Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes (thanks David Bowie)

Our little family is in for some HUGE changes in a couple of weeks and I have to say, I'm not one who likes change. At all.
Neil has worked at Fidelity Investments in SLC since the month before we got married and he's going to continue working there but he just got a new job with them.  He's going to be in their general manager apprenticeship program for the next 2 years.  I honestly don't know a ton about what he'll be doing but what I DO know is that the 3 of us will be moving to a new place (not in Utah) every 6 months for the next 2 years.
We're in for a lot of excitement and plenty of adventures, but quite of bit of sadness in leaving for so long too.
So wish us luck- I don't even know where we're going first!

I've got this on my wall and we're gonna put it to the test!

Big Boy

Barrett is loving sitting at the table and counter like a big boy for his dinner these days.

He is such a good eater and he's actually really clean!  He usually keeps his arms out like this and doesn't get them in the food or on his face.  I make a bigger mess with his meals than he does!

You can never have too many girls nights!

The Celebrations Continue

Since Neil turned the big 3-0 and since he was out of town on his actual birthday, we had a couple more parties for him.

We had a barbecue at his parents house with some of our friends.

The birthday boy with the baby boy.

The swing set was a hit with everyone!  Jonny with Tayton, Kevin with Kade, and Sheena with Kaydence.

Me and Neil

Trying to light all 30 candles.

We both got burned a few times, but we got them all lit!

And Neil blew them all out on 1 try!

Sunday we had our family party, of course.  Barrett was lovin on Grandma CC!

Not quite as many candles in his cherry bars.

They all got blown out- but not by Neil.

Happy birthday old man!

Snowbird

Neil was in Boston this week for his 30th birthday, so when he got home he took a day off so I could surprise him with a fun day up at Snowbird.

We couldn't have asked for a better day- it wasn't crowded, the weather was great (except it got pretty windy at times), and it was just so beautiful.  

There were a million different things to do and they were all really fun.  We went on the bungee tramps and they were so freaking exhausting.  We did too many flips, I guess.

Then we rode the tram up the mountain,

went on a hike and went through the 600 foot peruvian tunnel,

and rode the chair lift down the mountain.

I climbed the climbing wall a couple times.

We rode the alpine slide several times.  I wasn't going to do this because I remember it being so scary from when I was little but I was really glad I went!

I rode a mechanical bull (which I will never EVER do again).

We did a ropes course

And our last activity (besides a really yummy lunch at one of their restaurants) was a sneak preview ride of the new Mountain Flyer.  They were only letting employees ride to test it out but we talked them into letting us go too :)

See!?  I told you there was TONS of fun stuff to do up there!  We had a great date celebrating Neil's birthday!~

Favorite Toys

There are days when Bear will only play with certain toys and he'll be totally offended if you give him anything else.  Here's a few of his latest favorites- although since he has so many options, this post could have gone on forever.

He loves his Sophie.

And this red cup.

He still loves his exersaucers.

He loves his "Who Loves Baby?" book.

This version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar has crinkly pages that he loves.

His very favorite toys are still his toes, he doesn't seem to get sick of those.

His shirt says B is for Bear :)

San Jorge

We had another great trip to the St. George house last weekend.  It was super hot and I loved it because I just floated in the pool the whole time!  I had been having a lovely nap in the pool when I came in to find these darlings also having a nap.

Kelsey and Alex came down with their kids too and they just wanted to swim the whole time too!

2 little fishies- Rylee and Tyce

Me and my man :)

Oh my gosh!  I also bought Bear some cute new books while we were there!  These are a couple of our new ones.  They're so cute but I can't even read them to him without crying.  Although that's nothing new- I haven't been able to read children's books since I first got pregnant with him!

Father's Day

Our family has always been lucky to have lots of great men in our lives and we love celebrating the things they have done for us.  

We spent most of Neil's first real life father's day in the car coming home from St. George, but we did have a little time for some fun stuff too.

I had this cute picture of my boys printed and framed so Neil could take it to work, Bear and I made a card, and bought him a pie pocket and a gift card.

Barrett loves playing with his daddy.

Bear and Pops.

Barrett with his dad and my dad.

I hope you all had a happy father's day too!

Summer Goals

So far, I've got 3 goals for summer.

1. Get Bear on a good sleeping schedule. He's been a pretty good sleeper at night since about 2 months but he's struggled with naps.  We're practicing every day and working on falling asleep without being held (this part is hard for both of us!)  He just really needs to figure out how great naps are!

2. Start going to the gym more than once a week so I can get a bit of muscle tone again.

3. Get Barrett to like Cherry Hill.  This was attempt #2.  He didn't seem to hate it too bad and he only cried when he got splashed (he gets that from me), but he wasn't enjoying himself either.  I really want him to have fun when we go!

6 am

Waking up early isn't exactly what comes to mind when I think of my "summer break." But when this little bubby is looking up at me and ready to play, I don't mind nearly as much.

Zoo Day

Yesterday we went to the Hogle Zoo and it was fabulous!  This was Barrett's 2nd time at the zoo, but the first time that I got to go with him.  The first time he went, he went with my parents, Shelley, and her kids while I was at work.

Here's Ethan standing on a hollow log thing.

Jill showing Bear the otters I think.

Some of our kiddies watching for the polar bears, I think.  Whitney, Lindsay, Alex, Reagan, Olivia, and Ethan.

Ethan, Alex, Barrett, Lala and Shelley- I think this is at the polar bear exhibit too.  (The zoo was extremely crowded and I was always at the back of the group with the stroller, so I never really saw too many of the animals.  The ones I did see though were super active and so fun to watch!)

E, Shelley, Bear, and Ali.

Barrett and his BFF!

I think Bear looks so much like me as a baby in this picture!

Me and Buster

Tink, Lu, Reags, Liv, and Nick.

Me and Jill

The Merry Go Round was a blast and Bear was a lot more into it this time.
Ali on the tiger.

E on the elephant.

Tinky on the turtle.

Jill stood by the hippo.

Bear rode the cutest baby polar bear.

Tink, Reagan, and Livvie.

Lindsay and Reagan- best friends!

This was on the way out and we were all ready to go at this point.

We were all really exhausted and poor Ethan fell asleep like this!