Noli's 2nd Birthday

We had a small celebration for Noli's 2nd birthday. Cousins Jaxon and Cash came over for cake. It's harder to get in the mood to throw a big celebration right after Christmas...

One of the few recognizable words Noli can say is "Elmo".


Play-dough!! I hate it, but he loves it! I have to admit, it doesn't come out very often or for very long :)
At 2 years old Nolan is a very happy toddler. He LOVES to wrestle with his dad and Liam. He loves to tease mommy any chance he gets either by sneaking up behind and ambushing her with "peek-a-boo" or going limp and acting like he's too tired to move (he thinks this is so funny). He is mom's little shadow. He loves to help with the dishes, cook, clean up, or help with whatever mom is doing. He will run and get the stool from the bathroom or push up a kitchen chair so that he can help better. He has a very easy going personality and will go along with almost anything. He is however, very particular about what he wears. We just love this little boy so much and can't imagine our family without him! He adds such a sweet, genuine spirit in our home.

Christmas 2011

This year for Christmas we went to Idaho to celebrate with Terrance's family. My Grossmami has hosted a Christmas Eve party every year since I can remember. Whoever can come, comes. It has been a few years but I was glad we made it this year.

Katie got a Rudolf that she still sleeps with every night.

One of my cousins is a dentist, so Liam got a some Swiss chocolate with a toothbrush and toothpaste :)
I just love the excitement on Grossmami's face!
Noli got a green frisbee.
Before we left for Idaho we were happy to get a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Bishop for Christmas!

Terrance and I got invited to an 'Ugly Sweater' party. Our first. I thought I could just run to the thrift store and find something to wear no problem. I guess these parties are popular because they had NOTHING. I found an old plain sweater for Terrance and added all the embellishments. I didn't have time to add tacky decor to my sweater, so at 5 months pregnant I decided to "announce" our new addition. We had a lot of fun!

Unfortunately all of our pictures of the Parson side festivities are on T's phone, so I don't have them to post, but we had a great time in Idaho!!

Our 1st, second Christmas

It sounds a little confusing I know, but let me explain... We will be starting our 10th year of marriage in February. Every year around Christmas time Terrance has always asked me the same question, "where do you want the tree set up?" It's a natural question. In front of the window, in the corner, in the front room, in the family room, what do we need to move or rearrange to put it there....?

As I thought for a moment I smiled and said "how about the same place as last year!" This is the first Christmas we will be celebrating a SECOND Christmas in the same home! We have officially lived in this house longer than any other house our entire marriage. It may not seem that exciting to you, but it is to ME!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Family Pics

YEP, it's that time of year again! My friend Diana is so talented and she just happened to be in town for Thanksgiving weekend! Lucky us!!

Don't let this picture fool you, it was probably 35 degrees outside... We would plan our pose inside, then run outside and snap a few shots, then run inside again to warm up! We repeated this several times in 20 mins. It was COLD!

We couldn't get a picture of Nolan smiling, but at least he's not crying! Right?!

Nolan had just woken up from a nap and was not in the mood for pictures. Normally he LOVES to say "CHEESE!" This was toward the end and he would not put down that sippy-cup, so this is the only shot with all three kids....

For those of you who are lucky enough, you will be receiving one in the mail for Christmas! For those not so lucky, consider this your Merry Christmas from the Parson family! :)

bAbY nUmBeR 4 !!!!

Yes, this is an actual picture of inside me :) It doesn't matter how many children you have, every single time is so amazing. It never gets old, and we couldn't be MORE excited!!

After debating back and forth, we decided to find out the gender of the baby, but in a different way. We had the ultra-sound tech put the sex of the baby in a sealed envelope. I gave the envelope to a friend of mine and she was kind enough to bake these cupcakes for us. We all bit into them at the same time!
Yep, that's right. Katie and I will be severely outnumbered. By the way, these were some of the BEST cupcakes to ever cross my lips! Thanks Brooke!!
Katie was VERY sad and disappointed. I tried to mentally prep her in case it was a boy, but she couldn't hide her tears. She REALLY wanted a sister! But after a little chat, she is excited to be "mommy's helper" with the new baby.
Liam, of course, is happy. Nolan doesn't like cake, or cupcakes and didn't really want to be a part of it. He has no idea what is going on anyway, but we have been showing him pictures of babies and he now points to them and says "bibi" all the time!!
Like I said, we are excited for this new addition. Little boys just MeLt my heart!!

Halloween

I don't know why but I didn't take a lot of pictures this year for Halloween.

Liam at his school party. He never broke character for the pictures.

He wanted to be "something scary" this year for Halloween. I suggested the Grim Reaper. He didn't know who that was, but the picture was scary enough to his liking. He kept asking me on the days leading up to Halloween who he was going to be again :)

Nolan was Eeyore, Katie was a kitty cat, and then our "something scary" on the end. It only took about 2 doors and Nolan knew EXACTLY what was going on. We Trick-or-Treated until about 7:30, we did not have dinner before we left, but he did not whine or complain the entire time. I didn't think he would last that long, but after every door he would turn around with a huge grin on his face and run back to me! I think this was our best Halloween so far!

Pumpkin Patch

We always go to the same place. I love seeing how the kids grow from year to year.

Liam's favorite pumpkins are the little ones. I think he has enough!

I just can't get enough of this little guy!

This is exactly how they climbed the haystack, I didn't pose them.

Nolan was so excited for his turn to drive the tractor!

First Day of School

Waiting at the bus stop with one of his best friends.

Liam started 2nd grade this fall. He insists on fixing his hair every morning with gel and hairspray, and is a lot more vocal about what he wears. What happened to my easy-goin' little boy?

Katie got to start pre-school this year. And yes, she is rockin' the side pony tail braid. She was SO excited to go to school!

Katie posing with one of her besties before they go in.

Shooting

What's a summer of fun without a little shooting? Terrance was kind enough to take a few of my friends and me shooting one Saturday. I don't think they had ever shot before, so there were some interesting moments! :)

Our rifle shots.

Handgun.

And skeet shooting! My favorite!

It's NOT the Puyallup, but it'll do!

We decided to take the kids to the Utah State Fair this year. Doesn't even compare to the Puyallup fair in WA (does anything though?), but we had a good time nonetheless.

We only had a few tickets left and Liam wanted to ride a "big kid ride". Terrance gets a little dizzy sick on spin rides so Mike was going to take Liam. In the end they all went. Funny thing is Mike ended up being the one to get a little queazy. (I don't think he reads my blog so I think I'm ok the say that!) In his defense they did have a lot of weight and got spinning really HARD!
Waiting to get on the next ride. I just love that they still like each other enough (sometimes) to hold hands. Melts my heart...

The Giant Slide!

Even Nolan had a great time! He could go on most of the rides and he loved it!