Bye Uncle Jeff!!

My little brother Jeff recently left for his two year mission to Mexico!  My family and I decided to go with my  my mom, Bob, and Jessica to take Jeff to the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.  We were excited to go to Salt Lake City and visit all of the tourist attractions there and of course the temples!  It was such a FUN trip.  I loved Salt Lake City.  I went on a youth trip there when I was younger, but my hubby had never been and he loved all of the cool church things they had there.  I did not realize what a tourist attraction it was!!  There were sister missionaries everywhere showing people from all over the country/world and of different faiths the cool buildings and historical sites of the LDS church.  It was awesome!  We really had a great time.  It was sad to take Jeff to Provo and drop him off, but we were also very proud of him and excited for him to begin the life changing experience of a mission.  :)  

On the roof of the beautiful Conference Center

In one of the Salt Lake City Temple Visitor Centers

In front of the Provo Temple

I'm going to miss you little brother!

Beautiful!

Noah!

Noah is our little man.  He is such a little talker!  He still loves to play with cars, loves to color, put together puzzles, and play with his friends!  He asks if he can go play with his friends everyday.  He loves playdates!  He is a good big brother for the most part and him and Makenna have a good time together.  I wanted to post a picture of his first day of "school."  I am doing a preschool coop with some friends of mine.  There are six moms/kids.  We each take a turn teaching at our own house every Wednesday from 10:00 - 11:30.  There is a cute little curriculum, calendar time, etc.  He loves it!  He is a good boy and tries hard to make good choices.  :)  He is very smart and can tell me when he's made a bad choice or a good one. ha ha.  He is a lot of fun and we love him a lot.

Noah has begun to dress himself every morning.  For the most part he is very good about matching.  Some days are better than others. :)  Often times his shorts and underwear are on backwards.  If we are not going anywhere...I usually let him stay that way.  He is so excited and proud of himself I feel bad telling him his clothes are on backwards! ha ha  He can also put his sandals on by himself...and just recently on the right foot every time.  Such a big boy!

Fell asleep reading books.

Sooo excited for school!

Of course I have a Cars backpack! :)

Makenna! One year's old! ;)

 

My baby girl turned one year's old!  It was definitely a very fast year.  I feel that Makenna's first year actually flew by much faster than Noah's.  I am not sure if it was being more busy with the two kids or not...I don't know!  At her doctor's appointment she weighed 19 pounds.  She was just under average for height and weight.  I am SOO bad about remembering their height at appointments.  I need to start writing it down when I am there!

Her birthday was a lot of fun.   She was very distracted by her cousin Morgan playing with one of her toys and so had no interest in opening her presents.  lol  I kept trying to get her interested but with no such luck.  Good thing her big brother was there to help her open the presents.  She also was not very interested in her cake.  It took a lot of coaxing to get her to try it!  However she looked super cute and had a good time.

Getting ready for the party.  She refused to keep her cute shoes on. ;)

Opening Presents

I don't want to eat this.  Get me out of here.

Makenna is quite the baby!  She is super cute and has her mom and dad wrapped around her little finger.  She likes to sing songs, she LOVES Barney and dances and smiles whenever we put it on for her.  She will bring the controller to me and point to the TV and says, "Uhhh," when she wants to watch it.  When you ask her questions that she understands like, "Do you want a banana?"  She will nod her head "yes" in answer.  It really is the cutest thing.  Also, she will shake her head "no" in response to things she doesn't want or doesn't want to do.  For example when she stands up in her high chair while I try to feed her and I tell her to, "Sit down!"  She smiles and shakes her head no at me while remaining standing up.  ha ha  So that is kind of fun...sometimes! She took her first steps at 11 months, but did not officially start walking all over the place until a few weeks after her birthday.  She is a stubborn one!  She refuses..to try new foods, to drink from certain sippy cups, to get her diaper changed, and the list goes one.  Breaking her of the bottle was a battle of will...that mommy barely won! ha ha  I would have to say Noah was a lot easier and less stubborn when it came to those sorts of things!  She tries to be like her brother...for example she sees him carry around his blanky, so she has started to do the same.  She imitates him when she plays with toys and many other cute things.  She wants to be like her big brother.  She loves to try and feed herself and loves to play wrestle with Noah and Daddy.  She gives slobbery open mouth kisses, but will not give hugs. :)  One thing I loved that Noah used to do.  He would wrap his little arms around your neck...no such luck with this one.  She gets VERY grouchy when she is tired and is a very good sleeper! She is the perfect little girl for this family and we love her!