Rhett Perry Butler

Tunk-or-Treating

2011-11-01T09:19:00.001-07:00

We went trunk-or-treating over at the ward and it was HUGE. the entire parking lot was full of cars to go trick-or-treating at (there are three wards that go to the church and we think that all three were there.) There were so many cars, it took us over an hour just to go through the entire parking lot. Surprisingly, everybody from all three wards knew Rhett, and everybody loves him.

He was so cute in his penguin costume, he even waddled like a penguin. One of his favorite movies is Happy Feet (he loves the music), so he loved being a penguin, and he kept the costume on the entire time (a lot better than the constant tugging of last year.) He loved going up to a person and yealling at the top of his lungs TRICK-OR-TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT (he would keep saying treat until somebody gave him candy.) For being such a little guy, he made his presence known.

It was so much fun, and Rhett really liked it because it hit high on his "Ha" meter. If we want to know if Rhett is having fun, we ask, and he replies "Ha!" If he is having a lot of fun he replies "Ha! Ha!" After trunk-or-treating, he replied "Ha! Ha! Ha!" He had so much fun he didn't want to leave, and honestly we were having so much fun we didn't want to leave either. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Carving Pumpkins

2011-11-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

Grandma Butler gave us a pumpkin last time we went and visited them and we decided to carve it. Rhett loved it and actually carved the entire pumpkin (with a little help from daddy). After we carved out a piece, he loved poking it out. He also did a pretty good job using the pumpkin knife on his own to cut - the cuts just weren't very straight - that's why I helped. Not too bad for a two year old!

Tracing

2011-10-16T11:50:00.001-07:00

My parents gave him a bunch of dinosaur tracing templates. He started using them today. They look nothing like a dinosaur when he is done, but at least he is trying and staying within the templates!

Rhett's first post

2011-10-15T08:02:00.001-07:00

Check out "Mahjong"

(Rhett posted this all by himself on Saria's phone. We just had to leave it up. We don't know how he did it, but he did it all by himself.)

Playing at the playground

2011-10-08T13:25:00.001-07:00

Playing at the playground at Burger King

Rhett Sleeping

2011-10-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

This is how Rhett fell asleep for his nap yesterday. Crazy kid.

Playing at the park

2011-09-23T11:31:00.001-07:00

Rhett and I went to the park today. He rode his tricycle, played on the playground and went down the slide. He loved it!

At the park

2011-08-14T19:19:00.001-07:00

We went to the park recently and Rhett had a blast. We went for a walk, and you could tell he had a bad case of the wiggles, so we headed over to the play ground. The fact that we were at Sunset park in Vegas -and watching airplanes land every few minutes (he's obsessed with "airpane's") couldn't control the wiggles.

He would not go down the slide unless he could sit on Saria's lap. Then suddenly it hit him how much fun slides were. Saria could barely keep up with him, finally she just let him go down alone. He spent the next hour or so going down the slide and running to climb up so he could go down again.

Bad boy

2011-08-14T11:12:00.001-07:00

Rhett thought he was such a bad boy that he put himself in the corner. Funny thing is, we've never put him in the corner before.

Bowling

2011-08-05T17:08:00.001-07:00

We went bowling with work and Rhett loved it (especially tyre part of rolling dainty balls - his favorite word and toy is "ball")

Barbies for boys?

2011-08-03T09:11:00.001-07:00

How every mom wants to find their baby boy.... This toy is one of the least boy things Rhett enjoys. Makes sense though. His daddy liked playing with it so much when we went to visit the Bleuels, Monica gave this to John as a prank birthday gift. In Rhett's defense any kid would find a toy that flies cool, especially if that kid is obsessed with "airpanes"!

New chair

2011-07-13T08:33:00.001-07:00

We bought a new kiddy chair while we were in Utah over the 4th of July so he could watch the parade and fireworks sitting in a chair like everybody else. He loved it so much that he carried it around the store. then back in Vegas he still loves sitting in his chair and watch tv.

Putting Rhett to work

2011-07-09T19:15:00.001-07:00

He wanted to help push the shopping cart. I live the one with him looking at the camera and smiling. Hasn't anybody told rhus kid yet that hard work like this should not be fun? Nope! And we want to keep it that way. He loves to help cook and clean too! Lucky us!

At Lake Mead beach

2011-06-25T14:14:00.001-07:00

I finally got a Saturday off, so me, Saria and Rhett went to the lake. He enjoyed floating around, but he went crazy over his favorite thing in the whole world -throwing dirt and rocks! (which he did for most of the time we were there.

Snowbird

2011-06-17T11:12:00.001-07:00

Rhett and I flew up to Utah to go to Snowbird. He loved running around as we waited for our delayed flight, and then he crashed hard on the plane and slept the whole way there.

At Snowbird he swam, played pingpong (he stood on the table, held the paddle and I held his arm and helped him hit the ball), took a walk and played with candy bags, slam dunked the basketball and played shuffle board.

Wagon uses

2011-06-17T10:40:00.001-07:00

Rhett's wagon is good for more than taking rides...

Picnic at the park

2011-06-17T10:38:00.001-07:00

When John works on Saturdays, Rhett and I meet him at the park for lunch to have a picnic and play/run around.

Windy Walk

2011-04-29T12:44:00.001-07:00

So Rhett, Ginger and I went for a walk today and it was windy! In Vegas when it's windy it's not a breeze but full blow-over-garbage-cans windy.

Airplane ride

2011-04-28T13:41:00.001-07:00

Rhett and I flew to Salt Lake City last Saturday to participate in a Easter Egg hunt that my in-laws host every year for the grand kids. Rhett being the only cousin on that side not locate in or near the valley had to fly in not only for the event, but also the opportunity to see his cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents he had to move away from a couple of months ago. I think Rhett enjoyed his window seat...

Sleeping in a big boy bed

2011-04-19T23:34:00.001-07:00

Moving to a new place had been interesting. We have been living out of boxes for months now. Three moving rendition has gone over several days. We were so excited to get all our stuff in one place that we forgot to keep a couple of things accessable - like Rhett's crib a breakfast food.

The first morning in the new apartment we forgot to bring cereal, so Saria made macaroni and cheese - Rhett's favorite food!

We also hadn't brought his crib from the other apartment, so we set up his big boy bed. The first night he was too tired to care and struggle, and was out like a light.

Rhett does not like to go to bed in any bed that does not have sides - a.k.a. a crib with high walls. So the second night Saria came up with the ingenious idea of putting this play tent up on on his bed. Let's just say Rhett was a fan.

Enjoying conference

2011-04-02T09:41:00.001-07:00

It's conference weekend and it was off to a rough start trying to watch the first session Saturday morning. Our internet browser kept crashing and then the Church website went down. No longer living in Salt Lake, we couldn't just flip on the local tv station. Our backup plan was to watch the Mormon channel on our phone, but no luck there. We were finally able to listen to the Mormon channel on the computer. After the first talk, we tried the lds.org website again, hoping to WATCH conference instead of just listening. Finally, success! Even Rhett enjoyed the ability to watch over listening... He really got into Elder Tom Perry's talk. Maybe because Rhett shares a name with him (Perry)!

Potty Training

2011-04-02T08:57:00.001-07:00

Rhett went potty in his kid toilet for the first time! Up until now he goes in his diaper and then says "Ew" as he heads to his toilet and grabs the things of jelly beans we give him as a reward for using the toilet.

This time, though, he said "Ew", sat on the toilet and actually went in it!

Yeah for Rhett and his potty training!

After that, while Saria went running, he hoped up in our bed and was super cuddly (which he hasn't been in quite a while). Out made me not want to get out of bed!

What a great morning!

Picnic

2011-03-28T21:25:00.001-07:00

Here we are in 66° sunny weather enjoying a picnic. Rhett was given a red wagon for his birthday and we just moved it from Salt Lake this past weekend and this was our first chance to use it. Rhett enjoyed riding on the wagon to and from the park.

