Among other things, we enjoyed a visit from Matthew's mom, my mama--which included family pictures, Father's Day, a six-month appointment, a seventh-month 'birthday', lots of walks, sunshine, rain, oh, and a trip to Palmyra!
I'm not really sure where to start, so I guess I'll just jump right in! If I were going to apply good writing technique, I would probably go in the order in which I just introduced topics....
I mostly just don't feel like doing that. So...keep up! :P
FamBam Pictures 'Mam....
We used our fancy camera to take some fancy family pictures. Anthon is 7 months in them; I figure family pictures semi-annually is a good goal to shoot for--if not at least nice pictures of Anthon that often. We took advantage of my mom being here by asking her to take the pictures for us. Living in upstate makes it easier since our back patio is pretty much the equivalent of a photo studio backdrop... Anywho--she was kind enough to take them for us! They're not really edited or exactly how I want them yet, but you get the idea.
This one is obviously not going to get hung on any walls....but Anthon's face was just too cute not to share!
gaaaah. How did we end up with a baby this cute?
bahahaha. Someone, please write in with a caption for this picture for me.
If you haven't noticed...our child has just about the most expressive face known to mankind. Although you would surely get a kick out of it if I posted every single picture we took....it would also take me about 1,000 hours to upload them... Also, let's be honest....you wouldn't really look that closely at them...
That's okay. We do. And trust me, we don't really ever get tired of it.
Our very most awesome photographer of the day :) Thanks mama!
'Wait...are we seriously still taking pictures?'
anddd...one last picture with Nana :)
Father's Day
For Father's Day, Matthew got an Easy Score basketball hoop. He had rugburns by that afternoon from running/rolling around, making shots into the family room from the kitchen and from corners at every which angle. Don't worry, he was commentating it all the while as well. haha. I actually was at Toys 'R Us Again today and found many other things he'd enjoy. I'm fairly certain that any birthday or holiday of Matthew's would be a happy one with a present from Toys 'R Us.
Bedroom Furniture
Wahoooo!!!! Our bedroom furniture is finally here! And, as an extra bonus, the delivery men brought it not only up the stairs to our door, but also put it in our bedroom! We had been told it would just be left on the curb out front of our apartment!
...I may not have mentioned what I had thought they were MEANT to do (leave it on the curb) only after they had finished hauling it all up the stairs and putting it into our bedroom.....
Does that make me a bad person?
I think not. Especially since he double checked his paper work and said they were actually supposed to bring it in ;)
After spending hours setting up our furniture, Matthew hauled and flattened all of the boxes to our cardboard bin in our complex (A good football field away). I figured we were going to wait a day (or a few), and just get to it when we could. He knew it would bother me to have it out for so long and just went straight to putting them away that night. I am such a lucky girl to have such an awesome husband.
Visits From Grandmas
Yayyy!!!! Both Matthew's mom, Darla and my mama had the chance to visit!
Darla was here for an extended weekend, and my mom was here for 11 days. We LOVE visitors! It also makes living so far away seem much more doable, knowing family can come to us and still be bit parts of our lives (I know, my mom wasn't happy to hear me say that...)
7 Months
This cute little goober is 7 months old. Can you believe it?? I can't. That's five months from a YEAR OLD!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??!!!!
His favorite things include:
Avacado
Bananas
Really, any food or anything flavored
Scoot/Crawling on his belly to wherever he wants to go
His bathtime rubber ducky
His bouncer
Blowing rasberries
Going on walks (in the stroller or with the Ergo--or just being held)
Having someone nearby, or at least knowing I'll be coming back soon if I leave (really, I tell him that...and he lasts much longer when I do...haha)
Books (he scoots past toys on the floor to his bookcase and grabs books out of it)
Keys
Putting anything in his mouth he can
His not so favorite things:
Being left alone or feeling alone, even if he's actually not.
Newest developments:
Crawling (still not with his tummy off the ground though)
Mimicking (if we click blocks together, he will do it after)
Being cute with dad...
Going for the monkey. Matthew isn't actually preventing him from getting it, though it appears otherwise. haha
After a walk. He loves those darn keys, try as I might to be sneaky and not have him notice that I have them..
Random Buys..
My mom bought us a changing pad! Oh my gosh. SO wonderful. We had a changing table, but had never gotten a pad, so I usually just changed him on the floor. LIFE SAVER.
Is this new church shirt not the cutest thing you've ever seen? I saw it at the thrift store, but didn't want to pay $4 for it. (I know...I'm cheap). We came back two days later, and BAM....it had a blue tag. Guess which 1/2 off day we happened to come back on? Yep--blue tag day.
After being SO bummed to have JUST missed a Bumbo at a Consignment Shop that had called to let me know they had one in... I found one on the Online Garage Sale Facebook page here! ...for $5!!! I've NEVER seen one that cheap. It's funny (and WONDERFUL) how things work out :) Granted...right now, I think he leans over touching the lime green rubbery interesting-ness more than he actually eats at this point when he's in it...haha.
Russian Thoughtfulness
Chelsea Quinn, one of my mission companions, made a trip to Russia not long ago. One of my dearest friends and converts from Russia, Olga, who was baptized shortly after I left, sent her with a MASSIVE box of insanely delicious Russian chocolate. Oh, and an awesome mug for Anthon. I hope to be as giving, thoughtful, and selfless as Olga is. It was so incredibly kind and such a fun piece of Russia to get from so far away. She is the one to the right of me, by the way. And her daughter is in front of us.
I shared :)
Thank you Olga!
ha...I think Anthon is a fan.
Palmyra, New York
I know, I'm cheating by uploading my Instagram collage...but it seemed much quicker/more efficient than doing each of them.
Palmyra is the place where Joseph Smith, the prophet of the restoration lived. To hear about his story, click here . I know that he was a prophet of God, just like Moses and Abraham. I know that he truly saw God the Father and Jesus Christ in that sacred grove where we walked. If you don't know his story, please watch that link. It's changed my life for the better. As that clip states, the Book of Mormon is the convincing evidence of the truthfulness of that story. I know that reading the Book of Mormon brings peace and meaning to anyone that will read and pray about it with real intent and a desire to know truth of God. I know that the restored gospel seals families together for eternity and strengthens us while we are here on earth together.
In conclusion, life is great for us. I am continuously more amazed of how awesome our apartment, surroundings, ward, and just life overall are here.
