A Girl's Weekend

This past weekend I got together with two of my girlfriends, Kathy & Katie, for a Girl's Weekend celebrating Kathy's birthday. We decided to head down to Salt Lake to get some shopping and some sight seeing in. Needless to say, we got A LOT of shopping in. A LOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT!!!!! We hit IKEA, Gardner Village, Gateway, Downtown, and South Towne Mall. We had so much fun. I don't think we ate dinner either night until 9pm. We were out late, slept in, sat in the hot tub, ate GREAT food, and simply had a wonderful time. We've already agreed to do it again and in the mean time will have girl's night dinners inbetween trips. A big thank you to our hubbies who all stayed behind to be with the bambinos- we appreciate your supporting our continued friendships and some "us" time. Here is a picture from dinner at Ruth's Diner during our great weekend!

Kathy, Me & Katie

We're Still Here!!!

Yes, yes, yes.....I realize it's been awhile (ok, a loooooong while) since I've posted to our blog. I find that now that I have a new iPhone, I'm always using my phone to take pictures instead of my camera, which means that I don't have as many photos to upload to my computer. With the help of a few (polite) naggers, I have figured out how to upload photos from my phone so that I can continue to share the lives and times of our little family.

And since we all know that you only come here to see pictures of Keegan, we'll give a quick update on the parentals and then we'll move onto the fun stuff...

Drew has been at the Department of Labor for six weeks now and is loving the work! Mostly, I think he enjoys being back with his old supervisor from DEQ, who went to DOL a few months before Drew and who was the one to get Drew the new job. Drew also likes the fact that two of his buddies work downtown and so they're able to get together for lunch on a fairly regular basis.

I continue to LOVE my Zumba classes and am constantly trying to get more folks to join the fun- if I haven't called you yet, don't worry, I will. I even get to help lead some of the dances andd have helped the instructor teach classes on a public level- once for a Gold's Gym Health Challenge and more recently at the American Heart Association Walk. I love spending time with my Mama friends and try to spend some non-Mama related time with my girlfreinds as well. Drew is so good about me going and getting pedicures and having lunch and Happy Hour with my girlfriends- it's so good for my spirit to spend time with these amazing women! My latest hours find my time dedicated to learning more about my camera and the editing/Photoshop process...Who knows, maybe I'll be calling you soon to offer to take your Christmas card pictures!!

Ok, onto the man of the hour- KEEGAN!!! He's been very busy this last month. He's been in swim lessons at  the YMCA for the past four weeks and has been having a great time. Lessons ended this week and it's perfect because the pool around the corner from us opens this weekend!!

Keegan has also been dealing with allergies for the past month. For what appears to be no rhyme or reason and certainly without pattern or consistency, Keegan breaks out with the most horrible hives that cover his limbs and sometimes creep onto his face. We've had him tested for some foods already- peanuts, treenuts, shellfish, and eggs. All those tests came back negative, so now we're super confuses. We have a meeting with an allergist this coming week and they promise that we'll have answers by the time we leave. Of course my most immediate concerns are that he's 1) allergic to wheat, which would change our entire lifestyle, or 2) that he's allergic to our dog. Drew had cat allergies growing up, therefore they didn't have cats. I worry about what the outcome might be if we make the same discovery :(

We have a very busy summer ahead of us...Bridal showers, weddings, a trip to the beach, girl's weekend in SLC, yard work, BBQs, helping friends move, jam making, Farmer's Markets, day trips, and maybe I'll squeeze in a book or two. Thanks for sticking around- I promise to come back soon, so you should too!!!

The Boy Speaks...

Keegan's mouth never stops moving!! He has so much to say right now and he simply can't get it all out fast enough ( I know this surprises no one!).  Up til now, he's been all over the "Dada" and "doggie" words- easy cause they start with the same letter, and of course his favroite word is the ever famous "Uh-Oh"!! He's even starting to learn when the uh oh is appropriate.

But today was the newest break thru! We were out running in the day's beautiful sunny weather, and Keegan discovered the letter "M". Mostly, he figured out how to say Mama!! It was all he could say the entire run, and it wass clear as a bell. It made my heart sing, dance, skip, and hope for joy! I had been waiting (not so patiently) for a few months now to hear it, and finally hearing it come from his little face was just the most wonderful thing ever.

