Washington Trip Part 2 {The Family Reunion}

In case you missed it ... PART 1.

Sunday was one of the biggest reasons for our trip, our family reunion with my mom's side. It was held at my aunt and uncle's farm. Usually we get big group pictures next to their tractors but I think the day just got away from everyone so the majority of these are of Nic and Liam again. haha One of the men that work on my uncle's farm owns a bouncy house that he rents out to people for events so we had one at the picnic. Most of the day, all of the little kids were having a blast together in it but we found some time in the later afternoon when no one was inside and we let Liam go in there and crawl around. He LOVED it!!  

My cousin Melissa's baby, Carter, was the smallest one there. I got to go to a baby shower the day before to celebrate this little guy's arrival and I'm so glad I could make it because we usually have to miss events like that living far away!

There was tons of really yummy food but by far my favorite part were the oysters!! Fresh seafood in Washington is to die and really makes me miss living by the coast. I had Nic try it for the first time, well part of one anyway. His reaction... "it wasn't bad." In other words, he probably won't be eating one again. haha I'm proud of him for trying it though.

This little ham was eating up all the attention all day long!

One of his favorite things to do is swing, so it was no surprise how much he loved the baby swing hanging from a pear tree on the farm. A big thank you to my aunt and uncle for hanging this up again for him since he was pretty much the only little guy there who could fit in it.

Again, I really wish I would have gotten big group pictures of the family but it was still SO great to see all of them and for everyone to finally meet Liam. I hope we can make it back there again next year. Stay tuned for part 3 and the last of the Washington pictures tomorrow! ;)

XO 

Washington Trip Part 1 {The Farm} & a Video!

We just got back on Friday from a little over a week long vacation and I took SO many pictures that I just can't condense them all to one post, hence the part 1. So there will be a part 2 and a part 3. For grandparents, you're welcome. For everyone else, sorry for the picture overload.

We flew to Washington together with Sita (Liam's grandma/my mom) and it was Liam's first plane ride. He did SO great on the plane... fell asleep nursing on take off and didn't wake up until 10 minutes before the flight was over to eat some of his favorite puffs on the descent. I have a new found love for the ergo baby carrier by the way. It was a total lifesaver for carrying Liam through the airport (they don't even make you take the baby out as you walk through security) and the best for an occasional nap because this kid is not great at napping on the go. I know I've said it several times before but Nic is seriously just the BEST dad. Every time I asked to help carry Liam he always insisted he wanted to do. I love watching the two of them together every single day!

After flying into the Seattle airport and stopping to feed Liam some lunch, we hightailed it to the rental car place so that we could try and beat the Friday afternoon Seattle traffic jam to Mount Vernon where my extended family lives. We actually made great time and decided to stop at a fun outlet mall in Marysville along the way. Between Sita and I we basically bought Liam a new wardrobe for Fall. haha 

Anyway, the biggest thing I wanted to talk about from the beginning of our trip is THE FARM. My Uncle Keith and Aunt Wendy live on a beautiful farm in Mount Vernon. Seriously, fields upon fields of beauty. I'm pretty sure the person who loved it most of all though was Liam. 

My Uncle Keith is like a big kid, he LOVES trains. He built this incredible train track behind their back shed. It was the most intricate design I have ever seen. The whole thing even lights up at night and makes noise. So awesome!

Look at that face!!! Pure joy!

I HAD to include this one. Both my boys do this funny thing with their lips. haha Nic tucks his top lip in and Liam tucks his bottom lip under. Like father, like son.

If Liam wasn't having the time of his life walking/running everywhere, he was beelining for all the leaves he could find in the grass.

When did he become old enough to walk?!?!?! It was unreal witnessing him push this little toy all by himself. 

Thanks Uncle Keith and Aunt Wendy for sharing your farm with us!!
Stay tuned for Part 2 of the trip tomorrow, our family reunion.
Also, you can watch a little video I made of our family trip HERE. :)
XO

a day trip to SALT LAKE!

Two spontaneous weekends in a row?? Who are we?! haha Saturday morning while eating breakfast we decided to pack the diaper bag full of all the necessities and off we went to Salt Lake! Liam slept most of the way down there which made for one relaxing drive singing along to some tunes and talking with my favorite guy.

One of the biggest reasons for the trip was to go to IKEA so our first stop was Draper. Neither of us had been before and our jaws literally dropped to the floor as we walked through the sliding glass doors. That place is ginormous!! We spent the next three hours {yes you read that correctly} meandering display room after display room just beyond amazed. We almost walked out of there with the whole store. ALMOST. Good thing we have a RAV and all we fit back there was a bench to fix our shoe situation. No laundry room/mud room = a shoe cluttered entry way all the time! Naturally we weren't paying close attention to the time and shopped through Liam's nap. He will not, despite every effort, sleep anywhere but in his crib, a pack n' play, or while driving in the car so by the end of our shopping experience he was one cranky boy. Right before hightailing it out of there we discovered Liam had dropped his elephant along the way and after a thorough search and attempt to find it, we deemed it lost and bought him a dragon named Puff on the way out the door!

