Teo Loves to Squeal

Here is proof that Teo loves to squeal.  It's hard to see, but I want to remember that through the whole video, his left hand was resting on papa's back.  He's so cute.  He truly gets cuter every day.

5 Months Old

It's hard to believe our little baby isn't so little anymore. He looks really long in this picture.  It's a little deceiving.  Here's our big boy:

Some things we are loving about our Baby Teo at 5 months:

He is teething (no sight of teeth yet though) and is starting to move from his hands and burp clothes to sucking on toys and teething rings.

He has started to eat solids and likes sitting in his new high chair.  He also loves his new Christmas bib from Nana.  This is before:

He's getting better at pushing the food to the back of his mouth.  So far, he LOVES rice cereal and sweet potatoes and HATES peas.  After: (You have to click to see a bigger image to see the food ALL over his face.)

He LOVES to examine new things.  I love this inquisitive expression!

 Teo has rolled over some, but he still hates tummy time.  He lasts longer now that it's easier for him to hold his head up, but he still gets frustrated after about 5-10 minutes. 

His eyes are SO blue.  Wow...they get bluer every day.  He gets lots of compliments on them.  Might I say, I'm glad he got this trait of mine.

He's becoming enamored by his feet.  It's like he's figured out that they are attached to him.  Any chance he gets, he pulls on his feet, and if he has socks on, he pulls them off. 

He is getting such a fun personality.  He's super smiley, and LOVES when Papa' comes home and plays with him.  He loves it when anyone pays attention to him.  He gets all smiley and kicks his legs. 

He's making lots of noises now.  His favorite is a combination of high pitched squeals and blowing raspberries.  He's tried doing that a few times while feeding him.  Not my favorite. 

We love watching our boy grow and learn new things!

It's Christmas at our House!

We bought a small tree and put out our Christmas decorations.  Teo is learning about Christmas!  :)

Family Photo Shoot

This year, we spent Thanksgiving in St. George.  My parents bought a house there, and my Aunt Beth lives there now too.  What a BEAUTIFUL place!  We are all coming to love it there.

I don't have photos of the actual dinner or much of the goings on, but Abbie did a family photo shoot for us in the red rocks on Wednesday.  About a block from my parent's house is a trail head to the most beautiful trails among the red rocks.  We took our photos there, and I'm so glad!  They turned out amazing.

Some of my favorites:

This one cracks me up.  Teo was doing this funny/weird cough thing, which was his way of telling us, he was done with pictures.  I'm so glad Abbie caught this!

Grandpa's Funeral

I just returned from the mother of all trips.  On November 17th I flew to Boise.  On the 18th was my grandpa's funeral and on the 19th, I drove to Provo with Dane and Bridget.  On the 20th, Abbie, Ella, Teo and I drove to St. George with my Aunt Beth.  We stayed in St. George until the 28th.  We had Thanksgiving there (a post about that later) and overall just had a wonderful time being with family. 

My grandpa's funeral was really special.  He would have loved it and would have been so proud.  :)  The whole time I just kept thinking how he would have liked to have been there.  All the special people in his life were gathered together, and the Veteran's ceremony at the cemetary was really moving.  He would have loved that. 

Fabio looked at the pictures of the funeral during Thanksgiving and commented how in Italy, you would NEVER see people smiling.  Well, we did a lot of smiling.  It was so wonderful to see people I love so much and see so infrequently.  It was also sweet to remember how special my grandpa was and how lucky we all were to have had him in our lives.


At the viewing, Ella had fun "holding her cousin."  As other 2nd cousins would run by, she would yell, "Hey!  I'm holding my cousin!"  She's doing a pretty good job considering she's not much bigger than Teo.

My mom's cousin, Julie, and I at the funeral.  She was my saving grace during my freshman year at college when I was suuuuuuuuuuuper homesick.  I always love seeing her.

The pallbearers.

During the burial ceremony at the Veteran's Cemetary, I kept thinking how much my grandpa would have loved it and how proud he would have been.

My grandpa's ward's Relief Society put together the nicest luncheon for our family.  Wow.  It was so well put together and the food was so good.  

Aunt Geri and Aunt Darlene, my grandpa's sisters.  Two of the kindest women you will ever meet.  My Aunt Geri easily has over 100 grandchildren and great-grandchildren, yet, she still remembers me (and all of my grandpa's other grandchildren).

 
The funeral home put together a nice video slide show of my grandpa's life.  We played it at the luncheon.

This was only some of the people at the funeral.  It is all of my grandpa's children and some of his grandchildren (minus his oldest son and his family).

Teo was really happy after his two hour nap.  This is a record, people!  As a side note, it makes me feel sad that my grandpa never got to meet him.

After the luncheon, we gathered at my uncle's house and had donuts.  All I have to say is, look out, Krispy Kream.  YUM! 

We had so much fun hanging out together at the hotel.  Uncle Dale and Teo got some bonding time in.

Abbie and I with our cousin Collette.  She is our age and we have so many fun memories with her from our childhood.

 What a wonderful weekend.  It was very bittersweet to celebrate my grandpa's life and to say our final goodbyes to him.  It was so special to spend this time with my sweet family.

Our Budding Soccer Player?