I LOVE my new camera!

Some new pictures that I've taken with our new camera. He's starting to get quite the personality!

Tristan "helping" Chad. He is obsessed with the drill and any and all tools... such a boy!

Stuck in his high chair... and of course I had to run and get the camera before helping him out!
He's pretty good with silverware now. He wants to eat everything with a fork... including his french fries.

This is quite a big step for Tristan. Until the day this picture was taken, he would scream bloody murder whenever Chad's dad came around. But now he's sharing his french fries and giving him all kinds of love.

At the store with his new jersey.

Just had to share this picture because his face makes me laugh!What?! You mean the toilet isn't here for me to use as a step stool to the counter?! That's crazy talk!

Cheezin' with Mommy!

This is the face I get when I ask him to smile

Playing in his ball pit after he turned it upside down and dumped most of the balls out

Family Time

It was so nice out on Wednesday we decided to go to the zoo as a family and enjoy the day. It was so much fun and absolutely beautiful weather!!! Tristan rode the carousel the first time and thought it was the best thing ever. He even picked out which animal he wanted to ride. I won't bore you with all the pictures we took but here are a few of my favorites. On a side note.... you probably shouldn't take your children to the zoo in the spring time unless you want them to have a sex education lesson Haha the giraffes were quite randy!

Later that night, we went to a Jazz game with Jen and Brandon. The Jazz won quite easily so fun was had by all. Tristan didn't come with us but that's no reason for him not to show his support! ;) We got a killer deal on this jersey and he wants to wear it all the time.My cute sister and brother in law, Jen and BrandonUs... decked out in green for St. Patrick's Day!

Some new pics of the babe

Looking for treasure
Climbing... nothing new!

"Helping" me fix the tire on the jogging stroller

He was cold and covered himself up with pillows and took his nap

What's a nap without a phone. Haha I fell asleep a few times like this in the middle of a conversation.

Watching the Wiggles from the top of the stairs

Sorry for the poor quality, I took them all with my phone. But yay, I got a new camera finally!!! So new pictures will be coming (plenty from France and Prague as well).

Neglected

Oh my poor neglected blog and blog readers!!! I can't believe it's been since January that I've written but with my schedule it really isn't much of a surprise! I started my new schedule so I now work from 4am to noon every day but Wednesday when I work 4am-8am and then 3pm-7pm. Plus I have school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. With the new work schedule came many, many more clients (about double what I had before) so therefore I have so much more to do and not enough time in the work day to do it. With homework on top of that, taking care of Tristan so Chad can study and do his own homework and trying to find time to work out at some point during the day, I've lapsed in other areas such as the blog. When it comes down to homework or working out verses typing up a post I'll choose the first option.
Just a quick update on our crazy, busy life! Tristan is now 16 months and quite the handful. He still doesn't talk but he knows so many signs and picks up new ones on a daily basis so communication is definitely not a problem. He's in to everything and asserting his independence. He's so much fun to watch and be with and I'm going to miss him so much when I leave for Europe in a mere 5 weeks! I can't believe the time is almost here... it's exciting but scary too! Chad is in school more than full time but is set to graduate at the end of summer term and has been accepted at the U and will start in the fall. He's really excited and loves everything about school except his math class. But who would love that? ;) I've been trying to be good, watching what I eat and trying to exercise at least 3 times a week. Working out is much easier now that I have my own elliptical machine at home! It was my "Valentine's present" and I LOVE it! I'm happy to say that in 5 weeks I've lost 8lbs and my goal is to lose 10 more by the time I leave for Catalyst (the conference in Europe). I think I can do it if I really crack down!

Budding Artist

Tristan has always jammed out to music, but now he's starting to pick up some more moves. He makes me laugh every time. I tried to get it on video but as you can see, I got about 5 seconds of dancing and then he got distracted by something else.


He also loves books! We've had to fashion a gate across the opening to our "library" or he will pull all the books off the shelves that he can reach. Sometimes he stacks them up over by my desk, or brings them to me and runs back for more. Other times he just scatters them and occasionally rips out pages. As you can see on the video, he's also pretty good at sign language... especially doggy. Technically, to sign dog, you pat your leg but he does it where ever on his body; but we know what he means. He won't talk verbally still but he's learning signs all the time so we do have communication and that's really what matters. :)

A couple weeks ago, Tristan was very interested in me writing with a pen and kept trying to grab it and do the same thing. So I grabbed a crayon and gave it to him to see what he would do. After a little encouragement (me drawing on the paper) he started "drawing" on his own. He tried again tonight and was very proud, he kept bringing his paper over to show me. I guess it's time to clear some room on the fridge for his artwork!
Tristan's first masterpiece.
Coloring in the basement while I work.
Showing you how it's done.
I'm one proud mama! :D

Some funny videos

Playing with one of my nephews' Christmas presents. Make sure to watch until the end when I ask him to say "Go JAZZ". He's so funny and does the same thing every time!

