.

I finally got a picture with Daryn. We had a fun time at the zoo.

Daryn and Rachel were such great friends! We are going to miss walks and playing.

Jon and Daryn took some family pics of us. Thanks you guys. We love them and had a blast with you guys! We copied this pose from Nate and Starlie:)

Mischievous Eliza!

I love this pic! Rachel is such a doll! We can't wait to get together and play again when they are a little older!

Eliza absolutely adores Jon. She would always yell hi to him at church and go running up to him. Thanks for being such great friends!

Ida took these cute pics! She is such a good photographer!

We were sad to say good-bye to our wonderful friends in Boise! Thanks everyone for being so kind and so much fun. We love you all!

Oakley's Blessing

2011-06-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

Eliza finally got to "ho Oakey". She was pretty mad when she didn't get to hold her in the hospital. What a cute cousin!!Hanging out with Naomi, Grandpa, Daddy, and Grandma.

James loves Grandma! We had such a fun time!

Cute Gracie and Susanne!

and Joy!!

Eliza loved sitting by Bryan

Eliza kind of adores Joy!! Thanks for playing hide and seek with us Joy and Naomi! Eliza is in heaven with you guys.

Super sweet sisters!

Eliza loves Mike and Heidi and being at their fun house. Thanks for letting us come stay and taking care of us. We sure love you guys and you have the cutest family! It was so fun to see everyone and play. We have the best family ever!

Friends and Family

2011-06-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

Eliza loved having her cousin Paige read her stories and play with her.We had to visit our hidden forest. Eliza had a ball playing ball with Daddy.

Man, I sure love this place...especially being there with my cute kids!

I can't believe how much Eliza has grown in just a year.

Eliza and her awesome Daddy!

Sarita and Jesse made us the most delicious meal. They were so cute with Eliza and James. Wish we weren't moving so far away. Maybe you guys could come live by us:)

Thanks guys for the fun evening and being such great friends. Thanks for letting Eliza play with all your toys. We'll miss you!

We finally got a pic with Eph and Brenda. Thanks guys for letting us play and for all the entertainment. Wait, where is Maddie's baby brother? I can't believe you didn't get him in the family picture:) We sure love you guys!

It was so fun to see Shelley and McKay. We missed Kimball, but glad we could come play. Hopefully next time Eliza will be more fun, McKay. Can't wait to see you guys again!

Can you guess which one is Eliza and which is Jimmy? I didn't realize they are wearing the same duck onesie! They both love Grandpa and his awesome sparkly ceiling. It was so fun to see you, Grandpa. We love you!

Eliza just wanted Grandpa to rock her and Grandma to hold her. We sure have missed you guys!

Jimmy and Grandma. We sure love you!

We got to hang out with Teresa's fam for a couple of hours. Litia was so cute with Jimmy and Eliza.

James loves Teresa and Kalina!

They took us to my favorite park and it was a blast!

Cute Litia, Seneti, and Kalina!

Look out ducks!

Eliza sure loves her cousins! Can't wait to play again when we are not so tired!

Best buddies!

Thanks Teresa for the fun time.

We sure had a good time seeing a lot of people we love. Thanks for all the fun memories.

Fun in the Sun

2011-06-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

Daddy left us for a few days so we went to play in SG.
Here Jimmy is with his cool cousins Kinney, Kelton, and Bit.

Uncle Adam trying to be twinners with James. I can see the family resemblance.

Jimmy sure likes Adam!

Addi and Andi were super fun to play with.

Kinney was so cute with Jimmy. She loved playing with his toes.

Jimmy and his awesome Aunt Harry!

Cute Ellie was a great baby sitter!

Cheese!

Rylee's cheese! Eliza loved her tea party with Rylee, Ellie, and Kinney and wants to have them all the time.

Ida the photographer

Selma was so great at calming James right down.

Eliza was in heaven on the farm. She loved this cat!

And having Grandpa take her to see the baby cow. She wanted to "ho 'im" (hold him).

