don't take my balloon from me...

Lastnight at our ward's enrichment they had some leftover balloons, so I took some home with me because I knew Easton would love them. However, I probably never anticipated how MUCH he would love them. Since I have gotten home lastnight he has not removed the strings from his chubby little hands. He fell asleep with them (wanted to get a pic, but didn't want to wake him) woke up with them, and even ate his breakfast with them. Right now he is watching Yo Gabba Gabba with them..he also keeps playing with other toys with one hand while faithfully holding on to the balloon strings in the other hand. What a funny boy! Cheapest entertainment ever!

easty & kiersty

this is easton and our next door neighbor Kiersty. We are sad because Kiersty will be moving away next month. She is such a good little babysitter to Easton, along with our other neighbor Lauren. We are so lucky to have cute girls just the right age for babysitting that live close! Easton feels so comfortable with her, he just walks right into her house and goes to jump on the tramp with her almost daily!

memorial day

So every single year for as long as I can remember (or since I was in high school) we always go and visit my grandmother's grave in Aberdeen and do a little bbq with my family. This year was the first that we didn't attend. Living in Utah we have had to adjust to not being there for every little family thing. So this memorial day since we didn't have family to party with and all our friends were hanging with their families, we did what anyone would do and spent the day cleaning our garage. Easton was a big help as you can see....he got on his big boy gloves and thought he was being extremely helpful.

he also had lots of fun running through the sprinkler, he kept running through and saying 'oooh' really loud

easton update

I kind of meant to do this little update post when Easton turned 18 months old, which was a little over a month ago..but better late than never seems to be my motto in life and in blogging! Anyways, when I took Easton in for his 18-month dr. appt. he was 85% in height. 60% weight (lowest he's ever been for weight and height) but it was funny when the doctor was giving his head % he said 'well, as always his head is ginormous and off the charts' (haha) So maybe one day the rest of his body will catch up to his big ol' head. We just think he must have really big brains in there!
He's doing lots of funny things lately and talking more and more everday. Last week, I was sitting with Shannon and he said to Easton 'my mom' and Easton goes' uh. no. my mom.' I think that was my mothers day present from him!
Just a couple days ago, Easton started calling me honey. It is rare he calls me mom anymore, now it is mostly just 'honey'.
Whenever he wants more juice or milk he hands me his sippy says more and then starts jogging his chubby little body to the fridge.
He is obsessed with bellies. Daily he lifts up my shirt and says 'mom, belly' hopefully he doesn't ever do it in public, that would not be pretty!
He loves playing with cars lately and scoots around on the floor driving his car saying 'vroom, vroom'...

Some of you may also have wondered about his naturally rosy red cheeks. Easton has a case of Eczema that will be on and off the rest of his life. There are some lotions that make it better but it never fully goes away! He is our little mini Santa minus the white hair! He has it on his cheeks, arms, and legs. Everyone always makes comments about his beautiful blue and eyes and cute red rosy cheeks! We love it, can't complain and feel really fortunate that it isn't something more serious and that he is in really good health!

We love him SO much, I can't believe my baby is almost TWO! here are some pics of our little man!

here he is with Grandpa Wahlen on his farm
he loves his monkey backpack and jamba juice, he's in heaven right here!

at the park on the swing, loves his sunglasses!

enjoying a cookie, my bribe to try and get him to look at the camera...believe me it's like pulling teeth to get him to look and smile!

A little family pic at our nephew's baptism. Easton was super ready for a nap!

This is a video of him 'jumping' or what he thinks is him jumping.

Happy Birthday Angie!

Yesterday was my older & wiser sister Angie's birthday! She turned 28. Angie is totally the life of the party, and gets upset if there is ever a party she can't attend! She is easy to talk to, always fun to be around, and really cares for all her siblings. She is very generous...will do anything for her family! She let Easton and I stay at her house for a couple days last month while I was doing hair and took care of Easton for me and never asks anything in return! I only wish I lived closer to her! She is a wonderful mom to three of the cutest girls who are wonderful cousins to Easton! We love you Ang and hope you had a great day!

Grandpa Kimball's Funeral

On April 15th my Grandpa Kimball (mom's dad) passed away after battling lymphoma cancer. He was a great man. I always admired his honesty, hard work ethic, and generosity just to name a few. It was sad to see him go but I can only imagine the sweet reunion that took place between him and my grandma. He couldn't wait to be with her again and always seemed empty without her around. We traveled to Northern California where he lived most of his life for the funeral, after it was all over it was pretty hard to leave since I had so many childhood memories there and will probably not have a reason to go back anytime soon.

Wasn't he handsome?
at the funeral. He was a World War II vet, and had a military burial.

My parents and siblings (minus Elder Wahlen) at the burial.

We love you Grandpa, you will be missed!

Easter Sunday

So, because I put the pictures on in the wrong order...this will be the reverse order of our Easter happenins....this is Easton after church. I tried to take some good pictures of Easton in his Easter Sunday outfit. The problem is my subject never smiles for the camera anymore. Apparently, as of a couple months ago he became too 'cool' to smile for the camera....

I think this is his 'Zoolander-like' model poseSunday morning he got his easter basket bright and early at 7 a.m. We usually have church at 11 but for Easter had stake conference bright and early at 9. He really enjoyed a paddle with the ball attached that was in his basket. He walked around for 10 minutes going 'wee, wee'..$1 well spent.

Easter basket...guess I shouldn't have been so cheap...anything that required batteries in that basket didn't work...so half of his basket.

Easton and I at the Clinton City Egg Hunt. He was pretty upset because when the horn went off he was saying hi to a dog in the park. So he pretty much cried while I picked up eggs for him. He wasn't interested in AT ALL! He loves doggies...it figures that Shannon and I would have a kid that is OBSESSED with dogs since we are not dog people. He seriously freaks out everytime he so much as hears one on TV. Soon to come...video clip of him saying 'doggie' and 'woof, woof'

All in all we had a wonderful Easter. It was the first one in our almost six years of marriage not spent with either one of our families...so it was a little weird. But at the same time fun to start our own traditions in our little family! Hope you all had a wonderful Easter too!