Thanksgiving 2009

We spent Thanksgiving with Dan's grandparents, the Bergs, that live here in Utah. It was so kind of them to include us and the food was excellent! Of course it was not the same as being at home with my family who we've always shared Thanksgiving with. I really missed your gravy, Dad!!

Let the feast begin!

Our kids got to sit at the bar to eat - they loved it!

They also loved the punch!

Tyler and Dan's feet

(I didn't get many pics of Tyler as he was not feeling well and just wanted to be held)

Natalie & Nathan always go straight to the horses behind their house

Grandma Betty & Me

Aunt Marty & Grandma Betty

Thank you to the Berg's for hosting a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner - we had a great time!!

Afterwards, we drove by the new Draper Temple that's not too far from our house. It sits just up the mountain and has gorgeous views. It also has a huge nativity set up in the front corner of the lawn. The kids love pointing out the temples every time we drive by one. I love seeing a temple every way you look - it really keeps life in perspective for me.

Draper, Utah Temple

This year I bought a turkey to cook at home so we'd have all the great leftovers. Unfortunately, we all came down sick with a cold right after Thanksgiving so I just got around to cooking our turkey this week. It turned out sooooo delicious!!!

Gobble gobble!!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving - we miss our family and friends back in Texas, the holidays are not the same without you! But we feel very fortunate to be here in Utah and know we have been blessed in so many ways. We are so thankful for our family - our terrific kids who are the joy of our lives, for Dan's job, for the support we receive from our family and friends, and for all our new neighbors here who have been so welcoming and kind to us.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Guess who's 18 months?

Tyler is!! Actually, he's almost 19months since I'm just now getting around to posting this...but that's beside the point. My baby is no longer a baby! (I'll spare you all my emotions related to this subject, let's just say there might be tears involved)



Tyler had his 18-month check-up at the doctor's a few weeks ago and passed with flying colors! Of course he is still in the 95th percentile for weight and height - weighing in just shy of 30 pounds!!! I think Nathan is only like 35 pounds right now. So that puts it in perspective for you.


So here's some pictures of what our little guy has been up to recently:

Helping water the flowers at our old house in Texas


Hanging out with Aunt Karin

Enjoying a treat

Happy to be in Utah!

Arthur & Tyler - this is what being a cousin is all about!

The look of being caught! Think he's ready for potty-training??

(and yes, he took his pants and diaper off and climbed into the toilet all by himself)

Our big boy, Tyler!!

What does Tyler like to say at this age?

"Hello" & "Hi" - especially if you say it to him

"Up", "More", "That" with lots of finger pointing to make it clear what he wants

"Banna", "Appo", "Bread", "Hot choc" (for hot chocolate)

"Hot hot" (whether its hot or really cold)

"Open" - Usually when its something he wants to eat

"Light" - He's always pointing out lights to us and is overjoyed by all the Christmas lights now

"Bye bye" - loves to wave goodbye to Dan & Natalie every morning

"Night night" -Tyler says goodnight to everyone when it's bedtime and gives us all a kiss (makes my heart melt!)

Well thats all I can remember right now....it seems like Tyler is always saying new words. It is so much fun watching him take in the world around him! Hopefully this shows you a little glimpse of the things Tyler is doing right now and the joy he is to have in our family. We love you Tyler!!

Halloween 2009

This year on Halloween we went trick-or-treating just on our street. All the kids were out and it was great getting to meet all of our neighbors. This was Tyler's first year to go at it with the big kids and he held his own - he is all about the candy!

Ready for trick-or-treating!

Nathan insisted on riding his bike to every house

Miss Kitty

Tyler the Duck!

It was a beautiful night to be out

Open? (Tyler's new favorite word)

If you look closely you can see the steeple of our chapel between the houses across the street from our house - it's crazy that we can walk to church!!


Bringing back the goodies

Enjoying the good stuff- Happy Halloween!

We have arrived!

We made it to Utah!!! The drive went really well, the kids did great, and we even got to see/drive through snow in Wyoming! We got here last Sunday and were in our new house only a few hours before most of our neighbors came over to meet and welcome us - that has NEVER happened in any of our Texas neighborhoods. Everyone is really nice and we already feel like we're part of the community.

Our new house up on the mountain

View from the backyard

Yes, that's snow!!

Our moving truck got here on Tuesday (2 days earlier than we expected!) so we got unloaded and mostly unpacked this last week. Natalie started at her new school on Wednesday and loves it. She has morning Kindergarten that starts at 9:15 and gets out at noon, crazy! She went from all-day school to less than 3 hours, I'm still trying to adjust to having her home so much. But I love not having to set an alarm clock or make the kids go to bed at 7pm. Natalie absolutely loves her new teacher and is already making friends - I knew she'd make the transition well and I'm so happy to see her doing so well.

We've already been to the pediatrician and urgent care center our first week in Utah. We had a cold make it's way through our family on the drive out here and it ended with Tyler who got it the worst. His breathing sounded really strained once we got here so I found a doctor and took him in to get it checked out. She prescribed breathing treatments at home which have helped him a lot and now he's almost completely well. Then on Friday Natalie and Nathan were horsing around (like usual) and fell down together. Poor Nathan landed on the alarm clock with Natalie on top of him and when he got up I noticed blood on the carpet. Sure enough he cut the back of his head open so I took him to urgent care where they gave him 3 staples in his head. Fortunately it was close to Dan's work so he met us there and went with Nathan for the procedure ( I really can't handle blood). Nathan came out smiling and ready for trick-or-treating at Dan's work.

Natalie & Nathan raked in the candy at MonaVie

(I'm pretty sure they think that's all Dan eats there!)

We went to our new ward's Halloween Party on Friday night and met a few new people. I think most people there thought we were visiting with friends so were hesitant to say anything to us. Or maybe we intimidated them with our AWESOME costumes - we went as the Incredibles!! And yes, we were incredible! Karin helped me design our shirts the day before and they turned out really well. It was so fun having a family theme this year!

"Violet" from the Incredibles
"Elastigirl" and "Dash"

"Mr. Incredible" and "Jack-Jack"


Here we all are!

(sorry for such a bad pic...nobody was in the mood for it)

and yes...that's our unfinished basement we're standing in

Now I would like to thank everyone who helped our move to Utah go so smoothly. We had so much help, which we needed badly with Dan being out of town for the month before, and I can't even name all the people who showed up to help us with loading our moving truck and cleaning our house and watching our kids. The list is endless of all the kindness and help we recieved during our move, both in Texas and Utah. And every time a little problem came up it seemed there was always someone there to fix it. Many people asked me how in the world was I able to be a single mom of 3 kids for a month while trying to sell a house and keep it perfect and showable and I have only one answer to them: our lives have been in the Lord's hands and He has worked a miracle in helping our family with the quick sell of our house and relatively easy move across country to Utah. We have moved MANY times in our marriage and this one was by far the best. I really can't thank everyone who helped enough and I wish there was more I could do to show our gratitude. All I can say is THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!! And I hope others show you the same kindness that you showed us, it is amazing.