Kenny turns the BIG ONE!

Well, what can I say? There is a moment in every moms life when she blinks and her little boy has gotten older. I feel like this litterly happened when Kenny turned one. He went from being my little baby to a toddler (well a pre-toddler). He has had this red hair for most of his babydom, and we decided to give him a cute cut the night before his big celebration. His Aunt Kandice was kind enought to help out and when it was all over he was a blonde and looked like a big boy! After I got through the initial shock and panick over him growing up I was able to enjoy my new man. So here is the before and after so you can see what I am talking about

At least he wasn't walking yet. For his big day we had cake and ice cream of course with all the cousins and friends out in Vernal. Grandma Stewart hosted the party at her house the day before Thanksgiving. Thanks! So after cake which Kenny thoroughly enjoyed, so much that it gave him a sugar shiver, we unwrapped gifts. I do mean we, becuase I did most of the unwrapping. Kenny was too distracted by the paper and each toy to be much help. We wrapped up the party with a pirate ship pinata. It went perfectly with the sailing theme we had going. Every kid got a wack at it, and then they really had to beat it to get our the goods. We had stuffed it with candy and noisemakers. Every parent there I am sure was thrilled to have us hype thier kids up on sugar and then send them home with a horn or whistle. You are welcome, and thanks for coming! ;)
He was very contemplative about eating his birthday cake, and we actually had to take it away from him after he had eaten a good chunk of it because we thought it might make him sick if he ate much more.

Halloween 2012

My little guy got to experience his first trick or treat and mom got to enjoy most of the spoils. I like this tradition with little kids! We made Kenny into a cowboy and he was a cute one. For our ward Chilli cookoff/Halloween party Kris and I followed suit and cowboyed up with the little guy. He has been so fun and loves everything. The world is so new and exciting to him it is neat to watch him discover it.
pay close attention to the chaps, because ya, I made those!
,

Family Camping events July- September 2012

Over the summer we have done some camping with our little one. We of course had the Richins Reunion where Kenny again loved kickin it in hammoks, but we also went for a Briggs/Schulzke family adventure to the Lewis and Clark Caverns in Montana and then hit Yellowstone National Park on our way back. The Caverns are really neat and have some really huge columns, stalagtites and stalagmites.
A funny story from this adventure comes from the tourists at Old Faithful. They were fascinated with Kenny, because he was a red head with blue eyes and had the charm all the way up giving them smiles. They didn't speak a word of English, but they took a lot of pictures of Kenny. They were oriental, and really nice, but it was funny how interested they were in Kenny. The other funny story is that we took our Bob stroller on this hike up to a waterfall, and lets just say, Bobs are impressive, but even they are no match for narrow steep trails. We had to carry it up a few switch backs. We looked ridiculous, but it made for a funny story afterwards!

Going Coast to Coast

Our next big adventure with a baby boy in tow was to go coast to coast in the fall. We started by flying to Seattle to visit my sister Angie, husband Lance, and kids Cole and Molly. It was great fun to stay with them and see my niece and nephew that I don't get to see too often. Kris and I traveled up to Victoria Canada one day and saw the beautiful Buchart Gardens, and ate at a pretty good sea food place. Kenny really liked the ferry ride and met some playmates there. We also went to the Locks with the Egli's and saw the salmon run which was pretty cool.

We landed in Salt Lake and then repacked for a turn around trip to the East Coast where we visited Kris's Cousins the McCullochs. We had a lot of fun with them too. Kris and I drove into Washington DC and toured all that we could handle in a day. I have been several times, but this was Kris's first time. I thought it was great to finally have the one up on Kris when it comes to places of travel. He has been everywhere, but I could show him around DC! We really like the Spy Museum and decided we needed to come back to spend more time there. Kenny was a trooper for letting us stroll him around all day.

While on the East Coast we also went to the Anapolis Maryland Boat show, which was Kris's dream, and really hot and boring for me and baby. I am such a good wife. After and afternoon of touring sailboats we got some yummy ice cream and checked into a neat hotel there. Kris went back to the boat show by himself the next day. Kenny also got to go to his first baseball game. The Washington Nationals versus the Phildelphia Phillies. Nationals won, and we were just above thier dug out so Kris got the pitching coach to throw Kenny a ball. He loved it. We had a lot of people comment on how cute, fun, and happy baby Kenny was. This was a real compliment to Kenny for being so good as we sat through a game during his nap time!

Our last day was spent going to the National Museum of the Marine Corps just outside of our hosts home in Stafford Virginia. This place was very interesting, and we were sad we didn't have enough time to tour all the rooms or look as closely at everything there.

