Merry Christmas!

We had such a great time this Christmas with our Big 2 year old who was finally old enough to appreciate opening presents and get excited about Santa coming! Kaden was so excited to come out to see what suprises Santa had left for him. So we spent the morning at home then headed over to my parents house to have breakfast. One of the best parts of the day was being able

to talk to my 2 brothers who have been gone about six months now!!!! Greg who is serving in

Lima Peru, and Jordan who is serving a sign language mission in Rochester, New York! We miss them both so much and are so proud of them! I was a little bummed though because Kaden was a little too grouchy after his nap to talk to Greg. He had warmed up a bit by the time Jordan called though, maybe got 1 minute of talking in. Oh well, there is always Mother's Day :)

We spent the afternoon at the Morzelewski's and Kaden had a chance to play with his cousins.

We are so thankful for such great family and friends and to be able to spend our Christmas together!

The Polar Express

Last night we rode the Polar Express (aka, the Heber Creeper) with the Morzelewskis. For those of you who have never experienced this, I would say it was worth the drive to Heber but only because it was great for the kids! (Don't go if you don't go with kids). The train goes about ten miles an hour, which was fast enough to make it about half-way across Deer Creek Resevoir, then you turn around and come back. We were going to put Kaden in his Christmas p.j.s but once we got up there it was soooo cold outside, and fairly cold inside the train I didn't dare change him. It was a great time with the family and the kid's had a lot of fun, I am sure we will do it again next year!

Josh, Dan, and Dan's girlfriend Amber with the boys (Kaden, Alex and Braxton)
They served cookies and hot chocolate to everyone......

They read the story of the Polar Express and Mrs. Claus visited the kids....

They told some really bad jokes.....

Once we got to the "North Pole" (I think it was a house with Christmas lights on it)
Santa was standing outside waving to the kids....

The Conductor came around and punched the kids tickets....

And Santa visited! He even knew all the kids names! (nametags)
Kaden is terrified of Santa if you can't tell from the picture.

Santa gave each of the kids a silver bell to take home.
You will need to read the story or watch the movie before you
go :)

The Jazz, The Heat and The Egberts!

The Egberts took us to the Jazz game last night, so Kaden and Rylee

got to sport their matching D-Will jerseys! We had so much fun, Kaden was

way into the Jazz Bear (what's new) and Rylee showed off her moves every time

the music came on. They shared popcorn and sour patch kids, and Rylee tried to

get a little personal with Kaden : ) Thanks guys!


Cuties!

Mel Faye's Shower!

We had Mel Faye's Shower this weekend, it turned out great!
I am so happy for Mel and Ryan...it's about time! ha ha ha, just kidding Mel!
It was so good to see my long lost friend Mel Marie, I can't believe it had
been 2 years! Way too long! Everyone enjoyed the gift Mel Marie brought.....
you know if you were there ; )

Kaden had fun too, first he stuck his head in the chocolate fountain,
then made everyone play imaginary baseball with him,
and Ryan took him out to play in the snow. He loved that of course!
Congrats Mel, Love you soooo much!

What a mess, if you look close you can see chocolate stuck in his hair

An Inspiration...

I just wanted to tell my cousin Jenn, her husband Eric and their little baby Drew what an inspiration they have been to me. Little Drew was born 12 days ago at only 24 weeks. He was one pound four ounces, and came out with a strong will to live. There have been some great up's and down's as expected with such an early entrance into the world, but Eric and Jenn have been so strong. It makes me realize more than ever how important family is, and to cherish each and every day we have together! They have set up a blog for little Drew that is very sweet and touching. Just wanted to share it with anyone who may know Eric and Jenn and wants to send an encouraging word! www.townerfamily.blogspot.com.

Love you Jenn, Eric, Drew and the entire Cook Family!!!!!!!!

