Grumpy Girl

Lately, we have been dealing with one very grumpy little girl. Lexi has discovered that she is just not content to sit there and look around anymore. She wants to Move! She's getting very close and I think in the next week or so, she will be crawling. For now, she gets up on her hands and knees and does the scoot backward crawl. She's all over the place, just not in the direction that she wants to go. I'm already missing setting her down and having her stay put, but she's almost 11 months old, so it's time she starts moving around more. Here's a video of her on the floor, fussing about her inability to crawl and Nena comforting her.




Lexi has gotten to be so cute lately. Her personality is really coming out. She loves to stick her tongue out. It's so cute. Unfortunately, every time I try to take a picture of it, she stops. She absolutely adores Myra and watches her every movement. However, if Myra's bothering her, she has learned that if she starts to fuss, I'll come to her rescue. She'll actually start crying and then hurry and look at me, just knowing I'll do something about it. What a little pill. We are still struggling to get her to eat solids. I'm afraid that by her 1st birthday, she's not going to be able to eat any of the cake.
Myra is crazy as ever. She makes us laugh constantly. She's always saying and doing the funniest things. I am always amazed at the things she says and does. She's growing up too quickly. She's so affectionate! Lately, throughout the day she'll give me a hug and a kiss and say, "I love you, Mama." It doesn't get any better than that! She loves Lexi so much. She's always trying to help out with her and I've caught her a couple of times trying to share fruit snacks and chips with Lexi. I hope they will continue to be good friends as they get older. The only thing Myra can't handle with Lexi though, is when she spits up. It's so funny, but she actually will run off gagging. What 2 year old gags at spit-up? Apparently ours does. It's the funniest thing.
Today we took Nena to get groomed. Myra was so excited when we picked her up. She kept asking me what we were going to name her. Apparently, Nena looks like a new dog and we needed to pick out a new name for her.
Wow! A lot has happened since I last wrote in here. I keep thinking about things I should write about. Chad continues to amaze me with all he accomplishes with school and work. Who would have thought working with Mormon Crickets would keep a person so busy? He's really been working hard to get everything in order so he can graduate in December.
I'm still enjoying being at home, although I am aching for good weather! I have felt so tied down to the house this winter. I can't wait for Spring time. And as I write this, I glance out my window, and it's snowing, again. CuddleBaby has kept be busy. I've continued to have steady business and I just bought a new Serger. Also, I made my 100th sale today! It's an exciting milestone for me.
Well, I'll try to write on here sooner next time. The kids are awake, so I must end.

Nighttime Woes

Lately, getting the kids to bed has been such a chore. Actually, it probably hasn't been all that bad, except that the kids use to go to bed so easily, but not so much anymore. We aim to get both kids down by 8:00 and Myra usually bursts into tears. She's usually so tired because she doesn't take naps very often anymore, even though she needs one. Once the kids are into PJ's and ready for bed, Myra starts in on needing a drink and needing to go to the bathroom, again. Then she needs to read a story or she can't find her favorite toy or she needs more chapstick. After prayer, we finally get them in bed. This is the time that Lexi usually discovers she really isn't tired and starts shrieking with joy or rolling over and getting stuck. Myra in turn starts yelling at her to be quiet. Then Myra gets up to get a book. This is think is pretty funny. We usually find 5-6 books in bed with her when we check on them before we go to bed. She lays in her bed and flips through them before she falls asleep. She's just like me, reading in bed at night. They eventually fall asleep. Hopefully. It's almost 10:00pm right now, and although we put Myra to bed at around 8:00, she's still awake. She keeps getting up to adjust how wide her door is open and keeps asking me what I'm doing. Lexi's asleep though! Anyway, here are a few pictures of our nighttime rituals.

Sledding in our backyard

Here in Logan we have gotten a lot of snow recently, I like the snow. I figure if it is going to be cold and the days are going to be short we might as well do winter right and have a lot of snow, that is what we've got! Yesterday, I came home a little early from work and Myra and I built this sledding hill in our backyard. It is not real big but is just right for a brave 2 year old. She loves it, and it was a lot of fun for me too.

