Waits Family Annals

Our Thanksgiving was spent with Todd’s brother and his family. This seems to be a tradition we have been doing for many years now. With Todd’s sister’s family away for school, it was just the two local families and we made it as chill as possible. Todd’s brother was determined to deep fry a turkey. Let me tell you, it was amazing! Done in 45 minutes, and you have your oven free for other food. The food was all delicious, and we stuffed ourselves with everything from brussel sprouts to salad, biscuits and potatoes, stuffing and turkey. We had some “punkin” pie and chocolate awesomeness pie.

We had Thanksgiving dinner early afternoon, then headed to the theater for The Muppets. This was Connor’s first experience at the movies. We took separate cars just in case Connor had a melt down in the theater. When he gets his picture taken, and he’s not in the mood to be “posey-boy” he planks (i.e. lies on the ground) whereever he is at. What I love about this moment, is that his cousins just joined him, and at that point, he became “posey-boy”. He loved The Muppets, and he made it through the whole thing. It was a great Thanksgiving day.

A new tradition we are starting as a family is picking out a real tree the day after Thanksgiving. We found a great farm just north of Pittsburgh called Allison’s Tree Farm. We love having it in our house and it was also a great day!

Connor and Ethan had a blast together.  Connor loved following Ethan around, and Ethan liked having a shadow.  Something about Ethan you must know: he has an obsession for Spiderman.  He wears his Spiderman costume EVERYWHERE.  When we were there we introduced him to Venom, and found some Venom, and Spiderman costumes at Walmart for under 3 bucks.  We couldn’t resist, and we dressed them up.  Of course Ethan was pretty much in one or the other all week.

Had to capture a moment with Granny.

I love this picture of Connor and Ethan in the Grocery Store.  And they were entertainment for us while we went shopping for makeup.

Of course there will be moments of frustration, and bossiness.  Connor is a great hitter.  I cannot stand it, but that is the stage he is in.  Ethan took it like a champ, and Jaclyn had a great attitude about it.

I still dont know what is up with Connor not wanting to share his bath with Ethan, but on the last night we made him.  I have a bath time pic with me and Jaclyn, so we had to do another one.  And I think its funny to see him so upset.

Okay, back to the good times.  The good times that will get you into trouble.  And here was the most popular one.  Ethan would gladly take Connors shoes and socks off so they could jump on the matress in Grandpas study.  Oh and what else would they do together?  Get all of Grandpa’s big books off the shelf and Connor would pile them on Ethans belly.  I caught that on tape.

Some great moments, on Grandpa’s chair: Ethan watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Connor with his Angry Birds.  Both in their new Cowboy boots.

On the last day at Jaclyn’s house.  Saying goodbye was hard.  We had so much fun.  The flight back was really horrible, but Connor did great.  I will never fly Delta again.  I will always fly Southwest, even if it means three layovers to get to Texas!

I have always loved Texas.  Growing up we would drive there at least every other year to visit my Grandparents.  I have great memories of those trips (of course not the travel part.)  The last time I have seen them was during our trek out to Pittsburgh.  We stopped there for a few days.  That was six years ago!  It was time to go back.

I had an extra bonus, my cousin lives there now too.  I am very fond of my cousin Jaclyn.  I have great memories of her growing up, and we lived together while going to school in Provo.  We both met our husbands while living together, and got married within a month of each other.  We have two boys, and it was just time to get them together.  I was super excited about this trip.

In the past six years, my Grandparents moved into a smaller house and closer to my Uncle Mike.  We got to see him a lot during our visit, and another bonus was that my mom flew too!  The week went by way to fast.  What did we do most of the time???  Eat ice cream, and play the best game made, Rook!  I was always Jaclyn’s partner, and we were unstoppable. (this of course depends on who you ask.)

Whats a trip to Texas without a Cowboys shirt, and some cowboy boots, and a hat?  Also, a trip to Cabela’s with Great Granpda, and some train conducting with Great Granny.

Here is Connor and me with my cousin and her family.  It was great to spend the week with them!

Connor with his Great Grandparents, giving them a laugh!

These boys together were a hoot! Still making a good time!

Us with Uncle Mike and Nancy.  It was great to meet Nancy and see Uncle Mike again. I think we resurrected his love for Rook.  It was fun to go to Cabela’s with them, and a great Texas Roadhouse.And lastly, I couldn’t go to Texas without the four generations of Marquette’s. Great visit.

Yogurt Eating

I can’t believe two years have flown by. I feel like we are brand new parents playing guessing games every day. One thing for sure is that Connor is our little miracle and is super sweet. Even though I’m really super sad he’s no longer a baby, he is so much fun. I’m excited to see the kind of person this little boy will grow to be. But I’m not in any rush. These days need to slow down. Read More

This year we wanted to capture our family in this particular moment and time in our lives. When Connor was first born, we took him to Picture People in the mall, and we met a young photographer, Natalia Dove. She did a few photo sessions over that year at Picture People, and left the company to go freelance about a year ago. I knew I wanted to use her for a couple reasons. I loved all the pictures she did of Connor, and she was willing to go to any location we wanted to go to. Read More

We LOVE going to the Wilson’s Halloween Party.  I think this was our third year in a row.  They always know how to throw a great party.  AWESOME food, and games, and company. We will be very sad when they are done with school here, and move. Kate Wilson’s birthday is on Halloween, so its her favorite time of year.  I feel bad that she is busy throwing an awesome party and serving all her guests for her birthday… but she is the kind of person that I have never heard complain once.  She does for so many people.  And Kate could easily complain if she wanted.  She is the Relief Society President and has a young family of four girls. In my book, she could complain all she wants, but she doesn’t.  She is always an ear to bend, and always thinks the best of people, and I envy that.  I didn’t mean this to be a love letter, but I guess Im very sad at the thought that they might not be around next Halloween. Connor loved it, and loved tapping the pumpkin full of candy.

Everybody was dressed up so awesome. Besides taking photos of Connor (we are selfish that way) we did get a shot of our besties who won the costume contest.

We did it! Once I made a decision on how we would get our costumes, it really was easy.  I had to be Ming Ming.  And Connor had to be the only boy in the show, Tuck.  That left Todd with the Hamster/Guinea Pig Linny.  We can excuse it by saying I think Linny is very androgenoes. We don’t even know what kind of animal she really is, let alone if she really is a girl.  I mean Linny as a name still doesn’t answer the question.  Anyways, moving on….

We made the capes out of felt, and sewed ribbon on the edges to tie it around us.  Thank goodness for nickjr.com for providing templates for the wonder pets logo.  I was a little nervous on how i was going to get such a curvy W inside that circle.  Then we just picked out our costumes from amazon.  Generic makes it awesome.  They actually do sell wonder pet costumes for children, but I think Connors Tuck costume is better then the one they have online.  Todd’s costume is actually a bear costume.  Its not to scary, actually it makes an awesome blanket. I love my duck costume.

Connor loves his costume too.  He kept that hat on his head for over three hours, only to come off by me, because the party was over.  Excited for some more wonder pets trick or treating tonight.  This is a first for Connor, I anticipate attacking half of our street, and the parents eating the candy!

Liz: What is ur password to get on ur desktop so I can iChat with my mom!!!!!

Liz: I hate ur passwords

Liz: Nobody cares or is ever in our study

Liz: It’s only annoying!!!

Todd: It’s your gmail password

Liz: Grrrrr