Joey's first tooth!

So I have been keeping my eye on his bottom middle incisors which are still buds. However, when I went to rub his gums today, I noticed a tooth on the top of his mouth! Who knows how longs it's been there. It looks like his top right incisor next to what would be his middle teeth. Kind of funny location for a first tooth, but it is there!!

A visit from Grandpa Gary!

Grandpa Gary was able to visit us September 10-12. We were very excited to have him visit and this was the longest visit of his yet! This was Joey's first time meeting his grandpa. They have the same middle name, "Evert" after Gary's father.

Gary has a big love for everything horses. He has always wanted to have a ranch and own horses, so when he retired in his 50's from Boeing in Seattle, WA, that is what he set out to do. He eventually bought a ranch in La Grande, OR. So, what else would we do but go to the Utah State Fair in SLC? It was one of the biggest fairs he had ever seen. I have never seen anything like it either. The barns were made of brick, so nice. And it was surprising that they didn't smell like I am used to at Caribou County Fairs. 

It was such a hot day!! The kiddos did really well throughout it all. We finally found a few horses (there weren't many there, I'm sure our timing was wrong). When I looked into their stroller to see how they were doing, Joey was wet from sweat and Addie was red faced. Poor kids were so hot! So we took them out and let them touch the horses. Joey was so happy and loved patting their foreheads. He was so cute! I think Addie was a little spacey because of the heat, but she seemed to be indifferent.

We were so sad to say goodbye to Gary at the airport. He is so fun to hang out with and the kids really warmed up to him. Addie was always bringing him toys, carried around his cane, and played with his things. She even sat on his lap for a few minutes. She doesn't seem to let men hold her unless it's Joe, so that was a pleasant surprise. She likes men, but she just teases and plays around, never holding still enough to be held.

Gary did so well with Joey too. Even though it is hard for him to get down, he still did so he could play with Joey. I had to take these few candid shots of the two. Joey was really jabbering and enjoying the attention.

Hogle Zoo

We have been really enjoying our move to Kaysville. One of the best things is the yard. We love playing in the yard, when it's not raining. This is a picture of Joey with his first grass experience.

Addie loves the freedom. We often go out there in the evening when it cools off and we wait for Joe to come home.

We have been wanting to go to Hogle Zoo in SLC since we moved back to Utah, but it's never panned out. So finally we made it!! And the Addie really seemed to enjoy the animals. Joey did so well and just was happy to be there. Joe and I loved it! We decided to get a season pass so we can visit more often and get a little exercise in as well.

Addie's favorite seemed to be the water mammals. She really liked the seals swimming around.

We tried to do the bird show, but Addie wanted to stand and walk around. We got asked to leave by one of the workers....I guess it's a safety issue because of the birds? I don't know, but I can't wait until we get both kids to the point that they can watch stuff like that and they can sit down....But nevertheless, we really had a fun time.

Addie is 20 months, Joey is 6 months, and they just keep getting cuter!

Where does the time fly? I have loved this summer and wish it could last forever. These two cutie pies are nonstop sweetness!! They seem to be the best of friends and enjoy making each other laugh. We couldn't be happier with that and hope they remain good friends. Oh, we know there will be fights and crying, but I'm sure that they will pull through it all.

Addie: she is learning more and more words. I am sure that I can teach her so much more than I do. It seems like she catches on so fast. She loves to dance around to any music she may hear. She likes to read books by herself (she might last a couple of pages but she quickly pulls the book away and wants to control the reading). She sings songs and sounds so cute. she even fluctuates her tone so she hits different notes. Her favorite song right now seems to be "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider". She now understands what "Prayer" means, so she folds her arms and bows her head. She is actually pretty reverent for the most part. We finally put up pictures on our walls in the front room. We have a picture of Jesus, and when we ask her where He is, she points to him and says "Jesus Christ". She wants to feed herself and most of the time won't let us help, unless the food is REALLY good. She is getting really good at helping by throwing garbage away, putting dirty clothes in the laundry, and bringing things we ask her to get. She has learnt how to say "Thank You" too. She is amazing at walking up and down the stairs. She rarely gets down and uses her hands anymore. She can even balance going down the stairs with her hands full of toys without using the wall for support. She has also figured out how to climb up and down the rocks on the side of our house. I was really hoping that wouldn't happen until next year. Oh well, only a few tumbles but she gets up and keeps climbing. She is one tough cookie!

