our big two-year-old boy.

I can't believe Reed is TWO!  He has been the greatest thing to happen to our family.  We couldn't love him more.  I've been trying to spend some special time with him before baby girl comes.  I think I will miss having so many one-on-one moments with him but I'm so excited for him to be a big brother.  Right now Reed is really into motorcycles, building and crashing blocks, learning new words, riding the quad with daddy, coming out of his room when he should be napping, repeating me in gibberish while I pray, video-chatting with his grandparents, wrestling with daddy, swimming and riding his bike.  He loves playing with other kids and is in total awe of bigger kids.  He's still the cuddliest bear in town and we love that he snuggles with us every morning in our bed (although we wish he would sleep later than 5:45am).

The birthday festivities began at my grandma's house with a family dinner and ice cream cake.  He got spoiled by his great grandparents and aunt & uncle and he loved playing outside with my cousins Ashley and Megan.  He was so wiped out afterwards he zonked on the way home with a firm grip on his new garbage truck.  Good thing I already had him in his pj's.  Reed also helped me make cupcakes that morning and at first he wanted nothing to do with the cake batter.  He's not really into trying new foods (I blame his dad for this, haha) but once I smeared some on his mouth and he got a lick, he was all over it.  I'm wondering when he'll figure out that anything that comes out of the kitchenaid is delicious.

The next day we celebrated at a park with pizza, cupcakes, and water fun at the splash pad with cousins.  He was looking so studly on the way there with his glasses propped up on his head but man I have the hardest time getting him to smile for a photo!  He always looks so serious. 


The Kemptons brought their cute kids for some fun and our grad school friends, the Freebairns, who happened to be in town stopped by as well.  Our friend BH even showed up randomly to eat all our grapes.  I love the pic of Ashley Kempton below.  For being in a house full of boys she sure is girly and cute.

We sang, blew out a candle, and had some cupcakes

Reed wasn't loving the cream cheese frosting.

At least I knew two other boys who would down my baking with no problem.  I have the cutest nephews ever.

Because we had done all this celebrating over a week before his birthday, by the time the actual day arrived he was pretty good at saying "birthday party."  I think it's one of the clearest things he says.



We ended the celebrations with a trip to Chick-fil-A with Jen, Kyle & Nolan where Roo had his very first ice cream cone!  No dairy for the first 18 months of life = a very deprived child.  The boys were having such a good time in the playland we ended up staying there for a record-breaking two hours!  I wish I had gotten better photos of them playing.  Reed didn't last two minutes in the car before he passed out on the way home.  It was a great day.

Happy Birthday Reedy Roo Bear!!!  We love you!

inchworm.

Tonight for FHE we washed our car.  Reed loved playing in the bucket of suds and he also LOVED it when I would squirt him with the hose.  Cur found a little inchworm while he was trimming our tree and Roo had a good time with it.  Until he stepped on it.  We're still learning how to be soft. :)

yabba dabba do!

Check out how fast these little Fred Flinstone feet go.  And how funny is it that he purposely crashes?  SUCH a boy.

Man vs Wild vs Child

I have fond memories of camping with my dad and brother on Church "Fathers and Sons" camp outs. I've been looking forward to taking my son camping since before he was born. This weekend we headed out to Queen Valley and I did my best Bear Grylls impression of "Man vs Wild vs Child". We had a LOT of fun.

On Friday the weather was perfect and some of the views within the canyon were gorgeous.

As soon as we got there, Roo had no trouble getting dirty head to toe.


I love this picture because its him "on the go". I couldnt get him to hold still for a picture. He was so busy playing with the older kids and running around the camp site!


Myth: "It never rains in Arizona".

FACT: "It never rains in Arizona...unless you've just washed your car or you're camping with a 2 yr old".

After spending 1.5 hours trying to get Reed to sleep in the tent, the wind kicked up at night blowing our tent around and keeping me up. The camp on the other side of the hill was blaring obnoxious music until 1:30am, which is when the wind turned to rain. It rained all the way til breakfast time. I'm just grateful we stayed dry and that one of us DID get some sleep!


It was in the low 40s at breakfast time, which made for a clingy RooBear.
We had pancakes, bacon, and juice. Roo was more interested in playing with the big kids than eating, though.

Reed loved riding the quad with me, which of course made me very happy! I can't wait until baby girl is old enough for the whole family to go camp. We had a good time. Here's a video from when we woke up in the morning. I think the sound of the rain drops on the tent was a little confusing to Reed.

"the man-blogger"

For whatever reason, I've been blessed with a lot of great, great friends. Candace pointed this out recently and commented how unique it is to know so many good guys. A month ago I was able to meet up with some college roommates and a few weeks ago I got together with my high school buddies.

