4th of July family bbq

 We went to Eric's parent's house for a family bbq that afternoon.  It was lots of fun to catch up with extended family and eat super yummy food!

Eric's Dad and baby Ian

Grandma Cheryl and Nyah with blue teeth! She was really enjoying that festive cake pop!

4th of July breakfast

This sweet guy let Gabe reel in a fish he had on the line!

Nyah had the worst allergies and was covered in hives, poor baby, but still a good sport!

One of the things Eric and I used to love to do in Utah on Independence Day was go to the breakfast up at Brighton.  So this year we dragged Mom and Dad and Mindy and Griff up there. ;)  It was so beautiful and festive - it felt great to be outside truly enjoying our beautiful country.  We walked around Mirror Lake while we were up there. We have lots of great memories in this canyon.  Mindy and I used to snowboard at Brighton all the time and there have been many a fishing trip up to Mirror Lake too.  I was hoping to see a moose but oh well... we did see some cute little ducklings weaving through the marsh though!

4 wheelin'

Matt with Nyah and Wesley

Me with Nyah and Wes - Amy with Logan and Gabe

Matt and Amy bought a few 4 wheelers and this was the first time we got to ride them... and what a blast!!  My goodness, Matt and Amy are going to have the ultimate "fun" house. I told them Gabe will probably beg to spend the summers with them when he gets older. ;)  While Amy is working to decorate and furnish their new home, Matt is working hard putting in the landscaping and remodeling the barn, etc. It is a ton of work but let me just say that it is already gorgeous!  It's going to be their dream house when it's all done. I'm so impressed with how they have worked hard to create this home that will be just perfect for raising their children in.  Once the barn and pasture are completed, the horses will be moved over from Dad's to Matt's property.  They also have a fire pit and waterfall/creek that flows into a little pond.  It's beautiful and I can just imagine the fun that the boys are going to have there growing up.  Can't beat having the golf course right behind you and trails for 4-wheeling right off your cul-de-sac too!  That's where we ventured off for our own little escapade.

Before I wrap this up, I have the funniest story to tell about Gabe that day.  He was sitting behind me on the 4 wheeler and I was hearing a constant "that's too fast, Mommy! That's too fast! Slow down, Mom.  That's too fast!"  I kept reassuring him that we were not going to fast and that he didn't need to worry. Well finally I told him to yell "WOOOHOOOOOO!!!" whenever he felt nervous and that would make him feel better. (I was thinking a little adrenaline rush would take care of the nerves and help him enjoy the ride!)  For the rest of the ride I heard a rather feeble "wooohooo" over and over! I turned around to see his face and it was dang serious too!  It just cracked me up! He is just my little cautious man.  Even though he didn't seem to be totally into in, he begged for more every time we stopped. He was loving it but I think it was one of those things that is so much more fun afterward but so scary at the time - kind of like a rollercoaster for the rest of us! ;)

Family Reunion Day!

First off we headed to a picnic with my Dad's family.  I got to see both my cousins my age, Sara and Marnie. It was so fun to catch up with everyone!  Then we headed to Eric's families big reunion at a cousin's ranch in Heber... it was fantastic!  It was so much fun with tons of fun games and races, yummy food, and even a mechanical bull!

 Gabe and Nyah were not too impressed with the mechanical bull. Eric and I tried our hardest to show them how fun it was but neither of us could stay on for 3 seconds, much less 8! :)  Eric got Nyah to try it out at least but she clung to him like a burr and did not enjoy it! Gabe flatly refused to go anywhere near the bull and watched us in pure apprehension (see above) as if we were riding a real wild bull...and not on a soft air cushion either. It was pretty cute!

