Cute Pictures of Liam from November 2009

It's amazing how quickly he's changing!

Our Blog's First Videos

I didn't really want to start my re-entry into blogging with all of the boring catch-up posts I need to do (Christmas, etc.).  So, I give you our blog's first videos.  Liam has not been in a hurry to become mobile and I'm trying not to push him because I know I will be missing the days of his sitting captive next to me while I work soon enough.  I think his hesitancy is due in part to him having an uncanny ability to entertain himself with whatever is within hand's reach (including his other hand) and in part to his build (that's a heavy tummy to be lifting off the ground.)

Two weeks ago when Megan was here visiting, he decided to show off.  The results of this have been having to watch out for him if I back my chair up too quickly from my desk and the installation of a gate at the top of the stairs.  Today he entertained himself (and his mommy) for about twenty minutes pushing his toys through the gate.  

Enjoy the videos.  Now that I've learned how to get them on the blog, I may have to post some cute ones from the days when we had to work hard to get a smile out of Liam (eons ago, really).

So I haven't blogged much in 2010...

But, in 2010 I have:

• Watched Liam learn to (army) crawl and pull himself up;
• Watched a baby calf be born;
• Taken a photography class (if you are close to Cache Valley and are looking for one, I highly recommend Brooke);
• Since finishing the class, taken every picture in manual mode;
• Been bowling twice;
• Helped my cousin Jake with his Eagle Scout project;
• Started running (I'm doing the couch-to-5K program, but I'm calling it running);
• Registered for a triathlon (of which the 5K is part);
• Been to a baptism;
• Watched in awe as my husband takes care of me and Liam so well;
• Worked part time (trying to keep to 24 hours a week) for the University of Oregon;
• Helped Will teach 11-year old scouts a couple times (thank goodness he has a great assistant now!);
• Commuted by plane one day (to Sacramento);
• Let Liam teeth on my fingers, toes, chin, etc.;
• Taught Sunday School once and Relief Society once;
• Fixed my grandma's phones twice;
• Been skiing once;
• Attended two family funerals;
• Picked up Liam's toys approximately 275 times;
• Kept up my consulting business and even secured a new contract last week;
• Spent a weekend in Island Park; 
• Kissed Will a few times;
• Taken a month off of facebook (still easing back in);
• Had my stitches out (my finger still looks gross);
• Walked at least 20 miles pushing Liam's stroller;
• Finished all but the open dive to become SCUBA certified (the cancellation of the open dive opened up some time for this blog to be written!);
• Read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?" approximately 126 times;
• Traveled to Oregon with Liam for meetings; 
• Made a few meals (including a fabulous birthday dinner for my mom);
• Changed more diapers than I care to count;
• Filed taxes, by myself(!), for us and my business;
• Registered to vote and attended the caucus meeting;
• Purchased a baby seat for the bike and taken Liam on several bike rides;
• Lost 32 lbs;
• Taken Liam to six doctors appointments;
• Spun out and slid off the freeway (the truck and I were both okay and Liam was in the car with dad);
• Used my sewing machine and serger to make cute Valentines' outfits and a wallet for my cousin, Joe;
• Been house shopping (window shopping for now);
• Seen two bald eagles;
• Planned a bridal shower for my brother's fiancee;
• Done some laundry (but not as much as Will).

I could go on but that about sums it up.  I've been busy and pretty productive most days.  I still haven't figured out how to be a good mom and a good employee and not feel guilty about not being extraordinary at both all the time.  I'm working on it.

I'm going to start blogging again.  In order to catch up and get myself going again, I'm going to post every day in April!  I'm sure you can't wait (if you're still checking).  I may even post again before April.  Maybe.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our favorite love bug!

I do plan to return to the blogging world, soon!  I've been a little consumed with figuring out how to be a happy working mom.  I can get two out of three at any given time, but can't quite get all three.  Any insights are appreciated.

Liam's First Snow

Technically Liam experienced his first snow while we were in Alaska in September.  But, the week before Christmas he played in it for the first time.  He didn't like it very much.  However, he really enjoyed sledding behind the snowmobile and riding the snowmobile with Megan on Christmas day so I'm hopeful he's going to like the greatest snow on earth!

My excuse for taking a couple of weeks off

My first excuse was that I started spending my evening blogging time wrapping presents for my mom.  Then, on December 22nd, while trying to be crafty and make advent calendars for my siblings, I sliced a large chunk of my finger almost completely off.  Sorry for the graphic pictures.  :)

As is probably obvious, the injury affected (and continues to hamper) my typing ability.  However, it is healing and I've already lost the four stitches in the middle finger.  Mr. Pointer has three internal stitches and 14 on the outside.  Quite the holiday adventure.

