Fall 2013 & Winter 2014

The last six months have flown by. In a nutshell, this is what we’ve been up to:

Home 
We moved into our house!! And no, I don’t have any good pictures to show yet. ☺ Landon was a big help helping painting, unpacking, and building (bookshelves, chairs, table, etc… the list goes on and on). As you can see in the pictures below, he also went through a phase of attaching things to himself – in the picture below where the baby tub is tied to his boxers with a belt, he is pretending to be a trailer truck. He is quite inventive.

Fall
We actually had a bit of nice fall weather. My family came out to visit and they were especially helpful in getting all the home projects done that I wanted. Took a trip to the pumpkin patch with them and enjoyed the last bit of heat before winter set in with full force.

Halloween 
For Halloween I was hoping Landon would want to be Peter Pan, since that costume was already made, but he was totally over Peter and had moved on to Bob the Builder. No biggie, we still got tons of use out of it. Halloween gets more and more fun each year as he gets older! He had a blast trick or treating, and wanted to keep going but was just so tired. By the end he was laying down in the wagon falling asleep. One of the things I look forward to most each year is the Halloween party Scott and I get to enjoy sans Landon. This year there were six snakes in the photo room. Don’t be deceived by the smile; I’m having a panic attack on the inside.

Thanksgiving/Baby Ultrasound 
Celebrated Thanksgiving just the three of us, just how we like it. Also, per tradition, went to see a movie in the afternoon. Landon didn’t want to see Frozen because it looked “too scary,” so we went to Austenland instead. One of my favorite books! The movie was also good, definitely as cheesy as we expected, but funny, and fun to watch since Scott knew a lot of the people who worked on it. Baby ultrasound! As much as we would have loved a girl, we both just knew it would be a boy. He’s been consistently measuring two weeks bigger/ahead of where I am. Although this usually means nothing, it’s interesting to note. Boy it goes by fast the second time around! And yes, we have the name picked out, but decided to keep it a secret till his birth. Not that it’s some bogus made-up name; it’s just more fun driving our parents crazy.

The Accident 
December came with a good haul of snow, which Landon thoroughly enjoyed. We couldn’t wait to go back to WA for Christmas and New Years, and make our semi-annual getaway to Victoria, BC. But, unfortunately the night before we were planning to leave, we got in a car accident. Huge, huge bummer but much to be thankful for, as it could have been a lot worse. Long story short, traffic in town stopped abruptly in front of us, and Scott put all his weight into the breaks in an effort to stop in time. We still hit the car in front of us and on impact Scott shattered the top of his foot, breaking and displacing multiple bones. It was classified as a Liz Franc injury; one that puts athletes out of their careers for good. He had surgery on Christmas Eve morning, followed by some scary complications, so we also spent most of that night in the ER. It’s been two and a half months and he just barely got the cast off and started physical therapy. Fingers crossed he will be able to walk by the time baby comes. (Thankfully, our car was fixable and now it looks amazing with a whole new front.)

Christmas 
We couldn’t believe this year Landon actually wanted to see Santa. He was so nervous but just had to tell Santa what he would like for Christmas. Christmas ended up being quite a bit different than we planned because of the accident and surgery. Scott was heavily drugged and out of it most of the day. Landon still had fun opening his presents, building his new train table and jamming out on his drums.

Visits 
After New Years, Scott’s family came to visit. Landon especially loved swimming in the hotel pool with them. Landon’s been doing well in gymnastics and loves going each week - although he’s quite the little spaz and has a hard time focusing and listening to his teacher. He also loves to sit in on Scott’s work meetings, even when he can’t keep his eyes open very long.

Fun Outings 
Landon and I went to the Dino museum. Lots of hands on things to play with at the museum, although Landon was a little freaked out by dinosaurs. He kept reminding me (and himself) that “They were alive a long long time ago… now they’re dead.” But, the dino noises in the background such didn’t make it seem like they were dead. ☺ We also couldn’t pass up the monster truck show in SLC. Landon was in heaven!

