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.