4th of July and Swimming Pool

Ok, after this post I am all caught up. On the 4th we started out at the West Jordan Parade. We drove down a half hour before the parade started, just before they closed the road. When they did close the road we hurried up and sat in the middle of 7800 S. Good seats, lame parade. It was really slow going. There wasn't much candy either. Judson did enjoy the flag he got. It was fun hanging out, but we ended up leaving after an hour because of the boredom. Darren had gone on a bike ride with his sister Heather early in the morning. They did the Tour de Riverton. It was a 25 mile bike ride around Riverton. They said they had fun and he did get a free t-shirt and water bottle. Then we had a little BBQ with a couple of my sister's and their fams. Then we went to the Farr's, ate good food and had fireworks. Judson loved it. It was a full day with little nap for Judson. We came home, put him to bed and Darren and I watched for the Riverton fireworks to check if we could see them from our house. We sort of can, but the elementary is in the way. I figure next year we'll walk over and sit on the lawn at the elementary and watch. That will be nice and convenient. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!!!

It was really hot on Monday and Judson and I were home alone. I wanted to do something fun, so we went to the store, bought a pool, came home and Judson went for a swim. Actually more of a stand. The water was really cold. He still loved splashing around, just not sitting in the water. When he swam on Tuesday the water was much warmer and he loved sitting and laying on his belly. It's a great $10 spent!

3rd of July Party

We had a great time at this year's 3rd of July Party. I just love seeing all the friends from my growing-up neighborhood. It's always such a blast. This year we had the same pot-luck dinner, patriotic sing-a-long and drawing for prizes, but there was a twist. We've had the drawing for prizes for a few years now, which reminds me that I need to donate some prizes for next year's drawing. Anyway, there are always little prizes that are just fun. Stickers, toys, bubbles, trinkets, etc... Judson won a post-it pad. Who knew this would keep him entertained for nearly an hour? He's such a funny baby!! This year there was a grand prize donated. An IPod Shuffle. I wanted to win it. However, I didn't win it. My niece Sami did!!! Cool, huh? There was confusion when she went to claim her prize and another lady claimed it instead. It was all figured out and in the end, Sami got her IPod. Congratulations Sami!!! The fireworks are the last of the traditions and they were great. I thought Judson would be terrified, but he loved them. He calls them "fi-were-works". It's so cute how he says it. Thanks for a great party again this year, Balony's. You're great!!!

Zoo with Sami and Griff

Wow, so much has happened and the first week of July isn't even over yet. One event at a time, though. On the 2nd Heather, Sami and Griff came into town and we all went to the Zoo while Darren was at work. It was rainy, but that made it so nice. Not too hot and not very many people. Before this year I'm pretty sure I haven't been to the zoo since elementary school. We have been a few times this year, but I've never noticed the little discovery land for the kids. It was so much fun to go, play on the slides and poke our heads out the gopher holes (picture of that coming later). It is such a fun area. We are definitely stopping at this discovery land place every time now.

Judson on the Elephant Slide. I'm pretty sure Elephants and Giraffes are his faves right now.

Sami and Judson on the Snake Slide. The kids and the slide was wet so they went down so slowly. There are windows in the side and Heather and I were laughing so hard because it took so long for them to get from one window to the next. Griffin used his legs to get down the slide more quickly. It still was slow going for a slide.

Baseball in Utah = Bees

We went to our first semi-pro baseball game this last week. We were able to experience almost every different joy baseball provides. We had a rain delay, bases loaded (no grand slam home-run, though), full count, kettle corn, cotton candy, someone I know catching a foul ball, running into family and my OBGYN and a double rainbow. It really was a fun, frugal outing. We were able to get tickets for $5 each, Judson was free. Since baseball's not hugely popular we could sit anywhere we wanted. We joined our friends, the Balony's (huge baseball fans, by the way) and it was a blast. After the first two innings we watched as dark clouds, moving quite quickly came over the field. Just as we noticed the first gust of wind, the worker men were on the field covering it for the rain. The delay lasted about 90 minutes. We just moved up to the top of the stadium and hung out, sang songs, ate junk and danced around. Just having fun.

After the rain delay Darren went out to get nachos. He ran into my brother Paul. He and his family were there (sans Sadie) for his work party. Small world, eh? They came up and sat by us. It was so nice for Judson to have two friends, Hayley and Caleb to play with. He was also excited to see his other cousins, his aunt and uncle and the Balony's. Then Brian caught a foul ball with his bare hand while holding Hayley. That's definitely talent. The Bee's could have used some of those baseball skills. The game went late. We left just after 11pm. Late night for Judson and me and Darren. It was such a fun night at the ballpark, though. We'll definitely do this again. Maybe soon, who knows?

