First Birthday Party

My Baby Turned One!!! I can't believe how fast this boy is growing. I love it and it breaks my heart at the same time. He is so sweet. We were sure we needed to celebrate not only because it was Colton's first birthday, but also we had officially survived one year of parenthood. So we decided to throw a birthday bash.

First we had to get the balloons.

And make the cake.

Then blow out the candles.

Chow down.

His reaction to the cake was just as we had hoped and he made one fabulous mess!

And then of course, we had to party with all of our wonderful friends!!!

Happy Birthday Colton Boy! We love you sooo much!

Strawberry Picking

I had never been strawberry picking before, but this year seemed like a good time to start the tradition. It was a perfect summer time activity.

Colton was a good little strawberry searcher and a successful picker. He knew just what to do with those berries when he found them. Sadly, he didn't like them enough to keep them in his mouth and actually eat them.



We were glad to join friends in the strawberry picking frenzy. Thanks Camie for inviting us to join your crew in the picking adventure. We loved it!

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great Fourth of July. We decided to check out the festivities at a nearby town. They had lots of cool old cars, rides and tractors. Colton LOVED the tractors. What is it about huge wheels that is so enticing? We have lots of pictures of him checking the tractor out. Jon took Colton on one of the rides, but he was less than impressed. I guess it was just a good excuse for Jon to ride a ride.


We had a BBQ at our place with Jon's parents that evening. Here is the grill master.

Here is the food. Of course I only have pictures of the food, not the people. But it was delicious.


Jon delighted us with a nice firework show that night and our neighbors spent some real money on some professional fireworks. We were glad to step in on their show and enjoy it for free while drinking our root beer floats. It was a happy fourth!!

Family Fun

Since 7 of the 8 children in Jon's family gathered for the wedding, we took advantage of the time together and almost everyone was able to stay for a week. The week was filled with many very fun activities. We went boating on Lake Minnetonka, Jon did a segway tour with his family through downtown, and we checked out the Children's Museum just to name a few things we did.

We LOVED the children's museum. I was afraid they wouldn't have anything for Colton's age group, but they definitely did. The first big hit was the water tables where they could do all sorts of experiments. As you can see, Colton was so happy to see it. Doesn't he look like a scientist in training?


They also have an entire room dedicated to children from 6 to 48 months old. My favorite part was this sign. If you can't read it, it says "Babies explore by rolling, grabbing, tasting, and observing." They hit that right on the head. I'm just afraid that Colton may have been tasting the same things the other kiddos were tasting. Yuck! Oh and since Colton wasn't big enough to jump into the turtle, I had to take one for the team.


Lake Minnetonka is beautiful and it was fun, but we chose the coldest day of the week to go there. There were lots of blankets, coats, and cuddling.



It was so fun. We hope everyone will get together again soon!

Wedding!!!

Jon's brother Paul and his darling wife Jessica got married in June. We were so glad to be there and were very happy that they decided to get married in our neck of the woods so that Paul's Dad could be at the wedding (his dad can't leave the mission area). We had a great time with Jon's family and getting to know Jessica's wonderful family. They had an open house the night before the wedding, the wedding ceremony Saturday morning, pictures by a beautiful lake, and then dinner, a program, and dancing at a nice hotel. It was a great time.

Sadly our camera was broken during the wedding, so we decided to test drive our new Flip video camera. Let's just say our first videos were not steller and since then we've learned to steady the camera a little better. I was able to extract a few still photos from it, but I still need to get more. Still, the only photos I have of the bride and groom are below.

Paul with his mom and Jessica peeking through the window at Colton. She looked beautiful in her wedding dress, but it's pretty hard to see here.

The beautiful temple where they were married.

Jon looking handsome in the wedding colors and Colton and I enjoying a little walk.


Colton especially loved spending time with his cousins. He and McKai were best buddies. They did a great job destroying Gma and Gpa's house, enjoyed reading books in Portuguese, and were especially cute holding hands on a very cool tree.


We were so glad to be a part of your wedding and are so happy for you Paul and Jessica! Congratulations!!!

Neglected

This blog has suffered some serious neglect. I don't know what has caused my break from blogging. It could be my boy's unpredictable nap schedule or the fact that when Colton is awake and I try to use the computer, he runs over to pound on the keyboard with me. It could be that I'm slacking or hopefully it's just that I am too busy enjoying life. I think the answer changes depending on the moment and my mood :)

I am sure that my neglect is NOT because Colton has lost his cuteness and has stopped taking adventures. Quite the contrary, he is still quite cute and adventurous. So I think it is time to bring this blog back from the dead and let my 15 month old turn one on the blog.

Cool Dude

I love hanging out with this guy!