A Memorial May

Thad picked up a new hobby this month -- Can you guess?

PHOTOGRAPHY!!

 Isn't he a pro?

Ok, well he might not be be pro, but he has definitely improved over the course of the month. 

All of the top ones are blurry and the ones below are pretty clear.

Props, Thad.

 I love that there is always an object in the picture.

Very intentional.

Sometimes after he takes pictures, he wants me to take some of him.

So I tell him what to do and he poses.

He is awesome.

May Memories

 Wesley Pants

 This boy continues to get more handsome and fun by the minute!

Little blurry, but I love me a paci baby!

 Saying Good Morning to daddy!

Love that wake up face.

 We're loving this babe.

How could you not?

Smarty Pants

 We love treats around here!

Thad gets smarter everyday. I'm constantly amazed at the things he picks up on and says to me.
At the park we saw a robin and he said, "Robins have red bellies." I asked, "Where did you learn that?"

My response was the above picture.
I seriously love that kid!

 Grandma Teresa gets here in two weeks from yesterday.

This is Thad expressing his excitement!!

 Thad closing his eyes to feel objects/sensations with his hands during our FHE lesson about being thankful for our hands. It was really hard for him to not look!

Thad looks forward to reading scriptures every night, especially when he gets to sit with daddy.

He frequently holds his hand like this and it melts my heart.

Brothers

 Loving some loot sent from Grandma Teresa!

**C-U-T-E**

 Memorial Day Weekend

 I forgot that Brian gets a four day weekend for Memorial Day and Labor Day, so Brian got up on Friday and pretended like he was going to work and came back about 30 minutes later with breakfast from one of our favorites--Valencia's!
 It was such great surprise to start out a long weekend made even longer!

           We headed to the beach on Saturday to try and escape some the the MUGGY weather. 

 The beach is a totally different story with a baby, so it is going to take some practice for me to haul and set everything up by myself before I'm comfortable. Wes loved being outside and even took a nap in the tent. Such a good baby!

Memorial Day

We headed to the parade in Westport with some of our favorite people.

Thad wasn't too keen on posing for a picture, but he's cute no matter what. 

 Edwards.Monsens.Francias

Josh.Braden.Brian

Yes, the sun was BRIGHT! 

 Wes took the humidity like a champ. 

 Thad started marching and I loved it.

 We are proud to be Americans.

We are thankful to be Americans.

What a blessing it is to celebrate all of those who have sacrificed on our behalf and given us the blessing of being Americans.

Magnificent May Days

When it hasn't been raining, the weather has been irresistible and we have spent a lot of the time outside. An evening walk is always a good cure for 'before bedtime boredom!'

This man baby LOVED the swing and chilled for about 20 minutes with brother.

This weather also means lots of trips to Sweet Ashley's around the corner. 

Hip-hip-hooray!!

And trust us, the beach will be no stranger. We love the sun and the sand!

Tonight we headed over to the local bank parking lot to make a playground out of it! Thad is such a good sport and as long as we are outside he and Wes are happy as clams. 

The weather was PERFECT. Mostly because it felt like Utah summer night. Dry and breezy. 

Yes, please!

4 Month Monster

Our baby is 4 months old! How did this happen? My baby is growing so fast. I have to admit that I do love it, though! 

 I feel like we get to know him better with every smile and giggle.

 Thad is by far the best at getting him to smile, but I got one out of him during our photo shoot!

Wes loves being outside so we have enjoyed some beach time and many walks to the park to watch big brother run around.

He also just loves being really cool.

 This is not hard at all for him, as you can see.

 He is much more interactive, and it is so fun to communicate with him and see how much he can observe. Sometimes I just wonder what is going through their cute little heads!

(There is no way I was going to get happy face from him. This is as good as it got.)

We had his 4 month check up today, and this boy weighs in at a whopping 16 lbs 13 oz.

Yes, you read that right.

He is in the 95th percentile for his weight, but also in the 95th percentile for his height, measuring 26.75 inches.

His head is in the 90th percentile. 

I'd have to say he is very proportionate. BIG. But proportionate.