Christmas updates and more frequent blogging to come in the very near future!

Them guys are done for a while.

Today in church Will and I were given new callings (assignments).  We are both going to be ward missionaries, working with children that are preparing for baptism and Will is going to be the 11-year old Scout leader.  We are excited but were hoping to last a little while longer with people thinking we were just visiting my parents and thus not needing callings. 

We are also speaking in church next Sunday. 

When the person conducting the meeting today finished announcing all of the above (as just told to me by Will because I was home being very sick), he said, "Them guys are done for a while."

Unpacked - Random Thoughts from Today

Today we took the last of the things we don't need and our empty boxes over to our storage unit.  We are officially unpacked.  We still have some organizing and putting away more nicely to do in our bedroom but Liam's room, the bathroom, my office, and my craft corner in Becca's room are looking pretty good!  It feels nice, but a little sad at the same time.

This afternoon one of our primary kids/cub scouts from Providence called.  We promised to pay them for every A they got and he got his report card today.  He was so excited to share it that the postal service would not suffice and he faxed it.  I was pretty proud of him - 3 As and 2 Bs.  He was also pretty proud of himself and wanted to know how soon he could expect his payout.  It made me smile.  He called my phone four times.  For a few minutes, I convinced myself that we really hadn't moved and would be going back.

Tomorrow morning my cousin Meisha and I are going to help Ross with some Christmas reading/art projects in his classroom.  I am excited.  I'm planning on making snow globes with them from baby food jars (more later on how Liam doesn't love store-bought baby food so I had to empty full jars into other containers and put them in the freezer to have enough jars).  I will definitely take pictures.

Really? December 16th?

I am not ready for Christmas.  We are, however, unpacked.  I need to make a run to the storage unit tomorrow to take some empty boxes and some things that we don't need right now but we are finally getting settled, thanks a lot to Will playing with Liam when he gets home so I can unpack (doing it in the day while Liam is awake is impossible and when he naps I have to get work done). 

So, now, on to Christmas.  I'm going to Ross' classroom on Friday to help with some Christmas crafts (have to love Utah where you can actually call it Christmas at school!).  We have a family party this Saturday.  I'm going to go to Megan's classroom and be an extra room mom on Tuesday.  Then, it will practically be Christmas.

Anyone have any fabulous ideas for a present for Will?  If you do, email me.  Please.

I was so looking forward to the weekend after Christmas.  Family will all be here, we can relax, etc.  Then, tonight at the ward Christmas dinner, we were asked to speak in church on the 27th. 

I need to make a list of everything I need to do in the next ten days.  And check it twice.

What a View

This is the view from our bedroom window.  It makes me happy and dulls the homesickness I've been feeling for the East Coast this week.  I especially love it when the horses are sleeping standing up next to each other. The farm pictured belongs to my grandfather and uncles and is where I watched cows calving, learned to drive a truck and a tractor, played in the haystacks and spent hours exploring and playing with my cousins.  On the far left is my grandparents' backyard.  I love being so close.

Second Choice Picture for the Doutre Christmas Card

First choice will hopefully be in the mail by the end of the week.  If you want one and suspect we don't have your current address, send it quickly!

Six Months - November 24, 2009

I'm really late getting this up but Liam had his six-month checkup the day before we left Rhode Island and his six-month-birthday the day of craziness when we packed up the moving truck.  We took pictures the following day and this was the only picture I got of him looking at the camera - he was much more interested in looking at (or attempting to chew on) his monkey.

6 Month Stats

19 lbs. 1 oz.

26 inches

Diet these days includes rice cereal, many fruits and vegetables and often whatever mom is eating because he begs for a bite.  (Tonight it was seven-layer dip and he was loving the beans and guac.)  He must think the baby food is a little bland because he really prefers food with a little more flavor - once he had tasted the dip tonight I had to alternate it with cereal to get him to finish.

It wasn't on his six-month birthday, but for Christmas we got a crib!  Yesterday Will put it together (a true act of love and patience) and I think we were both a little nervous about Liam would respond to both the crib and sleeping in a different room from us (first time since he was born).  He did extremely well!  It was a little sad and I had a moment of not wanting him to grow up so fast.

