A Good Trade

Last night we had pizza for dinner

I LOVE me some Hot-n-Ready pizza from Little Caesars

But when I am pregnant, I crave it like CRAZY

Last night we didn't have a Hot-n-Ready because of my craving

We had it because of this ad that Ben put up on BYU-I's Bulletin Board

Our pizza was DELICIOUS

Mainly because we had crazy crust

Which makes Little Caesars pizza even more yummy

Reese was a little sad to see the scooter go

But Ben and Reese took the scooter out for one last hurrah

And everyone enjoyed our Hot-n-Ready for dinner

Growing up

Oh Miss Reese you are growing up TOO fast

She is 22 months and going on 20 years old

She is always telling me that she wants to go shopping

So she goes and gets her purse

Puts some canned goods inside her purse

Then she tells me good-bye

Little girl, your sure do make us laugh!

Our Ward Christmas Party

This past weekend was our ward party

It was a REALLY fun ward party

We had Texas Roadhouse for dinner...YUMMY

An ugly Christmas sweater contest

 And Santa Claus visited

Reese got SO excited when she saw him walk in the door

But she still wouldn't smile when she sat on his lap

It was so funny to watch all the other kids in our ward

They all started crying once their parents put them on Santa's lap

It was good entertainment

Ben is now 2 for 2 with winning the ugly sweater contest

Yup that is right

Mr. Call won the ugliest Christmas sweater around

I think Reese would have given him a run for his money

If only she would have worn her ugly sweater

She wore it for about 5 seconds and that was enough for her

Well from our Ugly Christmas Sweater to yours

We wish you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

An Unfortunate Ugly Sweater Mishap

Ben's ugly sweater was the PERFECT ugly sweater

We purchased it from D.I.
I like to wash ALL things we purchase from D.I.
Because who knows where they have been

So I washed and dried all the sweaters

But Ben's was 100% wool

When I pulled it out of the dryer I knew it looked smaller...

So I googled what happens to wool if you wash and dry it

Someone said, "well if it was a man's sweater it could end up fitting a barbie"

Needless to say Ben's ugly sweater shrunk A LOT

And unfortunately we had to cut him out of it

And I don't think he was very happy about it

Ugly Christmas Sweaters

Yesterday Ben, Reese, and I took a trip

to our local D.I.

To find the PERFECT ugly Christmas sweaters

for our ward party this weekend.

We didn't find any 

But we did find these goodies

And then we went and found a few...

other things

to spruce these sweaters up

We cannot wait for our ward Christmas party!

Santa

Reese gets so excited whenever she sees Santa

We wanted to take her to go see Santa this year

Wellllll

The Santa we went and saw was probably the WORST Santa I have EVER seen

But Reese didn't know the difference

 She did really well

She didn't cry or scream

She just sat very still and wasn't quite sure if she liked sitting in his lap

But she did sit in his lap long enough to capture this moment on camera

Wreaths

I am not a big crafter. 

  Because I am not crafty.  

And because it is kind of expensive to make crafts all of the time.

But one thing I really enjoy making is wreaths.

I usually try to have a wreath hanging on my door

Otherwise my little door is a little bare

I made a Thanksgiving wreath at the beginning on November

It was the easiest thing to make

It is made out of ribbons

So easy

Last night my sister Michelle and I got together to make our Christmas wreaths

We saw this idea on Pintrest

I LOVE how this wreath turned out

I cannot wait to hang it up on my door

November Ramblings

I cannot believe that November is almost over and Thanksgiving is THIS WEEK!  Where has the time gone?  I feel like this past year has seriously FLOWN by.

I feel like this pregnancy has gone by so much quicker than Reese's did.  I can hardly believe that I am 29 weeks already.  I keep thinking that after Christmas I will have about 4 to 5 weeks before this little boy arrives and that kind of freaks me out.  Am I ready to be a mother of two?  It kind of scares me but I am excited at the same time.  This little boy is so different than Reese.  I have felt REALLY good for most of the pregnancy which is a huge blessing.  This little boy moves like crazy.  I thought Reese moved a lot but I was wrong.  This little boy moves 10 times more than Reese did. 

Things that I am grateful for this Holiday Season:

I am thankful to be pregnant and that I can carry my baby to full term.  I think a lot of times I take that for granted.

