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We met in April of 2008 at BYU-Idaho. 4 months later we were married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple on August 22, 2008. We moved to Colorado in June of 2010, bought our first house there in 2013. And now we have moved to Las Vegas, NV to start our next adventure. We have two active boys with a little girl on the way!

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Halloween 2010

I was really excited for Halloween this year and now it is over and it seems like it went by so quickly. I wanted to do something fun for our costumes to kind of get zac into the fun of Halloween as well. We thought about it for a few days and ultimately, this is what Zac decided that we should be:

Can you tell who we are?

If not, we are these guys. The Imagination Movers from the Playhouse Disney.




Gavin LOVES Warehouse Mouse, so it was obvious that is who he would be. I was Nina, because she is the only girl in the show. And Zac looks the most like Rich, so that is who he was going to be, but then he decided he should be Smitty because Warehouse Mouse and Smitty go together. (Warehouse Mouse is Smitty's pet right? I have always thought so). Anyways I thought it was a good idea, but I think Zac really just want to grow sideburns and a soul patch. Whatever, he was excited about halloween and that is all that I cared about.

I made Gavin's costume and then we bought the jumpsuit for Zac and I added the patches. It did take me sometime to get it all done, especially because it had to be done before our halloween party last week.

We were able to go trick-or-treating at Zac's work on Friday and he told everyone that I made the costumes and it made me quite embarrased but it is nice to know that he is proud of me and likes to brag about me sometimes. Zac even wore his costume all through work and I was very proud of him and excited to see those that he works with.

Here is Zac's cubicle at work.

Getting the idea of picking out candy.
These were taken at Zac's work, no one else was in the room so I don't really know where Gavin is looking in each of the pictures.
We then had our ward trunk-or-treat on Saturday and it was nice except it was incredibly windy. I hope that Gavin enjoyed his first Halloween, and those who knew who we were, really enjoyed our costumes. I am glad with how they all turned out.

Gavin in our trunk after he finished trunk-or-treating.

A better view of the back of the boys costumes.

I also tried to make pumpkin shaped pancakes for breakfast this morning, this was my attempt.
I am finally done with most of my busy stuff. I now just need to focus on getting Gavin's birthday stuff done. I wanted to do a party but I think we decided it would be too hard to get people to come so we are just going to do stuff as a family and then we will celebrate a little more when we go to Idaho for Thanksgiving.


10 days until Gavin turns 1!


Here he is taking is first real steps. We have been trying to get him to walk for a few weeks and he would sort of take one step and sit down, this is the first time that he took so many steps so I was quite excited.



Monday, October 25, 2010

Halloween Party

So this year I asked Zac if I could have a Halloween Party and he said YES! I was so excited. I don't think that he quite realized what it meant when he said yes, but he sure thought I was crazy by the end of it. I LOVE to plan parties but I always tend to do too much that I stress for days and worry about whether or not anyone will come and many numerous other things. But when the party ended, I was happy with how it turned out. I just hope that everyone who came enjoyed themselves. I figured that as adults we don't get to dress up and enjoy Halloween as much as when we were kids, so why not have a party.

I made these invitations: Zac told me I could only use materials that I alread had to make them so this is what I came up with. I am acutally quite happy with how they turned out.

We played a game with Halloween words or phrases on our back that we had to try and figure out, a finish the spooky phrase game, we gave each couple two rolls of toilet paper and they had to make the fastest mummy, and we ended with Err Vroom. I was surprised with how well some of them did on Err Vroom, they had to just end the game because they were doing so well. Zac said that is what happens when you play with Masters students.

And a list of the goodies we had: Oreo Truffles, Carmel Brownie Bites, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, Frappe, Wassail, Apples, Veggies & Dip, and a bowl of halloween candy. I think all I ate during the party was a few carrots and apples, but there was WAY too much food left over so I have had my share of sweets.

Now I am looking forward to what we can plan for Christmas. :)

Here are just a few pictures of the decorations. We also had streamers up and I forgot to take a picture of the food table but oh well.

Our front door:

These were hanging above the food table:

And this was the one wall that I decorated:

This is how our mantel has looked since the beginning of September because I was just ready for Fall, sad to say that it hadn't shown its face until last week, but we sure enjoyed the warm weather while it lasted.

And I apparantly left a bag of cookies hanging over the edge of the counter top and Gavin decided he would help himself to them. I walked over to the kitchen to find him like this. He didn't seem to mind that he was sitting in a mound of crushed pumpking chocolate chip cookies.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

11 Months

This is just before bed after his bath we read books, say prayers and then into his crib.
I can't believe that this little rascal is 11 months old and his birthday is fast approaching. I wish time would just stand still for a second so that he would stop growing. But, we sure do love this kid. He brings so much love and joy in to our home that is overwhelming sometimes.

Gavin's Nicknames:
Gavin Bug
Bug-a-Bug or just Bug
Gav (only Zac)
Little G
Kid (only Zac)
Stinker Stink (He thinks this one is so funny)
(These are only the ones that I can think of right now, and these are only the ones that have stuck, there were alot more when he was first born. Zac LOVES nicknames, you should hear what he calls me).

