Some first meetings

My parents were so awesome to drive up to St George the day after Thanksgiving for Lynden's blessing and my in laws were so nice to let them stay at their house. Here is Joe super excited to reunite with Grandma Sue since she left him alone with his parents and brand new baby sister.
Lynden meeting Grandpa Joe
Meeting Uncle Ben Tyler
And Uncle JK

Thanksgiving break

Our cute 5 week old spent a lot of time sleeping and relaxing
We had an enjoyable Thanksgiving break in St George. We got to go out with Steve & Bev while our wonderful Aunt Susan, Uncle Bruce, Savannah, Carly and Harrison watched our kids. Thanks for letting us go on a date!
Grandma read the same story over and over to Joe because he kept demanding the same one over and over
I FINALLY met Bev's brother Tom after 4 1/2 years of being in the family! He is married to Jill, who I've seen a few times and here are their 2 daughters Katy & Becky. Uncle Tom is HILARIOUS and when you get him and Uncle Bruce together my face hurts from laughing so hard. Love your cute family!
Uncle Brad meeting Lynden and singing, you are so beautiful, to her
Uncle Tom & Aunt Jill taken by Joe
Eric holding Lynden like a natural :) wanting a baby, well actually a newborn because all they do is sleep
Our little cutie just hanging out getting ready for bed
Thanksgiving day, Joe is in a weird phase hating pictures and I had nothing to bribe him with at that moment
Bev & Steve right before our big dinner with all the family. Bev's brother Bruce and his family were there, Tom and his family minus their son who is on a mission in Japan, and our family minus Mike who is on a mission in Minnesota and Jamie who barely comes to visit :) were there so all we were missing was Aunt Barb's family and Grandma Maralyn. It was a really nice day!
Joe playing hide and go seek which has become a favorite game of ours!

Thanksgiving was great this year. Both of our kids were wonderful in the car both ways. We really enjoyed seeing and being with so much family. This year I'm especially grateful for my little family. I am crazy about my 2 cute kids. I love being a mommy to a sweet little boy and girl! They are such precious spirits and I'm so lucky to be their mom. I am so thankful for my husband and his hard work for us. I'm thankful that he has a job in this scary time with the economy and that he is such a great provider. I'm thankful for the fabulous families that we come from and that we love to be with them. Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Our family from Canada

Uncle Bill, Aunt Barb, Jeff, Ashley, Dave, Summer and Brit were in town from Canada for Thanksgiving. I was counting down the days until they came because I was so excited! We had an awesome dinner together, Steve got to go golfing with the guys, I got to go see New Moon with them, and Brit was so sweet to take pictures of our family and let us set her up on a blind date. Aunt Barb is holding her awesome shoes she bought and I loved them and said they had to be in the picture. I just love her & her wonderful family!

My Chicago Bears boys

Boy, am I glad that I got Joe a Chicago Bears shirt in a size 4T so that he has a few more seasons to wear it in hopes that the Bears will get better. It's such a bummer that they have been so bad this year!
Joe's little personality has been coming out more and more and we are loving it. We were at Wal Mart one night and he ran with Steve to get something while I was picking out some fruits. They are walking back towards me and I hear Joe say rather loudly and direct, "I'm 2 1/2 years old, don't talk to me like that!" Luckily he was with the parent that has more patience and not the one that would have lost her patience :)

Quick dash to the airport to see our favorite Chelsea!

My sister swears she told me she had a layover/transfer in Phoenix on her way to Washington for Thanksgiving, but I don't think she ever told me times, date, etc. The morning of her departure, I'm talking to her and she nonchalantly mentions it! I'm freaking out calling Steve telling him he needs to come home & take us to the airport because we only have 1 car & see Chelsea & Ben at the airport. I told him I didn't know she was coming and that is why I didn't plan better. He told me the chances of coming home at 3:30 were extremely slim so I gave him another option, rent me a car...Those chances might have been even slimmer! I called my good friend Heather who came to the rescue. Ben was out of town and so she brought me their 4 runner fully equipped with gas, a car seat for Joe, and a base for Lynden. Also she had her mom drive and brought her kids so she would have a ride home. How awesome was she?! SO AWESOME! I hopped in the car with both kids in the middle of nap time and found out the flight was early, SWEET, more time with Chelsea! Here is Lynden meeting Aunt Chelsea Selina


