Summer in a nutshell

I have been totally removed from the blogging world these last couple of months. We really haven't been too busy, I just think the last place I want to be is inside on a computer. We've been LOVING the warm weather and are trying to live it up until its all gone. Here's our summer in a nutshell:

We started out July with our birthdays. Andrew and I are so lucky to have our birthdays a week a part so we kinda celebrate them somewhat together. Mine was pretty low key. Since in my opinion breakfast is better than any other meal of the day, my mom invited us over to the house and we had breakfast. My favorite! Then we just hung out and my family got together later that night for pizza and a competitive bad mitten tournament at our house. It really sparked a fire in some. . . Bryan.
 For Andrew's birthday a week later we went boating. It was our first time out. That's pretty sad for our family. After a way fun day of boating we went to Jakers that night for dinner. My aunts gave us a gift certificate there and it was so appreciated since its our favorite.

 Andrew had to work the night before his birthday so I brought this cake up to the hospital and was there at 12:00 a.m. He had no idea.  I was the first to wish him Happy Birthday and let his coworkers know as well.

 Kinz's lover, Cody, came home from his mission at the end of June. So it was his first time out as well. Now the two love birds are engaged and getting married September 3rd. So excited!

Cade. . . livin' the dream

To be a kid again. So care free!

 Hayden even rode the tube. He has no choice but to like water!

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Tiffany has this cute little pool that she brought over one hot day. Her and I basked in the sun and ate our share of Otter Pops while the boys played around. It was my definition of what summer is all about!

 

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 To go right along with swimming, Tiff and I signed Cade and Hayden up for swimming lessons. It was so convenient for me since it was a hop and a skip away to the pool which was very handy. There were 3 of them in the class and they had a really good teacher as well. We were only able to go for a week because Hayden came down with a fever the whole last week of swimming. Now I wouldn't say that Hayden can swim across the pool after taking the class, but it was fun and worth it. :)

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We (and especially Andrew) were beyond excited when Andrew was done with his LPN classes! He had a pinning ceremony at his school and received his certificate. . . well kinda, he was the only one that didn't get his because they somehow either got stuck together with someone else's or they forgot to print his out. It would only happen to Andrew.

They were handed out alphabetically so when Andrew was the last one standing there, something wasn't right!

 I felt extremely white trash because I forgot my camera and had to use my phone, but we got it. Good job Andrew, we're so proud of you!

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Since Andrew has been a free man for a little while he planned an overnight backpacking trip with Trent and Cody to Iron Bog. He was really excited about it and they had a lot of fun.

Andrew and Cody did the "Iron Bog Challenge" where they jumped into the near freezing lake. They said that by the time they swam back to shore they could already feel their muscles cramping up because it was so cold. And yes that is patches of snow on the shore. They'crazy!

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Hayden has been such a little trooper this summer. We've decided that he could be outside all day long and be just fine with it. What's bad is we aren't outside near the amount that he'd like. Hayden would like to present this. . .  (it's a big deal since it's taken him so long to get there)

. . . .So at 14 months he's finally walking! Now I wouldn't say that it's his first choice of transportation however. He's been "walking" to people and short distances to things for awhile, but in the last 2 weeks he's really decided that he wanted to do it. It's about time little man!
We try to stay cool down in our basement and this is one of Hayden's favorite things to do.

He'll sit in this little cubby by the t.v. and throw the ball to himself. Sometimes he'll do it continuously for like 20 minutes. It's better than any toy he has.

Hayden was being such a ham this day. We had fun.

The "fishy face" at lunch

Then cheeser. Love him!

We've been doing really good and just soaking in all the summer we can get!

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

Hayden turned 1 on June 11th. We had a little get together on my side of the family on his birthday and then on Father's day we had a party with Andrew's side. Hayden was pretty spoiled and I'd love to say that he enjoyed his parties and had so much fun with his cake and presents, but that was not the case. . .

