The Dimonds

I'm a Liar, Liar, and my pants are on fire!!

2012-02-02T17:49:00.004-05:00

That's right, I'm a big fat liar! I am so tired of women finding out how far along I am in my pregnancy and then saying "oh, you're so small!". I cannot tell you how annoying it is to me! I know it is meant as a compliment and that I should take it with a smile and that I am probably on the small end for a woman to be 34 weeks along but I don't care! I've been hearing it since people started noticing I had a bump and I am tired of it. Why can't they say it a different way or comment on how good I look instead of just saying how small I am? And why is it that every woman has to say this? It's not just a weekly occurance it happens every. single. time. a woman strikes up conversation, 'so how far along are you?' At church, Walmart, the library, restaurants even, everywhere!
You know what else I hate about the comment, I have nothing to say after it? "Oh, you're so small" A....thank you? I guess. And then they all start telling me how it was for them and about ALL of their pregnancies and how much weight they gained, and not just in their belly but everywhere else in their body. Why do I need their life story on each one of their pregnancies? Especially when it's these random people at the library and restaurants. I just sit there nodding...'oh, yeah'. 'Ooo, that would be frustrating'. 'I'm sorry to hear that'. And then they always add, 'so is it a boy or a girl?' A girl. Oh, maybe that's why you're so small. Again, a...thank you? So first it's a compliment but now it's probably just because of the gender I'm having. Correct me if I'm wrong but that's not how it worked out for you, right (and I know this because you just told me how much weight you gained and where with all your children-girls included)?
I just want to state for the record that I am measuring the same as any other average pregnant woman would be measuring. I also run out of breath when I climb only half of my stairs, I can't sit in certain positions because I feel little feet or hands poking me, I have to take deep breaths even when I'm just sitting (to catch my breath), I try to pick up things with my toes so I don't have to bend over, and I've traded in the laces for slip-ons because it takes me five minutes to put on shoes, and on and on the list goes. I do not feel small. I feel so uncomfortable and awkward. And if I hear another woman comment on how small I am and then hear her life story, I don't know if I'm going to be able to keep quiet. So, to remedy the situation I have decided to start telling people that I am only...we'll say, 28 weeks pregnant. Yeah, that sounds good. What do you think, how do I look for a woman that's 28 weeks along? Less small? If this gets good feedback and no comments about how small I am then I think I may just stick with 28 until I deliver. Yep, next woman that asks me how far I am that's going to be my answer. Hopefully I don't go up in flames!

Memory all alone in the moonlight-

2012-02-02T17:04:00.003-05:00

Today for Cason's scrapbook I made this page-My eyes welled up with tears when I stood back to look at it. I miss our little Maestro. He was so sweet and loving, had so much energy and just loved to play! I hate that Cason is not going to remember him and grow up without a pet. Because of this page I have been flipping through old pictures and old blog posts just reminiscing about the days we had Maestro. It seems so long ago that I was training him to give me a high five, teaching him how to jump off the couch, and crying over yet another surgery that he had to have. Now I just adore all the memories I have of him including this, this, and this one!
Love you Maestro!

Yeah for snow!

2012-01-26T17:45:00.002-05:00

Do we finally have snow? Can it be? It snowed for longer than 30 minutes and actually stayed on the ground? Through the night? Haha!
I cannot believe it took till the middle of January for us to get snow that actually stayed on the grass for longer than 24 hours. Crazy. Cason stared out the window throughout the entire day that it snowed. And the next morning he was ready to go out with Trav to shovel the sidewalks. I can't tell you how adorable he looked in all his snow stuff. He loved being able to use his shovel for actual snow instead of sand. Thank you for snowing snow!

Christmas is officially over

2012-01-13T16:33:00.004-05:00

Today was the first weekend we had where it was nice and sunny and we weren't busy. Which meant we could finally take down our Christmas lights. It was sad. I hate when Christmas Day is over. Everyone is tired, all the yummy food is gone (or you're too stuffed to eat more of it), and everything is just over. I kept my tree up for a week after and I hated taking it down and putting everything away. Why do the holidays have to pass by so quickly?I miss them already and I miss my tree! Now that everything is put away and all the excitement of the holidays are over I finally have time to blog. And my blog is all Christmas-y! Oye. The clean up is never ending!

We had an awesome Christmas. My sister came into town so everyone from my family was here and ready to celebrate! We started the season off with celebrating our six-year anniversary! We went to Red Lobster (our favorite place) and then saw the new Sherlock Holmes (yes, it was awesome).We attended three family Christmas parties in one weekend! Both of them had a pinata, which Cason loved!Our very first 7.5' Christmas tree! Isn't she a beauty! It was huge! Covered the entire corner of the room (which we had to rearrange). But I loved it! Cason helped us cover the thing in ornaments and I did all the lights (yes, there were probably way too many). Yep, definitely miss the tree.Chrsitmas day was wonderful! We had our little Christmas at our house. This is Cason with his favorite toy, a stocking stuffer. A pez dispenser in the shape of a truck. He carried this around with him all day long! And still asks me all the time for his truck. If I would have known I wouldn't have spent the extra money on a huge buzz lightyear that he's hardly played with. Live and learn. After our Christmas we got all gussied up for church and I thought it would be a great time to take a family picture by the tree. I find it ironic that the practice picture came out just as great as the real one (how can that cheesier not make you smile)-Our family picture, still just as great...although I think my belly is taking up the whole picture of the tree. Good thing it was a big one.After all of that we spent the rest of the day up in Salt Lake. His other favorite toy, a scooter from his Nana and Papa. We ended up taking him and his cousin to the church so they could ride them around. They love them! We had lots of family time after the holiday since my sister was in town. This is my favorite picture from the whole week's worth of activities. Cason playing with the mic from Rock Band-New Years we spent with Travis' family. We over ate, played games, watched silly cartoons, and enjoyed fire works (from the window of course). It was one fabulous holiday after another!

Happy New Year!

Temple Square Beauty

2011-12-20T19:28:00.005-05:00

LAST weekend (I know, I can never seem to stay on top of it) we went to see the lights at Temple Square. I thought it would be so fun to walk around and see the lights, the temple in all it's glory, and to have some extra time with family. Turns though it was kind of a chaotic mess. Cason was so uncomfortable in his hundreds of layers that it was just one thing after another. Yes to gloves, no to gloves, yes to hat, no to hat, needs a snack but can't eat a snack because his fingers are cold, wants the light, drops the light, needs a blanket, won't wear the blanket, and on and so forth...oye. It was exhausting. The lights were beautiful and Cason absolutely loved seeing the temple but it was stressful. When we got in the car to go home Trav and I both had huge headaches and were wondering if it was worth it all. Guess we'll see when and if we decide to go next year. BUT, I did score a couple good pictures-

Actually my sister got this one for me-And this shot is traditional for me and Trav- I totally love that we're both wearing beaniesLove this shot I scored, beauty-

If you went to see the lights this year I hope you had better luck than we did. And if you haven't yet, good luck!

How important is dinner really??

2011-12-07T16:31:00.002-05:00

Cason is finally at that age where dinner is a nightmare!! I don't doubt that all Mom's go through this but what do I do? He just turned two, I don't know if he understands, 'you have to eat your dinner and then you can have a treat.' And is cheese considered a treat? Or an extra piece of bread? I mean, at least he's eating, right? But then he never eats the main dish, is that a big deal? Do I continue being strict and tough on him hoping that he'll eventually catch on? Do I stress myself out making him take more bites so that he can have more bread? Is it worth the fight? Should I wait until he gets a little older till I know he understands? Say three, maybe?
Every night I walk away from dinner with a massive headache because it's such a fight and I don't know if I can do it anymore. I don't know if it's even necessary that I do it anymore. I want my kid to eat what he needs to to grow strong and big and I want him to develop good habits while he's young so that it's not an even bigger issue later but is it worth it right now? Do I keep making him go to bed with only two bites of dinner because he didn't eat the main course? Or should I be more flexible and let him eat what he wants as long as it's the good stuff, like cheese, applesauce, yogurt, or bread? Help! What do I do??

Our November

2011-11-30T16:48:00.004-05:00

Most of this month has been spent inside because when I look out the window all I see is cold! I miss the fall weather. But alas, here we are anyway. At least I got to put up the Christmas tree, right? Here's what we've been up to lately-
Cason has taken an interest in the mail. He helps me open envelopes, and go through all the ads. Then he takes the ones he's interested in. This one here is from Disney with all their movies in it-And Family Fun, who wouldn't love going through that one-Every Thursday morning is spent here, watch the garbage truck go down our street-One of the few times Cason was able to get me outside. He grabbed his snow shovel and started relocating our extra pile of sand. I guess that's what you have to do when there's no snow-Cason loves to lay down and watch tv these days. And this tiger, a gift given to him for his birthday, is always with him. In his arms or as his pillow, he loves it! This Friday I will be at 23 weeks and there is no longer hiding the bump. It's hard to tell in this top but I am definitely pregnant and no longer have people staring at my belly wondering what's going on. Now they look at me and say, 'when are you due?' It's been a wonderful change- Cason is getting so grown up. I can no longer do anything on my own. He is always right behind me ready to help, especially if it includes something to do with cheese-Day after Thanksgiving we put up our tree and got it half way covered in lights before we ran out. After two trips to the store we finally got the whole thing covered (I guess that's what happens when you from a 5 foot tree to a 7.5 foot tree)- Cason helped us decorate and let me tell you, our tree is covered!! He wouldn't let any small space go without something. I love it! We finally have a real tree (and by that I mean a big one)! It's huge, it's bright, and it's got our family written all over it- We had a fabulous Thanksgiving spent with both sides of our family. This year we feel incredibly blessed being in a home, have a baby on the way, all of us strong and healthy, and Travis with a job that provides us with so much! We know these are gifts from our Savior and we could not be more grateful! We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and if not already, will have their trees up soon! Christmas is just around the corner and we cannot wait!

Baby 2

2011-11-14T17:40:00.007-05:00

I guess it's time to add pink, ruffles, bows and the like to our thinking of dinosuars, trucks and trains because ladies and gentlemen- it's a girl! So if you can read sonograms then you know what this is showing but it's really hard to tell. To the right of the 'e' on 'female' is where the Dr. could see her "three little bumps"-

Trav and I were not surprised because we both had a feeling we were having a girl (but we had the same thinking for Cason so we knew chances were we were wrong) so when they typed in "FEMALE" on the sonogram we just smiled real big. This is just an awesome shot of her all curled up and snug. You can see her head and belly but right above her nose you can see a knee and the rest of her legs to the left. Trav and I and even the Dr. just stared at her and she laid here like this. We were all in awe by it. But she looks cozy wouldn't you say?

The baby is healthy as far as we can see and growing nice and strong. March 24 is still the due date and I'll be delivering at American Fork Hospital. I know we still have lots of time but from the way Travis describes it it is right around the corner: "So Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and then Christmas, and then my parents are coming into town, and then it'll be baby time." Yikes. Sweet baby girl, please take your time, Mama needs more time.

Since winter is here-

2011-11-07T17:42:00.005-05:00

I might as well post our pictures from fall *sigh*. So sad though that fall has already come and gone. Why is it so cold all of a sudden? I feel like Cason and I never get out of the house anymore. Although I'm pretty sure I'm just being a wuss about it. Anyway, some pictures from some fall activities-

Cason and I went to Gardner Village with a friend and her little boy to check out the witches for Halloween. Cason loved checking out all the witches and learned how to make a witch cackle noise-While all the little girls danced around and showed off their witch costumes Cason played behind them on the bars...my sweet boy-Trav and I took Cason to Thanksgiving Point's Barnyard Boo and he loved that. Lots of animals and little activities-The goats and cows were his favorite cuz he they'd lick his hands if he had food for them or not-He also got to ride a pony for the first time! He smiled and giggled the entire time while I concentrated on walking on hay, in circles, and holding onto Cason and not falling flat on my face-And we went for a wagon ride pulled my horses that Cason graciously thanked with a poke in the eye-One day before heading out for a walk I thought we better bundle up a bit. I put on his vest and he wanted to wear his new winter had a gloves. He looked so adorable that I had to snap some pictures-So adorable!

