Christmas Trip and Birthday

Trip to Texas

    We decided to drive down to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Texas since Allen hasn't ever been to Texas and Josh had a two week mandatory vacation from work.  It wasn't too bad of a trip, it took about 16 hours because of traffic, but it won't happen again probably.  Next time we'll just fly.  It was good weather though and we had a great time.  Here are some things that happened over the end of December and the beginning of January.

 



We gave Allen his first haircut; it wasn't so much fun.

 

We went and visited this old battleship from the World Wars, the Battleship Texas.  It was pretty awesome!

Josh manned some guns with Adam to keep the planes from getting too close.  The guns actually moved too!

 

Then it was Sarah's turn!

 

 

Then it was Allen's turn, but it was too heavy for him to operate.

 

 

It was really tall when we went a few levels up, we weren't even at the very top yet!

  

Sorry it's sideways, but this is one of the stairwells; they were really steep.  Mom, Dad, and Grandpa had to take up positions along the stairs and pass Allen up or down.

 

Yep, Grandpa was exploring around with us.

 

Allen found some levers that he could try and pull, but they were stuck.  But they were just the right size to grab.

 

 

We also went and say the San Jacinto Monument.  Where a deciding battle took place when Texas fought for Independence.

 

Dad and Grandpa wanted to show Mom the Baytown bridge.  This is from the top, it was a cloudy but pretty day.

 

The wind was blowing so Allen got a little wind burn and he was really tired after a fun day exploring the ship.

 

Did you know boxes were so much fun to climb on!

 

But really hard to get off. "Help!"

Allen's first birthday present!

 

The cake Mom made was the best part.

 

Josh built Allen his own seat out of giant Lego blocks.  The seat didn't last long once Allen got off and started taking the blocks apart.

 

 

 

Tennessee

For anyone reading who didn't know, a few weeks ago Joshua accepted a job as an HR Representative working for Bechtel in Tennessee.  It's been pretty exciting.  All of our stuff was packed and moved November 30, our car was shipped December 3, and we flew to Tennessee December 5.  Actually the whole process from interviewing, accepting, and moving for the job has been a whirlwind.  Everything happened really fast and we were thankful to be able to enjoy Thanksgiving with my side of the family and Katelyn as well as visiting Josh's other siblings and Jeannie in Logan before we left.  This will be the first time for me being farther than a couple of hours from where my parents lived, but seeing Allen get excited when he hears my mom's voice on the cellphone has soothed most of my worries.  I am very grateful for technology and the opportunity it gives us to stay in close contact with our families.  We've got most of our things in storage while we visit Josh's parents for the Christmas holidays.  Josh worked for a couple of weeks and now has a mandatory 2 week vacation, we're taking full advantage of the time visiting Texas for the first time in a couple of years as well as moving in to our new home at the beginning of the year.

Allen has done amazing well with all this traveling and being in new places.  He's pretty comfortable no matter where we are as long as mom and dad are around.  Here's some of his new adventures and accomplishments:

Allen had lots of fun looking out at the clouds on his first plane ride.  Mom and Dad were extremely grateful, as I'm sure the rest of the people on the airplane were, that Allen didn't fuss once.  He was having fun.

Allen got to play with Mom and Dad the whole trip, and suck on a binkey to help his ears pop.  It was a tiring but good day.

We got upgraded to this car because the size we reserved was gone.

There are walls of trees on almost all the roads in Tennessee.

Allen was so tired but he didn't want to lay down and sleep.  So he fell asleep sitting up.

"What's mom doing over there?"

Piggy-back ride on dad!

His best friend is the baby on the other side of the mirror.

He stands up on his tippy-toes to look over the top of the bed.  Mom was playing peek-a-boo with him.

He figured out how to crawl on his knees.  This was a brand new thing he figured out his first day at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Texas.

Teeth, No More a Turtle, Look Alikes, and Snow

Allen has been a turtle for a little while; when he was put on his back, he was stuck and couldn't get on to his stomach.  A few days a go he figured out how to roll from his back to his front.  He's actually been able to do it for a while, he's flipped over several times at night, but apparently it wasn't a conscious thing.  His uncle, Tom, taught him how to do it consciously.  Now we have a runaway baby especially during diaper changes.

Another fun thing we discovered is that Allen is looking like Sarah right now.  Sarah's mom found several pictures of her at about the same age that Allen is now and we know where he got his chubby cheeks.  Here are a few pictures to compare.

Allen - "huh?"

Sarah - "huh?"

Allen not happy because we made him wear shoes.

Sarah not happy on Halloween.

Allen eating bread

Sarah 

Sarah with red hair and chubby cheeks

We also got to introduce Allen to his first snowfall the other day.  We pulled him around on the sled on his own and then with mom for the rest of the time.  Though he didn't like having to wear shoes.  He was also not having as good a time as he could have had because it happened to snow in the midst of Allen getting his first teeth while dealing with a pretty nasty cold.  We don't have any pictures of his teeth, but you can feel them and they're sharp!

Ready to go!

Sledding!

A Little Bit More

The past little bit has been pretty exciting around the house.  Allen has gotten a little bit more mobile, which makes life more interesting as he explores new things like the box of tape, books,dog food, and (as always) paper.  Here are a couple videos that are pretty funny.

He's figured out how to stand up on his own now and does it all the time, he'd rather stand than crawl around.  His cousins came over, one of them being the same age (almost to the day), and he watched her pull herself up to standing.  He had yet to perform that feat but after they left he did it for the first time and hasn't stopped standing since.  The down side to all of this is that we have to watch him constantly because he likes to stand on the TV stand which has the cable box, a game system, and the DVD player.  We don't really want those, not to mention the TV, knocked over.  And he hasn't quite figured out how to get down from standing yet, maybe he never will.  For now he just gets upset until one of us comes to save him.

