Halloween

I feel like every blog post I must start off with some apology why I haven't blogged in forever.  Well, this time I decided I am not going to.  Let's face it.  I am a terrible blogger.  I manager a post every few months and that is about it.  So, instead of feeling guilty for all of the recent events I probably should have blogged about...I am not going to.  Instead, I am just going to blog when I have the time and about whatever has happened most recently. For now, you will just have to ignore the fact that I am not going to blog about all the wonderful things that have happened since we have returned from Kentucky.  You will not get to hear about our Labor Day Cabin trip, the football games we have attended, Jude's first birthday & party, my recent birthday, my school studies, jobs, parties, walks, road trips, recipes etc etc etc.  Nope, I am not going to blog about those things.  For now, all you are going to read about is the most recent event.  Halloween.

Halloween

This really is not one of my favorite Holiday's.  Besides disliking all the scary parts about it, I really dislike that it gives adult women a free excuse to dress like a skank.  However, Kyle loves this holiday.  From his obsession with Skulls to his desire to dress up...we must celebrate Halloween.  

Jude's Grandma Clark bought him the cutest little chicken costume.  As much as I loved the costume, I grew up on all home-made costumes.  I just felt bad that I didn't contribute to his outfit!  I couldn't let it go so I decided to do a little doctoring to his costume and added feathers.  Then we decided to make this a family affair and be a whole family of Chickens.  We had the Daddy Roosted, the Mama Hen, and the Baby Chicken.  I thought the costumes were pretty cool...I just never expected what would happen that night.

All of the homes on this street decorate elaborately!  This is a line waiting to go up to the house!  The longer the line was at a house it usually meant they had better candy to offer...like a whole sized Snickers bar (we got a few of those!).  

Mama Hen and the Baby Chicken.  Thankfully Grandma Romney tagged along with us that night.  She was a lifesaver and carried Jude.  It was really hard to carry him in the costume

Cute Little Chicken!

We were at my parent's house for Halloween and decided to go to the famous Mt. Vernon Street.  This street is packed with old Victorian era homes that all get into the Halloween spirit.  The Police department closes off the whole street and you basically have to wait in line at each door because it is so full of people.  It is a fun experience.  We were stopped door after door for pictures of our costumes.  We had several people from the massive crowd come up and talk to us and take pictures.  A lady from the city even snapped our photo.  The praise made all the negative feelings, sweat, blood, and tears while making the costumes worth it. In the end, we had a great time.  Jude really loved seeing every one and was a trooper walking up to each door!

Summer Wrap Up

The end of this summer is finally near and it feels bittersweet.  We have really enjoyed being out here in Kentucky but we are ready to get back to a daily routine.  I will definitely miss everything here.  The greenery, my spacious apartment, no school, etc. 

The last month here has been a blast.  Whitney came out at stayed with us for a couple of weeks.  Jude and Ryder quickly became best buds and spent hours a day playing with each other.  Whit and I had a blast too getting out and doing things.  We went shopping, to the zoo, on walks, to the pool, baked a ton, and just hung out.  Ryder learned how to crawl while he was out here and it was so cute to get to see him and Jude interact.  

We have less than a week now and then we are off.  I have yet to pack a single thing in the house...but I just don't know where to start! This is when you wish family lived near by.  Kyle will be at work all day so packing will be up to me.  I think it's always more fun when you have someone to do it with!  We are excited to get back and start school up.  I will be busy taking 5 classes this next semester but I am also excited.  Kyle will only be taking 2 classes and I think he is looking forward to the extra time he will get to spend with Jude!

So for now, Goodbye Louisville, Hello Provo...see you next week. 

Surprise Date!

Last weekend Kyle and Kyle told Kylie and I that they had a special date planned for us.  We were so anxious to know what we were going to do!

We climbed in the Pilot and headed to downtown Louisville where we met the Belle of Louisville on the river.  

The Ohio river runs right downtown.  It separates Indiana from Kentucky.  

