EASTER!!!

Yes, I'm always VERY behind in my blogging. Anyways, I was so excited to be able to have a child this year to share Easter with. Even though he's not old enough to understand any of it, I still went all out with the celebration. Cameron thought I was a little ridiculous considering Kashton didn't really know what was going on. But, call me selfish, I had fun and thought the holiday was really exciting.

On Saturday night, I showed him how to dye eggs and I was surprised that he totally got it. He cracked a few eggs in the process but he also successfully THREW a few eggs into the cups of dye. Splashing dye everywhere...but he still got them in.

When the eggs were finished and he was ready for bed, he had fun playing with the pretty eggs. Again, a few more were cracked all over the carpet but I really didn't care. This was just too cute.

He is all BOY!!! Smashing two eggs together was his idea of Easter egg fun. He was so fascinated with the eggs, it was very funny and very cute.

Easter morning he tried his very first hard-boiled egg yolk. He wasn't quite sure what to think of it.

He found his basket that the "Easter Bunny" brought to him. (Meanwhile, Cameron is totally rolling his eyes. He couldn't believe that I really did get a basket for our 11 month old. So what if this was more fun for me, right???)

We got ready for church. Now, Easter dresses for little girls are ALWAYS so darling and I can't help but be a little sad that I can't buy one, but come on...doesn't he look SUPER CUTE???

The goofy guy in the pink shirt isn't too bad either.

After church we were invited over to our friends house to celebrate the Resurrection (and in their case, the end of Lent) and had a little Easter Egg Hunt.

This was the first time Kashton has ever been on the grass. This was the funniest thing I've seen in a long time. He didn't like it and didn't want to touch it at first.



After about five minutes, he decided the grass wasn't so bad after all. I can't get over what a beautiful little boy he is. I just love him.















At the end of the day, instead of the usual bed-time story of "Goodnight Moon," I told him all about the Savior and the real reason for Easter. I know he didn't understand just yet...but he will one day. Happy Easter!!!

PROOF!!!!!

Okay, for all of you who talk about how cute and sweet and HAPPY Kashton seems to be. You've heard me say over and over how difficult he can be at times and how much he cries. Well...here is my proof. I decided I would photograph him every time he cried. This happened one morning and in a matter of two hours. Needless to say, I was laughing the entire time because it made me realize just HOW MUCH he really does cry.

Right Before Breakfast

Right AFTER Breakfast

Getting His Diaper Changed

Putting On His Clothes

Playing With His Toys

Getting Ready To Read A Story

I Set Him On The Ground After Storytime So That I Could Get Dressed

Time For A Nap

I didn't take pictures of the rest of the day because I was busy, but this was the last picture we took before his bath and bed.

Well, at least I can laugh about it NOW!!

We believe we've learned what the problem has been. But that story will have to wait until the NEXT Blog (or at least until I get the pictures ready).

There and Back Again!!!

Well, we made it back to Branson. I'm finding that even though I was ready to leave Utah, now that I'm back in Missouri I'm ready to go BACK to Utah. Why is that? Anyway, that's for another time and another blog. Here is what we've been doing for the past week. I apologize for this being a bit long. I will try to not be TOO boring.

Before leaving, we had a play-date with Avarie and Elizabeth. Miss and love you girls SO much. Dani, I really hope to see you next time. Sorry we missed out this time around.

Traveling with a baby isn't the funnest thing in the world. We decided to make frequent stops to HOPEFULLY keep Kashton happy. Our first stop was Grand Junction where we found a park. We ate lunch and Kashton swung on the swing for the FIRST time and LOVED it.

He loved playing on the playground.

Next stop was Glenwood Springs, Colorado. We decided to stop at the Hot Springs and go for a little swim. I HIGHLY recommend this to anyone that happens to be driving to Denver. Stop and swim in the natural hot springs, it was so relaxing and much needed. Kashton LOVED the warm water. It was his first "swimming" experience. Notice the snow behind me??

We stopped in Denver to visit Cameron's best friend Eric. We ended up staying for a few days which turned out to be awesome.

At a play ground with "Uncle" Eric and Cameron!!!

We went to Boulder, Colorado and we went up into the mountains and got these great pictures. Yes, it was FREEZING, but so worth it.

With Eric and his wife Sariah (BTW, Eric is the reason why I have all these photos. He's letting us use his old digital camera since we don't have one. So I nice shout-out to Eric is appropriate right now)

Cameron is peeking over the edge. It dropped straight down. Very scary!!!

