Choo Choo Trains, Lights, and a Perm

On Friday, I was brave and rode the train down to SLC to meet Stephen after work so we could take the kids to see the Temple Square lights. My friend and her two boys went with us, and her husband got on the train half way there.

Andrew loved riding on the train. He was so excited to look out the window. He kept saying, "Mom, Mom, Mom, the choo choo train is going so fast." He was sad when we got off the train. Luckily we got to get on the Trax in SLC so he was really excited about that. Andrew and Ali loved the lights. They pointed at the lights and said "Christmas Lights, Christmas Lights." We all had a lot of fun.

Last weekend, we took the kids to a house with lights set to music. The kids loved it. They especially loved the choo choo train in the yard. We let them get out of their carseats to look at the lights and stand up in the van. While they were watching them, Ali walked over to me and could barely get the word out because she was so excited and said, "Fun, Fun." It really makes you feel good when you are doing something the kids think is fun.

"A perm?" I decided to get a perm on Saturday. I was ready for a change. I guess I am flashing back to the 80's. I really like it, and I will try to post some pics later.

Thank you, Mommy.

One of my favorite things is when I give something to Andrew like his food or juice and he says, "Thank you, Mommy. You is so nice." It just makes my heart melt. He is so sweet. It is so much fun to hear him talking. One of his favorite things to say is "It is so scary." Sometimes I can't understand what he is saying and he repeats it over and over and looks at me like I should be getting it. Most of the time I do finally figure it out, and we are both happy. Ali has picked up on a lot more words lately since Andrew is talking so much. I am impressed that they can both say dinosaur and elephant. Ali's variation of "Thank you, Mommy. You is so nice." is "Mommy so nice." She is such a sweet little girl. She is the little mommy. She loves taking care of her babies and "Andrew." She even tries to help me change his diaper. They amaze me all the time. I have the best job in the world!


Ali took everything out of her backpack, and lined it
up on the stairs.

Andrew running around with his cars. He loves playing with cars.

Our Virtual Christmas Card

These are the pictures we were going to use for our Christmas card this year, but it seems like this year there is so much to do and so little time. We did want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas this year and let you all know that we are thinking about you. We miss everyone, and we wish we could see all of you at Christmas. Stephen and I were just talking last night about how the holidays makes us homesick for Texas. I feel like I am about to cry just thinking about it. We love all of you. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I also wanted to tell everyone that we had a great Thanksgiving. We had our neighbors, the Mills, over. It was so much fun. They have been so nice to us since we moved here. It is great to have friends like them.

Alex scooting

So I know that this is really the Utah Hamptons' blog, but since I have access I wanted to share the peculiar scooting that Alex does.

Puppy Graduation

After a long 8 weeks me and Sally graduated from puppy class. It was hard going every Monday night since Stephen has class on other nights during the week. Sally is doing really well, and she will sit most of the time. I can't believe how much she has calmed down since we started the class. She will even stay on her bed sometimes, and she will sit and let Ali pet her. Ali was really afraid of Sally when we first got her, but now Ali gives Sally hugs and loves to pet her. Andrew loves to tease Sally by running past her when she is on the leash. Sally gets really excited when he does that. I think Sally and Andrew will be really good friends when Andrew gets a little bigger.

Potty Triumph

I have been trying for about a month to potty train Ali. She will be 2 on December 28th. I taught her with a doll that will go potty. It seemed like she just couldn't figure out how to relax her bladder to go. But this weekend it seemed to just "click." She woke up dry Saturday morning after about 11 hours of sleep. She went on the potty then. She got so excited that she stood up before she finished and she wanted to empty it out. Then she sat down and went potty some more. She had one accident that whole day, and she was very excited about wearing her big girl "Elmo" panties.

"Go on Mission"

Last night we were doing our bedtime routine with singing songs and saying our prayers. Stephen said, "Okay, it's time to say a prayer." And Andrew said, "I want to sing a song." We said, "What song do you want to sing?" He said, "Go on a mission." The last few weeks the sentences have just started coming. We have been singing 'I Hope They Call Me on a Mission' for a while, and were excited to see he is remembering the songs we sing. We thought it was really cute.

Ali looks so cute when we say our prayers. She folds her arms really tight and sits very still. The other night we heard her whispering along with the prayer. Maybe soon Andrew and Ali can take their turns in the prayer rotation.

Tiny Texans

This Halloween I wanted the kids to dress up as a cheerleader and football player so I started looking for outfits on amazon a few months ago. I found some really cute Texas Tech ones, but they were sold out when I wanted to buy them. So to show our Texas pride we got these cute little Houston Texans outfits. Even though we aren't Houston Texans fans at least it says Texans on the front.

