Good and Bad Times

Wow, it's been a while hasn't it!! Well, we had a wonderful Turkey Day with the family in Idaho - Thanks for the great times everyone!!


Well...tis the season for sickness...but Brian and I have decided that life is 100X worse when it's your little baby that's the sick one. After a long and painful experience at the Dr., hospital, and finally the ER, we found out that Crystal has RSV...not a fun sickness at all!! This is a picture of her taking one of her many breathing treatments...she does better with it now, but the first few times made just about everyone in the house sad just watching her. I would say it was probably the worst experience ever. It really amazes us to watch her though - even when she can barely breathe between her barking coughs, she still manages to get a smile out. It breaks me heart, but hopefully things will start to look up soon.

Things have been a lot of fun this season. The past few weeks have been straight blizzard...17 inches as of yesterday, which is the record for the last 40 years. We have had a lot of fun in the snow...Brian and Kevin built a sweet sled and we had a blast with it!! They also took the broken riding-lawn-mower and turned it into a "4mph Snow-Cruiser"...SOO much fun!!




Here are some pics of us building snow forts. It was guys against girls, dodge ball style. I wont tell you who won...we'll leave it part a secret. ;)

Cousin Fun

This past weekend, Kevin and Chanel were up visiting. Crystal seemed to have a great time with her cousin Mia, who is 1 1/2 months older than she. We had a great time having Brian's entire family up.

4 mths and sitting strong!!

Today Crystal went to the doctor for her 4 month check up. It was sad watching her get more shots, but Brian gave her lots of love and hugs through it all.
Here are her 4mth stats ~
Weight = 15.08 lbs .... 70%
Height = 25.5" .... 81%
Head = 17" .... 97%

I cant believe how fast she is growing!! Just within the last few days, she's been able to sit higher and higher and we can now officially say that she can sit on her own. It's so fun to watch her hold herself up and even reach for toys as she sits. It's such a joy to see just how fast they grow!!


This is one of my favorite pics of Crystal at 3mths - she wanted so much to be a part of everything going on in the room, and LOVED it when her daddy would hold her up like this. Now she can finally do it all on her own!! HURRAY!!!

Who hikes in late October!?

The weather has been nice and warm this fall, so we decided to take a day and take our baby on her first real hike. We left bright and early that morning and hiked to a hidden lake in the mountains. We thought Crystal would enjoy it, but we didnt expect her to love it like she did. She was SO excited and was very cheerful throughout the entire hike!!! (HuRrAy for us!!)

When we started the hike, it was a beautiful fall morning and we were slightly cold...if you cant tell. :) But Crystal was excited and so were we.


By the time we reached the lake, the sun was high and had turned it into a perfect afternoon for a fun picnic. We sure had a great time!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Sara bought Crystal a fun little bunny costume, so we decided to join her...Becky as the mommy bunny, Crystal as the baby, and Brian as the yummy carrot! ;) We had a great time trunk-or-treating and at Kelly and Chris's party!!




Crystal loved playing with the leaves and watching them crinkle in her hands..I couldnt help but take a few pics. :)


We had a great time Trunk-Or-Treating with the two-ward get together. It was great to see the many fun decorated trunks.
Brian decorated our trunk as a Blue Shark, so we stuck tape on the opening and then Brian sat inside the trunk and would hand out the candy by placing it on the shark's tongue (a red pillow). It was fun seeing the kids excited faces when they would watch the "mouth" open and a huge tongue with candy come out. And as if that wasnt memorable enough, our ward gave Brian 1st place on the trunk...and moments later, the other ward came over and gave him 2nd place from THEIR ward! We had such a great time with it!!!

Fall fun-3.5 mths

I absolutely LOVE the falls here; there are maple trees all around, so with fall settling in, the red and golden leaves make everything wonderful.
So while driving to Kelly's house, we drove passed a huge pile of maple leaves on the side of the road. Being my silly self, I insisted that we pulled over to take some pictures. Brian thought I was absolutely CrAzY, but was kind enough to go with it. Well, it just so happened that this road (Turner Ave.) was one of the more busy roads...we definitely had some very curious looks from other drivers. hehehe But the Pics were well worth it!!

Pumpkin Patch

A few weekends ago, we took Crystal to a pumpkin patch along with her cousins. It was so much fun and I was really surprised that it was only $2, which included hay rides and both a fun corn and hay maze. I think we all had a great time.


As we were going through the corn maze, we found an ideal spot for a picture and couldnt help but snap a family shot.

The family as we finished getting through the corn maze. Dad found some left-over corn on the way which made a fun snack for the little girls.

Tummy Time - 3.5 mths

These are just some fun pictures we took a while ago. It's a good thing she enjoys her tummy time.

Bounc'n Away - 3.5 mths

Crystal LOVES standing, but sometimes it gets a little tiring on our arms after an hour or so. So when mom and dad pulled out this baby jumper, both her and I were excited. She loves to bounce and can hold herself really well. It sure is fun to watch her get excited thinking she can stand on her own!! :)

Pumpkin Fun-3mths old

We were excited to get Crystal involved with the fall fun this year....maybe a little too excited. ;) It sure brought pumpkin carving to another level. hehe

It was pretty funny watching her - we would sit her down, and before we knew it, she would start to stand up and slither out like a snake.

Getting her to actually sit for longer than a second was a fun challenge. We sure had a lot of fun with it though.

Crystal's first attempts at learning to sit - 2 months

These are some shots of Crystal a few weeks ago. This was her first attempts to sit on her own - although she was wobbly, with a little help from Sidsi, she had a great time. She fell face forward a few times, but she sure seemed to enjoy herself : )

Fun at Walker Park

While Brit and Holger were up visiting, we took them to my most favorite park in Shelton where you can find all sorts of fun sea life.

Brian showing Madilyn the fun mini-crabs that are found under the big rocks. These are my favorite crabs - the ones we'll play with every time we come to this park.

For the first time, the tide was low enough that we saw big crabs, eels, lots of starfish EVERYWHERE, and even a sea otter!!!













I really enjoyed playing the bigger crabs - the neatest was this picture below - if you look close enough, it's a mother crab carrying a baby with it's claws. I thought it was really cool.





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There were starfish EVERYWHERE of all colors and sizes


Brittany and I looking at one of the starfish that Brian helped pick up...kinda cool!!!




Here's the back of the starfish - they are a lot heavier then they look.





I dont remember the name of these type of star fish...but they sure are scary looking - in fact, they were too scary for even Brian to touch.




Through the hundreds of gigantic star fish, Brian was able to find a baby one - sooo cute!!




While we were out playing, Crystal layed back and enjoyed her warm and cozy car seat and fuzzy hat that Lisa made. : )

Time at the beach

Last week, we took another fun trip to the beach - such a beautiful day. Crystal enjoyed the snuggling with her dad while Brian and I enjoyed the wonderful weather.


Brian and Crystal after our fun at the beach.

Fun Pics of Crystal at 1 1/2 months

Here are some pics of our little Crystal at a month and a half old - she loves the camera and gets overly excited...so her smiles are kind of silly, but it makes her that much more fun!!!










Here are some fun pics of Crystal all swaddled and ready for bed - she usually gets excited at this time because she knows she gets to eat soon. : )