Halloween, 1st hair cut and ridiculous climbing skills

We had a fun time on Halloween with Miles. In case you can't tell, he was a kangaroo. We visited a few friends and then came home to hand out candy. Miles tried to follow each group of kids out the front door and down the steps and was NOT happy with either of us when we insisted on bringing him back into the house. Miles got his first haircut on Tuesday of this week. This is the before picture, taken about two weeks ago. The after shot . . . looking rather suave and sophisticated. He looks like such a little boy now, but also a little less trailer trash so in the end, the haircut was probably a good idea. Miles was extremely unhappy about getting his hair cut. The women at "Beaners" are a rough looking bunch of hard living women and they're coming at him with a sharp shiny object. Who can blame him. Okay, Miles can now climb up on the toilet seat all by himself. He did this for the first time on Halloween and after climbing up on it for the second time proceeded to fall and slice his lip on the corner of the counter - ouch. We're hoping that is doesn't scar. Currently he looks like he's permenantly got a piece of strawberry jam dripping from his bottom lip.

Miles is walking everywhere now. He's so curious about everything. On Friday, he figured out how to climb onto the kitchen chairs by himself. I saw him trying and thought - he's going to get this figured out and then are we in trouble. It took him about four tries to get onto the chair and then the kitchen table was a piece of cake. In case you're wondering what he's holding, its an advil bottle, which happened to be open when he initially climbed onto the table. Now that's bad parenting! But in my defense, until that moment the table top was safe - completely out of reach.

Turning 1, walking and all that stuff

I've been extremely negligent about posting so this is just a big catchup of photos - in no paticular order. Miles is now walking . . . or I think that's what we want to call it. Just last Monday everything changed. He went from trying to take a few steps to being focused on getting somewhere. He started taking his time and this past Sunday he walked down the aisle at church. He still spends at least 1/2 his time crawling and the rest of the time he's trying to walk or sqawks at me until I'll walk with him. He's still the little man of our hearts. Miles 1st birthday. This is the first sweet food he'd ever had and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. It took him a while to really dig in, but by the end he was face down in the cake trying to eat more. Delirious and tired after all his present opening. I didn't think he was going to have many presents to open so I wrapped up a bunch of books and things and then all his aunts and uncles were very generous - thank you. The gift highlight of the night for Miles - a book called B is for Bear. We could hardly get him to put it down to look at anything else. Of course since then, every other toy he received has eclipsed the book.

Miles, Carolyn, and Coy on a wave runner. We got some smiles and squeels out of him, even after we went for a long ride at the lake. The ride was a bit of a nail bitter with Coy and me making things a little tippy. One of Miles new fun activities is to push around our giant closet mirror and walk through all the shoes behind the mirror. This picture was taken as Miles was coming out from behind the mirror. He looks pretty pleased with himself. Miles' Birthday - hanging out with Grandpa in the backyard.

We went to Don & Susan's on Labour Day weekend and had a great time. Miles spent a lot of time geting pulled around in Susan's wagon. The food was fabulous as always and the fresh produce coming out of their garden was to die for. I just love this picture of Miles and his Uncle Don. As usual, I did not plan it, but all three of us are in matching coloured outfits. We're just all destined to dress in the same general colour scheme. Miles and Grant got to meet this summer. We had a fun time visiting with Clark and Anna and it was very entertaining to see Miles and Grant interact with each other. Back at the lake - Miles' first time in lake water. He wasn't too happy with how cold the water felt and he wasn't too pleased about splash island either. We did however, have a great time in the dingy and the hammock and just hanging out. Coy was so good to me, hanging out in the cabin while Miles was napping giving me an entire afternoon to read and sleep in the hammock - I could hear conversations happening on what seemed like the other side of the lake and I could hear loons in the distance. It was all good. Thanks Coy!

Miles at the South Glenmore splash park. He loved it! Notice his soaking wet hat. I think he makes a strong fashion statement with the hat and sun suit. Why is this in here you may ask? It was an amazing stacking feet. Really! The picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.

