6 months old and not the youngest cousin

Maddux is getting so big. Well, he is getting so tall and skinny.

He got his 6 month shots, and he isn't a fan of the needle.

He was 27.5 inches (90%) and almost 16 pounds (40%).

Around 6 months, he could sit up for a little (like 30 seconds to 1 minute at the most) But now he can sit for awhile (closer to 7 months).

He can finally roll over. He didn't roll over until about a week before he turned 6 months old.

He has been laughing for a long time; he just LOVES to laugh and smile.

He loves music and Little Einsteins.  Whenever he is crying or fussy and Kris plays his guitar or we turn on Little Einsteins he stops.  He will sit and watch and kick with happiness.

Yeah, he still loves to kick.  We usually hear him kicking in the morning and talking to himself.

He said "mama".  Kris said he heard him say that a few weeks ago when he was crying.  He said it again while he was crying the other day.  They say they don't associate the word with their mama, but what do "they" know.  He said it!

He loves to play with more things, the jewelry I am wearing,  Kris' nose, etc.

He eats rice cereal and baby food now.  He has loved everything so far (green beans, peas, brown rice and carrots---next we are trying squash!)

Cheerios! Sometimes we will give him a couple, and he always does this straight smile, he loves them.

He splashes a whole lot in the bath now, we will have to move to a bigger tub because water gets EVERYWHERE!

No teeth yet, but drooling like crazy, and always needs something in his mouth.  His poor chin is getting acne from all his drooling.

My work had a tailgate a few times throughout the summer at the 51's game.  Maddux made new friends. 

He loves to sleep on his side.

He has 2 new cousins younger than him.  Misty (my brother's wife) gave birth to little Madeline on May 11th.

and my sister Megan gave birth to sweet Taycee on July 17th -- look at all that hair!

Here are all 3 little babies--- well, I guess my baby looks giant.  haha.  We have one more girl cousin coming!  My brother's wife is expecting a little girl in January.  My mom will have 18 grandchildren, and only 5 are boys!  Maddux being the 5th grandson.

Babies sure are fun!  Especially this little nugget.

Aunt Amy

 "We can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now. The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life."

My Aunt Amy was in town this past June and came to our family dinner that Sunday night.  Her husband and 5 children were also traveling with her.  It was fun to see her and catch up.  It was her first time meeting Maddux, and seeing me after I found out I was pregnant (last July).

My sister brought mini m&ms to the dinner and we all played a little get to know you game. Each person got a handful of candy; if you picked a green m&m you had to tell everyone the craziest thing you've ever eaten.  Each color had a different question.  Amy had to tell her most embarrassing moment, and she said "I just don't embarrass easily".   One of her older girls had to answer the most exciting place she traveled, and Amy helped her answer that they went on a fun cruise.

AuntAmy and my brother Darren.  This was the Sunday at my Mom's.

A few weeks later, I heard she was in the hospital and had a lot of blood clots.  At that point I was told she was really sick.  I was so surprised, because Amy was always so healthy.  I felt sad for her being in the hospital, but was confident she would get better.

When I was in Seattle on the way to my birthday dinner, I got a text from my mom that read "Aunt Amy has cancer ;(" .  I was so surprised and saddened by the news.  But still, I thought she would recover, maybe go bald, but live on.

I felt like every update got worse.  It was stage 4 cancer that started in the lung.  Again, this was so unbelievable; she was the poster child for well-being. I was contemplating going up one weekend to see her, and help with her 5 kids.

My mom called me at work about 3PM on July 23rd and told me she passed away.  I cried when I heard the news.  She was so sweet, and I hope she knew how much her family loved her. 

Some good memories for me:

• I was really little (still in a car seat) and Amy and Kristen were teaching me how to chew with my mouth closed.

• My grandpa owned 40 acres of mountain property in Cedar, where we would have our family reunions.  All the cousins were excited when Aunt Amy arrived, and she would play capture the flag and freeze tag with us.

• Visiting Amy at her dorm in Provo and her giving my sister and I celery sticks with peanut butter.  She taught me that protein keeps you feeling fuller longer. 

