Dear Tus

I can't believe I have been married to you, my best friend, for six years. You have made my life a dream come true. You are the most amazing husband and father and I will never need more.

These six years have flown by and I am beyond happy to spend eternity with you.

I love you completely. Forever.

4 months

Be still my heart.

Camera Happy

Cameron LOVES to take pictures anytime he gets his hands on the camera. He is actually a really good photographer and gets the whole person in the shot. (Better than some people I know...not naming names Lady or Grandma Mia.) Ha

All taken by Cam.

Every time he puts money in his bank he says he wants to go buy a camera. I asked him if he wanted to cash in his chunk of change, he can barely lift his bank, and his reply was, "No, I wanna save my money. You buy the camera."

I didn't realize this started so early on. We're in for it!

Comparison Take 2...

I found this cute picture of Cameron doing tummy time and compared it to Ali doing tummy time. They are starting to look more and more alike as she is getting older.

Here is Cam at 5 months:

Here is Ali at almost 4 months:

Go Utes!

Good thing we had our gear on this past weekend. I'm sure my kids in red, being as darling as ever, made the Utes tear up BYU.

54-10!

State Fair

We were able to take the kids to the state fair this year. We got a great deal on tickets (5 bucks for both of us! Kids were free.)

Cam loves to go and see all the animals and ride the big yellow slide. I love to go and see all the fun vendors they have. I am always tempted to buy everything! Good thing Scott regulated that!

We went the same night as Scott's cousins, so we met up with them toward the end of the night. Cam LOVES his cousins. He loves the word cousins. He loves playing with cousins and is always coloring a picture for one of them. I adore that about him and hope that he always has a relationship with all of them.

Here he is with Grant. He walked around the entire time we looked at the animals holding his hand. It was so precious!

Cam loves little kids and babies and is so good at making them laugh.

He got Grayson to laugh a few times.

Cam insisted that riding a pony had to happen this time. I was a little hesitant because we attempted a pony ride at the Davis fair a few weeks earlier where he had a fit and cried the entire time.

 I told him that he couldn't cry if he went this time.

"Sure Mom! I don't cry. Mine loves ponies!"

.3 seconds into the ride:

This face. He cried the whole time and begged Scott to take him off.

That sure didn't happen though, we had to get our 5 bucks worth. (Even if he didn't cry, it wasn't worth 5 bucks. It lasted maybe 30 seconds.)

The boys got to do a quick game of mini-golf.

The best ride of all!

Cam was able to go 3 times. He didn't want to get off!

Ali in the moby wrap I am borrowing from a friend. (LOVE IT) Scott was fretting the whole time thinking I was going to drop her. He tied the wrap around me so tight my eyes were about to bulge out!

She looks pretty unsafe huh?

;)

Rolling

Ali finally rolled over! She rolled from her tummy to her back today. She was pretty proud of herself and couldn't stop smiling about it. Every time I would put her on her tummy she would throw her upper half to the side and swing her chubby legs over. It was pretty fun to watch.

I feel bad it has taken her so long to learn this. I don't lay her on the floor very often. I have two legit reasons:

1. She spits up sometimes after she eats, so I try and keep her upright. (to save the cute outfits!) Then by the time she is in the "safe" zone it is her nap time or we get ready to leave...etc. 

2. She can't be left on the floor alone with her big brother if I leave the room. Don't get me wrong, he is a great brother and helps a ton, but he has space issues with her. And, let's face it, he is a boy. He runs, jumps, kicks, and wiggles with little regard for the small person on the floor.  So, if she lays on the floor with us, I need to be completely ready to stay put for a while. I don't have enough time in the day! 

Those are pretty lame excuses. Sorry.

I need to stop having "reasons" why she doesn't meet milestones on time.

:)

Until the next one...

Splash away!

We discovered a splash pad that is only 5 minutes from our house. Too bad we discovered it when it was only going to be open for another 2 weeks before closing for the season.

We had to use all the free afternoons we had to go play there. We went with some friends, some family and sometimes just with each other. Cam loves it. It's the perfect little place with the perfect amount of water. I can't wait to go next year!

I stole these pictures from my friend, Emily, who was able to meet us there a couple times.

Cam and Porter

And no splash pad afternoon is complete without...

Lunch!

Swing?

Sure, Don't mind if I do. With a little finger sucking of course...

Proof she is growing...

People ask me how old Ali is all the time, and after I tell them, they say, "Wow, she is so small!"

I don't hate it, but I don't love it. I'm not sure why it bugs me so bad. I guess because I like big babies. I like having a chubbers that is off the charts. A baby that makes everyone say, "Wow, he/she looks so much older!" That is how Cam was and actually still is! He was a chunker when he was born and has been pretty tall for his age his whole life. Even off the charts in height twice! (He was always 90th percentile at every check up.)

