Christmas 2007

Our Elf Names

Just for the Christmastime you can call us by our elf names.

We are the Bing-A-Ling family:

Michelle - Lucky
Jon - Snooky
Marcus - Blinky
Seth - Zippy

thanks Patti for the fun site!
check it out

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Yes, believe it or not that is a Christmas Tree. It is about a foot and a half tall. My mom sent it to me when I was in the Missionary Training Center for Christmas. Nevertheless, Marcus had a great time putting on the glass balls and the angel. Unfortunately, we had to take the tree down, it kept falling over and the balls would break. Seth thought it was the greatest play toy and would try to grab the balls. One day we will own our own Christmas tree it just doesn't seem necessary since we are never home for Christmas and probably won't be for a few more years. We are very excited to get to Palm Springs and enjoy a big Christmas Tree. Watch out mom, here comes Seth!

Baby Lion Cubs

Marcus has a very vivid imagination. He loves pretending he is a baby...toe puppy, lion cub, kitty, dinosaur etc. This time he is a baby lion cub. He had me build a cave where he and Sethcould play. They are so soft to pet and very nice, the don't bite! Seth just had a great time hanging out and laughing!

Thank Heaven for Kim Shirley

All I wanted to do was to add Christmas paper to my blog - how hard could that be? Well, it's not - if you know how to do it and apparently, I did not! I ruined my blog - at least the look and all my friends and family links magically vanished. So, ya, call me hard headed but I didn't think it would be so dang difficult. Thank Heaven for Kim! I called her up and she emailed me the directions and she saved my blog (not to mention my sanity!!) Thank you Kim for knowing how to do everything!!!

Like I said I lost all the links to my friends and family's blogs. So if you are reading this send me your link so I can out it back on the blog. I have been going through blog withdrawals, I miss all your pretty pictures and witty words!

Happy Thanksgiving!

WOW! This has been the longest blog dry spell I've had in awhile! I started working on Christmas presents and getting ready for Thanksgiving and the time has flown by...(as you can see it's 12:32am, Why am I still awake!?! oh yeah, my Thanksgiving pie is still in the oven!) I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all have a wonderful day with friends and family. We miss our family on opposite sides of the country, we are Thankful to you and for you!

Seth Finds the Stairs

(If you click on the picture it will bring it up big and you can read the words!)

Uncle Andrew came to visit!!

Jonathan's brother Andrew came to Utah for a week long visit! We had a great time with him! We went to Thanksgiving point Farm & Dinosaur museum. We saw the 3D movie Dinosaurs Alive and Andrew bought Marcus a swimming dinosaur (We can't remember the name and Marcus actually calls it a sea turtle...) Andrew and I made a pumpkin pie from scratch!! I mean from the bottom up! We bought a pumpkin, roasted it with some nutmeg (Andrew's idea) and added a little secret ingredient to the mix (My idea...) It was fabulous!! It really was, I'm not just saying that because I made it...Thanks for all the baking and cooking time Andrew, I don't get that much and it reminded me how much I love doing it!! We went up to Park City and did some shopping (everyone bought something except me:( well, I mean I didn't buy anything for me, but I bought clothes for Seth and shoes for Marcus) Andrew who said he didn't like shopping went on a spree! He says it was because the Canadian dollar is now worth more then the US dollar so he could spend more... I really think he was just rubbing that in my face! And of course we ate caramel covered apples from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (my new favorite place!) Jon, Marcus,Andrew & Tim went to the BYU game, Go Cougars! Jon even got Andrew a ticket to the Jazz-Rockets Basketball Game. Andrew bought the boys Jazz Jerseys (look for the picture). We even had the Miller family over for Sunday dinner to see Andrew, he hadn't seen some of his cousins in 10+ years!! We had a wonderful time with Uncle Andrew. Marcus still asks me when he is coming back. Thanks for a great visit Andrew. We love you!!

Seth Sits Up!

October 26 he finally sat up unassisted. He had been rolling over since 3 months, army crawling since 5 months but he just would not sit-up, not until 7 months. Good using those muscles Sethy-pooh!

