Eight Months...

Hoyt is now eight months old, and he is loving every minute of it. He has four beautiful teeth, with another two on the way. The poor kid is constantly teething - rubbing his ears, drooling, etc.! He loves to sit up, wave bye-bye, say mama and baba (we're really working on dada; Ryon can't handle that he can say mama but not dada), and he's trying extremely hard to crawl. He will get on his hands and knees, but then fall flat on his tummy. Once on his tummy he'll push himself backwards, but moving forward is something that I'm sure will take a little time. I could sit and watch him all day - this is such a fun age.

Cowboy Up!

Hoyt was sick with a pretty bad cold this past weekend, so he was home-bound Friday through Sunday. On Saturday afternoon, both Ryon and Hoyt were a little bored, so Ryon decided to get their cowboy hats down and try them on. I couldn't resist taking a few picures. Hoyt was more interested in getting dad's hat off than anything else!

Surrogate Siblings

Hoyt is almost eight months old - it's crazy how time flies - and he loves to be around other children. When Matt, Allison and the kids come over he has so much fun. It doesn't matter if he had been crying 5 minutes before the door bell rang - once Dallin, Mason, Ashlan and Malorie enter the room he is all smiles. I'm sure he loves the attention he gets, and believe me, I don't mind at all. For at least two hours the child is completely entertained!! Malorie loves to hold Hoyt, even though he is about as big as she is, and she will often tell me, "You're so lucky - I want to be Hoyt's mom!" (I assure her that she can probably wait just a little while for one of her own.)

After dinner a few Sundays ago, while the adults were at the table talking, I looked in the family room and found the four kids gathered around Hoyt. I had to take a few pictures. It is wonderful to have surrogate siblings!!

First Easter!

I love Easter. It is an opportunity to focus on the Savior and His resurrection. We had a wonderful Easter Sunday. The primary children sang in Sacrament Meeting, and if I do say so myself, they sounded terrific! (I'm sure I was more nervous for them than they were for themselves!) The ward choir also sang three songs, so Ryon had Hoyt by himself for the entire meeting. He was in and out, but he did a great job.

Hoyt had a new little Easter outfit for church that made his blue eyes "sparkle"! He also had to have an Easter basket. Ryon didn't know why he needed a basket, but I told him that we needed one for pictures. Ryon and I ate the candy and Hoyt was mostly interested in all of the packaging and boxes inside the basket. However, he did like his new soft duck that quacks. After church we had a wonderful Easter dinner with the Bigler's. Hoyt had such a big day, and with only an hour nap, he was ready for bed by 7:00!