Finishing up 09!

I have to be honest, knowing that Halloween (which seems like a whole year ago) was my last post, has overwhelmed me into denial! I finally found the courage to update this baby. Hold your horses, it's gonna be a quick and bumpy ride!

November

We decorated for Christmas. Holidays with kids are just too much fun. Everything is so EXCITING! So, we got a little head start on Christmas, knowing that we were headed to CA for the last part of November.

Happy Thanksgiving! We spent Thanksgiving in CA with my family. It was great to be back home with everyone. We had sooooooo much fun together. Almost everyone made it for the big weekend-- Zach and Jenny were in Kansas and the Popes stayed in UT this year, but besides that we were all together.

While in CA, we...

We worked on a few projects, finishing up the room addition.... Okay the boys did the working, and we did the PRE black Friday shopping!

Tyson wanted to be right in all of the action. We found him asleep at the bar one day. The men were putting up some bead-board in the kitchen. He was napping right through it!

Thanksgiving Day started off with a friendly Turkey Bowl... We almost have an entire football team with all these in-laws. (This was their tough pose)..

Following our dinner (which wasn't as stressful as I anticipated... nice prep work Cooks!),

We held a tiny little event I like to call, THE ZULAUF FAMILY TALENT SHOW. Now, talent there was not much of, but fun we had! For some reason the only pictures I came home with are of the two leaders of the pack... Sorry no evidence of the rest of us!

Thanksgiving was just too much fun! Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting the parte!

December

December arrived more quickly (and is now over more quickly) than I wanted. (Thank heavens my shopping was done before Halloween--yeah, Noel! Okay, not hard to do with only 2 kids.)

My parents + 1 (Tyler, not Grandma Z.) arrived a few days before Christmas. I feel like all we did was host one party after another. I say its time for my parents to get a Utah home of their own! Despite the cooking, baking and partying, we managed to have some fun. Tyson was so excited to spend 2 weeks with Grammie and Big Poppy. Oh, yea, and Ty (who is "his best").

When we got back from CA it was time to get a Christmas tree. Last year we got a short, fat little guy, so this year we thought we would go a little taller. 18 ft later, we had our tree :)

Let the decorating begin!

Our first major snow storm hit in early December. Tyson takes after his dad... He LOVES the snow. The first snow is always soooo pretty!

In mid-December we took a ride on the Polar Express. Tyson and Macy got to meet Santa, Mrs. Claus and see the North Pole.

And then, there was the main event... Christmas!

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We are back and ready for 2010!

Happy Halloween

We almost lost Macers off the steps taking these pics, so please enjoy :P

Tyson trick-or-treated at exactly 4 houses before he was done. Macy only lasted half that long... no chocolate for Mommy!

Time for a trip to the ....

PUMPKIN PATCH!

I just love this time of year! The weather is PERFECT and the colors are AMAZING. There are so many fun things to do in the Fall! Why does it seem to be the SHORTEST season of all (yes, I did that [rhyme] on purpose :). Anyway, we are trying to enjoy it while it is here, so we went to the Pumpkin Patch not once, but twice!

Tyson found himself a pumpkin in about 10 seconds. I thought he would go for a big guy, but when I asked if the one he had picked was for Mace, he said No, but that he would go get one for her.

Yes, he rocked the "corn maze". See the determination in his eyes!

New Discoveries

As she approaches month 7 of her life, Macy is growing and changing too quickly for me! She found her tongue a few days ago, and made us all laugh with the faces she was making.

Mace just started clapping (yesterday)... SOO CUTE. I feel my favorite "stage" coming on! Actually, honestly, all stages of Baby are really fun for me. Although, I never tire of the interactions that happen with an older babe.

(Sorry for all of the "YAH-ING"; that is her prompt :)

Gone Fishing.. and to the Circus..

Greg had last week off, and had no where to go! (The exclamation is for the rare occasion that this will ever happen.. I was thrilled). I loved having him around, and so did the kids. There were times, however, when he wanted to scream from being so bored. (I guess life with two small children is not adventure enough for him.) I tried to keep him busy with a list of "to dos" around the house, but somehow washing the windows and watching the kids didn't elicit the same type of thrill as heli-skiing or rafting down the Grand Canyon.


Tyson loved having his dad around the most, though. One early morning he and Greg snuck off to go fishing. Tyson was so excited. He didn't even mind waking up before the sun.. although he did point that fact out to me when I got him up for the trip.

Here he is catching his first fish! (And the first fish of the trip, too). Be patient.. he really does reel it in ALL BY HIMSELF.

_______________________

So, in addition to fishing and motorcycle riding, we also went to the CIRCUS while Greg was home. We had lots of fun. Those elephants are quite amazing!

And those tigers were frightening!!

Our seats were in the FRONT ROW (of the balcony). This allowed the kids a little extra wiggle room for things like....dropping their popcorn, toys, and suckers onto the POOR unsuspecting heads of those below us. Good thing we never ran into those people!

Happy Birthday Mace-Face!

