Another Catch Up!

We've had lots of fun the last few months. Here's our life through pictures.

This was a new toy he loved. He's grown out of it a little and doesn't love it as much.

On our way to go to Swim Day at our Stake President's house

Free Chik-fil-A Day

Rescuing his blanket. He can never just leave them in there.

If he's not in there, then the blanket can't be either.

Our old neighbor Dawn and her son came out so she could shoot a wedding. We got to watch him. Scott had so much fun playing with him. They are only a week apart.

This was on our way back from the Indianapolis Indiana Temple Open House. All 4 boys (Scott is not seen here) were zonked out. It was about a 5 hour drive there. We went with the Browning's minus Josh (had to study for Boards). It was a lot of fun and the temple was beautiful!

I cannot get over his little grin.

On a morning walk along the Mississippi River.

Like Father like Son. Collin usually stretches like that after dinner. Well, now Scott has picked up on it and does the same thing. It is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

He tried climbing in that little hole and got stuck, I couldn't help but take a picture.

He loves his PB&J. Although I give it to him and he takes the 2 pieces of bread apart and just eats it slice at a time.

His favorite spot in the whole house.

His new favorite thing. We just let him. He won't break anything and it's not worth pulling him away from it every few minutes. He's happy and I can make dinner -  Worth it!

Just making himself comfy while reading his favorite book "Goodnight Gorilla"

He climbed up there all by himself. I took him down so fast - although I had to hurry and get a picture first. At least there's a screen to slightly protect him.

Collin had about a week of school off so we went to the zoo. Scott loved seeing all the animals!!

Our birthday boy!

Football season. Collin already has Scott watching with him.

Scott woke up as Alfalfa. Hey that's a Halloween idea.....

I'm not really sure how he thought that was comfy, but he did.

We've been going for lots of walks since the weather has been beautiful. This is a park right by our house. It's huge. It has this water fountain, duck pond, playground, and last of open grass to play in.

Scott is so much like Collin with always having his feet crossed!!!

He discovered putting raspberries on his fingers, just like olives. 

His first pair of big boy shoes. I think he likes them!

We went to the hot air balloon festival with the Brownings. It was too windy, as you can tell in the picture, for them to actually fly. It was still fun to see them up close.

Once it got dark they had a "glow". We had lots of fun with a picnic and good friends!

How has he learned to try climbing up the slides?!

Barker Family Vacation

Sorry this is almost 3 months later, but my family (Mom and Dad, Kati, Heidi, and McKay) came out here for a vacation. When we drove home from UT they came with us and were here for about a week. On the drive home we stopped at the Winter Quarters Temple in Council Bluffs, Nebraska. It was beautiful and an incredible spirit there. It is built where the Saints camped and lived for awhile. There's a cemetery on the other side of the temple for those who died there. Lots of the gravestones were just rocks with names carved into them. It was so sad to walk around and see that most of the people that died there were little kids and babies. It broke my heart. It increased my love and appreciation for those early Saints who sacrificed so much to help the church about 150 years ago.
We also spent two days in Nauvoo. We went to the temple, watched both the Nauvoo and the Britain Pageants, and saw most of the Nauvoo historical sites including Carthage Jail about 15 minutes away. Nauvoo has such a special spirit there. We love going there and especially the temple.
We also took my family to see the Backwater Gamblers (a water skiing show) and the John Deere Museum. It was so fun to have them out here. The weather was surprisingly cool and not humid. They had to buy warmer clothes since they only packed things for the hot, humid Iowa.

The beautiful temple doors!

Very few of the gravestones were visible like that. Most were just little rocks you could only see if you were right next to them.

Stained glass of the Tree of Life

Monument honoring those parents who buried babies and children here.

Me and Heidi at the Backwater Gamblers

Carthage Jail

Scott and Grandpa

Scott and I and my parents dancing at the festival before the pageant started.

1 Year Gone!

I can't believe a year has passed already since Scott was born. He is now a year old!!! This past year has been the greatest! We absolutely love being parents and wouldn't trade it for anything. Scott is such a sweet little boy who just loves life and making people happy. It's absolutely incredible to be parents, hard, but worth every second.
We had two birthday parties. The first was with a whole group of 1 year olds in our ward. Between Aug 8 and Sept 18 there are 6 babies. So we had one big party for all of them. We had a little "race" for them, just for fun. We lined pool noodles up at the start and then maybe 10 feet away put more noodles for the finish line. Well, Scott had no desire to race and just wanted to play with the noodles. It was a lot of fun though. We sang happy birthday and had cupcakes for all there,. Scott picked up the frosting off the top of his cupcake and threw it on the ground. Then only took 2 bites of the cupcake before he was done. I love the ward we are in. Not only do we have lots of friends in the ward, but the families in the ward are solid and come to church not just for the social aspect but because they love the Lord and will do all that is needed of them.
On his actual birthday we FaceTimed with Collin's parents and my family. He opened his presents as well as you'd expect a 1 year old to do. He just kept being distracted by the iPad and phone and seeing his grandparents. We then sang and watched him stick his finger in his cake and then want Collin to wipe the frosting off. He was not wanting his cake at all. Oh well, that meant more Funfetti with Rainbow chip frosting for us. We sure love our big boy.
Here's a few things he's up to these days:
- Walking all over like he owns the place. He started walking Mid-August.
- He loves to eat, especially Club Crackers. Those are his favorite. He also loves, PB&J, raspberries, ice cream, yogurt, and meats.
- Still loves his swaddling blankets. He carries them all over the house, usually two at a time.
- We have a little tiny chair up against a wall by a window. He climbs up that chair and looks out the window ALL the time. He especially loves watching for Collin to come home from school.
- He tries climbing up EVERYTHING! He climbed up one of the metal chairs folded up at church. AH! It can be stressful, but is fun at the same time.
- He still talks all the time, but the only words he can say is Mom, Dad, and Nononono.
- His latest thing he loves is looking at you and sticking out his tongue until you do it back to him. Not to be rude, just to show you his tongue and see your tongue.
- Anytime he hears music, he starts dancing. His dancing is just bouncing up and down wherever he's at, but he loves music.
- Loves pulling things out of our kitchen drawers and cupboards. Thankfully our kitchen has like none so it's not too bad. Even with child locks on the drawers, he pulls them out as far as he can then just reaches in to get what little he is able to.
- He loves our Friday nights when he have dinner and play with the Brownings. He loves their little boys.
- Scott and I also go for walks several times a week with Kristen Browning and her boys. He loves those, especially getting to play at the park when we're done.
- He's good at calling out to us when he needs help with something, whether that's opening a container with his toys, if he can't get his blanket out of his bed, wanting to read a book, or needing a drink.

That's about how the cupcake ended up looking - no frosting and a few bites out of it.

Our party at home. That's all he did to the cake. Collin did help him shove his fingers in it, but he did not like that at all.

Scott with his presents from Mom and Dad and his grandparents. He's definitely loved!!