little polar bear

it is quite magical watching max discover things for the first time.

and today, when max looked out the window and saw two+ feet of snow, his eyes lit up.

i'm not a big fan of snow {i don't ski or snowboard, i really don't like being cold, and i hate driving in it...} but i do love it right before christmas. and i haven't seen this much snow in a LONG time so i admit it was a pretty fun treat for me this morning as well.

so, being the awesome mother that i am {haha}, i bundled him up and decided that we would venture out in the winter wonderland. i couldn't get max ready fast enough! the second i asked him if he wanted to go outside he was right at the door pounding it with his little fists. his winter parka is an early christmas present from us...he makes an adorable little russian baby :)

{this is what i meant by not being able to get him ready fast enough...he was not a happy camper when i had to put my own boots on.}

as soon as we stepped out the door, he was ready to play. he fell face first into the snow a few times {and got really mad} but would quickly try again to plow through the snow. i attempted to shovel while we were out but no-one ever told me how heavy snow can get! i was worried that i would hurt the baby + my back {nice excuse, huh?} so i only got the steps and about two feet out the walk. oh well, every little bit helps! danny got to come home early...yay for snow days! so he got to join in on the fun as well. our little adventure didn't last too long. max's gloves kept coming off and his poor nose was running like crazy but he was pretty mad when we finally brought him inside. danny is thinking about building an igloo for him tomorrow...we'll see how that goes.

week 21

i realize that i am now 22 weeks along {crazy how time flies!!} but this picture was taken last week :) i've gotten a little bit behind, but i'll catch up with a current picture soon. not that you really care to see my growing belly, but i was HORRIBLE at taking pictures when i was pregnant with max and think it's a fun way to track their growth.

coloring books + cereal parties

max is big into anything that he can draw with lately. he loves pens, pencils, colored pencils, hi-lighters, and especially markers. after completely covering five pages {and himself} in his awesome scribbles, i decided the next coloring session would be a little more contained.

so the next day, i strapped him in his high chair, tied a full-length bib around his neck, and let him go at it. i even let him color an airplane...i knew grandpa frank would be proud :)

he was in heaven.

it's so much fun seeing his little personality grow and it just about blows my mind that my little boy knows how to put the marker lids on + off.

oh, and remember the comment about max thinking he can live off of marshmallow mateys??

well, here is some proof. he starts out very sweet and innocent...

{isn't it hilarious seeing him tote around that gigantic bag?? it is just as tall as he is. but he does it. every single day.}

...and quickly gets more and more irritated when we don't give in to his every wish and desire:

this is my all-time favorite picture; it's just so classic. he has always been so good at sticking out that bottom lip.

how can we say no to that face??

i'm a big kid now!

max has decided that he is no longer a baby:

he can walk without holding onto anyone's hand.

he is simultaneously growing four new teeth.

he thinks he can live off marshmallow matey's.

and...

he can walk up AND down the stairs!

oh, and he does it all while holding onto his spoon.

if that's not talent, i don't know what is :)

rice krispie love

it is a rare occurrence that i make treats around here. i have no idea why...because i LOVE treats but ask danny, and he'll tell you that treats hardly ever pop up in our kitchen {unless they are from our neighbors! hint, hint!}

so, the other night, danny took matters into his own hands and made the treats himself! he had lots of help from his side-kick maximillion, and i may have even helped out a little as well.

the rice krispies turned out a little hard...

{ok, they were ROCK hard...but that's besides the point.}

we had a great time and the rock-hard krispies made for some delicious rice krispie cereal.

oh, and aren't these pictures adorable?? i have some seriously good-looking boys in my life :)

claim to fame

i'm famous!!

...ok, not really. but i did get my very first official article published in

latter-day woman magazine. {see pages 40-41} i am one proud little journalist. it was such a great experience and made me seriously consider moving to india for the summer.

{it is do-able, right??? with two small children??}

i was able to interview some incredible girls who have volunteered their time and sent me some of the most touching photographs that i have ever seen. i wish we could have included all of the pictures in the article! you really should take a second and check it out. and then let me know if you would like to join me on my voyage to india!! :)

{oh, and isn't the cover great?? i even know the model!}

oh what a day!

blurb

i just got our second blog book in the mail the other day, and it turned out just as awesome {if not more so} than our first blog book.

blurb.com never disappoints {at least they haven't in the three times we have worked with them} and they are always offering deals and discounts.

i'd be more than happy to get you started...because the task can be a little daunting at first...i would know! i just know i would be crushed if somehow i lost my entire blog. here's to year three!

p.s. the count-down is ON! we find out the gender of our sweet little baby in less than two hours!!! craziness.

home sweet home

i realize that i haven't put any pictures up yet of our sweet little abode.

