Merry Christmas!

I got in trouble with my dad for not posting today, so here goes.

On Tuesday we headed to Bass Pro Shops to get a free picture with Santa...as you can see, Donovan was not excited about it. He was excited to see "ho ho", but didn't want to go near him.

He shot guns for a while before we came up with an idea.
We had Addi that day, so she let us use her stroller.Here's what we came out with. A nice picture of Donovan and Santa...and a pretty pink stroller.
We let Donovan open one of his presents early because he ripped it. After that, all presents remained in the closet until this morning.

His Grandma Mindy sent him dog puppets. He immediately named two of them Ivory, and Rocky (my parent's dogs) and he even made the hacking noise that Ivory makes. We spent Christmas Eve with the Hiatt's and the kids exchanged presents. Donovan got this awesome game that I'm sure he'll love to play!

After 20 minutes of trying to get up our hill after leaving the Hiatt's and dropping off the missionaries, Donovan and I trudged up the hill in the drifts of snow while Brad parked the car at a gas station close by before walking home. What a great Christmas Eve story. When we finally got inside and Donovan was freezing, we decided to open his nice cozy Christmas jammies from Grandma and Papa G. He actually really liked them! And he looked so adorable! Like his hair? It's from his hat. When you walk through that much snow in windy Iowa, you can judge me for leaving his hair this way.
Christmas morning was awesome! Donovan was so excited about all the presents. I don't think I opened anything without help.

Super hero cape from Granny (Superman on one side, Batman on the other).He got plenty of fun toys! We are going shopping with some of the money we got from both of our parents. I'm sure Donovan will have a blast picking out more toys and clothes!

New couch, etc.

Before Donovan and I headed to Utah for Thanksgiving, we found a new couch! The couches we had before were purchased at an auction when we first moved to Iowa, so you can imagine how awesome they were...we just had to give them up. As you can see, Donovan is doing a very good job breaking it in for us. I know Lenna, I'm sorry Donovan is wearing Addi's hat...he really likes pink.


We had fun with Addi a couple of days this week too. She changed so much in the weeks we were gone! Her personality is really coming through now, she's so much fun. Donovan loves when she comes over and he's very good with her now that she's a little bigger. He kept giving her hugs the other day, it was so cute.
Donovan stayed up and watched part of the Barcelona game last night with Bradley and me. Brad loves to watch Barcelona and Donovan loves watching almost anything with Brad so they get to spend some manly bonding time together.


Merry Christmas on Friday! It will be our first Christmas spent in Iowa, we usually fly to Utah over the holidays but decided to stay here this year. I'm sad that we won't be with all of our family, but I'm excited to have our first Christmas with just the 3 of us.


I know this is shorter than usual, but I'm feeling very domestic today so I'm making rolls for neighbors, stew for dinner, and cookies for later. Merry Christmas, we miss you all!

Utah, Thanksgiving, etc.

Donovan and I took a loooooong trip to Utah and finally got back yesterday afternoon. We were both ready to go home, but we had a lot of fun! The 4 days Brad was out there just wasn't enough. Donovan missed his daddy and I missed my husband!!

Donovan and I were able to go down to Cedar City for a few days and spend Thanksgiving in St. George. It was great, it was warm enough that we didn't have to wear jackets so we spent the majority of the day outside. We were even able to eat Thanksgiving dinner outside! Donovan was in heaven. Gary and Susan have every toy a child wants!
Donovan loved the airplane teeter totter, he spent more time on it than I expected. He usually gets bored, but he spent a pretty good amount of time on everything.

He played so well with Logan. My cousin Annie has 2 little boys and Donovan actually does really well with both of them. He and Logan had a blast on the trampoline.


And so did Damon! He is such a sweet and fun little boy!Grandma Mindy even got in on the action. You can't see Donovan because he fell right before I took this picture. He loved having "Gamma" push him up with her feet.
He didn't eat much of his dinner, but he did eat some ham. He called it bacon. Such handsome boys!
They were in the sandbox through a game of Canasta and had a blast. I think they took breaks to jump on the trampoline, but they got nice and sandy. Donovan had a pile of beach sand in his shoes at the end of the day, so he got stripped before he got to go back into Aunt Susan's house. McRae was good enough to play with them, but he got a lot of sand in the face.


