And Then There Were Three

January 2012 Family Update

2012-01-13T13:36:00.004-07:00

We don't really have a lot going on right now. I feel my lack of blogging and it bugs me. I want to remember even the most minute detail of my life for always, yet lack the drive to put it in writing. I thought I would do a little Family Update post, just to fill my blogging void.

Darren is working and working hard at Fidelity. His shift changed this year and it's not the greatest shift, but we're one week in and it seems to be going fine. He works Sunday, but gets 4 hours off to come to church with us. The good news of the shift is he gets Thurs, Fri and Saturday off. Nice to have all 3 days off at once. It's been so good to have Darren home in the evenings with us. I'm loving watching and hearing Judson playing with his dad. The other night Darren took Judson to bed and Judson requested the song I Am A Child of God (all 4 verses, of course), I loved just listening to the two of them singing. Judson loves his Dad and Darren loves being a dad. I love them both so much and am so grateful for both of them!

Judson is loving Preschool. He loves the activities and the social aspect of it. I'm so happy he goes willingly and reports that he had a fun time when it's done. He loves to learn and will ask questions about what he has learned. He's so smart, and I love it! I need to be better with him having him work on letters and sounds at home. I'm sure he'd love it, I just don't get around to it. He loves going to the library and picking out books to bring home and read.

He loves, loves his superheroes and I often have to cut off the talking about superheroes or he would go on and on forever. It's so fun to watch him develop different likes and dislikes. I'll ask him why he likes or doesn't like something and his answer is always "because". Not really an answer, but I'll get him to expand on that soon enough.

The other little thing he has started doing lately is trying to tell when something is a joke and when it's not. He'll often ask "are you just kidding?" Most of the time we are, but I can tell sometimes he's hopeful that he doesn't have to clean up or go to bed so he'll ask. Funny kid!!! I love him to pieces!!

As for my update it's pretty boring. I'm still working at Roseman, the Pharmacy/Dental/Nursing University, in the finance department part-time. I really enjoy going to work each day, but I'm glad it's only for 4 hours. I'm focused on budgeting this year and making better choices all around. I know those goals are so general, but I really need the broadness to help me focus. Contradiction, right? I think it will help, just the same.

I'm excited for 2012 and the new opportunities it will bring. Judson will turn 5 and start Kindergarten. That is our big event for this year. I hope it's the only big event, but we'll see.

Happy 2012 to all of you!!!

Just for fun enjoy this picture of Judson at our favorite place to eat out. Chick-Fil-A.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2012-01-03T17:07:00.001-07:00

My goal for 2012.... Be 3 days behind. CHECK!!

We had a wonderful Christmas!!! It was so much fun. The joy that Judson brings to the holiday's is still surprising. He loved, loved, loved all things Christmas this year and looked forward to them all.

I didn't take many pictures this year, but enough to get the idea. Here is Judson as a Wise Man at the Stokes Family Nativity on Christmas Eve, Eve.

Judson was a Shepherd for the Farr Nativity on Christmas Eve. Darren and I were Mary & Joseph and Wise Men.

Christmas Morning Judson got to open his Santa present before church. He has been asking for the Batcave all year, and Santa pulled through. Judson plays with it every chance he gets. Yay for toys they really want!!!

East Canyon this year was a little short on snow. Sam and Darren found a snowy patch and took shovels and gathered all the snow they could find to make a fairly decent sledding hill. The kids seemed to enjoy it. And the bonus was it wasn't very cold and not very far to climb since the hill was maybe 20 feet.

We celebrated New Year's at East Canyon this year. We usually check out on the 31st, but this year we stayed until the 2nd. It was fun to play games, eat A LOT of food and celebrate the New Year together.

Hoping 2012 is as wonderful as can be!!!!

Probably Comet and Cupid....

2011-12-20T09:21:00.002-07:00

We went to Thanksgiving Point last night to walk around and see Santa's reindeer. Who thought Judson would get so worried? He wasn't scared of the reindeer because they were in a corral, but he made sure to mention that the fence went all the way around so they can't get out. He also wondered where the rest of the reindeer were. There were only 2 here and there are a lot more in the song. He kept asking when we were going to see the other reindeer. We tried to explain that they were probably in other cities so other kids could see Santa's reindeer too, but he still wanted to see them. He did enjoy seeing the 2 that were here. He kept making a grunting noise and saying that is the noise reindeer make.

We were intrigued with the drive through lights at Thanksgiving point. The line was at least 2 miles long, so we opted out of that.

We did go to the Christmas Utah house. On the website it says this is their last year, so go if you can. It's always GREAT!

Judson vs. Santa

2011-12-03T16:45:00.001-07:00

Judson has had a love/"fear for his life" relationship with Santa over the years. Take for example his very first picture with Santa. Not too bad, eh? Yes, I'm sure he had no idea what was going on, and had he looked up he would have freaked. However, he loved him that year.

2007

The next year was definitely the "fear for his life" year. He wouldn't even go near this Santa at Winder Dairy. (good thing because rumor was that he had pink eye. Santa, not Judson. Yuck!!).

2008

And I'm pretty sure this photo speaks for itself. (One of my favorite pictures of all time, though.)

2008

We didn't even attempt to take Judson to Santa in 2009. Last year we saw Santa at Toys R Us, but Judson would have nothing to do with him. He even freaked out if he was in our sight line.

So, 2011 comes. We have been prepping for this all year. Judson brought up how he was going to sit on Santa's lap this year so I went along with it and encouraged it. We talked about how Santa is nice and just wants to get Judson presents.

It was still a little bit of a struggle to get him here. He had a death grip on my leg, until Santa offered to let him hold the bell. That won!! Judson did it!! He sat on Santa's lap and asked for the Batcave. YAY Judson!!! Now, if he can grasp the whole "being nice" concept, that Batcave may find it's way here come Christmas.

2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T09:51:00.001-07:00

I love, love this picture!! I smile so big everytime I look at it. I took a picture of Judson with his pre-school crafts to send to Darren and this is the look Judson decided to go with.

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Snow, came quickly...

2011-11-10T14:46:00.001-07:00

And left quickly! That's the best kind of snow. It was perfect because Judson was able to build a snowman with his Dad and I watched from the warm house. The snow was gone by the end of the day, yet the snowman is slowly melting, melting; small, small, small.

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-02T12:02:00.003-06:00

We had family parties Halloween weekend. It was a lot of fun.

Donut eating contest at the Stokes'. Darren ate the most before his donut fell off the string. Congrats Darren.

The kids contest was fun to watch. The donuts were too big for the kids to eat off a string. They still tried and did really well!

Our Ward Party was fun. Judson played games and went trick or treating around the church.

We love our Pumpkin Porch. It looks so cute!!

Judson and Barrett at Grandma's on Halloween.

Seeing Double

2011-10-31T12:32:00.001-06:00

Judson and his cousin Trajen have the same Spiderman Costume. It was fun to have them dress up alike. You had to watch them carefully to tell which one was which when they had their masks on. Judson is on the left sporting his superhero pose. So cute.

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Costume #1

2011-10-28T00:00:00.001-06:00

Judson has been so excited for Halloween this year. It's fun to watch. He had his Halloween party at Preschool today and was able to dress up. He has 2 costumes. The Cowboy is his costume #1. I figure this is his most Preschool friendly costume. He's the cutest cowboy EVER!!!

Witches

2011-10-22T17:03:00.002-06:00

We made our annual trip to walk around Gardner's Village and look at the Witches. It was a lot of fun. Judson is still nervous around the witches and won't go close to them. I kept telling him they're just fake, but he wasn't buying it. Still, he was excited each time he spotted a witch and would run closer (just not too close) to look. Notice he wouldn't sit next to the witch in the photo. Darren was his safety buffer.

Judson spotted the monster guy thing and wanted to make a face just like him. He's so funny!!!

We also stopped in the sweets shop and Judson was so excited to get this little chocolate sucker. I think the picture is super cute!!

One more thing that I wasn't going to mention, but is too funny not to. In the baseball Witches photo; Judson went up to these witches and said, "that one looks just like Grandma Stokes". Ha, ha. So funny!!! I think my mom has a shirt just like that, but the resemblance is very little after that. I did tell my mom I wouldn't mention this on the blog, but I wanted to. She won't mind, I'm sure...

Farr Family Photos

2011-10-13T11:55:00.003-06:00

I keep forgetting to post our family photos. These were taken in July. I think they turned out great.

I just love all these pictures taken of the kids. Judson kills me in a lot of them. His faces are so funny!!!

Rah, Rah, Rah! Gooooo, COUGARS!!!!!

2011-10-01T09:46:00.001-06:00

Thanks to my Mom and Dad going out of town, Darren and I were able to go the BYU vs Utah State game last night! It was a great game to go to. After the first 14 seconds when Utah State had already made a touchdown we thought we were in for a blow out, but BYU did their best to make it a close game with a suspenseful ending!! Yay for BYU winning.

We left our house at 330 and got to the stadium at 5 for the 6 o'clock game. I love that these seats were still empty. Great photo op!

After the game the fans ran on the field. What a great win.

In the car, waiting in the parking lot after the game. It took us nearly 2 hours to get home.

Autumnal Equinox

2011-09-28T22:29:00.002-06:00

Darren and I love to celebrate the Autumnal Equinox. Mostly because it's fun to say. Our new favorite phrase is "Let's eat schnitzel biscuits at Buca de Beppo on the Autumnal Equinox with the Fenstermakers!" What great words, eh?

