Halloween

Fuelin' up before we hit the streets. Cruz is actually saying "cheese" in this picture and smiling for the camera, this is a first!

Getting treats at our friend Jen's house. Cruz loves all the kids at her house and he especially loves their weiner dog.
Cruz chasing the dog!
Complete meltdown....we took a break and had some dinner!
Ready to hit the road again!

Actually we only went to a few houses and Cruz really didn't get that he was suppose to take a piece of candy from the bowl. We basically just said "hi" to the friends we went to visit. When we got home though, Cruz really got into passing the candy out. He would take a piece out of our bowl and put it in the kids bags. While waiting for trick or treaters Cruz was dancing, which is actually running in place. It was sooooo funny, he was super excited tonight!!

Pacifier Free Zone

Cruz no longer has a pacifier. It is a little miracle!! He LOVED his pacifier, so I had a hard time taking it away. For the past few weeks Cruz has been super whiny for his pacifier and it started to get really annoying. On Sunday night I just collected them all in a bag and took them away. Sunday night Cruz did great going to sleep and he slept through the night. Then Monday hit! Monday morning Cruz woke up and was extremely angry. Monday was hard! Monday night Cruz went to bed great but then woke up at about 9 and cried until midnight. That made Tuesday pretty hard. Each day he has gotten better though. He is having a hard time with his nap. I have been putting him down for one nap but he wakes up very angry and has been having a temper tantrum for about 20 minutes post short nap.....so needless to say, with little nap time and some major tantrums, this week has seemed a little rough.

On a more fun note, the leaves are falling and we are excited for Halloween. Cruz helped daddy rake the leaves this evening. He got very excited when Shawn made a huge pile for him to get into.





Cruz's favorite word is "hot" these days. Everything is hot even if it is cold, room temperature, or I don't even know why he is saying hot!

Pumpkin Carving

We carved a pumpkin tonight. Cruz was interested for about the first five minutes, he helped daddy pull out some of the seeds, but then he was off riding on his truck and playing with his tractor. Luckily daddy was willing to see the pumpkin carving through and he made us one ugly pumpkin!! :)


Yummy!


Cruz standing by the one eyeball pumpkin

More pics from the game and Sundance

BYU vs. UNLV

Cruz running toward the game!

Yesterday my mom, Rebecca, Shawn, Cruz and I went to the BYU football game, they were playing UNLV. It was a beautiful fall day and a perfect afternoon for a football game, and to top it off, BYU won! Cruz had on his little BYU sweatshirt that he got from his cousin Walt. The 5 of us went to celebrate my dad. Today is my dads birthday. He loved to go to the games with my mom. My mom hasn't been to a game this season just because it is just so hard to go without him. We did have an enjoyable day though. Afterwards we drove over to Sundance to have dinner. Sundance is so gorgeous. My dad used to work the lifts up there when he was at college and my mom taught a ski class up there. My parents technically met during a class at BYU but my mom confessed yesterday that she noticed my dad at the lift line when she would take her class.
Rebecca and Cruz before going into the game


Shawn took a picture of Cruz doing this this morning. Cruz will get into the drawer with his silverware and some of my spatulas and line them up on the crack between the fridge and the freezer.

Little man on a big stool!

Cruz has decided he likes to sit on the big people stools. I let him eat lunch up on the stool today. He was very proud of himself. I love the picture above where he has the little smirk on his face!!

Do you like his hair cut? I decided to cut the shag off until it grows out again!!






Cruz also thought he should help dad work out, how about an extra 30 lbs. for those push ups?

Halloween Fun

Cruz and I met my friends Melanie (Alex 2, Samantha 6 months), Charlene (Conner 3, Calista 18 months), and Victoria (Stella 6 months) at Gardner Village. We decided to dress our kids up in their halloween costumes to walk around the witch display they have there. Cruz has been a little fussy the last week, so I used the pacifier in for the picture. Also, he wouldn't stand in the picture so I had to get in too! We had a fun time with our friends. Next time though, I think the girls should do a night out without kids....one of us was usually trying to pacify our kids so we didn't get to catch up a whole lot!

Moab Half

Me, Christa, and Cruz after the race!

Shawn, Cruz, and I drove down to Moab for a fun filled weekend. I had signed up for a 1/2 marathon down there. I wasn't too excited to run it because I just didn't make the time to train properly for it. I paid for it a long time ago though, and so I thought at least I should go and pick up my goody bag and try the best I could to run/walk the race. I ended up running it with my friend Christa. We chatted the whole way and we actually ran the entire thing. I am grateful she was willing to run with me because the race went by really fast and we finished in a good time of 2 hours!

Pappa

My dad was diagnosed with CJD on Thursday May 29th, 2008. Russ, Ali, and their kids drove out to Utah the following day. Ali took these photos. I ordered them when she sent them to me a couple of months ago but I put them away when I got them, just too painful to look at. I found the folder of pictures today as I was cleaning off a shelf, the tears are flowing freely. I wanted to put these pictures on our blog though because this blog represents Cruz's scrapbook and the events that went on in his life. Cruz, Grandpa or "pappa" as we called him loved you so much. As you can see in the picture, he was holding on to you for dear life. He didn't and doesn't want any harm to come to you. Even though you don't get to play with him, fish with him, or have him float you down the Snake River, he is watching out for you. He is there helping you and pushing you to do good in your life. Out of all the grandkids, you knew him the shortest amount of time, but I think he felt closest to you because he almost saw you everyday of your life! Lots of days you and I would go up to pappa and grandmas house to play and hang out. They were so fun to be around. Cruz, without a doubt, I know pappa loves you and is there for you.



