Hello!

Yes, we are alive and well and happy! I'll admit, I got kind of frustrated when my blog got spammed in October. I shut it down for a while and I will be watching my stats closely, no crazy stuff!!

Can you believe in a few weeks Blaz will be 2? He's growing up and so much fun. Juan has been working a lot these last 2 months. He goes to work at 7am and often isn't done until after 6pm. We miss him, but our savings account was down to $12 this winter, so thank goodness for the extra work!! Juan just got released from the Young Men's 2nd counselor after 2 1/2 years, just freed up his tuesday nights! He hung a punching bag in the garage and has started making wooden toys for Blaz. I am starting to feel better and glad the morning sickness is over. Next week I'm officially halfway through, so that's good. We are really excited for a sweet new baby:)

Here is what's new with Blaz:


We moved his basketball hoop inside for the winter and he plays it ALL DAY long. He shouts "score!!!" whenever he makes it. He likes backing up and even shooting it backwards. Silly.


We raised it higher last week, he's still a really good shot!

Blaz loves to wear daddy's shoes. 2 months ago he spoke his first 3 word sentence, he came up and said "daddy shoes owie" because he'd fallen in them. Now he talks constantly and picks up a new phrase every day.


Another daddy shoes picture.

He loves to help in the kitchen. He sits on the counter or on a bar stool and he helps me stir and pour. He loves to use the electric beaters. This day we made cinnamon rolls, he liked rolling the dough around and licking the frosting.


Every day while I make lunch he likes to sit on the kitchen floor and color. He knows most of his colors (glad he isn't color-blind like Juan, but isn't it only carried through mothers?) and he loves reciting them. He tells you what he draws, usually an airplane, truck, car or lately gloves.


He's been begging to use my markers, but I've been nervous about the mess. We covered the table with paper and had a Marker Day, it was fun. We doodled for a while and he got the marker all over his hands.
Btw, this shirt is his basketball shirt, his favorite. Sometimes he cries when I put it in the washer, lol, and when he gets to pull it out of the washer he clutches it to his chest, lol.

That's what's new!!

Taller, Stronger, Smarter

We've had a few chilly days here and it's making me think of fall. I can't believe our perfect summer is almost over!!
We've done everything we've wanted to and had a blast. We've done tons of swimming and played at every park. We've been to the zoo 14 times and lots of parades.

We spent the end of July in Boise for a super fun time. I should have taken more pictures, but it was just so relaxing I forgot to grab my camera half the time. Blaz followed around his favorite person Eli the entire time. Eli could move next door to us, Blaz can't get it enough. Mike and Cindy were the perfect hosts, the food was delicious. We all floated the Boise River too, super fun. Blaz cried every time we got splashed in the rapids, but we still enjoyed it:)



The science museum was cute. Blaz enjoyed following my cousins around the most.

They have a mini grocery store. He wasn't interested in putting food in the cart and shopping, he just wanted to push the carts around. What a boy:)

They also had a pretend animal hospital. He dragged all of the big stuffed animals to the middle of the floor, then sat down on top of them. He looks so determined:)




This was a funny night. When Juan does push ups Blaz tries to get on his back. He keeps falling down and then climbing back up.
He's thinning out - can you tell? My little chunky monkey is slimming down! He's still really tall for his age, but that big ole belly has disappeared. He's such a good eater and wants to try whatever we're eating. He has yogurt every day and he loves chips and crackers. He really likes pasta and anything in a tortilla. I'm glad he's not picky. We had pasta the other night with big chunks of green pepper and onion with the meat and noodles and he just gobbled it all up.
He loves to talk, it's too cute. He says "agua" (water) when he's thirsty and points to his diaper and says "pee pee" when he needs to be changed. He gives the best hugs, he even pats your back gently while he's hugging.

I need to head to bed, but I just wanted to catch up on memories. Cheers!

A day in our LIFE

Last summer I had a little itty bitty 2 month old baby, what did I spend my days doing? I remember it seemed like he ate constantly, I wished we had ac and I read lots of books. We have been having so much fun this summer, I just don't want to forget. Anyway, I wrote down everything that happened on Wednesday, an ordinary, yet fun, day. So yeah, this is what our days are like:

9:30- Blaz wakes up. We say morning prayers, which usually consists of him jumping around the bed while I pray, then he says "amen" with me and climbs down.

