New Family Pictures!

Chris's Aunt Lori (Lori Jenkins Photography) took some family pictures for us. We had lots of fun, but it was super cold. I haven't been a very good blogger lately, but I am going to try and do better.

Thanksgiving

This year we had Thanksgiving at my brothers home in Salt Lake. Chris and I switch families every other year. We had a really yummy meal and lots of fun. The boys even ate a decent amount of food. I made the rolls, which tasted pretty good but ended up looking kind of funny because I didn't roll them out right. My brother made a yummy pumpkin cheesecake that probably was about a million calories.

We had a hard time pulling Tanner and Dallin away from there handheld games. We couldn't even get them to look away long enough to smile at the camera.

Overall, it was a nice relaxing Thanksgiving. On black friday, Chris and I got up at 4:00 am to go to Walmart. What a madhouse, but we got what we wanted.

Update.... Finally

I guess it's about time for an update now that I am getting over the embarrassment of the last post of donating my breastmilk to my brother-in-law.

Life hasn't been too exciting lately besides the sleepless nights from our little boy who doesn't like to be left alone to sleep. We have been working on helping him sleep through the night or at least to go more than two hours before he wakes up (okay so let's face it I need to get a good nights sleep to remain sane in a house full of boys). Getting Colter to sleep through the night has consisted of alot of crying, not just from him but from me also. It has been so hard to let him cry. Thanks to Chris's help and Dr. Weissbluth's book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child", Colter seems to be sleeping better. It's only been a couple of nights, but he is doing much better. Hopefully, it will continue to do better so that I can catch up on all of that lost sleep.

Colter is now five months old and is growing so fast. We love his smiles and giggles, but he has a really cute pouty face as well. He babbles all the time, and has learned to scream (not cry), which can get pretty loud and annoying. He drools non stop and we are constantly changing his clothes because he soaks them. We can tell he is going to be a trouble maker because he is so curious about everything. It is about time to childproof the house.

Tanner and Dallin have been busy with school. We try hard to keep up on their homework. Tanner gets so much homework some nights that it can take up to three hours. Chris and I personally feel that this is too much homework for a 9 year old. I am planning on talking to his teacher about it, but I don't want to offend him so I haven't yet. We feel that this amount of homework is taking away from family time. Tanner just keeps plugging away with it though. We are so proud of him.

Dallin is learning to read, and he reads to us for twenty minutes everynight. He is doing amazing in spelling. He has gotten 100 percent on every spelling test, which we don't study for at home because he says that he already knows them (and apparently he does). At parent teacher conferences his teacher said she couldn't beleive that he has gotten 100 percent on every spelling test.

Chris is busy finishing up his last year of grad school. He works three days a week at his intership and is in school the other two days, and on the weekend he works at his regular job. On Fridays, I am lucky if I get to see him for an hour. Sometimes I meet him for lunch just so I can see him. This pictures shows how exhausted he is. He even has a highlighter in his hand.

I am grateful to be able to be at home with the kids and I'm having fun working on improving my homemaking skills. I am trying to lose those last 5 lbs. (well maybe 10) by going to the gym at least 4 days a week. I just can't seem to give up the chocolate and goodies. Since I have been nursing, I have used the excuse that I could have the extra calories, but now that I am only breastfeeding part-time right now I need to start doing better. Hey I am eating a yucky "Healthy Choice" meal right now for lunch, and I'm doing this while feeding the baby and writing this blog. That should burn some extra calories.

We hope all is well with everyone and hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season.

The Annual Tippets Family Halloween Party

Well, we had our pumpkin carving contest again. My Grandparents are farmers and they have a pumpkin patch and so each year we go select our pumpkins and bring them home for a contest. This year there was the added twist of my sister Amber bringing over her new boyfriend. You must know that in the past when she has brought boyfriends over they usually appear once and never return again because they think that we are either obscenely strange or just down right offensive. Apparently, this year Amber sufficiently prepped "Han" for what he was in store for because she informed everyone that she had "warned him." I choose to believe that all of her previous boyfriends were weird and that we are the normal ones.

