great grandma &grandpa!

Jude loves his great grandma and grandpa Hickman! He was all smiles when they came to visit. He seems to make them smile a little bit, too. :) He's their first great-grandchild!

summer lovin'

Ryan comes to visit every Tuesday through Thursday with his job. We love having him. We have a Golden Spoon tradition and love to sit outside and just talk.

Dan and I got all fancied up and went on a date downtown. We went to the outlet malls so I could buy Jude some sweet Gap outfits. Then we decided we didn't want to spend any money so we left. Then we went down to the City Center and it basically turned into a quest to find me some water because I was the most dehydrated thirsty human in existence almost. We decided the Strip is a little scary and not our favorite place.

I absolutely love this picture of Dan. 

Jude loves swinging on the swing with Nana. She rocks him to sleep all the time on the swing.

Miriam and Brandon stayed the night with us! We swam and enjoyed it. It was nice to meet Brandon since we missed their wedding. Miriam is absolutely adorable, as always.

They got splashed hardcore.

He loves the grass.

Jon and Gina and their sweet wee ones, minus Sloane, came to visit on their way down to California. We swam and barbequed and kept the kids up late and spotted ghosts and read stories and remembered memories and just loved every minute together. We absolutely loved having them! 

fun in the pool!

Jude loves the pool. He will sit in his floatie and play in the water with us and just splash and kick and he loves it. He is a water baby! He especially loves to swim bare bummed.

happy birthday dad!

Happy birthday papa! We were happy to be here for Dad's birthday. I think Dad was happiest to have Jude here with him. :) Uncle Richard and Ryan were down visiting, too. We made a picture frame for my dad with pictures of Jude. He LOVED it and it will soon grace his office so he can show off his sweet little grandson! 

our journey to wisdom

I've needed to get my wisdom teeth out for years but haven't gotten around to it. So this was a perfect time! I had the best oral surgeon in the world do it for me, my Uncle Whitney! We packed up the car and Dan, Jude, and I headed out for the ten hour drive to Farmington, New Mexico. Jude was not thrilled about being in the car again. Poor guy. We enjoyed the scenery, saw a few tumble weed tornados, and were especially excited about seeing Lake Powell! We saw lots of Indian reservations and Indians, too. 

Uncle Whitney and Aunt Cheryl took good care of us. They fed us, loved us, and even let me drool on their bed. Uncle Whitney is an amazing oral surgeon and did a great job. I had no pain, was barely swollen, and was up and at 'em in no time. Sara and Jarom and their family were there as well as Anna's kids so we got to spend time with all of them! Jude loved being around all the little kids.

A little break from the car seat at an Indian trailer park

Jude is the same age as Sara's little girl, Phoebe. Cuties.

Anna's son (left) and Sara's oldest, Matthew, (right) were the sweetest little boys! They were being so cute with Jude.

Uncle Whitney rocked Dan's world with his famous burger and stinky cheese. Mmm... delicious!

All my desperate attempts to entertain him :)

Jude meets Mr. Romney

We rode on my parents coattails and attended a fancy fundraiser for Mitt Romney at the Trump hotel. The last time Dan and I were there we were in a wedding dress and suit! It was great to hear Mitt Romney speak, with Newt Gingrich and Donald Trump on each side. Besides the extreme anxiety I had having a baby at a small fundraiser afraid at any moment he would start crying. (And he did. My dad started to pour water from a water bottle into his mouth in a panic... it didn't work.) We even got to meet him! He guessed that Jude was five months, at the time he was just over five months. I knew I liked Mitt. :)

I couldn't find my name tag until I noticed it was stuck on the back of Jude's head. Oops! We left it on all night because we knew it would make him scream. We got a few funny looks.

Pooped from a long night with Mitt.