Beans befor we go

If you look close you can see a tooth spike in Miles mouth

Lights at the temple

Ward Christmas Party

Miles and Grace playing with some of Miles new toys at his birthday party. It was such a fun night for us, and Miles is still excited about all his new things. Thank you everyone!!!
This is grandpa Hurst polishing off the Dr. Pepper. This seems to be our "family drink of choice". My sister Stephanie starts most of her mornings with it. There are however two people in our family who have strayed and delight in drinking a Mountain Dew (or two or three or four) everyday. (eeeewwww, I'll take the crab juice! Does any one know where this line comes from??)


More of Miles at his Birthday party

The day of Miles first hair cut

Miles trying on his hat and gloves. We had 8 inches of snow on Dec. 1st so they've already been put to good use. Of course, when we were in the snow he was wearing much more than just his diaper.

Miles did very well for his first hair cut. He was really wiggly, but he didn't cry at all.

He looks so much like a little boy now and not a baby. I'm not sure how I feel about that yet.

cry

So, I haven't really written much lately, it's mostly been pics. But, Miles has been doing so many new things I thought we should share........

Miles walks all over the place. For the mean time, he's lost interest in books and movies because with his newly learned skill he has to go everywhere, see everything, and get into all sorts of stuff. A couple weeks ago I let him wander while I was folding laundry and I noticed it was quiet. I found Miles splashing in the toilet water (that was a new one). We now keep the bath room door closed.

He is VERY strong willed. If he gets a hold of something he's not supposed to have, and I take it away, he screams, really high pitched, like a girl, for a long time!!! Then he'll arch his back or throw himself to the floor. I thought he would do these things when he was 2, not 11 months. If he doesn't like what we're having to eat, he'll throw it on the floor, which is pretty typical, but then he'll scream until we take him out of his chair. Tonight for dinner he ate noodles with spaghetti sauce. He did his whole screaming thing and threw all of his noodles on the floor. So we cleaned him up and took him out of his chair. Instead of going off to play, he stayed right by his "spill mat" and ate all his noodles from the floor. I guess he was hungry, he just didn't want to be in his chair.

When I'm rocking him to bed at night, he loves "combing" his fingers through this hair (Huh, wonder where he gets that from?? Maybe someday it will turn into twisting). If I try to stroke his hair, he'll kindly take my hand and push it down on the blanket, and then start playing with his hair again. Only he can play with his hair. This is a ritual for us at bed time.

He's starting to "talk" a lot, it seems like he's making noises all the time. His latest one is the noise he makes when he plays cars. It's pretty cute (you'll hear it on the video). His favorite foods lately are raisins, pumpkin pie, oatmeal, yogurt, mandarin oranges, and lolly pops (well, he's only had two. One on Halloween and one tonight, but he LOVED them both times. When he was done with his tonight, he tried to take mine right out of my mouth. Normally I would let him win, but I had a butterscotch one from Sees. No way was I going to give that up).

Miles is really social. He loves the kids at church. Last week I started taking him and his friend Kai to the library for a play group (it's for babies ages 6 mo-2 years). He was not shy at all. Next week they're having a puppet show and I think He'll like that.

John and I really enjoy being his parents. Some days we want to sell him to the Gypsies.....but then he smiles or laughs and we fall in love all over again. We both still love going in his room at night and watching him sleep. We feel so blessed that we're all healthy and well, and that we're a family. We hope everyone has had a wonderful Sabbath day and that you all have a great week. -wendy

Miles LOVED his sucker. He was sucking on it, holding it, rolling it around in his hair.... he was sooo sticky by the end of it.

Miles with his friend Aiden. They live just around the corner so we'll sometimes walk to the park together.
John was a zoo keeper
Our friends Justin and Kai. Kai was a really cute Charlie Brown.
The Mama lion, the baby lion and the zoo keeper

Miles was so cute in his little lion costume (thanks to kandis for letting us borrow it). Sometimes you could even get him to roar! This is at our wards Halloween party. I think Miles was a little nervous at first. Maybe all the costumes threw him off. But he warmed up pretty quickly and was walking all around the gym.

Ok, so I've been "tagged" and am supposed to share six random tid-bits about myself. Here it goes:

1. I am addicted to sugar. I eat sweets everyday, in quantities I'm embarrassed about. Some weeks I'll purposely not put any sweets in the basket because I'm trying to be good. But, 100% of the time, I'm back at the grocery store (or I send John and he's so wonderful to go) for ice cream, chocolate, nerds, swedish fish......and the list goes on.

2. In my next life, I want to be a writer. I am constantly "writing" stories in my head, creating scenario's, characters etc... I'm either really imaginative or just weird. Some nights (most nights) I can't even sleep because my brain is going 90 mph (maybe it's the sugar:) But, I think it sounds better in my head than it ever would on paper so, it will stay there until I get brave or find some time.

3. I would love to have a nose ring. Just a very small diamond......that's all. But not in this life time, oh, and probably not in the next either.