Brad saw this picture and said he was going to burn it. I didn't realize our child was wrapped in a 'Skins blanket. Brad is an avid Colts fan, and my Grandpa Newville has always been a loyal Redskins fan. They aren't rivals or anything, but Brad always makes fun of them because the Redsins haven't been very successful the last few years.
My Grandma Goodman is so good and patient with Donovan. He loved being at her house. She let him get away with all kinds of mischief and noise! I guess she didn't really stand a chance, they are almos the same size.She even tried to teach him how to play the organ.
When we got back from Cedar, Donovan and I spent some time with Brad's fam while he was out there. It wasn't extremely cold yet so we tried out the new swing set. Donovan liked the horse swing that his Papa Sam built.
He also liked going down the extremely fast slide, but wouldn't try it again after he flew down and off.
We spent some time over at Nate and Kirsta's the night before Brad went back home. Donovan and Colin had a lot of fun together, even though Donovan got a little bossy.
We finally got some decent pictures with my family. If you don't know my brothers and father...and husband for that matter, they really don't like getting their pictures taken and it's hard to get them to cooperate. Dustin's wife Erin has a really nice camera so we got some pictures of the siblings and of the whole fam. I don't have them yet, but I hope to get them soon...hint, hint, mother.

Faye is Dustin's little girl and one of the few children that didn't cling to me while I was around. Colin loved me, but Faye wouldn't even give me a smile.

Kate Leone (lee-own) or "Baby Kate" as Donovan calls her. She is such a sweet little girl, I didn't hear her cry much...except when I held her. I've never been great with newborns. I wish I had taken more pictures!

After it snowed, Donovan was really excited to play in it so Tyler was nice and took him out when he got home from school. He was such a good uncle. Donovan loved "Tire" and Brad's little brother, "Cottie".
Not only did ShayLea cut and dye my hair, she also gave Donovan his first real hair cut. No buzzed head!! I wish we had figured out the trick. It took 2 suckers and a few M&M's, but we got it done!My mom took Friday off so she could spend our last day with us. We went to the mall and found gifts and Donovan got a train ride with "Gamma". He cried when he had to get off.
We had been waiting for this news to come for over a week! My little brother Nicholas is a daddy. That's so crazy, but then he really isn't that much younger than me! Ashley gave birth to Lia Jayde Friday afternoon. 8 lbs 5 oz, 19 inches. Heavier, but shorter than Donovan was. She is a good sized baby!! My parents and I were the only ones invited to the hospital because I was leaving the next day. Look how happy they are! I don't think Nicholas has ever smiled that big in a picture before.

Lia with her Papa G (my dad has an issue with the word Grandpa).
I hope my mom doesn't get mad, I think she was in mid sentence when the picture snapped. Lia is making such a funny face, I had to post it!She's so cute! You may have to zoom a little to see her cute chubby face.
And this is what I came home to. Addi doesn't even recognize me. It will be fun to see how she does with us tomorrow...I hope. She's looking more and more like her mommy instead of Mason!I guess it's back to life and freezing cold Iowa.

No pictures again...

I have plenty of pictures on my camera, but don't want to take the time to put them on my parents computer so you'll have to wait until I get back to Iowa to see how much fun we are having. We had an awesome Thanksgiving dinner outside in St. George and found some awesome deals on Friday. We are getting pretty anxious to see Bradley. He gets into town on Wednesday but we probably won't see him until later in the week, he will be pretty busy. Donovan keeps asking to go home, so I think this is going to be our last long trip without Daddy with us. It's too hard for a 2 year old to be separated from a parent for that long. Anyway, I hope everyone had a marvelous weekend!

