Happy Birthday, Matt!

Happy 27th to an amazing husband, father, and friend. We love you, Matt!

Basketball bound

Photo shoot #2: Basketball uniform and Nike shoes. The McDougals gave us the cutest little Nike tennis shoes, along with some great books, and John already fits in them perfectly. We had this adorable basketball uniform from the P.E. teachers at my middle school, so we put together another home photo shoot. Here's our little athlete:

We didn't put them in this pose, but I love this one! He looks like he's dunking!

Of course, all he wanted to do was eat the ball.

Oh, I love this little boy!

Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving back in MD with my family! John and I flew out early to help with a bridal shower for Scott's amazing fiance, Brittany, so John and I had a fun-filled 10-day vacation. Matt's schedule naturally did not allow such a long break for him, so he had to travel on the usual holiday travel days and was with us in MD for Thursday-Sunday. I was nervous about flying with John, by myself, on a 5 hour flight, but he was such a champ! Here's an overview of our fun time:

On the Friday before Thanksgiving, one of my mom's best friends, Julie, hosted an incredible bridal shower for my brother's fiance. The food was great, the games hysterical, and there was a great turn out for people eager to meet Brittany and show their support for Scott. Jane and I put together a fun getting-to-know-Brittany game, and Julie and my grandma Sandi put together one of the funniest skits I've ever seen. They were doctors, prescribing cures for all potential life ailments, using every pun possible of current medical conditions and medicines. Spend-icitis, Buyagra, Pepto Bimbo, Carpool Tunnel Syndrome, and much more; it was very clever and very funny! We are so excited for Brittany to join the Colton family! Quick fun note, I met Brittany at a social church camp (EFY) when I was 15. She was one of my favorite girls in my group. We stayed in touch through a great group of girl friends at BYU and when I went to BYU my Junior year, we were on a flag football team together. Scott met her at a party, they later realized the connection, and I am thrilled I get to welcome such an amazing friend into my family! No stress at all about getting along with my future sister-in-law :) Here's the happy couple:

The rest of the break was spent having fun with family, celebrating the engagements of two of my best friends (Genevieve and Ryan, Heather and Billy!), enjoying beautiful weather, and of course, adoring John. He hardly knows what to do now that we're at home and he no longer has an enthusiastic crowd lauding his every move.

Thanksgiving day was wonderful. We had cousins from Georgia, Ohio, BYU, and Stanford and friends from Maryland all gather at my parents house. Here are some pictures from our big feast:

Beautiful table setting

Delicious food!

Amazing pies.

Happy little man

4 generations (with Grandpa Sterling)

Colton cousins in one of many pile-ups

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, my mom's friend Lynne and her daughter and my friend Ashleigh threw a very creative and cute book baby shower! They decided to design the shower on a children's book theme, and it was adorable. The invitation was a story about John and an invitation to stop by, meet him, and share a favorite book. The cupcakes and wreath at the house had little cut-out pictures of Dr. Seuss book covers. And the gifts were amazing- fun classics, beautiful new Caldecott winners, and overall a great variety of books that my family will enjoy forever! Amazingly enough, there were no repeats with John's other great books, so John has a wonderful variety of books ranging from touch-and-feel books for 6 month old babies to short stories for Middle School age children. I love books and I have loved reading multiple books a day to John! Thank you again for everyone who has contributed to John's wonderful library!

Lynne, the mastermind, and Sandi

Ashleigh, who was so amazing putting it all together

Opening the books. Sandi gave me an old copy of The Ear Book that I used to read, filled with pictures of me reading it! She gave John a new copy, also with a picture of me reading.

We are now back in Vegas, and I am stunned by how quickly John is growing up. Over the past few weeks, he has hit some exciting milestones. In MD, he slept through the night (10 hours) twice! (He has since regressed but we won't focus on that now :) ). He also has discovered his toes, which is truly a monumental discovery! He loves grabbing them and trying to suck on as many toes as possible at once. He loves Peekaboo. He can hold a bottle on his own. And on Saturday we started rice cereal! He loves his new high chair (Graco DuoDiner, from Matt's parents, love it!) and he quickly figured out how to open his mouth and swallow the good stuff. Now whenever he sees the high chair or a spoon he just goes crazy kicking with anticipation. It blows my mind that this little baby is already eating solids and about to crawl. I am excited to see his personality and motor skills develop, but I am glad I was able to enjoy the small, independent, cuddly stage while I could. It sure flies by fast!

Now on to enjoying this busy, happy, sweets-filled, family and friend-oriented season! I love Christmas!