He said - She said

Preschool - Valentine Day Party

2012-02-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

She said...

Monday Austin had his first Valentine Day Party at Preschool and he LOVED it. :)

Austin loves most holidays anyways but for some reason he has always had an affinity for Valentine's Day.

1st Official Day of Preschool

2012-02-03T09:37:00.002-07:00

She said...

We were going grocery shopping a few weeks ago and noticed the "Preschool Registration" sign outside Country Loft and thought we should look into it assuming that they were registering for the next school year (because Preschools are crazy and do that sort of thing - though I am sure it probably isn't just preschool tat does it). It was only about 3 blocks from our house so we figured it might be worth a shot. We found out their prices are pretty decent and they would get us in immediately. I didn't know if I was ready for that or not but Austin was super excited and we decided to work things out so he could go. They even offered us a "free day" to try it out and see how we liked it. I took Austin last Wednesday (or was it the Wednesday before?) for his "free" day and he loved it! We signed him up starting the first of February but because he has been on again/off again with a cold I kept him home Wednesday. I didn't think it was fair to the other kids or his teacher (she is pregnant) to take him if he was sick. He has been acting a little better and he has been so excited to go so this morning I got up earlier than normal to try and get started on work before having to leave.

There is no such thing as separation anxiety with this child! Both on his free day and today he ran right up and in, hung up his things and started playing. They said he did really well last time and I am confident he will continue to do well. He really does like being able to get out of the house and be around other people so it will be a good thing for him since he has always been cooped up with me at home.Right now every time he meets someone new or sees someone he hasn't seen for a while he likes to tell them, "I am signed up for Preschool now!" Can't you tell he's pretty excited?

I did take a few pictures before sending him off this morning:

He loved this picture of himself. Mr. Tude!

I even took a moment to take one with him. :)

For his age group (3-year olds) we have him in the MWF class from 9:-11:30. I guess if all goes well then we will just keep him there next fall as well. (I'm hoping all goes well) They use the Lehi School District Kindergarten curriculum to prepare the children to acclimate well when they do enter Kindergarten so that's reassuring as well, at least they are using some sort of curriculum right?

Jack Sparrow

2012-02-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

She said...

Yesterday morning Austin and I were in the Work/Play room trying to get started on our day and we heard this scratching noise in the other room. I followed the noise and realized that there was a bird stuck in our dryer vent tube. I ended up having to pull out the dryer and unhook both ends of the dryer tube. I put a pillowcase with some bred inside around the end of the dryer tube but that bird would NOT come out. I was afraid to remove the pillowcase completely and have this bird fly straight into my face (honestly I kept having flashbacks to the Alfred Hitchcock classic "The Birds" and didn't know what would happen)! David was at work obviously and I tried to reach in and grab the bird (I think it was a sparrow since I did see him sitting in the tube at one point) but when I would try and reach in for him he would work himself up inside the tube and sit up there on something, but he couldn't climb out the top and wouldn't climb out the bottom.

This is the first time I attached the pillowcase and tried to coax the bird out.

I really didn't want the bird to die while in the tube and since David couldn't help and I couldn't do it David contacted the Elder's Quorum in the ward to see if anyone would be home and could help. One of the brothers called his wife, who called another sister in the ward who's husband works the night shift and would be home during the day. Unfortunately because he works at night he was sleeping during the day so his wife ended up coming over with her brother-in-law. Between the three of us we took the tube out of the wall and tried to shake the sparrow out into the pillowcase. That bird was hanging on for dear life and refused to come out so we ended up carrying the whole tube outside and shook it until the bird came out and flew away.

And here's the war sister's brother-in-law with the pipe after having shaken "Jack Sparrow" free.

After several hours of listening to that poor bird calling for help and scratch at the tube I was so glad to see him fly free. And when David got home he took Austin to Lowe's to get a vent cover in the hopes of preventing another little bird from getting stuck in the future.

With this experience I am grateful for several things.
1. Since there was no vent cover I am grateful the bathroom is still unfinished and we could remove the pipe so we could get the bird out.
2. I am grateful it wasn't laundry day.
3. I am grateful someone was able to come over and help.
4. I am grateful the poor bird didn't die.
5. And I must say I am so grateful it was a little sparrow and not a big rat! Can you imagine what that would have been like? Ew!

P.S. Austin named him Jack Sparrow while we were telling David some of the story. :)

Welcome to our Home Part II

2012-01-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

She said...

We have been working on a few more projects to finish up the rooms I hadn't posted pictures of last time, including getting blinds up. Our front room blinds aren't up yet but should be within a week or so. We had ordered some but they came looking a very different color than intended. Luckily we were able to work something out with Blinds.com and we have some replacement blinds coming later this week or early next week.

As for the rest of the house...

Our front room:

Our kitchen:

Our bedroom:

And now you have basically seen it all. There have been little additions here and there but nothing that changes the previous pictures too much.

Pocket Door Part 2

2012-01-29T19:00:00.001-07:00

He said...

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about our pocket door that needed parts. A nice person at Stanley sent me a free part that I thought was going to fix it, but the wheels were too large and it wouldn't fit on the door track, so I was back at square one. I did some more internet searching. Still no luck.

We took the piece that was too big to Home Depot to find something similar with smaller wheels. While there, the door guy asked what we were doing, so we told him. He first took us to the door hardware section (which we just came from and didn't find a piece ourselves) and he couldn't find the piece either. Then he asked us why hadn't we just changed the whole track. We said all the tracks we looked at were like $60 and we didn't want to spend that much. He took us back to his track section and found a track for $20. I was skeptical at first, but conceded and bought it. (At this point, $20 seemed reasonable for a new track and wheels that would fit for sure.)

A couple of nights later (last Monday), after finding a leak in the upstairs ceiling and a water leak in our storage area from all the rain/snow, I finally got to installing the new track. True to form, I ran into some snags and it took longer than I expected. I had to move the dryer away from the wall and take out a few extra screws to lift the door out of the pocket before taking out the old track.

Once I got the door out, the rest was easier. I put in the new track, reinstalled the door, put all the screws back in (most of them) and tried the door. Success! We now have a sliding pocket door to our laundry room/utility room/downstairs bathroom. Yeah!

Friends

2012-01-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

She said...

Last Monday my friend (and old roommate) Michelle and her son Jonathan came to stay with us for a few days. He husband was attending a workshop in Salt Lake City and she and Jonathan came down as well.

Unfortunately I still had to work in the mornings (especially since I had already taken time off for moving) so we didn't get to spend as much "fun" time with them as we might have liked, but the boys still had a lot of fun together.The first day they came and then left to run an errand and Austin was so disappointed. He took a chair, pulled it over to the kitchen window that looks out onto the driveway and would just stand there looking out and asking when they would be back.

It really was fun to have them come visit, especially since I have not "seen" Michelle since we lived in our first home in Provo, a few years ago.

It's also a little unfortunate that Michelle and I only really got to talk in the evenings. Unfortunate because then we had little boys to put to sleep, were visited by three groups from our new ward, and both Michelle and I were EXHAUSTED by the time evening rolled around (if we weren't already).

We also caught a couple fun videos of the boys "rocking out" though one afternoon. (note, to those that get this blog update via email: You will need to click on the link to go to the blog entry itself if you want to see the videos.)

Michelle and Jonathan left Thursday morning. Austin tried telling Michelle, "No one else needs you. You should just stay here. Next time you come you need to stay this long!" holding his arms as far apart as they could go. :) Thanks Michelle and Jonathan for visiting and playing with us, and for being patient with my working. :)

Recycling

2012-01-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

He said...

Another perk about our new house is recycling. We like to be eco-friendly and were happy to find out that the city provides a full-size recycling bin when they deliver trash cans. Austin loves to do his part too and LOVES to put things in the recycling bin. He gets more excited to recycle than he does to eat ice cream.

To help Austin out, we picked up a smaller trash can to put under our sink as a temporary holding spot of recycling. Jaclyn made vinyl labeling on the Cricut.

We told Austin he could empty the smaller can into the large one outside each day. He loved the idea! He didn't waste any time and couldn't wait to recycle tonight.

A Win-Win-Win Solution

2012-01-14T22:06:00.003-07:00

He said . . .

Our new house isn't as close to a bus stop as our old apartment was. It used to be a 5 min walk to the bus stop and then a 1-hour ride up to downtown Salt Lake with no transfers. It was pretty convenient. Our new place is not as convenient, but still pretty close to bus routes. However, the closest bus routes are local routes or routes that require a transfer and thus take more time than I wanted.

I checked a few more schedules and found a solution--biking about 4 miles to the Thanksgiving Point stop and then get on the express bus there. At first I was dreading biking 4 miles (about 20 minutes) in the early morning, but it's actually a win-win-win situation.

The first win is that I get 40 min of exercise each day I ride my bike. It's a pretty flat route so I don't have to climb major hills like the hill from the MTC to behind the Provo Temple or the hill up to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. I've been thinking how to get more exercise and this is a great solution.

The second win is that I continue to use the bus and save money. Because of available money in the budget, my work picked up the entire cost of the bus passes this year. We figured we are saving about $150 a month in gas/insurance/registration by having only one car.

The third win is that I get home sooner than I did when we lived in Pleasant Grove. Even with the 20-minute bike ride home, I get home about 15 min earlier because Thanksgiving Point is one of the first stops and Pleasant Grove was at the end of the line.

House pictures, as requested

2012-01-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

She said...

I don't have the whole house to show you yet. I am still working on a few things, and I have a few blank canvases (walls) I am contemplating, but I do have a few things we can show you.

Welcome to our home:

When you walk in you will see the front room on your left and the kitchen on the right (I am not posting pictures of either of those rooms yet) and stairs in front of you leading up to our bedroom (no pics yet), the bathroom, and Austin's bedroom; or downstairs to the work/play room, the unfinished bathroom, storage room, and 3rd bedroom.

So we travel upstairs to the bathroom first

Then on to Austin's bedroom. We put in blinds, and there are glow-in-the-dark stars on his ceiling, but I still have his name to put up somewhere.

Now downstairs, to the work and play room. We still need to put blinds and curtains in and have a couple spaces to decorate but it is done for the most part. (we still need to adjust a shelf in the "linen" closet as well. The drawers may hold the linens but the cupboards are currently for games, a couple crafting things, some computer stuff, and essential oils and medicines that need to be up out of reach.)

This hallway leads to the unfinished bathroom, third bathroom, and crawl space. Here is a picture of our hallway decor.

Here are some "lovely" pictures of our unfinished bathroom/laundry/utilities room. Yeah...it needs a lot of work, and we have big plans to make it awesome!

Sorry, no pictures of the storage room, it still needs to be organized and is a MESS (not that you really want to see pictures of that anyways) and no pictures of the 3rd bedroom because it really is a blank canvas. Well actually here is a picture of the 3rd bedroom from before we moved in. We have put blinds in this room as well.

So there you have it. I will work on the kitchen, front room, and our bedroom and post more pictures as soon as I have those things put together. We really do love it here. Yes, there are a few things we need to have looked at (bathrooms, some plumbing, electrical box) or we would like to fix/replace (kitchen counters), or need to add (blinds) but it's a great home and space for us and it makes me happy that we all love it.

Brown paper packages, tied up with string

2012-01-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

She said...

Okay so maybe they weren't exactly brown paper packages, or tied up with string but this week we have received some pretty amazing gifts in the mail!

Last month, I entered a blog giveaway for a Disney Trivial Pursuit game. I entered, commenting on how it would be the perfect Trivial Pursuit game for our family. You know you always hope you will win but never expect it. Well last Friday I received an email from someone telling me I had won, and asking for my address!

And last Saturday I received an email from my friend Karen (an old boss from the WD) asking if David and I would be interested in reading a book she had purchased and read, written by someone who graduated with her from High School. It is called the Hainan Incident and she said it is a pretty good spy story based in China. I told her we would love to read it. This evening when I checked the mail I found this in our mail box.

I have to say it's been an awesome mail week for us. I am not sure how any other weeks will ever compare. :)

Fixing the House: Pocket Door Hardware

2012-01-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

He said...

I love being a homeowner! I love the independence, the space, and the stability. I also love fixing things up and making them better than before. Our new house is in pretty good condition. We haven't had to paint or do major remodeling. There has been one project that has been giving me fits--fixing our "pocket door" to our downstairs bathroom/washroom/utility room.

Currently, the pocket door is sitting on the ground and we have to manually slide it on the carpet in and out of the wall pocket. It's annoying. We found one wheel assembly left on a shelf, but we need two. So, I went first to Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart to find replacement parts. Nothing. In fact, one of the people at Lowe's told me there was one sitting up front before but they thew it out. Bummer.

Next, I went to the Internet. It just so happens that I found a site with them:

The only problem is that the site says the parts are discontinued and there are no substitutes.Grrr. Well, that's frustrating. So I keep looking and eventually find a site, based out of Cincinnati that has them, I think. The site let me put the part in my shopping cart and checkout, but I guess they send me a quote first, and if I like the quote I can order the part for real.

