Phoenix Truck Trip

We have been looking for a new truck for awhile and finally found the perfect one- a 2010 Toyota Tundra, Double Cab. And we found it in Phoenix. At first I was not a fan of having to make an 8 hour trip just to buy a truck, but when you plan on buying something nice and are going to keep it for a good long while, it turns out that a road trip is totally worth it, especially when you get to catch up with old friends.

Dallen and Daddy playing in the Burger King Play Area during one of our breaks.

Dallen and I waiting at the dealership while Daddy was negotiating. We ended up leaving after 2 hours and he stayed for another 2.5. 

 

Margaret, Theresa, and I! It was so nice spending time with them! We were just missing Mary and it would've been freshman and sophomore year of college all over again. :) We all went out to dinner with our spouses one evening and had a great time laughing and eating yummy Italian food. Going out with just adults is just such a treat now that Dallen is such a handful during meal time. ;)

On the way back Travis and I were obviously in separate vehicles. We decided to drive back through Vegas since the drive from Beaver to Page was really bumpy, curvy and just not our favorite. So I decided to stay the night at my in-laws so Dallen could get out and move around in the evening and so we could spend a little bit of time with the family. It was so nice to see them, even if it was for less than 24 hours. Overall, definitely worth a road trip to get a nice truck and be with old friends. Miss you guys!

Eggcellent Easter Weekend

A few weeks before Easter I decided to go home to Denver and spend time with Jessica and her daughters who made the trip from Dallas. Travis wasn't able to come because he had just taken work off for the Moab trip. Sarah was planning to go home in May, but the weekend she was hoping to go the family was planning on coming out to Utah. So Sarah and I got together and road-tripped it with our two boys. The trip went better than expected with great weather, and Sarah and I got to have nice long road-trip chats. The long weekend was filled with fun activities for the kiddos and a great adults only dinner at Bone Fish, which I loved. It was so nice to get out with my older siblings and have a great conversation. We also spent our down time plays the trivia board game, Logos, over and over again. Great game!

Our first activity was a trip to the train museum. Jacob is totally into trains so Sarah thought it would be fun to take them there. Well, we walk into the lobby to buy our admission tickets and all the kids want to do is play with the toy train table-can't blame them; it was pretty cool. Finally we dragged them away to see the big trains. Sarah proceeds to take Jacob on the big train and he starts freaking out. Not a fan at all for the first 15 minutes. He finally did warm up to it all and we all had fun in the wind checking out the trains.

While hanging out at home, Claire was asked to her first Prom! Her boyfriend, Danny wrote on the driveway in sidewalk chalk during their lunch break. All of us older sisters took the opportunity to stick our heads outside and 'check him out'. We approved. :) The next day, Dallen was Grandpa Joe's helper- getting into tools and fixing some exercise equipment.

After going to the train museum, the great grandkids got to see all of Great Grandpa Don's train equipment and toys. Jacob played with the toy train set the whole time we were there and loved seeing Great Grandpa's model trains. Sophie played with Jillian, the kitty, when she wasn't staring down Lily who was hanging out in the backyard. There is so much to check out at their house that Avery and Dallen just had fun exploring and playing with their Aunts.

It was so nice spending some time with my good friends Trisha and Kym-me. We got our babies together and spent the evening letting them play together and feeding them dinner. It was so interesting how wonderfully different this visit was with all of us being first-time young mommies. :)

Next was Easter Sunday. We ended up taking pictures during Church since the babies were getting tired and every one's clothes getting dirty. :) These were the best ones. ha!

And last but not least was the Easter Egg Hunt in the backyard and coloring Easter Eggs. Jessica got the 'best mom award' for getting the egg under the stairs. ha! :) They all loved the hunt and it made so much more exciting then years past. :)

9 Month Professional Photo Shoot

It was a cold day for outdoor pictures, but we got a few good ones anyway. :) I didn't want to wait much longer because he was and is just growing so fast! 

Taken & Editted by 

Pieces of My Past Photography, Breezy Carter

March 8, 2012

6-9 Month Milestones

Dallen is a new man over these last few months. He has accomplished so much, and of course, we're so proud of him! :) Here's a quick summary of him since January:

-Right after learning to sit up at the end of December, he learned to pull himself up to things. Then all he wanted to do was stand. We thought he would bypass crawling and go straight to walking with all the standing he was doing. We made great use of our laundry basket weighed down with these metal ducks we have so he could stand up well. The couch just wasn't good enough yet since there wasn't a ledge to grab onto. He quickly figured out how to stand up in his crib too, so down went the mattress real quick.

-He feeds himself a bottle and nursing ended during the 7th month. He got his first cold and fever shortly after that. Poor guy. I wanted to breast feed through the winter to help with colds, but he just didn't want to nurse anymore. It was too much work to get the milk; his bottle was just so much more efficient. :)

-He LOVES steering wheels. And loves to get our hats and sunglasses when we've got them on and we're holding him.

-As an infant he was so good when we would change him. Now he HATES getting dressed and diaper changed-little stinker!

-Sleeping, well, let's just say is going OK. At one point he started to figure out how to sleep through the night, but then we went out of town or he got sick or starting teething more and now he wakes up at least once a night. He is a good night time cuddler though. We love that. :)

-CRAWLING! March 9th he finally got it down and a week later he was seriously on the move and into everything-dog food, TP, toilet water, shower, closing doors on us, eating door spring covers, getting into my home decor, and now the book shelf! I've had to put away some home decor stuff and rearrange others for our new explorer. :P

-He has also conquered going up the stairs and of course loves it. We don't have stairs in our house but we do at the back door and garage. Now he just needs to learn how to get down them...

-We took him swimming for the 2nd time; well, first time with Daddy and he LOVED it! He was smiling and giggling and laughing the whole time. He has the funniest little laugh right now too.

-He's an even bigger eater now. He feeds himself with the exception of some applesauce or yogurt or something every now and then. His favorite foods are cheese, noodles, and kiwi.

-We don't have any baby movies, but I have been collecting Disney ones and his favorite is Lion King. I think he likes the scenes with baby Simba the most. So cute!

So that's Dallen in a nut shell. He needs lots of attention and loves it when Mommy and Daddy play with him. And speaking of which, he just woke up from his morning nap-gotta run!