Utah

How great of a Mom am I that I only have pictures of Rodney while we were playing at a park. Not one picture with Grandma, Grandpa, Great-Grandma, Jeff or Stephaney... nothing. It almost makes me want to cry. We won't get to see them for another 6 months and by then Rodney will almost be two. TWO!?! What?! ugh. Well here are some pictures anyway.

Rodney was sitting very well on a concrete barrier around the park. And then we realized he was trying to be just like somebody...

His Dad who was just sitting up a little ways. Mom thought of taking the picture from this angle. And I am so glad she did, because really, how cute is that!?

This is the only picture that I have from our trip to Utah for the family reunion...again, I'm a LAME-O! But at least it's a good one. We took him to the pool for the first time and he had a ball! We went to a pool that was huge and he would have stayed there so much longer if we would have had time. His favorite was jumping off the edge of the pool to Mark or I. He also loved to wander deeper into the pool until the water was all they way up to his chin. EEK! He sure was brave for his first time in any kind of water outside of a bathtub or shallow pool in the backyard. We had a blast.

For our trip for the family reunion we had a quick trip because we were close to the end of the semester and couldn't miss very much. We got there a day early which is when we went swimming and the next day we went up to the Heber Valley Camp which was very fun. We got to spend quality time with Sean and Anna, Brad and Angela, Justin and Sarah, Amy and gary, and Jeff and Stephaney. We had so much fun doing not much of anything but enjoying each others company and I wouldn't have changed it for anything! We did do the paddle boats and a ropes course that included a zip line which I braved for the second time. That thing is tall...

The second time we were just in Utah we spent 8 days of our break between semesters. I brought my Jean quilt that I cut squares out when I was pregnant for Rodney (yes that was almost 2 years ago...don't laugh!) But it's completed and another smaller one for Rodney is mostly finished but we didn't have time to finish both. We got to go through a session at the SLC temple. AMAZING! So beautiful and I am loving the tradition with Jeff and Stephaney we have started. Every time we go to Utah like this we go to a different temple for a session. We decided that next time we will go to the Draper temple. Quite exciting! We got to eat a few meals of the delicious Wallaby's grub. Went to a few parks. Mom, Dad, Mark and I went on a double date to Sundance to use some tickets they were given to a dinner and a play. It was a pretty good play. Mark and Dad would have much rather been fishing which they did all but 3 nights that we were there, but they were good sports about doing what us women wanted for a night. Jeff and Steph were nice enough to watch Rodney so we could go. But really the quilt took up quite a bit of our spare time. Mark loves it. Makes all the time spent on it worth it. And it is nice to finish a project that took so long to finally finish.

Camping!

Mark and I have been talking about camping for ever since we have been dating...and we finally got to go! With company no less! One of Rodney's very best friends is Liam. They are about 5 months apart in age and get along as well as you could expect 1 year olds to get along.


Rodney was making too much noise while Mark and my friend Amber were resting so we went for a walk and I took a picture to mark his age of 19 months.

Liam thought it was great fun to sit in this backpack whether it was on somebody's back or not. Which meant there was one less toddler to chase! Wahoo!! Especially for his prego mommy! Kudos to her by the way for camping and sleeping sans air mattress the first night...

This is Justin and Amber our great friends that are cooking up some breakfast for us. Donuts I believe!

This was us all hanging out at camp. I don't remember which day. We were up there for two nights. Although I don't know if you would call them nights or not because we didn't sleep very much. Well, maybe I should clarify that Rodney didn't sleep very much which meant that we couldn't sleep very much... He decided that wake up time was 4:00 am both mornings. The first day we were up there we took turns watching kids so we could all rest up as much as possible to catch up for lost time.

All in all it was great fun and we found an even better place to camp that will be FREE!! next time we go up there. We went up to dowdy lake and found our camping place next door at westlake. I think I would rather take up our own water to this new place we found than to worry about our toddler keeping the whole camp up with his very capable lung strength! So we are excited to go up again. Especially with such great friends!

Rodney Update!

This is while we watched the rightfully named "best fireworks in all of Colorado!" They were amazing. So many fireworks so little time... Rodney loved them. He didn't have quite the attention span yet to watch the whole show but he did point to the sky and stare.
This is Rodney's makeshift pool at Grandpa Friesens house. He decided the dog bowl was plenty big enough to take a dip and cool off... he did this multiple times throughout our weekend up there. Silly boy! We joked about how Grandpa is too cheap to buy him a real pool. haha!

Up in Nederland they just opened this carousel that this guy bought from the saltaire (sp?) and recarved the animals and such, repainted, built an enclosure. It is absolutely amazing and totally worth it. It's only buck to ride. Rodney rode once with Me and Mandy and once with Grandma and Mandy. Not only was I trying to get pictures of this cutie pie on the carousel but so were about 59 others. Maybe a little exaggerated but there were others.

This was when we were trapped in the cars with the rain outside waiting for the fireworks to start. I booted him over to G&G's car after a while. He had more fun over there anyway! I just love this picture!

Dirty face and all!

Rodney is really starting to show his personality more and more. He is such a little ham!

These are pictures from the 4th of July when it started to pour rain. So we decided to have some fun with the camera. Rodney started out less than enthused and then he started to get into the faces. This may or may not be a real scream...

We had another breathing scare with Rodney a few weeks ago which resulted in another hospital visit. Mark has athsma as does most of his family so it is no surprise that Rodney is showing symptoms. We were up all night with him because he kept waking up to cough and we did about 5-6 neb treatments before 5:30 so we packed him up and headed to the ER. After being there for 3-4 hours he was still at a 7 out of 10. 10 being not breathing. We headed home with not only this awesome neb mask that resembles a turtle, but about 5 prescriptions to control his airways. He knows when I break out the mask how to hold it and will sit there until it is gone. Assuming Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on the TV...