I am thankful to get to spend a LOT of time with family this holiday season.  Ben has three weeks off from school and I am excited to have 24/7 with him.  I am thankful that both our families live in Utah and we can visit both of them while we are in Utah for the holidays.

I am grateful for a healthy body.  Being pregnant always make me appreciate my healthy body so much more, it makes me grateful for the mobility I have and to be able to run, exercise, and pretty much do anything I want to.

I am grateful for cheap education. 

Applying for grad school and realizing how much we are going to have to spend on education has been a HUGE eye opener for me.  I always knew grad school was expensive but I didn't know how expensive.  So thank you to BYU-I for giving us a cheap education.

I am thankful for Ben.  

 He is such a great man.  I couldn't ask for a better man to be married to.  He is seriously perfect for me.  He is so patient with me and takes such good care of me and Reese. 

I am thankful to be a mother.  

It is not always easy but I am thankful to be a mother to a sweet little girl named Reese.  She brings so much joy to me and I cannot imagine my life without her. 

I have so many things to be thankful for but those are some of the things that I was thinking about today.

Here is a little update on Reese:

Reese has been growing up so much lately.  

She talks like crazy and knows SO much.  I need to be better about taking advantage of this time with her because soon there will be another little babe in our home and I won't have as much time with her.  She is learning so many things so quickly.  We have been working on the alphabet with her and she now recognizes and says all of the upper-case letters in the alphabet.  It is seriously AMAZING to watch.

She is still OBSESSED with Elmo.  We watch Sesame Street a couple of times a week.  She knows everyone's name on Sesame Street but she still loves the Elmo the most.  During her time watching Sesame Street nothing can take her attention away from her furry little friends. 

She is seriously GLUED to the television and will not pull her eyes away from the screen for anything.

She loves shoes right now and loves to have her "shoes on" as she always says.  

It doesn't matter whose shoes they are but she just likes to wear anyone's shoes.  She also likes to help mom and dad on with their shoes.

Reese has also become a really good helper.  She is always wanting to help.  She wants to help cook.  She wants to help set the table.  She wants to help unload the dishwasher.  She loves to help.  I think she will be an excellent helper when her little brother comes along.

I haven't put up any videos for a long time so here are a couple.  

Happy Thanksgiving

Hudson Family Pics

Back in September we had my family pictures taken.  

The cool thing about these pictures are they were taken in my Grandparents back yard

They pretty much have the most AMAZING backyard ever

I just like the next one because of Reese

These are my siblings

And these next pictures are just funny

Reese was totally and completely DONE

Okay somebody, anybody get me out of here!!!

All Hallow's Eve

We had a BLAST this year for Halloween.

We started our festivities Saturday night by going to our ward Halloween party.  

We had fun, good food, and Reese got to go trick-or-treating.  

Yay for candy!!

Monday we went over to Michelle and Stephens apartment for dinner.  

The food had a Halloween theme to it.

The first thing that was served was...

Yummy!  

They sure were delicious.

On the side was served, salad, baked potatoes, and...

Nothin' like a good bone to gnaw on

For dessert there is nothing like a couple of juicy and delicious...

By the time we were done devouring this feast we were STUFFED

We all had different parties to go to so we were all dressed up 

Michelle and Stephen's costumes were too funny...

They were truck drivers

Reese is always so excited to see them 

But when we walked in the door and she saw them she wasn't too sure about these crazy people.

After dinner we headed over to a party with some of our friends.

We played lots of fun games and ate lots of junk.

It was a PERFECT Halloween

Aaaaarrgghhhh me matey

Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot
Drink up me hearties, yo ho
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot
Drink up me hearties, yo ho

 Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me

We're rascals, scoundrels, villains, and knaves
Drink up me hearties, yo ho
We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs
Drink up me hearties, yo ho

Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life is for us!

Aaaaaarrgghhh me maties

We hope ye be havin' a Happy Halloween

Avas ye be walkin' the plank

Carving Pumpkins

Last night was our annual pumpkin carving night.  

It included yummy soup, good company and pumpkins 

{of course}

It was Reese's first experience carving a pumpkin.  

Last year we just put her to bed and she wasn't able to run her hands through the gushy pumpkin guts.  

As you can tell by the pictures she was quite excited to put her hands inside her pumpkin.  We got a good laugh out of watching her put her hand inside and be quite disgusted with the pumpkin guts.  But she did eventually warm up to the pumpkin guts and played with them once they were in a bowl.

