Bonneville Speedway...Speed Week

So Layne told me that if I was going to live in Utah....I had to at least experience the Bonneville Salt Flats at least once. Reluctantly I agreed to go and to my surprise...I had a lot of fun. I had no idea how beautiful it was out there. Corbin and Brycen had a great time together watching the races, running around on the salt, watching the little airplanes fly in and out, and hangin' out with "Papa". I know Layne had a good time hanging out with all "the boys" and he was greatful that I was willing to go and share one of his passions with him.

Me and CeCe!

This morning we had Cierra over for a little play time. It was so much fun to have her here and to watch her and Corbin play. It is so amazing for me to watch the little differences between the two of them. CeCe is so sweet and soft spoken and generally well behaved and Corbin is 100% the rough and tough boy...climbing on everything and being as wild as possible. Cierra is so sweet and so patient with him. Corbin climbed up on the chair with some Goldfish Cracker and CeCe climbed right up there with him. It was so cute....I had to take a picture. You can tell they really love each other.

Corbin's 1st Time Swimming Alone

Today we got invited to go swimming with the Hassell family over at Carl and Marilou's house. It was a beautiful day today and Corbin and I were excited to be getting out of the house to do something fun.

I decided today to try out the "yellow inner-tube suit" again today. When I first bought it and tried it on him he had a meltdown until I took it off. I knew that Mindy had one and sometimes her kids used it so I thought there was a chance that it might fly today.

At first, he wasn't excited in the least to put it on and it required a little help from Mindy to get it on, but once he was in the water he settled down a bit. Initially he was unstable and kept tipping forward so I just held onto him for a while and walked around the pool. It only took about 10 or 15 min. until he started to get the hang of it. From then on he wanted nothing to do with me.

He spent the good part of the next several hours swimming around the pool all by himself. He was so proud that he could do it by himself and loved his freedom. I just sat on the edge of the pool and watched in amazement and took lots of pictures to show to Dad. He is growing up so fast.... I can't hardly believe it.

We both had a great time today. I really enjoyed being able to hang out and talk with Mindy, bask in the sun, and watch our kids have a great time together. Thanks Hassell's for the wonderful day!

My Little Escape Artist

Today I put Corbin down for his usual afternoon nap. My dad was at the house working on the tile in the downstairs bathroom, but other than that we were having a quiet afternoon. I noticed that Corbin had been asleep much longer than usual so I went in to check on him. He was still soundly sleeping so I closed the door to his room and continued doing what I was doing. I had also closed the door to the room where I was at so that I didn't wake him and was just patiently waiting and listening for him to wake up. It had been some time when suddenly....I heard someone running down the hall. I opened the door to my room and walked out into the living room to find Corbin playing with his toys.

I was very confused as to how he got there and wondered if I had failed to hear my dad get him out of his bed so I went downstairs to ask him. To my surprise...he had been downstairs the entire time and had not been up to rescue Corb's from his bed. Well as you can guess by now....my little baby has discovered how to escape from his crib and to top it all off he has also discovered how to open doors by himself!

If only I could have seen his face when he opened that door and let himself out. I have no doubt that he was quite proud he was of his new accomplishments!!!

Easter 2009

Today I took Corbin to the Dinosaur Park for the annual Easter egg hunt. This year Corbin was able to go around and gather eggs by himself although he still wasn't overly interested in the eggs themselves. Instead, he found it much more enjoyable to run as fast as he could and step on as many eggs as possible.... cuz they make such a fun noise when you break them!!!

Once he had gathered his 5 egg limit, I followed him around the park as he discovered all the neat things to look at and play with. He could see all the kids going down the big slides and decided that he wanted to give it a try...so all by himself...he climbed all the stairs as I waited patiently at the bottom of the slide. After some time I finally saw his little head pop up at the top and he walked slowly to the edge of the slide. After watching a few kids go down he turned around on his stomach and slid down. He was so proud of himself and quickly ran around to do it again. After a few times going down on his stomach he decided to go down like the big kids and he sat on his bum and away he went.

It was finally time to go so we walked through the museum to leave so that we could pick up our season pass at the front desk. As we were walking, Corbin notice this area where they had large life sized dinosaurs that were making noises and moving around. I was sure that they were going to freighten him so I stayed close to "protect" him. To my surprise...he was utterly amazed by them and stood at the fence and watched them intently going back and forth along the fence to get a better look at them. Finally he decided just to sit on the floor and make himself comfortable as he watched in awe.

