Below Freezing

He's done!  Kyle's last homework assignment got turned in Thursday night.  So unless he somehow flunks the classes he was getting A's in, then his diploma will be coming our way.  He chose this time not to walk for graduation.

On Friday he slept in, and just enjoyed his day off.  We also had Tyler and Audrey come visit us.  Well the purpose wasn't for us, but for a person online that Audrey met who lives in Wyoming.  But she dragged Tyler with her. While she was getting ready and on her date, Tyler spent lots of time with us.

We did have a small celebration of going out to lunch.  Even Audrey's Wyoming guy joined us.  We tried some shopping, but that was a gigantic, idiotic mistake.  Parking lots and lines were so full and long.

So now that school is done, Kyle is back to work.  I must say I miss him in the mornings, he used to help out a bunch before catching trains.  By Dex's noon nap I'm definitely needing my own nap.  He's a crazy active boy stuck inside.

Speaking of, it's been bitterly cold.  Like 20 degrees, but noted as feels like 12 degrees on the weather channels.  It's horrible.  I tried walking to the gym (Kyle has the car) and thought I had bundled him and I up enough.  Halfway through Dak starts screaming his head off, and we run back home.  His little hands had become so cold and frozen.  I felt like such a bad mom.

No more gym time, until it warms up to above freezing.  Excited for Christmas though!  Only a few more days.

Winter Blues Starting

I didn't write last week.  But there was a good excuse.  Throwing up with chills and muscle aches (a.k.a. the stomach flu) hit me and I could barely do anything for a couple days.  Bleh.  So glad that it's gone now.  The previous week nothing much happened.  It's in those final weeks (now just one day!) of Kyle's semester.  So he busies himself with projects.  He actually had the stomach flu earlier in the week, and as far as we know Dak never got it.

Dad taking a break and playing with us.

To help get Dexter away in the evenings get away from Kyle we finished up some of our Christmas shopping and just go window shopping too.  The stores weren't that busy which was nice.  And it's really easy to take an hour through Target, just hard not to buy anything.

Some awesome fog that rolled in on one of the really chilly mornings

It's only the beginning of winter and I'm starting to go crazy with how much Dex and I have to stay inside.  It'll be sunny and look so nice outside, but open that door and Bam!  cold.  It'll be a long winter.  But I'm trying new things to help liven up the day, and on those "warmer" days we do play outside.  Dak loves kicking a soccer ball around, or throwing other ones around.

Making silly faces

Beans and rice (will not do again)

Bath with glowsticks - awesome, and he had so much fun

New puzzle magnet books, finally can match them.  Just need to get him to fit them in the slots.

Figured out how to take off his PJ's.

Such a happy crazy boy.

Another thing we do is have him run around to get his energy out.  He loves to sprint down our hallway, and crash into dad.  Not mom, we tried, only dad.


Also...did you notice way up there.  Kyle only has one day (today) and then he's done with his projects and is a Master's graduate!!

Be Thankful

Getting everything all ready, packed, and cleaned up (kind of) before leaving on the trip was all left to me.  It was a little stressful, but I finally made it out with Dak to go pick up Kyle in SLC.  Although right before I left there had been something stuck in the sink's garbage disposal...but again in a rush and couldn't fix it right then.  The rest of that story will come later.

Thanksgiving morning.  Started with my family taking family pictures and then having a delicious dinner.  Here's some shots from our outing.  I thought it was some of my best SOOC photography shots.  

The place we shot at even had a really fun playground that Dak enjoyed running around and being crazy...along with some of the adults.

After stuffing ourselves for lunch, we drove to our next dinner.  

Helping with the cooking and cleaning of the Thanksgiving dinner.

It was at Aunt Jana's and Uncle Wes' house with much of family there.  We ate a ton more.  And afterwards played the usual badminton, and even music concerts with piano and singing.

Playing on the McQueen's team.

He knew to throw the birdie and try to hit it with the racket.

Family badminton group shot!

Last picture before my camera died for the rest of the weekend....Tyler and his girlfriend Sam.

Black Friday was spent sleeping in...well not really.  But more than the people who go shopping.  We went and played our annual golfing with the Hansen clan.  Kyle and I each improved our scores from previous years.  We rested up a bit, then headed over to the Ingram's again for leftovers and more chill time.

Saturday was my family's day.  We just chilled.  Then had a nice drive back on Sunday, although it was incredibly busy on the highway back.  One gas station had a 20 minute wait for the bathrooms.  Oy.

Oh now back to that thing stuck in the disposal.  Turns out I had forgotten to tell Kyle about it.  So he comes up stairs Tuesday morning saying the disposal is broken.  After many attempts to fix and reset it, nothing was working.  Consulted with a few people.  Waited for Kyle to get home, and with him cranking the bottom.  Me using a screwdriver pick we finally recovered what was extremely wedged in.  It was a housekey that Dak had somehow slipped in without us knowing.  Key priveleges are now revoked.