A Prophet, Seer and Revelator

Since this blog is not only a way for us to let our families and friends keep updated with our activities, but also a sort of online journal, we want to chronicle current events that have an affect on us. Such is the case with the passing of President Hinkley and the Sustaining of President Thomas Spencer Monson as the 16th Prophet of this dispensation with Henry B. Eyring as First Counselor and Dieter F. Uchtdorf as Second Counselor. Shannon and I have always loved President Monson, but to be truthful, know relatively little about him. We are very excited to learn more about the man God has chosen to be his representative at this time and to to be part of His church as he leads us forward through President Monson.

First Movie in a Year!!

Just a quick blog......For Christmas Shannon's sister and her husband, Bre and Danny gave as movie tickets and agreed to drive up to Logan and watch our kids. So tonight we cashed in on the gift and went out to see National Treasure 2. We give it our stamp of appoval it is a good sequel to the first one, so if you like the first you will probably like this one. In fact more movies should be like this, it was very entertaining to an adult audience, without all the garbage you usually have in movies these days, good job Disney.By the way, this was the first movie that we have seen in a theater in over a year, so that was a lot of fun. It's not that we don't want to go, just with two girls, if we do get a night away we usually can't waste it on an indulgence like a movie. It was nice to get out and not have to worry... Thanks Bre and Danny

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted here. Time is certainly flying by! The biggest thing that has happened since my last post is that our beloved Prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley passed away last night. He was 97 years old and has been prophet for 13 years. It's quite a shock. It's hard to believe that he is gone. He's been the prophet for my entire adult life, the prophet I have looked to the most. He had an amazing life and will surely be missed. I am sure he is happy to be reunited with his beloved wife, Marjorie. And although it is a somber time, it is not a sad time.



This past week we were busy with work and school for Chad, and the kids for me. Lexi seems to change more and more every day and I think she is finally excited about getting up and going. She is still not moving around, although she seems more interested in it. She has just become so animated about things and really lets you know if she wants something, if she's happy or not, etc. And she absolutely loves it when Myra plays with her. I'm sure it's her favorite thing. Myra was excited this past week to see both her Grandparents in Sandy and her Grandad from Florida. We went to Sandy to go to a presentation given by Kent's boss last Wednesday while my wonderful brother-in-law and sister got to babysit the rugrats. We stayed overnight, but headed home early. Myra was excited that day to go down and see her Grandparents. She told me that we had better hurry or they would turn into witches.? I think she got that idea off of Cinderella or something. Also on Wednesday, Myra got to go play at McDonalds with her friend Camille. She really loved that. On Saturday, Kent came up to visit us before heading back to Florida. We went bowling with Myra. Her attention span lasted through one game, then she found it more fun to slide around on the bowling lane area on her tummy. Another funny thing Myra said this week was at church on Sunday. After spotting her friend, Camille, wearing a white dress, she turned to me and excitedly exclaimed, "Mama, Camille got married." She's so funny. Anyway, a pretty low-key week.

I haven't posted for a while since we have been out of town. As Chad stated in his previous blog, he was in Colorado for a Grasshopper convention. I'm so proud of all the work and research he has been doing for school. He has been so busy, but I think it will really pay off when he graduates this year.
While Chad was gone, I stayed with my parents in Sandy. It was nice to visit with them for a few days. And since Bre and Danny are living with them for a little while, it was especially nice to get to spend some extra time with them too. Myra adored all of the attention she received while we were there. She is so spoiled!

I was happy to get Chad home. I miss him so much when he is gone, even if it's for only a couple of days. Now that we are back though, he's going to be even busier as he gets more involved in working on his thesis. I've continued to be busy with my business also. To date, I've sold 41 items this month alone! Crazy, eh? The kids keep me the busiest though. Alexys has really come to life lately. She is very interested in things, especially Myra and she rolls over all the time and really loves sitting up and looking around. She's still a very content good baby though. I've been so spoiled with her. And the best news lately is that Myra is "unofficially" potty-trained. I say unofficially because I'm still putting her in diapers at night and every once in a while, she doesn't quite make it to the toilet, but she's wearing big girl underwear all the time during the day and she voluntarily goes potty by herself. I hope this doesn't gross anyone out, but I thought this was funny, so I'm going to share it. Last week at my parents house, My mom and I were up in the kitchen and we thought Myra was down watching a movie. Suddenly she runs upstairs and she's very excited. She exclaims, "Mama, I pooped! I can't believe it!" And sure enough, she'd done it with no help! It's a relief to be at this stage with her. I like not having to change two sets of diapers! And Myra has also found wearing big-girl undies a lot of fun.

