cutest brothers EVER!

We are so lucky and grateful that our little ones LOVE each other so much! I love watching them interact with each other and play together. They have many similar likes and their personalities are such that they seem to balance each other out so well. And they just laugh at each other for the silliest things.

They really are just cute, cute brothers and love to be with each other. I think Lincoln has always been in awe with Grant and the idea of being a big brother. He is such a good big brother and loves to play with Grant, teach him, help him, share with him, and protect him. And Grant generally just wants to do whatever Lincoln does.

We recently moved them into the same room (which is going much smoother than I expected) tonight when we put them to bed, Grant was crying a little. When Brandon went in to check on them, Lincoln was up trying to find Grant's pacifier and explaining that Grant couldn't find it so he could go to sleep. He is often so sweet and helpful to "his Grant."

A couple of weeks ago they were playing and Lincoln put his little arm around him and said, "Your my favorite brother Grant. You're my friend." He freely gives him hugs and kisses and says,"I love my Grant."

I hope they will always be friends and love to be with each other. I think they are the cutest brothers ever!

Generally for lunch the boys have a little "picnic" and watch a show while they eat their sandwich. Grant usually is in the highchair, but on this particular day when I brought the towel for Lincoln to sit on, Grant just came and sat right by him. It was too cute to have to put him in his highchair. He was so excited to sit by Lincoln instead of in the highchair.

My little share boy!

Just playing around...they love to "tackle" each other.

This is Lincoln's "favorite brother!"

This picture was when Grant was only 2 or 3 months old. It is one of my favorite pictures of the boys together. It just makes me smile! :)

So much to be thankful for...

Thanksgiving was so fun and yummy! Brandon had a little bit of an easier schedule that week...well, he just didn't have classes. So overall we were able to spend quite a bit more time than usual together (so thankful for that)! We went to my parent's house for the weekend and was able to see and spend time with them as well as my older brothers and their families and my younger brother too! (We missed seeing my sister and her family though.) Brandon made his delicious turkey and everyone chipped in for all the traditional sides...yum! I am thankful for family! :)




As we were getting ready for our Thanksgiving trip, I decided I wanted to try a 5k again, this time without a stroller full of boys! :) I did it on a chilly Thanksgiving morning! Since I'm still fairly new to this running bit, so my goal was simply to run the race (no walking) and to finish in less then 40 minutes. I did it! :) I'm thankful for health and for Brandon being so supportive as I have been trying to get more healthy and pick up this little hobby.



Through out the month of November, I tried to help Lincoln focus on gratitude by making a turkey and adding a feather a day with something we are thankful for. By Thanksgiving week, the turkey was still a little bare so we finished it together for FHE. These were some of the things Lincoln came up with, some with a little help from us as well....
I am thankful for --- bananas - treats - Mommy - Daddy - Daddy's school - our happy home - our Christmas tree - temples - Grandparents - flowers - Lincoln - family - snow - football - church - "Googs" (Grant) - Jesus - "din-din" - toys - "hard-working Mommy"!

Lincoln was so excited to play with cousins, I think that is probably one of his favorite things to do. He just thinks cousins are so cool! :) The cousins that were with him the most for thanksgiving are all at least 2 years older than him. They still played together so good and fun. It was so nice that they were happy to include and play with Lincoln. He loved being able to wrestle and play football with the "big, big boys!" I know that Lincoln is thankful for cousins! :)


Little Grant was also excited to see cousins, especially "Rob-Rob!" He had the biggest smile on his face when he finally saw him! His older cousin Meghan was by his side non-stop. It was so nice to have her help so much with Grant, she did a great job! He was very content to just hang out with her and play with her. Grant is so thankful for cousins too! :)


Thanksgiving night we were talking about "black friday" deals over pumpkin pie. Brandon was looking through a flyer and found a sit and spin toy on sale. (I had been looking to get one of these for our boys for a couple of months now.) He pointed it out...the ad showed the toy for $9.99...I was so excited - I had a $10 off coupon! :) We went out and got the normally $30 toy paying only $ .67! That's right, I'm thankful for $ .67! :)


While we were there, we took advantage of having so much family with us and left the boys with cousins and grandparents and went to the temple! We ended up going to the Jordan River Temple and while we were there, I remembered that my visitor's center director from my mission was now the temple president there. His schedule was such that we were able to stop in, say hello and visit with him for a little bit. It was a wonderful experience to be in the temple that day with my love and to be able to visit with an old friend. I am so thankful for the temple, for Brandon, and for Elder Chamblerlain and the lessons I learned from him so many years ago!

