Baby, it's cold outside!

A few months ago, I set a goal for myself of getting at least one post up per month, and for the last couple months I've stuck to it. Here's hoping I can keep it going. Wish me luck! (I might need it!) With that being said, here is a quick update of what we've been up to lately. 

A little while back, Matt and I went to the Imagine Dragons concert up at Weber State. I am a big fan, so Matt got me tickets for my birthday. It was really fun to see them at a smaller venue, and having a date night was pretty nice, too! We have WAY too few of them right now.

Once the leaves started falling, Beckett was in love. He jumped in LOTS of piles of leaves this season. This one is from Matt's parent's house. Matt had gone up on his day off and ended up helping with the leaves in the grass. Beckett was very happy to help, too.



I do have one slightly-depressing-at-the-time-but-now-kind-of-funny story to share, though so this post won't be just pictures :)  Here goes:

 

A couple weeks ago, during a crazy warm spell we had in November, Matt and I both had the same day off, and we decided to take Beckett and make a day of it and go do something fun in good ol' SLC before the snow hit. It was so warm that we thought we'd go to the zoo. We had wanted to get down to the zoo all summer, but with the crazy year we've had, it just hadn't worked out. The more we thought about it, it just felt like the right thing to go do for an afternoon. Why not go to the zoo?? What could go wrong?? We had this spontaneous trip planned in no time as Beckett was waking up from his nap. We asked Beckett if he wanted to go to the zoo and he just about lost his mind, he was so excited. We quickly got everything all packed up and were on the road before we knew it. Beckett was an angel for our entire drive, which is beyond rare. That's a long time for a 2 year old to sit patiently in his seat. But he did! He just looked out the window, and when I'd look back and ask if he was ready to see some animals, he'd get excited and start listing off all the animals we were going to see. It was adorable, and we were all way excited. Then we got there. We walked up toward the gate (never once noticing it was too quiet because we were lost in our excitement) only to find out it was closed for the day. YEAH... PARENTING. FAIL.

 

Beckett was beside himself, I kid you not. He was distraught. He just could not understand why we couldn't go in. And why we had teased him with going all the way to zoo for nothing. He was bawling, I was bawling because he was bawling and because we must be the worst parents ever!, and Matt was looking at both of us like "What do I do here??" Why didn't we check to see when the zoo closed BEFORE we traveled all the way there with a toddler?? Doh! We must be the worst parents ever!!

 

We were scrambling to find something else to go do so it wouldn't be such a huge failure, but the aquarium is still closed until the grand opening of the new one in Draper, and the aviary would be closing as soon as we could get there. And for some reason, I thought Beckett wouldn't find as much joy in Ikea as I would. Yeah, we were feeling like big losers at this point. Finally, we just started driving toward downtown, when we thought we'd go see what was at the planetarium. I was frantically google searching on my phone and trying to comfort and explain to Beckett while Matt drove. It looked like there were some cool things going on, but I was worried it was a little old for Beckett. We felt like we had no other choice but to try it as Beckett was STILL bawling when we got to the Gateway. As we pulled in ... TADA! we passed right by the Discovery Gateway children's museum. Thank goodness!! We had never been there, but had heard advertisements on the radio about it, and decided it might be a little more age appropriate for Beckett, so we gave it a go.

 

I'm so glad we did! This place is amazing! Everything on the main floor is geared for toddlers and younger kids. Everything is kid-proof, so you don't have to chase your kids around every second and worry they're going to break something (which for us is a huge deal), you can just let them run and have fun. They have all sorts of fun things inside, like a farm where you can feed (stuffed) chickens and collect their eggs, plant vegetables and harvest them into farmer john's truck, a mini grocery store with little carts and pretend registers, a water table, a pretend house with babies to take care of, a fire truck, a construction site, just so many fun, fun things for our little man to enjoy. It wasn't the zoo, but he had so much fun running around and playing... Which is obvious from the fact that I hardly got any pictures where he's not blurry, haha.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt might have liked this one more than Beckett. (Or just had more patience for it, anyway. haha)



After playing for a while, we decided to go down to one of the restaurants in the mall and get some dinner.