Last weekend we celebrated the Autumnal Equinox with a drive up Parley's, through Midway and down Provo canyon with a stop at Bridal Veil Falls. I love this time of year. So beautiful and the coolness is in the air. I hope it lasts forever!!! (Truth be told I'm not a huge fan of snow!)

My new favorite thing is Family Self Photos. I love to take a bunch and see how they turn out. So fun!!!

BTW... Happy Birthday Darren!!!! (in 90 minutes)

Winner, Winner! Chicken Dinner!!

2011-09-24T18:15:00.002-06:00

Darren decided to attempt the Rocky Mountain Wing Shack's wing eating challenge. 12 XXX Hot Boneless Buffalo Wings (that's triple X as in hot, not morally questionable. :) in 30 minutes with no drinking, dipping or other food. Sound easy??? The pictures below are in chronological order starting at about wing #5.

Eating wing #5. A little sweaty, not too bad. The wings still taste good.

Judson and I were Darren's cheering section.

(I'm glad I had nothing to do with consumption of those wings. They smelled too hot from across the table!)

The Wings.

Darren at Wing 10.5. I was hoping the beads of sweat would show in the picture, and they do. He was pretty miserable at this point!

Last bite. I kept telling him he had to do it just so he'd never have to do this challenge ever again.

He did it!!! It took him 27 mins and 15 secs to complete it. He got a free t-shirt, his pic on the wall and his money back! Pretty sweet, eh? The things boys will do for a free t-shirt. I don't get it, but I'm PROUD as can be!!!

Preschool...

2011-09-08T21:04:00.001-06:00

Today was Judson's first day of Preschool! He LOVED it!! It was weird to be at home without him. Darren and I were able to go for a long walk, go out for breakfast and run some errands. WOW!!! So much can get done in one little session of Preschool. I loved seeing all the projects he was able to create while there. He's in a small class, but I think that will be good for him! I'm just so relieved that he went without a scene or a fight. SUCCESS! Here's to our scholar! I can tell he'll be one already. Loving school is in his blood!

More Birthday

2011-09-07T20:54:00.003-06:00

We had a ton of fun celebrating Judson's birthday. We hung out and played all day and then Judson opened his gifts. He got more superheroes and books and toys. I made his cupcakes and they turned out really good! It's crazy having a 4-year old. He keeps telling me that he won't do certain things anymore because now he's 4. And if I call him babe, he'll get upset and say "not anymore, I'm 4". He's so funny.

Preschool starts tomorrow. I've already teared up a couple of times. Wish us luck! I don't know if I can let my little baby go....

Happy 4th Birthday Judson!!

2011-08-29T16:00:00.000-06:00

Today is Judson's 4th birthday! I can't believe it!! He starts pre-school next week. CRAZY!!

We started today with the traditional mom-made t-shirt. He loves superheroes, so it was fitting. Then dad and Judson went to the zoo.

We have cupcakes, presents and maybe a bowling trip yet. It's a great day!

Happy Birthday Judson!!!

Darren's The Bestest Ever!!!

2011-08-11T21:12:00.000-06:00

I have to brag about my wonderful husband for a minute. Tomorrow is my Birthday. We are driving to Idaho tomorrow for a family reunion. I'm usually big on making birthdays all about the person we're celebrating, but I decided to go to the Family Reunion anyway. Well, today I came home from work and Darren and Judson had a party waiting for me. I was so surprised. I got some great gifts, my favorite cookies from Smart Cookie and my favorite Chinese Takeout. It was a perfect non-birthday, Birthday. Thank you so much Darren!!! You really are the best husband EVER!!!!

Family Pictures

2011-07-18T22:46:00.000-06:00

Darren's family was all in one state at the same time. This is probably the last time we'll all be together for years. We took the opportunity to take family pictures. I followed the photographer around for some of them, but there are many more to come. I think they turned out great!!!

I love Judson's face in this last one. It's so hard to get all the kids to cooperate. I think the pictures are cute anyway!!

Lagoon 2011

2011-07-18T22:32:00.000-06:00

Judson went to Lagoon for the first time (where he could actually ride the rides). Darren and Judson met up with Doug, Kristi and kids. Judson had so much fun! He talked and talked about all the rides and each day you ask him what his favorite ride was and it will be different. He must have loved them all!!!

I was nervous that Judson would be too timid for the rides, but Darren said he had no problems and rode everything! I'm sad I missed this trip, but so glad that Judson and Darren had such a fun day!

Enjoy all the pics. I wasn't able to make it and told Darren to take a bunch of pictures. He definitely got a bunch of pictures which I'm so happy for!!!

Mason and Judson are best buddies! I'm so glad for Judson's great, cousin friends!

Judson and Mason taking their naps while waiting in line for Rattlesnake Rapids.

Soaking Wet!!!

So many kids....

2011-07-03T13:20:00.000-06:00

My sister Kelly and her family are here from New Hampshire. A lot of the Stokes family was able to go to the zoo last week. It was a blast, but there were so many kids to keep track of and keep happy. This picture is all the kids that came. We got them on and off the dinosaur as quickly as possible because a lot of people want this picture. I can't believe almost all of them are looking and look fairly pleased. SUCCESS!!!!

Zoorassic more like Zoorassic-riffic

2011-06-23T22:10:00.000-06:00

Zoorassic at the Zoo is so cool!!! I just expected a couple of lame dinosaur statues, but no way. The statues move and make noises and shoot water. Judson was scared at first, but he really loved the ones that sprayed water. We'll have to go back many times and find all the dinosaurs all over the Zoo. It will be a fun adventure.

Impromptu Photo Shoot

2011-06-23T22:00:00.000-06:00

Judson made silly faces for the camera when I was testing the batteries.

He also had his first lesson of picture taking. I think he did pretty well. This was after a dozen or so photos of my hand, or leg, or the wall because he had difficulty holding the camera still until it took the picture, but he did well.

The house next door...

2011-06-21T12:02:00.001-06:00

They are finally knocking down the house next door. I just want to see what the school entrance will look like all finished. I'm sort of impatient. This is definitely a step in the "finished" direction!

South Dakota & Colorado

2011-05-29T20:55:00.000-06:00

We just returned from a trip to South Dakota and Colorado. We had so much fun.

My sister Ginger lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with her husband Sam. We decided to take a road trip to see them and Mt. Rushmore. It was a fun few days.

Rapid City had a cool free dinosaur park. There were a few dinosaur statues on a hill and a gift shop. Judson thought they were pretty cool.

There is an Air Force base in Rapid City. We went to the museum and Judson loved sitting in the cockpit.

Mt. Rushmore. It is pretty amazing. It was also really cool learning all about how it was actually carved. We went on the trail that went right up to the mountain and got a better look of the presidents. Judson loved it. He said "I like the mans on that mountain."

We then drove down to Greeley, CO to visit with Darren's brother Doug and his family. It was so much fun to see Judson loving playing with his cousins. I wish I had taken more pictures..... We went on a walk and I looked back and saw Judson and Mason walking along holding hands. SO CUTE!!!! These boys had so much fun playing.

Darren and Noah were wearing matching shirts so I had to snap a picture.

Judson in Concert

2011-05-19T13:36:00.000-06:00

I am the Jr. Primary Chorister in our ward. Sometimes I feel like the Jr primary just doesn't have enough time to learn the songs. I may be wrong. Our Primary is performing the 13 articles of Faith in Sacrament meeting this Sunday. We started learning the 13th in February and have been reviewing them since. Judson became a Sunbeam in January and only sings when he wants to, but when he does sing he knows most of the words and is great with the rhythm of the songs. I'm thinking that the rest of the Jr Primary are the same. They know the songs but only sing when they want to and it just happens to be alternating weeks between all the kids. That's good enough justification for me.

I had Judson sing the 13th Article of Faith. He wouldn't do it unless he was at the keyboard, but I'll take it!

Batgirl Motorcycle

2011-05-16T23:33:00.001-06:00

Judson loves, loves, loves Batman. We watch an episode of the 1960's Batman TV series every night before bed. In the second (and final) season Batgirl shows up. He loves Batgirl. He gets excited when it's an episode with Batgirl and sad when it's not. Well, Batgirl rides her Batgirl-cycle. It's super hip! Judson's Uncle Juan just bought himself a motor scooter. (It was the end of the year at BYU and motor scooter sales were plentiful.) Judson loves Juan's motor scooter. He said it was just like Batgirl's motor scooter. This is the highest of compliments from our little 3-year-old. You can see the resemblance (or lack of) below. Judson wanted to wear the helmet so I let him. It was just a photo op for him to sit on it. I'm not brave enough yet to let him go for a ride. Someday..... maybe!

Dentist

2011-05-04T11:14:00.000-06:00

We took Judson to the dentist for the first time this morning. Oh, how I was dreading this experience. Judson has never been good with loud, or even weird noises. I thought for sure he would freak out. Much to my surprise he was a little nervous, but he let the dentist count his teeth, brush them, polish them, floss and paint fluoride. WOW!!!!! He didnt' even yell out or cry or anything!!! It was such a positive experience for all of us. I'm so glad!! He was so nervous of the tooth polisher and sucker out thingie, but he held it and had fun with it. We have been preparing him for this for the past couple of weeks and I'm sure that helped some. Judson is such a big boy. And his teeth are great and clean!!

Easter 2011

2011-04-26T09:29:00.000-06:00

We had a great Easter Weekend. It started with BYU's Graduation where Cami's husband Juan Graduated. Congrats, Juan. We egg-hunted at both Grandparent's houses, decorated eggs and hunted for the eggs the Easter Bunny hid. Judson loved Easter and was so excited for all of the events!