Any how, the party was a success we carved our pumpkins, played spooky music, and ate lots of good food. Then we put the kids to bed and introduced Han to a long standing family tradition of playing Rook. He got schooled, and so we decided to bring out another family favorite...Sequence. If you know our family very well then you are aware that we are all addicted to gambling. I am currently in recovery and have been clean for almost 2 years. Any how we don't just play sequence we have to make it a little more interesting with a little friendly wager. This time we came up with the great idea of making the loser drink a cup of Andrea's breast milk. We had 3 teams; Breanne and Judge, Chris and Nick , and Amber and Han.

And the losers were........................................................Judge and BreAnne. Luckily for BreAnne, Judge took one for the team and devoured it before anyone could do anything about it. Apparently he liked it.

Also, you may find it interesting that Han liked our family he was quoted as saying the next day that "it was one of the funnest nights of his life." He also told Amber that it was going to be very difficult if they break up because he is still going to come hang out with her family.

Finally, a normal guy for Amber!

Is This a Courtesy Laugh?

I think he might just giggle out of courtesy so that we don't feel so silly acting life goof balls. Just so you are aware---the silly laughing and tongue clicking is Grandma Tippets.

Colter at Four Months

What can I say about our sweet little Colter? He is still a little runt weighing in at 12.5 lbs, which is under the 9th percentile. He is 26 inches long, which puts him in the 86th percentile for his height---tall and skinny. He is definately a handful. He wants to be held all of the time; we can't walk out of the room without him crying. It is really hard for me to get things done. I have to take him to every room I go, and make sure that he can see that I am close by or the screaming will begin.

On most days I enjoy the little guy, but there have been occasions when I get overwhelmed and need a break or some sleep. Colter isn't sleeping through the night anymore. He wakes up everynight between 1 a.m and 4:00 a.m.. I think that he wakes up just so he knows that someone is close by, because I try to feed him and he just snoozes through it. I'm not sure what happened because he was sleeping through the night better at 2 months. I need to let him cry a little more when he wakes up to see if he will go back to sleep, but since his crib is in our room I don't want him to wake Chris up. We can't find our portable crib so that I can put him in the other room for a few nights. I am definately ready for a full nights sleep.

Colter hasn't been able to start solid foods yet because of his gas problems. His peditrician said to wait another months to see if his gas issue would improve. He is able to roll from his tummy to his back, and he loves standing up. His legs and his neck are really strong. He is beginning to smile and giggle, which is something we all love. We are always acting goofy just to get a smile out of him. Oh, and this kid can drool, his shirts are always wet.

Colter got his first cold this last month, and was extra cranky for about a week. I forgot how hard it was to have sick babies; especially when they can't tell you what is wrong. We are looking forward to the next month to see what new things Colter will learn to do.

Happy Birthday to the Awesomest Mom & Grandma Ever!!!!!

It my mom's birthday today. She is one of the greatest ladies that I know, and we are so grateful for her, and for her wonderful example. We truly are blessed to have her in our lives.

Happy Birthday to the best mom, grandma, friend, and mother-in-law in the whole wide world!!! We Love You!!!

Family Night at Hee Haw's

For family night we went to Hee Haw's. We went through the corn maze, went on a hayride while candy was thrown at us, rode the go carts, went down the big slides, and saw the biggest pig ever (the batteries in the camera went dead so now pic). It was a lot of fun. We are looking forward to Halloween.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Crankiness!!!

I didn't know what else to title this post. Holy Cow!! I'm cranky today. I don't know if it is that Colter cried until 3 a.m., and hasn't taken much of nap in days. He has been a little sick the last few days, but he seems like a totally different baby. Usually Colter is pretty easy to calm down if we just hold him and give him some attention, but he has been extra extra fussy for the last few days. I love the little stink, but I have to admit that all that crying has been extremely exhausting, and has thrown me for a loop.

