The day Dean walked.

No mom should have to visit a friend and her new baby in the hospital the same day that her own baby decides to walk.

I'm an emotional wreck. A good, happy kinda wreck.

A friend and I went to see our friend and newborn baby this afternoon. We talked about having babies, we held the new baby, and all I'm thinking about is Dean's birth day.


Then I think about Dean's upcoming birthday, how it came so fast, he's almost one, yada yada yada...

Then. I come home. Reminiscing, obsessing, tearing up over May 2nd 2010. Just hanging out with my boys.
Then. Dean walks the 3 feet between the coffee table and our couch.

Today. He chooses today. Will he be this hilarious and ironic his whole life?

{and can I just add it was for food??? He wanted more oranges}

We were so excited, we made him do it a few times back and forth between us, which he loved, and then he decided it was time for bed.

He's all grown up.

(not a picture from today)


{Video hopefully coming soon}

When one door opens...

...it might be Dean!

Zach and Aly Visit!

We were lucky enough to have Zach and Aly come out and spend a few days with us here in Philly. I've mentioned them before, but here is the gist (found on this post):

"Alex met Zach at Weber where they had a few classes together and got through the MCAT together. They introduced their wives who were named Allyson Paige and Alyson Paige, who became fast friends. Us girls were able to go through pregnancy together and keep each other company when both husbands worked night shifts. It's been fun to experience becoming parents together also. We'll miss them terribly when we part ways to head off to different Med schools, Alex to Temple and Zach to Ohio State."

And we do miss them terribly.
But had tons of fun with them while they were out here!

The boys and their boys July 2010

The boys and their boys March 2011

The little boys. July 2010

Beckham 1 week. Dean 10 weeks
Matching Volcom Onesies

The little boys. March 2011

Beckham 8 months. Dean 10 months

Instant friends.

Here's the rundown of our tour through Philly:

Tasty Twister Pretzels

Boys riding in style

Girls riding deliciously

The Art Museum
Love this candid Aly caught of us.

I love my family

The friends.

One of the cutest Rocky pictures ever taken

Reading Terminal

Boys FINALLY reunited on the tennis court.

Two birds boys with one stone tub.

Chubby's Cheesestakes. Of course.
The goodness surprised them.

The Liberty Bell

U.S. Mint
Our first time. Glad we did it. Not in a hurry to do it again. Would have been a lot cooler if the machines were actually in production when we were there.

Fancy dinner

Tour of Temple Med

Really good BBQ from small place by Alex's school.
The goodness surprised me.

Our church building
Have I ever shown you a picture?

Aly's camera catches the bars on the windows perfectly. :)

It was a good trip.
We are back to missing them terribly and can't wait to see them again!

New Hampshire Trip

Dean and I were lucky enough to tag along with our friends who took a trip home to New Hampshire!!! We left Friday March 18th and got home Saturday the 26th. Dean did pretty good in the car...better than I expected. I'm sure it helped having two other kids in the back to talk to him, sing to him, and give him toys and snacks. If he had slept better that week, I would say he was the best vacation baby ever! A couple days into the week we figured out a little routine, he got better naps, and it was easier for me to enjoy him. Oh and you'd better believe he LOVED exploring a new house! It was a fun adventure for both of us and I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pictures as I probably should have (of course), but here are some I did get:

The Children's Museum in Dover
For the California people: it's kinda like Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana
For Utah people: It's kinda like Discovery Child's Museum at Gateway

They had a little section for infants and toddlers
Dean's favorite parts...
Mirrors

And the trains

We titled this video "Success. Fail. Fail. Success."

My favorite thing to do on Vacations....

Eat.

Here are a few of the places we went...

Papa Gino's
It had really good pizza. And I saw for my first time the New England way to eat hot dogs.. wrapped in a piece of really good bread instead of in a bun.
Crazy. But good.


