Summer Vacation

We had such a wonderful summer vacation! Matt has three weeks off from school, and we spent two of them visiting family, enjoying cooler weather, eating awesome food, and having fun. First, we drove to Elko, where we hiked in beautiful Lamoille canyon, ate incredible food, walked and ran outdoors daily, went to the movies and saw Inception, and had a great time relaxing with Matt's parents.

We made the best cheesecake ever: Tyler's Ultimate Cheesecake. Creamy, not too sweet or heavy, and straight-up delicious. Click here for the recipe.

Next, we drove to Matt's parents' condo in Murray, Utah. We enjoyed more great food, daily walks along the Jordan River, daily pool trips, and visiting with friends and family.

Finally, we drove to Kingman, AZ and visited Wade's family in their new home. We had a great time eating, talking, and playing with them. We cheered on Connor in his first soccer game in Kingman and went swimming at Wade's partner's beautiful home.

This trip has been a wonderful time seeing family and enjoying the outdoors. Best of all, Matt was able to completely relax and we were able to fully enjoy John and the transition into being a family of 3. Upon reflection, this also was an incredible food trip! Thanks to all of our family that made this trip so fun!

If you're interested, click here for our photo album with more pictures capturing our trip.

Smile for the camera!

Caught the cuteness on video.

First Smile!

On Sunday, John started smiling socially! He's been increasingly alert and attentive lately. He's awake more and his eyes are trying to focus on people and surroundings. I've loved his efforts to respond to me. So far, the most common response is a fury of leg kicking. He'll be staring at my face, eyes wide, mouth pursed, and will kick away eagerly. Then on Sunday, he added a few smiles to the leg kicking! Other moms are so right when they say that first smile is so gratifying! He smiles a lot, but usually they're attached to gas... not quite as exciting as social smiling but still adorable! Here's a picture of our little guy trying to tell us all about something:

Great week! He's still up every 2 hours or so at night, but he's a happy kid. I'm keeping busy with him and developing this tutoring business. I am counting the days until Matt's break, when we will head North to Elko and Utah to escape the heat. Can't wait to eat, walk, hike, talk, and do everything possible outside!