The Stats

I totally forgot to post Collin's 12-month stats! I guess I was too excited about the birthday party...

Weight: 22 lbs (yes he lost weight! It's gotta be all that walking.) **I just looked at his 9 month stats, and he has gained since then. However, I weighed him on our home scale at 11 months and he was 26lbs...
Height: 30 inches

Other stuff:
He can sign "eat", "more" (which for him is just eat again...), "milk", "drink" and "bye bye".
He can say mama, dada, bye bye (bu bu), all done (aw dun), banana (a-nana), and what's that?, (uts at).
He likes to try to repeat what I say. He almost has outside and grandma. I say almost because he's not consistent yet.
He likes to eat like a big boy, meaning anything that mama and daddy are eating. And he has 10 teeth!!!
He gets really excited when his daddy comes home.
He loves to dance. He puts both hands in front of him and bounces them up and down.
He will clap for anything. Sometimes he is crying but Greg and I are clapping and he just can't resist. He'll be clapping and crying.
He LOVES Mickey Mouse and Legos.
We've almost got him from formula to milk. His stomach couldn't handle whole milk, so the Dr. suggested trying 2% for a few months and it seems to be working. Hooray!
He is so super cute and makes us smile and laugh every day!
He loves candy. He knows what it is, where it is and won't settle for anything else. We have to hide it up high.
He likes to take things apart like containers, Legos, puzzles, boxes, the printer, etc.
He also likes to put things inside of things. He is really good at cleaning up. He just doesn't call it that.
When he gets hurt or sad, he cries for his mama. I love it!

And that's our little boy! Love him!

A very merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!
We sure had a Merry Christmas. Santa even came! We knew he would. Collin has been a VERY good boy all year! After his birthday, Collin had an idea of what presents are and was even excited to open them. It took us a couple hours to get through our gifts. Fun was had by all!

A little breakfast before we started opening gifts.

Collin's gifts. He's clapping in excitement! (And honestly probably because Daddy was clapping too.)
He really got into the unwrapping this time. After I made a little tear in each gift he went for it!

He did like the noises that the paper made, but was also excited to see Mickey Mouse!!

And the box top provided some entertainment, at least for a while.

Daddy helping Collin open his gift faster by turning the gift as Collin pulled on the paper.

Collin had to have these opened the second he got the wrapping off. Good choice Santa!

He wasn't sure about the farm til we got the box off it. He loves those little animals now.

One for Daddy! His back is always hurting, so he was really excited to get this massaging pillow.

All of Collin's presents.

After this gift opening session, we took naps and then headed down to my parents house for another round. It was honestly a great Christmas. Not just because we got everything we wanted and some things we didn't know we wanted, but because of the quality time we got to spend with family. I love this season for that reason. I also love this season because I love my Savior, Jesus Christ. I love celebrating his birth and the gift of his life so that we all may have eternal life, the greatest gift of all! Merry Christmas!

Christmas break trip - Part 2

Just because I thought it was funny, I wanted to share Collin's bed while in New Mexico. We pulled the mattress out of the sofa sleeper and put it between our bed and the wall. Collin got really freaked out sleeping in his pack n play in a strange place, but for some reason did really well on this.
We watched a few movies at night, complete with microwave popcorn, Collin and Mama's favorite!

We planned to go to the local zoo Friday, but because of the drive down, we didn't make it. We went Sunday instead. It was like we had the zoo to ourselves! I've never been to a zoo that empty of visitors. Now, it wasn't the best zoo we've ever been to. The areas where the animals were kept were really rather small. The only one that was large was the elephants. I kind of felt bad for them.
The flamingos kept squawking and Collin wasn't sure how to respond.

This large gorilla came running out of the cave straight towards us when we turned the corner. I was freaked out. Then it jumped into the pit between his area and ours. We hurried onto the next exhibit.
First, who wants to walk UNDER birds. Second, that's a 9 foot wing span! Huge!
Collin like the chimps.
CUTEST Tasmanian wombat ever!

