Christmas Card Excuses

We wanted to do a little update on how we are doing!
I feel like we haven't really given an update on how our family is doing! (Plus, Christmas came wayyyy to fast and there is no way we're getting a Christmas card out. :] )

Troy is doing good. Glad the semester ended, and he just got a new job at the Logan Airport. We are excited because it is a foot in the right direction, and it's better than answering phones. :] He is still excited about flying, and is really excited about this new adventure. He's a really great dad and loves spending free time playing with Ethan. He enjoys his calling, and is a great teacher.

Whitney still loves her job, even if it is challenging. She is slowly working through school, and hopes to be able to graduate with Troy. (If not before. :] ) She has changed her major a million times, and has finally settled on a Speech related one. Her calling as the RS Secretary has kept her busy, but she is loving getting to know the sisters in the ward better. We are both really loving our ward, and are making great friends. She loves being a mom, and is Ethan's favorite parent. :]

Ethan is such a happy kid. He loves to laugh and play, and gets excited about everything. He is learning to scoot forwards and backwards, and has been sitting up on his own for a while now. He has learned that standing is really cool, and wants to be doing it on his own, all the time. Neither of which he can manage yet. :] He loves to bounce or kick or wiggle. He has the greatest laugh and loves to have his feet tickled. Christmas music is a cool thing, and he likes to listen to it in the car. Ethan loves veggies and cereal. He doesn't love being dressed, and really hates to not be the center of attention. Ethan will be having his kidney surgery on January 18th. Mom is really nervous, and if Ethan knew what was going on we're sure he would be too.

Merry Christmas from us to you!

5 months (and a little extra)

This post is extremely late.
And I'm disappointed with the picture, but hey when you are like almost 6 months old, the 5 month post gets a little less love. :]

At 5 months Ethan enjoys:
*sitting up all by himself. He is so good at it! He loves to sit up, and tries to do it all the time.
*trying solid food. Ethan had cereal and a few veggies for the first time this past month!
*laughing at mom and dad. He is the happiest kid ever. Plus, he has the most adorable giggle.
*fake coughing. Oh yeah, that's obnoxious.
*pretending to crawl. Ethan thinks that pounding his arms and legs simultaneously gets him places. It doesn't, and he gets mad when he realizes this.
*Ethan has the cutest little faces. One in particular, we call the duck face. It is his go-to expression, and it's awesome. We will get pictures of this.
*Ethan loves to drink out of cups. He holds onto to the top and guzzles the water I have. He has learned to not spill all of it, and now can actually drink some of it.
*He loves to roll around. He has mastered the no-hands-on-the-ground-roll-over-with-a-toy, and where he used to hate being on his tummy, he know prefers it.
*Ethan loves music. He loves to listen to it, and tries to sing along. He loves it!
*he enjoys pounding for things he wants. You know he really wants something when he gets his hand pounding on the table, ground, his stomach, or your legs.
*He is an attention hog. He loves to be talked to, or played with. If there is a room of people, and all eyes aren't on him, he will scream until he is looked at.
*he loves the Johnny Jump Up. However, he doens't jump. He runs. For as far as the cords will let him, and then he gets pulled back. It's the funniest thing ever. Me and Troy spend hours watching him run so hard, and then just swing back. He even gets his little arms going.
*mostly Ethan enjoys being with mom and dad. Even in the middle of the night. :] But, we enjoy being with him too. :]

Thanksgiving.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.
We sure did. It was such a fun weekend. It has been a long time since we have spent a whole weekend down at home, and now that Ethan is older they are a lot more fun.
He had a great first Thanksgiving, and we had such a wonderful time with our families.
Our Thanksgiving festivities started early in the morning when we packed up to head down south.

We stopped by to catch the very very tail end of the annual Turkey Bowl that goes in our parents ward. At least we got to say hi to everyone. :]
We then hung out at the Butterfield's, ate Thanksgiving dinner with them. It was really great. :]
After, we went to the Yager Thanksgiving festivies, where Ethan got to be in his very first pageant!
(Videos don't upload, so pretend you saw it.)

The day after Thanksgiving we avoided all the craziness of Black Friday and played at home. Mom and Dad went out later in the afternoon and bought a new high chair for Ethan!

Later that night we went to check out the new sports store Scheels that opened in Sandy. We played dress up, and learned to spit bubbles with Uncle Kyle.

Saturday we went tree shopping with my family. We made the annual trip to Glover Nursery to get a Christmas Tree. It was Ethan's first Christmas Tree shopping experience, and he loved grabbing onto tree branches. We took more pictures of him then actually caring about the tree. :]

Saturday night we hung out with my family and ate lasagna. Ethan has had real trouble at night lately, and we are trying to get some sleep at our house. This was no exception over Thanksgiving Break, so we turned in early a lot of nights. We are hoping we are on the right track, and sleeping/night feeding will be a lot easier! Wish us luck!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and hope everyone else did too! :]

First Halloween

This year was Ethan's first Halloween! (Obviously.)
We started early with a trunk or treat at Macey's grocery store on Saturday.

