Learning to use our camera

This is a cool feature of our camera that I discovered after reading through the manual.  Apparently those can actually be helpful.

Pop Quiz: Do you know which one I am???

Brad is crawling all over the place.  He is efficient and takes the shortest route possible, including over the top of his brother.

This is serious business!

He's arrived at his goal.

Cousins and Crawling

In this picture Seth decided to use Brad as a back rest and leaned back with all his body weight onto Brad, much to Brad's displeasure.  I seriously think Seth was doing it just to annoy his brother.

Brad has become quite mobile with his army crawl.  Here he tipped over the laundry basket and was pleased with himself.

This is Seth's shmorgishborg with the puffs.  I let him enjoy it for a few minutes since he was clever (or more likely, "lucky") enough to get the lid off all by himself.

Brad fell backwards in the bath and ended up with a bubble mohawk.

Seth being cute while eating his lunch.

Dan's brother Scott who is working on his PhD in mechanical engineering at Michigan University came to visit this week along with his wife Katie and the newest addition to the Stapleton clan, Timmy.  We were all excited to see them and to meet Timmy.

A certain someone who will remain anonymous requested that we have pictures without the boys because our blog viewers may be getting tired of them, as if that's even possible. :)  But, to appease him, here is Dan with his parents' dog Bella.  Bella loves Dan and she breaks all the house rules to follow him wherever he goes.  It helps Dan to get his dog fix since we will not be owning one anytime soon.

Seth getting doggie kisses from Bella while Aunt Katie holds him.

All the cousins with Grandpa and Macka Stapleton.  L-R Brad, Timmy, Seth, Sophia, Maya

The boys excited to see their mom after she got home from work.

Grandpa Ogilvie reads the boys stories every Monday night when my mom watches them.  At least he's not reading them the newspaper, which rumor has it he used to read to his own children when they were younger. :)

Johnny Jumper

Naked babies  

You can see from Seth's belly why he tends to get high-centered when he tries to crawl, he kicks his legs and gets frustrated.  Brad will army crawl, but only if the right motivation is provided, ie, the remote control.

Here is Seth with no socks.  He loves to pull off not only his own, but Brad's.  He chews on them and plays with his feet.  I'm really looking forward to warmer weather when no socks are needed.  I just need their feet to grow and be big enough for the sandles I've purchased.

Dan playing with the boys Sunday night.

The boys love the Johnny Jumper.  They take turns jumping and watching the other one.

Anniversary Retreat

www.johnsonmill.com  

This is our first blog posting without pictures of the boys, probably because it's one of the few times we've been without them.  Dan and I celebrated our sixth anniversary at Johnson's Mill in Midway, Utah last weekend.  It was fabulous, very romantic.  We stayed in the Timpanogous room and thus had a great view of the mountain.  We snow shoed on the property surrounding the Mill down to the Provo River and that night enjoyed a meal at Snake Creek Grill.

This is for you Bob: my attempt at nature photography :)

Word of advise and a Wedding reception

Word of advise, if your perfect track record of successful child nail-trimming is tragically shattered and you take a chunk out of your child's thumb and it won't stop bleeding, your house very likely could look like the set of "Chainsaw Massacre"  To solve this problem, band-aids likely won't help, but consider putting a sock over their hand.  Luckily, Seth will never remember this incident. 

We attended the wedding reception of the Stapleton's family friend Holly.  Here the boys are looking spiffy in their church clothes with Grandpa Stapleton.

I love this picture!  Seth looks so cute and Brad looks like little kids do when they're trying to learn to smile for the camera and it always ends up looking painful.

The boys pajamas were in the wash, so we got to put the robes to good use while we waited.

This is what I think Seth is thinking: "So, are you going to give me another taste of your eclair filling?"

Eight months old

Our sweet baby boy Brad.

Seth's excited about the upcoming trip to Costco.  They got hungry while we were there so my poor mom was trying to feed both of them in the cart while we shopped around.  Yet again we were like a side show at the circus.

Fun at bathtime.  Dan is holding the towel for protection from the upcoming splash fest.

If you look close you can tell that Seth is covered with water droplets from all his splashing.

Brad is oh so close to crawling.  He hasn't figured out how to propel himself forward yet.  He does a pretty good job of scooting backwards though.  Seth is much more content to just sit.

Dan reading to Seth and our friends the Hites little girl.  We've started a babysitting swap with them so that we can both make it to the temple monthly.  We're definitely getting the better end of the deal as they just have one very content baby and we have two.

Seth says "Hello" to all of you visiting our blog today.  He recently started opening and closing his hand like little kids do to wave, only he faces his hand towards his body and not towards the person.  He's probably not waving, but I'm going to say he is because I'm convinced he's a genius. :)

Christmas pajamas

Our good friends the Kellers came to visit us on their way back to Omaha after spending Christmas in Idaho.  We were so happy to see them, except for the fact that it made us miss living in Omaha.  I should've taken more pictures, but this is with their little boy Crew.  We played Wii, ate at China Buffet and visited IKEA.  See what you have to look forward to with a trip to Saratoga Springs, Utah.

Brad looks very mischievous.  He must know that books are not meant to be eaten.

Brad had a rough morning the other day.  So Dan held him while enjoying some Lucky Charms.

It's a twin thing.

Seth when he's tired and angry.

I don't really blog about anything other than posting pictures, but we did just rent "Amazing Grace" and would highly recommend it.  It's about the man who brought an end to the slave trade in Great Britain.  Very well made and inspiring.  The only down side is that afterwards Dan and I both felt a little insignificant since we likely won't ever change world history or make such a huge impact on so many lives.