Cute Ida and Jonah!

Man these guys are good!

Jonah is the happiest kid I have ever seen. He is so stinkin' cute and always laughing and smiling...even when his cousin pushes him over and steals his toys.

Eliza made sure Grandma watered every single flower.

Both James and Eliza adore Scottie! What an awesome cousin.

Alli loved holding James and is a natural!

Anna the wonderful! She rode down with us and took care of James and Eliza. Eliza had a blast and we'll just say that Burger King is a great place to eat lunch!

AJ and Jimmy! Kindred spirits!

Addi and her buddy Jimmy!

The thinker...

I sure love this kid!

So, Eliza found out that popsicles are yummy!!!

Marth and Jimmy love playing outside!

Mmmm.

Bentley and Adri had a blast writing with their chicken quills.

Adam and Scott had a blast swinging:)

Eliza wanted to go that high. We went to a park and she was talking about Scott swinging.

Cute Marth and Andi

Cute Ida and Jonah

James loved Josie holding him.

Eliza loved swinging with Andi and Kinney and her baby:)

AJ was a great baby sitter:) Eliza loved playing with him and Scottie.

Cool Kelton

Cool Bentley

Eliza would live on a trampoline if I let her.

She never wanted to get off.

My awesome brother-in-laws Scott, Adam, and Kody!

Cute Adri!

Cute Kinney!

All the cousins made this awesome slide and Eliza and Anna had the ride of their lives:)

Bentley and Bit showing Eliza their tricks.

James sure loves Grandma!

Trying to reenact a pic of me and Ida on this swing.

Eliza loves following Grandpa around and "help Grandpa."

Thanks everyone for the super fun time! We had a blast and love you and miss you already.

Camping Trip

2011-05-29T15:26:00.000-07:00

After packing and doing our hair in braids for our camping trip, it decided to rain all day and night. So, we went camping in Eliza's room. We had smores over our oven before bed. Eliza is a huge fan!!But, sleeping in the tent was her highlight. She was so excited!! I didn't have to tell her to smile for these pics.

She had to sleep with her bear. Better this one than a real one:)

Jimmy was thrilled:) After three hours of freezing because Eliza took up more of the tent than Joe and I couldn't zip up the sleeping bag because there wasn't enough to cover me, I finally camped out with Jimmy in his room and in my bed. We slept great!

Our breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon turned out way better than our last camping trip!! Daddy was especially glad.

Then I found these pics on the camera.

We had a blast! Can't wait to go camping again.

Best Buddies

2011-05-26T13:39:00.000-07:00

Eliza wanted to get pics with Jimmy. He was definitely thrilled.This was my idea...not such a good one according to Liza.

A little resemblance?

First braid

Umm...Daddy, you fell asleep.

Our neighbor, Noor. He loves dumping out every single toy he can find.

Our friend Killian came to play. Eliza was in heaven. Can't wait for Jimmy to play with her.

Someone really loves his daddy!

Cute, crazy kids

Jimmy's face always lights up whenever Eliza is around.

Eliza thinks that when Joe is gone, she can sleep in his bed. She loves pretending to sleep.

Not quite sure if she is a fan of ties.

After pics with Jimmy, she had to get some with her baby.

Well, that is what we are up to...holding babies.

Fun Cousins

2011-05-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

James with his cousins Oakley and GracieHe loved Gracie, but I think he is smiling so big because Susanne was behind the camera. He smiled so big and kept staring at his beautiful aunt.

James loved snuggling with Oakley too. What a cute baby!

James getting ready for his first trip

Joy was so cute with James. He smiled so big at her.

Bryan would be great with twins!! Gracie is 2 months older than James, but about the same size.

Joy was the best baby sitter. She entertained Eliza all morning. As you can see, Eliza thinks Joy is the coolest thing ever!

Eliza looks good in blue:)

Fun cousins! Thanks Bryan and Susanne for letting us come play and taking care of us. We sure love you guys and had a blast.