Superbowl! 
We had some friends over for a big ol’ superbowl party. Even though we’re not sports people in the slightest, we had the greatest time watching the Seahawks win!!

Faces of Landon 
Top left: L loves to put out fires in the house.
Top right: Helping Mommy clean! He enjoys doing the spray, emptying garbage cans, and unloading the dishwasher.
Bottom left: Most of Landon’s pictures look like this – he will smile at me, but just can’t take his eyes off of whatever thing he’s playing with.
Bottom right: Took an ink pad to his face… “This is my makeup.”

Left: Sporting his "listening to the Holy Ghost ears" from primary.
Right: Helping mommy shop at Trader Joes. (His latest thing when I ask him to smile is to immediately spread his legs apart as far as he can.)

Basketball 
[As you can see, these are the only pictures we managed to take on the good camera during the last six months.] During February, Landon was in a basketball class a couple times a week. He wasn’t super thrilled at first, but that might be partly because he doesn’t do sports much at home. He does what daddy does: make music! They jam out all the time and he loves to go to the studio and “record” songs with Scott and Brenden. By the end of the month though, Landon had definitely improved his dribbling and shooting skills and enjoyed it more and more.

Valentines Day 
On Valentine’s Day this year, we recreated our V-day from 10 years ago. Scott also treated me to a pedicure and massage, which was very sweet and very much needed.

Pregnancy Photo Shoot 
I was so diligent with Landon, taking pictures each week to document his growth. Not so good this time around. At least we got a few memorable picts at these amazing photo spots at Scheels. [35 weeks]  

Warming Up 
We are finally getting a glimpse of spring here, with beautiful warm weather! Play dates at the park, scootering around the neighborhood, and a trip to the zoo. Landon’s favorites at the zoo: the tiger and the new pirate ship play area. We just love being outside!

Family Photo Fall 2013 
Last one of just us three! ☺
Scott Update: [Since there wasn't really a better place to fit this in.] Despite being unable to walk, Scott has still managed to get a lot of work done, with the help of amazing friends. In January he released "Stormtrooper Secrets: Hip Hop Twerk" which hit a million views in less than 48 hours. The song he wrote for the video, "Beat Calls," made it to the top 40 on the hip hop charts, right along side Macklemore, Jay Z, and Eminem, which was pretty surreal. More importantly though, are all the jobs that have come because of the video. Right now he has a team in the Philippines shooting some sweet videos for his You Tube Channel. There are many other videos in the works including one for Ford, and the next Scott & Brendo album will be out sometime before fall. Love my talented hubby!

Summer 2013

This has by far been our busiest, craziest, most eventful summer yet. Our adventures included...

Visit with Thomas:
Thomas the Tank engine came into town. Train rides, play train sets, temporary tattoos, a magician, balloon animals, and a visit with Sir Topham Hatt. Definitely not worth the $20 bucks each to get in, but Landon still had a blast.

Birthday:
Landon turned three! All my pictures of his party were on the "nice" camera so that will have to be another blog post entirely. It was Peter Pan themed, and I made him a Peter Pan outfit for the occasion, which will hopefully double as his Halloween costume too! (He was obsessed with Peter during spring and the first half of summer.) We also spent countless days at the splash pad and water park. Sometimes we were even lucky enough to get a sudden rainstorm that left some good puddles for splashing.

Business Trip:
Right after Landon's birthday, Scott was hired to shoot some behind the scenes videos for a show called @summerbreak. He was in CA for two weeks. Landon and I drove out to join him for the second week. I was really nervous about driving by myself, but thankfully my good friend and her fam were going to LA the same day so we caravanned with them, and the drive ended up being totally fine. We got to watch Scott work one day, then explore and play the rest of the week.

Lan and I spent the majority of our time beach hopping. We had so much fun!! Our favorite was Santa Monica, with there being so much to do on the pier, and the kid's muscle beach as well.

