Chic-Fil-A Day!

Last week (Tuesday?) Tom came home from work and said "Guess what today is?" I couldn't think of anything and didn't even try to guess as I am so out of the loop (we never watch TV and I'm usually home all day so I don't get much radio...). He told me it was Cow Appreciation Day and if we dressed up we could get free Chic-Fil-A! I don't think a better sentence was spoken all week! We looked up the details to make sure we would do it right. Then at the end of the day we headed to West Valley. I cut out the cow spots, made "EAT MOR CHIKIN" signs and cow ears for Tom and I on the way, we taped them on when we got there, waltzed in and got $15 worth of the greatest food on the planet. It was a really really good day.

Ian is normally really smiley, especially for pictures! But the sweet lady who took our picture was trying to get him to look at her and smile and since she was a stranger to him, it totally freaked him out. So, our happy little calf. Still cute!

He was spastic at he restaurant, I think he was feeding off the excitement and happiness of the place! He loved watching the kids on the playground and playing with a ziploc bag I had in my purse.

The kid just loves himself! Whenever we turn the camera on him he smiles and says "ooooo!" or "mmmmm!" He is hilarious!

Thanks, Chic-Fil-A, for a free meal, and for giving me an excuse to put on my cowboy boots!

Ian is 8 months!

So it's been a while since I did an Ian update and he has doubled in age since the last one! So much has changed about our little sunshine boy.

Ian is crawling everywhere, and fast! He is so fun to crawl around with and chase. He goes EVERYWHERE and has no sense of danger yet so we have to watch him pretty good if he gets near the stairs.

Ian loves being surprised/scared! It's hilarious and I love scaring him. 

He now has two bottom and 4 top teeth! The top ones aren't quite all the way out but they're all through so the worst is over. At least for now. Teething is the WORST. Ian is not a good teether - he gets a fever and is cranky and won't eat, drink, or sleep very good. Good thing it won't last forever!

Ian babbles a lot! He has started babbling "da da" and even though he has no idea what it means yet, we are really pushing for him to say it more. I realized that he's getting old enough that soon he will understand better and so I am trying to be more intentional with how I talk to him, repeating phrases, etc.

Ian loves being outside! He loves the grass, loves the animals, and generally being in the sunshine.

He still LOVES the water so much. Bath time is always a hit and now that it's hot we have taken him swimming a few times which he loves so much! Being a swimmer and spending so much time in a pool growing up myself, I am so happy he loves the water. Tom and I both hope he grows up to love swimming so we can do triathlons as a family!

I just love this picture! We went shopping with my mom and Ian had a super bad blow out. I didn't have a onesie for him but he had a swim suit and shirt, so that's what he wore, hence his belly pokin out! We were at H&M trying on hats and he just looked so darn cute!

Ian is such a happy boy. He is very easy going for the most part and doesn't fuss unless there's something wrong, and then stops when it's fixed! 

Ian loves playing in the bathroom - chewing on the shower curtain (a no-no!), chewing on the straightener cord (another no-no), trying to chew on the toiled (the biggest no-no), and other naughty things. 

Ian is such a joy to raise. I'm so grateful that he is our first. As he gets older I continue to learn a lot about him and about myself! I would never say that being a mom is easy, but Ian is a huge blessing and I feel like I got extremely lucky with him. He's growing so fast! I love this boy more than words!

Independence Day

I figured out that my phone pictures are uploaded to Dropbox and I can access them on my computer - WIN! So here you go, promised pictures from July 4th. Tom has more on his phone but I don't have those so this is what you get.

When we both got up from our car naps, I nursed Ian. He was pretty darn happy afterwards - that's what a nap, A/C and food will do for ya!

Either that, or he just loves himself a lot. I think probably the latter.

Not the best picture, but I had to capture my dad holding Ian. It took him a while to warm up to Grandpa (Ian has stranger danger like crazy) but he was happy with him by the end of this long day!

Just before putting Ian to bed we took a family selfie because I realized we hadn't gotten a single picture of all of us...oh well. I love my little family so much!

New Mexico

When my brother Tim got called to France, my family started planning to pick him up all together. Most of my siblings went, however, Tom and I are simply not in a place to take a vacation to Europe at this point in our lives! Which is totally okay with us. So while most of the fam was galavanting around France, I got to go to New Mexico to babysit the Webb kids. Steph and Andrew were so nice to fly Ian and I out there and make sure everything was prepared for us. I won't lie, it was difficult! Going from being a mother of a 4 month old and getting to see my husband for several hours a day to being a mother of 4 kids with no husband around was tough! Tom and I had never spent a night apart in our marriage up to that point (we were lucky!), and now we know why! But I learned so so so much. And despite it being a challenge, I can honestly say that we had so much fun with the Webb's and are so glad we went. It's been a while so I'm not going to try to write a lot about the experience, but here's pictures!

At the airport - we flew to Phoenix, then to El Paso. That's 2 new airports for both of us!

It was a LONG day traveling with a 4 month old by myself. I was exhausted by the time Ian fell asleep and then realized that I forgot my toothbrush at my in-laws. Oh well!