Blaz runs around upstairs while I take a shower. He likes to throw toys in the water, so I ended showering with elmo's mailbox, 2 cars and a basketball. He opens Juan's sock drawer, pulls out some socks and puts them in a laundry basket. He pushes the laundry basket all around upstairs jabbering to himself while I do my hair and makeup. He's whining at my feet when I finish, so we pick out his clothes and get him dressed and handsome. After spiking his hair, we head downstairs.

We make toast for breakfast. Blaz takes an entire slice and tries to shove it in his mouth. I pull it out while he smears crumbs everywhere. It's a beautiful day outside so we get in the stroller and head around the neighborhood for a nice long walk. We see neighbors, puppies and the new graffiti on the yield sign by our house.

11:15- we get home. I set Blaz on the kitchen counter to help me make a smoothie. I put in the juice and banana and frozen mango slices. He drops in the blueberries one by one, watching them splash. We blend it, and sit on the couch sipping smoothie and flipping through a pottery barn catalog. (I flip, he crinkles the pages).

Blaz starts getting sleepy, so I take him upstairs for a nap. After 15 he is out cold, and I sneak downstairs to make lunch for Juan. I make bologna sandwiches with fritos. I make another blueberry smoothie for Juan. We eat, and about 12:45 Blaz starts yelling "maaaaa, maaaa" from upstairs. We drop Juan off at work and head downtown for some thrifty fun.

We cruise through the aisles of DI looking for some treasures. I find an Elmo book about balls, score, and an ABC monkey book each for .50 cents. No cool gadgets or crafts, but we step outside and find a little tikes slide for only $4. Blaz starts screaming with joy when I put it in the cart, it's gigantic and red and blue. We've been looking for a slide at yard sales all summer! The cashier talks to Blaz, he gets scared and almost cries. We take our treasures home.

Blaz plays in the living room with his toys while I get the chicken marinating for dinner. At about 2:30 we go outside to play with the new slide. They are building a house on the empty lot behind us and Blaz gets distracted by all the noisy trucks. We end up sitting on the porch watching the back hoe and dump truck haul dirt.

At 3:30 we pick up Juan from work. I clean the kitchen downstairs while Juan takes a shower, and Blaz plays in the water and throws his toys in. Juan fires up the grill and puts on the chicken. I'm boiling red potatoes for creamy mashed potatoes and getting the corn ready, Juan watches the grill and Blaz goes up and down the back porch stairs talking to himself and laughing.

We eat dinner, watch some netflix and play downstairs for a while. Blaz starts getting whiny, so I take him upstairs for another nap. I sew and Juan plays xbox while he naps. When he wakes it's 7pm and we head to Juan's brother's house. His parents are going to Texas for a week so we say goodbye and give them pictures of Blaz to pass around to family.

We drive to Winco to go grocery shopping. It's not too crowded, Blaz is silly in the shopping cart and throws a fit getting back in the car.

We watch another episode on Netflix, read scriptures and head to bed by 10:30.

I should have taken pictures:)

Oh Say Can You See

The last few weeks we've been having so much fun. We've spent so much on gas, lol, driving to green canyon, pocatello or rexburg almost every day. It was so great to see Stewart and Becky, it didn't take Blaz long to warm up to them and love playing with them. Here are some photo rundowns of all the fun:
:
Becky and Blaz on our last night. Saying goodbye is hard, especially since it might be awhile before we see them again. I can't wait to meet little Sophie due in October!!


At the parade, Blaz screamed (with joy) when he saw the horses and he really likes the toothbrush he caught. It was really chilly, hence the sweaters. And, don't you love the great shot of Becky's pregnant belly? lol



We loved the Rigby Lake fireworks this year. The weather was gorgeous and the fireworks were awesome. I thought Blaz might enjoy the sand a little, but he walked right into the water and had fun splashing around. Good thing I brought a change of clothes!!


Splash!

He kept trying to walk deeper and deeper, and then I'd drag him back to the edge. We need to go back again, but with swim trunks and a life jacket!

Waiting with daddy for the fireworks to start. He snuggled in my arms and watched them the whole time, I'm glad he wasn't scared.


