< 4 weeks

Not that I am counting down the days, but.... less than 4 weeks to go! Can't wait to meet this little one, but terrified to have 2!

Tree shopping

This year has been a little different for Max. When we went to SG for Thanksgiving he was still having anxiety about me being in the hospital. I thought it would be good for Max & I to go with my parents to get a Christmas Tree from the Kaibab. Since I was little they have always gone to cut thier own tree (and a few extras).

Playing in all the snow

Cutting the tree

Two perfect trees to take home

Undressing for the ride back to N&P's house. It was a long ride and of course Max refused to sleep but it was worth it. Max loved running and playing in the snow and helping Papa pick and cut the perfect tree.

Decorating the tree with "snow and snowflakes". He was so excited to help Nan. The day after we got home from SG Max was playing with his tools and said "Momma, I go get Papa a Christmas Tree", he proceeded to kneel down by our tree with his saw and "cut" it down just like Papa. Thanks for the memories!

Thanksgiving

It was so nice to be with family for the holidays. Spent with the Stucki Family, G&G Esplin and Misty. We had a low key meal with lots of visiting and fun and don't forget all the movies. I was just so glad to be out of bed and eating Gma's amazing rolls, it isn't Thanksgiving without them!

Britt, Tom and Emma (nice product placement Tom)

Chloe with olives on the fingers...can't be a kid without it.

Lyvi

Tia & Lee (Xav's had a nap through the whole meal, he is such a sweet boy...picture below)

Way-nerd and Marc

Max & Clu (notice Max's fat lip, he took a dive off a barstool and got a nice gash)

"I'n up here"

We had TONS of fun while in SG for Thanksgiving. We helped Nan & Papa put up the Christmas decorations. Max went outside to help with the outdoor lights, Papa was on the roof while Nan was holding the lights. All of a sudden my Dad (Papa) turns and says oh no! Then my mom (Nan) hears "I'n up here". My parents forgot to take the ladder down and Max quietly climbed the ladder, then onto the roof to find Papa.

We can laugh about it because he didn't get hurt (thank goodness) he is a quick little bugger.
*More of all the weekend fun will follow (eventually).

Love The Back Seat Giggles...

As we started on our way to Park City, our Max asked for a request..."Donkey Momma? Should we listen to the donkey Momma?"  Clu didn't quite understand but I had loaded the Morman Tab with Brian Stokes Mitchell CD Album, "Ring Christmas Bells" a few days earlier.  He has enjoyed listening to the wonderful Christmas songs but has kept me busy keeping the music on track #4 "The Friendly Beasts".  I love listening to it too and because of the wonderful sounds that come from the back seat.  I'll have to record Max's little giggles when this song is playing.  I hope you enjoy his "Donkey song".

GRATEFUL!

I heard this song today and cried (pregnancy hormones don't help). I thought of all that I have been given and how blessed I am. The quick reflection that it gave, helped me refocus my thoughts and remember that... I have SO much to be grateful for and shouldn't be complaining. We are so lucky to have our little Max and this little one join our family (soon) and are truly GRATEFUL at this time in our lives!

I guess this song is very fitting as Thanksgiving is just a week away.

P.S. Clu and I saw this performace in person; it was amazing! He is an excellent performer and is definitely a "last" leading man.

Still Cooking

I have had a lot of questions about the baby and this is the easiest/fastest way to let everyone know.
About a week ago "baby sister" (as Max calls her) thought she might want to come early, at about 30 weeks. I had been sick with what we thought was a stomach bug for over 5 days and couldn't shake it . I received IV fluids two days in a row hoping that would help, but it just kept getting worse. Finally the doctor said that I needed to go to the hospital. When I got there I had no idea I had gone into labor, I was so sick with stomach problems. No one cared the real reason I was there because they were concerned about the baby and her almost early arrival. It was pretty scary for awhile and they were preparing to move me to another hospital that delivers babies younger than 32 weeks (there are only two in the SL Valley). After a couple of hours they were able to stop the contractions and work on finding what was causing the pain, sickness and pre-term labor. They ran a million tests and decided that it was my previous stomach problems acting up again. They gave the baby a shot in case she does come early. After two days in the hospital they sent me home with some drugs (they don't advise surgery right now) and to be on bedrest. Our amazing families and friends have come to the rescue and been SO helpful. The baby is doing well and is still cooking in the oven, where we hope to keep her for a couple more weeks.

Thank you to everyone! We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

Trimming the Tree

I am SO glad that we put the Christmas decorations up early! With the events from this past week, I don't know if we would have even had time the rest of the season to put them up and prepare for everything else. Needless to say Max was thrilled with all the decorations and loved helping to decorate the tree. It melts my heart to watch his excitement about the whole thing. For days after he would hear a noise and think that it was Santa.
Here are some of the highlights decorating the tree:

Not sure where this "cheese" came from but he was happy to help with the tree

The boys decorating the tree. I didn't get to help, but I did get to watch. They are such good sports!

Max's section, I am not sure how he looped all those decorations together but it was pretty funny and cool.

