Star Crazy

Joseph loves stars and so my mom and I made him a star blanket. It turned out beautifully...I love it, but more importantly, Joseph LOVES it. He rolled around with that blanket for a solid 30 minutes (or more) just playing.

My favorite part of the blanket is the top fabric we used. It's all space and planets and stars...very realistic.The bottom of the blanket is simply stars with large yellow stars sewn on. The blanket is tied with the ties showing up on the bottom rather than the top (I'm not a fan of tied blankets because the ties always got in the way of my nose as I slept...I'm pretty sure Joseph could care less either way but I did it my way since I was the one doing it.)

Joseph and BrookLynne

BrookLynne was laying on her blanket in the living room and Joseph just had to come and lay down with her...and give her a few kisses, too.

Living the Good Life (Bananas dipped in Chocolate)

Joseph has been having some problems with his diaper...so my answer is to feed him as many bananas as I can. He doesn't eat them like he used to, without even taking a breath and devouring it while trying to say "more, please" at the same time. So I decided to give him a "treat," his favorite word to say at Nana's house. Is there anything better than a banana covered in chocolate? Of course not! And he ate the whole thing.
Notice the look in his eye in this last picture...priceless! He could double for one of those wanted posters from the wild west, beard and all. It's a good thing I had removed the girly pink bib before taking this picture...I really think it wouldn't have meshed well with his mischievous look.

We've been in Utah for almost two weeks now and Joseph is missing his daddy. Now that he is more verbal, we'll talk on the phone a lot more. Sometimes, he just kind of understands that I must be talking to his dad even without me saying his dad's name. If that's the case, he'll stand by the phone calling for his daddy until I pass the phone over to him. It was really cute the first time, mildly annoying the next time, and is now above and beyond obnoxious ...but I love how much he loves his dad!

Susan's work had a party in Herriman. Joseph and I joined up with her, along with Laurie, Boyd, and Cash. It was tons of fun.There was a train ride for the toddlers...Joseph didn't really like it too much. Cash rode it over and over again! When the two of them rode together, Joseph didn't do too bad.


After eating and riding on the tractor, we went down to the playground where Joseph climbed everywhere...including up these monkey bar-like steps. It was crazy that he thought he could get up them. Fortunately I was there to help him finish them. Susan and I laughed about how silly it was that he didn't like the tractor but would risk life and limb to climb some bars up to the slides.

Grandma and Grandpa Jolley

Joseph had so much fun visiting with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Jolley. Do you remember the original "little people?" Well, GiGi Jolley (Grandma's nickname) has tons of fun fisher price little people toys...the camper, the barn, the mini-bus. Joseph LOVED it. It makes you realize that "classic" toys like those ones are called "classic" for a good reason.

Another fun game Joseph loved was pushing Grandpa Jolley over...I promise I'm not teaching him to abuse his elders! Here's a fun video of them:

We spent the day in Herriman where we went to church in our old ward and had dinner with Grandma Jolley and Laurie. It was so much fun. Joseph wore his new church clothes. He looked so handsome. The pants are even part of a suit but the suit jacket will take some time to grow into...everything is 2T.

My dapper little gentleman.

Joseph with Grandma Jolley...She was sooo excited to see him!

Joseph was not smiling for the camera today...but for this one, I think he decided a smile would be a better choice!

Joseph and Boyd wouldn't pose for the camera...did I just say Joseph AND Boyd? I meant just Joseph of course because Boyd was great to stay in one spot (he's almost crawling! But not quite yet...) In order for us to get them to stay in one spot we placed a singing lion in front of them.

Fat Lip

Joseph and I went out to eat with Nana last Friday. As we were finishing up he slipped and bumped him face against the edge of the table. It bled a lot but wasn't too bad. A little bit of a fat lip was all he got. I took some pictures while waiting for everyone to make it out to the car. It's totally gone now.

Joseph's First Ice Cream Cone

I think the pictures really do speak for themselves but I can't help but add in my two cents...look for the initial stage of enjoyment and a realitively clean appearance ...followed closely by a period of total confusion as paper is unsuccessfully consumed ...finished off with "all-done" (said by mommy only of course) and loud screams I'm sure you can imagine as clean-up time comes. Enjoy!

