Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas from the great state of Georgia! We are here soaking up some much needed time with family. While you are opening and giving gifts, eating and laughing, baking and chatting as many of us do this Christmas day, take the time to remember the true meaning of this season. Reflect on the birth, the life, and the love of our Savior. His mission was one of pure love and sacrifice. I hope you take a moment to tell those around you that you love them, and find little ways to serve each other.

Nativity.

I've been reading those verse to Caiden each night this month. I can't wait to dress him up as a little shepherd and create our own nativity on Christmas Eve. Miles and I have been thinking a lot about the family tradition we want to start. Live nativity as at the top of our list. 

Current Favorite Toy.

As I mentioned in Caiden's 9 month post he is obsessed with teeth and plays with his new big boy toothbrush like it's a toy. The other day we were getting ready to go get our Christmas tree. Caiden was all ready, I just needed to get dressed, and Miles needed to shower. I needed a way to entertain the boy while I threw on some clothes. I handed him my toothbrush. It entertained him well after I was fully clothed. You can tell when he loves an object or toy because he holds it with both hands and lifts it up over his head and let's out a very happy shout. He's such a funny little guy.

The Boy is 9 Months.

I can't believe the boy has been out in the world as long as he was in my belly. The last 9 months have flown by so much faster and have been so much more enjoyable than the 9 months of pregnancy. 


-The boy's big trick of the month has been pulling himself up to stand. He sees every object as a tool to stand up. He's even becoming a little dare devil and has been letting go of the edge and standing on his own for 10-15 seconds.
-He also started crawling up our stairs (causing multiple heart attacks for his momma).
-Caiden tries relentlessly to eat the dog food and is constantly stealing his bones.
-The poor boy experienced his first big cold, his first flu bug, and his first ear infection.
-He celebrated his very first Thanksgiving.
-His two top side teeth have come through, but not his middle teeth. He has vampire fangs. The middle teeth are ready to break through the surface though, you can see them!
-Caiden loves to eat cheerios, Bajio chicken, rice chex, maple cinnamon puffs, anything covered in cinnamon, and nutrigrain bars. 
-The boy has always been very independent but has been attached to his momma's hip as of late. Probably because he's had a month of sickness, but I am enjoying all the hugs and snuggles.
-Caiden got his first big boy tooth brush and he LOVES it like a toy. Maybe he'll be as obsessed with good dental health as his momma.
-On the same note, the boy is obsessed with teeth. He is always sticking his hands in our mouths to check out our pearly whites. He also loves to grab noses.
-He is a very social baby and loves to be crawling around on the ground with other babies.
-Caiden started sticking his tongue out of his mouth a little when he's crawling really fast.
-He loves it when we say "I'm going to get you!" He freezes where he is and starts laughing and waiting for you to tickle him.


We love our Caiden boy and have really enjoyed the last 9 months. Now on to his first Christmas!

Thanksgiving.

Seeing as Christmas is only 12 days away it's probably about time I posted about Thanksgiving! We drove down to South Jordan and spent some time with my sister and her husband Robby before heading to Salt Lake to spend the rest of our break with Miles mom and step-dad. This was Caiden's first time meeting his Grandpa T so we had to take some special pictures for his baby book. Caiden also got to meet his Uncle Andrew and  Aunt Angee and his cousins Ella and Rylan as well as his Aunt Whitney! We 5 fun filled family days, and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

And I just couldn't help myself... Caiden makes one adorable Native American boy. 

Chicken Green Chile.

Did anyone else shed a tear when Bajio vanished overnight and became Costa Vida? I thought I would never taste the chicken green chile salad again. I was a tad heartbroken. Heartbroken until last night, until I made my own! The recipe was so good I have to share. Caiden even enjoyed himself an adult portion today for lunch, and he has taken over the title of Family Pickiest Eater. 

