Our Ranch Trip/Picture Overload

At the end of July our family was supposed to have a big family reunion up at my grandparent's home in Helmer, ID. But before that happened my mom had a catering accident and burned the living daylights out of her hands. I'll keep this next picture small, skip over it if you are squeamish. This is one of the less offensive ones for the record.

Anyway, her hands were bad. Cormac and I decided we ought to go up and help. This was right at the beginning of this pregnancy and I was rather sick. I didn't think I'd be much help, and I was right. But Cormac was a nice diversion for my mom. Plus Cormac got some quality time with his Grandpa and Uncle Nick. It was nice. Let's just say that the drive was less than awesome. Twelve hours in the car with a toddler and morning sickness is hard. But we did it. Unfortunately we didn't make it back for the reunion. But we really enjoyed the time we did have. And now, for the pictures.

Great Grandma spent time pulling Cormac around in the wagon. He was in heaven. 

These next pictures are Cormac making faces at Uncle Nick. I didn't get the best expressions. As soon as the camera came out he toned it down a lot. So sad. But I got a few. I'm sad this one is so blurry, but I love it so much I had to share it anyway. 

 While we were there we got to visit Troy Days. The parade was probably Cormac's favorite. That or the park. He got to gather up candy and see the sites. At one point he ran across the street for a piece of candy and stopped the parade. Oops. Luckily Papa was right behind to rescue him.

 Cormac gave a good portion of the candy he gathered up to these kids. I think they liked having him close.

 While we were there the men folk were putting down a new sidewalk for my grandparents. Cormac was excited to help out. Below you can see my cousin Jared in the background hard at work. Though probably not working as hard as Cormac:)

 And Uncle Nick also trying to keep up with Cormac.

 Papa taught Cormac how to drink out of the hose. Great Grandma let him indulge in it as long as he wanted. Cormac would take a drink and then he would insist that Great Grandma take a drink. We had some very wet diapers that day.

It was a good time. Not included in pictures: Cormac loved the horses and would say goodbye to them whenever he saw them. He also loved the 4-wheeler. Both Papa and Great Grandpa took him out and he loved that. His favorite game while we were there was "Go Fish" with Grammie. The best part was probably having so many different people around for him to get attention from. We also got to release a turtle into the pond. He really loved watching the turtle.

I enjoyed visiting with everyone, resting, and the cool weather. I got very little done for my mom, but she was sweet enough to just let me be pregnant and miserable. Next time we go up we'll hope everyone will be feeling better.

The Haircut

So I have to admit that I avoid this blog lately. Before I had kids I was certain I would still blog about things other than Cormac. But I have nothing else to blog about to be honest. And truth be told, you all probably just come here for pictures of Cormac anyway. So I suppose I should stop ignoring this blog and just post the pictures you want to see.

Anyway, we finally gave Cormac his first haircut back at the beginning of July. I loved his wispy little curls at the back and side of his head. They were so adorable. But it was time. Ammon did the cut and I think he did a great job. I'll let you see the before and after.

Before:

After:

Cormac's Secret

I'm 12 weeks today. It has been a long, sickly 12 weeks.

When I first tried to get a picture of Cormac in his Big Brother shirt this is the look I got:


Perhaps this is a bit more accurate? I guess time will tell.

Eating with a spoon and other such adventures

Sorry mom, it took me a whole week longer to get this up than I had planned. We are busy bees around here. Please ignore my messy house. And even worse, my in-need-of-love yard. We are whittling away at our to-do list. But there are some things that are constant (read weeds).



And just in case you are wondering, things are good here. We are nearly finished with the yoga studio. Well, finished enough that I'm going to hold a Grand Opening Party soon and begin to advertise. I do have a few regular students attending right now, but am anxious to grow the business. I love how it has turned out. I never would have guessed it would look so great. Pictures will be up when I announce the Grand Opening.

Ammon is working three jobs with only one pay. He is very in demand. Fortunately he's brilliant and is able to handle all the work load that has been dumped in his lap. But it does make for some long days for him. And for Cormac and me as well. We miss him when he's gone.

