Halloween Weekend (finally) :)

Yep, Landon was a pirate for Halloween this year.
And yes, as I am sure you can tell by the look on his face he was VERY excited about it. Poor little guy didn't even know what a pirate was until after we found his costume. I showed it to him and he said he didn't want to be a pirate....that is until he found out that they live on big ships in the water and get to carry swords! The fact that our neighbor let us borrow Peter Pan also helped. Needless to say he was quite happy being a pirate and has been one for at least part of the day every day since I believe.

Our neighborhood had a little carnival with games and early trick or treating that we went to. Here he is with his little friend Emi.....it may not look like it here but Emi really does love him!

And a couple more of his good lil' buds...Calvin and Hobbes (Taylor and Keaton).

My mom got to spend the weekend with us as well which was very fun. She was always making up new little games to play with Landon. Ring toss with the kitchen chairs was a hit.

November 1st was my mom's birthday so we celebrated with pear pie. Much to her dismay we did not have enough candles in the house to show her true age! (it is a lot) :) Love ya mom!

Thanks for spending a fun weekend with us!

Celebrate at the Zoo

Sorry, more birthday stuff. This is the last I promise. Landon really wanted to go to the zoo for his birthday so here we are. Nannie, Angela, and Troy joined us for the very fun day.
I had so much fun this time because there were some really cute baby animals around. This little monkey was so fun to watch.

Joseph and Landon waiting to see the baby elephant. She was my favorite.

Landon liked the elephants but they were not his favorite. He couldn't wait to see the giraffes.

He didn't mind stopping at the carousel for a couple of rides before moving on to the giraffes though.

Ta da, another cute baby!

Nannie and Landon

Don't let this picture fool you. I know from the look on his face you might be thinking that this must be one cool train ride. Let's just say I would tell you to spend your $1.50 on another carousel ride unless you are dying to climb aboard this train to listen to really loud static as the conductor tells you all of the neat things you will see....what were those again.....oh yeah, a goat, a covered wagon, and a teepee. Yay.

All in all it was a great day though! And thank you so very much to Nannie, Ang, and Troy for making his birthday so fun for him!

Landon's 3rd Birthday

I Am 3!!!
Landon had a great birthday. Lucky little guy actually got to celebrate a couple of times. The week before we had a little party in Cedar Hills with Dad, Wendy, and Will.

When you let this car go it crashes into whatever and the doors pop open and the bumper falls off, he thought that was histerical.

Nannie made the long trip all the way from Wyoming to come for his birthday. Landon loved spending time with her. By the end of his birthday Landon got very good at 'reading' his cards. He would open it and say, "It says, Happy Birthday Landon" then close it and go for the present.

What little boy isn't going to be excited for a gun? The vacuum cleaner attachments used to be his guns, this is working much better. However, the attachments and hoses are now used as swords when he is a knight. Sadly I am afraid Landon gets way more use out of the vacuum cleaner than I do. :)

Enjoying a new game, I call it fishing for aliens. Amazingly Landon wins every time! He finds a way to win anyway, whether it means he uses his hands instead of the pole or he steals your aliens from your pile while you aren't looking. I did not teach him that!

This was definitely the easiest cake I have made yet. About a month before his birthday I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. He said he wanted a black cake with letters on it. I did brown frosting...sometimes he calls black, brown and brown, black. He just LOVES letters. We have been doing our own little pre-school at home and I think it his favorite part of the day. He knows the names of all the letters and the sounds they make. He helped put all of them on his cake.

Wow, big bite!

Do you think he liked it?

I think so!

A look back...

I can hardly believe that 3 years have gone by. After 2 1/2 years of trying to get pregnant.... on October 18, 2006 at 6:18 a.m. , weighing in at 8lb 12 oz. this sweet little boy came into our lives. Words cannot express the joy that he has brought into our lives!

The days that you just wanted to have us hold you and cuddle in our arms did not last long enough.

Before we knew it you were wiggling out of our arms and working hard to crawl around on your own.

Those first wobbly steps were not too far behind.

And look at you now.....our running, jumping, smilin' (not so little) boy. We are so grateful to be your mommy and daddy! We love you.

(Birthday pictures to come)

Bye bye binky....hello bike!

For the past 1 1/2 years or so Landon has still had a binky during his nap and sleeping at night. I have been wanting to get him off of it for awhile but I have just had a hard time doing it because it is such a comfort to him (if Joe and I are gone or if we wakes up crying in the night). Anyway, I have seriously been stressing over this for almost a year.
I kept thinking it was going to be this super traumatic experience when I took it away. However, Landon has really really really wanted a bike for awhile now. I told Landon that only big boys get to have bikes, and since he still had a binky he wasn't a big boy yet. I decided that after our last traveling excursion this summer I would get him off the binky. So about a month or so ago he was asking about a bike again and I told him the same thing. We ate dinner, and then went to feed the ducks. As soon as we got home he went right upstairs, got his binky, came back down and threw it in the trash. He quickly came and got me to show me that he was ready to be a big boy. I was reluctant because we did not have a bike yet, but we just went with it anyway.

As you can see, it was a success. He went right to sleep without it, and didn't wake up at all during the night asking for it. He hasn't asked for it since either. Oh, and he LOVES his bike! It took him a couple of days to really get it down so he could go all by himself without getting stuck. Now he does great and this is what we spend a lot of the day doing. Yay for my big boy!

More summer fun

Here are some "catching up" pictures from the summer. We have spent a lot of time this summer up at my parents house in Cedar Hills because we have had family in town a lot. This is one evening playing with cousins and Grandma's cool paper lanters.
We also made a lot of smores!

This is Alexandria wrestling Landon. Val and Alex were here for several weeks so Landon really misses her now that she is gone and far far away. :( And I miss Val!

This is Landon making (or eating) more roasted marshmallows with the help of his bud, Tommy.

Joseph taking Landon for a swim at a friends house.

While hanging out in Cedar Hills most of the time this is what the kids spent their time doing...eating of course,

digging in the sand and water table

and swimming! Landon was LOVING Alex on this particular day because she was the only one that would let him spray her in the face while she got a drink! They did this for quite awhile, it was so funny.

Gotta love summer.

Missionaries, and Munchkins

Dan and Keri were in town for a couple of days, it was so fun to see them. I was so surprised how much Landon loved baby Violet! He kept asking to hold her, and he would say cute things to her like, "Look at your eyes, they are pretty blue like mine". And, "Hi Violet you are so cute, cute little feet". It was fun to watch him. It looks like I am not the only one who can't resist pinching her chubby little cheeks.
What a good big brother he will make one day!

All three little munchkins, Olivia, Violet, and Landon.

This week my cousin Joseph went into the MTC. We are so proud of him, he will be a great missionary! I am so glad the MTC is in Provo so we got to spend some time with him, my mom, and my Aunt Dorothy, Uncle Rob, and cousin Maggie.

It was so fun seeing you and spending the day together!