Sprinkler Time

As everyone who has ever been in Tucson during the summer knows, it is hot, Hot, HOT!!!! James loves to get in the water as much as possible, whether it be swimming, the splash pad, sprinklers, the bathtub or the toilet, he loves to be in the water. Our friends, Troy and Eevi, have a wonderful backyard with sprinklers and they were nice enough to let James run around for a few minutes in them. And we forgot our camera, so they took these pictures and this video of him. :)

Recent Activities

I feel like James and I do pretty much the same thing every day, so to keep myself from being repetative, I decided to just post these videos as the hi-lights of this week.

My brother thinks that James makes the funniest noises ever. Since he was just a couple of months old, James has had what I call his old man wheeze where he makes noise in the stereotypical wheezy way that older people speak. But I think that we've got a new noise that even tops that with that snorting at the end of the video here. Although, he has started a new noise that I haven't yet been able to get on camera, but when he does, I'll make sure to post it because it's hilarious!

And last, but not least, my best friend, Eevi, had her baby this week. He is such a cutie! Congrats you two!

James Talks

James has been able to say a few things for a while now, but I haven't posted him saying it because Paul said that he wasn't really saying anything that anyone else could understand. So I ask you all to be honest, aren't these words very discernable?

A Trip to Las Vegas

James and I took a trip this past week to Las Vegas so that I could see my family. Stacey and Josh are blessing their baby today, so my parents and sisters (well most of them anyway) were there this weekend. Although James had a hard time without Paul there, we still had lots of fun. I got there before anyone else, so Stacey and I went to a pet shop the first day to show James some puppies. Even though the Chihuahua and the Dachshund were the smallest puppies, they were still a little scary to James because they liked to jump up on his legs. But we had fun anyway.

James and I stayed at Stacey and Josh's while we were there and James had fun playing with new toys. He never liked the swing when he was really young, but he sure loved swinging back and forth as fast as he could this weekend. Sometimes I was afraid he was going so fast that he was going to flip the whole thing over. Fortunately, he never did. I loved watching him play on the John Deere tractor! It was the first time he's really figured out how to scoot himself along with his own feet.

My brother, Robert, and his wife, Cami, have a family staying with them for a little while and one of their boys is close to James' age, so they had fun playing together. Their favorite toy was my shoes. I didn't know that boys like to try on shoes too, but these two had a ball trying to walk around in the flip-flops that were about 10 sizes too big for them.

James really missed Paul while we were gone, so I got this look ALOT while we were there. I had my little sisters (well younger anyway...I think they're both taller than me at this point) babysit him so I could go to WalMart and then to the temple and he wouldn't let me out the room for the next several hours after I got back. I think we need to train him to be okay with babysitters...what do you think?

I decided to put pictures of my family on here because I don't get pictures of them very often. But they're a huge part of who I am, so here they are. This is my sister April (she's 15) and my niece Megan. Megan is just 5 months older than James, but they're about the same height, so James was really interested in playing with her because, well she's cute, and she was a little person too!

This little whipper-snapper is Hailey. She has been one of Paul's favorites since she was born because she could just charm him and get him wrapped around her little finger. She's five now and is as spunky and cute as ever. She's impressing us with her cherry-drop (or whatever it's called nowadays) abilities in these pictures.

This little girl is my littlest sister Lizzie. (She usually doesn't close her eyes for pictures, but it was windy, sandy and sunny out there that day so this was the best I could get). A you can see, she has curlers in her hair. She LOVES being a girl and looking really cute, so she had her hair in curlers for Church today.

Beautiful Bekah is my sister's (Belinda) daughter. She is eight and is the older sister to three brothers and a sister (Megan who you already saw) and is a great help to her mom.

This is my sister Kristy. She is a freshman at BYU and wants to major in some sort of film something-or-other. But she'll always be Musty Krusty to me. :)

This is April (again) and my brother in-law Josh with his daughter Berlynn. He's such a good dad!

Stacey, my sister that is just younger than me (married to Josh and mother of Berlynn), is deep in concentration in this picture. Brave Stacey decided to make her daughter's blessing dress. It turned out VERY beautiful. Way to go, Stacey!

This is Belinda (my sister) and Levi (one of her twin boys). I don't know how Belinda can look as beautiful and serene as she does in this picture because she is the mother of five and earlier the morning this picture was taken had run a 5k.

This beautiful girl is my sister, Miranda and Camille her daughter (to the left) and Sydney (my brother's little girl). Camille is seven and has the most beautiful smile and contagious laugh you've ever heard. Sydney is just a happy baby. She smiles at everyone and goos all the time.

So that's my family in a nutshell. I didn't get pictures of everyone there, but I was so glad to be able to see them all and hang out, even if it was only for a short time.

Recent Activities

James and I have been keeping very busy recently. We've been to the park a few times where James is becoming a master at going down the slide. It scares me sometimes because he thinks he's bigger more adept at navigating through the playground than he really is. Unfortunately, he's discovered the joy and challenge of climbing up the slide which is never a good idea when there are so many kids on the playground.

James has also been keeping Daddy busy by insisting on horse rides. He again has to show his dare-devil side by trying to do it with no hands, and then when you least expect it, try to jump off one side. But most of the time, he lands on his feet (somehow).

I made my first attempt at cooking with James' help the other day. It was relatively successful because the cookies did get made without any of the strange ingredients that could have made it in there, courtesy of James. He did like to play with and eat the flour, though, as seen in the pictures.

Possibly my favorite thing that James has started doing, though, is eating with a voracious appetite. Sometimes I look over to where he's eating and see his finger holding food in his mouth because he can't quite close his lips around everything he's tried to stuff in there.

One thing that I wish he'd stop doing, though, is making this face at me. It's so hard for me not to laugh.

A week or so ago, it rained here in Tucson and there were puddles. James walked through one and saw how much fun he could have, and I couldn't resist getting a video of it.

But his favorite thing to do nowadays is play with his new set of blocks.