Ever since the first snowfall of the season, Raylee has been begging us to build a snowman and for one reason or another it hasn't worked out. This past week it got up in the mid-fifties and as we were enjoying the warm weather outside I told Raylee that I hoped it would stay this warm. She got really upset and told me that it couldn't get warm because she hadn't built a snowman yet.

Well the stars must have aligned because the very next night it snowed a couple of inches and Corey had the next day off which made ffor prime snowman building conditions. The only thing that would have made it better was some wetter snow, but we'll take what we can get!

So, without further ado, I introduce you to Zebro (and no, that's not a misspelling) the snowman...

Another superbowl has come and gone, and just like the all the others, we had a big ol' party with Corey's fam full of yummy food and football (although I saw approximately 3 minutes of the entire game). Everybody dresses up in their favorite team's colors whether or not those teams are playing in the superbowl. This, of course, means that Raylee and Jackson were sporting dolpins jerseys. Corey is determined to brainwash them while they're young to be dolphins fans. I, however, don't care for the dolphins colors (because that's why you pick a team, right?), but I do have to admit that these two kiddo's looked pretty cute in their "superbowl shirts", as Raylee calls them. :)

Who knew that balloons would provide this little boy with so much entertainment?
Jackson's balloons from his birthday party finally fell, so I put them in the family room for him to play with while I was working, and he has been having so much fun. They are a combination of a new toy and wrestling partner :) He sees them across the room and starts crawling as fast as his little legs will take him and when he gets close he lunges on top of them.
I think I'm going to be sad when these balloons finally pop :)

Raylee has been doing a good job of saying prayers by herself, although they often end up being quite entertaining for me and Corey. Tonight was definitely one of those times, and I wanted to write it down before I forget it. It was her turn for our family prayers, and this is how it went...

Some things about Jackson at 1:

• He Loves Hair! Some kids are attached to blankies or stuffed animals, but Jackson loves to hold my hair (or whoever's is holding him) in his hand and rub his thumb across the ends of it. If he can't find someone elses hair to hold, then he will reach up and grab his.
• He is not the greatest eater. He is pretty picky about what finger foods he eats, and it just depends on the day as to what foods he will eat, but he will still eat any kind of baby food and he still loves rice cereal.
• He mainly communicates through growling and grunting.
• The only words that he says (which he uses very sparingly) are mama, hi, and ought oh. After all, why speak if you can growl :)
• He is a total mama's boy, and I absolutely LOVE it!
• He can give kisses, blow kisses, clap his hands, gives five, waves hi and bye, does "it's good", and plays peek a boo (although he generally misses covering up his eyes and puts his hands on the side of his head instead).
• His favorite toys are definitely balls. He also likes cars and blocks.
• He loves when people sing songs to him. His favorite is a song that Raylee made up called Bubble Bath. He also likes itsy bitsy spider, and 3 little monkeys swinging in the tree.
• He ADORES Raylee. He is usually up an hour before Raylee wakes up and as soon as he hears her coming down the stairs he gets the biggest smile on his face. He loves to play whatever she is playing even if that means he plays princesses (Corey does not approve of this!) He follows her around all day!
• He just took his first two steps on the a couple of days ago!
• He finally started sleeping through the night in the last month, thank goodness!
• His nicknames are Jacks, Mr. J, Buddy, and Buddy Boy

I'm pretty sure I could go on for a lot longer so I better quit now :) I haven't taken him in for is checkup yet, so his stats are still to come!

I love this little boy SO much, and I wonder every day how I was ever blessed with such a sweet and adorable little boy!

Christmas was lots of fun this year, especially since it was Jackson's first Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve at my aunts house, and then spent Christmas Eve night at my parents house. Raylee took a little while to warm up on Christmas morning, and didn't really want anything to do with the dress-ups that Santa brought her. She did have fun playing with the toys that Santa had brought for Jackson though. Eventually she started putting some of her dress-ups on and had lots of fun after that. Both Raylee and Jackson got spoiled like CRAZY!

Although Christmas was a crazy busy day, it was So much fun!

I love seeing the lights at Temple Square, but unfortunately it's been a few years since I've been. This year we went with my parents and had a lot of fun. We picked a good night since it wasn't too cold, or too terrible crowded. Raylee kept getting confused with Mary and getting married since she know that you get married in the temple, so everytime we said something about Mary, she would tell us that she was going to get married in that temple. Too cute!

For Thanksgiving we went to St. George with Corey's family. Usually we are only able to go for a couple of days, but since Corey's new job didn't start until Dec. 1, we were able to go for the whole time. We rented the same house that we rented over the fourth of July, and it was so much more fun than a hotel since we all get to be together, plus we got to have a pool in the backyard! Raylee had lots of fun with all her cousins, and had fun playing with all the girl cousins that are around her age.




The weather was a little scary coming home, but all in all it was an awesome trip! Can't wait to go again!

We had lots of fun celebrating Halloween this year! Raylee and Jackson both had Halloween shirts this year, so I tried to get a picture of both of them together, but Jackson would NOT hold still! He is constantly wanting to be on the move. The picture above is the best I got, although he is still trying to get out of his sisters arm so he can make his escape! Raylee found a witch's hat in the Target dollar section and wouldn't take it off. I could barely get it off her to pay for it! She wore it around constantly for like a week.

We went to the cabin for the first time this year in October. It had been over a year since I had been there, and so it was a long overdue trip up to High Valley! We had a blast as usual, and since this was our first trip since getting our new camera we took tons and tons of pictures.

The time seemed to pass way too quickly, but we filled it up with lots of fun activites. We did lots of ATV riding, and since we went during the deer hunt, any time we went outside our little cabin community we had to wear some sort of orange just to be sure we wouldn't get shot :)

Raylee got to spend tons of time with all her cousins, and had so much fun! They went on ATV rides, the tire swing, painted rocks, went on walks, and she even got to sleep in the same bed as 3 of her cousins. Jackson turned 9 months while we were up there, got to have his first piece of licorice thanks to his grandpa :), and started crawling while we were up there.

Instead of rambling on some more I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking....