6 months!

Dear Kate and Riley,
I have to interrupt the vacation posts (I'm still not done!) to talk about Brady! Month 5 flew by with no post and I couldn't let another month pass without an update!

The past month was a busy month for Brady. Some important milestones--
--tooth #1 and tooth #2!
--rolling back to tummy and pivoting all over the floor
--Starting to sit for about 20-30 seconds before falling over
--babbling dadada, (but of course no mamama)
--has tried oatmeal, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. He's not so sure about eating, it seems
more fun to spit it back out at mom but he's enthusiastic about the process!
--happy and easygoing (except for when those darn teeth were coming through!)

At Brady's 6 month checkup he was 14 lbs 15 oz. This did not make the doctor very happy as he has fallen to the 7th percentile in weight. We're going to get a few tests done to make sure that there are no underlying problems but our guess is that he's just a skinny boy!

Brady continues to be a really easy, portable baby. He naps well when we're home and when we have to be out he just goes with the flow. He still sleeps well on the go and his night sleep is pretty good except for those teething nights. People always comment about how smiley and happy he is. Zach has really started to want to interact with him more and watching Zach make Brady belly laugh is just about my favorite thing in the world. Zach also wants attention for the same things Brady gets attention for. So many times a day he will roll around on the floor and expects me to applaud and get excited about him rolling over. He also insists on sitting on the floor with pillows all around him like I do for Brady. I guess he's worried he might fall over too! Today he got all of his trains and surrounded Brady with them because he was sharing. It was so sweet.

We love our little Brady!

He loves the jumper!

Love,
Mom

Navajo Fry Bread

Dear Kate and Riley,
On Wed. we got to meet up with the Ericksons at the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so no pictures from that adventure but it was fun and Zach thought the dinosaurs were pretty cool. Unfortunately Zach decided to end the afternoon with a monsterous meltdown over where we ate lunch so that was not so much fun.

That evening we gathered back at the Canova/Hansen house for more swimming and for Anita to make us some real Navajo fry bread. It was awesome. She brought her sister along to make sure she got it right and I intended to observe so I could duplicate it at home until I watched them "measure" the ingredients. Let's just say there was no measuring involved. It was a little of this and a little of that. It was pretty fun to watch Anita since I haven't seen her make fry bread since I was a kid and she made it at our house one time. It was delicious and no, Jillian, we didn't throw any away! (It was definitely a once in a while kind of treat!)

Careful measurements

rolling out the dough

the good part

Papa Ross decided to get in on the fun and make his own fry bread. It was pretty hilarious how much he fumbled with it. I like the look of concentration he has in the second picture. That was when Anita told him to use his fists but trust me she did NOT look like that when she whipped those puppies out.

Ashlee had to model a finished one for me

Love,
Mom

Cecret Lake

Dear Kate and Riley,
The fun didn't stop! On Tuesday we headed up to Alta to do the hike to Cecret lake. Turns out it was no secret, there were a ton of people there. This was Zach's first real hike. He started out great, very enthusiastic. Then came the hill. It was a big one, I'll admit but oh man the whining just about killed me. He insisted on someone carrying him which would not be a big deal if he didn't have this weird fear of riding piggy back or on people's shoulders. So if you can imagine me or dad having to carry 32 lb Zach like a baby on our hip up a steep hill of switchbacks! So annoying but thankfully the beautiful scenery and wildflowers made up for it. We had lunch by the lake, threw some rocks and headed back down. Let's just say 2.5 might not be the best age for hiking. Brady had his first try in the backpack and HE was an angel. He loved it and even slept for a good portion of the time.

Brady loving the pack

"I'm Hikin' "

Happy boy

Uncle Clint, Cadance in the front pack and Ali (I've given up on trying to get 2 or 3 year olds to look at me)

Grandma Janice with Summer and Aunt Kelli

Aunt Jenny was a good helper across the streams because she had on chocos and didn't care about walking through the water. Zach ended up walking through it anyway, no surprise.

There were lots of little streams to cross which was fun for the kids

There were wild flowers everywhere, this doesn't even do them justice

A big pile of snow which kind of confused the CA kid and was pretty lame for the Utah kids!

Aunt Jenny with Zach and Ali at the lake. I wasn't kidding about giving up. I did.

Not attractive but does prove that I DID carry the back pack!

