king kong

Nixon at 14 months is now master of the stairs. I would say it happened at 13 months, because it has easily been 3 weeks since this photo was taken.

So we put up this bench at the top of the steps to block the stairs, because our 2 posts are not lined up, so the baby get did not work very well. The bench did the job just fine until mid July when Nixy would try so hard to get over the bench to follow whomever down the stairs. Finally one day he got over. And then several more times that day. Brian and I watched him climb down the steps one time that day (still dumbfounded that he could get over- alive) I think he was retrieving his toy that he had thrown down the stairs, any ways we watched make his way down the steps and then over to the front door- where I kid you not, he pulled the handle and popped the door open. We laughed and went to go get him. It was the first time he had opened the door, and I was hoping it was a fluke. But of course it wasn't. The 2 easiest doors to open are the garage door and the front door, and Nixon seems to know this. Now I have to keep the doors locked, which is not so easy with the girls in and out all day.

Needless to say the bench is no longer our stair blocker, it quickly turned into being more dangerous then helpful.

first day of school

little roxy aint so little anymore, she has finally started kindergarten. it has been a long time coming... she has been ready for this for about 2 years. roxy has always been exceptionally bright and confident. so school is going to be cake for her.

she did say, and i quote "this is a dream come true!" this was said the day before school, when she realized it was only 1 more day away. i don't want to completely mislead you, roxy has had several "dreams come true" but she was and still is very excited for this.
enjoy these photos...

posing by the climbing rock

sitting with riley and elise while waiting for the bus.

about to board bus, with no reservations whatsoever. cute little kid who has no pants...

me trying to sneak on the bus- i am like a flipping papparazzi

we returned to the porch and riley was noticeably quiet. as we were climbing the steps, with slumped shoulders she said, "well, i guess its just us now."

Yep that's my boy...

provo river 1/2 marathon

the first week we moved back to EM i ran into my old running buddy and we scheduled to start running together again. we did this through all of may, usually running 3-4 miles a night. around the first of june we did a practice run for our neighborhood 5K, the gals we went with were fast.... and so we heard tales of a half marathon from them. needless to say, i thought "i could do that."

valerie and i immediately started training for the provo river 1/2 marathon. 10 weeks later, the furthest we had ran was 11 miles, and we were averaging 20-25 miles a week in training. we had a pretty good pace, not fast by any means, but not slow. we were both feeling very confident in the 13.1 miles that awaited us.

the race was nearly fun, it started out with us meeting at the riverbottoms in provo at 5AM. it was dark and cold, and crazy crowded. finally we were able to load a bus, and we were bussed up to vivian park, and then all the way up south fork (according to maui) where we then dumped off in this big open field with hundreds and hundreds of people. another hour or so of waiting in the colding morning mountain air, the race finally started a little after 7. we ended up in the back of the crowd, with about 3/4 of the runners in front of us. this was all good, i think it felt less intense knowing there were not hords of people passing us, because they were already in the front.


i am so happy i had valerie to run with, otherwise i would have probably given up and did some walking. with her motivation we were able to run the whole way!

2 hours 26 minutes later, we finished our run, and we ended up back at the movie theater parking lot, were it all started. it did feel really good to finish it, and like a big accomplishment. however i did not experience a "runners high" or anything of the such. all i could think was that we were finally done, and we could cut back on the running- no more sore knees, aching feet, etc... i am not itching to do another race- that is for sure.

car seat cover

before

awhile ago my friend allison posted some photos of her toddler car seat that she had re-covered. she did an awesome job! and it is just like me to think "i could do that" i finally did it. fortunately a car seat is something you use all the time, so i actually had to finish this project. amazing.

the car seat cover looks decent from far away, that is all i am gonna say. riley appreciated it, she referred to her car seat as a boy car seat, so almost anything would have been an improvment.

after

overnight camping in AF canyon

a couple weeks ago we loaded up the car and drove 20 minutes to the af canyon. we had loads of fun, well everyone except for me... i was busy worrying about running into a cougar, bear, or anything on four legs. i spent most of the night listening for noises by the river. somehow we survived the night, and here i am to tell the tale.

mid week camping is the way to go. thanks am-ex for laying off my husband, otherwise we would not be able to take these wonderful mid week excursions....

on our way home we decided to do the timp cave. we had a 90 minute wait, so we ate lunch, and used the bathrooms (running water is a treat even after 1 mear night of camping).

so i did not know what to expect with the cave, all i had heard was that it was a steep hike. i did not link steep to paved... so i was pleasently suprised to see a paved trail. it was kind of tiring, especially caring a 1 year old in the baby bjorn. maui ended up carrying riley (3) about half of the way. it is only a mile and a half up, but it took about an hour and a half to get to the top. then the tour was about 30 minutes, and then going down the trail was much quicker.
the cave itself was interesting, beautilful, magical, a little boring for a non nature apreciator like myself... what can i say -nature equals animals.


here are the kids around the camp fire pit, the fire has hypnotized them.
my eagle scout made us a wonderful fire. notice the raging river right behind our tent. our children are not wonderers , so camping next to the river did not seem like a bad idea. until the bears came down to catch some fish, right next to the tent. this is what i had imagined going on the whole night. so i did not actually see a bear in this river, but i do have a very vivid imagination.

Nixon at age 1

nixy boy is now 1, and life for him is looking sweet.

him at the zoo, 2 days before his b-day. that is a large stick pretzel that he is working on

he is: walking, babbling, grabbing toys, practically saying "mine", laughing all the time, going up stairs - but no guarantee on getting back down, turning down cheerios in the hopes of something better, and all around a fun little kid!



he loves his big sisters and is always trying to keep up with them and their many friends who constantly fill this house. luckily all the little friends and of course his sisters like him too.

his favorite food is watermelon or strawberries. following behind those would be cheetos
( i know i am a really good mom). he just recently became acquainted with apple juice, and he definitely digs it.

he is not way into tv, but when we put on yo gabba gabba he will tune in. he really likes the awesome music the show plays, and will naturally go into a squat like dance movement while listening to the good tunes.


you might think, what a cute kid, but wait til you see his baby photo, he has come a long way...

i am kidding, he was a little goofy looking as a newborn, but hey i am not gonna write that down anywhere....





FLASH BACK

nixon was born 8 pounds 8 ounces and 20.5 inches tall. he was 1 week early, with next to no problems, all in all a short and quick birthing experience- not to get too gruesome.

the big sisters

mommy and baby

i had to throw this picture in, its not really a good photo, but this sums up our time at the hospital.
brian and i have really enjoyed orem comm. hospital, for the births of our babies. we pretty much have a good time, goofing off, and taking funny photos, and chillin out.

when i am pain, i tend to get giddy instead of grouchy. having a baby is almost like one of the rare nights out that we get-
A DATE?.... dare i say.
this is getting weird. nevermind.