The Great Outdoors

A couple of weeks ago we went camping! We didn't get to to shoot a bear in the bum (refer to the title of this post) but we did enjoy some great food, even greater company, and cooler weather. We had dutch oven lasagna, PIZZA, peach cobbler, and sausage egg breakfast burritos. All of it was YUMMY.

Our campsite

Daddy and son

Taylor was ready to go home but we had to get a cute picture of him in his Mickey sweatshirt (thank you Grandma Edna!)

Troublemaker

I know what you are thinking... Yes, I just let him (well, encouraged is closer to the truth) eat a cheerio off of the carpet and yes, it probably wasn't very sanitary.

Bump in the Bathtub

Taylor loves to stand up in the bathtub recently but what goes up must come down. He ended up bonking his head on the side and getting a little welt above his left eye. This is him twenty minutes after it happened...happy as a clam while evading my attempts to dress him in his sleeper. What a busy little man!

4th of July Fun

We had such a great time last weekend! We spent the 4th of July in California visiting my family and having an extended family reunion as well. Lots of laughs and staying up late chatting! We got to swim in an amazing rock pool, go to the beach and work on our tans (still working on them), and have a movie date to see Transformers 2 (thanks mom and dad for babysitting). Overall a great time catching up and having some fun.

Haircut and Crawling Video

This boy's hair is out of control. We love it! But the poor boy could hardly see anymore so we had to give him a little cut over his ears and his forehead. He looks so much older to me now. I've also included a video of his crawling antics (already too fast for me!).

Pre-haircut mop

Post-haircut with mommy

post-haircut with daddy

there he goes!

"These things are fun and fun is good!"

Life is good. Dr. Seuss said it better in the title of this post! Summer is upon us and we are enjoying time together as a family and gearing up for some trips and camping as well. This last month we have had a couple of highlights: we bought a new car (new to us), Nissan Murano, at the end of June, Duane finished his first year of teaching, and Taylor is now crawling and standing everywhere. He is turning into a little fireball. We don't mind it so much because he is now sleeping through the night! So here is a couple of random pictures to keep everyone updated.

"I love puffs especially because they can stick to my cheek!"

Taylor is such an eater now.

I think it is all going into this little gut he has started to have recently.

"I should be sleeping but I am playing instead, yep!"

"Hey momma, see what I can do."

"I have four sharp teeth on top. Yes, you should be scared."

"Oh, the carefree summer days after a cool bath."

This is where Taylor has learned many of his recent tricks.

The bathtub has proven to be a great practice field for sitting, crawling, and manuevering in general.

Taylor prefers to be naked and wet most of the time.

He is definitely a water baby!

Snakey..is this a relative of yours?

So I was taking pictures of our lawn to post (see a few posts down) and looked down to see this:

Yes, my friends that is a snake twisting around my flowerbed. It took me quite off guard but I didn't scream (very proud of myself). I just jumped out of my skin and started taking pictures. I mean I had the camera in my hand already. Very fortuitous timing, huh?

At first, I thought it was the Fagan's friend, Snakey. They live about 6-8 houses down from us (on the same side of the street) and the snake could have decided an exodus was in order...but then I saw that it was a bit larger than I remembered Snakey being in the pictures...

Maybe it is Snakey's papa? You be the one to decide. I, for one, am grateful that we had some time together but am not so sad that I haven't seen him since. I guess he didn't like our water-logged sod lawn.

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a great Mother's Day weekend and were lucky to have Grandma Edna and Grandpa Tony visit from Oregon. We had a such a fun time! On Friday, we watched regional preliminaries a.k.a. a track meet. The Basic kids did so well!! My triple jumpers almost made state. They missed it by only one place (you have to be in the top 3 to make it to state...only 9 kids from all of Nevada go to state). Then on Saturday we ate a yummy brunch at the Mirage and then Grandma Edna watched Taylor in the evening so that the rest of us could go see "Mystere" a show by Cirque de Solei. It was amazing to see so many different gymnasts and athletes! We were definitely fans. Then we relaxed on Sunday and enjoyed Taylor time and an outstanding dinner. And yes, I made the cake from scratch!! Vanilla cake with whipped frosting and strawberries. I don't know how I am going to go back to cakes out of the box. Thank you again, Grandma and Grandpa Graham, for coming and sharing such a special time with us!

What we have been up to....

This last month and a half have been busy with our family! Here are a bunch of pictures to catch you up on some Graham happenings!

We had Taylor's 6 month portraits done!

Surfer dude!

We have been sick with a fever. (Mommy just got sick from a snuffy, runny nose too)

Had some visitors during Spring Break (We love you Nana..thanks for the cool sunglasses)

Learned some new tricks...Taylor always greets me in the morning looking out of his crib!

Loved some swimming lessons at the local community center.

started work on our yard...

planted some sod and then started...

watering

and watering

and watered some more...

planted some flowers :)
(my snapdragons are struggling with the heat)



and a couple of fruit trees and..

voila! a yard is born

Lastly but definitely not leastly, hanging out in as little clothes as possible because it has been hot!

(he, he he...actually this is a sneaky smirk boy who rolled over while I was changing his diaper)

Summer = Good Eats

I would have to say that summer is most definitely on its way here in Vegas and besides the swimming prospects, essential barbeques, and comfy 'chill' evenings outside there is one important thing that comes along every summer...FRUIT. Namely, strawberries, watermelon and cantaloupe (my personal favorites). Taylor just started eating fruit this week and he is definitely a man after his momma's heart! So here is a blog toast to fruit and the scrumptious treats that await!

Graceful Leaper

So, Taylor has been loving his jumper recently and has mastered the art of leaping with grace. Maybe too much grace. I have a feeling the American Ballet Company is going to come knocking at my door and offer us lots of money for his mad skills. Do you think I should insure his feet? They could be worth millions. (all mothers could wish and all fathers are cringing at the thought) This video is just further evidence of his amazing talents! He holds the position for a full 3 seconds. Some new baby record I am sure.

Our Little Barbarian

Last night Taylor had a little dinner and a movie on our couch. He has been loving the cereal and decided that he no longer needed a spoon. Apparently it just wasn't fast enough to get the cereal from the spoon to the belly. Enjoy!

Common Sense

This is a little story that was forwarded to me. It made me laugh for a full 5 minutes.
Disclaimer: this is of a political nature (Democrats might not like it)

Subject: $50

I recently asked my friend's little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?'
She replied, 'I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people.'

Her parents beamed.

'Wow...what a worthy goal.' I told her, 'But you don't have to waituntil you're President to do that. You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and sweep my yard, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house.'

She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight inthe eye and asked, 'Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?'

I said, 'Welcome to the Republican Party.'

Her parents still aren't speaking to me.

Eye Help!

So this is kind of random but I am in desperate need of a good optometrist. I don't think my contacts are going to last much longer. Does anyone know of a good one in Henderson??