Hopefully, they give me a good quote and I can order it and install it. It will be one less thing on my list of things to fix around the house.

Donuts

2012-01-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

She said...

For Christmas I received a mini donut maker. Sunday we decided to get it out and make some pumpkin donuts for breakfast before heading to our new ward at 1:00PM.

Thanks David for making the donuts!

I have always liked the 1:00PM church schedule, but I have to say it wreaked havoc on Austin's nap schedule. *sigh* So far we really like our new ward. Everyone seems to be pretty friendly, and we managed to meet the Bishop, 1st and 2nd Counselors, Relief Society President, Primary President, and Elder's Quorum President within the first couple of hours. The RSP set up a visit with me for tonight, and David was invited to participate in the ward basketball games and given the game schedule. The Primary President said Austin's class is full of friendly, active, social little kids so he should fit in very well. And I heard on more than one occasion how grateful they were that we purchased this home and moved into the ward. So far the way most people know us as the family that lives in the blue house across the street from the church. It's really the only blue house on our street or in the neighborhood that I have seen so far. Makes it easy enough for us to describe at least.

Pine cones

2012-01-10T11:59:00.004-07:00

She said...

When we were in Las Vegas several weeks ago to drop off Christmas gifts Austin loved picking pine cones from Agong and Amah Jenny's yard. Amah Jenny got a couple of small bags for Austin and he filled them up to bring home. Part of me thought about throwing them out but then I decided we might as well do something with them and they really were quite pretty ones. One afternoon after working Austin and I looked through Pinterest (I already had an idea but I wanted to see if others had done the same thing and how they had turned out). During moving last weekend I took a moment to paint Austin's pine cones for a centerpiece, and once we set up the kitchen they found their place on our table. Our kitchen might not be decorated in red, but we could always do more in another color (just save us a few more Amah Jenny!). We love them though!

Handy Manny

2012-01-07T11:00:00.000-07:00

She said...

Austin also loves fixing things! When the Lowe's delivery men came by on Thursday to drop off and install our fridge Austin was ecstatic and actually a pretty good helper. Both Kyle and Rod (I think it was) really enjoyed Austin and they even let him climb up into their truck to help find the owner's manual. Austin also managed to help install the bottom handle on the freezer! What a helpful little guy!

Manly

2012-01-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

She said...

A couple days ago amongst packing, moving, and fixing I asked David if being able to fix and install so many things lately makes him feel manly at all. He said it kind of did but listed a few other things around the house that he would like to work on as well that would also make him feel manly.

I believe one of them was fixing the dishwasher which was not hooked up at the time. A little bit of electrical work needed to be done to the dishwasher. Since he does not have a lot of experience in the electrical department he contacted Mitch and asked if he would mind helping us get it fixed and going.

Thursday night Mitch and Holly came over. The first part of the night we all spent in the dark while David and Mitch worked with the electrical portion. They stopped after a while for a break, trip to Lowe's to exchange a part, and we all went to dinner at DP Cheeseteak s. It was delicious! Afterwards I suggested that while David and Mitch went back to the house to work on the dishwasher in the dark, Holly, Austin, and I go to Hobby Lobby (which ended up being WalMart since Hobby Lobby was closing). While we were at WalMart I suggested getting something for the boys and their hard work. I didn't come up with anything spectacular but I did find a little something for David.

Yup, "Man"wich! :)

Unfortunately even after all of David and Mitch's hard work the dishwasher refuses to work. It's a good think our Realtor was kind enough to gift us a Home warranty which just happens to cover all the electrical appliances as well. I guess we will be putting that to good use already.

Buddy

2012-01-05T22:58:00.000-07:00

She said...

The house is coming along. We have made amazing progress in getting things set up and put away and hope to have things completely finished in the next week. Of course there will be projects after that and there are things we would like to do to the home as well but we are trying to do it all in stride. Once we have things put together we will post a few pictures. Really most of the rooms are done (minus decorating) except for the front room, so it shouldn't be long.

Several months back I told Austin that he could get a pet fish once we moved into a house. Since we bought the house he has reminded us repeatedly about the promise of a fish (I cannot do dogs or cats because of my allergies and honestly don't want to deal with the "pet" thing much anyways, but I can do a fish.) and when we run errands he will ask us to add a fish to our "shopping list". I told him we had to wait until the house was all finished and things were put away, but tonight while Austin, Holly, and I were out while David and Mitch were fixing the dishwasher I decided to purchase his fish.

Austin is thrilled! Holly and I asked what he was going to name the fish and his immediate answer was "Austin Lee Kitchen". I told him we couldn't have two Austin Lee Kitchen's and so Holly and I kept giving suggestions but all were rejected. We went to the cashier to pay for the fish and after she rang him up he asked how she did it since his cup didn't have a sticker and she politely explained and then asked something like, "Is this your new buddy?" and it clicked. Austin said, "That would be a good name for my fish! I will call him Buddy!" So Buddy it is. He is a Blue Crowntailed Beta (male) and very pretty.

Tonight we put Buddy in his new "home" and Austin loves to watch and talk to him and says "Oh, look! Buddy is smiling at me!" (because of the gill flaps Austin thinks he looks like he is smiling) But Austin has been smiling pretty big himself. :)

P.S. Send us an email if you would like our new address...I don't think I am planning on posting it to the blog.

It's Official

2011-12-28T20:26:00.002-07:00

He said...

We closed on our new house this afternoon. It's located in Lehi behind Lehi Roller Mills and Lehi High School. We'll get keys on Friday and move in this weekend. Yeah!

It's a three bedroom, one and half bath, bi-level home. It's move-in ready with new carpet, new paint, new furnace, and a newer roof. No garage, but a cement pad for two cars. A backyard with a shed and partial fence.

We may not be posting very often in the next couple of days as we are packing, cleaning, moving, and unpacking.

One other quick story: we purchased a new fridge today valued at $1500 from Lowe's for over 40% off. We started at Sears but asked Lowe's to price match. At first they said the manager said he could sell it to us for about $1000. We weren't happy, but the sales associate gal said to try him again and say it's a matter of buying it from Lowe's or Sears. She asked the manager to come back to haggle again. He listened and agree to beat the Sears price with special financing by a full 10%. The final price was about $850. Thanks Sales Associate Gal! You saved the deal.

A little communication can make a huge difference. And yes, we'll probably go back to Lowe's for more stuff for the new house.

A Very Merry Christmas

2011-12-27T21:57:00.003-07:00

He said...

We had a very merry Christmas! Jaclyn was up early (3:30 AM) and Austin and I slept in until around 6. We first put out our Christmas spread of food on the dining table:

Then we took a quick picture of the front room prior to opening presents and stockings:

Thank you everybody for the wonderful gifts. You spoiled us. We played with some of the gifts before we had to get ready for church at 10. Church was good and I am glad it was only an hour on Sunday. After we got home, we dressed down and spent the rest of the day together playing games, munching on food, watching movies, and enjoying the new gifts.

On the 12th day of Christmas

2011-12-24T21:16:00.000-07:00

She said...

We wrote letters to Jesus. Amah Jenny gave us a special white stocking with the following poem a few weeks ago:

THE WHITE STOCKING

(adapted by Carolyn Cox, Canberra)

‘Twas the night before Christmas as I walked through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

The presents had been wrapped and placed under the tree

I paused, tired, excited, and then giggled with glee.

The stockings were hanging and were beautifully filled

No one had been forgotten, though the credit card was billed.

As I looked at the scene with the stockings on the ledge.

I noticed one was empty, the one on the edge.

Where's the Spirit of Christmas - What have I done?

The children's stockings are all full, except for this one

It was the stocking intended for the child of Bethlehem.

The White stocking for Jesus that was hung up by them.

Of all the people at Christmas, that might be forgotten

How could I not remember the Fathers Only Begotten?

Only He had been left out of the festivities.

As we planned and prepared all, for our families.

As I pondered, I realized this just was not right!

It was His birth that was being celebrated, after this night

I resolved then and there to remember the Lord

And quickly made changes that were easy to afford.

I hung the white stocking in a special place in our home.

And corrected the atmosphere to provide a more spiritual tone.

On Christmas morning I gathered the family together

And each of us wrote on a special piece of paper,

We gave Jesus a gift which we placed in the stocking.

A sincere change of heart, not there for the mocking.

The white stocking hung in our home as a symbol for us

Of the true meaning of Christmas - the Savior, The Lord Jesus

So take your white stocking and hang it with pride

Remember the Savior, put his gift inside.

Tonight before getting ready for bed we each sat down with a piece of paper and wrote a letter to Jesus and placed it in the stocking. At this point in Austin's life he decided to "draw a picture for Jesus" and had a lot of fun drawing and coloring a page for Jesus, while David and I each wrote our own letters. I have seen people (I just did an online search) who make it a list of things they would like to work on as a gift for Jesus. Tonight though I wrote Him a letter of gratitude for all He has given us and a prayer that we will always remember Him especially during this season when He seems to be so easily forgotten during the bustle and stress of the holiday or daily life. I am grateful for this season, for His birth, His life and teachings, and His sacrifice.

Merry Christmas!

On the 11th day of Christmas

2011-12-23T21:53:00.002-07:00

He said...

We read the Christmas story from Luke 2 together as a family. Unlike my own family on Christmas Eve when I was growing up, we didn't act out any parts or dress up. We just read the story and talked a little about the true meaning of Christmas. Earlier in the evening we also watched the Veggie Tales Christmas special "The Toy who Saved Christmas" which taught the true meaning of Christmas and the importance of Jesus Christ and the gifts He has given us. Austin loved the show and wanted to watch it again in Chinese. We told him he could watch it tomorrow.

More on the scriptural account, I love the proclamations of joy and peace:

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people...Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

I wish more people truly understood the angelic meanings of these glad tidings. Not that I want to get too religious in this post, but Jesus Christ does bring us peace and happiness. I am grateful He is part of my life.

On the 10th day of Christmas

2011-12-22T20:40:00.002-07:00

She said...

We had planned on going to see the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point but the line was backed up for more than a mile or so and we all decided to opt out of Thanksgiving Point and see the lights for free in the neighborhoods. We drove up through Alpine and Cedar Hills, saw a multimillion dollar home all decked out with Christmas lights and Austin was all ready to come home or head back to "wait in the line". Apparently seeing lights on regular houses paled in comparison. We drove over to a home near our church to see the nativity scene and then made our way home.

Once we got home we decided to play a game of Candy Land while eating our "Gingerbread" man cookies, and have some Tim Tam Slams.

The evening may not have gone 100% according to plan but we all still had fun and spent time together celebrating the Christmas season.

*Interestingly enough I looked back through our 12 days of Christmas last year and realized we went and looked at lights and the same nativity on our 10th day of Christmas last year as well. Cool!

On the 9th day of Christmas

2011-12-21T22:46:00.002-07:00

He said...

We took Christmas treats to our neighbors. Last week Jaclyn made peppermint popcorn with ground up candy canes and melted almond bark. Yummy!

On the 8th day of Christmas

2011-12-20T23:14:00.001-07:00

He said...

We made soft ginger "men" cookies. We used Jaclyn's Aunt Debbie's famous soft ginger cookies recipe and used our gingerbread man cookie cutter. By the time they finished baking, they looked more like "chubby doughboys" because it wasn't a standard gingerbread recipe. They still tasted really good. Jaclyn found some left over cream cheese frosting in the fridge and spread it on them. Yummy!!!

The Spirit of Christmas

2011-12-19T22:43:00.000-07:00

She said...

It may not be part of our count down but I wanted to share something Austin said today. We went over to our neighbors to deliver some of their mail that had been put in our box by mistake. They stood at the door and Austin shared his excitement that "Christmas is coming soon!" Of course they respond in kind and said something like, "Yup, Santa is coming." Austin didn't say anything at that moment but when we walked away and I was strapping him into the car he said, "Mama, they said Santa is coming. Is he?" I said, "No, Austin he is not coming to our home." To which he replied, "Santa does not bring us gifts. He represents Jesus Christ who brings us faith and love." That was a tender moment for me and I simply replied, "You're exactly right Austin. I love you." I am so grateful that he enjoys celebrating Christmas with us in its many facets but that he also understands why we are celebrating.

On the 7th day of Christmas

2011-12-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

She said...

We watched Walt Disney's "Babes in Toyland" as a family; ate treats sent to us by Nathan, Lauren, Karen, Grant, and baby Kitchen; and had family snuggle time.

I love snuggling with my Austin!

I think Austin was more comfortable in this position than I was. :)

As we were watching the movie I thought, "Well this movie doesn't exactly scream Christmas." But toward the end of the movie the children do sacrifice their time and talents to help the toymaker make toys for little girls and boys for Christmas, because without their service the toymaker would never be able to do it all himself. Isn't it kind of the same thing with the gospel? Yes, God blesses us immensely but as we serve each other we can help to accomplish His work. Sometimes it requires our time, money, or talents; and sometimes it is a sacrifice, but we are not only serving others we are also serving Him. The children in the movie were not only serving the children that would receive the gifts they were also serving the toymaker.

