Mugshots

Nothing new here. Evan is 15 months and I thought I would celebrate that with some pictures. He likes to get dirty whenever he possibly can. It's usually later in the day that I let him loose in the back yard.

Love this picture. Evan has started signing the "more" sign for everything. He can also say shoes but it sounds more like "sssshhhh". We're not surprised that he can say that word. He loves to play with shoelaces.

Throwing the gravel/rocks in the back yard. I find little pebbles everywhere.

This was at Joe's ball game. He literally poured the sand over his head several times. I love how dusty he looks.

Who knew Joe could play softball? He is such a stud. He only got to play a couple of games before the season was over. I'm sure he will play a lot more next year. I like to watch while our son dumps dirt all over himself.

Stripped down to nothing then I gave him a bowl of water thinking he would splash, but he poured it out into the mud in our yard and played for quite a awhile. It's so fun to watch him get dirty.

Side note: Evan can officially walk all by himself, but he just chooses not to most of the time.

I-dee-ho

Last weekend Evan and I flew to Idaho. It was a short flight out of Mesa/Phoenix airport. We got in Friday and my dad and aunt were there to pick us up. After lunch we headed up to Plano to the farm.

As a child this was the landmark to look for as we made the last turn onto the farm road. We used to play inside this thing, and other buildings. Sometimes there were baby kittens tucked away in the wood and we would always go out looking for them.

This is my Grandpa and his wife Grandma JoAnn. It was so fun to visit and spend time with them.

Outside was freezing cold! Spring has not sprung in Idaho. You can't see it, but my dad is wearing shorts! I guess the day before we arrived there was a huge dust storm. It was so bad that you couldn't really see outside.

This is my grandpa and his Lincoln from 1976. He keeps it in his garage so it is literally like new. They have another car, a Cadillac, but he loves to baby this one. On Saturday we loaded up and drove into town to have lunch with all the family. People in their cars were craning their necks to look at this old car. We laughed the whole drive in! On the way home, my grandpa popped in an old Johnny Cash 8 track, so there we were bumbling over the country roads listening to classic country music. It was seriously one of the highlights of the trip.

Yikes it was cold!

Thanks Grandpa and Grandma for a lovely trip. Hopefully we can do it again soon!

Random Things

The other day we were helping out my sister-in-law plant a garden. Evan seized the moment and got really wet, dirty, and drank a ton of muddy water.

 Who does he look like?

 The couch happens to be his favorite toy right now. Put him on it and he goes crazy rolling around, kicking his legs, and squealing a lot.

 He is 14 months old. When we ask him what a dinosaur sounds like, he growls. When we ask for a kiss, we usually get slobbered if he's in the mood.

 Evan has also started to stand up all by himself without holding onto anything. He discovered this shortly after playing in the mud, but here he is a few days later showing off.

Oh, and we bought him shoes. Soft, flexible rubber soles, leather and suede on top, and velcro. I got them at Stride-Rite. I think we got them just in time. This little guy is going to be walking soon!

A Bedroom Project

This project has been years in the making. When Joe and I were dating, he had a bed, but used a sleeping bag when he got cold over the sheets. I talked him into getting a comforter. And that was just he beginning of the bedroom project. After we were wed we bought a nice mattress, but no bed for it to go on. Someday we will invest in some nice furniture for the bedroom, but until then I knew that I wanted to make our bedroom nice and cozy. I got my inspiration from a blog that I saw. Here are the results:

I found a used bed on craigslist, U-Hauled it home, sanded it down, and three coats of white paint later...Voila!

The color is Polar Bear from Behr paints. It is perfect. Crisp, clean, and refreshing.

After hauling it in to the bedroom Joe had had enough.

With the summer bedding on.

The end result!

Words of wisdom: don't smoke in bed, don't drink in bed unless you have a tempur pedic and then do whatever the heck you want, take the hours you think it will take to complete your project and times that by two or three, and enlist any relatives willing to help with the work (sister, husband, baby).

Camping in March

Some good friend of ours, the Perkins, went camping with us in March. The drive only took about an hour and before you knew it we had camp set up. As soon as the boys were let loose, they started exploring and eating rocks, sticks, dirt, anything they could find. It was fun to watch.

Neither of these kiddos are walking so they got super dirty crawling around.

Evan always want to grab the camera.

The Perkins made an awesome hamburger dinner with an even more awesome dessert...pineapple/blackberry dutch oven cake gooey goodness. I am drooling thinking about it right now.

The boys before they headed off to bed. Then the grown ups stayed up and told stories around the fire. Hilarious!

