Time Flies!

Did I really only post once in August?

To all my loyal readers (haha right :D) I'm so sorry.

Well nothing makes a home feel like fall is just around the corner like pumpkin pie and apple crisp candles around the house. I love fall. Definately my favorite season. Even tho Utah is dry and dead....it is beautiful in the fall. My anniversary is in October (has it been TWO years already!) and the weather goes from groggily HOT to crisp and fresh...except it does seem like we had an unusually short summer this year..Global Warming? Not in Utah...

But really...can it be September already? Is TJ's birthday really in....11 DAYS!?!?

This is just absolute madness! I can't believe my teeny tiny little baby boy is really almost a year old! And MASSIVE. This just totally blows my mind. How can it be? I feel like time needs to STOP.....just so I can catch my breath. But it just keeps going and going and its just so insane. It is scary how the weeks and months go by. I'm sure working full-time doesn't help the situtaion. I so look forward to the weekend and then it comes and goes and I'm counting down the days until its return. And before I know it I've wished a whole month away.

We have had a fun few weeks. I am waiting for my camera battery to charge an then the pictures will be up!

*LOVES*

Busy Busy..Playing Mostly

Hey All!

We have had a pretty laid back last couple of weeks. TJ is growing more and more everyday. Its absolutely shocking how massive he is. He's gunna be a big boy, even if he started out so small. He's not letting it hold him back one bit. He's crawling/scooting/rolling all over the place. Its amazing to see his little mind at work. I'm afraid he may have the attention span of Uncle Boo (JB, Joe Boo as the Ellison clan knows him..so naturally he's Uncle Boo)...and about 90% of his mom's side of the family. Good thing he's got some Daddy mixed in there. But seriously he sees something..does everything in his power to scoot there, grabs it, plays with it for literally 5 seconds squealing all the time, and then sees something else that grabs his attention, and he's off...that is if something else doesn't stop him before he reaches his destination. Its incredible and such a relief to see that he doesn't seem to have any problems from his bumpy start. I guess we'll see once he gets into school.

Last Sunday we got together with Tim's Dad Mike (Grandpa Ranagan) and his wife Sandra. It was fun to see them since we don't get up to Sandy that often. We met in Provo and went to Mt. Timpanogos Park up the canyon. Its a beautiful fairly new park that is so amazing. It makes me love Utah more and more every time we get to be up that beautiful canyon. Well anyways..basically we had a mini baby photoshoot and got some great pictures of the fam!

Eating grass..I always call him a little cow cow

The 3 generations of Ranagan's. Slowly we're keeping the Ranagan name alive!

Yesterday we went with My parents to some family members reception. (My dad's cousin Stacey's 2 daughters Kory and Kasey...so like my 2nd cousins...or whatever..we're related) It was up in Salt Lake at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. So awesome! I love that place. We drove to Sandy and rode the Trax into Salt Lake. Its about 35 min on trax and then you don't have to try to find parking cuz they drop you off right in front. TJ had so much fun with Papa on his first train ride!

Lookin out the window at everything flying by...I hope he wasn't getting sick! LOL

This is his..."Look Mom, I'm busy.." face.

"OOOOO..I found sunphin' on the window...I'm gunna grab it"

Waiting for the train to come.

All in all we had an excellent time. Too bad Daddy couldn't be there. Oh well there's always next time :D

Lazy Summer Days

What a great summer this has been! We have been having an absolute blast. The beginning of the summer was full of vacations and now we have been taking it easy enjoying the wonderful hot weather! Finally! Did it seem like spring lasted an exceptionally long time to anyone else this year? It was crazy. But now its nice and hot. I'm not one to complain about the heat. I could never be too hot as long as I have some shade and a water fountain I'm good to go. I love playing in the heat. Every Wednesday we get together with a group of friends for some volleyball up Provo Canyon. We start as soon as the snow melts and play until the snow falls. Its always a great time and lately we have been getting pretty good. Haha the boys are great of course and us girls sure try hard, but I know its hard for them to watch us struggle. By hard I mean frustrating haha. They try so hard to let us play, but sometimes it just gets old and they jump infront of us cuz they know we'll just mess up. LOL but I know I have gotten better since we first started playing. Its a slow process but bear/bare? with us boys! Anyways its always fun and I seriously look forward to it every week!

So I started a new job. Full Time! Its kind of crazy cuz its graveyards but I have actually quite enjoyed it. I am working at Orem Community Hospital doing housekeeping. Its awesome because there is no one there while I'm there and I just listen to my ipod and clean. I clean the OR, Same Day Surgery, PACU, and ER. Its super easy and really nice. I was worried about the 10-6 shift, but it has worked out perfectly with Tim's work schedule where he gets up with TJ in the morning and TJ is up for a few hours. Then Tim puts TJ down for a nap and makes sure the monitor is on in our room before he leaves for work. TJ being the perfect baby that he is lol sleeps for atleast two hours and then I wake up when he does. We have all day to hang out and then Tim comes home usually by 8 and then I leave around 9:30. It has been wonderful and yes Tim and I do find time to be together. It seems like there would never be any but we make it work. His days off are usually Tuesday and Wednesday and so once I wake up on those days we have all day to hang out until I go back to work. And my days off are Saturday and Sunday so we hang out together those days before he has to go to work. It seeems to be working out really well. Tim is going to try to take all online classes this next semester (and by all I mean two lol) so he can still keep the same schedule but we'll see. Its really nice to have the paid time off and the hospital benefits I get are less then half as much as the ones Tim was getting for the same coverage so thats AWESOME. Plus its so nice not having to deal with people after being a waitress for 4 years lol. People are just crazy sometimes...well like 90% of the time.

