Josh & Heather Jones

Snow

2012-01-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

You know how it’s supposed to be winter and it just really hasn’t been. Well… I. Am. Not. Complaining! I hate snow. Hate it. And it is even worse pregnant and afraid of falling over all the time. So yeah, this kind of winter, I could get used to. (Yes, I know we need the water and I should care, but I just am having a hard time NOT loving the lack of snow).

Anyway, remember near the beginning of the month when it snowed sort of hard (the first weekend in January)? That was when I took these pictures after Josh had finished shoveling the driveway. I love them. And now that I have my winter/playing in the snow pictures, there is no reason for it to snow again right?

Josh and Traegan playing (note there is an actual snowball, thrown by Trae, in mid air).

This is how T-Man ducks to avoid dad's snowballs. Ha!

Love this face... so very much!

He was so happy playing out there.

Because I thought his little butt looked so cute when he'd pick up snow.

Pure. Joy. I love him so much!

There, I’m officially caught up with blogging. I have yet to take any new pictures so I don’t know what to blog next, but at least I’m not several weeks behind anymore…

Twin Falls Trip

2012-01-19T14:37:00.003-07:00

Super late post…

I headed to Twin Falls with my mom, Justin, Tobin, my cousin’s girlfriend, Jessica, and Traegan the Friday before New Year’s (December 30th) because my cousin Nate was taking out his endowments in preparation for his mission. We met all of Nate's family there and my grandparents also made the drive up, so there was lots of family and catching up!

It took a lot of preparation for the trip. The Twin Falls temple is smaller and doesn’t rent clothes. Well, have you ever tried to clothe a very pregnant woman in all white before? Not easy. We made me a dress and stuff earlier that week.

Anyway, the temple session was nice, despite the fact that I was about to pass out the entire time. I had to excuse myself for a minute to go get water, something I never thought I’d do. Plus I was getting over a cold. You never realize how loud you are until you are in a temple session. Oh the snuffles. But it was still nice.

I had a lot of help with Traegan from all my awesome family, but when it came time to go to sleep in our own little hotel room, the crap hit the fan. We eventually took him for a drive to get him to sleep. However, he was awake and screaming a mere few hours later. I seriously do not know how they didn’t kick me out of that hotel room. Trae was super constipated and being away from home and not having keys to my mom’s car, I had nothing to help him. It was a LONG night.

The next day we headed home and I was thrilled to get back to my honey.

We stopped at Shoshone Falls before we left Twin and it was truly beautiful.

It was SUPER icy everywhere and all my family was very, very concerned with me falling. They were very nice to keep taking Traegan and helping a preggo out.

My mom, my Grandma Perkes, and Traegan

We tried to get a picture of me and Traegan, but it was super windy and cold and he wouldn't look at the camera. I have to admit though, I quite like this one.

This is my cousin Nate and with my brother, Justin. Nate has been living in Logan with my grandparents to attend school since the fall and we have loved having him so close. We will miss him when he leaves.

Just a cute one of Justin walking Trae to the car. I'm so blessed to have so many willing and helpful hands for my Traegan to hold on to.

Anyway, for New Year’s Eve that night, Josh and I went to bed at about 10. He had caught my cold and wasn’t feeling great. I had only slept about 3 hours the night before and was sure I would die. So when Trae fell asleep, we weren’t far behind. Such party animals!

Pregnancy Update (less whining)

2012-01-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

Hello again. I know that no one, never mind, very few people read these, but that’s okay. I am mostly doing it for me anyway.

So pregnancy has not gotten easier. At my last doctor’s appointment I begged for some more stuff to try to help with the dizzy and she prescribed a medication to try. I was so optimistic. I was so excited to potentially drive again (and you know housework and stuff). But alas, it doesn’t work. It helps a little, but makes me drowsy and gives me blurred vision. Not going to get me driving any time soon.

But I am trying so hard to be optimistic. It is very, very, possible that this is my last pregnancy and I’m trying to enjoy it. Plus I know that my attitude is greatly affecting Traegan and Josh so I’m trying to fix it.

Thanks entirely to my sweet husband I have learned that if I can sleep off the morning bout of dizzy I actually feel okay for a few hours in the afternoon and can get some stuff done. I don’t know what I’d do without him, but I’m glad I don’t have to find out!

Plus, for some reason, having my c-section actually scheduled (February 24th baby!) makes it feel a lot closer. And 5 weeks seems a lot easier than 6 weeks.

I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. Tiny, squishy, pink thing!

The Dizzy & The Guilt

2012-01-12T17:25:00.001-07:00

I had to wait to write this post when I wasn’t in a terrible mood, which is most the time lately. So yeah. Anyway, this is more of me whining about pregnancy. Feel free to skip it, but I need to write this down to remember this. Because I’m afraid one day I will forget how awful this has been and the need for more babies will trump my remembering skills and then I would be where I am again, only with more kids. Yeah. I’m only partly kidding. Sad.

Anyway, this pregnancy has been rough the last month or so. I can deal with the fact that I’m so sick ALL OF the time, the lack of sleep, the not being able to breathe, the general hugeness, the list goes on and on. But I CANNOT deal with the dizzy anymore. It is bad… really, really, bad. It’s so bad that I spend at least 75% of the day laying down to keep from falling over. It’s so bad that I black out a few times a day. It’s so bad that I don’t trust myself to drive… ever. Even on the rare occasions I have use of a car. It’s so bad that I physically can’t do laundry, dishes, make food, lift my two-year-old, etc. It’s really bad.

But that isn’t even the worst part. The worst is feeling COMPLETELY USELESS! I feel like the worst wife and mother there has ever been. I can hardly take care of myself, let alone Traegan. He spends the entire day wishing I would get up and play with him like I used to. I spend the entire day trying not to die and to get him to watch movies. And poor Josh has had a lot of slack to pick up lately. Our house is NEVER clean anymore, the dishes are never done, the laundry never folded. It’s awful. And Josh has to completely rearrange his schedule any and every time Trae or I need to go anywhere because even when I could drive… I can’t. He has to drive me everywhere like a child. I. Hate. It. Also, I’m not a very happy person right now because of the uselessness and the sick all the time and the hormones and Josh is also dealing with that.

Luckily, I have the best (and certainly most patient) husband in the world. He takes it all in stride even though I know this has been hard on him as well. There are no words for how much I love him. He is incredible and I could not do this without him.

So yeah, pregnancy. It’s not my favorite. I really dislike it actually. I’m really hoping that I’ll find peace with the number 2 because I don’t think I can do it again.

Only 6 more weeks to go! Wish me luck! I’ll just be here chanting, “tiny, squishy, pink, thing.” over and over until she’s here.

Christmas (very late, picture overload)

2012-01-10T14:07:00.008-07:00

So Christmas… it was only like 3 weeks ago. I’m super on top of life lately, maybe I will post about that tomorrow. Anyway, here is our Christmas recap.

Well, first here is our Christmas card that we sent out. We didn’t do a letter and I kind of forgot about like half our people so don’t feel bad if you didn’t get one. :)

We had Josh’s side of the family Christmas on the Eve of Christmas Eve (December 23rd). It was a zoo. Because we walked into this…

Each little family got a car. They loved them. They climbed all over them and blasted the radio's and had way too much fun. (Luckily Scott & Kathy had the foresight to leave the batteries that make them drive out, so they were just stationary).

It did take Trae a while to warm up to it, mostly because he was sitting in his car all by himself. For a while, he was content to play little cars with Owen.

Eventually though, he realized just how hella-cool it was to have a red Mustang!

It especially helped when Sammie got in with him. Here are all of them in their cars. Those be some happy little kidlets!

Then we opened a bunch of presents, which Traegan was a big fan of. (Even though he kept sneaking off to sit in his car).

Either way, he was a pretty big fan of Christmas!

Since Julie's girls had all the boys in the drawbox, they all got matching pajamas. This was the best picture we could get.

We did my family’s Christmas on Christmas Eve afternoon. We have never had such an open schedule for our family party and it was super nice! Traegan got majorly spoiled and loved everything!

My dad spent many hours wrapping this... can you guess what it is?

It was quite the process to unwrap (and very fun for Josh). But Traegan was super happy with his present in the end!

And since I look super awesome in these pictures, I'm going to take this opportunity to remind you that I was 30 1/2 weeks pregnant in them.

Trae got this super cute monster bowling set... and he believes you bowl with your entire body.

But mostly he just loved his remote control Mater. Which he is surprisingly good at driving.

Christmas morning we got up and had a big yummy breakfast. With 9 am church, we decided it was child abuse to open presents and then leave before Traegan had a chance to play with them, so we waited until after church to do presents.

Traegan going through his stocking.

Trae got lots of presents, but he especially loved his little Star Wars dudes! He sat there and banged them together in the boxes still since I wouldn't open them. (He had more presents to open). Video below...

But then he opened his new Leap Frog game thing and spent the rest of the morning with that. It was very cute and he is super smart with it.

A little later, Scott and Kathy brought the little car to us. Traegan was very excited to see it again, until his dad put him in it (with the driving battery) and pushed the petal. Then this happened. He was then terrified of it.

(As a side note, we kept it in the house in the living room for about two weeks and he is finally sitting in it again).

In the evening we went to Josh's grandparents for their annual Christmas party and had lots of fun there. Trae had fun seeing his cousins again and opening more presents.

And when the 3 days of Christmas were over, this is his haul. (He refused to sit in the car for fear of it moving again). The kid is so dang spoiled. Or I should say, he has SO many people who REALLY love him!

Christmas was awesome this year. Really, really awesome!

Santa's Village

2011-12-19T17:57:00.007-07:00

We went to the little (but wicked awesome) Santa’s Village that they do here in Brigham last weekend to see Santa and all the pretty lights. (Like two weekends ago, I’m very behind. We went on December 10th).

Traegan did better than expected with Santa… he didn’t cry, but he also didn’t really want to sit on his lap either. It was pretty funny.

Right after we got done seeing Santa, Jeremy and Julie and their girls came and we walked through the village part with them. Traegan loves his cousins.

Looking into the Snowman School.

I actually got a Sammie smile!

I love his reflection in the glass on this one.

Traegan and Chloe ended the night with a rousing game of ring around the rosies/chasing each other. They are so cute together.

And since it is a rare opportunity that I have make up on (see post below) I asked Julie to take us a little family picture. And since this is the first time any of you have seen my belly (once again, see post below), I was 28 ½ weeks in this picture.

This last Saturday night, Josh’s parents watched all the boys so that Jason, Noelle, Josh and I could all go to dinner and the Aggie game. We had tons of fun and so did our little dudes. Once again, Trae LOVES his cousins!

I stole this picture of Owen, Jettsen, and Traegan from Kathy's blog. Some cuties right?

And this was Traegan after church yesterday. I’m totally in love with that red and black striped shirt if you couldn’t tell. He looks so dang dapper in it.

And that’s what we’ve been up to. Josh got sick Saturday/Sunday evening with the flu. I’m hoping and praying that the rest of us don’t get it and he gets better by Christmas. So help me if we have a repeat of last year!

Pregnancy Woes

2011-12-19T16:45:00.001-07:00

I’m pregnant, you may know this already. ☺ I’m now going to complain about being pregnant. You may wish to not read. I wouldn’t be offended.

So I just have to start by saying that I really don’t have much to complain about. While pregnancy totally blows for me, neither me or my baby’s life has ever been in danger and that is something HUGE to be thankful for. I do recognize that a lot of people, some who I know and love, can’t say that. So I am in fact aware that I shouldn’t be complaining. Just so you know.

I am so sick all the time. My tummy issues are vastly inflamed by pregnancy and I rarely have a day, half a day, or a few hour period even where I feel okay. Me and the potty are buddies. Good buddies.

I have this thing. I vaguely remember it from being pregnant with Traegan. My heart feels like it beats so hard. I can feel it in my fingers and toes and tummy all the time, the way you can when you have a cut or something. With Traegan, my doctor had me drink a half a gallon of water a day, which I’m doing, but it’s a little different this pregnancy. I’m also feeling like I’m on the verge of passing out like 90% of the time. And I’m really prone to overheating. I know they all seem like separate things, but somehow they all compile on each other and I’m ALWAYS dizzy. I ALWAYS feel like I’m going to fall over. It’s rather annoying. I’m not able to get ANYTHING done because I always feel like I’m falling over. And this past week, I blacked out while driving. Scary and not cool. Now I’m just terrified that is going to happen all the time. I have found the silver lining to not having a car since now I’m kind of freaked to drive.

And new with this pregnancy… acne. Yep. I look like a pubescent teen and have since about a month into this pregnancy. Hence the lack of pictures. I meant to take lots of pictures this pregnancy and I wish I had because I feel like I’m doing better huge-ness wise than I was with Trae, but then I look in the mirror. My hair has been in a gross ponytail for 6 months. Every time it comes out of a ponytail for more than an hour, I get a fresh crop of red bumps in my hairline. Anyway, that is really annoying.

