I'm not really back..... May 2012 pics.

Tad's favorite thing to do at the cemetery was to stand up all the tipped over plants.  Funny since it was so windy.  It kept him happy & busy.

So proud!

The air show was Memorial weekend.  We tried to get onto base, but they turned civilians away.  I was pretty bugged because Fred had gotten off work early to go with us.  And they closed early even though it rained all day.  Lame!

Looking at graves with Nannie. 

Walking around the cemetery with Pompa.

More airshow.  

Henefer Cemetery with Dad.

I love the view from the cemetery.

My cousin brought his puppy, Tad LOVED it. 

After our Annual Memorial BBQ we played a little cousin bocce ball.

Our bocce ball course involved over fences, under tractors, and avoiding cow pies.  :} 

Tad is getting so big!   He's super tall!  And he loved the peanut butter/ chocolate popsicles I made--- as you can see by his chin. 

Christmas 2011 pictures

Christmas 2011 Slideshow

Tad has been a lot of fun this year.   He shouts "More Christmas Lights!" whenever we're driving.   He's been good about leaving the tree and presents alone.
I asked Tad if he wanted to sit on Santa's lap.  He said "Um, nope."  I asked if he was going to tell santa what he wanted for Christmas?  "Um, nope." Is it because you were naughty?  "Naughty".  :} 
When you ask him what he wants for Christmas he tells you "Purple, green, orange."  (These were the color of lights up at my mom's house during Halloween and he loved them.)
Earlier this year we were watching a Christmas movie and asked what animal pulls Santa's sleigh?  He said "Elk".  :} 
Christmas morning we woke him up and asked who came to his house last night? He said "Daddy".
He seems to have an answer for everything, even if it's not the one we were expecting.  :}
Christmas morning started at 6am (earlier, because Fred & I couldn't sleep, but we waiting patiently to wake Tad up).  He noticed his baseball glove right away, then had to go get a ball for it before we could move onto any more presents.  
7am we were off to gma & gpa lyons' for breakfast quiche and presents with the cousins.   Tad got a spring horse but decided he's scared of it.   He's starting to warm up to it and will feed it a plastic carrot and show it his new clothes.  :}  Fred & I were spoiled as always!
10am off to church.  It was nice, they told the Nativity story from Mary's point of view.   Tad slept stretched out across Fred & and I. 
Noon off to gma & gpa Drysdale's for blueberry/lemon scones and more cousins!  Tad got a shopping cart and a cash register to go with the kitchen set he already has.  I got a new camera!   Yeah!!!!
A quick stop at mom's.  Home to put Tad down for a short nap, while family came to see what Santa had left us.   We woke Tad up and joined them as they ventured to my brother's house.  Tad was beyond grumpy, but can be distracted by cousins, which was good because we were off to dinner at Fred's parents' house.  Turkey, a game, and of course the GB Packer game for Fred - must be his lucky new GB tie I got him!
I'm loving Fred's new schedule.  He was able to be home all weekend and part of the week.   We even spent a day cleaning out our closet to fit all of our new toys.  :} 
I have to add, I got 4 new games to add to my collection:   Nab it (Love it!), Telestrations (haven't played it yet), Logo game (love it!), and Up-a-bit (haven't played it yet).   Tad also got a couple of kid games so he'll leave mine alone.  :}  And Fred got a new game - Trigger.
As soon as I figure out how to do a new slideshow, I'll put up pictures, I just didn't want to torture you, or me by downloading them into this post.  :}

I help you.

We have the MOST helpful 2 year old on our hands.   He's a pretty good kid, but I don't really need help doing EVERYTHING.   "Mommy, Mommy, I eed you help" is the phrase of the day!  or he'll find me and say "I help you". 

He helped daddy open his birthday presents.   A new fire pit for the backyard.  We celebrated all weekend.  Friday was with his parents for Grandpa's soup, per Fred's request.  Saturday, we went bowling with some friends from Fred's work. Sunday, we enjoyed dinner and spice cake with my family.   Finally, we celebrated with our little family on Monday.   We ended up trying a new Mexican restaurant (excellent chips!) and the dollar theatre for "Johnny English Reborn" (fun movie, and clean!).

Tad has been helping around the house.  He washed his truck windows.  :}   

 Helped mommy fold socks.   Whenever I fold laundry he takes the socks and folds one on the top of each of the piles I have on the couch. 

 Then when I do actually fold the socks we use his dump truck to put them away.  I load up one person's socks at a time and he takes them to the correct room and dumps them in front of the dresser.  

