Busy Busy Busy

Now that Jude is on the move, he is crazy busy ALL day long!

He loves to crawl everywhere, and stand up all my himself.
He loves to talk, and squeal and drool.
He loves to eat.
He loves to find all those things he is not suppose to have.
He loves to put everything in his mouth.
He loves to brush his teeth.
He loves to look at himself in the mirror.
He loves to pull out all the books from his shelf.
He loves to pull out all the DVD's from the shelf.
And he loves to pull out every page from a magazine.
He never stops.


We love you Jude!!

And watch out, Jude is officially behind the wheel.

County Fair

So we have here for 3 years now and have not been to the Erie County Fair, I figured since this is year 4 we had better go. Luckily, our wonderful friends invited us to go with them. I am so glad we went. There is nothing like enjoying the ambiance of the fair and eating yummy fried foods! Jude had fun too!

Here are the guys with the babies. Look at cute little Ivy, she is so cute. (but she is hiding from the camera).

Jude loves animals. He loves to touch them. He loved all the animals at the fair, there were cows, pigs, and sheep. He loved having the sheep sniff his hand. He also helped feed the sheep hay.

Who needs fried dough when you have a delicious teething biscuit?

We also enjoyed a wonderful day down at crystal beach. I can't believe I forgot the camera. It was Jude's first visit and of course he LOVED it.

And back to Arizona again. . .

So on our drive home from Utah, we stopped into Flagstaff for some quick lunch before heading back into Phoenix. . . or so we thought. While enjoying lunch my dad was talking to this lady that had gone to one of the Cardinals training practices there in Flagstaff, she also mentioned that there was another one that afternoon. We enjoyed the rest of our lunch, and my dad and john tried talking us into spending the afternoon in Flagstaff to watch the practice instead of getting home earlier. Reluctantly we agreed. But after the experience, we were glad we did.

Yes, we were that close. My dad and his wheelchair have some definite perks. They brought us right up to the field line, and not only that but right in front of where Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin were playing. We also were able to see Matt Lienart and Kurt Warner practicing.
We got a little football for Jude and after the practice he got 3 autographs!! I have to remind John that this is for Jude.

Well, we finally made it home. It felt so good to be home in Arizona and just relax a little. Nothing was really planned. I was able to get a massage. We hung out with friends a lot, went swimming, and enjoying a few of our favorite restaurants.

Here is Jude with his friends. No he is not the oldest, but he looks like a GIANT. The girl to his right is 6 weeks older, and the girl to his left is 1 week younger. The other boy is 3 months old. Jude is enormous. I did not realize what a large child I have until I saw this picture.

We were are doing the 4 stack at John's mothers house!

And for an early birthday present from Jude and myself to John we surprised John with this handgun that he has been wanting for years. It is a sub compact Springfield Armory Xd. He went shooting twice when we were there.

We had a fabulous time on our numerous vacations, but are glad to be home in Buffalo. Jude missed his own toys and own bed.

Park City Summer Reunion

This Year for my family reunion we spent a week up in Park City Utah. It was beautiful. We enjoyed many days with the family. Each day was filled with fun activities such as swimming, outlet mall shopping, and spending a day on the mountain going on the alpine slide, alpine coaster, the zip line and the boys did mountain biking. We also enjoyed a concert in the park and picnic. It was nice and relaxing too. We had a nice place to stay so we were able to all relax together in the evenings.

We were able to take a few family pictures.

Apart from mommy and daddy of course, Jude's next favorite person just might be his Grandpa. He always talks to him and gives him plenty of smiles.

Mom and Dad

The Hunter family with their 3 crazy boys.

My mom found these cute little Davy Crockett hats for each of the boys. They crack me up. Little Jude with a pony tail, I love it!

One day we spent at this amazing indoor facility. We spent all day at the pool, but they had a rock wall, racquetball courts, and a gym. The pool was awesome. It was perfect for Jude. He LOVED it. He was in for hours and did not want to get out. They had slides, a lazy river, diving boards and a huge kiddy play ground thing. Jude thought he was so cool that he could stand up all by himself in the water.

Here are all four boys in their cute monster pj's. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

Jude sure loves all of his cousins. And they love him. Here is Caden one morning with Jude as they both enjoy Jude's toy and his baby einstein.

And if you know our family at all, there is no reunion without yummy food! We enjoyed lots of wonderful meals and desserts. And yes, don't be fooled this may look like dessert, but this is breakfast.

We had lots of fun, and thanks to mom and dad once again!

Happy 85th Grandma.

Surprise!!

We made our way into a small town Ely Nevada to surprise my grandma for her 85th birthday. Most of my dad's family was there to help celebrate. It was so great to see everyone, many of whom I had not seen in years. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then enjoyed the day down at the McGill park and pool.

