Summer

 This picture pretty much sums up what Nixon would have liked to do all summer! He absolutely loves the hose, being outside, playing in the sandbox, and anything where he can roam free. In an attempt to not totally overwhelm myself, I decided to basically do one post about our summer... 

We were able to go to my sister Kristina's Miss Idaho Pageant where she received 1st Runner Up! It was pretty exciting and we were all gripping each others hands through the whole thing.

                                  Grandpa George                                                  Grandma Ellie

 Nixon had his first boat ride this summer at Grandma Funks and loved it!

 Grandma Funk has an AWESOME sandbox where Nixon seriously would have been happy the entire trip. He loves playing with his cousins Boston and Max!

 Funk reunion

 Grandma Funk and Nixon

 We were able to come for Zack's mission farewell and I am so grateful we were able to come and say goodbye! It's crazy to think Nixon will be THREE when Zack gets home. We will miss you Uncle Zack! 

 Aunt Kristy, Aunt Heidi and Nixon

 The Nye family had a reunion in Sun Valley for 5 days and it was so fun to enjoy nature! I forgot how gorgeous Sun Valley is and how close it is to where our parents live! We rode up the ski lift and had lunch at the top of the mountain. So gorgeous! 

 We also took bikes and went for some rides around town and at night when it cooled down. One morning Chase, Nixon and I got up early and rode down to a little restaurant and had breakfast. It was a fun way to start the day! 

 And Nixon loved riding in his little cart! 

 One day we rode our bikes to a candy shop and got carmel apples and chocolate that was amazing! We also got some delicious ice cream at an ice cream shop. I think that is all we had for dinner that night :)  Here is aunt Ash feeding Nixon his ice cream..

 My brother Hollister was in heaven :) 

My mom and I got asked to teach at a music camp that same week in Sun Valley, so we taught in the mornings while we were there. We chose a monster theme and did one craft each day to go along with it. We made monster masks (that they wore for their performance where they did a rhythm instrument/dance), we made monster pillows, monster rocks, monster finger paint art, and playdough monsters. We also practiced note reading, rhythm, and sight reading with them. They worked on a group piano piece that they also did in the performance where all seven of our students played on a total of two pianos. It was so so fun!

Here is our "Pin the eye on the monster" guy that we used for a few games throughout the week. 

 Here are their pillow monsters! They turned out absolutely adorable, and the kids were a little obsessive about them :)

 Chase, Nixon and I went to Boise for a few days and stayed at my aunts house who actually lives in China right now. So we had her big gorgeous house all to ourselves! Chase's classmate from Creighton was getting married there so we got to attend their wedding, relax. and also got to visit some of MY cousins below... Houston, Hannah, Hayden, and Hunter.

 Nixon sporting his BSU gear in Boise

 Nixon had a few four wheeler rides while we were in Idaho

 Petting the Kelsey's dog, Copper 

 Great Grandma Whittaker (still weird that she is a "great" grandma" 

 Kelsey boys and Nye boys with Nixon 

1 Year!

Here is what Nixon has been up to in the last month:

Took his first steps! He can do about 8 or 9 steps in a row
Got his first tooth...FINALLY!      
Enjoys throwing his food off of his high chair tray
Mimics dog and other animal noises when he hears them
Loves watermelon
Takes 2 naps, each usually 1 1/2 to 2 hours long
Says "Hi mom" and "Hi dad"
Nurses 3-4 times a day
Pulls the vent covers off all over the house! I'm so nervous he is going to drop something down one and we won't be able to get whatever it is out! The other day, he was picking something out of it, and I went over to check what he had, and it was a dead bug! He was about to put it in his mouth!
Sleeps from 8:30 pm to 7:00 am
Started pointing at things- We usually spend most of our time in the halls at church, and lately I have been pointing to Jesus in the pictures and telling him who it is. A couple of weeks ago, I was chasing him around in the hall, and I picked him up and he started pointing to the Jesus picture and smiling. It was the sweetest thing ever! It made his mamma very proud :)

Last weekend we shot these photos of Nixon in a beautiful little spot we found on a walk not too far from our house. I am REALLY starting like taking pictures, especially of my SWEET boys!!

They have a thing on the news here called "First Birthdays" and we sent a picture in of Nixon so he could be featured. They even sing a little song about him! Click below to watch him!

Nixon's TV Debut

Monster Book

 As I said in the post about Nixon's birthday party, I made this book for Nixon as his gift. I wanted to make him a quilt or something sentimental, but then I had this great idea to write, illustrate, and get this book printed for him. I figured this would be much smaller to hang on to compared to a quilt, not to mention, not NEAR the amount of mess in my house that I'm sure me making a quilt would have created. I even found a place online that prints cardboard books so hopefully it will stand up to the damage I'm sure it will receive. It was so fun to draw out these little monsters and come up with a simple story. I took pictures of each page so you could see how it turned out!

This is the back cover. He loves his new book!