Eastons been working on spelling his name this last week. He's gotten pretty dang good at it and runs around the house singing E A S T O N.  Every morning he wakes up and says "if I spell my name can I have candy?" 😛   

This weekend some of our really good friends (teerah and Shari) came to visit. We went to the hot springs on Saturday and spent the rest of the time playing board games, VR games and talking...a lot! Shari is a speech pathologist and Easton loved playing some of her learning games with her. We love having friends that just make it so easy to feel like family! 

Every year Grammy (zacks mom) makes each of the grandkids their very own custom (from scratch) bath towel. Easton LOVES it! This years towel was IronMan and Eastons obsessed! 

Monday night was make your own pizza night. Easton was so excited to make his very own pizza with his cousin. He was so proud of it and said it was "300 thumbs up!" 

We spent pretty much all day on Saturday super cleaning the house so today we decided to get out of the house and go to the aquarium. Easton loved this iguana and said he named him Sonic the hedgehog. Haha. 

We've only been home from the nice Nevada weather for a couple days but we're already goin a little bit crazy being stuck inside with all the snow and negative temperatures. So today we decided to go to the trampoline park and get rid of some energy. Easton loves this place! So for Christmas nana & papa got him a winter pass so he can go as much as he wants. 

We took Callie to get caught up on her vaccinations this week. Easton was worried that Callie would be scared for her shots so he wanted to hold her paw and hug her to help her not be scared. He thought it was so cool when the Dr let him listen to her heart too! 

Happy New Year from us out here at the sand dunes! We got to come out to the sand dunes and camp and ride motorcycles all week with our family and friends. It's been a good way to end 2021. •We're excited to see what adventures 2022 will bring!   

We had a nice relaxing Christmas over here! We spent the day introducing Easton to the game of Twister, playing with his new hotwheels and building tracks all over the house, taking naps and watching movies while it snowed outside. 

I can't believe Christmas is this week!! Easton is counting down how many more sleeps until Santa comes. The last couple days easton has been telling me that he wants to "break into peoples homes and leave treats for them. Cuz that's what Santa does". 😆😆  We're excited to spend time with friends and family this week. Having our annual friends Christmas party, making cookies Christmas Eve and waiting for Santa.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas Week and that you feel loved! No matter what your situation. You are loved and you are important!! ❤️ 

Cold rainy days call for snuggling and watching movies and playing with legos. 

Easton got to see Boopa Clause this weekend and had some yummy cookies from Grammy Clause too with his cute cousins! •Also, Boopa is what Easton calls his grandpa. His Boopa (aka grandpa) dressed up as Santa working in his workshop on Saturday. It was so cute and fun for them! •Before we saw Santa Easton told me he was going to ask him for all the presents on his list, a couple presents for his cousins and "kids who don't have homes" and for a baby sister (or brother). 🥰 He goes back and forth. Ha. •He might drives us bonkers sometimes but he has the biggest heart!! 

This is what most of our "wild" weekends look like. Haha. If we're not hanging out with family or friends in the weekends then you can find us at home playing games, watching movies/shows (currently Zack and I are watching How I Met Your Mother...again). This is what our weekends have looked like a lot lately. 

This is what it looks like to try and entertain your 4 year old when everyone in the house is sick except for him. The house ends up looking like a tornado named Easton came though and we're too exhausted to clean it up. For now. But we got a beautiful new star for the top of the Christmas tree out of it. Eastons very proud of it. 

Happy Late Thanksgiving Everyone! Mom & Easton got sick this week so we ended up staying home and having our own thanksgiving this year. Daddy did all the cooking and It was so yummy. We've had lots of downtime watching StarWars, playing MarioKart, racing paper airplanes together and finishing the Christmas Tree. It's been a pretty good Thanksgiving!! 

With Thanksgiving being this week lots of people have family in town and they want to squeeze in family photos with the people they love while they've got them here. I've got 4 days in a row packed with family photo sessions. Luckily Eastons got such a good daddy to switch places with me when he gets home from work and take care of him while I go take pictures. Lets head to the next session. 

There are way too many things that I'm grateful for to be able to list this month. But one of the many things I'm grateful every day for is Adoption!  .  I was snuggling with Easton at bedtime last night and while he was holding my hand and falling asleep all I could think about was how much I love him and how much I love his beautiful birth mom! How grateful I am for her! Without her I wouldn't be a mom. Without her I wouldn't have this crazy, stubborn, independent, sweet, big hearted, goofy boy! Without her we wouldn't have the family that we do!  

This boy has been all about babies lately. He went through a short little phase where he thought they were "gross" because they drool on toys but he's back to liking them again. Haha. Lately he's been asking about every other day about a baby brother/sister. He's so excited to be a big brother someday! 

Mommy and Easton got to go to Arizona for a couple days. Easton got to play with Nana and his cousin Xander while Mommy had a couple photo sessions. The day we headed home was World Adoption Day so we couldn't leave Arizona before having Auntie snap a picture for us too with our cute smiley faces on our hands.Easton showed everyone through the airport the smiley face on his hand and told them "Happy Adoption Day" and when he saw someone they looked sad he asked me "why are they sad? It's adoption day not happy sad adoption day" haha. We are SO lucky to be his mom and dad!! 

