Happy Birthday Winston!

Can you believe it?  Our little guy turned 1!  What's even harder to believe is that I have managed to blog for every week of his first year.  I don't know what makes me more excited, the fact that Winston's reached this great milestone, or the fact that I no longer have to blog every week.  Yay on both accounts!!!  :)

 Wednesday was his actual birthday, and so we sang to him and lit a candle.  He was fascinated by the flame and first tried to hit it and then tried to eat it :)

 Later in the week I got out his toy box and he was happily playing on the floor.  I could hear a little sucking noise, and came over to find that he dug up one of his old pacifiers.  He didn't like them at all when he was little, but now he thinks they are quite fun to play with.

 Saturday we had a little party for him.  Doesn't he look thrilled?

 Since Winston is (in part) named after his dad's fishing rods, I decided it would be cute to have a fish themed party.  He loves goldfish crackers, so we had them on all of the tables.  My sister made this fabulous fish cake for him.  She is so creative and talented!  I was impressed :)

 Here is the birthday guy with some of his Anderson cousins.  Everyone was so nice to travel our way to help us celebrate.  Winston had so much fun watching everyone play and eat and try to make him smile :)

 He had a great time opening presents and has loved having some new toys to play with.  Thanks everyone!

 I'm still jealous of his eyelashes!

 Blowing out his candle...

 When we put the cake in front of him, he went straight for the frosting.  I'm not particularly fond of messy kids, so I ended up taking the cake away and feeding him a couple of bites with a fork.  He is definitely part Christensen, he loves anything sweet!  He gobbled up as much cake as I would give him, which wasn't very much.  I'm so mean.  But he was getting tired...

And finished off the night with a bang!  I'm learning it's best not to plan things that will interfere with bedtime. For some reason, Winston doesn't think it's cool to stay up late.  I'm hoping that phase will last a really really really long time.

So happy first year Winston!  You have brought more joy and love into our lives than we ever could have imagined.  You are the best thing that has happened to us and we are so glad you are who you are.  I love every bit of you and can't wait to see what this next year brings!

Conference Weekend

 I just love conference weekend!  We had our traditional Saturday morning breakfast of egg mcmuffins and juice.  Yum.  We watched the morning session, went to my grandma's and got some bookshelves from her, came back and watched the afternoon session.  Then we went for a walk, Whit went to priesthood, and some of my good friends came over and we had dinner and talked until the boys came home.  It was such a great day!

 Winston keeps trying to crawl, but he gets stuck on his leg.  He can't seem to figure out how to get over it.  But any day now I know he is going to get going :)

 He is really good at feeding himself though :)  He can pick up the goldfish crackers and put them in his mouth.  It's so much fun to watch.

 I don't know why, but it always seems that we end up matching!  I honestly don't plan too, but I guess a lot of our clothes are the same colors.  Funny huh?

 Here's a good picture of his cute little 1 1/2 tooth.  I'm so glad he's finally getting some teeth!

Our delicious dinner that cooked all during conference.  It was so nice to be able to stay home, watch both sessions, play with Winston, go on walks, and eat this yummy dinner that Whit made.  It was a pretty awesome way to end a wonderful weekend.

And this morning I had my ultrasound and baby girl is doing well and all looks good.  And now she is scheduled to arrive Feb. 16!  I love that every time I go to the doctor's, they keep moving my due date up.  If only that could keep happening :)  But I know all good things must come to an end, and so we'll just plan on the 16th.  Yay for February girls!  They make the best Valentines :)

Cabin Fever!

We got to spend a wonderful weekend up at the cabin.  We are so lucky!!!  Thank you Jim and Karyn, for sharing your cabin with us--we can't wait until you get home and we can visit you there :)

 Don't they look alike? Same expression :)

We drove up to the cabin Friday morning.  On the way there, I saw a sign for Mirror Lake in the Uintahs, and I said to Whit that would be a fun place to go.  I haven't been there in years. When my mum and dad got to the cabin, my mum said she was thinking it would be nice to go to Mirror Lake, since we were so close.  Great minds think alike!

Another twinner photo, Winston and Grandpa both have their eyes closed :)

 We walked around Mirror Lake and then hiked a whole mile to this lake, I can't remember it's name.  But it was pretty.

 Then on our way back, we had to stop for some jumping pictures.  What would a family trip be without them?

 On the drive back to the cabin, we stopped at this pretty waterfall.  I've never been here before and it is beautiful!  I'm so glad we stopped.

 Back at the cabin, Winston was showing off his tongue twisting talents.  He's recently started doing this and it's funny to watch.

 Friday evening when we got back from the Uintahs, we found that the crew working on installing the new water line had accidentally cut our power line.  So we were without power for the evening!  Now that's a true adventure :)  But Rocky Mountain Power was awesome!  They sent a crew up to repair it--at 7:00 on a Friday night--the same time as a BYU football game, they reminded us.  But they worked hard and the power was back on at 11 that night.  Yay!

 Saturday morning we went for a lovely hike to Hidden Lake.  The leaves were so pretty and these pictures don't really do them justice.

 See what I mean?  Such pretty colors!

 Winston fell asleep on the way back and was hanging out of the backpack.  Doesn't look very comfortable to me, but he slept the whole hike back.

He loved playing with this big stuffed dog.  It's about as close to a pet as he'll get, if I have my way :)

Saturday afternoon my parents and sister went back to their homes, and we had a nice quiet family night.  I went down to Marion to watch the Relief Society broadcast (which I loved and practically cried through the whole thing--silly pregnancy hormones!) and then Whit and I started watching a BBC series.  So nice to just be able to relax and enjoy being together!  Sunday we went to church, Whit made a delicious roast, we went on another walk, we cleaned up, and headed back to South Jordan.  It's always hard to leave such a wonderful place!  I could live that weekend over and over again and be perfectly happy!  :)

Another fun week!

