Photos a la Desiree'

Desiree' played photographer with Dylan over spring break last month. I have to share these because they are so precious.

Look What I Found, Mommy!

TOES!

Last week Dylan discovered his body extends below his belly button. His toes are his favorite new toys. He has also started to do a breathy laugh, squeal, and put things in his mouth. He likes to scoot clockwise while laying on his back and is getting so close to rolling over from his back. As you can see, Dylan is chunking up slowly but surely. He is wearing 3 month clothes and just graduated to size 2 diapers. He is still sleeping through the night and continues to love lights and music. This video of Dylan playing with his feet was taken right before his nightly bath, where he has started to kick and splash:

Farewell, My Friends

Three years ago Autrey and I left BYU and moved far away from family to 'the middle of nowhere' here in St. Louis. Well, the middle of nowhere quickly became our new home and these are some of the people who became part of our amazing ward family:

The students at a graduation BBQ:

Ed and Cambria Ernstrom with Zack, Brig, and Rock

Autrey and I - sans Dylan. We left him at home with Aunt Elaine.

Trevor and Maria Gilbert with Reese

David and Val Miyasaki with Emery

Brad and Alicia Anderson with Addie

Jason and Shandra North with Jayden, Keegan, and Laughlin

Ben and Meggan Boston with Kate and Luke

Keith and Kristi Heideman

Dave and Julie Shelton with Isaac and Ryan

JJ and Tori Bell with Dominic and Amariah

Kristi, our wonderful hostess and life of the party

Meggan, my twin

A Jana sandwich

Jana and Meggan making fun of me and 'channeling their inner Shilo'. Of course I have to look like a goober pretending to be upset.

A delightful farewell tradition

Autrey is the only one attending Wash U in our ward. The rest went to Logan to be chiropractors. We went to graduation at Logan on Saturday to see our friends and say our good byes. It was hard to see them leave. I will really miss the Boston's. We were always sharing meals, having fun, and hanging out together. And oh, sweet little Kate. She says I am her best friend, always insisted I sit by her at dinner, and even named her toy pony after me. That family knows how to make a person feel special. They headed down to Memphis immediately following the ceremony. I miss them so much I actually agreed to go to Memphis in December to run a half marathon with Meggan and a few others just so I could see them soon. Yeah, you read that correctly. Try not to laugh too hard. Megg, you know I love you just to even consider doing such a crazy thing. I hope it actually works out.

I'm sad that everyone is scattering across the country, but glad I have so many good memories to take with me.

Aunt Elaine and Aunt B

Aunt Elaine and her best friend, Brenda, flew out to visit us for a long weekend. Aunt B works for Delta, so they can fly free on buddy passes. That's my idea of a great perk. They came to meet Dylan and for Aunt Elaine to sew his blessing tuxedo for next month. It is so cute! While they were here we went to Trainwreck to give them a taste of some good St. Louis ribs and toasted ravioli, watched The Blind Side -loved it- and hung out. Aunt Elaine even made my favorite roast beef dinner. They know how to spoil me. It was so fun to spend time with them. I'm so glad they are coming back for Dylan's blessing in just a few weeks!

On a Roll

I was filming Dylan playing the other night, smiling and blowing bubbles at his friend in the mirror,

when all of a sudden he rolled over. I finally captured footage of him rolling onto his back. I also captured his new growling sound and gurgly drooling. Very attractive. Dylan is close to rolling from his back to his tummy, so hopefully that will come soon. Stay tuned...

Man Day

Happy Man Day, all you men out there. Man Day is a little known holiday that Autrey takes very seriously. The physical therapy program at Wash U is 80% female so the men band together to celebrate it by wearing their special shirts and doing manly things, like golfing and eating burgers. Here are a few of them at J and A for lunch on Friday:

That night Dylan and I joined up with the crew at a little bonfire where we had hot dogs and s'mores. Dylan was excited about his first Man Day. The first of many, I'm sure.What's something that real men have? Jobs. Fitting that Autrey finally decided between his offers and accepted a job on Man Day. In June we are moving to the Dallas area so Autrey can work at a private clinic doing orthopedic outpatient therapy in a town called Las Colinas. I am so excited for him! Sad to be moving from all of our dear friends, but mostly thrilled. After all, it's my ticket to an early retirement.

I guess you have to be a man to understand what Dylan and Autrey are talking about in this video because I have no clue. Bring me up to speed if you can. I guess I'm gonna have to learn to speak Man.

Easter with Nana

Little buddy has logged quite a few frequent flier miles lately. Whew, try saying that 3 times fast. Last Friday he flew with Autrey and I to meet up with the rest of the Duke crew in Ruidoso, NM and introduce Nana to her latest great grandson. The trip was fun, but also exhausting. Due to the late flight, the layover, the LONG plane delay, and the 2 hour drive from the airport, we didn't get to bed until 6:30 am. My time, that is. I didn't even bother changing my watch since we were only there for 30 hours before we had to leave again. The house we stayed at was gorgeous. Anyone have a million dollars I could use to buy it? You will never see the cash again but you could visit anytime you like. Sounds like a bargain to me. While we were there we had a BBQ and ate good Mexican food at Old Road. The boys also went golfing. Jared plays on his high school golf team and said he 'wiped the floor' with Uncle Buster, Doug, Matt, and Autrey (read: he beat them by a stroke or two). Autrey didn't want me to share the part about him losing so let's keep that our little secret, shall we? Mona got Dylan some cute outfits. I got the biggest kick out of these shark shoes:And the close up: *Da nuh, Da nuh, da nuh da nuh da nuh*

(think JAWS) The highlight of the trip was all of the Easter festivities with the extended fam.

Silly daddy. He's sweet, but not that sweet.

1st time coloring eggs. He is sooo into it:

Tommy and Maggie looking for eggs:Poor Shorty. Since he was the biggest kid I had him hold Dylan for the picture.
All I told him was, "Just don't drop him." He looks thrilled:Sweet Maggie:Chocolate-Loving Tommy:Clueless-About-Candy Dylan:Hands taste just fine to him:Ah, the 3 ring circus that is trying to pose kids for a group picture. Autrey was trying to hold Dylan without being in the picture. He said he was a "mountain" in the background. I'm thinking he looks more like Death about to shanghai my son. Creepy, no? Tommy apparently agrees. Run for your life!We decided that having Maggie hold Dylan up was more aesthetically pleasing. She was a good sport. This is the only picture where the boys were not crying or looking around:Dylan fading fast with Papa:And he's out like a light with Nana:Mimi with her little cuddle bug:Striking family resemblance:Good bye kisses:Our matchy matchy family. I promise that was not done intentionally. Really.
You can see in our eyes how close we are to passing out like Dylan:I snapped these a few nights ago at our house just for fun,
even though it was getting dark:

Happy Belated Easter!