A new year, new resolutions….and an 8 month old.

One of my resolutions for this year is to get back into blogging.  It is kind of sad because our last blog post was the 24th of June.  That means that we have completely missed moving into our new house, almost 6 months of Parker's life and a couple of milestones, and a lot of adventure and good times.  I'm going to try to briefly document some of this for our own enjoyment and records but I understand if you get bored along the way and stop reading or looking at pictures.  I'm not even going to try very hard to be clever and funny or choose the very best pictures. I 'm just going to get it done. So hear I go.  The last 6 months….

The last weekend in June, Brent, Lindsey, and Jace did the Top of Zion Relay.  I don't know who had it worse.  I took care of a 1.5 month old and a 2 year old by myself but turns out they were pretty good. They had to run in 100 degree temperatures for 2 days.  They still had a great time, we had a good time at home and Gavin completed his first bike race (after being lapped 50+ times by some of the older kids) - the Tour de Triangle.

Parker was just starting to really consistently smile at the end of June.

As soon as they got back, we started packing to move to our new house in Bountiful. We loved our little house, neighborhood, and ward but it was time to move on to our own place. We were so excited to be able to have our own yard, AC, and to not have a box elder bug infestation.  We had been looking at houses for a couple of months and wondering if we would ever find the right one. We actually had an offer accepted on one but although Brent was really excited about it I never felt right about it.  We put in another offer on another house but that one didn't get accepted and we were okay with that.  We found our house on KSL as a for sale by owner.  We went to see it and we both felt great about it as we walked out so we put down an offer.  Sure, there were some things we didn't love or things it didn't have that we wanted but it fit the bill for the most part and we were really excited about it.  The closing process went pretty quickly and we were set to move.  

We dumped all our stuff off at the new house and then I set off for Boise for the 4th of July with Lindsey and Jace. Brent had to work 4 days in a row so there was no reason for me to stick around while he worked.  We had a great time hanging out in Boise.  We went to the pool everyday…the kiddie pool in the backyard that is.  I got to show Parker off to some friends from home and we just hung out, nothing too crazy. Brent worked, went to the Sugarhouse firework show, and got in some good runs on the trails just up from our house.

 Parker had a huge blowout so I put him in the grass expecting him to scream. Turns out he loves the grass. He was perfectly happy.

His first day sitting in the Bumbo was July 12th. He was a little unsure at first but quickly warmed up to the idea and loved it.  We learned quickly however that it was pretty much a guarantee that he would puke and have a blowout practically every time he sat in it.

We went for one day to the Larson Reunion and had fun with the cousins again.

We hiked up to Cecret Lake at the height of the wildflowers.  It was really nice to get out and get a break from all the home projects and organizing we had been doing since we moved in.

We went around Silver Lake on the 24th of July. We can't really call it a hike, but it was beautiful. We were going to hike to Lakes Mary, Martha, and Catherine, but I was in the middle of some weird respiratory illness that made me cough so much that I would puke sometimes. Not the highlight of my summer to be sure. Later that afternoon we taught Parker how to slack line.

Our next big adventure was Club Foster around the last weekend in July. What more do I need to say other than the fact that we ate well, got tan, relaxed, played, and had a really great time. Parker was so cute because he was really into his play mat, smiling so much, and really getting good at grabbing things and being super aware of what was going on around him.

The Tour of Utah was Parker's first sporting event early in August at the state capitol.  He really loved it but the excitement was just too much so he slept for most of it.

The second weekend of August took us up to our favorite camping spot around here, Ledgefork, and Parker's second camping adventure. It was just another overnighter because it was all we seemed to have time for but Parker slept great and was in a total daze staring at the campfire until he dozed off and slept all night long.

By mid August Parker had started to roll over and mastered it completely by the end of the month. He was funny though because if you put him on his stomach he would immediately roll to his back. But if he rolled from his back to his stomach he would get stuck and throw a big fit instead of just rolling over.  

We went to Ledgefork again at the end of August knowing that soon the weather would be too chilly to take Parker camping.  He rocked it again even though it rained and he even got his fingernails all dirty from playing in the dirt. He was suffering from his first cold at the time as you can see.