I never sleep. Trae is the worst sleeper in the world and that is one problem, but every time I wake up with him, I cannot get back to sleep. My brain automatically starts stressing about my ever growing to-do list and I can’t turn it off. Then I’m up so long I have to eat something. Then when by miracle of miracles I get to sleep, I have some crazy nightmare dream that seems so real it wakes me up and we start all over. Also, I’m having a really hard time telling my dreams from reality lately. A few weekends ago I literally was dialing the phone to remind Josh to do something that he didn’t need to do, I just dreamed it. So, I’m basically insane.

And I think that is about it. I have a doctors appointment tomorrow, hopefully I can get some answers/help for the blacking out and dizzy, but other than that… just counting down the days until this awfulness turns into a tiny, squishy, pink princess!

(Late) Thankful

2011-12-02T03:59:00.002-07:00

(Pretend this post was in November. And while you’re at it, pretend it was near Thanksgiving. Thanks!)

You know what I’m grateful for this year?

Traegan: He is bomb. He is the cutest little kid ever. He makes me smile everyday and melts my heart. Plus, um… he’s freaking adorable.

Josh: He is double bomb. He loves me unconditionally and he makes me so darned happy. I seriously don’t know what I’d do without him. Plus, he is the reason I have Traegan and almost have…

Avonelle: On Thanksgiving I realized that in exactly 3 months I’d be holding my baby girl. It would be her birthday, I would no longer be pregnant, and I would be HOLDING MY BABY GIRL! Ecstatic. I cannot wait to meet her. I have a feeling my heart might stop when I do.

I’m grateful for tons of other stuff too, but my two and a half peeps definitely top the list!

(We had a lovely Thanksgiving with my parents and Grandma and Grandpa Perkes. It was yummy. Thanksgiving is the best holiday ever to be pregnant. Ever! I spent most of that weekend having my Grandma and mom help me with Avy’s bedding. It’s beautiful. I’m in love with it. And hence the reason the blog has been lacking. I can’t stop sewing things for her and getting her room ready. So much fun.)

Rough Night

2011-11-17T16:53:00.005-07:00

We had a rough night last night. I maintain that Traegan is the worst sleeper in the world, but last night was even worse than usual. I think there were nightmares involved. He’s been doing that lately.

Anyway, a rough night means two things:
1- A long day ahead of me.
2- Wicked. Awesome. Hair.

(Oh and Trae fell and cut his little lip yesterday. Sad.)

On the plus side the mailman brought me a big box of clothes that I ordered on the cheap for Avy. Suddenly my day is much better. :) Also, 25 weeks down baby! Whoot freaking whoot!

P-O-O-H = L-O-V-E

2011-11-16T22:32:00.003-07:00

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Josh. He was given a Winnie the Pooh at a very young age. It became his best friend. For about a year, he gave everyone in his house nicknames from the show and would only respond to Winnie the Pooh and call everyone by their “Pooh” names. There is a lot of love there.

(Josh is the one in the front with the cake, also you will see Winnie the Pooh)

Fast forward many, many years. Josh now responds to his legal, given name. He also has a few other things he loves even more than Winnie the Pooh. You know, like his awesome wife and even more awesome son. But he still has that same Pooh tucked safely away in the band room.

His awesome son, Traegan, has managed to collect a few Winnie the Pooh’s of his own. Strangely, none of them came from us. Anyway, he loves them… a lot. I think it has something to do with the fact that daddy sings the Winnie the Pooh theme song to Trae each night and makes them dance. It’s adorable.

Anyway again, he loves them. He carries them around. He refuses to go to bed without them. He eats breakfast with them. He gives them drinks of his milk. The list goes on and on.

Yes, my kid is eating a donut for breakfast. Yes, my kid is in the same clothes he was in the night before at the swim meet in the last post. Yes, his hair is wicked cool! Yes, I’m an awesome mom.

It used to just be the small one pictured above that was the constant companion. Now it is both the big one and the small one. But, if daddy is in the room too, Traegan gives the big one to him. How freaking cute is that?

Traegan says cheese so big when he sees the camera. It almost makes up for the fact that he closes his eyes too.

Yep I’m one lucky mommy and wifey. My boys are the best. And they love Winnie the Pooh.

Oh and Traegan is pretty much the cutest ever!

"Swim, Swim, Swim"

2011-11-15T14:06:00.003-07:00

Hey there. I’ve decided to change things up and put my long ranty part at the bottom of this blog post and the pictures at the top. So if you are interested in reading about our recent health scare and why my week last week was AWEFUL, that’s below. For now, here are our recent pictures…

We’ve had the normal amount of busy since my last post and so these pictures were from Friday night, while Josh was at the USU/BYU basketball game with his brothers and dad and I was at my youngest brother, Tobin’s first swim meet. It was really fun and he did really well!

Traegan was pretty content to climb around on the bleachers.

Then he found a little friend. This cute little boy was dressed exactly how I dress Trae, had the same hair, and was super cute too. If he hadn’t been just a little bit taller than Trae, I’d have been very confused. And when Brandon got there, he rubbed the wrong little boys head. Ha!

Tobin in one of his events, he is in the middle lane in the yellow swim cap.

The last event that Tob swam, my mom held Trae since he was running with his buddy and I was trying to take pictures. Traegan chanted, "swim, swim, swim" the whole time. It was stinking cute.

And now on with the rant.

So here is the very short version of my crappy week last week. Josh started to have chest pains Wednesday afternoon. He was sure he was fine and it was this thing he had once as a teenager again. I was unconvinced. After a sleepless night he allowed me to make him a doctor’s appointment Thursday morning.

At the doctor we did lots of tests and finally ruled out heart attack, which was nice. But after some discussion, and some much needed information from Kathy, we found out we couldn’t rule out this thing he had had as a teen without an echocardiogram. (That thing is called Pericarditis and it is the swelling of the lining around the heart. Which puts pressure on the heart and chest and hurts like the dickens. It is caused by a viral infection, which for some reason settles in his chest.)

We couldn’t get in for an echocardiogram until Friday morning and after Josh consulted Lord Google, I had the LONGEST night ever. I was so sure that Josh was going to die. Not now, but in like 10 years and I had a mental breakdown. I’m not exactly in a normal mental state right now anyway and this was all just a bit much to handle.

Friday morning we headed to Logan and did the echocardiogram. We of course didn’t get the results right away so we had to wait around for a few more hours before we knew anything. Much later we met with a cardiologist and found out that… Josh would be fine! They put him on a really aggressive dose of Ibuprofen to make the swelling go down and help with the pain.

He was still in a lot of pain, but it gradually went away over the next two days and now he is back to normal. And the doctor assured me that this was a very rare thing and it may or may not happen again… in another 10 years. We also did some more testing to make sure that it won’t be a chronic thing that will kill him off. Good news there too!

So yeah, it was all a lot to handle for me. I blame that on the pregnancy, but truth be told, it was really scary and I can’t imagine my life without my best friend and love so it would have been hard no matter what. But all that really matters is that he is going to be fine.

It was kind of a nice reminder of how precious life is though. I am grateful to be reminded of how much my husband and my little family mean to me. It helps me to remember to not take them for granted and appreciate them everyday. The end.

Halloween

2011-11-04T16:33:00.006-06:00

Halloween was this week as you probably know. I’m just now getting to blogging about it because I’m lazy. :) You saw Trae’s awesome costume in the last post and I figured that was enough for a while.

Before I get into Halloween night, here are our cute pumpkins, which some how all ended up with triangle noses.

And here are my freaking cute spider decorations that I made at my mom’s Super Saturday. Fun huh?

On Halloween, we spent the day in Logan so that Josh could go to the dentist and I could go to the orthodontist. Fun right? I scored some awesome deals on clothes for Avy during the day and then my mom and I hung out while Josh worked. It was really a pretty fun day.

We stopped and saw both of my grandparents. Then we headed to my mom’s house, saw everyone there, and ate dinner with them. Then we went to Scott & Kathy’s.

First of all, Kathy has awesome pictures of all of Trae’s cousins here if your interested. They are some pretty wicked sweet costumes.

After we visited for a minute, I asked Jason & Noelle if we could do a few houses with their boys so that Traegan would catch on quicker. They obliged, which I much appreciated. We literally just did the five houses that were closest to Josh’s parents, but they had so much fun!

Here is Traegan running across the yard to go trick or treating!

Jettsen (Batman), Traegan, and Owen (Superman) getting some sweet treats!

A nice witch giving my child candy. Don't mind that it looks like his foot is on backwards. Mental note, next time you make boot covers do the elastic thing to hold them on. :)

The best was at the end of the few houses we did, we walked over to Scott & Kathy’s again to get our car. Jason’s family piled in their car to go do more visiting, but Traegan just ran up to the door.

He was so into it by then. He said, “trick or treat”, picked his candy, said “thank you” at my prompting, and turned to leave. He literally had NO idea he was at Grandma and Grandpas. I tried to get him to turn and do it again so he would notice and it went the exact same. Except the second time he said, “more, treat” instead. It was hilarious.

We had a great time trick or treating and so did Traegan. I think next year we may have to hit more than five houses though.

Costume Reveal

2011-10-29T13:26:00.005-06:00

Well, I made Traegan’s Halloween costume this year. That’s right…made. MADE! Like, from raw material and with no pattern whatsoever. The fact that it worked is a slight miracle and makes me feel like I can do anything a little bit.

Anyway I finished it late Thursday evening and we took his pictures last night. Can you guess what he is?

He is Link from the Legend of Zelda video game…

My mom told me know one older than Josh and I would know what he was, so here is a picture of Link for reference. :) The one on the left is the older version and the one on the right is the newer one… this will make sense if you keep reading.

Now the question you may be asking yourself is why?

Well about a month or so ago we were hanging out with some of Josh’s friends from high school and Trae was with us (of course). We’d been there for a while and all of a sudden Jesse goes, “I know who Traegan looks like! He looks like Link from the original Zelda game.”

He then proceeds to pull out his phone and show us pictures like the one above and on the left. I have to say, Trae kind of does look like him. It was dang funny and we all laughed for a long time about how much he really does look like him.

Ever since then Josh just thought it would be the coolest if he was Link. And I picked his costume last year so I figured Josh could have a turn before Traegan starts getting an opinion of his own. And so I made a Link costume.

And Traegan LOVES it!

And he is ready to go fight the bad guys! And SMASH THE POTS! (Inside joke from when Josh would NEVER stop playing Legend of Zelda).

Josh put the sword in the ground to get Trae to hold still for a few minutes. He is just the cutest.

It actually was in there pretty good though. He really couldn’t get it out. Ha!

I'm still super in love with Traegan's eyelashes!

Off to go rescue a princess...

He closed his eyes while walking thought the corn and I thought it was stinking cute!

My dude is such a little stud!

This picture is out of focus and blurry, but it just looks to me like he is saying, "I won the game!"

So yeah, Halloween costume. The end.

Beautiful

2011-10-28T15:49:00.004-06:00

We went to the doctor for our Targeted Ultrasound on Wednesday. It was so much fun to see little Avy moving around and being adorable.

I’m not going to lie, we didn’t get very good pictures of our little sweetheart. Go figure that she didn’t cooperate for yet another ultrasound. But everything is looking great. All her organs are in there and her heart is going strong.

And even though there is no picture of it, she has THE NOSE!!! She has the same little nose as Josh and Traegan. Hallelujah! I love that nose and it’s really the only feature you can actually tell what it looks like on an ultrasound so that makes me really excited.

Between the legs, making sure she in fact a she.

Pretty sure that's an arm and hand. Though I really could be wrong. I almost didn't put this one up because I couldn't remember what it was. :)

Leg. What a cute little leg!

Her precious little face...

We have almost this exact same picture from Traegan's Targeted Ultrasound (click here). They are definitely related.

Traegan must have remembered the last ultrasound we went to because as soon as the picture came up, he started saying, “Is baby.” It kind of sounds like “it’s the baby”. I’ve been trying to tell him about the baby, but it’s just such an abstract concept, I’ve been struggling with it.

The ultrasound tech was, well, obsessed seems to be the right word, with Traegan. She could not stop talking about how beautiful and cute he was. She kept giving him suckers and just telling us how adorable he was. At the very end she goes, “I just CAN NOT wait to see this little girl because she is going to be BEAUTIFUL!” It made me really happy. Not that you could blame her.

Check out this picture that Kathy took of him while she watched him for me on Friday. Dude is good looking!

Traegan is pretty freaking handsome and if Avonelle looks anything like him… well, Josh is in trouble!

Daddy Did Good

2011-10-25T11:34:00.002-06:00

Okay so before I get into how cute Traegan is and how awesome Josh is, I just have to say that my child, who NEVER sleeps more than a few hours at a time, slept until 10 am this morning. I feel today may be the greatest day of my life!

Josh has gotten better and better and better at helping get Trae ready in the mornings when we all have to go somewhere. I know that probably sounds bad, but seriously, he is awesome. I used to feel like it was my job to get Traegan and myself ready when we had to go somewhere, that is not the case anymore. Josh is the best. He will hurry and get ready and then get Trae ready all the time now!

