a time of firsts.

After weeks of walking while holding on with one hand and crawling on his hands and feet (not knees) Alex FINALLY took his first steps. We thought the day would never come. Up until now he has been too afraid to move when we let go. So he would stand frozen and slowly lower himself to the floor. We knew he could do it if he would just give it a try and he finally did. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures. After the first few steps he decided that nose diving was the new cool thing to do.

With the season of family pictures coming up we decided it was time for Alex to have his first real haircut. Yes, that's right, we cut off the mullet.

Doesn't he look terrified in this picture? He just sat there with this horrified expression on his face the whole time. The only time he moved was when the hairstylist touched his ears and then he would have a little freak out.



Here are a few pictures from the trim he got from his Auntie Mychael-Ann over the summer and a few more just for fun.

the completed quiet book.

Although I actually finished Alex's book in time for his birthday (two months ago), I thought it was about time I put some pictures up. There are a lot of great quiet books circulating the blog world. This is a bit of a conglomeration of a few of my favorites and some of my own ideas.
If you haven't already, check out http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/ . I used some of her ideas but not her templates. I wanted to tweak a few things here and there to make it just right.

The outer cover is 12" x 12" and the pages are 11" x 11.5".





I love this page because it's made out of the same fabric that I used for Alex's actual window treatments.






The bear came from an old pacifier clip!











This is Ben's favorite page, of course.





This may be my favorite page. I used an old scrap of silk from a previous project for the water and it gives a great water effect. Most of the fish came from a template from The Purl Bee (http://purlbee.squarespace.com/felt-aquarium-magnets/). However the shark and boat (along with the pizza, window, and bear pages) are from my own templates.



I was a little worried that after all was said and done, Alex wouldn't be too interested. BUT he actually really loves it- especially the fish page. I'm so happy to have it done!!

My New Life

Have you heard of Stephanie Nielsen? She is an LDS blogger that was in a plane crash a few years ago and survived. Her story is pretty remarkable and the clip is so worth watching.

09.09.09

Our ONE year old in his ultra messy room.

I wish everyone could know Alex and all of the funny little things he does.
He's such a well behaved baby.
He quietly plays with his toys or reads to himself. He takes two long naps a day and sometimes sleeps in (until 8:30 this morning!) He eats pretty much anything we give him and has the greatest sense of humor I've ever seen in a baby his age.

We think he's a pretty great one year old.

This kid is funny. And I mean funny.

He loves having his picture taken and poses for the camera if the flash goes off.
He pushes us away when we try to snuggle or hug him.
He screams when we kiss him.
He has a particularly low giggle when he thinks he is doing something naughty.
He thinks its funny when we say no (even though we never laugh).
He loves (LOVES) Mickey Mouse. Seriously. LOVES Mickey Mouse.
He loves books and reads to himself all the time.
He chases Loki around the house (but hates kisses from him too).

He keeps us busy, entertained and laughing all day.

Niagara Falls.

Things have been crazy the last few weeks but just to catch everyone up...we graduated, packed up our little home in small town Rexburg and moved across country to big city Niagara Falls/Buffalo. Now we're almost done unpacking and getting settled. We are living on Grand Island which is just about 4 miles south of Niagara Falls in the Niagara River. So far, it's been a great little community and our ward has been especially wonderful. The bishop even let us shower at his house for 4 days until our electricity and hot water were turned on.
During our move we had help from Ben's friend, Mike, and my nephew, Jeremy. They were awesome! We couldn't have done it without them and Jeremy is just the GREATEST babysitter of all time. As a small thank you we took them out to eat and to see the falls. And I must say, the falls totally lived up to my expectations.

be kind. rewind.

With all of the crazy stuff going on lately we have sadly neglected to blog. So to catch everyone up on the last month or so we...

threw Ben a 25th birthday party. Spiderman themed, of course.





In preparation for the party, Alex and I did a little art project. We present Alex's first paintings!




Alex decided the paintbrush looked like a yummy snack just as I was taking the picture.



And he was sooo sad I wouldn't let him ingest liquid plastic.


I also got to take a little trip to San Francisco and saw so many great things. Unfortunately, Ben and Alex had to stay in chilly Rexburg while I walked around sunny California.




I spent a lot of time in Chinatown and ate the BEST Chinese food I've ever had.


My cousin Marisa lives in San Francisco and I was so lucky to get to spend the evening with her!


The whole point of going to San Francisco was to see art, and here's a little sample of what I got to see.







The next post will probably be from Buffalo, NY written by a college graduate!