Giving Thanks

I know it has been a while and I have done this a few times but it really was a good excuse this time. Jen had the camera 800 miles away from me and so unless you wanted text only blogs, which you don't, then now is the soonest a post could be completed.

So Tyler is finding his thumb. We were tired of holding him all day. It made it difficult to get anything done. So we made him cry it out for a couple days, two hours at a time. Well he has done amazing since and life is great. During this transition he found his thumb.

For Thanksgiving, Nichole decided she wanted to come up to Utah with her family. Ethan and Anna had never been to Utah before and now was as good a time as any. Nichole and Jen convinced Diane and Greg that since they and Dan were up here too then it only made sense for the parents to come up for Thanksgiving. We stayed at Greg's sister's and mom's homes. It was so much fun to be together with so much family. Thanksgiving morning Nichole and Dave wanted to take the kids out to snow. This was a first for them, Ethan having only lived in Florida and both from Southern California. Kate showed them the ropes.




Jen, Kate, Nichole hung out in the van while Dave and I took Ethan and Anna to find a good place to sled. We all had fun. 


We got back in time for Thanksgiving dinner. There were three tables. Grandkids at one, Grandkids with kids (that was our table) and kids (all in relation from Grandma Barnes). There was so much good food, I am still recovering I think. I was glad that many people did not like sweet potatoes/yams and left a ton for me to eat.


Kate didn't want her picture taken. Anna tried to fix that.



Couple picture.


Dan was there. He was a little late, we were all almost done already. He was up in Idaho falls with his girlfriends family. While up there he drove to his old mission home in Billings, Montana to propose marriage and get engaged to Casi. Congrats Dan!


Here are the cousins. Collin and Tyler. It is so funny how they seem so distant age wise but at some point they will seem like the same age.



Thank you Teresa for having us at your home. We had a blast. I should have taken more pictures of everyone but I am afraid to completely become my dad and bother everyone to take their pictures.

Smiles

I am pretty sure this is a smile.


We made the Oprah Snapfish photo book and wanted a good picture of our whole family for the cover so we took a bunch. This was the Y vs U game day, and my shirt color was lost on me. Jen pointed it out and I immediately changed it. This was ok but was a little blurry so we did another later after Kate's nap.


Meanwhile, we caught one of Tyler's smiles.


We emailed the smile to our family, a few people said that it doesn't look like him. Well here he is not smiling. See it is him.


Here I am in my semi-blue shirt and this is the cover to our shirt.



Cute picture. I think Jen tried to get them both to have crossed arms.


The next day Ty smiled for the camera again.


Ty likes when I whistle, which is good because I do it all the time, half the time I only realize I am whistling when someone is complaining from it.

Tummy time. Ty seems to coo a lot when he is on his tummy. I think it is his way of objecting to being on his tummy.

Birthday Boy

My birthday was a while ago and here are some of the events of that day.

Here is a picture of Kate though. She picked out every piece of this outfit. I thought it was so funny. She is definitely becoming her own person.


The day started with Jen making a french toast and bacon breakfast for me. I love french toast and I love bacon so I was a happy camper. We found the bacon a short time ago and Jen was like, "Let's cook that for your birthday." I am spoiled. We went to the mall and looked at watches and gloves. My nice gloves that I bought a year or two ago disappeared so I needed new ones before it gets cold here. Also, my watch that I bought when I got home from my mission, that I received compliments up until a couple weeks before it died, died. I was so sad. I looked at a couple watches but they were $160 and $140. I guess I have expensive taste. I think I will get the same watch I had before. When we got home, Jen and Kate made me a cake for my birthday. Kate really enjoyed the cake making process.

Here we are before I blow out the candles.


I decided to add some crushed chocolate  chips and bakers chocolate to the top of my cake. I crushed it all with a kitchen hammer and sprinkled it all on top. I love to experiment with food and find new ways of cooking things. Well, see what happens. Note: Jen says that the sound of me hammering in the video is no where near the real sound.

I think she liked the cake.


We had to fend her away from Tyler to keep him clean.


Clean kids.


Katelynn decided that she needed to help me open my cards and presents. I hope I get "Good Dad" points for when she is a teenager.


This is from Jen. When we were at the mall earlier, I was thinking that I really needed the get this book and read it. Good thing I am not impulsive, especially when it comes to buying things.


It was a great birthday and Jen and Kate made me feel like a special birthday boy. I am spoiled.