Christmas 2010

Cam, Savana and my mom playing with Toa on Christmas morning.

Mama and daddy opening presents with Toa at my mom's home.

This picture just cracks me up! It looks like Toa is ticked because Cam is playing with his toy. This boy is gonna have to learn how to SHARE! :)

Mama helping Toa open his gifts and showing him what he got Toa with a FEW of the gifts he got this past Christmas. He got sooo spoiled!

Mama and her baby boy!

My dad, Tina and Toa on Christmas day

Alofa, Toa and I showing off the gifts we got at my dad's home! Thank you EVERYONE!!

Sleep in HEAVENLY peace! This is Toa sleeping on Christmas Eve, right before Santa came to see him! He had been such a good boy and got SPOILED!

Our little family on Christmas Eve. This picture is right after we had gotten home from driving around looking at all of the Christmas lights.
Alofa and I let Toa open ONE present early, his bumbo chair, and he LOVED it!
Cam, Joseph, Dad, Tina and I made sugar cookies the same night we took Toa and Cam to see Santa. We had such a great time and Cam is quite the cookie decorator AND EATER! :)

Joseph was a pretty good little cookie decorator and EATER too! :)

Cam helping me cut out the cookies

I LOVE our little family!

Toa's first picture with Santa and Cam. He didn't like it so much but it still is pretty cute!

Cam checking on Toa while they are sitting on Santa's lap. He just wanted to make sure that Toa wasn't too scared! What a great big cousin!

Mama and her sweet baby (even though he doesn't look so sweet in this picture ;))

Love my BOYS!!

Our Christmas Stockings

Mine, Toa's and Alofa's

Toa's first Christmas Ornament hanging on the tree

Toa's first Christmas Ornament
There is just something about celebrating Christmas with a brand new, sweet baby in the home that invites the spirit and magic of Christ into a home. This year was sooo perfect and memorable as we celebrated the birth of our Savior. I am so thankful for His birth, life and atonement that makes it possible for me to be with my family forever. I can not think of a more valuable or special gift! I will be forever grateful for all that my Father in Heaven and Savior have given me!

New Year's Eve

This year for New Year's Eve we were able to go and celebrate it with my cousin, Braken and his wife at their wedding reception. We had sooo much fun!

Braken and Grandma Howerton

Grandma with her glass of water

Grandpa Howerton and Aunt Vicky

Toa is ALWAYS eating!!

Sami and Toa

The LOVE BIRDS!! Congrats guys!! We wish my MANY years of happiness and LOVE!

Grandma Howerton and I

Me with my Aunt Karen and sweet Cousin Sami

Papa Howerton, Toa and Chris. Chris gave Toa the balloon that he is holding on to and Toa would NOT let go of it! He loved his balloon!

I LOVE my sweet husband! He makes me smile everyday!

Shaley, Grandma Howerton and Aunt Vicky

They like to MOVE it MOVE it!

Hot ladies shaking their STUFF!!

Grandma Howerton getting DOWN on the dance floor!! This lady has got some HOT moves!! GOOOOOO Grandma!!

Our sweet family on New Year's Eve
This is how Toa rang in the New Year!! Sleeping in his swing!! What a sweetheart! This past year was an incredible year!! I finished grad school (which I NEVER could have done without the love and support of my sweet husband), celebrated Alofa and my first anniversary (one year of wonderful memories and LOTS of FUN!) and brought a brand new spirit into our home. Toa has been such a wonderful blessing in our lives and everyday we thank our Father in Heaven for him and his health! We can only hope that the next year will be just as wonderful and fulfilling at this past year has been!

I NEED to catch up!!!

So much has happened in the past 2 months (all of it good) and I have NOT been able to keep up on my blog let alone work full time, keep a clean home AND be the mommy that Toa deserves & good wife that Alofa deserves. While it is true that it's WAY late to make New Year's Resolutions, I can still make some goals to help me feel like I am keeping up on everything that I need and WANT to do. Some of these goals are:

#1 keep a cleaner home for Alofa, Toa and myself to live life to the fullest in. I plan to go around the house and at least "pick up" every night after Toa goes to bed. That way the house won't get sooo overwhelming that I just look everything I have to do with a feeling of defeat. Alofa helps out soo much! He does the dishes EVERYDAY!! Bless his heart, I love him sooo much!! On the weekends, I will deep clean 2 rooms. I am going to set up a schedule so that I can make sure everything that needs to be done will get done. I will do at least 1 load of laundry daily. That way it won't pile up so bad. I feel comfortable with these goals. I feel as if I can accomplish them and still get to spend a good amount of time with my sweethearts!

#2 I plan on posting on my blog at LEAST once a month! I know that I have sooo much to share, just not enough time to post it all. I have thought about it, and if I were to post more frequently it wouldn't take me a million years to share the important (and maybe some not so interesting at times) happenings of our lives. If I really think about it, I LOVE looking back on the older posts of our blog and remembering the wonderful times of our lives! I WANT to post more and I can do it.