She even went as far to put them in her mouth because her Uncle told her it would be really good.  Got to love those uncles!!

We had Reese's favorite people come over and carve pumpkins...

Chelle & Steve.

They were quite creative with their pumpkin this year.  

They had one pumpkin between the two of them and they each carved one side of the pumpkin.  

Reese did an awesome job carving her pumpkin.  She carved a little kitty and then I put some whiskers on it.  She did NOT like the whiskers on her pumpkin and kept hitting it, but it turned out cute.

Ben got really creative with his pumpkin this year and carved his favorite team into the pumpkin.

I love carving pumpkins.  

I am not a very good pumpkin carver but I love the memories that it brings back.  

Halloween parties, trick-or-treating, dressing up, and spending time with family

Happy carving

The Crib: Part 2

This past week has been a LONG one.  After we realized that Reese could climb out of her crib we decided to turn her crib into a bed.  We were a little afraid that she was going to hurt herself climbing out of her crib.  So Tuesday we changed her crib into a bed.  It was a long week trying to teach her that she needed to stay in bed.  Then on top of that she was waking up in the middle of the night for some odd reason and coming into our room.  Needless to say we were all very tired because once Reese woke up during the night she wouldn't want to go to bed and she was waking up every morning at 5 a.m {which is a little early for us}.

Naps were terrible too.  Reese wouldn't go to sleep unless we sat with her or rocked her to sleep.  We kind of felt like we were dealing with a baby again.  It was a VERY long week with VERY little sleep in our home.  

Well last night, before putting Reese to bed, Ben and I were talking and decided that the bed just wasn't working out.  Reese wasn't understanding that she needed to stay in bed and EVERYONE in our family was exhausted from the lack of sleep {including Reese}.  So we decided to put the crib back up and look into buying a crib tent.  But before we spent the money we wanted to make sure that it would actually work.  So Ben, being the ingenious husband that he is, tied a sheet over the top of the crib so she couldn't get out.  It worked PERFECTLY!  Reese could not climb out!!!  

 

I promise when lack of sleep is an issue you will do ANYTHING to make your child sleep, even if that means trapping her inside of her crib.

Unfortunately Reese has reverted back to old sleeping habits.  She now cries when we put her to bed and she woke up again at 5 this morning.  We let her cry it out {our poor neighbors}.  But after crying for a while she went back to sleep and slept until after eight, which meant Ben and I got to sleep in as well.  It was WONDERFUL!  So I don't feel quite as bad about trapping Reese in her crib because Reese is happier today because of a good nights rest and so are her mom and dad.  

The Crib

Reese has ALWAYS been a good sleeper until now.  This week she discovered that she can climb out of her crib.

Wednesday morning as I was getting ready to go to the gym, I heard Reese fussing in her room and thought, she will be fine and if she gets too bad Ben will get up with her.  Off to the gym I went.  An hour later I came home and the apartment was still dark.  I thought, great!  Reese went back to sleep.  But then I heard a bang, bang, bang.  I realized it was coming from Reese's room and I went to investigate.  I opened her door and there she was standing at the door trying to open it.  Great, I thought.  Maybe it was just a one time thing.

The next morning (Thursday) I hear Reese making noise again and then a bang, bang, bang.  She is out of her crib again.  That afternoon I put her in her crib for a nap and out she comes and this time she opens the door.  I put her back in and out she comes.  I put her in and out she comes again.  So then I tried laying by her crib and convincing her that naps were fun, but she didn't buy it.  She screamed and cried for a good half an hour until she finally cried herself to sleep.

That night the same thing happened.  We put her in her crib and she climbed right back out.  We put her back in and out she came.  We did this for about a half an hour until Ben left her bedroom door open a couple of inches and she finally fell asleep.

Today was the same thing again.  She WILL NOT stay in her crib!  And she has these pretty marks on her belly to show from climbing out of the crib.

We are debating if we should just switch her to a big girl bed and just get rid of the crib.  I am afraid she is going to hurt herself one of these times because it is quite the drop down.  I am hoping that the climbing out of the crib is just a phase, but who knows.

So if anyone has any suggestions out there of how to keep Reese in her crib, I would LOVE to hear them.