Kyle is again busy with projects.  Basically he has one due each week over the next three weeks.  No breaks for him.  I've resorted to taking Dexter shopping in the evening just so Kyle can focus.  My focus is to not spend money while wandering around Target for an hour or more.

Today I showed Dexter not just how fun leaves are, but how fun piled up leaves are.  We loved jumping, rolling in, and tossing these leaves.  Which then I raked up into the piles over and over.

Rolling in the leaves.

Tromping and jumping in the leaves.

And to give Kyle a quick break from work we played a round of Nerf war.

Taking an aim at me.

Clean Up the House

Well  it's crunch time for Kyle.  So I was happy to see him for a date night.  We grabbed some hot chocolate from the new 7-11 on our corner, and watched Battleship.  He did take a break Saturday.  However, that happened because I gave up trying to keep Dex away from him.  Productivity suffers a 99% drop when a little guy is constantly around you.

Dex is a sneaky guy, and daddy is his favorite person.  He'll shout "Kyle" at the bottom of the stairs to call him down...cause I do that.  Or he'll say "daddy" and run until he finds him. Sometimes so quick before I realize it.

But Kyle's LAST semester will be over in just 3.5 weeks.  But he has 3 things due during the week after Thanksgiving.  So he's trying to finish as much as he can so he can enjoy the long holiday weekend.  He's had some late nights at school and home.

I wanted to take a picture but I figured it'd be ridiculous.  But I was proud of myself yesterday for having the entire house clean.  All rooms vacuumed  all bathrooms scrubbed, laundry caught up and it felt so nice!  And Dak was even awake during this.

Well I'm looking forward to eating mass amounts of meals.  I even did my workouts so I don't have to feel as guilty eating all the delicious stuff.  Everyone, Happy Thanksgiving!

Mr. Sandman

Well the main encouragement for finally doing that zoo trip was a nice snowstorm was supposed to come in.
And it did.  It snowed/rained for 2 days, plus a little.  It was beautiful to wake up to Saturday and Sunday morning.  Winter wonderlands.  Winter is here.

Friday date night even included driving through the snow, to go eat at Rumbi Island and go to Petco.  Dak had fun looking at the furry little animals.

I'm slowly getting used to Young Women's.  Taught my second lesson, and it went better than my first.  And on Tuesday I helped with my first activity.  We made pies, ice cream and made grateful journals.  It was fun, but the girls were a little shy talking with me.  Not their friends though.

Well I'm super excited for the holidays.  Already planning Christmas gifts.  Dex has actually had his bought since September because there was a great deal on the things we wanted to get him.  Now to get all the family members.  Other than presents, I'm excited for family time and lots of food.

Oh and this morning Dex did something I didn't think would ever happen.  He fell asleep.  This kid can be up 5 hours past nap or bedtimes and he won't crash.  Today it was quiet and I looked at the couch.  At first I thought he was resting his head, but since it didn't come up 2 seconds later I knew he was asleep.  It was funny to watch with his legs and arms twitching....but Dexter really was dead asleep.

Autumn Leaves

Although we got dressed up for the Trunk or Treat, we didn't for passing out candy on the actual Halloween night. We watched TV while waiting for kids to ring the doorbell.  Dexter did not like this.  Each time we gave out candy to the crowd he would scream because we wouldn't give him the candy.

He washed the dishes for at least 30 minutes.

Only non-breakable stuff of course, but he enjoyed it tons.

Saturday morning Kyle made an antenna for our TV.  It picks up all the channels without having to mess with it in between.  He's my amazing nerd.  We also went to the park so I could take some 18 month pics of Dak, and enjoy the lingering warm fall weather.

Only part of the herd that came near us once they saw our food.

Wasn't afraid of the ducks or geese, and had fun throwing them food.

Swish!

He gets a strut when he walks

Smiley face on the swing

Each day I've been trying to spend time outdoors with him.  I love the warm sunshine and a smiling crazy little boy. Dak even noticed and started playing with the leaves.

Rolling around in crunchy leaves

Such a handsome boy

Throwing leaves

On Thursday I took Dexter to the zoo!  We invited a friend and her kids to come with us.  It was nice to have the other kids to play with Dexter, and a mom to talk with.  The new exhibit had otters, seals, and sea lions.  All three kids loved watching them from above and then underwater.  Dexter also loved the snow leopard as there was a baby one who was actually playing around.  He loved saying his "roar" to it.  By the end of the time walking around and seeing all the animals he was pooped out.

Right up close to the elephants

Watching the playful river otters

Brinlee and Dexter.  She was watching out for him since he was putting his hand through the gate.