The Pocatello zoo, Alex being silly and Blaz having a blast

The coolest tree house ever, sliding with aunts and uncles

I love how my baby always smiles for the camera:)

Cheese!

Juan had to work during the afternoon, but mom and dad, Stew and Becky, Alex, Carl and Tasia joined us. Then we went to grandma's house for a bbq. Yummy!


Again, the coolest treehouse ever.

Following Grandpa around . . .

Sliding with Tasia

These pics are out of order a little, but this was all of us on Father's Day


Happy 2nd Father's Day Juan!

See, that is why we LOVE summer! Lots more fun things planned, but now I need to get some laundry done:)

The Big Mr. B

I know, I've been slow in posting pictures and updates. We're doing wonderful, staying busy, playing outside constantly and loving our new house.

I've been spending lots of time updating my other blog, but hey, that's the one that makes me money! So, go check it, click around, and I'll get paid:)

Here are some great photos of our recent weeks:




Yes, we cut that wild hair. It was so soft and adorable, but he was looking a little grungy. Don't worry, I saved all of it in a ziploc bag for his baby book. We gave him a dum-dum sucker so he'd hold still. He did awesome and wasn't afraid of the buzzer at all.






Here's a good photo of how handsome he looks with short hair. It makes him look more like a little boy, I like it.



This is Blaz terrorizing Grandpa just after my mom's 50th birthday party. It was his first time in a movie theater, he did good and loved climbing the stairs and finding "goodies" all over the floor.

Blaz has developed a high-pitched painful scream when he's angry. I can't remember what he was mad about here, but it's usually if you close a door. He throws a fit when Juan leaves for work, when I close the fridge and when we come in from outside. Lol, yikes!



I bought a zoo membership for our family and we've gone 3 times already. We have such a great zoo, shady, quiet and you can go through the whole thing in less than an hour. Blaz loves the monkeys, bears and otters.





And here he is being cool like daddy and playing xbox.

We're so excited for Stew and Becky to come and visit this weekend and Juan's birthday and father's day. I loooove the 4th of July and can't wait for all the fun!

Take care!

I Heart May

What we've been up to:

Visiting every park in town. This one is our favorite! It's like 20 minutes from our house, but it's an equal access playground where everything is wide enough for someone in a wheel chair. It has ramps everywhere too, instead of just stairs. It's perfect for Blaz, he loved it!


Playing with the hippo



Hasn't May been perfect? The weather has been gorgeous and we have been enjoying cruising our new neighborhood. We have so many friends in the neighborhood that last week our 20 minute walk turned in to 2 1/2 hours! Having a toddler is super fun, we've been out doing fun things all over town. Last summer he wasn't in to anything (except eating and sleeping) but this summer he's enjoying everything.


On one of our trips scavenging at D.I. I found this kitchen for $5. I know right? It's not girly and it's not too big, perfect for our house. Now when I cook dinner Blaz has something to play with. He likes putting all of the food from the fridge to the sink. I found a pack of vegetables at Toys r Us for a couple dollars.


Blaz has a funny new thing he's been doing for about a week now. When he wakes up in the morning he finds some random object and holds on to it all day, even sleeping with it. It's a different object every day and if you try to take it away he loses it. Weird! Right now he's napping with a glue stick in his hand. Yesterday it was his toothbrush, it's also been a comb, Juan's back scratcher, a baby lotion bottle, weird stuff. After he falls asleep I can usually sneak it away. This day he was all about this tomato from his kitchen set.



He says ball and baby now. He likes to imitate sounds and actions we do. He loves reading books with me, it's one of my favorite parts of the day. He sits on my lap and turns the pages and points to either babies or balls. He has a few peekaboo books with flaps, and he giggles every time you lift it. No matter how many million times we've done it, it's still funny.

Juan has had a busy spring at work. Lots of builders are building new homes and they've been doing lots of remodels. I babysit a 4 month old girl 1 day per week and I'm still selling aprons. Mother's Day orders got a little crazy and I had a few late nights, but it's nice to have my own little income. I feel guilty spending Juan's hard earned money for our family at Joann's, lol, so it's nice to have my own cash for fun stuff.

We are loving our new house, even though it's still pretty disorganized. We still have several boxes in the garage and it seems like I'm always in there digging around sunday mornings trying to find the perfect shoes.

Anyway, I have a dishwasher to unload and a living room to vacuum before nap time ends. Take care!

