It's Dillan the Explorer!

Dillan has been getting into everything lately, but it is fun and we knew it would happen. He still doesn't crawl and has zero interest in trying. He does, however, roll around everywhere and loves to walk. We got him a walker, and now he cruises all over the house. I had him in his high chair in the kitchen with me while I was doing dishes and turned around to find this:

What a cutie!

 I always joke with Brennan that Moms and Dads don't get to use the bathroom, because there isn't time for a break. This is what I found after a "break".

Dillan has also taken to screaming. Not when he is mad but when he gets excited and plays. He was being especially silly the night we took this video.

For the fourth of July we went to Parowan.These are the things we did (not necessarily in the right order).

1. Dillan went to his very first parade and fireworks show! He kept looking at me to see if everything was okay after the real big booms.
2.It was the Hulet the family reunion which was a blast. I got to see family that lives far away, and Brennan got to meet a lot of family.
3. We got to go to my cousin's Wedding in St. George (I love weddings!).
4. We also had a sleepover with the niece and nephews.
5. Dillan petted a puppy for the first time. He likes to watch dogs, but it was a little scary for him.

5. Went on our anniversary date. Yes it is was not close to our anniversary, but we have had it planned for a long time. We went to the Pastry Pub and then to Les Miserables at the Shakespeare Festival (Oh Cedar we miss you)! Both of which were really good!
6. We went Birthday shopping for Dillan and got to go to Wal-Mart! Yes, it is true I have told people over and over how much I hate the place, but now that we don't live anywhere near it I miss it. I realized we had not been to one in over a year!
We were really sad we couldn't visit more friends while we were in Cedar, but our schedule was packed! Still we got to see a few people (if but briefly) in Wal-Mart and at Deseret Book. Hopefully we will have more time on our next trip!

Bonus Pictures

Knutson babies (minus Clayton) 

Time Flys When You're Having Fun

What have we been doing? Well… lots of stuff. Here are some highlights (not necessarily in the right order). Dillan is big. Almost nine months old. These are his first baby food pictures (He didn’t like it). He still is warming up to baby food. Dillan likes to eat: sweet potatoes, sweet peas, green beans, and bananas. He hates eating: squash, applesauce, and carrots.

Favorite things: ceiling fans, clocks, and cups. He also loves being outside. He and I sit outside on a blanket under our tree and wait for Brennan to get home from work. We try to go on a walk or hike at least once a week. A few weeks ago was free National Parks week. Brennan, Dillan, and I went to Arches one day. Brennan’s Mom and Reyce met us and had a picnic then we went on a couple more short hikes. Our favorite was Dune Arch. It was a giant sandbox and there was shade. Dillan only ate a little sand.

The next Saturday we went to Canyon Lands, and went on some more short hikes. It was really fun and I had never been to either park before. We also took Dillan swimming for the first time (sorry no pictures). I thought he would splash but he didn’t. He people watched. We borrowed a baby floaty thing and he reclined in it and floated around peacefully and watched all the kids.

Dillan got his first hair cut. His hair was, admittedly, out of control so I finally gave in and cut it. We attempted first to cut it in the bathtub but he was not happy so after an initial chop I got out the clippers and shaved his head. I didn't mean to give him a buzz cut but the attachment on the clippers was shorter that I thought. Anyway he still looks super cute! I also cut my hair on a whim (no pictures yet). I thought to myself, "I like pixie cuts. Why not?" Brennan said,"Go do it". So I did. I can't decide if I like it on me yet. The best part though is that I can do my hair in four minutes or less, and Dillan doesn't pull it as much. One of our nieces said (on first seeing the new doo), "Emma, you got your hair cut like Dillan's" (It's really not as short as Dillan's).

Brennan and I are both in Scouts now. I am the Wolf Den Leader. Brennan is the Boy Scout Roundtable Commissioner and has two other teaching callings. We are also the advisers (maybe, I don’t know what we are called) for the 4H Teen Leaders. We are going to be doing Relay for Life in August. So if anyone wants to donate go to the relay for life web site our team name is "4H Teen Leaders" (I know very creative). I also got to join a book club, which I am super excited for. In a nutshell LIFE IS GOOD! So here are a few more fun pictures

Dillan didn't like grass the first few times he felt it but now he does.

