Happy Easter!

A friend of ours had three little duckies for the week and was doing Easter pictures so we were lucky enough to go over and have a few shots of Sawyer taken on Friday. We LOVE how they turned out! If anyone in the Phoenix area is interested in taking pictures with duckies, or with Jamie in general, you can click on her name for a link to her site.

I can also help you get in touch with her if you would like.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter weekend!

Happy St. Patty's Day!

So in an effort to be festive today, I tried my hand at a little baking and made an Irish Soda Bread! It was actually quite easy and turned out pretty yummy (I thought so anyways...).

And for dinner...A GREEN PIZZA. (aka, avocado and chicken and stuff)...I know it doesn't look super appetizing (unless you're a pro photographer or master chef, food pictures never turn out that great) but it tasted delish!
So that's how we celebrated St. Patrick's Day at our house this year...

And while we're on the subject of food, here's a classic spaghetti face for your enjoyment. (Notice the top two outside teeth and the absence of the top two middle...slightly out of order but oh well...we like vampires :) )
And this is how Sawyer figured he'd help me do laundry the other day. More like be the laundry.

The Children's Museum

Wow so I'm about to make blogging history. I'm actually writing about an event that happened TODAY! Not yesterday or a week ago or, most typically, a month or two ago--today. I figured, what the heck? I'll stay on top of things for once.

Today we visited the Phoenix Children's Museum with Nathan's sister, Brooke, and 2 of her kids, Talmage and Avery. We had a blast. There were so many cool and creative things to do there. The kids loved it. Even Sawyer. Mostly he loved the "3 and under" room. I loved it too because I could literally let him roam around and not worry about him breaking anything. Oh except other children. I'm always a little worried he might break them. He's got a pretty vicious grip, slap, and pinch. But he seriously loved all of the little activities there. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

This picture below is just before Sawyer discovered that he was not as fast as he thought. That walker is pretty dang speedy! Little Sawyer feet can't quite keep up yet!

Sawyer trying to 'help' Avery make a pizza (I'm trying to release the death grip he's got on her arm)! They didn't get very far.

Sneaking around with daddy in the noodle forest (above).

He wasn't too excited about the sand. Kept looking at his hands like, "What the heck is this stuff?!?"...then wiping his hands on his jeans. Like mother like son.

These next pictures are from the park the other day. Sawyer's first time on a swing. He LOVED the swing! We will be going back. Good thing it's right next door to us!

And he was totally suicidal on the slide. I'm definitely holding his foot behind him.

Nathan has been out of school this past week and it's been so nice to have him home and just hang out and do fun things together! We are so sad the break is coming to an end. He was also lucky enough to have some dental surgery right before his break. I forgot to take any pictures of his swollen mouth but he was looking a lot like a 'Whoo' of 'Whooville' for a few days there. This is the only picture I had where you could kind of see it (click on it to enlarge).

In other news, we've had quite a month. Nate's sister, Andrea, got married on Feb 19th in the Mesa temple. As soon as I get some pictures of that event I'll post them. Sawyer was pretty stylin' in his teal bow tie and cumber bun! (If you're on facebook there are a few pictures on there already)

Also, Sawyer took his first steps on Feb 10th! He's now pretty good at about 4-6 steps at a time. He's also figured out how to use surrounding objects (box, backpack, someone's leg, etc) to climb onto higher objects (couch, end tables). Ahhh!! We're seriously in trouble now. Toilets have become a very exciting thing as have any 'doors' that he can open and close. I think I've got my work cut out for me now. How do people do this with more than 1?!

And finally, Sawyer turned 10 months on Feb 29th! I can hardly believe he's getting so old!

For those of you not on facebook, here is the video of Sawyer taking a couple steps!

And last but not least, one of Sawyer's favorite new activities...(please excuse the partial nudity :) )

The Big 2-8

Nathan turned 28 on February 8th. I had been trying to plan something fun all month because I feel like Nathan's birthday always gets neglected. Not only is it so soon after Christmas and in the middle of our Anniversary and Valentine's Day, but I just kinda suck at picking good gifts for him (because I know that everything he would want he would find a better deal on himself!!). So I decided to throw together a little surprise party. I'd never done one for him before and Nathan likes to surprise other people so I figured he would enjoy a good surprise. I sent evites out to friends and family and decided to throw the party in our apartment complex's clubhouse. Let me tell you, when I consult Nathan on 95% of the decisions I make on a daily basis--throwing him a surprise party was no easy task for me! But everything went as planned and with the help of several friends and family, we had a fun little evening. We had dinner and cake for everyone and even roasted a few mallows on the fire pit outside. Nathan was mostly surprised when he showed up that night..haha...he did suspect a little something but said he was still shocked at how many people there were (I figure we had about 30 people there--ish). I kind of figured that would happen...with that many people knowing about it it was bound to leak out eventually! He was very grateful and appreciated all the work that I put into it and had a blast that night! So overall I considered it a huge success. Thanks to all those who made the trek out here that night! We love you all!