And speaking of tough cookie, we have such a hard time getting a picture of Addie. She hardly sits still long enough for our slow cameras so she becomes a blur. A huge reason why we need to buy a better camer. But we did get these of Addie  reading to Joey one of her books. They were really talking, laughing and playing. Once again, just love this time of being best friends. I had to post all of them because each one has a different expression or action....I am in love with my babies!!

Joey: Oh, and he is teething! It seems like it's been a couple of months of drooling and a few rough nights. He has two little buds on his bottom gums ready to push through any day. Hoping that day will come to offer him some relief. But he is a pretty happy, easy going baby. We are so blessed to have him. Joe took him to his 6 month appointment, I had to train at my new job for the Urban Central Region as an Ultrasound Tech. However, it sounds like both kiddos did really well at the appointment! Talk about a brave daddy taking on both kids, dr's appointment, and vaccination shots!! He is right on where he needs to be for his growth curve. He is bigger then Addie was at when she was 6 months old! Also, he has always been on the higher end of the curve for his head size. But since he is happy and not fussy, they are not worried about him. I took a quick look through his soft spot with ultrasound and didn't see any abnormal amounts of fluid, so that's a huge relief. The doctor says she thinks he is going to be a tall and big. She asked Joe if we have any big men in our family, so maybe Joey will follow his Grandpa Hebdon and Uncle Kevin and be over 6 ft. who knows?! But it is a huge relief to not have to worry about that.

His stats:
Weight 20 lbs 10.5 oz 90th percentile
Height: 28 3/4 in 95th percentile

Milestones:

• He can hold his bottle by himself, at times. He is still drinking 8 oz, 4 times a day. We are working on his solids. Some days he loves them, other days he has absolutely no interest. That's ok though. He seems to be sleeping through the nights for the most part, which is HUGE! We are loving the continuous sleep. And he seems to do better as well.

• He likes to stand up with help. He has really strong muscles! Seriously, there is a thin layer of chub but mostly all muscle. 
• This isn't a milestone, but his hair has really started to come in, especially on the top. And it always stick up in the middle like a mohawk. It's cute, totally fits his cute personality. He has the biggest smile that light up his eyes. Both he and Addie have smiles that get a lot of attention and smiles from strangers.

• He can sit up for quite a few minutes by himself. He needs some assistance at times, but he does really well. 
• He loves playing with toys, especially stuffed animals. He gets them soaking wet, yuck! But he loves them to death. He can hold a rattle and exchange them from hand to hand. 
• Besides his high pitch squeels and skreeches he has started to add "Da da da". He can also pop his lips to make noise, click his tongue, and now he has started to scrunch up his nose and breath in and out noisily. Makes Joe and I laugh, which then makes him smile and to do it again. He is really starting to develop a cute personality.
• He also loves being hugged and kissed, and many times he leans in for more kisses. He is such a loving baby.

This is a picture of Joey after we went to church. He looks so cute in his button up shirts and khakis, just like a little gentleman. I have looked many places for these shirts that are also onsies....LOVE them! They stay tucked in, are so soft, and look so adorable. 

And here is a picture of him wearing an outfit we picked out for him before he was born. It's our favorite!

Some fun high lights of our kiddos

Joey had his first solids 3 days ago and loves eating! He seems to enjoy the rice cereal mixed with peach mango applesauce. Usually I would not have done so many flavors at once in case because of allergies, but I forgot that it can be an issue. Though it wasn't that long ago since Addie was there, I forget about little details like that. But he has been doing great. He can sit up for a few seconds without any help, but does pretty good if he has something to lean against.  Our little guy is growing up. He is so sweet, full of smiles and squeals. He seems more interested in toys now. He really likes to stand up with assistance. And he almost can roll from his back to his tummy. He gets so close but that's usually because he is reaching for something and when he finally gets it, he goes back to his back.

Addie has been really growing in her words. She asks "what's that?" And points to whatever she has interests in. And now she has learned how to say thank you. Her voice always makes me smile.