Pumpkin Carving

We had such a fun evening carving pumpkins this year. We loved the Mr. Pumpkin Head kit Grandma Lake sent Marcus. It took just enough carving (making holes) to make him happy, then he stuck the pieces in the holes. He kept trying the pieces and if they didn't fit he would say "This is not easy" then he would carve a little more. Jon & I printed templates off the internet and came out with some pretty good lookin' jack o' lanterns!!

Seth Has Teeth...

4 TEETH TO BE EXACT!!
One day he was starting to get one and after a lot of drooling, crying,
bleeding, and chewing on whatever he could
get in his mouth he had 4!

No teeth in this picture but I thought it was too cute to pass up.
(He looks all cute and happy in this picture but that only happens for 15 minutes in a day!)
Anyone want a 7 month old!?!

Michelle Turns 30!!!

This had to be one of my best birthday's ever! Wow, what a day I had with friends and family! This is definitely how turning 30 should be! It was a day of relaxing, fun and a great time spent with friends and family. Thank you Jon, Marcus, Seth, Rowan & Sara for helping me celebrate!

Rowan & Sara made us breakfast. One of my favorites, omelets with Havarti cheese. A dish I came to love while staying with Rowan's family in Toronto.

Then I had to go on a treasure hunt for my presents. Rowan & Jon & Marcus had hide them all over the house and i had to play the Hot & Cold game to find them. Marcus was actually a BIG help (he showed me where they were!) Rowan & Sara gave me some beautiful earrings (I found them in the fridge). The boys gave me some clothes and 2 fabulous watches (those were in the side closet). I even found a present I had hide on the fridge from the Scherer's, a Willow Tree statue of 2 boys. And I got some great cards from the family. Wendy gave me a card that had you turn the number 30 all around, then inside it said "See, turning 30 is fun!" Russell gave me a great card that read "Statistics show those who have the most birthdays, live the longest" I couldn't stop laughing! Thanks everyone for the gifts, money & cards!

Then we headed up to Park City... I was so excited to do the Alpine Coaster, the Trampoline Launch and eat Rocky Mountain Caramel Apples! We had a fantastic day in Park City feeling young and free!

Yep, That's ME!!! What a rush, it was kinda scary and really fun. Thanks for doing it with me Sara! (Marcus did it too!)

We had a wonderful dinner at a little French Bistro. We walked up and down Main Street looking at menu's and smelling the restaurants. What a great pick. thank you for a great birthday dinner Rowan & Sara. Love, Michelle

Thank You Jon & Marcus, but mostly Jon for a wonderful 30th birthday.
I Love You!!
(P.S. this definitely made up for last year....although I won't ever let it go...)

Ward Halloween Party

Thankfully Grandma came to visit so she was here to help with our Halloween costumes! We threw them together hours before the ward party. I wasn't too stressed about the costumes because Halloween was still a week away, but then I remembered that the kids were to wear their costumes to the ward party so we bought Seth the Monkey costume (that one was easy) but, Marcus wanted to be a Ghost. I know what you are thinking, a ghost has to be super easy - use a sheet right!?! However, I was quite particular about how I wanted my ghost to look! So a wal-mart ghost costume, a white hooded sweatshirt, gray sweatpants and about an hour of sewing and this is what we got...The cutest Ghost ever! Just so you know, Marcus was a nice ghost, not a mean ghost...

We also had fun seeing our friends all dressed up. Abby & Elly were very Pretty Princess and Luke the Cowboy was very nice to share his extra gun with Marcus. And on a sad note, my chili didn't win, it didn't even come close. Don't worry, next year I am sticking with the all time favorite White Chicken Chili!

Our Little Boy

Marcus Howard Edward Bacon
October 2007

Marcus Preschool Class

Marcus loves his preschool. He has a wonderful teacher named Missy and he has made many new friends. Missy always has something nice to say about Marcus when I pick him up. He is a good listener and a good sharer at school. She especially likes that he is so happy and makes the other kids laugh.

Seth Eating A Strawberry

Seth has been wanting real people food (or at least to put food in his mouth) for a long time. So I gave in and gave him a strawberry, and he loved it. Please no lectures on what you should feed a 6 month old and thanks to Clorox Oxy Clean the strawberry came off the clothes! It was so worth the 10 minutes of Seth sitting in his chair as "Happy as a Mouse"! (And do I have to say, He loves the camera!?!)

