I want to be a kid

The joys of youth! Watching my little kiddo run around and cause mischief makes me want to be young again. Life is so simple. Here are a few reasons this past week why it is great to be a kid...

You could care less what your hair looks like

It is completely acceptable to eat cake with your hands and rub it all over yourself if you want to

Your favorite toy is a stick and it can entertain you for hours

You can fall asleep anytime, anywhere and it is always acceptable

Vacuuming outside makes just as much sence as vacuuming inside

Family reunion

I love California weather! And I love the beach! If I had enough money, I would live in a little beach house and spend all my days soaking up the sun and playing in the water. Okay, enough dreaming. My family and I headed down to California for my cousin's wedding and a family reunion. We had a great time and it was hard to come back to reality. Here are some pics of our adventure.

Halloween

Michael dressed up as a knight this year. It was so cute. Of course he didn't keep the hat or the boots on for over 5 minutes, but I was able to snap some pics of him. I think we had more fun than he did!

My baby is Two!

I no longer have a baby. I have an energized toddler. When did that happen? Michael turned two a little while ago (I'm a little behind on my blogs) and I thought I would post some pics. He was spoiled with three birthday parties and too many presents. I have to say that celebrating his birthdays are almost more fun then celebrating my birthday. Being a mom is the best. Happy birthday baby!

Go Jeremy Go

Jeremy is a brave soul. He just ran his first sprint triathalon in Utah and did awesome. He swam, biked, and ran through the freezing rain and came out victorious! Next year, we want all of you to do it with him. Here are some pics of his journey. Thank you to Laura and Terry who came down to cheer him on.

Call us crazy

Time for some boating. No matter how busy you get, there is always time for some vacationing. Call us crazy, but we decided to take a trip to Lake Mead in the middle of moving. Was it worth it....you bet.

Busy busy

So, there has been so much going on these past couple months that I just decided to make a random slide show of pics. The pics are of our trip to Utah (before we moved there), Jer's birthday, and our anniversary.

Moving

So, this has been the craziest three weeks ever! For those of you that don't know...we've moved. That's right...packed up our stuff and headed back to Utah. Luckily we were able to rent our house out and rent a new one with no problems. Well, except for the crazy England guy who was actually from Nigeria who was trying to scam us. But that is a long story in itself. Word to the wise...don't try to rent your house to a guy from England who says he needs to rent it for a year and wants to send you money to pay for it and for the furniture that will be coming from New York. It's a scam. Luckily a nice man from our ward is going to rent our place with his 5 kids. He only has them on the weekends, but I'm not sure how he is going to fit all 5 kids into a 2 bedroom house. More power to him. But, we are now in our new place...thanks to my parents, Jer's parents, Sheryl and Nick, Ashely, Jordan, Buttars, Liz, and Jen. We love you. You saved me from becoming an insane person. We are sad to leave Vegas but excited for our new adventure. We're enjoying the roller coaster ride of life.

Celebrate with us

So big news...Jer just passed his Physical Therapy boards. Yahoo!!! I hope you all are doing a celebration dance with us. Go Jeremy..Go Jeremy...Get your groove on. I can't begin to tell you how excited we are and how relieved Jeremy is. He has worked so hard and it has payed off. He can now be an official Physical Therapist. I can't believe we are all done with school. Jer and I have been together 8 years and poor kid has been in school that whole time. But now he's done. Good job baby!!!

Daddy's boy

Well, it's official...mom has moved down the ranks and now dad is #1. Michael just loves his daddy. It is so cute. He gets so sad when Jer leaves in the mornings and walks around the house saying "daddy, daddy." Luckily I can always distract him with some fruit snacks or Backyardigans. At night he calls for daddy when I tuck him into bed and won't stop crying until Jer comes into his room and cuddles him. It is so dang cute. At first I missed being the one to cuddle him to sleep, but now it is great. I can read or catch up on my e-mails and now just have some down time. Why didn't I think of getting Michael to call for dad sooner. Thanks Jeremy for being such a great dad!

4th of July

We had a great time this independence day. Jer, Michael, and I headed up to St. George for the weekend. We shopped, swam, and played at the park. On the 4th there was a celebration at the downtown park. There were food booths, bands playing, a water park for the kids, and a big fireworks show at the end. Michael was soaked by the end of the night and ended up in just a shirt and diaper (his shorts were too wet and were weighing him down). Michael loved the fireworks and would say "wow" every time one went off. It was so cute. The next day we took him to see Wall-E and then went over to my parents for our own fireworks show. Don't ya just love holidays!

New Haircut

So, people have been asking me to post a pic of my new haircut. Here it is...Thanks Sheryl for the new do.

Sandboxes

What is it with boys and sandboxes? Michael's new obsession is the sandbox. We decided to buy him a little sandbox and put it on our front porch since we don't have a yard and now he wants to spend all his time playing in there. Luckily it is always in the shade. It doesn't matter that it is over 100 degrees outside and that his poor mom is melting out there beside him. He loves it. The other night he was screaming when we took him inside for dinner, so we decided to just eat outside on the porch so he could continue his playing. Funny how the one in the diapers is the boss around here.

Mt. Charleston

It was way too hot this weekend, so Jer and I decided to head up to Mt. Charleston for some cooler air. There was a little festival going on and Michael had a great time exploring. We need to take advantage of the mountains more often. It is so pretty there.

They even had games for kids. Here, he had to pick the ducks up and throw them back in the water. Something so simple can be so fun.



Michael holding his prizes. He kept giving them hugs. it was so cute.

There was also a mini car show there. Michael with his new ride!



Best of all, there was a jumping house. Michael loves to jump and had a great time bouncing around. Mom even ventured in with him one time and had a good time herself.




Michael feeding the animals. He would pick up the hay and stick it through the gate and would yell until an animal would come over and eat it.



I hope this video turns out. There were live bands playing and Michael had a great time dancing and laughing. He couldn't even finish his lunch because it got in the way of his grooving.

Lake Mead

So, we were brave this year and decided to take our 20 month old on a houseboat trip. Insane - I don't think so, but Jer did. We had a great time at Lake Mead with my family and little Michael loved it. He was fascinated by the boat and wanted to either drive it or look off the side into the water. The water was freezing, but we all skied, wake boarded, and swam and this is the first trip that no one got sunburned. Amazing! Usually a couple of us go home as lobsters and spend the next week soaking ourselves in aloe vera. Use sunscreen, it's your friend.

Time for some fun in the sun! Let the boating begin!

Okay, I thought this picture was too cute. Little Tanner didn't find the freezing water as appealing as his cousin Michael did and he was letting us know it.

I love houseboat vacations. All you do is eat, swim, and sleep.

Michael had a great time playing in the water and floating around in his car.

You think we have enough floaties on him? He actually is starting to swim fairly well on his own, with all of his floaties of course. He loves the water, just like his mommy.

Tanner doesn't look too happy about his lifevest swimsuit. Can you blame him? Sorry Sheryl, I only have crying pictures of TanMan. :)

Nana with Tanner and Poppop with Michael.

Zions National Park

Time for some more vacationing. Jer and I decided to spend a weekend at Zion's national park with Jer's family. Thanks mom and dad for watching our little guy. We had a great time and hiked our buns off (I wish, unfortunately my buns are still there!). We hiked Courts of the Patriarchs, Angels Landing, and the Emerald Pools. Angles Landing was amazing and I would definitely recommend it, unless you're terrified of heights. Only Jeremy, Jordan, and I were daring enough to risk our lives. It gets a little scary at some points, but worth the risk. Here is a slide show of our adventures.