Brooks

Brooks really is just sweet to his core. Him and Hallie seem to enjoy fighting and getting on each others nerves and he pretty much does the opposite of what I tell him not to do but, deep down, he has such a good and pure heart. He has an excitement for life that I just love to witness. He gives out "I love yous" freely. I love when he tells Hallie he loves her as he walks up the stairs to take a nap. He even tells his doctor he loves him after his visits. I love his random kisses he gives Stockton and I while I rock Stockton to sleep. He continues to be obsessed with cars, trucks and trailers. I really can't ever see him not being obsessed with those things. He naps everyday for about 1.5 hours which is amazing. He has some anxieties when we are in/at a new place. His speech therapy is going great and he has made huge strides with it. He never stutters and he is getting better at his annunciation of letters. He idolizes Russ and insists that Russ puts him to bed every night. He talks about "when he grows bigger" and is able to fit into daddy's clothes. Not only does he want to be just like his dad but he also looks just like Russ as well. He is the best snuggler and I love that that is one of his love languages. He is the only one in the household that enjoys eating steak with Russ. He calls it "dads meat." I love when he offers to give the prayer before we eat. He always says the same thing. "Dear Heavenly Father. Jank (thank) you for this day. Please bless lunch/dinner and bless that Daddy comes home safely. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."  I sure love my baby boy that isn't a baby anymore!

He doesn't nap on Tuesdays when we go to speech. He crashed on the way home from picking up Hallie from school. I love how he has his hands in his pockets. He often has his hands in his pockets. It is totally a Brooks thing to do. 

Stockton and him nap at 2 PM every day. Brooks falls asleep next to me while I rock Stockton to sleep. And then I carry Brooks to his room for his nap. 

He has to sleep with at least 2 burp cloths and uses a giant stuffed animal hedgehog as his pillow. 

Snuggling my ornery boy that day. 

He asks to wear daddy's glasses when we are out and about and driving. 

He asks to go "run" every time someone leaves from coming to our house. He, and usually Hallie too, will run to the end of the street and watch whomever is leaving our house drive off. 

Basement Progress

We hit our 2 year mark of trying to finish the basement! It is a slow process. This month we bought a TV for the fireplace. Russ got a 75" TV and boy is it big. It looks nice though. With the addition of the TV down there we have had a family movie night and Russ and I often go down there after the kids are in bed and watch a show. It has been fun to actually be able to use the space!

Hallie

 Hallie is such a beautiful girl and has so much going for her in this life. She truly is good at anything she does. She is naturally talented at just about anything. She is thriving in school and doing amazing with her Spanish learning. She loves the spotlight and gets bored very easily. She often refers to herself in 3rd person. "Hallie wants to play a game." "Hallie needs to go clean her room." It's pretty funny. She is stubborn and isn't afraid to stand up for herself, at least with Russ and I, and I hope that braveness and boldness transfers to when she plays with her friends as well. I love her confidence.

Day of the Dead day at school

She can be so sweet and thoughtful at times. And I secretly think she loves knowing the secret about Santa. I found this note in my stocking the other day. 

Kids

 I love my 3 kiddos with all that I have! So grateful to be their mommy!

Picnic in the basement on our new TV box

Stockton seems to be just as interested in cars as Brooks is

Love my boys!!

Love Hallie's cheeser!

Can you believe it was semi-warm enough to have a picnic in the backyard in November?

Hallie and Brooks are obsessed with Stockton. They seem to not be able to control how often they hug him, squeeze him and quite frankly bother him. I probably say, "Don't touch the baby!" at least 50 times per day!

Thanksgiving

It was nice to gather together with my family for Thanksgiving. It is good to be together after being away from each other so much with Covid. I love that my mom writes everyone an individual letter for Thanksgiving. It means a lot. I love her very identifiable handwriting too.  

Brooks and Hallie are recovering from colds and I fear that Stockton is starting to get a cold now too. Stockton isn't much of a snuggler but I do love any excuse I can get to snuggle him while he sleeps. 

Stockton's Blessing

We finally blessed Stockton!! I can't believe he is almost 9 months old and we just barely blessed him. Russ joked that he isn't sure he is going to be able to hold him while he blesses him because he will be so heavy and big. We even asked the Bishop how old is too old to bless a baby. The answer is 1 year by the way. 

When Stockton was a newborn I certainly didn't want to bless him while he was on oxygen. Then, I was nervous to bless him because of Covid and I didn't want to risk him getting sick. But, after those reasons, we haven't blessed Stockton yet because I have been too overwhelmed to plan a blessing. I feel like I can't add one more thing to my plate. I feel like I am the only one that picks up and cleans our house for a family of five. I can't even clean our toilets weekly because I am just drowning in other essential responsibilities. Russ' mental health isn't great and although he is giving me all that he can right now it's just not very much. Planning to have our large family over to our house with food provided was just too overwhelming. We talked about just having a blessing without having people over afterwards but ultimately I want people over to my house after, I just don't want to have to plan it all out.

In the end we decided to bless Stockton today and have family over afterwards for nachos. However, Hallie, who hasn't been sick in months, got sick a few days ago and due to the pandemic we are living in we decided to cancel having family over. So we blessed Stockton while Hallie and Brooks stayed home with cousins. It ended up being a stress-free day after all.

Russ gave a beautiful blessing to little Stockty! Russ has a way with words when he blesses others and I love the words he said in the blessing. I sure love this Stockton boy of ours! He is the best baby and I'm so glad he is finally blessed. He deserved a great blessing and that is what he got.

Grandma Becky and Grandpa Joe

Grandpa Stan and Gigi

Gigi and Great-Grandma Wilde

3 generations with Grandpa Joe

Sterling and Great-Grandma Wilde

Cute little buddy of course clawed his nose the night before his blessing

Utah Football Game

Russ got tickets last minute to the Utah vs. Oregon game. He invited Justin to go with him. When Russ called Justin and asked if he wanted to go to the game Justin responded by saying, "You mean THEE game?" Haha! Needless to say he was excited to go. 

This game was a big game and we absolutely destroyed Oregon! Our offense was on fire and I was happy that Russ was able to go and witness it. 

Bidet

Russ got a bidet from Amazon Vine for our master bathroom toilet. Installing the bidet wasn't as cut and dry (no pun intended) as Russ had hoped and he got squirted with toilet water while installing. I thought it was funny. He did not. 

Hallie Jazz Game

These two have been able to go to a lot of Jazz games this year. And all of them have been for free too! They have had fun going. This time they went because of the tickets Hallie got for being in Jr. Jazz. They were way up in the "nosebleed" seats but had a great time nonetheless. 

Ahlberg Family Service Project

This year the Dow's were in charge of the service project. We put together winter kits (gloves, socks and beanies) to refugees. With the donations from each family we were able to put together hundreds of kits!

Ice cream sundaes for dessert!