Our Merry Christmas!

For Christmas this year, we had a great time visiting with both of our families. We flew to Utah on December 17th after Shane got off work. Landon was so excited to fly on the airplane. We hadn't been on an airplane since last Christmas, so he didn't remember flying. He sat in his seat and looked out the window, anxious for us to take off. As we gained speed and started into the air, he exclaimed, "Woah! We go fast Mommy!" He was entertained most of the flight by just looking out the window. It was one of our greatest flights ever with Landon!

Landon at the Treehouse Museum

We all spent a great week in Utah with Shane's family. Landon had fun going to the Treehouse museum with Grandma and Grandpa, seeing the lights at Christmas village, and most of all, building a huge snowman with his dad and Uncle Kelly! We also we lucky enough to visit with some other friends and family. My favorite teachers at North Ogden had a nice lunch for us when we came to visit, and we had two wonderful family parties with both the Malan aunts, uncles, and cousins one night and the Brewer family the other night. We wish we lived closer to see them more often!

We left Saturday morning to drive to Idaho Falls for Grandpa Landon's 80th birthday party. It was so much fun to celebrate Grandpa's birthday, and to see some of my cousins I had not seen for years! We even got to go to the Landon family Christmas party, a party we haven't been to since Grandma and Grandpa's 50th anniversary in 1999.

The next morning, we woke up early to drive back to Ashland. It was a long drive, but fortunately the roads were fairly clear, and we made it in good time. We were all excited to get back to Ashland to celebrate our first Christmas together since before David's mission. We had fun with my dollar-store birthday party Christmas Eve morning, our "variety" show Christmas Eve night which included a Morris Night Before Christmas, by yours truly, Jingle Bells by Landon, and even a Lip Sync to BAckstreet Boys by David!!! We most of all enjoyed just relaxing and talking together. On Thursday, we all got in the car (again) and drove up to Portland to stay at our house. It was fun to show the in-laws around Portland, and to show all the family our new house. We wish they could have stayed longer than one day! After they left, we drove down with Mom and Dad, David and Camille to Ashland to stay for the New Year. Shane rented a Nintendo Wii, and we had fun bowling, and playing tennis and baseball on the Wii. We also played 10,000, and Shane had an amazing comeback to win the game! It was a great New Years!

Landon dressed as a shepherd for our Nativity.

Landon bowling.

We are sad to have the holiday ending, but so glad we were able to see and visit with so many family and friends. When we got home, we especially loved to read all of the cards and see all the pictures from our family and friends! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

There are so many fun pictures of our trip! Here are a couple slideshows you can watch of our vacation to see some more! (If you want to be able to get back to our blog easily after watching the slideshow, hold down the CTRL key while clicking on the slideshow link.)

Christmas in Utah


Christmas and New Years in Oregon

December 1st Snow

This post is a little late, but December 1st, we watched Landon's friend Jackson for the weekend. They had a lot of fun playing together and only a few minor "that's mine," "that's mine" incidents! The highlight of the weekend was when it started snowing Saturday morning. They two boys weren't content with just looking out the window, so I took some video of them running around in the backyard with the snowflakes. Click here to see the video.

Decorating our Gingerbread House

Last night, for Family Home Evening, we decorated our "Symbols of Christmas" little Christmas tree and decorated our gingerbread house. This year, Shane and I held back and let Landon do all of the decorating. He thought it was pretty fun. He decided he wanted to make smiley faces on the roof. Enjoy the pictures!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

On Monday, for our Family Home Evening activity, we decorated our Christmas tree. Landon was so excited, and he kept saying how pretty our tree was! We even put on some Jim Reeves to keep with Morris family tradition. Here are a few pictures of the tree-decorating!

