Life's Little Laughs

Everyone has itches. I am almost 100% sure that everyone has experienced times when they have an itch that would really be inappropriate to approach at certain times. For example: scratching an itch on your head would not be appropriate when preparing a meal, scratching an itch in your armpit would not be appropriate...well when in public, scratching an itch on your foot would not be appropriate during a conversation about foot fungi, right? and scratching an itch on your bum would not be appropriate...well you know. As common place as itches are, it is still quite embarassing sometimes being caught scratching.
My family and I took a little jog to the park to play some frisbee and lacrosse catch and etc. We were thoroghly enjoying ourselves when I noticed that I kept getting an itch down my shirt. So I did the whole brush your hand across trying not to look too obvious. I did that several times and the itch simply would not subside. So I decided although I was in a public park with residences all around, I couldn't stand it any more. Besides the only ones at the actual park were my husband and daughter. I tried to quickly check down my shirt to see if there may be a hair there that was tickling me, and I did so very carefully and inconspicuously....that is until I realized it was a BEETLE BUG down my shirt biting my beauties! That's when I pretty much dug down my shirt trying to grab the little menace, and that is also when I realized that we weren't the only ones at the park at all! There was a whole crew of maintenance men in the parking lot right next to the field we were playing at. So much for an inconspicuous little brush of the hand to supress a silly little common place itch.

Nine Months Gone!

Lydia
Nov. 14, 2009
(first snow of the season)

I've decided that nine months go by much faster after the baby is here than the nine months the baby grows in your tummy! Somehow that doesn't seem very fair to me...

Lydia is absolutely beautiful and we adore her ten times over.

She just had her check up today, the 17th, and everything went great. She is doing so well and I can't believe that the next time I take her in for a check up will be when she is one year old! I love being a mom. She is now 29.65 inches long (97.5%). Wow, Lydia...I have a feeling that height isn't going to last long so enjoy being tallest in you class now. :) She weighs 17.8 lbs (30.8%). Not even twenty pounds yet and I complain about my arm that feels as though it is going to fall off after holding her for five minutes...whew! And her head is still very small, 16.35 in. around, but is growing just fine and she is just as cute as can be. We look forward to tomorrow every day!

Fun with Friends

There has been one person that I really have found the meaning of "bosom" friend in. Growing up I moved around so often that it wasn't difficult to find friends, it was just difficult to keep friends. Lisa Johnson (Miles) and I have had probably way too much fun together. It is so fun to be able to be gone from each other for so long and yet when we get together we can just pick up right where we left off. Everyone knows that young girls talk about their future marriage and having children and such. Well we were no different. It seems so absurd that we are now past some of those things in life. Lisa was married only a few months before I was and we had our first children within a month of each other. It was so much fun to get our babies together and to reminisce for a few days together.

Tribute: To Andy, Lisa's husband. He is serving in Iraq right now. Thank you Andy for your service, courage, and loyalty to our country. Good Luck and may Heaven bring you home safe.

Lydia and Peyton swinging together.

Chris being a daddy and playing with his girl on the playground.


Lydia playing a little peek-a-boo and Beautiful Peyton.

First time I've taken Lydia down the slide.


Lisa and I and our little girls.

Adorable Peyton and Lisa

They were happy in the bath together for about two minutes....Then it was endless screaming!


We had them sleeping in the same room. Bad idea....this was at 3 o'clock in the a.m. when they woke each other up.

He's a natural.

They played and played. Peyton like Lydia's JumpaRoo.

And they played.

And they played. It was so cute. Everything went straight to the mouths...

I am so glad that we got to spend some time with them. When Andy gets home they will be living in Illinois so I'm not sure when we will get to see them again.

Families Are Forever

We took a little trip down to the birthplace of our marriage! I was kind of disappointed to be married in the Manti Temple because there aren't really any "Temple Grounds" for fun and beautiful pictures. I managed to take some neat pictures on Sunday. Chris just happened to have the day off and so we took a drive down there and enjoyed showing our little girl where she was sealed to us when we were sealed together. I am so grateful to have temples all around us. Not only are they absolutely beautiful buildings, but they are filled with the spirit of our Heavenly Father, and teach us so much about who we are, where we are going, and bring families and generations together forever.

"I love to see the temple..."

"....I'm going there someday..."

"....Where we are sealed together..."

"....A family is forever."

Great Wife, Beautiful Daughter

I just wanted to make a quick post at how much I love my wife and daughter. Today I came home and Lydia had just awakened from her nap. She is very close crawling and Brindy wanted to show me how close she really was. She set her down and we put a movie case in front of her to give the extra incentive. She would start by rocking back and forth and then one hand would move closer, then the other hand would move. At this point she would be all stretched out because she wasn't moving her legs. It was pretty funny. Then she sat up, looked at Brindy then at me and had the most determined face ever. She started just the same but then started shuffling her legs as well. She went about 3-4 feet crawling, it was adorable because she knew she could do it. The look she gave us was priceless. I love her so much. I just want to let Brindy know how much I appreciate the small things she does for me. Like last night for example, I drove into the driveway and she came running out to greet me. I love the smile on her face. It was so fun picking her up and hugging her after a days work. To see her so happy to see me was the best part of my day. I love you Brindy. These are just a few examples why I am very happy and that I am very lucky to have a wife and daughter as I do.

