Waterton 2014

A just because photo to start this off. Cass and I went to a Relief Society Valentines Day party and there was a little talk given that said Step #1 to feeling confident was wearing lipstick. Her grandmother said, "Even an old barn looks better with a coat of paint," so we went and bought some the next day for our wards Valentine's Day dance.

 We went to Waterton for Family Day, as it is our tradition. It was a lot of fun and we have missed the past 2 years so this was Ty's first time sledding. I think he enjoyed it, but he's not one to get all crazy excited like his Mom does.

 Ready to go! 

 The boys on their sleds.

 Brad and his girlfriend Kaitlyn.

 Grandpa Parker took Noah down on his first run. He enjoyed it! 

 Me and my boy

 Cam and his giant snowball (he's kneeling, not standing)

 Little Aiden's first time out in the snow. He was a trooper.

 Aiden and his Momma

 We dug a tunnel and a couple of us fit through it.

 The small Parker group this year. (Sorry Skylar, haha... every photo I took had you looking silly in it)

 Me and my hubby. I seriously love this guy SO much. After we went sledding we parked near the playground and carried all our food through an insane blizzard to the camp kitchen. Michael was amazing. He strapped Noah on the front of him in the carrier and pulled Ty behind him on the sled. I could tell it was a lot of hard work, and far to go in the crazy wind. 

 We put this scarf on Ty just before we put him in the sled to go to the camp kitchen. This is a few minutes after we arrived. 

 I should have worn either no mascara or waterproof. Also, my hair was soaking wet. 

 A small idea of what some of us had to travel through.

 But it was all SO worth it. Check out that fire!! Hot dogs, hot chocolate, and tin foils dinners for some! The cold weather made the food that much better!

 Keeping warm by the fire.

The man who started this all about 12 years ago! We love this tradition! Thanks Dad.

I should mention Breanne wasn't here because she is on her mission (and leaves TODAY finally to Australia), and Becky was is Mexico on a trip with her friends. I think she probably preferred what she was doing that day in Mexico to what we were doing. haha. All my other step-sibs live a bit too far to have made the trip or had to work. We missed you all!

Noah 9 months

Noah is now 9 months (okay, 9 1/2)! I can't believe this is the little boy we brought home from the hospital last April. I guess I should know this now with this being my second child, but I never thought I would enjoy seeing a baby grow up so much. The past month or so has been hard with him getting in 3 new teeth on top and we are still waiting for the 3rd to pop through. He also is not good at sleeping. After this 3rd tooth, I'm kicking the sleep training into high gear. I am going nuts. Both the boys wake up at 7am now which I am fighting with everything I have.

Noah is
-walking along furniture now.
-7 teeth now, 1 more any day! (4 bottom, 3 top)
-stood the other day for a solid 10 seconds! walking, here we come. I'm ready!
-eats almost anything. He is so easy going with meals. He will eat whatever Michael and I are having. Ty usually has his very own meal because he won't eat any sauces at all.
-loves to dance to music. It's usually just a nice bobbing motion but he looks so happy
-loves climbing on Ty's chair to look out the front window. Then he will bang on the window over and over
-still swaddled... I know right? Still takes his soother.
-he has started nursing less often and for shorter periods of time throughout the day. I'm sad to see the end of nursing in sight. I love the time with him and let's be honest, who doesn't love losing the extra 500 calories a day with almost no work?
-naps 2 times a day usually for an hour both times. sometimes the afternoon one is 2 hours -if I'm lucky
-bedtime at 7-8pm, awake a 7am.
-scalp is much less dry! Yahoo!
-loves babies. Especially his little cousin Aiden (who is 2 months now)
-The only thing I have found that he doesn't like to eat is rice cereal still. He is not picky at all.
-no lovey yet... we will see how that goes. Ty didn't have one until he was around a year old

 Ok, so I know I'm not a great photographer but I still enjoy documenting my kids cuteness. 

 Love that little face.

 This face he is making is something I just had to post. I love this look. 

 HAHA. Okay I just had to post this one. This is right after bathtime, and both kids look tired. Ty just scooted up right behind Noah for this awesome photo op. haha. Look how giant Noah looks. I promise he's not really that big compared to Ty.

 Me with the boys. I never get a photo with the boys, so here I am forcing them to get a picture with me. 

And a good photo of this absolutely perfect little face with his gorgeous blue eyes! (In his snowsuit we use every day. We love using it for going anywhere, especially the quick walks to and from Michael's parents house)

Cassandra's baby shower

I was so excited to be able to host Cassandra's baby shower. My Mom, Becky, and I planned it and it was so fun. Becky did the games which were so fun. I did the decorations and the white chocolate popcorn (colored blue), and my Mom did the fruit and veggies and the diaper cake. Oh ya, and Cassandra made cute cake pops. I kept the decorations simple because I love having people over and love hosting things like this, but I never go all out. I got my house clean for it at least, haha.