We were going down for Mike's graduation and were lucky enough to see Baby Oakley the day after she was born. Congrats Mike and Heidi on your beautiful baby! We sure love ya.

We sure love our family! It was fun to see everyone.

Fun in the Sun

2011-05-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

Best BuddiesEliza and my teddy bear, Pinky

Eliza sure loves her Daddy. No wonder...he always does fun things with her.

Every walk ends up with at least this many flowers.

My cute family

Jimmy sure loves his sister. He watches everything she does and smiles so big at her.

Eliza tries to hang as many things as possible on her stroller. It cracks me up watching her push this contraption around.

Joe took us to fly a kite and guess what Eliza did?

Eliza wanted to help so badly, but the wind wasn't really cooperating. So we went and played on the slides and of course that is when Joe actually got it to fly. We sure love playing outside in the warm sun!!

Stop and Smell the Dandelions

2011-04-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Eliza's favorite flower!!!Joe having tons of fun on the temple grounds.

Spring is here!!! And we are all this happy:)

James slept through all the excitement.

We Love to see the Temple!!!

Eliza loved all the "cute" flowers.

Our handsome little guy

got his looks from his dad.

My favorite people in the world!

"Cheese"

We thought grandpa had come to visit.

The craziest Easter Egg Hunt ever. Joe took us to a park and hid the candy while we played. The next thing I know, he called and said "you better get over here fast before the squirrels eat all the candy". Sure enough, we got there and were surrounded by squirrels and angry geese. Joe was in the middle of them swinging a stick to keep them away from the candy and eggs, but they were getting into some of it. I never knew a squirrel could unwrap a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, but they apparently can. Joe almost got bit by a squirrel and I came within a foot of a goose trying to bite Eliza. While he fended them off we grabbed all the candy and ran for the car.

After all the excitement Eliza didn't seem to be too traumatized.

Coloring the Easter Eggs at home.

Eliza loves this kitty. She always says, "Hold 'im!" This time she finally caught him. He is definitely nicer than the average cat letting her chase him around.

Tyson and Jay came over to play. We had tons of fun!!!

James' favorite past time.

Liza's a good helper when it comes to sewing.

James' Blessing

2011-04-22T13:51:00.000-07:00

James is 1 month old

Gpa, Gma, and Naomi came to play.

Emma is going to be a big helper! She loved holding James.

Starlie and Tye came to play too.

Tye can't wait to have a baby:) Nate will be busy guarding eyes.

Coloring Easter Eggs

Play dough cookies

Liza throwing the eggs

Tye searching for candy

Naomi looking for the Easter Bunny

Emma checking out her goods

Eliza having a blast! With candy involved how can she not?

Liza and her daddy

and their crazy look

Mommy and Baby James

Nothing is more fun than playing with rocks in a parking lot.

Mikayla came to play (and babysit:)

Gma and Gpa came too.

Liza loves her Baby James

Jay, Jen, Tyson, and Isabella came too

Maddie loved her, "cute little guy." Somehow we didn't get a pic of Eph, Brenda, and Bethy. We will have to get one later. Thanks guys for coming!

Happy Birthday Eph!! Thanks for coming to celebrate with us. And thanks for the yummy angel food cake!!!

Eliza reading stories to her baby. She named another baby "James" even though he is wearing pink:)

We sure love our family! Thanks for all coming to support us and have a fun weekend.

3 Weeks Old

2011-04-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

James is 3 weeks in this picture.He loves the outfits from Paul and Lynda:) Thanks!

Eliza really really loves tummy time. She was talking to James the entire time. They are so cute together. He just stares at her and loves her.

I finally caught Eliza's crazy eye thing on camera. She does this a million times a day to get me to laugh. She cracks me up!

Eliza will rock anything and call it baby. She had to get a picture. Most of the random pictures are because she insists on, "Cheese."

This is where Eliza spends a lot of her time.

Eliza dressed the bear and loves playing doctor with him.

