Camping

We wemt camping from Saturday to Sunday on The Mogollon Rim near Woods Canyon Lake with my parents and Mikey.  This was real camping with tents and no bathroom since my dad sold the toy hauler.  It was awesome to get out of the hot weather and enjoy temps in the 70's.  It was even cold at night!  The campsite was right on the edge of the rim, and there were really pretty views.  It was a little scary that if we went by the edge Caden said "jump."  Needless to say we kept a close eye on him.   

We thought that we would just put our feet in the lake,

 but this is what actually happened.



My parents and Mikey hanging out by the lake. 

We saw a herd of Elk hanging out right by the road.  I guess that they weren't scared because they were standing right next to the no hunting sign.

 Caden loves Papa's truck.  He just wanted to sit in there all day.



Caden sitting in his cute camping chir. 

 Hanging out by the campfire.  It was awesome to have to break out the jackets in the middle of summer!  We made smores too.  Yummy!



My parents 

Mikey



Vegas!

Matt and I took a day trip to Las Vegas, on Saturday, while Caden stayed with my parents.  We had a lot of fun, but let's just say that the allotted budget didn't last long.

This is really the main reason that I like to go to Vegas anyways.  Why are there 2 Coach outlets within 10 miles of each other in Las Vegas and none in Arizona?  Honestly it's probably better that way.

We ate at Roxy's Diner at the Stratosphere.  Matt got the biggest hot dog that I have ever seen, so I decided that it was picture worthy. (It's already missing a bite off the end too.)   

 We decided to check out this brand new hotel called The Cosmopolitan.  It was pretty fancy , especially the underground parking lot.  Each parking spot had a light over it that was green when the spot was empty, and it turned to red when someone parked there.  There were also signs in each row showing how many spaces were available before you bothered turning.  It was pretty high tech for a parking lot.



This is a huge two story chandelier in The Cosmopolitan.  It was really pretty. 

We also decided to check out The Planet Hollywood Hotel since we had never been there.  They had an indoor rainstorm every 1/2 hour complete with thunder, lightening, and of course rain.



Music Time

Last week we went to the music time at the preschool that Beth (Matt's dad's wife) teaches at.  Caden had fun playing with the instruments.  The Owens were also there, and Caden was excited to see Carter.  It was really cute.

Owie!

 Caden and I were at my parents house on Friday afternoon when he pulled a Tiffany lamp over on himself.  It had a big spikey thing in the middle, and it nailed him right between the eyes,  It was bleeding a lot, and his clothes were all covered in blood.  It was a little traumatic to say the least, but I wasn't really sure if it needed stitches or not.  When Matt got home from work, he decided that we should go to the ER for some stitches.



Here we are in the waiting room at Mercy Gilbert ER.  We were actually pretty lucky because we were only there for 2 hours from start to finish. 

At first Caden thought that it was fun.  When the doctor checked him she said that it could go either way with the stitches, but we decided that we might as well get them since we were already there (and had already paid the $100 copay!).  She thought that it might help with the scarring too. 

After a while it was not so much fun.  He had to leave this on for 20 minutes to numb up the area for stitches.  It wasn't supposed to hurt, so I'm not sure if it was the tape or the numbness that he didn't like.  Either way he was pretty mad. 

He ended up getting four stitches.  He was really mad while they were being done because they wrapped him up in a sheet, so that he couldn't move.  I think that was the probably the worst part.  He got the stitches out today, but he still has a big scab, so I guess that we will see what happens.



Hawaii!!

We were lucky enough to get to go to Maui last week with our friends Brigham and Cassie and their little girl Reagan.  We had so much enjoying the beautiful beaches and awesome weather!  Here are lots of pictures for you to see.

 Just hanging out at Kaanapali Beach.  The water was so clear that you could see to the bottom.  We actually went snorkeling at this beach too at a place called Black Rock.  There are rocks jutting out into the water and tons of coral with pretty fish to see around them.



Caden loved playing in the sand.  He carried this yellow shovel around the whole time that we were at the beach. 

He also loved the water.  The first day he was a little apprehensive, but after that he got so excited and started running as soon as he could see the water. 

Just chillin' with his glasses on. 

On the 4th of July we drove up to the top of Mount Haleakala to see the sunset.  It is really pretty because the mountain is higher then the clouds.  The elevation is 10,000 ft, and it took about 2 hours to get up there driving on a really windy road.  I was a little car sick by the time that we got to the top.  We thought that we would be able to see the fireworks on our way down the mountain since there were pretty much views of the whole island, but unfortunately the fireworks were in an area that we couldn't see.  I was a little disappointed about that because I thought that it would be fun to watch fireworks on the beach.

Matt and I were looking for a good spot to snorkel, and the map showed a good spot at a beach called Olowalu.  When we got there this is what we saw.  We were a little apprehensive, but decided to check it out.  The water was pretty murky, and we chickened out. 

We did and up playing in the water a little bit right near the shore, and  Caden posed for some pictures on this tree. 

