Craig, Andrea, and Max

Daily Inspire News.com

2011-07-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

I apologize for those of you who are getting notice of this website over and over again, but Craig and I really want to get word out about his new website that he and his dad have been working on called "Daily Inspire News" (www.dailyinspirenews.com). It's a website that only features positive and uplifting news stories. It's updated with new stories everyday so if you need a pick-me-up after watching/reading your typical news, the website will not disappoint! Our goal is to help restore people's faith in mankind and inspire us all to live better lives! (Could that sound anymore like an answer to a Miss America Pageant question? Probably not.) There are some really incredible stories on there, as well as some light-hearted ones. We hope everyone will find it worth their time. If you think it's great, we'd love it if you'd spread the word!

Back from the Dead

2011-06-16T17:33:00.001-07:00

Yes, I took a long break from blogging. Life has been a little busy and crazy the past little while, but I'm back to do a little catch-up.

First of all, we moved to the best state in the whole, wide world: Colorado! It's kind of a long story, but we are here and really glad to be back home after 10+ years and hope to stay forever. We're house-sitting for a couple while they are on their mission for 6 months, so it's been really fun to be in a house and let Max run wild in their wide-open backyard. It's a little piece of heaven.

Only three days before we moved (yes, talk about stress!), I ran the Thanksgiving Point Half Marathon. It was amazing. I'm no speed demon, so it wasn't amazing in that sense. I gained so much confidence and felt so incredible pushing myself to accomplish the training and the race itself. I will always treasure that experience.

Before the race started I ran into (not literally, no pun intended) my friend Travis who I used to work with at Novell. He was so nice to wait for me for 20 minutes at the finish line!

About two weeks before that, I held my first piano/voice recital. Typical of me, I didn't take my camera. Most of my piano students were 5 and 6 year olds (including Max), so it was their first time doing any sort of music lesson. I loved watching throughout the past year as their little minds figured out how everything fit together and ultimately made beautiful music. A lot of them memorized their songs which really impressed me. Cute little buggers.

Speaking of cute little buggers, Max got glasses! He came home from school with a little slip of paper saying he should get his eyes checked, so we did and whudduya know, he needed glasses. He's got his momma's eyes, poor kid. He has been a good sport about it all, and looks pretty studly if I say so myself. He graduated from Kindergarten early to accommodate our move (since he would have only attended for 10 days once he got to CO), so his class took a picture with him on his last day. He misses them so much. His whole class wrote him two letters before their school year ended. He had the best teacher ever, Mrs. Houmand. We're so lucky to have always had amazing teachers for Max. So lucky.

So, as of now, we're just enjoying our Colorado summer and doing the things we love: spending time with family, going to the pool, and of course, going to Rockies games!

Max's First Karate Tournament

2010-11-06T16:16:00.001-07:00

Waiting.

Totally nervous.

Warming up

Form: Taikyoku Shodan

Self-defense: Halting Ram

Halloween

2010-11-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

Max's costume parade at school:

Side story: Max is pretty easy to please, and pretty creative. He loves to make things out of whatever he can find around the house. He once found a paint stick and wanted to make it his lightsaber. So I painted it blue and put duct tape on the end for the handle. When he told me he wanted to be Darth Vader for Halloween, I upgraded his lightsaber to a 5 gallon paint stick. It's probably his favorite toy. Little does he know a much better lightsaber is coming soon for his birthday... I love this picture. Max was so grossed out by the pumpkin guts.

A Tale of Two Teeth

2010-10-21T15:31:00.000-07:00

Max lost his two front teef! It was such a relief since it caused quite a bit of drama at our house. He had already lost 4 of them before, but for some reason he was terrified with these last two and freaked out at the mere suggestion of helping him along. The first one was SO loose it drove us nuts. I thought if he just blew on it it would fall out, but he wouldn't consider anything. Craig bribed him with $5 to let us pull it out and I just chased him around the house and even kept him home from school for about an hour saying he couldn't go back 'til it came out, but nothing worked! It finally came out the night he wrote a letter to the tooth fairy asking if she'd pull it out while he was asleep so he wouldn't feel it. Like a messed up person, I went in after he fell asleep to actually see if I could "assist" the tooth fairy and fulfill his request, but he woke up and that was the end of that. I felt so bad. The tooth Fairy then replied that she would sprinkle some pixie dust to help it become looser. Luckily the darn thing just fell out in his sleep (and he didn't seem to have any recollection of me coming in that night)!

So there was one down, one to go. While we waited for the second one to fall out, we were visited by Nanny McPhee:

In the end, Max pulled the second one out and we were so happy! Isn't he so cute?

I even taught him "All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth" a while back, but it looks like he just wants them for Halloween!

Kids Run

2010-09-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

Max ran in his first "race" his past Saturday. It was a 1-mile kids fun run for the children at St. Jude's Hospital. Max and I have run together a few times and he does well, but I was anxious to see how he'd do without me there pushing him on. Well, he did awesome and I couldn't help but feel so proud as I watched him reach the finish line. He didn't stop running the whole time and as you can see from the video below he pushed himself 'til the end. We tried not to be concerned about his time or what place he came in and tried to just focus on helping out a good cause, but in the end we totally were. There were only about 30 kids in the race, but he was the first 5-year old to finish, 9th overall and ran about a 7 or 8 minute mile (there was a little mix-up on the course so the timing wasn't completely accurate). I had to laugh because I asked him if he wanted to stop running at all and he said "Satan told me to stop, but Jesus told me to keep going"! He never ceases to make me laugh with the clever and cute things he says!

Max's First Day of Kindergarten

2010-09-01T12:26:00.000-07:00

Max started Kindergarten this past Monday and so far, so good! Max was a little nervous in the first picture, but was so excited in the second one waiting for his teacher to open the door and welcome them, that he wouldn't look at the camera long enough. He resesrved his Lego Star Wars t-shirt for the special occasion, and made sure his teacher saw it when he walked into school. I was feeling pretty happy and strong until Max disappeared into the classroom, when a couple of silent tears crept up out of nowhere! But it was only a couple, so I did good :) Max rides the bus home from school with his fellow Kindergarteners, and he loves it! Craig had to work early that day so he wasn't able to see him off to school that morning, but made it home for lunch so he could see Max get off the bus. We're such suckers and thought it was just about the cutest thing ever to see Max's smiling face through the huge bus window as it pulled up! It was a fun day! We even went out to dinner to celebrate Maxter's big day!

Adoption Blog: Revamped!

2010-08-10T14:59:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure you've noticed, for some reason a bunch of our blog backgrounds have been removed, but I found it to be a perfect opportunity to revamp our adoption blog. Hopefully our new layout and blog button look and work a little better.

Also, in case you're wondering, we unfortunately have nothing to report on the adoption front. We've been approved for about 6 months now, and the average wait with our agency is two years, so we still have a way to go. It could happen sooner than that, could happen later. You never know! But I sincerely wish to say thank you to those of you who are doing what you can to help us find the birthparents of our next child. Your prayers and support truly mean a lot to us and make us feel so loved. We are grateful for you!

A Lego Masterpiece

2010-08-07T17:59:00.000-07:00

Yes, this post is about something Max and I built with Legos!

Corny? Totally. Do I care? Not really.

Introducing the world's cutest (and perhaps the first)...

Lego Snowcone Shack!

Pictured below is the rear entrance where the Snowcone Shack worker enters his workspace.

Notice the cute tables and stools! Here's a snowcone just for you!Thanks for visiting!

Toothless and a Mess

2010-07-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

Max has lost two of his bottom teeth in less than a week... ...and I am a mess.

(Thanks for letting me use your pillow idea, Jill! Like a nerd I took a picture of him with the tooth in the pillow, which you can't see, rather than after the tooth fairy came with the money in it -duh! Oh well.)

Max had his last day of preschool/summer school today...

...and I am a mess.

