Swiss Days and Silverlake

Yesterday we decided to get out and do something fun. Mistie had mentioned that Midway was celebrating their Swiss Days so we decided to pack up and see exactly what "Swiss Days" had to offer. It was a beautiful drive up through Heber Valley and it was nice to just get out as a family. We paid a nice lady $3 to park on her lawn because the place was packed. We followed the herds of people until we came upon the park with all the celebrations. Tons and tons of people were enjoying all of the great shopping (some of the cutest crafts i've seen in awhile)and all of the delicious food. We shopped around a bit and then decided to grab (okay actually stand in line for about 30 minutes) a "swiss taco" which was actually a scone like thing with chilli, cheese, onions and tomatoes on top. I thought it was pretty good although Ryan was skeptical but he did manage to clean his plate! We looked around a little more and decided it was just too hot to stay any longer so we snagged some cotton candy and headed on our way. Overall it was a fun experience although i'm not sure we will ever venture out to Swiss Days again!


Later that night Ryan convinced me to go on a ride with him up to Silverlake up American Fork canyon. We stopped by Costco and grabbed a slice of pizza and we were on our way. While walking through Costco I saw they had gotten new Pj's in for Jack and I snagged him a new pair. (the pj's come into play later in the story I promise!) On the way up the canyon we passed several ambulances, cops, and other random emergency vehicles. Ryan commented that somebody must have had a bad day up the canyon. We continued on our "terrible" ride (I get sick on windy dirt roads) until we rounded the bend to the lake. When we got there we saw another cop sitting on the side of the road with a group of bystanders around him. When we started driving past I looked over the edge and down the ravine to what they were looking at and this is what we saw....

I know it's kind of hard to tell but apparently this guy had tried to turn his truck around and didn't have enough room so his car started sliding down the ravine. He got out to assess the situation and the truck continued on down without him. It jumped a cement barrier went through the fence and landed at the bottom of this spillway in the creek. It was pretty crazy to see the truck clear down there! Apparently nobody had seen him get out before the truck went down so they called ambulances and everybody to come rescue him but luckily was just fine. Somehow he had left the scene in another car so nobody knew what had happened or if he was okay. While we were there he happened to show up to try and drive it out of there but they had no luck! So that was our exciting evening out.



Jack enjoyed eating rocks and rolling in the dirt! He is such a little boy! So luckily (back to the pj's) I had bought his new jammies and brought tons of baby wipes or he would still be sitting at Silverlake because there was no way that dirtball was getting back in his new carseat with those clothes on!

Thankful Thursdays

So continuing on with stating what I am thankful for each Thursday.... today I'm going to go with Jack's naptime. I am so thankful that he LOVES to nap and he is such a fresh new little guy when he wakes up. It's amazing what an hour snooze can do for the little guys attitude. And heck usually when it's Jack's naptime it also means it can be my naptime and who wouldn't be thankful for that?
Not the best picture but I didn't want to chance RUINING Jack's nap!

Oh Dear-

So this morning I was cleaning out the diaper bag and ran across this lovely ensemble that my husband dressed Jack in last night while I was out with friends. Yes people that is a long sleeve plaid button up shirt paired with plaid shorts. And no the photo is not deceiving you. There is not one matching color on either item. When I called Ryan to ask him "are you serious?" he simply stated "they looked okay when he was wearing them." So lesson learned... ALWAYS leave an outfit out for Jack to avoid Ryan picking one out. I'm just thanking my lucky stars that they only visited Ryan's parents house and nowhere public. And thank you Annette for sending him home in his pj's so I didn't have to witness this on!

Ready or Not

Here comes baby #2. Most of you already are in on this little secret but for the rest of you.... the word is out. Jack is getting a little sister or brother in late March. Ya I know we are crazy and we are fully aware that we will have two under two but who else is going to mow the lawn and take out the trash if we don't have more children?:) We went to our second doctor's appointment today and everything looks to be going great. The baby is about 1 inch long and it's so amazing that you can already see it moving. Technology is so amazing these days it really is unbelievable! Jack spent the day with his Grandma Annette and I really haven't known what to do with myself all day long. It's amazing how much of my day actually revolves around that little man. But since I am on my own I think I will go take a nap while I can. Heaven knows there won't be any napping or sleep for that matter once baby #2 makes its appearance.
I know it's not the best picture but what more can you expect when you are only an inch big?

Weekend with Avery

Jack and I spent most of the weekend playing with Mistie and Avery. We took them to the splash park on Saturday and they had mixed feelings about getting wet. Eventually though they both hopped in and had a great time splashing but mostly enjoyed drinking the water! Mistie insisted that the water MUST be safe because Lynly lets Rylee drink it all the time. So far so good... they are both still alive!

