Christmas Morning

This was a wonderful Christmas for us! It was made even more fun by the fact that every time Craig would see a nativity or a picture of Christ he would say "Jesus!". He's getting better and better at talking all the time and true to his character is a big ham.

This is our Christmas tree the day that we got and decorated it...
And this is on Christmas morning... It's looking very worn out from all that standing around and holding up lights and ornaments. I don't know how much longer it will last.
Craig was having trouble sleeping on Christmas eve. (Not so much from anticipation I'm sure... more from diaper rash). So when he woke up with no intention of going back to sleep at 1:30 in the morning, we decided that maybe we should just go ahead and have Christmas morning.

We opened one or 2 presents but he was pretty miserable and even the lion and panda bear that he opened were not enough to get his mind off of it. We finally got him to sleep again and now wide awake ourselves tried to do the same.

He woke again around 6 so we went and got him for the real deal this time... But as soon as I picked him up he fell asleep in my arms. We started opening our presents and waited for him to wake up. It took longer then I ever would have guessed. But when he did open his eyes and try to figure out what was going on, before he had even become coherent, he saw the little snowman poking out the top of his stocking and threw his hands above his head saying "tall, tall, tall!"

This picture is seriously 15 seconds after opening his eyes!

He didn't let go of it for a long time!
We got him several little toy animal to go along with the sounds that he's always making. This was the first one he opened and it delighted him.

Hippo!
Many things may come and go but Hippo stays the same!

A brilliant way to have fun drawing and yet not have to be under constant supervision because of a dangerous crayon threatening everything below 3ft in the house.

Trying it out properly

Then we went out to Hurricane to visit my family in the afternoon, And this is the wonderful scene that we drove through! I love it! Snow at Christmas time! There wasn't any on the ground at our house by Christmas day but it was a wonderful Christmas present to have the snow that we did have before that.

Out at mom and dads we had a wonderful time! This is after we had played our spur of the moment Charades for 2 hours. They just moved and we realized that they didn't have any games so we each wrote 10 or so things to act out on a piece of paper and threw them into a hat. Each of us would then draw out something and act it out.

Mom and Dad even played at it was the funnest thing I've done in a long time!
Mom got Mermaid and so she sat up tall in her chair and began to wiggle for all she was worth. Of course the first thing out of my mouth was "Mermaid!". Then we had to stop for a while because we were all laughing so hard that no one could see.

Another favorite for mom was Pogo Sticking. How you may ask would mom get us to guess this from her chair?

Shear brilliance I tell you. First she did "sounds like stick. which morphed into sticking"
then she grabbed the arms of her rocking chair and proceeded to rock so violently that the chair almost started bouncing off the ground!

We got it! And I will forever wish that I had a video of that night because it was so fun with so much laughter and good times that I never want to forget it.

Of course then my brothers had to sit on mother for some quality squishy bonding time!

I love my family!
Merry Christmas to all!

Tires Be Gone!

What happened here? Look at all of this destruction! How could this have happened you ask? Read on and you'll ask no more...

Craig has a new hobby! Every time I turn around he's chewed another wheel off of something! Chewing wheels off!? Where did he pick that up? The pile that you see in these pictures are just a few of his proud conquests!

The poor little red tractor was one of his Christmas presents and after he'd pushed it around for a few seconds (making all the appropriate noises) he picked it up and systematically worked his way around until all the tires were gone! (Luckily these are a soft rubber and snap back on easily.)

Sadly this is not the case for other of his victims. K.C.'s model Viper... Wheel-less. (that's one of the ones with rims in the picture.)

His little yellow car wheels? Shredded! (They're the smallest most pathetic in the picture.)

Oh what a funny boy!

The Gym

We did it! We got up this morning and went to the gym... (Well not actually this morning because THIS morning just started about an hour ago) Friday morning. It was kind of interesting chasing Craig around and taking turns holding/watching him while the other worked for a little.