I would not trade this kid for anything, but I am definately hoping for a better night tonight, and a better day tomorrow. Sorry for all the complaining, but I fell much better now.

I Hope They Put This On Our Blog!!

Colter Loves his Big Brother

Tanner was watching the baby the other night while we got some stuff done around the house. Colter cries everytime he is left alone; so Tanner was the perfect person to keep him entertained while I cleaned. Apparently, Tanner got a hold of the camera. This is what I found when I downloaded the pics on to the computer.

A Lesson from a 6 year Old

So, Dallin asked me what I was going to do while he went to the park with Chris to go running. I told him that I was going to feed the baby and read my scriptures. He says, "you?" (as if he was completely shocked that I read my scriptures. He then said, "I never see you reading your scriptures." Chris asked Dallin what he sees me doing, and Dallin said, "talking to the baby in a silly voice."

I quess it's good to have kids so they can remind us of the things we need to be doing more often. I better get my act together; they actually notice things like whether you read your scriptures.

Thanks Dallin for the gentle reminder.

Colter at Three Months

Our little Colter is now three months old, and still is as cute as ever. He is smiling more and more and even beginning to giggle. Colter loves to be held, and cries when he is left alone. He needs to know that someone is always close by. It makes it really hard for me to get anything done, but I wouldn't trade him for anything. It seems that he gets bigger and bigger on a daily basis. He weighs around 11 lbs. What is happening to my tiny baby?

We are amazed at how well he can hold his head up. He also likes to stand up, which is something that took Dallin six months to do. Colter loves it when Tanner sings to him; even if he sings off key, and he always sings back and giggles in response.

Colter loves his daddy, and always gives him the biggest grins. He has a thing lately where he smacks his lips, and sucks on his hands rather loudly until we feed him. I am still breastfeeding Colter; however, I have wanted to give up on it a few times. It's hard for me to have to sit down several times a day to feed him. I know it is really healthy for him so I keep doing it.

He still has "unbelievably" bad gas, and I mean unbelievable. He is not only quite loud at times, but it smells really bad. He is so smelly that I make Chris take him to priesthood, because I don't want the ladies in Relief Society to think that stink is coming from me. No one is going to believe that something so tiny and cute could smell that bad.

Colter is sleeping anywhere from 6 to 9 hours before waking to eat. I welcome the 9 hour stretches, but they have only happened a couple of times and seem to be happening more often. Yippee!!

Colter loves to be in constant motion. He loves to ride in the car, and cries when we stop at stoplights. He also enjoys riding in the stroller, and grocery carts, but cries if the movement stops. He still loves being in his swing, and will sometimes sleep in it for a few hours. He also likes to look at lights, and a new thing we have found that will keep him entertained for a little while is watching the visualizer and listening to music on itunes.

Eventhough Colter can be pretty stinky, we love him to pieces, and feel so blessed to have him in our lives. He really is a special little guy, and we are glad Heavenly Father sent him to us.

You Know you are Skinny If...

....you can get stuck between the wall and the bunk bed. Our little insomniac got stuck between the wall and his bunk bed. Don't ask me what he was doing because he was supposed to be sleeping. Meanwhile, Dallin was sound asleep on the bottom bunk with Tanner's feet tangling above his face.

Tanner became a little distraught when I was trying to pull the bed from the wall, and I couldn't do it (whimpy me). I kept trying and we got him out. I tried to get mad at him for playing around, but I was too busy laughing. He asked me why I was taking a picture, and I told him that it was so I could show Chris when he got home from work.

