18 Month Old Caleb

My baby turned 18 months old this last Saturday.

I know I should be sad that he is getting bigger and he is my last baby.

But really, I'm not.

There's just too much to worry about when they are babies.  And it's always nice to see that they are becoming more independent.  Plus I'm ready for a bit more freedom.

Snapshot of Caleb at 18 months:

Uses "No" and "Stop" to pretty much get anything he wants

Climbs out of his crib and now sleeps on a big boy bed

Loves to give kisses 

Climbs onto the kitchen counters using chairs

Climbs into bathroom sink and runs water all over himself

Loves being outside and his blankie

Loves you to read him books as long as he gets to hold them

Hates his diaper or his clothes changed

Loves his mom best

Has the best dimples and smile

I'm In Trouble

About a month ago Caleb fell out of his crib and I thought for sure I would be taking down his crib the very next day. 

But luckily he didn't try it again for so long I thought I would get lucky and he would stay in it a little longer even though part of me really REALLY wants to get rid of the crib.

I was also seriously hoping that he would at least not try to get out of it until after Wes' parents came to town in September to make it easier on them. 

However, this morning he walked out of his room like it was just an everyday occurrence to climb out of his crib.  And then again at nap time.  So I told him to show me.  He was rather proud of himself.

Of course it had to happen while Wes is out of town.  

Yay me...

Solar Eclipse

On Monday we watched the solar eclipse from our front yard with above 99% totality.  With Wes hating crowds and me hating traffic there was no chance we were leaving our house.  Luckily Wes didn't have to go into work in the morning so we got to experience it all together.

We sat in our front yard, eating nectarines, shouting "TOTALITY!" every few minutes, laughing and goofing around.  It was the best!

It was amazing to watch the shadow bands and crescent shaped shadows from the leaves when the eclipsed reached near totality.  

Afterwards I saw some pictures taken from some of my friends that were in places that reached 100%.  They were so different from even where we were at that I almost wished we drove to a totality zone, almost.

I read online afterwards that a solar eclipse happens about every 18 months, with the next total eclipse happening July 2nd 2019 in the South Pacific.   😎

Pool Time

We found a free pool sitting on the side of the road a while back.  

I've been wanting one like this all summer!

Wes was skeptical but I made him pull over and let me out. 

I felt pretty lucky to find one for free...I didn't even mind carrying it home all by myself a few blocks...haha!

Our little kids love it!  They love the slide whether or not there is water in the pool. 

These little ones are just the cutest!  

I spent the morning hacking back our blackberry bushes and they spent it playing in the pool.

I love my sweet children!

Meeting George the Elephant

The first weekend of August we drove down to Winston, OR to the Wildlife Safari to do a "pet and meet" with the Elephants.

I. LOVE. ELEPHANTS.

So getting to pet one was kind of a dream.  

All the kids came with us and they were all so SO good for both the drive and while we were there. 

Valerie, one of the elephants there painted a picture for us!  

After the safari we ate at Texas Roadhouse. 

It was sort of the best day!

Camping Without Kids

Last weekend my mom graciously agreed to watch our kids so Wes and I could go camping by ourselves to celebrate our anniversary.

It was the best 28 hours ever!  Not that I was counting or anything.  Ha!

We stopped to eat dinner at Calamity Jane's in Sandy.  This was definitely my kind of restaurant!  I think the majority of the menu was reserved for hamburgers.  I ordered a guacamole and Wes ordered a Texas Red.  We split them.  We both preferred the Texas Red.

Then we drove up to Frog Lake to camp.  Given the name it should have been obvious that there would be frogs but I didn't really put two and two together.  There were hundreds of tiny little frogs.  I'm not exaggerating when I say every step we took around the lake we had to watch where our foot landed.  We might have felt a few squish under our feet...

It took us all of 15 minutes to set up camp.  Amazing how that works when you don't have kids running around needing help or causing mayhem.

Then Wes went out fishing and I set by the lake and read.  

GLORIOUS!!!

The next morning we got up before we would have at home, which is weird because we were totally excited about not being woken up by kids.  But we were both just too excited to sleep any longer.

Wes went out fishing and I finished my book.

When he came back, we ate breakfast, cleaned up camp, all in under an hour.  I am still amazed how much you can get done without kids around.

Then we went fishing in the canoe.  We both caught a fish.  I lost my pole in the lake.  Why don't they float?  I mean, that should just be a standard for all poles, right? 

 I was seriously annoyed.