It's definitely official though, I am out of shape! I could hardly go 15 min on that bike! Of course it kept increasing the difficulty level on me (or was that Craig pushing buttons) but once it got up to like 12 I was so tired and sore that I basically crawled off the bike and we went and did something else.

I will get the better of it! Just not the first time maybe. Yet another happy benefit to having K.C.'s new schedule. We get to do stuff in the morning instead of late at night! We are truly so blessed.

Christmas Spirit

I think I finally realized today that Christmas is just around the corner. I want to do all I can to make it feel like Christmas for the next 3 weeks. (Can it really be that close?) So in honor of the season, of course a new blog, and also a sneak peak at our family photos! I would put more up but it's 2 in the morning and I'm going to bed!

I also am planning on tweaking the blog layout so that it fits better for smaller screens than mine... But what can I say for a middle of the night project, it was fun and now I want to tear into the Christmas decorations and anything I can find to enjoy the season!

Merry Christmas

So behind!

There are so many things that have happened in the last week and a half that I don't even know where to begin. Some of the highlights have been thanksgiving in Arizona with the Hunts, The very overloaded Exodus home, and then party time with kaylea here (K.C.'s sister) and lots, and lots of pictures. It has been so much fun.

Kaylea has been showing me some pointers on photography which is good and bad. Good because I love it... bad because I remembered how much I love it. Here's one of the pictures that we took while we were out looking for good places. So much fun.More updates and Lots and lots more pictures very soon, I promise!

On a Cause

As most of you know my good friend Megan is having a battle with cancer right now. She is so amazing! Through all the trials and all the trouble and pain she has been such an inspiration to me! I know she's had her meltdowns and her breakdowns but she's still hanging in there and she's still fighting. And most amazingly to me she is always so optimistic about things and finds a lot of reasons to laugh.

When I lived closer to her I used to think up every excuse I could to 'go on a walk' and 'happen to end up stopping by her house'. (Sorry Meg it was all a plot). I admire her so much and when I was new to the ward she was one of the first people that showed me that she actually cared. I felt an almost instant connection and I'm so sad that my walks now just can't quite span the distance!

OK I'm going to stop talking about that now because all the letters are swimming together! Just believe me she's amazing. Her whole family is amazing and I have been trying so hard to find a way that I can help. Well I found it.

The City of St. George is having a Yard Sale/Bake Sale and everything will go to Megan's family. So my plan is this.

1. I'm going to bake things tonight and possibly early (yes very early) tomorrow morning. (It's just better when they're hot.)

2. (this is a 2 fold benefit here) I'm going to go through my closet. I am so sick of most of what I wear and this would be such a perfect thing to do with it!

3. When we moved into our house we acquired several appliances that we did not want. They are perfectly functional just not what we want and we've been looking everywhere trying to find something, anything to do with them. We can't throw them away and we can't take them to DI... So once again, the perfect solution!

4. (another probably more selfish plan) I'm going to stock up on all the treasures I can find and thank Megan for causing such a very convenient very large yard sale in one spot where I can guiltlessly spend knowing that it will be going for such a good cause! It's a win win situation!

I wish I could think of more but I only have a few hours left so I'm going to get started. I hope that all of you will come to the Hurst Ben Franklin Parking lot 160 N. 500 w. Tomorrow morning! See ya there!

We have an Identity!

Thank you everyone for voting.

Mother Group Votes

Agama Group	5
Hunt Specific	2
Hairy Long Horned Toad Beetle Group	1
The Hunt Way	1
Black Leopard Group	3
Gray Falcon Group	0
White Rhino Group	0
Red Falcon Group	3

Design Company Votes

Black Leopard Design	3
Web ID Pro	0
Web ID Professional	1
Design 829	1
Flair Four	1
Flair For Web	1
Pure and Simple Design	2
Agama Design	8
Red Falcon Design	2
Gray Falcon Design	0

Mother group winner
"Agama Group"

Design company winner
"Agama Design"

We have started the process and are so excited. As I get logos and designs worked up I'll have to post them for feedback.

