Baby Austin is One Year Old!

I can’t believe it! Austin’s first year of life sure has flown by, and yet I feel like I’ve been doing this (taking care of him) for a very long time. We knew we wanted to have a party for him, but I was nervous about it. I’m definitely not a party planner… at all. I think most everything went well, but it was a lot of work. I think I’ve learned to keep things simple, but a few fun details are important too. Thanks to everyone who helped with the prep, and came to celebrate with us. 

We roasted hot dogs, had fruit, green salad, and pasta salad. Papa and Gram, pictured below, helped so much! Besides allowing us to use their yard and fire pit, they supplied the cute plates, napkins, and tablecloths, let us use their kitchen all day and helped wherever they could. 

 

I've been planning on making a cookie platter for Austin's birthday pretty much ever since I started this new hobby. These cookies were simple and fun to do, but the cake was much more difficult. That was the first time I'd ever attempted a decorated cake, and I learned a lot that should make future cakes less frustrating. 

Austin stuck his hand in the cake as soon as it was near enough. Can you tell?

The cupcake was more of a toy than food to Austin. He didn't really like how the frosting stuck to his hand and wanted to get out of his chair after a few minutes. Once he was out of the chair I fed him some of my ice cream and he LOVED that. I can't blame him, I prefer ice cream over cake any day too!

  

We opened presents later that evening, but we recorded the whole thing so we don't have any pictures of that. Austin received some fun toys, books, balls (those seem to be his current favorite), and clothes. Austin, we are so happy you joined our family a year ago and hope you had fun celebrating your special day! 

Sun Valley Part 2

I feel like I’m not a very good at consistently taking pictures of our family together, so while we were in such a beautiful place and all looking decent after church, I decided to try getting a few snapshots. Luckily, Sheryl was there to help us out. She loves photos and went wild with the camera. Here are a few of the resulting photographs. 

Sun Valley Part 1- I'm warning you now, this is long!

Here are a few of the highlights (and lows) of our little vacation.

Let’s start with the lows of the trip...

I got sick for a day and a half. All I could do was lie around and watch TV all. day. long. It was awful. I don’t care if you have 120 channels, watching that much TV becomes torture, especially when you’re in Sun Valley. 

Because I was sick, Parker was in charge of feeding Austin.  Unfortunately, Parker was unaware of the consequences of feeding him fruit all day.  It resulted in lots of diaper changes and a terrible diaper rash for a few days.

Parker lost to Ben in Tennis and Basketball. He might not be very happy I included this and may deny it.

Austin’s skin got so dry; I believe from the chlorine in the pool. He had the worst breakout of eczema on his back I’ve ever seen. He seemed to be unfazed by it and it cleared up after being slathered with aquaphor several times.

 

My glasses were stepped on while I was in the pool and broke right in half late on July 3^rd. I was a little (very) worried I was going to have to spend the rest of the trip blind because no eyeglass place would be open on the 4^th, not to mention they were about 100 miles away. Parker super glued them though and they held up great. My hero!

Enough of the negatives, on to the highlights!

We avoided really terrible sunburns! I’m a stickler about the sunscreen and it paid off!

We went to the pool practically every day. It’s a lot of work to get a baby in a pool, and because of Austin’s health issues that week he only got in a few times. We loved lounging too. Parker and his Uncles launched the young kids like I’ve never seen before. The kids can do all sorts of flips, so we had fun watching them, as did many others at the pool.

We went on a little bike ride. I love riding bikes! We don’t own any, so we don’t get to ride very often… maybe that’s why I like it, because it’s a novelty.

We enjoyed the warm days and cool nights. Perfect weather all week!

Grandma Carol and Grandpa Bob treated everyone to breakfast at the Kneadery.

I got a new coat and sweatshirt. We got an awesome deal at a ski/snowboard shop since they obviously aren’t in season right now.

Parker and I had a perfect spot for fireworks on the Fourth. Fireworks don’t really get old for us.

We kept with tradition and made a stop at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for caramel apples. German chocolate for me. Festive fourth for Parker, which was so awful he took it back, explained (not complained J) and they let him trade it for…. Something else. I can’t remember. 

Austin became great friends with the other little kids there. He loved watching Tanner and Whitney and they were great playing with him! They loved to help feed him, watch him go down for a nap etc.

We got to spend time with family members and get to know extended family a little better. Thanks for having us, Matheson’s! 

Sleeping Baby

I know babies are so cute and peaceful when they're asleep, but I think Austin is especially cute because of the position he's in when he sleeps. It's so funny how often Parker and I find him with his little bum in the air.

Get Carpets Cleaned. Check!

With Austin starting to crawl around more, I wanted to get our carpets cleaned. It was more of a hassle than I expected. In the future, I will try to plan a little better so that I don't spend 5+ hours like this.

Yes, Parker and I moved most of our furniture to the dining room and Austin and I spent WAY TO LONG on the floor in the kitchen to avoid stepping on wet carpet. Thank goodness for Netflix. Why didn't I plan ahead of time to leave the house and go... anywhere? I don't know. Parker had the car, but we could have walked somewhere. Won't make this mistake again.

Mother's Day

I know Mother's day was a while ago, but it was wonderful, so I want to document it! The day began with Parker and Austin bringing me breakfast in bed. It was a bit of a funny sight to wake up to because Parker had the tray full of food, flowers, and candles (the gift I picked out for myself a few days prior) in one hand and Austin in the other. With Austin's wiggling, Parker was barely hanging onto him, so he looked like he practically had him around the neck (he didn't, don't fret.) and was desperately trying not to drop both Austin and the heavy tray.

We went to church. We were running late, and Parker remembered vary last minute that we were supposed to say the prayers in sacrament meeting. We walked in just as the opening hymn was ending and Parker walked right in the door and up to the pulpit without even sitting down first. Talk about close call.

That afternoon we were able to skype with Parker's brother, Bobby, who's serving a mission in Chile. We had Taylor in L.A., Bobby in Chile, Parker's parents in Phoenix, and us of course, all on one call. So fun to see everyone. I had a long phone chat with my Mom too. Those are always good.

Parker made me dinner, mostly because he knew I wanted him to. He made mac and cheese with hot dogs... and I made a green salad. :) It was nice to not have to cook, and although it wasn't gourmet, I appreciated that Parker did it, especially since I know how much he dislikes cooking.

It was a wonderful, relaxing Sunday, and a perfect, simple Mother's day.