Christmas Season

 

 For Christmas we made some ornaments from Westen's hand and feet prints.

 We also made some chocolate/caramel/peanut butter dipped pretzel rods for our friends/neighbors for Christmas....and Westen helped....by eating the broken pretzels.

 We went to the Zoo Lights with Grandma Helen and with Kevin/Amanda/Blake and Kade.

 The boys were all bundled up. They liked seeing the animals, especially the little monkeys.

 Westen called every animal "kee" (kitty) in his cute little high-pitched kitty voice. 

 Westen was also intrigued by the lights.

 When our daddy came home from his trip to Maryland, we decorated our Christmas tree.

 Westen was actually helpful....and by helpful, I mean that he didn't rip off every ornament from the tree. We gave him a few small plastic ornaments and he has played with those for the past few weeks...and left the rest of the tree intact, which I would say was a sucessful

first-Christmas-tree-experience.

We had a fun time sewing lots of Christmas gifts this year. The most special was the quilt that we made for Audrey with Westen's hand print on the back. Hope she loves it!

 Westen's birth mom and birth grandma came to bring Christmas presents.

 Westen got some fun presents from them...Audrey sewed him a little lion, he got a cabbage patch boy, a monkey, and two quiet books (which we desparately need for church!)

On Christmas Eve, we went out a little early to Grandma and Grandpa Wilson's house and we played in the snow.

 Westen did really well. We even went on a little sled ride behind the 4 wheeler and he had a good time.

 Then after yummy prime rib Christmas dinner, we opened our Christmas jammies and our presents.

 Grandma gave Westen a little piano octopus that blows bubbles and Westen has really liked playing with it.

Thanks Grandma for our Christmas Jammies!

 On Christmas morning, Westen unpacked his stocking and his favorite thing in it (that he dragged around for the rest of the morning) was the orange that our family gets in the toe of their stockings.

It was funny to watch him chew on it. When he got to the bitter part just under the skin, he made some funny sour faces. And just for the record....his little body doesn't really digest oranges...yep- they come out whole....sorry too much info, but I couldn't resist :)

Grandma Leah, Grandpa Don, and Grandma Helen came over on Christmas morning too and we went upstairs to open presents. Westen got a fun balance bike from Grandma Leah and Grandpa Don.

 Grandpa Don got Westen a real metal tonka truck. He LOVED it! He also really liked the foam football he got from Grandma Helen....and two days later, it has lots of little chunks that somebody and chewed out of it.

He also got 100+ legos from Grandma Leah too!

 Daddy got a special chevron camo blanket that Barbara and Audrey made for him :)

 



Fall Time

In October, we went on our last camping trip of the season with our friends. It was bittersweet....we love camping at Sand Hollow, but we know that it signals the end of the camping boating season.

 

Daddy & Wessy snuggled up in the trailer one morning.

 Westen played in his camping "tote" while we made breakfast one morning. He enjoyed his first Oreo.

 In October, we went to a Halloween party with some of Melanee's work friends.

 Westen was intrigued by the dry ice from the homemade root beer.

 The next weekend, we had our annual ward Halloween Party

 We also went out to Branden's parents' house with our friends and family for an annual trip to tour the haunted town, ride horses and eat yummy food. This year, we were lucky to have Audrey with us too.

 "Uncle Doug" was nice enough to give Westen his first slurpee.

 Branden led the kids around the pasture on the horses, and Westen went on his first horse ride with Audrey. Branden was a nervous wreck and only let Westen ride for a few paces.

 Uncle Braylee (Mel's brother), Grandpa Whitaker (Mel's dad), and Fluffy came with us too.

On Halloween, we went over to Uncle Kevin and Aunt Amanda's house to see cousin Blake and cousin Kade.

 Blake and Kade were nice to share their Grandpa Bryan with us too!

 Then we went over to Doug and Amanda's and sat in the driveway while our friends' kids entertained Westen.

 On Halloween, Westen also got to go with his babysitter to the elementary school's Halloween parade.

 And finally, on Thanksgiving, we were lucky enough to spend time at Great Grandma Ashley's house and then went to Grandma Leah's house. (rolls, turkey and olives were Westen's favorites)

Westen & Water!

Westen loves the water! Bath time is his favorite time of day - and he has enough rolls and folds that milk and lint hide all over his body....so he usually needs a bath every day :) . This was bath time at Grandma Helen's house. We have such good grandmas!

 

 

We went swimming in a pool for the first time in August. Westen loved it!

 

 Westen also loved the splash pad this year. There was one litte fountain that didn't spray too high and that is where he spent most of his time.

 But his second favorite thing at the splash pad was the kids that were there. There was a cute little polygamist family there one day that were telling us about their 5 mommies :) . Westen loved them.

We also did a lot of water-centered camping this year. Our friends have a boat, so we went camping at one of their favorite places - Yuba Lake. It was our first time camping there and it was really fun.

Westen was mostly an observer of the kids on the beach. He loved to watch them building sand castles and burying each other in the sand. 

But of course, his very favorite part was the water. He loves to splash with his hands and his feet.

We had a really fun time with our friends at Yuba!

This is our friend Kim (Westen's babysitter) on her boat with her family. I think Westen loved that comb so much because of all of the hairspray on it ;)

In October, we went to Sand Hollow with our friends. We are so glad that we have our camp trailer. It makes camping with a baby much easier!

 

At the beach, he played in a new pack 'n play that we bought at the store. Glad we did because he loved being close to everyone and the water, but not in the sand.

Westen's birth mom, Audrey came to play with us for a day too. We LOVE her so much and we always have a good time with her.

 

 

Lately Westen has really liked to play in things. He played inside a huggies box for 2 weeks. So, at Sand Hollow, we empited a basket that had his blankets and diapers in it and he sat in there eating an oreo while we made breakfast.

 

 

We didn't take many pictures on this trip...so you get what you get...This is Branden emptying out the pooper at the end of our trip (sorry Branden).

Our friends' boat trailer blew a tire on the way down...so we ended up renting wave runners and a side-by-side for the sand dunes. We really had a good time even though we didn't have the boat.