The Drive-In

On September 18th the Scottsdale Drive-In had a Family Night with free movies. We couldn't pass up a free movie, so we packed the foam pads and blakets into the back of the truck and headed out for a good time. David wanted to see "Iron Man", which was playing after "Horton Hears a Who", so we ate our dinner and got ourselves comfortable and watched the first movie. I naively thought that Josh would drink his bottle and go to sleep around his bedtime during the first movie. Oh was I wrong! We finally got him to sleep between movies, after a bit of crying and wrestling, and David and I got comfortable for Iron Man. I fell asleep about 10 minutes into it. Then about 30 minutes or so later Josh woke up screaming (he was inside the truck in his carseat). In order not to disturb the peace too much we packed up and left. Josh promptly fell back asleep right after we got out of the theater, of course. Even though it didn't work out quite as planned, it was still fun, and I think we'll try it again next year!

David and Josh wrestling. Looks like Josh is winning this match.


Hmm...looks like he's winning this one too.

D-Backs Game

Back at the end of August we bought some of the "Family Friday" Diamondback tickets and went to a game. It really was a great deal, because not only did we get to see the game (not great seats, but who cares?), but we also each got a hot dog, drink, and free pass to the Phoenix Zoo...all for only $15 each! Josh got a little restless toward the middle of the game, but I guess that's to be expected since it was past his bedtime. We ended up leaving right after the 7th inning stretch, but didn't mind too much since the D-backs were up by about 7 runs or so. We had a great time, especially since the Diamondbacks won (I can't even remember who they played)!

This cup of ice kept Josh entertained for quite a while. It also got him really wet.

Here Josh makes a diving catch to win the game! No, he didn't pee his pants...that wet spot is from the ice.

He had a "ball" playing on the the toys and chasing other kids around.

Here's a self-portrait of the happy couple leaving the ballpark.

Vote YES on Proposition 102!

I had someone ask me how I put the Prop 102 picture/link as a gadget on my blog, and since I think this is a very worthwhile issue, I'm going to post the instructions that I got from my friend Anna's blog.

People, this is a very important issue, as it deals with the sanctity of a VERY important principle--marriage between a man and a woman. Please do your part and get out and VOTE on November 4th (be sure to register here, if you haven't already, before Monday, October 6th so that you can vote in the general election), and encourage others to vote as well!

Here are the instructions to put the gadget on your blog:

Click on Customize Your Blog
Click on "Add a Gadget"
Scroll down and click on the one that says "HTML/Java Script"
Then copy and paste the codes from here: (Click)
Then hit save.

See how many people YOU can get to add it to their blogs.

Josh has an announcement to make...

The Baby is due April 1st!

Family Campout

On August 22-23 we had a little family campout up near Bear Canyon Lake. Since David didn't have to work on Friday we left late Friday morning, stopped for lunch in Payson and arrived at our campsite early in the afternoon. We were able to get our tent, etc. all set up, go on a hike and generally relax and enjoy the cool weather. It was so pretty up there, especially since they've had so much rain lately and it was so green! Here are a few pictures:

Josh and Mom smiling for the camera.

Josh and his best buddy...Dad.

Josh had a ball walking around through the dirt, sitting and playing in the dirt, hitting sticks on the fallen logs, etc. He was mad when we got the fire started and he couldn't play with it, though.

David was hard at work keeping the fire going and keeping us all well fed. I'm so glad he likes to use his dutch ovens so much!

Don't think it was all fun and games for Josh, though. We put him straight to work chopping wood...

...and making sure the water was dispensed properly.

The next morning we drove around and found some big mud puddles to drive through and get our truck thoroughly dirty (and we still haven't washed it yet...yikes). I have to admit it was a little exhausting chasing Josh around, making sure he didn't eat any of the mushrooms we found on the ground, keeping him out of the fire and trying to keep him happy, but all in all we had a great time. Thanks David for the great time!

Happy Birthday to Josh

Okay, I originally tried posting this yesterday, but I had some trouble with getting the pictures to show up again...some day I'll get this blogger thing figured out (maybe).

Yesterday my baby boy turned one...my how the time flies!

