This year for Halloween, I decided that it would be fun to make Will's costume. I had no idea what I got myself into when I bought all the material and got started. I think for the last couple of weeks if I got to bed before 12:30 AM I was doing pretty good. (Remember I also have to leave for work at 7:00am, if you do the math you'll realize I have been a little sleep deprived!) At one point I had an idea for our whole family to dress up in a theme (I won't say what it is in case we do it next year), but when I mentioned it to Grant he quickly shot down the idea of dressing up for Halloween. A couple of days later, I mention dressing Will up as Max from Where the Wild Things Are (Will loves the book) and then Grant thought he could dress up as a Wild Thing. I brought up the whole argument of dressing up and he confessed he just needed time to adjust to the idea of making a fool of himself for his kids. I haven't sewn anything with an actual pattern in SEVERAL years! I can't even remember what it was I sewed last. But I was pretty excited about this since I just got a sewing machine for Christmas last year and love the idea of any little projects. Even though between Grant's headpiece and Will's costume I got very little sleep and a little grief for neglecting my own husband's birthday, I think they turned out pretty cute!

Don't let that innocent face fool you!

He seriously has turned into a wild thing ever since he started walking!

I decided that I had already put too much time into the two costumes so I was the mom who sent Max to bed without his supper! Lucky for him, it's Halloween and people are giving out candy, so he didn't go to bed hungry!

    First of all, I can't believe that Will is nine months old!  There are so many times throughout the day when I look at him and am just amazed at how much he has grown up!  I absolutely LOVE this stage he is at, which I should mention that I have loved each phase so far!  He is such a happy baby/little man and loves to laugh and smile at just about anyone!  For the last two months at least, he has been getting up on all four and then rocking back and forth like he is going to crawl, but it hasn't been till Monday that he really started crawling!  He's pretty funny about it!  He will crawl about three or four feet and then roll a little then even throw a little army crawl in there!  I laugh because there have been times when it looks like we have GI Joe training going on in our living room!  A couple of weeks ago I was up in Utah and three of his top teeth cut through and since then he has gotten a forth tooth as well on top.  Much to his father's disapproval, he grinds his teeth together!  Grant has a hard time holding onto him when he starts grinding his teeth, not that I can blame him!  It is an awful sound!  Most importantly though I thought I would include a few pictures of Will from the last couple of months, which lets be honest is really what people (if you're anything like me) really care about when checking blogs!

  Even though these pictures are a little old!  I never got a chance to post them in a blog and I thought my friend Kenna did such an amazing job for his six months photos!  There were so many cute pictures but this just is an example of a few of them!  

     I love these pictures!  Will is definitely Grant's son for several reasons but it is very evident when you see Will with books!  The kid doesn't get tired of books and loves to have story after story read to him!  It's pretty cute when I put him to bed or down for a nap we always read a couple of stories and after each one he sits up on my lap watches to see which book I grab next with a cute little grin!  It is so sweet!  By the way, for any mothers out there, my sister, Kris, told me the Llama Llama Red Pajama was such a cute story so when I saw it in Target I couldn't help but stop and read it!  I am not ashamed to admit that I had to hold back the tears at the end because it is so sweet!  Every mother should own this book! 

  These are few pictures when I was up in Utah with Will while Grant was on a High Adventure campout with our ward.  It was so much fun to be in Utah and see my family!  I always love seeing them and they are ALWAYS more than welcome to come and visit anytime (hint, hint!).  Thank you again mom and dad for taking such good care of us while we were up there!  

  

   These are a few of the more recent pictures that we have!  The last four out of the five pictures show so much of his personality!  He is constantly laughing and smiling!   Grant and I just laugh when Will starts doing his "intense" smiles and it just keeps on encouraging him even more!  

  Well, I think that pretty much sums it up for the last little while!  I always try and tell myself that I need to be better about posting but I never seem to change so who knows when this will happen again!  Hopefully sooner that three months though!  

  So I feel like I haven't posted anything for a while.  Two weeks ago we had Grant's mom and dad come and visit us for a few days and then Tanner and Lupe were able to come down for a day at the last minute.  It was a lot of fun having them around and luckily everyone was able to enjoy some nice Phoenix sun.  On Thursday, Grant, Will, Peggy and I all went shopping.  We went down to Arizona Mills mall because they have a ton of outlet stores there and with Peggy's incredible shopping skill of finding a bargain, we knew for sure she would enjoy herself.  I think we all had the most fun in The Children's Place because there were so many cute little outfits for Will.  

  The next day we went to the zoo for a couple of hours with his parents.  I think everyone's favorite part was the monkey exhibit.  They have a little area that you can go in and there are about 20 monkeys all over the place.  It surprised me how little they were.  One of the workers said that they are only 2 pounds when they are fully grown.  

  Later that night we went to our ward's activity because they were having indian fry bread and some indian dancer. 

  On Saturday, we went to the Botanical Gardens here in Phoenix and saw the glass sculpture exhibit by Chiluly.  They were amazing!  We also got to so and see the butterfly exhibit as well.  Towards the end of the night, Will was getting a little excited about everything going on and discovered a new sound he could make.  Needless to say, it was not a sound I would encourage him to do.  It was a loud squawking sound from the back of his throat.  He would make that noise and people from all around would turn and look to see who or what was making that sound!  Grant and I booked it out of there pretty quick and let his parents and Tanner and Lupe finish seeing the gardens.  At dusk and after the sun goes down, they light up all the sculptures which I think would have been really cool to have seen.  That night we also went to Pappadeaux's Seafood Kitchen, which is one of Grant's dad's favorite.  The food was great and we all had fun being able to just spend time with one another. 

   The weather down here in Phoenix has been so nice, for a while there we were up in the 80s and high 70s.  It is hard to remember that it is (or was at the time) still winter.  So this last week on my day off from the hospital, Grant and I decided to take Will down to the pool for the first time.  At first I just carried him right down into the water, but I think it was a little too much of a shock for him and so he started to whimper and cry a little.  I ended up holding him on my lap at the edge of the pool for about 2o minutes while Grant swam around and would occasionally come a splash water on Will's feet.  We finally got him to stand on the first step and than sit on the first step and eventually he went down to the second step.  After a while of doing this, he finally let Grant hold him and swim around the pool for a little bit.  One thing is for sure, as of right now, he is no dare devil.  He definitely wants to check things out before jumping in.  However, he was by far the cutest person at the pool that day, even with a little belly!