It is a movie I always loved as a child. It's cheesy but it has fun costumes, dancing, and lots of great music. I love being able to share these things with Austin as well and see him enjoy them too. (I have several other Christmas movies but tonight I don't know that "It's a Wonderful Life", "Holiday Inn" or "White Christmas" would have appealed to him quite so well). ;)

On the 6th day of Christmas

2011-12-18T23:08:00.002-07:00

He said...

We did phone caroling to some of our family members. Unfortunately we couldn't get a hold of everyone so most of them ended up being messages but we still had fun. A week ago we taught Austin a new carol--"We Wish You a Merry Christmas" in preparation for tonight's phone caroling. He had a lot of fun with this song.

On the 5th day of Christmas

2011-12-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

She said...

We took Austin to pass out Candy canes. This year since we had a few small things to mail we decided to have him pass them out at the post office. We all know that some people standing in long lines at the post office before Christmas can get a little ornery. Providing them with a smile and a candy cane proved to be just the trick! There were so many smiles and happy faces all around and "Merry Christmas" sentiments being exchanged it was hard not to feel good. I love seeing the faces of people when Austin hands them a candy cane and I love hearing their happy responses and whispered comments afterwards too. He really did make some peoples' day. The saddest part was when he realized he was all out. He wanted to head to the store right then to buy more candy canes and go somewhere else to pass them out. :) Next year we might need more than 2 boxes.

*I wish I could get a picture of this some day but I haven't taken any because it seems a little weird to take pictures of Austin as he is passing out candy canes, so you'll just have to imagine it in your head.

On the 4th day of Christmas

2011-12-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

He said...

We went to Temple Square and saw the lights and "Small One" (the nativity's donkey). We all had fun despite the cold weather. Austin's favorite part was going into the Tabernacle and recognizing it as "General Conference." He went upstairs sat down on a pew and asked, "Is President Monson coming?"

After walking around Temple Square, we went across the street to Deseret Book to check out the Candymaker window display. We all thought it was cool. Austin loved the free gingerbread men they handed out. He tried to go back for seconds and thirds, but we only got one each. Shucks!

Take a look at the pictures.

On the 3rd day of Christmas

2011-12-15T23:33:00.002-07:00

She said...

We read "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". David and I went to the yearly Young Living Christmas party and had a lot of fun. The food was fantastic as was the music (Jon Schmidt and Steve Nelson came to play), and they had a fun photo booth for us to take pictures and David got to meet some more of the people I work with. While we were at the party Austin played with the Lethco's and had so much fun that when we went to pick him up he told us he wanted to stay and that we should go back to our party instead. By the time we finally made it home through the traffic (traffic at 10:00PM+ was horrendous!) we all got in our pajamas, snuggled up into our big chair and read together. I love snuggling together especially while reading!

On the 2nd day of Christmas...

2011-12-14T21:30:00.002-07:00

He said...

We went shopping for stocking stuffers.This is a family activity we started when we got married and it has been one of our most favorite traditions. We plan a night to go to a store, set a dollar limit and time "limit" (subject to change), and go for it. As we are shopping we try to hide from the other person so they can't see what we got for them. All of the things we get should fit inside the stocking. One year we purchased a steering wheel cover but it didn't fit in the stocking so we had to set it to the side.

Because we do most of our gift shopping together it's hard to surprise each other. Our stocking gifts are the exception and its fun to open up stockings Christmas morning. They are not big or expensive gifts but they are a fun way for us to focus on each other.

On the 1st day of Christmas

2011-12-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

She said...

We made Christmas Shrinky-Dinks! When I was a kit I loved making Shrinky-Dinks but for some reason I remember them already coming with patterns and being cut out so all I had to do was color them. This time around I found the shrink sheets that you draw on, color or paint, and cut out yourself before baking. I had the bright idea of using my Cricut to cut out Christmas shapes for us and had I owned a deep cut blade it would have worked splendidly; unfortunately it wouldn't cut deep enough so we still ended up designing most of our own shapes and painting them.

We all had a lot of fun though and Austin didn't even need to be painting a Shrinky-Dink to enjoy himself, painting paper was plenty exciting.

Now that they are done though he loves them even more! He lines them up in a row and even took David's curled snowman (he never uncurled like he was supposed to) to bed with him, and made him cover up so he would not be cold. ;)

Austin painted the colorful snowflake on the top left. Pretty cool huh?

Book Review: My Child, My Love

2011-12-13T13:58:00.001-07:00

He said...

On the trip home from Las Vegas, Jaclyn, Austin, and I finished reading My Child, My Love by Sue Krupa and Nyle Smith. I don't know how many of you have read or heard of it (it's obviously not that of a popular book if I couldn't find a image for it on Google Images), but I like it a lot because it reminds me of the true meaning of Christmas--Jesus Christ.

The basic storyline is about the Bethlehem innkeeper and his family and how the Christ child affects their family and a neighborhood girl, Ardis. It's a touching story and one that we wanted to read with Austin so he could remember the real reason for Christmas. I don't know how much he understood as we read it, but I'm sure that heard the words and look forward to his comments later.

I appreciate Jaclyn for sharing the book with me a few years ago. We read it together then as a Christmas novel and get it out every year since. It ranks high on my list of favorite Christmas stories. It's easy to see a lot of the material goods on sale this time of year. I also spend time thinking of getting the gifts for loved ones to show appreciation to them, which is not a bad thing. Christ himself taught us to "love our neighbors" and take care of each other. But this book, along with many others, reminds me of the reason-Christ--of the Christmas season and the way to celebrate--to love one another.

She said...
I just found a picture via Amazon, not a great one but a picture nonetheless.

12 Days of Christmas

2011-12-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

She said...

Our 12 Days of Christmas start tomorrow! We had been planning to do a "12 Days of Christmas" event chain again this year like we did last year but it snuck up on me pretty fast. We have been so busy lately and running so many different directions we almost missed it. Tonight we took a few minutes after dinner and some family time to plan out our 12 days of Christmas activities. I know some nights could feel rushed or stressful but I know it will be worth it too. Tonight as we were discussing it David and I said something like, "Maybe we don't need to drive up to see the lights at Temple Square. It gets so busy and maybe it would just be too much." Austin piped up, had a disappointed look on his face and said, "But I want to go to temple square and see the lights and 'Small one'." (small one is the donkey in the nativity) That clinched it. It won't be easy and definitely won't be convenient but that's okay. It is worth going to temple square to see the nativity with Austin.

We're excited about what we have planned and will try to blog each day as part of our count down as well...If we can do it all this will prove to be not only a busy but wonderful Christmas as well.

Hey baby let's go to Vegas...

2011-12-11T22:40:00.001-07:00

She said...

Last Wednesday evening we decided to head down to Las Vegas Friday evening to deliver Christmas presents. David was approved to come home and hour early. Thursday night we did all our packing and while Austin was napping Friday afternoon I packed the car and checked my list twice. We picked David up around 4:30 and hit the road. Because we knew we wouldn't be in Las Vegas for very long we drove straight through instead of stopping in Beaver like we sometimes do. We got in around 10:00PM and Austin was as high as a kite because he was so excited. It took some coaxing and negotiating to finally get him to sleep but we all slept pretty soundly.

Saturday we visited with Grandma and Grandpa Christensen for a bit, ran errands with Mom and Abby, played games, and painted mom's fingernails for her company Christmas party that night. While mom partied and Abby "worried"; David, Austin, and I went to my dad and Jenny's. We talked (and listened to Austin talk), met the new horse Cletis (I have no idea how it is spelled), and went to dinner at BJ's. The waitress had a thing for Austin and brought him a cup full of cherries! He was in heaven! After dinner we drove over to Uncle Craig and Aunt Laura's to see some of Uncle Craig's famous light display. Every year there is something new to enjoy. Austin didn't want to stay for the whole show but we did get to see a few of the songs. This year he also added Christmas trivia which was pretty cool too.

Sunday morning Austin was able to take a quick ride on Cletis and Shorty, we all got ready for church, attended Sacrament Meeting, dropped by to see Mom & Abby really quickly and then basically hit the road again to travel home. It was an extremely quick trip but we are glad we went and feel grateful that things worked out so well. It might not have been a long visit but at least we got to spend time with family.

Here are a few pictures of Austin with the horses:

Agong and Austin riding Cletis

Austin riding Shorty

Austin leading Shorty

Family Pictures 2011

2011-12-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

She said...

We had our family pictures taken a few weeks ago by one of my friends that was in our ward years ago (my previous Visiting Teaching companion). I won't post all of them but below is a slide show where you can see a few of them.

*If you are viewing this post through an email update you may need to click on the link to be directed to the actual blog post and see the slideshow. If there are specific photos you would like us to send to you let us know.

Book Review: Flawless

2011-12-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

He said...

Many weeks ago, Austin, Jaclyn, and I were walking out of the library when we saw a teenage girl walking into the library with a big stack of books. We recognized the books as the Pretty Little Liars series that we started earlier this year. This was a big deal because the library did not have any of the series when we checked this summer after we finished reading the first book.

Fortunately for us, our suspicions were correct. The library recently acquired the entire series so we don't have to buy the books just to read them. I think Jaclyn and I will try to read the whole series over time, but it's not a series we think we want to own. It was entertaining enough, but more juvenile that some of the other books we read. Sometimes, juvenile isn't so bad. So many of the books we read take longer to get through. Sometimes it's nice to read something that we can get through more quickly for a change.

Thanksgiving

2011-12-07T08:00:00.000-07:00

He said...

So it's been a while...and we have been busy.

First off, we spent Thanksgiving in Vernal with my family (actually part of my family)--my parents, sister Rachel, brother Spencer and sister-in-law Brenna and their 4-month old Kaitlyn, sister Elisa and brother-in-law Devin and their children Emily and Lucas.

It was good to get off work and go home to spend time with family. Even though Vernal is only 3 hours away, we hadn't been out in a year. It was also our first time meeting Kaitlyn. Spencer and Brenna live in Boulder, CO. They don't get to travel much since Spencer is working on his Master's degree. Austin loves babies and Kaitlyn is no exception. Austin also loved playing with his cousin Emily and all of Grandpa and Grandma's toys.

Over the four days vacation, we talked a lot, played games, had Thanksgiving dinner, rode a camel and ponies at Vernal's Holly Days community celebration, went swimming at the rec center, had a cousin movie night, and smashed Halloween pumpkins. We didn't take a ton of pictures but we do have a few.

Spencer and Brenna on the camel

Rachel, Austin, and David on the camel

Austin and Emily smiling together

Austin and David playing basketball in the pool

Cousins Austin, Lucas, and Emily with my sister Rachel watching the movie

Smashing pumpkins-tradition last year of relieving stress

Austin's First Primary Program

2011-11-13T23:53:00.003-07:00

He said...

Today was Austin's first Primary Program in church and he did so well!

As I mentioned in Saturday's post, he struggled in the practice--too loud and a little showy. Today it was no such thing. He got up, started right in and said about two-thirds of it before he needed a few hints to finish it up.

Jaclyn was unable to be here in person to hear him (we go pick her up from the airport tomorrow) so I called her on my cell phone during the meeting so she could at least hear him give his part. Jaclyn heard it all and was so proud of him too.

Several ward members, even ones that we don't normally "socialize" with came up to him afterwards and complimented him how well he did and said that he was their favorite child of all the primary. Gosh, that's a pretty good compliment for a little kid. He just has the positive, infectious energy about him. He puts a smile on everybody's face.

Austin was also so complimentary to other kids. After the meeting, he could tell the other primary children "You did such a good job today!" without any prompting. He is just so nice. I could probably learn a lesson from him. It makes us very proud parents.

Oh yes, his part:

The Family Proclamation says "Sacred ordinance and covenants available in holy temples make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for families to be united eternally."

Man Weekend

2011-11-12T16:38:00.003-07:00

He said...

Since Jaclyn doesn't get many relaxing weekends at home, we sent her Thursday afternoon to Moses Lake, Washington to visit her friend Laska. Although we miss her a lot, we talked to her last night and she is doing well.

Meanwhile, Austin and I are having a lot of fun too. Thursday night we had a movie night picnic with Little Caesar's pizza and watching Alpha and Omega (which Jaclyn and Austin watched when I was away to PA last February). Friday we went to the library and picked up new books and watched a "Thomas the Train Engine" movie. We also tried going to the park, but didn't last too long as a storm was rolling in and temperatures were dropping quickly.

This morning, Austin and I went over to the church for his Primary Program practice, which is tomorrow. He did okay until kids next to him got rowdy and started bugging him. Two hours is just a long time for a 4-year-old to sit on a bench. He was the loudest kid at the microphone though. We'll have to work on that before tomorrow.

Then we went to Provo to visit the Lethco's, one of our favorite families in our old ward. Unfortunately, it was not in the best of circumstances. Last Sunday and Tuesday, Kevin-the dad-had mini-strokes. He was doing much better today but still in the hospital. Austin brought a lot of smiles to everyone.