And I am especially and always thankful for a loving Heavenly Father, which provides me with all of these blessings and so many, many more.

snow.donuts.hot chocolate

This is still a catch-up post, because this was also about a month or so ago (although, it is snowing again now)!

Brandon got the boys all bundled up and took them to play in the snow! Lincoln thought it was so much fun to run and fall in the snow (even though there wasn't a lot of snow). I think Grant wasn't so sure about being all bundled up...snow pants and a coat didn't let him move much! Once the boys came in, we all had yummy donuts and hot chocolate to warm up.

Lincoln had been asking to make donuts for a couple of weeks...I've never made donuts before, but I saw an idea to use the pre-made buttermilk biscuits for easy "home-made" donuts. It was so easy and yummy! Just use the oil lid to cut out the center fry them up and put a little powder sugar on it...add Stephen's hot chocolate and you have a fun little snowy day treat! :) This just may become a little first official snow day tradition!

My Own Personal Chef!

This actually happened about a month and a half ago, but as I was looking through pictures and saw these, I chuckled again to myself as I remembered cute little Lincoln that night. I had to record what happened...

Many of the weeknights this semester Brandon is late at school or work so dinner is usually me and the boys. On this particular night, when it came time to make dinner, we headed to the kitchen and I asked out loud, "Hmmm, what should we make for dinner?" (As much as I know I should have our meals calendered out and organized, I usually don't. It just doesn't happen in my life right now.) Anyway, cute little Lincoln quickly said, "I know, noodles and meatballs! I will make it!" This is one of his very favorite dinners, so it didn't surprise me that he came up with this. He continued to go get a stool so he could get the noodles out of the cupboard and then the meatballs out of the freezer. While he was at the freezer, he pulled out some peas as well and said, "We need some veggies too." Without missing a beat Lincoln got out the pot and a spoon. He asked me to put his apron on and help him with the stove. Other than a little help from me, Lincoln whipped up a delicious dinner! He has repeated this several times since then as well.

Helping to cook or bake has always been something he has loved to do and he is such a little problem solver that this little experience didn't surprise me too much, it was a fun treat to watch him so intently stirring the noodles and being so careful with what he was making. I am one thankful Mama for this sweet boy and his willingness to always help and be involved. He is always full of energy and ideas and is so much fun! I love this sweet little guy!

Happy Halloween!

We had such a fun Halloween this year. We decided last minute to spend Halloween "trick-or-treating" Grammas and Pops! As soon as we woke up on Halloween, we drove to trick-or-treat Gramma and Pop Wilde and spend some time with them. We then continued to trick-or-treat Gramma and Pop Watts! It was so much fun to let them see our little football players and be able to let our little ones experience the Watts Halloween dinner that I looked forward to and loved so much every year! They went trick-or-treating with cousins. Lincoln had SO much fun running from house to house. He would walk up to the door, stand way up on his tippy-toes, say "trick-or-treat," then say, "thank you, Happy Halloween." It was so cute and fun to watch him.

A few years ago, I heard of a family that had the "Great Pumpkin" come and visit to help them with their Halloween candy (not that we are against candy, but we ALL have a serious sweet tooth)...I have looked forward to implementing that into our family traditions. Since Lincoln is so aware of what's going on now, this was the year - and it worked great! Lincoln got to choose his favorite 3 candies from trick-or-treating and then he left the rest of the candies for the "Great Pumpkin." During the night, the "Great Pumpkin" came and took the candy and left the boys a fun new toy! Lincoln loved it and never asked about the candy!

Our MVPs!

Mommy was their cheerleader (somehow I squoze myself into my old uniform!)
and Daddy was their Coach! :) Go Team Wilde!

Seeing what the "Great Pumpkin" brought them! So happy! :)

Pre-Halloween Fun!

