What to do when family is in town...

I ponder that every time people come to visit us.  Compared to the SMALL town in Iowa I am from, there should be TONS of things to do out here in Colorado...but I can never figure out the really good things.  Plus a lot of times I rule out anything over an hour away and my parents hate traffic.
A friend told me that when people visit her it usually revolves around shopping and eating.  So, I took her advice.  Over the course of the 3 1/2 days my parents were here we went to Target, Kohls, Ross, Marshalls, Goodwill, Garage sales, Coldstone, Starbucks and Golden Corral. FUN.
And I had someone to keep Jay occupied while I shopped a bit.
A

Guys hate Kohls. It's probably because once we get in there they know it will take us forever to finish shopping. We left Jay with grandpa to sleep in the car. When he didn't sleep and we didn't answer our cell phones he came inside and drove Jay around in a cart...for about a 1/2 hour till he found us:( Jay seemed to have fun, but grandpa did NOT go shopping with us the next day:)

Here is one of our goodwill purchases. I hope he gets $3.99 worth of fun out of it:)

We also went to the Dam Store and Tower.

This picture is hilarious.

We also hung out a bunch.
I love this video because it shows how long Jay will really sit with a book. He also does a cheezy smile for the camera with his nose scrunched up.

Jay will enjoy watching this video over and over.

Family pictures and Jay's 1 year pictures

We spent some time earlier this month getting family photos and Jay's 1 year pictures taken.
Our friend and Photographer Chelsea Ellingson took the photos.  I really like that you get a CD of the edited pictures and you can print whatever you want without ridiculous printing prices. 
If you are interested in her Photography you can go to her website for more information: http://chelseasattic.org/
Chelsea was super easy to work with and took some of my ideas and her eye for detail to make this a great photo shoot.

Here are a few of my favorites (and it is hard to pick just a few).  I will post more on facebook.

 It was a bit scary letting him sit up on the stool with cement below, but he LOVED it...and it worked:)

 John and I both kind of hate our feet, but the composition of this shot is so cool.

 Monkey was instrumental in making Jay laugh quite often.

 This pictures makes me giggle every time I see it.  Reckless abandonment with drum sticks.

 "help mom!"

 This one is a favorite of my family! CLICK on the picture to make it bigger for the full effect:)

 Mom and I got this chair at a garage sale for $4 last year.

So much fun!  I hope to do another post soon with a few other quirky pictures from the shoot.  Thanks Grandma S. for the clothes that we used for the photo shoot.
Thanks Chelsea!

Can anyone guess the location we used for the photo shoot?

Clue: The inside is a FUN place.  We were outside.

All the things about summer I haven't posted yet...

Jay loves cookies. He is just like his mama...although he still calls me dada half the time. He climbed in the stroller today sneakily while I was putting on my makeup. When I came over to him sitting there ready to go he pointed at me (because he wanted ME to take him for a walk). I hesitated because it is SOO hot outside, but when I put on my sunglasses he giggled with glee because he knew that I gave in:) This picture of John (in the background) cracks me up:) Jay has been swimming and to the park many times, but Grandma caught these moments on camera. My brother and his wife came to visit and Jay basked in the attention. We went swimming at a nearby lake with a bunch of my teacher friends and their kids. Jay LOVED it and didn't even eat the sand (most of the time). While we were in Iowa I got to see a few friends. Here is my friend Sharla and her kids with Jay and I. Like I said in my last post, Jay and his cousin Isaiah are best buds. GRRR the sound isn't working. I'll keep working on this:) Here is a video of Jay and his cousin Isaiah just running around giggling.

Trip to Iowa

Jay and I had so much fun going to Iowa to visit my parents and my sister and her family.
We flew...which wasn't easy by myself with a 1 year old...but it ended up going fine. I knew I was in for some trouble when I had to put the stroller on the security line belt and the second I set Jay down he took off waking/running. He was at least 10 steps away by the time I collapsed it and put it on the belt. Then getting all my stuff off was annoying too. The Denver airport is SOOO rushed. Everyone is in a hurry. The Sioux Falls airport is very friendly and the people in line are much more laid back. Anyway, Jay did not sleep the whole time but he did sleep for a good half hour each time- which was nice.
BTW- pictures are large because I edited them to print and I'm too lazy to make them small again.
We visited my parents first. Jay loved his "tractor"/lawn mower rides from Grandpa. I tried to take him off and he shoved my hand away because he wanted to keep riding:)

He also loved playing with all their new-to-him toys.

He enjoyed grandma's flowers and the rain...he walked around in it like he had never seen it before...which is probably partly true...we don't get much rain in CO and when it does rain we go INSIDE:)

After that Grandma drove us to my sister's new house on the Eastern side of Iowa. It was a beautiful drive, full of cornfields, and friendly people. I even counted the number of Barn Quilts I saw. THIS is just a random site I found that shows what they are.
My sister and her 3 kids + Jay kept us running around!

Jay and his cousin Isaiah (2) are two peas in a pod. They giggle at each other like crazy.
**possible video here soon.
Jay also adored Livia. He would touch her gently and try to give her a pacifier. Although if she was getting a bottle he would get whiny unless we distracted him.

While we were there we went to the park,
(my sister made that shirt for Jay- isn't it awesome!)

and we roasted hot dogs and made smores.

(this is the best way for kids to be at a campfire)

We went to the fish hatchery...(not so cool only because- Jay wanted to get in the water the whole time.)
went to a waterfall,


and we went to the county fair.
We had so much fun goofing around.
On the way back to Grandpa and Grandma's and then to Colorado, Jay was exhausted. Monkey (his stuffed animal) was with him the whole trip and I got this reaction on camera when I handed him Monkey while he was crying one time:)