My feathered friends...

Those in my ward know that I've been trying to find ducks around our area. I've been asking around and been to two lakes and 4 ponds with no sign of ducks. I got it in my head that Tyson would just love to feed the ducks and I was just trying to plan a fun activity! I even had been carrying around bags of bread in my car in case we found some on our way home from somewhere. Well after all that searching, Scott finally found some (at a pond I'd already checked)! Well, not exactly ducks, but geese, but at this point I would take anything I could get. So Scott and I head over to the park and to where the "ducks" were sitting in the shade and tried to get them to eat our bread. Most were not too interested, but we did get a few followers. However, Tyson really had no interest. He wanted to play in the dirt, chase a dog that was walking by and play with dad on some pull-up bars in the park. So what do I get out of this long awaited, built up event? Me, by myself, feeding the geese, while Scott is getting a kick out of this and taking pictures!
Starts like this...Ends like this...they were getting a little to close for comfort (I'd heard mean things about geese).

Where is Tyson you may ask?...

Off doing this....And this...

And this...Any pictures of him feeding or even near the geese? No.

Splash park

We have a splash park seriously, around the corner from our house (in case any family members or friends would like to visit us and bring their children....). It's growing on Tyson, but he mostly just wanders around the outside of it and plays in the water that spouts only a little bit out of the ground. He is not a fan of getting water dumped on the head or splashed in his face. Can't say I blame him. Those are a size 7 shoe and one of the only pairs we can find to fit his fat feet. What 17 month old wears a size 7??(doesn't he look tall in these pictures?)

Here he is throwing a mini tantrum because I wouldn't let him eat some random person's snacks that were sitting out. My child is the thief of the playground. You leave it out unattended, its fair game. This, for instance is not our bucket...but I appreciate other mothers who think ahead and bring toys so that my son can play with them!

Yes, Tyson is very white...almost glowing. Lets just blame it on his father and end the discussion. :)

He's also been busy doing others things. He says please both in sign language and vocally really emphatically when it comes to asking for food. I'll have to get it on tape because its quite funny. I'll be in the kitchen and he'll come running up, yelling please and rubbing his chest and I know exactly what he wants... food. Great system we got going on here! Tyson also enjoys sticking things in the VCR. I caught him putting a CD inside it, so I pull it out only to find another one. I look to see what else might be inside and found a kazoo. Go figure. He's a really sweet boy with lots of energy!

We love the Zoo!

I'm bored of seeing my blog post (and according to my sister, she is too), but haven't taken any pictures to keep it updated. I had a great post for Scott's birthday (which was last Thursday...Happy Birthday Scott) and I wanted to scan some of his younger pictures in it but couldn't find them. So the blog didn't end up being published.

So finally on to new events....Last night the zoo had an Ice cream Safari where they had All-you-can-eat ice cream for just a few bucks! You know my boys enjoyed that! Only a small part of the zoo was open where they were giving away ice cream and that included the petting zoo. I thought Tyson would enjoy the goats everywhere but all he seemed interested in were the gravel and rocks! I could hardly catch a picture of him because he was on the move the whole time.

See...there he goes!


Here is another part of Tyson and a neighbor/church friend with a goat.

I think the goat was hoping these boys had snacks on them (which is usually the case for Tyson) and came sniffing around.

I can't believe I didn't get any shots of Tyson eating ice cream, but he enjoyed his fair share.

The 4th and Fireworks!

I grew up in a household that celebrated each holiday in special ways. So I've tried to carry that on to my own family. I wanted the 4th to be fun, even if it meant our bbq was cooking hamburgers on our George Foreman, one at a time (its true) and eating slightly undercooked corn on the cob (also true). But we had to have a bbq on the Fourth of July...it's tradition afterall! Even though it's been only a year since we've lived in Nebraska, this is our 3rd Fourth of July here (the first being during an internship summer we spent here in 2007) and I think we've finally found the best place to watch fireworks. With only a few debates on where to park or whether or not to go back and get the chairs I'd forgotten, we ended up finding a great spot. Though Tyson would most likely never remember this year, I wanted to experience watching him, watching fireworks. Last year we watched it from our car and this year, by golly, we were going to watch it outside on a blanket with the rest of the folk!

We found a great way to keep him seated and quiet....Marshmellow Maties. A great show took place right above our heads and Tyson just sat and stared. Didn't cry, didn't really even move, just watched them. Made my day.

I couldn't help adding this picture of Tyson from last year on Fourth of July. He was almost 5 months old...It's amazing how much and how fast they grow!Hope you all had a festive 4th!

My Ty

Things have been quite a bit slower this past week and so not much to blog about. So I thought I'd just post some random pictures of Tyson. He is one funny kid and its definitely fun to see his personality take shape. He's a pretty happy boy the majority of the time. He just like to be on the go, as evidenced by this picture... (He still likes to suck on his blankets when he's tired...I know it looks funny)
We were on a walk outside and he bent down to play with his shoes and just got a little top heavy and smacked his face on the sidewalk. I wish it was due to something a little more athletic but alas, he's only got the clumsy genes so far.

He had a big bruise on his forehead last Sunday at church because he tripped on a rug and banged his head against the window frame part on the church door. He was a nasty bruise that showed up right away. Then this week for church we took him looking like this! Please people..don't turn us in!

Speaking of church, we are on a countdown to nursery (about 7 weeks but I think I'll start sending around week 5 or 6)! I'm sure most of you know the feeling. We put him in there for a little bit on Sunday (I was teaching my sunday school class and Scott needed to play the piano in primary) and when Scott peeked in, Tyson was just chowing down on all the snacks. Go figure. Nursery should be no problem for this boy. Toys and Food = Tyson's best friends.

