Winter is here!

It's been cold in Salt Lake City over the last few weeks. We've enjoyed the snow storms, but it sure is nice to be inside with a warm cup of cocoa - which is one of my favorite things about the cold, cold winter. Despite the cold, we've kept busy & we've been having fun. James loves the snow - actually, he loves eating the snow. He hasn't quite figure out that it's fun to throw or roll around in... but he does like to say, "eat snow - yummy!"

We've enjoyed time with friends over the last few weeks as well. The picture below is Reid and James with sweet Hudson - the son of our friends Matt & Kelly. Just last week, Matt & Kelly moved to California - exciting, but sad! We'll sure miss our great friends - but we're excited to visit them and hit the beach!

My little brother, Kevin, and his fiance, Casey, came to visit a few weeks ago. We had a blast with them. We were able to enjoy a long weekend with them, eating, laughing, enjoying the great fall weather and learning a new dance from Kevin & Casey - as they are demonstrating in the following picture... thanks guys, for showing us the "shark dance!"

James and Daddy - yes, there was snow on the ground and, yes, Reid is wearing shorts...and sandals...brilliant! At least he has that hat on!

Mr. J lovin' the backpack ride...

We were so lucky to have my Mom & Dad here for Thanksgiving. It was a great Thanksgiving Day - we had 13 people in our house, including my parents and some of our wonderful friends. It was really awesome to just spend the day with family and friends - enjoying my Mom's tasty cooking! James sure enjoyed the visit as well. He loves his Bop & Nana!

Playing with Bop! James was given a little guitar... thanks Bop & Nana - he loves it. He was trying to pick up some skills from Bop (who was jammin' on the mandolin) - James didn't get the strumming skills down yet, but at least they were both able to make a funny face.

And finally... the Christmas tree! James had fun decorating the tree - for about 5 minutes. He was quickly bored with the process, but has since spent much time in front of the tree, checking out all the ornaments, touching as many as he can get his hands on before we tell him they're "not for him" and telling us about the "pitty yee-ites" (aka: pretty lights). We are so excited to celebrate Christmas this year! James will be so much fun! We're headed to Colorado next Saturday and are excited to spend that time with our families - then it's off to New Orleans for my little brothers wedding. Yay! It will be awesome to be a part of their special day and to see friends and family - from Virginia to Alaska (yay for Brian & Melanie!) who will join them to celebrate. We hope you all have a blessed and peaceful Christmas.

A Super-Duper Update...

Hello! Yes... it has been a long time since I've updated. Life is going very well! We were very blessed with a six week break from Med School - which is why I haven't updated - we been off having fun! During the last six weeks, we've gone on lots of hikes, gone to the zoo many, many times, celebrated Halloween with friends, learned how to go down the slide (well, James learned that trick, Reid and I have been profficient in slide usage for a couple years now), we made a long weekend trip to Colorado for our 10 year high school reunion... we just had fun. Reid got to be Dad & Husband instead of lowly medical student. It has been wonderful. So, we'd love to share some pictures of our latest adventures. I will put a couple full albums on the shutterfly page, so check that out as well if you don't get enough of our cute little dude here!

We call this little move "Peek-a-moose" (instead of Peek-a-boo, that is).

All boy... probably watching baseball. It is already one of his favorite things to do and to talk about. He actually says - "Baseball... throw... hit... run!"

And he loves giving kisses to his sweet girlfriends - especailly Amara. Apparently she's not so excited about a kiss from the boy wearing the blue, floppy hat.

Halloween was so much fun this year. After singing Happy Birthday to Nana over skype, James painted his pumpkin. It was a beautiful masterpiece, but the best part of painting was...

the paint he got on his face. Yes, I made him wait while I grabbed the camera.
After making pretty pumpkins and enjoying a long nap, James got ready for our party. Introducing: Dr. J...

He looks good in those scrubs - just like Daddy.

Dr. J and the Indian Princess (aka: Mama).

After some of our friends arrived, James decided he was more interested in being a tiger instead of a doctor. So, he took his friend, Evan's, tiger hat and pretty much wore it the rest of the night. Fortunately Evan didn't care.

Yummy... Halloween cookie. Actually.... yummy... Halloween frosting

(he gets that from his parents).

James & Daddy at the zoo.

