Three times and counting.

We are currently battling our third nasty cold. Yes, three times. This poor kid took after his mom when it comes to colds. I'm convinced it's this family that keeps them alive. We pass it back and forth until the season is over. Luckily, He is such a trooper. He may be a goopy mess but he always has a smile on his face. Thank heavens for that. Lets hope this is our last time around and we can officially kick it to the curb!

Liam's portrait 3

Liam has his own version of "Thumbs up."

when a son loves his father.

There is nothing more satisfying and heart filling than seeing how much your husband and son love each other. Having him home for two weeks during the holidays was such a blessing and the time my boys had to be together was the perfect way to end the year and begin a new one. It really showd me how fast things change and how fast time passes.
When Kristofer first left for basic training, Liam was young enough to not completely understand that dad was missing for quite some time. Though I didn't realize it then, it actually made things a lot easier for me. I had a happy little baby to keep me busy and keep my mind off of how much I missed my husband.
Now that I have a (almost) two year old, he's old enough to know things are "off." When we dropped Kristofer off at the airport this last time, Liam assumed he would be back. He continued to bring me "dada shoe", knocking on closed doors expecting dad to be behind them, and running to the phone every time in rang or chimed, figuring it must be dad. I'll be honest, seeing that our little boy became so used to daddy being home in such a short time and noticing instantly that he was now missing, it made things so much harder. I was now not only keeping my mind off of missing Kris, but I was now trying to keep two minds off of our missing piece.
Luckily, schedules adapt, you get back into your own rhythm, and you, once again, get used to communication through skype/phone calls, and texts. Well, as "used to" as you can get. We restart our count down until we see "dada" again and look forward to hearing his voice each day and keep in mind how lucky we are to have a dad/husband to serves our country and know that no matter how far he is, we are still his #1 and he ours.

Liam's portrait 2

With every passing day, this kid wakes up with more and more energy.

How am I supposed to keep up?! 

christmas morning.

This year was our first Christmas morning with just us three. In the past we usually spent the night elsewhere to wake up Christmas morning with the family. I gotta tell you, I loved it with just us three. With Liam being old enough to get excited about his presents and being able to just sit back and watch him, it was amazing how much I was able to truly enjoy being together. We were spoiled enough to have dad home with us and it was picture perfect watching them play together. I can't wait for the many Christmas mornings to come and memories we will create, where ever we may be.

Liam's portrait

Waiting for goodnight kisses from dad.

We got dad back.

We got to have dad home for two whole weeks! Two weeks of nothing to do but just be together and enjoy our time as a family. Though we were able to play in the snow (when we finally got some here in Utah), shop, and visit the Curiosity Museum, my favorite moments were watching Liam spend time with him "dada". Christmas morning was a little bit sweeter, our days were filled with much more laughter, and our home felt complete. We are already counting down the days until we get him to ourselves again.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

  Those ever contagious laughs.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

Cars Land was probably his favorite at Disneyland.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

My little scarecrow on Halloween.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

Enjoying our time at the park before the snow comes.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

Sweet smiles for Christmas cards.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

After church we run out our energy.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

Multiple stops were taken during our road trip to Arizona.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

First time having the flu. He was a trooper.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

Finally feeling better and ready to play.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

First hot chocolate of the season.

 

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

Christmas Eve dinosaur slippers from grandma and grandpa.

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 A portrait of Liam once a week, every week in 2014 

Some vinyl shopping while dad came home for the holidays.