Smile

It's been so hard lately to get a picture of Beck when he's smiling. He's constantly moving and I swear once I get the camera out he immediately turns his back to me and pretends like I'm not there. After some intense bath time giggles (his Dad gets him every time :) I thought I'd share the love, AND, now that I've figured out how to make my photos MUCH larger, you'll get to enjoy them even more.

Who wants to see something funny?

This is what a softball to the face will get you - a Frankenstein scar and a headache.

Easter and Such

Alright. Before I begin, I need you to know that Beck smiles. All the time. He's so so happy. I just can't ever get him to hold still...especially to smile at me! This is about as close as it gets. This is just a, 'MOM, knock it off' face.

So, as a follow up to last time, here is a photo of the garden boxes I (and Beck) are prepping:

Beck helps by throwing rocks in the boxes, and then taking them about again so he can lick them. I stopped caring after a while because I remember my brother saying once it helped to boost his immune system...or something like that.

Beck's other favorite thing to do in the backyard:

Because Kyle has been working his patootie off lately, we've been trying to think of fun things to do on the weekends to blow off some steam. This weekend we went to Ann Morrison Park to feed the ducks. That seemed the easiest of the ideas we came up with. All was going fine and dandy.

(alright...why does everyone seem to look distressed in all of these pictures? We were having fun!)

So badly some days I wish I had one of those pathetic leash things for kids so that I wouldn't have to try so hard to keep Beck from running away. Since I'm too chicken to buy one because I think they look kind of...well...questionable, we compensate by just doing this instead (don't judge, that water was making us both nervous!):

Our "relaxing" duck (seagull, goose) feeding was going well until we hear the lady next to us screaming and we turn to see our stroller escaping into the pond. Of course my camera wasn't out at this point so I can't document Kyle's epic save as it was sinking. Unless this picture is blown up really large you can't tell that it's wet...but this is the only evidence I have:

The birds went about their business. Alright. On to the next! Easter happened! We had a nice Easter dinner with the Hardy family, and the Saturday before, we took Halle and Jovie with us to an Easter egg hunt at Mountain View High School. The kids had fun.

I'm a pathetic cook and I don't try new things very often. This year, though, I made these cute deviled eggs! I'm proud of them!

One last thing! Our friends Bethany, Seth, and Jones came to stay with us again. Remember this photo? (seriously, how did Beck get so fat back then?):

They're all grown up! Alright, so it's twice as hard to get TWO little boys to look at you! This is the best I could do! We wish Beth and Seth lived closer so we could play more.

Blog something, already.

I don't even know what to blog anymore. We are boring right now. Ha, that's funny. I just wrote that and thought of some things to say....

Recently Grandma B left on her mission to St. George, and Beck misses her! Each night when we head to bed he says 'goodnight' to GG's photo on the wall. It's cute. Since she's left, we've taken over the duties of caring for her home. It's been fun for me, since we've never owned a home. Yesterday Kyle and I did our first day of yard work and pulled out last seasons plants to make room for the new ones. Grandma has an incredible yard. All of the time I think 'I should take Beck to the park.' Then I laugh when I realize our backyard practically is a park. We've got a slide and swings, and lots of places to explore.

Yes, he got his fashion sense from his DAD! (you'll see why I say that in a minute!)

I see Kyle sooo much in this face.

Beck just recently learned how to crawl up the latter to get to the slide. It's been funny to watch him climb, because he never does it the easy way, with his hands and feet. It's been with his knees, his elbows, and in this photo, his chin.

The above photos are my first pathetic attempt with my new camera lens. I was getting really frustrated because it wasn't autofocusing. That's why some of these are out of focus. I realized later it's because I didn't have the lens on tight enough. :) Needless to say, my photos are looking better now.

