January and February have been good for us. Not too exciting, which is the way we like it. :) I don't pull the camera out enough, but here are a few from February so far. 

One night Spencer found an ace bandage. Bryce wrapped his arms, his legs, and...

 ...his head! They were both loving it. 

We found a few balloons we had left over one day. It has kept the boys entertained for days! Owen always tries to eat it and luckily hasn't figured out a good way to get his teeth on it yet. Pretty sure he would not like it if it popped in his face!  

Owen reading a story. He loves when we read books. He doesn't have a very long attention span when we read with Spencer, but when it's just mommy and Owen he loves it. He loves to point at things and he's also pretty good at turning the page for me. Spencer also loves to read books. He has started reading some to me. It's funny to hear the things he comes up with as he "reads."

Sunday dinner. 

Since we have 1:00pm church now, Sunday nights are usually either really loud and filled with tears and screaming, or they are really silly and full of giggles. This past Sunday was a silly one. Bryce always asks Spencer "how did you get to be so cute/smart?" He usually says mommy and daddy! So we were asking Spencer "how did Kylee/Sam/Breeny (all of his cousins) get to be so cute/smart?" We were surprised at how well he remembered all of his aunts and uncles names and who their kids were. Until we asked him how Olivia got to be so cute. We've been getting the Olivia books from the library lately. We had to be sure to distinguish between cousin Olivia and Olivia the pig. :) 

Owen is choosing to walk a majority of the time now. He still isn't standing up in the middle of the room by himself. So he'll crawl to something, pull himself up, and then start walking around. This is probably the best video we have of him. 

We've got two birthdays coming up this weekend! We'll have a 1 year old and a 29 old in our house by next week! 

Valentines Day

I'm a little late on this one...but better late than never right? Anyway, I never have been big on doing lots of things for holidays (especially Valentines Day). But this year I tried to make it kinda fun for Spencer. On Monday night for FHE we read this article from the Friend. Then Spencer helped cut out hearts and we wrote what makes our heart happy on them. Spencer is seriously obsessed with cutting with scissors. And he's getting pretty good at it too. 

Spencer decided that his family made his heart happy. He drew each of our faces. I was pretty impressed that everyone ended up with two eyes and a mouth.  

We tried to put the hearts out of Owen's reach (since all he wanted to do was eat them) but he figured out a way to get to one. And yes, I know, his outfit is crazy. It snowed that day and we spent some time outside playing. I forgot to take off his extra pair of pants when we came inside. :) 

On Valentines Day we made pink pancakes for daddy. Spencer was excited about this for a week before Valentines Day. It was supposed to be a surprise, but you know how that goes. We spent Monday morning getting little valentines ready for our playgroup the next day. Spencer wanted to make these alligator valentines (they are his favorite animal right now). And I'm so glad I didn't do what he wanted because I mixed up the days and we missed playgroup. I would've spent a lot of time cutting and gluing for nothing! We did make two alligators though. One for Spencer and one to send with daddy in his lunch. 

One of the food blogs I follow said that she always has a candle light dinner with her husband and four boys for valentines day dinner. I thought it was a cute idea so we decided to do it too. We didn't use fancy candles, but Spencer and Owen both loved it. Spencer had to turn off every light in the apartment. 

The boys enjoying their dinner. 

It was a fun Valentines Day spent with three boys I love more than anything! 

Time for an Update

We're getting into February now! Where is the time going?? We've been busy, but not. You know the feeling? Plus our camera is terrible so I hardly take pictures anymore.  But I do have a few since the first of the year. 

Owen loves to look outside. He actually really loves to be out on the back porch, or just outside. But lately it's just too cold and windy to venture out for too long. We are ready for spring! 

Before Bryce started school we drove to Oklahoma City to visit Matt and Chelsea. We went to the Science Museum while we were there. Spencer did not like the tornado simulator... 

He did think the mirror maze was pretty cool though.  

Favorite car! Mario! He is so obsessed right now.  

I was organizing closets (because we switched Spencer and Owen's rooms) and the boys really enjoyed relaxing in the baby toys. Owen was perfectly content to just swing, he didn't even try to climb out.I thought it was so funny. And doesn't he look so huge in this picture? He really is getting big. So crazy. 

We went to the BYU bookstore to get BYU shirts for the boys over Christmas but couldn't find anything. Who would've thought Old Navy would have better selection/sizes!? 

Drinking his water with a fork...

I have a lot of good videos, but I have really been having issues uploading any lately. I should probably edit them or try posting them on YouTube or something. But I'm too lazy. I'm just hoping it will start working again. 

Here is a little update on us. It's all words, no pics. Be warned. Bryce is full swing into school. It's nice to get back into a good schedule, even if it is a crazy one sometimes. I really need to do a good update on both Spencer and Owen. Maybe one of these days. But they are both great. Sick at the moment. Spencer tells me at least 50 times a day that he is sick. Not sick enough to go to the hospital though. Pretty sure he is milking it for all it's worth. But that's okay with me. :) It's funny because I was just telling someone at church on Sunday that we haven't really been sick very much this winter. 