That night we received FREE tickets to the Billy Joel Concert. Much thanks and another SHOUT-OUT to Zach for his AMAZING cake-decorating skills. If it wasn't for his talent, we wouldn't have been able to go to the concert.

Now, I'm not much of a Billy Joel fan, but it was a pretty great concert. He sang us some songs, cause he's the Piano Man.

Funny story of the night! We didn't have time to eat dinner before the concert so we decided to just grab an Arby's sandwich at the event. So, we paid $6 PER Arby Melt and then I couldn't help but laugh when I bit into it. All the cheese was on one side and all the meat was on the other. I think the Gelato was WAY more worth it than the Arby Melt.

By the way, Thanks to Eric's parents for babysitting. Kashton LOVED you.

The next day in Denver, we went to visit our good friends at the Das Meyer Bakery Chalet where Kashton was weighed on the scale. 19 pounds. It made me miss my own upbringing in Dad's bakery. Thanks for the yummy treats Meyer family.

Cameron decided to do something useful for once. He donned an apron and made a few cakes. Some of them were a little bit crooked. :)

And the last exciting thing we did was go and see the Off-Broadway show of "The Last Five Years." I also highly recommend this. The music is BEAUTIFUL!!! Jason Robert Brown is brilliant!!!
The rest of the trip to Branson was uneventful. Kashton was surprisingly amazing during the drive ( Many Thanks and ANOTHER shout-out to Baby Einstein) Here we are, safe and sound. Ready for another fun filled year of complete nothingness in the good ol' town of Branson, Mo. Don't I sound so thrilled?

What Happens In Vegas....

...doesn't always have to stay in Vegas. Which is why I'm going to tell you about our two days there. This is one of my beautiful husband's headshots. We decided that we would take a last minute trip to Vegas so that Cameron could audition for The Phantom of the Opera. We were only there for about 24 hours but here are some highlights.

Cameron did an AWESOME audition and felt really good about it.
(He has the most BEAUTIFUL voice, I wish you all could hear him sing)

We took Kashton to FAO Schwartz where he saw a HUGE Trojan horse and rode a Hippogryph from Harry Potter.

Posed with 6 feet tall dragons and tamed the wild, pink dog.

First time on a SLIDE, he discovered just how much fun they can really be (once he got over the initial fear of it). He was sad when we walked away from the slide.

He rode the escalator all by his self.

Another first...First time on a trampoline was just TOO much fun. Especially with Daddy's help with the bouncing.

We also couldn't pass up the opportunity to play the famous Piano.

At the end of our Ceaser's Palace adventure, he was just plum-tuckered-out.

Cameron and I found this little booth that was selling something called Gelato. It looked BEAUTIFUL and oh, so tasty. So, we thought we'd have us a little treat. We both got small cups. Cam's contained mango and raspberry while mine contained chocolate and strawberry. Oh it was good....however...

...we learned a valuable lesson here. This was no Coldstone or Maggie Moos. We didn't bother to even look at the prices considering...well...it was ice cream...how expensive can ice cream be, right???????

There we were tasting this yummy new stuff called Gelato. Cam whipped out his debit card and the cute little man behind the counter said in his cute Phillipino accent (no, I'm not a genius when it comes to figuring accents. His name tag just so happened to read that he was from the Phillipeans) :

"$27.50"

WHATT!!!!!!

Not wanting to cause any kind of scene, Cameron calmly handed over his debit card while giving me the most bizarre look. Needless to say, we tried to enjoy those little cups the best that we could considering they were almost the most expensive thing we bought in Vegas.

Moral of the Story: STAY AWAY FROM THE GELATO (or read the prices before purchasing...you choose!!)

We spent Valentines Day in Vegas, so we decided to treat ourselves to one of our FAVORITE foods....sushi. Kashton got his first taste of jasmine rice and Miso soup. He LOVED the soup and tofu. He kept flapping his arms at us until we gave him more.

We also met up with two of our good friends that we went to college with. Rob Moffat and Jeff McLean, who are both in Spamalot. We were able to sit in and watch a rehearsal of the show and then went to dinner with them. I'm so mad at myself for not getting a picture with them. I was so busy enjoying their company, I didn't even think of the camera. Anyway, it was SO fun to see them. Thanks for dinner Jeffy, love you so much!!!

And Lastly.... what is Sin City without a little SIN????

The rest of our Valentines Day was spent driving 6-7 hours back to Salt Lake while listening to a cranky baby who hates being strapped down for long periods of time in his car seat. When we got home, Cam was so exhausted he fell asleep on the couch. Happy Valentines!!!!

I LOVE VEGAS!!!!