...to blog or not to blog...

Clearly I have chosen not to blog...for quite some time at least. It has been so long that I have just lost interest, that coupled with the guilt of not being able to/wanting to do all the updates to make it really updated (for myself, who would want to back read that many posts). The guilt of not updating it has finally gotten to me, along with friends and family that don't live nearby that are wondering what is going on with us. Here is my attempt to briefly update you on what's been going on the past 5 months!!! Hopefully I'll be better at updating...no guarantees...

Halloween 2009 - Kate was Cinderella and Dylan was a monkey

Sean's Grandpa passed away at the end of October. We took a quick trip to Idaho Falls for the burial service.

Dylan with Great Grandma

I get to wake up to this little guy every morning...could he be any cuter!?!

Imagination at work...she came up with this on her own

Enjoying walks in the double stroller...thank goodness for that!

This kid pulls some of the funniest faces, and he'll do it for show

Thanksgiving 2009

I got to go shooting with the boys

All things girly!

Kate had her first dance performance in December. Here are the girls waiting for their turn, they are so silly!

Dylan turned 1 year old in December! I can't believe my baby boy is already 1!!!

He loved his cake and presents, he is such a fun, happy baby!

Temple Square...this picture would be cooler if my eyes were open, I'll have to photoshop them...

Merry Christmas 2009

Dylan learning to walk

Playing in the snow...Dylan was just a little small for everything he wanted to do...

Rockin' the guitar from Santa

We went to DisneyWorld in January and had a really great time

Kate loved all the princesses, she said to me, "Mom, the princesses are so nice".

They had a lot of fun together. Dylan had fun trying to keep up with Kate and be a big kid...

Kate really loved seeing Daisy, of all the characters (besides princesses) Daisy is one she kept asking if we were going to see

All dolled up after the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Dylan discovering new things...

Some days have just been too cold to play outside, I think this is so funny...they just wanted to look outside

I went snowshoeing for the first time with Sean and my brother and his wife...can't even see the snowshoes...

I had a great idea to go play in the snow at my Mom's during this last snow storm a couple weeks ago, since she gets more snow. We were there for maybe 10 minutes before Dylan face planted the sidewalk and walked away with this fat lip. He also tore inside his lip where the lip attaches to the gum, completely cut. It bled a lot but stopped pretty quickly. He only cried for a minute. I felt horrible. Of course that was on top of the already runny nose he had from teething.

This was taken a little later that day...poor little guy

So that's it, my life in a nutshell!

Witch Festival

I love Fall - it is my favorite time of the year! Last Saturday we took the kids up to Gardner Village for the Witch Festival. The weather was amazing, the food was good, and the shopping was great! Kate loved all the girl stores, as she likes to call them. We really had a good time just being out enjoying all things fall! The highlight of the day was Kate riding the ponies. She got to ride two different ponies. This is a huge accomplishment for Kate. She has always been so terrified of animals. She loves them from a distance, but she has always been so afraid to pet them, and especially terrified of riding ponies. She always says she wants to ride it, but she just gets too scared when the time comes. She had a great time riding them. She rode one when we first got there and then wouldn't let us leave until she got to ride another one. Dylan's favorite part of the day were the pumpkins. He was obsessed with patting them, it was funny.

My Little Dylan...

This post is long overdue. I have been meaning to do an update on Dylan for a long time, but time just seems to slip away. I can't believe Dylan is already 9 months! He is growing up way too fast. He is crawling, climbing, cruising, and getting into anything he can reach - and he's loving every minute of it! He is such a lovable baby. Some of my favorite things about him at this stage are:

• When he's crawling around and I say to him, "Come here Dylan" and wave my hands for him to come he comes crawling as fast as he can with the biggest grin on his face, I absolutely love it!
• When he buries his face into me
• When he gives kisses, I love them, and he loves giving them!
• When he plays with Kate, he's always looking to see where she is. I especially love when Kate is trying to entertain him and he just laughs and laughs at her silliness, so precious
• He is fearless, I can tell he is going to keep me on my toes!
• He is so ticklish, especially his back, he will just laugh and laugh
• When he crawls over to me and pulls himself up on my leg and just waits for me to pick him up
• His first word was ma ma, I love it when he says it to get my attention
• His little face when he is concentrating on something

He really is such a fun baby and we are so blessed to have him as part of our family. We just can't get enough of him! Here's some recent pictures of him, I know, it's kind of a lot...

First Day of Preschool

Kate started her first day of preschool today. I can't believe my little girl is old enough to start school. She was really excited to go! I think she was most excited about her new backpack that she picked out. The day she got it she packed it up with a bunch of stuff and there it waited for a couple weeks. I did threaten her more than once during that time that I would return her backpack if she didn't cooperate with me, that got her cooperation immediately, it was quite funny.

She picked out her outfit this morning and had to wear her ballet flats, not her sneakers, it was cute. She was so excited to see her teacher and be with other kids. I mentioned school to her several months ago (a mistake at the time) and she has been asking about it ever since. I was a little worried whether or not she would go without crying or asking us to stay. She is usually pretty good, but you never know with her. We all went to drop her off. We drove up and she got really excited when she saw her school and all the other kids. We walked her to her classroom and she walked right in. I hugged her and told her I'd be back and off she went to her bin to put away her backpack.

We left and it felt a little weird to be leaving without her. Sean went to work and I headed home. It was a strange feeling having only Dylan at home, even if it was only for a couple hours. It was nice to have some one on one time with Dylan, but I must admit that I did miss having Kate around. We went and picked her up after it was over and she was smiling. She had a great time. She was most excited about being able to play in the gym, she kept wanting me to go over there look in the window, which we did. She's excited to go back next time!