He then enjoyed playing on the slide and ran around and around riding the slides again and again.

Pink Eye

2011-03-21T22:32:00.000-07:00

I got a call from Rhett's daycare about half an hour after he was dropped off by John. Rhett has had crusties in his eyes before (when he was born) and so I didn't think much of it when I wiped his eyes this morning. Additionally, the wind has been blowing here in Vegas and other people were complaining about their allergies and I thought, maybe Rhett had allergies, so I wasn't all that concerned about his watery eyes. However, the daycare was....After tracking down our insurance information (we didn't have our new cards mailed to us yet) and getting Rhett to the doctor, turns out he had pinkeye. Lesson for me and I was greatful the daycare caught it in its early stages (as the day progressed, his eyes got worse). I was baffled by the perscription I got for him, WITH insurance, a tiny bottle of eye drops not much bigger than my THUMB cost me $37! Alas, Rhett gets another sick day tomorrow until the drops have run their cycle and Rhett is no longer contagious. And I get two days of laundry (today because it was discovered and again tomorrow when Rhett is no longer contagious) to make sure the germs don't spread.

Rhett never gets sick, (he's only been sick enough to see a doctor only once before) but even when he is sick, he's in the BEST of spirits! At any rate, below is a picture of Rhett and his swollen eyes.

Rhett Day

2011-03-13T17:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, John and I decided it was a "Rhett" day. John has just finished his out of town training and we wanted to do something specifically for Rhett. We started the day visiting Grandpa David and Grandma Lori. We then went to Leid Discovery Children's Museum.

We started out in Berenstain Bear area. I don't think Rhett got into it very much as Berenstain Bears, but he had fun playing peak-a-boo out of the cave.

He also enjoyed "dress up" of the "what I want to be when I grow up" room.

We moved on to the 5 and under room and Rhett had a lot of fun in there... complete with foam shapes that he enjoyed throwing to me and building blocks made of wood twigs. He enjoyed playing with the snake and standing on a perch like an owl. Additionally, there was a puppet theater that Rhett enjoyed.

BUBBLES BUBBLES BUBBLES!

If anyone knows Rhett, if you start blowing bubbles for him, you'll have his attention for hours and you'll need some great luck to stop blowing bubbles without a meltdown from him! He is simply obsessed, which made this area probably his favorite place of the whole museum.

We started by being engulfed in a giant bubble.

There was a bubble sheet that you could create and blow at to watch the sheet expand or, in most cases, POP.

John and Rhett enjoyed the soappy dish area. John realized how hard it was to get giant bubbles from a giant ring. He could never get it over him before it popped.

He was much more successful putting the bubbles over Rhett with a smaller ring! I even caught John's expression as the bubble popped in his face!

The working in charge of the bubble area came over and started making giant bubbles for Rhett to pop. He enjoyed it profusely.

This contraption was made to pull yourself up as you sit on the bench, but Rhett enjoyed getting pulled up and then the slow ride back down. It was a mini elevator!

Rhett really enjoyed the museum. We have some videos to add on this post as we get the software on our computer to upload our videos from our camcorder.

Hiking

2011-03-07T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hiking in vegas with mom and dad.

His favorite part was playing in the tumble weed that were super prickly (the picture shows him picking up the tumble weed. Saria accused him of having no feeling in his hands.)

Then he spent his time doing his favorite thing - throw gravel!

Rhett's 2nd birthday

2011-03-06T23:38:00.000-08:00

I'll have to come back and up date with the really cute video of Rhett riding his tricycle that he got for his birthday from Grandpa David Sprague, but in the interim, here is a cute picture of Rhett on his trike!

Videos

2011-03-06T23:15:00.000-08:00

I do have videos to post from my camcorder but as we have rebooted our computer, we have to reload the software.... which is currently boxed in our storage unit, awaiting transport to Nevada. So check back as I will get more videos up to replace this entry. It may be however, after we settle into our new house in a couple of weeks.
Stay tuned

New Years 2011

2011-03-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

Just like last year, Rhett was able to make it through the whole party without drozing off. Rhett enjoyed all the festivities.

Santa and Christmas -- a little late post

2011-01-13T21:32:00.001-08:00

Rhett did better with Santa last year... we couldn't even get him to sit on Santa's lap... but he did accept the candy cane before running away!

We thought the crabbiness ended with Santa, but turns out, Rhett wasn't terribly happy Christmas morning. Nor could we get him in the mood to open presents.

However, as the morning went on and we progressively dressed as we opened some clothes, Rhett cheered up!

AND even enjoyed his toys!

Rhett got Shrek the Third for Christmas (Forever after is coming for his birthday). In case you have never seen, this is how Rhett watches movies. Standing! I guess you can't call him a couch potato even through he does like watching movies...

Movie Time

2011-01-13T21:28:00.000-08:00

Popcorn and juice bottle settled down before the big screen. What could be better?

Roller Partier!

2011-01-13T20:54:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the camera shake... John was skating backwards while recording. John's parents threw a skating party for the whole family and Rhett really seemed to enjoy himself! It's not my best attempt at editing a video, but it is good enough :)

Video Time

2011-01-12T23:09:00.000-08:00

A few home videos that I tried to record that turned out pretty comical! The first video Rhett discovered his stardom on "tv" and was quite intrigued with it.

Daddy Play Time

2011-01-12T22:41:00.000-08:00

hile I was studying with a study group at my house one Saturday morning, John was entertaining Rhett. I had to go in the back room to grab something from our bedroom. I have to walk through Rhett's room to get to my room.... I walk back there and find this scene....

I laughed, took my picture, got what I needed, and went back to studying. Not too long later, Rhett came out into the front room. The bedroom door was closed, which meant he opened the door himself. I went into the back room again to find out what happened to John and this is what I found! Guess it was nap time for one of the boys and play time for the other! I guess Rhett thought it would be fun to throw blocks at daddy... that or he was trying to wake him up to play with him again!

Feeding Ginger

2011-01-09T22:42:00.000-08:00

No words needed....

Playing Soccer - RHETT STYLE

2011-01-09T20:45:00.000-08:00

Rhett was kicking around the soccer ball and we caught it on video... we also caught the Rhett version of soccer -- which involved carrying the ball and running circles around the coffee table!

2011-01-09T00:46:00.000-08:00

While we were in Las Vegas house hunting, Rhett decided very adamantly that he wanted a "cooookie" (think cookie monster talking on Sesame Street). Because he was so persistent, we stopped at the store and bought some oatmeal cookies...

Below was Rhett FIVE MINUTES later! Let's just say COMATOSE! (notice the cookie crumbs in his lap...)

Waving Goodbye!

2011-01-09T00:19:00.000-08:00

It was my day off of school and John was leaving for work. Earlier that morning, I had put the step stool by the window so Rhett could see outside. As daddy drove away for work, he waved goodbye from the car and Rhett was in the window waving back! I was taking pictures of the "moment" but Rhett heard me whip out the camera and gave me he's "what?!" face....

It's Halloween, It's Halloween

2010-12-09T18:24:00.000-08:00

My cute little lion.....

First Football Game

2010-12-09T18:16:00.000-08:00

Rhett went to his first baseball game in May of 2009, and now Rhett has had the privilege of attending his first football game. He must be good luck because both games he attended, home team won :) This football game was quite exciting as it was the first game of the season (University of Utah) and it went into overtime...however, Rhett was NOT impressed!

Playing Catch Up

2010-12-09T18:06:00.000-08:00

So a semester of 17 credits kept me quit busy! Though I kept up on my pictures, I failed to keep up on the blogging. As I finish my degree (next week!), I plan to catch up on blogging! I plan to break it up though, so stay tuned!

PERPENDICULAR SLEEPING...

