September Update

Life has been busy, as usual.. and I just haven't seemed to find time to blog.. so while Connor sleeps here I go:

When we got home from Alaska Clayton stopped by to see our photos and to hear how the trip was.. He asked me not to put his picture on my blog..... but i'm going to anyways and ask for forgivness after.. SORRY CLAYTON (it's just too cute a picture not to post it :-)

Seems like now that Connor is eating solids.. the evenings are filled with feeding him, baths and bedtime... To say the least, Connor loves to eat! :-) There aren't many things he doesn't like, but his favorites are Avacado and Plums.

Here he is eating squash.. its not his favorite but you wouldn't know it :-)

Connor went to his first football game a few weeks ago... Omak Pioneers... we went with another couple and their daughter :-) crazy to think that in the blink of an eye Connor could be out there on the field... for now he'll just enjoy it from the stands! He was most interested in the cheerleaders and the band... it was fun, but we ended up leaving in the fourth as the kids were tired..

Jeremy and Connor at Connors 1st football game

He is watching the band in this one...

The family.... :-)

It wouldnt feel right to wrap up the summer without a trip to the fair.... Nicole and Connor went almost every day but it was to be at the Thirty One booth, but Jeremy Nicole and Connor went on Saturday night, which is when we went around to the animals, watched the bulls and barrels etc. :-) Connor seemed to enjoy himself, but is a little too young to get into it, next year he'll love it!

Connor and Dad checking out the horse barn...

Connor and Mom.. he loved how soft it was ;-)

Connor and Nicole drove to Boise and spent a week hanging out with everyone there. I found it easiest to start driving (on both ends) at the wee hours of the morning so as to get as many miles out of the way while Connor sleeps.. 8 hours in a carseat (facing backwards) with a 6 month old... is not enjoyable for either party involved! :-) SOOO we started our drive at 5 am... works pretty well :-)

Connor sitting on the counter with grandma Shelly

While Connor is still chlosterphoobic.. he loves when we "float"his blankie down over him, then pull it away as soon as it settles on his face.. here are a few pictures playing the game :

Connor playing with his favorite toy on a blankie GG Cable made for a friends baby girl but then ended up keeping.. Connor loves it.. would sit and rub his feet on it or "scratch"it with his fingers.. :)

BLUEBERRIES!!! He loved them..... as you can see... stained him a little but was worth it!

On the way back to Omak I stopped to get some fresh air... Connor enjoyed the play toy that was for babies :-) He heard a plane go over... was looking for it in this one

I recently became a Consultant with Thirty One. We are a direct marketing company that makes sales by doing home based parties and catalog parties. At a Thirty-One party women get to spend time with friends and family while purchasing stylish, practical products like totes, purses, accessories and more to help stay organized and look good whole doing it :-) The companys main goal is to celebrate, encourage and reward women, which means that they offer fabulous customer specials every month, the host always earns tons of free and reduced price products and anyone looking to find a way to make some extra money in a social setting with products that literally sell themselves can! I am very excited about my new business and the potential it holds. If you want more info or would like to host a party or join my team let me know. Here are a few photos I took of the setup at my moms house...

my website is www.MyThirtyOne.com/Draggoo

We love our house.. for now, it sometimes feels a little small, But I LOVE the trees we have here!! They are the kind of trees that are perfect for treehouses, they provide lots of leaves to play in in the fall and they're the type you can hang swings from!! which is exactly what I recently did, thanks to Connors Great Grandma Cable who picked this one up at a yardsale.. SWEET.. Connor loves his new swing.. if i'd had this earlier, i could have gotten so much more yard work done :-) O well.. next year..

You can see it on his face .. he LOVES to swing :-)

This is awesome!

The advantage of large trees :-) (it was a little freaky hanging it.. not very safe either, but luckily I can just leave the chains and just take the swing off in the winter!)

We went to Seattle last weekend. Nicole to spend some time with her best friend Suzanne and Jeremy to go to a Huskies game with his brother Braden. Here are a few photos from the weekend.. I forgot to send Jeremy with a camera, so I don't have any from the football game.. :-(  bummer!

Connor has a fascination with tags.. he seems to find them on every toy/blanket/stuffed animal :-) He found it on the bouncy at Kleppens house!

Shane and Suzanne have a firepit at thier new house... the was the first tim they had used it.. SO FUN!

Kalia loves her purple chair:-)

Connor and Kalia are almost exavtly 6 mo apart in age... they had fun playing together.. but are still both young enough that they really didnt pay much attention to each other.. It was funny to watch them play.. Kalia is at the age she likes to give people her toys.. so she'd hand them to Connor, but then take it away when she realized she actually wanted t.. Connor is still young enough he didnt care... im sure that wont be the case in a few months!

chillin... watching the flames

The guys didnt get back from the game till late.. but they did make it in time to spend a little while by the fire.. here are the boys :-)

Happy family :-)

Suzanne and Kalia.. She is showing us her cheerios that she spilled.. :-( oops

On the way home from Seattle we stopped at our good friends in Waterville who just had their second child, baby Blake..  He was sooo tiny! It's amazing how fast 6 months can go and how much a baby can change and how quick you forget just how small they are!

Dakota was showing Connor her toys and how they work :-) He was very entertained.. and sooo glad to be out of the carseat and on the ground playing!

