Nope...that didn't work

I still need to blog Thanksgiving and all the weekend festivities, but I'm not feeling that motivated yet. Instead here's one cute little Vance story from this weekend -


We went to Arizona with just our little family Friday-Sunday for a get-away. It was Vance's first time in a hotel room with just Mom and Dad. He thought it was amazing. His favorite part was jumping on the bed.


Well one morning Chad and I were just relaxing in bed while he was being a monkey. He climbed up on the chair and then stood on top of the table. He said "Gotta press my button!" He then pressed his chest. Then he said, "Got my wings now!" and he put his arms out to the side. Have I mentioned he is obsessed with Buzz Lightyear? Obviously my son now has wings that can be activated with a touch of his "button."


After he got his "wings" ready he took a leap of faith from the table to the bed. The bed was really high up so he could only get on it by jumping or asking for help. Well the table was apparently a little farther away then he thought because after his leap through the air he fell flat on the ground. Chad and I looked at each other, ready to go comfort him.


Vance didn't even cry. He stood up and said to himself, "Nope...that didn't work" and started to try it again!!!


He cracks me up! He constantly is attempting tricks and when he gets hurt he isn't even phased. We moved the table a little closer and watched him "fly" himself to the bed over and over again. Vance would have been happy if we never left the hotel.


More on Thanksgiving coming soon...

I'm grateful for...

I have a lot of friends who have been doing a post a day about what they are grateful for. Instead I decided to do one big list of what I'm grateful for. This is mostly for journaling purposes so feel free to stop reading any time.

I'm thankful for -

CHAD. He is my rock. He makes the good times great and the bad times seem not so bad. He is an amazing father. He loves to get down and play with Vance. He is a hard-worker and I know he will always do his best to provide for our family. He is such a dedicated student. He has really focused on school lately and his efforts are paying off. I couldn't be prouder of the success he has had in school lately! He is patient and normally just goes with the flow. He pampers me and truly makes me feel like a princess. He is so funny and does his best to keep me on my toes. He is so athletic (almost annoyingly so) and handy. He constantly amazes me with what he is able to accomplish. I love you honey!!!

VANCE. I feel so blessed to have a child. He brings joy to my life every single day. I'm so grateful for his huge personality. He makes me laugh multiple times throughout the day. He never stops talking and I love to sit and listen to whatever he babbles. I love the moments he takes to sit and cuddle his mama. Chad and I have been trying for what feels like forever for another kid. In that time I feel like I have become more appreciative of the child I have been blessed with. I try my hardest not to take advantage of these fun/busy years with Vance.

MY FAMILY. Where would I be without my family?! My parents are always there to keep my company when Chad is busy (which is pretty much every weekday). They are always willing to help out with Vance. I appreciate their support, friendship, helping hands, and love! I'm also so grateful to for my sisters. They really are my best friends. I love each of them for different reasons and at times think I take for granted all they have given me in my life. I am grateful for all my nieces and nephews too. They keep my life interesting. I love watching them grow up and I absolutely LOVE that they still ask to come over to Aunt Alli and Uncle Chad's house.

CHAD'S FAMILY. I honestly think of Chad's family as my own. Of course we may not see them quite as much, but I'm so grateful for my mother-in-law who is constantly trying to juggle our schedules to get us together. It can be crazy, but it is always fun. I'm so grateful for how much they adore Vance. When we are with them, it's like he is their shining star. He absolutely loves to be with them. I'm also grateful for the friendship of his siblings. I'm grateful for his two brothers on missions and for the example they are to us.

THE GOSPEL. Where would I be without Christ in my life? I'm so grateful to know the love Jesus has for me. I'm thankful for the atonement and for the ability we have to repent of our sins and become clean again. I'm grateful for the guidance the scriptures and the church leaders offer us. I'm thankful for the power of prayer and for the many blessings I have received because of it. I'm also grateful for the comfort and strength He gives me when I need it.

OUR JOBS. In these economic times I am so grateful that Chad and I have both been blessed with steady employment. Chad may not be at his dream job but it pays the bills and we don't have to worry. I have the most amazing employer who allows me to set my own schedule and bring Vance with me whenever I need to.

OUR THINGS. I am grateful for all the our stuff. I know this broad but being on a budget has truly taught me how to be more grateful for everything we have. This is everything from our house and cars to toilet paper and socks. I'm so glad to know that all of our needs and many of our wants are fulfilled.