Addie is such a big helper. She is learning to throw her and Joey's diapers away. In Lehi she kept playing with the garbage and and throwing toys and remotes in the garbage so we put it out of reach. Now, she has the same problem.  So far we have found binkies, bowls, keys, dishwasher knob that turns it on, and more keys. I'm excited for the day when she looses this obsession.

Oh, and we found out a couple of days ago that Addie didn't lock us out of the house. She can do the door knob, but the sliding door locks itself if we close it.....too hard? All the way? Lol we don't know how but it locked on Joey and Addie was down in her room....fun quirks you learn the hard way when you move to a new place.

We finally bought a grill! Well, we actually bought it for our new home back on Memorial Day sale. We decided to keep it because we have been wanting one ever since we got married. Here is a picture of Joe's first meal. He loved it! And boy was it yummy!!

Joey eating his first solid meal of rice cereal and apple sauce. What a good boy!

Adaline is 19 months and Joey is 5 months. ...it's getting hard to keep track

We were able to do so many fun things this month! We have been to enjoy the Fourth of July in Arimo with family. We went to a parade and got some candy. But both kids and parents were pretty exhausted so we had a relaxing rest of the day. We've been swimming at Lava Hot Springs with Kevin's family. We went crawdad trapping up the Portneuf by Pebble. Joe and Addie went with Kevin and the boys wading in the river. Joe jumped off some 6 foot falls and had fun swimming.  Addie couldn't get enough running out in the dusty road. And joey took a nap alongside the river in my mom's arms. Everyone had a lot of fun. And we got to enjoy some tasty crawdad broil, meaning obviously crawdads, ears of corn, potatoes, onions, and sausage  boiled together in a pot of creole seasoning.

Addie was in heaven! She loves loves loves seafood and couldn't get enough of the crawdads. We even caught her having their legs in her mouth chewing away, gross! Lol she is a seafood fan just like her daddy. Joe loved it too, and was so proud addie did so well so young. It took me awhile before I could handle them. I Love lobster and have no issues with eating them. But these little guys were so cute and I saw them a lot before we ate them. It was a little disturbing eating them. But I pushed past it for Addie's sake because Joe couldn't keep up with her demands of more crawdad.  We even had sausage,  potatoes,  and crawdad in front of her and when she could she would eat the crawdad.

Addie, trying to grab some crawdads. She has no fear!

Our yummy dinner

Addie loved living with family. She played a lot with Caleb, but it seemed like she had an attachment with Adam. She leaned in an kissed him on the cheek! She hardly EVER gives me and Joe kisses, let a lone kisses when we didn't beg for them. Adam had that special bond with her.

And Benjamin was so good with Joey. He was always fussing over him, holding him, and wanting to feed him. Joey was loving it. I wish I had a picture of him with Ben.

We also enjoyed running through the sprinklers on a hot July day. Addie really enjoyed grandma Hebdon's swing in their backyard. She would spend hours out there if I would let her. She also enjoys running on the driveway. But tends to not enjoy the grass as mu h. I think because it's lumpy and she trips. That's how she was at the parks too. Hope soon she will enjoy it.

Our last day in ID we went swimming at Twin Lakes up past Downey. We went with Kevin's family again. As you can tell, we love water! It was fun until we had to come home and get this gs ready to pack. We headed to UT July 16, I had a job interview for a PRN US position at TOSH hospital in Murray.  I currently work PRN US at AF Hosp, but am trying to find something  lose to Kaysville.  Joe was able to find us on really nice townhouse in Kaysville that's 3 bedroom and 1.5 bath. On good days he gets to work and home in 25 mins. It's awesome!

Again, Stephanie and Kevin's families helped us move our stuff out of storage to our new place. Aw! It's so nice to have a place again! It was nice to be at my parents and they let us use the basement, so nice!  But there is just something about having your own space where you can be messy, or organized, or be lazy. Lol we missed our bed the most!

Russell Hebdon family reunion at Downata Hot Springs ID

We haven't been able to make it to a Hebdon reunion for 3 years or more so we tried to make sure to make it to this years. We wanted everyone to meet our sweet babies and also get a picture with Joey and his great grandma Hebdon. Her health has been  little less stable so we were so happy to see her looking so well. She was fun to see and talk with. She was swarmed by new born babies. The heritage just keeps growing and growing. It's amazing!  I asked her how many great grandkids she had, and she guessed around 97! And she has great great grandkids too.

