Christmas Goodness

White Chocolate Oreo Bark... need I say more? This is the easiest, yummiest recipe ever!!

Makes for great neighbor/friend gifts!!

Splish Splash I Was Taking a...SHOWER???

When I get home from working a grave yard shift, I am exhausted. Usually McKay is just waking up and wants to play. I just want a shower and my bed. Guess who wins? Not me! But, I did have the genius idea of sticking McKay's Bumbo in the shower with me so I could fulfill one of my desires but be with him at the same time. Come to find out, he LOVES the shower! I don't know why I was surprised. He loves his baths but you should see him in the shower. He is constantly reaching up and trying to figure out where this steady stream of water is coming from. When he gets too slippery for me to hold, I stick him in his Bumbo, turn on Gary's shower head (wow, looks like we needed double shower heads after all!!!) and let warm water fall on the little guy. He is entertained for the length of my shower...which is quite long after a night shift. I love watching him try to discover his surroundings.

Yes, my baby looks like the white Michelin tire guy...look at all of those rolls! His eyes get so red because he sticks his head forward right into the stream of water, then jerks back when he realizes he can't breath in the water! It's kind of funny to watch. He is a regular little water bug. Do we have a swimmer on our hands? Maybe so...! For now, I will enjoy my showers with my little guy until he gets too big to be showering with his momma.

Thanksgiving

This is a late post...but our Thanksgiving was unique this year. I was supposed to work the night before and the night of Thanksgiving. So we were not able to go to Idaho with the rest of my family to spend Thanksgiving with our extended family. We opted to go out to eat...which in my family is a travesty. But I wasn't going to make dinner just for the 2 of us. Lucky for us, my brother Chris decided he didn't want to make the long trip up to Idaho just for the day. So he went to dinner with us. We decided to go to Little America. I was STUNNED at the number of people waiting in line to eat. I guess staying home to eat a home-cooked meal on Thanksgiving isn't the norm that I thought.


Chris was around McKay for the second time since he was born. His comment, "When did he get a personality?" You should come around more often older brother. Your nieces and nephews would love to get to know you and your hilarious, fun-loving personality.

I ended up getting called off for both of my shifts, lucky me. It was nice to be with my little family.

My dad was nice enough to babysit McKay for me and Gary so we could go to dinner and the Jazz game last night. In fact, come to find out, he had his own Jazz tickets for the game and gave them up because he said he would have rather babysat Mr. MaGoo. After he left, Gary and I go into McKay's room to check on him and this is what we found...

Um, DAAAADDDDD???? Blankets are NOT ALLOWED to be on baby's faces! We called him to give him a hard time (jokingly) and of course he seemed devastated! He said he had checked on him a half hour earlier to make sure this very thing had not happened. He claimed McKay was just trying to get him in trouble! Ha ha. We love you Dad and appreciate you always willing to help us out! McKay told us you are a very fun babysitter and he also loves you very much.

I'm a Big Boy Now

My favorite son in the world was 5 months on December 6th. He is such a big boy. He sucks his thumb when he is tired, can roll to his back if I try to get him to do tummy time, sits up by himself for a time while playing on the floor with his toys, LOVES, loves, LOVES to drink water out of a cup, and holds his own bottle if his momma isn't there to give it to him. I love bed time because that is when he is the most cuddly. I will be devastated the day he stops wanting me to hold him close! He loves to smile and will go to anyone but I think he likes his momma best?! His aunt says, he is such a "laid back" baby, and that he is! Love you forever little one!

5 months old today (taken 12/6/10)

This is how he sleeps, head to one side and arms out straight

Such a HUGE Cougar fan!

"Drink please momma!"

Hamming it up for the camera

I can hold my own bottle

Priceless

Gary and I decided we didn't really need individual gifts this year for Christmas. We really wanted to start capturing McKay "growing up." We never had a camcorder in my family and we realize how fun it would have been to go back and see home video's. So this is our Christmas present to ourselves. We got it already...so as to not miss any more AMAZING things our son does. We feel so blessed to have everything we need and to have so little wants.

