UNO!

Dexter turned uno!

On Wednesday, we celebrated his first birthday. Wow! Where has the time gone? When he woke up, we skyped with Grandpa and Grandma Loveless and opened up their presents. After a quick morning nap, he opened the rest of his presents, and then we headed off to the zoo. Grandma Jenks was able to come and celebrate the day with us. She is staying for a whole week of fun!

At the zoo, we met with the Bourne family. We went to the aquarium and Dexter got to watch his penguins. We also went through the jungle and the desert and swamp. Then he got to ride on the carousel. He enjoyed the carousel. When he would go up, he raised his eyebrows, and lifted his head up. When he went down, he would look down and lower his head. He was so funny. He loved it though. He cried when he had to get off.

Then we came back to our house for pizza and cupcakes. Of course he got his first cupcake. He loved it too.

Happy Birthday little boy. We love having you in our family!!!

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Geocaching with Friends

Last Wednesday we went geocaching with Kevin, Karen, and their boys. Though, I may not be one for actually searching for the cache, I do enjoy the places that it takes us. We went up to Missouri Valley, IA and Blair, NE. In Missouri Valley, we stopped at the Iowa Welcome Center where they and quite the museum of pioneer articles. It was absolutely beautiful. I decided I could live in a place like Missouri Valley, if it were only closer to Idaho. While there, we found our 100th cache. Unfortunately, we missed taking a picture of it. We did get a picture of our 101 cache.

It was so little.

In Blair, we stopped at a park and had a picnic lunch. The boys got to play on the toys and let out their wiggles.

Geocaching takes us to interesting places. We found found ourselves at Cumming Cemetery in Blair, NE and we also made our way to the tower of the 4 Winds, a monument for a memorial to John G. Neihardt and Black Elk, the Lakota Sioux holy man. While at the monument, we tuckered out both Alex and Dexter. They had had a long, adventure packed day.

We are so grateful for good friends who will go on crazy excursions with us. I know that Ashton is especially thankful to have a geocaching buddy that'll do the dirty work with him. Thanks Kevin and Karen for spending a fun day with us!

A Day at the Zoo

Tuesday, we had a fun day at the zoo. We saw some of the exhibits we hadn't been to yet. We went to the koi pond, saw the zebras, went through the new Madagascar exhibit and saw a lot of lemurs, and we went to the petting zoo, and the garden of the senses. While we were at the garden of the senses, we had some fun taking pictures of Dexter and some "animals".

This is Ashton and Dexter inside with the lemurs. Dexter kept signing for down. He wanted to go and play with them.

Dexter getting to pet the goat. He wasn't quite sure what to think.

We had such a fun day together.

Memorial Day

This Memorial Day we went with some friends, the Petrazlka Family, to Preparation Canyon, just north of Omaha. We had a picnic, and were able to enjoy the beautiful weather and countryside. Mackenzie was a trooper. She is 9 months pregnant and due any day.



On our way back home, Ash, Dexter, and I went geocaching. We cached along the Loess Hills and discovered some beautiful places. A few years ago, a tornado came through here. You can still see it's path in all the dead trees...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Last Saturday, we had a fantastic day. It started out with a beautiful morning spent at the farmer's market in downtown Omaha. We got some beautiful produce, sourdough bread, homemade root beer, and stunning peonies. I just LOVE farmer's markets. They are so much fun.

Then we chilled at home and had the Bourne family over for steak, and some luscious salad from the beautiful produce, and bread we had gotten earlier in the day. After that, we went to a ball game!

We went to the Rosenblat Stadium and watched the Omaha Royals play Round Rock Express (I think). We had so much fun. Our seats were 4 rows behind the dugout near the third base line. (Thank you Kevin and Karen!) Dexter enjoyed it all too. They had bubble/balloon people that came out on the field during down times and Dexter just loved them. At about the 7th inning, Dexter started getting fussy because it was past his bed time, so I went up in between sections to kinda calm him down, and one of the characters came up by us. Dexter just stared at him. After he walked passed us and came back, Dexter was so excited and kept waving at him. It was so cute.

