Another brag about Zach...

So of course we think our kid is super smart...what parent wouldn't? We are amazed at all the things Zachary is picking up so fast. Dustin taught Zachary to give high 5's. You show Zach how to play with a certain toy and he can do it all on his own now (move the turtle's head to play music, etc.) ...well this next one totally impressed us.....

Zachary knows how to communicate with us. When Jen holds him, he will look around and fix his face on something in particular - then he will slap his hand on Jen's arm until Jen moves towards the object he is looking at. Once at the object he stops slapping and eyes it with intent. Then when it is time to move on he looks around again and finds something else he wants to go to...starts slapping Jen's arm again and stops once Jen gets to the right location. Dang - we are impressed. Maybe all 6 month olds can communicate like this in some way and we are just enjoying a first time parent moment!

Formal Portraits

Well - it was time for Zachary's 6 month portraits. This time we decided to take some family shots as well. Here are a few of our favorites. These are the raw untouched images, the ones we had printed were zoomed in, color adjusted, etc. Expect something in the mail soon!

6 month checkup

Today was Zachary's 6 month checkup. Our appointment was at 4pm...and but time the doctor physically saw us it was 4:45pm! Jen was a bit frustrated, Dustin enjoyed playing with Zach the whole time. Zachary has learned to become more vocal...he now can scream at the top of his lungs. He enjoyed doing this the whole time we were waiting for the doctor to come in....that will teach them ;)

Zach is growing like a champ! Here are his stats:

• Length = 27.5 inches = 75%
• Weight = 19lbs 6oz = 75%
• Head Circ = 44.7cm = 75%

So this visit he was an all 75th percentile boy! The 6 month check up also involves shots. Zach was a trooper, he cried during the shots but stopped after it was all done. Poor kid - they give him shots in both his thighs, and the nurse that administered the shots poked him some way that it made him bleed and wasn't stopping right away...she had to hold some pressure for a few seconds (while Zach is screaming to be held). But a few hours later he is just like new - who knows...maybe it is the Tylenol that is helping!

Oh - one of the development questions the nurse asked us made both Dustin and I look at each other with confusion/concern. The nurse asked "does he respond to his name" - uh.....no he doesn't. But then again we don't always call him Zach or Zachary...we use a bunch of different nicknames - bubba, boobaa, punklee, stinker, baby - so time to start calling our kid by his real name!

A day in the canyon

We spent some time this weekend in the American Fork Canyon. Since today was Nick's birthday it seemed like the perfect excuse to get away for a bit adn enjoy the outdoors. First we stopped just outside the resevior at the mouth of the American Fork River to see if we could catch some fish (we were told by the Cabela's fish department guy that was a good place to go to catch trout). Well 10 minutes into fishing Dustin's fly fishing pole decided to snap. Funny thing is he wasn't doing anything crazy...the top 5 inches just decided to come off! Good thing there is a lifetime warrenty on his two year old pole...it is getting replaced for FREE!

Zachary decided to wear Dustin's hat! Doesn't he look cute? He loved watching the water from the river rush by!

Not so happy Dustin....broken pole!

30 minutes later we continued our drive up to Silver Lake Flats. It is a pretty good size lake...we could actually SEE the trout coming up to our hooks. Sarah had a few fish actually eat the worm off her hook, but not the hook itself. This happened not only once, BUT TWICE! Smart fish - I guess that is still why they are alive! After a few hours of having the trout laugh in our face (they were actually jumping out of the water everywhere, but never wanted our hooks) we decided to call it a day and head back to the house.

Silver Lake Flats

Zach being cute

Checking out the water

Sarah and Nick doing their best to catch the trout

Dustin fly fishing

New neighbor?

So we got home from work on Friday to find this in the lot next to our house:

They are going to dig the foundation on the lot two doors down next week...so we are the lucky ones that get the ENORMOUS "digger" next to our home. We figured we should take full advantage of it and let Dustin and Zachary go exploring. Zachary LOVES them, he is always looking at them when Jen takes him for walks in the neighborhood in the evenings.

More on the fishies!

So we get quite the hook up having Nick work at Cabela's here in Lehi. So you know how Cabela's has those huge fish tanks (bass and trout) and they feed them daily for the public to watch...well, we actually got to go to the top of the tanks and FEED THE BASS! Cabela's actually lets employees bring their families ocassionally to help feed the fish. They even have field trips for school age kids to come in and feed the fish. So today was our lucky day!!!

You have to climb ladders to get up on top of the tanks - kind of tricky with a 6 month old!

They have quite the set up for these fish!

This was our favorite picture. They feed the bass actual goldfish - so we scooped them out of the bucket and threw them into the tank. We had Zachary "touch" a goldfish and this was the face we got!

