Byron's Walking!

I know I haven't blogged in FOREVER, but I wanted to let everyone know the newest exciting thing that Byron has discovered...WALKING! It's so fun to watch him do it. He goes pretty slow, but I'm sure once he gets the hang of things he's going to take off.


He walks a lot, but for some reason every time he sees the camera he wont so here are the onle videos that I have of him walking right now.

April - May

Well, a lot has happened since the last time I blogged....which happens to be a little over 2 months now. Having Taylor home has been great, we stayed super busy, always going somewhere it seemed.
In mid-April my little sister Sydnie got married! I can not believe they are married! Our family is growing rapidly, either by someone having a baby or by someone getting married! We've gained 4 within the last 9 months! ;) I love my family so much and I am grateful for every single one of my family members.

Beginning of May I finished another semester of school! Only 3 semesters to go! By the way, Taylor has also been going back to school, taking online classes, he's been taking them since he got over to Afghanistan and is still going at it! I'm proud of him for going back to school to continue his education!

My sister Kelsie graduated from Marion C. Early High School on May 13th, and right afterwards, we left for Utah!

It was a long drive, Taylor's mom Kathy rode with us which was a HUGE help! THANK YOU KATHY! Her and Byron were "Back seat Buddies". Byron sure grew to love his ME MA.

We dropped Kathy off with Clark and Taylor's Grandparents and continued on to Grand Junction, Colorado to stay for the night.

The next day we went to The Arches, in Moab. What a BEAUTIFUL place! We loved it so much! We were only there for about 6 hours, but it is one of those places that you could spend DAYS at! We hope to go back someday!
It was one HOT day, we ALL got a little sun burnt. Poor Byron rubbed off all the sunscreen from around his eyes and ended up really burnt there and had two little blisters. I felt so horrible. Towards the end of our day adventure, we met up with Rachel, Scott, Ellie, Jett, Grant and Mitchell, to hike to one of the arches, Delicate Arch. It was beautiful! I never knew I was afraid of heights, until our hike to the arch! Oh boy...it sure was interesting! But I made it and we had a FANTASTIC day, and were glad we were able to meet up with our family there too!
We left the arches and were on our way to Shanell and Logan's house! I was SOO excited to see Shanell! Seriously, we grew up best friends, it's hard to be apart from any of my sisters, and even though I had just seen her a month before, I was so excited to see her again!

We stayed with them for 3 nights and had a blast.

While we were there, Shanell taught me how to cut up a mango! Thanks Shanell! HEHE AND she also taught me how to make the most DELICIOUS bread I have EVER had in my life! I'm so excited to make it myself here in Missouri! Now it is my job to teach Terriann and Mom! I'm not as good as a baker as Shanell, so we shall see how that goes!
We also got to spend some time with Janine and Justin while we were there. It was so good to see them. ALSO we were all able to go out to dinner with one of my college roommates, HANNAH! We were the best of friends when we were at BYU-Idaho! We don't talk that often, but when we do, it's like we have been best friends our whole life. Her and her Husband have a little boy 4 months younger than Byron and boy, he is LITTLE. I couldn't believe how little he was, I think he weighs less than half of what Byron weighs. It was good to see her and meet her husband and little boy!

When it was time for us to leave Shanell and I realized that we hadn't really taken any pictures, (which if you know me, is VERY surprising). So we took a few quick shots before Taylor and I were off to Roosevelt Utah to visit Taylor's Grandparents! Thank you Shanell and Logan for letting us stay with you! We LOVED being with you and being able to spend time with you!

Byron absolutely LOVED Aunt Shanell and Uncle Logan. He would just light up anytime they walked into the room! I loved it, and I'm pretty sure they did too!

The day we left, it SNOWED. I couldn't believe it. It snowed in Salt Lake, AND on our drive to Roosevelt! I'm glad it doesn't snow that late here in MOTaylor's Grandpa turned 90 this past March, and we went out to celebrate his 90th birthday! He is one amazing man! He can get around better than most 60 year olds! In fact...I RACED him to his house. I asked him if he wanted to race and he took off running to the door...Taylor held me back a couple seconds, but Grandpa sure can move!

We were able to go to the Vernal Temple while we were visiting his Grandparents. Taylor's brother Mitchell got his mission call and went through the Temple while we were all out in Utah together. What an amazing experience. Kathy and Clark had all of their children in the Temple together at the same time! It was awesome! I love going to the Temple!!!!

It was good to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Bolton. Byron sure had a good time. He took a mid morning and mid afternoon nap every day with his Great Grandpa Bolton!

Byron was able to make his own hand print like his dad did when he was little! He also got his FIRST hair cut from his Great Aunt Jeanne.

It was so good to be around so much family! But it was also nice to be home sleeping in our own beds!

Taylor started back to work last Wednesday. It has been good to get back on a schedule, but we already miss him being gone all day! Byron goes CRAZY when Taylor comes home from work, he gets so excited! I love to see his excitement each day!

Well I know I've been going on forever, I guess I better stop. Hopefully next time it wont be such a big gap before I blog again! We hope everyone is doing well, we love you all!

~The Boltons

We are one HAPPY family!

Taylor FINALLY made it home. He got home on March 10th around 8 o'clock in the morning. It was possibly one of the BEST days EVER. It really feels good to have him home. It really makes things easier around the house and taking care of Byron. We can actually get things DONE around the house now.

Byron seeing Dad for the FIRST time in 6 months

Byron wasn't sure what to think...

Our Family together AGAIN!

