If you want candy, you have to wear a costume...

When I was a child, I hated Halloween.  This is the holiday where my indecisiveness always got the best of me.  Surprisingly, that problem hasn't gone away.  About a week before Halloween, when pickin's got slim, I purchased a dragon costume for Elliott.  I thought how clever it would be for Elliott to be Pete's dragon, but he didn't want anything to do with it.  My mom and I even took turns slinging it over our heads, knocking on the door and saying trick-or-treat.  I told him that if he wants to get the candy, he has to say "trick or treat" and he has to wear a costume.  That still wasn't motivation enough .  Finally, on Halloween day, I went back to Toys R Us and got a train hat and scarf.  I distracted him with gold fish while I put it on, but once he had his pumpkin pail in hand and Uncle Ben arrived, he didn't think at all about what he was wearing.  He wouldn't let go of Uncle Ben's hand until about halfway through the evening, and he was very good at saying "trick-or-treat".

Sheriff William and Conductor Elliott

That night I couldn't believe what a little boy my baby has turned into.

Happy Birthday Elliott!

Elliott had been looking forward to his birthday for over a month.  He knew that he was going to be 2, he was going to eat cake and he wanted a choo choo train.  All of his dreams came true.

Ready to go to church

Elliott played his first game of musical chairs and LOVED it.  He won, of course.

Thomas the train cake.
He thought that was his choo choo train present.   If we had known he would be so happy with that choo choo train...

Oh, the presents!!  It was very difficult to make him wait when they were wrapped in Thomas the Train paper.

Grandpa assembling his golf clubs from Uncle Steve and Aunt Hailey.

All of these activities took place during world series commercial breaks.

William and Sawyer enjoyed the presents too.

Welcome Andrew

Andrew Daniel Snedecor Born October 23 at 1:39 am 10 lbs 6 oz 23 in

I went to the doctor Monday, October 22nd being 2 days overdue and having been dilated 4 cm for a week!  She stripped my membranes at 5 pm.  At 7:30 I felt my first real contraction.  Pete and I headed to the hospital after putting Elliott down to bed at 8:00.  By 9 I was checked into triage 6 cm dilated with contractions still irregular.  I'd like to say I handled it like a pro, but by the time they moved me out of triage about an hour and a half later, I was in tears.  They got my epidural just in time at 8 cm, broke my bag, and Andrew was born with just 15 minutes of pushing.  When they pulled him out we were once again surprised we had such a big biy!  We thought we'd never have one as big as Elliott again, but clearly Andrew wanted to make a statement that he wasn't going to spend his life living in Elliott's shadow.

The next day Elliott came to meet his baby brother...

...but mostly he just ate gold fish and watched TV.

Waiting for Baby Brother

As we waited for Baby Brother to arrive, we spent our days and nights taking walks at the beach...

carving pumpkins...

 growing mustaches...

 and playing mini golf...

Elliott didn't know what was about to hit him!

Summer Fun

We had a very full and exciting summer this year.  Here's a re-cap:

First things, first, Pete finished up his work as ES #22 and was transferred to a high school in Long Beach, which means is commute is all of 10 minutes!  He usually gets home before 6 pm.  Elliott LOVES hanging out with Daddy more.

Elliott's first milk and cookies experience

Megan came to visit in June and we had a fun time hanging at the beach!

Father's Day Pete barbecued his own dinner because I knew he's like that better than whatever I cooked, and I made a strawberry pie with our new FOLEY food mill courtesy of Grandma B.  I thought for sure that would be the missing piece to my runny pies and felt very confident Sunday morning, but low and behold it was STILL runny.

At the end of June we made our way up to Idaho Falls for the Portlock wedding and 4th of July festivities.

Congratulations, Michele!

 We attended the post-Nelson Golf Classic pizza party, parade, Zollinger pizza party, and the traditional fourth of July BBQ hosted by Uncle Kevin complete with lots of cars (Elliott's dream), gold fish racing, donkeys and miniature horse carriage rides.

Fireworks at the river

Just two days after we got home, we packed our bags and headed to New York to visit Grandma B, Grandpa, Liz,  Nanny, Pop-pop, Grandma Snedecor, Aunt Susan, Uncle Bruce and cousin Allie.  We had a lot of fun celebrating Pete's Birthday, catching fish from the dock with Elliott's first fishing pole, going on boat rides, water skiing, swimming and eating delicious food!

We even got to see cousin Claribel as Jake and Nicole coincidentally made their way up to the Pageant in Palmyra the very weekend we were in town.

The rest of the summer we filled our time with tents (Elliott's new-found passion)... 

Unfortunately the kind of "tents" Elliott likes best are the ones where Daddy IS the tent.

swimming with friends...

Cousin William and Justin

After seeing Claribel swim at the lake with HER floaties, Elliott decided to give his a try and is now a pro!

Reading in his "boat"...

...Saturday mornings at the beach, BBQing on Sundays--Pete is really perfecting his craft--and work!  Pete of course on the high school in Long Beach, and I managed to cram in six independent study credits from BYU in three months in order to renew my teaching credential.  I spent every one of Elliott's SLEEPING moments, reading lectures and taking quizzes online, reading children's books, and practicing the piano.

In August the Copes made their yearly pilgrimage to Southern California, and we spent a great morning with them at the Long Beach Aquarium.

Lexi, Carly, Hailey and 6 month old Sawyer

Elliott, Lexi and Ella, hanging with the penguins--fake penguins; Elliott's thinking spot

Pete also made a nightly routine of making Elliott a dog house out of his blocks.  I have been quite impressed with the potential from one box of 64 wooden blocks.  Just one of MANY....

At the beginning of August I went for a second ultra sound.  The ultra sound tech, while trying to get Baby Brother to position himself so that she could see everything, took a few 3D photos.

At the end of August, Ally and I went up to Santa Rosa to throw a baby shower for Zee with my mom.  It was a lot of fun!

Pete came up at the end of the week and managed to get in some golf and a trip to the Redwood Forest.

Finally, we capped off the summer by uncovering the great Elliott family secret: Nanny's Potato Salad Recipe.  We made our first batch just a couple of weeks ago and it turned out quite well--never QUITE like Nanny's, though.

Apparently Pete likes to cook with his shirt off.  You learn something new everyday, even when you're married.