Liam also learned this week how to throw stuff to the ground from his highchair.  While I was on a conference call Friday he was playing very well with toys in his highchair one minute and then I looked over and they were all on the floor.  As soon as I could pick them up, he thew them down again.  He really got a kick out of himself and has continued pushing everything off of the highchair all weekend.

If this doesn't make you smile, I'm not sure what will.

Quiet

Tonight the house is quiet. It's a little sad (we miss Becca, Sam and Porter already) but nice, too. I I love the energy of family and preparing for the holidays but must be getting old because I'm tired and Christmas is still two weeks away!

Stuff

Just yesterday I read this article about a couple that lives, very happily, in a teeny tiny studio apartment (think teeny tiny is hyperbolic? read the article). After I read it, I was thinking that it wasn't so bad living out of what we were able to fit in our car for the long haul cross country.

Then, today. Today, our stuff arrived. I was so happy to see our things, it was a little sad. It was a little cold and I was a little amazed that it took 4 hours to put things into a storage unit but it was so fun to remember our stuff. I know this is bad and I truly don't consider myself a materialistic person but I love the memories associated with many of the objects we own. I'm even a little excited to tackle all of the boxes that need to be unpacked.

I'm also loving having our bed right now. Off to make some good use of it!

Tooth Pictures

I was able to get some pictures of Liam's tooth today, right after he finished a delicious (and messy) helping of carrots. He (as witnessed by his solidity) is a great eater - his favorite thing so far seems to be prego spaghetti sauce with mushrooms - I gave him one bite the other night when I was eating it and he loved it so he's had it a few more times. He also enjoys his rice cereal, carrots and green beans. I'm surprised he seems to be more keen on veggies than fruits. He does like sweets, however, as evidenced by the big smiles when someone shares a bite of ice cream or some other treat.

Firsts!

Liam has been celebrating all kinds of firsts lately. Today was an especially grand one. Liam cut his first tooth. For two months now people have been telling us that he's "teething" as he's put everything he can grab into his mouth and drooled like a famished man at an all-you-can eat buffet. I'd started to just think that was his norm but today he proved us wrong. He cut the bottom, right tooth and very quickly showed his Aunt Becca how sharp it was by leaving an indentation on her finger. So exciting!

I do have a six-month post I need to get around to soon - I still need to get everything set up to start putting pictures on again (or use Will's computer as he clearly has up-to-date pictures uploaded based on his posts the last several days). We are slowly adjusting to the new variation on chaos that is our life. Our moving truck arrives tomorrow and it will be nice to have more stuff (Will definitely would not agree with that sentiment) and get unpacked and more settled. In the meantime, I'm having fun helping my mom get ready for the holidays and playing with Becca, Sam and Porter!

This is also post #101 for our blog. I have to applaud Will for picking up on December 1 when I was burnt out from my daily posting. Hopefully the post-often habit will stick and we will end up with some semblance of a family journal from this blog!

Council Bluffs, Iowa

After visiting a friend from the office I commuted to for 4 months several years ago in West Des Moines, we shuffled off to Council Bluffs to see the Kanesville Tabernacle where Brigham Young was sustained as the second president of the Church.


The original tabernacle sunk into the marshy ground and was demolished/burned/built over (I can't remember which). But a few years ago a local community group raised money to reconstruct the tabernacle in replica (this time including an underground jack system to compensate for the building sinking into the ground). Because the original tabernacle was made from hand-hewn logs, the replica looks like it was too, but in actuality they were perfectly square logs that were then distressed to look like they were hand-hewn to save money. It kind of reminds me of buying jeans that are already torn and ripped.


The fireplace in the tabernacle was made from sod, as shown above. But because a fire has never been lit in the replica, you can still see the grass that would have been burned/singed away with actual use. It was a pretty neat way to make a fireplace I thought.

While the tabernacle was rebuilt by a community group, they sold it to the church a few years later for $1. The church now runs free tours and the tabernacle is used for numerous community events. When we were there it was hosting a Gingerbread House competition/exhibition.

I thought it was pretty awesome that a community group valued the importance of the original tabernacle enough to rebuild it, and it's even more awesome that they then essentially gave it to the Church for historical reasons. While on the tour we were shown the stage where Brigham Young was sustained, and also heard the story of how Oliver Cowdery returned to the saints after years in apostacy and how the speaker at the time, stopped his talk, walked back to where Oliver had entered and embraced him to welcome him back. That story of forgiveness and repentence was a poignant reminder of what the upcoming Christmas season is all about.

