Christmas Tree!

We cut down our Christmas tree in the Kaibab forest with Jeremy's family the weekend after Thanksgiving. This has been our annual tradition for five years now! Josiah's favorite part of the trip was roaming free and playing with dirt and rocks.

 

He also enjoyed a chance to drive!

Here's our tree--the bushiest one yet! Jeremy spotted it on the way in.

Josiah wouldn't sit still with Mama for a picture. He was too interested in Daddy's saw and tools--and the camera. (Here he's wearing one of Daddy's gloves.)

27 weeks pregnant with twins!

And here's our little bud on top of the tree. He kept saying, "Uh oh! Uh oh!" after Jeremy cut it down. He didn't really understand the whole process.

But he did like wielding the little saw himself! We let him hold it for a brief second.

 

Backyard and Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hermosa Beach with Aunt Em and Uncle James

We trekked to California at the end of October to visit some relatives, including Josiah's Auntie Em and Uncle James. After an initial meltdown upon arrving at their house, Josiah pulled himself together and took full advantage of their willingness to accommodate his wishes--from eating treats to playing with their iPhones to pestering their cat, Hobbes. Josiah still associates Uncle James with singing and dancing (he bobs his head and does some dance moves when we mention Uncle James), since James played guitar for Josiah upon demand (and let Josiah strum the strings). Poor Hobbes probably wished he hadn't been declawed with Josiah around to terrorize him for a couple days. Josiah was fascinated with the kitty, since he had never been around one up close. (His experience with kitties up till then was Daddy chasing them out of our bushes and away from our fish pond.) He followed Hobbes around, meowing, and bent down to say "hi" over and over. Hobbes did bat and hiss at him, but this didn't always deter Josiah. When he wasn't bothering Hobbes or expertly playing on an iPhone, he loved hanging out with James and Emily's dog, Vern, and the neighbor dog, Jacks. He even snuck a few laps from the dogs' water bowl.



Em and James took us to their favorite beach spot on a beautiful Saturday. The beach was clean and fairly quiet, and we had a great day! Josiah loved the sand.

 

 

Though Little Bud wasn't so sure about the Pacific waves, he ventured into the water with someone to hold his hand--and he was intent on getting water in his bucket to pour into his hole.

 

Whoops! A little saltwater up the nose . . .

But the mission of bucket-filling quickly returned him to happiness!

 

Uncle James walked him down to see some seagulls.

Josiah liked sqawking at them and scaring them away.

Thanks, Em and James, for a wonderful time! We miss you!

 

Two Months Late

"Pa" and Grandma came to visit in early August, and here are some pictures from their time here. Josiah loved mooching off Pa's food (as you can see)--and, really, doing anything with Pa (washing dishes, fixing stuff outside, reading books, watching clock videos on YouTube, etc.). We also took a morning visit to the zoo, where there's a great splash pad that Josiah really enjoys. This time he even braved the caves and slides. He liked visiting the squirrel monkeys in the monkey house across from the splash pad, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Little Angel

He doesn't look like he could be naughty, does he? 

Camping in Flagstaff

Whew--it's been a while since I posted here! I've probably lost all readership I might have once had by now. :) Sorry to those of you who have hankered after pictures of our little guy and been disappointed! Here are a few from the end of July, when we went on a camping trip with Jeremy's family. This was Josiah's first camping trip, and he loved it! He played in the woods with Grandma, rode around on Grandpa and Uncle Justin's shoulders, went on hikes in a backpack on Daddy's back, played in the rain, learned how to honk the car horn with Aunt Anna, got to wear pants and a jacket in cooler weather, terrorized Mama and Daddy at night in the tent--all in all, it was a hit.