The Christmas Tree

So this Christmas we are spending in Arizona and I thought it would be nice to get a live Christmas tree. Gavin is still too young to pull at it so it seemed the perfect year for our first live tree. Jason, however, did not agree. I had to BEG and BEG and BEG for like three days until he finally agreed we could get a live tree as long as I was solely responsible for watering and cleaning up after it. I agreed of course and we bought our first live tree. You can't tell from the pictures but the tree leans slightly back...its endearing though.

When you're short you get creative to get things done.

Our finished LIVE Christmas tree!

This is our nativity and I LOVE it! We got it last Christmas and it is my favorite decoration for the holidays.

A Sad Night for Mommy and Daddy

We've held off this moment as long as we could...but alas the time has come. I couldn't ignore any longer that when we put Gavin to bed in his bassinet in our room his head touched the top while at the same time his feet touched the bottom. Both Jason and I have dreaded the first night we put Gavin to sleep in his crib in his own room because it's one of those monumental moments that means he's growing up! Being the first-time, camera-happy parents that we are we documented the occasion.

Saturday, Dec. 13th was Gavin's last night sleeping in our room!

Sunday Dec. 14th Gavin slept in his big boy crib
in his own room for the first time!

Sad Mommy and Daddy!

Lights, Lights, Lights

The weekend after Thanksgiving we went to see the temple lights with the Niederhausers and their family. They were so beautiful! It was a perfect night, cool but not cold. Have I mentioned lately that I love Arizona? Gavin liked looking at the lights and was good all evening. We had a great time except when we tried to eat at Denny's afterwards. Apparently 20 waters is just too complicated an order! Jason and I ended up leaving before they even took our food order (we had already been there almost an hour)!


December 6th we went to Glendale for their Glendale Gingerbread Nights with the Bittons and the Niederhausers. They decorated their whole downtown area in lights and fun inflatable obstacle courses and slides for the kids. They even had a projector playing How the Grinch Stole Christmas and tons of food. Gavin rode on the train and laughted at Madison as she made funny noises at him. They also had a dance studio performing The Nutcracker. It was just amazing and we had a great time. Again the weather was PERFECT. We had such a good time and on the way home topped off the evening with hot chocolate.

CEREAL!!!

As many of you know (since I've been whining about it for a while), Gavin has not been taking very good naps during the day since he started sleeping 10 to 12 hours at night. I've tried all sorts of combinations of sleep/awake times to try and figure out his new schedule, to no avail. Finally, on December 3rd Jason and I thought that maybe he wasn't sleeping good during the day because he was hungry and needed more than just formula. Thus enters the CEREAL!! (Plus at our 4 month doctor's appointment our pediatrician said we could start feeding Gavin cereal if we wanted. I haven't wanted to give him cereal because I've got the notion stuck in my head, from when my siblings were little, that you don't start cereal until 6 months, but if the kid's starving...you do what you gotta do). On December 3rd, I waited until evening to give Gavin cereal so Jason could be there for the first time. What a hilarious experience. If any of you experienced parents out there had been watching us try to feed him you would have been ROLLING WITH LAUGHTER! I don't know who made the bigger mess, us (trying to figure out how to feed him) or Gavin (trying to figure out how to eat it)! I was surprised that Gavin actually seemed to like it and was such a good boy trying to eat it.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! Our good friends Josh and Dani came over. Our dinner was PERFECT. Amazingly neither Dani or I had to make the turkey. Dani's boss smokes turkeys every year and he made us one, all we had to do was pick it up...now that's my kind of Thanksgiving! He wouldn't even let us pay for the turkey. None of us had ever had smoked turkey before...it was AWESOME! After dinner we vegged on the couch and watched BONES. It was such a relaxing and fun day. We always have so much fun with the Josh and Dani.

On the Move

Since our trip to Utah, Gavin has been on the move rolling everywhere! You place him in one spot and a few minutes later he's across the room. One day I set Gavin down on his blanket in our living room and went to do some dishes. A few minutes later I start hearing this clunk, clunk, clunk. I go over to Gavin and he has rolled into the entertainment center. The clunking noise was him hitting his head on the entertainment center door as he attempted to keep rolling! Poor little guy!

Life is Beautiful

The title says it all...enjoy!

Michelle's Wedding Trip Part 3

While we were excited to see Michelle get married, we were also so excited to see little Melody for the first time. It was nice to feel complete happiness and excitement at seeing her for the first time. Unfortunately when we met Elise for the first time it was at her blessing and I had miscarried the previous night. It was all I could do not to cry the whole trip. Needless to say, I wasn't very enthusiastic and didn't hold Elise much. Sorry to go all sappy, but I am so grateful for my Savior that suffered not only to pay the price for our sins but also that He might heal all our pain and afflictions. My heart is healed through His love, but not just healed, it is as if it was never broken. That is the miracle of Christ and His atonement.

Melody was born three weeks after Gavin, and I am so excited Gavin will have a cousin that is so close to his age. Thursday night Brian, Ann, Elise and Melody came over to visit! What a difference three weeks makes. Although Melody is just as long as Gavin, there was a big difference in body control and movement. I'm sure she'll catch up though. She is such a cutie and Gavin already seems to like her. We were able to see Melody one last time the morning we flew home. Launa had a brunch at her house and many of Jason's family came to see us...well let's be honest, they came to see Gavin! We have so many fun pictures from that little family get together. We love you all!

Meeting Melody




Grandma Launa and Potter with all their grandkids


Cutest smile ever!


Silly Grandpa Glen...don't drop me!


