First Birthday!

This last Friday (the 16th), my little boy turned 1 year old! Crazy how fast they grow up!

Some of the things Quinn has accomplished over the past year (roughly from newest to oldest):

~ Standing up in middle of floor by himself
~ Walking
~ Climbing up stairs - fast!
~ Climbing down stairs - sometimes~ Words: Mama, Dada, baba (bottle), more, night night, and various other jibber jabbers
~ Tells me when he wants to go to sleep (lays head down on my lap)
~ Talking on the phone
~ Teasing Daddy (and just about everyone else)
~ Growling
~ Standing up using my legs
~ Walking along furniture
~ Holding his own bottle
~ Crawling
~ Getting up on hands and knees
~ Playing peek a boo by himself
~ Laughing
~ Being the darndest cutest little boy on earth!

In the McNeff family, it is tradition to have a spaghetti dinner on the first birthday, allowing the kid to feed themself, getting as utterly messy as possible. Unfortunately, Josh forgot to request that evening off of work. Luckily, he was able to switch shifts with someone, changing his schedule from 2-11 to 10-7. But that would also mean missing dinner, since the party was at 7. So we had spaghetti when he came home for lunch break.

BEFORE

AFTER

He was more interested in painting with it than eating it. But he seemed to enjoy himself
Mommy? I got a bit messy...
We had family come over for cake and ice cream. Here are some highlights from his fun day:

Opening presents (Quinn had just opened a couple books from Josh and me, and then he got a card from Grandpa and Grandma Cis. He wanted more presents instead lol)

All the kids playing with Quinn's new toys
The cake I made for my baby boy. Isn't it cute!? He loves puppies
Quinn eating the cake. Mmmm!
Dude, you guys gotta try this! It's amazing!

Walking, Parade, Indians, and Camping... Oh my!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks! This may seem like a blog dump, but really, this all has happened since the beginning of July, only 2 weeks ago! ...Really!

Biggest news: WALKING! Yes, that's right, my little boy has learned how to put one foot in front of the other, without our fingers to hold on to. Here's a couple videos of when he first started getting it down (He now can stand up in the middle of the floor by himself, and not only walk from one side of the room to the other, but can walk in circles around the house, and turn around, and carry things while walking, etc):





We really wanted to make sure Quinn got a good introduction to our annual July festivities, starting with an Independence Day parade! We went to the one in Provo on Monday morning. He loved it! He got his waving down, cheered with everyone else, and liked the horses (though the multiple fire engines sounding off their sirens made him cry, and not out of respect for the firemen). He found a couple girls to sit next to while enjoying the show (he's SUCH a little flirt! I don't know where he got that from...)





A SHELBY! One day, I, too, will have an Eleanore!

We went and visited my Grandma Rosie last week. She and her husband are doing a project involving pictures of their smallest grandkids dressed up as Indians. Here's a few pictures of my little Indian boy:

He loves this drum!

And finally, we went camping down in Cedar City because I had to go to the Shakespearean Festival for one of my English classes. Quinn got a new seat since he's becoming such a big boy. It made a big difference in his attitude during the trip. Rather than screaming the whole way down this time, he drank his juice, looked out the window, played with his Uncle Jan, and tried to figure out how to lay his head down to sleep.

Once we got to camp, he began his ritual of tasting the new dirt.
Quinn really had a blast in the mountains. He was in his element. He was so happy pretty much the entire time. He loved calling to us from one end of camp to the other to tell us to watch what he was doing, or to come here, or whatever it was he wanted of us.


Jan in front of his little tent

Josh setting up our sleeping bags in our tent

Our tent in the background, with Josh's amazingly comfortable hammock. We all took turns enjoying the serenity found upon laying in said dreamy swing.

Just a glimpse of how much Quinn enjoyed the hammock. He probably spent the most time in it.

Family Photos

A few weeks ago, my dear friend, Jennifer Fowler, came down and took our family pictures. It had been threatening rain all day, but hadn't yet, so we decided to risk it. Then as we got to the campground we wanted to take our pictures in, it was raining pretty good. We did it anyway, since she had come all this way for us and everything. Then as we were driving home, the rain stopped. Go figure. But I think we got some really nice ones in. I couldn't decide which ones to share, so here's a lot to look at. Thank you Jen, you are amazing!

PS, if you'd like to look at more of Jen's amazing work, I have a link to her page at the right (jfowlerphotography). She's also the one who did our engagements and wedding photos. She's relatively good priced, too.

New Hair Do

We cut Quinn's hair the other day for the second time (it gets SO long in back...). Then today when he woke up, the front part was sticking up because of how he slept. It gave me a great idea. Isn't he such a cute little boy?!