happy, happy birthday maxwell scott!

we have a FOUR year old!!!!!

my mind is blown.

wasn't it just yesterday that we were holding this little guy?!?!?

#bestillmyheart

(sidenote: i'm soooooo excited to have a newborn!!!)

well, like it or not, maxwell scott has turned FOUR. and my goodness, i have no idea what we would ever do without him!

we celebrated a few days early with grandma debbie & papa frank when they came down and they brought max a gift to top all other gifts: 

his very first pair of soccer cleats!!

he is in love. (to say the least!)

they also both got new weber state soccer shirts (which came in handy this past weekend when we went to boise to watch uncle aaron play!) and max got shin guards to go along with his cleats. 

on his actual birthday we started out the day with a birthday breakfast of pancakes, bacon & hashbrowns. the kids sat at the special "birthday table" and they each got a new rubber duck (a fun little tradition started at ave's last birthday).

that night we were up in provo since danny has night class at byu. we had the birthday boy's dinner request: twice baked potatoes, swiss steak, and salad (yumm!) and when dad got back from class we opened presents and had his "yo-ho brownie cake" (aka jake and the neverland pirates) that he has been asking about for months. (i was incredibly happy with how it turned out...and i think max was too!)

we didn't have time to wrap his presents but from us he got some new church clothes (complete with suspenders!) and two sets of legos (which he loves!) and my parents got him a box full of hats (fireman, pirate, king, etc...) and a watercolor book (which he also loves!)

he went to work building his legos the next day & couldn't have been more pleased. i foresee a lot of legos in our future...

max, you are a fireball! full of so much energy & passion for life. you love avery mae with all of your heart. you are incredibly smart and can do puzzles in record time. you've discovered a new love for legos. you would eat ramen noodles every day if i let you...but i love you too much :) you get the biggest smile on your face when you are running and/or playing soccer (or any sport for that matter!) you love to read. you can write your name! you love preschool. you are convinced that if the baby is a girl her name will be penny, and if it's a boy he'll be aaron. you say the sweetest prayers. you love primary. 

you are just an all-around awesome guy and we feel so blessed to have you in our family!

happy FOURTH birthday!!

xoxo.

my little sister's bridal shower

i still can't believe that alli is getting married!!! what a wonderful few months it has been :)

we absolutely love tony...and even though i'm going to miss alli tremendously when she picks up and moves to the sunny state of arizona (right after her wedding!!) it will give me a great excuse to head down to a warmer climate!

my mom and i threw her a little shower last thursday night which turned out to be a huge success.  we all had a lovely time and lots of alli's good friends came to support her.  we had delicious food, played the video-bubble gum game, and just hung out.

the spread:
{i made these mini cheesecakes and they were a hit.  make them for your next party.  they won't disappoint!}

heart-shaped veggie tray:

post-bubble gum game:

alli and her girls: 

cute avery eating blueberries:

{she loved being invited to the shower.  she was on her best behavior the entire night!}

alli and i: 

the girls in the family 
{except for bekah + her girls...we missed you!}

thanks to all who came!
p.s. you may be able to tell in the pictures...but i chopped all of my hair off!!!!
i am now proudly sporting a pixie cut!  i absolutely love it.
more pictures to come...

"flesh" lake

our halloween was amazing this year!!  
and we didn't even go trick-or-treating.  

{more on that later...}

our friends, sam + penny invited us up to their amazing cabin at fish lake {a.k.a. flesh lake} with some of our close friends.  we arrived friday night and had a weekend full of FUN.  seriously, i wish we could have stayed longer.  we stayed up until 2+ a.m., ate delicious food...and lots and lots of treats, played tons of games.  


i LOVE getting together with this crowd because they are some game loving people!
 we played ticket to ride, speed scrabble, quiddler, pit, and had michael jackson dance competitions {which i was horrible at but it was entertaining to watch penny, danny, sarah and dave!}  


we ate yummy caramel apples, watched the village {danny and i had never seen it before...not sure how we felt about it.  not the scariest movie in the world!} 
and had a wonderful time with our fabulous friends.  

