Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas day was wonderful! We had a fun time opening presents and being together. It was so much fun to have my parents with us. It was also neat to be able to go to Sacrament meeting on Christmas! The music and Spirit there was beautiful. We took it easy and just enjoyed playing with all our new toys and gadgets.

I forgot to mention in earlier posts that between Addison's birthday and Christmas Tyler and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary. We had a great time getting away for a few days while my parents were gracious enough to watch the kiddos. I am so grateful to be married to my best friend. He is such a strength and comfort to me. Thank you Mom and Dad for watching the kids so we could spend some time kid-free! :) We truly enjoyed it!

Christmas Eve Day

We had a great time this year in our own home for a change. We decided that we needed to start/continue on traditions and one of those is having Christmas at our home. All other Christmases but one we have woken up in somebody else's home and we decided that we wanted to be home for a change. :) Christmas Eve Day was a lot of fun. We played games, ate good food (we did our big Christmas dinner a day early with yummy ham and trimmings), Addison mailed her letter to Santa (I forgot to have her mail it early, good thing it's day delivery to the North Pole!). We also enjoyed the evening watching the First presidency Christmas Message that we missed earlier in the month. After that Addison dressed as "Mary" and her baby doll dressed as "Jesus" with Clark as the "shepherd" reenacted the manger scene as I read from the scriptures. I don't think I have ever seen Addison be so sweet and soft with her baby doll. It was so special. Clark got a sheep stuck on his foot... it was pretty funny. Addison and Clark then got to open a present from Mom and Dad (a tradition from Tyler's family that he wanted to carry on). They both got to open a present and both presents were for both of them... if that makes any sense... After that Addison sprinkled reindeer food outside and put a cookie and carrots out for Santa and his reindeer. It took Addison a little while to calm down enough to finally fall asleep, but Clark was out fairly quick after a busy day. More on Christmas to come....

Happy Birthday Addison!

Our sweet little girl is now three years old! She is growing up so fast. Some of Addison's favorite things to do are pretending, reading, anything to do with art (coloring, painting, gluing, cutting, glitter, etc), going for walks and lots more. She is the cutest puppy or kitty you have ever seen and we just love having her as part of our forever family. She wanted a princess party this year so she got it! Grandma with red hair (my mom) made the beautiful Barbie princess cake for her party on the 17th and I made the boring :) 9X13 cake for her actual birthday on the 18th. We had a fun game of pin the crown on the princess which Tyler made and a lovely pinata compliments of Grandma again. We had lots of family come. Thank you for making it special and being there everyone that could! We love you all. Addison is also enjoying the many gifts and fun things she received. We love you Addison!!!

Kids having fun

Here are just some pictures I took of us at the park today! We love the park even when it's cold! Boy oh boy Clark sure has a cute personality! Addison is growing up so much too. She keeps telling me she is growing up. :( Sometimes I wish they could stay little forever then I realize that I love watching them learn new things and have new experiences and I am grateful that we have the Gospel so that we can be with them forever!

First Real Snow

I made the mistake of having Addison look out the window at 6:30 this morning right after she woke up because immediately she was asking me if she could go out and play in the snow... We made it to 8:30 I think before we finally went out and played. She absolutely loved it! Clark enjoyed it for about 20 minutes and then I think he was just frustrated he kept falling down and couldn't pick up anything with his hands covered. Tyler did a great job on the snowman. Addison had little to do with helping but she likes him! :) It makes me feel like Christmas is almost here! Happy Snowy Day Everyone!!!

Fall Fun Part 3- Halloween activities

We did way more this year to celebrate Halloween then we have ever done. I think it's because we actually have a child old enough to enjoy it.

The Friday before Halloween we went to the library for story time and the kids were allowed to dress up and go "trick-or-treating" around the library.

