Happy 4th of July!

As we celebrate this beautiful day our thoughts are turned to all of the many men and women who serve, and have served, our country to help make us truly 'free'. We give a heartfelt THANK YOU! We love this land for all the it inspires in us and all that we are able to do and become here. We truly are a blessed nation, and with that blessing comes great responsibility. Our hope today is that we will live and serve in such a way that it will be apparent how much we appreciate our life, liberty, and the freedoms we are blessed with as citizens of the United States of America.



Oh Beautiful

For spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountains majesties

above the fruited plain!

America!

America!

God shed His grace on thee,

And crown thy good

with brotherhood

From sea

to shining sea.

Happy Birthday Chelsea!!!


Happy #24 Chels!! We are so proud of you! We love you so much and are very grateful to have you in our lives. It is awesome to spend so much time with you and Syanne!!

Chelsea & Syanne. Isn't this such a cute picture?!
For Chelsea's birthday we all went out to dinner and then had pie and ice cream at Shar and Trav's afterwards. Her actual b-day is today (July 3rd) but we celebrated a night early so everyone could make it!

Shar & Trav looking good!

Funny thing about this picture: we were both looking at Trav because we he was trying to get West to smile and we wanted all of us to be looking in the same direction. But, of course, Weston looked at the camera at the last second. Oh well...you can't win em all!

All the girls! (including the teeny tiny one in Shar's belly!)
I love my sisters. It is so much fun to live close by so we can all see each other often. I am so grateful for them and their love and support. You both are amazing!

Blowing out the candles...well she had just finished!

Mom got Chelsea this really cool statue of a mom/baby. Very neat...it's made out of sand.

They loved the box that Chelsea's gift came in.

Toddler Towels

My mom used to make these really awesome towels for baby showers that have a hood. They are so great because it's a full size towel! Mckenon loved his and would run around the house wearing it when he was little. (really little, like 2-3 years, NOT now! haha) Ahh...fond memories. :)
Anyways, Weston has outgrown his tiny, thin infant towels and I remember how fantastic the towels were that my mom made. So while I was in California I had her show me how...and it is so easy and fun. (Warning, a sewing machine must be used.) So I had this great idea that if I'm wanting something like this then maybe other moms are too. My friend, Steph, is letting me sell them in her booth at the Quilted Bear. (a very cool craft store here in Utah) It has been so much fun getting to be creative and crafty again. So I just had to show off what I've been doing lately. I just put the towels in the booth this morning (thank you Steph!!!!) and I was very excited about it, so thank you everyone for letting me share!! I've also found out that Weston loves bits of thread wound up a little into a ball. He will carry a piece around all day! (of course I couldn't have a blog post without mentioning the little guy once or twice!)


This is the basket that is on display at the Quilted Bear and below are the towels I have hanging in the booth. (so people can see what they look like unfolded)

Some fun summer shots!

We've been able to spend a lot of time with Syanne and Chelsea over the last week and it has been such a blast. Weston and Syanne are so funny together...we always laugh at their antics and how they treat each other. Well, the latest thing they have done is that they LOVE the carseat that's been sitting in the living room. (Weston has graduated to his bigger one!) They thought it was so great to climb inside and then just sit there watching everyone. Chelsea and I couldn't stop laughing at them. Of course, they both wanted it....so we had to try to teach them to take turns! And I'm sure you can all guess at how well that works with 1 year olds!

Isn't she such a doll.

Even thought he's not smiling, he loved sitting in this and when I tried to take him out he threw a fit. Chels and I got such a kick out of this!

This kiddo is hilarious. He loves toast with jam and usually doesn't cause this big of a mess....but he decided to get creative. What a character!

Starting him early!! Okay, I love flip flops. They are definitely my shoe of choice and I have even worn them when it snows. That's how much I love them. So how could I resist getting West a pair?! At first he walked a little wobbly on them but now he's a pro!

Chillin at the park! Weston and Noah decided that they've seen enough of their mom's keys; they wanted the other's! So funny!

Take the Quiz here!

Good-bye baby, Hello little boy! Weston's new haircut!!!

Okay, so I almost cried when I realized that he doesn't look like a baby anymore. I cannot believe how fast the time flies. We waited until after his 1 year pics were taken to cut his hair (I did it, so if you see any flaws don't tell me! It was hard enough as it is!!) and I am so glad because he just looks so OLD now! It took us a few days to get used to it and I still kind of miss the adorable curls he was getting. He is just so much fun, though and he is learning so many new things each day!!
Quick bragging story that just amazed me: He has decided that diapers (like the nasty ones after he is changed) are fun to pick up and carry. So I figured it's time to teach him where they go so that he won't play with them (gross). Two seperate times he got mad and wanted the diaper so I walked him to the diaper genie and showed him how to throw it away. Just last night after he was changed (in the living room) he picked up the diaper and walked to the bedroom and started banging on the diaper genie lid!!! Okay, can I just say what a proud mom I was at that moment!!! He's doing lots of little things like this that show us how much he is learning every day. It is just amazing what kids pick up on. I know that many of you have kids and so this is not that extraordinary of a story, but just bear with me because he's my first!!! ....and I am honestly hopeing that the excitement of such little feats doesn't diminish with each of my next kids!!