they even let us bring max + avery and they didn't send us home when max threw up all over the kitchen floor!!! we love them for that :)  everyone was such a good sport and cheered max up when he wasn't feeling his greatest.  max and danny were still feeling sick on halloween, so we didn't make it out but we got a total of about TEN trick-or-treaters.  we're big time, huh??


thanks, sam + penny for the much needed getaway!  we love you guys!
oh, and thanks to caleb + lauren for the group shot and the single pic of max :)

the celebrations continue...

max is definitely loved around these parts.

a few days after his birthday, lynelle {our neighbor + the secretary at the seminary}

brought max a gift. not just any gift though.

a bubble-blowing lawnmower gift.

he was/is one happy boy:

ps. who else is so excited for conference tomorrow?!?

it feels like christmas eve!

hope you all have a wonderful conference weekend...i know i will!

24 months + 96 words later...

on september 26, 2009 at 1:13 p.m. our little maxwell scott was born!!

what a wonderful two years it has been!

we are so incredibly blessed to have max in our family...life just wouldn't be complete without him. we thank our heavenly father every day for this sweet addition to our family.

he is energetic, funny, sweet, so loving towards avery, crazy at times, adventurous, such a good eater, a lover of the outdoors, very observant, and just an overall great boy.

he has recently become much better at talking...yay!! we still can't decipher a handful of his words, but we are getting there! i counted up today all of the words i could think of that he says + we understand. i got to 96!! he has come a long way:

mom, dad, "e" (for avery), bapa (grandpa), bri, matt, alli, heavenly father (melts my heart!), jesus, dog, lawnmower, tractor (he uses the same word for truck), "nope" (for milk), more, "peez" (please), two, water, "tine" (for nectarine...we got tons from my grandparent's tree...they are delicious!!), bounce (for avery's bouncer), ball, kick, book, poop, pants, boots, shoes, keys, phone, hello, oh yeah, holy moly, oh "dosh" (for gosh), nuts, swing, fly, walk, boat, horse, choo choo, duck, kitty, meow, dirt, peas (those were his fav in our garden), "bat" (for bath), noise, bowl, spoon, fork, "tiptures" (for scriptures), light, blue, "bite" (for bike), slide, "nack" (for snack), "tant you" (for thank you), "bess" (for bless), yeah/yup, no, "reen" (for rain), boom, shirt, "bankie" (for blankie), "bubbos" (for bubbles), eyes, nose, ears, bite (whenever he sees avery chewing on her blanket or a toy he yells "bite!"), toes, hair, towel, fish, nigh night, jump, "zoap" (for soap), "yan" (for fan), bob (spongebob jammies), outside, binky, bird, "how" (for aaron + missy's dog howie), bean, flip flops, socks, cheese, "sire" (for fire), hot, run, and star!

he has gotten totally spoiled for his birthday, which we have been celebrating all weekend long. first, grandpa frank + grandma debbie came down on friday and brought him his very own shiny red tricycle!! he loves it. however, he refuses to have any help while he is on it, and he doesn't seem to want to learn how to work the peddles...one of these days!

saturday, he got a letter from great grandma mckinley with $10!

and on sunday, grandpa jim + grandma shaunna came down with alli, tony, bri, and cami. we had a party!! i made lawnmower cupcakes (which i was very proud of, i must say!) and we had yummy chicken enchiladas for dinner. we scored some little people on ksl so we gave him some for his b-day, and are saving the rest for christmas (we actually have way more than we need, so if any of you are interested in some little people sets, let me know!) grandma and grandpa got him some new fall clothes, and five hot wheel cars. he didn't know what to do with all those toys! we ended the day with just our little family--everyone but danny snuggled up on the recliner! what a great {exhausting!} day.

{max would have been happy with just the box!! what a little cutie.}

today, on his actual birthday...we just kinda took it easy and played with all of his new toys! we went for a walk/ride around the block on his new bike, and he could hardly finish his breakfast because he was so excited to go play with his new boat + tractor!

max, we love you!!! don't ever forget how wonderful you are.

xoxo.