Dean's 1st Injury

Dean got into a fight. It wasn't his fault as he was merely defending himself. A couple of days ago some big, tough 14 mo. old came walking on by talking about how he can eat solid foods and that he already knew how to say 9 different words. Apparently he thought he was all that and a bottle of juice. Dean crawled over to this boy and sat on his face. Dean is a baby of few words and he prefers to let his actions speak for himself. The 14 mo. old finally wiggled his way free and began to taunt Dean. He then attempted a Karate Kid-style, knock-out kick to the face. Fortunately, Dean has seen this movie and he was able to escape with only the bruise as shown in the picture below. However, because of Dean's training in Brazilian Jujitsu, he was able to redirect the momentum of the baby bully, thus rendering him helpless until parental support was able to intervene.

Just kidding. Dean slipped on a tile floor while crawling.

Dean's 1st Hike

It is hard to say this was actually Dean's first hike, since I am pretty sure he never even took a step the whole time. We all decided to go to Usery Pass yesterday since the weather was so nice. We have never been there yet. They have some nice parks with covered areas to play at. We then went on a short, 1 mile hike around some small mountains, and then we (I) suggested that we take an alternate trail over the top of the mountains. I thought that we could push Dean in his stroller over the peak, but shortly into that trail Dean ended up in Becky's arms and I was pushing the stroller over the terrain that would have been better suited for 4-wheel drive.

My attempt at a self-taken, family portrait.
On top of one of the peak, courtesy of Noah

Dean and Noah

Dean did not want to leave the park. I was actually pulling quite hard.

Noah's 4th Grade Track Meet

Today Noah was able to participate in his 4th grade track meet. All of the 4th grade boys were able to attend and compete against each other. Besides the opportunity to compete, I think they were most excited about opportunity to wear shorts during school (a no-no at any other time). Becky, Dean and I were able to attend. Becky was assigned to be a timer for the hurdling event. I was able to watch and care for Dean--an event all by itself. Noah did well and we were very proud of his effort. Here are some pictures of the events he was able to compete it.

Noah ran hurdles. In this event he was able to run

against one of his best friends, Brigham Perry.

While most would jump over with a scissor kick technique Noah decided to jump like a pro.

This is Noah at the long jump.

This may, or may not, be an actual track event, but there was a basketball shooting event.

Dean is 10 months

Another month has flown by and our baby is growing up. He is starting to look less like a baby and more like a toddler. He is such a happy boy overall and gets excited when he is around Noah. He is doing great pulling himself up to stand and will walk if we hold onto him. He enjoys looking at books and having me read to him at night. He still sleeps around 12-13 hours a night and takes 2 naps of about 1 1/2-2 hours a day. He also sleeps the best when he goes to bed by 6:30 each night. It seems the nights we keep him up longer he wakes up earlier to eat. It confirms to me that babies need their sleep and going to bed late doesn't mean sleeping in.

He is showing off by using one hand. What a cutie!

I left a bag of clothes on the floor and Dean found it. It is hard to get upset when he looks like he is having fun!
Dean is eating a lot more as he gets older. He loves to eat yams, zucchini, broccoli, grapes, peas, apples, pears, bananas, kiwi, oatmeal, beans, cheerios, and finally drank some juice and liked it. He even got to try some frozen yogurt and what a treat it was for him.
It is fun to watch him at church during the passing of the sacrament. When the deacon comes to our row Dean always looks at the boy and smiles even when the boy isn't even looking over. He does great at church and loves looking at people and is starting to flirt. It is amazing how fast he is growing!

Father/Son Hiking

I had this last week off from school and I wanted to use this time to go hiking at least once. So yesterday Noah and I decided to hike Camelback Mountain. This time we decided to hike the back side, which we had never done before. We hiked in the afternoon. About 200 yards into it Noah was convinced that he would not be able to make it. I assured Noah that he could. I poured water all over him to cool him down and I used my ninja skills of distraction to keep his mind off the heat. I began to quiz him on fractions (e.g. what is 2/3 + 8/3, etc.) This seemed to work and he blazed up the trail with very few complaints. The backside becomes quite steep towards the end. One of the pictures shows how Noah and I have to hike along the peak with large drop offs on either side. We made it to the top. The back side is a longer hike than the front side. I am guessing that this is because the distance from the trail head to the peak of the mountain from the front is less than the distance on the back. We both had a great time. We accomplished our hike in a little under 3 hours.

From Noah: Yesterday my Dad took me on a great hike on the side of Camelback Mountain. For some reason at the top there were about 40 butterflies. We saw some really big and cool lizards along the way. On the way down I slipped and hurt my knee. On the way up, about 3 minutes after we got there, I got really, really tired, but my Dad put some water on me. First I was angry, but then it felt pretty good. What would I do without my Dad? When I got to the top I took a picture of the scenery (photo above). When I was done my feet were killing me and when I was done I thought ‘hallelujah’ when we arrived back at the car. That’s it!