4 Months Old

So here are McKay's 4 month stats:

17.6 pounds (95%)
27.5 inches (Off the charts in height!)
16.5 inches in head circumference (40%)

As you can see, he is all body with a small head. He did so well with his shots. He cried for 2 seconds but stopped as soon as I picked him up.

Some things McKay does now:

*Rolls from side to side. He is close to rolling onto his tummy but is still a little unsure of how to get totally turned
*Smiles and giggles A TON!
*Loves to play Peek-a-Boo
*He sits up almost totally by himself. He falls forward sometimes and is still working on his trunk control. But the doctor said he is very strong and will be sitting on his own soon.
*Loves to take his Vitamin D drops. He pulls the funniest face though when I first put the dropper in his mouth.
*McKay loves to drink out of a cup...he is learning the suck/swallowing action of something other than his bottle or his mommy.
*Everything goes into his mouth. He is constantly sucking on his fist or fingers. Can't tell if he is going to be a thumb sucker yet or not. I'm hoping not.
*Is finally on a sleeping schedule. I never thought this day would come. He goes to bed, wakes up and naps about the same time every day. I love it!

Our sweet boy is just the happiest, most content baby out there. As long as he is in a room with people, he is fine "people" watching...just like his mommy. He doesn't need to be entertained and is happy as long as he isn't hungry or tired. He is constantly making me and Gary laugh. What an adventure it is to watch our little one grow up. I can't adequately describe the happiest he brings us. Love you MaGoo!

Baby Blessing

I am playing catch-up on posting. So here is McKay's blessing day. We blessed him on September 5, 2010. He was such a handsome boy. We are so thankful for the wonderful family we belong to and for the love and support of those family members.

Gary gave McKay such a wonderful, spiritual blessing. I love that my husband is a worthy priesthood holder

Gary's family, many who made a long trip to come to the blessing

The Zoo and Halloween Cookies

McKay had his first day at the zoo yesterday. And yes, he couldn't have cared less! He liked the stroller though and was wrapped up all snug. I can't wait until he is old enough to understand where he is and love seeing the animals.

I loved this picture because the baby elephant was sitting on the ball!

Wiped out from....? Well, from all the animals I guess!

It's a tradition of my family's to make pumpkin sugar cookies for Halloween. We grew up doing this but haven't done it for a few years. It's different when you are all grown up and out of the house. But we all have kids now and it's time to start the tradition up again. I was in charge this year and made my first batch of my mom's famous sugar cookie and frosting recipe. I like to cook but these sugar cookies gave me a hard time. You really have to work with the dough and I don't like "fussy" recipes. I finally got an idea what my mom went through year after year for us kids.

My mom would always frost the cookies (because no one puts enough frosting on the cookies for her! Have some cookie with your frosting is her motto!) and then us kids would decorate them. For this first year though, we thought it would be fun to have Jeneveve and Chase frost and decorate their own cookie. Chase had no idea what was going on and wanted to get down after 30 seconds. Jeneveve realized she had frosting and candy in front of her and ate more then she decorated. What else do you expect from a 2 year old? She lasted 3 minutes and after eating her heart out, she was done. Annie, Shani and I frosted and decorated the rest while my mom played with the kids. We had a great time and it was fun to bring this tradition back. This is one of Taylor's favorite things to do so these pictures are for you Tay. We love and miss you!!

"Chase, this is the knife we want you to use to spread the frosting around with. Why can't you do it????"

"Cookie? What cookie? All I see is candy!"

"Oh, you want me to put the candy there? That's a waste!"

Some of the finished product. Somehow, I missed the picture of Annie's blue "Y" cookie. She did it just for her crazy BYU sister-in-law!

Our yard is in

So we did it! We FINALLY got our yard put in and just in time too. It was a headache but thanks to Gary, my dad and some awesome friends, it got put in in a week. We did the sprinkler system our self so we saved a lot of money but Gary and the others were outside every day of the week after work until it was too dark to work. Even then, all the lights in the house would be on to allow them to work just a few minutes longer. I helped when I could. McKay would sit in his swing outside and just chill while we worked. What a stud. Needless to say, even despite the sore bodies and knees, the yard looks great and Gary it to credit for his hard work and dedication. Thanks to all those that helped and made this possible. We only put a few trees in because it's so expensive, but we can't wait until the spring!

