Choo Choo

Meema got Evan some trains and tracks for his train table and Evan loves them!! I had a hard time pulling him away from them yesterday for his nap, and it's the first thing he wanted to do this morning when he woke up. I took some pictures of it, although they didn't turn out that great because that room is so dark. But you can see the sparkle in his eye just as well. He LOVES his choo choo. His train table was a gift from a stranger. Any mom of a toddler boy knows that train tables can cost hundreds of dollars. Luckily I have an amazing and generous neighbor, who a few months ago decided Evan "needed" a train table, so she handed her son's table down to Evan. Apparently her son had outgrown it, and I was ever so thankful!

Let the Festivities Begin

Evan is going to have about two weeks worth of festivities for his birthday. This past weekend Meema and Grandma and Grandpa Starstrom were in town, so there were many presents to open!!! This is the first time Evan even really knew what to do with a present. He would take a small piece of paper off and say "cool", then hand the paper to me while saying "thank you". He is used to me saying thank you when he hands me something, so now when he hands anyone anything he says "thank you"!!! It was adorable. He loved his birthday teddy bear Grandma gave him, it sang a song and danced, and he danced right along with it.

School Days

Friday was "bring someone special to school" day. We had a picnic outside near the playground. Daddy was able to sneak away from work long enough to come and eat lunch with us and get some play time in at the playground, as Evan's someone scpecial. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Evan and Daddy together. Evan was so excited to have us there at school, he was running around like a wild-boy! He was most excited that Daddy came to school, and it was as if he was beaming with pride and showing him off to his teacher and friends. He kept pointing to him and saying "Daddy!" Then during our picnic as Paul was lounging on the picnic blanket, Evan literally stood on top of him and put his arms in the air and screamed "Daddy!!!!" Also pictured is Evan's best bud James, and another one of Evan's classmates whom I don't know the name of yet. But all in all, it was a super fun day.

Too Cool for School

Here is Evan getting ready to go to school today. Unlike last week, he was actually looking forward to it. I was trying to take his picture and he was trying to get out the door and into the car! He still cried for about 30 seconds when I dropped him off and clinged to me as I tried to ease out of the door. But I didn't cry! And I looked in the window 30 seconds later and he was playing with his buddy James without a second thought about missing me!!! This is big progress for my little Mama's boy!!!

Showering A Friend

Monday I cohosted a baby shower for my friend Dana who is expecting baby Drake in about 6 weeks!! I got to see some of my close friends who I don't get to see that often, so it was really nice. I just love baby showers.

Evan's First Day of School

Evan started his Parent's Morning Out Program today. He is in class with seven one (soon to be two) year olds, and two teachers. It's Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:15 to 12:15. Let me preface this by saying I have never let anyone watch him except for his grandparents and close friends. So anyway, I dropped him off and he ran towards the toy section and grabbed some trucks. I talked to the teacher for a few minutes and then went over to kiss him goodbye. I think that's when he realized I was actually leaving him. His bottom lip started to sag and he seemed like he was going to cry. We hugged as tightly as I ever think we have before, then I started to cry. I didn't want him to see me like that, so I basically pushed him away and ran out of the room without a second glance. I proceeded to cry on and off for the next hour or so as I wandered aimlessly through store after store. I kept thinking I was missing something, and I was.... Evan!!! But when I picked him up at lunch time, he didn't even come running towards me. He continued to play with the bubble machine. He looked over at me, said "bubbles", and then just kept playing. I had to go pick him up and drag him away from the place!!! So apparently the whole day was much harder on me, than on him. Thank goodness for that.

Moulton Barn

Random Old Barn

The famous Moulton Barn

This is probably not interesting to anyone that hasn't been to Grand Teton. But there is a famous barn that is widely photographed for postcards and pictures and the like in Grand Teton National Park. We thought we found it on Saturday and took lots of pictures of it. There were so many people there, we thought for sure it was the right place. Then later that day we were looking in a book about the park and realized we took pictures of the wrong barn. So we started searching online and apparently lots of people made this same mistake and were posting the pictures of the wrong barn. So we went out on Sunday and found the correct barn, which was right down the street. Turns out there was no one there, but there were still lots of tourists at the other place!! I know, boring. But both barns were really cool and very picturesque so I had to share my pictures!!!

Family Portrait at Jenny Lake

Wish I would have known I was going to be in front of the camera, would have looked somewhat presentable. Oh well.

More Evan Pictures

Courtesy of Uncle Kevin, here are a few more pictures of Evan hanging outside our cabin in Moran, Wyoming the other day.

Pictures at Sunrise

Saturday morning, we got out of our warm beds in our warm cabin to take pictures of the Grand Teton Mountains at sunset. But because we took them with my OCD brother we had to arrive very early (never thought I would say that, he is ALWAYS late, except when it surrounds something like this). Sunrise is at 6:30, but we had to get up at 4:45 to prepare. It was 40 degrees outside at that point!!! But it was well worth it. All of the pictures may look the same, but the sunrise created a beautiful pink colored sky that is a tad different in each picture. Can you guess which one my brother took? He is one of the best non-professional landscape photographers I know (well, the only one really, but still). He gave me lots of pointers, so tell me if you can guess which one is his!!!

Random Shots of the Little Guy

Let's get back to the most important kind of pictures for a minute, shots of Evan!!!