I know, Max getting older is just part of life. And it is wonderful, but I have found myself more emotional about it all than I thought I would be. The tooth part doesn't bother me so much, but I think Max being officially done with preschool has sent me over the edge. The tears just keep creeping up and as anyone who knows me would guess, once they start, it's almost impossible for me to stop them. I guess it's because I don't have another little one to send off to school anytime soon. While this marks the end of a phase in Max's childhood, and I fear that it may also be the start of my time as a mother at home coming to an end as well. We are hoping with all our might that is not the case, but I admit the possibility crosses my mind and makes my heart ache.

So last night Max and I wrote letters to the best preschool teacher we ever could have wished for, and gave her a Leopard Snuggie (that she mentioned she wanted a while back) and a Snickers bar. I even stitched "Love, Max 7-28-10" on the bottom corner so she will remember us each time she uses it. She is so fun, loving, patient, and caring, and we will both miss her tons. We love you, Teacher Pat!

So while Max is toothless twice over with the mouth of an upside down beaver and fastly approaching everyday schooling, I am a total mess!

Wish me luck for the first day of Kindergarten...I'm afraid I will desperately need it!

Surprise for Mom

2010-06-24T10:45:00.000-07:00

We flew out to Colorado a couple of weeks ago to surprise my mom for her 60th birthday. My dad, all six of us kids, and spouses had all been planning and scheming since the beginning of the year. We were all worried we'd slip and spoil the surprise before it actually happened since we had to wait all these months, but we pulled it off and it was awesome! We flew in to Denver and met up at the cabin in Winter Park where my parents were supposed to have a quiet and relaxing weekend. But we snuck up there and got settled while my dad had taken my mom out for some "errands". When they arrived back at the cabin, a couple of the grandbabies were squirming and squealing, but it was perfect since it drew her into the room where we were all waiting to surprise her. I caught her genuine surprise on video! We got her good!

Family Pictures

2010-06-10T15:22:00.001-07:00

We had our family pictures taken on Saturday, and we are so happy with how they turned out. My friend Krisi - whom I've known since the 6th grade - took them for us. She is so talented! It's hard to pick a favorite since she took so many good shots, but here are a few (or more than a few) :

What Happened in April

2010-04-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

* Max attended Kindergarten orientation :)
* I have school anxiety all over again :(
* We got a Kohl's card and SAVED :)
* I reached a new running goal :)
* We received our adoption pass-along cards and dispersed a good number of them to friends and doctors :)
* I was forced to cut back on running for a while because I messed up my knee :(
* My sister Hannah moved to Utah to start school at BYU-Provo :)
* Max contracted a bad case of the stomach flu, which made him miss his first karate tournament and later landed him in the ER :(
* Poor Max contracted croup only three days after the stomach flu. We think he got it while in the ER :(
* Max is now on the mend, thank heaven :)
* We found out Craig passed the Colorado Bar Exam! :)

A Sweet Moment

2010-03-16T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today was "one of those days". I won't bore you with the details, but basically I ended up running around all day like a crazy lady, complete with ugly outfit and terrible hair. One thing after another kept popping up, and Max decided from the time he woke up that he wasn't in a very cooperative mood either. So blah blah blah, we didn't get home until 6pm. As soon as I walked in the door we had a visitor come by and before I knew it, it was 6:45pm. We were all super hungry, I hadn't made dinner, and I knew Craig had to leave for home teaching any mintue, so as soon as our guest left I went into the kitchen to try and scrounge something up. Little did I know, while I had been talking with my friend, Max had set the table and made 3 peanut butter and honey sandwiches for dinner! He also gave each of us a granola bar and even set out milk or juice for us to drink. It was the sweetest gesture. And the sandwiches were really good! How could I hold on to any of the frustations I'd been having - including with him - after that? And who would have ever guessed that my 5 year-old was going to make us dinner tonight?!

Laughter is the Best....Present

2010-03-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

As a birthday present to ourselves (our birthdays are only a week apart), Craig and I went and saw Brian Regan live in downtown Salt Lake. If you haven't heard of him, you're missing out! Not only is he the funniest stand-up comedian ever, he's a good family man and his jokes are all clean! And it was pretty cool because they were recording that performance for his next CD. (Of course there was a lady with a loud and obnoxious laugh a couple of rows behind us which I'm sure you will probably be able to hear on the CD, but I tuned it out so I could enjoy the show. Or wait, maybe it was my laugh reverberating off the walls.....) After we got the feeling back in our cheeks, we went and ate some really yummy food at Famous Dave's BBQ. Good laughs and good food. A perfect combination!

Random Story

2010-03-03T18:52:00.000-08:00

I tried a new recipe tonight. It was disgusting. I threw the whole thing out. Now I feel guilty. I wasted all that food. Can anyone relate?

We Are Hoping to Adopt!

2010-02-15T14:10:00.000-08:00

There are a handful of you who probably already know, but we wanted to share the news that Craig and I are hoping to adopt! We've been working with LDS Family Services and were recently appoved to adopt through them. The road leading us up to adoption has been an emotional one as we've tried everything in our power to have more children of our own. But Craig and I value the lessons we've been learning along the way, and we still have so much in our lives to be happy about! You can help, too! We have heard numerous success stories of families finding a child to adopt simply through word of mouth. Although we are going through LDS Family Services, they are able to facilitate adoptions with birth parents who are not LDS (aka Mormon). If you happen to know of anyone considering adoption - LDS or not - we would be very grateful if you would to refer them to our adoption blog where they can contact us directly, or to the nearest LDS Family Services office, where they can get in touch with a case worker to find our profile there. (At this point, our LDS FS adoption profile is only visible to registered birth parents, but that may change soon.) Also, we are soon going to be making adoption pass-along cards (kind of like business cards) that will also have our adoption and contact information on it, which we can send you if you are interested in passing some along to your family and friends. We appreciate all the help we can get, but please don't feel obilgated in any way. So it is with faith and hope that we start on a new road, looking forward to the day when we will be able to bring another little one home to join our family!

December Hodgepodge

2010-01-04T06:04:00.000-08:00

As I'm sure most of you, we had a fun and busy December.

We went to Temple Square to see the lights

and drank some hot chocolate to keep ourselves warm.

We also went to the zoo with our buddies the Harmons, which was actually one of the best zoo visits we've ever had. We thought it would be too cold and none of the animals would be out, but it was the opposite. The weather was just fine and we loved that there were not a lot of people there. Maybe that's why we saw the animals doing a ton of stuff. I got a lot of close-ups as you can see: For those of you who have seen "Madagascar", here is a fossa (foo-suh). This gorilla was so cute. Just wook at dat wittle belly!

And the giraffes totally got close and personal. I zoomed in here, but still - it was so close! I even missed a shot of it licking our friend's hand!

Then we headed to Colorado for Christmas at Craig's parents house. Three out of the five kids were there, but there was still plenty of cousin time for Max, which he couldn't get enough of!

Max was so cute each time he opened a present. He would always act so surprised and loved everything he got. He's easy to please. He even said later when it was time to go to my parents to open presents that we wanted me to open them since he was tired of opening presents! Silly kid!

Craig and I also celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary! I slept in until 9-ish or so, and was woken up by Craig singing his own arrangement of "Feliz Anniversary" to me with a sombraro and a guitar. It was awesome.

Then he found a real jewel in a closet - his middle school football jacket! It was even more fun to watch him try and take it off! We went out for dinner later that night and enjoyed being out on a much-needed date. It was such a great anniversary!

We also had a lot of time to just sit and chat, which I really enjoyed.

Craig's parents cuddled up together and I had to take a picture they looked so cute! There was a lot of wrestling and horsing around with all our nieces and nephews.

They sure wore him out!

