Thankful

SOMEDAY...

• The kitchen sink won't be full of dishes


• The laundry baskets will be empty, and there won't be a mound of clothes on top of the dryer waiting to be folded


• William's clothes will be in his drawers instead of folded (or not folded) on top of the dryer


• I'll forget about the heartburn that accompanies pregnancy


• I'll finish cutting William's hair


• I'll finish organizing our apartment


• Our kitchen will have more counter space

BUT... until then I have...

• An incredible husband who spoils me and William (and baby girl) rotten. He works so hard and takes such good care of us!


• did I mention that he is a husband who always makes sure his wife gets enough sleep?


• A sweet little goofball who gives his mother as many kisses as she wants. He'll be such a good big brother!


• A precious baby girl coming just months away


• An apartment that smells so good because we put up our Christmas tree


• Fun family and in-laws who make holidays like Thanksgiving so much fun


• A mother who reteaches us daughters how to make pies every year


• A fun apartment just blocks away from Temple Square. Downtown living is the best. (Just a few months until Harmon's opens around the corner! woo hoo!)


• and since the lesson I had to give on Sunday was on Elder Bednar's talk on Family History, might I mention that I have been thinking about some of the amazing ancestors I have who left such incredible examples for me to try and live up to

We had a very fun and very busy Thanksgiving weekend. We have so much to be thankful for here in our little apartment, and it was nice to be able to think about it all week!!

Keeping busy

With the colder weather, William and I have had to be creative in our little apartment. Because he could drive cars around all day, one of our new favorite games is making masking tape towns. Last time we added a few fun twists. First was going up the couch. He loved the houses that were on the side instead of on the flat surface.A second thing we started to add were letters. William has been fascinated by letters lately. One of his favorite books is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and he loves playing Starfall on the iPad. He picks out letters everywhere we go. When walking up to Smith's, he'll point to the big red sign and say "S!" or point to the "P" on the P1 of our parking garage. He notices them everywhere. So our little town had some letters added to the neighborhood. It was fun to watch him drive over the different letters as he'd say each one outloud. He could pick out atleast 2/3 of the alphabet for you. Another common game we've been playing is "let's sort the paper." We love getting the weekend papers, and William loves sorting through it for us when we are done reading. Our front room is usually covered in paper on Monday mornings before we throw it all away. There is just something fun about the crinkly sound it makes...But even with all the cold we are glad to be able to catch the warmer moments and slip outside!There's nothing like going for a walk through the fall leaves!

Binky Free!

William amazes me. Seriously. Everytime I am worried about how he'll handle a new situation, he takes it head on and doesn't look back. Of course there are exceptions, but getting rid of the "gink" was not one of them.
We won't go in to too many details here, but for weeks I'd known this day was coming. He'd been really good about only having it for naps and bed time, but then he got sick and needed it, and then we babysat for 2 weeks, and I was glad he could have that extra comfort during such a crazy time. But then it just became more of a hastle than a help. So I braced myself for a good 3 to 5 days of misery.
I'd really been feeling bad, like he wasn't ready, and maybe I wasn't ready, but we knew with baby girl coming, it needed to happen sooner than later. Well, last Monday, for the first time, I felt strongly that he was ready and that I was ready, so I braced myself and we snipped the tip!
That night when we gave it to William we explained to him that we were so sorry, but that it was "broken". He asked for a different one and we told him they were all broken. We gave him his other bedtime necesities (elephant, sippy cup, and a car) and a kiss goodnight and left a sad little boy crying in bed.
The part that amazes me? He only cried for half an hour. I think the time change helped because he was a little more tired That was the last time he cried for his binky! I helped him fall asleep for his nap the next day, but no tears. There have been times when he's been sad because of something else and says "gink?" but after reminding him that it was broken he stopped asking for it. He just got it.
Then a few days later he happened to open the drawer where I'd stashed the broken binkies, but he didn't even look at them. I asked him if he wanted to put them in the garbage because they were broken, and he took them from me and threw them away himself. Woo hoo! The binky was a HUGE help when we needed it, but it's nice to be moving on!

He is constantly surprising me with what a strong little boy he is. We couldn't feel more blessed to have him and can't wait to see what a good big brother he'll turn out to be!

(Pictures are from a hike in Park City)

Happy Halloween

We had a fun and busy Halloween this year. William the Fireman had fun trick-or-treating at Grandpa Tyler's office (picture to come) on Friday. We were a little late so we missed the parade, but it was fun to help him go to each office door. He totally got the candy thing. He'd walk (run) from bowl to bowl, pick out the most colorful piece, say thank you, stick the candy in his hat (because he wouldn't wear it), and run to the next door. By Monday we got him saying "kick-o-keet." We spent time at Grandma and Grandpa Young's on Saturday and Sunday decorating, hanging out with cousins and eating yummy Japanese food. We went to Danny's office on Monday, and then around our building, and then to Grandma and Grandpa's street for some real trick-or-treating. That went well except that he wanted to go in to all of the doors that opened. Luckily we knew the people!

After visiting Danny's office on Monday we found a tempting pile of leaves in front of Big-O-Tires across the street from our apartment. He loved rolling around, throwing them, and crunching them under his fireman boots. I love his face when he counts to three before he takes off running. He was so cute the way he'd carry around his dalmation like a dutiful fireman!