Tristan just realized today that the ball pit is not heavy at all as you can see in this video!

CHRISTMAS

We had a great Christmas this year. It was definitely more fun since Tristan is older and gets excited about things.
Tristan and Santa... he was not real happy about being left alone with him.

Tristan with some of his loot from Santa on Christmas morning (don't mind the date, our camera is apparently a day behind)

Giving Daddy his present from him (FIFA '10)

Looking at all his new books

The slide was a definite hit! He was so excited when we brought him downstairs and showed him. The ball pit was a present from his Nanna and Bestefar (my mom and dad). We only have one part of it in the family room because it is so big. The other tunnel and tents are in his playroom.

Woops! Head-first!

He kept peeking inside and then looking at me and pointing to the balls inside. It took a little coaxing but he finally went in and now he thinks it's so fun to crawl inside and peek out of the holes.

Faith of a Child

Just a cute story I thought I would share about Tristan. Yesterday in church he was of course trying to escape and could not be pacified into sitting still in Sacrament meeting. So I took him out in to the hall to run around. We walked around the building a few times and stopped in one of the foyers where there are couches and chairs. Hanging over one of the couches is a beautiful painting of Jesus Christ. I pointed the picture out to Tristan and he got the biggest smile on his face that I've ever seen. He kept pointing to the picture until I walked over and set him on the couch underneath the painting. Normally I have to tell him to be soft or not to touch but he reached up so carefully and softly touched the painting and smiled again. I asked him if that was Jesus and he looked right at me and nodded. He was so loving and tender towards the picture, it brought tears to my eyes. Seeing the look on his face, that he knew who that man in the painting was, strengthened my testimony. Oh to know what a young child knows!

A New Anticipation

I don't know about you but I loved Christmas as a kid. My parents were fantastic at letting/helping us believe in the magic (aka: Santa) for as long as possible; I was 13 before I knew the truth :(. One year when we woke up Christmas morning my dad "discovered" something on the roof of our house. The family room to our house had been added on to the house at some point long before our family moved in and there was a great fireplace in that room. Because it was an addition, our bedroom windows led right out onto the roof so we could easily see it all the way down to the chimney. So one year (I may have been 11, not entirely sure) when we woke up my dad told us to look out our window. And what did we see? Tracks.... Sleigh tracks, reindeer hoofprints and Santa's footprints leading to the chimney and back to the sleigh tracks. There was even a round print where his bag had been set down by the chimney. To this day, my dad claims it was Santa, no matter how much I beg and plead for him to tell me how he did it. It couldn't have been an easy feat since it was winter in South Dakota so there was about a foot of snow on the roof. We always had piles of presents from Santa as well as a tree loaded with presents. My dad's presents were always entertaining: a crisp, fifty-dollar bill stuck into a toilet paper roll and wrapped up and one year he wrapped up a piece of 2x4 wood. The wood went to beds that he had made my sister and I but they weren't put together yet. My dad is quite handy and has made several presents over the years, including the scooter he made for Tristan (and his cousin) last year. See? Isn't it great?! And now that Tristan is big enough, he loves it!

Over the years, as I got older and no longer lived at home, Christmas became less about the magic and more like just another day. It was still a nice day to be with family but I didn't have the excitement for it like I did as a child. But now that we have Tristan the anticipation has returned but in a totally different way. Rather than being excited about what I'm going to get, I'm excited about what he's going to get and how much I KNOW he's going to LOVE it! The kid is a little monkey so we bought him a Lil Tikes play set that has a "climbing wall" (really just a rounded ladder with hand holds), a slide, a basketball hoop and a hole for throwing a football and another for kicking a soccer ball. We also got him some books which he loves; I even made him his own alphabet book with pictures of him and his favorite people/things. Even though he's only one, I can't wait to see how excited he'll be on Christmas morning when he sees his playset. Though I miss the anticipation of a child for Christmas, I think this new anticipation and seeing Christmas through my son's eyes is even better!

Another Nice Day... Another Outside Excursion

Since it was 75 degrees today and I didn't have my English class in the afternoon, I decided it would be fun to take Tristan to the park and let Chad work on his homework in a quiet house. So I called up my friend Mery from our ward and asked if she wanted to meet me at the park with her daughter Nova and of course she said yes. Nova is just a month older than Tristan and they get to see a lot of each other because Mery and I are in activity days together.

Riding the bouncy horse. He kept running over to play on it but wasn't quite sure what to do when I actually put him on it.

Nova's turn

A hazard of the playground... woodchips! He kept trying to eat them!

Mery and Nova sharing their snacks with Tristan. They both love the cheese-puffs.

Talking to Nova in the swing next to him.

Nova is going to be a big sister in March to a little brother. Mery keeps trying to get me to try for another. Haha not yet! Notice Nova's foot, she kept crossing her leg in the swing and refused to put it through the hole. Such a funny little girl! Also, look at how much longer Tristan's legs are compared to her... and she's a month older!
Out of the swings and right back to the horse