The Pink Headband

When Patrick plays intramural soccer he likes to wear a pink headband.  It started years ago when he and his brother Tyler were on the same team and both wanted headbands for when they played.  Somehow there was only pink or either they wanted pink, I'm not quite sure of the whole story, but Patrick has kept up the tradition.  So every soccer game that he plays he proudly wears his headband and says it's the good luck charm and reason for them winning.  Alden is also developing a love for the pink headband.  He found it one day when I was doing laundry and knew exactly what to do with it.  He needed a little help to put it on correctly, but he was so proud and wore it all around the house.  Doesn't he look awesome?

A Little Catch-up

I haven't posted anything on this blog in forever and what is probably even worse is that I haven't taken hardly any pictures during this time either.  I'll highlight a few events that have occurred in the past month and a half and promise to do better in the future. 

Patrick and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on January 24th.  It was great fun.  We switch off planning the celebration each year so that at least one of us is surprised and we don't have to do anything while the other plans it all out.  This year was Patrick's year.  We kept it simple and fun.  We went out to a nice/new restaurant here in Provo.  The food was amazing.  I ate way more than I probably should have, but I couldn't stop myself it was delicious.  We have already made plans to go back one more time in the next month before we leave Utah.  Patrick also surprised me with a new version of the game Ticket to Ride.  We are now the proud owners of the Europe version.  It is so fun and I think we played it non-stop for about two weeks after we got it.  We played it by ourselves every time Alden went down for a nap or with anyone who would sit and play with us.  It was great and I'm going to have to start thinking of ways to make next year's celebration even better!

(Blogger is not letting me upload a wedding picture, so it's an engagement photo instead)

Next up, Patrick thought he needed stitches one Saturday morning in January.  He was entertaining Alden while I hopped in the shower, but Alden was walking in and out of the bathroom bringing different toys and books into the bathroom.  He somehow got a hold of one of the Wii remotes and we definitely didn't want that in the bathroom to accidentally get wet.  Patrick was going in and out of the bathroom removing all the treasures that Alden brought in and turned a little sharply and smacked his eyebrow into the door frame.  All I heard was him yell out in pain and then Alden start screaming hysterically (later I learned it was because he saw the blood everywhere and Patrick fall over in pain).  I'm still in the shower at this point and Patrick comes in to tell me that he is going to Urgent Care to get stitches.  I still have no idea was is going on and he rushes out the door.  Needless to say, he didn't need stitches and had a nice battle wound for a little bit and a not so exciting story to go with it.  I thought it was quite hilarious and could hardly get through a telling of the story without cracking up.  Patrick is find and it healed up quite nicely, I think it just damaged his ego a little bit to tell people he ran into the door frame.

 

About a month ago, in the middle of February, Alden and I took a short trip to Georgia to escape from the cold Utah weather.  My mom and Sawyer had the week off of school and I needed to go over to South Carolina and find us an apartment to live in come mid-April.  The trip was a success.  We visited the ward and area in Anderson and found a great apartment.  I'm very excited and happy that it all worked out so nicely.  I'm excited for the move and ready to get going.  We also enjoyed 70 degree weather all week and even threatened Patrick that we may "accidentally" miss our flight because we didn't want to come back to snow and cold.  Alden played outside all day and had his first experience with a sandbox.  It was wonderful and can't wait to get back to some nice weather.  Utah has had a great last couple of weeks and we've been getting outside everyday, but today was colder and I think it's about time for another storm.  It was too good to last.  Hopefully we'll see some more good weather soon.

Alden is doing great and loving playing outside.  Everyday the first thing he does is go to the front door asking to go outside.  He is at such a fun stage right now.  He babbles all day long and is really understanding more and more of what we are saying.  It surprises me all the time the words he understands and how he knows where things go around the house.  The other day after changing his diaper he picked up the Desitin and took it back into the bathroom where it goes, and then came back for the wipes and took those into his room to be put away.  I didn't know he could reach the shelves, but he surprises me all the time with his arm span.  He loves to help with the laundry and is always very concerned when I don't get to my folding right away.  He has learned to climb in the laundry baskets and loves to wrestle in the file of clean clothes.  He continues to make us laugh and stay on our toes all day.  His favorite food the past few months is strawberries.  He will eat an entire carton all by himself in a matter of days.  We also feel he has become an apple juice addict.  When he's ready for a drink of juice he will go to the fridge and wait until we open it and then point to his sippy cup and then to the apple juice.  There is no fooling him either.  He won't move out of the way to close the fridge until I poured the juice in the cup and handed it to him.  We're going to have to find something else he loves that much to mix it up a little bit.  Patrick's worried it's too much sugar in the juice and not good for him to be so addicted.  Oh well, we'll see what we can do.  For now Alden gets to enjoy his juice as a snack. 