When ever we consider changing Rhett's crib to a toddler bed (especially with us planning a move and needing to take apart the crib ANYWAY), we just have to look at how Rhett sleeps and realize he's not QUITE ready to be away from four COMPLETE walls on a bed!

And other times, we wonder why we bother, because really, Rhett will fall asleep ANYWHERE!

Rhett fell asleep on our kitchen floor... this was in the morning... guess he wasn't QUITE ready to get out of bed yet!

This is probably our least favorite place for Rhett to fall asleep because we are realizing DEAD weight is so much heavier than a SQUIRMING, CAN'T SIT STILL weight :)

First Steps -- FINALLY

2010-09-02T00:55:00.000-07:00

Standing and Walking - kind of!

2010-08-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

So it's common knowledge that Rhett has been slow to get from crawling to walking and I've posted a few videos of his progress, but NOW we have solid proof that Rhett is INDEED capable of walking AND standing. A little detail on the video below. This is a video that I "mashed up" to show Rhett's ability should he choose to use it. My theory has always been that Rhett never had the desire to walk because he moved from crawling to walking on his knees, thereby making his transportation hands free (which is kind of the desire behind walking I assume). Rhett can get anywhere he needs to go and is quite efficient (and fast) at crawling and walking on his knees. But it seems that FINALLY, he is beginning to have a desire to be a bit "taller"! I know I'm behind on my blog since I moved back home from Vegas but this is a video that I couldn't wait to "catch up" to post. Enjoy!

Random Cuteness!

2010-08-02T22:32:00.001-07:00

My cousin's husband is taking a photography class and was having some fun with his photography during the Pioneer Day Parade. Here are some random cute pictures of Rhett!

Stuffing his face (a pretty common occurrence)

A cousin of Rhett's showing Rhett the "cool" way to wear a hat... Rhett wasn't convinced. We may have persuaded Rhett to wear his Mickey ears during Disney Land, but he was having none of the wearing of the hat!

2010-07-12T00:03:00.000-07:00

Rhett getting ready to go swimming.... The swimmer seems to be on the wrong end of the body....

The two cousins (Kaitlyn and Rhett) swinging on the handicap/baby swings.

Rhett ready to eat the noodle that would be his life preserver in the baby pool!

A late starter.... Rhett is now 17 months old and cannot (or at least CHOOSES not) to walk. However, after thinking about it, Rhett has been walking on his knees for MONTHS and so I decided that THAT counts!

On a further note with the walking, Rhett did amazing walking in the water of a toddler pool with a noodle tied around his waste for balance and water wings....

Rhett should be standing any day. To explain the caption in the middle of the below picture... John and I got a new video camera and I didn't have the software to view the video (Rhett is currently with John in SLC and I'm in Las Vegas)... I went to download a converter off the Internet but refuse to pay to activate it because I will have the software when I go home in two weeks... At that time, I'll probably replace this video for a "legal" copy with the software from the camera....

Anyway, I think Rhett's getting closer to walking -- we continue to track the progress!

Disney Land

2010-07-01T21:49:00.001-07:00

Here are the pictures of Rhett in Disney Land. I posted the more extended family pictures on my main website (http://butler2006.blogspot.com). Beware of the many pictures of Rhett on the carousel. He absolutely LOVED it!

Below, Rhett was excited to hold the Dumbo feather as we waited to get on the Dumbo ride.

Rhett's FIRST ride on the carousel. He was pretty excited.

This was the view I saw anytime Rhett got around stairs. He has an obsession -- to the point that he throws fits if he sees stairs and can't get to them.

Watching the scenery on the Mark Twain riverboat -- at least I was. Rhett was more interested in watching the water!

On the island in the middle of Disney Lake and Rhett sitting on a pile of "gold".

Sporting the ears!

Rhett and Daddy -- Rhett's still waking up...

This was a picture perfect moment. He was always so patient waiting out turn to get on the rides.

The Toon Town jail -- Rhett could WALK through those bars --if he could walk. He held on because it was the only think holding him up!

Check out the strength!!!

More stairs on Donalds boat....

Mickey's piano

John is not excited about the ferris wheel in California adventure -- especially when I wanted to go on the swaying cages. But he loves me enough to humor me... and he SURVIVED!

The mid-day view of Rhett -- that and right around the time we decide to eat!

We stayed for the fireworks and Fantasmik on the Disney Lake. Rhett made it through the fireworks, but was LONG gone while we waited for Fantasmik to begin.

He loved his ride on Casey Jrs train ride!

This was John and Rhett in the morning -- everyone else jumping to go to DisneyLand and Rhett and John only interested in sleep and cuddling!

Strike a pose!

Lightney McQueen and Tow-Mater. This is one of the few Disney movies we own. Rhett won't sit through it though... Guess it's not a bad thing -- he's not much of a television guy.

The first visit to Mickey's Rhett was fast asleep so we had to come back. It wasn't quite the experience it was when we took Rhett at 6 months old, but it was still fun. I caught it on video (see below)

By the end of our Disney trip, Rhett had rode on the Carousel enough we decided to let him ride alone. He loved it and knew to keep holding on the bar.

Family Vacation - Tide Pools

2010-06-14T21:55:00.001-07:00

We went to the ocean (Rhett and I missed the day swimming in the ocean). John's family said these weren't the best tide pools they have seen but I thought the were pretty cool. We were intrigued by the starfish on the rock!

Rhett and Grandpa Butler in the hotel room

Family Vacation - Living Planet Acquarium

2010-06-14T21:30:00.000-07:00

Again, these pictures are in reverse order, but there were too many to bother rearranging after I uploaded them. The great thing about this aquarium was that the animals ALWAYS came up to the kids in the glass. It was amazing!

These were all the clown fish behind us. They come in black as well as orange!

Spider crabs!

John was feeding the bird nectar and he ran out... this is what the bird though... he/she hoped on John's head. I was originally taking a picture of John and Rhett with the bird on his shoulder, but this moment was SO much better -- John's face and all! Rhett however is NOT terribly impressed...

Rhett thought feeding the birds was at least entertaining!

Petting sharks (Zebra sharks). This is as big as they get. John even got Rhett to pet them... that I didn't catch on film.

John didn't believe me when I told him Rhett knew how to drink out of his hydropack

We were taking this picture when a girl pushed the water button on the giant squid next to the shark!

Seal swimming past Rhett. They were very playful!

I didn't know jelly fish came in so many different colors! (pink, orange, clear)

Rhett put his hand over the starfish on the glass.

Big ugly fish swimming at Rhett. John actually had to bring Rhett back because he crawled away whining (see picture below).

A fish the size of Rhett -- or BIGGER!

Cute Boy

2010-06-14T21:17:00.001-07:00

While Rhett has been with me in Vegas, I have had some picture perfect moments. They don't even need words! But I will give them anyway.

In my room at Gabe and Wendy's house, they have this shelf with plastic drawers that I keep my shoes and Rhett's socks/shoes/etc. I was getting ready for work and letting Rhett crawl around before I had to leave and I found him playing in the drawers.

I took Rhett for a not so warm hike in the mountains, but luckily I put on his fleece coat and a friend had a baby blanket for me to use. On the way home, Rhett got thirsty and shocked me when he grabbed the hose to my camel backpack and sucked on it like he had been doing it all his life. It shocked me that he knew what to do!

Rhett climbed into Wes' vibrating recliner chair.

The video below does not do justice to Rhett's dancing, but I think I FINALLY got a decent filming of how he dances! He is always a happy boy looking to dance, sing and laugh!

Dinner Time Yet?

2010-06-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

I was making dinner for Rhett and I one night and I walked away for a moment to the sink and I came back to this view (don't worry, he wasn't alone and he CANNOT reach the top of the stove).

He noticed I was watching him and not finishing dinner.... he didn't seem to be a fan!

