The last 12 months...

Since tomorrow is New Year's Eve I thought it would be fun to give a highlight from each month over the year. So here we go:

January:

We won a snowmobiling trip in Yellowstone. It was fun but very cold! Luckily the snomobile had seat heaters!

February:

My nephew Jack turned 8. We got to go to Oregon to his Baptism. In the picture are Jack, Taylor, and Lily.

March:

I found out I was having a boy!

April:

Marshall graduated with his Bachelor's degree for the University of Utah.

May:

We attended Lily's baby blessing.

June:

Marshall painted James's room.

July:

We went camping near Brighton. I was 8 months pregnant!

August:

James was born!

September:

James's baby blessing.

October:

We took James to the zoo (you can tell he really liked it).

November:

My parents left on their mission.

December:

Our family picture.

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas and it was even more fun since it was James's first Christmas. We spent the weekend in Midway/Heber. On Christmas Eve my family has a tradition of going bowling. We always go to the Heber bowling alley. The highest score gets to take the trophy for the year. This year Angeline won with a score of 160!

Christmas Eve night we always go to Marshall's grandparents house for a party. Grandpa and his pet Monkey-Charlie- give each grandchild and great grandchild their present. James met him for his first time.

Christmas was fun and relaxing. We stayed in our pajamas all day except when we played basketball that night. James got some new toys and he had fun wearing Grandpa's boots.

James had fun playing with his cousing Kjersti who is 6 months older than him.

Over Christmas break we were able to go snowshoeing with Becky, Anthony and their daughter Lily. James came too. Marshall carried him in the front pack. He was all bundled up with Marshall's coat around him so you can barely see him.

Do I Look Like Mommy?

When James was first born everyone thought that he looked more like Marshall. In September there is a post with Marshall's baby picture lined up next to James. They have a lot of similarities. However, now it seems like James is looking more like me. Here is a video to check it out. What do you think?

Vroom, Vroom!

We are already afraid when James turns 16! He's way too comfortable behind the wheel.

Baby's thoughts

Have you ever wondered what babies are thinking? Sometimes they look so deep in thought. It would be cool to know what is going through their little minds. I snapped this one of James the other morning when we were out running. He was definitely in the zone!

Snowman

Do you ever have a project that you think you will never be able to finish? I've been working on this snowman for the past couple of weeks. It was taking me so long that I didn't think it would be finished before Christmas. Thank goodness for naps though. James took an extra long nap today so I was able to finish. I think it turned out pretty good considering I'm not a very crafty person.

Happy Birthday Marshall

Yesterday was Marshall's birthday. We had his parents over for dinner.


Here is a little trivia about Marshall:

-Born in Provo
-Favorite color is blue
-Lucky number is 17
-Favorite food is Lasagna
-Loves soccer, skiing, and biking
-Work as a media assistant doing video editing and designing web pages
-Love marshmellows
-can do a standing back flip
-loves to sell things on ebay
-loves D.I.


Happy Birthday Sweetie!

Blocks

James is learning new things and growing everyday. I was helping him sit up the other day and put these blocks under him to help prop him up.

Thanksgiving weekend

It seems like life became really busy the week of Thanksgiving and hasn't stopped. Although it is fun to update my blog, it has been moved to the bottom of the priority list for the last couple of weeks. Luckily today I have a chance to sit down and catch up on a few things.
Even though my parents are on the their mission, my siblings, aunts and my grandma were able to get together and have a nice Thanksgiving. Here is an idea for a Thanksgiving party favor that I got from my friend Joy. It is made out of black construction paper and cardstock.


Marshall's siblings were all together over the weekend so we had fun spending time with them. Marshall's mom bought all the grandkids the cutest Christmas outfits. They all wore them to church Sunday and so we were able to get a picture. James is on the left and the three girls to his right were all born this year.

17 weeks of James

And they're off!

I got to see my parents one more time before they left to Argentina. Friday they flew out. It was so good to see them with their missionary badges. I'm so excited for them! I will miss them so much but thanks to Skype we can talk to over the internet. It is good to know that they will still be able to see James growing over the next 18 months.

Here is a picture at the airport with them.

The best thing in the world!

Getting to stay at home with James is the BEST thing in the world! I feel so blessed that Marshall is willing to work everyday so I can be home. I've come to realize that I've been able to learn a lot of things and start new projects during James's nap times. My most recent project is making fruit roll-ups. It's actually really simple!

Here's all you need!

A can of peaches or any fruit, then drain and puree in a blender.

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Fruit dryer (thanks to my mother-in-law for lending it to me!)

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Yummy fruit roll-ups!

3 Months Old

Today James is officially 3 months old! I wanted to do something fun with him to celebrate but I wasn't sure what we could do. He can't eat cake and ice cream, he doesn't know the excitement of opening a present, and going down the slide at the park isn't very exciting. So I decided we would get a little messy and get his footprints. (more for me than for him) I've always wanted to have a wall of footprints but since we will only be in this house for a few more years I wouldn't be able to keep the footprints. I've decided to put them in his scrapbook. I thought we would both be really messy afterwards because he's so wiggly but it actually turned out pretty good. He seemed to enjoy it and loved playing in the water while getting washed off afterward.

Goodbyes at the MTC

My parents left on their mission yesterday. We got to say good bye at the MTC but it's not formal like with younger missionaries. There isn't a meeting for the whole family to go to. Instead we took some pictures in the lobby and said good bye. It's hard to say goodbye but I know it is right for them to go on a mission. They are setting a good examples for all their grandchildren. Luckily it's easier to keep in touch because they get to email and talk to us on the phone.

Marshall wasn't able to come and James was sleeping in his car seat but I thought it was fun to get pictures of my parents with all my siblings that were able to be there.

Betsy with my parents

Dan, Ali, and Katelyn with my parents

Coby, Katie, Grace and Sid with my parents (Miriel is sleeping in her car seat)

Family Picture

Before my parents left on their mission they wanted to get a family picture. Luckily since everyone was in town for their farewell, we were able to get a family picture with all my brothers and sisters and their children. It's been a couple of years since we've had a family picture so it was pretty exciting.

Ridin' in the Jeep

James got this fun jeep from our neighbors the Grants. He hasn't been able to sit in it until today. He's sure cute in it!

Halloween

James was Yoda for Halloween. We chose that costume because the shape of his head is similar to Yoda's head and he has a little chin that pokes out. My sister Ali is amazing at sewing and made the patterns for the costume. Then she helped me sew it all together.

Daddy's Home!

Marshall has been gone for the last couple of days to Orlando for work. Jameson and I missed him so much! We were both really happy to see him when he got home. He was so excited to see Marshall and I was filming them playing together. Jameson just started to smile and laugh. I thought it was so cute hearing him laugh and seeing him smile!

Fun at the Zoo

Jameson was so lucky to get to go to the Zoo with his cousins two different days! He went Thursday, Oct 16th with Grandma Ruth, Katie's girls and Ali's daughter Katelyn. Then Saturday, Oct 18th he got to go with Miranda's kids. He was a little sleepy and fussy for both times but that didnt' keep us from getting some pictures with him.

This is my sister Ali with her daughter Katelyn on the left and Katie's daughter Sid on the right.

Jameson is snoozing in his stroller on the right. His cousins must have worn him out:)

If he only knew what he was missing...



This is my sister Katie and her daughter Miriel born a week after James. She seemed to enjoy the Zoo also!

These are pictures from when we came Saturday. Maya in on the right. She is Miranda's(Marshall's oldest sister) daughter.

I hope James will like the Zoo next year when he's a little older but it was still fun to take him.