This is Beckett at Applebees, biting into a mozzarella stick. He thought it was HILARIOUS that the cheese was stringy and just kept coming. He was laughing hysterically. (I think after such a busy day, he was so exhausted that anything would have been funny.)

After a quick stop into Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a caramel apple to eat at home, we were on our way. I am so happy this turned into a funny story. I cannot even describe the drama that was this day. So bad. At least it ended on a good note.

Ever since that little warm spell ended, it's been FREEZING here, so we've had to get a little creative with our outings. One of our favorites right now is driving around to look at Christmas lights, especially the lights by the bay at Willard Bay. I am a naughty parent and will unbuckle Beckett and let him climb up in the front seat with me while we drive around (you only go like 1.5 mph, chillax) and see the sights. He loves it. At one of our most recent trips, they had "jingle bells" playing over the speakers. I was very impressed and also bursting with pride when Beckett belted out singing "Jingo da bells". He's pretty good! We've heard it about 100,000 times since because we can't stop making a fuss over it, but that's completely fine with me.

 

 

Beckett has been such a trooper with helping me Christmas shop this year. He's even helped me pick out some things. I think he's starting to understand gift giving and that not everything he picks to buy is going to be his, we're giving it to someone else. It's been so fun to have him as my little sidekick lately, and it just gets more fun all the time. Hopefully one day soon he'll have a sibling, but for now, it's so fun to be able to just get out and do anything we want without having to preplan or pack our entire house. Plus now that Beckett is almost totally potty trained, it will get even easier. Wanna go to a movie? Sure, let's go! Need to run to the grocery store? No biggie. It's so different from having a tiny guy, which makes me both a little sad and kind of excited to watch what's next.

Anywho. I think that's about it as far as our adventures for now. But what post would be complete without a craft I've been working on lately? This is my Thanksgiving wreath. It says Gobble on the little banner, but you can't really see it in the picture. I loved that my turkey turned out like some South Park looking creation. He cracked me up, so I left him chubby and also left his eyes... a little bulge-y. haha. Now someone come finish all the Christmas projects for me that I've started and haven't had time to finish!

Fall

I love fall. I am so glad we've actually had a decent fall this year, rather than going straight from summer to winter. Hopefully we have a few more weeks of the gorgeous falls colors, drizzly rain storms, and cool (not freezing) temps. As the years go on, we are getting restless living in our little house with no yard for Beckett, but every fall I am reminded why we fell in love with and bought our cozy home in the first place. Our area -and even our neighborhood- are just so pretty in the fall, and seeing as we closed on our house in the first part of October, that's probably what swayed me a little on that decision rather than buying somewhere else. In a few months, I'll be back to wishing we had more space (likely as winter progresses and cabin fever sets in), but for now I plan on enjoying my amazingly gorgeous commute right up next to the mountains.

Here are a few pictures of our recent goings on to get out and enjoy the fall while we still can!

We were able to make one final trip over to Cache valley to Willow Park with Beckett's pal, Molly, which was so fun.

Ever October my family goes camping with a bunch of our family friends for Conference weekend. It is so fun to be removed from it all (even if you are just 2 minutes away from "it all" up in Mantua) and listen to Conference on the radios around the campfire. Since Matt was working this year - and our two and a half year old is a wild man, not to mention FAST, I didn't dare take him up overnight by myself. (I know, I'm a wimp.) Beckett and I went up to enjoy the day with everyone all day Saturday, then came home for dinner to see Daddy when he woke up before he had to go to work, and then the three of us were able to go up for an early dinner Sunday. Beckett had so much fun! We went on lots of walks (well I walked, he RAN, as you can see) and saw tons of wildlife; squirrels, birds, wild turkeys and even some deer. He loved it, and it was a nice change of pace to do something out of the ordinary.