I should be ok with people thinking Ali is small. Come on, she's a girl! Girls are more dainty and petite.

Well, for all you that think she looks so small and hasn't grown at all since birth, here is the proof!

Ali on her way home from the hospital. 2 days old.

Ali in the same outfit at 3 months.

She is almost busting out of the outfit.

From now on, please refer to her as HUGE for her age!

Just kidding! She isn't, and that is ok! But she really looks bigger. I can surely tell.

What are the Chances?

This post serves two purposes: 1) it’s an incredible story that I personally want to document and is definitely worth sharing, and 2) Sara has recently been bugging me to contribute to the blog. So, here you go.
I must preface this story with the fact that this actually happened is just completely fascinating. I mean, the chances literally have to be something like 1 in a million, maybe even a billion. Who knows? The story begins on the night of September 11, 2003, almost eight years ago to the day. Sara and I were dating and had tickets to the Utah vs. Cal football game. The game in and of itself was historical because there was a crowd of 46,768 fans, the largest ever at Rice-Eccles Stadium. My good friend, Dave, was manning one of the TV cameras and was positioned on the field straight below our seats. So, partly as a way to show off to Sara, I called Dave and told him to get Sara and me on the jumbo screen. Of course, he did and, in addition, displayed the ‘Give Her a Kiss’ caption on the screen. It was great. We kissed on the jumbo screen in front of the biggest crowd in history.

Now, fast forward seven years. Last fall, near the beginning of yet another college football season, I was sitting at work and decided I needed a cool photo of Rice-Eccles Stadium as a background image for my computer. I quickly hit up Google and did an image search by typing in ‘Rice Eccles Stadium’. Go ahead, try it. I quickly picked one that I thought looked good and set it as my desktop background. A few seconds later I was pretty much blown away. Focusing my attention on the jumbo screen in the photo, I noticed a couple of familiar faces. There we were, Sara and me on the jumbo screen during that game seven years earlier. I couldn’t believe it! I mean, what are the chances of this photo’s existence and, on top of that, me finding it completely randomly? Of all the seconds to snap a picture during a three hour football game, somebody took a picture of the stadium during the 15-20 second interval that Sara and I happened to be on screen. Then, of all the photos of the stadium I could have possibly chosen (my Google search produced over 50,000 results), I randomly picked the one that just so happened to include us in it. Take a look at the photo; I guess it was just meant to be!

Cam Lessons

"You see this Ali? Now, do you remember what this one is called?"

"Good job baby girl! That IS a stegosaurus!"

Gosh, I love watching him play with her. He says the cutest stuff and really feels like she is talking to him. If she is babbling, I will ask him what she is saying. It's so cute to hear what he comes up with. Most of the time though, he claims she is talking about a lizard.

Driving home last night Ali was crying and hungry. We were in the neighborhood and Cam says to Ali,

"I know. I'm scared too. It's ok though. It's just dark and that is the shadow from the tree!"

Doctor Week

Since Cam just turned 3, it was time for a couple doctor appointments. He had to have his yearly check up with the pediatrician and then to the dentist for the first time.

Now that he is older and can understand more, we were able to prepare him for these appointments. He did fabulous and was super excited the whole time. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Chuggington toys we promised him or that he was caught up on his immunizations and didn't need any shots!

Our big boy is growing up so fast. He weighed 35 pounds and was 39 inches tall.

 He was in the 80th percentiles, I think.

He loved Dr. Dimick, as we all do, and did so well during the exam.

The next day we prepped him for the dentist. I tried taking him to the dentist when he was just about to turn 2 and that was a complete disaster. He screamed bloody murder and they weren't able to do anything. Besides getting sticky fluoride all over my shirt.

This time seemed too good to be true. He happily played while we waited. He didn't cry walking to the exam room. He gladly sat in the big seat and even willingly opened his mouth for the dentist.

The point where he lost it was during the cleaning. He wasn't expecting the noise and the weird feeling that went along with the polishing. He screamed and screamed, but his mouth was open while he screamed so the dentist just quickly did his stuff.

I had Ali with me, in my arms, so trying to calm Cam down was really hard. I had to put his fluoride treatment on, he wouldn't let the dentist near him!

He had perfect teeth and no problems. Thank goodness! I'm not sure how he would handle a cavity!

He did describe being afraid "a little bit" while there, but wanted to go back. He asked if he could go back when Scott goes in. I'm thinking that will be comforting to Scott because he is more of a baby to go to the dentist than Cam is! :)

Good job Cam! I am so proud of you!