Happy 9-Month-Year-Old Day!

Ryan's sister is so talented. She was so sweet to take Evan's 9-month picts this week. It was kind of cold and Evan was kind of tired. That means we got about 200 pictures of grimaces, blank stares and tense uncertainty... and a couple of really really cute ones :) Thanks Joni! You did a great job.

I love this first one because it shows just how happy he was to be there.

Here's some facts about Evan at 9 months. It's mostly for my own record so sorry if it's a long:

Evan has the tendency to learn something new and do it a lot for about a week... and then quit for an entire month before slowly picking it back up again. He did it with rolling over (both ways), sitting up, and with every new noise he learned. When he learns how to crawl, don't hold your breath. It will be a while before he really starts exploring the house. P.S. That's okay with me :)

Evan is lazy contented. He doesn't seem motivated to get moving on his own and is perfectly content to explore little things right around him instead of the things across the room. Again, that's okay with me. His contented nature means he doesn't cry much, he entertains himself well, and is easy to please. It also means it's hard to get him really excited about anything. He doesn't smile or giggle much and most of those he does give still go to dad.

Evan doesn't bash or beat or swing his toys, he examines them. He pulls one close to his face, looks at it from every angle, feels it, tastes it and maybe on ocassion will shake it a little. He's also really into faces right now. Noses, ears, mouths, teeth and tongues are fascinating and he'll examine them with the same intensity he does his toys.

Evan is also fascinated by the sound of his own voice. He still growls (which I love and also entertains the people around us to no end), gurgles, spits, jabbers and sings in a nice falsetto.

Evan sleeps so well... as long as we're home. He doesn't like to cuddle to sleep. In fact, if someone is there that he can see, he will do everything to stay awake. When I rock him for a minute before bed, he's looking around the room, reaching for toys and practically squirming out of my arms. But as soon as I lay him in his bed and give him his binky and blanket, he pulls the blankie up to his face, rolls on his side and relaxes right down. I walk out and don't hear another peep from him until it's time to wake up.

In the morning, we rarely find Evan in the same spot we left him in. He's turned 180 degrees, flipped on his belly, or shoved himself into a corner more often than not. Ryan was like that as a kid.

Bed time routine goes like this: (1) Getting tired  = crying (2) bath time = excitement (3) diaper back on = crying (4) lotion and massage = excitement (5) pajamas on = crying (6) bedtime snack = excitement (7) bedime snack over = crying (8) bedtime story and song = excitement (9) in bed with blanky and binky = can finally relax. Yes, bedtime is a very emotional time.

Evan has taken well to baby food. So far, he likes vegetables a lot more than he likes fruits. His favorite are carrots and squash (which was nice because I could make it from the squash in his grandma's garden = free. Yay!) So far the only ones he's flat-out refused are applesauce, potatoes and yogurt. Unfortunately, I've taught him too well not to reach for the food as I'm feeding him. I'm now trying to get him to pick up little bits of bread and practice feeding himself but he won't touch them.

We Have a Celebrity in the Family

You may have seen this handsome mug on channel 5 news last Saturday and in the Desseret news on Sunday. To hear him explain it, he "made a complete fool" of himself, but I think he sounded good. Plus he's hot. Just sayin...

As if that wasn't enough attention, he also hosted a convention for the Utah Mosquito Abatement Association over the weekend. He had a million things to do in preparation for all the events and could hardly do a single one because everyone wanted to chat with him. He was the star of the show! :) And as if that wasn't enough. Now he's officially the president of UMAA. That's my famous husband. Here's a super crappy picture of him introducing the keynote speaker, Cpt. Cope aka Stan. What? I was juggling a wiggly baby and a camera in 6 inch heels.

Cpt. Stan was cool. He regaled us with such appetizing topics as the horrors of yellow fevor after our banquets. Fomite houses. Yum. Ryan and I got to sit on the stand and try not to lose our meals in front of everyone.

Evan had his first sleepover with grandma that night so I could go with Ryan. He did great! I can't believe how easy this kid is. Easy to put to bed. Easy to entertain. Easy to feed. We're totally spoiled.

Go, My Favorite Sports Team! Go!

We’re starting Evan early to become the littlest super-fan to ever break a chandelier in the name of cheering for BYU.  Maybe they’ll actually score points next year so we can cheer :)

And when he’s not cheering for BYU, he’s hanging out in his frog suit.

Or trying to poo (poor kid)

Or chewing celery by the stalk to soothe his gums (again, poor kid)

Well, his parent will sure be happy when this week is over. It’ll mean no more convention planning (imagine coordinating 30 shifting schedules and 100+ hotel rooms) for Ryan and no more directory editing (imagine reading the phone book for 3 weeks straight) for me! Yes, we’re pooped. Thanks for asking.

Do the Arches!

Ryan had a work meeting in Moab last Friday so I tagged along and we all went to Arches National Park that afternoon. I love the hike to Delicate Arch and Ryan may or may not have been there when he was younger (it’s still up for debate in his family) so we made sure to do that first.

Best day to go to a national park: the weekend after a holiday weekend! It wasn’t crowded. It was beautiful weather too. We all had lots of fun, even Evan. He had the “best seat in the house” according to lots of other hikers who grinned at him as we passed. We also got glares and “did you put sunscreen on that baby?”s. Yes, of course! Here’s a few too many of our favorite pictures:

Evan sure loved staring at this:

Evan was exhausted by the end and slept the whole way home.