Halloween Events...Continued

Lydia's Halloween Photoshoot
10/31/09

Trick or Treat
10/31/09
Lydia helped me hand out the candy to the whole three groups of Trick-or-Treaters we had visit our house....bummer...sort of, we have lots of left over candy now!

She really was thrilled to hear the dogs barking.

She sure loved the candy! And she didn't even taste it!

My little helper.

Halloween Events

Aryanna's Birthday Costume Party
10/24/09


Aryanna's Birthday Party; We all went in costume!

Da Mama and Lia

Chris!....

Lydia playing in Ary's gift bag.

Our lil butterfly

We had a lot of fun at Aryanna Jaynes' first birthday party. It was a costume party and everyone joined in. I kind of wish we had a group picture because there were some really good costumes there. They did a pinata, cake (which Aryanna wanted nothing to do with...), pizza, games, and chattin with family and friends. It was a great time. Thanks Devin and Kelly!

Pumpkin Carving & Decorating

Chris of course did his Transformer...pretty impressive! And I tried to do something pretty....


Close up of Transformers


Transformers and my lovely creation on the right.


Close up of my favorite pumpkin I've ever done.


Couple's Costume Party
10/29/09

Our friends had a Halloween Party and we were glad that it was on a Thursday night because that is our only night free. We found a babysitter for Lydia, although she sure looked cute and would have been the star of the party I'm sure (I'm her mom, I can say that). We wanted to have a baby free night together. It was really fun everyone brought fun Halloween snacks including, "Fresh Dog Poo", "Vampire Smiles", "Baked Pumpkin Vomit", and "Bloody Worm Guts". We sure had fun carving 15 or so oranges. We got to do all different faces and it was a blast. Costumes were great; A S'more, "Tiger" "Woods", Scientist and Lab Rat, Alice and the Mad Hatter, Bacon and Egg...The "Tiger" and "Woods" won the contest. We then went to see Harry Potter at the dollar theater while we had the chance to go without Lydia. It was a fun evening.


Family Picture


Our Fun Halloween treats "Snack-O-Lanterns"


And Goblin Fingers (Fruit and Cheese Tray)


More Pumpkin Carving


We're hot.

Ward Carnival
10/31/09
We went to the Ward party this morning and it was a lot of fun. Chris and I participated in our first Chili Cook-off. That was fun. We didn't win, but I personally think that our chili was REALLY good! There were tons of different kinds there! I couldn't believe it. They had lots of fun games for kids, and it will be lots more fun when Lydia gets older. She mainly just sat in our arms looking like a cute little butterfly and spitting up all over our costumes and trying to grab our plates. I think overall, she enjoyed it though! haha. I was so mad that for some reason the memory card in our camera was not working the whole time we were there so I couldn't get any pictures. I kept trying and trying and not sure what was wrong because when we left I removed the memory card and replaced it and it worked fine! Why didn't I do that sooner? There were some really fun costumes there, such as: Cat in the Hats and Thing 1 and Thing 2, Jesse Woody Buzz and the Farmer, Mike Wislowski and Sully.


These were taken in the car after I figured out the camera. And this was her by the time we got home. She was so so tired. If you know Lydia, she is not one to sleep very well any where except for in her crib, and she just didn't even budge getting her out of the car. She just about slept through her diaper change even!

Life's Little Laughs

I wrote a while back about my car, Gonzo, the big blue boat of a car...returning to our family. He has been a lifesaver these past couple of weeks because it turns out that the brakes on our jeep need replaced, and until we have money for that repair, Gonzo has resumed his duty as our primary vehicle. Here lately, however, his performance has become slightly questionable. He still gets us from one place to the other just fine, it's just I think he may be having some gas issues (and i don't mean fuel...). He recently cannot seem to control his horn! We have been driving through town and right in the middle of the road he'll just let one! Honk! No warning, no provocation, he just toots his little horn. Our drives usually include us laughing and laughing at people's reactions now to what appears to be us honking at them, but if they only knew the truth they would be laughing themselves. Yesterday was probably the best one yet. We had done some grocery shopping and had returned to our trusty car. As we were leaving the parking lot we were driving rather slowly behind a fellow who had also just done some grocery shopping and was in the process of returning to his car. Gonzo decided that he just couldn't hold it in any longer and just started tootin. There was nothing we could do. The man obviously thought that we were honking at him. At first he tried to ignore it, but after about the third little toot-toot, he just turned his head slowly, trying to be inconspicuous, to see who would be so rude to honk at him. We both put our hands in the air to try and tell him that we were not controlling the horn, but of course, I was laughing so hard at the fact that my car honks uncontrollably. I'm not sure if this man got the message or not, but he looked pretty confused. Oh the joys of relying on an '87 Chovrolet Celebrity.

Autumn and Baby

It was a pretty chilly day and she was starting to get cold on our walk. We snapped some shots, hurried our walk home and cuddled up in a blanket.