However, one task I have yet to relinquish is the picking out of the clothes. It’s not that Josh doesn’t do a good job. It’s just that sometimes I think he is color-blind. Ha! (Love you honey)!

But he surprised me on Sunday… We woke up with about twenty minutes until time to go to church and so I didn’t get time to lay out clothes for him.

Cute right? It’s even pieces from three different outfits that he made look good together. I can’t even do that sometimes! I may have to relinquish my duties occasionally.

Also don’t judge the next picture. All the full body pictures I tried to take he kept doing this weird little dance thing and I was just too tired to keep trying (this was after church). Somehow this was the best one.

Now I just have to use my wonderful night of sleeps energy to: edit five photo shoots, clean the office, do the dishes, do the laundry, sweep, mop, vacuum, clean the toy room, finish/start Traegan’s Halloween costume, etc… Wish me luck!

Eagle & Counting

2011-10-20T12:17:00.003-06:00

Yesterday my mom earned her third Eagle Scout. At least, that’s what Josh says. Really, Tobin did his Eagle project and Josh and I decided that was the best way to spend our anniversary. Ha!

Tobin’s project was to Linseed Oil two cabins at Hyrum Dam. Have you ever used Linseed Oil? That stuff is bomb. That is what we did our deck with and it is crazy cool. Anyway, it was pretty darn fast with all the help and it went really well.

Traegan was not happy when he woke up from his nap in the car.

He pretty much remained pretty unhappy for the rest of the time. He was really clingy and sad… until we broke out the food.

This picture KILLS me. I thought it was so sweet, him just sitting there eating his pizza.

And here’s a before and after of the cabins. It’s all shiny and wet still on the front of the after picture. :)

And I finally took the time to get this on video today. Traegan has been working on counting for a while now and about a week ago he finally included all the numbers when counting to ten! He’s been getting better and better at using his words and expanding his vocabulary. Anyway, here he is counting to ten.

Oh and we hadn’t gotten ready for the day yet, hence the pajamas and the hair. Oh, how I love his hair. So much. I’m never cutting it.

Boring Update :)

2011-10-17T12:05:00.003-06:00

Blah. Hello world. I must apologize for the lack of blogging up in here. I have just not felt like myself lately. I feel like death all the time and so very tired. I miss a few certain people very much and it makes me sad a lot of the time. So yeah, I haven’t made blogging a priority between the millions of photo shoots and orders I’ve been wading through. Lets hope I can find a way to slap on my big girl pants and get control of life soon. :) Because my to do list is getting out of control. Now for the updates:

Potty Training
I was accused of leaving you with a cliff-hanger of a blog post after the potty training one; I must admit, I was flattered. Most of the time, I think I’m the only one who reads my blog, which is fine because I love looking through the old stuff. But still it’s nice to know someone else reads it. Wow. Sidetrack. Anyway, I did the one thing I swore I wouldn’t do with potty training: Stop once we started.

Traegan hated it. It was traumatizing. He did manage to pee in the potty the day after that post too, but it totally freaked him out.

I did some more research and found an article in a Parenting magazine that led me do believe that he was just simply not ready. He hasn’t hit any of the “milestones” for being ready to potty train and that weekend we tackled the huge project of paining Avy’s room so by default, it just kind of went away.

We left the treats in the bathroom and he still asks for them all the time, I think when I say “Those are your potty treats. Do you want to sit on the potty and have one?” and he doesn’t run away screaming we will try again…

Giant Pumpkin
These pictures are from October 3rd. Mom fail. There is a bank here that every year has a giant pumpkin in their lobby. We went to visit it this year for the first time. The thing weighs 1174 pounds. Re-donk-ulous!

Trae loved it. Pumpkin is a word we have been working hard to learn and he’s finally got it. This one was quite exciting.

I love his hair so much. It is crazy. It does it's own thing all the time and it's always fun.

Anniversary
Josh and I’s 4 Year Anniversary is this next week. Crazy sauce. How did that happen? Anyway, this weekend we had a lovely night away and date courtesy of Cache Valley Getaway (you should click here and check this out, it’s a good deal) and my mom and dad the babysitters. We had a great time getting away for a minute and remembering that we are more than just parents.

Josh is my rock; especially lately with me being more than a little emotional and hormonal. I don’t know what I would do without him. He is by far my best friend and so incredibly patient. I can’t imagine my life with anyone else. Best. Husband. Ever! (Honey, if you read this, I love you forever and for always)!

And that is life as of lately. The end. Now I’m off to accomplish something.

CELEBRATE (and I need opinions)

2011-10-13T15:14:00.003-06:00

I have a lot to blog about, but we are pretending I don’t so I can celebrate today!

20 weeks baby! Half freaking way done!

We had an appointment yesterday and saw our cute little princess again (once again confirmed she is a girl). She is doing great and growing well, which makes me happy. We didn't get a new picture of her, but trust me, she's cute.

Now I need your help. I get to pick her birthday, (lucky me) and I’m torn. It may or may not be an issue because we don’t know for sure how long they will let me go, but I’m curious what people think about having a birthday on February 29th. (Leap year people). I can’t decide if it’s child abuse or not… I think it’s fun.

So that and if you were curious, her name is Avonelle. We will call her Avy and Nell/Nelly. So now you know.

Day 3- Potty Training Sucks

2011-09-30T09:59:00.003-06:00

Today is Day 3 of the potty training.

Day 3 of camping out in the bathroom.

Day 3 of my butt aching.

Day 3 of Curious George 2 over and over and over.

Day 3 of accomplishing nothing but making my child cry, my house is out of control.

Day 3 of mommy frustration levels being through the roof.

Let me be upfront and say that it is not going well. (No need to be jealous you know who you are).

Pee has graced our toilet once… yesterday. It caused a freak out and now he won’t pee on the toilet again. He sits there and screams and holds it in until I get him down. For hours. Yesterday after our one successful pee I waited until I knew it was time and we sat there for a VERY long time. He screamed. I finally got him down. He peed. I admitted defeat. This may be a VERY long process…

Today he seems pretty okay with at least sitting on the potty, I think that is the only progress that has been made.

This is what we do while we sit, watch movies on the laptop. I think I’ve seen Curious George 2 at least 25 times in the last two days and I’m not exaggerating.

My little spot where I sit and crochet. I finally brought pillows in to sit on because my arse was killing me. Killing. It still is, but the pillows are helping. Though I am out of hemstitched material so I have no idea what to do now.

My trusty potty treat jar. These are for trying. I busted out some good treats when pee hit the toilet. He wants those bad now. He hasn’t figured out how to get them again.

Good thing is cute or I don’t know what I’d do.

So yeah, suggestions are welcome. I have basically no clue what I’m doing I’m just trying. So any ideas, tips, etc. would be much appreciated. Thanks!

It's A... (for real this time)

2011-09-23T09:25:00.004-06:00

Before I get to the good stuff, I’m going to say the crappy stuff. Tuesday/Wednesday during the night, I started feeling really sick. Lots of pain in the tummy. I did okay for a few hours in the morning. But then I stopped being okay. Flu symptoms. I don’t know if it was actual flu or not, but it sucked. Really, really sucked. It sucked so bad that I was very deeply concerned that I would have to cancel my appointment on Thursday morning…

But I woke up feeling much better. Not perfect, but much better. So I kept my appointment. I drove to Salt Lake with Josh and while he went to his work meeting, I went to Fetal Photos (actually it was Accuscan, but same thing).

We started out the same way as a week ago. Little feti, just keeping their legs together and not moving much. But after much poking and proding…

Da da da da…. It’s a girl!

We are thrilled! Thrilled.

It’s a little hard to tell from this picture, but from the actual ultrasound, it sure looks to me like little sweetie is going to have Josh and Traegan’s nose! I’m super happy about that!

Sweet little heartbeat!

Her precious little feet, though you really can't see much from this picture.

Now, truth be told, at our last appointment the doctor said she thought it may be a girl. But she said this after saying over and over how the baby was in the worst position ever and she just couldn’t tell. And she followed it by, “I reserve the right to change my mind.”

Due to this, everyone, but me already knew it was a girl. But I just couldn’t let myself be excited until I knew for sure. Now I do. Now I’m thrilled!

Now the only problem I have is I literally CANNOT stop shopping. How do I stop? Seriously, how?! My budget cannot support this. :)

Running, Climbing, Kicking

2011-09-19T15:49:00.006-06:00

So this was marathon weekend. Oh marathon weekend.

Truth be told, I like marathon weekend. I’ve been doing it for long enough that I can answer most any question and help a lot and I do enjoy it. But there is a SEVERE lack of sleep and that really gets to me. Anyway.

Friday night we headed up to Logan for Packet Pick Up at the Element’s. Josh helped for a bit while his awesome mom and dad watched Traegan and then he took him home. My mom and I worked for a few more hours that night and then went to bed for our three hours of sleep. We were back at it at four in the morning. Anyway, it was still pretty fun even with the rain and the lack of sleep.

Random picture time. The girl in this picture with the ribbon is Kathy’s cousin, Tia. She ran the 5K and took first in her age group. I’m in the hooded purple jacket and my dad is on stage in the white announcing the names. Kathy stole the picture off of Facebook and I’m stealing it off Kathy’s blog.

I stole this picture only so I can say this. The marathon has been running (pun) for 13 years. My dad started it. I have been involved with it (slave for it) for 13 years. Because the same people run it year after year after year and the same people win year after year after year, I often wonder how many people have pictures of me handing them trophies. I wonder if they have connected that it’s the same person, the 12 year old girl, the 16 year old young woman, the 25 year old pregnant lady. Just a thought.

Meanwhile, while I was setting up trophies in the rain, Josh took Traegan to Kylie’s soccer game in Brigham City. I also stole this picture from Kathy’s blog. It is Traegan playing on the playground and climbing the death defying ladder thing. Josh said I wasn’t allowed to see this picture, I’m not sure why.

Chloe, Kylie, and Traegan

On Sunday after church, we went back to the same park so I could see T-Man’s tiny legs scale the ladder in person. I was quite impressed. His tiny little feet barely reach.

When he is concentrating, his little tongue comes out. This is how I know he is my child. I ALWAYS do this.

So I would like to go on the record first by saying that Traegan was NOT crying until the half a second before I snapped this picture. Otherwise I would have helped him first. Oh well. So the one time he almost fell was this one. He barely had his toes on the bar and I was standing right next to him and I saw that he would fall. But he caught himself and straddled the bar as he came down. (Josh goes, "Aww, Bug. You 'nutted' yourself." Ha!) Anyway, once again, he was fine until I backed up to take the picture. Just saying.

But it's all worth it to get to the "Whee!"

This was another, less exciting, whee. I just posted this one because you could see his little tongue sticking out in it. Funny.

Josh and Traegan also played ball for a while. Trae loves his daddy!

This video was so sweet, but you can't really hear Traegan's hysterical laughter throughout the whole thing, which was what was so dang cute. So yeah, oh well.

Traegan kicking the ball, with the help of his tongue.

Do you ever have some pictures that you love so much you can't pick a favorite? No. Just me? Oh well. It figures.

Though if I had to pick, this would be it!

Now that I’m caught up on my sleep, I can now say that it was a great weekend. :)

Just Peachy!

2011-09-16T10:39:00.005-06:00

When I was a teenager, there was a member of our bishopric who whenever you asked him how we was doing, he would say, “Just Peachy.” Just thought I’d share that with you.

Also, if you care, I just update the other last weekend under this one. So yeah.

Last weekend was Peach Day’s here in Brigham City. I didn’t realize it was as big of a deal as it apparently is. We went last year for a minute, but just to the booths. We didn’t do anything else. This year, we did it all!

We woke up on Saturday morning and headed to the parade. The parade route ends just up the road from our house. So we literally walked four and a half blocks there and back. And Traegan walked it too. I wasn’t sure if he would be able to handle walking that far with his teeny little legs, but he sure did. He LOVED it.

He loved the parade too. They had several marching bands, which were by far his favorite. And he just sat there and waved to everyone. (He also waved to passing cars for the rest of the day in case you were wondering).

The parade was HUGE. Apparently, it is the second biggest parade in Utah, second only to Day’s of ’47. Huge. Josh and I were done about halfway through, but Traegan was still having a blast so we stayed until the bitter end. My sunburn is proof.

This was the first picture I took when we arrived. Just as I got my camera out, Trae sneezed. Awesome!

Traegan is mid-wave in this one. :)

Whatever the crap this thing is, it scared the hell out of Trae. Seriously, once it started coming he started climbing up me and hugging me so close until it was gone. I really don't blame him, I was pretty scared myself.

We are pretty cute if I do say so myself. Especially since we left our house about 10 minutes after we woke up.

One of the many marching bands and Traegan LOVING it!

By the end of the parade, Traegan had made friends with the little girls next to us, who we didn't know. I totally wish adults made friends that easily.

