Beach Reunion!

Every other year Nathan’s Grandma rents a beach house on the Oregon coast. Because of school and work, the last time that we were able to go was back when we were engaged. We were so glad that we were finally able to go and to stay the whole time! We had tons of fun… we love spending so much time with family. I must warn you… there will be lots of pictures! We took the kids down to the beach right when we arrived. Conner LOVED the water and had no problem with it being FREEZING cold. Waves would wash over our feet and then Conner would chase the waves back to the ocean happily screaming all the way. The waves were pretty big so we would have to run and grab him before he was swept out to sea.

We checked into the beach house. We were excited about our cute room,

the beautiful view from the deck,

and that it had a hot tub…Yay! Here are Conner and Dad having a good time…

There was a big outlet mall close by so most of the girls spent some time (lots of time…) shopping! I was in need of some new clothes and got some cute stuff… and Oregon doesn’t have sales tax! We also took the kids to the Aquarium and it was fun to see their reactions. Conner would run from tank to tank yelling “fishies, fishies!”

Conner with Nana...

Conner and Josh watching the fish swim below their feet...

A big fish staring at Conner...

Conner checking out a shark...

We packed a picnic and drove to a park that had some really fun toys and a shallow lake. Here is Conner’s big cousin Josh pushing him on the swings…


And taking him to play on the toys… I love it how sweet he is to him even though Conner is so much younger.

Playing in the lake.

We had lots of fun playing Catch Phrase, having Guitar Hero battles, staying up late watching movies, and one night we had a fire down on the beach and roasted some mallows for smores… the kids pretty much stayed up wayyy past their bedtime every night.

I really wish that Conner was looking at the camera in this picture because the sky is so pretty!

We played on the beach a few more times. Conner also loved playing in the sand… and so did Nathan… they built a sand castle with a moat.

Here is Nathan flying his dollar store “Ironman” kite that he “bought for Conner…”

On the last day Conner and Lucy got really sick with a fever and the chills. Conner threw up and we were worried about the long drive the next day but Conner woke up feeling completely better Yay!

The only thing that we did not enjoy was the 12 hour drive to and from Oregon… but we still agree that it was definitely worth the trip! We are excited that we are having a "beach reunion" again next year... we really hope that we will be able to make it!

I'm still not sure who dressed Conner up in the tutu... but look how proud he is to be wearin it!

Island Park Vacation

We went to Island Park with my family last week and got back on Sunday. We are sad that it is already over because we had so much fun! We headed up to our cabin on Thursday and stopped at Bear World on the way. Conner LOVED it because they had a petting zoo and rides for little kids.

Every time a ride would get over he would sign “more.” Here he is riding a rollercoaster with Grandpa.
The first thing that Conner did in the petting zoo was chase the turkey’s.

When we got up to the cabin we decided to do a little huckleberry picking. My Dad and two little sisters ventured up the hill a ways and I stayed with my Mom and other little sister. After about 20 minutes we heard my Dad yelling “Get back to the cabin NOW! BEAR! RUN!” I don’t think I have ever run that fast in all my life! Haha! My Dad and sisters saw a bear about 20 yards away and said that it looked like it was headed right for us! I’m just glad that they were above us and were able to warn us about him coming. I think that we all had reoccurring “bear attack” nightmares that night!

Anyways… since we survived we were able to go up to Yellowstone on Friday to the IMAX theatre and to the Grizzly Discovery Center where we saw even MORE bears.

And then on Saturday we rented a Jet Ski and a tube. We had TONS of fun! Even Conner loved it…

but he loved playing in the water even more…

That night we went to Yellowstone for some delicious ice cream and to watch a show at the Playmill Theatre. Of course we had to get some of their famous mint fudge... mmmm.

Have I ever mentioned that I love my family…haha they are the best! We had so much fun and are now looking forward to the Oregon coast beach reunion with Nathan’s family. (I have to say that we think that they are pretty great too!) :) We are SO excited to see everyone!

Pictures!

Nathan's sister Whitney just started her own photography business and needed to build her portfolio...so when we were down visiting the beginning of July we posed for her camera! I just got the disc with all of the pics and am excited that they turned out so good! Here are a sample of my favorites.

If you live in the Rexburg area and need a great photographer check out her website... whitneykathleen.com. Thanks Whit! :)

New Camera!

Our camera (that we bought waaayy back when Nathan and I got married...) finally died on us on the 4th of July. We finally got a new one so I now have pictures to blog about! To play catch up...here are a few pictures from the 4th. We spent it in Idaho Falls and had lots of fun! We went to the parade that morning, had a BBQ, lit off a few "child friendly" fireworks, got some tatoos, ate a cookie monster, went to the river to watch the firework show, ate at denny's, and then passed out in bed!

Conner kissin on his cousin.... haha these two LOVE each other!

We recently bought ourselves bikes and a little bike trailer to pull Conner in. We have been riding them quite a bit and they have been alot of fun. We made lunches and rode to a nearby park to eat. Here we are on our adventure:

Last week Nathan went to training in Boise for a few days so my Mom and three sisters came up to keep me company. We made homeade pizzas and some chocolaty delicious dessert, stayed up late watching t.v, and drove up to Boise for a night to go shopping and swimming at our hotel.

Conner and Kynzee being their very cute selves....

