going "home"

Last week we drove to southern Oregon where I grew up, for my "little" brother's wedding. It was the first time the whole "Chase" family has been together in a long time, and of course we had to visit our most favorite restaurant ever...SILVER DRAGON! Even though I don't live there anymore, I still have the restaurant's phone number in my phone contact list...just-in-case!
The little guy was having a good time with all the people around to be entertained by. He was all smiles pretty much the whole trip.

Chase was loving having his cousins around to play with. He was VERY excited to see his "Aunt Ame" as he says and his Papa "ooh ooh".

My brother got married in the Medford Temple, which is where Bruce & I got married a little over 6 years ago. It was so great to go back and have the whole family together in the temple!

We just met his wife (or re-met...I knew her as a little girl, but mostly remember her older siblings) and we think she's great! They are so cute and fun together. And we love telling everyone that my brother married his brother-in-law's cousin!

The night before the wedding I got sick, so I wasn't feeling all that great. My sister helped me with the wedding pictures and I have to say that I LOVE working with her! (believe me...that's a shocker!) She knows my style and helps a lot - thanks Amy!

All the little grandchildren wore matching clothes for the reception and family pictures and they looked so adorable! I don't have girls, but the little dresses they wore almost made me want one...(not quit!).

We had tickets to see the So You Think You Can Dance (season 5) concert tour that was showing that night but had to give them up when my little bro said he was getting married that day. After we got back we heard from our friends that we were supposed to go with that they got moved closer to the stage since their original seats had equipment in the way...of course they did!! That's okay though, my brothers wedding is a worthy substitute ;) !!!

yay for birthdays!

Fun part about turning 2 years old;
1. presents (which he can actually open mostly by himself!)
2. cake (which he now doesn't hesitate to devour)
3. spending the day with family and friends (who are all there to give him attention)
4. getting to pick what you wear (even if it doesn't match and makes mommy nuts!)


Not so fun part about turning 2 years old;

1. doctor's visits (and having to get 2 shots)

2. the tantrums get 2x stronger!

Chase had a "Cars" themed birthday this year. Most everything he got was Cars related and even his cupcakes had "Cars" wrappers. He was very excited when he saw his gifts wrapped in "Cars" wrapping paper and then the fun got that much better when he realized that wasn't the best part!

He's got the whole cake-eating thing down this year! It didn't take him long to dig right in!

All week I've been working with him and finally on his birthday it all came together - When we ask him how old he is (holding up 2 fingers) he'll say, "2"!

At 2 years old some of my favorite things he does:

When you ask him "Where's Superman?" or "Who's Superman?" he points to himself and says, "ME!"

He admits to having a "stinky" diaper.

He says, "I love you" back to us.

Whenever he's eating something he really likes he keeps saying, "Mmmm! Mmmmm!" over and over!

He talks/sings along with some of his favorite shows.

momma's boys

I've been trying to keep on the pictures since Bennett was born...knowing that inevitably he will have less pictures taken of him than his older brother as now I'm being pulled in multiple directions all the time.
We got the boys matching pajamas and I wanted a picture...when I look at it all I can think is that they don't really look much alike right now! Keeping Chase entertained is no easy task and a full time job! He likes to climb all over us and one of his favorite things is to run around the house pushing his shopping cart...so I pushed him for a while.

What a poser! He's definitely grown up around a camera.

Now that the baby is getting bigger I've been pulling out some of Chase's old toys for Bennett to have...except Chase thinks these old toys are fantastic again and keeps telling Bennett "mine!"

Oh well, at least the baby isn't old enough to care, yet...

Boo!

So we really weren't planning on doing that much this year as far as Halloween goes, as we've all been sick and my kids are still young enough not to know what they are missing! But, we were feeling much better on Halloween and luckily last year's costume still fit!
We started the night by trick-or-treating Grandma and Grandpa's and this little guy couldn't believe his score! A full-size M&M bag just for him and a "Cars" toy too! He quickly caught on to the whole "treat" thing... Out little guy was "Benny the Beaver"! And, thank goodness OSU won their game, otherwise how depressing!

I was surprised at how many trick-or-treaters we had come to our house! It was fun to watch Chase run to the door everytime someone knocked, he loved seeing all the kids in their costumes. Bruce took him around the neighborhood to a few houses and he loved it.

