Temple Square Beauty

LAST weekend (I know, I can never seem to stay on top of it) we went to see the lights at Temple Square. I thought it would be so fun to walk around and see the lights, the temple in all it's glory, and to have some extra time with family. Turns though it was kind of a chaotic mess. Cason was so uncomfortable in his hundreds of layers that it was just one thing after another. Yes to gloves, no to gloves, yes to hat, no to hat, needs a snack but can't eat a snack because his fingers are cold, wants the light, drops the light, needs a blanket, won't wear the blanket, and on and so forth...oye. It was exhausting. The lights were beautiful and Cason absolutely loved seeing the temple but it was stressful. When we got in the car to go home Trav and I both had huge headaches and were wondering if it was worth it all. Guess we'll see when and if we decide to go next year. BUT, I did score a couple good pictures-

Actually my sister got this one for me-And this shot is traditional for me and Trav- I totally love that we're both wearing beaniesLove this shot I scored, beauty-

If you went to see the lights this year I hope you had better luck than we did. And if you haven't yet, good luck!

How important is dinner really??

Cason is finally at that age where dinner is a nightmare!! I don't doubt that all Mom's go through this but what do I do? He just turned two, I don't know if he understands, 'you have to eat your dinner and then you can have a treat.' And is cheese considered a treat? Or an extra piece of bread? I mean, at least he's eating, right? But then he never eats the main dish, is that a big deal? Do I continue being strict and tough on him hoping that he'll eventually catch on? Do I stress myself out making him take more bites so that he can have more bread? Is it worth the fight? Should I wait until he gets a little older till I know he understands? Say three, maybe?
Every night I walk away from dinner with a massive headache because it's such a fight and I don't know if I can do it anymore. I don't know if it's even necessary that I do it anymore. I want my kid to eat what he needs to to grow strong and big and I want him to develop good habits while he's young so that it's not an even bigger issue later but is it worth it right now? Do I keep making him go to bed with only two bites of dinner because he didn't eat the main course? Or should I be more flexible and let him eat what he wants as long as it's the good stuff, like cheese, applesauce, yogurt, or bread? Help! What do I do??

Our November

Most of this month has been spent inside because when I look out the window all I see is cold! I miss the fall weather. But alas, here we are anyway. At least I got to put up the Christmas tree, right? Here's what we've been up to lately-
Cason has taken an interest in the mail. He helps me open envelopes, and go through all the ads. Then he takes the ones he's interested in. This one here is from Disney with all their movies in it-And Family Fun, who wouldn't love going through that one-Every Thursday morning is spent here, watch the garbage truck go down our street-One of the few times Cason was able to get me outside. He grabbed his snow shovel and started relocating our extra pile of sand. I guess that's what you have to do when there's no snow-Cason loves to lay down and watch tv these days. And this tiger, a gift given to him for his birthday, is always with him. In his arms or as his pillow, he loves it! This Friday I will be at 23 weeks and there is no longer hiding the bump. It's hard to tell in this top but I am definitely pregnant and no longer have people staring at my belly wondering what's going on. Now they look at me and say, 'when are you due?' It's been a wonderful change- Cason is getting so grown up. I can no longer do anything on my own. He is always right behind me ready to help, especially if it includes something to do with cheese-Day after Thanksgiving we put up our tree and got it half way covered in lights before we ran out. After two trips to the store we finally got the whole thing covered (I guess that's what happens when you from a 5 foot tree to a 7.5 foot tree)- Cason helped us decorate and let me tell you, our tree is covered!! He wouldn't let any small space go without something. I love it! We finally have a real tree (and by that I mean a big one)! It's huge, it's bright, and it's got our family written all over it- We had a fabulous Thanksgiving spent with both sides of our family. This year we feel incredibly blessed being in a home, have a baby on the way, all of us strong and healthy, and Travis with a job that provides us with so much! We know these are gifts from our Savior and we could not be more grateful! We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and if not already, will have their trees up soon! Christmas is just around the corner and we cannot wait!

Baby 2

I guess it's time to add pink, ruffles, bows and the like to our thinking of dinosuars, trucks and trains because ladies and gentlemen- it's a girl! So if you can read sonograms then you know what this is showing but it's really hard to tell. To the right of the 'e' on 'female' is where the Dr. could see her "three little bumps"-

Trav and I were not surprised because we both had a feeling we were having a girl (but we had the same thinking for Cason so we knew chances were we were wrong) so when they typed in "FEMALE" on the sonogram we just smiled real big. This is just an awesome shot of her all curled up and snug. You can see her head and belly but right above her nose you can see a knee and the rest of her legs to the left. Trav and I and even the Dr. just stared at her and she laid here like this. We were all in awe by it. But she looks cozy wouldn't you say?

