Happy 2nd Birthday Casen!!

I am a day late but I was a little busy with a birthday party yesterday! I can't believe my baby is 2 years old!! We had a great family BBQ yesterday in order to celebrate. I wanted to do the big party thing but we had issues scheduling around conference. Hopefully we will be able to work something out for next year. Casen had so much fun eating, running around, opening presents and eating some more!! His favorite present was the Handy Manny Tool Box from Auntie Sara. He was so excited about that he didn't want to open the rest of his presents so we had to convince him. Once he got into it, he was loving it. He opened each one and then immediately started on to the next. It was so fun to watch him this year because he really understood a lot more this time. When we ask him how old he is he gets excited and says "I'm 2!" He also knew each present was for him. He found one of the bags this morning and got excited again and said, "My present!" Here are some pictures from his big day!
The Birthday Boy!!

Daddy and Casen! Please excuse Daddy's closed eyes!

Soccer cake! There is a story behind the cake. First I picked it up and there was a fly inside the packaging so I took it back and they made a new one. I took the new one and halfway home I look over and the cake had shifted and was falling apart. I was so frustrated I didn't feel like going back. I called them and they remembered the fly and offered me a refund on my next visit. This is why it looks like stuff is coming out of the sides. I turned the cake sideways and shifted it back as best as I could! It was a minor pain but the last thing I needed with my crazy day!

Mommy and Casen! This is the best we could do. Casen was not interested in picture time and our camera sometimes makes weird lines through the pictures.

Casen is so much fun! Even though he has more energy than I could even dream about, he makes our lives so fun and exciting. I thought I would list some of the fun, cute, or silly things he does right now.
1. He loves to sing songs all the time. He starts singing and if I don't sing along he stops and says, "Do it mommy" and then I have to sing too. He currently knows the words to I am a Child of God, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Popcorn, ABC's, Monkey song, part of I love to see the temple and a special song I made up for him. He also trys to sing the words to any song that we sing.
2. He tells me it is time to pray if we are eating together. Usually I haven't even sat down yet and he folds his arms and says "prayer". He also trys to say the prayer and night before bed. He usually will say the 2nd syllable of the word we are saying as if he knew what we were going to say. It cracks me up.
3. Whenever you ask him a question he says No, even if the answer is really yes or something else.
4. He gives big hugs on purpose. He will say "Big hug mommy" and then squeeze me as tight as possible. He will also occasionaly give me a kiss on purpose too. He has never been a snuggler so it is nice to geta hug because he wants to snuggle me.
5. He reads a story in his bed at night and then will sing songs in his bed until he falls asleep.
6. This is not cute but he likes to take his diaper off during nap or night time so we have to tape his diaper on now. The cute part is that at night when he gets ready for bed, he reminds me that I need to put tape on his diaper.
7. His new favorite saying is "What's that" He asks me what everything is even if he knows what it is. I think he does it because I always ask him what things are.
8. He likes to give praise. He will tell me "Good job mommy" for the silliest things. He also told his babysitter Sole good job when she was making something when he was there. He is so perceptive of things!
9. He counts to 20 when he is in time out. I am pretty sure he learned how to count so well because I count out loud every time he is done with time out. He has to sit in the corner and then when I think he is done sitting in the corner we count to 20, talk about what he did, and then away he goes to do it again =) Also in regards to time out, I threaten time out and he says "no time out mommy"
10. He is obsessed with Handy Manny, in fact that will be his Halloween costume this year. We tried to get him interested in other characters and Mickey Mouse was promising for a while but all of the sudden it was only Manny again all the time.

There are probably more things but I am sure I have bored all my readers! Thanks if you are still hanging in there! Needless to say, we love our son so much. Even though he has the ability to make me completely insane, he always makes me much more happy! Happy Birthday Casen, we love you!!