Ski Trip

In the middle of January, Casey surprised me with a ski trip. I had never been skiing, so he took the day off work and set up a babysitter for Weston. Overall it was a very fun day. I'm not the best and the steep slopes were a little intimidating/scary, but now I can say I've been. Thanks for taking me, babe! and Thanks to Jason and Ashley for watching Weston. Here are a few pics.

10 Months!

My baby is 10 months. I can't believe he will be one in a few months. It has gone by so fast. It's crazy because I hardly remember being pregnant and it feels like we have had his happy/smiling face in our lives forever. I don't know what we would do without him. He is constantly keeping us entertained and is the light of our lives. We just love this little guy. Now onto the update. A lot has happened in a month.

-Loves to play with cars and pushes a lot of other things along the ground like a car
-Makes noises when he crawls around. A lot of the time he pants like a dog.
-Finally started saying Ma-ma, but not very often.
-Found his tongue- like to stick it out, grab it with his fingers, and I just taught him how to click his tongue a few days ago.
-He already has a boy's appetite. His intake has doubled, so we have pretty much cut out almost all baby food because it was getting a little expensive. He is a great eater and eats pretty much anything we put in front of him, but he LOVES blueberries. He eats those up faster than anything else.
-Enjoys the walker we got him
-Bounces on his knees when he is excited
-Learned to clap - We went to a Kings game the other night and he was bouncing on his knees and clapping throughout the game. He had a good time.
-Upgraded to a bigger carseat because he is a little over 20 pounds now. I can't wait to turn him around in 2 months though.
-His third tooth is coming in.
-And here is the big one...TOOK 12 STEPS! Since then he usually takes 5-6, but has taken 10-12 twice now. He also squats when he is standing and then stands back up and can push himself off the ground. He thinks he is pretty special when he does this. Sometimes he tries to show off and do it really quick and then he falls on his butt.

This is his fake crying face. Don't you just love the single tear?

You had better not get in his way when he is using his walker. I almost lost my life trying to get this picture! :)
Looking at the fountains with cousin Paisley. Although, I think he enjoyed it a little more than she did.
Our little lemonhead. To Casey's dismay, he didn't even make a sour face. He loves lemons.

Showing off his two teeth. He's always super happy after he eats :)

Great Commercial

Just to break up the 9 month and 10 month posts, here is a commerical I saw the other day that I thought was funny.

9 Months!

He is actually 10 months today, so stay tuned for that one very soon, but I had to make a post about him at 9 months before the 10 month post. I'm a little OCD like that :) A few things he was doing at 9 months:

*Says ba-ba, and Mmmm when he is eating
*Smacks his lips
*Gives five and high-fives
*Casey and him will growl at each other when they are playing
*Loves water
*Hated wearing a bib until my sister gave us this amazing one for Christmas that stays on and is super easy to clean (Thank you Joanna!)
*Gets excited when Casey comes home - one time we met Casey at the door and Weston reached out for him, gave him a hug, then said "Da-da." It was pretty cute and it makes Casey pretty happy
*He notices the tiniest things on the ground and will put them in his mouth. Not really liking this one.
*Can stand up for a long time by himself.

Here is a picture I took of him when he turned 9 months. He is such a fun kid!

Merry Christmas! (just a little late)

Just a few pictures from Christmas. It was kind of a blur for us this year. We went down to San Diego and spent it with my sister and her family, but all three of us got the stomach flu a few days before we left and Weston was feeling some of the effects all week long. We also were kind enough to pass it on to pretty much all of my family :) We felt bad, but it had been passed on to us, so what were we going to do? It was Weston's first Christmas, but he wasn't too interested in his presents. He preferred climbing on everyone else's presents and playing with the wrapping paper. While we were down there, we also got to see my younger sister bless their second little boy, which was fun because we got to see most of the rest of my family at the blessing.

Weston at the park for the first time

Weston opening his Christmas Eve present. Pajamas from my parents, wearing pajamas from Casey's mom. He really liked the tag :)
My sister had plastic ornaments, so Weston would pull them off and watch them bounce on the tile.

Weston with my dad at the blessing

My sister and her cute family at the blessing

17-Mile Drive and Monterey Aquarium

Casey did a rotation down south in San Jose for a few weeks, so while we were down there we went to Carmel/Monterey to the 17-Mile Drive and the Monterey Bay Aquarium for a day. The 17-Mile drive offered some beautiful views of the ocean and the aquarium was really fun. It even had a baby section that Weston had a blast in! He went down his first slide too and loved it.