After his nap, we are on own way to see Smurfs at the $3 theater and with some treats.

Agong Kitchen

2011-11-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

He said...

Wednesday night Agong Kitchen (my dad Boyd) made a visit. He was out from Vernal for some work meetings and was nice enough to make time for us to during his busy schedule. Austin loved playing with him with play-clay before dinner and lego's after dinner. Here's a few pictures of the two of them stacking the lego's before it fell.

Thanks Dad for visiting!

Book Review: Anne of Green Gables

2011-11-10T21:47:00.003-07:00

He said...

Jaclyn and I finished reading Anne of Green Gables last night. This was my first time reading the book. I remember watching some of the PBS movies with my Mom when I was much younger, but I only remember a few scenes--the pudding and the "raft."

I have to say I liked reading the book more watching the movie. Of course, it's an unfair comparison since it's been so many years. Anne pulled me in from the beginning. Her passion, imagination, and work ethic are inspiring. Matthew is such a sweetheart and Marilla was crisp but full of love. All great examples.

I look forward to reading more in the series when we get a chance.

Housing Update

2011-11-05T19:57:00.000-06:00

She said...

Remember how we were looking at homes and found one we loved back in June and put an offer on it? Yeah that was a long time ago...anyways we found out today that our offer is no longer valid. The home was foreclosed and the family was kicked out (so sad!). So...we have been looking at new options and spent most of the day today out looking at homes with our realtor in the American Fork/Lehi area. If anything "serious" happens we'll let you know.

Friends and Fondant

2011-11-03T23:44:00.000-06:00

She said...

Thursday was filled with lots of stuff. Besides the usual work and house chores, Austin and I also had an opportunity to play with Janelle and Logan before baby Hunter is born (hopefully this week or next) and in the evening we also had Megan, Kale, and Millie come over. While David helped watch the kiddos Megan and I attempted to make a marshmallow fondant. Considering it was our very first time it turned out pretty well. Maybe next time we will get more daring.

Initial fondant layer. I had to do mine twice I messed it up so bad the first time.

Our finished cakes.

Here are some more pictures from the night:

Austin always likes to get in on the action

Millie

Kale

The boys playing "Horsey"!

Thanks for coming to hang out with us! :)

Halloween Time

2011-11-02T13:26:00.001-06:00

She said...

Sunday night we painted our pumpkins:

Austin still prefers abstract art :) And LOTS of color

My Pumpkin

David's pumpkin

And Monday night when David got home he helped me put a few groceries away and get the cornbread in the oven before taking Austin out Trick-or-treating.

Austin liked referring to himself as a "Pirate of the Caribbean". Before going out that afternoon he asked me which pirate he looked like. I told him he looked like Mr. Smee. He said, "No I don't! He doesn't have a jacket over his striped shirt." He is way too quick on his feet sometimes.He also asked me if I would be dressing up but told him painting my nails for Halloween was all I would be doing this year. Maybe next year the season won't get away from me so fast and I'll actually think about dressing up as well...maybe.

Austin giving his Pirate face

It was nice to actually have decent weather this year for Halloween and made going tick-or-treating around the neighborhood much more comfortable. David and Austin both had a lot of fun and came home to have homemade chili and cornbread with me while we finished up the night by watching part of Casper.

Ward Halloween Party

2011-10-27T10:00:00.000-06:00

He said...

Our ward had a Halloween party last Saturday. Jaclyn was worn out and needed a break. I would have been up for a break too but Austin was so excited to wear his pirate costume (Thanks Janelle!) that I couldn't tell him no. So I ended up taking him and letting Jaclyn stay home to rest.

Living in this ward over the past year has been a struggle sometimes because we don't feel like we have a lot of friends. The friends we do have weren't able to make it to the party so Austin and I had to fend for ourselves.

As social as Austin is, he sat still while we ate dinner just looking at all the other kids in costumes. He's knows the other kids on Sundays, but he didn't recognize them with masks and different clothes.

After dinner, we lined up for a parade, but Austin pulled out last minute. We waited for everyone else so we could go outside for Trunk-n-Treat. In previous years, Austin has been a very polite Trick-n-Treater offering his treats as a trade. This year it was the same.

People would hold out their bowls for him to pick and his reaction was "Wow! That's cool." or "Whoa, it's a lot of candy." About three-quarters through the parking lot, Austin started wishing people "Happy Halloween!". And then after we finished the round, he wanted to go around again, just to say "Happy Halloween!" to those people he missed.

I was so focused on him that I forgot to take pictures until it was all over. I quickly pulled out the ipod and snapped a quick shot on the way out.

Spider Cupcakes

2011-10-26T21:24:00.000-06:00

She said...

I received a request from my team at work a couple weeks ago to bring a cake/cupcakes to our next meeting (which happens to be tomorrow). This is what I came up with.

They are oreo bottomed chocolate cupcakes with butter cream icing (a new AMAZING recipe) and white chocolate spider webs. I sure hope my team likes them tomorrow.

Man Date: Pumpkinland

2011-10-24T22:37:00.002-06:00

He said...

While Jaclyn and her friend Janelle went out to lunch, a manicure, and shopping, Austin and I had our own fun at Pumpkinland in Orem. Holly, Jaclyn's friend told us it was going to be lots of fun and it was! I originally wanted to stay for about an hour so Austin could get a decent nap, but we stayed for over two hours and he wanted to stay longer. Thanks Holly for inviting us!

Picture of the Day: Austin smiling with Holly

There were numerous cartoon cutouts around the CornMaze. Austin had to stand in each one. I think he makes a pretty cute witch in this one.

Austin was a little claustophobic in the 12-feet-high corn. He felt better sitting on my shoulders; but I felt better when he walked on his own ;)

Shhh! ... it's the entrance to the hidden room with magic beans!

What could Pumpkinland be without pumpkins!

The three little bowls

2011-10-24T14:04:00.000-06:00

She said...

Saturday morning we went to pick up our bowls from Color Me Mine and have loved using them since then!

Austin's creation

Mine

David's

We had so much fun that maybe we'll have to go again some time...I have been dreaming up other things to test out.

Family Date - Color Me Mine and NYPD Pizza

2011-10-19T11:04:00.000-06:00

He said...

For our family date this month, we thought going to Color Me Mine in Draper would be fun as a family. Austin likes to paint at home so getting him to paint some ceramics could be a good idea.

After looking at all the choices, we decided to each paint a small bowl to use as a rice or cereal bowl. It turned out we all had fun, but Jaclyn and I stayed occupied longer than Austin did.

Austin's bowl was red and green with football, football helmet, and inline skate stamps (he loves sports). Jaclyn decorated a beautiful two-toned, color-coordinated sectioned bowl, and I tried a two-toned spiral bowl at Jaclyn's suggestion. I think each of them look good. We'll get them back Thursday to see the finished product.

After painting, we picked up Austin's dinner--a side of chao mein from Panda Express--and went over to NYPD for some genuine New York style cheese pizza and Little Italy antipasta salad. Jaclyn grew up in Las Vegas with Villa Pizza--a really good pizzeria--and loved getting cheese pizza on a thin crust. NYPD is no Villa, but still good.

Austin's Birthday

2011-10-18T08:50:00.002-06:00

She said...

Just like with my birthday we broke up the driving for Austin's as well not wanting to spend the whole day Monday in the car.

But perhaps I should start with Sunday. Sunday Morning we woke up in the hotel in California and Austin though exhausted lay on the floor and said, "I want to go back to Disneyland today" with a yawn in his voice. We explained that it was Sunday and that we would be traveling back to Las Vegas. We drove to Las Vegas and got to town around 1:30 (I think - I was a little out of it). We unloaded the truck and loaded our jeep back up and went to visit with Mom and Abby.

We were able to spend a few hours with Mom and Abby eating lunch, opening gifts (Austin's remaining gifts from Amah and Abby and I gave Abby her birthday present super early - which she ended up opening as well), playing with Austin's puzzles and playing a game.

A set of 8 Disney Puzzles (Cars, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Toy Story)

We left around 7:00PM to drive back to Beaver for the night. Austin was awake when we drove away from my Mom's house and spoke to Grandma Hoopes on the phone when we called to update her on our travels and say it would be too late to stop again on our way north, but I swear as soon as he handed the phone back to us (Before we even hit I-15) he was out cold! He stayed that way for the entire drive to Beaver, and luckily went to bed easily when we got there as well.

Monday morning Austin knew it was his official birthday and requested we sing to him several times. After stopping for breakfast he fell asleep pretty quickly again (poor kid was obviously sleep deprived during our travels). We drove home and got to our house around noon. We went to the grocery store quickly, unloaded the car, put away our stuff and cleaned the house a bit (our landlords had fixed a leak and mold problem while we were gone but we had some vacuuming and carpet cleaning to do from their repairs), did laundry, and managed to put Austin down for a nap while I scrambled to make his birthday cake and decorated for Halloween. I think it turned out pretty well considering I made it all up (the decorating) as I went along. It was a strawberry cake with sliced strawberries for filling and cream cheese frosting.

We eventually had to wake Austin up so we could take him to dinner before it got too late. We drove down to Provo/Orem area to take him to Pirate Island Pizza but when we got there we discovered that it was closed. There had been a fire (arson) and the place had been closed for renovations. We had to reevaluate our whole evening and it was already 6:30PM! We took Austin to the mall and got him some "good mood food" (curly fries) from Arby's and then to play at the mall play place. We stopped by Build-A-Bear and the Disney Store (yes I realize we had just spent two days at Disneyland but different locations carry different things). Next we stopped by Toys 'R Us to redeem Austin's gift card from them and use some of his birthday money.

And we were finally ready to pick up pizza and a salad from Nicolitalia's and head home to eat dinner and cake. Austin loved the singing and we had a couple gifts we kept here at home for him to open on his actual birthday.

We got him another shirt and Austin was apparently tired of getting clothes from us for his birthday


It's a good thing we saved his "toy" for last. :)

Another very long day and night before David and I started work up again. But a successful birthday in the end despite the set backs. I can't believe Austin is 4 already! I thought it would be fun for comparison sake to have a picture of his first "five" birthdays:

Austin - Birth day 2007

Austin - 1st Birthday

Austin - 2nd Birthday

Austin - 3rd Birthday

Austin - 4th Birthday

We are so grateful for Austin in our life and all the joy, laughs, memories, and love he brings into our lives!

I sure love this little boy!

Disneyland

2011-10-17T12:42:00.000-06:00

He said...

We successfully surprised Austin for his birthday by going to Disneyland for two days.

The video below is of Austin realizing his surprise. The picture quality is not the best because it was pitch black in the back of the truck, but the audio makes up for it.

As always, we had fun. This trip was Austin's fourth trip to Disneyland and he was really looking forward to Toy Story Mania as you can tell from the video. We got him to ride some new rides too--Matterhorn and Star Tours--with some coaxing but he didn't like them...they were too loud, dark, and scary. There is always next year.

I rode some new rides too--Tea Cups, Astro-Orbitors (not as fun as Dumbo), new Star Tours (I don't so well with the 3-D simulators) , Little Mermaid's Under the Sea (new ride at California Adventure), Playhouse Disney Live-On-Stage, the Columbia around Huck Finn's island, and the World of Color (see below). That's why I love Disneyland so much--it doesn't matter how many times you've been, there is always something new to experience.

Jaclyn, Austin, and I also got started with pin trading. Lee and Jenny both have several pins and they look pretty cool decked out in official gear. We all got a free Lion King pin and lanyard by booking the trip through AAA Travel. At Disneyland, Jaclyn traded for a Winnie and Piglet pin and bought a Jack the Pumpkin King and I bought a Micky and Walt pin. Oh the possibilities that lie ahead.

For lunch on the second day (Saturday) we met up with Jaclyn's Aunt Laura, Uncle Craig, cousin Ben and his girlfriend Alexis for lunch who had also come down from LV for Uncle Craig's birthday (on the 8th). Although we were tired that afternoon and I was cranky, we finished out that night with style with World of Color. We just missed the opening a year ago and it was worth staying late at the park this year to see.

We didn't get to do everything we wanted to this trip because the park was busy and we chose to focus more on rides Austin wanted to do, but we still had fun. We were all pretty tired after two days and were glad we stayed Saturday night in Anaheim before driving back Sunday morning to LV.

Here are some more pictures and video:

Austin specifically requested Jaclyn and I ride the Tea Cups with him.

Amah Jenny, Austin, and I on the Carousel.

Meeting Rapunzel (We waited for 1.5 hours for Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, but Flynn left 15 minutes before our turn. We told a devastated Austin that Flynn had a "lunch break" which along with a cheery Rapunzel saved the day. ;)

Austin on A-Gong Lee's shoulders.

I don't remember where this was taken, but I think it's a cute picture.

At the end of two days, can you see Austin's tired face?

"World of Color"

My (Jaclyn) Birthday

2011-10-16T22:34:00.000-06:00

She said...