They boys had booked us tickets on a lunch cruise.  Unfortunately, will call messed up and was trying to give us the "sightseeing only" tickets.  Luckily, they had extra food available and they were able to switch our tickets to include lunch. 

The cruise was fun.  It was 2 hours long and cruised up the river, turned around and cruised back.  Kentucky really is so beautiful and it was gorgeous looking at all the scenery.  The food was good.  However, I think this was the first time I really realized how different Kentucky is.  Their gourmet is different.  We had a buffet of fried chicken, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, rolls, ham, roast beef, potato salad, pie, cole slaw, pasta salad, and green beans.  Dinner cruises I have previously been on were serving steak or fish.  I suppose to the Kentucky native that fried chicken is better than steak! Anyway, we all had a blast and filled our bellies.  We also got to walk down to the steam room and see it operate.  The Belle is still on of the only operating steam boats in America!

Thanks to our boys for such a fun day!

We decided the next time we all wait in a line to board a boat better be for the company cruise in December!

It was so hot waiting in line we ended up taking Jude's shirt off...then we took off his pants too.  Poor kid roamed around in just his onesie!

So green!

All Boy

This week has made me realize something...we have our hands full with this little guy.

He now knows how to flush the toilet.

His reaching/grabbing is getting farther and farther everyday. 

Walking along furniture is no big deal.  

Toys are not as fun as electronics, papers, bags, cords, boxes...

And now, he can climb...

Oh, did I mention the little fits he throws when he gets removed from any of the above mentioned items?

The Fun Begins!

I don't know why, but I have really been looking forward to the 9 month old mark.  Something about it just seems so fun and like Jude is getting so old! Well, the day has finally arrived!  Today Jude is 9 months old! Let the Fun Begin!

I think that part of the reason is because the list of foods he can eat is finally longer than the list of foods he can't eat.  He still gets plenty of different foods, but at 9 months he should start consistently eating foods like meat, cheese, yogurt etc... all the good stuff in my opinion. The joy of this means that I can finally start just feeding him straight off of my plate without being too picky of what I am giving him.  Bring on the flavor! One year will be exciting too...that's when he can eat the really good stuff like peanut butter and ice cream!

Jude has mastered several things by now.  He crawls everywhere.  He has become a master and can crawl pretty fast.  As soon as he was crawling he was standing up on everything.  Now he has gotten his balance down really well and doesn't fall as often.  He is also walking along furniture, walls, tables, anything!  Today I saw him get a little risky and go from a end table to the wall to walk.  He does have a little push walker, but he doesn't use it for walking very much.  He has realized that while he is standing on one side walking he can't be on the other side playing with the toys!

9 Months old.  Eating breakfast/drinking from his straw sippy cup.

Jude also claps!  It's so cute.  He first started this on our drive home from Chino to Mesa, Az while in the back seat with his Aunt Melanie and I.  She started singing Pat-A-Cake to him and he just decided to copy!  I have been trying to get him to clap for months but I guess my clapping wasn't as cool as Melanie's!  Another talent Jude learned is to drink from a straw.  I don't know that he really learned this though.  I think he just came pre-programmed already knowing how to! One day I just put a straw in his mouth to see what would happen and immediately he was drinking my water!  This is his new favorite thing.  Anytime we have a drink he wants some too.  It's nice to be able to do this although Kyle doesn't love that I won't allow him to give him any soda pop yet!  After Jude started this I broke down and bought him two new sippy cups with straws instead.  We have bought several different types of sippys, but he never would take to any of them.  I had been getting worried that he wasn't getting enough liquid with his meals so luckily now problem solved!  Now we are just stuck with a bunch of useless sippy cups!

Jude and I flew out to Arizona and spent 9 days there and then Kyle flew out so we could all attend my family's reunion.  My family doesn't do these often. The last time was about 7 years ago!  It was awesome for us all to finally get together.  We were only missing my niece Bonita who was headed out to Africa for a mission trip with her church group.  I guess that was a pretty good excuse!  Jude did awesome on all the flights and was a good trooper throughout the whole trip!  We miss being back home already.