Fall Happenings 2011

Fall is definitely here.  We are making soup, drinking hot chocolate, and enjoying being indoors.  We have unfortunately put away our summer clothes, bathing suits, and sandals.  Last week in snowed here in Rexburg...October 6th!  Can you believe how early it snowed?  I can't!  Thankfully it all melted the next day but the nice, warm weather is definitely gone.

Last week we had quite the scare with Reese.  After dinner one night Ben was playing with Reese and picked her up by her arms and he heard a POP.  Reese started crying right away and kept whimpering all night long.  She didn't want anyone to touch her arm and all she wanted to do was cuddle.  Every time Ben touched her arm or moved it she started whimpering and crying all over again.  This is not normal for Reese.  Usually when she gets hurt she cries for a few seconds and then is better.  After about an hour of Reese just cuddling and holding her arm we decided to give her some children's Tylenol and put her to bed and see how she was in the morning.  Before putting her to bed Ben and my brother Derek gave her a priesthood blessing {how grateful I am for the priesthood}.

That night when saying my prayers, I think I cried myself to sleep {i think being pregnant had a little something to do with this}.  I felt like it was my fault that Reese was hurt.  We all have been lifting/swinging Reese by her arms for a while now.  It hurt to see my little girl in so much pain and not be able to help her.  I felt like a bad mom and just wanted her to be better. 

Thankfully Reese slept through the night but when she got up in the morning she was still favoring her arm.  I knew she was really hurt when she tried to eat her breakfast with her left arm.  I called my mom and she said her elbow might have popped out and all the doctor had to do was pop it back in.  Ben played around with her arm again before heading to school and he heard another POP.  About 10 minutes later Reese was back to her old self.  Running around, climbing on things, and causing mischief.  I was so thankful that she was okay and back to her normal self.

Reese has grown up so much lately.  She has been in nursery now for a whole month.  She is doing so much better.  She use to cry and bawl when we would leave her but now she goes right in.  I don't know how outgoing she is in nursery but at least she doesn't cry when we drop her off.

She is talking like crazy.  We have the same conversation everyday...
Reese:  Where's dad?
me: at school
Reese:  where's Chelle {her aunt}?
me: at school
Reese:  where's Elmo?
me:  I don't know or he's sleeping
Reese:  where's Ernie?
me:  he went bye-bye
And then she starts all over again.  And we do this ALL DAY LONG!  It is lots of fun!  I am always so surprised at how many things Reese knows.  We have letters in the bathtub and she can point out the letters  b, c, d, e, i, n, o, p, r, s, t, and x.

She has also started calling her dad by his first name.  Don't ask me where she learned that but today she kept asking me, "where's Ben?"  Oh boy!

One of my favorite things that Reese does is ask, "Where's Monson?"  She is referring to President Monson, the prophet of our church.  We think it is so funny and love hearing her say his name over and over again.

She is just growing up SO fast, 

look how much she has changed in just a year!

Yes my baby is no longer a baby.  She likes to do things on her own.  She doesn't like to cuddle with us anymore.  She talks and walks.  She can dance.  And she just doesn't do baby things anymore.  I find myself looking at her sometimes and thinking how did you grow up so fast.  We sure love our little Reesie!

Well that is all that is going on in our house right now. Ben is keeping busy with school.  Reese is entertaining as usual.  And I am growing and growing.  I love feeling my little boy moving around.  He moves SO much and I think he will be an excellent soccer player.  

Meet the Calls

While we were in Utah during September we had family pictures done with both mine and Ben's families.  It was a LOT of smiling.

This is Brad and Jan.  They are "The in-laws".  But seriously I could not have asked to marry into a better family.  We got to visit the Calls last weekend and it was so much fun to visit with them and just enjoy being around family.  I am seriously so grateful to be apart of this family.

I feel like I was constantly trying to hide my belly

I don't think I look pregnant...

I look like have been enjoying my ice cream a little too much!

Kyle, Crystal, Trey & Kajsa

Brad & Malia

Danny, Kallie, & Wesley

 This one was just TOO cute not to share

 This little boy is seriously a DOLL

The grand kids

Reese was not too happy about having to take pictures

if you look at her in the pictures you will see her VERY grouchy face

in every.single.picture.

This is the closest that Reese came to smiling

I also loved her pointing of the toe in these pictures

Almost there with the smile

And back to scowling

Oh well what can you do?