Picking Strawberries....yum!

Today, we took our first family trip to the strawberry patch.  It was a pretty awesome evening to get out and pick some delish ripe strawberries.  It was the first time for all of us.  Aspen got to see his first farm animals up close and then walk thru the field. The field smelled delicious like strawberry smoothie.  We were out there for about a hour and left with 5 lb of ripe strawberries. We're on our way home to have ourselves some strawberry shortcake. Yum! 

The first pick

Hey why am I in the strawberry box!

Mmmm...glad I'm in the strawberry box!

Family selfie

Our pickings

Wedding Extravaganza

Another weekend in the books.  This time we headed to Okoboji for Ted's niece's wedding.  Ted found us a quaint hotel located a half mile from the reception hall and in the perfect spot close to the water.  We took off mid-day Friday and Aspen rode like a champ on the four hour drive.  When we arrived, Grammie, Cousin Cooper, Cousin Jackson, Aunt Megan, Uncle Luke, and Pop-pop were already settled in and relaxing by the pool.  We figured we would throw on some swim trunks and let Aspen have his first official pool time.  While he initially enjoyed the chilly water, he quickly wore out from exhaustion and spent the remainder of his time nestled in his Mama's arms.  

Check out my swim trunks, ladies.  They are a crowd pleaser!  

Me and Da showing off our guns. Don't worry, my Dad has his license but I am still in the process of acquiring mine.

They even had pedal bikes for our leisure and we spent time pedaling around the grounds.

All in a day's work.  

Saturday was the big day.  Ma, Da, and I went for a nice stroll on the trails by our place for an hour.  I took a snooze along the way, as I normally do on my walks.  We dabbled around and even went to the Berkley Fishing Store where Da bought some bait and Ma found Da a steal of a deal on fishing waders.  Back to the hotel we got all dazzled up and headed to the Church and managed a few good pics together.

Selfie!

Wezah all dressed up!

My cousins looveeee me.  Then again, what's not to love?

My Auntie, Uncle, and two Cuzs'.

Grammie, Pop-pop and the Grandkids.

Man, my Da and Ma are pretty schnazzy!

All in all, we had a great weekend with family and can't wait to one day go back and enjoy the waters of Okoboji again!

Dada Update - 5 month recap

It's really hard to believe, but over 5 months have passed since Aspen has joined the world and blessed us with his presence.  I have tried to regularly update the blog, but I continue to get side tracked in the evenings by my wonderful son and wanting to spend every available moment I have with him.  Luckily, Britt has accepted to take the driver's seat for me as we make the trek to NW Iowa for Shante's wedding in Okoboji and to meet family and friends that is long over due.

It is hard to completely describe the feeling of joy and happiness that Aspen has brought to our lives.  Britt and I have always been pretty happy people and enjoyed life.  Aspen has taken that happiness to another level.  Everyday, Aspen is doing something new and learning new things.  Getting to watch him develop is an amazing experience.  Just this past week, Mary and Adam invited their second child, Kane Edward, to the world.  This really opened my eyes to how quickly Aspen is growing and developing.  If you blink, you will miss something.

So time to get somewhat caught up and write about my favorites things since my last writing.

Favorite things to date:

- Coming home from work:  As soon as I leave the house for work each morning, I find myself wanting to be back home with Britt and my baby boy.  Luckily, Britt has been awesome at sending me pictures and videos throughout the day to help me make it throughout the day.  When the end of the work day rolls around and I walk into our home, it is the greatest feeling.  As soon as Aspen and I lock eyes, we can both feel each other's excitement that we get to hang out once again.  The big smile and his scream of excitement when he sees me is an awesome feeling.

- Baby giggles:  Britt and I have come to find Aspen's giggles to be like a drug for us.  We find ourselves trying all kinds of things to get the little man laughing like crazy.  It like we are on crack and can't get enough.  Luckily, Aspen has seemed to realize that he needs to feed his parent's addication and gives us laughs daily.  One of my favorite laughing epidsodes to date was just this week where both he and I got into a laughing episode together.  I will try to upload video when I get a chance.

- New developments: Back in March, Aspen rolled over at 3 months old.  Every piece of literature we have read states baby's typically do this around 4 to 6 months, so of course we both believe we have a genius on are hands.  Recently, Aspen has figured out how to sit up on his own.  It seems he developed this skill in under a week once he had a enough ab strength to hold himself up.  He is now trying mightily to crawl.  He hasn't quite figured out how to propel himself with his legs, but is getting very close.  He has also learned how to eat solid food pretty quick.  We tried to start him out on rice cereal, but he wasn't going to have any of that tasteless crap.  We then moved to Apples with a few unsuccessful attempts, but finally got little guy to eat.  He is now onto sweet potatoes and is loving them.  Below are a few snapshots of the early failures and recent successes.

Rice Cereal...NASTY!

Sweet Potatoes....Delicious! 

