Gingerbread Houses

Our friends the Fairbourn's organized a Gingerbread house decorating party. They made all the pieces for the houses and frosting too. Everyone else brought the candy to decorate. We had so much fun and Thank You Fairbourn's for putting it on. We really appreciated it. These are the pictures of the gingerbread house that we made. I didn't get any pictures with others.

Family Christmas Cards

This is a cute Christmas card that my sister LaRell put together for us. She took the Photos outside my parents house in Idaho during our visit in September. She takes wonderful pictures and does great editing work too. Her blog is larellsteele.blogspot.com, and her website is zeldashouse.com if you want to see more cute pictures of our family look thru the album gallery for "Darling Dakota" and "Tharon Alicia and Dakota"

More News!!!

So if you haven't noticed the ticker to the right then this will be news to you. We are going to be having another child at the end of May. We will keep you posted when we find out the sex on 1/5/2010.

Tharon was accepted to an orthodontics residency

Well we did match, but where in the world will we be going?
Drum roll please.....
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We will be residing in Chicago, IL for 3 years after dental school starting in August 2010.

Early Christmas

This was a gift from Grandpa & Grandma Cooley. Dakota had some adjusting to do with it. He was use to standing up in his old one all the time, so I guess you could say that Tharon and I probably enjoy it just a little bit more than Dakota.

Here is Dakota dress up just cute as can be in an outfit picked out by our friend Karen (KG). Thanks!

Oh look here he is again! Still can't believe he is one.

Dakota Turned 1!

Alicia has been putting a lot of work into Dakota's first birthday.

This is his birthday blanket with embroidery from her sewing machine received last Christmas.

It took a long time but Dakota loves to snuggle in his new soft warm blanket.

This is the finished product. Alicia made an identical one for William Permann a few months ago.

Alicia also made the cutest NASCAR cake for Dakota's birthday party. This is the three layer cake before the fondant . . . her first cake ever using fondant. Yellow base layer.A few M&M's added.The finished product after piping and some cute details. Red cream Oreo tires and M&M faces.
It looked awesome!!! The #18 is Kyle Bush's car who is Tharon's favorite NASCAR driver, and a Toyota . . . our favorite car company. The car cake for Dakota and the #18 design for Tharon : )

Alicia and some friends at Dakota's Birthday celebration. Holly, Dakota, Alicia, Karen (KG). We had many great friends over for cake and ice cream (Fairbourn's, Wood's, Rudd's, KG) while others couldn't make it due to the holiday travels. Poor Dakota will always have to share his birthday with Thanksgiving. Eventually Alicia made me (Tharon) cut into Dakota's cake after many hours of laboring to make it. Dakota made quick work of his first cake.Toy cars are never far from this kid. . . even when eating cake. Starting to get a bit messy. He thought cake was pretty good. We love our little boy and cannot belive how fast this year has gone by.

Had enough yet?

He likes to crawl into the laundry basket and play around. Here is the proof. We also found out yesterday that one of his molars has come through. Plus he will be one on the 25th. How did he grow up so fast?
The only picture we happened to take to our quick trip to Chicago. You can't tell but there are a bunch of tall buildings behind us. Dakota is all decked out in his camo outfit. How cute is that!

Richmond, Virginia

These are some pictures of our adventures in Richmond. We went to an estate called Maymont. They had this children's center and we saw lots of animals. Otters, snakes, deer, turtles, farm animals, and some more I can't think of now.
I spotted this sign so we had to stop to take a picture.

This is Monument Avenue in front of, I think General Lee.

We also went (but don't have any proof with pictures) to the Museum of the Confederacy, the White House of Jefferson Davis, the Holocaust Museum, Carytown, Short Pump, Bass Pro Shop, Belle Island, to name a few.

Trouble Maker

Look at all the mischief this kid is! And this is just one. He also figured out how to stand up in his highchair. Aaahhhh! He can also reach a lot higher now. I could keep on going, but I won't bore you.

This is what happens when you try to take pictures of your child. He gets in your face!

Just thought his feet and toes where so cute!

Halloween

I know you all have been dying to see what we dressed up as for Halloween. (Ok so maybe you only wanted to see Dakota). If you can't tell we are the Wizard of Oz.

Kansas City, MO (CoCo Keys Waterpark)

Yup you guessed it another trip revolving around one of Tharon's interviews. Althought the only pictures we happened to take in the city was when we went to the waterpark. We did also visit Liberty Jail and the visitor center in Independence, but no camera. We also drove around the city and saw the Kansas City Speedyway and Cabela's. So hope you enjoy, I know we did.
Sliding down the kiddy slide. There was a tube and body slide that Tharon and I both went down. Haven't done that in so long, it was fun.

Dakota just loved the kiddy pool, and thought he could swim by himself more than once.

We also enjoyed the huge hot tub minus Dakota.

The Gateway Arch

These are pictures of the view from the top of the Arch. It was so awesome to look down from that high up. Glad I'm not afraid of heights.

On our way we took some shots from across the street. With Daddy...

and Mommy.

I was surprised by how small the tram was that took us to the top. Tharon was not because he had been here before and so he remembered some of it. It was a little bubble with only five seats, but it was fun to ride in. So thankful that they are so well maintained. :)

Dakota had fun crawling around and peeking out the windows. I did too but just without the crawling.

Family photo. The sign says it is 630 feet from the top to the ground. It was a little weird to look straight down. Just a quick peek.

Visit to Rochester & Palmyra, NY

We made a trek to Rochester, NY for one of Tharon's orthodontic interviews and while we were there and since Palmyra is so close we decided to explore the surrounding area. It was fun! We headed first to the Palmyra Temple. The temple was small and so were the grounds, but it was so beautiful. The trees had just started showing their fall colors. Fun fact: The Palmyra Temple is the only temple that has a window you can look through. That is what the picture above is showing, and the picture below is the view of the Sacred Grove from that same window.

This is inside the Smith's Log Cabin. It was a little cold for our visit. I can't imagine living in that house for the winter. Bbrrr....

Daddy and Dakota having some fun exploring the Sacred Grove. Although he eventually fell asleep in my arms carrying him around.

Someone was nice enough to take a picture of us. It had just rained so the Sacred Grove was quiet and very peaceful.

We imaged all the places that Joseph Smith could have had his experience with the appearance of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

We also went to Hill Cumorah and went to the top of the hill to see the monument and the view. Very beautiful. You could see on the grass below where the pagent had been held in July. One day I would like to see the pagent.

Dakota absolutely loved bumping down the stairs, as you can see from the expression on his face!

We also went to the place where the Book of Mormon was first published. We didn't go on the tour because of lack of time, but we bought Dakota a book about Jesus (cause you can never find them at garage sales).

Last of all we drove up to Ontario Lake and stopped where we could get out and explore the shore. As you can see Dakota isn't looking at the camera. He is too busy looking at those cool waves splashing against the shore.

All in all we liked the area. Now we just wait to see where life will take us next.