Happy Week of Easter!

2011-04-18T13:15:00.002-06:00

Toad

2011-04-14T08:22:00.000-06:00

We love Super Mario Bros on the Wii. Judson will either watch us play or attempt to play himself. It's fun and we have yet to conquer it. Well, we have this red pillow thingie that Judson wears as a hat. The other night he wanted me to take a picture of him with it on. He looks like Toad from the Mario games, right? Judson even pointed that out when he saw the pictures. I love my little toad!!

These Boys are Silly

2011-03-29T15:38:00.000-06:00

Judson hung out with Grandma and Trajen the other night while Darren and I went shopping. When we went to pick him up, these boys are what we found. I think Judson is one of them.... not sure, though.

Lent 2011

2011-03-22T09:57:00.000-06:00

Lent began 2 weeks ago. I didn't want to report anything until I was sure that I could do it. I'm happy to report that lent is going well. Darren and I decided to go all out this year. Here's the back story... When I worked at a bank I had a manager who lost 20 lbs in a few months. He explained that he and his family decided to cut 5 C's out of their lives. Their 5 C's were: Candy, Cookies, Cakes, Chips/Fries, Chocolate. I have remembered this for 10 or so years and decided to try it. Darren and I did have a slightly different list. Here's ours: Candy, Cookies, Cakes, Chips/Fries, Caffeine. Believe it or not it was the Caffeine that kicked our bums! We never knew how much caffeine was affecting our lives. We were exhausted for days!!! The exhaustion is over and we're still Lent strong! We're happy to be successful this year. The last few years of lent have been a bust!!! Having some sort of self control is quite empowering. Yay for me and Darren!

Judson the Rock Star

2011-03-08T10:17:00.001-07:00

For the past couple of weeks Judson will sit at my parents' piano and start rocking out and singing Crocodile Rock. He loves this song. He knows all the words and loves to sing it. Darren and Judson watch Elton John on the Muppet Show singing this song and that's where Judson got the idea to sing it while playing the piano. He's so funny. He wanted to sing it again just dancing, so I'm adding both videos. I just love Judson!!! He's so fun!
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Just for comparison, here's the link on youtube to Elton John singing Crocodile Rock on the Muppet Show.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL3mYAsEp9g

Darren is Fun

2011-02-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

We went to a movie a couple of weeks ago. While walking to our theater we saw a Justin Bieber cut out that little teen girls were getting their pictures taken with. On the way out after the movie, Darren said he wanted a picture with Justin. They could be BFF's, right? It's just funny to me. I've never heard a Justin Bieber song. I've seen many a mismanaged Bieber hair-do. (cut-it already!!!) I did see a minute of Justin playing in the celebrity game NBA All Star Weekend. That makes me a fan, right?

Darren showed his picture to his Sunday School class and called him "The Bieber". The 12 year-old's got a kick out of that.

It was an odd request for Darren to have his picture with The Bieber, but it's fun! Maybe I'll have to frame this for Darren's office!

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

Judson and Darren visited me at work and brought flowers! BEAUTIFUL!!! I love my boys so much!!!

Happy Valentine's Day All!!!

Happy Birthday Superman!

2011-02-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

I'm sad I didn't take pictures, but I have to remember this. The other night Judson was insistent on having a party. Something to do with my dad coming home and saying time to party. Judson didn't want to leave grandma and grandpa's house because we had to have a party. So, I promised we'd have a party at home. On the ride home I asked him what kind of party we should have. He said Superman. That sounded great. By the time we got home we decided it was a birthday party for Superman. We got out the happy birthday banner, the noise makers from new year's and Judson's picture of Superman he colored. I also had Judson pick some toys to wrap up. So the party started. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Superman. Blew the noise makers and Judson unwrapped his toys. It was fun!! Judson has some fun ideas. He was so excited for the party. I love the simple things that make this little boy so happy!! I love being his mom!!

Silly Pela

2011-02-02T19:17:00.000-07:00

I was getting the pictures off my camera today and I came across these my Sister-in-law Pela took of herself unbeknownst to me. I figure such beautiful photography deserves it's own post. Thanks for the great pics, Pela! ENJOY!!

Our New Neighbors

2011-01-31T10:57:00.001-07:00

We received some very interesting news this last week. The house next door to us has been for rent for the past couple of months. Well, a couple of weeks ago I noticed the "For Rent" sign had been taken down. We were waiting patiently to see the new tenants, really to find out if they're the ideal, quiet older couple. Well Darren got a phone call from the Principal of the Elementary School behind us telling us they had bought the property. Ok, fine. Not only had they bought the property but they are going to tear down the house and make a new entrance for drop off/pickup to the school. I was freaked out at first, but I really don't think it's a big deal now. It will be an inconvenience twice a day for 30ish minutes. Oh well. We're practically a corner house now. We only have neighbors to the west of us and then the school. I'm excited to see what it will all look like finished. Darren and I had to meet with the Principal and people from the district in the Principal's office. I felt like a student again being sent to the Principal's office. Everything went well and it sounds like it will be fine. We'll see, though. There's a picture below from GoogleMaps that shows the set up of our house/school. I just wanted to post this because it's really the only thing going on in our lives right now.

Happy Last Day of January!!!
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P.S. ~ I love, love GoogleMaps!!!

Our House with lot next door being turned into the Elementary School Parking lot entrance.

East Canyon Winter 2010

2011-01-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun at East Canyon this year. We were only there for 2 days, but it was a fun 2 days. Judson got a sled for Christmas so that was what he was looking forward to most. He loves sledding. He loves finishing a sledding run and then falling off the sled pretending to crash. So cute!!!

We also got a ton of snow while we were there. Almost snowed in, but made the white knuckle drive back to the valley. Sam and Darren had fun making a snow fort for the kids before we left. The kids helped too and as soon as it was finished, everyone was too cold to play in it.

I'm so glad we don't get quite that much snow at our house. We'd lose Judson in our backyard!

It's Christmas! Hooray!!!

2010-12-24T23:38:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Judson, I think....

Farr Nativity

Stokes Nativity

Merry Christmas to All!!!

2010-12-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Here's our Christmas card this year!

Farr’s Top Ten of 2010

~ 10 ~

Kelly, Kevin and fam came to town. Went ice skating at the Olympic Oval. Judson not a fan of the skates.

~ 9 ~

Judson learns who Batman is...let the fun begin!!

~ 8 ~

April: Crystal & Judson take a road trip with Gr & Gr Stokes to San Diego.

(Note to self: move to San Diego ASAP it’s Beautiful!)

~ 7 ~

June: Fun family road trip to Colorado to visit Doug, Kristi and fam & Cami, Juan and Amelia.

~ 6 ~

July: First time taking our tent trailer camping. Hopefully, first of many!

~ 5 ~

Judson got a tick. Tick fever takes up most of August. Judson gets all better and we breathe a huge sigh of relief!

~ 4 ~

August: Judson turns 3!!!

~ 3 ~

September: Crystal goes full-time at work. We love the extra money, but it’s hard.

~ 2 ~

Still loving our new home. Darren replaced 1/3 of the shingles and hopefully it will stretch the life of our roof for a few more years. Good job Darren!

~ 1 ~

Potty Training. It’s been on the brain all year.

We do think he’s got it!!

We hope your 2010 was WONDERFUL!

We wish you an even better 2011!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Love,

Darren, Crystal & Judson

Happy Birthday Dad and Mom Stokes

2010-12-14T11:36:00.000-07:00

My dad and mom both have birthdays this week. They were born 3 days apart. Pretty cool, eh? I just wanted to do a special post dedicated to the best parents in the world. I'm happy to have them as my mom and dad. I am so grateful for all they do for us. My mom watches Judson 4 days a week and it is wonderful to know that he is being taken care of by a great mom. My dad is always willing to help whenever we need it and that's a great comfort to have. I would say that my mom is my best friend. We hang out a lot and have so much fun together.

They are also amazing grandparents. They love their grand kids so much. They're always planning fun stuff to do and are always willing to go to performances, activities and watch the kids.

I'm so grateful for my parents and I'm glad they were born!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND DAD!

Christmas Lights 2010

2010-12-07T20:36:00.003-07:00

Darren had his work party downtown tonight. So we decided to see the lights also. We started with the Gateway and the COOLEST TREE EVER!! I could just sit and watch this tree for hours. Judson was more fascinated with the dancing waters. Something for everyone, I guess.

We then headed to Temple square to see the lights. We watched and listened to the Nativity story. Judson seems to be remembering the story more and more. I love the tradition of seeing it on Temple square. All the lights are so beautiful.

Kelly, the Eldest Sister

2010-11-29T20:43:00.003-07:00

My sister Kelly came to visit us for a blink a couple of weeks ago. She was here for far too short a time, but it was fun. We had a NHOKA (no husbands or kids allowed) night in Park City. We shopped, ate, played games and talked late into the night. It was fun for just the girls to be together.

We also went to dinner where all 7 Stokes kids and our parents were there. That doesn't happen often so of course we took a picture or two. It was great to have Kelly here. It doesn't happen often enough!

Proof ~ He's the Cutest Boy Ever!!

2010-11-17T15:33:00.004-07:00

I am in love with these pictures. Jen did such a great job. You can visit her blog here if you want. She captures all the aspects of Judson's moods and personalities. I just love them!!!

Family Pics

2010-11-15T15:18:00.002-07:00

We received our pictures this last week. They are fabulous. Thanks so much Jen!!!