Running with my boy - I have throughly enjoy utilizing the running stoller that Britt purchases at a bargain price at a garage sale (I have to give her a lot credit as I was against this purchase and wanted to spend $300 on a new stroller.  Thankfully, she didn't listen to me!).  I look forward to my run's in the evening with Aspen.  We have put a lot of miles on the stroller to date and will be running our first 10K together in July at the Midnight Madness in Ames.  I'm hoping someday Aspen will enjoy running and excercise as much as I and we will be workout buddies.  So far, so good as Aspen seems to really enjoy the runs!

Camping in the Winney - May 2014 thru June 2014

In the summer of 2013, we made one of favorite purchases of all time - a 1983 Winnebago Brave Motorhome.  This fine machine sports 454 horsies, flower wall paper, brown shag carpet and only 40,000 miles.  Below are a few pictures of our beautiful machine.

We have fully planned to utilize the Winney as much as we can going forward.  This is going to be a great vehicle for our family to spend time with each other to create great memories and give our kids some great stories when they get older.  Luckily, we have been able to take full advantage so far this summer taking several camping trips.

2-3 May 2014 - Deerwood Park in Evansdale (Mama, Dada, Aspen, Gram, Cooper, Jackson, Buddy, and Maverick)

9-10 May 2014 - George Wyth State Park in Waterloo (Mama, Dada, Aspen, Buddy and Maverick)

13-15 June - Union Grove State Park near Gladbrook (Mama, Dada, Aspen, Grandpa and Grandma Swanson, Buddy, and Maverick)

Chub Chub all cozy in his football suit

Mama's favorite summer time snack

Man, it's sunny out!

Swinging is hard work!

Deerwood Campground Park - Coolest Park Ever!!!

Dada and Chub Chub enjoying the park

Picture Issues

Mmmm....Powerade

Nap time for Dada and Chub Chub

Chillin'

Maverick treated himself to some smore ingredients

Just a few of the great photos so far this camping season.  We plan to go a few more times later in July and in August.  Little man should be crawling and starting to really enjoy his time camping.

5 Months and counting

Written June 4th-

Yes.  It is actually here.  Aspen is officially a 5-month-old.  Hard to believe.  And sad that I always feel like I am continually saying it goes too fast.  But, it truly does.  And, it is sad.  I'm sad.  I'm sad that he grows before my eyes EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.  And will continue to forever.  Aspen as a "baby" is already a distant memory.  I can't even close my eyes and picture what he looked like with all his hair.  I can't even remember the nights when we first brought him home and were awake every few hours.  I can't even remember when he started following moving objects.  It all has "just happened".  I'm beyond thankful that I have chosen to stay off work for an extended period of time to be able and cherish my time with him.  But, I also can't believe how many new things he learns day in and day out.  Like, just two days ago, he started taking steps!  Yes, I said it correctly.  He is already taking steps.  I mean, where in the world did that come from? Shouldn't he be able to sit unassisted by himself (but, oh, we are sooo close), crawl, eat solid food, all before he is able to understand even how to take steps?  I wish I could just have a living document of his every day moves, but we all know, we are far too busy to even reflect and look back on it all.  In the mean time, I want to recap what Aspen has been doing in the past month.  At least from what I can remember!
-Growing more hair.  Dada still won't let me cut the small patch on the top of his head or his rat tail, so it all looks kind of goofy if you ask me.  But, I guess you could say it builds character, right?
-We have opted to no longer use the swaddle as his Houidini moves were become increasingly popular in the night.  Now, we will find him 180 degrees from the way we laid him, or even 90 degrees, and most typically laying on his stomach.  He LOVES to sleep on his stomach.  And, sometimes even with his feet or hands threw the posts.
-Rolling like he is the Champion of any 5 month old who knows how to roll.  He would definitely win and hill rolling contest he entered.  He is also improving his roll on his weak side. Also, he has totally mastered rolling from his belly to his back.  He struggled with it for the longest time, but now has the whole system down pat.
-He absolutely LOVES when Ted comes home from work. We'll typically be sitting in the living room, but when he hears Ted walk in the door and the sound of his voice, he is all ears until he can make eye contact with his Dada.  It's automatic smiles from ear to ear, with his dimple exposing itself in the cutest fashion.  I can never get enough of this moment as it melts my heart.
-Aspen can not get enough of going on walks/runs/jogs with either me, alone in the morning, or as a family in the evening.  I've typically been walking 4-5 miles in the morning and Aspen enjoys chilling in the jogging stroller and napping through part of our walk.  We jam out to Pandora and call it a great morning anytime we are able to hit the trails.
-We have now gone camping twice, but both times ended up in Aspen catching a cold and or rain, raining us out.  We are trying again Father's Day Weekend over with Grandpa and Grandma Swanson in Gladbrook.  We can't wait!
-We have unsuccessfully attempted rice cereal and each time we laugh and laugh and laugh at his unfortunate reaction.  I'm certain I would give the same expression if I were him though.  We'll try again in a few days, but mix in some apples with it.
From what I can recall these are just a few of the major events in the last month.  We can't wait to see what this next month brings!

The pics below were taken a day before his five month Birthday.

This was on his five month Birthday. I believe I actually laid down and took a nap with him for once!

Someone loves my phone and attempts to grab it anytime he can.

Adios for now!