15 months on the 15th

Ya ya I know I have slacked again but I have good reason. Between all of our summer end activities I have been prepping for a couple of my Stampin' UP! classes. Although I love being a demonstrator it's allot of work. Well a few things have changed in our house lately...

First off you may have heard about the fire just behind us on the mountain. Although we were far enough away to be safe it was a bit terrifying seeing this out your back window when you are stranded at home with a baby. Here are a few pictures I pulled from the KSL. com website. Hopefully this is something I will never see again.

The building on the right is the beginning of our townhouses.

Near the new LDS temple

From the valley

A night shot

Alex turned 15 months old on the 15th of August. He now has 7 teeth ( two that have came in the last week or so causing Alex to be a very grumpy baby). We have moved him into a big boy car seat as of the first of the month. He loves it!! He is able to look around and wave to the cars.

Alex loves to wave at just about anything these days that is unless you want him to. A few weeks ago our Moms group went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. Alex has never been huge into animals ( he must take after his mom) however on that day he loved them. He was talking 90 miles an hour at the animals and waving to them. The only one he didn't love was the donkey. Our group went over to feed the baby calf who was next to this mean donkey with a sign in it's pen that read watch out I bite... EEK! The donkey went crazy when he realized we weren't about to feed him. Alex got scared and cried like crazy, poor kid. Hopefully he won't be terrified of donkeys like his mom is of dogs. I had a few pictures of Alex on the on the pony ride but cringed at the sight of me so they aren't included, sorry!!

Alex sitting at a little table they had at TP. He was pointing at the ponies

Not sure what he was looking at but I loved this picture

Waving at the animals

Besides eating Mom's piggies and searching for my belly button he has now discovered how to blow raspberries on my arms and legs. Every time I turn around he is doing something to make me laugh. The other day I turned around to find him backwards in his swing set. He had climbed up by himself and was rocking the whole swing. One of his new things he loves is having tastes especially if we allow him to bite off a piece of our food like a sandwich. He is talking alot, his new word is Sharie. I love to hear him call my name from his crib after nap time. It's so stinkin' cute!! I would love to post that he is walking but it's still pretty iffy. He knows how to but is lazy. He likes to push off things, jump up and down and then walk. Today he walked from my chair to the fireplace but stopped of course when he realized I was watching him. He knows that he can get around much faster if he crawls. He does walk really well though if you let him hold your finger or push something. He is growing up so fast!

We went to his 15 month appt recently ( okay it's been awhile but we can pretend right?) and received two shots. He did pretty well but is getting smart and realizes what is going on even before it happens. The Dr said he is little but is developing on track. Thanks to all the butter, ice cream, 1/2 & 1/2, etc. he has pushed his way to just above the 5% for his weight at a whopping 21 lbs. He is 2' 7" which is in the 50% and his head circumference is 18.5" ( I don't recall where that puts him). His Dr was only concerned about one that and that was how he rolls on his left ankle when walking. She suggested to try and keep him in shoes as much as possible to give him support. The odds are he will grow out of it but it may be the reason why is taking his time to really start walking on his own.

Daddy and Alex

Alex loves kisses from his Dad

While waiting for the Dr Alex helped himself to the books, he loves books!!

Alex's 15 month pictures in his new car jammies from his cousins. They are for 24 months but seem to run a little small so we tried them on now.

Thanks to everyone who answered my memory post. It was a ton of fun to read through them and remember the good old days. If you haven't left me a memory feel free to go add one, I would love to hear what you remember about the past with me. Have a good week!

Alex+Derby+Rain= One Unhappy Kid!

I'm blogging, I'm blogging and it's only been two days, now that's good!!


I wanted to give a quick shout out thank you to Anna-Marie. When she was in town a few weeks she brought Alex a gift, sweet huh? Anyway it has become the hit toy at our house. Alex loves it in the bath but also outside of the bath. He loves when his Dad plays like the big fish is throwing up the little fish. Oh boy the things that makes boys laugh. It's a darling toy from Alex toys of all places. Thanks Anna-Marie!



I love this age because it seems like everything we do with Alex is considered a 1st for him. It's like Christmas everyday! Saturday Jason and I decided to head over to the SLC county fair. It would be Alex's first fair and first derby. I attempted an afternoon nap for Alex before we went but didn't have any luck ( this will matter later in the story). We had heard there was a chance of rain but it was barely sprinkling with clear skies to the west so we were too worried. I did talk finally into bringing a jacket which in the long run was good.