No pictures

Sorry, no pictures this week. I was pretty busy trying to get our apartment nice and clean so I won't have to worry about it when I get back in 2 1/2 weeks! I cleaned the bathroom deeper than I ever have, cleaned the oven and fridge out, and cleaned the carpets. I'm pretty happy about it, I just have to do some superficial cleaning tomorrow and Brad will be left with a nice clean place.

We didn't do much this week. Brad had to deal with the National Volleyball Tournament. I went to New Moon with Natalie, Lenna, and Hannah on Friday. It was better than Twilight but still not great. The best part about it was listening to the little 13 year old girls after the movie. One group was hyperventilating saying "BEST.MOVIE.EVER". That made me laugh pretty hard. I got a picture of me and Natalie being nerds in our Edward shirts. Hers said, "Edward rules, Jacob drools" and mine said "I <3(heart) Edward". I can't find the picture though! I'm a little upset about it. I'll have to get it from Natalie and post it later. It was fun to get out with some girls!

Sorry this is so boring, I will take lots of pictures in Utah and I will try to update the blog while I'm there, but I'm not making any promises. Donovan and I will be back on the 12th!

Grateful

I just have to take a minute to be cheesy because I feel so grateful for what I have! I'm so grateful for a loyal and kind husband (even though he can be a tease) who took the time with me before we got married to discuss divorce. We both came to the conclusion that we didn't want to get married if divorce was ever an option. I'm grateful that we are both that committed to each other and our little family and we'll never give up. I thank both of our parents for that mindset. I know my parents have had their difficulties, every marriage has! Newsflash: Marriage isn't easy, it takes work! I'm grateful that I had good examples that taught me that family is more important than any stupid argument or disagreement. I feel like Brad's parents were also a good example to him. It seems like so many people around us are just giving up on their marriages and not taking the time to make things right and come together. It makes me sad, and scares me at the same time. Poor Brad has to deal with all my anxiety and "what ifs" and he always very patiently talks me through it and eases my mind. I'm glad I have a husband I can trust completely who does everything for me and Donovan. I love my little family so much! At this point in my life, I'm the happiest I've ever been. I know it will continue to get better and I'm so excited for the future...but I'm pretty content with the present! I'm grateful for both of our families and I love all my in laws! I love my siblings and I hope we can all get closer as we get older! I love my husband and all he does for me and how he always makes me feel like I am a hot wife. He's helped me a lot with my confidence level and I'm very grateful for him. While I'm crazy about Brad, I have to say I'm especially grateful for this cute little face! I think Donovan has all of our good traits...plus a few annoying ones like his stubbornness, it's hard to say where he got that, I think Brad and I are both pretty stubborn. I'm so excited for him to get older and continue to develop his personality. He is so sweet and fun. He wasn't a snugly baby, but he is definitely a snugly toddler and I love it! I love the conversations we have and his sweet little voice. The other day we had to go to the laundromat because our stupid dryer hadn't been fixed and I had 5 loads of laundry to do! He had so much fun watching the dryers and talking to all the little old ladies there. Before we left, one of the ladies said, "I just have to say, he is a very well behaved little boy...exuberant, but not naughty!" That made me feel good about my current efforts to get him to behave. We have been using the time out chair a lot in the evenings, but he is getting it. He knows when he is in trouble and tries to get out of it by giving me his sweetest grin, tilting his cute little head, and saying "Hi, mommy". Little stinker. I wonder where he got that from? I guess I have to claim that one, I was always trying the sweet act to get out of punishments.

I will leave you a video for your enjoyment. Yes, we let our kid listen to "Poker Face", we are horrible parents. But it's really cute to see him get excited about songs and try to sing them!

We only had Brad for a few days this week before he left for the District Tournament so we tried to hang out as a family as much as we could. On Wednesday, the day before he left we went to the Men's first Basketball game of the season. It was a good game and Donovan had a blast running around and getting into trouble. He tried to join the announcers and at one point decided he wanted to be part of a time out huddle, it was awesome.
The morning that Brad left was a lazy day for us. We hung out in our pajamas most of the day and I'm not sure when I actually got a shower...did I get a shower that day? Anyway, Donovan decided he wanted to wear his boots and silly pumpkin hat. He's really cute, I know.