Been a long time since our last post. What’s been going on since then, you ask? Lots of stuff! Here’s a couple of highlights:

Evan is sitting up (finally!) and enjoying all kinds of new foods (except applesauce.) So far, carrots and bananas are favorite. Also, he got his first tooth! He surprised me with it this morning. He hasn't been fussy or anything--guess we lucked out--and he's always been a drooler.

The Allreds have made lots of changes. One brother hitched, one sister engaged to be hitched, one brother in the empty sea (say it out loud) and 2 parents moved into a new house. Whew. Can hardly keep track of it all. A couple weeks ago, my sister and her cute family hosted us while the boys ran off to play fantsy football. We even got to see the newlyweds on their way home from Calif. Congrats yiddow brudder and new sis in law!



E-Rod's cousins sure love having a baby around to play with... you know, someone who can't run away :) Every time we turned around, this cute little stinker was mauling playing with him.

Jack Attack!

Evan didn't know quite what to think of the swing. I love this picture. Can't you just see him getting ready to ask, "what? Is this supposed to be fun?"

The Lustys too are entering the world of fantasy football... Ryan set up a fantasy football league for him, me and his other 4 wives mother and sisters. I chose my players based on how cool their name sounded. His mom chose hers from former BYU players. His sister chose hers based on how hot they were. That’s what you get for playing FF with a bunch of women, Sweetie :)

The end.

Flaming George

The Vernal-ish area is beautiful country, filled with creepy (but super cool looking) forests, red rocks and the loudest thunder clap I've heard in a long time. We went camping there this last weekend with the Lusty bunch. So. Much. Fun. Wet, but fun.

The campground had a lake, like, 5 steps away (also lots of cows, but Licky, Slicky and Booger Butt didn’t ever bother us) that was good for some fishing. Ryan was the only one to catch anything. Just a little guy but we threw him on the fire and he was actually pretty good…if you like that sort of thing.

We brought an inflatable boat to go fishing on the lake... and then never took it out on the water. We did however use it as a playpen

...and a lounge chair

...and a family hangout spot

...and a bed.

Speaking of beds, did I mention that Evan sleeps b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l-l-y in the mountains? No fights, no fuss, no okay, fewer random wakings in the middle of the night. I think I’m going to live in the mountains. He slept in the camper bathtub, but here’s him napping on the bed.

We also braved the hillside of death to visit Big Brush Creek Cave. After a trip back to camp to get the forgotten flashlights and much bum-sliding, we all made it. Rain made us worry that the hike back up would be treacherous, but it was actually a refreshing sprinkle that made it feel more like a hike and less like 20 minutes on the stair master.

Then, we went tubing down the Green River starting at Flaming George Gorge Dam. Ryan just loved navigating a raft with “4 women” (said with much exasperation.) We high centered on 2 rocks, missed several sweet looking rapids, and then finally got our rowing together and started hitting them just right. Ryan also taught us how to flip the raft over on shore and use it as a slide into the river (brrrrrrr!) And after a high-pitched girlie scream from each of us (Ryan included) for getting ourselves wet, it turned out to be a lot of fun. No pictures of the river, but here’s one of Evan with Nana (awwww.)

A non-Evan post. (WHAT!?!?!?!)

Not a long one though. I can’t take away from Evan’s dinosaur video (see below). Anyway it’s been a hot summer of killing mosquitoes. Thank goodness it’s only a couple more months with all these lame employees that drive me crazy. No offense if any of you are actually reading this. I really do appreciate all the work you do and you really are great employees. BUT YOU DRIVE ME CRAZY!


Anyway, here are a couple of places we treat for mosquitoes each summer. This place is right next to the landfill and you can’t tell from the picture but it stinks. Like garbage. The tire gives it away.

Each summer in early June the prickly pear cactus bloom and since they are an awesome manly flower, I can say I like them. The picture doesn’t do them justice because the flowers are really bright. And Kendra told me to put it in.

Last week I went to scout camp in Capital Reef national park. Never knew about this place, as in, I have never been there. Cool place. We camped at Fish Lake which is actually about 40 miles north of Capital Reef and loaded with mosquitoes. Pretty, but seriously. More mosquito bites there than at work!

I wouldn’t mind exploring Capital Reef a bit more, not as many people here as Zions or Arches and it’s pretty much just as awesome. That’s Brian, Jeff and Tyrel.

If you ever get the chance, I recommend it. Yeah that’s the arch in the bottom right corner. And my fat belly in the middle. It's the WIND I tell you!!!

Yeah okay, here’s a cute picture of Evan. The end.

E-Rod, the Noisy Noise-Maker

E-Rod is working hard perfecting his many impressions. He does an excellent squeaky door, a pretty good viper, and once in a screaming fit, did a near-perfect dog bark. Oh, and remember that really dumb horror movie where the kid meowed and the mom made that weird electronicy noise? If she scares you, then I don't recommend visiting us any time soon.

But the impressions that will make him famous when he opens his new Vegas show this fall are his wookie call and a little something I like to call "Conversations with Dinosaurs." Just imagine a velociraptor and a grouchy T-Rex getting in a fight and you'll see what I mean. Here' a sneak preview!