Future garden

A lot of area to plant

2 1/2 month stats:

McKay had his 2 (closer to two and a half months) month doctor's appointment.

Weight: 14.9 lbs (95%)
Height: 25 inches (>95%)
Head: 16 cm (60%)

So as you can see, we have a little chunker on our hands except the doctor doesn't think he is chubby at all. She used the word, SOLID! He does not look like a 2 1/2 month old at all. McKay also got his shots. Momma had a hard time watching her baby get poked but knows it's for a good cause. He was so brave too. Only screamed for a few minutes until momma picked him up to give him loves. Love you little one...

The Littlest Cougar

Such a handsome boy! We love you little guy! Thanks Tasha for the pictures.

This is the life

First of all, we want to welcome our beautiful DARK HAIRED new niece, Felicity Jane. She looks just like her mom! We are so excited she is here and McKay is excited to have a new best friend!


Our summer has been flying by! At least mine has. I have been able to get out a little more lately with the baby which has been nice. I am dying because in less than 6 weeks, I have to go back to work. :( I will be doing straight graves for the rest of this year. I figured McKay would miss me the least at night but I can't even start to think about leaving him. Maybe January we will be able to work something else out, right hun???? Gary has been in Germany the last week and a half and still has a few more days to go. He will be traveling every three weeks through the rest of the year too so that will be even harder to leave McKay. The baby and I miss our Daddy and husband when he is gone.

Here is my AMAZING dad! He wanted me to title this picture, "Walkie Talkie." Why you may ask? Well, lately he has been taking McKay for walks outside and while walking with him, he talks and sings Primary songs to him. McKay loves it and snuggles right up in papa's arms. My dad has named their "time" together, Walkie Talkies. All the grand kids just love this man, as do I. He is such a strength and rock in my life! He has been over to our house painting our bedroom (took him 12 hours this last Saturday but it looks awesome!!!) and did our half bathroom earlier in the week. He made us a shoe rack in our garage so we could get our shoes out of the way. He has already offered to do more painting and uh, help us put our yard in this fall. My dad would and does do ANYTHING for all of us kids. I love you dad!!!

McKay is such a joy in our life! I can't remember life without him. His personality is really coming out and I love talking and holding this little guy. He smiles at his momma and is so good at saying "guh" and "ooohhh." He puckers up his lips, lifts his chin up and coos and talks. It makes my heart melt every time!

His cheeks are fattening up but he is still long and lean. His hair is blonde but not as light as when he was born. His eyes are bright, bright blue! He is so handsome! He love his bouncy chair and his swing but nothing more than his momma or daddy's arms. I admit, I hold him a lot but I figure I can because he is my only child and I can spoil him! I have Broadway tunes playing on the TV almost constantly and he seems to like listening to them. He also loves having Primary songs sung or hummed to him, especially while he is falling asleep. He isn't a big binky lover but I try to use it when I can so he doesn't always think he needs to be eating. He is so good at tummy time and will last about 5 minutes before getting fussy. He is getting so excited to watch his first BYU football game. He has his BYU onesie all ready to wear! Go COUGS! And yes, I sing him the BYU fight song every day. I'm pretty sure he knows it by heart!

We are so amazed at his constant development but I also wish it would slow done. I can't imagine loving him more than I already do. I would do anything for this little one to make sure he was happy, safe and felt loved. He is a true blessing in our life.

McKay's cheeky grin. He loves to smile

Never once has McKay cried in his bath. In fact, he will be screaming but once I put him in the water, he settles right down. Here is one of his inquisitive looks. Sorry about the private part showing!

Another happy smile

McKay and I ventured to the Farmington pool with Shani and Annie and their kids. McKay stayed out of the sun thanks to Jeneveve sharing her pink hat. This is McKay's favorite position. Up on your shoulder, hand by his face. He has started sucking on his arm or fist with a loud smacking sound. It's so cute

Sleeping in his car seat.

Swing time

Tummy time

Look at those blue eyes!

Daddy burping McKay. No his hair isn't really this color. It must be the reflection of the camera or something. We love you sweet boy!