CATCHING UP!!! (Finally)

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!

Alright, I know it's been WAY too long since I've updated our blog. So here it goes!

This past summer Erik had 2 weeks off from school so we drove to Pine Valley Utah to spend time with family and enjoy a great family reunion. We had such a great time and Blake especially loved playing outside all day long and seeing his cousins!

Mimi's flowers were SO tempting! He finally gave in one of the last days we were there :)

Blake had a great time with Nani and Papa...his great-grand parents

On our drive out, one of the many stops we made was to Lees Ferry in Arizona. We love seeing all the beautiful parts of this country!

It's never to early to learn how to fly fish!

Zion National Park with the gang :)

Mimi with the grand kids

Lounging on the deck of the cabin in Pine Valley

Our El Paso cousins came to visit us in Oklahoma...the zoo was a must :)

A good friend of mine took some fun pictures of Blake and was able to get some GREAT 18 month shots! Oh, if you're interested go ahead and check out "cheapchickphotography.blogspot.com"

Halloween this year was definitely a week long celebration. We are Halloween"ed" out! Blake was a cute little Fireman, thanks to my sister for the hand-me-down costume which fit perfectly and of course he wanted to take after our favorite Firefighter Uncle Arman.

First our town had a fun week of "story book forest" we went around to each story book character to collect candy. Blake had a blast! Later in the week we went to "Haunt the Zoo" this was a one time deal..(as in, we'll never do that again!). It was SO crowded! I knew Blake would want to walk around so the "leash" was a must! Finally for Halloween day our downtown store owners were handing out candy so we thought we'd check that out too...bad idea. We definitely weren't the only ones with that idea!

Holding hands with one of the 3 little pigs :)

The minute he saw Raggedy Anne he chased her down. It was pretty cute. He followed her every move for a while until we finally pulled him away to leave.

Halloween pajamas

What's a Firefighter without his truck?

So sad...he wanted the camera SO bad!

Checkin' out the goodies!

Just for a little update: Erik is doing great in his 2nd year of dental school and still enjoying it! :) This year has been very busy with all of the patients he sees in his clinic and studying for his first round of national board exams while keeping up with his classes. In about 3 weeks we might get to see him a little more since the boards will be over!!! YAY!! We know he'll do great and we are so proud of him! :)

And finally, our big news! Baby # 2 will be joining us May 5th, 2011! We are very excited and can't wait for Blake to have a sibling. We'll probably find out the sex in December so we'll keep you posted!

Summer Fun/ 4th of July!!

It has been a while! I guess that just shows how busy we've been :) We had a great 4th of July which was definitely more of a weekend celebration than just one day. We started the weekend by going to a friend's neighborhood party with music, food and fireworks. We thought it would be a good introduction for Blake to see smaller fireworks and work our way up to the huge show at the local university. He did great! We went to the Edmond parade downtown which wasn't a huge hit with Blake. A 2 hour parade is not one of his favorite things to do, however, playing in the puddles with the sticks/dirt behind the parade is! That's what we did for about 45 minutes..he loved every minute of that! Since the 4th was on Sunday we went to a friend's house and had a little bbq and then were off to the big fireworks. It was pretty late for Blake but he loved it.
We've also had tons of fun playing in our little backyard pool and going to the zoo. We are always doing something!
It was been a while, but Erik finished his first year of dental school with flying colors! We are so proud of him and his hard work! He's done so well being able to study hard while helping me in any way he can. He's still at school all day this summer while he's working on a research project with a professor as well as trying to keep up on his material for the board exam he will take in November. I don't know how he does it, but he does!



Watching the fireworks at the university

Blake's face says everything on how he felt about the parade!

Blake and his friend Nayvi loved the beginning of the parade!

ready to start!

In the beginning of the show he was clinging on for dear life!

He would not face forward at all

Nayvi couldn't get enough of feeding Blake!

He loves his new chair from his cousins!

Petting the goats at the zoo

He wasn't quite sure what to think about that bird

I was going to empty the pool and I turn around to find him in his clothes! Of course his diaper was about 10 lbs and the water was VERY WARM! (it was left over from earlier that day) what can I say...he loves the water!!!

He loves to sweep! Too bad he tries to play in the piles I sweep up

CAMPING AT LAKE ARCADIA!

This past weekend we took Blake on his first camping excursion. We were kind of hesitant so we went to a campground only about 10 minutes from our house just in case his first experience didn't go over well. We had great time! We camped with a few of our friends from Erik's class and definitely can't wait to go again (minus the ticks and other creepy crawlies). Blake just can't get enough of being outside as you can see by the pictures...he's definitely a boy who LOVES to get down and dirty!
I haven't posted recently so I should mention that he has finally started walking. 14 months was when he really started flirting with steps and now there's no turning back. So many people have told me that it's so hard when kids begin walking...I think I'm going to have to disagree! No more pants with holes in them no more tops of dirty shoes and no more cleaning his hands every minute (okay, I still do that)! It's so fun to just see him walk. He can't get enough of it. We love seeing him grow everyday but wish he would slow down a little. :)

He can't get enough of sticks!

Ready to PRACTICE their fly fishing

I can definitely eat those yummy cheeks!

Daddy has his pole, Blake has his stick!

FILTHY!

Playing outside is his favorite!

He always wants to wear these and sunglasses!