I don't have pictures for all the other stuff we did like sledding, play Christmas Family Feud, see "Avatar" in 3D, eat, and eat some more, go on a scavenger hunt, and have the best dance-off EVER. Everyone participated and it was so hilarious. (I know I am biased, but I think Max won. I'll try to get the video posted later.)

It was seriously such a great vacation! It's amazing what a little time off from daily stresses and responsibilities can do for a person!

I hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday.

I am really looking forward to the new year!

Max is 5!

2009-11-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Max's 5th birthday

this past weekend

with a dinosaur themed party

complete with a volcano cake.

The kiddos played Simon Says, Limbo,

and Pin the Tail on the Dinosaur,

followed by cake and presents!

The years are slipping by so fast!

I wish he would stay little forever........

Happy 5th Birthday, Mr. Maxter! We love you!

New Blog Site and No Last Name

2009-11-13T08:55:00.000-08:00

Hello! For privacy reasons, we will soon be changing our blog address to http://craig-andrea.blogspot.com/. You can go ahead and change the adress since it's already set up. It'll just be blank until I transfer everything over. I plan on moving it sometime next week. No, nothing creepy happened, we just feel like we need to take some precautions, and one of them is to remove our last name from our blog.

So, if you happen to have us listed on your blog list with our last name, we would appreciate it if you could change it to just our first names. And also please don't mention our last name or where we live in your comments. We are really trying to keep that information private and would appreciate your help with that!

Thank you everyone!

Karate

2009-11-09T08:53:00.000-08:00

He loves it. We love it.

Ali's Cameo

2009-09-21T14:46:00.000-07:00

This is a little kudos to my younger sister Ali, who moved to Arizona last spring. She went to support the Rockies last Saturday night when they came to play the Diamondbacks. She told me she was going to make a poster, so I made sure I recorded the game in case they showed her on tv. I tuned in in the 9th inning, only to see her on tv a few minutes later! I started screaming "Oh my gosh, Ali's on tv!" and woke up Max! It was too exciting! So here is a recording of it off my tv (I know, kinda hokey).

P.S. In case you're wondering why her friend on the left is doing "karate chops"....Ali told me that they were being heckled by D-back fans, so her friend on the left was saying that they would get "karate chopped" by their guys friends if things got too crazy. So funny!

PASS!

2009-09-19T08:12:00.000-07:00

No, that isn't Craig in the picture, but this is how Craig felt Thursday afternoon after he found out that he passed the Bar! Not only did Craig endure three years of law school, he had to find a job, (which was EXTREMELY stressful and difficult to accomplish in the worst law job market seen in decades, so we feel tremendously blessed with that one), and finally take and pass the bar. We are so relieved and excited to have reached that final step. We'd like to thank evereyone who prayed for us and supported us along the way! No, Kanye, you cannot have the mic!

More Than Just Clothes

2009-09-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Max after getting himself dressed:

Max: "How do I look?"

Me: "You look awesome, buddy."

Max: "Thanks. This is my favorite attitude."

Trip to Colorado

2009-09-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

I am so behind in my blogging lately. Lots going on, I guess. Anyway, we made it out to Colorado for a little R&R after Craig took the bar (phew - thank goodness that is over)! As you'll be able to see from the HUGE slew of pics, we did a ton of stuff over the two and a half weeks that we were there and had a blast! Max gets a little lonely being an only child at home, so needless to say he was in 7th heaven with all 6 his cousins from my side.

It was such a nice break for Craig, too. He worked so hard preparing for the bar. He's amazing. In case you are wondering, we were so extremely fortunate to have found a job!

We want to make it back to Colorado someday, but we are just grateful to have found a job, so we're fine to stay here!

We enjoyed activities such as going to the pool, (here is Brynn holding Max's hand as they walked - so cute!)

going to Chatfield for some waterskiing,

laughing as Uncle BJ let Max drive the boat. Looks like he had nothing to do with it...

playing on the "beach", mini rocks as opposed to fine sand - ouch,

hanging out at my parents house with T-Bone,

and jumping on the tramp (until Grant ripped it! It's ok - we still love you)!

There was also a lot of Wii-playing and Guitar Hero :)
Then we went up to the cabin for a little more fun...as if we hadn't had enough already. At this point Craig had gone back for a few days to study for ONE LAST TEST (sheesh). We missed him here.

Papa took the grandkids fishing at a nearby pond just for kids. The first day was unsuccessful. It drizzled quite a bit before the rain really came down. So we ventured out again the next day and.....

Max "caught" a fish! Trying to make a 4-year old just sit still on a bench and hold a pole for more than 60 seconds is quite the task. But I called him back to help me reel in the fish when the bobber went under. He cranked the reel a few times before running away in excitement, but stuck around when the fish was actually out of the water. Everywhere we'd go he'd tell people he caught a fish - even strangers at the store. So funny!

And what good is fishing if you can't take it home and eat it?! Here I am preparing the authentic trout meal for Max and I - thanks to my dad for showing me how.

The kids played baseball in the driveway with Uncles BJ and Grant,

and playing in the pool Nana bought for them. They had so much fun together!

There was still fun ahead making Rice Krispie treats with Nana later that night. As you can see, they were pretty anxious to dig in.

Max just loves T-Bone. He wants to name our future dog T-Bone no matter what. Too bad none of the other hunting dogs we grew up with were as sweet as this dog. I think we've all grown quite attached.

It was only a matter of time before Max did this:
But wait - my summer was not yet complete until I got to go to a ROCKIES GAME!

It was actually a very horrible game. The Pirates creamed us and we made some embarrasing plays. I think the Rockies set a franchise record for the most errors in a single game. Also, the couple behind us decided that they wanted to talk the entire game and make sure that we all heard them. I got to know a lot about them and their friends....apparently Ashley is a flaky friend and doesn't call people back. Also, Jodi is renting an apartment for $1,200 a month, and got a good deal on movers. I finally made it obvious that I was plugging my ears and held them there until Craig made me put my hands down. It was so distracting. Unfortunately their converstaions were a bit more interesting than the game at times.

This pic is of my favorite player, Garrett Atkins. He's had a really rough season, but I know he'll come back around. I just hope he is still with the Rockies next year! It looks like he's looking at me in the picture, but I'm pretty sure he's actually looking at the batting coach. Kinda freaked me out until I realized that.

And on our way back from this glorious vacation, we stopped in Grand Junction to fill up the car, but couldn't get back on the freeway because President Obama was going to be driving through shortly. Although we are not fans of our current president, we thought we'd make the most of the stop and support the group of people with the "No Obama Care!" signs. I'm glad to live in a country where we can voice our opinions. I took a video of the motorcade passing through, but had a hard time getting it to upload.

If you are still reading, bless you! This was a long post and I didn't have the patience to split it up. Thanks for taking a look at the fun trip we had to Colorado - one of the greatest places on earth!

Aquarium Day

2009-07-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

We went to the Living Planet Aquarium today with Max's summer preschool class. Max made sure he saw each and every critter there and we had a really good time. We even went to a "Superhero" show where we got to see lots of the "super" animals who live in the rainforest.

Classic Max face

These are upside down jellyfish. You can't see them too well, but I thought it was a cool shot since you had to look through a glass sphere to see them.

Octopus

This photo didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped, there is a blue poison dart frog in the very back that I thought was pretty amazing. The only animal on the planet that can eat this frog without dying is a certain type of snake that lives in the Amazon whose stomach has special enzymes that can break down the poison. But if they eat an adult frog, they could still die. Pretty interesting, wouldn't you say?

One of the cooler parts of the Aquarium is the sting ray pool. Kids are allowed to touch the sting rays as they swim by. Max wasn't interested in touching them, but loved watching them splash against the wall.

We'd love to go again, so if you're in the area and want to go to the Aquarium, give us a call!