We are currently in count down mode to April 19th.  That's the day Alden and I get on the plane and Patrick starts driving.  We have lots to do and people to play with, and Patrick is trying to finish school all at the same time.  It's all very exciting.  This weekend's agenda is a trip up to Boise to see our good friends Becca and Skye and their family.  We leave tomorrow and come back Sunday in time to hit up a little reunion of sorts with my extended family.  We are going to play, play, play up until Patrick starts work for real in May, because then it's down to business :)  Hopefully I'll take pictures this weekend and have a real update come next week.

 

Alden's Party

So we finally have the sickness out of our house.  Alden and Patrick came down with coughs, runny noses, and fevers for a few days and we didn't get much done around here.  Patrick is better and Alden only has a lingering runny nose.  I hate when anyone is sick, but especially Alden because he can't communicate very well with me, and it wears me out because he wants to be held constantly.  My arms are getting stronger each day and I carry him around.  Now that he's feeling better, we are still struggling to get him to walk everywhere again.  He got so use to me carrying him, that he cries and asks to be held a lot more.  I have to take his hand and walk with him and tell him I'll come, but it's still a battle everyday.

The big news this past week in our house is that we bought our tickets to Germany.  We are headed to Munich the end of April/ first part of May.  We will be gone for about twelve days and are so excited!!  We have some good friends move out there this past Fall and are taking the chance to go see them and celebrate Patrick's graduation.  To convince ourselves that we could make the trip we said it was to celebrate my graduation as well, even though that was a few years ago.  Also, we said that Patrick had to have a job lined up already.  And all these things fell into place, so we purchased our tickets last week.  Alden and I are in the process of getting our passports, so that's the only hold up.  I have to get my name changed and Alden needs one.  I've never been out of the country so I'm excited.  It's taken me 24 years to go and Alden will be a year and a half :)  Oh well.  We're excited and can't wait.

I'm finally getting around to posting pictures of Alden's birthday party.  Thanks to everyone who came we had a good time and Alden had a lot of fun.  He loves his new toys still and he just loves when we have visitors over to our house.  There wasn't really a theme or anything, but we did do green and yellow and had a dinosaur on the cake.  (Hopefully you can tell it was a dinosaur, it was my first attempt).  He favorite book as of that week was about dinosaurs, so we read it several times a day.  I thought we'd go with it.  Enjoy!  P.s. there are a ton of pictures.  Mostly for my Mom since she wasn't able to be here for the party.

12 Month Check up

Today Alden went in for his 12 month check up.  He is doing really well and the doctor was very impressed that he could walk so well.  Alden weighs 21 lbs. 12 oz. and is 29 1/2 inches tall.  He is getting a little sick and didn't sleep very well last night and hasn't really napped today.  Thus, I don't have the pictures of his party from last night downloaded yet.  But the party was great and thanks to everyone that came.  I know he enjoyed himself.  He was so excited to see everyone that he didn't even eat dinner until after everyone left.  We now have way too many toys around our house :)  Hopefully within the next few days I can get the pictures up on here.

Happy Birthday Alden!!

Today is Alden's 1st birthday.  I can hardly believe it that he is that old.  So much has happened this past year and we wouldn't change anything.  I've had so much fun and continue to be amazed at Alden everyday.  We are having a family party this evening and I'm sure he'll have a good time.  He loves when he's the center of attention.  He makes me laugh everyday and I'm so grateful that he is a member of our family and that I get to spend my days with him.  This morning I was singing "Happy Birthday" to him and he was smiling and fake laughing until he heard his name then he got the giggles.  I love starting my day with his laugh.  Lately he has been doing a fake laugh when other people laugh or when he knows we're trying to make him laugh.  He just humors us, which makes us laugh even harder.  His little personality comes out more and more each day.  We love you Alden!  I'll post more tomorrow on his party.

