Part 2

So here is part 2 of all the catching up I have to do...
The week of Thanksgiving, America, Tyler, TJ and I went to VEGAS to see The Lion King! It was so much fun. TJ and I had never really been there before (more than just passing through) so we decided to go for 2 nights so we could do more than just see the show. The Lion King was still definitely the best part, but we did lots of other fun stuff, too. One thing we were sure to make time for was a little shopping. While doing so, I needed to stop by Sephora to get some make-up. While in there, America and I saw a bunch of false eyelashes and decided we needed to get some to wear to the show that night. Tyler then convinced us we should get crazy ones. After much debate I decided, "what better place to do something crazy like this than vegas??" So... we went a little crazy... (our camera batteries, of course, died when we got there, so I apologize for the qualities of the following pictures, taken on our phones)

We ended up snipping off most of the excess feathers even before the show that night, but it was still fun :) Another awesome thing about going to The Lion King there was that our seat were in the very first row. TJ especially loved that because he had an amazing view of the pit. He might have spent almost as much time watching the people in the pit as he did watching the actual performance.

Right around that same time, America and Tyler actually moved in with us. We were a little nervous about there being enough space, but it ended up working great and we LOVED having them with us. We were so so sad when they left at the end of the semester. Steven loved having them around too... especially Lloyd

When Christmas time rolled around, we didn't really want to set up the tree since we weren't going to actually be home for christmas. We also didn't think a toddler and a dog would do very well with the tree/ornaments within reach. We wanted to put something up, though, so we decided to just put up the top of the tree (set on our kitchen table), some lights around the ceiling, and a few other choice items that we couldn't live without.

We also decided that we should make a trip to the Hogle zoo to see Zoo Lights. We had done this with Kelly and her family before when they had been in AZ, and didn't really think about the obvious difference there would be between the two - the weather. We still had a good time, though :)

America gave Steven her gloves to keep his hands warm which is why he looks like a monster...

We spent Christmas in IN with TJ's family and had a great time! TJ got to go to a Colts game with his brother and Dad for his birthday, we celebrated Randy's birthday a little early, and just had lots of good quality time together. I, of course, forgot my camera, and so these are the only picture I have, taken on TJ's phone.

Steven has all of a sudden become sporadically interested in watching shows on TV. He has never seem interested before, but one morning when I was getting ready, I came out of the bathroom to find this, even though the TV had been off when I had gone into the shower...

And it was turned on to Sesame Street and everything!

Also, Steven is becoming more and more musical every day! He loves playing on the piano that we are lucky to have in our home until the end of the summer (we're watching it for some people that left for the semester), and is getting better and better at playing the drums!

With Morgan and Conner, the kids of one of our friends from the ward - and Morgan loves to play the "pLano"

These last pictures are actually taken on stage with TJ's drum set he plays with the Young Ambassadors. I think Steven could be part of the show, don't you? :)

So I dropped the ball again.... sorry. I told TJ today that I need him to make sure that I have time on sundays where I can do some blogging, because otherwise it probably won't get done. This is obviously something I just really struggle with. So, because there's so much to catch up on, I think I might break it up into 2 posts. I don't want to overwhelm all of you.
So first, there was Halloween. It was really fun and Steven went trick-or-treating for the first time! He was super cute and even though he obviously couldn't say "trick-or-treat" at the doors, he would always sign thank you afterwards. He dressed up as a lumberjack and TJ even made him a little hatchet he could carry around. I had to dress-up also (for work) and so I decided I wanted to be a lumber[jane?] too! It was actually a really fun costume (I don't like costumes that are too fussy) and I got a little prize at work for it :)

We also went to a haunted house again this year. It wasn't quite as good as last year, but it was still really fun. We went with Katie, Mckay, America, and Tyler so it was a fun group :)

 The other thing I'm gonna cover in this post is our family pictures. They turned out soo good! My friend Nicole who lives above us took them and she did an amazing job. I think it helped that Steven loves her, so he smiled at her a lot. We had gotten some taken back in May, I think, but we didn't have the rights to those, so we couldn't use them for christmas cards or anything. So, it was a good excuse to get some new ones, and I'm so happy we did! Sorry, there are a lot I'm putting up, but these aren't ever 1/4 of all of them, so it was hard to choose favorites!

Playing catch-up

Hooray!! We finally got this working again! Sorry it's been sooo long since an update. There obviously is a lot to catch up on, but I'll try to keep it short.

So first, in June, my brother Geoff and his fiancé Emily got married. It was a beautiful outdoor ceremony, which was also good for the kids because they could run around till it started.

TJ had to leave the day after the wedding to get back for finals, but I was able to stay and we had a little Rands' family reunion! It was lots of fun, although the fact that Steven got sick the day after it started made it a little less fun. I'm not really sure what exactly was wrong, but he had a fever and threw up a couple days in a row. Bottom line, he wouldn't let me put him down and wouldn't let anyone else in my family hold him, which was pretty sad. He also didn't really want to play with any of his cousins. One of the few things that did make him happy, though, was the piano. He LOVES the piano.

We finally sold the Passat (otherwise known as Mrs. Jones). It was bittersweet since we had been trying to sell it for a while, but once it came down to actually letting it go, we weren't sure if we could do it! This was the car that TJ and I fell in love in! She had been with us through our entire relationship so far, we brought Steven home from the hospital in her, and for TJ, she had been a part of his life since high school. Anyway, we miss her, but trust that she's happy with her new family. (We made the guy we sold her to take this picture right after we signed all the papers)

We got some family pictures taken that I had gotten a Groupon for. We love them!! The people did a great job and we just wish they weren't so expensive so we could get pictures take there all the time!

In August, TJ's family came to Utah and we had a Peper family reunion. It was so much fun! We started out hanging around in Provo/Lehi for the first half of the week, and then headed up to Midway and stayed in a house up there for the rest of the week. It was gorgeous in Midway. We were able to spend lots of time outside during the day, and then the grown-ups got to play games once the kids were asleep. It was especially fun when we played Minute to Win It. Lyndsay did an awesome job putting it all together, and it was one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen.

We also had some good girl bonding time shopping, and three out of the four sisters/sister-in-law got matching shoes! I felt like a true Peper girl.

After a week of TJ's family making comment's about Steven's hair and how he needed a haircut, we finally relented and gave him one. It was so, so sad. Once all his curls were gone, he just didn't look like my little baby anymore.

Anyway, now that we have this up and running again, I promise I'll update more soon! It's good to be back :)

Videos... well not really

So I just have a question... is anyone else not being able to upload videos on here? I've seriously been trying since I put up my last post and it won't let me! I don't know what's going on, but I'm really frustrated about it! We finally got some really good ones of Steven walking and I have a bunch from around his birthday that I want to put up too :(