Out of Africa

Casey went to Angola for work at the beginning of December. He was given the opportunity because he speaks Portuguese and that is what they speak in Angola. They didn't have any freedom, had to do everything together, and were heavily guarded the whole time. Here are a few of his favorite pictures from his visit:

He had a layover in Frankfurt, Germany so he went to the famous Christmas Market. The office where he spent most of his time.

One of the many bodyguards watching over them. They had to have bodyguards with them 24/7 because Angola recently went through a civil war. Most of them were british and have some impressive resumes, including guarding The Queen, General McCrystal while in Iraq, the Spice Girls, etc.

Downtown Luanda. Casey said the place is a dump, but is one of the most expensive countries to live in because they import everything. Dental Floss was $11 and the building you are looking at costs $6,000/month to rent an apartment. Crazy, I know.

Poverty - people just threw their trash down the hill. Trash was everywhere.

There is a ton of traffic and there are almost always people in the middle of the road trying to sell random things to drivers: Christmas trees, pants, belts, toys, etc. This kid is selling toilet paper.

This was my favorite picture because to me it just screams Africa with all the bright colors. On the weekends, Casey and his coworkers would go to a local beach that Casey said was kind of gross, but he brought home a lot of pretty shells which weren't lacking there.

The little boy looks so cute just hanging on his mom's back

Some of the food. They had steak at every meal and a lot of seafood. This is Casey's lobster lunch. You would think that Casey would be in heaven since he is such a steak lover, but overall, Casey thought the food was disgusting.

The only picture we have with Casey in it. One night they went to a churrasco for dinner. One of the best meals they had.

A Snowy Visit

At the beginning of December Weston and I went to Utah to visit my parents. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of pictures, but we had a great time none-the-less. We were there for a week and went to their Christmas ward dinner, enjoyed looking at the snow, seeing my sister and brother, and hanging out with Mama, Papa, and Jonas. One of my favorite things was playing games almost every night with my parents and Jonas. I am a huge boardgame person and this just made my day! Weston really liked playing with my parents dog, Pink, or terrorizing her I should say. He had a hard time not being able to go outside very much because it snowed a lot of the time and was 20 degrees. Casey kept saying, "just let him play in the snow, I'm sure he would like it," so when we were at my sister's, I let him go outside and 10 minutes later he was at the door whining to come in because he was so cold. The worst part was the flights to and from Utah. We had layovers both ways for the first time and being 6 months pregnant and having to carry a 1 1/2-year-old part of the time or bend over in our seats to get him snacks, etc. was a little uncomfortable. Weston was great, but it was a little long for both of us, and I think I'll stick with direct flights from now on.

Weston in the dog's bed. I wasn't a huge fan, but he thought it was funny :)

Nimbus Fish Hatchery

While Janelle and Garth were in town for Thanksgiving, we headed down to the Nimbus Fish Hatchery in Folsom. It was more fun than I thought a fish hatchery would be, but I'm sure it helped that we were with family and there were a lot of kids. They had steelhead, salmon, and trout. My favorite part was watching Weston feed the fish and say "blub, blub" (that is the sound a fish makes).

Weston and Casey looking at the steelhead

Everyone feeding the fish
Weston and I just looking. The fish food smelled disgusting, so I left the feeding up to Casey :)

Everyone at the end of our little field trip

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year with plenty of family. Janelle and Garth came up and Ashley's parents were in town for Spencer's blessing, so Jason reserved the church building for us to gather all together. It makes it so roomy and gives the kids plenty of space to play. Ashley gave out food assignments and it all turned out wonderfully. We were so grateful to have family close and also have family come in to town to help us celebrate this special holiday.

The food. It was all delicious!This was the munchkin table. Only Ryden was interested in actually eating his food that day. I made the pumpkin pie and I always do one with a Jack-O-Lantern face, but this one was my pride and joy. I had to cut each of those leaves out by hand because I didn't have a leaf cookie cutter.

Making the Climb

One morning we were in bed and we hear Weston start to whine, which means he is up and ready to get out of bed. It was kind of early, so we waited to see if he would fall back asleep. Instead, we hear a slight thud and then we are both surprised to hear the door click and feet pattering down the hallway. Weston shows up at our door carrying wipes and says, "stinky" (which he was). That was around the middle of October, but it was very infrequent and he still stayed in his crib most of the time. Come the middle of Novemeber was a different story. He became a pro at climbing out and thought it was quite funny. We usually put him down for bed no problem at 8, but one night he just kept climbing out every 15 min. Finally around 10:30, I had decided that we were going to convert his crib to a daybed the next day, but Casey said we might as well do it right then since he was already wide awake, so we did. We had to lock his door at first and he would fall asleep at the door sometimes, but I think he realized that it was pointless to try and get out and goes right down now. We figure this is good practice for when the new baby kicks him out of the crib and he gets moved to a twin bed. I have to admit, it was a fun little milestone since he didn't make it too hard on us :)

Halloween Fun!