Cormac has decided he hates going to nursery. He screams when we drop him off. But apparently cheers as the days goes on. It's hard to leave our screaming child though. I don't care for that much. Cormac still isn't saying much, but he is communicating effectively with body language. Correction, Cormac says a lot, but very little of it can actually be understood. The kid cracks us up regularly.

Anyway, I just discovered a video that I made last summer that I never shared. It was of the two family reunions we went to. (I think we went to more than two, but these are pictures from just two). It's fun to look at the pictures and see how much the kids have grown. So I think I'll share it here as well. Happy Sunday.

To the Zoo

I'm sorry I'm no good at keeping up this blog. I have very little to say these days I suppose. We are just doing what we do. Fixing up the house, yoga studio, and yard (well, starting projects, we never finish them). Ammon is working a ton of hours. Between that and his church calling we see very little of him. That has been hard on Cormac and me. But it is wonderful when he is around.

In other news, Cormac and I met these lovely folks:

Ruben, Liliana, Marcos, and Olivia

for a day at the zoo recently. It was a lot of fun. My favorite part was hearing Marcos make the animal noises. He also did a wonderful imitation of another child who was throwing a temper tantrum (miraculously it wasn't my child throwing the tantrum). Here are some more pictures from our adventure at the zoo.

All Grown Up

Cormac is growing at the speed of light. He enjoyed his first Easter Egg hunt yesterday morning. And Ammon and I enjoyed our first Sunday in a long time without Cormac climbing all over us during Sunday school and Priesthood/Relief Society. Aaahhh.

That's right friends, our little man has reached the magical age of 18 months. And even though I felt guilty and like I was getting away with something during Sunday School, I'm pretty excited that Cormac can finally burn some energy and I can conserve some during church (it was a lot of work to keep that kid quiet).

So here are some Cormac things for you to know:

~ It is difficult to get a picture of this kid.
~ On that same topic, Cormac loves to glare at the camera. He is very careful not to smile (which is funny because a year ago he was such a ham. When we'd get out the camera he'd start to smile for it).
~ The kid is growing.
     ~ 27.5 pounds (about 75th percentile)
     ~ 34.25 inches (about the 95th percentile)
     ~ 18.75 head circumference (about 50th percentile)
~ Cormac loves to climb. His new favorite is climbing up in a kitchen chair and using the table to hold his sippy cup in between sips.
~ He loves to be outside. It can get very dramatic around here when it's time to go in.
~ He says: bye bye, mama, dada, uh-oh, no no no no (he can't just say it once), gang go (thank you), and occasionally eeee (please). He has also attempted saying things like all done, basketball, and whack-a-mole (don't ask).
~ If he's thirsty he goes to the fridge and waits for me to open and get his sippy cup.
~ If he's hungry he goes to the pantry door and knocks.
~ Cormac likes to close doors. He hasn't figured out how to open them just yet, but he's close.
~ He loves slides and swings.
~ Cormac likes to play Ring Around the Rosies by himself (he doesn't like it when I try to play with him, he just wants me to sing).
~ He's finally getting a lot of hair (and it's much lighter than I expected).
~ This kid has perfected the art of fit throwing (to all those moms who were judged by me in the past because your kid was throwing a tantrum in public please consider this my formal apology).
~ He is one funny boy.

I love how hard he is concentrating on the bear in this picture. He cracks me up. One more thing, Cormac loves to try to figure out how things work and he is very independent. He loves an audience, but he wants to do things by himself. And when he is trying to figure out how to do things and is concentrating hard he looks exactly like his daddy. Who, by-the-way, he loves to follow around. When Ammon was putting the floor in the yoga studio (more on that later) Cormac just wanted to use the hammer on the floor right next to his daddy. And the play hammer was only good enough for a couple minutes.

He's sure a handsome little man. He's growing up too fast. But with each new stage I have been having so much fun. It's amazing how some days he wakes up and just seems so much older than he was the day before. But he is a good boy and we are so glad to have him.

Lazy Days