Happy Birthday, baby boy!

On March 9th our little Landon turned 2! Oh, how the time flies. This kid is a crack up and has more energy and spunk than ever. He spent the day playing with cousins and running all over the place with new toys, and was pretty worn out by the end of the day.

Thanks to my Mom and Chelsea for helping me make Landon's cute cake! Okay, let's be honest. They did pretty much the whole thing.

A big THANK YOU to all of our family that came to celebrate with Landon. We love you!

Happy Birthday, Landon! We love you and can't get enough of your fun personality.

And finally, the moment I have been dreading for the last two years...

Potty Training. Wish us luck! We're going to need it.

March Madness...

This month is a crazy one for us. Between Landon's birthday, our anniversary, my good friend getting married, and Chelsea here for a visit we are definitely keeping busy! I have tons of pictures and lots to post about, so stay tuned!

Choo Choo!

Landon is obsessed with trains. OBSESSED. He absolutely loves them. He has one in his hand at almost all times, and he takes one to bed with him every night. He also likes to play with cars, however, he takes all of his cars and trucks, lines them up like a train, then pushes them from the back and says, "Choo Choo!!" and various other train noises. He even puts a little person in the back of the truck like a conductor.

Being the train lover he is, naturally he adores "Thomas and Friends" and knows every character's name. So as part of his birthday we bought tickets to "A Day Out With Thomas" up in Heber. We can't wait to take him! I don't think he will be able to contain himself seeing a life size Thomas.

One whole year...

For those of you who remember this post, I would like to announce that I have officially gone without biting my nails for one solid year. That's right. I kicked that habit, and I kicked it good! Not sure why I was able to do it this time when I have tried to quit so many times before. Was a "New Year's resolution" really all I needed? I'm not sure, but today I went out and bought myself an array of nail polish to celebrate. So if next time you see me I have florescent orange nails, you will know why.

Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

I love Christmas. But this year I seem to be exceptionally antsy for some reason. And tomorrow the festivities begin!

We hope that all of you take some time to enjoy this time of year and have a fantastic Christmas!

Deep fried smores...

Yes. They are every bit as good as they sound.

We heard (after Christmas) last year that Hogle Zoo does lights time of year. So we, and our cute friend Kelly, decided to bundle up and see them this year. IT WAS FREEZING! So we didn't stay as long as we would have liked to for fear that Landon might lose a limb due to frost bite. But they were a lot of fun none the less. They really put a lot of time and effort into these lights. It was amazing some of the scenes they created all with lights. And as mentioned before, they sell DEEP FRIED SMORES. I can't imagine how you actually deep fry a smore, but I didn't ask questions, my mouth was full. They also have some seriously tasty hot chocolate that helped to keep our hands and insides warm.

With all the the fun lights we kind of forgot about watching for animals. We did see a few in some of the indoor exhibits when we would run in to defrost a bit. But with or without the animals, it's definitely worth going. I think we will make this a yearly event. Landon was mesmorized by all the fun lights. It is definitely geared towards entertaining kids more than the average light exhibit. Plus, I'll go back every year just for those smores!

Sleeping, I am not...

Insomnia. Gotta love it.

Since I was about 17 I have had this come and go insomnia problem. I am pretty sure I can thank my mom for it. But, I will have it terribly for about 6 weeks and then, on it's own it will go away for a couple of months, only to return for another six weeks again. One might think that I could get a lot done during the wee hours of the morning without a toddler pulling at my leg. But I am usually so tired and frustated that I am not asleep that I don't do much of anything but lay there and wish I was asleep. I have tried counting, deep breathing, and I'll be honest, a Tylenol PM from time to time. But nothing (other than the Tylenol PM-but I try not to make a habit out of it) seems to work. It's wearing me out.

So for all you fellow insomniacs out there, (or fellow non-insomniacs, either way) any non-medicated suggestions for me? It would be fabulous if someone had some "miracle cure" that I just didn't know about. And I promise, if you have it, I will be sending goodies your way!

Can you hear me now?

Alright, now that we are private I will get to posting!

Let's start with Halloween. This year was a riot with Landon. Knowing he was going to be a lion, we started teaching him what a lion says early, so by Halloween he had it down. Anytime someone said anything to the effect of "Are you a lion?" he would fire back with a loud "Raaar!!" The yelling he did on his own, we didn't teach him that part. And let's be honest, with the tights he was wearing, he was pretty far from frightening.

We let him trick or treat a few houses and after about three doors he had "trick or treat!" or something pretty close to it down as well. I think taking him trick or treating was just as much fun as when I used to go myself...especially because he did all the work, but I still got the candy.

The week before Halloween we went to a Trunk-or-Treat where Landon had these pictures done. They show his vast array of facial expressions.

Heading to Private Town...

Hello all!

We have decided to go private. If you would like to continue viewing our blog, please send your email address to hillyrolly@gmail.com or leave it in a comment and I would be happy to add you!

Thanks!

Alaskan Wildlife

Here is some of the wildlife we caught on camera while in Valdez.

You can always tell where the Sea Lions are about to come up because there will be a group of seagulls waiting at the surface to try and steal a fish from it's mouth.The salmon were running while we were there so it was prime time to catch a glimpse of other animals doing some fishing.

This guy decided to take a nap in the middle of the parking lot, so he counts as wildlife too, right?

Valdez, Alaska

For part of our trip, we made a drive to Valdez to camp for a few days. Valdez is an Alaskan hot spot when it comes to fishing. Also, for those of you who remember, this is where the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill happened back in the 80's. Valdez is amazing. There were waterfalls around every corner, along with a giant glacier off the side of the highway, and all sorts of wildlife. Just a few hundred feet from where we were camping was a Bald Eagle's nest. You could hear the babies chirping all the time and on occasion we caught a glimpse of them being fed. It seemed like every time we turned around there was some sort of animal to take a picture of. It was definitely an awesome way to experience Alaska!

Whack-a-Mole Hill

A few miles from where Chelsea lives there is a little Mole Hill. These Moles should be listed among the tourist attractions in Alaska because they are the friendlist little creatures you will ever meet. They are so used to having people feed them that as soon as you set foot on the grass they are at your feet waiting to be fed. They aren't scared of people in the slightest. We were just in the neighborhood and decided to stop by, so we didn't come prepared with anything to feed them. I found some pretzels in the car, but apparantly moles don't like pretzels. These things were too cute not to feed, so we headed to the nearest store to get them something they would like: honey roasted cashews.

It was fantastic! What I wouldn't give for a Mole hill in my neck of the woods!

Let's get this started...

Well we are back from Alaska. It was sad to leave, but good to come home. In fact, it was marvelous to be home because Chris was a sweetie pie and cleaned the house spotless, and bought Landon and I fun presents while we were away. Which gets me to thinking that I should abandon him more often, wouldn't you say?

First of all, Alaska is the bomb. That's right I said it. The BOMB. In fact I might go as far as to say that it's "DA BOMB." If you ever have the chance to go there (in the summer) I highly recommend it. That whole state is like something straight out of National Geographic.

I'm not even sure where to start. I'll do my best to hit the highlights of the trip. Let's start with family. Landon had the time of his life with his cousins. Being the only boy among four girl cousins only made it all the more fun. And my sister lives on like two acres, leaving him endless amounts of room for him to run free and be a boy. After a few days of rain, he and the girls spent about two hours outside splashing in the mud puddles. I don't know if I have ever seen Landon have more fun in his little 16 month life.

Now Landon is stuck here with just me and no mud puddles.

To be continued...