first snowfall

Today we had our first little snow storm here in Farmington! I was so happy to finally have some white to cover the ugly brown mountains. Max thought it was pretty intruiging. Either that or he liked the sound of his hands hitting the window... hard to know for sure. So I snapped a few of Max watching his first snowfall, funny that I didn't take any pictures of the actual snow... Moms have such one tracked minds!


{talking to the snow}

{pat, pat, pat!}

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love the Kettle Family

attempt at family picture...

We are celebrating this Thanksgiving in Rexburg with the Kettles! Even though I miss all the Rands, we always have so much fun with all of Danny's sisters and Max's adorable cousins. Here are a few highlights...

Max was actually happy playing by himself during dinner- which almost never happens! He always wants to eat when we eat. It was so nice to sit down and enjoy all the yummy food. These pics are actually after dinner. He thought he would help look for some good deals in the day after Thanksgiving sale ads.

I was a little upset at first when we couldn't find any pie tins and I was in charge of pumpkin pie. So we made pumpkin pie bars! I was sad that it wasn't going to look pretty, but it ended up looking ok in the end, and it tasted good, which is what counts. Right?

The Kettles ALWAYS have a football game before dinner, and all adults are required to play, unless you are pregnant or the designated babysitter (which is always Sandy, Danny's mom). I of course played better than ever and as always, I scored a touchdown. I am happy to report that this is our third Kettle Thanksgiving and I have scored at least one touchdown every year. And no, I am never modest about it. We always have special beanies for the occasion that Dan makes for us (Danny's parents own Kettle Embroidery). We look extra good in yellow and black, I must say.

Here I am guarding Missy, who was no match to my God given raw football talent.
Danny and Scott ready to throw down!

Max and Lil snuggling this morning.

This year I am so thankful for so many things. We have such amazing families, and we are so glad that we have our own little family now. Max brings us more joy than we ever could have imagined. We are thankful for two little businesses that are really picking up. We are so lucky to have the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives. We hope to remember all of our blessings and be more aware of them, especially during the upcoming Holiday Season. We hope all our friends and family had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I use natural light because...

one: I can't afford studio lighting.
two: IT DOES THIS!

check out all six {C}children

it will grow.

right?



so it's a little shorter than I anticipated. but i think I like it. I at least don't hate it, which is a good sign within the first 24 hours of hair cutting. tHe color is a bit on the ghetto fabulous side. I don't like stripeys. on a lighter note, I am happy because I am wearing my new favorite shirt, the polka dotty one.

yeeeea!

I am so psyched. Max cried himself to sleep tonight in about 45 minutes to an hour. There is hope for us. Will I get a full night of sleep again soon? This is pretty much the most fabulous thing that has happened all week. Except for one thing.

Today, Max officially scooted. Backward and forward! I think a full blown army crawl is in our future. It was so cute! I think he just needed something he reeeeally wanted, which was my keys, which Noah had. He turned his toes under, got his arms under him and scooted! It was so funny because it clearly took so much effort from him. He all but grunted and broke a sweat. Haha! He also grabbed on to the carpet to help pull himself. Sooo funny.

Oh yea, and after Max cried himself to sleep last night (finally falling asleep at about 11:30) he slept until 7am. Pure bliss. How perfect that we are headed to Rexburg tomorrow to ruin everything.

Post Post Script...

Two freaking hours and ten minutes later, I think he is asleep. Sorry mom for using the f word. Is it rediculous that I am afraid to go check on him? BTW, thanks all my super mom friends for your advice. I love you. Until three a.m. hits anyway...


{in case you forgot how hard it is to resist those puppy dog eyes and drooly lips}

just to be clear, freaking is the f word to my mom. lets not jump to any conclusions here.

Post Script...

About the crying to sleep thing, how long is too long? When does developing good sleep skills cross the line to neglect? It has been ONE AND A HALF HOURS. He's fed, changed, fine. Am I a mom with no soul? What the crap. Hold on, I think CPS is at the door...

Welcome Home Minta Marie!