While taking the short 20 minute drive back in the direction of Salt Lake, we realized it wasn't going to be a long enough nap for our snoozer in the back seat so we took the opportunity to grab a treat at Sonic and drove up in the foothills above the capital building. The houses were amazing up there and the view was even more incredible! When we heard stirring in the back seat we headed for City Creek Mall. We had only been there oneother time and loved it just as much as the first. We wandered through a few stores and then walked across the street to Temple Square. It was fun to take Liam there for the first time. Clearly his favorite part was splashing in the reflection pool. ;)

We made the drive back just as the sun was setting creating the most gorgeous colors painted across the sky. Until next time Salt Lake! We would love to take Liam back when he is just a little bit older and go to the Hogle Zoo!

nine months

n i n e   m o n t h s   o l d

stats

..................

about 22 pounds

 about 27 inches long

loves

...............

feeding himself ham and fruit.
puffs.

Rue.
walking.

dislikes

...................

car seat.
getting his nose or face wiped.

vacuum. 

cold foods.

baths without the water running.
reading books with me. :(

My little Liam,

 You have now officially been in my arms the same amount of time I carried you. While sometimes I miss those tiny kicks in my tummy, I definitely prefer having you in my arms and playing with you all day! You have become my side kick and best friend over the last couple months. I wouldn't have it any other way, I love it! We had to lower your crib last weekend because you are getting closer and closer to learning how to pull yourself up and bail over the side! We joke that you don't have any survival instincts because you always find dangerous ways of being a total dare devil. You absolutely hate being put in your car seat, most likely because it already seems too small for you. All three of us can hardly wait for that new one on the way in the mail! You moved back your bed time all on your own and go to sleep around 8 now instead of 7. Every day you  become more and more mobile. Your favorite method to date will always be walking with us but second best is army crawling. You love to feed yourself! Some of your current favorite foods are ham, cheese, and any kind of fruit. Sunglasses on anyone used to make you nervous but now they don't seem to bother you at all. We are waiting on pins and needles for your first word although I'm sure it will be "dada" despite my many efforts for "mama"! We love you so much!!!

Love, Momma

last weekend

Why do weekends go so FAST?! I'm thinking we need to switch things around, 2 day work week, 5 day weekend instead don't you think?? ;) We love having daddy home to play with us. It is really easy for us to get in a rut on the weekends because we are such routine driven people but it was fun to do some things out of the ordinary this last weekend and change it up a bit.

SO FRIDAY! 

We brought along the ergo baby carrier and decided to walk around the ISU campus. It used to be a place where we spent most of our time together and we rarely spend time there now, living across town and no longer in school. We parked on lower campus and just started walking. We didn't really have any plans but decided as our path took us toward upper campus we decided to hike up to "the pillars". It has SUCH an incredible view of the city. All you see are trees and skyline. Bonus, I think Liam had a blast chewing on the straps of the baby carrier the whole time. haha On our way back down it started to rain so our leisure walk ended pretty quickly as we hurried back to the car. Snuggled into Nic's chest with the sound of the rain around him, he fell fast asleep. It was the sweetest thing.

SATURDAY!

Well it started with a run, breakfast, and yard work, pretty typical. Okay I didn't say we deviated from the routine the WHOLE weekend! ;) We've been working on tearing out a large section of grass in our yard to extend our patio and we finally finished it so we were feeling awfully productive by noon. As we came in to shower and get ready for the day, Nic turns to me and says, "Want to go to a movie at 2?!" Um mister, I think you miiiight be forgetting we have a baby. Who would last all of 5 seconds sitting in a theatre. Mother-in-law to the rescue - thanks again Grandma! We went and saw Jurassic World. IT.WAS.INTENSE. but a great movie just like the first one. It was only our second date since Liam has been born and it was wonderful. It is easy to forget there is an "us" when we are in the constant throws of parenthood and all our time and energy become focused on our little guy. I loved the alone time with him though and we have already made plans to go again in a couple weeks! I made homemade pizza for everyone when we got home and Liam LOVED it! All 20-something inches of him was covered in pizza sauce head to toe. After she went home, we went on a family walk to the grocery store for spray n' wash. Romantic at its finest! But oh my goodness, how in the WORLD do you keep baby clothes from constantly staining? I'll tell you how... diaper only at meal time, that's how! Since we have introduced more self-feeding with him lately, he dominates his clothes by the end of it! Notice the WHITE onesie below... face palm. That was before I caught on.

SUNDAY!

We have 9 A.M. church on Sundays and it has been hard on Liam's sleep schedule. That is the time he usually goes down for his first nap but doesn't sleep well when he isn't in his crib so he completely skipped it on Sunday and it threw off the rest of his day. It is a great thing that Sundays are a day of rest because heaven knows we all needed it and didn't accomplish much that day. It was a great weekend. So about those 2 day work weeks.... ;)