Christmas countdowns

I am a huge fan of Christmas with a toddler. It has been so fun to watch Everett get excited about every new thing he is experiencing. The night we hung our stockings, he couldn't stop looking at them. Then, when we were getting him ready for bed, he ran back out to the front room. Dallin followed and as soon as he got there, Everett just pointed to the stockings and said, "Wooooow." He did a similar thing with the lights and asks for us to turn on the lights every day.

My favorite part of Christmas is our countdowns. Growing up, we always had two. The first one in the picture is a copy of one of the ones we used, made by my mom! Thanks, Mom! Mary and Joseph make their way to the Bethlehem, which is at the top. When they get there on Christmas day, you get to add baby Jesus. It's a cute way to remember the Christmas story every day.

Next to that countdown is my makeshift one. There are 24 squares, each of which has an activity for that day. It has included hanging up stockings, putting up lights, putting up our tree, drinking hot chocolate, eating cookies, and having a dance party to Christmas carols. I love doing a small Christmas activity every day. It makes the whole month that much more exciting! I'm glad Everett is so young, because some days we make up the countdown on the spot, often for things we have already done today. "Today is a pizza party! Because we ate pizza for dinner already!" I'm not super prepared, but hopefully as we continue this tradition it'll get easier. But, Christmas Eve is the exact same thing it always was for us growing up! Let's just hope I have his pajamas sewn in time.

Some favorites from November

Here is Everett splashing through the reflecting pool at the law school. Yes, he was fully clothed. It wasn't planned, but we went to meet Dallin at the end of the school day and Everett was so enthralled. So I took off his shoes so he could feel the water, and then he just went for it. Luckily it was a nice day, but his jeans ended up completely soaked. So we stripped him down and wrapped him in my sweater for the walk home. Dallin said that a bunch of people were watching him from the library. I hope it made some stressed-out law students smile.

The weather stayed nice for awhile, so we played at lots of parks. Everett figured out how to go down slides and loved it, even if his face looks a little concerned.

We went downtown with Dallin. I love weekends when we get Daddy all day, especially when we get to go explore. These are at Maggie Daley park, a favorite place. But we also went to the Lego store and ate at a delicious restaurant called Xoco with Rhett and Tanece. We were fans, especially of the hot chocolate and churros!

Stacking blocks...

...and groceries.

Our first Chicago snow! Everett in last year's winter clothes, which were too big then (and not necessary thanks to Utah's extremely mild winter) and too small now. We'll be more prepared for the next snow.

At first I was just going to take Everett outside briefly, but then we decided to bundle up and go explore. I love snow a lot more with a kid. It is much more exciting!

We need to work on our family selfies. They all end up like this.

The snow was perfect for snowmen, so Dallin took full advantage. Here is his snowman family and Everett wondering what is going on. I love how they perfectly show our abrupt transition from fall to winter.

Dallin is determined to get Everett to love Legos, so he is starting him off young. Everett loves this Star Wars ship, especially because it shoots "lasers" that knock over little Lego people.

These sum up my days. He is such a happy, fun kid.

This was right before bed. He wanted me to open the fridge and then pointed to these leftovers. I guess it was the perfect bedtime snack, because he ate a ton!

Not pictured: We had a fantastic Thanksgiving with lots of friends. There were 18 adults and six little ones! Our amazing friends hosted in their very spacious apartment that easily fit all of us. I made my first turkey and Dallin did an excellent job carving it. With everyone contributing, we had everything you could want for Thanksgiving. It was such a blast that I completely forgot to take pictures of anything!

October went by way too fast!

I wrote this in November and was too lazy to add pictures at the time. So here it is in December!

October was a fantastic month. Time is flying and I can barely keep up. Plus I've had cold after cold after cold, which makes it hard to get things done. But other than that, it's been great!

We started off with Dallin's birthday, which was a blast. I made him two cakes, a quick and easy coconut icebox cake for his actual birthday and a chocolate, peanut butter, Oreo cake for a party we had the next night. The frosting was not my favorite but it was still delicious! It was great spending time with friends and watching the kids run around and play together.