Sky Sox Game

2009-07-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

One of the things I look forward to the most in the spring and summer is watching the Colorado Rockies play baseball. I love watching their games on tv, but I haven't yet had the privilege of going to a Rockies game this year. So we went to watch the closest thing to the Rockies: their farm team, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox play the Salt Lake Bees. Max had a busy day before we left for the game, and we hadn't gotten far before I looked back and saw him like this:

But Max perked up after his little power nap just when we arrived. We were obviously in the minority rooting for the Sky Sox, but it was still fun. It's becoming a rare thing these days to get Max to make a serious face for pictures. Silly kid. There was even some drama between the umpire and the Bees' manager after the umpire threw out the Bees pitcher for purposely hitting the batter.

The batter was Eric Young Jr., whose dad actually used to play for the Rockies. He hit a home run in the 1st inning and a 3-run homer in the 2nd. I guess that's why the pitcher nailed him in the shoulder in the 4th.We ended up making our way around the park, settling behind right field so Max could run around a bit. It was a beautiful night and a good game.....'cause we won!

BIKE

2009-07-07T22:15:00.000-07:00

I know it's not the most exciting thing to blog about, but I wanted to document Max getting his first bike since he worked pretty hard to get it. Max's birthday is only a month before Christmas, so we don't have many excuses to buy big things for him during the rest of the year. Plus, a bike isn't much fun in the winter months, so after putting a lot of thought into it, Craig and I devised a special chore chart for Max to complete for 2 weeks to earn his bike. Craig is such a good dad and made sure that he had a couple of sit down talks with Max to make sure that he understood that we have to work for things we want. Here is Max on the bike he picked out before starting his two weeks of extra chores.

I love his crazy smiles! Craig is working on attaching a bike bell that Max discovered - thanks to another kid in the aisle checking out all the bike gear. Max begged for it and said he needed it so he could warn people that he was coming. When we went to the park to take his bike out for a spin, it turns out he was telling the truth! There was a little toddler wandering onto the path from the grass, so Max rang his bell a couple of times and shouted "I'm coming!" So cute!

I wish he'd stop growing up so fast!

Independence Day

2009-07-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

I know, this post is way late. I was waiting for some pics and just forgot to finish this one up. My sister Hannah came down from BYU-Idaho to visit for the 4th of July weekend and it was a lot of fun to have her! She was probably bored, but Max wasn't (finally someone ELSE to play with!) We woke up bright and early and went to the parade down in Provo and it was crazy crowded.

Craig always tries to make sure that Max gets the "full experience" of no matter what we do. He said: "you can't go to a parade without getting cotton candy", so we got some.....even if it was only 10 o'clock in the morning! Max enjoyed shoving it in my mouth.

Max ended up with my sunglasses since the sun was pretty intense on our side of the street. I told him he should wave at the floats he liked, so he waved a lot. It was so cute and made me laugh! I think he saw another float in this picture.

Then we went up to Bountiful and visited our friends Golden and Holli and their two little cuties, Collin and Parker for swimming, a lot of good food and fireworks. Besides the mosquitos that feasted on my legs, it was a lot of fun!

Bravo!

2009-07-01T18:17:00.000-07:00

I am excited to say that I have started teaching voice lessons and LOVE IT! I got my bachelor's degree in music about 6 1/2 years ago, but there were several reasons why I was never able to really make use of my education after graduating. (I won't bore you with the details).

After my dad's mom passed away this past October, I soon learned that my aunts and uncles wanted me to have her piano! It was such an honor and I was totally pumped! So Craig and I went to work trying to rearrange our puny-sized living room to accomodate the piano, and somehow made it work. But because so much time had gone by since graduating, I wasn't feeling confident enough to advertise piano or voice lessons. (I guess I thought the confidence would somehow just seep into my bones as even more time went by!)

However, a few weeks ago a woman at church asked me if I taught voice lessons because her daughter was dying to take. My first thought was to say "no" because I was too nervous. But then I thought "I have no more excuses. I eventually want to teach voice lessons anyway, I finally have a piano, and the opportunity is falling into my lap. So why not?" So I told her I wasn't currently teaching but wanted to start, so if her daughter wanted to give me a try, I'd be happy to teach her.

I've been teaching Katie for the last 6 weeks and we both have so much fun! I think I'm actually helping the girl! It turns out I haven't forgotten as much as I thought I had. I'm glad I took a chance on myself. Moral of the story: Don't "just say no" to teaching voice lessons.

Storytime!

2009-06-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

As dictated by Max:

"Once upon a time there was a little kid named Jason. And he went for a walk, and he got tired. Then, so he went home and he got an apple. And then, last year he wanted to go to the Playplace, and then he wanted to go to the movies, but he wanted to eat some popcorn, but they didn’t have nay popcorn at the movies. So then, he made his own popcorn, and also, he got tired of eating it, so he decided to go home. And next year, he was going home. And then, Jason, the boy, had a doggy. And next year, he was too loud making noises with his toys. Next time, he had a big tummy ache. Next time, he was feeling bad today, so he walkded down the stairs and asked his mom if he could have a banana tomorrow, and then his mom said: “sure, you can have a banana tomorrow”. And then he got tired of going to the movies, but then he went to the library, and this time he didn’t have a tummy ache – his tummy ache was gone! Also, then next year, his dad had the tummy ache that he had. Then, the little kid named Jason – he laughed and laughed and laughed. Then he stopped laughing and asked his mom if he could have a banana. And then she said he could have the banana. Then next year, his brother Ocal, went to the racetracks. And tomorrow, Ocal was going down the stairs running, and also when he was running down the stairs, he got a broken arm. And he couldn’t walk or talk or sneeze or eat or walk, or watch TV, because his brother was super, super hurting. He wouldn’t eat, and he wouldn’t stay healthy, and he wouldn’t eat junk food. And then, he asked his mom if he could go to the doctors. His mom said: “sure, why do you want to go to the doctors?” “Because, I got a broken arm,” said Ocal. And then he told her about the terrible stake about breaking his arm. And he told his mom that he tumbled down the stairs fast. Then, Jason was going to the doctors first, cause he got a bad, bad cough, and because he drunk coffee, and then….the end. Wait – that’s not the end. Also, he watched “Special Agent Oso”, then went shooting with his toy guns. Then, he wanted to watch “Aladdin” and his mom said no, because his dad was watching TV. And then he felt tired. The end!"

Craig's Graduation

2009-05-27T11:47:00.000-07:00

This is where it all started August 15, 2006,

and where it all finally ended on May 15, 2009!

This is Craig's study carrel where he would spend his time between classes. Talk about claustrophobia!

Hodge Podge

2009-04-20T09:49:00.000-07:00

T-ball has started again this year and Max is doing great!

Max made me a lego cake and even turned out the lights and sang "Happy Birthday" to me! (My birthday was at the end of February, but Max likes to celebrate birthdays all year). It even has a cool pinwheel on it!

And we made a totally sweet lego car equipped with a swimming pool on top. I could play legos all day. I just wish we had more......
Another cool thing (that I don't have a picture for) is that today is Craig's last day of classes FOREVER! I am so happy I could cry! Student life is pretty much all we've known since we got married over seven years ago. Although we still have yet to get through finals, and the bar, and the economy is horrible right now, we are grateful that we have reached this milestone in our lives! We're almost there, baby!

Our Little Patriot

2009-03-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

Craig's 29th

2009-03-08T18:23:00.000-07:00

Craig turned 29 on Friday. Since he spent most of his free time studying for a huge test that day, we went out and celebrated Saturday night with our good friends, Matt and Jessica Walker (thanks to Aunt Cassy and Uncle Grant). Here are just a few things I love about Craig:

* He is a great husband and father. I wouldn't have settled for anything less than a "family man", and that's exactly what I got.

* He loves to learn about everything. There are at least 2 books on his nightstand at a time that he reads IN ADDITION to all his law school reading.

* He works incredibly hard and sacrifices a lot for our family. I am always in awe of it.