On the first day, we went to the park and had a picnic. Ian got sunburned, as did I. Us Rexburg folk aren't used to the sun!

The kids adored Ian and he loved the attention! The boys were so funny saying "We're all Ian's!!" as they kicked and squealed just like him.

Eva was the best little helper to Ian. She loves babies!

Ian trying out the swing for the first time. He didn't react much to it but I'm going to say he loved it.

Spanky's Frozen Yogurt! Eva and Dean enjoying theirs.

Leighton and I enjoying ours.

Eva was always drawing awesome pictures. She is quite the little artist!

Eva had gymnastics and when we went to pick her up we got to watch her for a couple of minutes. She is so cute!

Watching the kids play outside on a windy day.

They are all pro roller-bladers!

Enjoying pizza and ice cream and a move on Mom and Dad's bed

They drew this sign for me :) Those kids are so funny!

Playing with Play-doh

A nasty sickness went through while we were there. First Dean was throwing up, then Eva, and Ian and I both got sick in the middle of it all. Not fun! We stayed home from church while one of Steph's friends (a saint!) took the boys to church.

Playing a card game that they won as a prize.

We went to the zoo one day!

When it was hot enough, we played on the trampoline with sprinklers and then ate a picnic outside on the back porch.

Of course we had to make a trip to Daylight Donuts!

We also went to eat at the Thai food place. Ian was awful. It was terrible. But yummy food!

Leighton practiced doing front flips and made lots of charts to mark off his flips.

Eva and Dean fell asleep in bed together a few times :)

Eva decorated some material as a "burp cloth for Ian"

Getting frozen yogurt on our last night together!

Making a welcome home sign for Mom and Dad!

Then I flew home for a short weekend with Tom before heading to New Jersey. I'm so glad I got to come to New Mexico! Love you, Webb family!

We are here! We are here! We are here!

It has been FOREVER since I last blogged! Consider this repentance. Oh so much has happened since I last wrote:
- Ian turned 5, then 6, then 7, and just now 8 months old!
- Ian and I went to New Mexico for a week and a half to babysit my sister's kids while they went to France, came home for two days, and then took off again to New Jersey to babysit my other sister's kids while they went house hunting in CAMBODIA.
- Tom graduated college!!!
- Our life plans changed 4573859 times
- We moved into my in-laws basement
- Lagoon! Swimming! Crafting! Summer activities!
- Signing up for and training for the Top of Utah half marathon
- Tom started a Medical Assisting program at the trade school in town

And so many other little things that, forgive me, I will probably not take time to post about. Rather, I'll start with the 4th of July and move on from there.

My parents came to town! Since they live in Texas and we're in Lake Point (Utah) it is a treat when they come. We went down to Provo and picked up Tim on Friday (July 3) and took him with us to Mapleton to the Tobler's house. We hung out with Aunt Sharon and Uncle Greg until Mom and Dad got there - HOORAY! Then we all stayed up talking till after midnight.

Of course, Ian didn't sleep very well that night and got up a few times (new place, new crib, shared room, etc.). Which would have been fine except for that we had to get up at 5:15 because we were going to see the hot air balloons! But we were happy happy happy to all be together. Unfortunately the balloons never flew away because of some bad winds or something (I'm no hot air balloon expert) but they did at least blow up, which was fun.

After the balloons we opted out of the craziness that is the Provo Freedom Festival parade and instead went back to Mapleton. Tom got a bit more shut eye and we just hung out for a while. Then we made our way to Orem for the Andersen family reunion! Oh my, it was so much fun to see so many cousins again! It has been way too long. It was SO hot and Ian was not very happy about so many strangers (he has an intense issue a bit of a problem with strangers), even though those "strangers" were so excited to meet him and love him so much! Isn't family wonderful?

At one point in the day Ian was in desperate need of a nap but wouldn't let himself fall asleep in the stroller (which he usually does), so we hopped in the car and Tom drove around while Ian and I both took a snoozer. It was a nice break from normal Independence Day craziness! I will admit though, I am a bit sad we didn't go to a parade, if for no other reason than tradition. Next year.

Mom and Dad and us went to Panda Express for dinner because it just doesn't get much more American than that! ;) We ate at a park in Provo, then Mom and Dad headed to the BYU soccer game with the Tobler's, and we headed back to Mapleton to get Ian to bed! After a fun bath, of course. Once Ian was down, Tom and I took a blanket into the backyard and were pleasantly surprised at how many HUGE fireworks we saw, courtesy of Tobler's neighbors in every direction. It was like our own private little firework show and we very much enjoyed it.

It wasn't exactly a typical 4th for us, but we had fun nonetheless and were happy to spend it with family.

I have been struggling lately to feel very patriotic because of the things I am learning about how I believe our country should be and seeing the stark contrast between that and where we are. In some really good family discussions we talked about how we need to be patriotic to the principles this country was founded upon and recognize that even with our issues this is still the best country in the world! I'm grateful to live in it.

(One day I will figure out why my phone pictures aren't connecting to blogger like they normally do and then I will post lots of pictures!)