Temple Square

We went up to Temple Square yesterday just to spend some time there and see some things that we either haven't yet or haven't for a very long time. We ended up only going to the Church History Museum, but we had a great time. I was sad that we didn't even get a picture with the temple, but it is difficult to take a family picture by just setting the camera up on things and using the timer. Lydia was such a good girl. We were lucky, we left my purse out on the sidewalk and looked all over for it. We went into a building nearby and found a man on our cell phone talking with my mother to see if he could find out whose purse it was!

Eight Months

Lydia is now eight months old. She is growing so tall and we love her more than anything.

Some new things:
She can clap her hands.
She scoots and rolls around all over the place
She now has three teeth (short, but they've cute surface)
Still goes potty on the toilet (#2 any way....)
Her FAVORITE is this silly little lamb. She loves that thing for sleep time.
She eats all baby food, isn't picky.
She loves feeding herself cheerios and puffs and anything else she can get her hands on....

Successful Camping Trip....well Sort of....

Our second attempt at camping was much more fun!

We actually made it until 1:00 in the morning....quickly drove home....slept in warmth...and drove back first thing in the morning to our camp. (shhhh, don't tell anyone though. haha)

Our yummy tinfoil dinners are cooking.

Lydia and cousin Britney.

Kayla trying to act.... ;)

Lydia cuddled all up in the cold. She was the only one that was actually sleeping.


Playin cards in our tent


The next morning. So Cold. But we had yummy hot chocolate.




***S'MORES***

Gotta have the milk for a good S'more....








She was so cute in the play pen. Thanks Justin and Jenny, now we want to go buy one.


We saw some deer. They looked so pretty behind all of the leaves.

Third Times a Charm

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

We celebrated our three year anniversary on the 7th of this month.

On Wednesday, the 7th, we dropped Lia off at her Aunt Kayla's house and went up to Sundance Resort. We rode the ski-lift and had a little picnic at the top. It was beautiful! We were a little bit chilly because it got rather windy at the top, but it was a lot of fun and gave us some quiet time to talk and flirt and do what happy husbands and wives do best, laugh!

On the Lift


At the beautiful top


Our picnic lunch. (That's a three for three years)

On thursday we decided to spend the day celebrating with our beautiful little girl. We went to the Hogle Zoo. I was never really a "zoo-goer" growing up. I was always dissappointed to hear we were taking a field trip or a family trip to the zoo, and I didn't think Lydia would be old enough to even recognize the animals. But I was wrong and we had a GREAT time at the zoo! It was so much fun. Lydia was a crack to watch and the zoo was full of little baby animals! We saw a baby elephant, giraffe, snow leopard cubs (only on a live-feed television though), and alligator. I think the monkeys were Lydia's favorite.
Right as we were about to leave, Chris insisted on taking his little girl on the train. I must say it did complete the experience. We had a wonderful Anniversary and wouldn't trade these last three years for nothing!

Happy Girl

Giraffe - lizards on top of each other (not sure if it's mom and baby or not...)
Our fun little train ride

elephant eating - bear posing - and pretty giraffe

Lia peeking out with her Prairie Dog friend
Lia and Mom looking at some sort of exotic animal - daddy and Lia peeking out of their hole - Lydia being cute at the monkey window

Mom and baby elephant

Lia saying "oo" - Family picture at Hogle Zoo

baby elephant

Front Entrance - Lia and Dad looking at the Bear

baby giraffe

Our Third Year Greatest Hits:
*Chris gave me lots of flowers!
*Giving Chris his guitar (and then getting to hear him play)
*Celebrating our first Father's and Mother's Days
*Lydia Carol joining our little home!
*Listening to Chris give our beautiful baby a name and a blessing
*Chris bought me some Ovaltine! Love it! I'm hooked.
*Chris beat me in racquetball.
*We finally have a reason to use the Daycare option on our gym passes.
*Chris wrote a poem for me.
*Going to the Brad Paisley concert together.
*Singing with Chris.
*racing each other around the block
*Joining our fifth ward together, and fifth residence since we were married.
*purchasing a washer and dryer together.
*Learning that we aren't very good at growing plants.
*Becoming parents together.

***And much more***
(that I can't think of right now and don't want to type them all here anyway)

Attempt At Camping

Chris and I have not been able to go camping once this summer! We tried several different times, but it never worked out. We finally had a few days free and decided to plan a little camping trip before the weather turned too cold. Just our luck, the week that we had planned to go dropped fifty degrees! We were determined not to let it ruin our chance to go. We packed everything up and decided that we wouldn't take a tent because the car would probably be slightly warmer to sleep in. We were late leaving, of course, and got there after it was dark. We got a fire going, but it just wasn't enough. We were freezing and Lydia was getting tired and I was worried about her getting cold, so we cooked ourselves a couple of S'mores and headed back home. haha! It was our fun little effort. I was actually really proud of Chris for being able to get us a fire going when all of the wood was covered in snow! At least we know we tried....

Here's a picture of Lia at her first "camping" trip:

This is after she finally fell asleep, the only thing she enjoyed about the whole thing was looking at the fire. It's too bad it wasn't warmer, I bet she would have loved it.