On Thursday, we all headed down to the Comries for a little homecoming party for our favorite original Giflin. We are so proud of Minta! I mean Hermana Hancock. She just got home from the St. George mission, Spanish speaking. She was an amazing missionary. I was so happy to see her again after so long and I loved hearing her sweet testimony of the gospel. It's so cool to see the little girl I grew up with, went on vacation with, and got my hair permed with grow up to do such increadible things. She is such an amazing girl and I am excited to see all the fun things coming up in her life. She is headed back to BYU for the winter semester, heads up boys!

Porter, Alex, and Colton listening to Tessa sing and play guitar- she is only fourteen and seriously, she sounds amazing. We all sat down and listened to her play. I loved it!



Rockin' with Uncle Denny!

He's not too sure about uncle Tyler (comrie). haha!


Uncle Evan. If only his REAL uncle Jordan could have made it! Wah.

We're headed North

Here we come Logan! Max and I are headed up to Logan on Monday so I can finally get a haircut/color! Yay! I feel like it has been forever! I still go up there to get my hair done by MARIE at Serendipity. She is fantastic! I love how she cuts my hair. THe funny thing is, we look a lot alike- several times we have been asked by other salon people if we are sisters! We tend to go in the same direction with our hair. When her hair is long, so is mine. If she is blonde, I am too. THe last time I went, I hadn't seen her in close to two years (since before we moved to Orange County) and I came to her to get my long hair whacked. I walked in, saw her, and she had the exact bob I wanted. I just tell her to cut mine like hers from now on.

Sooo, any Logan friends up for a party? It seems like you all work. I would like to take this chance to encourage you to take a day off to play with your friend jessica and her cute baby Max. Ahem, Lyns. At least my one cool friend Candice is going to have fun with me!

I also want to take some fun pictures while I am up there. Logan is so beautiful and the downtown area is so cute. Anyone up for playing photog? Call me!

Calling Sarah Asay, aka the baby whisperer...

Please rescue me! If any of you do not know this girl, she is the sleep/ baby schedule guru. She has a three year old who still takes a nap every day and an 18 month old who still takes two LONG naps every day. And they go to bed early. And unlike my child, they do not nurse to sleep. I say anyone who can accomplish this feat is MAGIC. Sarah, please come to my house and whip us into shape. Ever since Max started teething, he stopped sleeping through the night! I swore I would not be the mom who let her kid nurse to sleep and feed in the middle of the night at 9 MONTHS. Ridiculous! I am praying that he will finish cutting the second top tooth and go back to sleeping. WHy do I feel like I am not going to be that lucky? Blog friends- what should I do? I totally need to break some bad habits here, I think part of why he is waking up is 1- he is used to the routine and the feeding, he's not really hungry 2- he needs the boob to calm down and fall asleep again when he wakes up. I completely blame myself. For some reason, you can read every book on the shelf and still make the mistakes they warn you about over and over again. WHy is that? And no, the binkie does not work. Why I ever let him get off that thing is beyond me. Lay it on me people! Tips, tricks, habit breakers, let me hear it! BECCA (nurse/pal who knows EVERYTHING about all things baby/pregnancy), I am talking to you too!

see what I stay up working on...

...during all hours of the night... ...by the light of my computer screen. If you can't tell, this is an iphoto (photobooth?) of me editing THESE . Yes, I know I look cool making my half asleep but concentrating face.

My house is a mess (as you can see behind me), my teething baby will be up in an hour, yet here I am at the computer... at one in the morning... am I crazy? yes. do I care? not really. At least now, I am editing on my so fantastic new IMAC. sianara lap top! Hello 24beautifulinchesofdesktopscreenmagic. I am a convert, and Mac is my religion. just kidding. mostly. ichat anyone? I'm awake.

Also, does blogger maybe suck a little bit as far as compatibility with MAC (not that is oh so fantastic with PC)? No compose mode, weird spell check, many missing icons. typepad is starting to seem appealing.

Just one more reason not to vacuume...

ever since he started getting teeth, he has made this silly face! I think he's playing with his new chompers.


raspberries!
Ok, so I whipped out the vacuume today to tidy up the living room and all the sudden, barely audible over the buzzing of our vaccume, I hear a little high pitched moan. I look over at Max on the other side of the room. He is looking at that thing like it was going to eat him alive! It was so sad! He was honestly petrified. His little frightened expression was the cutest, funniest, saddest thing ever. His eyes were so big and his brow was all furrowed, he had the lip out/open mouthed frown thing going on, and then he looks up at me like "save me from that evil dirt sucking machine!" I didn't know weather to laugh or cry with him! After I picked him up, he didn't mind the vacuume so much. He loves me.

