Another Baby!

In case you missed it on Facebook, we are having another baby!!!!!!  And....

We are beyond excited!  Bring on the PINK!!!!

I will be posting a lot more about this pregnancy later, but for now I'm going to soak it all in and start daydreaming about bows, tutus, and frills!

Oh, and I'm due January 18th.  :-)

ONE!

It happened - my little boy turned ONE!  I can't believe it!  I blinked and before I knew it Matthew went from this-

to this!

I have so much fun with him every single day.  He keeps me on my toes and doesn't go 5 minutes without making me laugh.

He has been walking for almost 2 months, but has yet to speak.  He prefers growling, blowing, jabbering, and smacking his lips.  We try so hard to get him to talk but it just doesn't seem to interest him.  Maybe one of these days...  ;-)

He is ACTIVE and busy.  I feel bad because he loves to run free at the park, but it is usually much too hot for that.  He still loves swimming and all forms of water.  He also loves wrestling.  He tries to wrestle me but usually has me pinned in about 2 seconds.  (seriously)  His dad is definitely a better wrestling partner.  He also loves being chased (and caught) and reading books.

I have hopes of him becoming a dentist.  He is fascinated by mouths and teeth.  He also adores getting his teeth brushed every night.  And I'm sure he'll spend plenty of time at the dentist's office in his life - his teeth are so crooked!  

His hair is kept short - practically a buzz - because he has Chia Pet hair.  It grows out and at odd angles and is pretty crazy when it gets longer.  It's pretty hilarious.  Good thing he looks so cute with super short hair!

He is strong and loves to pick things up and throw them.  He is also learning to catch.

Matthew is smart, independent, always down for a snack, charming, playful, and so, so sweet.  He has been such a blessing and we are so glad that he's a part of our family.

As thankful as I am to get to see all the fun little moments and milestones in Matthew's life, I found myself sort of dreading his first birthday these last couple weeks.  Ahh!  My baby was turning one!  However, I resolved to try my best to be nothing but happy and excited on his birthday.  And it turned out to be such a blast for all of us.

We started out the day playing with balloons, and then Michael went to work and I took Matthew to the park.  As soon as it got too hot, we headed home, read books, and shared a cupcake.  And check out the cupcakes I made for his birthday.  Matthew loves Elmo.  (Thanks Pinterest!)

After his nap we hung out and ate lunch and then Michael came home from work early so that we could all go swimming!

After Matthew's afternoon nap, Grandma Kathy and her husband Don came over (they drove all the way from Vegas for the birthday fun!) for his birthday party!  We started it off by opening presents.... (he didn't fully understand how to open them, but boy did he love what was inside!)

....and then we headed out to eat pizza for dinner!  We went to Peter Piper Pizza, which is definitely a family favorite.  They have an arcade area, and Matthew is now old enough to even play some of the games!  He particularly enjoyed skee ball, although he may need just a bit longer to learn how to roll the ball instead of throw it.  ;-)

And then it was finally time for the cake!  Even though Matthew loves food, (especially sugar!) I wasn't really prepared for how he'd react to his cake.  Holy cow - WHAT A MESS!  :-)  He seriously loved it and had us laughing the entire time.  He wasted NO time in jamming his hands into it, exploring the texture, and then finally eating it.  We actually gave him a SHOWER instead of a bath after he was done. 

That last picture was taken after I'd already cleaned him up quite a bit.  :-) 

Right after this next picture was taken, Matthew managed to give us both facefulls of cake before we could move out of the way.  He's just so good at sharing.  ;-)

 Anyway, it was a great day.  Happy Birthday bud!  Can't wait for all the adventures of your second year of life.  :-)

A Really Great First Date

Once upon a time when I was an 18-year old freshman at BYU, I was asked out on a date by a total stranger. While this would make me reluctant in most situations, I had heard a lot about this boy in the last 24 hours (he had come to my dorm room looking for me and had chatted with my roommates), he was friends with some of my friends, and hey, he was cute!  He wasn't in town long at all, and after some scheduling issues that almost resulted in a date not working out at all, we finally agreed to out for lunch the next day.

I was pretty quickly fascinated by him.  He was such a charmer, but not in the typical roll-your-eyes-and-gag type of way.  He was so incredibly REAL, open, honest, and unique.  It was refreshing.  Sometimes, dating at BYU can feel like you're going on the same date over and over again with different people.  This guy made me laugh so much that I was afraid soda would come out of my nose.  Sure, he was eating like a runway model and I felt like a pig because I wasn't holding back on that food, (you don't mess around with Brick Oven pizza) but there wasn't much I disliked about him.  (Oh, he claims he couldn't eat because of nerves, but I tease him about that because we'd already been on our date for an hour and there was no way he was still that nervous).  And I remember feeling bad because I was sure that a guy this entertaining was bored to death by me and that he was just pretending to have so much fun because he knew how to be a good date.

This guy pretty much won me over when he told me a very condensed version of his life story.  He definitely hadn't always had the easiest life, yet he had joined the Church just a couple years back, overcome a lot of tough things in his life, and was about to leave for London to serve a full-time mission.  I was bummed when our date was over.

As soon as I walked into my dorm after he dropped me off, my roommates began the usual grilling... "How was it???.....  etc"  I remember just smiling and saying, "He's seriously awesome.  But he goes to UNLV, is driving back to Vegas tonight, and is leaving for his mission next week.  I'm never going to see him again."

Now I laugh about how very wrong I was.  Not only did I see him again once he came home from his mission, this boy became a Cougar, decided to put a ring on it, and we lived happily ever after.  

 

 

 This picture was taken 2 years ago today.  What a great day.  ;-)

Oh, and his 10-year anniversary of joining the Church is coming up this November.  In many ways, this is an even bigger deal to me than our wedding anniversary.  After all, if he hadn't joined the Church, there would be no 2 year wedding anniversary today.  Sooooo Michael, Happy 2 years to us, and Happy 10 years to you this November.  ;-)

More Summer Fun

This summer just keeps getting better and better!  Last week Cory, Karen, Natalie, and Leah came to Phoenix!  Yay!!  Having them around was a blast - it felt like a party half the time.  Matthew literally cried when they left.  I don't blame him.  I hate when family leaves.

Some of our fun activities included....

The Aquarium... I love all aquariums  (so does Matthew)

Games/hanging out

Go Kart Racing!  (Michael made it his life goal to beat Cory, haha)

... and swimming

Turns out that I can love summertime, even in Phoenix.  Happy August!