I've put a scrapbook page together of the family pictures. Judson is hilarious in the first picture. We were making "serious" faces. I'm so happy that is his serious face! Such a funny boy!! I figured this would be an easy way to post the pictures. Enjoy!!!

Judson-isms

2010-11-05T09:16:00.003-06:00

Judson has been saying so many funny, clever things lately I have to get a few of them in writing.

He was tired the other night and as I was trying to reason with him, he all the sudden yelled "I am Batman". It was like I should show him extra respect because he's Batman. Or maybe he was just mad that I called him Judson. He also pretends to be Buzz Lightyear, Spiderman, Superman and various animals. These episodes of pretend only last for short spurts. I'm glad.

We saw a commercial the other night with a man dressed as a mouse. There's a lady that says, "you're disgusting" and then the man-mouse says "prove it". Judson loved this right away and started mimicking repeatedly. He says the woman's part in a high voice and the man-mouse in a low voice. It cracks me up.

Someone mentioned Darren the other day and Judson piped in, "I call him daddy". It made me smile.

Judson can't wait for Christmas. He is so excited for the tree, lights and decorations. As well as Santa coming and bringing presents. I keep telling him that Thanksgiving comes first so randomly he will ask, "is Thanksgiving over?" in hopes that it's time for Christmas.

We are succeeding and potty training. Judson does really well during the day. I think we're going to start on naps soon. Hopefully we'll have him fully trained through the night before our final 30 diapers run out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Through this experience I have discovered that Judson has the greatest memory when it comes to me promising him something fun. I promised him we would go golfing weeks ago if he would do well potty training. He's done well so we golf tomorrow. Judson is so excited. I think he'll love it. It's just mini golf, but I'm sure this will be the first of many mini golf trips.

Judson had an attitude struggle the first month he was three. I was for sure this was going to be his terrible 3's and was preparing for a long run of frustration. Good news, he's back to his normal, happy self. I just love Judson so much and I get so excited each day to see what he'll do next that makes me smile and laugh!

We had his 3-year old pictures taken the other day by our wonderful friend Jen Gibson. She posted one on her blog, and I'm going to re-post it here. Judson is getting so old, way too fast for my liking. But he's such a cutie!!!

Happy Halloween 2010!!!

2010-10-31T14:39:00.009-06:00

We had a great Halloween season! We decorated pumpkins, went to our ward party, Daddy's work party and a party at Gr & Gr Farr's house. Then Judson and Darren went trick-or-treating in the rain to a few houses. Judson's favorite part of the night was passing out candy to the kids who came to our house. Every time the doorbell would ring he'd jump right up and always beat me or Darren to the door ready to hand out candy. It was so much fun. Judson really enjoyed Halloween this year and got really into it. I was watching him trick-or-treat with his cousin Trajen and I got a little teary eyed thinking how grown up he is now. It's so much fun to watch him grow, learn and have fun. I am truly blessed to be Judson's mom!
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Today we're going to a family party at Gr & Gr Stokes'. We love all the time we spend with Family at all the holidays. I love any excuse to get together and just hang out!
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Judson drew a face on this pumpkin. We also had little animal nose, mouths, and ears to stick in the pumpkins. Darren and Judson did finally carve a pumpkin. I'm not a fan of the smell of pumpkin so I avoid such activities.

Darren and Judson dressed up for the Ward Party

We took these pictures at the Ward Party. It was one of many fun activities.

Trajen and Judson Trick or Treating. It's impossible to get two 3 year olds to smile at the same time.

Judson's only chance at a nap on Saturday.

Our cute door and front porch. Darren grew all the pumpkins in our garden.

Snow is good!

2010-10-27T12:33:00.002-06:00

I've never been a huge fan of Snow. Sure it's beautiful and makes everything look so fresh and clean. But cold, COLD!!! Not a fan of the cold. However, I am seeing the world through the eyes of a 3 year old. WOW!!! It's an amazing world.

I mentioned the chance of snow on Sunday night and Judson's eyes lit up. He was planning his first snowball throw and talking about his gloves, coat and hat. He couldn't wait to build a snowman. It was magical. I started to get excited about the snow right along with him. On Monday we did get snow. Enough for a snowball but not for a snowman. Judson was still happy, but boy did he want the snowman. Today he got his wish.

As of right now, he's the happiest boy on earth. His daddy helped him build these snowmen. One is Mickey Mouse. That's all he can talk about! We love the snow!!!

I feel crafty.... maybe

2010-10-05T09:58:00.004-06:00

I am going to attempt to make this apple garland with Judson. Such a fun, cute decoration for fall. Judson will love helping. I've printed and cut out the apples. I'll post the finished pictures. We might even make some to give to grandma's. We'll see.

Happy Autumn everyone!!! It's my favorite season of the year. I can't help but smile!!!

Dinosaurs

2010-09-22T10:32:00.024-06:00

Hello, This is Darren. While Crystal went to Hale to see the Pirates. Judson and I went to Ogden to see the Dinosaurs with Grandma and Grandpa Farr, Tui, Trajen, Ma'a, Uncle Kevin and Aunt Tiffany. The park had life size dinosaurs, a playground, and lots of fun things for 3 and 4 year-olds to do.

The Dinosaurs were life sized, they also had background noise that made it seem like they were alive. The boys had fun running from one dinosaur to another.

They also had some fun posters that you could put your face through for a fun picture. I have several pictures where the boys would put their head through and take it out right when I took the picture.

The boys had so much fun playing on the dinosaur themed playground. They had a lot of fun with the tree shaped slide.

Pirates

2010-09-20T10:32:00.004-06:00

Saturday my mom and I went to Pirates of Penzance at Hale Center Theatre. I've seen a couple of versions of this musical before. I've always thought it was super corny and silly and not really that interesting. UNTIL NOW!!! I loved Hale's version! It was amazing. What made it most amazing was the singers. They can SING! I always fall in love with a wonderful singing voice instantly. This definitely happened. And they were funny!! Not corny or silly! I laughed out loud many, many times throughout the play. I give it 10 thumbs up!! (creepy if you're really picturing me with 10 thumbs right now.) I wish I had seen it earlier so all of you would have a chance to go see it yourselves, but I think Saturday was the last day. Oh well. Next time it's at Hale, I guess.
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It was also fun to see a friend from high school in the cast. It's fun to see faces from the past! She did great, btw!

I didn't get a picture of my mom and I. I need to be better at that.

Bye, Bye Part-time

2010-09-10T10:51:00.004-06:00

Since Judson has been born I've only worked Part-time. It's been nice. I like to go to work and come home to Judson. I truly think absence makes the heart grow fonder even for kids. Well recently my work asked me to go full-time. I don't really want to, but at the same time, I need to have a job.

Decision: work full-time for a couple of years and then I'll get to stay home full-time. Hopefully, a good decision.

I'm extremely grateful for my mom. I wouldn't even consider going full-time if Judson had to go to daycare. It's just not for us. So, thank you mom for watching Judson and being so willing to help. I should also thank Cami too. Cami, Juan and Amelia just recently moved in with my parent's. She's going to be back-up for my mom.

I'm glad for family that is willing to help and make my worries less.

I've worked one full-time day so far. It went well. I don't know about this expectation of 5 days a week. :) I guess full-time really does mean full-time.

Birthday Celebrations!

2010-09-08T11:58:00.006-06:00

Judson's birthday celebrations were so much fun. On Saturday, we celebrated with Grandma and Grandpa Stokes. Judson was so excited for presents and loved opening them. I think this is the first time he's actually understood that there is a present INSIDE the wrapping paper. He was able to open them all by himself.
I tried to get creative, and avoid baking at the same time. We love Scotcharoo's and I thought they'd make fun cupcakes. They did make fun cupcakes, but they dried out really quickly and were really, really messy to eat. Judson still was able to eat a few of them.
On Sunday, Judson's actual Birthday, we were woken up at 3am to Judson with a high fever and throwing up. YUCK and so sad. No one should ever have to be sick on their birthday. Judson was a trooper. We still traveled up to the Farr's cabin and had a really fun day with cousins and family. Judson didn't feel well all day, but managed to open gifts again and play, most of the time. He was all better by Monday morning.
We think since no one else got sick it may have been a relapse of his Tick sickness. It was a quick relapse, so that's good!!
We're definitely experiencing a little bit of the terrible 3's, though. Judson's 2's flew by and he was such a good boy, but lately he's been testing the limits of saying "no" and telling us to clean up for him and get stuff for him when I was the one to ask him to do it in the first place. I'll ask him to run upstairs to get something and he'll come back with "you do it". My patience is being tested, but all in all Judson is a happy, healthy boy! We're so lucky to get to watch him learn and grow!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDSON!!!
May all your wildest dreams come true!

Happy Birthday Judson!!!

2010-08-29T10:08:00.003-06:00

It's Judson's birthday today!! Here he is showing off my homemade iron on t-shirt. He's the cutest boy EVER!!!!

Living Planet Aquarium

2010-08-20T12:05:00.003-06:00

Darren, Judson and I went to the Living Planet Aquarium last week. It's a really cool place. I had a discounted year pass for Judson and I and we bought Darren a year pass. There are a lot of cool water life animals to look at and a ton of activities to do. Judson's favorite was the penguin habitat. The penguins would jump in the water and swim around so fast. It was really cool to watch.

It's nice that it is so close to us in Sandy. We will definitely return often.