We did drive up to the Zoo one day, but it ended up being so hot and with no ocean to jump into, we didn't stay too long. By the time our trip came to an end I was feeling so much more comfortable driving around LA by myself, whereas before, I was totally frightened by the thought.

Landon's First Visit to Disneyland:
We felt it was sinful to be so close to Disneyland and not go, so that is exactly when we did when Scott finished work. It was Landon's first visit, and of course it was magical. I had the day planned out exactly so that we could hit up all the major things we didn't want to miss. We did the Peter Pan ride first; he liked it, but isn't too comfortable with the rides that go into dark places and have characters and things happening all around, even if they are familiar. Loved the teacups. Of course Toon Town was a hit; his favorite was Gadget's Go Coaster! We saved Radiator Springs until the evening and boy was he in heaven. When the neon lights turned on, all he wanted to do was have me push him in the stroller down main street singing "Life Could be a Dream." :)

Oh, and Landon loved watching any and all the street performances. Scott got pulled into one, so that was quite entertaining!

Fourth of July:
After a long trip, we were back home in time for the 4th. I've always wanted to go to the balloon festival, so this year Landon and I drove out at 6:00am to see it. So neat to watch all the balloons fill up and take off!

We also watched the parade, which had countless firetrucks, police cars, antique cars, etc... so Landon thoroughly enjoyed it. We ended the evening with some fireworks at home, that Landon and the neighbor kids had such a good time watching, and Scott had an equally good time lighting. The smoke bombs were definitely a big hit.

Disneyland Round Two:
Scott was booked solid all through July filming project after project, so when all the filming ended and it was time for him to be at home working nonstop editing and writing music for everything, we knew that meant Landon and I needed to stay out of the house as much as possible. So, I nonchalantly mentioned to Scott that Landon and I would go to Disneyland for a week while he worked. To which Scott replied, sure...

Side note: When we went to Disneyland in June, Scott and I were kind of fed up with saving and saving and saving money for a house that we had yet to find, and for a baby that doctors said would never come naturally. So, we said heck, let's buy season passes. So, of course I was itching to use them. 

This was on a Sunday evening. The only thing holding me back slightly was the fact that I was due to start my period that night. Ultimately I decided I'd be silly to let that get in the way of our spontaneous trip, so I booked a hotel, packed up a few things, and we left Monday at 4am. Since I had done the drive by myself just three weeks prior, I felt totally confident in doing it again. My mom is very much a get-up-and-go-explore kind of person and I definitely got that spirit from her. We made it to Anaheim in 9 hrs flat, with only one stop and were at Disneyland shortly after lunch time. First thing Landon requested? "Go to Radiator Springs!" He could play with the beads hanging from Filmore's house all day.

We met lots of his favorite characters this go around. He was so excited to meet them all, ESPECIALLY BELLE (Beauty and the Beast being his new obsession during the second half of summer.) He would always get really shy though, when it was our turn to go up.

Every morning we would hit up a new ride (that has horrendous lines later in the morning/day) so we were able to go on Autopia, the Submarines, and many others with no wait time. He also liked to go in all the merch stores (which I loved) and meant a nice break from the heat. We also rode the roller coaster in Toon Town about 20 times in a row for a couple of those mornings. He loved sitting in the front, putting his hands up and screaming!

I'm pretty sure we saw every Disney band they have come out, and watched the Beauty and the Beast show at least three times. (Awesome show! I'd never seen it before but we just loved it!) Lan loved watching the parades, and one afternoon, Captain Hook came right up to him and shook his hook in Landon's face. Landon thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Then, as if our trip couldn't get any more magical, I found out Thursday morning that WE ARE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!! That's right, the period I was dreading never came, so I went and got a test and could not believe it was actually positive. I was flipping out to say the least. But of course I didn't want to tell Scott over the phone, so despite how much fun we were having, I was really looking forward to getting home Saturday. That same day, Scott told me that we got the house we looked at before I left. We loved everything about this house, and quickly put an offer in, but there were also four other people with offers. WE ARE GOING TO BE HOMEOWNERS!! (I'd like to point out that of course everything worked out, just when we thought nothing would, and bought the season passes to Disneyland. Haha.)

