House of Manning

Our Thankful Tree

2011-11-24T08:23:00.004-07:00

This was our activity for Family Home Evening this week. McKay did a great job putting all the leaves on the tree. Some gratitude favorites include the garbage man/can, who he prays for daily; BYU; disposable diapers per Burke's request; and tools, because how could we not include tools?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Anson's blessing

2011-11-16T21:14:00.001-07:00

We had a quick whirlwind trip to Utah in October to see both sides of the family, bless Anson, and see my brother open his mission call. It was fun but much too quick and not fun trying to share so little time with both families. (Although the time we do get with family never seems like enough.)

Here is my brother opening his call. He is going to be a great missionary! There was not a dry eye when he announced he would be serving Chinese-speaking. It was a very proud moment for my grand-dad and my mom's family.

Here are some pictures from the blessing. It was nice to have so much family together for Anson's blessing. It was the first time for a lot of the family to meet Little Red.

With Burke's parents:

With my parents:

A big thank you to all the family who was able to make it to the blessing. It was so good to see family members we haven't seen in over a year (or two!). And a big thank you to Trevor and Sheri for providing their house for the occasion. We love and miss you guys!

Anson at 3 months

2011-11-15T20:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Anson at three months. I can't believe how much he is growing up and getting so big already (not to mention he started out huge. . . .).

He is a fun and happy baby. He quite enjoys tummy time, especially when he's watching McKay play and be silly. And, boy, is he a snuggler! I am loving it! We are proud to report his hair is still very red, and he's only getting more of it. With his red hair, green is stellar on him! His eyes are still as blue as can be. And he's a drool monster.

He is a big time smiler. He loves to giggle and laugh, especially at McKay. Sometimes McKay will just walk past, and Anson will start full-on laughing. He is definitely going to be M's little shadow as they grow up.

He loves to be swaddled still every time he goes to sleep, and he is very particular about how he's swaddled. He often has a look of concern on his face because he furrows his brows all the time.

He is dying to be a thumb sucker, but I am really trying to dis-sway him. He sucks on his fingers or thumb any chance he gets.

M's latest hobby

2011-11-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

M has recently figured out how to work my camera. However, he often holds it backwards, thus taking self-portraits rather than pictures of the things he intends to take pictures of. Here are a few from his recent photo sessions.

Halloween

2011-11-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun with this year at Halloween. McKay was just old enough to understand it a little bit. We got some Halloween books from the library, and McKay is still asking to read them every day. We got a really cute book called Boo by Joe Fenton about a little ghost. We recommend it.

McKay was his favorite thing in the world: a construction worker. He was delighted to carry his tools around!

Anson wore a pumpkin shirt that I found in my box of McKay's baby clothes. It worked nicely for keeping him warm since it was a cold night.

It was fun to watch McKay this year. He got Halloween, and carried his pumpkin bucket around the whole day until it was time to trick or treat. He even broke it, so I duct taped it back together because I wasn't going to go back to the store to get another one. Oh, well. (notice the hammer he carried around in his pumpkin.)

We thought this was a pretty funny costume. The guy dressed as a homeless person and his sign says, "Will work for candy." We saw him bumming candy off some of the older trick-or-treaters. It was pretty funny.

Anson eying McKay's loot. . . .

Family Home Evening

2011-10-26T22:50:00.000-06:00

This was our first official Family Home Evening as a family of four. It still seems a little crazy sometimes that we have two kids now! We had a lesson on the Iron Rod. McKay was a good helper and helped me make rice krispie treats for our FHE treat. McKay thought the best part was eating the treat, of course.

Some Pictures of Anson and McKay

2011-10-25T19:39:00.001-06:00

Here are some random pictures of Anson and McKay from August, mostly for Grandma to enjoy.

Burke's Birthday

2011-10-23T22:54:00.000-06:00

This year Burke was in California visiting his family during his birthday. Since Anson was less than two weeks old, I stayed home with the kids. When Burke got home, we had a small celebration.

I have not yet had success with my bundt cakes turning out right--they have never come out of the pan in one piece. Nevertheless, the cake still tasted amazing. Someday I'll get it right!

Softball tournament

2011-10-23T22:38:00.000-06:00

In August our stake had a softball tournament that Burke played in. He was a bit rusty this year since he hadn't played for over a year, but he managed to get a couple of good hits toward the end, and even got a home run!

McKay had fun playing in the dirt with his trucks.

And, well, the baby slept. But he was only a month old. What else do you expect? Actually, we all came home and slept.

A Day in Cincinnati

2011-09-09T22:20:00.000-06:00

The day after Burke finished finals, we headed down to Cincinnati for the afternoon. We made a stop at IKEA so I could get my stools for my music class.

From there we headed to the Newport Aquarium across the river in Kentucky. McKay was in heaven! He was so fascinated with all the fish and has talked about sharks ever since. It was an AWESOME aquarium. If you ever get the chance to go to Cincy, don't miss the aquarium!

Following the aquarium we caught a Cincinnati Reds game. The stadium was so cool! Luckily we won in the bottom of the ninth (after 10 pm), so we could watch the fireworks (that didn't start until after 11!) and get home (at 2 am). McKay stayed up for the entire game and fireworks show afterwards. Needless to say, he crashed sitting upright in his stroller on the way back to the car.

We had such a fun time and have decided Cincinnati is one of our favorite places we've been.

A Birth Story

2011-08-24T21:10:00.000-06:00

Skip to the last paragraph if you're not interested in Anson's birth story.

To start out, I decided I wanted to have a natural birth after I had McKay, and spent somewhere between 30 and 40 hours researching childbirth in general, medical intervention, and different childbirth methods when I got pregnant with Anson to make sure I knew what I wanted this time around. I ultimately decided on Hypnobabies, which took several more hours of my time to learn the method (i.e. how to relax and be in tune with my body), but it was all worth it.

I went in to my appointment on Thursday morning, July 21st, the second of two my due dates, and asked the doctor to strip my membranes. I figured it couldn't hurt to try, and a weekend baby could be nice. The doctor told me I would probably have some cramping. I didn't think it would be a big deal.

Later that afternoon, I started feeling lots of cramps, and they were not your ordinary cramps. They were cramps times ten. I dismissed them as awful cramps--despite the fact that they were coming every few minutes--and told myself I would never have my membranes stripped again if this is what I had to deal with. I carried on with the afternoon by playing with McKay and watching part of a movie with him when I got to a point that my "cramps" were becoming distracting.

Burke had been in clinic since 12:30 so we hadn't talked all afternoon. When he got out at 6:30 he called me and asked how my day had been. I told him it was fine; I was just having a lot of cramps. He asked if he should come home, but I told him not to because I knew he needed to study for his test the next day. I told him it wasn't a big deal, and I would be fine.

McKay and I had dinner, and I put him down for bed about 7:30 and decided to go lay down for a bit since I wasn't feeling well. I decided I would feel better if I could just sleep off the "cramps." I curled up on the bed for about half an hour and finally got to a point that I was shaking uncontrollably and feeling really nauseous. (Mind you, at this point, I still wasn't really thinking I was in labor, but I was and had been for about four or five hours. . . .) I finally decided to call Burke and have him come home for moral support. I still hadn't decided to go to the hospital yet, although the idea had crossed my mind. (I feared getting sent home for complaining about some stupid cramps!)

A few minutes later my mom called and said Burke had just called and wanted her to call me. I told her I was having some cramps, but they weren't contractions because I knew what contractions felt like--I'd gone into labor and had a baby before! These cramps didn't feel anything like my contractions with McKay. (come to find out, it was all back labor this time around. Yeah, nothing like a regular contraction, in case you didn't know!)

She didn't know what to do, so we conference called my sister, and I told her how I was feeling. When I mentioned I was shaking and feeling nauseous, Sarah said, "Um, Julia, when I feel like that, I am going to have a baby in about 20 minutes. You need to get to the hospital NOW! Burke better be speeding." I called my friend and asked her to come pick McKay up, and threw some things together to take to the hospital since I still hadn't packed a hospital bag and only hoped the camera was charged. . . Burke got home, my friend came, and we pulled out of the driveway at 8:30 on the dot. I turned on the ipod as we pulled out and focused on relaxing.

