First Day of School!

I can't believe I'm typing this... We just sent Colton off for his first day of school (pre-school) and on a BUS no less! AAGHH! He's only 3! As soon as the bus pulled away I started bawling! Good thing Seth was here to comfort me!

One thing that helped, though, was that Colton was VERY excited to ride the bus. When the bus pulled up he RAN to it (while we're yelling to not run into the street!) And, of course, here are a gazillion pictures of it all!He walked right outside and sat down on the sidewalk to wait for the busAt one point, he got tired of waiting so he just started walking down the sidewalk!

Now I can't wait for him to come home and tell me all about his fun day!

We're Alive!

Barely!

Ha Ha - Actually we're doing just fine everyone is happy and healthy... July was a crazy month and it has spilled over into August. We had 4 family birthday's to celebrate, (Yeah, October is a good month to get pregnant in for our family) 2 Road Trips and LOTS of MOVING details to get straight. We're officially moving out on Wednesday (8/12) - we're moving in with my mom. (Yes, it's a good thing :))

Here's some pictures of our recent adventures:

4th of July

For the 4th we took a day trip to Willow Springs and enjoyed some fishing with my sister's family and my dad.

Colton really enjoyed fishing and just being outdoors - he's all boy!

The men relaxing! (While the women kept the kids out of the water!)

When it started to rain we decided to head home and on our way back we stopped at a lookout point and Christopher Creek

Colton - about to throw a rock at me!

Maddie's Birthday
We celebrated Maddie's 6th Birthday at my dad's.

Take a deep breath!

Watching Lane

My sister-in-law Anna is a real-life nurse now so we got to watch Lane a few days a week. Colton is so cute with Lane - it gives me hope that he'll be nice to a brother or a sister (no, not yet)

Colton's Birthday

Colton, actullay made it to his 3rd birthday without one trip to the ER! I really didn't think that was going to be possible, but he did it! Since December, he's been fascinated with trains. So I found some wood track (that worked with what he had already) on Craig's List and refinished them so that they all looked the same (and you can tell his apart).

The night before I set it up and put a blanket over it so it would be a surprise.
Believe it or not, this isn't even all of the track - I was able to get all of these pieces for less than 20 bucks! (I love a good deal!)

We celebrated his Birthday at my sister's house so all the kids could use their BIG water slide. They had a lot of fun and Colton LOVED all of his presents!My Birthday

I spent a few days at my mom's to get things ready for our move-in and Seth and Colton were going to meet me there on my birthday. To my surprise, though when I arrived at my mom's I found a cleaning crew there! My sister-in-law, Stacy, paid to have the house cleaned so that I wouldn't have to do anything but relax for the 2 days I was there all by myself! My mom felt bad for leaving me on my birthday. I told her, "I am a 32 year mother with a husband and 3 year old son. What does anyone in that position want for their birthday? PEACE and QUIET!" It was the best!While they were alone, Seth took Colton on the light rail in downtown Phoenix! He LOVED IT!

Saying Goodbyes

With our move to Queen Creek, we won't be going to the same Speech and Occupational Therapists, so this was his last week with Miss Brandy and Miss Pam. They were so wonderful for Colton and for Seth and I. Colton's been with Brandy for over a year now - before he could even talk! He's made so much progress with their help!

Miss Brandy (Colton looks so panged in this picture because he wanted me to leave - even he needs some "alone time")

Miss Pam

Finally, we said goodbye to the Sunburst ward today. Specifically to Colton's nursery leader, Sister Seamans. She's been so good to Colton and we look forward to meeting up with her at the Mesa Temple so she and Colton can hang out!

Then & Now

We got to take a day trip to visit the Grand Canyon yesterday. Yes, it was my first time to "visit" the Grand Canyon - how shocking for a native Arizonan! It was beautiful - very breathtaking - and of course now I want to go back so we can do some of the hikes.


The reason, though for our trip was not just to see the Grand Canyon, but more importantly to meet up with a family from Toronto. We got very close to the Ardelean Family while we were in Toronto and when we heard they were going to the Grand Canyon, we knew we couldn't pass up the opportunity to see them. So, we headed out at 6 in the morning and got back last night around 8:30. Yes, it was a long day but very well worth it!

Here's a picture with the Ardelean family on our last Sunday at church:


And here we are almost 2 years later:

(From L-R: Colton, Seth, Becky, Christine, Andre, Kalan & Dragos)

The great thing was that it didn't feel like any time had passed at all - except for how much taller Dragos and Kalan are.

Colton also did great with the drive and all the stopping and "looking" - we couldn't have asked for a better trip!

Happy Father's Day

One more thing...

Today was just one of those days with Colton. He was either whining about not getting something he wanted, or he was trying to do things to get in trouble... yep, just an average day with Colton. (Oh and we've been working on potty-training so he was totally naked at this point).

Well, I'm a little embarassed to admit it, but around 5pm when I had absolutely had it, I looked at him and said, "That's it Colton, I'm going to spank your buns!" and then I added, "Are you trying to make me spank you?" At this point, he's got his hands covering his bum and he looks at me and says, "No, I trying to hide my buns."

Oh, I just started laughing and he ran around the room with hands on his bum screaming, "Hide my buns! Hide my buns! Hide my buns!"

Diamond Backs Game!

Thanks to our brother-in-law, Lincoln, we got to take Colton to his first baseball game! I wish I could have captured the look on his face as we walked in -- he was in awe! The seats were great! 3rd row in the right field. Thankfully we brought enough snacks and treats to keep Colton in his seat through the 5th inning!
All the boys! Seth is holding Lane, Anna and Lincoln's six month old son.

Swimming Lessons

Well, after a rough start... 7 days to be exact -- Colton finally likes swimming lessons! Somehow I pictured it going a lot smoother than it did, but with only 2 lessons left, he finally did it all without crying.

The problem, we found out, had nothing to do with the lesson part, it was having to hold on to the wall while the teacher took the other kids (one at a time) out into the water to practice by themselves. Colton H-A-T-E-D that part. All he would do was cry and occasionally pull himself up and out of the pool.

But, we kept going back everyday and I would sit as close to the pool as I could (about 25 ft away) and CRINGE for a half an hour. The funny part was that he didn't cry when we would get to the pool or even as we waited for his class to start - not until he had to hold on to the side. (Which, by the way, I can totally understand - but he needed to learn, right?)Each day as we waited for class to start I would ask him if he could laugh or blow bubbles instead of crying and he would just look at me and say, "No, mommy, I cry" -- like that's just how it's going to be so you better get used to it.

I'm glad we didn't quit since the second to last day he got in like normal, but this time not one peep! I think he was actually LAUGHING during part of it. I made sure it wasn't a fluke - sure enough the next day he was loving it again. So, I signed him up for two more sessions.Oh this kid of ours! We should know by now that nothing new is easy, but it's usually worth it!