Rafe Crawls

Rafe is 10 months old and is finally crawling. I shouldn't say finally, Bodie didn't even start to scoot until he was a year old. But then Jax and Creed were walking by 10 months. It goes to show, that each child is different. Rafe has 2 teeth on top and 3 on bottom, more coming. He is also feeding himself finger foods and drinks from his sippy cup. Now if he could just use a spoon and napkin that would be great.

He started crawling by doing a snake/army crawl. Good at using his elbows. Then he figured out getting on his knees. Sometimes he'll fall back into the army crawl. But he's on the move. And my camera battery has been low and apparently it slows the shutter speed. Every picture with a flash I get closed eyes. In the second picture I've trimmed Rafe's hair. If you see him don't look too close because it's a sad trim. I have to do it in steps, laying down first to get around the ears and front. Then as he plays and moves I try and get the back. It's a joke. I want it to grow just a little by his 1 year pictures.

I love this picture below. It's all boy. Playing around with shirts off. I love how Bodie has to copy everything his brothers do. He even sits and holds the video game controller like he's actually playing. He'll jump and yell at the T.V. just like Creed even though his isn't on.

I also love... how Creed came home from church the other day and had a picture he traced of his hand, with 6 fingers. Or how the only thing he can ever remember about what he did in preschool was what he ate for a snack.

or how Bodie refers to himself now as Bobo - that's our nickname for him. And while watching daddy out the window snow blowing the driveway he tells me "daddy is cute."

And how Jax is constantly talking about when he gets baptised. Or who will be there and what friends turn 8 before him or how much longer until his b-day. He's excited.

I also love how I got a little nap everyday over this 3 day weekend. And Greg was able to sleep in everyday. Oh and Greg will tell you that he made lunch and dinners for the last 2 days. It's been nice.

T time

My mom will host her grandchildren in a little tea party every-so-often. My boys LOVE it! She has a little collection of little china tea cups and Jax and Creed love to go pick which one they get to use. So they get to sit with some of their cousins (they missed the Oklahoma Williamsens) and have hot cocoa or chocolate milk in their little cups and have a nice spread of finger food to choose from. I'm sure my mom figured she'd do this fun tradition with some granddaughters but with a ratio of 8 boys to 3 girls she's hoping the boys won't mind. Last week they sure didn't. And then Greg and I were able to go to the temple on Valentines day while they "partied". Fun stuff at grandma and grandpa's house.

Gone Skiing

We love going up to Alta. We love it because it's free! They open a run after 3pm for free. Although, they recently announced it will no longer be free. But a minor charge. At least we've been able to take our boys and myself and teach for free while we could. I can't believe how much lift passes are these days.

Creed started this year. He has been 3 times so far. The second time we were able to enroll him in ski school at the Canyons. It was great. Greg put a harness on him to be able to slow him down a little. He probably doesn't need it anymore. He is doing great.

Here is Jax saying hi. It's official, he goes faster than I do now. He loves just zipping around down the mountain. I prefer to take it easy. I don't mind the speed, but I am also a chicken when going too fast down a steep hill. Call me crazy. Call me old. But I'd prefer to not wipe out and injure myself. It is pretty crowded at parts on the free run.

This Saturday we met up with Greg's sister Laura & Brett and family and she took our group picture. It was like 10 degrees at the top with the wind chill. The boys all stayed warm. I thought I was going to lose my fingers. Ouchy cold.

Jax is already talking about he and Creed going off by themselves while mom and dad teach Bodie and Rafe. We can wave at each other while on the lift. He is so funny. But it's true. Going skiing will be a fun family thing to do. A family that plays together...