Our trip began the evening of the 4th. Austin took a later nap and we actually had to wake him up when we about ready to leave. We stopped briefly in Provo to pick up some of my favorite food (Pita Pit) and drove to Beaver to stay for the night. Our intention was to break up the driving so we didn't have to spend the whole day driving on my birthday and maximize the amount of time we couple spend visiting other people.

*As a side note Austin and I did go to the ER that morning (Tuesday) to get my stitches out and they said it looks like it is healing well. I should be able to start using scar therapy medicine any day now. It was the first time I had been out of the house in the daylight for 5 days, but at least they were out for my birthday.

Wednesday morning Austin was up early (the past few days were the same - he was so excited to go to LV) and we were able to get ready, and packed up pretty quickly and head to St. George to visit with Grandma Hoopes. We were there for about an hour and a half before hitting the road again for the final leg to LV. On the way we got stopped in a several mile backup with no cars coming the opposite direction so we knew something major had happened. Luckily I didn't get too bored (I don't know if I can say the same for David and Austin) because Laska called me for my birthday and we spent most of our wait talking.

We made it to LV later than anticipated but with some time still remaining to visit my grandparents and go to lunch with them at Macayo's. After lunch we visited for a bit longer before the three of us drove to Abby's school to pick her up and take her home (by way of the SuperCuts for a quick birthday haircut for me). Once at my mom's we drove out to Luv-It Custard, one of my favorites! (Holly you're staying at the Stratosphere when you go in a couple weeks right? Make sure you walk over and get some!)

After dessert we went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner (I love salad bars!) and then went home to open gifts.

My mom gave me a necklace, a cool cupcake stand and accessories, and the X-Men Origins Movie

David and Austin gave me a "relaxation kit" ("You Again" movie, a Chinese Cricut cartridge, a massage and tanning)

And just because we were documenting my daily recovery - my eye on my birthday

The next day (Thursday) we ran a couple errands/window shopped and then went to lunch with Karen (my old boss from the Water District) at Applebee's. It was so good to see her and get to spend time catching up with her. I am so glad she was able to take the time to meet up with us and go to lunch. Thanks Karen! And Austin was reacquainted with an instant friend. :)

After lunch with Karen we went home and Austin and I both took naps while David picked Abby up from school. We woke up around 4:30 and prepared to go to my dad's. We got there about the same time as Jenny and chatted, made Dong Gua Cha (Wintermelon Tea) and Zhen Zhu's (Tapioca balls), opened my gift from them (Bones Season 5 on DVD and a Disney Gift Card) and hung out until dad got home. We probably left town around 6:30 for the drive to California to "stay in a hotel".

To be honest it was a long couple of days. Started pretty early and seemed to end fairly late, with a lack of naps for all of us. ;) At least we were able to spend that time with family. Thank you to my family and friends for the texts, phone calls, emails, Facebook messages, cards, and gifts. Each one is sincerely appreciated.

Rainbow

2011-10-12T08:00:00.000-06:00

He said...

On my way to work in the morning a couple of weeks ago, a rainbow appeared over Salt Lake City. I thought you might enjoy the picture.

Book Review: Sense and Sensibility

2011-10-11T23:08:00.003-06:00

He said...
A couple of weeks ago we finished reading Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen before life threw us a couple of "curve balls." We just haven't had time to post anything on the blog about it yet.

We liked the book. It was fun to relate our own personalities to the personalities of the characters in the book.

We've already started our next book--Anne of Green Gables, also from the same set of books that Jaclyn got from Jenny last Christmas.

Jaclyn's Stitches

2011-09-30T18:17:00.004-06:00

He said..

WARNING: This post is a long, but interesting one.

We all had an adventure Thursday night. Jaclyn's friends Holly and Mitch invited us to go shooting. Because we didn't think it was a good idea for Austin to go, I volunteered to stay home with him.

About 30-45 minutes after Jaclyn left, I got a phone call from Holly. She said Jaclyn had done great and got her target on the first shot but got "scoped." I said huh? Holly clarified by saying Jaclyn got hit in the eye by the scope and needed to go to urgent care or the hospital. I tried to get details, but no amount of details was good enough. It was a horrifying phone call. When I hung up I didn't know what to do. Should I take Austin and go find them? Should I wait until they call again? I was stuck.

A few minutes later, Holly called back and we decided to bring her to a clinic just up the road and Austin and I would meet them there. In the few minutes while we waited for Holly to call back again to say they were close, Austin and I said a prayer, shed some tears, and got ready to go.

When we got to the clinic I got my first look at Jaclyn who was holding her jacket over her eye. She was doing better than I thought. She was calm, rational, and finding humor in the situation. What a trooper! I took a quick look and escorted her into the urgent care. Mitch and Holly escorted Austin in and let him play with the kid's toys. Gratefully, Austin was distracted while the nurse and doctor looked at the wound and grimaced. The doctor said, "Uhh, that's bad. I could probably fix it up, but it would be better to go to the hospital so a plastic surgeon or dermatologist can do it right and not leave any scars." Not real comforting to Jaclyn.

We made it to the ER and checked Jaclyn in immediately. She was doing extremely well, considering she had a major gash over her eye. After checking vitals, Jaclyn and I were shown to a "room" (more like a curtained partition) and patiently waited for the nurse while Mitch and Holly kept Austin in the waiting area. Luckily he was easily distracted with Ipods and a "happy bag". It was also a huge blessing he gets along great with Mitch and Holly so he had no qualms about sitting with them.

Until this point, I was feeling fine. I had a few looks at her gash, but it wasn't bleeding or anything. I watched as the nurse numbed the area for stitches and tested for numbness. The numbing agent made the wound swell up really fast, at which point I began to feel really queasy. I thought a short break would help settle my stomach so I told Jaclyn I was going to step out for a minute. She had no idea why.

I walked back out to the waiting area and found a seat. I felt queasy until I laid my head back and closed my eyes. That's when I felt the color leave my face. I didn't faint, but the nurse said I was white as the walls. They brought me some snacks and a drink of water (and Austin ran over with one of his own cookies for me) and told me to relax. Luckily I made it to a seat in time. I asked Holly to go be with Jaclyn. The nurse also went back to check on Jaclyn and tell her how I was doing.

Once I felt a little better, I went back to see Jaclyn. She was still calm and doing well. The Doctor and Jaclyn both had concerns about me staying so I decided to just go back to the waiting area. The doctor had seen too many people faint when in my position before. Holly was there for Jaclyn so I really didn't have to be there if I couldn't handle it. I just felt so bad because I couldn't be the strength for Jaclyn.

To cut the story short, Jaclyn got stitched up with two layers of stitches, 9 on the outside. We didn't get any pictures of the open wound, but we did get a couple after they stitched her up. They said stitches should be taken out in 5 days, just before we go to Las Vegas for Jaclyn's and Austin's birthday. After being discharged, we went home, spent some time together as a family and put Austin down for bed. Of course our conversations about the "trauma" continued long after putting Austin to bed.

All things considered, it could have been much worse. Jaclyn could have messed up her shoulder or her nose or her eye. I could have fainted. Austin could have been sick or wild. (He was really good in the waiting room.) We could have been by ourselves and no one to watch Austin. We could have lived farther from the hospital. We could have had no insurance, etc.

But instead, we are so grateful that Mitch and Holly are such great friends and took such good care of all of us. We're grateful for an awesome son who is so compassionate and is aware of how people are doing around him. We're grateful for competent and caring nurses who made us feel like it was no big deal. I'm grateful that Jaclyn was able to manage most of her emotions through humor and strength which helped Austin and me remain calmer than we might have been otherwise.

Here's a picture Jaclyn took of herself after we got home Thursday night. The stitches are actually over her right eye.

By way of an update: the swelling is going down. She is still has numbness and the black eye is spreading, but overall she is still doing well. She only took one ibuprofen Saturday. The worst part for her right now is not being able to move her face without feeling the pull on her stitches.

More on Taylor Swift

2011-09-30T17:13:00.000-06:00

He said...

For sake of time, this post will be shorter than I thought. As for a recap of the concert, I found a pretty good article from the Salt Lake Trbune. It was a great concert. I have her songs stuck in my head day and night since Wed. Her music really helps me relax, which came in very handy as I almost fainted in the hospital last night (next post). Here are some of our own pictures we took:

Before Taylor came out.

During the concert.

Looking at the stage from our seats

After the concert.

Jaclyn took a couple of videos of the crowd. I'll post those when I find them.

Taylor Swift Concert!

2011-09-29T13:13:00.003-06:00

He said...

WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!

Last night we went to the Taylor Swift concern in SLC. It made me so happy when she came out of stage I started to cry. I'll post pictures and video later.

Smirking

2011-09-26T23:39:00.000-06:00

She said...

I have always been a big fans of smirks. I think some people have the most attractive smirks ever and they just bring such a different feeling than a cheesy smile. (maybe it's also because I have been told I have a crooked smile and smirks are meant to be crooked so I can't really screw that up too bad right?) I guess David and Austin were looking at pictures a while back and David explained/taught Austin what a smirk is. Austin has since been utilizing his smirk whenever possible (I think it is more of a grin than a smirk but for now he is calling it his "smirk") . I had no idea it would be just as cheesy as his smile but here it is.

Story Hour

2011-09-21T13:26:00.000-06:00

She said...

About a month ago we signed Austin up for our local Library's story hour program at 1:00 on Tuesday afternoons...then he and I both got super sick and rarely left the house (isn't that the case anyways) let alone went to anything like story hour. One day Austin spontaneously started crying and said he didn't want to go to story hour. I am still not sure what brought that on. Since then we hadn't talked about it much.

Last Saturday we went to the library to return a few items and get some new books/movies. The subject of story hour was brought up and Austin wanted to know when we would be able to go, with absolutely no trepidation of any kind. Monday he woke up from his nap and asked, "Is it time for story hour yet?" He has been so excited to go lately. Monday night instead of reading scriptures and books in the chair with him all three of us sat on the floor together and practiced for story hour. (Austin LOVES pretend and practice....half the time during dinner he and David refer to each other as "Sir" and serve each other.)

Yesterday was the big day. We made it to the library about 15 minutes early and walked in to the desk. When it was our turn Austin walked right up to the librarian and asked, "Where do we go for the 1:00 story hour?" Ü She directed us downstairs and while we waited for everyone else to show up (almost 20 minutes later). While we waited Austin roamed the room looking at everything, planning his spot on the carpet for story time, and playing with the stuffed animals they said he could play with while we waited. The next couple of children that came in Austin would greet and give them a stuffed animal as well.

All things considered he did extremely well. He only got up once during story time, and tried to control his talking as much as possible since he had been warned by us that he needed to be quiet and pay attention. It did seem a little unfair to him that he had been told to be quiet and yet the kids around him weren't being so quiet. Now I need to work on him not turning to them and saying, "We don't talk during story hour." quite so often. But at least he got the message.

At one point during story time (they were talking about farms yesterday) the librarian asked if any of the kids had ever seen a peacock. The twins blurted out, "I have, at the zoo." and Austin got so excited he raised his hand and said, "Ooh ooh me! I have seen a peacock on Gardens of Time!" (It's a game on Facebook). I don't think anyone knew what he was talking about but I laughed silently to myself. :)

After we finished his art project he was so excited to pick up his "homework" and take it home until next time! I think this will be a good thing for us and I am so glad he enjoyed it...and at least it is getting us out of the house a little bit. :)

September Cakes

2011-09-18T14:31:00.000-06:00

This month I have made two cakes: one for David's coworkers and one for us here at home testing out a different icing recipe I might use for our birthday cakes next month.

A chocolate fudge cake with peanut butter ruffles and buttercream flowers.

And a spice cake covered with cream cheese yellow roses

Thanks to Alicia for giving my the gift of my classes last fall/winter, Amah Jenny for so many of my awesome tools, and Nathan for my brushes and cake turning table, Holly and Mitch for trying so many of my creations, David for help and support, and everyone else for putting up with my cake posts.

Recent Updates

2011-09-11T17:23:00.002-06:00

He said...

It's been a few days since we posted and I thought you would like to know what's going on:

-We took Austin in to his doctor after two weeks of a cold. It turns out he has a sinus infection and probably a minor ear infection. Besides the stuffy nose and cough, he hasn't complained. I can't believe the kid's ears. This is the second time he has an ear infection without complaining.

-Jaclyn's caught the same cold last Thursday-Friday. She's been out of commission and spent a lot of time in our bedroom in her comfy chair.

-I'm not sick, yet, and we're hoping I don't get sick at all. I get quite cranky when I'm not feeling well.

-We heard from our realtor that the bank doesn't want to respond to the offer on the house for another 8 weeks. Ridiculous and frustrating! Prices have come down on a few other properties that we have kept an eye on so we may go see them soon. So it's been good that we don't have a deadline on when we want to move.

-I am now working Mon-Fri, 8 am - 5 p.m. This means I get an extra hour of sleep most nights, but have to work Friday (except when Jaclyn is sick). I still don't get home until 6:30 p.m.

Those are the major updates, I'm sure we'll have something more substantial to say soon. Happy Sunday!

