New York! New York!

Mike's brother and his family moved to New Jersey last November and our family decided to take advantage of their "exotic" location and visit them!  We left a few days before Halloween and stayed for about 10 days and had a BLAST!

Flying with Eli (16 months at the time) was our biggest concern.  I asked for suggestions on Facebook and googled ideas from other parents about how to keep this busy boy entertained in such a confined space.  Although hectic, the airport went much more smoothly than I expected.  It wasn't something I'd want to do regularly, but it wasn't terrible, either.  It definitely would have been nice if Eli had slept more than 1 hour, but I can't complain because he DID sleep, and that was nice :)  It helped that the flight there was an hour shorter than expected, too.

We got to see some fun sights including the C.F. Martin Guitar Company.  We also got to go into New York twice (without Eli)!

That's the biggest guitar I've ever seen!

We are now subway pros.

 
One of the most exciting things to happen while we were there was a HUGE snowstorm that knocked power out all over the state.  Matt and Jess's house had no power for 4 1/2 days!!!!  We had fun keeping the fire going, cooking in smoker, and melting snow so we could flush toilets.  Fortunately, Matt and Jess had good friends who let us shower and do laundry at their house.  As adventurous as our powerless time was, it was good to come home one night and see lights on in the neighborhood!  I definitely have a greater appreciation for electricity :)

Pace and Matti were playing in the snow after the snowstorm, but we hadn't brought snow stuff for Eli, who also wanted to play outside.  So he got to wear Matti's hand-me-downs.  I don't think he looks bad in pink!

After the snowstorm, it was really quite warm.  Eli thoroughly enjoyed moving the snow around with the snow shovel.

Power was still out in our neighborhood when Halloween rolled around.  So we went to another neighborhood to do our trick-or-treating.  Eli didn't mind being out and about, as long as he CONSTANTLY had a sucker to suck on!

We all ABSOLUTELY loved our time with Matt, Jess, Pace, and Matti.  Thanks for letting us come!

Too much to think about!

It has been FAR too long since our last post.  Seriously!  Almost a year?  That's ridiculous, I know.

Eli and I thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful, warm summer weather.  We were having far too much fun to bother posting about it.  Eli LOVES to be outside, and we accommodated him as much as we possibly could.  I am really looking forward to this summer because he is so much more mobile.  We went to the park today because it was so warm outside, and he can get around and go down the slides ALL BY HIMSELF!!!!

Here are a few pictures of the fun we had (sometimes Mike had fun with us, too, when he wasn't working, that is!)

We went to an AMAZINGLY fun pool in Lindon, Utah.

Visited a few times with Katie and her family, including a very fun belated 1st birthday.

Took our first camping trip.  Eli fell asleep EVERY TIME we got on the 4-wheelers.  That was helpful because he needed sleep :)

Many parks were explored.

 Mike went fishing...

While Keralyn stayed home and learned to can.

We went to the zoo (Mike was very sad to miss this day and we were sad not to have him)

Celebrated the 1 year anniversary of our temple sealing to Eli with neighborhood friends.

 Took care of the garden and flowers.

Went hiking

And met and fell in love with aunts and great-aunts!

It was EXHAUSTING but so much fun!  See why I didn't have time to blog?

Happy 4th of JuBirthday!!

You know, this house doesn't seem small to me until you try squeezing 6 extra adults and all their stuff into it for the weekend!  (And 4 of the adults slept outside in a tent!)

It was so fun to have Grammy and Grandpa Bird, Alan and Tara, and Jarren and Stephanie come spend the 4th of July weekend with us to help celebrate Eli's 1st birthday!  We celebrated it on the Sunday, the 3rd, and Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came, too, and brought Great-Grandma Nelson!  It was a party all around :)

Eli didn't think he wanted to be all that cooperative when he woke up from his much-too-short afternoon nap in a very cranky mood, but thanks to the wisdom of Grandma Nelson, pulling out the swimming pool changed his frown to a smile pretty darn quickly.

 

 And he especially loved being able to eat adult food,  directly from Grandma's plate, while continuing to play in the pool!

 Next, it was time to open the presents.   He got a much needed new car seat from mom and dad.  He was getting big for his infant carrier.  He got a lot of new clothes from the Bird side, a new book, and a huge, gigantic 4.5' stuffed bear from the Nelsons.  He made out!!!!!

His favorite was to see how long he could keep everyone clapping with him:

And don't forget the wrapping paper!

 We did things a little out of order.  I know usually you eat cake and ice cream and then open gifts, but we did the opposite.  So, now we bring out his first cupcake AND...

Not interested...

Not at all interested...

Nope, he never even took one taste of his cake, not even of the icing!  Oh well.  Glad I didn't spend a lot of money on it :)  We love you!  Happy Birthday!!!!!