October Photo Fest!

October was a super fun and busy month for us. I had such a photo overload on the camera that I thought I'd share. Beware... there are a LOT of pictures. This was narrowed down from the 120 pictures we took this month! That is crazy for us when we can sometimes go a month taking maybe 1 or 2 pictures lately. Without further adieu... Our October Photo Fest:

Grandpa's Train

The first weekend in October NM train society had a special event for families and friends to view a real steam train. Dan has been working to restore an old train so that it will eventually carry passengers. For those of you train enthusiasts, like us, the train is black and looks just like Hero (From Thomas's Hero of the rails) Dylan loved it. His favorite part was actually not the amazing real train, but a giant electric toy train of Thomas. Dylan kept running back to get a closer look. See below:

Balloon Fiesta

Dylan wasn't too found of having to be out of his jammies at such an early hour so he was a little grumpy, but was still amazed by all the balloons and bright colors.

The balloon pilot for the Creamland Cow Balloon asked if Dylan wanted to come sit on the basket. He thought it was pretty neat until they made the fire shoot and then he quickly jumped into Scott's arms. The Cow balloon has always been one of my favorites. It is Huge! See below:

Nani & Pops Visit

The same weekend as the Balloon Fiesta Nani and Pops were here to visit. We all had a great time. It always flies by too fast. Here are Dylan and Pops checking out the Polar Bears at the Zoo.

McCall's Pumpkin Patch

The next weekend we took a family trip to the pumpkin patch. Here is Dylan holding the pumpkin he picked out. There were so many fun things to do. He skipped his nap this day and just took a little snooze on the car ride so we could squeeze in as much as possible.

Whee...Tunnel slides.
Every time Dylan came down he said, "again, again". Between Scott and I we took 5 or 6 turns down the slides.

The pumpkin patch is on a farm in Moriarty, NM so they had lots of animals to see. Dylan's favorite were the goats. There was a special area with very tame goats that you could feed. It is hard to see in the picture, but Dylan had a huge smile on his face the whole time.

Another highlight was the Dig Pit. A gigantic box filled with corn, buckets, shovels, and Dumptrucks! We went to the dig pit twice while we were there and both times Dylan cried when it was time to move on.

Our Haunted House

Last year after Halloween I bought a kit to make a cookie Haunted House on clearance for $3 and saved it to make this year. The frosting was a little hard so we supplemented with new frosting, but other than that it turned out great and we all had a ton of fun! Frosting was everywhere. As you can see in the picture Dylan's hands and shirt were a sticky mess. After our masterpiece was complete he went directly to the bathtub.

My guys with the finished product! We will definitely add this as an October tradition.

Harvest Festival

At Dylan's preschool they had a Harvest Festival the Wednesday before Halloween. They had all sorts of stations set up with fun activities for the kids. It must have taken days to get it all set up. It was so cute. Dylan loved the apple station. I volunteered to help at one of the stations and every time I looked to see where he was he was picking out a new apple. At the end they got to pick out a pumpkin to take home and snacked on some yummy pumpkin muffins.

Halloween

Halloween morning Dylan started off with the treat of a doughnut for breakfast. He ate all the chocolate and sprinkles off the top and then handed me the doughnut..."For you Mommy!" Such a SWEET boy.

After Dylan's nap we decorated pumpkins. Can you tell which one is Dylan's? Then we went trick-or-treating with our next door neighbors. Dylan was Batman. These are actually just some batman PJ's that we already had because Dylan was so anti-costume. At least it has a cape. I bought him a dragon and a monkey costume so he could pick and then he refused to go near either. So we ended up with this. He did love it when he figured out that people gave him candy and he had the trick-or-treat routine down in no time. Maybe next year he'll be more excited about the idea of a costume.

Thanks for sticking with me on this long recap of our Fun October!

Our Big Trip

Wow I am so far behind. I've been meaning to post these pictures for a long time. They are long over due....