Anyway, I bought a baby goofy stuffed animal, wrapped it up, and gave it to Scott when we got him. He had a super confused look on his face, and said, "Oh cool... this is for me?" To which I replied, "Well actually it's for the baby!" He almost passed out.

Two days after we got back from CA, we left for WA. I didn't take a ton of pictures because shortly after we got there the morning sickness set in. We went berry picking in Spokane. Landon loved the pea pit at the farm. We also went to the splash pad, swimming in the pool out back, and to a really fun bounce house facility. In Olympia, I was feeling even more sick, so my mom took Landon around; they went to the beach, children's museum, park, etc...

Despite feeling sick, I didn't want to cancel our little getaway to Victoria, BC. Scott and I still had such a good time! We went to an amazing lighthouse with a rich history. We also had fun just driving around the coast, and eating at all our favorite places. We went into many shops downtown in search of some memorabilia item for our house, to which we ultimately ended up buying a beautiful painting of the ocean.

Back Home:
Wow, it felt good to be back home. One Saturday recently, Scott and Landon went up to SLC with a couple friends to do the Color Run. Landon had a blast and loved getting colored! We also helped Scott film his one year anniversary video for his Youtube: Flying Kittens vs. Flying Puppies. (It comes out today I believe.) We got to babysit 8 kitties for the day, and boy were they cute beyond belief!

We took a family trip to SLC and did the touristy stuff on temple square. Landon loved seeing the temple. Unfortunately he left his Christmas blanket somewhere there and we didn't realize until after we got home. It was never turned in. :( Thankfully, he had a Cars blanket at home already that he now uses.

Geez, I'm glad to have this done. Now I really should get packing... we get the keys to our house tomorrow! :) :) :)

Highlights from Life

Presenting our insta collage recap of March - May, with a few detailed points I'd like to remember. Thank you Landon for taking an especially long nap so I could get through this. 

Baking & Buys:

• This feels like an eternity ago! I went with a much simpler St. Patrick's Day treat, compared to last year. Landon was ridiculously ecstatic about the colorful cupcakes.  
• Bought all of the clothes pictured from Gap for $3 total; regular price $100. Combination 40% off storewide and credit card rewards = one happy momma. 
• Actually bought a new, hardcover book for myself. Haven't done that in about three years. Landon already has Chicka Chicka memorized and recites it often. He is obsessed with letters and numbers. Can count to 70 (while looking at the written numbers) and knows all the letter sounds, and examples of words that make those sounds.

Easter:

• I singlehandedly ate three bags of jelly beans in three days, along with candy for lunch the two weeks following Easter. Probably not the best idea. First time I've actually gained weight because of my sugar addiction. 
• Landon had a spectacular Easter. Went to a couple egg hunts and festivities at BYU, along with having my mom and brother here to visit.

26:

• This was the second time in my life that Easter has fallen on my birthday (March 31). What fun! And get this: We went to Park City that day and in a random used bookstore, I opened up to a random page in a book and this is what I found: A girl's journal entry about her birthday, which was on March 31! What on earth are the chances?! 
• My mom was amused by the fact that it could be 70 outside, yet still have snow on the ground. :)
• Went to see the progress on the Provo Tabernacle that is being rebuilt into a temple, after a fire a couple years ago gutted the place. 

Train Ride:

• We are all about Saturday adventures. Usually we head up to Salt Lake City for this or that. One Saturday, we found out a new Trax train line was opening that would run from downtown SLC to the airport. Free rides all day! It was Landon's first train ride and he loved it. They had fun activities at each of the stops. At the fairgrounds, Landon was enthralled by the magician, didn't want to leave the bounce house, and got a balloon sword. (Which of course lasted all of 10 minutes before he popped it.) 

