James at 16 months

16 months, really!?

My baby is more of a toddler than a baby at this point and it kind of breaks my heart but he is so fun at this stage!

We went to the doctor last week and he weighs 22 lb (38%), is 31.5 in. tall (51%), and his noggin is still uuuge and is in the 93% (this is why he is super smart ;) )

He is such a busy little guy and is walking/running EVERYWHERE!  He took his first steps at just about 14 months and then somewhere in between 14-15 months he was off.  He definitely has a lot of bumps and bruises (usually on his face...I swear we don't abuse our child).  Along with this, he is trying to climb up on things.  He can get up on the couch and low stools but it is still somewhat difficult for him so luckily he isn't onto other things such as the kitchen table etc....for awhile.

He is a talking machine, it is so cute.  He says about 27 words, some of our favorites being "car" which was his first word other than mamma and dadda and he says it in a Boston accent making it hilarious.  Anything with wheels is a car....bikes are cars, strollers are cars, wagons are cars.  He says "wawa" for water and while we run along the river he yells "wawa!!" when he gets a good look at the water and he yells it pretty loud.  His latest new words are "hi" and "buh-bye" and says this often while talking on his phone.  He also says two words together, "what's dat?" while pointing to things.

The fingers have found the nose! Oh boy haha. Sometimes I'll catch him digging up there.

He loves eating with utensils, especially a fork and likes to stab the food.  He is a really great eater and always has been.  And even with 8 teeth, he eats pretty much anything so he no longer really eats baby food.   His favorite food the past couple weeks has been corn on the cob.  It's so funny watching him eat it.  He does it all by himself!  It's funny though because he will only eat corn if it's on the cob.  He has gotten kind of high maintenance :) We are still doing bottles but I will be working on getting him off of those here soon.  He has gotten better at using sippy cups with water so I think he's ready.

He is getting a molar!  He has been such a champ dealing with it too.  It really hasn't bothered him much like I thought it would.

He is obsessed with shoes (which of course is one of his words he often uses).  He loves to try our shoes on and wants to walk around in them.  He also loves to shut doors and will shut himself into a room and of course can't get back out, so he will cry.  He does this over and over, silly boy.

He shakes his head to say "no".  He also gives high-fives and knuckles.  He also likes to hit himself and others....we are working on redirecting this behavior.

Oh my heck, we love this kid so much!

Mommy's little guy

Eating corn on the cob like a boss...with the little pinky do-da to add :)

Our little Captain America...he didn't like it

The big reveal

Goodbye old house....

Hello new house!....

the finished exterior...yep we have an orange door :)

Let me take you on a little tour, come on in :)

entry

living room right off entry (love the windows and tray ceiling)

family room with big beautiful windows

this is what we see from these windows, Mt. Timp with the lake below.
This pic doesn't do it justice....it is beautiful.

the kitchen of course.  LOVE!

To the garage.
On the left is a half bath on the right is the laundry room

laundry room
(I so miss going outside and down our steep stairs into our dungeon to do our laundry ;) )
 

half bath

main bath down the hall from the family room

James' room (I promise the carpet is really not this peachy color)

closet in James' room (both rooms look about the same)

master

master bath

garden tub in master

from master bath into closet (nice to have some closet space again)

That is our home!  We also have an unfinished basement that we will later finish as needed.  Sorry about the pic overload but I love seeing people's homes etc.  The more pics the better I feel.  I also shared pics of before we were in with our furniture and stuff because we are still getting settled (you don't want to see the mess we've got right now haha).

I have lots of decorating projects up my sleeve.  Check in for some of those updates.  I am so excited to get started!

We are absolutely loving being out here.  Our neighbors have been so incredibly nice!

Thanks for stopping by!....(I'm such a dork).  Come visit any time :)

It's like Christmas!

I found a little secret.  It's called Birchbox.   I have been hearing things about it here and there and it was featured on The Today show so I decided to give it a little try.  

"What is Birchbox?", you may ask.  I went to their website and signed up for a little box to come to my house every month for $10.  Inside it are 5 random beauty samples (some of them being pretty good sized) catered to your skin type, shade, hair color, etc. and they are all a surprise so it's like Christmas...in a box!  And the only reason I did this was because you can cancel at any time!  

So I thought I'd see what all the hype was about.  And to add to all the suspense of the Birchbox, when I initially tried to join they had such a long waiting list that I had to ask for an invite and then wait until they sent me an email telling me it was my turn to join!  I think I waited like two months so I was thrilled when I got that email and when I finally got my first Birchbox the following month! So far I feel that the money is worth it because there are a lot of samples that are pretty good size.

They do not disappoint....(I should get paid for advertising hehe).  My latest favorite is some mascara that came in the July Birchbox and it's crazy cool!  It is non smudge, water-proof but comes off without the hassle of makeup remover just warm water and some pressure.  It's so easy and not messy at all!

this is me getting my first Birchbox in May...can you tell I'm excited?

I have just been so excited about it that I had to share!  haha I'm a nerd.

Almost There!

House update:

So far so good!  We are on track to move in August 4th!  We are super excited!! :)  This pic was taken last Thursday (July 19th).  It should actually be completely finished now.  Our final walk-through was moved from today to this Thursday so that they could clean it up nice and pretty for us :)

sneak peek inside: 

this is our laundry room.  LOVE it!