Spencer is very energetic. We are on the third floor and our downstairs neighbors have pounded on their ceiling a few times! We are ready for warmer weather so we can do our running and jumping outside! I have started taking Spencer to story time at the library again. The first week was a little rough. I have no idea where he got this from, but he takes a while to warm up to people and new things. So he wasn't too fond of story time. But he is getting better. I told him we were going the other day and he said "Okay, but I don't want to dance." He is such a great helper too. I keep thinking I should start some kind of chore chart with him. But he loves to help me vacuum and unload the dishwasher and clean toilets! Hopefully it continues into his teenage years and beyond. He loves to race his cars, read stories, watch Mario on the computer (why do people record themselves playing mariokart and put it on YouTube?! It has ruined my life...), cut with scissors, draw volcanos, and just play.

Owen. Well he's just crazy. He is the loudest little boy ever! He is all or nothing. He's either so sweet and playful or he is mad and screaming. It makes me laugh. He has starting walking the past few weeks. He still crawls more than he walks. And I need to get a good video of him. He hasn't figured out standing up in the middle of the room yet, so that might be what is holding him back. And it could be that he can crawl a very short distance to climb up on something in our apartment, so he doesn't need to learn to stand up. :) He loves to clap and say "more" in sign language. Every time he does it and I say "more?" he starts giggling. He also enjoys playing with cars and trains. But they have to be the car or train that Spencer gives him. Usually Owen is okay with that. He is sleeping better during the night. He still wakes up usually just once. He always puts himself to sleep at night, but nap time has not been so successful yet. He still has his binky and I have no intention of taking it away any time soon. It will come, I just would rather not think about it. We discovered recently that Owen loves to slide! We went to the park a few weeks ago and if I wasn't helping him go down the slide he was screaming at me. :) He really is such a sweet baby. I can hardly believe it's almost been a year since he was born! Time sure flies.

We are so lucky to have family fairly close. We made a trip to Oklahoma City to see my sister Chelsea and her family in January. And then last week we went to my sister Jessica's house. Mostly to try to be helpful since she was 9 months pregnant and her husband had to be out of town. We had a great time though. I wish we could do it more often! And Jessica did have her baby. Our new cousin Harrison who we can't wait to snuggle with. 

Christmas

I guess I ought to do a little catch up on Christmas. The one thing that is great about being a student (Bryce being a student anyway) is that we get some good breaks. Bryce finished his semester December 14 and still doesn't go back until January 17! So we've still got him to ourselves for one more day. 

We made sure to decorate our Christmas tree and make some stockings before we left town for the holidays.  We drank some hot chocolate and watched Polar Express as we put the tree up. 

 Spencer hanging the ornaments. He loved helping. 

Mommy with the tree. Photo courtesy of Spencer.  

Daddy and Spencer. 

Since Bryce had such a long break we decided to make the drive out to Utah for Christmas. We left the 16th and came back the day after Christmas. The drive really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Both Spencer and Owen did pretty well. We had to make a lot of stops, especially since Spencer is potty trained and refuses to go potty anywhere but the toilet. 

 We had plenty of coloring materials for Spencer. As well as plenty of DVD's to keep both of them entertained for a while. 

We discovered that a straw can entertain Owen for quite a while. It helped pass time on the drive. :) 

We had a great time in Utah spending time with family. I didn't take many pictures, but here are some of the ones I got. 

 The shepherd and baby Jesus getting ready for the nativity play. 

Spencer and Kaleb listening to Grandma Barbara's story.  Spencer loved playing with all of his cousins while we were there. 

Spencer with Santa Chad.  

Owen with Santa Chad.   

We of course went to the see the lights at Temple Square.  

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Aunt Sharayne and her family and Grandma Barbara. They really spoiled us. The boys ended up with a lot more presents from Santa than we expected. We loved being able to celebrate with them. Spencer woke up that morning kind of out of it. He wasn't too excited about opening the presents and didn't even try to sneak any of the candy that was in his stocking. After opening presents we were getting ready for breakfast and he threw up. Luckily it was a one time thing, probably because he refused to eat dinner the night before. And after that he was himself and was loving playing with Jaxson's new hot wheels toy! :) 

Owen with his new bear! He was pretty excited about it. 

After going to church we headed to Grandpa Gaisford's and spent the rest of Christmas there with Bryce's family. 

The next day we made the long drive home. Santa brought the boys some presents to our apartment, since he knew we didn't have enough room to bring them home with us. So we opened those and tried to get resettled. After being home for a day we packed up again and drove to Oklahoma to spend New Years with my family. 

Spencer was pretty excited about his big present! 

I didn't take a single picture over New Years. But I did get some good videos. Which of course aren't uploading. I am pretty sure I have similar videos from last Christmas. Aunt Sarah loves a good dance party with the nieces and nephews. Spencer and Owen were both getting into it. Hopefully someday I can figure out how to get them on here.