In July/August we took a BIG trip flying from ABQ to Chicago, then Chicago to Portland, and finally Portland to ABQ. Here are a few details:

The last week of July we flew to Chicago and spent a week with family there. It was so much fun here are some of the highlights in pictures:

Our family at Scott's cousin Brain's wedding to his beautiful bride Emily. The wedding was on our 6th anniversary! It was so much fun to dance and enjoy the party with family. Man can the Connors Family dance! Dylan was a trooper and danced with the rest of us until 11:00 and promptly crashed in the car by 11:30. So Fun! We love you guys.

Grandma Connors and Scott relaxing at Aunt Chris's house. The Connors aunts and uncles are the best hosts! Uncle Rick topped Dylan's list bring out baskets (honestly) of Sean's old toys.

One day we rode the train into downtown Chicago. Dylan loved the train and spending time with his cousins Katherine and Ashley, but wasn't crazy about sitting so long. In the city we made it to Millennium/Grant park, Navy pier, and the Chicago Childrens Museum.


For the 2nd leg of our trip we spent a week in Portland visiting Nani, Pops, Michael, Mandy, and Baby Alyssa. Here are more picture highlights:

The first day we arrived Dylan spotted the lake and took Pops with him for a swim.

A major highlight was meeting our new niece Alyssa. As you can see we are all very excited about the new addition to the family. Dylan gave her hugs and kisses every chance he got!

Dylan's goofy smile helping Pops drive the boat

We even made time for water skiing and inner tubing!


We made a special trip to Bellevue for my 10 year reunion. It was so great to see my Gamma Sigma girls again!

Dylan Dancing a Jig

On Friday night the family took a trip to the zoo for Zoo Music with Barleyjuice, a Celtic Rock band. We had a great time seeing the animals before the show and eating yummy pizza from Saggio's. Dylan loved seeing the baby elephant playing with his ball and drinking water with the mama elephant. He also apparently loves Celtic Rock music, as evidenced by this video of him dancing at the concert. It was a great night.

Welcome Baby Alyssa!

Our newest little niece, Alyssa Kay Lomax, was born on July 9th, 2010 at 3:39 pm. She weighed 8 pounds and was 20 1/4 inches long. Michael, Mandy, and Alyssa had a short hospital stay and are doing very well at home. We are very excited to visit them next week and meet Alyssa.

Our Little Helper

Dylan has been a very good helper watching and trying to do what we do as much as possible. As he imitates us he says Dylan Daddy's helper or Mommy's helper. Afterword, he says Dylan working hard, Mama working hard, Daddy working hard. Here are some pictures of our little guy at work....

Our little worker Helping Daddy mow the lawn this week

Carefully watching Dad hang a curtain rod in the Dining room and copying his actions

Earlier this week Dylan helped me make some yummy muffin cupcakes. He was actually able to help me measure and mix the ingredients(with assistance of course!). First we made Morning Glory muffins, (see recipe below) then we topped them with a little vanilla icing and sprinkles. It was a fun and yummy way to sneak in extra fruits and veggies.

Success!

After we finished baking Dylan created a new type of snack. Thomascakes!

Morning Glory Muffins

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

¾ cup applesauce

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 ½ cups sugar or 2/3 cup brown sugar

1 ½ cups shredded apples ( or more)

11/2 cups shredded carrots (or more)

½ to 1 cup raisins (plumped

½ to 1 cups nuts

1/3 cup coconut

Bake at 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes

Dylan's 2!

Our little Monkey is 2! We had a wonderful Thomas party. I was reminded once again how blessed we are to have such a large, loving family. Dylan is talking all the time, repeating nearly everything now (only by his own will of course). We are constantly shocked by his rapidly growing vocabulary. While we were in Washington, Scott made enchilada casserole for dinner one night that was a little soupier than usual, we said "Oh well, guess we'll eat soup casserole" and immediately Dylan repeats "soup casserole" as clear as can be. We all started laughing, so of course he repeated soup casserole the rest of the night. Dylan's favorite thing to do is still playing trains. He typically wakes up and goes to bed yelling "I play trains! I play trains!!" It is hard to believe my baby is 2. We love you Dylan! Here are pictures of the birthday celebration:

Just a few hours until the party the swing set/play gym goes up

The final load of rubber mulch... Yeah!