5 chicken breasts
1/2 cup of your favorite salsa
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 oz. can of diced green chilies
6 oz. of Sprite
Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 5 hours. Remove chicken and shred. In the mean time add some corn starch to thicken the juices. Return chicken to crock pot to cook for 1 more hour. Eat however you please! Miles enjoyed his as a burrito with cheese and salsa. I put a tortilla in my bowl, warmed it, then added rice, lettuce, chicken, sour cream, salsa, avocado and cheese and had myself a chicken green chile salad. Caiden enjoyed the chicken straight off his plate! Any way you eat I promise it will be muy delicioso!    

Favorite Outfits.

I was very blessed with a fashionista sister with two winter baby boys. This means I inherited a lot of adorable clothes for Caiden. Mix that with the cute clothes we got as gifts from friends and family and the little pieces we purchased to match our style, we have, in my opinion, one stylin' baby boy. When I was pregnant, I thought it would be so fun to have a girl to dress in pretty little dresses and jumpers and put headbands on her head and paint her toe nails. But oh my goodness boys are so much fun too! Bow ties, neck ties, cardigans, vests, hats, shoes! Caiden has a lot of outfits I really love, but these have been my favorite.

Poor Baby.

Poor baby boy woke up sick this morning. He was running a slight fever and had thrown up on the blanket in his crib. But slept from 7:30pm-8:30am and seemed very happy to be up and crawling around, so we decided to brave it and go to church thinking he was probably feeling better. He did great through Sacrament meeting. He was happy, smiling, playing with the hymn book, flirting with all the ladies, and content to just sit on the ground and gnaw on his shoe laces. But after Sacrament meeting I had this feeling that we should head home. I hate asking Miles to leave church before the meetings are over. Even when Caiden has just about had it I still tough it out so that Miles can get to all 3 meetings while Caiden and I hang out in the foyer or he takes a nap on my lap in the mother's lounge. But today I just had this nagging feeling that we should get home. And thank heavens we did, because no sooner than we put him in some comfy's that this happened:

It is literally the grossest thing that I have been through. That picture doesn't even show the magnitude of gross. It was in his hair, up his back, all over his arms, in between his fingers, in his belly button, down his legs (you get the picture). We cleaned him up as best we could and threw him in the bathtub. All we could do was laugh about the situation. Our house went from smelling like delicious pot roast to nasty poo in a matter of 10 seconds. But here's the thing about my little man... he's the happiest baby I have ever met. His tummy had to have been hurting, he has clearly caught some sort of flu bug that has given him the slight fever, the throw up, and the messy poo. He had to feel crummy and miserable. But despite all that he was smiling and jabbering, splashing in the bathtub, crawling all over the place, happily watching Baby Einstein, giving us hugs and kisses, and totally and completely pleasant. I am blessed beyond measure to be the momma of such a sweet and happy boy that is continually teaching me to always smile.

How I Spent My Day.

Want to know how I spent my day?

Chasing this little rascal away from Nixon's food dish. I even let him sample a piece thinking it may deter him from going back. It didn't. It was just gross. I had to swab his mouth to get out the food. I put the dish up on the microwave. I spent the rest of the day right behind him as he crawled up the stairs. He's getting fast and daring! I love my little adventurer.

A Talk for Young Mothers.

I came across this talk from the October 1997 General Conference address by Jeffery R. Holland just at the moment that I needed it most. It's funny how the Lord works that way. I urge all mothers, especially young mothers, to read over the whole talk. Elder Holland says some really sweet and encouraging things that spoke directly to my heart and spirit. I picked out a few of my favorite parts (there are a lot) to share. Hopefully you will find something you needed to hear.  

Grateful.