Anyway, we had a wonderful break. Bryce is ready to get back to school though. I'm not sure Spencer, Owen, and I are as ready as he is, but it will be good to get back into a routine. 

9 months!

I have been thinking that Owen is 9 months for probably the last month. And Bryce has been telling people he has a 10 month old. But Owen is now officially 9 months old! We took him to the doctor today for his check up. No shots, just a toe prick to check his iron. He is a healthy and happy baby boy! He weighed in at 20 lbs 9 oz (50%), is 28 inches long (40%), and his head is 46cm (70%). He's got a large head that's for sure. But it's a cute large head.

 Playing with toys early one morning. Before anyone else in the world was awake. :)

Maybe I just don't remember this age with Spencer, but I swear Owen is a terrible sleeper. And it's probably because he is so loud (seriously, so loud!) that we haven't really been great about the whole sleep training (letting him cry it out). So for a while now we've just been rocking him to sleep. Which is great until he wakes up during the night and needs us to rock him to sleep again. Not so great. So before our holiday travels I decided we need to get this under control. And the past few nights he has put himself to sleep. It's getting shorter and shorter every night. Our neighbors for sure hate us. But hopefully he'll learn to soothe himself. Soon. :)

Owen still eats a fair amount of baby food and is still nursing. Lately I have been trying to give him some real food because he is not liking his baby food. I just have to keep shoving it in his mouth for him to eat any of it. He's never very willing. But he gets so excited and slightly crazy when he sees us eating real food. So I have been giving him some real food lately. And he loves it. And seriously goes nuts when he is out and wants more. I am just not too excited about this self feeding stage. Whoever thought it was a good idea to put carpet in the dining area in apartments (or anywhere for that matter) was not very smart. Am I right?

 Watching some Book of Mormon videos with Spence on Sunday morning.



He is crawling! It's been a few weeks now since he has started real crawling. And he is everywhere. He is so happy because he can now get whatever he wants. Spencer isn't as happy about it.

Here is an example of a daily occurance at our house:

 Hmmm...should I do it? Those cars look so cool!  

 Owen goes for the pumpkin. Spencer of course pulls it away.

 Can't get the pumpkin with cars inside of it, so I'll just go for the cars that are already out!

Denied.

Sometimes they do play really well together. And Owen is getting used to getting shoved around a little. He used to look at me every time Spencer would touch him and cry. It was like he was saying "Come on mom! Did you see that? Put him on time out! You know he deserves it!" But lately he just keeps going trying to get what he wants. Even with Spencer laying on his back trying to squish him so he can't crawl.

We love our baby Owen!!

Halloween continued...

I figure I better post the rest of our Halloween pictures before I lose motivation. And before everyone forgets Halloween even happened...since it's already been over a week ago!

Our first Halloween activity was the Halloween playgroup. This was the only attempt I made at putting Owen in his moustache and hat. And it didn't last long. 

Spencer did great wearing his costume. He loved wearing the moustache and hat. And he refused to be called Spencer when he had his costume on. He was only Mario.

We also went to our ward's trunk or treat. We didn't last very long because Owen was ready for bed, I didn't buy enough candy and we were out pretty quick, and Spencer was happy just going around once. He was pretty excited about it though. Here is a video I took of him on our way there. 

(not working of course...hopefully I can get it to load later. until then you'll just have to imagine him talking about being mario and getting lots of candy)

We also decided to visit Aunt Jessica, Uncle Mike, Ben, Grace, Breeny, and Jilly. I mean, Spencer has been with them for the past two Halloweens! So we couldn't break tradition. We went with them to their ward's trunk or treat and to the zoo's Halloween thing.

 Grace the mermaid, Benson the lizard, Breeny was Olivia the pig, Jilly the ballerina, and Spencer was of course Mario. Owen was asleep back at Aunt Jessica's with daddy. Bryce was happy to take him back early so he could "study" while watching the BYU game. :)

 They had some games inside before the actual trunk or treat. Spencer was just taking a break while the other kids took a turn bowling. :)

 Taking a break at the zoo.

We had a lot of fun at Aunt Jessica's. We went up on Friday and left Saturday afternoon. We decided to try putting all the kids in the same room on Friday night. Here's what we found when we went to check on them... (minus Jilly, she was in on the action when we first went in)

This is what cousin parties are all about though right?

It was a fun Halloween week-end filled with lots of candy of course! 

 Owen was pretty jealous that Spencer couldn't share any of his candy with him.

 We also made some Halloween cookies. Sugar cookies are fun and delicious, but so much work!

Spencer enjoying a cookie in front of his art display. He loves to hang pictures he colors or paints on the fridge.  

Happy Halloween!!

From Mario and Luigi!

 And since Luigi was having such issues wearing the essential parts of his costume...

We decided daddy could be Luigi.

I took a ton of pictures over the week-end. So you better believe there will be another post on our Halloween activities. But I'm too lazy right now...