Our friends stopped by so we could see their little guy in his costume...an OSU Beaver, it was awesome! He looked so great! These two love playing together.

I almost feel bad for Chase; he went around and collected all that candy and now Mom & Dad are eating most of it for him...almost feel bad!

hangin' out

We've been hangin' out these past few days at home as a couple of us have been sick. We're feeling a little better and we appreciate Bruce being able to stay home a couple days to take care of us!
I got a few pictures of the boys while we were all feeling better (funny how later that night things got worse again...). My little guy is almost 4 months old now - he's growing constantly and pretty much has skipped over all his 3-6 mo. clothes.

Chase likes to make his little brother smile and laugh, but after getting caught with the camera he gets shy.

A while ago I finished Chase's room and finally got to hang some stuff on the wall (my sis made me the name blocks and I made his name boards over 2 years ago and just now am getting to use them!)

We're not sure how much we're going to do this weekend for Halloween, we're still not feeling all that great and the last thing a 2 year old needs when he's got a tummy ache is a bunch of candy! (mommy's don't need it either when they're working on getting back in shape!)

carving pumpkins

We got together with some friends and carved pumpkins last weekend. We said it was for the kids, but I don't remember seeing the kids helping us! ;)
I forgot how much I actually don't like cleaning out pumpkins...it's really pretty gross!

I even gave Little Bubba the chance to reach in and help clean out the pumpkin and he looked at me like I was crazy! "No." was all he said!

We had a good time hangin' out with friends though.

Maybe next year I'll just paint the pumpkins...

helping others

Right now at church we're taking part in this year's "Make A Difference Day" which is an interfaith food drive. We're asked to help by donating peanut butter.
Well, Monday evening for FHE we did a small lesson (with an almost 2 yr old it has to be small and quick!) on helping others. We talked about how Chase is a good helper at home and how he can also be a good helper to others. We talked about how there are other families who need food and how we can help by asking our neighbors to donate some food too. So, we then went for a walk around our neighborhood and handed out flyers talking about our efforts and asking them to donate some peanut butter for the food drive as well. We are leaving a box outside our door for anyone who wants to participate. Chase LOVED it! He was so excited to go for a walk and then when he saw we were walking up to all the doors, he got even more excited. He liked that we even let him hold the flyers.






It was really fun to see him having so much fun with this, and hopefully one day he'll more fully grasp the idea of helping others (but for now, I just think he liked going for a walk!).

Yesterday we got home from running errands and as I was unloading the car Chase grabbed his shoes (he likes to take them off in the car) and ran them inside to put them away in the hall closet. I said, "Awesome! Good helper Chase!" and you know what he yelled back to me as he was running down the hall........."I KNOW!"

Hawaiian leis

Over the weekend we went to a surprise 70th birthday party for one of Bruce's uncles. Little Bubba was shy at first and would only sit on Grandpa's lap, but after a while he was the life of the party! He began collecting leis... By the time we got ready to leave he had collected 22 leis that he was wearing around his neck...he thought he was quit funny too!

Bennett loved the attention he was getting and even cracked a few smiles for people. He's started laughing and daddy and I are really loving this new addition to the family! He's even more bald than his brother was as a baby...if that's even possible! Our baby is already 3 months old!

big boy bed

Chase is in his "big boy" bed now! We finally got the bunk beds put together and Little Bubba had no problem adjusting. He loves his big bed and especially the "Cars" sheets he gets to sleep on (he got to pick them out and was VERY excited). We've been lucky so far and he hasn't tried to get out of bed and wonder...but he's been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for the past couple months so this isn't much of a change for him in that sense!I'm working on finishing up his room and getting all the shelves and pictures up on the walls...it'll be the first room in the house to be all done!

Beaver fans!

One thing I love about our neighborhood is all the outgoing OSU vs. U of O fans! About half the houses in the area have either Beaver or Duck pride showing in some way (house numbers painted on the sidewalk in orange or green, flags, etc.). There's this house that you can see when you first turn onto our block that always puts up this GIANT duck on their lawn every game day and its the first thing you see when you pull in to the neighborhood...we can't have that!