We got there at 6, got a close parking spot, tickets for the derby and saved us a spot with Jason's jacket. We then took Alex to the free petting zoo. He wasn't too thrilled, I am guessing it's because he had just had a 10 minute cat nap on the way and was still groggy. We walked around a bit looking at the booths, contest entries and animals oh and the people. It's amazing the type of people you can see at a fairground. We decided we better grab some dinner quick and head back to your seats so that no one could take them. We scarfed down dinner and headed back to the grandstands. Our seats were right were we left them.


We got seated and fed Alex some dinner. We were just finishing when out of no where we were hit with a downpour. Come to find out non- napping Alex isn't too found of the rain. He sobbed and scream uncontrollably. Luckily the nice people behind us saved the day by letting us sit under their blanket. I felt guilty as I had prejudged them by their looks (total WT) but they turned out to be very nice people. We spent the next 30 minutes or so trying to stay dry and keep Alex from crying anytime someone cheered. We considered leaving but after paying 12 bucks a ticket we were determined to stay. People around us were so nice offering their umbrellas and such. I felt like I bounded with strangers over the rain.


The derby finally started 40 minutes late with no rain. Sage a little girl sitting near us became my best buddy. She was so stinkin' cute!! She informed me that girls rule and boys suck. That is four but used to be three. That she has a little sister who cries sometimes. That I don't know where she lives but when I said probably Utah she informed me no she lives in Riverton. What a doll! Alex calmed down finally and actually enjoyed the derby. He liked pointing to the cars. It was a great show,the drivers were CRAZY!! It brought back memories of the Sanpete county fair and the derby nights watching the Cox boys compete. The night ended with a firework show and Alex made it to bed at 11:30 that night. Needless to say he was exhausted!! Thanks total strangers for saving the night for us and oh .... sorry for prejudging ya!

Are you my Mother?

So finally Alex has learned to say Mama, I couldn't be more thrilled or could I? Although he knows my name now he didn't always call me his Mama. Late one night I went into his room to comfort him in his crib when he ran to the other side calling Mama, Mama!!! He wanted his Dad.... agggg

One of my favorite books growing up. My Grandma Stewart thought I could read because I had this book memorized word for word, page for page. I had her fooled!!

Oh well at least he has down Mama and in time he will completely understand who is Mama and Dada are.

For Pioneer weekend our family decided to go camping with my sister's family. It was the first time we had gone since Alex was born. It's much more difficult to go with a kid. To make it possible I had to take a load of camping supplies up to my sisters before we even went camping. I also made a trip to the local DI for camp clothes Alex could get dirty in without me worrying about him ruining them. My sister was nice enough to find him a couple pairs of shoes and a stroller. I also hit the dolor store to pick up some camping toys. We had a great time playing games, roasting smores, eating homemade ice cream, tin foil dinners, relaxing, making bracelets, soaking in the creek etc. Alex loved throwing rocks into the creek, soaking his feet in the water from his very own chair, pushing his stroller around the campground ( still not walking on his own but loves pushing anything that will move), playing in the dirt with his new toys and of course napping on his cousins.

Alex loved hanging out with his Daddy in the creek throwing rocks into the water

Wanted a view of the river in the background, so peaceful

My nephew Braxton begged for me to take a picture with Alex. As you can tell Alex wasn't so thrilled with the idea .

Didn't dig one with cousin Shae either

Was napping on cousin Areiann until I got there to snap this picture

Napping on cousin Shae

It was a fun trip despite the two nights we were there. The first night Alex woke up screaming bloody murder. I would have swore he had been bitten by something. I stripped him down to his diaper to examine him. It wasn't until after giving him medicine that he burped and relaxed. I think it was a combination of gas and an unfamiliar place. Needless to say he spent the rest of the time in our bed. The second night my pregnant niece Jillian was awoken to an animal outside. She listened for a few minutes and then woke her husband up. He reminded her that my nephew had set a trap and had probably got a raccoon. She tried to go back to sleep but heard her Dad open the trailer door and asked him what the noise once. He again guessed a raccoon. She needed some tums ( gotta love being pregnant) so she got up to go get some in the trailer. Her dad asked her to slowing shine her lantern on the trip to see what Braxton caught.