(FYI: If you'll notice the date this post was started was just about a MONTH ago. It took that much time for me to get G to upload some pics from his phone... Sweetness will be 7 months old in 10 days. Now I really can't believe that!)

------------------------------------

6 months has come and gone... CRAZY. My little Macers is 6 months old! She has been such a fun addition to our home. She is becoming very vocal and loves to roll around. Just recently she began to sit. Her girthy center keeps her perfectly balanced.

Tyson LOVES Macy. He says that she is his "best". Best as in friend, sister, wrestling partner, etc.

Just two weeks ago at her doctor's appointment, she weighed in at exactly 21 lbs. She is 27 inches long, which puts her in the 95th percentile for height and weight. I was kind of sad to see her drop from the the 100th percentile... although it is probably better for her heart to loose some weight. Her doctor discovered that she has a heart murmur. Since the fateful discovery at her 2 week appointment, we have been monitoring her little heart.

It is very common for babies to be born with heart murmurs. Most of them resolve quickly after birth on their own, and those that remain are usually innocent. It is uncommon, however, for a baby who has a real, legitimate murmur, to "thrive" as Macy has done. Thus, the testing. Mace's murmur sounded very small, so her Dr. thought it would have resolved on its own by this point in her life. Because it hadn't, he was a little more concerned and ordered an echo cardiogram just to make sure that it was not anything serious.

After sedating our little babe, and a 2 hour ultra-sound of her heart, we learned that Mace does in fact have a hear murmur. It is relatively small, like the doctor suspected, but she'll probably have it her whole life. She will most likely live with it with no problems. So, I am glad we know... I may think differently when we get the bill from the hospital!!

---------------------

Here I am trying to comfort my poked and drugged baby on her way to dreamland. She was a trooper...she did really well getting the IV, but did not want to succumb to sleep. She knew something was up!

(Isn't she a delicate little thing!)

There were no complications during the sedation. Once Mace was under, we could hear her light snoring while the tech did the ultra sound. I just wanted to squeeze her... she looked so peaceful.

Mace was as stubborn waking up as she was going to sleep.

It was our most peaceful ride home. Mace was pretty out-of-it for the rest of the day.

THANKS TO AUNT FAITH FOR WATCHING TYSON!!

Time for an update??

We’re back!!! Actually we have been here... Tyson. Mace-Face and I have been busy with nothing really, other than LIFE. Fall is here (well, it has been for the past few days), and I am LOVING it. I have to say one of the perks to living in Utah (I'll be honest, I thought there were none), is/are the season changes. Just when you get tired Summer, Fall sweeps in to rescue you.



We did slip away this past weekend to the Coral Pink sand dunes with our dear friends the Mohlers. Camping was never fun until I married Greg and had a baby boy. Tyson LOVES being outside, so I happily give up my bathroom and bed for a few days of sandy, dirty, unsanitary fun for him. Greg (who is the scoutmaster in our ward, might I add) is great to take care of everything camp oriented once we arrive at our destination.

Cloey, Macy (our Macy's namesake), and Tyson

Mohler Gals, and our Big Lady having a snack

Tyson's FAVORITE Tree. Perfect for his newly acquired skill of climbing.

The Sleeping Accommodations

We had so much fun. We miss the Mohlers, so it is always a treat to spend time with them.

__________________

Since I am catching up a bit... Over Labor Day we ambitiously decided to hike to Timp Cave. Okay, not really that ambitious of an endeavor for Greg and Tyson, but for me and Macers... It was a CHALLENGE. Here are the pictures to prove it. (I am winded in every single picture!)

Here we are at the halfway mark... a bit tired.

We made it! We are standing just outside the CAVE!! Tyson was so thrilled that we were going to go inside a cave. Mace and I were just happy for the temperature change.

The "deer in the headlights" eyes are a result of it being dark, dark, dark in the cave and then the, you know, flash of the camera startling my little pupils.

Not so much for him... those are just excited two-year old eyes

Can you see how far UP we hiked?? Pretty impressive view.

(More impressive that Greg made it with Mace of his front the entire way up :)

Caves are so neat... especially to 2.5 year olds. We had a fun time, and got a little exercise in as well. Too bad Mace-Face couldn't do a little of the walking. That girl is HEAVY. We think she is on the brink of 22 Lbs. We go in tomorrow for an appointment. She'll be just over 5.5 months... so we'll see.

Build a HILL, and they will come....

When we met with our landscape architect to design our yard, we told him that we wanted it to be kid-friendly. Fortunately for us, he had done his master's thesis on kid spaces and imagination. Since the day our last dump-truck load of dirt was delivered, the kids have been in love with our yard. Each day we find new little ones playing on the hill, behind, or around it. Who would have thought something so simple as a HILL would bring about so much imagination and creativity with the kids. I have been told numerous times by the kids in the neighborhood, that "I am sooo lucky to have a mountain in my backyard!"...

Props to Brady, our landscape architect!! (or curse him until we can afford a fence!)

These are just a few shots I've taken of kids on the hill. Two nights ago I got home around 8:30 and our backyard was FILLED with kids (close to 20--no joke). I had to close the shutters before Tyson saw and wanted to join.