"I'm not 2 anymore. I'm free. Yay!"

Happy birthday last night at 11:33 p.m.!! Our little guy was so happy with all the extra attention he got for his birthday this weekend. All weekend long he kept singing happy birthday to you. We had to explain to Joseph that his birthday meant that he was no longer 2 years old. The quote in our title was his reaction upon the final realization that he is "growing up," like he likes to remind us.Joseph was excited to see his cousin MacKenzie at his birthday party. He insisted that he needed to wear his dinosaur t-shirt because he thought we were going to the dinosaur Bean Museum (the Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi). He wasn't disappointed at the Bean. He loves to run around and look at all the animals. He does want to go to the Earth Science Museum near the stadium.

Saturday was Joseph's birthday party. It turned out better than I anticipated. There was plenty of parking at the museum, the day was sunny and relatively warm for our outside adventure at the park. Lots of people came. It was fun to see Joseph interact with people he has met and is acquainted with through my work, as well as family and other friends. We had a reptile show at the Bean Museum. They brought out a live tortoise for the kids to touch, a live gecko named Brewskie, and a little corn snake. Joseph was happy to see the animals. I had a hard time keeping him still because he wanted to run off and play with his friend Bryan.

Joseph and Bryan examining the wildlife up close. They wanted to play with it, but I could tell the worker was nervous about having them so close.

After the show we went to a park. I couldn't have asked for a sunnier, nice autumn day! Joseph, Bryan, and Ammon (my friend Emily's nephew) tromped and stomped through the leaves and threw them at each other. Bryan ran to hug Joseph, but Newton's laws were not proven wrong on this occasion. Law 1: An object in motion continues in motion till acted upon by an outside force, and an object at rest stays at rest until acted upon by an outside force. Moving object: Bryan, object at rest: Joseph. Law 2: force is equal to mass times acceleration . Force: Bryan running towards Joseph with all his weight. Law 3: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Stationary Joseph hit by the full force of moving Bryan, causing Joseph to fall backwards, with Bryan on top. Joseph smacked his head hard enough that we could all hear it. Reaction, Joseph starts to cry. That ended the nice romp in the leaves. We finally calmed Joseph down by saying we were going to sing happy birthday and have cake and ice cream.

The cake and ice cream portion was fun. Afterwards, Joseph opened his presents. He loved all the toys and books that he received. Joseph and I will be busy with thank you cards in the next couple of weeks. On Sunday, they made a big deal about Joseph's birthday in nursery. He didn't want me to leave him. In fact, this whole weekend he has been saying "I love you mommy" lots. He is so sweet. I wonder if this is Heavenly Father's way of trying to appease my guilty conscience for having to work full time and leave him with grandma.

Our little guy dressed up to go to nursery on Sunday. I thought he looked so cute. He is getting so big. I can't believe it. Too bad his shirt doesn't ever want to stay tucked in.