In the second week of October I attended the NACADA Conference held in Salt Lake City. It was a great experience. I truly love my job, and I enjoy all opportunities for professional development. We were fortunate to have the national conference right in our backyard this year. One of my coworkers was gracious enough to let us stay the night at her house in Farmington. It was nice to not commute each day and not have to pay a hotel bill.
Thanks, Donna!!
{Super Advisors ~ and Luke}
Bryce and Stratton even got in on the action. Bryce only has one class on Wednesdays, so he decided to skip and he and Stratton came down on Tuesday night to spend the night and enjoy a day off in SLC. It was lovely to just be together with no agenda. It seems we rarely get to do that. We went to lunch, roamed around Temple Square, and had a jolly old time. It was super awesome that the weather was so good to us. It was a great day! Life is good!
On the Saturday of General Conference, I talked the family in to going over to the Oyler Pumpkin Patch down the road from my mom and dad's house. We got bundled up on that lovely fall afternoon and headed on over. It was fun to roam around and enjoy the day. Stratton had fun riding in the front of the truck with Grandma and Grandpa, and I think he enjoyed the pumpkins as well. It was a fun little trip that may become tradition!
{Don't tell that we sometimes let our child ride out of the car seat}
{The best daddy!}
{Enjoying the sun at the pumpkin patch}
{Bryce taught Stratton how to cheese it...too cute!}
I think these fun little boys were destined to be friends!
{Stratton and Sam ~ September 2013}
We were able to have a nice visit with Justin and Melissa Schmidt when they came home for their little vacation between Air Force trainings. We sure miss those guy! They are great friends! Our boys are only a few months apart. They played pretty well together. I am sure they will always be little buddies. It will be fun to have pen pals in Germany!! Best of luck to the Schmidt's on their grand adventure!!
Stratton is 15 months today. My goodness! Where has the time gone?! He is saying a lot of words! We are always making him perform in front of family and friends. We love our smart little man! The last few days his new word has been "no." I knew this word was coming. Quite frankly, I am surprised it has been this long of a wait. I am sure I won't think it is cute for much longer, but I seriously die ever time he says it. He usually says no 3-5 times when he says it, and his lips do the funniest little pouty thing. He also has a pretty serious face and his brows do something cute. I kept asking him to say it so I could get a few pictures.
Silly boy! Other words Stratton is saying at 15 months: Uh-Oh. Mommy. Daddy. Ball. Strawberry. Eye. Hi. Bye. Go. Please. Thank you. Baby. Puppy. Cole. Cheese. No. And others on command. Animal sounds: Cow. Duck. Rooster. He also knows actions to If You're Happy and You Know It and The Itsy-Bitsy Spider. I love that Stratton is starting to communicate better. Sometimes it is frustrating because he knows exactly what he wants and we are trying to figure it out, but he is mostly pretty patient. His energetic personality is so fun! He is pure joy in our home!
One day near the beginning of my first school year up at Utah State, I was on my way to work in the student center, and I walked passed a little concert happening at the TSC patio. Low and behold it was Carmen Rasmusen. She is no George Strait, but I did know who she was. Mostly because one of her songs is truly my summer theme song. "I love those summer days! There ain't nothin' like the summer!"
How this song identifies with my feelings about summer. This summer was no exception. I have cherished the long days with my sweet little family. Like everything else in our life, we had our fair share of running around and being crazy, but we were able to make so many fun summer memories.
My summer schedule at work was very flexible. I was able to leave around 2 pm most days. That means me and my little Stratton man had almost half the day to enjoy together. He is such a sweet little thing! WILD, but sweet. I love his cute little personality. I can already tell he is going to be handful for Bryce and I, but he is worth every bit of trouble. Bryce worked for the US Forest Service in Logan. He also got off quite early. It was great to have so much time to spend together. We were able to do a lot of fun things. Here is a recap in pictures:
{Bear Lake - 3 weekends in a row!}
{Stratton loved the water and the sand at Bear Lake!}
{Stratton got to be a big boy and drive with daddy as we drove up to Franklin Basin for camping with the Chandlers}
{Watching out Great Grandma Bennington's front window}
{Gygi family vacation at Flaming Gorge}
{Gygi gang}
Camping at the Grey's River {photos to come}
{Date night at the Martin Harris Pageant with the Petersen's}
{Cache County Fair - Stratton LOVED the animals!}
{We actually went 2 nights so he could get double the fun!}
{We played with cousin Sawyer a lot this summer. Stratton loves to tell him "hi!"}
{Enjoying Ravioli - yes, he slicked his hair forward with sauce, nice}
{Stratton loves reading books before bed!}
Yes. Summer 2013, you were good to our family.
One more excellent thing to celebrate this summer is the fact that I do not have to attend any more classes for my masters degree!!! Hallelujah!! I am done!! I have to complete my internship this year - only a mere 600 hours - but I do not have any more classes. Tuesday night freedom, here I come!
We are thankful that we are blessed to have such a happy life.
Stratton is one! Holy cow! This year went so fast. It is unreal to think that one year ago we were bringing this new little thing home from the hospital. Now we have a little creature that we can hardly contain. Stratton is such a good little guy! We love having him in our family. I feel especially blessed that my Heavenly Father trusted me to be a mother to this special spirit. Stratton's face lights up a room. He is friendly to everyone. If we are at the store, out to eat, or walking in the neighborhood, Stratton turns heads :)
My good friend Emily Beus came over a few days before Stratton's birthday to get some pictures of him. He was not a very good cooperator when we were inside with the studio lights. Perhaps he was wondering why were making him sit on something that he thought he would certainly fall off?? We got a few shots that were fun.
We headed outside in our backyard to take smash cake pictures, and Stratton really started to liven up. It was a lot of fun. Good thing his dad was around to get some great smiles! I was DYING when I saw how stinkin cute the pictures turned out! THANK YOU Emily!
{Are you kidding me?!! ADORABLE!}
{He LOVED the yellow balloon!}
{Notice how clean he is, and how dirty his pants are...typical little boy!}
Yesterday we had a little birthday party for Stratton. We invited all of our family, and we are thankful for those that came to support us, and help us wish Stratton a Happy Birthday! We had hot dogs and cupcakes. Stratton got A LOT of fun gifts. It was such a fun day!
{Gifts from AL - Thanks Whit and Curtis!}
Stratton, thank you for joining our family. You are such a happy little guy, and you make us happier too! You make our life more complete! We love you!