OUR FRIENDS. Chad and I have been blessed with some amazing friends. Living in the same place our whole lives has allowed us to make and keep a lot of friendships. I know we always have people to call if we ever need anything. I'm grateful for the old-school friendships as well as the brand new friendships. I love the new area we live in and how quick everyone was to befriend us. Henderson already feels like home! I feel like we have a friend to meet whatever need we may have. I hope all of our friends now how much we appreciate their friendship!

BLOGGING. I love the outlet blogging gives me. Whether something great or horrible is happening to me, I love to write it down and share it. The writing process is so therapeutic. I also love the other bloggers and the online friendships we share. I love the way blogging has helped me journal and document almost everything that happens in our family. I consider blogging one of my favorite hobbies ;) On this same note I'm grateful for my camera and for the memories I am to capture with it.

VEGAS. I know so many people who dislike living here, but I love it. I'm big into researching what's happening in Vegas. As a result of that I feel like Chad and I have been able to experience a lot of things we may not have been able to experience somewhere else. I love that there is always something to do and that a lot of it is free!

BOOKS. This year I have rediscovered my love for reading. Getting lost in a good book is exactly what I need at the end of a stressful days. I love easy reads that let me pretend everything turns out perfect and life can be a fairy tale. I'm also grateful for deeper books that keep me intellectually stimulated. I love the questions I have after reading a book about social injustice or love or whatever the topic may be.

DISNEY. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but the movies Cars and Toy Story help me stay sane some days. Also the Cars toys provide Vance with hours and hours of entertainment. As a mother, I need that time!

I'm sure there is lots, LOTS more that I am forgetting, but there are plenty more years to write about those things right?! I hope you all have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I LOVE...

BLACK FRIDAY!!!

My sisters, my mom, and I LOVE Black Friday. We pretty much view it as a holiday. Thanksgiving day is more the tradition you have to do in order to go shopping the next day. To compare it to food, Thanksgiving day is green beans and Black Friday is the pie!

We were at lunch today and were starting to talk about our plans for Friday (yes, we make plans!). The conversation was so funny that I wanted to document it. Now remember when you get 4 Sutton girls together the conversation moves fast and everyone talks at once. Here is what we sounded like:

Leslie: I have two people who want to go shopping with us.

Amy, Jennie, and I: What?! You invited friends? Can they keep up?

Leslie: Oh - don't worry. I already told them if they want to come with us they will go to what stores we want to go to when we decide to go to them.

Amy: They aren't going to be slow are they?

Jennie: Because we will leave them!

Allison: So what's everyone's plans on Thursday? I wasn't sure if we were going home after dinner or if we would go to Mom's. What are you guys doing?

Jennie: Uh hello! We have to go through the ads and come up with a plan at Mom's!

Leslie: Where are we going to go shopping? I like the Walmart by Alli but it's too busy. The only problem with Mom's is that there is no Toys R Us.

Amy: We have quite a few of the stores over by us.

Leslie: The problem with that is we waste too much time driving.

Amy: So what time are starting anyway?

Leslie: Toys R Us open at 10 and Walmart is at midnight. That gives us plenty of time to finish Toys R Us and make sure we are at Walmart by midnight. Last time I was pissed because we missed so many things.

Allison: Me too. I definitely want to be at Walmart by midnight.

So that is just a glimpse of the conversation It went on for at least 15 minutes. We were planning Black Friday like it was an important business deal. We thought of every situation, analyzed it, made a decision, and moved on to the next topic. We are SERIOUS about our shopping! Already I can hardly sleep I'm getting so excited! Every Black Friday I'm so grateful to live by all my sisters and my mom. Shopping together is so much fun!!!

2 more days until the real holiday begins!

Rappelling Redrock

It's a Waldron family tradition to go rappelling on Thanksgiving day. This year Chad's parents are going to be out of town so we did it a little early. It was fun, and I'm glad we didn't miss out on this tradition!

This was our attempt at a family picture. Clearly Vance wasn't interested.

Vance likes to go "aussie-style" to give me a heart attack. This is when you basically run face-first down the cliff. I HATE watching him do it. He hasn't ever gotten heart, but he has stumbled a few times!

Vance wanted to go, so I agreed as long as I went right by him. We harnessed him to Papa so he was super safe. Here we are at the top.

I'm on the left. Papa and Vance are in the middle and Chad is on the right. I was worried Vance was get scared, but he loved it. He was sad he had the "slow" rope, but I appreciated Papa taking it nice and easy ;)

Nana was at the bottom belaying her precious cargo. When we made it to the bottom she was there to snap our picture.

When Vance wasn't rappelling he was playing with the toys Nana brought. I LOVE this next picture. His face looks so perfect and innocent! I hope it stays that way :)

It was super cold, but Vance was happy to bundle up and eat some snacks.