Brandon's parents came down during October. We were able to spend the afternoon at their house for some pre-Halloween fun...Carving a pumpkin, and having a yummy Chili dinner complete with pumpkin pie! Thanks to Gramma and Pop Wilde for the fun and yummy pre-Halloween festivities!

Grant wasn't so sure about the pumpkin's "guts"...

neither was Lincoln...

Daddy did the dirty work (the fun carving too)!

Lincoln was so excited to finally have a Jack 'o Lantern!

The boys in the "bones" jammies! (Grant couldn't get enough of that apple!)

Apples Grow On Trees?!

Last month we went to my Grandpa's house and spent the day with him. I will always remember him having a fantastic yard, with a garden and great flowers everywhere. He has a couple of large fruit trees in his back yard, one of which being an apple tree. When we were there, Brandon asked if he could help pick some apples. He took Lincoln out with him and Lincoln was completely amazed that apples grow on trees! He was so excited to help pick apples and run around the orchard/garden area. Grant loved sitting under the apple tree and helping himself to some yummy fresh apples. Such a fun day with Grandpa Perry!

Pumpkin Picking!

We've made picking pumpkins a fun little fall tradition. Mid-October, we found a cute little pumpkin patch and found us some pumpkins! The boys had so much fun walking around and finding the perfect pumpkins as well as playing in a cute little train that was at the patch.

Class Is In Session!

When Brandon started school this semester, Lincoln was saying he wanted to go to school too. I decided to include a little school time into our day!

It has been so much fun to watch Lincoln learn and be so excited to discover new things. I have been amazed at what he remembers from our little "lessons" and the new skills he is picking up.

He knows the days of the week, his ABCs, he is starting to write his name, recognizes several letters and their sounds, he knows colors, numbers, and shapes! We have had fun discovering fall, snow, and making some crafts and sometimes a treat.

I have learned that he does not like coloring very much but he does like painting, cutting, and gluing things. Of course I'm a little biased, but I think he is brilliant! I am really treasuring this time together to learn and explore! :)

We also tried to have Lincoln do a little Tumbling Class. He is so physically able and picked up on everything so easily...it was so much fun to watch him in the class. There was just one problem...a little thing called separation anxiety! Lincoln has it big time, especially when it's Mommy that leaves him somewhere. He was okay if I was in the room, but parents really weren't suppose to stay inside so as soon as I left, he had a complete breakdown. Poor little guy. I decided to pull him from it (I don't want him to be traumatized) and maybe we can try again in a few months!

Beginning of October, we started to do a little rotating "preschool" with 4 other little ones. The "school" is just on Tuesdays and for the most part, Lincoln is doing really well with it. He does have some separation anxiety every week, but I think he's doing better. These pictures were from his first day of this little preschool. He was not excited at all and didn't even want me to take his picture!
I finally was able to snap one...I think he still has quite a painful look though! But still such a handsome little guy! (On a little side-note...He is so particular about his hair. It cannot be sticking up in the front, it can only be combed to the side or straight down!)

these are the moments...

These days are sometimes a little crazy, a little loud, usually pretty busy, and full of a lot of energy. Even with all the craziness though, I know that these are the days that I will remember and cherish forever.

Days of dancing to nursery rhymes, of playing peek-a-boo on Mommy and Daddy's bed, of playing make believe, of super-heros, of soft baby hair against my cheek, of little voices singing without reservation, of holding hands, of pacifiers, of knee-high hugs, and "puppy kisses"! I love these little boys' silliness, their playfulness, their genuineness, their forgiveness, and their sweetness. I am painfully aware that these days are not going to last forever and that when the not so enjoyable moments are gone, so will these sweet moments. I want to enjoy them as long as I can.

Day in and day out it's me and my boys and I love it! I love this time where they are all mine and I am all theirs.


I love that Grant wants to dance all day, every day to any music....
I will always love his happy, happy smile and big belly laugh he gets...
I'm sure there will be lots of times that I will want to come back to this time that his paci, blankie, and Mommy were all that he needed...
I love watching these two tackle, tease, and play together...and share together too...
I love watching Lincoln explore and this time when I can explore with him...
I love that he will be playing and then all of a sudden give me a soft hug and in the sweetest voice say, "I love you, Mommy."
I love this little guy's never ending energy, his sense of humor, and his happy, happy smile....