We had a lot of fun this Halloween with all the different activities we did. Weston of course was more into the holiday so that helped a lot, and he was an elephant because that was one of the first animal noises that he made. He really liked his costume, which was nice too. Our Halloween festivities started off with our ward halloween party, then we carved pumpkins, made some Halloween treats, then taking Weston out trick-or-treating with Paisley for the first time on Halloween. The funny part about trick-or-treating was that whenever someone would open their door when we knocked, Weston would always try and walk in.

Weston getting his face painted at the ward party

Helping himself. He's not shy :)
Family Picture. Weston loves suckers!

Opening his halloween package from Mama and Papa

He loves to put things on his head. This was one of his favorites.

Carving a pumpkin for the first time. He thought the bowl was the place to be.

Getting into it

Helping Dad empty it out

The finished product. We decided to go classic for his first one. I also made roasted pumpkin seeds for the first time, which turned out good.

Our Halloween breakfast. Pumpkin pancakes with chocoloate chips.

The treat I made for a some family and friends

What I put the treat in. I got the idea from Martha Stewart and it was super easy.

Weston knocking on his first door at Jason and Ashley's complex. Doesn't he make the cutest elephant? We think so :)

Random Weston

A few more pics of Weston that I thought were cute.

Jason and Ashley had a Windows 7 party so that they could get a free copy of the operating system. Windows sent out bags, small gifts, and streamers. After the streamers were taken down, Weston had some fun with them.

While Jason and Ashley were in the hospital after having their new little boy, Paisley got to have her first slumber party at our house. This is Weston and Paisley having a picnic on our living room floor.
It starts young. We got the Toys 'R Us ad in the mail and I gave it to Weston to look at. He just plopped down on his belly and looked at the ad for like 15 min.

Playing in the rain. Weston liked to collect the leaves as they floated by.

Getting into it

Taking a nap with Dad on a Sunday afternoon.

More Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails for us!

The fact that I'm 5 weeks late posting this doesn't make it any less exciting that we are having another BOY! We are super excited! Weston definately needs a little brother to keep himself occupied and to get into trouble with. The best part is that we are already prepared. The baby was really active and moving a ton during the sonogram and he is healthy on all accounts. I'm still feeling good too and just started getting a more noticeable bump. Only 15 weeks left!

18 months!

Weston turned 18 months at the end of September and I am just amazed at all the changes kids go through between 12 months and 18 months. He grew up so much and learned so many new things.

-His first word other than Mama and Dada was "Ball." He now says quite a few words and is always suprising us with new phrases and words.
-He still has an amazing appetite most of the time (he can eat a whole PB&J sandwich), but he also likes to exercise his independence and refuse more food than he used to.
-Runs really fast and is starting to get off the ground when he hops.
-Has a really good arm and will imitate Casey winding up for a pitch and swinging a bat.
-Went into nursery and hasn't turned back once. He loves it.
-Loves dogs and bugs. If he sees a bug, he will pick it up.
-Likes to give hugs and kisses and is still cuddly. In the morning after he wakes up, he will come and cuddle with us for 30 min or so.
-LOVES to read. We often find him in his room surrounded by his books and flipping through the pages.
-Knows how to say football, basketball, and baseball and knows the difference between the three when he sees them on TV.
-Loves to hop and jump, especially from one thing to another or off things.

Weston with his bean plant after his first day in nursery

Spaghetti is one of his favorite foods Watching sports with Dad and getting a bite of Spaghetti when he can

Eating his very own In-N-Out burger for the first time. He finished about half of it.

My little sous chef

Reading his little heart out

Playing in some water fountains.

Giving hugs to cousin Paisley

Mr. Destructo. He knocked down this light at Casey's work and Casey was more focused on documenting the moment than fixing the light, which just sat right back up.

He's our little daredevil and doesn't scare easily. He will do things like this all on his own without any coaching.

Recovery.gov

Check out this link,

http://www.recovery.gov/Transparency/Pages/home.aspx

This is the government reporting where all the bail out money went, and how productive it was. In our district, the federal govt gave us $163,877,376, and it created 112.09 jobs.

Just to spell it out for you, that's $1,462,016 PER JOB!!!!

Can't wait till health care reform goes through ; )

-Casey

The Killers!

We got tickets through Casey's work to see The Killers at Arco Arena. Casey and I both love this band, so we had a great time. We got to hang out with friends and family too, so that made it that much better. They also sounded really good live, which is always a plus.

Before the show started

The confetti-filled finale