Arranged marriage.... here is Baby Rachel and James with twinner binkies. We can't wait for them to fall in love:)

Joe caught this one of Eliza playing me, "Happy To."

Another, "Cheese."

James started smiling and loves smiling at his Daddy. I sure love my boys!

Not quite sure about bath time yet.

Eliza sure loves helping give him baths!

My handsome boys.

My silly Liza.

Rach and Marth came to visit and babysit so Joe could take me on a date for my birthday. It was so fun to see them and they definitely spoiled us. Thanks guys for coming all this way and playing with our kids! We sure love you!

James sure loves his aunts!

Eliza loves putting in and pulling out James' binkies. He is really good and hardly complains. This time she was just playing with the circle and wasn't bothering him at all.

James all ready for church.

Eliza loves helping feed James. Luckily Daddy was there to protect him.

What a fun and crazy 3 weeks these have been. We sure are glad to have James and Eliza around to keep life fun!

Happy Birthday Misha!!!

2011-04-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

It was Misha's birthday yesterday. We hope she enjoyed it!
We sure love her and appreciate all she does for us. We celebrated twice, actually, because Rachel and Martha stopped by last Saturday in their travels to clean house and made Misha her favorite cake--angel food cake. They also tended our kids while we went on a date playing frisbee golf. Here Misha is blowing out the candles:
Eliza got to help make the cake.

She was the official taste tester...

And she got to place the candles. We had to explain that unlike nailing two-by-fours together, the candles didn't have to be completely driven in.

She also got to help clean up :)

Here's James and Mish.

We had so much fun blowing candles out that we stuck more in on Misha's actual birthday and sang her happy birthday again.

Happy Birthday Mish!!
You are the love of my life and I'm so happy to have spent another year with you!!

Tummy Time

2011-04-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

Jimmy likes tummy time, but not as much as Eliza. We were at the grocery store and she said, "Tummy Time." So, that is what we did when we got home.Bonding time for the boys. Joe is teaching James early how to play basketball.

Sweet James

Eliza randomly says, "Cheese," which means we have to take a picture. We went to the lake and threw rocks (mostly sand) in the lake. It was so much fun. I definitely got a work out. Eliza took her baby stroller but wanted me to carry her most of the way there and back.

What tough guys

Eliza loved watching General Conference. She loved when the temple came on or when they sang especially. We had a fun weekend at home with Daddy.
Eliza loves making "baby bread" and ate the whole loaf in a day. "Ummm...yummy!"

Our handsome little guy

Eliza fed Jimmy his first bottle. He loved it and she is such a good helper.

Thanks Rach for the cute twinner jammies.

We have these small black ants in our kitchen and after spraying multiple things to get rid of them, we finally called the bug guy. His name is Joe and Eliza absolutely loved him. She wouldn't leave him alone and only told him "Hi" about 25 times. I tried everything to keep her from "help Joe." We ended up making "hammers" out of play dough and she had to get some pictures.

James loved his first bath. It was a lot more fun than sponge baths.

Cute Eliza!

We can't imagine life without James and Eliza. What fun these two kiddos are. We are so blessed!

Another Fun Week

2011-03-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

This is what I found after taking a shower. I like to throw things down the stairs...dirty diapers, laundry, and anything else that I can't carry with Eliza. I told Eliza to throw down three of James diapers. She got a little carried away.

My friend Kelly made this adorable hat for James. Eliza loves putting on his bear hat.

Muscle man

Ready to go for a walk

I love the mornings when Eliza wakes up James by saying, "Morning baby James."

Daddy caught Liza sporting her glasses.

Getting ready for church.

Look at these handsome guys!

Tummy time

I was making a sandwich and Eliza kept saying temple. I thought she wanted me to sing I Love to see the Temple and then realized she had made the temple out of her meat. What a cutie. Her new thing to say is, "Mommy, Daddy married temple."

Cute Liza

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for coming to help. We sure love you and had fun playing.

James

2011-03-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

James was born 18 March
He was 8 lb 9 oz and 20" longWe sure love our little guy! He really loves his Daddy.

