Fall Time

I love fall! 

It may be because my birthday is in October but I attribute it more to the anticipation of my favorite holidays, the crisp bite of cold in the air, the leaves changing colors, and the fun decorations. I am the kind of person that goes a little over the top during any holiday and having a baby makes me go even more overboard. Back in October I decided I needed to do a little photo shoot outside to celebrate fall. 

Halloween (we're a Harry Potter family what can I say)

Last year Mark and I were Harry potter and Hermione. The only way that Mark let me buy the costumes last year was if we wore them for two halloween's so naturally I had to come up with a HP costume for Conner. We thought about dobby but thought that may be a little cruel (not to mention cold) so our next choice was Hedwig (Harry Potter's trusted snow owl). I looked around on the internet and didn't see any Hedwig costumes that I liked so I figured now's as good a time as any to take up sewing and make one myself. I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself.

 Conner and his cousins Carson & Audrey

4 months.

Our little boy turned 4 months on October 2.

Here are his 4 month stats:

Head Circumference  43.5=80%

Weight  16 lbs 14 oz = 85%

Height  26 in= 80%

 Grandpa got ahold of the camera and I have about 20 more of these. He sure loves his little grandson.

 I love this hat

Conner has brought so much joy to our lives. He is such a happy baby and loves giving us smiles and giggling. There is nothing better than going to get him in the morning and he gives you a big smile. It's been a month since he rolled over from his stomach to his back and he still hasn't become very consistent with his rolling. When he's on his back he'll go on his sides but refuses to keep going because he hates being on his stomach. He loves standing, his activity mat, being outside, and having his toes and hands nibbles on. When you're holding him he'll always stick his hands or feet in your mouth so you can bite them. He still is not sleeping through the night and I'm so excited for the time when he does. He's started eating some baby food and he loves it. We love our Connster J

Roll over beethoven!

Conner officially rolled over September 15th! He was having some tummy time on his mat when all the sudden he got this determined look on his face and just roller over. I had never even seem him attempt before so I was pretty surprised. He has since gotten really close to rolling from his back to his stomach but hasn't gotten there yet.

A couple other facts about him:

• He grabs on to everything now and will actually play with the toys instead of just looking at them. The hard part is that one of the major things he grabs on to is my hair, which is quite long now.
• Mark is the king at getting Conner giggling. I swear I will do the same exact things as Mark, but for some reason Conner doesn't think it's funny--great, he already thinks I'm a lame-o. 
• He loves watching football with his daddy. He will just sit calmly on his lap for a long time watching the game together...that is until Mark gets upset and yells which scares Conner and makes him cry. It's a good thing Mark went to the BYU/Utah football game because I think Conner would have been doing a lot of crying with all the yelling that that game deserved.
• He loves attention, he will reward any attention given to him with a big smile whether from a family member or a stranger in Costco.
• He loves being out and about, he is extremely happy if he is exploring new "worlds".
• He is the love of our lives and we can't get enough of him. He definitely receives his quota for kisses each day.

 watching some football

 Playing halo with daddy.

 always full of smiles

 blue steel face

 I love my baby boy!

 

Conner & Carson (cousin)

Cozumel Baby!!

Last year for Christmas my parents paid for us all to go on a family trip to Cozumel, Mexico for 9 days. It was SUCH a fun vacation!! I love spending time with my family and I feel like we could have fun no matter what we are doing. I'll let the pictures tell the story of our trip with a little narration.

We were set to leave at midnight on Thursday. When we got to the airport we found out that Delta had changed our connecting flight from Atlanta to Cozumel from leaving Friday morning to one leaving Saturday morning! Needless to say we were not happy about this as it would mean we would be spending one of our nights in Atlanta. This was the start of a lot of problems with the airlines including lost ticket information, 5 lost bags, and 1 damaged bag (our baby carrier). Remember when I said that my family has fun no matter what we are doing... well, this was definitely put to the test. We of course were pretty upset about the whole change of tickets so we got a little upset with the airlines and in Atlanta they sent us to Cancun on a flight and then paid for us to take a taxi and ferry to Cozumel (an island).

 We had a lot of baggage!!!

 Because the airlines messed up our flights they put us on a first-class flight from Atlanta to Cancun! I, of course, had no problem with this as the extra room is very appreciated.

 Brenton (my brother) and Carson. What 3-yr-old gets to fly first class!

 Carson and Audrey running around through customs

 Conner was such a good traveler!!! Never even uttered a peep on the flights and was every happy!

 We finally arrived in Cancun 16 hours after leaving from SLC. Notice that there are a lot fewer bags present....that's because they lost 5!!! And the worse part was that it was mine and Conner's bags and our scuba stuff!

 Alisha waiting for the ferry with Conner. Because of the unexpected extra time flying Conner dirtied all the outfits we had and he was a naked boy which was good because it was SO HOT AND HUMID!

 look at that water!

 We were all worn out on the ferry and didn't even bother being outside but ran to the AC room offered.

 Carson was so excited to be on the boat that papa took one for the team

 Beautiful sunset upon arrival. This is a view from our room.

 Our main activity on the trip was scuba diving so you will see a lot of scuba diving pictures. Our whole family is certified and we all have our own equipment. Because of the kids we all had to take a day babysitting the others went out.

I love seeing all the aquatic life but my favorite part of the Cozumel diving was all the caves and underwater tunnels.

 unlikely friendship

 I'm holding a crab

 Mark has a starfish on his hand

 sea snake

 Church on Sunday at the Spanish ward. My family was all troopers considering they don't speak Spanish

 I love this picture

 The resort was all-inclusive so we could go eat at the restaurants and buffet for free whenever we want. It also had a free bar but we didn't take advantage of that offer...we did, however, have about 1,000 virgin pina colada's as a group.

 That cloud is millions off little fish

 wreck dive!

 We actually dove through the wreck so we got to see all the crew's quarters, bathrooms, and cargo departments. I was really focused on videoing as I swam through the wreck so it wasn't till later, above the surface, that everyone told me about the huge eel right by my head!!! I am more scared of eels than sharks yikes!

 The family at the front of the boat

 The resort had all these activities that you could participate in throughout the day--kind of like the movie dirty dancing--so we participated in a couple of them and water volleyball was one of them.

 Papa with Conner

 Carson had more pina colada's than all of us put together.

 just relaxin'

 sippin on a mixed pina colada/strawberry daquiri (jk)

 I'm a big boy I can sit up on the seat by myself

 Audrey loved the all-you-can-eat buffet!! I love the napkin wrapped around her like a cute scarf

 The resort had 5 pools!

 Each family had their own room and you can kinda see the hotel part in the background

 Conner spent a lot of time in his stroller but he was happy as could be! He loves being outside and seeing new things so he was in HEAVEN!

 Day view from our window

I LOVE this picture of Conner looking out the airplane window.

I had been looking forward to this trip since Christmas and now I feel a little empty and sad I don't have it to look forward to. I liken the feeling to how I felt after my wedding day was over (okay maybe that's a stretch). But we had such an awesome time with the family and it was a great way to end the summer!