After our day swimming Mistie decided to load the dishwasher and before she could even get started she had two little helpers ready to assist. Needless to say the dishwasher loading was postponed until naptime.

They also enjoyed taking a quick dip in Avery's heated swimming pool. AKA...her bathtub. She didn't much enjoy bathing with Jack because of his constant need to SPLASH! Overall they had a great time playing together but Jack needs to have more playdates because he can't seem to keep his hands to himself. AKA... slapping Avery. How do you discipline when they are this age? Any ideas? He thinks it is so funny when it's really not funny at all! The little turkey isn't going to have any friends if he doesn't straighten up! Oh and one last little thing... Jack couldn't resist trying on Avery's tutu and pushing the pink baby stroller all around. Perhaps Ryan after seeing this will decide he doesn't want to leave me home to take care of Jack while he runs off hunting!

Say Cheese

Friday afternoon we had pictures with all of the Paxman family. It was Ryan's grandparent's 50th anniversary so they wanted to capture the whole family. Jack as usual was a wonder to try to take a picture of but I think they were able to get one or two good ones. He enjoyed pulling the hair of whoever the poor soul was that had to stand in front of him and he was bribed with several cellphones, keys, chapstick and sunglasses. Mostly he just wanted to climb the trees and run in the grass! Thanks Jen - I stole this off of your facebook pictures!

Birthday Party #3

On Jack's "actual" birthday we celebrated at his Grandma and Grandpa Paxman's. As usual Grandma Annette threw a wonderful party complete with great food, decorations and all of Jack's family! He had a great time swimming in the pool she got for him and playing in his cake. It took him a few minutes to decide about the cake but once he figured out he could smear it everywhere he went to town! He wasn't too interested in opening presents so his Dad enjoyed opening them for him. Overall it was a great party and a wonderful end to all of Jack's one year old festivities! Oh ya and all the great presents have kept Jack entertained the last few days so thank you everyone!

Thankful Thursdays

So a lot of my friends do this and every Thursday say what they are thankful for. I thought I would give it a try since I have many things in my life to be thankful for. Today we are going to start easy and go with SPRAY 'N WASH! You don't know how many outfits of Jack's would be ruined without this simple invention! So there you go... I hate doing laundry but at least there's one thing in my life that makes it easier

Happy Birthday to...

Jack! I can't believe my little "whirly bird" is already turning one. Where did that year go?






Looking back I am so extremely thankful that I was able to spend almost every minute of that year with my baby! Thinking of how much I would have missed if I would have had to go back to work almost puts me in tears. Trust me it wasn't always smiles and giggles but I wouldn't trade one minute of it for anything. I have so many great memories with Jack already. The first night we came home from the hospital I didn't sleep a wink. We actually had to WAKE him up at about 3 am because I was worried that he had slept so long and hadn't eaten. I of course hovered over his crib all night making sure he was breathing and waiting for him to wake up! If we had only known that we had an excellent eater and sleeper on our hands I wouldn't have been near as worried those first few days!



In his first short year we kept very busy and Jack traveled many miles with his Mom. We kept the road hot from here to Idaho because I think it's very important that he spends a lot of time with his Grandma and Grandpa even though they don't live close. We endured a lot of teasing about where we actually consider residency in Idaho or Utah but the time we spent with Grammy and Grumpy was worth it! Jack also experienced the East Coast twice. In January we went to Washington DC and this summer to Nantucket MA. Hopefully he will have some sort of travel bug like his Mom so I will have a traveling partner! We also experienced our first major health decision with Jack this year. We chose to put him in a corrective helmet to round out his flat head. I was devastated when I learned that my baby would have to sport that ugly helmet for several months but looking back it wasn't all that bad and I am very glad we made the decision that we did. Jack was also a trooper about it and from that point on I knew we had a tough little boy on our hands. There's so much to say about my little man but I won't go into much more except that his dad and I love him SO SO much! We knew our lives would change a year ago today but we didn't realize how much our lives would change for the good. We also didn't realize how much we would enjoy playing trains, knocking over blocks, picking food off the floor, chasing the little monster around, and mostly how quickly you can fall in love with a wrinkly bald little man!

Birthday Party #2

We celebrated at our house with some of my family who couldn't come to Jack's "real" party on Wednesday. My sister and her family, Mistie, Duane and little Avery all showed up for the occasion. I made a lovely cupcake display last minute to serve as the birthday cake.



We enjoyed opening presents again and Jack decided the most efficient way to get that done was with his teeth!

We tried to get a good birthday picture of Jack and Avery but of course that didn't work out. They are not the most cooperative children so I guess we will have to take what we can get.
Here is how much they have grown in one short year! Well Avery not so much growing took place but Jack sure grew like a weed!