Planetarium

2010-06-14T20:57:00.000-07:00

John, Rhett and I spent a morning at the Clark Planetarium in Salt Lake City. I think what makes it fun for both John and I are to see Rhett having a good time -- which we have discovered, really doesn't take much!

Rhett on the moon!

Rhett on "Mars" He blends right in.

Exploring on "Mars" -- he's so close to standing, it's getting to the point where I just wish he would and then I wouldn't be breaking my back holding his hands so he could walk everywhere!

Family Moments

2010-06-14T20:50:00.000-07:00

These pictures were taken before I left for Vegas. These were some of my favorites!

Petting Zoo at Thanksgiving Point

2010-06-03T22:52:00.000-07:00

So blogger always loads pictures in reverse order, so really these pictures are ordered backwards... oh well. Start from the bottom of the post and work your way up :)

Rhett's first pony ride. We let him ride it twice. He really enjoyed it!

We found and inside "growing area". It was just really a kid's play area. It was a lot of fun. See video below of Rhett's favorite activity here!

They had these little play houses. Here Rhett's the guard while I'm in jail....

Rhett feeding the "him size" goat.

We then went out to feed the goats. This one was particularly anxious! We even got Rhett to feed the goat himself... that was until his fingers got nibbled on.. He didn't think it was all that cool after that!

We went to a petting zoo that had in doors and out doors areas -- which was nice seeing it was a bit raining and chilly outside. Rhett's looking at chicks here. They all flocked around him!

Nap Defiance!

2010-06-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

One day Rhett was being particularly crabby about taking a nap. But if you just ignore his screams, he goes to sleep. Well, I came in to check on him and this is what I found....

Notice the wet wipes travel case he is using for a pillow... Rhett has a changing table at the foot of his crib. He decided to clear off the top of the table in his fits and put it all in the crib with him. PERSONALLY, I would have used the cushy changing mat for the pillow (not shown in picture but also in the crib), and not the hard case of the Huggies travel case for wipes!

Happy Mom-mom's Day

2010-05-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

This past week I had to go out of town for a scrapbook show in Michigan. Last year we took Rhett with us, but as he is getting older and he likes to wonder, the Great Lakes Megameet was not the place for Rhett. So he stayed home with John and I went on the trip with my mother in law. This scrapbook show is a great show to go to and has lots of business. But every year, it's over the weekend of Mother's Day. Now the show ends on Saturday, but then I have to pack and drive home 24 hours. This was my first time ever away from Rhett and I missed him as well as John. I was feeling pretty lonely (well John's mom was there with me - so we wished each other a happy Mothers Day) driving in the car, away from my family on Mother's Day. However, I did get a GREAT gift!

Let me back up.... I have been trying to get Rhett to say "mama" for a while now. He said "dada" around 6 months or so. Not only that but he says "dada" in different tones. Anyway, whenever I sit with him and say to him, "now say, 'mama'", the most I usually get a is a grin and a deep belly laugh. Now, at 15 months, same reaction. I gave up and predicted he would learn to speak in sentences before he gave in to saying my name....

Glad to say my prediction was wrong. The first night I was gone, he was babysat all day. When John brought him home, he searched the house for me. When I heard this, it broke my heart! I wanted to be there. The second night, John had to work late, so John's sister was watching him. Well, Laura said Rhett just kept crawling from room to room at her house and saying "mom-mom". HE FINALLY SAID IT. Too bad I wasn't THERE. Figures! I try forever and what does it take to get my son to acknowledge my name? Traveling across the country without him!

Well, I got home at 7:45pm on Mother's Day and when Rhett saw me, the biggest grin spread over his face. Confident he would say my name, I said "Rhett say 'ma-ma'". And then came the giggle. Figures. We were at John's parent's house, so we headed home. John took the van and I drove the car with Rhett and halfway home, I heard this faint "mom-mom" from the back seat! I turned my head and Rhett grinned. FINALLY! Happy Mother's day to me!

Crawling Backwards

2010-05-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

So what is the most FREQUENT question that I get asked about Rhett right now? Is he walking yet? And though he is 15 months old, Rhett does not walk. Maybe I should be concerned about it, but, I'm really not. It's not that Rhett doesn't have the strength to do it --- he is quite strong. I really think he just doesn't have the desire right now. John and I have the theory that Rhett is mimicking our dog and since our dog can't walk on two feet....Rhett has been crawling since about 8 months (at 6 or 7 months he did a cute inch worm movement). Now seven months later, he is the MOST efficient crawling I have ever seen (granted I haven't seen a whole lot...). He can crawl so fast he doesn't pick up his knees to move --- he just moves his hips and starts "swimming" (think free style stroke) with his hands and he can MOVE. He can army crawl as well as CRAWL BACKWARDS. Now, I really WANT to catch him on video because it's comical to watch but unfortunately, when ever the camera comes out, Rhett stops. I got a second or so on the video below, but just imagine him doing this across the entire room. He even looks behind him to see where he is going.

He's still crawling, but he is cruising now too. He can walk along furniture and he pulls himself into a stand, but he hasn't let go yet. In the last week or so, he even did a bear crawl. He may not be walking, but I have a feeling once he lets go, it's not walking he'll be doing. He'll be running!

Shopping for a new Car Seat

2010-04-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

Today, we made the inevitable trip to look for a new car seat for Rhett. John and I have been putting it off because with Rhett being underweight for his age, he hasn't needed the conversion yet. But Rhett's hitting the 20lbs mark and he's getting lengthy for the infant car seat. It always seems to me that he has to scrunch his legs or push on the back of the seat....so we started looking. I've been looking for a little bit but put off buying, hoping that a killer deal would be found because car seats are relatively expensive. John and I went to Burlington Coat Factory today. We found our infant car seat and jogger stroller there, so maybe we would find a deal, AND WE DID. Not only did we find a deal on the car seat but we walked out armed with a few other baby items....

We found a 2-1 car seat (toddler/small kid) for $52, and it wasn't overly big and all cheap looking. However, we found out that they weren't actually that price. They were ringing up for $70. So, I pressed the issue that those car seats were CLEARLY marked at the $52 and at first the sales clerk wasn't willing to give it to me but I wasn't going to let the issue go (We're talking $18 to a college student!). I had pointed out their error in pricing and guess what? I got it at the $52 price!

Above is the old infant seat....and he's not too happy to be in it...

and CONVERSION! and look at the smile on his face as he NOW gets to face forward!

So, right from the store, we put his infant seat in the trunk and installed this seat so he could ride in it on the way home. I don't think he stopped staring out the front windshield window (he was in the middle seat of our car). He seemed pretty excited about it. Later when I took him for a ride in the van, he seemed content looking out the windows and watching everything. It was a whole new experience for him. I think he likes traveling forwards!

In addition to THAT purchase, we had been looking around for an umbrella stroller that was cheaper than $30.00 for our trip to Disney Land this summer. I had about given up hope and was willing to purchase one from Wal-mart (although I saw when I went to Wal-mart later today, they had theirs marked down to $18.00) when we came across $15 umbrella stollers with a sunshade, so we jumped on THAT.-Literally, and after Saria broke it we had to go buy another one.

Below is the new umbrella stroller we got. It has Lightning McQueen from Cars on it. We didn't actually test it out today (a jogger stroller is just better for a JOG around the park) but he seemed pretty happy sitting in it. It will also be easier to pack to go to Vegas this summer and I won't have to lug our big jogger with me! And we are sure the black stroller will keep Rhett nice and cool in the Vegas sun.

Our next mistake was WINDOW shopping. We were actually doing pretty good, but Rhett came across a chair that he liked, and he didn't necessarily throw a fit when we took him off of it, but I had never seen him show so much interest in something and I thought, hey, maybe this chair can be a good distraction to him while I'm trying to do my homework on my computer. So we bought THAT.

So we ended up spending more than we anticipated, but don't worry, we rationalized our purchases right away! :):) It's easy to rationalize when it's for your kids!