* When Craig laughs really hard, his laugh is hilarious. We watched "David After the Dentist" the other night, and I cried I was laughing so hard - both at Craig's laugh and the video. Good times :)

* He has a real appreciation for beautiful music. His iPod is chuck full of soundtracks and he knows what movie every song is from. I couldn't memorize all of them and I majored in music :/

* Craig inspires me to be a better person and to always have faith. I don't know where I would be without his encouraging words.

There are so many more things I could list.....

Craig, you are one amazing person and we are so lucky to have you! We love you!

Christmas things

2008-12-20T21:40:00.000-08:00

This cute little shrub was our very first Christmas tree.

We upgraded as of last year, so Max gladly took in the tree.

I was asked to sing for our ward Christmas party. I chose to sing "A Mother's Christmas Lullaby" by Kurt Bestor. I have not sung a solo since I got married (I think).
I was a little nervous, but at least my fingers didn't go numb!

We went to Temple Square to see the lights, as we do every Christmas.

Max is in a phase right now where he wants to wear sunglasses all the time. Here he is snoozin'.

We brought hot chocolate to rejuvinate ourselves after being out in the freezing cold!

Until next year........

Children's Discovery Gateway

2008-12-20T21:15:00.000-08:00

Good times with plenty do to:

putting plastic balls into a vacuum thingy,

making squishy faces in the window,

workin' as a blacksmith,

playing dress-up,

"6 dollars for a gallon of milk?!"

"Fill 'er up!"

"Good work, there sport!"

watching papers fly up a fan schute,

and my personal favorite - bringing in the news.

I wish I could have gotten a video of this. Hilarious.

He only got as far as "hello", but he delivered it very well.

Cakes are Sweet!

2008-12-20T20:59:00.000-08:00

I love to make cakes. Lemon-poppyseed cake with almond cream cheese frosting.......mmm mmm mmm good.

4 Years

2008-11-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

It was four years ago on this day at 7:35 am that this sweet little baby boy came into our family. In the time that has passed since that day, we've discovered how our son has lived up to his name:

M = Mischevious. I undersetimate the sneaky mind of my little boy sometimes. He has done things such as finish off a box of Oreos while I was in the shower, unravel a brand new roll of toilet paper, and hide his uneaten lunch under the bathroom sink without my knowledge. He loves trouble so much sometimes I wonder if we should have named him Dennis. (You know, Dennis the Menace).

A = Athletic/Active. Max loves to move! I swear it was all over the day he began to crawl. He LOVES to wrestle, play sports, dance, do cartwheels, jump of anything and everything, and run. During the Olypmics this past summer, Max would act out the events we watched on tv. From "diving" off the couch to doing gymnatics to playing volleyball. No lack of energy here.
X = Xciteable. If you take the everday moving Max described above and add people into the mix, you've got one eXcited litte boy. Max just can't control himself when we get together with family and friends. He is very social and doesn't take long to warm up.
W = Warm. Max definitely has a warm side. Although his snuggling may only last a few seconds, he is not shy to show affection or concern for others. He has been known to go and grab a kleenex unprompted for anyone who is crying.

E = Entertaining. Whenever we go to Craig's parents' house, we often find ourselves just sitting in the front room and watching Max do his thing. It's mostly comprised of his cartwheels and wrestling or other cool tricks he comes up with, but we also get some Batman beating up the bad guys in there. He's a pretender and has got a fun imagination. We could watch Max go and go for a while.

L = Learner. Max loves to learn about everything around him. He's in that stage right now where he asks "why" for pretty much everything. He'll ask such questions as why our car is black or where macaroni and cheese comes from. Max is really loving preschool and I get a kick out of the things he learns there from how to write letters to what hibernation means.

L = Loving. I will never tire of the random hugs and kisses Max gives me. I still remember a time when Max was only about 1 year old and I had been having a bad day. As I had him on my lap to put his shoes on, he simply reached around and touched my cheek as if he knew I needed a little TLC. It was such a sweet and tender moment. We are so blessed to have him in our lives.

We celebrated a little early and had a little party for him Saturday afternoon. We went bowling and then came back to our apartment for some presents, cake, and ice cream. It was a great time and we're lucky to have so many people around who love our Max. Happy Birthday, little dude!

(He changed his shirt to match the cake)

Halloween

2008-11-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

We had a fun Halloween this year and I am really glad we got our money's worth on Max's costume! We went to the primary's Halloween party on Wednesday night, Max got to dress up for his party at preschool the next day, and we went trick-or-treating Friday night.

A funny little story about Max was while we were trick-or-treating Max kept giving his trick-or-treat bag to me or Craig inbetween each house. After a few houses we told him he had to carry it if he wanted to get candy, but he said he couldn't because he needed to jump up really high and say "to the rescue!" before each house - which he did. Funny little guy. He is obssessed with Batman.

I would also like to add (for those of you who are wondering....all 4 of you - ha) that once we have a sufficient amount of living space, we will resume the famous, ever-popular Annual Halloween party! Poor Craig has been in somewhat of a celebration drought of his favorite holiday since entering law school. But he has managed to go to a haunted house each year, so all is not lost.

Kauai

2008-10-29T07:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, so that beautiful beach photo a few posts back was of Kauai, where Craig and I, along with my sister Cassy and her husband Grant were able to go during Craig's Fall Break. It was wonderful! Although the weather was a bit overcast, it was still comfortably warm and pleasant. We even managed to get sunburned when the sun decided to peek out from behind the clouds. Did Max come with us, you ask? Nope. My mom was generous enough to fly out to Utah to watch Max while we were away. He had so much fun with his Nana and cousins that I don't think he missed us much! But I was glad about that since it really was nice to get away and spend more time with just my sweetheart.

Here are some shots of the beautiful Kauaian landscape. It's no wonder they call it "The Garden Isle" of Hawaii.

Here are some more photos of the fun things we did around the island:

Missin' Cousins

2008-10-08T10:21:00.000-07:00

No, Max wasn't kissing his cousins, just missing them.....although he may have tried while I wasn't watching :) We don't get to see my brother and his family as often as we'd like since they live all the way out in St. Louis. But we were able to see them this past weekend for my grandma's funeral (which, by the way was more of a happy occasion as we are sure she's in a much happier state and place). So all four of them - Brandon, Candi, and their two sweet little girls Brynn and Gwen - crashed at our place for the weekend and it was a blast. It was tricky, but we managed to squeeze four adults and three kids into our quaint two bedroom apartment, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. There was a lot of playing, wrestling, and laughing in our house and I know Max couldn't get enough of it. Thanks for a fun weekend, guys! We miss you like crazy!

Max really hates to say goodbye, but instead of his usual refusal to look anyone in the eye or shedding tears, he ran to the kitchen and came back yelling "don't forget your bananas!" I guess that was his way of sending them off with love!
Also, do you see these two people below? They are pretty cool. That beautiful lady on the left is the coolest sister-in-law anyone could ask for! She is thoughtful, creative, hilarious, generous, and so much fun! We are so lucky to have her in our family. The dude with the Hawaii shirt is also tons of fun, hilarious, smart, and the best big brother. He's a favorite. Ole!

Only 4 more days until we are in.......

2008-10-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

Gotta Love This Kid!

2008-09-16T19:54:00.000-07:00

Preschool!

2008-09-02T18:47:00.000-07:00

Max started preschool today! Like many of the posts I've seen this time of year, I too am feeling the mixed emotions about my child going off to school. Even though he's only in school two days a week, it still feels weird. I think Max will do well and I'm anxious for him to have some great learning experiences. I really wish I could watch him and see how he acts and hear the cute or embarassing things he says, but of course, I can't.
When I walked Max into his class this morning, he was petrified. The teacher had each child stand and say their name. I didn't think Max would do it, but I gave him the chance. He stood up and as soon as he opened his mouth, he chickened out and ran behind me. But after about 5 more minutes, he had quit clinging to my leg, and said "ok - bye, mom" and started shouting random things at his teacher like "Annie (referring to his cousin) is 2!", and something else I can't remember. It was then that I knew he was feeling like himself and I didn't worry one bit about him after that.