 The food setup 

 Shenoa and me with my super baggy unflattering top. 

 The Mom! As if she looks that good hey?

 The cute diaper cake my Mom made for Aiden. :)

 Cass and Aiden and their loot. LOTS of clothes for Aiden. 

 He's not a newborn anymore. :(

We had about 25 people show up and it was lots of fun. I took some pictures of people at the baby shower, but some people were eating in them, and I don't want anyone hating me. So I'm posting pictures mostly of the stars of the party.

Aiden is just about 2 months old now and he is such a good little boy. He is always so smily and my boys love him. Especially Noah. Aiden is lucky to have such a good Mom. Cassandra really never complains. She loves this little boy so much and clearly she is so happy to be his mother.

Sochi Olympics 2014

We have really been enjoying the Olympics. Ty has gotten into them as much as a 2 year old can. Though, he's enjoyed the extra activities that have gone along with the Olympics more.

 Here is Ty with his Gold medal.

 The classic bite, or is it a cookie? haha 

 My little Olympians.. haha. Ty gets Gold for jumping, Noah gets Gold for crawling. 

 Ty's coloring pages.

 Some of the medals.

Our Olympic chain. Ty was LOVING it when we made this. 

We have PVR'ed everything so far and have enjoyed just skimming through it all and being able to cheer on the Canadians-without commercials. 

Christmas 2013

Our holidays this year began with Michael being sick for a full 10 days. I'm not talking a man-cold, I'm talking a really bad flu. He was actually in bed the entire time. He went to emergency 3 different times, after blood and urine tests they found blood in his urine, but couldn't tell him anything other than that he had the flu. He ended up being given a drug called Tamiflu which I've been told they give to H1N1 patients. Also we have heard that H1N1 has been going around, and Michael's mom thinks thats what he had. I've never seen the "flu" so bad before. He was SO sick. But, he was all better by the time Christmas Eve came. 

 We had a Christmas party with some of my high school friends. A lot of people weren't able to make it but even with the small turnout we had a lot of fun visiting and reminiscing. Michael was sick in bed, but made an appearance to take a photo. 

 Becky had a little Christmas party this year. It was fun, and she was prepared with fun drinks, a delicious meal of crock pot lasagna, and a fun game. It was great to relax and visit and to see Ty and Maddy play together. They sure love eachother! 

On Dec 15, our little nephew Aiden was born. I got to be there when Cassandra had him and it was a very special experience. He is such a tiny little thing (especially compared to my 'baby') and we already love him. 

 Michael's first time meeting him. Obviously they get along. :) Michael couldn't meet Aiden until he was about 10 days old because he was sick.

 Our own little family tradition of opening new pj's on Christmas Eve. The boys looked so cute in their striped pants, but Noah had a blowout shortly before we started opening gifts Christmas morning. LOVE these two boys SO much. I wrapped the pj's in a Triscuit cracker box and Ty was pretty excited. haha

 Noah and Auntie Jody.  She just moved to Calgary so we will get to see her lots more! Yay!

 Noah loves observing what Ty is up to.  

We spent Christmas Eve afternoon at my Mom's and then later in the evening we went to Michael's parents where we put the kids to bed and played games. We only live 3 doors down from them so once we were done we got the kids and went home to sleep in our own beds.

 I couldn't decide which photo to post of us in front of the tree Christmas morning, so I posted both. We spent Christmas morning with Michael's family, and then in the afternoon we went to my Mom's house. 

 Ty is a fan of stickers lately. These and the bus below are from Auntie Jody.

 This gift was from Uncle Cam. Ty has already spent hours with his playdough crane. He really loves it.

 I started off strong with taking pictures of gifts, but this was all I got. Ty and Noah were both spoiled and Ty loved opening all the gifts (including Noahs).

 Here is Breanne and Brad before gift opening. They are both so grown up!

 The kids. Relaxing before we start the madness.

 The new Mama (Cass), Aiden, and Breanne. 

 Becky resting after the hours of opening gifts. :)

We had such a fun day relaxing with family. We truly are so blessed to be able to spend so much time with our families. We love each and every one of them. On Boxing Day we went out to my Dad's in Magrath for our "Christmas" with him. We ate some yummy snacks, opened gifts, and played some cards... It's no fun if we aren't playing games there. I am so bad because I didn't take any photos there. I took some with my stepmoms (Kristi's) camera, but not my own. We did, however, get a big family photo!! Michael wasn't there for it, so him and Ty are actually photoshopped in, which is probably why Ty's hair is a murky yellow color. But everyone is there, except for Aiden who wasn't born yet.

 

 Then we did family/individual photos for my Dad's picture wall. This is the best one of our family. Check out that smile on Noah!!!!!!!

