DONE.

CASEY IS DONE WITH THE HARDEST SEMESTER OF DENTAL SCHOOL.

both of these pictures perfectly portray casey's (and mine) feelings of the end.

playing outside

maxson turned 5 months today, woo!

i'm going to wait on posting his 5 month post yet until i get some photos.

the weather has turned awfully gloomy and may be like this for a few days, therefor there's not enough light to take pictures inside :(

although it's now cold freezing here (again, mmmmmmmmeh),

last weekend was gorgeously warm!

sunday i spread out our  jean blanket (thanks for finishing it mom!!!!) in the front yard and camped out for an hour or two.

maxson was smitten with all things outside.

i don't think he's stayed up on his arms for such an extended period of time before.

he was so intrigued by it all.

all the cars passing by in different directions,

anyone walking,

the birds,

the sky,

the trees,

the houses,

the squirrels,

you name it and his eyes were on it.

it was really fun for me to watch him take it all in.
he's really such an observant little baby.

the daddy was finally able to come home and join us for the last 15 minutes and we were both so happy.

i foresee lots of outside time in the coming summer months

funny

for some reason i couldn't stop laughing at this picture.

i literally was crying and spit out the cereal in my mouth i was laughing so hard

please tell me you think it's funny.

and btw that site has TONS of funny pictures (some not funny, but more often than not you'll find a gem in there and belly laughing it up!) literally i look through it and just start uncontrollably laughing at some of them

whatcha doing.

we are hunkered down for battle in the cutler house.

the dreaded anatomy final was yesterday and today,

i know casey is just relieved to have that class behind him,

and i'm so proud of him for getting through that beast!

***

lately maxson is more interested in things that aren't his toys:
milk jugs,
my water bottle,
air freshener bottles,
a bag of crackers,
the poles that hold up all his fun toys.
ya know, really fun things.

and casey's beard is growing by the minute!

***

i just finished reading battle hymn of the tiger mother and jeesh!

i am so glad i was not raised chinese.

kudos to teaching your kids to have a crazy insane work ethic but...but that way of parenting is just not for me.

but way interesting read, friends!

***

i've made an effort this week and last to have actual meals planned each night for casey and i since it's death week(s).

it takes a lot of work (and dishes) but it's been yummy nonetheless.

tonight we're having pulled pork for dinner.

***

lastly, IT'S GETTING WARMER HERE!
it makes me giddy looking at the weather app on my phone and seeing numbers in the 70's.
GIDDY!

***

happy weekend and happy arbor (tree love)  day!!

my serious little boy

i tend to post pictures of smiley maxson more often that not on this blog because, hey, smiley pictures are just so darn cute, right?

but more often than not, if you ever meet maxson,

he's not going to be smiling for you.

he will just look at you, intently, stone cold faced (for the most part), eyes content on watching you and his new surroundings.

i'm always impressed when my friends make big efforts to try and get him to smile at them, sometimes it works, sometimes not, but good try friends!

but bring around mom or dad, and it's almost instant smiles.

he kinda plays favorites...

though i've heard,
babies learn the most when they're quiet, content, and watchful.
so maybe he's just eager to learn!

if you were to meet maxson this is most likely the reaction you'd get from him:
or if you had a huge black camera in your hands...

das my boyyy

nebraska bucket list

here we are!!!

because of our great success of the provo bucket list,

we've been in the process of compiling a nebraska one and have made it!

i present,

the nebraska bucketlist
in no particular order
(also know that i will be editing this list as the years go by)

***SPOILER ALERT***
our time in Nebraska is done, we didn't accomplish  that many things on the list but in our defense our last 2 years there when Maxson was old enough to enjoy some of this stuff we had twin babies that kept us pretty grounded ha

1. Quilt Museum (free on Thursdays?)
2. Dairy Chef
3. Lancaster County Fair
4. Tour Memorial Stadium when there's no game
5. Nebraska Natural History Museum (free)
6. Lauritzen gardens
7. Bridge Museum
8. Honest Abe's burgers
9. Raising Kane's
10. Eat a runza at Runza's
11. Eat "the tasty" at Inn and Out CLOSED DOWN
12. Salt dogs minor baseball game
13. Food truck rally in the spring NON EXISTENT
14. Val's pumpkin patch
15. Tour of Capital building
16. Roller Skate museum
17. Women's BYU volleyball game at UNL
18. Ivanna Cone ice cream shop
19. Phat Jack's BBQ
20. Haymarket Farmer's market in summer/fall