Well we have been having a really fun summer and seem to be getting by!

Proud to BE an American!

We had such a fun 4th this year. It was kind of bitter-sweet for me. Ever since before I can remember my family has gone to Missouri for the 4th of July. In all 22 of my years I think maybe 3 haven't been spent there...counting this one. I was lucky enough to go out last year, but had to put it off this time. Its strange how life changes. What once was a common tradition slowly becomes less and less practical. You have to start picking between two good choices. Whats good for your new family, or whats good for your old. Strange...but good at the same time. We build new traditions and still hold on to some of the old. I know that we will spend another 4th with my family (next year?) but it still is a little different to not be there. Just wanted you to know that I missed you guys!!!! LOVE YOU

Um...my kid is getting HUGE!

The biggest premie the world ever saw!!!

SO TJ just had his 9 month well check. Yeah I know technically hes like 9 1/2 but whatever. Um so here are the numbers!

Weight: 20 lbs 8 oz

Yes my 10 week premature baby is 20 POUNDS at 9 months!

Height: 28 inches

I hope he'll be tall like his daddy. I'm not worried.

Yeah he's a monster! I told the nurse "I guess he's just catching right up!" and she replied "oh was he small?"

UM YEAH! He was 10 weeks premature! 3 lbs 13 oz and 16 1/2 inches.

She was completely floored. Said you would never know.

Yeah he eats alot!

Happy Father's Day!

I'm so glad when daddy comes home! Glad as I can be.

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful Hubby! And to my own awesome Daddy, Papa Joe, Dad Larry, Dad Mike..and all the other great dads out there! You guys rock!

Sweet Little Boy

Just some fun pics of TJ that have yet to be posted. He's just growing so fast! And we just found his first tooth!!!! YAY! Big stuff!

Lovin the Tickle Me Cookie Monster from G-Pa Larry!

Milo's little buddy.

First time sitting in a restaurant highchair. A little wobbly but we made it work!

One Year Older and Wiser Too!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

TO ME!!!!!

*I don't mean to toot my own horn but...toot toot*

*Summer Fun*

Wow this summer has been an eventful one! Sorry I can't believe its really been a month since I last updated! That is just wild! We have had so much going on. I have about a thousand pictures to share with everyone and I think I'm just going to do it all in one HUGE post! Well I guess I'll just start from where I left off!

*Missouri Madness*

OK so over the weekend of May 22nd my mom and I (and TJ) drove out to Kearny Missouri. For those of you that have no idea where Kearny is its about 20 min east of Kansas City. We had an awesome time, but there was a ton...I mean a TON of driving involved. Not only did we drive to Missouri, around an 18 hour drive, but the morning after we got there we drove to Nauvoo for my cousin Jeni's fabulous wedding. That is another 8 hours of driving round trip. And then two days later we drove the 18 hours home. It was pretty amazing. I really wished we could have spent more time with Misty and the Fam, but mom had to get back to work. Next time for sure! Some how I managed to not get any pictures except of the drive to Nauvoo and the temple...figures lol.

*MY HAIR*
Yep its gone. I chopped it off about two weeks ago. I LOVE IT! I was so excited because I finally had enough to donate to Locks of Love. It was pretty awesome. I love my hair short. It just works out so much better. I'm pretty low maintenance so having long hair just doesn't really work out for me. And my hair is super thin so its starts to look stringy once it gets too long. Tim was pretty skeptical of me chopping it off. He's a long hair kind of guy, but he loves it! It's always a plus when your hubby thinks you're hot.

*Ali's Graduation*

About a week after getting home from Missouri my mom and I (and TJ) drove up to Logan for my wonderful cousin Alicia's high school graduation. Yay for Ali! She's all grown up and graduated! She's pretty amazing and we had such a great time. The food was great. The graduation was great (too long, but aren't they all!) and we were so happy to see all the cousins and babies there! Fun stuff!

*Lake Powell*

This past week we had the opportunity to get to Lake Powell for a whole week! It was pretty much AMAZING! I had such a great time. Tim's parents are part owners in a house boat down there and they have a boat that we could wake board and surf with. We went down with Tim's parents, his sisters Missy, Amanda, and Kathy, his brothers Allan and LJ, LJ's girlfriend Brooke and Kathy's boyfriend Blake, Tim's cousin Ari, and Uncle Tom, and Tim's nephews Jayden and Jaxton, Allan's friend Dustin and our friend Dustin (Dazz). Tim had been going down there for 14 years or so, but it was my first time since I was like 2. It was so incredible. The weather was perfect! Nice and sunny with a few clouds so it wasn't scorching. The water was cool when you got in but you quickly got used to it. We went on hikes, and TJ went for a few rides in the boat. He even got in the water and went swimming with me a few times. He LOVED IT!It was everything I had imagined. We will for sure be going back!

Tim wake surfing for the first time.Tim wake boarding like a pro!
First swim in Lake PowellAmanda and TJ
Dazz wake boarding
My first wake surf attempt
My first wake boarding attempt.
I really don't know how he does this without crashing. Just amazing I guess.
Excited for the boat ride!!!
Just got splashed BIG TIME! Not too excited about that.
Good thing Uncle Dazz was there to save the day! This was his facial expression for the rest of the ride haha.
He's definitely a water baby like his mommy!
What do you do on Sunday at Lake Powell...COLOR!
HIKE!
CLIMB!
EXPLORE!
So far our summer has been great! I can't believe its already halfway through June. That is just totally crazy! Time sure is flying by. Hope everyone is having as exciting of a summer as we have!