Growing Up

You might think, by the title of this post, that I am going to talk all about Jude.  You know, like how big he is getting and how active he is.  

Wrong.

 This one is about the real big kids in the house.  Kyle and I.  We did something really grown up yesterday.

We bought a car!

We have been talking about getting a second car for months.  We could really use a little extra space.  Especially when we drive back to Utah at the end of the summer.  Sitting Indian style for 26 hours on the way out here wasn't fun for me! Our dream was to get a Honda Pilot.  We both really love them.  However, they are on the more pricey end so we were looking at other options a little more wallet friendly :) The only thing is, the Pilot has everything.  The third row seat, extra space, storage, comfort, rear a/c....Then we went to a Honda dealership and fell in love with this beauty:

She's a 2006 Honda Pilot, 66,000 Miles, Leather, Sunroof

We are so excited to have this new car.  As Kyle said while driving it, "This makes us feel more like family."



P.S. Check out Kyle's FB page for up close pics!  He uploaded all the dealer photos.

Slugger Museum

Every Wednesday the boys get the morning off.  I love these mornings.  Kyle works 10:30am-10pm everyday and Saturdays from 8:30am to about 5pm.  Wednesdays he doesn't have to go in until 1pm!  It's our only time to do something.  Sometimes it gets used up going grocery shopping or just staying home.  Last week a bunch of us decided to go to the Louisville Slugger Museum. This place was awesome!  Especially for baseball lovers.  We took the tour and then headed to their batting cages.  It's incredible to watch them basically hand make all the bats.  Only the actually carving of the bat is done by machine.  At the end of the tour everyone got a free mini bat!  

Look who is in first place!

Trip to the ZOO

Yesterday Jude got to go to the Zoo for the first time ever.  

It was so hot and humid out but we figured it would be all summer.  So we toughened up and headed out!

We went to the Zoo with our good friend Kylie.  Her husband Kyle is out here selling for Terminix also.  Being out in the scorching sun gave us both a much better appreciation for our husbands.  We got to walk through misters every so often to cool off.  They go out every day and walk in this sticky heat!  

Anyway, the Zoo was a blast.  We really got to see all the big animals. The polar bear wasn't out just because it was so hot.  We saw giraffes, bears, tiger, zebras, camels, elephants, gorillas, rhinos, hippos, sea lions, birds, birds, birds... it seemed like for every animal we saw there were 2-3 different kinds of birds in the same exhibit.  Jude did really well.  He was happy the whole entire time.  What a trooper he is to be out in that heat.  As soon as we buckled him into the car he closed his eyes and went right to sleep!  

What a fun day!

One of the coolest things ever...we got to see these two bears playing with each other.  They were chasing each other around and then would "fight" each other!

So We Moved to Kentucky....

So we moved to Kentucky and then what happened?  I neglected my blog.  On the bright side, we are LOVING it out here! Kyle is absolutely loving his job.  He brought it up the other day that this is the best job he's ever had.  This makes me happy.  He's thinking that he'd like to do this again next year.  There are no guarantees that we'd be back here in Kentucky so really we could be anywhere over the country! Jude is growing up.  He picked up and started crawling a couple weeks ago. All on his own...no rocking or anything.  Just got up on his hands a knees and took off.  I was in shock.  Now our days consist of me chasing him around pulling him away from cords, tables, chairs...everything.  He didn't just start crawling, he also pulls himself up to standing on anything possible.  He's getting better at gently falling down once he is done standing but he still takes a tumble here or there.  Our favorite pastimes while Kyle is away at work are going to the pool and baking/cooking new treats and dinners. So far we have made several batches of cookies, homemade pizza, Cafe Rio shredded pork burritos with Cilantro Lime rice, dressing, and black beans (check it out here), Andes Mousse Pie, cupcakes....just to name a few! We are really loving life right now.  The only thing better would to be closer to family but we are looking forward to visiting Arizona in a couple weeks!

I'll do a post of pics later!

6 Months!

We've made it!

One half a year down with the cutest little man.  

