Grandpa turns 82!

My grandfather turned 82 this week and Jared, JR and I all headed out to Homedale along with my parent's and sister this Sunday to celebrate. We practiced singing 'Happy Birthday' with JR before we went out and he did a pretty good job. But then when we got out there, oh boy did he sing it with gusto! It was so cute but of course none of us was able to get it on video. Typical.

Anywho, we did awesome stuff between when we could get Grandpa off the dance floor (he just loves shufflin' to the 'Party Rock' song) like take pictures of our webbed toes.

Me and Grandpa...

Me, Grandpa, Mercedes...

Then Grandpa and I had a little photo op. All the Homedale paparazzi were dying to get a shot of us together. We stayed separate on the red carpet but did pose for one picture once inside the VIP lounge.

All I have to say is that it was a pretty wild celebration, wish you all could have been there. Party of the century pretty much.

Happy Birthday Grandpa! 

Labor Day Utah Trip

We took a little road trip to Utah over Labor Day weekend. My brother Maitland and his wife Katie went down in their car and JR and I went with my sister Mercedes. 

Here are the highlights:

University of Utah campus tour by Katie for Mercedes.

JR got some goodies from the bookstore...

Wearing his hat backwards because he is that cool!

Outlet mall shopping trip.

Of course it resulted in a new coach purse!

JR taking a much needed shopping break and goofing around at the outlets...

Hiding under his napkin at the sports bar where we watched the BSU game...

We went to Hogle Zoo on Sunday. I could not resist the gift shop when we were waiting for Maitland and Katie to arrive. I finally caved and got one of those leash backpacks. I also go JR this little stuffed tiger on a "leash" which is some fabric covering a pole so that the stuffed animal "walks" out in front of the child. They were expensive but so worth it. Now, get ready for the most adorable picture ever!...

He was sooooo proud of that tiger!

And what would any post be without a crappy picture of me?

Cede, JR and I on the train...

I am going to leave it at that for this post. We went out to dinner with Katie's parents one night and they brought JR a bag of presents. They are seriously the nicest people, I can't believe it! Oh, and JR totally flirted with Katie's sister Emma the whole night! It was hilarious.

Trips to Utah are always fun and we never have enough time to do everything we want when we are down there. Hopefully we can make it down again soon and Jared can come with us!

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!

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!

Blue Door Cafe

Tonight was the annual Jazz Till You Drop event at the Blue Door Cafe off HWY 55 in Eagle. Jared told me he would watch JR so I could go out to see my sissy Mercedes sing at this yearly event for her school Arts West. Sadly I don't have any friends so he and JR ended up coming with me. Luckily they have delicious pizza. We picked the "Country Ranch" pizza.

We arrived around 6pm and Mercedes put her name on the list to sing asap and came over to help entertain JR for a little while. NO ONE can make that kid laugh and send him into fits and giggles like his aunt Mercedes can.

We loved watching the students and guest musicians on stage while we ate. JR would sit for long periods of time watching them.

Jeff Baker, teacher and Jazz musician extraordinaire did a song and Jared could not believe how long it lasted! There was still one more group before Mercedes was to come on and Jared was worried it would take another hour if everyone took as long as Jeff did!

Mercedes did an arrangement of  "After the Storm" by Mumford and Sons. She rocked it.

Good job Mercedes! It was a way fun night and we loved seeing you sing! I think if I am going to get Jared to come again though you might want to do an arrangement of AC/AD or something! Haha. Just kidding, we love Mercedes and support her in everything she does, plus teasing her is one of Jared's favorite pastimes!