New House and Birthday (Just for Becky)

Ok Becky, here is the post you've been asking for! So here comes birthday fun, new house and our growing/walking little man.

Blaz was pretty excited about the carpet at our new house - no more wood floors! He's had fun crawling all over the place at high speeds and is giving walking a try. He here is just after we got our keys. He'll take about 8 steps before either falling or grabbing on to something for support.


This is after the kersplat, lol. This shows our living room and the door behind Blaz opens to a 1/2 bath. There is a nice big window behind where I'm standing.

This shows the edge of bar in the kitchen, the kitchen overlooks the living room. You can see the tiled entryway and the edge of the stairs. The garage door also opens in the entry way. (Juan will probably not like the particular view of this shot, lol, but it was the only entry way shot)

Here is my favorite place, the kitchen. There's lots of counter space and a dishwasher, I'm happy:) I love having a bar, and I'm starting to like the whole open area feel. Just beyond the fridge is a spot for our kitchen table and a door leading to the backyard and patio.

I didn't take any pictures of upstairs yet, but we really like it. The master is good sized, it has his/hers closets that walk through to the bathroom. The bathroom is really big, love that. The bathroom also has a door to the hallway. There are 2 extra bedrooms, one for Blaz and one for the office/sewing room. The washer and dryer are in a little closet in the upstairs hallway. It's nice not hauling laundry up and down the stairs. We really like the location and the neighbors. We feel really blessed to find such a great townhouse that we can afford, plus it's in the ward:)


I didn't think turning 1 would change anything, but it's like he's smarter and more capable already. He's started saying a new word - baby. He loves to jabber and laughs really hard if you imitate his sounds. When I turn on the radio and sing he starts going "aaaahh, oooooh" like he's singing too, love it.


He likes to close doors, then bang on them and cry when he can't open them again. He thinks throwing things down the stairs (especially balls) and watching them bang down is hilarious. Last night Juan made him mad by wiping his nose, so he bit him, lol.

He loves story time with mom and playing in the quilt on the bed. He laughs during prayers (we can't figure this one out, maybe cause our eyes are closed?) and loves having other kids come over and play. He likes dogs, going to the park and driving around in the car.

He points at everything now, when he wants something. I haven't done any baby sign language, but when he's hungry or wants a bite he'll smack his lips really loud, it works:) He learned how to take his pants off, lol, and he thinks it's super funny. If you laugh at him while he does something, he'll do it over and over. Last night he put his apple on his head, Juan laughed, and he did it the rest of the night. We've decided we need to be careful what we laugh at, since he loves being a comedian. A few sundays ago he was spitting loudly in church, the teens in the row behind us laughed, and Blaz made spitting farting noises the entire time, enjoying the attention. We have the class clown!



Here Blaz is helping daddy open his presents. He didn't quite know what to think of opening presents, but he loved the new toys.


I'm quite proud of our frugal birthday. We got him the little bike (that flips up into a walker too) at D.I. for $3. I got him 2 new books for 50 cents, Mr. Potato I couponed for $1. The tonka truck is regularly $32.99, on sale for $24.99 and I had a $10 off coupon, not bad. He's like a little robot, he talks, drives and spins. Blaz likes chasing him around the house. If you yell his name "chuck" he drives to you. Kinda fun! I also got 3 shirts from Kohl's for free, on clearance and used a coupon, totally free. Sweet!



We sang happy birthday and let Blaz play in this birthday cake. He squished and smeared it everywhere. I gave him a bite, but he didn't really care for it as you can see below:)




He took a bath after and the tub was covered in frosting and cake crumbs. It was such a fun day! I hope they're always just as perfect.

Funny story too, a year ago at my bridal shower somebody gave us a giftcard to Olive Garden. On monday night, the 20th, the evening before we had Blaz we went to olive garden and got takeout. We sat at home eating delicious pasta and talking about how tomorrow was going to change everything and how excited we were to meet our little boy. This year for dinner on Blaz's birthday we decided to get Olive Garden takeout again. We ate salad, breadsticks and pasta around the dinner table with our little boy. Everything changed, and we love it. What a year!

Ok Becky, was that enough of an update for you? lol. I can't wait for Blaz's new cousin (vote for boy) to come this fall.

Ciao!