Everett and I went to Lincoln Park Zoo with lots of moms and kids from the ward. I love that there is a huge, free zoo here! Everett was a little scared of the monkeys. He just seemed unsure about the whole thing. I think he likes animals from afar, but looking through glass is just too up close and personal. Poor kid. We also went on his first carousel. He kept a very serious face the whole time. He's super observant with new things and takes a while to warm up. But he didn't get upset either so that counts as a win!

We've had beautiful weather and so we've been trying to take as much advantage of it before winter hits. That means lots of parks for Everett and me, while Dallin studies away in the library, all day, every day. Everett still loves going outside. He is so independent and likes to walk on his own or push the stroller instead of sitting in it. It's slow, but I love watching him explore out there.

The month ended with Halloween and a visit from Nathan and Adrienne and their kiddos! The kids were so cute in their Star Wars costumes and loved trick or treating. Everett kept signing "more" after someone gave him a piece of candy. Such a goof, it's not like he got to eat most of it. Everett adores his cousins. He even learned how to play lightsabers with Elliott and still makes the noise for them while he plays. I'm so glad he is finally old enough to play with them. We loved having family visit!

School has finally started!

Dallin is finally a real law student! He just finished his first week and he is loving it so far. His goal is to get all of his reading done on campus so he can really be present when he is home. It's working pretty well so far. That means he is gone from before 9 to 5 or 6 everyday. We miss him! But it is so nice that home is much more stress-free for him. Dallin comes home excited every day and tells me about all the cases he is studying. He loves this stuff. He also has lots of awesome classmates and friends already. Though their two week orientation kind of forced that on them. But with all their ropes courses and improv workshops, I think Dallin did actually enjoy orientation. Well, some of it at least.

Everett loves it here. He brings me his shoes first thing every morning, regardless of what he is wearing. If he is running around in just a diaper, sometimes he will bring me his jacket too. Like that's going to happen! But we have a nice park behind our building that is full of squirrels. Everett loves watching them and chasing them. We also have a fenced in play yard Everett enjoys and we go on lots of walks. I also take him out on my bike sometimes which I just love. Everett loves books, he is constantly bringing them to me to read. He is learning to climb on everything, which is a little scary. His toy drum is his absolute favorite--he plays with that thing every single day. He is just like his daddy.

I am spending my days taking care of Everett. We were so spoiled this summer with Dallin home all day, so it was a pretty big transition. We are doing pretty well, though. I am still working doing research during nap times or after bed time and I am so happy to have something like that on the side. I've also been reading lots and am gearing up to bake tons now that the weather is cooler. I have my sourdough starter all ready and I've been reading a book all about bread baking. I also bought 6 dozen Italian plums because I'm obsessed with this purple plum torte. I am hoping to eventually start some sewing projects, too. We are staying plenty busy.

We all love it here. It is exciting to call a new place home, and I feel so lucky it happened to be Chicago. This city is amazing and already feels a lot like home.

Meeting Sue at the Field Museum.

So excited to finally have couches!

This is the play yard next to our building. It is a little post-apocalyptic--abandoned toys just sit out haphazardly.

Madison park behind our building. Everett can spend hours exploring here.

Family fun day at the law school! The balloon man offered to make Everett "something fun."

I made Dallin pose with the alien because Everett wouldn't hold still.

It's fall!

Chicago, the first two weeks

We are here! We are slowly unpacking and getting settled. Here's what life is like so far:

• We live on the fourth floor of a walkup apartment. It's exhausting, especially carrying Everett up, but we will learn to love these stairs.
• We still don't have couches. We have couch arm rests, but no couch. 
• It is terribly hot and humid, so we bought a window air conditioning unit. Now we can actually sleep at night.
• We learned that the library has museum passes you can check out. We immediately got a library card.
• We went to the Museum of Science and Industry for free! Thank you library. We loved it. And biked there with Everett's cute little bike seat.
• We don't have a car. We walk to church and the grocery store and it's awesome. Though I'm not sure that will be the case in winter.
• We bought dressers from a neighbor. They even helped us carry them up our many flights of stairs.
• We have a little park behind our building Everett loves. I wish it weren't so hot so we could play outside more.
• Rhett and Tanece came to visit! We explored downtown and ate popcorn and pizza. I am so, so happy they live so close!
• Everett loves people. We sat near a grassy area downtown and Everett went and made friends with everyone nearby. They all loved him. But really, he will just walk up to a group of people and plop down. Groups of adults, families, couples, it doesn't matter to him. But he makes everyone smile and laugh. He's an instant celebrity.
• Two burners didn't work on our gas(!!) stove when we moved in. They finally fixed those this week. Then our refrigerator stopped working. So they traded that out for a different one yesterday. Hopefully everything else works for awhile.
• We have a dishwasher for the first time in our marriage. It's the best.
• Everett loves to use the swiffer to clean our super creaky wood floors. I love having help!
• Overall, we are really loving it here.