Goodbye fall, we miss you already!

Trick-or-Treat

2011-11-03T18:21:00.006-04:00

We had so much fun spending the whole weekend celebrating Halloween! Friday we headed to Hee Haw Farms with my family and had so much fun sliding on the ginormous slide, riding the train- playing in the corn box-going for a pony ride and hanging out at the petting zoo-chasing the ducks-and poking horses in the eyes (they were such good sports)-And going on a hayride-We carved eleven pumpkins this year! Thanks to Travis' drill we got a couple done super fast! Cason tried to his but refused to touch the seeds inside and so he basically watched-But he did help cut out the eyes, nose, and mouth-And then supervised Daddy on the rest of his pumpkins-Our neighborhood had a trick-or-treat village at a park that was a lot of fun. Cason enjoyed eating suckers and other candy on the way around to all the booths-And aboslutely LOVED the bounce house and would slide down on his belly every time- Trick-or-treating was successful and Cason enjoyed ringing the door bells and getting candy...mostly suckers. After two streets I asked him if he was done and he pointed to a new street saying "more, house, sucker". We were out for much longer than I expected but we had a lot of fun-He was a little dinosuar and this is him saying what dinosuars say, 'raw'- We ran into one of Cason's friends who was also a dinosaur. When they saw each other they got all excited and then started walking down the street with one another and chatting it up. It was so adorable-

Hope everyone had a good holiday! Happy Halloween!

Las Vegas, Baby!!

2011-11-01T18:22:00.006-04:00

But when you don't drink or gamble Vegas isn't quite as exciting. But we had a good time nonetheless. Travis had a conference to go to so we thought it would be fun to drop Cason of with Nana and Papa while we spent a weekend away. Of course while Trav was off at his conference I was left to...walk the strip over and over again. I had fun pretending to take fancy pictures and acting like I wasn't completely alone. Here are some pics that actually turned out pretty good (thought it might be fun to share)-Can you imagine having this job? Yikes!One evening Trav and I decided to take advantage of no Cason and headed to the temple (which I thought totally looked like a stake center)-Another fancy pic that I thought turned out kinda cool-And then we walked the strip together. Haha. Mostly headed to Bellagio to check out the gardens and the fountains-It was a wonderful weekend that we really enjoyed. While we were away Cason had a blast with Nana and Papa! Swinging with Spiderman-Watching 'shows' with Papa-Playing at the park with his cousin-And dressing up for Halloween!
Seriously, my parents rock!

It's a baby!!

2011-10-27T17:17:00.002-04:00

It's true, we're pregnant! Hooray! We are extremely excited to have our family grow and for Cason to become a big brother! As you can see I have quite the little bump! I'm in my second trimester at 18 weeks tomorrow! Woot! Which really just means I'm back the first trimester sickness and tiredness.
Things are going really well and we're looking forward to finding out the gender in just a few sort weeks! Oh, and no, I don't think Cason has any idea what's going on however I did catch him starring at my belly the other day so he is noticing a change. And he does know that I have a baby in my belly...but he also thinks he and Travis have one in theirs too so it's a learning process! :)

Happy Birthday to my baby!

2011-10-17T13:48:00.005-04:00

Okay well, he's not really a baby anymore but it seems just like yesterday he was. I can't believe he's 2! I'ts been an amazing 2 years with lots of growing and learning...from all of us of course. Because Cason is so infatuated with lawnmowers I decided to do a lawnmower theme. With a grass type of cake, windmills, and I even grew some grass for all the kids to make their very own grass head (they were a big hit). Cason of course loved the cake-It turned out so adorable considering I had to make the lawnmower out of candy-He got more gifts then he knew what to do with. But thanks to everyone and their patience he eventually got to all of them-He loved all of his toys and had a hard time deciding on which ones to play with-Once he found some alone time though he could narrow down the options-He was pretty good at sharing everything he got though with all of his friends-Sunday was his actual birthday and we decided to save our gifts for that day so there'd be no pressure from any other kids or anything-He took his sweet time. This soccer ball was probably his fav-That night we went to the park since that is probably one of his favorite things to do. We played till we all got too cold to be outside-And took his ball with us of course-Cason saying that he's now "two"-And then we spent some time on the toys-Happy Birthday Big Boy! We love you!

Families Can Be Together Forever

2011-10-12T16:24:00.006-04:00

You know it's true when you have fabulous pictures like these!
Fabulous, right? I can't seem to get enough of them.

Cal-if-forn-i-a

2011-10-10T16:36:00.008-04:00

Recently we took a little road trip out to San Diego, CA. We wanted to do one more family vacation before all the good weather disappeared so we packed up and drove out. Travis has an old friend that lives in Carlsbad and he was kind enough to accomodate our staying with him (for which we are forever grateful!)

The drive went amazingly well. Who knew we had such a good little traveler on hand? Cason was amazing! Thanks to tips from all our friends! The little presents worked like magic and the new books (from DI-I highly recommend going this route) worked wonders for over an hour! Even though the weather was overcast and chilly we still managed to find things to do and have a good time. I got some great pictures at the beach. The first time we went it was too cold to get in our suits so I thought just rolling up our pants would be okay for toe dipping-Cason's face after hearing the waves crash. He did this just about every time because the wind was so windy that the waves were crashing pretty loud-Trav trying to convince Cason it's okay to get his toes in the water-By the time he got comfortable going out on his own we went out a little far and the waves got us! One ended up pushing Cason over and went over his shoulders-it was traumatic. He was soaked and cold!! Thanks to not having dry clothes we had to endure to screams and cries-He eventually got over it and got back in the sand. By the time we were ready to go he was c.o.v.e.r.e.d! in sand! This picture really does not do it justice but this Cason's confused face-Cason got sucked into football that weekend. There was always a game on that Trav and Andy were okay with watching. From then on Cason is always asking to watch football...I hate that it started so early. We took a little ferry ride over to Coronado...or something similar to that. Cason would stand on the bench, lean over the side and yell out "NEMO!" He said it with so much passion too. As if Cason was the one looking for and determined to find little Nemo-While Cason and I took glorious Sunday naps Travis and Andy took a hike to somewhere cool I'm sure-We went to San Diego zoo, which was awesome. We saw these hippo's sleeping, they looked like they were having very good dreams-Koala's which I had never seen before so I was pretty excited. They had a ton of them too-Kangaroo's, which again I was excited about because I had never seen one before but this guy just stood there and itched himself for as long as we could take so we moved on-Cason was on every fence trying to climb it that he could see-

We saw polar bears which were totally awesome because they got down in the water and started play fighting and swimming, Cason loved them-They had one little panda who was on the move, Cason also tried to get in this little guys cage, it was a close call-Day two at the beach was beautiful! We got in suits so we were prepared to get wet. The sun was shinning and we were ready for a fun filled day!Unfortunately because of Cason's first day experience he did not want to touch the water. Every time we got him close to the water we'd wait for it to touch our toes, he'd bolt the other way as the water got closer and closer-So we turned it into a fun game of chasing that had us all laughing-And on our last day we drove up to the temple. And even though there was no sunshine, I still managed to get some good shots-San Diego Temple is a beautiful temple! Every day now Cason asks to see a temple and he thinks every church we pass is a temple. It's a fun learning experience (oh, and Cason almost ran into the temple doors too. I was tempted to let him just to see what the temple workers would do, heehee, but then decided that I knew better)-For one moment, the sun came up-

Such a fun vacation! We love you San Diego! And Andy! Thanks again for letting us stay with you!

One Cutie-Patootie

2011-09-21T16:54:00.003-04:00

He's so adorable and melts my heart every day. Love him to death!

Cason's faces

2011-09-20T17:29:00.002-04:00

He is getting better and better at these faces and I've been mean to do a blog on them for months. So here they finally are. All you have to do is ask him to show you his Happy Face (this usually includes a big eyebrow raise)-His Sad Face-His Angry Face-His Surprised Face (a personal favorite of mine)-And his Confused Face (which usually includes a more tilted head and the sound 'huh')-

So adorable. Next time you see him you'll have to ask him to show you.

Because one just isn't enough-

2011-09-07T17:12:00.003-04:00

Growing up I shared bunk beds with my younger sis. I remember just before bed my mom would tuck us in and say goodnight. She always took forever with Nicole. I would always peek my head down and see what they were doing and my mom was helping Nicole carefully place practically each and every stuffed animal she owned next to her in bed. After the lights were turned off I'd look at her in the middle of the bed with at least 10 or more animals all lined up next to her. It made me want to throw my one stuffed animal that I slept with at them all just to mess them up. But maybe it wasn't just her and maybe it's a kid thing...or maybe it's hereditary?
He needed 3 stuffed animals the other night while reading books, one just wasn't enough.

Our house...in the middle of the street...

2011-09-07T16:51:00.003-04:00

Finally! What youv'e all been waiting for, right? Haha. You can all thank my younger sister, Nicole, for this blog post on the house. She lives in Arizona and is currently in the market for a house and has really been wanting to see ours. And since this is the best way I can think of to do it, here you go. 25 pictures of our lovely home in Eagle Mountain, Utah! We are really enjoying the area with how quiet and friendly the neighborhood is. If you're in the market, Eagle Mountain is a good place to buy right now. After being in the home for 4 months we're really satisfied with the home. There were some issues with the sprinklers but thanks to our awesome new neighbor, Mike, it has been taken care of for the charge of parts (we felt blessed). But other than that there haven't been anything hidden that has come out since we've been here. We're really enjoying it. So I labeled all the pictures to make it easier for you Nicole. Hopefully you can get a good idea of what the house looks like. For everyone else-enjoy!And yes, I aboslutely love my kitchen! If I could change one thing it would be the pantry-That's the shelf I painted. It turned out adorable-This room will soon be Cason's once he's ready for a bed-By far the cutest room in the whole house (all the pictures of Cason might have something to do with that though)-Our room is so empty right now and I hate it. I'm hoping to get a cushion and pillows on the bay window one day-And definitely more things on the wall above the dressers-We're still in need of a nice entertainment center (we're saving up)-Best couch in the whole world-Eventually a nice long table of some sort will go here and you won't see all the movies-This will one day be an extra bedroom-
There you have it. Our lovely home. We really do love it! If anyone wants or still needs a personal tour give us a call! :)

Catching up Day 9-

2011-08-02T16:42:00.003-04:00

It's like a flip book, it's all in his smile-

Adorable, right??

catching up day 8: Camping with Daddy

2011-08-02T16:40:00.002-04:00

Awhile ago Travis took Cason camping over night with his brother and I'm pretty sure Cason had a blast- Just him and Daddy, what more could you ask for?

Cason didn't want to have anything to do with me for over a week! I love that they were able to do this for me and that Trav was such a good sport to take pictures for me! Love my boys!