Later that day we went back to hit up the booths and see the sights. Best people watching in the world I tell you!

After that, we went to visit Jeremy and Julie and their girls as Traegan has recently learned Kylie’s name and was asking for her all day. We had a good visit and then Julie and I went back to Peach Days after dark to get the pictures I’ve been dreaming of for over a year! I have a frame all ready for them and the spot in my house and etc.

Back when we were young, Josh and I used to ride this ride ALL the time. Anytime the carnival came to Logan we rode it at least a few times. Once, we left work during the Midnight Movies to ride it. We didn’t ride it this year, but one year when I’m not pregnant, we are going to get a babysitter and go ride The Zipper until we puke! Ahh memories.

And that was the end of Peach Day’s 2011. We had lots of fun and can’t wait for next year. We feel more and more everyday like Brigham is “home” and we love the fun stuff it has to offer!

Labor Free

2011-09-16T09:39:00.002-06:00

I told you I was behind. I also told you that I would catch up. Here is Labor Day weekend’s review.

On September 3rd (the Saturday in Labor Day Weekend) we got to go to the Real Salt Lake game with my family. We met them for dinner at Olive Garden, yum. Had a slight parking fiasco. And then once we were in the stadium, we really enjoyed the game.

My mom and I talked about how much we missed Janece… and other things. :) We also made fun of the crowds’ reactions to all the missed goals and plays and everything. I had a ball! Josh had fun actually watching the game. And Traegan had so much fun! My mom and I were worried we would need to walk around with him a lot to keep him entertained. No such thing. He sat in his chair or on someone’s lap to see better and watched the entire game. He cheered when everyone else did. He was disappointed when everyone else was. It was hilarious. He sang with all the songs and danced to all the music. He had a wonderful time!

Here he is cheering

With McNana, only interested in the game

Traegan with McPapa, it was pretty funny. You can't really tell in the picture, but he was only holding on to/touching my dad with the tips of his middle fingers. And he was fully engrossed in the game.

Traegan was done with pictures. He is his father's child.

Then on Sunday we went to our friend Nate’s house. He had just gotten back from Alaska where he was all summer so we had a delicious dinner and fun visiting.

Before any of that we played Frisbee for a while. Traegan was quite eager to join in.

And even though none of them will probably ever read this, I just want to say “thank you” to all the people that were there. Most of them are single or are newlyweds. We are the only ones with kids and they are all just so cute and patient with Traegan. Throwing him the Frisbee and letting him play with their phones. Just thank you! You guys make it easier to take him places. :)

I LOVE this one.

Monday we just hung out and enjoyed a day at home together. It was a wonderful weekend. I wish there were more 3 Day Weekends.

It's A...

2011-09-15T08:28:00.001-06:00

Stubborn baby!

We were supposed to find out what flavor of feti I have inside me yesterday. But baby had other plans. It wants to make sure I know that he/she is the boss!

It spent the entire ultrasound kissing it’s knees so that we could see… nothing!

Now I get to wait another four weeks. Boo!

Freaking Out!

2011-09-14T11:28:00.001-06:00

Before I get into that let me get two things out of the way:

1- Josh is HOME! Whew! We took him to the airport early Sunday morning (That’s right, he flew on the 10 Year Anniversary of September 11th. Totally freaked me out). And we picked him up very late last night. Thankfully it was a short trip. But every time he is gone… well I’m just super glad to have him home again.
2- I have two weekends worth of pictures coming. Soon. When I have a brain again. :) I really haven’t slept much the last few days.

Now… I’m FREAKING OUT!!! I’m so excited. Today we find out what flavor of feti I’m growing in me. Super excited. I kind of can’t wait.

People ask me what I want. I really want both. I think another boy would be a whole hecka lot cheaper and probably more fun for Traegan. But the pink cuteness of the girl is something I will keep having kids forever to get so it would be super nice to know I had it.

Last time I was pregnant, when it came to this day, I had people vote for what sex they thought the baby was. I also had a job where I sat at a computer all day and waited for people to blog or post something new on Facebook. That is no longer the case.

I have a to-do list that is coming out of lots of inappropriate places. It will be funny if I check anything off that list while my brain is so scattered.

So you can still vote, I will still like it, and you will have bragging rights if you are right. Yeah. The end.

I’ll let you know tonight or tomorrow… YEAH!

Bored?

2011-09-07T14:16:00.002-06:00

By the way, I'm much happier today. Much, much happier. Thanks for asking.

I just wanted to share something with the internets in case you were bored too.

This blog is doing a really fun fall crafting thing everyday. There are lots of giveaways too (Everyday Lettering may in fact be one of them, just saying). And yesterday there was a cute free printable thing-a-ma-gig.

And this blog is one of my all time favorites, but it is currently having an Ugly Lamp contest. You should vote, mainly because it is HIGH-larious. I seriously almost pee everyday. Awesome. Vote here (Round 1), here (Round 2), and here (Round 3).

Hope that keeps someone entertained. :)

Ramble Much?

2011-09-06T10:45:00.002-06:00

I feel like I should update my blog, but alas, Josh drove away today with my camera… therefore I have no pictures. So just know upfront that this is just ramblings. And that I’m quite ornery lately. Know this upfront…

I really like 3-Day Weekends. They should be the standard.

I have tons of work to do. Lots of orders to fill and pictures to edit. But once again, those things are currently somewhere in Ogden with the husband. Having one car really blows. Have I mentioned that? Really, really blows and I really, really hate it. Also I want to bake and I have no cooking spray. Really, really hate not having a car.

I took the best engagement pictures ever last week. Just so you know. One day I will put them on my photography blog, but I don’t want to until the bride puts them up too. Seems polite.

Traegan never sleeps. Never. I always want to sleep. It’s a problem.

This pregnancy is weird. With Traegan, I really enjoyed being pregnant. I was sick all the time and tired, just like with this one, but it was new and exciting and cool. Now I’m just kind of enduring pregnancy to get to the small squishy thing at the end. I really have NOT enjoyed being pregnant.

(Only read this next little bit if you are prepared NOT to judge me). One day last week, when I came out of the bathroom from dying, I poked my stomach and said, “You suck.” Then I realized that was the first time I have talked to fetus. Rude. Major mom guilt set in. I quickly countered with, “I love you… but you suck!” Still I feel really bad about that. Pregnancy is just really yucky for me.

Yesterday I discovered Skype. I’ve never really had a need for Skype, but with Janece in PA, I REALLY have a need for it now. It made my heart happy and sad to see her. Really happy and really sad at the same time. Today I miss her more than ever and it’s really hard. I feel like I’ve lost my best friend.

Traegan loved it. Traegan has really missed her. Janece and Traegan have always had a special relationship and when he saw her he went batty crazy happy. He really loves her. I really love her. I really miss her.

(Janece if you read this, sorry to be such a downer. I love you and I know that you are happy so you keep on trucking. I’m just having a miss my sister kind of day).

I just remembered I never posted this picture. There, now there is a picture. We took this one for Scott's birthday present. Pretty cute huh? There was much photoshopping involved.

From left: Traegan, Owen, Jettsen, Kylie, Chloe, Sammie

I’m bored. I should clean something. The end.

14 Weeks!

2011-09-01T09:37:00.003-06:00

Last night and the night before I gave in and opened up the “Maternity” box. A very depressing fact. It made me more than a little sad.

Until I put the pants on last night. Oh my lanta! I do love the stretchy pants. That "Secret Belly Fit" that they have at Motherhood Maternity is God's gift to pregnant women.

But given that today I’m 14 weeks that is when we are saying I opened the box. Deal? Deal!

T-Man's Shenanigans

2011-08-31T08:03:00.000-06:00

I feel like I’ve been a bad mom lately. Not bad, just not really good. It probably has something to do with the fact that I feel like death most of the time and spend the majority of my time laying down in pain. Gotta love being pregnant. And the few times that I’m not down I’m frantically working on my ever growing to-do list. So yeah, I just haven’t been as present with Traegan as I usually am. I kind of miss him. I love that boy. He is so sweet.

Anyway, I just wanted to mention some of the awesome things he has been up to lately.

These pictures were back when I was showing him how cool Photo Booth is… you will read later on that this was a bad idea…

Traegan has figured out how to open doors. All doors. Boo! We haven’t bought child proof door handle things yet so mostly I just chase him around all day.

Anyway, because he learned this he can now get to the computer by himself. He has also learned how to open Photo Booth and proceed to take millions of pictures of himself. Seriously, there are like 200 more pictures than there were two weeks ago.

Whenever it gets really quiet, I pretty much know where he is. I call out for him and I hear, “Mom… Cheese!” He really is the best. Always good for a laugh.

When daddy finds him on the computer, he joins in the fun. :)

A while ago, he watched a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode where they played with bubbles. After watching it, he said bubbles. (His first two-syllable word)! We went out and blew bubbles and since then that is ALL he wants to do. Everyday he goes to the back door and says any combination of the following words to get outside and get blowing bubbles: Outside, Shoes, Bubbles, Please, Mom, Dad. It’s pretty funny.

Note all the changes of clothing, these were all on different days. He does this every time he can sneak away from me.

On August 9th, I believe, he did the funniest thing ever. As I’ve mentioned a few times, he is quite obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Particularly Toddles. For those of you who don’t have a toddler, Toodles is a Mickey Mouse head shaped thing that flys around and brings them the things they need when they have a problem. I won’t get started on my rants about Toodles.

Anyway, I was giving him a bath on this specific day and he wanted a bubble bath. Which he has never had before at our house, but I think he got a few times while we were cruising and he was hanging out with Grandma.

So he asks for bubbles, I say we don’t have any bubbles, and he proceeds to put his hands by his mouth like he was yelling, cock his head back, and yell, “Oh Toodles.”

I laughed hysterically for a few minutes before I told him that Toodles wasn’t going to bring him bubble bath.

In regards to his speech, it is coming along nicely. He is learning new words everyday and getting much easier to understand. I told my mom a while ago that I don’t even care how much more he learns because my wildest dreams have come true. He now says “food” and “cup” and that is really all I need. Now I know what he wants when he crys. (I’m kidding of course, I would like him to keep learning to talk).

These pictures make me think one word... gremlin.

When I tell him I love him, he says “eh too”. It means you too and I love it!

After I change Traegan’s bum, he says “Ta Da”. Only he just says the last part, “Da.” He also does this whenever he does something he feels he should be praised for. People look at him weird when he says “Da” about a hundred times before I say “Ta Da”.

And somehow, the fact that I have been blogging for a while now, but blogging about Traegan’s awesomeness somehow makes me feel like a better mom… weird. Maybe it’s just that now I'm caught up with blogging and that's one more thing checked off the list?

Polite Under Pressure

2011-08-30T09:35:00.007-06:00

On August 20th, we went to Hogle Zoo. We had been talking about going for a while because they have the animatronic dinosaurs there now and well, Josh LOVES dinosaurs. We finally had a day where we could go so we took off.

When we got there it was HOT! Really, really hot. And it was SUPER crowded. But we tried our best to have fun still. (Towards the end of the day we were walking past cages and barely looking in them trying to get out of there).

Traegan had lots of fun looking at all the animals and he even seemed to enjoy all of the dinosaurs.

Traegan watching one of the moving dinosaurs.

When we got to the big T-Rex however, Traegan’s attitude changed drastically.

That thing is HUGE and it roars really loud. And it lowers its head so you’re pretty sure it is actually going to eat you.

But sweet Traegan was polite as ever. He sat there for a about a second and then when it started moving and roaring he started screaming. Then he started screaming, “No! Please! No! Please!” He really didn’t want the dinosaur to eat him and he asked him politely not to. :) Best. Kid. Ever!

After the fairly traumatic encounter with the T-Rex, we walked through the reptile/ bird/ stinky house for a while. Traegan loved it because we just let him run up to all the cages and look for himself. I have a picture of him looking at these same ugly animals the last time we went to Hogle Zoo.

After our jaunt in the stinky house we (I, because I am the meanest mother ever and was not satisfied with my pictures yet) decided to try the T-Rex again. This time I made Josh take him so I could work the camera.

He ran away screaming "No! Please!" again. :)

Then Josh held him up by the T-Rex. He did better, but he still says "No! Please!" once in the video and it ends crying. Ha! (Again, meanest mom ever).

Then we finished the loop looking at more nice animals and walking as fast as we could to get out of the sun.

We finished our day riding the train. Traegan loved it. Like a lot!

Now a small side story that relates to the next video. Traegan's new favorite movie/show is The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Choo Choo Express (Or as he calls it, "Oh Toodles Choo Choo"). I know, it's a long title. But after watching Finding Nemo (Or as he calls it, "Elmo") 7 times a day for over 2 months, it's a welcome change.

Anyway, Mickey and his pals are on a train for like the entire hour. And for most of that time on the train they are singing a song in which "Choo Choo" is pretty much the only words and moving their hands from side to side.

