Thanksgiving & Blessings

There are going to be a lot of pictures on this post, I hope I can get them all on here. Wow I can't believe that Thanksgiving has come and gone already. We had such a good time with our family this year. We drove up the night before because Jesse will sleep most of the night and it is so much easier when he is asleep. We got there really early Thanksgiving morning and got a few hours of sleep, then it was off to Thanksgiving dinner with the Cam's side of the family. This year it was the whole Beveridge side so we got to see all of them and they got to meet Jesse for the first time. Everybody agreed that he looks just like Cam did when he was little. We ate good food and visited with the family, it was so good to see everyone.

Then the next day we spent it with my family. Have to rotate when there is more than one family. So we spent the day with them and Cam got to meet Hannah and his two nephews, Kaleb and Xander. It was a lot of fun seeing them and playing with them. We did a family photo of all the Stevens' that day too so now we have an updated one until someone either gets married or has another baby. It was so cold while taking the pictures but worth it to have them. We played a lot with the babies and I drove my dad's really fast Evo! Oh man that is a fast car! We also got a new puppy that day too. We gave our other one back to the pound a little while ago and wanted another little puppy. We got Dixy that night, she is a chocolate lab and is 7 weeks old. She is so cute.

On Saturday we blessed Jesse and Xander. It was so awesome to be able to do that with all the family and I am so thankful for Cameron and being worthy to hold the priesthood to be able to bless Jesse. We had a luncheon afterwards for all the family and friends and got to catch up with all of them.

We then had a family photo of the Beveridge side and I was so happy to get one done. I love having pictures of my family up to show how awesome they all are. We then got the famous Purple Turtle for dinner on our way out of town. Yep holiday over now its time for the long 14 hour drive. Again we drove at night to keep Jesse asleep. That was probably the most eventful drive home I have ever had. First we forgot some things but to late now so then we get to a part of the trip where there are a lot of wildlife and the roads are windy and they were snowy this time too. So I am driving to give Cam a break and we drive into a snow storm, OK I can handle that. Then there is a herd of elk on the side of the road, maneuvered around them, then there is a herd of deer got around them too. But then there is this lone deer who jumps out of now where and I slam on the brakes and lock up the wheels and I hit my first deer! Yep, that's right. I was so scared, but we couldn't find the deer so I must not have killed it. And I wasn't going that fast either but I still managed to hit it head on. But we had someone watching over us because all the damage that happened was a small little dent in the hood near the front and that is it. Nothing broke and we were able to drive the rest of the way home. We got to Flagstaff and had to rest, so we slept for a couple hours and then got back on the road. We got maybe 15 or 20 miles down the road when we got stopped on the freeway for about an hour due to an overturned semi. But then it was smooth sailing from then on. We made it home and got unpacked. I was sad to be leaving our family but excited that we will be able to see them at Christmas this year.

4 Months and Then Some

Well I guess I should write something huh? Just kidding. So Jesse had his 4 month check up about 2 weeks ago and he his a healthy little baby. He is almost 13 pounds now and is over 2 feet tall. He got some more shots and took it like a man already, he barely even cried. I can't believe that this much time has passed already. He is growing more and more. His hair is starting to come in I can start to spike it now. He has discovered his feet and loves to blab and talk to me all day. We tried to feed him some rice cereal on his 4 month mark but didn't want anything to do with it, so I waited another week and he ate some of it but after a week of eating it I think that he has had enough rice so we are going to move on to either oatmeal or barley cereal. He started taking forever to put to bed at night and so I started to just make sure that he was calm and then I put him in his crib and he goes right to sleep.

He still loves to just play on the floor with his stuffed animals Elliot and Elfonzo, or Fonzie as we call him, but he is starting to want to chew on everything! If we are holding him he wants our thumb or fingers in his mouth to chew and believe me as soon as there are some teeth in there that will be the end of that, he can already bite really hard! He has also discovered his feet. He is always trying to grab them and when he does he takes a roll to which ever foot he has grabbed. It makes for a more supervised bath time as he does it during then and then he gets a face full of water. You would think that after multiple times of doing that, that he would learn not to? Oh well, maybe one day. He has started laughing too. But every time that we try to get it on camera he just looks at the camera, like a deer caught in the headlights. We are trying to be sneaky when we do it now so hopefully one day soon.

