I won't walk but I can...

Halle is so stubborn. She refuses to walk. She has taken a few steps (only when bribed with Cherry 7-UP) and she can stand alone. Instead, she insists on crawling everywhere. For some reason she loves crawling on cement. It is painful just watching her, but she is happy! The other day I was blown away when she decided that she could go up our slide in the backyard. She literally bear crawls up the slide and it is a pretty good sized slide. I have it on film but for some reason I can't get that file to load. I will try again later as she is so happy when she makes it to the top.

She also took a tumble yesterday and got her first black eye. She did a full back flip off of our front porch (which is about two feet high) and landed face first on a rock. She only cried for a minute but it looks pretty ugly. I wish my camera was better so it could do the eye some justice!

On another note, Ryan is getting so big.  His birthday isn't until the end of October so we gave him his present this last week. We wanted him to enjoy it while the weather was good. He was so dang excited.

He is giving me his tough face here

 We also had a fun week cheering for our Utes. Ryan wore his jersey three times (don't worry it was washed each time) because he knew that the Utes were playing BYU aka B-Y-Pooh. Halle even wore her dress to church on Sunday after the big win! You gotta teach them when their young :)

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And last of all, Ryan went to the Dentist for the first time.He did awesome and even got a Lightning McQueen toothbrush to take home. He only cried for a minute while they cleaned his teeth but opened wide when the Dr. came in to "count his teeth." Good Job Ryan!

A Glimpse of Heaven....Really

I love the innocence of children! I hope you all enjoy this story from my little guy the other day.

The other day I was driving and Ryan started talking about Heaven. He was saying how he loves Heaven because Jesus is there and because he played with horses and doggies up there. 

So I started asking him if he remembered certain people. I asked if he remembered Grandpa Bud (Matt's grandpa) or Grandma Lu he said no to both. Then he cuts in and says, "I remember Grandpa Gray." I was so shocked to hear this because I have never talked about Grandpa Gray to Ryan. I don't really remember him that well. Before I could say anything Ryan said, "I remember playing in Grandpa Gray's garden and playing baseball with him." I almost crashed the car because those are really the only memories that I have of my Grandpa. I remember Adam and Bret playing baseball with him and I remember their huge garden in their backyard.

So I kind of was weirded out and called my Grandma Dodo to tell her because Grandpa Gray is her dad. She then emailed me this picture of Grandpa Gray

I decided to show Ryan the picture. I just said, "Ryan do you know who this guy is?" He didn't hesitate at all and quickly said, "It's Grandpa Gray!" He was so excited to see the picture. I hadn't told him anything about it and I hadn't mentioned grandpa in a day or so. Matt had never even seen a picture of him. He totally knew who he was though!

I needed to write this down because I really think that Ryan remembers Heaven. The way he explained my grandpa was almost as if it was through my eye's as a child. Almost like he was with me as a spirit. The veil is so thin for young children that I think he must remember parts of Heaven and for some reason Grandpa Gray is someone who stood out to him.  This is such an amazing thing to see first hand.

Photo Shoot at 12 months

Matt's sister offered to take Halle's 12 month pictures for us and I love the way they turned out. 

For some reason a few of these are blurry on blogger, sorry. 

Thanks Natalie!

Birthday Girl!

I know this is a few days late, but our little girl turned one this past week. I honestly have a hard time believing that she is actually a year old.  The year has flown by and it almost makes me a little sad that she already had her birthday. 

We went to the doctor yesterday and here are her stats:
Weight: 21 pounds 14 ounces (63%)
Height: 32.25 inches (100%)
Head Circ. 18.7 inches (96%)
She is super tall for her age and looks super skinny but really, she is about average for her weight.

Halle is so much fun for us, there are a few things I need to remember about her at this age:

She has just started standing up on her own. No help from the furniture, just stands right up. She looks like a Sumo wrestler when she does it. No steps yet but she is getting closer.

Halle loves to eat. She will eat almost anything. She even devoured raw broccoli the other day.

She is our sleeping queen. She sleeps for 11-12 hours a night and still takes two 2-hour naps during the day!

The morning of  her birthday. This is the smile I got when I said, "Happy Birthday Halle!"

She gives big slobbery kisses and loves to wake her brother up in the morning with them.

Halle recently learned to blow kisses when she says good-bye to someone.

She talks like crazy and says, "Mama," "Dada," "Doggie," "Orsie (Horsey)," "Momomo (more)," "ball," and she has also said, "gampa," and  "gamma"  

She is one tough little girl. Between her nasty bout with eczema, four ear infections, some form of weird bronchitis/pneumonia and her constant battles with her older brother, she has been through a lot. For some reason she gets hit by her brother at least once a day.

She can tell you what a doggie says or what the dinosaur says. Both of these are the cutest growls I have ever heard.

 We are waiting on her stats but she is pretty tall and skinny. She wears mostly 18 month clothes because of her height. 

She still has eight teeth and her hair is super thin and slowly getting longer. It isn't quite long enough for pigtails yet and she hates flowers/bows so she rocks a blonde boy-ish mullet most of the time.

We love our little Halle-bally (as Ryan calls her)

I always anticipate the birthday party for the few weeks before and this year I spent tons of time making invites, shopping for the perfect gifts, sewing her little outfit, and figuring out her cake. My grandparents came into town from Boise and Drew and Chelsea came up from Cedar City. It was really a great day until thirty minutes before the party and BAM....a rain storm! If you ask Matt, I about had a meltdown at this point because the party had been planned for a park. Really? Rain on an outside party! Really!?! After improvising and making a few calls we changed it to my mom and dad's house and then guess what, it stopped raining and was a beautiful evening. Figures.

