Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day was really fun for us as a family. Josie and Jackson made a big heart valentine for daddy to wear all evening long. We even finished the evening off with some dancing (see video above!) Here are some other funny pictures of Josie and what she has been doing around the house.

Jackson Walking and Talking

Well, our little man isn't so little anymore! He just turned 11 months old and took a bunch of steps the other day! In these videos you can see him walking and saying apple. He says so much now! Hi, daddy, wow, apple, tiger, no (learned that from Josie), monkey sounds, and more. He says uh-oh when he throws his binki our of his crib so we know when we have to go back in. He is quite a curious boy! This is his latest feat (below), climbing. Yes, he did this all by himself. He also likes to hide in our entertainment center.

Salt Lake Children's Museum

Two weeks ago I had the chance to go to the Salt Lake Children's Museum with Kristin (kids Ben and Joshua) and Emily Kohlhase (kids Nathan, Anna and Adam). I had just as much fun as the kids! Josie loved the water sation where she could float all these ping pong balls in the water obstacles. By the time she was done, she was literally soaked up and down!

The kids went to a class on dinosaurs where they read a book on them, and made playdoe. They got to make their own dinosaur. Well, Josie and Ben's were just mashed balls, but it didn't matter because they still had lots of fun!

One of the highlights was the wind tunnel. The kids got to experiment with learning what floats. To say Josie was completely mezmorized is an understatement. She was at this station for half and hour. There were also a large blockset that was really fun too. Nathan made a huge tower. Even though there were tons of things to do and play with, Jackson found this barrier most interesting (below). He probably thinks, "I can play with toys at home, time to explore!" He is definitely the most curious baby. This deer was probably the most "baby" approved toy upstairs.

I can't wait to go back!!

Oh yeah, Josie is too.

Trip to Portland, Oregon

Steve and I went to Portland Oregon this weekend and just had a blast! Tresa, who I grew up with, was getting married so we flew out there. We saw so many beautiful sights, one of which was Multnomah Falls along the Cloumbia River Gorge. Here are some photos of that. The Falls were just breathtaking and below you can see a video of the falls thundering down. The rain and mist from the falls got us totally wet! We were not prepared. Everone else that was visiting were rain proofed through and through. We should have had ponchos.

After we went to the falls we attended the rehersal dinner and then slept at Steve's Aunt and Uncle's house in Tualatin. The next morning we visited the Portland Temple, one Steve and I had not seen before. That evening was the wedding, and I got to say a prayer; I felt honored that they would even ask me. The ceremony was beautiful and we are so happy for Tresa and John! We had a fabulose dinner and danced our hearts out (we thought we'd do everyone a favor and not video our dance moves! They are just to awesome to share, and we didn't want to make anyone feel bad. . . yeah.) We were spent by the time we got home! It was a very memorable trip for us!

Snow Bear

Hi everyone! Well, we had another good snow and Josie was ready to make another snow duck, but we convinced her to make another animal instead. Mommy and Josie decided to try their hand at a snow frog. . . but as you can see it evolved into a bear.

Literally seconds after taking the picture above, tragedy struck. . .

Here is what we could salvage.

We still had a blast! Josie was still convinced that it was a snow frog.
Here are some other pictures and events from our week.

Jackson started to take his first steps!! He did four shuffle steps!!
He just turned 10 months old. He also started saying words!
He says daddy, kitty, uh oh, and a rough version of thank you.
He has managed to evade the camera for both of these events so far.

Josie is reading us Brown Bear. She loves this book!


She says very still. . . so I take advantage of it.

Snow Duck

Some people like to make snowmen. . . Well, we like to make animals!
Here is Josie and her snow duck that she and daddy made in our backyard!

Kids look so funny when they are trying to run in the snow in there puffy snow gear and boots! Here is Josie trying to do just that!

After and hour in the snow, Josie was cold and ready to come in!

Christmas at the New House

We had Christmas this year in our new home - actually, our first real home, since we own it! We got a Christmas tree (a great deal) from a lot down the street (Steve carried it home), put up the lights, trimmed the tree, and all the rest of the little decorations somehow went up as well.

Steve took a couple days off of work, so he had about a week-and-a-half total to spend time with the family! The kids loved having daddy home...
as did Candi, and Daddy loved being home too!

Christmas Eve officially started with the reading of Luke 2,
performed via flannel board by Josie and Ben.

Jackson put his time to good use by exploring where dinner had previously taken place.

After unwrapping some gifts from cousins and Grandparents things got a little bit wild!

Christmas Morning was a blast! It is so fun with your own kids! Josie was so excited that Santa fulfilled his promise of bringing her a dolly. (She didn't like it at first, but after a few days "Lucy" began to grow on her! Thank goodness!)

She took a great liking to her Unicorn and carries it with her where ever she goes! Unfortunately it has become the new weapon of choice when attacking Jackson. She holds it by the horn and uses it like a whip. Don't let that angel face fool you. . .


Josie left her presents behind when she started playing with this toy! She went off on her own, didn't want to open any more presents and had fun learning her letters and phonics skills.

Jackson proudly displays his new jammies! Santa knew exactly what
he wanted (needed) for Christmas!

Here is Jackson, king of the present!


We had a really fun holiday being together as a family and with friends!
We hope yours was wonderful too!