Jenny Favorite


Tyler and Gavin

Michelle's Wedding Trip Part 2

While we were in Utah we met up with Ariel and David, Gavin's birth parents. It was wonderful to see them again and they loved seeing Gavin and how big he has gotten. On Thursday my mom and I met them at Mimi's Cafe for lunch. It was so sweet watching Gavin interact and smile at them. He was a little fussy by the end of lunch though. We have been trying to figure out nap time again since he started sleeping 10-12 hours at night. Just when I get a routine down, he changes! Then after Jason arrived, Ariel and David came to Jason's parent's house for a couple hours. I really wanted them to be able to play with him and see him roll over and all the fun things he does now. I am eternally grateful to them for giving us Gavin. He is our whole life now. They gave us the most amazing video of pictures of them just after Gavin was born set to music. I couldn't stop crying!! Jason and I love them so much!

Ariel and David with Gavin

David and Gavin

Ariel and Gavin

Ariel and Gavin at the Wells' home

David playing with Gavin

Not only did Jason and I have a busy weekend catching up with so many friends and family but Gavin had a big weekend too. First, Gavin showed off on Thursday, Nov. 13th that he recognizes his bottle and that it's supposed to go in his mouth. I was at Launa's house in the morning and was trying to clean up all of your stuff that was sprawled everywhere (sorry Launa!) while holding Gavin. I picked up an empty bottle to take it to the sink when all of a sudden Gavin grabbed the bottle with both hands and brought it straight to his mouth and started sucking! It was so cute. He had been eyeing his bottle everytime we made him one while holding him but this was the first time he grabbed for it. Then on Friday, Nov. 14th, Gavin pulled his right toe to his mouth for the first time!! For the rest of the weekend he could not keep his right foot out of his mouth. If that wasn't enough for first time parents to rave about for weeks, Gavin decided to add one more new trick. At Michelle's reception I laid out a blanket and set him down to play at my feet. All of the sudden he rolled himself from his back to his tummy and then from his tummy to his back underneath the table. Jason was the one that noticed it and I am so happy he got to see Gavin's first time rolling over in succession because so often Gavin will do something new during the day when Jason's at work. The kid is now an expert roller. I set him down at one end of the room and in a couple minutes he has rolled to the opposite side!!

Gavin sucking his toes

Michelle's Wedding Trip Part 1

We packed so much fun into the weekend trip up to Utah that I decided to talk about it in three parts. Since my mom was up in Utah for the whole week she talked me into coming up early with Gavin, so we arrived late Wednesday night. Thursday was a day spent visiting people. I was especially excited because I got to see my friend Brynn and her brand new baby boy, Jericho. I used to work with Brynn at Mt. Timpanogos hospital back in the day and it was SO GOOD to see her and her new arrival. Baby Jericho was only a week old and cute as could be!! Boy is he a chunck-a-roo! Friday we took a trip up to my aunt Fauntelle's salon to see her new Christmas merchandise and to show off how big Gavin has gotten. You know, they don't tell you when you get a baby to expect your arms to fall off soon afterwards!! Our little tank is over 15 pounds now!!! (I know this because I took him into the doctor for a rash...nothing serious...and they weighed him...I'm still trying to reattach my jaw from the shock if you're wondering!) Friday night we had dinner with most of my immediate family (it is so hard to get everyone together these days).

Saturday, November 15th, Michelle and Dan got married in the Mount Timpanogos temple. Being in the ceiling room made me that much more EXCITED for when we will be able to be sealed as a family with our little Gavin! Words can't describe how grateful I am for eternal families and the knowledge that we can be together forever. Michelle was a beautiful bride and wore a gorgeous dress. A lot of family was able to make it to the wedding and it was so good to catch up with them at the family dinner and reception! To my big, wonderful, amazing, diverse family...I LOVE YOU!!

Toys and Toes

Just an update on our little man. Gavin has begun reaching for toys during his tummy time. This doesn't happen every time and he still struggles not to SCREAM during tummy time, but there is improvement. Also, Gavin recently found his toes and will grab at his rght foot (never his left) every chance he gets. He increasingly likes to stand and sit upright so that he can see what's going on around him. It is a rare occasion now that he will rest his head on my shoulder, he is always looking out. The other day I sat him up in the corner of the coach and he sat there, happy as a clam (where did that saying come from? I mean, do we really know if clams are happy?...hmm), for 10 minutes just staring at me wherever I went. It was so cute! I LOVE it when he stares at me no matter where I am or who is holding him!

Gavin's first Halloween

Halloween was a BLAST this year. We had so much fun dressing Gavin and Sugar up in their costumes. On Wednesday Oct. 29th, our ward had their Halloween party. If I haven't mentioned before, our ward is mostly made up of young families....translation: TONS of kids. There are several babies around Gavin's age and it was so fun to see them all in their costumes. We went to the party with our friend Jared and his 11th month old son Dillon (he was a UPS guy!) The party was at a nearby park. There was chili/soup, rolls and lots of sweets and fun games for the kids. Here are some pictures:

For Halloween we had dinner with the Niederhausers, Youngs and Bensons then went trick or treating. All the kids looked AWESOME in their costumes. We had a cowboy, Indian, monster (Gavin), Tinkerbell (Madison), Peter Pan (Jackson), Hannah Montana, Spiderman, and a puppy. Oh, and I can't forget our little Wooger...she was Minnie Mouse! Here's some pictures:

After Trick or Treating we went to my aunt Jolene's house to take pictures with the cousins in their cute costumes! Seriously, there is nothing cuter than three babies in Halloween costumes...except maybe FOUR babies in Halloween costumes. We missed little Alex.

Me with Gavin, Bethany with Kylee, and Ande with Logan

Me, Gavin, Bethany, Kylee, Noah, Logan, Ande and Broch

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!