(still) catching up day 7: One Fabulous Weekend

2011-08-02T15:53:00.005-04:00

This adorable boy made our fourth of July weekend fabulous-

We started our weekend out at Seven Peaks and had a blast with Trav (first time we were all able to go there together). That night we went to an Owlz game and while Trav and I were both nervous how Cason was going to do, we had a lot of fun. He played with his cars, toys, ball, had plenty of snacks, and even made friends with the people sitting around us.After the game they had fireworks and Trav and I were anxious to see how'd he do. And he loved them! Stared at them the whole time going 'ooo'. So much fun. It made us even more anxious for the fourth- Saturday we hiked bridal viel falls-

Cason loved it. No stroller, just walkin' around, anywhere he wanted (...well almost wherever he wanted). He loved this strip line. He followed it and walked right on it-The falls themselves weren't so much what Cason loved as the river itself. He really wanted to go right on but man was the water tall and going fast. He couldn't stay around too long because he was ready to dive in. So he headed back and could you believe he wanted to hold our hands? It made our hearts melt! He rarely wanted to hang on to our hands but there was something about that moment that he wanted to hold both our hands- And even more amazing-I got a picture of it! This one is my favorite-

Monday we headed to our parents for a bbq. Cason ate aboslutely nothing because he was so busy playing-Our traditional family shot in front of the flag-Then we headed to Sugar House park for the fireworks. Going to the park he got to ride in the wagon with Papa pulling it and he was adorable sittin' there among the blankets and treats-

I'm so sad his eyes are closed in this picture but it's still so adorable that I had to include it- You know I think the fourth of July might be one of my favorite holidays just because of all the family things that we do. I love going to the park and I love that I finally have a child to next to and watch enjoy the fireworks. I've been going to the park since I was a kid and so it's such an amazing feeling to be going with my family. I love holidays! And I love my boys!

catch up day 6: growing up so fast

2011-07-13T17:31:00.003-04:00

Every parent says it so it seems cliche to say it as well but it's true, Cason is growing up so fast! The past couple of weeks have been quite the eye opener for me. I decided to try to give him cereal a couple weeks ago. He loved it!! Which for those of you that know me know my obsession with cereal. Night, day, dry, with milk-I love cereal! So to have Cason eat it with me was so cool. Thanks to my mom and her not wanting to waste anything we were required to drink our milk. Today, I still drink it. And when Cason saw me do it, he of course had to join me-Even though his bowl still had cereal in it, he still drank all the milk and then asked for more milk. So adorable. He is also now drinking from a cup full time when at the table. He turned his nose up to sippy cups but is still willing to use them when he's in the car, etc. I love that he's drinking from a cup! Some times it's a mess but I love that he's at this milestone. So big.Thanks to having a home and a sandbox Cason can now play while I cook dinner. I didn't think he would be okay with this considering he likes to see me and not be by himself for the most part but he's been doing so much better. I constantly peeked at him through the window every 10 seconds but he had so much fun!
Can. Not. Believe how big he is getting! Two is just around the corner. So crazy!

50+ words

2011-07-07T21:38:00.002-04:00

I wish I could spell out exactly how Cason says things but I just don't think I can do it. The way he says basketball and lawnmower melt my heart every time. His vocabulary seems to be getting larger and larger. I think he is well over know 50 words by the time you're 2. I don't think I could count how many words he can say but my most recent and favorite one is motorcycle. He has a puzzle that's all trucks and cars and also one motorcycle. He always picks this one up first and plays with it for a good five minutes before all the rest. I was quick to act when he was saying it 100 times over and over again. I grabbed the camera and this is the video I totally scored on. Enjoy!

Catching up Day 5: Who needs a petting zoo??

2011-07-05T18:59:00.004-04:00

On our way home from a friends house Cason saw some cows and ran straight up to the fence. Travis and I let him go but didn't follow right away until we saw the cow running up to the fence to meet Cason. Travis booked it over to him to play safety inspector and I pulled out the camera (funny how we both have our roles). This cow sniffed, licked, and stared at Cason. I think the cow liked Cason just as much as Cason liked the cow.After the cow was aquainted with Cason he took a couple steps back as if to say, 'that's enough kid'. Cason put his arms in the fence as far as he could to reach out to the cow. He even wiggled his hands and babbled to him. But the cow was done and over it. He did humor Cason and let him touch his nose one more time but that was it. Cason loved every minute of it and had a hard time saying goodbye.
So funny!

Catching up Day 4: Ragnar

2011-06-30T16:49:00.005-04:00

Ever hear of the Ragnar race? Travis ran it a couple weeks ago with his brother, his brother's wife, and a sister-in-law. It's basically a team of twelve split into two vans. And each person runs 3 legs of anywhere from 5-9 miles or so. They start in Logan and run to Park City! My brother-in-law describes it as being the most miserable fun you'll ever have. They're crazy. They said they had a lot of fun but when we met them at the finish line they were all hobbling and barely even running really. But they all look great from all the training!
We waited for them for what seemed like forever in that hot blazing sun! But the kids were really good and patient-
They thankfully know how to entertain themselves-Running across the finish line (trav's on the left in the red shorts)-Cason and sore Daddy (they look even more alike with their buzzed heads, don't they)- The runners! Clint, Danielle', Travis, and Shawni-
They look great, don't they??

Catching up Day 3: Hoogle Zoo

2011-06-29T16:44:00.002-04:00

About two weeks ago Cason and I went to the zoo with my sister and her son and my mom. We had so much fun. The boys loved it! Cason's favorite part was oddly enough, the dinosuars. Right now Hoogle Zoo has dinosaur statues up all around the zoo and their hands and mouths move and they roar. While some kids cried and screamed when it roared, Cason couldn't enough of it. He'd have stick half his body through the fence to get the perfect view and then he'd just wait...and wait for it to roar. He loved it. Then he'd turn to the person next to him (whether he knew the person or not) and do his own roar- It was hilarious because he'd squat just a little bit as he held up his hands by his face and then do his own roar. It was hilarious. I have no idea where the squat was coming from but it made me laugh every time-

We aboslutely loved spending the day with Nana, Cason just adores her-

We got to ride the carousel-

I kept trying to point out my mom to Cason as we were going around and he had a hard time actually finding her. But when he did find her, he was pretty proud of himself-

My mom just eats these boys up! Pretty sure she's got the best gig of being Nana-

We rode the train which I think was another favorite for Cason-

The playground and fun random things the zoo had to offer, not so much fun-

But we all had such a good time! It was the perfect thing to get out and do on beautiful summer day!

Catching up Day 2: Summer Fun

2011-06-28T17:11:00.004-04:00

Cason and I are beyond grateful that summer finally made it here (we were a little worried)! Now that it's here we pack out days full of summer things like playing in the sprinklers-

Which of course Cason just loves! He has been a water baby since day 1-

Being out in the sunshine every chance we get blowing bubbles-

and playing fun games like basketball-

After a long hard decision I decided to give Cason the haircut every boy deserves in the summer, a buzz! So here's before-

Brace yourself! Here's after- Agh!! I know, right? It's so short and extreme. He really does look adorable though. I miss the spikey hair but I keep reminding myself that will it be back!

But when it is raining outside or late Cason and I still find crazy ways to entertain ourselves-

We love you summer! Thanks for not forgetting about us!

Don't say the 'b' word!

2011-06-08T14:25:00.003-04:00

Which includes (but is not limited to): Basketball, Ball, and worst of all-Bike! Cason hears these words or sees these objects and you'll probably have a fight on your hands...unless of course you want to play basketball, play ball, or go for a bike ride. If this kid could ride a bike then he probably would all day long. He has a push bike that he really loves but his new favorite is now my bike. We put a baby seat on it for him to go riding with me and it is his new favorite thing. Every day, 'bike, bike, bike'. He points to it, he reaches, and he even says 'please' in the cutest way you can imagine. Which of course, I cannot say no to. I have a feeling that every day this summer a bike ride will be included (thankfully it only needs to be 15 minutes long)!
Love you Cas!

Playing Catch up-Day 1: Another chore to add to the list

2011-05-25T23:48:00.006-04:00

When you move into a home you get so excited about the space, all the rooms, where you're going to put everything. I think a lot of responsibility is forgotten about. Like having to buy boring things like water softner, a lawn mower, edger, mulch...how very un-exciting. Travis though has become rather found of it, thankfully! And of course, so has Cason. Cason has a weird obsession with lawn mowers. And for some reason there is always someone mowing the lawn around here! 8 am-Cason pops up, 'lawn mower'...if only I could really spell it the way he says it because it is priceless to hear. 8:30 pm, just before Cason goes down...'lawnmower'. Of course anything that sounds close to lawn mower is a lawn mower, weed wacker, leaf blower, etc. Anyway, new chores now include mowing the lawn, and I think it's probably Cason's favorite- Thank heavens Trav is a good sport because Cason was pretty sad when he couldn't reach the top bar comfortably so he wanted to hold Travis' hand, pretty much the whole time. The walked hand in hand, it was adorable.

They eventually both got tired. Travis' one arm that he was using to push the lawn mower got tired and Cason's little legs ran out of steam I guess. Being the smart boy that he is though he pulled out his stroller. Pushed it onto the grass. Climbed in. And watched the show. Seriously, how is he so smart??

Gardening is another new chore for us. I have tried to work on this but man it's hard to do every day, I honestly forget to water every day. I'm working on it though and it is so fun being surrounded in flowers!

Cason wasn't a whole lot of help in this area-

So remember the next time you go look at houses at how big the yard is and ask yourself, 'do I really want to mow that every week?' And then look at the garden areas and say, 'do I really want to weed that every week?' I'm not gonna lie, its not an easy question.

It's new to me

2011-05-10T16:36:00.006-04:00

Well the move has been made!! Things went very smoothly and all of our boxes and furniture made it all in one piece. Most of our boxes have been unpacked and found new homes...most things anyway. The past week or so has been filled with little projects to do and the list is growing shorter. However the next couple of projects will probably take longer to complete. I really want to re-finish some pieces of furniture. And I still have yet to hang anything on the wall (I find myself wanting to be more careful with where I hang things now that we're no longer in an apartment that we'll be moving out of in a year). Here are some small glimpses of our new life in our new home-

Cason loves being outside and chasing after kids on their bikes and running out into the street (he's never had to learn about not going out into the street living in an apartment his whole life, so it's a work in progress) -I got a bunch of bean bags for more seating and he prefers it to the the couch (and he, of course, looks so adorable sitting on them), and I prefer it for him so it works out for everyone-Window ledge over the kitchen sink-The most beautiful legs I've ever seen (our new table!)-New furniture-Beautiful banister-Master bathroom, can you believe both Travis and I can both stand at the mirror without anyone hugging the toilet or standing half way in the next room? It's wonderful and totally amazing-Our new couch in the basement and yes, this is the only picture you are getting of it (in my defense I did say small glimpse in the beginning) -And one of my favorite parts on the house, a beautiful arch in the basement. I love it!

Now don't you just want to see the whole thing?! Now you're anticipation will grow even more as I finish unpacking boxes, paint furniture, hang pictures on walls, and maybe even get the garden started! :)

Happy Easter!

2011-04-25T17:44:00.004-04:00

Cason was the perfect age for Easter this year! I was so excited to have him carry his little basket and find eggs and goodies to fill it with. And can you believe it all worked out that way! Saturday afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt with my sides of the family and Cason was the first one to start (and last one to finish)-It was so fun watching him walk around picking up all of these eggs and actually putting them in his Easter basket-However he did get fixated on this little bag of goodies- He scored big time, even more than Halloween I'd say. At the end of it all my mom wanted a picture of him and his cousin together and..it was rough-Once given a treat though, it was a little smoother-Sunday morning he was all gussied up that I had to get a picture of him in his sunday outfit and his easter basket so I took the same eggs with the same treats and hid them to have him search for them all over again-He really didn't mind. He did get a new toy, a train. He had fun picking that out of the tree-All of the pictures we took were adorable but Travis did manage to get one picture of one tiny smile. So adorable!Of course I wanted a family picture of us but there was no coorporation, no matter how many jelly beans he had. So when you can't beat them what do you do...That's right, join them! Anyone else see some family resemblence??The tears eventually settled-
Happy Easter!

"our house, in the middle of the street"

2011-04-19T15:28:00.005-04:00

It feels like it's been too long since I've blogged. We've been pretty busy with every day things and with buying a house! That's right, Travis and I bought a house! A beautiful five bedroom, three bathroom house (one bedroom and bathroom are unfinished). It has a beautiful kitchen, lots of yard space, and is in Eagle Mountain. We're excited. We move in at the end of the month so I don't think this busy-ness is going to be going away any time soon!

"Show me your teeth"

2011-03-31T16:18:00.003-04:00

You've probably already seen this photo but it's so cute why not have it somewhere twice, right? Plus there's a fun little story with it. I decided Cason's getting close to that age where he could be smiling when I asked him too (especially since he's seen a camera so much). My first tactic was an obvious one, to teach him to say "cheese". And when he does say it, it is adorable, and gives me a smile. But I found another! The other day after a good teeth brushing I asked him to show me his teeth and wa-la, a smile. Well, more than a smile really. A huge smile, with an eyebrow lift and even a slight head shake. It didn't just make me smile, it made me laugh...a lot. So the other day he's playing with all these beaded necklaces and had all of them on at the same time. He's walking around checking himself out and then stops and leans against the wall. So cute. And of course I grab my camera-And ask him to show me his teeth-What a doll. Love you Cason!

