People in Utah

Jason could only stay one week in Utah, but fortunately Ethan and I got to stay two weeks. Outside of family reunion time we were able to visit more family and friends. We would have loved to have seen more people, but we just ran out of time. I forgot to get pictures of everyone we visited, but here are at least some of the great people we got to see.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Richards

It didn't take Claire long before she took over the job of walking around with Ethan. :)

James, Claire, and Ethan

The Nields

The Olsens

Melody, Charlotte, and Kate

Katrina and Anna

Ethan with his party hat on

Lillian and Amelia at their 3rd birthday party

Grandma and Grandpa Burningham came and joined us for church our second week there

Ethan and I with Sara

Cruize and Erica

My parents, sisters, and our children at the Ogden Temple Open House

Ogden Temple (It's hard to believe I got this great pic on my phone!)

This is Sister Curtis. She served here in Northern Kentucky and she flew home on the same flight as us so we got to meet her parents. :)

Chelsey came over to visit and see Ethan.

Fun picture of Ethan's first experience with bubbles

 Aunt Edie and Aunt Karen came over for a few minutes to see us and meet the new babies.

Fun time with the sisters!

Rogers Family Reunion

We had a great trip back to Utah for our 2014 Rogers Family Reunion. We had everyone from my side of the family there which included my parents, three sisters, two brothers, and all their spouses and children--bringing our family total to 14 adults and 16 grandchildren (ages 7 mo - 8 years). We rented out part of a large house in Holladay near Cottonwood Canyon and just played and ate and talked. We were all together for about 4 days. We took turns being in charge of a big meal for the family and then helping with clean up. The house we rented ended up being an adventure in and of itself and turned out to be great for playing hide and seek. We had a bedroom to ourselves with a King bed. The bed was about the only thing that fit into the room, however, so Ethan slept in a pack-n-play in the closet. Fortunately, he slept well and did well with all the new people, places, and things we experienced in Utah.

In addition to hanging out at the house, we also swam at the Cottonwood Heights outdoor pool and splashpad with most of the grandkids, walked around Silver Lake near Brighton Ski Resort, played with the parachute and frisbees outside, attended church altogether in the ward we grew up, put on a talent show starring the grandkids, enjoyed a women-only lunch and men-only bowling outing, and had several nights of talking and playing games after the kids were in bed. It was very enjoyable and nice to be together again. I'm glad we have these times to get together to help us stay close and let the grandkids play together too. Family time is the best time!

Ethan's first flight and he did amazingly well

Here's the place we stayed in Holliday

Silver Lake with Micky Mouse Mountain in the background (Such a beautiful place, I just love the mountains and the smell of pine trees!)

It was only about 62 degrees by mid-morning --much more chilly in the mountains

Most of the grand kids from oldest to youngest (and yes, this picture includes three sets of twins)

Hanging out at the house

Ethan doing his favorite activity with Daddy

Each grand child got a shirt with their birth order number on it. Ethan is grand child number 14 out of 16

Ethan got new pajamas for his birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Rogers

Jason throwing up Kira at the swimming pool

Ethan liked the pool but didn't want to go into the deeper end

Eating Sunday dinner and dessert at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Melody with one of her twin girls - Charlotte - and grandma.The grand kids decorated this apron for my mom with their hand prints and ages.

The kids had fun playing with the parachute outside one evening. And of course the popsicles were a big hit too.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

We had a lot of fun on Ethan's birthday. In the morning we met Katie and Kerrigan at South Fork Park. They brought presents for Ethan's birthday. Katie's parents, whom we met at Kerrigan's birthday party also left a gift for Ethan before their trip back to Iowa--which was so nice and unexpected!! What great friends we have!

Later in the evening after Jason finished working from home, we celebrated some more. Jason gave Ethan a bath before dinner and Ethan just loved splashing and splashing in the tub! It was hard to get him out.

After a homemade pizza dinner, we ate cupcakes for dessert. Ethan got a candle in his cupcake that Jason blew out...and then Ethan devoured the cupcake. He really liked squishing it between his fingers and then licking his fingers. :) After we cleaned him up, Ethan helped unload the dishwasher while Jason loaded it. Then we opened gifts. It was a happy day!

Ethan is a cute 1-year-old who loves to be mobile. He likes to crawl or walk around with my fingers. He's eating more table foods and eats almost whatever I give him. He still sleeps really well. He doesn't like the grass and will pick up his feet off the ground to avoid touching it. He likes to be with me almost all of the time and will follow me around and pull to a standing position on my legs. He likes to point to things to get my attention. Ethan loves bath time but he is afraid of big swimming pools.

Happy Birthday Ethan!

Ethan's first major haircut

Opening presents

Helping unload the dishwasher

Ethan also likes to look at books. One afternoon when I thought Ethan was taking a nap he actually figured out how to get all the books from the basket into his crib and spent the time reading instead.:)We are so grateful to have Ethan in our family!!

