Wyatt Turns One

We celebrated Wyatt's first birthday on October 24th. Nick had to work that day, but when he got home we ate a quick dinner, and got right to the good stuff! Madison and I made two 9 inch cakes, one for Qy, and one for the rest of us. As you can see, his cake did not look too appetizing after he got through with it. He was in heaven! Eating the cake was definitely his favorite part, he's still too little to fully appreciate presents, but that is what his bis sister is for. The next day we hosted a little party for him at mom and dad's house. We had lots of fun celebrating with family.....That is one of the best perks about living in Oregon!

9/11

I know that this was like a month and a half ago, but I had the video on my computer and so I had to post it. Every year in Lewiston the local fire departments and police departments gather together with the community to remember the lives that were lost on September 11th. It is a very touching tribute and it was also Nicks last performance with the Pipes and Drums band. Before the program began Madison and another little firefighter girl, Brenley, put on their own performance. Our once shy little girl was dancing in front of quite a crowd, who adored them of course! Oh how times have changed!

We're here!

I have been a very delinquent blogger, but I do have some pretty good excuses. First of all my sister Colie came to visit one last time before she left for Wales. We miss her terribly and can't believe that it will be 10 months or more before we get to see her again. The day that my sister left my awesome mom-in-law came up for Madison's third birthday and was able to stay for a long weekend. We had such a great time! And then it was time to pack and move. We are so excited to be in Oregon, but we will miss our LC Valley family terribly. They have been so absolutely wonderful and our lives have been so blessed by the wonderful friends that we have made. I love you all!

Miss Muscles

Madison loves to act out her favorite movies. This is a scene from SpongeBob Square Pants. Her noises and facial expressions are the best!!

Fun at Gma & Gpa Pages House

We were able to spend some time in Oregon last month and we had so much fun! We spent a lot of time playing in the back yard, picnicking at the park, which is just a short wagon ride from mom and dads house, playing poker, Colie kicks butt by the way, hanging out at Darren and Shannon's first home and admiring Great Grandpa and Grandma's garden. The best part of this trip was that it resulted in Nick being offered a job at the Clackamas County Fire Department. YEAH!!! This is such a huge blessing for our family. We will be just one hour from my family, one short and inexpensive plane ride from Nicks family, and Nick will get to work for an awesome fire department. I told him its like he just made the all star team in firefighting! I am so proud of him and grateful for the comfort and strength that Heavenly Father has given us during this stressful process. He truly knows what is best for us, and that is why I am confident that this move will be a wonderful one.

Wyatt had is first taste of Cheetos...Thanks Mom!

Messy popsicle faces.

Madison and her cousin Kyle had so much fun playing together. Can Kyle work those shades or what!!

I know the feeling Madison.

Darren and Shannon's first home.

Little Angels

Sleeping babies are the cutest things in the whole world. Especially a sleeping baby who has slept all night long! Wyatt has been such a great sleeper for me, and he wakes up happy too. Madison loves to be the first one in Wyatts room. She runs in and climbs in bed with him. Then they both start jumping and giggling. It is adorable.

Summer Pics

I have been slacking in the picture taking lately so I grabbed my camera, the kids and drug Nick outside for some summer pics while the flowers are still pretty. Madison was a great model. She would say "Okay, eyes open, eyes closed, kissy lips, tongue out.....let me see!!!" She was obviously working with an amateur photographer. Wyatt was more intent on checking if his teeth had come through yet, so in every picture he either had his fingers in his mouth or a really funny face.

The Bottomless Pit

I think the reason why Wyatt was a late crawler was because he spent so much time in his high chair. The boy loves to eat!! Unfortunately for the rest of us, he can crawl now and much of his day is spent chasing around anyone with food in their hands....as a matter of fact he is tugging on my pant leg right now demanding that I share my nutri grain bar. When there is no food to be found Wyatt takes great joy in unrolling the toilet paper, pulling leaves off of my plants and emptying cupboards in the kitchen. He and Madison do spend lots of time playing in her room. They can keep each other company for quite awhile and they play really well together.