 January 11, 2010

Christmas Rewind

We had such a fun time being in Georgia for the holidays.  We got spoiled in so many ways and can't wait to go back and visit.  For starters, the Christmas tree this year was the tallest most beautiful tree we have ever had.  Do to the crazy cold weather and snow, we didn't get around to getting the Christmas tree until two days before Christmas, which if anyone knows my family is pretty standard.  Tolson and Sawyer were responsible to picking out the tree and they came back with a beauty.  Since we waited to get one so close to Christmas, the nursery said that all the trees on the lot were a flat rate of $19.99.  We definitely got a steal of a deal and think that this is the way to go every year.  We "snowed" the tree and Alden got to experience this tradition.  It was fun and messy and he loved it.

We spent Christmas Eve with family friends and had a blast.  The same three families get together every year and have for years and we love it.  We eat, read scriptures, sing, and play chimes.  It's so much fun and talk about it throughout the year.  Patrick had heard a lot about this event and was excited to experience it first hand.  It definitely didn't disappoint.

All week we played games and games and games.  I was in heaven!!  Alden didn't really get the whole opening of presents, but he did enjoy each new toy.  For his gifts we just opened one a day for him to enjoy.  We even had to leave some at my parents still wrapped because we couldn't bring them back on the plane with us.  Alden will get to continue his Christmas in May.

We were very grateful to be able to travel for the holidays even though we thought we were leaving the back weather in Utah.  Instead we experienced a white Christmas in Georgia, which hadn't happened for almost 175 years, I think.  Alden did get sick and was running a fever, but he was still a trooper and loved being around so many people.  His favorite person was his Grammie.  He didn't even want to play with us most days.  He decided that we were his parents not his friends when Grammmie was around.  He was walk through the house yelling her name.  It was the first name that he has associated with a person.  I have to admit that we were a little jealous that it wasn't "mama" or "dada".

We loved our trip, but are glad to be back home.  We've gotten back into the swing of things around here and even had time to enjoy the annual New Year's Party at the Moss home.  Patrick is back in school taking two classes and is working 16 hours this semester with Fridays completely off of everything.  Not a bad way to finish up college!!

Our tree in our apartment - Cheesy faces

Serious faces

Opening Alden's first Christmas present - an ornament from Great Gma and Gpa Dixon

 Packing for our trip

 Hanging out with Sawyer with a fat lip - Alden took his first really bad tumble

 Reading with Dad - so happy he made it to us

 A blurry picture of Alden and Grammie

 Watching the boys make the "snow"

 "Snowing" the tree

 Check out how tall this tree was!

 The finished product

 Christmas afternoon - unwrapping another gift

Proof it snowed in Georgia

 

Alden thought that anything on Tolson's plate to eat was the best, so we had to put everything on his plate in order for Alden to try some

Home for the Holidays

I know that I have a lot of catching up to do for Thanksgiving and such, but I just wanted to make a few updates while we're out of town.  Alden and I flew out last week to come to Georgia to spend Christmas with my family. We've had a really good time just relaxing and playing.  I think we are finally getting on a routine.  It took several days to adjust to the time change and a new sleeping environment.  But each night Alden has woken up fewer and fewer times.  I'm hoping that by the time Patrick gets here on Monday that we will be back to normal.  Sawyer is still in school and my parents still have work, so Alden and I are doing the same thing that we would be doing at home except we get to see them when they get home and Patrick doesn't have as many distractions as he studies and takes his finals.  He only has one more tomorrow morning and then he's done and ready for his last semester of school.

Since we arrived here Alden has been dragging out all of the toys and books that my brothers and I use to play with and read.  It's been fun going through all the old things and remembering how fun they were when we used to play with them.  Alden has officially gone on whole milk and loves it.  He is down to nursing just two maybe three times a day and it's only at night before bed and then when he wakes up.  He's doing really well and loving all the snacks around the house.  Alden is loving all the attention.  As each person gets home, he follows them around the house to make sure they notice him and to see what they are up to.  My mom has given him the nickname of "shadow" when he does this.  He can't stand to have anyone leave the room and have the door shut behind them.  I just figure he's tired of just playing with mom all day and is excited for a fresh face.

We can't wait until they are all done with school and work and for Tolson and Patrick to come into town this weekend.  It's going to be a great break, if only I already had all my shopping done.  I guess this just means I'll have something to do next week.  We are excited for Alden's first Christmas and look forward to all the fun memories that we will make.