No news is good news!

I can just see the looks of surprise and disbelief already in you wonderful friends and family that still check in on my blog to see if I've updated...I did! I wanted to start the new year out with a clean blogging slate, so here it is. After coming to Oregon and hearing not one but three dear family friends say how outdated my blog is, I finally realized that I really should be reporting on our family activities to, not exclusively but especially, keep our out of state family members happy. So get a snack and enjoy.

Like I said, we are still in Oregon on our Christmas break and we've had a really great time. Yesterday we went to the beach here in Florence to let Cole run around and also see the beautiful sunset. It's kind of funny to pack all your warm coats and hats for the beach, and then try to stay away from the freezing cold water, so unlike when we usually come in the warm months. But Cole could have stayed for hours chasing birds, finding shells, and running away from the water.

Here we are! I still do a double take when I see pictures of me these days, I can't believe how much I am showing already at 18 weeks!

Cole and Tyler.

We also got to ride Boo Boo and Buster, Lisa and Jessica's horses. Cole has no hesitation about being so high and can't wait to get up on the saddle. Here he is with his cousin Shaely on Boo Boo. Also notice the sweet Harley jacket Uncle Jackson and Aunt Janale gave him for Christmas. Cute!
Hanging out in the big chair with "bompaw".
Back to riding, this time on Buster. He kept saying "more ride!" and "again!".

Good boy Buster!
We went and ate a yummy fried chicken dinner the day after Christmas at Jolene and Jordan's, and all of us girls got matching Carhartt's for Christmas so naturally we needed to take a picture of that.
Watching Shrek with the cousins at Jordan and Jolene's.
I got the honor of scraping all the leftover turkey off after Christmas dinner, and Cole loved eating it, I mean helping me.
Making pie crust with Jess! He has such great aunties and uncles. And isn't that apron the best? Thanks grandma Morrill!
Christmas morning! We had fun seeing Cole unwrap everything.
Jessica and I doing some last minute wrapping together.
Cole and Shaely went and saw Santa, Cole had just woken up from his nap and was in a daze the whole time! I was surprised he wasn't scared, because he sure was the week before when we went. He just sat there, almost falling asleep again, while Shaely talked to Santa and stroked his beard :)
Okay, this one is really out of order, but I can't get it to move. It was such a Cute of Cole playing in the leaves at Tyler's Turkey Triathlon that I had to put it in.
Just had to say how proud I was of Tyler finishing his tri in such great time! It's his 4th year doing this same one with his friend Ben.
Back to playing on the beach, chasing birds! Sorry I can't get them in order today. I'm just worrying about getting it posted.
Opening a present from Morrill cousins! Thanks for the trains, he loves it!
He loves listening to Tyler's ipod, and always brings it to me and says "mah-lee!" (for Bob Marley). Bud the earbuds always fall out, so I bought him these cheap ones at the dollar store so they'll stay on his head :) It works!
Here are some pictures from our Morrill family Christmas vacation in Salt Lake. It's a yearly tradition and we look forward to it beginning in October. We opened a few presents, and Cole knows right where the bow is supposed to go.
He also loves using the ribbons as leashes to lead his new doggy around the hotel room. What a great uncle!
We walked over to temple square of course to see the lights. Cold but beautiful!

Cole fell asleep on the walk to see the lights and missed the whole show! At least he was warm mostly.
The kids! (we missed you Park and Jenn!)
Before falling asleep.
We got hit with a lot of snow before we left for Oregon, and Cole couldn't get enough. He loved picking up big snowballs that I made and throwing them.
Helping me make banana bread. He's getting really good at licking off beaters!
Day after Thanksgiving, heading to the mountains to chop down our Christmas tree! Once again, thanks for being a great uncle Shane and carrying him in the backpack!
Watching Monsters and Aliens in 3D. For a couple seconds at least.
Cole's favorite part of our tree: watering it every morning. He'd go get his cup with some water, give it to me, scoot up to the trunk on his tummy, take his cup, and pour the water in. It was the cutest!
Well, that was our last month for the most part. It's been so much fun celebrating these holidays with our families. We feel so blessed to have so much love and support. I'm looking forward to finding out if our new little one is a boy or girl next week! We'll let you know!

The good with the bad

So I'm starting with a little bad, then some good, then ending with a pretty big bad. For some wacky reason, my pictures are showing up as I type as text, which makes it very hard to label them like I like to, explaining what is happening. Grrr. I am the LAST person who would know how to fix this, I am pretty technologically inclined but when it comes to this blogging business, I really stick to the basics. Anywho, this is the first bummer of my post because I don't get to tell you all the cute stories with the pics. But they are worth looking at, so keep on!

The good: we did the fun walk around Gardner Village last week and look at all the adorable fall things and witches (if you haven't been in the fall before, GO!). It was like a Thursday afternoon, and we got there and Tyler says, "I think me and that guy right there are the only dudes here." And I think he was right. That place was teeming with young moms and tons of little ones running amok. It was wonderful! What a great husband for being a good sport. Anyway, we got some cute pics by the pumpkins. Plus there's some of us just hanging out. Always a good thing.

Now the kind of big bad: Cole burned his hand pretty good today, and it just makes me sick. We have had a pretty good start to our toddler years as far as safety goes, you all know how much danger they can put themselves in so quickly. But today we had our first big owie. Tyler had just finished mowing the lawn, and we were all outside. Cole was pulling up some grass next to the mower, I turn around to talk to Tyler and I hear that "I'm in pain" cry that I hardly ever hear. He had reached out and touched the lawnmower engine, which was still hot :( Oh it just broke my heart. So we ran it under water forever, put some neosporin on and covered it up. It got the tips of his thumb, pointer, and middle finger, plus a large section running down his pointer and into his palm. So sad. Anyway, after tub time, we bandaged it up for the night and Tyler put a sock on it with some tape around to keep it there because before he kept pulling off the bandaids and bringing his poor little hand over to me to kiss better. He thought the sock hand was pretty cool, and was a lot happier and settled after that. Anyway, so that's the pic of him with the sock on :) Let's hope it heals fast and we can keep it clean.

Lastly...to end on a good note, I wanted to share this FUN Halloween idea I found on sugardoodle.net (if you haven't been there, a super great website for many things, just go look around for a bit). They are paper witches shoes that you can fill with fun Halloween treats. I'm totally going to make these and take visiting teaching with me! They seem pretty simple. http://www.skiptomylou.org/2008/10/28/paper-witch-shoes/

We want to hear from YOU!

I love getting the Ensign, every month I read something that really speaks to me. I make it a part of my morning scripture study and really look forward to it. In this month's issue, it talks about Finding and Sharing the Gospel Online and mentions ways that we can join in the conversation about LDS values using our blogs or websites. Reading it really made me feel more excited about keeping my blog updated and sharing more about our wonderful gospel. But I know many of you already do this better than I do, and I want to hear your ideas and thoughts! How have you used your blog (or webpage) to share your LDS thoughts and feelings with others? Even if you haven't done them yourself yet, what are some ideas you have on how to do this? I did hear Elder Ballard's talk from an '07 commencement speech about "joining in the conversation", he said that, "We cannot stand on the sidelines while others, including our critics, attempt to define what the Church teaches". I would love to hear your ideas! I do have a sincere testimony that our church is true, and that living by the commandments God has given us is the only way to find real, lasting happiness here on earth and after. Also, feel free to send me links of other blogs/websites you've found that are sharing the gospel in a good way. I learn well by watching others, and hopefully we can all learn together :)

Have a great fall week! Enjoy the newest Mormon Message from YouTube - on the sidebar.