He still doesn't like to go to sleep, because he's afraid he'll miss out on something exciting.  But every once in a while he'll go to sleep and not realize it.  He started teething yesterday and hasn't been too bad in the morning but in the afternoon his gums hurt him and so he cries a lot, and has a hard time napping.  But he fell asleep while dad was holding him.  These next videos are him falling asleep and not really meaning too.

He fights it pretty good, especially at the end.  You can see him jerk up a little bit.

He eventually gave in.  You can see that he's still half awake but by the end he's nodding off and a goner.

Teething hasn't been too bad really.  We think he's got two teeth coming in on the bottom at the same time and can feel the points poking through when he lets us put our fingers in his mouth.  Dad let him bite on a tootsie roll and we could see a couple of teeth marks but we shall see what actually comes through hopefully here in the next couple days (pictures are to come as soon as they come through).  

The first storm of the winter hit in full force today as well.  There's probably about an inch of really heavy, wet snow on the ground and it's supposed to continue all through the night.  Dad will have to be careful when he heads out to work at 6:00 in the morning tomorrow, maybe even a little earlier.  Allen hasn't gone out in it just yet, it's pretty windy, but we're sure he'll enjoy looking around at the changed scenery.

All Things Allen

Allen has had a very busy month.  Here's videos and pictures of all the things that he's been up to lately.

Mom, Dad, and me went to a Mark Willis concert.

I fell asleep for a little while with Aunt Bug.

You have to sit up straight in your chair, it's good posture.

Like this!



Look!  I can get around now!

Feet are great fun!

Cruisin along the couch.

Great game: empty the bowl, mom fills it back up, I empty it...
(But I'm not allowed to play with it anymore, I figured it was food since the dog ate it.) 

Takin a nap with dad.

You over there dad??

Just like dad.

I'm a pretty darn cute cowboy.

The whole family.

Things As Of Late

We apologize that this post has been so long in coming.  Here's an overview of everything that has happened since we last posted.

Allen
    Allen enjoyed his first time swimming.  He liked the warm water.  He LOVES sitting up and still enjoys being put down (he'll even get upset if he thinks he's being held too much!).  He has started balancing up on his hands and knees though he still only moves backwards or in circles.  We entered him into a contest for the cutest/healthiest/happiest baby - voting starts in September.

Swimming at the Payson Pool

cutest/healthiest/happiest baby

    He has also figured out how to stand up while holding mom's or dad's fingers and is eating all sorts of fruits and a little bit of vegetables.  Right now he definitely prefers fruit to veggies.  He plays more with his toys and has put his binky in his mouth by himself a couple of times!  But Allen's favorite "toy" is the cat, although the cat only comes when he really wants to be petted.

His favorite - apricots

Allen and Doran

Moving
    We were undecided on when to move and where to move.  In May, after Joshua's parents left, it felt like we should move to Payson so Joshua could look for a job in an area with a bigger economy and where we wouldn't mind living.  It took a few days to get packed up.

Packing is Tiring

   Allen's all used to his crib now and sleeps there most of the time (unless mom or dad doesn't want to be up long enough to put him back to sleep when he gets lonely in the middle of the night :) )  Joshua helps out around the house, spends time with Sarah and Allen, and is learning the guitar when he's not on the job hunt.  Sarah has been doing voice lessons with her mom and some ladies in the ward. 

Job Hunt
    Joshua began by looking for just HR jobs but now is looking for anything in management.  He will probably work in retail for a little while in order to get some experience as a supervisor/manager.  Joshua has had quite a few interviews with no luck but isn't giving up on hope and has a few places to look at still in retail or hotel management.  He's been given some great advice on resume building and where to look for experience.  Which we are very thankful for. 

Bear Lake
    Went with Sarah's family camping in June on the Idaho side of Bear Lake; it was Allen's first camping trip.  Sarah fell with Allen twice on that trip.  The first time into a hole that she listened to her mother and sister being warned about.  She fell very carefully and slowly.  The second time she slipped on ice.  We went up the canyon to the Paris Ice Cave, and slipped around while exploring.

The Hole/Ditch

Allen's First Time at the Beach

  

Ice Caves

Timpanogas Cave
    We went through a large cave complex on about an hour tour after hiking up a mountain to get there. Allen slept through the whole thing haha.

Cave Formation

Sarah's Family Reunion
    Camped in Payson Canyon for 5 days. Allen handled it pretty well but got used to sleeping with mom and dad.  The transition back to the crib is taking a while.  Wanted to swim at Payson Lake, but had to leave because of a bad storm that blew in (it rained hard and hailed) but hardly touched camp which is only about 15 minutes from the lake.  Joshua went on a bike ride with his in-laws and had a great time bouncing down the trail (it was really rocky with lots of tree roots).  He's looking forward to doing it again sometime.

Birthday
   Joshua is now a quarter of a century old. Sarah and Joshua went to a movie, at the theaters, for the first time in a long time (Grandma and Grandpa Stones babysat) and saw The Avengers.  Joshua did his first 10k race the morning after and won his age group (25-29) with a time of 45 minutes 40 seconds, that's an average of 7 minutes and 22 seconds per mile!  He got a medal :)

Rah team Wilcox

 

    Sarah made a cake, and the only rule associated with said cake was that if you laughed or pitied the cake you didn't get a piece (not really, but Sarah would have liked that rule ;) ).  It looks like a disaster but tastes good; chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (Sarah added the chocolate before she remembered that Joshua wanted just a cream cheese frosting) and chocolate raspberry filling :)

 

No laughing or pity; only eating allowed