I took Rhett home and put him down to a nap. He was upset when he woke up because I was outside and didn't hear him right away. So to calm him down, I showed him his chair and BOY did his eyes light up. In fact, he figured out pretty darn quickly how to get up on the chair all by himself (he's still working on the getting down part). He fell once trying to get up (just lost his balance and fell backwards and hit his head on the floor) and he started crying. All I had to do was set him in the chair and he stopped and started patting and petting the plushness of the seat. In fact, I pushed the chair up against our bed this afternoon so he couldn't fall off and he even took a nap in it -- without crying! Below is the infamous seat. I was trying to get a video of him climbing up on the chair but at the time I was recording, he decided that he COULDN'T get up when he had already done it multiple times that day! At the end of the video, we finally got him on film climbing into the chair.

In the doghouse!

2010-04-24T19:30:00.001-07:00

Ginger sleeps in her doghouse at night because the last few times we let her sleep in the front room on her pillow, she decided she didn't have to wait to go to the bathroom outside... that and for some reason, she has been throwing up at night sometimes and it's been staining my carpet (a carpet cleaner vacuum has become my best friend!). Anyway, every morning Rhett comes with me to let Ginger out her kennel and feed her dog food. Usually Rhett is more interested in watching Rhett eat (beats me why), but on this morning, Rhett decided to go exploring inside Ginger's home.

Need a Pillow?

2010-04-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

Rhett never really got into stuffed animals, until lately. He likes the feel of that soft plush, better than fleece feel from his newer stuffed animals. I have to admit, the fabric is better than any stuffed animal I had as a kid. And low and behold, those plush animals make pretty cozy pillows -- heck, the Rhett sized blue bunny he got from great grandpa Vern last Easter makes an especially good BODY pillow!

Rhett is in bed for the night as I write this blog. As he is screaming because I didn't give him a bottle tonight (he already had his fill of milk during the day), I'm reminded of the OH so cute moments I catch him in sleep! In the picture below, it really looks as if he is putting quite the effort into dreaming! He has assumed "the thinker" position!

What's Mommy Doing?

2010-04-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

It was the day before a pretty big interview and I decided I needed a haircut. John was nice enough to oblige me (he cuts my hair - and does a good job :)) and so I began washing my hair. While I have my head over the tub sudsing up, Rhett decides he wants a closer look at what it is I'm doing...so John grabbed the camera!

Spaghetti

2010-04-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

Rhett loves pasta and it's easy for us because he can feed himself, right down to slurping spaghetti noodles. But this day Rhett decided that pasta wasn't good enough. Up to this point I hadn't given him any sauce to go with the pasta because it was messy and he was content with just the pasta. Well, that patience came and went, so on went the sauce and I don't think he's ever going back. Now when we have pasta, while Rhett is waiting in his chair, he starts talking gibberish and flapping his arms excitedly because he knows that the spaghetti sauce pasta is coming. I just need to make sure he has NO long sleeves or at least they are rolled up!

Forgot some Easter moments!

2010-04-24T18:37:00.001-07:00

I was taking pictures of Rhett today and went to download them on the computer and realized that I still had Easter pictures I hadn't downloaded yet. So here is a blog to that! After Rhett discovered the sweetness of jellybeans (jellybeans are so much better now -Starburst jellybeans - YUM), John tried converting Rhett to BLACK jellybeans. Now, I can't STAND black jellybeans but I love the taste of fennel in meals -- go figure.... Anyway, every year for Easter, the Easter Bunny brings John black jellybeans. John gave one to Rhett and other than the BLACK drool everywhere, Rhett LOVED them. The image was much better in person, but we tried to capture the blackness that became Rhett's mouth!

Easter Egg Hunt/Egg Dying Fiasco

2010-04-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm FINALLY caught up on my blogging. Every year, Rhett's parents throw an Easter Egg hunt for all the grandchildren and some of their cousins on the other side (if they live around here). It's usually in their back yard, but whether is something to be desired right now in Utah. We went from 70 degree whether to SNOW, sleet, and rain. So instead of having the hunt outside we did it down a hallway and in classrooms at a church ward building. it was fun and I was glad because I could let Rhett get down and crawl without him getting muddy or wet.

Just as a side note, the very FIRST egg he found was a real egg... a real egg, a 1 year old and an EMPTY plastic Easter basket are NOT a good combination! The poor egg took a few battle wounds....

Rhett found some plastic eggs -- they were MUCH safer than the real eggs -- although, this one in particular he figured out how to crack open... this egg was found near the end of the hunt and he was pretty much done looking after he figured out there was candy inside -- he was more interested in his loot and getting at the candy that he figured was in the eggs!

At first, I don't think he knew how to react after all the candy spilled out onto the floor. I think it was a little unexpected to him. But he quickly recovered and it was a race to see if mommy could pick up the candy faster than Rhett could EAT the candy!

He found a blue bunny in a plastic bag (because the hunt was originally planned for the sometimes soggy whether of outside during spring).

The very first thing that Rhett found was a blue bunny sucker

At the end of the hunt, I asked some of Rhett's cousins to watch him so I could help recover objects from the hunt that hadn't been found since I had helped hide them. The cousins did such a good job watching Rhett... this is what I came back to -- blue slobber! I guess Rhett had figured out how to get into his candy and discovered a blue robin egg whopper -- After I decided that he wasn't going to CHOKE (although at the end I did become nervous enough not to let him finish it and dug it out from his mouth -- see my blog from earlier this month on my scary experience), I decided to take a picture. I later became confident that Rhett enjoys savoring the flavor of jellybeans, robin eggs, m&ms, etc that he sucks them until they are gone and DOES NOT swallow them whole so I calmed down about this issue :)

This picture really doesn't do the whole experience of Easter Egg dying with a 1 year old justice... so we caught it on video! The two funniest moments are displayed below. Needless to say, we were eating some cracked hard boiled eggs! But in the end, I think Rhett had fun -- or at least John and I had a blast!

The end product! The brown eggs are SUPPOSE to be purple, but obviously I can't mix red and blue food coloring in the right amounts to get purple!

More randoms

2010-04-03T18:17:00.001-07:00

Rhett helping me do the laundry. John will agree that Rhett bleeds 100% red and John is fully expecting Rhett to go the University of Utah....

I thought this "crusty" face was HILARIOUS! Rhett and Ginger are good friends. They fetch together -- or at least when Ginger is done, Rhett will fetch it and want you to throw it again. Sometimes, after Rhett has done all the work, Ginger will take the ball and bring it to you to throw again... TAG TEAM FETCH! On that note, I read all the baby books about how at this age, babies love to play "fetch". But the traditional game is for the baby to throw something and for the parent to go get it. I like this version much better where I throw it and RHETT goes and gets it! Ginger may feel jibbed attention wise because it's no longer just her in the family, but I think she really enjoys Rhett. It keeps her young :) I think they are cute/hilarious together. It's a unbreakable friendship forming between those two!

So, now that Rhett has teach, I've really been trying to get Rhett to let me brush his teeth. Before he HAD any teeth, or only one or two, he was good at just chewing on the baby brush. He's never wanted anything to do with teething rings either. SO, this is my attempt to show him that brushing teeth is fun... He thought it was a fun game and it DIDN'T accomplish my purpose.... Here is how the scenario went...
"Rhett say ah"
As soon as I opened MY mouth, he stuck the toothbrush in MY MOUTH. AFTER that, when I gave him the tooth brush, he would say, "ah" and wait for me to open MY mouth and say ah and he had the tooth brush ready for when I opened my mouth... FUTURE DENTIST?! Now just to get the self dental hygene down... Still trying -- I've resorted to putting VERY little toothpaste on the toothbrush for flavor so he'll at least CHEW on the tooth brush. Any other ideas?