Sorry about the pictures without any people in them, but here's one of Sara and Liam standing in front of a statue of Brigham Young and his First Presidency in front of the Tabernacle.

Nauvoo, Illinois

After Carthage, we continued down to Nauvoo to see some more church history sites. We got there just in time for the last wagon ride through the historic town. It was cold, so we bundled up with some blankets and Liam, Sara, and I sat down with our two teamsters and the tour guide and our two horses for our own private tour of Historic Nauvoo. Yay for offseason tourism!

When we started the wagon ride Liam was asleep, but clearly sensing that something was going on Liam woke up pretty quickly, and just in time for this shot in front of the Temple.


A few minutes later the wind picked up and we had to augment Liam's attire with a loaner from Mom. Maybe some day he'll follow his Dad's example and go to Brown, if he does, I sure hope he gets a full-ride scholarship.

After the wagon ride we hit several sites and did the "short tour" at each one. At the blacksmith's shop we learned about making wagon wheels and watched the blacksmith make a mini-horseshoe. We then visited Brigham Young's house, the post office/dry goods store, the printing house, the gunsmith's, the bakery, the cultural hall, and the family activity center where we made ourselves some rope just as everything closed out for th evening.


We then snapped a few shots of the temple as the sun set before heading off to spend the night in Des Moines, Iowa.


We saw quite a bit in just 3 hours I thought, but we'd love to go back again some day.

Carthage, Illinois

On day 3 of our trek we stopped off in Carthage, Illinois to view the jail where the Prophet Joseph Smith was martyred before going on to Nauvoo later in the day.

Here Sara and Liam stand in front of the statues of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.

After spending a few minutes in the visitors' center, we went into the jail, which is still standing from the time of the martyrdom. We saw the various rooms and were told who was where on that fateful day, June 27, 1844. We then saw the room where Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards sat when the mob attacked that day and the window Joseph jumped out of to save his friends from the mob. It was a very touching experience to be in that room, where Joseph and Hyrum sealed their testimonies with their lives.

The window the Prophet Jospeh jumped out of to save his friends from the mob.

South Bend, Indiana

Later on on Day 2 (Day 1 was across PA to Cleveland), after visiting Kirtland and stopping for food in Sturgis, Michigan (to check the Automotive State off of Liam's places visited map) we made our way to South Bend for a quick visit to Notre Dame. I'm not a big fan of Notre Dame football myself, but I-80 runs right through South Bend and so we decided to stop and snap a few pictures with the tripod.


I'm unfamiliar with Notre Dame's buildings, but our first stop was what I'm guessing was the main quad to snap a few photos of this impressive cathedral looking building.


Another picturesque building on the quad.


We then left the quad to visit Touchdown Jesus (I'm sure there's a different name for this beautiful mural, but it's positioned across from the football field and it looks like he's signaling a Touchdown to me.)


Our last stop on campus was at the football stadium itself, where we opened up our trunk to help out Notre Dame's football coach Charlie Weiss load up his stuff since he was about to be involuntarily terminated from his employment with the Fighting Irish. Welcome to the economic downturn coach Weiss!

All in all, I thought the Notre Dame campus was quite beautiful, and impressive. I think I'll still root against their football team on most occasions though (my father and grandfather grew up in Pasadena and were big USC fans after all.)

Kirtland, Ohio

Our first stop as we traversed the country was in Kirtland, Ohio (I always want to write Kirkland - dang you Costco!) where the Saints (which I use as a short form of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for those unfamiliar with the term) first gathered and built our first Temple in the Latter-days.

We started out at the visitor's center, where we watched a short film that portrayed the gathering of the Saints to Kirtland, the building of a temple, and then their persecution prior to their exodus to Missouri. Seeing what the Saints sacrificed to build a temple at that time was very touching and reminded me of the sacrifices we are sometimes asked to make to follow the gospel.

Liam practicing his sitting skills on the vistors' center sign.

From the visitor's center we toured the Newel K Whitney store, where the Bishop of Kirtland provided for the needy, temporary residence of the Prophet Joseph, and home to several Church History milestones including the location for the school of the Prophets.

Sara and Liam in front of the Newel K Whitney store.

Bishop Whitney kept very detailed records of every purchase made at the store and the church has transferred the manuscript records into a typed-up ledger to allow you to search for your ancestor's purchases. Above is a page from that ledger, showing several purchases of Sara's ancestor and one of the architects of the Kirtland temple, Artemas Millet's. There were several pages recording his purchases for himself and others.