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)

2011-09-07T22:57:00.003-06:00

He said...

After enjoying the last Harry Potter movie, Jaclyn and I wanted to re-read the book again. We loved reading it just as much as the first time we read it in 2007 when the book first came out. We both learned things this time that we either forgot or missed the first time we read the book (sign of a very well-written book?).

This is still one of my very favorite books, especially as I learn more and more each time I read. I'm very impressed!

FYI, did you know that J.K. Rowling is the first and only billionaire author (as of 2007), according to Wikipedia.

September Family Date - Part 2

2011-09-06T11:22:00.001-06:00

She said...

Saturday started a little earlier than we would have liked but it is hard to keep an excited 3-year-old in bed and/or sleeping. We got up, got dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast Austin really wanted to get in the pool again. You can't blame him really, we don't have access to a pool regularly and he loves playing in the water. We try to teach him some actual "swimming" but that is going to take a lot more work and more access to a pool. I took a few pictures of David and Austin in the pool but I declined swimming that morning.

After swimming we went back to the room to get cleaned up and packed up then we loaded up the car, waited for David to check out and tried to leave. No dice! The car was completely dead. Austin had turned on two of the dome lights without our noticing and the car was deader than a doornail. It wouldn't even pretend to turn over. David went back into the hotel and asked one of the ladies at the front desk if she wouldn't mind trying to jump our car. Jumping the car didn't even help. As long as we held our foot on the gas we could get it to run but as soon as we took our foot off it was dead again and would not restart. So, we called AAA. They said they would be there in about 30 minutes. It was a little too hot to wait outside so we opted to wait in the freezing lobby instead. Luckily we had packed a few snacks because our 30 minute wait was more like 80 minutes when all was said and done. The other lucky thing was that we had the Ipod on us and had managed to get a couple of Disney movies loaded onto it recently so we had a good way to keep Austin semi occupied while waiting for AAA to show up. The AAA man was able to test the battery and alternator and confirmed that they were both good. The battery had just needed to be jumped and have time for the alternator to recharge it. He said we would be fine but suggested driving the car for 30-40 minutes to make sure things were good and charged before turning it off for an extended length of time.

We had been planning on going to the zoo as a family that morning as part of our family date but when our 11:00 AM departure turned into nearly 1:00 PM our zoo time was pretty well gone, especially since we needed to drive the car for a bit to make sure the battery was charged. It was a bit of a let down really. We ended up running several errands on the way home instead of going to the zoo. Tell me that's not a fun Family "Date". First we stopped by 7-Eleven for some drinks, then on to The Cheesecake Factory to get dessert (Raspberry Lemon Cheesecake, Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake, and Hershey's Chocolate Cheesecake), next we stopped at the Chinese market to get a few yummies, Costco for a few groceries and samples, and lastly we stopped by Blockbuster for a movie before returning home. Once home, we had a picnic and movie date together and finished up with our cheesecake, all of which were amazing!

By the time the movie was over Austin was EXHAUSTED! We decided earlier that we had wanted it to be an early evening for him anyways especially since he had missed a nap. It's a good thing he agreed, it made things so much easier on all of us.

Austin ended up falling asleep while David was reading a bedtime story to him.

It was the end to a long day and family date with both ups and downs. Little did we know we still had a long night ahead of us. If you missed that story be sure to check out David's earlier blog entry: Austin's Been Sick

September Family Date Part One

2011-09-05T00:54:00.000-06:00

He said...

Taking advantage of the longer weekend and a free offer from our credit card, we planned a weekend "stay-cation" to Salt Lake City.

About a month ago, I got an offer for a free one night's stay in a Hyatt Place Hotel. We looked at a couple of options (Anaheim, Las Vegas) but nothing was as convenient as staying home and booking a night to stay at the Gateway in SLC. We made plans on what other fun things we could do en route or in SLC.

For an early dinner Friday, we stopped at Sweet Tomatoes in Sandy! Austin, Jaclyn, and I all had a great time with the salad and soup buffet, baked goods, pasta bar, and dessert. Austin loved that he could have pasta, jello, breadsticks, and ice cream all in the same meal. Jaclyn loved the fresh Greek Salad! I loved everything too, especially the hot fudge lava cake with soft-serve ice cream on top. Yum!

After filling our stomachs, we checked in at the hotel, took our bags in and let Austin jump on the bed.

Call us crazy, but then we watched the latest semifinal episode of America's Got Talent and ate a bag of microwave popcorn (which we had to get the hotel's front desk to pop for us).

Austin was up dancing and shakin his groove during some acts. We love our Austin!

After AGT, we donned our swimming gear and headed down to the pool for a cool dip with "Super Underwater Sick Boy" (in his own words).

It wasn't a real warm pool but warm enough to swim for 30 min. Austin also went hot tubbing, without much notice. In one moment, he was walking on the pool side, the next he jumped in the hot tub without reservations. SCARY! Luckily, the family in the tub pulled him out within seconds before we both rushed over. Austin was a little shaken up, but fine. We were also shaken up because we weren't quite prepared for Austin to jump in so quickly. In the end, we were all good.

We went back upstairs to put Austin in bed and Jaclyn and I watched the Results portion of AGT, read from Harry Potter and the Ensign before going to bed.

To Be Continued...

Corrections

2011-09-04T12:55:00.002-06:00

We said...

So the timing was off in the previous email and Jaclyn wanted to add a couple little things (an Austin story about his "stress") so we updated it. For the people who have already read it, it is slightly different but the main points remain. :)

Austin's Been Sick

2011-09-04T11:22:00.004-06:00

He said...

Last Tuesday Austin started to get stuffy and had a really bad sore throat. His sore throat woke him from his nap almost panicked because it hurt so badly. In fact one of the times he woke up from his nap Jaclyn went in to comfort him and when she asked what she could do to help Austin replied, "Mama, it just stresses me out so bad!" Poor kid! That night we got out the humidifier and went to the store to get "sore throat" friendly foods--jello and pudding. That night his temperature was already up to 102-103 which didn't break until Thursday night. He felt good enough Friday (still stuffy but no fever) that we still went to Salt Lake for our family date (more to come later), but last night was rough. He was so exhausted--due no nap and 5 days of staying up later than usual--that he fell asleep early around 7 p.m. as I was reading him books. I laid him down on his bed and I thought he would have a good night's sleep.

Well, about an hour later, he woke up crying. I tried to console him. It didn't work. I thought some medicine would help. He didn't want to touch it. In fact, I aggravated him so much that he starting crying even worse, which then aggravated his throat and stomach to the point he threw up all over my shoulder.

I called Jaclyn in to help. In her own words:

I had run downstairs to get him some water and ran up and into his room to find Austin's face covered in red throw-up as well as David's shoulder. It looked like blood and I just about panicked! I realized it was strawberry, not blood (hallelujah!), and grabbed Austin and ran into the bathroom with him. We snuggled and I held him as he heaved (Mostly dry heaving, the most painful kind). We cleaned him up and I fought to hold back tears many many times. David and I both kept asking him questions like, "Do you want any medicine?" "Do you want any water" "Can I rub your back?" "Where does it hurt?" "Do you want me to wipe your mouth?" "Do you want me to hold you?" The answer to almost all of these questions was, "No." I finally wised up and asked, "Do you want me to stop talking?" and he said, "Yes." I can take a hint. :) I held him and gave him the bucket when he needed it and just loved him. Eventually I took him into his room and sat on his glider with him snuggled in my lap. I asked him if he wanted me to sing to him, and he said, "Yes." He requested the "ABC's" and then I sang "Twinkle Twinkle" but when I went to sing another children's song he told me no. He wanted me to sing church hymns to him. (He also wanted a blessing from David, which he did receive) I sang as many songs as I could think of and when I would sing he would calm down. When I would stop he would cough, his heart would start beating hard again and he would cry so painfully. I just kept singing. I sang and sang until long past the time he had fallen asleep in my arms.

If it wasn't for Jaclyn, I don't know what I would do. I had a panic moment when Austin was dry heaving and we couldn't do anything for him. Thank goodness for the power of the Priesthood and Jaclyn's angelic voice. Those were the only things that helped him calm down and get some rest.

Austin ended up pretty much sleeping through the rest of the night (a few bad dreams woke up him). He was up early this morning ready to watch TV and play baseball. He is hoarse and still has a cough, but in much better spirits this morning. Sadly, he's a little bored because we stayed home from church to let him and Jaclyn get extra rest. Austin missed the memo about resting. He keeps telling me how much he wants to go outside and play baseball, even to the point that he says "Jesus wants me to go outside and play a little baseball. Thank you, Jesus!"

Hopefully, he has nothing more than a sore throat that will pass in a couple of days with some TLC, but it was so sad to see him last night. I felt so helpless and frustrated. I also felt so bad for him because I knew he felt worse than I did. I know things could be MUCH WORSE, and I am grateful they aren't. Austin's a tough kid and will get over his cold soon. Let's just hope I can be a tough parent and learn what I need to learn too.

"I Love you Baba"

2011-08-29T23:31:00.000-06:00

She said...

Austin loves to sing. I love that he knows the words to modern songs almost better than children's songs. It is fun to hear him walk around the house singing, "Great Balls of Fie" (no matter how many time we tell him it is fire, but in his defense it is really unclear in the song sometimes) or "Yackity Yack, don't talk back! Just clean up your room..." as well as songs from Tangled, Glee, Cee-Lo Green, etc. :)

But at night things are a little softer. There have been a couple of songs we have sung at bedtime for years. Austin loves being able to sing them himself and lately he likes to end the night not just by having us sing to him but by singing a good night song to each of us.

Here is a video of Austin singing to Baba tonight.

August Family Date

2011-08-27T15:25:00.004-06:00

He said...

We had fun today going miniature golfing in Orem. I found a good discount through Groupon and thought Austin and Jaclyn would like to go.

We all started out pretty well. We taught Austin how to properly hold the putter--thumbs and palms up. He also got a hole-in-one! Then heat and lack of shade wore us out. Austin's cheeks got red and we all were thristy. Austin lost his motivation to putt and turned into Jaclyn's and my caddie, moving the flags and retrieving balls. Jaclyn wound up winning by one stroke.

After golf, we got Italian ice and gelato at Tomasso's to cool off. Delicious and cool without the side-effects of heavy daily. Yum! While we were sitting there eating, Jaclyn's Uncle James and Aunt Elizabeth showed up--how nice of them. We sat and talked and enjoyed their company!

How to Train Your Dragon

2011-08-20T09:57:00.001-06:00

She said...

Two weeks ago when Austin and I were going to the library he asked if we could get a "How to Train Your Dragon Book". I was having a forgetful moment and thought, "sure, I wonder if they have any of those" thinking that he meant a picture or story book (which he probably was - but I obviously was too). When we got to the library and looked it up I saw they had one copy in the Youth section not the picture book section and I felt confused (obviously that forgetful moment was a long one) but we went to look. I cannot tell you how many times I looked at that shelf and completely missed it sitting right there in front of me because I was expecting to see something different. Eventually I found it and everything clicked into place. This is a chapter book! Austin and I looked at each other and decided it would be his very first chapter book so we brought it home and have read it almost nightly (and some afternoons) over the past couple of weeks and David finished reading it to us Friday morning!

It was so very different from the movie but good in it's own way. There are little drawings throughout the book that make it kind of fun and though Austin wasn't always great at keeping close attention while reading long sections I know he did enjoy it. I think it was good for us to try a chapter book for once. We still read the shorter books but it is nice to incorporate some more detailed stories into the mix. I just love the fact that he loves to read just like we do. :)

*I just learned (when looking up a picture) that they actually have a whole series! 7 Books with and 8th due out this coming November. Wow, who knew?

Fair Trade 2

2011-08-19T08:35:00.002-06:00

He said...

Over the last couple of weeks two of our neighbors, Whiteside's and Mason's, each came to us and asked us to water their gardens and houseplants while they were away. No big deal.

When they came back, the Whiteside's brought us a jar of homemade caramel sauce and the Mason's gave us a gift certificate to Chili's.

We didn't expect anything in return for being good neighbors, but we surely appreciate their generosity.

Fixed?!

2011-08-18T14:23:00.000-06:00

She said...

I think I might have "fixed" something, or I got really lucky. But I may have it working so that blog updates posted by me come from "Jaclyn" instead of "Blogger" which means you (family members with emailed updates) should be able to respond to the blog update email directly and I will receive the responses. Yay! But before I get too excited I would appreciate if someone could try it out. :)

Comments

2011-08-16T12:48:00.000-06:00

She said...

Just so everyone is aware...David and I do make an effort to respond to every comment that may be left on the blog (because we really do appreciate each and every one!). When you leave a comment make sure to check the box that says, "E-mail follow up comments to (your e-mail address will appear here)". That way when we respond to your comment we know you will get it. I don't know who does or doesn't check that box or who even wants to see a response to their comment but we just want to let you know that your comments mean a lot to us and we will always do our best to respond. :)

For those family members that receive the blog via email. You "should" be able to respond to the blog entry if you would like to comment (the comment will be sent directly to us, not posted to the blog). Unfortunately we have noticed that while if you respond to David's post he will generally get it (I think). I don't seem to get them. So if you have responded and didn't hear back from me it's probably because I never got it. Which is really too bad. :( I'll see if we can't work out why.

