a friday afternoon

i rarely pull out the real camera these days because my iphone and instagram are so easy and convenient, but i'm always so happy with the pretty pictures when i do.  here are a few from our afternoon yesterday.  of course we love fridays and they are even better because rich usually gets home around noon.  we wandered around calico basin (the part that wasn't closed for this crazy government shutdown), watched rich fly his plane and i taught parker how to take selfies.  he thinks he's pretty funny.  ;) parker is so happy outside exploring and playing, just like his mama and dad.  he's also as obsessed with planes right now as rich is.  i love it and i really love these blue-eyed boys!

okay, that's all. bye.  maybe i'll blog again in a few months.  maybe.  :)

update time

Parker is 13 months and 3 weeks!  He is my little dream boat with his big blue eyes and wide smile.  He’s walking everywhere and babbles all day long.  He can say bye, ball, dada (all the time), mama (mostly just when he’s sad), waves hi and bye, makes an awesome vroom vroom sound, along with monkey, dog and cow sounds.  He’s obsessed with wheels so he loves all cars and bikes, just like his dad. Lately he's been giving kisses to all of his stuffed animals and it's pretty much the sweetest thing I've ever seen.  He loves music and to sing along to the guitar or piano.  He's a big fan of books too.

 

He signs "more" and "please" and points and grunts a lot to get what he wants. He loves his binky and blanket for bed and naps.  He continues to be a great eater with grapes and blueberries being his favorite.  He’s eaten more cherry tomatoes in the last few months than I’ve eaten in my entire life.  If you give him an apple he will carry it around with him while he wanders around and plays and eat the entire apple! I'm a proud health coach mama!

We love our little Park so so much!  It's pretty amazing to see him learning and growing so quickly these days.  I'm so grateful to be his mama.

**picture taken by Rich's brother, Nate, at the Cannon family reunion. Oakley, UT. July 2013. Thanks Nate!!  It's my new favorite!

one

parker is one!!  we had a wonderful weekend celebrating our sweet little man, celebrating making it one year as parents and celebrating rich being the most amazing dad for the past year on father's day!  i think parker knew it was his birthday as he woke up so happy and smiley on saturday and sunday. i kept telling him he was one and how i couldn't believe it and he even held up his pointer finger to show that he was one a few times in between pointing at everything. ;) we were lucky also to have my parents here for all the fun! here's my log of all the happy events from the past week.

wednesday. mom and dad arrive. read stories over and over with park. parker cries as my dad leaves for a photo workshop.

 

 

 
thursday. mom helps with park as i work. we try to organize and de-junk for the upcoming move but park mostly gets mad that we aren't playing with him.  ;)  we do throw out 2 garbage bags worth of paper to recycle and lots to donate to the DI!  thanks mom! all this moving buisness stresses me out but i really appreciate my mom's organization skills and enthusiasm.  komex for dinner with rich's parents and aunt diane.

one of my many drawings found while organizing ;)

friday.  more work, organizing, packing.  i run some last minutes errands for parker's party while everyone naps (i've had way too much fun planning his party).  mom and i make oatmeal apple muffins for the party.  they turn out delicious.  parker swims in his kitty pool and loves every second of it.  nice to be outside in the shade.

saturday morning.  parker's party at the park! ;)  i found all kinds of cute paper plates, straws and table clothes at target (of course!) so we have fun setting up. homemade banner, pictures from parker's 1st year, crayons on the tables (my fav) and lots of balloons.  on the menu: breakfast- oatmeal apple muffins, trader joes cranberry scones, lots of fruit, yogurt, blueberry cupcakes made by my dear friend, abby (blueberries are park's favorite food) and a bucket full of naked fruit drinks and water. i have to say it was pretty delicious.  parker's cute little friends come and everyone seems to have fun coloring, eating, blowing bubbles, playing on the toys, eating and helping park open presents.  parker's friend, will, runs around saying "parker" and giving him hugs.  too sweet.  the perfect little party.

saturday afternoon.  naps and talk prep (rich and i are scheduled to give talks in church on sunday). my dad arrives back from his workshop around 6 so we head to another park for our ward dinner.  i'm saying park a lot.

sunday morning.  parker's official bday and father's day!  exchange father's day gifts and cards.  i love giving gifts and making personalized cards.  i'm probably more excited than the recipients. ha. rich and i give our talks at church (father's day and farewell to our ward talks).  i kinda like giving talks ever since i took public speaking in college but still relieved when it is over.  i'm really emotional when talking about moving.  i knew i was sad to move, but i didn't think i was "sad enough to cry in front of 200 people sad."  we've shared a lot with these ward friends- our first few years of marriage and becoming parents. i will miss seeing them every week.

