Wrapping Up September

September went by entirely too fast! Our life is pretty simple these days

and I feel so lucky that I get to stay at home with these babes,

and I really can't believe sometimes how fast the time goes! 

My boys are growing up so fast- which is bittersweet. 

I mean, look at Chase- doesn't he look so big?!

 And believe me, if you didn't think he looked big he would kindly remind you.

I get told at least 4 times every single day that he is a "BIG BOY!"

Chase has now decided that Hudson is big enough to wrestle with.

Mom, however, squelches that fun pretty fast. 

I think we'll give Hudson a few more months before we really let Chase go for it :)

Sometimes we let him play with him while we practice being "really soft" 

and not lying directly on top of the baby.

 Saturday we went up to Huntsville to see my amazing sister-in-law Kate

run the Hunstville half marathon.

Kate's awesome- she has rheumatoid arthritis and is constantly working to manage

her disease, but she doesn't let that slow her down! If you didn't know her well

you wouldn't even know she had it, she doesn't complain!

She set a goal to run a half marathon and we were so excited to watch her accomplish it!

Here we are cheering her on at the 9 mile mark-

Hudson is so obviously excited to be there...

 ...Chase preferred to play with rocks and to try to escape to a nearby "puddle" (read: canal).

I think we tore him away from the rocks for a good 15 seconds to clap for Kate though.

 And here is Kate finishing the race with a smile on her face!

She did amazing! We were all so proud.

 The whole gang-

Me and the boys, my parents, Kate's parents and Kate and Will

Saturday also meant Chase's weekly tradition of going to "play" with Papa. This means doing all of Papa's Saturday projects and errands with him. 

As I was getting ready that morning I overheard Chase telling Hudson, 

"I'm going to play with Papa. You don't come Hudson. You have to stay with mommy.

Only me and Papa go in the big red truck."

Yeah- we are working on it. Chase is majorly protective of his time with Papa.

Hudson came with me and my mom on our trip to Sams Club. 

I'm pretty sure it's a rule that my mom can't go shopping and NOT come home with something for the boys.

So Hudson got this cute Halloween outfit.

(Chase, who isn't impressed by clothes got a Halloween book-

both boys were very happy)

And seeing him in this little outfit made me so excited for Halloween!

Even though beautiful September is over, we are so excited for the days to come!

Out of the Mouth of Chase Part VII

While I was rubbing him down with lotion:
I have a cute tummy!
And then a few days later while I was changing Hudson:
Hudson has a cute tummy too!

In January I'll be 3 just like Papa!

Over the last several days when he has woken up from his nap, he's called me to come get him with either:
Mommy! I taked a good nap!
or
Mommy! I'm ready to go do more fun things!

After telling him that the treats we were making were for his friend Karter, who had fallen and broken his nose- an hour later he randomly told me:
Karter got an owie. He fell off a chair. He didn't listen to his daddy.
(All owies are obviously a result of disobeying)

I have blue eyes. Daddy has blue eyes. Hudson has blue eyes. Mommy is a girl, she doesn't have blue eyes. (All of the above are true, but I love his reasoning getting there!)

Heidi: Chase, who is your favorite aunt?
Chase: I know...
Heidi: Is it Heidi?
Chase: No.
Heidi: Who is it?
Chase: Someone else.
Heidi: Chase, who brings you presents?
Chase: Santa!

While driving in the car and Hudson was crying:
Hudson! No tears! No tears Hudson! Be happy!

While looking at a picture of the Salt Lake Temple (which Chase is fascinated with- the kid gets excited every time we see a temple):
Chase: Oh it's the temple!
Me: Do you know which one it is?
Chase: Yes. House of God Temple.
(I'm fairly certain this comes from the line in the song, "A temple is a house of God")

My favorite moment of the day on Saturday was when I was sitting on the couch by him watching Mickey Mouse and he suddenly turned to me and said:
I wuv my mommy! I wuv you mommy!

We love Fall

I'm so happy it's finally Autumn!

We haven't had a real fall season since we've been living in the tropics the last few years,

and I'm so happy to be in beautiful Utah this year!

I love making soup, the crisp air, seeing the leaves turn, 

scouting out Halloween costumes for the boys, and making pumpkin cookies.

Ben's favorite part is probably football season-

so just because they are cute, here are some recent pics of my boys in their football shirts,

compliments of their Nana. 

*Nana does buy the boys a huge portion of their books, clothes, shoes and toys and Chase remembers every single thing that came from her. And sometimes things I actually buy for him he still attributes to Nana. I would feel a little miffed of the credit I'm not getting, except we are just so thankful for Nana and all she does!