Family Gatherings

It has been so fun to get together with family now that the cousins are older. They play so well together. We were over at Sam and Marci's the other day and William introduced Joseph to this bike. He absolutely loved it! He never wanted to get off of it. His feet don't really touch the pedals and the training wheels are the only things from keeping him from eating dirt, but he didn't care...he could have stayed on for hours. But my old body can only take 100 degree weather for so long nowadays. (How do kids last outside for so long in that kind of heat...Joseph would stay outside all day if I let him.)

Sam and Marci also have their other bike in the back... the "real" bike. The kids love playing on that also, so Mark gladly kept Cash and Ashlyn busy for a while.

The only kid not going outside lately is Isabell. She just lays around all day and sleeps...which Marci loves I'm sure. It's definitely different dressing a baby in Arizona durning the summer than it was dressing one in Utah in early spring. Isabell is always wearing the cutest summer outfits!

The next time we got together was at our house and we decided it was time for Joseph to try holding Isabell. Look closely at the picture to see Joseph's reaction.

Fortunatly he didn't push her completely off of his lap. I'm assuming/hoping that Joseph will be better about accepting a new baby sister or brother, since he/she will "belong" to him and all. Kids seem to be better about stuff they think is "theirs," right?

Overall, Arizona isn't so bad...but only because I have such a wonderful family to hang out with.

Visiting Utah

I am so excited...Joseph and I will be visiting Utah for a whole two weeks! Marci, who had her baby last week, wanted to head up to Utah to visit family and attend some weddings of friends. I had the thought in the back of my mind to invite myself along for a while but when I finally asked her she jumped on the idea. I hadn't thought about how hard it would be to drive all alone with one almost-two-year-old and a newborn. What about bathroom stops? It would be a constant refrain of "don't put that in your mouth...Yucky!" or "don't touch that." Kind of stressful. With an extra adult in the car, bathroom visits can be handled with one person staying in the car...whew! So next Wednesday we are coming up for a visit.

Here are some pictures of our last trip to Utah, about which I never remembered to post:

The airport...he did really well, all things considered.

The pool: Joseph took some time to adjust but then he LOVED it. He had so much fun splashing and playing on the steps. It really was an ideal toddler pool.


Hiking: Joseph was the leader of the hike...no one was allowed to go any faster than the leader. He wasn't the leader for very long because it caused a little bit of a bottleneck. Grandpa was always there to help Joseph over tough roots and rocks.

Joseph's "Big Boy Bed"

I took some pictures of Joseph and his new bed he's been sleeping in.

When we first moved to Arizona, he slept in a pack 'n' play. It worked okay but he really hated it. Some nights he would be able to manage sleeping through the night but most nights involved him waking up crying, which woke us up too.

After discussing whether or not we should break out the crib (which is brand new and still in a box...for the next baby), we decided to try out his toddler bed. We do have an official toddler bed which uses a crib mattress and everything. After cleaning out his bedroom though, the twin which was in there looked just as good as his little crib mattress. The box spring and mattress are not on a frame, and so are closer to the floor than a regular twin would be. How to keep him from rolling off, though, that was the problem. We decided to use a rolled up towel under the sheet until we could get a guard rail or something.
Here are more pictures:


When we first put up the bed, he couldn't climb up without assistance so I placed a big box of canned corn at the end so he could use it as a step. He doesn't really need it now but I still haven't moved it. It's good to have in there in case he gets hungry in the middle of the night, right?




Joseph did not like me forcing him to lay down as if he were taking a nap just so I could snap a few pictures. He cried the whole time he was on the bed but didn't try to get up. The bed idea is so new to him, he doesn't realize that he really could get out from under the covers and climb down. He will simply stay where I put him on the bed...hooray!

I hope this sticks and he won't do the whole midnight wandering that some kids do. On the side, notice the doll he is curled up with on his bed...it's his own Nephi, the prophet, doll. The dolls are Mark's new idea and were a real hit at Provo's Freedom Festival. Check out his website at Guiding Light Toys.