Werewolf Bar Mitzvah

I just found out that they recorded an entire song. Some college kid put these pictures to it. Enjoy.

Good Times!

My Grandparents came for a visit from Oregon and boy did we have a good time. They got to see the sites of Lehi which you can imagine took all of 5 minutes but we managed to keep ourselves busy. Luckily we have Oliver to keep us entertained. Actually it was nice to show off the state that I have been so reluctant to call home. There really is so much around here and it was fun to get reacquainted with things that become so hum-drum after awhile. I don't know if you Utes have taken the time to enjoy the gorgeous season change going on around you but it is truly beautiful. I don't know why I don't remember it being this pretty last year. Maybe because I was large with child and very few things held beauty for me that didn't involve babies. If you haven't taken a drive through the canyon you really need to. We went up to Sundance for dinner one night and the drive up was gorgeous. New England has nothing on us. Except for maybe maple sugar candy. Have you ever had it? Its divine.

On one of our outings we went to Thanksgiving Point and walked around. They had all of these fun fall decorations out so we decided to snap a picture of our cute fall baby. You may be thinking to yourself that this picture would have been cuter if Oliver didn't have his "plug" in. But actually he was screaming in crying in the other pictures so I thought the pacifier was a great touch

See.

Happy 9 months!

Dear Oliver,

I can't believe that you are already 9 months old! It is crazy to think of life before you came, your dad and I must have sat around so lonely and bored. You have brought such joy to our lives. I never knew that I could love someone as much as I love you. Being your mom is the best job that I have ever had! You are growing so quickly that its hard to keep up with all the stages! Here are a few of your many accomplishments in the last 9 months:
You are crawling everywhere! I can't take my eyes off you for a second. You pull yourself up on every surface, your favorite places being the tub, the coffee table, and my legs. You already have 8 teeth, that are very sharp I might add. You have have a very good appetite and have taken to baby food very well. You heart cheerios and vegetables are your absolute favorite. You say "dadadadada" and "mmmmama". And most importantly you have been sleeping through the night since you were 6 months!


I love you so much and want to thank you for being the very bestest baby a mom could ask for.

Love, Mommy

(To our readers: Thank you for letting me be a bit cheesy and sentimental!)

Really?

I am not really sure what's going on here. I love Kanye and I love Will Oldham, but I'm really not sure about this. It's not that funny...it's just weird.

Good Ol' Faithful

Hello all! Well we are home again for a few short minutes so I thought I would let you know what we have been up to. We went to Yellowstone a few weekends ago for a Hutchings family reunion. We had such a good time, the cabin we stayed in was really nice and the scenery was beautiful. Some of Dusten's uncles had brought their canoes and so we decided to take them out for a leisurely ride down a calm river. Before we left my sister in law asked me if I was going to bring Oliver and I replied, "Of course, why?" "Do they have life jackets for the babies?" she replied. I looked at her blankly and replied, "Um yeah, I guess." I hadn't even thought about needing to put Oliver in a life jacket! Now this statement may not be so weird to you but you must know that while I had no second thoughts about sending my 8 month old coasting down a river, I shudder and gag at the thought of putting him in those baby seats they have attached to some carts and have near cardiac failure at the idea of him playing in a "ball pit". Anyway after feeling like a horrible mom I inquired about life jackets and there were some in his size so away we went!

We were enjoying our lazy canoe ride when the weather took a turn for the worse very quickly and before we knew it we were having to find shelter on land because we were being pelted by hail and tossed around by wind. Luckily I had my trusty mountain-man husband by my side and he had a dry place for us to sit in no time. He even supplied us with yummy Swedish Fish as we patiently waited for the storm to pass. I have to say I was very impressed by his resourcefulness and if he was writing this he would have to say that he was impressed that I didn't completely freak out. Thanks babe.


When the weather subsided a bit we climbed back in to our canoes and made the rest of the trip in peace. Oliver even fell asleep in my arms (which is so not his style)! Man that kid is a trooper!

Telluride, Colorado

A few weekends ago Nicole and I went to Telluride, Colorado for our anniversary slash my birthday to see Bob Dylan and My Morning Jacket in concert. We stayed in Ouray (pronounced you ray) which is considered the Switzerland of the United States, though I'm not sue why...I didn't see one leprechaun there.

Telluride is a fancy artsy town very similar to Park City. There were lots of quaint little stores and a lot of delicious looking restaurants. We didn't have time to try them all.

We did some light hiking, approximately 20 yards or so. The scenery there is quite impressive. Lots of waterfalls and cliffs. In fact, the town lies in a canyon. There are wall like cliffs on either side. It was very beautiful.

The concert was fabulous. It rained the entire time. During My Morning Jacket, some dude who looked like Nicole's dad gave me a giant high-five. Another dude was next to me playing the air congos during "One Big Holiday." Dylan was great. Nicole really really liked him. He wore a bright whit hat as you can see in the picture above. His voice was so good. I kind of wish he would have done more songs without the band.
I have got to give it to Bob Dylan fans. I don't think that these dudes have ever taken a break from smoking drugs like cigarettes. There were a couple of 60+ year old men next to us lighting their bongs and dancing like hippies. And on the other end of the spectrum, we saw young families of three or four with babies as young as a few months as well.

All in all, it was a great trip.

A First Time For Everything

Since we were on a blog-break for a while, I wanted to share a list of "firsts" for Oliver:

His first solid food.

His first Teeth.

His first unassisted sit up (lasted about 4 seconds).

His first "X-treem" trick.

His first second chin.

And his first time surfing on a shark.

We are very proud of all of Oliver's accomplishments.