Then on Saturday we went to Boo at the Zoo. Oh my it was so crowded and crazy. Addison was so excited but by the time we were actually in the zoo she just seemed overwhelmed and didn't want to look at the animals or go to the booths and get candy. About half an hour into it was found the Trumoo booth and got chocolate milk and that's when she finally wanted to start seeing the animals and started enjoying it all a little bit. Thank goodness for chocolate milk! :) Clark however enjoyed the music and was dancing in the stroller and seemed to be quite interested in all these weirdly dressed people. Oh if you can't tell by the pictures Addison was a Kitten for the library and zoo, but turned into a ladybug for Halloween. The ladybug costume was from 2 years ago and I was very surprised it fit still! Clark was a peapod who was not so thrilled about it either.

We carved pumpkins on Sunday the 30th. Addison only had a little nap after Church and was grumpy until the very end when she said that she wanted a silly face for her pumpkin. So we made a silly oval mouth just like she made on her face! After that she had a blast helping me carve the pumpkin... She wanted to do it all by herself but I didn't think it was such a good idea so she settled on helping me instead.

Ok so I think we have finally made it to Halloween... My Mom was down for a doctor appointment so we had a good time with her. It was so nice to have her here to help with the kids so I could make dinner without Clark under my feet plus the kids just love having her here to play! I made pumpkin shaped pizza maybe next year I will try to do a "spooky supper" like the Whitworths do. It is always so fun! Addison could hardly stand it she was so excited for when we left to go trick-or-treating. She remembered to say "trick or treat" and "thank you" (with some encouragement:) She kept saying. "Let's go to another house!" Clark rode in the stroller eating one of his peas happily. :0 Then we headed back home to watch "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." It was a very fun Halloween. Oh Tyler even sort of dressed up to take Addison to the door. He was going for detective.... I think... :) Happy Halloween everyone!

Fall Fun Part 2- Playing in the leaves

So we had been having a lot of fun playing in the leaves again this year. In one of the pictures you can see Tyler with the leaf blower (from DI only like $15.00!) but instead of blowing leaves he is balancing a ball on the air. :) Addison thought it was pretty cool. She sure does love her Daddy and the silly things he does. The kids had fun stomping in the pile of leaves we made and of course throwing them into the air. Our street is lined with maples and they are so gorgeous right now with all the different fall colors.

Clark has a blast pushing his toy up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. We have to be careful not to let him have too much of a head start because he is sure fast.

We are enjoying life and are trying to count our blessings often.

Fall Fun Part 1 -- Black Island Farm

So this year we have been having a lot of fun with Fall. I put part one because we seem to do a lot during the Fall and since the kids are awake right now I don't know how much I will get posted. This year we got free tickets to go to The Black Island Farm. Addison had a blast on all the huge slides made out of hay bales and slick plastic. I think she spent about an hour total climbing and sliding. Kevin, Hallie and Mom Whitworth came with us as well. It was a lot of fun. The Farm had animals that the kids could feed and sort of pet (if the animals came close enough), a barrel train to ride in behind a tracker. We ran out of time the night we went so the following saturday we went back and took a "hay ride" aka uncomfortable bench seats on a trailer pulled behind a tracker to get our pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. Addison picked a super skinny tall pumpkin and was convinced that was the one she wanted so that's what she got. Tyler did a great job carving it which you will see in later pictures... We had a blast! I think we may even pay to go next year... There were way more things to do then I even listed and we didn't get to spend time at everything that I would have liked to do.

Clark turns ONE!!!

We had a great time celebrating Clark's birthday in Idaho the weekend of the 17th and then again on his actual birthday! We love our little boy so much. It's hard to believe that he is growing up so fast! He can walk although he still chooses to crawl unless it's less than four or five steps away. He has 7 teeth plus ??? coming in. I'm not putting my fingers in his mouth! He is 24 pounds 31 inches tall. Clark makes us laugh all the time with his silly faces (he will make fish faces sometimes... I haven't caught one on camera yet though) and is quick to get into everything. We love you Clark! Happy first birthday!