We've started our callings in our new ward now. Chad taught his first Gospel Doctrine lesson and I played the piano for the ward choir in Sacrament meeting today. It's strange having the ward so different, but change is good and we are looking forward to meeting many new people.

National Grasshopper Management Board

I just got back from Colorado Thursday night. I went with my boss to the National Grasshopper Management Board. I know that most people are not even aware that there is a National Grasshopper board, but let me assure you there is. We went to present the research that I have been doing over the last 2 years, which involves developing a biological control agent (fungus) that can be used as an alternative to the current chemical pesticides. Lots of areas that can't use chemicals would benefit from this, like organic farms, near water ways, and anywhere there are endangered plants or animals. Anyway the meeting went really well, we gave two presentations over the 3 days and there was a very positive response and a lot of interest in what we are doing. I really enjoyed it. I also got to see one of my old friends from Colorado, Nathan Smith, that was good, I wish that I had had more time to go and visit around town, but we were working on our presentation during most of our free time. Here is the cover of the program from the meeting. (The funny thing is that the insect on the cover is not even a grasshopper, it is a katydid, and not really a pest.)

Potty Training and Hermit Crabs

A new year has begun and it has kept us busy so far. I had my birthday on January 1st. It was great having my parents, Breanne and Danny come up to celebrate with me. Chad was so sweet throughout the day, taking care of the kids, making me breakfast, and making me wait to open my presents. He gave me tickets to the Matchbox 20 concert in March and a couple of Hermit Crabs, which Myra named Spike and Sara(she's really into the Land before time movies.) Spike is very active and will crawl all over the place, including on me. Sara is pretty shy, only coming out at night. We've enjoyed watching them. Here's a video of Nena, and the interest she has shown for the crabs.

We've also been working on Potty training Myra. I sometimes wonder if she will ever be completely potty-trained. For the most part, she's been doing really well, very few accidents, but I think she's just lazy about it. Anyway, it has made for some interesting outfits on her part, not to mention a lot of running around naked. She quite the exhibitionist.
Lexi is now sitting up really well on her own and the past couple of days has finally started rolling all over the place. She has also started showing more interest in solid foods. She loves oatmeal and peas, but was pretty disgusted with the peaches. I'm embarrassed about the mess on our bed when I took this picture, but Lexi just looked so cute.
Chad started school again. He only has one class, but he is also auditing 2 other classes. He is going to Colorado for a convention next week and has been really busy putting together some presentations for his boss to give. I've been really busy with my business this month so far. I've sold 27 items in the past 9 days. I hope it continues this well for me. Chad's hoping I'll become so busy he can quit school while I work. I'm also going to start doing taxes again this tax season. Probably only once or twice a week, but it'll be enough for me to brush up on my tax knowledge. This past Sunday, our stake held a meeting where they readjusted all ward boundaries. Our ward and another ward was basically combined, then a couple of big chunks were taken out and placed in a different ward. Then, all callings were released and a new bishop was called. Pretty crazy! It'll be interesting to see how it goes. We are sad about several of our friends that won't be in our ward anymore, but we have plans to still do things with them. And it will be good to meet new people. Chad and I both received callings last night, but since we have been sustained and set apart, they're a secret. :-) And the final thing, it's been snowing like crazy here the past few days. Myra loves it. Whenever we go anywhere, she wears her boots and stomps through the snow. She was especially excited about someone shoveling the snow in front of our house. She couldn't believe they would shovel a path for her. It's so fun having a two-year-old around. Life is so exciting through her eyes.

My first Digital Video

We got a new Digital Camcorder for work, and I took it home to try to learn how to use it. Here is my first video- enjoy