"Mom's Lucky Charm"

2011-03-25T23:26:00.003-04:00

Our day of luck was just like any other day but this little guy sure does make us feel like the luckiest people in the world- I can't tell you how much Cason has changed our lives for the better. He is the beginning of our family and has shown us what true happiness is all about. We love you Cason! We hope everyone had a good St. Patty's day! ps-it's a sad face but such an adorable picture, I had to include it-
He was so upset about not being to open the box and eat whatever it was that was in there. Heehee, so cute!

what a cutie!

2011-03-22T17:26:00.005-04:00

This little man has discovered his pockets! At least when he's wearing jeans. He tried putting his hands in them and fussed and fussed until I showed him how to get his little hands into them. He tried walking away but lost his balance and fell flat onto his face (because he had no hands to catch himself with). He pulled his hands out, got back up, and came right back to me to put his hands back in his pockets. This time I didn't let go right away. He walked around for a couple minutes and I couldn't help but to grab a shot-so adorable! It's amazing how I am still madly IN LOVE with this little guy!

ps-today is Maestro's second birthday...sigh...wish I was making a cake for him. I love you Maestro.

The simplicity of a young mind-

2011-03-17T10:27:00.002-04:00

Can you believe Cason entertained himself with a package full of toilet paper? Of course you can! At least half an hour went by after his nap time with playing with this. He had the time of his life, and I had some extra quiet! The best was watching him attempt to stand on top of it. It took a lot of work but he eventually got the hang of it- "Yeah! I made it!"

Doing a little dance in celebration of him standing on top of the toilet paper-

Getting ready to dismount-

He fell off every time but didn't seem to mind if he landed on his arm or his face, he would laugh and then get back up and try to stand on top of it again. So funny. Thank you massive packaging of toilet paper for your entertainment! It is greatly appreciated! I wonder what will be next...

ps-Happy St. Patty's Day!!

it's about-love

2011-03-09T17:56:00.007-05:00

We had quite the treat this year for Valentine's because my sister, Nicole and her husband, Shawn were in town for a wedding (I don't think the happy couple actually got married on v-day). It was so fun having them in town and getting to hang out with them. We went out to dinner, took new family pictures (last one was before Trav and I got married), played lots of games, and of course ate tons of junk! My Dad got all of us ladies a balloon for the special occassion and Cason carried them with him everywhere he went-all of them!I wanted a cute picture of us together (as always) and of course it's a big fuzz ball. *sigh* maybe next time-Me and Carter, my nephew. I totall love that he's smiling in this pic-Nicole sat down to play the piano but it wasn't too long before she had some company-Looks like she's teaching them and that they're actually learning! Nicole already has this mother thing down! Holding one baby while letting him play hit the keys, while holding up the key cover thing (does that have a real name?) from the other baby so the baby she's holding doesn't get his fingers smashed! Good job Nicole, you'll rock out the mom gig.This really is not a good picture since my hair is doing...who knows what and Cason's not smiling but actually looking half asleep with his pants all bunched up but it was such an awesome moment. The babies actually left the piano long enough for Nicole to play a couple of songs that had me itching to dance. And who do I pick? Naturally Cason. So we danced and at one point he actually laid his head on my shoulder. It was wonderful. I sneaked my camera and gave it the Shawn with the "take-our-picture" look- Nicole, you're a goof. And now you know that if you take a picture with my camera it will end up on my blog! Haha!ps-since we're talking about love I recently just finished this little gem of a page. It took me forever to figure out what to journal about Cason's Great Grandma Visser but one I figured it out it added quite the nice touch to the page. I love this page. I love this picture, the smile that I've never seen before on Grandma Visser until she held Cason (it completely melted my heart!), and how simple and lovely this page turned out-

why is it so difficult?

2011-02-25T17:58:00.003-05:00

Difficult to get a cute picture of me with Cason, that is? Maybe it's because I'm the one holding the camera...maybe cuz he's only 17 months old...maybe cuz I'm that uncoordinated? Who knows. But I really wish I could get cute pictures of us together instead of ones like this-Or ones where I try to be creative and my head gets cut off-Or just doesn't turn out the way I planned it-Being more flexible though, I did manage to get a couple cute ones-This one turned out pretty cute just cuz he's always tilting his head like this-A couple other great shots for this fantastic day out in the beautiful sunshine-He climbed up to this slide all on his own-And then went down it all on his own-

We've got spring fever! How about you?

You can't help but to laugh

2011-02-21T18:23:00.004-05:00

These pictures crack me up!!
As you can see this is Cason, crying...a lot. And it's not because his mouth hurts so much that it makes him cry because he is getting his very first molar but because he's heart broken!

Heart broken that I'm not sharing

The broom-

Every time I get out the broom to sweep he follows me and follows just waiting to give it up. By the time I've moved onto the third area to sweep he throws a fit that I'm not letting him have a turn. I try to explain but it's useless. So I ignore him until I'm completely done and then hand it over-

Then he goes back to the first spot I swept and re-sweeps for me. It's pretty funny-

ps-you have to watch this video till the very end because he says 'B-Bye' and it is so adorable that it will most likely melt your heart!

A bit of a picture overload-

2011-02-16T13:53:00.002-05:00

I've gotten behind, I know. Mexico threw me off and got me behind and I've finally caught up on uploading all my pictures on the computer and so now I'm ready to add them to the blog. I thought about skipping over them but really Cason is just too cute to skip over. Enjoy!
So the day after we get home I'm cleaning up the house while Travis is "watching" Cason. Cason finds my keys-And amazingly enough goes to the door and starts playing, so funny.Cason seemed so different when we got back from our vacation, bigger, taller, more coordinated, a little better with the words he was saying, it was amazing. So I decided he was ready to be given the bowl instead of dumping everything out, he looks so grown-up don't you think?Unfortunately he's been off and on sick and some times that calls for some cuddling and relaxing-Playing peek-a-boo with us at dinner. Which really just got a lot of food in his hair but it was still adorable-Like I said, big boy. We're teaching him to put on his shoes-Haha! Just kidding! I can barely get his shoes on! :) But he sure does like to pretend-Trav and Cason, this time Trav stayed awake :)Can you believe he finally ate a banana! Unforutnately he's not anymore. It lasted for about three days but it was great while it lasted. Any ideas for a little one that won't eat fruit would be greatly appreciated! And climbing on the chair-If these are not pushed under the table then we will find him on them! It drives me crazy because these are not good, sturdy chairs but Cason sure does love them-
It's been so good to be home again with Cason. We certainly did miss him! We are currently "back in the swing of things" and missing Mexico!

Book of a Thousand Days

2011-02-09T18:47:00.003-05:00

Can you believe I'm reading another book (in Cancun I read The Goose Girl)? Both books are by Shannon Hale and I gotta say, I'm loving her stuff. The way she writes makes me envious! I so wish I could write like that...but at least I can read it. I am really enjoying the book I'm reading now, Book of a Thousand Days. I thought I'd share a favorite passage so far:
"But what ails her? Could it just be she's that heartsick for her love, Khan Tegus? I can't wrap my thoughts around how deep their love must be. It's too high above me. It's surely a powerful love that bids a girl brick herself away from Eternal Blue Sky for seven years. I once liked a boy named Yeke with kind eyes, but I wouldn't give up the sun for him. Her khan must be such a man from legend, a man formed from Evela, goddess of sunlight. Perhaps if I looked at him, I'd have to squint. I'll ask me lady."
Love it!!

What would you do?

2011-02-06T00:42:00.003-05:00

So I'm not quite sure what to do with Cason's schedule these days and I need some help! So I thought I'd open it up and see if I can get some suggestions-
Cason is almost 16 months old now and is still taking two naps! I hate to complain about two naps because they are wonderful! But I'm thinking I should really cut it down to two, however, he loves his morning nap and not so fond of the afternoon nap. So question is, should I cut it down to one nap and just let him get used to the one nap or should I continue the morning nap and afternoon and just wait it out a bit longer until he phases the morning nap out on his own? Decisions, decisions. *sigh*
Anyway, please comment with your thoughts and suggestions and help me decide what to do!
Sincerely,
Confuzzled Mom
ps-you rock! :)

Cancun, Mexico!

2011-01-31T18:34:00.007-05:00

Mexico was...*sigh*...so wonderful! Most of our time was spent right here-on the beach-
We had so much laying on the beach chairs with our books, taking naps, watching the ocean, and people watching. It was by far one of our favorite activities.
We went to this place called Xplor which was pretty much in a cave. We were required to wear helmets the entire time. We did rafting, which was a lot of fun and quite the arm workout. The paddles were attached to our hands, I was pretty surprised at how good we did. We also did some under river swimming, rode the jeeps that go in the water and did a bunch of ziplines-We spent a glorious Sunday afternoon at Cozumel, which is an island off of Cancun. We took a ferry there and then rented a scooter and drove around the island, making a couple stops at some beaches. It was a lot of fun.We went and toured Ek Balam and Chichen-Itza. So amazing! I can't believe the structures people have made. So cool. And snorkeling of course! The water was so perfect and we had a lot of fun swimming around like fish. We saw a ton of coral, fish, a sting ray, crabs, etc. A lot of fun. Trav got a nice sunburn in the shape of his life vest that day. Every day or night we would go out and walked on the beach. The sand was so amazing, it never got hot! We loved hearing the sound of the ocean. We slept with our windows open just about every night, it was really cool. We went para-sailing. Which was, despite the couple times we thought we were going to fall out, was a lot of fun. You could see the entire island and more being up so high. A couple gusts of wind had us holding on pretty tight but for the most part we really enjoyed it! This is Cancun-

More beach pictures (it's like the one you see in all the pictures, right?)-

We did lots of swimming in the ocean...or at least Trav did (I did lots of jumping and getting dunked in the ocean)-

On our very last day there we woke up early and watched the sunrise. Unfortunately it was cloudy and didn't quite get the beauty of it that we were hoping for but it was still beautiful-

We miss you Mexico!
ps-there are a bunch more pictures on facebook if you wanna check those out

1.11.11

2011-01-12T16:38:00.004-05:00

I had the best day with Cason yesterday. We played and played and played! It was one thing to another and when I laid in bed last night all I could think about how great it was! When I first saw him played with his scrapbook my first reaction was to go "no, not the scrapbook!" But then I thought, what good is it if he never looks at it? So I let him flip through it and he tried to grab ever embellishment, good thing there are page protectors-I was doing lots of laundry and the basket and got in and out, in and out, in and out-When he got in he'd dance around a little and spin around in circles...then he'd get out, and then back in and do it all over again, it was hilarious-We played with cars for about an hour in this tiny little space they call a kitchen. We'd start with the cars by the carpet and say 'ready, set, go' and then push them forward and watch them go. Then he'd race to go pick them all up, all four, all at the same time-A couple times they went under the fridge, most likely due to the small space-It really was such an awesome day. I enjoyed every moment of it, which really works out perfectly since Travis and I are headed out to celebrate five years in Cancun, Mexico! We are thrilled but man I am I gonna miss Cason!

Love you Cason! ps-please don't forget about me and please don't hate me when we get back!

Christmas 2010

2010-12-30T17:16:00.004-05:00

Last night as I was taking down all the Christmas decorations I reminded myself that I still needed to blog about Christmas. What a wonderful season. Cason made this Christmas for us this year. It was all about him and he did not disappoint (ps-sorry if there are too many pictures here, I had a really hard time deciding between the dozens and dozens that I took that day).
Christmas morning, don't we look great right out of bed? Yikes! Note to self: next year comb hair!Once we got a section of a gift started for him Cason would pull and shake the gift until it eventually opened. It took awhile but we were all patient-Trav got a remote control helicopterCason played with each toy he got a little before he opened another one. It was so cute-He would hand me the gift once he opened it to have me get it out of the box for him, he was so patient. Then he would play, play, play. This is a lap top that he got that was probably his favorite-At Grandma and Grandpa's house these two played so good together! Although it does help to have two cars-This little ar toy was a big hit. Here Cason is making his car noise-Playing with Papa and trying to find his car-He got in on a couple of the "grown-up" games-These two love the piano!And Grandma's storage room. I don't think she'll be able to find anything when she needs something-Playing with Papa, he was giggling and giggling! It was so adorable-
We hope everyone had a great Christmas and have plans for the New Year!

