First Steps!

I'm sorry its been so long since my last post, but I've got great news: Jared started walking last week! We were visiting my parents and he just decided to up and take some steps! Here are a couple of videos of his first attempts at walking.

Our 5 Year Anniversary & Jared's 1st B-day!

This past weekend was an extremely busy one! We celebrated our 5 year anniversary Friday and Jared's first birthday on Monday. For our anniversary, we left Jared with his grandparents (both sets took turns!) and we left for a cabin in Gatlinburg, TN. It was really neat, because the cabin we rented on our honeymoon was just across the way from ours.

Here's this year's anniversary picture. True story about the bear sign: I always want to see things like bears, crocodiles and sharks in the wild, but I'm absolutely terrified of them at the same time. Thanks to this sign and one posted in the kitchen telling about how bears will wander through the yard at night on their way to the dumpsters, I had nightmares the first night about bears and kept waking up because I thought I heard one at the window! haha!

I absolutely loved our front porch! The hot tub was so relaxing, especially since Isaac ended up with a kidney infection and we ended up just chilling out at the cabin all day Saturday.

My breakfast spot every morning!

This was the creek that our front porch overlooked. I love the sound of babbling water! :-)

I've always wanted to go to one of the dinner & show things in TN, so we tried out the Black Bear Jamboree. It was kinda silly, but we enjoyed ourselves for the most part. The food was okay, although the soup really was as amazing as all the reviews said it was. They performed music of different genres and times. The music was fun, except that we realized that the 70's really sucked!

Afterwards, we checked out the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum. It was pretty fun. I'll admit, some of it was hard to believe! :-)

I LOVE my mother-in-law! I almost cried when I found out that she was going to make Jared a cookie monster cake! I felt bad asking her to do this for me, since we woulnd't get back until time for the party, so I only asked for a plain cake. Of course, I wanted something special for Jared's first birthday, but I didn't want to put anyone out to do it. So, basically, THANK YOU, Momma Hall for being so amazing!

Jared couldn't get enough of the cake! He was licking his plate clean!

Here's my favorite shot! I think Isaac took a picture on the camcorder at the same time, so the timing was just right and I was actually able to capture a pretty cute picture of a very messy little man!

We took Jared to Benihana in Indy on his actual birthday (Monday).

I think he enjoyed it! He was stuffing noodles into his mouth in this picture! He really enjoyed the noodles, fried rice, zucchini and just the show in general!

Our little family picture inside Benihana! He was enjoying that straw! haha!

Fun with Friends

This past weekend, we had our friends, Ryan & Vanessa, come up to visit. We're trying to persuade them that they should move up here, so, of course, we had to take them to check out our free zoo!

We also had to take them to all you can eat sushi at the Legend Buffet! The kids seemed to enjoy it pretty well, although I think Jared thought they were crazy! haha!

Copper and Jared had a blast together!

I have to add a picture of Jared sharing a snack with Cockapoo!

Graduations & Indianapolis Zoo

I started babysitting my girls again a couple weeks ago. They have passes for the Tropicanoe Cove water park here in Lafayette, so we went! We were there for about 4 hours and Jared LOVED it! It was like a giant bathtub that Mommy didn't take him out of after only 10 minutes of playtime! :-)
My sister, Stephanie, graduated Friday night, so my grandparents all came in. They last saw Jared over Christmas, so they were shocked at how much bigger he is!

Steph, Sean (boyfriend), Soda-pop and Jared

Jared was tired and very unhappy and Copper just couldn't figure out what was going on! haha! So cute!

Rachel's graduation was Saturday evening. Mom Hall's brother and sister-in-law came in from California. It was nice since I hadn't met them before and they got to meet little Jared. Plus, it didn't hurt that they played catch-up on gift giving and we got a belated wedding present and Jared got some new clothes (thank goodness! that boy is growing!). :-)

The Shark Touch Tank! Jared started reaching out to touch one of the sharks swimming by and it raised up out of the water! It freaked me out and I jerked him away instinctively, even though they don't even have teeth! haha! I went with my friend, Jamie, and her family and friends and she got the picture of the shark trying to get Jared! :-)

He loved the elephants! Look, its a Mommy and Baby!! :-)

We caught the elephant show, although Jared was sound asleep in his stoller. I took pictures so he could see later! :-)

This was in the dome below the dolphin tank. Of course, anytime the dolphins would swim by, Jared wouldn't be looking! There was one time where he did actually see one swim by and he got so excited!