Jude is getting funnier and funnier by the day.  He loves his toys and anything that makes noise.  We are just realizing that he is getting past the "rattles" stage and would like some more interactive toys to play with. (We'll just have to see what the Easter Bunny has in mind)

Jude is also sitting up!  We still have to keep an eye on him because he will just topple over.  But, he is loving being a big boy.  

We had his six month check up this week.  Jude is still our "little" shrimp.  

12 lbs 14 oz ~ 1% 

25 in ~ 1% 

His length has dropped quite a bit down in the percentile and his weight has consistently been in the 1st percentile.  We will go back in 6 weeks for a check of his height and weight to make sure he is properly growing. 

We have also started him on solids to try and increase his weight gain.  We started these around 5 months and he loved it.  He tried avacado, straberries, rice cereal, bananas, and peas.  Now that it is a little more critical that we get him to eat more... he hates it!  Nope, he will not let a spoonful of anything past those little puckered lips.   He is also less interested in eating all together and will only nurse small amounts every couple of hours and doesn't want a bottle! Strange boy!

The little one also got his first little sickness.  The doctor found a very slight ear infection which he has been on  antibiotics for.  He also had a little cough and he has been getting a couple breathing treatments as needed.  Hopefully this little cold is the reason for his loss of appetite!

One of his first times trying rice cereal.  He really did like it and would volunteer for a bite.  Now, he wants nothing to do with any of it!

One of Jude and Daddy's tricks.

Getting one of his breathing treatments.

Happy boy after he got his 6 month shots. He did SO good and barely cried!

Sitting by himself!

We've gotten a few video clips of the little one.  We'll have to see if Daddy can help upload those!

I'm a Big Boy Now!!!

Over the Christmas Break we got a video camera on a great clearance price.  We haven't had much time to use it but have gotten a few shots of the little one.  I'll try and post the others later.  

I caught THIS last night.  He did it about 5 times in a row!

(Ignore the commercial in the background...I kept trying to turn it off but hit the volume up button instead!)

We had a great Valentine's Day yesterday.  Ky treated us to Tucano's for lunch.  We then walked over to the Provo Beach Resort and I whooped Kyle at shuffle board.  After that we walked around the mall for a bit.  Jude and I spent the evening together.  We watched our newest, yet embarrassing, addiction the Bachelor.  Ky got home from work around 11pm with a gorgeous vase of pink roses.  A few minutes later the pizza boy arrived with a heart shaped pizza from Papa Johns for dinner! Yum!

Bouncer Fun

Jude's Aunt Whitney got him a bouncer before he was born.  Recently he has really been enjoying it.  The buttons are in the right spot where he can kick them on and off with his feet to turn on the vibrator.  Usually he just sits in there to play for a bit or when I'm busy around the house.  Last night I set him in there so I could go to the bathroom.  We usually don't buckle him in. Just a few short moments later I came back out and...

Ta Daa!!

Guess I better start using the buckle!

4 Months!

Juders had his 4 month check up this week.  He won't officially be 4 months until the 8th of February.  He is a growing, but little, boy. Here are his stats:

10lbs 15oz
24 1/2 inches

This puts him in the 1% for weight and 45% for length.  His head circumference was in the 7% range. Jude is still being a great little boy with sleeping at night.  He usually goes to sleep around 10pm and doesn't wake up until about 8am. He then eats and goes back to sleep for a couple more hours! The sleep is great considering Ky's work hours because we usually don't get to go to bed before about 1am.

Jude's new talents consist of:

Excessive drooling

Talking, Cooing, Squealing, Laughing

Smiling

Standing

Some of Jude's Dislikes include:

The car

Sitting

Being alone

Sunday School

 (It's always during this hour of church that he explodes his diaper, is hungry, or is overly tired, but usually ends up being a combination of all three)

Life for us has been extremely busy lately but we're managing.  Both of us are back in school full time and Kyle has been working over 40 hours a week!  It seems like everyday I look up a good deal on a vacation somewhere and try to convince Kyle that we should go.  Come on...doesn't the beach sound great right now?!