As she told me her words after looking at the trap were.... "Oh SHIT we have a skunk" my BIL said " are ya sure?" she said " I believe that is what this white strip down it's back means".

Yes I got this online, no we didn't get a cute close up picture of our visitor.

They spent the next ten minutes using a wire to carefully left the trap door trying to get the skunk to escape happy and unharmed. They said it took forever for him to leave but finally he was gone. I was happy to be told the story the next day instead of waking up to a skunk smell that night. Can you even imagine? AGG!!!

On July 30th two of my favorite people ever came to visit. It was Stampin' UP! annual convention in SLC so many of my old Samee demonstrators were in town. Two of my favorites decided to ventured down to Draper to spend the night with me. We had fun eating, shopping , viewing the new catalog and chatting. It was nice to show them around my neck of the woods. I miss working with these girls and all of my other Samee demonstrators. Thanks Jas for making the night possible, I really appreciate it. Thanks Wendy and Anna Marie for coming to see me. Miss you already!

It was the end of the night, I was looking horrid and I had a nice Cafe Rio spot on my boob but I still had to post this picture. I love these girls!

This week Alex has been cutting his sixth tooth which means lots of crying, no sleep, a fever, a clingy baby and this time the runs to top it off. For two days all I did was change diapers and put butt cream on a screaming baby. Oh the joys of being a Mom. Luckily things are returning to normal. Alex is sleeping better, eating finally and the cream has returned to his drawer.

Jason went out last night to the movies with his friends. I stayed home to work on another stamp class and catch up on my DVR shows. Lots of good shows to watch. The last one I watched was "How to look good naked" do you remember me talking about this before. I know it sounds strange but I love it. It proves that women are crazy and we are by far our own worst critic. Will these ever change for me, ya I doubt it.

http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/how-look-good-naked

Anyone else out there in need of a trip to this show? Have a good weekend! I have a goal to blog next week on a more frequent basis, wish me luck!

Always playing blog catch up

Why is it that my blog has become a chore instead of a hobby. There has been so much going on that I feel I will never catch up. Time to do just that! Here is what has been happening in my neck of the woods.

Alex turned 14 months old. I know I was always told cherish them while their are small because they grow up fast but honestly I never expected it to be this fast.

I am not sure on his weight because we haven't weighed him lately but he is definitely still small for his age. He isn't walking yet but is super close, I don't give him much longer. He is so full of personality lately.

Here are a just a few of his new/favorite things to do lately. He loves to watch eebee baby, signing times and John & Kate plus 8. He loves to be tickled, play with his trucks, give high fives, wave, be pulled around in his highchair, drink milk from his sippy cup, take showers with mom, play in the water, eat mom's piggies, read books, play catch with his balls and give hugs and kisses. His new favorite words is Ohhhh and Baa ( translated to ball).

His 14 month pictures, look at how little Ryker bear is getting.

Last weekend I had my niece Shae come for a visit. We stayed busy while she was here. We had a good time at Moms group playing on Noah's Ark at Thanksgiving point. We also spent a day playing over at my friend Mollie's new house. Had a BBQ and swam at Nessiem's house one night. Went to Draper Days another night and watched the fireworks. It was a busy weekend! Sunday we had family dinner at my Mom's so I could meet my sister to drop off Shae.

Here is Shae pushing Alex around on his truck. He loved having a playmate for the week. Shae is such a big helper. I hope they always stay best buds.

Draper Days

Alex's first pony ride. He wasn't too sure what to think of it. Jason said "can you blame him I am not a huge fan of riding them either".

This horse was hungry and had stuck his head under the fence to eat the grass. He has eaten it down to nothing so Shae was nice enough to pull some grass for him and bring it to where he could reach. Silly horse, I am surprised he didn't get his head stuck.

Shae and Alex on the barrel wagon ride. He seemed to enjoy himself but wasn't willing to look at me for a picture.

We decided to let Shae do something many people will never do in their lifetime, jump in a huge pool of bubbles in her clothes. She had a blast. I think if it's there next year I might just have to try it out myself.

