so long, farewell...

the time has come (and gone) for us to bid farewell to elder tyson smith as he

embarks on his 2-year mission for the one true church.  he left on june 5, just 3

days before his 19th birthday, for the provo m.t.c. before heading to mcallen, tx

for the duration.  and although we loathe utah county (specifically provo) with a fiery

passion (and trust me, this drive did nothing to lessen our passionate dislike), we

were more than happy to meet the fam at the brick oven for one last feast in his honor.

it also meant a few more hugs and pics.  i seriously love this kid so much!

the sisters were there to show their support, too.

what a good-looking bunch of gingers.

especially the one holding the baby.

marty got a little one-on-one time with grandma s, but not nearly enough.

 

and after we had to say our actual goodbyes, we hung out and goofed around in

the shade for a little while longer.  not because we wanted to breathe in as much of

the toxic happy valley air as we could, but so that we could play with our little superman.

do me a solid

after lots of prodding from family members (mostly my mom), we finally introduced

some solid foods to marty boy.  however, i would like to point out that their/her prodding

in no way influenced the timing of this introduction - we said we were waiting until 6-months,

and we did.  i also stuck to my guns when it came to the actual first food.  if she'd had her

way his first real food would've been ice cream.  good grief.

getting him in the high chair for the first time was a breeze.

we first tried rice cereal, and although we didn't get pictures of how much he hated

it, we did get some stellar video.  priceless.

next (on another day, the next week, because the rice cereal was only slightly

less than traumatizing on all of us) we tried carrots.  thankfully, with completely

different results.

it may have been messy, and it continues to be messy pretty much every time,

but he liked it.  and since then we've found some foods that he loves: sweet potatoes,

mango, and butternut squash.  i'll take the mess for just a second of that smile every time.

aging gracefully

so, marty turned 5-months old, and my dad turned 54-years old back in may.

we have one squirmy wormy on our hands!

we celebrated my dad's aging by eating some bbq with the fam, which was delicious,

entertaining, and adventurous, all at the same time.

you're the best, pop!

we started father's day weekend off with a date night.  dropped the boy off at my

parents' house and headed to syracuse for some thai food and to see the newest

superman movie, man of steel.  we may have both been crying within the first 5 minutes

of the movie, and i may have continued to cry throughout the duration.  we learned

a couple of valuable lessons that night:  1. parenthood has made us big fat boobs, and

2. we love date nights, but we also love when they're over because we get our boy back.

i was happy to celebrate father's day for this guy (the big one) because it is a reminder

that he gave me that guy (the little one).  they're my favorite.

we played "drench mommy/eat the necklace" while we waited for richard to finish

his calling duties before surprising him with his present and walking to church.

thank you, pinterest.

we spent the afternoon in our backyard, making our farmers market crafts...

and playing in the shade.

later, we went with my fam to visit the grandparents.

she'd never let me grab her face like that.

chelsea was pretty proud to find out that although he's not big on binkies,

her one-finger sure does the trick.

happy father's day, riard.  you really are the best pop!