A Little Bit of This & A Little Bit of That

(Warning...for my own sake this post has a A LOT of writing!)

August? REALLY? ugh. Just the sight of the word A U G U S T makes me cringe! Does anyone else get a yucky feeling as you walk into Hobby Lobby and see the scarecrows, pumpkins, and fall leaves on the shelves? Seeing that I can honestly say that it feels me with sadness, anger, and shockingly a bit of anxiousness for what lies a head in our lives. Summer was awfully fun! We traveled near and far and did so many exciting things! It was SUPER fun because it was my baby's first "real" summer where we could actually PLAY with him. Even though school seriously STINKS, I love where we are right now and I love the family we are creating and the fun times we have with each other and most importantly the memories that we are always making! Summer has not come to a wrap YET, so we are going to make sure that we really enjoy the time that we have left!

*Spicing Things Up*
Most of you know that it takes a lot of CHA CHING $$$ to decorate a home. Therefore, it has been a LONG process decorating our house and we still have a long ways to go. I just tend to do little by little...here are some things I have done this past week.


I changed out our old pics with some new!

 It took Conner, my mom, and myself to tackle our little monster to get this done. It isn't PERFECT but it is a lot better than I thought it would end up looking.

Isn't this the cutest?! N*I*X*O*N starring none other than the man himself!

For those of you who know my mom you know she is one crafty lady! My sister has followed right in her footsteps as well, leaving me FAR in the dust. I can honestly say that I have never successfully made a craft or anything worth showing for. ESPECIALLY hanging up in my house! Well, there is always room for a first! And here is mine...

*Visit to the Promise Land*

My mom came to Logan for a good four day visit. I always LOVE when she comes and so does Conner and Nixon! My sister also made the journey to come stay a night with us. I didn't get any pictures from our first day with the whole clan. We spent a good amount of time on the river walk trail while the kids all rode their bikes. EVEN Nixon! He was in heaven. He only had two accidents. One, he did a willy a bit too far and when straight back and whacked his head on the road :(. Two, he decided it would be fun to ride his bike down the hill on the side of the trail. It took us all a minute to realize that he really was going down the hill, so we didn't really make it too him until he was at the bottom. Oops. Good news though, he wasn't even hurt and he probably enjoyed the ride so much that he had butterflies! He is just lucky he chose the best side to go down. If it would have been the other side he would have went right into the river. If he would have went a few feet ahead or behind he would have it a lot of trees! 

Conner had a work party which was a dinner and an evening at the pool. It was kind of bad timing with my mom and sister here.Oh but that didn't stop us from going! Conner and myself and the whole gang made an appearance. If you are thinking, "oh no I hope there was enough food for everyone since there were 5 unexpected guests!" No need to fear, we made sure to be there right when the party started so if anyone went without food it would not be us!! ;) KIDDING!!! It was a great night and we had A LOT of fun at the pool! Kaydee even had to play life guard and jump in after Tanner Pants after he went down the slide. For some odd reason the dumb lifeguard standing 2 feet away from him failed to notice a small boy bobbing in and and out of the water unable to swim. I was watching from a FAR distance while yelling and cussing at the life guard. My mom was standing right by Kaydee saying, "Kick your legs Tanner." haha Come on Mom! Luckily Kaydee is the only smart one who actually jumped in! The award goes to you sister! As for the rest of them...Luke learned to swim farther and better on his own and Nixon tried swimming like the fish he thinks he is being freezing cold with blue lips sure didn't stop him.

The next day (Friday) we packed up the car and headed to BEAR LAKE. We had a great time lounging on the beach while the kids played in the sand and water. Nixon did really well and enjoyed himself very much. It took him awhile to warm up to the water, but once he did he was golden! He has a thing about having dirty hands which was a BIG problem at Bear Lake. Every time he touched the ground he'd suddenly had hands with sand stuck to every pore! He didn't like that to say the least, so we were always washing his hands off! What a crazy kid! He didn't like sand on his hands, but he sure didn't mind sand in his mouth. Don't ask, I don't have an answer!
The kids had such a great time that second after hitting the road to head back to L town they were all ZONKED. Thanks familia for such a fun day! And sorry babies for the red RED bodies! 

*Nixon*
I have been wanting to watch Nixon's birth video, and yesterday I finally did. It brought back a lot of memories!! One of the biggest things that bothered me is how young and dumb I looked! Those nurses were probably scared to death of the fact that I would soon be responsible for a sweet precious baby! I think I had a big smile on my face the ENTIRE time. It was such a happy moment! I am so thankful my sister was able to be the cameramanWOMAN  for us. I thought that by watching the video of Nixon as a little TINY newborn it would make me REALLY baby hungry! It actually did the opposite. It made me sad how fast the time has gone. It made me sad that I don't have a memory of each day spent with my baby. It made me sad that I think I have taken 16 months of his life for granted! I wish that I can press a slow button so I can truly enjoy each moment and take it all in. Today I just kept looking at him and trying to remember him as the newborn that was on my TV screen. It is hard! That makes my heart break. If I have learned anything I have learned how incredibly fast time really does fly by. Everyone says it, everyone knows it. But I think it took that very moment for me to really realize it. I really want to do better at documenting Nixon's life so when I look back it won't break my heart that I don't have a clear memory. I know I will be able to read and see pictures that will help me and everyone else remember the good times we have had with our growing boy!

There are a few things that Nixon has loved doing lately. Playing outside, playing outside, oh and playing outside! If we are upstairs and I ask if he wants to play outside, he will go straight for the stairs and right to the door. He whines quite a bit while standing at the door because he wants to go out and play. It is hard for me to open the garage door without him trying to squeeze by me and escape. Rather he is at the park, on a walk, pushing his train, or riding his bike, that boy is in HEAVEN as long as he is outside! 

He has also come to be quite the little Mr. Independent Boy! He thinks he can 100% feed himself. Luckily, he hasn't tried to feed himself oatmeal in the morning which I pray will not happen for a good long while. But everything else, he demands a fork and he goes to town. Since he does pretty well at it I actually don't mind it because surprisingly enough it is a lot LESS messy! 

Yesterday Conner was outside playing with Nixon. He came in to ask me to get him two of my "head-band things". I did, but I was confused as of WHY he needed two of my "head-band things". I gave them to him only to find his brilliant plan...

It is so fun seeing the new things he learns and picks up on each and everyday. He is ALWAYS making us laugh...well 90% of the time. The other 10% of the time he is driving us crazy because he is a whiner! Either way, we love that kid SO much and we can't be thankful enough to Heavenly Father for allowing us to have such a precious baby be put in our arms to be with us for eternity! What an honor and true blessing it is!!