 After putting up lights outside and having Tad be ENTIRELY too helpful as we were sorting lights, I wondered about having him at home to put up our tree.   First we picked out our tree.  This is the first time we've gone during the day.  It was warm enough we made it all the way to the back of the lot and found the perfect tree for a good price. 

 Tad ran to help dad carry the tree to the truck. 

 While I put the lights on, Tad was surprisingly good.  He would hand me lights and I'd let him plug in the next set.  A couple of times he'd take a strand of lights and stand on the step stool and call for daddy.  "Daddy, I eed you help with Christmas lights".  (He is talking in pretty clear sentences and we love it!)
Ornaments..... if we would have left them up to Tad would have been tucked away in the inside of the tree. 

I have to say I'm a genius.   We have bell ornaments that I usually only put one or two on.   As I was vacuuming our mess, I bumped one and thought that would be a perfect way to "booby-trap" the tree.   We put the whole set around the bottom branches and about as tall as Tad is so that when he touches the tree, I'll hear the bells.   :}
Unfortunately, I don't trust Tad enough to put presents under the tree, even though we had a talk about if he touches presents "I get in trouble, go time out."   Sad that I love to hear him say this.  :} 

What to do WITH daddy!

Tad is getting really, really tall, and smart!   And..... helpful.  

 He helped carry the pumpkins inside the house and up the stairs (one day after grocery shopping he carried a gallon of milk from the car to the steps.  Awesome!) 

I asked if he wanted to help draw faces on the pumpkins.   He took it literally and found a pen to start drawing.  :} 

Daddy cut them open and we helped scoop.  Tad helped for about 2 handfuls and a couple of pictures, then he was done. 

He continued to "draw faces" on the pumpkins even after Fred and I had started carving them. 

 Of course he wanted to blow out the candles.  After a few times telling him "no" he's been good about leaving them alone. 

 Then we made carmel apples!   I THINK Fred likes them......   He couldn't let a single bit of carmel stay in the bowl.  :}  

Monday, for Halloween, I ran errands, stopped by a trunk or treat, then went to my parents' house for make-your-own-pizzas.   Tad loves to ring their doorbell before he goes in.  

After pizza, we went to their ward Trunk Or Treat and visited a friend.  Instead of candy, my parents gave him a pig book and some cars that shoot off when you push a button.  Probably the hilight of his Halloween.  The only candy he really likes is M&M's and now pop rocks.  :}  He was NOT a fan of a Hot Tamale we tricked him into eating.   

When Daddy got home (He switched jobs within his company--- FINALLY! and started training on Halloween, which meant he was home earlier!) we took Tad around part of our neighborhood.  He loved it.  I'm not sure if it was because he got to ring doorbells, or because they gave him attention.   He'd set his bucket down to ring the doorbell, we had to remind him to pick it up, then he was good about saying "Trick or treat" and "Thank you" (unless there was a dog, then that's where all his attention was).  He'd turn to where I was at the end of the driveway and yell "Mom, I got trick or treat!"  :}  

He got more candy than any 2 year old should have!   Luckily, he doesn't like the same kinds that Fred & I like! 

My new hobbies

So, a few new hobbies for us!   

I've learned how to needlepoint / applique quilt.  This was my first attempt! 

We've spent some time enjoying the fall covered mountains (dreading the freezing cold). 

We evidently have a new hobby of visiting Instacare.   Not to get my stitches out, nope, we took those out ourselves.  This time (13 days after my stitches) we visited the Logan Instacare for Fred to get some stitches!   We were up visiting my sister and helping put a new door in.  She was weed whacking her yard and flipped a rock at her glass door.   You might say bad luck runs in the family.  :{   He slipped with a chisel and off we went to Instacare.   It was a very pleasant experience though.  :}   35 mins in and out!   We still made it perfectly to enjoy the Pumpkin Walk which was our main reason for being up that way.  

And my final hobby of the month....... Hanging out in the bathroom!    But, we are up to successfully peeing in the potty at least 2 times a day.   Not on his own, but I'll take 2 less diapers any day!  

This morning "Dolly" was using the potty too.  After Tad went he had to show Dolly.  :} 

Come on, that's funny!  

A Perfect Fall Day for a ride.

Trucking out day with the sheep.  I always look forward to this day.  Sometimes it's bitter cold, but Saturday it was PERFECT!   The trees are changing colors and it was a beautiful drive up to the Uintahs.  We saw a lot of deer and even a cow and bull moose.  

 

We left early and hoped Tad would fall back to sleep in the truck.  He didn't.  He actually jabbered most of the way.   We start with Sour dough pancakes and then join the fun of loading sheep onto semi trucks.    Everyone helps in one way or another. Grandpa and Fred helped hold the canvas and gates, tackled sheep that jumped out.  I got the easy job of chatting with cousins and eventually recording numbers as they branded the sheep we were keeping (I got sunburned on one side because it warmed up so much.  Even after I jumped the fence to equal out my burn, it's just the one side of my neck!). 