I can honestly say that it was one of the funnest times that I have had with him so far. We had a great time playing and hanging out together. And as sad as it is to see my baby grow up and become a little boy, it was so much fun to watch him grow and learn new things!

Hard Hats Still Required!

I have had many requests for picture updates of the basement so here goes. We have been at this remodel thing since the beginning of January and minus a few set backs (ie: Stewart the"Inspection Nazi" who is bound and determined to make this project difficult for us) it is coming along very well. My dad and brothers have worked their fingers to the bone and spent countless number of hours making sure that the job is done well. All of the sheetrock and trim is up and we are just about ready to start painting....yeah!!! Which also means that the dust will soon be starting to settle. I never could have imagined just how much dust that I would have to contend with in my upstairs with this job. It is literally going to take me years to get it out of all the nooks and crannys, but I have no doubt that it is going to be worth it.

I am STILL fighting a bidding war with the cabinet dudes and I think that I am losing the battle. It is truely amazing how much things cost these days. Wow...I certainly just made myself feel really old with that one! I am so grateful to my dad for all his help in making the thousands of decisions that have gone into this remodel. I don't know what I would do without him.

My Baby's 18 Month Old

It is so cliche, but seriously it is crazy how fast time flies. I looked at Corbin today and thought to myself how amazing that it is that a little person could grow so fast. So much has changed in such a small amount of time and there is so much that I am already starting to forget. I decided that I needed to write down some of the small little things about Corb's so that I will always remember my little baby.
1. From day one he has always been extraordinarily strong and coordinated. He never really was that limp little baby that would just lay still and cuddle. When he was only a few weeks old, if you would hold him up he would jump up and down on your lap as fast as he could go. I will never forget taking him to get his picture when he was two weeks old and the photographer being completely amazed that he was holding his own head up. When it finally came time to crawl, he only spent a few weeks scooting around before he decided it was much to slow paced for him and at 8 months....he stood up and started walking and he hasn't slowed down since. He definitely is all boy!
2. His first word was...debatably..."Dada," with "Mama" soon to follow. One of the next words to crop up was "Bah" or better known as "Boo." We had gone to the sand dunes with Dad and Sonja and I had been running around the truck and scaring him by yelling "Boo." The whole way home from that trip and for several days to follow he continued to shout "Bah." One night while he was in the tub I finally figured out what he was saying and he got quite a kick out of it. Since that time he has gradually increased his vocabulary to include: backpack (from Dora), SpongeBob (of course), grandma, grandpa, CeCe, nana, mine, shoes, truck, WallE, that, more, ahh oh, uh huh, Mac (from Cars), kitty, and my favorite of all MeMe (aka: Binki). Of course, there are many more words that belong to his own little language that he frequently uses to tell you all kinds of stories or to scold you when he feels that you need it. It is hilarious and absolutely adorable to watch all his little facial expressions as he goes on and on.... I can't wait until I can understand what is going on in that little head of his.
3. He has been a little slow to get teeth but he now has 4 on top, 4 on bottom and 4 molars for a total of 12 teeth. He doesn't really love to get them brushed, but we bought a new SpongeBob toothbrush so hopefully we will learn to like it a little more.
4. Well it's no surprise that he is big for his age. He has consistently been in the 95-99% for his age in both height and weight....you would think I would be skinny by now packing him around. He currently weights 30.5 lbs and is inches tall. He has huge hands and feet just like his daddy. From the start, I have had trouble getting shoes to fit him cuz his feet have been so fat that they didn't fit into most shoes. He is currently in a size 8 shoe and we are getting close to outgrowing them as well.
4. One of my most favorite times with Corbin is rocking him at night and putting him to bed. He often gets very silly just before bed when he is really tired. Literally, just looking at him will send him into hysterics. Once we are finished laughing and having fun and he decides he is exhausted I get my few chances to just hold him and cuddle him. Most of the day he is just way to busy to stop for more than a minute or two to give loves so I have to soak up my moments with him whenever and however I can. Once he is asleep and I lay him in his bed, it is so fun to just sit and watch him sleep. His little face is so precious. For some reason, it is in these times when he is quietly sleeping that I am reminded that he is still my "little" baby.
5. Most of all, Corbs is just a very happy and lovable little boy. He has such a personality to him. I can already tell that he is going to be a little jokester just like his dad. He brings such happiness into our home and we are so blessed to have our sweet little "Scooter"