National Children Study

Since before Will was born, we have been participants in the National Children Study. Basically, every few months I get a call to answer some questions. It's really not that time consuming and I'm happy to be a part of it. In early December, they had a little Christmas gathering for those in Cache Valley. They served breakfast, had pictures with Santa, and had a few little crafts.

Will loves to sit on the counter and watch while I get ready. Well, mostly he likes to turn the water on and off and reorganize all my jewelry.

 The line for Santa was a bit long so we took some pictures while we waited.

 Will even found a little friend to run around with for a little bit.

 Will wasn't excited to see Santa, but he didn't scream either. He doesn't quite understand what he is yet.

 It was a fun little outing and nice to have something to do.

And lastly, just because he's cute:

 Was trying to find Will to get him into his pajamas and walked into his room to this.

One Sunday after church. He is definitely one handsome boy!

More Videos

We have a goofy kid. He does things every day that make me chuckle. I always wanted to do a lot of home videos for my kids, but I haven't been very good so far. But I've been better lately at catching some moments that are more fun to watch then to read about.

One of our favorite things to do is to chase Will around the house. And once you start growling, he will usually cover his eyes immediately so we "can't" find him. But then he started growling back. The best was when Will and I sneaked into the room while Lance was sleeping and I told Will to growl. He sure did and it scared Lance pretty good. Still laughing about that one. Wish I had that one on camera. Instead, just some growling instead of eating dinner:

 (Well apparently the video doesn't want to load onto my blog. So for now I have just uploaded the video to facebook until I can figure out how to get it on my blog.) Here is a link to the video on facebook:

And second, he loves to "jump" off of things, except his jump has yet to leave the ground. Whenever I change his diaper, he pushes me away then wants to jump off of the changing table so I can catch him. His new favorite thing to do is either jump off of the window ledge onto the love sac, or jump off of the couch.

I promise I do dress my kid. He almost NEVER is in just a diaper, though these videos would make you think otherwise.

Yes, That Just Happened

So there I was sitting in my living room, just watching some tv while Will ran wild throughout the house, when I heard a strange noise coming from the back of the house. At first I thought it was Will crying. But usually when he gets hurt, he comes running to me to make it better. And I waited for him and waited for him, but he never came...yet the noise continued. I finally realized he was laughing over something, so I grabbed my camera to investigate and this is what I found:

Apparently this is super funny and he was sure getting a kick out of it, and wasn't stopping anytime soon. I think I got about 3-4 different videos, and he was laughing and entertained the entire time. It was fun and amusing until:

Oopsie!

Gratitude

I know this is a bit late, but having just celebrated Thanksgiving, I really wanted to do a post about the things I am grateful for.

I'm grateful for:

1. Lance - He is my best friend and probably knows me better than anyone. Even though he goes to school  and works, he never complains when I make him help me around the house. He does so much for our family and I appreciate him so much.

2. My kids - Even though Will can be hard at times, I am so grateful for him and his personality. He teaches me so much and I love having him around. And while we haven't met our little girl yet, we love her and are excited for her to join our family.

3. My mom -  I talk to my mom almost every single day. She is always helping us out, or sending Will little packages in the mail. She has always been there for me and I don't know what I would do without her.

4. My in-laws - I was blessed to marry into an amazing family and I just love my in-laws. They do more for us then I think they realize, and we are so appreciative.

5. Other family and friends - I love my siblings and wish I got to spend more time with them.

6. Good health - We have been extremely blessed to not have any serious medical problems so far. We are very healthy overall, and for that I am so grateful.

7. Work - We are also very fortunate that we both have stable jobs. They aren't ideal jobs and don't make nearly enough, we are grateful for the opportunity to work and provide the best we can right now.

8. Medicine - Will has been sick recently and it's amazing how much a little bit of medicine can help. I'm grateful for doctors and all hospital staff for their hard work and dedication. 

9. Our house - Although our place isn't "officially" ours and we don't own it, I'm am so grateful that we have a nice place to live and that we live in a safe neighborhood for our kids. We have been very fortunate with our housing situations so far.

10. Music - Music has always had such a huge impact on my life and I can see how much it already affects Will. He can usually be calmed down pretty quickly by singing some primary songs or other peaceful songs. Or he can get excited and riled up when I have some upbeat music going.

11. Prayer - I'm grateful that we are able to talk with our Father in Heaven and express how we are feeling. I love how Will constantly reminds me that we need to pray. He even made me bless his oreo the other day before he would eat it.

12. School - We are so blessed to live in a country that has so much opportunity to learn and grow and pursue whatever dreams we may have. I am so grateful for the chance I had to get my degree and that Lance is able to go to school to better provide for our family.

13. Books - I have a deep love for reading. There is something about sitting down, forgetting all your problems, and getting lost in a good book. It's one of the few things that I consistently make "me-time" for.

I have been blessed with SO much and I know sometimes I fail to recognize how blessed I really am.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving was pretty low-key this year. We stuck around Cache Valley and got to enjoy a great meal with Lance's family. I'm usually pretty good about not forgetting my camera, but I didn't get a single picture this year.

Due to Thanksgiving being so early this year, Lance's birthday was the day after. Normally he would make sure to get work off, but his manager gave him football tickets to the last Aggie home football game on Saturday (the day after his birthday), so he volunteered to work Thanksgiving and his birthday so he could get that Saturday off.

We invited a couple from our ward and we went to the game against Idaho. It was a lot of fun watching our Aggies finish a great season with a win and be WAC Champions. It was a bit rough for me to stand for that long, and my back was killing me most of the game. Luckily, Lance was nice enough to rub it every so often to help ease the pain.

Most of the students rushed the field after the game. We decided not to.

 I have also been getting a little better at crocheting and have been on a hat making spree. Here is one of the hats I made.