Looking so big!!

Weston loves finding random things and just carrying them around the house. He really likes Jeff's push up bars. He is getting more fun every single day. I love this little boy. Check out that cute grin!

I just thought this face was so adorable....and he is holding his socks. he loves carrying them around for some reason!

A forgotton favorite

This is one of my favorite pics of my bros that I missed putting on the blog with the Cali trip...so here it is now. Some things just bring back fun memories and this picture is one of those things. I love you guys, even if you are crazy sometimes (acutally, especially since you are crazy sometimes!) You're good for me!


So when we went to the beach in CA some lady had given our friends a bunch of firewood. It had all these earwigs in it. (So gross!) Mckenon and Shawn got a kick out of them, though! They had about 6 and then would put sand on top of them and see which one dug itself out the fastest. Those nasty little things are tough creatures. Sometimes I wonder why some bugs are on this earth.

Mom Drysdale's Trip to Utah!

Mom was able to come out for Weston's 1st Birthday!!! I was still in CA visiting my family when Mom Drysdale got here. They were able to do some fun things (like going to the movies) that is a little more difficult with a baby! They went to Park City on the Sat. before I got home. So fun! Then Mom picked me up on the Monday I got home. We had such a fun visit and were sad to see her go! THANK YOU so much for everything Mom! Here are a few pictures from her trip.

Jeff, Mom, & James on the Olympic stands in Park City!

Jeff, James, & Amy at Park City

Hanging out at Brick Oven, our favorite restaurant!!! (Always a must when family comes in town!)

I just thought this was so cute when I came in the living room and saw Mom reading to Weston. He LOVES books!

We visited Jeff at work! Weston thought his was hilarious when Jeff would blow the grass on his face. Too cute!

WhAt a OnE-dErFuL DaY!!

June 13, 2007 ~ Happy Birthday Weston!!
This past year has flown by much faster than we ever imagined. People would tell us to appreciate these early days because they pass quickly... but of course you don't fully realize it until they're gone. We have tried to treasure every moment (well, I do NOT miss the 2 am feedings one bit!) and hopefully we've succeeded. If nothing else, we've taken enough pictures to last a lifetime! We truly have loved and enjoyed becoming parents. Weston has brought so much joy and life into our home. I don't know what we would do without him! I am so grateful for Heavenly Father's plan and that we get to be a part of it by bringing such a sweet little boy into our home. I am looking forward to this next amazing year as our little "toddler" takes off! He is already doing so many new and fun things that each day truly is a joy to watch him learn and grow. I love being a mom. Thank you to everyone who has shared their love with our little boy and our family! We appreciate you all so much and are so grateful to have you in our lives.

I don't think we had one picture where we were all looking at the same camera!!

A view of the party setup. Shar & Trav let us have it at their cute home. We did it in the front yard since it was a little more shady and not quite as hot. It turned out so cute. We wrapped crepe paper all around the posts in front too and had balloons tied to each one. I love parties!!!

Thanks so much for letting us do it at your house, you guys are awesome!!!
And thanks to everyone who came and helped out, you made it so great and such a fun celebration for our little guy! We love you all!!!

So I opted for the fun, easy cake this year! We just did a color theme for West's party and it turned out so cute. (I am a little biased since I planned the whole thing!) Mom Drysdale was here from Texas and it was so fun hanging out with her for 3 days!! (she was here longer, but I was in Cali part of the time) She helped so much with all of the party stuff and it was a blast having her here. We miss you already!!

Amy, James, and Mom Drysdale!
We couldn't have done it without you guys, thanks for ALL of your patience and help!

Chels, Rob, & Syanne!

Aunt Joanne drove down to be here for the party! Thanks Joanne!

Steph, Brett, & Noah came to celebrate too! (Noah will be 1 in 5 weeks!)

Our friends Al, Greg, & Evie came to the party!

He loved playing with Uncle Trav and the balloons, I don't know which was his favorite!

Hanging out with Aunt Shar!

Blowing out the birthday cupcake!

Enjoying his birthday cupcake! He left the hat on for quite awhile and then he was done. The cupcake was devoured...so cute, and then he decided to rub his hands in his hair! Nothing like a good cupcake mess!

What a serious look!

Weston, Evie, Noah, & Syanne Birthday party fun! Jeff's mom got the hats and I was so glad...aren't they adorable?!