Girls Weekend in Nampa

About a week ago, Heidi randomly asked me if I'd be up for a roadtrip to Nampa, ID to visit our awesome BFSC Jana. One of the beauties of being a stay-at-mom home to two babies is that we never have anything on the calendar! So of course I was free and psyched to join her! We left Kaysville at 10 am on Friday morning, expecting to be in Nampa around 2-3 pm. A series of obnoxious delays made it closer to 6 pm before we actually pulled in- but luckily the boys did really really well, all things considered. There may have been a time when Hudson was crying, and Chase, not to be outdone, just yelled super loud with a totally bored look on his face- you know, just to make more noise than Hudson :) And there was a point where we were completely stopped in traffic for a solid hour in the ugliest scenery known to man with two flies buzzing around inside our car ("This is literally the worst thing ever" -Heidi) and then once we passed the accident that caused said traffic and realized it was a fairly simple little fender bender ("Well now that I know no one was seriously hurt I'm super mad about that" -also Heidi) we eventually made it to Casa Izatt and settled right in. 

Heidi got to bond with Hudson a little more, who has been a little hesitant lately to bond with anyone but mama:) And there is no way I can do the hilarity of this group justice, but if you know them, between Heidi and Jana we literally laughed all weekend long!

This was a rare moment when the little guys weren't running around, jumping off couches, tackling each other, and smiling the whole time! At one point Heidi said, "There are literally no less than 1,000 little boys running around this house!" It kind of felt like it, but believe me- there were only 5. Chase loved playing with these boys so much!

It was kind of wonderful to put the boys to bed and have some hilarious girl time! I was weak sauce and turned in before midnight and Heidi and Jana's fabulous adventure to Winco to obtain the special Nacho Cheese Jana's husband needed to bring to work in the morning. Because I know you are all worried if the appropriate cheese was found- they took a picture to document their success.

 Of course after a late night Friday night the little boys were all up way before the sun on Saturday morning. We spent a lovely day just chilling around the house. Chase enjoyed each and every one of their 1,000 toys. At one point Chase disappeared and we found him in the backyard mowing the lawn.

 He diligently mowed the Izatt's whole yard before switching over to their tricycle- another new discovery for Chase. (I'm wondering if we should get on the ball and buy him a few more toys?) I loved having such awesome built in entertainment for him!

 After a delightful trip to Target sans kids (thanks to Jana's wonderful mom Pam) we had a quick dinner and then Heidi and I took the little ones to visit our cousins that live nearby. I was so glad we got to see them, but I unfortunately forgot my camera. We had a blast catching up with Rich and Heather, who we haven't seen forever, and their sweet Ruby (11) and John (7) played with the boys. Ruby had Hudson belly-laughing and John was so sweet to play with Chase. It was good because after leaving Izatts, which Chase was not pleased about (he informed Heidi he wanted to bring Clyde, Will and Jack with us and leave Hudson who "wanted to nap") the first thing Chase said to Heather was "where are your toys?" Luckily Heather found some toys for Chase and we all had a wonderful visit!

When we got back to Jana's and put the boys to bed we had another fun and hilarious girls night. The highlight of which was when Heidi and I were able to convince Jana to make brownies by saying nothing more than "So..." and then bursting into laughter. We are all psychically linked I think.

 And then beautiful moments like this happen and are [luckily] captured on film.

We had such a great time, even though our trip was a little too short. Sunday morning, super early, we packed up and headed out. Chase didn't want to leave "the kids" and was only okay once I told him we were going to see daddy. He turned to his little friends and said, "Okay, I go see my daddy and then I'll come right back!"

We had high hopes that our trip home would go smoother than the trip up there, but that didn't exactly work out either. A few wrong turns, a puking kid and one speeding ticket later we safely arrived in Kaysville. I was physically exhausted, but emotionally recharged! It was an awesome weekend- thanks so much to our gracious hostess and favorite BFSC ever.

Hudson at 8 months

Oh man, eight months with this little angel in our home- it's been a dream! It's amazing how much one little guy can just melt my heart. This one has won me over!

We used to call Hudson our little chunker, but ever since he started crawling he's seriously thinned out. I had been a little concerned about it and decided to just stop in the pediatrician's office to weigh him. Once the nurse weighed him we determined that he had gained a whopping 1 ounce in the last two months! So after a quick chat with our great pediatrician we came up with a plan to get Hudson more calories- which is basically to feed him whatever we are eating. This is basically what Hudson's been telling me he wants anyway :) I came home from the appointment and pureed up our chicken pot pie leftovers and Hudson loved it. The kid has a great appetite and loves to eat, but I guess his pureed fruits and vegetables just weren't cutting it. (And yes, I feel horrible that he didn't gain any weight and that I didn't start doing this earlier, but he is a happy, healthy baby!)

He's still definitely a mama's boy- which I love, but this new eating plan has got him loving anyone who will sit him on their lap and give him bites of what they are eating. He had his first bites of cake tonight at Will's birthday celebration and he is obviously a fan.