Temple Square

This weekend we decided to get into the Christmas spirit! We set up all of our Christmas decor, including the tree, then took a
family trip out to Temple Square to see
the lights. It was cold! Freezing cold actually,
and besides that it was packed with people
which made it really hard to navigate the stroller.
Nevertheless, we did have a great time. Nothing says
it's Christmas time than seeing the lights at Temple
Square with the people that you love : )

The Gang

So I know this isn't the best picture, but
I had to post it anyway. I can't believe how fast our
little one's have grown up! Rachel, Jamie, Anjuli and I
all got together to celebrate the up-coming arrival of little
Slade Cowan at Mimi's Cafe. To say it was chaotic would
be an understatement :) We had a good time though!
I just want you girls to know that I love you and am so
grateful for you all as friends!!! Love Ya!!!!

Lexi, Presley, Kaden and Ava (with her baby "Broder")

Go Jazz!

Monday night we went to the Jazz game, Kaden's first of the Season.
The game itself was a little boring, but we had a good time being there with Kaden!!
He was really into the Jazz Bear and got to give "Big T" a high five! He also got to sport
his D-Will jersey that we got for him at the last game we went to. Go Jazz!

Kindermusik Time!

Kaden and Rylee take this class once a week
called Kindermusik. I don't know if any of you have
heard about it but it is basically a class where they sing
songs, read stories and play with different music instrument
type things with a bunch of other kids ages 1-3.
Anyway, this is the two of them at class :) They LOVE
each other, and Rylee does great in the class, but Kaden isn't the
biggest fan. Our 45 minutes usually consists of me dragging him
around the room and me singing songs and dancing around while
he cry's for me to hold him.

My Big 2-year-old!

I can't believe my little Baby Boo is 2 years old!

A part of me thinks it was just yesterday that Kaden was born,

but another part of me can't remember or imagine my life without him!

We are always so excited for the next big thing with our kids;

rolling over, crawling, walking, talking,

and then without even blinking they aren't little babies anymore!

Every stage has been my favorite stage!

Kaden, you are such a big boy and I love you sooooo much!!!

Kaden at 2:
Loves Sesame Street, Dora, Diego and Charlottes Web

Counts to 14 but always skips 5 and 6

Is obsessed with bowling, wants to bowl everything!

Most used phrase is "your buggin me" or "your buggin my (whatever he wants at the moment)

Love's his dog Mokie and thinks he's "so cute!"

His only intrest in potty training is putting his big boy toilet seat on his head

Loves all animals and wants to either hold them or ride on them

Is excited for his baby sister in mommy's tummy :)

Kaden's birthday party was so much fun! All the kids looked so adorable in their costumes, I am so upset I forgot to get a group picture!!!! We had dinner and dessert and the kiddies had a fun time eating donuts off a string and fishing for prizes! Thanks everyone for coming, Kaden is so lucky to have so many wonderful friends!!!!

Ava, Bracken, Rylee and Lexi

Hadley, Kaden and Braxton

We tried to explain to the kids to eat the donuts off the string without using their hands but they are 2 year olds, what did we expect? If anything it made for some cute pictures : ) I also missed a picture of baby Presley, she is absolutely adorable!

Trick or TreaT!

Trick or Treat, but mostly just treats please...These are Kaden's only 2 cousins Alex and Braxton.

He loves them both, and is only 7 weeks older than Braxton,

but really has a special bond with older cousin Alex (above)

Kaden was very excited to learn that today everyone wanted to give him CANDY.

Cancun

We just got home from our vacation to Cancun with my family.

We had such a good time, doing nothing but relaxing for a week straight!

We spent most of the time at the pool and the ocean, which is so beautiful in

Cancun. Kaden LOVED the sand and the water. His schedule was wake up, eat, swim, eat,

nap, swim, eat, sleep. Oh, and watch Charlottes Web about 4 times a day. Needless to say we all

had a really good time!

My baby bump was suddenly more obvious than not,

Thought I might share.....

We took a "tour" of Cozumel on a carriage ride

while my family was scuba diving. Not too much to

see but we killed some time :) It was way too windy to

swim and you can only do so much bargain shopping.

The Cook Fam at the Crab House

(Kaden was terrified of the scuba diver on the left)

Kaden loved "surfin" on his body board with Aunt Amy

While we were shopping in Cozumel there was this little monkey sitting in front of one of the shops. When I went to take a picture of James and Kaden by the monkey it tried to climb on Kaden, which totally freaked him out! He still won't stop talking about it.

Kaden was seranaded at lunch