Will and Liam in the parlor on the second floor of the Newel K Whitney store. The table in the picture is from the actual store and was used for drawing plans for the Kirtland temple.

After viewing the store we cut our site tour short to head over to a scheduled tour of the Kirtland Temple put on by the Community of Christ church (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). We watched a quick documentary about the building of the temple and the Community of Christ church before going into the temple, which is a National Historic Site by the way. Pictures weren't allowed inside the building, but it was great to behold such a significant building in the history of the church.

Liam fell asleep while we were touring inside, so here's a picture of the temple without us.

Cheyenne

We've made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and just in time too as the snow has started blowing. This is our 4th night in a hotel and the first night without a bathtub, so we had to improvise with the small sink in the room. Liam seemed to enjoy it a lot, even though he kept tipping back because he was lifting his toes out of the water to look at them. He still found it relaxing enough to prompt a hasty shuttle to the toilet and a quick clean of the sink.

Mission Accomplished

Wow. November is over. We are just over 1/2 way across the country. I cannot believe how quickly the month flew by and all of the changes that have happened/are happening in our lives. I do have to say that I'm pretty amazed with myself for posting every day for a month. I know the past week and half of packing and moving has resulted in some lackluster posts but hopefully I'll make up for that soon.

Stops Made Today

550 miles and 9 more hours driving down. We're getting closer and closer! Today, we spent the morning and early afternoon in Kirtland, OH. We stopped for dinner in Sturgis, MI (oddly not my first time to visit Sturgis, MI). Then, we stopped for dessert and a quick drive-around tour of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. Tonight, we're staying in Galesburg, IL and we plan on spending some time in Nauvoo, IL tomorrow!

I've been trying to send pictures from my phone but can't quite seem to make it work. Next week there will be a lot of cute pictures to make up for the dearth this week.

One day down...

Seven hours driving, approximately 440 miles down and we're all still smiling! I tried to send a cute picture of Liam from my phone but it wasn't working so next week we'll have to get back to cute pictures every day.

Movies that make me cry - The Blind Side

Typically, my gauges of a quality movie are a) whether I fall asleep watching it in the theater and b) whether I cry. Will (or anyone else who has watched a lot of movies, or even TV, with me) will tell you that I cry a lot, happy and sad tears, but I really enjoy movies that make me feel. We saw The Blind Side tonight. I cried. I think I cried even more because it is based on a true story and I was amazed at the generosity of the portrayed family. We have so much capacity to love and give and so often let fear or the unknown limit our loving and giving. The story made me want to be a better person, to reach outside myself and touch someone else, to be a good person. It also made me wonder whether Faith thinks Tim (McGraw) is sexier bald or with the hairpiece he was in for the movie. I personally prefer him in a cowboy hat and find the hairpiece much less attractive than a bald head. Just sayin.

And the tryptophan sets in...

Remember how I was going to do a quality post today? Not going to happen. I'm full and sleepy and need to rest up for a long road trip. However, I did learn to post from my phone, by text or email, so the posts will continue while we are road tripping.

Goodnight all. Happy Thanksgiving!

Test Numero Dos

If this works, I can also blog by email. Who knew I could be such a
diligent blogger.

--
Sent from my mobile device

If this shows up on the blog, I've successfully learned to blog by text message. This should be very useful while we're driving across the country.

Countdown to Thanksgiving - Sleep

Today I'm grateful for sleep. After getting very little sleep Monday night because we were up all night packing, packing, supervising the loading of the truck, and finishing last-minute errands all day yesterday, and leaving Providence at 11:30 last night, we were exhausted, to say the least. I was trying to focus all of my sad energy into driving energy but it only lasted me to New Haven so we stopped and got a hotel room.

It's amazing how much better we felt eight hours later (minus Liam waking up twice) later. One thing Will taught me early on in our relationship was that he valued sleep much more than I. I have definitely adopted his sleep habits and cannot believe that there was a time that I survived quite happily on three or four hours of sleep a night.