We got to the hospital 15-20 minutes later, checked in, and they sent me to triage to see if I was in labor. The nurse was mildly shocked and announced I was at a 9 and we needed to get me upstairs immediately. "This baby is coming!" I guess I must have looked too calm and relaxed to be at a 9? That would be thanks to HypnoBabies, which I loved btw! At 9:45 pm, I had a beautiful, healthy baby boy in my arms.

Everything was perfect, and the whole experience was as flawless as I could have hoped for.

Now that I have had one baby with an epidural and one without, I have absolutely no question in my mind that I am pro-natural birth. If you ask me about it, I could probably talk your ear off about all the reasons why natural birth is so much better than medical intervention. And despite Burke initially being rather wary of my decision to do a natural birth, he might even be a bigger believer than me in doing a natural birth now, and for different reasons too, interestingly enough.

On a completely unrelated note, I have had people ask about Anson's name. Anson Call was a prominent Mormon pioneer who helped settle Utah and Arizona. Neither of us are descendants of his, and our son is not named directly after him, but that is more or less where the name comes from. Anson's middle name is a family name on Burke's side and also the middle name of Burke's older brother, Logan, who passed away in infancy.

Welcome, Little Red!

2011-08-22T21:27:00.000-06:00

On July 21st, we welcomed a new little boy to our family, Anson Wilder Manning.

Anson is a big boy! At 9 pounds, 7 ounces, and 22 inches long, he is 79th percentile for weight and 97th percentile for height. Luckily his head is only in the 42nd percentile! The only sad thing about having such a big boy is that my "little" baby doesn't fit any newborn size clothes.

This beautiful boy has beautiful red hair, and we hope it stays! He has adopted the nickname, "Little Red" at home.

Just our luck, an old BYU game happened to be playing on the tv at the hospital. Anson got to experience his first BYU game with his dad at less than a day old. . . .

Despite his world being turned completely upside down from having to share his mommy with someone else, McKay has been a sweet big brother so far. He gives lots of tender kisses, minus the occasional attempt to drive his trucks on Anson's head or honk Anson's nose.

We are adjusting well, I feel great (thanks to a natural birth--perhaps a birth story to come), and we are loving our bundle of joy.

A Lucky Wish

2011-08-19T16:34:00.001-06:00

This morning McKay and I were reading one of our recent library selections, Raindrop, Plop. One page talks about going inside for some hot chocolate after playing in the rain.

I thought to myself that some yummy hot chocolate sounded delicious, not to mention the rain. Then I checked the weather and realized there was a fat chance we'd get rain today with the mid-80 degree weather and no clouds in sight.

When lo and behold, this afternoon we had a splendid thunderstorm, complete with rain to cool things off (although the humid heat afterward was not so great . . . ). We played in the rain and came in afterward to enjoy some hot chocolate together as we watched the rain falling outside. It was lovely.

I guess I made a lucky wish this morning.

I am . . .

2011-08-18T12:44:00.000-06:00

totally smitten.

May Highlights

2011-07-13T20:21:00.000-06:00

One word can pretty much sum up our entire month of May (or at least every picture I took that month): trucks.

We played with trucks outside.

We made daily outings to one of the construction sites down the street. All the workers know who we are and would wave to us every day. A few liked to come up and talk to us. I now know more about trucks than I ever thought I would. I guess that's what I get for having a boy--and soon I'll have two of them. . . .

Gotta play in the dirt that the real diggers/excavators use!

This little truck goes a lot of places with us. I don't know what I (no less McKay) would do if something happened to it.

I even searched the local library catalog for truck books for McKay. Every book we checked that month out was about trucks--and he was in heaven!

If you ever want to get an earful about trucks from a two-year-old's perspective, come to our house!

April Highlights

2011-07-12T21:16:00.000-06:00

Since there has been a lot of construction going on around our house (including a year and a half long road widening project down the main drag in town...), McKay has developed a perhaps not-so-healthy obsession for construction trucks. I think we talk about trucks more than anything else at home.

The neighbors behind us abandoned some toy trucks last summer so McKay quickly adopted them for his own when he discovered them this spring. We play outside with the trucks every day.

Easter was simple but fun. McKay was kind enough to share his Easter basket with all of us.

McKay ate his first ice cream cone. He calls it "cone cake." Sometimes he sings "Happy Birthday" when we give him one. We don't really know where the correlation came from, but it's pretty cute.

Towards the end of April, my sister and I started texting one Sunday night. In the course of the conversation she mentioned she was on her way to Nauvoo for the week with some friends. On Monday I told Burke it would be fun to go meet her, and Wednesday night after teaching my music class, I was off for Nauvoo with McKay. We got there Thursday morning, spent the day with my sister and drove home Friday morning. Although I spent 16 hours driving and only 24 hours (almost exactly) with Kathryn, it was totally worth it, and Nauvoo was wet but beautiful.

We found a frog. McKay was a little unsure of it.

March Highlights

2011-07-12T19:33:00.000-06:00

We have enjoyed taking McKay to Home Depot on Saturdays for their free Kids' Workshop. McKay loves getting to use a real hammer and nails.

McKay turned two! McKay and his friend, Evie, had a small casual playdate with some of their ward friends since their birthdays are just a few days apart.

Pin the Tail on the Elephant turned into Pin the Tail on the Elephant's face. It was pretty funny.

For McKay's birthday, he got a basketball hoop and a new wagon for his birthday. He loves going for wagon rides.

And sometime around his birthday, he forgot how to smile for the camera. Thus, almost every picture of him "smiling" looks more like him baring his front teeth.

February Highlights

2011-07-12T18:59:00.000-06:00

Here are some February highlights:

We hosted a fun Chinese New Year party and made homemade fortune cookies. They were so delicious, and we had some really good laughs with some of the fortunes people wrote.

McKay had a serious tool phase that started sometime last summer and kept him entertained during the long winter months. He knows every tool by name and sound. Although he has his own tool set, Daddy's real tools are always the best.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day to my three valentines this year: my handsome husband, my darling almost two-year-old, and baby #2 due in mid-July.

McKay the Handy Manning

2011-01-30T13:48:00.000-07:00

Grandma: This is a true story for you about how much McKay loves his Christmas tools.

McKay walks into my room. He has a little piece of scrap wood and his power drill and jig saw in his hands. He throws them on the bed, and uses the chair to climb on up. He seats himself in the middle of the bed with his wood cradled in his lap.

"Wood!" he yells. "Saw? saw? Hed it go?!"

"I don't know McKay. Here's your drill."

"Saw? Find it!" Jjrrrr goes the saw on the wood.

I sit on the chair next to the bed, watching him and kind of checking my email at the same time. He stops, looks up at me very seriously, "Ammer."

"Oh." I say. I must be the assistant. "I'll go get your hammer. It's in your room." I get his hammer and hand it to him. With the hammer in his one hand and the saw in the other, you hear "Jjrrr. tap tap tap. Jjrrrrr. tap tap."

After another minute, he looks up, and says, "fi fies." That's my cue that he needs his screwdriver. Obligingly I return to his room and come back with a screwdriver. He does a number on the wood with the screwdriver, then grabs his drill. "Drill." Vrrooom!

All of a sudden, he gets up, leaving the little piece of wood in the middle of my bed. He grabs a tool or two, demands my "ands!" and pulls me to his room. "Ah-down." So I sit. He picks up another tool--a wrench of some sort--and begins all over again, moving from tool to tool, on the wooden toy shelf in his room. (It's a good thing the shelf only cost me a couple dollars and an hour to make.)

There's no question. This little curly-haired strawberry blond is Burke's son.

Hawaii!

2011-01-26T19:39:00.001-07:00

Hawaii was beautiful. What more can I say? I think we hit all the necessary highlights and had a great time being with my whole family.

Snorkeling (Burke's highlight) and beach hopping, with Burke sporting a huge gash on his finger from some coral:

Pearl Harbor:

The Laie Hawaii Temple

hike to Manoa Falls:

The Polynesian Cultural Center--the highlight for me:

View from our beach house on the North Shore:

Not pictured: the Dole plantation, Matsumoto's shaved ice, and our Wii Just Dance dance-off one night. Awesome trip, wish we could go again!

Old and New Year's Books

2011-01-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Last year one of my New Year's Resolutions was to read 20 books. I hit that goal in the first six months. I finished the year off with 29 books; I guess I had more free time than I thought. Here are my three favorites:

My Antonia by Willa Cather
I couldn't stand Antonia for the first part of the book. But I really came to love her as she grew older and wiser. There were some wonderful quotes that I marked down too. I'd share them but they were rather lengthy. Excellent classic novel.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Schaffer and Annie Barrows
The epistolary format really bugs some people, but I found all the characters so engaging and loved getting to know each of them through "their own words." I am a sucker for WWII fiction, and this takes place post-WWII on a little island off the coast of France and England. It was simply delightful to read!

