Happy Birthday William!

Happy Birthday William! We got to celebrate little Will's first birthday with family in Austin. We drove up on his birthday and then celebrated the next morning by opening presents and letting him have his birthday cake. (see video below) The funniest part about the cake mashing was that apparently he doesn't like being sticky and dirty. Weird. Never saw that coming. For his birthday, he received lots of clothes and toys and even a balloon bouquet. What a lucky kid. We are all blessed that he has so many people in his life to adore him as much as we do.
The morning after he turned one, as I went in to his bedroom to get him up in the morning, I realized that he wasn't a baby anymore. In my eyes and in my heart he'll always be my baby, but when I looked at his face, he looked like a little kid. It made me think of counting contractions and the excitement we felt as we went to the hospital and knew we'd be coming home with a new little person. It feels like not very long ago that we were wondering if we'd ever sleep through the night and looking into his little eyes thinking of all the great and wonderful things he'd do.
Although that made me momentarily nostalgic, my mind quickly remembered that right now is a very exciting time for us! Every day is a new thing. And as I chase William around everywhere we go (because he is such a good walker!), it's very exciting knowing that every day we are getting to know little William better. We are so lucky.
Anyway, after his birthday celebration, he promptly fell asleep. Later that afternoon, we went on a little train ride near where my parents live. The train is named Sophie and Will loved it! We'll have to make that a birthday tradition.

These are some pictures I took of William. The genius behind the madness was this - I was hoping to get a cute picture of Will holding the "1" for his birthday announcement. I thought I was brilliant and original. Wrongo. Anyone in their right mind has not tried to make their 12 month old hold a something that must be right side up and not backwards. They would not try this because it's virtually impossible - At least with WIll as you can see. Here are some of our better attempts. Ugh. Obviously, the announcements never were made.

We also had another birthday in the family. Yes, it's true. It was my birthday. I only mention it because Jared deserves more credit than I give him for being romantic. He kept the whole thing a surprise - just told me to keep the evening of my birthday free. The night before he told me that I needed to grab a few things to take with us on our date and gave me a list. He was being to secretive it was aggravating and wonderful. Jared knows that I'm enough of a control freak that I want to make sure all the details are covered, so he knew that I could only really enjoy the date if it was all taken care of and I didn't have to do a thing. So I was constantly asking him... are we going to need to call a babysitter? when are we going to get home? is it going to be late or early? ...Jared prevailed. Jared came home early from school on Friday and whisked me away! He had packed William's bags and made sure mine were packed and we drove to Austin where we left William with my parents and we had a romantic weekend getaway at a hotel. That evening we went to a very ritzy steak place where the food was unbelievably good and went to bed whenever we wanted (to those of you who don't have kids - this is a big deal) and then we got up whenever we wanted (also a big deal). It was truly amazing.
Other than these two great events, we've had a few other things going on. Laina (my cousin) and Richard and Sophie came to visit and we got to hang out with them and my Aunt Beryl's family. They looked so happy and like they were enjoying their vacation very much. The last time we saw them was at their reception, so we'll have to make sure it's not that long again. Also, I'm done with the afghans!!! Please give a whoop and holler for me folks, I get my life back. Hopefully this means I'll be better at blogging. I'm taking a wild leap into digital scrapbooking, and this was my first foray into digital scrapbooking/blogging so hopefully my attempts will improve. Jared is, of course, doing well in school but he is looking forward to spring break. That's right, folks. Spring Break. For those of you in Provo who don't know, or can't remember what that is - it is the truly blessed vacation from school that makes the rest of the semester bearable. No fixed plans yet as to what we're going to do, but I'm sure we'll enjoy it.
All Our Love!

First, First, First!

We have had a busy month (or two) and so I figure if I can get about 6 posts done this year I'll be lucky. But this time I have so much to share and tell about you'd better pop some popcorn and get comfortable. This is the first blog post since the anniversary of this fine blog, and it is one of many firsts the Roberts family has had these few months. First, Will had his first Christmas. Jared covered it a little in his last blog post, but I wanted to get some more pictures of it up so everyone can see the great time we had. There are captions worth reading this time, so click here.

Next first for the Roberts family was the first word. I was in our room falling asleep for a nap and Jared was getting ready to feed William in his high chair. As Jared turned towards the kitchen, out of nowhere William just said "Dad-dee." Just like that. So we got some footage later that night of him mumbling something like it. He doesn't say many words these days though. Jared says he thinks Will sounds like an Ewok because he just does this whisper thing. Maybe we'll get it on camera and post it next time.

In Texas we do something called a Rodeo. It bears little resemblance to what most people think of as a rodeo. It is more of a carnival, flea market, 4H contest, some rodeo action then a concert by a country artist all wrapped into one. And it lasts 2-3 weeks long. Will and I went with some friends to the carnival part one day and later to the petting zoo. Will didn't really love being so close to the animals, but I convinced him that if he stood outside the cage it was fine. Below is a picture of Will at his first rodeo (carnival).

Then came Will's first Valentine's Day. Anyone who knows me knows that Valentine's Day is by far my favorite holiday. I'll explain some other time, but it's true. I love it. Jared got me some flowers (although this is a picture of flowers he got me sometime in January...just because. I'm so lucky!) We didn't do too much celebrating this year, but it was still fun.

Then on President's Day, Will took his first step. We were really excited and knew it would happen soon, and then he did it! He has done some walking since, but he is still mostly a crawler at home. Today at church he was a walking fool, so we'll see if that continues.

Will also had his First Birthday! I'm still compiling the pictures of his party and celebration and that will come later. Just a teaser for now: lots of chocolate cake.

Most recently, Will had his first haircut. His fuzz had reached critical mass and so we decided it was definitely time to give him a nice grooming. Here are the before and after pictures as well as a video of what the experience was like.

Well, we have had an eventful few months. Will is growing up so much. He is so much more of a little boy now. Jared is doing great in school, and still manages to find lots of time to spend with his family. I am still crocheting afghans, although I'm almost done (not a moment too soon). Thanks to all those who passed on their congrats about law school. I'm really excited and nervous and stoked all at the same time. Until next post,

All Our Love!