Happy Belated Birthday Uncle Jake!

Yesterday was my older brother's 26th birthday! Unfortunately he is all the way in Missouri right now so we couldn't celebrate with him :( I hope he was able to do something fun with his friends though.
My post is a little bit late because yesterday we were very busy with going to church and then heading out Payson way to celebrate Tyler's mom's birthday (which is actually today). Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays! Anyway, I am just so sad that I can't celebrate Jake's birthday with him, but I am grateful for the technology that enables me to do this:

I hope that smile brightens your day like it does mine, Jake! 

And I would just like to take this time to say that although our relationship hasn't

been the most conventional, ever since you went on your mission I have 

always known that my big brother loves me very much.

And now, nothing makes me happier than to know 

how much he loves my little boy. 

I love you Jake and we all miss you!

Happy Belated Birthday :)

Happy Birthday Uncle Dain!

Well, today is my youngest brother's 18th birthday. I can hardly believe that! Whenever I think of him, he's that adorable 10-year-old. I'm sure he doesn't appreciate that, but that's life buddy! Having him be turning 18 makes me feel super old, I can only imagine how old it makes my parents feel. (Love you mom and dad! :)

I remember when Dain was a baby. He was A-DORABLE. He had the biggest blue eyes and he was just so sweet. I remember calling him "Bubba" because he was such a chunker and "Dainy Boy" just for kicks. Now, he's the exact opposite of being a chunker, but I still call him Dainy Boy every once in a while.

Well, anyways, Happy Birthday Dain! Congratulations on being able to vote this year :)

So......this is going to be the longest post of all time.

Greetings all! I know it has been MONTHS since my last post, but I have a perfectly legitimate excuse: I lost our camera chord and therefore could not upload adorable pictures of Kale. And really, no one wants to read these posts unless they include adorable pictures of Kale. And so, now that the camera chord has finally been located, a new post may come forth!

Alright, so A LOT has happened since the last post. I will update by pictures and maybe add more as I remember things.

For Christmas, Tyler's dad gave Kale this adorable little suit and this was the first time he could fit into it. And may a just say, what a studly pair of boys I have :)

 I took Kale to an indoor pool in Lehi where my friend, Brittany Crumback, works. We went with my sister-in-law Realyn and her daughter Sadie. It was so much fun! Kale loves being in the water, and these baby swings were just the thing for him. He just chilled while I pushed him and he observed the other kids that were playing.

This is the outfit Nana Gerber sent to Kale for St. Patrick's Day. It has little froggy feet! We didn't do anything special for St. Patrick's Day, but I you best believe I wore my green!

Daddy and Kale doing some good snuggles.

 

 My little guy makes the cutest faces and has the cutest clothes!

This is Kale's Easter outfit. I love the sweater vest!

Family Easter Picture :)

So for my mom's birthday I sent a picture  of Kale to her, so of course I had to do the same for my dad! 

Tyler had to go up to Ogden with the track team for a meet and Kale and I wen with him. So, I decided that since we were up there we might as well get a picture by the wildcat of my parents' alumni.  

Kale goes wherever he wants now. He's very crafty. I try to use things, like boxes, to keep him out of stuff, but he always manages to find a way to get through the barriers. 

My first Mother's Day!

Sometimes, we like to take Kale to the park. He doesn't like the grass, so we lay out a blanket for him. It's hilarious to watch him go all the way to the edge of the blanket and then stop. He's started trying to eat the grass but he still won't go out on it.

Kale just loves to be outside. He loves to watch the other kids at the park and the cars that drive by. He's just super curious!

Yup, Kale can stand up all by himself!

Look at those big blue eyes!

Daddy helped him climb a tree!

Best. Picture. Ever. ( It only took like 5 tries before we got this one)

We took Kale to the aquarium in Sandy. He really liked it, but he was more
interested in the other kids that were there than the animals.

Penguins!!

Momma and Kale just bein a little goofy.

