Welcome Home

Seth's parents returned from their 23 month Cebu Philippines Mission on May 4th.  Phin was born the day before they entered the Missionary Training Center in Provo.  We have had lots of phone calls and Skype chats in-between.  It is sure nice to have them home.  

We hosted a welcome home dinner at my parent's house since it is minutes from the airport.  Reed and Jacque were picked up by their daughter Jamie and brought to the house for a wonderful reunion.

Here is a picture of the six grandchildren born they day before they left and in the 23 months that followed.  

Welcome Home Grandma Jo and Granddad!

23 MONTHS

Phin's personality seems to really be showing more and more and it is fun to see him come into his own.  He is talking a lot more, climbing a little higher and growing up too fast.  He loves animals...but for the most part wants to view them from a safe distance.

He has become a master at waving on command.  He will even blow kisses pretty freely...but he is still stingy with the bumps.  

Phin discovered a love for grapes and rice this month.  I made rice-a-roni one night and you would have thought this kid had a hollow leg by the amount of rice he ate.  He also surprised us and ate a little sloppy joe meat and a little taco meat...I was starting to think he was a vegetarian.  He has an innate sense for when I am eating something delicious.  If I dish up ice cream he will say "spoon" and run to the drawer to get his own spoon so that he won't miss out on any of the deliciousness.

Phin is an independent kid.  He is starting to want to do everything himself.  He feeds himself...tries to dress himself, wants to walk by himself, etc.  

One of my favorite Phin moments this month happened on our way to church.  We decided to ride Seth's scooter over to our ward.  We got off the scooter and Phin was headed towards the door of the church.  He was walking on the sidewalk which is directly next to parking lot.  A car started pulling into a spot and Phin spread his legs and lifted his arm up like he was a super hero and said "stop."  I think he was quite disappointed when his superhero move had no result.  Don't worry kid...we still think you are super...and that maybe you have been watching too many superhero shows with Dad.

Phin loves to be outside.  He says "ice" (his version of outside) when he wants to go outside.  He understands immediately when we say "let's go outside."  I seriously have to drag him inside most days.  He loved being at Grandma Jo's house in Cache Valley where he played all day outside while Seth worked in their yard.

We are having a pretty great time discovering the world through Phin's eyes.  We love you Phinner!

April

We started April off with Spring break for me.  We had fun that week going to This is the Place Heritage Park for baby animal days.  Phin loved seeing the baby goats, chicks, etc.

He also loved riding the train again.  

He was pretty tuckered out and fell asleep before we made it to the first traffic light.

The first Saturday in April we attended two more Easter egg hunts.  The first was at our local grocery store.  They had juice and doughnuts to greet us and then the Phin got to pick candy up from the aisle floors to his hearts content.

The aisle looked like this before we started.

Phin was very distracted at this hunt because very few items were in eggs...he saw all the suckers and knew he wanted to just eat them.  It took a lot of prodding to get him to keep picking things up.

We obviously failed as parents since we hadn't taught him how to pick things up in sweeping motions...next year...next year.

We left before all the candy was picked up because Phin was satisfied with the suckers.

We headed over to the lawn of the Bountiful Tabernacle next.  The retirement home across the street sponsors this hunt.  

I took this picture the first day I let Phin push the small cart at the grocery store.  He loves to push it...but doesn't love when Mom helps.  If I just need to pick up a thing or two I usually cave and let him push his little cart.

The weather in April was all over the place.  It was warm and then very cold.  We were delighted when a snow storm happened to come our way.  We haven't had much snow this year so it was a chance to get out and play.  Seth went to work building a snowman.

Phin went to work playing with a stick.

Phin was pretty fascinated with Seth's completed project and kept saying the word snowman.

He was also delighted with the hot chocolate that Seth made when they came in to warm up.

The snow had all melted by the next day...but Phin didn't mind, it gave him plenty of puddles to splash in.

We spent a weekend up in Cache Valley helping to prepare Seth's parents house for their return from a 23 month mission to the Philippians. Phin had a wonderful time playing outside in the dirt and spending time with his cousins.

After the long day we started a new family tradition and headed to Angie's to polish off two kitchen sinks.  The kitchen sink has two whole bananas, loads of ice cream, two toppings of our choice as well as chocolate sauce, whipped cream and strawberries.

We thought Phin would be all about the sink...but he could have cared less.

In April we also headed over to Jamba Juice for their free smoothie day...yum.

We thought it was going to be a yucky day but while we were enjoying our smoothies we decided it looked pretty decent so we decided to head down to Thanksgiving Point for the Tulip Festival.

Phin fell asleep on the way down.  I woke him up not to long after this picture so that he wouldn't miss our entire trip.

The flowers were gorgeous.

Phin was a little more entertained by the rocks along the path and the fish in the pond.

I also took Phin over to see the ducks and geese at Sugarhouse Park in April.

Phin was very interested...he just didn't want the birds to get too close.

Here he is waving to the ducks.

A sweet family shared some bread with us.  Phin was delighted to feed the ducks...until a goose bit his little hand...then he was done.  

22 MONTHS

Phin has grown up so much in the last month. He continues to be a great sleeper most of the time.  One night he was pretty restless and kept waking up and grumbling for a few minutes.  I finally came in to check on him and decided to change his diaper...well he had a little deer poo stuck between his cheeks...it was his Prince and the Pea moment I guess.  He slept much better once it was removed.

Another cute story from this month happened on a Sunday. Phin loves going to church.  He runs into Nursery without looking back and then runs out to us when we go to pick him up for nursery.  He can be a little rowdy in sacrament.  Seth was helping to pass  the sacrament and I was dreading having to keep Phin contained.  Phin ended up in the aisle but what he did surprised me.  He faced the front of the chapel just like the Aaronic Priesthood holders do as they are waiting for the sacrament to passed up and down the aisles.  He stood there and folded his arms.  Someone is watching their Dad.    

Phin loves hanging out with other kids and especially with his cousins.  One day I watched Phin, Aaron and Kate and they had a blast together.

Phin is my little shadow and most days he can be found within a few feet of me.  This kid may grow up to be a chef because he likes to sit on the rice cooker and play with the spices.

He loves vegging out on the couch while he eats a snack and catches up on cartoons.  We watched a couple of  Batman movies this month and taught Phin the theme song.  He says "Batman" at just the right spot.  He has also overgeneralized and every superhero is called "Batman,"

One day he insisted on putting his sippy cup inside a plastic cup.

Phin and Aaron got to hang out quite a big while Collette was recovering from foot surgery.  These two love wearing hats and riding around on bikes at Nona's house.

Phin caught a stomach bug this month.  He was seriously out of it for a couple of days.  The first night he was sick he threw up on me and on Seth.  I was in such a rush to get everything in the wash that I forgot to check my pockets...and washed my phone.  The only good thing about Phin being so sick was that we got lots of cuddles.  He didn't understand that milk made things worse so he was constantly signing and asking for milk...he wasn't very happy when I gave him sprite or juice.

Phin discovered a love for Greek Yogurt this month.  He seriously opens the fridge and brings it to me several times a day.

He of course loves cookie dough as well.

One day he wandered out of the bathroom with the floss...and he actually flossed his teeth.

He insists on having a little floss every night when I floss my teeth.

Phin also loves bugs.  One day we were sitting out on the porch waiting for Seth to come home when I looked over and Phin had a box elder bug in his hand.  He then brought it over to me to share..thanks Phin.