Christmas Card

For those of you who didn't receive a card this year...here it is!

Christmas came early this year

Tyler has been wanting Santa to bring him a big boy bed for a while now. He finally grew too impatient to wait for Christmas. When I went into his room yesterday to wake him up from his nap, he was already awake. He had been lying there, for who knows how long, "Waiting for Santa to wake me up & bring me mine big bed." So Nathan and I decided that Santa would have to come twice this year.

I'm sure that part of his excitement was from us unrolling his memory foam mattresses in the spare bedroom. I knew that sometimes they can take a while to fully inflate, so I thought that I would give them a couple weeks before Christmas. He loved the mattresses so much that he made Nate read him his nap-time story on them, and even asked to move them into his room for his nap!
Due to the size of the bunk bed, Santa was unable to fully assemble it last night. So it was in large pieces in the living room along with his cool new train bedding. When Nathan asked Tyler what Santa left for him, his reply was, "Whew...Santa left a BIG MESS!!!" After we finished the job that Santa had left, Tyler played on his new bed for the rest of the morning.

He was so excited to sleep in his new bed tonight, that he opted to skip his bedtime story (that NEVER happens!) and get right in bed. Look at that big grin on his face!

It's Done!

After months of work our basement office is finally done! I did most of the work myself with some help from my Dad and my Grandma Clark. Yep that is right my Grandma is awesome and is great at taping and mudding. Anyway here is my corner

and here is Jessica's. I think this is a much better place for her sewing machine than the utility closet.

The only parts I didn't do were the carpet and the trim. We hired one of our neighbors for that and he did an excellent job so if you live around here and need any type of flooring done let me know and I'll give you his number.

It's a.....

HI!!! I'm Baby Ekstrom #2...

They told my parents that I'm a GIRL!!!

But they were wrong! I'm a BOY!!!

I was just being a little shy...

Today in the car...

While we were driving in the car to my parents' house today, I couldn't help but laugh my head off. So Nate & I were talking about babies, and it came up that he doesn't like to hold newborns. I know! Crazy, right? It's because he's afraid of "breaking them." I guess I can see his point, they are pretty fragile. Anyway, I told Tyler, "Daddy is afraid of tiny babies! Isn't that silly?" To which Ty responded, in a very sympathetic & comforting voice, "Ohhhh, it's okay daddy! There aren't any babies in the car. Don't be afraid!" So funny! But that wasn't the end, he went on to describe what WAS in the car, "See Daddy, there's only toys, and books, and mommy, and Chester" etc. etc. I thought that would be the end of it, but once we arrived at my parents' it continued. "And there's no babies in the bushes to be scared of either Daddy!" I love when Ty takes on the role of parent & tries to comfort us. :)

Little Book Worm

Tyler loves books. He loves to have us read to him. But even when Nathan or I are too busy, Ty loves to look at the pictures and "reread" the book in his head. He has an astonishing memory, and can remember most words to most of his books (anyone who has seen our bookcases knows that that's a lot of books!). He always has several piles of books lying around the house & in the car. You get the idea. I didn't think much about his love for books until I found him the other day with not one of his books, but one of mine....The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.


He was, no lie, sitting there "reading" this book for about 5 minutes before he even looked up. As soon as he noticed me, he got too embarassed & stopped reading. But after I left, I heard him go back to his make-shift reading nook (aka. a stool by the front door), and return to the book. As you can see, he even uses the little shoe cabinet in our entry as a place to store his books!

Tyler also loves to learn. Whenever he finds a book, newspaper, magazine, or even a piece of scrap paper with typing on it, he brings it to us and says "Talk about it." Recently, we've been trying to learn our letters. He likes to write them, with a little help from mom. This picture is a little old (a few months old actually), but I had to include it. After I had helped him with his writing, he did this...


As you can see, he gets a little shy in front of the camera. Many of our pictures have an embarassed smirk or smile, like those that you've seen so far. Maybe he just thinks that his mom is silly for taking pictures of him with a pencil.

Tyler's Big News

One Giganterous Blog Post

A little disclaimer before I begin: this post is extremely long!!! I've been such a slacker this summer about blogging, that I've got a LOT of catching up to do. So here's what we've been up to...at least the events that I remembered to bring my camera along to!

Our favorite trip of the summer (and one of our most favorite overall) was to Jackson, WY for a little rafting. We ran the Snake River everyday, all day long & had a blast doing it. Here's Nate rowing (I'm not in the boat).

We also visited the Bar J Wranglers (a first for me). Super fun place, good food, but not the best show for a toddler to sit through. Luckily, we sat in the back & could listen from outside.

