Sugar Cookies with Aunt Holly and Missionary Payden!

Jackson saw the bag of cookie cutters in the drawer and asked what they were. I thought it was sad that my three year old didn't know. We make cookies, but not ones to cut out! I told him that maybe we could call Aunt Holly and go to her house and make cookies with her and the kids. He got so excited, so the next day we went and made cookies! He thought it was so fun, but after he cut out a couple of shapes he was done. He did help finish though and loved putting the sprinkles on top. Some of them got a little bit of an overload. 

My first nephew to go out on his mission, came home!! His family moved to Boston a couple months ago so he went home there. Those of us in Utah were quite disappointed. He was only there for about two weeks and then flew to Utah for school. Here we are welcoming him! We were so excited!! There might have been some tears shed...

The rest of the day, we went to lunch and played at my Mom's. Jackson really took to Payden. It was so sweet. He is usually shy with those he doesn't know, but he wanted Payden to sit by him in the car and he kept asking him to play with him. I have pictures of Jackson with each missionary hanging in his room so he at least recognized him from that, but he was only one when he left so I was surprised that he was so friendly to him!

I just love my cute missionaries! We have another coming home next month and I can't wait to give him a big hug!

Ogden Temple Open House

We went to the Ogden Temple Open House with CJ's Mom and it was wonderful. It is such a beautiful Temple. We didn't have to wait at all to go in which was so nice.  We watched a short video about temples and it is a good reminder of the importance of it and the amazing blessings that come from attending the temple. I am sealed to my family forever. Not just for life here on earth, but in the hereafter. I am so grateful for that knowledge and the peace that it gives me everyday. 

We even saw our friend Brian there! He was hard at work.

Snowbird!

CJ and I wanted to get out of the house and do something different so we decided to go to Snowbird for the day. It ended up being Oktoberfest up there, which was a bummer, but it turned out to be fine. No one was out of control so Jackson didn't notice anything weird. I had never been up there to play since I don't ski, so I didn't know what there was to do up there. We rode the alpine slide, which Jackson thought was too fast. I don't think it is as good as Park City, but it was still fun. 

We rode the tram up the mountain and Jackson loved that. It was a beautiful view!

Then we hiked down a little bit so we could ride the ski lift the rest of the way down. On the way, there was a tunnel that you could walk through to the other side of the mountain. It was really fascinating actually. They had pictures all over that showed the area before there was anything there and pictures of  the ski resort being built. They had some of the tools that were used too.

Riding the ski lift down.  It was so fun and Jackson thought it was great. He played in the bounce houses for a little bit then we decided to head home. We all had a good time. I love spending time with my family!

Fun and Aquarium

The kids and I went bowling with Cory and July one night. Jackson loved it and Lee got to try his first french fry. He LOVED it! He kept biting it and would get big chunks so it didn't last very long. 

At 7 months old, he can pull himself up! I didn't think twice about it and the next day he fell out. I was so sad and felt absolutely horrible. CJ was out of town so I had my neighbor come help me lower the crib.

Jackson is trying to make a sad face here. I love that he puckers his lips.

We still had our bounce back passes to the Aquarium so we decided to go and called Aunt Kelly to go with us. Jackson knows how to call people on my phone now so he saw Kelly's picture and called her about five times to invite her. She called back a few minutes later and his conversation with her was so cute. He just sat and talked with her like a big boy. Oh, I just love him!
It was a lot of fun. We were able to see the octopus moving across the glass. It was so fascinating to watch him. I could have sat there forever, but Jackson was sure to move me along when he was ready to move on.

They have this rope bridge you can walk on and Jackson was too scared to do it so CJ had to carry him across and it still made him pretty nervous.

Jackson was so excited to have CJ there. Usually it is just the boys and me, but it is always better when Daddy can come!

I loved this picture of Jackson just hanging out on the couch watching a movie.
Below is his giant ice cream from Leatherby's. I asked for a scoop of vanilla and this is what he got! He had about five bites and was done.

Family Pictures

We really needed to get family pictures done and I wanted to get six month old photos of Baby Lee. Well, I procrastinated a little and they turned out to be eight month old photos instead. Our boys were pretty shy at first and didn't have many smiles, but they warmed up and we got some adorable shots of them. 

Baby Lee is now eight months old and is crawling! He started about a week before he turned eight months. He weighs about seventeen pounds. He is still little for his age, but he has chunked up a little bit. He still doesn't sleep through the night, which is killing me, but we are surviving. He goes to bed around 7:30 p.m. and wakes up once to eat in the night and usually wakes up between 7-8 for the day. He takes a morning and afternoon nap and is the happiest little guy. He is so good and smiles all the time. Now that he is mobile, Jackson is not loving him all the time. Jackson usually does pretty well with him, but when Lee starts getting his toys then he gets upset. He has said,"Mom! Baby is pestering me!" That made me smile! Lee loves to go wherever Jackson is playing. There is going to be many more tears over him getting Jackson's toys!
I am so grateful for my little family. I am grateful that I am able to stay home with my sweet boys. I love them so much!