Pretty Little Liars

2011-08-16T10:05:00.002-06:00

She said...

David and I finished our most recent book Saturday night. It was a quick read (nice for a change) but I definitely wouldn't say it is one of my most favorite books despite the ratings being so high on other sites. I read a review Saturday night online that described it as "Desperate Housewives" for teenagers. They were exactly right! So take that as you will.

You may recognize it better by this photograph. There is an ABC Family show made from the books which started the idea to read this book in the first place. There is a whole series of books (9 currently with one supposedly due out the beginning of 2012) but I am not sure if I was to commit to reading the whole series. The Library doesn't have any of the books, I checked the DI, and I certainly don't want to buy each one for $8 to read if I don't plan on keeping them. Oh well, we've moved on to the next book for the time being...

Poke me

2011-08-15T09:59:00.000-06:00

She said...

For Christmas I gave David a pajama shirt that says, "Go ahead poke me" with the Pillsbury Dough Boy on it since we do a lot of playful poking in our home, or used to. Austin loves David's shirt and was hoping for one of his own. We decided to make Austin a shirt to match David's. The Doughboy was the most difficult part but it still turned out pretty well.

Yes, Austin LOVES his shirt!

Motherhood is not for Wimps

2011-08-14T14:16:00.003-06:00

He said...

No, it's not Mother's Day nor is it Jaclyn's birthday, but this entry is dedicated to Jaclyn.

One year growing up, my sister Michelle gave my Mom a memorable gift--a miniature pair of boxing gloves with an attached note "Motherhood is not for wimps." I remember Mom laughing so hard because it wasn't something she expected but it was so true, especially raising seven kids in the Kitchen household.

Fast forward to now as I watch Jaclyn do what she does day in and day out. It's tough being her. As most of you know, she is a full-time mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, Activity Days Leader, and part-time Product Support Specialist. I've tried to fill in for her some days, but I don't do near the job that she does. I truly admire her. She's definitely not a wimp! This past week I posted about how I love my job and how I seem to be successful at it so far. My day job is not nearly as difficult as Jaclyn's.

And while I think about her and how I can support her as her husband, I am humbled. Jaclyn's primary love language is "words of affirmation" and yet I sometimes struggle to tell her exactly how I feel and as often as I should. For some reason, I fall into the trap of thinking, "If I have said it once, then you should know how I feel." As time passes in our marriage, I am learning it's not so much that she has forgotten how I feel, but that she needs the hear it again and feel the love behind the words again. I'm trying to tell her more often how she sincerely blows me away at what she does on a daily basis. If daily struggles don't go away, why should I stop expressing my love to her?

As I continue to learn how to be the husband that Jaclyn's need me to be, I hope that she and others know how I feel. I love her dearly and I care for her health and well-being. When she is happy, I am happy. When she is not happy, I am not happy. We are a team and I will always love her!

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FoodSaver

2011-08-13T16:46:00.012-06:00

She said...

A few weeks ago we got a killer deal on a FoodSaver (75% off) and had to jump on it. It was something we had discussed for some time but just never found a great deal and this was something we just want to pass up.

Since we received our FoodSaver we have vacuum packed pork, hamburger, mozzarella and feta cheese as well as left overs (day old rice is actually moist!).

Austin is such a great helper and LOVES to use the FoodSaver. :)

I love that Austin can get so excited about things like using a FoodSaver, Vitamix, or decorating cakes. :)

A Video Explanation of My Job

2011-08-12T10:00:00.000-06:00

He said...

After years of planning and over 6 months of developing processes and procedures, Monday marked the official first day of business for the Employee Resource and Information Center--more affectionately referred to as ERIC.

What is ERIC? Good question. Here is video we made at work to explain what we do.

I love my job because I get do a little of everything. Besides doing quality assurance and training, I have become known as a numbers geek, Excel guru, and a technical handyman. I'm a Jack-of-All-Trades. It also means a lot of job security.

Body Odor or Deodorant?

2011-08-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

He said...

The other day at work I was fixing somebody's laptop computer. I leaned over the desk and stretched forward with my right hand. Almost immediately, the guest trainer we had in the office that day perked up and said, "Ooh, I like your cologne." Embarassingly, I stopped, looked up and said, "Thanks!" I didn't tell her I had forgotten to put on cologne that day. It was either my body odor or my deodorant. I hope it was the deodorant. ;)

Homemade Powdered Sugar

2011-08-10T11:00:00.000-06:00

He said...

With all the cake decorating Jaclyn has done lately, we learned how to make our own powdered sugar. It's really simple--three simple steps using our Vitamix.

1. Put granulated sugar (about 1. 5 cups) into the dry blade container.

2. Add 1.5 Tbls of corn starch.

3. Blend sugar mixture, starting on slowest speed then gradually increase to highest speed at blend for a couple of minutes.

Voila! 2 cups powdered sugar.

Here are some closeups of the before and after.

Granulated Sugar

Powdered Sugar

We love making our own powdered sugar. It is so quick, so inexpensive, and so fun! Thanks again Mom (Sally) for the Vitamix!

Fair Trade

2011-08-09T10:00:00.001-06:00

She said...

Holly lives around the corner. We love Holly and Mitch and love giving them treats! Though unofficially Holly and I do kind of trade "products" sometimes.

Saturday I took her a few cupcakes and Sunday I took her a cake:

I really don't want all these sweets around our house. I love making them but I don't need to eat them all.

This is what I received from Holly this week:

The best part is I think we each feel like we get the better end of the bargain. :) I don't have a garden and can't grow fruits and vegetables right now so I love getting fresh fruits and vegetables to eat. See that jar on the left those are Holly's Dilly Beans. I am so excited to try them!

Cakes

2011-08-08T22:10:00.001-06:00

She said...

Several weeks ago I received my anniversary bonus from work and eventually decided to use a portion of it to purchase some of the cake decorating supplies I had been dreaming about for some time. I still have a few things I would like to try out (are we ever really done dreaming?), but I thought I would post a few pictures of some of the creations from the last couple of weeks.

A red velvet cake with raspberry and buttercream filling with a buttercream iced top. Sorry the top view picture is so awful. I was pretty rushed at the time and was just glad to snap a pic at all.

A Chocolate Fudge cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream icing and gold sprinkles (hard to see in pic).

A Chocolate Fudge cake center with Peanut Butter Buttercream and regular butter cream stacked between the layers, peanut butter buttercream ruffles and tri-colored hydrangeas on top.

Austin also had some fun with last night's project ("Ruffles"). While I was working on it he stood on his chair saying, "Wow, Mama that looks wonderful!" I love his enthusiasm and compliments. After I was done he said he wanted to try so I got out my practice board from my kit and put the pattern in, demonstrated a couple of times and let him have the rest of the bag to practice. While he was working he exclaimed, "I love cake decorating!" :)

Afterwards even David took a minute on the practice board before cleaning up and packing it away. :)

Those with hand held Internet devices

2011-08-08T17:35:00.001-06:00

She said...

We have a few blog entries we are going to try posting soon, but in the meantime I did want to make you (whoever actually reads our blog besides us) aware that I did update the blog for easier reading on the IPhone and other similar hand held devices. It doesn't have all the links the blog does when you access it on your normal computer but it does make it easier to read. Hopefully that will help someone along the way. And for those that prefer the original format there is a link on the bottom of the page that will allow you to switch back. [Though I have noticed that the blog background does not show up on the normal version making it somewhat difficult to read. The updated format also fixes that.]

Book Review: The Bourne Identity

2011-08-03T14:22:00.006-06:00

He said...

I was introduced to the Bourne Series when Jaclyn and I watched the trilogy a few years ago (probably in 2007 when Bourne Ultimatum came out), but it is always fun to read the books that inspired the films. Some films are truer to the book but others can differ greatly because of the director or the natural differences of the two media formats. This book was one of those that contains much more substance than the movie.

About 600 pages, the book version of Bourne Identity chronicles Jason's struggle to find his identity and meets a woman in the process, but the similarities wane there. There is so much more that goes on in the book and from what we remember the events are drastically different. Jason travels from the Mediterranean to Zurich to France and beyond as he faces the challenge of identifying who he was and redefining who he wants to be.

This was a longer book for us to read, but the book didn't feel unnecessarily slow when we actually devoted time to reading it. Nights when Jaclyn and I read for 5 minutes made the book drag, but towards the end of the book and on long drives we could easily read 20-30 pages and didn't lose interest. (This just shows that you get out what you put in.)

Thinking holistically, I really liked the book and specifically the theme of finding out your true identity and the struggle to accept that identity. Sometimes I don't want to know the truth because it hurts, and yet I also realize the good that comes from becoming self-aware and accepting who you are. We read this same idea in Marjorie Hinckley's book.

I really respect and am partly envious of Jaclyn because she is so much more self aware or herself than I am. I wish I was more that way. And yet, am I willing to put in the effort and willing to accept what I find?

What are you thoughts? Did you like the movie? Ever read the book? Do you wish you were more self aware?

Weekend Adventures

2011-07-31T17:38:00.003-06:00

He said...

This is a quick post just to list the many adventures since last Thursday. I'm sure we post more pictures later as we can:

Thursday, David went with Jaclyn and Austin to Young Living for their bi-monthly product support meeting.
Jaclyn's mom, Sally, and Abby arrived from Las Vegas for a weekend trip.
David's brother Nathan and his family, Lauren, Karen and Grant, flew in from San Francisco accompanied by David's mom, Kathy, and sister Rachel and all went out to dinner at Wingers.
After dinner, Sally, Abby, Alicia and us went over to Holly and Mitch's to look at beautiful flowers
Friday morning we went to Park City for a relaxing overnighter while Sally, Abby, and Alicia played with Austin in Pleasant Grove.
In Park City, we went shopping at Tanger's Outlets, ate dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, saw Harry Potter 7.2, and stayed at the luxurious Hotel Park City.
Back home Saturday, we unpacked, made a cake and met up in Draper with Sally and Abby, Alicia, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Ron and Carrie. (We're sad we missed Darin, Liesel & Parley)
Sunday, David barely stayed awake in an early morning Stake Priesthood Meeting (6:30 AM).
During Sacrament meeting, our neighbor Wes shared words of wisdom from Austin during his talk. Austin has officially "arrived" in our ward.
Despite Austin having a rough morning and time at church, we still managed to teach the 11-12-year-old primary class and have Austin in our class.
After church, Sally and Abby ate French Toast with us for lunch before heading out of town. (So sad to see them go so quickly).
After saying goodbye, all three of us crashed.

Austin's Chinese

2011-07-25T20:18:00.000-06:00

Austin is learning more Chinese but as we were talking about it this evening I realized all his new words are food related. Oh well, you have to start somewhere right? :)

His new words:
1. Zhen Zhu - Tapioca balls
2. Dong Gua Cha - Wintermelon Tea (he's actually known this one for a while)
3. Ji Piqu - Chicken butt (We do eat Chicken butt in Taiwan on occasion and it all started when I was talking to Austin about the different foods we would give him to eat when we take him) Ü

Maybe next time we will learn words from a new topic, like things he would need to know to navigate through Taiwan...in that case maybe we'll stick to food words for a while. That will make navigation yummier. :)

Homemade Popcorn

2011-07-17T21:29:00.004-06:00

He said...

is the coolest! Last night we wanted to make a fun family treat. We decided on caramel popcorn and peanut blossoms. We don't own an air popper so we popped popcorn ourselves on the stove. We used a deep pot with a glass lid. I saw everything. Fascinating! I feel like I can now cross this of my "things to do and see in life" list. In fact, I think everyone should see it "live" sometime (make it from scratch on the stove, not an air popper, not a microwave).

The caramel popcorn and peanut blossoms turned out mouth watering good. The caramel corn was a little crunchy for our tastes, but still delicious. Such a good idea for family date night. ;)

July - "You and Me Date"

2011-07-14T21:12:00.000-06:00

She said...

Austin and I have not been on a "You and Me Date" for a couple of months. The other day I was driving my our neighborhood movie theater and saw that they are now playing "Kung Fu Panda 2". We had not seen this movie yet and I decided it would be a great option for our date (Austin & Me). I told Austin my plan and that if he was good for my work meeting today in Lehi we would come home, take a nap, and then go on a date to the movie. I don't know how much sleep he actually got because he was so excited and I think a little afraid the movie would start without us.

We got there in plenty of time to buy our tickets and concessions, pick our seats, and visit the restroom before settling in. We even took a picture on the Ipod but it is dark enough it is super grainy and not very good.

We loved the movie! And we loved being able to do something special together today. Austin was all smiles and Just kept saying things like, "I love you Mama!" or "You're cute!" or "This is such a fun You and Me date!" He really is pretty awesome about making you feel good about yourself. After the movie he just kept telling me what a good movie it was and how much fun he had and I felt the same way.