Before we headed home we went to Ikea and got these super cute lockers for kids so they have a place to put their backpacks next year besides just wherever they decide to drop them as they are coming into the house.

Caleb's 17 Months

Happy Monthday to this little guy!

He is finally starting to fill out and isn't just a long string bean.  

Right before our eyes he's turned into a little toddler!  I'm excited for him to be big but also sad to think that in just a few short years I'm not going to have anyone to attack with a zillion kisses and there will be no more baby giggles in our house.  

He already has learned how to crawl out of his pack N play and his crib.  He flat out refuses to sit in his high chair so it's currently sitting in the garage.  Just today he showed me that he knows how to walk up and down the stairs, holding onto the wall.  Not only that but he wanted to show me how fast he can do it.  Oh man, talk about fear inducing.

He loves to jump on the trampoline and just yesterday he climbed down from it by himself.  He has a sixth sense about the dishwasher and seems to always know when it's being emptied or loaded.  Even if he's outside playing as soon as the dishwasher door is open little man is coming to climb onto the door and pull things out, so doing the dishes is currently reserved for nap time.

He loves going to the lake and throwing in rocks
and eating all the chips while avoiding getting wet as much as possible.

He still doesn't sleep through the night and the last two days he's woken up before 6am.  Hopefully that last part doesn't become a habit.

Last week Caleb got his two upper canines one day apart from each other.  That makes 14 teeth for him.

He says, "Thank you ,which sounds like "tnk", Mom, Da, Ball, Bye Bye, Baba (Bottle), love u, and yay".  But his favorite word is still "NO."

I love how he uses his eyebrows to express his gibberish.  And just about everyday, several times a day he finds me, pulls on my shirt and starts walking to the kitchen, asking either for candy or graham crackers with his adorable pudgy pointer finger.  I can't really resist that. 

One more month till Nursery!

Happy 8 Years to Us

Today is our 8 year anniversary!

I tend to romanticize things and would probably say marriage with Wesley is perfect!

Wesley on the other hand when asked the other day said more realistically, "Sometimes marriage can be hard."

But given the fact that he is rather perfectish and I'm fairly flawed it makes sense that we have different sentiments on the subject.

I always tell Wes that if everyone was just like him, everyone would be happily married forever.  He laughs uncomfortably when I say this but I seriously think it's true.  He's annoyingly perfectish.  He gets the "ish" because he sometimes does leave the cheese knife on the counter so you know, life can be a bit of a challenge with him.  I'm kidding.  Neither of us are perfect, I just happen to think the world of him.

Since we started dating I feel like almost right away we have been inseparable.  I honestly feel like Heavenly Father knew all the paths we were going to take in our lives and he knew in the end we were meant to find each other.  I feel this was the sweetest tender mercy for me.  Just considering all the bumps along my path that were of my own choosing and then to hear about his life and realize how carefully he walked his path, sometimes I can't believe Heavenly Father would allow someone like him to even be considered an option for me.

Back when we were dating, I remember when we started talking seriously about marriage, I prayed to Heavenly Father in more of a pleading way that if he allowed Wesley to be my husband I would thank Him everyday for him. Honestly I can't say I've remembered to thank Him for Wesley everyday but probably pretty close. Oddly enough I remember that promise the most when I'm frustrated with Wes.  I remember that I promised I would thank Heavenly Father for him and then I do and then my heart softens.  It's funny how that works.

Anyways this has turned uncharacteristically personal and mushy.  But hopefully without jinxing us I'd like to share a few more details about us...him.

He is always showing me new, deeper ways he thinks and feels, teaching me how to be better at communicating and caring for others.  When he serves in his callings at church he really tries to give his 100%.  He is who I want to go to for advice, to talk to about the minutest parts of my day, he is my sounding board for spontaneous and sometimes ridiculous ideas I have come up with, he lets me cry when I'm hurt and cheers me on when I'm trying to accomplish goals.  I think we both feel drawn to each other all the time.  He tells me he can't wait for work to end so he can rush home to be with us.  In the evenings we typically find ourselves in the same room as the other even if we are both doing two different things.  I still am pleasantly surprised how well we work together on projects or family struggles.  I love that we have the same religious goals.  That we both really, deeply care about God and about trying to be good.  I love at night when I'm a spaz I can get him to laugh some of my favorite laughs I've ever heard.  I love waking up each morning to the handsomest face in the world.

On that note...I've gathered some very er, um, unique pictures of Wesley.

In advance, You're Welcome.