Santa pics and more

Wow, has a month really flown by since I last posted? We went to Utah for Thanksgiving and I don't know what has happened to time since we've been back! Unfortunately, I don't have any Thanksgiving pics to share because my SD card crashed and erased all my pics (I have not had good luck with my SD cards lately). But here are some recent pics:

Jake saw Santa for the 1st time and he was frozen in the position you see below for I'd say a good straight 2 minutes. Santa talked to him, we took pictures, we were laughing...Jake did not budge an inch--he just stared with his mouth dropped open. It was pretty funny.

2 minutes later...

Jake finally moved, but is definitely not gonna take his eyes off this guy...
Now I find him like this when we wakes up and I go in his room...soon he'll be standingWe can stand him up by furniture now and he stays standing--Take one guess what Marc is looking at with so much interest...football. When will fantasy football be over?
I kept saying the other day that I wish I could get Jake to cuddle with me...he's always so squirmy now. It was like he understood me, because he laid against me and just cuddled awake for like a half an hour before falling asleep. If you're wondering why I look so deadly, I fell asleep too:)

Who knew Marc had moves like this??

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Halloween

And the winner was...the lion!

Follow the yellow brick road...(Isn't Marc such a good sport? I always make him go all out with the costume I get together for him)Cousins Luke (as Nemo) and Jake

At our ward Trunk or Treat, we won best family costumes along with our friends the Polsons

It was my first time going to a trunk or treat...so I was excited to decorate our trunk--I picked such a happy theme:)

On Halloween we went to a party with our friends Kenneth and Tiffany--in excellent costumes as McCain and Palin

October happenings

Thank you for all your votes...it really did make my decision for me...stay posted for our Halloween pics where we are all in costume!

Here's what we've been up to lately...on Oct. 11th we had a Halloween craft party (it actually was the 2nd annual). It's too much fun being girls!

On Oct. 18th, Marc ran the Mud Run (we did it together 2 years ago, but I opted out this year...felt a little guilty when I realized a bunch of our couple friends were all doing it). But I felt like I practically ran it anyways from parking in a parking lot like a mile away, running late, and therefore jogging while pushing Jake in his stroller, carrying the diaper bag and our pack and play. We got to the entrance as the race started and I ran back out running after them to get the picture below...needless to say, I acted just as exhausted afterwards as all the people who actually ran the race:)

We hit up a pumpkin patch in Long Beach with our friends the Ashton's last weekend...

No, Marc does not have freakishly long arms, Kim was ducking down and holding Jake up:)

I was so proud of my man...he hit the bell both times

I think Kim and I enjoyed this train ride more than the babies...I'm not ashamed to admit I use my baby to go on little kid rides for myself
Jake's 1st pet! I won it in a carnival game. We named him Pa (we were at Pa's Pumpkin Patch). Unfortunately, Jake will never remember Pa, as he was floating on the top by the next morning. That poor goldfish...he never had a chance...I've always had a fatal effect on goldfish.
Another family pic

Here we are with Justin, Kim and Brody

Marc and I carved our pumpkins the other night...
I made Frankenstein, and he decided to make the face I give him when he's been watching football too long...

Mickey Mouse or a lion?

I can't decide if Jake should be a lion or Mickey Mouse for Halloween...leave a comment with your opinion to help me decide. If he's a lion then Marc and I will be Dorothy and the Scarecrow. If he's Mickey, then Marc and I will be Mickey and Minnie (which makes Jake Mickey Jr.)

Our trip to Missouri

I know many of you probably think you must be seeing things...yes, this is real, I have done a new blog post! I would like to think I always have a good excuse for all the things I'm not keeping up at...and so this time, I'll blame it on the internet. I really believe the internet gods have it out for me...because Marc seems to never have a problem getting on...but it seems to not work every time I try. I'm counting it as a miracle today that it is actually letting me do this post:)

There are many pictures that I've taken in the last couple months that I haven't put on the blog...but for now I'll skip those, and post about our recent trip to Missouri. We went for a week and a half and got back a couple weeks ago...it was so much fun.

It was Jake's first airplane ride...and while I'd heard many horror stories from friends about their baby's first plane rides...and how they screamed the whole way, or did the biggest blowout diapers ever...Jake was great on both rides there and back...we will count ourselves lucky this time!

