Over The River

Over the river and through the woods, to grandmothers' house we go.

We drove down Wednesday.  It was a lot better of a drive than I imagined.  Arriving in Vegas we rested and then went over to the Hansens.  Kyle was planning on spending the night, but then Dexter and I decided to join in the party.  So the guys played video games late into the night.  Us girls talked, painted nails, and stayed up late too.  This is not a good idea when you're a parent.  A baby doesn't care that you went to bed at 1:30 and they wake up at 6:30.  We were pretty tired, but excited because it was now TURKEY DAY!  Err...Thanksgiving.

First dinner was with my family (The Thompsons).  We had: Kyle, Dex, and I, Melynn, Mom & Dad, Grandma Thompson, my cousin Emily and her husband Steven, and Chris.

Everyone eating the food

He was rolling under the table

Thumb sucking

Wasn't happy to be held

After our full bellies settled a little, we went over to the Hansen dinner.  This was a lot larger.  And another round of amazing food.  Below are some of the pictures from all the activities.

The younger people table

Uncle Trevor got Dexter to take a nap...he's the baby whisperer

Playing badminton...tradition

Practicing a 6-hand piano piece

Trying to see if Dexter would ride Bueller

Turns out he doesn't like dogs, even large ones.

Found out how amazing shoe laces are

Enjoying Grandpa playing with him

Providing the entertainment during the 6-handed concert

We got to drop Dexter off with Nub Nub (aka Mama Hansen) and participate in the annual golfing.  I think I did slightly better than last year.  Improve by a stroke or two.

Trevor & Danielle, the other half of our group

The older people group

Kyle going for a putt

The other young people group

They wanted a classic golf picture

Me about to drive...it was a decent one too.

Kyle on the last hole

Just feeding the local golf course bunny.

Tyler feeding it too

Dexter got mucho lovin' from everyone

Saturday morning I took some family photos for the McQueen family.  Here's some of my favorite...the rest are on the other blog (http://whphotos.blogspot.com/2011/11/mcqueen-family.html).

Dex and I spent time with my family.  Kyle did homework.

Playing with Grandma Gayle

During some of the time at the Hansens I did get a chance to make an advent calendar.  It's super cute.  Can't wait to hang it up along with all the other Christmas decorations...CHRISTMAS!!!!  So excited for this holiday and all it brings!

Well the fun weekend came to an end.  It was so fun to be there with all the families.  To eat so much good food.  To not have to wear any sweaters.  To see my little one enjoy being spoiled by everyone.

Everyone saying goodbye...mainly to Dak, a little to us

We got home Sunday evening.  As soon as he got out of the carseat, Dexter went crazy.  He was able to turn around, roll, and face-crawl (cause he likes to reach and push) like never before.  Too bad he didn't do this in front of anyone while down there.

Wearing leg warmers cause it was cold in the house, and all the rolling and crawling made his legs rashy

Every now and then (very rare) I get a streak of energy and during his naps I want to do something.  Today was one of those.  So I made some liquid laundry detergent, caramel apples, and some applesauce-cinnamon ornaments.  They are my favorite ornaments from when I was a kid, and I love how they smell.  We'll see how these experiments all turn out.

Only 4 ingredients to make your detergent, and it was pretty easy.

Trudge

You know when you're excited about something so the time before it goes really slow?  Well that was this past week.  It also always happens that tons of things pop up too.  But the slow time doesn't help the tons of things, in fact it goes against it.

What's this cold, white stuff?  

I don't like it.

Well it went slow mainly cause I felt like I hardly saw Kyle on most days.  He was quite the hermit.  Even on Saturday he went in to school for the whole day.
We did have a date Friday.  Eating ice cream and watching the Green Lantern.  He surfaced Sunday to spend time with us.

Kyle found the wiffle balls and kooshes for Dex

Trying to hold as many as he can

I spent my days trying to make a Christmas present.  Going on walks.  Trying to figure out Christmas gifts for people, and making a list for Kyle to get me.  Cleaning.  And just trying to get ready for Thanksgiving!!!!