Hudson's moving all over the place these days. He has the cutest little army crawl/scoot and he tries to keep up with Chase. Changing him has turned into a wrestling match. He's a determined kid!

Do they look alike?

I get asked often, "Do they look alike?"

The answer, well, kind of.

Same beautiful baby blue eyes, similar hair and smile,

but something about them just looks different to me.

We think Chase favors Ben a little more and Hudson looks a little more like me.

Here's some pictures for comparison-

Chase at 6 months

 Hudson at 6 months

 Chase at 7 months

 Hudson at 6 months

Chase

 Hudson

What do you think?

My conclusion- definitely not cookie cutter babies,

but they do look like brothers.

If there was any question, Chase sure clears it up.

Several times a day he smiles fondly at Hudson and says, "That's my brudder!"

Nana and Papa

I think of all of us, Chase has had the hardest time with this move. He really still wants to live with Nana and Papa. Whenever I say we are going home he needs me to clarify- the new house or Nana and Papa's house. When I tell him we are going to the new house I usually get a loud "NOOOOOOO, I want Nana Papa!" What can I say- he loves them! He has done the first grandchild role really well and he is one adored little boy. 

Chase's favorite things to do with Nana are cooking (he still talks about when they made cupcakes- in JUNE), stories and the IPAD. The kid is seriously obsessed with the ipad. My mom has gotten a bunch of toddler friendly educational apps for him and he loves it. These pictures below crack me up and explain Chase so well! He was sitting next to her on the couch playing the ipad when I asked her to hold Hudson- immediately Chase hopped up in her lap, claiming his territory. After some coaching, he decided to share Nana's lap with Hudson, but not the ipad. He kept pushing Hudson's little hand out of the way when he'd reach for it. He does the same thing with chairs in the computer room, although he sits on Nana's lap during computer time, if I walk in he reaches his leg over to "his chair" to make sure I don't sit there. 

As it should be- according to Chase. He loves being the center of attention!

Chase also knows that Nana is a total pushover and will pretty much

do whatever he wants. 

Hudson has had a hard time with letting anyone besides me hold him lately,

but will make the occasional exception.  Papa really had him giggling here.

This last Saturday my dad had a special date with Chase-

riding a "big green tractor".

I thought Chase would freak out, as he usually does around load noises.

He hopped right up in the cab and snuggled in next to Papa and was in heaven

the whole ride! I think Papa and Chase really get each other

and have really bonded over their mutual love for tractors. 

That night in his prayers Chase added on his own, "thank you that I could ride in the big green tractor with Papa." And this morning he added, "please bless that I can ride in a big green tractor with Papa." Even though I really don't get the allure of riding in a tractor, it melts my heart to see my little boy so happy!

Thursday is the new Saturday

Ben works every Saturday so he gets Thursdays off. A lot of times he ends up going into work on Thursday as well, but when he doesn't we take full advantage of having him around! Our Thursdays end up being crazy busy days full of fun and errands and chores and I love them! This past Thursday was a doozy- we started out the morning with an early date to the temple for Ben and me, followed by cleaning and naps, grocery shopping, a family trip to the mall to get a few things we needed and then more cleaning and dinner. We were exhausted by dinner time, but the fun wasn't over yet!

Ben and I had been wanting to go do something fun with just Chase, so we planned to take him to a Raptors game (minor league baseball) in Ogden with Will and Kate. It was such a fun night! Chase thought the baseball was cool for a few minutes, but as you can see really loved the ice cream :)

 Chase lasted for about 4 innings and spent most of that running around the stadium, although he did join in with the crowd and enthusiastically clap his little hands whenever everyone else cheered! I think his faces in all these photos show the level of cooperation I'm dealing with on a daily basis from this crazy two year old! (In every photo he was directed to SMILE- and this is what we got instead)

Oh such a fun night! Wonderful company, beautiful weather, and some of my favorite people!

As a side note- we left Hudson home with my parents babysitting. I tried to just put him down before they even got there because he's had a little separation anxiety lately. It didn't work out super well, so when we left he was in his crib crying. I told my mom that he rarely cries for longer than 5 minutes before bed, but if he was still crying to go ahead and get him and try to rock him. He didn't calm down and when she went in she found a livid baby, with a sopping wet sleeve on his right arm. He sucks his right thumb and it was caught inside his jammies! Poor kid had been up their crying and frantically sucking on where he knew his thumb should be! He was traumatized that apparently it took quite a bit of rocking to calm him back down. I felt so bad knowing I left my parents with a crying baby, but as Ben reminded me, I taught them well on how to handle a crying babe (back in the day). Big thanks to Nana and Papa for babysitting our sweet babe, we knew he was in good hands!