Me and my sisters being our "not so cute" selves... :)

I love my family...we always have so much fun together!

Update

Last weekend we were able to go up to Idaho Falls for a visit. We had lots of fun hanging out with family and friends. One night we went out to eat at Famous Dave's and they had this pig mascot walking around...

My niece Kynzee is fearless and walked right up to it but Conner didn't want to get too close...

Conner spent the rest of the weekend getting lots and lots of kisses from his cousin, whether or not he wanted them...She is the most loving little girl...her mom said that in the morning she has to kiss all of the stuffed animals that are in her crib before she'll get out of bed. :)

Besides our trip...

We have grass!

If you look really close... but it will be about a month before we can walk on it...sigh. So we have been going to the park alot lately because Conner LOVES being outside.

We have been busy working on all sorts of home projects. Nathan built these lovely shelves in our garage for our storage. (oh how I love being married to a handy man!) :)

We want to restain our table, chairs, bookshelf, and bed sooo I have been sanding our furniture like crazy! I will post pics when we are finally finished with the massive project. I have also been working on Conner's room. I am all done except for hanging the valance...pics to come... AND I am working on a headboard project. I found this awesome metal piece when we were in Spokane and thought that it would be cool above our bed.

So far I have gotten off all of the rust and primed it...once again I will put pictures up as soon as I'm done and it's up on the wall... I just hope it looks as good as it does in my head! :)

Lately Conner has been OBSESSED with watching his "Baby Signing Time" dvd. He walks around the house singing the theme song and keeps pointing to the dvd player saying "On, On, On." Here he is vegging in front of the t.v. He would watch it over and over again if I would let him.

I guess that it is at least teaching him something ... He is starting to pick up on some of the signs. His favorite is "Please." He rubs his tummy and says "Peeese." It is sooo cute! It is hard not to give him everything that he asks for because he is being to polite! oh and because he is really cute... :)

Memorial Weekend

We spent our memorial weekend in Washington. Nathan's wonderful Grandma Gilbert passed away and her funeral was on Saturday. Although it all was very sad it was great to see so much family and we managed to have some fun too. On Monday we spent the day playing in Spokane with Nathan's brother and his wife. My sister-in-law Lena's parents were so nice to take our kids for the entire day! We did ALOT of shopping and spent WAY too much money! Since the boys let us shop so much we let them go go kart racing. We finished up our day eating a P.F Changs...my absolute favorite! Conner had some fun too...Here he is enjoying a bath with his cousins. I thought he would be scared with other kids in the tub but nope he loved it!

His cousins also had a blow up bouncy house that Conner liked jumping around and screaming in. If he was a little older I think he would be begging for one too!

On the drive home Conner did great! He slept 5 of the 7 hours so we were pretty grateful! We spent so much time in the car last weekend that I taught him how to sign "more" when he wants another snack...maybe I should teach him a new trick on every long car ride instead of putting on a movie for him like usual...haha!

Conner at 15 Months

Conner is getting so big and is such a fun little boy…here are some of the things that he is doing right now. It is going to be an EXTREMELY long list so feel free to just skim! I just wanted to write it all down here because I am horrible at writing in my journal. And it will be fun to remember the little things later. :)

• He loves music and likes to sing (yes sing) and dance to it.
• He is such a little climber. He likes to turn over the laundry basket, climb on top of it, and scream.
• He makes “vroom vroom” noises as he plays with his toy trucks.
• He loves going outside. We still have dirt for a yard and he likes to walk around on our concrete pad but refuses to step out into the dirt.
• He loves slides. He dives down headfirst whether or not someone is there to catch him.
• He has 12 teeth. (4 of them molars.)
• He discovered that his finger fits nicely into his nostril and will walk around with his finger up his nose.
• He loves his blankie and carries it everywhere.
• If I ask him “where is my nose” or “eye” he can point to them.
• He understands a lot of what we are saying. If I tell him “bring me your shoes” or “ball” or “blankie” he will bring them to me.
• He thinks that if he finds his shoes and brings them to me that he automatically gets to go outside.
• He loves to take baths. I can’t say the word “bath” unless I plan on giving him one within the next 5 seconds.
• His favorite word is “on”. He knows all of the things in the house that turn on and thinks that they ALL need to be on.
• He is such a little chatterbox. Mostly talking nonsense mingled with a few real words.
• Whenever he spills something he will go get a dish towel, wipe up the spill with it, and then throw it away.
• He loves us to read books to him. He will point to something on the page and want us to tell him about it.
• For some reason he really likes boys that are a few years older than him. At church a little kid walked past us laughing. Conner got really excited, started laughing too, ran after him, and grabbed onto him trying to give him a hug. The little kid said “Mom! Why is he holding onto me!” haha
• When he hears lots of people laughing on TV he will throw his head back and laughs too.
• He is very ticklish and laughs hysterically whenever tickled.
• Whenever he hears the back door open he yells “dada” and runs to the door.
• Every time the cat meows he says “hi” and waves at her.
• His eyes are still very blue and we hope that they stay that way.
• His toes have not straightened out even though he has been walking on them for a while.
• He loves to give hugs and kisses...which we love too!

Sorry if you lost interest partway through…I won’t be offended haha! We are very entertained by Conner and just love him so much! But how could you not love this face?