Over-crowding at the Zoo...

These first pictures are mostly for Aunt Tami. Caden has a very special bond with his Aunt Tami, maybe because she's the one who's providing him with cousins, or maybe because she's his toy supplier. Either way every time she'd leave this summer he'd start bawling, hysterically bawling. He doesn't even bawl when I leave...

So I don't know if, because of Tami's absence, he has replaced her with her toys or what, but he loves them lately. And it cracks me up. He has me set up the zoo gate and then fills it full of the ALL the animals. When he plays with the zoo train he insists that the lion and the alligator can share a box car. Clearly, animal relationships are beyond him. And these are just some more pictures of my baby turning into a little boy. It's crazy to me how they just fall into their gender roles. He's started making car noises, throwing things HARD, and climbing everything. Though, the other day he did find one of my old pink purses and put it around his arm...don't tell his dad.

Utah Adventures

Since it is our last year here in Utah, our desire to make the most of it continue.
Adventure 1: Sundance.We went up to Sundance for the Moonlight Lift Ride with Kyle and Les. About 4 minutes in I looked at Bryan and said, "I think I'm very afraid of heights." Then Kyle yells up to us, "Are you guys going to put the safety bar down?" Awh yes, my fears were cured. The rest of the ride was awesome. Sundance was beautiful. The mountains were amazing all lit up by the moon. I LOVED it! So glad we got to experience that.Thank you Les, for this picture--it is one of my all time favorites EVER! :) The only picture of the 4 of us. Pretty, huh?!? The best part...after we took it I realized I'd been smiling the entire time. I'm a smart one. :)

Walking around Sundance.

Love these guys; love Bryan's awesome photography. Thank you for the fun, fun night Colvins!

Adventure 2: Bridal Veil Falls

We took Caden up to Bridal Veil Falls. We'd heard from a bunch of friends that their children loved splashing in the little creek. Caden was dying to get out of the stroller into the water. Then he realized it was mountain water, and jumped out as fast as he got in. Unfortunately for him, when he decided he wasn't ready to leave he took off running to get away from us, tripped and landed face first in the freezing water. Boy, that was a fun walk back to the car. I've never gotten so many stares in my life--"You can't even take care of this kid; why are you pregnant again?!?"I am really going to miss this place...

Adventure 3: Gardner Village
I'm pretty sure this is one of my favorite places in the world. The inspiration you can get here is incredible. Plus, it just screams Fall to me. I LOVE it.Caden on the Santa Sleigh. This boy was into everything. No surprise there. I tried to go to the fabric shop. Ha. I think Caden handed me every spool of thread in the place.

Any Utahans have suggestions of fun things we must do?!? Let us know!!!

I Love Fall.

Caden Overload.

Like I mentioned earlier I'm taking a photography class from my talented friend, Miss Colvin. Previously I've been more of the auto shooter and then adjust with photoshop, but I decided it was time to put in the effort and learn how to shoot in manual. This morning I made my first valiant effort and here are the results: 90 million pictures of none other than my baby boy. This is a typical view for me: Caden peering over my belly, begging to be picked up.
These next few are at our complex's park. Megan graciously helped hold Caden's attention while I desperately tried to get the settings right. I am amazed at the difference manual mode makes. But also amazed at how HARD it is to chase after a one year old in manual! Slowly, it's all starting to make sense. {Don't judge me too harshly.}
Yes, this is blurry but I loved his little pose.

Such a Caden look.
We ended the morning with puddle splashing.

We are making progress...

Doctor is probably not in his future though.

"Push the Button"

How could you ever be mad at this mischievous face?!?

Caden & I took a trip to the grocery store with Megan. Turned out to be more excitement than I signed up for. As we are loading the car with groceries Megan put Caden in his car seat, and gave him the keys to hold since they are currently his favorite item. Unfortunately, once his door shut he decided it would be fun to push the button and lock all the doors, leaving Megan and I starring in on him in 94 degree heat. Megan looks up at me, "Uh, we have a problem." I immediately go into panic mode. I can't think straight when I get like this. I don't know who to call! I just want my kid out of this car...now! I run around to his side of the car and start tapping on the window.

"Push the button buddy."

Lock.

"No, push the other button. You can do it."

Lock.

"Push the blue button Caden."

Alarm.

"Okay, turn that off buddy."

Turns it off.

"Push the other button."

Lock.

You get the idea. And the whole time he's giving me this smile like, I'm doing exactly what you are asking me to mommy. Meanwhile, Megan is calling her insurance for a tow company, then the police (yeah...should have been my first thought, but like I said, I was panicking.) And after Caden had set off the alarm 4 times we'd gathered quite the crowd. One man was nice enough to inform me that he'd stick around with his bat since last summer 4 kids died after being in the car for 15 minutes.

I wasn't really worried until I see his cheeks turning bright red, and he starts saying HOT, over and over.

Well, eventually the cop drives into the parking lot. And yes, I'm waving my hands like the crazy mother I am to get his attention. I felt like an idiot, but within minutes my baby was safe again in the air conditioned car sipping on High C from McDonald's.

Of course, Mr. Independent has to hold the cup by himself. He dumps it down his shirt and goes from saying HOT to Coooooowd {cold}.

Besides pushing buttons we have also been to Swiss Days in Midway, UT. We figured we need to go to as many Utah things as we can since this will be our last year here. Caden and I have had lots of quality nights together since the 3rd year of law school has proven to be busy, very busy. I took a few pictures of us just hanging out in our PJs.

In other news, we had another ultrasound. Baby is still a BOY! He's healthy and that's our greatest blessing this week.

Dedicated to Paul; I hope this stops the obscene texts for a few days. :)

Shimmy, Shake.

What can I say...the little man loves to dance. He does it all day long. And I love that Lesley was able to catch that moment for me. When we all got back at the end of summer we met up with the Colvin's in SLC to play some lawn darts and visit the wonderful Hallmark family. Caden and Ella were thrilled to see eachother. This little boy just keeps me going all day long. I'm amazed at everything he is able to get into during the day: every pot and pan is on the floor, my bronzer is on his fingers, his stuffed animals are in Bryan's backpack, my jewlery is in my sock drawer, his snack trap is behind the chair, my keys are hidden is his toy bin....and on and on. I NEVER leave this boy in a room alone and still he manages to accomplish this while I unload the dishwasher, or finally get around to doing my make-up at 2 p.m. And now he's started talking non-stop. And he wants each word acknowledged. I have no idea where baby #2 is going to fit into my day, but I'm excited to see. In the mean time we'll just keep shimmy shaking through our days.