Grandpa's visit!!!

Grandpa Thomas came to visit us last weekend. It was a short stay and we tried to pack a ton in while he was here. He arrived Friday night at 5:30 and left Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm.
When we picked him up we decided he needed to try a Texas restaurant. We took him to Chicken Oil, which looks like it is abandoned from the outside. Inside you sit at tables that have tons of names carved in them and deer head hanging around everywhere. He just laughed and enjoyed the Texas atmosphere. The burgers were really good. Matthew just enjoyed watching the cartoons on TV that he couldn't hear. I think he ate about 4 fries for his dinner. By the time we ran a couple errands and got home it was past Matthew's bedtime so he went straight to bed. We got to enjoy just talking to Chris's dad. On Saturday morning a made breakfast and then we got ready to go to the Renaissance Festival. That is always such an event. It was chilly and even cold at times because the wind was blowing so much. After several hours there, we drove back and took Grandpa to the university. He got to see where his son spends all his time. We ran more errands, picked up pizza and came home. After dinner Matthew was exhausted since he didn't get a nap and we put him straight to bed. We talked more that night and I even made him cinnamon rolls, which I think he even liked:) However, the price to had to pay before eating cinnamon rolls was looking at all my scrapbooks:)
Sunday morning we went to church which Matthew got to wear the new suit that Grandma and Grandpa gave to him. When we opened the little package I was so excited. I have always wanted Matthew to have a suit but they were always out of my price range. They also got a matching dress for baby Allison which she will have to wear but she was wearing her pure white blessing dress to church that day. At church that morning baby Allison was blessed and given her name on the records of the church, Allison Kay Thomas. It was so wonderful to have family here for it. We are so happy that Grandpa got to come out and be here with us for this special event. Right after sacrament we had to leave and prepare to take Grandpa back to the airport. However, first Grandpa had to get a picture of Matthew and Allison in their new clothes from them or Grandpa would have been in hot water with Grandma. So I quickly changed Allison into her new dress and I only got one picture, which wasn't very good but I hope Grandpa got a good one. I figure I will be able to put them in it again and take more pictures. It was sad that Grandpa had to leave so soon but we were so happy that he came to see us. Today at preschool we made turkeys and the kids got to put what they were thankful for on the feathers and Matthew said Grandpa. He absolutely loved having Grandpa here and so did we. It was wonderful!!
Grandpa reading Matthew his bedtime story

Right after Grandpa read a book to Matthew.
Grandpa's new favorite book is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Matthew looking so handsome. I loved combing his hair and seeing him in his suit. That is one of the best things about having a boy.

Family Picture

Not a great picture but the it is the only one so far of them in their new church clothes.

Leaving Grandpa at the airport:(

Little Girl

Our sweet little girl sleeps through the night now!!!!! (Which makes her even sweeter:) She started sleeping through the night on October 30th, so a little over 2 weeks now. The first couple nights she slept the whole night, Chris said it was just a fluke. She was 11 weeks old at that time. However, after a week of sleeping through the night he does think it is not just a fluke anymore. Actually looking at the calendar it seems like more then just two weeks. She has her last bottle of 5oz. at 10pm, goes to sleep and then eats 5oz. again at 6am. There have been two nights that she woke up crying and we just put her binki back in her mouth and she went back to sleep. This sleeping through the night makes me extremely happy:) Matthew didn't start sleeping through the night until he was 4 months old when we started feeding him cereal and then he was able to last, so we were pleasantly surprised when she started this wonderful trend earlier. Hopefully, she doesn't regress, but right now I am going to enjoy my much needed sleep:)