(trumpet sound) Announcing: Dillan Romney Knutson

So Dillan is almost six weeks old now, and is as cute as ever! I know we are slackers but here are a bunch of pictures.

Really scary picture of me but aren’t all first baby pictures with their mother? Dillan arrived on Sept 14 at 8:02 p.m.. They started me that morning, but we never made progress (because he was so big). The ultrasound we did the day before guessed his weight to be 9 lbs. 7 oz. Luckily, he wasn’t quite that big. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 15 oz. The doctor gave us the option of going home and trying again the next day or having a C-section that night (that in his opinion was the best, because we would most likely have to have one anyway). We decided to have the C-section. Everything went great, and now we have the most perfect little boy!

My boys are so cute! This was his first bath (at home). Given to him by Dad and Grandma Hulet. He didn’t enjoy it.

He has a crazy swirl cowlick in the very front of his hair line. Apparently it is a Stewart family thing.

He is a pretty smiley kid, but as of this week he started to smile when we talk to him.

(Brennan writing now) We do miss our sleep (poor Emma hasn’t slept for more than 3 hours at a time for over a month) and he is kinda messy (we’ve certainly put our new washer through its paces) and sometimes he can be pretty Loud (particularly his flatulence) but we wouldn’t change a thing because there’s nothing we love more than our BOUNCING BABY BOY!... except maybe each other. ;)

Football, walk, and a talent show

Brennan (and Trevor) is on a flag football team, and I am really excited to go to the games. He already had one so Dillan and I geared up (okay is was only 65 degrees, but in Moab that is COLD). We will most likely stay in the car next time.

Their team name is the Spicy Lumberjacks. Isn’t it obvious?

The game has some pretty goofy rules, but in spite of that Brennan was actually on his feet for most of the game, and he only blocked his own teammate once! And they managed to stay on the scoreboard … their little zero stayed lit up the entire time! If you squint it kind of looks like it could be an eight though. We took Dillan on his first walk yesterday there are some really fun trails inside of Moab, we will have to explore them all.

Although we are not in the Moab 1st ward (we bought a house!) we went and participated in their talent show. It is a talented ward. We saw skits, dances, songs, some stand up comedians, a lady with her “trained” pets (which sadly I missed on account of a stinky diaper), awesome cross stitches and other sewing projects, paintings, wood carving, etc. Brennan thought we should put Dillan on the display table and say, “Look what we made”. In the end we sang a song as the Van Knut Family Singers (Mom, Dad, Reyce, Trevor, Sarah, Brennan, and I). It was a song called “The Testimony Song” (I think) it is really funny, look it up. Dad, Trevor, and Brennan also did a Humorous reading of “Chess” also very funny. Brennan and Trevor did the sound effects and some of the characters while Dad narrated. It was really fun, and even though we didn’t get to be in the first ward very long I still feel like we are grandfathered in because we are Knutsons :)

Dillan Up-date ( this post was actually written about two months ago, I was just having technical difficulties)

Dillan is the most exciting thing that has happened to us EVER… we just wish he would get here. I was looking at a couple in our old ward’s blog. There baby was born at 25 weeks! They are amazing people, and were so fun to get to know. My heart aches for them. This is their third baby, she is still alive, and it sounds like doing really good for not having a very big chance of survival (their two other kids both lived a few hours and then passed away). It really puts my life into perspective of how blessed Brennan and I are to have a healthy baby boy, and an uncomplicated pregnancy.

Dillan was making progress working his way down and then he got stage fright. The doctor thought he might come a little early because he was making progress so quickly, and at our last appoint, yesterday, I think he was trying to consol us because Dillan could be a while. Here is a picture of him at our last ultrasound (it is really fuzzy). His head is on the bottom right (profile) and the two floating knobs are his hands. The cutie is sucking his thumb. I just hope it won’t be a hard habit to break when he gets out. I was going to be really good at taking a belly picture every month, but that never happened. This is one of the few we have taken (Brennan wanted his belly in the picture too). this is me at ninish weeks.

