CJ loves apples lately, but only if they're whole. I guess I should be a little more concerned that after eating about 1/4 of the apple, he discards it wherever, because look who finds it before we do!

Bryce calls her our "vulture." Paige calls her our "vacuum." CJ just says, "No, no Mattie." However you want to put it, Mattie's discovered there's a whole world of new things to eat all at her fingertips...literally. And since she's a crawler, you can only imagine what she's putting in her mouth.  

POOR GIRL

We've done a lot of this lately. The smile on my face is only half-hearted (Bryce told me to smile because I looked too serious; maybe because I was just exhausted)...you wouldn't feel much like smiling either if your 10 month old had been sick 4 times in 4 weeks. Mattie and I have spent a lot of time snuggling - which, I have to admit, I love - but I so wish it was under different circumstances. Thank goodness for a wonderful pediatrician who finally tested Mattie for a UTI (urinary tract infection)! One two-hour doctor's visit, one catheter to extract a urine sample (Bryce and I both cried with Mattie), and one shot of antibiotics later, and within 24 hours of this picture, we FINALLY had our little girl back. We've missed her this last month, and are SO grateful that she's feeling better!

Now we just pray that all goes well with her hospital visit on Wednesday for more tests to find out what's causing her UTI...

AND THE WINNER IS...

...PAIGE!

Ok, so a few months ago we posted about a Biggest Loser Challenge that Bryce's immediate family and family friends, the Nelson's, were having. It went strong for about 2 months, and then, as Thanksgiving crept up, and the holidays were upon us, the contest kind of died off. But I guess that worked in Paige's favor, because she won the competition, losing a total of 8 pounds, or 6% of her body weight!

Now...what to do with her winnings (that's right, $250 folks!)??

um, we're poor law students who are about to graduate and be even poorer, so it's going in the bank.

boring, I know

JUNE 26th

It's done.

I am officially registered to run the Seattle Rock n' Roll Marathon.

My first marathon in just about 4 years (only my second EVER).

There's no turning back now.

Wish me luck...I'm gonna need it! 

SILLY BABES

Bryce came home after a long day of writing for the law review and not only did the kids want to play with him, but they wanted to play with - and eat - his apparel too :)

CJ is learning how to put on shoes...or at least, he thinks so :)

After a month of teething, and one sickness after the other (poor girl was sick almost our entire Christmas break), we're on to round two: her top teeth are coming in now. But when she looks at you with this toothy grin, how can you not just love her?!

2010

Paige's 2010 Goals:

- Run a marathon (she wants to know if she can still do it after having 2 kids :)...faster than the one she ran before
- Get caught-up on her kids' baby books and their family photos, including printing photo books of at least one year from their blog and at least one year for each kid...ugh, just thinking about it makes her tired :)
- Read at least one book a month
- Read her scriptures EVERY day...and actually get something out of it by recording her thoughts in a scripture journal
- Continue having FHE EVERY Monday
- Continue writing in her gratitude journal
- Say her own personal prayers EVERY morning...on her knees
- Save a little money from each paycheck...when we actually start getting some paychecks ;)
- Make at least ONE sewn project, i.e. quilt, pillows, curtains, baby dress, etc.

Bryce's 2010 Goals:

- Run a half marathon...faster than those he's run before
- Pass the Washington State Bar
- Finish his last semester of law school on the Dean's List
- Graduate from law school Cum Laude
- Read the entire Old Testament...for the first time ever
- Win the inter-college flag football championship
- Get down to and maintain a weight of 190 lbs

What we look forward to in 2010:

- CJ becoming potty-trained
- Mattie learning to walk and talk
- Mattie turning 1
- Bryce's graduation from law school
- Buying our first home
- Moving from Spokane to Wenatchee
- Paige running the Rock n' Roll Seattle marathon with her brother, Chris, and her father-in-law, Greg
- Bryce running the Rock n' Roll Seattle half marathon with his sister, Kelsey, and his mom, Sheila
- Bryce taking the Washington Bar
- CJ turning 3
- The Mackay family reunion
- Going to Mongolia with Bryce's family to pick up Bryce's youngest brother, Cameron, from his mission
- Bryce beginning to work for Jeffers Danielson Sonn & Aylward
- CJ starting preschool
- And possibly having baby #3 on the way

SEATTLE UNDERGROUND TOUR

Before we left Seattle, we finally went on the Seattle Underground Tour. Paige has wanted to do it for a long time, and even though they're natives, Bryce and his family had never done it either, so they were excited about it too. It ended up being a nice day, which made it even more enjoyable learning about Seattle's sordid history :)

Unfortunately, we had to duck out a little early due to a sick baby, naptimes, and flights that evening, but what we saw really was pretty fascinating! If you're in Seattle, you should check it out.

BRYCE TURNS 27

Bryce turned 27 on January 5th, and he had a great birthday this year. We went with his family bowling, to dinner at Ruth's Chris, and then back home for presents and peach cobbler (one of his faves).

The Birthday Boy

One of Bryce's favorite places to get a steak, Ruth's Chris. They even put confetti on the table for him :)

Hope your birthday was fantastic, Bryce...you deserve nothing less! We love you!!

MONGOLIAN CHRISTMAS

Bryce's youngest brother, Cameron, is currently serving his mission in Mongolia. He sent everyone some Mongolian gear, so we took some pics to send him of us all dressed up.

