Hunsaker Family Reunion

We had the Jesse and Diane Hunsaker family reunion in Park City this year. Except we were missing Diane. Our awesome mom volunteered to miss out on the family reunion so she could stay with Brynn while Natalie is on bed rest in the hospital. We all missed not having the Kansas clan and my mom around, but not as much as my dad did. But Dad did an awesome job pulling off the reunion by himself. Thanks so much! We are so grateful to have an amazing family. Here are my top six highlights:

1. Boating at Jordanelle. This was Jason's first time being on the boat and he loved it once he resigned himself to the uncomfortable life jacket. Because water is his favorite toy, he loved watching the wake behind the boat. He kept wanting to jump into the water. I knew the water was cold, so I thought I would just dip his toes in the water to show him how cold it was, thinking that would change his mind about getting in; it didn't. He wasn't satisfied until he was in the water up to his belly.


Megan and Jason. This is what poor Jason's hair looked like after being slathered in sunscreen and blown in the wind.


Jason helping grandpa drive. He especially had fun with the horn.


2. Eating candied apples, ice cream, and chocolate and caramel covered pretzels at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory on Park City's Main Street. So delicious.

Ava

Sadie
Heather, dad, Megan, Tyson


Kyle, Jason, Megan, Tyson


3. Hiking. Jason screamed when I first put him in the backpack, but he quickly warmed up to it and loved it. Looks like Kyle and I need to go on more hikes.


4. Alpine slide and Coaster. I didn't bring my camera. Thanks, Kyle, for staying with Jason while he napped so I could get out.

5. Utah Symphony outdoor concert at Deer Valley playing music from Led Zeplin. I credit my brother Matt for introducing me to his music.

6. Just hanging out with family. I loved how the days flew by with all the aunts and cousins around to help entertain Jason. We pulled off some yummy dinners in the condos. Heather and Mitch taught me and Kyle how to play "Ticket to Ride." We thought it was a fun game. I just hope Mitch will play with us again after Kyle sabotaged his effort to build the longest train.


Last of all is not a highlight, but a lowlight. Jason discovered we were all sharing a room and decided he would rather play with us than sleep through the night. Sleep deprivation prevailed. We won't be sharing a room with Jason again any time soon.

Roommate Reunion

Last week one of my old roommates, Amanda, got married. All the old roommates came out for the wedding, so we had a serendipitous roommate reunion. I am so lucky to have had such wonderful roommates.

Left to right: Fracesca Dellario, Kate Sonoma, Vienna Klane, Brittania Holloway



Left to right: Jason, Kate, Noelle, Jacob

First Vacation Without Jason

Kyle and I had our first vacation without Jason. It was a very much needed break. Thanks to Kyle's mom for babysitting, we were able to go with my parents and two sisters to Lake Powell for 2 1/2 days. It was amazing. I had forgotten how wonderfully warm the water is there. I love how you can get into the water without shivering and "getting used to it".

I felt very fortunate to be back in my old swimsuit a year after having Jason.

Kyle going...
gone...

Heather and Karren

Kennecott Copper Mine

Kennecott Copper Mine had free entrance this week, so Jason and I met up with Melissa and her kids. This mine is the largest man-made pit in the world, and it can be seen from outer space. I thought it was really cool. I hadn't been since my 5th grade field trip. Kyle hasn't ever been, so we'll definitely return sometime with him.

I forgot to take a picture of the mine, but we got a picture next to this tire, which is an actual tire they use on their HUGE trucks. They make Diesel trucks look like toys.

Jason's First Haircut

After Jason turned one I decided it was time for his first haircut. He was fascinated watching cousin Austin get his hair cut, so we put him on the stool next. I let Grandma Linda do the honors since she has a lot of experience. Jason did not like getting his hair cut, even with Kyle holding him or me trying to entertain. The only thing that pacified him was sucking on an Otterpop while Linda fixed some longer spots with scissors.


I think he looks quite handsome with his new look.

Jason's First Birthday

Jason is ONE! I love being able to feed him so many foods. We had fun celebrating his birthday with Kyle's family. We celebrated it on July 4th, rather than on his actual birthday because the poor kid got shots on his birthday and we didn't want grumpy baby at his own party. Because we celebrated on the 4th of July, I made a fun flag birthday cake using blueberries, raspberries, and cream cheese frosting with lemon zest. We rounded off the festivities with homemade vanilla ice-cream, 7-layer dip, star-shaped cookies, watermelon, and a cheese platter.

We gave Jason the opportunity to dig into a big slice of cake, but he didn't take it. I think this is partially because he wasn't hungry enough, and partially because he was nervous with so many people watching him. He did enjoy smooshing the cake through his fingers once everybody stopped staring, and I fed him a few bites with a fork.

Jason getting nervous:


Calmly smooshing cake now that the pressure is off:



Kyle helped him open his presents. He was most intrigued with his new balls, of course.




Sitting with Great-grandpa Brailsford is not much fun.

At 12 months Jason loves to:

• play with balls
• talk all the time whether we understand him or not. His best words are ball, cheese, blueberries, hot, grapes, bear, and Dada.
• walk with assistance from parents or the wall
• hold his bear while sucking on his pacifier
• eat watermelon
• "help" dad mow the lawn
• take objects in and out of containers
• play with water

Jason has 8 teeth now. I nursed him until he was 12 1/2 months.
We love our crazy Jason. Happy Birthday again, sweet boy.

A Tour of our Home

It is probably time I do a post on our house now that we've been here for over 3 months. Kate told me that I should do this post since I did more of the work. Luckily the house was in really good condition, so we didn't need to do too much, but we did want to make it our own. We painted everywhere but the kitchen and the three bathrooms, replaced all of the carpet, replaced the railing, and put tile by the front door. We had a lot of help from family and friends and couldn't have done it without them. Thanks everyone.

I'll start by showing you the front living room. The walls were all a flat white before we did anything, and the carpet was blue. You can't see the carpet in any of the pictures because of the furniture, but you can get a little of a before and after feel.


The after picture is a different angle, but you can see the new colors on the wall. We love the painting. Kate spotted it while we were shopping for a couch and the colors went perfect with everything we had already picked out. It was 50% off, so we had to take it.


Here is a picture of the tile by the front door. My brother in law Matt put it in for us. Before they just had carpet by the front door.


My dad helped me put in the railing. The old railing had a couple of balusters that were broken and they were further apart. We figured it would be safer for Jason and the future little ones to have a new railing. We used the old post, but put in a new base and new balusters.


My sister Melissa helped us re-stain the handrails and Matt helped us put a piece of wood on top of the wall that goes up along the stairs. As you can see in the before picture, it was just painted. We thought the board would help make it look a little nicer and make it easier to keep clean.


Those are all of the before and after pictures. The rest of the pictures are the other rooms. I have some before pictures, but they mostly just show the furniture that was there before.

Here is a picture of the basement. The basement is mostly Jason's play area and our entertainment room.


Here is a picture of the third room upstairs.


This is Jason's room, with his cool blue fan (the fan came with the house).


Finally, the master bedroom. We love our new bureau. We ordered a bed to match, but it is back ordered and we haven't received it yet.