January 21, 2010: One Tuckered Out Kid

My parents decided to come down to SLC at the last minute and decided to stop by for a visit, which we are always excited to have. Coincidentally, Matt had the day off, amazingly enough, so my mom offered to watch Ethan while we went out for a nice, quiet, lunch where we were actually able to stay sitting in our seats and a movie (Thanks mom. It was very nice).

Ethan didn't have his usual three hour nap and decided to stay up and play with grandma and grandpa the whole time. By the time we came back it was too late to put him down, so we kept him up and went to dinner with my parents.

After we got home I thought for sure he'd crash. Nope, he got his second wind and was running around being silly. We finally got him bathed and settled down, then he needed a snack since he didn't eat much for dinner (I think he's teething again, poor kid). That's when it finally hit him. The little guy couldn't even lift his head off the pillows, but had to finish his "pop" before I could get him to bed.

Happy 2010

Welcome to our 2010 New Year's Eve Party!!

We started off the night of festivities by making some peach gelato. It had to have close supervision to make sure it was done correctly.

After our treat was underway, we headed downstairs to start making some noise.


Followed by some rousing games of Ants in the Pants and Fishing.


We had the traditional New Year's shots and toasts of sparkling cider (straight milk for Ethan).


Then had our countdown at 8:00 p.m.; actually, it was a count-up. We're working on numbers. Blew some more horns, made some more noise and shot off streamers. After the streamers, we of course put them on our heads for some lovely hair.

After all the fun, it was off to bed to get a great start on a new year.

Wrapping Presents

Ethan was such a helper in getting ready for Christmas this year. Instead of wrapping presents, he preferred to wrap himself.

Toe Tappin' Fun

Ethan rockin' out with Matt.

SNOW!!

We had our first big snow of the season on December 8th, which turned out to be our only big snow of the season. Ethan was so excited to go outside and play. He loved knocking the snow off our trees by the steps and making footprints in the snow every time we went outside.

Ethan all bundled up and ready to brave the snow.

Just chillin' in the snow.

Despite the look on his face in this picture, he really did have fun in the snow. He just couldn't walk around without help.

Our Chef in Training

Ethan loves to help us cook. He is especially fond of rolling and cutting.

Ethan rolling out tortillas and cutting olives.


Ethan helping Matt make sugar cookies.

Pumpkin Carving

Matt and Ethan carving pumpkins for the first time. Ethan was so excited.

September 19, 2009: Truck and Tractor Fair

I had been hearing on the radio about this Truck and Tractor Fair up at the U. I thought it would be great to go to since Ethan, like most toddler boys, loves trucks and tractors. It usually takes about 20 to 30 minutes to get from our house to that area of SLC. This day, it took over an hour from the time we left our house until I could pull into the parking lot, thanks to lovely construction. Ethan was such a good kid the whole time we were detouring and turning around.

Anyway, enough about that. Once we actually got into the fair it was great. They had fire trucks, ambulances, big rigs (current and vintage), police vehicles, lifts, tractors, garbage trucks (new ones), etc. that they were allowing the kids to get in and climb around. Ethan was so excited and ran around, until I tried to put him behind the wheel of a fire truck. I guess it was a little too big up close for him. He loved the vintage trucks and of course the tractors.

They also had a bounce house, caricature artist, and wood projects that you could build provided free by Home Depot.

Ethan trying our the forklift.

Me and Ethan in front of the Fire Truck. This is as close as he would get to it. He loves fire trucks, but I think he was scared since it was so close and so big.

Ethan loved this vintage truck.

Ethan on a big red tractor. It took a lot of waiting to sit on this one. It was very popular.

Summer 2009

It was so sad to see summer turn into fall. Although I love fall, we had such a great summer watching Ethan grow, explore and experience new things.

Ethan's first Jeep ride up Logan Canyon. We will definitely be doing more of this next year when we get the chance.

Hiking on a trail up Little Cottonwood Canyon. We actually ran into a snowfall area and had to turn around. It was to nice and cool durning the hot summer months.

I got a little kiddie pool for Ethan which he loved to play in and of course while having a cool treat.

We loved going to Hogle Zoo. I think we will be getting a memeber pass again this next year. It was definitely worth it. Ethan loved riding on the Zoofari Express.

Ethan with our cute neighbor, Lila. She is the older woman in his life. They are a month a part and are so cute playing together.