So I don't think I took this one. It must have been a random one that John got of Rhett. And I promise this is NOT a posed picture. Rhett loves the piano and we often see him here. Here is how he gets up since he cannot yet stand on his own. He pulls himself up on the piano bench and then turns and reaches his hands for the piano keys to support him.

Everyday Living

2010-04-03T17:48:00.001-07:00

I just love random pictures. These pictures are random moments we were able to catch Rhett on film!

Rhett found two bottles in his diaper bag... one used that we forgot to pull out (that's the one he's NOT sucking on) and then the unused bottle. I think he was trying to deliver a message....

I was giving Rhett a haircut and I find the easiest way to cut it is to get it wet and spike it. John got the camera when I created a mohawk....

Rhett was trying to get to something on the couch. Probably those mail boxes -- they were scrapbook orders that we were mailing to the customers. I caught him in action. How guilty does HE look?!

Birthday part two!

2010-04-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa Butler decided Rhett needed an Orange cake for his family birthday celebration. Rhett occassionally goes "taste testing" with Grandma and Grandpa Butler when they go shopping at Costco and Sam's Club on Fridays and they claimed Rhett LOVED the orange cake. Funny enough, Rhett ate the cake and spit out the tangerines on top!

A late birthday post

2010-03-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

For Rhett's Birthday, after the cake eating, we went to the park to play on the playground. At first, Rhett wasn't sure what he thought of the swings, but in the end, he liked them!

I think my favorite pictures are the ones of John with Rhett. I'm probably biased though.... I just LOVE the bond that they share. They have so much fun together laughing and playing together. I love that Rhett LOVES his daddy!

Rhett may prefer me when he's looking for comfort, but I don't think he has nearly as much fun playing with me! We went down a slide together and he had a confused look on his face... it was like he didn't know if he was having fun.

He seemed to be happier when he wasn't actually DOING the "sliding" part of the slide....

Birthday Boy

2010-02-04T15:55:00.000-08:00

I can't believe my baby boy turned 1 years old! I really took some time on his birthday and thought about a year ago in the hospital when I first met him. He is the joy of my life (and I think the joy of the life of anyone he meets). It's amazing how fast that year went. I was in school when he was born and I opted to take a semester off so I could spend some quality time with him and not miss those precious moments. Now that I'm back in school and I'm a semester behind, I can honestly say it was worth it! I wouldn't have traded anything in the world to share those moments growing with him!

Here's the snap shot of my VERY non-messy cake eater as far as infants go. We video taped him eating it to and may I just say it was ANTIclimatic as he just picked apart the cake piece and ate it piece by piece... and then sucked the frosting off his hands. Monica scolded me for not giving him a chocolate cake as the mess would be more revealing... See video on bottom.

Here was the cake we made. It was a simple white cake that we added shredded coconut and a little coconut extract, and then topped with toasted coconut on whipped frosting. It was the chocolate cake that one year birthdays demand, but it sure was yummy. We got a new bunt cake pan and I wanted to try it out as I have never made a bunt cake. The whole time I thought it looked like a giant donut from a Homer daydream in the Simpsons!

The morning of Rhett's birthday, I got him up, made him breakfast (more than the usual baby cereal-- he got scrambled eggs and pieces of potatoes and toast), and then got him dressed so he could pose for his birthday picture! This is an outfit grandma Lori got him for Christmas/birthday. I thought this picture really made him look more like the toddler he's becoming and less like the baby I brought home from the hospital.

Whenever I have the camera in my hand, Rhett is curious at what I am doing. This was also a good comparison picture to his birthday picture at the hospital. See below. It's amazing the changes! You can't see it really in the picture above, but Rhett happened to scratch his nose pretty good with his figure nails. Maybe he was trying to recreate the moments from the hospital when he scratched his face up (see picture below)!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RHETT

A Night at the Museum

2010-02-04T15:36:00.000-08:00

First Mondays of the month are free at the University of Utah's natural history museum. So family home evening it was!

The best part of the entire museum was the dinosaurs, but it was toward the end of the night and Rhett just wasn't that interested in them.

He's excited to be on my shoulder though! He also liked pulling my hair -- he didn't last on my shoulders very long!

There was this great puppet show area that had hand puppets of different "creatures." Rhett enjoyed the bat tickling him as well as the fuzzy legs of the tarachula! (see below)

I believe we are looking at beetles in this picture. He seemed intrigued by them. I think it was the simple fact that they moved. At any rate, he seemed to be interested in the buggy life of the museum.

Rhett putting to test his archeological skills and "carefully" brushing off the bones.

Sitting in a dinosaur footprint. They sure have big shoes to fill!

Sledding

2010-02-04T15:23:00.000-08:00

We went out sledding on a sunny Saturday. We bundled Rhett all up to stay nice and warm and realized that it wasn't all that cold out! It had to be in the higher 30s. All we had were a couple of roll up sleds and since the hill was basically snowy ice (not too slippery you couldn't walk up it though), they worked out great!

It took Rhett a couple of runs to decide if sledding was even worth acknowledging or just letting mom and dad have fun with him in their arms!

In the end, even Ginger had fun! We didn't get any pictures of it, but a few times, I went down without Rhett and tried to get Ginger to sit in my laugh. Well, she hopped, skipped and jumped over my sled "playing" the whole way down! It's hard to explain, but everyone at the hill got a kick out of the dog that "sled" down the hill. If anything, we tired her out!

Happy New Years!

2010-02-04T15:12:00.001-08:00

So I'm a little late at posting this, but here are some cute pictures.

I couldn't believe Rhett made it all the way until midnight and wasn't even crabby! I think he's a little unsure of the confetti that daddy threw on him...

He wasn't crabby, but he sure seemed hungry. He went through two full bottles that night and snacked on baby food as well as other goodies around the house. Seriously, where doesn't this UNDERWEIGHT baby put it?! IN HIS DIAPER!

Happy NEW YEAR!

Brushing Teeth

2010-01-24T23:17:00.001-08:00

Rhett has discovered the toothbrush! I was amazed at how well he "brushes" his teeth!

First Christmas

2010-01-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

John and I had a BLAST celebrating Christmas this year! John had done quite a bit of woodwork gifts to give to not only Rhett but other members of his family. Santa had fun spreading out all the gifts on Christmas Eve. It felt magical when the lights were off. I LOVE that celebrating holidays for the first time with your child makes it all the more magical for YOU!

Rhett's toy puzzle train, made completely of wood by John. Rhett loves to take all the blocks off... I don't think they ever DID make it back on the trains!

Monica Bleuel and her family sent Rhett some gifts from Wisconsin. He got a Leapfrog magnet toy that goes on our fridge and, OF COURSE, his first Green Bay Packers hoody! Rhett doesn't like to match up the vehicles on the Leapfrog -- in fact, if they are in the barn, he proceeds to take them out and place them in the PLANT by our fridge! I couldn't figure out where all the parts were going until I found his stash in the pineapple plant! But he does love the stoplight button that plays music!

We had this rocking chair given to us before Rhett was born (by my mom I think) and so we pulled it out of the shed and gave it to Rhett for Christmas. We had the perfect red bag to wrap it in (we originally got a vacuum in it for our wedding gift-- from Target -- we knew we had to keep the bag!).

First Haircut

2010-01-21T19:31:00.001-08:00

I gave Rhett his first haircut before Christmas because his hair was starting to curl around his ears. I admit that cutting hair is not one of my strong points. I have messed up on John's head more than one, and one time, THAT resulted in a shaved head for him (that was my FIRST time cutting hair). Rhett's hair was so darling since he was born, so I was a little nervous about cutting his hair, and especially how he would react to it. The end result was that I didn't cut that much off -- really only the stuff around his ears, neck, and then evened it out on his forehead. I went back later, after a little more confidence, and finished the job!

Before the scissors came out... he wasn't looking so sure about what was going on....

