Family Week

Thomas had a winter break from school this past week so we had a family-time-binge---it was fanTAStic! The cheap side of us beat out the adventure within us so we decided to stick around despite our near attempts to schedule a cruise somewhere sunny and warm. We ended up going into the city, going to the zoo, exploring some forest preserves around this mountain-less Midwest, we ate lots of yummy food, watched some movies, went to the massive Gurnee Mills Mall just 10 minutes away that made every other mall we've ever seen look puny. This mall went for miles and miles. It TOTALLY wore us out and we didn't even see everything. We considered it a great feat of control that we ended up leaving with only a pair of shoes:)

Hudson keeps toasty in his coat and bundle wrap that we makeshift for the cold weather. He enjoys spending time outside when we get the chance

The preserve we went to was beautiful! Although things were dead and not as colorful as the other seasons, we really enjoyed the beauty of winter.  There wasn't any snow on the ground but the air was brisk and fresh. We saw some magnificent landscapes. 

This was a pretty lookout that we liked. We could see for quite a ways in every direction from this point.

That thing that looks like a little kitten on the rock behind us is a lion... They are such beautiful animals! We really enjoyed them at the zoo. But were even more glad for the ravine that separated us from them...

I obviously turned a hideous blue color inside this exhibit. You would think I was Violet from Willy Wonka, but really I am just lovin' the little reindeer looking animal behind me;)

THE ESKIMO AND THE CITY! Rated G. Coming to theaters near you.

We walked down Michigan Ave for my sake. I love this place. Thomas is convinced it is a woman's dream---a theme park kind of fun for women. I told him that is probably the case for people who have money to throw into these stores...Which totally excludes us. Nevertheless, I do enjoy the excitement of it all!

Talk about a cool camera feature! We tried out the panoramic setting and it was able to capture a totally new picture.

My boys. I love love love this picture. Isn't Hudson a ham? :)

So you know how I mentioned it hadn't snowed at the beginning of the week??? Well welcome to Winter Wonderland the day after. It snowed for a full day and covered all the trees, even every last branch with a thick layer of snow. I wish my camera could have captured the splendor!

Bottoms Up!

How Hudson sleeps like this, we'll never know:) It's his signature. Bottom... up. Face... planted. Arm... turned in. Feet... turned out. If the circus wasn't such a freak show we would consider displaying his sleeping ability despite the high magnitude of what appears to be discomfort. Hudson also breathes like a pug puppy so we get an extra smile out of nap-time.

I now understand the phrase "slept like a baby"

Hudson gets away with murder when he flashes this smile. I don't know how he manages to be the most persuasive person without even saying a word.

After freaking out about putting Hudson in a Wal-mart shopping cart because my paranoid mind races through a million images of snotty-nosed children contributing to the petri-dish of fun that covers the bars... I put him in a COSTCO shopping cart today. Somehow I feel much better about taking this step first. Not only do we love Costco, but I trust they are cleaner than most shopping carts. So this is a first I had to document and might I add it was SO much lighter than carrying what feels like hundreds of pounds of baby and car seat together.

Book Worming

At the start of the year, I told myself I was going to allow myself to delve into reading again like I thoroughly enjoy doing. Winter has made me book hungry and artsy craved. I have been devouring books of late and drawing all kinds of things as one of my favorite creative outlets. Tom even put one of my drawings on the fridge=) I'm going places folks!
---The Help (Tom insisted I not only talked like the black women in the book while I was reading it, but I also had the sass of Minnie). Both of Mitch Albom's books: The Five People You Meet In Heaven: It made me think in a very different way which was very intriguing. It was recommended to me by a friend and she couldn't emphasize enough how it was just theory. I feel like dying is such a question for those who don't have the gospel to guide and enlighten. I am very grateful for the gospel in my life! For One More Day: also a Mitch Albom book, he touches on the concepts of appreciation for loved ones, making things right in your life, and choosing to be happy even when things are at their worst. The Picture of Dorian Gray: makes you examine your soul and intentions---a definite classic, The Hunger Games series (Gosh I love them. I feel like such a teenager.) Hanging By The Thread: great at informing about political and government structure while also taking you on a wild adventure of "Who Dun It?" I have a whole stack I am anxiously working to zoom through, but I have such a hard time getting too involved with books like I would like to because I quickly realize how I neglect all other duties when I am "in the zone"... Wow, I sound like such a "Treky".

Soldier Dracula

Our Hudson went ahead and got a mouth-full of teeth in what felt like one swoop. I can imagine why he would be done with pureed foods and want to move on to the good stuff. So he filled his mouth with razors. Six to be exact. They just keep coming in. I was nervous to get his two "fang" teeth through my skin when they first came in. Gosh, they are sharp coming through the gums! We thought it was pretty comical that he got his fangs before his front-middle-top teeth.

Hudson has enjoyed exploring what little space we have in our apartment time and time again at first ranger style (pulling himself on this tummy and pushing with his legs) and the past couple weeks he has graduated to legitimate crawling. He made the transition all in 5 minutes---literally. He was pulling himself around beforeThomas left to drop off some things at the library, and by the time he came home, Hudson was moving out on his hands and knees. Amazing how babies decide to start doing things on their own time table. 

I love my boys! It was a casual Sunday and we were enjoying the tameness of our usually all-too-busy little fella.  He NEVER lays like this anymore now that he can move his own body and at his own whim. But for the time, he was soaking up the snuggle time with Dad.

Baby and Mama Shoot

While home in Utah, my Mom and I thought it would be special to get some Mother/Son pictures. At this point, Hudson was almost 7 months. I wanted to share a few of them:)