Remembering-

2010-12-23T15:25:00.008-05:00

A year ago today I remember I woke up feeling refreshed and totally ready for a new day. I stretched for the longest minute of my life. When I relaxed and kicked my brain into gear I realized that I had a baby in the next room that never woke up in the middle of the night. I quickly went into panic mode and ran into his room to find my sweet little boy sleeping-He had slept a full 8 hours and 45 minutes that night! Yesterday I made the above scrapbook page and it took me down memory lane so I thought I'd share. We are all ready and totally excited for Christmas over here! The countdown says just two more days! Can't wait!
Merry Christmas everyone!

First time in the snow

2010-12-20T17:39:00.005-05:00

The last time it snowed I was dreading getting Cason all bundled up to take him out in the snow and so I didn't...then I felt guilty cuz it didn't snow for weeks after that. So this morning when I woke up to snowfall I knew I would have to take him out. When Cason first saw it, he was pretty excited as well (he must known that he was going to get to out and play in it)-So after lunch I put on all of his stuff and oh man...words just can't quite explain it. You really do have to see it for yourself (this will give you a good laugh)-What movie does this remind you of? So funny! I laughed for a good five minutes. There was only a few moments were I could actually let him go to snap a couple of pictures because he kept falling over and really, could not get up on his own.We had fun though.

Over the weekend we had three family Christmas parties! The first one had a pinata which Cason was really enjoying until he hit himself in the face with the stick (luckily Papa was prepared and soothed the tears with a tootsie pop)-The last party had another pinata and this time was ready-He actually got a couple of good hits in-He was pretty happy with the end results-Pretty sure tootsie rolls are his favorite. Once I opened one for him he headed for the the couch to relax and enjoy-

So adorable. Merry Christmas!

5 years...and counting

2010-12-17T17:26:00.004-05:00

Five years ago today Travis and I got married!! Can you believe it's been five years? I know we've been through and done a lot together but five? So cool. We'll be celebrating today with dinner at Red Lobster (for those of you that don't know we go there every year) and then we're going to a movie, The Tourist, hopefully it's good. But the real celebration for us will be about mid-January where Travis will be taking me to Cancun, Mexico! I cannot wait! Anyway, I managed to find some pictures of our big day that I thought would be fun to share-Enjoy!Can you believe how much younger we look? And so skinny!When I asked Trav what his favorite part about our wedding was day he said the ceremony. We really don't really remember a lot of what was said but we remember the feeling. I loved sitting next to him thinking, 'oh man, this is my husband!" So funny! I love you Trav! Happy Anniversary!Who knew that five years later our family would be looking like this? Cason has been and definitely is our greatest blessing!

The cutest video you'll see today...most likely

2010-12-15T16:39:00.002-05:00

This is pretty much the cutest video I've gotten of Cason yet. I was making dinner at the stove and noticed he kept popping his head around the corner. Lucky for me the camera was within arm's reach because I definitely didn't want to miss out on this priceless moment. I can't believe he's old enough to be playing this little game with me...all on his own. So crazy. My favorite part of all of it though is how he tilts his head to side, so adorable! Check it out-

Decking Our Halls

2010-12-13T17:55:00.004-05:00

We put our tree up awhile ago but I finally got around to taking pictures of our quaint little apartment and I thought I'd share. First some pictures of the decorating and putting up of the tree-

Cason was a big help, mostly with the beads- We had a little introductory with the lights-So adorable!He still comes around the corner and checks out the lights with a "Ooo..."The final product. One day we'll have a nice big tree until then we're grateful for this little guy-

I made this a couple years ago but every year I look forward to taking it out of the bubble wrap-Our stocking our hung with care, thanks to my Mom. She made me the one in the middle when I was young and one for Travis when we got married. Last year I gave them back to her and restitched 'Mom' and 'Dad' for us and I made the one for Cason. Can you believe it? I made it! It turned out so great. I can't wait to stuff it for Christmas morning and have him go through it-I guess everything in our apartment is on a small scale-I made this pillow a couple years ago. Cason loves carrying it around with him and laying on it.12 day left!! I'm gettin' pretty excited.A Christmas picture from last year. I stared at it for ten minutes before I put it down. Missin' you Maestro.

This is where all of our Christmas cards are beginning to gather. I love getting Christmas cards in the mail!

Merry Christmas!

ps-Can you believe this is my 200th blog post?

Cason meets Santa

2010-12-08T22:49:00.003-05:00

Cason got to meet Santa last weekend and had a hard time not staring at him. I was hoping he'd reach out for hid beard or glasses but I think he was a little too nervous to do that, so he just continued to stare and stare. But he did at least sit on his lap but was anxious to get off-

Only so he could eat a candy cane for the very first time, which he loved-

In other news this is what these two do together when Travis gets home. Which is fun for them but kinda makes me jealous because Cason would never do this with me-

I was surprised one afternoon when I had to go wake Cason up but even more surprised when I found him like this-I love that he's snuggling with his blanket but amazed that he can breath. Crazy kid.

Yesterday Cason must have been feeling musical because he kept finding his back to this little piano. He would squat down, play a couple of notes, stand up and clap, and then squat back down. He did this on and on through out the whole day. It was adroable and had me laughing every time I looked over at him squatting the way he does, so funny-

Next up, holiday decor! Get excited.

Thanksgiving with the Dimonds

2010-12-02T13:49:00.006-05:00

Hold on tight everyone. I have uploaded all our Thanksgiving pictures on the computer, put them into tidy little folders, and had a hard time narrowing down which ones I wanted to share. And you probably all know what that means-there are a lot. So this year for Thanksgiving we went to Arizona. Travis' parents just recently moved there and so us and his two brothers decided to go there for the holiday. The drive there was great and we all had a lot of fun. Cason enjoyed our stop in St. George. It consisted of a lot of bed jumping and remote button pushing...and swimming.

We got met up with my sister, Nicole and her husband, Shawn for lunch. They live in Gilbert so it was good seeing her-Cason mastered his going up-And down the stairs (I can't get enough of those chubby thighs)-Making it to the top all by himself-We had lots of fun playing with his cousins. This here is Easton-And Kayden-And played with lots of new toys-We got to go to a park, which was awesome because Cason hasn't done so in awhile-And Cason's favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal was the sweet potatoes. Wouldn't touch the turkey or the carrots. Did have a roll but he was lovin' the sweet potatoes. He was being so good too with his fork (don't ask me why I didn't give him a spoon)-But when you can't get them in fast enough it's just easier to use your hands-We went to the Mesa Temple and checked out the lights-Cason loved it. He kept walking around going "oooo" -The palm trees were my favorite-We went out to dinner a couple of times (notice the new glasses) -Cason was so good. When he got tired he just put his head down-The drive home was rough, an entire day was spent driving-12 full hours (I'm sure many of you have similar stories). This slinky held his attention for quite some time. Especially when I made a game of putting it on his foot. By the end of the game he just kept it there for the rest of the drive. Cracked me up-He snuggled with this blanket thte last hour or so home. It was adorable.

It was a good Thanksgiving! Hope everyone had a good one as well!

cleaning up the memory card

2010-11-23T14:13:00.005-05:00

Kinda funny how I can blog three times one week and then not at all the next week. Today I decided to do a quick post because 1-I feel like it's been awhile and 2-because I needed to clean up the memory card before we head out on our Thanksgiving vacation. We're going to Arizona to visit Travis' parents and both of his brothers and their families will be joining us. I am anticipating taking lots of pictures. So now my memory card is all cleaned up and ready for lots of new pictures. So here's what we've been up to the past couple of days-
Despite the cold Cason has been wanting to go play outside and last week I saw sunshine and decided to grin and bare the cold chill that I kept getting. It wasn't too bad and Cason sure did have a good time-He goes down the slide on his belly all on his own. He face plants it into the sand every time but still does it over and over again-Cason usually pushes this little toy all over the apartment but I was pretty surprised the other day when I actually saw him lift his leg and sit on it. And then begin to push it with his feet but standing up and walking. I couldn't believe it. He does it all the time now-Who said Utah never has beautiful sunsets?Cason and I enjoyed it-Like I said, he loves it-now if only it were nice enough to ride around outside.Me sporting my new glasses. I had meant to do one with both me and Trav (he got new ones too) by doing a before and after picture but I just haven't gotten around to it. Stay tuned (and hopefully I'll get to it). But what do you think? Some days I love them and other days I'm not quite sure-Cason sporting his new winter hat (sorry about the blur, the kid just doesn't stop moving). So adorable!
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

scrapbook-rama

2010-11-12T17:42:00.002-05:00

This week I've been really focused on getting back into scrapbooking and now that the week is over, I gotta say-I'm pretty happy with all the work I've accomplished. I made five pages! Used 45 pictures. And have just about emptied Cason's box of pictures. I couldn't be happier. Unforutnately I can't work like this every week. Sure feels good on the weeks I do get it done though. I've already posted a couple layouts on some of my other posts but here are others. Enjoy!
This one is about the first time Cason's sucked his thumb (remember this Rebeca? Seems like yesterday, doesn't it?)
Cason lovin' his Daddy-More one month pictures-All of his silly faces-
Cason is officially two months now in his scrapbook! Hallelujah!

Yesterday

2010-11-10T18:10:00.002-05:00

Despite the snow flutter business we had here in Orem yesterday, Cason still wanted to go outside and play. I can tell he's really starting to miss playing outside. He was amazed with this snow. When we first went outisde he just stood there and stared at the snow. Then he looked at me as if to say, 'is this safe?' I went out onto the grass and he immediately followed and then headed to the sand. Where he then stood for another couple minutes checking it out. He was, amazed by it-So even though it was cold and the playground and slide were all wet, we went out and played in it. I can't help but wonder, if he loved this little snow flutter...how much is he going to love it when it really snows? Should be interesting.ps-check out what I made yesterday-this is my quick and easy way of breezing through fifteen pictures. Pretty cute, right?

(Un)Happy Halloween!

2010-11-08T18:21:00.004-05:00

That's right, I'm finally getting around to posting Halloween pictures. My sister helped me try to get a super cute picture of Cason and I finally got back our attempts. Although it didn't go as well as hoped (meaning we didn't get that "cute" shot) it sure is a fun memory.

It started off pretty normal with Cason chasing around every toy and getting fixated on a lawn mower. When I tried to get him to focus on me and sit down the tears started. Our first attempt-It mostly went down hill from there. We tried other toys and then I saw my sister's bucket of andy and that was a pretty big hit. He picked out all of these little boxes and started hoarding them-(notice the tear-filled eyes there)TThen would get happy again and smile. Unforunately he would never stop moving so most of the pictures has something blurry in it. But at least in this one he's smiling, right? So he's totally happy and then...I'm not sure really. Maybe he remembered that we were trying to still get that super cute shot? And freaks out? I'm not really sure. But he went to super happy, to super sad-After a couple more attempts we gave up. Super cute shot? Not really. Fun memory? Definitely. It'll be something fun to laugh out when he's older. Here's us with my sister and her son, Carter the Spider.Here's a poorly-lit full body shot of Cason the Monkey.And lastly, here's the super cute scrapbook page I did today-

Adorable right? It definitely helps to have cute pictures. This was Cason's first smile on camera. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Back in the habit

2010-11-06T13:07:00.004-04:00

Last month I was so busy with Cason's birthday and working on Christmas stocking (pictures to come some day) that I haven't been scrapbooking. His birthday is long gone and this week I finished his Christmas stocking. So as I put Cason down for his nap I looked around and wondered what I could do. Then I looked at all my scrapbooking stuff and went to it. I spent a lot of time reorganizing and figuring out where I was. But I gotta tell you, I had a lot of fun making this page! I was really pleased with how cute it turned out.This past week has been so beautiful in Orem! I'm dreading the snow and being stuck inside all day so we've been spending every waking moment outside playing.Last week we went to Hee Haw Farms in American Fork with Travis' sister and son and had a lot of fun. They had a petting zoo that of course Cason just loved. He has no fear and just animals-We went for a little ride-They had a trick-or-treat hay ride where Cason scored a lot of tootsie rolls. The wrappers didn't seem to bother him at all either-This is a cute shot I got in their mini maze that Cason kept cheating on and getting on top of the hay stacks-Farmer CasonCan you even believe I got this awesome shot! So cute! It works to tickle your children and then put the camera up for a quick shot.
We had a lot of fun and I am definitely praying that the sunshine stays around for as long as possible!

what a goof

2010-11-04T11:41:00.003-04:00

It's so fun to watch Cason learn and grow and develop this cute little personality.