We went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. Andrew and Ali weren't sure what to think about people just giving them candy. Andrew kept saying he wanted to "Go to church". I wish he would say that on Sunday. Andrew liked it when people let him choose the candy out of their bowls, but he got a little upset when they just gave him the candy. Ali was being the little mommy. She liked carrying her bag and Andrew's bag. Stephen wasn't able to go to Trunk or Treat because he had class. I was glad that the Mills came with me even though they had family events to go to. What great friends.

What's Up Cuz?

A few weeks ago I joined facebook, and I found out that my cousin Greg is going to BYU. We haven't seen each other in over 10 years so we decided to have a little family reunion. Greg came over for Sunday dinner, and we had my famous sour cream chicken enchiladas. It was a lot of fun getting to talk to him and find out what has been going on the last 10 years. We even figured out we have a few family traits in common like squinting our eyes in pictures. Luckily in this picture both of us kept our eyes open. The kids warmed up to Greg quickly. They had fun having someone else around. We are going to try to get together again soon.

Our First Snow

We got our first snow last Sunday, and it was a doosey. It snowed all day long. We got 8 inches. We had to put on the coats and go out and shovel the driveway. We also had to shovel the sidewalks or you can get a ticket if you don't. We took Andrew and Ali out to play in the snow while Stephen shoveled. They had a lot of fun. I don't think they knew what to think about it. Andrew kept saying "Snowman, Snowman". We didn't get to build one though. It was too cold. The last snow patch finally melted today. I am not looking forward to the rest of the winter. Hopefully only one more to go. It is so hard being trapped inside all winter. The kids love to play outside. We got more snow than anywhere else in the valley. Most places got about an inch.

Stale

I'm sure that somthing has happened in the Hampton home since Febuary. It appears that we have gotten a little behind on reporting our comings and goings. I pledge to do a better job, and not to use any sorry excuses.

Trip to Redding

On a whim, we went up to Redding to check out Tess's old stomping grounds. Tess lived in Redding right after high school to go to Shasta JC, where she got an associate's degree. Redding was fun. We didn't get to get out a whole lot because Alex hates getting in and out of the car. However, we spent a good chunk of the afternoon on the lawn near the Redding City Hall. The weather was great. They had a nicely landscaped area surrounded by several interesting pieces of artwork. Anyway, here are some of the pictures:

Alex's Blessing

We had Alex's blessing in Church this last week. Stephen, Ashley, Andrew, Alli, Dad and Mom joined us in Sacramento, along with a whole host of Tess's family. Alex was very good during the blessing, although I think he's getting back at us now that everyone is gone. Everyone got to taste a little of Sacramento, I think to rave reviews (Mom kept going on about Sacramento's sandwiches). We'll get to experience a little bit more of Northern California again in May for graduation.

Post-Christmas recap

It was awesome to be at home for Christmas with everyone! Of course we realize that Tess and I were of secondary interest. Everyone wanted to see our little guy (and who could blame them).

Everyone quickly realized that he is quite demanding in his needs. He does not put up with second rate service. He wants to be bounced on the ball and wants to be fed at specific times. Interestingly enough, even with all his demands, Alex was able to sleep through all of the Bourne Ultimatum. Not quite exciting enough for him.

He caught just a little bit of the cold that went around right as we were leaving, leading us to make an extra stop on the way home in the glorious city of Palmdale, CA, just north of LA. I think he got better just to not have Tess clean out his nose anymore.

All in all, it was a great Christmas and will be one to remember with everyone having been there together.

The Hampton's Christmas

The Hampton's reunited this Christmas in Ft. Stockton. We flew in on December 21 to El Paso, but we got there before our luggage. We had to wait 4 hours in El Paso for it to get there. The babies were exhausted by the end of the trip. Kyle and Tess drove in from California with their new baby Alex. We arrived the same day in Ft. Stockton. Everyone was there except for Brian, Bridget's husband. He is working over seas in Africa. We all missed him. The Hampton house was full with 4 grandkids. We had a lot of fun playing with new toys, and the adults had fun playing Guitar Hero. Jeff and Nicole and their 5 kids came to visit and we had a wonderful Christmas dinner. Thanks to all of Carol's hard work cooking. Darlene also came to visit for New Year's. We brought in the new year at the Ft. Stockton Civic center. We all went to the party after we put the kids to bed. This was mine, Stephen, and Bridget's first time to hire a sitter. We were all a little nervous, but it all worked out well. We had so much fun listening to an 80's cover band from Austin. This will probably be our last Christmas in Ft Stockton since Steve and Carol will be moving soon. So it was nice to have all the Hampton kids there.