Easter Surprise!

From 2009-04-16

So last Friday night we were going for a family walk after work and were talking about what our plans were for Easter weekend and concluded that we really had no plans for the weekend at all. We were kind of bummed since it is nice to do 'something' on a weekend that everyone else has plans with family. We thought about how it would be fun if we were able to spend it with family, but given that we were thinking about this on Friday night of Easter weekend this probably wasn't really a possibility. We had prayed about it and if God wanted it to work out then we would go, if not, then we'd stay home. Well, we decided to check and just 'see' what the plane tickets would cost to do it just out of curiosity. They were pretty expensive (~$450/each), so disappointed we thought we would start figuring out other plans. As we gave up we thought we would check and see if there might be any tickets available using our miles (usually booking these require months of advance planning to actually get them to work). There were TONS of flights available on miles. Crazy! So, we called up Grammy and Grampy and asked what they were up to for Easter and if they had any extra room for a few more at the Easter table. We'll just say they were excited :-) So, booked the flight, booked the rental car and went to bed to leave in 6 hours. Kind of a spontaneous trip, but worked out well. Blake was a great traveler on the the plane and aside from the airline busting a wheel off one of our bags it was a pretty smooth trip.

From 2009-04-16

It was great to see family and enjoy a few days with them. Definitely worth doing even though it was a bit last minute planning packing and going, but was really fun to make plans that quickly and just do it. Blake was excited to see everyone and he got a cool new hat from Auntie M. Thanks Auntie M!

From 2009-04-16

And we got to make a trip to an important place while we visited as well...see if you can tell where from the picture :-)

From 2009-04-16

AND did I mention Blake has two teeth now? He does, on the bottom. We'll let you see if you can find a picture that shows them (clue: swing pictures)

Concert with Small Group

A couple weeks ago we got to go check out the Rock and Worship road show tour (http://www.therockandworshiproadshow.com/) It was a lot of fun and a great show. If you have the chance to check it out when it comes through your area you should.

From 2009-04-09

Blake didn't get to go to the show. Too loud for him :-) Maybe next time...

We did however make a trip out for lunch to the Spicy Pickle and Blake got to eat his own version of eating out food....sweet potatoes :-) He like them...can you tell?

From 2009-04-09

He likes those potatoes and doesn't care what anyone else thinks. We also discovered that he has learned that whenever he sees the red light from the camera that is his cue to smile. Pretty funny. Doesn't work everytime, but if he's in a good mood he seems to do it every time.

Nana and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Visit

From 2009-03-29

This last week we had the first visitors we have had in a while and Blake was excited! Since he is able to crawl around pretty well now and likes to do a lot of smiling and laughing he can be quite the center of attention. Blake hadn't seen Nana or Great G & G since Thanksgiving so he had quite a few new things he had learned since then to show them.

From 2009-03-29

From 2009-03-29

The girls, and Blake, spent a good part of the days hanging out, shopping and enjoying time together. Then Thursday (when great grandpa was supposed to arrive) we got the biggest snow storm (blizzard) of the season. check out some of these pictures. It was fun! We got to shovel a little snow together, enjoy the 2 feet of snow and then watch it melt...it's almost completely gone now (about 5 days later). It was nice to have a good snow storm since we haven't had any this year.

From 2009-03-29

Great Grandpa arrived Saturday morning and then we all met up at Keystone and did a little skiing/snowboarding. Blake was jealous, but had a good time hanging out with everybody at the lodge.

From 2009-03-29

Blake also got his first experience in a pool. We went over to the hotel one evening and did a little swimming. He really seemed to like it a lot. Makes us excited that he will hopefully really like the water as he gets a little older.

Getting Around

Getting Bigger

From 2009-03-20

It's been a few weeks since I have had a chance to post...things have been pretty busy lately and Blake's been learning how to crawl, so we've been a little busier keeping an eye on where he is off to. It's been pretty amazing to see how quickly he has gone from just barely being able to move to spotting something on the other side of the room and getting there.

Blake made a trip to Costco this week and got to take his first ride in the 'school bus'. Grammy Bankson gave Blake this cool shopping cart protectors that keeps him from sucking on the dirty carts...it worked great! He is really excited and proud to cruise around the store in his bus. He makes for a pretty good looking bus driver too :-)

From 2009-03-20

it's been fun to see him get more interested in some of his toys too. He is starting to play with things a lot more.

From 2009-03-20

Learning to Crawl

iLove iChat

With a lot of our family out in CA we try to do 'video visits' with them as often as we can. Blake gets excited about seeing his grandparents on the screen and is starting to reach for the computer when he's close enough to it....gotta keep an eye on this guy...he's adventurous

We got out and did some hiking this weekend with some friends..the weather has been really nice, so we've been enjoying the outdoors. Blake has moved from the front pack to the backpack and so far he seems to really like it. The only time he didn't like it so much was when we went snowshoeing with him in the back and he was so wrapped up he couldn't move. Every time since he has really liked it...he looks around, kicks me in the back and screams in my ears...glad he enjoys it :-)

From 2009-03-04

From 2009-03-04

More Pictures: 2009-03-04