Cali Trips

We have been so lucky to go to California twice this year already. On the first trip we got to see a lot of family. We stayed with Nicks mom and his dad, plus his brother Ryan came up as well as his brother Chad and his wife Trisha and their daughters CeCe and Alyssa and their son Tristan. I also got to meet Nicks grandma and grandpa for the first time. They loved their great grandchildren! Madison had a blast following CeCe around and her and Alyssa got along really well. We also went to Disneyland where Madison just had to have a Cinderella shirt and about 100 churros. On our second trip to California we spent all of our time in Laguna Beach. I absolutely love that eclectic little beach town. We had a lot of beach time, it is Madison's favorite thing next to spending time with her grandma, ate a tone of good food, and hit Sea World. It was a great little vacation and we can't wait to go back!

I just love this picture. One of us always had to stay pretty close because Madison has no fear of the ocean.

Wyatt spent most of his time eating his toes. He was not a fan of the ocean.

While Madison was getting wet up to her neck, CeCe and Alyssa would get close enough to get their toes wet and then run away screaming and laughing.

We had to do some serious bribing to get her away from the water but eventually it worked and she snuggled up with her daddy on the warm rocks.

I'm not sure if Madison had more fun eating the cotton candy or feeding Nick.

Now we were lucky to get this picture of mom because she is so busy taking pictures herself. So we took a picture of mom taking pictures.

You may be thinking that this picture is of Uncle Ryan and the kids, but in fact it is of Uncle Grandpa and the kids or at least that is what Madison calls him. We all seemed to think that it suited him too. This is when Madison started to draw on herself too, "Uncle Grandpa does" Thanks Ryan.

We were really bad about taking pictures on this trip, so this pic is of dad and Wyatt when he came up for Wyatt's blessing. Everyone thought that they looked so much alike, it must be the baby blues.

Madison loved Grandpa Chiniquy's dog, I am not sure that the feeling was mutual.

Page Family Visit

We had such a fun time with my Mom, Dad, Gpa Page and Colie when they came to visit this summer. Madison loves having them around. She has at least one constant play mate 24 hours a day. It is getting harder and harder when they leave though. Mom almost went home minus one pinkie finger because Madison would not let go.

We spent a lot of time hanging out in the back yard, either eating, swinging, napping, picking veggies or strawberries, playing badminton or croquet, and swimming.

Colie was such a good sport.

Boy time.

I think that Madison and Bear had the most fun playing badminton. Bear was like those little guys that fetch the tennis balls, he was not helpful though because usually the birdie was still in play when he snatched it out of the air.

This was pretty funny because earlier that day Colie was talking about how she was excited to play intramurals while she is in Whales because "it isn't so competitive". I believe that the only racquet casualty we had was due to her...

Do you believe that face?

We also went for a little walk and let Madison play at the park. It was great, she had Dad going through this little tube slide, where was my camera then!!

Madison and Wyatt were exhausted after so much fun. We can't wait for you to come back again!

Summer Piping

Here are some of the pics from the LFD Pipes & Drums summer concert series.

Their first big gig was playing for the NAIA World Series on Memorial Day. It was cool that Nick got to play on the same field that he won a National Championship on (his uniform has changed quite a bit, but I think that he can pull off a skirt just as well as he could the tight baseball pants)
The groupies.

They also played during a flag raising ceremony at the Idaho State Veterans Home on Memorial Day. They sounded great! Here is a link to their web site where you can watch videos of them performing and see more pictures. www.lewistonpipesanddrums.org/home.html

Fun in the Sun

As you can see, Madison definitely has Nicks California blood. She loves the water! Wyatt, on the other hand, loves his nice warm bath, and that is about it. It took me awhile to get him used to the pool but once he decided it was okay he had fun floating around in the dolphin.

I made the mistake of starting a water fight with Nick yesterday. Madison and I snuck into the bathroom and made some water balloons and then waited for our chance. Needless to say, I was soaked and Nick.....was not. The fact that he was an amazing right fielder with impeccable aim and currently a fireman, where he gets plenty of practice shooting things with water, did not even cross my mind. Thank goodness Madison stole the hose from him. It was a bit easier dodging her squirts then Nicks. She was determined though!!

But then she started to get cold...

And a little bit colder. It was nothing that a warm towel and a mommy hug couldn't fix.

Wyatt was thrilled that he stayed out of the fray, even though by the looks of him, he was the one who needed to be sprayed off with the hose! We ended our night with an exciting game of badminton, again I need to think twice before challenging Nick, and some chill out time in front of the waterfall. What a great day!