Thursday, December 22, 2011

Portland

At the beginning of October Zach had an optometry conference to go to in Portland.  Declan and I were able to go with him.  A few days before the morning sickness really hit and I called the doctor and they prescribed me some zofran.  Luckily, I was able to enjoy most of the trip because of the zofran.  We didn't take too many pictures of the trip but we sure did a lot while we were there.  We stopped on our way and saw Multnomah Falls.  Declan loved the waterfall and kept pointing to the lower one and saying, "baby waterfall" and "big waterfall" for the higher one.  







We spent a lot of time at the play place in the mall by our hotel.  It was a fun vacation for Declan and I but Zach was at his conference everyday all day long.  Our friends from Memphis, The Lukes, were there also for one day so Heather and I and the kids hung out.  We all went out to dinner before they left and the kids were being so funny together on our walk back to the car.  The next day Declan and I went to the Portland Zoo which was awesome!  Our last day we went to the Children's museum, it was a lot like the one in Salt Lake.  I wish we would have taken more pictures but I didn't want to haul around our giant camera everywhere and keep track of a 2 year old.

Camping

Zach took Declan on the ward father/son campout at the end of September.  Zach said Declan loved running around and playing in the dirt.  He especially loved roasting marshmallows (he usually eats the marshmallows before he can get them roasted though!)  Declan even slept all night in the tent with Zach just fine.  He still talks about sleeping in a tent with dad and the fire. :)  


 {I tried taking a picture of them before but Declan was way too excited to get going!}


While they had fun camping, I had a fun girls night!
We celebrated Zach's last birthday in his twenties on September 9, 2011.  The Saturday after his birthday our friends watched Declan and we went golfing.  Zach is the best husband - I really don't know how I got so lucky.  He is also the best dad.  Declan sure loves him!

 {Declan waiting for Zach to get home so we could finally open presents!}





 My big surprise (which wasn't too big of a surprise) for Zach was a positive pregnancy test.  I waited a few weeks to take the test so we basically knew but it was still fun to kind of surprise him!
We moved Declan into his big boy bed right after Randi, Sara, and Paige left.  He did amazing....at first.  Really, he would only get out once or twice before falling asleep and then he slept all night.  It was awesome.  Then October came, and for some reason he's been awful since!  He won't fall asleep unless I sit in his room with him until he's asleep and he gets up in the middle of the night to find us many nights.  It's gotten a little better though.  At first it would still take him an hour to fall asleep even with me in the room but now it takes about 15-20 mins.  Still longer than I would like but better than an hour!  I have a hard time walking out of his room when he's still awake and saying, "oh no, help mom, help mom."  Darn kid is too cute.  Anyway, these are the only pictures I have of him in is new bed.  I was babysitting his friend Hallie one day and they were having fun playing on the bed. :)


Last post about August! WOO HOO!

Sometime around the end of August Zach was asked to shadow the VA in Spokane for a day.  We left really early one morning and 3 hours later we were there.  Zach went to the VA and Declan and I went over to the Sullenger's house.  Our friends from Memphis, Kash and Cara, had just moved to Spokane a few weeks before, and Cara was so nice to let me hang out with her and her kids all day while Zach worked.  Hudson and Declan had fun playing and chasing each other.  When Zach got off work we were able to go to Riverfront Park.  Declan loved the huge slide there and running around.  The next day we spent all day shopping and at Riverfront Park again.  We took Declan to an IMAX movie - we didn't think he would like it at first but he ended up loving it!  We rode the train around the park which we thought he would like a lot more than he actually did.  I think it just got really long and boring for him.  We played miniature golf and rode some of the rides there also.  That night we went to Kash and Cara's for a delicious dinner.  Our last day there we went to the flower gardens.  They were all so pretty, especially the Japanese garden.  It was a fun little getaway!  We really enjoyed Spokane also.  All of the pictures we took were taken with Zach's iPhone so the quality isn't the greatest.

















Declan's first pet

A few days after Declan's birthday we were walking up the stairs to our apartment and right by our front door there was a preying mantis.  Declan immediately saw it and just wanted to watch it so I went inside and got an old tupperware and he became Declan's first pet!  haha.  Declan thought it was awesome to shake the tupperware so that the preying mantis would move.  Poor little guy.  We let him go that night because I didn't want to find food for him!  Oh, and Declan named him "bee." That's what he used to call all insects!  For awhile every night before bed Declan would say, "night night bee."  





Like I said in my last post, my parent's came to visit for Declan's birthday.  It was so fun and nice for them to come.  The first full day they were here they watched Declan and Zach and I were able to go golfing!  It was great.  My mom and I went shopping to a few fun stores and my dad and I went golfing one day too.  Of course, we had to take my parent's to every park around and feed all the ducks.  :)  We also took them to the Farmer's Market and got my dad addicted to Blackbird's smoothies and sandwiches.  They are truly delicious!!