The alligator was just laying there like that. Creepy!

Collin and I imitating the baby monkeys.


They had not one, but TWO bald eagles! We were shocked.



Collin telling Daddy about what he was seeing.

Shoulder ride to check out the seals.

The last place (beside the gift shop), was the polar bears. I'm always amazed at how big and cuddly they look.

Finally, we visited Old Town. I love the feeling, the atmosphere, the history of Old Town. Its like taking a walk in the past. I especially loved the Christmas decor.

Yes, those are dried chili's hanging on the beam. They were also along an entire wall of this store.

The large Christmas tree in the towns center. I love that they wrapped the white posts with red ribbon making them look like candy canes.


This is the church that Old Town is centered around. It was built in the late 1700's, in the shape of a cross, and it's walls are 5 feet thick! While we were there real live monk's came out from a wedding! Awesome!

Overall, it was a good trip. The first day we were thinking we'd made a bad choice in trip destination but after the fact, we're glad we went. We now know one thing: we don't want to live in Abq.

Our Christmas break trip - Part 1

We love trips. We just love going to new places! This year we could go whenever we wanted in December because a) I'm not teaching, hallelujah! and b) Greg can get time off from work and was done with his semester. Not sure where to go, we researched our options. We thought about going to Michigan, but the drive would have been way too long for Collin. We also wanted to go to Washington, but again, the drive. Then we heard that BYU's bowl game would be in Albuquerque, New Mexico and that's the trip we decided to take. After milling over the trivial things like when to leave and such, we searched online for things to do in the area. There wasn't much. But, we love going to new places! We will still have fun! And here's the fun we had:

On the drive down, we left at about 3pm and the drive was supposed to take (according to google maps) 10 1/2 hours. It took us nearly 12. The route we took was on a bunch of those roads that are 60 and then go down slowly to 35 while driving through towns, and then back up. And there were SO many towns. Then we hit a blizzard about 200 miles outside of Abq. Collin had been sleeping for about 6 hours when we got in at 3am. We decided to not attempt much site seeing that day, but instead to hang out in our hotel and get some sleep!

We got anxious in the hotel, though, so we ventured out to the store and just to check out the town. The area our hotel was in was a "less fortunate" part of town, and we wanted to see where the city was. We headed east, and quickly came to the end of town. We took the next exit, and then found Route 66! We took Route 66 from the east to the west of town. The western half was where the city was. Some of the road names had us laughing: Lead, Copper, and Coal, and then near the University: Yale, Harvard and Cornell. Also, we were puzzled by some of the speed limit signs.

Saturday we went to the game. It was colder than we had expected and Collin quickly got antsy. We were surprised by how many fans for UTEP there were. Our tickets, that we bought online, were in the UTEP section. Luckily because we were in the end zone we could switch to the other side with no problem. Collin watched and cheered with us for one quarter, but then he wanted more room to move than the 3 feet from Greg to me on the bench. Let's just say we only made it until half time, and that was pushing it. Good thing BYU was destroying UTEP. Go Cougars!
After the game we went to the Route 66 Diner. We had seen it the day before, and it looked like fun. It was also DELICIOUS!!! There were HUGE, yummy fries. We both enjoyed our entrees and the dessert! First, it was ginormous. Second, it was unimaginably good. And the atmosphere was amazing as well. We enjoyed it.

Collin had a birthday!

My little baby boy is ONE! On his special day, I tried to be extra sweet. He knew something was up, not so much from my sweetness, but from the decorations and his busy mama! Ok, I was ECSTATIC to plan a birthday party. I planned for months, and multiple parties, and finally decided on a Mickey Mouse theme. It took me three days to prepare and clean and cook. I loved it! Welcome to our party!
I made two cakes: one for Collin to destroy and one for the party guests to eat. Mickey's head was Collin's cake. I thought it turned out ok for just free-handing it. The other cake was the #1 with Collin's name on it. Cute, but Mickey turned out better.

These are some of the decorations that were put up for the party. I cut out colored circles and Mickey head silhouettes and made the banner.