Tulip Festival:

• Another fun Saturday outing. It's always so refreshing when it's warm outside and everything is in bloom. These long, cold winters have made me appreciate spring and summer so much more. 

Daddy Time:

• Landon just loves spending time with Scott. All morning long he asks me, "Is it time to wake Daddy up yet?" "Is it time now?" Scott tries to spend a little time in the morning before work playing with him, and they will ride bikes to various parks after dinner, while I hit up the gym to work off all that Easter candy fat. :) 

Faces of L:

• I'm was making dinner one night, and looked over to find Landon putting one colored pencil at a time into his shirt pocket until he could fit no more. He said, "Look Mom! I'm a doctor! These are my tools."

Our Days:

• Lately it has been gorgeous outside. And we're loving every minute of it. 
• We also love bubbles and squirt guns.
• Dress up. Landon has taken quite a liking to the pink princess dress; it was bound to happen, his best friends are all girls.
• Free cupcakes. Just this once! I really have been significantly cutting down my sugar intake -  which has been ridiculously difficult. 
• Walking all over Timbuktu.
• Reenacting scenes from Peter Pan, at least 20 times each. "K Mom, now you get on the chair and jump off saying, 'You can fly, you can fly, you can fly!'" 
• Landon loves to assign us new names. For a while I was always Daisy, Landon went by Donald, and Scott was Clarabelle Cow.
• Thank heavens we still get a good nap in too. 
• With the time and season changes, Landon has been going to bed around 9:00pm and waking up around 6:00am. It has been heavenly.

Family Fun:

• One of our favorite Saturday trips included an afternoon at City Creek in SLC. Landon loves anything and everything to do with water. He was nailed a couple of times in the face but shook it off and went back for more. And as a somewhat related side note, he insists on taking a shower with me every morning, followed by a bath while I finish getting ready, then a second shower with Scott afterward. Needless to say, he stays pretty clean.
• Last weekend Scott & Brendo had their first live show! They were the opening band, had a large crowd of fans there, and performed very well. Landon came to see Daddy play, and although it was quite loud and he made me cover his ears during each song, he loved it. Now he runs around the house playing his instruments, "just like daddy in the rock and roll band."

Other Notables: (and a couple completely random pictures)

• We've been house hunting since March. The "fun" stage lasted all of a couple weeks and now it's just tiresome. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited about the ability to have our own home, but there just seems to be set back after set back preventing us from getting any house we deem a possibility. I'm sure it will happen eventually, but patience is not one of my better virtues, and the prospect of spending another scorching summer in our second floor apartment without AC is a little daunting. 
• Along with the music really taking off, Scott has been getting tons of offers for various projects from features to commercials all because of his youtube channel. Film opportunities with Fanta, AT&T, Virgin Mobile, Break Media, and the Travel Channel are currently in the works. It's going to be a busy summer!

Christmas 2012

And so begins the 40 picture, 936 word documentation of our Christmas vacation...

The Drive
First things first, the drive was fabulous. Thank you, technology. Scott got his Christmas gift early, (iPad!) so Landon could use it on the 16 hour drive. I cut off all TV at home around Thanksgiving so you can imagine Landon's excitement upon learning that all his favorite movies were there, along with Monkey Preschool, the app he loves to play when we visit the Apple Store. I had a backpack of other toys ready, that went untouched. Scott and I really do enjoy the drive. It's so refreshing to get out of smoggy, dry Utah, to clean, green Washington. It takes me by surprise every time we reach Olympia, and the air outside just smells so good and fresh and wonderful. For those of you who don't know, Provo has the second worst air in the nation, only beat out by another Utah city. Ridiculous.