Thanks Grandma for helping tend kids and cooking and cleaning.

Eliza was really excited to see Naomi and Grandma.

She loves her little brother! She really loves to give him kisses and gets really concerned when he cries.

"I can't wait to boss him around..."

Aunt Naomi, posing with James, or Jim, or Jimmy. We can't decide what to call him. Our pediatrician suggested Jimmer, I don't know why. (By the way, there was no intended association between his name and any athlete that may or may not have been playing in the NCAA tourney that weekend. Any similarity is purely coincidental.)

Our little Good Luck Charm, waiting to go home.

The thing that Eliza was most excited about this weekend was that she could play with our carseat. She really likes all the moving parts.

Eliza's been getting a crash course in little baby brothers, especially which parts of him are okay and not okay to touch. Eyes = not ok.

When she gets jealous or overall frustrated that James is getting too much mommy time, she starts yelling "Liza's mommy!"

Daryn came over to see our little bundle of joy. Eliza was especially excited to see "Baby Rachel". (Or her carseat).

Misha decided to help him get rid of his long fingernails and was a little overzealous, mistaking skin for fingernail. Hence the band-aid. Of course, not to be outdone, a certain little girl had to also get a band-aid from "Liza's Mommy".

What a handsome little guy!

Story time at our house.

Jim's favorite past time: sleeping.

"Good Morning!"

Grandma and Grandpa came clear from Scotland to visit.

I had to remind her, eye = no touch.

Liza likes to burp James. She's a pro.

Best buddies :)

Getting ready for a walk. They just finished a bridge over the river by our place. It has been quite a fun and new adventure traveling to the other side of the river.

Giving a goodnight kiss to James. She has to say "Night night James" every night.

Happy St. Patty's

2011-03-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

We like making trains.As you can see from this face.

It was fun having Grandma and Naomi come play. Eliza was sure excited and sad they had to leave.

Eliza is getting ready for a baby.

She made all these play dough cookies and brought them one at a time to Daddy. Then they stacked up the circle ones to make hamburgers...yummy!

She kept getting more animals to sit on the "bus" and then said, "Mommy, picture."

We had a fun day with a few walks in the sunshine. We are definitely ready for spring.

Rock a bye

2011-03-13T20:08:00.000-07:00

Eliza has to gather all her animals and anything she can find to rock after she wakes up from a nap. This reminds me of a picture Ida had from elementary with her 59 stuffed animals.And as of tonight we are still waiting for a baby.

Funny Faces

2011-03-06T21:13:00.000-08:00

Eliza loves making us laugh. She always gets us with her crazy faces. She thinks opening her mouth is really funny.We're not sure where she came up with these faces.

Every night before we go to bed, we have to make the "funny face".

Eliza loves playing with Daddy's computer. He was running and didn't know I was letting Eliza play with it. She is already learning to type:)

Eliza shares all her stickers with the baby, so my belly looks like this almost every day. My favorite is when we go to the library we get a sticker or peeling the banana stickers off in the grocery store. I wonder what people think when they see me.

We sure love having Eliza around. She makes life exciting!!

Fun February

2011-02-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

Eliza had some friends come play. She loves following them around and laughing with them.Eliza loves helping me make Daddy lunch. I was making dinner and the next thing I know, Eliza had made Daddy lunch. I guess we really like bread:)

Liza loves playing outside with her Dad...

and building snowmen.

This one was a little smaller than last week. Hope that is a good sign for warmer weather.

Eliza loves doing whatever we are doing. She is a huge helper. She especially likes to say, "No, Mommy. Ziza," when I try to help her.

Snow!

2011-02-20T18:51:00.000-08:00

We got snow for a few hours this week. This is the snow I like. We went out before lunch and used all the snow in our back yard to make a snowman Eliza's size. She loved him!

Eliza loves riding her bike and being crazy.

This is the snowman after her nap. She kept saying, "Mommy, fix it." I was glad that all the snow was gone.