Isn't Tyler handy?

So Tyler has been very handy around the house and in these pictures you can see two of the many things Tyler has been up to. The coolest one according to Addison would be the sandbox he completed today! The best part is it was FREE to make! We got the sand off of KSL thanks to Hilary seeing it in the FREE section and the boards were from around the house from extra projects. Addison already spent a good 2 hours in it today and would have played longer but dinner was ready... Tyler also made the dog house that is one of these pictures. He has also replaced the back door put in spindles going down the stairs to our basement and has done much much more that I can't even think of right now. He is so talented and ready to learn if he doesn't know how. I love him so much! Thank you Handsome!

Fun Weekend

So these are some pictures of what we have been doing the past few days... On Saturday we went boating with our friends the Gurrs. We enjoy being around them so much and had a blast playing in the water and tubing. Yes even Clark seemed to enjoy it most of the time. Addison would say she wanted to go "bumpity bump bump on the boat." Then Sunday we rested and had G and G Tonks over before Grandma went in to the hospital on Monday to have her pain pump replaced. Both the kids loved seeing them and spending the couple hours they had with them. Then Monday we went and visited Grandma at the hospital. Addison absolutely loved the bed and all the buttons. Then last night we went to Thanksgiving Point and met our Gurr friends again to see the Dinosaur Museum and the Farm there. Addison was terrified of the dinosaur bones and cried the entire time; however, she loved the farm and riding the pony. I even got licked by the cow and sneezed on by a sheep. Hope you enjoy!

4th of July, Lagoon, Family Reunion and Tyler's Birthday... July FUN!!!

So we have been so busy this past month. It has been a blast! We had a family reunion with the Tonks family. Kellie and kids were up poor Paul had to stay in Arizona and work but we had a good time. The kids loved jumping on a trampoline, tackling Grandpa, blowing bubbles, playing on the slip n' slide, breaking open a pinata, treasure hunt and of course watching fireworks and playing with sparklers. We also got to spend some time with the Whitworth family. We went to the Rexburg parade with them. Clark's favorite part was the balloon and Addison's favorite part was probably the candy. I think she ate it through out the whole thing. I'm not sure she even watched the floats. We also watched a parade the weekend of the 24th here in utah. That same weekend we went to Lagoon with our friends the Scholes. Addison absolutely loved it! She laughed more that day then I have heard or seen her in a long time. She loved playing with Carter! Okay so kids are done with me posting so... enjoy the pictures! Addison fell asleep standing up leaning against the couch and Clark is trying to walk and has been crawling on all fours for a while now. We also had big tree cut down and Tyler is using the leaf blower to move the dirt around from the huge pile leftover after the stump was ground up. Oh and we had a good time at the Zoo with the Whitworth Clan! Even though all of our family was tired! I probably didn't explain all the pictures but let me know and I will try to comment back to let you know who and what is going on! Got to run! Life is busy and we love it! We love each othe and our sweet kiddos. Hope everyone else is well.

Those Lazy Summer Days...

So here are some things we have been up to the past few weeks. For Father's Day Addison gave Tyler a pool which you can see SHE is enjoying! :) Clark likes it too actually, but for some reason I don't have any pictures of him in it... Probably because I am trying not to juggle him and the camera near the water. :) Anywho it has been hot and the pool has been a hit! Clark is now trying to pull himself up into standing position. He can already go from laying down to sitting. Nothing stops him now. I made Addison the 4th of July tutu she is wearing. I was pretty proud of myself since I don't think I am very crafty but it turned out cute. I think I will start experimenting more and possibly come up with a fairy princess costume for Halloween or something... maybe just dress-ups for Christmas. Who knows... Ummm I don't remember which photos are next there are some of the kids and I after our Sunday afternoon nap this past Sunday. It was fabulous! The kids slept for 3 hours of course that meant throwing off bedtime but hey at least we got a good nap too! Then I think the last pictures I put up are of Addison's first haircut. We went to a place called Cookie Cutters and the lady did a great job. She was super quick. Addison got to watch maybe 10 minutes of Jungle Book... She did get a balloon and sucker too. When we were in the car headed home she informed me that she wanted to get her hair cut again. I told her in 6 months maybe for her birthday she could... Her hair really doesn't look much different but all the ends are evened up now. Anywho as for Tyler and I we are just enjoying summer days and trying to clean up the yard some and hang up pictures and continue with organizing everything. We keep busy for the most part. Tyler is almost done with classes for "Spring" semester and then hopefully he will only have one more class to take during Fall semester to graduate officially! Love you all and hope all is well!

