What a difference a year makes!

    Jude is by far one of the best things to ever happen to me.  A year ago I became a mother and my life was changed forever.  I never thought I could be so happy, scared, vulnerable and so many other extreme emotions all at once until he was born.  I am so thankful that Paul and I have been entrusted with him as ours.  Jude came into this world in a little 6lbs 7oz body but in just one year has become a 19lbs 8oz amazing one year old.

  For his birthday Jude and I had a day of fun.  We watched his favorite movie and played all morning.  When he got up from his nap we went to McDonald's for his very first Happy Meal which he of course loved cause it is food and a toy.  Two of his favorite things.  After he ate he played in the toddler area for  about an hour and made a few friends.

  Once Paul got home we gave him his birthday gift.  He got a car play rug with some matchbox cars.  Paul and Jude played before we headed out to dinner where Jude got unlimited rootbeer floats and fries.  Again he loves food.
 
 We ended the night with a little Tatum birthday gathering thanks to Paul's sister Megan.  Jude got spoiled on his big day and slept well after eating so much!

  A couple nights later we had a few of ours/his friends over for cake and ice-cream.  He looks super serious in these pictures but had a great time.


Jude's favorites at ONE...
Movie: Pitched Perfect
Song: All About That Bass
Food:  Fries, green beans and ice-cream
Friend: Stella (our dog)
Toy: Stella's crate
Book: M is for Monkey

All good things must come to an end!

We had an awesome summer and here is a quick recap of the rest of it since I last posted.
  For fourth of July we went to SLC to visit with my sister and her family as well as going to see The Antlers.  It was an awesome concert and nice to have a fun date night.  It was great to spend time with my sister's family and they were amazing and babysat Jude a couple of times so Paul and I could just go out as well as taking us to Seven Peaks and Trafalga.  It was a great trip and I am already wanting to go back up.

 

   We were home two weeks then off to Hurricane for a few days to visit Paul's Mom for Pioneer Day.  They had a cute little parade and gathering in the park.  I seriously love Hurricane and have such a good time every time we go up there.


 After spending a couple of days there we headed down to St. George to meet up with a few friends for a couple of nights.  There were four couples and four kids.  It was a bit chaotic but fun.  The first night we saw tons of fireworks while night swimming as the kids all slept.  It was pretty epic.  The boys went golfing and the girls shopping so it worked out great.
 

  We went home long enough to do some laundry and eat before getting back on the road again.  Paul started teaching High School AP English this year so he had to take a training course in Irvine California.  We decided to make a family trip out of it and I am so glad we did.  We went to the beach a couple of times, ate great food including a few food trucks and we even got to spend some time with Paul's Dad.  It was a great week and we had a blast.


 It was a bit hard to get back into the swing of things after such a fun summer all together but at the same time I feel like are lives were a bit hectic and it is nice to have a consistent schedule.