The best part, the star at the top of the tree

For your viewing pleasure, Max singing and decorating the tree:

Dear Santa,

If you didn't know, Clu is a HUGE Christmas fan and has quickly instilled that in Max. They sing Christmas songs year round and Max will sing some of them by himself. I am sure that you won't be surprised to know that we have already written letters to Santa and the elves have come to pick them up. Max was pretty excited when Ginger the Elf left him a "Go Utes" shirt in exchange for his letter.
Today we put up our Christmas decorations. Max was into every box and decoration which made it more exciting and take triple the normal amount of time. He loved finding the Little People Nativity . It was a real treat to get explain all the pieces to him this year. He has had this since his first Christmas and it never disappoints.
He really wanted to help daddy put the lights on the tree but was not thrilled when he realized how long it was taking.
With Thanksgiving and Christmas fast approaching, so is Baby Sister... let's hope we are ready. Today Max and I were reading Christmas stories on the couch and he was sick of being poked by her (she was moving around in my tummy) and so he started poking her back. He thought it was pretty funny that she was responding to him. Big trouble might be in store with these two.

Halloween 2010

It rained pretty hard on Halloween and Max is not a huge treat fan, so this Halloween he trick-or-treated to G&G Snow's and to Nana Deb's. He was thrilled with the candy that he got (and hasn't even eaten it all).  

He loved his costume and wanted to wear it day after day.

 

 I think his favorite part was spending the afternoon with G&G Snow and playing with all the toys.

Witchelina

brings back fond memories from growing up and even when I nannied Will and Sam. She came to visit Max this year and brought some great gifts to our good little gobblin. I hope Max will have lots of great memories of her and how fun Halloween is.

Witchelina brought pom poms and wire to make catepillars and spiders.

The next time she came she brought this Hotwheels track (HUGE HIT)!

Racing down the stairs right after he got the track.

Racing on the track with a little help from Daddy. Don't you love all the jumps aka shoes and tunnels aka boxes. We know how to have fun at our house.

While you watch this movie please note the yellow car that he is playing with, it is missing a wheel but he loves it anyway. This kid loves his cars!

Side note: We bought Max new jammies and thought that he would love the pj's with cars on them. They were too small so I took them back to the store, this time Max was with me and he INSISTED that we buy the snowman jammies instead of the car pj's. He must know right where he belongs.

Gardner Village

We love to go on the "witch hunt" at Gardner Village and this year was no exception. Max wandered the streets looking at all the people and the witches.
 

I loved to hear him tell us about the witches and what they were doing. Kids are so brutally honest!

Love this picture! We all know what he is looking at.

We were so lucky to have Nana Deb join us she was such a sport after a long day at school to come and trek around. We forgot to turn the camera on Deb so that we could have a picture with her!

The night we went was Witches Night Out and was extermely busy, but we had fun anyway. Thanks for coming Deb we loved having you there!

Another Hobby...

Well ever since Clu took this job in Provo...he has quickly picked up a new sport/hobby.  (it maybe second on his list...we all know that golf is #1) Before we were married he played racquetball a few times, however, he now he plays almost EVERYDAY!  He is determined to not let sport this get the best of him.  He now meets with his coach (yes i said COACH) every Tuesday and Thursday early morning for an hour. His coach (his required pay is a can of diet coke...bet Aunt Deb wants that job too!)  is an open player who happens to work in the same building with him.  He also plays twice a week for an hour and a half each time with co-workers. You would think that 5 to 6 hours during the week in the morning or day would be enough.  Oh NO!  Not Mr. Snow!  After tucking his little guy to bed, he changes into his gym clothes and is off to the racquetball courts at Gold's Gym!  Practicing another 2 hours at night!  This guy is obsesed but I'm glad he has lots of fun.  I think he's nuts but I love him and Max sure loves to run around the house with his racquets or throwing racquetballs. I'm sure Max will being learning to play a lot of sports...looks like racquetball will be on his future list now!

Finally

I finally got Max's two year old pictures that were taken back in July. He was so naughty on the shoot that I wasn't sure there would be any to choose from. The pictures were taken in PV. Two of the locations included Nana Deb's cabin where she let us borrow some of the old toy trucks and at one of G&G Stucki's cabins.

SG

It has been awhile since we have been to SG and were planning on heading down for the DSC Homecoming where G&G E were being honored and Gpa Snow was the Grand Marshall. My parents came up the weekend before and so Max and I decided to head down a week earlier with them and leave our best buddy at home with a LONG LONG list of "honey do's". He joineed us the following weekend for the homecoming festivities. Max and I stayed busy playing with cousins, visiting family, watching Papa in the senior games, helping Nanny at school and playing with Stevie (to name just a few).


On the way down we stopped at the Red Barn for apples and they let Max get on the tractor. He wasn't quite sure in the pictures but was happy to talk about it all the way down. Another pit-stop was to the cabin in PV to check on the horses, cows and kittens. He followed Papa around "helping" with the "work" while my mom and I visited and had refreshing PV water. He was in Heaven and can't wait to go back. He is still talking about it!

Papa and his team won the bronze medal in the Senior Games, while Max cheered him on. He would say "Aw, they missed it" or "Don't push, that's not nice". They had quite the team this year for 3 on 3. They only had 3 players: my dad who has bad arthritis in his hands and is a cancer survivor, and the two other players who have had cancer, heart attack and head injuries. I guess that is the Senior Games for ya.

 

Being Max's first parade we couldn't wait to watch him in action. The parade was a huge hit, he thought it was so cool that all you had to do was stand there and they would throw you candy. He didn't want to eat it, just collect it. He was thrilled to see G&G Snow and G&G E riding in cool cars at the beginning of the parade and Uncle Marcus throwing the football with his broken arm bringing up the rear. It was a real treat!

 

It was such an honor to watch G&G Esplin receive recognition for everything they have done for DSC. I remember being young and going to visit them at the college and watching both of them work and volunteer. Education is so important to them, they encouraged and helped many kids finish school. They made huge impacts in many students’ lives (including mine) and their legacy will be felt for generations to come!