 

For Halloween, we enjoyed the traditional jack-o-lantern pizza from Papa Murphys,

 

and we got to get dressed up twice; once for the ward party (he's supposed to be Uncle Si, but I just painted a beard on, so he kind of just looks like a homeless person) and once on Halloween.

 



 

Beckett didn't totally grasp what was going on, but he still had lots of fun. He had a Halloween party in the morning at his daycare/preschool, and the lady who runs it is just awesome, she really goes all out. They had a cake walk, made crafts, and she even dressed up. Beckett loved seeing everyone in their costumes (unless they had a mask on) and by the end of the night, he was a pro at passing out treats at both of his Grandma's houses.

 

One other fun part of fall and Halloween are the fall crafts. This year I made some pumpkins for my little side table on the front porch, and a monster wreath for our door. (Both are ideas I copied from Pinterest, but who cares, haha. I don't have original ideas but I have an appreciation for others' good ideas!)

 

 

 

We are having quite the time adjusting to Matt's new schedule with him being on nights (7p-7a). It has turned out to be quite a challenge, since even if he is home and Beckett and I happen to be home, too, we need to let him get some sleep so he can get back up in the afternoon to do it all over again. I'm glad we're already 5 weeks in; only 7 more to go until we're back on days. Hallelujah.

 

Beckett has really been missing his Daddy; he asks for him all the time, and has started pretending to talk to him on the phone, and also with pictures of him. It makes me a little sad, but it's also pretty cute. In this picture he is holding his little Captain America and Red Skull figurines up to show Daddy and Papa.

We sure do love having him around when we can, though. This is story time with Daddy on his night off!

 

Hope you have all had a happy fall, too!

A Breath of Fresh Air

Before I unleash the massive amounts of pictures I want to share, I first wanted to give a little update (and maybe a bit of a speech) on all of us...

I have found myself wishing so many times over the last few months that time would just slow down so I could catch my breath. Even just a little. Beckett is growing so, so fast, and is learning at a pace that is completely freaking me out. At almost two and a half, Beckett knows his colors, shapes, can count to 16, sings his favorite songs (Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, Once there was a Snowman, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam, I am like a Star Shining Brightly, Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, and of course You are my Sunshine, his fave) he knows his ABC’s, he is starting to be able to recognize his numbers by sight, and also counts quickly by sight. The other night we were heading to the store on the freeway by a few semi-trucks and he said “Hey, two semis!” I almost died. He is truly the sweetest - albeit the wildest and craziest - little boy that I have ever met and I’m so grateful he is mine. I am reminded all the time what a big heart he has and between that and his hilarious sense of humor, I just don’t think it’s possible that I could love him any more than I do now.

I have really struggled the last 2 years with post-partum depression and anxiety, and along with that, the guilt of having to go back to work and the “damage” I was going to do to Beckett by doing so. I now have a completely different attitude and opinion. I know that I am doing what is right for our family, regardless of whatever anyone else thinks. I have grown so tired of the guilt placed on me by those around me who are lucky enough to stay at home with their kids, and who judge me because I am not doing the same. I am happy for those who are able to stay home, but I am tired of hearing how being a stay at home mother is “the hardest job in the world”. I’m sorry, but it’s not; that’s just called being a mother and yes, it is hard. Now try being a mother on top of working a full time job to help your husband carry the financial burden of your family. Everything that a mother who is able to stay at home has to do, I have to, too, only I have fewer hours in the day to do it in. Just because I have to balance my time between the office and home doesn’t mean those things go away. 

Just like probably every other mom out there, I worry every day that I am not doing enough. That our house isn’t clean enough, or that dinner isn’t elaborate enough, or that I’m a huge failure as a parent and wife. I have just felt for so long that I wasn’t “good enough” in general, but you know what? I’m tired of feeling that way, and if I push the guilt aside I think we're doing pretty darn good if you ask me. I am so grateful for those around me who help to boost me up and even, dare I dream, compliment me for doing my best. Those few people have made things a lot easier for me at times that I have struggled.

