The Last 3 Months Pictures from my Phone

Around Halloween we went Raspberry picking and to a Pumpkin Festival. 

Jack has really loved all the picking we did this year. He loves gardening and picking fruit.

At the Pumpkin Festival they had an awesome playground in the shape of a ship.

And a sandbox full of Corn.

And a giant slide.

And a corn maze.

And then in October I also was able to cross something major off of my bucket list. I ran a half marathon in Baltimore. We stayed at a friend's friends house. Here are our boys sleeping next to each other.

Colette and I ran the Half together and Shelyn ran a 5K because of an injury.

Here is the medal I got. I loved the first 7 miles of the run, and then felt like I maxed out at about ten miles. So the last 3.1 miles were torture. Haha. I couldn't have done it without Colette. She was awesome. 

After the Half Marathon we drove from Baltimore to DC for the Light the Night Leukemia walk. While we were there, a balloon guy made an elmo balloon for Jack. 

Tony got a survivor Lantern to hold during the walk. Jack and I both got supporter Lanterns. 

Here we are in front of the capitol building in the middle of the Light the Night Walk. 

We were also able to go to Six Flags for the Last time this fall. Jack loved it, as usual. 

He can ride more than a dozen rides now. He is getting so big. 

We took picture proof of Jack's tallness. 

Where the car ride used to be they had a wagon ride. So Jack got to sit in the car. He loved it. And he rode the wagon ride at least a dozen times. The workers totally adored him. He was able to ride the wagon as the only kid multiple times. 

Also, by the wagon ride, they had trick or treating where we ended up with a ton of candy.

We found out a little late that Jack is actually tall enough for the tea cups. He thought they were so fun. He got to sit in between the two of us on the ride. They had it all "halloween-y" with flashing lights and fog. 

A few weeks ago my cousin Shauna dyed my hair. She put red and blonde highlights in my bangs and did a few stripes in my hair.  

The last time we did bright red it faded really fast. So this time we got a more professional brand of dye and it has stayed super red which is really exciting. 

A Day of Fun

It was in the 60s yesterday, so we decided to fill the day with fun.

I took my official first metro ride since we moved here. (I have been on the DC metro once before in 2007 when visiting with my family). 

2 days ago Jack dropped a stocking weight on his foot and cut open and bruised his toe. He's been limping around everywhere, so we decided to bust out his old stroller. As you can see....he barely fits. But he loved it. And it made this trip our easiest in....forever. He just sat quietly in the stroller for most of our day. 

We went into DC to the Botanical Gardens to see their annual Train Display. This years theme was the 7 seas, meaning pirate ships and lighthouses!

While waiting in line, we saw this painting. It says Heath Forest..so shout out to James and Ariel Heath. 

They make a bunch of the DC buildings out of all plant materials. They are super cool. 

We had to wait in line to see the trains for about an hour, but it was so worth it. Jack was in heaven.

They had a bunch of Thomas the train engines. He spent almost the whole time on Daddy's shoulders so he could see better. 

Here was the first pirate ship we came to.

I got so excited when I saw this next one because it was flying Blackbeard's flag. And sure enough, it is labeled the Queen Ann's Revenge. 

They had these awesome port holes full of fish/seahorses/turtles/submarines, etc.. all made of plant materials. 

Then we climbed back on the metro and headed up to the zoo. They had their annual Zoo Lights going on. And it was soooo crowded, but very cool. 

Half way into the zoo Jack informed us that he was cold and tired and wanted to go home. We agreed because we were sick of navigating the crowd. But it was sure a full and fun day. 

Christmas

Our good friend gave Jack this Christmas Tree train. We set it up a couple days before Christmas. He loved watching it go round and round the tree. 

We picked up a fun tradition from some friends. We wrap the doorway that leads to the "Christmas room" for Christmas morning. And there are no presents under the tree until Christmas morning (or late Christmas Eve night after little boys are in bed). Then Jack was able to run through the wrapping paper Christmas morning to discover a magical room full of presents. (He was too nervous to run through it. He would speed toward it giggling, and then stop right before he hit it. He eventually stuck one finger through it, and then dragged a large rip down and stepped through it. Clever little guy). 

We. Were very spoiled this Christmas. Tony's friend drove out the week before Christmas from Utah and brought us many gifts from our family. Plus, we have great friends who spoil us. And then to top it all off, we had a visit from the real santa, who dropped off several large presents 2 days before Christmas. We are so overwhelmed with gratitude to all those who are so giving and thoughtful of our little family. 

I picked up this great Thomas the Train set off of craigslist for Jack and he was instantly obsessed. We also got him a thrift store bike. And my parents got him a map puzzle of the world since he is so obsessed with his states puzzle. He knows geography better than I do. 

And this was one of the presents that Santa gave Jack. (Thank you anonymous Santa! Jack loves it sooooo much). This Thomas the train is remote controlled and it even gives off steam and makes train noises. He also got this cool robot learning game. He takes it with him everywhere and it sings learning songs in robot tone. He is getting very good at matching because of it. 

Our neighbors joined in on the train fun. Still can't get over how similar these two boys look. 

Then we headed to dinner at Paula's. Norm and Deb got Jack this fun magnet doggie and bone game. Dinner was delicious, as it always is, and we enjoyed the visit.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Visiting Santa

Jack is at a very magical age. He was so excited to see Santa. He danced the whole time we waited in line. Once it was his turn he ran full speed ahead and gave him a big Giant hug. 

Then he jumped right up into his lap and had quite the conversation with him. He told him he wanted a Orange car, a bus, and a penguin. And would you believe it, Santa whipped out a penguin for Jack and gave it to him. 

I was so shocked I forgot to keep taking pictures. Jack was so excited. He loves Santa. And he skipped out of the mall and then asked to go back every single day for the rest of the week. 

Here is a picture of him with his penguin. He sleeps with it in his bed every night. 

Hand Bell Choir

This is the second year that the Handbell choir I play in has had the opportunity to play at the Temple Visitor Center. We had a great time. Jack's favorite song was Jingle bells and he's been singing it ever since.

Visit from Larsens

 Shay shay and her mom, who Jack fondly calls grandma Larsen, were able to come visit us a few months back. They came with Jack and I to the zoo. We had a blast visiting with them. 

Marvel Universe Live

 Back in September Tony and I were able to go to see a very cool show. It had all the most important things like motorcycle chases, fire, people flying, fist fights and explosions. Oh and don't forget super heroes. It was called marvel universe live and I'm pretty sure the target audience was ten year old boys. But Tony and I are young at heart so we loved it.