#3 I will not complain about having to work. I think this will help me to have a better attitude when I get home which will in turn make the time I do get to spend with my little family sweeter! Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job and am so thankful that I have such a good, flexible, good paying and FUN job!! BUT there are times where I wish I could be a stay at home mommy! (Just look at this face!! Who WOULDN'T want to stay home with him?!?) :)

Needless to say, Alofa, Toa and I have been very busy, VERY HAPPY and very blessed!! Look forward to more posts on New Years, Christmas, 2010 baby contest and Valentine's day soon!! I am going to cuddle my boys now!

LIFE is GREAT!

Toa at two months old

Time flies!! It's kind of funny because there was a point in my life where I wished time would go faster. Now I am at a point where I just want time to stand still so that I can make sure I DO NOT miss a thing with my sweet baby Toa! He is growing so fast!!

This picture melts my heart!! So sweet, tender and INNOCENT!! I hope he stays that way FOREVER!! :)

This is a picture of Toa at 3 days old. He looks so tiny!

7 lbs 8oz

21 inches long

Here he is at 1 month

11 lbs 2 oz

22 inches long

And here he is at 2 months old

12 lbs 8 oz

24 inches long

For his head circumference he is in the 60th percentile, for length he is in the 80th percentile and in the 55th percentile for weight. He is growing so fast and is starting to do things that AMAZE his mother! He rolled over for the first time at two months old, he started sleeping 7-8 hours a night at 6 weeks old, he LOVES to take baths, he LOVES tummy time and can hold his head up very good! He has found his hands and sucks on his fingers, he STARES into my eyes and melts my heart every time I feed him. He holds on to my fingers, smiles, coos and brings so much joy into my life! We play a game where I give him a big kiss on his chubby cheeks and say, "a kiss for the baby" and then he gives me an open mouthed kiss on the cheek and I say, "and a kiss for the mama" It's my favorite game right now and we play it ALL of the time just going back and forth giving each other kisses. Alofa thought I was crazy at first but I had Toa give him a kiss on the cheek and now he is hooked on the game too! Toa gives the best kisses!! He loves to lay on his back and kick at the air. When he is hungry he almost does a sit up to get to the bottle if I don't put it up to his mouth fast enough. He wakes up in the morning soo happy and ready to cuddle! He LOVES to cuddle his mommy! He is such a sweet, cuddly, happy, talkative baby! He has been such a blessing in our lives and makes EVERYDAY wonderful!!

Thanksgiving 2010

This year for Thanksgiving we were planning on going down to Salt Lake to spend it with Alofa's family. Due to the TON of snow we got, that really wasn't an option. So our plans changed a little and we went and spent Thanksgiving with my dad instead. We had a great time! and the food was AMAZING!!

This is MY turkey leg and NO I will NOT share!! :)

Alofa's first time carving the turkey! He did a great job!!

Grandpa Howerton MUST have slipped some turkey in that bottle! He sure was sleepy after he ate it! ;)

What a sweet boy! I am sooo thankful that he LOVES to cuddle just as much as I do! It makes every minute of every day sooo much better :)

Grandma and Grandpa Howerton, Joe and Toa on Thanksgiving day

Doesn't Alofa make that turkey look DELICIOUS?!?!

(It WAS delicious by the way:))

Grandpa Howerton feeding Toa. Looks like they are BOTH in Heaven! I think that Grandpa may have snuck some turkey in that bottle for Toa so he could enjoy his first Thanksgiving too :)

Joe won't admit it but I think he REALLY likes Toa :)

Grandpa Howerton and Toa. Does your fist taste like turkey Toa? :) Sure looks like you are enjoying it!

My sister, her boyfriend, her friend, my brother and his wife were all there as well but I didn't get any pictures of them. I wish I had. I will do better next year! We had a GREAT time going through all of the ads for Black Friday, spending time together and prank calling some of our other family and friends. I laughed sooo hard that I was crying! It was a wonderful and very fun Thanksgiving!

This is how you can tell it was a GREAT first Thanksgiving for Toa:

A happy and very sweet baby boy to be ever so thankful for!

I am so thankful for all of the blessings that I enjoy. My life is better than I ever dreamed that it would be! I have a very kind and loving husband who gave me the sweetest boy! He fits so perfectly into our little family and while it is true that he is only about two months old, I CANNOT remember what my life was like without him! He greets me every morning with a sweet smile and ready to cuddle! I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for the opportunity that I have to be a wife and a mom, both roles that I cherish! I am thankful for my job and that Alofa has a job as well! I am also thankful for my friends and my family! I have so much to be thankful for! I hope that I take the time necessary to reflect on my blessings often and do what I can do to bless the lives of others as well!

Toa's Blessing

My sweet husband blessed our little man on November 7th 2010. It was such a tender and beautiful experience for me to see my husband exercise his priesthood in blessing our son. I shouldn't have worn make-up to church on this day, the tears ran freely. I am so thankful for all of the family and friends that came to support and help us during this special time. Alofa's auntie and uncle came up the night before to help start preparing the food for the dinner at our house after the blessing. There was sooooo much food and sooooo many people who came to our home to celebrate and welcome Toa in to your eternal family. This will be a memory and experience that I will cherish forever and reflect on often!