And by the way I hope everyone realized that Hairy Long Horned Toad Beetle Group was a joke. As we were looking for unique sounding animal names we came arcross Hairy Long Horned Toad Beetle... Who could resist?! It makes me laugh every time I say it, especially with Group on the end!

FREEDOM!

K.C. is HOME

oh happy day.
We are officially
self employed!

Wanda Knows - Morals

Episode 7: Wanda Knows - Morals

The Background: My sister is one of the purest, most innocent and sweet people you will ever meet. She is awesome. So one day she was talking with one of her friends.

Friend: "Wanda, Do you want to come watch a movie with us?"

Wanda: "Which movie?"

Friend: "(says name of movie... We couldn't remember what it was)"

Wanda: "Oh no, I can't watch that."

Friend: (baffled) "Why it's rated G?"

Wanda: "It has Choreography in it!" Shocked that her friend would recommend such a thing...

Later she explained it to me...

Wanda: "Celeste Choreography is bad. It's where people don't have enough clothes on and I don't want to see it!"

I have such a wonderful sister! Now that's devotion for ya. Stand up for what you believe in and never back down!

Wanda Knows - Religion

Episode 6: Wanda Knows Religion

Looking back into the recesses of the past I have retrieved some priceless gems that beg to be shared as they are truly worth sharing.

The Background: We were reading a book about our great great great grandfather Benjamin Brown and how he came to gain his testimony and all of the research that he did concerning other sects while he looked for the truth.

Wanda: "Wait. He was researching other Sects? What's Sect?"

Dad: "What?"

Wanda: "So if someone asked me what sect I belonged to could I just say female?"

There you have it, never be confused again.

4 more hours

Tomorrow K.C. will have to go to work for 4 more hours and THEN... It's all over and he will never again have to go to work at Infinite Solutions!

I guess I should put a nice word in here though. Darrin his boss is actually a really nice guy and a good person. But when it comes to work he just doesn't have it worked out very good (at all) for his employees. In fact after K.C. got his last pay check which was the equivalent of 7 hr/week for the last month (yes that's right 28 hours for the MONTH) Darrin did give him a raise - via email (a nice personal touch) that went something like this - OK well exactly:

"Kevin, you have now been here 2 years. I just moved you up to 55% commission. Your next check will reflect this. FYI 55% is the top of the ladder, we don't go higher than this..."

Nice to know that we're at the top of the ladder and as successful as we will ever be there and BARELY MAKING IT! Welcome to success! Oh it is a sweet feeling to walk away and now we are literally counting the minutes.

Red Cross

K.C. and I went and donated blood at the Red Cross. It was actually one of the funniest things that has happened to me this week. It was just us and 3 people in white lab coats. I have always wondered why they wear white lab coats. Is it a status thing? Do you have to have a certain level of education, or is it seniority? I have never known and always wondered. Not everyone wears them but the people that I have seen wear them I haven't found the connection. Anyways, I asked one of them and their response killed me. "I've never thought of that! I have no idea!" They were wearing it and they had no clue why!? They said they were going to go home and google it.

Anyways we got all hooked up and then the two people working on us aparently were racing because they were like:

"Oh man she's gonna win! She's catching him!"
"No way he's totally got her beat, AND he's got a 30 second head start."

So we raced, with steady commentary from the doctors. In the end I won. So now I can proudly boast a bleed time of 4 min 11 sec and K.C. has a bleed time of 4 min 45 sec. It was so funny. Then she gave me this spill about all the of the medical instructions and it seriously sounded like an auctioneer and a poor one at that with the inflections in all the wrong places. All in all it was quite the experience. And now I know if I'm bleeding at home that I don't have much time so get help quick. Is it really a good thing to have a fast bleed time? I mean really.

Craig's Vocabulary

Yesterday we decided to try and write down all of the words that Craig knows. (and by 'knows' I mean that he either tries to say or has a specific action or sound that he uses for that word) He doesn't say them clearly but he can very clearly communicate what he is trying to say.

