Texas...here we come

Well Michael and I are doing the last things to get ready for our Texas trip. We leave bright and early tomorrow morning. We are looking forward to seeing a lot of our family and I will get to meet a lot of nephews and a niece that I have never met before. It will be great!!

Alden's Sweater

When I got Alden dressed in this outfit it reminded me of my dad and I had to take a picture. My dad is often wearing sweaters like this one. People used to think he looked like Mr. Rogers from the show on PBS. This sweater reminded me of him so here is the picture...

1st foods!!

Well Alden has started eating rice cereal. That is if you can count it as eating. I think half of what he ate is on his face the other half made it in which ended up not being much.
We had tried feeding him a couple of days ago but he didn't seem to found of that idea but yesterday when he tried to take my spoon I decided I would try again...and it kindof worked!

Michael's Birthday

Alden was a really good boy, letting me get everything ready for Michael's Birthday. He even helped me get his presents ready for his Dad!
This is Michael just before he opened his presents. Michael is now 26. The time is flying by but we are loving every minute of it!

Christmas Decorations

This is our kitchen table. Mom Shurtz helped us make the slay center piece!

Here is our little manger seen. It is a little hard to see but it is right above the piano.

I would show you our Christmas Tree but it is rather small and we are still working on the ornaments. I figure we will get a larger tree the year that we stay home for Christmas but for now this one works perfectly. We are all getting really excited for Christmas and excited to see some of our family!

Santa Claus

Santa visited the hair salon by our apartment today so I was able to take little Alden in to see him. He was good for Santa... so it looks like he will be getting lots of presents from Santa. (All of which will be things Alden needs and wants, lots of clean diapers and wipes:)

Carolina Opry

This was Alden's first time to be taken to a theatre but he did really well. He slept most of the first half. The second half Mom held him while he listened to the music, he seemed to like it. We were glad we didn't have to take him out.

Thanksgiving at the Beach

It sure was fun spending some time with Mom and Dad at Myrtle Beach.

Alden just before going swimming. He is going to be a swimmer, he loved the water!!

It was a little cold on Wednesday but it warmed up for Thanksgiving Day.

This was what we did on Thanksgiving. It sure was nice having a break from school or any other cares.

Thanksgiving Day

This was the same day of the blessing but it was the day that we celebrated Thanksgiving. It was a great day and we had a wonderful dinner. (Thank you Mom!) Michael and I sure have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Our new little family, our big extended family, starting optometry school, and the list goes on...

Our 1st Year Anniversary

On Sunday Nov. 22 Michael and I reached one year of being married and we blessed our son in the Anderson ward. It was a wonderful day and it has been a fabulous year. I have been greatly blessed to have such a wonderful husband and now to have such a cute little boy.

...And we are back...

Michael, Alden, and I have been out of town the last week but we are back now and have a lot of catching up to do. We had a fabulous time in South Carolina and we have a lot of stories to tell. So the next few post will be about our great vacation:)

Finally for the camer....

Well after much work and deliberation we were able to get Alden to roll over for the camera. (Really we almost had to stage it because he had just rolled over and we just put him right back so he would do it again.) But here it is :)

turtles

Every day when I am walking home from the garbage I always try to see this turtles that always like to get on this one ledge. I usually can see one or two before they jump into the pond but today I saw 8! I didn't even know there were 8 turtles in that pond. I will try to get a picture one of these days, so you can see all of the turtles too.

Alden started rolling over more the other day. He did it almost every time we put him on his tummy. He never really likes tummy time and now he has found a way to get out of it. We found the only way we can keep him on his tummy is if we try to record him rolling over. When we are trying to do this he will stay on his tummy for as long as the camera is out. So it might be a little while before you get to see him roll over. :)

Today is another beautiful day in Mississippi. This week has been really nice. Alden and I have taken a lot of walks. We will go on another one this afternoon. Right now I have a ham in the oven. It is the first time I have even thought about making a ham so we will see how it goes. It might be a little interesting though. We will see :)

How do you sleep?

I always enjoy going in to check on my little one when he is sleeping and I seem to always find him in the same position. Often when I lie him down to sleep he will fling his hands all over until he finds this position with his hands up. Even when he is on his stomach he seems to find this same position. I think it is because he is trying to get good practice of raising his hands so that when he goes to school he will always be able to keep one of his hands raised. :)

Happy Halloween

Yesterday was Alden's first Halloween, he was a good boy and slept through most of all the excitement. We went to our wards trunk-or-treat where Alden dressed up like a little chef. Michael and I both like the movie Ratatouille where the main charter (the mouse) is often referred to as little chef so we dressed him up like a little chef!

Well today Michael is finishing up his third test this week. As many of you know he is in Optometry school and is doing really well. Sometimes it can be a little challenging though. Here is a picture of him at his White Coat Ceremony at the beginning of October.

Well today has been yet another wonderful day here in Mississippi. We have had a lot of rain lately but that is okay because Alden has been doing a lot of sleeping and eating so we wouldn't be outside anyways. He is growing very fast for a little one. On the day of his surgery (Oct. 16) he weighed 7lbs 7oz and at his two month checkup on Monday he weighed 9lbs 11oz. So he has gained 2lbs 4oz in less than a week and half. He is going to be one big boy one day!! And we sure love every bit of him.

Sortly after Surgery

We really have a good little boy. Before surgery he was smiling at the surgeon and all of the nurses as they took him away and he was still smiling when they brought him back to us.

Alden the day he went to the hospital

Trying out the blogging world

People keep telling Michael and I that we should start a blog so this is the start. We will see how we like this whole blogging thing. We have some fun movies of Alden that we have wanted to put somewhere and I guess this will be that place. So look for them in the near future :)