P.S. Don't worry, we didn't let him take the fake gun to school. He just wouldn't let us take the picture without it.

19 down, 1 to go

2008-08-26T09:25:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Craig's last year of school. With 19 years of school under his belt, Craig only has only one left! The end is in sight! Your'e awesome, Craig!

T-ball

2008-08-02T12:04:00.000-07:00

T-ball, teeball, however you spell it. Max finished t-ball the middle of this month, and it was so awesome for him. He had a really cool coach and fun teammates. I was told before he started by a friend that t-ball games were the most boring things to watch. I couldn't disagree more. I went home after each game having thought how fun that game was. It was fun to see the things kids do as they are learning the rules to a new game - ranging from kids throwing the ball behind them instead of straight forward, to running straight to second base after hitting the ball. I even laughed as Max attempted to slide on the grass into home plate a few times. It was just a good time. We'll miss it, but there's always next year!

Here are a couple of videos of Max. I recorded these on our digital camera (since our video camera is on the fritz right now), so there is no sound. This one is of him making a play to first base. He is the kid in the field on the far left. It took him a while to learn to always be ready and in "the stance", instead of sitting down pulling grass and putting it in his glove.

This last one is of him at bat. Notice how Max throws the bat more than swing at the ball, almost runs into the first baseman, and tries to outrun his own teammate to home plate. If you look closely at the end (there was a lady with a ginormous umbrella in the way), you sort of see him do a dive roll, which was habitual for Max for some reason after crossing home plate. Fun stuff.

There's a First Time For Everything

2008-07-29T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, I guess knocking on wood doesn't work, or the table I knocked on was some kind of cheap laminate. I was talking with my younger sister Hannah on Saturday and the topic of speeding tickets came up. I proudly stated that I had never received a speeding ticket, or been pulled over in my driving life (knocking on the table of "supposed" wood, of course).
It was only natural then, that the very next day, I was pulled over for the first time on my way back to Utah on highway 6! I knew the day would come, but I wanted to make it to at least 30 before I broke my lucky streak. But there is a little bit of good news in that I only got a warning! Thanks to a generous and jokster-ish cop (whose jokes I didn't really get since I was so nervous), I avoided what would have been about a $400 ticket! (On a side note, I was so nervous that I unbuckled my seatbelt after I pulled over and then freaked out that I was going to get cited for it. Maybe next time I won't be so frenzied). It was a bit lame, though. I was going 70 in a 50 mph "construction zone" if you can call it that since the only thing present were a few cones and no workers or machines to be found. Oh well, the law is the law and I can't complain since I got a nice cop who didn't give me a ticket. Ok, so wish me luck as I try to make it to 30 without a speeding ticket, knock on wood........NOT!

Weaknesses

2008-07-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

As I was plating up my dinner tonight (the ever classy hamburger helper), I decided it needed a little sour cream on top. Even though I buy the "lite" kind, I feel a little guilty eating it. My justification for eating it anyway was thinking "well, it's just a weakness I have". But then I remembered that I told a friend on the 4th of July that if I had one weakness, it was Double Stuf Oreos. AND THEN I remembered that while Craig and I were at Sam's Club a little while ago, I told him gummy bears were my one weakness (or anything gummy). Don't worry - I get it. I have a lot of eating weaknesses. Those things add up quick! It's sad. But I can honestly say that those three are my only ones..............unless I've told you about another one that I've forgotten about. Great - now I feel pudgy.

Recap

2008-07-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Well, this summer has been going by way too fast. They always do that! But I guess it's because we've managed to do a lot of fun things so far.

Max finished his last semester at the Little Gym (which we will miss), and he also finished soccer (which I will not miss so much....it's kind of a long story). So it's on to t-ball which is going much better.

At the end of June we went camping at a beautiful spot down in Spanish Fork Canyon, which Max loved since he got totally dirty.

We've also had our fair share of snow cones, gone swimming,

and a lot of Max playing outside getting muddy.

We enjoyed a good 4th of July, which started early with a 5K,

included Sandy city 4th of July festivities in the middle,

(here's Max finding his way on a blow-up castle)

and ended late with good ol' fireworks.

No wonder we are tired.

It's been a good summer so far! Thank goodness there are a couple of months left :)

We're Missing Some Things

2008-05-08T12:27:00.000-07:00

I miss Colorado. I miss the people and everything there is to do there. We just got back after spending a little less than a week there, and we had a really good time. We went to the Museum of Nature & Science and got to see a lot of cool exhibits and galleries. We saw the dinosaurs,

went to the "Discovery Zone" where kids can go to and do hands-on learning activities (Max and I are getting ready to make big bubbles),
went to the Space Station,
and looked a bunch of dioramas of Colorado animals. Max entertained himself by pressing the buttons that made the animal sounds at each one.
And what good is a trip to Denver without going to a Rockies game? We sat 4 rows behind the Rockies dugout, so I was able to get this shot of my favorite Rockie, Garrett Atkins (during the National Anthem - oops).
We also love Matt Holliday
and Todd Helton (on the right).
We also miss Troy Tulowitzki who's out on the DL, so I couldn't get a picture of him (sorry, Ali). They ended up losing that game, but it was still really fun to be there in person. At least we get the games over here in Utah on tv. GO ROCKIES!
So Craig and I are missing our home state, but Max is missing something different: his tooth. We knew a big accident was bound to happen sometime with our little daredevil child. I just always thought it would have been a trip to the ER for a broken bone or stitches, but it ended up being a trip to the dentist. And it all happened about 20 minutes before we were to drive back to Utah. Max was walking around while we were packing up and had put a blanket over his head. I guess he forgot that the bed we slept in had a footboard, and smacked right into it. It popped his tooth clean out - root and all - and chipped the one right next to it. (This picture shows his fixed tooth since I didn't want to take a picture of the chipped one - ew.) Luckily Max had a check-up appointment at the dentist two days later, so we were able to get him in quickly to fix his chipped tooth. There is nothing we can do for the lost one, so Max will be toothless for a few years until his permanent one grows in. It was a little traumatic, but it could have been worse, so I am grateful.

Soccer Season is Here!

2008-04-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I have a child old enough to be playing organized sports! Max had his first soccer game this morning and we experienced a myriad of emotions. The morning started with all of us being excited - getting Max in his uniform and driving to the park. But things took a major turn once we got there because Max was terrified of his coach (who is the nicest guy), refusing to give him a hive five or knuckles, and wouldn't let me put him down. The team practiced for the first 20 minutes and Max wouldn't have anything to do with it. Craig and I got nervous and wondered what was wrong with Max. Anyone who knows Max knows that he's a pretty outgoing kid and doesn't shy away from most things. We tried anything we could think of to get him involved. The coach suggested that Craig step in and act as the assistant coach so Max would feel more comfortable, but Max just put his head down and stared at the ball when it was kicked to him. I tried telling him to talk to his coach because he was so nice. Max mumbled that he wanted to tell him about Batman (who he is obssessed with right now). So we walked over and his coach and after I encouraged him to say something, he quietly told him that Batman gets the bad guys or something along those lines. His coach was really cool, asking him questions about Batman and Max finally gave him five. So that was a small victory. But he still wouldn't do anything with his team. Then we tried sitting on the sidelines and trying the "no pressure" approach, hoping Max would come around and want to take a stab at it. No luck there. So we resigned to good old fashioned bribery. "Max, do you want some ice cream after soccer?", to which Max replied "Can I have two ice creams?". Without hesitation I said "Yeah, you can have two ice creams, but you need to go out there and play with your team. It's going to be so fun!" There was a glimmer of hope as I walked him out onto the field to where his team was, but it quickly faded as he reverted back to being totally terrified and wouldn't move a muscle or let me leave. I'm not very proud of this next part, but I was desperate......I succombed to THREATENING my child! I told him I would take his blanket away! How cruel could I get? I felt bad at first, but it worked! And in the end, Max had a really good time today. (I hope nobody thinks less of me.) At that point Max slowly walked over to his team and I was so happy seeing him walk over there on his own! But right as he got there, it was time for the game to start. So his coach took his hand and walked him over to the sidelines! Our kid was being benched after all that?! But what were we to expect when he didn't practice? Thankfully he stayed there, and after a good 10 minutes or so, they switched the kids in and Max was on the field! Craig and I and were so proud and excited. After a while, the real Max came out and he and started grabbing other kids' jersies and playing in the other team's net. Thankfully the coach picked up on it and decided to make Max our goalie! Max was stoked and so were we! Max's awesome Aunt Cassy and Uncle Grant came to watch and Max made sure they were watching him. Max cried for the one goal he allowed, and whenever the ball hit his leg. But he absolutely loved grabbing the ball and throwing it back to his teammates. He would smile so big when he cought it, and I'm sure Craig and I were smiling bigger. So it was a really good ending to a rough start. As you can see, we followed through and got Max his ice cream. We tried explaining to him that next time he will mostly likely have to share being goalie, and instead he can be the one to run around and kick the ball. Wish us luck........