• She couldn't come all the way down to my wedding, but she sent a gift with my mom to give to me. It is a white clock that we still  have in our entry way.
  

We made it up for the viewing on Friday night.  Her kids are so well behaved; they had a wonderful mom.  After the viewing my sister and our families went to Kneaders.  I have been wanting to try this place out, and it was good.   My sister drove up with a itty bitty new born baby!

Maddux and Taycee- 6 months apart.

Her funeral was a beautiful service.  She was only 38; just a few years older than my oldest sister, so they were a lot more like sisters than aunt/niece.    My sister gave a talk at the funeral.

On the way home, I was reading the program again, and saw that Brendan and Quinton were Honorary Paul Berrors.  It made me cry again.  Those are her youngest kids, 3 and 16 months (at the time). 

While in Utah, we went to dinner with my Mom at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.   The restaurant opened their roof for this girl who was having a birthday.   The birthday girl let go of a balloon and let it fly in the sky.  My mom was able to do the same thing.  She got a blue balloon (Amy's favorite color) and let it fly up to the sky.  It swirled and danced on its way up.

When I saw her this past June a few of us were having a conversation about changing diapers.  She said, "Kari can now relate - do you think after so many diaper changes you should automatically go to heaven?"  I laughed and asked if getting pooped ON by a baby counted.  She said, "Yes, that counts, too!"

Well, for many other reasons, besides changing diapers, I know my Aunt is in heaven.  It was so sad to have her time on earth seem so short, but it is comforting knowing the plan of salvation, and that her children will live with her again.

Birthday and a wedding in Seattle

Maddux has been to more cities his first 6 months in life than I have been in my first 21 years.

This time we were off to Seattle for Angel and Peter's wedding.  Angel is Kris' older sister.

Kris found a pretty good deal on Alaska; he was checking flight prices everyday for about a month.  We saw them for a really low price, and we booked right away.  He even called his brother and sisters to tell them about the deal.

We left early in the morning on my birthday.  Maddux, again, was a good little boy on the plane.  We have been blessed so far.

Dad playing with his blanket on the plane

A good friend from work, Marta, is from Seatlle, so she gave us lots of suggestions and tips while we were up there. 

This is Marta. When I came back from Seattle she told me she would be moving back. :( 

For my birthday we had dinner at the top of the Space Needle and left Maddux with his aunties.  They said they loved watching him, even though he was tired/crying. The restaurant is more expensive than we would normally pay, but the price to get to the top of the Space Needle was covered with the reservation.  We wanted to go to the the top of it anyway, and they normally charge $17/person, so we thought it was perfect.  Our appetizer was my favorite.

smoked proscuitto and beecher’s flagship cheese

The view was amazing and we were able to watch the sunset from the restaurant.  I am definitley a desert rat; I was chilly.


We rented a car on Friday and drove to some islands (via ferry) to check out more places.

There was this really creepy abandoned fort on Bainbridge Island, and an even creepier old lady with a blank smile and stare.   We had pizza for lunch, and Maddux made friends with strangers.

That night, we rode the ferris wheel and had dinner with all the family in town. 

Saturday we went to another ballpark!  Angel and Peter had a lot of family and friends go.
Kris said the baseball gods knew we had a bad experience in Milwaukee so they made it up to us at Safeco.

Kris has a friend working for a Mariners minor league team, and was able to get 8 free tickets. Angel wanted like 20, but we couldnt help that much.   Only 2 people ended up sitting with us, his brother and sister-in-law, but others came down to say hi.

We found his family and took a picture of them doing the wave.

With the bride, Angel.

Kris, Angel, and their brother, Jeff.

The ride back home (via bus) was fun.  This guy next to me in this pic was a riot during the ride home. 

NOW---- the big event!!  

Angel and Peter had a beautiful wedding on a boat with close friends and family.   We loved getting Maddux dressed for his Aunt's wedding.

There was lots of dancing going on for such a small group.

Congrats, Angel and Peter!