This is Marc's sister Michelle and her husband Dean and daughter Kylie. They live in St. Louis and we stayed with them mostly the whole trip. It was so fun to see them, play with Kylie, and hang out. And while I'm not a big dog person, they have great dogs...this one time at the end of our trip I felt so upset when I found out the camera had erased all the pictures on our card, and while I was sitting on the couch feeling bummed, the dogs came up to me and put a ball in my lap to play with them...they had never done anything like that with me the whole week and a half we were there! Can they sense when you are sad? I thought that was very cool. (By the way, as you can see, we managed to get our pictures back). Don't ask me why Marc and I are doing the prom pose for this picture.
We went to Grant's Farm while we were there...it was fun...saw lots of animals, and fed the goats some milk...as if I'm not already doing enough milk feedings in a day:) Kickin it with the camel
the St. Louis arch
Jake doesn't look too impressed with being at the top

It was cool to see the rivers over there...the Mississippi River and the Missouri River...we took ferrys across on some driving ventures we went on

In the middle of the week we headed to Nauvoo...on the way we went through Hannibal, Missouri...where Mark Twain was from...if only Marc's high school english teachers could see him appreciating Mark Twain's stories now:)

We made it to Nauvoo and stayed there two nights. It was so awesome to be there again. I'd been there before but it was Marc's first time. We loved it and had fun learning about the way the Pioneers lived and learning all the church history.

At Carthage Jail

Uhhh...scary. The guys running the ox pulled wagon ride we went on made us hold their horns for a picture...wasn't so sure about that--

On the wagon ride

We drove back to be at Dean and Michelle's house for a few days before our flight to come home. Marc went fishing with Dean and Kylie while Michelle and I (and of course Jake) went shopping...always a favorite pastime:)

Cute cousin picture

My faith in measuring spoon manufacturers is destroyed

I recently figured out that I have a teaspoon that is marked wrong as 1/2 teaspoon after some very frustrating batches of very salty cookie dough. My faith was shaken. Just as we trust that traffic lights won't fail us and cause an accident, we trust that measuring spoon companies correctly label their spoons. Did someone who works at the manufacturing plant think this was a funny joke? A little prank they could pull on some innocent housewife trying to cook for her family? Apparently, they were not aware of the severity of damage this could cause. For the last 4 years of my marriage I've used measuring spoons from either one of my 2 sets in all my cooking and baking. So basically, there was a 50/50 shot of whether or not my dish turned out right, or not so great. Think of all the dishes over the years that didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped. I bet I am an awesome cook, but no one knows it because of this measuring spoon mishap. Think of how Marc has suffered, having to smile and say "it tastes great" when really he was choking down salt. Think of how our marriage has suffered because I'm not the cook he thought he married. Think of how my self esteem has suffered. Think of the humiliation in treats I've given to neighbors and friends...All because of a mismarking on a measuring spoon. This is one thing where mistakes cannot be tolerated.

This wasn't too dramatic, was it?:)

Palm Springs

So my posts are about a month behind (I guess that is life with kids, huh?)...we went to Palm Springs with Timmy and Shannon August 8-10th, and I'd never posted the pics yet but...better late than never:)

Here we are at the pool...notice how Jake is having some technical difficulties with his hat, and Luke is looking at him like, "what the heck is your problem?"

I was so excited about putting Jake in the pool for his first time...and especially excited for him to wear his new bathing suit, sunglasses, and hat. He was so funny in the pool...I thought he'd splash around and stuff, but instead he got extremely mellow when we put him in the water...he just was limp with no expression...I guess he was just kickin back on vacation, wishing he was on a raft sipping a pina colada.
Too bad we didn't have a matching hat for Marc so they could be twins Me and Timmy with our boys
If I didn't love this boy so much, I'd be upset that I actually returned from a Palm Springs vacation still as pasty white as before we went

Speaking of pasty white, my son looks like an albino next to Luke...next time I think I'd better make Jake sunbathe
Cute water-wrinkled feet
Me and Shannon
Props to Shannon who was all about staying at a hotel that had a waterslide...seriously, it was SO much fun. The boys made me and Shannon go out of control fast down the slide by holding the water back with their mats, and then letting it all go at once and pushing us off. I don't know if that made sense, but it was a cool trick that worked really well. Over the weekend we all went down the slides a bunch--

Here's Marc

Me
Shannon
Timmy