Oh yes, also Max learned how to blow raspberries this week. I love how cute the little noise is and how he gets spit bubbles everywhere when he does it (see above!). Who would ever think such a simple thing would make a mom so happy and proud?

the mini sesh is here.

just a quick plug. jessica kettle photography is offering Christmas card mini photo sessions during the month of November! Get the info here : http://www.lookthroughmylens.blogspot.com/

how can he be nine months old?!

This is not possible. My baby is nine months old? Where has the time gone? I love all of the fun new things he is doing, but I miss his itty-bitty former self.

Max is a sitting pro. This month he has gone from being pretty wobbly and leaning on his hands for support to being confident as can be. I don't worry about walking away from him while he sits anymore, and I don't even put pillows behind him in case he topples over. I don't quite trust him around the tile, but other than that, he is doing great!

I think the idea of crawling has at least crossed his mind. A few days ago, we were all laying in bed (we always bring Max in our bed in the morning) and Max kinda got up on his hands and knees! I was so excited. He has only done it once or twice since then, but I am glad to see he is at least considering crawling. Until then, he is perfectly happy rolling all over the place (literally across the room) and he can spin himself around on his tummy to see whatever he is interested in.

Teefers, Toofers. So far he has two adorable bottom teeth, and his top left one should be breaking through any day now! We noticed while we were in Seattle that his top gums were super swollen, but today is the first time we have seen any signs of that little pearly white. We can see a hint of tooth about to poke through on one little corner. It is still weird to me that my gummy mouthed baby has TEETH.

Especially thanks to the upcoming teeth, SLEEPING has been oh so fun. The last few days he has had a rough times with naps, and he has been waking up more at night. The funny thing is, he sleeps a lot better if he is with one of us. Last night he woke up after being asleep for only an hour or so, so I fed him again and laid him right up against Danny's back and he slept for hours. I finally moved him to his crib when I went to bed, but I loved seeing my two boys snuggled up together. It was so sweet.

Max is talking away! He has been a noisy one for quite a while, but he is staring to throw some da's and goo's in with his long strings of vowels. It is sooo cute! I love listening to my little boy's babbling.

Fooood. Max eats baby food once a day, usually around dinner time and then nurses before bed. We are hoping to keep increasing the solids, but I am not as patient as I should be, and sometimes it's just easier (and less messy!) to nurse. Max still spits out a lot, so we feed him the same bite multiple times. He does a lot better with his favorites though, especially oatmeal/fruit mixes. He also likes those freeze dried fruit things and he is half decent at getting them in his mouth, although quite a few end up out of reach below is high chair too.

New favorite but forbidden toys: cell phones and the lap top cords. And he gets mad now when you take things away from him, no more of that "out of sight, out of mind" mentality. Bring on the attitude!

He loves his Daddy! I love that Max knows and recognizes me, but I especially love that he does the same for Danny. He always laughs and grins and gets so excited when Danny gets home from work. It is absolutely heart melting! Danny is such a sweet, hands on Dad. We are so lucky to have him. Earlier this week, Max laid perfectly content with Danny on the couch watching football for a good hour. Great! Now I am going to have two people to argue over the channel with! Max really loves his Dad and it is the best thing ever to watch.

Max continues to be such a happy, content, smiley baby. Everyone always comments on how good natured he is, and it's true! Even while he is teething, he is always laughing and happy. I had mentioned to one of our neighbors that he had been a little fussy and wanting to nurse a lot because of the new tooth, and when they came over for dinner, she was like "this is him teething?" He really is such a sweet boy. I couldn't wish for anything more than our son, just as he is. We love him so much!

"Let the wild rumpus start!"

