Short Road Trip

Today we drove up to Payson with my parents just for the day,  We went to Tonto Natural Bridge which is an awesome place to go if you have never been there!  There is a natural bridge with a little waterfall running off of it, and a creek underneath.  We hiked down to the creek and splashed in the water a little bit.  It was so beautiful and the weather was awesome!

The view looking out from under the bridge.

 My Parents



Caden loved splashing in the water even though it was freezing cold.

We also went to the fish hatchery which is about 20 miles east of Payson.  They breed the fish and release them into the lakes for fishing.  They had a bunch of tanks with fish of various sizes, and a pond with a bunch of huge fish. 

When we fed the big fish they started jumping like crazy and fighting over the food.  It was all gone in like 5 seconds. 

Caden just wanted to put his hand in the water.  You're not supposed to, but he couldn't reach anyways.  Matt was just making sure that he didn't fall in.

Climber

Caden has been trying to get up on the couch for awhile now, but he's not quite tall enough to get his knee up there without any help.  Imagine my surprise when I went into my bedroom yesterday to find him up on my bed.  He figured out that if he climbs onto the chest at the bottom of the bed then he can get onto the bed.  He was quite pleased with himself.  The only problem is that he is too scared to get down by himself, so he sits there and screams until I come and get him.  Today he was trying to get onto one of the kitchen chairs.  I think that I am in trouble now!

Sea Life Aquarium

I went with my mom and Caden to the Sea Life Aquarium at Arizona Mills on my birthday.  I've been wanting to go and Matt's been avoiding it, so I thought that it would be the perfect time to go.  It was okay, but honestly I'm glad that I had a B1G1 free coupon.  I think that we only spent like 45 minutes there.  Caden wasn't too interested in looking at the fish.  He mostly just wanted to run around which is pretty much what I expected.  He is very busy.  Also it's pretty dark in there, and you can't use flash.  That's why the pictures aren't very good.

 Some of the tabks had this bubble in the middle, so you could stick your head in.  It was actually pretty cool to get a close up look at the fish from th e middle of the tank.  Here is my mom.



Caden was actually quite amused by this.  He kept trying to touch everything. 

Caden checking out the sharks.  There was one part where you could walk through this tunnel and there was water all around you and there were little sharks in there.

15 Months Old! (Okay Almost 16 Months Old!)

Caden had his 15 month check up at the doctor last week.  He is 24 lb 15 oz (55%), 33 inches (90%), and his head is 19.75 inches (95%).  He is getting so tall, and he has learned so many things in the past few months.  It seems like he is learning new things every day now.  He finally started clapping, and he loves to have people clap for him!  He went from walking to running pretty much everywhere that he goes.  It is so cute to see those little legs going as fast as they can. (Which is pretty fast by the way.  Especially when he has something that he knows he shouldn't have!)  He has learned to point to his head, his ears, his mouth, and his belly button.  He also knows where mine and Matt's belly buttons are.  He tries to lift our shirts if we ask him.  It is so funny.  He also knows what the duck says and what the cow says.  Caden has also learned to say baby and nana (for banana).  He is on a banana kick right now, and they are one of the few things that he likes to eat.  He also likes yogurt and eggs.  Everything else pretty much depends on his mood.  He's not the greatest eater, so it takes a lot of patience and a lot of distraction to get him to eat.  He has seven teeth now.  Four on the top and three on the bottom.  Hopefully he will eat better as he gets more teeth.  Sometimes it is hard for him to chew things.  Caden understands more things everyday and he can follow simple directions like Where's your drink?, Get the ball, Close the door, Where's Elmo?, and Let's go.  I read to him pretty much everyday, but he only pays attention for the first page.  Hopefully he will grow to enjoy reading,  He loves songs, and he loves it when we sing the songs that we have learned at babytime.  He can also do the chicken dance if you ask him.  It is so adorable!  Caden is getting so big, and is so much fun!

More Happy Birthday!

We celebrated my birthday with my family today.  My mom made a yummy meal of flautas and bean dip.  We also had homemade strawberry cake and homemade chocolate ice cream.  It was so good!  Now it's back to the diet tomorrow.  I've lost 12 pounds, so hopefully I didn't gain any back this weekend!  I got money from all of my family because I am saving up for a new cell phone.  My brother works at T-Mobile, and he is adding us onto his plan.  We get an awesome price that includes the data plan, but no deal on a phone.  I guess that you can't have everything. :) 

Happy Early Birthday to Me!

Matt always says that I get to celebrate my birthday for a week, so even though my birthday isn't until the 12th the celebration started today!  We went to Peter Piper Pizza with Matt's family for some yummy pizza (mmmm Peter Piper is my favorite!) and fun games.  Matt made a regular cake to trick me, but he had his brother bring a yummy Reese's Peanut Butter Cup ice cream cake from DQ because I love ice cream.  I had no clue, and there was definitely plenty of cake to go around!

Everyone went in together and got me a Kindle which I am so excited about!  Thank you! 

Caden has not been the best eater lately, so after I just finished telling Matt's sister how he never eats anything he ate a whole piece of pizza.  She then said that we should try chocolate, but I told her that Caden's hates it.  He seriously won't ever touch anything with chocolate in it.  A few minutes later he got a hold of some cake with chocolate frosting, and he was eating it like it was his favorite food ever.  Really?  I think that he just did it because he heard what I was saying about him.  Maybe he understands more then I thought! 

Caden loves Peter Piper, and he was dying to get out of the high chair the whole time.  He just likes to run around like crazy, and he doesn't even need any tokens. 

Playing With the Kitties

Caden loves this cat toy.  He carries it around the house all day, and tries to get the cats to play with it.  It is so cute that he knows what it is for.  Occasionally the cats will give it a swat, but mostly they just run away from him. 

Friends After All?

We've been getting some rain the past few days, and we are definitely enjoying the cooler weather!  I have been driving around with the windows down, and we even got to take a walk outside yesterday!  I also like to open the patio door, when the weather is nice, to let some cool air into the house.

Well Caden has figured out how to open the screen, and every time that I open the door he is over there opening the screen. 

 I know you are thinking that this cute little boy wouldn't do that, but you are wrong. :) 

If I don't get him fast enough he goes outside to splash in the puddles.  Duke also escapes pretty much every time that Caden opens the screen, and  I think that he is quite pleased about the situation.  Maybe Duke and Caden will be friends after all.

Coloring!

We went out to dinner at Red Robin a few nights ago, and Caden actually colored on the kids menu instead of trying to eat the crayons!  Okay I admit that he did try to eat the crayons after a couple of minutes, but we are making progress.  It was so cute!

Texas

Matt had to go out of town on a business trip, so Caden and I decided to take a little trip to Texas to visit Sarah, Steve, and Max.  I was a little nervous about flying with Caden by myself, but he was actually pretty good.  Steve was working most of the time, but it was fun to hang out with Sarah and Max.  The boys had a lot of fun playing together.  Max called Caden "baby", and he kept giving him kisses.  As soon as Max got up in the morning he went around the house saying "baby" because he was looking for Caden.  It was way too cute!  Max is also very polite, and says "thank you" anytime that you give him something.  If you have something that he wants he tries to take it from you and says "thank you."  It was cracking me up!  Max is also a really good eater and Caden not so much.  It actually worked out okay because Max ate his food and most of Caden's.  I think that kid is never full.  He walked around the house all day saying "cracker."  I was so glad that we got to see them!