Ouch

2008-04-16T17:58:00.000-07:00

I guess I'm finding that I'm one of those people who laughs at the expense of others. Oh well, at least I'm not the only one since someone else put this picture on the world wide web! (I'm also finding that since I'm not the best blogger, I like to steal funny things from the blogs of my friends. Thanks, Jennie!)

This is Hilarious

2008-04-16T17:28:00.000-07:00

Ok, I stole this from my sister-in-law's blog, but it was so funny I had to post it here. Listening to the news guys makes me laugh even harder.

Fishy

2008-04-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

We gave in and bought Max a fish. He's been asking for one for so long, and we thought "it's probably the cheapest pet out there, so why not?" We picked out a beautiful red beta fish and Max finally named her "Fishy" after going through a series of other names like "Heyma" and other jibber-jabber.

Public Easter Egg Hunt Disdain

2008-03-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, so maybe I'm slow and this is general knowledge for most parents, but public eastser egg hunts are not the way to go. My sister and I took our little ones to WalMart for one on Saturday, and I left feeling pretty disappointed. Not in WalMart, but the parents! When we got to the store, we followed the signs to where they were having the hunt, only to meet a crowd of parents "nonchalantly" sliding their way to the front with their kids. We thought "ok, that's weird", but just waited at the back until the store was ready. The workers made it very clear that the store was sectioned off two parts of the store: one for kids 4 and under and the other for kids 5 and older. That proved to be pretty useless since parents of the younger group were grabbing eggs from the older kids section on their way to the younger kids' section and big kids were all over the store, taking eggs meant for the little kids, which broke my heart. It made me sick to realize the things people do for free stuff. The eggs weren't anything to go bezerk over anyhow, being filled with 25 cent toys is all. Luckily my sister and I found a section that hadn't been invaded yet, where Max and Annie were able to get a few eggs and get out of there! From now on, it's only private family easter egg hunts for us! (Other than that, we had a pretty good Easter.)

Getting Ready for Spring

2008-03-26T09:09:00.000-07:00

We are really excited that the weather is starting to warm up so we can get out of the house!!! I signed Max up for soccer about a couple of weeks ago and he has been asking about it since. It doesn't start until the end of April, so last weekend Craig and I went and bought Max a small soccer ball to appease him. He's definitely leaning towards being a lefty, which is a little surprising since neither Craig or I do anything left-handed. Anyway, it is nice to finally be able to get outside.

Birthday Report

2008-03-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

Well, Craig and I have advanced one more year in our twenties. However, I only have one year left in them....which bothers me more than I thought it would! Craig only turned 28 - he's just a little guy :) For my birthday Craig got a babysitter and took me to Tepanyaki - the cool Japanese restaurant where they cook your food in front of you at the table and do cool tricks. It was a very nice time. But since our birthdays are only 6 days apart - well, this year it was 7 because of Leap Year - we didn't want to have to eat two cakes close together, so my sister Ali bought me cupcakes with the sinfully rich and delicious icing that I love! Yes - I am one of those people who would rather eat the icing than the cake. So I made a cake for Craig's birthday and tried out using fondant for the very first time. As you will see, the cake isn't anything like the ones I dream of making, but it was a good learning process for me, and I plan on trying it again in the future. We had lots of family over for birthday festivities, which is always a lot of fun! P.S. I really, really hope my birthday wish comes true this year.

American Idol Thoughts

2008-02-13T21:34:00.000-08:00

Ok, now that the crazy people auditions are over with, I'm totally excited for the new season of American Idol! I always dreamed of auditioning for the show and will always regret not having tried......... True story: The summer after I started working at Novell, I told my boss I always wanted to try out for American Idol but didn't have the money to travel to the audition cities. A few days later he came by my "cube" and told me he and his wife wanted to buy my plane ticket using their frequent flyer miles so I could go to NY and try out! He was the coolest guy I ever worked for! I was so excited, but somehow it didn't happen. I think I ended up talking myself out of it! I get a little envious watching the show, but it's all good. I look at my life here and I'm happy. PLUS, I watch all the crazy emtional drama the show puts them through and think "I wouldn't last a day there". Still, I love watching American Idol (or as Ryan Seacrest says: Ammmmmmmmmmmmerican Idol"). I was bummed when the nerdy glasses guy from Oklahoma didn't get picked over the femmy-haired blonde dude for the top 24. I like it when they pick genuine people. I like the 16 year old boy from Murray, UT - he can sing and seems like a really good guy. Just some of my thoughts.

Different game of TAG

2008-02-02T09:18:00.000-08:00

A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 years ago:
Let's see....I was a freshmen at BYU living in Deseret Towers. To be honest, that part of my life was not a pretty picture. I had gained a ton of weight (I think I surpassed the "freshmen 15"), didn't like living in the dorms, and was trying to cope with the enormous pressure I felt while in the school of music. I remember calling my mom each Sunday after ward prayer and just bawling! Oh man, not a good year for me......but it got better after that year!

5 things on my to-do list today:
1. Work 2 more hours
2. Go to WalMart
3. Clean the bathroom
4. Get a babysitter for next weekend
5. Finish laundry

Things I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
Pay off our student loans (it's good to hear we're not the only ones who have them!), buy an awesome house and cars, go out to eat in Paris, and whatever else I felt like doing! I could go on forever...

2 of my bad habits:
1. Cutting my toenails too short (I can't believe I just confessed about my toenails)
2. Procrastinating in deciding what to make for dinner

5 places I have lived:
1. Littleton, Colorado
2. Provo, Utah (many times within that city)
3. Orem, Utah
4. Sandy, Utah
5. That's it - unless you count part of Littleton, Colorado where I lived, which is now called Centennial.

5 Jobs I have had:
1. Receptionist - many, many times for summer temp jobs
2. Medical lab equipment washer - not sure of the official title, one of the worst jobs I ever had
3. Human Resources Assistant
4. BYU Testing Center employee
5. Auditor for Novell

Things people don't know about me:
Wow, let's see if I can think of some things. I am somewhat obsessive/compulsive in that I can't hang out in a room that has a lot of things out of place. I usually end up putting off whatever it was I intended to do in the room in the first place until it's cleaned up. Hmm, what else? When I was in middle school I absolutely dreaded the day we had our 1 mile run in P.E. because I would usually come in close to last and hated running for many years because of those days. BUT, I made a committment while I was at college to change my mindset about running, and have come to enjoy it! Also, I have a dream to become a pastry chef/professional cake decorator. I think that would be sooo fun!