It was fun to see cousins and aunts as well. I didn't know half of my cousins kids. Life gets so busy, we need to do better at attending events. Family is important!  Agan, we enjoyed swimming and Joe and i even got to go down some slides. The first since Addie was born. We love slides so we are grateful kevin watched Addie for a few minutes while we went twice. Mom watched Joey the whole time we were swimming,  so sweet. He was tired and so she offered to hold him while he napped. And she chatted with grandma and some others around the tables.

What a fun day! Here's a picture of Joey meeting his Great Grandma Hebdon for the first time.

a little scare...

I'm sure there are just certain "events" that are bound to occur in parenthood,  but it doesn't make it any less frustrating or scary when they occur. And it doesn't help that my mind automatically assumes the worst will happen. We call it the "Johnson" curse. People don't believe us, until they hang out with us and see it happen.

We moved to Kaysville,  UT this weekend with the huge help of Kevin and Stephanie's families. So grateful to them And their kiddos for their patience and muscles. So we are still unpacking, Joe had to work Sunday day and I worked Sunday night. So Monday was pretty much shot for getting anything done,  and Tuesday Joe had an appointment at the 3 in AF, so again with naps and keeping quiet, not much has happened.  However we did make sure to get spare keys copied of the house because Addie has already reached that delightful age of locking us out of the house. Thank goodness the other one of us has always been inside to help the other out. So we moved in on sat and copied keys on Monday.  So today at 5 pm, I'm about to make dinner and I notice our grill cover has blown off our grill. So I go through the sliding back door, and make Addie stay in to prevent her from falling down some serious stairs. I get the cover on in 2 min,s go to get back in and viola, my 19 month old has figured out how to lock the sliding doors... that's ok because we have prepared for this very thing. I get the spare keys, go around the fron,t in the rain mind you. Get the door handle unlocked, try for the dead bolt and the key won't go in past 2/3 of the way....I fiddle with it, no luck! Seriously? Long story short, I left Joey on his tummy in the front room and I'm automatically thinking what if he gets tired and can't keep his head up? What if Addie stumbles on him? Or knocks something on top of him? What if she tries to console him while he's crying and hurts him? I call Joe and ask what I should do? Call the locksmith?  He leaves work early, but of course it's rush hour....what would take only twenty mins will take double if not more. Meanwhile I can hear both babies screaming,  but at least I can hear them, right? Joe calls the locksmith,  who will be twenty mins. I go the the back again, seeing if I can somehow wiggle the lock loose, desperation doesn't always equal logic. But I can at least talk with Addie. She plays around with the handle, but never gets close to the lock, which I am just praying she opens the door.
The locksmith finally arrives, keep in mind I had been crying my eyes out minutes earlier.  He comes out of his car, no shoes, with a 3 yr old girl tailing behind him. Now I can laugh! I'm not sure if he was trying to hurry for my sake or why he was barefoot. Lol, doesn't matter. He fiddles with the lock for what seems like twenty mins. Nothing works. Even drilling through the lock, it breaks his bit. He is frustrated,  and his little girl is drinking from the puddle, running around barefoot too, trying to crawl in his trunk, I'm laughing glad there are other crazy girls like my Addie who no matter how you try to teach and stop from doing things,  does them any way.  I thought girls were suppose to be easier then boys at this stage?
We get in, Addie is fine and happy, but Joey is on his tummy lying very still. I rush to pick him m up and he slowly stirs. He never falls asleep like that! But I am b so grateful my babies are ok. I've  held him until Joe came home 5 mins later. I kept holding him until he fussed. What a relief!
So excited I'm not sure how we will all survive them growing up. It's a miracle Rea that children survive growing up, and that their parents stay sane. Every day I wake up and think how glad I am that all 4 of us are hear, happy,  healthy,  and safe.

Joey rolled for his first time today....

I wanted to write about Joey rolling! He was laying on his tummy, sitting up pretty high and all of a sudden he rolled on his left side to his back. So I put him back on his tummy, thinking I must have placed him uneven. I square his shoulders up and not a minute later he rolled to his left again onto his back! Yah Joey! For a guy that does not spend a lot of time on his tummy, you shocked me! Anyways he did it one more time on his left and then once on his right. He was pretty proud of himself.  Grandpa Hebdon was there too. And big sister Addie patted you on the chest and cheered you on. Grandma Hebdon said you tried to roll over 2 days ago but her arm was in you way of completing the roll. So pretty exciting day!