Not only did Cameron send clothes, but he also sent some Mongolian "candy," ingredients unknown. CJ was the first to try it, and coming from a two-year-old who eats lotion and soap, the fact that he was literally sticking out his tongue and trying to scrape it off was NOT a good sign. Despite CJ's experience, Bryce, his dad, his little sister, Kelsey, and his little brother, Tyler, decided to try the candy  (if you can call it that) anyway...all for Cam's sake. Here's the before:

Yeah, it kinda looks like petrified bird poop. And based on the after pictures, it probably tastes like it too:

(yes, these are totally candid shots)

What we chose NOT to take a picture of was Bryce running outside and hurling/spewing/barfing/blowing chunks. Whatever you want to call it, Bryce did it all over his parents front steps (but don't worry folks...we've got that on video). We hope Cam knows how much his family loves him :)

NEW YEAR'S EVE

We left Utah after visiting Paige's family for 13 days, and headed to Seattle to spend 8 days with Bryce's family. One of his family's holiday traditions is to join family friends, the Dew's and the White's, for dinner at the Maple Leaf on New Year's Eve. It's lots of people enjoying lots of good food and lots of laughs, especially as we write predictions for the new year for everyone. You'd be surprised how accurate the previous predicitions were! 

Our last family photo for 2009

Our big crowd

The fortunes we got in our cookies. Top fortune: could it be referring to our upcoming trip to Mongolia this summer? Bottom fortune: we hope this means we'll be finding a house soon :)

COUSINS GALORE

The cousins draw names each year for a Christmas exchange. Mattie drew her cousin, Samantha's name, and this is what she gave her: matching dresses and shoes! Aren't they so cute?! We had to get a picture of them together before we left Utah

And Mattie's name was drawn by her cousin, Kenya. Kenya gave her this adorable outfit, a super plush stuffed doggy, and a sweet picture that she drew for her. Kenya is such a sweetheart - we love her!

Some of the fam saying goodbye:

Adults (L-R): Brent, Katie and Nathan

Cousins (L-R): Peter, CJ, Jonathan, Abram, Ellen, Samantha, Cathy, Mattie

CHRISTMAS 2009

Christmas morning, we all (as in, Paige, Bryce, CJ, Mattie, and Paige's mom and dad) woke up to this:

And due to filming with our camcorder, and enjoying all the excitement, the following are the only pics we got on Christmas day:

Still wakin' up :)

Look how happy Mattie and CJ are in these pics:

Love it!!

And we don't have any pictures of it, but after some canceled flights, and purchased, then canceled plane tickets, Paige's brother, Brent, was finally able to make it in from MI in time to join their parents, their brother Nathan, and his family, and their sisters, Courtney and Melanie, and their families, for Christmas dinner. We missed you, Chris!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Growing up, it was a tradition in Paige's family to go to a Chinese restaurant for Christmas Eve. As we've gotten older and joined other families, and favorite restaurants have come and gone, it's been a tradition that hasn't been easy to keep, but we were able to stay true to our tradition this year as we met for dinner at PF Chang's.

CJ workin' the chopsticks...he insisted on trying them, and he actually did really well :)

All the food, and chop-stickin', wore CJ out

We had the traditional Christmas Eve FHE the night before with more family, so after dinner, we put Mattie to bed, and enjoyed some donuts and hot chocolate with a small crowd: just Paige's parents and us

(this is CJ's first time really drinking hot chocolate by himself :)

After hanging his stocking from the fireplace mantle, reading some Christmas stories, singing Jingle Bells (CJ's favorite), and saying prayers, CJ went to bed, with the anticipatioin of Santa coming...and we went to bed with the anticipation of watching our two adorable kids enjoy the morning to come :)

FAMILY SURPRISE

While we were in Utah for Christmas, we got a great surprise...Paige's brother, Chris, who lives in Arizona, unexpectedly drove up with his family to spend Christmas in Utah!  This meant that, even though it wasn't all at the same time, we would be able to see ALL of Paige's siblings over Christmas. It was really special! While Chris' family was in town we:

Played outside

Ate lots of food and treats

Looked through old slides of Mom and Dad

Had the traditional Forsgren Christmas FHE

And had Christmas Eve dinner together

Clockwise from left: Alex, Anders, Jenny, Josh, Paige's dad, Paige's mom, Chris, Mattie, Paige, Bryce, and CJ

It was great to see the Arizona Forgren's and we can't wait to see Chris and Jenny in June.

OLD FRIENDS ARE THE BEST...

...or is it that the best of friends tend to be the oldest? Either way, we got to meet up with some of ours over Christmas and it was a total deja vu; it was like a flashback to 4 years ago, except now we all have kids. Everyone looked the same, talked the same, laughed the same, and seemed to enjoy each other just as much. These people are some of the best we know and we are better because of them!

Friends for life, you guys!

Just the girls (we were all in our ward RS presidency together - that's how we met)

Emily Conkey with Sam, Jan Allen with Bella, and Paige with Mattie and CJ

The old gang, minus Don Conkey...he was sick :(, at Terra Mia in Orem

L-R: Paige, CJ, Bryce, and Mattie; Bret, Jan, and Bella Allen; Emily and Sam Conkey

SD CARD UPDATE

So the good news is that Huppins Repair was able to recover some pictures of my family, and a couple of pictures that we took with some friends, which is great. But the bad news is that they weren't able to recover pics of our belated anniversary date - in which Bryce surprised me and took me to the same restaurant where we had our fantastic wedding dinner 4 years ago - OR (the biggest bummer of all) pics of CJ playing in the snow, which included super cute pics of him eating the snow :( At least they didn't charge us...

Anyway, let the blog updating begin! 

DIGITAL DEFECTIVENESS

UPDATE TO COME!

FYI: if you've taken TONS of pictures, including holiday pics, on your SD card, and then it suddenly says it needs to be "formatted," IT'S NOT A GOOD THING!

So as soon as the camera repair store "recovers" my pics, and I'm $20 bucks poorer, I'll post about our holiday trips and adventures.

Stay tuned!