I didn't take a single picture at the party! What was I thinking?! Luckily our friend Matt took quite a few and was kind enough to share them with me. :)

Nathan's face when he walked in!

And this is where he's saying, "Thanks baby you're the best wife in the whole wide world!" Haha...just kidding. He did love it though!

Candid picture of the crowd! This was one of the few pictures that had the most people on it...

Trying to fan out the candles on his huge birthday cake. Funny that me making a cake to feed 30 people didn't make him suspicious...but when I asked him if he was going golfing with Isac a few times he thought that was strange.

Random picture of Sawyer at the party...it was way past bedtime :)

To help avoid any suspicion...I made sure that I still did other things for Nathan during the day. I hate when people throw surprise parties but neglect to give any attention to the person all day so that by the time they get to the party they are sad and depressed that no one cares about them. So before Nathan woke up that day I went to the gym as usual and then drove to Krispy Kremes and got him a dozen donuts. He also got a couple other little gifts from me. It was a fun little birthday breakfast (and by the end of the day I think Nathan had almost eaten the entire box by himself!).

On a totally unrelated note, I had to show a couple pictures of the killing I made at an AWESOME scrapbook sale. A lady in my ward was selling all of her scrapbooking supplies at an amazing deal...so I went...twice...and came home with this...for only $50!

Sawyer was not a fan of me paying attention to the scrapbooking table and taking pictures of it instead of him! It almost looks like a smile but just so we all know...he was definitely being a whiny boy..."Hey! Mom!! Down here!"

9 Months

It's hard to believe my little baby is 9 months old! Seriously, where did the time go?! He is so much fun and I feel like every month I'm saying, ok, now this is my favorite stage! I just love every minute with this kid! Milestones within the past month? He can officially now stand on his own, squat down, and then push back up...all without holding on to anything! Oh boy...do I hear footsteps soon? Maybe. He LOVES to eat--anything! But we're still nursing as well. I'm shooting for a year, but who knows...he may lose interest one of these days (either that or he'll try biting me one more time with those teeth!). He always wants to eat whatever we are eating, which is kind of hard sometimes without a full set of teeth :). Which brings us to our next achievement--we finally have 2 teeth in that little mouth! Teething has not been a fun process but I think I have still had it easier than others. We have been truly blessed. He says 'baba'...whatever that means :). And he's gained almost 2.5 pounds in a month and a half! And moving on to the negatives--he can now open cupboards. Yikes!! We really need to get those locks installed. He especially loves his 'tupperware cupboard' and his 'book cupboard'--the only ones I don't get mad at him for opening. And he loves to be chased or to play peek-a-boo. It's always a sure way to get a good laugh out of him. He's such a fun kid and I couldn't be happier doing anything else right now than hanging out with Sawyer all day. Here are his 9 month stats--

Weight 20lb 15oz (58%)

Height 28 inches (42%)

Head 44.5 cm (27%)

One of his favorite places to wreak havoc, the kitchen....mmm that pear stem sure tastes good!

Who doesn't love a nice warm pile of clean laundry?

Brooke and her family came over for Sunday dinner the other night and Hannah and Sawyer had a fabulous time in the bathtub! This is the face I generally get from Sawyer when I pull out the camera (above)...Hannah doesn't look quite as amused :).

Sawyer's favorite bath time toy? A washcloth...why do we ever buy any toys?!

I forgot to post this picture with my Christmas post. This was our little 'fort' at the airport when we were delayed forever...it worked out pretty well as we had Sawyer blocked in from nearly every angle.

The lighting is horrible in this picture and it's blurry, but the point of it is to show you what happens as a result of Sawyer's frequent 'Kamakazi' style behavior (note the line across his right cheek above, and catch a glimpse of this behavioral style in the video below)

This video is a little old but I just found it on my computer. I figured it was worth posting for memory's sake. And no, it's not a Pterodactyl, it's just Sawyer making normal everyday sounds.

Love & Marriage

On January 27, 2007 I married my best friend for time and all eternity. As Nathan so eloquently put it this morning, "3 years down, eternity to go"! And I couldn't be happier about it! I love you honey! Thanks for making life so much fun!

Sleepy Boy

Nathan had Sawyer the other night while I was at work. He caught this video of him while feeding him dinner at 5 pm! Why in the world was he SOOO sleepy? Who knows. Needless to say he did not make it to his 7:30 bedtime.