Pipsqueak

Keller is our little Pipsqueak.  We took him to the doctor and here his stats:

Height: 28"
10-25th percentile

Weight: 16 lb 10 oz
below the 5th percentile

He did have a pretty bad case of diarrhea before this appointment, so hopefully his weight has gone up since then.  We feed him the best we can, but I think he is just going to be a little guy.  It makes me worry a little bit about his daily milk/food intake, but I don't know what else I can do.  On the plus side, a least it makes him easier to hold!

He has had more fun sitting in his chair and feeding himself lately.  He will sit in his seat and play for like an hour every morning which is amazing.  I can already tell he is putting a little more weight on!

Father's Day

We had a nice, mellow Father's Day celebration for Chad.  We have 8:00 church which kind of kills the morning but I did wake up extra early to make some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.

When we got home from church we all put on our pajamas and got to relaxing.  Vance was beyond excited to give all the dads their gifts so that's just what we did.  Earlier that week Vance helped me make a candy gram.  He was a little jealous of all the candy Dad was getting.

We gave Grandpa Rand and Grandpa Kim a bag of Kisses with a cute subway printable about kisses.  Vance also filled out a questionnaire about Chad, Rand, and Kim that we gave to each of them.  His responses were so sweet.  A few of my favorite:

Grandpa Kim's age: 33
What does Grandpa Kim always do: sits in his chair by the TV (totally true!)
Grandpa Rand's weight: 132
What does Grandpa Rand always say: Hi Vancer-buddy!
Dad's job: goes to UNLV Go-Fight-Win!
What Dad does for fun: study
Favorite memory with Dad: him being my baseball coach

We got Chad two axes.  He is actually pretty excited to split some logs next camping trip.  I love my outdoorsman!

Chad and Dad did one of their favorite things on Sunday: take an afternoon nap.  They slept for FOREVER!  I know a couple of men who work too hard.

Amy came over to cook dinner with me.  We made a Mexican dinner with fish tacos as the main course.  Everything was delicious!

The little kids had taquitos and chimichangas. 

Then Leslie's family came over for gifts and dessert.  Keller was more than happy to help Uncle Joe open his gifts.  My mom got him a funny shirt.  It says DADD - Dads Against Daughters Dating.

Good luck with the whole no-dating thing with two cute daughters Joe!

All of the guys loved their gifts from my parents.  Chad got a hatchet for camping.  Apparently he's going to practice on my dad's head.

The boys weren't interested in watching the presents get opened.  They huddled around the computer and watched each other play games.   I will never understand that.

Leslie got my dad a really cute book called "Grandpa is Great."  My dad gathered the boys around and read it to him.

 We ended the night with some banana splits and strawberry shortcake.  Then Grandpa had to leave for California and the rest of us played games.  It was a great day and I hope Chad knows how much I appreciate all he does for our family.  He is the best Dad I know!

Sedona - Part 2

Part 2 began when my parents arrived with the kiddos.  We attempted a hike to the Bellrock Vortex (supposedly has healing powers), but Vance was sick (diarrhea) and wasn' feeling it.  We decided a picture with the vortez in the background would have to be good enough.  Keller wasn't sure why we stopped because he was loving it.

We took my parents to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross and get a pretty shot of Sedona in the background.

After that we found a farmer's market which is one of all of our favorite things to do.  We seriously love famer's markets and we bought a couple yummy and unique things!

Then we stopped to play/rest and eat some of our treats.  The boys thought Daddy was a jungle gym.  I aboslutely adore every one of these pictures.  I could not leave these 3 boys more than I do!

Later we went to Out of Africa Wildlife Park.  They had this tiger splash show where the tigers would jump up to get balloons and then jump in the pool.  It was awesome to see the animals so active.

The boys got to pet a HUGE snake!  Even Keller thought it was pretty neat.

The coolest part was the predator feed.  They fed all the large animals raw meat.  It was cool to listen to them roar for their food and watch them eat it.  Vance got to feed a tiger a small piece of meat using a long stick through the fence.  He thought it was VERY cool!

Dad started the weekend off in style making milkshakes in the lender.  Silly Dad unscrewed the blender from the base and made a huge mess of it though.  I love when we get opportunities to make fun of him like this!

We took my parents and the kids to go hike part of the West Fork Trail.  Vance was on lizard patrol and got so excited every time we spotted one.

Keller loves to be in the baby bjorn and go on hikes.  He was all smiles the entire time.  How handsome is my man?!