A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
I loved the confidence and gusto of Bess. I felt like I connected with her in a lot of ways. It is also epistolary, although the entire book is from Bess's perspective. This one is completely marked up because there were so many life messages/statements that I thought were so poignantly expressed.

This year, I set my goal for 21 books for 2011. I didn't want to be overambitious because McKay really doesn't like it if I even crack a book while he's awake "doh dits!" (close it!), and his naps aren't quite as long anymore. Plus with my Let's Play Music classes that I teach, I have learned my spare time has been pinched quite a bit.

This year kicked off with Prisoner of Zenda and The Friday Night Knitting Club for book group, and Sense and Sensibility--the only Austen novel I hadn't read. Although these are all similar to books I would regularly find on my reading list, I want to branch out again with my selection of books this year; I found that I really actually enjoyed some of the books that caused me to broaden my horizons last year. We'll see where the rest of the year takes me.

Any suggestions?

Christmas

2011-01-25T18:25:00.007-07:00

We spent Christmas with my family in Arizona this year. It was a lot of fun and so nice to get away from the below-freezing days in Ohio.

We introduced my family to cornhole, the classic Ohio tailgating sport (it's a sport about as loosely as ping pong is a sport if you ask me):

We enjoyed getting together with high school/BYU friends for breakfast. Couldn't miss out on a picture with all the little kids.

McKay had fun opening presents this year. He got into it a little more than last year. He was mostly obsessed with the toys he got from grandma: this boy can't get enough of tools!

McKay and his cousin, Marcus, had fun together--most of the time. McKay still talks about "Mah-kiss" a month later. The two boys even got to wear the same pajamas to bed on Christmas Eve, completely by coincidence.

The day after Christmas, my whole family flew to Hawaii for a week! It was wonderful! But that deserves its own post.

Gone--And Back

2011-01-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

The past number of weeks have definitely been a whirlwind. Glad to be back to my own house, past the crazies of the holiday season, and on with a new year. However, I do miss the joys and the family time that I had during over the past few weeks.

Here are some cute pictures of McKay to hold you at bay until I get caught up enough to write a post or two.

Toy Shelf

2010-11-21T19:00:00.005-07:00

We've kept M's toys in a box for a long time. One morning while MK was playing I decided some organization was necessary. So I looked at the space along M's wall, measured a few things, and drew up a quick sketch of a shelf.

Off to Lowe's we went. I picked the board I needed, took it to someone and had it cut in the dimensions I needed and went home. While M was napping I went to work and drilled and sanded this little gem together. It's nothing fancy but it fulfills it's purpose. It has been great. We sing the clean up song together every night as he puts away his toys.

The board sitting underneath was the leftover piece I had. MK uses it to do his "wook" (work) with his hammer and saw.

How to Eat Applesauce

2010-11-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

How to properly eat applesauce:
First go at it with the spoon.

Drink intermittently. The spoon needs a break.

Forget the spoon. Who really uses one anyway? Let's get this show on the road.

Eppi!

2010-11-18T19:21:00.004-07:00

This little man has a crush on airplanes (eppi!) and helicopters (haka-ker), and he definitely knows the difference between the two. Driving around, he yells "airplane" every time he sees one. His favorite book is about airplanes and his acute little ears are always tuned in to the sound of an airplane flying overhead. He got his Pop Pop's genes--Burke's dad flew fighter planes in the Air Force. Enjoy the cute pictures of airplane gazing.

We also found him a little airplane riding toy. He loves it.

October Fun

2010-11-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

I forgot about the pictures from some Halloween-ish things we did, even though it was over two weeks ago now.

We decorated cookies. MK's concept of decorating was to dump the whole little container on the cookie. He sure enjoyed it!

For my birthday we went to the Circleville Pumpkin Festival. It was fun, but the best part was definitely the pumpkin donuts from Lindsey's Bakery. We will be taking home a dozen next year rather than just splitting one.

Click on the picture to see the stats for this monster of a pumpkin pie. It was huge!

We went to Boo at the Zoo with some friends. M's friend was a golfer.

M's hat kept falling off. One time, he picked it up and put it back on his head himself--backwards. It didn't fall off the rest of the night though! So we left it backwards on his head. I think he just wanted to show off the pony tail.

I could not get this kid to stand still or smile normal for a single picture. So these are as good as they got.

MK loved trick or treating! He knew exactly what he was doing going from door to door to put candy in his pumpkin. He bee-lined for the candy bowls as soon as he saw them. It was so fun to watch him.

This face was his reaction when I took away his beloved pumpkin and candy. I finally settled with giving him one piece before bed.

Sharks say . . .

2010-11-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

We went to the library on Monday to switch out McKay's books and get him some new ones. He loves to read, and we happen to have the top library in the nation (I am in heaven!), so I am always finding great new books for McKay.

One of the books we chose has a page with a shark on it. When we came home Monday and read it, I pointed to the shark and said "Shark" then proceeded to do a brief excerpt from Jaws--you know: do doot. do doot. etc. He didn't seem very interested.

Tonight he was picking out books to read before bed and he brought that particular one to me. When we opened to that same page, he said "shawk" and started saying "do do do do." It was adorable. Needless to say, we came back to that page no less than eight times tonight, and every time, he "sang" the song. When Burke is home tomorrow, I'll have to record it. It is just too cute.

I guess he's going to forever believe that sharks say "do doot. do doot. do do do do do do" etc.

Happy Halloween

2010-10-30T07:21:00.001-06:00

Thanks to my sister who went to China this summer, I didn't have to think about a costume for MK this year. Since she got him a cute little hat, I made him a little Chinese shirt and he was the cutest Chinese boy you've ever seen!

Happy Halloween!

September Finale--MK Loves Outside!

2010-10-29T19:00:00.002-06:00

My mom also came to visit in September. We had lots of fun but forgot to take any pictures with her. Oops!

We bought MK a sandbox while she was here so he could satisfy his love for dirt and playing outside.

Every day now, the first thing I hear after he finishes breakfast is "Assiye? Assiye?" (outside, outside?) I love seeing how excited he gets about playing outside with his favorite "wah-wus" (shovel) and "guck!" (truck).

Since I know the onset of winter is much too close, we go outside every day, even if it requires a jacket and hat. I don't think I'll be able to dissuade MK from the outdoors until snow falls. We might have some cold play days in the coming month . . .

September and Buckeye Country

2010-10-28T18:48:00.001-06:00

September in Ohio means the start of Buckeye season--a tradition in which everyone breathes scarlet and gray for four months. The spirit is exciting, and we don't dare go anywhere without donning our game day gear on Saturdays.

We watched a game with some friends. The kids were great entertainment:

Burke and I went to a blowout game against Ohio University:

September--Visitors!

2010-10-28T09:31:00.006-06:00

Jess and Tiff and family came to visit in September for a few days, and we all squeezed into our tiny house. It was totally worth it; we had blast, although there's nothing like four crazy kids to make you realize how small your house is!

We played corn hole (as everybody who's anybody in Ohio does),

saw the Horseshoe Stadium,

and visited the Santa Maria ship:

Glad you guys could come! Hope to see you again soon!

September: MK Goes to Nursery!

2010-10-27T21:27:00.000-06:00

In September, MK started going to nursery officially. He still cries when we drop him off, but he is learning to love his teachers and always leaves with a smile now. Can't believe he's already that old!

September--Franklin Park Conservatory

2010-10-26T21:19:00.001-06:00

We took advantage of the free night (first Wednesday of the month from 5-8p) to go to the Franklin Park Conservatory. It was beautiful and we loved looking at all the Chihuly glass displays.

MK loved looking at the koi in the pond.

Noelle and I "made" our own Chihuly display:

Can't pass up an opportunity to make funny faces!

September--MK's first haircut!

2010-10-26T06:57:00.001-06:00

McKay got his first hair cut! I know it didn't look like he had any hair, but he did. He woke up with awful fuzzy bedhead, and with the summer humidity, his hair was just plain fuzzy too often. Here's the best picture I could find of his hair before:

Without Burke's approval, I buzzed it. They say buzzing it off makes babies' hair grow back thicker. Side note: Two months later, it's looking about the same to me. Oh, well.

