The Best Things in Life

This summer has been the biggest growing season of my life so far. Being a mom has stretched me in ways I didn't see coming. It amazes me to think what may still be ahead if I feel this way after 7 weeks :) One of the things I have learned is to slow down and find joy in little things. That sounds cliche, but I didn't know how to really do it until I was in charge of a newborn. I like to always be doing something, I'm a big multitasker and getting things done and checking them off my to-do list makes me feel productive. But now, some days it's 3pm and I'm still in my pj's that smell like spit-up and the dishes are still not done and I haven't even had a second to brush my teeth. It really bothered me at first that I couldn't keep up with the household stuff and still take care of Cole, but that didn't last long as I realized what was more important. The big thing for me was just accepting that it was ok. And now this has been the best month of my life (I'll admit it, June was a little rough adjusting :) as I see my son growing and hitting little milestones and bringing me so much joy. And sharing it with Tyler and having him love it as much as me has made it that much sweeter.

I found this quote from President Kimball that sums it up: "Some observers might wonder why we concern ourselves with such simple things in a world surrounded by such dramatic problems. Yet, one of the advantages of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that it gives us perspective about the people on this planet, including ourselves, so that we can see the things that truly matter and avoid getting caught up in the multiplicity of lesser causes that vie for the attention of mankind." What a blessing it is to have that perspective!

So here's the simple thing that brought me joy today; my little guy's adorable smile :)

The flirty smile. I'm sure he'll get lots of ladies if he keeps that double chin!

A little blurry but I had to add it.
My favorite today! How can spending time raising and being with this guy be any less important than having a career or being "worldly" successful? We went out to eat at Cracker Barrel with the Oregon fam. Thanks for coming over Rod, Lisa, and Jess! We love you and can't wait till the baby blessing.

And they call the thing a ro-de-o

We have our Oregon family in town this week! Jessica (Tyler's sister) flew home from Ecuador after a year of teaching and decided to fly into Utah to see her new nephew and visit Utah friends. Then Rod and Lisa drove all the way over here to pick her up and hang out with us of course. The Days of '47 Rodeo is going on in SL right now, so we went last night and took the little guy. We had a blast!

Daddy before rodeo.


Cute little boots from grandma - we put them on for pictures before the rodeo but couldn't wear them the whole time thanks to the 200 degree weather.
Someday it will fit! Not too soon hopefully.
Grandma with Cole.
Waiting for it to start.

Just a shot of the stalls.
Homemade earplugs! Cole lasted for about half the rodeo, then we did some laps around the arena and caught the action from the tvs.
Rod and Jessica.

Smiley Guy!

Just this past week, Cole has started smiling back!!! I LOVE it, it's so fun to see him recognize me (and Tyler) and respond to us. We picked up my family from the airport this week and they got lots of smiles out of him too. Here's him giving grandma a smile:

Oh, look at that nice lady. I know she loves me, and I think she's my grandma, and she's really talking to me:

I like what she's doing with her mouth, I want to do it back:

I think that's it, she's acting like I just did something amazing so that must be what she wanted.

Whoa mom, that camera is always in my face.

My Boys

We are having too much fun with our little guy. We took Cole to his first FULL church day on Sunday, he was a champ! Slept through the first two blocks, then got a little hungry right there at the end. It was fun to show him off and go to church as a family again. We were given this darling little suit at one of my baby showers, and I think this may be the only wear we get out of it. It's 0-7 lbs., and Cole is about 10 now, but it seemed to fit okay and not be too uncomfortable (Tyler says that is not possible for any suit). But Cole looked so dang cute that I took a million pictures. Tyler even chose a matching tie! Aawwwww.
Daddy and son before church.

This is actually after church.
Isn't that face awesome??!

This is the "do you really need a million pictures of me wearing this?" face. And yes, I do. And get used to it. Here's Tyler walking across the street (yes we live very close) to church. He loves carrying everything and showing our little guy off. I think after 9 months of me getting all the baby attention, he can have his turn :)

After the millionth picture (be glad I didn't put them all on here), like any guy Cole was happy about getting out of that suit. So he loved laying on daddy's chest and working on that strong neck. I think he's doing pretty good considering the big melon he has to support.

I love this one because he actually looks chubby! Look at that double chin.

Dad ready to catch. I wonder if those eyes are going to stay blue?

We worked on the yard last night, and Tyler packed him in the baby pack and we spent a full hour outside mowing the lawn and chatting with the neighbors. I count my blessings every day that we have such a laid back baby! He just goes with the flow (mostly) and is happy doing whatever we're doing. It totally looks like he doesn't fit in there, but it said 8 lb limit and he fell right asleep so I'm assuming it's ok.