My grandma stopped to visit us on her way home from my my cousin's baby blessing.
It was so awesome to see her!

So, Tyler and I went looking for something to do besides watch T.V. and we came up with the idea of a puzzle. We found this one and loved it. We put it together in about a week, glued it, and framed it. Now, it's in Kale's room. :)

Happy Fourth of July! Kale kept blinking when I took his picture, but he still looks cute! Unfortunately he was sick for the Fourth. He had a fever all day and a INSANELY runny nose. I felt so bad for the poor little guy. His fever broke at about 6 PM so we figured the worst was over. However, at about 4 A.M. his fever shot sky high so we took him to the E.R. Turns out, he had croup. When the doctor told us my first thought was, oh, like Diana's little sister in Anne of Green Gables! They gave him some medicine that was to help his throat relax, and the next day Tyler's mom was nice enough to bring us a humidifier for him. He's doing better now, but still a little sick. The poor guy has lost his voice! And he's also passed his sickness on to his mommy. But we'll make it through, right? Needless to say, it was an interesting Fourth of July.

At the beginning of June we went on a family vacation to....IOWA!!!! 

It was so great. I loved being able to see my family and friends. It was the best to watch my parents be grandparents. They are just so adorable with Kale, and I'm so grateful for how much they love him.

We took Kale to the Anamosa pool and went down the slide with him. I totally biffed it at the bottom of the slide. Tyler did a much better job with him :)

We also took him to the Lost Island water park up in Cedar Falls. It wasn't quite warm enough though, so Kale only played in the water for a little bit.

Uncle Dain the lifeguard! Kale would just stare at Dain. They would have staring contests, Kale usually won. Kale is so loved by so many people!

Also, on our trip to Iowa, I got to see my two best friends in the entire world! (Brittney May and Alison Yanda) I couldn't believe that everything worked out that way. I was so happy to see them and ecstatic for them to meet my little boy.

Well, that's just about it. Now, we're just focusing on finding a place to live in Washington and getting all our stuff packed up. I'm really going to try to be better about posting regularly, 

but we'll see how that goes!

The Winds of Change Are Approaching

Well, February is almost over and I can barely believe it. Where did the past few months go?? Nothing major has happened to make time go by any faster, but it feels like it is. A lot of things will be happening soon, but right now we are in limbo. We're waiting to see if any schools offer Tyler a Graduate Assistantship; we might be going to Philadelphia for the summer to do security systems (which would be so awesome); or we might stay here for the summer. We might go to school in Washington, or Iowa, or Utah....or maybe we'll just sell all our stuff and take Kale on a trip around the world! Can you tell I really don't like this waiting game?

Anyway, I swear Kale is growing ever single day. At his 4 month appointment he was 16 pounds 1 ounce and he was 26 1/2 inches long. He's really tall; like, in the 90th percentile tall. I look at other babies at church and he is bigger than 6 month olds. I swear he is the product of Tyler and I, somehow.

He's become a real mover. If he's on the ground or in his crib, he doesn't stay in that same spot for very long. He gets really talkative as well. He has 3 different ways to talk: he yells, he coos, and I don't really know how to describe the third way, but they're all adorable.

He doesn't like to take a bath in his little baby bath, but if I get in the bath with him and hold him he kicks and kicks and splashes and yells and plays with his rubber duckies. It is the most adorable thing!

He puts everything in his mouth and he is getting really good at grabbing things and switching what he's holding from hand to hand.


I just love this outfit!


He didn't think this was as fun as I did.



He loves to stand up so that he can see everything.


We went for a little walk together :)


Look at my handsome Valentine! His Grandpa Patterson came by to give him this cute dog for Valentine's Day. Tyler named him Rockford; I don't know how he came up with that, but we like it.


It was my mom's birthday recently and this was how we said Happy Birthday to her. It sucks that she is so far away, but I'm so glad we have amazing technology that makes the distance not seem so bad!