Zoo and Father's Day

We went to the zoo again. It was a little different due to the rain. The zoo is great, though because there are so many buildings and coverings that you can stay fairly dry and still see so much. This time around we decided to see a couple of the "shows" they have. First we saw an elephant eating tree branches. This was not the original nature of this show. I'm sure the elephant does head-stands and walks on wires (they actually paint and play with a big red ball), but due to the rain we were unable to see any of her talents except eating. I did learn an interesting fact, (besides the fact that one of the elephants is 20 months pregnant due any day in the next two months, give or take or that the other elephant is the oldest African elephant in North America coming in at a whopping 49 years old). The trainer came out and told us interesting facts while pregnant elephant was eating. The interesting fact is that an elephants weight can fluctuate up to 200 lbs each day. Now, there are 2 elephants at the Utah Hogle Zoo. How would you love to be the pooper scooper of up to 400 lbs? That's definitely a dirtiest jobs episode.

The other show we saw was the bird show. It was so cool. The birds fly literally inches above the audiences heads'. Darren and I thought for sure this would freak Judson out, but he loved it. He hated the clapping of the audience, but the birds he loved. We loved it too. The pictures below are of Judson and his Zoo Year Pass cousin Trajen and of the bald eagle in front of the American flag with doves flying around, so patriotic. The other big cartoon-y bird I'm not sure what it is, but he/she is the biggest around and is on loan from the San Diego Zoo. It was a fun trip to the zoo.

Father's Day was great too. Darren is a great father and I probably don't give him enough credit or tell him how much I appreciate him each minute of each day, but I do appreciate him that much. Judson gave him a T-shirt with their picture on it that said "I luv my daddy" (yes, it is from my obsession with making iron-on T-shirts). He got pants from me, that really said "thanks for being the best father in the world," even though they just looked like pants. We celebrated a family birthday in Mapleton and it was great to be with so much family on such a great Sunday afternoon. I love great weekends. Most weekends are good, but this one was great!!

New House + Pneumonia = 2 week move

2 weeks too long!! We closed on our new house two weeks ago yesterday. The plan was to move everything in on the Saturday after we closed and be done with it. That didn't happen. That Saturday we were moving stuff in and the previous owners were finishing projects and still moving stuff out. We got the bulk of our stuff moved in. Well, I was feeling really tired all day. I wasn't really doing much so I was confused. The previous owners had a cat and I was wondering if the cat residue was bugging me. Well when I woke up Sunday morning my breathing was weird and I was feeling a bubbling in my lungs again. Instacare confirmed my diagnosis, I had pneumonia...again. So this past week I have been resting A LOT!! It has made me so anxious. Darren is WONDERFUL. He has been doing so much at the new house getting everything ready. It's actually been nice for him to be able to finish some projects before we lived there. He has been working non-stop getting things ready for us. Darren is the BEST!!! Finally on Monday I was able to start working again. My mom and I went to the new house, cleaned the whole kitchen and got it ready to load up. Yesterday Heather, Paul and Rachelle came to help and we were able to get a lot done. We now have a washer and a dryer and window coverings. The kitchen is all ready to be used and the bathrooms are clean. Today Darren is moving Judson's crib. That means it's official. We have to live at the house because Judson has only ever slept well in his crib. I'm so excited to be in my new home full time now. There are still a few things to move, but for the most part we're all moved in. It's an exciting time!!! I'll post pictures soon.

The Zoo

We are members, of the Zoo, that is. We have an annual pass to the Zoo this year and I'm more excited than ever to use it. We went for our second time on Saturday. It was busy and there were lines to get in, but the lady saw we had annual passes and we got to go to the front of the line and get right in. We also got a discount on the Carousel so Judson and Darren went for a ride and loved it.

Judson wasn't sure about this Gorrila. He was scared of him, so we too a quick picture and went on our way.

I love, love, love this picture. Judson has discovered his pockets. I have seen him put his hand in his pockets a few times and I'm so happy I got a picture of it. So cute!!!

The Giraffe. We have a special bond with giraffes for some reason. What does a Giraffe say? A lion says "roar", a monkey has specific actions and noises, and elephant has a specific sound, but what does a giraffe say? Well, since Judson has a toy and a finger puppet that is a giraffe we have always taught him that a giraffe says, "me, me, me, I'm a giraffe", in a very uppity, snooty sort of way. Well, Judson has caught on. He now says when prompted, "me, me I raff"! It's so cute. I love misleading my child down the path of the unknown. It's a good guess, though, right. If nothing else Judson is so cute saying it, so the slight fib can be overlooked.

Judson didn't really want anything to do with this Gorilla. But I had to take the picture. The second photo is back from February. Has he grown?

Lasagna, haircut and park

Messy, messy Judson. This is his biggest mess yet. He had lasagna and grapes at G&G Farr's. He loved it. Maybe a little too much. He was also sporting his "cheese" face that he now does for photos and just smiling in general.

