Ethan Eating

I think we should enter Ethan in an eating contest...seriously does he even chew it???

Meet Demetri

The newest member of our family is fluffy, fiesty, and...um...fluffy. A couple of months ago my sister, Shelley, asked if we could "adopt" their pet cat since they were moving and couldn't have the cat in their new home. It took a lot of manipulation on my part ("C'mon Kade, the boys would really love a cat"; "We'll do all the work"; "You won't even notice him around") to get Kade to agree to the cat and three weeks ago we brought our new pet home. He is gorgeous, the prettiest cat I've ever seen and so far he has been lots of fun. Kellin chases him around the house constantly but it's Ethan who has actually managed to get a hold of him a couple of times and once Ethan has a grip, he doesn't let go. He's come away with a few handfuls of cat hair!! Kellin loves to hold him & pet him but when Demetri is sitting in this one spot on our couch he doesn't like to be touched. It's really weird. If anyone tries to touch him while he's up there, he attacks!! Kinda freaky. At night Demetri likes to sleep in our bed, which is fine as long as he stays at the foot of the bed. Sometimes he likes to crawl all the way up to the top of the bed and lick our heads while we sleep. Again, kinda weird. Anyways, just thought I post a picture or two of our feline friend.

Jack Johnson Concert

for Kade's birthday this year I got him tickets to the Jack Johnson concert - we had a great time! Kade has been a big fan of his for a while and I have really come to like his music a lot as well. He did a great job, one of the few concerts I have been to where I can say that he sounded just as good in concert as on his CD's, if not better. We had a lot of fun with our friends who also had tickets, Tyler, Angela, Keith & Nate. Love you guys!

Ethan Turns One!

Ethan getting ready to dive into his birthday cake - I think the cousins had a harder time keeping their hands out of the cake than he did!

Sweet baby Ethan giving daddy a taste of the cake - he always loves to share his food and anything he has in his hand! So cute!

We celebrated his birthday in Springville with Kade's family. We had a really nice time visiting and Kellin & Ethan had SO much fun with their Aunts & Uncles, Cousins and especially their Grandma & Pops!! Here he is opening a present with them.

I just wanted to write a few little things about Ethan since I use this blog as a family album/journal/scrapbook. I have loved watching his personality develop over the past year, he his such a sweet baby, always greeting us with a huge smile and full of love. Recently, he has started hugging me back when I hug him, he will snuggle into me and pat my back as I pat his. I call it "lovey" and I swear it is one of my favorite moments of everyday. He is also an incredibly curious and adventurous little man. He is all over the house, up the stairs, under the bed, in the closet, cabinets, fridge, etc. He also loves to be around people, in fact, he cries, no, he screams, as soon as he realizes he has been left alone in a room. But, if there is someone with him, he will play happily for hours. At his most recent doctor's appointment, he was in the 90th percentile for height & weight, as he has been pretty much since he was born. He is very tall! He is just learning to walk, taking a few fast steps before he falls down. Kade has been working with him on walking & gets so excited when he takes a few steps, it is so fun to watch. I remember that I really wanted a girl when I got pregnant the second time, and although I still really want a girl, I can see that Ethan is exactly what our family needed and he has brought so much joy into our home already. I just love him to pieces!

First Day of Preschool

Kellin started his second year of preschool this month and was so excited. He is going to preschool at the new community/rec center here in Saint George. Our good friend Amy is the preschool coordinator and has put together a great cirriculum for them. He gets to do a variety of learning centers with music movement, learning rhythm and singing, jiu-jitsu, gymnastics, swimming and PE. His good friends Kaden & Kaley & Aiden are in the preschool with him so he has a blast every day. I also started "working" in the preschool with him just for and hour or so on Monday, Wednesday & Friday. In exchange, he gets free preschool & Ethan gets free day care at the community centers' day care. It has been fun to try something new with working in the preschool and I can't believe how challenging it can be to get 21 4-year-olds to sit still and walk in a line! But, I am having a great time with it and really working on learning more preschool songs to sing with the kids. I'm also looking for good books to read with the kids at the end of the day before dismissal, so if any of you have favorite books that you'd like to recommend, I love to hear about them! One last note on Kellin starting preschool - I can't believe that at this time next year he will be going to kindergarten - it is really freaking me out!!

Breaking Dawn

I just finished reading the last book in the Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn, and I am so sad. So sad it is over. So mad, so mad I read it way, way, way too fast. So happy, so happy everything I wanted to happen, happened. Now I have three long months of waiting, waiting for the Twilight movie to come out (which comes out on my birthday!!) for my next "fix". I just have to say that if anyone reading this blog has even the slightest interest in reading, I recommend this series, it is so much fun to read and so fun to become completely lost in this magical, thrilling world. I know I sound like a complete nerd, and I guess, somewhere inside of me, a huge nerd lives who LOVES, LOVES, LOVES to read and really wishes vampires were real, at least vampires like Edward & Bella.
PS - I can hear Kade laughing already as he reads this blog! Laugh away, honey, laugh away!! Haha!

Family Condo Trip

This past week we took a trip with my family to our San Clemente, CA condo because it was one of a few chances to see my sister Emily & her daughter Noelle who live in Alabama. She was visiting for a friends wedding so we met her in San Clemente. It was a great opportunity for most of the family to get together and let the cousins play together. Kade wasn't able to come due to work, and we REALLY wished he was there. We had a great time going to the beach, talking, watching movies and letting the kids play. I am so happy that our family has this great condo to be able to create so many lasting memories - it provides such an awesome opportunity for us all to meet up and re-connect, especially with all of us spread out between California, Nevada, Utah & Alabama.

Kellin at the beach in San Clemente, CA. He loves to play on the shore & sand but didn't really like going out any further - Grandpa took him out there but Kellin wouldn't let Grandpa put him down. Although I can't really say that I blame him, the first day at the beach it was Red Flag which means stong undercurrents and rip tides as well as BIG waves!

Mommy & Ethan keeping out of the sun - Ethan loved the swings at the beach and getting his feet wet in the water. He did have to spend most of his time in his stroller though because otherwise he would eat mouthfulls of sand. He was well taken care of though, everyone LOVED Ethan and kept playing with him and making him laugh all day long.

Grandpa pushing Kellin & cousin Aubrey on the swings at the San Clemente park. Kellin was being "camera shy" so I could only get a shot of the top of his head.

Ethan had fun playing at the park as well, that is until he concked out in the swing!

Kellin loved playing with all of his cousins, especially his cousin Whitney - she shares his sense of "mischevious" adventure and they love to instigate fun together.