Our Fun Summer

Since Jake has spent the summer down in Cedar City taking Organic Chemistry, we've spent and a lot of time at Jake's parents' house in Moroni. Here are some fun things Connor has done.

coloring w/Aunt Laurel

playing in the new sandbox w/Grandpaspraypainting the swingset w/Aunt Laurel & Aubrey

pouring an entire container of syrup on

his plate when no one was looking!

he must get his sweet tooth from his mom!

playing with Dad's chemistry lab set
reading w/Grandpa
eating his first icecream cone
tickling Codytrying on Dad's shoes
picking peas in the garden...he could do this ALL day! when he first picked one

and opened the pod he said, "Holy Cow, Mom! There are little balls in here!" :)

My Birthday & The Oquirrh Mtn Temple

Last Wednesday I celebrated my 26th birthday! Nothing too monumental, except now I think it's legal for me to rent a car. Unfortunately, Jake is two hours away taking a summer school class in Cedar City (the only place that taught the class in the whole state during the summer), so I couldn't celebrate with him. My in-laws were nice enough to drive down and take me to dinner though. They're so great!

A couple of days later we all drove up to see the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was beautiful! Connor's favorite part was the big chandelier in the entryway and the 12 oxen statues around the baptismal font or the "pool" as he called it.

Connor & Cody with Aunt Lucy

Connor's First Visit to the ER

Last Tuesday was pretty scary for our family. While I was home alone with the boys and changing Cody's diaper, Connor pulled his flouride drops out of the bathroom drawer, somehow opened the childproof cap and drank the whole bottle. (For those of you who don't live in Utah, I guess the state of Utah doesn't add flouride to their drinking water like they do in many other states. Not having grown up here, it was foreign to me to have to give your child flouride in addition to their daily vitamins. But here you do...) So Connor comes into Cody's room to show me that he drank all of his "vitamins". I freaked out and was hoping he had just spilled them somewhere. I kept asking him, "Did you drink this?!" He kept saying, "I drink it all gone!" Like he was SO proud of himself.
Immediately, I called poison control and was told if he didn't throw up or have his stomach pumped, his blood could become toxic and his stomach could start bleeding and that I should rush him to the emergency room. Just what every mother wants to hear when she's home alone with her two kids! So I rushed over to my neighbor's and asked if she could watch Cody and put him to bed while her husband offered to drive us to the hospital. Luckily, Connor threw up two times before we left and once in the car on the way to the hospital (sorry Monica & Alex). After running several tests and determining that none of the flouride affected his system, we were able to come home around 12:30 am. Whewwww! So we learned the hard way that Connor knows how to open child-proof bottles and to never underestimate our kids!

Connor's New Toy

This morning, Connor found a new toy in the dishwasher. This may mean that Connor has been spending too much time with Mommy and needs to spend more time with Daddy.

Calling All Moms!

I think I'm going to soon attempt the daunting task of potty training Connor. For all of you experienced mothers out there, any suggestions on techniques I should try or books I should read? I'd really appreciate it! Thanks.

Connor Turns Two!

It's official, we have a toddler! Connor had such a fun birthday! He got lots of new books, some clothes, a golf club set, a Superman cape, and best of all, his very own riding tractor. He hasn't quite learned how to pedal to get it to move yet, but he seems content to just sit on it and operate the front loader. He sat on it for about 3 hours the evening of his birthday. We couldn't get him off of it to even eat dinner! He was so sweet, all night he kept saying "Oh thank you Mommy. I love it!"

As requested by Connor, we made froggie cupcakes. We used green frosting and for the eyes we sliced a green gumdrop in half, pressed white chocolate chips into the gumdrops and used a dab of black cake icing on the chips for the pupils. They turned out great!

We also moved Connor out of the crib and gave him a "big boy" bed for his birthday. I was worried he'd figure out that he can climb out of it and come and get us during the night, but he hasn't yet. Oh, for those of you wondering, what that big lump is on the side of his bed, it's a pool noodle. My friend Mollie told me that stuffing a pool noodle under their fitted sheets, helps keeping them from rolling off. How smart!

Easter Weekend & The Hogle Zoo!