I don't have too many blog friends yet, so to prevent overlapping from the last tag, I'm going to break the rules and just tag three: Amber, Alyson, and Laura.

Gymnastics

2008-01-24T19:21:00.000-08:00

Max just finished his first semester of gymnastics! Since today was the last class, we had a sort of "recital" for family and friends, showing most everything we had learned during the semester. When Max first started he wouldn't really try anything the teacher showed us and just wanted to run around (literally) and discover what cool tricks he could make up himself on the equipment. That was just fine since Max is a totally independent and hands-on learner. Most of his stunts would scare the other mothers, but they didn't phase me much since I'm used to him doing daring/crazy stuff all the time. He rarely cooperated if the teacher wanted to use him to demonstrate moves on the balance beam or bars, etc., but today the teacher just picked him up and he went along with it like a pro! I couldn't help but get so excited. It was really fun to see how far Max has come. He is going to be in the next class up next semester, but this time I will drop him off! I'm definitely excited for some time to myself, but I'm also a bit worried....not for Max but for his teacher since Max is such a fireball! I think I'll stay and watch the first few times to make sure he doesn't tear the place apart. (Yes, Max is my first child......why do you ask?) Sorry about the pictures. Some of them are a little blurry or dark.

Swinging like a monkey

Hidin' out
Getting ready for take-off!
One of many wipe-outs!
Just did a forward roll

This is what he spent most of his time doing

Max loves to jump!

Hanging out

Doing the bear crawl

I Got Tagged

2008-01-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

1. What time did you get up this morning? 5:45 to work. not fun.
2. What do you usually have for breakfast? cereal
3. What is your favorite CD at the moment? don't have one - use iTunes
4. What kind of car do you drive? '04 Hyundai Sonata or an '89 Honda Accord (thanks Hannah!)
5. Favorite sandwich? Toasted turkey bacon avocado
6. Favorite item of clothing? My mom's BYU sweatshirt
7. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? Greece
8. What color is your bathroom? Gray/off white/brown/coral???
9. Where would you retire? I don't know. I haven't thought about it.
10. Most memorable birthday? Probably my 10th birthday. It was a surprise party and I just remember having so much fun!
11. Favorite sport to watch? Baseball. GO ROCKIES! I also like football.
12. Are you a morning person or a night person? Mostly night
13. What is your shoe size? 8 1/2
14. Pets? None, but I would like to get Max a fish one of these days...
15. What did you want to be when you were little? a vet so I could take care of the baby animals at the zoo.
16. What are you today? A wife and mother (which includes MANY other titles)
17. What is your favorite candy? Gummy bears - anything gummy is yummy in my tummy!
18. Your favorite flower? I love red roses (yes, very original) and bright-colored gerber daisies
19. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? the one where I can quit my job
20. What are you listening to right now? UFC fight on tv (by default - Craig's watching it)
21. What is the last thing you ate? fruit snacks to satisfy my sweet tooth after dinner :)
22. Do you wish on stars? No. I pray.
23. What faith are you? I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
24. Who was the last person you spoke with on the phone? Don, our maintenance man
25. Hair Color? light brown/dark blonde - not really sure anymore, ha!
26. Name of your favorite school teacher? Mrs. Thompson
27. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate hands down
28. When was the last time you cried? Last night. I tend to do that alot :/
29. What is under your bed? Our temple bags
30. What did you do last night? Ha ha - I don't really remember
31. Favorite smell? sunscreen
32. What are you afraid of? rats/mice
33. How many towns have you lived in? four
34. Do you make friends easily? Yes and No, just depends.

Candi, Leslie, Jennie, Christina, Heidi, and Erin: you're it! Fill one out and tag 6 people you know.

I Gotta Step It Up!

2008-01-23T14:41:00.000-08:00

I have been blog surfing a lot lately, and I can't help but notice that there are so many cute and creative blogs out there! You are all so good at taking simple things and writing to make it so entertaining. I need to learn how to do that better. Take my previous post for example: sledding. I didn't say much about it except that it snowed......and we went sledding. Oh, and Max had fun. Whoop-dee-doo! Exciting? It was for us, but I could have elaborated a bit more to make it moreso for the readers. I just take forever to post things since I am a proof-read-aholic and take an hour to do a 10-minute post (like I'm doing now). I need to channel my creative juices and let 'em flow! I find myself feeling like I gotta step it up if I want to make it so people want to look at my blog! So, if you are checking our blog again, let me just say: bless your soul, and don't lose hope - there will hopefully be more entertaining blogs to come.

Sledding

2008-01-22T10:11:00.000-08:00

It snowed at least 6 inches on Sunday night, so Monday morning we met up with Craig's brother and his family in Eagle Mountain and went sledding! Max had a blast going down the hill really fast (of course). A couple of times he slipped off the sled and face planted in the snow, but popped right back up with a big smile on his face!

Milestone

2008-01-16T15:26:00.000-08:00

I am glad to say that Max has learned to use the toilet - all by himself! It may not be the most exciting event for you viewers, and maybe I should even be posting this up here since it relates to the toilet and all, but for those of you who know Max, it was a pretty big milestone for him considering what a busy kid he is. I was really dreading the whole experience, but luckily I found a book that my sister-in-law Jen recommended to me called "Toilet Training in Less Than a Day". It gave me just what I needed: the confidence to get started and a method of toilet training that only takes a few hours! For those of you who are skeptical, go ahead, but it worked for me! Now I'm not saying Max won't have accidents, but he has already used the toilet on his own about 4 times today without any help from me, so I'm pretty happy :)

Bowling Time!

2008-01-14T14:30:00.000-08:00

Craig and I took Max bowling this past weekend for the first time with my sister Cassy and her husband, Grant. It was hilarious to watch Max get so excited. Of course he wouldn't let anyone help him push to ball, so his little arms only got it rolling at about a solid mile an hour rate. And he would concentrate so hard on getting the ball rolling, that he ventured past "the line" and slipped a couple of times. It didn't phase him much since he would pop right back up and get to his favorite part, which was waiting for the ball to come shooting back from the ball feeder. Once his turn was over, he would carry the ball back with him to sit down and wouldn't let it go until his next turn. It was a fun night. And thanks to the bumpers, we all (except Max) bowled over 100.

P.S. The video clip doesn't have sound.

Family Update

2008-01-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

Since I didn't send out a Christmas card this year, I thought I'd post up on our blog what our little family has been up to these days.

Max turned 3 at the end of November and is as active as ever. Seriously, he is always on the go. His pediatrician even commented that he has not seen a 3 year-old child as energetic or athletic as Max in a very long time. Max has been taking gymnastics once a week and likes to venture out on the miniature equipment doing his own, daring tricks. He loves to do puzzles, build things with whatever he finds around the house, and "shock the bad guys so he can save the princess". We already have him enrolled in preschool for the fall, and can't wait for him to get started.

With only a year and a half left, Craig is officially half-way through law school! We moved from Orem, Utah up to Sandy in the summer of 2006 so Craig could attend the University of Utah. (But we still bleed blue for BYU!) Craig is really enjoying his second year, being able to take classes that really interest him such as counter-terrorism, middle eastern law, and real estate law. He is exploring job opportunities with the government for post-graduation in the area of national security law. When he's not in school Craig likes to get outdoors and hike/mountaineer, work out, and read books about politics, the middle east, etc. (as if he doesn't read enough in school!)

As for me, I still work from home for an online dating company called Spark Networks. Nothing much more to say about that other than I'm grateful to be able to stay home with Max. With the little spare time I have, I like to do various projects such as organizing or doing something craft-related, run, sing (usually only happens in the car), try my hand at acryllic painting, and bake/cook!

New Year, New Beginnings

2008-01-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

One of my New Year's resolutions was to get this blog up and running. Wow - I can already cross this one off my list! Feels good!