Well when we left the train and then the park, Traegan was singing "Choo Choo" over and over and moving his hands around. I only caught the end of it because we were at the car and Trae wanted to leave about as bad as we did, but it's still cute.

And that was our hot, crowded, exhausting, dinosaur filled, funny, mean mommy trip to the zoo. I call it a success.

Swings & Clubs

2011-08-26T10:23:00.000-06:00

So I believe this was Tuesday, August 9th. I could be wrong. Not that anyone cares, but me. Yeah. Moving on.

Janece’s boyfriend, Ian was in town so we met them up in Logan to do some mini golfing. We headed up early and went to dinner and to Willow Park first.

Traegan was pretty content to play on the big “Whee” (as usual) and look at/play with the other kids that were there. But I pulled him off for a minute and made Josh push him in the swing, since he’s never done that before. (Baby swing doesn’t count right? Right!)

When we first put him in, he put his hands in the leg holes as well. Which made him lean REALLY far forward the whole time and pretty much just stare at the ground while moving. He didn’t love it…

Once Josh fixed his arms he was a little more enthused.

But once I started grabbing his feet and making silly noises when he got to me... we were set.

Feel free to love this picture forever with me!

You can love this one too.

Also around this time Josh asked me if we could ever have a family outing that didn't involve the camera. I replied no. Seriously.

Then we headed over to Willows for some mini-golfing. Have I mentioned I hate mini-golfing? Hate it. Suck at it. Usually just take my 5 and run to the next hole…

Ian showed Traegan the ropes. Probably good he learned from someone who actually knew what they were talking about. (Ian is on his college's golf team).

Traegan did this every time his ball when in the hole. Awesome. There was also some cheering. :)

T-Man was very good at retrieving balls for us. Even though he had to lay down to do it a few times. What a good little helper.

Watching the water under the bridge

Traegan had a blast. He loved it. There was plenty to do and see and climb on and balls to chase. He was fun. He did however make it rather difficult for the rest of us to play, but I sure as crap didn't mind.

Here is our group: Tobin (behind my mom), Mom, Josh, Traegan, Janece, and Ian (and me taking the picture)

Janece and Ian

(Janece didn't like this picture, but #1 this isn't her blog, #2 I'm pregnant and mean, and #3 I think she looks beautiful)

I wanted a family picture as usual. I waited too long and Traegan was done. Josh was also done and especially done with the camera. Love you babe!

Oh and I just have to say that I didn't come in last... second to last, but not last. All in all, it was a pretty fun night.

Big Ace Quilt

2011-08-25T08:22:00.000-06:00

The beginning of this month (so far behind) Janece came to visit so we could finish her quilt before she left to go nanny. The quilt is made from all her dance, drill team, and high school t-shirts and stuff. We started piecing it quite a while ago, but once we were sewing in the strips and the border we realized something… this quilt was going to be HUGE!

This gives you a better idea of the massiveness.

It ended up being about 9 feet by 7 ½ feet. I have NO idea what she will do with it.

Traegan was most helpful throughout the entire process. Particularly pinning. Ugh.

As a side note to life, Janece is gone now. She left on Saturday. I MISS HER SO MUCH ALREADY! Just knowing that I won’t be seeing her on the weekend or that she isn’t coming to visit me soon is killing me. However, she is happy where she is and I know it will be good for her. All I can say is, you better freaking call me EVERYDAY Janece!

#2

2011-08-24T06:20:00.003-06:00

Well I’m very behind again. I have lots to post about Traegan and what we’ve been up to, but I’m starting here because I feel like a bad preggo.

For those of you that missed it in the last post, Josh and I are expecting baby #2! We are thrilled. I am due March 1st and I'm 13 weeks along tomorrow.

Now for the boring stuff…

I hate being pregnant. This pregnancy has been a little different than the last because I went into it with eyes wide open. I knew from being pregnant with Traegan that my body and pregnancy don’t get along. My issues with my tummy and my IBS/lactose intolerance are hugely exacerbated by pregnancy and it makes my life miserable. I knew I would turn into a whale. I knew how big I get so early on. I know people will ask me if I’m having twins and if I’m going into labor right then starting at about 6 months. The list goes on and on…

All this led up to me really not being super excited to be pregnant. Thrilled to death to have a squishy new little baby at the end. But NOT excited for the nine months prior.

Well this pregnancy has been a little different. I’m sick all the time as expected, and I’m nauseous all the time. That is a new fun little twist. I’m dizzy. I’m constantly exhausted and can’t nap nearly as often as I’d like because I’m a mommy to a wonderful friend already. I’m also super onery (poor, poor, poor Josh) and overly emotional. And the motivation for just about everything has just disappeared completely. Lets hear it for being pregnant. Yeah….

So there you go. That is how I’m feeling and such. Not good.

I’m not even going to apologize for complaining, because apparently when you are preggo you have license to be crazy. At least that is what Julie keeps telling me. By the way, I love you Julie! Also I’ve been up for a while and it’s early.

Make no mistake though. Come the end of February, I will be beyond ecstatic at the new addition to my family and grateful for these awful months. I can’t wait to hold my new little buddy!

On to the ultrasounds!

This was at our first appointment, Wednesday, July 6th, and I was 6 weeks along.

This was at our second appointment, Thursday, August 11th, and I was 11 weeks along. I got my official due date at this appointment as the baby was too small to tell at the first one.

Cruising Mexico (only two months late)

2011-08-12T10:43:00.014-06:00

Okay so here is our long delayed, cruise post. But before I get into that… if you are one of those people who just kind of scan through things and don’t read much, that fine, but I’m just warning you… YOU MAY WANT TO READ THE LAST PARAGRAPH.

Ok. Now for the cruise pictures. Um… fair warning, picture overload. This really could have been/should have been multiple blog posts, but I’m too lazy.

I’m posting this picture first even though I think we took it on almost the last day. This was our whole group that went with us. My Grandma and Grandpa Perkes paid for our whole family to go. One of my cousins and his wife just had a baby so they didn’t go, and Traegan and my cousin who is slightly younger than Trae also didn’t go, but other than that we had the whole gang! And it was by far the best family reunion we’ve ever had! ;)

We flew into Long Beach, CA the night before the cruise so the next morning we got to walk around the Long Beach Pier. It was really fun and so beautiful.

Josh and I with our heads in a train thing. We all know how much I like to stick my head in stuff for pictures. Ha!

Janece and I

Getting on the boat! Whoot whoot!

The first full day on the boat ended with formal night. I had fun dressing up and dancing with my hubby. Josh tolerated it because that was the night they had the fanciest stuff in the dining room!

Josh and I waiting to get off the boat on the first day in port.

Our first day in Cabo San Lucas we went with my immediate family to Dophin Discovery. It was hands down one of the coolest things I’ve done in my entire life.

First we got to pet the dolphins. Then they had us kind of make a spitting noise and the dolphins would blow water out of the hole and make the same noise. Fun.

I was the VERY first person to do the whole standing while they push you with their noses thing. I was freaking out. But I did it and it was wicked awesome!

Josh went next and after he almost lost his shorts... ha! He did it too.

Then we did the dorsal fin pull, which is cool, but mostly is just a lot of salt water in your mouth. :)

Here is one of all of my family doing the standing push one.

Left to right, top to bottom: Mom, Dad (who almost lost his shorts too), Justin, Janece, Brandon, and Tobin (doing the gorilla beating the chest thing).

Because I asked and because our group wasn't full, they let us do the standing push thing again so they other dolphins could get their exercise too.

Seriously... just cool! Just all around awesome.

This was on our second day in port in Cabo. We just walked around and did the rest of our souvenir shopping and bartering! It was pretty fun once I stopped being scared and feeling bad for ripping people off.

The next day we were in port in Puerto Vallarta. We had an awesome excursion planned with almost our whole group. It was seriously awesome and I felt super adventurous. It involved riding donkey’s up the mountain, hiking for a minute, and then doing about 9 ziplines, 2 repels (one of them a free fall repel), ropes course, more hiking… it was wonderful!

Oh that's just my sexy hubby repelling down a waterfall...

That's right. I repelled. Despite my instincts telling me to run or something.

Josh and I. Happy and in love (and happy to be on solid ground).

My siblings and I.

We're kind of... different. I love them!

My mom and Janece and I. My best friends...

My cute mom and dad.

My extra cute Grandma and Grandpa. Who I can't thank enough for this awesome trip!

The last zipline was a race. I was all gung ho to race my honey and then the workers counted, "One... Two..." (pushed me really hard) "Three". So I won, by a lot, but it wasn't really fair.

Once again... awesome!

I made Josh take this picture with me because we ate our weight in ice cream while on the boat. They had the machines where you just walk up and serve yourself. It was amazing. Josh and I had a little joke going the whole time, "Josh, um... I don't have any ice cream in my hand." I think I ate about 35 ice cream cones. It was awesome and made my tummy very happy, and then unhappy with the lactose intolerance thing. :)

We tried to mini golf on the boat on our last day at sea. It was so windy! At one point it picked up Josh's ball and threw it 3 decks down. Luckily no one was injured. :)

It was a blast and we had so much fun. Great memories. And somehow, all our carefully planning worked out perfectly, and we came home with the best souvenir ever… A bun in the oven. Ha!

Love.

2011-08-05T22:46:00.002-06:00

Traegan just looked right at me as I was putting him to bed and told me that he loved me. It was hard to understand and probably wouldn't have sounded like that to anyone else, but it doesn't matter. I died. My heart literally stopped for a minute. I have waited so long to hear those words from him. I am so incredibly happy right now... I just had to write it down. I love my Traegan!

McMurdie Family

2011-08-02T16:18:00.001-06:00

So here are the VERY long awaited McMurdie Family pictures. (Long awaited by me of course, I really wanted a picture with my WHOLE family in it. But since Traegan was born while Justin was gone… it took a while).

My friend Stacy took them for us and I edited them.

My cute mom and dad!

My two bestest friends.

I'm in love with this picture. Traegan and his McNana and McPapa.

These pictures are so special now too since my family is spreading out again. Justin is at BYU for school now. At least I will still see him pretty often. And Janece is moving to Pennsylvania to nanny for a year. Words cannot express how much I will miss her.

Anyway, thanks a million to Stacy for taking these for us. Love you!

More Swimming

2011-08-02T11:03:00.001-06:00

And with this post, all our July happenings are caught up. Whew! Oh how I have loved you July. You were so much fun!

We had one more free pool day, this one in Logan and this one because I am a yearly slave for Top of Utah marathon. (Which makes it not so much free). Anyway, it was fun, but Josh and I have declared it the last time we are going swimming this year. Three times is enough!

In case you were wondering, yes my heartbreaks when I see this picture.

And now, all of Traegan’s adventures on the slide.

My brother, Justin, took him first. Justin did great and stood right up with him.

Then my dad took him a little while later… he dunked him twice. The picture on the right is seriously hard for me to look at. I start hyperventilating a little. Don’t judge me. Those are my dad's feet and Traegan's head going under. I stopped taking pictures at this point and started FREAKING OUT!

As a side note to my dad: Don’t worry grandpa. Traegan still loves you. I just replaced the pictures on my wall with the new ones and he keeps looking at them, pointing to you, and saying “Papa!” So you’re good.

After that I was a little bit nervous about people taking him. Justin asked to take him again. I reminded myself that Justin is a certified lifeguard and already did it once successfully.

Success #2 for Justin. (Look how high he held him up for me! Good brother).

Then my brother, Brandon, wanted to take him. I began hyperventilating again. Then I reminded myself that Brandon is also a certified lifeguard (lucky me). Then I proceeded to threaten Brandon with his life if he dunked my child again!

And I just had to enlarge Traegan’s face on this picture. Awesome!

Good job Boo! I now trust you too. :)

But most of the time, Traegan was just thrilled to death to be playing in the shallow water with his cousins.

Noelle brought her boys and the three of them were pretty darn cute together as you can see.

And then I made Josh take a picture of T-Man all wrapped up in his towel. He just looked so snuggly, warm, and tired.

There. Goodbye July. We love you!

Balls & Choos

2011-08-01T15:00:00.003-06:00

I have decided that instead of me beginning every blog post with, “I’m so behind... blah blah blah” you will all just always assume I am always behind. Cool? I mean, I always am. Crap, I still haven’t even blogged the cruise yet. Balls. Anyway. This was on Tuesday of last week.

Josh’s work gave them millions (not quite) of free tickets for an Ogden Raptors game. We decided it would be fun. Our seats weren’t great and we only stayed to the end of the fourth inning because that was all that Traegan could handle, but it was still fun.

One of the not so good moments...

A better moment... Luckily there were more of these than the not so good ones.

Our attempt at a family picture.

Just as we were getting ready to leave I had a brilliant idea. I wanted to take Traegan to Union Station to see the real “Choo Choo’s.” Traegan loves trains. We were supposed to go tour the Brigham City train station with the Up to 3 Program a while ago, but ended up missing it and I really thought he’d love it. I was right.

