Recovery

Jorel's friend is back! He's also to the point that he goes as long as he can until he falls asleep - here he's eating Cheerios, he's actually sleeping on top of one....

Nine Months and Crawling

I know, crazy right? So this post might be a long one as usual... the last couple of weeks I've been doing a lot of fun thing and keeping myself super busy! I'll start with the lake trip... We weren't there for very long, but Trina invited me out to the lake with her and her boys to hopefully catch some rays and splash around in the water on Wednesday (the 16th). We definitely got both. There was hardly anybody at Sand Hollow, which was weird, but we had a great time watching the boys splash around. Her boys are so cute with Jorel and they all kept me laughing.

Then that following Friday I met my sissy and bro-in-law out in Vegas so they could squeeze the kid and I could get a sibling fix... We went swimming some more - cause you know Jorel LOVES the water - and ate at the Rainforest Cafe which was yummy! I didn't get home til 4 am, but it was worth it, it always is to see those two! Last Monday I headed up to Park City because the Pegasus traveling team (softball) needed another coach so I filled in. Jorel did SO great up there! He even had a little cold but let JD haul him around every where with little or no complaining, what a stud. JD was fantastic - he's only 12 years old and took care of Jorel better than some adults I know :) It really let me enjoy coaching and not worry about what the kid was doing. And Jorel is officially darker than I am. I got back Thursday after the head coach took me and his fam out to P.F. Chang's for my birthday - delicious!

The next day Ron was awesome enough to cook up a bar-b-que for my birthday and got to even invite some friends over - more deliciousness! Mom made me my favorite cake - red velvet with cream cheese frosting, we could find rainbow chip frosting ANYWHERE! And of course I got some fabulous presents... Trina and Darrell were really enjoying themselves:

Just kidding, good times were had by all, I think. My good friend Derek was in town so Saturday he took me out to Zion and we climbed up Angel's Landing - not all the way because it was pretty windy on top and we had a six year old with us, who probably did better than I did making it up there. It was my first time up there and those who haven't been there, it is absolutely beautiful! We had a nice cool down because it rained on us. I'd do it again if I ever recover... just kidding, again - but I was spent! We didn't even get back into Hurricane until 11:00 then dropped the pooped 6 year old, Sadie, off at her house and grabbed some grub at Denny's, stayed up way too late, and had some great conversation catching up.

And then that brings us to today... Finished up some homework and just taking it easy. It's been a great few weeks and Jorel is being funny as ever! He's already booking it across the carpet... and I hear its all down hill from here! So excited!

Toad

Jorel is SO entertaining - even when he's sleeping. He's been kind of fighting it lately so I don't know if that's what he was trying to do or what, but I walked into the room to find him like this:

I wasn't really sure how he got himself in this position. I moved him so that he wasn't sleeping folded in half, then he sat up in his sleep and got into the same position on the other side of the crib! I wanted to laugh so hard, but I resorted to just a little giggle... I finally got him spread out a little. He rolled into the other side of the crib, so I moved him out of the bumper and he rolled himself into a blanket taco and there he finally stayed. Through all of this, he didn't even wake up once. He must really like this sitting up thing to even do it in his sleep. What a little monkey turd!

Roly-Poly

I thought this was pretty funny - We had been swimming and Ginger even got wet. I sat Jorel down on the towel and Ginger burrows anyway but more so when she's wet. I think they feed off of each other because Jorel doesn't generally roll this much when he's outside... Silly things! :)

Summer Storm

We had our first storm of the summer a couple of nights ago with rain, thunder, and lighting - it was so great! In the pick behind the trees is a lightning bolt - its hard to see, but they were very blue and I hear those are the most electric or something like that.

I had a storm of my own this week - everything is back and it's full force! I've been at the Dixie Volleyball team camp all week coaching the little girls. It was pretty cool seeing them improve as a team just over the four days. They were long days, especially for Jorel, but he did awesome! By the fourth day you could tell that he just had it, but he still went along a was pretty good. I also started in on my new class - Statistics for Managers using Exel. The first week is now over and I think it will go okay, but don't want to talk too soon!

Jorel is my little wild man - he can now get himself sitting from lying down, he rolls every where, he's rocking on his hands and knees ready to crawl any day now, and he's climbing on everything! He's all over the crib when he sleeps - the other day I found him after a nap with one sleeve out of his shirt and leg out of his diaper and I had just checked on him about five minutes earlier! Silly kid. He's teething right now, so I kind of came up with a solution - I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of it, but I was proud of myself because I thought of it on my own... I took one of those solid food mesh eaters - you know, so they don't choke on their food - and stuck an ice cube in it. He chews and sucks on it so he gets some relief from his aching gums and get some fluids. He doesn't always like it, but when he does, he does! He's just so funny but I really just wanted to share some of the latest picks... the little turd! :)

He was laying sideways in his crib...

Teething Relief

Baby Ruth?

The Cutest Little Turd

Laughing and the funny Ginger dog

Let Freedom Ring!

This week I have been free from school and practices and it has been wonderful - a great refresher to get me geared back up again. I do wish that I was free from allergies, but no such luck - they're kicking my butt again this year, but I'm surviving. I've been pretty lazy this week. Just hanging around the house, watched a couple of movies and enjoyed a nice 4th with my parents and Jorel. I finally saw Transformers - I know, I'm WAY behind. I hadn't been to the movie theater for about a year until I went and saw Hancock on Wednesday. It was really good until a certain point, then I felt that it flopped... but who am I to judge? Thursday we headed to Trina and Darrel's for a BBQ which was yummy! Can't go wrong with burgers, hot dogs, fries, chips, and brownies! Then for the 4th I set up a little pool for Jorel and I so after lunch we went swimming - Ginger didn't dare join us, scaredy cat. After swimming we had a BBQ here with burgers, corn-on-the-cob, jello, potato salad, lemonade, and Dad's root beer. It was another delightful dinner. I'm not complaining to BBQ two days in a row - works for me! Ron was coaching bases at the Hurricane vs. La Verkin traditional annual softball game so we watched the last few innings. Don't worry, Hurricane won 17 - 14. The fireworks followed and lasted about 8 minutes. They were okay, nothing to brag about - and no huge bugs were buzzing in our ears - you know what I'm talking about sis! Jorel was fascinated with the fireworks and was even laughing at them by the time they were done. I would say he had a great day. Good grub, swimming, a softball game, and fireworks - can you beat it? The summer nights here are the best because its still warm enough to walk around in shorts and a T and be super comfortable. Hope that everyone could celebrate their Independence Day with lots of joy. Here's to the week of freedom!