Kyle is playing on an indoor soccer team, and he's having a lot of fun. It seems like he hurts a lot of people, though. The side walls are too tempting to not shove someone up against them...one of the last games Kyle played in he 'shoved' a guy into the wall and the guy started screaming 'Geez, man! This isn't football, look how big you are!' The game before that I overheard a girl saying, 'He's huge! He's a tank! He's a huge tank!' It made me laugh. Kyle takes all of their comments as compliments, and so do I, as the wife of a tank. :) As you can see, Kyle also has great fashion sense on the field. Here he is with his lime green shoes, orange socks, blue shorts and black shirt. Ya, I know him.

The one kicking the ball in this picture is Nick, who now lives in the basement. Nick has been one of Kyle's closest friends since high school. We haven't minded him living with us a bit. He's been helpful with Beck, and we all get along great. Whenever he comes upstairs Beckham gets a perma-grin on his face and runs to find a ball so they can play.

Grandma's house has 8 ginormous garden boxes in the back yard. My attitude has gone in waves trying to decide if I should put them to use or not. I've decided to fill them. All of them! I have no idea what I'm going to do with it all yet, so if you're hungry, ask me! I'll be planting peas this week. I'm actually really excited to try it out. Remember Vinny, my fish? The one I bought right after I got pregnant with Beck to prove I could take care of something? Well, he lived 2 years (long for a beta, right?!). Now I'm confident I can raise a child. :) This garden will prove something like that. Photos are coming, sometime.

Not sure if I mentioned this before, but Kyle was recently laid off from his job working at Apex. Being as awesome as he is, Kyle made a few phone calls and had another job before the end of the day. He's now back at another previous job working at St. Luke's. He installs and maintains the Nurse Call systems. He's got a little crew that he orders around and I think he likes that. Kyle's also in school 3 nights a week this semester, so we see each other...sometimes. We know it's worth it.

As for me, I'm still working at the law firm 30 hours a week. I'm a docketing clerk, which means I put all of the deadlines on the attorney's calendars. It's been a learning curve and I get nervous a lot, because I'm relied on to know the rules and to make sure the dates are entered correctly. It's been a long process because we have cases all over the country, and the rules can be different in each jurisdiction. I'm getting the hang of it, though, and it makes it much easier to know that I work with pretty great people.

Alright, so it looks like I had some things to say. I should probably blog more often.

P.S. I have no idea why some of my words look like they link to something. They shouldn't, and if they do, it was an accident! For someone who works on a computer 6 hours a day, I'm still pretty clueless.

Much needed Beckham update.

Photo by Jana Claus

It's been too long since I've blogged. Even now, I'm trying to hurry up and get this over with. I just know I'll regret it later if I don't keep up. I'm going to continue with my "bullet lists" because they seem effective enough...and I don't have to write as much! Here's some updates on our awesome TODDLER:

*Beck runs everywhere he goes. It's hilarious. He "prances" as Kyle calls it, always saying he takes after his mom. (remember though...he's only one. I'm 24 years old, and I still prance.)

*Beck is obsessed with any kind of ball. Basketballs, Footballs, Baseballs, Golf Balls, the list goes on. He knows the difference between each of them, and can roughly pronounce each as well. He can throw a ball like a champ, too.

*He also throws other things. Like, everything. I'm not sure yet how to discipline a toddler, but I'm working on it. In the meantime, we continue to get hit in the head with whatever object is close by.

*Because Beckham runs everywhere he goes, he's gone from 75th percentile in his weight to 40th percentile in his weight. He's getting skinny! He's still got his awesome wrist rolls, and his incredibly fat feet. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before those are gone, too. In other statistics, he's 25th percentile in his height, and 20th percentile in head circumference, as of his 15 month appointment.

* A list of words and phrases Beckham is saying (the ones that I can remember):

-"Uh Oh"

-"Hi" and "Bye bye" with a wave

-"Please" (Peas) and "Thank You" (Kee-Koo)

- "Baby" and "Bu-Bye Baby"

-"Mommy" and "Daddy"

-"More" with the sign gesture, (still learning when to use this)

-Blows kisses

-"Basketball" (baa-ball), "Football" (fuh-ball), "ball"

-"GG" (in reference to Great Grandma)

- "Grandpa" (ba-pa)

- "Cookie" (he says this perfectly!)

