11 Months Old

It is hard to believe that Preston has only one more month till his 1st birthday. I have a hard time believing that this time last year we were in the finally preparations for his big arrival and yet now we are chasing him around and watching him with such joy.
In the last month he has learned to crawl up the stairs with great enthusiasm, amusment and speed. He is walking along the furniture very well and is starting to walk between furniture too. He will be walking in no time! But honestly I think he is in no hurry because he is so quick and efficient in his crawling. Much more than Connor ever was.
Preston is talking more and more now and loves to tell you all about it. When he smiles it is so amazingly cute. He smiles with his whole face! Scrunching up his nose, squinting his eyes to the point he can barely see what he is doing and snorting while laughing. He looks like a little gremlin but it is so cute that it just melts my whole heart.
He loves to swim and splash in the water. He loves playing with his trucks and cars and making them drive all over the carpet. He is ALL boy!
I am looking forward to celebrating his 1st birthday in a month and I can not wait to see what the next month brings us. Even though for me I know there will be a few tears to know that this is the last time ever I will have a baby in the house. From now on it will only be toddlers and up.

Each month/year I try to get a picture of each boy with the giraffe so I can see how they are getting bigger and bigger. But it is getting plain impossible to get a picture of Preston sitting still with that giraffe. So, this is best I could get this month.

Preston crawling onto Mom. I am a great jungle-gym according to the boys.

Brotherly Bonding Time

When Preston is drinking his bottle he is occasionally put into his chair and the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" is put on for his amusement. Connor also loves this chair. (Thank you Norma....the chair is a big hit with the boys!) When Preston is sitting in it watching cartoons, occasionally Connor will climb into the chair and sit with Preston. On this day I was trying to get a picture of Connor holding Preston's bottle for him while he was eating because it was so funny. But once Connor saw the camera out he decided he would just watch the cartoons and pretend like he was not bothering Preston.


Preston enjoying his solitude after Connor left him alone.

Jacob and Dad's First Motorcycle Ride Together

Dave started taking Jacob riding with him this summer. Jacob did great at holding on and listenig to Dave's instructions for being a good passenger. I know Dave loved having Jacob along for the rides and sharing that with him.

Dave giving Jacob last minute instructions.

There they go!

Riding bikes on the Legacy Parkway Trail

The weather this afternoon was gorgeous so we took the kids to the Legacy Biketrail to ride bikes. The biketrail is about 2 years old and follows along the Legacy Parkway for many miles. It is a GREAT trail and so wonderful for riding bikes on with kids. We rode about 9 miles total and both the kids did really well keeping up. Preston though was not a fan of the bike trailer. It was his first real ride in it and he screamed most of the way. We will try again soon with him and hopefully next time he will enjoy the ride.

I love our view of the mountains while riding the bikes.



The boys trying to stay hydrated during their very strenuous ride! Connor loves wearing his helmet. Preston HATED wearing his helmet, so we let him take it off. We will try again next time.


After the bike ride we took the kids to eat at Jason's Deli. After eating lunch we all got icecream and Connor even got his own cone. (A first!) He did great eating it! No mess, no issues, nothing! Dave and I were shocked! We will have to let him try that again soon.

Is this not the cutest face ever?!?

Neighborhood Backyard Baseball

Tonight when we had some of the neighborhood kids over and a game of backyard baseball was played. It was so much fun watching the kids getting into it and being so excited.

Dad teaching Connor how to bat.

Riley, Ian (at bat) and Jacob (the great catcher)

Kennedy (at bat) with Jacob and Connor catching.

The kids waiting to catch a ball and tag out the next runner.

Dave - The pitcher. Luckily Dave was able to pitch the ball slow enough that each kid was able to hit it and run.

Break time!

Learning to Cook?

We are either going to have to buy a microwave stand that is much taller or we are going to have to teach him how to cook! Because it is getting a little old having to unplug the microwave after every time we use it.

Our date at the Utah Symphony

Tonight Dave and I went to the Utah Symphony for a fundraiser that Chevron was a big sponsor of. We (yes, even Dave!) had a great time at the concert and it was such a lovely date night.

The symphony getting ready to perform in the beautiful concert hall.

The Splash Pad

Traci took this picture of Connor at the Splash Pad. She was brave enough to take all four kids there by herself one afternoon. The kids had a great time and talked about it alot!

My Monkey Cake

I am not a homemaker. I have nothing against people that are....I actually envy them but I am just not one. At least not a good one. I do not cook often, I do not clean as much I should, I do not like to do laundry and will put it off as long as I can, I do not iron, I do not sew.......have I convinced anyone yet that Dave is lucky to have married me???? Well anyways, I am trying to get better. Honestly....I am! I am starting to cook healthy and tasty food more often and get back to doing more than just ordering Papa Johns for dinner. And today I actually made a cake. And I took it out of the pan and decorated it. A FIRST! Usually Dave and I just serve it out of the pan. So here is my first attempt at actually decorating a cake. Many lessons were learned in this first attempt but next time I will be better. Like they say...."Practice Makes Perfect"!

My little monkey with a strawberry shirt and blackberry pants.

Playing Hookie for the Afternoon

Dave and I took off the afternoon to go have a grownup date. We rarely get alone time during daytime hours and we had not gone hiking alone since before Connor was born, so we figured it was time to do it again. We left work and went to eat lunch at The Oaks in Ogden Canyon. We loved the outdoor setting and the leisure lunch. And it did help that the food was great too.


After lunch Dave and I hiked Indian Trail in Ogden Canyon. It was a little harder than I expected but it was a great hike. Dave and I really enjoyed ourselves and decided that we will be doing that again. I highly recommend it!! Here are some of the nice pictures I took while we were hiking the trail. I hope you enjoy.




Can you see me way down there??