Happy 6 month BIRTHDAY!

Today Zachary is SIX MONTHS OLD! Where has the time gone?

We decided to celebrate a bit tonight - and what better way than a whipped cream pile and a candle for our baby Zachary. We sang happy birthday to him.....he just stared at the candle...then wouldn't eat the masterpiece sitting on his tray. Once Jen gave him a spoon then he decided to make the mess we were waiting for! Check it out:

Southern California - Twogood gathering

The second day of our southering California trip we spent hanging out with the "Twogood's" in Anaheim. It was killing Dustin that we were that close to Disneyland and we didn't go in the park. Next trip......

Here is the Twogood clan

Tom, Mike, Grandpa, Todd and Terri

Zach and his Great Grandpa Twogood

2nd cousin Chris helping with Zach's feeding - Chris LOVED Zach and had a hard time giving him back to us!

Zach and cousin Scott playing

Twogood cousins - Scott and Zach

We celebrated Mike's 57th birthday - Scott helped blow out the candles

We took a quick trip to Downtown Disney (shopping area next door to disneyland) so Zach could experience the Disney store. He didn't go too hog wild...Jen was kind of hoping he would! We had get some snapshots of him with mouse ears - no smiles though! Maybe when he actually goes into the Disneyland park he will smile more :)

It was great seeing everyone. Cousins Katie and Chris are getting so much older - Katie just graduated high school and Chris is going to be a junior in HS this year! It just seems like yesterday we were all kids and playing together. We are already looking forward to our next trip to visit southern California. We are thinking next January - stay for a bit longer and hit Disneyland with Zachary and all the other family members.

Even though Dustin didn't get to go "in" Disneyland we did try and show him around a bit. We made a late night jaunt down to Hunington Beach and were able to walk down to the water just in time for the local beach police to "close" the beach for the evening (10pm on a Saturday night?!). We were impressed at how many bonfires were going on the beach - it really does look like the OC.

And now for a favorite shot.....Grandma with her grandsons checking out the planes at the airport while we were leaving!

Southern California - McIlwain gathering

We had a great time on our trip to southern California to see some of Jen's extended family. We left Friday morning (flying of course) and met up with Jen's parents and nephew Scott at the LAX airport. Then cramed four adults and two children into a 8 passenger vechile - I think the longest just to get the toddler car seat installed for Scott. We fit with our luggage and stollers in tow. Of course our rental car was parked right next to a Audi TT convertible...while the boys were loading up the SUV the girls were drooling over the convertible - suggesting we rent it as well...then two old people show up and drive off it in. I should have taken pictures of it!

Now off to Corona to meet up with Jen's Aunt, Uncle and cousins on the McIlwain side of the family - we realized it had been almost 10 years since all of us had been together...way too long! We gathered at Tiffany and Mike's casa. Mike and Dustin ARE EXACTLY THE SAME! When we walked in the house the first thing Dustin drooled over was the arcade game:

When Mike got home from work he gave everyone the "sound test" in his theater room. Then the boys proceded to play "rock band". We had never seen this before...much like Guitar Hero except you have a guitar, drums, and microphone - so perfect for a group of people to pretend to be a "Rock Band":

Jen has been informed that when the new version of "Rock Band" comes out for the PS3 (September?) Dustin will be purchasing it.

We had a wonderful time visiting with all the McIlwain clan - here is a snapshot of all of us (sans Mike who is taking the picture)...I had to include the funny face shot in the blog!

Janice, Uncle Lynn and Aunt Sue

Here are some other snapshots from the day:

Zach looking in the M&M

Grandpa Twogood with his two grandsons - Scott and Zachary

Zach enjoying his 1st bath in a "real" bathtub

The first of many firsts

Today was Zachary's first plane ride! We planned a trip to southern California to visit Jen's extended family. We had some Southwest tickets we needed to use (compliments of our frequent flights to see each other when Dustin was working in Boise for a year) and Southwest has a direct flight from Salt Lake to LAX airport! We were worried how this flight would go...no one likes to sit next to a baby on a plane. Well, we were surprised to find out when we were boarding the plane that it was less than half full! So we got our own row (thank goodness!). Zach had a great time! He drank a bottle on the way up and then fell asleep for about 45 minutes. Then he woke up and "played" for the last 45 minutes of the flight. The funniest was he watched Dustin listen to his ipod and grabbed one of the ear pieces....so Dustin put it in his ear to see what he would do. The kid started dancing! He loved listening to music with his dad! Then when we landed at LAX he couldn't stop looking out the window at all the other planes and cars on the runways at the airport. He loved his first flying experience! As for the flight home.....he actually SLEPT the entire flight and woke up when he got in the car at Salt Lake to drive home. I guess we couldn't have asked for a better experience!