All his curls chopped off:

After:
(he thought he'd look better with some facial hair. His peach yogurt matched nicely.)

Summer Catch Up--August Part 2

2010-10-25T16:03:00.002-06:00

Here's to the rest of August! I'm almost caught up, I promise!

McKay's first skinned knee (although it looks more like a rug burn in this picture). I'm sure it's not going to be the last.

We worked hard:
For the record, McKay knows how to correctly use a variety of tools --complete with sound effects. The hammer and drill are his favorite.

And we played hard:

Hung out with friends:

We got free tickets to a Columbus Clippers game:

had awesome seats right behind home plate:

and got free hot dogs:

He couldn't be happier during quiet time than with his tools and a phone for entertainment:

For anniversary (that was back in May) we got tickets to see Wicked. It was Burke's first time, my second, and it was amazing! We would definitely go again.

Summer Catch Up--August part 1

2010-10-24T19:34:00.002-06:00

August was an eventful month so it will come in two parts. We started August in California visiting Burke's family for a week and had a blast!

We went to the lake:
McKay: pick up the rock, look at it, throw it--for thirty minutes. He loves rocks!

You can tell how excited McKay was about wearing his life jacket.

Improvising on the grill with two screwdrivers because we forgot the burger flipper.

We did lots of other fun things:

We played some good old Two Ball:

Had a lot of fun with everyone who made it, and hope to see more there next year!

Summer Catch Up--July

2010-10-19T19:03:00.001-06:00

And for July:

We played some more outside:

We visited my dad and brother in Cleveland/Kirtland while they were traveling before the National Jamboree.

We worked on some house projects and thus began McKay's love of tools. Needless to say, he has his own tool set now:

We also visited some friends on our way to visit family in California. We picked berries; it was mine and McKay's first time. We also saw the Salt Flats on our way to Cali.

The month was eventful! On to August--we're half way caught up!

Summer Catch Up--June

2010-10-18T22:00:00.001-06:00

Now that we're well into fall, we had a very busy summer judging by the fact that I touched the blog about twice. So here's a quick recap to bring you up to date (and record it for myself since I don't scrapbook). Enjoy the pictures!

We played outside a lot:

We visited Burke's brother and family in Delaware:

The Dover Air Museum. Thus started McKay's love for airplanes.

Funland at Rehoboth Beach Boardwalk:

McKay outright bawled when the ride started slowing down. He would have ridden it all night.

It was a good month full of lots of fun. Next up: July!

Identity Crisis

2010-08-11T09:03:00.000-06:00

(Sorry for the hiatus: we've been doing more house improving since June and didn't have internet connection on vacation for the past two weeks.)

This past week at a cabin with Burke's family, I was looking at the movie selection and noticed The Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas. It made me think of one of my first childhood memories.

Being hardly five years old when The Beauty and the Beast came out, I still recall vividly and fondly the day my mom brought that movie home when it was released on home video. That fall when I started kindergarten, I was decked out head to toe in purple Beauty and the Beast paraphernalia. I couldn't have been happier.

It made me think about how my favorite Disney princess has always* (except that Belle was my apparent favorite at age five) been Sleeping Beauty. I wondered why: I'm not blonde. Visiting a medieval castle in England is certainly not my fantasy vacation dream. Being called a lover of animals or nature is a far cry from my true feelings for such things. Yes, indeed. Why do I think that Sleeping Beauty is my favorite?

Let's look at a little more evidence for why Belle is much more my cup of tea: I am a proud brunette. I love France, and for goodness' sakes, I lived there while I was engaged because it was the "one last thing I had to do before I got married." I was very upset at my parents that they wouldn't let me take French in high school (Spanish was so much more practical, you know. I still beg to differ from a linguistic and literary standpoint), so I took French my first two years at BYU. I am a bookworm--a major one. I would much rather waltz around in a poofy gold ball gown than a flat blue and pink one. Why was Sleeping Beauty my favorite again?

So there you have it. Last week I underwent a major identity crisis--from the perspective of a girly girl's childhood dreams and love for all things "princess." I am still reconciling with my recently renewed childhood heroine. I guess I better get on Amazon and buy the movie. I don't have that one yet. Sleeping Beauty, it's time to hit the back burner (although you'll always hold a special place in my heart).

Who is your favorite Disney princess or character?

Julie's Race

2010-06-30T09:05:00.001-06:00

We spent the past week in Delaware visiting Burke's brother, Jess, and his family. Among the many fun things we did, we went to Julie's Race, an aquathlon that Jess was the race director for.

What's an aquathlon you ask? It is like a triathlon only the pattern is a swim-run-swim sequence. The race is named after Burke's late sister, Julie, who drowned when she was three.

Come day of the race, Jess asked us to participate as a relay team in honor of Julie. So with no training or prep, Burke and I did an aquathlon together last Friday. I swam 1/4 mile, then Burke ran a 5K, and I finished off with another 1/8 mile swim. Our relay team came in third.

All the participants wore blue swim caps; I wore a pink one since I was swimming for Julie. It was a really neat experience. I have not swum a single lap across a pool for two years, so to swim a quarter mile in 9:12 was pretty impressive I would say.

The race was a lot of fun. We both really enjoyed the competition and I hadn't realized how much I enjoyed swimming. We are already looking forward to next year's race. We'll be better prepared to rock it.

White Coat Ceremony

2010-06-19T18:38:00.004-06:00

Last weekend was Burke's white coat ceremony. After a long and very difficult first year, he is now officially a second year and allowed to shadow and participate in the patient clinic.
At the ceremony, they gave some really interesting stats. Burke's class hit a record with the highest average gpa of every optometry class OSU has ever had. In addition, his class had the highest average gpa of all the other first year optometry classes in the nation. They also had the second highest average OAT (like the MCAT) scores in the nation. (He's on the far left, second from the top.)
Needless to say, Burke has a very competitive, hard working, and intelligent class. Now that he has the foundational science year behind him, Burke knows he learned so much this past year and says he finally feels like he's on his way to becoming a doctor. :)

We are excited. We have a long summer break together before he starts back again in the fall. This has been a year of so much growth in many ways for us. The ceremony was a great way to sum it all up and see how far we've come. We're excited to have some time together this summer and then look forward to what the next year will bring.

As proud Ohioans, Go Bucks!

Good Reads

2010-06-10T21:03:00.002-06:00

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to read twenty books. I thought that goal would be sufficient. Little did I know how quickly I typically get through a book.

If I like it, it's done within about three days. If I don't like it, it's still done within about three days (mostly because I can't not finish a book, so I just read faster to get it over with). By the end of May I had read 15 books. I don't think I am going to have a problem meeting my goal by the end of the year.

The other part of the goal was to read a variety of books. Although I could certainly do better, I am pleased with how diversified my selection has been thus far (in comparison to, say, the last twenty-ish years of my life).

Here's a list of this year's books:
The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell
The Kite Runner by Khalad Hosseini
My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney* (funny-ish, just not my style)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by same*
My Antonia by Willa Cather
The Tea Shop Girls by Laura Shaefer* (more jr high drama. gag.)
Oddball Ohio: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places by Jerome Pohlen* (more or less interesting)
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer
Stolen Lives:Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
The Giver by Lois Lowry

I liked them all pretty well, with the exception of those marked with an asterisk.

My favorites thus far? Definitely Guernsey Literary and My Antonia. They were both wonderful books, and I highly recommend them.

Current Reads:
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey

Upcoming Reads:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
The Hunger Games by Susanne Collins

Although I feel like I have read thus far at a grueling pace, I expect things to slow down with the summer and with the mere fact that I have two rather lengthy books in the queue. I guess we shall see.

I decided to raise my goal to thirty diversified books. . .

Weekend in Akron

2010-06-06T18:39:00.002-06:00

We decided to take a weekend trip to Akron. We had a lot of fun seeing a new part of Ohio. Here's some of the highlights!

The Goodyear Blimp hangar, which was built in 1929, is approx. one football field wide and almost four football fields long. It was huge! It is big enough to have its own weather patterns inside, complete with rain and clouds. Wow! We didn't think we would get as close as we did but we surreptitiously made our way through the driveway and some open gates to a clear and perfect view.