She loves wearing aprons while cooking.

Eliza loves playing the piano and singing at the top of her lungs.

Thanks Seneti for the card. Eliza has been carrying it around since. We sure miss you and love you.

Valentine Weekend

2011-02-16T20:32:00.001-08:00

Eliza has been wearing socks and shoes all winter. Now that the weather is warming up a bit she has found a new hobby...cleaning out her toe jam!!!On our drive to Martha's I took off her socks just so she would be entertained for a while.

Eliza loves making bread. She ate her whole loaf in one day...yummy!

She loves eating chocolate more. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the delicious Valentines!

Daddy spoiled and surprised us a few days early since he worked Valentines. We love the flowers and especially Daddy!

We were sad to say good-bye to Martha and Adam and their beautiful home. We are glad we got to live so close to them for a few years. We have had some super fun memories there with their fun family. We sure love you guys!

We finally got to meet and hold baby Gracie!! What a cutie! Eliza loved her for a few minutes. She loved playing with Joy more, I think. Thanks Joy for babysitting and being such a fun cousin.

I also loved holding Gracie for a few minutes...until Eliza said, "No, Mommy." We sure love you guys!

Joe got to hold her for a long time. I think he is excited for another baby.

Daddy built this awesome hut and got Eliza's hair super staticky. She is going to be a pro hut-builder someday.

Huts and Ball Games

2011-02-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Eliza loves building huts. This one was built at about 7:10 am one morning when she insisted on having a hut. We played in it for a long time! The flash was a little bright.

Daddy took us to a basketball game. Eliza was really concerned about the mascot walking around. She isn't too fond of large fake animals. Luckily he left, or she wouldn't have watched any of the game.

We had a blast...much better than the last basketball game we took Eliza to.

Eliza sure loves her daddy!...

...and eating batter. She isn't the biggest fan of baked goods, but she sure loves it before it is cooked.

Fun January

2011-02-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

Eliza loves playing at the park...especially when there are geese around.

She picked out this swim suit herself. Blue is her favorite color if you ask her. I tried it on her at home and she had to start vacuuming. Crazy kid.

She loves helping me cook and is a pro stirrer.

Daddy was just getting ready for a run when Eliza made him hold her baby. She loves her babies.

I made the mistake of pulling off the cushions for Eliza to jump on. Now, she wants to pull them off so she can vacuum them. She wants to vacuum multiple times everyday. Definitely didn't get that desire from her mother.

This is Eliza's "funny face". She likes to make it when I pull out the camera.

She was playing peek a boo with her baby for a good ten minutes. She was giggling and it was so cute.

Lately she has wanted to be a baby a lot. Hope that phase doesn't last long.

We went to see the fish. It was a beautiful sunny day!

Joe trying out his photography skills.

Looking for the really big fish. Eliza really wanted to jump in with them.

Eliza has been helping me make the baby's blessing outfit. Little does she know it isn't for her.

Eliza loves shoes!!! She will put ours on any chance she can.

This was my sweater when I was little. Eliza loves that it is blue.

My two kids wearing bibs. We sure love having Daddy around to eat with. He makes dinner time so much more exciting!

We had a fun and busy month. Glad that most of it had no snow:)

Fun Weekend

2011-01-19T06:20:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when I leave Eliza home with Joe.Eliza loved playing in the rain with the umbrella. It was a little hard for her to hold so we didn't last long. Thankfully it wasn't snow:)

Joe had a conference up at a ski resort and we sure had fun while he was away. Why not jump on someone else's bed?

We went snowshoeing and had a blast! Eliza was singing most of the way and they only fell one time. All she said was, "uh-oh Daddy".

There was so much snow, but it was a beautiful warm day.

Eliza loves putting her hands in her pockets. She insisted on wearing this coat with the hat on one morning.

We had some yummy vanilla pudding. Someone is a big fan.

Eliza loves helping me make bread, especially now that she has found how much fun it is playing in the wheat.

