bahamas and the smith's

lucky us. we just got back from the bahamas. it was the first big trip with our little babe. we didn't just go for the heck of it though, my step sister paige just was married there. i hate to use the word "step". so from now on, i probably am going to just say sisters and brothers and dad, without the step. i find it unnecessary and kind of ugly. so anyhoo. wedding. bahamas. family. what is there more so say? it was ideal. here is my beautiful sister paige, and her wonderful new husband justice. congratulations you two. it was a beautiful day, and we felt so lucky to be apart of it.

jc's great dance moves...

ike and max dancing the night away.

max's new adopted family, caroline and brian. they fell and in love with max, and we fell in love with them, it was so fun getting to know them.

beach bum max.

at the atlantis aquarium. making fish faces to the fishies.

the twins.

georgie and max dancing.

my beautiful sisters and mom...i really don't fit in this family.

georgie, josie, and max.

it was such a fun trip. max loved every second, and loved being around his cousins and family, and getting to know new people. he's a social bug, which is weird because isaac and i are the exact opposite. it was such a fun wedding, too. i've already decided it was the best wedding the liljenquists have seen yet.

max's 1st

my little love is one. and what a cute one year old he is. i can't even look back on the past year without my eyes welling up with tears. how lucky we are. max truly is such a special little boy. grandpa joe always says it best when he tells max, "you're so polite". he is the sweetest boy i have ever met. i know he's my own son, but put that aside, and he really does have the most tender heart. he's always very soft, i never have to tell him to be nice. he just is. especially with bob which melts my heart. here are some of his loves. he loves to share. he loves books. he loves being outside. he loves balloons. he loves pointing. he loves yogurt. he loves cheesy smiles showing off his new teeth. he love lights. and most recently, he loves cuddling with everyone and anything. seriously, the other night at dinner he layed his head on the waitress's hip taking our order. but most of all, he loves his mommy. which i love. here are some birthday highlights for those of you that missed it.

(cheesy smile)

(cuddling with uncle rob)

it was so fun to watch max and max play together. they are so similar. they knew it, too. which was funny. by the end of the night i know that my grandpa max sent them down to us already friends.

before i put my max to bed the night of his birthday, i had the most special moment with him. as i was singing him a song and rocking him goodnight, he sat there, smiled up at me and laughed, then waved at me. i couldn't put him to bed after that, knowing this would be the last day i would have with him being one year old. because tomorrow he would be one year old and a day. so i kept rocking and crying, and he kept smiling, making fish sounds, and giggling.

like i said. the sweetest boy i know.

happy birthday my love.

i'm sorry. i'll try harder.

i know my blog "following" is slim, and the majority of the five people who look at my blog are family, and one or two friends that pity a poor mommy blogger. but still, i haven't blogged in many moons and i am sorry because this little boy is cute, and you people are missing out. while aunt paigie was here she took some cute pictures of my max and i thought i needed to share. excuse his hair, we were going through a curly phase, but i realized shortly after that while his hair is naturally curly, it needs a little too much gel for it to look cute. and please take notice of his teeth. i always thought until now that teeth came in twos, at least the top and bottom front teeth, but no no no. not for this little nugget. they come in ones. and for a while he only had one top and one bottom, luckily they are all starting to come in now.

once again, i apologize for the long delay in an updated post. to my 5 blog followers: look forward to max's upcoming first birthday pictures, we have 2 more weeks before his 1st birthday, and i am so excited, and sad at the same time. i can't believe my little boy is actually going to be a little boy. thinking about it makes me want to cry my eyes out. i'll save that for when it actually happens. for now, i'm going to enjoy these next two weeks with my baby. oh yea, and i forgot. merry chrismas and a happy new year. and just in case i miss it, happy valentines day to you all, too.

favorite food?

marshmallows.

i love you marshmallow boy.

we love thanksgiving in st. george!

every other year we switch off where we spend thanksgiving. this year we had it in st. george with my parents. it's never the same when not everyone is there, but we still had fun. aaaand it was max's first thanksgiving! he had so much fun getting to know his cousins. it's so fun to watch him interact and play. he is getting big so quickly. even my long lost brother luke came. and max loved him, which warmed my little heart. here's some pics...

what is a liljenquist gathering without a jazz party? max officially became a jazz fan this past weekend when he sported his jazz jersey. well actually it is a jazz onesie, and it's ideal. i'm hoping they will make adult sizes soon.

here's luuuuke!...

max was stuffed after lots of mashed potatoes and gravy. he could barely move his cheeks to make any sort of facial expression.

my parents are always so fun to be around, all the grandkids love them. especially these two.

we celebrated cole's 4th birthday, too. happy birthday my sweet boy.

and there definitely was some swimming.

even buzz lightyear made an appearance this thanksgiving! actually, there was a continually switch between buzz and nate all weekend. i still don't know much about little nate, but i do know his favorite word is "no" and he loooves buzz lightyear. oh yea, and he doesn't like max, and he won't the next time he sees him either. i know that because he told me. he definitely was the other highlight of our thanksgivng.

we had the best thanksgiving. we are so grateful for our family we got to share it with. we are truly blessed.

max max max.

so it's been forever again. maxie boy is 9 months now, he's getting crankier and cuter by the day. he has one tooth on bottom, one coming in on top. he's starting scooting around, no crawling yet. and yes, he's still skinny. oh yea, and he has a cute bum. these are pictures of our first trip to the zoo with ashley and her little girl nicolette, our trip to the pumpkin patch, and his first halloween as a skunk.

max is pretty serious. getting him to smile or laugh for a picture is like...hmmm...getting bob to stop eating his poo. it just won't happen.

he loves hiding, too. this is the toy box i made for him. i am sorry, but i'm even impressed with this project, go me.

i still maintain his crying face is the cutest. he looks quite frightened here though. i can't remember why.

at max's request, he was a skunk this year for halloween. bob said he didn't want a costume, so we just put him in his pajamas.

we'll blog even sooner next time!
have a happy thanksgiving holiday!

uh-oh.

okay okay...so it's been a looong time since we blogged last. this blogging thing is hard. it's been almost 2 months, and little max is 9 days shy of being 8 months old. can you believe that? a lot has happened since we last did this, and we've had a pretty stressful past two months. so here's a little photo diary of max's life as of late...

he's had his first trip to vegas, he even saw his first stripper. eek. but we also ate at our favorite, johnny rockets.

had his first hair cut

spent lots and lots of time being loved by this old guy, (HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA JOE!)

had his first lunch with the boys

met his cousin, also named max. i think he has 10 different rolls on his legs. and his cheeks alone out weigh max's by a full pound on each side.

and he just keeps getting more cute by the day. but i don't need to tell anybody that. see for yourself.

next time we won't wait so long to blog.