Baby #2

Many of you know, we're expecting another baby! What many of you do NOT know is that our baby is going to be a boy! Alec will certainly LOVE to have a brother to play with. He's already super interested in babies and other children... always frantically waving and sitting as close as possible to (or on) them. We're very excited and can hardly wait to add this newest addition to our family sometime around October 21st.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my sweet Christopher. It was his birthday, almost a whole week ago. Alec and I tried hard to make it a special day and had a LOT of fun doing just that. It started off great, with Alec letting us sleep in an extra 45 min for some reason. Then when Chris was at a research meeting, Alec and I surprised him with cookies! He came home early and we opened presents: a bike pant holder, 2 shirts, a pair of shorts, sandals and some socks and.... a Bocce Set! Then some good friends watched Alec and fed him dinner while Chris and I went out to dinner. We tried this local mexican restaurant where the prices were average and the food was great. Afterwards we came home to have a party with some good friends and had cupcakes and a surprise, home-made strawberry cream cheese vanilla ice cream cake. Chris deserved every bit of fun since he is so wonderful. He works hard at school, but makes time for us, and helps me out all the time. He's the best father and the best husband. I'm so lucky, and so in love. Enjoy the pictures!

Alec helping me make the cake!
Opening presents...
Family birthday picture
The cake.

Weekend of fun

We've been meaning to post some stuff about our fun saturday, but then we have just been so busy since then. Anyways, the day started off with a carnival for the kids and families here in our housing area. Brittney made all of the signs, and so we went early to put them up. Alec got to ride a train, ride a pony, pet bunnies and chickens and goats in a petting zoo, eat hot dogs and sno-cones to his hearts content, and also go on a fire truck. He really enjoyed himself, and that means we did too.After the carnival was over, we went up to San Francisco for the opening of one of our friend's art exhibit. Amanda and Casey are in our ward and are both artists. Amanda is just finishing her MFA and this is her first solo show. It was really incredible to see what she does. It is the kind of stuff that you have to see in person. You can check out her stuff at amandamichellesmith.com, and his at caseyjexsmith.com. Here is one of Amanda's pieces that we saw.



Then we came back home for the joint first birthday party for some kids in the ward. It was fun to see so many of our ward friends and the weather was just great. Then it was home to bed for Alec, and sitting on the couch for us. What a fun-filled, exciting day.

just some thoughts

Well, its been a while. I just can't think of anything to say. I've been wanting to do a "non-Alec" post, in hopes of providing some variety for my many readers. I even have a few cute Alec stories/pictures up my sleeve, like his eating flour, or spinning the cell phone, or wearing his first (pink) tie. But, alas, there is simply nothing else to blog about. I don't even know what I'm writing right now. I guess I'm just wasting time while Chris is gone at Scouts. I shouldn't have read my latest book so fast, or else I could still be reading it. I guess I could do something productive like finish the dishes, or start making the posters for the carnival. But those all take more energy than I'm willing to expend at the moment. Maybe I'll just go to sleep....or maybe I'll start another book.

First Hair Cut

Yes, thats right. We did the unthinkable. We cut Alec's cute curls off. We were both nervous and apprehensive, but to be honest, it was time. I made sure to tell lots of people at church yesterday that we were thinking about it, so that I could have a bit of social pressure to actually follow through with all my talk. I'll post a before and after picture so you all can compare for yourself, but I'll bluntly say that I absolutely love it.

This is a few days before...
This is moments before...
This is moments after ...This is one day after...

Now that we've switched to one nap a day, Alec is incredibly tired by lunch time. On the days that we're playing outside, and lose track of time which leads to a later lunch, he is practically falling asleep at the table. In fact, theres no "practically" about it. He is falling asleep at the table. Check out this video.

Camping

Ok, so its been a while. Sorry, we've all be sick and theres an extra organism growing in me, sucking out all my energy. Anyway, here are the long-awaited pictures from our camping trip. Sit back and enjoy, there's bound to be a bunch.

Our tent: we had quite the comfy set up...air mattress, pack n' play, room to play. It was great.
Various pictures from hikes and ocean outings. It was a beautiful area. It was also SOOOO windy on the beaches. The second beach was not only windy, but freezing.
One hike we went on, took us up the ridge line of one of the hills/mountains bordering the valley we camped in. The drop off was VERY steep and very NOT kid-friendly. Needless to say that with Alec on his back, Chris took a spot as far away from the edge as possible and anchored himself and Alec behind the bench. What cute boys!
On the drive home...completely exhausted.

Garden

Every day, Alec and I will take the five minute walk to water the garden. One day, he surprised me with trying to repeat the word "garden" when I told him where we were going. I even caught it on video yesterday.

Some other words that Alec says are:

• woof = food
• wah wah = water
• ba ba = bike ride
• dee dee = thankyou
• ah da = all done
• wishee = fishie
• wee wee = owie
• ti tah = tick tock
• da da = daddy
• ma ma = mommy
• bah = ball
• wheeeeeeeee = whee
• uh hu = up, please
• eye yah = Oliver
• eh yah = Ella

Oh and here are some other pictures of our garden using my dad's 'covered wagon method.' Alec's favorite part of watering is when he can stick his hand in the water stream. He also loves to turn the water higher and lower. In our garden we currently have planted: broccoli, tomatoes, strawberries, crook neck squash, peas, beans, and watermelon.