Aren't they cute? :)
The fam in front of the Lone Cypress

Weston trying to eat the railing

An otter at the aquarium

A lone pelican

Weston just hanging around looking at some birds

His first encounter with a starfish

In the baby section. This was like a waterbed and was supposed to imitate the motion of waves.

Photo op

The beautiful jellyfish

One Crazy Kid

More pictures of Weston up to no good. It's a good thing he looks so cute while he's doing it :)

Everything is food to him

I'm gonna get you and your little camera too!

It seemed like a good place to put him to keep him out of trouble while we got ready for church (I was standing right next to him, of course)

Just looking for a snack

Weston!
What? I'm just blowing my nose.
I'm so funny! :)

Thanksgiving!

I know I've been a horrible blogger, but I'm attempting to make up for it over the next few days. Let's start with Thanksgiving which turned out great and was a lot of fun. This was my first time hosting a holiday dinner because my sister came up with her family and then we invited Casey's brother and his family and his sister. I even roasted my first turkey (but forgot to take pictures!) It took a lot of work, but I had a lot of help and it turned out great. Thanks to everyone for their help. Casey was wonderful and was able to get the keys to the church building so we didn't have to cram everyone into our apartment too. Garth, Janelle, and the kids stayed for a bit and did some fun things. Unfortunately we didn't end up doing most of it with them because Casey had to study for his CPA test that Friday and Weston was teething :( We did go to the Forresthill Bridge with then though and that was fun to see again. A big thanks to Janelle and Garth for coming up to visit us!

All of the yummy food. Charity did a great job supplying the sparkling cider :)

The kid's table
The adultsMy two thugs on the bridge :)

The beautiful sky as we were leaving

CPA EXAM IS DONEZO!!! Thank you Jenna

I passed. The CPA exams weren’t nearly as hard as I anticipated, but I am extremely relieved that I am done. Now I’m going to do a little bragging before I distribute my thanks. Supposedly only 10% of applicants pass all four of the exams on the first try, which I did. And not only did I pass these tests, I straight dominated them. All you need is a 75 to pass, and believe me I was shooting for a 75. I took the hardest test first, FARE, and scored a 94. I was shocked, walking out of the test I was telling people that “I thought I scored between a 70 and a 78. I took the easiest test second (BEC) and scored a 90; then REG, where I scored a 95; and last AUD, with an 87. BYU definitely helped prepare me for these tests more than I can imagine. I wish I had the same amount of appreciation for BYU and the excellent accounting program when I was attending school as I do now. I am also very grateful to my Heavenly Father, I prayed fervently before and after every test numerous times and I know he blessed me tremendously. I received help from friends and family, but none more than my amazing wife Jenna. I began studying for the tests in June and finished the last week of November. During those six months Jenna was extremely helpful in building my confidence and with understanding my need to study. She pacified Weston when I came home from work so that I could get in some good studying, and she forgave me for not taking her out much as I dedicated most of my free time to studying. I feel so lucky to have such a supportive and understanding wife. I couldn’t have accomplished what I did without her. A popular quote, “Behind every great man is a great woman” comes to mind as I reflect on my test taking experience. Though I don’t feel like a great man, there was definitely a great woman behind me. Similar to my mom deserving most of the credit for my Eagle Scout award, Jenna deserves a lot of credit for me passing the CPA exam. Thank you and I love you.

Casey

My Great Eight

Ashley tagged me, so here it goes...

8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. Anything on Food Network
2. The Mentalist
3. House
4. Criminal Minds
5. The Hills - I can't help it. All the people are just so dumb :)
6. CSI
7. Law & Order SVU
8. Music Videos on VH1

8 Favorite restaurants:
1. In-N-Out
2. Rubio's
3. Outback
4. Jack's
5. Kneaders
6. Alpine Taco Shop
7. Extraordinary Desserts
8. Whosong and Larry's

8 Things that happened today:
1. Got flu shots as a family
2. Bought a dining room table. Yeah!
3. Went to Wal-Mart
4. Had In-N-Out for lunch
5. Went on a walk to get the mail with Weston
6. Sent Weston off with Casey to watch the BYU basketball game with friends
7. Put up Christmas Decorations
8. Watched a movie