Earlier yesterday evening, our lack of sleep manifested itself quite clearly. After the movers left with their (very full) truck, I cleaned while Will tackled the final pile that remained - the stuff that we needed with us either for the cross-country drive or the first week or so we're in Utah before our stuff arrives. After playing tetris with the final bags for quite a while, we decided that we needed more space and went to look for a car-top luggage carrier. After doing some research, we realized that we didn't want to hang out another day to find someone to install a rack on our car. So, we were in Sports Authority and decided that we needed to buy a new car. We will probably need one soon anyway and ours has been paid off for a while so why not last night? We hastily looked up the closest Nissan dealership and drove off in search of a new vehicle (to caravan with across the country - we weren't planning on trading in our car). Luckily the dealership was about ten minutes away and by the time we got there we had returned to our senses (or were just too tired to get out of the car and talk to someone about a new car). However, we've only driven 4 hours and have a good 36+ left to go, so don't be surprised if we lose all sense of reason and do something crazy...

Speaking of sleep, I'm already needing some again. Tomorrow this blog deserves a better post. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Packed and out the door...

They say that you should just rip band-aids off to reduce the duration of the pain. That's how we did this move. We think it was the world's largest band-aid.

This post is from my mobile device on the way out of Rhode Island. Happy 6 month birthday Liam!!!!

Countdown to Thanksgiving - Modern Communication Devices

A quickie again today so I can get back to boxing...

I am so grateful for cell phones, email, and all the other creative modes of modern communication (even text messaging, but it is not my mode of choice). I'm grateful to be able to talk to my friends and family often and to have easy ways to keep in touch with people.

Countdown to Thanksgiving - Friends

Just a quick note tonight because I'm supposed to be busy packing after our little getaway.

I am so thankful for the friends I have here and there and everywhere. We have been blessed with great friends in Rhode Island and tonight we visited some to say goodbye. I am so grateful for each friend I have made here that has touched my life (and Will's life, and Liam's life!).

Countdown to Thanksgiving - The Ocean

Tonight I am grateful for the ocean. I have been so blessed to live so close to the ocean (and the beach!) for the past 6.5 years. I am going to miss it a lot when we move to the desert. There are many things I love about the ocean. I love the rhythm of the waves and listening to them at night. I love the sun and lying on the beach all day with a good book. I love swimming in the ocean and getting tossed around on boogie boards and body surfing.

I'm so grateful that tonight (as a special birthday treat) we are sleeping here where I can hear the ocean all night and wake up to an ocean sunrise tomorrow morning. I'm grateful for fresh delicious seafood one last time and the adventure of having been in 4 states today in just a couple of hours. None of that out west.

I'm also grateful they have a guest computer in the lobby or I would have failed at my daily post with only 10 days left. I must learn how to blog from my phone before we start our cross-country haul.

Countdown to Thanksgiving - A Week of Gratitude

I really admire the bloggers out there that have taken advantage of NaBloPoMo or just the month of November to post daily on the things that they are grateful for. I was planning on doing another Thankful Thursday post yesterday and forgot. So, I decided this morning that I am going to do a countdown to Thanksgiving for the next week and post on things I am grateful for. Hopefully that will make posting simple enough that I'm able to keep up the post a day through the packing.

Above all, I am grateful for Will and Liam and the blessing I have of being an eternal family with them. I know that I am blessed to have a husband who loves me and our son as much as Will does. He is constantly showing us how much he loves us. He gets up in the night with Liam. He rubs my feet. He works hard. He has a strong desire to continue learning and growing. Will has taught me a lot in the three years that he has been in my life. He has taught me about forgiveness and patience. He has taught me how to be a better person and helped me see that I am a good person.

Liam has added a whole new dimension of love and gratitude to my life. It is overwhelming and amazing at the same time. I am learning a lot from him every day. The biggest lesson I have learned from him (beginning from before he was born) is to beware of and prepared to adjust my expectations. I'm grateful for that lesson that could be applied to most areas of my life but is much more easily seen in watching him develop and progress.

Moving to the country...

Yes, the big news is that we are moving! Will accepted a job offer in Utah this week and we are moving next week. I'm feeling surprisingly calm about the logistics of packing and moving but am really sad to be leaving the East and especially Rhode Island. Sunday at church I even had to take a bathroom break to cry it out for a few minutes. We are going to miss our wonderful friends here and especially our primary kiddos. We are also going to miss urban living and the nearness of other cities and states that come with living in the East. I'm sure that there will be many more postings on the things we will miss as I realize them this next week and even more when we are moved.

So, on to moving bids, sorting through stuff (and hopefully getting rid of some), and tough goodbyes.

p.s. Does anyone remember the song this blog title comes from? and who sang it?