I love this tradition and hope we'll continue for many more years!

Hash House A Go-Go

I've wanted to go to Hash House A Go-Go for quite awhile now. I got a gift card at the beginning of the year but for whatever reason we hadn't used it. My sister was babysitting Vance on Friday so we decided to try it out. It was so yummy. The portions were ridiculously HUGE!

My favorite part was the appetizer ribs. They were seriously the best ribs I have ever had.

By the time dinner came I was already a little full. I literally think I ate maybe a quarter of my dinner. I got a sage chicken benedict something rather and Chad got chicken and waffles.
They describe the food as farm food with a twist. Whatever you call it, it was delicious! Now I want to go back for breakfast sometime!

Pack-pack

Vance has a Cars "pack-pack" that he absolutely loves. It has wheels so you can pull it, but lately he has insisted on wearing it.

It wouldn't be that big of a deal except he packs the thing full of every car he owns. It is SO heavy! If his center of balance wavers the backpack tips him over. It's kind of funny to watch, but the crying after he falls is ridiculous.

I finally told him that he absolutely had to limit what was put in the backpack. We came to an agreement and he has been wearing the backpack (with much less falling) ever since.

R-E-B-E-L-S PART 2

I don't plan on posting every time we go to a basketball game but I forgot to post a video I took of Colton and Vance on the last post. Since then my parents went to a game with Vance and I so this is a combination post. Wow that was a lot of boring info! Anyway...

As always Vance loved having Nana and Papa around! (Sorry you look a little drunk Mom - it's the best picture I had)

Grandpa let him crawl all over him. We definitely need to start working on personal space at our house.

One reason Vance loves Nana and Papa so much is they spoil him rotten. They bought him a UNLV Rebel basketball. He has played with it nonstop since the game!

How cute are these red high-top Converse's?! I L-O-V-E them and Vance in them. He was going to the bathroom during the game and started pointing to the stall next to him. Then he said, "Mom - that durl has red chooks (Chucks) too!" Haha

Me and my favorite Rebel fan!

And the reason for the whole post is this video. I don't normally do videos but you have to watch this. Colton is doing the "re-bels, re-bels" cheer and Vance is doing who knows what?! I didn't tell them to do any of this. They did all on their own and did so throughout the whole game. They are so funny!!!

R-E-B-E-L-S

My sister told me her sons were starting to become BYU fans and I just can't have that. On Friday we were babysitting and we took that opportunity to make them Rebel fans. We got tickets to the basketball game, told them to wear Rebel red (I had to explain what I meant), and taught them the cheers.

The boys had a BLAST! They were all smiles and cheers the whole game. Vance and Colton were so funny. Randomly Colton would start yelling, "Re-bels, Re-bels, RE-BELS!" He would move his arm in Rebel fashion as he said it. Vance would hold up one finger and yell, "Woo-hoo! YEAH!!!"

Brayden and Logan were more into the game and the score. Every time UNLV took a shot Logan would either say, "Aw man!" or "YES!" depending on the result. Brayden gave everybody the score update. He would always let us know how much UNLV was winning by (a lot in case you were wondering).
This picture is proof I was there too (even though I look pretty hammered).

Here's my favorite basketball players getting the job done. The final score was 80 something to 40 something. Rebels win!!!

I think by the end of the night the boys were coming around and starting to be Rebel fans. Get your REB on!!!

Love These Girls

Last week we had freezer meals. I DREAD freezer meal night. It is a lot of work and makes for a VERY long day. This month however everyone worked really fast and we finished earlier than normal. To celebrate, a few of us went out for dessert and I was reminded of one of the main reasons I LOVE freezer meal group - the AMAZING women (including the ones who didn't come for dessert!

The women in the group make preparing 128 meals in one night bearable...dare I say FUN even!!! In the midst of all the work, we make mistakes together, tease each other, and laugh A LOT. Thanks to all you wonderful ladies who help make sure my family eats a yummy dinner every night!

PS - Don't judge how gross we all look. It was 10:30 on a Wednesday night and we had just assembled 128 dinners. What did you do Wednesday?!

Games & Friends

Awhile back I posted about a lake trip we took with some friends. Since then, we have all been getting together once a month at our house to eat dinner and play games. It is such a FUN group of people. We're all a little bit competitive so games can get intense!

After the girls whooped the guys in Cranium, we played Just Dance 2 on the Wii. If you have never played it you need to. It's so fun and hilarious to watch. Here are the guys trying their hardest to follow the dance commands.

Next the girls had to show them how it's done.

The pictures don't do the game justice so you'll just have to take my word - buy the game! Thanks everyone for coming over - as always it was a blast.

