Tyler

 And what is a blog update without some pictures of our little cutie. I took this first picture on the day he turned 4 months.

 These next two were taken on the day he turned 5 months. He is getting really good at rolling from his tummy to his back, but he hasn't gone from his back to his tummy yet.

 He loves grabbing his little toes, especially when there isn't anything covering them.

Here are the promised pictures of his room. It is definitely more our style than the Top Gun theme that was going on in there before.

We love our little guy. He is growing way too fast, but we are trying to enjoy every minute of it.

Family Fun

 The girls had a day off of school on Friday, so Danny took the day off so we could do something fun together as a family. We came up with a couple of different ideas, compared prices, and asked the girls which they wanted to do. The final decision was made and we headed off for a family fun center called "Boondocks." We used to have passes to a different family fun center, but we had never been to this one. Some of the highlights of the day were the flight simulator(I think they did it like 8 times. I only went once before deciding that my body is too old for stuff like that. I got more sick on it than I would have liked), the XD Theater(they did this one at least 5 times), the bumper boats, and the go karts. The most exciting part about the go karts was that they could drive them themselves. They loved that.

We spent a good 6 hours there before we finally dragged them away. We were all starving, so we headed off to one of our favorite restaurants(an all-you-can-eat Pizza/Pasta/Salad Bar) for a really late lunch/early dinner. Ashley took forever to eat, so instead of heading home, we headed straight down to the BYU Basketball game that we had tickets for. Grandpa came with us and the kids all did really well, especially with the treats that Danny took them to get.

It was a fun day, but we were all super tired by the time we got home that night(around 9:30).

Halloween

 It's a little late, but here are all of the things we did to celebrate Halloween this year. We carved pumpkins. The girls actually did a lot themselves. Danny helped them with some of the harder cutting parts. I missed a lot of it as I was putting a tired baby to bed, but I saw the beginning and the finished product(although I must have forgotten to take a picture of the finished ones.)

 We did our Cornbelly's outing that we do every year. This year we got there at opening with the intention to stay until mid afternoon. I ended up dragging the girls away around 6 with the promise of dinner on the way home. We were all worn out.

 We also did the Halloween party at the Rec. Center again. The girls always enjoy this one, but it seems to get more crowded every year. Danny was at the BYU football game that night, so I braved it alone with the kids. Alyssa got lost at one point and was very happy when the employees found me and got us together again. These are the only pictures I took of the kids in their costumes this year. Alyssa was a princess, again. This time I made a little hoop skirt for her dress so it puffed out a lot. Ashley was a pirate princess(we tried to make her look like the one from "Jake and the Neverland Pirates.") Her favorite part of the costume was the little sword I got her to tuck into her belt.

Tyler was a Teddy Bear, just like the girls were when they were babies. I had to go back and find the three pictures just as a comparison. The costume was a little big for Tyler, but he was just as cute wearing it.

I think it is pretty easy to tell who is who, although Alyssa and Tyler sure do look alike even with the 5 month difference in age.

On Halloween, we took the kids trick or treating in downtown Provo. We do this every year because the buildings are closer together than houses, so they don't get as tired. It also gives them their fill of candy and trick or treating early on which means we don't have to go out for as long in the evening. Last year and this year it has even worked out that the girls want to hand candy out for us here at the house. Alyssa did end up going out for a little while in our neighborhood, but Ashley didn't bother. She was already worn out.

This Week

It has been kind of a fun week in the Wheeler household. I don't have pictures to document it, but on Wednesday Alyssa came home from school grinning from ear to ear. They had a spelling bee in her classroom that afternoon and she got first place. Danny came home early from work that day so that we could go out for ice cream to celebrate. As winner of her class spelling bee, she will get to be part of the school Jr. Spelling Bee(2nd and 3rd Graders) that will take place a week from today. If she wins that one, then she gets to compete against the 4-6 graders. She is really a great speller and we are so proud of her. Another thing she is really good at is getting her little brother to laugh.

When Tyler had his 4 month check up, the doctor strongly recommended that everyone in the household get flu shots. So we gave Alyssa(our girl that is terrified of shots) a week to prepare and went in on Thursday night. I was so glad that I had Danny with me because both girls got scared when it came time to actually get the shot. It took as long to do Alyssa's shot as it took to do the rest of us because she was so scared. Her request for being so brave was dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse which we did right after the shots. The girls ate their food so well. If it wasn't so expensive to eat there, we would go a lot more often. Of course, their favorite thing about the place is the huge pot of fortune cookies located in the waiting area. After our meal, they both came back to our table with at least 10(probably even more than that). Ashley even stuffed them into all of her pockets.

On Friday, Danny took the day off since the girls were off of school for Fall Break. We spent the day getting some things done around the house. We did venture out for a trip to IKEA to replace a TV stand in our upstairs loft. We dug out our garden and Danny mowed the very long lawn. We also finished redecorating Tyler's room. I don't have a picture of it yet, but I will post one when I take one. That evening, Danny took Alyssa on a Daddy/Daughter Date to a Halloween Dance Show at the Covey Center. They had a lot of fun.

I took Ashley out on Saturday since she didn't get to go to the show. We went swimming. She loved having the one on one time with me at the pool.

The girls were still off of school on Monday, so after we got some chores and schoolwork done in the morning, I took them to the pumpkin patch across from our neighborhood to pick out our pumpkins. The field was pretty muddy, so they didn't have the hay ride going. Instead, we grabbed a wagon and walked out to the patch. I let them each pick out a pumpkin and I picked one out too. Alyssa talked me into one more on the walk back.

