Oh yeah, we went to California!

So, I've been going back, organizing pictures from this last year and realized I completely forgot to post picstures of our trip to California last month. I would just move on and forget about it, but there are some cute pictures that I should post (this blogs main purpose is to share memories with family and friends who are far away and this trip was full of memory-making moments) so please forgive the rewind...

My friend from high school got married, so we went out for the wedding and made it our big trip for the year and celebrated our 4th anniversary! Unfortunately, our camera got bumped onto a weird setting and we didn't realize it until after the wedding and halfway through our trip the Academy of Sciences. Grrr.

Our first day there we spent with my parents. We ate good food and went to the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers with my parents. It was really fun, but Reed woke up the day we flew out with a fever and ended up being sick the entire time we were there, so he wasn't a happy camper but we managed to get some cute pictures of him here and there.

San Francisco Conservatory pictures:





Steinhart/Acamdey of Sciences:

We met my friend Bethany and her daughter Sophia at the Academy of Sciences. Reed loved getting up close and watching all the fish.

A day at the beach

It was such a great trip, but my favorite day was the day we spent at the beach with my cousin. We visited, ate ice cream, pizza and hung out on the beach all day!


No trip to Santa Cruz is complete without a stop at Marianne's Ice Cream. They have well over 100 different flavors!

Reed's been to the beach on other trip, but this was his first time going out on the beach. He didn't know what to think of the sand and water, but Cort got him poking around in no time.

Merry Christmas!

A Little of This and That

I've slacked off with the blog posts for the last few months and for those far away friends and family, Reed's growing way too faast to let so much time go by between posts. Sorry. I'll do better.

Here's what we've been up to (nothing too exciting) in no particular order (Google uploads pictures backwards, and so that I get this post posted, I'm not even going to try to rearrange them like I usually do):

Going for a walk on Thanksgiving

Little Helper

Mowing the lawn

Vacuuming.

This was the first time he'd pretended that I'm aware of. He often steals my attachments while I'm vacuuming, but a few weeks ago I stopped vacuuming for a minute and heard Reed making this "fffffff ffffff fffffff" sound. I look over and he's waving the attachment over the stairs and rolling his music toy back and forth like a vacuum. So cute. I'm glad I caught a picture of it!

Bug stalker

We get these boxer elder? bugs that sneak in the house and Reed is fascinated by them. When Reed spots one it's very exciting and he follows it around pointing at it until it disappears under something or in his excitemnt to get close to it he sits on it and can't figure out where it went. I'm not a bug person, but these bugs seems to be harmless. He's only eaten 1...

Signing

"stinky"

"more"

He's picked up several basic signs and it's so fun to watch him communicate with us that way.

He also does:

Bye/Hi

all gone/all done

Upstairs/downstairs

Don't touch/be careful

Stuck/Help

Where did it go?/I don't know (as in a toy or a bug)

We're working on:

hungry

thirsty

Mom

Dad
crackers

juice

cold

hot

Some of the signs he puts his own spin on and while they may not be official ASL signs they are Reed signs and work for us!

We have an attachment for our stroller that his infant seat used to clip into (he's a big boy now and faces in the regular front facing car seat now - sniff. sniff). We have a snack/toy/cup holder tray that goes on the bar, but Reed LOVES to sit forward at the edge of the seat and hold on tight to that bar for our entire walk. You'd think his little arms would give out from holding himself up for that long, but he has it all figured out. Who needs a snack tray anyway?

Happy Halloween!

This year, Reed was a...

bumble bee!

We loved this costume because it has a humongous padded stinger on his bum - great for wobbly walkers. He didn't go around trick-or-treating, but we dressed him up anyway (the costume was big enough that I'm sure you'll see it next year too) and visited family and friends homes. He had a great time seeing cousins and actually kept the hat on most of the evening! I think he was mostly just happy that we didn't stick him in a pumpkin this year!


All tuckered out.

One year ago...

Reed turned one on Tuesday, and we can't believe it's already been a whole year! He makes our hearts feel full and we are so glad to have him in our family. He continues to amaze us and bring us so much joy. He's been sick since Sunday though, so I'm just now getting around to posting...

October 13, 2008

"I'm one..."

"...and having a great time making a HUGE mess!"

