Come Let Us Adore Him

I had to add this picture to our Christmas posts. Our cat, Regan, is often found guarding the baby Jesus right in the middle of the manger scene:)

Christmas in the SNOW

Despite the huge blizzard we drove in for 7 hours to get to my mom and dad's house in Utah, Daniel, Tavin and I had a wonderful Christmas. We are just happy we are still alive! During our drive, we past 7 cars that had run off the road and at times, we couldnt see 3 feet in front of us. Tavin had a great time opening presents and being with family though. Thank you everyone for his great gifts.

Snow Bunnies

One of the funnest things we got to do this Christmas vacation is go skiing with my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. Daniel and I took turns snow boarding while the other watched Tavin. We haven't been able to get to the skii slopes for 2 years so it was so fun!

The Best Present of all!

Here is Daniel and my present for Christmas and for life!

Facts about Saint Anthony in the Winter...

Well we found out that in Saint Anthony, the plowers wait until the storm is completely done before they plow the streets. So, while my family from CA was visiting, we got stuck! Also, in Saint Anthony, we have to shovel off our roofs in order to keep all the feet of snow we get from causing damage. Sometimes to keep things interesting we jump off the roof into the big pile we make. And only in Saint Anthony would it snow enough that my dog can completely disappears when she goes out in our backyard.

Big Fat Man in Red

This was as good as it got when it came to getting Tavin to sit with or even be near the big fat guy in red. At least he wasn't crying, right!-As long as Santa didn't touch him or talk to him.

We Love Visitors!

Last weekend my sister kimberly and her boyfriend Kenny came to visit and we loved it! We had tons of fun making gingerbread houses, going to a christmas craft show where there was a free sleigh ride, and going to a christmas show at BYU-Idaho. We also shared pictures with Kenny of when we were younger-oh the good old days. Tavin loves his Auntie.

Oh Christmas Tree

This year was the first year our family put up our very own Christmas tree and it was so fun! We put Christmas music on and had fun piecing together all the ornaments, ribbon, lights, etc. to make the final product. Tavin LOVED it when we turned off the lights to see the Christmas tree glow.

If You Need a Smile Here Are 2 For Ya!

Hit the pause button on the music playlist on the right column before trying to view these.

Giggles

Tavin hasn't made much progress with walking or crawling so the doctor suggested we practice with him. He made a little bit of a break through the other night-he will take steps by himself-so we are on our way~

The Things Tavin Does

Here are some of the things that Tavin has learned after one year on this earth:

Elmo-there is just something about that red furry singing monster that captivates Tavin's attention every morning while he eats breakfast. That's OK with us, because I like Elmo way more than Barney and I find Mr Noodle quite entertaining at times(I must not get out enough)

His favorite songs from elmo are "C is for Cookie" and "We found Ernie"-the words are repetitive so Dan and I got them down the first 2 times of the tapes we've watched about 30 times now. Dan even makes up dances to them-Tavin enjoys this very much!

Bath time used to be the thing to do-but now Tavin has discovered the magical word of showers. He even has figured out to catch the water in his mouth as it comes down. If we have tired out every toy we have in the house, I can always count on the shower to entertain him for as long as I will let him stay in.

When he is really tired, he laughs ang giggles when Dan and I put him down for a nap or for bed time. It is almost as if he is saying, oh finally, thank you! He follows after his mommy when it comes to enjoy a good nap.

And when he sleeps he always has to have his blanky draped on the side of his face.

One of my favorite things he has learned-just recently actually-is that he can run after our dog luna while in his walker in the kitchen. She doesnt enjoy this activity as much as he does-but that is the fun of it I think. He chases while she runs away. And if he finally catches up to her and runs into her-he laughs really hard! He even has figured out how to yank the table cloth off the kitchen table so that he can see her when she hides underneath it. Or, when she goes onto the carpet, he will sit and wait right at the edge until she steps into the kitchen again. It is mean, but sometimes I'll call her in just so he can chace her. She is a good sport though.

Tavin sings with the congragation in church and primary-he has always been a fan of music-ever since he was first born. In this, he takes after his dad.

Tavin has learned to blow rasberries and usually likes to do it right in the middle of sacrament when everything is quiet:)

He is an all fruit eater, never took to the vegetables so we have to sneek them in when we can. He has taken well to normal food though and has realized that anything that mommy and daddy are eating is better than baby food. He uses his "num num num" to comunicate that he wants some.

He is the most flexible baby I have ever seen! And this is how he gets around-doing splits and pulling himself forward.

Well I think I am the only one that would read all this, so I will stop for now.

A Whole Year Gone By...

I can't believe that a whole year has already gone by-last year at this time, I was overwhelmed by the fact that I was someones mom-how was I ever going to fill those big shoes...but with time came experiences and with experiences grew love. And oh how I love this beautiful boy! All I can say is I am blessed to be Tavin's mom.

Presents Gallore-Happy First Birthday Tavin~

Tavin's grandparents, Aunties, and friends made sure that he got plenty of new toys to play with. It seemed though that his favorite thing was the Elmo card he got from his Auntie Chrissy. Some of the other gifts he got were: An animal train that plays music, a pack of cartoon cars, a big ball, a talking story book, new PJ's, a new outfit to wear for Christmas, a Madagascar animal puzzle, and a fisher price chair and desk-that plays music and talks. Mommy loves all Tavin's new toys because he stays entertained longer now-and she can get things done! Thank you all for such nice presents!

A Yummy Yummy Mess

And there was cake...oh yes there was cake! At first we didn't know if Tavin was going to go for it! But with a little bit of encouragement-he got a taste of that chocolaty goodness and there was no going back! (How can I get all that yummy goodness in me!) It was straight to the tub afterwards.

Bull Rider Dan

My dad conned Dan and Seth to ride the mechanical bull-it was the "manly thing to do"-good job Honey! I am proud of you-he stayed on.

Tavin and His Corn

Cornbelly's has a "corn box" to play in instead of a sand box. This was Tavin's FAVORITE thing at the festival. He played in the corn for more than 45 minutes and when Dan tried to take him out-he screamed to go back! Who knew that a pile of corn would be such a big hit. I did laundry from our trip today and found 5 corn kernels in the washer and three in the dryer!

Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point

Another tradition we have started in our family is going to Cornbelly's Halloween Festival every year with my sisters and their kids. We had a great time and Dan even road the mechanical bull(a picture of this is coming!) He impressed us all by staying on!

Happy Halloween

Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat...we went to Utah this Halloween to Trick or Treat with all of Tavin's cousins. As you can see, the Tigger won in our poll on what Tavin should be. We had lots of fun and got tons of candy. I made Daniel take the bucket to work because it was just too tempting to eat it all...10 pieces of Halloween candy a day could really do damage to my physique!

Other Pumpkin Photo Moments

Tavin loved the tractor-maybe he's a farmer in the making!

The Winners

These are the 2 that we picked from the pile and Tavin posed with them for us. They match his hair:)

Pumpkin Picking

I insisted that we go to an actual pumpkin patch to get our pumpkins this year-I dont know-the whole just picking them from a bin outside a grocery store seems so...boring....I guess growing up in a suburb of NJ where we always went out into the fields spoiled me. Those were some of my favorite memories growing up-so I decided to start a family tradition. There is a field in Idaho Falls called the Red Barn. We searched and search and searched-made a pile of the prospects and Tavin ate dirt along the way.