-"Night Night" (ni-ni)

- "Light" (pointing to the light)

- "Jesus"

-"No" (my favorite)

"Bubba" (Pointing to himself)

-Infinite jabber

*Beck would rather be outside than anywhere else. It doesn't matter how cold it is.

*He still has one of the best attitudes around. I'm noticing, however, as he gets older and realizes he can have control, he wants to let me know what he's thinking. Sometimes that means throwing himself on the floor "crying" (it's in quotes because it's fake crying), or screaming and flailing and kicking. Today has been a little bit of that kind of a day. He sure makes up for it though with his hilarious personality and his prance-y run. It's all worth it, I know!

*The other day we went with Rick and Linda to Miracle Hot Springs, and Beckham smiled the whole two hours we were in the water. He was fearless. He loved it. Summer will be so much fun!

*Since Beck is getting taller, he grabs everything he can, whenever he can. And then he throws it. He's also getting really good at jimmy-rigging things so he can get to places he can't reach. He'll pull out the drawer to use as a step, he'll push a chair over to where he needs to reach, he'll do whatever it takes. He climbed up on the Pediatrician's stool at the Dr.'s office and balanced as it swayed and tried to roll away. He's even climbed on the seat of his new tricycle and stood up, just for the fun of it. You can imagine that with Beckham's fearless attitude, he's got lots of little bumps and bruises a fair amount of the time. Beck's dad is proud. :)

*Last thing (because this is way too long, can you tell I've been needing to catch up?!) - Beck likes to sing and hum. Often as he's playing with his toys or walking around I'll hear him humming. Also, just like his Grandpa Grant, I'll turn around to check on him while he's in his car seat, and he'll be daydreaming about something as he taps his fingers to the beat in his head. Beck's mom is proud. :)

Birthday Uno

Let me first apologize to all other children I have that may see this post someday. I apologize for not giving you as extravagant a party as was thrown for Beck on his first birthday...but let's be honest...do you really remember what you did when you turned one?

Talk about crazy, but we still had fun! Beck's day started at the Pumpkin Patch with 2 of his favorite cousins. Highlights of the day include:

Playing in a bunch of corn?



Eating said corn:


Going on a tractor ride to find the perfect pumpkin:


(Beck is having fun, I promise!)


sitting in the pumpkin patch, a little overwhelmed:




watching Jovie get stuck straddling the mud tracks from the tractor (not happy about this, as you can see):



searching and searching for the perfect ones:



waiting for the tractor to pick us up with our pumpkins:




Riding in some barrels with wheels attached to them attached to a tractor (Only Beck's head is showing, can you find him?):






pony riding for the girls:



playing in the hay:




and not pictured, a petting zoo.


Ahem. In Beck's own words, here is how the evening went.

"Here's me with GG. She's the only normal one at this party. My mom made me dress up in this crazy outfit and I'm sweating like a pig."


"Here's me with my Aunt Kelli and my two cousins, Halle and Jovie. Halle won the costume contest, and I can see why. She looks wicked cool."


"I think this was the best part about my party:



when will I ever get to see them dress up like THIS again?"

"Here's me doing some stuff



and eating a Snickers bar."

"Here's some more people that came to my party; everybody is pretty special to me. Here's Uncle Ron,


Great Grandma Gillespie (we get along well),


Uncle Cade,

my crazy mom and dad,



and my friends Tim and Brooke."


"My mom and GG made me my own special cake. Ya, I liked it."




"Here's my dad trying to steal my cake. I showed him."


"Everybody else got cake, too, and some cookies. Here's some pictures of them."



"I guess all in all, it was a pretty good day. Thanks, everybody, for coming to my party!"

Love, Kyle Beckham Hardy, age 1