When aunt Mercedes babysits...

This is what I found when I came to pick JR up from my parent's house a few weeks ago.

My little sister Mercedes had the sweetest set-up going on for JR...

A big shout out to her by the way...she mostly watches him every Monday when I am at work since my mom has had some serious health issues for the last several months.

She rocks and JR totally adores her because she is so much fun! Love you sista!

Things we love about JR: It's all about Cars

Here is JR. Coloring his cars coloring book while watching Cars.

Life is good.

Mommy and Daddy can't wait until the new movie comes out on DVD though!

Snow Cones and Roaring Springs...

On Thursday night Mercedes came over because I had a doctor appointment in the early morning and she was kind enough as usual to watch JR so she just spent the night so I didn't have to wake him up early and bring him over there.

After I came back and JR had woken up we decided to go get snow cones. JR got a mini watermelon...

He loved it but was a little shocked at how cold it was when he would take a big bite!

Then on Saturday (today I guess) we went with Mercedes to Roaring Springs. JR is so much fun at the water park this year! Mercedes took him down the slide in the kiddie pool a bunch of times.

I was zoomed way in on this picture when I first downloaded it onto my computer and I just love the expression on JR's face. A mix of terror and pure joy...

I went down with them a couple of times too but as Mercedes will probably tell you I am a fraidy-cat and won't take JR by myself. Don't judge me because I am afraid of two feet of water. People drown in the bathtub, you know that right???

Moving on...to the teeter-totter. JR quite enjoys the teeter-totter when not on the slide. However he prefers it if he is the only person on it and either you are pushing him up and down or her is just climbing on and off of it when he pleases. Which would be fine if I weren't worried about some other kid climbing onto the other side and hitting him in the face with it.

It was awesome this time because he kept his hat on the entire time with no protesting at all. Also, I brought his little tube with the leg holes and he happily floated the endless river. Yay.

All that excitement results in one tired toddler after a couple of hours though which leads to this...

He never ever falls asleep in the car for short distance rides so I know he was wiped out!

July 4th

Independence Day this year meant work for both Jared and me. We both have early schedules and had to work 6am to 2:30pm. This meant JR had to wake up super early from his slumber because his Uncle Maitlnd and Aunt Katie were kind enough to babysit him and bring him up to Garden Valley where the rest of the family was hanging out.

JR with Mo and Aunt Cathie's new puppy Bella although we aren't sure who is walking who...

The cousins filled up lots of water balloons and I think JR was about ready to launch one here...

JR was made a Junior Deputy/Firefighter and got to sit in the big fire truck with Uncle Maitland...

I guess they put sunscreen in his hair to protect his scalp. It did wonders for his hairstyle...



Jared and I arrived just in time for the parade and we thought JR would be pretty excited to see us but as it turned out he was pretty mad that we woke him up ridiculously early, dropped him off at Maitland and Katie's and didn't come get him until the evening. He spent almost the entire time at the parade with Grandpa Fritzley...



That evening we went up to Jared's parents cabin. They have the topmost lot on Castle Mountain and they took us in their "buggy" on the four wheeler trails to go check out a sheep herder who moves through with 500 head every summer. He travels 17 miles across the mountains. They were not too far at all from the cabin and we got really close to them. It was pretty cool actually and I was really sad that I didn't grab my camera.