8 Things I'm looking forward to:
1. Christmas
2. For Casey to get his last CPA exam score
3. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (the movie)
4. Casey's Work Christmas Party
5. Weston to be potty trained
6. Weston walking
7. Weston's 1st Birthday
8. Spring

8 Things on my wish list:
1. For Casey to pass his last CPA exam
2. A huge grocery budget so that I can make healthy gourmet food whenever I want
3. New iPod
4. For our rent to drop at the end of our lease
5. For Casey to not be sick :(
6. For there to be an Extraordinary Dessert in Roseville
7. To have unlimited funds so that I can visit our family whenever I want
8. For all the Prop 8 nonsense to be over

8 People I'm tagging:
1. You
2. You
3. You
4. You
5. You
6. You
7. You
8. and You

You know who you are! :)

8 months!

Weston is 8 months TODAY! I can't decide which is crazier. That he is already 8 months old or that I'm actually posting his month birthday on time : ) I'm loving this age though. He is starting to do so many funny/amazing things and is constantly keeping us entertained. Here are some of his latest and greatest:

>Can climb up stairs and on top of his Huggies box then on to the couch.

>Opens drawers, cupboards, and closes/pushes open doors. I now have to really close the door to prevent him from going through.

>Feeds himself using the pincer grasp. I love this!

>Got his first tooth two days before Thanksgiving and is working on the second one.

>Likes toast, bread, grated cheese, little pieces of fruit (especially grapes), pieces of chicken and turkey, torillas, and cheerios.

>Blows raspberries. He mainly does it on my face when he is giving me kisses, but he'll also do it on our arms, legs, and stomach.

>Likes to play chase with me. The other night Jason and Ashley were over with Paisley and she was crawling towards him and he thought she was playing chase so he got a huge smile on his face and was preparing to crawl away, but then she stopped so he stopped and looked a little bummed :) It was kind of cute that he thought she was playing chase with him.

>Waves "hi." We're still working on this one, so he doesn't do it consistently yet.

>Says Da-da and will look at Casey when I ask, "Where's Da-da?"

>

Here are a few pictures and a video from the last few weeks to show that we've got our work cut out for us with this one :)

Somebody found the toilet paper

After he climbs on the couch, he has decided that it is fun to climb on the side table and play with the lamp.

He likes to spread his toys all over

Hmmm...What's in here?

This one was taken today. We just love this little guy! Climbing

7 Months!

Weston turned 7 months on Halloween! I'm a little late, I know. Did I ever mention that procrastinating is one of my worst habits : ) Anyways, I'm constantly amazed by how fast it goes. My little baby is getting so big!

New Things:
~Crawling and getting into even more than before.
~Pulls himself to standing. He stands up in his crib waiting for us to get him when he wakes up.
~Can slowly walk along furniture, switch from things that are close together, and pushes a box around the living room.
~Loves baby food, cottage cheese, and plain yogurt. He is such a great eater. I'm pretty sure he would keep eating if I let him.
~Loves to spit, will mimic you when you spit at him most of the time, and starts to spit more when he's frustrated or tired.
~Fake coughs. He has been doing this since he was born, but now if you fake cough at him, he'll fake cough back.
~Is really good at drinking out of his sippy cup and can drink from a straw too.
~Went to his first BYU game and loves to hear us sing the BYU fight song.
~Fits in his shoes :)
~Gets really excited when he sees other babies or kids.
~Is playing by himself better. I'm able to leave the room and get things done and he just keeps on playing.
~Already fits in quite a few of his 9 month clothes.

Mr. Cool sporting his Faux-hawk and Adidas shoes (from Chris Weston).

The best way to get the glass was obviously over the box : )
Spitting

Checking out a dog with cousin Paisley.

Cutest Baby Contest

About a week ago I entered Weston in a small "Cutest Baby Contest." I read their online magazine, and I just thought it would be fun. Anyways, he made it to the finals! : ) Now it is up to the public to vote for the cutest baby. Click on the button above which has instructions on how to vote, and please take a few seconds to vote for our cute little guy (Entry #3)! Thanks!

Halloween Dinner

We decided not to take Weston out on actual Halloween because we figured that the Trunk-or-Treat was enough since he really didn't care : ) Also, Casey got home a little later than usual because he had to work out of town that day, so we just had a Halloween dinner and watched a scary movie. Here are some pictures of the dinner that I was quite proud of! : )

Mashed Boo-tatoes, sweet potato pumpkins, and tombstone meatloaf.

Ghost and Pumpkin chocolate covered strawberries