Downtown Akron was pretty dirty and run down, although the Modern Art Museum was a pretty impressive structure. We also passed by Dr. Bob's home in Akron, where AA began. As we are not recovering alcoholics (or alcoholics at all for that matter), we decided to forgo the museum inside.

We also saw the official Soap Box Derby Downs track, home of the national Soap Box Derby. Those gates just happened to be open too as we were driving by. What a cool place! It takes about 30 seconds to travel the 989-foot track and by the finish line the cars are traveling about 30mph. We might have to make our way back there in August for the annual Derby races.

Much to Burke's chagrin, we drove the loooonng way home through the Amish country. I guess the Amish aren't all that exciting when you grow up with them in your hometown. . . But we did stop at Heini's cheese factory for about 100 delicious different cheese samples. Yum! We brought home a small brick of our favorite: Vidalia onion cheese. McKay thought the cheese tasting was the best part of the trip, except for maybe the goat cheese and aged swiss.

All in all a fun trip and a fun weekend. And now that school's out for the summer, we plan on having lots more fun adventures like this before September rolls around. :)

Picture of the Day

2010-05-24T08:23:00.000-06:00

I needed a new post. So, enjoy the picture. :)

"Flower"

2010-05-15T08:32:00.002-06:00

McKay learned a new word: "wowow," which translates into "flower."

Perhaps it's because I pointed out all the flowers on the spring trees when they blossomed a few weeks ago. Now the trees are flowers to him. I'll have to fix that one.

Perhaps it's because I would ask McKay often if he liked Mommy's pretty flowers out front and then told him not to touch them. I have been pretty sensitive about people touching/picking/stomping on/ruining my flowers. (And, yes, I've seen all of the above. You'd be amazed.) I put some hard work into planting every single one.

Whatever the reason, one of my little boy's first five words was "flower." Maybe he's learned at a young age that girls like flowers. I'll take that as a good thing.

Unfortunately, my beautiful flowers have come and gone. They were so bright and cheery. I am going to miss them until next spring.

Reading Time

2010-05-13T20:32:00.000-06:00

Lately, McKay has gotten very interested in books. He loves to look at them by himself and he's even content to let me "read" to him for a few minutes at a time.

Some of his library book favorites include Touchdown!: My First Football Book (I let Burke read him that one). You can't go wrong with a book about balls!

He has also loved any and every book about dogs. He gets more excited about dogs than anything else, and every time he sees a dog in pictures or outside, he "woofs" at it. It's pretty adorable. Never thought I'd raise a dog-lover. . . .

Happy Three Years

2010-05-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

Happy three years of marriage to us, and what an adventure it has been! And we have a lot more adventuring ahead of us yet.

Happy Cinco de Mayo to all the rest of you. We've been eating some delicious Mexican food at our house this week to celebrate. You should stop by for a taste; it's a full fledged restaurant here!

A plethora of pictures

2010-04-20T13:18:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately:

Needless to say, we've enjoyed the beautiful weather!

JT's diner

2010-04-10T12:34:00.000-06:00

Last night we JT's diner was in town (aka I made hamburgers with the works, fries, mozzarella sticks, and lemonade). It was delicious! One of the best hamburgers I've ever had.

A few weeks ago JT's diner happened to be in town for April Fools'. We had hamburgers then too, but they didn't taste quite the same. Nevertheless, it was fun and fooled Burke enough that he had to get a closer look at the mini hamburgers (nilla wafers, mint patties, green coconut, and red frosting).

Can't wait for JT's Diner to come again!

McKay's One Year Picture

2010-04-05T19:07:00.001-06:00

We finally got McKay's one year pictures back last week. There were some really cute ones. He is such a good smiler (especially for the camera) and a happy boy. We love him.

Stats:
height: 70th percentile
weight: 25th percentile
head: 50th percentile

*He had twelve teeth by his first birthday! It sure makes meals much easier since we can feed him anything.
*He says dada, mama, ball, and uh-oh.
*He is still not walking although on a few occasions he has taken about 3 steps. Crawling is faster, why would he want to walk slowly??

Not Fast Enough

2010-03-31T20:21:00.000-06:00

I have been waiting many months for some green to come sprouting out of the dirt in front of my house. I got really nervous when I saw daffodils growing in other yards and not mine. I had pretty much given up, not to mention the snow that was still somehow covering my "garden."

Then I saw two or three heads peeking their way through the mud a couple of weeks ago, where I planted the tulips. I was so excited, although sad that I wouldn't have any daffodils.

Today I counted almost seventy tulip plants. They are all 1-2 inches tall, but they just can't grow fast enough for me. I even found four daffodils coming through. I guess I might get some daffodils after all. I can't wait to see my front yard full of blossoming flowers in a few weeks!

Simple Joys

2010-03-29T10:28:00.000-06:00

Lately, McKay has developed an interest for cars, trucks, things that move. One of his favorite things is the garbage man. On garbage day, he will stand on the printer in front of the window watching the garbage truck do his rounds. He jabbers and makes excited noises to himself. It is pretty cute. Oh, the little joys of childhood.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2010-03-17T11:00:00.001-06:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! May you find a four leaf clover and have good luck all year long. :)

Last year you were only a wee 11 days old. You went on your first walk to the park. Maybe we'll do something similar again today, only this time we'll play a little more.

Blue Skies and Sunshine

2010-03-16T21:32:00.000-06:00

Dear beautiful weather,

Thank you for the great day today. We enjoyed the sunshine and blue skies. We had fun playing out on the deck, and we went to the park to swing, too. It was wonderful! Do you want to make a permanent residence here until October or November? You can tell that final freak snow storm I'm still dreading to mind his own business this year.

Thank you!

Finished the Kitchen--Finally!

2010-03-14T10:11:00.001-06:00

So the kitchen has been done for a few weeks. I just haven't gotten around to taking pictures of it. I think it looks great, and we have absolutely loved the bar that we added. It has been amazing. Enjoy!

Before:
This was the kitchen when we first moved in and the small little window between the kitchen and dining area.

During:
Here is the progress that we've made throughout the past six months. Do you see the big black pipe in the right picture? We had to reroute that to make the window/bar the size we wanted.

Picking out, cutting, and transporting the new countertop:

The little bar that we put in. Sorry, no action shots. You're probably getting picture overload anyway.

Kitchen painted, and almost finished, Take ONE:

After:
The final, finished product, take two. We are loving it.

Gotta Meet the Deadline

2010-03-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

I am a freelance writer/editor. The job kind of goes in spurts and is in no way a steady income. But it is nice to have a little extra cash. :)

I have five 500-word articles due tomorrow. They really aren't that hard, but they do leak into my reading-and-doing-whatever-I-feel-like time (since Burke is studying away most of the time).

I finished one article tonight and started the second. Then I decided to look at a blog. or two. Well, you know what that means. I dillydallied too much time away.

Now I still have three and a half articles to write. ugh.

The worst part is that I was totally in the zone while I was writing. Now I'm not. And I need to be. darn. Burke's on his way home from campus right now. Now I really won't get anymore writing done.

Looks like a mad frenzy Friday morning like usual. Sorry, McKay. I love you. Please take a long nap for me tomorrow morning. We'll play in the afternoon if the weather is still beautiful (minus the rain). Or maybe we'll read books and play catch with your favorite little football. No manic Mondays here. Just manic Fridays to meet a deadline.

My First Birthday

2010-03-07T19:16:00.006-07:00

Hello!

McKay here; yesterday was my birthday! Mom and Dad gave me permission to write my own birthday blog-post. I wanted to be sure the magnificence of my special day was adequately depicted with no limitations, and what a day it was; you'll see my friends.

Things started picking up on the eve of my celebration. I was laying in bed minding my own business at about 1:00am, when I heard a rustling around my bed. I almost went for my mace, but decided to sell the intruder my "sleeping baby" routine. I thought I heard something being tied to my bed, but eventually fell for my own sleep routine as I'm so good at it and drifted off (thwarted by myself again!). When I woke up, I saw these things strapped to my bed!

At first, I was certain Mom and Dad had decided I'd out stayed my welcome and hoped these things would carry me to Grandma's in Arizona for a break. Turns out, they were for my birthday! So glad they both got the memo.

For breakfast Mom gave me my favorite fruit, bananas! Such goodness, what more could a one-year-old ask for? My point exactly.

Later, we went on a family trip for my big day! I asked Dad if I could drive since I finally hit the big 1.0, and he was totally cool with it (he's the coolest)! He even told me he'd change the gear from D (drive) to P! He said P stands for Power! It's like a really souped up D, only used on special occasions.