He LOVES:
Books, he loves to turn the pages and look at the pictures
Pudding
Yogurt
Veggie Straws
Pizza
Looking at pictures of himself
Stuffed Animals
Chewing on Cords and unplugging them from the wall
Climbing in the kitchen cabinets and throwing everything out on to the floor
Throwing lids on the ground and trying to make them spin
Walking while holding on one or two of our hands
The Good Night Show on Sprout (he thinks that Star and Nina are like the coolest thing ever)
Bath Time
When daddy comes home
His little book of Hey Diddle, Diddle
Playing with our car keys
Jewelry (any jewelry that I wear he wants to suck on it which leaves me drenched, I have resulted to carrying around a necklace just for him to play with and he is quite content with it and even wears it through most of church)

He HATES:
Any type of baby food, he only eats adult food

He still only says Dada, and Mama (But he doesn't know that I am Mama, he just says it). I still think that he will be walking by his birthday, but we will see. He is much more friendly with strangers now, but he still doesn't smile at them right away. He also has seven teeth now with more on their way.

We have so much going on in the next few weeks, I have to plan and teach my lesson, we are having a party, I am finishing our Halloween costumes, I am speaking in Sacrament meeting, getting a new calling, Zac is starting busy season for work, I am teaching a class for enrichment, Halloween is coming and I haven't even started planning Gavin's Birthday. Wow, time is going to fly by and he will be 1 before we even know it. I am really trying to enjoy the Holiday Season this year, and help Gavin to enjoy it. Hopefully I won't get caught up in so many other things that I forget to make time for my family. I just love them so much.

Friday, October 8, 2010

A Miracle

Well, maybe not quite a miracle but it sure feels like it to me.
Well, I have been waiting to write this post for almost three weeks now, well actually more like 11 months but it has finally happened. Who knows if it will stick, but you cannot imagine how elated I was when I heard Gavin cry this morning. He went to bed at 8pm and woke at 5:30am! Seriously, this is the first time that Gavin has ever slept through the night! I realize that it was only 9 1/2 hours and not the 11 or so that he is supposed to get. But we went to bed a little after 10 and this was the first time in over 18months that I have gotten 7 straight hours of sleep. It truly feels like a miracle that it happened.

I haven't read any baby books, and I will tell you why. I am a nurse, and I guess that it has made me 'cocky' so to speak. I felt that with my knowledge of nursing I should be smart enough to take care of my own child without having to read any baby books, and everything would be fine. When Gavin was born he was not a good sleeper, even as a newborn, it was pretty awful. Even my Mom used to say that it was strange that he didn't sleep better and she had 7 kids. So.... I kind of just accepted the fact that my baby wasn't going to sleep, and no matter what I did he was going to do what he wanted. The worse part was that he wasn't ever a good napper either, so I have been running on very minimal amounts of sleep for the last 11 months. I remember sitting in the Mother's lounge nursing Gavin during sacrament meeting on Mother's Day when I overheard some mother's talking about trying to get their child to sleep through the night at 6 weeks old and my baby was 6 months. I went back in to sacrament and told Zac how I felt like the worst mom in the world because he still wasn't sleeping. But, still nothing changed, and by 10 months there was basically no improvement. I started to realize how exhausted I was when I would get up in the morning with Gavin and then fall asleep on the couch while he played. I felt like I was neglecting my child, and no matter how hard I tried, I could not stay awake. So when we went to the library three weeks ago I gave in. I walked over to the parenting section to look for a book about sleep. I think that they had like three options, none of which I had ever heard of, but I picked up Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West. I read the inside cover to see if it was what I was looking for, and figured I would give it a try.

It is an alternative to just letting your child cry themself to sleep while you wait in another room. I had tried letting him 'cry it out' a few times and it made me feel awful, and never seemed to improve. Zac felt that letting him 'cry it out' was our only option, oh and I must add that Gavin was sleeping in our bed because it was the only way he would sleep, so Zac was totally fine with Gavin crying, but I was NOT. I told him I was going to go and stay in a hotel while he dealt with it if that was the only option. So we started the process outlined in the book, which starts with the Sleep Lady Shuffle and setting a schedule. I was also nursing him about 5 times a night because it was the only way I could get him back to sleep when he woke up. (I know, I am a horrible mom and it was my fault that he was such a bad sleeper, but I was so sleep deprived that I did whatever I could to get him to sleep). The schedule set specific time intervals for morning and afternoon naps, how long they should be and how far apart, and also specific times to eat to help with weaning. Of course, the weaning part came much easier than sleeping. Gavin caught on to the napping part fairly quickly, probably because he was so sleep deprived as well. And after about a week he was only waking up once in the night. And then he got sick for a few days, and was back to screaming his head off for over an hour until I fed him. Until last night.
I agree that there isn't a magical remedy that works for everyone perfectly. (Believe me, I wish there was.) And we are still working with this method, but it is a far cry from where we were three weeks ago. Most nights he cries for about 5 min or less before he falls asleep, and some nights there are no tears at bedtime and it is AMAZING! I just can't believe it. Zac and I now have alone time every night together and this was something that we've really missed having. Our marriage wasn't struggling at all, but I definitely feel that you have to make time for each other, and we are SO much happier with better sleep. If you struggle with a baby who doesn't sleep well and you can't handle the tears, I would definitely suggest this book. Give it a try and see what you think. My favorite thing about this book was that she set up in stages of where your child should be at for hours of sleep, naps and feedings depending on their age. I was able to read the first few chapters and then go right to the chapter on 9-12months.

This was taken a few weeks ago at the mall, and no we didn't pay to turn it on, he was perfectly fine just sitting in it without it moving.
Gavin will be 11 months on Sunday, but this post is so long that I will post on that later.