Happy Due Date!

Today is Joshua's original due date - so he is finally 1 year old (adjusted). We went to a NICU follow-up appointment this afternoon where they had him play with a bunch of toys and play games to see how he's doing developmentally. He is doing great, and his skills parallel with a 12 month old as they should. And he WEIGHS 25 lbs 5 oz! I took these pictures this morning. I think it is so funny how much he loves his books. He will dig through his toy box and bring me book after book and climb into my lap so I can read to him. He also has lots of fun turning the pages and looking at books by himself. Another fun thing he figured out is how to turn our music table on the "Spanish Version" where the alphabet song and all the music is in Spanish. He thinks it is SO funny!

TOO HOT! On Wednesday we had all-time record heat in Seattle...103 degrees! Seattle-ites have been known to wear shorts when it hits 60 so you can guess how well we handle this kind of heat! A blessing in disguise: Our dishwasher leaked and ruined our floor in June. Finally we were able to get a contractor to come and replace our floor this week. But they had to take our kitchen apart for a few days so our insurance paid for us to stay in a hotel down the street from Monday morning to Thursday afternoon....an AIR CONDITIONED hotel! It's still hot here but today's high is only 82. Thank you Heavenly Father for cheap dishwashers :)

Joshua is good at waving and clapping. Anytime we say "good job" or "yay!" he starts clapping and looks around for us to join in - it's pretty cute. He's also getting good at walking. He can pivot, stop and stand still and then start walking again. He also loves to "share". He shares toys, binkies and as seen in the picture below, animal crackers :) I threw a bachelorette party for my sister, who's getting married tomorrow (August 1st). We ate dinner at a really cute Italian restaurant "Silvatori Ristorante" and then went to a comedy show. It was a great night!

Lake Powell

Well we finally have some things worth posting! We just got back from Lake Powell in Utah/Arizona and had a great time. My extended family has a time share on a houseboat that we spent a week on. I was nervous about travelling with Joshua but he did great! It was about 21 hours driving time to get there, which we spread out over 3 days on our way there and 2 on the way back.
Joshua loved playing in the water and the sand, but most of all he loved playing with all of my little cousins! He hadn't really been around any kids before and it was so fun to see how excited he got when they played with him.
Every day was over 90 degrees and the lake water is warm, but still refreshing. We got to see Rainbow Bridge, (one of the wonders of the world) and go exploring down huge canyons. I really love the red rock. I went with my family on this trip every summer growing up, so it was wonderful to take Eric and Joshua with me. My mom came with us, and she was amazing! She was so helpful with Joshua and made the trip even more fun.
On July 3rd, (2 days before we left) Joshua took his first steps!! He got lots of practice on the houseboat and it is SO FUN, I just love it. He's so proud of himself too. I'll post a video of it later.

Rainbow Bridge (naturally formed) You can see Eric really small next to it- to show just how huge it is.

Every year the women in the family put on a synchronized swim show called "Swimmin' Women" :) Lots of fun.

The rock is mostly sand stone, which is really easy to carve into.

Pretty scenery.

Joshua was SO happy to be in the water. He liked his floatie that we bought too.

Captain Josh

One of the canyons we explored, the cliffs were so high. We would drive and drive in the ski boat and then get out and cool off in the water.

Each area in the Lake is named after some big rock in it. We camped in "Cookie Jar", appropriately named for the rock in this picture. Click to enlarge and see the cookie jar better.

Joshua's first swim suit, which is now stained brown from all the sand.

Birthday Party Fun

We had Joshua's birthday party last Saturday at Lake Sammamish State Park. It was sunny, warm and we had both our families there which was wonderful. The Birthday Cake! Thanks Aunt Lisa for the great idea, Joshua loved it!

He didn't really get into ripping up the paper like I thought he would

The BBQ was great, here's a pic of my family.