Playdough Singing

This morning, while I was getting ready for church, Landon played with playdough at the table. He made a couple of stars, and before long, I heard him singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" over and over. I got the video camera and asked him to sing some more. Here's the video I got.


www.sjmalan.com/video.htm

Three Crazy Boys

This post is a little late, but last Saturday, we had a couple of friends come over with their families. We were going to play some games, but the three boys running around were so entertaining that we ended up just watching them play! Here is a picture of the three boys, Jackson, Landon, and Trey, sitting on the futon.

Happy Halloween!

On Monday night, for Family Home Evening, we carved our pumpkins. Shane did one and I did one, and Landon helped with both of them. He wasn't too thrilled about putting his hand in the pumpkin, but he did like scooping it out with a spoon!

Then, last night, we got Landon all dressed up in his fireman costume and took him trick-or-treating. We met a couple other families in the ward, and headed up a street just a few blocks from our house. There were actually quite a few kids out, which made it kind of fun. Landon was pretty nervous at first, and most of the time we had to tell him to squeeze up there to get his candy. He caught on pretty quick though, and by the end, he would make Shane or me stand at the edge of the driveway so he could walk up there by himself! Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Here's Landon with the other kids - two Peter Pans, two dinosaurs, one Japanese girl, and a puppy!

Another Great Day at Preschool

Click on this picture to see the slideshow!

Yesterday, Landon had another great day at Memory Lane Preschool. They went to Lesley's Pumpkin Patch. When I went to pick up Landon at preschool, he was sitting down on his carpet by a cute little girl who had decided to be his friend. She kept holding his hand and following him all around It was pretty funny.

The pumpkin patch was great! All the kids chose a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, Matt Clason took us all on a hay ride around the field, and then we fed the cows with apples. It was tons of fun!

After the pumpkin patch, Mom, Landon and I went downtown Ashland to Greenleaf to get some sandwiches to go, then to Lithia Park for a picnic. The park is so beautiful this time of year! It brought back so many memories of walking through the park in the fall with Mom, looking at all the beautiful fall colors. Landon especially loved kicking the leaves around as he walked, and watching leaves float down the creek. I got a little carried away with pictures because it was all so beautiful, so I ended up putting them in a slideshow! We walked up to the duck pond, where Landon had a blast feeding the ducks. He kept telling me he was feeding the ducks, not cows, I guess since he had just fed the cows an hour earlier. I even took a little video of it, so you will have to watch that. Landon is going to be pretty sad to get back to boring life with just his mom, with no grandma and no preschool!

Click the picture to watch the video of Landon feeding the ducks.

Putting out Fires

Today, Landon was lucky and got to go to preschool again with Grandma. It was fire safety day, and as Landon is going to be a firefighter for Halloween, he thought it was pretty cool. He watched the fireman put on his suit, crawled on the floor pretending there was smoke in the room, and best of all, blew a firehat off a cone with the water hose!

Pumpkin Patch

Today, Landon and I went to the pumpkin patch with a couple of people in our ward. It must have been our lucky day, because despite the fact that it has been raining all week, today was dry and even fairly warm, so it was a nice day. Landon had fun running through the hay maze, riding on the tractor, and picking out a pumpkin! Oh, I made some cupcakes for one the mom's birthdays. Landon and Shane ate one for lunch, but Landon didn't know quite what to do with it. He tried picking it up, then put it back down, they he picked it back up again, then put it back down. You can see in the pictures what he finally decided to do! Click on the picture above to watch a slideshow of our fun day at the pumpkin patch!

Five Little Pumpkins

At long last, we have finally put up a new video of Landon on our website. This video is of Landon reciting the Five Little Pumpkins poem and answering some questions about himself. Now, to those of you who have seen the famous reciting by Jake of the Five Little Pumpkins/Fishies, don't get too high of expectations. Nonetheless, this is fun to watch. I'll just put the link here because I posted the video on our website: http://www.sjmalan.com/video.htm. Hope you enjoy the video!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

The rainy season has officially started in Portland. It seemed to start much later last year, but the forecast for this entire week is . . . rain. This afternoon, after Landon woke up from his nap, there was a break in the clouds and the sun poked through, so I thought Landon and I had better take advantage of it right away before the weather changed again. We put on Landon's rain boots and hat, a jacket, and headed out. Landon wanted to find some worms, but unfortunately we didn't find any. When an airplane flew overhead, Landon asked where it was going. I told him it was flying away into the clouds, but he said, "Mommy, airplane helping Landon find worms!" I guess he knew better than me! :)

We did find lots of other fun things. Landon found two old apples he wanted to carry around for awhile.