Here are some pictures of our fun Easter weekend. We took a trip up to The Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake with Jake's side of the family. Connor had so much fun! It seems like every animal we stopped to see, he would shout, "I want to ride it!" I had to tell him not every animal is like a horse :)

Connor's first time painting Easter Eggs

Happy Birthday to Our April Fool!

Jake turned 30 today! I think it might have shocked his parents more that their oldest child was 30, than it shocked Jake that he was turning 30. On behalf of all of us, Jake, we're SO proud of all that you've accomplished in your life thus far. Thank you for being such a wonderful husband, father, and son. We love you and hope you have a great day!

Cody's First Photo Shoot

Unfortunately, Cody's pictures of his first photo shoot are copywrited and I'm unable to get digital copies of them, but if you'd like to see them go to:
www.stephaniegarr.com
click on "clients" and under "password" type "cody"
We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they turned out! Thanks Steph for doing such a great job!!!

More of Nic and Natalie's Wedding

Breakfast With Mom

Every morning for the past several weeks, whenever I'm eating a bowl of cereal, Connor has to join me. As soon as he hears the cereal hit the bowl, he comes running into the kitchen, opens up the silverware drawer, grabs a spoon, and comes to sit on my lap. I guess this is one way to diet, have your toddler eat half of your breakfast every morning. Yum!

Cody's First Trip to Virginia

Grandpa & Cody
Grandma & Cody

Cody w/Nic & Natalie

After my sister's wedding in Utah, Cody and I flew back to Virginia with my parents for a few days. It was SO nice to be home, even though it rained the whole time I was there! Oh well, that's Virginia. Thanks Mom and Dad for a great trip!

Nic & Natalie's Wedding

I'm SO excited for my little sister, Natalie! She got married last week in the Jordan River Temple!!!

For those of you who don't know, Natalie decided to serve a full-time mission for our church and was assigned to the Salt Lake City South mission last summer. Due to some medical complications she was having, she came home last Thanksgiving. We knew that decision was the best for her, but she seemed to have kind of a rough time. Shortly after she came home, she continued dating a VCU Med student she dated before she left. Things were going really well, so shortly after Christmas, they got engaged! I've never seen my sister happier. I'm glad she and Nic found each other, b/c they are definitely "two peas in a pod". Congratulations you two!

"You're Too Close, Connor!"

So now that Connor understands that hitting Cody is not acceptable, he just wants to love on him all the time...kisses, hugs, high-fives, etc. Whenever I put Cody on the floor, Connor is right there, ready to show his affection. It's kind of cute, but annoying that I have to be right there, all the time, to make sure Connor doesn't poke Cody's eye out with his nose or something. If I could have a dollar for each time I shouted, "You're too close, Connor!", I'd be rich by now.

Junior Prom!

Last night, my adorable sister-in-law Laurel (the tall one) went to her Junior Prom. She looked so beautiful. We were able to go and watch her "promenade" at the high-school. I didn't know they actually still did that anywhere, but apparently they do here! At our high-school, we just had a dance, but here they introduce each couple and then they all perform a dance for their families. Kinda neat!

Cody's Baby Blessing

Cody's baby blessing was a few weeks ago. It was such a wonderful day. Jake gave Cody an amazing, inspired blessing and we were so grateful to have both of our families with us. Cody looked so handsome in his little blessing outfit. I only wish we could have gotten a picture of him before he fell asleep and I also wish we could have gotten a picture with everyone. Oh well! Here is one with my side of the family and a couple of Cody later that afternoon.

Wahoo!

Jake was invited to interview with the University of Southern Nevada's South Jordan, Utah campus last Saturday. He said everything went really well and he was very impressed with what their pharmacy program has to offer. We're really hoping he could get into their program because it's only 3 years as opposed to most other pharm schools, which are 4 years.

After the interview was over, they told him to expect to hear back anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months as to whether he had been accepted. Yesterday afternoon I was upstairs and heard Jake shout "Wahoo!" after he hung up the phone. Shortly after that, he came running upstairs and asked if I wanted to move to South Jordan with him this fall :) He got in!!! He must have been pretty impressive to receive a call back so soon. We're so proud of you Jake!

2 Months Old!

Time sure flies when you have 2 kids! Cody turns two months old today. We're so happy to have him as a part of our family. Here are a few recent pictures taken of him.