Happy Birthday, Mark!

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!
Thank you for being such a wonderful husband, father, & friend.
Not to mention an incredibly handsome George Clooney look-a-like. :)
You just get more handsome every year.
I love you!

Never Mind...

As of yesterday, Kyler Canyon will now be known as

Canyon Ever Friess

According to his parents, it is official. The birth certificate has been ordered. No more changes.
It only took 2 1/2 weeks!

He has a name!

If You are Prepared, You Shall Not Fear

Last night several members of our ward called to inform us that e coli bacteria had been found in the local water supply. We were supposed to boil all water before use or use bottled water. Apparently the Alberston's down the street had completely sold out of bottled water after the announcement. I was so grateful for the counsel to "be prepared." We simply went and got a bunch of water bottles from the garage and put them around the house. We boiled some water for washing. No need to worry or scramble.

Everything was declared safe this afternoon. There was probably very little danger to us at any point. But it was wonderful to know that because we had followed the counsel of a prophet, we were prepared and did not fear.

Gorgeous Day on Mt. Hood

Mark took the boys skiing at Mt. Hood yesterday. Bennett's first time. Jackson's first time on a snowboard. It was a gorgeous day and they really had a good time.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a loud & lovely Thanksgiving. Dan & Danielle hosted a FULL house. Everyone contributed to meal, and while we always eat well at Friess gatherings, this meal was exceptional! Delicious! The star of the show was our still-yet-to-named nephew whom some of us all calling Logan, after his father, John Logan, simply because we are tired of calling him "baby." I'm sure he will have a beautiful name, someday. He is tiny and gorgeous and so snuggle-able.

The kids had a great time wrestling with the Pied Piper, Uncle Brent, and his buddy, Nathan. The adults cooked, ate, fed babies, kissed owies, chatted, and played "Would You Rather?" All in all, it was a fabulous day. As always, we feel incredibly grateful to be blessed with such an amazing family -- on both sides.
Smiling, happy Cocoas.
As soon as we got there, Myah asked if she could paint my nails. How could I refuse? I will have pink cuticles for a week, but we had a great time together.
Wendy's mom, Diana, was in town for the baby's birth. She and Wendy's sister, Amy, and her son, Soul, joined the party. We were also joined by Danielle's cousin, Camille, and her darling family.
Sarah tried to get away with throwing things off the upstairs balcony.
Jackson, Myah & Haven played "Dinopoly" with Uncle Brent.
Caden gives Paxton a kiss on the cheek.


Hard core wrestling with Uncle Brent. What a good sport!

Newest Nephew

Congratulations to Wendy & John who had a beautiful, yet-to-be-named baby boy this morning.
Born at home in the water. (Way to go, Wendy!)
7 lbs., 18 inches long
Great head of hair (not quite as much as Caden but still fabulous)
Absolutely gorgeous!
We are so happy for you! Thanks for letting us come and cuddle him tonight.

Happy Baby

Look at those round, kissable cheeks!
At two months, Paxton is smiling, cooing & even giggling. I love it!

Practice Magic

If you have a son who is just learning to play the piano, but doesn't really want to practice do I have a solution for you: 5-Finger Star Wars. Now all the motivation is internally driven! Jackson was at Village Home today and I heard him playing from memory in the other room. He's only had using the book for a week!

New Food Adventures

Bennett's new food adventure continues. You'll notice that the last line actually contains some "real" foods. He is now "talking" about trying to carrots. It may be a while before it actually happens, but his mindset is definitely changing. These are nine foods that he wouldn't touch a month ago so I say YIPEE at the progress we're making. Maybe he'll actually like a few vegetables in six months. Miracles happen!

Spit-Up King

Burp cloths from just ONE load of laundry. They are put to good use in our house.

Paxton's Blessing

Sunday was Paxton's baby blessing. It was wonderful to have so much family around to celebrate with us. We have a number of friends & neighbors join us at church, in addition to the wonderful friends in our ward. We had a big brunch afterwards at our house. It was crowded but fabulous. Of course, we took tons of pictures!
My parents with the grandkids.