The reality is that I can choose to either let myself get down and resent my husband for not making it possible for me to stay home, or I can choose to accept our reality and be grateful that together we are able to provide for our family, and make the most of our time together. Of course I can make that sound easy, which it wasn't at first, but the fact is that I love Matt too much and have too much respect for him to hold his career against him. I knew who I was marrying. I knew that he wanted to be part of something bigger than himself, to be out there keeping us safe and enforcing the law; this is a huge part of who he is, and the person I fell in love with. I also knew that along with this path, we weren't going to be millionaires which is obviously something I was fine with since you can see this ring on my finger. We really are a team, so if me working is what needed to happen, that's what I'm going to do; not only for our family, but also to support him in his choices. I would much rather share in the financial burden and responsibility, so that the three of us can spend time together as a whole family, than have him working multiple jobs to support us on his own. I am proud of my husband and his choices.  He is my hero. He has worked so hard straight out of high school to get where he is now, and hasn't quit or complained. I don't think many people can say that. I have an amazing teammate and could not have hit the jackpot more in the husband department. These last few months Matt has been so happy and his excitement for his work has  lifted a heavy load off his shoulders. I am sure he will go back and wrap up his degree sometime, but for now, we are happy and content where we are, and are focusing on enjoying the moment we are in. 

Even though our lives are sometimes a bit chaotic, I am also so grateful that I have been able to arrange my work schedule like I have, and I realize that I am luckier than a lot of other working moms in that way. I am able to work longer days to squeeze in my hours so that on my days off, I'm really "off", and we can make the most of our time. On top of that, I really did not know what I would think about Matt's schedule, but it has turned out to be a huge blessing. Since he works 12 hour shifts, he is then home for 2-3 days in a row depending on how many days in a row he worked, which makes for big chunks of time for us to enjoy all together, or at least for the boys to enjoy on the days I am working, until I get home. We are still adjusting (especially now that he is on nights and is gone from 7p-7a), but we are getting the hang of it, and are enjoying the days he does have off.

And now, probably much to your relief, I will get off my soap box and show you a little bit of what we've been up to.

We went  yard-saling with Grandpa Phillips in the spring

We celebrated our little man's second birthday with the traditional pizza dinner ....

 

and a Cars themed birthday party and gifts.

 

Right around Beckett’s birthday, he had a growth spurt. Going into the store to find him some dang pants that would fit around the waist AND lengthwise (the eternal struggle!!) I couldn’t help but notice how stinking tiny all those preemie outfits that used to drown him looked next to my growing toddler. So, in an effort to reminisce, and in the process further depress myself, I thought I would try and take a picture of him holding some of his old preemie clothes. This obviously did not go as planned since this is the best photo I was able to capture –he just cannot be forced to hold still that long!!- but it still shows just how much he’s grown… since the whole outfit is now the length of his thigh.

 

We celebrated Matt's graduation from Police academy in May

And the marriage of these two lovebirds (my brother Taylor and his wife Carrie) in June

 I probably should have cropped out my brother Ethan's grumpy face in this one, but I just couldn't, it cracks me up too much. (Love you, Enee)

 We celebrated Matt's new job in July...
 

 
And spent tons of time over the summer doing lots of fun things like swinging at Grandma's, playing in the water, taking impromptu trips to the splash pad, and even going to a few movies
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the weather is cooling down we are shifting gears a little bit. We are still getting outside to play with Mater and to chalk up the sidewalks while we still can, and we've even found a few ducks to chase around.

 

 



 



We have also enjoyed spending time with our friends having game days on Saturdays, and going to the zoo. This is Beckett with his buddy Molly, who he adores.

 

One upside to the weather cooling down is that I am more motivated to get some crafting done. Yahoo!

 

 

 

 

All in all, we are doing well. Thanks for reading this ginormous update! (if anyone even still reads this.) It was nice to vent and get everything out of my system.

 
 Hope you all are doing well, too!