A Surprise Vacation!

-Family picture. Poor Kimchi couldn't handle the cold and stayed in the truck.-

Just after Christmas and right before Sawyer's first birthday we were offered a free weekend in Jasper. Who could pass up such an offer. Thanks to a friend of ours we spent a luxurious weekend enjoying the mountains of snow in the Rockies. Trev spent much of his time with friends at Marmot while Sawyer and I chilled in the hot tub and spent the afternoon strolling through town. On Sunday we managed to head out to Maligne Canyon for the quickest hike to date. It was beautiful but it was COLD! Oh and to top it all off, not that you can tell from the pictures but Kimchi was able to come along too! Yay for pet friendly hotels and yay for spur of the moment family vacations! :)

-Trev and Sawyer enjoying the hot tub after a hard day of snowboarding and napping (respectively).-

-Sawyer snuggling into the snow. There was SO much of it!-

-Maligne Canyon. A breath taking hike (in more than one way).-

A Haircut for our Redhead

One other happening over the holiday's in Red Deer was Sawyer's first haircut. We figured that the tub was one of his favorite places to sit and play so into the tub he went. He sat very well for his grandma, as she trimmed his long curly locks.

First Christmas!

-Sawyer showing off his sock monkey toque from Auntie Becki and Uncle Mark.-

Sawyer's first Christmas was a whirlwind of family, food, presents, a minor bit of kid chaos (which he loved) and unfortunately sickness.

-Dawson's best smile... the one he impresses the ladies with ;)-

When Trev finished his exams in mid-December we stayed around Edmonton for a few get togethers with friends and then promptly headed for Red Deer, the first stop of our Christmas travels. In Red Deer we enjoyed a few visits with friends, a delicious birthday party for Trev, Christmas and all the trimmings, as well as sledding and playing in the mild weather.

-Sawyer loved ripping the paper off his gifts and his cousins were there to keep an eye on quality, ensuring all the paper was removed.-

-Cooper, Sawyer's other (and slightly older)half.-

-Sawyer was pretty pleased with his gifts.-

-Nixon slept through Christmas but watch out next year... he's going to love all the action.-

-Who's who? We spent a considerable amount of time this holiday season marveling at the resemblance between these two.-

-Precious Nixon.-

Eleven Months!

Newest trick: Climbing stairs. Sawyer loves to climb the stairs at the Andrus household. And why not, all the good stuff is upstairs. Who needs baby toys when there is a kitchen full of people and food!

Little explorer: Toys almost seem irrelevant as Sawyer has discovered that he is efficient at exploring new places. Doesn't take long for him to get from point A to point B with a few pit stops along the  way.


Favourite food: Sawyer still loves his baby food although we are starting to make a small break through with table food. Much to our delight Sawyer actually joined us for turkey dinner on Christmas Day!

First: First Christmas. I'm not sure which he enjoyed the most, of the hustle and bustle of his busy cousins or the crinkling of the tissue paper.

Favorite moment: Big, fat slobbery kisses from Sawyer. They leave you feeling like you need to squeegee your face but they are so sweet.

Trying to learn: He's not walking yet but he's letting us all know that he's going to be a bi-ped in no time. Crawling doesn't cut it anymore, walking (with assistance) is the only way to go!

Ten Months!

Words: Sawyer talks all the time now and we love it. We have yet to decide if he understand what it means when he says Mom and Dad...

Little explorer: Officially crawling in a forward manner, which means... he's into Dad's electronics and Mom's candles, he loves to slobber all over our wedding pictures AND he's found the bells on the Christmas tree! It's officially a great start to an INTERACTIVE Christmas! Also he's taken his crawling into the bath tub as well and now spends most of his bath time chasing his toys around the tub.

 
Favourite food: Bread, anything bread.

Likes: His new fascination is standing up holding onto the couch. He can't pull himself up yet but he tries. When he makes it to standing he loves to dance to show his excitement.

Trying to learn: How to get Kimchi to play with him. He takes Kimchi's toys and waves them around try to get the little puppy's attention. When he does manage to get Kimchi to come over to him he roars with laughter. Which is usually followed by Sawyer trying to grab Kimchi and Kimchi making a bolt for it. I see a great future for these two.

Yum, yum: Sawyer is having a hard time getting mashed potatoes to stay down. HOWEVER, he LOVES pickled asparagus of all things! Who would have thought!

Invasion

His world invaded!

First Halloween

Despite the last hour and the fact that he couldn't even have any of the candy that he work so hard at being cute for, Sawyer was all smiles. He didn't mind his monkey costume. In fact I might even go as far as to say that he liked it. But the thing that he loved above all about his first Halloween was watching his big cousins. Dinosaur Cooper and Ironman Dawson were, to Sawyer, the most entertaining part of a great Fall evening.

-Sawyer learning how to take what is not his...-

-A cuddly monkey and a proud father.-

-Uncle Mark and the most precious Nixon-bear.-

-Ironman Dawson.-

-A ferocious Coop-o-saur.-

-Trev imparting the secrets of charming candy to Sawyer before the night began. Sawyer was a good student.-