Built a mini fort with Dad on Sunday

I just know Thanksgiving weekend will go so fast.  It'll be the opposite of this last week.  I'm really looking forward to it. And there's an extra special reason...I get to eat everything!  There can't be enough exclamation points for that. I figure I've been wheat free for 3 months and can indulge myself this weekend.  Mmmm.  Bring on the cookies, pies, stuffing, bread (glorious good tasting normal bread), crackers, and so much more.  The weight I've lost, will probably resurface...but I'm okay with that.

The rolling machine has figured out how to get places...the blue line represents a trip he took on  Monday

I forgot to finish to do the segment of things I'm thankful for last time so it'll be added to this time (and again in no particular order):
10.  Old Friends - not old as in elderly, as in you can start any random conversation, have tons of inside jokes and memories together.
11.  New Friends - help you out and be close by
12.  Rain - such beauty and cleanses the earth.  Thunderstorms with downpours are by far the best of them.
13.  Electricity - don't know how to live longer than a day without it.
14.  Internet - keeps us in contact with family via video chats, look up amazing recipes or ideas, find out interesting facts
15.  Extended Family - my parents, siblings and in-laws are all so AWESOME
16.  Heat - nice to be able to watch from my window in my warm house when the snow falls
17.  Cameras - that I can take pictures and keep these memories forever
18.  Music - playing and listening to it
19.  Missions - to those serving or who have.  Helping and finding those who are lost.
20.  Vegas - where I grew up, love, and that it's only 8 hours away to family.  It could be a lot longer.
21.  Only Intolerant - grateful that the wheat thing is only intolerance.  People who are allergic or have Celiac's have it a lot harder.  I can mess up, I can be a little more free than those allergic.
22.  Holidays - all of them which give us an opportunity to spend it with family and friends
23.  The beauty of the earth - I love pictures of natural beauty.  And I know those pictures give it no justice. There's always beauty around us, even when you're in a brown desert.

Had some fun with my laptop's camera.

King Me

Kyle spent most of the week and Saturday just chugging through homework.  He did have take a moment to perform in the stake's roadshow as the King.  Dexter and I sat in the audience watching him.  He did a good job.  Most the shows were really good too.  For how little sleep Dak got he did good throughout the performances.

Sorry for bad quality, this was taken on the old, temporary phone.  It's supposed to be Kyle dressed as a king.  I sewed his cape and made his accessories.

Dak did eventually have his fever break.  The stuffy/runny nose has pretty much stayed.  He definitely hates the booger sucker and anything near his nose.  On our walks we do try to bundle up good.  This is what he looks like.

In his gear

Sometimes I think it may be a little overkill, but it's better to be warm then cold.
 
By the end of Saturday Kyle did catch up on his homework.  This has made the week thus far a little more relaxed and see him a little more.  He still has final projects with all his classes, so he still had to do work.
I've just been shopping a little for Christmas stuff.  Buying stuff to make presents.  That's basically all I've been up to.  That and trying to stay on top of cleaning the house.  I'd rather play with Dexter or nap over that.  And usually I do.  Naps are wonderful.

Bathtime is also fun.  He likes to chill in his diaper and robe.

Also because Kyle's been so busy I haven't been feeding Dak with a bottle.  It's just easier.  Well this week I tried to feed it to him again...and nope.  Wouldn't eat.  Oh he liked to play with the bottle.

Drinking from it?

Nope, just playing with it

But he just wouldn't suck out of it.  Hopefully I can convince him to do it eat out of it again...otherwise some trips coming up might be not as easy as they have been.

Pulled it down on top of him, didn't get mad just...

...rolled over, and played with it a whole new way

As for crawling...not yet (thank goodness).  However, he tries really hard and is doing a ton of pushups.

Well Kyle ordered a new little LCD screen.  Took apart the phone.  Put it back together with the new screen. And...
It worked!  We were stoked.  Saved a bunch of money not having to buy a brand new one in the future.

Ya Got Trouble

We got Trouble
Right here in Clearfield City. 
Trouble with a capital "T"
And that rhymes with "D" and that stands for Dex!


