Facebook

I am mostly blogging about this for Steven. We both recently joined facebook. I love it. It is so much fun. I have the best time catching up with old and new friends. If I get a free minute I am checking my profile. I guess I seem to be on my facebook page a lot when Camden is asleep because Steven took a picture of it. This was supposed to be our time. Oh well, I guess that's what boundaries are for.

Ladies Christmas Dinner

Another way that we got to celebrate this Christmas season was through our Ladies Christmas dinner at Church. Last year was my first year attending, and this year I decided to try my hand at co-hosting a table. Most of the the ladies from my MOPS table were interested in attending, so I, along with my mentor mom Amy decided to co-host the table together. I am so glad I did it this way. It was great fun to decorate and put our table together, each sharing half of the work. I supplied all of my wedding china for eight ladies. Amy did the tablecloth and centerpiece. She also did the beautiful and yummy favors for our table. It ended up being a family event as my mom joined me as my guest, and Steven spent the evening serving our table dinner. It was really a fun night to enjoy a nice dinner and a show and get us ready for the season.

Our table

Steven did such a good job serving our table dinner.

Some of the lovely ladies from my MOPS table.

Snowflake Lane

When we returned home from Texas our Christmas season was in full gear. After flying all day we raced home to take naps and get ready for our first Christmas event of the season. We headed off to Snowflake Lane. It is one of our favorite Christmas traditions. It's where drummers who are in high school, line the streets in front of a mall close to our home. The drummers play while they blast snow and music through the streets. It is a really fun way to get into the spirit of the holiday. This year we went with some of my family. Camden really enjoyed the music, the sights and especially the suckers that were passed out to the crowds.

A group picture in front of the mall's Christmas tree.

Paying my sister back from last year.

Camden loved all the characters of Snowflake Lane.

Camden at one point during the night wanted to clap. How can you clap when you are holding a sucker? Where else do you put it? In your Daddy's mouth of course.

Then you take it back immediately after clapping.

It was a big night for a tuckered boy!

Thanksgiving

We spent a week in Texas for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed getting away from the cold weather of the Northwest to spend some time in the warmer weather of Texas. It was fun for Camden to visit his Granna and Pop, and most importantly his new cousin Lane who was born in August. Lane is 3 1/2 months and the cutest boy cousin Camden has. Camden also enjoyed his big girl cousin Brynna. He took to her very quickly, and all her toys. She was very good to play so well with him. We enjoyed our time so much with them that it was hard to leave. We hope to get these cute cousins back together soon. Our week was of course jammed pack full of fun activities.

They love each other!

Brynna took over the leash, but didn't like it when Camden led her away from the group

The two families.

The grandparents with the grandkids.

Little Lane loved his sling.

What a happy baby.

Jumping into the foam pit.

Camden's first "choo choo" ride.

All ready for the Aggie game.

It was a great week!

Praying in Church

I wish I had a picture to post for this, but I just don't have one. This melted my heart more than anything Camden has done to date. We were in Texas over Thanksgiving and had a chance to go to Church with Camden's Granna and Pop. They go to a very large Church so we had no problem taking Camden into the service and sitting in the very back with him. For a while Camden had fun playing with the backs of the pews. He would pull all the papers out and little pencils and hand them to us. Luckily no one was sitting behind us. While Camden was in the middle of playing, the pastor began his sermon. Their pastor is very loud and speaks with authority. Camden sensing the change in the sermon let out an "oh" and turned around as quick as could be. He sat down in the pew between Granna and me (mama). He folded his little hands as tight as he could, bowed his head and closed his eyes. He sat there for roughly five seconds before letting out a very heartfelt (and loud) "a-men". After that he went back to playing. It was such a sweet and heartfelt prayer that he did on his own prompting. We aren't quite sure what he could be praying for but we know we must be doing something right.

I've been tagged!

So my sister in law Diana tagged me, so now it's my turn to tag others. Here's what you do.

Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog*Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself*tag 7 other people and link to them at the end of your blog*let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment.

Here goes:

I broke my arm when I was three
I was born in Utah
I have to have a fan running to sleep at night
I still have my wisdom teeth
I can't stand the way chalk feels in my hand
I played the trombone for two years
Sir mix- a -lot lived on my street when I was growing up


I tagged Brett-because Diana tagged my sister-It's only fair!