A Very Happy Birthday Boy!

Playing with Friends

Pinata

Cake

Mini-Cupcakes! Yummy!

Thomas Presents

Thomas Presents

And more Thomas presents. We now have a Thomas village in the playroom.
What more could a boy ask for?

Easter in Camas

We were able to fly to Camas for Dylan's last free flight to visit Nani, Pops, Uncle Michael, and Aunt Mandy! It rained most of our trip, but we still had a great time. We visited the Portland Zoo and the Children's Museum, a fun jump and play slide place in Vancouver, played golf, went skiing, and had as many game nights as we could squeeze in. Here are some pictures of our fun Easter Festivities:

Decorating Easter Eggs

Dylan was terrified of the Easter Bunny. Here he is trying to get as far away as possible while remaining in my arms.

Nani & Pops tried to show there was nothing to be afraid of, but Dylan was not convinced.

The Egg Hunt

Family Photo

Buddies in Blue

Hugs to Michael and Mandy for such a fun trip. Love you guys!

23 Months

Our Boy is 23 Months today. Lately he has been all about Thomas or "Mas" as Dylan calls him. We have to eat meals with Thomas, play with Thomas, ride in the car with Thomas, read stories with Thomas (about Thomas of course), and even nap with Thomas. A few weeks ago I even heard him crying for Thomas in his sleep. I heard "Oh NO...Mas", and I came into his room to check, assuming he'd woken up from his nap, to find him still sound asleep. Here are a couple of pictures of Dylan and his Mas trains:





We, of course, are having a Thomas party for Dylan's birthday next month. It should be a "toot".

Fresh Start February & 22 Months

Dylan is 22 Months today. I haven't blogged in such a long time it is hard to know where to start. January was a very tough month for us. We had to say goodbye to Snoopee :( He was nearly 14 and was not doing well. It was an incredibly tough decision, but we know it was the right time. We will always love and remember Snoopee for being such a wonderful dog. We will likely post more pictures later, but here are a few I love of Snoopee & Dylan:

Snoopee "teaching" Dylan to roll over

Treats (Dylan loved this as much as Snoopee did)

Kisses. XOXO. We love you Snoop!

22 Month Updates

Dylan is talking up a storm lately. It is so fun to watch how excited he gets when he says something new. We frequently hear a loud adamant "YES" when we repeat back what he's asked for. The most common things he asks for are: Mas (Thomas the train), Cars (Meaning any or all of his toy cars), Man (Frosty the snowman movie), and crackers (his favorite snack). Dylan has also started counting... he normally starts with two and counts to eight and then skips to ten. It is very cute.

Since Christmas Dylan has quite the collection of cars. Here he is lining them all up.

Potty!

Dylan now has his own potty. We are just starting the process of talking about the potty, but even though we have a ways to go, it just shows how big he's getting.

Snow Day!

While Mama was at work, Dylan and Daddy had some fun in the snow today. Dylan absolutely loved it and cried profusely when it was time to go defrost inside. I taught him how to eat snow, make a snowball, and how to just run amok in the white stuff! Dylan (amazingly) stopped long enough for me to snap this picture. Yeah for snow!

An Illinois Halloween

We spent last weekend in the Chicago area with some relatives on my dad's side of the family. It was a great trip! Dylan was able to play real drums with two of his 2nd cousins in Mt. Prospect, he had the entire kid's section of the Morton Arboretum to himself (it was very rainy that day) in Lisle, he got to play in a great park in Channahon, and he got to see a lot of crazy Halloween stuff in Joliet. It was a busy trip for the little guy. Crystal and I did a long run next to the Illinois/Michigan Canal and it was awesome to see the tree leaves changing color and dropping on the path in front of us. We also visited a Spyder outlet store and I bought the coolest winter/ski coat in history.

