Girls Night Out and Whatchamacallits

Tonight my friends and I had GNO (girls night out). I love getting together with my girlies (we missed Mel though). It was even more fun because Cheryl, our long lost friend that moved to Hawaii, was in town....and she is pregnant..so we had a mini shower for her as well. I brought the Whatchamacallits for dessert. I got this recipe from Shawn's mom. It is definitely a crowd pleaser. Here is the recipe:
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup Karo syrup
3 Tbls butter
1 cup peanut butter
5 cups Rice Krispies

Put sugar, syrup and margarine in a large bowl. Microwave till melted, stirring after 30 seconds. When heated and smooth, add peanut butter, mix and then add rice krispies.

Spread in a buttered (Pam) 12 by 15 jellyroll pan.

Melt 11/2 cups (or entire bag) of chocolate chips (milk or semi sweet or a combo) in the microwave, stirring, they melt quickly, so be careful not to burn. Spread chocolate over bars.

Let cool, and cut into bars (I put my in the fridge to make sure they harden)

One more thing I learned at GNO, that Target carries a line called DwellStudio and it is sooooo cute! They have cute bedding and cute clothes for little ones. It makes me want to have another baby just to go buy that line of product.

WAVING BYE BYE

Cruz did his first official wave last night. Lately, when I would take Cruz in front of the mirror, he would kind of wave his arm. I wasn't sure if it was a fluke or if he was doing it on purpose. I haven't worked too much with him on this trick, but every once in a while when we would meet someone or leave somewhere I would show Cruz how to wave. Last night Shawn and I had a meeting with a friend of ours and after the meeting was over we were getting our coats on and we said to Cruz, wave bye bye! And to our surprise, he did it! It was so funny, Shawn and I were both shocked!

Passing of a Prophet

A great man passed away on Sunday evening. President Gordon B. Hinckley, the President and Prophet of the LDS Church died at the age of 97. I was so sad to hear the news because I have so much admiration for this man, but at the same time I am happy he is with his wife. His wife passed away a few years back and he often expressed in talks how much he missed her. I can only imagine the wonderful reunion they had in heaven on Sunday. I wanted to mention this because he is someone the LDS church will miss greatly, but as members of the LDS faith, we know God will call someone else to be Prophet for the church. President Hinckley left great messages for members and non members of the LDS faith to think about. Most of all, I loved his fun loving personality and his practical attitude toward life. I know God calls great men to lead and guide His church. Click on the link below to find out more about President Hinckley

http://www.lds.org/ldsnewsroom/media/mediaplayer.swf?media=http://broadcast.lds.org/newsroom/video/flv/GBH/GBH.flv&type=FLV

A Fun Getaway

We decided to get out of town for the weekend. On Friday we drove up to Swan Valley, Idaho, where my parents have a place. We were all craving a weekend away. Cruz had an enjoyable Saturday morning reading the paper and then going for a little ride in his chariot. Saturday afternoon the 3 of us went up to Grand Targhee for some skiing. We signed Cruz up for the kids club while Shawn and I had a fun filled afternoon of hitting the slopes. We love that resort because there are no lift lines and you get runs to yourself on a Saturday. By 4:00 p.m. my legs were killing. We had great conditions, new snow and a warm day. Hopefully Cruz had fun in the kids club! Sunday became somewhat of blizzard conditions so we slowly headed out of town, luckily after we went through Idaho Falls, the roads cleared up. Check out our pictures below!
Cruz reading the paper!
Cruz enjoying his chariot ride!
Kelly Skiing at Grand Targhee
Shawn, view of Driggs Idaho
Shawn and Cruz outside kids club at the "Cruzin' Coyote" sign!

Grandpa R and the Pool

I wasn't feeling very well today so I called my dad to see if he wanted to take Cruz to his swim class. Luckily, Grandpa Raddon had nothing on his schedule. I am not horribly sick, but I just didn't feel like getting cold in the pool. It was fun to watch Grandpa and Cruz in the pool anyway. Cruz had a fun time. They did our usual routine with the teacher. My dad got a chance to dunk Cruz 4 or 5 times and both were fine with it. About 20 minutes into the class, Cruz started getting a little fussy and he had to make sure he could see me at all times. I think he is getting a bit of the attachment thing going, but he was also getting cold and probably had enough of the pool for one day. We are so proud of our little swimmer!

First Shiner

So, I totally have the guilty mom complex today. This morning I was setting Cruz down to crawl around on the ground and while I had him close to the floor he wiggled out of my arms. His face hit the ground first. Luckily it didn't sound too bad, but I felt horrible. I was feeding him lunch this afternoon and I realized he has a small black eye from the incident...which makes me feel even more guilty. I think he has forgiven me though, he gave me lots of hugs in the pool today during our swim class.

