A Week in Colorado

We have had a really fun/busy week in Colorado. I have so many pictures and videos that it is hard to choose what to put on.

Doug had fun playing/inventing games with his brothers. These include:

Knee Football

Crutch Races

Home run Derby

Rockband (James really enjoyed this also)

Other activities included: Water skiing, Miniature Golf, Hide n' Seek, and a Mario Kart Tournament.

James enjoyed:

Playing with his Uncles

and Cousins

Rockband

Swimming

and The Splash Park

He also loved just being outside all the time, going to McDonald's for lunch with Grandpa, and playing at this really cool park in the mountains. I thought this was the coolest playground I have ever seen so I took a ton of pictures of it. James loved the bridge the most.

And I guess it seems that I enjoyed taking pictures! It was a really fun trip and I love going to Colorado.

The Rocking Horse

It's finally done! Over a month ago we decided that James needed a rocking horse. Anyone who has seen him in his highchair would agree. So we bought this pattern and got to work. It was a lot more work then we were thinking it would be, mostly because it was the first time and the pattern wasn't exactly as good as Doug liked. So we made some improvements (the mane and tail are our own design), started over once and it looks awesome! Doug is already making plans for the next horse, which will be a lot better (according to him). Just as we suspected, James loves it.

He is not that good at rocking in it yet, but he tries!

The Camera is Fixed!

We finally got our camera back, hopefully in perfect working condition. So to celebrate I took this cute video of James today to post before we run off to Colorado. I was talking to a friend in the front room and we could hear James laughing and laughing in the kitchen. I found James doing this. I think he was trying to stand up and thought it was so funny when he kept falling down. Then I noticed he was watching the whole thing in the dishwasher! What a cute kid I have!

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Topping it Off!

Today they topped off the Draper Temple by setting the Angel Moroni. It was supposed to be a big secret because they didn't want hundreds and thousands of people showing up to watch. The word did get out and there was a pretty good crowd. When we drove up they had it laying in the trailer. I couldn't believe how big it was!

We dropped off Doug and went to play at the park while they were getting things ready. When we came back they had him hooked up to the crane and dangling off the ground. We got to go stand in front of it and take pictures. James didn't really care about any of it.

When they were finally ready another crane lifted two guys up to the top while the other crane lifted the statue. Then they lowered the pole you see through the steeple to secure it.

That's it. James didn't really want to watch and was choosing this time to throw a major tantrum so I didn't get to see them lower him onto the steeple but it was still really cool to watch the rest of it.

Something I never realized or really thought about. Angel Moroni faces East, but not the trumpet it's his chest. I guess I just always thought it was the trumpet that faced east.

Doug's comments: There are actually 2 parts that had to be put up. First was the steeple. It slid down around a steel tube that is part of the structural steel. Then the statue which is from the ball up was put up. There is a post that comes out the bottom of the ball that slides into the steel tube. There are 4 notches we had cut in the steel tube and 4 plates on the post that fit into these notches to keep it positioned the right way.

There are also 2 cables that run from the statue through the steel tube. One of these is a stainless steel cable that will be anchored to the structure of the building. The other is copper and will be tied into our lightning protection system. If you look at that last picture you see something sticking out of the head. There was a bolt in that location to hoist the statue then once it was in position it was take and that lightning rod was screwed in.

The statue itself is fiberglass molded onto a steel frame. The fiberglass is then covered with gold leaf and then sprayed with a clear coat lacquer to protect the gold from pollution. The entire statue is about 350 pounds.

The 4th of July and No Camera!

We sent our camera in to Canon to get fixed, so for the next few weeks we have no camera! But because of all the family that is visiting we can still get some cute pictures, but no videos. My mom got here on Tuesday, my Dad on Wednesday, and Jordyn and Blake came on Thursday. We had to drive up and get Jordyn because she came over with the Christensens. So James got to meet James. He just wanted to go play though.

Chad and Shannon came down for the Fourth and we went to Grandmothers and Grandads. James actually sat on the couch between Jordyn and Shannon. I didn't think it was possible for him to just sit somewhere!

We had a picnic type dinner in the backyard and James was too busy to eat anything he just wanted Grandad to come and take him to the rocks.

"Come on Grandad!"

"Can we go up there?"

We also played some lawn games. James loves to play croquet and always tries to get the balls and mallets. He has his game face on!

"Which color should I be?"

James also liked playing with his cousin Lexi and swinging with Grammy. It didn't last too long!

When Grammy wasn't swinging with the babies she was keeping James from crawling in the street. He was so mad at her!

A Difficult but Fun Two Weeks

Two weeks of not lifting James has been HARD! James does not really understand why I wont just pick him up. He tries so hard to climb up on me and I feel bad when he throws a tantrum because I won't pick him up. Just when I thought the two weeks was over the doctor gave me another two weeks of no lifting. When I went to my checkup yesterday I found out that the "swelling" I thought I had was actually fluid that had pooled and after draining it she said I needed to come back in two weeks and no lifting until then! I did get permission to lift James (and only James) as little as possible. We have been so grateful to have Doug's Mom and brother come stay with us for the past week and a half and James had a lot of fun with Grandma and Uncle Scott.

We took James to the park to swing and because there is only one swing we had to wait a long time. So James was walking around and fell, hitting his face and getting his first (but not last) fat lip.

We went to eat at Applebee's and James loved sharing his fries with Dad.

James loves being outside. If I have my shoes on he grabs my hand and pulls me over to the door and waits for me to open it so we can go outside. He has spent a lot of time outside in the "backyard" and James loves to copy whatever Loa does. So for all you who already think I am a terrible mom, here is a picture of James drinking out of Loa's water.

Before Grandma left on Wednesday we went to have lunch at the mall and we stopped at Build-a-Bear. James loved it and picked out a Monkey to "build". He loves his monkey and carried it around the store which was so cute since it is almost as big as he is.

We also discovered Wednesday James' new favorite activity. He would grab a toy and take it over to the window and throw it out. We keep it open a little for the swamp cooler. So when I opened the door to go get the toys he had thrown out I found his shoes and a necklace sitting on the step. I couldn't figure out why his shoes were sitting out there until James grabbed one and threw it out the window. He must have done it the night before and the neighbor found them while she was watering and put them on the step. So now we have to check periodically to see if there are any toys outside.

Dancing and Pool Party

I haven't taken many videos or pictures this week, I guess I didn't realize how much time I would need to recover, but before the surgery we had a few fun days. Last Monday we had a pool day at Jake's. We brought James' frog pool over and filled it up. I put James in and he climbed right out. He just wanted to put his hand in and splash. Hopefully he will get more used to it and have fun "swimming" in his pool.

After swimming I stripped him down and he had a snack.

Then he fed his snack to the neighbors dog through the fence. It was a very cute dog and James had a lot of fun barking at it.

James also loves to listen to him music. He loves the "Mother Goose Rocks" Cd's and I think they are pretty fun to listen to also. He loves to stand on the fire place and dance. He also loves to use the stereo as a seat. What a cute little boy we have.