Flu Mist

Today Will and I got our flu vaccination - via mist. I've been getting flu shots for several years now - working in healthcare, working in schools and working for the government made it necessary/possible. Last year, because I was pregnant, my midwife gave me a special flu shot. But, today was a new experience. We were able to get our vaccination via mist. It's pretty amazing that they have figured out a simpler way to give it - I didn't have to pull up (or down) my sleeve, I don't have a sore arm, and there wasn't any dangerous medical waste.

Liam's pediatrician recommended that we get both the seasonal and h1n1 vaccinations because Liam is so young and we are in the age group that seems to be being hit hardest by the flu this year. However, despite having an infant at home, I don't think we'll ever be able to get on a list for the h1n1 vaccine. Surprisingly, getting the seasonal one was VERY easy. We called the company distributing them for the state and made an appointment. It only took about 10 minutes today when we were there and our insurance covered it completely!

And, just because I didn't post one yesterday, I will end with a cute picture of our little man.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for some BIG news!

Magnification

For those of you who haven't heard, our ward is small enough that many people have multiple callings. Will and I teach sunday school to the 8-12 year old kiddos, get the 8-11 year old kids together for Cub Scout (plus the girls) a couple of times a month, and I am in charge of activities for the congregation as well. We have a great time with the kids and all of these callings have definitely brought blessings into our lives. I just wanted to jot down a couple of memories from the last week so that I don't forget them.

First, Saturday night I put on (and by I, I of course mean Will and I) a dinner and talent night for the congregation. I had been advertising for weeks and at a meeting a couple of weeks ago, mentioned that I was planning on 50-70 people. Our bishop quickly told me that I shouldn't plan on so many - 20-30 was probably the max that would attend and I would have way to much food, etc. otherwise. I chose to go with my gut (or possibly a prompting from on high?) and still planned for 70ish. We drove to the church at 4:30 Saturday afternoon in a torrential downpour (thank you hurricane Ida) and I had some moments of doubt. We got pretty drenched hauling 70 bread bowls and ~10 gallons of soup into the church but we made it. Thanks to some help from some friends, we had all the bread bowls hollowed out and started on time, with quite a few people there. People kept coming and we ended up with about 80 people there! I was glad I had planned for as many and the evening was, thanks to participation and help from so many people, a great success!

Next, tonight we took the kiddos (seven of them) bowling. It was an adventure from the beginning. Two of our kids live in a project. In order to get in, you have to show identification, car registration, etc. I've been there many times and even twice in the last couple of weeks but the very astute security guard tonight was the first to notice that the registration paper I had been handing them expired in April. Mr. Astute promptly refused to let me enter and informed me that I would have to park my car and walk to pick up the kids. I called one of the moms and she met me at the parking lot but I couldn't reach the other mom. It was dark. They live at the very back of the community. I wasn't comfortable leaving the two kids I already had in the car (+ Liam) in the parking lot and really wasn't feeling great about walking, alone or with them. I tried to talk the security guard into helping me but he was having none of it and said that if I wanted someone to walk with me I'd have to call the police. Although it was a flippant suggestion, I took him up on it. Not long after I called 911, the manager of the project came out and told the security guard to just let me through, no big deal. It was a lot of drama to pick up kids to go bowling! Bowling was crazy - the kids were really hyper and on the verge of out of control. At one point, the person running the bowling alley asked me if they were all ours. I think the look on my face answered him, but really?? The only kid that possibly could have looked like ours was Liam and there were seven kids between the ages of 9 and 12. Hmmm.

Cousins

More Cousins

Liam's Blessing - August 30, 2009

We decided to bless Liam in Utah so that our families could attend the blessing. We are so grateful for everyone that traveled to be there and it was a beautiful day. Liam was surrounded by strong, honorable priesthood holders whose examples I hope he will follow. Will gave him a beautiful blessing and he was great during it. He wasn't quite as great in the pictures we took later in the evening but we managed to get a few cute ones.

I am so thankful for a husband who is such a loving, kind father. I have been very spoiled to have him mostly home with me for the (almost!) first six months of Liam's life. They have such a strong bond and I know it will last for a long time. If only the father and mother could always both be home for the first six months of a child's life, right?

I am also grateful for my family and Will's family for all they do for us. We loved getting together for Liam's blessing and having a chance to spend time together!

(p.s. you can click on the picture to enlarge them!)