A Trip to the Cincinnati Zoo

We took a trip to the Cincinnati Zoo with our friends Katie and Kerrigan. They have a membership there and invited us to go with them and get in free. I'm glad we got in free because we still had to pay $9 just for the parking! We picked a perfect day and the weather was great. I really enjoyed the trip and hope we can go back soon. Of all the things I've done so far around here, the zoo has been my favorite.

Holding hands :)

Ethan, Julie, Kerrigan, and Katie

4th of July Fun

We celebrated the 4th of July this year with Mom and Dad Burningham as well as Andy and Kimra and their three cute boys. We picked up Mom and Dad B. near the Louisville airport on Thursday morning. After a trip to Costco and the drive home, we hung out and talked about Ethan until Jason could leave work. :) We ate dinner and played games until Andy and Kimra arrived a little after 9:00pm. That's when the party really got started! :)

Friday we drove East of Cincinnati to the Winton Woods park. We had a picnic lunch and the kids played on a wet and dry playground. We also took a stroll part way around the small lake there and found some turtles. We planned our activities for really hot humid weather, but the weather cooled down for the weekend so it was really nice outside. We headed back to our condo for pulled-pork sandwiches, corn on the cob, and watermelon.

Winton Woods Park

Ethan and Daddy

Super yummy dessert!

Ethan celebrated his 11 mo. mark on the 4th of July

Saturday morning we drove to Newport on the Levee and took a "Ride the Ducks" tour of Cincinnati. Our driver and tour guide did a good job of making it fun, especially for the kids. We were a little disappointed that our tour time conflicted with a parade in Cincinnati so we didn't get to drive around Cincinnati and see where Jason works. After the tour we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant where the sports fans could watch one of the World Cup games. Then we walked across the purple people bridge (a pedestrian bridge) from Newport, Kentucky across the Ohio River to Cincinnati before heading home. It was interesting to see all the locks that people put on the chain link fences along the bridge. I guess when people get engaged, married, or for other things, they put a lock on the fence and throw the key away to symbolize "forever." Kind of a cool way to create a memory that you can re-visit.

Ride the Ducks tour

Cincinnati in the background

Purple People Bridge

Jason is pointing to the building where he works on the 11th floor

When we got home, everyone else went swimming at our pool while Ethan, Jason, and I all took a nap. Apparently everyone else had a really fun time though and the boys didn't want to come back in. We had pizza for dinner and played games with the kids until it was time to drive to Independence, KY for a fireworks show. We arrived close to the time the fireworks were going to start and the place was packed! We got separated from Andy and Kimra's mini-van, but Jason and I ended up finding a great spot where we could see the whole sky from our windshield. I played "God Bless America" and other great tunes on my iPhone, so we had our own personalized fireworks show from our CR-V.

I love fireworks! :)

Sunday morning Andy and Kimra left to drive back to Illinois and rest of us got ready for church meetings at 1:00. It was our first day to attend the Union Presbyterian Church. The chapel where we usually meet in Hebron is being expanded to accommodate our growing numbers, so the leaders arranged with this Presbyterian Church to rent their building to us on Sundays. It is a nice building and we're happy to cut our commute time from 17 minutes to 7 minutes on Sundays. I played the piano for Sacrament Meeting since our organist was out of town. It's always a little nerve-wracking to play, but I think it turned out well. Jason had meetings and errands most of the day, but we had some time together in the evening.

Cute Burningham Boys (Mack, Ethan, Drew, and Grant) Mack would only be in the picture if he could hold Ethan. :)

Monday we took a walk at South Forth Park, ate lunch at Skyline Chili, and played games in the afternoon. That night we watched the movie Courageous, one of Jason's favorites, and all enjoyed it. Tuesday Jason and Dad B worked from our condo and I took Mom and Dad B. back to the airport that afternoon to fly back to Las Vegas. We had a great time with everyone and were glad that we could spend time with family for the first time this year.

South Fork Park

Skyline Chili

Ethan with Grandma and Grandpa B

First Father's Day

So since recovering from our Washington DC vacation, we haven't been up to too much. I have spent a lot of time experimenting with foods that Ethan can and will eat. The whole transition from pureed food to table food is pretty tricky if you ask me! Ethan has now tried a lot of new foods, but one of his favorite, for now, is wheat toast with butter. I'm sure it would probably be ice cream if we let him try it. :)

Now that Ethan is 10 months he's been trying out a few new tricks like clapping his hands, pointing, and doing squats. He likes to try to make other people smile and laugh when we're at the stores, and when he heard the congregation laugh at church the other day, he chimed in his own laugh afterwards. He still won't crawl; he won't even get up on his hands and knees. Now that he can stand, that's all he wants to do. Fortunately he can balance on his fisher price toy and that's where we leave him, so he can stand to his heart's content.

We had a nice Father's Day. We went to stake conference for our church meetings, which made the day nice and long since Jason didn't have as many other meetings as normal. Ethan wore a onesie that says, "Awesome like Daddy," for the occasion and he gave Jason a cute plate with his footprints on it. Both Ethan and I feel pretty blessed to have Jason. He is such a great dad and husband. Even after a long day of work he is always trying to help out at home with Ethan or dinner or dishes. Ethan and I are both so glad when daddy comes home!