After a week of camping, we were all ready to come home...except Tyler. He actually cried when we had to take down the tent trailer (too bad the camera was packed away). But he sure was worn out, as you can see from our car ride home.


Here we are at the petting zoo at Lindon Days. It was by far the most popular attraction for our little family. Have you ever seen a baby camel at a petting zoo before??? Me neither!

Tyler loved the baby horse...or was it a mini horse...or a pony. I'm not quite sure...

And the baby donkey.

And of course no petting zoo is completely without your cage full of assorted farm fowl.


Next is our trip to the Zoo. My friend Rachelle & her son Issac came to visit for a couple weeks from Ohio. It was so fun to see them again, & to spend a few days together.


The boys loved the monkeys. Tyler told me afterward that they were his favorite. I have to agree.


I love that Hogle Zoo still has the same lion drinking fountains that they had when I was young. Ahhh...the memories!!!


And the best way to end the perfect day at the zoo...the train of course! Tyler loved this so much that he couldn't stop smiling for the entire ride.


And to close...here are a few of my favorite, random pics from the summer. This was taken at my cousin's homecoming. Tyler thought he looked super cool!


Daddy & Ty riding Papa's '66 Vespa. All the grandkids love this sweet ride!

We did a lot of swimming, both in the backyard & the pool, during the hottest days of summer.

And went for a lot of walks in the evening. Tyler loves to have us push him down the hill at the park by our house. I love watching him smile as he comes soaring past me!


Tyler loves to help his Daddy outside. Especially when it comes to mowing the lawn. He follows him around the entire time. Too cute!

After a long, hot summer day, Tyler would often ask to go get an ice cream cone at McDonald's. Doesn't a good old soft-serve cone make you feel like a kid again?

And finally, here is my little cheeseball riding one of the lion statues at my mom's house. Man, I love this kid!

Cakes!!!

My neighbor hosted a cake decorating class in her home & I was lucky enough to be able to attend. For those of you who know me, I love to COOK & BAKE. This was a great chance for me to learn all of the "right techniques" that I had never learned before. Here's my first week's assignment: white cake with buttercream icing.

The following week was cupcakes. Chocolate frosted in buttercream with marshmallow fondant decorations & rolled chocolate sprinkle edges. SUPER easy...I took these to my niece's baptism the next day. Aren't they perfect for an 8-year-old girl???

This was my last assignment. We were supposed to find any design that we wanted to do. My sis gave me a cute cupcake book, Hello Cupcake, and I found this in there: frosted cupcakes (regular & mini) covered in candies. It was a big hit at the family 4th of July BBQ!!!

And finally, I had to throw in a pic of the mini cupcakes I made for my sis-in-law Natalie's baby shower. She has the cutest little girl, and these fit right into the theme colors. They were also incredibly easy! To get the smooth icing look, simply heat up your frosting in the microwave for 4-5 seconds & dip!!! Another cute idea from Hello Cupcake!

The recipes for the icing & fondant (that actually tastes good) can be found on my recipe blog:

My Inner Chef

Time for another trip...

We are going here....

Sleeping in a....

Glad we're not in a....

We'll be eating a lot of....




Hope we don't seen any....




While we're there, we'll be doing this...

Hopefully, none of this...

Or else there will be a lot of....

See you in a week!!!

Yearly Pics

My friend Kenzie took our family pictures last week. This is the sneak peek she posted. They are so cute! I'm dying to see the rest! Thanks Kenz!

You can see all her amazing pics at
http://www.mackenziekileyphotography.blogspot.com

UPDATE: Here are the rest of them!

San Francisco

Nathan and I had SO much fun in San Francisco. It is definitely one of our favorite cities! While Nathan was at Google IO, I spent my days shopping and going to the symphony. It was the first matinee performance I've been to, and I think I was the only person under the age of 65 there! Check out the sea of gray heads in front of me.

I had to take a picture of the row of old women in front of me during intermission. It gives you a better idea of what I'm talking about. This is basically what the entire hall looked like!The symphony hall, is actually really interesting, visually. Don't you think the balcony boxes look like Legos?And they have all these curved pieces of glass above the orchestra. I imagine that they are for sound projection, but it's really cool to see their reflection while they're playing.In the evenings, after Nathan was done, we'd go sight seeing. Here we are at the gate to China Town, or as we like to call it, gateway to the streets filled with crap-o-la.Driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.We also went to the redwoods. This was a first for me, and I loved it. This is me in the hollow of a big redwood tree.I love how lush and beautiful everything is. I felt like I was in a fairy-tale land. I kept expected wood nymphs to pop out. It is indescribably gorgeous. The picture does it no justice.And of course, no visit to San Fran is complete without going to see the sea lions at Pier 39. We could sit there and watch them for hours. They are SO funny!