Our six week vacation-Part 1

Okay, I am so confused. This new version of blogger is crazy! The pictures are completely out of order, sorry :)

We just got back from a six, yes six week vacation! It was wonderful, lovely, and fun. But I am so glad to be home! Here is a small recap of our vacay...

First stop: Las Vegas!

I love Vegas. I have a lot of awesome memories from Vegas. It is always warm, there is always something to do, and always a pool nearby to relax:) Amazingly enough, Hector and I have visited Vegas probably 15 times together, and we have only been to the strip maybe 3 times.

 This trip (when we had our kids with us, go figure:) we made it to Mandalay Bay! We went to see the "Shark Encounter". The ads for this attraction always show a picture of a Great White, but alas, nothing bigger than a lemon shark actually lives in the aquarium :)

 Regardless of the size of fish, the aquariums were beautiful! We did enjoy ourselves, but would mot recommend it to anyone visiting Las Vegas, since we may or may not had to hand over a kidney to get in.

 Another lovely thing about Vegas? The hotels. No other city beats their hotels. We never stay on the strip though, but about 10 minutes away where the cigarette smoke fog clears.

CAUTION: MORE NAKED BOOTY!!

My boys LOVE the hotel bathtubs :)

 ...and the curtains:)

 ...and the pools!

 Sorry, one, lone jelly fish from the aquarium :) This was the first time I have ever seen a jelly fish in real life before... glad that kidney didn't go to waste!



Landon turns one !

There are a lot of pictures in this post :) My sweet little Landon boy turned one last week! I love him so much, and yes, I do squish his cheeks everyday. I do it so often it makes him mad now :)

I took so many pictures because I wanted to kind of capture a day in the life of Landon. I didn't get everything he did on camera, but I set the timer and when it would beep, I would find him and snap a picture.

First up, his gifts. Since we are in Seattle now, we don't have family near by so we had our own little family birthday party for him.

Event #1 : Wake up! I brought him into the living room that was decorated in streamers and balloons we have put up the night before. He had the most troubled look on his face :) But, did not waste anymore time before he began playing with them.


I love when he smile's so much that his eyes smile :)

Oh my sweet boy.

When he is tired for a nap, I never have to look far for him. This is what I see when I look down at my feet. (pic above)

My boys! I can't believe I got them both to sit still for a picture!!

I made balloon pancakes for breakfast. They didn't turn out exactly like they did in my mind, but the boys were happy. And I am pretty sure I am happy with anything drenched in butter and syrup no matter what it looks like :)

Landon is happiest when he is eating. I love his little chubby, square feet that don't fit into his shoes! Oh, I could nibble his piggies all day :)

Next I found him under the high chair. Maybe he is wishing it was lunch time? Not sure, but he does like to push his high chair around like a walker.

Next I found him under the table. Hmmm...there is a pattern forming here. He treats my table like it is a jungle gym, climbing over and under the rails. Plus, I store the lazy susan that is supposed to go on top, underneath on a board. Landon has decided that when in doubt (of anything) always sit and spin.

A little while later I found him munching a book. Everything goes into his mouth! I am sure he never even looks to see what it is first before he sucks/bites it. With 6 teeth and 2 almost in, he can do some damage!

After he sucks/bite the books however, I do find him looking at the pictures. I actually find him looking through books a lot during the day. This makes me happy :) I hope he has a love of reading.

Then it was bath time! WARNING! NAKED BOOTY!!

Ohhhh! Don't you want to pinch it and squeeze his cheeks? (the ones on his face!! What were you thinking?! ;)


Into his new birthday clothes. Isn't he handsome?? Look at his dimple on his right cheek :)

Oh my hannah!! Words cannot describe how I love this kid!!

PARTY TIME!! He was so intrigued by the flame on his candle. He wanted so badly to touch it. We tried to get him to blow it out, but that was a no go. So brother helped him out :)

"What?! I get to touch my food?!"

"This is awesome! Perhaps if I use two hands I can shovel it in faster?"
Now we opened presents. He got the idea of tearing the wrapping paper off, but them decided that.............................

Standing on the box would be just as fun and easier!

That's my Gordo!

I love you baby!! Happy Birthday sweet thing!

Firsts

Wow! Have we had a lot of firsts lately?

FIRST and foremost it is Landon's first birthday this week!

What a big boy, but more on that later.

Our first, first of the year

MOVING HERE

Yes, that is Seattle, WA. And what a first it has been! It is SO different here it is amazing. We love it so far. The beautiful trees, the rain, the green EVERYWHERE and our ward. Life has been good to us :) If you have never been to Seattle, come and visit! You will be amazed!

Getting to Seattle involved a first for Gabe. His first airplane ride! (technically it is number 4 for him, but he can't remember the first 3 so...) He has been wanting to ride in an airplane for so long now and we were thrilled to tell him he would finally get the chance.

He loved it, but we won't take into account the fact that he closed the window and slept for the last half of the flight :) He even got to go sit in the cockpit with the pilots and received his "wings" :)

It was Landon's actual first flight. And this is how much he enjoyed it...


Yes, our year has been eventful! Now I am off to organize my photo's on my computer, so that hopefully I can get some pictures of Landon printed :)

How you doin'?

Look who's walking!

Landon is officially walking!

Yay!

And our baby gates have been officially installed!

Yay!

(please excuse the laundry. Yep, I do laundry)

He is walking from room to room. Climbing onto his brothers bed AND JUMPING. Climbing on top of boxes to reach things. I basically find him on top of everything once a day.

Oh I love him, but oh how he exhausts me!

Quick Christmas

I know that Christmas has come and gone, but before it is out of style I thought I would document ours. We spent Christmas in a temporary apartment in Seattle while we were looking for a permanent home when we officially moved.

I tried my best to keep our traditions going despite have NOTHING of my own Christmas stuff to work with.

We bought a little mini tree at Wal-mart and decorated it with a few little ornaments. It looked so pathetic :) Our own little Charlie Brown tree. But when we would turn out the lights at night to watch a movie, the tree still glowed and gave us a little spirit of Christmas.


One tradition is opening one present on Christmas Eve. This present is ALWAYS pajama's, though, apparently Gabe is not aware of this and thought it was a toy because the moment he unwrapped it to find clothing, he almost burst into tears.
But don't they look cute??!! I didn't think my boys would ever be able to wear matching clothes, since they are 3 1/2 years apart, but Landon is wearing 2T now so he shops in the same section as Gabe :) Yay!

After the heartbreaking discovery of clothing, we let them give their presents they got for each other. Gabe gave Landon a walker that has lights and music and HE LOVES IT. I give this toy all the credit for giving him the desire to learn to walk.

Landon gave Gabe the DS game of Wall E. Gabe played it all night!

After the gift opening, we made cookies for Santa and wrote him a note letting him know that we didn't have stockings to hang so please leave our stocking stuffers on the table.

AND BOY DID SANTA COME OR WHAT??!!

Gabe got trucks, trucks and more trucks. More DS games and bathtub toys. He also got clothes, though once he figured out that all the clothes were in the same size/shape box, he refused to open those type of boxes :) What is the problem??! I love getting clothes!

Landon got not quite as many, but he had no idea what was going on at all :) Next year he will have much more fun I am sure!