We then went down to Lindon to Aunt Carol's annual Halloween party. It was a long drive, but we wanted Ethan to be there since it was his first one. He was so cute in his Bee costume!

He loved playing with his cousin Trey. He laughed and laughed at him. It was so cute.

Ethan went fishing for the first time too! He got a cuddly bear outfit to wear in the cold winter months!! So awesome!

Then Monday  night we carved pumpkins.
This did not go as smoothly as I believed it would. Ha.
Ethan was grouchy, Troy was ambitious in his pumpkin carving and took forever (It looks awesome though) and I was speeding through mine to feed the baby. But, we all finished and they looked pretty good. :]

 Ethan squishing pumpkin guts

Troy in deep concentration carving his awesome USU bull.

For work we all dressed up as the Scooby Doo Gang. It turned out so cute!!

This is us at our Stake Trunk-or-Treat. We were so worried we weren't going to get to go, because earlier that morning Ethan had his 4 month shots.  He was so grouchy and sore, we didn't know if he would be up to going out. Luckily he woke up about an hour before and was pretty happy and did so good! We were so glad we got to go. :]

Tired Tired boy after a long day. He was such a trooper! Such a downer to have shots on your first Halloween, but he still got mom and dad lots of candy to eat!! :]

4 Months

Whoa. 4 months. That is so much! He is 1/3 of a year old.
He is my favorite person. :]

At 4 months old Ethan:
*Loves to smile. He is the happiest little boy ever. He thinks everything deserves a big grin.
*Reaches for things quite well. He hasn't quite figured out that some things are too far away to actually grab, but he does try. And most of the time he succeeds at getting what he wants.
*Thinks getting undressed is hilarious. Not getting dressed, that makes him mad. But when you take his shirt off and his arm get stuck, the weirder the position the better. This was how we first heard his giggle. He thought it was so funny his elbows were trapped in his onesie.
*Is spoiled rotten. He has figured out he basically gets whatever he wants all the time, and takes advantage of this. When he doesn't get what he wants right away, oh we hear about it.
*Loves technology. It's amazing that he even knows what is a cool phone and what isn't.
*Ethan is a talker. He talks to himself, to the toys, to the crib, to anything that he thinks will listen. He loves to be heard.
*He can wiggle. Oh can he wiggle. We will lay him in the crib one direction, check on him 20 minutes later, and he has completely turned and scooted to a completely different location in the crib.
*He is strong. And big. He is going to be one tough cookie.
*He learned to laugh. It's the cutest laugh you have ever heard too. So far, mommy is the only one who can really get him to laugh good and loud. :]
*Mommy and Daddy love him so much.

Celebrating Fall

My parents came up to celebrate their anniversary and spend our Fall Break with us.
It was such a great weekend and we did so many great things!
It was the Fall Harvest Festival at the American West Heritage Center
We learned a lot of cool stuff, and played a way fun new-old game! :]

This is us using a wood planer. (I think.)

In the wood shop they had a coffin we could stand in and play dead. Caitlyn is bad at playing dead.

Ethan was so interested in the wood. :]

Shooting BB guns

Exploring a Tee-Pee

After we left the Festival, we went back to the hotel and watched the BYU game.
We then went to the......PUMPKIN WALK! If you don't remember from the past, the Pumpkin Walk is a big event that North Logan puts on every year. There are tons of scenes, all made from pumpkins or gourds. The theme this year was "Let the Games Begin"
I was so excited to go, I have been waiting for weeks.
And this is what Ethan did the whole time.....

These are pictures from the Madagascar 3 scene:

Ethan looking at the USU vs UTAH scene.

The Nacho Libre scene:

Hungry Hungry Hippos!

Caitlyn and Bryce:

Mom and Dad. We really  missed my littlest sister Courtney who stayed home sick this weekend. :/

The Killer Bunnies Scene: (If you don't know what Killer Bunnies is, consider yourself lucky. :] )

There was a HUGE Hunger Games scene. It was like 4 of the other scenes all put together. It was amazing! This is the Tracker Jacker scene. All the bees are squash and Katniss is up in the tree. :]

Hi-Ho Cherry-O Board Game Scene. We loved the pumpkins hanging from the tree above!

I love the Pumpkin Walk! It's a totally free event, and has been going on for over 30 years! If you ever find yourself in Logan in October, make sure it is the weekend of the Pumpkin Walk. It's a fabulous family friendly event, and is only around for about 5 days!