I love cheesers like this one here-And then he'll just look at me and laugh about it. It's so fun. The other week I made a bunch of cupcakes then went to fold laundry in Cason's room. I was surprised when he came in to see what I was doing with half a cupcake in his hand and all over his face. He's become a complete remote hog. And even realizes what it does. If the tv isn't on he'll bring me the remote and then look at the tv, waiting for it to turn on or something. Then when he gets the remote he points it to the screen and starts pushing buttons. So funny.

Stay tuned for not so 'happy' Halloween pictures :)

on the move

2010-10-28T12:18:00.003-04:00

The other night I got Cason in his pj's a bit early and as he was walking and playing around I noticed how adorable he looks in his new pj's. They're a bit more slimming than his others and you can really see his little belly stick out. It reminded me how fast he is growing. Well I tried so hard that night to try to get a picture of his little belly and his new pj's but I had no such luck. All I got was fuzz pictures like these-All because this boy will not slow down! This was the best picture I got and his face is all blurry because he couldn't just stop and stand for a moment, he stopped to shake his head back and forth as he yelled out an 'aaahhhhh'. It was still pretty funny though.Sunday we were actually ready ten minutes early so I tried to get a shot of how adorable he looked in his sunday best. *sight* Once again, all fuzz-This was the best shot I got. No smile but also no fuzz-
I'm definitely getting my exercise every day!

the more you know

2010-10-26T12:00:00.002-04:00

When talking with a friend the other week we mentioned how hush-hush the topic of breast feeding is. Just before you have your baby you decide if you're going to nurse or not and then when talking about it with others all you ever hear are nightmare stories that freak you out and make you want to change your mind. Since I'm a pretty open person I have decided to share my knowledge and my experience on nursing. So for those of you who don't want to hear about it I suggested you stop reading....now.

Keep in mind that everything I say is all from my own exerience. Everyone's experience is different because I think our success at nursing is mostly up to your body, not us. For me though nursing was a very positive experience. Cason had no trouble learning to latch on. The first couple of days it went smooth and there were no problems or pain. Then I woke up one day and my breasts were huge! That's when my milk came and when latching on began to hurt. I used a cream after every time I fed Cason which helped from them drying out, cracking, and bleeding (I did this for a couple of months). So I highly recommend using that. The pain of Cason latching on faded and then nursing was just like any other thing and not a big deal. When he was a new born though he took f o r e v e r to eat! It was a good half hour, mostly because he fell sleep a lot! But as he got older he got faster and could stay awake.

At the beginning I woke up every three hours to feed Cason. But when he started sleeping through the night I was really engorged every morning. So I would pump to help out and would save the milk for a babysitter or his rice cereal (which you usually mix with breast milk). You can freeze breast milk for six months. When you're engorged though, it hurts. Your breasts are huge and hard. I couldn't sleep on my stomach when they were like that because the pressure hurt too much. If I was engorged in the evenings I would pump so it wouldn't be so bad when I woke up in the mornings. Some times my breasts would be different sizes too. It was kinda weird. Some times he would eat really good on one but not on the other so they'd be different. I'm pretty sure I was the only one that could tell, thank heavens.

I would get plugged milk ducts a lot. Where milk would gather in just one spot on my breast and I could feel it and some times even see it poking out. It was like a little hard spot. When this would happen I would put heat on it for a good ten minutes or so and then nurse or pump to help get the milk out from that one area. It usually worked pretty good. Travis reminded me to put heat on it numerous times because that's how you can get an infection and it made him nervous.

When Cason was a newborn I fed him every three hours, on the dot. And can you believe I never needed a clock to tell me when it was a feeding time. Why? Because my nipples would start to tingle. So weird. But my body was on a clock schedule just as much as Cason was and every three hours, my body was ready. Leaking! Oh how I leaked. Mostly just in the beginning though. I used breast pads every day, every day. I could tell when I was leaking, I could just feel it. When he was a newborn I would leak when I heard another baby cry. In church, at the store, etc. It was the weirdest thing. But when you're wearing a breast pad you're covered and don't need to worry. I only leaked for the first couple of months. When my breast pads were dry for the whole day for about a week I think that's when I stopped wearing them and never needed them again. Then I would good when I heard other babies cry. I think it's just like that in the beginning because it's something your body has to get used to.

I was lucky and my milk never dried up. I decided to wean Cason off nursing at twelve months. Do I miss it? Kinda. I mostly miss just holding and snuggling with him but that's pretty much it (it is so much fun feeding them table foods) Now I try to get that fix of snuggle time with reading him books on my lap or something. So now Cason drinks from a sippy cup. I completely skipped the bottle stage. Because he did so good nursing he really never took a bottle very well so I took him straight to the sippy cup and I'm glad I did. If he's old enough to feed himself then he doesn't need to be a bottle. In the beginning I would mix Cason's milk, half whole milk and half breast milk. I did this until he actually started drinking all of his milk. Then I would just lessen the breast milk and add more whole milk until he was fine with just whole milk. This took about a week.

He now does really good with the sippy cup. At first it was a transition, especially the whole milk part. I did it slow, for me just as much for him. By twelve months he was getting four feedings a day. So on day one I cut his lunch feeding and gave him the sippy cup and would just pump. I did that for about three days. Then I cut out the afternoon feeding and would pump in between lunch and afternoon and I did that for about three days. Then I cut out the night feeding and would pump right before bed, did that for about three days. His morning feeding is the one he usually ate the most at so I cut that one last, which was the hardest. But I stuck to my guns and always gave him his sippy cup when he was whinny or fussy. At this point I would just pump whenever I felt engorged, about twice a day. A couple days later there was never any milk coming out so I stopped. Drying up hurt for awhile. I got a lot of plugged milk ducts that I would continue to put heat on every day. Every morning though they got a little better and a little softer.

Cason figured out the sippy. I would always leave his sippy cup with milk out too. He would get his breakfast milk, we'll call it, from when he got up till his morning nap which is about two hours. By then he usually drank it all. I would do that through out the day with his lunch and dinner milk as well. Now he does great. Some times he eats it all and some times he doesn't. Did he lose weight? Oh yeah. Does he look skinny? Oh yeah. But that's all apart of growing up, especially once they start walking.

Like I said earlier, this was my experience and it was very positive. Will I nurse again? Yes. Will it be the same? Probably not. Every time is different and it really all depends on our bodies. I got lucky this time around. Hopefully I get lucky when number two comes around.

Now you know a little bit more about breast feeding.

party-hardy

2010-10-18T14:48:00.004-04:00

Cason's birthday was over a week ago but oh well. I promised awesome cake pictures and I totally have them so I'm bloggin' about it anyway. The party was a lot of fun. Gorgeous and delicious cupcakes :)

It was all about the cake and Cason though. After we sung 'happy birthday' to the little guy I helped him blow out his candle.

Then everyone continued to stand there and watch him eat his cake. Because his little cake was decorated with little dots of frosting it took him awhile to get through the cake. With his thumb and pointer finger he picked up every dot and very carefully put the chunk of frosting in his mouth. He did this with just about every dot on top of the cake and then tried to dig his way through the chocolate frosting. You could tell that he was searching for whatever it was that was underneath. So I couldn't help but help him get to that yellow cake. Once we got there, he was one happy birthday boy.He destroyed his cake! Had it up his arm pits and up his nose. He had chocolate boogers the rest of the night.We cleaned him up best we could and gave him some ice cream, I couldn't believe he had room for it. But it was a big hit as well.Loved it so much he thought he'd try to share. Love my boy!

Big thanks to everyone that was came, gave a gift, and/or helped me with taking pictures. It was a very successful first birthday! On we go to number two!

He's ONE!

2010-10-09T17:33:00.004-04:00

Can you believe all of this happened a year ago? Me niether! I can't believe he's a year old! He's so big and such a wonderful blessing. Travis and I feel truly grateful to have him apart of our family!

This afternoon after picked up the balloons for Cason's party he just couldn't stay away from them. So we gave him one and he was just loving it! He played with it the rest of the afternoon until alas, he had to take a nap. We can't wait to give him cake and ice cream and see him open and play with all his gifts!

More fun birthday pictures to come!Happy Birthday Cason! PS, this is what he would look like if he had a balloon for a head- :)

one more goodbye

2010-10-07T13:25:00.006-04:00

Since we made the big decision about Maestro I've been carrying the camera in my back pocket and taking pictures of Maestro whenever possible. Well now that he's gone and I'm looking at all the pictures, I have to do one more post for him. He is deeply missed and the apartment feels so empty without him. Love and miss you Maestro!
I miss looking down the hallway and seeing you sitting in front of the window checking everything out-I miss playing fetch-Walks are never going to be the same-I miss you bringing your toys to me so we can play me-

I Miss you watching out for us-I miss you following us so closely that when we go down the slide you're just not sure what to do-Playing with Cason...or putting up with Cason I should probably say.

Thank you so much for being such an loyal dog, so fun, energetic, kinda hearted, and the best first dog anyone could ever ask for you!

Miss you bud!

my sad story

2010-10-03T16:49:00.003-04:00

For those of you that don't know about Maestro's history, he has had three surgeries in the past year (which have all been on the same right back leg). Lucky for us I found a really cheap vet which has made these surgeries very affordable. However, with a surgery also comes a recovery and every time I underestimate how trying this would be on Maestro and myself-every time. Maestro seemed like he was very well recovered from his most recent surgery. However last week I noticed he was limping every now and again on his good leg. This had me worried. Then last Thursday he hurt it pretty badly running. He was crying and whining like crazy! I felt like I could barely touch him without making things worse. He later got everything figured out on his own and was walking normal. Not wanting to put off getting him looked at I took him to the vet to learn that he has hip dysplasia. Which means that the bones in his hip can separate at any time. He told me this only happens in about 6% of puppies. Why Maestro has to be in that percentage just kills me but that's where we're at right now. There is no surgery that can help fix this problem. So when he's in pain we can give him medication which he will most likely be needed every day, eventually. He will also develop a limp and then not be able to walk on his leg which will be there for the rest of his life, which is heart breaking. Travis and I got a dog to run and play with our kids. To take him to the park and play fetch, take hiking and camping with us, etc. Maestro can no longer do these things. When taking him for a regular walk the other day I had to correct his leg twice and we had only been out for ten minutes. It breaks my heart but with lots of thinking and tears Travis and I have decided to give Maestro up. I said 'give up' because I feel like I've completely failed with Maestro. I hate that I feel like I can no longer take care of him because he can't play with the kids that we don't even have yet. But this is how it is. The more I have thought about this decision the better I have come to feel about it. We have found Maestro a good family and I feel much better taking him there than putting him down. I will truly miss Maestro. I hate thinking that he is no longer going to be around keeping me company throughout the day and helping me watch over Cason. I am going to miss him so much but like I said, I'm comforted knowing that he's going to a good family that can take care of him.We are taking Maestro to his new home on Tuesday evening so if there is anyone that lives by us that would like to come say goodbye you are more than welcome to. I'm not sure how I'm going to explain this to the kids that live around us and that associate me with him. I know they love him so very much so maybe you parents can let them know before they see me with no Maestro.

