Seth's Birthday

The birthday boy!

Yesterday, Seth turned two years old.  Most days I forget that he was born with a scary heart problem and had a major surgery when he was six days old, but on his birthday I definitely remember. I watched Seth all day and I am so grateful that he is healthy and part of our family. He has developed quite the personality.

Seth is speaking a lot. We were worried for awhile that he would never talk, but he says tons of words. Some of our favorites are: c'mon (whenever he wants you to play with him), HEY! (whenever someone does something that he doesn't like), love you (for obvious reasons), and yeah (his response to almost everything).

Seth knows about half the letters of the alphabet and anytime he sees an S, he tells us about it. He loves S because that is the first letter in his name. He also knows green, red, and sometimes blue. He knows star and heart. We love to hear him say his prayers. For the longest time when Seth finished his prayer, he would say, "Bye Bye!" It was so cute. But starting in June, he says "amen" which is nice, but not nearly as darling.

Seth loves vehicles--garbage trucks like Dax, tractors, cars, but most of all trains! He can't say train yet, so they are "choo choos." He gets so excited to see any kind of train and he also loves to play with his train tracks. Seth also loves dogs and has three different stuffed animal dogs in his crib that he MUST sleep with.

Seth is very independent. If he wants something, he just climbs on a chair to get it. He also loves to help. Seth is a good garbage man and dishwasher starter. He also loves to vacuum. He will push the vacuum around anywhere, running or not running. Hopefully, Seth will also want to help with the chores. Seth also doesn't get pushed around by his brothers. He has already learned to hold his own and bosses them around/beats them up quite frequently.

Seth gives the best "squeezes." We love when we pick him up and he hugs really tight and says, "squeeze." Seth is truly a blessing in our lives and we love him more and more every day. We can't wait to see how he is as a two year old!

Seth likes to be silly!

We put balloons in his room so when he woke up Seth was super
excited to have balloons everywhere.

All dressed up for church on his birthday!
His brothers made signs for his door.

Seth got a new bike!

Seth loved his train cake.
It made all the work worthwhile.

Blowing out the candles.

I love this little guy so much!

Boy Models

A few months ago, Dax had the chance to be a child model for a local company who makes dress up clothes. If you read this blog, you will remember that post. I was slightly surprised when I got a call from them asking if Dax could come model for them again because he was so serious last time. They must think he is pretty cute! So Dax was part of another photo shoot. This time he was with four other kids and it was for 3 hours in someone's backyard. Dax was amazing. He smiled, listened, and did everything he was asked. I asked them to send me a catalog or a link to his photo online if they used it, so hopefully they will. Here are a few pictures I snapped while we were there.

There were two boys and two girls!

Dax loved holding the sword and shield.

I wasn't sure how the mask fit with
 his prince cape and sword, but whatever!

Super adorable.

Imagine my surprise when Mark was asked to be a model, too. My neighbor owns a business and was taking pictures for the new design of her website. She asked lots of people from around the neighborhood, but she needed someone about 7. So she thought of Mark and asked if he would take some pictures for her site. He agreed and now we have two models in the family. My friend's website is about healthy food for kids and so Mark ate fruit and veggies (things that he will actually eat). When she gets her site completed, I'll share the link so that you can see our handsome Mark.

Mark all dressed up.

Eating strawberries for some pictures.

Mark with his "breakfast."

Summer is right around the corner...

Upper Falls in Provo Canyon!

There are lots of signs that summer is here. First of all, soccer is done for Spring. Mark and Dax played great seasons and had awesome last games. Dax scored 8 goals--a new record. That morning he told us over breakfast that he wanted to score 8 and we tried to talk him down a bit, but he was set on it. Well, I guess I will never doubt Dax's will power again. Mark scored three goals in the first 5 minutes of the game. After that the coach put him on defense, but his team still played well and handily won the game.

Dax running down the field.

Dax does his own hair.

Dax wanted me to take a picture of him scoring a goal,
so we took this one after the game. :)

Mark scored a goal right here.

Mark is very intense!

Mark loved his Ninja Turtle Team. They had a lot of fun together.

Second, baseball started! Mark just started coach pitch this week. Baseball is Mark's favorite sport, so he is so excited to play. He hit really well--one ended up on the soccer field behind the baseball field. Dax should start T-ball by the end of the month.

Mark loves playing baseball.

Mark is always ready!

Next, the pool came out. It has finally hit high temperatures where we want to be outside in the pool. Seth was so excited to be playing in the water again.

Seth loves the water.

The boys love the water slide.

Seth had SO much fun! Mostly watching his brothers.

Dax wants me to get the pool out every day.

Finally, we started hiking. We went on our first hike in Utah County (we did hike a lot in Moab). We tried a new hike in Provo Canyon and while it was uphill the entire way, we had so much fun seeing a new waterfall.

I wish I could say that Randy was home as a sign of summer, but he is working the whole week, so our real summer will start on June 10th.

Mom and Seth by the waterfall.

The older boys climbed up right next to the waterfall.

The boys were so excited to throw rocks into the water.