Miles has some new skills

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBQ1ncmDIkU So Miles has now discovered that he can use household items to further his abilities to explore and destroy. Yesterday, when Coy and I had left the kitchen for less than a minute we came back to find that he had pushed the laundry basket over to the fridge and was climbing on top of it to reach higher up on the fridge. We later found him using the same technique to reach higher on the bookshelf and to climb on the couch and . . . well, you get the idea. Very soon, nothing will be safe! Take at look at the video I've attached. I'm not sure how to attach the video so that it appears as a picture.

Hanging out with the GP's

A week and a half ago, when I found out the temperature was forecasted to be in the low 30's C and with Coy at Stake Young Men's camp, I decided Miles and I would head down to Cardston to hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Low. They've got a very cool basement and airconditiong. Miles and I had a great time . . . driving over Logan's pass with the GP's (that's grandparents), swimming, going for early morning walks, etc. All of the following are pictures we took at the top of Logan's Pass. By the way, the thermometre outside the back of mom and dad's house said 95 F one day and that was in the shade. It was toasty. "I know nuhzing! I see nuhzing!" Miles in his Hogan's Heroes German military hat. Miles now has 6 teeth. 4 on top and two on the bottom. This picture gives you a great view of his top chompers. I could hardly get Miles to look up he was so fascinated with the rocks and wood chips on the ground. Miles looks far happier to be in the Baby Bjorn than he actually is. He could hardly wait to get out.

Grandpa being my test shot model. Miles and Carolyn. So dad and I split up and I wanted to get another picture of Miles and me. I don't think this picture looks like him at all, but take a look at those teeth.

You may be wondering why I've posted a picture of the "Mountain Ground Squirrel." Miles and I were walking down this path by the interpretive centre at the top of Logan's Pass and this "gopher" stood like he is the picture, with his mouth wide open, making this strange clicking sound for at least 3 or 4 minutes. Check out its teeth. It was bizarre and entertaining.

Waterton - just the highlights!

We had a great time in Waterton seeing everyone, hanging out, etc. and spending time with Gordon & Laurie, Gary and Wendie and gang, Murray and Nadine and gang, the Swendsens and of course Mom and Dad. As well, thanks to Morgan and Beth for some fantastic accomodations while Coy was still with me. The following are some picture highlights from the week! I've been trying get Miles to hold his bottle for months . . . not all the time, but just when we're in a hurry and he's in the car or when we're at the zoo with a bunch of mom's and its tough to stop. Not until July 19th, at Cameron Lake, did Miles comply. I had to take a picture. He's held his bottle since, but only under protest.

Dad getting ready for his big cycle ride from Cameron Lake back to Waterton. There's way more uphill than I remember. Not that I was feeling the pain - I was in the "support vehicle" following Cathy and Dad.

Miles and I at Cameron Lake. Nice hat, eh? It's Coy's.

From the moment we entered the park, Miles would clap and yell with joy every time he saw a surrey go by, so it was with great excitement that he took his first surrey ride around the block. Thank you Uncle John and Rachel.

Miles and I went down to Emerald Bay to catch a little shade next to the water. The trip didn't last very long since Miles started throwing dirt and sand and eating the dirt and sand. The rhythm was something like throw, throw, eat . . . throw, throw, eat. He consumed a good number of small rocks and sand and then it was time to go back to the cabin.

Bear's hump! No Waterton week is complete without a trip up the old beast. You can tell by Miles' expression that he's feeling quite enthusiastic. I'd be excited too, if I was hitching a ride. This was actually how we started out our Tuesday, the day Miles was sealed to us. It was a great day. We went up Bear's Hump with Nadine and the girls, but the pictures of them turned out so badly, or maybe its that the pictures that we have of them and me are so bad, that I just couldn't bring myself to post them. Sorry guys. I just love this picture. It was a very hazy day. The Beaton clan at the top of Bear's Hump. Good climbing Miles. So within a minute of beginning our descent, Miles decided he'd had enough and fell asleep. Coy actually agreed to walk all the way back to the cabin just so Miles' nap would be a little longer.