Tick Fever

2010-08-10T10:35:00.006-06:00

Remember how I pulled a tick out of Judson's head? Well, I guess the tick made him sick. My poor little guy had Tick Fever for a week. It started out Saturday, July 31st. He had a fever all day and a low fever all day Sunday. Monday he seemed all better. His appetite was back and he was running around playing. Well Tuesday morning at 3ish he woke up super, super hot. I took his temp and it was 102 in the armpit. I was worried. The Tylenol brought the fever down and he slept, but I called and got an appointment with his doctor.

It seems that tick fever is a recurring fever. You have a few days with fever and then a few without. Online it said this cycle can repeat up to 10 times. I'm pretty sure Judson just had the two time repeat. He did have a fever all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

For now the fever has not come back. He is slowly getting his appetite back. It's so scary to watch him lose weight. He's already so skinny as it is and then to see him get skinnier. SCARY!! I was so happy last Friday when he started smiling again. I hadn't noticed that he hadn't even smiled for 3 days. Then he started laughing and I knew he was getting better. He's a fun little boy, so being sick and down for 3 days was way out of the norm for him. Anyway, I just wanted to document this because I guess tick fever isn't hugely common. I'm pretty sure this is the first time our doctor has dealt with it. He's a great doctor, though. He followed up with us and really cared about Judson feeling better.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the fever doesn't come back. I think it's all done, but who knows.

This picture is so funny, but sad. We got Judson this Batman mask mostly for his Halloween costume, but I thought it would cheer him up during the fever. He allowed me to put it on him, but he wouldn't smile at all. He looks like such a sad Batman. And look at his tired eyes. This picture captures just how yucky he felt for days with the Tick Fever.

I'm so happy he's back to smiling and laughing now. Poor guy!!

Up, Up and Away!

2010-08-01T22:21:00.006-06:00

Judson loves Batman. Because of this he loves to wear a cape. Well, I talked to my mom about helping me make a cape for Judson and she mentioned a double sided cape. Genius!! I looked up a tutorial online here and bought the fabric. I'm the queen of computer generated iron-on's so I decided to iron on the symbols instead of making them out of fabric. Anywho, $6 and 2 hours with a lot of help from my mom sewing we made a cape. Judson loves it. He wears it from the minute he gets up until he goes to bed. Except at meals. And since we don't wear the cape out of the house he had to go back to the blanket cape and Grandma Farr's house and the trend caught on with Tui and Trajen. Fun boys!

I'm actually most excited that I actually started and finished a project. That doesn't happen very often!

East Canyon 2010

2010-07-31T14:01:00.006-06:00

We had a fun time at East Canyon this year. It was an adventure, to say the least! Here is a highlight list from the 5 days we were there with my family.

-Found 5 live bats in one of the condos (over 3 days). 4 captured without drama. 1 flew around the condo while everyone was there. Screaming and scrambling ensued. Judson was crying (I think more from the adults screaming and running around then from the actual bat). The bat finally flew out the back door.

-2 cases of stomach flu. This illness is still making around the family 5 days later. Judson and Darren have both had it. I'm just waiting for it to hit me.

-Played games, ate tons of good food. I love hanging with our families! Always the highlights of my year!

-Tick in Judson's hair. Hiked for 2 1/2 hours on Sunday. I discovered the tick Wednesday night.

-Grandma had her treasure hunt again. The kids loved it! This is the first one I've actually gone on.

-We brought our pop-up Tent trailer. It was really nice to have it. It was super uncomfortable. Way, WAY better than a tent STILL!!!!!

Here are some pictures from the week. I'm so happy to be home in my own bed. I think that's one of the main reasons to take vacations. It helps me to be so grateful for the things I enjoy every day at my own home!

Judson loves to hang out with his cousins.

Hike

Mini Golfing

Treasure Hunt

Tick Tock

2010-07-29T12:25:00.003-06:00

Ok, not really tock. But I discovered a tick in Judson's hair last night. So gross!!! I've never seen one before and I didn't even think of taking pictures. It was HUGE!! My parents came over to help just in case Judson would need to be held down, but I just pulled it out with tweezers, cleaned the wound really good and hopefully it heals and we can forget about it. Judson was super brave during the whole ordeal. I was freaking out a little bit, so I'm glad he didn't follow his mom's example. My parents (of 7 children) had never dealt with ticks before. We looked it up on the Internet and learned a lot on the spot.

Main lesson learned: Ticks are GROSS!!!

This is what Judson's tick looked like. GROSS!!!!

PS. I'm itching my head as I write this post. Psychological, I'm sure. You're itching your head now, right?

Nope, no Villains here!

2010-07-19T20:22:00.004-06:00

Our house has been Villain-free for the past few months. Judson's love of Batman is evident in his "cape" he wears daily. I'm so happy I live with Batman and Robin. (Darren has to be Robin upon Judson's request each and every day. It's fun!) They keep the bad guys away!!!

Judson's hands are on his hips in true Super Hero form. Just in case you couldn't tell.

Judson's new favorite movie is Aladdin. So half the time I tie his cape on he is requesting to be a Prince. It makes me smile!! He's such a funny boy!

New (to us) Furniture

2010-07-13T20:12:00.005-06:00

I'm so excited. We have living room furniture now. I saw an ad on KSL.com for $20 chairs in Park City. (They remodeled the Marriott.) When we went to buy the chairs, the guy also had a bunch of other furniture. So we got a couch too. He threw in some art for free. I'm not sure if I'll use the art, but free is free. I'm just so happy that the camping chairs are all packed up and we have real furniture. It's pretty cute, too. I love the striped chairs. I'd still love to have a red leather couch, but for now this is perfect!! So, total for the furniture was $65. Not too shabby!

Part of Your World

2010-07-11T21:09:00.002-06:00

This post is dedicated to my sister Ginger. The Little Mermaid is her favorite movie ever. I remember all the years when every gift or anything Ginger would get was Mermaid related. She amassed quite the collection over the years. It is one of the cutest Disney films.
Judson loves The Little Mermaid. He all of the sudden started singing this song word for word from start to finish. This video is what I caught on my iPod in the car. He's so stinking cute, right?! I agree.

4th of July Weekend 2010

2010-07-09T23:43:00.003-06:00

We had a great 4th of July weekend. We went to the zoo with Heather, Tyler, Sami and Griff. It was a lot of fun and a perfect day to be at the zoo. We went just as they opened at 9 and were out of there just as it was getting super hot at noon-ish. We watched the bird show and saw some birds up close. Judson was not very excited to be close to the eagle.

We had dinner at the Farr's on the 4th. Darren's mom made a veggie tray to look like the flag. And Heather made a cake that looked like the flag when you cut into it. Very patriotic. On the 5th we had dinner at home and Judson discovered that the strawberries fit on his fingers. He had fun with this and was just too cute not to get a picture.

Colorado June 2010

2010-07-09T23:23:00.001-06:00

I'm a little behind in posting this. We went to Colorado at the beginning of June. It was great because Darren's brother Doug and his family live in Greeley and my sister Cami was moving to Denver the very weekend we were there. We went for Doug and Kristi's new baby Noah's baby blessing. He's such a cute baby. What a great addition to our family!

We visited with Doug and Kristi for a couple of days and were able to go to Sweatsville Zoo. The zoo was all metal, welded animals. It was really quite cool to see. We also were able to go swimming at their fun community center. It was great to visit and spend time with their family.

We were also able to spend a couple of days with Cami and Amelia. We saw Juan for a minute, but he had to travel for business while we were there. We went to the 16th street mall and the convention center. The huge blue bear at the convention center was Judson's favorite. Denver is a beautiful city and it was fun to visit!

4.5 Hours Dry

2010-06-28T18:45:00.003-06:00

I feel like I'm posting as an alcoholic who is sober. (you know, I'm 44 days sober.) But this is even more exciting. Especially since I'm not an alcoholic. Hopefully typing the word alcoholic so many times won't bring too many crazies to my blog. Anywho, onto my real reason for posting. Potty Training. I just want to shout out a big "YAY JUDSON"!!! He did amazing today potty training. I had him in his undies for 4.5 hours and he went potty 5ish times. The big news is that he didn't wet himself once in the 4.5 hours.

I first introduced Judson to underwear on Saturday and he went through 3 pairs in 1 hour. Needless to say I was dreading today. I didn't have to, he did so GREAT!!! I'm excited to keep him out of his diaper for longer and longer each day. With how today went, I'm not dreading tomorrow. Way to go to my big guy!!!

I really wanted to take pictures to document this huge milestone in Judson's life. I thought a little boy in underwear might not be super appropriate. So, I made it as tasteful as possible. Also, the potty watch! This is a life saver! I set it for 30 minutes and lights would flash and music would play and Judson would run to the potty. What a great invention. All in all this potty training isn't as scary as I thought. Judson is doing great!!

More Colorado June 2010

2010-06-14T12:20:00.006-06:00

Here are some other photos from Colorado and the park in West Jordan. I took these with my phone. Judson was such a good traveller. He would just sit back, kick his feet up and either play with his toys or look at his books. He didn't sleep much, but was still great to travel with. He was so excited to get his Denver, Colorado Batman shirt. He LOVES Batman.

SNOW!??? It's June in one week!!!