If you can't tell, that's a walrus in the background! I don't think Jared knew what to think of it. Next to us are Dillan and Brooklyn, Jamie's little niece and nephew. (Sorry if the spelling is wrong!)

We've had a very busy last couple of weeks, but we've really enjoyed all our time with friends and family!

Indiana Beach

This past weekend was a free trip to Indiana Beach through Isaac's work. We were surprised at how much fun we were able to have with Jared in tow.

You can't really tell from these pictures, but he really enjoyed the Merry Go Round. We rode it twice! :-)

We hung out with Isaac's Boss' family and they would watch Jared for us now and then so we could ride some of the older rides. It was so nice of them! Hannah was my ride buddy whenever Isaac would stay behind with Jared. This picture was on the little train ride.

Letting Jared get his wiggles out! :-)

We were on the old fashioned car ride and I am NOT good at taking pictures like this! Sorry!

Jared just looked so cute in his stroller!

Isaac and I FINALLY cleared out all the overgrowth on our walkway and re-mulched. It took some time (and some plant eating by Jared) but it looks soooo much better! If you've been to our house in the past year, you know what I'm talking about! :-)

Jared and I try to keep in touch with friends. This was at Pepe's with Kelly and Leon. We sat them next to each other so they could entertain one another.

Every Tuesday, Jared and I go to play group. He loves to play with Quintyn! They are only a couple months apart in age, so they keep up with each other pretty well!
I made homemade barbeque chicken pizza for dinner the other night and Jared LOVED eating the crust! He was shoveling it in as fast as he could. It was too cute to pass up a picture! :-)

Ride on, little cowboy!

I found a cute little rocking chair at Goodwill for $4 and it's just his size!

He loves being Mommy's little cowboy!

This is the onesie my grandma (Jared's Great Granny Lane) got for Jared. It says, "Somebody in Liberty, KY loves me!" I'm going to send her a copy of this picture.

Jared discovered the laundry room today and wanted to help me with his load of laundry! He seriously sat in front of the washing machine for about 10 minutes watching the clothes spin around! So cute, but he was sitting right in the doorway, so I couldn't get a good picture of that.

FLORIDA!

Our Trip began on my birthday. Isaac came home early with 24 roses for my 24th birthday and my visit teachers dropped off a bucket of goodies for the trip. I admit that I teared up a bit! It was so sweet!

Once we arrived, we dropped Jared off with his grandparents and Isaac took me to Kobe's Japanese Restaurant. It was nice to have a night out together!
Before we left, though, I had to feed the munchkin!

We split up the trip into 3 hour driving segments with a 1.5 to 2 hour break between. It worked out perfectly with Jared's naps, so there was very little crying. :)

Isaac had an Actuarial Symposium to attend in Tampa, so Jared and I checked out the Florida Aquarium near our hotel. He LOVED it, and as you can see, he especially liked the alligators and I think they liked him! Yikes! He kept swatting at them through the glass! :)

We weren't allowed to touch, so Jared got really mad at me for holding him back! There was a penguin promenade where we got to sit around a carpet and let them walk right up to us. I tried taking some video on Isaac's iPhone, but it was hard to take a good shot while containing a struggling little dude!

There was a little porthole, so I let Jared play a bit and he climbed up to peek inside.

A sweet older couple asked if they could take our picture for us because we looked so cute sitting there! I loved the people in Florida! They were so sweet! :)

Jared really enjoyed the beach. He ate a couple handfuls of sand when we weren't looking.

He liked just playing in the waves.

So cute!

He wasn't too happy before we got to the water, though.

Cool dude!

All tuckered out from a day of swimming in the pool!

Daddy was tired, too! :)

A VERY wrinkled little foot! :)

Jared hanging out with Uncle Abe and future Aunt Jenny!

Abe & Jenny's dog, Bella, was always trying to lick Jared's face. He thought it was hilarious at first and then he got really mad.