The boys loved watching the harbor seals

It was hard to drag the kids from this spot.

Pooped out after.

Good thing we fit in as much warm sunshine as we can.  Winter has come.

Pickup Man

Well that snow melted away within a day, and the most beautiful weather came back.  Dex and I have been going outside tons just to soak up the last of the sunshine and warmth.

Friday night we had a game night at Riah's.  Along with our little family and Riah, there was also Danielle & Trevor, and Melynn.  We had fun eating some delicious snacks and then playing games.  We did some Yam Slam, You've Been Sentenced and Magic Labyrinth.

Prepping and eating the snacks.

The guys tended the craziest one of them.

Our awesome sentences.

Me and my sister.

Riah took all the pictures so none of her in these.

I needed some changes to my living room and so Kyle helped me change it all up.  It took quite a lot time during the day, but I like it.  Except for now our TV doesn't pick up channels.  We ended with a date of watching Snow White and the Hunstman.  It was a good movie.  Throughout the whole movie I watched Kristen Stewart's face.  Since she gets made fun of a lot for no emotion.  And to me this movie made it true.

Anyways...oh I taught my first lesson in Mia Maids.  All week I had been nervous, and reading tons of stuff. It went okay.  I was glad a member of our ward who is also in the stake YW was there, because the 3 girls who were there were silent.  The other sister would help tell stories or just give inputs.  I think it'll just take us some time for them and me to warm up to better lessons.

Well this week has been preparing for Halloween.  Dexter's costume took the longest time to make.  Mine and Kyle's costumes just required some thrift shopping and then just throw it on.  Well here's the reveal:

We are characters and a machine from Doctor Who.  Kyle is the 11th Doctor, and I'm Professor River Song.  Dexter is the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) which is the Doctor's time machine and spacecraft, that is in disguise as a British Police Box.  Going to the party we didn't think anyone would recognize us, but were surprised when a handful of people did.  Dex didn't wear his box...only for pictures and a bit of the trunk or treating.

Dexter also had a mini playdate this week with a neighbor who is moving.  We were finally starting to get to know them.  The two kids played really well with each other, especially this time.  I was able to cook dinner because the two occupied each other and hardly bothered me.  It was nice.

And Dexter got a big surprise delivered to him too.  Nub Nub sent him an early Christmas present.  She hoped he would have some nice weather to play with it before winter.  We put it together last night, but didn't finish it before it was Dak's bedtime.  So when Dak woke up he ran straight to it and forgot about food for a little while.  He was super happy and was definitely like a kid at Christmas.

All through putting it together he insisted on sitting in it.

His new truck.

Can't quite reach the ground when sitting, but he loves just sitting in it.

Driving Through the Snow

On Sunday there was a changeup in the ward.  Our Relief Society president for 5 years, finally got released. I was her secretary, but only for 2 years, and got released too.  Yay!  But...that same meeting I got called to a new calling.  Mia Maid Advisor!  Ahh.  I'm so nervous.  One thing I liked about being the secretary was not having to do lessons.  Now I'm the one to teach the Sunday lesson to these 14/15 year old girls.  Scared, nervous, going crazy...all of the above have been going through my head for the last week.

I've just been trying to prep as much as I can for this first lesson coming up.  I know I probably won't ever be 100% ready, but it makes me feel better to study and look things up.  Hopefully it'll help.

Dexter had his 18 month checkup this week.  His stats were:
Weight: 23 lbs - 13%

Height: 33 inches - 70%

Head: 18 7/8 inches - 54%

So basically we have a tall skinny baby with an average size head.  He's healthy and passed all the developmental milestones.

The one thing about that morning is that it snowed.  Just a little, it was mostly rain and nothing stuck.

This morning was a different story.

No too much, but I was really enjoying the amazing fall weather.  This just makes it too cold.  

We did go out and sample snow, saying I'm pretty sure Dak doesn't remember it from 8 months ago.

Testing out the cold wet stuff.

Wearing our boots outside in the snow

The boots were actually bought last night.  I was rewarding myself for working out for 4 months straight.  Kyle and I thought that we should probably pick him up some before it snows.  We didn't know that the next morning they would be used.  They're actually like 2 sizes too large, but he clomps around in them well enough.

As for the workout.  I got a little discouraged this week.  Kyle's lost 15 pounds over the past couple months.  Me...0 still.  Four months of working out and eating better...nothing.  It was just frustrating, but I'm over it (mostly).  The important part is to keep trying.  So I decided to reward myself with some cute fall clothes.  I'm just bummed that the XL sizes never have half the stuff that small or medium do.  Especially in clearance or stores like Marshalls/Ross.  But after much looking I can find some things that fit and look nice.  Like the shirt in the picture above.