Playing Around

Johnny likes to play in odd places sometimes...

It is a cool toy though, I can see why he lugs it around!  There are tracks all over it with different vehicles and you drive them to where they belong (the ambulance goes to the hospital, etc) and he thinks it's pretty great

 He's pretty strong ;)

 This is his favorite play place--the living room :)  This puppy is fun to stand next to and rock mostly

Sometimes he rides it--with a little help from Daddy 

 Then he gets into it!

Daddy's shoulders are also pretty fun, especially when you get to watch a parade up there!

Like all 1 year-olds, Johnny knows all food is fun to play with!

He loves bubbles too

I had the YW over to swim in the pool and have ice cream and Johnny loved the cone!

SO CUTE!

I often have my left eye shut a little more than my right when I smile for pictures I've noticed... ignore that and enjoy my adorable baby :)

Ok, enjoy the Johnny grandparents and other blog readers!  Hope you all have a good week!

Handsome boy

These are from early July, but I knew you'd want to see fancy Johnny eventually--better late than never!  Special thanks to Gibson Poteet for being kind enough to outgrow this sweet suit so Johnny could borrow it and look classy for church. :)  He's worn it several times now and looks pretty dapper each time!

At first he was surprised by this ensemble

Then he warmed up to it

He still looks pretty fancy playing at home after church

He can even dance in it!

This outfit does not change his feelings about Daddy trying to hold him when Mommy's home

Like every outfit he owns, it's very functional for Lilo-chasing

My 2 handsome boys

Hope you're all having a great Sunday!  I'll post more soon, but hey, I'm really only 2 months behind now, so you're basically caught up on life! :)

Random pictures

Here are some random pictures from May and June, mostly for Nana since there's not much excitement here for those not seeking millions of Johnny pics :)

Johnny enjoying a delicious popsicle, with a bib and a towel to contain the mess!  

Very proud of his messy face!  He had one of his very first donuts and LOVED it

Johnny had a lot to say about this donut!

Hello!

There was an air show at Hill Air Force Base so we went with the Lloyds and Johnny loved it!

I was on call so Bob and Johnny went up first and I met them there and they had a great time exploring, including the inside of this C-17 before I got there!

This is kind of an awesome pose with his sweet hat!

He wasn't a big fan of the headphones but it was so LOUD we were glad we got them, and they helped nap time!

The Predator

These are the Thunderbirds flying in formation--they were impressive!

Now that's a big plane!

Johnny still loves to swing!

And he loves to bike, although sometimes it ends like this!  Good thing his part is padded!

This is Liberty Park, where Johnny has spent a lot of time.  These little pieces all spin and he loves em

Here's a video of Johnny just walking around on the turf at Liberty Park--Now Nana and Papa can see how well he was walking even in May at just 12 months!

His hair grows SO fast!  Here he is at yet another haircut

Kind of blurry, but it shows off his sweet new 'do as well as the Poteet hammer!  He loves it--thanks guys!

One night after hanging out with the Lloyds, Johnny thought he'd give their stairs a go!  We have no stairs, so this was a fun novelty for him!

I made homemade fudgecicles from a Pinterest recipe, and I was a bit disappointed by them, but Johnny definitely wasn't! 

The start of summer meant the joy of movies in the park!  The first one was Toy Story in Liberty Park and we had a great time!  Johnny was entertained by the show for at least 30-40 minutes, and entertained by all the kids the whole time!  We brought lots of toys and he LOVED the popcorn!

Johnny loves his popcorn!  

Bathtime is always fun and his longer hair here worked great for a sweet mohawk!

We had an awesome fondue party for Brooke's birthday and Jesh got some delicious german chocolate cheesecake too so we had quite the excess of delicious food!

I sadly did not take any other pics of Brooke's birthday, so here's a blurry poor picture as she's about to blow out her candles with Richelle helping out!

In case you wanted to see 1 second of Brooke blowing out her candles, here it is!

Super random randomness.... We love these helicopter PJ's, but they are so outgrown that his toes are coming out!  Sad sign that we're cramming him into cute things longer than we should!  This was the last wearing of these choppers!

Silly video of Johnny rocking his highchair at Stoneground when we were out to eat one night

Sweet Johnny got a lot of naps in the stroller this spring and summer as we ran around the park

More bathtub shenanigans!  He loves to suck on the washcloth after it's floated around in the bathwater... so gross but it makes him so happy... He'll just lean over and drink the bathwater anyway, so it's pointless to interrupt his fun

Sidewalk chalk festival--amazing artwork as always, and this was one of the most impressive!