Here is my dad along with his 4 brothers with their mom!

Here are all the grandchildren with Grandma! Notice only two boys with all those girls, and there are 3 more girls that were not there.

Jude enjoyed his day at the pool. Here he is showing a little too much skin.

We forgot the swim diapers, so this poor thing was weighing him down.

Here we are at the pool. With my sister and our cousin Chris. Jude's favorite new thing is when he is on your shoulders, he bends down to look at you and smiles.

During our visit to Ely Nevada, we were able to stop by Great Basin National Park and visit Lehman caves. They were amazing.

Before the cave tours we were able to enjoy a nice picnic and a little bike ride.

I think Jackson had the best seat in the house!

Wind Rivers Adventure

After the first pitch experience, we were off to Wyoming. Yes, we drove the whole way and Yes, Jude does not enjoy his car seat. Needless to say, we created many bad habits just to keep him happy. On our way up we stopped for a few days in Greenville UT to spend time with John's Grandma. Jude enjoyed meeting her. While visiting Grandma Bessie Jude developed a little cold, a stuffy nose, and cough. Poor guy. We would spend the next 3 nights in the Wind River Mountain Range. John's father loved this place and spent a lot of time here, so we took advantage of our time there to rememer him, and even bury a time capsule that we will find severeal years from now.

Here we are getting ready to hike in. John's sister Ashley and her boyfriend Matt would meet us later that day. Notice Jude in his new backpack. It was a 6 mile hike in to Big Sandy Lake, where we would set up camp. Oh, yeah how could I forget little Baxter, yes that little weiner dog joined in on the fun and did a wonderful job!

Our little family on the hike in. You can see the mountains behind us, that is where we stayed.

I was so glad John and Jude behaved well on the hike. It is a heavy pack when we have a 20+ pounder in it. Also Jude enjoyed the view, and it easily put him to sleep. Which is surprising for Jude. If you look closely you will notice the blue fan that is hanging on the backpack, that is a bug spray fan thing. The mosquitos were crazy bad. After the trip I was covered!! I had never seen so many mosquito bites!

Jude and Mommy at Deep Lake. This place was beautiful. We had to hike up numerous rocks to get here, 11,000 feet in elevation. Jude loved spashing in the water, and taking a break from the pack.

Jude posing in his Diaper at Deep Lake.

Warning: Picture below is kinda sad and gross.

Remember how I mentioned that Jude had a little cold before our adventure begin. Well, for the few days while living in tents, and dirt and sticks it was so hard to keep little Jude's nose clean. He was not feeling well, and a little more fussy than usual. And his poor little nose, as soon as we cleaned it, it would be messy again. After the trip his poor nose and cheeks were so dry.

Jude LOVES to brush his teeth. Whenever we brush he stops and looks and wants to try. Here he is with his daddy brushing those 2 teeth. We may have a future dentist here.

We camped near a large lake, and surrounding the lake were many streams. John loved to fish, and caugh numerous brook trout. Jude enjoyed it too. He is sleeping in the pack.

Here is Ashley and Jordan enjoying a day hike at arrowhead lake.

That does not look very comfortable. This was Jude's position often times when traveling in the backpack. I tried to prop him up with a blanket but he would always fall back.

Family Picture.

We had such an enjoyale time with the Taylor Family. Thanks Again.

Dream Come True

We are back. The past month we have been on vacation, traveling throughout the west. The first stop was home to Gilbert AZ. We were able to be a part of a wonderful experience. Last September my father was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gerhig's Disease). My father has a history of playing baseball, little league, College ball for UNLV, and for the Cleveland Indian Organization. He has also been a season ticket holder for the Arizona Diamondbacks since the beginning of their existence. On July 11th, the Diamondbacks were honoring Lou Gerhig. Due to his recent diagnosis, baseball past, and participation in the Diamondback organization he was asked to throw out the first pitch. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and what every little boy dreams of. Although, the disease is progressing and he has become weaker, he was able to throw a great pitch. We are so proud of him and were lucky to be there to share in his special day.

Nice throw Dad!

Here is my mom and dad before the pitch.

Oh, how could I forget our little Jackson. John, myself and Jude along with my sister and her family joined my mom and dad down on the field. As soon as my Dad made his way out to the field and on the mound, Jackson ( my sister's 2 1/2 yr old), saw grandpa and started to run toward him. So here is my sister with her youngest in her arms running after Jackson. It was hilarious! Jackson just about made it to Grandpa, before he was grabbed.

We are trying to get an organized photo of Grandpa with his 4 grand boys. As you can see they were not too cooperative.

Here we are on the field before the first pitch!

Here is my dad chatting with Carlin after the pitch. He gets to keep the ball he threw as a keepsake.

PS- more posts to come of our MONTH long vacation!