Happy First Birthday William!

William is now walking everywhere! He continues to be very busy and loves climbing on everything. He also thinks he is a big helper when vacuuming or trying to accomplish any project.

He now can say Grandma "Gama" and Grandpa "papa." He loves to take the ornaments off of the tree or empty anything in general.

He gets excited on laundry day when he can follow me in and out of the garage. And gets very upset of someone goes in the garage without him.

William turned one year old last week!

We have been good about not letting him have any sweets. (Lydia had chocolate at 9 months and is obsessed with desserts. Chad believed if we kept it from him longer he wouldn't care for it as much).

Both Grandma and Grandpas came over to celebrate! He was pretty excited and shocked when Chad gave him the cake.

When we sang happy birthday to him he touched the flame and put it out. Crazy kid didn't even flinch! He started eating the cake pretty slow.

But once he had a taste he obliterated that cake. He literally ate half of the frosting.

We were all amazed at the amount he ate and he had quite the sugar high afterwards. He was the goofiest we have ever seen him and he gave his grandparents quite the show on his "stage." He was giggling so hard we were all laughing.

He enjoyed opening his gifts as well. Christmas will be fun.

 I thought for sure he was going to throw up or be up all night but this little party animal passed out all night long. Happy Birthday Hawk!

Temple Lights and Setting Up Christmas

A couple weeks ago we went up to Mesa to the Temple and took turns with Grandma and Grandpa Clayton doing Temple work. Afterwards we enjoyed the Christmas lights.

William loved the lights and wanted to be big and walk the whole time.

The kids were excited when we found the spot where we took a wedding photo behind some leaves. So we recreated it 9 1/2 years later.

We also set up Christmas and the kids loved hanging the ornaments on the tree. It is so fun now as they are getting older they remember ornaments and memories from past Christmases.

William loved every minute of it. Lydia was putting ornaments on so fast I couldn't catch a picture of her. She was efficient.

Sophie's Baptism and Piano Recital

Sophie was Baptized on November 19th. Grandma Miller made her a gorgeous dress that she absolutely loves. I had to get a picture of her holding her beautiful blessing dress Grandma Miller also made. It is so crazy how fast 8 years have gone.

She was so excited to be baptized and so many friends and family came to support her. It was a great day.

Grandma Clayton even made her doll June a matching dress that was so adorable.

Then that night was her first piano recital. She has been taking lessons for a couple of months and she was excited and nervous to play in front of an audience.

She got to play two songs and did a really good job.

William 11 Months

Our William is now 11 months old. He never fails to make our hearts melt.

He continues to be our happy kid and although he doesn't look it he loves to eat all the time.

He is so busy running around and getting into everything that I am sure it makes up for his high amounts of food consumption.

He has done quite a few firsts this month. He started to clap and now does it all the time. He also started to stand by himself.

 

And not long after that he took his first steps. It started with 3 little steps and then 6. But true to Williams personality he felt like he already conquered walking and moved on to fine tune his climbing skills. First the rocking chair and the couch. Then he realized that the bunk beds have a ladder and now we are in trouble.

And he was so proud of himself that he gave himself a around of applause.

Oh William we love you and all your busyness.

 

Sophie's 8th Birthday and Halloween

Sophie turned eight years old on Saturday. I am struggling to understand how she has possibly gotten this old. It blows my mind that she gets to be baptized in just a few weeks! She had a list of fun things she wanted to do that day. We started at the mall where she got her ears pierced.

She did so well and didn't cry at all. Then we headed over to the zoo.

She wanted to decorate her own cake this year so I gave her the piping bag and she went to town.

Then she wanted to carve pumpkins and William thought that was so much fun.

She said it was the best birthday ever and we had a lot of fun. She has grown up so much and is always very responsible. She loves organizing and writing stories. She has decided pink is no longer her favorite color it is light blue. And on her Christmas list she just asked for clothes and makeup. Next stop teenager. We love our eight year old!

For Halloween we went to a trunk or treat with Aunt Sarah.

They had so much fun and got so much candy. So Halloween night we stayed home for the first time and passed out candy and the kids thought it was a blast.

We also went to the girl's school fall festival. We had to park at a different school and be bused over. Easton thought that was the greatest thing ever. He would have been happy just doing that. We trick or treated at the classrooms and played on the jumping castles. Ace hardware also had remote control cars to drive!

Happy Halloween!