 They both liked these little cutie pumpkins that they kept finding along the way. Alyssa is holding one of them in this picture.

They wanted to stay and play after choosing their pumpkins, but I told them that we would wait and do the fun stuff on Friday when they are off of school again and when stuff isn't so wet and muddy.

Catch Up

 Now that two months have passed, maybe it is time to post again. I'm finding it difficult to fit everything in the day that I want to accomplish. Unfortunately cleaning and updating the blog are at the bottom of my list of priorities. So here is two months of pictures that I've been meaning to post.

Ashley found a toy boat at DI and on the night of the purchase I found her tucked away in bed with all of her boat friends(4 of them).

 I found this picture on the computer and just thought it was funny. Ashley loves to play with Casey.

 Our bountiful harvest has sadly come to an end after our first overnight frost, but shortly before it had, we had an overload of squash and zucchini. I have been researching creative ways to cook it up. Alyssa and I picked all of our pears yesterday and ended up with two paper sacks full. I'll have to can them in a few days.

 

Alyssa just loves this little guy. She is so protective of him and takes such good care of him.  

He especially loves her room.

During the week before school started, I took the girls to a lot of fun places(all of the other kids in the area had already started school). We went swimming, to Lagoon, to the movies, to a trampoline park, and to this dinosaur park. The two little girls in the picture will soon be Alyssa and Ashley's cousins as their Aunt is getting married next month to the Father of these girls.

We can't forget the first day of school. Both girls are doing really well in school this year and they love their teachers. 

This is how I found the boys on the first day of NFL Football.

And Danny and I got to attend the first BYU home game. I was really nervous to leave Tyler for so long, especially since he didn't take a bottle well for us, but my in-laws were happy to keep him. The game got delayed for almost two hours due to a freak storm that passed through which made matters worse. Fortunately, Tyler took a bottle just fine for Grandma and we got to enjoy an amazingly fun game.

Alyssa bought this "Little Chef" book at her school book fair and has been cooking up a storm. Her first creation was these pumpkin donuts. I thought they were delicious, but they didn't like them that much.

Both girls are super excited for Halloween. Alyssa is going to be a Princess, again. It's like her fourth time being a princess in her short life. While shopping for her dress, she found this cool clown wig. Ashley is going to be a pirate princess. No surprise there either.

And finally, here are the best shots of little Tyler from the past two months. I took this one right around 3 months old.

And here he is at 4 months old 

 We had his 4 month check up this week. Here are his stats:

weight: 14 lbs 13.5 oz (40%)

length: 26 in. (80%)

He is just starting to babble and he is getting really good at grabbing things. We are still waiting for that first roll. He is still waking up more than I would like during the night, but overall he is a happy and good baby. We just love having him around and cuddling with him.

 

 

 

2 Months Old

 Tyler is 2 months old today. The time has flown by. We had his two month check up and the doctor says that he is doing great. This was especially good to hear after he had a rough first few weeks of doctors appointments. We have started to capture his sweet little smile on camera. We all take turns trying to get him to smile at us and that little smile just melts our hearts.

 

He is also starting to make little sounds when he smiles and we look forward to that first laugh. He coos, blows bubbles, grabs our hair(me and Alyssa), follows us with his eyes, and looks for us when he hears our voices. He is starting to grow out of some of his clothes.

Here are his stats from his 2 month check up:

weight: 11 lbs 6 oz (50%)

length: 23.9 in(90%)

We all just adore this little guy. He is so sweet and cuddly and so much fun to be around.







10 Wonderful Years

 Danny and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary this past week. We have shared a lot of wonderful memories together, added 3 beautiful children to our family, and have grown to love each other even more now than we did the day we got married. I feel so blessed to have Danny in my life. He is a wonderful father and husband and I look forward to what we will share in the next 10 years.

 2003

 2004

 2005

 2006

 2007

 2008

 2009

2010

2011- I couldn't find a family picture from this year.

2012

2013



Snowbird Aerial Tram

 Danny received some tickets to ride the aerial tram up at Snowbird Ski Resort, so we decided to use them this past weekend. We invited Gawbie and Grandpa to join us. The girls loved the ride up. It was about a 3000 foot climb from bottom to top. We had Tyler suck on his pacifier to relieve ear pressure.

 The view from the top was amazing. It was a beautiful day up on top, aside from the wind. We spent about 30 minutes walking around enjoying the sights of the valley below and the beautiful mountain scenery. It was a little hard to push the stroller around up there, so we didn't explore too far, plus Tyler was hungry and there wasn't anywhere decent to feed him up there.

 We had quite the adventure as we were driving back down the mountain. Our van, which appeared to have plenty of gas as we were driving up the mountain, suddenly didn't have gas as we were driving back down the mountain. We had a few different warning lights go on and we couldn't figure out what was going on. We weren't worried until a minute later when Danny tried to accelerate and learned that the car had no power. Fortunately, we had a pretty steep downgrade that kept the car coasting. We continued to coast down the mountain for a good amount of time and only hit two moments of concern, 1 - when we had to make a turn and 2- when we were approaching a red light. We felt very fortunate that we came upon a 7-11 with a gas station on the right side of the road before the road leveled out. We filled up the car, put some oil in and the car seemed to run fine again. We are grateful for gravity and for our prayers being answered that day.