sunday best.. he is so patient with my photo shoots :)

sunday afternoon.  i make dinner.  asian chicken salad, muffins, edamame, and fruit.  rich's dad joins us (his mom is out of town).  we sing "happy birthday" to park and let him dig into his beautiful bday blueberry cake made by another dear friend, jessica.  parker goes to town and probably would have eaten the entire thing if we hadn't stopped him.  we eat more cupcakes, take a million pictures of parker,  and have him open more gifts.  he's so happy with so many people to play with all day.  two of my favorite moments: rich gives parker a remote control truck.  they're both pretty excited about it! i ask rich what we're going to get parker now for future birthdays and he replies, "bigger trucks".  hehe.  i love him.  the other great moment is my dad and rich's dad having some kind of music battle with their phones.  both try to get parker to dance to their music.  parker pretty much dances to it all- primary songs, beatles, adele and every ringtone on pop's phone.  we also video chat with lots of family.  park's favorite is seeing jessica's dogs, haas and rufus and says "woof woof" a lot.

three amazing dads hanging out on father's day!

remote control truck! yay!!

face time with haas and rufus (i mean jess, cedar and nick)

i think it's safe to say parker had a happy 1st birthday!  and even though he won't remember it, i'm going to tell him about it and how giggly and happy he was and how so many people told him "happy birthday" and how all those people love him so so much!

too fast

yes, everyone says it, but it's true.  they grow up way too fast.  parker turned 8 months one week ago.  i can't believe it.  i still can't believe i'm a mom, that rich is a dad and that we have the cutest, sweetest, smartest, wildest little baby boy.  i love our little family and i'm trying to enjoy every moment as it flies by. i'm often exhausted, covered in drool and baby food, stressed to get work finished and figure out what park wants all at the same time.  it's hard, yet so wonderful and i wouldn't have it any other way.

8 months.

*beautiful quilt made by my cousin, Jackie

this little man moves non stop, which is probably why he eats so much. :)  he loves to stand and run around in his little walker.  he's also gotten quite good at walking around just holding on to our fingers.  he would much rather be upright and walking around then on his belly trying to crawl.  he's been scooting backwards for the past two months and trying so hard to move forward (and getting pretty mad about not being able to). today he finally started moving forward! all i had to do was put my iphone in front of him and he scooted right on over. thanks technology! we also noticed his first tooth coming up.  teeth are a pretty exciting topic in this household.   :) parker is the best shopping/walking/driving buddy around.  he used to hate the car but now he loves to look around on our adventures out and about.  his entire face lights up when he smiles.  he loves when rich plays the guitar.  he cries when anyone leaves the room or the house.  he loves to be outside.  he doesn't like getting his diaper changed or clothes put on (he used to be fine with it). he's an awesome eater and now feeds himself little pieces of food pretty well.  he loves bath time and will splash the entire time, soaking anyone around.  he loves peek-a-boo.  he says da-da-da all day long as i say ma-ma-ma to him.  he sleeps through the night but wakes up between 4 and 6 each morning and won't always go back to sleep even when i can tell he's still tired.  i've been exhausted and complaining about this but then read the journal my mom kept for me and i did the same thing at his age.  oops.  sorry mom.

so that's the update. we love you parker, so so much!     

top 12 in 2012

happy new year!  the past year has been really really good to us. here's our top 12 in 2012.

1.  new years.  sparkly dress. silly games. family time.  a great way to celebrate the new year!

2.  cedar. new tiny nephew. my amazing sister.  beautiful week in moab with cedar, jess, nick and my mom.

3.  spring break.  last minute road trip. san fran. brother matthew and stacie.  cannolis. highway 1. lighthouse hostel.  kite flying along the way.

4.  pregnancy.  huge belly.  swimming and walking.  avocados.  blueberries.  homemade sweet potato fries and ice cream of course.  anxious to meet our wiggly baby boy. 

5. babies.  arden.  chase.  more precious cousins for parker straight from heaven.

6.  health coach job. busy. crazy. hard. rewarding. july 1st work deadline maybe sent me into early labor?

7.   temples. brooke and evan wedding. becca and jason wedding. gma betty and gpa jimmy 60th anniversary.  reminding me of the beautiful plan of salvation and happiness!

8.   friends and family.  utah visit twice. california twice. idaho twice. extremely grateful for numerous visits, gifts, calls, emails from family and friends all year long.

9. rich.  boards passed. orange garage creations.  my best friend supporting me with lots of love, laughs and back scratches. 

10.  parker's birthday.  best day ever.  3 weeks early. movie in the morning.  met our little miracle that evening.

11.  parker. sweetest smile.  non stop jumping and moving. our pride and joy.  answers to guy, tiger, sweet pea, p man, park, parky, little buddy, and blue eyes.

12. motherhood.  amazing. exhausting. beautiful. stressful. funny. joyous. what i've dreamed of and hoped for my entire life. so grateful.