Ethan prepping for another bike ride.

August 22, 2009: Cherry Hill

My mom and dad took Justin, Shelly and Ava to Cherry Hill Resort for their camping trip this year. Ethan and I decided to join them on Saturday. It took awhile for Ethan to warm up to the water and feel comfortable. My dad took him on the lazy river and the first few times around he was just as stiff as a board. Poor kid. He eventually warmed up, it probably helped when I decided not to be so paranoid and took his life jacket off. He loved the Pirates Cove for the little kids. He took grandpa all around the pool and was even brave enough to get down on his hands and knees and lift his legs up.

Thanks for letting us crash and Thanks Dad for taking Ethan. As most know, I'm not a swimmer, even in a kiddie pool.

Ethan and Ava hanging out in the trailer, taking a break for lunch. Can you tell who Ethan gets his skin tone from? And this is his tan. Poor kid.

August 16, 2009: Shinner

Ethan and I decided to go and see Matt at his new store while they were training. It was a great time to go since they have been cooking all this food and had no one there to eat it. I felt like I should help out and volunteer to sample. No only that but they hadn't opened yet and there were no customers so Ethan could run around and be okay. And run around he did, but as for being okay... well see picture below.

Ethan's first black eye.

He was running back to the booth were I was at and actually stopped in time, he just took one more step forward and smashed into the edge of the table, which of course was exactly the right height to hit him below the eye. At least it was below the eye instead of in his eye. We weren't too happy after that. Ethan got a special shake and lots of attention for the female employees. He's a tough kid though and wore his new accessory well for a few days.

June 2009

Okay, so I have been really bad about posting lately. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up better from now on. Since I've fallen so far behind, I'll just highlight a few events from the past few month.

Dad's 60th Birthday

My dad turned the big 6-0 on June 12th and we had a great Hawaiian themed party for him including leis and of course music by IZ.

Here are some photos of Ethan his aunt Krista took at the party.





Matt's New Job


So for some big news (however, by the time I'm posting this isn't really news any more), Matt decided to leave Mimi's Cafe, a tough decision, and has joined the ranks of the burger flippers. Matt is now the new General Manager of smashburger, a fairly new fast casual concept that is just opening stores in Utah. Matt will be the manager of their Sugarhouse store, which will open on August 19th. Matt leaves at the end of this month for three weeks of training in Denver, CO.

Easter 2009

I was so excited for Ethan to go to an egg hunt this year. We decided to go up to the egg hunt in Newton since there would be less of a crowd and also Ethan would get to play with his cousins, CRC and Ava. It was such a fun egg hunt. There weren't that many kids in Ethan's age group so he had plenty of candy and eggs to choose from. He was so cute to watch walking around picking up his candy and putting it in his ducky basket.

Later in the day I had Ethan hunt for his Easter eggs at my parents. He was kind of done egg hunting by then, until he found out his eggs were filled with his favorite treat, yogurt covered puffs.

Chores

I am gladly relinquishing my dusting duties. It is one of my least favorite chores. At least everything three feet and below will be clean.

I'm afraid I'll have to keep the sweeping for myself though. Little one doesn't weld the broom quite as well.

Stay-cation

Matt recently had a vacation from work. Yay, seven whole days without work. I'm sure it was even nicer for Matt. Anyway, we were going to go to southern Utah, but decided just to stay put and do some fun things around home.

His first day off we just bummed around and didn't do much. The next day we decided to take advantage of the warming weather and went to the zoo. It was so much fun. Usually I dislike the zoo since I've usually been in the summer when it is hot, crowded, and the animals are all inside. The past couple of times we've gone, we've been in the morning and its been great since there aren't as many people, its cooler, and the animals are usually out and about. The last time I took Ethan to the zoo he was still pretty young. This time he loved to watch the animals. The giraffes were his favorite. It was fun to watch him get so excited. Later that day we had his 12 mos. Dr. appointment and shots. He did really well. He was even better when he got his sucker after the shots.

Our third day of vacation was the St. Patrick's Day parade downtown. We had never been to it before and thought it might be fun to check it out. It's not really a parade that would keep the attention of little kids for long, so we left after about an hour. Later that day we had our little party for Ethan.

Ethan blowing out the candle on his Birthday cake.