Despite the cooler fall weather, there were still plenty of flowers out! Landon found these orange ones that he wanted to stop and smell.

As soon as we saw the sidewalk covered with orange berries and bright red leaves, Landon dropped the apples and decided he wanted to stomp on the orange berries. I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but he is pretty into it!

We also found lots of other great things on our walk - some helicopter leaves, a kitty sleeping on a lawn, a squirrel "drinking chocolate milk" (that's what Landon said he was doing), and even the Eiffel Tower! Well, not really the Eiffel Tower, but a small lawn decoration that Landon said was a little Eiffel Tower. Hopefully we'll have a few more breaks in the clouds to go on some more walks this week.

I Love My Daddy!!!

Everyday that Shane is at work, I answer this question too many times to count:

"Mommy, where did Daddy go?"

As soon as he gets home, Landon is so excited, and he and Shane usually run around the house for awhile. Landon's favorite question for his dad is: "Daddy, what should we do?" Today, Shane took Landon to his first Munchkin Sports class. They played soccer, ran fast forwards and backwards, and kicked over cones and tipped them back up. Landon came home as excited as ever! Even when Shane tries to rest and have a little time for himself, his little bub climbs up by him and snuggles in close!

Quotable Quotes

1. When at the grocery store this week, Landon wanted to play with the buckle in the grocery cart seat. He kept closing it, but then needed my help to open it back up. After opening it back up for the upteenth time, he exclaimed, "Thanks Mommy. That's great!" When I told him you're welcome, he said, "Landon don't say you're welcome." I had just told him the day before that he doesn't have to say you're welcome when he says thank you.

2. Yesterday, Shane went and tickled Landon, to which Landon exclaimed, in a perfect imitation of my voice and intonation, "Sha-ane!"

3. Shane also went to tickle me yesterday. (Yes, now you know the true menace in our house). Landon looked at him and said, "Shane, don't tickle Mommy," in his most stern voice.

4. I heard Landon whisper something at the table this morning, then start laughing. When I asked him what was so funny, he said, "I'm singing the H in the Home Depot song." I guess that's a pretty funny song, but he wouldn't sing it for me again. He is actually frequently making up all sorts of songs these days.

Four is kind of a weird number, but that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure he'll say some more crazy things as soon as I publish this!

Going to Dama and Papa's

Landon and I just got back from our week in Ashland. Shane had to go to New York all week for a work trip, so Landon and I decided to go to Dama (da-ma, rhymes with grandma, imagine that) and Papa's house, as he says, for the week. Here are a few pictures of our trip:

Eating waffles with a balloon - As many of you know, a trip to the Morris household around breakfast time usually includes pancakes, waffles, french toast, or some other delicious breakfast. I guess Landon is well aware of this, because about 20 minutes before getting to Ashland, Landon suddenly told me, "Haffa go Dama's house. Dama make pancakes." About two minutes later, he changed his mind and said, "No, Dama make waffles." Crazy boy! Also, you probably notice the balloon he is holding. That is also something he always asks for at Grandma's, as she has a helium tank pretty much just for him.

Bath time - Landon loves all the fun buckets and toys grandma has for his bath.

Playing with the toys in Grandma's toy closet - This week, Landon's favorite toys were the classic Little People toys. Mom has the house, a ferris wheel, a parking garage, and a bucket full of all sorts of little people toys. Landon played with them all week. One day, he found this little table, pulled it out, and brought it to me saying "Haffa put food on the little table." So, here it is. We tried Cheerios first, but he finished those off before we could get a picture.