After I stared I realized that I probably won't have a complete list because it's hard to think of words that you know (or in this case my son). I mean you know them, so you kind of forget about their existence until they are needed and then you pull them out at use them. But I certainly don't walk around all day rehearsing all the words I know.

So here it is. I was shocked because originally I was thinking it would probably be around 30 words (being generous because he's my son and as such he's SO smart - of course parental pride coming in.) It is just a testament to the intelligence of children that we don't give them credit for. In addition to this list he understands most of the things that we say to him during the day. I've always said that kids were smarter that we thought and I've always believed it. This was just kind of fun to see an example of that in action.

So at 1 yr 2 mo. 2 wks and 5 days old, this is what Craig says to us - or at least most of it.

Body Parts
(21)
Head
Knees
Toes
Legs
Arms
Fingers
Feet
Hands
Eyes
Ears
Hair
Nose
Tongue
Cheeks
Chin
Belly Button
Mouth
Elbow
Teeth
Back
Belly

Animals - (Sounds/Actions)
(33)
(He also recognizes pictures of all of these and can point them out)
Spider - (Puts thumb in middle of other hand)
Cow - (moo)
Tiger - (ra)
Lion - (ra)
Sheep - (baa baa)
Rooster - (tips his head back and tries to crow)
Lamb - (baa baa)
Goat -(baa baa)
Bird - (caw)
Owl - (hoo!)
Vulture - (clasps hands) - he came up with that one!
Mouse
Fish
Rhino - (bobs his head around)
Cat
Snake - (ssss)
Monkey - (ooh ooh ah ah)
Gorilla - (ah ah ah)
Donkey - (Ah EE)
Pig - (ck ck - like a snort)
Hippo - (sticks tongue in an out)
Chicken - (bock bock)
Duck - Says Duck Clearly
Quack - Says Quack Clearly
Squirrel - (tu tu tu- like nibbling on a nut)
Horse - Clucks his tongue (like clip clop)
Bug - Said almost clearly
Dog - (ruff ruff)
Puppy - (ruff ruff)
Zebra
Penguin
Panda
Bumble Bee - (points at his body somewhere as if he's being stung)

Actions
(39)
Clap your hands
Stomp your feet
Nod your head
Bite - (food not people!)
Dance - (to music)
Dance with mama? - (holds my hand places his cheek on mine and we dance together!)
Shout Hooray!
Come here
Bring mommy that
Smell
Blow
Wave
Kiss
Point
Be Soft
Fold arms
Pray
Amen (unfolds arms quite dramatically)
Arms Up
Arms Down
Feet Up
Feet Down
Look up
Look Down
Get on mommy's Back
Go get 'em.
Point
Up - (asking me to pick him up)
High Five
Kick
Throw
Wash your hands
Wash your face
Wash your hair
Clap
Sit
Where do you want to go? - (Point very emphatically and lead us exactly where he wants)
Hi (waving frantically)
Bye (place back of hand on forehead and wave)

Other Stuff
(41)
Yuck
Hot - (waves his hand and says hot hot)
Frog Towel
Yes - (nods head)
No - (shakes head)
Snowman - (arms above head saying 'tall tall')
Pooh Bear
Please - (signs this)
Book - (said almost clearly)
Tractor
Train (does Choo Choo action with his arm)
Dad / Daddy (Dah! or Daaaa-D in a high pitched voice)
Mama - (we're working on this one and I've only heard him say it 2 or 3 times! He's a daddy's boy)
Outside
Walk - (as in go on a walk)
Uh-Oh - Says this clearly
Star - Says almost clearly, loves to point them out on everything. I'm amazed how many stars there are everywhere and on everything. I've never noticed so many. But he sure does!
Moon
Car (Vroom! Vroom!)
Shirt
Pants
Shoes
Socks
Binkie
Rock
Food - (signs this)
Drink - (signs this)
Cracker - Said almost clearly
Be Sweet - Usually stops crying depending on how distressed he is
Be Nice
Kisses - Gives sweet kisses
Thank you - (signs this)
Milk - (signs this)
More - (signs this)
Ball - Said almost clearly
Truck
Stop - Holds hand up like "stop!" when he sees a stop light
Go
Grandpa - Gwampa
Done - (signs this)
All Gone - (signs this)

