Monday, September 17, 2012

baby shower - long overdue

I was just looking through things on my blog and found this draft of a blog with pictures from my amazing baby shower that was about 13 months ago.  

I am so blessed with such wonderful friends (practically family) that threw this shower for me and Tracen...  We were spoiled and the food was great.  

better late than never right?




























Utah x2


The month of August took Tracen and I to Utah twice.

The first time we went with Candi for my best friends wedding.  I don't know how I didn't take any pictures of that weekend - at least not on my iPod.  I was so happy to be able to be there, and even though my temple recommend was expired (a devastating discovery) I was glad to be able to be there to support Kaiti, who has always been such a great support to me!  

Candi and I enjoyed the weekend shopping, eating and hanging out with the Gathers.  We even went to NPS and found some okay deals (it's just not the same as it used to be).

About a week later, we went back down to Utah with my Mom, Dad, Jenelle and Jamie to take Jamie to BYU.  The number of pictures I have is disappointing, and some I promised my Dad he could blog about.   It was a fun trip, full of lots of shopping again, getting settled, cheap hotels (and discovering that some things aren't worth being cheap about) and memories.  SO many memories for me!  I must say I love the BYU campus.  

On our way down (after driving all night) we made it to the Brigham City Temple Open House.  
As beautiful as it is from the outside, it was way more beautiful inside. 



I can't wait for the Calgary Temple Open House.  

We miss Jamie SO much but we are so glad that she is able to go to BYU and to make new friends, meet new people and tell us stories about terrible dates.  

I was glad to visit the MOA and even visit with my old boss.  So many hours spent in that building and so many great friends made there, it was nice to return - but also weird to not know the new guards.  The new exhibit was opening in September and I really want to go back to go see it.

I am so lucky that Tracen is so good in the car - I guess that comes when you do 5+ hour roadtrips every couple days for a month and a half (Rexburg to Calgary, Calgary to the cabin, Calgary to Utah x2, Utah to Calgary x2).  I think he thinks we are crazy because we go on these long drives in the car and always seem to end up at the same place - Costco!  He really is such a good boy though, usually happy, and always ready for adventure.

On the way home, we stopped in Raymond (and Picture Butte) and went for a walk with Grandma Anderson.





In other news: Tracen is walking!!!  He started the day after his birthday and hasn't stopped since...
what a difference it has already made in our lives



Sunday, September 16, 2012

first haircut

Tracen got his first haircut at the end of August.
Obviously he was a little upset about it....
Good thing he had Brylie there to keep feeding him oranges, she sure takes good care of him.



Too bad I didn't get an after picture

The Cabin Summer 2012






Tracen liked the cabin - his first year there.  Although he didn't want to be in the baby pool and just wanted to be left to explore the dangers there.  He didn't sleep great, but was happy and ate too much good food (like the rest of us). 

Saturday, September 8, 2012

One Year

After trying for too long to make a collage, I decided to just post 12 pictures of Tracen from this past year.

I just can't believe it has already been a year since we welcomed Tracen into our lives. What a great year it has been... We spent a lot of time taking pictures, cuddling, doing laundry, laughing, changing dirty diapers, worrying and wishing time would slow down. 
Newborn

1 Months

2 Months

3 months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

12 months 
Tracen is such a fun little boy and losing a lot of his baby chub.  He is usually happy and loves to explore and eat.  He likes to make people laugh and always tries to do silly things (like put things in his mouth or on his head and show everyone), he likes to sing, show us how big he is, and crawl everywhere.  He recently has started to give hugs more regularly and wave.  It's so exciting to see him learn and grow, but I did feel a bit emotional about my baby not being such a baby anymore on his birthday.  And as I spent the day thinking about what I was doing at that time a year ago, I found myself laughing a lot about that day.  About how I was in denial my water had broke (even though every place I sat would have a wet spot after I got up), about how we went to Wal-Mart and I was waddling around trying to get last minute things with soggy pants on, about how we had to ask the midwife for a ride to the hospital (thank goodness she is also a good family friend) because our car was out of commission, because a car that didn't work probably put me into labour, about how long I had to push and how they kept telling me he was 'knocking on the door' and i just wanted him 'inside the house', and about how I managed to pass out after having a bath after giving birth.   That crazy day changed my life and made me so happy and has brought me so much joy!  I couldn't be more grateful for Tracen!   His first night as a one-year-old was spent the same way we spent his first night as our newborn - cuddling in my arms while singing I am a Child of God, the perfect way.

Happy Happy Birthday Tracen!!

Birthday Party Take 2

Luke really wanted to throw another (small) birthday party for Tracen with as many of his Aunts and Uncles and cousins that could be there... (which really isn't that small).  I had wanted to throw a cute fun party for him, but felt like I wouldn't be able to do it with budget and time and not having amazon.com to order things from.  But - we did it!  And it turned out really great.

Thank you to all my helpers this week.  




We ate all of Tracen's favorite foods (an idea inspired by something Angie had told me).  Banana cake, squash in a quinoa salad, chicken in curry chicken salad, etc etc and of course corn on the cob.  He was happy to sit and eat and spent most of his party doing just that.








He was too busy eating to care that he was by himself.


He was spoiled by everyone and we are so grateful for such generous family.






Takahashi Family: Missing Angie, Mike, Brylie, Tyken,  Meika, Jamie



Allred Family: Missing Cassie, Spencer, Trisha, Hudson, Jared
 Tracen loved all the attention and of course, eating his cake  icing.



We enjoyed being at the park, throwing the football, playing on the swings, with bubbles and a fire that Papahashi built was the perfect way to end the night and stay warm.

Happy Birthday Tracen!