Bedtime stories with Grandma - One of Landon's favorite stories this week was The Pokey Little Puppy, a classic!

Watching football with Grandpa - Landon climbed up onto my dad's lap one night as he was watching some football highlights. He seemed pretty content to sit there and watch for awhile.

Going to Memory Lane Preschool - Here Landon is at Grandma's preschool. He loved this letter puzzle! He did great going with her in the morning.

Reading a Clifford book on tape a preschool.

What happened to my little baby??? He's so grown up now!!!

Making a mess - Landon most of the time just loved playing with all the toys and making a mess at Grandma's. For some reason, he liked to pull off all of the couch cushions. Here he is trying out his new blanket for his "big bed." Hidden beneath the blanket is a big pile of toys!

That was our week in Ashland! It was a fun break, and the only thing that would have made it better was if Shane were there with us. We were excited to have him home last night!

The Portland Saturday/Farmer's Market

After living here for over a year, I finally made it to the Portland Saturday markets. Before Saturday, I didn't know I needed to make that plural, yet after trying to meet my two friends Ashley and Heidi on Saturday at the Saturday market and ending up two completely different places in downtown Portland, I realized there were two. We first (once we all met up) went to the Saturday Market. This market is located under/next to the Burnside Bridge, right across the street from the riverfront. For you fellow Ashlanders, I felt right at home in this market. It was kind of like the Saturday market they have there, except a lot bigger. There were all sorts of items to buy, including some fairly cute yet expensive crafts and some wildly crazy items you wouldn't see anywhere else.

After wandering around for awhile and enjoying the excitement, we headed back up to Portland State University for the Portland Farmer's Market. Here I felt once again transported to another place I love . . . France. There was a large grass area full of small, local farmers selling their fruits and vegetables, plus a little cheese, honey, and even some bakeries. I loved it! I bought some strawberries to make jam, and some delicious green beans and corn we had for dinner last night. I also splurged a little as we were leaving and bought a baguette and an almond croissant at a small French bakery stand. Delicieux!

Me, Heidi, Landon, and Jackson at the Saturday market.

Me, Heidi, Ashley, Landon, and Jackson (back behind) at the Farmer's Market. Don't those tomatoes look delicious!

Landon the Little Helper

Last night, I was making breadsticks to go with dinner when Landon walked up to me with a hot pad on his hand. He said, "Need wear no hurt hand." I guess he knew what it was for. He then came up to me, still with the hot pad on, and said, "Hafta make dinner." (Hafta seems to be his new favorite word. Hafta go that way, hafta go outside, hafta get a drink, ...) When he started opening the oven, I got a little nervous though, so I instead got him out a casserole dish. He carried it around for a minute, but then he wanted me to make dinner in it. I took out some orea cookies and lined them up in the pan. That once again satisfied him, and he walked around with his hot pad carrying the casserole dish full of cookies for awhile. This still wasn't enough, I guess, because soon he was back, and I saw him grab a can of beans off the counter. I thought he would just put the can in his casserole dish, but I heard rummaging behind me, turned around, and saw him reaching his hand up into the kichen drawer, pulling out items until he found the can opener! It was pretty funny. I guess he just really wanted to help mom out with dinner. Here's a picture of him holding "dinner."

Hafta go Ocean!

Last week, we went to Brookings for our annual coast trip with the Morris family. We left on Friday and drove down to Ashland. By late Friday night (more like Saturday morning actually) the rest of the family had arrived. The hilight of our day Saturday was the tennis tournament Jake had arranged. I didn't play, as I still feel quite nauseous at night, so Shane competed with David, and they made it to the championship, losing to Jake and Stacey. Landon had fun throwing tennis balls around and playing on the playground at the park.

Sunday, we enjoyed our going to church and relaxing most of the day, but in the evening we had yet another tennis tournament - this time table tennis. I did compete in his one, and had a little more success, even almost beating David (well, at least keeping up with him for awhile). He ended up being the overall champion, so I didn't feel too bad.

