My brother, my hero

Before I begin, Shane you are my hero too but it's Parker's big day so this is all about him :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY PARKER! I was going to make you a card, but I thought this would be more fun because I can add pictures. And I know you check our blog, which I really appreciate.

I have always looked up to Parker, and I couldn't have asked for a better example to follow. When I was little, Parker was my biggest buddy. I idolized him and looked up to him more than he thinks I did. I know how annoying little siblings can be, wanting to follow you around and hang out with you and your friends (Shane), but I don't remember a time that Parker told me I couldn't. I remember going to the church with him to play football with all his boy-friends, and because of Parker letting me play with him I decided I wanted to be the first girl in the NFL (still working on that goal). I loved looking at his baseball and football cards and hearing him talk about John Elway and Bo Jackson. He was a really good student and everyone at school liked him, I wanted to be just like him! He set a great example for me to follow.

Although through high school I was usually known as Parker's little sister, I felt proud of that title because of the wonderful person my brother was. He even took Katie and me to lunch every now and then, although it wasn't very cool to be seen with freshmen. I watched him go on to play college football and seeing him accomplish that huge goal motivated me to do it too. I always said I wanted to marry someone just like my brother, who was spiritual and funny and goal-driven. That set a really high bar for me in who I chose to date, and in marrying Tyler I know I found someone just as wonderful. So, I LOVE YOU PARKER! And still look up to you just as much.

In honor of the BD, Here are 29 facts or things we love about Parker:

1 - He is SUCH an amazing dad. Really.
2 - He did a great job picking Jenn! We can't imagine our family without her.
3 - He gets 100s on his law school tests. Who does that?
4 - He is focused and driven.
5 - He loves sports.
6 - He looks handsome even without hair.
7 - He nails bugs to the garage wall to scare Jenn.
8 - He dresses great.
9 - He's laid back.
10 - He works really hard for his family.
11 - He married someone from Oregon, and we love Oregon!
12 - He taught me how to throw a spiral.
13 - He has a strong testimony.
14 - He honors his priesthood.
15 - He has a fun laugh that makes you laugh too.
16 - It's so fun to watch him play with his boys.
17 - He does cute things to show Jenn he loves her.
18 - He knows everything about football.
19 - He is willing to help with anything you need.
20 - He is very thoughtful and caring, not in a girly way but in a wonderful way for a guy to be.
21 - Although laid back, he has strong opinions and isn't afraid to share them.
22 - He played college football and still plays sports (good luck with your intermural playoffs!)
23 - He served a mission in Tokyo, Japan.
24 - He always seems really happy to see you.
25 - It's so fun to watch him with Cole.
26 - He turned into a cat person.
27 - Family is really important to him.
28 - He likes camping and doing stuff outdoors.
29 - He's the best big brother in the world! Have a great bday!

These aren't in chronological order, but here's a bunch of pictures of the birthday boy:

I love this picture of us Morrill kids, at the airport when Shaney got home from his mission.

Park and Shane, up to no good.

The first time Parker met Cole after being in DC all summer.

Jack and Josh love their daddy so much.

This is at Thanksgiving last year when we told the family we were expecting Cole.

At the boys blessing. You look so young Park! What are you, almost 30 now?? :)

At Cole's blessing.

Love you!

We picked pumpkins, went to the game, then hung out at home

Okay so we didn't do those things in that order, but sometimes I hate coming up with titles for posts, so I just asked Tyler what he would title this one and that's what I got. Tyler had a camping trip with the scouts over UEA weekend, so Cole and I hit the road home for Neola. Cole did a great job of traveling 3 hrs. each way, even without anyone in the back to entertain him. The first thing we did once we got there was head to the Corn Maize in Bluebell with mom, Tegan, and Tegan's friend Kimmy. They have a shed full of corn kernels for kids to play in, so while Tegan and Kimmy rolled around mom and I squished Cole's little toosh into the corn so he could sit up on his own and began taking pictures. How cute is he?!!

Want some corn Grandma??
Fine I'll just eat it myself :)
Who knew corn could make me so happy?

We also went through 2 corn mazes, which mom expertly navigated us through, sling-shotted apples toward a cut out of Bin Laden (seriously!), enjoyed some hot chocolate, and went for a ride on a tractor wagon to pick pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. Here we are sitting on hay bales, waiting to go! Cole was pretty pooped.