Max's first Halloween is something I have been looking forward to for a LOOOONG time! I was so excited for his first Halloween costume. I decided right after he was born that I wanted him to be a character from our favorite children's book "Where the wild things are" by Maurice Sendak. The main character's name is Max, so I had to! I set out to make Max's costume, and I was convinced it would look dumb, but for once, one of my crazy ideas actually turned out ok! My mom always had made us the most AMAZING costumes every year, so I wanted Max's to be one of a kind just like ours always were. Here are 40 billion pictures of Max's first Halloween. Enjoy!

the inspiration

I tried after Halloween to get some decent shots of him in his costume, but every time I put it on, he ends up being cranky. Max pulled one horn half way off! Little monster! So that's why the left horn is pretty droopy in these shots. =( Also, the white guy pinned to Max (the monster) is Max (the book character). The idea is that he would look like he was giving him a shoulder ride (see inspiration).

leeetle tail ...
On Halloween night (with two horns in tact), Max was so cranky, until he found the candy bowl!
Busted! Even though he didn't get any real candy, he was happy chewing on a fully wrapped snickers bar all night. He also helped give out candy! Danny would answer the door while standing on his knees helping Max stand up to give out the candy. It was so cute! Why his dumb mom didn't get a picture of that, I don't know. Because Max was loving it.

We added some face paint before the Halloween party, and you would have thought I was tatooing it on the way he screamed.

one of my favorite parts, his hairy clawed feet!

the three of us- Danny and I were Dwight and Angela from the Office. =) I was so sad I couldn't find a blond wig so I had to settle for a french braid. Danny looks so hot with those glasses and his hair parted in the middle!

Happy Halloween!

We just wanted to wish our friends a very happy Halloween. Tonight we are going to a party at our neighbor's house and we just might make a couple trick-or-treating stops for Max to show off his costume. Of course he had to have the pre-costume Halloween outfit- this fabulous little t-shirt my mom brought him from New York. Thanks nana, he loves it! He barfed all over it just a second ago, which I think is a sign of affection for him. And Chels, if you are wondering if this background is what you think it is, wonder no more. Yes. And I passed the SAME neighbor on the way back. I was so humiliated this time I walked on the other side of the street so I could avoid saying hi.

update

see a bit of what I've been up to... here

Tagged...

Thanks Brittany for tagging me! I miss you. Even if we do talk to eachother about 40 times a day, it's not the same.
I guess we all do this once, and I tried to think outside the box and come up with some things people may not know about me. I think everyone knows the basics: I love my husband. Being Max's mom is the best thing I have ever done. Photography is my favorite hobby.... blah blah blah. But let's face it, I'm not all that exciting! So here it goes, six RANDOM facts about me...

1. It is a complete miracle that I graduated from college. I was the worst student ever! All I cared about was doing gymnastics and having fun if there was time leftover. I failed two classes, Physical Geography and College Algebra. They weren't even hard classes! I was a huge slacker and never went to class unless there was a test or something to turn in. Then I met Danny. After we got married, he woke me up and dragged my tired butt to class every day, most of the time I hardly had a chance to brush my teeth and throw a coat and hat on over my sweats (USU is in Logan, and it's freeeeezing!). Sure enough, my GPA went from a 2.5 to a 3.6 in one semester. I retook both classes, and got A's. Thank heavens for husbands who are sticklers on class attendance! I could never have done it without him!

2. I was a child star. Yes, that's right. I was a Hollywood crazed, overpaid, drugged out little kid. Okay not exactly. BUT I was in a national commercial for Crunch 'n' Munch Caramel Corn. I was three, and all I remember about it is that I was in awe of the wardrobe trailer and I was disappointed that I didn't get to wear one of the pretty hats. I also remember being cold and not wanting to do my part so many times- which involved walking with a red balloon and giving it to another little girl who thanked me, then I grabbed her box on Crunch 'n' Munch and ran away. Very exciting.

3. I am a food snob. I think part of why I don't cook dinner as much as I should is because I can't bring myself to make casserole, I have never bought a can of cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup in my life, and I think everything is better from scratch. But I do love to bake. I love making breakfast foods and desserts from scratch- waffles, creme brulee and crepes are some of my favorites, and I love trying to make fancy desserts. But one of my favorite treats is hot chocolate. My mom made me a cup of hot chocolate and a piece of toast every morning in high school before seminary. But not just any hot chocolate will do. No swiss miss for this girl. I can't stand it if it's made with water, and I can smell the water based stuff from a mile away. At home I make ghiradelli's or I make it from scratch with unsweetened cocoa powder. At starbucks I order: Kids hot cocoa, regular heat, 2%, with whip, one pump gingerbread or pumpkin flavoring. Clearly I am a true Seattlite. One thing I hate is hot dogs. I have NEVER liked them! Not even because of all the absolutely disgusting ingredients, but because they taste bad. Sick, sick, sick

