Pumpkin Walk

 We went to a pumpkin walk with some of Hyrum's family right before Halloween.  It was fun to see all the different scenes and how creative people are.  Kyler's favorite part was when they gave him a cookie.

Kyler's secret identity-- Mickey Mouse

Happy First Birthday Kyler!

 

For Kyler's 1st birthday we had a big party with family.  It was so much fun to all get together.  Kyler had a really good time was well.  We ate dinner and then opened presents.  Kyler's cousins Adelia and Tucker were big helpers in getting the presents open.  Kyler was so excited to see all the new things.

 After presents were open, we had cake and ice cream.  Kyler wasn't able to blow out his own candle, but he did get his own cake.  It was a very cute dinosaur cake made by his uncle Andrew and aunt LaShel.  They also made a cake for everyone else to eat.  After we sang Kyler happy birthday, we let him at the cake.

 In typical Kyler fashion, he took his sweet time touching and then tearing the cake.  Once he finally squished some in his hands, he realized that playing in cake was as fun as playing in the sand--maybe more fun!

 He thoroughly enjoyed tearing the cake apart, but much to the dismay of his Grandpa, Kyler would not eat the cake.  Finally, after a long time of playing in it, Kyler did try a little of the cake, but decided it was more fun to play in.

Kyler was not happy to leave the cake when his mother said it was time to clean up.  He screamed his way to the bathroom, but once he was in the empty tub, he realized that there was more fun ahead of him.  He started squealing in delight as he moved all around the tub making another huge mess (luckily this one would be very easy to clean).  He got more and more energy as he wiggled around in the empty tub.

I think Kyler had a wonderful 1st birthday.

Going for a walk in our little red wagon

End of Summer Fun

Hot days are the best for playing in the water.  Kyler loves water.  I gave him the hose and he was entertained for quite some time.  He loved getting wet and getting dirty.

Can you do this?

One of Kyler's favorite things to place with is lids from his baby food jars.  He will do all sorts of things with them, including talk into them.  One time, he was playing with them when he stuck one up to his face to talk into it.  When he pulled his hands away, the lid stayed there, hanging from his nose!  He was quite surprised, but thought it was pretty cool.

Playing Outside

 Kyler loves to be outside.  Often there are toys left at the park near our home that anyone can play on.  Here, Kyler is playing with such a toy.  His feet barely touch the ground, but sometimes he can move backwards.  Forwards hasn't happened yet.

Kyler still loves to swing.  He also loves to play in the sand and crawl around in the grass.  He loves to explore and is not afraid to wander from his parents.

Peek-a-Boo

Hyrum taught Kyler how to play peek-a-boo.  Hyrum says, "Where did Kyler go?"  Kyler will place his hands over his eyes (at least somewhere on his head.  Sometimes he misses his eyes completely, but it is adorable).  Hyrum keeps repeating that phrase until Kyler puts his hands down.  Then Hyrum says, "There he is!"  and Kyler smiles really big and covers his eyes to play one more time.

Teeth

Kyler has got teeth!  He has two on the bottom and three coming in on the top.

Summer = Vacations and Family

We had so much fun this summer.  We were able to do a lot of fun things and see a lot of our family!  Here are some of the things that we did and remembered to take pictures of :)

 Pioneer Day, 24th of July.  This is our celebration, thanks to grandparents, of the pioneers entering the Salt Lake City valley.  Kyler loved chasing the balloons around.

Kyler also LOVED the toy Grandma and Grandpa gave him-stacking cups.  He plays with it all the time.

We went to a baseball game with some of the fam.  It was fun to all be together, eating concession stand food and watching baseball.  Barbara pointed out that Hyrum and I are the same age as many of the players!  Crazy!

The best part of the baseball game had to be the firework show afterwards.  We got to sit on the field and watch one of the most spectacular firework shows I have ever seen!  So fun!

Another fun thing we did was go to a Raptor Center near by and looked at all the different birds of prey.  Here Kyler is trying on bird's eyes.

We toured this very cool Governor's Mansion.  It was very elegant and even had a servants' wing!

We went to Yosemite National Park.  It was fun to spend a few days hiking around and camping.  I really enjoyed walking through a tree.  It was a huge tree and still alive!  Amazing.

Kyler enjoyed the hiking as long as he wasn't hunger or too tired.  He loved being outside practically all the time.  We had a very fun summer.

Reading Stories

Kyler loves to have stories read to him.  Hyrum taught Kyler how to turn pages at about three months of age.  Recently Kyler has added another talent to his story reading.  He has many books that have things for you to touch.  When the book was new, we would grab his hand and help him feel the different things.  Now, Kyler will turn the page, then grab your finger and make you feel the different things.  It is so cute!  He guides your hand across the "fur" of the animals.  I love it.

Kyler is talking!

