Easter

Our Easter was pretty packed this year.  And of course it was cold and rainy.  Before Easter, we did a few family activites like egg hunts for FHE so we could train Jack on how to do it.  I won't lie, he is a professional at egg hunting.  We also hung eggs in our trees like my mom used to when we were young.  I loved it growing up and Jack was no different.  He had to touch them each time we passed. 

We went to Gunnison Thursday night so we could head down to Goblin Valley early the next morning.  We hitched a ride with my parents in the old Trooper (which I later regretted after playing "Would You Rather" with my dad for 2 hours) and met up with Staci and Scott and Aaron and Tina (Jason and Diana couldn't make it and we missed them lots).  We hiked a very popular hike just outside Goblin Valley called Little Wild Horse Canyon.  At first Jack was fine being in the backpack, but he quickly grew tired of it and wanted to hike himself.  Which is fine, until I remember how Jack likes to meander and look at every stick and rock along the way.  Finally at the end, we threw Jack in the backpack and to distract him from crying, Logan and I literally ran the last 1/2 mile of the hike while playing hide and seek.  Afterwards we went back to Gobblin Valley for lunch and another short hike.  We headed back to Gunnison and did a Denny's stop along the way.  The next morning we woke up bright and early and faced the cold for a short and lame egg hunt at the park.  We then had our own traditional egg hunt at my parents.  This was followed by a pirate themed birthday party Staci put on for Adam.  Then Logan and I headed back down South to Bicknell to see the Chappell family.  We were supposed to hike Calf Creek Falls, but bad weather kept us from going.  We ate a yummy meal, had another egg hunt, and played with kites.  We headed back to G Town to spend the night. The next day was a wonderful Easter Sabbath and then dinner at the Christenson's with another egg hunt (this would be #4).  So fun, we loved it all!

Hanging eggs in our tree

Jack and his robot basket.  He loves it.  My favorite part is the robot is holding his own basket too.

Hiking Little Wild Horse.  My dad made walking sticks for the grandkids.  He was also offended when his children refused to use the ones he made us for past hikes.  I tried to explain how parents need both hands free, but he didn't get it.

One part was a tad sketchy for children, but it didn't phase us and we threw them on up. 

Who knew rocks were such treasures?  This is why our pace was slower than a turtle with a gimp leg.

Checking out the goblins

Tina did a small egg hunt for the kids.  I forgot about that one.  I guess that takes our total up to 5 egg hunts in two days.

You can see the snake tattoo I put on Jack's arm in this picture.  So funny to see his reaction to it.  We would ask him where his snake was and he would point at it.  When I finally washed it off, he was so confused where it had gone.

He is wondering where the candy is after Logan probably stole it. 

My new camera has panorama on it.  Thus I panorama everything now...

The egg hunt at the park.  Jack was in the age group of 0-4.  Really, does that seem fair?

The egg hunt at the house.  We did color coded for each kid.  Jack's color was orange.  He did not grasp this concept and was angry I kept taking eggs out of his basket that weren't his. 

Pirate Party for Tusks!

We played with the lambs at Grandma Chappells.  Jack didn't like them because they kept sucking on his hands.

Baby Animals

One of our favorite Logan traditions took place this month, Baby Animal Days.  There is nothing we love more than a bunch of dumb, helpless animals to laugh at and cuddle.  We were especially excited to bring Jack this year so people would stop giving us dirty looks when I stood in line to hold a rabbit, we finally have an excuse to be there.  Our good friends the Carlile's came with us.  They are animal lovers too so we all had a delightful time.  Jack mostly just stared in deep thought at the animals, but once or twice he would give a smile.

Goats!

The train ride!

The train conductor insisted we had a picture with him. He was a nice fellow.

The Carlile's.  

Howdy howdy.

Bunnies!  Jack wasn't interested in them at all.  Crazy boy.

Erica sure was!

Finally a smile.  He liked holding the ducks beaks shut.  Poor baby animals take such a abuse I am sure.

16 Months

Jack has now surpassed the 16 month mark.  He is showing his personality more and more each day.  He is still pretty small in size (despite the mounds of food he eats each day)  but is quite agile none the less.  He is pretty skilled at feeding himself and even drinking from a cup.  He is an expert walker and will break into a slight run when we chase him. He loves to walk up and down stairs and up and down hills. He likes to be very independent and do everything on his own. He likes to help get dressed and comb his hair. 

 His vocabulary has really exploded in the last month.  Here is a sample of words he is saying: ducks, cereal, mom, dad, milk, truck, bird, dump, bus, plane, shoes, eyes, ears, hair, hat, eggs, and of course NO!

He is a really good solo player and will hang out in his room or crib and read books and play.  He has also learned to throw some pretty good fits.  He appears to be somewhat of a perfectionist and also gets mad when his toys don't work right and I will often hear him yelling No! at them. 

 He loves to play and get dirty but gets irritated when he realizes his hands are dirty.  He is very observant and picks up on the smallest things which just blows me away sometimes.  He loves to mimic us and will join us in doing squats when we are exercising or likes to read the kindle or play on the laptop.  And probably my favorite development right now is that he loves to give me hugs and kisses.  He has very little stranger anxiety at this point and will pretty much play with anyone.

Cars

Jack's latest obsession is cars, trucks, buses, airplanes....pretty much anything with wheels.  He plays with cars, we read books about cars, we sing about cars.  Every time we see a car he has to point it out and acts fascinated as if though he is seeing them for the first time.  Sometimes I wonder what is going on in that head.  His favorite book is called "My Truck is Stuck", or as Jack calls it "Uh-oh".  We have read it 100 times.  He knows every page and what to point out.  

These are two cars Jack borrowed from our good neighbors.  The first day we had them, he didn't put them down once for 3 hours.  And since he insisted holding both at once, he fell on his face 3 times. Our neighbors were too nice and let Jack keep them.

He is making the brrrmmm noise.

kissing his car

Driving a car while holding cars.

A car driving a tractor while pulling a car in a trailor.  See what I mean?- obsessed.

Reading My Truck is Stuck

Silly boy.  Oh we love him.