He slept the day away on his actual birthday, but when he got feeling better we took him to do his favorite thing - push the cart at Lowe's. I know, sounds silly, but those two-tiered carts have a bar that's just his height and he loves to hold on to it and push the carts up and down the aisles.

Oh, and in honor of being mom to a busy, totally walking everywhere one-year old TODDLER I opted to chop even more of my hair off! (We've asked Reed how old he is and gotten so excited when he puts one finger up that I think it might have gotten temporarity stuck that way! Just kidding, but he does seem to do it quite a bit lately.)

The best week EVER!

So I haven't posted for awhile, but this week merits a post!





My uncle took some pictures of Reed in June when we were all in Colorado and yesterday we received a big printed photo montage of a few of the cutest pictures of Reed. I was so excited I couldn't sleep - seriously is was like Christmas Eve when you were a kid, but worse. I snuck down and took another peeked at them after I put Reed back to sleep in the middle of the night and got to work matting, framing and hanging it today. We love it. It will be treasured for years. Then, this evening we got a CD with the rest of his pictures and our family picture. We are thrilled and love every picture. Stephen was so sweet to surprise us and I'm so lucky to have such a talented uncle. THANK YOU, Stephen!!!!!!! On Wednesday Reed had gotten a box from them and I could feel that it was a frame and I was hoping it was one of Reed's pictures. I talked to Stephen today and the present was still wrapped, but after talking to him I got curious and unwrapped it (shh, don't tell Reed!) and it is the above picture in the cutest cowboy frame. Not only is the picture adorable, but the frame perfectly matches the cowboy quilt that I just finished... How did they know?!







After 8 years I've finally finished Reed's baby quilt! I didn't know it was for Reed when I started it, but I did the quilt top before Brent and I even met and last week Brent watched Reed for many hours so I could finish quilting and binding it in time for Reed's first birthday. I finished it with a week to spare!



Being a shoes-off house we sometimes accumulate quite the pile of shoes by the front and back doors. Plus, we don't have a closet on the main floor, so we have to hang everything on hooks. I found exactly what I wanted to solve the problem, but of course it was at Potterybarn and I couldn't bring myself to spend that much on a entryway bench. I tried to find look-alikes at other stores, but with no luck. We've had a black mirrored shelf with hooks that's been hanging by our back door, so we just needed the bench. It never goes on sale! So anyway, long story short I decided to try KSL.com (more widely used than Craigslist here in Utah) and there was someone selling theirs in perfect condition with the cushion and baskets for a steal! So we have the bench and now I just need to rearrange a little and make a new cushion for the top. Then we'll be ready for winter and the shoes and coats and hats and scarves and...What are the chances that someone would be selling the exact bench I wanted, living so close to us AND she hadn't sold it yet! So lucky.



We made the move from California to storage in St. George to Bountiful with only a broken bowl, a few scratches on some furniture AND two of my most comfortable sandals missing - brown 3-strap Birkenstocks and super comfy squishy-bottomed Teva flip flops. I convinced myself that I'd left the flip flops at someones house during an extended visit and I'd gotten rid of my Birkenstocks. I threw two other pairs of Birks away when we moved because they had been well loved, had been swept away by the ocean once and were crumbling. But this pair that I was missing I didn't remember anything being wrong with, but I convinced myself that I must have a faulty memory and I'd tossed them. There's a girl at church that has the exact same Birks and I missed them every time I saw her wearing hers. Anyway, I opened a shoe box of a pair of sandals that I didn't think I owned anymore and inside were these two pairs of sandals! I let out a squeal of joy and Brent thought I'd gone nuts, but they are my favorite, long lost shoes! I'm so happy to be reunited with them.

So many great things all crammed into one week and the weeks not even over yet! Hope you're all having a great week too!

He walks!

On Sunday Reed took his first steps! So exciting! He loves water bottles and after he stole one from our friend Rolf, he was so excited he just walked over to show it to me! I don't think he'd even realized that he'd just walked. I was sitting close to Rolf, so it was only two steps - but two steps! Yahoo! This video is the second time he walked a few minutes later...

Where has the summer gone?

I want to throw the computer out the window! But then I would be sad...The pictures are all off center and the captions have weird spacing, but I've already spent too long trying to get it to look right. If it keeps me up at night I'll fix it then.