Cameron's sister Katie came to visit us for a week this month and we had fun. We went to Old Bisbee and looked in all the old shops and bought a cookie jar that is having a siesta. Cameron and Katie hiked the three kings here one day and got some good pictures. We are so excited to be going home for Thanksgiving. We haven't all been together as a family since we moved to Knoxville. And we are excited to be blessing Jesse while we are up in Utah too. Can't wait to see everyone!

Happy Halloween!

I was so excited to get Jesse dressed up into his costume. He didn't even mind it, he is a pretty easy going baby. He only gets cranky when he is hungry or tired, he is pretty much over the screaming his head off when he has a wet diaper. He is starting to play with other kids, well as much as he can while he is on his back. He is rolling over really well too. He can go back to front and front to back. He is even getting better about being on his stomach too. I am excited to start him on baby food. He is getting really interested in regular food. When ever Cam or I have any food around him he will follow you until you are finished or get up from where you are. He is so good at holding his head up and with sitting up too. I can't believe that he is almost 4 months now. He is the size of a lot of 6 month babies. Which is awesome, he is over 2 week long now and he is gaining weight really well. He is doing really well and he is making more and more noise every day. He is getting hard to take a bath now, he likes to flip over in the tub but he won't sit up very well so we have to watch him so close. He has drowned himself a couple times by rolling over in the tub. At least he really likes the water. We had a few trick or treaters not very much though. But we had some awesome potato, broccoli, cauliflower cheese soup, it was perfect for the night. When we walked down to our neighbor's it smelled just like fall. It was such a nice night not too cold and not too hot, just right. I don't think that I have ever had a Halloween where I didn't need to layer under my costume. I am so a warm weather person. Well that is all I can think of that is going on with us. Until next week.

Too Cute!

So I was cleaning out Jesse's drawers and I found all these cute clothes that I forgot about. When I first put his clothes away he was too little to wear a lot of them, but now he is just the right size for them. This outfit is too cute for me not to post this picture. It was his Sunday clothes yesterday. I love little outfits like these!

Where Does TIme Go?

Wow, it's been so long since we have posted anything. I was up in Utah visiting with the family while Cam was gone doing more training, but we are together again and now I can give you updates on everything that is going on.

So visiting the family was fun and it was a good because they helped me out and gave me a break when I needed it. Jesse and I drove up in one day! We left our house at 6 am and we made it to my parent's house around 10 pm that night. The whole state of AZ wasn't too bad but going almost the whole state of UT was another story. By the time that Jesse and I got off the freeway to go to Mom and Dad's we were both crying. But Raygan, Hannah and Daniel were there to take Jesse and help me decompress from the long day of driving. Jesse was so tired that he got his bath and went right to bed until 7 am the next morning.

The next day I went with my sister-in-law Katie to the Mt. Timpanoges temple to take her endowments out. It was so good to go to the temple, it had been a while since I went last. And I was so happy to be there with Katie. Then after that there was just a lot of hanging out and being with the family. Jesse got to meet a lot of his family but not all of them, Thanksgiving is almost here and then he will. I was able to go the the Relief Society Broadcast and listen to their messages.

I also got to go and see the new Harry Potter! I was so excited to go and see it. When it came out I had just had Jesse so I wasn't able to go, but Mom watched him and I got to go to the movies. It was so funny! I wanted to laugh out loud so many times, I can't wait till it comes out on video!

Mom, Raygan, Hannah and Jesse and me went to Gardener Village to see the witches that they put out every year. It was a lot of fun to wander around and see all the funny witches that they came up with this year. Jesse didn't mind so much he slept for most of the time.

Cam's sister Rachel used to work at the Stein Erickson Lodge in Park City and while working there she got a lot of free Sunday brunches at their restaurant there and so Jesse and I went with her and the family on Conference Sunday. The food was fancy gourmet but good. I couldn't believe it, while we were there it actually snowed! I called Cam and told him that I am not ready to move back to Utah yet. Sorry to the family, but I like the warm weather to much.
I was so happy that Rachel was able to come home with me. She had her fall break and so she drove down with us and stayed for the week and then flew home on Saturday. We had a lot of fun and were able to take Jesse on his first swimming trip! He loved it! I even got in the colder pool first and he didn't even care. But then I went into the warmer pool and he just laid there and loved every minute of it.

Cam came home on Friday and we are both so happy that he is home! We have just been hanging out and having fun playing with Jesse. He is getting more and more alert everyday. He loves to have all the attention. If I leave the room for too long he starts to fuss and lets me know that I am not paying enough attention to him. I think that is why he doesn't like to ride in the car very much, because he can't see us and there is no one to play with back there all by himself. Hopefully he grows out that.