Michael's first birthday!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Loftus for this cute shirt!

We went to see the hot air balloons. They didn't lift off because of weather in higher wind paths. Michael woke up at 5:15am screaming and mad that he was awake. We weren't planning on waking up until 5:45. Oh well. The coke bottle was cool. As was the pig.

And of course Smokey the bear.

Michael loves the bike we gave him for his birthday. (And the cute outfit and toys from both sets of Grandparents.)

I kept trying to get a picture with Michael's hands on the handle bar, but he was too excited; everytime he saw the camera, he grinned & waved his arms.

He can sort of walk behind it too. He has started cruising the furniture, but never letting go.

He is 24 lbs, 11 oz. and 29.5 inches long. His head is still in the 2%, but the fact that the soft spot is gone is ok because that is normal at age 12-15 months. If we see weird shapes or ridges, then we need more x-rays, but he should be fine now.

Opening presents. Rob and Chrisotpher had to show him how.

Next to his birthday cake. He stuck his finger in it right before I took this picture. He thinks he's so clever.

Trying his cake.

Hmmmm....pretty good...

Oh, it's squishy.

Really squishy.

I don't think he took another bit after he realized it was so squishy.

I should have done all green frosting or something so you could see it on his tummy & face. You can tell he loved it!

Talking to Uncle Scott on the phone. Everytime I told him someone texted Happy Birthday, or when they called, Michael got a big smile on his face.

June

This is what I woke up to the morning of our 6th anniversary. We went to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe, the dollar theater to see Percy Jackson:The Lightening Thief, and tried to go to the temple (our tradition), but it was closed for maintenance.

Rob's birthday. He wanted a German Chocolate cake & Calzones.

Not pictured: For Father's Day I tried to make homemade hotdog buns to go with the brats I bought. I should have taken a picture-they were huge! And I made a yummy strawberry jello dessert.

This picture, taken in October/November is one of my favorites! It was Rob's wallpaper for a while & Michael loved to look at it. I need to get it framed.

Lately I've been making green smoothies. Christopher's doctor said he needs green veggies. I figure this cup has about a cup of spinach in it. I just make the smoothies like a normally would, but I fill it lightly full (not packed down) of spinach first. Christopher & Michael love them. I like them, Rob tolerates them, so we have them for an afternoon snack. (pictured with scrambled eggs & apple muffins)

Our strawberries have started coming in. The first batch (pictured) were picked at by birds, but now the birds are leaving them alone. (because the cherries are starting to get ripe?) The strawberry plants were Rob's parent's present to him for his birthday last year. We get 5 or so a day.

It's fun to be five

Fun thing #1: Christopher and Rob made this cool bike ramp. Look how high Christopher can go! Rob says he is a natural.

picture #1.

Picture #2. He had so much fun. He felt so grown up.

Fun thing #2: What are Rob and Christopher eating on their crackers? (hint: we all loved it (though Rob only liked it), but we don't have it very often. May have been Christopher's first time eating it.)

This fish that they caught! Christopher didn't want to touch it. Rob cleaned & cooked it and we all enjoyed it. Rob went fishing with the 11 yr old scouts. Christopher went too and had a blast. They caught 3 fish. We got one of them. After seen how much the three of us liked it (he didn't like it so much), he wished he had bought a season pass instead of a day pass because he enjoys fishing and we enjoy eating fish.

Fun thing #3: your parents let you go outside by yourself when it is pouring down rain. Christopher is standing in our flower garden that is flooded. The rain gutter on our house decided to plug up during a down pour, resulting in flooded & pounded flowers.

Singing in the rain. (or atleast smiling)

Fun thing #4: Mom lets you pull baby brother around the house in a wagon. (note: it is a toy wagon, so michael's big bum barely fits.) He loves it, you can tell.

Happy brothers, entertaining eachother.

The view from the kitchen upstairs. I looked down to see why they were laughing. I don't know how Christopher puts Michael in there. There is only a 7lbs difference.

To the Zoo

We went to the zoo! It was Christopher's first real time. (And of course, Michael's first time.) (see the elephant behind us?)

We saw baby Zuri. We went right when it opened, which is a great idea because around lunch time it was very crowded.

My sister Cambrai went with us.

A Golden Eagle was on a leash when we first went in.

Bright orange bird in the bird house.

Christopher compared to an ape. You know the difference between a monkey and an ape is a monkey has a tail and an ape doesn't. We saw an ape on the doing the monkey bars. Christopher got a kick out of that because it is a recent accomplishment if his.

My sister Danielle and her husband Keith also went with us. Michael liked watching these really big turtles crawling-just like him.

I wish we could have seen Christopher ride this one. Oh, and on our way home Christopher said he was surprised the zoo was outside. He thought it was going to be like the Bean museum (taxedermy animals).

We watched this one crawl over to this clump of grass. (There was a lawn near where he started out.) It seemed to take so much effort to get there, but we watched him take several bites, savoring the grass.

Pink bird in the bird house.

Michael loved watching a bird walk back and forth on a log. We felt bad moving on to the next thing.

Christopher and Uncle Keith being prairie dogs. Can you see the prairie dog on the left, eating his lunch?

We at lunch by the prairie dogs, cougars, and play ground.

Michael was roaring like a tiger, but by the time I got the camera out, he wouldn't do it anymore. This tiger was sleeping in the lean-to. Three other tigers were sleeping at the top, where another people trail was. We saw those tigers first.

Christopher was very excited to see the giraffes.

There were 4.

Tall skinny door. Christopher was also excited to see the crocadiles. He was happy to see 3 of them-2 adults & 1 baby. One thing that surprised me about this zoo is there weren't any lions or bears.

Recently...

For Mother's Day, Rob cut these beautiful tulips for me from our yard. And he made a yummy roast-my favorite. His least favorite. Oh, I almost forgot. These tulips come with a funny story. After I was put Michael to bed the night before Mother's Day, I noticed the outside light was on. That's weird. Maybe a cat turned a sensor on? I don't think we have sensor lights...I look out the window & Rob looks up with the bouquet in his hand, shaking his finger at me. I smile big, but feel bad that I ruined his surprise. (which I was expecting sometime that weekend...)

Hi mom! I learned to crawl on my 10 month birthday. Thanks for buying the baby gate the week before to keep me safe!

Playing in boxes.

Being silly

Christopher thought he was so clever wearing my clothes. Well, technically the shorts are Rob's from his mission in the Philippines. When Christopher was little I wore them during the summer as pj shorts. One day Rob put them on. Christopher (2 at the time) couldn't stop laughing that daddy was wearing mommy's shorts.

Oh, and it was a good thing we went to visit Grandpa Bingham when we did, because 2 weeks later we attended his funeral. Sadly timing wasn't good for Rob's family to come (H.S. graduation and State track), but we enjoyed the funeral and seeing extended family members.

Visiting Great (Great) Grandpa Bingham

4 generations (missing Rob's dad). Rob, Michael, Grandpa Bingham, Grandma Stephenson, Christopher.

Grandma Stephenson (Rob's paternal grandmother) with Michael and Christopher

Grandpa Bingham & Michael. We enjoyed visiting Grandpa Bingham in a nursing home in Ogden, and Grandma Stephenson who was visiting from California. The kids did well on the long drive. Christopher loved the ice cream and puzzles at the nursing home. (we stayed for 2 hrs, so I'm glad they did so well...after sitting in church for 3 hrs, sitting in a car for 1 & 1/2hrs, then staying in a nursing home for 2hrs. That's alot of quiet/sit still time!)

Michael loved sitting on (Great) Aunt Sharon's lap.