He still climbs everything.
On Saturday I promised Donovan we would go to the zoo because I really didn't want to stay home and listen to the game, I was way too nervous. I know, I'm awful, I should have supported my husband but I just needed to keep my mind off it and stay busy.Finding Nemo.


We went on a train ride for the first time. He was so excited and had a really hard time waiting in line to get on! He had so much fun!
His new thing is always telling me when he's excited, I love it!

Unfortunately, the season is over for IWCC Women's soccer. They had a great season and I'm really proud of Bradley. He's so passionate and works so hard! I'm so glad he can do what he loves. I'm sad that the season is over for them, but I'm glad that I have my husband back!

Boo

The girls lost in the District Final 1-0 against last year's National Champions. They played really well and it could have gone either way. There are many positives even though they lost! They were missing 2 of their key players to ACL tears and were still able to play at a very high level! Good season girls, congrats Brad on a winning first season as a head coach! This years record was 18-1-1 with a Region Championship, I'd say that's a pretty darn good season. We're looking forward to next season!!

District Championship

The game starts at 11:00 am central/10:00 am Mountain. Support my Bradley and listen to the game live! Click HERE

Get Some...

...don't ask, the soccer girls and Brad always say that now, and part of this post is about them.

We will start with the beginning of the week. On Monday night, we had our friends Natalie and Mark over playing games and we got a knock on our door. We walked out to see this...
Hannah had carved pumpkins with some soccer girls and they decided to leave this by our door. Now they know where we live...awesome. It was pretty funny. Donovan still says, "ewwww, gross" whenever we pass it.

On Tuesday, Donovan and I took off for the zoo. I was going to make Brad come with us so we could use our train tickets, but found out they had expired, so we let him go to work. It was the perfect day to go. It was a little breezy and cool, but nice!
Donovan loved kicking the leaves on the ground and watching the wind catch them. I don't blame him, I still love playing in crunchy leaves!
We also went the the IWCC Halloween Party on Tuesday evening, but I forgot my camera. I felt horrible, he looked so cute and had a good time but was ready to be home, it was a long day and he didn't have his nap!

On Thursday, we celebrated Hannah's birthday, the big 2-2! You're so big Hannah. The boys did a good job blowing out the candles for her. Donovan learned how to say "Happy Birthday" and it was really cute. Notice how he doesn't have pants on...he thought his pants needed some lotion on them. He was being really quiet in Mason's room so I went to check on him and he was dumping Addi's baby lotion all over his pants and on the floor. It was a fun mess. His pants still smell like baby lotion after washing them.


Yesterday was the big day! We went to a baby shower in the morning and he kept telling me he wanted to see the fish, so to pass the time we went to Bass Pro Shops and saw the fish. They had fun Halloween activities going on, so Donovan decided to make a mask. He mostly just wanted to dump the glitter all over the place.
He was so ready to go trick or treating! We started around 6:30 and both boys lasted until after 7:30! I was impressed.
He loved the concept of mooching candy off people! And he's so good at mooching already, it was like every day x100 for him, he loved it.
After a while, he gave up on saying trick or treat and just stared people down until he got his candy and then he helped them shut their doors...he's so polite. Mason was awesome. He started telling everyone, "I'm Volvovine from X-Men." It was the highlight of the night.
Today we made the trip to Des Moines to see the men and women in the Region XI finals. The men lost 2-1 and the women won 3-1! Congrats to Brad on his first Region title as a head coach!! Now they need to get through Districts and then they will be on to Nationals!! It's so exciting, but stressful at the same time.

The boys did a pretty good job, but it took some weird things to keep them entertained.
Cute boys.
REGION CHAMPS!!!The coaches with their plaque...so awesome! Way to go Reivers!!!And now I'm exhausted, good night.