It turned out to be a cold night. Evan and I "slept" in the back of the truck. I maybe got three hours total of sleep. It's not easy trying to stay warm and keep a one year old covered and warm as well without rolling on him. I told Joe that we can't go camping again until we have a big tent to put his pack-n-play in. Joe slept fine in a tent on the ground.

The next morning we made breakfast burritos, packed up camp, and then headed off to hike up to some indian ruins. It was pretty cool to see that stuff.

What a whirlwind trip. The whole thing from start to finish was 24 hours. But lots of fun. We can't wait to go again with our friends!

Viva la Mexico Part 3

Riding the bus to dad's house. No car seat. Evan was very happy. All of the streets are made of cobblestone, so it made for a very bumpy ride.


View from my dad's patio. He made us quesedillas, with this awesome guacamole, fruit salad, and rotisserie chicken. It was, by far, the best lunch we had while there. My dad has a nice place, and loves that he is house sitting and doesn't pay rent. Quite the life.


We took taxis back into town. We followed Charloe and her family. I love this picture of Brynn. She was waving and you could tell she was saying "grandpa".


Cousin Corban kept Evan and all of us entertained. We won't mention how he beat Joe three times in a card game of Sorry. Joe wants a rematch!

Poolside on our last day. Yummy guacamole.

We had such a fun trip and wish we had stayed a few more nights. We will definitely be back! Thanks everyone for such a fun trip!

Viva la Mexico Part 2

One day we went in to town to see where my dad lived. We walked along the beach and saw lots of fun stuff.

This guy made art in the sand and was working for propinas--tips.


Ahh, don't we look like tourists? Evan isn't so happy.


This guy was stacking rocks for a living. Pretty cool.

In the distance you can see the catholic church. We went inside during a service and listened to some awesome organ music.

Grandpa and Evan.

Viva la Mexico Part 1

In February we went to Puerta Vallarta for 6 days to visit my Dad who lives there. My sister and her family were the ones that invited us to tag along. We stayed at this beautiful resort, Villa La Estancia. Built in 2008, this place was so nice and new. We did the all-inclusive deal so we ate all we wanted. My favorite was the breakfast buffet, I out-ate Joe every morning--and came back a couple pounds heavier. So yummy. Charloe and I did the spa thing, getting manis and pedis. A couple days later Joe and I did a 90 minute hot towel massage. I have seen and been to many spas, and this one, by far, was the nicest I've been to. We kind of splurged, but for what we got, we would have paid a lot more here in the states. So worth it!


View from our patio on the 9th floor.


First day swimming. Of course, we slathered the sunscreen on Evan. He liked the water and by the end of the trip Joe had him blowing bubbles and standing up next to the edge.


Charloe and her little girl Brynn. She kicked and paddled around the whole pool and loved being in the floatie that Grandpa brought.

On the beach. The water wasn't too cold so I stripped Evan down to his diaper and let him go crazy. He loved the sand, ate a little, and even tried eating a cigarette butt. You can't take your eyes off him for a moment.

We ordered a cake on Evan's actual birthday. It was disgusting! Luckily, Evan was in bed when we ate it...it had been a long day so he didn't really miss anything.

Birthday Boy

We got the family together a few days before our Mexico trip to celebrate Evan's 1st birthday. Since he always smiles when he sees dogs I figured we should do a puppy theme. Here is my attempt at puppy cupcakes: yellow cake, chocolate frosting, M&M's for the eyes, red hot nose, a heart spinkle tongue, and flattened tootsie rolls for the ears. It was laborious, but worth it cause I think they turned out cute!

I made about 30 of these puppies. Froze about a dozen leftovers.


Aunt Micah wasn't able to attend but made some puppy chow as party favors and a birthday t-shirt. She made the tags and everything.



We had lots of help from all of Evan's cousins when he was opening presents. He got a dump truck, puzzles, blocks, balls, books, and clothes. Hopefully he will grow out of wanting to eat everything soon and then I can let him play with some of his puzzles.


His first time eating cake and ice-cream...well I gave him some ice-cream at his cousins birthday party a month earlier. At first he poked the frosting with his fingers, then would bring them to his lips and taste, and before we knew it he had destroyed the cupcake and was covered in chocolate. I think he liked it.

The aftermath.

One year

Awwwhhh.


I was so big!


He was so little and calm.

My boys a year ago.

Evan in Mexico a year later.

Has it really been a year already? Lately I've been thinking to myself, "what was I doing a year ago today?" Probably getting zero sleep, nursing around the clock, and wearing stretchy pants. And I was holding our new little baby. And our lives had been forever changed. I can't say that it is better now with more sleep, but only different. Nothing compares to holding a brand new baby, yours especially. Occasionally I will look at photos from a year ago and nearly cry cause he was so stinkin' little and cute. But I'm sure I will be doing the same thing a year from now at pictures I take today.