 Having barrels of fun!

A few days before his birthday he was being really grumpy and so my first instinct now is to check his mouth. Sure enough, more teeth! After these ones come through he'll have a mouth full of 12. He has been teething since he was 6 months and it has been non stop. So for his party he wasn't too excited and didn't have that much fun because he didn't feel too well. But we had fun preparing and being there at least.

His 1st sucker. Gnawing those teeth through.



As I'm doing this post I'm really realizing that his party was really for Andrew and I. It stared with his cakes. Andrew requested that I make a cake related to hunting. So this is what I came up with.

Yeah, not very age appropriate at all! But anytime that Andrew would draw a deer for his nephew, Easton, this is what he would draw and so that is where my idea came from. I used edible sugar paper and traced the deer and then kinda winged the cross hairs. I dyed the coconut green for grass and then mixed up a hunter orange for the writing. I was pretty excited it turned out. Again, not for Hayden's benefit, but my own. We're horrible parents!

For Hayden's cake, that he was supposed to dig right into, I made a target. I was thinking of him and made it with rainbow chip cake and frosting. And tons of it! I'm thinking that was what made him mad.

Maybe the 2 year old birthday we'll try it again.



Andrew and I got this for him. While testing it out he got stuck. Things weren't going his way. . .



My dad was not feeling very good, but still came. After looking at all these pictures it looked like everyone was sickly! Ha! We're a lively group.

Em and Trent gave Hayden this gerble that is kinda freaky I'm not going to lie, but Hayden loves him and when we say "go get Gerald" he goes over picks him up and gives him a kiss. He's now our new family pet.



Hayden has been changing so much lately and learning new things. Here are a few things that he's been doing. Some of which make us laugh a lot:

*He does a fish face when we ask him to
*When we ask him to close his eyes he looks up and rolls then in the back of his head and then kinda blinks. It's hilarious and it kinda looks like he's having some type of mini seizure
*When we sing the song where the alligator snaps the monkeys out of the tree he'll "snap" his hands down before we do
*Blows kisses
*Knows where his ears and eyes are
*Does several different waves that are hilarious
*Isn't talking unless you wanna count "Oooh" and "Yeah". He usually points while saying them
*Is still being a big chicken with walking. Has taken steps but would rather crawl. It was my personal goal to have him walking by at least a year, and when that didn't happen I decided he'll do it when he wants. Everyone says that the later they walk the better coordinated they are, well my take on that is they tell parents that because they want to make them feel good cuz their kid isn't walking. We'll see. But he can throw a ball really good. So maybe he'll be a little jock :)
*Is STILL taking 2 naps a day 2hr at a time and sleeping 12 hours at night! When I scheduled his year checkup I set it for the morning because I though he'd not be taking a morning nap by then but nope he's still going strong and I'm not complaining!
*Always goes on tip toes to give me a kiss before I get him out of his crib. I love it.
*Doesn't take a bottle anymore. We weren't able to even finish all of his formula. After we gave him real milk (or should I say a milk shake! That stuff is so thick!) in a cup the formula was history. We're really thankful that he has never been attached to anything. A binkie, blanket, bottle, stuffed animal, nothing. However, he is getting more picky to who he goes to which is kinda annoying.
*His favorite thing to eat is definitely strawberries and grapes. I'm not kidding he could eat a whole flat if I let him
At his check up he had to get the dreaded 1 year old shots and that is never fun. He did good and didn't get any rashes or crazy things from them. His stats were:

Weight: 21 pounds (17%) ish
Height: 29.5 inch (40 %) ish  --  I can't read their graphs they measure in kg and cm and the graph is by these dots and it's just stupid. What happened to the american pound and inch???

He was eating toast the other morning and a little piece stayed on his chin. It looked like a little goatee. Love him!

Still a small little guy but the doctor says that he's growing normal and that's all we can ask for. We're so glad we have our little man. We don't know what we did without him!