Surgery on Thursday couldn't stop this kid from Trick or Treating on Sunday. He had been looking forward to Halloween and wearing his "Go Go Power Rangers" costume for so long (like most kids obviously) he wasn't gonna miss it. We did have to cut it short because we could tell he was pushin it a litte too much and was getting worn out easier but not until he had an entire bucket full of candy. That he gets to save because he can only eat soft foods for a couple weeks. For mom and dad its so fun to watch him have so much fun! 

Our son, Easton is half Mexican and half Native American. We have always wanted him to have some kind of tie to his heritage. After discussing it a little bit with Eastons birth grandma we decided we loved the idea of Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). I did lots or research on it beforehand. Now we celebrate Dia De Los Muertos every year. Sharing stories/memories about the people (and pets) that we love and have lost, its honestly one of my favorite holidays to celebrate now.

Its been a long weekend over here. On Thursday Easton had to have his tonsils and adenoids taken out and tubes put in his ears. We spent the last week and a half talking about it and trying to mentally prepare him for it. He was excited to have his surgery so that he wouldn't have a "stupid nose" anymore. He was a rockstar! He wasnt scared or nervous at all. He did so good! The Dr. said his adenoids were "Massive!" and his tonsils on a size scale out of 4, his were a "solid 3 1/2". I am surprised this kid could breathe at all! He got to come home pretty soon after he was able to wake up a little bit and slept most of the first day. We're so excited for him to finally be able to sleep well at night now! We'd do anything for this kid! 

Fall is always family picture "season". Especially here in Idaho because the fall colors are beyond beautiful and makes this photographer mamas heart happy! Zack and Easton have gotten good at putting up with pictures for mom. This particular day there was a lot of bribery involved though. Just to get Easton to put on his pants. Haha. He refuses to wear pants lately. It has to be shorts and they HAVE to have pockets according to him. So we were lucky to get him to wear pants. haha. 

This boy loves going to the barber and getting his haircut. He's only 4 but he is particular about his hair. haha. He will tell people that Luis is the only one allowed to cut his hair. He does his own hair every day. We're in the mohawk every day phase right now and he loves having "his hair guy" give him some awesome designs. Todays was the autobots symbol. Every time he gets his haircut he insists on going to daddys office to show him right after. 

We love Halloween! And fall in Idaho is our favorite...until it snows atleast. Every October we go to some kind of haunted house every weekend with friends or family. We make caramel apples, watch Halloween movies, eat way too many halloween-y treats, go on hikes (when the weathers nice). All the fun fall things. Court loves the haunted houses way more than Zack but he puts up with it for her. Haha. 

Zack and I were lucky enough to get away for week. Just us two. We went on a cruise to the Bahamas. We got to take naps every day, eat too much food, ride horses on the beach (one of Courts "bucket list" items). It was such a fun and relaxing week. But we were really excited to get back home to Easton and our own bed. Easton got to spend the week with Nana (Courts Mom) and had so much fun with her.  

We went to the Homecoming parade today here at home and our friend Saylor tagged along. Saylor is our neighbor but Easton tells everyone that he is her big brother and I (Court) think its the cutest. He is so helpful with her and keeps an eye on her. Every time candy got thrown their way and all the big kids swarmed in, Easton would jump in and make sure Saylor got some too. We are so excited to see him as a big brother someday!  

Easton had to come with me to a photo session again today because daddy had to work late. We got to our location early so we got to explore on our own for a bit and then sat in our camp chairs watching the deer until my clients showed up. This kid is a little stinker sometimes but he is pretty good at making me laugh and keeping us entertained. 

Zack is part of the Kiwanis club here in town and every year they have a baked potato booth at the state fair which Zack runs for them. He puts in so much time prepping leading up to the fair and then spends so much time at the fair during the week. Easton got to spend the day at the fair helping mom and dad in the booth. He was such a trooper waking up and getting out of the house by 7am, helping set up the booth and then helped serve customers all morning. Each time someone would come to the window or even just walk by Easton would yell "would you like a potato!?". He was such a good helper so he got to get a treat afterwards.

Most days my photo sessions are in the afternoon/evenings after Zack gets home from work but every once in a while I have one in the middle of the day and Easton gets to come with me. Today was one of those days and he was such a good helper! 

Today was this boys first day back to pre-school. He was so excited to go back and see his teacher, Mrs. Jaime and all his friends.  I realized last night that this will be our last year before he starts going to school all day, every day. So we're gonna do our best to soak it in and enjoy our time together as much as we can. We're excited to see what he learns this year! 

This last weekend we went to the cabin and took our exchange student Giulia to Yellowstone National Park. We spent the day driving through the park finding Bison and Elk along the way to see Old Faithful. We loved getting to show her around her first National Park and one of the places that we love.  .