But then he realized the CAMERA was out and he had to pose. When I got around the ears though, NOTHING could distract him and I did mess up a little on one ear line, but luckily you couldn't tell unless I pointed it out.

All in all, Rhett handled his first haircut really well. When I came back to finish the job after Christmas, he did even better!

Christmas Pictures

2010-01-21T19:18:00.001-08:00

So, now that I'm in school, I just seem to be falling further behind with "trying to catch up" on Rhett's blog! We were trying to get some holiday pictures before Christmas and Ginger and Rhett were a hoot!

Rhett and Santa

2010-01-13T15:29:00.001-08:00

At our ward Christmas party, Rhett was able to sit on Santa's lap. I believe he was the ONLY baby that didn't cry. He just looked at Santa weirdly, like he didn't know what to think. I guess that's better than tears! However, Rhett was REALLY excited about the candy cane he was given.

Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Butler

2010-01-09T15:05:00.000-08:00

This year, to celebrate Christmas with the Butlers, we all met at John's oldest brothers house and had a gift exchange. With 15 grandchildren, we had quite the pile of gifts in the middle of the room. Rhett got some balls, hats, and toys. He wasn't much into unwrapping the gifts, but he sure enjoyed playing with them.

Rhett's first official Christmas gift, that I ended up opening... it was a colorful ball.

Rhett got this lion from grandma and grandpa. He LOVES to sit on it and pet the soft "fur". It amazed me at how well he COULD balance on it.

Wrapping Paper Tube Fights

2010-01-08T16:32:00.000-08:00

One day, while I was at work, John wrapped some of my Christmas gifts. Rhett got a hold of the empty tubes and the pictures explain the rest!

(What Saria isn't telling you is that Rhett and I - John - got into a sword fight with clashing swords and everything! He had a blast and was laughing the whole time!)

First sleigh ride.

2010-01-08T14:46:00.000-08:00

In the beginning of December, we had our first good snow fall that left us quite a bit of snow on the Salt Lake Valley floor. We decided to take Rhett for his first venture in the snow. Over all it was a success!

Rhett looking at the "white stuff" -- I know he looks covered in it, but he stayed warm and dry. We were out probably a total of five to ten minutes since he didn't have decent snow gear. That and it wasn't terribly cold -- low thirties. We kept stuffing his hands into his thick baby blanket but he refused to keep them there!

Smiling in his sleigh. I think he enjoyed himself!

Rhett 10 Months

2009-12-10T07:37:00.000-08:00

I guess it's true that as a child gets older, you tend to take less pictures -- but I still do take a lot! I just tend to post less of them. Rhett is now 10 months old. It's crazy to me how much the time has flown! I decided that we needed to start thinking about family pictures. I started with taking some pictures of Rhett. I had some velvet left over from the material I bought to make Rhett a Christmas Stocking. Here are three that turned out pretty good. I'm lucky that Rhett LIKES to pose for a flashing camera!

A "terrifying" Tiger

2009-11-15T21:42:00.001-08:00

Alright - everyone is making comments about how late they are at getting their halloween pictures on here. Well I beat them all, but it's only PARTIALLY my fault. For the last month and a half, I've had faulty internet issues. Anyway, it's the 18th of November and NOW I'm posting all the cute pictures of Rhett. Enjoy!

Rhett's first Halloween was a blast! John and I got festive and dressed up ourselves. I was Pippi Long-stocking (though I didn't get the wire in my braids until my neighbor helped me out), John was my knight in shining army (or as everyone called him - a Knight Templar), and Rhett, of course, was a tiger, which turns out, he looked a little like Hobbes from Calvin and Hobbes comics. Anyway, look though the pictures and watch the videos!

Right after we got ready. What a cutie!

Grandma and Grandpa Butler's House - the first stop.

John's helmet on Rhett...kinda of like Shrek, but without the ogre! It was pretty comical.

John let Rhett play with the candy after getting home. See video above to witness Rhett's joy of all the crinkly wrappers!

Our happy family at the end of the night. Rhett didn't take his afternoon nap because of all the festivities and he crashed hard at the end. We ended up putting him to bed right in his costume!

Rhett's "growl" was hilarious.

Rhett crawls a lot better than this now, but I thought his inch worm crawl in his tiger outfit was pretty adorable. Of course I'm biased though!

Pumpkin Carving

2009-11-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

So we have been having major internet problems--it's really slow in the afternoon and nights and Qwest is still trying to figure it out. So pretty much, anything that is uploading, OR downloading is a big frustration and it has pretty much discouraged me from trying. But alas, I uploaded these pictures a couple of weeks ago and forgot that I never posted the blog. So here it is!

This is Rhett's first Halloween and while he didn't go to a pumpkin patch (OTHER than grandma's back yard), we couldn't miss letting him play in the guts! Turns out this pumpkin was liquefied a little on the inside so the playing in the guts turned out to be a little bit of splashing fun that we had to quilch (however that is spelled) right away with the guts of ANOTHER pumpkin his cousin was carving. Either way, he had a blast -- all the way from the guts to the bathtub after!

The finished pumpkin with all the guts!

Laundry Day

2009-11-01T17:08:00.000-08:00

I was sorting laundry to wash and Rhett decided to help me sort... and he had fun helping.

Crawling!!!

2009-11-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

Rhett has learned to crawl -- or at least is in the beginning stages of it. He doesn't go far, but he can get from here to there if he has a little motivation! Below are some videos I was able to catch (after many attempts!) of him in action.

Random Cuteness!

2009-10-28T21:28:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have posted anything, but the pictures are being taken nonetheless!
Below are pictures of Rhett in Vegas while we were down there for a scrapbook convention (and to see my family of course). Rhett enjoys piggy back rides...however, if you don't hold his hands, he WILL hold your hair -- IN A DEATH GRIP --OUCH! Anyway below are cute shots of John and Rhett. The two of Rhett on the carpet -- he was just being his goofy, cheesy self. When a camera is on him, he HAS to pose. It is SO hard to catch him "in the moment" because he has learned to "strike a pose" for the camera. The picture of Rhett playing is with my old roommates daughter, Noel. It was the first time Rhett has acknowledge someone else to play with. It didn't last long though... Noel crawled away!

DisneyLand

2009-08-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

John and I had the opportunity to take a cheap trip to Disneyland for pretty much the cost of gas. We decided that even though Rhett is only 6 1/2 months, since we were paying next to nothing, it would be worth the memories of his reaction to "the most magical place on earth". It was pretty magical for him!

(above left): Rhett's reaction to his first ride (the Snow White adventure). Eye's wide open were about the description of the day!

(above right): We couldn't pass the chance of getting Rhett his first set of Mickey ears. Believe it or not, he is wearing the "infant" ears -- which by the way could fit John or myself! Interestingly enough, though he humored us and wore the ears, he was MOST excited for the bag it came in!

(above left): the dumbo ride. (above right): Rhett on the Disney Train smiling for the camera -- he got good at doing that!

(above left): We went to Toon town and visited Mickey Mouse's house and it had fun contraptions in it. This one was a one man band set up!

(above right): Family picture with Mickey -- I think Rhett was happy!

(above left): Mickey was pretty great with Rhett. Rhett had fun "exploring" Mickey's face! An instant fan!

(above right): Rhett's first ride on a carosel (however that is spelled).

(above left): Day two -- Rhett seemed excited for what the day held!

(above right): In Toon Town -- Goofy's fire truck -- Rhett enjoyed being behind the wheel!

(above left and middle): Rhett "blowing up" some TNT.

(above right): After all the hype and excitement with Mickey, we bought Rhett a mini Mickey -- and what did he want?! Yup that's right -- the BAG! (Don't worry, he was also a fan of the toy!)

(above left): The second time at Mickey's house. I think Rhett knew Mickey was coming because he got all squirmy and happy when we went into Mickey's house on the second day.