Before going home I also took him to the park to play for a few minutes, why rush home to do laundry when you are having a special date afternoon? :)

Here's a picture of us at the park and Austin purposefully doing his "cheesy" face.

Stickers

2011-07-13T13:41:00.000-06:00

She said...

This morning while I was working by "boose" off I turned around to see what Austin was doing and this is what I found:

An adorable, happy kid covered in stickers, literally from head to toe. :)

Lavender Days 2011

2011-07-10T22:24:00.000-06:00

She said...

Okay so we don't make it to Strawberry Days, Steel Days, or anything else in our "neighborhood" but we always make it for Lavender Days! :) This year my friend and I even debated running the 5k...debated until we realized the time had flown and we were not ready. Maybe next year. :)

Friday was an awful, rough migraine day for me as well as a long day for work. By the time I was done I was DONE! I am so grateful David was home to take care of Austin, because after work I slept from about 2:00 ish until 6:00 ish and I still had to drag myself out of the bed. I think that nap is the only thing that kept me out of bed on Saturday though which was extremely important if we wanted to go to Lavender Days, and we were all looking forward to it.

Saturday morning we got ready and left the house around 10:00 am I think and drove to Mona. It didn't seem to be as busy this year but I think that was because it wasn't even until a couple weeks ago that they decided to have lavender days.

The first thing we did when we got there was take Austin to have a pony ride. Most of the kids (many larger than Austin) waited in a line to ride the miniature pony, but not Austin! He is perfectly comfortable riding the big horses.

Next Austin played in the "Old West" buildings

Then we went for a ride on the paddleboats

Austin got a red dinosaur painted on his face

We ate lavender ice cream, peppermint chocolate ice cream (new this year), and drank Lavender shush lemonade.

We took Austin to climb the rock wall

We went on a wagon ride past the "zoo", the horse stables, herb garden, and greenhouses, and stopped at the distillery for a quick tour (and I did a little work while I was there.)

We picked our own lavender

We walked by the "zoo" to see the Elk, Bison, Fallow Deer, Horses, Zebu, Burrows and Camels.

We had a great time, and I came home with a sunburn. Luckily Austin had been covered with sunscreen so we were able to avoid a sunburn for him this year. We didn't do any of the crafts this year but who know about next year. :) Yes, we are already looking forward to it!

It was a long day and we spent a good portion of the evening running errands but on the way home from running errands last night I asked Austin, "What was your favorite part about today?" He didn't even hestitate before saying, "Lavender Days!" :)

Here is a slideshow of some other pictures we took during the day as well as the ones I included above.

I did find out that as an employee you can rent out (and when I say "rent" I mean borrow) the farm for family reunions. So cool!

I also heard we are having a "Family Day" at the farm in August. If you are interested let me know and I will see what more information I can get as it becomes available.

Weekend in Beaver

2011-07-04T21:27:00.000-06:00

She said...

We drove to Beaver Saturday morning - we all ate some Nacho Cheese chips on the road...

See his "Cheesy" smile

We stopped for a quick potty break...


He is such a boy...and looks forward to going potty in the bushes on any and all roadtrips.

We met the new horse, Shorty; and said hello to the other horses...

Austin got to ride in the Ranger a lot!...

This is David taking Austin to ride through the sprinklers.

We spent lots of time with the dogs...

Greta - Today was her 1st birthday

Opie

And sitting on the porch(es), listening to the birds and talking...

We went to feed the deer...

We roasted marshmallows and made 'smores by the campfire...

Austin led the horses around the yard, or tried to...

And had fun going to the Cars 2 Movie, eating out, attending church, going shopping, taking pictures, playing with Instagram with Jenny, etc. :)

We drove home this afternoon. We had a great time with family and really appreciate the invitation to spend time with them in Beaver this weekend! Thanks for having us!

BBQ

2011-07-04T20:07:00.000-06:00

She said...

Last week we had another BBQ. This time we made scrumptious Shish-ka-bobs and we taught Austin how to roast marshmallows!

Austin's favorites were the mushrooms and tomatoes of course but we did manage to get him to eat the chicken by pairing it with rice (to minimize the "spice" of the marinade) so he could have a "party" in his mouth.

Austin did a great job with his first time roasting marshmallows and since Austin and I never fit very many in our mouths we had quite a few for roasting. (This was before we actually went in to eat dinner so the fact that we got him to eat his chicken was even more amazing!)

Housing Update

2011-07-01T15:08:00.003-06:00

He said...

Jaclyn and I have been looking at homes to buy. We feel we are at that stage in life. Things at work are going well and stabilized. Living in an apartment has been nice but we are ready to be stable in our own home.

We have found one that we think is what we want. Sorry we don't have any pictures of the house. Here is the address:

7403 North Lewis Street
Eagle Mountain, UT 84005

Yes, Eagle Mountain. It's not that far out, especially the neighborhood with the house. 7 min west of Lehi. 5 min from a Super-Walmart and Smith's Grocery store. They have a lot of new parks and churches and new schools. An express bus stops in Eagle Mountain and would take the same amount of time as right now for me to get to work.

After thinking a lot about what we want, we were looking for something 3+ bed, 2+ bath, fenced yard, garage, and room to grow. We don't need anything too big, just bigger than what we are in now and in good condition.

Also, even though the lending companies we can afford more (much more) than we are paying now ($750/month), we didn't want to increase our monthly payment if possible. We would be willing to increase it a little for the right house.

Jaclyn first walked through the house about three weeks ago. She decided it was exactly what we were looking for. Actually, it was really encouraging because we had looked at several other houses in our price range, but nothing that we loved. We proceeded to put together an offer when our first realtor (my uncle) threw us a curve ball and backed out (ask us another time). We got a referral from our lender and am so glad we switched. Our new realtor, Dave Forsberg, is a short-sale specialist and knows the ins and outs. We couldn't be happier.

We put an offer on it a couple weeks ago before I could see it and are waiting to hear back. It is a short sale and almost was foreclosed on today, except for our realtor called the court yesterday to delay processing for 45 days. The bank is currently evaluating offers. Three offers are in, but we are the highest offer, which is a good sign. We'll probably still have to wait 2-3 weeks to hear back from the bank, but we are getting good vibes so far.

I got to see the house today and I love the house too. It is exactly what we need. Good rooms, fenced backyard with raised flowerbeds, basement, and garage. I can't believe we found it and it matches everything we need. Even our realtor says it's a nice house which is further validation.

We're crossing our fingers, but waiting patiently.

Family Date: Water Fight-BBQ-Smoothies

2011-06-26T21:00:00.004-06:00

He said...

Yesterday we had a family summer date. I'll let Austin introduce it for us:

First off, we stuffed big marshmallows into our mouths to really see who has the biggest mouth in the family. Well, we know I have the biggest mouth, but between Austin and Jaclyn we're not sure. So we gave Jaclyn and Austin a handful of big marshmallows.

Jaclyn fit 4 in her mouth. Austin fit one and started chewing. LOL. He really didn't want to put more in. We know he could have fit more. I, on the other hand, had no problem showing off my mouth. I fit...

10 BIG MARSHMALLOWS

just before I choked..well, almost.

Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures or videos of the water balloon fight. Austin loved popping the balloons, both on me and Jaclyn and the grass. After we were finished he wanted me to go fill more. Gotta love him!

After expending all our energy, or so it seemed, we fired up our little grill (first time in over two years) and made hamburgers. I love to grill! So what if the burgers were a little black.

While the burgers were cooking, we got out some face paint (and probably the reason for well-done burgers). Austin originally wanted his face painted at the Kid's Festival the day before, I refused to wait over an hour in line. Luckily, he agreed for me to paint his face at home. Nothing fancy, just fun.

Also while the burgers were cooking, Jaclyn made strawberry smoothies. YummY! Perfect complement to the fresh burgers on a hot summer day.

(This picture doesn't show the goodness of the smoothies that well, but it's the only one we took of them.)

Just the hamburger!

Mandate--Macey's Kid's Festival

2011-06-26T19:24:00.003-06:00

He said...

Austin and I went to Macey's Kid Festival yesterday for a man-date. Austin had a lot of fun riding a mini train, playing bean-bag toss and ball throw games, playing in the jump houses, and sharing a snow cone. I tried to take pictures, but I struggled to operate our new ipod touch. Here are the best pictures I took:

Mama & Austin

2011-06-26T18:39:00.000-06:00

She said...

Austin and I don't get many pictures together but we were able to snap one before church this morning. It took a few tries but David was finally able to get one with Austin keeping a semi-normal smile and looking at the camera. That's definitely worth documenting. :)

One other cute thing. David loves eating soy beans...we call them "Eda-mommies". :)

My New Office Space

2011-06-26T15:00:00.000-06:00

He said...

This week marked an important milestone at work--our office remodel is complete. This means the new cubicles are ready for us staff.

Here are a few pictures of my cubicle.

6' x 8' short-walled cubicle

Laptop, docking station, and dual monitor :) setup.

The view from my window--the state capitol building.

Father's Day--Adventures with Austin

2011-06-25T13:00:00.000-06:00

He said...

Okay, I'm slow. Father's day was a week ago. Regardless, I had a good father's day. Austin and Jaclyn gave me some foods that I can pack in my lunch (I take a sack lunch everyday to work). Yeah! Thank you so much!

My parents and Rachel also visited us on Father's Day. They went to church with us, ate lunch, and played Mystery Date and other games. We sure appreciated the visit!

I am so happy to be a father and to have learned from the fathers in my life--Boyd, Lee, Grandpa Laga, Grandpa Kitchen, Grandpa Christensen. You guys are all so great!

Here are some recent father-related pictures:

Austin and I together in the swimming pool in St. George.

Waterfight in the backyard for a family date. (Jaclyn took the picture).

Grandpa Laga's grave from a few months ago.

Austin was in awe over this motorcycle at a family "get-together."

Austin and I at the dentist yesterday.

My Dad, Austin and I on Father's Day.

Snickerdoodles

2011-06-25T09:00:00.004-06:00

She said...

Austin had a rough time at church last Sunday and I ended up spending the last 15-20 minutes with him in his class. We told Austin we should make cookies and take them to his teachers to apologize for his behavior. Sunday evening David mixed up some Snickerdoodles and then I rolled and baked them. I love our Snickerdoodle recipe and apparently so does Austin! I love the way he says Snickerdoodle almost as much as the cookies too, so we took a little video of his saying Snickerdoodle just because it was so cute.. at least we think so. :)

Recent Projects

2011-06-24T22:51:00.001-06:00

She said...

I have been working on a few projects lately and thought I would post a couple of pictures. It feels so good to make something new.

Austin LOVES his new tool belt!

But he also seems to really like our new Summer wreath!

Some of the other projects cannot be posted here since they may be gifts and others really don't need to be documented (I sewed up a teddy bear) but the point is that I am accomplishing something and have a few more things to work on.

Activity Days

2011-06-17T12:21:00.000-06:00

She said...

Things have been a little crazy lately, and I have felt sorry for the girls. Since receiving this calling I have felt like I was carrying a majority of the "burden" of the calling. (Not that I am calling my calling a burden but a majority of the work seems to have fallen on me.) And it seems to have been confirmed on more than one occasion that if I was not heading it, it just didn't happen. With going to Hawaii in the beginning of May my companion said she would take care of it and I came home to find she had cancelled the activity yet again, as she had the previous one. We managed to have the 2nd activity in May but when I started trying to get a hold of her to plan the 1st activity of June she would never call me back. I tried a couple times with no answer and finally was forced to "cancel" that activity as well. I hate having to do that! Well I went to church the following week to find out that she had been released! (Part of me worried that it was because of me, since I had brought up some concerns to a member of the Primary presidency regarding the inconsistency of the situation lately. I have since been assured that it was not because of me.) I realized that perhaps she had been avoiding my phone calls (even more frustrating).

So I find myself the sole Activity Days leader of my age group (10-11) for the time being and since I have to have two adults present I was also tasked with the responsibility of finding someone to attend us or else I would be forced to cancel again. I managed to get one of the girls' mom's to come (who happens to be our RS President) and we were able to hold Activity Days this last Wednesday: Cupcake decorating. The girls had a lot of fun and it was great to see Jane's face light up as she said, "I just can't stop!" And Austin jumped right in there with the girls to decorate his own cupcakes. Unfortunately the ones I did to show them ended up looking pretty sad with Austin licking the frosting off or leaning his arm across it to reach something to decorate his own. Ah, well everyone seemed to have a fun time and learn something new. Each girl was able to take home at least 2 plates of decorated cupcakes. :) Luckily leaving only a couple in my house, yay!

I took a few pictures of everyone (though not the best - better than nothing)

Austin's creations


Emma

Willow and Sis. Snyder

Jane


The group

The Primary President said she hopes to have a new companion for me in the next couple of weeks. I hope so. :(

Luckily I managed to make it through Activity Days before my body crashed. 3 days of Migraines...I can't wait for them to be over!