Van Is 18 Months

Van is 18 months now. I can't believe how fast that went by. I thought it would be fun to post some pictures of him growing. It's crazy how much he's changed in just a year and a half. Van is 26.8 lbs and 33 1/2 inches tall. They say that's 50% in weight and 90% in height. We don't really see how that's possible. We think they messed up on one of those.

Van has been such a great addition to our family. He's so much fun. He is happy most of the time, and he makes it hard for you not to be happy around him. He's learning and growing so fast. He's starting to mimic me, which is a good and bad thing. If I decide to teach him a new thing, he picks up on it in a day or two. He jabbers all the time. It's fun now that the jabbering is starting to make sense...sometimes anyway. I think he knows that he is pretty cute and funny. He tries to get away things by being cute. He also does things that he knows will make you laugh. He has such a big personality. We think of him as being charismatic. We're all glad he's a part of our family and love him very much.

Van is saying new things almost on a daily basis. Some of the words he's saying are:
No, hi, bye, don't, mine, ball, dog, da da, mom, flower, purple, toes, eyes, and geez. I know he can say more, but for some reason I can't think of anymore. He also says little two word phrases such as; oh no, uh oh, oh man. He just recently added "not mine", and "no ball". Today when I was dropping the girls off at school, he started to pout when they got out. I said, "they have to go to school". He said in a very whiny voice,"they're mine". I said, "I know, but they have to go to school". He then said more forcefully, "No, they're mine". I thought it was pretty darn cute.

Anyway, I'm done rambling. I tried to only pick a few pictures, but it was hard. So, here's another picture over loaded post.

Edited portion: After spending a couple more hours with Van.... I forgot to mention that he also says, "up" and "all right!". He says these quite a bit.

At the hospital

1st bath at home


1 month

2 months

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months



9 months

1st birthday

15 months

18 months

Castle Park

Took the kids to the park today. Just thought I would share some pictures. I don't have as many pictures of the girls. They can run off and do their own thing. I have to follow Donovan around the whole time. Sorry for another picture overload post. Van loves going down the slides with his sisters.
He was scared of the swings, but now he loves them.

Mr. Attitude

That's wood chips flying in the air. He hated touching them at first, how quickly he changed.

He was very into throwing them....as you can see.

Fun In The Sun

Van and me played in the backyard today, then went for a little walk. I thought he looked so cute in this outfit. I wanted to get some pictures of him in it, and show them off. Yes it was bright, but I get this face all day long. I just see Jason when he makes this face.

See....
Hims cute.
See the bruise on the right side of his forehead and cheek? He got out of line, and I had to back hand him. Just joshing ya. The poor kid fell, and landed right on Jason's weights. At least he cleaned off some dust though. ;)
Again....and no sun.
Mini Jason
The booger was smiling behind that finger.
I was bugging him trying to get his attention.
Daybreak Lake. This was where we were.

Van Knows Stuff

I haven't really put anything of Van showing off his intelligence. We work on stuff everyday, and he picks up pretty quick. I was actually trying to get him to do animal sounds for me. He was doing them, until I pulled out the camera....of course. I'll try to get that soon, but he's so camera shy. He's known these body parts for awhile now. We're starting to work on some new ones. P.S. I hate hearing myself. I'm annoying.

Van The Musician

Van got a hold of Ashley's harmonica the other day, and taught himself how to play. I think he walked around for about an hour playing it almost constantly. We thought it was pretty darn funny and cute. Sorry the video is sideways. I don't have the tools to flip it, and I forgot that if I record that way, than it's stuck like that. Also, I don't know what he's chewing on, but it's not gum.

I just wanted to add this. I love the way he sleeps. It's hard to tell, but he actually has part of his body lifted up. I love how his legs are crossed too. He crosses his legs all the time, and it makes me laugh.

Sweethearts 5K

So, I ran my first race. I ran a 5K in Bountiful. It went pretty good. I have a couple of injuries, so it could have went better. I ran it in 30:14, which is a 9:26 pace. Not too bad, but not as fast as I was hoping. I did okay during the race, other than some pain in my feet. I wasn't sad when it was over one bit. I ran it with my father-in-law, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law. Dad Howell's time was 27:27. Geoff and Felicia's time was around 36:36. At least I think these were their times. We all did real well. I want to do a 10K now sometime in April. I hope I'll be ready for one by then. There's no pictures of Jason, because he was taking the pictures. He was a proud husband. He told me I'd do better than I was thinking, and I did. Thanks honey!

Pre-race hanging out.

Waiting at the start.

Our two little fans waiting for us to get done.

Dad Howell pass the finish line.

Me walking across the finish line. I really didn't, that's just how it looks.

Geoff and Felicia finishing.

All of us after the race. We're all smiling. That's a good sign.

This is the best part about doing a race, if you ask me anyway. I was really bummed though, because they had me down as a male, so I got a male shirt I can't use.

Grizzlies Hockey Game

I know I haven't been very good updating our blog. It's not my favorite thing. It takes too long. I'll try to get better though, for those of you who care.

Anyway, we went to a hockey game the end of January. We went with my friend Natalie and her family. It was Van's first game. I was a little worried how he would do with the noise. There was no need to worry, he did just fine. His favorite thing was playing with the arm rests on the seats. I enjoy going to hockey games. I used to go to several a year. There's not as much time for that now. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Ashley watched Van for most of the game.

The girls got pucks signed by the mascot, Grizzbee.

Ash with her puck

Cutest couple ever

My friend Natalie with her daughters Valicea and Leora

Goofy Jason

Van Walks....Finally!

Van finally walks! If you count when he first started, than that was around 12 months. He was taking a few steps to Jason and me, than after a few weeks or so, he just lost interest. He wouldn't even walk holding onto our fingers. We don't really count that though. So, I guess he walked at 15 months. The first video is from today and I'm sad it's so dark, because his face was really cute. The second video was of the 3rd time he walked on his own yesterday. I don't think you can really tell from the videos, that he shuffles his right leg and kicks out with his left. It's pretty funny to see in person.