(Second) First Day of Preschool!

Today was Isaac's (second) first day of Preschool! He actually went to preschool from January-May of this year -- but since this is the beginning of a school year, we made it official with a picture! My sister in law always takes pictures on their front porch, so I thought I would follow.  He was SOOO excited to go to preschool.  He was jumping around because he was so excited...hence, his feet: (post-jump)

I let him pick out what he wanted to wear.  He wanted to wear either his Superman shirt of his BYU shirt.  Both were NOT what I had in mind.  I asked Taylor what he thought about those two shirts -- bad idea -- the response I got was "He'll have 12 more 'first day of school pictures' let him wear whatever." Sooo, Superman shirt was his pick.  This morning he asked, "Mom, do you think Miss Deb (his teacher) will like my Superman shirt?" Hahaha.  At his open house the other week, he said, "Mom, I love Miss Deb....but Mom, don't tell her that, it's a secret!" Ahhh, I love this sweet little boy!! 

Off to preschool we go!

Pro-cycling Event in Colorado Springs

Whew-- after this post, I am all caught up.  I don't like doing multiple posts in one day, but oh well. 

So, currently, the USA Pro Cycling Challenge is going on right here in Colorado Springs.  If you didn't know, Taylor recently took up cycling with some friends in our ward and neighborhood, so that meant we watched a lot of the Tour de France.  So when we knew this event was coming to Colorado Springs, my friend (all us wives!) said a lot of the "big wigs" were going to be here.  So we went! It was pretty cool -- it was HOT, but fun to be there!

Here is Cadel Evans -- he won the whole Tour de France.

Here is the "htc motorhome" 

And "Radio Shack" 

 We saw a few other "big wigs" but I don't have any pictures.  It was fun for Isaac -- we went around to each of the teams buses and got the team water bottles, a hat, some candy, post cards, etc....

 Here is Isaac and Kadence... I don't know why it looks squished, but oh well.  I don't have a picture of them with Brennen or of the three little babes!

So fun to have a big thing here in the Springs!

Some latest on Beau

 Beau is almost 8 months --- so this may be as close to a "8 month picture" as we get! He is in such a fun stage, so I wanted to document some things with these cute new pictures I took of him today.  Of course, this is him smiling at Isaac.

-Beau is a sleeper! He sleeps from 7:30 pm - 7:30 am and is pretty regular.  If we are home, he does that.  It seems like when we are staying in a hotel or someones house, he doesn't sleep as well.  He definitely is most comfortable in his own crib.

-We have recently transitioned from 3 to 2 naps and it is great! I say great because it is consistent.  He takes a 2 hour (give or take)  nap in the morning -- about 8:45 to 11 --  and a 2 hour (give or take) nap in the afternoon -- about 2 to 5.

-He sits up well, rolls all over the place, prefers to just be on his back most of the time.  You can tell he wants to crawl but hasn't figured it out yet.

-He LOVES Isaac

-He has started smiling all the time -- outside of his traditional face of big eyes and open mouth! ha!

-Very ticklish under his arms and by his collar bone.  Love making him laugh!

-He just recently became VERY interested in food.  He has done well with baby food from about 5.5 months on, but now he is sooo interested in table food.  He has eaten pieces of a waffle, some yogurt, and today he ate almost an entire pancake.  He gets so mad if you take too long between bites, too! He has figured out the puffs and the yogurt melts.  Like I said -- he is going to be my BIG eater!

-Still nurses, about 5 times a day.  I still have a love/hate relationship with nursing. 

-His nickname is "Beauser" pronounced "Beau-ser" or "Bo-sir" ... if that makes sense :)

He is doing so well and growing so much.  Life with two kids has been good -- it has helped that Isaac is older and much more able to help, and that several of my friends had babies around the same time, so we've gone through the post-baby stages together.  However, doing nursing this time around has been TOTALLY different...meaning, Isaac was bottle-fed and not attached to me, and now Beau is, so that's been different, hence my "love/hate relationship."  Isaac is a great big brother and so much fun -- he has so much personality -- we can't wait to see what Beau's personality will be like.  Isaac starts preschool in a week -- he is SO excited!

Boating

We've done some boating lately -- we go to a lake about 1 hour 40 minutes away.  It's a bit of a drive but the lake is big and it's not crowded at all -- which is a BIG plus! We just stay on the boat all day -- which is great and easy and perfect.  Here is Isaac and Beau chilling in the shade (under the steering wheel) during lunch.  

 

I only have a few pictures of people doing things -- but here is my mom surfing!!! Look at her -- she's awesome!

And here is Taylor surfing -- he's so good -- he doesn't have to use the rope (note to self: do not go before him or after him -- he will make you look bad!) :)  We love going boating!

And during this particular "swim break" Isaac decided he wanted to "surf" with daddy! This is as close as he has gotten...baby steps... :) 

While we were unloading stuff, Isaac drove his tractor around -- and Taylor even put Beau in the back! Look at those cuties!!! Mmmm, love them!!!!!!

Family Vacation in Island Park, Idaho

At the end of July, we went to one of our favorite places on earth -- my grandparents cabin in Island Park, Idaho.  I had the pleasure of driving out with my parents, aka sitting in the back seat of the truck sandwiched between two car seats.  Wahoo! :) Actually, the boys did great, so it wasn't a big deal.  I was able to be there for about 12 days, and Taylor joined us for the last 5 days.  We did a lot of boating, eating, playing games, sleeping... you know--vacation! The cabin is right on the lake so it's wonderful! 

I love this picture of my Papa -- or Papa "G" (for Papa Great) -- and Beau

 

Isaac did a lot of four-wheeling
 

 Nana "G" with Aiden, Ava, Ash and Isaac playing card games

After church we went to a part of the river where you can feed big fish -- it was pretty cool and a nice guy shared some cheese with Isaac to feed them (Seagulls ate the bread before the fish) 

On our way home, we stopped at my grandparents house in Blackfoot (2 hours away) -- another favorite place of ours.  Taylor and Isaac fed one of their horses -- Isaac was totally excited and then saw the teeth and decided to be a spectator.  

Isaac running down the lane to the house 

Got some pictures of the boys in my grandparents beautiful yard.  Beau is 7 months old in these pictures 

 Not so sure about the grass...

Beau LOVES Isaac, and Isaac LOVES Beau -- everyone laughs at me when I say they will be like this the whole time they grow up together :) 

Isaac ALWAYS wants to give Beau kisses 

The best we could get of the two of them smiling (again, Beau was not so sure about the grass - ha!) 

It was a great trip!! We love going to Idaho! It brought back so many memories of when we used to live there! (And it was fun to see some old co-workers!)

I'm WHAT???

Well friends, it's true -- I am doing something that I NEVER thought I would do.... RUNNING! My wonderful friend, Leslie, got me into it. Something about getting out of the house at night without kids and running just does something good for the body! So, we did the 4th of July "Fun Run" for the 3rd year in a row, and this time, I actually ran. Of course I didn't run the whole thing (4.2 miles) because, come on, I just started. But I did run a full mile without walking -- that was my first milestone! I averaged a 12:23 minute mile .... and now I am down to 10 to 10.5 minute miles.
It is fun to think about the first night Leslie and I went running to my last run. The first time was "let's just run to the next street" and now it is running for 20 minutes straight. CRAZY. Soo crazy that we signed up to a 5k all-girls mud run in September!