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.

The Lows. More Lows The Sherwoods The Swendsens

More Swendsens.

Its tooooo hot in Calgary today!

Tonight our house is cooking, making sleep difficult - hence the 1:00 am blog. We've been having a ton of fun with Miles lately. The two of us have been taking swimming lessons - he's really the one in lessons, I'm just the prop in the pool. The first two lessons went well, the next two lessons Miles had a death grip on me and there were some tears and this past lesson was fantastic. He was splashing and laughing and we're hoping this will continue. He doesn't know yet that he should be embarrassed by his mother's total coverage board shorts and rash guard shirt atire - hey - I'm happy with it. Miles is on the move!!!! Everywhere. He was able to sit himself up on May 6, by May 11 he was crawling and pulling himself up next to furniture, etc. It sure changes my ability to get him to sleep or to get anything done. Miles spends a lot of time shacking the crib bars before he'll finally lay down and go to sleep. This past Monday when I was on the phone and ran into my bedroom for 30 seconds, Miles crawled from the kitchen to the bathroom and pulled himself up to the toilet. I was horrified to hear Miles splashing in the toilet. He was covered - face, hands, arms and chest. We figure he's in the clear since no strange toilet-born illness have appeared. Miles has also started clapping and kissing this week. The kissing has been especially fun. I never expected not to mind a lot of slober in a kiss, but Miles is my exception. His kissing isn't so much open-mouth as it is a slip of the tongue. He'll come at you with a closed mouth and at the last minute he slides his tongue out. Its really funny! Enough of that . . . its been a fun week! Enjoy the pictures. Waterton on the Friday of the May long weekend. The weather was perfect! Miles had a great time except when we were battling to keep his hat and sunglasses on him. It appears I won half the battle. Miles and his dad enjoyed some time throwing rocks. Carolyn and Miles gazing off in the distance. I'd like to say we were looking at some amazing form of wildlife, but I think we were checking out a really nice Mercedes SUV. Coy's parents opening their mission call. We were so happy to have been there when they opened it. They're headed to Nashville, Tennessee - Microfilming mission. Coy was doing some work on the roof and Miles decided to hang outside with Coy. It looks like he's really concerned, but I think it was just the bright sunshine that was the cause for concern. I just love this picture - poor guy with chapped checks. One of our food episodes. The introduction of new flavours and textures is going slowly. I tried to feed Miles chicken a few days ago - homemade I might add - and I must not have put enough liquid in with the chicken. After two bites, Miles looked like he was choking on feathers - the chicken was so dry. We've also had very bad luck with anything that has texture (thank goodness for powerful gag reflexes) other than his cereal and bananas which he loves.

Some new firsts

So Miles has been doing or getting new things at a remarkable rate. On April 21 his first two teeth popped through on the bottom middle. Try as I might I was unsuccessful in capturing the teeth on film until today. Miles also learned to sit himself up from the prone position this past Sunday (May 6). I discovered his new found talent when I heard an intense scream coming from his crib shortly after I'd put him down for his after-church nap. When I went into his room he was sitting up in his crib and obviously hadn't figured out that there was a safe way down. This leads us to our big event of the week. Today Miles took his first three crawling steps (not sure what you're really supposed to call those) and he went to the zoo with Bennett - we forgot to get a picture. Anyway, its been a fun week. Miles has also finally figured out the Jolly Jumper and loves it. I actually have some silent video, but still need to figure out u-tube.

Usevitch Hospitality and Arizona Weddings

Arizona was an adventure. Mom, Dad, Miles and I had a series of interesting events including lost wallets, purses, glasses and loosing each other in the malls. Mom & Dad were also fortunate enough to enjoy Miles screaming every time he travelled in the car on Thursday and Friday. Despite the craziness, we had an enjoyable time and the wedding was lovely. We stayed at Jim and Cindy Usevitch's and had a fantastic time. They have six kids between the ages of six and sixteen and they are all really great kids. They also loved Miles and kept him very entertained. Cindy is wonder mom and I'm not even kidding. I would love to be a fly on the wall for a month just to pick up organizing and parenting tips. It was great to see Jim again and I'm sorry that we didn't think to take a picture with the whole family on Monday night. Dad taught Jim's kids the Hukka (sp?) - since Jim also served a New Zealand mission.

Gabby (6) and Miles. I'm not sure what it is, but Miles has a thing for five and six year old girls. True to form, Gabby just had to walk past Miles to elicit laughter. She and all of her brothers and sisters had a great time feeding Miles plastic hotdogs, sardines, hamburgers, etc.

Miles with Gabby (6), Danna (10) and Seth (8). Cindy was such a fantastic hostess. They took really great care of us and made us feel completely welcome.

Dad, Cindy, Miles and Mom as we're getting ready to leave for the airport. How do you like Dad's new hat? I think its pretty cool and it sure made it easy to find him in the airport. Miles and Kate spent some quality time together. She's crying not because of Miles, but because she was hungry and didn't want to be put down, but Miles seemed puzzled by the crying. Kate and Miles in happier times. Miles was quite interested in grabbing at Kate's soother, dress, etc. She's so adorable. Miles and Reese. She's so cute and sooo little. Miles and Easton hung out a bit. I have several pictures with Miles grabbing Easton shirt, his toy, his shirt some more, his baby finger . . . you get the picture. They both seemed very good natured about it though. Easton is handsome guy.

Dan pointed out that he was the oldest Low boy cousin and Miles is the youngest with just a mere 28 years separating them . . . or something like that.

Karen looked beautiful and Miles was especially interested in her purple flowers.

Miles and Madeline finally meet since they shared part of that crazy September weekend. Madeline is such a doll. Josh was good enough to wrangle Miles for a few minutes at the reception, but gave him back a while later. Apparently Miles' constant motion was even too much for Josh. He was also so tired I think he looks drunk- I mean Miles, not Josh. I sure appreciated everyone's help. Miles was a busy guy that night. Miles hanging out with a few of his cousins - Mike, Miles, Josh and Rachel.