15 months

Our baby is 15 months!!! It is so strange to think of our little guy is getting so big and exploring the world around him. He is seriously walking now. He thinks it is pretty hillarious when he walks from one couch to the other. He throws his head back and starts to laugh, but he has a hard time keeping his balance so Wendy, his sitter, calls it the drunken sailor walk. You would laugh if you saw him do it.
Ethan loves to talk to everyone that he sees. He says so many words that many people are surprised how clear he says thing.
He says: Where did it go, Bye, Hello, Hi, Light, More, Mama, Dada, Papa, Moon, Night, Duck, Calli (wendy's dog), and his favorite word NO! Where did he ever learn that? "NO MAX!!!"
Ethan's favorite toys are his cars, trucks, trains, and his dog Max. He is such a boy. His Dad has introduced him to booty shaking music that he totally loves, Thanks Aaron!
Ethan has 8 teeth right now that he hates to brush. That is totally not going to fly in this house. His favorite foods are Mac-n-Cheese, chicken nuggets, cheese quesadillas, and watermellon. But he will pretty much eat anything that you put in front of him and he has the belly to prove it , hehehe j/k. We love our little guy and are so blessed to have a healthy beautiful boy to love and enjoy. Ethan we love you and are so excited to see the many things you will accomplish as you grow.

Fantasy Football

The most wonderful season of the year is about to begin. Football season. I am so excited to watch football with my husband and baby. Ethan and I have been practicing saying "GO, GO, GO." This year I am playing Fantasy Football. Last night we ate pizza and had a draft to pick the players that will be on our teams. I have a really good team this year and I am excited to CRUSH the competition. Go Grinding Molars!!! Here is to a new 2009 winner.

On business

Aaron is in Texas this week for work. There are somethings that I love about Aaron being gone for awhile, but there are also things that I hate. I love that I have the whole garage to myself. I don't have to try to squish my car into the garage without hitting the garbage cans or the stairs. I love having the whole bed to myself and not feeling guilty about crowding anyone out. Well, that is about it for the things that I love when Aaron is gone. I hate the nights when Ethan just wants his daddy. The cold bed that I have to warm up all by myself, the cooking or not cooking for one and a half, the scary noises in the house, and the crazy dog that ate my sandwich while I was getting Ethan ready for bed. Come home soon Daddy, we miss you!!!!

Sunday

Yesterday at church Ethan made us laugh pretty hard. We sit on the very back row so Ethan can crawl around and because it is usually the only row left. Ethan was playing with his cars and having a good time while the speakers gave thier talks. Then there was an intermediate hymn. Ethan immedately stoped what he was doing, sat straight up and started "sprinting" to his dad who was holding the hymn book. Ethan loves to lead the music and play with the pages of the hymn book. He was so excited and had the biggest smile on his face when his Dad picked him up to sing with him.

Chores

I think one of the worst things about growing up is cleaning the house. When I was young the only time I had chores was on Saturday morning. My mom would try to make things fun for us. She would have a job jar, or something like that for us to pick jobs out of. Then she would turn on some music to get us going. Chores were done before the afternoon and all I had to think about was playing with my friend Denise.
Well times have changed. I am not a little girl anymore, there is no job jar, and it seems like the chores never get done before the afternoon. I vaccume and five seconds later there is dog hair sticking to Ethan's hands. I mop the kitchen floor and then we eat lunch, and half of Ethan's ends up on the floor. What is a mom to do. And don't even get me started about laundry. Sometimes I feel like I never really get anything done.
I talked to my friend Corene about my messy house and she told me what she does. I really liked it and so I am passing it on to all of you. She has a list of chores that need to be done and does at least one thing a day. This way you know that at least your toilets will be cleaned once a week and that the kitchen floor will get moped. I have also decided that I will try not to compare myself the all the OCD people out there who have emaculate homes and just be happy about the things that do get clean.
There is one thing that gets done every day though and that is the dishes. Ethan loves to help me unload the dishwasher. Maybe when he is older he will do the dishes for me, but that is probably wishful thinking.