Songs
(8)
Eensy Weensy Spider
Once there was a snowman
Old MacDonald (he says E I E I E I...OOO)
Rhino Song
I like to read almost everything
Twinkle twinkle little star
If you're happy and you know it (clap, nod, stomp, shout hooray!)
I'm a little Teapot

Grand Total 142

It is so fun to be a mother, I'm so grateful for my family. All you mothers out there go give your little ones a hug and remember again what a miracle they are.

Business Names

We have a problem. We're starting our own company next week and well, we still don't have a name for it. So inspired by Shannon I thought I would ask for input via a poll. So please help up choose a name and if you are inspired by something then leave a comment and tell us.

The setup:
We've been advised (for tax purposes) to start a mother company with a rather generic name. Then any specific focus that we have we will create a DBA (Doing Business As) for that focus. An example would be a mother company of "Black Leopard Group" with a web design business that is Doing Business as "Flair For Web."

So essentially we need 2 business names. Therefore there will be 2 polls. Mother company names and Web design names. So please vote on both.

Part of me wants a business name like "Hunt Specific" that's just down to earth and straight forward. The other part of me is thinking about businesses like Google and Geico that made up a word and branded it. That's one reason that we like the Agama Group. Agama is a lizard, there could be some cool logo options with that... Oh it's so confusing, so fun and so daunting all at once. And we are limited to what website domains are available too so some of the best ideas we've had have been thrown out.

Fun Day

Craig and I have a fun little routine that we do. It starts off by me asking him if he wants to go on a walk. As soon as the words leave my mouth he's headed for the door saying "walk, walk, walk!"
So I get him all ready and off we go. He's really good about not going into the street (which I am oh so grateful for!) I usually just put him down and follow him wherever his curriosity may take him. And it usually ends up in the parking lot of the bible church behind our house.

First we have to stop and check out the fire hydrant!

Then we run around dancing with our shadows and singing!

We always have to spend quite a bit of time playing on the stairs too. I thought these pictures were so cute. I love my boy.

How did he get so big
and grown up?

Beautiful blue eyes!
Just hanging out

My sisters were with us this time and we were all having a blast.After playing in the parking lot we headed down to the end of the road where there are big hills of sand. We spent hours running up and down the hills and making castles. Craig very studiously picked up very very small dirt clods and would squeeze them between his thumb and finger till they exploded. It was so funny.
The girls found a steep hill that they could use as a slide and took Craig down several times. It was a very fun day.

I love it when my sisters come to visit. They are always so much fun and they help me SO much with everything!

Need Pictures?

I know just the person for your photography needs. You don't even have to worry about the stress of deciding whether that first one was THE one and if you're really going to blow it by trying one more time. I'm so indecisive that I hate that.

Family pictures,
Christmas pictures,
Maternity pictures,
Newborn pictures,
Solo pictures,
Bridals,
Wedding pictures...etc.

There are a lot of options and she's really good. K.C.'s sister Kaylea is a Photographer and she's going to be making a special trip to St. George around Thanksgiving time to do photo shoots for people here. Because traveling is so expensive right now she's hoping that she can find enough appointments to make the trip worth it for her. (and if she can't she might not come).

She will take your pictures, edit them (very nicely I might add) and give you a CD with all the final pictures on it. (There are usually quite a few) You can then take this CD and get as many prints of as many different sizes whenever and however you want. And they are high quality so enlarging them is not a problem.

Check out her work

And let us know if you would be interested (or if you know of anyone who might be interested feel free to spread the word). She's a single mom trying to take care of her family so we thought we'd at least spread the word and let people know. It looks like a lot but if you really think about it, it's actually a steal of a deal.

