Daddy's First...

Today Tori gave her Daddy his very first Father's Day tie!!!  While I am sure it won't be the last, she definitely started him off with a bang!  Check out the fabulous placement of each sticker - obviously Tori took a lot of time and thought for each one! There really is no better way to say "Happy Father's Day!"

Happy Father's Day!

Since today (the real Father's Day) was quite booked for us, we celebrated Father's Day with Jared and our Dads yesterday.  Tori and I started our preparations earlier this week by wrapping Jared's present.  Tori did an excellent job picking out the wrapping paper with "doggies" on it (aka - reindeer)!  I then let her pick out some bows - she picked all three offered and they looked great!  Too bad she had so much fun playing with them and rearranging them that they quickly lost their stickiness - I don't think Jared even got to see them on his present.  Tori also decided to start unwrapping the present right after the initial wrapping - needless to say, the present spent the rest of the week up really high!!!

Tori was so happy to be able to help Daddy finish the unwrapping job yesterday!

And then the two of them got to read her present together - she gave her Daddy a book about a perfect Father's Day!!!  (Our little guy also gave his Daddy a book that they will get to read together in October!)

The rest of our festivities included lots of yummy food throughout the day, phone calls and webcam chats with our Dads, and lots of time together as a family!  Last night, Jared let me know that he really did have his perfect Father's Day!!!
Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there - especially ours!  Thank you for all you do for us and how involved you still our in our lives!  We love you both so very much!!!  And a huge Happy Father's Day to Jared - thank you for being such an awesome Daddy!  Some of my most favorite moments come from watching you with Tori!  And I am sure those moments will just get better and better as we add our little baby boy into the mix!  Love you tons and tons!!!

Let's Hear it for the Boys!!!

Or at least our boy!!!  Yep, that's right - we are having a boy!!!  He will be joining our family on or around October 31st and we are super excited!  After our appointment, as we were driving home, Jared said he was so glad that he had Father and Son campouts to look forward to- that made me melt!  As far as our ultrasound - our little guy is growing right on track.  Which is really a huge relief for us - Tori was always measuring a little small.  All of his organs and other parts they can see look fantastic!  For me - my pregnancy is going okay.  I still get sick, but the time in between is getting longer and longer - and it is way better in that regard than pregnancy #1!  We are now 19 weeks along - crazy that we only have a few more months before this little guy will make his grand entrance!!!   

Here he is- our little man at 19 weeks!!!

And his very first picture of his feet - I love it!!!

Pool Time!!!

During our week in Texas, we got to go swimming several times!  Tori hadn't been in a pool since last summer, so she was a little hesitant and cautious at the first of our week.  It was so fun watching her gain more confidence and totally enjoy her time in the water! 

Tori had so much fun playing with Linken in the pool!  While Tori held back a little, Linken was completely the opposite - that kid has no fear!!! 

Tori loved having Daddy right there!

Plenty of splash-time was put in!

This is one of my favorite pictures from our trip - so much fun!!!

Tori made sure to share her joy in the pool with me, too!

I don't think Daddy was ready for this splash!

These two have great balance!

You can always share kisses - no matter where you are!!!

For our last swimming venture, we were able to go to the neighborhood pool with a shallow section just for little kids.  It was perfect for Tori- she was able to be so adventurous!

Check it out - walking in the 2 feet section!!!

Tori loved this "sandy beach" part!

I can't get this picture to flip the other way - but I still love it!!!

That wraps up our time in Texas - we had a blast!  Sadly, the time always slips by so quickly and we have to come back home.  But, we are already looking forward to being with our family again - we love you all so much!!!

Shop Girls!

Since Jared was spending most of his time outside building a wall, Tori and I  were able to be shop girls at Scrappn' Savvy during our visit!  And we both had a fantastic time!!! Scrappn' Savvy just has the fun scrapbook feel to it - you feel instantly at home and welcome!  And I loved watching Tori explore and play in her new setting!

The first thing to catch Tori's eye- the fabulous cubby of punches!

Which provided many hours of exploring and rearranging!

She was so proud of herself - and then started moving them around again!!!

Occasionally, Daddy was available for some reading time in the book corner!

Tori had a ball playing with Prince and Scrappy everyday - or taking over their beds!!! (Note the super cute hair style - Grandma did a wonderful job!)

And here is our wild woman after she pulled out her cute hair bow - still adorable!