2010-05-24T18:24:00.003-06:00

Judson was super excited for the snow. When I got him up this morning and told him there was snow he was shaking with excitement. Then when he came down the stairs and saw out the window, you would've thought it was Christmas he was smiling so big. I should've had my camera then. He immediately told me that he needed his gloves and hat so he could make and throw a snowball. I got his gloves and hat and he made and threw a snowball. He also wanted daddy to build a snowman, but the snow didn't last that long. It was gone by 11. Hopefully our veggie garden survived. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Helmets and Huts

2010-05-07T23:01:00.002-06:00

My sister Heather handed down this great scooter from her son Griff. It has been hanging on the wall in our garage. I've been wanting to let Judson ride it, but I just couldn't without getting him a helmet. Well, tonight I remembered to buy a helmet while at Target. He loved it and was so excited to ride the scooter around. He did really well scooting around our patio. I love the action shots that proves I didn't just put his helmet on and make him pose with the scooter. I'm sure in no time he'll be zooming around the neighborhood.

With all the yucky weather lately it's been hard to convince Judson to play inside. The other day he was super sad to leave his grandma's house so I said I'd build him a big tent in the living room. He was super excited about this. I'm not the best big tent builder, but I guess it's good enough for him. He loves it!

San Di-vine Diego

2010-04-26T22:49:00.010-06:00

I love, Love, LOVE San Diego. I've been to Sea World before, but have never spent time in the city. My dad's conference was right down town San Diego. We dropped him off and hung out. The city is so beautiful and so clean. The cleanliness was the real surprise to me. We went to the Zoo, HUGE!!! We went to Coronado, Seaport Village and Mission Beach. There are a ton of pictures, so enjoy!!
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Grandpa and Judson with the bridge we drove over to Coronado. It was so high. The picture does not do it justice. I had to drive and my fear of heights kicked in. So pretty, though. Judson and I are in the next pic facing the other direction with the boats and the bay in the background. San Diego Bay is so beautiful.

Seaport Village had a carousel. I don't much enjoy the round and round, but Judson loved it. He rode the Giraffe. Only one adult rode free with Judson so since my mom had to pay, she decided to at least ride on an animal.

Pictures from Coronado looking across the bay to San Diego. And then Judson an my mom with the Coronado shops in the background. What a cute little shopping area. It was so much fun to walk around. We took the ferry across the bay. Judson loved the boat ride.

The San Diego Zoo is HUGE!!! We took a ton of pictures with all the animal and animal statues. These pictures are truly just a highlight of them all.

Judson being an elephant in front of the elephants.

I asked Judson what his favorite part of the zoo was and he said the Elephant statues.

We went to the Sea Lion Show. It was really cool. Judson sat still with his eyes glued on the show for the whole 15 minutes. I was impressed with his attention span.

The children's petting zoo was closed, but we walked around and took this fun picture and played on the playground still.

Judson was super excited to sit in this helicopter. It was at the polar bear exhibit.

And of course, the primates. There was a whole heard of gorillas. We saw them walk up to the window. The mom was carrying the baby on her back. Every now and then one of them would turn around look at us and bang on the glass and then sit back down. It made me wonder if the thought they were watching us instead of us watching them.

This is an Okapi. I had to take this picture because at the Hogle Zoo when Judson rides the carousel he always chooses to sit on the Okapi because he knows it doesn't move up and down. Darren and I wondered if this animal still exists. Well, it does.

This was also near the polar bear exhibit. Judson could crawl around in ice caves and then poke his head up to be next to the seal. It was a cute picture opportunity.

This is the tour bus that drove us all around the zoo and pointed out, quickly, all the different areas we could walk to if we wanted. I'm pretty sure we walked to every area except the Panda. We were worn out, but had so much fun.

Thanks mom and dad for letting us tag along on your trip. We loved spending time with you and having so much fun in San Diego.

San Diego

2010-04-16T13:55:00.002-06:00

So, my parents are going to San Diego next week. Since my mom is Judson's babysitter it's vacation time for me. Judson and I decided to tag along on my parent's trip. It should be fun. A long car ride, but I'm sure we'll do fine. Judson is fun to be with and very entertaining. We leave on Wednesday. Our official plans are the Zoo and the Beach. I can't wait for the sun!! I've had a cold for nearly 2 months straight. Hopefully the warm air and stable atmosphere of San Diego will cure me! I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!

The Caped Crusader

2010-04-05T12:48:00.008-06:00

We went to Tooele last week to celebrate Sami's 9th Birthday. We had a lot of fun at dinner. There was a face-painter and the kids were up for the cuteness. Here are Sami, Griff and Judson. Sami got a monkey on her face, Griff has Wow! Wow! Wubbzy on his hand and Judson is Batman.

So, before a week ago Judson probably had never heard of Batman. He's still a super fan of Sesame Street, Blues Clues and The Wiggles. But just before this, his cousin Barrett came to Grandma's dressed as Batman. Judson thought this was cool. Then the Host at Applebee's had a little Batman symbol on his cheek. So I talked Judson into getting a Batman symbol too. We went to the face painter and I said he wants a Batman. I looked away for a second and then looked back and she was drawing the whole mask. Judson sat still the whole time (who knew he could sit still?) so I thought, why not. It turned out so cute and Judson talks about Batman all the time now. I even taught him the little riff of music from the Batman TV series from back in the day, you know, with Adam West? (it's even before my time, but I remember watching re-runs and LOVING it!). So they don't have the TV series on DVD yet, but Adam West did make a Batman movie. It's in the mail. We'll see how Judson likes seeing Batman and Robin in action with all the "POW's", "Wham's" and "Crashes" popping up on the screen during the fight scenes. I can't wait!!!

We told Judson to growl and raise his claws. This was the result. More like a surrender. There's not a scary, mean bone in his body. So happy all the time!!!

I'm a Brunette

2010-03-29T23:08:00.005-06:00

But I am a super fan of Legally Blonde the musical. I went with my sisters Heather and Cami to see Legally Blonde. It was so much fun. I had a smile on my face the whole show. I loved it!! I already knew most of the music because I had watched the search for Elle Woods on MTV, so it was fun to see the full play. (I feel the need to warn that there are bad words in the music.) It was also great to be with my sisters. Thanks to mom and dad Farr for watching Judson. He had a blast!!

Speaking of sisters, Ginger is coming tomorrow!! Yeah!!! Travel Safely!

I love this picture of Heather! She's so much fun!

Judson's Guitar

2010-03-27T22:33:00.004-06:00

I don't know where he learned to associate this face with guitar playing, but it is the face he has everytime he plays his guitar. He also spreads his legs into a guitar player's stance. Maybe it's just natural to him. The only guitar player he really watches is Murray from The Wiggles, but Murray is always smiling and so happy. Who knows where he learned this from? Judson's a funny boy.

Judson has a New Cousin

2010-03-24T22:19:00.004-06:00

Amelia was born on the 12th. She is just about the cutest baby ever! Judson says her name, over-pronouncing every letter, A-meel-i-ya. So cute! He loves his little cousin. We went to visit Cami and Amelia last week. It was day 6 of her life and she was so, so good and adorable. She slept almost the entire time we were there.

Judson was also introduced to The Little Mermaid and it's now one of his faves. I had a ton of fun talking to Cami and holding the baby. I'm about a week late posting this, but here are pictures. I'm sure she's changed a ton in the last 6 days.

My New Favorite Thing

2010-03-18T12:03:00.002-06:00

I came across the website, readthescriptures.com last night. I have set up a reading schedule to read the Book of Mormon by my birthday. This site emails me my reading each day. It's about 44 verses and they all come in an email. It's such a great idea especially for me because I'm at the computer for at least 4 hours each day with a lot of down-time. They have all the standard works and Ensigns and other church books you can set up a reading schedule for. Now I have no excuse. I will do my scripture study each day. I have a hard time at home and usually just read a verse or two at night. I'll miss being able to mark my scriptures, but this will hopefully get me into a schedule and then I'll go back to the hard copy. Anywho, just thought I'd share this cool find.

Happy Day

2010-03-16T13:13:00.006-06:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Don't forget your green!!

I also want to wish a very Happy Birthday to the world's greatest Mother-in-law. (probably one of the greatest people, period). Darren's mom's birthday is on St. Patrick's day. She goes all out in the green and clovers. It's a lot of fun. We are really LUCKY :) to have mom Farr in our lives. She is so willing to help with anything. She loves her kids, and grand kids to death!!

Happy Birthday!! We love you and hope you have an amazing day!!!

Good Eats

2010-03-15T18:51:00.006-06:00

Now, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but Judson's favorite show to go to bed by is Good Eats. It's a cooking show on the Food Network. I first noticed when Judson was little (well littler) and the show would come on and Judson would be glued to the TV. It's pretty funny to see an 8-month old watching a cooking show. So we started to watch it each night as we were relaxing before bed-time. This is still a nightly routine even now, 2 years later. I told him the cooks name was Alton Brown and that's usually what he calls the show. He'll ask for "Alton".
.

That was a long intro to a funny thing that happened on the way home from my parent's house last night. Judson was asking about going to bed and he asked if we could watch Alton. I said yes. He then asked something about what he was going to cook. I said I didn't know what he was going to cook. Then he said "Alton uses Kosher salt?" This is so funny to me because I watch the show every day and Alton always uses Kosher salt. But to hear a 2-year old ask about it is hilarious to me. He notices and remembers the tiniest of details.
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And here's a couple of pics just for fun. Darren cut Judson's hair this weekend. It turned out really good. And free is the best!