More Pics to come when we give the final reveal!

4th of July

The week of the Independence Day holiday is always quite a busy one for us but it is one of our most favorite times of the year!

The week started on Monday the 2nd with a fun trip to the zoo. Laurie, Emily, and myself took Courtney's kids (she stayed home to spend some one-on-one time with baby Sam), Lexi (Brandi and Clayton's little girl), and James.  We had tons of fun seeing the big Polar Bear in his new habitat they have re-modeled!

riding the train at the zoo

Carson not only had the 4th off, but was able to get the rest of the week of as well!  On the 4th we enjoyed spending time with my family where we woke up at 6am to go to the Balloon Festival right around the corner from our house.  We most definitely came home after that and all three crashed for two hours!  We enjoyed an afternoon BBQ with my family and enjoyed their company.  Later that evening we came home to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks from our backyard with my sister, Lisa and a friend and Carson's brother Chris and his wife, Emily as well!  Carson insisted James stay up to watch the fireworks. I was not too keen on the idea seeing as they didn't start till 2 hours after his bedtime! He does really like fireworks though so I gave in.  He really enjoyed them but was super tired.  Chris was trying to play with him afterword and he just sat there staring into space.  Poor little guy. 

at the balloon fest...not sure what to think

eating donuts and chocolate milk at the balloon fest

Thursday we had a chance to do some professional pictures.  Carson's mom wanted pics with all five grandkids (boy was that a hoot to watch).  We were also able to get some shots of our little family of three!  They turned out way cute!  We don't have them quite yet, but will definitely share once we do.  We stayed up in SL that whole day because later in the evening we celebrated Lexi's 1st birthday!  She's such a cutie.  I can't believe how fast these kids grow up!


Friday kicked off the Cook reunion (Carson's mom's side).  We always start it off with attending the Oakley Rodeo.  This is the first and actually the only rodeo I've ever been to and I have enjoyed going the last 6 years.  James seemed to enjoy it too (lots more than last year).  We had a super cute cowboy hat that we were going to have him wear but could not find it! I was pretty bummed.  We looked EVERYWHERE!  I'm sure it'll turn up while we're packing.  I made Carson's favorite and a must-have at the Rodeo, his chex mix. Cardin and Mitch came into town for the weekend.  They are in Alabama selling security systems for the Summer. We are so glad they could come and we could have the whole family together!

Saturday we continued with the Cook reunion and met everyone at a park up in SL where we played fun games, ate good food, did our traditional giant slip n' slide, played volleyball, horse shoes, tennis (well we didn't play this but others did), and just enjoyed each others' company.  It was and always is so much fun!  I married into the best family!

going down the slip n' slide with daddy

he didn't like it

he did like splashing in the puddle at the end with Papa though

We had so much fun together, Court and Clay decided Sunday was a perfect time to bless little Sam. ;)  I was so happy to be able to hold baby Sam for the first time since the hospital.  I had been staying away from him because James had Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease a week or two prior.  No fun!  


I love celebrating the 4th!  I love being around my family during this time of year.  I love my Country and being able to have my freedom.  I am so grateful for the men and women who work so hard to provide that for me.  Happy 4th of July!

Baby Sam

We are a proud aunt and uncle to this little cutie!  

Samuel Jones Blackham was born on June 20th.

   That makes 5 grandchildren on the Cullimore side.

He is SO tiny.  We just love him!

Congrats Court and Clay!

New Job

So as I've mentioned before, I was hired on by the hospital where I did my clinical rotations as prn (as needed).  They like to hire the senior students after they get their limited license to give them an opportunity to kind of start them off and use them to cover vacations and such.  This is usually a temporary thing because each year they do the same thing with the senior students so it pretty much just fizzles out and/or the students graduate and get other jobs elsewhere.

I figured I would just work as prn at the hospital until I stopped getting calls to come in and then I'd just quit and be strictly a stay at home mom. I was sort of bummed by this idea.  I wanted to be able to utilize my skills that I worked so hard to gain but was definitely not looking for a full time job, after all my main priority is to be at home with James.

Well, I recently had an opportunity drop in my lap!  I was offered a position with a clinic in Saratoga Springs working every Friday!  Perfect, one day a week.  I can do that!  And it works so perfect with us moving out there soon.  I will also be covering peoples vacations here and there at other affiliated clinics in Lehi and American Fork.

Last week I had my training.  It was Monday through Friday 8-5:30 (sometimes 6) every day, boy was that hard!  Props to moms who work full time, yikes!  Again, I am so grateful for my family who stepped in to help and were more than happy.  I was dreading the week beforehand, but it went so smoothly and James was so good for everyone.

This last Thursday was my first day on my own in the Lehi clinic.  I was filling in for someone who needed that day off.  It went so well!  And Friday was my first day at the Saratoga clinic.  Each clinic is sort of different.  The Saratoga office I will be doing a lot of Medical Assisting stuff so that is a bunch of new stuff that I feel pretty out of place on but I am picking it up.  It's actually fun being able to incorporate the MA stuff along with my Rad Tech stuff.   And I love the people I work with!  That definitely makes a difference.

I am grateful for this opportunity.  It was just what I needed.  It will be nice being able to mainly stay at home with James but to also be able to contribute in my field and stay up to date on it as well.