Visiting Macie and Ellie

We were luck enough to be able to go for a couple of visits to the cemetery before the weather got too cold. It so fun to see Nate start to understand why we go there. We talk about Macie and Ellie all the time so he definitely recognizes their names. When we pull up and let him out, all I have to say is "Go find Macie and Ellie" and he'll run right to their spot and starts helping me clear off the overgrown grass. He even gave the little pictures a kiss. It is so cute and makes me so happy to see that Nate's "older" sisters can still be a part of his life.

We got to go with Grandma and Grandpa last time and play on the little playground there.

Hi! I'm Nate Bug. Howdy! Howdy! Howdy!

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Nate was a cowboy. Here he is on Halloween day.

And this is what he looked like pretty much every day in October...

I think it's safe to say we have a little boy who loves being a cowboy!

Vegas Baby!!

 We had the BEST vacation with some of our best friends last week! The Barnums lived down the street from us when we lived in Twin Falls and we quickly became great buddies. Troy is a helicopter pilot and was transfered down to Las Vegas for work a few months back. So when Todd had the opportunity to go to a work training down there, we jumped at the chance to be able to go and visit. They have a little boy just a few months older than Nate named Ty and after this trip, they are best buds too :)

The first day, Tina and I took the boys to the airport where Troy works. We watched helicopters land and take off for quite a while and would have stayed longer if it wasn't so hot outside.

Boy heaven!

We then spent the rest of the morning at the splash pad near by. We went back a couple of days later since the boys had so much fun there. 

                                          

                                          

                                          

They also had a pool in their housing complex. Nate is 100% water baby. He LOVES the water!

                                          

On Wednesday, we took the boys into Vegas. We decided to go to the Mirage hotel where they have a dolphin show and tigers. 

While we were there, they did a little training session with the dolphins. I thought it was awesome but Nate was a little freaked out... 

                                          

The tigers were a little disappointing. It was pretty hot out by then and they were all just sleeping.

Me and my Nate Bug outside the Mirage

It was getting close to lunch and Nate was getting hungry so Tina gave him a cookie. This kid had chocolate EVERYWHERE! People were staring at him because he was such a mess. It took several wipes to get him looking half way normal again.

Nate and Ty at lunch. A lady walked past while we were eating and asked if they were twins :)

Next, we stopped to see the pirate ships. Ty kept saying "Argh!" and Nate thought it was hilarious :) He's been saying his own version of "Argh!" ever since.

Happy boy

Later that night, we went back to the strip with Troy and Todd. First, we walked down Fremont Street to see the light show. It was a little wild there and Nate wasn't a fan of the noise but the light show was cool.

                                         

Not a fan of all the loud noises.

Next, we headed over to the Bellagio to check out the fountains. This was my favorite! It was so pretty!

                                          

Todd and Troy both had Friday off so we took a trip to Lake Mead and the Hoover Dam. We hiked along this cool trail that ran next to the lake. It had a bunch of cool tunnels that the boys thought were pretty awesome.

There were 5 tunnels total and every time we went through 1 Nate would start signing "More!" He loved it.

We didn't spend too much time at the dam. By the time we got there, we were all pretty hot and tired but I did get some sweet pictures.

After the boys had a nice long nap, we took them to Chuck E Cheese. We had such a fun time! Nate was a little overwhelmed by all the noise at first but he soon realized that it was a super fun place.

Here is Nate and Ty on the little horses. They rode it 2 or 3 times.

                                          

They had a little photo booth machine that sketched the picture. We had a little too much fun with it!

This was taken about half a second after they finished giving each other a hug. 

We came home and had a great time hanging out together on our last night. These pictures are courtesy of Ty.

He is such a sweet little boy!

This kid is one smart cookie! He sure knows his helicopters!

                                          

Ty and Nate became quite good buddies by the end of the week. Nate usually gets really nervous around other kids and doesn't like them to touch him. Every time I watch this video, I tear up. This is such great progress for Nate!

                                          

On the way home on Saturday, we decided to stop in Salt Lake and let Nate get some energy out before we finished our long drive. He played on these stairs at Temple Square for a very long time :)

A great end to a great week!

Basketball

Wanna guess who picked our family night activity this week? 

That's right, it was Nate. We finally took the hint after hours of carrying his basketball around the house trying to make baskets out of just about everything.

He worked on his skills for quite a while before it started to rain and we told him it was time to go. 

Cookie Monster

We have a cookie monster in our family! 

He ate a ridiculous amount of dough while I was putting it on the pan. 

He cried when I told him we had to put them in the oven to cook. 

And he sat like this for the 15 minutes it took to cook them.

Then he cried again when I told him he could only eat 1 once they were done.

I'm just glad he finally loves to eat :)

City Creek Hike

I can't believe that I've lived in Pocatello off and on for the past 15 years and have NEVER been up on the city creek trails before! I've been missing out on a super fun and close place to take Nate to run around and enjoy nature. We decided to go one evening last week and we all had a great time.

For some reason Nate thought it was really fun to walk backwards...crazy kid :)

He even got Todd try try it out.

My favorite picture. Nate loves his dad so much!