Ready for the beach! (Thanks, Grandma Murphy!)

This summer, after attending my brother's wedding in Utah, we are headed to the west coast and Ocean Shores, Washington for a family reunion with Joshua's family!

I am really excited for many reasons: 1) I've never met any of his aunts, uncles, or cousins on that side, so that will be fun. 2) ALL of Joshua's brothers and his parents will be there, so it is going to be a party. 3) This will be Will's first trip to the beach! (And possibly his ONLY trip to see in the ocean for awhile). 4) This is our first REAL vacation (somewhere we've never been before) in a long time - a couple of years, in fact. We're going to definitely make the most of a quick trip.

Joshua's sweet mama sent Will a few beach accessories in preparation.

They are sooo cute - thank you Grandma! We're getting ready!

Fathers and Sons

Our stake Fathers and Sons campout was last weekend, and Joshua invited Papa Depew (so cute - and so glad he could go!) and took Will to the campout.

The campout is usually hosted on an island in the middle of a small private lake owned by a brother in our stake who is a contractor (and hoping to build in that area eventually). Joshua said Will spent most of his time throwing rocks into the water (rocks are a current obsession with him. If there are rocks anywhere, we have to stop and play for a minute.). They enjoyed smores, stories, and good times. Love my family!

Will and Daddy

 

Throwing rocks in the water.

The no fail dinner - peanut butter "sa-weesh"

Will and a five year old friend from church - this little guy LOVES Will.

Stories with Pop-pop.

Breakfast! (This is the first thing he says to me in the morning. "Ch-goo" (cereal))

Camp at sunrise.

Some of my most favorite boys. <3

Summer stay-at-home mommyness! (and Will at 18 months) :)

I love the summer for many reasons, but one is the incredible perk of having a few precious weeks to stay at home with Will. (If I ever complain about teaching, please remind me of this!)

My goal is to post more pics for far away family to get to know Will before we get to see all of you this summer. Here's just a few cute moments from our first week home together :)

Peanut butter soul patch from breakfast one day.

 

Will wanted to line up all of his friends.

 

And here he is in an adorable hat a friend gave us for his birthday that he finally likes.

Afternoons with Curious George and roasted edamame are great - this is the ONLY veggie he eats happily and even asks for - "Bean, bean!" (it might be the salt, garlic and cheese, but I can't complain. Recipe here. I usually go a little lighter on the salt.)

Abstract art a la Will. This is what happens when Mommy is cooking and the dishwasher is clean (and when Will finds the last three potatoes in a low cabinet). 

 

Josh found these glasses when cleaning the school the other day. We popped out the cheap sunglasses lenses and Will thinks they're pretty much the best thing ever.

 

Will had his 18 month check up the other day and was a champ. While he's only in the 18th percentile for height and weight, the doctor said his development is great and he was such a still, sweet kid at the doctor (not sure how I lucked out there, but I did).  He's got 10 teeth now which makes eating favorite foods like pizza much easier, and is talking up a storm. He's just barely starting to put two words together - thinks like "Thanks, Mama" or "Please ch-goo (cereal)." Because his words are so dang cute, we recorded him saying some of our favorites.

Will is such a blessing in our lives and the lives of many people around us - we love him!