Haymond Cabin Trip

Sunday was a crazy day. It was the day of Norwegian Christmas but FIRST we headed up to my family's cabin in Island Park. The weather was PERFECT! The sky was super blue and I just loved the view we had as we drove into the valley. The contrast of the dark trees with the white snow and the blue sky were awesome. And then we saw this up a head. UH OH!
It looked a lot scarier than it was. It looked like a WALL of fog but it ended up just being a light fog over a river and we drove through just fine. Zach got to hand out with some of his second cousins. He was completely fascinated with one of the girl's braces.
He just couldn't figure out what those shiney things were on her teeth.
We had an antler making contest- Our team won! As we put the antlers on my cousin's head Zach decided he wanted to join in.
Here's my cousin Natalie modeling our "antlers"
And again with all the pregnant girls! Holy Moly!!! We are everywere! On the far left is my sister Shaila. She is due 3 days before me and in the middle is my dad's girlfriend's daughter Lisa. She is due about 2 weeks after me. There were giant bellies everywhere!

Norwegian Christmas

This last month has been pretty crazy and we have finally come home to our quiet little house. It's a stark contrast to all of the adventures we got to enjoy while visiting family in Idaho. We spent most of our time staying at the Gundersen house with my in-laws and Norwegian Christmas brought some great food along with ALL of Zach's Gundersen Cousins. Here's a pic of the whole gang.

Zach loved every minute he got to spend with his cousins. He was the youngest one there but he sure didn't know that and he would join in whatever fun the kids were having.
Pregnancy was in the air and I got to go to a baby shower for Jason's cousin Heather (far left) who is due mid January. (I think?) We got to take this fun pic with all the pregnant girls in order of due date. I'm next with March 13th, then Heather's friend (missed her name) Alicia, another cousin was due April 6th and Brendi, my newest sister in law who is due April 26th (day before my b-day! hooray!)
Zach joined his cousins for a sleepover (until mom took him upstairs) Here he is with his one and only boy cousin Roy, who really took him under his wing. They got along so well despite the age difference. Zach followed him around like a little puppy, copying everything he did.

Then, the BIG PARTY began...

Jason's cousin Shelly arrived with her little girl in the CUTEST Christmas dress I've ever seen. I guess it helped that it was modeled by such a doll. Believe it or not... She MADE this dress herself! No Pattern!!! She is a Crochet Genious!!!!
My pictures are a bit out of order, sorry! Zach sat on Santa's lap and didn't cry at all! I was so proud. Jason had been telling him Santa was going to bring him a train so that he would be excited. When his turn came he was all business. He sat, grabbed his gift and was out of there to open it and start to enjoy. Completely fearless, as usual. He didn't get a train but he was definitely not disappointed. What he opened instead was this totally awesome Mega Blocks Mack Truck. I can tell you, he hasn't stopped playing with it since we came home. He has been taking it apart and reassembling it over and over and over again. At first we had to help him out a lot but now he pretty much can assemble it himself.
Here's the traditional Santa pic as Zach picked up his annual Scandinavian candy bar (promptly confiscated by mom and dad). Notice, No tears! No panic! That's my boy.
Every year the highlight of Norwegian Christmas is the dance around the Christmas tree as we sing English and Norwegian Christmas carols. Again, pictures are out of order, this happens BEFORE Santa arrives and then he joins in for the last few songs. Once again Zach figured he was just as big as the other kids and he even joined in the fun. He held hands with his cousins and they skipped (or ran frantically, depending on the song) around the tree. He giggled and giggled the whole time.
Once and a while he would get scooped up by dad as he went. Obviously, you can tell by the grin that he was just loving it!
Here's the whole gang, Santa included.
Finally, a priceless pic of Zach with Aunt Brendi. I'm not sure what they spotted, but it was apparently VERY exciting. Maybe it was Santa? LOL!!

Shh... don't tell Jason

Zach has loved seeing his cousins. He basically just runs around the house all day trying to see what everybody else is up to. When his cousin Sara pulled out her princess shoes he was thrilled to join in the fun. He only toppled a few times. Every time he slipped out of them he was running straight for me to put them back on. What is so fun about heels?!? Don't they know how much the rest of us HATE to put those things on?