We went to Slide Rock State Park.  The rocks make a natural slide.  The water was a little chilly, but this place so much fun.  If Keller wasn't ready to go home I could have stayed there all day!

I was surprised at how much Vance liked it.  I thought for sure the coldness of the water would make him cry but he loved it.  I went down a few times too.  I just didn't get any pictures for proof :)

Our best family picture of the trip.

Later we went to a Rainbow Trout Fish Farm.  It was perfect fishing for a 4-year old.  It took about 5 minutes to catch and clean 2 fish.  It was a little pricey, but Vance wasn't feeling great so we indulged him for being a good sport the rest of the day.

One night we walked up and down the shops in Uptown Sedona.  We bought Vance a pretty cool rubber band gun and my mom got him a lizard shirt and stuffed snake.  Normally souveniers lose their appeal when you get home, but he is still loving all of it. He is getting to be a good shot so y'all better watch out!

We had such a great trip, but it's always nice to get homw again.  A HUGE thanks to my mom and sisters for helping with my kids, especially because they were sick most of the time.  It was such a relief to know they were in good hands.  Vacations are so rejuvenating and I can't wait for our whatever our next trip may be!

Sedona - Part 1

We spent 4 days in Sedona with just me and Chad.  It was fabulous!  Our resort was really nice.  We would sightsee a little bit each day and then do nothing.  We slept in, took naps, sat by the pool, watched lots of movies, and ate way too much.  I didn't get pictures of any of that stuff, but here is what we went out and did.

We took a little road trip one day and when to Tuzigoot National Monument.  It was an Sinagua Indian civilization from 1100-1400.  I couldn't imagine living like they did.  They had a visitors center that had lots of neat information.

After that we headed to Jerome which was an old mining town.  Its population went from 15,000 to 50 in just 5 years!  We toured Douglas mansion museum and spent the rest of the day walking around the old town which is full of eclectic shops and food places now.  Jerome was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

We drove up and down Oak Creek Canyon which was breathtaking!  Along the way we stopped and did a 6.6 mile hike called the West Fork Trail.  It was a little long, but so pretty!

Probably my favorite picture of us from this trip.  We are at the turn-around point on the hike where the creek went endlessing into the high canyon walls.

We went to see the Chapel of the Holy Cross.  I only stopped here out of obligation because all our books said you can't miss it.  I enjoyed it a lot.  It was beautiful and serene and so peaceful.  What a beautiful building in the middle of the rocky landscape.

We took the FJ on its first offroading journey up Schnebly Drive.  It was a little under an hour to Schnebly Hill Vista. The reward for your efforts was a beautiful view of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon.

We also went to lots of art galleries and funky shops (Sedona is home to lots of psychics/earthy people).  I love looking at price tags in art galleries because I can't fathom spending that much on art.  I appreciate it...just not that much.  We took a picture in front of the most expensive we saw: an eagle statue for $650,000!!!

Grand Canyon

Finally found a minute to blog about our vacation!  Chad and arrived at the Grand Canyon Saturday early evening. We got there a little later than we wanted because someone (perhaps it was me) made us stop and go shopping for a swimsuit before we left.

We took the Desert View scenic drive and stopped and looked out at a few of the outlooks.  We arrived at the Watch Tower at sunset, so we stopped and enjoyed a little romantic moment.  It was gorgeous!

After that we got some dinner and then headed to set up camp.  The hotels were ridiculously expensive and we knew we were only spending one night so we decided to save some money and camp.  Here is proof that while I prefer my trailer, I CAN sleep in a tent.

We woke up pretty early Sunday morning to go on a hike.  We took the Brigt Angel Trail 2,000 feet into the canyon.  It was 6 miles round trip.

I wasn't sure if the view would really be much different but it was so cool to hike down into the canyon.  We want to plan an overnight trip where you sleep at the bottom.  If you want to go let me know!

We saw so many big fat squirrels along the way.  When I had food out I swear they were going to attack me.

This is us at the point where we turned around and started heading back up.  We started our hike at the very top!

This picture is from the rim of the canyon.  The yellow star is where we hiked down to.  Pretty impressive if you ask me :)

I think it deserves a little smooch...

The rest of the afternoon we went to all the different buildings and historic sites including Lookout Studio, Kolb Studio, Bright Angel History Room and Hermits Rest.

We had fun but after Sunday I was exhausted and ready to get to Sedona.