Harry Potter

Darren thinks I should be ashamed, but let's be honest here... I LOVE Harry Potter!!! My sister Bailey and I went to the midnight showing of The Half-Blood Prince! It was amazing! While we waited in line, Bailey tried to finish the book (again) and I watched the 5th movie on my Zune. We brought drinks and had lots of candy to eat to try to help keep me awake... our plan failed. I'm pretty sure I was dozing off for the last half hour of the movie. Luckily I already knew what happens. I can't wait to see it again and stay awake for the whole thing!

Should I be embarrassed?? Never!

Oh, I almost forgot! We saw the most AMAZING costume while we were waiting in line. Someone walked by us (very slowly) dressed up like Hagrid! He had duck-taped multiple bricks to his shoes (pants covering them) and we were sitting on the ground so it made him seem even taller. It was hilarious! I just loved it! Practically made my night!

Thanks Bay! I had a BLAST!

New Friend

My friend Heather is up for the summer. She has a little baby boy that is about a month younger than Cade. It's so crazy that we're both moms now. We have so much fun playing together with our little men! And I think they enjoy it too! So far, we've gone on walks, gone swimming, hung out at a hotel, and gone to Walmart! Isn't being a mom the greatest?!

Aren't our boys cute??

After a few minutes of us taking the same picture over and over (to get a good one, of course), Cade decided he was bored and started eating Brooks :)

Don't leave me Heather! Tell Brooks to forget about school... who needs it anyway? ;)

New Toys

Cade is playing with toys ALL the time now! I remember when I used to force toys into his hands. Now he grabs everything within reach. One night we had left him in his room for a couple minutes. This is what we came back to find:

This was not a one time occurrence either. He loves to play with his car seat while we're at church too!

It's so fun to watch him and all the funny things he does now. He's rolling around (but most often just gets frustrated once he's on his stomach and can't get back over), making all sorts of new noises and laughing all the time. I could just play with this boy all day long!... Oh wait... I do!

Family Reunion

At the end of June, all of Darren's siblings (along with their spouse and children) came into town. We all stayed at Darren's parents house and we had a BLAST! It was so much fun to have everyone together. We watched movies, did puzzles, ate out a lot, went to garage sales every Friday and Saturday (got some really good deals too!), went to the beach, got hair cuts from Marci, went in the hot tub, drank lots of pop and made/ate LOTS of desserts!The list goes on! We had so much fun! Here is a slideshow of a couple pictures we took while everyone was here:

After most of the family left, Kandi and her girls were still here. We still hung around and ended up going to Darren's great grandpa's house. Cade has a picture with him, but we weren't able to get a five generation until this trip.

Five Generations! Can you believe it??

Birthdays

Yeah I know this was in JUNE, but I'm catching up... remember?? Well, Darren and I both had birthdays. My BIG present this year was...

WICKED TICKETS!!!

I couldn't be more excited! We are going on the 17th of September. I've been wanting to see this Broadway show ever since my friend Whitney saw it our Senior year and got me hooked on the amazing soundtrack. I used to sing to it with my sister and mom while we worked in the yard :) Music makes everything go faster, right?

Anyways, that night, Darren took Cade and I to the Renton Farmers Market. We had lots of fun walking around and just hanging out. Thanks Darren for the BEAUTIFUL flowers! They were gorgeous!

Darren's favorite thing to eat at any fair/carnival type thing: Corn on the Cob. He just can't resist it!

Cade and I danced to the music

We also had fun by the water

Oh yeah, I spent the day at my parents house while Darren was at work. They had a little party for me too :)

Darren's birthday happened to be when most of his family was here (the rest got there the day after). I didn't get any pictures (sorry Darren!) and I'm not sure what his favorite present was... maybe he'll tell you later...? Doubt it.

More to come

Ok, ran out of time for the night, but will finish my buildup of blogging soon... promise! And don't worry, these ones will be a little more recent :)

Brock's Farewell

I can't believe I'm just now posting about this, but my little brother Brock is on a mission for our church. He was called to the West Indies mission. He left June 3rd and will be back in two years! We're so proud of him for making the decision to do this. It will change not only his life, but the lives of those he comes in contact with. He and the people he serves will continually be in our prayers.

Before he left, my older sister and her two little girls came up to say goodbye to him. It was soo much fun having them here! I love those girls and I can't believe how much they've grown up since the last time I saw them. It was so fun to be able to spend so much time with family. Like the last time my sister came up, we stayed at my parents house the whole time... it was a blast!

Here is one of their last pictures together before Brock left. It's going to be crazy for Brock to see him and how much he's changed when he gets back!
Brock was trying to make the same face as Cade... successful??

Brock got Cade a Jordan outfit when he was born. Then Darren got some shoes that matched it. He's a basketball player in the making!

Oh yeah! Cade actually PLAYED with his toys for the first time while we were there! I didn't have to force him to hold them or anything! It was very thrilling :)

Again, pictures are in the slide show below. View if you desire.

Cade's Baby Blessing

Finding a day to give Cade his blessing was crazy because the grandparents happened to alternate weekends out of town. Then my Grandpa passed away and the funeral was held the only weekend that would have worked. It just kept getting pushed off. FINALLY, we found a day that worked! For those who don't know, a baby blessing is something we do in our church that officially gives a baby a name for the records of the church, and a blessing from God for the rest of his life. It's not mandatory, but customary. Unfortunately, we are terrible people and only got ONE picture of Cade in his blessing outfit... and I'm not even in it... whoops.

We had family and a few friends over after for some food to celebrate Cade's special day. The pictures are in the slide show below. We'll make sure to get more of the next baby...

Grandpa Beeson

At the end of April, my Grandpa Beeson (Dad's Dad) died. Totally unexpected. However, it was perfect for his; he died suddenly of a heart attack right off the dock at Lake Powell (probably his favorite place in the world). Obviously it was a sad occasion, but it was perfect timing for everyone to be able to meet Cade. Darren wasn't able to make it, but I drove down with my family and my little man. He did amazing on the long trip and I was so glad we were able to go. It was wonderful seeing everyone. Not only was he able to meet tons of my extended family, but he got to meet his only boy cousins for the first time! They were so cute with him. Wish you could've been there Darren!

Ok, is this the funniest thing you've ever seen or what?? My grandma had breast cancer about a year ago and had to go through chemotherapy. She lost her hair in the process but had a beautiful wig to wear when she went out. Well, as you can see, her hair is back now and she's cancer free! So we thought we'd put the wig to good use, since Cade had just lost most of his hair by this time :) I think he looks like a baby Einstein. We couldn't stop laughing!

The rest of the pictures from the trip are on the slide show.

Vancouver

So yes, I do realize this was more than half of Cade's life ago, but I wanted to post it anyways. We went down to Vancouver, Washington for Darren's cousin's wedding (which happened in April). We had so much fun down there spending time with family and it was great for me to meet some of them for the first time. We were only there two nights, but we made sure to stay up late to make it worth the trip! Darren's parents, his brother Cory, wife Lindsay, daughter Brooklyn and us stayed in a hotel close by. There, Cade and Brooklyn got to have their first swim!

The water was great! Bathtub temperature, which was perfect for Cade... and me :) He absolutely loved it! Darren had lots of fun swimming with him.

We didn't think to buy swim diapers and Brooklyn's were much to big for Cade, so he wore a normal diaper... it was INSANE!!!

Do you see that??? It's so full you can practically see down his diaper!


Here is a slideshow of our time there. We had so much fun! Thanks for getting married Shauna!