Love you Maestro!

for your entertainment

2010-09-30T17:06:00.002-04:00

I decided to post a video today and thought this one showed where Cason's at nicely. He loves to push things. Ever since he started walking with that little walker he thinks he can push anything-chairs, carts, luggage (at the airport), garbage cans, and strollers. He loves to push and walk with things. So here's a video of him walking and pushing his stroller-

And since I need to make up for not posting any pictures of Cason in the last post I did (thank you Annie for pointing it out) here's another video of Cason walking-

dreamin'

2010-09-28T17:33:00.002-04:00

Ever since we lived in Pennsylvania about this time of year I wish I was back there. I don't have pictures of the changing leaves close by but I do have these two pictures that I just l-uh-ve-It makes me miss all the fun vacations that we went on, D.C.-New York, Gettysburg, Valley Forge, and all the small towns in Pennsylvania, so fun.And of course I can't think of Pennsylvania and not think of my job at the day care. This is one of the few pictures that I still have on the computer...good times.
Miss it. Definitely miss it.

procrastinating

2010-09-21T16:27:00.005-04:00

Coming home from vacations are always hard. There's always so much laundry and it's rough getting back into your every routine, not to mention trying to catch up on your sleep. For some reason this vacation took me a couple days to check out all the pictures I took...and then blog about it. It's been over a week but hey, at least I made it. My family and I flew to Gilbert, Arizona to visit my sister and her husband.

This was Cason's first plane ride and he did pretty good considering where we were. Luckily we got a window seat and while the plane took it's sweet time taking off he looked out the window...and licked it.We went swimming at a place kinda like Seven Peaks or Raging Waters, only on a much smaller scale.Every morning Cason would wake up and try to peak around the corner and try to tell us that he was awake. It was so adorable. We went to another place that had mini golf, bumper boats, go karts, and lazer tag.Cason was a fan of the mini golf. We found a couple extra balls in the water and he had fun tossing them-and putting them in the hole and out of the hole-We went out a couple of times. One night in particular we went to Golden Corral and Cason tried cottage cheese and red jello for the first time. Let me tell you, the jello got everywhere! Such a mess. The backs of his legs and arms were stained red. The cottage cheese was a big hit though, as you can see here-

Arizona was hot but still a lot of fun. We plan on visiting Travis' parents there in November for Thanksgiving. By then I'm sure we'll be enjoying the warmth! Stay tuned for pictures and hopefully a video of Cason walking!!

He's walking!...well, almost

2010-09-08T22:53:00.002-04:00

Thanks to an awesome girl in our ward Cason in getting that much closer to walking. Remember the walker deal I mentioned in my last post? Well, here it is in video! He's adorable. The walker is making him so confident and everything he touches he tries to push. In church when he'll stand up against a chair and try to push it. Earlier today when we went to get a shopping cart he went straight to it and started pushing it! It was hilarious. Thanks again for sharing Shara! You rock our world!

We are on our way to Arizona tomorrow morning to visit my sister and her husband for her birthday. We're excited. It'll be Cason's first airplane ride and I gotta say, I'm a little nervous. Good thing Nana and Papa will be there. Everyone have a great weekend!

clever title goes here

2010-09-07T13:17:00.003-04:00

We borrowed a little walker from a girl in our ward and Cason is in love with it! He stands up on all on his own with it and then takes off with it- It's so much fun to watch him walk with it. It's made him very confident. When he's standing he'll often times let go of whatever he's holding on and stand there all by himself. Slowly but surely he's getting there.

Adorable, right?

I'm tellin' you, he plays with it morning, noon, and night. He loves this thing! Thanks again Shara!

This was the last weekend our pool was going to be open so we took advantage and went one last time. We had the whole pool to ourselves, it was marvelous.

Cason loves the water. It's gonna be sad not going whenever we can.

We also went to American Fork canyon and did some hiking. It was great having Travis home for an extra long weekend. Thank you holidays! We'll miss you, come back soon!

new favorites

2010-08-31T13:45:00.004-04:00

Now that Cason is getting older he seems to have graduated from baby toys and baby food and is ready for the next step. I can't believe how big he is getting and how much older he seems. Here's some of the new stuff he's been trying and loving lately:
Mashed potatoes! Loved 'em! Pushing the buttons on the tv. Now you see it-And now you don't-after he turns it off he'll look at me like: "ta-da! Okay, now fix it Mom"Rice, absolutely loved the rice!He loves this mesh little bag cuz it's filled with fruit. It makes a mess but it's the perfect treat to cool down with, not to mention ease some of the pain from his gums.Speaking of which, if you look close you might see his top two teeth pokin' through. The past week or so has been a little rough for him but they've finally cut through and are startin' to peek down, so adorable!He loves trucks! So I finally went to the store and got him this little one and he plays with it all the time. He'll hold it and move his arm back and forth, so cute!Cason will follow you around in the kitchen. If you open the pantry door he'll zoom towards it hoping to get to it before you close it. He also does this with drawers and of course, the fridge- I absolutely love that he's on his tip toes
Who knows what'll be next? I sure a'm excited to find out!

Happy One Month!

2010-08-31T13:09:00.004-04:00

According to Cason's scrapbook, he's only one month old. Good thing that's not how it works. I don't know why it's taken me so long to get to this point...although probably having so many pictures probably had a little something to do with it...but I'm grateful I made it. Here a couple of layouts I've done recently. Enjoy! Let's hope it doesn't take me another ten months to do month two.

Seven Peaks + season passes = a whole lotta fun!

2010-08-25T18:19:00.008-04:00

This summer Cason and I got season passes to Seven Peaks and went at least once a week, it has been a lot of fun. Lucky for me Cason loves the water and never got tired going.

Last week Travis came with us for one last hurrah! We had a lot of fun. And thanks to my awesome husband he watched Cason for me so I could go on all of the "big kid slides". So much fun! Thanks Trav! You totally rock my world!

Cason loves the little kid area. He crawls all over and goes straight for the stairs and the water spraying everywhere. He seems to have n ofear seeing as how the tire swing is his favorite to crawl on-even when there are already kids playing on it.

The Lazy River has also been a favorite. Thanks to whoever invented this flotation device as it has been a huge help to me. I love swimming around in the lazy river while Cason just floats along the side of me. The wave pool is also a favorite. He crawls around until the water gets into his mouth and then he'll sit up and look at me like, 'Mom, I could use a hand here". Then he'll walk out as far as I'll let him. The waves will splash off his little belly and into his face and he'll still continue to walk out. Like I said, no fear. What a fantastic day!Over all I think Cason's favorite is snack time. While I dry off and get everything together Cason snuggles in a towel with a snack, really what could be better, right?Then every single time on our way back to the car I see his head start to bob as he falls asleep. He stays aslee from stroller to car seat to the crib, so sweet. Thank you Seven Peaks. You have been my saving grace this summer!
We hope to see you next summer!

A Maestro Post

2010-08-19T23:27:00.003-04:00

When we first got Maestro the breeder informed us to never cut his fur because it could ruin it because it could grow back differently-and not in a good way. Which is true because the fur on the right leg is different from the rest of his fur because of his past surgeries (and having to shave his leg). So because of this we've never taken him in to get him groomed. Well-no longer! I looked into it because every time I looked him all I saw was long, gross fur! So when I talked to the lady I made sure the groomer knew all about Maestro's breed so it wouldn't get cut too short. They went all out-bath, nails, cut, so wonderful. So here is Mr. Shag before his cut-

And when I picked him up, I was shocked! Look at how good he looks-So clean and so stinkin' adorable! I wish we would have done this at the beginning of the summer when it got hot but oh well, better late than never I guess. I think we'll stick with the shag for the winter to help keep him warm since he loves the snow so much and keep him short for the summer.

And since I just can't do a post without having a picture of Cason-

We had another rainy afternoon and Cason spent some time out on the porch watching the rain fall and listening to the thunder while Maestro hid under the swing...so funny.

Tickets? Check! Suit? Check! Awesome hat? Double Check!

2010-08-16T23:03:00.003-04:00

It's official, Travis and I are celebrating our five year anniversary on the sandy beach of Cancun Mexico! Woot Woot! I am so excited for numerous reasons but one of those is traveling out of the United States, simply because I have never done so. I got my passport a little while ago and was so excited I read all the writing on every little page. I. Can. not. wait! So to celebrate this sweet vacation I went out and bought myself this- I have always wanted a hat like this but figured I wouldn't get one till I was much much older. Well I saw it at the store and couldn't pass it up with this awesome vacation coming up. I was so excited I've been wearing it around the house all weekend (Cason and Maestro stared at me the whole time). The vacation isn't until January but we're both pretty excited!

My adorable boy and the rain

2010-08-10T12:25:00.005-04:00

Last week we were really enjoying all the rain. We wore our comfy pants, turned off the ac, opened the windows, and watched the rain fall. It was so loud that it entertained Cason forever! He sat out on the porch and listened and watched it fall. I couldn't help but wonder what he thought about it-Also last week Cason fell in love with our mirror. He'd crawl straight to our bedroom and stare at himself-And then give himself a kiss-Cason's been trying all sorts of new foods. His favs are cherrios, cheese and all the mixed fruit. He's struggling with the new veggie's but who could blame him-Harvest Veg?? So gross. I still have yet to try yogurt, I honestly just keep forgetting. He's getting tired of the rice cereal so I'm looking forward to getting rid of that but then I'm not quite sure what to feed him for breakfast? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Travis was on call all week and during the weekend and he got a lotta calls. Cason was more than willing to help him out and waited so patiently for him to finish his work-Maestro got surgery again. Turns out they think he tore his acl when he wasn't 100% healed after his knee surgery. He gets his stitches out next week so hopefully by then he'll start working normal again-Until then he's still limping and having no fun-I'm hoping to post healthy pics of Maestro next week. so stay tuned!

back online

2010-08-02T18:25:00.007-04:00

For those of you that noticed my blog was missing for a couple of days. Apparently Blogger does screen things because they noticed some "suspicious" activity on my account and so I had to prove it was me and that it got back up and running. So no worries to all the worry warts out there, we're being protected.

So we've been missing all last week because Travis' family came into town and the whole week was spent with them. So here's what we've been up to-

The best was the 24th. We went up to Doughnut Falls to do a little hiking and then did a little day camp for tin foil dinners and cake-in-an-orange (pictures to come, prepare to drool)-

Trav and Cason all ready to go-I love these chubby legs, they'd just bounce all over the place and get stuck in the bar. I'd fix his leg and it would be right back there the next time I looked, so funny-Cason playing in the water-sorry it's turned all weird. You can see the water on his face from him splashing earlier-All I did was say his name and he looked right at me and smiled. The stage he's at right now is so much fun-He kept resting his chubby cheeks on the bar here and I couldn't help but laugh and snap a pic-so adorable!Our little fam...minus MaestroThis kid-so stinkin' cute! My nephew AtkinOma and Papa keepin' an eye on Cason-Cake-in-an-orange, so delicious! Highlight of the day-

We went to visit Travis' Grandma and got this cute shot of Great Grandkids-Keaton tried to get away, and Easton tried to push Cason off and Cason seemed okay with all of it-playing with goggles-not quite sure who looks more ridiculous :)His teeth are getting a bit bigger-I dunno if you can even see them here. I have a hard time figuring out how to get a clear close up of the little guys. So maybe in a couple of weeks the shot will get more clearer as the teeth get bigger.Cason fell in love with cheese-seemed like he couldn't stuff it in fast enough.
We went to Seven Peaks and this was the only shot I got-Cason taking a nap in my arms-And this pic just cuz it's adorable-

And this poor guy. Maestro had to get surgery again! Apparently while running around and not being 100% healed from his knee surgery he tore a ligament which he needed to get fixed cuz it was causing him to do this-
Any tips you can give us about a dog recovery from surgery would be helpful considering he has so many surgeries and since we're such bad dog owners...[girl sigs here]

Finally-

2010-07-19T16:45:00.003-04:00

Can you believe this kid is finally getting teeth?? If you squint a little bit you can see two little guys peeking up on the bottom there. His top gums are all swolen and it looks painful, as you can see-But it hasn't been all fuss and tears. In fact for months I keep thinking that he's been teething but nothing. The other day I noticed something white and sure enough-there were little teeth. Looks like he's getting all four- front ones, top and bottom, all at the same time.So adorable! Keep posted for more super cute pictures with hopefully less gums and more teeth.This weekend I made this- the two collages on the sides of our family picture-thanks to this awesome idea.
They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

T is for Trouble

2010-07-15T12:24:00.007-04:00

Now that Cason is a bit more mobile I am finding myself not getting quite as much accomplished. I'm having fun keeping up with him. He seems interested in the weirdest things though.

