Monday was Shawn's birthday. It was both a sad and joyous day for me. I cried (a lot), and laughed a lot, too. I had planned several new things to mark this milestone for Shawn.
First on the schedule for the day was a haircut. I was adament about not touching Shawn's hair until he was at least 1. So, the very first thing we did was trim Shawn's bangs.
He was a little concerned at first about all the fuss around his head. We let him play with the comb for a little bit and that seemed to calm him for a little bit. Do you see how long his bangs are? They got to where I had to constantly brush his hair to the side to keep it out of his eyes. 
So, we gave him a spoon to distract him. This is a BIG hit right now. I think he is teething again.
When the spoon lost it's appeal, I read him the book Nana and Papa sent him for his birthday. That seemed to do the trick. :)
This shows you how long that hair on top is. This is our attempt at a mohawk-but his hair is so long it won't even stand up! WOW!
The first cut. Look at all that hair!
He didn't like the feel of the scissors so we had to try something new.
Here was our solution. :) He didn't actually get to the sucker, but he liked sucking on the wrapper.
All finished. Boy was he excited!
Well, folks, here you have it. His first Big Boy haircut. The first of many, I'm sure! :)
Dressed and ready for the rest of the day.
Killing some time reading his new book.
(Kathy: I LOVE this little outfit. And it actually fits him. YEAH! :) )
Second, we decided it was time to promote Shawn to his Big Boy carseat. Although we're not sure he is at 20 lbs, at his 10 month check up they said he was 18.8 lbs and should be at 20 lbs by his birthday. So we got out the new carseat and washed all the fabric parts (then it took Bryan about 1.5 hours to put it all back together! HA). Here it is prior to the first installation.
Here is Shawn trying it out for the first time. I think he really likes it!
Then, he decided to try on Grandpa's sunglasses. Isn't he cute? These only stayed on for about 2 seconds before he pulled them off. But this is actually record for sunglasses! :)
Third, we started Shawn his first savings account. Here we are standing in front of our bank ready to open his account. This is the piggy bank that my mom gave to Shawn before he was born, and we have been collecting loose change for a year now. It was so exciting to get it counted and see how much he had in the bank..... $21.75!! WOW!! 
Fourth, we decided it was time for Shawn to climb his first 14er (a mountain that is over 14,000 ft above sea level--there are 58 in Colorado). We actually drove to the top and walked up the last 150 ft. But it was raining and freezing, so we walked really fast! :)
Grandma with Shawn, and I walking up to the top. Can you tell we weren't expecting the weather change we encountered? I'm wearing shorts and flip flops in freezing weather!
Me, Mom, Dad with Shawn on top. You can see snow still on the mountain behind us.
Me, Bryan, Dad with Shawn on top.
Grandpa and Shawn heading back off the mountain. There was a lot of static in the air, which is a precursor to lightning! 
Grandma, Grandpa with Shawn, and Me. You can see the observatory behind us. There used to be a restaurant up there (highest in the world) but it burned down due to a lightning strike. :(
All of us standing in front of the Mt Evans sign. We met a family from Austin up there. They had a son who lives in Denver, but he went to Round Rock High School (my high school's biggest rival) and even graduated the same year I did. He is living in Denver doing photography. It was really strange to talk with him, there were so many similarities. SMALL WORLD!!! :)
The rest of these are scenic pictures Bryan took.
These are Big Horn sheep standing beside the road. They are losing their winter coat so they looked really mangy.
For dinner we stopped in Idaho Springs at
Beau Jo's. This is a local hot spot and I highly recommend it to anyone passing through. They have yummy pizza. Here is Shawn eyeing my pizza. Well, it is actually pasta served in a pizza crust...very interesting!
The birthday boy and his proud Mama.
With Grandpa next to the mine shaft. Beau Jo's has a live mine shaft in the middle of the restaurant. The town of Idaho Springs still has several active mines operating.
Happy Birthday, Shawn! I hope you had a great day!
Jack pointing at 'Dorie". If you haven't seen "Finding Nemo," you should!
A beautiful butterfly. I love the shape of this one.
A cluster of butterflies eating off of a tray. They love dead fruit. Go figure?
Here is a stow-away butterfly that rode around on our stroller for most of the time in the pavilion. It was very calm on the ride. I tried to get Shawn to see it, but I don't think he was interested. There were so many butterflies to look at.
A larger-than-life, moving ant exhibit. They were kind of frightening and reminded me of the movie "Honey, I shrunk the Kids". This is a favorite of my family when I was a kid.
Shawn trying to get one of the displays to move. He is SO super cute. :)