Liam's Blessing Outfit

I am planning on posting about Liam's blessing tomorrow. But, I wanted to dedicate a post to his blessing outfit. Two or so years ago when I was deciding whether to buy a wedding dress, one of my reasons for not buying one was what to do with it after the wedding. The idea popped into my head that I could use my wedding dress to make blessing outfits for my children. So, this past Spring, I ordered some blessing outfit patterns from ebay and cut up my wedding dress! Because Liam came early, I didn't have time to finish it before he was born, but I did finish it in plenty of time for the blessing. I was (and still am) quite proud of myself. The cute little buttons on the vest are from the back of my dress and I even used the lining from the bodice of my dress to line the vest and bodice (is it a bodice?) of his outfit. My other moment of pride was when I altered the pattern to include buttons on the inside of the legs. I knew that easy access would be essential should a diaper change be necessary during the service!

More on the blessing tomorrow!

Great Grandparents

One of the greatest things about the three weeks we spent in Utah in September was that Liam was able to meet three of his great grandparents!

Liam got to spend some quality time with his Great Grandparents Rudd and Great Grandma Menlove. I really value the relationships I was able to have with my great grandparents growing up. I was blessed to have great relationships with four of my great grandparents until my sophomore year in high school and my great grandma Hansen until after my senior year of high school.

My Great Grandma Keetch loved us all so much. She was a master seamstress and made us dresses several times a year. I didn't have a store-bought dress until I was in seventh grade. I have fond memories of going to visit my Great Grandpa Rudd at the nursing home for dances and holiday parties. I could (and probably should) write a book of all of my memories of my Great Grandma Hansen - I was blessed to spend a lot of time with her listening and learning.

I hope Liam gets to know all of his great grandparents (he still has one more to meet!) so that he can learn from them and bask in their love.

Liam's First Flight - August 27, 2009

Liam's first flight (of now so many that I've lost count) was our flight to Utah at the end of August. He has been such a trooper on our flights, despite having a double ear infection on a couple of them. He loves watching people and new things and on our most recent flight, he really started enjoying watching things from the window. I hope he keeps up his good flying etiquette (especially for our cross-country flight home from San Francisco tomorrow).

This picture is on a flight from Salt Lake City to Anchorage. Liam didn't have his own seat but when our neighbor went to use the facilities, we buckled him in to the empty seat. He loved it and quickly charmed everyone across the aisle. Such a happy, good boy!

Will and I, on the other hand, are becoming slightly disenchanted with flying. He'll start working soon and then I won't be able to travel for work so our flying schedule should slow down drastically in the near future!

11

Lest this post lead anyone to believe I don't know the real holiday that takes place today, I want to start this post with expressing my gratitude for all of the men and women that serve daily to preserve and protect our freedom. I am so grateful for those that have given their lives and time and made other sacrifices to make it able for me to have and continue to have the freedoms and luxuries that I have been blessed with. Thank you!

On to my obsession with this day. Many years ago, my sophomore year at Utah State, my cousin (and roommate) Camilla and I begin to see 11:11 all the time. It seemed that whenever we looked at a digital clock, the numbers would appear. At the time I hadn't heard that wishes were customary when witnessing 11:11 or many wishes would have been made. This lead to parties being held to countdown to 11:11 on 11/11 each year. AND, lest you think I'm silly - while we were roommates my aunt had her 11th child on 11/11. Which - and I swear I'm not making this up - was the 11th birthday of his older brother. 11 seems to pop up everywhere for me - hotel rooms, addresses, phone numbers...

So, happy 11.11. I didn't count down to 11:11 this morning because I was in a meeting and won't tonight because I will be fast asleep, but you can count on a big celebration at my place in two years (11/11/11)!

DC - August 2009

As mentioned in the last post, I had to go to a meeting in DC for a week in August for work. It was fun to be back in our old stomping grounds and made me a little homesick for the area and the friends we have there. I spent the week in meetings and Will and Liam got out and did a little exploring. One evening, we were able to get out and see the Rockies beat the Nationals with my good friend Ann. Aren't my boys cute in their matching Rockies outfits?

(Funny side story.) While we were at the game, Ann realized that she had left her house keys and her office keys in her office when she left to meet us at the game. She wasn't sure how she was going to get into her house when I remembered that I had a spare key to her house in my car. I had used the key four years ago to do some stuff at her house when she was traveling, then kept it in case of an emergency.... but for some reason didn't ever give it back. It worked out great! (I also recently through away a housekey for a coworker of a friend for whom I housesat once that never could meet up to get it back...)

10 days down for NaBloPoMo! I'm feeling good about this and am excited to get caught up with all of the journaling so I can spend my daily blogs pontificating on random thoughts I have.