*Colter at 2 months*

Well, Colter has been around for slightly over two months, so we thought we would update everyone on how he is doing and what we have noticed about him to this point. For starters, his number one trait has got to be his serious case of bad gas. He is constantly tooting! Oh, and they're loud, and last but not least, they pack a wallop. I think he is probably hands down the stinkiest kid that has ever been created. The other day I dropped him off at the daycare at Gold's Gym. Towards the end of my workout I got paged over the intercome to report to the daycare. When I got there the worker informed me that he was "poopie." I didn't have any diapers, and Andrea was in the middle of her workout so I decided to grab him and run home and just change him there. When I got home I took his diaper off and there was nothing deposited in it. Knowing Colter like I do I can't blame those who were working in the daycare. I'm sure he dropped a bomb that stunk so bad and for so long that they just assumed it had to be a fully ripe deposit.


On the more serious side. We love this kid. I'm sure every parent says that there kid is the coolest kid in the world, but lucky for us we really believe it. He is very cute, seldom fussy and usually sleeps for about 6 hours each night. He is really starting to smile alot, and it's funny to watch how stupid adults will be just to get a simple smile out of this kid. But it's worth it.


He is starting to grow as well. Sadly for him the hair in the back is growing at a much more rapid pace than the rest of his head, so this results in "the boy who was born with a mullet." He just had his two month checkup and he tipped the scales at 10lbs. 4 oz. (15th percentile for his weight), and measured in at 23 inches long (26th percentile).His head is also considered very small for his age (18th percentile). Small, stinky, and cute! He's definately a Tippets.

Vote for Chris!!!

Back to School--Yipee!!

So Tanner and Dallin are officially back in school. Tanner is starting fourth grade and is in Mr. Eager's class. Dallin is starting first grade and is in Mrs. Vickers class(also Tanner's first grade teacher).



They were both very excited to go to school this morning. Dallin was all buisness and got dressed and ate his breakfast as fast as he could. Tanner on the other hand, handled his excitment a little differently. He could just not focus while getting dressed or eating his breakfast; and was extra giddy about the whole situation. Hopefully, this excitement will last throughout the year.

Mom will miss them during the day, but it is sure a lot easier to keep the house clean.

BreAnne and Judge's Wedding

On 8-8-08, my sister-in-law was married in the Mount Timpanogoes temple. Chris and I had the opportunity to be there and it was a wonderful ceremony. The sealer could definately feel the love that Bre and Judge have for each other, and could feel the greatness there relationship will bring to this world. The spirit could definately be felt.

I don't have any younger siblings, and I have enjoyed being able to experience what it's like to have a little sister, and a little brother too. Even though, we are quite a bit older then the two of them we have enjoyed going on double dates with them, and game nights. We have developed a great friendship with the two of them, and always enjoy hanging out with them. However, Judge always seems to get the kids all riled. Just wait until they have kids I'm going to get back at them.

Bre and Judge have been together almost as long as Chris and I have. It has been so fun to watch there relationship develop into something that will last forever, and I just can't help but to be proud of both of them for keeping themselves worthy to go to the temple. They have made a great start for themselves.

The day was wonderful, the reception was beautiful. We truly are happy for them, and are glad that Judge is now officially a member of our family. However, I am jealous that they are heading to Hawaii right about now.

Colter's Baby Blessing

Colter was blessed during Sacrament Meeting on August 3 by Chris. Chris did a great job. Colter had many visitors and the blessing circle was really big. Afterwards, we all came to the house for food and chatting. It was a great day, and we enjoyed introducing our newest addition to all of our family and friends who came to see him. Colter was so adorable in his cute tuxedo that Aunt Vicki made.

Even Aunt Tammy came to the lunch afterwards with her bruised body and black eyes (watch out for those air bags). She was in a car accident the week before. She enjoyed holding Colter, and we are all glad that she will be okay after all her bumps and bruises have healed.

Thanks to all who came to be with us on Colter's special day.

What did You Say???

Sorry if you find this inappropriate, but it is just too funny. The poor kid has no idea what he is saying. Do you think the makers of the video game knew what they were doing?

Happy 31st Birthday Chris!!!!!