Summer Adventures

So I say summer adventures even though summer has really just begun because I know that there are going to be a lot adventures this summer. Clark is army crawling and starting to pull himself up (at least in the tub). He loves power cords of all kinds he isn't picky... He can get wherever he wants pretty much between rolling and army crawling. He is also getting a ton of teeth! It feels like it anyways. He has 5 currently and is working on at least one more I can see just needing to break through the last few layers of gum tissue.

Addison is loving the outdoors and already has a farmers tan. She loves "helping" Dad mow the lawn. Tyler tied a rope to the mower and told her she had to stay behind him and hold onto the rope so he would know right where she was. She listened very well so she would be allowed to continue to help. She also is digging some nice holes with Lulu under our giant blue spruce in the back yard. She helped pick out flowers for the front flower bed.

Tyler is keeping busy with many many projects on the house and around the house and I am keeping busy with kids, household projects and general housework! I just finished painting Clark's room blue. (It was purple with boarder that had purple and pink hearts.) We thought he needed something less girlie in his room. :) Tyler's most recent project was finding all of our sprinklers and replacing broken sprinkler heads. We are enjoying life and love spending time together going on long walks and bike rides.

Addison had the flu yesterday but I was itching to get out of the house so we went on a walk and walked down main street and looked at all the little shops on the outside. We have decided we really do love living in Utah. We miss everyone in Idaho, but are truly enjoying each other and being our own little family!

Africa!

So today Tyler's little brother Weston is on his way to Africa to serve an LDS mission in Uganda. We took these family pictures and such on Mother's Day which was also the day he spoke in Sacrament meeting before his departure. He will be greatly missed for the two years he is gone but we know he is where the Lord needs him at this time so we won't miss him too much! ;) (Weston is the brother standing next to me in the family one and next to Tyler in the brother picture.)

Some pictures

So I had a whole post written out, but it just got erased by a cute little brown hair blue eyed girl who is almost two and a half. Anywho... basically I just thought these pictures of the kids turned out really cute. They were both just playing. Addison gathering up her books to read (a common occurrence). Clark was just playing on the living room floor and being super smiley. He has changed so much from an always fussy infant to a bubbling happy baby. It is a wonderful transition!

Time for an update...

So here are just some random pictures and one of our photo shoots. Addison kept wanting to do "Once there was a snowman" and it wasn't working very well with the picture taking but she had fun. Clark only fell a couple of times flat on his face on our hardwood floors which of course didn't make him very happy but Tyler got a few good pictures before the kids were completely done. (Mom W.- Addison wore her dress from you guys the week before and wanted to wear a different one the day we took these pics,but her dress is darling I love the tulips! Thank you!)

Addison is becoming such a big girl. She is now using the toilet quite well although she still is known on occasion to have an accident although oddly enough not when we go places just at home. Whenever we go somewhere that is one of the first big thrills is to find a new toilet to sit on! (Her idea not mine.) She knows that if she tells me she needs to use the potty I drop everything and run to find one for her. Although I will take it over blow out diapers and diaper expense! Addison also still loves to color, paint, mold playdough, glue, cut, etc... She also loves to pack her bags for college! I think she got it from Toy Story 3. I will ask her what she is doing in her room and she will tell me. "I'm packing for college." (Her purses and bags will be overflowing with different toys she has "packed". Oh she is our silly little love bug.