Marcus singing the ABC's

Hoogle Zoo

What a wonderful time we had at the Zoo.
As soon as we walked through the gates Marcus spotted the train and so of course we had to take a ride!
So we piled on board and took a very fast trip around the zoo.
Marcus loved seeing all the animals his favorites were the Elephants & Monkeys (orangutans). We actually had a really cool experience with the mom & baby orangutans (not caught on camera because Jon was outside with Seth). Marcus and I were standing looking in the window at them searching for food in the hay on the floor. The room started to get really crowded so we knelt down so others behind us could see. The mom orangutan started scooting towards us so we put our faces closer to the glass and then next thing we knew she was giving us a kiss on the glass! She came right up to our faces! I put my hand up on the glass and (yes, just like in the movie Return To Me) she put her hand up right on mine! WOW! How often does that happen. Marcus thought it was the greatest thing and so he wanted to stay. Good thing we did because a few minutes later the baby came over and also gave us a kiss! Double WOW! Everyone in the room was freaking out saying "look, look" and oohing (I even heard one person say, "Where's the camera?") Well, when we got up to leave one man said to us that that was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I definitely will not forget it, Marcus might so hopefully one day he can read this and maybe remember...

American Fork Canyon

We took a family outing up American Fork Canyon to enjoy what was left of our "nice" weather and spend some quality family time together. All around we had a really enjoyable time being together as a family and out in nature.

We couldn't believe that the leaves had started to change. It was absolutely beautiful. There was every color from read to purple on the side of the mountain.

Yes, let me address this then you can enjoy the rest of the pictures. Mom wasn't too prepared for the windy fall weather. Luckily she had brought an extra shirt for herself that was transformed into a tuque for Marcus. Hey, it kept his ears and head warm! Unfortunately it was bright pink...

Unfortunately, I didn't have anything for the hands. But Marcus thought he was pretty cool putting them in his pockets.

On the trail...

The boys were much happier to be back in the car. It got colder and more windy on our way back to the car. We had to have the heater on high and defrost for a few minutes.

So being too cold outside we decided to drive the alpine loop. It takes you through the canyon past Sundance and you end up in Orem. If anyone has ever driven with Jon you know he is fast and crazy and this was no exception. Especially on the curvy roads he thinks he is on the hills of France in his Maserati! Well, halfway into our drive Marcus started telling us his tummy hurt.. So for the next half hour I kept asking him if he was hungry (you know Marcus, he hadn't eaten anything all day...) Just as we were coming out of the canyon he started screaming and threw-up all over himself... ( luckily I guess he had only had milk in the last few hours...) Of course after that he felt much better! But...

Thank goodness we had the PINK SHIRT!!!

Who's Who???

Can you guess which one is Marcus and which is Seth?
These pictures are of the boys at 6 months!
(don't scroll down!)

Post-dating

I've been doing a lot of post dating just because I'm using the blog as a kind of scrapbook and want the pictures to be posted on the date or very close to the date they were taken. So, you might need to scroll down a bit to see any new posts!

Seth Eating A Pickle!

This is a video of Seth eating his first pickle. I think he actually likes it!
Oh the things we do to our kids...

Seth found his thumb!!

Well out of the blue at about 5 months Seth found his thumb and as they say the rest is history... At this point I think it is a miracle. If he's hungry he starts to suck his thumb, if he's tired he starts to suck his thumb then I feed him and then put him in bed and he rolls over and starts to suck his thumb. I know, when he's 8 it won't be the greatest thing, and when I have to fork over the dough to get him braces because he has pushed his teeth out I won't like it very much, but right now we all think it is the greatest thing in the world. Seth has been a wonderful baby. He is eating baby food with great fervor, he sleeps 12 hours straight at night, and loves playing on the floor with Marcus. Of course we have our days when he just wants to be held and won't take a decent nap which makes for a very long day. But for the most part Seth is a wonderful baby and we feel so blessed to have him in our family! We love you Sethy-pooh!!