Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving was great this year! We had dinner with Jared's family the Wednesday before and then dinner with my family the day of. Before going to dinner with my family, Brody and I made Thanksgiving Turkey cookies. They were super easy to make and so super cute! These will definitely be a new tradition in our house. Then, to top it all off, we got a visit from Melissa, Sorren and baby Owen!! I love getting to see them but it doesn't happen often enough so it really made the holiday special! Owen is one of the happiest babies I have ever been around and my boys just loved him! It's so fun to watch Chase with babies because he's so surprisingly gentle with them (hey, his nickname isn't "monster" for nothin').

Aren't these the cutest cookies ever?!

(pillsbury.com)

Brittany, Lindy, Tyler, my Mom, Brody, Chase, Me, and Jared

Chase giving his famous wink

Crazy buddies!

Owen and Chase checking each other out

I really wish we lived closer so our kids could grow up with each other!

Aviation Nation

Nellis Air Force Base puts on the best air show! This year it was on November 15th. Jared took Brody (I stayed home with Chase because I thought the noise would be a bit too much and he doesn't keep ear phones on to block out the loudness) and they had a great time. The only bad thing was that it was FREEZING!! The wind was blowing like crazy so that was rough, but good, quality time for Jared and Brody!

On the bus from the Speedway parking lot to the base. Brody remembered this from last year and couldn't wait to ride the bus again! I think this is one of the highlights of the day :)

Brody is there somewhere...this thing is huge!!

Not a crash! Demo of bomb drops. Jared said this was the only time they were warm because the heat that came off of this was really intense.

All bundled up with his head phones, such a handsome boy!

Mr. Independent

Randomly one day, Chase (20 months old) yells out, "POOP!" I was completely caught off guard since I hadn't even really thought about trying to potty train him yet. So, I took off his diaper and put him on the toilet, not expecting him to go. I was so surprised when he sat there and, well, went poop! (This is such a great post...talking about poop!) I remember trying to train Brody and he would pee in the toilet, no problem, but pooping was off limits for him for the longest time! I guess that's why I was shocked when Chase did it for the first time even sitting on the toilet. So I yell to Jared to get the camera because of course this huge step has to be photographed and blogged about! :)

Yay for Chase!!

Carp!

I took the boys down to the BC Marina on Veteran's Day to feed the carp. Brody has been before but this was Chase's first time. I always get so scared that one of them is going to fall in and that I'm going to have to jump in after them and get covered in these nasty things! But, they are kind of cool to watch, going all crazy for anything that is thrown their way!

Getting ready to throw them some old food from home.

I love this one because Chase looks like he's thinking, "What the heck are those things?!"

Chase would throw the popcorn one kernel at a time!

So gross!!

These cute little ducks kept walking up to Brody, trying to get him to feed them! They were so close!

Eagle Valley

We went camping for the first time on November 7th in Eagle Valley. My dad goes there often so he invited us to go along with him. For Brody's birthday, my dad had gotten him a fishing pole so he told him that he would take him camping and teach him how to fish. We left town on a Friday afternoon and made the 3 hour drive up north and stayed until Sunday afternoon. We can't wait to go back!

Our cute little cabin. I was a bit leery of it at first but it was actually really nice and worked for us perfectly!

Grandpa trying to show Brody and Jared how to bait a hook. Can you believe that Jared had never been fishing before?!

Brody and Chase waiting for a fish...it never came :(

My handsome hubby :)

This picture is deceiving because it makes it look like there was a fish on the line...but there wasn't.

Chase gives the best squeezes!

My triplets!

Chase peeking out of Grandpa's camper.

This is just about the sweetest dog, no wonder her name is Baby! Chase kept sticking his hands in Baby's face so that she could lick them. He would just crack up every time!

All snuggled up and so cute! It was FREEZING as soon as the sun went down!

Brody and Grandpa found the perfect hot dog roasting stick while fishing. Brody was super excited to cook his own hot dog!

Brody is a good cook!

Sunday morning we went back to try to catch a fish but no luck again. So Brody took Chase exploring.

Chase took a spill...luckily his big bro was there to help him up!

Getting further away from Mom and Dad. Brody thought he was pretty big stuff taking Chase all on his own. What a good big brother!

Copy Cat

Jared and I were standing in the kitchen talking, when Chase strolls in and stands like this, right next to Jared! I was dying laughing!!

Trick or Treat

Brody and Chase always trick or treat with their cousins, Alyssa and Jacob. I love being able to do this with family, it's such great memories! Other trick or treaters included myself, Jared, my mom, my aunt, and my cousin Jessica. Brody was Snake Eyes from GI Joe and Chase was a spider. I loved Chase's costume, he was so cute running around in his chubby spider suit!

The 4 amigos: Brody, Jacob, Alyssa and Chase

Brody in full-on Ninja mode!

See how adorable my chubby spider was?!!

Chase did not want to slow down for pictures! There was more candy to be gotten!!


Batman, Snake Eyes, Chubby Spider and Snow White

Alyssa always takes such good care of Chase! I turned around and saw her walking with him and holding his hand...melt my heart!

I really wish this picture had turned out better. There was a house totally done up with spider webs so Jared held Chase up in it. I absolutely love his HUGE smile!!

"It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"

Every year, our family really looks forward to the pumpkin patch. It gets us ready for the holidays and we just have tons of fun! This year, we managed to get to 2 different ones. The first was more of a carnival, with a little pumpkin patch in the corner, and the second was a bigger pumpkin patch with a few rides. I just love watching the boys wander through the pumpkins and have a blast with the rides!

So Brody really wanted to ride this little roller coaster. I didn't think he was serious but he got on it. He was all excited until it was time to start. I love this picture because you can see on his face that he's not too sure about his decision. As soon as it took off, he started screaming! He only made it one lap! The lady stopped the ride and gave him his tickets back! Poor guy, he's probably scarred for life now!

A much more laid back pony ride is more his speed!

Chase seriously can't take a picture without him winking! It's cute at first but then frustrating when I'm trying to take a nice picture of him! (isn't his Halloween hoody the cutest?!)

Merry-go-rounds make me so dizzy! I sat this one out

Doing some tricks on this sweet bike!

Brody insisted on going in this so-called fun house. It was so disgustingly dirty! I basically bathed him in hand sanitizer when he got out. Jared said that it was the worst ticket spending he had ever done...not such a fun house!

I love this picture because of Brody. He is always putting his arm around Chase for pictures. He loves him so much!

Pumpkin Patch #2

This was the 2nd pumpkin patch that we went to. See, I told you we love a good pumpkin patch! Good, cheap fun!

I could not believe that Brody wanted to ride these spinning bath tub things! He not only rode it, but totally loved it!!

Chase being gentle with the bunny in the petting zoo.

Brody had to chase this one down just to pet it!

Brody trying to get up the giant inflatable slide all by himself.

Dad had to help, but it looks like he didn't mind :)

Chase's face cracks me up in this one!! I promise that he really did like the swings!

See, much better!

Jared figured out how to keep Chase still for a picture: trap him under a pumpkin!