Joe is OBSESSED with Chelsea. They are perfect for each other because most of the time they are in their own little world. A little memory of Chelsea comes to mind. She offered to make Ben dinner when they first started dating. She was living with me and Steve for about a month in between moving out of Belmont and into Highland, which meant making it at my house. Did she know how to cook a thing...barely! She would eat ice cream out of the carton with a towel around it so her hands didn't freeze with chocolate and sprinkles and always weighed less than 105. Ridiculous! So I offered to help her, which turned into me making 100% of the meal with a brand new baby to make Chelsea look domestic. As I'm sweating running around the kitchen before Ben shows up, she is twirling Joe around singing to him and dancing with him and he is loving it! He could not wait to see "his" Chelsea Belsea and thought he was hilarious in this picture to not look at the camera. He had her chasing him all over and had fun hiding from her. She had him come ask Uncle Ben for money for candy and picked out a kind he had never tried and barely liked. Thanks Uncle Ben for the money that he also later used on a ride at Babies R Us! He was so excited to show his dad his money from Uncle Ben, and Steve was shocked that he asked for money until he found out who coached him on how to ask! :)
After saying goodbye, we went to the car. I was feeding Lynden and Joe says, "Mom, I need to go to the bathroom now!" Joe is potty trained and I was not looking forward to this part of it. I asked him if he could wait the 40 minutes for us to get home :), to which he said no and I didn't want him to have an accident period, but definitely not in Heather's car seat. So, I tried to finish with Lynden and got the diaper bag and my 2 kids and rushed back into the airport. I know public restrooms are gross, but thank goodness these appeared very new and clean and thank goodness we weren't at a gas station. GRAPHIC, but funny - We got into a stall where Joe starts the awkward conversation...Mom, I'm so excited that I got to see my Chelsea Belsea. Mom, maybe if I eat big boy foods I won't have diarrhea. (I think to myself no crap Joe, if you would try noodles, bread, anything but chicken nuggets, quesadillas, cereal, and waffles, we might not have this problem!) Mom, you are so cute! Thank you Joe! Mom, I love it when we sing together in the car! (I'm now wondering what in the world the other people in the bathroom are thinking) Mom, I love it when we sing I Love to See the Temple and While I am in my Early Years (Families are Forever vs 2) Yeah I love it too Joe. (Nice missionary moment in a public restroom) You are such a nice mommy, and the conversation went on from there for a few minutes about movies he likes and Lynden and then we were done. Thank you! We rushed back out to the car and were on our way home! Thanks Heather for the vehicle and thanks Chels and Ben for hanging out with us!

Our adopted parents & the Suns game

My mother in law's sister, Barb and her husband Bill have a beautiful condo here in Desert Ridge and have been here for the last 7 weeks. They arrived on the day Lynden was born and were the first people to meet her. Bill makes the most DELICIOUS chili and he brought me some for dinner, plus extra to freeze. It was so yummy, notice the was, yes it is already gone! They also came to a basketball game of Steve's to cheer him on which was super nice. One night they offered to watch Joe if I needed a break and I decided to take them up on it, plus ask to leave Lynden also. Marriott has a box at the Phoenix Suns center so we went to a game with Dave, one of Steve's co workers and some of his friends. It was so much fun! Thanks to Aunt Barb & Uncle Bill for watching the kids. xoxo
Here is Nash doing something awesome, of course, but here is my favorite part of the game...
I love watching the dancers and wish one day I could have some type of rhythm, tan skin, and be skinny,
maybe in my next life :)
Here we are on our first date, post 2nd baby. Weird that it occurred so much faster than with our 1st child :) We must have needed a night out and I guess I knew she could live without me for 4 hours! Thanks to Joe for being good for Uncle Bill & Aunt Barb! When we pulled up, I said, "Now Joe, make sure you are a good boy for them, alright?" And he said, "No mom, I'm going to be a stinker man!" I tried to convince him to be superman, spiderman, any man but stinker man. He kept saying no and even told Barb on the way up he was going to be a stinker man and smiled at her looking 100% like I'm sure his dad did at that age! I could totally see Steve's sassy personality coming out in him! Barb said he was good so hopefully she was telling the truth, she even got him to eat an apple, which is a huge step! Wish she was here longer!

Steve's work party

The finance department had a get together at Steve's boss, Kevin's house. It was sooo nice to get out of the house with the kids. It was a small party so I wasn't nervous about taking Lynden. Kevin & Joanna have 2 adorable kids so Joe just hung out in the playroom all night perfectly content and not wanting to leave. Here is Scott entertaining him and playing golf with him.
Here is a group picture
Love my boy and told him that if he smiled for the picture, he could have a treat. Thanks for being obedient when treats are involved.
The precious party girl pooped after a night of meeting people

Happy Halloween!

