Hiking and more...

Here are some pictures from hiking. We took a couple days to go visit Kyle's cousin Tyler (and Jenny and Carter) in Roanoke and the weather was so nice that we went out hiking!

This is one of my favorite pictures of me and James so far.

Thats all for today....Next post: James' 1st birthday!! (Unless we get a really good walking video before then--he refuses to walk when I get the camera out.)

WALKING!! and Halloween too

James is nearly 11 months and he is starting to walk. Yesterday he made a lot of progress so we recorded it! Later in the evening he walked accross the room, but of course we didn't get that on tape! In this video he was holding a cup, which I think was a big help because he didn't want to drop it so he could crawl---his only other option is to walk! Here is a video of a few steps.

(For our record) Some of James' other recent developments are:

• He throws a fit when he doesn't get what he wants! But is easily distractable and quick to laugh.
• He can say "Uh oh"...except it comes out as, "uh uh" and he can say, "Bye bye" which comes out as, "Buh buh"
• He weighs 27 lbs and is 31 inches tall. (He just had a check-up.)
• Eats bugs when his parents aren't looking.
• Has discovered water in the toilet.

This is just a cute video of him playing catch with dad. This is one of his favorite games.

HALLOWEEN!

We went to our church Trunk-or-treat and had a great time. James really liked wearing his costume. I think it was because of the little straps to hold the claws on his hands. James won cutest costume for under three year olds! There wasn't much competition, but I'm sure he would have still won had there been more! :) Kyle also was suckered into a pie eating competition...didn't win, but didn't loose his lunch either! What a great weekend!

Day Trip!

Kyle had to do some research at the Smithsonian, so we decided to make a day of it. The weather was uncooperative, but we bundeled up and James was a good sport. So this is what we saw.

Secondly, I got a pie dish. If you have a pie dish you need to make a pie! Here is my first pie that I baked all by myself. Tasted great and looked...ok. Side note: I LOVE this kitchen.

Lastly, since I have a serious addiction to taking videos of James here is one that I thought was funny. He was so wound up so his solution was to pace and yell.

This will make you smile

So here's what we've been up to!

So in the move our table unfortunately was squashed...fortunately, the frame which was metal was not squashed! So trying to be a little crafty to save money we went to Home Depot and bought some wood, sanded it, nailed it together, stained it, and finished it. This is what we ended up with. It's not perfect, but we think for some non-builderish kind of people we did a good job!

James' sleeping schedule has finally settled in. It took a little while for him to sleep through the night after the move. After trying everything, but mostly just from praying really hard, he is finally improving. He sleeps through the night again and his naps are getting much better. Thank goodness! Here is a picture of James after one of his naps. He was just playing...and making noises. I don't even know how long he had been awake by the time I came and got him!


This is a picture of his friend who lives upstairs; I get to watch her once a week. It is funny to watch them play together. Mostly it consists of James chasing her around and her crawling away from him in fear...he's a little rough. Here is him trying to do what she is doing but not really succeeding. Hasn't gotten the idea of a sippy cup yet. :)

Bath time!!

This is a video of James playing the piano, which is one of his favorite toys. If only his arms were a little longer!

This video was funny. James just has so much energy. He is everywhere at once.

James is also making great walking progress!

Our new house

So here is a silent video of our house....I made a video commenting on all the different rooms, but it sounded too dumb, so I think you can pretty much tell which room is which without me explaining. Crib=James' room, washer drier=laundry room etc. :) We really love it here.

To Virginia!

So we started our journey west and we have finally arrived! We stared in California and ended in Virginia. We are all so glad to be done with long driving days! We love our new place. It is a very nice upgrade. (Pictures to come when the house is clean.) We have been working on unpacking and getting settled so we feel quite at home.

We have been so welcomed by the neighbors and by our ward. In the week and a half that we've have been here I have already been to two separate play groups, we've been invited to dinner two times and have had four visits from people in the neighborhood or in the ward who were just stopping by to welcome us here. We also have more dinner invitations for this coming week. We are living with such nice people. That has been an answer to prayers.

Here are some pictures of our trip out here. This is a picture of the place we stayed in Nauvoo.

The Women's Garden in Nauvoo.

Adom-Ondi-Ahman

Here is the truck that brought our stuff to us!!
James decided that the perfect time to start getting teeth was as we were traveling! He went from no teeth to six teeth in about three weeks--poor kid. He sure has a cute smile though. :)

We haven't been able to stop James from crawling everywhere...this is kind of a boring video, but you can see how good he has become at crawling.