Christmas is Coming!

So this last month has been fun getting ready for Christmas and what not. Mary keeps growing and is so fun to be around - most of the time. She is learning to put words together which is really fun for us! She'll say "bye-bye Daddy" and "thank you Mom". She is saying so much it's awesome!!! She has also started to use her imagination and play pretend. She'll have us go night-night so she can wake us up with a kiss. The first picture on the left is of her putting her puppy to sleep with a blanket. She said "night-night" and then walked away. She's so funny! Mary has turned into a popcorn fanatic! "Pop-pop?! Pop-pop please!!!" I hear this at least once a day. 

Jake had his 26th birthday in November! He didn't want a cake, he wanted white chocolate chip macadamian nut cookies. So that's what I made. And the only candle I could find was Mary's number 1 candle. Oh well, at least he got to blow something out, right???

This was the pie I made for Thanksgiving. My friend gave me the fun cutouts!

Mary LOVED the bells that I have on my 'JOY' sign so much that she ended up breaking it and so no longer gets to play with them. But I didn't get Bells that hang on the door and she's having a great time with those.

ATTACK DADDY!!!

She was a great helper when we decorated the tree. Every time she'd put up a decoration she'd turn with that big smile and say "I did it!!!" It was very sweet to watch. She was very careful with them.

My parents got her antlers to wear and I've only been able to get them on her once, but I did snap a picture!

This is Mary's stocking. Someday we will upgrade from the 97 cent Walmart special.

At the beginning of December we were all sitting around one Saturday relaxing when Mary got up and said "Eee-aawww. Eee-aaww." (Which means airplane because that's the noise they make.) So we asked her where her plane was and if she wanted to play with it. Instead of finding her airplane she grabbed her shoes and brought them over to us and said "Eee-aawww car shoes eee-aawww shoes car." So we asked if she wanted to go in the car to see the airplanes and we got a VERY enthusiastic "YEAH!" So we piled in the car and went to the airport where she had a blast for about an hour or so. It was really fun for us to see her communicate her wants successfully! She is growing SOOOO much! The last picture was us driving to see the 'eee-aawwws' with the top off because it was a pretty warm day...70ish I think. That's the last day this year we drove with the top off! It was a great day!!!

Pigs, Pumkin, and Pudding!!!

Okay, so it has been a while since I've posted anything so here we go...

Jake got out his guns to clean them and, of course, had to start Mary on her gun education.

We went to a harvest event with the Lyman's. It was fun! We got there a little late, but what can you do? It took Mary a while to warm up to touching animals.

She loves water and so we let her sit a get wet for a while.

The other day we went to the airport and just hung out watching the airplanes. Mary LOVED it! She's is such her father's daughter.

The picture on the left is of a fort Jake built for Mary and as you can see Mary is NOT in it. She wouldn't go in. She would occasionally lift the blanket and look in, but that's it. Jake had a good time hanging out in it though ;)

The picture on the right is Mary being silly and wearing a basket as a hat.

Here are more silly pictures of Mary. Yes, that is a toilet seat on her head. We haven't used it yet so it's still clean...I hope.

We raked all our leaves the other day and Mary was very helpful!

"Here's the broom Dad!"

HALLOWEEN! We hung out at the Beckstead's for Halloween. It was fun! And Mary got to put on the pumpkin costume! She actually wore it around for quite a while and didn't want to take it off!

The other day we went to the Nature and Science Museum with some good friends. May had a blast! There were some great things for little kids to do. Thanks Nicole for taking us!!!

Mary likes dressing up and wearing hats sometimes and here I got a picture of it! The one on the right is of Mary playing with sidewalk chalk. She thought it was really fun!

Jake and I got to go to a Jazz and Nuggets basketball game! His family and people from work were going so we got to go. It was really fun! But it was really late too, we didn't get home until 11:00ish.

I will end this blog with this picture. I made pudding the other day and Mary LOVED it, of course! And the next day I found these holes in the syran wrap and they happen to be spaced perfectly for a little hand that I know. She's such a stinker sometimes but I love her SO MUCH! And I'm glad she likes chocolate like me!!!

Idaho, Utah and Planes!

Mary has been having WAY too much fun lately, as you will see in the pictures!

Mary got her very own cookie at the Beckstead's. She didn't eat it all, so I was a nice Mom and finished it for her :D She was very content to sit on her Dad's lap and eat. 

Mary has a love/hate relationship with bows. Somedays she wants ALL her bows in her head - as you can see by the left pictures. And then somedays she will run for her life if I come at her with a bow. She's so funny. 

The right picture is her "helping" me with laundry. She thinks the basket is her own play toy. She usually turns it over and slides across it on her belly going "wwweeeeeeeee". It's really funny to watch.

Mary has gotten into playing the piano lately. She usually only does it when Jake is around, but lately she has started to run over and play it during the day. I'm so glad she loves music. 

Mary is not a huge fan of riding in the front seat of a shopping cart. No, instead she has to weasel her way onto the bottom part and just holds on for dear life. When she gets tired she whines and I have to get her off. It doesn't make for a very fast shopping trip.

This last week we went to ID and UT and visited some friends and family. I got to go visit some friends in Rexburg, which was super fun!!! Mary had a good time there - I'm bummed I didn't get any pictures! 

On the way to ID we stopped off at Jackson Hole, WY. It was really fun! We both like Jackson and have good memories there. The picture of the Cowboy Bar was mainly for Jake's mom. She use to go up there all the time in college to go dancing. 

If any of you have been to Jackson you know that the park in the middle of town has four entrances with these arches made from antlers. They are pretty cool!

While we were in Rexburg we walked around campus. This is a picture in the gardens on campus. It was fun swinging and walking around. Mary had a good time too.

After ID we drove down to UT and stayed a night at Jake's Grandparents house. They are always so nice to have us. Mary slept REALLY well at their house (until 9:45 am!!!). And had a fun time with Gma and Gpa. Gma was trying to take a picture of Mary, but Mary knew what a camera was and wanted to see the pictures on the back...little stinker!

Gma took Mary to look at the birds on the porch. Mary LOVED it. She held really still and would quietly say "tweet, tweet". It was very sweet.

Gpa gave Mary a snicker-doodle. Mary sometimes has a hard time with men, but when he said "cookie" she grabbed his hand and off they went. She thought it was very yummy!

We also got to spend sometime with my parents and sister and her family. We went around parts of SLC and had a great time!! Mary LOVED her cousins!!! The picture above was of a fountain that shot up water. My nieces and nephews would try to run to the center without getting wet. One of my nephews got soaked...ha ha ha!

They had a play area near the food court which was awesome! They had a great time. Mary had so much fun!

Mary loved this fountain (and her Auntie Mo). She kept wanting to put her hand in it (and any other fountain we could find).

She loves her Mima and Papa. She went straight to Mima, but not Papa so much. But she would go with him if he took her outside. She loves being outside!

These are pictures of the canyon on our drive home. It was SUPER pretty. It's hard to tell in these photos.

Jake and Mary decided to listen to some classical music before bed. She loves to listen and snuggle down on her Dad. It's very sweet. The day after we got home Mary fell asleep on him - she rarely falls asleep on anyone! I think she was tired!!!

If you saw my last post you know Mary loves airplanes. So Jake got her a blow-up airplane to play with. She flies it around and makes the noises and everything. It's so fun to watch her play!

Sorry that was kind of a whirl wind fast post. But at least there is an update!!!