Price: $99.00 for 60-90min
{This price includes the CD and all the editing}

The best news EVER!!!

NO MORE INFINITE SOLUTIONS!

K.C. has given his 2 week notice at his job (Infinite Solutions) and we are only 2 weeks away from being self employed and contracted with Biological Services International, LLC ("BSI") to be their full time web people and technical support!

Talk about the blessing of the century! Oh I am so excited I can hardly stand it! We will get paid more than once a month, we'll have a dependable income that we can actually count on and plan with... Oh the beauties of this new situation are boundless! And one of my personal favorites... K.C. will be home all day! Except for school of course but that's a necessary evil.

On the bright side

So I finally found something good about being sick for 3+ weeks! Thanks to this horrendous cough I won't have to go to the gym for a while because my stomach muscles are getting the work out of a life time. They are so sore!

Not that I've been to the gym in months anyways but one can always use a good excuse to continue in laziness!

Oh and another medical update, I started therapy yesterday. I was told that it would be a 9 week process. But the good news is it will actually only be 6 weeks. I guess that's good news even if it's not great.

Uh Oh

I guess this is what happens when you let the computer become your brain and forget to make a second copy of your schedule somewhere else.

My computer has been acting funny lately and really run down so last night we removed the hard drive that had all of our documents safely stored on it. backed up everything else that we needed and reinstalled windows.

All was fine and well until I went to find out when my next scouting event was (I'm still working on where and when they fall and I always get them mixed up. It doesn't count if you show up for the meeting, but show up at the wrong time and place, prepared for the meeting that's happening the next week. - Yes I have done this). Anyways I found the one flaw in our system. We got everything we needed except the outlook file that contained my calendar and all of the chaotic things in my life.

A good part could be that now I can blissfully go through the day with a very un-obligated freeness...BUT that doesn't work because I still know better. So now I'm starting over and trying to reestablish appointments, birthdays, important events, school breaks, work breaks, scout meetings, primary meetings and other unforgettable things that I can't remember. Wish me luck and I'm sorry if I don't show up to something.

Halloween Fun

First off Halloween was a lot of fun this year! AND it was a complete bummer. Our whole little family is sick and the last 3 days have been the worst of all. I thought that last week was bad but I've hardly slept because of a strange sore throat where I can't even swallow without tons of pain and because Craig's been coughing all night. I even resorted to turning the shower on and sleeping on the bathroom floor with him. We don't have a humidifier so it was the best I could do.
Anyways that's the bummer part but the fun part was this.

Our little lion!

He absolutely LOVED getting his face painted! He never moved a muscle and then he'd look in the mirror, smile and say 'more' 'more!' In this video I had a mirror sitting on the counter so he could watch while I painted. It's so cute, (till the end when he wanted to hold the camera and take pictures himself.)

If you listen real close you can hear him say "Ra"

I just thought it was so cute how his little tail would swing while he walked.

(I made this costume about 15 min before we left. It was inspired by my sister Ang.)

Then he put shoes on so we could go.

It was the first time in a long time that we've done much for Halloween, it was a lot of fun even if we didn't feel very good.

Wanda Knows "Swear Words"

Episode 5: Swear word. {not what you might think... but then again you knew that}

Wanda: (Singing) baa baa black sheep have you any wool? yes sir, yes sir... (stops). You know, I never knew that that song had a swear word in it. Well it's used in the correct way so they're not actually swearing, but it's still a swear word.


{ I quickly ran through the words in my head and tried hard to remember if there was possibly a verse I couldn't remember. I came to the conclusion that there was a very good and in fact very likely chance that I didn't remember the whole song. But I couldn't think of why they would put a swear word into a child's nursery rhyme. - So naturally I figured I should find out }

Celeste: What do you mean?

Wanda: (looks baffled like, Celeste you should know this...) Well, you know it says that bad word. I mean they do use it correctly but it's still a swear word.