Moe's Subs
Went there twice. Best Italian subs ever.
When they first started they would only serve one type of sub- the Italian, but now they have a variety. But if you order the "Moe's Sub" from the menu they won't substitute anything on the sandwich...or something like that. But you wouldn't want to anyway. It's heavenly.
(ignore the send it here thing... best picture I could find on internet)

LaFiesta Brick & Brew
Yummy Yummy Yummy pizza. Like, so good. I'm really into the thin New York style pizza, and boy is this some of the best (that i've had) yet. Even the 4 yr old in our group wanted more than just his usual cheese pizza... it was that good.
The Friendly Toast
Tied for one of my top three favorites.
Funky place, with funky decorations, and funky staff. I loved every bit of it. It's in downtown Portsmouth surrounded by streets lined by quaint and cool shops. I loved it. If I were to move to NH, I would bet it would be here.
Portsmouth...not Friendly Toast.
Although...that'd be cool...
We shared Friend Green Tomato BLT, a Mission Burrito, and King Cakes (really yummy pancakes with bananas, chocolate chips, and peanut butter)

Newick's
Another tied for favorite.
For two reasons:
1. The location and view. It was right on the water and you might not be able to tell but the whole back half of the restaurant had windows looking out onto the water like this:

2. I had my first lobster at Newicks. It was a good, yummy Maine Lobster. Loved the taste, not so in love with the dismembering part. I just avoided eye to eye contact with the poor guy.
Last favorite, but definitely not least...the food I don't have pictures for...
Home-cooked goodness by my friend's parents.
I had corned beef and cabbage for the first time, awesome steak sandwiches, Zuppa Tuscano soup (home-made Olive Garden soup), and pumpkin pancakes with buttermilk syrup. It was all so delicious. Yum.


New England Scenery pictures:
Cool bridge we drove on coming home
Look how close to the water you are... you're basically driving on water..

Cool houses.
I told my friend it was like Laguna Beach, but half the houses and two times the trees. Same great view...

Hampton Beach
One day I babysat the kids while my friend and her parents attended a funeral. I took them for a 10 minute drive to the beach!

Beach on the right, east coast beach houses on left

Definitely less crowded and crammed than the beach cities I'm used to. Driving inland from the beach it went: shore, houses/stores/restaurants, and a mile inland you see this:

It was an adventure, I loved it, and I can now say I've been to good ol' New England. I would love to take Alex someday because 1. he'd love it, 2....I want the food again :)

Dean 11 months

I can't believe our Bean is one month away from being a 1 year old!

Here's what he's done this month:
-finally, finally, finally started eating food! Baby peach puffs, baby cheese puffs, yogurt melts, little bites of whatever i'm eating, and of course...baked lays...
-jabbering (jargoning?)... talking like he's actually saying sentences, but in a foreign language
-cruising along furniture, moving from furniture to furniture
-watching a little Baby Einsteins, mostly when he wakes up at 6am before mom is ready to be functional
-There was a week or so that I would have to give him a chip to keep him still long enough to get his clothes or diaper changed
-road tripped to New Hampshire (post on that coming soon)
-he's started being destructive...hitting toys together, crushing food we give him or hitting it against the table, picking up and throwing things that are in his crawling path
-He is up to 6 teeth! 4 on top, 2 on bottom.
-He's gone through a fussy/yelling phase (probably due to the teething mentioned above). But the boy has definitely learned volume and gets pretty dang loud.

Mostly, it's just been fun to see him go from baby to kid...
See what I mean:

He's trouble(permanent marker on his face and chin folds)

Speaking of chins and folds...
He is getting taller, thinning out a little, and I actually see his neck more than just bath time when I would lift his chin to clean his neck.
He plays and explores

Loves playing/tagging along with the big kids
Luckily, they like Dean as much as he likes them

(Can't keep him out of the Burger King play place)

Did I mention he's getting tall?

(too tall to stand under a kitchen table)

He can {kind of} walk with only one handed assistance

Loves playing with his dad

{who is apparently way more fun than mom}
(if you make this picture bigger, you can kind of see his top teeth. Cute and gappy)

He just starting holding his own bottle {finally}
And now holds everything like he's drinking from a bottle

Did I mention he's getting tall???

He's started climbing over things...

Into things...

And I probably already mentioned that he's tall...

Oh, and I had to document one of his sad faces...

And of course
Videos.

What our General Conference weekend was like:


Loves when we help him drink out of a big cup, or tries it himself.


Little bit of his one hand walking.


23 days left of year #1!