First Steps

Ethan has started to walk!!!!
I was vaccuming the front room and all of the sudden I saw a little guy going from the coffee table to the couch. I was so excited I started clapping and jumping up and down while the vaccum was still running. Ethan probably thought that I was crazy. When Aaron got home we had Ethan walking in between the two of us. It was lots of fun to see Ethan get so happy while we were cheering for him. Aaron has been waiting for this day for a long time. Congrats daddy, he is really growing up fast.
I don't have any pictures because our camera is getting fixed, so when I get it back I will share them with you.

Road Trip

This weekend my parents were in Cedar City. So we decided to head to southern Utah for the weekend. Aaron was going to come with us, but his work has been CRAZY and he had to stay home to work. Poor Aaron. Ethan and I headed to Provo to pick up Lizzy and then we drove to Cedar City. We arrived in time for the Green Show. They played fun music that Ethan really liked. Ethan was acting fussy, and I wasn't sure what was wrong. We headed back to the hotel to meet Josie and Abu. It was then that I noticed Ethan was running a fever. It is a little scary being away from home and having a sick baby. We had a rough night, but we were blessed to have Grandpa Nelson and Uncle Clyde there to give Ethan a blessing. His fever broke at about 2am and he was able to get some sleep. We headed to the insta care in the morning and of course Ethan has another ear infection. If it isn't one thing it is another.
Saturday we went to Zions National Park and stayed at the Bumble Berry Inn. Most people hiked, but Mom and I hung out around the Inn and got to eat lunch together. It was so much fun. I love being with my mom.
Ethan entertained everyone at dinner by putting cottage cheese in his hair. For some reason he thought it was really funny. I guess it was because everyone kept laughing at him. It was so much fun to spend the night with everyone.
Thanks for a great weekend and loving my baby.

Going Out

Today Ethan and I went to lunch with the girls from work. One of our patients owns a Japanese resturant in Salt Lake so we headed out to taste new flavors. When we arrived, Ethan of course had a dirty diaper so we headed to the restroom. I was praying for a changing table and of course there wasn't one. I am so surprised at all the places that don't have a place to change a baby. It is very frustrating! Lunch was ok. The waitress thought that I was crazy. I asked if they had lo mein noodles thinking that Ethan would love them, but she said no. Then I asked for ham fried rice and she just looked at me and told me that those things are at a Chinese resturant and that we were at a Japanese resturant. Well now I know for next time, hehe. I guess I prefer Chinese. Ethan ate tofo and liked it. He also ate plain rice and a fried onion which he really liked. I guess he is just like Grandma Nelson. Umm onion rings.

Stout Family Reunion 2008

A week ago today we headed out to Colorado for the Stout Family Reunion. We braved the 8 hour drive! Luckily for us Kathy rode in the back with Ethan and kept him entertained. I was very surprised at how well he did. The only time he really got upset was our last hour going into the city.

We played some fun games on the way there and it helped the time go by fast. Our first game was a photo scavenger hunt. There was a list of things that we had to snap pictures of while we were driving. I will definately be using this game again when we take our next road trip. We also made our own licence plates, and had to check off all the different state licence plates that we saw. We arrived late at the hotel because of traffic and were ready to be out of the car. Mike and Carolee had sandwiches waiting thankgoodness because we were starving and tired. Ethan loved playing on the bed and eating his daddy's food.

On Monday we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. There were so many things to see. Aaron tried feeding Ethan to a Saber tooth Tiger. When you put a coin in it roars at you. This was something Aaron remembered from his childhood. We tried to go to all of the different areas but we missed some. Here are some pics enjoy.

Ethan was able to take a nap while we were exploring. It was pretty funny. We all had a good laugh at his expense. I hope you will have one too.

On Tuesday we headed to an amusment park called Eliches. It was fun. Ethan was able to ride the Merry-go-Round and a little train. There was also a park area for the little kids. One area had little squishy balls that kids could play with. Ethan loved it, but it was truley discusting to see his black hands and knees when we were finally able to drag him out of their.

On Wednesday we headed to the Denver Zoo. Aaron had a really bad headache and only spent half of the day with us. We say many animals and all my "big kitty's." Nate and Devanie were nice enough to let me and Ethan follow them around and to lead us back to our hotel after we were done.

On Thursday we headed home. It was sad to be leaving everyone, but nice to be getting back to a schedule for Ethan and my own bed. Thanks so much to the Stout Girls for planning a great family reuion. We really enjoyed it :)