He has 10 teeth now with a few more coming in. He was lopsided on the bottom teeth there for a while but now he has all four instead of three so we are much more balanced. Along with 2 new molars. The other two are threatening to come in anytime now! Don't you just love those cheeks!? His hair also decided to come in all of a sudden. It is getting longer and very blonde on top. We blame the sun for that one!

He longs to go out front and run in the sprinklers everytime they go on. He never ventures into the grass while they are on but he will run up and down the sidewalk.

We had our 18 month appointment the other day. He is now in the 11th %ile for height and 1% for weight. He is still following his curve for weight so we aren't worried at all. He now says quite a few words including: please (w/ simultaneous sign language), look, that, dad, dog, katie, he does say mom but Katie more often, car, truck, duck, and a few other words I can't remember right now. He loves to give kisses. He loves to jump to us off of the coffee table. We love our little man and can't remember life without him!

This one's for you Mom!

Someday I will figure out how to move around pictures. Any tips?! Mom requested a post with my latest cakes, so you all get to enjoy them too! My dream is to do cakes on the side but for now I am just trying to get the techniques down and practice, practice, practice! All for fun! On my birthday last weekend we were up the mountain for Mark's step-brothers wedding. Auntie Bug (she also did our wedding cake) was doing the cake and she allowed me to tag along the process this time. I wanted to see how she did her cakes. Little did I know she would let me pipe the whole thing!! It was crazy fun for me and a great birthday treat. I hadn't ever done piping like this before and she was very supportive. Here is a picture closer up to see the real design. The lighting is better here.

This one is for my friend Becky's baby shower this last weekend. It was so fun. I got the most delicious carrot cake recipe from Auntie Bug (she has been doing cakes for about 25 years she said) So I practiced it on this beauty. Frosted with cream cheese frosting covered in homemade fondant. mmm....

Top View

Side View

I am very excited to do Grandma's birthday cake coming up this New Years Day...although I will most definately do some other cakes before then!

Grateful.

As I was playing with Rodney tonight before bed I didn't know that I had an email waiting in my inbox saying that my cousin had lost her dear daughter to Neuroblastoma. I read it and cried. I am so humbled. I feel horrible that I got frustrated this morning with him because I was trying to get dishes done and didn't "have time" to hold him. "Go to your Dad" I said. Makes me wish I would have just picked him up, gave him a hug and told him that I loved him more than he would ever know. How grateful I am to know that families can be together for eternity. That Mark and I have been sealed in the Temple and can be with our children forever. I'm grateful to know that little Emma has gone to heaven to wait for her family there. I gave Rodney extra loves before bed tonight with a bigger perspective of what's really important. I guess we all need reminders every once in a while!

Projects, cont.

Here is the garden installed and if you look careful you can see my peas, lettuce, and carrots. Basil, parsley, cilantro are coming up but not too fast.

This is the finished deck. We ate dinner out there last night. We LOVE it! It's bigger than my kitchen...

I am taking a cake decorating class at Michaels this month. I want to continue taking the rest of the classes but I will have to see how they will work with my school schedule over summer. And I am bummed that they will be on tuesday nights. Same as all of our Relief Society Activities. I am really enjoying it. Rodney is really enjoying the products of my classes. He keeps sneaking into the kitchen and getting the cake....good thing it was already cut into and not being given away!

I was in a hurry getting ready for class and I was running around trying to gather everything together. I look for Rodney and this is what I found. Apparently the frosting can't be that bad!

This is half-way through the deck. That door goes to one of our two sheds. Have I said how much I love living here?! Because I do. Julie, Scotts wife, even loves to babysit Rodney. B.O.N.U.S!

This is a little backwards but Mark has been working on a bookcase. We were going to use it in our bedroom but we decided that we would use it in Rodneys room for books because we are collecting more and more from the goodwills and don't have anywhere to put them. So we painted it to match the scheme...John Deere of course. What else would you expect!? I think it is beautiful. I love that he has a hobby now and I also love that I can get something out of his hobby! Selfish? Maybe, but I love it! He wants to build some adirondak chairs for the deck next. I like that idea too. We found this awesome blog off of my cousins blog called Knock off Wood that we love and I have a honey-do list for Mark. He knows it, AND he doesn't even mind because he enjoys it. Seriously best hobby ever!

They are working on the yard with our AWESOME landlord Scott. They are working on putting a sprinkler system in now that they have finished putting in the deck! Which you are getting a little bit of in the bottom of the picture. It is huge. 12 ft x 16 ft! We love it and have already put it to good use. Mark and Scott have been working in the yard on Monday, Tuesday, and a little on Wednesday. I even grabbed a shovel and put a little elbow grease in on wednesday.

I thought this picture was so cute of Mark and Rodney with their appropriate shovels. Working in the yard. I love my men!

Projects

We have had a break for two weeks from school so we filled it up with projects that we haven't had time to do during the semester. Project #1 was the garden. Mark built me a beautiful box so Wyatt would know that they weren't just more trees to pee on. He went above and beyond what I was expecting. We have found some great deals on used tools at garage sales and such and there was a great sale on a drill/saw combo at home depot that we scored. So mark has been putting them to great use!

Rodney loved helping with the garden and still thinks it is his sandbox...we are working on that.

This shows the handy-work of Mark he even water sealed it so it wouldn't rot.

This is before we installed the garden.

I put curtains up in Rodneys room. It's amazing the difference curtains from blankets makes. Before we got the curtains we had blankets hanging from the windows to block the light so he would still sleep. I love that we can open the curtains now and let some light in!

The other window. I haven't done a blog post of our cute house yet but here you get to see Rodney's room at least!