Mark's parents with the grandkids - what a wild bunch!It's pretty impossible to get a good shot of this many people but we tried!
Our growing family!
Haven was very proud of her missing front teeth.
Although Caden is a happy kid, he rarely smiles for the camera so we were thrilled when we got several fabulous shots of his amazing smile!
Sweet Sarah.
Katherine's 2nd birthday was on Halloween, but Geoff had to work and wasn't able to come until Sunday morning, so we celebrated that afternoon. She was supposed to have a Little Mermaid cake, but after a weekend of lots of 2-year-old bossiness, Amanda decided to just write "Does Not Play Well with Others!" You'll have to check out Natalie's blog for a photo of the cake since somehow I didn't end up with one.
Princess Katherine who tries very hard not to ever look into the camera.

Happy Halloween!

Can you guess our theme for Halloween? We had Anakin, Yoda, Amidala, Commander Cody, Leia, Obi-Wan, Jedi Lucas, an Ewok, and a monkey princess (sure to be a character in a future Star Wars episode!) We all went to our ward Halloween party and had a great time.
My favorite costumes were the babies - Ewok Jonah
and Master Yoda.
We had "Trunk or Treating" in the parking lot. Our trunk decorations followed the same theme as our costumes. You could see the back of Darth Vader's head and hear his signature heavy breathing.
Down below was a true Star Wars Lego scene. All the kids loved it!

Wonderful Weekend

My sister, Amanda, and her daughter, Katherine, came to visit from Arizona for Paxton's baby blessing. My parents drove down from Spokane for the weekend as well. It was wonderful for everyone to meet our little man.
Katherine loves Nana more than life. She wouldn't let her out of her sight the whole time and didn't like to share. Here is one moment when she let Sarah get close. She must have been having too much fun to care. (I am thrilled to have a little time with Katherine without my mom. She actually wanted me to pick her up or hold her hand. She was enamored with Jackson. She is so cute! What a natural performer who knows how to steal the show! I wish I had a video of her singing. But I guess you'll have to check out Amanda's blog for that.)
Friday is wasn't raining - yipee! - so we took Katherine to her first pumpkin patch. Sarah had a blast! We all got totally muddy but it was a beautiful afternoon.

Great-Grandpa John

Mark's grandpa was up from Junction City and was able to meet Paxton for the first time. We had a great visit this afternoon. Thank you so much to Aunt Pam for bringing him over!

Tickling Bennett.

The whole gang.

Snuggles

Everyone loves to snuggle with Pax!

Sweet Paxton

Paxton all dressed for his first day of church.
One month old!
Isn't he angelic?

Star Wars in Concert

We surprised the boys with a special man-time adventure. I was so sure it wouldn't disappoint (see baseball "adventure" on Natalie's blog), that I actually kept it a secret. It was a Star Wars concert! A full symphony played the music from the movie while scenes from all 6 episodes played on a giant screen. The man who played C3PO was the MC. There was also a big display of all the costumes, etc. Plus they got to go with their favorite friends -- William, Cameron & Henry -- who are also Star Wars fiends. Pretty cool! It's too dark for you to see the boys' faces, but you can get the idea from the video.

Benett's New Foods Chart

Bennett has a VERY limited list of acceptable foods. We have tried several different ways of encouraging more adventurous (and nutritious) eating. Our latest attempt is simply to reward him for trying ANYTHING new. His first three things were: Apple PEEL (as opposed to a peeled apple), prunes (or dried plums -- he thought is was a brownie!), and Nut Thins (a type of cracker made with rice & nuts). Not exactly broccoli, but at least he has a little more open mind about trying things. (He has since tried bread CRUST, pepperoni, and strawberry jam. He is really branching out!) His "prize" for trying these new foods was getting a milkshake at McDonald's with Dad. Probably not the best thing for encouraging healthy eating, but we do what we can!

Jack's Goal!

Sarah Loves the Tub!

Sarah discovered that her voice sounds different when her head is under the water in the tub. She thought it was so fun to listen to herself talk.

Jonah Meets Paxton

Natalie & Jonah came to visit for a few days. It was great to have them here, even though Jonah didn't feel well and Natalie was up more at night than I was! We love being close to family! For more photos, check out Natalie's blog (see sidebar.)

Paxton at Home

We have loved having Paxton at home with us. It is still hard to believe that we are a family of 6!

More family members stopped by to visit -- the Dannys and Uncle Russell & Connie. Not quite so crazy as in the hospital!
We were sad when Nana had to go home on Tuesday.
Mark couldn't resist some nudey photos in the warm afternoon sunshine!