Dakota wanted to show us her new princess outfit.. Blake is in the background with mommy! He's adorable- a replica of his sister Dakota when she was born! So excited for them :-)

 This is just a fun picture of Connor at home with some of the greatest toys.. kitchen measuring cups and Tom Ramen package :-)

Jeremy is working 6 10's right now and i'm keeping busy with rentals and getting Thirty One parties lined up.. next thing of interest on our agenda.. we're going to Oregon so Jeremy can hunt and nicole and connor can hang with Jeremy's side of the family.. most of them haven't met Connor yet.. it should be fun! :-)

6 months already...

Has it really been six months already!! WHERE DID THE TIME GO~~ ? Connor is doing great and keeping us busy...Big milestones: he's rolling all directions, sitting up on his own, reaching for everything, taking baths in the big bath and eating solids!~ (which he thouroghly enjoys :) His stats: 22 lbs 28 inches long 12-18 mo clothes. We still think he might be teething.. but are beginning to realize it doesn't happen overnight.. it can be a LONG process!!

I was a little behind getting his pictures this month.. but these are the best ones for his 6 months photos:

His "preppy" outfit :-)

Oh yeah.. and he smiles and laughs all the time! :-)

What a little model!! :-)

Smiles....

He pushes up completely on his arms now... tries to get his knees under him once in a while..it'll still be a little while before he crawls

LOVE him in hats :-) and of course gotta love the rolls!!

I know its not winter.. but this hat is so adorable on him.. and won't fit for much longer!! :-)

Smiles :-)

I think he was babbling in this one.. which he does often now :-)

sucking on his lower lip.. also something he does often :-)

amazing how fast he's filling up the chair! Gotta love the smiles in this one.. and of course the hands in the mouth :-)

What a big boy... I can't believe how much he's changed in just 6 months!

 ..

This was him in the chair at 1 month.. growing like a weed!!

Been a crazy month.. we're off to Boise tomorrow morning for a week. Nicole has recently became a consultant for Thirty One (bags, totes and purses).. i'll post about it later, but Shelly, her mom is hosting a Thirty One party in Boise next Saturday so she's going to do that.. and of course to spend time with the family! :-) until next post!

Day 8 and 9 Seward to Whittier AK then back to Seattle

We stayed the night in Seward and spent day 8 cruising Resurection Bay, then we drove to Portage Glacier and stayed at a campground for the night.. our favorite campground the whole week... Then on day 9 we drove back to Anchorage and flew out the morning of Day 10..



When we got to the harbor to check in for our cruise they told us that because of high seas in the area our cruise was scheduled to go that they had to do a shortened modified cruise, but promised that we'd still see wildlife, so we decided to go anyways.....

Most beautiful boat harbor i've ever seen!! mountains everywhere!! :-)

wow... and pictures don't do a justice!

Connor fell asleep waiting to boad the boat, amazing how they can sleep anywhere and in any position!!.. this looks so uncomfortable to me, but whatever works :-)

At our table, we sat with a very nice couple from California... notice Connor is still asleep!

As we were leaving the harbor we spotted a bald eagle..

Seals sunbathing on the rocks!

Momma and baby mountain goats with an eagle flying by at the same time.. only in Alaska! :-)

sea birds in a little cutout in the rocks above the water..

Bear Glacier from a distance...

Harbor seal.. they are rare to see and very shy so this is the closest picture I could get...

One thing I really hoped to see was whales... we only saw them for a split second .. they were being very shy :-) which is disapointing, but o well. This is Jeremy and Connor as we were "holding our breath" hoping to see a whale... The whales held their breath longer... ha ha bad humor.. sorry....

beautiful scenery we saw on the cruise

When we got back to the harbor there was an otter hanging out waiting for scraps from the fish cleaning station... smart!

This was the view we saw on the way to Whittier... the sun was actually out and it was AMAZING reflecting off the snow peaked mountains!!

WOW.. is all I can say... we sat here for a while :-)

What a beautiful state!!

This is Connor getting a bath in the motorhome that evening.. I wanted a photo to show how the shower was the perfect size for him....... not so much for big people :-) He loved his baths!!

We stayed in an awesome USFS campground in Portage Glacier.. We finally had out own campfire!! (we hung out with a family at theirs earlier in the trip).. We ate enough marshmellows to make us sick :-) it was awesome!

Connor and dad at Connors first campfire!! YEAH

Connor bundled up with mom by the fire :-) It was a little chilly being so close to the glaciers.. :-)

We woke up to POURING rain... nothing like starting and ending the trip with rain.... We were planning on going to Whittier, a town only accessible through a train tunnel, its the only multi use tunnel in the USA (maybe world.. I can't remember) It has a light and changes every 15 minutes to trade with the train.. Because of how nasty the weather was we decided not to go as the town of Whittier is basically a few miles (walk) once through the tunnel. So instead we had a relaxing morning, then slowly made our way to Anchorage to stay the night at the motorhome parking lot as we flew out in the morning....

Connor hanging out in the drivers seat watching the rain ... He did GREAT on his first family vacation!!

On the way to Anchorage we stopped to watch the boer tides come in.... we waited for several hours, only to be disappointed (later realizing we were about 20 miles too far south... bummer! It was cool to see these crazy people getting into the ice cold Alaska water with surf boards though:

Apparently you can surf the boer tides.. im sure its fun, but the cold water is a little too much for me :-)

9 days and over 700 photos later.... we had our first family trip! It was awesome.. The weather was the only disappointing factor, but you have to expect that in Alaska.. We will definately go back, and the motorhome thing worked out as good as we imagined... will most likely do that part again too... Hard to believe it's already over.....Back to reality!