All the Cousins

The Ladies. (Abby on the left and Grace on the right.)




Abby in the front.
Abby on the right and Grace on the left. What CUTIES!!!


Josh with his little turtles. (Kevin and Abby's little guy. 7 months old.)
Tag (Ryan and Hillary's tank. 8 months.)













Little Josh. Look at those chompers!!




Miss Addi-cakes in her blessing dress. What a little angel!


Now that we are all officially in Arizona (I know, what's wrong with us?... it's a dry heat!) we decided to have some pictures taken of all the kids together. Mine were less than cooperative so there aren't any of Carter that I am completely in love with but all the other cousins are darling!! I just wanted to be the bragging Aunt/Mom and share a few with you all.

Addilyn's Blessing

Addilyn was blessed today. It was so wonderful and Bryan did an amazing job. I think we have quite a wonderful little spirit to raise. The people that stood in were Bryan, my dad, Bryan's dad, Ryan and Kevin, Matt, Bishop Livingston, and Brother Lovell, the second counselor in our ward. Afterwards we had everyone over here for lunch, which was cinnamon rolls, baked french toast, and other goodies. It made me miss the family that wasn't able to come, like Uncle Bradley on his mission in Canada, Uncle Ben and his family in Utah, and Aunt Nicole and Uncle Jon.

Even Though He's 2...

Even though Carter is SO 2 years old, he still does the cutest things on a daily basis. Most of them involve his developing language skills. He's so hard to understand sometimes and we all get frustrated with the lack of communication. Here are two of the funny words he says... and what they really mean:
he-i-cotter: helicopter
asher: dinosaur
bread cake: banana bread
He also makes the cutest little statements and we have no idea where he gets them. For example: He will turn off a light (in a room that has tons of natural light), put his hands on his cheeks, and say "Aahhh! Scary!". Then he will turn the light back on and say, "All better" and sound quite relieved.
I just need to keep reminding myself of these cute little things for the times during the day that he is a little twirp. I just keep thinking to myself, "He'll grow out of it... this is only a stage." And then I remember that I have another one coming into the 2's right as he leaves... wow...

Such Groupies!

Last night Bryan and I went to the most bitchen concert. (verdict's still out on whether that's a bad word or not... I say no, Bryan says yes.) One of our favorite bands is Jimmy Eat World. It was beyond amazing. We have seen them several times in concert before but this time was better than ever. Bryan has loved them since he was in 7th grade and they played at a party when they were in 10th grade 0r so. He has been a faithful fan ever since. I have enjoyed them for the past 5 years or so.
Anyways, we were in the THIRD row. Close enough to see that his pick was red, he didn't have any boogers, he was sweating like a pig- and every time he flung his head around the sweat would FLY-, and even close enough to realize that Tom, the guitarist is super cute. ;) (That was mostly my observation but Bryan totally called me on it... caught me looking I guess!) They did their normal set and then came back for their encore. We were expecting 3ish songs but they went CRAZY. They probably played 12 songs. They would just decide spur of the moment what the sing next and asked the crowd what they wanted to hear. It was so very amazing!!
At one point it was just Jim on stage and he had the sound guys cut all the mikes. He sang "In the Middle" completely acoustic and had the crowd sing with him. We were even close enough that we could hear his voice even though there were no mikes on or guitars plugged in.
It was the best concert we have been to for a while. The energy was over the top, which always makes it better. Plus, they have major hometown pride. GO JIMMY!!!

Priceless!

Carter did something else last week that was SO funny. (I hope I can do it justice and that it won’t gross you out… sorry if it does.) He has seen me pump (do you know what breast pumps are? Basically, you put them on you and they put your milk in a bottle so Addi can drink from the bottle and not me but still have breast milk.) I didn’t want him to see me do this for obvious reasons. We stopped the whole seeing-mommy-maked thing when he was 18 months old. Bryan swore he wouldn’t even notice me pumping. YEAH, RIGHT! He stood there completely confused, pointing at me and saying “What’s that? Hat?” haha!
Anyways, a few days later, I had all my pumping stuff on the stairs so I would remember to take it back upstairs. While I was working on dinner I could hear Carter playing over by the stairs. I went to investigate and he had his shirt pulled up with my pumping stuff on him. It was AWESOME! I ran and got my camera and took a few pictures. Priceless!

A Family Update

The Ladies love to hold their new little cousin... for about 30 seconds and then they decide she's boring! :)







Having a little unproductive tummy-time before church.

Bryan is now in full swing at his first rotation at the Veterans Hospital. He was actually only about 100 yards away from where the two news helicopters went down. He did have enough sense to call me and tell me that the hospital was not of fire, despite what the news was reporting. I was relieved to hear that! He is loving it and enjoying having an assistant instead of having to do everything for himself. A little more like "real life", I guess.
Addilyn is as cute as ever and finally starting to pack on the pounds. While she is far from being as chunky as Carter was at her age she is getting a few rolls... just like her mommy! She is starting to coo more and sleeping 9 hours straight!!! We put her down at 8:00 when we put Carter down and she doesn't wake up until somewhere between 3-5:00, when we feed her and put her right back down until 8 or 8:30. Gotta love it!
Carter is still learning new words every day. It truly blows our minds when he says some things. Where in the world does he pick them up? I showed him ants tonight. He said hello to them several times and calls them "hants". I must not speak clearly. :) Violet is his bestest friend and when he wants to get out of his room after nap, he calls repeatedly for her. Too bad she doesn't have opposable thumbs to undo his baby gate! What a cutie!

Here's a picture of Daddy laying down with a sleeping Addilyn. Every time we give her tummy-time she falls asleep. Oh well...

Two Last Pictures

The Photographer sent a few last pictures of the kids together. They are so darling! So, I wanted to show one off.

The kids are doing great. Addilyn smiled at Bryan for the first time on Friday night. It was her 11pm feeding and she just gave him a little grin! She gave me a courtesy smile shortly thereafter but it wasn't nearly as sincere as the one she gave Bryan. For those keeping count, that is TWO children that prefer their father over their mother!! I don't blame them... he's pretty awesome!

Carter is doing a new little thing that I am sure isn't nearly as funny to people other than his parents and maybe grandparents. He puts his hand in front of his ear (not behind the way you should) and says "Shh... Listen..." in a quiet voice, stops moving, and raises his eyebrows! It's so darling. Just a mommy story. :)