First Mothers Day

Our church often offers free professional pictures on some holidays, so we got dressed up and hoped for a good family photo on my first Mothers Day.  The one that the professional took turned out pretty good except that Caleb isn't smiling.  They seem kind of blurry on here...I'm not sure why.

The rest are taken on our camera by a couple friends who jumped in and helped us out.  We wanted to make sure we had at least one that we liked and hoped this would help in case the others didn't turn out.  I'm glad that we did it, if anything for Caleb's smile. 

 First attempt didn't work too well...this was the only one half way decent.  I didn't like the background anyway.

 So Matt took some Mommy and Son pictures!  :)  They make me happy!

 I like this one!

 My baby is so sweet.  

 I like this one too except that my hand is giant! :)  Need to figure out how to crop it out.

 One of my favorites.

 Caleb's way of kissing! I think he's saying "I LOVE YOU MOMMY!  Happy Mothers Day!"

 I want to crop this one too. :)

 When we got home the poor guy was soaked in sweat from his hot car seat.  So the shirt came off and we went outside to enjoy the evening.

I love you Caleb and I love being your Mommy!  

Typical Morning for Caleb

I had a few pictures from before our trip to share and it turns out that they show pretty well what a typical morning is like for him.  Sooo....

Well, not morning but the night before. We're trying to get pictures of daily life things that we don't normally think of.  Sweet sleepy boy.  (Please note, Rachel- he wears clothes to bed.)

 "Good Morning!!!"  Can you tell he was just starting to want to pull himself up.  Now he can do it.

He eats some milk, gets his diaper changed and starts to practice getting around and plays!  (the clothes stay off) 

Bath Time!!!  He just sees the water running and about dives in on his own! (no clothes in the bathtub)

Then a little breakfast!  The view from our computer!  We often play peek-a-boo over the monitor. (Nope, no clothes yet.  Before it was just because he liked them off, but now it's so that he can make a mess without stressing me out.)

 More playing!  How about ripping a magazine apart!  So much fun!  (No clothes for morning play time.  Yes, this is very typical.  I've realized it since you asked if he ever wears clothes, Rachel.  Lots of my pictures are in the morning and I often don't dress him for quite a while.  Here's why....)

("Really, Mommy, do I HAVE to wear these?"  :)  He actually tries to pull the shirts off as I'm putting them on.  For the rest of the day they pretty much stay on, but that's when I'm at work and not taking pictures.)  I thought he looked older in this picture.  Big boy already!  Once he's dressed he takes a nap and when he gets up, he has some more to eat and we head out for the day- me to work and he goes over to his Aunt Beth's house until Matt picks him up in an hour or two....and I miss him like CRAZY all day long. 

RT- Day 11- Last Day of Vacation

Nope, I wasn't really ready for our trip to be over.  A small part of me was ready for some normalcy, but most of me would have liked to continue for a lot longer.  I loved seeing so many new places, but honestly, I think the main reason is because of getting to spend so much time with Matt and Caleb.  I really miss both of them during the week, and it's easy to let the stress get to me from lack of sleep and feeling behind in just about every area of life.  So, yes, it was honestly hard to get closer to home.  I had some good and helpful conversation about it, though, with both God and Matt.  

Just having Caleb around starts many conversations with strangers.  We really enjoyed meeting people everywhere we went.  This particular morning we talked with a couple at breakfast time, who reminded me a lot of mom and dad.  They had just been to their daughters wedding and were now on a road trip themselves...on their bike!  They ended up telling us about a place that we should stop and see on our way home, which we did.

Lunch stop at Burger King where Caleb got his first BK Crown!  

It didn't stay on for long! 

We wanted out day to include more than just driving, so we stopped at Virginia City, the town that the couple told us about in the morning.  It's an old mining town just outside of Carson City.  We only had about an hour so we just looked around a bit.  We decided it's a good place to come back and spend more time enjoying the activities when Caleb is older.

He was pretty happy to get out and walk.

Rescuing daddy from jail.

An old table full of legend and history preserved in one of the saloons. 

Gotta have a picture of a bar to go with the saloon.  We were hoping they'd have the swinging doors on the way in, but none did.

This guy was dressed up for a performance about living in the past.  Next time we hope to get to see it.

The town slightly reminded me of Sisters, since it's an old western town.  This one was just a lot more realistic and not so modernized and pretty.  We wondered if some of the sidewalk boards were going to gave in under us.

WOW!! That's it!  I wanted to get a picture of Lake Tahoe and some of the snow covered hills on the way home, but I think I was too worn out and tired of taking pictures to try too hard.  We do think it's pretty cool that Tahoe is so close and easy to visit that it didn't matter that we weren't able to stop and enjoy it that day.  Matt finished the drive with Caleb and I sound asleep.  We made it home and started to adjust back to normal life.  

Hmmm, where should we go next time???  Thanks for sharing in our adventure!!! 

RT- Day10- Drive 1/2 Way Home

We left Monday morning expecting a long, boring drive over flat lands full of nothingness.  We were wrong again, thankfully!  The first thing that I especially enjoyed were all the clouds, which I think added great character and beauty to the scenery.  Lots of the pictures of the day are taken while we're driving, but I am pretty pleased with how they turned out...especially when I chose to roll down the window so there aren't any reflections in the view. 

This is just as we were leaving town.

 Of course, since it's Utah, there were Morman temples everywhere.

 Entering Salt Lake City.

 The Capital Building.  We took a picture of the giant Morman temple, but it just weirds me out spiritually, so I chose not to post it.

 First view of the Great Salt Lake...

 ....which got better!

 More clouds and mountains.  

Do you think there are enough billboards? 

I especially like this picture.  With the train, clouds, hill...it's pretty artistic.

 SALT!

 The salt flats, as I think they are called.  The middle of the picture is a mirage created by the heat I think.

 We stopped at a rest stop to check it out. 

Caleb lookin' cool in his shades from Aunt Cindy.

Matt filled me in on the fact that this is where several car commercials are taken, as well as where world records have been set for speed.  The ground looks a lot like sand but is hard, with some loose salt dust on the top.  I still want to look up more information online to learn more about it. 

 We had some fun out on the salt flats. Caleb driving his little car through the desert.

 Just some fun taking picture!

 Caleb....come back!!

 Daddy will save you!!  (he wasn't really walking...just took pictures.  he's also not as far away as it might look)

Up close view

 It was nice that they had a hose to wash off so that the salt would't ruin anything in the car.

 I thought this was a fun view. 

This is further back, showing where we were playing. 

 We drove a little further and stopped for lunch on the border of Utah and Nevada.

 Matt thought that it was slightly possible that he was standing in both states at this location!

 A little further til we stopped for the night. 

 The sign says, "Water Hole #1."  We thought it was funny since we were out in the middle of nowhere and there was even a little puddle next to the sign.

One more night in a hotel.  

Next stop...Home!