We even taught Tad how to herd the sheep into the corral.  Later he got to help at the front of the line poking the sheep so they'll climb the ramp onto the trucks. 

Since he didn't get to Mutton Bust during the State Fair, we put him on a couple of sheep while we were there.  His smile was pretty big, he thought it was fun. 

My little cowpoke

 

Climbing the fence with Grandpa. 

Playing fetch with the dogs. 

 Tad was beyond tired after being up for 12 hours, but we let him ride a horse before we left.  He liked it until the horse moved.  I rode with him for a short ride and he bounced up and down "Yeehaw".   Another year and he'll be going by himself for sure. 

Within minutes of getting in the truck he was asleep, even on a bumpy dirt road.

We ended the day with a quick shower and off to join Fred's family for his dad's yummy turkey meatballs.  Now we're looking forward to next weekend and General Conference.  Did I mention Fall is the Perfect season?! 

September - month of the State Fair (& camping)

We took Tad camping for his first time in the camper over Labor Day weekend.  Whenever we're working on it he loves to climb the ladder up to the top bed.  He was more than happy to climb in and out all evening (without any accidents!). 

We cooked stew for dinner and tried to get Tad to roast marshmellows.  He didn't want anything but the chocolate!  For some reason, he kept crying during the night.  I got up a couple of times to make sure he was covered.  Finally, I put him in bed with Fred & I.  He slept, we didn't, he's a bit of a bed hog!  The next morning he was ready to play again.   Fred took him down by the river to throw rocks in while I sat peacefully by the fire and read my book!  We had planned to go tubing in the river, but it was too cold and windy.   

 The weekend before Labor Day the State fair starts, at least for those of us working!   I LOVE the State Fair, it's work, but I get to spend time with Lauralee, I get to compulsively organize,I get out of the house for a few weeks, and do a little playing.  And this year, I got a private quilting lesson!  (I was shocked at how much I enjoyed it.  Hopefully I'll have my first one to show you before the end of the year.) 
A day of set up, a day of entering exhibits, a very long day of judging exhibits (we were short judges and didn't have ribbons so we had to do double work).  After Labor Day weekend we have 2 1/2 days of setting up exhibits.  Then my reward for working- 3 days of rodeo and showing Tad the animals! 

He'll willingly pet them this year!

Farmland with Crystal

Of course the Butter Cow Sculpture!

Rodeo with Tad and.... Tad!
He was pretty confused for a little while as we tried to explain that both of their names were Tad. 

 



We got to hold the baby pigs this year. 

Tad was distracted by every tractor or trailer that he could climb on.  Oh, and he got his own cowboy hat so he'll leave daddy's alone! (This was another moment of confusion for him when he saw both he and dad had a hat.  He was looking at both trying to understand.  I love this 2 year old stage of figuring things out.)

We tried signing him up to Mutton Bust (ride the sheep during the rodeo- for you city slickers).  I'm guessing he wasn't picked because of his age.  When they weighed in to register, the 4 year old before him weighed 39 lbs.  Tad weighs 38 lbs at 2!  The only requirement to sign up is they had to weigh under 50 lbs.  He might not make it for next year!  (We're guessing he'll stop gaining weight and just get taller actually.)    

Grandpa and Fred were cheering at the rodeo.  Tad joined in.  Fred cups his mouth to yell, this is Tad's version.  :} 

After 3 days of fun it was back to work.  Ending with an evening at the hypnotist with my sisters.  When everyone else is done having their fun, we come in one last day and spent only 4 hours taking it all down. 

Tad had fun staying with Grandma and Grandpa.  He now requests often "Grandma, Grandpa house".  He's learned to say the last word of each page while reading books with Grandma. And, thankfully, Grandma worked on potty training.  He'll go for her, but when I try, he still won't.  Grandpa spoiled him by blowing bubbles on the front porch with him every day. 

This kid has become pretty fun lately.   He learns things so fast!   Like how to steal the beaters while I'm making a salad and lick them clean.    

And he can almost do up all of the buckles on his carseat.  Lucky Dolly, gets to go for a ride! 

My favorite is after Dolly is securely in the seat he says "Here go Dolly." 

Unfortunately, he's finally started saying "No" more often.  I'm grateful it's not a firm, defiant "NO".  It's a "No mom, No nap." :}  Sometimes when I ask if he wants a nap he says "Stop it, No, Shhhh."  But once he lays down, he always takes his naps without a fuss.