Dillan's Birthday Present

Happy Birthday to Dillan today! What did Dillan do when I came into the room with his wrapped present? Turn and watch the TV! We had to turn off the TV and take away the toy he was playing with before he would even pay any attention to his present. Then he ripped off a little piece of wrapping paper and walked away with it, totally satisfied. With a little help he finally ripped off a long strip of the wrapping paper.

He was more interested once he figured out there was a ball inside.

Tada! He finally got it. After less than 5 minutes he was done playing with his new toy and back to playing with the original one we had taken away. Turning 1 didn't make him anymore grown-up.

Our Christmas Tree

For Family Home Evening we made our Christmas Tree. First we got out different green scrapbook pages, ripped them up, and collaged them together to make the tree.
Getting it on the wall was easy compared to keeping it on the wall once we added the lights. A lot of tape and that sticky gooey moldable stuff was used to keep it all in place!
The finished product! You can't really see, but there are some angel ornaments on it too. Merry Christmas to us!

Happy Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we went down to St. George and had a little vacation and a big feast with my grandparents, aunts and uncles, the whole shebang. Dillan's best moments were outside, away from the crowd of the family members. He especially loved crunching the fall leaves.

My Little Trouble Maker

Here he is little (same size as Teddy Bear).

Here he is a Trouble Maker!

And how do I ever get him to stop making trouble? Hypnotism!

All Grown Up

Dillan was a Lion for Halloween. Just imagine the nose and whiskers we drew on, they were great!

Dillan is all grown-up because he has a girlfriend now!

Dillan is all grown up and walking. We call it his dinosaur walk, with his arms up in the air.
He can go about 20 feet and doesn't fall over when he turns anymore!

Kyle is now working as a real estate agent and even has business cards, that makes him all grown up!

Walk the Walk

Last week we had tryouts for Jordan varsity girls lacrosse. Dillan seemed to know it was coming. We have had our lacrosse sticks leaning on the wall for at least 3 weeks, and he picked the first day of tryouts to play with them for the first time. He's so smart.

Along those same lines. After watching me open my Rubbermaid once, Dillan can now pull back the handle and open the lid. He is figuring things out way too fast for me!

We went to a farm for Dillan to pick out his pumpkin. Dillan knows there is something special about his pumpkin, he smiles whenever he sees it.


Here is what you have all been waiting for... a video of Dillan walking! By the way, Kyle doesn't usually sound like a girl, it's the camera's fault.

An Eventful Weekend

This is how I found Dillan while making Kyle's birthday pie. I had taken the pots out for him to play with and he seized the moment!

Kyle's birthday was on Tuesday. Uneventful. A special breakfast, out to dinner, and a Wii game. But Dillan did take 3 waddle steps from me to the table! So, Happy Birthday to YOU!

We went camping this weekend trying to get in our camping before it got cold. It turns out that this was the first cold weekend of the year! Bad planning, huh. We got stuck in rush hour and and BYU football game traffic so it took 2.5 hours to get to our camping spot in Provo. By then I was really frustrated, carsick, and hungry and we still had to heat up the coals and cook the food, in the dark, with Dillan. Due to the cold we put Dillan to bed in a onesie, pajamas, a long sleeve shirt, pants, and a coat. With one blanket under him and 3 blankets on top of him. He couldn't move. He would cry, fall asleep, then wake up and cry some more. When Kyle and I went to bed I got him out of his port-o-crib and put him in my sleeping bag, but there really isn't room for 2 in a mummy bag, even for a little guy. So I was uncomfortable (and cold) all night and Dillan kept waking up anyway. At 3:30 he wouldn't go back to sleep so I finally took him to the car and put him to sleep in his car seat (I turned the car on and warmed it up) and slept in there with him. The rest of the morning was uneventful, except for cooking breakfast, lighting a fire, and taking care of a baby is impossible for just 2 people!

4 Ends and a Beginning

The first end is the end of summer. We took Dillan swimming one last time before the pool closed.



The second end was an end to my long hair. I LOVE this haircut. It makes me wonder why I didn't do it a long time ago. Kyle's answer was the best as to why I cut my hair, "She's been talking about it for over a year and finally got the guts to do it."


The third end is an end to living with my parents. We moved into our own 2 bedroom apartment last week. I LOVE it! It is so nice to have my own room! Dillan is sleeping a lot better, and the whole place is baby-proofed a lot better, so Dillan is learning to entertain himself.

The fourth end is the end of being 22. I celebrated my birthday last week. Kyle made me a birthday dinner which, according to him, was so pathetic that we needed to celebrate my birthday all week. First of all, Kyle didn't get off of work early, so he couldn't get the ingredients to my cake, or pick up a present he wanted to give me. Then he didn't write down the recipe when he called his mom, so he was calling everybody trying to get it when he couldn't get a hold of her. Then the oven started smoking. It turns out it was a brand new oven, and whoever had installed it hadn't checked inside. There was cardboard on the racks and a plastic bag with instructions and some hardware in it. All of it was smoking, smoldering, or melting. Then Kyle was on the phone and a little bit didn't realize how long asparagus needs to cook for, so it got a little over done. The food turned out great, but we didn't eat until 9 o'clock.