This past Saturday the the Orr family came to do some school shopping. Dad Orr was nice enough to hang out here with Joseph and Josh so I got to go do some shopping with Mom Orr, Thomas and Daniel. After the boys got shopped out, we went to Red Robin for dinner...mmm, that place is good! David had been camping the night before, but he made sure he got home in time for Red Robin. :)

After Red Robin we came back here for some cake and ice cream to celebrate Josh's birthday a little early. He downed that piece of cake, that's for sure! I guess he's a boy who takes after his mother in that respect. Most of the rest of us were too full from dinner to eat much, if any, of the cake and ice cream. We had a great time and are so glad the Orr's could come and celebrate with us.

To round out Josh's birthday celebration, Mindy and her kids came over to swim yesterday afternoon, and then my mom came over for dinner and more cake and ice cream. We're so glad my mom is in town to celebrate with us!

Here is an update of what Josh has been up to lately:

• Josh is officially a walker now. For several weeks he knew how to take several steps, but would crawl anywhere he wanted to go, just because it was so much faster. I think last Sunday was the turning point day, though. He started taking off on his own and now will walk all around the house with his arms up for balance. He's getting better and better. When I was telling my mom this, she mentioned to me that now my easy days of being a mother are over. Wahoo??!!
• He has learned to climb down from pretty much anything: the couch, his changing table, the bed. It was pretty nice before he figured that out, especially the bed part, because I could put him up on the bed in our office/guest room while I was working on the computer and not worry about him getting into stuff. Not any more! Now he loves to rummage through all the drawers in the computer desk and pull everything out.
• He also tries to climb up everything. He's super strong and has been able to do pullups on our table for some time now. Now's he also loves to climb up and peek inside the washer (especially as it's filling with water), try to see what's on the counters, etc. I have to watch this one, I tell you!
• We've definitely got a vocal boy on our hands. He loves to yell at the top of his lungs (especially during Sacrament meeting), and will often jabber at us. It's cute most of the time.
• He also loves to read books, and likes to turn the pages himself.
• He eats pretty much everything now, including cut up pieces of meat. I'm really lucky he's such a good eater! Another funny thing he does is that he'll often blow on his food when I bring it over from the kitchen and tell him its hot. So cute!
• Josh LOVES dogs, and most animals for that matter. He gets really excited when we see a dog from any distance.
• Josh now gets to sit front facing in his car seat...wahoo!
• He loves to "help" with the dishes. I swear, he can hear the dishwasher open from clear across the house and will come crawling/walking at top speed to get there before I shut it. He wishes I would let him crawl up on the door, but I really don't want to have to buy another new dishwasher. So he's resigned himself to the fact that he only gets to play with the silverware.
• He's pretty good and playing peek-a-boo, and I love it when I can get him giggling!
• He says "da-da", "ma-ma", and "ba-ba", along with all of his other jibberish. I'm pretty sure he actually knows what those words mean now.
• He's getting pretty good at throwing little fits when he doesn't get what he wants. :)
  

We just got back from his 12 month doctor appointment and here are his "stats":

Height: 30.75"--75% (30.5"--99% @ 9 mos.)
Weight: 20# 12 oz.--25% (19#--25% @ 9 mos.)
Head: 18"--25% (17"--5% @ 9 mos.)

And here are some pictures of the birthday celebrations, as well as a couple of other fun pictures from the past few weeks:

Josh was so hungry at Red Robin that he was about to eat the basket!

Getting ready to blow out the candle...

Mmm...cake!

Uh oh...did I do something bad?

Birthday morning...getting ready to open presents.

Checking out his new race track and cars.

Swimming with Karalee, Aunt Mindy, Bryant and Spencer.

Posing with Mom.

Josh LOVED playing with the M&M's packages from Grandma Flake. (He didn't mind eating them either.)

Josh trying out his walking skills at the new splash park near our house.

Giving hugs to Grandma Flake.

Josh loves to pull things out of our linen closet. This past Sunday David found him asleep like this (this is the first time he's zonked out in a random place, but he does usually sleep with his bum up like this)...

Piano Bench Finished!

David finished sanding, staining and coating my piano bench this past Saturday, and I am very pleased! Doesn't it look great? The only problem now, is that it really makes the nicks and scratches on the piano stand out. This old piano really needs some tender loving care (looks wise), but it still plays well and stays in tune like a champ! Oh well, another project for another day...