Our fifth day of vacation we went to Park City and walked around, saw some galleries and had some lunch. Later that day we took Ethan swimming for his second time. The first time I took him swimming a few weeks ago the poor kid was motionless. He didn't know what to do. This time, he loved the water. He was splashing around and crawling everywhere it the pool. The best part about swimming, it makes him tired.

Matt and Ethan hanging out next to the bear in Park City.

Ethan splashing around at the pool.

Our sixth day we did one of our favorite activities. We went to temple square and walked around (Ethan loves the fountains) then had lunch at the Lion House Pantry. It was still a little cool and the spring flowers hadn't fully bloomed yet, so it will just give us and excuse to go back soon.

Ethan hanging out at temple square.

Ethan shows his true identity in the tub (note the little devil horns).

Our last day of we just hung out and then took Ethan swimming again a little later in the afternoon. Later that night I gave Ethan his first haircut. His curls were just getting so unruly. I'm sure people think that I never groom my child since his hair was always looking crazy. Its taken me a few days to get used to his new do. Luckily he still has a few curls in the back.

Before, the crazy kid.

Before, crazy kid back view.

After. My, what a sweet little boy we have.

Birthdays!!

My little boy turned ONE. I can't believe it. This last year has gone by so fast. Ethan and I celebrated our Birthday's a few days late so we could have both Grandma and Grandpa Bird and Stephens come and celebrate with us. The party was mainly for Ethan anyway, of course. We decided to have our St. Patrick's day dinner the same day as well. Justin, Shelly and Ava were in SLC as well so they came to join the party.

Matt was the main chef, I just assist when it comes to things like this. He made corned beef, cabbage, potatoe cheese soup and rosemary potatoes. Yum. And for dessert we had birthday cake. I actually made safari cupcakes since my cake decorating skills aren't all that great.

Ethan didn't really know what was going on. He just liked smashing his cupcake and he had a great time playing with Ava.

Ethan helping me make frosting for his cupcakes.

Ethan not cooperating while I try and take a picture of him with his cake.

Cupcake before.

Cupcake after.

Ethan's Feats

Ethan loves to work out with his dad. His favorite exercises are pull-ups and bench presses. He can actually hang on the pull-up bar and do about 4 to 6 pull-ups, when he's not distracted. For bench presses, he'll usually just make Matt lay him on the bench and then he reaches for the bar. So cute.

Ethan has been walking for about a month now. He is walking everywhere and is just becoming more curious.

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Valentine's Weekend

Ethan and I decided to go up and visit Grandma and Grandpa Bird over Valentine's Day weekend while Matt was working. It was a fun sleepover party with Curt Ryan and Ava as well. Ethan had such a great time playing with his cousins. He just thought that he was so big. Grandma had some fun balloons and Valentine's cupcakes for the kids. Thanks for the great V-Day.

Ethan playing with the big kids. He crawled in the middle of the play
mat and just plopped down.

Ethan playing at the big table. I couldn't believe he sat on that chair
and played for about 10 min.

The kids with their Valentine's cupcakes, which of course had to have candles.

Ethan with Grandma and Grandpa.

Bath Time Ritual

One of Ethan's favorite times of day is bath time. Which I must say is one of my favorites times as well. Not only does Ethan get so excited, but it means that it is close to bedtime.

Some how Ethan has this internal clock that lets him know that it's time to get in the tub. If we are downstairs, he'll head for and start climbing the stairs to the bathroom. Once upstairs, he'll go to his bathroom and sit on the floor and look at me expectantly. We gather all of his stuff and set it up in the bathroom and then Ethan will crawl down the hallway to the tub giggling as he goes.

Ethan doesn't like to get his hair washed so he has to hold one of his tub toys while he lies down to get his hair rinsed. He has such long hair that flows in the water. It cracks me up every time. Recently he has learned how to turn on the water faucet (thanks Matt), so now that is all he wants to do during his bath.


When we are done with his bath, Ethan does a perfect dismount from the tub and always points his toes as he is lifted out and onto his towel. He loves to be wrapped up in his towel and cover his face for a game of peek-a-boo. He'll hide his face under the towel with his toes poking out and whisper as you try and find him. It is so hilarious because he thinks he is so tricky.

Then comes the battle of distracting him long enough to comb his hair, brush his teeth, and put on his diaper and jammies before he can make a break for it.

Usually by the end I am soaked and tired, but we always have such a good time and I love that clean baby smell.