The one beginning is...(drum roll please)...Dillan took his first step! That was 2 days ago. Our adventures in parenting are just beginning!

Using the Walker

Meeting Monks

The last week and a half have been full of moments I wish I caught on film. Today Dillan and I and my grandparents went up to Huntsville, Utah to the monastery. They have a little shop where they sell homemade honey to make most of their money. They also had a video about the monastery and we went into the church. They get up at 3:30 AM! for the first prayer of the day and go to sleep at 8. It was really interesting, but definitely something to do with grandparents who wouldn't be disappointed in something not exciting. Oh, I met 2 real monks and talked to them!

Earlier this week I was taking a shower with Dillan in the bathroom with me. When I peeked out I saw Dillan almost sitting on top of his spit up (in goes avocado, out comes guacamole!) with toilet paper ripped up all over him! He was so happy.

And even before that we went to Wyoming to Kyle's parents cabin. They had sold the cabin, so this was their last hurrah before handing it over to the new owners. We relaxed the first day (which I needed), and went up to the Tetons the second day where Kyle saw his first moose and we hiked to a beautiful lake. Then we hung out in Jackson for awhile and headed back to the cabin so Kyle could get in his last 4 wheeling adventure. The cabin was great for Dillan (really baby proof) and we all got to see a deer in the backyard.

Finishing the Bible

Okay, so I didn't finish the Bible, it was the Old Testament. But it did take me a year and a half
to finish and it was really boring and didn't make sense a lot of the time, so it felt like I was finishing the whole Bible. For about the last month I have been reading my scriptures out loud to Dillan while he sits in the swing. I even started looking forward to it! which is funny because once I started reading I remembered that the Old Testament isn't something to look forward to, but those were a peaceful 15 minutes of my morning. Dillan would just look around or blow raspberries on the swing.

Wonderflour

This is a create your own adventure! Just read the parts that you want! Part 1: Background. Part 2: The Story. Part 3: The Pictures.

Part 1
My ward has been doing "Grain of the Month" emails in order to encourage food storage and usage. On month this email had a recipe for Wonderflour (spelt, brown rice, and barley that you mill into flour) that you can use in place of normal flour which would make cookies a lot more healthy! I got all the ingredients for it and finally got around to "milling" it in my blender a few days ago.

Part 2
The blender scares him so I was holding him while blending and as a was carrying the flour mixture around he got his hand into it (he is so quick!). He thought it was interesting so I put some in a bowl for him to play with. After putting his hand in it a few times he picked up a handful. After doing that a few times he tried to get a handful in his mouth. It dawns on me that this is going to get messy. Where can I put Dillan so that he can get all messy, yet keep the mess contained? The kitchen sink! I cleaned out one side and put him in it. This whole time he has been eating dry flour, so I add some water to it and it makes a paste. Here are the results:

Part 3

Small and Simple Things

The last few days have been good. But when I look back the best part of those days was the few times that I took Dillan outside and sat on the lawn. We hung out in the shade on the grass. Dillan would feel the grass with his feet while I read my book. Once he got bored of that he would crawl over to me and play. It may have been only 20 minutes, but I got that feeling of the deep and abiding joy that families can bring, and I enjoyed every drop of it. What an unexpected joy!

Alma 37:6 By ^bsmall and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise.

Outgrowing The Whale

Dillan has been taking baths in this whale tub since he was born. I was so proud of him when we took the seat out because he could sit up on his own. He spiraled out of control so fast! Looking and reaching over the edge, standing up in it, and trying to crawling out. It became almost impossible to get all his parts clean when he refused to lay on his back. He now uses a real bathtub which is up 2 flights of stairs

Conquering the Saucer

Dillan's Crawling Video's

He Crawls!

I was so excited to be a good blogger this week and do more than one post! Except I can't find my camera so I can't put on the video of Dillan crawling. Last week he started doing the plank or push-up position. Then suddenly last Sunday he pulled his legs under him and lunged forward to get a ping-pong ball. I was shocked! I thought he would learn how to hang out on all fours and maybe wiggle and rock back and forth, he decided to do everything at once! It's been a week since his first crawling session and he really hasn't improved much, but he sure does try! I'll get the video up as soon as I find that camera (I have a bad feeling I hid it from Dillan and won't be able to find it).