His hair was getting so long. I had toyed with the idea of letting it grow, but it was too much work for me. So we chopped it. He looks so cute and too grown up with the short hair. I love it so much better, though. Also, the picture with Judson and Darren was part of my wonderful Mother's Day gift. They framed the picture with a note Judson had colored on for me to take to work. I love the gift, but I love these boys so much!!!

The park is our favorite place to be!! Judson loves the slides, the stairs the climbing the bridges and just the ability to play non-stop. We go to the park a lot and when a cousin can join us it's just fun times two. We went to West Jordan park with Trajen a few weeks ago. It was so much fun. They have a cool area in the park that is a western town theme, maybe. It has an are for toddlers so that was great for the boys.

Ginger's Visit

Easter. I can't believe I didn't post about Easter!! That's just CRAZY! We had an egg hunt at my parent's house. Judson didn't really know what was going on, but he loved the candy and, as always, he loves his cousins.

While Ginger was here we went bowling with Christopher and Sadie. Judson loves all of the bowling balls. He likes to be in the action all the time. It's hard to get him to sit still, but he stays close and that's nice. It was fun to go bowling. The last picture I just had to add because Judson looks so weird. Drugged-like almost...

Picture Adventure

Wow!!! I just plugged in my camera and noticed that I haven't posted a picture for a couple of months. I've taken pictures though, so get set for an overload!!!

One event at a time, though.

Judson was invited to his cousin Caleb's birthday party. It was at Backyard Adventures in Draper. It was such a fun place. They had a bunch of their outdoor playset's all set up for the kids to play on and there was a huge bouncy house set up. Judson loved the slides and the bouncy house so much. He also loved the swing chair and at one point forced an adult off of it just by looking cute! I feel bad that I didn't get a picture of Caleb. Sami helped Judson out on the slides most of the time, so she got her picture taken.Happy Birthday Caleb!

It's Finally Ours

I promise to stop talking solely about our house soon. I also promise I'll post some pictures of Judson soon. But yesterday we closed on our house. We have to wait until tomorrow to get the keys, but I'm so excited. A place of our very own. It's been 9-months in the making. I was planning on just 3-6 months. I guess I'm not really in charge of the plan. Everything, in the end, worked out better than I could have ever imagined. We are so excited for our new home. Thank you to mom and dad Stokes for letting us invade your space for the last 9 months. It's been fun, but now it's finally time to move on. Speaking of moving... if anyone wants to help us we'll be starting Saturday at 9am. :)

One Week

We are officially on the one week countdown to close. I have been super nervous and not really getting my hopes up, but now that everything is finally in order I'm getting my hopes up. This time next week we will own our first house. Yeah!!!

We went to our new ward last week and it was great! I'm excited to get to know all the wonderful people there. They were all very friendly and super excited that we were moving in. Nursery was fun, too. Judson didn't want anything to do with it, so I dragged him through the door and I got to spend the next 2 hours sitting in a corner watching the kids play. Judson has a lot of fun with the other kids, he just has to keep looking over at me every minute or so to make sure I'm still there. And heaven forbid I get up to walk over to the garbage to throw something away. This caused an instant Judson melt down. He was fine once he saw I went right back to my chair. I think nursery may be the first calling in my future new ward. I might as well. I'll probably be in there every week anyway. But it was great.

Everything is now going smoothly. (knock on wood). I can't wait to get into my house and start putting everything away. I'm happy to being one week away from having my stuff out of storage. I've missed my stuff. Interestingly enough what I've missed most are my filing cabinets. Who knew I loved paper organization?

Two Weeks

We close two weeks from today!! Yeah!! Today there is an appraisal and inspection on our new house. I'm excited and nervous for these things to happen. I really hope everything works out. The work is finally getting finished on the remodel. It's really looking so great!! We are going to our ward this Sunday. It starts at 9 which is ok by me. The AM hours are when Judson is in the best mood. I really hope everything goes well. I really hope he has some super fun people in Nursery that will make him want to stay. I have lots of hopes, but most of all I just hope everything goes as planned and in two weeks we will own our very first house!!!

I'm not ashamed

I absolutely loved this movie. I think Darren really liked it too. (Thanks for going with me, Darren. I know you'd rather see Wolverine!!)

17 Again was so funny. Zac Efron did a great job, but the whole movie was just well written. I was laughing the whole time. I am definately a funny movie gal. I will definately own this movie someday and that is the highest honor a movie can get in my book. If you have a couple of bucks and want to see a great, funny movie, go see 17 again.

We got the house!!!!

It's so exciting. The owner gave a counter-offer and we accepted it. We are under contract now and set to close May 26th. Here are more pictures of the house. It's still being worked on, so we'll post the after pictures when they're all done.

Front of the house from different angles

Back yard

Kitchen taken from the stairs

Close up of the kitchen

Dining area and family room just off the kitchen