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.