Begging You to Be My Escape

It's funny how life barrels forward,

sometimes without you even 

realizing it.

When we first moved out here,

life seemed to be paused in a way.

There was just not much for 

us to do to change up our daily routine.

But life didn't pause,

we just let ourselves get complacent.

Luckily, Heavenly Father gives a little push 

every once in a while

to help us along.

We've made some friends and

received callings in 

our ward.

Tyler is going to be teaching

the 16-18 year-olds in Sunday School.

I think they'll really like him,

and they'll learn from him.

I haven't been sustained yet, but

I've been called to be the Activity Days Leader

for the 8-11 year-old girls.

I'm really excited for it.

I don't really remember what Activity Days

were like, but 8-11 year-old girls 

are always fun!

Also, Tyler gave a really great talk

this past Sunday on Tithing.

He is a really good speaker!

My doomsday is on the 28th....

Kale is doing great too.

I've finally got him on a sleeping schedule.

He goes to bed pretty consistently at 8:00 every night;

sometimes it takes a little convincing,

but he mostly just wants to cuddle with me,

so I'm not complaining :)

He still wakes up a lot in the night,

but it's probably because he's

a monster of a boy and is

ALWAYS hungry.

His eating schedule is the next obstacle

I will conquer.

Kale loves to dance.

I wish my blog wasn't so lame

and would upload videos.

His favorite thing to dance to are the theme

songs to TV shows. 

When those start, he drops whatever he's

doing and dances.

The same goes for the song playing

during the credits.

What a goof-nut!

His dance moves include, but are not limited to:

-running in place (or, as I like to call it,

his quick two step)

- shaking his cute little butt

-waving his hands like he's conducting

-bobbing his hand like he's a gangsta

-sticking his hand out like he's trying

to catch something and then 

going round and round, like

he's chasing his tail.

I wish I could also describe his 

facial expressions during his 

dancing bouts, but 

I know I wouldn't do them justice.

He also loves to be outside.

We go outside at least once a day,

and he hasn't complained once!

He is just so curious, and investigates

every little thing he sees...including

dog poop!!!!!!

I will never take him anywhere

without wipes again.

Lesson learned.

All in all, we're doing great.

Now, on with the pictures!

My little lost boy!

We were playing at a bit of silliness really :)

Remember when the stroller dwarfed him?...

Classic Kale face!

Maybe he'll be a detective one day.

Look at him investigate that leaf!

Kale loves to show me what he's found.

I think he especially likes 

to show me the pretty things,

like this leaf, or flowers.

Basically, he's a momma's boy :)

So for his birthday my parents were nice

enough to send us some money

to get Kale something that he needed.

And so, we decided to get him a dresser. 

We love the one we got, and we think

it really makes Kale's room

look complete.

Thanks Nana and Poppee!!!

Kale has been loving his stuffed animals lately.

There's Henry, the frog; Rockford, the dog; Simba; and 

Billy, the monkey.

I thought I'd get shots of the rest of his room

since I was already taking pictures of half

of it.

And there you go!

I would like to say a special thank you 

to Laura and Clint.

Thank you so much for sending all of Kolbi's

old clothes and carseat.

It is such a major help to us

and we really really really really really appreciate it.

Love you all!

A Happy Birthday to the Cutest Little Boy in the Entire Universe

Well, last week was Kale's 

FIRST birthday!!

I realize it has taken me a week

and a half to post pictures.

Just listen, I have a perfectly 

reasonable explanation...

but it's really long and complicated

so I'll just skip it and get

straight to the cute

little guy :)

We had a super fun day with Kale.

I tried to document as much as

possible so that I could

put lots of pictures up

so that the audience 

might be better able to imagine 

they were there too.

And so, before posting the pictures, 

I simply warn you that there 

are MANY. 

Enjoy:

So we started the day with presents from Mom and Dad.
Tyler gave him this adorable monkey bean-bag chair.
Kale loved it immediately.
Mom gave Kale a few Hot Wheels cars and
another toy I'm not quite sure
how to put into words without sounding
idiotic, so I'll just say it's a learning toy :)

Look at all those presents!!!!
(that blue and green box is the toy I gave him)

The camera was distracting him from the task at hand.

Kale is thinking, "Sheesh Grandma Pam! You gave
me a ton of great presents!"
That's verbatim. I swear.

Kale loves those little cars :)

 

If Kale could, he would probably read those books all day.
I know the expression on his face in this
picture would persuade you
to believe otherwise, but
pictures can be deceiving.
That's why you shouldn't believe tabloids.
You should believe me.

We had a very "efficient" way of opening the presents.
Kale and I make a good team.

Snazzy shoes "from" Uncle Dain! ;)

After opening presents we went out
onto our sad little patio area
to blow some bubbles.
Kale was more interested in the
bubble wand than the bubbles themselves.

Birthday pictures with the 'rents!
(yes mom, I do realize that the shirt I'm wearing has
flowers on it. As Rocketman sort of once said, I'm 24 years old, I'm
almost a full-grown woman!)

Kale trusts his daddy 100%

While daddy was at work, we went to the park,
and I watched Kale climb on everything.

Playing with his new toys!
Look, at that mischievous face!

Birthday cakes I slaved over :)

Kale didn't really eat the cake,
he mostly just played with the frosting.

And that was his birthday!
It was really wonderful.
And it was made that way because of how loved he is
by everyone in our family.
A special thanks to Grandma Pam, Grandpa Pat, Aunt Laura, Uncle Clint, Addison, Kolbi, Aunt Janie, Uncle Mark, Josh, Rubie, Gracie, Uncle Shane, Aunt Realyn, Sadie, Great-grandma Estes, Nana, Poppee, Uncle Jake, Uncle Kyle and Uncle Dain. (Phew!)
We really appreciate the presents you sent, the cards you sent, and the phone calls.
We missed you all so much that day,
we wanted so badly to share it with you all.

The following pictures aren't from his birthday
but they involve birthday presents.

Go Iowa!!

This is the coat we got him from
Grandpa Pat!