Caden liked this beach because it was right by the road, and he pointed out all of the trucks as they drove by. 

This is a huge tree that is in downtown Lahaina.  All of the branches and trunks are connected to the big tree in the middle.  It is pretty crazy.  

Here are Brigham, Cassie, and Reagan in front of the tree.

We went on a boat ride, so that they could see the fish too.  The whole bottom of the boat was glass, so you can sit down there and see the fish.   

When it got out to a reef they had divers that went out and brought some stuff up to the window.  This is an octopus, and we also saw a turtle swim by.  

Here we are on the top of the boat which was called the Reefdancer. 

After the first few days the winds started picking up, and we saw some huge waves.  This was at Big Beach.  The waves were huge and the current strong, so there were life guards out there not letting anyone get into the water.  It was cool to see the waves, but a little disappointing because we couldn't go swimming or snorkeling.  

Later that day we went to the beach in Kapalua, and the water was much calmer.  The kids had fun playing in the sand, and Matt and I took turns snorkeling with Brigham and Cassie.  We actually saw a pretty big turtle.  He was as long as Caden and much wider.  He just swam around really close to us, and wasn't scared at all.  It was pretty fun.

On Thursday Brigham and Cassie were nice enough to watch Caden while Matt and I went out on a boat trip to Lanai.  Lanai is about 8 miles from Maui by boat.  It is privately owned, but has 2 Four Seasons Resorts and about 2500 people live there.  Most of the island is just Cliffs, but there is a small beach that is rated as one of the top beaches in the world.  We only got to see it from the boat though.

 The boat stopped at two snorkeling sights near Lanai, and here is Matt snorkeling.  We were supposed to be able to swim with the dolphins because they live out near the island, but unfortunately we weren't able to find them.  Apparently that is really uncommon.  It was super windy and the water was really choppy, so I guess that is probably why.  We were both disappointed about that, but the water was really beautiful and really blue.  While snorkeling we saw a Spotted Eagle Ray which was pretty cool.



 This is the beach at the condo that we stayed at which was called The Hona Koa.  There was a turtle that swam around out here every afternoon. If you look close you can see him sticking his head out of the water in this picture.  He is near the middle. 



 We saw the Penguins that are at the Hyatt.



Caden and Reagan were so cute together!  They got along really good.  As soon as Caden got up in the morning he started saying "Reagan" and looking all over for her.

2 Year Stats

Caden went to the doctor for his 2 year check up on the 23rd.  He is 29.8 lbs (75%) and 35.5 in (75%).  The doctor said that he is growing really good.  Caden is learning new words everyday, and he will put 2 or 3 words together sometimes.  It is so exciting that he is learning to talk and communicate better!  He can count to 3, but a lot of times he skips the 1 and just says "2,3."  We are working on learning colors, and his favorite characters from the Cars movie are the brown car (mater) and the red car (Mcqueen) as he refers to them.  He has also gotten pretty feisty lately and has been throwing lots of temper tantrums.  I guess that is to be expected.  Caden no longer sits in a high chair, and he sleeps in his big boy bed.  It's a little bittersweet for me that he is growing up because he is still my baby.  Caden loves basketball, and he even liked watching it with Matt.  Too bad that basketball season is over (I never thought that I would say that!) because it was so cute.  He even cheered and yelled "Oh yeah" every time that a basket was made.  One day he pointed at the tv and said "tv basketball" because he wanted to watch basketball.  He is definitely taking after his dad.  Caden also loves Elmo, and every morning he tells me "watch Elmo" because he wants to watch Sesame Street.  He also likes to say that things are cute.  The other day, after I just got dressed, he looked at me and said "cute."  He is really the sweetest little boy ever when he's not throwing tantrums.

Happy 2nd Birthday Part 3!

Today was Caden's actual birthday, so we had lots of fun all day!

 Matt was in Charlotte for a business trip.  Luckily he caught an early flight home, and was able to spend the rest of the day with us.  He brought Caden this cute Duke bear.  Caden has been carrying it around all day, and calling it Baby Duke. (He calls his stuffed animals babies.)  I'm pretty sure that this is now his new favorite.

 For his birthday present we did his big boy room (with some help from my parents and Grandma Shobe!), but we got him a little something to open on his birthday.  It's the Toy Story 3 movie.





 Caden said that he wanted pizza for lunch, so we headed to Costco. Mmmm



 After taking his super cute pictures (which you already saw), and taking a nap we went to this really fun place called Jump Street with Mikey and Christina.  Caden was a little nervous about this big slide at first, but he loved it after the first time.

These slides were only for kids under 7, but we all had to have a turn.  It was super fun!  Shhh!! Don't tell!!  Actually no one really seemed to care.  Here is Matt, 

 me and Caden,



 Mikey,



and Christina.

  Jumping on the trampoline with Matt.

 Climbing the stairs.

That's right I've still got it.  Doing flips on the trampoline. 

We were all really thirsty afterwards!

Caden's 2 Year Old Pictures