The Holidays Were Oh So Happy

Greetings!

I realize that I have gotten behind in my blog updates, however I would just like to say that I have a very active little boy who demands all of my attention. Right now he is sleeping in his swing so I will try to hurry and get this updated before he wakes up!

Alright so first lets talk about Thanksgiving. It was great! We went to Janie and Mark's house and had lots of delicious food. Also, that night we went Black Friday shopping. Tyler and I had never participated in this Thanksgiving tradition before, so it was fun to knock it off our bucket list. Janie and Mark live across the street from a Wal-mart, so that is where we went. Tyler and Shane waited in line for some desktop computers while Realyn and I waited in line for some TVs. Also, I went and joined in the 10:00 frenzy for discounted Blu-rays. That was nuts! I was standing next tot he pallet that had the movies I wanted on it and there were tons of other people surrounding it as well; and these people looked like they wanted their movies a lot more than I wanted mine, plus they were bigger than me. I decided to use my brain to defeat their muscle. I started up a conversation with them and convinced them that I would help them get their movies if they made sure I got mine. It totally worked! I got Inception, Blind Side, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and The Karate Kid.

The week after Thanksgiving Tyler went to Hawaii with the football team. Needless to say, I was INSANELY jealous. He said it was awesome. He got to swim with sea turtles, see Pearl Harbor, and enjoy the entertainment of the Polynesian Cultural Center. Kale and I missed him like crazy but we were glad he got to have that experience.

My mom came to town on December 13. It was so fun having her here. She flew in early because my older brother, Jake, graduated from school! He did the ROTC program and so he had his commissioning ceremony to do. It was really cool. We are all so proud of him. And he looked so cool in his uniform. He's in Texas now with his reserve unit. It's weird that he's not here anymore.

Tyler and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary on December 18. It was great! The Friday before our anniversary my mom babysat Kale while we went to dinner. We went to this great Chinese place called Shoots. The meal was great, and when our waitress brought us our to-go boxes she told us that our meal had already been paid for by the couple sitting at the table behind us. They were total strangers just doing something nice for some strangers! It was so awesome and it made me feel the true spirit of Christmas. I wish so badly that I could have thanked them, they have no idea what that meant to Tyler and I.

And finally, we had a WONDERFUL Christmas. My dad and younger brother, Dain, drove out here the Wednesday before Christmas. Tyler, Kale and I spent the 23rd and 24th up in Ogden at my Grandma's house with them. It was so fun to be able to spend Christmas with my family. Christmas day was at Tyler's sister's house and then Tyler left for Texas with the football team early Monday morning while Kale and I went back up to Ogden. It was great to be able to spend so much time with my family and especially for Kale to be able to. I was so sad when they left, mostly because I'm unsure when I will see them again. But I'm so glad they were able to come, even if it was for a short time.

Tyler's 25th birthday was on January 3rd and we celebrated by going out to eat at Red Robin with Shane, Realyn and Sadie. It was a great time and I'm currently craving the oreo milkshake I had there. Seriously, I want to go back just for the milkshake, I don't need anything else.

All in all the holidays were a busy and wonderful time. I'm really glad, however, that Tyler has an easy assignment this semester (the track team) so that we can spend more time together. The next few months should be event free other than watching Kale grown and learn to do new things! Speaking of Kale, here are some pictures of him:

He really likes to be just in his diaper.

Gotta love that smile!

Kale and Grandpa loved each other.

Look they match! How adorable. My boys watching sports together.

Cousin Trent came to see Kale!

Kale loves hangin with his Uncle Jake. He's softer than Tyler and me.

Kale and Bentley just chillin together.

He's ALWAYS got his fists in his mouth. At night, I put petroleum jelly on his hands and then cover them with socks so that they won't get chapped and cracked. He looks so adorable at night.

Kale loves sleeping on his Nana.

This was part of a 3 hour nap. He never does that...

I just love my little boy!!