Matt's siblings, mom, and grandma all came in addition to my parents, my grandparents, and Drew and Chelsea. It was a big group but turned out to be a lot of fun. Halle wasn't sure about all the attention and had a blank stare most of the night but today she loves her new toys! She did show a huge burst of excitement when we brought out her piece of the cake. She literally screamed at me until I gave her the cake. She was so mad that I was trying to wait for a lighter for the candle. Needless to say, she loved the cake!

Crawling in her birthday outfit (I made the skirt, shirt, and bow)

The only picture of her smiling all night

Her #1 pull-apart cupcake-cake! I loved it. It was so easy and so cute! Notice the blank stare

Her scream when she saw me holding her cake! She meant business!

Stuffing her face!

More stuffing....

Trying to walk behind her new shopping cart filled with pretend food

We are so grateful for all of our family who gave her such fun things. She got tons of really cute clothes (including of U of U dress), an adorable hat, and a talking purse. Matt and I gave her a really cute Cabbage Patch Doll and a shopping cart with some play food. She has been in heaven today! Thanks everyone!

Oh the things he says...

As we have told some friends and family about some of the funny and cute things Ryan says, we have been asked to put some of them on the blog. 

Here it goes:

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for teaching him these things.

"Blacky (the name of his toy horse), you crap face!" Courtesy of Sandlot

"Mom, I'm so tired of the car!"

"Okay mom, I won't ever call you a fart smeller again, ever!" Courtesy of Sandlot

In church one day he yelled, "Mom, put my sister down!"

"Stop it you SPACE TOY....ahhhh!" 

This one is said with tons of attitude as if Space Toy is some terrible insult. He also tends to roll his eyes while saying this.

Last night at dinner he looked at his sippy cup and proceeded to yell, "And I don't get any ice?!?"

Me: "Ryan stop whining."

R: "No!"

Me: "I didn't think big boys were whiners" (I thought reverse psychology would work)

R:  In a completely whiny voice, "Well, right now I'm not a big boy so I can!"

 
When he does something he is proud of or excited about he says, "Ha Ha, Oh ya"

Like yesterday I gave him peaches with his lunch and he looked at Halle and said, "I got peaches. Ha Ha, Oh ya!"

"I'm gonna stomp you!" (This one took him out of nursery one week)

"Mommy/Daddy, I love you most."

While we were on our way to Idaho last week we had this conversation:

Me: "If you need to use the bathroom be sure to tell us okay?"

Ryan: "Okay because I can't go pee in my carseat, huh?"

Me: "No that would be yucky. Please tell us and we will stop."

Ryan: "But I can wooo in my carseat, huh?" Before I could answer he made this funny face and said while laughing hysterically, "I just wooed (sp)!" 

Thanks for teaching him this one Grandpa Birdie!

"Get away you goofy dogs!"

 Yesterday he ran up to one of his cousins that he was meeting for the first time, got right in his face, and said in a demanding tone, "Do you play ball? Do you?"

"I'll be rigggght back, Okay?" He says this when he is trying to go do something he knows he shouldn't.

Me: "Ryan what are you doing?"

Ryan: "Umm, I'm just doing nothing" (Usually when he is getting into trouble)

We love our little Ryan but he is definitely a ball of fire! If you have met him I am sure you have laughed out loud at some of the things he says. He really has a funny personality! 

I added these recent pictures so you can all have a glimpse at his funny personality!

Love you Ryan! 

Happy "almost" Birthday Halle!

No it isn't quite Halle's birthday yet but today she is 11 months old!  

It is amazing how fast a baby changes. She is so much fun to be around and literally changes every day.

Some fun things about Halle are:

She is starting to really talk. She mimics our voices all the time and seems to know exactly what she is talking about.

She is one tough  little girl. She is in the middle of her 3rd ear infection since Memorial Day and the only way I know it is she won't suck on her binky. Her pain tolerance in incredible. The last two infections have been really bad and she is just a happy little girl.

Halle loves all of Ryan's toys and makes the cutest little car sound I have ever heard.

She is on the brink of walking. She will stand up to things and let go for a few seconds. She also walks around furniture.

She mastered going up the stairs this past week and that terrifies me!

She LOVES whole milk (shhhh....I know she isn't supposed to have it for 30 more days but really whats the difference in 365 days and 335 days) and is a pro with the sippy cup.

She adores her big brother (except when he hits her) and loves to play with him!

We love our little girl and I am so excited to see how much she changed in the next month!

SPLASH!

Until this last week, our summer has been filled with summer school, basketball camps, basketball tournaments, girls camp, baby-sitters, and ear infections. It has been absolute torture to have such beautiful weather (finally!) and have to be cooped up inside. I am very grateful for the chance that I had to teach summer school, but let's face it, summer school is NOT fun!

Finally June is over and I can actually enjoy the rest of my summer. July is wide open and although it is only July 8, I am already in heaven! I'm pretty sure that Ryan was absolutely scarred by the three weeks of straight babysitters. Every morning he asks, "Mommy, are you staying home with me today?" It breaks my heart!

The past few days we have hit up an awesome pool by our house, been camping, watched fireworks, gone on a LONG bikeride, and played at the splash pad! Ahh....finally, SUMMER! I'm amazed at how much Halle loves the water and camping. She is like an angel baby (when she doesn't have a HORRIBLE ear infection).

Here are a few fun pictures from the last few days:

"Mom, I kicked like Spider Man!"

I think her hat successfully shades her face;)

I can see...

Lovin' some pasta!

The aftermath of a delicious dinner:)

BIG smiles

Looking for the ducks...

Still looking...

Me and my little girl during our quick "break" on our bike ride

Attempt at a group picture but Ryan is still looking....