We had Mickey ice cream sundaes with our cake.
This was the dinner spread. Each item went with one of Mickey's friends. Pluto's hot dogs, Daisy's fruit garden, Minnie's vegetables, etc. Collin kept walking up to the table, and tapping the table cloth. He was excited.
He wasn't quite sure what to do with the presents. He kept turning around to find Daddy's phone (that's what he's playing with in the first picture.) After I tore a bit off, he tore bits off. I mean bits. He would pull a little piece of paper off, and then tear it in two, and then give me the pieces. Then go for it again! So instead of sit there for hours, I started opening them for him.
He was excited about what was in the paper.
Blocks from Grandpa. My dad would play blocks with us kids when we were little and my parents think that helped us learn to read and spell.
He also got a Zooming Speedway. It lights up and makes noises. Super fun!
Cousins Chandler and Campbell came to celebrate with us.
Uncle Dave taught Collin how to make the Speedway spin. Collin was clapping in excitement!
Then it was time for cake. Collin wasn't sure what to with the cake at first, but once he stuck his hand in he freaked out. He did NOT like being dirty. He tried to pull the frosting off his fingers, and then tried to knock the cake off his tray. I gave him one little bite, and then he tried to eat what was on his fingers. He wasn't impressed and Daddy quickly cleaned him off.
I think the excitement got to him, and he took a "nap" from 8:30-10pm. Then when he got up, we let him open his gift from Nanny and Papa. He loved it and stayed up til midnight playing with it! It was a super fun party!

Christmas Cards

I love this time of year! I love the family time, the snow, the general happiness that surrounds us all. One of my favorite things, however, is choosing our Christmas card. I know, lame. But I just love picking pictures, and choosing the card that works best. In past years, I've used Walmart for our Christmas cards. This year I am going to use Shutterfly. Shutterfly is an online site that lets you upload your photos, edit and crop them, and the best part is the quality with which they are printed!
Their Christmas card selection is huge and they are all creative and cute! I honestly want to print a couple different cards to send out! Here are a few of my favorites:
If we had lots of cute pictures I think I would pick this one: click here
I love the black and green combination of this one.
I love the idea of having my card be my card and letter like on this one.

Not only do I love their picture and adorable Christmas cards, but I made a calendar this year for Father's Day, and Greg loves having it at work to show off his cute little buddy!

Don't worry I'm almost done...
The last thing I have to share is the photo gift section. For my mom's birthday, I chose a few and sent them to her. We were in Arizona and she was still in Utah. She was missing Collin big time, so I thought they would be a great gift! And she loved them...well she still loves them!

I have been so impressed with the quality and selection of things to do with my photos, I KNOW I will continue to use Shutterfly for all those important memories!

Thanks for letting me share :)

One more month!

That's right! Our little baby boy is now 11 months. Greg was at school all day on Nov 2nd, so I was by myself to take the picture. It was tough! That baby did not want to hold still. There were too many distractions: the toys, this new paper to eat, the shiny thing mama is pointing at me. This is probably the only picture where you can see both him and the sign.

Collin is starting to try and communicate what he wants. Its so fun! He will make all kinds of noises and expect us to know what he means. He figured out "bye-bye". He says "bu" and waves (towards him). It's so cute!

He is walking probably 3/4 of the time. He's getting quicker and more confident. Greg said Collin was doing it a while back, but at about 11 months I saw him stand on his own. He puts his hands down and then pushes his bum up in the air. Then when he is steady, he stands up! I am looking forward to the language explosion which is supposed to come between 12 and 18 months.

We just love and enjoy our buddy so much!

A post just for me

This is just for me. Collin (and Greg) do some funny things that I don't want to forget. This post is so I can remember those silly, endearing things.