More travel adventures

As I said on the previous post. Zach was pretty excited about getting to fly on an airplane. He also thought these railings were pretty fun while we waited. He was actually swinging back and forth. I was surprised he had the strength in his fingers to hold himself up. I also had a video but I wasn't thinking and took it sideways. Who does that!! (A photography person, that's who... I'm not used to shooting video)
Sadly, Zach did not get to arrive looking like his sweet perfect (in mom's eyes anyway) self. He's been fighting off stys for about a month now. Nothing serious, he just always looks like he's been punched in the eye.

I always stress when travel time comes. I picture him jumping up and down and screaming for the entire flight while everyone on board glares as me, branding me a "terrible mother" for not being able to control my child. Everytime, he surprises me with his perfect travel skills. Our first flight was nearly empty so we got a whole row to ourselves. He slept for the first hour and a half or so and then sat nicely watching movies or reading books for the next two hours. He LOVED take off and Landing. The second flight we didn't get quite as lucky and were sqeezed in with two big guys but once again, he fell asleep before the plane had even reached it's cruising altitude. He slept about 45 minutes and then, once again, sat nicely for the remainder of the flight. Sadly, after this trip he won't be able to qualify as a lap child but we at least we know we have this to look forward to...

It's an Airplane!

Well, we've been here in Idaho for a few days now and, sadly, I've been doing a terrible job of posting our adventures. I'll start at the beginning. We flew out Sunday morning and Zach was so excited to go on the airplane.

Visit to Grandpa's house

Grandpa pulled out his old collectors train, Zach couldn't have been happier.Zach loved Grandpa's Car

How many horses are under the hood Grandpa?
That is one nice looking car.

Family Picture, next to the Mustang

Merry Christmas Jason!

Well, after 7 years of collecting and cutting and piecing together, I FINALLY completed Jason's quilt. I've actually been really close for some time now but it was just so big that I wasn't sure how to finish it off. I have to say, this thing is the BIGGEST quilt I have ever seen. It fits our King sized bed and actually hangs down almost to the floor. I wish I could figure out a way to get a picture of the whole thing but I don't have a single spot of floor in our house big enough to lay it out on. to give you an idea of the size, I used almost 10 yards each of the batting and the flannel on the back. Needless to say, I am pretty darn proud.

I've actually enjoyed it quite a bit myself as Jason is out of town doing interviews and he usually serves as my personal heater. This baby is so thick and heavy, I slept great last night despite the cold.

We are spending Christmas in Idaho this year so we actually had our own personal gift exchange last week so don't worry, this wasn't a spoiler.

P.S. for those of you who saw the "Zach's First Gumball" post earlier. Don't worry! He didn't actually Eat the gum ball. He just thought it was a bouncy ball so he kept throwing it. We traded it out for a real bouncy ball after the video. I don't know that gum balls are recommended for 2 yr olds. LOL!

Zach visits Global Gumball!

Superboy!

We are actually in Arizona right now enjoying the fantastic weather. I have pictures but I haven't put them on my computer quite yet so I thought I'd post this one. I think this gives me an idea for a project to work on when we get home. I think someone needs a "real" super hero cape.

Zach loves his stickers Grandma gave to him....

He even sleeps with them, sometimes with poor results.

We bought an Xbox... I think we made a mistake...

Zach reading. This is his favorite thing

Zach eating pudding... and painting with it too.

Trunk Or Treat

Wednesday was our ward Halloween activity. There was crafting, cookie decorating, games, and OF COURSE the annual Trunk Or Treat.

Zach has been totally excited about all things pumpkin, ever since the first day I let him try on his pumpkin costume. His favorite game of the evening was this pumpkin toss. He actually did pretty well throwing the pumpkins so that they would stay on the bars.
His next favorite game was fishing for spiders. He even caught one!!
But only one...
Then we headed out for the Trunk or Treat. He really got the hang of thrusting his pumpkin basket in peoples faces as if to demand candy. Some ran out before we got to them and he was pretty perturbed and sort of stomped away. He was pretty good with "saying" thank you every time. With his little hand clasp sign. We still don't know how he decided it meant "Thank you" to open and close his hand. But I guess it works for him.