Celeste: Which one?

Wanda: (kind of nods her head and waits like she thinks I'm about to figure it out. Then realizing that me and everyone else doesn't have a clue what she's talking about she goes for the plunge.)The word for a female dog... one for my master and one for my... (pauses and waits while we all realize what she's saying.)

When we told her that that wasn't actually even bad word she was so confused and said "wait well then what's that female dog one?" No one wanted to tell her but someone did say that it started with a B.

Wanda: "Oh, that one."

We just left it alone not wanting to know if she had indeed figured it out or not.

FYI:
Since I had a guess what dame meant but didn't know for sure I looked it up. I thought it was a slightly derogatory reference to a lady but I was surprised by what I found in addition to that.

Dame
1. (initial capital letter) (in Britain)
a. the official title of a female member of the Order of the British Empire, equivalent to that of a knight.
b. the official title of the wife of a knight or baronet.
2. (formerly) a form of address to any woman of rank or authority.
3. a matronly woman of advanced age; matron.
4. Slang: Sometimes Offensive. a woman; female.
5. Ecclesiastical. a title of a nun in certain orders.
6. a mistress of a dame-school.
7. Archaic. the mistress of a household.
8. Archaic. a woman of rank or authority, esp. a female ruler.

Watercolor

A while ago I said that I wanted to try watercolor painting. Well I had some paint and I found some watercolor paper from when I was 12 { I guess I don't go through my art supplies as often as I go through the other junk in my house }. Neither of these supplies were probably very high quality but I figure since I'm just going to mess up a bunch why not do it with these instead of expensive stuff right?

Well Here's what I painted this morning. I know I know it's the 'old barn' painting. I'm sure that every artist has to paint one of these before they can be called an artist but since I didn't have anything to look at it... well this is what happened.

I'm sure I've painted at some point in my life but never after about 12 (when I got the watercolor paper, realized that I had no clue what to do with the colors and gave up). So this is my first honest attempt. And I was trying a lot of different brushes and a lot of different ways of doing it and using water so there's many an 'uh-oh better fix that!'. But all in all it made for an enjoyable morning and now I'm thinking maybe it wouldn't be a waste of time to go to that class at Roberts Crafts.

Baby steps. Baby steps in the right direction.

Top

Just Like Daddy

Craig is on a major "Daddy" streak. All day he'll wander around the house and look for K.C. saying "Da? Da? Da...d? Does he say mama? NO, well I guess he has once or twice but if he can go to K.C. or me, hands down K.C. wins.

Well today I was watching a video clip of his cousin Brodey and Craig was sitting on my lap. He started clapping and cheering for his cousin (because Brodey was clapping) but then he started squirming all over the place and pointing at K.C.'s chair. So I put him over there. It was so cute he plopped right down and put his arms on the arm rests just like his daddy.

Once he was all settled then he started clapping and cheering again and we had to watch the video of Brodey 5 more times. Right after that Craig saw K.C.'s shoes and socks, so he jumped down and tried to put them on. I tried to video it but I was also trying not to let him see that I had the camera so he wouldn't stop. It's kina long but very cute. You can even hear him saying "dada dada". I didn't quite get him trying to put the socks on but he was saying "ock, ock" which I think is supposed to be "sock."

Backyard Update

Well here's the latest on the backyard. We spent some time last week using leftover coupons and gift cards to start the fun part of the backyard project. We had a fun time rota tilling it and although it was a project it was quite the adventure all by itself. You should have seen K.C. and I taking turns running it around! But the best was when K.C. couldn't get it to go any more so my 8 yr old sisters decided to show him how... And they ran it quite successfully for the last 15 min. It was a good laugh.

Here's our little helper... He found these gloves and decided to put them on himself. (on the wrong hands of course) How do these things work?!

Here's another ROCK! (said aahh-K)

{He pushed the rocks around in the dirt making truck noises - the vroom vroom is his favorite sound now. He's starting to try to mimic us more now. It's fun to hear him ALMOST say words!} OK So this is what you're probably wondering about... THE YARD!