During the last week of August, Parker and I deserted Brent again to go support Kaley at the Mrs. America pageant.  He had the option of going. I can't imagine why he decided not to. Parker did great on his first plane ride and behaved himself very well through 2 nights of competition.  The timing was perfect  because up to this point he had never been able to hold onto a binki to console with. Luckily, he figured it out. Sure, it might have been the most miniature and girly binki we tried but at least it worked. Kaley did great and came in as runner up.  The pageant was in Tucson and it was August so we did the only reasonable thing there was to do, sit at the pool at the resort. Parker loved swimming and even did a great job going all the way under the water a bunch of times. He also had his first real laugh on the plane to Arizona in response to Lee making faces at him.  Another milestone come and gone.

On September 7, Brent ran the Mid Mountain Marathon.  It is a trail run starting at Deer Valley and ending at the Canyons resort.  Unfortunately he started having IT band issues a couple of weeks before so that slowed him up a bit, but he still finished in a great time and had a good time doing it. 

Then there were no big events but a lot of cute pictures of Parker from day to day. 

 I think one of my very favorite things are happy babies in the mornings.  Parker would just lay in his crib for a while before I would go in and get him and every time we walked in the room he would get so excited to see us and just kick and smile and talk….even when his legs were solidly wedged in the crib.

 We moved in at the end of June and wanted to get right to painting but with vacations, awesome weather, and paint color decisions being so difficult, it took us until the beginning of October to get to painting.  We were going to start by painting all of the upstairs. We even did ceilings which makes the whole process so much more difficult.  I was so so so happy to get rid of the terrible sky blue in our office room. We went with very neutral grays and were so happy with the outcome. Turns out painting an old house with lots of paint layers and previous painters who were a lot less OCD then I am is really hard. But we managed and it looks great.

We took another trip to Boise the first weekend of October just because we could.  Again, we didn't do much but relax and hang out enjoying each other's company.

We got out for some more hiking up Millcreek Canyon.  A little early fall snow didn't stop us.  Parker really does love hiking.  He just sits in the Bjorn and talks and laughs and kicks his feet around the whole time until he falls asleep. We might have had a blow out at the end of the hike, the third one of the day and so we ran out of clothes. He was already mismatched and then he got to spend the ride home without a shirt on. Somehow he still looks cute.

Mid October we took a trip to St. George with Jared and Stacie and Asher to do some mountain biking.  Stacie and her mom had volunteered to watch Parker while I went and rode and I couldn't pass that up. We did a new trail the first day, the J.E.M. trail, which was awesome and found out it is about a 5 minute bike ride from where Georgia and Leroy's new home will be when they get back from their mission.  Brent had a few technical difficulties with a flat tire, a broken spoke, and just general trouble getting his rear tire on that gave Jared and I quite a good laugh. The second day we did an oldie but a goodie, Bearclaw Pooppy, but did explore some new areas of Stucki Springs as well. After a delicious taco, jalepeno poppers, and limeade dinner celebrating Brent's birthday we learned how to play pickle ball and it was pretty fun. 

Parker started sitting up mid October and mastered it by the end of October. He suffered some good head bonks along the way but I think it just toughened him up.  

We started using the backpack in October as well and although our adventures weren't too far away (meaning a short stroll from our house to the trails…it is awesome) they were pretty great. His love for hiking in the Bjorn was nothing compared to how much he enjoys the backpack. We really just enjoyed such a great long fall and hanging out outside, although it didn't help us to get the house projects done very quickly. 

 Deule Canyon

 Holbrook Canyon

He loves playing with Gavin. We started having Lindsey watch him one day a week so we could both work that day and gain a whole day together as a family.  Since Gavin is in constant motion Parker is constantly entertained.  They are pretty cute together.

 This was about the extent of us dressing Parker up for Halloween. This was a hand me down costume we had. I worked and Brent put him in it for about 5 minutes.  That night we made pizza with Chase and Melissa and handed out candy at her house. It was pretty funny though because about a week later I went into Parker's room as Brent was getting him ready for bed and Parker was sitting there with nothing on but the monkey head portion of the costume.

 November 4th was a big day because we fed him solids for the first time. I was going to hold off until he was showing more interest, but even though he wasn't showing interest in food he was getting hungry after about 3 hours and I could barely hold him without him trying to nurse.  So we started with the rice cereal and he did pretty great. It was so cute watching him try to figure it out.

There really weren't any other big event until the holidays. But there were a lot of cute photos I want to document.  Most of them are random but there are some from a hike Brent took Parker on from the Skyline Road and some from a little 24 hr road trip we took to Boise to welcome Kaley home from China after winning Mrs. World.

I've decided I can't do anymore for today.  I'll stop here and pick back up at the holidays.  As you can see life is pretty great and I really love our little family.