 If you look closely, you can see his tooth!

 Winston's first time wearing jeans!  And this is how I slick down his hair nearly every morning,

 and yet somehow it ends us looking like this!  Oh well.  And this is how Winston almost crawls, every day.  I just know one of these days he's going to surprise us and figure it out, but for now this is as close as it gets.

 Thursday I made this stew, with Whit's step-by-step instructions.  Somehow, his still tastes better!  But this batch turned out alright, and we met our friends up in the canyon for dinner.  It was super fun to see everyone and the canyon is gorgeous with all of the fall leaves.  But of course I didn't take any pictures!  Next time I'll have to be better at that.

 Then on Saturday we went down to Spanish Fork.  We took our queen bed out of the spare room, and gave it to my sister who is living in Springville.  Then we went to my grandma's in American Fork and picked up another queen bed that she gave to my mom and dad.  So we took that one to Spanish Fork.  By the time we were done with all of that driving, loading, and unloading, we were pooped!  So we went to the temple :)  My parents and sister took Winston to a picnic and Whit and I went to the Provo Temple to do sealings.  We had such a nice time, but we were so tired!  It was a busy day.

 Sunday we stayed in Spanish Fork for the morning so my mom could watch Winston while we went to the Brigham Temple dedication.  We all ate lunch together after, then we headed home.  That night we enjoyed a nice walk and hanging around the house.  We've been trying to teach Winston how to drink with his sippy cup.  He is just fine if someone is holding it, but he can't quite figure out how to do it himself.  Well, he was just playing on the floor, rolling around, and when I looked over at him I saw this!  Yay!  He's finally got it.  Now we'll just have to see if he can do it sitting up :)

He sure is one happy, drooly, baby!

The happiest and most exciting and unexpected week!

Monday I went in for my first pregnancy check-up. Since I wasn't exactly sure how far along I was, they took me in to get an ultrasound to measure the baby.  I thought I was about 10 or 11 weeks along, but when they got the baby up on the screen the doctor said I was a bit further along, I was 16 weeks along and they could tell the sex of the baby!  He asked if I wanted to know, and I hesitated for a moment, wondering if I should wait until Whit was there.  But I couldn't wait and figured Whit would forgive me, so I found out we were having a girl!!!  So exciting :)  And her due date is February 25.  So when I got home it was all I could do to not call Whit and tell him to come home from work early!  So I kept myself busy by making pink, heart shaped sugar cookies, and I took Winston shopping and we got a couple of outfits for his little sister.  So I laid everything out on the kitchen table by the ultrasound picture.  I didn't say anything to Whit when I picked him up from work, so we got home and he walked into the kitchen and saw everything and got super excited.  It was a fun time.  What a great surprise!

 Winston doesn't look too excited, but we know he is happy on the inside :)

 Then on Saturday we got to go to the Brigham City Temple open house.  Of course this is a special temple for me, since I grew up in Brigham City and have so many happy memories there.  It is so neat to see such a beautiful temple there now!  It's almost as awesome as Winston's pants in this picture, they are almost up to his armpits!

 Whit thinks this picture is funny because it looks like he has a yellow flower earring :)  

Winston did pretty good going through the temple, as always he was fascinated with all of the lights and kept looking up at the ceiling.  By the time we were done and walking back to our car, he was falling asleep.

 He was out as soon as we put him in his car seat.  So much excitement for such a little boy!

I know you can't tell, but in this picture he is smiling because he hears his dad's voice.  Winston is lying on the floor in the living room and Whit is upstairs.  When Whit comes down the stairs he starts talking to him, and Winston just starts smiling.  He sure loves his dad!  :)  

And in other exciting news, Winston's first tooth broke through the skin this week!  Yay!  It still hasn't come all the way up yet, but it is getting so close.  And the one right next to it is just about there too.  Hooray for teeth, the Temple, and baby sisters!!!

Labor Day

 Cascade Springs is one of my favorite places!  I remember going there as a little girl, and thinking it was the most beautiful place on the planet.  I have seen prettier places now, but I still think it's so fun.  I was a little disappointed there weren't more leaves changing colors, but we did get to see lots of fall colors on the drive there.  We are so lucky to live near such beautiful mountains!

 So we met my parents and sister there Labor Day morning, and had fun walking around.

 The whole gang minus the photographer :)

Winston wasn't super happy to be out walking around, we got there right at his nap time.  But after we walked around and saw what we wanted to see, we got back in the truck and drove on the dirt road that ended up by Soldier Hollow in Midway.  Winston slept on that whole ride!  We stopped for a picnic lunch in a park and had a great time eating and talking.  Then we drove through Provo Canyon on our way home.  It was such a beautiful drive.  The rest of the day we spent at home relaxing, and then on Tuesday Whit started his new job!  Yay!!!  No better way to celebrate Labor Day than with a new exciting job to labor at!  :)  Ha ha!

 I kept trying to get Winston to smile for the camera, and this as as close as we got.

Go Utes!  It's a little big still, but since we lost his other hat I couldn't pass this one up when I saw it at the store :)  It was perfect because he got to watch the U game with his dad.  Too bad they lost though :(  I'm sure there will be many more games for these boys in the future though!

So that's about it.  Another fun week with the Anderson clan.  Oh, and the day after I bought the hat, we found his old one--of course!  :)