We got lots of fun time with Grandma and Grandpa R, which the kids loved, and also with their sweet aunts, Eric's sisters Caitlynn and Crystal. What a fun day!

riding the horses

I was so excited to be able to ride the horses this trip.  It's been awhile since I was pregnant for our last 2 trips home!  Matt and Amy took me on a beautiful ride through the mountains. It was sprinkling a little which was actually perfect because it was nice and cool, we saw some gorgeous rainbows, and it smelled so good!  (Probably my favorite smell in the world is the smell of rain in Utah or Arizona.)  Before we left, we let the kids all ride around a bit too. They loved it!

And to warm them up for the big event, Eric had them ride the wildest bronco of all...

buddies

It is so fun to see all these little boys growing up and really starting to be buddies.  I love that we are getting to the ages that they all get along and really play together.  Wesley and Gabe in particular would play outside together all day, creating all kinds of cool construction sites and garbage piles with trucks, etc.  The ideas were really flowing, I'll tell ya!  Jack would also join them for lots of fun times too... like running through the sprinklers one day.  That was fun until they discovered a horse trough that Papa had just cleaned and was drying out. They decided that that would be the perfect swimming pool and so they dragged that heavy thing over to the sprinkler and waited very patiently for hours as it slowly "filled up"! They were so excited and it was so cute!  When it finally reached about 3 inches deep they exclaimed that it was ready and all jumped in for a swim!

 The big boys weren't the only ones having fun... Nyah and Logan discovered that they had a buddy in each other this trip too!  And our newest littles pals, Ian and Gage, don't know it yet but they have the same fun times ahead!

the splash pad

 The Highland splash pad has to be the coolest thing ever! Especially that it's just down the street from Mom and Dad's house. It is the perfect meeting place for all the kids and mommies. We had so many good times at this spot! (I had to represent Ian who was an angel all trip and pretty much smiled or napped through it all!)

our trip home

Nyah and her Papa

I can't wait to share all the fun pictures and stories about our trip to Utah.  It was wonderful spending time with our loved ones and watching the kids play with their cousins.  This picture is one of my favorites!

a few of my favorite things: Ian @ 2 months

I love my noisy, noisy nurser! Ian really enjoys his meals... and everyone within 50 feet knows it! He squeaks with every inhale and purrs on the exhale.  So adorable!

I love his tiny hands and feet. I am enthralled with how tiny and yet how perfectly made they are.

I love how serious he is about food. Once he has my attention and I'm trying to get things ready to feed him, he stops crying but he makes the most miserably sad expressions and lets out little whimpers.  All the while his fists are waving and one little leg pumps up and down, up and down. It pulls at my heartstrings!

I love his dimply smiles! Ian smiles with his eyes as much as his mouth.  Those clear blue eyes transform even when the smile is a little one! He has all of us exclaiming in excitement whenever we get to see that burst of sunshine!

I love his first word... the sweetest "gooo" you have ever heard in your life! He tries so very hard to talk to us and when he does make a noise it's like he almost startles himself!

I love his intensity lately with nursing. He always starts off way too intense, chokes, sputters, cries a little, dive bombs for more, then settles down eventually (often with that sequence repeated several times, poor baby!)  But what I love is how often he pauses right in the middle of a night feeding, smacks his lips a few times, snuggles down, and closes his eyes as if to say "I'll just take a quick nap now, thank you".  Um, I don't think so, pal - it's 2 a.m.! When he was a newborn there was nothing I could do about these 2 minutes nappies mid-meal but now I'm able to keep him on task! It still makes me laugh every time though.


I love his fat little arms.  Especially the deep creases in his wrist and forearm. He has chunky little leggies too, with fat roll upon fat roll! We all love it!

I love his fat lip he pokes out when he's hungry! The corners of his mouth deepen into a big frown, his chin starts to quiver, and that fat little lip pops out. He just barely started doing that at 2 months old and I have to confess I love it!  His face is just so sad... I probably shouldn't love it but I do! It's so so so cute!

I love how active he has become. It's like he is emerging from the sleepy newborn phase to realize he has limbs and they are really fun to swing around!  He wiggles like a little worm during and after each diaper change and the big kids and I laugh at how funny he is waving his arms and kicking his legs!