We went to a play place and Mom and Dad found some awesome trains and tracks and played with me. We had a blast! Later, Mom found this random red hat in the play area and thought it'd look "cute" on me. She said you wear it when you're on fire or something? Anyway she wanted me to take a picture with it on my head, so here's for Mom. Kinda weird but whatever I guess.... Love ya, Mom!

Finally, Sunday came, the day I'd been dreaming about since my infancy (oh man, being born is another blog-post for another day). This was the day I get to eat my very own ENTIRE cupcake. No utensils, no limitations. . . Just my two hands and all of that goodness! Can you see my intense focus? I am completely sure that this whole first year of my life was totally worth it, just for this. Thank you Mom, you're the best!

The End

Played in the Snow

2010-03-02T19:28:00.001-07:00

We went tubing a couple weeks ago with some friends and had a blast (thanks for the pic, Noelle). Excited to do it again soon, unless the snow decides to go away.

Just got back from a 10-day trip to Arizona. It was great!

Mardi Gras in Belgium

2010-02-16T19:54:00.001-07:00

Happy Mardi Gras! It calls for Jambalaya for dinner. Yum. It may not be a religious affiliation, but I don't mind any excuse to celebrate a holiday that sounds fun.

Three years ago I was at a most beautiful place, Belgium, celebrating this wacky holiday in a festive and very traditional way according to Binche's local customs. And today I feel like posting pictures from three years ago because I can. Lovely. It was a good walk down memory lane.

Our first real Belgian waffles. The American version is tasteless in comparison.

The countryside was beautiful. And it's a little crazy that it was normal to walk on top of ruins from centuries ago. America doesn't even have ruins from centuries ago. Okay, maybe two. and a half. centuries. maybe.

Gilles de Binche: what all the people who dressed up are called. Too bad I don't remember what that means exactly. Binche is the town though. The concept is that the rich people dress up like poor people and the poor like the rich. The rich had food, so they ate a lot, so they were fat. Get it?

These little boys were so cute. All the male children in the town dressed up.

It was a party. A great one. A unique one. One where they threw sanguinellos (blood oranges) at you during the parade. Good times.

Holidays...

2010-02-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

Today was an eventful day with holidays galore.

Happy Valentine's. We ate a yummy pink and red breakfast.

Happy Chinese New Year! Year of the tiger--my birth year was a tiger too!

Happy 98th birthday to Arizona!! I am so excited to see you in all of your loveliness this weekend!

Beautiful

2010-02-10T15:31:00.001-07:00

Three beautiful things that made my day today and yesterday:

A real red cardinal. I took this from our family room through the back door. He was hanging around in the trees out back. It must be good luck.

My chocolate covered strawberries. They turned out perfectly for my Valentine's exchange party tonight.

All things French. My Valentine's Day gift came early in the mail this week. I am so excited to make delicious French food for Burke from my days of living in France. There's something magical about France that you just can't explain. It is one of the most joyous feelings to think about that wonderful, magical place and everything about it. (btw, watch Julie and Julia. So cute. I loved it. Maybe because it brought back so many fond memories.)

Snow Day!

2010-02-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

It's supposed to snow all day today and tomorrow! It's already white from Friday's snowstorm and subsequent 10 inches. I think we won't be going anywhere for the next day or two. Soup and hot chocolate coming right up. No complaining here; it's beautiful outside. I'm not gonna drive in it, but I sure love looking at it and walking through it.

The view from McKay's bedroom window. I love it.

Toys

2010-02-04T06:26:00.001-07:00

Enough toys? One in his mouth, one in his hand, touching another with the other hand, all while in the toy box. I didn't get the camera fast enough when he fell into the toy box. So he was up and playing like this by the time I got back.

My Green (or not so green) Kitchen

2010-01-31T19:59:00.004-07:00

Well, the decision has been made. We weighed our options, and whether the poll really swayed us or not, I don't know. But we appreciate all of your comments and suggestions. They were fun to read.

The kitchen is no longer green. I enjoyed it while it lasted. :) Someday I'll have a green kitchen again, or a green bathroom, or laundry room, or something... Afterall, we still have most of the gallon of green left.

I repainted the kitchen yesterday. The actual title of the color is Homestead Ballroom Gold. I don't think that's very descriptive of the color. Burke called it dried up mustard. I quickly vetoed that. I would call it nutmeg or golden graham (as in the cold cereal)--much more dignified, wouldn't you say? Surprisingly, it lightens up the room, and feels warmer and more inviting. We love it.

Now that I've done my part, Burke gets to do his part (finish the trim around the window and do the backsplash). So when he finishes his job this week, I'll post pics. Until then, enjoy the preview. :)

And for good measure, some cute pictures of McKay.

To Be or Not to Be?

2010-01-23T20:15:00.001-07:00

Our most recent project has been working on our kitchen. It is looking ever so lovely. I am excited to post before and after shots. However, we have hit a bump. After much deliberation (4 months worth) we decided to paint our kitchen green.

Then we put in a new counter top. Now we can't decide if they go together. The colors of the kitchen are autumn colors--red, yellow, orange, green, and brown tones.

Does the green match the counter or do we need to pick a new color, like a light brown or orange/gold/yellow hue?

We need some help. Comments in both the affirmative and the negative are welcome. :)

New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-12T12:22:00.000-07:00

So we are over a third of the way into January, and I have yet to make any New Year's resolutions. I decided this year needs something a little more concrete to make it the best year yet, not that last year wasn't amazing, because it was. I just want some worthwhile goals to work on for this year.

Of course I've thought about some resolutions. Let's see:
Be more spiritual.
Be nicer to people.
Exercise more.

Those are great resolutions, aren't they? Well, they're great ones if I never really plan on doing anything to make anything of them. They are what I call conveniently vague (I thought that had a nice ring to it). They are the kind of resolutions that would allow me to muster up some way at the end of the year that I could say I worked my resolutions all year long in one way or another.

Suffice it to say, I think my aforementioned unofficial resolutions are fairly lame.

So I am revamping. starting over. beginning afresh. I am polling for new year's resolutions ideas. Yes, I want to hear what your goals for the year are so that I may borrow them if you will. please. :) thank you.

Or, I'm also open to ideas. They don't even have to be your goals. I am just looking for some light bulbs that are brighter and wiser than mine.

Thanks!

McKay randomness

2010-01-09T19:53:00.000-07:00

Random pictures from last month of McKay. I needed something to post on my much neglected blog. . .

Oops!

2009-12-18T08:19:00.005-07:00

I might have accidentally tipped my cup of juice and accidentally got it all over McKay and the clean dishes in the dishwasher. It was a moment to laugh at.

McKay: Nine Months

2009-12-10T06:43:00.006-07:00

Stats:
Height: 28 1/2" 5oth percentile
Weight: 18.0 lbs 12th percentile

He is still a tall skinny boy. He's all over the place all day long, loves to crawl, is learning to go up and down the stairs, and eats anything I put in front of him (he must of gotten his dad's metabolism).

The Holidays

2009-12-08T18:41:00.003-07:00

I have been going through the endless list in my head of things to do to prepare for the Christmas holidays.

Christmas shopping? check.
Family pictures? check.
Festivizing the house with red and green? check.
Writing and sending a family Christmas letter? check.
Waking up to the first snowfall of the year? check.
Figuring out what to give/make neighbors and friends for Christmas? check.
Visiting family and loved ones? planned.
Wrapping the presents? If I hadn't left my wrapping paper in Utah. . . .
And the list goes on.

So what? What is it all for? If we are just trying to cross everything off the list and be glad it's done, then what is left? I just accomplished a whole lot of things, and now they're all done. So was that it? I thought the holidays were supposed to be special.

What is it that makes the holidays special?

Is it watching the snow gently and peacefully fall, blanketing the earth with beauty and solace (until someone drives a car through it)?

Is it stressing out about making goodies for neighbors, family, and friends to show them you love them even though they already know?

Is it taking time to find the perfect gift for someone after racking your brain for what to get said person?

Is it being with family although you come back more tired than you were before because you were up all night talking and laughing?

Is it finally squeezing in a last moment of relaxation after you've spent the rest of the holidays stressing out?

Or is it the fact that you are doing it all with love? Isn't that what it's all about? Taking extra time (even though it may be stressful) to be more loving and show a little more compassion?

