Christmas-time pictures...finally!

Sorry I haven't been good at updating the blog recently. I've been busy with work and enjoying spending time with Ethan and Jason during any spare moments! Here are some pictures from December and January.

Here are a few "formal" pictures of Ethan from just before Christmas.

Ethan loved his new D-19 Allis Chalmers tractor. He immediately sat down to ride it.

Whenever we ask Ethan to smile for a camera, this is the goofy grin/face we get. Lovely...already at that stage...
Jason got out the manual about the REAL D-19 tractor. Ethan was actually interested...like father like son.
We got to see Amy, Ethan's Godmother from Lowell, MA, in Spokane over Christmas.
We really enjoyed our visit with Aunt Karen and Uncle Steve over the holidays. We just made it in time for hot cocoa with the whole family on Christmas Eve. Ethan loved playing tag around the center wall upstairs with Steve...and was thrilled by Steve's scary growling. And Ethan was pampered with lots of hugs and play time with Aunt Karen.

Trip to Seattle

Ethan and I took a trip to Seattle in October so that I could do some medical testing. Gramma Treeka and Grampa Jose got to spend a lot of time with Ethan while I stayed at the hospital campus. Ethan loved picking up leaves, and playing cards, drums, dominos, and dress-up with Grampa's hunting hats! When I could, between days of testing, I spent time with everyone. Ethan even learned how to drink from a cup instead of a sippy cup. So now we only use sippy cups on rare occasions like in the car on longer trips.

These are some pictures from that trip - and one of Ethan here at home cuddled up with Carbon and a good book during a cold day.

Grandparent palooza!

Ethan last saw his Siemens Grandparents in February (in Texas and Seattle) and last saw his Beu Grandparents in July at the Beu Pig Roast. So it was so great to see both sets this month! Ethan had so much fun getting all four to read him books. Go Dog, Go! And anything with farms and/or tractors, trucks, cars are a few of his favorites.

He gave lots of hugs and kisses (hugging Grandma "Treeka" above). And he got to hang out with his cousins, Ryan and Connor, (and the rest of the entire family) over Labor Day weekend (other picture).

Backyard Makeover

As you can see, we've been working hard on the backyard. The pictures are in reverse order showing the finished product first. Oh well. We tilled the dirt, trenched, put in sprinkler piping, tilled again, set up the sprinklers, and finally seeded! The crazy downpours of rain derailed our project on multiple occasions this summer. But just look at the progress! Ethan "helped" when he could, supervised a lot, and enjoyed playing in the mud when we'd let him. Thank goodness we now have an automatic sprinkler system AND grass. The grass still has a ways to go and we still have some clean up to do and a pergola to build over the patio. Now we can't wait until next spring and summer to actually walk on the grass and enjoy our backyard!

First Birthday!

On May 6th we celebrated Ethan's first birthday. His aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents on the Beu side came to party with us the following weekend. He loves to play in the tunnel that goes between his tent and his teepee. He started standing (without holding on to stuff) the day before his birthday.

Rainy, wet, Seattle...

Ok, I'll admit it...Seattle is beautiful when it isn't rainy or gloomy, and it is really nice for most of the summer. But February proved to be everything Seattle is known for...rain, clouds, wet, drizzle... But our last full day was actually gorgeous. Ethan and I flew to Seattle on Tuesday morning and left on Saturday late morning. We had a great trip. I worked for the first three days, but enjoyed we enjoyed just hanging out on Friday all day. Ethan even got to meet Snoop, a Golden Retreiver friend of Grandma and Grandpa's. He was still excited to see Carbon and Hogan when he got back to Denver though!

Grandpa and Ethan wore matching hats (Ethan's was a gift from his second cousins - the other Beu's). Ethan had lots of new toys to play with for the week, which mostly kept him from getting in to stuff he shouldn't.

We drove to Roswell after we left Texas. All of the lamp post globes in downtown Roswell were alien heads. It was fun to see all the novelty UFO stuff around town. We enjoyed the International UFO Museum and Research Center, lots of historical stuff surrounding the Roswell incidents. And we had lots of fun taking pictures in the Alien Zone. We also enjoyed all the gawdy trinkets and gifts in the shops. Ethan had a blast touching all of the alien manequins and was so smiley in every picture. These were a few of our favorite shots. And yes, we are sorta crazy, but not as crazy as some of the people we overheard in Roswell!