A few things we love right now:

1. He drools CONSTANTLY. We noticed yesterday that the bottom 2 teeth are pushing up and about ready to come through. The hand is always in the mouth being gnawed on to ease the process.

2.The past few nights He has averaged about 12 hours of sleep. We were at our wits end trying to figure out how to get our good sleeper back, and so we took drastic measures...we exiled him to the basement to cry it out. It was a hard decision to make, but at this point, I wanted my life and mornings back, so it is what we had to do! He usually wakes up twice and cries 5-10 minutes, but he gets himself back to sleep and we are ALL happy in the morning!

3. He spends lots of time on his side. He can't roll over (I think his Heavy Keviness may be contributing to this), but he is always hanging out on his side and it is so fun to watch him make his way in a circle.

4. His red hair. We are obsessed. We want it to last. I don't think it will.

Bring it on Father Time, this boy just gets cuter with age!

Uncle Todd & Aunt Kelsie Make it to the East

We were so excited when Uncle Todd and Aunt Kelsie found the deal of the decade and paid only $120 round-trip for their tickets to NYC. They had been wanting to visit for a while and finally the price was right!

We didn't waste one minute with them and the night they arrived we visited our favorite Norwalk hotspot:

I'm pretty sure we bought some apple cider donut holes. 

That was just the beginning of our food obsession while they were here.

Wait, you will see. 

Our first major outing was to New Haven, CT.

First stop: Pizza. 

It's supposedly all famous and delish and all the kids from Yale go there. 

(And Thad was OBSESSED with Todd. Wanted to be with him every second. Cutest.)

It didn't disappoint. 

It was a great pie! 

Next we headed to Thimble Islands.

We got a boat tour of houses on small islands and it was pretty neat.

Kind of crazy if you really lived that way and had to boat and drive anywhere you went.

I wish I could tell you more facts about the place, but we could BARELY hear our tour guide talking through the speakers. 

After the islands we headed to Yale's campus. It was a fun place and REALLY felt like walking through old England. I can't say that from first hand experience, but Kelsie and Todd can. 

I'll take their word for it.

Currently this is the only picture I have from the Yale expedition. 

The rest were lost into oblivion, but helped teach Thad a valuable lesson: DO NOT touch the garbage can while scrolling through and looking at pictures on Mom's phone.

Hopefully Aunt Kelsie can supply me with a few more.

Sacred Heart University: The answer to my prayers...hopefully.

We went and checked out this campus for Todd because he will apply to their Physical Therapy program this fall. The campus is 15 minutes from our house.

Once the applications go in, I will start praying the U of U loses/declines Todd's application and that Sacred Heart will be the only university to accept him.

Updates to follow. 

This boy got REALLY tired after carting him around all day. 

He also got really tired on our walk the next day after church. 

We tried to keep him up so he would go down for his nap at home, but we just couldn't do it. 

Thad looked forward to watching "The Funny Show" with Uncle Todd weeks prior to their arrival.

As you can see, he was lovin' it!

Next stop: NYC 

This day was CRAZY packed with food!

We had burgers at the Burger Joint and were headed to Pinkberry to get our second round of the trip when they spotted one of their favorite Italian gelato places. 

So gelato instead of Pinkberry? Nope! We just did both!

After our 2 rounds of ice cream we hopped on the subway over to Brooklyn,

crossed the bridge,

strolled through Little Italy, and... 

got yet another treat!

NYC just has too many places and none can be passed up! 

 It's always fun to have people come and do super touristy things, because we never do them on our own.

$13 bag of M&Ms. 

M&Ms are good, but not $13 good.

Lesson learned: Don't go to candy stores in Times Square...well, at least don't buy the candy.

Todd and Kelsie spent the last day meeting with the staff at Sacred Heart and we also ate at some more delicious local restaurants. Yes, lots of eating! We are so glad Dad has an awesome brother that married an awesome wife and that they were awesome enough to come visit us. We are so happy our boys get to see their family outside of Utah, it really helps us to feel loved and supported. 

Thank you Uncle Todd and Aunt Kelsie, can't wait until the next time! 

(Hopefully it will be a somewhat permanent stay!)

Just had to throw this in at the end.

Thad just continuing to practice his photo-taking skills.