Every once in a while, we all needed a break.  Running through the sprinklers with Grandma was the perfect solution!!!

I absolutely love this picture of Tori!  She had her necklace, her toothbrush, Nino (Prince's toy raccoon), and a bottle of stickles - she was in heaven!!!

Thanks Grandma and GGma for a great week at the shop - we will be your girls any day!!!

Workation

This handy title was first dubbed by Douglas.  Basically, it is a vacation where much work is done.  This week Jared and his brothers got the awesome opportunity to help Grandpa Jones build a wall at Scrappn' Savvy.  You may not think this sounds like an  awesome opportunity, and I know all of the workers may not feel that way either, but I still think it was.  They were able to spend tons of time with their grandpa and learn how to build a wall on top of that - sounds awesome to me!!!  Here are some pictures of the process!

Here they are on the first day getting ready to pour concrete!

Way to go Kurtis - those bags were heavy!!!

Check it out - it is starting to look like a wall!

Jared is not a fan of this picture - but I couldn't resist posting it!  Way to go my hard-working Husband!!!

And here is the finished product (at least by the end of our week)- not too shabby!

From my perspective, this was a very productive workation!!!

Our Time in Texas

For the past week and a half we were able to visit our family in Texas!  Of course, there were way too many happenings and pictures for just one blog post - so this is installment #1 of 4.  Our very favorite thing about our visit was all of the time we were able to spend with our family!  And on top of that, Jared and I love watching Tori make so many fun memories with everyone!!! Tori adores all of her uncles - probably because they are willing to do just about anything for her!  I think Uncle Douglas was pretty stoked to finally get a high five!

No trip to visit family would be complete without a cousin bath picture!

Jared was super surprised (and way excited) about his graduation gift - I don't think his new ipad left his side for the rest of the trip!!! (As a side note, I loved that the first apps he downloaded were the scriptures and all of the LDS gospel library!)

Tori was able to have many slumber parties with Grandma and Grandpa Allen!  I am sure she was spoiled - just as she should be by her grandparents!!!  They always got a kick out of her fun and unique sleeping positions :)

And then in the morning, Grandma always did such cute things with Tori's hair!

Followed by plenty of music time!

Tori and Linken's first duet!

Many funny faces were captured - which I am so grateful for! 

During out trip, Tori discovered Woody and Buzz from Toy Story.  They both appear on her tray for her booster seat.   But since she has never seen the movie, we were quite shocked when she started saying both of their names.  Uncle Dillon and Uncle Alec made her trip by letting her play with (and then bring home) Buzz and Woody toys.  This morning she decided that Buzz was a big help in eating her yogurt - his foot made an excellent spoon!!!

GGma and GGpa Jones gave Tori and Linken some fun blocks to play with before our Sunday dinner.  All I can say is they were a big hit!!!

And it made it even better that Grandma was there to play too! 

Our last night in Texas, Tori was able to spend some time with her Grandpa!  Judging from this picture, I would say they both had a fabulous time!!!

May Memories

I feel like I blinked and May is almost over - it's crazy how busy we have been!  But even in the midst of all our craziness, we happened to capture a few fabulous pictures of our Tori Bear!  Hope these make you smile as much as they do me!!!

We have spent many hours outside and it has been really fun watching Tori discover the world around her.  Occasionally she takes time to stop and smell the roses - or in this case our lilac bush!

You never know when a handy seat will pop up right when you need one!

I think this might be my favorite picture of the  month - Tori loves, loves, loves her Daddy and his hat too!!!

One day we were outside coloring with sidewalk chalk and made an interesting discovery - Prince loves to chew on and eat sidewalk chalk.  Tori saved the day by finding the perfect hiding spot - inside the strawberry plant!!!

Tori looks like she is in heaven watching Cinderella - or "Rella" in our house!

I love that Tori's hair is getting long enough to do fun things with it!  But, it sure makes her look all grown up!

Just in case you have ever wondered, trying on clothes can be exhausting!

Yep, trying on all those clothes completely tuckered our little Tori out!!!

Today we were able to help out at our Ward's annual (or semi-annual - it's seems to come around quickly) outside cleaning of our building.  Tori had a great time running around outside all morning and especially loved 'helping' her Daddy with all the heavy wheelbarrow work!

Here's to another great and super fast month - we hope you have many May memories as well!!!