Feb. 1st

I originally had January 25th scheduled for our wedding day. Then a few months before and before it was too late to reschedule some events, like the temple or confirm the location for the reception. I decided I just didn't like the "sound" of the date 1/25. And I actually really didn't want my anniversary to be in January. My birthday is in January, that is enough. And when I realized the next Saturday would be February 1st. I liked it so I called and changed it and then notified people, including Greg - ha! And I am so glad I did. It was a great wedding day weather wise and we had a better anniversary date. According to my opinion. :)

Years before I was in Las Vegas with my mom and we drove out to the LV Temple grounds one night. And the view of the city lights and strip was so pretty. I took a few pictures and then was inspired to do my engagement photo at night time, someday, with city lights in the back ground. Fast forward several years later. I was getting married, Greg was in law school in Baltimore and flew back to Utah for Thanksgiving and so we had to do all that we could while he would be in town. So the day after the holiday, we had our pictures taken. It was an insanely busy night in downtown SL, you know the lighting of Temple Sq. x-mas lights, concerts, back then the malls were still open so for Black Friday shopping. There were thousands of people. And there was a bad inversion going on. So it was not great visibility. Bummer! But I knew what I wanted. So we went to the base of Ensign Peak and used the foggy city lights as our back drop. And then headed to Temple Sq. to get some shots there as well. Too bad Greg was going in phases making his hair shorter and shorter. So for the pics it is kinda long, even he didn't like it. Oh well.

So this is us in November 2002. We were engaged and excited to be in love and all that fun stuff. This is the picture we used in our invitations.

I was so worried getting married in the winter. I wanted my pictures to be great and not ruined by my red cold nose or purple hands. And we got lucky and had the warmest record day. Didn't even "need" a jacket. I wanted one, but not needed :) Anyways, for the picture below when our photographer posed us with my veil "making a tent" I totally didn't want to do it. I thought it was cheesy and in the picture Greg and I are laughing at how stupid we thought it was. I remember muttering something to Greg. Towards the end of our reception we did the usual and cut the cake and gave each other a bite. Sweet and clean. In the picture Greg is giving a "Wahoo!" or something, and I guess I'm cleaning frosting off?
Since we hid our cars they weren't able to be decorated with "Just Married" or anything. So a few of Greg's friends took some TP and "wrapped" us. I have it on video but this was the only picture I have of it.

It was a fun day. I love going back and watching the wedding video. Greg and I just sit and smile. Happy Nine Years! Goodness where has the time gone? I have a great husband and 4 great children. I'm so glad we met, dated, realized we were falling in love, decided to get married, planned it, and did it!

desperate bath

I haven't taken a picture since Christmas. That's unheard of for me. Rare, never have I gone so long without snapping a few pics. I grabbed my camera to try and make up for it. Only during Rafe's bath time. Nothing special. I was desperate to update on our little family. He is cute and a baby so he gets the spotlight. He will sit and kick, kick, kick. Notice the water wavy and splashy. And he'll usually hold his hands together in his lap. And then Bodie always has to help. He helps by getting everything wet of course. I don't know why, but I've never bathed Rafe with any of his brothers before. Maybe I'll venture out and do the younger 2 together next time. So exciting at our house, I know.

Cool Day

Yesterday was pretty neat, it was 1/12/12. When will that happen again? And it was neat because it was my birthday! Other than changing 7 poopy diapers, don't know what's up with my younger boys? And breaking up a couple fights with the older boys it was an ok day. And I was able to get out and leave the house and did some shopping for myself.

January is close to half over and I have nothing to blog about. Um, well New Years Eve was fun. We partied and fondue'd with the Denzer and Ball families. Came home and let Jax and Creed stay up till 10pm and watched the ball drop in Times Square. They were enlightened about the holiday and were so excited. Then we were in bed ready to crash, rung in our new year and lights out by 12:07pm. Goodbye 2011, you were a good one.

In January so far... Jax has been sick with multiple things, missed a few days of school.

Creed is having the "terrible two's", I mean five's stage. Goodness me!

Bodie has recently been finally saying "Rafe" with an "f" instead of "Ree".

And Rafe is finally babbling a lot and enjoying more solid and finger foods.