Here I am full term at 39 weeks. I feel really big, but doctors and nurses keep commenting on how fortunate I am because I haven’t gotten gigantic.

People keep asking me what I do all day when Brennan is gone, so I’ll tell you. • Unpacking our stuff to the halfway house (now I get to do it all over again in our new house). • I’ve been making Dillan a quilt (the top is not quite finished I still have to sew on the boarder) • I made an elephant for him. I’ve made quite a few stuffed animals but this one was by far the hardest and most complicated it took me months. I also made him a couple of crochet cats which only took about two days apiece (go figure. I am going to have to find some more crochet patterns because they are SO much faster than knitting). • My Mom came and visited us for a couple days and we finished a super cute advent Christmas calendar. • I have been doing tons of research on everything involved with buying a house. • Proudly, I have joined the extreme couponing world as well. I am still a beginner but I saved $72 on one shopping trip! • On Sundays I get to teach the 8 and 9 year olds; which has been fun. They are super cute kids. I also to sub in Sunbeams for a month. That was an adventure. Now I can officially say that I have taught every Primary class • We have been washing and organizing all of Dillan’s stuff which has been hard considering we don’t know when we will be moving officially. • Reading books (of course) • I can’t forget sleeping either. Everyone keeps telling us how we are going to be tired from now until our last child has gone to college, so I’ve been taking advantage of the opportunity to sleep. • And of course chores around the house. I have really enjoyed being pregnant and feeling Dillan, getting to hear his heart beat, etc., but I’m also looking forward to being able to play with the little guy, roll over at night, not die from heartburn, or have my hips pop all the time (Brennan told me I sounded like rice crispy cereal (snap, crackle, and pop)). Some day soon!

Catch up

Yikes! I did it again. My goal was to be a more consistent blogger, but I get easily distracted and am technologically challenged when it comes to blogging. I love reading other peoples blogs. So when I mean to update our blog I spend all my time looking at other peoples. Anyway our lives this spring/summer have been crazy. Starting off we graduated Yeah! To celebrate we went to Disneyland. It was Brennan’s first time and I hadn’t been since I was seven. We had a blast, and I am really excited to take Dillan when he is older. Next time, I want to go when I’m not pregnant. I haven’t swollen the entire time except at Disneyland, from all the walking. We ate tons too. After all what is a vacation without tons of food? Outback Steak house, Cheese Cake Factory, and the giant covered strawberries in the park Yum! I also gained about 8 pounds which is what I wanted (I never thought I would write or say those words, but I was behind on my pregnancy wieght)
Brennan was really hot so he played in the water with all the other little kids:) We pretty much were little kids the whole time screaming and laughing on all the rides.
In this picture I think I am about 23 weeks pregnant.

After Disneyland we moved to Moab. Brennan started his job and that weekend was Grandma and Grandpa Stewart’s 60th along with the Stewart family reunion. I am slowly figuring out who people are and how we are all related. It has been really fun getting to live closer to Brennan’s side of the family, but of course I really miss my side. Especially being able to go to soccer games, birthday parties, dance recitals, etc. It wouldn’t be so bad if we could visit more often but I’m in my last trimester. I am really looking forward to Dillan’s baby blessing when they come over. We did get to go to Parowan for the fourth of July (which I still don’t have pictures of Mom (hint hint0) and for my Baby shower April and Sandy gave me (thanks again!).



Brennan participated in the annual Moab Library Cardboard Boat Race. The Elders Quorum decided to do it as an activity. I am not going to lie I was skeptical. There plan was for eight men to fit into the boat (more row power). Brennan would go up to the shop and work on it a couple of evenings a week. They started a month early which paid off in the end because they got second! They figured out the weight in the boat it was 1755 lbs. WOW! The Young Women and the Young Men both competed too. The Young Men’s boat survived, and the Young Women’s boat disintegrated within 5 feet of the shore. Its alright though because they still got a bigger trophy for the “most like the Titanic award”.


We have had tons of fun this summer and can't wait for Dillan to come!!!