Ethan

Kevin

Ali, Dexter, Karen, and Alex

Round and Round It Goes!

Dexter loves it when I do laundry. He loves to watch the clothes spin round and round, and rushes over whenever I start a new load. Hmmmmm.........life's simple treasures.

Trip to the U.P.

This last weekend we zipped up to see Ashton's grandparents in Gladstone, MI. They are serving a mission there. We had a lot of fun. It was sooo great to get to see them and spend some time away from home.

Friday: Left at 1am central time. Arrived at 3pm eastern time. Rested and unpacked. Dexter played with his new rocking chair Great Grandma and Great Grandpa gave him for his birthday.

Saturday: The Grands showed us around Escanaba and Gladstone. We hit St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores and scored some great finds. Ties for Ashton, an umbrella stroller, books, Mr. Potato head x3 for $1.50 total, and a suit for Dexter that will fit when he is about 3. Then we played Ripple, hand and foot, and 5 crowns. Ashton and I even beat Grandma and Grandpa at Hand and Foot.

Sunday: We attended church at the Escanaba Branch and had a fun lingerlonger. The branch was small. Relief Society had 7 sisters including me in there, and had only 12 chairs set up. The meeting house was small too. It had 1 large room that served as the chapel, Sunday school rooms, and the cultural hall for the linger longer. Then we played more games.

Monday: Road trip up to Lake Superior. We stopped at Munising Falls, Miner's Falls and Miner's Castle. We stopped and ate at a "hole in the wall" Thia/Chinese restaurant that was really good. Then we drove to Marquette, MI to see the ore docks. On our way we came across Lakenland, a sculpture park. The artist was very talented.

Tuesday: We had lunch at Alta's, a branch member. It ended up being with "Chicago Tom" and all of the missionaries in the district too. After that, Grandma and Grandpa had a district meeting and funeral they needed to attend, so Ashton and I just hung out at their apartment till they were done. We played a good game of hand and foot. Ashton won. Then we ate at the American Legion Center for dinner with another couple from the branch for Taco Tuesday. Afterwards, we took the Grands geocaching (of course).

Wednesday: We left for home. Left at 1:30am eastern time, and arrived home at 12pm central time. We drove through Illinos for about 10 minutes so that I can say I've been to Illinois. We went through 4 different states. Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa. We almost went across the river into Omaha just so we could say 5 states, but we wanted to be home. Once we were unloaded, Ashton crashed.

We had a great time in UP (Upper Peninsula) with all the "yoopers". They are quite the bunch of people. I loved listening to the speakers in church with their great accent: "owe" sound in place of the "o" sound. And a funny observation, a common male name is Tom and all of it's forms. So when in doubt just ask for Tom. It is beautiful country and looks a lot like the mountains in Idaho, just flat.

Dexter traveled well. He had a hard time on Monday because we were in and out of the car a lot and he was tired of being in his seat. But for the long ride to and from, he did stellar. Of course a large portion of the drive was while he was asleep. Still, even when he was awake, he did wonderfully.

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11 Months Old!

Dexter has reached 11 months. Next month he'll be 1 year! This boy loves to be outside. He loves to go for walks, is quite the copy cat, has 3 teeth, and is a social butterfly. There isn't anyone he has met that he doesn't instantly love. He loves watching the airplanes fly above our home, and he is quite the mommas boy. He also loves to "help" me dust. He is just a ton of fun!

Sleeping Boy

This is how he sleeps these days. Rump in the air and all. I just Love this boy.

In the Grass

Dexter absolutely loves to be outside. It is a sad, sad day for this boy if he cannot go outside. One day, we went for a short walk, which wasn't long enough for him. He cried when we went inside. What else was there to do but sneak back outside before the rain started. I put him in the grass and he was not sure what to do about it. He kept one foot up the whole time and would switch when his leg got tired...


All the birds and squirrles were out and Dexter enjoyed watching them. He even had to try the grass to see how it tasted. Silly boy. I am so glad that he loves to be outside, and that he loves to see and experience things. It brings so much joy to him.