The Rundown

Israel is nearly five months now, but these are some pictures I took when he was just a few days away from the four-month mark.



He has grown so much! It has been really fun to watch him develop. He has gotten really good at grabbing and holding toys, has become very excited about anything anyone is eating, and sucks on his thumb periodically. The other day at Wendy's he went crazy when he saw my hamburger. He grabbed it frantically with both hands, wrenched it to his mouth, and began mauling it before I knew what had happened. He's eating cereal now and sleeping longer stretches at night. Most nights I only have to get up to nurse him once now, which is AWESOME, let me tell you. We can't wait to see him start sitting up on his own and crawling.

Hiram graduated from Weber State last semester with a degree in Technical Sales. At about the same time, he got his real estate license and has been giving that a shot for the last month. Its slow starting out--we haven't seen a pay check from it yet, so until he gets established, he has decided to sell pest control on the side here locally. We were hoping to be done with summer sales, but if he can stay close to home and participate in all the fun summer things going on...why not? This is the business card we put together for him.

FRONT

BACK

A few mornings each week for about the past month, I have been watching my Aunt Nancy's youngest three so she can run and prepare to qualify for the Boston Marathon. She doesn't know that I plan to claim all the glory when she does...hahahaha. I've been glad to do it. It helps me a lot because it jump starts my day and makes me feel as if I'm doing something worthwhile. Also, now Nancy-Pants watches Israel for me a couple mornings so I can go to my favorite classes at Lady Fitness. Thanks, Nance!

Israel and cousin Jesse:

Me reading to Penny and Goldie:

One evening a week, Kristen and I have been going to my Aunt Shannon's house to watch our show-- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. If you haven't seen it, you're missing out. Its totally awes (like short for awesome), and so's my Aunt Shan. Sadly, I don't have a picture of us together watching the show and eating treats, so these will have to suffice.


Each year, the womenfolk in my family go on a "Sisters' Trip" (it started with just my aunties) to St. George. I've never been able to go for one reason or another, so I'm super excited to have participated this year! There was non-stop shopping, eating, and watching of fun shows. I didn't get many pictures, but here are a few cute shots of my little guy from the trip.

Israel's first pool experience:

Getting warm:

Laughing at funny Great Aunt Shannon:

The weekend after I got back from St. George, Hiram got to go on a hiking trip with the menfolk to southern Utah. You can't tell from these pictures, but they all actually had a pretty intense experience and are very blessed to still be alive and well.

My cool uncle, Chris:

Hiram with my Uncle Aaron:

Group shot:

I went up to Soda Springs this past weekend to hang out with my Aunt Megan...can you tell how big a fan of my aunts I am? We rode 4-wheelers and horses, went to Lava Hot Springs to swim, and played board games. Between the five of us, we devoured two whole cakes in less than 48 hours. While there, I decided to play photographer and took a bunch of pictures of my brother, Adam, who could and should totally be a model. Here are a few of my favs.





As soon as we got home from Soda Springs, we went over to Kristen's to celebrate Ben's homecoming and Ethan's third birthday. Israel seemed to enjoy the frosting Adam fed to him, and Adam seemed to enjoy smearing it all over his face.

I should have realized something was up right away when Israel nicely slept the entire trip home from Soda, but it wasn't til after Ethan's birthday party that I noticed he was rather hot and not acting quite himself. So, we've weathered baby's first fever. It was sweet to me how worried Hiram was about him. He insisted that I go out immediately and purchase the most expensive baby thermometer (but NOT the one you put in their bum, he told me), and he is not the kind to like the spending of money. Anyway, I'm sure I could have mentioned many more fun things we've been up to, but that is the past month in a nutshell. Now I shall try very hard to not get so behind EVER again.