Fun Pics from Summer

I can't believe it's almost October! I'm so behind but want to post some fun pictures from our crazy summer!

Silver Lake in Michigan with some of our bestest Notre Dame buddies...we miss you guys!

Mall of America in Minnesota...pretty much the best place on earth!

Real soccer game back in Utah.

Hangin with some good friends at the Yergensen home!

Having fun with cousins after Knox's blessing!

Such cute cousins...almost exactly 1 year apart! Kade is wearing this sweet little boy blue outfit that we found and thought would look funny on him.

Swinging at the park with some of our favorite friends..Abe & Jess!

Swimming at the Murray Rec Center with the Smith cousins...

..and coming home to make some sweet treats!

Going shopping with Suz & Knox, Mom, Grandma, & Kristine.

This picture is slightly inappropriate but too funny to not include.

We had a great time in Utah...I need to find a picture but an important part of the trip was the Wasatch Back Relay that Drew and his family completed! Way to go guys! After that, I flew to Texas to find us an apartment and then back to South Bend to get ready to move. The movers came and we had a week to kill in an empty apartment before our stuff would there for us in Texas!

We hung out and said good-bye to friends...

..cleaned up the apartment (Kade was clearly a big help)...

played with the girls upstairs..they helped keep Kade entertained!

and took a road trip to Niagara Falls! It was soooo beautiful.

We stopped and took a tour at the Kirtland Temple which was really cool too. After that..we came back to South Bend and Drew flew out to Connecticut to start training at his new job and Kade and I flew down here to get moved in. We stayed in a hotel until our stuff got here and then met the movers at our new place. It took some time to get settled but we're really enjoying Texas!

Our Big Graduate!

So the most important thing to blog is Drew's big accomplishment...graduating from Notre Dame's MBA program!

We were so excited and grateful to have his parents, Sean & Jess, and Tineka & Tim for coming out!

More to come from our fun week...we went to Nauvoo and Chicago and had such a great time!

We're Here!

We made it to the big TX and are finally getting settled! And trying to adjust to this crazy heat! Drew accepted a job with GE and just started a few weeks ago. We will be moving every 8 months for the first few years and Texas is the first stop! So far, Kade's favorite things are the pool & climbing in the oven.

I am so behind on my blogging activities but we'll do our best to summarize the last three months.

No More Curls!

And one more post...it's an important one. We cut off Kade's curls and it was kind of sad! Yesterday morning he bonked his head and we decided to trim the hair down so we could get a look at the cut. Well, we went a little crazy and now he's pretty much bald. I don't even recognize the kid anymore. But I think he looks cute and kind of old!

This picture of him wanting me to pick him off shows the new cut pretty good.

Kade's totally GQin it up in the photo. This is the little girl we hang out with three times a week and he's really going to miss playing with her!

They are so cute together!

I promise Kade's not trying to suffocate her here. He loves to play peek-a-boo with the curtains and it was really funny to watch them laughing at each other.

Easter 2009

We had a great Easter this year and Kade had fun hunting for eggs at the community center here at the Villages.

Here he is showing off a good find.

He also got to meet the Easter Bunny and was a little unsure about this furry creature.

And we had a fun Easter celebration with friends...good food and more eggs to hunt for.

We fed the ducks at the lake on campus and took some time to relect on Easter Sunday.

And I have to throw this in because it was so funny...I'm taking a cake decorating class and was working on a cake for Easter. I let Kade lick some frosting off this spatula, turned around to get something, and turned back to see that he decided he wanted some more. So he must have got up on his toes and stuck the spatula into the cake (as you can see in the background). He was so excited and is just like his mom...he loves frosting! And p.s...he was a total monster after that. I totally belief sugar makes kids more hyper. I don't care who says it's a myth.

But it still tasted good and was fun to make. This class has been my great excuse to eat cake.

Latest Happenings

I just wanted to update the blog with a few of the latest happenings...

Big event for Drew...a trip to South America! He went with the MBA group to Chile and Argentina and had a blast! He didn't take many great pics but he did get one of him chillin in first class for the flight there. Him and his buddy lucked out somehow and had to be upgraded to first class. He brought me home a lot of fun candy, funny little toys, and a few cute soccer jerseys for Kade.

Kaden's blue rhino has kind of been a standing joke. He's had it forever and won't go to sleep without it. I'm guessing that most of the time I think he's sleeping he's actually knawing on this guys ears. As you can see, they've really taken a beating...as well as his nose. I have to wash this thing most everyday and it probably needs to be quarantined. We brought it to Utah and think it may have left a slew of germs for Knox to pick up.

Playing with our buddy Polina at the South Bend Chocolate Company!

We had a fun night watching some Notre Dame basketball with Cat and the Penrose's.

And our exciting family nights....going to dinner & running errands!

I came around the corner at the grocery store to this....

and then Drew tossed me into the box of stuffed easter animals!

We got to meet Cat's cute buddy, Hester, for brunch. Kade felt like such a big boy on top of the car...

And when he got to stand on this thing at a football game last weekend!

Happy 1st Birthday!

So we celebrated Kade's first birthday while we were in Utah and were so glad to be able to spend it with family. His birthday is just one day after Knox! We went to dinner and Jungle Gyms with my side of the family and I'm sad I didn't have a camera so I didn't get any fun pics of him on the rides with his Smith cousins. We then celebrated with the Yergensen family at Drew's parents house on his actual birthday with cake and presents.

This was a fun cupcake puzzle cake that my sister Julie helped me with. We had fun making it and I enjoyed eating a lot of frosting as we went! As most of you know...it really is my favorite food.

He got some fun presents and loved trying them out with his cousins.

Kade's cute Tenney cousins called and sang Happy Birthday to him and he loved it!

He had a fun time with our great families and we're looking forward to many more birthdays to come!

Welcome Knox!

I am such a proud aunt! We are so excited little Knox is here and Kaden can't wait to have a cousin to wrestle with and tackle. Suzy and Dave welcomed their first son a few weeks ago and he surprised everyone by being over 8 lbs when delivered 2 weeks early. Despite being such a healthy weight, he had a few complications and was in the nicu for two weeks but is home now with mom and dad. Which is totally awesome...but not cool that he waited for me to go home after being there for a few weeks for the glorious occasion. But he is the cutest little thing and such a fighter! He's got some great parents and I miss them all already!

Sweet Hair

I promise I'm really not trying to pretend my son is a girl but I love doing his hair. I can only do fun stuff with it when it's wet so it's my favorite part about bath time! I thought I'd post a few of the latest styles.

Meet Pier. I feel like he should have an accent with this one.

I'm kind of thinking the next step here is to shave it underneath and then comb it down.

And this one confirms his future as a sumo wrestler. Check out those kanks!

I had to throw this in because he looks really excited to run something over here. Watch out!