Things Cruz is doing:
-Likes to pull himself up tp a stand where ever he is
-Is learning to do peek a boo
-Likes it when his dad chases him around the house, Cruz giggles so loud, it is adorable
-Likes to chew his food
-Lately, has liked getting up at 3a.m., which mom and dad DON'T like so much (hopefully this is a phase)
-Likes going to the gym day care and watching all the big kids
-Likes to play with his door and his little piano
-Likes to climb the stairs in our house....we are still working on getting down them
-Likes to squirm all over the place when getting diaper changed and getting dressed, it has turned into a wrestling match
-Likes drinking apple juice from his bottle, he still hasn't figured out the sippy cup too well
-Likes the pool and getting water in his face

Big Bully

Cruz and Burke
We had a play date on Friday with my friend Jaimie and her son Burke. Burke is about a month and a half older than Cruz. We went over to their house and Cruz was very excited to play with all these new toys. Actually, Cruz is NOT a bully, Burke just got upset somehow and Cruz was like, "what is going on!" The boys had fun together!

Swim Class

Checking things out at the pool

Excited to go in, but has some residue from breakfast still on face

Chillin' before class

For the past two weeks, Cruz and I have taken a mom and tot swim class at Dimple Dell Recreation Center. We go on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:30-11:00. It seems short, but Cruz is cold and ready to get out by the time 11:00 rolls around. We lucked out and only one other mom and tot showed up. We worked on kicking Cruz's legs and on Thursday he actually went under the water. He did great, not even a cry. When he came out of the water the first time those big blue eyes just blinked a lot and he got this look on his face that he knew he did something we should be proud of. I took him under one more time and he wasn't as happy the second time, but he still did just fine.

Shawn actually took an hour off of work last Tuesday to take Cruz to the class because I was working. Unfortunately, the temperature in the pool dropped too low and they cancelled class. Shawn was really bummed!

We are going to continue taking this class. I like it because the teacher goes over some basic swimming moves and then we work with the babies on how to get out of the pool. I don't know if Cruz is catching on to it yet, but I like the idea that hopefully early on, he will know how to get himself out of a pool if he were ever to fall in.

Crazy Hair!

I don't know if you can tell from these pictures, but Cruz's hair was CRAZY today! He woke up from his nap and it was all over the place. Sometimes he sleeps with his head pressed up against his bumper pads, thus creating a very interesting hair style. Other things Cruz is working on: we are working on learning some simple hand signs, we are working on going down the stairs backwards, Cruz is constantly working on standing, and he really wants to feed himself, making meal time a very interesting and a messy experience.

33 reasons to be grateful......

So instead of dwelling on my age and how old I feel I am getting, I decided to write a list of 33 reasons why I am so blessed!
1. an amazing husband
2. a wonderful son
3. being blessed with a body to carry and give birth to a child
4. the use of my limbs and muscles to participate in the activities that I want
5. being overall healthy so far
6. family close by
7. wonderful parents who love me
8. my family-present and extended
9. kind in-laws
10. a sharp mind (maybe some people wouldn't agree :))
11. my senses
12. a warm home
13. food to eat
14. clothes to keep me warm
15. money to do fun activities once in a while
16. great friends
17. good books to read
18. good movies to watch
19. my curiosity
20. the opportunity I have to stay home with my son-that should be higher up there on the list because I love it!
21. the swim lessons I take with my son
22. watching Cruz sleep
23. Watching Cruz explore things
24. a car to drive
25. heat in our home
26. traveling that we have done this past year
27. having the time to hang out with Shawn and Cruz
28. my knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father
29. my love of learning
30. my camera to capture wonderful moments
31. having a phone to keep in touch
32 my MAC computer
33. hopefully 66 more years of this wonderful thing called LIFE!

Eating....by Cruz

8 months old today!

Cruz is 8 months today. I can't believe how fast time flies. Other accomplishments for the day, Cruz learned to climb up our stairs. We only have 8 stairs, but he was pretty proud of himself. I am so happy he is learning new things, but I just have to keep my eye on this little bugger. I turned around to put my camera away after the stair photo shoot, and he was up on our table. This was a first! He has stood by it, but he has never crawled up on it. He was laughing, it was so cute, it was hard to try and say, "no!" with a straight face.

Cruz climbing stairs!

"Check me out!" says Cruz.

"I didn't do it!"

This is Cruz climbing up on our kitchen table!