So, we decided to get an OSU flag to hang outside (since our house is before the GIANT duck's!) and while we were hanging it up on game day some neighbors across the street were setting up their brand new GIANT Beaver on their lawn!!! AWESOME! I told Bruce I would never allow a GIANT ANYTHING on my lawn, but I'm glad the neighbors are doing it!Now there are 2 houses with OSU pride that show before the ducks!!! YEAH BEAVERS! As neighbors we thought it was great...and funny that we were thinking the same thing about hiding the GIANT duck!

baby blessing

Back on August 3oth we blessed the baby at church. Most of my family and Bruce's brother was able to come from out-of-state to be here for it, which was really nice! Afterwards we came back to our house for a quick brunch before my family had to start the LONG drive back and we took some pictures, but the baby wasn't too happy!

Papa and Mamas with grandchild #8...however now they have 9 as one more has arrived! We got his name from Papa's side of the family.

While my sister was here she brought 2 of her 4 kids and Little Bubba loved playing with his cousins! They did everything together, like pretend to be on cell phones...He loved having his cousin here who also likes to wrestle (she's got 2 older brothers...she can handle her own!). They were a lot of fun to watch playing together.

But, after everyone left he was pretty lonely!

spoons and watermelon rooms

The room is done - with the painting at least. We still have to put stuff on the walls and actually move the boys beds in there, but we're taking this at baby steps! (actually we have to wait until after my family leaves from there visit this coming weekend) I like how it turned out though! This little guy has been learning a lot! He's gotten really good at using his spoon & fork and he also has been learning lots of words. Although, I'm not sure I like what he's retaining...the other day I heard him talking to himself and this is what he was saying; "No, stop it! No, stop it!" over and over! I wonder where he heard that...can you tell we had a rather difficult day that day?!

We love taking the boat out and I even drove a few times! I'm pretty proud of myself for getting the boat onto the trailer in 1 try, I'd hate to have crashed our barely enjoyed boat!

Both the boys do really good on the boat (despite my sister's nightmares and fears...kids can be safe on a boat!)

We were taking a break for a minute so I could feed the little guy and this is when Chase likes to sit at the edge and splash his feet in the water (don't worry sis -they have life jackets!)

We're blessing the baby this weekend in church and I'm excited to have my family back in town to visit. Hey sis, wanna go out on the boat?!!!

our excellent boating adventure

I finally got to go out on our boat yesterday, and it was a lot of fun! We took off after Bruce got home from work and it was such a nice day...the water was over 70 degrees, which amazed me! Thanks to Bruce's cousin for coming with us so I could learn how to drive the boat and also have some fun on the wakeboard!

I'm soooo weak! I couldn't believe how fast my muscles got tired, it felt good to finally use them again though!

Chase even had a good time watching mommy & daddy wakeboard, he kept smiling and laughing at us and thought it was so funny that we were being dragged behind the boat in the water. He finally got in the water and swam a little bit...each time he goes out he gets a little more brave, one day we'll get him out on a tube or something!

It's not the easiest boat to surf behind (it's a ski boat, not a wakeboarding boat!) but that doesn't stop us from trying anyways!

I'm already getting excited to go out again, I missed half the summer being pregnant, now I've got to hurry and get all my summer fun in before it gets rainy and cold again!

I'm still missing a lot of brain cells, 'cause I completely forgot to get a picture of the boat! Oh well, maybe next time...

all the pretty horses

Saturday evening we decided to take the boys to the park. There is this cool indoor carousel there and Chase has never been on it. At first he wasn't too sure about it (he wouldn't ride on the moving horses) but once he saw he could just sit in the stationary wagon, he was good! He got to ride it twice, once with daddy and again with mommy! He was finally getting the hang of it and wanted to go again!

Afterwards we walked around and then took him to play on the playgroud. He's such an active, outdoor kid and we struggle to always keep up!

some baby pics

When I talk to my family they ask for more pictures, so here you go!
I love this one with daddy & his new son...!

While I was trying to get some quick pictures of the new little guy, guess who else wanted in on the shoot?! He kept saying, "cheese!" and trying to get in all the pictures...
until finally he took over the set! what a poser!

(FYI, I also have some baby pictures posted on my photography blog at http://photos-by-erin.blogspot.com/)