Toes Recap

So I wanted to quickly show the healing process on Rafe's toes after his surgery so I can get this blog printed. Here are his little feet 2 days before surgery. (29th of October 2011).

The "before" picture.

Poor little guy. All red and swollen still. But the black stuff is the stitches and scabbing. Sorry if it's gross. His skin grafts are taking, yeah! And yes his toe nails are dirty, but hey, they've been covered for weeks.

Scabs/stitches are almost gone but still a little swollen. We did clip and clean his toe nails after these pictures. :)

And this was actually taken Jan. 11, 2012. But I am back tracking for the blog post to be in 2011. Anyways, looking good. We still keep them moisturized and his scarring will fade over time.

Happy little feet. Ready to run. Or crawl, we'll take either.

Quick Trip

A few days after Christmas my whole family took a fast trip on the Front Runner train up to Ogden and went to the Union Station museum and back again. What a bumpy ride, really? A few of us were feeling queasy on the ride up. While at the museum the kids had fun running around and playing. Bodie closed his eyes while "posing" for every picture. It was a fun time with our kids being cousins and us siblings and g-ma/g-pa.

(here we go left to right, Noah, Bodie, Creed, Jonas, Erin, then Bodie, below is Amy, Bodie, Karl, Jax, then Rafe, and my mom) Jax couldn't sit still. Upstairs, then downstairs, all over the place. It was fun for the kids.

The Christmas Post

A quick review, we had my families party on the 23rd at my parents house. It was a nice surprise to have my brother Drew, his wife Alecia and kids come all the way from Oklahoma for x-mas. We kept the secret from my parents. And boy were they surprised to see them walk in the door. And we got to meet their cute little baby Laney. I wish I had pictures to share of that day, but it was fun and enjoyable. We took a quick updated family picture, ate, played games, acted out the nativity, we had a nice long day. Then x-mas Eve we were at Greg's parents and ate, visited, opened some gifts and cleaned up and went home and put our boys to bed while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads. What are sugar plumbs? Anyways, at 7am all the boys woke at the same time. We made them wait until I fed Rafe and changed diapers then we headed to the family room after I had the lights and music on and camera's ready to go. :)

A before and after presents picture!

Bodie, Creed, and Jax all happy and excited with some favorite gifts this year.
Rafe was very entertained all morning with wrapping paper and all the activities going on.

He spent much time rolling around with this big piece of wrap. He loved the shiny bows too.
Cheesy Santa hats for everyone!
Finally the day after x-mas Jaxon was able to play with his most asked for gift the Tether Ball. He is one happy boy. Poor Greg got a nasty cold on x-mas Eve. So on Christmas he was sick. But it didn't last too long, now just a lingering cough.

Another great Christmas. A wonderful season. I love the ages of my boys and the exciting spirit they have about Christmas. Greg and I are enjoying these fun years. Jaxon even heard Santa's sleigh bells while going to bed x-mas Eve, Creed was kinda excited but kinda scared at the same time. Makes me smile. I love this time of year. A time for giving and believing.

Hung with Care

How do we already have 6 stockings? Count them, six! There are so many we couldn't really fit them on our fireplace this year. So we are using the stair railing. It's so crazy when I think about it sometimes. But at the same time, how neat is that, to see so many hanging? I especially like how Rafe's (the new one of course) is the only flat stocking and straight name tag. The rest have been hung and used with a little care. It will be a fun Christmas morning.

We've been enjoying the season so far. Drinking Eggnog, listening to the music, saw Temple Sq. lights, and this weekend some family Christmas parties. The Lorenzon grand kids sang Rudolph. We practiced with our boys the day before. And Jax was pretty good and remembered most all of it. He was the loudest one so I heard him the best. Bodie decided he didn't like being up there and slowly made his way off the stage. Passing by Jax, Creed, cousin Ryan, Lucy, and Will.