Happy Thanksgiving to all!

This has been a very fun fall and I’ll hit on a couple highlights.  First, our friends the Lamoreaux’s were nice enough to let us borrow their bikes and bike trailer so we could take Austin on his first bike ride and he seemed to enjoy it!

Then came along Halloween and although I am not creative (I was a nerd for the umpteenth time) Melissa cleverly decided to dress Austin up as Charlie Brown and he was great!

And here he is with his beautiful mother…

In November, we attended a big fall party and Austin was able to take his first train ride.

They also had some inflatable toys and so Austin got to play around in the inflatable castle.

I’ve noticed that there haven’t been too many pictures of Melissa and I together so I thought I’d include one.  This is a picture of us trying to figure out this whole parenting thing – as usual, I’m being the smart husband by listening to my wise wife!! :)

We went on a hike just before Thanksgiving in Catalina State Park and had a great time!

Over Thanksgiving we were lucky to have 2 of Melissa’s brothers, Matt and Trent (with his wife Amy) come down to Tucson.  During their time, we went to Peppersauce Cave with Matt and had a great time spelunking.

Austin went a little way in but then he wasn’t too sure about the whole ‘caving’ idea – we’ll try again when he’s a little older but this time we just took turns going through with Matt.

I love my wife – over 5 months pregnant and she was still so excited and eager to crawl through the cave – she’s a trooper!

Here’s Matt leading the way!

And me trying to fit through one of the tighter spots – I hadn’t been spelunking for years and it was so fun!

Afterwards, we were dirty but worth it – thanks for the adventure Matt!

For Thanksgiving, there is a Dyer tradition where they make candy Turkeys and so Melissa, Trent, and Matt made sure we made time for Turkey-making. 

You can tell how focused they were on making the perfect turkeys!

Here’s a few of the finished products.

We had Thanksgiving with the Corning’s and it was wonderful.  They even had a deep-fried Turkey which was new to me.  It was quite the process but it tasted great!  Here it is ready to be deep-fried!

We were in charge of a fruit salad and Matt went above and beyond…

  Impressive carving!

It was also fun for Austin to have time with more of his relatives – he loved the extra attention.

Lastly, before Matt left, he and Melissa hiked Pusch Peak and had a fun time together.

It was fun to have visitors because it made us get out and see things we hadn’t seen.  Thanks for visiting us Matt, Trent, and Amy and you are welcome anytime  - we had a great Thanksgiving and are so grateful for all that we have!

Happy 1st Birthday Austin

So our little man is already one.  The past year has flown by but he has been such a joy in our lives and we can’t get over how great he is!  He’s growing up so fast and is now into Everything (for proof, see the following picture!)

Unfortunately, Austin’s parents didn’t make his birthday anything huge (some excuse about how they didn’t think he’d notice :) ).  However, Austin has some wonderful grandparents and relatives who are nicer than his parents and so he did have some gifts and he loved his new toys and books.  Here are a few pictures.

  

However, we did try to make his day special by giving him a couple treats.  We’ve tried to be good about not giving him too many sweets (Melissa’s done much better than I) so we figured his birthday was a good excuse for ice cream and chocolate.  We chose this because these were two sweets which I had previously smuggled to Austin and he seemed to enjoy. 

So excited….

YYYUUUUUMMMMM……..

He loved it!

 

Later, a family in our ward invited us to their home to celebrate their son’s 1st Birthday.  Mitchell is only a few days younger than Austin and so they made it a joint party.  They even made him is own cake – Austin loved the attention and it was really fun.

Well, Happy Birthday Austin!!! We love you and you make our family so much better!!!!

August 2009!!

Sorry again about the delay in getting caught up – anyway, our summer ‘break’ ended with a fun month in August, highlighted by camping, some BIG news (see below), our 2nd anniversary (Melissa’s still being patient with me :) ) and by our week in Utah for our Mauler Family Reunion.  To get caught up, I will keep the writing short and post several pictures.

 

Here are Melissa and Austin at our campout on Mt. Lemmon with a bunch of friends – it is fun to have mountains close!

 

Landon in Dad’s kayak at Salem Pond.  After over 30 years since Dad made the kayak, it still floats and was fun to have.

 

While in Utah, we saw both our families and used the opportunity to tell them some exciting news.  Here’s the reaction from the Dyers.

As you may have guessed it, we are excited to announce that we are expecting.  Melissa is due around the end of March and we are excited for our new little arrival.

 

We had a great time at the Mauler Family Reunion.  We had some competitive volleyball games, Mauler Olympics, a talent show, and so much fun.  After it was over, we stuck around for a couple days and Austin was able to have his first mowing experience – he really enjoyed the tractor and we hope he enjoys it when he’s a teenager as well.

 

  For our anniversary, we got a babysitter, had dinner, went rock climbing, had ice cream at the park where I proposed, and had a great night.  It was so fun to climb, and although Melissa is expecting, she did great!!!!

 

   We went to some hot springs near Payson and had a good hike as well.

 

Our other big news is that Austin is really starting to get this walking thing down – he is all over the place and loves the freedom from being more mobile!!!

Overall, the month of August was great and now another school year begins (my 20th school year for those counting)!!!