He loved dressing up for Halloween so much that it continued the next week.

He looks good in tye-dye.

Playing at the park. James is a pro at climbing in and out of this rocker.

Hooray for slides! Clearly he's enjoying himself. Isn't this just the greatest smile ever? This kid is pure joy. He's so much fun and he just oozes with excitement. And yes, he's giong down the slide head first - risky little man.

Happy fall to all of you! We've had our first snow fall here in Salt Lake - yay! It was actually a beautiful fall - amazing colors. James has loved playing outside and was fascinated the first time he went out to play in the snow. We plan to put him on skis this year - starting him early! He still loves balls and sports - football ("Go Broncos" is one of his favorite statements), baseball, lacross, soccer... yes, he is all boy. He's also talking up a storm. He's starting to tell us "stories" and give us directions "Mama, come". We're working on "please" with that one... and encouraging him to try to sound less like he's calling the dog. He does love the dog and the dog loves him. He's always grabbing Blazes tail and he loves to take him for walks (yes, Blaze usually ends up taking James for a walk instead). Reid and I are constantly amazed at our little buddy. He is a joy. He is truly a reminder of how much we are loved by our awesome God. When you look at this little person, who a creative creator brought into our lives, it's simply inspiring and beautiful.

Lots of love... enjoy the upcoming Christmas season. We're looking forward to celebrating with James and taking the time to remember that Christ is the reason for the season!

Check out the shutterfly page for full albums if you're interested!

Brrrrr.....

Well, it's official: James loves ice cream. Reid, Amy (aka. "Mimi") and I went to The Cheesecake Factory recently. James ate a super dinner, so we decided he could have a little bit of ice cream while the rest of us finished eating. Well, in the style of The Cheesecake Factory, they didn't bring a little ice cream, they brought a lot of ice cream. James happily dug right in - with his fork. Notice how enormous the bowl is... James seriously ate almost every bite of it. In fact, I tried to get my own spoon in the action and he gave me a bad looked and actually wined at me. James doesn't share ice cream... actually, he was very sweet. After he ate over half of it, he decided to give Mimi a couple bites. Our favorite thing about that moment was seeing him open his own mouth when he tried to give her a bite - just like we have noticed our own habit of opening our mouths when we would give James a bite. Funny kid.

Check out he video below to see silly James and his impressive ice cream consumption. It may be hard to hear, but every time he takes a bite, he announces that it is "brrr!", complete with shaking arms. Amy had to help him a couple time so he didn't put a whole scoop of ice cream into his mouth. Brrr!

Wheeler Farm

There is a great little farm near our house that we have come to love - we visit it quite often. The last few time we've gone, James has really loved seeing the animals and making all the different animal sounds. He gets so excited when he sees a "moo"! James and I went one afternoon and we had so much fun that we took Reid back a few days later.

James squatting down to get a better view. He's so funny... he'll just sit there looking at the animals, pointing, making the appropriate noises. Then he usually jumps up and does his best to "run" to the next animal.

Do you see the intensity on this little guys face? He's very concerned about going to see the pigs.

Standing on a bench to get a better view of the cows.

James has his tongue out here in order to make a noise for a horse. He generally goes with a "neigh", but he had just heard a horse make more of a "bbbbbrrrr" sound and decided give it a try. I was impressed with his impression.

Checking out the goats. He was a little timid at first.

Riding on Daddy's shoulders. Yes, back to the farm a few days later.

My boys in their hats. Hats are one of James' favorite items at the moment. If you are wearing a hat he will tell you, "hat". Sometimes he will even indicate that it is "Dada, hat"... meaning that it is Daddy's hat. Finally, if he sees your hat and finds that you are not wearing it, he will grunt loudly, retrieve the hat and insist that you wear the hat: "hat, hat, hat"... then, it is to remain on your head until you can successfully sneak it off and hide it before he sees you or remembers that you are, in fact, suppose to be wearing a hat.

It's kind of hard to tell, but in this picture, James is "slapping some skin". Yes, Reid is very proud of having taught him how to "slap me some skin" and to give "bones".

James and Mama in the tree house.

Riding a saddle.

James and Mama looking a the ponies.