Love,
Mom

Cowabunga Bay

Dear Kate and Riley,
On Monday we spent the day at Cowabunga Bay a newer water park out in Draper. After convincing Aunt Alisa that Brady WOULD take a bottle, we left him with her (and yes, thankfully he DID take the bottle and was really well behaved) and headed out with Zach (funny how what would have seemed like a task last summer felt like a treat-- only one kid!). The water park was perfect for his age and all the kids had a blast! I wish I had taken more pictures but I got lazy.

Monday night was the married cousin (no kids) dinner. It is quickly becoming my favorite new tradition. No pictures from that, we were too busy talking. After all Dad could say was "you guys are LOUD." and yes, we are.

Cash, Lily, Laina, Bree

Zach, running. This is about as much as I would see of him, a big blur

Tia and Ashlee

Dad and Zach

Love,
Mom

Box Elder Flats and FHE

Dear Kate and Riley,
After Grandma Wiggins birthday party we headed over to the Hansen/Canova's for the start of the Hansen reunion. We have these reunions every other summer and it is really for me the highlight of the summer when we have them. I love that I grew up being close to my cousins and I love that we all still get along so well. I feel like everyone has so much fun and I continue to be surprised that year after year so many of us manage to make it to the reunions. We had a really good turnout this year, I think that minus one family and the two boys on missions every one of the grandkids at least made an appearance! Pretty cool.

We spent the first evening chatting it up while the kids swam. Brady had his second pool day (no pictures I think) and really was into it this time (I am sure the 100+ temps helped make the pool seem more enticing)

The second day was Sunday so after church and naps we all met up at Box Elder Flats in the canyon for dinner, pictures in our too cute matchy shirts and some Minute to Win It FHE activities. It was so much fun! Zach played in the creek and had as much fun as any 2 year old can have and yes, we're still watching for signs of giardia since he wouldn't stop drinking the water!

I'm waiting for Megan to blog so I can steal some of her group pics and our family pics from this day as well. :)

Enjoying his first Fatboy with Aunt Jenny


Throwing rocks in the river

Getting a little more daring

pretty soaked

Uncle Chris is so good with the kids! Brady loved him.


Seriously kid STOP. DRINKING. THE. WATER!



Minute to Win It!

Keep the balloon in the air for 1 min

Wrapping your partner in TP, aunt Kathy and Laina

Ami and Presley were the best


Cash picking up cotton balls on his nose, the kids were SO cute

Uncle Chris and I trying to get an Oreo from our foreheads into our mouths. Harder than it seems!

We had so much fun up the canyon, it was a good one Nelsons!

Love,
Mom

Grandma W's 80th Birthday

Dear Kate and Riley,
On the second day of our trip we got the chance to celebrate my Grandma Wiggin's 80th birthday. All of my mom's siblings were there and a lot of the grandkids too. We had a luncheon with some walks down memory lane of my Grandma's 80 years. It was fun to see cousins I hadn't seen in a long time and catch up and to celebrate with my Grandma. She is really an amazing woman who has done SO much in her life, it was really fun.

Grandma Wiggins

Aunt Ilene made these beautiful cakes, she is so talented, she also made our wedding cake!

Aunt Ilene hosted Price is Right (one of Grandma's favorite shows) for the party guests, it was pretty hilarious!

Grandma Janice was one of the Price is Right models! Ooh-la-la!

Loving this look on Grandma Janice, I really think she should sport it on a regular basis!

Uncle Clint wore one of Grandpa Wiggins' outfits he got on his mission.

Summer and Ali got to try on Jenny's wedding veil that was used for the game, they loved it!

Ilene (seriously multi talented am I related to this woman!?) also wrote Grandma a song and sang it, it was beautiful and mad me cry.

I was glad we got to squeeze in some quality Wiggins time before the Hansen reunion started. It was so fun to see everyone!

Love,
Mom

Summer Fun-- in parts

Dear Kate and Riley,
It is totally overwhelming to even think about writing about this vacation so I think I'm going to have to baby step through it.

We left for Utah AGAIN in July for ten days. Our drive out was uneventful. A late night stopover in St. George and we arrived in Salt Lake the next day.

First stop-- uncle Andrew's house. Since the purpose of the trip was the Hansen family reunion we tried to squeeze in a little O'Farrell time when we could. We were able to spend our first afternoon with some O'Farrell cousins and Zach got his first try on the slip-n-slide. Zach kept looking out at the back yard and saying "Look mom! A park!" poor kid, some day maybe we'll have more than just a patio.

Zach took a bit to warm up but then he thought the slip-n-slide was cool. So cool he had a hard time taking turns.




loving his popsicle


the babies! So fun to have them 2 weeks apart.

More to come!
Love,
Mom