But more words aren't the only thing proving that Keegan is turning into a big boy. He is walking 90% of the time now and only keeps his hands upin front of him for the first few steps, and once he gets his balance, he's off. He likes to follow us around the house and he often surprises us with how quicklyhe's on our tails. I know that it is only a matter of days before he's running around the yard!

ALSO, he's decided that he's ready to wear shoes. We've only had him in socks up til now, socks which he promptly takes off as soon as they're on! We tried shoes on him for the first time on Easter Sunday and he was in love! He walks well in them, something I was nervous about, but he's had no issues. His only complaint is that now he can't pull his socks off whenever he wants to :)

I know that all this just shows us how quickly our little boy is growing up and what wonderful things we have to look forward to!

Happy Easter

Easter was a great day in the Case household. We all got up in time to go see Grandpa Bishop at the Cathedral and made it back in time to see what the Easter Bunny had dropped off while we were out. While this first picture is a bit fuzzy, not even the blur can hide the excitement on this little boys face. He got three Easter books, a new big boy sippie sup, two fruit squeeze pouches and even an automatic bubble machine that advertises to produce a "gazillion" bubbles- which it nearly did!

Keegan wasn't even quite sure what to do with all the bubbles, but it was sure fun to watch him. I know that with how successful Easter was this year, and all the fun we had in yesterday's egg hunt, that next year will be even more adventurous and exciting! Happy Easter and Happy Spring to you all!!

Egg Hunt

The day before Easter we decided to have a brunch at our house. Drew's folks were in town so we invited them, Mary & Erik, Missie & Wes, and my dad & Ardele to come over for bit of breakfast and to lend hand in Keegan's first egg hunt. We had a great meal complete with ham, Thom Eggs, Nana Pat's sweet rolls (that I made the night before, not Nana) and the other Easter necessities (deviled eggs and mimosas!). After breakfast I hid a dozen plastic eggs filled with goldfish crackers, graham cracker bites, Cheerios, and animals crackers, all over the backyard. We then unleashed the bit bewildered child and assisting Aunts to do the hunting...not sure who was more vested in the process. Keegan got the hang of it pretty quick and enjoyed finding all the goodies inside the eggs at the end.

Thanks Missie and Mary for your help. Next year I'll be sure to hide some eggs for you too!!

The First Hair Cut

 On the Saturday before Easter we decided that it had come time for Keegan to lose the locks of his babyhood and enter the world of boydom with a new do! I found a salon in Meridian that specializes in childrens' haircuts. They had a wonderful decorated salon with Jeeps and giraffes and motorcycles to sit on. Keegan got to sit in the Jeep and he did SO GOOD!! The gal put the cap on him and he just sat there and let her play with his hair. She gave us some animal crackers to feed him if he started to get restless, but there was no need- he was great. She was nice and quick and only took about 12 minutes to get rid of all the craziness that surrounded Keegan's head. I of course was behind the camera getting as many pictures as I could and Drew had the video camera- this was an event I was not missing out on. Because Keegan did so well, it was easy for me to be brave as well- I didn't shed a single tear. We got all his curls in a little baggie to bring home and Keegan even got a First Haircut Certificate. As soon as we got home I told Drew to put it in the fire safe so that nothing could ruin it! All in all, it was a great, fun experience and am grateful to the wonderful folks at 2 B A Kid in Meridian for making Keegan's first haircut so successful!!!

Boys Will be Boys

This last weekend we had our friends Bert, Kathy, and Ethan over for a BBQ. The weather was beautiful in the morning and of course had clouded over and even started raining by mid afternoon. But nastey weaterh wasn't going to keep the boys (big nor small)  inside. The little boys got to ride around the yard in the wagon, climb in and out of the four-wheeler, and around and around the castle.

Ethan was so serious in all of my pictures, but his little face simply cracks me up!!

No, I do NOT want to swing!!!!

I can do it Dad, I can do it!!!

Yes, little man, you can!!