I tagged Cheryl, Kate, Jennifer, Katie, Melanie & Meg because you can't learn too much about your friends!
Have fun!

Halloween

It's almost Thanksgiving and we are about to fly off to Texas to celebrate. We thought it was about time I posted something about Halloween. Camden was our little Lion boy and he looked so cute. Halloween turned out to be a fun filled day of firsts for us.

The day started with trick or treating at my mom's office. Camden had never been trick or treating before. Camden took to taking candy from other people and putting it in his bucket so quickly. He was a good sport keeping his costume on the entire time.

I can't tell who had more fun.

Later that evening my sister and her husband brought over our niece "peanut" to have dinner. My mom came later with her friend Steve. Before dinner we took Camden trick or treating in a neighborhood close by. This was our first time taking him out. His costume was so warm and cozy that he didn't need to wear a coat. The rain even stopped long enough for us to trick or treat. Camden learned to say the word "candy" on Halloween and hasn't stopped saying it.

I am embarrassed to say he did very well for his first time out. Looks like Mom and Dad have to help him eat all his candy. For the health of his teeth of course!

Pepper even got into the fun by wearing his pumpkin shirt and going trick or treating with us.

I Have...

This was so fun. I saw this on a blog and took the challenge to try it myself. It' s really a lot of fun. Just cut and paste the list to your own blog and put in bold all of the things you have done. You really learn a lot about a person. The things I have done are in dark blue.

I HAVE….
1. Started my own Blog
2. Slept under the stars-unfortunately
3. Played in a band-Don't ask
4. Visited Hawaii - Honeymoon
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain - Does hiking count?
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo-my first and last
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris-age 15
13. Watched lightening at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child-Maybe someday
16. Had food poisoning-I'll never eat sushi again!
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France-It was tiny
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Took a sick day when I wasn't ill-Who hasn't?
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice-Hopefully someday with Steven
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person-Not me, but Steven has
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing -Not me, but Steven has
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris-Been underneath it, waiting to go up it with Steven.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain-Are you kidding, we live in the Northwest!
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia-Not me, but Steven has several times
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check-Oops
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar-You have to try it once
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone-Just ask my sister
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle -Unfortunately
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person-Pretty sure Steven has
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible-No but I need to
86. Visited the White House-Stood outside it
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life-gave the Heimlich to a friend in a restaurant
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous-Sir mixalot lived at the end of my street.
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

Kissing cousins in matching shirts

I was very dissatisfied this fall with all of the pumpkin shirts that were for sale (especially since we had such a cute shirt from last year). After looking high and low and giving up on finding anything cute (in our budget), I decided to attempt to make one myself. It was pretty easy with fabric paper, a computer and a printer. I think they came out pretty cute for my first time.

Camden's "ti ta" (aunty) and "dic a dy" (Uncle Ty) were nice enough to take Camden to another pumpkin farm this October. I also got the chance to make a matching shirt for Camden's cousin "little peanut". We were lucky enough to get a date night, and "ti ta" and "dic a dy" got to try their hand at two kids. We really appreciate them taking our wild child out in public so we could get a chance to spend some time together.

Kissing Cousins

They really do love each other.

Munkin Patch

Camden's language has exploded in the last month and it has been so much fun. He is not perfect at every word but he is having fun being our little parrot. We have been doing a lot of talking about pumpkins this month, thus came the word "munkin".

We took advantage of a nice Saturday in October and drove to a local farm and munkin patch.

We had a great time exploring this farm with Camden. He enjoyed the animals and the abundance of land to run on.

In the end we came home with four munkins (one for Pepper) to sit on our front porch to welcome visitors.

The great munkin search begins.

He was mostly just looking for a munkin he could pick up.

Not quite Camden, try again.

Now you have the idea Camden.

Good pick Camden.

Dada found the good munkins we had to pick off the vine.

Camden's first time rolling around in the hay barn.

This area was filled with tons of little dried corn kernels.

Camden could barely walk in it, but we had a hard time pulling him away.