Drive In Movies

We went to the drive-ins last weekend to see Megamind and Shrek Ever After. It was the perfect night for the drive-ins!!!
We all brought dinner and hung out for awhile for the shows started.

The kids were in absolute heaven! I think Vance ate his body weight in popcorn...seriously!

My favorite part of the drive-ins is being able to watch the movie all cuddled up. Luckily we pawned Vance off on Grandpa and Grandma and Chad and I snuggled up in the back of our car. Chad fell asleep like 20 minutes into the first movie, but I still liked having him there!

It was a great night. I'm bummed we have to wait until spring to go again, but it's too cold in the winter for the drive-ins!

Sunset Park

My dad and Rob have been a little slow at work and have more free time than they know what to do with. I was bored on Friday and everyone else was busy so the two of them met me at Sunset Park to feed the ducks with Vance!

Vance had so much fun with Uncle Rob and Papa. I did too! They carried Vance, took him potty, and basically did everything.

After we fed the ducks all the food we brough, Vance wanted to go to the playground. They had a clear part on the slide where you could look into it and Vance thought it was hilarious!

He convinced all of us to go down the slide while he laid on top and looked at us. Papa's on the right making his way up to the slide and Rob is making sure Vance doesn't fall.

Rob taught Vance how to go down the slide on his back - head first. Vance wasn't sure he loved it, but he loved laying on Rob and watching him fall out the slide. Rob is such a good sport.

Later my mom and Jennie picked up lunch and came to the park too. Vance was the only kid there. I have to admit it was kind of perfect. Since Vance is the youngest grandkid, most of the time we end up doing things that are more aimed for the older kids and Vance more or less just goes along for the ride. This afternoon was all about him!!! We did exactly what he wanted, when he wanted. He didn't have to share or take turns or do any of those other not fun things. I loved it because it meant I didn't have to play referee! I could just sit back and watch him have fun.

Thanks guys for having such a fun day with Vance! It means a lot!!!

You could say...

we have a Cars obsession at our house. I would definitely say if your bathtub ever looks like this than you do too!

He loves his Cars and collects them from everyone's house. Everywhere he goes he sniffs the Cars figures out and somehow convinces the kid and their parent's that they should give them to him because either the kid is getting a little old or they have multiples of certain cars or however else he swindles them.

I also may be a little (or a lot) guilty of buying him quite a few! I just love how excited he gets every time we buy him a new one. It's only $3.50/car and he gets so excited. One of the joys of only having one kid right now is being able to spoil him rotten...and I love every second of it!!! Hopefully we can have more kids soon because if not, Vance is going to be even more spoiled rotten than he already is!

I'm a stud!

We got Vance a few new things for church. Chad got him dressed and when Vance came out he declared, "I'M A STUD!!!"

I have to say I couldn't agree more!

Trick or Treat

We had so much fun this Halloween. I feel like every holiday with Vance just gets more and more exciting. It's a blast as he gets older and starts to understand everything!

Vance did some "trunk or treating" at church on Friday and Saturday (more below) so we stayed home to pass out candy on Sunday. Vance was HILARIOUS!!! Every time someone knocked on the door he would grab the candy bowl and go running to open the door. He insisted on passing out all the candy himself and would only give each kid one piece and one piece only. As he did he couldn't contain the excitement and jumped in circles and skipped around. I really should have got out the video camera.
We decided to let him keep the door open and he would just lay there next to the bowl of candy waiting for the next group of kids to come. Luckily we live in a neighborhood with LOTS of kids so he was busy until we ran out of candy.

So for those of you who don't know what a trunk-or-treat is - you get a bunch of people together, decorate your trunk, and kids go from car to car getting candy. Vance went to two trunk-or-treats and got plenty of candy.

The whole family dressed up on Saturday. Don't we look like the real deal?

Friday we went to my parent's trunk-or-treat. My mom and dad and Jennie's family dressed up as Kiss.Vance quickly caught on to the concept and ran from car to car yelling "Trick or treat! Happy Halloween!!!"He loved looking at all the Halloween decorations. He would just stand and stare at them. I think next year we might need to buy some more Halloween decorations for around the house.Vance liked going to Aunt Jennie and Uncle Rob's car because they gave him lots of candy. They must love him!Here he is with Grandpa at the end of the night looking at all his treats. Don't think for a second that he wanted to share even one piece! He was a stingy little booger! I was a mean mom though and he gave out the majority of his candy to the trick-or-treaters who came to the house on Sunday.

It was a great Halloween season and now I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, but really want to decorate the house for Christmas already. Is it too early still?!