Odyssey, How I love thee....

Yep, we bought a mini-VAN!!!! 2011 Honda Odyssey EX-L, 30k miles. 

The story: We've been saving up for 3 years and got into a position to start "looking around" and sure enough, we found one and we went for it! Went all the way to Colorado Springs, that is, for it. I call her "Valentine" for she was spoken for that very day. We went up to get her the next day. 

I knew I would surely enjoy having a new van, but it's official - I am in LOVE! Leather seats, automatic doors, spacious, kids who can buckle themselves now, automatic bluetooth connection with my phone and kindle to play my music (the best!), XM radio (leftover from the previous owner I'm guessing), auto temperature control, tinted windows, and it's WHITE! I've just gotta say it- I feel so HOT driving this mini-van! Love, love, love, love you Valentine! And the whole family loves her too!

 Our well-loved Honda Accord

Our newly loved Honda Odyssey

Tristan 10 months

By the end of January, Tristan was crawling! It is so much fun to see his world open up with this new ability. He's pretty much a pro now. He also has one tooth on the bottom since our last post. He feels privileged to eat from our plates but can still only handle really soft stuff. He can munch on ritz crackers well though. We sure love Mr. T

Family Fun

 Love this picture of Nala!

Avery being a puppy :)

We recently took an overnighter in Albuquerque for a mini-vacation. Friday we did a couple temple sessions, some shopping, and checked into our hotel where the girls LOVED the indoor pool! Saturday we visited the children's museum, which was a blast, and we ate at a Brazilian food place (the mango juice was perfect). The next handful of pics are from this trip!

Back at home...

 Avery's masterful play dough creation

 Saturday bike trip to town and back. Love Avery's gangster look!

What a moment. :)

Aspen is THREE!

Aspen has already felt like a three year old for some time, but now it is official! She is full of personality and happiness. At this point, she is well potty trained, still loves to attach to any stuffed animal or blanket in order to shove her 2 fingers in her mouth, likes to sleep on top of her covers (she "likes to be cold".. and has quite a warm body), has growing pains in her legs occasionally, likes to say silly things and be funny, says "what?!" while contorting her lips and eye brows, likes vegetables and meats and macaroni and cheese. She chose to have a birthday cake with pink frosting, marshmallows, and sprinkles!

Her new grow-with-me-tricycle

Christmas Kids!

Our Christmas break was very low key. On Christmas Eve we had leftover homemade cafe rio burritos and hot chocolate. The kids opened their sibling gifts and they got to stay up late. Brian stayed up until 1 or 2 am with me so I could finish my projects for the girls. I made a snow white cottage drape to go over a card table to make a "play cottage" and also sewed aprons for me and the girls. Brian and I didn't need a big christmas so we just splurged on the kids. They recieved lots of gifts this year, the bulk of which included: the aforementioned cottage, aprons, new play kitchen, play kitchen pots & food, barbie unicorn, large wooden train track set and trains, 2 car mats and some cars, car garage, a few disney movies, mini trampoline, mini ice cream makers, and some other odds and ends. 

Brian's standards on Christmas gifts were greater than mine and what I was used to growing up, so I tried to buy plenty of things - it wasn't too hard to be honest! It turns out I exceeded both our expectations on their gifts yet still stayed under budget. It may have been a lot, but they've sure been plenty busy with their new stuff and I love it!

Tristan 9 months

Tristan is so cuddly and a very sweet baby. He is pretty mild mannered overall until he needs his bottle, but generally very content. He does get upset when mom leaves his sight but can be calmed. He is at the perfect stage where he will sit in one spot and play with toys around him. Watching the girls and other kids entertains him as well. No teeth yet, but he's drooling like crazy and likes to "chew" on things. He also hasn't made great progress on the crawling yet, but in due time! It's probably a good thing. ;-)

Tristan 8 months

Sorry this is a month overdue. (The pic was taken at the correct time, though.) Tristan turned 8 months on December 9. He had begun to excite us with his desire to crawl (getting on all fours and rocking back and forth). He also is sitting up on his own pretty solidly. He loves to make a clicking noise with his tongue. His first "word", either this past month or just prior, was "da-da." He hadn't had much interest in dictating specific sounds until just recently and his favorite is "da," so naturally we encouraged him to say "da-da." I don't think he has yet associated the sound with the person yet. It's still exciting!