Yes I'm a nerd, and love musicals so I thought I'd put it to our own story.

So what's the trouble?  Well various things, but here's the main one and don't mind the talking:

Did you see that?  He can almost crawl.  That's the trouble.  We thought it was hilarious that he'll only use the one foot, and put the other one behind it.  Tony from P90X would be impressed with his skills and pushups.

Using the force?

Well I was definitely ready for Sunday, it was nice to have Kyle all day.  By Thursday at a RS meeting my brain was a little foggy feeling.  Taking care of Dex all day and night by myself is what wore me out.  Kyle's just been busy busy busy.  This past week he worked on assignments until 10 or 11 almost each night, and starts on them in the morning.  Then he also is helping out at the roadshow, so that took him away for a while.  I try not to ask him to help out so much because he still has a TON of projects to do, and I can see and he tells me of all he has to do.  He's worried that he won't even get much of a Thanksgiving break with everything.  He at least takes Sundays off to regroup himself.  Next semester he's taking only 3 courses, so hopefully it'll relax a bit.  They aren't bad days, just long days one after another for both of us.

Mom folds 10, Dex unfolds 3...eventually it gets folded

Friday I did manage to sneak out on a date with him.  We went over to Barnes & Noble.  I had gotten a sweet 50% off coupon.  So I bought the Elf On the Shelf and then something for Christmas for Dex.  I had seen Elf on the Shelf, and knew a few people who did it.  It's a cute story and a tradition I want to start.  After wandering around forever and looking at a ton of books, we finished our date by getting some dinner.  The bookstore reminded me of how awesome they are, and how much fun Dak would have looking around...when he's older. 

He like to play with the stuffed animal and give them sounds, I like to spy on this cute stuff from the door

The last 24 hours have been a bummer.  Dex was grumpy for unknown reasons (but probably for the last item here) all yesterday afternoon.  He cheered up a bit when Kyle took a break and played ball with us.  After this though we noticed that our screen to our phone was broken.  We can't see anything anymore.  Bummer.  No one dropped, sat on, or did anything that we can recall.  Hopefully, we can fix it.  Then this morning when Dexter woke up his head was hot, and his nose was super stuffy.  Turns out he has a fever.  So he's gotten sick for the first time.  Poor guy, I'm sure it's not fun.  He just wants attention and to be held tons.  Maybe he'll be a cuddler, but I doubt it.  He's too wiggly of a kid for that.  

Rolling the ball to dad

There are bright moments to the days.  He eats a TON.  Squash is his favorite and says mmmMmm.  Green beans and zuchinni are okay.  I make my own food otherwise we'd be buying a lot of jars.  We're prepping him for Thanksgiving food...green beans, squash, sweet potatoes.  Some days he'll play by himself for a long time.  We take walks and come back with red noses and cheeks.  So excited for Christmas.  Shopping is hard cause I want to buy Dexter tons of stuff, but have to stick to our budget.  And as always many awesome ideas for homemade gifts, but I know I don't have time to make.

Really enjoying it

We also got the first snow storm.  An inch or two when we woke up.  I tried to take a picture while on a walk...but I forgot the memory card.  Ooops.  It was really beautiful.

I've seen lots of people posting things they are grateful for each day.  Here's mine for up until now (in no particular order):
1.  My family - Kyle who makes me laugh and loves me, Dexter who with smiles and giggles will brighten my day

2.  Kyle's job - that it is stable, and has allowed him to go back and get his Master's

3.  Being a stay-at-home mom - definitely has moments where i wish of more than feeding, and changing diapers but I can't think of a better job.

4.  Jesus Christ - my Lord and Savior who died for me.

5.  The gospel - how it helps us to be more like Christ and to lead us back to live with our Heavenly Father

6.  Heavenly Father - who loves and blesses me with everything

7.  A home - not just a house, but a home.  A place where we love being together.  And it keeps us warm.  

8.  A car - I do tend to walk places, but having a car is nice for further.  Plus, it helps us drive to our friends and family who live far away.

9.  Food - Nourishment and tastes oh so wonderful - it's lunch time so was on my mind.