Where to begin...lots of catching up to do. Here's some cute pics (in no particular order):

This last week we watched Brent's sister's kids while they went on vacation. We had a great time with them and Reed got to got swimming for the first time. He took a while to warm up to it, but was splashing and laughing at the end.

Not so sure about the water...

It's safe with Dad.

Even better snuggled up in a warm towel with Mom.

Reeds first train ride! Reed was hot and teething, but was in awe of all the new sights, sounds and smells at Lagoon.

Our 4th:

We went to Brent's brothers for the fourth and had a BBQ and set off a few fireworks.

Reed was scared of the street fireworks going off all around us, but the night before we had gone to the big Bountiful fireworks and he slept through the whole thing.

We had my cousin Laura staying with us before and after she went to EFY back in July. We stayed busy quilting and beading and having all sorts of fun. We were sad when she had to go home. The time went too fast.

New things:
4 teeth on the top. They ALL came in last week - in 5 days! Fun for everyone - his nursing days may be limited...

Reed trying to eat with us, as always. We do feed him, I promise.

Reed knows when we're taking a picture of him, so it's impossible to get candid ones anymore. As soon as he hears the beep or sees the anti-red eye light he puts on this goofy grin.

He's getting so big and, teething aside, is a fun and happy baby. I'm just keep telling myself to treasure these times because he won't always want to snuggle and be with Mom! He amazes me every day and we love him to pieces!

Silly boy

Why did we even buy him toys? These are his favorite things:

The mirrors on all our closet doors. He has discovered a fun friend lives in them. Every morning when he gets up that's the first things he wants to do; play with his new-found, super-smiley friend.

He is fascinated by his binky clip. He especially likes to shake my multivitamins. Really, who needs silly baby rattles?

Soy nuts in a huge plastic container and the doorstop to our bedroom.

My water bottles. He loves to shake them up and down (empty) so the lid hits the side and makes an oh-so-fun noise.

Happy Birthday Brent!

I know you don't do birthdays (bah humbug!) but too bad. I'm glad you were born and today no matter how much you protest we're going to celebrate it - with or without you! Here are some of the things I love most about you:

• I couldn't ask for a better husband.
• You're an amazing dad.
• You have a beautiful testimony.
• You bought an adorable house for our family.
• You work hard so that I can be home with Reed.
• You go without things that you want (saltwater tank, bike, boat...) so that our family is comfortable.
• You scraped, puttied and painted our house and refinished the floors in our bedroom right when we moved in and did everything you could to make our house a home.
• You finish the projects you start!
• You mow the lawn.
• You worked and continue to work hard to plant a garden so we can have healthy yummy food.
• You bought me the mixer I have been wanting so I can make bread easily and have fun making other things too even though there were probably 100 things you'd rather have spent the money on.
• You are supportive of my goals and other endeavors.
• You'll play boardgames with me - and enjoy it!
• You cook us yummy things and pretend to like everything I cook.
• You make me omlets on the weekends just because I like them (even though you don't).

I could go on and on, but I just want you to know I appreciate you and am so glad that you were born. I love you.

Happy Birthday!

Colorado

Brent, Reed and I drove out to Colorado at the end of June to visit my aunt, uncle and two cousins. Brent flew back home the day after we got there :o( but I was able to stay and visit. My mom and another aunt and uncle also flew out and it was a fun little family reunion. When we all lived in San Jose, I took for granted the frequent family get-togethers and close proximity that we were able to enjoy. I really miss it here in Utah. It was nice to get a little dose of family time and let them get to know Reed.

We saw the Mormon Tabernacle Choir perform at Red Rocks, visited the Molly Brown House and enjoyed the beautiful scenery that is practically in my aunt and uncle's backyard (see above pic).

Reed wouldn't leave their dog alone - poor Shelby.

He had his first pickle, teething biscuit and first real babysitter (while I went to Red Rocks).

Overall, a very nice time. Thanks, Susan and Paul!

An added bonus was that my uncle, who was also visiting is a very talented photographer. He did our wedding pictures and during the short time Brent was there he was nice enough to take the time to shoot some pictures of our family and a little session with just Reed. I'm so grateful to have what I know will be sweet, treasured pictures of our family. I can't wait to get a glimpse of them!