Here's our awesome push mower that we use to mow our lawn, it's pretty old (I used to use it as a kid to mow my grandma's lawn) but it cuts well and you get a great total body workout. Whenever I see Cole in that carrier I think of those Japanese game shows where you jump against the velcro wall and stick :)

I was going through Cole's 0-3 month clothes this week and realized that he has a ton he hasn't worn, and he's getting a little big for them. So, I thought I would dress him in a couple for a photo shoot. But, he hates changing clothes so I got 2 outfits in before he decided to be done.

Cute mouth.
After I took these and looked back through them, I realized that our little boy is a natural dancing machine. Here's him doing the hula:

And my absolute favorite, the sprinkler!!! The face totally matches too. I laughed for awhile at this one.
Another cute outfit!

The Best 4th Ever!

Just wanted to share some pics from our FABULOUS 4th of July weekend! Mom, Dad, Christine, and Tegan came out to stay with us and celebrate not only our nation's birthday, but mom's as well on the 5th! We absolutely love having them over and were sad to see them go. Thanks for sharing your weekend with us!



The morning of the 4th, Tyler, Cole, and I jumped in the truck bright and early (even after a late night at the drive-in) and headed down to our old neighborhood in the Avenues. Our old ward has a breakfast every 4th, and it was so fun to see lots of friends and loved ones that we know so well. Here's daddy and Cole, don't you think their mouths look the same in this one?


Here's Cole chillin in his bouncer while we get ready to eat dinner. What a sweetie! It looks like he's clicking his heels together. (there's no place like home, there's no place like home)


My beautiful sisters and son.


Christine is showing us the yummy corn on the cob before it gets chewed, Tegan has the after.


Tyler and I even enjoyed dinner with the fam while Cole enjoys watching from the bouncer.


This is the next morning of the 5th, mom's birthday. My sweetie was up making a birthday breakfast of crepes and scrambled eggs! He is the best!


Here's my sweet mom doing what she does best; taking care of us kids. What happened was: Christine was attempting to squat Tegan, when apparently her shorts couldn't take it and ripped big time. Mom saves the day with my dinky sewing kit!


We went shopping at the mall, and couldn't resist the killer glasses.


Christine and Tegan are looking hard for something.

Tegan and I are cute!

Mom again doing what she does best, taking care of Cole.

I love this look Cole is giving Tegan.

Today is a big deal in our home, my little man is now one month old! We've celebrated by eating, taking naps, and changing diapers; oh wait, we do that every day. It's hard to tell, because I'm with him all day every day, but he is changing and getting bigger and stronger. He is getting really good at holding his head up, and he's getting so much more alert. I love being a mom!

Way to go Cole!

We had our 3 week doctor's appointment this week for Cole, and we wanted to share the good news that he is growing! I've never been a big worrier, but this new role as a mom just officially turned me into one. At first I was worried because he wouldn't wake up to eat, and I wasn't sure if he was getting enough, and now I'm worried that I'll never get a break because he won't stop eating. And I always worry if we're doing the right thing, or if not the right thing the best or most efficient thing (there has got to be a faster way to get him to sleep than walking/rocking forever - any ideas?). Pretty lame huh. But all this worrying makes me invest and love him more than anything. SO, the doctor's trip went great, he's doing everything he should be and growing fast. He now weighs 9 lbs. 6 oz, and was born 7.11, so that's great! I guess he's still a little guy in comparison though, I have good friends that had babies that weighed that much in their 7th month of pregnancy :) I can see him filling out more, especially his cute double chin, and he just is feeling beefier. So, keep it up kid!

His umbilical cord FINALLY fell out last week, hooray! What an exciting day that was! Just wanted to show you how cute it turned out. And I love this picture because this is what he usually looks like when I change him; he gets that right arm up there and really stretches. So cute!



On a side note, Tyler and I took him to his first movie this week! Like I mentioned before, I was a little worried. It was a later show, so he was sleeping on the way there but of course woke up as soon as we walked in the theater and started to cry. I'm sure the people around us were like, "what are they thinking!". But it was short-lived, and as soon as I took him out of his car seat (which is REALLY hard when you can't see cause it's dark and you haven't done it tons) he fell asleep and was out the entire movie. Yay! We saw Baby Mama, and it was a cute movie by the way (Tyler picked ;) Our next adventure is taking him to the drive in tonight! We'll see how it goes!