boating

For my brother's 16th birthday my parents rented a boat. Creed is so athletic and is so quick to catch on. While most of us have only been boating a couple times and some not at all  he was jumping the wake, teaching the rest of us and making it look so easy. 

 

 Our little man is 7 months old.

 Jared was a natural. Unfortunately his back was not too happy about this. 

 Jared may have been on crutches the next day but it was totally worth the fun.

The water was a little fickle but when it was smooth it felt amazing. 

 I had no idea I bite my lip when concentrating

 Preston did so well for being on a boat for over 6 hours. He didn't want anyone to hold him but me for the first few hours but was still happy. As soon as Jared joined us he was great with anyone and loved when we let him actually crawl around. 

 My dad is the pro here.

 I sure love being on the lake surrounded by mountains. The best part was watching the sunset and getting a few more runs in at the end of the day.

2nd Anniversary

My old roommate got married on August 18th which is our anniversary so we went out to dinner the night before so that we could go to her sealing and reception. I was feeling bad about leaving Preston Friday night and then having to leave him again first thing Saturday morning. I thought it would be better if we had one of my siblings come watch him at our apartment Friday night so he was home instead of dropping him off at my parents' like we normally do. Turns out I was wrong. We had just gotten our food at Macaroni Grill when my brother called and said Preston had been crying since we left which had been about 45 minutes by this point. Pierce had tried everything and just wanted to know if there was something else he should try. After hearing Preston's sad cry in the background I broke down and couldn't handle knowing our little boy was so sad. We had the waitress bring us a couple boxes and we headed home, comforted our little boy, finished our dinner, and tried to watch the Incredibles. Unfortunately we only got half way through the movie (we had just bought it) and it started skipping. We turned it off and I put Preston to bed while Jared took Pierce home.

By this point Jared was feeling bad that nothing was really working out the way we had hoped. No it wasn't the most romantic evening but we still got 45 minutes alone and not matter how our anniversary turns out we will still be married and that is what is most important. On his way home Jared stopped by Smith's to get me some strawberries and cream and some beautiful flowers.  

      

Saturday we dropped Preston off at my parents' this time so we could go to the sealing, he did great. I guess the distraction of so many people to play with is what he needs when we're gone. That afternoon we went to see Bourne Legacy, got some shaved ice, and took our anniversary picture, and took a good long nap. In the end it was a great anniversary. 

 Preston has to have his frozen fruit when we get shaved ice or he would eat all of ours. 

 The shaved ice is in the parking lot of a furniture store. Since we love just window shopping and dreaming of what we will do with our home some day we had to stop in.

This year's anniversary picture

Family Time

This month has been such a busy one full of wedding planning (a post about my brother's wedding is coming) and lots of family time. 

Last week we went with Austin and Liz and their kids to the Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. We started with taco Tuesday at Del Taco (3 tacos of $1) and then $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point. What can I say? We like deals. Unfortunately we all forgot cameras. There were some fun picture taking moments like when Andrew got mad at the door at Del Taco for not staying open. Or Preston hanging on to Jared or I for dear life whenever he got too close to an animal. Here are a couple we did get with Jared's phone. 

 

 There is Preston who refuses to take his eye off the sheep to make sure they don't jump out at him. He does the same thing with the vacuum. I have to hold him every time I vacuum while he holds on to me for dear life. When I'm done I'll try to go sit with him to clam him down but he refuses to relax or take his eye off the vacuum until I have put it away. 

 

 

Riding the tractor as we waited for the real tractor ride to come back

 Preston loves water. While we were setting up for my brother's reception in my parents' yard all Preston wanted was to reach the fountain and play. Grandma (sorry mom that's what you are until you give us another option) was having so much fun letting Preston soak him self and watching him get so excited to play in the water.

On Sunday we took an afternoon walk around the Day Break Lake (man made lake in the middle of a big subdivision). Of course Preston's favorite part was walking in the water. Although he tried so hard to make me let go of him so he could sit in the water to splash.

our climber

Preston loves to climb through the chairs and will do so at least once a day to get to the garbage can under our desk. This is just climbing through just because he can :)

I have several videos I have tried uploading the last couple months but for some reason this is the first one that has worked. Preston is so much fun and I want you all (grandmas especially) to see how fun he is just crawling around and babbling away.

Preston Loves to Play and Discover

Preston sure is a curious boy who loves to discover new things. His latest discovery and favorite thing to do while I am working in the kitchen is bang on the dishwasher and play with his reflection. I have been trying to get a picture of it forever but Preston has become a bit of a performer. When the camera (or phone) comes out he stops and smiles and puts on a bit of a show.

 This day I got lots of pictures but some how he knew when I raised the camera because he always turned to look as soon as I did. When the camera was put down he resumed play as if nothing happened.

 This is the only successful picture I have of him tapping away. 

 This last weekend we had some friends come for dinner. They brought a great pasta salad in this cooler to keep it fresh while they traveled from Logan. While we were eating dinner we would look over to see Preston who had discovered this cooler. First he enjoyed eating it. A few minutes later he had stood up the play it like a drum. The next time we looked over this is what we found. He is just so sweet and very proud of himself.

Getting into things

My project today was reorganizing the kitchen and finding room for a meager food storage. I started by pulling things out of cabinets and our coat closet and putting them on the floor but quickly realized that is not a good idea with a curious little boy. Preston was thrilled to have a pile of blankets to crawl on and lids for mason jars to scatter across the kitchen.

 

Showing My Cousin Around

My cousin Jordan came to visit from Washington before he heads out on his mission next month. We loved having him stay with us for a few days and showing him a few sites around here. 

 

Here we are at the Salt Lake Temple Quarry

 We had to share one of our new favorite treats, Shaved ice. Jared has always loved snow cones but I hate the big chunks of ice and then a cup full of syrup because I can't bite the ice and it takes me forever to melt the ice in my mouth. This stuff is finely shaved and heavenly!

 Preston has to have a frozen sweet treat of his own (frozen fruit in that awesome mesh bag) or he eats all of ours.

My brother needed to go talk to a few people about school and Jordan hadn't been down town in many years so the three of us (with Preston of course) headed down to site see. We walked around City Creek and Temple Square. Britton loved speaking to a Brazilian sister missionary and Jordan ended up feeling a bit more nervous for his mission when he saw the Book of Mormon in the language he would be speaking in the Philippines. It was rather entertaining to see the difference between the two.

This Giraffe had a motion sensor and rolled over laughing when we walked by. It scared Preston, who had been in his stroller. I took him out and calmed him down then tried to get him used to it. It was very entertaining watching him touch the giraffe very timidly wanting to cry but couldn't help but laugh.

On Saturday Jared and I went up to Park City with Britton and Jordan. We had to check out the Olympic Park and then went shopping at the outlets.

These were used in the opening ceremonies. It was fun to relive when the Olympics were here in Salt Lake while feeling the spirit of the current Olympics.