The baby is healthy as far as we can see and growing nice and strong. March 24 is still the due date and I'll be delivering at American Fork Hospital. I know we still have lots of time but from the way Travis describes it it is right around the corner: "So Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and then Christmas, and then my parents are coming into town, and then it'll be baby time." Yikes. Sweet baby girl, please take your time, Mama needs more time.

Since winter is here-

I might as well post our pictures from fall *sigh*. So sad though that fall has already come and gone. Why is it so cold all of a sudden? I feel like Cason and I never get out of the house anymore. Although I'm pretty sure I'm just being a wuss about it. Anyway, some pictures from some fall activities-

Cason and I went to Gardner Village with a friend and her little boy to check out the witches for Halloween. Cason loved checking out all the witches and learned how to make a witch cackle noise-While all the little girls danced around and showed off their witch costumes Cason played behind them on the bars...my sweet boy-Trav and I took Cason to Thanksgiving Point's Barnyard Boo and he loved that. Lots of animals and little activities-The goats and cows were his favorite cuz he they'd lick his hands if he had food for them or not-He also got to ride a pony for the first time! He smiled and giggled the entire time while I concentrated on walking on hay, in circles, and holding onto Cason and not falling flat on my face-And we went for a wagon ride pulled my horses that Cason graciously thanked with a poke in the eye-One day before heading out for a walk I thought we better bundle up a bit. I put on his vest and he wanted to wear his new winter had a gloves. He looked so adorable that I had to snap some pictures-So adorable!

Goodbye fall, we miss you already!

Trick-or-Treat

We had so much fun spending the whole weekend celebrating Halloween! Friday we headed to Hee Haw Farms with my family and had so much fun sliding on the ginormous slide, riding the train- playing in the corn box-going for a pony ride and hanging out at the petting zoo-chasing the ducks-and poking horses in the eyes (they were such good sports)-And going on a hayride-We carved eleven pumpkins this year! Thanks to Travis' drill we got a couple done super fast! Cason tried to his but refused to touch the seeds inside and so he basically watched-But he did help cut out the eyes, nose, and mouth-And then supervised Daddy on the rest of his pumpkins-Our neighborhood had a trick-or-treat village at a park that was a lot of fun. Cason enjoyed eating suckers and other candy on the way around to all the booths-And aboslutely LOVED the bounce house and would slide down on his belly every time- Trick-or-treating was successful and Cason enjoyed ringing the door bells and getting candy...mostly suckers. After two streets I asked him if he was done and he pointed to a new street saying "more, house, sucker". We were out for much longer than I expected but we had a lot of fun-He was a little dinosuar and this is him saying what dinosuars say, 'raw'- We ran into one of Cason's friends who was also a dinosaur. When they saw each other they got all excited and then started walking down the street with one another and chatting it up. It was so adorable-

Hope everyone had a good holiday! Happy Halloween!

Las Vegas, Baby!!

But when you don't drink or gamble Vegas isn't quite as exciting. But we had a good time nonetheless. Travis had a conference to go to so we thought it would be fun to drop Cason of with Nana and Papa while we spent a weekend away. Of course while Trav was off at his conference I was left to...walk the strip over and over again. I had fun pretending to take fancy pictures and acting like I wasn't completely alone. Here are some pics that actually turned out pretty good (thought it might be fun to share)-Can you imagine having this job? Yikes!One evening Trav and I decided to take advantage of no Cason and headed to the temple (which I thought totally looked like a stake center)-Another fancy pic that I thought turned out kinda cool-And then we walked the strip together. Haha. Mostly headed to Bellagio to check out the gardens and the fountains-It was a wonderful weekend that we really enjoyed. While we were away Cason had a blast with Nana and Papa! Swinging with Spiderman-Watching 'shows' with Papa-Playing at the park with his cousin-And dressing up for Halloween!
Seriously, my parents rock!

It's a baby!!

It's true, we're pregnant! Hooray! We are extremely excited to have our family grow and for Cason to become a big brother! As you can see I have quite the little bump! I'm in my second trimester at 18 weeks tomorrow! Woot! Which really just means I'm back the first trimester sickness and tiredness.
Things are going really well and we're looking forward to finding out the gender in just a few sort weeks! Oh, and no, I don't think Cason has any idea what's going on however I did catch him starring at my belly the other day so he is noticing a change. And he does know that I have a baby in my belly...but he also thinks he and Travis have one in theirs too so it's a learning process! :)