Going to the games: At Christine's last game, Tegan was the fan of the game so Big Blue came over to give her a volleyball. So we got a picture with Cole! Poor Cole isn't going to know who to root for when he grows up, Utah or USU or OSU...I guess those would all be okay with me, as long as it's not that other college that I won't mention because I had too many people get fired up about that post a few weeks ago :)

Hanging out at home: Cole loves to laugh, especially at Tyler :) I have to really work to get him to crack up, but Tyler just looks at him a funny way and he loses it. I think he's learning at an early age that daddy is the funny one, which is too bad for me, but true. They just have so much fun together, as you can tell. I'm amazed at how much joy Cole has added to our already happy life.

Notice the playoff game in the background...anyone else in mild depression that the Sox didn't make it?? Bummer. I really wanted to watch the world series this year.

This is after being thrown up in the air and caught, scary but fun!

October Snow

We couldn't believe it when we woke up this past Sunday to several inches of snow! We knew there might be some coming, but we weren't thinking in terms of a cover-everything kind of snow. Most of it's gone now, which I'm glad for because I want to enjoy fall a little longer, but it was exciting while it lasted!

The front of our house.

Our front yard.
As I was looking through Cole's clothes, trying to find things warm enough to wear in snow-weather, I found this outfit that Grandpa Petersen gave him and it finally fits! Go Beavs!

Cole went in for his 4 month appointment yesterday. Doctor says everything looks great, he's tall for his age but a little skinny for his height, so we're going to do everything we can to put on a few pounds. He suggested starting rice cereal, which we did last night, and I can't believe I didn't take some pictures. We had the video camera rolling, and mom and Tegan were watching on the webcam so it didn't even cross my mind to take a still shot. Anyway, it went pretty well! I'm not sure if anything got down, but I'm sure when we try again today that he won't push as much out as he did yesterday. It was so cute watching him try to figure it out. It makes him look bigger, eating from a spoon! Way to go sweet baby!

My husband loves canning!

It's true, but that picture isn't until the end so you must look at everything else before you see the beautiful jars of salsa Tyler canned last night! Go Tyler!

So I have a lot of pictures backed up here that I'm going to throw together in one blog. First, we've had a blast going up to Logan this season to watch Christine play, and we wanted to show her how much we love her so we made coordinating t-shirts with her number on it! And we made a little # number sign for Cole. It's amazing how much fun can be made with a $2 can of blue fabric paint from Roberts, a couple white t-shirts, and a onesie! We didn't have time to put "MORRILL" on the back, so we'll do that for next game.

Go #14!!!! How cute is Cole. And I was very impressed with the paint, I fully expected for him to have a blue tummy after we took off the drool-soaked onesie, but happily the paint stayed where we wanted it to, on his shirt.
After the game, the players were signing posters and anything you had so....we just passed the little one down the line and had them sign the back of his onesie! Hilarious! And I think he only spit up once! He kept turning his head back to see what was going on. We ran out of room so we had to do a couple signatures on the bum (of the onesie, of course).
Notice how much hair he's lost lately! It's falling out like crazy.
This was before heading up to a different game, we took a picture with the boys in their Aggie gear. Christine got Cole a cute Utah State onesie, booties, and bib.

Cole working on sitting up in the bumbo. Cute smile. He loves being in his bouncer while I am in the kitchen. Oh, and his eyes are changing, kind of a brownish green!

I thought this was funny of him getting his thumb in his mouth. His fist is always in there, but sometimes he can focus on just a thumb or finger. This is what it looks like...

Step 1: Open the mouth and get the fist ready.

Step 2: Bring fist towards mouth and stick out thumb.
Step 3: Suck!
Visiting daddy at Costco is a favorite activity when we have some shopping to do. No, this baby is not for sale.

Tyler has taken on a new hobby lately: canning! His mom is a pro canner, so he has wanted to do it ever since we got married but I've always been a little hesitant. It seems intimidating to me for some reason. Anyway, our little garden has been making tomatoes like crazy so he wanted to do salsa. I finally agreed, and we stayed up till 1 last night canning 9 quarts! I still smell like onions. And I have to say, it wasn't that hard and it was really rewarding knowing that we added to our food storage with something we made. We're anxious to do something else, any canners out there that know what we can can this late in the season??

Life has settled down as we've figured out our routine and settled back into school mode (for me anyway). Cole is being a good boy for his babysitter, my good friend and job-share teacher Shanna, and I couldn't have picked a more wonderful person to watch him for 4 hours of the day. It was just truly a blessing that she needed someone to watch her little boy and I needed someone, and we both wanted to teach part time, I just couldn't have imagined a better situation. Other than just staying home with Cole, of course. But hopefully after this year I will be able to!

We've got Cole's 4 month check-up on Monday, so I'll post after that and let you know how he's been growing!