Birch Hollow

The weekend of July 22nd we made a quick trip to St George.  Zion had fun playing with Nana and Heather all day while me, Zac, Cyd, Cody and my dad went into Zion's National Park to do a canyon called Birch Hollow.  It was a LONG day.  My dad hadn't done the hike for over 10 years and thought he remembered it taking about 8 hours.  He was off by just a hair.... after a good solid 12 hours we finally made it out of the canyon.  We still had a good time, though.  This was my first time canyoneering since I was barely pregnant with Zion.  In fact, I didn't even know I was pregnant last time we went.  I just felt like crud and was low on energy and then we found out we were going to have a little one the day after we got home.  It was fun to be back in a canyon, but I will admit it was really hard to be away from Zion all day.  I felt a little homesick without him and I don't think I will be up for another long canyon any time soon.

Zion's Birthday Party!

I'm FINALLY getting around to blogging about Zion's Birthday.  The past month has been absolutely CRAZY (which I will blog about next) but first, let's focus on the BIRTHDAY BOY!  I can't believe Zion has been in our lives for over a year now.  Although, it's hard to remember what life was like without him.  He makes everything so much better and so much more fun.  I love the stage he is in right now.  He is so curious and all over the place and an absolute blast.  Zion, I love you so much little buddy.  Thanks for letting me be your mommy.  His birthday was on Saturday July 9th so we had a big BBQ and played in the water at Nana & Papa Houtz's house.  We had a ton of family come and Zion was spoiled rotten with gifts.  I wish I would have been better at taking pictures of all the people that came and all of the gifts he got.  I decided to do a blue theme for the dessert table.  I made a ton of yummy treats... blueberry cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes, oreo balls, chocolate dipped oreos, chocolate dipped pretzels, blueberry limeade, and then had a bunch of other blue stuff.. blue squeeze-its, almond joys, dove chocolates, and taffy.  Needless to say, nobody went home without a ton of sugar rushing through their veins.

 

 

Zion loved opening all of his presents, but I think his soft rocking horse was his favorite

 

 

 Zion and his cousins had fun playing in the water

I think the best part of the night was watching Zion demolish his cake.  It was absolutely hilarious.  He just kept on going until it was completely crumbled!

After all that cake, it's a good thing Zion had some water to wash it down.  The party couldn't have gone better.  We started at 3pm and it ended up going 6 hours!  I couldn't believe it.  Everyone was having so much fun.  Thanks to all of our wonderful family that came and celebrated with us.  We love you all!

1 Year Pics

Between our crazy schedule this past month and our photographers crazy schedule, Zion's official 1 year pictures won't be taken until next month, so I used my very amateur skills and attempted taking a couple photos for his birthday invite.  I'm excited to get his real ones done next month, but until then, these ones worked.

4th of July Weekend

Over the 4th of July weekend we decided to see how Zion would do camping.  We decided to stay close in case he hated it and we needed to come home, so we just went up to Whiting's.  ZION LOVED IT!  He loved playing in the dirt, was mesmerized by the fire, and took full advantage of all the attention he was getting from my sisters and parents.  I played so hard during the day and slept like a gem at night.  I think many more camping trips will be in our future.  Sadly, my camera battery died so I only got a couple pictures.

 

After our weekend up the canyon, we went home showered put on our pj's and went over to my parents house for a little firework show.  Zion HATED the fireworks.  He was so adorable and excited while we waited for them to start, but as soon as the first one went off he cried his little eyes out.  It was the saddest thing ever.

 Needless to say... we probably won't be trying fireworks again this year.