Eli Meets Santa!

We went to our neighborhood "Breakfast with Santa" and Eli got to meet Santa for the first time!  It went better than I would have expected, but you can see Eli's train of thought in the photos we snapped.

So far, so good.  Eli is given a candy cane and ready to tell Santa that he has been a good boy this year

 Soon, he realizes that there is a bunch of kids laughing and looking at him so he gets a little nervous

 And finally the crying begins.  Santa sure looks anxious to give him back to mom.

Can't wait til next year!

Let The Battle End

Well, once again we made it through November!  November brings many things to the Whitchurch home - our wedding anniversary, cold weather, Thanksgiving, etc. However, around here it also means football . . and more importantly, the Holy War!  The war between good and Utah.  This means the beginning of cat fights, snide comments, 8 hours of football every Saturday (thank heaven for bye weeks), I could go on and on.

I grew up going to BYU football games. Every Saturday, BYU football was on TV. Papa Burton has had season tickets for who knows how long and one of the first songs I ever learned was the BYU fight song. Zach on the other hand literally grew up feet from the University of Utah. The Whitchurch Family lives, breathes, and sleeps Utah football.  Now that we have a son, our passion for our teams seemed to be escalated even more.  We are anxiously awaiting the day when Eli is able to decide for himself which school he will cheer for.

         When Zach gets Eli dressed                          When I get Eli dressed

 This is what we decided on for Saturday's game. . .  and look how happy he looks. 

So farewell to the last ‘real’ season of the BYU/Utah rivalry in the Whitchurch abode.  Although they will still be playing each other, it won't be quite the same. . .It's probably a good thing!

Thankful For. . .

This little guy



4 Months Old!

Our baby is 4 months old today!  Crazy how fast time flies.  Eli is such a sweet baby and we have loved watching him hit every milestone thus far. 

Eli posing with his "E" 

 (actually a little something Zach had from going to East High, but it works perfect for Eli right?)

 I love nothing more than the 'gummy' smiles he gives us every day

 Eli is very alert and is always watching everything we do very closely.  LOVE those big blue eyes.

One of Eli's favorite people bought him this toy that he absolutely LOVES.  You know who you are and we thank you for everything you do for us!

Lately. . .

Wow, I can't hardly believe that September is over!  This month just flew by, here are some of our highlights from this month. . .

Zach played in an nerf-gun war with some peeps in the neighborhood . . .  and loved every minute of it!

My Birthday! 

Zach Surprised me with tickets to go and see the Lion King! Absolutely Amazing!

Sports!

We've been keeping busy getting back into our sporty lifestyle and taking Eli with us everywhere we go!  Lucky for us, I think we have a sports fanatic on our hands, he LOVES watching sports!  Whether it's the Real Games, Zach's Softball games, my basketball games, or our soccer games, Eli is there cheering too.

Utah State Fair. 

 (In my opinion, the best place to people watch, pure entertainment)

Fun with Friends

Oh, and last but certainly not least, our BASEMENT FLOODED!  Totally random, one day I went to do a load of laundry and the next minute, water is ankle deep in our kitchen.  Luckily, I saved it from ruining our carpet.  We spent about three days after cleaning up the whole mess. 

 Notice Eli in the background just hanging out in his swing.  He was sooo good when all the chaos happened and just watched as we tried to save some stuff by throwing it in the family room.

Eli's Blessing Day

I absolutey love when babies are blessed. Last Sunday, we blessed our little Eli and it was so special. Zach did a beautiful job and said such wonderful things to Eli. 

Lake Tahoe!

The whole Burton/McConnell Family packed their bags and met in Lake Tahoe for an awesome family fun trip!  My wonderful parents and all of my siblings (sans the 3 boys on missions) were able to go, 22 people total!!

Let me just say this. . .Lake Tahoe is BE-U-TIFUL!  We had never been there before and this is defiantly a place we will be going back to in the future.  We loved it.  The weather was perfect, the scenery was gorgeous, and there was so many fun things to do and see. Here is just a few things we did:

Relaxing by the Pool

Who doesn't love doing this?  Eli and I hung out on the comfy chairs and watched all the cousins party in the pool. . . pure entertainment.

Boat Ride to Emerald Cove

We all boarded the MS Dixie II boat for an awesome ride on the lake.  We got to see Emerald Cove, (apparently the 2nd most photographed place in the US). 

The Beach

Ahhh, the beach.  There's something so relaxing about hearing the sound of the small waves crashing on the shore.  The water in Lake Tahoe is soooo blue and clear!  Zach said to me, "I know this sounds weird, but you should just take a swig of the lake water."  Ummm, no thanks!  

 Eli in a Pink onesie.  Why you ask?  Well, we had been out and about this whole day doing things, Eli had already had a blowout and the onesie that I kept in my diaper bag had already gone to use for that.  When we were at the beach he had another blowout!  Thankfully, Eli's cousin Brynn had an extra pink onesie (thanks Hillary).  Eli and Brynn are only 3 weeks apart, she was only two weeks old on this vacation and both she and Eil were super good!

Heavenly Village Gondola Ride

Our hotel was in Heavenly Village in South Lake Tahoe.  We literally walked right outside the hotel doors and boarded the gondola for a 20 minute ride up the mountain.  After a quick stop for some photos, we continued up and had lunch at the top.  We had some awesome views of the massive lake.

Zach and Eric both share the same birthday, which happened to be while we were there.  We celebrated at one of the local restaurants.

Love this little guy

Grammy Debi bought all the grandkids cute matching pajamas

She also had the great idea for this photo. . . Eli is number 9

Thanks Dad and Debs for one of the best trips ever!