Little Monkeys

This picture of Zade reminded me of one we'd taken of Aria around this age:

Here's Zade (5 weeks old):


Here's Aria (7 weeks old):


We got a couple good pics of Zade this week that I really like. Notice the blue eyes emerging:


It's strange how at this age, the same child can look so different in each photo. This one reminds me of a photo I saw of my dad (Mark) when he was a baby:


This one looks a little bit like me (Dane) when I was a baby:


And here's a few fun shots of Aria and Zade together:

Random daily moments

Family Fun Day at Brandi Fenton Park

For our family activity this week, we went to the festival at Brandi Fenton park.

The inflatable house turned out to be less fun than Aria thought it would be. Notice the screaming children in the background:


She was a little shy around all the kids in the water park, but managed to have some fun.


The free pizza was definitely a hit.


As an animal lover, Aria dug the horses too.

Graduating Friends

A bunch of the Accounting and Finance PhD students got together to celebrate the success of those who are graduating. Here's the crew relaxing at Champions:

From left to right: Ronen Gal-or, Curtis Hall, Dave Kenchington, Landon Mauler, and Januj Juneja.


At the main table, from left to right: Ben Hoffman, Tim Hinkel, James Chyz, and Stephen Lusch.


From left to right: Jordan Neyland, Logan Steele, John Campbell, Fabio Gaertner, and Grace Lee.

Relaxing as a Fam

So here's my somewhat artistic attempt at capturing a young family relaxing together outside; toddler with windblown hair, guzzling some juice, while a sleep deprived mother stares off, holding her sleeping infant.


For those who'd like to see little Zade in 3-D, here you go:

Aria's 2nd Birthday

Aria celebrated her 2nd birthday with a bunch of her friends. We had a Dora the Explorer theme, as Aria requested, complete with Dora table cloth, plates, and cake. Here she is blowing out her candles (all by herself):


Here's the party crew, including Kevin & Rebecca Powell, with their kids Abby & Vierra, Jill Childs (taking the pic) with her kids Sara (not pictured) and Ryan, Crystal Austin with her kids Joey and Katie, and Andrea Wilson (not pictured) and her daughter Lauren (not pictured).


Here's the least blurry picture I could get at the party of Aria smiling (she was running around constantly and playing with the other kids!)


Here she is opening up her presents, and sporting a little pair of 2 inch purple heels she received. And of course, her classic cheesy grin:



Later in the evening we went to a BBQ with some of my friends in the PhD program. They all have a bunch of kids, so Aria had a blast. Here's a pic of her hanging out with Phil Lamoreaux's daughters Billee and Olivia and Dave Kenchington's son Josh. She loves hanging out with "big kids".

Grandma & Grandpa

Tara's parents have been here for two weeks now and Tara doesn't know how she would have survived without them. Aria likes to wake up at around 6:00 or 7:00 AM and since Zade wakes up two to three times a night for feedings, waking at 6:00 to feed and play with a hyper-active toddler, was a little more than Tara could handle. Unfortunately, though, her parents are leaving tomorrow, so life is going to get a little more challenging. Tara will miss the fun walks, going out to eat, the delicious meals cooked by her mom, and the overall companionship. Still, a little under four weeks and we'll be in Utah again for Shara's wedding. Utah, we just can't stay away. :)

Easter

For Easter we listened to General Conference at home (via the internet), dyed some Easter eggs, and had an Easter Egg hunt for Aria. She was pretty pumped when she found out those plastic little eggs were filled with sugary goodness. :)




Aria's doing alright acclimating to not being the center of attention, but it's a slow process. She now puts binkies in her mouth so she can look like the baby, just to get a little more attention. And whenever Tara is addressing Zade's needs, Aria makes sure she's right there to help. Probably the cutest thing she does though is walk up to the baby and with a curious voice say, "Oh, he's so little!"



I have been having the hardest time figuring out what color Zade's eyes will end up being. They're a different shade of blue than Aria's were, and occasionally I'm almost sure I see brown in there, but then the light changes and I'm almost as convinced they'll be blue. You be the judge:



(There are just a few scabs left on his face, but otherwise, he's looking pretty good.)