4. I have a little disease called fullpriceafobia. I love to shop. Love it. Can't get enough, weather I am shopping for clothes for myself, for Max, or home decor. Unfortunately, I have learned that I have very expensive taste and I don't have the cash to feed the addiction. Shucks. Therefore, after I got married, I became a HARDCORE BARGAIN HUNTER. Now half the fun for me is getting a deal on great stuff like ten dollar shirts at anthropologie or baby gap shirts for Max for two dollars. It's such a thrill! I love antiquing, going to Down East, and shopping on craigslist. My proudest find recently was buying an antique shabby chic dresser for $25 at a yard sale after spending all day antiquing, looking at similar items for ten times the price. I live for things like that! I have a really hard time buying anything that is full price, but I can justify just about anything if it's on sale. Danny is famous for saying "You're right Jess, we practically SAVED money by buying that!" He thinks he's so funny. Also, I have a hard time making big purchases, so when I have money, I blow it on little things like magazines and hot chocolate.

5. I am a recovering fitness freak. In college, I was a workout/ health food maniac. Every day I spent about five hours at gymnastics practice, always one of the first one there and last to leave. Then the team had lifting practice twice a weak with these crazy football/lifting coaches. Then I would go back to my dorm or apt, have an oh so healthy lean pocket, and go back to the gym to do cardio and abs. It was ridiculous! I was a little muscle woman and I had like 13% body fat. Then, my senior year, I quit gymnastics and swore I would never become the chunky ex-gymnast. Oh how naive I was! I am horrible at working out now and my attempts to eat healthy are half hearted at best most of the time. I am working on that though! Starting tomorrow...

6. I have a long term memory like an elephant. I can remember as far back as age two when I lived in Chicago and I have memories of specific events throughout every year of elementary school and preschool. I remember when my brother Tyler came home from the hospital (I was three) and the first thing I wanted to do was play with his tiny ear. I remember my cousin Rachel when she was a baby (she's Tyler's age) too, she had bright green poo, I mean florescent, and she was always cranky at church. She had a very olive skin and I told my mom she was going to be an indian baby when she grew up (how that is logical, I don't know. but I was three). I never forget a face, and I remember conversations extremely vividly, often word for word if it was interesting or important. However, I am the most forgetful person on EARTH with little things like where I put my keys or remembering to switch the laundry or that one item I REALLY needed at the grocery store. Why is that?

So those are some crazy things about me. Six people I am tagging are Sarah G, Lindsey, Sabrina, Ashley, Rachel, and Whitney. Have fun girls! I look forward to hearing what you have to share.

to dot or not to dot...

...that is the question. Vote for your favorite or make some suggestions (I'm not exactly a design pro yet)!

playing in the garbage

(see the rest of these: http://www.lookthroughmylens.blogspot.com/)

My neighbors officially think I am a crazy lady. I have wanted to take some pictures in front of this construction dumpster in my neighborhood for a while now, so I decided to make Max pose for me (again). The guys building the new house were there watching and everything. Classic. So I get the shots I want, feeling so pleased about this convenient little back drop just a few houses away, and I stop and talk to my neighbor on the way back. We small talk, let our kids check each other out, the ush. And then he gets this perplexed look on his face.

him: So, where ARE you walking from?
(keep in mind I am holding Max, my cell phone, two dirty blankets, and my camera)

me: Oh, we were just taking some pictures at the dumpster.

him: uuuh.

me: you know, it's kind of a cool backdrop, all scratched up and rusty and everything.

him: oh, you mean you were taking pictures of him at the dumpster.
(I can see the wheels turning, he's considering calling CPS at this point)

me: um, yea. I think they turned out pretty well. We'll see.
(thinking, ok, it's not like I chucked him in there and abandoned him!)

So we say our "see ya later's" and I go home feeling a bit silly. I'm sure he and any other looky-loo's in the cul de sac think I am a complete lunatic. Oh well.