Here's an assortment of pictures from the past few weeks:

Goodbye old home. We miss you.

The morning Dallin left to drive to Chicago.
Everett and I were very excited about flying instead.

Chicago is exhausting.

Look how happy he is to help clean!

Just going for a walk, Mom. See you later.

A really hot Chicago day requires two sippy cups.
That air mattress has been our "couch" for two weeks.

We love Chicago and free museums!

Chicago, here we come!

Applying to law school is a huge lesson in patience. You wait for LSAT scores, you wait to apply, you wait for admissions decisions, you wait indefinitely on waitlists (still technically on Stanford's...), and you wait for housing. It was a pain, and I wasn't even the one applying. But it is finally over, and in two weeks, we will be moving to CHICAGO!!

What life would have been like if Stanford had accepted Dallin.

Dallin will be attending University of Chicago Law School and Everett and I will get to explore a whole new city. I think we got the better end of the deal. All we know right now is that they have a rockin' playground downtown and delicious popcorn. But I've heard good things about the food scene and that there are some amazing museums to see. Chicago is that place that everyone raves about if they've either visited or lived there, so we are excited to experience it for ourselves.

In front of the Law School during our visit in April.

Though we have always planned on moving away for law school, the actual process is hard. Leaving Everett's first home was the hardest. Many places have been home to me in my life, but I've never cried harder leaving any of them. There are just so many sweet memories in that apartment. Everett didn't mind, though. He just laughed and clapped as we prepared to leave.

Everett hiding in our empty coat closet. Moving is so fun!

Getting an apartment in Chicago was also hard, since graduate housing gave us conflicting information when we asked for updates. But we have an apartment--with three bedrooms, even! So come visit us. We have space, and we will hopefully have furniture eventually.

Now, we just have to get there and figure out how to live without a car. Then, we'll have a few weeks to get settled and take in the city before we lose Dallin to the dreaded 1L year.  Chicago, here we come!

Happy birthday, Everett!

What better day to start a blog than Everett's FIRST birthday!

I still can't believe that Everett turned one today. I am so glad that he is a part of our family. One year goes by so fast, and it is unbelievable watching a newborn baby grow into a walking, babbling, silly little boy. Everett is such a joy. He loves to laugh--especially when we chase him or dance with him. He loves music and dances whenever he hears some. His little hand movements when he dances are my favorite. He crinkles his nose with a huge smile when he is especially happy. He loves to go outside and recently learned to go get his shoes and bring them to us when he wants to get out of the house. Everett loves being the center of attention and will often clap just to make everyone around him clap in response. He is a total people person, especially with other kids. He will go up to another kid and just talk and talk, with a hopeful look on his face that they will respond. He babbles all day long and loves to pretend to talk on the phone, using our phones, a remote, or even just his hand. He walks all over and tries to run when he is excited. He hates eating baby food but will eat almost anything else we give him. He loves to explore and is very independent, but he still loves to cuddle when he is tired. He is a fantastic little man and we are so lucky to be his parents.

Everett had a fantastic two-day celebration for his birthday. The day before his birthday, we had both sets of grandparents and lots of aunts and uncles over for cake. Here is his sprinkle cake! Which I made and was very proud of. It's a homemade funfetti cake, with blueberry filling and cream cheese frosting. Yum!

Everett wanted to eat his cake all day, and would run into the kitchen just to look at it. When it finally came time to eat it, he decided that the sprinkles and frosting were his favorite parts.

On his actual birthday, he got to open his presents from us. His favorite is probably the toy drum. He's his daddy's child.

He also got alphabet magnets, like mommy always wanted!

We played and ate french fries, and gave him a little more cake. Then I took tons of pictures of him because he is so cute and growing so fast! Love this little face.

Happy birthday, Everett!!