The holiday season is all about love, inside and out. We have the holidays because of love--the love of our Savior. He came to this earth because He loves us, and we should spend this whole season showing our gratitude to Him by loving others.

Let us take a moment in our hectic holiday schedules to remember that we do so many things because we love. If we race through all the shopping, cleaning, baking, and making, we are forgetting the whole purpose of why we are doing it. The great joy of the season is doing everything with more love.

The spirit of Christmas is love.

Little Wild Thing

2009-12-02T12:10:00.004-07:00

He likes mischief of one kind . . .

and another. . . .

He's our little wild thing.

Thanksgiving

2009-12-01T06:43:00.004-07:00

We had a fun Thanksgiving this year in Dover, Delaware, with Burke's brother and his family. We ate lots of turkey, laughed, told stories, and stayed up late. It was a fun time. Here's a few pics (thanks, Tiff).

The True Test

2009-11-23T11:52:00.003-07:00

Last week Burke and I noticed on multiple occasions that McKay picks up all his finger food with his left hand while leaving his right hand under the tray in his lap.

Since Burke is a lefty, we figured McKay has a decent chance of also being a lefty.

I finally commented that we won't really know until he's older. The "true test" will be . . .

Simultaneously, Burke said it'll be which hand he throws a football with, and I said it'll be which hand he writes with.

When will we know? I guess only time will tell.

All I Want for Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

2009-11-20T07:48:00.002-07:00

And this little boy is gonna get his Christmas wish. His top two teeth just broke through this week. He has started making a funny little gummy smile. It's pretty cute. By Christmas he should be showing off two new little teeth.

A fun week

2009-11-16T14:56:00.003-07:00

Last week my sister, Alyson, and her little boy, Marcus, came to visit. We had a fun time together. We finally planted my bulbs out front--thirty five daffodils and fifty tulips. Can't wait until spring! My front yard is going to be beautiful! We also had fun watching the little boys play together. McKay usually followed Marcus around because Marcus is a little older and a little faster.

Sometimes it bothered Marcus that someone was always in his space.

Other times, they had a good time together.

All in all, we had a fun few days together and enjoyed some relaxing. Hopefully the little boys will be good friends as they grow up.

Summer Project: Finished!

2009-11-03T09:33:00.007-07:00

This summer I took on a lengthy sewing project and finally finished the last stitches yesterday. Also, that completes McKay's bedroom with the painting and decor (minus anything on the walls).
The "Before" with ugly peach walls:

Insert chair molding here:
All the pieces in semi-finished form:

Final product:
Although it took a long time, it was worth it to make McKay's room look exactly the way I wanted it to. Our next child probably won't be as lucky. . . .

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T07:55:00.003-06:00

Autumn package

2009-10-29T19:49:00.004-06:00

This fall I had fun making little autumn packages for a few friends. I put together some cupcake papers, sprinkles, two little sheets of stickers, and a little box of candy corn.

It was such a fun project to put together. I put it all inside of a frozen juice can and wrapped it in candy-corn-painted paper.

Too cute

2009-10-16T19:02:00.002-06:00

Pictures of the day. Too cute to choose one.

I love autumn!

2009-10-15T19:49:00.003-06:00

This is just one of the many amazing trees I've seen around lately. Best season, best month of the year. Life couldn't be any better!

Ohio Buckeyes

2009-10-05T09:55:00.006-06:00

Yesterday we had fun making a popular Ohio treat--buckeyes. The buckeye is the nut on a buckeye or white chesnut tree. They are brown and have whitish scar on the top. Some believe buckeyes are good luck, especially if you keep it in your pocket. Buckeyes are also the mascot of The Ohio State University.

Buckeyes are poisonous, or so wikipedia tells me. So people make candy buckeyes instead. They are delicious and a unique and tasty treat special to Ohio. Please come our way and enjoy a homemade Ohio Buckeye on us!

Home Improvement

2009-09-23T07:26:00.007-06:00

Little by little our house is becoming more a home. Two weeks ago Burke's brother, Jess, came to help us on the house. They made the little window between the dining area and kitchen twice as big and put in the new flooring. Things are looking so much better than they did a month ago.

Before: (There was gross carpet in the dining area. I don't have a picture.)
The Process:
Goodbye ugly linoleum flooring!Yeah, we looked like trailer trash with all of our appliances on the front porch and the torn up flooring in the yard. I'm sure the neighbors loved it.
After:
We finally got to set up our new table (I waited six months for that), and we love it!

I thought I'd post a picture of McKay's "dresser" since I put it together yesterday. I think it is so cute.
I can already tell everything is not exactly going to stay put. . . .

Goodbye Utah: Disneyland, Cove Fort, and Antelope Island and Ohio Trek

2009-09-11T13:38:00.007-06:00

Thought I would share a post to finish off the rest of our summer in Utah and our drive to the Ohio. Since Burke had never been to California, we decided to make a trip there before we moved across the country. We had a great time visiting Annette, Ted, Andrew, and Adrienne.

We went to Manhattan Beach one day.
We also stopped to see the Rose Bowl stadium to satisfy Burke's college football fetish.
We celebrated Burke’s 25th birthday.
We also spent our first day away from McKay and took a trip to Disneyland for Burke’s birthday. It was Burke’s first time, and we had a blast!

On the way home from California we stopped by Cove Fort, a way station for pioneers that President Hinckley’s grandfather built.
After California, we said goodbyes to dear friends and packed our things.
Prodding McKay's love of sports early:
(Not surprisingly, the football was one of the last things Burke packed)
We also crossed off two more Goodbye to Utah activities: Antelope Island and the Hill Air Force Aerospace Museum.
It was cool to see the salt buildup on the shore and look out onto Great Salt Lake.

We saw lots of antelope and bison.
Since Burke’s dad was a fighter pilot in Vietnam, we enjoyed looking at all the aircraft together at the Hill Air Force Aerospace Museum and sharing stories about Burke’s dad’s flying days.
An F-5 like the one Dad Manning flew in the war:

Here's about our journey to Ohio! The drive wasn’t near as bad as we thought it would be, thanks to the Harry Potter audio books, which we borrowed from a library on our way out of Utah (we figured we could just mail them back). We are almost to book 7 and Burke is anxiously awaiting since he's never read them.

In Vernal, Utah, we made our final farewell to Utah with temple number 13 of 13: the Vernal Utah Temple. That officially ended our Goodbye to Utah series. It was a worthwhile detour to finish our temple goal.
After almost running out of gas once, enduring a thirteen hour day of driving, and trekking through a fierce rainstorm, we made it to our new home in Columbus, Ohio.

Since then, we’ve been putting in some hard hours on our new house (the door behind the U-Haul trailer). I’ll do some before and after pics when there is more to show.
We officially belong to Ohio: Birthplace of Aviation now.

With the fabulous weather we have enjoyed for the past week and great neighbors, I am already loving it here. We even decked ourselves out in Buckeye gear for the first game of the season, and so did everyone else we saw around town.

Coming soon: updates on our house.

Couldn't resist

2009-09-08T12:44:00.003-06:00

McKay decided to do his own artistry while we were painting the house yesterday. Okay, okay. It was my fault. I wiped up paint on something and then accidentally gave it to him to play with. He was sitting in my lap, and it kept him quiet for a little while. Then I realized what I'd done. It was too cute.

too busy

2009-09-03T07:18:00.002-06:00

made it to Ohio. the three-day drive was great. working on the house like crazy now. re-carpeting. reflooring. repainting. reorganizing. unpacking. life will be back to normal in a few weeks. updates to come soon!

Family Reunion

2009-08-09T16:23:00.008-06:00

A couple of weeks ago we had a family reunion with my family in Midway, Utah. We played games, laughed, told stories and had fun.

Bang: a favorite.
Speed stacks.
A game called "Parlez-vous francais."

We also took tethered rides in a hot air balloon. It was awesome. It was neat to watch the set up and take down.

Set up:
Time to go for a ride!
Take down:

Family pictures, of course. This is most of the immediate cousins.
All the great grandchildren. It was an adventure to get them all to stay put. . . .
My family with my granddad and grandma Karen.
Can't wait to do it again in a few years!

Eating Rice Cereal

2009-07-29T09:17:00.003-06:00

McKay started eating solids this week. It has been quite an adventure.

Are you ready to come eat? Let's put your bib on.

Okay. Here we go. Aaah! Yep, open up wide.

