A Long Update!

Life has been good to us this summer as Jared is home much more then he has ever been since the kiddos were born. We all enjoy having him around more. We have been able to do a lot of things together as a family and I LOVE IT!!!

Some great news for us is we FINALLY moved Kyson downstairs to be with Caleb. The transition wasn't too bad although they love to play together when they should be going to sleep, and Caleb often wakes Kyson up too early in the morning. It's ok though because it's SOOOO nice to have our room back!

Caleb is going to turn three in just a little over a month. That's crazy! He's turned into quite the talker although most people never hear it because he is quite shy around others. At home we have some interesting conversations though. I love to ask him questions and see his little mind working to find a good answer. He loves playing with all of his toys. He builds train tracks, plays with his cars, builds with his legos, and plays with all of his balls. He seems to love doing everything but gets bored quickly and moves on. He loves having a little brother and although he is too rough with him sometimes he always wants Kyson to play with him. If Kyson is in another room playing he will come and try to persuade him to play with him. Kyson is often easily persuaded because he loves when his older brother will share his toys with him and play with him.

Kyson just turned 15 months old. He hasn't figured out walking yet but I think he will soon. I got out Caleb's walker push toy and Kyson was doing great walking around the house with it. He would even let go and stand there for a while until he realized what he was doing and he'd sit right down. He just needs to build up some confidence and he'll be off! Kyson has also been teething a lot lately. He now has three molars and we are working on the fourth. I'm looking forward to it coming in and hopefully we can have a teething break for a while. Kyson currently says four words that I can understand...mama, dada, bu-bye, and ball. Most of the time he won't say them when you ask him to though, only when he wants to. Today he also started folding his arms while we say prayers. It is very cute to see him put his arms together and look at you like "I know I'm doing a good job!" If you say "Good job Kyson!" he will clap for you and gets excited. Overall I think he is growing and developing quite well. I don't worry about it too much even though he is a little behind. Next week I take him in for his 15 month check-up so we'll see what his Pediatrician thinks of everything. We haven't been to see his Cardiologist in over three months but he seems to be doing well on that side of things. I think we are planning on seeing his Cardiologist in about a month and I'm looking forward to finding out how his heart function is doing.

Overall we are doing well and enjoying the summer. We are headed up to the cooler country of Show Low and Pinetop this weekend. It'll be fun to see both our families and enjoy the cool weather!

And just for fun I thought I'd add a cute picture of my boys! I just L.O.V.E. them so much!

A GREAT day!

Why was my day so great? Well it consisted of three things that I enjoy.
1. I am a do-er. I can go and go all day long. The more we do the more fun I have.
2. I LOVE spending time with my family.
3. I get so excited about great deals! I know I'm frugal (probably too frugal sometimes) so when I feel like I get a great deal it makes my day!

Last Saturday was one of those days. Jared told me the day was mine and we could do whatever I wanted all day long. Whoohoo!!! To start off I got another culture pass (can we say FREE...Yipee!!!) and this time it was to the zoo. We started the day off pretty early at the zoo and had a great time! We spent most of our time on the Children's Trail with our kids. Here are some pictures of the fun we had:

Caleb loves tractors!

I was impressed that Caleb was willing to pet the goats. Last time we tried this he got very upset and cried for a long time. This time he was a little weiry but as long as we were close he did great!


Here are some of the animals. As we were leaving the park we decided to stop by the elephants one more time since they were never out when we went by. This time they were being fed so we saw them up close. I've decided they are really hairy and ugly!



I love this picture of the baby orangutan. "What are YOU looking at?"


After the zoo we went home and we ALL took a nap. It felt great after being in the sun all morning. When we woke up we went to see the movie "Up" with the kids. It was a little long for them and they were quite restless by the end but it was fun.

When the movie was over we headed to Taco Bell for some free tacos with the purchase of a drink since the Diamondbacks scored more than 6 runs the previous night. It was a great deal!

Once we got home we were all tired and just relaxed until it was time for bed. For me it was a great day!

What to do when it's triple digits...

Go to California, hang out at the beach, and spend time with family. We stayed with Jared's sister Stephanie for a couple nights and then we camped with my family the rest of the time. It was great!!! Here are my top 10 favorite pictures from our trip in very random order:

10. My brothers and sisters...yep all eight of us!


9. We happened to go the San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park with Steph and her son Matthew. Here is my favorite picture of one of the animals. I have no idea what it is. It looks like a cross between a zebra and a deer! (There are black and white stips on it's back)


8. Beautiful view and beautiful smile!


7. Just because he's such a cute kid.


6. We celebrated Jared's graduation with an ice cream cake at camp. It was yummy!


5.Proof that Caleb loved playing in the sand at the beach.


4. Proof that Kyson loved playing in the sand too!


3. He also enjoyed eating some of it!


2.One of the worst parts about the sand is the fact that it gets everywhere. Caleb wasn't quite sure what to do about it.


1. No one gives out more smiles than this little man. This smile melts my heart.