 This photo is the last photo taken of my sister, Breanne and I, before she left on her mission. She reported Jan 1, and is going to the Sydney South, Australia mission. She is such a sweet, beautiful person and I'm excited to hear all about her success and growth over the next year and a half. 

 Devin and Amber and Jody were able to come visit for Christmas and we had so much fun playing lots of games with them, including Just Dance on the Wii.

 We went to the family dance our Stake put on on New Years Eve. This is how Ty spent a lot of his time ^^^ along with eating lots of gummy bears from the Sundae bar.  

 And this is how Noah spent a good chunk of his time.

But he eventually did wake up and he reaaaally enjoyed playing with the balloons. After the "countdown" we went to Michaels parents and put the kids to bed and ate some really good snacks and played Guesstures with Michael's family. Happy New Year!!

2013

2013 has been a big year for us. Here are 2013's highlights for the Mendenhall family:

-We bought a house!! We were meant to buy this house. Another offer was already accepted with conditions by the time we even looked at the house and our realtor told us there was no point in making an offer. Michael and I decided that we wanted to do everything possible, so that if we didn't get the house we could at least say we did our best. We made an offer the next morning and it was a looooong two weeks of slow decision making on the seller and potential buyers behalf. But we finally found out we got the house and the timing of it couldn't have been better. We moved in 3 weeks before Noah was born.

-We welcomed baby boy #2! Noah was born April 25. He is such a sweet boy, and we sure love having him in our family.

-We started renos on our home after Noah was 2 weeks old. Note to self: don't do that ever again. We did all the renos ourselves so it was hard to divide our time between putting in hardwood floors, painting, and the other small tasks, along with caring for a newborn AND a two year old. But we did it! I don't even think Michael and I got into a big fight about reno's once... which is something I have always heard is hard on a marriage. We LOVE the changes we have made so far. We have a lot more we want to do in the future but it's so awesome to enjoy the changes.

Renos 2014 will hopefully include the completion of insulating the garage and getting that all organized with shelving, completing the paint, baseboards, and trim in the basement, and recarpeting the upstairs bedrooms. Maybe if we are lucky we will reno the upstairs bathroom or do the salon in the basement? We will see.

-We camped lots in the summer. 4 times is a lot with a newborn and a 2 year old right? I think so anyways. We had so much fun camping with friends and family, and hopefully in 2014 we can do much more camping.

It was a great year and hopefully 2014 can be another good one for our little family.

Noah 8 months

Noah just admiring the fire in our fireplace. 

Noah has done the most changing so far in the past 3 weeks.

-he says Mama! It was his first word too!!!! Ty took forever, so this is just the best. He is starting to say it when he wants me too.

-he pretty much skipped puree foods. After a while of trying rice cereal and him gagging and puking it up, I decided to try puree banana, which he loved. Right after the banana I tried the rice cereal again and he puked. SO I've come to the conclusion that he is not not ready for solids but he just hates rice cereal. Within a few days I was feeding him crackers, chunks of bread and now hes eating small bite size portions of a lot of what I'm eating and cheerios. It's so fun to have him now eating solids.

-He is pulling himself to standing and does it all the time now. He loves getting up nice and high to see much more than his floor view.

-He is crawling up stairs. He was sitting by some stairs at a Christmas party and just went all the way up!! How did he even know how? Smart kid!

-Noah is clapping! I taught him how once day and the next he was clapping all on his own. The quiet sound of his little palms clapping together slowly is the best sound ever! And it's even better that usually his face is very serious with a soother in his mouth. Whats he even clapping about? :)

-He has been a terrible sleeper. He's up every 2-3 hours usually and won't go back to sleep unless I nurse him. Blah... how old are youuuuuuu? So last night he woke up after 3 hours (he eats every 4 hours during the day) and I swaddled him and gave him his soother and let him cry... I was so tired I didn't even have a problem tuning it out. He probably cried for 20 minutes then went to sleep and didn't wake up until 830am!! So he went 8 hours without eating. PLEASE let this be something that can continue every night

-He still loves to be swaddled when he sleeps. Swaddling him takes a high level of skill these days with a fairly small blanket and a large baby. Sometimes we even do the good old double swaddle. haha.

-Noah just got his first top tooth on the left (2nd one over). He now has that one and the 4 on the bottom. He has been enjoying grinding his teeth for the past few days.

-He's been sticking his tongue out the past few days and it is just the cutest thing. A pointy little tongue. I'll have to get a picture of it.

-Noah has had dry dry skin for a long time now, probably 3-4 months. We have tried cortisone cream, a couple natural body butters and lotions, and now we are on to glaxal base. His head and back are the worst. You can't see it from far away, but it's pretty dry when you are close and can feel it. We hope something will help. We are trying a new body wash/shampoo so we will see.