Big Girl Bed and Family Pictures

This last weekend was crazy. The Saturday before Halloween we drove all over looking for a bed for Addie and finally found one we liked. Then last Saturday Aaron went and got a mattress and bunky board (instead of a box springs) for the bed. Then we all went out to get Addie a bed set and a cool rug. She is so excited about her big girl bed and loves sleeping in it. Periodically now during the day she'll say, "Want to come to Addie's room?" or "Want to see my big girl room? Come on, I show you." It is so cute. I am glad she likes it and is adjusting to it so well. I have some other things for her room, but we are going to wait until Christmas time to give them too her.


We finally were able to make it up the Canyon to take some family pictures this year. Thanks to Aaron for helping me and making it happen. We were worried that all the leaves would be off the trees and further up the canyon they were, but we found some good spots still left and were able to get some great pictures. This first one is great for seeing Addie's classic "CHEESE!" face:









Wish we had more time to just go play in the leaves. Maybe we'll make a second trip up there just for fun. I am excited to be on top of things enough this year to actually get Christmas cards out. Well I haven't quite gotten them yet...so....yeah hopefully it happens!

Halloween Festivities

Halloween was quite the whirl wind this year. I wanted Addie to be Tinkerbell this year because with her blonde hair she was perfect for the role. I tried making her costume and she just looked like a green ballerina. So we went and bought her costume instead. Next I went to savers to find something for Aaron and I so we could be Wendy and Peter Pan. I have to say we turned out pretty good. So here we are, CHEESE!


Wendy's bangs were kind of curled in all the animated pictures that I looked at so I curled mine to in order to fit the part...I felt like I was ten again and didn't know how to do my hair!

On Saturday we took Addie to do some trick or treating, and she kept trying to give her candy to whoever answered the door. It took her about 3 doors before she realized that she didn't have to give her candy away but that she was going to get candy. Once she got it she would say, "That's cool!" Reverse trick or treating...we might have to try that one year.


Saturday night we also went to Addie's cousins party. Here they are having a donut eating contest. I think Addie may have gotten three bits in.



Our ward Halloween party was a lot of fun too. It started out with a parade and Addie waved "HI" the whole time she walked across the stage. There was chili and corn bread, pie eating contests, face painting and cake walk for the kiddos. While I was manning the cake walk Aaron was taking Addie around to get candy. Every couple of minutes she would be running back to me to show me what she got in her pumpkin. It was a lot of fun.


Addie's butterfly she got painted on her face

Addie got a stamp in her pumpkin at the ward party and ended up doing this when Mommy and Daddy were not looking.

Second halloween + tons of sugar = this:



It was a lot of fun and I am a lot of tired! Now to find a way to monitor the candy intake!

Pumpkin Carving

So we carved pumpkins for the first time with Addie yesterday, and I was wondering how she was going to like it. Well she had no problem digging into the pumpkins and cleaning them out. I remember gagging when I had to clean out my own pumpkins growing up, but I am not surprised that it did not bug Addie at all. She was so fearless that she even tried taking bites out of the pumpkin lids after we cut them out. It was a lot of fun. Addie helped to carve the ghost pumpkin, I did the one with the spider, and Addie was so excited to have Daddy do a Mickey pumpkin!













So this is how things went this morning. Addie and I woke up at 7:30am. Addie looked out the window and saw that it snowed and want to go outside. We bundled up. First went out to check on the Mickey pumpkin. Went out back to run around in the snow. Made a snowman. Checked on the Mickey pumpkin again. Came inside and had some hot chocolate. It was a fun morning. It is always exciting the first time it snows.


Really how can I say no to this and not go out and play in the snow!


In this one she is saying "Come on Momma."

So the other day in nursery the children all made these paper crowns. There were a couple different things from them to choose from to decorate their crowns, so it was no big surprise when Addie showed up with "happy" stickers covering her crown. She was so proud of it. It was so cute.

For labor day we drove up to Sun Dance to just look around and ride the lift. I was not prepared for how nervous I was going to feel with Addie on the lift with us. I made sure I was constantly hanging onto her except for when I was taking pictures. Then Aaron was holding onto her. However, half way back down the lift Addie managed to kick one of her shoes off, and then she pretty much cried the rest of the way down that she had lost her shoe.


So I remembered which post we were at when Addie's shoe fell off and we did a bit of off-roading in the Mazda! It was awesome. Aaron ran up the hill to the lift and he managed to get Addie's shoe back. The funny thing is those shoes are so torn up they are going to get thrown out at the end of the summer anyway. It made Addie feel better to get her shoe back though.


All-in-all it made for quite an exciting adventure for the holiday. We had a good time, and the trees were just starting to turn colors so it made for a pretty view.

Our Little Angle

It's a Boy

It's a boy
We'd happily say
Then all that happiness
Got stripped away
His diagnosis was fatal
It didn't seem fair
He seemed so healthy
But was not meant for here
We loved him and cared for him
As best we could
But in the end
We understood
He had to go
Yet in our hearts he'll stay
Forever our Angel
Perfect that way

Caden Louis Stevenson was born at 11:20am. He was 3 lbs 1 oz and 16 1/2 inches long! We had to have an emergency c-section, but in the end it was too much and he passed away. It was still great to see and hold him. We love him!

Addie Fashion

Lately Addie has been realizing that she can start making her own decisions especially when it comes to what she wears. It fun to see her own fashion emerging. Addie was given this cute little fairy outfit from her Uncle Bryan and Aunt Emily and the girls for her birthday, and she loved it.


But then she has been obsessed lately with wearing her winter hat and mittens. One day we were going to go to the grocery and she insisted on wearing her hat and mittens to the store. Mind you it was close to 90 degrees that day. Well, she likes to add these accessories to just about any outfit!

Addie has also started to take a big interest in stickers. We have played with stickers with her before, but it hasn't been until that last little while that she has really start to play with them. Usually by the end Addie and everyone that is playing with stickers with her is covered.
We have a lot fun and it is so fun to watch Addie grow.

Monterey Bay Aquarium

So while we were in California for the wedding we were also able to go to the Monterey Aquarium, and it was so much fun. I love how children are excited by the littlest things and Addie seemed to have a blast looking at all the fish. Her reactions were priceless.


There is an area at the very beginning of the aquarium where the tide comes in and over a glass walk way. Addie love it and we could barely pull her away to go see anything else.





The jellyfish were awesome. I love seeing all the different kinds and just watching them squish around.


One of my favorite aquatic species are sea horses. They are just so interesting to me. I love how they have these tiny fins but they still zip around pretty darn fast. There were baby ones smaller than my thumb nail and these particular guys are called sea dragons.



The Aquarium also has a whole upstairs wing with all kinds of kids stuff to play on. There was a tunnel of aquariums for the little ones to walk through, a bounce area, and a bunch of water games to play with. Addie put up quite a fuss when it was time to go. It was worth the drive and putting up with my swollen pregnant feet!