Clark is also getting so big. He is sitting up on his own and rolling all over the place. He is fast too. I have had to baby proof the floor area. I have already caught him gnawing on a plant leaf and computer cord... He has two bottom teeth and I swear more are coming... I've been saying that for a month now. :) I mentioned that we have a new home. We moved in 2 weeks ago. There is hardwood floors throughout the upstairs which is beautiful but does not make a soft landing ground. Clark has learned now though to catch his head when he falls over before it hits the floor. It sure didn't take him long to figure that out after doing it several times... Once in a while the fall is quicker than he is and I run to a screaming little boy but he does pretty well. We now do have a front room rug though thanks to birthday gift cards and money. Thank you Whitworth family and Grandma Mary!!! It is a beautiful rug and I love it! I will try to post a picture soon.

Happy Easter!

Here are some pictures of our Easter fun. Some pictures were taken the weekend before Easter while others were taken in our new home. Thank you Grandma and Grandpa W. for the fun Spring/Easter clothes for the kiddos. They look so adorable in them and we really have tried to do photo shoots but one or the other isn't cooperating... I will try to post some of the ones that turned out. Addison loved hunting for eggs and Clark loves chewing on his stuffed bunny from G & G Tonks. We tried to tell Addison about Christ's resurrection and talk about an empty egg representing the tomb and sometimes it doesn't even seem like she is listening, but it was so sweet to have her say, "Come mom I want to tell you a story about Jesus." I know we aren't perfect like our Heavenly Parents but it's sure nice to know that she is listening to some of the good things we are trying to teach her!

Grandma Tonks comes for a visit

Just thought I'd better get some pictures up on the blog before anymore craziness sets in!!! My Mom came for a visit. She was only going to be here for three days and ended up staying 2 weeks because our car broke down and I ended up with 3 dentist appointments and then she had to fly out to Indiana to be with my Grandma while she recovers from a procedure. Any who it was a blast to have her come stay. I think I got out of the house more and ran more errands while she was here than I have in the past couple of months combined! Addison and Grandma made Easter sugar cookies and overall just enjoyed being together. Clark smiled and has seemed to turn over a new leaf being a generally happy little boy.

Also we are currently in the process of buying a home here in Bountiful, UT. We are all very excited. Every time we see it Addison wants to go in and run around the room that will be hers which is bright yellow and has butterflies and flowers on the walls. We should be moved in by the end of April early May.

Puppy Love

Addison sure loves her Lulu dog. They play together all day and Addison always wants Lulu to come outside and play with her. If Lulu runs away from her (or not where Addison wants to be) Addison pats her own bum and says "Come on Lulu" It's pretty cute. Lulu is a good dog to put up with everything too.

Addison now always wants to be a puppy. I have to refer to pig tails as puppy ears or a pony tail as a puppy tail in order to be able to do her hair. Although occasionally she will want a ballerina bun... When it's time for bed the past couple of weeks Addison will hand us her blanket and pretend she is a puppy dog and crawls into bed until she realizes she doesn't want to go to sleep...
We love our happy little girl!

Clark's First Solid-March 3, 2011

Everything in baby steps at this point with Clark since we don't know how his digestive system will handle anything, but Clark sure did love the rice cereal! He opened wide and I could hardly shovel it in fast enough. You would think he gets enough to eat since he has over doubled his birth weight and is now in 6-9 month clothing that fits him perfect even though he is only 5 months, but I guess he really is a growing boy. Addison enjoyed trying to help and encourage Clark while he ate. Clark did really well keeping the runny mixture in for the most part too! Now every time we eat he watches the food to see if it's coming his way. Oh we love our sweet baby boy!