Olympic Oval

2010-03-05T11:15:00.006-07:00

Kelly, Kevin and fam were in town for a couple of weeks in February. We were able to do a lot with them. One of the activities was ice skating. It was so much fun. I decided to let Judson try it and he didn't want anything to do with the ice. He was kind of excited to put on the skates and the helmet and stand on the regular ground. But he couldn't walk very easily and once on the ice it was too slippery and he didn't know what to do. At least I got a picture of him in the skates. We'll definitely try this again, maybe in a year or so when he'll know what's going on. As always, though we had a ton of fun with the fam! Judson loves his cousins. We loved seeing Kelly, Kevin and family and hope their house sells soon so they can be back in Utah for good.

Cousins: Natalie, Judson, Carley, Sami, Griff, Zach, Spencer

Natalie, Judson, Carley, Sami

Judson and Barrett in their gear and Kent.

Barrett seemed to catch on a little better than Judson did. He's 3, though. I think that makes all the difference.

Sami, Crystal, Judson, Carley

Judson and Natalie.
We noticed that there were a lot of people with their babies in strollers. So Paul got his stroller and Judson loved going around the ice like this. He went around the rink quite a few times with different skaters pushing him. Then Rachelle took Judson around in his shoes with the walker. He ran the whole way. He loved it. I'm pretty sure it was illegal to be on the ice in shoes, but oh well.

Lent

2010-02-15T12:51:00.005-07:00

Well, it's that time of year again. Mardi Gras is tommorrow, so Lent starts on Wednesday. I have been thinking about what I will give up for lent this year. I've been doing well with sweets and snacks lately so that wouldn't be a challenge. I don't really have any food related challenges that would be interesting. However, I have noticed that I am a frivilous spender. I don't spend tons of money, but I think it's something I do when I'm bored. So, here's my lent goal.

I will not spend money outside of my budget for 40 days.

(technically 46 days until Easter, but who's counting.)

This kind of scares me because I really do think I am addicted to spending money on stuff. I don't need stuff. I pretend I need the stuff, but I don't. It's often for Judson, but he doesn't need stuff either. Hopefully it will help me in the long run too. Sort of boring, eh? I'm excited to give it a go. Darren and I are on a cash only budget, but I always manage to sneak in purchases online. Not for the next 40 days. Wish me luck!!

One more thing...

2010-02-09T14:02:00.003-07:00

I grew up with the Staker family. They were in my stake in WVC. I have been following little Bronson's story for the week+ now (bawling my eyes out most of the time. Just a warning.)

Such great news today. Please read if you want to hear such an honest, touching story of faith, hope and the miracle of prayer! Yay Bronson!!!

Go HERE.

The Dreaded Potty Training

2010-02-09T13:20:00.009-07:00

Judson in 2 1/2 years old at the end of this month. I decided that I needed to start giving potty training some serious thought.

(My mind screams, "Aaaaaahh!!!")

Any advice you would like to share would be great!!!

Thanks in advance!!!

My new obsession

2010-02-07T10:03:00.003-07:00

Command picture hanging strips!! They're the greatest things EVER!! We were hanging pictures and clocks yesterday and I happened to pick some of these strips up at the store to see if they would even be useful. They turned out to be the GREATEST THINGS EVER!! It made hanging pictures so easy. There are not holes in our walls and our pictures are in a straight line. I just wanted to let you know of my unpaid testimonial for this product. Try it!! You'll love it too!!

High School Never Ends

2010-02-01T09:34:00.004-07:00

Last weekend we had a party at my house with some of my bestest friends from High School. It was so much fun to get together and just chat. It's been almost 14 years since we graduated. I hadn't seen these girls' husbands and kids in a long time. There were 5 of us girls. Between the 5 of us, there were 14 kids. The kids range in ages from 10-under 1. They had fun, though. All the little kids would follow the bigger kids around. The bigger kids were great to play so nicely with the little kids. Nothing was broken and no one got hurt so I say it was a successful evening and we should definitely do this again soon. We missed our out of state friends and Pam and Kimmy couldn't come either. Hopefully next time. Here are some pics from the evening...

Jen, Monica, Me, Sara and Courtney

Judson had fun with all the other kids. It was hard for him to share his toys, but he did well for the most part. He kept asking for the "new kids" to come over and play with him for days after. So cute!!

Here are 8 of the 14. They would all walk downstairs to the family room and then run back upstairs. I was wondering how they were all fitting into the toy room and this is how I found them. They had such a good time!

Our little Rocker!

2010-01-18T20:48:00.002-07:00

Judson loves guitars. He pretends everything is a guitar. His spoons, forks, quesadilla triangles, crayons, sticks, baseball bats, golf clubs, etc.... He loves pretending he has a guitar. So, Judson and I went on a hunt tonight for a little guitar for him. I started at the dollar stores (of course, cheap is best) after 7 stores I finally found the first guitar I had seen for less than $10. I would have preferred an accoustic guitar, but cheap won out. He LOVES it. He is such a rock star. The only song he has sung while pretending to play the guitar so far is Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. So heavy metal, eh? My little boy is spoiled, but happy!! (I'll be happy when I take the batteries out later and it becomes solely a pretend guitar.)

What?

2010-01-14T20:33:00.002-07:00

We first discovered this grim reaper/santa with Ginger and Sam. It's still up so I had to take a picture and just pose the question... WHAT???

Judson's Smile

2010-01-13T11:25:00.004-07:00

I love, love the attempt at a smile Judson has when a camera is in front of him. I captured some really good examples of said smile with his new Sunday clothes he got for Christmas. These pictures crack me up!!! The only thing I do not like about these pictures is how old Judson is looking. He is growing up so fast!!

December 2009

2010-01-04T19:30:00.011-07:00

INTERESTING

So, we have a family website and in 2006 my niece Brooke that lives in New Hampshire wrote this, "You guys, just to let you know, I don't plan on reading your little replies if they aren't little. Now, if they are really interesting, put INTERESTING right before you start typing. Thank You!" Every time I have a long post, I always think of this quote. Brooke is so funny. We love you Brooke!!! (even if you are rude sometimes) :)

Zach, Brooke, Carley, Kelly, Natalie 2006 - Zach, Natalie, Brooke 2009

Ok, on to my post of the happenings of December. I hope to live up to the "Interesting". So much happened in December. We decorated out house for the holidays in November. I was nice to enjoy the decorations for a bit longer. Ginger and Sam came into town. We had holiday parties on both sides of the family. We took Judson to a movie for the first time in a while. We spent days at East Canyon with family sledding, playing games and having fun. We hosted a family brunch at our house Christmas Day. We rang in the new year playing games and eating yummy food.

I love Picasa!! I took quite a few pictures in December and with Picasa I was able to make collages so it wasn't quite as tedious uploading each single picture.

This is our decorated home. I loved how finished and "homey" it felt being fully decorated. Now that Christmas is down, I have to commit some time to putting the regular decor up.

Our Stokes Family Nativity. Judson was the sheep. He made such a cute sheep. He only wore his costume for a total of 2 minutes so I was lucky to get so many pics of him in it. Kelly and Kevin's family participated with us via web cam. It was nice for the whole family to be together.

East Canyon Sledding. Judson didn't really like sledding last year, but this year he LOVED IT!! We bought him a snow suit and it made him look like the little kid off the Christmas Story. It kept him warm, however, and that was most important. Judson's posed smile is lacking a bit. When we ask him to smile for a picture he looks more scared than smiley, but it's cute. At East Canyon Judson got to hang out with his cousins. He loves his cousins. They play with him and tease him and he can't get enough. I love watching him interact with them. He has so much fun!!

That wasn't so bad. I do have more to post, but I'll do that later. I really want to make this blog more fun. Not just for you to read, but more fun for me to write. I'll have to focus on that in 2010. I hope everyone had wonderful holidays!!!

More Judson-isms

2009-12-09T11:14:00.005-07:00

I forgot about these yesterday.

Judson doesn't like being called anything but Judson. He will say "I'm not cutie patootie, I'm Judson." I just love the way he says Judson too. It's so cute!! It's a hard name to say. I am finding that any word with two consonants together is hard for Judson to say, but it's cute still the same.

He also learned from one of his shows how to get rid of hiccups. He yells "HA!" then he says, "hiccups all gone." I don't know where he picked it up, but it's so cute!!!

Judson-ism

2009-12-08T11:23:00.002-07:00

There are a couple of funny things Judson has done in the last little bit that I just want to get in writing.

He sat down on the couch, put his hands on his knees, looked over at me and said, "so, how's it goin'?" It killed me. I was rolling with laughter.

Also, if Darren or I ever happen to pass gas, (which we never do, but maybe, well, anyway) Judson will ask us, "you got a poopie? You need to change you diaper?"

He's funny!!

Judson's Favorite

2009-11-24T16:30:00.002-07:00

Anything animal, especially Elephant! Imagine his joy getting to drive (sit in while it was off. I'm not paying money if he loves it sitting still!!) a safari jeep with an Elephant, Giraffe and Monkey. He was in animal heaven!

He Likes Green Beans

2009-11-17T10:18:00.002-07:00

The other day Darren, Judson and I were at the store. Earlier that day Darren had made lunch for Judson and he just had chicken nuggets, but we were out of green beans. Judson was not happy about this. Hence, the trip to the store. We got the green beans and put them in our cart. Judson was elated at the sight of the cans of beans. After that we looked around the store. We always take Judson to play with the "other toys", as he puts it, at the store. (Even though he just plays with the toys he already has. They are just way cooler at the store, I guess.) Anywho, on the way to the toys we passed the clothes. There was the cutest set of footie pj's with Santa on them. I held it up and asked Judson if he wanted the Santa PJ's. His response, "no, I want Green Beans." I put the PJ's back. Green beans are way cheaper anyhow.