Kyler is so much fun.  He is crawling around a lot and has started to say a few words.  He has been able to say "Daddy" and "Mommy" for quite a while, but can now say other words.  His first word (besides Mommy and Daddy) was "Done!"  He would say it while throwing his hands in the air (his way of signing "done").  He can also sign "more" and has said, "mo" and may have said the whole word, but not frequently.  Recently his favorite word is "uh-oh" which he loves to repeat every time he drops his toy.  His other favorite word is "digger".  We have a book titled: "Trucks".  It has pictures of different trucks like: dump truck, ambulance, bulldozer, etc.  One of the trucks is called a digger, so that is where he picked up that word.  It is fun to have him talking.

First Time at the Beach

 Kyler loved the beach, especially the sand.  It was nice and warm (not hot) and felt really nice.  Here is Kyler clapping for joy at being outside at the beach.

 First touch of the ocean.  Boy was it cold!

 Where did Kyler's feet go?  They are covered with warm sand.

Kyler loved to play in the sand.  Lucky for Mommy and Daddy he didn't try to eat it too many times.  He mostly enjoyed grabbing it and putting it on the blanket.  We had a picnic dinner, played in the sand, waded for a second in the water, and explored the beach.  We had a wonderful time.

Canning

Here are the results of my first time canning without my mom.  I made jam-strawberry and blueberry.  I thought the finishing product was good (all my jars sealed!).

Camping

 We love camping!  This camping trip was Kyler's first and he had a blast!  We went with some friends of ours, but sadly they did not make it into the pictures.

 Setting up the tent (above and below)

 Kyler's first swim!  He had a blast.  The water was nice and warm and a great escape from the hot summer day.

Yea for camping with family! (our favorite quote from this camping trip.  Said by our friends' little boy)

Ah--Three Day Weedend :)

For Memorial Weekend, we decided to take a hike.  We borrowed a pack from some friends to carry Kyler, found a hike that was about five miles long, drove in the rain to get there, and started off!

 When we were getting ready to go it was raining, so we put the shade/rain guard over him and he stayed nice and dry.

 Kyler LOVED the hike.  He was all smiles and giggles.  He talked to us the whole way.  We pointed out all the different things we saw--geese, ducks, a hawk and its nest, water, trees--but sometimes he was more interested in the pack he was sitting in.  While Hyrum was carrying him, Kyler liked to pat Hyrum on the back like he was saying, "Mush! You're going too slow!"  He was good the whole way to our destination-a picnic area.

 Here we are at the picnic area.  The rain had scared all the people away, so we had the entire area (and it was big) to ourselves.  It had stopped raining before we got there.  We had a wonderful picnic snack.

 After the snack we headed to the water to play.  Kyler had fun sticking his hands and feet in the water.  Surprisingly the water wasn't really cold.

One the way back, our tired little boy fell fast asleep.  It was so nice to be outside and enjoying nature.

Uncle's wedding

Kyler's uncle, Alex, got married and so we flew out for the occasion.  We had lots of fun.  It was good to see family and friends. 

 Here is Kyler on his first plane ride.  We had to leave early in the morning.  Hyrum wasn't with us, he wouldn't fly out until later.  I was so worried that Kyler would be fussy and nervous, but boy was I wrong.  He had the time of his life.  Running on less sleep than normal, he smiled at the other passengers, played with the airplane (not the toys I brought.  He wanted nothing to do with them), and had the flight attendants adoring him.  The flight back was just as wonderful.

Family photo at the wedding.

Haircut!!

Kyler's hair was starting to get really long, so his mom decided it was time to cut it.  He really likes head massages, so I decided to do it all by myself.  I turned on some music and flashing lights in front of him, got out the scissors and got to work.  He was very good and sat quite still for me.  He is such a good boy!  I think the end result was pretty good, all things considering.  I cut off about two inches (and look how much I left there!).

 Before

 During

After

Gardening

 We share a community garden with people from our church.  It is close to our place, so Kyler and I try to go out and work in the garden a couple times a week.  It can be pretty hot with little shade when the sun is out, so I create shade for Kyler using blankets.  Our garden plot is inside the fence shown in the picture.  It is a pretty good size.

Kyler loves being out in the garden.  He loves to look around and see what is going on.  He watches the birds fly by, watches his mother get muddy from pulling weeds and watering, and is very happy to be outside.

Chickens

A friend of ours raises chicken, so we took Kyler out to see them.  He had fun being outside and thought the chickens were very interesting.

Campus Party

There is a big annual celebration here on campus for everyone.  We spent a good part of the day wandering around looking at all the booths. It was tons of fun and very hot :)

 Kyler likes to ride on his father's shoulders.  He had so much fun being outside for most of the day.

 One of the activities we did was shell corn off the cob with a machine.  It was pretty neat and got us kernels for popcorn.

  Like father, like son.