At the Park

We have a park just two blocks from our apartment that Addison loves! Clark enjoys the walks and sometimes that is the only way I can get him to calm down so we like to go on walks to the park and around town quite often. It's been such a warm winter overall too so that has made it nice to be able to do this. This time is on a Saturday when Tyler was home from work when we all went to the park. Addison loves to swing, jump on the bridges, slide, and go on the teeter-totter.

Tyler and Clark

I told Tyler that I didn't have very many pictures of him and Clark together so he decided to give me some great pictures of them together... I might have to change the password so he can't remove them, but they will be in print before too long. In all honesty I think both are adorable! :)

A few of my favorite things...

One of Addison's most favorite thing to do is play with play dough. She will sit and squish and mold and create many cupcakes, pancakes, suns, you name it she can make it for a good hour. :) We enjoy sitting and playing with her although sometimes it's nice that she can entertain herself with it for a while...

Clark's many faces

These are just some of the many faces Clark makes. It is nice to have him smiling and happy best of all. We have seen too many sad faces on him from all the ear infections he has had, but he has been happy for over a week (my fingers are crossed).

Rub a Dub Dub Clark in the Tub!

What a chunky little boy Clark is becoming! We love all his smiles and rolls. He loves soft things against his face and anything and everything is his mouth!

Zoo Time

Here we are at the Hoggle Zoo. We got a membership so you will probably be seeing lots of zoo pictures in the future. Addison loved the elephant, rhinos, and the monkeys... I thought the tigers were pretty neat. There are three young males and their Mom in one exhibit. They were pretty active. Of course the monkeys were funny. One kept taking his cagemate's paper (he was covering himself up) so the monkey finally went and got a different piece. It was pretty funny to watch... I bet if we were in cages we'd be pretty funny to watch too!

Cookie Anyone?

Addison loves to help me bake cookies although I think it's for licking the beater more than the actual cookies... I love her tongue sticking out!

Uncle Caleb meets Clark

Tyler's brother came home from serving his mission on Dec. 30th and got to meet his one of his nieces and his nephew for the very first time in person. His reply to me about Clark was, "Lydia, he kind of looks like a turtle." And yes I suppose he kind of does! Don't worry he'll grow out of it. Addison did. :)

Pretty Princess

Addison has started to really explore pretend play. We have lots of tea parties, princesses, little puppy dog, house play and sometimes even Dad joins in!

Holiday fun in Idaho

Besides going to the doctor and trying to get caught up on sleep we had a lot of fun catching up with family, playing with play dough, rough housing, and puzzling... besides all the things I'm forgetting. :) The most special thing that happened during the holiday season is that Uncle Caleb came home. We are proud of him for his service to the Lord and the people of Florida and for being a great example to his nieces and nephew.

Christmas Morning

We had a wonderful Christmas season with family even through ear aches and lack of sleep. We love you all and hope you enjoyed having us visit.

Happy 2nd Birthday Addison!!!

Addison is now two years old! Where did the time go already? Some of the Tonks' family made it down from Idaho. We were glad they made it safe. The roads were terrible that day... Nate, Emily and Tim came along with my parents to help us celebrate Addison's birthday. We had more cake and ice cream. Addison tried very hard a few times to blow out the candles, but I was afraid they were going to melt into the cake before she got them out so I helped give her a little more wind. After that more presents and more lights on Temple square and more Crown Burger and to top it off in between we went to the Gateway Children's Discovery Museum. There was way more to do there then we had time or energy for but what a blast we had! ("More" because we did it all the week before :) It was so much fun though.

Hangin' Out

These are just some cute pictures of the two kiddos "playing" together. Addison now gives Clark kisses regularly.

Birthday Fun!!!

The Whitworth Family came down to SLC Area for a visit on December 11. We had a great time celebrating Addison's birthday a little early. We had cake and ice cream, opened presents, went to Crown Burger, and then to Temple Square to see the lights. Clark wasn't sure what to think about the lights...