Ask anyone that knew me from 2000-2010 I have always been somewhat of a holiday scrooge. I think it started when I was old enough to realize that if I helped put up all the decorations I had to help take them down. I hated cleaning up. I still do. So if I didn't make the mess I would excuse myself from cleaning it. Also, I've always kind of had a bad taste in my mouth for how commercialized Christmas and Thanksgiving have become. The world tends to forget what these holidays are truly about, Christ, family, service, gratitude, and love; not Santa and presents, or stuffing our faces with turkey. But Caiden has found the inner elf in this scrooge and this holiday season something inside me has transformed! I started listening to A Very She & Him Christmas and the Michael Buble Christmas album just days after Halloween ended. I started making Caiden's Christmas wish list and looking for Black Friday deals on the few little toys we want to buy him. I'm anxiously awaiting the day we can bundle him up and build a snowman together and go cut down our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We've already started reading him the story of Christ's birth at night when we read scriptures, formulating ideas for Christmas traditions, and dancing in the kitchen with Caiden to Justin Bieber and Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You" because truly I feel so grateful to have my sweet baby boy this holiday season, all I want for Christmas is Miles and Caiden. 
So, I say to my inner scrooge: bring on the holiday season! And since today is Thanksgiving, present this picture list of the things I am most grateful for.

First and foremost I am thankful for these two boys. They are the loves of my life and my greatest blessings. 

I'm so grateful for my puppy dog. He's a great companion and a best buddy.

I'm so incredibly grateful for my big family. My parents and sisters have blessed me life incredibly, and I feel so grateful for my extended family. I was blessed to marry a man with the greatest parents and siblings. I'm a lucky girl!

I'm grateful for beautiful New England autumns and the beauty on the earth that Heavenly Father has blessed us with. He is the ultimate artist.

I'm grateful for nap time. I love playing with Caiden, but I'm grateful for a few hours out of the day where I can rest and regroup for more playtime! And good naps keep him happy, healthy, and growing!

I'm grateful for Coco Bean cupcakes. They are one of the only thing I'll miss when we leave Rexburg. Nothing better than a Coco Bean date.

At each new phase of my life, I'm more and more grateful for my mom. Especially now as I've become a mom I rely on her and call her with questions daily. 

I'm thankful for pregnant sisters, because that means 2 new nieces will be joining our family. Nikki is due in December and Jen in May. 

I'm grateful for 22 more days until Miles graduates from BYU-Idaho. This picture was taken at 47 days to graduation, so cut that chain in half! We're almost there!

The Boy is 8 Months Old!

Caiden had another big month! He is truly our pride and joy. We love this little guy, every day gets better and better. Here's what the boy has been up to this month:


-He started chewing on his thumb, found out it was because he was teething.
-The boy has 2 freckles; on eon his forehead and one on his bum! 
-Caiden loves to people watch. Sometimes when we have nothing else to do we'll walk up to campus and sit in the MC and he'll be entertained just watching people go about their day.
-He started crawling backwards (click here to read more) and started crawling forward! He's getting stronger and faster every day. 
-This month the boy has been working on his 4 top teeth. Teething was a nightmare for about two weeks. He seems to be doing a lot better. It worries me that they've stopped moving around and we'll have to start all over, but I can see a little tooth breaking through on his top left (the tooth next to the middle left tooth).
-The boy is very independent when it comes to his food. He will only eat something if he can feed it to himself. This rules out your normal baby foods and leaves him with mushy vegetables. He does not like apple sauce, anything peach flavored, or carrots. We found Caiden's magic food: reduced sugar oatmeal. He loves it. He'll also eat bananas, cubed sweet potatoes, liked avocado slices for a few days, and baby yogurt. With the oatmeal and yogurt he has to be holding the spoon with you while he eats. 
-speaking of food this month the boy got a highchair! He can frequently be seen leaning over the side to share his food with Nixon. They've become great pals as of late. Although it seems to be a love/hate relationship. Nixon loves that Caiden loves to share but doesn't care much for the hair tugging and kicking.
-Caiden experienced his first Halloween and dressed up like baby Mario! 
-the boy now has to be sleeping on his belly. The moment I lay him in his crib he rolls over to his tummy and falls asleep.
-his favorite toys include: a Lamaze elephant toy, CD's, mirrors, his exersaucer, the Preach My Gospel manual, all books but especially the touch and feel ones, his doggy Nixon, his rubber bath time frogs, and anything that has a cord or string.
-he still hates his car seat but he's coming around to the vacuum. 


Caiden is the sweetest little man I've ever met. He reminds me on a daily basis that he's my number one fan and an angel sent from heaven. I love being his momma.