The Big Day!

Wow, we had an amazing experience having Miles sealed to us at the Cardston temple on July 17th. I honestly didn't know what to expect or how I'd feel about it all. Coy and I were discussing our feelings about it on the way to the temple and concluded we were both really excited, but didn't know what to compare it to. When you get married there's the excitement of making an eternal commitment to your beloved and I'm pretty sure if you're getting married in the temple that you weren't living together before hand. With Miles' sealing however, he's already been part of our family for the past 10 months - actually 10 months today is when Miles came home with us. The sealing exceeded every expectation that either of us had. President Rosenval performed the sealing and he commented to us when we arrived at the temple, "You've got quite a crowd here, we'd better give them their monies worth." And that he did. He gave some great remarks about the Abrahamic covenant and how the specifically related to Miles being sealed to us. I must confess however that I was slightly distracted so if you want details, talk to your parents or to Coy.

Miles was so good! When they opened the door to bring Miles into the sealing room and he looked at Coy and me, he started clapping and smiling. Coy was already Mr. Waterworks, but that brought the tears on for me as well. They brought Miles in and sat him down next to our hands. He was smiling and grabbing for Coy and for me and for President Rosenval's clipboard. He was looking around the room and smiling at everyone. It meant so much to us that so many of you were able to make it to the sealing. As we looked around the room, we saw a room full of people that we love. It was just the most amazing experience and very confirming of the importance of having an eternal family. Coy’s sisters, Bernie and Cali drove all the way down from Calgary, even though they wouldn’t be in the temple and that meant a great deal to us as well. Cali was kind enough to send me a few pictures that she took outside the temple. I hope you enjoy.

A few more pictures - just for fun.

Coy, Miles and I headed down to Cardston on June 30 to help sod Grandpa and Grandma's backyard. Well really it was Coy helping and Miles was intently supervising the project. He showed his pleasure with the work being down with a round of applause. Notice my foot in the picture. I really need to work on my photography skills. I have way to many pictures with my left foot in the picture. We went to Raymond on the 1st of July. It was great to see my cousin Maxine West. Her youngest son Reddick (she has a total of five kids) is about four months older than Miles. Since everyone has been bugging us about Miles fauxhawk, we decided to try for the full blown mohawk. Unfortunately by the time we found the camera, the hair was no longer wet from the bath and had lost some of its standability. We're hopeful that Miles will grow hair around the middle of his head sometime this year. Oh, the joy of food! Miles will no longer accept his cereal from me and I was in a hurry this morning so I decided to give him the whole bowl. The look on his face was priceless. He looked at the bowl, looked at me, smiled from ear to ear - looked at the bowl, looked at me with a "are you serious, you're really giving me the bowl?" look on his face. I'm pretty sure this didn't save me any time though - a bath was a necessity.

Great things.

Well, I've been very negligent in posting so I wanted to bring everyone up to speed. Miles' adoption was finalized on June 12 and we're thrilled. Miles was blessed on June 24 - the circle was too big, apparently Miles was quite interested in the microphone, and if you didn't arrive right on time you missed the whole thing. It was great to visit with everyone afterward over at Swendsens. Here are a few pictures of the happy day. Enjoy! The Laycocks and Tingles slipped out the door before the camera started flashing otherwise they'd be on here too. The happy family. I'd like to know where my eyes disappeared to. I think this could beat any Gary Low family slanty eyed picture - ever. Happy Grandma and Grandpa. Carolyn's married and she's got a baby - our lives are complete! Miles hanging out with a couple of his uncles.Coy's sister Cali and her husband Chris and of course - Miles. Coy's sister Niki and her husband Dave and their four busy children.

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