I was a little concerned that he wouldn’t catch on to what they were. I mean they are HUGE, stationary, and not making a “choo choo” noise. But he caught right on. (Josh said it was because I was saying “choo choo” a million times).

In this picture he was pointing at one and saying "choo choo".

He loved climbing all over them and would get upset when we pulled him off of one until he was on another one.

I love this one. In the picture on the left you can just see his little eyes through the slit. :)

I've never been there before when they had this, but a few of the trains were actually unlocked so you could go inside of them. This one was a little creepy, but still super cool. Trae walked right in, walked straight through to the other door and knocked on it. :)

Sitting inside a train.

Sitting on a big wheel.

Those trains are so dang big!

It ended up being a really fun day and Traegan loves looking at the pictures still.

Another Whee!

2011-07-26T17:24:00.006-06:00

Monday we had the annual extended (so extended we don't know half the people there) Jones Family Party. It was a blast. It always is. Lots of yummy food and BOUNCY HOUSES.

We took Traegan into the bouncy house and he jumped for a minute...

Then he discovered the attached Whee. It was all over from there.

I think he went on it about a hundred times during the day. Maybe more. He wanted to live there.

I took a million pictures, Kylie made this face in all of them!

Jettsen always had a ball when he went down the slide. I bet you can't guess what happened after I took this picture... to my face!

Traegan was trying to talk Chloe into going down by herself. She absolutely refused to do it alone. Since I was the only adult in there for most of the time, I hauled my way too big butt up the slide and helped her. Which is a lot funnier if you know the whole story, but you don't. Ha!

Taking the stairs like a champ. They really were a little too far apart for him and stretched his little legs to the max. But he did it!

Best. Picture. Ever!

You may not think I have, but I narrowed these pictures down a ton. I had like 400 pictures...

After it wasn't so crowded, we decided to try the big blow up water slide. Unfortunately, it was starting to rain and the garden hose water was quite cold...

I love this picture, some of the big kids (who I have NO idea who they are) were trying to convince Traegan to go and he's just looking at them like, yeah right.

He really wanted to go, just not alone.

Luckily, Uncle Jeremy was already dressed for the occasion. Traegan had fun for a minute...

But at the bottom there was a nice little puddle of freezing water and he did NOT like that. Strangely he looked like he still wanted to go again, but it started raining harder so I took him in and changed him again and we went back to the other bouncy house.

Chloe came in and went straight for me. She was my buddy that day!

And here is a video I took of Traegan going down the slide a few times. It is kind of choppy and weird because I had to rotate and crop it. Anyway.

And that's that. We had fun.

"Ana Go Whee!"

2011-07-19T10:27:00.007-06:00

The title is Traegan speak for, "I want to go on the Whee!” You will see what I mean later.

Hey there. It has been a while since I’ve blogged. I have several reasons; I have been lazy is probably the biggest one. I also haven’t taken any pictures… of us. I have taken millions of pictures for other people and I have tons of Everyday Lettering orders to fill. So yeah, we’ve been busy.

Last Monday and yesterday, we got to go to the Brigham City pool with the Up to 3 Program. And they let us invite Traegan’s cousins since he doesn’t have any siblings. So we had all his Jones cousins and aunts and uncles come with us. Last week, I had no pictures since I didn’t take my camera because I knew I would be swimming the whole time. Yesterday however, Scott and Kathy came to watch. And they took lots of pictures for us! Yeah.

The first week I was seriously nervous. I mean you all saw pictures of Trae at Jeremy and Julie’s backyard water park right? It. Did. Not. Go. Well. But this was totally different. Traegan had a ball that first week and again yesterday. He thinks he is a little fish. He would walk around in the water all by himself and splash and laugh. It was wonderful!

Look at my cute little duder.

Kylie is so pretty. I love her.

Chloe is so pretty too. Her swimsuit was killing me. She is so fun.

Sammie had a little boat and she would just kick and kick. She is a doll.

First of all, cutest. picture. ever. Jettsen and Owen are awesome. They were always so eager to get Traegan to join in their games. And I think it's because of them that Traegan wasn't scared of the pool. We even got him to blow bubbles in the water after watching them.

Then there was the “Whee.” They had two little kids slides and one huge curvy one. Trae loved them all. He would get off one and immediately start saying “Ana go whee. Ana go whee.” And he would just start walking to the nearest whee. He LOVED it.

Here is Josh catching him on one of the little slides.

And Josh & Trae and Jason & Owen waiting for the big slide.

Which Traegan LOVES... and I got a little excited about. :)

Here are my boys just splashing and playing.

Traegan and I under the mushroom water thing. He loved it, but wouldn't go under it by himself.

Afterwards, everyone came to our house for dinner. It was quite tasty and it was so much fun to have everyone over. We love having family over! I stole these two from Kathy too. The kids are getting to where they all play so cute together. Traegan did have some serious sharing issues and got mean a few times. He also didn’t have a nap yesterday so I’m giving him a pass. :)

So yeah, swimming. It was a blast. The end.

Fireworks (And Stuff)

2011-07-06T14:10:00.007-06:00

Ahhhh. It’s July. The month of awesomeness. Lots of holidays, it seems like pretty much the entire month is a holiday. Lots of fireworks, which are really just cool. Lots of good, outside cooked food, that doesn’t mess up my kitchen and I don’t have to make. Smiles all around.

We started out last weekend on Friday night, going up to Josh’s parents for dinner and fun. We had beer steaks. Yum. Traegan has a new thing where he pretty much just screams anytime he’s in a large social gathering for about an hour so we’ve had more fun with him. But we still enjoyed visiting and the delicious food.

I totally stole this one from Kathy because I didn't have my camera out yet and it's so dang cute!

Scott and Kathy's house is on the flight path for Life Flight, and also, apparently from Hill Airforce Base to the USU football stadium. When the plane flew overhead to go there, it had all the kids (and adults) entranced.

Traegan looked up so high that he fell over. Awesome.

Grandma Jones always has prizes for the kids. The special prize was a Pez dispenser. Traegan loved it!

Then we went to Noelle’s mom’s house up on Cliffside for the perfect view of the fireworks. While we waited for them to start, Kathy brought glow sticks for the kids.

I can’t decide if Traegan just looks funny or if he really does look scary. I'm a little freaked.

All the funny faces my child makes...

Saturday and Sunday we went to Logan to visit my family. My Uncle was here from Arizona so we spent some time there. I didn’t take any pictures and yes, Traegan screamed for about the first hour on Saturday too.

On Monday, Jeremy and Julie had their annual BBQ. It was delicious. I loved it. This year, they added water in various forms for the children. First I will show you the CUTE pictures of all of the OTHER kids.

Cute and perfect Miss Kylie

Curious and sweet Chloe

Content and chunky Sammie

Wild Man Jettsen

And Owen the adorable!

And then there was Traegan.

He was not a fan of the water. Or the big people running in the water and splashing him. Or the water.

Kathy and Josh tried to help me with him. Guess how it went?

Yep. Awesome. Luckily there were cupcakes to stop the screaming.

He is saying cheese and smiling huge in this one.

I do love him. Even though he is a pain. :)

Then he just watched the daddy's play soccer. And I just have to point out that this happened both nights. On Friday, they lost the ball over the barbed wire fence and tried to recover it with a rake. On Monday, they lost the ball over the big fence and surrendered it to the massive dog who apparently rips balls apart. Funny.

After all that fun was over, we headed to our house for the perfect view of the Brigham City fireworks.

Great view right? One corner of them is obstructed by our neighbors shed, but we like it just fine. And when they are over, instead of fighting crowds, we walk in our house and go to bed.

There was an abnormally long pause between the firework show and the finale so we all but missed it. However it was the only picture I got of Traegan watching fireworks so there you go!

So yeah. God Bless America!

Ode to Blankets

2011-07-05T14:17:00.003-06:00

Traegan loves his blankets. When he was born he took immediate fancy to a blanket. It made him fall asleep almost instantly. I saw how wonderful this was, but I was not about to let him get all sorts of attached to just one blanket. So I went on a hunt. I knew it was the material that he liked (polar fleece, I believe) and so I found several more that were the same.

Then around Christmas time, Sam’s Club had some of these blankets, only they were big. Nice big ones meant for big kids, with hoods and animal faces. I waited until after Christmas and bought him tons of them. Now we are set.

He really does love them. He rubs them on his face and his eyes get heavier. It’s magic. I wouldn’t trade those blankets for the world.

When Kathy watched Traegan last month, I brought her a huge suitcase full of blankets. I think she thought I was crazy. But then she saw why. He wraps himself up in like ten of them to sleep. Kathy said he cocoons himself and she had to make little breathing holes for him.

These pictures were at our house on Friday.

Anyway, ode to blankets. Fourth of July pictures are coming soon. The end.

Good Mom Award- No really.

2011-06-30T10:05:00.000-06:00

I feel like a good mom for the first time in a while. :) Not because I’m sitting here blogging, but because Traegan is doing so much better!

Traegan has never been a big talker. Or a big eater, like he doesn’t eat anything. Or a great sleeper. I just have always assumed that was all normal for my child, but things are so much better now.

About a month ago, I took Traegan to the doctor to get the rash around his mouth looked at. (It’s “Wet/Dry Cycle. It’s nothing serious and pretty much impossible to get rid of. Yea.) While there I mentioned how I was worried about Trae’s speech.

Everyone, including the doctor told me not to worry about it. That he would talk when he was ready and he was fine. But because a member of my family had some pretty severe speech delays, I was worried. I know how beneficial it is to catch problems like that early and get them caught up to “normal” before entering school. Plus I had a sneaking suspicion that his delay was due to me not teaching or engaging him in the correct ways.

The doctor gave me the number for the Under 3 Program. Best. Program. Ever. It is a free evaluation, so worst case scenario, he qualifies for services and best case, they say he is fine and I have peace of mind.

Anyway, he barely qualified for speech therapy. And in about two weeks he has about 7 new words. It has been a drastic change. He is trying so much harder to talk, understanding more, and is much happier. And I am properly equipped to help him now. I now know how to talk to him and how to play with him so that he can learn easier.

Also, as part of this whole thing we met with a nutritionist. There I found out that Traegan was drinking WAY too much milk. Go me. And because of that, he was always full. Now that we have remedied that, the boy eats like a champ. And he is sleeping so much better now.

So all in all, that was the best phone call I have ever made. I’m so glad I did it. I’m not going to lie. I sometimes felt like a failure mom during the process. But that is just dumb. I’m a first time mom who doesn’t know everything and is okay admitting it. Help is available, why not use it? I’m so grateful that programs like that exist because sometimes you just need to ask for help.

Anyway, Traegan had his 2-year well baby check up yesterday and he is also growing much better!
Length- 34 ¼ inches- 44% (up 24%!)
Weight- 25 pounds 8 ounces- 19% (up 16%!)
Head- 48.2 centimeters- 36% (up 1%)
See? So much better!

Life is good. At least on the Traegan front! There is still that whole broken car thing, but that is a story for another day. :)

Here he is doing eyes, nose, and mouth. Which he SAYS ALL OF THEM!

He knows a bunch more that he doesn't say the word for yet. Button happens to be a favorite of mine. :)

Gentile Corinne

2011-06-30T09:55:00.004-06:00

Did you know Corinne, Utah has a pageant? Did you know there was a place called Corinne? I did. Josh’s brother and his family live there. There house is roughly five minutes from ours, which we really enjoy. Anyway, Jeremy got roped into singing in the Corinne City Pageant this year. He has a really great voice.

We went both Friday and Saturday night to the pageant. Why? Because we are big into free entertainment these days. :) Friday night, I didn’t take any pictures because Traegan screamed unless he was clutching tightly to my lap.

Saturday started out the same.

My beautiful little Chloe. Still pretty even with her chipped tooth. :)

Beautiful Kylie

They bring this big train through right near the beginning. It is really cool. "Toot toot" is one of Trae's few words and he loves trains.

Traegan was a lot happier by intermission. :)

Jeremy, as the town preacher...

Anyway, it was really a fun little pageant. They know to just make fun of themselves and that makes it good.

My favorite part was that there was a girl on the front row still doing hints at the dance moves for all the men. The way I used to do for my five-year old dance classes. It made me happy.

Oh and my parents stayed up Ogden Canyon in Eden this last weekend and beginning of the week. Traegan and I went swimming there on Monday. It was fun.

Dead.

2011-06-23T15:26:00.000-06:00

We knew this day was coming. And yet somehow that doesn’t make it any easier. Today we lost Josh’s car.

You know what sucks the worst though? Not the seemingly impossible thought of being a one car family. Not the fact that I’ll be trapped in my own home. The fact that we put new tires on it a week ago. That sucks the most! That makes me say…

Damn.

Traegan's Party

2011-06-21T09:53:00.006-06:00

Traegan’s birthday was yesterday. It was… interesting. Traegan was teething and was NOT HAPPY! Seriously, not happy.

Thank heavens for my mom who came and helped me cook all day. And Josh who came home early to help with Traegan. There would have been no party without them.