Jason bbq'd some Sanpete "turkey" for Sunday dinner. It was delicious!! We didn't have the turkey we needed so chicken had to do but it worked out well. Alex seemed to enjoy it.

A close up of Alex crossing his legs. So stinkin' cute!!

Alex loves balls and has just recently started staying baaa. He was freaking out on Sunday and I couldn't figure out why. Finally I realized he had noticed the ball on the other side of the lawn. Aunt Kim was nice enough to play catch with him.

Happy 24th for all you Utahns, have a great one!

We're back

We are back and finally getting settled after our week long trip to California. There's so much to blog about but I will try to keep it to a minimum.

Thursday Alex came down with his 2nd cold, not a fun way to start our trip but we managed with a ton of tissues on hand.

On May 9th our 5 year wedding anniversary we packed our bags and headed for the airport. We planned to meet Jason's parents and little sister in California. They drove, we decided to fly. We were a little nervous about how Alex would do on the plane so we invested in a few new snacks, made sure he had his bottle as we took off etc. to ensure a good flight. Overall he did very well. He made friends quick with the stewardess' and neighbors on the plane.

After we arrived in Oakland we rented a red dodge charger and drove to Napa Valley where we would be staying for the week. The drive was pretty seeing all the wineries. I could enjoy the beauty even if I'm not a drinker.

We arrived at the timeshare to meet up with Jason's family. They looked like separate little cabins oh so cute but upon further inspection I pointed out to Jason that they were single wide trailers. HA HA!! Perhaps not our home but clean, and quite nice overall. We later found out that this area floods often so they have trailers so that they can move them all out instead of building and having rooms flooded. Smart I suppose!

That night for dinner we headed to "Go Fish" in St. Helena. Jason's parents wanted to treat us for our anniversary. We had heard of this restaurant on the food network so we were anxious to go since we all love seafood. Jason wasn't very thrilled with his dinner but Alex adored his mashed tators and my sushi was quite tasty. On the way back we stopped at good old Wally World for Alex supplies and snacks. Although it looked very upscale on the outside we soon learned it was just like the Wally Worlds back home. If you can't tell I am not a huge fan of Wal-mart, sorry to those who are.

Saturday Jason, Alex and I did a bit of exploring with our GPS to find some breakfast but ended up picking up the old standby Micky D's. After getting ready we headed to Berkley for a family party. Jason's Aunty Max and Uncle Bob live up in the hills of Berkley. It was a crazy ride up there but way worth it. Dinner was delicious especially Aunty Max's famous homemade fried chicken and the dream cake my FIL spoke so much about. We spent the day visiting, eating and enjoying the view. Alex especially had a great time getting to know his Dad's family and his cousin Elianna. They had a ton of fun playing together.

Alex and his cousin Elianna. She is a year older, a few inches taller and about a pound heavier. She loved playing with baby Alex.

The view from their balcony was breathtaking

Sunday was Mother's Day, officially my first. I spent allot of time reflecting on Mother's Day last year when I was in the hospital with false labor. After being checked out I was given a Morphine shot and sent home to wait it out. We spent the day walking, walking, and walking some more. I wanted Alex to come so badly, luckily it was just two days later that I made it back to the hospital for the real thing. Now a year later I am officially a Mommy. I do my best but I have days where I question if I'm good enough to be Alex's Mom. I know that no Mom is perfect and if I do my best that's all I can do. Being a Mother however has really made me appreciate my own Mom more. She is one amazing women!! She has endured many things in her life. People will ask me how does your mom do it. Honestly I don't know but she has and does. I love that she loves me no matter how different I am from her, and no matter what different paths I have choose to take in my life. I love that she gives her love unconditionally and asks for nothing in return. I love how excited she gets about her kids/grandkids. Hearing her brag about Alex always makes my day. I love you, my best friend! I feel so blessed to call you Mom. I hope I can be the type of Mother to Alex that you have been to me.

My Mom will kill me for posting this picture but I can't resist. This picture was taken when Alex was a few weeks old. My mom offered to cuddle him while I did some baking. When I came to check on her i found them both asleep and grabbed the camera.

My brother did some wierd affects with these two photos, I love them!

So Sunday we shopped around Napa and went to lunch at Taylor's Automatic Refresher. We heard about them from Guy on Diners, Drive Inns and Dives. The have yummy garlic fries and I loved their PB chocolate shake. It was strange to see people drinking a glass of wine with their burger though.