Mistakes

I'm learning that as a parent there are an infinite number of mistakes you can make with your children. Let me tell you the most recent. I love peeking in on Dillan while he is sleeping. That is when he seems the most precious (he's cute, quiet, peaceful, and I don't have to take care of him while he's asleep). I put him down for a nap at 3:30 and went upstairs to finish a show I was watching. At 4 I went back down to do the dishes and thought I would just sneak in and peek at Dillan first. After entering the room silently a little head suddenly popped, a binky and 2 little eyes staring at me. "Oh shoot!" I yelled at myself in my head and abruptly turned out of the room. But it was too late, he had already started crying.
So I find myself writing this post to the sound of my baby crying himself back to sleep, too afraid to do the dishes lest the clattering keep him from falling asleep. Lucky for me, there is only silence coming from our room now...back to the dishes

Family Reunion

That was his first bath in a real bath tub!

Dillan started teething on vacation, so he's sucking in his bottom lip.

His newborn cousin who he loves to play with!

I had to take Dillan away so Kyle wouldn't drop him in his sleep

I took a lot of pictures like this for Kyle's Father's Day gift.
He does it so well!

Over the past 2 weeks we have had 2 family reunions. My brother and his family came in town for my brother's farewell. He has a newborn and Dillan thought she was so much fun! It was really nice to see them and spend time with them!
We also went up to Oregon on a vacation/family reunion. That trip included: hiking, barbecue, seeing old friends, card games, camping, dutch ovening, wake boarding, strawberry picking, jam making (with the fresh strawberries), playing horseshoes, going to the biggest fabric store of my life (it was overwhelming), rock climbing, Kyle eating the donuts of his childhood, and much more!
Wow!


Uncle Daniel teaching Dillan how to "Crawl"
because he wanted Dillan to crawl before he left on his mission, which is in 3 days.

The First 2 Weeks (After Graduation)

I had this funny notion that once Kyle and I were done with school that we would have a lot more free time. Man was I wrong! Kyle decided that we were going to do a sprint triathlon this summer, so our time together immediately filled up with training. Every night Kyle comes home from work, we eat dinner, put Dillan down for bed, leave to do training, then shower, then bed. The only exception is one night a week where Kyle does some job hunting then spends the rest of the week playing phone tag with them.
Dillan is growing up so fast! He is eating rice mush now. That only took him one day of experimentation before he got down the eat and swallow routine! We tried some green bean mush, on 2 out of 4 tries he threw up (not just spit up, now I know the difference), so no more green beans for Dillan! He can almost sit up by himself, and he is a pro at playing in his bouncer/saucer. We took him swimming for the first time last week. I think the pool is too much new stuff for him to handle; he was Mr. Stone Face the whole time no matter what we tried. He didn't even get fussy when we got out of the water and it was freezing!
We are taking care of my sisters dogs this weekend. At first Dillan just was Mr. Stone Face trying figure the dogs out, now whenever they run by him he laughs!
Last weekend we went to Antelope Island, I got so distracted with the trip that Dillan missed a meal! Wow, what a way to make yourself feel like garbage, forgetting to feed your own child. Kyle told me that I couldn't feel bad about it becuase Dillan wasn't complaining, so then I just had to secretly feel bad about it!
P.S. We got our diplomas in the mail, so we really did graduate! We have proof!

VACATION!/Graduation!

This is the beginning of our hiking adventures with Dillan all decked out in his hiking garb

This is part of Echo Canyon at Zion's

This is the view from Angels landing at Zion's

This is the path that takes you to the end of the Narrows hike at Zion National Park
We are officially college graduates as of April 24, 2009. Kellie graduated with a bachelor's of arts in Economics and I graduated with a bachelor's of science in construction management with a management minor. Yeah! no more homework forever!.... until graduate school. In order to celebrate we went with my family to southern Utah and hiked/mountain biked/and rock crawled in a few national parks. It was great fun and Dillan was an amazing boy as usual. (until he pooped all over himself while we were 3 miles into a hike)
Here are a bunch of pictures of the trip and some updated photos of Dillan.

Dillan...our little puppy

We just found out that instead of a baby boy we were given a puppy. Put anything on his bottom lip and will lick lick lick! He is a very happy baby (accept for the immunizations he just got), and he is learning so fast. Yesterday he noticed his hand for the first time, he eats and sucks on his fist all the time, but this time he actually stopped and looked at it! Sometimes we put stuff in his lap to give him something to look at, he has started looking at and purposefully touching those things! Currently his favorite thing is "talking" to himself, to the ceiling fan, and to people.

Baby Blessing

Yesterday was Dillan's baby blessing. He seemed to know it was an important day and was an angel all morning as we got everything ready. It was a very special day.

The man of the hour!

Our little family

Dillan Thad Hardy being held by his namesake and great-grandpa: Thad Kirkham

New Pictures of Dillan

Here are some new pictures of Dillan. He keeps on growin. He started smiling a couple days ago so we tried to get some pictures of that, he also can watch people a lot better and track movements that are happening. He takes quite a bit of time, but he sure is a cute little guy.