Baby Allison - November 9, 2008 - 2 Months old

6 Years!!!

I am proud to announce that I have been married to my wonderful husband for 6 years now. Last Saturday was our Anniversary. We didn't do much but we did get to go out for dinner withOUT the kids. It was wonderful. We went to Texas Roadhouse!!! YUMMY!!
We got a small cactus blossom, and split an entree (Pulled BBQ pork and grilled BBQ chicken combo with two sides). However, with all the peanuts you get to eat (and throw the shells on the floor) and the unlimited rolls they give you, we were so stuffed and weren't even able to finish our entree. It was SO good. Thank you so much Amy and Paul for watching our kids, so we could enjoy our oh so yummy meal.
This was Chris and I's first picture taken together back in 2002. We met in February of 2002 and started dating in May of 2002. It was my brother, Jon's birthday in June and so I wanted to take he and Tana out for his birthday. Jon's favorite restaurant at the time was Perkins so we took them there and they took this picture.
Chris and I had both forgotten that I had braces on when we got married. Not until Chris scanned this picture did we remember this. Chris and I got married on November 8, 2002 in Mesa, Arizona. I had a wonderful orthodontist who was so nice and took my top 6 brackets off for my wedding day. I am so grateful to him. Of course I am sure they could have airbrushed them out but it was just nicer not to have to worry about them. I had my brackets off for a week and then he put them back on.
Can you guess my age in this picture?

June 2002

One of our many wedding pictures on the grounds of the Mesa, AZ Temple.

I knew that I was marrying a wonderful guy but I didn't know that he was going to be such an AMAZING husband. He is so wonderful!! He is always willing to help me and I have to tell him to go do something else rather then helping me with dishes, cooking, laundry, cleaning...ect. I remember when we first got married our first little "argument" was who was going to take the dishes out of the dishwasher. We both wanted to do it so the other person didn't have to:) I remember telling that to my co-workers and they just rolled their eyes and said "newlyweds" shaking their heads. Actually the first 3-4 years of our marriage, Chris was home more so he is the one that did the housework. Besides doing all the cleaning, he always had dinner done when I walked in the door. He is so much better at cooking then I am. He times everything, and likes to try different spices. I will only stick to a recipe. Not only do I only have to ask once for help with something, but many times, he sees something needs to get done and he will do it. That has actually gotten him in trouble once because I felt like he was doing "my job" and that he didn't think I was doing it well enough so he was stepping in. That wasn't his intention at all. He just knew it was towards the end of my pregnancy and I was a little more tired then usual so he was just trying to help out. Chris is a wonderful husband and takes great care of me and our family and he makes me laugh all the time. Though he is not great at dealing with newborns, and sometimes he needs to just let some things go when dealing with kids, it is fun to watch him interacting with Matthew and Allison (now that she smiles).
I LOVE my husband and am so glad that he wanted to marry me.

Halloween

For some reason this year I was a lot more excited for Halloween. I think it is because Matthew understands more about what is happening and he can actually say trick-or-treat this year. We found costumes for all of us, which was the first year Chris and I have ever dressed up in the 6 years (on Saturday) that we have been married. It was actually pretty fun. Chris was a wizard, I was a jester, Matthew was Buzz Lightyear, and Allison was a pea...a sweatpea.

We had a full week of Halloweening to do. On Monday night we were invited to our friends Halloween FHE. It is so fun to go. She read the book called Big Pumpkin. It is such a fun book. I love it. We also played Halloween Bingo, sang songs, played games and decorated cookies. It was such a great night. Thanks Martins!
On Wednesday night we had our ward Halloween carnival which is so fun and a ton of people show up. There were some REALLY good costumes. I absolutely had a blast. Chris isn't much of a social thing so he mainly goes to events with us because I want him to. It was fun to all be dressed up this year. Chris held Allison all night while I got to go around with Matthew and play games. I had such a great time with my little boy. I just love him. He is so much fun to watch and listen to (well except for the crying). At the carnival there was a little picture taking place and since I am SO into pictures we got one taken. The saddest part about this is that this is our first family picture ever!!! I just think it is so sad because for one Allison is 2.5 months old and for two we are all in Halloween costumes so it really isn't us. Oh well.

The first thing that Matthew did when we walked in the door was the cupcake walk. I don't really think he knew what it was but that was the closest thing to the door. He did win a cupcake and ate the frosting off of it.