Well I'm not going to lie, Halloween seemed like a very long day this year. Jason & Steve were going to go golfing at 10:30 in the morning so we decided to hang out at Jessica's all day while the guys were gone. I pretty much took everything but the kitchen sink to her house to make it through the day. I also made Joe take a nap because I knew he would NEED one with all the excitement of the evening, but who would want to take a nap at Jessica's house? It only has the most awesome toys and his favorite person Kiera, but I finally got him to go down for a little nap. Here he is bed head and red eyes upset that he has to take a picture with Lynden. That is why she is at the end of the couch. He actually wanted her on another chair but I could only fit this sofa in the picture. I told him he could sit there until he was ready to take a picture for Aunt Chelsea and finally he obliged...if she would sit far from him. Luckily Steve had a GREAT day golfing and Jess and I had a fun day taking care of our kids. Thanks Jess for always letting us make your house our house!Joe in his Spiderman shirt, picture for Aunt Chelsea, after his not long enough nap
Lynden in her pre-Halloween outfit. Knowing babies I was not going to have her in the same outfit all day in case we had an accident. Thanks Jamie for the adorable headband!
Tinkerbell & Spiderman having a little kick off treat before we leave
Here we are ready to go! Dad is back and my boy is back to his normal happy self!
Spiderman before leaving to go trick or treating in a better mood knowing the candy was going to start coming
One person had a crazy decorated house with a ghostbuster car outside. We had to get a picture, but Joe refused to look at the camera, hence Steve tickling him trying to get him to look up.
Trick or treating with a little help from dad. Dad would say trick or treat and thank you and Joe would say it at the end of the driveway. We tried practicing and he knew what to do, but was too shy I guess.
Jess & I at her friends house before the night was over. Love my cousin!
Here are mommy's superhero and daddy's little pumpkin once we got home. Joe would only sit still because I told him I would eat his treats if he didn't. What our boy will do for a treat!
Lynden was so good while we were trick or treating and just hung out in the stroller needing to be fed at the end of the walk.
Home and ready for bed! Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween!

Basketball Champs!

OK, so they are in the playoffs, but Joe's daddy is his hero! He enjoys watching him and playing around in the gym while Steve has played with his buddies 2 times a week.
Here is the whole team, L to R, Jared, Kade, Steve, Jed, Dan, Thomas, Todd, and Rhett. Good luck guys!

Happy Birthday Love!

We celebrated Steve's 28th birthday! And yes, our child HATES wearing clothes because he thinks his underwear are way cooler. It saves me a lot of time on laundry and luckily we manage to get him dressed to go out in public and for bed time.
I didn't have any candles lying around so thanks for humoring me boys and blowing out nothing.
Steve is the most low key, passive, content person I know and since I just had a baby 8 days before we finally celebrated the way he would like to. We had an easy error proof dinner, thanks to our wonderful family for coming and he really wanted his watches fixed (check), a couple of belts (still working on it), a fire truck from Joe (check), and to go golfing with his unused anniversary gift cards (half check, still has a couple to use)
Things I love about my husband:
1. He is the best most loyal friend
2. He puts our family first
3. He changes almost as many diapers as I do
4. He has the best laugh
5. He is an amazingly hard worker
6. He is the most genuine person I know
7. He is a worthy Priesthood holder
8. He actively serves in our ward and tries to go help anyone who calls
9. He loves golfing, basketball, football and soccer, 2 of which he had to like to marry into my family
10. He puts up with me and still loves me
11. He helps me out with house stuff
12. Everyone who knows Steve loves him
13. He loves his family
14. He is very motivated and ambitious
15. I love how sexy he looks in business clothes, unfortunately for him he has to wear them everyday, fortunately for me it is a great thing to wake up to
16. He sings to Joe before bed even though he HATES singing and swears he is tone deaf
17. He lets me know that he thinks I'm amazing for having 2 kids, epidural or not, even though sometimes I like to remind him :)
18. I can trust him with anything
19. He is the best dad and both of our children adore him
20. He is super intelligent and I love when people call to ask him for financial advice, maybe his wife should do that more often
21. He is an awesome cook even though he doesn't have much time to experiment and his wife has a little bit of a picky palate
22. He never has a mean word to say about anyone
23. He is honest
24. He lets me visit my parents whenever I want to
25. He is a content, happy person which makes him extremely easy to be around
26. He is a great hand holder
27. He is an even better kisser
28. He is all mine
I love you honey and I hope you had a good day watching football and relaxing!

Lynden is 1 week! Here is how we celebrated!

For Lynden's 1 week, we went to Joe's swim class and a pumpkin patch and Lynden enjoyed her day by sleeping through all of it. Since Joe loves Tarzan, he loved this rope I found him to swing on.
The tractor made him want to be back at Papa's in Chicago so that he could actually ride on it instead of just sit.
He wanted to stand in the watermelon but wasn't tall enough so he made sure Lynden and I didn't get to be in it either and we just had to stand behind him.
Waiting for brother to be done with his train ride.
We bought 2 train tickets figuring Steve would have to go with Joe, but uhhh Steve joked that his toe wouldn't have even fit in the train. There was a four wheeler that some kid drove the train around with so we didn't need to go. Thanks lady at the front for ripping us off for 2 tickets, knowing full well that I planned for my husband to go with Joe! At least he LOVED it!
Petting the goats from the outside...
Then the inside...bring on the sanitizer
He said I could take a picture of him but then was jumping up and down so I would miss it. Luckily I caught one just in time! We had such a fun day, this was a cute pumpkin patch almost as good as the one we went to last year with Hillary and Sarah (we miss you guys tons!) We especially enjoyed picking out a pumpkin, Joe wanted the biggest ones and almost caused Steve to have a heart attack and an pumpkin avalanche a couple of times! Holidays are so much more fun with kids!