Out of Lincoln:

21. Durham Museum (Omaha)
22. Brew Burgers (Omaha)
23. Go camping at Mahoney State Park
24. Apple Jack festival (Nebraska City)
25. Rodeos (Eagle)
26. Tour the Mormon Trail Center and cemetery (Omaha)
27. Omaha zoo
28. College World series baseball game (Omaha)
29. World's (2nd) largest porch swing here
30. Carhenge here
31. Footloose Goose's Memorial (Hastings) here
33. Big Slide in downtown Omaha
33. Martin's Hillside Orchard for picking apples, strawberries, raspberries, peaches
34. Kool-aid Days (Hastings) here
35. Kruise night (Kearney)?
36. Prairieland Dairy Days (Firth)

if you have any additional ideas of things you've heard, PLEASE comment!

i'd love to hear more ideas!

you can't have it all /// growing up too fast

casey and i were realizing today that when maxson starts rocking a new sleep habit, others fall to the wayside.

examples:

when he began doing well with sleeping long stretches at night,

his naps suddenly went capooey to little stretches.

when he began taking multiple long naps a day,

he started sleeping short stretches at night.

now he's beginning to sleep longer stretches at night,

but he fights me on falling asleep for his naps which he never did before.

ya win some,

ya lose some.

it'll all work out, right?

***

i look at this baby and sometimes and feel like i can actually see him growing and changing as i watch!

he wants to be so involved.

now when he's laying on his tummy, his head is almost always up at 90 degrees intently watching what i'm doing.

when he puts it down, and i call his name, he quickly bring it back up to find me.

when did this happen?

i used to prop him up on the couch and he'd support his own head to watch things around him but mostly just sit back and relax,

now if i put him on the couch i better be right there because he's trying to sit his whole body up by himself and could easily fall too far forward (off the couch).
cutest little shirt on this boy huh? thanks jocelyn!

i used to wear him in the moby wrap doing stuff around the house and he'd just be content watching.

now his little hands are reaching at everything and "helps" me do whatever i'm doing.

those are just a few of the things on my mind.

i have to admit, it's been so quiet around the blog lately.

a few weeks ago i thought the weather was going to stay sunny and warm for good and i was so happy.

but it's been cold most the time since then i've been so uninspired to go places/do things/take pictures.

i'm desperate to just sit outside with maxson and feel the sun on my skin.

i truly do belong in the warmth...

***
a few of you have commented about the dentist's beard.
he has turned into quite the lumberjack, that is for sure.
he decided to grow it out with one of my brothers for funsies (and a snow cone).
it's going to stick around until the middle of may and then he'll be back to his baby face!

little love letters

dear spring,

will you come back?

a few weeks ago you teased us with your appearance,

 but then promptly went back into hiding.

we promise to appreciate you this time around.

see this little baby?

he practically has no idea what fresh air means because of your yucky cousins called winter, snow, rain and wind.

it's so sad...

dear thunder,
lately you scare me
please don't hurt us.

dear dishes,
GO AWAY!!!
can't you learn how to clean yourself?

dear maxson,

when you stretch after naps your cheeks bulge out and you get a nice double chin,

it's utterly adorable

stay cute and chubby and little forever, kapeesh?

dear readers,
excuse the mess going on around this blog here.
trying to update and simplify it for us all,
and MAN is it complicated?!

dear scott, my brother,
thank you for your patience on helping me update my blog.
you are much fast than i...

dear casey,
i feel terribly awful for you lately (when it comes to schooling that it).
i'm pretty sure these next 2 weeks will take about 2 years off your life...
i am sorry.

dear mom,
thanks for coming to play with us in nebraska.
i guess the good thing about not living by you is that it makes me really appreciate you and want so badly to live by you.
and now after your visit, maxson actually smiles at you via FaceTime!!!! woohooo!!!

dear casey,
i guess if you insist on buying me that adorable bike at costco, sigh, i won't object...
cough, cough!

dear neighbor,
i'm sorry you're having to move.
it is most likely due to me complaining about smelling smoke in my home because of your (bad) habits.
but i just can't take it for another 3 years.
it was either you or i and i'm happier it was you...
but other than your (bad) smoking habit, you were a nice person if that makes a difference????

dear maxson,
thank you for suddenly taking way longer naps lately,
it's pretty darn awesome.
and although you're not completely predictable, i'll take what i can get!