{however, i have semi-good reasons!}

we finally got max's room put together though, and i am pretty pleased with how it turned out. his room is by far my favorite room in the entire house...not sure how he lucked out but he did.

i also finished the banner that i gave you all a sneak peek of a few weeks ago...and i love it!

wonder under, a little fabric, and thread came together quite nicely :)

so, come on in:

maybe one of these days i'll put pictures up of the rest of the house...

p.s. we find out on MONDAY what we are having!!

{four days from today!}

give {thanks}

thanksgiving this year was a holiday to remember.

we started out the day with max's first haircut and then went to my grandparents for a delicious, and perfect thanksgiving feast. we ate wayyyy too much and then somehow i thought that i would have room for five different kinds of pie! i had to make room for the pumpkin pie though; i don't think i've met anyone who can make a better pumpkin pie than my grandma. we played an intense game of farkle and then went to my parents and cuddled up watching movies. my sister was home alone so that night around 11 we decided to venture out and start black friday a few hours early. we went to the modbod warehouse sale and scored on a bunch of $5 tanks and a bag of 21 athletic shirts for ONE dollar. it was great! i wanted to grab a few things at old navy too...but shortly after entering the store we changed our minds. it was insane in there. we got home at 1 a.m. and i was exhausted! at 5:30 a.m. we left for robert's to get a christmas tree for my mom {how convenient that she was out of town! haha} i've never gone out on black friday and i'm not sure that i'll ever do it again.

that afternoon we arrived in layton for the rest of our thanksgiving holiday. danny's sister couldn't get work off for thanksgiving, so we planned to have our thanksgiving feast on saturday. friday we didn't have many plans so we just hung out and enjoyed being lazy. that night, danny met up with three of his buddies to play some racquetball.

...this is when our thanksgiving weekend took a turn in the wrong direction...

i told danny {as i always do when he goes out with his friends} to be careful. my husband has this crazy tendency to get injured when i am not around. he promised {as he always does} that he would be safe. and then he kissed me and ran out the door.

two hours later he came home with one blue eye...and one brown eye. apparently, he got hit directly in the eye with a racquetball and could no longer see out of his right eye. we called his sister {the pediatrician} to see what she would recommend doing and she advised him to go straight to the E.R. so that's what we did. it was crazy. max hadn't fallen asleep yet, so we left him with danny's mom screaming his head off. i was positive that my husband was going to be blind in his right eye forever. and all danny seemed to care about at the moment was the jazz game.

i've never been to the E.R. before and the first thing i noticed was the sign that said, "we see patients in order of severity, not order of arrival." there were surprisingly quite a few people there so i thought for sure we would be waiting for awhile. however, we got called right back. the doctor asked danny a few questions and danny was cracking jokes left and right. and asking if he could get a room with a t.v. so he could watch the jazz game. {i have NO idea when he got so interested in the jazz!} the doctor did a quick eye exam...and danny successfully failed! it was horrible. he couldn't even see the big E right on top. i wanted to cry.

after seeing a bunch of doctors, they finally came to the conclusion that they wanted a specialist to look at his eye so they were sending us across the street to the on-call ophthalmologist. we met up with dr. hess at 10 p.m. and received a bunch of crazy news. because danny was struck directly in the eye there was a bunch of blood {which is why his blue eye turned brown} but he couldn't get a good look back at his retina. he put danny on reading/driving/working probation for a week!, gave him some dilating + steroid drops, and told us to come back in the morning.

the next day, things were looking up. danny's vision had significantly improved, and it was slowly returning to its natural color. the doctor was able to see his retina, and besides some bruising, everything looked good. had his retina been detached, surgery + permanent vision loss would have been in danny's future. thank goodness for tender mercies! he was told to continue to take it easy--and asked to see us again on monday.

monday, dr. hess cleared us to go home and reminded danny to always use safety goggles. we drove home monday afternoon and have been taking it easy ever since. we went to a follow-up appt. today and the doc gave danny permission to read again! hallelujah! he also took him off of the dilating drops, which will hopefully reduce his nausea. we're hoping that he can return to work on friday...he sure misses the kids! since he just got off of his dilating drops, his eye still hasn't returned to normal. this is what my cute husband has looked like for the past five days:

oh, and amidst all of the craziness that went on we still had a wonderful thanksgiving feast with the mckinley family:

i think one of the biggest reminders we had this thanksgiving was how blessed we are to be able to SEE. it is amazing how much we take for granted...and clear vision is among those things.