So it was Traegan’s party and he felt more than happy with screaming through it entirely. He screamed all through dinner and then we started opening presents.

By the way, see the drum set? There it is. It is bomb. Traegan loves it. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Jones.

As you can see, he had NO interest in opening presents at first. He screamed for the first few.

Luckily, Jettsen and Owen were there to help. Traegan was content to watch for a few more.

Then he got the hang of it and wanted to try.

Then when Jettsen tried to look at one of them, he freaked. He was kind of a pill yesterday. :)

Playing with one of his new puzzles.

Janece and I attempted to make a drum cake with fondant. It went decent I guess. Janece said not to tell people she helped, or to take a good picture of it. Ha!

Traegan played puzzles with McPappa while we fixed the cake.

He wasn't too sure about the cake and candles.

Once again, Jett and Owen saved the day. I seriously don't know what we would have done without them yesterday.

Then Traegan showed off his cool drum skills.

Julie and her girls brought Traegan a cookie and he loved it. He kind of slipped into a sugar coma after that.

And that was Traegan's party. Bad start. Good ending. Love him!

T-Man Turns Two Today (say that five times fast)

2011-06-20T11:08:00.003-06:00

Happy 2nd Birthday to my little Traegan!

He has the best smile in the world. (Even if he is quite in need of a bath!) I don’t know what I would do without him. He makes my day happier.

As a complete side note, Traegan loves to help me sort laundry. Really loves it. When there is no laundry to sort, like this morning. He spends his time taking one pair of socks at a time from his sock drawer into my room to put in the hamper. Awesome.

T-Man Pictures

2011-06-15T13:45:00.004-06:00

I’m in the process of editing and organizing pictures, and waiting for family members to send me more pictures of cruise related things. So for now, you get pictures of Traegan. That is what you really want anyway right? Right. Good answer.

This picture was a few weeks ago. Please don’t judge the mess. I was packing or something. :) Anyway, this is how Traegan lounges about. Love him.

Saturday, June 4th, was the day we took Traegan to Scott & Kathy’s. We had taken him to my mom’s first so that everyone there could say goodbye. As we left to go drop him off, it hit me. Panic. Meltdown. Etc.

Josh drove up to the church so I could have a moment to collect myself. Traegan drove the car around the parking lot. And LOVED it.

I may or may not have looked at this picture nearly a thousand times over the next few days.

When we got to Kathy’s, she had a little surprise for Traegan. His birthday present was all set up and ready for him to play with.

He is thrilled with it. I hope it helped get Kathy through the week.

This picture makes me laugh so hard. He looks like so many (drugged out) drummers I have seen play concerts.

Kathy was kind enough to e-mail us every other day or so while we were gone to let us know that Trae was still doing fine. It helped so much. She also insisted that he was being very good, though I don’t think she would have told me if he wasn’t.

Fast forward to Sunday, June 12th. We are coming home! By then I was missing my little man and more than ready to see him.

When we landed in SLC we found out that Trae had puked in the car on his way to come greet us at the airport and had a high fever. I freaked. I felt so guilty that he was sick and I wasn’t there. And I missed him. Josh broke lots of speed limits that day.

Traegan is fine. He was just teething and once we got him home he was so happy he barely noticed he was sick. I missed him.

Here is one last picture of him with his souvenir from Mexico… maracas. Best idea I ever had. He loves them and has scarcely put them down since we gave them to him.

We had so so so much fun, but it is so nice to be home and with Traegan again!

Day 30: Ten & Done!

2011-06-03T14:41:00.000-06:00

Where Do I Want to Be in Ten Years

I cannot believe I am finishing this blog challenge thing. It only took me almost three months to do a 30-day challenge. I’m awesome.

So, ten years from now huh? I kind of want more of the same…

More babies (preferably about five years done with having babies)
More time with Josh
More upcoming vacations :)
More time and money would be nice…
Oh and can I please have two cars that are not on deaths door? Preferably with out loans like I have now?

But I’m quite happy and would like it if my life looked a lot like it did now in ten years.

You want to know my deepest, darkest, hearts desire that wouldn’t possibly happen for around ten years from now? I know you do. Everyone that is about to read on has to mentally promise that they won’t be offended. K? Do it now. Ok. There, just in case.

More than anything, in around ten years, I want to be in the temple with my husband, my parents, and ALL my siblings (and any significant others that have come along). It has been on my mind a lot lately, probably because I’ve been to the temple so much lately. Like more than doubled the times I’ve been my entire life in the last few months. Anyway, I think that would be the most special thing ever and I want it so bad.

Who knows if it will happen or not. I do have four younger siblings who get to make their own choices after all, so we’ll see. But yeah, it would be wonderful!

So the end. The end of the blog challenge. The end of my rantings about nothing with no pictures of Traegan. The end.

Now I just need to get ready to go on vacation. There are definitely worse things in the world. See you suckers in a week!

Now if I can just not freak out from missing my bubby too much. Wish me luck!

Day 29: Home

2011-06-02T17:53:00.010-06:00

My House

(Um, there were family pictures in the last post. If you didn't see them and want to. And you should because they are freaking cute).

Hi. So this post is about my house. It is pretty much a digital tour with lots of words to explain the layout and placement of rooms and such. Feel free to just look at pictures. But first, a funny story…

When I first read all the things to write about in this blog challenge list, I thought, “Oh good, I’ll finally have to put up pictures of my house that I promised when we first moved in.” (Which was just over a year ago… crazy)! There was and is still so many blank walls and my brain is full of ideas for them, but my checking account is not full of extra moneys for them. So the walls remain blank and I refused to take pictures. But I digress.

I thought to myself, “I should take pictures of the rooms when they are clean so I won’t have to freak out and clean them all one day to take pictures. “ Then I thought, “Whatever, there will be a day when my whole house is clean, before that day in the blog challenge, and I will just calmly walk through and take all the pictures I want.” Then I slowly remembered that I have an almost two year old.

Today, because I am bound and determined to finish this blog challenge before I go on a cruise, I freaked out and cleaned my house and took pictures. It’s okay. I needed to clean anyway. I am after all going on vacation in like two days! Whoot!

Anyway… house tour.

This is the front outside of the house. Do you like the front door? I painted it black not too long ago.

Also, if you are interested, you can see the horrible state of affairs from when we purchased this home here and here. And even if you don't look I will just tell you how amazing the lawn looks. Josh has resurrected it. It used to be like two patches of grass. Honey, you rock!

This is what you see when you walk in my front door.

My fireplace on the left.

My favorite temple picture on the right when you first walk in.

A quick break because Traegan had something to show me. Can you guess what it was?

So that door in the middle of the first inside picture, goes to the garage. I'm standing there and looking toward the front door.

Then to the middle, the staircase that leads down. Who likes my floral arrangement better than what Kathy did? I'm just kidding by the way. What she did was awesome. Click here if you have no idea what I’m talking about and you want to.

Then to the left where the dining room and kitchen live.

Did I mention Traegan is still in his pajama's? I didn't want to risk getting the kitchen dirty before I hurried and took pictures. :)

Now we go down the hall that is to the right of the stairs.

First door on the right is Traegan's room. He is quite happy there.

(Second change of clothes for Trae today. This was after he spilled his syrup and milk on his shirt at breakfast).

I still can't get over how freaking small he is on his bed.

And some room decorations.

The second door on the right is baby #2’s room. (A hem. Not an announcement). You don’t get to see that room. It is full of crap. Crap that Traegan doesn’t use anymore and more recently it has become the pre-packing area for our trip. Big mess. Looks like a room on Hoarders. Scary.

Any who, if you were going down that hallway the first room on your left would have been the hall bathroom/kid bathroom/ “Happy Octopus Bathroom.”

Then the next door on the left is our master.

(Third change of clothes for Trae today. This was after we went and saw daddy for lunch).

Our bathroom is directly across from the foot of the bed. It is small, but all the other homes in our price range were old homes and had no master bath at all. We were/are thrilled to have one at all!

Now we go down the stairs.

If you go down the stairs and hang a right, you get to the best room EVER!

Our HUGE family room. This is where we live. We watch TV here, Trae's toys are here. It is usually a mess and we love it. Also, our sectional and entertainment center, which used to fill our apartments look tiny here.

Board game wall. The games mounted on the wall were my Grandma's and I got them when she passed away for this purpose. I saved them for like eight years.

The door right off the game wall is Josh's room. Also known as the band room. It houses lots of guitars and a mattress. (Who feels welcome to come sleep in our oh so inviting guest room now? Ha!)

Traegan LOVES this room. Especially when daddy goes in there too. And he will really love it when it has his upcoming birthday present in it. :)

Directly to the left of the band room is my office.

I would like to say that it is usually clean, but that would be an all out lie. I clean it frequently, but then I work in it and Traegan, um… helps? He loves to reorganize everything and bring in toys and well, help. It never stays clean for more than a few hours. Also, I sand, paint, cut and ship in it and that doesn’t really help keep anything clean. So yeah, it usually looks just like this, or worse. :)

Another left gets you to the utility room and laundry room. Which my mom and Grandma painted blue because, "We had more blue paint."

Yet another left would take you past the stairs you came down to the unfinished space in our house. It is plumbed for a third bathroom, one day. And has wonderful food storage in it now!

And if you are still with me, which I doubt you are. Now we go to the back yard.

Here you will notice our beautifully sanded and stained deck and a small patch of grass. Yeah, we got that sod for free last year! We haven’t done the rest of the lawn yet and probably won’t for a while still.

And these are our amazing wrap-around stairs that Josh and his brother and dad built. Oh and our super awesome pavers that we got for a steal of a deal!

I love my house. I love it a lot. The end.

Day 28: Mean It

2011-05-31T23:53:00.008-06:00

Something That Means a Lot to Me

Easy. The thing that means the most to me is... my family.

On days like today, when I’m sick and sad and hurt, I don’t know where I would be without them. They are always there to love me, take care of me, make me laugh, make me feel better, snuggle with me, work with me, and love me some more. I love them more than anything else in the world!

PS. These are the family pictures I mentioned in the last post. We had a VERY QUICK photo shoot with Janece and this is what we got. I’m quite pleased.

Love my man!

This place had terrible lighting. Usually I love solar flare, but only in one picture, not ALL of them. This was the only one worth showing.

We did however both get a good one with Traegan.

And I LOVE this one.

The end.

Day 27: Good

2011-05-27T08:59:00.003-06:00

Three Good Things That Have Happened Recently

1- I logged into the cruise website this morning and it said “You Cruise in 8 Days.” Pretty much made my life.
2- Janece and me played yesterday.
3- Janece took cute family pictures. Coming soon.
4- I’m adding one more. The bright pink frosting from the Mrs. Fields cookie that stained my teeth and more importantly my ceramic braces brackets… came off! Whew! It was a close call that involved much freaking out and laughing.

PS. Jenny thanks for noticing how cute the top picture in the last post was. I was pretty freaking proud of it.

Bubbles

2011-05-26T13:45:00.003-06:00

On Sunday we had our monthly dinner at Josh’s Grandma’s house. It consisted of tons of delicious food as per usual and then, a special treat for the kids… BUBBLES!

Traegan loved them and had a blast playing with his cousins.

"The daddy's" (Josh and his brothers) talked and blew bubbles for a really long time.

My favorite one of Traegan, Owen, and Chloe. They are so cute together.

I don't know why I love this one so much, but I do!

When one of the bubbles would go into the forest area they would all stand there and watch it until it popped. Ignoring the millions of other bubbles around them. :)

Josh's cousin, Meagan played so cute with Traegan. He adored her by the end. She tried to teach him how to dip the wand and blow bubbles himself.

He tried to drink the bubble juice. (And I took pictures and let him because I'm awesome like that).

He sure loved flipping the bubble wand around.

On Tuesday, Traegan and I got haircuts. Here he is when we got home sporting his new do, his new clothes and… daddy’s shoes. I have posted about this shoe thing before, but seriously this is like a several times a day occurrence.

Isn't he the cutest? That was rhetorical. I know he is the cutest ever!

Then this one was last night. It made his dad particularly happy. Ha!

Love my bubby!

In other news, we went to the doctor on Monday to ask about this rash Traegan has on his face (which is literally nothing by the way) and he now weighs 25 pounds 8 ounces! Go bug!

Day 26: Impact

2011-05-26T12:16:00.001-06:00

What Has Made the Biggest Impact on My Life

That is pretty easy. My religion.

My religion has given me a road map for how to live my life. I’m not saying I followed it all the time, because heaven knows I didn’t. But I tried.

It is the basis for my beliefs, my family life, my marriage, basically there isn’t one facet of my life that hasn’t been affected by my religion.

There were dark times when I couldn’t have gotten out of bed without it; and happy times, that I owe to it. But through my whole life, it was always there for me.

I will be forever grateful for the church, the scriptures, all the leaders and teachers I've had, and for a family that raised me in the gospel.