Well, James continues to amaze us. He is growing so fast and getting so smart and he is so funny. He astounds us every day with new words, new signs that he picks up on his own, and new talents... such as climbing in and out of all objects - boxes, wagons, pots and pans, etc. He loves to go outside every day and continue his search for snails (we've only stepped on one - oops). He literally takes the time to smell the roses. He loves dogs and airplanes. He is discovering that it is fun to hide and more fun to be found. He loves books and milk. He asks for help and says please. He grunts and tries to pick you up if you have been sitting (and if you've been boring) for too long. He laughs a lot. He is a joy. He is an awesome reminder of God's creativity and amazing, abundant love... my heart overflows with love for my little man - can you imagine the love that our creator feels?! It is too big to even grasp. So for, now, we will daily enjoy and give thanks for sweet little James - who is always awaiting the next adventure.

Ireland!!!

We did it!

We have been to Ireland and back with a one year old!

No, we don't necessarily recommend traveling overseas and back with a one year old, but we did it and we're sure glad. It was a really good trip, but also very tiring! I'm only including a couple pictures from the trip below. If you would like to see the rest, please check them out on our Shutterfly page (this other site allowed me to publish the whole album, so there are a lot of pictures available on it.)

For a quick recap... Kalyn, James, Nana & Grandpa flew into Shannon airport and drove down to Killarney, where Reid had been at a conference. From Killarney, we explored the southwest coast - The Dingle Peninsula, we saw some of Killarney, drove up the West coast, stopping at the Cliffs of Mohr. We stayed a night in Galway (awesome little town that we returned to on the way back down) then we drove up to Sligo where we spent a few days at a beautiful hotel in the country (everything was great here, except for the terrible allergies that we all experienced - including poor James). After leaving Sligo, we drove back south to the Connemara area, staying at a little place in Oughterard. We spent a few days here, traveling from this point to see Kylemore Abbey and some great coastal towns. We continued south to Galway where we spent a day in the city - loved it. From Galway, we drove down to Limerick... nothing to write home about, to be honest... we only stayed here one night. After leaving Limerick, we sadly had to drop off Reid at the airport - he had to get back home to start 3rd year Medical School rotations (a whole other story!). James, Nana, Grandpa & I continued south for a few days to a little town on the southern coast called Kildare. This was my favorite spot - a great little coastal town with quirky little stores, quaint little churches and even a coffee shop that produced some fine soy lattes. Of course, there are many details to the trip that I obviously haven't explained... but check out the pictures here and on the Shutterfly page and if you want more details, let me know!

We're pretty sure James enjoyed playing in the dirt more than any other part of the trip. He decided he wasn't too interested in eating during the trip - a very foreign experience for everyone, but he survived... he most ate the "veg", aka, vegetable side dish, that came with pretty much every Irish meal. He was truly a little trooper. When he had rough moments, I had to remind myself that it was our choice to go on this trip, not his!

Mom & Dad... Nana & Grandpa... were great traveling companions.

In this picture, we're visiting Kylemore Abbey - really beautiful!

The Cliffs of Mhor - really awesome views! This is on the west coast of Ireland.

Nana, Reid, James & Kalyn on a ferry crossing the River Shannon.

The Dingle Peninsula on the southeast coast - really amazing views... and the water was so blue! Ok... check out the other pics on shutterfly. Hope you're all doing well!

He Walks...

Like I said, the little man is walking.  This happened a few weeks ago, but I am behind on the updating - surprise, surprise.  It's so fun to watch him figure out this walking thing.  So cute.  Here are a couple pictures of the inaugural event!

Here he's just thinking about it... hasn't quite decided that it's really time to walk, yet.

And here he goes.  He literally got out of the car after we got home from dinner and just went for it.  You can actually see the excitement building on his face... first a little weary, and then...

Ok, I'm really doing it...

This is awesome!  I am walking!!!

Any of you who know me know that I run with my very own style (the hands do this odd finger twisting thing)... James may have inherited this from me.  While walking, he was twisting his hands and very carefully holding his finger to his thumb - apparently this helps him concentrate.  We just thought it was too cute not share. 

And by the end of the night, he was a pro - squatting, standing, the works.  He sure is awesome.

We're off to Ireland tomorrow for two weeks!  We'll share some pics when we return.  Say some prayers for us as we travel across the world with a one year old!  Woo-hoo.