Bathtime at the Simmons' Household

Forget rubber duckies! This child bathes with a real duck decoy!

Halloween at the Simmons' House

Ooohhh! What's this stuff for?

John bought Johnny a cute lion costume, but unfortunately he was deathly afraid of the hat. It's a good thing his Aunt Suzy gave him these cool glow-in-the-dark skeleton pajamas. They made a great costume he was willing to wear.

Is there anything better than a bowl of candy?

Simon showed up with this awesome blue pumpkin! Thank goodness he wasn't very attached to it, because Johnny claimed it for his own.

Here Simon, you take the orange one. Don't you like it?

Luke, Princess Leia, and the cutest Yoda ever!

He wore his hat all night! Simon was a trooper even through the neighborhood haunted house.

John stayed back at the house while we made the rounds. Johnny reviewed all of his spoils when we got home.

If...

If I put my finger in my nose, will you stop trying to take my picture?


If I try to eat this leaf, will you stop trying to take my picture?


If I put my finger in my mouth, will you stop trying to take my picture?


If I walk away from you, will you stop trying to take my picture?

The Dirty Look

He started practicing the "dirty look" when he was quite young. (Here it is at 7 months.)

It became more pronounced over the summer...

And now it is a daily (hourly) occurrence. We don't know where he learned it. We don't look at him this way!

The only person I've never seen him give "the look" to is Emma. For some reason, it is especially pronounced around Tyler. The last time they were over, Johnny was accidentally knocked down by another child. Mid-cry, he caught site of Tyler and had to stop crying in order to pause and cast a sufficiently dirty look in Tyler's direction before he resumed his sobbing.

You always know where you stand.

Simmons, Party of One

When John and I first started dating, he had this cartoon hanging on his fridge that had a picture of a man waiting to be seated at a restaurant. He had a party hat on, and he was dancing. The hostess was calling out, "Simmons, party of one!" I wish I could find that cartoon. It was priceless.

On Sunday, Johnny was finally old enough to be in the nursery by himself. After Relief Society, I ran up to check on him, looking through the one-way glass. All of the children were quietly sitting at a table eating their snack except Johnny. He was halfway across the room. I guess he discovered how to slide down the indoor slide all by himself. He climbed the ladder, carefully got his feet out in front of him so he could sit down (yikes--that's the tricky part where he nearly tumbled backwards a couple of times), slid partway down the slide until he couldn't hold on to the sides anymore, paused for a moment to work up his courage to finally let go, and slid the rest of the way down shrieking "Wwhhheeeeeee!" As his little bum hit the floor (1 second later because the slide is only 3 feet off the floor), he burst out laughing, then he hopped up and ran as fast as he could to do it again, and again, and again.

Simmons, party of one.

Paradise

We took a little family vacation to paradise...Caladesi Island near Dunedin, Florida. Kevin and I discovered this place years ago when my parents were living in Tampa, Florida while my dad was the LDS mission president there. It is one of my favorite places on earth, so I wanted to take John and Johnny there. I think they loved it, too!


There are many things to love about the island, but one of the best features is that there are so few people there. You have to take a ferry over and they control how many people are on the island at one time. Here is a picture of Johnny waiting for the ferry.


Johnny with sea oats in the background. He was most fascinated with the birds.

John took him for a ride on the boogie board.

The sand is as fine as sugar.

Did you notice the bird diving in the ocean behind us?

John went on a fishing trip and caught a trophy sized flounder. They don't call him "Kingfish" for nuttin'!

There was a wonderful pool at the condo that we had all to ourselves.

Johnny loved his little float.

We borrowed Tucker's sun shirt and bathing suit (with the most important drawstring). Johnny's a skinny little guy and the swimsuits we bought for him just had elastic at the waist. After I tried them on him, I realized they would never have worked.


The birds were amazing.

Aahhh...we'll miss Caladasi. There's nothing better than sunset at the beach.

New tricks...

Last Thursday, John came home from work and called out "Johnny!" He answered, "Whah?" We looked at each other and asked, "Was that a fluke? Did he just say what?" Throughout the weekend, he showed us over and over that he was saying "what" (minus the "t") and he knew how to use it appropriately. It's the cutest word to ever come out of his mouth!!! I like to ask him questions while he's in the same room so I can see his facial expression. He listens very intently, gives a serious (almost worried) look, then says, "whah?" When we start laughing, he cracks up himself. John likes to wait until he's in a different room, then he calls him, and you hear this faint little "whah?"

It was a whole weekend of firsts, because on Sunday, I attempted to take him to Relief Society while John taught Elders' Quorum. He thought he was too big to sit on my lap, so I settled him in the chair next to me. After the announcements, someone got up to give the opening prayer. I reached over to "help" Johnny fold his arms and he was already sitting there with his arms folded and his head bowed! So sweet!! I couldn't believe it! That night when we were about to bless the food, he did it again. Today, same thing. We're on a roll!

Finally, today, I think he told me "no!" It was quite forceful, but it came out "doe" so I can't be sure. It sure was suspicious. He definitely knows what "no" means. Today at the park, he kept trying to put a sand-covered rock in his mouth. I told him "no." He looked straight at me and tried it again. I told him "no"...he tried it again. I told him "no" and he balanced it on top of his head instead of putting it in his mouth.

The cutest cowboy EVER!

If you put me in a saddle, I'm riding!

What? Cowboys don't put their feet on the saddle horn?

Gidiyap!

Let me get my rope ready...

Am I handsome or what?

How's this for a cowboy stance?

How long do you expect me to pose?

One more smile for the camera.

Gardening

Face Series

One second I'm fine...

Wait a minute, I'm mad...

I'm really mad, can't you see...

Mmm...maybe more sad than mad...

Okay, I'm happy again!

Vernal Trip

We took a quick trip to Vernal last weekend so John and Brad could bid on a goat tag for Jeff at an auction. We took out favorite traveling buddy with us...Emma. We love to take Emma with us for a lot of reasons. First, she keeps Johnny happy and occupied and never gets frustrated. As he was coughing (he's had a cold) and crying in the back seat, I could hear Emma saying very softly to him, "Oh poor baby." Emma is going to be a great mom. Second, she never whines! She's happy to do whatever we are doing and doesn't complain. Isn't that amazing in a child her age? We ate at JB's and the food was truly horrible. I didn't say anything about it until the next day, when I said, "Didn't you think that food was terrible last night?" And she said, "Yes, but I was too embarrassed to say anything." Lastly, she gets me out of things I don't particularly want to do. For example, when John says to me, "Do you want to run up that hill (or in this case, the side of a mountain) and see if that is a petroglyph or not?" Then I can reply, "How about we let Emma do that?" Thanks, Emma!!

Johnny has this habit of forming an "O" with his mouth and making monkey sounds (whoo, whoo, whoo) when he is excited about something. Pretty much anything can elicit this response, picking him up when he wants to be held, being able to press the buttons on our cell phones, etc. This time, he was most impressed with John's sunglasses.

I hate to have pictures of myself right now since I need to lose weight! I'm working on it, though. If you look closely, you can see petroglyphs in the background.

Steps leading to a petroglyph display. Pretty amazing that these were done thousands of years ago.

Close-up of a petroglyph

This is the one John wasn't sure was a petroglyph and he "invited" me to run up the mountain to see.