Future Missionary.

Caiden is already starting to crawl much faster and stronger. I love watching him and catching him on video, like the one above. And what, pray tell, do you think he was crawling so anxiously towards? The Preach My Gospel manual. I think we have a zealous future missionary on our hands. Love this boy.

Crawling Boy.

[crawling backwards]

Caiden has been crawling backwards for about a month. He looks behind him, figures out where he wants to go, pivots, and backs in. It's hilarious. My mom got to watch it on skype and reminded me that I needed to video tape it. So a week ago when we were visiting Miles at work I decided to put Caiden down and let him crawl so I could tape him. He was moseying around for awhile and then to our surprise he started crawling forward! My heart immediately filled with the sweetest type of pride. I have heard that crawling is a bit of a terror, but maybe it's because he isn't very fast yet, or that our apartment is pretty small, but it hasn't been bad. In fact, Caiden's been using his new found freedom for good. Like this morning, when he crawled over to where I was laying on the floor watching him, grabbed on to the collar of my robe and pulled me in for a big slobber kiss. He knows the way to his momma's heart.

[crawling forwards]

Farmers Market.

At the end of summer Miles, Caiden and I joined my mom and dad at the Farmers Market at the Danbury Mall. The two summers we lived in Sacramento I frequented the Farmers Markets. There's something beautiful about all the colors and the fruits and vegetables. And fresh from the farm veggies are always better than what you can buy at the grocery store. We enjoyed the apple cider donuts (especially Caiden. He would squeal in anger if a new bite wasn't presented as soon as he finished the last one), the various bread and pie samples, and my mom grabbed some fresh vegetables and pasta noodles for dinner that night. It was a delicious!

Barbados Adventure.

The last weekend in April our ward had an auction to help send the youth to Girls Camp and High Adventure. Miles and I set our sites on a 7 day vacation through one of the ward members timeshares with RCI. And we won! We got a 7 day vacation at a 5 star resort (The Crane) in Barbados for $400, total! It was one of the greatest vacations I've been on. My mom joined in on the fun and was so nice to help us take care of Caiden, which allowed all of us to participate in activities. Caiden got his first two stamps on his passport! What a lucky boy! I waited 22 years to get a passport. We spent most of our time at the resort in the pools or at the beach. The Crane's beach was voted one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It was beautiful! Caiden loved being in the pool! 
We hopped on a catamaran and went on a snorkel excursion! The excursion was all day. They fed us lunch, which was delish. We stopped at 3 locations to snorkel with sea turtles (my favorite!), to see a ship wreck, and to play on a remote beach and snorkel for seashells. It was such a great day. Caiden swam in the ocean, Miles, my mom, and I all got to swim with the sea turtles, we all got to work on our tans and sample the local foods, and we danced on the ship! Caiden was a hit with the boat crew and Miles drove the sailboat. I would highly suggest Cool Runnings snorkel excursion to anyone traveling to Barbados. It was well worth every penny. 
We also hopped on a complimentary shuttle one day and headed in to Hamilton. It was really hot and humid and our clothes were sticking to our bodies! We didn't have a stroller with us so we had to take turns holding Caiden which made it even hotter. Somehow he still managed to nap in my mom's arms. If you travel to Barbados I seriously would not suggest going in to Hamilton. There isn't a whole lot to do or see and it's really spread out. 
I'm really grateful that we were able to go on this family vacation. It was relaxing and beautiful, and we missed the big hurricane that hit the east coast leaving most of CT without power for a few days. Caiden is spoiled that this was his first family vaca! Lucky boy.
Forewarning: there are A LOT of pictures. It was the vacation of a lifetime, would you expect any less from me?

 The view from our balcony of the 5 pools at the resort and the ocean next to it. 

 The living room and bedroom in our suite. Love the vaulted ceilings!

There was a cliff to jump from at the beach at The Crane.

 The view from our balcony at dusk.

 On the catamaran getting ready to snorkel!

I can now, officially, check this off my Top 25 Things I Want to do Before Turning 25 list!