Spokane
First stop, week with Scott's fam. The snow started coming in right as we got to town. Landon had a blast throwing snowballs, making snowmen, sledding and ice skating. I didn't even know they made ice skates that small! One person would hold him up on the rink, while another would push the holder to get some momentum, and Landon would just swing his little legs back and forth. He loved it! We went to ride the carousal too, which he LOVED last time, but this time, totally hated it. Ahhh, the ever-changing mind of a two-year-old.

Christmas
Landon was really into opening presents this year. I was surprised he did so well waiting for everyone to get up. When it was finally time, he would unwrap a gift, open it up, then immediately put it down and say, "Next present?" My mom made the mistake of having him open a car first. After that, if what he opened wasn't a car, then it was as good as garbage. He's just a little obsessed, I'd say.

Victoria, BC
This was the part of our vacation I was looking forward to the most. We drove to Olympia, then left a day afterward for Canada, just Scott and me! Can you believe I lived in Olympia my whole life, just three hours away from the border, but never went? Anyway, we drove up to Vancouver early, early, in the morning to catch the ferry. Beautiful ride through the San Juan Islands. Immediately after arriving in Victoria we booked it to the Blue Fox Cafe, said to have hands down the best breakfast around. Usually a huge line up at the door, but thankfully we only waited half an hour. It. was. heavenly.

The top two breakfast pictures are from the Blue Fox. Vanilla french toast, cheesy eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, mushrooms, whole grain toast and homemade strawberry rhubarb jam. We found that all the restaurants in Victoria use ingredients that are all-natural, local, cage-free, grass-fed, etc, etc... Tons of gluten-free and vegan friendly options as well. Such a refreshing change from Utah dining. The bottom two pictures are from the next morning at our B&B. First course included fresh fruit with vanilla yogurt, granola, and a lemon blueberry scone. Second course featured savory crepes filled with sausage, leek, and mushroom, with lemon zested asparagus and mini tomatoes. Also came with peach pear juice. All of which was absolutely divine.

We actually did do more than just eat in Victoria! (Not much more though...) Anyway, we stayed at Abbeymoore Manor, the #1 B&B in Canada, which was a really neat experience. It's a 100 year old restored mansion with five bedrooms (ours pictured below is the master). I have never felt sheets that soft in my life. :)

We did a fair amount of walking around downtown, by the pier, parliament building, and at the Royal BC Museum. Our favorite exhibit was about the evolution of maps. Pictured below is the first map ever made, in 544, basically a T chart with Asia, Europe, and Africa divided up. So fascinating to see how maps evolved with world exploration!

Across the street from our B&B was the Lieutenant Governor's mansion with 36 acres of gardens (bottom left) and the Craigdarroch Castle (top two). Touring the castle was so neat! It's been completely restored to its original state, and the history is fascinating. In a nutshell, it was completed in 1890 for a man who made a fortune off coal. He didn't live to see its completion but his family lived there 20 years before selling. It was converted to a military hospital for WWI, then became Victoria College after the war, then school board offices, later a conservatory for music, and lastly a historical house museum. We love Downton Abbey so I think that made it 100 times more cool to see.

ANYWAYS... We ate fish and chips that night. :)

The next day we had afternoon tea at the White Heather Tea Room. Known to be one of the best tea rooms in all of Canada. I can't get over how fabulous all the food was here. And I'm kicking myself for not thinking to purchase some of that tea to bring home! It was Mountain Berry: a delicious blend of Saskatoon berries, blueberries, dried currants, raisins, rosehips and hibiscus. Not to mention the three tier tray stuffed with delicious delicacies. It was a fantastic trip and we can't wait to go back!

Seattle
When we come to WA, we always have to hit up Seattle for an afternoon. Mainly we just want to get a bite of the World's Best Mac & Cheese at Beechers in Pike Place. Landon really liked watching the street performers, and had one make him a balloon sword. Happy boy! He is OBSESSED with Peter Pan right now. Somehow we lucked out and hit Seattle at the perfect time to catch a beautiful, rain-free sunset.

All in all, one of our best trips back home yet. Can't wait to go again!