31 Reasons Why We Love Chris!!!

1. He is patient
2. He is one of the nicest persons you will ever meet
3. He is the best dad in the world
4. He is a good listener
5. He is smart
6. He honors his priesthood
7. He is funny
8. He buys us things (that came from Dallin)
9. He is a hard worker
10. He is pleasant to be around
11. He takes good care of his family
12. He is organized
13. He does fun things with us (that came from Dallin)
14. He is a good kisser (that came from me of course)
15. He makes us happy
16. He is very handsome
17. He changes diapers
18. He always thinks of others
19. He helps us to do whats right
20. He is a great student, and will be the best therapist around
21. He always win when we play games
22. He doesn't yell
23. He puts up with us
24. He is good with shapes
25. He takes us on vacations (this came from tanner)
26. He takes us out to eat
27. He gets us video games (this came from tanner)
28. He bought us fish (this came from tanner)
29. He wrestles with us (this came from tanner and dallin)
30. He is the sweetest husband ever
31. He likes to take us to BYU games (from tanner)

And the list goes on and on..... But that will have to be for another year. Thank you for being the greatest thing that has come into our lives. We Love you! Happy Birthday!!!

A Fun Day At the Park

Yesterday, Dallin, Colter, and I went to the park with Grandma Hatch and her friend Michael. If was fun to spend time with them. Dallin had fun swinging, and running around. My good friend Dana also came to the park to visit. It was the first time that she has seen Colter.





Grandma Hatch bonding with her newest Grandson; isn't she cute!



Dana and I have been friends since our freshman year in high school. It is so nice to be able to have good friends that you know will be your friends forever. Dana is quite a bit shorter then I am so I always have to crouch down when we take pictures together.


Cute Dana holding Colter.



Dallin had a fun time playing on the playground, and swinging while we chatted; however, he kept calling us over to push him in the swing. I tried to teach him how to swing by himself, but he still needs practice.



We missed Tanner, but he was being a "little salesman" with Grandpa Mark.

Big Brothers

Tanner is always willing to help with Colter when I need him. He will get things for me while I am trying to nurse, or he will help by giving the baby a bottle while I am getting ready or cleaning up.



Dallin is a little more hesitant to help, but he is starting to say things like "Colter looks cute." Don't ask him to come near him though if he doesn't have a diaper on, or if he has a messy diaper.

We love our three "little guys".

Our Little Baseball Player

Daddy's happy---his very own little baseball player. Maybe, in the next couple of weeks this outfit might fit. Thanks for the cute outfit Grandma Hatch!!!

Life without a Schedule, But with A Very Cute Baby!

Colter is now three weeks old, and we all still love him to pieces. Even after a really long night of fussing (thank goodness for the swing). At his two week appointment, Colter weighed in at a wopping 6 lbs. 12 ozs. Most of his clothes are still too big, which is not what I expected considering that both Tanner and Dallin were over ten pounds before they hit the one month mark.



Colter still sleeps much of the time, but of course he always knows when it is time to eat. I am learning to deal with a non-scheduled life, which for those of you who know me, know that I like things scheduled. However, I would not trade this experience for anything. I thouroughly enjoy our little guy, and I am much more of a relaxed parent then I was with Tanner and Dallin. That could be that I am older, or that being married to Chris helps me to be more relaxed.

In the last week.... Colter has been able to take a real bath rather then a sponge bath, which he seems to enjoy---he doesn't scream and cry like he did with the sponge bath. He cries less when we change his diaper, and he stays awake for longer periods of time. It really is amazing how quickly they can change in just one day. I am looking forward to his first smile.




Now if I can just get a good nights sleep, and get to the gym on a regular basis, my life would be perfect. Haha!

Colter's One Week Photo Shoot!

Here are some of the pictures from Colter's One Week Photo Shoot; taken by Chris's Awesome Aunt Lori (Lori Jenkins Photography). Thanks Lori, sorry he peed on you. More photos to come.