(above right): This time Rhett was ready for Mickey -- he planted a big kiss (slobber?) flat on Mickey's nose! Rhett adored Mickey and all the people in the room adored Rhett's reaction and more than one camera was flashing! It was the best!

All in all, it really did seem like a magical place and it was AMAZING seeing Disneyland from a kid's point of view and how it is magical to them!

Should they happen to read this blog, a special thanks to those people that made this trip possible for us!

Sitting up

2009-08-28T21:36:00.000-07:00

I took this pictures a couple of weeks ago, when Rhett was getting pretty good at learning to sit up. He's not a PRO yet, but he has advanced from Beginner to Intermediate!

Rhett loving Ginger

2009-08-13T22:31:00.000-07:00

Rhett LOVES Ginger. He is constantly smiling at her and laughing at her for reasons that are beyond my understanding. I caught a particular moment of Ginger playing fetch and Rhett watching (and laughing).

Not a fan of peaches!

2009-08-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

Rhett is trying all sorts of new foods! His favorite so far has seemed to be squash, but he has also eaten peas, green beens and carrots so far. We tried gerber peaches and this was the reaction I got...

25 Weeks - and time to stop counting in weeks!

2009-08-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Rhett turn six months old this past Sunday. A year sounds like such a long time but I swear taking care of Rhett since he has come.... well it just doesn't feel like it has been six months! Rhett is sitting up and hasn't QUITE been able to get in that position by himself, nor is he able to push himself into the crawling positiong, once there, he can stay for a little bit. It's getting longer each time! Here are some cute pictures of my little man!

Check out that drool! This is the picture I got after I put Rhett into the crawling position (above).

but alas, Rhett preferred the superman sprawl! He'd plop on his stomach and just start "swimming" with his hands and legs.

This was by far my favorite picture of the night.

Watermelon Lover

2009-08-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

I was watching a girl from my ward and she discovered I had watermelon. Well, I could not get her to focus on ANYTHING else until she had a slice... or FIVE! Luckily they were smaller slices for her. Since we were all partaking, John let Rhett try some of the watermelon and if there was such thing as love at first taste....

Swimming - 23 Weeks

2009-08-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

After we got back from camping, we met up with one of my old friends from Las Vegas. She and her husband were in the middle of moving to Alabama and her in laws live in the Salt Lake Valley and they have a pool. They ALSO had a kiddy tube. At first, Rhett seemed intrigued by his own feet and how they were distorted in the water.... But then he thought the tube was pretty darn great! Especially with John entertaining him!

Rhett decided it was pretty great to chill in the shade and pose for the camera. How cute can he be?!

I think this is the first documented picture I have of Rhett sucking on his beloved bottom lip. I have NO idea why he suddenly started doing it, but he seems to enjoy it!

CAMPING - 22 weeks

2009-07-19T20:13:00.000-07:00

After the Fourth of July weekend, we decided to go camping in the Uintah Mountains. We figur3ed that it would be quieter during the week. WELL we were right. We were the ONLY campers there for 3 days. Not even the camp host was there. He probably figured there wouldn't be anyone there during the week. The peace was almost eerie! Unless you plan on going back country camping, I think you kind of expect the noise of other humans. In a way it's comforting because at least the noise of other humans helps assure you that no animals will come into your camp site! At any rate, we had a BLAST. And I think the misquitoes had a FEAST -- they were BAD!

The picture below is right after a leisurely walk around the lake which was right behind our camp site. It may have been 100* in Salt Lake City, but in the mountains, it was chilly enough for a sweatshirt!

The view of the lake that we walked around. Everything was so wet and GREEN thanks to all the spring rain we have enjoyed!

Can never have to many pictures of me with my son! I think I find myself just staring at these pictures because it still doesn't seem real to me that I am his mother -- or that I'm even a mother at all! Doesn't seem real, but I'm enjoying it!

In the end, the sweatshirts were not only necessary because it was cold, but because we were being eaten ALIVE even with our deet misquitoe repellant! Rhett's oversized coat made me relax knowing that the misquitoes couldn't get through it! That and I just thought he was pretty darn cute. This is a great daddy son picture!

We made a make shift child camping chair by not opening it up all the way. Rhett didn't seem to mind and it freed our hands to prepare meals. Though I was never more than an arms reach away from him should he decide to get fussy and start to buck...

Overall, Rhett's first camping trip was a success-- though I do admit I slept better once we got home! The ground was hard, but mostly I was worried about whether Rhett was warm enough at night. It got dang cold for JULY! He seemed to stay fairly warm, comfortable, and happy :)

4th of July (21 Weeks -- 5 Months)

2009-07-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

Rhett had his first July Fourth! John's old highschool has a freedom festival ending with fireworks on the third. Rhett fell asleep before the fireworks started and slept through the first five minutes or so. When he woke up, the flickering lights in the sky caught his attention, so I pulled him into my lap to watch the rest of the show. We took a picture, but it didn't do the experience justice. Unfortunately, the only time that we got decent light to video record, it was during the grand finale. So, for your enjoyment, Rhett's first firework experience!

Fun at Bedtime

2009-07-18T09:59:00.000-07:00

John loves to play with Rhett. Here are some cute pictures of Rhett "standing" and being tipped upside down.

Week 20

2009-07-10T09:24:00.000-07:00

We went to see the Manti Pagent again this year and I think we decided that maybe we aren't up to going every year. We drive 2 1/2 hours to Manti to play games on blankets and then we tend to fall asleep during the presentation because we have seen it so many times before. At any rate, we got some cute pictures of Rhett!

Below is one of the first time that Rhett "sits" on his own. He can't really balance yet but if you balance him over his legs, he'll stay for about five seconds!
Rhett thought it was hilarious when we folded him in half. If he's anything like John, though, that won't last!

Baby Yoga! Don't worry, he came up laughing!

John and I were playing a game called hot dice and Rhett seemed interested in the dice. So we got him to shake them... now he just has to learn to DROP them!

Rhett flying... John tossed him about a foot in the air and this was the expression we received.

Overall, it was a fun trip though we fell asleep during the pagent. The pre show was PLENTY enteraining.

Weeks 19

2009-06-24T20:40:00.000-07:00

This week was an eventful week! John's parents own a timeshare up in the mountains (a ski/summer resort) and we spent most of the week up there. I have lots of pictures of the different activities below. The picture directly below is Rhett holding his feet so I can change his diaper. What a good helper... now he just needs to learn to LOWER his legs once I have the diaper on so I can fasten it!

At Snowbird (the resort), it was pretty rainy and chilly... but we did catch a few sunny days and the pool water WAS heated... so we decided it was okay to take Rhett for his first swim. At first I'm not sure what he thought, but by the end, he seemed to be enjoying himself!

There was a park there and the "baby" swings were actaully for handicapped people. I don't think Rhett is falling out though...

First Feeding - 18 Weeks

2009-06-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Well, I must have missed taking pictures of Rhett of 17 weeks. For Week 18, Rhett discovered how to take his nuk out of his mouth. Okay, so he's been able to do that for a while... the trick though is to get it BACK into his mouth...

We noticed about a week previous to this week, Rhett really started to drool and watch and John and I as we ate. We decided at four months, we could work on starting him on solid food. We brought some rice cereal and caught the whole ordeal on film.

16 Weeks

2009-06-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

Rhett is enjoying the sun... INSIDE because it is far to bright outside. When ever he is exposed to the sun, he squints and squirms because he can't open his eyes. I gave him his sunglasses to where and he smiled for the camera. Ginger, however is NOT impressed. I think she is more excited outside!

Rhett likes the orange chair in our room that i use to nurse him. I don't think I could have asked for a happier baby. What's better is that his smiles and laughs crack me up!

15 Weeks

2009-06-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

These are just some random pictures of Rhett taken at 15 weeks. The first is Rhett enjoying his new pack and play and the second is Rhett enjoying a little belly time.