Liza and Her Baby

2011-01-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

Cute Liza

2011-01-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

If this isn't the biggest cheese, I don't know what is.
This is after playing in our hut for forever. Why do I try to do her hair?Liza helped me finish her curtains, finally.

Getting ready to go outside.

She loves wearing Daddy's hats.

Man, this kid is so much fun. She definitely keeps me busy.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2011-01-08T09:27:00.000-08:00

We went bowling for Daddy's birthday! Eliza loved the "cute shoes."
She was really good at bowling too.

Look at that form!

Liza had to have the blue bowling balls (even though they were the heaviest).

This was the biggest bowling place I had been to. There were 40 lanes and half were filled with older couples (reminded me of Return to Me).

Liza sporting Daddy's awesome hat. She was pretty tired by the end.

Daddy's birthday cake had to be big to fit all those candles.

Happy birthday Joe! I sure do love you. You are my best friend, the best husband, greatest daddy, and the funnest person to be with. Thanks for spending another year with me.

Sledding!

2010-12-31T14:28:00.000-08:00

Liza all ready to play in the snow.Naomi, Grandma, and Me at the top of the hill.
This was my form of sledding. (This pic is just for you Paul and Lynda)
Grandma crashing into the fence (actually she was the straightest one).

Go Naomi!!!

Daddy and Liza. Eliza loved going down with Daddy. She smiled the whole time.

Grandpa going off a sweet jump.

Liza and her daddy.

Her favorite part was getting pulled back up the hill. We sure got a work out.

We had a blast playing in the snow.

Merry Christmas Eve

2010-12-24T21:01:00.000-08:00

We got to celebrate Christmas Eve a day early on Joseph Smith's birthday. We had a fun day with Daddy. Eliza sure loves having her Daddy to play with!She got her baby all bundled up so we could go for a walk.

We picked Joe up from work and went to the zoo. I don't know if Eliza remembered going before. She sure loved all the animals. Here is the zebra.

The penguins were really cool and a couple jumped in when they saw us.

Liza liked the baby ones.

This tiger was so close and so huge. Eliza would growl and then meow at all the big cats.

By this time she was pretty tired.

She loved the giraffe slide...too bad it was so icy and wet. I was the lucky one to go down with her and ended up with a very wet bum.

That night we acted out the nativity story. Eliza was Mary and Joseph was Joseph:) They did a great job!

Random pic.

The next morning Eliza still wanted to act out the nativity. She put the towel on Daddy's head. What a fun Christmas! We can't wait to have Daddy home to play with.

We love you all! Have a very Merry Christmas.

Only 10 More Days!!

2010-12-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

...until Christmas!!! I love looking at the Christmas tree lights drinking hot chocolate.And I finally got our stockings made. Joe thought if we put up one for the baby Santa would fill it so he could eat all the candy:)

Eliza loves making cookies.

She especially likes rolling out the candy cane cookies because she ends up eating her dough.

I sure love this girl!

We watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional (fabulous, by the way) and Eliza loved when they sang. She would stand right in front of the computer just watching them.

She posed this one herself.

She loves Baby Jesus. We made a stable for Him and she gets excited anytime she sees Him.

Trying out a new hair do.

Joe took us to the biggest Christmas tree. Eliza loved all the lights and being with her Daddy.

Joe sporting his new glasses.

We love Christmas time (especially now that all the snow is gone:).

Snow...argh

2010-12-02T07:16:00.000-08:00

Eliza's first huge snowman. She called him "Ho, Ho, Ho."Daddy trying to clean 6 inches of snow off the car.

Eliza had fun inside while Daddy threw snowballs at he

What a cutie!

Eliza loves her Daddy. She loved playing with him during his Thanksgiving break. When he went back to work she said Daddy all day long wondering why he wasn't playing with her.

Eliza loves Lynda's pumpkin pancakes. She is a great helper in the kitchen too.

I guess this winter is getting us ready for Wisconsin. Still not quite sure about all this snow:(