Halloween 2011

I feel like this is Russell's first real Halloween.  But because of the AZ trip we didn't have time to prepare that much.  So luckily Russell still fit (kind of) in his costume from last year.

 Here is our little monkey

 Elsie the nun and Emmy the Witch.  SO CUTE.  Angel did a great job with these costumes. 

 The whole group of kids.  Ryker=batman, Liam=Fireman, Emmy=witch, Raelin= Dinosaur, Elsie=nun, Russell=monkey, Landon=banana, and Alaina=Monkey.  Landon is a big banana we needed lots monkey's to eat it.

 These two were so much fun.  The older kids were much faster that the two monkey's and their banana so we had two groups that trick or treated together.  Look at how independent Russell is.  My heart melted.  I was so happy and sad at the same time. 

 Russell is great at knocking on doors so this night was perfect for him to show off his sweet knocking skills.  Granddad and Russell were buddies for the night.  Alaina would ride in the stroller from house to house.  Which was good because then Landon had a buddy too.  Fun night.  Love that holidays are getting more and more fun the older Russell gets.  Now it's time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  I am so excited!!

Business in AZ

Toby has a new job!! It has it's pro's and con's like any other job.  One of the cons is that he has to be gone for one week EVERY month.  The first trip he took was to Arizona and Russell and I went with.  Sounded good at the time.  It was hard but I really felt like it was what was the best thing for my family and THAT got me through the difficult 10 DAYS!!  So here are some of the happy moments.

"Back pack, back pack, back pack"  This kid loves his back pack.

Under the bridge. Common pass time.

Russell OWNED that hotel (hotel was one of the cons).  Everyone that worked there knew his name.  They were always so excited to see him.  One of the cleaning ladies he really took to and would run up to her and ask for her to pick him up.  She loved it too.  She was really sad to see him go.

I hate that Russell's face is blurry in this one but it is still so cute.  This is Russell giving Daddy a hug.  Then the next picture is Russell's new face.  He just started to make this face and we had no idea where it came from until...he farted and I made that face at him.  Now he makes that face whenever he farts.  Toby and I were rolling on the ground laughing when he first started to make this face.

Sleeping is a nightmare in general so add the fact that we were all in the same room with Toby trying to work and having to go in and out.  That is what made this the worst part of the trip.  We would have to put him to bed REALLY late.  We had to make a wall out of the chairs so he couldn't see us from his pack n play.  He would wake up several times in the middle of the night and I would nurse him (I nursed him so much on this trip.  Before this trip I was only nursing before bed time and sometimes in the morning) or we would sing songs, go for a walk (remember this was at about 3 or 4 in the morning).  One night I laid by my his bed on the floor singing songs (gross by the way).  Then he would wake up at 5 or 6 for the rest of the morning.  I hate to admit this but I totally caved with TV.  Disney Jr. saved my life some of the days.  Once I got up we went to the GREAT breakfast the hotel provided.  That was a pro.  Toby's schedule was all over the place so some days we played with Daddy or went around town but most of the time I just tried to entertain Russell at the hotel.  The town we were in was small and the hotel had nothing around it.  And to be honest it made me nervous just to walk around.  

So we played at the pool,

We played with the limited toys we brought and ate food (he was so tired I thought he was going to fall asleep right there.)  After lunch it worked best if Russell went down for a nap.  That is when he slept for a LONG time.  And when he woke up I would get him and we would cuddle on the bed and he would fall asleep AGAIN.  Needless to say I did a lot of sleeping then too thank goodness.  

This is how we got around the airport with all our junk.  He loved it.  He would hold on and people though he was so cute.  He liked it so much he almost fell asleep on it every time we put him up there.

So one of the reasons that Russell and I went with Toby was because his Grandparents don't live far from where we were going to be.  On Sunday we got a chance to make the short drive up to Safford to visit them.  I hadn't met them until this trip.  It was really great.

Toby, Russell, Grandma Taylor and Grandpa Taylor.

While we were there Grandma Taylor spoiled Russell.  He didn't mind one bit!
After the 10 day trip I have to say it was hard but there was a lot of tender mercy's.  Like I got to cuddle/nap with Russell in my arms almost everyday! That never happens anymore.  Russell was great on the airplanes and the people on them were very kind and sweet to us.  It really could have been a lot worse.

The day after we got back was Halloween. DON DON DON! (I am so tired)

To brighten your day

If you are having a sad day here is a little pick me up.

Catch with Granddad!!!

MY FAVORITE by far!!!  I love his laugh.  

(Sorry for the baby nudity)

 I need to remember these faces when he is doing these things:

Ya he got that out of the Recycling!! It was funny but not my favorite mess to clean up!!

These are the things I have found to help me get through the hard day. This sweet happy face!! I love you Russell!!

My sweet boy!

This is how the boys spent their time while I was watching General Conference.

This was at the beginning of October and Toby still talks about how Russell fell asleep with him.  This doesn't happen much anymore.  We are so sad about that.  We miss cuddle time!

Russell's new game.  He lines them all up.  He does the same with my pots and pans.  He will line them up big to small.  He is so funny!  It has been a hazard though.  We won't notice and step on a cookie sheet and we slip and slide.

I decided to make pancakes one morning and I thought that it was about time for Russell to start helping with the cooking.

It was a lot of fun.  He was very patient and really enjoyed helping.

I LOVE that face!!

APPLES!!

I have an apple tree!!

 I got a call from Angel about a week ago.  She was up in the area and wanted to come pick some apples.

 Here is Liam picking.  He is going to be a hear breaker!

 Angel way up in the tree taking care of business.