One of my co-fellow's and his wife had a couples/family baby shower, so we had a great time there, and there was a slide in the backyard that Johnny got to enjoy too!  There was also another little boy there that was Johnny's age and they had fun together!  The funniest thing they did was they would both just pat each other's hair in wonder!  (The other boy was black)  I'm sure they were thinking, "that's not what MY hair feels like!"  It was really cute. :)

Now there's a little more catchup from our poorly photographed lives!  Summer has flown by and it's hard to believe kids are headed back to school already!  We definitely have had so much fun this summer and are sad that it's over so soon, but we'll enjoy this weather for another month at least!  Sad to think that this is our last full summer here in Utah, but looking forward to wherever this adventure takes us next, most likely San Antonio!   Have a great rest of your Sunday!

Zion!

This spring we went to Zion National Park at the end of May!  We stayed in St. George, about 45 minutes from the park, and the weather was perfect!  Warm, but not overwhelming!  

Bob and Johnny at the entrance!  We parked just outside and walked in because there's an awesome shuttle system within the park that goes between all the trails!  The national parks were also doing free passes for active duty military for a whole year, so we got ours and that was a definite bonus!  Now we need to decide which other national parks are drivable from Utah and plan some more trips!

One of the first trails we hiked was up to Weeping Rock, where springs drain out of the rock and plants grow out of crevices in the wall.  Johnny and I are underneath a big rock overhang in some nice shade! Water drips all around this area, so we were cool and wet, a welcome relief as it was already in the 80's by this point!

This was the Kayenta trail to the Emerald Pools

Beautiful views!

Such a beautiful place

We saw a lot of other families out and about on every trail and here we passed a couple who kindly took our picture :)

It's not every day you see a flowering cactus!

More beautiful scenery

Johnny was so good and loved the views from the backpack!  Our friends Amber and Daniel lent us this pack and it was nice to keep Johnny up and away from your back a bit more so neither of you got as hot or sweaty, but it wasn't as comfortable as the Ergo or the Trekker.  The other bonus is the tent that goes on top to give him some shade, although sadly we didn't have that part with us.

The trail

We counted how many lizards we saw for a while... I think we stopped after 30 because these guys were everywhere!

Look in the middle of this pic, toward the bottom and you'll see another one :)

Near the lower Emerald Pool

Nice waterfall at the lower Emerald Pool

Johnny spent much of the trip like this--too much fun and no formal nap time = sleeping on the go!

I love bridges!  This is at the bottom of the Emerald Pools trails back near the shuttle

This never got old--such an amazing place!

He's a pretty talented baby and drank his bottle on the go too! It was so hot that we went through a lot of beverages, including 3 L of water just in our Camelbacks!  Johnny became a pro at drinking from the Camelback too, and still thinks it's one of the most fun things to do!

These views are from the Watchman trail

Johnny actually seemed to like this view better--he could see everything around us!

This was one BOLD squirrel!  They have signs everywhere NOT to feed them, and one very memorable picture was everywhere, of a man's hand with TONS of stitches in it after being bitten badly by a squirrel he was feeding.  Apparently, those are not too effective, because this little guy has surely lived a cush life of tourists feeding him!

Nana Sampert will appreciate the Holland America bag there :)  Bob saw this little guy eat a few peanut butter filled pretzels Johnny had dropped, and he climbed right onto our packs hoping to find more, even though Bob was right there!

The Narrows is a long day hike, but leading up to it is a really nice paved path called the Riverwalk, with a nice stream that you can wade in and Johnny's little feet appreciated the ice cold water!

He was pretty content to watch everything from the pack!

More water coming out of the rocks and vegetation growing straight out of the vertical walls!

Still enjoying the Riverwalk

Don't worry, he's ok.  It was just REALLY hot and he was cooling off.  We saw him move after a few.

On our drive home we got Johnny this sweet hat--looking good little buddy! :)

His excitement for the new hat was no match for his tiredness!

Zion was amazing.  Such a beautiful place!  The red rock, the great hiking, and the whole trip was just wonderful.  We'd love to come back again and are glad we finally made it to one of the top places on our list of things to do before leaving Utah next year!


I know I'm a bit behind on the blog, but bit by bit we'll get there!  Hope you're all having a great summer, and it was WONDERFUL to get to see so many friends and family when we were home in CDA last week!