I was able to get Matthew to get a pumpkin drawn on his face. He was a little skeptical and didn't really know what was happening and actually I don't know if he ever even saw the pumpkin on his face in the mirror. However, he did sit long enough for her to paint it on there.

My friend took this picture of Matthew and I and it kind of turned out cute. We participated in the costume parade and then came down and watch the rest of the parade after we walked across the stage.

They had a pie eating contest and it was hilarious. I have actually never seen a pie eating contest and there is probably a reason for that. I think it started with just the Bishopric being the ones in the contest but they had so many pies they just started calling a bunch of guys to go up and participate in this contest. Like I said earlier, there were some pretty good costumes. The guy in the middle was Han Solo and the rest of his family was all Star Wars Characters. Do you see Mr. Incredible? Matthew thought this was so cool but couldn't believe that Mr. and Mrs. Incredible were right there. They were great costumes. The only one I really like was, can you find John McCain? He is sitting next to Han Solo and three away from Mr. Incredible. His wife was Sarah Palin. Her name is actually Sara and she has long dark hair like Sarah Palin so it worked out so well. I just had to ask Sara how much her outfit cost:)
After the carnival we went outside and had trunk-or-treat. I put Allison who was asleep in the stroller and Matthew and I (and Allison) went trunk-or-treating while Chris stayed at the car and handed out candy. When we got to the McCain/Palin vehicle they had a music stand out with small American flags standing up. It was quite the setup and made me laugh.
With the elections so close to Halloween, I just wonder how many McCains, Palins, Obamas, and Bidens there were out this year.
We had a TON of fun. Thank you Erin, Allison, Young Women, Young Men, the activities committee and anyone else for making it so fun.

On Thursday at preschool the kids helped us decorate cardboard boxes and we used them as homes. The moms layed on their tummies inside the box and waited for the kids to come knock on the door and then they trick-or-treated. They had fun of course getting more candy.

I decided for Friday that we (Matthew and I) were going to stay in our costumes all day, except for naptime. We went to music makers in the morning and the kids were encouraged to come in their costumes. I loved that there was a Woody there and so I was able to get a picture of Buzz and Woody together.

After music makers the kids lined up and the moms went to each one and as the kids said trick-or-treat we put candy in their bags. Matthew's favorite candy has been suckers.

That afternoon we went to the George Bush Library/Museum since they were also having trick-or-treating. I don't know what I thought it was going to be like but it was not what I expected. First of all, by the time we actually waited in line and went through the metal detectors we didn't have much time we went through and it was a space theme this time but there were people throughout handing out candy. If you wanted to take a picture "in the oval office" you could but you had to wait in a long line. However, if you didn't want to take the picture, you still had to wait in a long line just to go through. Since we were suppose to pick up Chris at a certain time and we were already late I just decided to forgo the picture and the rest of the museum. By the time I walked out the front door to leave, the security line was so long I thought I was in the airport at Christmas time. I was glad I wasn't in it.
After I picked Chris up from school we went to my friends house for pizza and then all the kids went trick-or-treating together. I watched them trick-or-treat around the cul de sac and while we were out there some people came up and were so excited to see a little tiger because they had a monkey in their stroller.

They wanted to get a picture with the tiger so we took one as well. We have no idea who these people were but they loved the jungle theme we had going there.

My little tiger. This tiger costume and the pumpkin costume were both ones Matthew wore when he was 6 months. I never did get pictures of Matthew in the tiger costume when he was little only the pumpkin one.

By the end of the night I was ready to be done with Halloween. We had such a full week of Halloween, we definitely got our moneys worth out of our costumes, especially the buzz lightyear costume since he wore it at least once, 4 out of 5 days.

Daddy/Daughter

I love this picture of them. Allison has to have her arms held down or she spazzes and she can't fall asleep. Normally we wrap her up like a little burrito but she was obviously pretty tired and just needed her hands to be held down and she was out.

Can you tell?

Can you tell which child is which?
Or is it the same child?
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