The Biggest Mess

Wanna know the fastest way to make your yard AND your house a huge mess? Install sprinklers when it's rainy. I have never seen so much mud. It will all be worth it (I hope) when the grass grows back and when it is nice and hot outside, and the yard with be watered automatically! We just couldn't stand another year of dragging the hose around to water by hand... or let the lawn die, which is generally what happened by the end of every summer, anyway.
We had so many people come and help us with this project. Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every one of you who came out to help us with this project! The sprinklers work fantastically! Just look at those trenches. Wow. Thank heaven for a trencher. We had to dig some by hand and it was not fun. See all of that dirt. In a couple hours all that turned to pure mud when it started to rain.

Steve and Grant diggin' away. Steve helped us so much. He just installed sprinklers in his yard last year, so his experience and know-how was invaluable.

Everyone pitched in... even the little guys.

This is my nephew, Erik.

The backyard all dug up. It has been muddy ever since, and the dogs track in it with them whenever they come inside. I have given up sweeping and mopping in the area by the dog door for the time being. There is no keeping up with it! We did however have our rugs, couch, and carpet cleaned on Saturday. It is amazing how much of the mud ended up inside.
Here's to a summer of automatic watering!!

Goin' Private

Yep, it's true. I am jumping on the private blog bandwaggon. Why, you ask? Well, a couple of weeks ago, shortly after Grant's sister got married, I had a horrible nightmare that we were at the wedding reception where there were lots of people, mostly family, and Wes was being passed from person to person (which is really what happened.) In my nightmare, however, I lost track of him, and I was running around trying to find him, and I caught a glimpse of him in some strangers arms as they were walking out the door, and somehow I knew it was an internet predator that had tracked down my son. I woke up in a cold sweat, and terrified out of my mind. I almost got up right then, at 3:30 am, to make my blog private. I didn't however, and the whole thing left my mind until today. I was watching this Oprah about internet predators wherein an expert said to never ever post pictures of your kids on the internet, and if you do, limit access to only family and friends. My nightmare came rushing back to me and.... well, here we are.
I don't want to alienate anyone, and if you know of someone who wants an invite to read the blog, please let me know!

Birthdays, Weddings and Baby Showers, Oh My!

Wow! I cannot wrap my head around the fact that Wes is one year old already. Where did the time go? I was looking back at previous blog posts from when he was born, and it just does not seem that long ago.

Here is Wes at 1 in a nutshell:

He is still in the 90th percentile for height, though his weight gain has tapered off to a still-chunky 75th percentile. (Evidently all that getting into trouble burns calories.)

He loves to point to the things he knows and recognizes. For example, I say, "Wes, where's the clock?" (or the fan, or blankie, or your hair, or the dogs, or outside.... ) and he points to it.

He already can say a handful of words, "mama", "dada", "dog-dog", and "fan" are his favorites.

He will imitate a lot of words I say, and if he can't make the actual sounds, he will imitate the syllables or the intonation.

He loves, and I mean LOVES books. Especially ones about animals. He will "moo" when he sees a cow.

He likes soft and snugly things, especially blankets. He will test almost everything for its "snuggleability". This means that he will grab something (a blankie, towel, napkin, Grant's tie, my shirt, a stuffed animal, the dog's tail) with his left hand and hold it to his cheek while he sucks his right thumb. One day he went over to his changing table where the blankets are stored on the bottom shelf, took one blanket off at a time to test it for his snuggleability, then tossed it aside and grabed another blanket until he had tested them all.

His current favorite toy is a little plastic cow that he calls "moo-moo".

What a sweet kiddo he is. I feel so blessed and privileged to be his mother.

We have had a very busy last couple of weeks. Grant's sister, Elise, got married on the 26th, and held a dinner the night before which coincided with Wes's birthday!



This is the second cake-all-over-the-face event. I think Wes wouldn't mind if we did this every day!





Cousin Jada was helping Wes figure out how to open presents (Wes just wanted to play with the bow so someone needed to show him how it is done)!





Jada colored this picture for Wes's birthday. He really liked it! He cooed and pointed and seemed really pleased with the picture. What a sweetheart Jada was to do that for him!



The next day was the big wedding. It was such a wonderful ceremony in the new Draper Temple. Elise looked beautiful and everything was just awesome.





My dad trying to keep Wes entertained with a book and "moo moo" at the temple.



From left to right: Jessica, Grant, Sheri, Tom, and Elise. They sure look spiffy.





Wes was fascinated with the medals on the groom's Marine uniform.





Grant dancing with the bride.

Grant sharing a dace with the flower girl, Jada.

Wes had a great time climbing the stairs at the Capitol. I have to say, he was a good sport about all of the craziness of the last few days even though he had a mean cold, had just been given his vaccinations (which always make him a little miserable) and, though I didn't' know it at the time, was teething on top of it all! He was pretty fussy and tired by the end of it all.

Wes and Grant had matching shoes. So cute.

Things were so busy, it was nice to have a relaxing day at home on Friday. Wes definitely needed a day of lots of rest in his own crib. We tried to rest up as much as possible on Friday, because we were off and running again on Saturday to attend a baby shower for Sheri! She is having a little boy, and we just can't wait for Wes to have a boy cousin!

Then on Sunday we had Grant's siblings over for a little dinner at our house. We wanted to spend as much time with them as possible since we don't get to see Jessica and Sheri very often.

It was a crazy-busy few days, but such a good time. I love to have family around. Grant and I miss them all so much!