an evening at the park...

We have finally had some BEAUTIFUL weather here in Iowa!! Last week we took advantage of a nice night and took Boaz to a park. We love spring!!! He absolutely loved the swing. He liked to dangle his head back in the breeze... you can kind of see it in this picture.

Luke tried to teach him to climb the rock wall. He tried, but those legs are still too short!

Daddy being a show-off...

Luke and Boaz went down every single slide. He really enjoyed himself... so did Boaz. :)

The bumpy slide!!

Our little man walking the bridge...

Boaz is quite the talker these days. He rambles on and on... and often laughs at himself in the meantime. This is a video I took when I woke him up yesterday morning. Everyday we have really long chats as soon as he wakes up. It's like he spent all night thinking about what he wanted to say... Here's a portion of our 8 minute talk.

Boaz's big news...

Boaz says.... "I'm going to be a big brother!!"

(due end of October... 6 short months away!)

Easter weekend

We had a great Easter weekend this year. The weather was beautiful and we made the most of it. Saturday Boaz helped me make a couple of pies for our Easter lunch. We attempted some Peaches & Cream pies... a recipe of my mom's. Somehow they didn't quite turn out as good as I remember hers. (that's always the case, isn't it?) Boaz had a great time mixing... He made a better taste-tester than baker. (notice I'm posting these pictures after I've served everyone the pies?)

Spreading the peaches... and eating more dough.

After his morning nap, we headed out to the driving range. Luke hit a bucket of balls and Boaz & I cheered him on. He enjoyed clapping and yelling for daddy. He also loved sitting in the grass. We are going to have some good times in the outdoors this summer. Boaz hit a couple of balls off the tee with dad's golf club.

Here is Boaz all dressed up for Easter. I sang at all of our Easter services, so had a really busy weekend. The services were great & I was glad to be part of them. Luke got Boaz all spiffed up and ready for church. I loved this little polo on him. He looks like such a little boy!! After church we went out to Grandma & Grandpa Bartlett's house. We had lunch with Luke's family, his grandparents, and Aunt Terri & Uncle Dennis. We had a great time seeing everyone again. On Monday, Boaz turned 14 months old!!

Here are two videos of Boaz's recent fun. The first is him at the driving range. The second is of his new 'game' with Ozzie. Ozzie has a bed in our room that he likes to dig around in. Boaz recently decided that he liked to roll around on Ozzie's bed, too. Ozzie thinks Boaz is playing with him and goes wild. Turn down the sound if you don't like little dogs barking!! :)

Big Boy Haircut

We went home to my parent's house this past weekend. Boaz, of course, had a great time playing with Grandma & Grandpa. Here he is helping Grandpa play cards. I mentioned that Boaz needed another haircut, and mom went to see if she had a long guard for thier trimmers. I thought I'd just trim it up again with scissors (for the 4th time!). But mom found a 1 inch guard and we decided to shave his hair down for the summer. This picture is of me being nervous before that big moment. I wasn't so sure about cutting his shaggy hair that short. I was kind of fond of the shaggy look. (I love Boaz's face in this picture)

He sat so still during the haircut... didn't even phase him!

Almost done! Doesn't he look like such a big boy now?

Here's a picture of his two front teeth that are finally in... along with the big boy haircut and the first official knot on the forehead. We also experienced the first fat lip this week. I guess that's what having a walker gets you... more injuries!

Roadtrip to Oklahoma

Part 2... After our week in God's Mountain, Boaz & I loaded up in the car again and ventured to Oklahoma to see our relatives. My mom's side of the family all lives there. This picture was about halfway into the drive that Friday... I purchased these little pillows that fit on either side of the carseat so his head wouldn't wrench when he was trying to sleep. They worked great during sleeping times, but after that turned into punching bags. It was pretty humorous. If you look close, you can see the OKLAHOMA sign! Almost there!!!

We were so excited to see all of our family. (and very excited to be done with the car for awhile!) One of our traditions with Great Grandpa is to go to garage sales on Saturday morning. Grandpa maps out all the good ones for us and we go look for bargains! This picture is Great Grandpa Montgomery and Boaz walking around a sale. A couple of times, Grandpa introduced Boaz to people... "This is my great-grandson from Iowa!" :)

The NCAA tourney was in full swing while we were there. Grandpa has quite the system for keeping track of games. I had him update my brackets for me one morning. (I didn't do so well this year!)

Boaz had so much fun playing with Great Grandma. She liked to make him laugh. He was really comfortable in their house right away and did a lot of walking around for them!

Grandpa helped Boaz play with his new toys... we found some bargains! Grandpa bought a new ball and a few cars to keep at his house for the kiddos.

Grandpa & Grandma fed us well while we were there! We went out to eat each day. One night we went to Western Sizzlin' (jealous, mom?) to celebrate our cousins' fiance's birthday. We got to see Aunt Jo that night! Boaz loved her... she fed him ice cream! :)

We love our Aunt Sandi, too!! She loved on Boaz and I bunches while we were there. Boaz liked to hug her. She was a lot of help when we were out on the town. She often fed Boaz while I was busy doing other things. I liked this picture of them snuggling.

We went out for breakfast before we left town on Sunday. Boaz got to try pancakes for the first time and really liked them! He really liked his eggs and potatoes, too!

Heading out to the car with Aunt Sandi.

Grandpa gave Boaz a new teddy bear before we drove home. He liked carrying it while they walked around the house together.

I have a couple of cousins in Olathe, KS, that I haven't seen for several years. We were lucky to be able to stop there on the way home. It was so nice to have a break in our driving... and was wonderful to see them all again. We went to my cousin Kim's house for dinner that night. Wayne made amazing hamburgers and Kim made great homemade salsa! Boaz was very entertained by Kylie. The next morning, we got to spend some time with Gina's family. Here are Kelsey and Kaleb playing with Boaz.

And there were lots of competitions to see who Boaz would walk to! Here are Kelsey & Kyler competing for him. Thanks Gina & Jeff for hosting us!! Kelsey- thanks for giving up your room for the night and for the late-night Walmart run to get new DVD's for the second leg home! Boaz really liked the Elmo one you picked! :)

Our trip was a great one. I'm not ready to hop back in the car and do it again this weekend, but it was soooo good to see all of our family again. Boaz did amazing in the car. Of the 23+ hours we spent driving, he only cried for about 2 of them. Of course, they were a solid 2 hours... and mommy started crying, too! :) He just couldn't fall asleep and was very frustrated. Poor little guy. But overall, he was wonderful.

He was sure ready to see his daddy though!! This is a sweet picture I snapped when we were finally home... we love daddy!!!