Labor Day

We went camping this weekend and had lots of fun. Weston LOVES being outside and he enjoyed every minute of his four-day toy-free trip. I had no idea my little boy could get so dirty! He was SO obedient and did so good staying away from the camp fire and not getting into things even though all the older boys could. We went to Mesa Falls and Weston was really entranced by the huge waterfall. It made me nervous just having him so close to it even though I knew nothing would happen! Here are some of my favorite pictures from the weekend and also my favorite clip of Weston stealing the ball when the boys were playing 500.

It was really fun despite being somewhat exhausting. Saydi is such a noisy sleeper and it wasn't until our last night there that I learned to sleep through all her little noises. Weston got woken up by her more then once too! I'm already looking forward to next year when we go again. Especially since Saydi will be able to run around and have as much fun as Weston!

This was how we started the trip off. Weston fell asleep not long after we got in the car and he and Saydi slept the whole way there. Nice and quiet.

We had chili the first night and Weston made a huge mess. This picture doesn't do it justice. And he did start off the day in a shirt but he spilled RED Gatorade on his WHITE shirt so we had to take it off.

After the boys played 500 one night the older guys were all sweaty and exhausted (despite being in excellent physical shape ;)!) so they decided they would float down the river even though it was really cold to cool off. Unfortunately we didn't all get to do it this year since it never was quite warm enough that we wanted to go.

This is mostly what Weston did all weekend. Played in the dirt. What a boy.

Saydi is kind of a high maintenance baby and doesn't just sit still and be happy very often. So I had to snatch a picture of this rare moment with her Aunt Jeni. One of my favorite pictures of the weekend!

This is for sure my favorite picture. At Mesa Falls Uncle Jakob put this flower in Saydi's ear and it was so precious!

And this is how it ended. Weston was so completely exhausted. I think he's still catching up on his sleep like the rest of us. Who knew playing so hard was so exhausting?!

2 Month Checkup and a Copycat

Weston is turning into such a little boy. He understands everything we tell him and communicates with us so much better. We've also found that he is starting to be quite the copycat. I let him play with an empty compact and my makeup sponge the other day and thought it was so cute. What I love about it is that he knows that one goes with the other and he will never play with just the sponge or just the compact. He has to have both. He is still the most amazing big brother ever and is always concerned for baby Saydi. We're so blessed to have such a good boy.

Saydi had her two month check up last week. She cried when they gave her the shots but calmed down right away and was asleep before I even left the doctor's office. She's honestly cried harder over a poopy diaper! Silly girl. She's a drama queen. I guess she gets that from Mark. ;) Here are her stats:

Weight - 10 lbs. 14 oz. 43%tile (up from the 26th)

Length - 22 1/4 in. 27%tile (up from the 10th)

Head circumference - 15 in. (up from the 0.15!)

So you can see she's growing like a weed. Here's a picture of her I took today. She always sleeps with her head turned to one side so unlike most babies instead of having a flat head she has a very, very round head! She is so precious to us and we know she was meant to come to our family at this time. She eats every four hours during the day and goes about six hours at night so I only have to get up once during the night (usually). She gives such big smiles and has squealed and tried to giggle a lot recently. She smiles in her sleep a lot and she has giggled in her sleep about a dozen times from the time she was just three weeks old. Her eyes are just as blue as Weston's already and we're hoping her hair will stay dark. She's beautiful either way though! 

We're going camping this weekend (hooray!) so be prepared for a long, fun filled post after we get back on Monday. I'm very much looking forward to the break from daily life!

It's Done!

Saydi's nursery is finally finished! Her room is literally the only bedroom in the house that is completely done to my satisfaction. Apparently five months isn't enough time for me to finish the bedrooms. ;) Anyway, I'm really happy with the way it turned out. My sister embroidered the saying above her crib. It says:

A daughter brings sunshine to brighten your day

A daughter brings joy through her loving ways

A daughter is a blessing that comes from above

A special and beautiful treasure to love

What's a post without a picture of Weston?

The only thing driving me batty in this room is that the previous owners used two different colors of paint. You can tell they ran out or something and didn't get quite an exact match. It kind of just looks like the lighting but I can tell and I tend to stare at it the entire time I'm in there feeding her! Oh well, I really love everything else about it! And props to Cherice (Hanson) for making the adorable block letters that say Saydi's name and also my cousin April for making me the three things hanging above the changing table. Love them!!

Oh the Madness of Summer

Things have been CRAZY around our household lately. The last three weekends have not felt like weekends so that makes things seem even more crazy! We've had lots of family around (which we love). Here's a picture of Saydi and Audrey (Mark's oldest brother's baby). They got two of these dresses and so they gave the smaller one to Saydi so we dressed them the same and tried to get some pics. Saydi would start bawling (which is deafening) and it would scare Audrey so she would start to cry and then Saydi would calm down. It was actually really funny.

I am still doing some occasional work from home and I was busy with a project this last week so that was a little insane figuring out how to manage life with two kids and working and everything else that comes with being a grown up. Of course, I shouldn't have stayed up late playing Settlers of Catan with Sean, Mark and Marlene if I was responsible, but I'm not so oh well! It was fun though. 

The other night Weston was throwing a fit about going to sleep which he never does so I couldn't figure out what he wanted. I finally realized he wanted to still read his books so I let him have them and when I went to check on him later that night this is what I found.

He's so adorable. I just love listening to him. Every day his babble sounds more and more like words. I still can't understand one single word though which can be very frustrating for both of us. Here's a cute video of him playing in the pool the other day.

Another fun thing was when I ran into one of my best friends from high school at Target, Chelsie (Searle) Boyle. We decided to get together before she goes back home to Moscow so she came over the other day with her baby Zoey. Zoey was due about three 

weeks before Saydi and Saydi ended up being six days older then her. You would never know it from these pictures though! Zoey's a big girl and she's so adorable. Thanks for coming over Chels! It was so great to catch up.

Our corn is coming in great, we're planning a camping trip for labor day weekend (which I can NOT wait for!) and we also found out recently that Stephanie (Mark's niece that's been in lots of my other posts) got her GED and is going to come live with us and work to save money so she can study abroad. She'll be here for one semester so it will be nice to have some extra time with her before she moves away. We've had sick kids, with a "man cold" included - see here, a birthday, scouts, and lots of work to keep us busy. Life is crazy but also great. We are so blessed to have such great children and family members. But I'm definitely looking forward to the lazy days of fall and winter!

Birth Announcement

My friend Natalie Parks just recently started her own business called Announce It! by Natalie. She does great work for super great prices. She's really fast too and I HIGHLY recommend her. You can see her blog here. She is amazing and we are so happy with how it turned out. Thanks Natalie!

Saydi's Blessing Day

Since Mark's brother is in the Reserves he has drill the first weekend of every month so we got permission to bless Saydi on Sunday. It made for a fun (and VERY busy) weekend. Here are just a few pictures - there are too many to post them all! Mark did a wonderful job with the blessing. I'm so grateful to be married to someone who respects his priesthood so much and doesn't take it lightly. We had a great day celebrating our sweet baby Saydi!

After the blessing we had a small bbq at our house with Mark's side of the family. If you look close you can see Fussy's cheeks FULL of hot dogs - his favorite food.

This is Mark's grandpa and his wife Barbara. I thought this was so sweet. Barb loves to hold all the babies. She's holding Saydi and Sean's baby, Audrey.

Another reason to be grateful I had a girl...

Saydi's Pictures

The pictures kind of are cut off so if you click 

"view all" you can see them better. 

Thanks again Jackie for such a great job!! 

Check out her blog under my blog list.