A funeral becomes a family reunion

That was definitely the positive point of an otherwise sad occasion to gather. It sure was great to see family we hadn't seen in awhile...or ever. Besides the wonderful celebration of grandpa's life, reuniting with distant family and friends was likely the best part about his passing.



Here's a few goofy cousins and an uncle, most of Ammon's family all together, grandma with Connor and Ammon, Alex and Tamara, and Conrad with Sarah.

Ammon's grandpa was a good man

and we will greatly miss him.

Puss in Boots

Connor likes to dress up as Puss in Boots (from Shrek). He found this islander hat around our house, his sword from his knight outfit, his galoshes and a tape measure for a tail. If you've seen Shrek, you know that the cat takes off his hat and makes an irresistibly innocent face that disarms his enemies. Well, Connor has adopted the same technique. He can really pull it off! I think he's even gotten off the hook a few times with that one! Too adorable.

Playing at the mall

This kid sure likes to climb and play. This is just the place for him. -- He really likes those gloves. They're his 'swiper' gloves from Swiper the Fox on Dora. -- Just lookin' around. -- Peek-a-boo. -- Future doctor? -- Just kicking' back relaxing' after a full morning of fun.

The many faces of Connor

Sweet and innocent, mischievous, happy go lucky cute, fierce, and a bit silly. What mom couldn't love all of these faces?!

Crayons up his nose and in his ears

Oh good, thankfully they come out easily!

Postscript- A crayon strikes back: I should note here that a few days after I posted this, Connor put a small crayon piece up his nose and, you guessed it, it got stuck. His nose started bleeding a lot and he was crying. I tried to get it out with tweezers. My first attempt didn't work, partly because he would freak out every time he saw the tweezers come near him. I was thinking, "oh great, now I have to go to the ER to get this thing out of his nose!" That's when we said a little prayer for help and I asked Connor to relax and close his eyes. Thankfully he calmed down. I tried a different pair of tweezers and was successful. The bloody little crayon piece was removed. I don't think he'll be trying that again!

Sometimes I like to dress up and pretend I'm something else

...like a cute, harmless non-fire-breathing dragon. Awww and look, he's wearing cute bunny ears... and he has some easter eggs. He loves this costume. He was the dragon for our Halloween costume trio of a princess, a dragon and a knight in shining armor. Regularly he asks to put on the suit and plays around in it. Lately he's asked daddy to fly him around while he holds his wings and flaps them. I'll have to catch that on video next time.

Little drummer boy

We would not be surprised if someday our little boy was in a rock band. These are uncle Eric's drums that he got to play when we visited Maryland. Aunt Amy also has some that he played in Utah last week. He has natural rhythm that makes him sound like he's learned a song and knows what he's doing. We like to tease Eric and Amy that a 3-year-old is as good as they are... and he's just playing around! Doesn't he totally look like he's got it goin' on and he knows it?!

We like to make faces

Connor and I enjoy spinning around and pulling funny faces that make us laugh. Ammon and I often tell each other what a sweet kid we have. We so enjoy having him in our family.

Connor likes to take pictures

Connor has really taken to picture-taking. Ever since we got our digital camera, he has tried his hand at taking pictures. He could fill up a whole card on his own!! I deleted the many pictures with his fingers in the way, that were of the floor or his toes, random chairs/pillows/toys, and many choice pictures of what must have been his favorite subject for a time, my rear-end! I couldn't delete those fast enough so needless to say, none of those will be posted here! These are the better ones of the bunch he's taken. I especially like the one he took of his own shadow!

Silly Connor

Connor was so funny this morning when I said it was time to get dressed. He went and put his clothes over his jammies. He thought he was so clever! Check him out in this video clip.

Dying and Finding Easter Eggs

So this was the first year we figured Connor could handle dying his own Easter eggs. We had our worries how it would all turn out as he is quite creative and artistic. To be safe, we spread out lots of newspaper and I wore an apron (must've forgotten to put one on him). But he actually did just fine. Oh, he was a happy kid. He loved seeing those eggs change color from white to every shade imaginable.


















He then enjoyed finding those eggs hidden all around our yard. Yikes, daddy...er the Easter Bunny... even hid one in the cactus!