That night we had a big Chinese banquet at a local restaurant. It is a Chinese tradition to have a party when a child turns a month old. Well being that Jason's family lives in California we decided to hold off until Alex was one year old. So for alex's first birthday along with his Grandpa Al's birthday ( same day) we celebrated with a 11 course Chinese dinner. My cousin Jes who lives out in CA was able to join us that night. She even ventured back to our 5 star resort to spend the night.

Monday we went out for breakfast and then laid low for a few hours while my FIL Al's got some lights fixed on his car. Later that afternoon we went to the Jelly Belly factory. We were the last group of the day and the only group so we had a private tour. It was fun because we were able to view areas not usually shown to big groups and could ask any questions we had. We did a little shopping there including picking up some belly flops. We then attempted to go to a local amusement park however it was closed so we shopped around instead and had dinner at a cute little Mexican restaurant. We finished the night with a trip to the creamery.

Tuesday we got up early and headed to San Francisco. We walked around a bit and ate some clam chowder before heading out to Alcatraz for the day. It was Alex's first trip on a boat. We tried to take him outside to enjoy the ride but it was super windy.

As many of you know I am not a huge museum person or history fan at all however this was different. An old prison fascinated me. If you haven't had the opportunity to go out there before I would highly recommend it. We were able to go on the audio tour. They give you a little tape recorder thing and you can walk around at your own pace looking at stuff. I loved how you could heard the cell doors slamming and the inmates chatting. It really brought you back in time. We also shopped around the pier and had some seafood for lunch. It was a very nice day with perfect weather. Alex's favorite thing was the homemade donuts we bought. I really should have taken a picture of him. He couldn't seem to get enough of them.

Wednesday we laid low hanging out at the pool and getting lunch again at Taylors. It was super hot about 98 that day so taking bug out didn't sound very fun. Alex has never been swimming so we thought it was about time to break in his new suit. That night we met up with Jason's cousin Ron for more sushi. Two meals of sushi in one week makes one HAPPY Sharie.

Thursday was Alex's first birthday. I honestly can not believe that my baby boy is a year old now. He is growing up way too fast. It was also my FIL Alan's birthday. We decided to try and escape the heat but heading to SF closer to the bay and hit the zoo. Well our great idea didn't get us far enough from the heat. It was soo bloody hot we almost went home as soon we arrived however we toughed it out and it eventually cooled off. Alex seemed to enjoy seeing the many animals. My favorite happened to be the baby cubs, so cute.

We debated on where to get dinner that night. We didn't want to leave the city yet because we would get stuck in traffic. We decided to use our GPS to find a local place to eat. BIG MISTAKE!! We drove around forever finding either dumpy places or non existent restaurants. We finally stopped along a street of restaurants and asked a local for a recommendation. We ended up at a Italian place that was quite tasty. On the way out I had the opportunity to change a massive poopy diaper in the car as traffic passed by. All I can say is YUCK, YUCK, YUCK. How can a restaurant not have a changing station, honestly?

That night I packed up our stuff while Jason let Alex have his first Oreo cookie, he loved it.

Here are a few pictures of my birthday boy ready for bed in his new jammies his grandparents gave him. On a side note we took him to the store in these jammies on Saturday and a lady ask if he really is a Sound Sleeper, I just laughed in her face. Ya right!

Friday we stopped by a honey farm on the way out of town. I was hoping to bring back some Napa Valley honey for my mom, instead we left with nothing, quite disappointed. We took our time getting back to the airport before we headed home. Alex wasn't nearly as delightful on the way back. I would chalk this up to a week of ciaos, fewer naps, less sleep, new places and people. He did okay and seemed to impress the people behind us but Jason and I know him better. He wouldn't sleep a wink but as soon as his head hit the stroller in the airport he was out and slept all the way home (well almost). It was a very fun long week. Thanks to my in laws for making this trip possible and to all of Jason's family who were so welcoming. We had a terrific time!

Alex has many firsts this week. A plane ride, boat ride, seeing the ocean, being in another state, learning how to point, swimming, using a sippy cup successfully, walking around furniture and eating his first Oreo cookie. He loves to pull his mean face and give lots of hugs. My little baby is now a little man.