Lucky Peak

Josh had Tuesday and Wednesday off this week, so on Wednesday we went to Lucky Peak Recreation Area, which was awesome! This is one of the coolest things I've seen about Boise so far, and we can't wait to go again. It takes about 1/2 hour to get here and there's a big park with biking trails, grills, tables, a beach, and even a concessions hut and bathrooms! We went biking for about an hour and a half, and then came back and made lunch and played in the sand. Michael absolutely loves being outside and he was happy the whole day.

These are the sand toys he got for his birthday--thanks grandma!

Happy Birthday Michael!

This is Michael helping dad wrap his present from us.

Michael is so spoiled, look at all these presents! Thanks grandmas and grandpa for these presents!

I guess he liked it!

I decorated Michael's birthday cake and I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I wasn't trying to do anything fancy like mom, I just wanted something fun to dig into, and apparently Michael thought it was perfect for that...For Michael's birthday dinner we had his favorite--spaghetti. He LOVES shoving spaghetti in his mouth, which makes for perfect little-kid-spaghetti photos!

We started off the day by letting Michael lick the beater for the first time. Very appropriate birthday activity.

Grandpa Savage's House

Ope, gotta go, so I'll talk about these pics later!

Grandma Allred's and Grandma Sally's Houses

The Drive Down


We drove down on Friday afternoon, and it didn't go as smooth as we hoped, but we managed. We took a pit stop in the middle of nowhere to calm Michael down and Josh gave him this long piece of dried weed that he had fun swinging around for awhile.

Grandma's swing!
Notice the other two grandkids in the background admiring my mom's fountain.
This is Michael swinging in the swing my mom has out back. She has made her yard absolutely gorgeous--it is prettier every time I go there.


Mother's Day dinner with all the moms and ladies at the table... and Josh...


While I was down there Heidi helped me start my first quilt! It is the same pattern she made for my sister Jenn (who is having baby boy in August!) It's a little elephant, and I can't believe I didn't take a picture. But I will soon and I'll get it up here for all to see cause it's so cute. So here's Heidi and mom helping me while Josh is perfecting his grilled-cheesing skills.


Cousin KateShe has such big beautiful brown eyes

I love that Kate and Michael are so close in age--only 8 days apart, can't you tell? I love this picture, they are both eating with the same hand and they both have their feet pointed in the same directions. I wish I could see them together more to compare--it is so funny!

Grandma's highchair didn't have the bar that usually goes between the legs and it didn't take Michael long to figure that out!

Well I am so bummed because all the pictures I took at Grandma Sally's house were deleted by accident when I was trying to organize my pictures!!! The reason that is so upsetting is that Grandma Sally has the CRAZIEST spider bite you have ever seen and I was hoping to keep that picture for generations to come cause I know it will impress Michael some day...
She was bitten by a hobo spider several weeks ago and I guess the venom killed her skin cells so she has this little black crater in her skin. Isn't that a cool grandma story? Don't worry, she has been to several doctors and she will be fine. Oh well, if you see her be sure to ask her about it. It makes for a good story!

Letting Michael Take the Lead

I am reading a book right now called How to Get Your Kid to Eat--But Not Too Much by Ellyn Satter, a dietician whose work Josh really came to respect in his nutrition classes at BYU. In the book she also talks about some things she learned from fellow psychologists about letting your kids take the lead. I guess they recommend getting down on the floor with your kids and staying within 12-18 inches of them and just following them around and doing what they do, being careful not to be too overwhelming or to show more excitement than they are, and not introducing any new activity that your child doesn't come up with first. Josh has done this a few times with Michael and it has been really fun for both of them!

Heading to Utah!

We are heading to Utah this weekend! We are so excited to see our family's! Michael was so sweet to help me pack. :)

"Seriously, mom, this is way too many diapers. You are exaggerating. Let me take some of these out of here for you..."

Michael's 9-month-old picture


Just noticed the other day how we never take pics of us anymore. I always said I wouldn't do that, so here we are!

"Look how smart I am, I know what all of this is and what all these words mean!"

"Stephanie, why are you taking a picture of me?"

Michael loves to swing... I think he would do it all day if he could!


I'm so sad this is fuzzy! Here we are at the sewing club--my weekly retreat to Sister Garner's house! Here is Sister Hibbard, Sister Garner, Michael, me, Eileen, Holli, Lucy, and Desiree!


Michael's first birthday party invite! Here is Casandra, Eric, Emily, Megan, Josh (the birthday boy) Holli and Eileen!

More friends! We had Easter dinner at the Nielsen's. They are Paul, Eric and Casandra. Apparently Michael thinks I'm being a cheeseball and is turning to me to say "mom, are we seriously taking ANOTHER picture?" Meanwhile Eric is hamming-it-up as usual!


Michael took a break from playing with his toys to do some light reading in Josh's Family Medicine textbook.