Beautiful Baby Boy

We took Kaden to my friend Alesha for some photos. She did a WONDERFUl job. I want to blow them all up and hang them everywhere! She is such a great photographer. You can check out her site, I have a link to it (Alesha Russo Photography). She is a wonderful friend too. These are a few of my favorites....

Happy Sunday, and a HAPPY little boy

Today was such a beautiful day, I took Kaden outside to play in the grass. He loves to be outside. This is my little flower garden in front of our house, I love it.

Such a BIG boy!

I can't believe how time flies, and how fast Kaden is growing. He is already 7 months old! He is so much fun and his personality is really beginning to show. He is hilarious. He is a tall boy, like his daddy, and a talker like his mommy. He is ALWAYS wiggling and moving all over the place. He is getting to be very hard to hold-he throws himself around and has to be looking at everything. His bottom two teeth poked through last week! He has been chewing on everything and drooling like crazy, but never fussed at all. All of a sudden they just appeared. That is how he is though, mellow and very easy going. He is babbling and laughing a lot.


This is what he does when he is eating, sleeping, or just laying calmly on the floor (although that is not a common occurance).



He is learning to crawl....well, army crawl. If there is something he wants, he'll scoot all the way across the room. It's pretty cute. The only problem is that the things he usually wants are tv wires, and items on the bookshelf....hmmmm, we need to baby-proof!

Mission accomplished!


His new favorite thing is the walker. He really gets around in that thing and loves to keep me company when I am cooking in the kitchen. Sometimes we just put him in there in his diaper and let him make a complete mess of himself with crackers or strawberries. He loves food! (just like mommy AND daddy!)

It's wonderful to have people we love all around us...

We have had such a fun time with our friends this past weekend. I met up with my friend Reese who had been visiting her family in Turkey for the past month. We went to the park and walked around and had lunch. It was so good to see her!


With Reese and her baby Danica

I can't believe how big Kaden is getting!

Kaden was very interested in her sippy cup. Actually...he is very interested in EVERYTHING. I have to keep anything and everything out of his reach, because he grabs for it in about 1/2 a second. He is so curious and always moving!

Saturday night we headed to dinner with Andrea & Matt, Reese & Will, Alesha & Stephen, and Angie & Trent. After dinner we went to the football field to play frisbee. It was so fun to socialize and get outside and get some exercise. Too bad it got really windy and rainy!

Sunday we went to Andrea's house for TONS of food. Her sister Heidi just got back from a mission. I love Andrea and wish she would hurry up and move back here! The picture above is her niece Kaya, and Kaden looking like a deer in the headlights.

After the BBQ we went to a friend's little girl's birthday party, then stayed up until WAY TOO LATE playing games. We were all so tired everything was hilarious. We loved getting to know each other better and laughing until it hurt.


I love my friend!

I am so thankful for the close friends we have here. When we moved from Utah the hardest part was knowing we were leaving so many fun people our age. It's been so great to have other couples to hang out with. Matt loves having guys to talk to and I love meeting up with the girls! Group dates are always a blast too. It's wonderful to be surrounded by loving friends.

All Things Testify....

I know that I repeatedly talk about how beautiful it is where we live. I just thought I would post a few pictures to show just how spectacular it really is. Beauty like this testifies to me that there is a God, and He gives us gifts like this to bring us joy. It makes me so happy.

Silly Little Boy

"Hey mommy and daddy, let's play hide and go seek....ready?......"



Where did Kaden go? I can't find him....hmmm, he must be around here somewhere!



"Here I am! Here I am.....You thought I was gone forever! I sure tricked you guys...."

Happy 4th of July!

We're so festive in our red, white, and blue.


At the Parade with Andrea and Matt


We went to breakfast at the little market by our house. They have the BEST breakfast burritos. It was so yummy!




Every year we go to Bayfield and sit downtown and watch the parade. I always thought it was the biggest, best parade ever...but I have found out otherwise when I have gone to big cities for the 4th. I have to say though, this tradition is very special to me, so it is still the best parade ever. It was fun to see a bunch of my high school friends. We just went from house to house...and yes, we ate ALL DAY!


Kaden eating his share of the burrito.


My mom and dad...we have so much fun with our holiday traditions.


Matt knows how to make his baby a happy boy.


With some of our friends getting ready to watch the fireworks. There is a huge display at the lake. They shoot them off right by the water, and we were in the field right next to the shore. We were sitting right under the fireworks. The noise echos between the mountains throughout the whole valley and it really is amazing. We had the best time. Kaden loved it. He just stared at the firworks and wasn't scared at all.

Here everyone is intrigued, but I knew someone was taking a picture. Notice Kaden is just staring at Matt's chips...haha, like father like son I guess!

Rollar Coasters, Water Slides, and Spinning Things

In front of the fountain at the Lagoon. This felt SO good when it was 105 degrees!

Well, I know I said that there was something SO exciting...I just meant that I was going to post more. (I said it cause I know the posts aren't SO exciting, haha). Anyway, we went up to Utah this last weekend to see Matt's mom and brothers and to go camping at the Lagoon. We had a great time, but it was SO hot! We camped and Kaden was perfect and slept all night in his little "Pac N' Play". We went the the water park first, and the water was freezing at first, but much appreciated after being so hot. Kaden loved the lazy river and kiddie pools. He was so good the whole day. We went down a few slides, then headed over to the rides. Traci loved playing grandma and watched Kaden a lot for us so Matt and I could have fun. He LOVED the fast, spinning, crazy rollar coasters. He smiled and laughed the whole time. I used to love them, but realize now that they totally mess up my equilibrium and I felt a little dizzy the whole day. I am so glad he loved it. After dinner Traci and her friend Randy came with us on the rides. It worked out so well. Randy pushed Matt in the wheelchair, I pushed Kaden, and we got to the front of almost all of the lines. Matt got to go on each ride 2x, so I would go with him and Traci would watch the baby, then we'd switch. It was the perfect way to do things! I was so glad that it was so much fun for Matt. Sometimes things in his life are very frustrating because he can't do them the way he wants to, so when he can participate in normal, fun activities, it makes me so happy (and him too!).

Love the Roommies

Katrina, Katie, Kaden and me...what a good lookin' bunch!



This weekend Matt, the baby, and I took a quick trip up to Utah. We went to the Lagoon with his family and some friends, and I got to get together with some college roommates. We went to Katie's house and had the yummiest shish-kabobs (her house was decorated SO cute...I think I'll steal some of her ideas). It was fun for Matt to meet Jed (Katie's husband) and for me to see Katrina and Katie. I love those girls and miss the "old days" and the silly and crazy stuff we used to do.

I am posting this at a ridiculous hour....we drove home today and being the only driver I buzzed myself up on caffeine....and now I can't sleep! This is usually what happens and I will be dragging tomorrow. Oh-well, it is totally worth the safe trip home! The good news....you will all have something to be SO excited about! --- I will update later on the rest of our trip (sadly I didn't take enough pictures!).