Byron really didn't care much for Taylor the first few days. Byron SCREAMED when Taylor tried to get him out of bed the first morning. Guess he just wanted his Mommy :D. But, now that Taylor gets to spend a ton of time with him while I'm at school, Byron loves his Dad. Taylor was able to be home for Byron's 6 month appointment. Byron's definitely a CHUNK! At his 4th month appointment, he was still pretty proportional with his weight and height, but this time he's changed a little. He's now 95% in weight and 45%in height. Yep he's one BIG boy! We just want to EAT him up! We just LOVE his chubby little cheeks. Friday night we had a SURPRISE party for Taylor. And I'm proud to say that he was TRULY surprised! I was SO excited to be able to FINALLY surprise him. Thank you EVERYONE who came out to show your support for him and for US. It is SOO good to have him home! Michelle Guarra took some FAMILY pictures for us. They turned out SOO good! We LOVE them! Thank you SOO much Michelle for doing that for us! Taylor's been home for 2 1/2 weeks now and we LOVE having him home!

Happy Valentines Day

I took this picture and sent, well e-mailed it to Taylor for Valentines Day. Our boy is such a chunk and growing more and more everyday.

Just 3 weeks until Taylor is home! We are SOO excited to be together as a FAMILY! We can't wait!

Byron is 5 months

I can't believe how fast the last 5 months have gown! Byron grows more and more everyday it is CRAZY! I love him so much. A couple days after his 4 month birthday Byron started rolling over.

Sunday he started sitting up on his own! He thinks he's pretty hot stuff now that he can sit up! hehe I love him so much. I love watching him grow and learn new things. I can't wait until his dad is home and can watch him too! I love him more and more each and everyday!

Here a a couple of pictures of our growing boy!

4 months...He's growing up WAY TOO FAST

Well Byron went in for his 4 month appointment on Wednesday. The doctor said he is looking healthy and developing very well physically! He is one BIG boy. He is 18lbs 1oz in the 95% in weight. 26inches long and in the 85th percentile in height! I love him SO much.

Byron has started eating rice cereal. He still doesn't know what to think about the spoon! He gets frustrated because it takes me TOO long to put the spoon (with food) in his mouth! As you can tell by his weight, Byron LOVES his food. He also trys to grab the spoon from my hand..which leads to a disaster of a mess! BUT I love every minute of it! Being a mom is a wonderful experience. I wish EVERYDAY that Taylor could be home with us at this time, to experience being a new parent with me, to experience all the new things that Byron does...he will be home in 2 months though, and then will have plenty of one on one time with Byron while I'm at school on Tuesday's and Thursdays! We are getting VERY anxious for his arrival home!

COUSINS! Byron, Wes and Ty!

Terriann, Wes and Ty came and stayed with us for a week, the week after Christmas, the week of Shanell and Logan's wedding! It was SO fun to have them here! I love my sisters, it is so fun spending time with them, EVERYONE of them!

Merry Christmas

Well I had good intentions this year. I ordered Christmas cards to send out to everyone, but they STILL have NOT arrived in the mail, (I assume they have been lost in the mail), so I have decided I will just post it on our blog instead. Taylor wrote up an update letter of our family. We hope this finds everyone doing well!

Merry Christmas

Well this has definitely been a very eventful year for the Boltons. On New Year's Eve Rachelle and I found out we were going to have a BABY!! This was both exciting and sad at the same time. We were so excited to have a child, but sad because we had just found out a few weeks prior that I would definitely be deploying to Afghanistan. We just moved into a brand new home, found out we were having a baby and found out I was being deployed. We knew it was going to be a busy year!

At the beginning of the year I started to prepare for my deployment to Afghanistan while Rachelle continued to go to school at Missouri State University. I was in Ft. Dix NJ for most of January and February. If any of you have been to NJ in February, you know it is really cold. I think that is the coldest I have ever been. While I was in NJ, Rachelle was preparing herself for the upcoming months without me around...and being PREGNANT! After my training in NJ i was able to come home for 2 weeks and spend some good quality time with our families.

In March I left again, this time for Ft. Bliss TX. I spent 45 days in TX training for my deployment to Afghanistan. This is where I found out I would be working Detainee Operations, working everyday with the individuals the US and Coalition forces capture on a daily basis. While I trained, Rachelle was really starting to feel some of the effects of pregnancy. She claims she loved being pregnant, but I'm sure it wasn't all roses. I was given another pass to come home before I left fro Afghanistan at the very end of April.

On April 22nd, Rachelle and I went to a doctor's appointment and found out that our baby was going to be a BOY!! This was an amazing day for both of us. We were both so excited to finally know what we were having. No Rachelle could finally start getting the baby room ready!

For the next few months, Rachelle had to go through the hardest part of her pregnancy without me around. Rachelle did very well though!! She has been very strong throughout this whole year. As I spent my days watching detainees, Rachelle grew BIGGER and BIGGER. She sent me pictures weekly, almost daily on how LARGE our baby boy was getting.

I was able to come home for 3 weeks starting at the end of August to see our baby boy join us here on this earth. On September 2nd, 2010 at 11:45a.m., Byron Clark Bolton was born. Rachelle went through several hours of tough labor, but our baby boy was just too big!!! Rachelle ended up having Byron via C-Section. Byron weighed 9 lbs when born!!! Byron has been nothing but a blessing for both of us since his birth. I was able to bless Byron at the Bolivar Ward, Bolivar MO on September 12th, 2010. I am so lucky I was able to stay an extra week to give him that blessing.

Now I am on my second half of this deployment. Time seems to not be moving as fast either!! Rachelle has been staying super busy taking care of Byron by herself. We are very blessed to have family so close to us though. We want to thank everyone for all their help and support with me gone throughout this year. Byron is getting bigger and bigger!! Rachelle claims he never stops eating. He is definitely a chunk. We love him though! Rachelle and I are both excited for my arrival back home in March 2011.

We wish you all a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR! Thank you all for your support and love.

The Boltons