Someone is watching...

2009-11-12T10:29:00.004-07:00

So, who has seen "Watcher in the Woods"? It's one of my all time favorite movies. I'm not a huge fan of scary movies, but this has always been a fave. If you haven't seen it, rent it. It's good and scary and fun!

Yesterday evening Darren, Judson and I went to the store. As we were coming home we drove into our neighborhood and all of the sudden leaves were blowing around our car everywhere. A moment later, no more leaves. I turned to Darren and said, "we just drove through the watcher in the woods." CREEPY!! Then I told him I'm telling this story on my blog. It's not super exciting, but I thought it would be fun. And it's great to remember this movie!

Halloween, Jazz, Haircuts

2009-11-06T21:22:00.004-07:00

Well, I guess I'm going to start from most recent and go backward. Judson and I were able to go to the zoo this week. It was a beautiful day and the zoo was practically empty during the day. We had a lot of fun. We rode the train again. I decided to take another picture of Judson since the last train picture we have he looks terrified. See, he really enjoys the train.

We were able to go to the Jazz game on Monday against Houston. We met Cami and Juan downtown and had dinner then went to the game. Judson only lasted about 1 quarter. We stretched him to a quarter and a half until it was enough. He was miserable, I was miserable so we left. We got a picture and that's all that matters, right. Besides the Jazz lost BIG!!! Who needs to stick around and see that?

Halloween was so much fun, as usual. We had our monthly family FHE at the Stokes'. Everyone dressed up and we played musical chairs, had spooky food and just had so much fun. The teeth were Judson's prize for playing musical chairs. They didn't fit in Judson's mouth so I tried them on. Judson would laugh and laugh when he saw me with the teeth. So fun!

Everyone who dressed up. What a great looking group!!

Darren and I "dressed up" on Halloween night to take Judson trick-or-treating to his grandparent's houses. These headband costumes are the best thing we've ever purchased. And isn't Judson the cutest wizard ever!!!?

We went trick-or-treating at the Farr's. We were able to hang out for a while, eat yummy food and get a lot of treats! The costumes here were so much fun, too.

We all got haircuts this time around. Judson wasn't thrilled about it, but got a cupcake for being so brave. This is a picture of Darren and Judson with matching goatees. What handsome boys!!

I love it when we can get together and Judson can play with his cousins. They all wanted Grandma Farr to read a book to them. This was a great photo op. These boys are so cute together. It would be great to have the Farrs from Colorado to play with too. We'll have to take a trip there soon to visit and play!

Earlier this month Judson was sick. When he was feeling better we still quarantined ourselves from church just in case. I would hate anyone else to get what Judson had. So, we took a walk around one of the lakes at Daybreak. It was a great walk. Judson loved throwing rocks in the water and we found these cool chairs. It was a nice, lazy, Sunday.

Oh the woe's

2009-10-29T10:12:00.002-06:00

I knew that raising a child would be emotional. However over the last week or so when I go to get Judson out of bed in the morning he says, "go away, go away, go away". It breaks my heart. Granted Darren does usually get him up and going in the morning so it's just breaking his routine, right? (That's what I keep telling myself to make it hurt less. Judson does prefer Darren 99% of the time Darren is around.) But still, I gave him life. Doesn't he realize that? He shouldn't be so mean! And I shouldn't be so sensitive. :)

October What???

2009-10-19T13:05:00.008-06:00

Where is October going? I thought it just started, but here it is nearly over. Not much has been going on either so I'm super surprised at the time flying. Here's a little update for October.

Judson has been so cute/moody lately. He's talking so much, in full sentences and even has a super fun sense of humor. He'll always correct us if we sing something wrong in a song and he will tell us that he's Judson if we ever refer to him by another name. He loves, loves to sing. His song repertoire is growing. Here's the list of songs he can sing all by himself:

I am a Child of God

I Love to see the Temple

Families can be Together Forever

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

Popcorn Popping
Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Alice, Where are you Going?

Rainbow Song

ABC's

Old MacDonald (it's not Old MacJudson, MacDaddy or MacMommy. He makes sure to tell us this when we try to change it up)

The Wheels on the Bus

Patty Cake

Ring around the Rosie

Sing, Sing a Song

Then all of his show's theme songs with various songs from the shows:

Sesame Street

Dora

Wiggles

Blues Clues

He knows most of the words to "How Does She Know" from Enchanted. It's one of his IPod Faves.

We are currently working on Book of Mormon Stories and Alice the Camel.

His favoritest song on the IPod is Viva La Vida by Coldplay. He loves the orchestra and the ooooo's part. I think his love came from Griff singing to it in the car one day.

He sings out so loudly when he's in the mood and it's fun to watch. He'll usually bust into loud song in the stores. I don't mind. I don't even care if it bugs people around us. At least he's not screaming and crying, right?

Judson is growing so much! It's fun to see him each day learn more of what he can get away with and what he gets caught doing. He's tricky and cute so that makes discipline hard. Most of the time he's a great little boy with such a great WANT to learn new things and do new things.

We have started going to the store upon request from Judson to "look at the other toys". He likes to hold all the toys and play with them for a minute. So far it hasn't been too hard to get him to put them back on the shelves. He'll mostly play with the toys we already have. For some reason they're way cooler in their original packaging on the shelves of the store.

It's so fun to see him growing into a little boy. We love him more and more each day. I'm so grateful for Judson. He has brought a different aspect to my life that I am really enjoying. Who'd ever thought I'd enjoy the mothering part? It helps that he's the most handsome, smartest, coolest kid around. That's just a humble mother's opinion, though. :)

Judson making funny faces in the mirror. See, he's the best!!!

LDS General Conference

2009-10-06T10:13:00.003-06:00

I am compelled to write about LDS General Conference this last weekend. I keep telling myself that no one wants to read what I have to say, however the thought keeps popping into my head. So, I write...

I loved, loved the spirit and message of our Prophet and leaders this past weekend. I have a renewed faith and a renewed WANT to be better. I loved President Monson's closing remarks hoping that each of us are a little better after these 2 days. I am a little better. I pray each day to be a little better and every six months I get a kick in the booty to really push me in that "better" direction. All of the speakers were amazing and had things to say just for me. However, can I take a moment to write about Elder Holland. Now I know I shouldn't have favorites in children or Apostles, but Elder Holland has long been my favorite. I was in tears with him as he spoke from his heart his testimony of the Book of Mormon. WOW!!! It was amazing. No evil man could ever write this book and no good man ever would without the inspiration from God. Joseph Smith did see what he said he saw. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are two separate beings that appeared to Joseph Smith to restore Christ's true church on the earth. Joseph Smith did translate the Book of Mormon by the power of God. I too have a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I have a renewed want to be better at reading from its pages daily. I know it will make my life better and more joyful. I know it will help me be a better mother and wife. Good things come from God and the Book of Mormon is one of the best things I can think of.

I am so happy to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I know this church is true. It's as simple as that. Because I know, I must work to keep this testimony strong and always be willing to share it with others.

Staycation

2009-09-30T12:06:00.008-06:00

Darren and I had both Monday and Tuesday off in celebration of Darren's 33rd Birthday. We had a fun time going to the zoo and taking a drive through the mountains to see the changing leaves. It was a fun family trip and good just to spend time together.

Judson loves the animals at the zoo. It was great to be able to see the babies at the zoo. We saw the baby elephant, giraffe, monkey and snow leopard. Judson gets more and more excited to see the animals and make their sounds. It was a milestone too because this is the first time Judson has even gone near the animal statues. In the past he's always been too afraid to get too close to animal or statue. Now he's starting to learn and realize the difference. Such a big boy.

The baby Giraffe. So cute!!

We decided to ride the train. Judson loved it and loved making the "choo choo" noise.

Judson loves the Rhinoceros. He was very excited to see this statue.

Darren and Judson in the gopher holes. Judson was scared to death of the prairie dogs being so close.

They have new measure up signs at the zoo. Judson is nearly an adult female orangutan.

After the zoo we drove up Parley's and then down Provo canyon to look at the changing leaves. It was such a nice drive and the colors were beautiful. We took the walk from Nun's park to Bridal Veil Falls. The water was cold, but Judson liked playing in it for a minute. He loves throwing rocks into water right now. It's fun to watch them splash. I don't think you really ever grow out of that like. It's still fun for me.

Home Tour

2009-09-21T09:46:00.005-06:00

I am finally getting around to posting pictures of our house. We have lived here now for nearly 4 months. I've never posted pictures of the finished kitchen and living room. It turned out so great and we love it!! Don't mind the mess... I don't. :)

The front of our house on Labor Day. I was so excited to see the flag on the front lawn. I feel like a real homeowner and grown up. It has been so nice to have a yard. Judson loves to play out back and it's just nice to have outdoor space all our own.

This is our living room. I am already all decorated for Halloween. I had to get out my autumn stuff and it was in the same bin as the Halloween stuff so I just put it all out. I'm super excited about our camping chair ghetto furniture. Someday there will be a couch, 2 chairs, a piano and end tables in here. I can picture it in my head, but our wallet doesn't support the picture just yet.

Our dining room area is great. I love, love, love the drapes. I took a chance on these, but I think they turned out so great! It's a fun punch of color.

Our kitchen is the biggest change. It didn't get finished until a couple of days after we closed. The previous owner worked like crazy to get the back splash, counters, floors and lighting finished. It was the biggest worry but it was totally worth it.

Our family room/office. This is where we spend most of our time. TV, computer and toys all day long. It's just the right size.