A Fabulous Fourth!

This year's 4th of July started at 7am with a 5K (Provo's Annual "Freedom Run.") I ran it with 3 of my sisters. We wore our free t-shirts and matching pink arm bands. This was my first 5K and it was actually really fun. There were tons of people lined up for the upcoming parade that cheered us on to the end. I placed 30th out of 4000 runners so I was really proud of myself. OK, OK, I placed 30th in my age group, and 550th overall...almost the same...right?! Here is a shot of my sister Andrea and I right after the run:

Next I headed off to the parade with my siblings. (Aaron stayed home while Finn took a nap.)Here are a couple pics of my favorite floats:
Only in Utah. Yes, that is a bride and a model of the Timpanogos Temple. I can't remember exactly what those signs said but it was something like "Stop: to read your scriptures" and "Yield: to the spirit" etc. Classic.
This float had a giant version of the Declaration of Independence alongside flags and fireworks.

Later on, we went to my sister Megan's house for a BBQ.

Our little family

The fam enjoying some food in Megan's backyard
Finn found Megan's piano and couldn't get enough! He had to stand on his tippy toes just to reach the keys but was so excited by his discovery that he could have played for hours!

Once outside, I introduced Finn to this toy car and he loved it! (That is his cousin Brody enjoying some watermelon off to the side)

And after the BBQ? Our own personal fireworks show of course! Aaron made a special trip to Evanston, WY this year to buy fireworks just for the occasion. He is like a kid in a candy store when it comes to buying/lighting off fireworks. And yes, it is true that during the off-season he occasionally sets some off of our balcony just to relieve stress.

I love this picture because you can still see the smoke from the firework going off, and the boys are just watching it go.

Here is one of the bigger fireworks Aaron bought:


Several neighbors came out to watch the show and we all had a great time! I am so grateful to live in this wonderful country. I love Canada too (and had a marvelous Canada Day on July 1st) and just feel so lucky to have lived in two countries where I can be truly free. Happy Independence Day!

R is for Rash

Aaron and I were planning on going to San Diego this weekend for our friend's wedding. Aaron's brother was able to score us some buddy passes so we could fly for free, and we were really excited to see family and friends.
Unfortunately, Finn chose this week to catch a crazy virus that gave him a bad fever and made him really lathargic. The fever and lathargy were gone by Wednesday, so I thought it was just from teething, but on Thursday he started to break out in a rash. Since we were outside swimming on Thursday, I thought it might be a heat rash -- wrong again.
By Friday the rash was much worse and we made the sad decision to cancel our trip. I took Finn to the doctor who explained that Finn had caught a virus that gave him the fever, the rash and body ache...which explains why he has been Grumpy Grumperson for the past few days. Since it was viral, Benedryl would not help and all we could do was give him Tylenol for the body ache and wait for the rash to go away.
Luckily, his rash is 100% gone today and he is back to his happy self again. We are sad that we missed out on our trip, but glad that we had the good sense to stay home, as I can only imagine that it probably would have turned into the trip from hell for us and everyone else sharing our plane.

I felt bad taking these pictures since Finn was such a sad little Grumpster, but we had to document this crazy rash of his!



This last picture breaks my heart...poor little guy! We are so glad he is feeling better!

To Swim or Not to Swim?

So...Finn hates the pool. One needs only to view the cringing look on his face in the above picture to figure this out. He loves the bath, but hates the pool (or 'ool' as Aaron likes to call it...I won't explain why.) I took Finn to a waterpark a couple weeks ago and all he did was cry. He sat on my lap down a waterslide and just made nervous noises with a wince on his face the whole way down. On Thursday, I took him to a pool in a friend's backyard. He still wasn't very thrilled but after a while he got used to it and seemed to tolerate it...as opposed to his cousin Gemma who couldn't get enough:

I'm hoping that it's just going to take Finn a few times to get used to the idea, and then he'll love it just as much as Gemma. I don't know how I'll survive a Utah summer if Finn won't let me take a refreshing dip once in a while.

This little guy is fun, but he's a handful!

When I got home from the gym the other night, Finn was in a particularly good mood so we took a couple videos of him laughing/making noises at me:

On another note, let's talk about bathtime shall we? Our once tranquil mommy-son bonding experiences have turned into back-breaking frustration fests ever since Finn learned to pull himself up. He loves the bath, so he's not trying to get out, but he now spends the ENTIRE time trying to stand up on the side of the tub. He's already cracked his head a couple times when I wasn't quick enough to put him back on his bum. Now he knows how to sit down himself so it's a little better on my back...but he thinks it's a game which I'm sure is a recipe for another head-cracking incident. Let's hope he grows out of this soon and just starts playing with his bath toys like a normal baby!

Don't try this at home...oh wait -- we did!

We have vaulted ceilings in our place which is nice, but they make changing light bulbs a giant pain. Aaron went above and beyond the call of duty when he decided to change the entire light fixture in our living room (the one we had before was rrrrreally ugly.) Considering that the task involved straining his neck and arms on the tippy top of a 10 foot ladder for 2 hours, the fact that Aaron uttered a relatively small amount of obsenities is a feat in itself. The bonus is that he completed the job and it looks great! Here's some shots of my handyman in action:



While I'm talking about Aaron, I have to mention that Finn pointed to a picture of him today and said "Dadda"! It may be wishful thinking, but after he pointed with his finger a few times and said it, I'm convinced that it was intentional. Way to go Finn, you made your daddy proud.

This only took 30 seconds...

I was searching through my cupboard for less than a minute. When I looked over the counter at Finn, this is what I saw:


He had pulled every single pair of shoes off of the shoe rack and completely dismantled the rack itself! Yes, the shoe rack is from Ikea and therefore relatively easy to take apart but by a 10 month old?! Maybe we have ourselves a future engineer!

We Caught the Reading Bug

At the beginning of June, Provo City Library had it's Summer Reading Program Kick-off...and that means a free t-shirt for Finn! The shirts are so cute...they are bright orange and have a little bug on them that is reading a book and the caption says "Catch the Reading Bug". Aaron and I met Megan and her kids at the library, got our t-shirts and some books, then walked down to J-Dawgs for a yummy lunch.

Here we are (minus me because I'm taking the picture) eating those delicious hot dogs in the shade...such a beautiful Summer day!

In other news, Finn turned 10 months old on Sunday. He now pulls himself up on anything and everything...which is making my life a little more difficult. I've got a lot of baby proofing to do! Every once in a while he crawls like normal and Aaron and I get excited, but then he reverts right back to slithering along on his belly. His newest noises are short, bursting screams (accompanied by a big smile) and 'sshhh'. He also LOVES being upside-down and has a knack for getting his pants off...still not quite sure how he accomplishes this. Happy 10-month mark Finn!