The kitchen chair seems to be a favorite-As well as the diaper bag-And of course the remote-And for some reason the stoppers on the baseboards for doors. Here he is in the bathroom playing with one-Maestro's kennel?? I couldn't believe this one. I snapped some shots and pulled him right out to find him covered in Maestro's fur. A kitchen drawer-Maestro's toys-This is my favorite though, watching him pull himself up,As you can he's not too graceful about it but it gets him to where he wants to go.

And for those of you who are curious Maestro has been through surgery and is recovering quite nicely. We're hoping in a week or two he'll be back to his normal self.

Cason's first Fourth

2010-07-08T20:05:00.005-04:00

Every year my family does the same thing for the Fourth of July and this year was no different, thankfully. I was a little nervous there for a little while because Sugar House wasn't going to do their Fireworks show because they didn't have enough money. Luckily with enough donations they were able to pull it off and we were all able to enjoy it. The evening started off with a super delicious bbq at my parents with lots of other family, we had such a good time with everyone there. Can you believe I made these? Not only were they super cute and patriotic, but they were delish!

Traditional family picture, minus one sister, one brother, and one brother-in-lawLet this be a warning to all of those out there that ever have my camera, if you take pictures of yourself with it, they will end up on my blog :) Love you Danielle'!

Despite the bumpy ride through the park Cason took a nap on the way there. I was so nervous about the fireworks freaking Cason out but he did so good. The first few were a bit of a shock but after that he really enjoyed them. In fact in the middle he got a little bored and started to play with his feet. After that he layed on my belly while we both just stared at the sky, so much fun.

Watching fireworks- good thing we had clean noses, eh?Believe it or not we ended up using the blanket I brought for Cason for Maestro....that's right, Travis isn't snuggling with just the blanket, Maestro is under there. Trav discovered that if Maestro was covered that he didn't shake as much. But Trav still had to keep a good hold on him because even then he tried to get up and run away a couple of times. Waiting for the show to start-

Cason watching the fireworks, so cute-

Hope everyone had a good fourth, I know we did! :)

His first H2O

2010-07-01T15:35:00.004-04:00

While sitting outside one evening Cason kept eyeing Travis' glass of water and Trav decided to give it a shot. At first he just sucked on the rim off the glass-But then he got some water-
And that's when it hit him-
So funny! We all started laughing!

But no matter how different or how cold, he still wanted more-

So cute!

Can you believe this guy needs surgery again!

For some odd reason his knee cap (same leg as his hip surgery) pops out of place which causes him to limp. Lucky for us all he has to do his sit down and pops back in, or if we do it we just have to push his leg up towards his body and you can hear it pop back in. Next Thursday he'll be getting it all taken care of. Thanks to Dr. Coleman in Provo we are still able to afford Maestro. Three cheers for cheap vets!

spreadin' the love

2010-06-27T20:14:00.003-04:00

The other night we were out walkin' around and ran into some friends and so we stopped to chat with them and the mom helped their daughter take a picture of me and Cason. How appropriate considering my last post, eh? Turned out to be a cute picture too. Thanks again Payton! And I just had to post these two pictures because Cason is clapping! I absolutely love watching Cason clap. I don't know what it is but it just melts my heart!

his first haircut

2010-06-27T20:03:00.004-04:00

Can you believe he already needed a haircut? He's just about nine months old and already had hair half way down his hair, neck, and forehead, not to mention the four inches on top of his head. I wanted to do it myself but was too nervous to do it with clippers (I thought the vibration would scare him) and not good enough with scissors so I just took him somewhere.
So here's the before-He was sure to keep his eyes on her hands with the scissors and comb-Which made it tricky for when she tried to do his ears so Trav had to hold his ear and head for her-He wasn't a fan-Look at all of that!By the end he was done with it and this was the best after picture I could get. But notice how there's no hair over his ear, hooray!

playing catch up

2010-06-27T19:16:00.008-04:00

I've got a nice chunk of time on my hands and since I need to post picturs from last weekend I thought I'd take adantage of the quiet. So last weekend we joined Travis' brother and family and sister and family up American Fork Canyon for a weekend of tents and hiking. We had such a good time. Here's a bit of a picture binge-Enjoy!
It wasn't a long drive for us since we're not far from American Fork but it sure was bright. When the sun was beaming in Cason's window for only a couple of minutes and I saw it wasn't going anywhere any time soon I knew I had to figure out something. So I came up with this-brilliant!

Swinging in the hammock

Cason and Daddy, look at that smile...so adorable!We hadn't even gotten to the hike spot yet and these two were already taking a nap! Our little familyCascade Springs, it was beautiful!Attention Pennsylvania-ians-take note: these are mountainsCason and Daddy playingCason taking his naps, which he was pretty good at. He stayed on schedule pretty good too, considering where we were.Eating was the hardest part of the weekendA sign that it's time to put the camera away-

Our very own tent! It's huge so we had lots of space. We're looking forward to filling that all up in the years to come.Can you imagine sleeping in this? Trav and I were so worried about him staying warm enough so we got him this. He was frustrated with it because it made it hard for him to roll over and curl up but he definitely stayed warm enough.Cason in a beanie, so adorable-Thanks to my parents we used this back carrier deal. It's a good 30 years old and it worked out great! Thanks Mom and Dad! Cason fell asleep and his head was all over the place because he really didn't have anywhere to put it-Luckily Travis' sister married a smart man because he came up with this for him, much more comfortable. Thanks again Kevin!Us by the waterfall, notice Cason's eyes peeking over.Cason and the waterfallCason was always turned some which way, generally the left, making it harder on Travis' back

So that was us camping, so much fun!

Mom-in-the-picture love

2010-06-24T13:11:00.007-04:00

As I was blog stalking this morning I went from one blog to another blog to another blog and I eventually came across this and loved it so much that it had me inspired to open up my very first scrapbook made by my dear Mom (before scrapbooking even became what it is today) to find some pics of me and my mom. Now before I post these pictures let me just say I realize that taking a picture of a picture does not give you a great picture. However since Cason's asleep and the scanner is currently in his room, this was the most convient option for me. So please endure with me through the fuzz, and well...not so great pictures. So just as Mandy has made a goal to take a picture of her and each of her children each month, I am going to make the same goal. Which I am already pretty good at, thanks to taking lots of pictures. Lucky for me messing around with your camera all the time can give you some fun shots.

One thing that I am going to start doing though that I don't already do is to help spread the mom-in-the-picture love and just like Mandy said, every time I see a Mom pull out her camera I'm gonna offer to take her picture with her kids. Three cheers for Moms!

And so the terror begins-

2010-06-22T20:03:00.004-04:00

I guess crawling leads to things like this-

and thisBut when you're this cute it really doesn't matter-

So cute!! This is Cason clapping, so adorable!

thank you continuouos shot

2010-06-15T00:05:00.004-04:00

I can never go anywhere or do anything without taking less than 50 pictures, it's generally a lot more. But this is all thanks to the continuous shot mode I have on my camera, it's always on. For some reason I've gotten in the habit of always taking a couple of shots of everything. It's hard to choose which picture to keep and which to throw away when I get them all loaded up onto the computer but it's totally worth it because I always get awesome shots that I wouldn't have otherwise gotten. Like so-
Cason eating Cherrio's for the first time-Attempting to drink from a sippy-Sitting in his new car seat (he's such a chunk he had outgrown his other one)-And I just had to add this one because his cheeks are just too cute!Eating a Cheeto for the first time-Learning to crawl!Of course the only thing that would get him moving was Maestro's disgusting bone-And so the terror begins! Cason reorganizing our movies for us-Cason clapping all on his own for the very first time-
So he even though I always end up with more pictures than I know what to do with, at least I'm getting some priceless ones. Thank you continuous shot mode!

what a dish, what a doll

2010-06-09T19:45:00.005-04:00

Can you believe my little guy is 8 months and needs a new car seat? He is over the limit for his little 22 lb. car seat, how crazy. I feel like I need an extra set of arms carrying Cason around because he is so heavy! I don't last too long anymore, he gets passed to Travis a lot. Anyway, to celebrate the big 8 months I thought I'd post some of Cason's most recent "firsts". Enjoy!

His first Ritz-We met up with Travis' family at a park, Cason's first time- and Cason loved it! He got lots of practice walking around-He loved these little holes, he kept putting his fingers in them and then looking up at me as if to say, 'uh-oh'. So cute.First slide ride with Daddy, there was a bit of whip lash involved for both parties :)First swinging-On our way to the car after the park he zonked out on my shoulder, I wanted to carry him home like that the whole way! So fun holding him.

First french fry-He LOVED it (boy after my own heart)!We went to a carnival in Eagle Mountian and he got to ride his first amusement park ride, The Carousel-This isn't the first time he's fallen asleep in Travis' arms but look how cute he is-and check out that belly pokin' out! So adorable.At 8 months Cason-

-still rolls around like crazy

-gets in the crawling position but then once he tries to moves he falls onto his belly

-is sitting on up on his own- It's a bit of a process but he gets there and some how knows he's doing something amazing. When he finally sits up he has a huge smile and a look in his eye that says: "ta-da!"

-babbles like he's really talkingto someone

-loves walks and

-all of Maestro's toys

Most recently this is his favorite thing to do in the car:

StartLifts up his arms and grabs the top of this and pulls it down-Sticks out his cute little face as if to say, 'peek-a-boo',Finish-so stinkin' adorable!

I am completely in love with him!

A Maestro Post

2010-06-01T15:58:00.008-04:00

A couple weeks marked a year that we've had Maestro. When I look back at all the accidents, training, and his surgery, it definitely feels like a year. This was him last year. You have to check it out, especially the videos, they'll give you a good laugh. So that was him then and this is him now. A lot has changed other than his size. His nose is just about all black, his legs are long and far too skinny for his body, his hair is about four inches long in some places, but he's still his quarky self. He no longer fits under the couch or chair and he has long since stopped trying. Although every now and again we'll catch him taking a nap with just his head under it, he misses it. Anyway check it out-

I can't believe he was this little once-so cute!

Snuggling with Dad thenSnuggling with Dad nowHanging out on the couch then-Hanging out on the couch now-Playing with the blinds then-Playing with the blinds now-Playing with me then-and now-So big and so much fun! Love you Maestro-

last week

2010-05-25T13:23:00.006-04:00

We are loving this warm weather (not including yesterday of course). Last week was finally starting to feel like summer. We have been doing at least two walks a day, if not three, thanks to this little guy- (I truly hate when blogger does this to my pictures, sorry)
Because of all these adventurous walks this has become a favorite sight for me-
And this-

And this-

Cason has fallen in love with the grass

And is not afraid of it in the least-

This weekend we went to hang out with our friends that are living in Coalsville for the summer. I think we all had a good really good time-

Cason learned all about the piano...or at least that when he hit the keys they made noise.

He loved it.

We hit some golf balls, right on their front lawn!Maestro was loving the little hikes all over the mountain with his good friend, Charlee (who he's missed)We went did some four wheelingAnd a lot of relaxing

Thanks guys for having us over! We had so much fun!

surprise!

2010-05-18T16:40:00.005-04:00

This weekend my Mom had a birthday and we surprised her with a visit from our sister, Nicole. Who is currently living in Arizona. A couple weeks ago my older sister asked my Mom what she wanted for her birthday and Mom said she wished Nicole could be here with us. Next thing we know Nicole got work off and we were planning this surprise for my Mom. Friday afternoon my older sister took my Mom to lunch and we were secretly all waiting in the back. When they came in, we came up, and surprise! Well, you can just see the surprise on my Mom's face! So funny. Talk about the perfect gift.

So all weekend we got to celebrate. So much fun. Cason finally got to try out the porch swing-

He loved it! Although I'm not sure if it was the swinging or the blue and white ropes he liked best.

Cason and Brandon got to spend some quality time together.

Brandon was teasing Cason with his tongue, Cason kept trying to grab it but wasn't quite fast enough.We all had so much fun together.Happy Birthday Mom!

And Nicole and Shawn, we miss you already!