We're Back

Well we're back... and by that I mean back in Pocatello. We finally said good riddance to Rexburg. The move went well (as can be expected). Naturally we underestimated how much stuff we actually have. Pocatello is great already. We're able to hang out with our friends a lot more, our new apartment is like twice the size of our old one, and we're not as far away from family. Reese loves the new house. Her room is twice the size and the kids have their own bathroom. There's a really nice playground here at our complex too. So we are really liking being back here.

Todd will be starting his student teaching this week. Today and the next few days he'll be attending faculty meetings and later this week he'll actually be in the classroom. He'll be teaching an 11th grade History class, he's really excited! It's nice having him home at 4 everyday! Bronco season is upon us. We enjoyed a pre-season game yesterday with all of our friends. We snapped a quick picture before everyone arrived in our blue and orange garb. Boston had no clue where to look for the picture since we had it setup on the tripod.

My cute little bathtub boy. Sorry the video is kind of small. Isn't he just he cutest. He was splashing like a mad man tonight but when ever I tried to video him he just stared at the camera. Boston is almost 7 months. I can't believe it! He still doesn't have any interest in sitting up. He is an explorer. He wants to crawl so bad. He gets around with his little army crawl pretty well. He moves all around the room already getting into things. I'm not really looking forward to a mobile child. We've started him on fruits and veggies. He LOOOOVES applesauce. You can't put each spoonful in his mouth fast enough. He's such a cutie. He still spits up a lot. I was hoping we would have outgrown this by now, but it's not the case. Now where he's mobile I'm constantly cleaning spit up all over the room. Oh well I guess. He's a perfect child in every other aspect so I shouldn't complain.

Rexburg Temple

Yesterday Todd had the morning off so we asked Reese what she wanted to do and she said she wanted to go see the temple. Since we're moving next week it was nice to go up there for probably the last time.
I tried to take a couple pics of these two. This is the closest to both of them smiling I could get. Reese will smile on command (usually a huge cheeser smile), but then when we try to get Boston's attention to smile Reese has lost all focus. So this is what you get.
The breeze didn't help with the pictures either. So Reese's hair ended up all over her face.
So you'll notice Reese and her/my dog. This is the puppy she picked out for my birthday. She takes him everywhere.

Reese wanted to go inside.

26

This past week we celebrated my birthday. 26, not a very significant age - except that it is a little closer to 30. Wow just saying t-h-i-r-t-y is strange... I guess it's good I've still got 4 more years before I have to worry about that. Anyways, so we've been kind of doing things all week and counting it as part of my birthday celebration. Todd's mom and 2 brothers came up one day and we went bowling. Sunday we went down to Preston and my mother and grandmother fixed a glorious birthday feast including Nan Fried Chicken, twice baked potatoes, lime cheesecake, and rainbow chip cupcakes. It was quite Delish! Todd had to work on my actual birthday but he made me french toast for breakfast. Yum! Above we are testing out the new tripod I got for my bday. It's nice to have the whole family in one picture - sorry if anyone is offended by Todd in his underwear top. Todd also got me season 1 of Parks and Recreation. Reese even picked out a present for me/her. Todd took her to the store to pick out a small thing (a beanie baby puppy) and right after they bought it she told me what it was. She didn't exactly understand the whole surprise part of it. They even wrapped it up and she told me everyday that there was a puppy inside. Needless to say she has adopted the puppy as her own.
One day for lunch we made homemade pizzas... and it tasted just like pizza from Fredrico's -I'm not even kidding it was the weirdest thing.

Boston 6 Month Stats

I forgot to post this at the first of the month, but here are Boston's 6 month stats:
Weight: 18 1/2 lbs. (70%)
Height: 28.25 in. (95%)
Head: 17.75 in. (84%)

He's a healthy boy! I was surprised he was still quite big since he spits up a lot of his meals all day long. I guess he's getting something in him.

Just Beachy

So all summer we've been talking about going to a beach. The initial plan was to go to Bear Lake sometime, but since summer is almost over and Todd will be busy student teaching soon that just wasn't going to happen. So we packed a picnic and other necessary beach items (sand castle equipment) and headed to Rigby. They have a reservoir type place with a beach and picnic area.
My Beach Boy! Boston was lovin' being outside. You can even see his 2 new teeth coming in.

Reese twirling around in the water... what she called a 'helicopter.'
We got there too late to get a nice picnic table on the grass by the nicer beach area... so we hiked to the little island area and found the last picnic table in the shade. It was a lot rockier over where we were but that actually worked to our advantage since Reese sat and threw rocks in the water forever. It was nice because we were kind of by ourselves for quite a while and it was peaceful, but then a bunch of moronic high school aged kids plotted down right by us - they were so obnoxious and loud!
The water is quite shallow, so you can walk out a little ways.
Mmm... chips! Boston is in that grabby stage, and the I want to taste everything stage. We got him one of those teether things you can feel with fruit and he munched on grapes all afternoon.
We had a fun day! We are trying to take advantage of Todd's days off these last few weeks. Tomorrow we're going bowling and having a pizza party to celebrate my birthday (which isn't until Monday, but hey who doesn't like to stretch the birthday festivities out a little bit).

Carnival

Saturday night we took Reese to the carnival. She was finally old enough to ride the rides. It was a roller coaster of emotions throughout the night. She was really excited when we were in line for the caterpillar roller coaster and even kept a smile on her face for the first time around -- oh how things changed!
She bawled the rest of the caterpillar ride and on the next ride too. We're such mean parents to make her ride!

On the train she never cried, but I don't know that she ever smiled either.

We did end the night on a good note... I think it helped she got to ride with her cousins Ethan and Dylan. Ethan even showed her how to honk the horn.

Waving at mom and dad.

We even let her play one of the carny games. I forgot to take a picture but she got to pick up one of the rubber ducks in the duck pool game. On the bottom was written what size of prize you get. Naturally, we payed $5 for her to play and she walked away with a .75 stuffed dog. We felt a little guilty about her not having a good time during the first couple rides, so oh well.

Rodeo Parade

"Dad look the parade is coming!"
Adding to her loot.

Dylan snagged this sweet hat someone threw from their float.
Every year my Grandma parks her truck on the main street so we can have a primo parade viewing spot.
Riding back to Grandma's in the back of the truck (another tradition for the kids).

The parade is Thursday, Friday and Saturday and we saw it all three nights but only took pictures on Saturday.

Rodeo Clown Roundup

Friday morning of Rodeo Weekend there was a free activity put on by the hospital. They had lots of fun activities and games for kids.
Fishing (Reese got a necklace).
Playing ring toss (notice her method).
Meeting a Rodeo Queen.
Train ride.

We even found a few familiar faces.
Reese of Arc.
Reese also got her face painted, played horse shoes, jumped in the bounce house, and enjoyed lots of goodies like popcorn and popsicles.

Old Friends

Last week we met up with one of my best friends who now lives in Texas. She has a 2 kids almost the same ages as Reese and Boston.
It's been forever since these 2 have been able to play together.
Future Best Friends.

2 cute little girls reading a princess magazine.

Grandma's Pool

Hours of entertainment.
Everyday Reese played in Grandma's little swimming pool. Dylan (her cousin) even came up to play one day too.
Dylan's favorite thing was just to throw cups full of water at Reese and Grandma.

Grandma's puppy loved the kids. Reese didn't really like the puppy and spent a lot of time sitting on top of Grandma's picnic table so the puppy wouldn't jump on her. Boston loved when the puppy would lick him, but the puppy was kind of a nuisance and kept stealing Boston's toys.