Not too much has changed since 1998! We're still the same goofy bunch.



All of us married above ourselves as the picture shows:

While talking with my buddies and catching up, one of them said "So you're a Man-blogger huh? I guess that's cool." Haha! Yes, I guess I AM a man blogger! Aside from keeping my parents and friends updated (and blogging as a family record of events), no one else would be taking pictures and recording things if it weren't for "Man-blogger". We wouldn't have gems like this:

happy easter.

Hey there.  Happy Easter!  Long time no talk.  I've been a busy girl these days.  Can you believe I only have 7 weeks left until my due date?  Curtis and I are so excited to have a baby girl.  What have I been up to lately?  Well... I've been working on our house like a mad woman.  I painted the living room (with the help of my sweet mom), recovered the chairs on a dining set we inherited from my great grandma, hung some draperies (again with some help), got a new rug and sofa, bought a wall full of ikea shelves for my living room and filled them with every book we own, sanded and painted a cradle, two nightstands & a dresser, painted baby girl's nursery, took a day-long photography class to finally figure out how to use my DSLR on manual mode, got a fancy new diaper bag for my birthday!, organized all my baby stuff to get ready for baby girl, and constantly chased around our insanely energetic almost-two-year-old Roo Bear.  He's the most fun ever.

Speaking of Roo Bear... here are some updates on our favorite guy.  He will do just about anything for a marshmallow, fruit snack or cookie (note the presence of marshmallows in the photos below - bribery was a must).  He loves dada's quad (and anything else with wheels) and walks around most of the day saying "brumm brrumm".  He's still obsessed with the garbage truck and wants to run outside every time he hears it even blocks away.  He says somewhere around 20 words but mostly talks a constant gibberish like we know exactly what he's saying.  He loves to snuggle and give kisses & loves.  Especially to mama and dada and WE LOVE IT.  I have to threaten him with time-out almost every time I want him to come inside because he throws huge fits lately and puts his little fingers into a death grip onto the handlebars of his trike.  He LOVES being outside, always has.  He's a pretty good listener but will test boundaries every now and again.  Like waiting until I'm looking straight at him and then in slow motion dumping his cereal bowl with milk straight onto the floor while looking at me with complete defiance on his face like "What are you going to do about that mom?!"  We talk about baby sister a lot and he loves to point out every baby or picture of a baby he sees.  He loves to go to nursery at church and the nursery leader told me today that the first thing he does when he gets in there is ask for snack.  That boy would snack all day if I let him (and not eat a thing at mealtime).  He is such a good boy and we love him beyond words.  If his baby sister is half as good we'll be golden!

Here are some photos I took of Reed this morning.  Isn't this little seersucker suit the cutest thing you've ever seen?  Thank you to Papa and Grandma Heyman for the sweet Easter outfit.  Even from Argentina they spoil us!

P.S. Am I the only one who has the hardest time getting my photos to be in the order I want them in blogger without weird spaces?  Maybe I'm just out of practice. ;)

P.S.S.  Don't mind his black eye.  He took a spill in the driveway this week just in time for Easter pics.  Part of documenting this age I guess.

cruising along

Hey folks. We hope everyone is doing well. We're keeping busy and healthy. Some updates:

Taylor came home for a short break and got to spend time with his nephews, who love to sing and dance to his piano playing. We're excited that he will be leaving in June to serve a mission in Concepcion, Chile!






Recently, I met up with a bunch of my college roommates for a "Man-cation" in UT. They skied while I fished (skiing is too risky for my bad knees), we played video games, and gorged ourselves on junk food. Its been 14 years since most of us met as freshman at BYU. I feel blessed to have such great friends who are good examples to me. We had a LOT of fun and plan to make getting together a greater priority in the future.

The weather in UT was terrific and I was in HEAVEN fishing all day for 2 days in a row, not having to worry about deadlines or hurrying home.
RooBear has been sooo much fun. He's still a snugglebug, especially when I let him stuff himself with marshmallows right before bed time.

He's been zooing a lot with friends and cousins. Here he is next to some monkeys with his buddy Smith.

I took an afternoon off to pick up some craigslist furniture for Cbug and take Reed fishing. We met up with my cousin Greg and his boys, Tyce and Koston. We caught a catfish that the boys had fun with. While Tyce and Koston were afraid to touch the fish, Reed couldn't keep his hands off of it!

The due date for Baby Girl is coming quickly. Candace has been in Hyper-MotherBird-Nesting mode. Aside from shopping, she's been sanding, painting and decorating at a pace not healthy for a woman 7 months pregnant. Can someone get her to post pictures of her projects?