Monday morning, we woke up early and drove to the coast. We stopped, as usual, at Smith River for lunch. It was a little cold, but Landon didn't seem to mind. He loved throwing rocks in the water, and by the end, his shirt was pretty much all wet from reaching in to get the rocks. Shane took Landon over to this little island in the river, and they found a frog over there, which Landon thought was pretty exciting.

We then headed to the beach. It was cloudy, but actually quite warm since there was no wind! We had fun reading, playing baseball, and digging in the sand. Becky was the only girl brave enough to go in the water. The rest of us were glad we didn't when we saw her get knocked over by a big wave and come up soaking wet! Poor Beck! Landon loved the water too, but his favorite thing was running away from it. "Water coming! Water coming" he would yell as he tried to get far enough from the wave.

The next morning, Becky and Nate had to leave early, but the rest of us headed down to the beach again. We dug a big hole for Landon to play in, and Jake dug him some pretty cool tunnels to drive his cars in. It was a lot sunnier, but also more windy! Landon still loved it though, and we had to bribe him with other exciting things back at the campground to get him to leave! He was so exhausted when we got back that he fell asleep in his stroller while we were watching a helicopter, and stayed asleep the rest of the night.

It was sad to leave the ocean Wednesday. We packed up that morning, then went to the beach one last time to eat lunch. We were attacked by some pretty daring chipmunks while we tried to eat, but we all survived. They would even jump up right next to us on the picnic table to try to get some food! We've been home for a week now, and Landon still says, "Hafta go ocean" whenever he sees water, or pretty much anytime! I guess he had fun too!

Check out the pictures of our trip on our slideshow!

http://picasaweb.google.com/shane.malan/AugustCoastTrip02/photo#s5104629739095000834

A Whole Month!!! (Well, almost!)

I got on our blog this morning, and realized that with today being August 9 already, I realized I had better hurry and post again or it will officially have been one month since I last posted! It has been a busy last month, with lots of fun things to post about, but I guess I have been too busy . . . or should I say, lazy? :)

Three days after coming home from New York, we left for Park City, Utah, to stay with Shane's family. We had a great time visiting with family, especially Shane's sister Wendi and her kids as we hadn't seen them in almost two years. Landon especially loved playing with his cousin Laci, who is only six months older than him. The two of them were even patient with all of the hugs and kisses everyone made them give each other!

We came home a week later, only to have Shane's mom, grandma, brother Mark and sister-in-law Melanie come out to visit us. We were so glad to have them come, especially Mark and Melanie since they hadn't been out to see us yet. We had fun taking them to Cannon Beach and showing them around the area.

The night after they left, we went to a Portland Beavers baseball game at PGE park in Portland. We decided to take the Max train because we've heard parking can be bad. Landon loved it! He was grinning the whole way. I guess we should ride that into town more often!

Finally, our last recent trip happened two days after they left last week when we drove to Ashland to celebrate Shane's 31st birthday!!! Jake and Stacey have been in California for the summer, so we met them in Ashland for some fun times for the big day. Tennis was of course included, and Shane enjoyed playing in his brand new tennis shoes he got for his birthday. We also went to the park for a hot dog roast and played some horseshoes. Saturday night, we all went out on the trampoline to watch a movie on the "big screen" (a projector shining on a white sheet). It's been a fun few weeks! Here's a few pictures of the month's activities.

Landon watching TV with his three cousins.

Landon smiling while showing off his new haircut.

Playing boules in our backyard with the Malans. Landon felt left out, so he had to play with his ball. You can see him in the back waiting for his turn.

Landon taking his turn at the boules game.

Landon riding on the train to the baseball game. He was so excited!

At the baseball game.

Landon playing in his new water table.

We hope you enjoy the pictures. I'll try to do better from now on! Hope to hear from all of you too!