Mmm. Good job.

Okay. Let's try another bite.

Aaah! Uh-huh. There you go.

That's yummy.

Let me get you another bi--No, we don't put our hands in our mouth.

Here you go--No, McKay. You need to keep your feet down so Mommy can feed you.

Aah. That's the way. Good job, McKay.

Ooh! McKay, we don't blow bubbles while we eat. You get your food all over the place. (Achoo!) McKay! You got your food everywhere. All over your arms and your legs. Let me get a rag to wipe it off.

Okay, let's clean your hands and your arms . . . No blowing bubbles. Okay, let's try another bite. Aah--Don't suck on your toes! We're trying to eat your food right now not your toes. Let's try this again.

Aah. There you go. That's yummy.

Here's another bite. McKay! No toes! I need to feed you right now. No, get your toes out of your mouth. No, you can't blow bubbles either. It's time to eat. Okay, here you go. Yum! Good job. . . .

Needless to say, McKay eats in just his diaper and a bib now.

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

2009-07-22T15:38:00.008-06:00

Last week we attended the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. It was beautiful. We got there right about dusk, so I think I got some pretty good shots.
That makes 12 of 13 temples in Utah that we have been through. Last stop: Vernal Utah temple on our way to Columbus in . . . 34 days.

Here are some adorable pictures of McKay since I haven't really posted any lately. He loves to smile and talks to me all day long. Life couldn't get better.
Mom, help! I've fallen and I can't get up!
My foot is a little stuck. Could I get some help over here?
I just needed a hand to hold so I could fall asleep.
Reading time!
Our favorite jammies on McKay. We think they make him look like a who from Whoville.
That's all folks!

Goodbye Utah: Lavender fields 5K

2009-07-11T12:14:00.007-06:00

Ever since I went to southern France, the lavender capital of the world, and found out there was a lavender field in Utah, I've wanted to go see it. After four years here, I hadn't been yet; thus, it was on our list of things to do before we leave Utah.

We also decided we needed something to get us back in our running routine, so we signed up for the 5K Run through the Lavender Fields in Mona, Utah--a great way to get us down to the Young Living Farms. We ran our race this morning.
The scenery was spectacular!
There were about 900 participants! Burke placed 114th, and I placed 221st; we did well. It was very crowded.
Burke did a great job pushing McKay in our jogger, and I . . . Got myself to the finish line.
We also saw our friends, Sarah (pink) and Scott, there.
We wish we could be here next year to do it again. It was a beautiful race.

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-09T13:34:00.002-06:00

This is what we get to call home starting in August. We recently purchased a townhouse in Ohio, and we are really excited to finally know where we are going to live.
It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and an unfinished basement where we'll put a third bedroom for all our visitors!

Goodbye Utah: Orem Owlz game

2009-07-09T13:19:00.005-06:00

Yesterday we crossed off another "goodbye Utah" activity from our list and went to the Orem Owlz minor league baseball game. It was a smashing win 10-1 against the Billings Mustangs.
McKay got to take a picture with Hootz the Owl, and we enjoyed $1 tickets and $1 hot dogs from Napa Auto store. We love good deals. It was a fun night.

McKay's 3-month pictures

2009-07-06T11:26:00.004-06:00

McKay is four months old today, so this picture is a little late, but we picked it up just before we left for vacation (hence the lack of recent blogging). We have decided to indoctrinate McKay early on. (coming soon: just wait until you see his bedroom that I've been working on. . . .)

Goodbye Utah, Part I

2009-06-19T12:22:00.004-06:00

We only have two months left in Utah before we leave for Columbus, OH. I've been thinking about all the fun things I want to do before that time comes. I have compiled a list that I put on the whiteboard in the kitchen. It is titled "dates." Unfortunately, every time we get one thing done, I think of something else and add it to the list. Last night, I got to cross one of the things off.

We went to the Carillon Bell Tower concert at BYU.
We enjoyed a kfc picnic and listened to the beautiful music. It was one of my goals to learn to play the carillon bells at byu, but I never got to it. sad. . . .sidenote: McKay's new favorite toy entertains him for a full hour at a time. love it.
It was at this concert two years ago that we met one of Burke's mtc teachers. He was going into optometry. At that time, we were pre-med. We talked to JJ about it, and came home and started thinking seriously about optometry instead.

One year later, Burke had most of the prerequisites done, took the OAT, and applied for optometry schools.

This year, Burke and I are spending our last months in Provo before he attends optometry school. We are excited. It is crazy how quickly life passes sometimes. From one evening at a little carillon bell tower concert two years ago, we changed the direction of the rest of our lives, and we are so happy we did.

I'm going to miss a lot of things here. Utah has been a fun place to live with a lot of fun things to do. We are trying to make the best of the time we have left. Oh, and Burke is officially finished with school for the next three months. That is the longest break he's had since his first day of college. Wow! We finally get to spend our first real summer together with no classes and no homework. only work and play. bring it on!!!

We are Ohio State Buckeyes!

2009-06-01T10:16:00.002-06:00

This morning we bought our season football tickets for OSU. I think that makes it official that we are Buckeyes. We are already looking forward to this fall. It is going to be a blast, and probably nothing like anything we've ever seen or experienced before. Go Bucks!

Ohio trip and McKay's toes

2009-05-31T23:11:00.008-06:00

Last week we flew to Ohio to look for housing. Although we did not find a house like we hoped, we learned a lot about house-buying and about the areas we want to live in. We already love Columbus and are excited to spend the next four years at The Ohio State University! Go Bucks!

Here is McKay at the airport.
McKay is hanging out with Burke while waiting for his first plane ride. He did great for the first 5 1/2 hours of flying. The final half hour was a little rough for him, but all in all, he did great!
We also had a great time hanging out at our friends' house. Thanks Hannah and Daniel for everything.
Today McKay found his toes. He had a great time entertaining himself by lifting up his feet, looking at his toes, sometimes trying to grab them, and putting his feet back down, only to do it all over again. It was so cute to watch him.

We babysat for our friends this weekend, and as you can tell, McKay and Adelaide became fast friends. They are only four weeks apart.

McKay's photo gallery

2009-05-18T19:32:00.006-06:00

McKay has been growing and learning a lot. He has acquired a few new tricks, too.
He "graduated" from BYU, and attracted much attention for being the youngest "graduate."
He is busy and likes to do what we call his "morning exercises."
He smiles all the time, almost.
He is as cute as can be (although I must say he is much cuter in person than in pictures).
He is learning how to coo and loves to talk to Daddy. Rather, he just loves his daddy, but I have the magic touch.
He attended his first baseball game of many yet to come.
He is learning how to play with toys. This is the first one.
Oh, and he started working on a new trick around graduation time: thumb sucking. It's still a work in progress.

Graduation and Arizona trip

2009-05-18T19:16:00.007-06:00

Here's the beginning of an update of a little of everything lately:

Burke and I officially graduated! It was great, and now we're just waiting for diplomas in the mail. Whoopee! Thanks to everyone who came to support us.
The next day we left for Arizona for a week, which was a wonderful break, and we had free babysitting, which was a definite plus. (thanks, Grandma, Alyson, and others!)
McKay met his cousin, Marcus.
We went to the temple for our anniversary.
I took Burke to his first pro baseball game. I've converted him to the d-backs.
We all did some of this:
And we took the scenic route home through Monument Valley, Arizona,
and made it to temple 11 of 12 in Utah: Monticello. Life has been busy but great!

Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe

2009-04-29T11:22:00.003-06:00

Here's the recipe for those of you who wanted it. I got it off of cooks.com, so I can't take credit for creating it or anything, but it sure tasted good. Enjoy!

1 pkg. chocolate cake mix

MOUSSE TOPPING:
1 c. sugar
4 tbsp cornstarch
2 pkg unflavored gelatin
3 tbsp. cocoa
3 c. milk
1 tub whipped topping
1 c. miniature chocolate chips
1/2 c. chopped nuts (I didn't add nuts)

Prepare cake mix according to directions on package. Bake and cool.

Prepare Mousse: Mix sugar, cornstarch, gelatin, and cocoa. Stir in milk slowly until well mixed. Cook over medium heat until thickened and mixture comes to a full boil. Cool. When cold, beat well with mixer until fluffy.

Fold in whipped topping, then nuts and chips. Spread over cooled cake and refrigerate. Garnish with more chopped nuts and small chocolate chips, if desired.