Last night we were able to welcome our beautiful exchange student from Italy. We're so excited to have her here and get to introduce her to as many new things as we can! 

We're back in Courtneys hometown for her sisters wedding this week and we got to meet the newest tiniest family member! I could snuggle him all day long. 

Easton is in heaven when he gets to play with his cousins all day long! Tonight we went on a walk before bedtime around the reservoir behind nana and papas house. Easton and his cousin Owen collected all the bird feathers, pine cones and rocks they coud find and then picked all the yummy blackberries we could. Then they made Courtney carry all of them. haha (We'll take a basket with us next time).  Courtney used to ride her horse around that same reservoir all the time when she was growing up so she loves taking Easton to explore back there whenever we are back to visit. 

Mommy got to go to have a girls week which meant Zack and Easton got to have a boys week. Easton was SO excited to get to spend so much time with just daddy!! They went to the indoor trampoline place, the small waterpark here, the movies, and golfing with friends and his cousin. He was in heaven having daddy home with him for a few days. He had so much fun that now that mommy is home and daddys back at work he says everything is boring now. HaHa. 

We celebrated daddys birthday with a nice round of golf the other day. Mostly daddy golfed, mommy rode in the golf cart and cheered (golf clap) him on and easton found ladybugs. Haha. 

We just got back from spending a week in one of our favorite places with Courtneys side of the family. Courtney grew up going to Lake Powell every summer with her family. It is her favorite place in the world and she loves being able to share it with her boys now!  Easton was in heaven all week being able to play in the sand and water ALL day EVERY day with his cousins! He was so exhausted we didn't have to tell him it was bedtime once the entire week. 

Happy 4th of July!!  We got to celebrate the 4th of July by going to the parade, playing at the splash pad and watching some awesome fireworks with some family and friends. Easton has been looking forward to watching the fireworks all week. A very long but fun day! 

We've had a lot of really busy weekends this month but this last weekend we were finally able to relax a little bit and go to the cabin and have fun with Papa and our cousin Josh. Rzr rides in the mountains are one of our favorite things to do when we are there. Even when its a little chilly. Easton wanted to snuggle up in my jacket when he got cold. 

This boy had his first soccer game last night. He was so excited but a little nervous at the beginning too. But he did SO awesome!! He scored 3 goals and was such a good sport helping his teammates up when they fell. I know we're biased but he is the sweetest kid!   

It's finally summer time! Its been a busy week for this boy. He has been looking forward to swim lessons and playing soccer for months. He finally got to start both of those this week. He was adamant about wearing his uniform to practice "or else soccer can't go on". haha. And he is so excited to have daddy be his coach! 

Summer time means wedding season. Shooting 3 weddings 3 weekends in a row is a little chaotic and exhausting. This guy has spent each one of those weekends at these wedding with me as my second shooter and keeping me on track and its just nice having him there with me. 

Courtney and Eastons birthdays are in the same week. Zack surprised us (Court & Easton) with a trip to DisneyWorld for our birthdays. As you can imagine DisneyWorld with a now 4 year old comes with some meltdowns. Sometimes from all 3 of us. Haha. But Easton was a trooper and we had so much fun celebrating, taking him on his first roller coaster, seeing his favorite transformer, spiderman and mickey mouse. And mommy and daddy found out that we can't ride roller coasters like we used to. I guess we're getting "old". 

St. Patricks Day Cupcakes while visiting cousins in Texas. 

Courtney and Easton were able to get away for a week to visit Courtneys sisters family in Texas. It was full of bike rides, going to a different park every day, and just being outside, which was so needed because we were so sick of the snow in Idaho.

Easton decided that for mommy and daddys date night he was going to pick out everything for mom to wear. And then he said we had to take a picture making a silly face. He also made daddy wear a necklace that he made. 

Easton wanted to be in charge of "Mommy, Daddy, Easton Night" tonight. He decided he wanted to set up our tent in the basement and "camp" while eating ice cream sundaes for dinner and watching a movie. He picked out all the things he wanted for his ice cream sundaes at the grocery store and with mommys help he made the tent nice and comfy with lots of blankets and pillows. 

We have an empty room next to Eastons that will be a baby room eventually. About every couple of days Easton comes in this room and brings some of his toys in here and says he needs to put them in here to share with his baby. Then he brings a blanket and pillow and says he needs to sleep in here to make sure his baby doesn't fall out of his/her bed when they get here. He's so ready to be the best big brother! 

This is just our kid casually saying a prayer in the middle of the grocery store in his words..."telling Jesus that mom broke my heart and because she won't let me have a cookie". Haha. 

Easton got to be Star of the Week at preschool which means he got to be his teachers helper all week, be in charge of snack time and he got to have mommy and daddy come to class with him one day and read his favorite story to his class. Easton said that daddy had to read it though because he's better at it than mommy cuz he does the funny voices. 

We made this last weekend a family date weekend. We went and played at the arcade and went bowling. Once Easton got a taste of the arcade though he wasn't very interested in bowling anymore. Haha.