The main purpose of the trip was to visit with family, but the timing of the trip was so that I could take part in the huge haunted house that my cousins put on at my Aunt Chris and Uncle Rick's house. This was unofficially the 19th year of the haunted house (Agony Haunted House) and it was truly amazing. I was given a crazy gorilla costume and told to run around and scare people. I had loads of fun and managed to lose my voice in the process (it still hasn't completely recovered). Dylan, surprisingly, wasn't scared of all the blood and gore in the haunted house, but he really wasn't fond of his dad dressed as a gorilla. Dylan was supposed to be dressed as a cowboy, but he refuses to wear anything on his head. Instead he was a soccer player, but we didn't get a good picture because he never stays in the same place for more than a second.

Thanks to everyone for making it a great weekend. Hopefully we can make it back soon!

We are off to Washington in a couple of weeks for the big half-marathon on the 29th. Training is still coming along, but we are ready for the race.

The Day of the Tread

This morning Crystal and I ran the Day of the Tread 10K race. It was fun racing with Crystal after training with her for this half-marathon. I have to say that I am extremely proud of her and that I am amazed at how tough she is as a runner. I've never really ran a race with her, so it was very cool for me.

The 10K course was just 2 laps of the 5K course, which was run through some Albuquerque neighborhoods. There were quite a few hills, so it was definitely a tough course. They started the 10K runners along with the 5K runners, which was tough because we had to pass through the finish line twice and the first time the 5K runners got to finish and we had to keep going. We ran the first 5K in about 22:40 and I could tell Crystal wasn't feeling very well. She told me after the race that that she really wished she were only doing the 5K at that point. Anyway, we had to do another lap and there was a woman who had just passed us, so we had some serious competition for Crystal to try to win another race.

We managed to make it through the 4th mile and the lady stayed about 30-40 meters in front of us the whole time. I could tell Crystal was feeling frustrated, but she just kept chugging along. She picked up the pace during the 5th mile (~ 7:00 min/mile) and every time we would close the gap to the lady in front of us, she would hear us getting close and run even faster. I thought we had thrown our best at her and that maybe it just wasn't enough. I asked Crystal if she thought she had it in her to catch her and she kind of grumbled something like "I guess..." at me. I wasn't so confident in that answer, but I told her my strategy to try to pass the lady about a 1/4 mile from the finish where there was a big uphill climb. I knew if we got too close to her before that, she would just hear us and start running harder again, so we stayed about 10 meters back through the 6th mile. We ran the 6th mile in 6:57 and I wasn't sure that even I had the energy to catch the lady at that point.

We finally reached the hill and I told Crystal now was our chance if she wanted to go for it. Without hesitation Crystal just picked up the pace and smoked it up the hill and through the finish line. We passed the lady very quickly and never looked back. Crystal ended up beating her by about 10 seconds. I couldn't believe how tough Crystal ran. We ended up running the second 5K in about 22:20, which is very exciting because we had negative splits (a running term for completing the 2nd half of a race faster than the 1st half). It was great!

In the end there was a super fast woman who won the entire race (men and women), but it was an exhilarating experience to come from behind at the end and beat that lady. Crystal and I tied for 4th place overall (men and women). Crystal was 2nd for the women and I was 3rd for the men. We got some cool medals and enjoyed the food spread provided by the race organizers. It was beautiful day in Albuquerque and it was fun to be out racing. I am really excited for our half-marathon in Seattle on Nov. 29th. I'm sure Crystal will amaze me again and I can't wait.

18 Months!

Today is Dylan's 18 month birthday. Our little baby is not so little anymore and is certainly not a baby anymore. He is now officially a big boy in our book. He has been sleeping in a big boy bed for the last month, answering yes or no questions like a big boy does, and even eating with utensils more proficiently. He's certainly growing up.

We were able to spend this weekend with Dylan's Nani and Pops (Crystal's parents) and Dylan's new friends Sandy and Lyle. Dylan loves having so much attention and really has had a blast the last few days. Below is a picture that Sandy took of Dylan at the Balloon Fiesta yesterday. He has become quite fond of footballs and runs around the house throwing them everywhere (including at poor Snoopee's head). It is hard to believe how fast he has grown up. He'll be 2 before we know it.

Happy 18 months to our little bug.