Hyrum's Birthday, Homecoming Parade, and the Park

So Hyrum is now a one year old! I never blogged about his birthday, so I will do that, but first I will give you an update on him!

He can now walk. He isn't that great but he tries really hard and is improving every day. He lets go of everything and heads toward his next point of interest, whether he makes it or not is a different story. He is also SUPER stubborn and has his mind made up about everything. He is DEFINITELY a daddy's boy. In the evenings he sits at the door and waits for Brad to get home from work. He has also changed in his physical appearance. He looks like a toddler. I can't believe where this year has gone. Hyrum is an amazing blessing to both Brad and I. He has strengthened our marriage and helped us gain a different understanding of Heavenly Father's plan for us. Days aren't without their struggles and some days are extremely challenging but I feel so blessed to have his wonderful spirit in our family. He is an amazing little boy!


Here are his 12 month stats:
Head- 95% (I can't remember the exact measurement, lets just say it is BIG)
Length- 90% = 29.5 inches
Weight- 40% =22.5 lbs

All I have to say is, he is just like Brad!

So being the first child, Hyrum is super Spoiled! He had THREE birthday parties: Texas,  the Skidmores, and Mom and Dad. I hadn't originally planned on giving him a cake with just Brad and I on his birthday but my Doctor told me I had to at least light a candle, so a third party he got!
Here are some fun pictures!

 Texas Party

 Nannie was able to come to Hyrum's party! We were able to get a 4 generations picture!

He LOVES her!

 We had SO much fun in Texas!

(all credit for the pictures goes to my amazing sister! she is so talented!)

Skidmore party!

 He loves riding around on his giraffe!

Dad and Mom Party!

He really wanted to fire and the cars!

All in all I think Hyrum had a Fabulous Birthday!!

One thing I LOVE about living in a small town is for one event the ENTIRE town shuts down. Ex. the Homecoming Parade! So what do you do when the entire town shuts down? You head up with the rest of the town to enjoy the festivities!

 Can you find Wes and his blue hair?

We had fun!

So after the homecoming parade, we headed to the park to play with Hyrum while waiting around for the football game to start. HE LOVED THE PARK!

 I LOVE him!

 His hair was standing straight up! You can see it a little in this pictures, but it was so cute!

 Isn't he the cutest thing ever?

He was exploring EVERYTHING! By the end, he was walking up the stairs standing, all by himself!

Well this is what has been happening around here. We love you all!

MAJOR update!!!

*Warning* This will be a long post but I hope you enjoy!

So it has been WAY to long since I have updated the blog, so I will start at the end of July.

The last week of July, we went to Moab, UT for family vacation (just Brad, me, and Hyrum). We had a blast but it was HOT! We were able to see Canyonlands National Park, Arches National Park, Little Wild Horse Canyon, Goblin Valley State Park, and Dead Horse Point. Dead Horse Point was our favorite so I will start Pictures there.

The View was SO Amazing!

Canyonlands!

It is like a mini Grand Canyon! 

Little Wild Horse Canyon

We had to climb over this rock to get to the trail. It was Huge. (the picture doesn't do it justice)

Hyrum Loved touching the walls

We had so much fun in here. One of my favorites!

Goblin Valley

Brad was like a kid in here. He loved running from rock to rock!

It was too hot for me. I preferred to just sit there.

Arches

Double Arch

Windows Arches

We hiked the 5 mile hike to see Delicate Arch. We started our hike at noon and it was over a hundred degrees. I thought i was going to die because you couldn't see the arch the whole hike, so you didn't know how much you had left. I have to admit, it was totally worth it.

 This is us under the HUGE arch!

Hyrum fell asleep on the hike down. We wore him out!

We also went to a local Dinosaur museum. Hyrum thought it was cool!

All in all, we had a blast but were ready to get back to normal life.

After returning back to NM, Hyrum and I headed out to Texas for a visit. It was a blast! After we got back to NM we headed to Colorado Springs for Brad to run the Pikes Peak Ascent.

Before the race

Finish Line

You can see that it was quite intense. Unfortunatley, I didn't get any of Brad after he finished. It was really hard with Hyrum and Brad was exhausted so he didn't really want to pose.

He did great and loved the race, but thinks it is the hardest race he has ever run!

We went back to Texas 2 weekends ago to celebrate Hyrum's birthday and spend some time with my family. We had a blast. I will post pictures from this on his actually birthday, Wednesday!

Other news, We found out that we are going to have another little boy! He is due January 30th. We are so excited for this new adventure. Brad just accepted a full time staff position at Los Alamos National Lab and is way excited. He starts September 27th. So we are here to stay in Los Alamos.

I think my blogging time is up or at least that is what Hyrum is telling me, but stay tuned for more on Wednesday!

Hope you are all doing well!

Jet

4th of July, Jeff's birthday, and Swim Diapers!

We had a wonderful 4th of July weekend. I love living in a small town. Our church actually does the festivities for the kids on the 4th and it was so fun. Sister Lyman (we live in her house now) started the 4th of July Children's parade with her kids from our driveway years ago. It has grown into a community event and now our church holds a carnival after it. Here are our fun pictures.

After some long Saturday afternoon naps, we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and played with sparklers and watched Jeff and Wes's fireworks show they put on for us! Out of all the fireworks, Hyrum's favorite were the fire crackers. He laughed so hard he couldn't breath when Wes would light them and they would go "POP". It was so great!

This is Brad trying to write my name. lol

Here is Steph's attempt at writing her name. (my camera wasn't really cooperating with me)

Next was Jeff's 22nd Birthday. He got A LOT of church books and church movies. Perfect for Jeff!

Jeff *LOVES* putt putt golf, so we got him a putter so he can play on the local course.

Hyrum enjoyed the bows and paper.

Wes made Jeff a YoYo. It was pretty cool!

Hyrum thought it was funny that the bows could stick to him!

Those have been our recent events but I do have a couple other pictures. One day after coming home from the pool Hyrum found his extra swim diaper. He started going crazy with excitement. It was so funny. Here are those pictures.

We have had a fun summer. On Sunday we leave for our family vacation in southern Utah and then Hyrum and I will head to Texas! We *CAN'T* wait!! Pictures coming soon!

Motherhood

Yesterday was a really difficult day for me. The morning sickness is now more under control but the exhaustion that comes with pregnancy seems to be the bane of my existence. I have been feeling overwhelmed and alone lately. With my support system all the way in Texas, I have been overwhelmed with no one to call in my moments of distress and have felt alone. I also haven't been feeling like I am the mother that I know I can and should be to Hyrum. His attention span isn't very long and it seems as though he goes through is toys in a matter of minutes, bored with them all. This has been quite difficult with me already being fatigued and tired. Life goes on and I am grateful for the calls of daily support from my husband to see how the day is going. He is truly amazing!


I was reading on a friends blog and she had posted this video. It was truly inspiring and the perfect pick me up. Thank you Kristina! I hope that it lifts you up as you watch it!







I know that when I am feeling alone, my Heavenly Father is there to lift me up and help me carry on. I also know that Motherhood is a gift given to us from our Father in Heaven. I am truly grateful for this gift and know that there is no greater desire than that of being a mother!

Thanks to all of you for the support and love in my times of need.


We hope that you are all having a great summer as it winds down. We send our Love!