4. Fall is my favorite time of year!!! Someday when I'm rich, I want to throw the annual be all, end all, Fall neighborhood party with home made doughnuts, caramel apples, root beer, pumpkin pie, hot cider....if it reminds you of Fall, you'll eat it at my party. All the kids will be dressed up in costumes and we'll have a pony for them to ride, and other animals in the petting zoo. And... a big old barn where we'll carve pumpkins. And everyone who reads this is invited. (Another thing that keeps me up at night....planning things that won't happen for YEARS!)

5. Well, that's all for now because Miles just woke up. I'm supposed to tag six other people, but I don't know six other people....Do they have to have a blog through g-mail. Let's see..... Annika, Annika, Royce, John (my husband), Mindy Hobbson (but she doesn't even know I have a web site to find out that she's been tagged and Annika. Actually, I'm also going to tag Natalie, my sister in law.

We went to Gardner Village for a group FHE with some friends. This is Miles riding a pony at the petting zoo.
This is all of us taking a ride in a carriage around the village with a friendly witch. Behind me is Kristie, and her boy Kai (Justin is his Dad and he's in the front with the blue jacket. He might look familiar to those of you who listen to Jericho Road). Behind Justin is Shalynn, Todd, and their boy Kade.
Miles loved all the action going on around him. There were lots of families with children all dressed up in costumes. I think he was more interested in the kids than the witches.
Our little lion playing with the pumpkins.

So, mom and dad took me to a "pumpkin patch". There were these big and small orange things (pumpkins). I'm not really sure what a pumpkin is??? Come to think of it, I'm not really sure what orange is either???


peek-a-boo
See, more weird stuff. Where do mom and dad find these places.

Mom missed me soooo much she had to jump into bed with me. It was really fun!!!

Hi,

My mom and dad have really dropped the ball this last week so I have decided to take over for the time being. I am proficient in E-mails and web sites. As grandma and grandpa Hurst know I have been E-mailing even before birth. This will hopefully make up for the time that mom and dad spend helping me. You know you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours, or you could say you change my dipper and I'll update the web site. I love you all

MILES

This is going to be a short one, our family glue (Wendy) is sick :(
This is a pic of the kids Wendy tended on Thursdays.

Another hike in search of Autumn leaves

This was taken on our hike up Bell Canyon (We didn't make it too far, it was steeper than I remembered). It was a perfect fall day on Friday when we went. Then Saturday......snow......outside our window. It didn't stick but it was sure cold!

Miles with Aunt Octavia (aka Norma)

Well, this has been a wonderful month. John studied hard and took his LSAT yesterday. It will be a few weeks before we get his score back. Mom and Miles are really going to miss having dad around. Miles has become pretty attached to his dad. They love to play together and wrestle together, and Miles loves climbing up him. I think we'll all kind of be in shell shock for the next few day while we're getting back to the grind. Mom was especially spoiled to have dad around more to help with Miles.

We have felt so blessed this past month for all the encouragement and support with John's test. Thank you for your love and prayers.

Our trip to Big Cottonwood

This is a blast from the past. There are so many videos we wanted to share but we didn't know how.

Miles is starting to take his first steps. He'll take two or three and then fall down but he loves trying, and knows he must be accomplishing something great because he is always awaiting an applause after.

His new thing this week is shaking his head back and forth. We usually play it as a game but this morning we were listening to "The Essential Dvorak, Slavonic Dance No. 1' and he started clapping and shaking his head like he was dancing. Where's the video camera when you need it. When we got it, he stopped (of course).

Also, John wants you to know you can double click on any image and it will make it bigger for your viewing pleasure.

Miles loves noodles with spaghetti sauce. It's his new favorite food.

This is a video of Miles waking up from his nap. He is usually very happy and very playful when he first wakes up. He has been sleeping a lot better at night and taking one good nap during the day. Yee ha, it's about time mom got some decent sleep :)

Miles in his new "Big Boy" stroller

Miles with great grandma Hurst eating cheerios.
John took this picture of the sunset toward the end of our walk

Tonight we went to Mike and Stacy's house for dinner to celebrate Wes's 19th birthday. Yep, his last one before boarding the plane to Ghana. He has been practicing eating with his right and not his left (which he normally does, being left handed and all) because in Ghana you mostly eat with your hands. Your right hand is for eating and your left hand is for wiping your bum bum. It is considered unclean to eat with your left hand. We don't know if this custom is as important today with improved sanitation, but all the same, he's practicing. AND..... John figured out how to post videos!!!!! yeeee haaaa!! He's so proud of himself (now we'll see how well he does installing Miles new seat in a few minutes, he he). Below are two videos. One of Miles walking behind a push toy, and the other with him playing on the table with Mike and Stacy. I can't believe how fast he is growing up :(

Also this week, John's grandma, Mimi, passed away at the age of 93 and a half. The viewing and funeral were perfect and beautiful, just like Mimi. She was such a remarkable lady and in the coming week we are going to get some pictures together and post them on our website as a tribute to her.

We hope everyone had a wonderful week.........stay tuned for the videos..........................