I contemplate how I can be smiling in these photos but I think when you are in the moment of crisis you just push through and try to do the best you can do. Grandpa wanted to fight this thing to the end and so as his support group we took on that attitude of fighting instead of grief and hopelessness. It is a great lesson to learn...when we face hard times in our life we need to look at it and face it with courage and determination, and that is what grandpa taught me. Thank you pappa for all the lessons you taught me and hopefully I will pass them down to Cruz!

Wintery Weekend

We have had a mellow weekend so far. The weather turned cold and chilly yesterday and we woke up to snow today.

Cruz thinks he is going on a trip!
He seems pretty happy about it too!
Outside this morning
What in the heck is this?
A picture of me and my little man in our sunglasses a few weeks ago!

fast friends

We met some of our friends from our old neighborhood at Gardner Village today. They have pony rides and a petting zoo. Cruz had a wonderful time at both.

Did I mention that Cruz has no fear of any animal. He wanted to touch every animal, lay on them, give them kisses, and lots of hugs too!

17 months

During our photo session in Wisconsin Cruz got a solo turn. I can't believe our little man is 17 months old (on the 5th of October).
Some things Cruz is doing:
-he seems to understand EVERYTHING
-calls for mom and daddy, can say ball or rather ba, and doggy
-LOVES dogs
-when we ask him to chew his food he smiles, shows us his teeth, and chews away!
-can point out his our your eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and teeth
-likes his pacifier but we are going to be limiting his "pacy time" pretty soon
-still likes his 2 naps (I think because he is so busy he needs his rest)
-doesn't like to ride in a stroller anymore, likes to walk or run every place
-likes to make people laugh
-signs the sign "more" for everything!
-working on the other signs like please and thank you
-is eating everything we eat, loves to eat raisins, craisins, pirates booty, veggie pizza, veggie lasagna, popcorn, I really think Cruz is a great eater and he actually eats a ton!!
-likes to go around in circles with his arm sticking out when we sing "Ring Around the Rosey"
-likes to play with trucks and cars and makes the sound of cars with his lips when he plays with them
-goes to bed very easy at 7:30 and usually sleeps until around 7:00 in the morning, he is a very good sleeper
-Cruz has a favorite blankey, it is white and soft and he grabs it from his crib and lays on the floor with it when he is tired
-loves to go to the park, the zoo, Wheeler Farms, play in the yard, and be with other kids

I am sure there is more but it is not coming to me right now, all I know is I love my little buddy!!!

Wisconsin Cousins

When we were in Wisconsin this past weekend, we took the 4 boys to get their picture taken. Nicholas is 4, Max is 2, Cruz is 17 months, and Caden is 6 weeks. Considering their ages I think we got a pretty good shot!

Wisconsin Day #4

Cruz trying to figure out the corn maze


On Saturday night Nicholas and Max had a sleep over with Cruz. I don't really know what that means at this age, because we put them to bed at basically the same time. Nicholas ended up sleeping in the same room as Cruz because his bed was in the room we put the pack n play in. Nicholas likes to wake up early so we told him if he woke up and Cruz was sleeping that he should go in the basement and play legos. At about 6:15 I hear, "Uncle Shawn?" and then Shawn in a grumbly voice say, "go in the basement." Next thing I knew I heard Cruz's voice. Nicholas went back in the room and decided he should teach Cruz that if he coughed he should cover his mouth.....I am not exactly sure if Cruz was awake or if Nick woke him up to teach him that, but Nicholas is such a good helper! :) Nicholas really was a great big cousin to Cruz. On Sunday we went to a harvest days at a local nursery near Rick and Kathy's home. They had this cute tractor ride and a corn maze. The boys even got to jump on a big jumperoo....then the rain came. Luckily we basically did everything we wanted before it started raining. We all had such a fun time in Wisconsin and Cruz especially liked seeing his grandpa and grandma F and playing with his cousins.
Fall of 2008
Brian, Leigh, Caden, and Cruz in the Corn Maze
Cruz, leading the pack!
Tough guy had to pick up every pumpkin or as he calls them "baaa" the L is in there somewhere we just can't hear it!
Is that what I have to look forward to? :) (notice Max and Nick roughing it up in the corn behind Cruz)
Cruz loved playing on these carts at the airport
Is anyone there? Or rather, where is the hand sanitizer?
Cool cousin Nick and Cruz on the bikes
Cruz's baby obsession. Cruz was very into baby Caden but he didn't get that he had to be soft with the baby. I was a little nervous to have Cruz around Caden because he just wanted to touch him, poke him, step on him, poke at his eyes, etc! The funny thing was when I would hold Caden Cruz would stand at my leg and cry, is someone jealous?