Westen & Water!

Westen loves the water! Bath time is his favorite time of day - and he has enough rolls and folds that milk and lint hide all over his body....so he usually needs a bath every day :) . This was bath time at Grandma Helen's house. We have such good grandmas!

 

 

We went swimming in a pool for the first time in August. Westen loved it!

 

 Westen also loved the splash pad this year. There was one litte fountain that didn't spray too high and that is where he spent most of his time.

 But his second favorite thing at the splash pad was the kids that were there. There was a cute little polygamist family there one day that were telling us about their 5 mommies :) . Westen loved them.

We also did a lot of water-centered camping this year. Our friends have a boat, so we went camping at one of their favorite places - Yuba Lake. It was our first time camping there and it was really fun.

Westen was mostly an observer of the kids on the beach. He loved to watch them building sand castles and burying each other in the sand. 

But of course, his very favorite part was the water. He loves to splash with his hands and his feet.

We had a really fun time with our friends at Yuba!

This is our friend Kim (Westen's babysitter) on her boat with her family. I think Westen loved that comb so much because of all of the hairspray on it ;)

In October, we went to Sand Hollow with our friends. We are so glad that we have our camp trailer. It makes camping with a baby much easier!

 

At the beach, he played in a new pack 'n play that we bought at the store. Glad we did because he loved being close to everyone and the water, but not in the sand.

Westen's birth mom, Audrey came to play with us for a day too. We LOVE her so much and we always have a good time with her.

 

 

Lately Westen has really liked to play in things. He played inside a huggies box for 2 weeks. So, at Sand Hollow, we empited a basket that had his blankets and diapers in it and he sat in there eating an oreo while we made breakfast.

 

 

We didn't take many pictures on this trip...so you get what you get...This is Branden emptying out the pooper at the end of our trip (sorry Branden).

Our friends' boat trailer blew a tire on the way down...so we ended up renting wave runners and a side-by-side for the sand dunes. We really had a good time even though we didn't have the boat.

Our Temple Sealing

We are so blessed that on August 4, 2012 we were sealed to the cutest baby to ever wear a white tuxedo!

We had a lot of family and friend support for our special day.

 We are also very lucky to have the best birth family ever! We are so glad that they came to be a part of our special day. It wouldn't have been complete without them!

We are so grateful to Audrey for her special gift!

 We are also thankful for lots of special people in Heaven that have meant so much to us and have helped baby Westen find our family!

Adoption Finalization

On July 30, 2012 Our adoption was finalized!

 

 

Westen grabbed onto the judge's robe and slimed him...oops.

 

Thanks to our awesome families for their support!!

First Haircut!

Westen got his first haircut! He has always had a few really long hairs on the top of his head and it was sad to see them go, but it was time.

 

 He did such a good job!

 Now he will look handsome for our Adoption finalization (tomorrow!!), our Sealing next Saturday and his baby blessing next Sunday!

 Thanks for my handsome haircut Amber!

Bear Lake & Crawling!

Over the 24th-of-July Weekend, Westen and I went to Bear Lake with Grandma Helen and our friends.

 Grandma bought Westen a water floaty toy. She took him out in the shallow water and let him float around. He had a good time in the water...but it all proved to be too much and he fell asleep in his floaty.

 After falling asleep in the water, his little bum needed to air out. We love this picture. He has a cute little smirk.

He liked being "free" so much that we let him hang out for a bit without his clothes. (This is Westen's babysitter Kim, who is also one of our really good friends).

 We also took Westen's Play Nest and he laid in there and played and when he got sleepy, that is where he had his naps at the beach.
 
Grandma Helen helped us a lot on our trip! With our daddy out of town we needed some extra hands. Thanks Grandma!

We were going to camp with our friends, but Daddy had to go out of town, so mommy and Westen stayed with Grandma Helen and Great-Grandma Janice at Great Grandma's house in Fish Haven, ID near the lake. Every day we took a walk up and down the lane. Westen really liked being outside and only fell asleep once on our walks.

A few days after we got home from our trip, Westen started crawling! He still does lots of rolling too. He also grabs onto everything...so rolling + grabbing blankets and toys = baby burrito.

Camping and Boating with Boys, Oh My!

This weekend we went on a last-minute camping trip to the very tropical and beautiful.....UTAH LAKE!

Branden got a wakeboard for Christmas last year, so he was really excited to try it out.

 Melanee's more of a tube person, so she played with the kids on the tube.

An attempt to stand up on the tube....

Westen was such a good boy at camp. He didn't cry once the whole weekend (except when he was hungry at 3a.m.)

 He is getting so dang big!

And he is such a happy baby.

We camped near the lake in a campground. Our friends set up their awesome tents and we camped in our new trailer.

Since we were so close to home, Westen hung out with Grandma Helen and Grandma Leah while mommy and daddy went boating.

He looked so dang cute in his little swimming outfit...love that hat!

 He is so chubby and doesn't have a neck, so his life jacket was a little snug....but he did so well on the boat.

He didn't seem to mind being stuffed into the life jacket, but we didn't press our luck and only took him out for a hour or so.

 On Monday, Branden went fishing with his dad and uncle. He left at 4a.m. and mommy and Westen slept right through it all.

When daddy got home, he had to pose with some of his fish and his little monkey.