Jackson's 3rd Birthday

I can't believe Jackson has been 3 for over a month and I am just now posting about it. It really has been a crazy month for us, but it has been good to see so much of Dan's family too. Jackson turned 3 on July 5th and we had a small birthday party for him on July 6th. We were able to have some of Jackson's friends over for lunch, dinosaur cupcakes, and some water fun. Jackson asked for a dinosaur party so I made cupcakes with little dinosaurs on top. Here are a few pics from that great day!

Taylor's favorite thing to do in the evening!

Unlike her brother, Taylor has loved the water from day one. She has always loved taking a bath, but loves it even more when she can take one with Jackson. She loves playing with the same toys he does and splashing with him. If she sees Jackson in the tub she freaks out until I put her in with him. I am pretty sure Jackson likes it too. They are really starting to play together lately, and Jackson tells me that Taylor is his best friend!

Half Marathon

In April I ran my first half marathon, the Salt Lake City Half Marathon. I trained for a few months before the race and felt some-what confident when the race day came. Since I have never been a runner, my goal was to run/slow jog the whole thing. I just didn't want to walk. I met my goal, but looking back I probably could have completed in a faster time if I would have taken a few breaks and walked for a little bit. The race was mostly a flat or a down hill slope except for a little over a mile of up hill towards the end. After 2 1/2 hours and 13.1 miles later, I finished. I wasn't too happy with my time, but I was just happy to say that I ran the whole thing. Who knows if I will ever run another half marathon again, but for now I can say that I have ran a half marathon!
Dan and the kids were able to come support me and take some pictures towards the end of the race. Even though it looks like I was walking, I promise I wasn't. These pictures were around the 13 mile mark.

Taylor's 6 Month Photos

Taylor turned 6 months old on February 8th. A few weeks after that I was able to have our wonderful friend and neighbor take her 6 months photos. Julie is an amazing photographer, and it is great that she lives literally across the street. Thankfully she wasn't too busy in February and she was able to take some incredible photos of Taylor. If you need a photographer you should check her out. Her photography blog is www.julieburtonphotography.blogspot.com. Here are a few of my favorites.

Catch Up

I am sorry but I have been a total blog slacker the past 2 months. I think with the holidays and my mom moving back to Texas, things have been a little crazy around the Noble household. Here are some pics and some major events that have happened in the last 2 months.

Christmas!
Jackson was so excited for Christmas this year. We tried really hard this year to help him understand the reason why we celebrate Christmas. I think it started to sink in. He keep running around shouting Merry Christmas and telling us that it is Jesus' birthday. Maybe he will understand it more next year. At the last minute we decided to go to Washington to spend Christmas with Dan's family. I will post pictures from that later. Since we were flying we had to open some gifts before we left. And of course we had to open presents with my mom before she left for Texas. Jackson was so excited to open presents. Half the time he didn't care what was in them, he just loved unwrapping them. Luckily Taylor had no idea what was going on because Jackson wanted to help her open all of her gifts. Here are some pics of the week before we left for Washington for Christmas.
Jackson with Santa at the neighborhood Christmas party

Jackson and Taylor in their Christmas PJs. We opened them early so they could enjoy them longer!



Jackson opening his gift from Grandma (my mom)

My mom opening her gift from us, a snuggie. This was not a gag gift. She really wanted one.

Jackson helping Dan open his gift.

Taylor and Jackson with Santa at the ward breakfast. Can you tell Jackson loved it!! I don't know why he was scared of this santa and not the other.



Taylor Turned 4 months Old!
On December 8th, our little girl turned 4 months old. I can not believe how fast the time has flown by. She is such a wonderful addition to our family. She is always smiling, except of course when she sees the flash on the camera. She loves her Dad and brother so much. Whenever she hears them she smiles. I think she can watch Jackson play for hours, and no matter how upset she is Dan can hold her and immediately calm her down. She has stolen her daddy's heart. I can't even imagine what it will be like when she is older. She can roll from her front to back and is working on rolling form her back to her front. She has found her feet and loves putting them in her mouth. They have become automatic teethers. She loves chewing on anything in sight. We think her teeth or either moving or one is near the surface. She gets a lot more upset when her gums hurt than Jackson ever did. She is working on sitting up by herself and I think she will be doing it soon. We are so blessed to have her in our family. Here are a couple of pics and her 4 month stats.




Weight- 13lbs 7oz - 40.9 percentile
Length- 24.13in - 38.9 percentile
Head- 16in - 35.7 percentile


Thanksgiving
Since we decided not to travel for the holidays this year, we had Thanksgiving at home. Well, that was before Dan's mom called begging us to come and offering to pay for our plane tickets for Christmas. This was the first time Dan and I made an entire Thanksgiving feast on our own. I found this great Barefoot Contessa recipe online for our turkey. It was pretty easy and turned out great. I was so proud of our meal. Dan's brother Rob joined us and we even broke out our wedding china for the first time. Both kids were napping when the Turkey was ready, so I was able to eat my entire meal without holding a child or gobbling it down because someone else crying or needing to be feed. Here are a couple of pics of what the table looked like before we started eating.

Halloween

It is hard to believe that October has already come and went. This year we tried to do some fun Halloween activities before the month was over. Here are some pics from the exciting events, including trick or treating on Halloween day.

We made carmel apples with some neighbor friends. I made home made carmel that didn't turn out exactly as planned, but tasted yummy!




We carved pumpkins as a family!







On Friday we attended the ward trunk or treat. Jackson was excited to wear his dinosaur costume and carry his Toy Story bag.

Friday night Dan and I went to an incredible Halloween dinner our friends Stacy and Sean threw. We dressed up as nerds, but unfortunately did not take any pictures.

On Saturday we went Trick or Treating in our neighborhood. Jackson had such a great time. It was a little cold so we bundled Taylor up and I carried her in the baby sling. Jackson got tons of candy, but most of all I think he just loved running down the street. Here are some pics of their costumes. Jackson was a dinosaur and Taylor was a pumpkin.

Taylor is 2 months old!

It seems like the time is flying by. I can not believe that my little girl is already 2 months old. Taylor is the best baby ever. She is so happy and is already smiling and cooing. I think she might be a talker because she loves talking to us after she eats. Unlike her brother at this age, she loves taking baths. She now loves her swing and bouncer.
Here are her measurements at 2 months.
Weight- 10 lbs 12 oz 42nd percentile
Height-22.5 in. 50th percentile
Head- 15 in 28th percentile