Then we made applesauce! It was really exciting.  They spent the whole day with me making applesauce.  Angel had one baby and I had the other.  I wish I got a picture of us in the kitchen with the two sweet ones strapped in the carriers.  It was so great to have a baby to hold.  It was a blast.  It was such a great day.   I don't know why I don't get pictures of the two little girls.  I really had such a great day with the Somers.

 It inspired me to try and find lots of things to make with apples.  I tried apple cinnamon muffins, and yesterday I attempted apple pie.  The thing that was intimidating was the crust, but they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  I felt so accomplished.  I didn't do a good job with the decoration of the crust but hey it tastes good.  

I also made lemon meringue pie.  I was a busy girl yesterday and I am proud too.  WAHOO!  Now I am obsessed with cute pie pans.  I might need to go to a self help class.  But hey my neighbors are sure happy about all the pie making!

P.S. Toby is not a fan or apple pie, neither is Keith but they both said that it was the best apple pie they have ever had...A-thankyou!!

Soccer

This year Raelin and Ryker got to play soccer!!  I was a lame Aunt and didn't go to many games but I did make it to that last couple.

This is my favorite picture EVER. This is what Raelin did when she saw that I was there.  Oh I was so happy.

Russell was a little difficult this day but when he saw Aunt Morgan he was so excited.  Morgan coached Raelin's team that day and so she was busy.  But during half time he wondered...no RAN over to her.  I wish I got a better picture of them but look at how happy Raelin is too.  Oh I love my family.

 She has so much natural talent.  She is great!!  Notice how no one is around her.  They are all behind her.  She can dribble with so much control.  We are all very impressed.

She spends most of the time right here.  With the goalie!!

The is sweet Liam cheering on his cousin.  He was so cute.  "Go Raelin Go!" Jumping up and down!! Love it!

 Here is my dad teaching the kids how to play soccer.  It was so sweet.  The kids had a ton fun with him like always.

Granddad was helping Alaina learn how to head the ball.  She thought it was so funny!

Then we went to Rykers game.  I was really bad and didn't get any pictures of him playing.  So lame I know.   

 But I did get this picture.  Russell looks sad but he was in the middle of "talking".  H
My dad is such a great granddad to all the kiddos we are so lucky to have such a great family.

Ok so later the next week I went down for Ryker's last game.  And I took pictures.  LOTS of them.

Ryker is so fun to watch.  Here he is as goaly.

 DE-DENCE, DE-FENCE

Such a happy little face.

At least Morgan's kids were well behaved.  Russell was so grumpy.  I feel like I am always talking about how Russell is grumpy.  I hope this gets better.  

Good job kids.  You both did a great job and I am so proud of you!

Monkey Do Diapers

So here are a bunch of pictures of my sisters diapers that she makes.  I took some of these so long ago.

This picture is so old that Russell's head now is eye level with that blue button!! How fast do kids grow?

I think we took these last April.  We tried to do a little photo shoot but both boys were grumpy and the lighting was not the best.  But how cute that they have matching buns!

Russell looks so much older now. And believe it or not but Landon have WAY more hair.

Oh I  miss cloth diapers.  I had to stop because my soakers are ruined by mold...(I forgot to wash some and  ya sad ending.)  But they are so expensive, it was a project just to get Toby to get the first set, that it is hard to spend the money on them again.  So Morgan made me some and now I just have to save up to get enough to last a couple of days.

I am actually so angry about cloth diapers.  They are not easy but I have so much motivation to keep up on them.  But when they are not keeping their absorbency and I can't figure out how to get rid of the MOLD.  It causes a problem.  So I will have to wait until I am a millionaire and get enough diapers and soakers so I can keep my babies bottoms super cute.

I know random post but I miss having cute diapers. The picture above is not a diaper that Russell has.  Just in case some of you out there were worried that I was putting Russell in girly diapers.

My birthday!!!

I don't know what is happening to me.  This is the second year in a row that I didn't do anything big for my birthday.  This year was good but lacked the sparkle and pizzazz and not to mention the pinata.

My sweet mama made me cinnamon roll's and brought them over the night before.  Here is Russell having a super sugar fest.  We ate most of them that night because they were fresh out of the oven and we couldn't resist. 

 Russell desperately needed a bath but I was to lazy to give him one so we compromised. SINK BATH!

The day of my birthday was like most days only my mom watched Russell after school was over.  Then I went to work with Toby.  He had a light day so we got to go to dinner.  YUMMY!!

Then that Saturday we had a BBQ at our house.  

 This is the ramp Raelin made to get up in the apple tree better.  She is so creative.

 Before people could come over we had to get the deck usable.  So Toby and I worked hard to get the trex down.  Russell really wanted to help.  He would actually get mad if we didn't let him.

Brice and the kids came over early.  Brice and helped Toby decided to make the stairs.  I was not expecting the stairs to get done!  Happy Birthday to me!  I have stairs.  I now have a functional deck.  Brice's brother William and his wife Angel with their kids (Liam and the two new ones 1 month old Elsie and Emmy) came too.  So great to have them.  Just with family it was a crowd.  So we all had dinner and cake.  We puzzeld and played games.  The down side was the BYU Utah game.  Everyone here that graduated from college all went to BYU.  

 Here is my cake.  Morgan makes my cakes every year.  I told her that I wanted a zebra dolphin cake.  I was meaning a cake the shape of a dolphin with the cake inside that was striped.  My friend Dresden made a cake like that last week.  This is what she came up with.  It was zebra inside too.

 Poor Russell was so tired and worn out.  There was lots of people and things going on all day.

Here is Morgan showing me my cake.  It was a simple birthday but it was still great (even though I didn't have a pinata.  I was so happy to have everyone there.  And I have to say it is really weird to be 25.  I don't feel like I have aged for about 7 years now.  I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that I have a kid.  I am in trouble.