1. Collin, the hiccup king in my belly, is STILL the hiccup king! He gets them about once a day.

2. Collin hates getting his diaper changed most of the time. He will tolerate it when you sing or tickle him. Because Collin loves to watch Playhouse Disney, I usually sing songs from that. The other day I was singing Special Agent Oso's theme song, and Greg came to help. In the process Greg came up with the Special Assignment song:
Sir Drinks-a-lot
He lives in a crib
And poops a lot
He needs to drink more water
So he won't have such solid, stinky poos
So drink up! Sir Drinks-a-lot!

Collin and I giggled...me more than him!

3. Collin chases the vacuum. Anytime I vacuum, I have to get creative with the paths I take to try and avoid running over his fingers. He chases it and yells at it. Too funny!

4. When Collin is done eating, he doesn't say so. He doesn't even get upset. He chucks everything left on his tray on the floor. Then when you get him down, he wants to eat the things off the floor! Good thing I vacuum.

5. Collin kneels and squats. I've never seen a baby do that before. He will kneel at his toy box pulling things out. He will squat to get things and then play with them while squatting. Crazy!

6. Greg makes up songs about other things too. All the time. What a dork :)

7. Collin and Greg wrestle. Well Greg attempts to wrestle; Collin makes squished faces and attempts to get away. So funny!

8. Both of them are SUPER ticklish. Gives me an upper hand...

9. They both have awesome, and extremely different dance moves. Dance parties at our house usually turn into a giggle fest.

10. They are both so full of love and SO lovable! We have a great time together.

Collin's first Halloween it was

Happy Halloween!

I was so excited for Collin's first Halloween I started costume shopping in July. I'm not too bad with a sewing machine, so mostly at that time I was looking for costume ideas. In early August though, I found this Yoda costume for pretty cheap and jumped on it!

And doesn't he make just the cutest Yoda EVER! Look at those chubby cheeks!


So I just had to make Greg and I a costume. Since I love the whole family theme thing I decided to do Han Solo and Leia. I looked around for costume patterns but couldn't find any. I finally was telling Greg about my ideas and he found a picture of some of his high school friends dressed up as Han and Leia. Their costumes weren't perfect, and although it went against the perfectionist in me, I decided to find things to make do. I got an "angel" dress pattern that would do for me, and found a belt how-to online for Han's holster. I used the ideas in that how-to to make the Leia belt as well. I bought some blue pants and a collared shirt at DI and then made a couple modifications to them so they would work for Han's shirt and pants. Greg already had work boots. He did need a blaster though. I bought a toy one online. It was bright orange and blue, so I spray-painted most of it black to make it look more grown up. The final piece was Han's vest. This was the most tricky and time-consuming piece. Most vests and even jackets that are worn today don't look like Han's vest. I had a lot of trouble finding anything. Finally I settled on a civil war military jacket pattern that I could use as a template. Unfortunately it was such an intricate pattern it was extremely difficult to change. It took many hours and lots of brainstorming and problem solving with my mom to come up with the final product. And Voila!



Because Greg was out of town for the only Halloween party we were invited to, I decided that we should go to my parents ward's trunk-or-treat. I wasn't going to do all that work for nothing! Not to mention it was Collin's first Halloween. He needed the experience of dressing up and going trick-or-treating! Plus my mom was so excited to show off her only grand baby!



As we were walking down the road, going trunk to trunk, there were huge storm clouds rolling in. All of a sudden it started raining. Collin was already cold, and confused so we started to run back to my mom's house, about a block away. About half way there, it started to HAIL! I had Collin tucked under my sleeves and pressed against my body, but he was still getting hit and certainly didn't like it. A couple houses away, I switched with Greg and took the camera and his belt so he could sprint Collin to safety. We were soaked and there was a snowball in my hood.



We hadn't even gotten a picture of all of us yet! We set out the clothes to dry and turned on some disappointing football games while eating a yummy dinner and candy. Right before we left my parents we took these pictures. One of the Star Wars clan and one of my parents, whom I inspired to dress up. My dad's a hunter and my mom, the deer! So fun! I also helped my mom make my sister and her boyfriend's costumes: Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm. As soon as I have a picture of them, I'll post it.


What a fun, and memorable Halloween!