Santa Claus is coming to town!

We set up our little Christmas tree yesterday and Russel thought it was pretty awesome. How cute is that?

A bucket, a clock, and locks of love

Yes, this post is as random as the title sounds! Russel was just cute playing in his toy bucket and once again showing off his sitting skills. We have this cute clock for Russel thanks to Aunt Stacey and all the people who helped make it while I was attending to a fussy Russel. Lastly, I have always wanted to donate my hair to locks of love and I have been wanting to cut my hair for months now, so I finally chopped it all off yesterday! What a change!

Hiking Y Mountain

The other day it was about 70 degrees out and we all needed a little adventure, so we decided to hike the Y Mountain by BYU. It was a great time and Russel enjoyed being outside (except for the cold wind on the way down). We saw three big horn sheep on the way up... we always get so excited about wildlife! I couldn't believe that Ben hiked the whole way carrying Russel. I told him now he knows what it's like to be pregnant and he said now he knows what it's like to be pregnant and hike up a mountain... fair enough! He's amazing! It was nice to be able to get outside in t-shirts so late in the season!

New Developments

Russel's getting so big! He tries to scoot every once in a while, but usually just goes backwards. The first picture is him on his way down from a backwards scoot. He is also a pro at sitting up by himself now. He learned it so fast. In a matter of about 3 days he could stay up without falling down for several minutes! He's also started trying some new foods and he likes them... peas and sweet potatoes so far! No pictures of that yet though.

Russel's Sadly Pathetic Halloween

So... for Halloween, Russel and Mommy were supposed to go to Layton to get dressed up and go trick or treating with the cousins. Yeah, that didn't happen. Tuesday night Russel slept horribly (like every Tuesday night for some mysterious reason), thus I was cranky Wednesday which made my little teething guy more cranky. I knew I wouldn't be able to take the hour plus drive to Layton because Russel screams for at least 20 minutes of it, and I figured it would've been longer that day. I was in no mental state to handle prolonged screaming while at the wheel in Utah (very scary). Also, we were planning on borrowing Raef's old baby costumes to dress up in, which were in Layton.

So here we are, it's 4pm on Halloween, we're feeling sad and cranky, we have no candy and no costume. I figured I'd better make the best out of Russel's first Halloween so I went to the store and got candy for the trick or treaters and got Russel a cute Halloween outfit to greet them in. He was cute and I ate some candy and felt a little better. No trick or treaters came, but at least Russel was brave enough to get some candy from the spooky guy next door! All in all it turned out to be a good family night!

Fun with Family

Russel loves to spend time with family these days! He doesn't cry the second Ben or I hand him to someone else anymore. He thinks his cousins in Utah are the coolest (I'm sure he'll think the same of all the East coast cousins at Christmas time). Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch with his cousins Raef and Brynn, Aunt Stacey and Uncle Ryan and Grandma Caswell. There was a huge, scary slide that didn't even phase Russel, but the rest of us sure had fun... I think Russel was just glad to be outside!


Raef had Russel laughing for about 10 minutes straight by pretending to punch him and letting Russel get him and making him fall (as pictured). It was so awesome.


Russel loves to play in laundry baskets!


The big slide


Russel and Daddy on top


Sliding!



Raef and Brynn went down the slide every which way. No fear!



Russel and Mommy on a smaller slide.. the big one was too scary for me!

Good Luck Charm-er

RED SOX WON THE WORLD SERIES!!!!!!
(Thanks in part to this little cutie, I'm sure)