Belize: Kenny goes foreign for the first time

We really like to sail, and Kris has an especially hard time letting any length of time go by without putting himself at the helm. With this in mind we took our 7 month old baby sailing with us to Belize and he did really well considering it was kind of hot and muggy sometimes, and he couldn't just jump in the water to cool off. I think Kenny and I really enjoyed our naps in the hammoks on the various cays we landed on. He also liked walking in the water of the beach edges. Everyone really like catching the Lobsters and I even thought they were alright. I don't normally like lobster. It is way to chalky for me, but really really fresh lobster isn't bad. I let all the other lobster lovers on our boat enjoy our catches. So here is the journal of the Belize trip! Our first night was spent in Placencia's Harbor where we enjoyed air condidtioned cabins. The next day we sailed over to Whipray Caye. There are no real beaches here for baby so he had to stay on the boat, but the snorkeling is amazing! We saw coral heads in varieties and colors that I have never enjoyed until this site. There were purple sea fans and lime green corals heads that took my breath away. They were all so vibrant the way you think a coral reef should be. In other parts of the Caribbean they are definetly damaged and muted, but here the reef is thriving! Thatch Caye- Cocoa Plum resort Baby Kenny was finally able to enjoy the beach and water at our next stop, which was Thatch Caye. He was enthralled by it. He took a very long nap in a hammok there which made me happy since his naps haven't been very productive/restorative on this trip. We enjoyed a delicious meal at Thatch Caye Central of curried red snapper, pumpkin soup and tarimisu. This location is actually two cays divided by a shallow river. Everyone decided to wade across it and Grandpa Kenny and I drove the dingy over. There is a very neat bar on the other side and hardly anyone around, but us. It was really fun way to spend the day. South Water Caye South Water Caye is beautiful and home to a couple of fancy resorts. As fancy and you can get out on the reef in Belize anyway. It was also a perfect location for Baby to try out his swimming skills, and take a hammok nap in the shade of the many palm trees. The snorkeling off the Caye was pretty cool. I saw sea turtles, sting rays and various large fish including a baracuda that was almost as big as me. We were eyeing each other hungrily for a while. The fishing has been pretty fun and we caught a baracuda, but not a really big one like I saw. The afternoon was a hot one, so after lunch on the boat the Captain ordered the AC to be turned on in our cabins for a few hours. We napped in cool bliss, well, everyone else napped. I watched Kenny roll around on the bed like crazy. He is really getting the hand of getting from point A to point B by wiggling his body around. Tommorrow is the start of Lobster season, and everyone is ready to try thier hand at catching them. Hatchet Caye An Excellent resteraunt called Lionfish Grill exists on Hatchet Caye. It was really good, the only complaint is that the Lionfish Grill was out of Lionfish... Ranguana Caye our last sailing destination turnded out to be our favorite. This little spec of island was beautiful and Kris vowed he would buy it one day. When we are super rich and don't know what to do with all our money- okay maybe we will just visit it often. We enjoyed some really great beaching and enjoyed the hammoks here as well. The supply boat never arrived like the good people running the resteraunt had planned on, so our meal was somewhat questionable in its consistancy. It was really gracious of them to cook for us, but I think they were scrounging up rock crabs... Pine ridge road, Five Sisters and the ruins of Caracol After dropping off the boat we rented a car to explore the interior of Belize. We drove to a place called the Five Sisters Jungle Lodge along the Pine ridge Road. Yes, there are pine trees along this road in Belize. The Jungle Lodge is exactly that, a resort set in the Jungle with all the perks of spiders, bugs, and things that go bump in the night. We loved it. A small hike takes you to a waterfall below the lodge. We took a day trip to some Myan ruins. This was the day before the summer solstice and the Mayan were preparing for a big party at the Caracol Temple. It is an Astronomy Temple that the sun will align through on the summer solstice. I always read about this Temple in my Astronomy books, so I was in heaven walking around and on it!

Baby Kenny's Blessing February 5th 2012

We are drawn to God at times of trajedy and times of rejoicing. I am ever reminded of that fact when I think upon baby Kenny's blessing. We had recently gone through a trajedy of loosing my niece Jocelyn Clara Briggs when she had to be delivered at only 22 weeks. We grieved for her parents and reflected on the plan of salvation. It is such a comfort to know that we will have the opportunity to be with our families again and that our Heavenly Father has made provisions for us to be with our children for eternity. Soon after her parting this earth we blessed Kenny with family all around us once more. It was a sweet time to realize the goodness of God in giving us families who will be with us in times of joy and sadness. Kenny has been such a joy to have and I thank my Heavenly Father every day for the blessing he is in our lives.

The year in review. 2011

Let me explain... There is too much, let me sum up.

Baby Kenny Christmas

Back to catching up. Our first Christmas with our new bundle of joy was a memorable one. He didn't care too much for Santa, which I am sure will change once he realized what exactly Santa does for him. I think being only a month old however he wasn't too interested in anything Santa had to offer. Mom has all the goods! ;) Christmas morning was spent with the inlaws in Vernal and baby Kenny slept through Christmas morning on his Grandma. I can't be sure who enjoyed that more. "Mom, Where do babies come from?" "Well Kenny, Santa brings them and puts them in your stocking..." I have proof.