New Pictures of Joshua

I have not taken pictures of Joshua since his 12 month pictures so I thought I need to take some updated ones. He is 15 months now and getting so big. The other day he was getting all Caleb's BBQ tools out. They are one of his favorite things to play with. He brought them all out on the back walk and was working really hard at it. Then he brought down Caleb's chimney, for starting coals. He set it down on the sidewalk and squatted next to. Then he started to blow in, just like he saw his daddy do a month ago when he was starting to get the coals going. It was really cute he kept doing it and working really hard trying to get a "fire" started.

Here are some of my favorite pictures that I just took of Joshua.

Mt. Mansfield

On Labor day Caleb and I decided we wanted to go on an adventure. We decided to hike Mount Mansfield, the highest mountain in Vermont. The Park ranger told us that is was totally do-able with a baby and it was only a 2.7 mile hike to the top, so we figured that would be fun and easy. It was not nearly as easy as we thought. It was the steepest rockiest trail I have ever hiked. It was basically 2.7 miles of stairs made of huge boulders. The entire trail was like these huge rocks we had to crawl up. Some parts were actually spots were we had to look for hand and foot holds and climb up a face or a chute. Joshua was a good little trooper through it all.

I was getting really nervous and almost made Caleb turn around.



We stopped at Taft's lodge and had lunch before we climbed the last .6 miles to the summit. We really needed the break.



We finally made it to the top and were exhausted. Joshua didn't like the summit because it was really windy. I wasn't prepared for how cold that wind was, so had to put his shirt on him as pants. The view was spectacular and worth most (OK, all) of the effort.





We tried to take the easiest way down so hiked down to the Stowe Ski resort and went down along some of the runs. We are still pretty sore from the hike, but we have at least hiked to the top.

California

I am finally getting around to writing a post about the California part of our trip. Unfortunately I did not take too many pictures, I guess I was just too busy and kept forgetting. For a lot of the trip we helped my parents move. My brothers and nephews and nieces all came up and helped and we got it down really fast. Joshua and Ezra loved playing in the boxes and trying to "help" us put things away. My niece from Utah Ali was there the whole time we were, and it was so great to see her. She is at BYU Idaho now and we don't see her much so it was great to spend lots of time with her. Joshua loved her and she was a huge help playing with him and all the little ones.

We went to the beach and my Dad loves Boogie boarding and we grew up doing it. So my mom and Ali watched Joshua for me so I could spend some time out with my Dad and Sister. It was so much fun, I haven't gotten to go since before Joshua was born and it my favorite thing to do at the beach, especially with my dad.



I could not keep Joshua out of the waves. He would just walk right into them head on so I had to keep a hold of him the whole time. He would laugh and laugh when the waves would crash all around him. The water was really warm so he loved it.



We mainly spent lots of time hanging out together. It was a really fun relaxing trip, and Joshua really misses all the little cousins.