Don't ask what I'm dressed as- I guess it's a super chubby ballerina? I'm not even sure.
I do know this is the cutest pumpkin I'VE ever met.
Ooooo... and who's that handsome guy. He's dressed up as.... HIMSELF!
Here's the stash of goodies I... I mean Zach came home with. Not too shabby for a 2 yr old.
More to COME!!

BOO at the Zoo!

Our Halloween celebrations were officially jump started tonight by attending our:Zach RAN straight to this pumpkin and stuck his face through the hole for a picture.
He then wouldn't allow us to walk away until we let him peek through Frankenstein as well. NOTE: he has started to chew on his bottom lip constantly, so you will probably see this funny face in many pictures to come. Any tips for how to help him overcome it? Growl!
No, he's not sleeping. He's just really comfortable.
He LOVED seeing all of the pumpkins. He would point at them and then point to himself since he was also a pumpkin.
He thought they were pretty neat.
You just can't tell because he won't stop sucking on that lip!
There were cute little scenes set up all around the zoo and you could follow the whole story.
Zach RAN through the hay bale maze. He was totally excited, especially when he went through a little tunnel and escaped dad for a second. Too bad it didn't lead very far.
Run Zach Run!
He would also run down all of the hills along the path. I'm thinking we're all going to get a great night's sleep tonight.
He found some pumpkin lights that looked just like him!! He was thrilled.
On the way out we stopped to snap a picture with Captain Jack Sparrow, Zach wasn't so thrilled.

All in all, it was a great time. We LOVE the Zoo!!

Felt Board Fun

I've been meaning to work on this one for a while now. Finally, I buckled down and I'm really happy with how it ended up. Zach LOVES this book "Freight Train" By Donald Crews. It's super simple, just describes each colored car and then tells where the train goes. The drawings are very simple but he loves it- he basically loves anything train related. I figured it would be a perfect felt board story so I traced each car on it's respective color and WHA-LA! We now have our very own Freight Train. We are missing the purple box car because I didn't have any purple but I still think it will be a great learning tool for colors.

Once Upon a Time...

OK, I know I haven't been to very good at keeping up with blogging and what not but I'll try to give you a little bit of an update. I had my very first "official" photo shoot with a happy engaged couple. I actually delivered 5 gigantic prints for them this morning. It was really exciting to see my work blown up to a 20x30. I think they turned out great! Someday, I hope to upgrade my equipment so they can be even better but I'm still really happy with the way they turned out. You can see more at my photography blog in the left hand column.
Jason has been setting up interviews for residency next year and while it's really exciting, it's also a little nerve wracking to be wondering where we will be a year from now. For me that has meant a major purging spree. Jason and I have been married for 7 years now and have managed to accumulate a LOT of stuff. I've now decided it's finally time to just let it go. I participated in a clothing swap this last week where I was happy to unload, I mean donate, 5 large boxes of clothes. I have more miscellaneous items packed up and ready to go to good will. I feel like I'm actually losing weight by unloading the excess that has been cluttering up our home. It feels really good. I might have to be careful that I don't start enjoying it too much or I might give everything away!
Zach has grown up a ton. He went through a little texture aversion phase with his food and mostly stuck to milk and juice, but he's finally seemed to grow out of it. Topping his favorites would have to be animal shaped Mac N' Cheese and Brown Sugar Oatmeal, Oh... and I can't forget just straight cheese. For some reason he LOVES cheese! He has figured out how to run and he thinks it's just hysterical to run from one side of the house to the other, screaming and giggling all along the way.

His favorite thing to do is read. I think I could sit down with him and read every book in our house (and that's A TON!) and he would quietly sit and enjoy every one of them. He has even started to read them to himself. He will sit on his little couch and flip through the pages pointing out certain object and talking to himself. (Note: the book pictured here is actually upside down!) He is such a sweet content kid and just loves to cuddle any chance he gets. How did I manage to get so lucky with this one!