Addie is 18 months and Joey is 4 months....wow! Where does the time go?

Our babies are growing up so fast. It's so fun to see their progress but it also makes me sad too. Adaline is getting pretty emotional....in a not so fun way at times. She can be laughing and giggling but as soon as she wants to throw a tantrum, screams and tears erupt in seconds. It seems like she has been having these bursts since she turned 16 months old and they just keep getting worse. They very well might be the beginnings of the terrible twos....heaven help us! But she behaves well with others, especially strangers at church or relatives. I am glad for that. Don't get me wrong, we love our emotional time bomb, and will always look back at this time with jokes and reminiscing. We adore our baby girl and think she is pretty special.

Weight: 25 lbs 2 oz
Height : 33  in.

She is learning more words every day it seems like. And she likes to show off her running, coordination skills. Backwards, sideways, circles, you name it, she can do it. We moved in with my parents the 29th of June and so it's been fun for them to get to know our kiddos better. I think it's been very good for our babies. They love the extra attention.

Joseph is so sweet and happy, what a cutie! Once again I love this stage with both of my babies. They seem so happy and easy going. Just as long as they get fed, changed, naps and stretching time they are happy. He has the biggest smiles that erupt into some pretty high pitched squeals, he has found his voice and likes to exercise it everyday. He is doing better with tummy time it seems. Or maybe now I just have the extra help to get it done. We are so grateful to my parents and Kevin's family for their help. Especially when Joe is gone to Utah for 7 days of work, I get so lonely so it helps. I miss him so much on those days. It's hard not to see him every night,  even if it's just for a couple of hours. And I think the kiddos miss him too.

Both cutie pies are doing so well and we couldn't be happier with them. We think they are the cutest babies ever and we keep saying how did we get blessed with such beautiful happy babies? They get exhausting at times and we are going to wait a few years before considering any more, but we know they love each other so much already and hope they will be best of friends in life. Addie tries to comfort Joey and gives him hugs, Melts our hearts. And Joey only has eyes for her whenever she is near! And he smiles so big for her.

So quick update, long sad frustrating story short, our buying a house turned upside down on us. And we ended up losing our apartment because we had already given our notice. So we were suppose to close multiple times but the last time was set for June 18th at 6 pm. We had been in touch with the loan officer and agent making sure everything was being done and at 4 just before we were going to drop the kids off at my visiting teachers so we could drive to the bank we get the dreaded phone call. So at least the bank fessed up that it was their fault and covered all fees except for our inspection. But we had to move and try to find another place before the 29th. What an emotional nightmare that I wish no one has to go through. Wow! But we have a place to stay and we are going to try to find a place closer to Joe's work. When we initially moved to UT, Joe was suppose to work nights so we weren't worried about the commute. But his boss messed up and he has always worked days, which is good, but makes  long commute with rush hour traffic. Scares me he is going to get in an accident.

So we were able to get huge help from Stephanie's and Kevin's family. We are so lucky to have so many strong willing help. We don't know what we would do without them. We hate always having to rely on them so much. Believe me, we HATE moving beyond anything else and have tried to make this our last move into our house....only to have to put it into storage to move within the month, hopefully....

I can't help but post some sleeping shots of Joey in my arms. I love these moments.

Again, of him being so good while we were in and out of cars....

Grandma Hebdon with our kiddos. They love living with Grandma and Grandpa. There are so many to love and give so much attention. And Kevin's family comes over all of the time and Addie loves that too.

Our little guy doing better and better practicing tummy time. He is getting so strong.

Addie getting ready to go to church. It is so hard to get her to hold still long enough for a photo. But I had to show my attempts of putting her hair in piggy tails. The back of her hair is long enough, but she doesn't like it. But, how cute! I hope she will learn to like getting her hair done and wearing bows and clips. 

I was packing and could hear some giggling. I looked over to see the curtain covering our food storage moving....I found our baby squirrel hiding her nuts! She loves finding hiding places.