A few weeks ago, Tyson came out of the bathroom (its right around the corner there, by our front door) with a long stream of toilet paper trailing behind him. It came all the way out to our living room. I tell ya, this little man keeps me on my toes.

(I commend you Rissa for having 2 at this age!!)

Pioneering...

Scott and I were called to be Trek parents back in April I believe. We were excited to go and it took a lot of preparation. It was this past weekend and I have lots of pictures but decided to post them on a new blog so that all of our "kids" could see them. I figured you may not want to go through them all. However, I'll put the link up so that you can see them if you want. My parents came up from Arizona so that they could watch Tyson for us, which gave me a lot of comfort while we were away. The separation was not easy, but we could secretly take our cell phones to check up on him. He was a happy boy and did just fine! Thank you so much Mom and Dad!! Besides watching Tyson, they helped paint a room, stained a shelf and hung it in Tyson's room, hung many more things around the house. My mom helped me make a flower arrangement to go in the alcove above the fireplace and designed a collage of pictures to hang on my bare wall! She also helped me re-arrange some items on my kitchen planter shelves which gave it much better flow. When are you next available to come out mom and dad??

Before the trek...I know what you are thinking...and it has something to do with being super jealous of our clothes! Starting out the trek with our kids

Enduring lots and lots of rain and lots and lots of mud. I've never been so muddy, dirty, and wet in my whole life!

Our group of kids on the last day and our poor banner that was tied to the back of our cart. Our name was the "Stormin' Mormons."

It was such a fun experience and I'm glad we had the chance to go. We grew a lot in many different ways. I'd definitely go back and do it all again in a heartbeat!

Click here to go to our Stormin' Mormon blog to view all the pictures and read a more detailed account of what happened on our trek.

Ice cream = Good

Check-up time

Tyson had his 15 month check-up today and the results are in: Weight- 33 lbs. Height- 35 1/2 inches. He is doing fine on everything else, just on a much larger scale than most! He is starting to repeat lots of words and has got lots of animal noises down. The other day, he was going through our DVD's (aka...pulling them all out) and he had "The Testaments" video out and he points and says, "Jesus." I was just beaming with pride, thinking he was so smart, while giving him lots of praise, until he pulls the next DVD out, points to Chris Tucker on the cover of Rush Hour and says, "Jesus." Guess we'll have to work on that one some more.

Anyways, we finished the tree ring that I talked about in our last post. Tyson was a big help as you can see. As we were stacking the bricks, he climbed right in the middle of it and starts throwing the soil and mulch out of it. He thought it was a grand ole time.

He also likes to climb on our kitchen chairs (and then on the table), our ottoman, and his newest find, into the cooler which I had out. That kept him entertained for about 20 minutes which is a long span of time!
We also took a trip to the zoo last week. They have a really cool jungle area with lots of animals close by to see. He liked the monkeys and would keep making the "aah, aah" monkey noise.

And this last picture just because I love his fat thighs and legs in those cute pajama shorts. They kept getting wedged up between his thighs and his diaper.

5

Happy Anniversary! Scott and I just celebrated 5 years of marriage this past Friday! It was so fun to go on a real date with dinner and shopping and no Tyson. It has been a long time since Scott and I have done that and now I hope we'll be doing more of it! He also took the day off of work and we got to spend a fun morning at the zoo with Tyson. I also talked him into another home improvement project (putting a retaining wall around our tree in the front...not done yet, but we bought the supplies, so that's a start) Poor guy..never stood a chance! But he's lasted 5 years and has put up with all my crazy ideas thus far! Thanks for a great 5 years, Scott. I love you!

All work and some play!

Happy Mother's Day! Here's what happened when mom took the day off of feeding Tyson lunch....

He improvises and it's off to the bath. (It's a yogurt and he can't get his hand in there and can't figure out how to totally work the spoon, so he's trying to drink it out.) This kid is a funny one and there are many times a day where he makes me laugh and a few times that drive me crazy. But I do love being a mom and I'm sure glad and thankful he's mine! I sure do have more of an appreciation for my own mother. Thanks mom and Happy Mother's Day!

We've been trying to get a lot of work done around the house lately, especially while the weathers nice, and I thought I'd share some of what we've done (only a select few have even shown interest, so it'll be boring for the rest!)We had to invest in a lawn mower. Looks like this is what Scott will be doing every Saturday. Lucky him!
Tyson is all boy. He loves being outside and especially finding this little dirt patch in our front yard. He loves sitting in it, playing with it, and yes, even eating it, and will cry when I bring him in the house. He loves going for walks and just being out back walking around in the grass. Maybe I'll be lucky and get some sun while being out there with him.

Below is the same dirt patch after we finally put flowers and shrubs in it! There's 2 shrubs in the back that are supposed to grow 3 feet tall (cross our fingers) and another bush that will blossom with flowers. Yay! I couldn't decide on other perennials to also put in it this year. It's such a commitment to plant flowers that will grow back over and over, so I just planted annuals this time around. They look small, and they are, but I'm hoping they will grow or I'll feel really bad about my first experience "gardening." The very first row, after planting them, I found out are actually shade plants and this part gets lots of sun, so I don't expect they will survive the summer. Oops!And last, here are some curtains I made to go over my kitchen sink (I scanned up so you can't see the dirty dishes). They actually weren't to hard to make. It's been fun being busy with the house. I'm not sure Scott enjoys it all that much but I sure am. My list is not done yet for him!