{This is just as we're starting the rota tilling.}

We wanted a garden and that hill in the corner was practically useless so we started to build a retaining wall there. - Yes the tree went bye bye

Tada! Here's our garden! Nothing planted yet but as soon as we find out what plants grow good right now... planting will happen. For never having done anything like this ever I think we did pretty good! It makes me want to go get a cute little shovel, some gloves and a straw had and sit out there gardening away.

The next project was a flower planter thing along the house under our windows. We got one fence only to find that it was a piece of junk so we took it back and tried again. Then we had to fill it with nice dirt. By the way who in the world BUYS DIRT?! Never having to deal with this red stuff and growing up on a farm where if you want to plant something you plant it and then it grows... The concept of buying DIRT was not just my favorite.
So the final result... (oh and we planted some hedge bushes too!) I'm pretty excited that we have color and plants in our yard. Most of the flowers probably won't make it for very long if it stays cold but they're pretty for now and they were practically free so I'm not complaining.
After all the fun Craig was so dirty that we took his clothes off and he played with the hose till he was all clean. I thought this picture was pretty cute, even if it does remind me that it's time for another haircut.

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Happy Anniversary To US!

{photo by me, an obliging rock and some careful balancing}

We celebrated our 3 year anniversary last week! It was a lot of fun. we were going to go to San Diego but couldn't get the time off work so I planned the whole "alternative plan" and surprised K.C.

The Friday before our anniversary we took Craig over to Clark and Shannon's and they watched him for us while I took K.C. to the park for a sandwich dinner. It didn't last very long because it was SO COLD, and WINDY! (I say this from a St. George point of view.)

This is K.C. trying to spread out the blanket...

Got it!

{Notice the black on the corners of the pictures... That's what happens when our camera lens doesn't open all the way. Is this common you ask? YES! and so annoying.}
Our Gourmet Dinner

{don't worry that big jelly smear is just what happens when you butter one side of the bread and spread jelly on the other... I was in a hurry, what can I say?}

Uh Oh... We have a dilemma! Well, K.C. does. I found out that he has never liked pringles before. the reason... he can't fit his hand it the container!
Don't worry, I got that for you love! I'll just reach to the bottom of the can! After that we went to the St. George Musical Theater and saw Secret Garden! It was a very good time!

Our anniversary was actually on Monday and so there was a very elaborate scheme that went into the last surprise.

I had my 17 yr old brother be my wheels and the front runner to be just a step ahead of us laying out the next clue. First we got some wooden roses... (I never knew they existed, but they solved the 'wilting while we're looking for them' problem quite nicely.) and I put one on K.C.'s desk at work with a clue that would lead him home.

When he found that and finally made it home he found another clue hanging in some dried roses that led him to Dixie rock where my brother had hidden another clue.
He found it almost instantly... Don't ask me how it was in a cave up high behind another rock. I thought we'd be there all day! I had to kill some time to give Jake some time to get the next one ready, So we took some pictures.

Saving the world one rock at a time.

When I got the word that all was clear I used the blindfold that had come with the last clue and blindfolded K.C. Then we set off for our last destination. and this is what we found waiting for us!

{It was SO windy that everything kept tipping over!}

We were both chattering our teeth as we ate. I hadn't expected it to be that darn cold so I wasn't very well prepared. we each had a light sweater and K.C. had an extra jean jacket. None of these provided much insulation.

Cold nose!

This is the place where the table was set up! And this was the final surprise. We were going to see BIG RIVER at TUACAHN! We had never been there. It was so much fun. Cold, but fun!(another picture by myself... as well as the next).

None of these do justice to the biting cold that was piercing our very bones! We found one small blanket that my brother had and both tried to use it to keep warm during the show. All of the people with their comforters, fur hats, warm gloves and heavy coats were laughing at us. But we were in love and having fun.

These are priceless memories that's for sure.