For anyone who cares and who doesn't already know, you can click the link below to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Day 25: Smells Like Teen Spirit

2011-05-25T13:15:00.002-06:00

Myself as a Teenager

When I think of my teenage years, I think of ages 16-19. Before that my teenage years consisted of dancing and hanging out with friends and trying to be perfect. Seriously. It wasn’t bad or anything, but compared to what was coming, it was a little boring.

After age 16… after Josh… things became a lot more fun. Yep.

Josh and I met just after I had turned 16. We started dating a few months later and we never really stopped.

This picture was taken just a few weeks after Josh and I started dating. Kathy was finishing up a roll of film and insisted she finish it on us. I will be FOREVER grateful!

My teenage years were super fun. They were filled with way too much dancing, still trying to get perfect grades (though not trying nearly as hard as I used to), working, and lots and lots of time with Josh.

We worked together, went to lots of concerts. He came to watch me dance and I came to watch him play shows. We really loved each other and we spent as much time together as possible.

I think back to that time in my life with much fondness. It truly was so fun. I felt like I had it all. Little did I know what was to come and what “it all” could be almost 9 year later!

That is all for now.

Day 24: I Kid You Not

2011-05-20T09:47:00.002-06:00

Myself as a Kid

Um, I was the oldest of five children. I found myself babysitting a lot and I had a lot of responsibilities helping with them. My youngest brother still calls me mom sometimes, it’s kind of fun. My mom also did daycare in our home so there were always LOTS of little kids around. I’m grateful for all of that now, it really helped prepare me to be a mom. Plus I had a wonderful example of it.

I was kind of the A type personality. I insisted on getting perfect grades. I did extra credit whenever possible even though I really didn’t need it. I loved reading. I can remember curling up with a book pretty much everyday. I believe “nerd” would have been a good describer of me.

I danced my whole childhood. It was my favorite thing ever. I looked so forward to dance class and especially to performing.

I was a Dairy Darling at one point. Hilarious. It was really fun though. I did 4H for a bunch of years: cooking, sewing, and painting. I won a blue ribbon at state for my cookies. Awesome!

I REALLY loved my family. I loved hanging out with my grandparents on the weekend and my family at nights.

I had a few close friends, but only one I hung out with on a regular basis. She is still my best friend today. I love her.

I think that is all I have to say about me as a kid. Super interesting right?

Day 23: Dream Wedding

2011-05-18T09:20:00.001-06:00

My Idea of a Dream Wedding

Um, I really liked my wedding. Plus the older I get, the more I realize the wedding itself doesn't so much matter. It's the marriage that matters. And I LOVE mine. So who cares about the wedding?

If I had an unlimited budget, I probably would have moved it's location to here:

And if I wasn't all religious and I had an unlimited budget... well then I just don't know. That's not true. It would hands down have been Cinderella's Castle!

Either way, it still would have been Josh and it still would have been perfect!

Day 22: Perfect Date

2011-05-17T08:12:00.002-06:00

My Idea of a Perfect Date

Does a night without Traegan count?

Because that sounds about perfect right now...

Day 21: Musician

2011-05-16T16:00:00.001-06:00

My Favorite Musician

So this one was easy…

It’s safe to say that my husband is my favorite musician; and not just because he is my husband. He is an incredibly talented song composer. I swear, I just don’t understand how he can imagine all these different chords and instruments and what not and end up with this awesome song. Plus there is the near constant serenading on an acoustic guitar… What woman wouldn’t want that?

I know he probably thinks I don’t like it when he plays and composes, but I do! I love it. I love how talented he is and what amazing stuff he can do. And I know from experience that it is the thing I miss the most when he is, say, gone for two years.

So yeah, Josh is my favorite!

However, I have to say that there is an up and coming contestant for my favorite musician. And I think that after this next birthday it will be official.

(First part- March 22nd, Traegan drumming to the Imaginiation Movers concert, Second part- March 25th, Traegan air drumming with daddy).

Trae really had always been able to pick out the rhythm in songs and has always been tapping along with it. It’s kind of freaky. I’m not saying he’s a prodigy or anything (Josh is). But I am saying that the kid is pretty hella-talented for not even being two. That’s all.

Willow Park

2011-05-16T13:36:00.006-06:00

This week was another busy one, because I ended up subbing Zumba for my friend again. Though I wasn’t planning a surprise party too, so it wasn’t as busy as last week. :)

Anyway, Josh has been dying to get to Willow Park for a while now. We finally went on Saturday… along with half of Cache Valley. They were doing some kind of event or something and it was packed! It was still fun though.

This is how my kid smiles now...

He kept running ahead.

My attempt to get a family picture. I give it about 25% success rate. Especially for little red headed girl in the background. Oh well. I do LOVE Traegan's face and that he looks like he is flashing a gang sign.

Then on Sunday, we were doing yard work (sin? maybe) when we ran out of weed spray and so we went to Wal-Mart (sin? definitely). Well, Traegan had been helping us as he usually does, lifting rocks and stuff and he fell asleep just as we were pulling into the parking lot.

I thought he would wake back up and he’d be fine in the store. Nope. He kept dosing in the little seat of the cart and I just laughed and took pictures because I’m a good mom like that. (Watch out: cell phone camera quality pictures below).

And in other news, this video is really old (like, beginning of April old), but this is Trae’s newest trick. He’s awesome. Also, enjoy the victory dance.

Goal: Blog Challenge tomorrow! Let's see if I do it!

Stay Sane Inside Insanity

2011-05-10T09:49:00.005-06:00

For those of you who didn’t already know and who actually care… The picture from Saturday was Josh’s family and I all dressed as characters from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Need more explanation? I thought so.

My super cool and wonderful mom-in-law LOVES that movie and has passed on that love to her children, ME, and lots of other people. As a teen she used to attend the midnight showings all the time and dress up as Frankie.

About a year ago, Jeremy and Julie had the BEST IDEA EVER: to have a surprise private screening for her 50th birthday party. It was to be complete with costumes and the props and scripts (there is a lot that you yell and throw during the movie).

The whole family jumped on board and somehow we managed to pull it off. It was truly awesome! Kathy loved it and I hope she will remember it for a long, long, time. I think she will!

Look how happy she was when she walked in...

The wonderful cake. It said "50 Years of Absolute Pleasure" "Don't Dream It... Be It" and had a picture of teen Kathy dressed as Frankie.

The prop bags had the same picture as the cake and then Kelleen brought this awesome blow up of the same picture!

Scott and Kathy dressed as Rocky Horror and Frank. (Or there much more modest counterparts as no one wanted to see Scott in a gold speedo or Kathy in a corset and panties, no offense to them, but their kids were there and all).

Jason and Noelle as Brad and Janet.

Jeremy and Julie as Riff Raff and Magenta.

Josh and I as Eddie and Columbia. Quite fitting costumes. Eddie is a rock and roll lover and Columbia is, as Josh put it, "a hyper, little tap dancer, obsessed with her man." Apparently that's what I am.

Our good friend Jordan and his girlfriend. It was pretty unanimous that he had the best costume. He also stayed in character the whole time and it was hilarious!

The whole gang that attended. Thank you ALL!

Josh and I again. Because this is my blog and all and I think we look so awesome!

For those of you who haven’t seen the movie. I HIGHLY recommend it. However, for those of my more conservative friends… um, you have been warned!

Day 20: Say Cheese!

2011-05-10T09:35:00.007-06:00

A Family Photo

The most recent of Josh, Traegan, and I was at Baby Animal Days.

The most recent (and only family picture) of my WHOLE family WITH Traegan is this one from when Justin came home from his mission.

And even though this doesn’t have any of the grandkids in it, here is the best family picture EVER of Josh’s side of the family.

I literally may never get over the sheer awesomeness of this picture.

Here’s the most recent one with the grandkids, it’s from Thanksgiving. Remember when I had long hair?

I love all my family so much! Seriously, I'm so lucky to have in-laws that I love like they were my own and family of my own who loves me more than I deserve!

You wish!

2011-05-07T22:42:00.000-06:00

You wish a surprise birthday party for YOUR mother-in-law was this cool.

Because this is NOT a totally normal family picture...

More on this later, probably tomorrow, because I'm freaking excited.

Until then, five bonus points if you know what is happening here...

Day 19: Don't Forget

2011-05-07T09:32:00.002-06:00

Something I Never Leave Home Without

My cell phone.
I'm way too paranoid to not have it... ever!

HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOTHER IN LAW A GIRL COULD EVER ASK FOR! Have a great day Kathy! We love you to pieces and can't wait for the next 50 awesome years!

Day 18: More Food?

2011-05-06T13:41:00.003-06:00

My Favorite Place To Eat

Seriously this challenge thing is obsessed with food. I mean I'm all for food and all. Heaven knows how much I like it, but for real, three days about food. That seems excessive.

Chili's

Jack's Pizza Oven

Juniper Take Out

Cafe Rio

Pizza Plus

El Sol

Rumbi

Maddox

Taco Time

Arby's

That should cover it...

Remember Me?

2011-05-04T14:59:00.006-06:00

Remember when I didn't suck? I do. It seems so long ago. Probably as long ago as the last time I blogged. Anyway.

I’ve been crazy busy. I know I say that all the time, but this time it’s a whole new level. Between TONS of Everyday Lettering orders (which I’m totally not complaining about), TONS of photo shoots (again not complaining), filling in for my friend and teaching Zumba this week, and all the other usual crap. It’s just a lot. Hence the blog lack. And the extremely dirty kitchen. Gross.

So here are a few pictures of Easter. I mean it when I say a few. Josh was right when he said, “I bet you took a picture of every egg he picked up.” I did.

This first set is from Great Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house on the Sunday before Easter.

Here he is after he made his great haul!

He thoroughly enjoyed Aunt Deb's ant killing game on her iPad. Does anyone want to buy me one of those?

Every time I looked at Josh, I kept thinking he was wearing bunny ears. I finally took a picture so he could see why I kept doing a double take. (He was sitting in front of an Easter bunny decoration).

And we took a pretty cute family picture if I do say so myself.

Then this was on actual Easter at Great Grandma and Grandpa Perkes' house.

He totally had it down at this point.

And the boy loved the candy!

And the only other thing I haven’t been too lazy to get out my camera for, is this…

(He is dancing in the second picture). I’m fully aware that every little kid does this. But let’s face it, my kid does it better. :) And he does it nearly constantly so I decided I should finally document it.

So yeah, hopefully I can resume blog challenge and more regular blogging habit soon. I’m sure you were waiting on pins and needles for me to say that. Ha!

Baby Animal Days

2011-04-21T13:14:00.007-06:00

Again, I’m way behind on posting up in here. These are from last Friday.

For those who didn’t know or didn’t go because it was freaking snowing… Baby Animal Days has been extended to last weekend and this weekend. And it’s super fun! They don’t have as many animals (the bears aren’t there), but it’s still awesome.

Josh finished work early on Friday so he, Traegan, and I met Janece, Tobin, and my mom there in the afternoon.

FYI- there are like a million pictures here. Janece was there, which I love because she knows how much I love pictures and just takes my camera and goes. It’s awesome. But I’ve narrowed the pictures down like ten times and so this is what you get!

Traegan was a little hesitant at first…

But then, this little guy started quacking. Trae decided he loved him. And subsequently loved to touch him.

After that, it was on like Donkey Kong!

This baby cow "moo"ed too. Traegan loved it!

Next we took him to the little lamby's. Trae was starting to figure out what was happening and what he was supposed to do. He did not want to leave them. He just kept petting them.

Then Janece took this winner of a picture. I died a little.

Next, we went to the big pen with the pygmy goats and the burrow. By now, Traegan was LOVING the whole thing.

Once again, I LOVE when Janece comes with me places.

We tried to take Traegan over to the burrow, but he wanted to stay with the goat.

Then he literally ran over to some other ones to pet them.

Wicked cool white peacock

Chicks and ducks round two...

Next we tried the pony ride. It definitely didn’t go well. As soon as we strapped the helmet on he was screaming. I think without the helmet it could have gone better, but insurance liability wasn’t going to allow that. But anyway, as you can see, it was pretty funny.

We held this creepy all white bunny with red eyes. Traegan decided since they were the only colored part it was the eyes he was supposed to touch. We didn't stay there long. :)

Traegan decided he could (and must) push his own stroller.

Then Josh and I stuck our faces in something that was meant for faces to be stuck in. (Which is probably only funny if you remember that last year, I stuck Traegan’s face in a bean bag toss, thinking it was for pictures. That’s just how my brain works. Click here to see that embarrassment.)

Before we left, we decided to ride the train one more time. Which I'm SO glad we did.

When we first got ready to drive away, the driver tooted the horn. Then I said, "Toot toot" and pulled Traegan's arm up and down the way you do for a train horn. You know what I mean right? Anyway, we started going and every time they would toot the horn. Traegan would "Toot toot" and move his arm by himself. The pictures below were the first time he did it and I died a little. I LOVE him!

Pretty much it was the best day ever and we had tons of fun!