I found my toes....

Lately Graham has been fascinated with his feet! I love it. The minute I lay him down to change him his legs go straight up and he starts grabbing at them with a big grin on his face. Today was a new discovery as he sat in his bumbo and looked down and saw his feet. I'm continually amazed at how quickly these babies grow and progress. He also loves to touch my face now and put his hands in my mouth. 

Rice Cereal or Birthday Cake...

What would you choose? I decided to start Graham on solids. He's working on the actual coordination of eating instead of sucking! :) He seems to like it though so that is good. I can't really ever imagine Graham turning down food. 

However I think he is ready to skip solids all together...he was enthralled with OJ's birthday cake...I mean who wouldn't be, it was delicious!

President Hinckley

The world lost a beloved man last night. My first reaction was sadness but I am so glad that he is reunited with his sweetheart. He lost a part of his spark when he lost her. President Hinckley became the prophet when I was 13 years old. I feel like an era of my life is over with his passing.

In his honor I would like to share my favorite memory of him...

When I was at BYU-Idaho he came up to dedicate a building. All of the buildings were packed to hear him speak. I didn't have the energy to fight the crowds to get into the place where he would actually be so instead I went into another building on campus and sought a seat by myself where it would be broadcast. He began his talk with facts about BYU-Idaho, joked about taking away BYU's sports program too if football didn't shape up (it was a bad season :) he was funny and witty as usual. He then continued  in all seriousness to tell us how much he loved us. Although I had heard it before, I remember that this time was different. He said he loved us and then his emotions overtook him and he was quiet for several minutes as he cried at the pulpit. Finally when he could speak again he repeated in a cracked voice, "I love you". He continued on to tell us why but it is that moment that I will remember forever. Perhaps it was so memorable because of the time of life  it was for me and the things I was going through.  It could have been that he expressed exactly what we all felt for him. Whatever the reason my heart swelled and I shed silent tears as I felt we were face to face and he was telling only me. 

I love this man! He will be greatly missed but is in a far better place.

Happy Birthday Owen J.

Today is OJ's Birthday. 

26 years old. 

Here are some things that you may or may not know about Owen

1. he is an excellent daddy. he bathes graham every night and gets up and takes a feeding every night. he always makes time to sit down and play and interact with graham. sometimes I think he has better motherly instincts than I do! :)

2. he LOVES being outside. his favorites are cycling and his new love kite skiing. however, he also enjoys...hiking, skiing (snow and water), rock climbing, snow shoeing, and scuba diving. he has a really hard time choosing just a couple things to be passionate about. recently he has just discovered kite skiing and he is in love. guaranteed if you have a conversation with him it will come up at some point and he will try to convince you to try it.

3. he is the most selfless person I know. he would give the shirt off his back to anyone...whether they needed it or not. i am constantly amazed at how willing he is to help without a second thought. it could be a member of his family or a stranger on the street.

4. owen is the most ORGANIZED and CLEAN person i know. (he got that from his mom...thanks Coz)

5. he is so intelligent! he graduated in mechanical engineering. he would go to school for the rest of his life if he could. he loves to learn. when he was in school he would try to talk to me about his classes. i was lost quickly, but always enthralled with how his eyes would light up as he talked about his engineering classes.

6. oj is an inventor. he is always coming up with new ideas. if something doesn't exist...don't worry he will just make it.

7. he loves to fix/put things together. half the fun of buying new things is the thrill of putting it together. he seriously gets so excited.

8. owen loves apples/macs. he and his brother alex go on and on about apple and how great they are and discuss in depth each new product.

9. he likes to dance...he took a tap class in college just b/c he had always wanted to learn how. he would faithfully practice in our kitchen every night. i have to admit, he got pretty good. he is always asking me to teach him how to dance. while i was pregnant and teaching social dance i would teach oj the steps...he especially enjoyed swing...for awhile he would ask me every night if we could swing.

10. he LOVES to play with his nieces and nephews. one night after eating dinner in Sandy and watching them all dance he decided to come home and compile some of my songs on his IPOD so that next time they would have more songs to dance with. i'm not kidding you...he sat down for 30-40 minutes to go through the music.

11. he LOVES being with family. he always tells me how he wishes he could hang out more with our siblings and their spouses.

12. he loves the Lord. he is constantly looking for ways to improve himself. he is such a good man with a strong testimony of the gospel. through his good example he inspires many to be better. i'm so grateful to have him as my best friend and husband.

I love you OJ...HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Skyline Utah

Its official the kite has been out. Last Saturday Jason and I went to Skyline which is about 15 minutes east of Fairview. The blue sky and sunshine made a perfect day for kite skiing. The wind at skyline is constant with a lot of open areas to ski. I was amazed an how easy it was to fly. You can go up hills, others were flying down the hill, I was just trying to get the hang of it without flying. Flying is going to happen next time. Skyline is quite the kiting haven. There were sledders, snowmobilers, and other kiters, but plenty of area for all. Besides us there were two other kiters out of 8 or so up there that were spreading their wings for the first time. Needless to say I'm hooked on this sport. It is a lot of fun and I would recommend it to anyone. I think this sport is only going to get more popular as the equipment becomes more and more affordable. 

A little of this...a little of that.

Yes, it is possible to have ROLLS around your ankles!

He loves sitting in this exersaucer. He will spin and chew on all his toys and babble on and on. Its nice so I can get some things done.

I woke up this morning to clogged milk ducts...AWESOME! Breastfeeding has been such a pleasant experience so far so this was not good news. I was worried that it would turn into mastitis (sp?) So I have been doing all the preventative measures to make sure that it doesn't. It worked! I am clog-free! But really it's not the most pleasant experience, can't imagine what mastitis is like...I hope I never find out. So to all you mom's out there who suffer silently...i'm sorry. I swear one day I am going to write a book about all the CRAPPY things that happen to your body when you get pregnant and have a baby. Don't get me wrong...I love being Graham's mom. But I was not prepared for the painful, painful things my body would go through. Mom's- to- be deserve to know! :)

So Graham has been getting into the habit of waking up about 2-3 hours after I feed him at night. So we decided to let him cry it out. I figured he is a healthy boy and can go 8 hours so lets not let this habit become too comfortable. So Friday night I got my IPOD ready....I fed him at 11:00pm and at 2:00AM I hear the crying start. OJ went in to check on him and then we just let him cry. I listened to Carpenters for 1 1/2 before he finally fell asleep. I figured that was the worst part and it could only get better....So Saturday night...same thing....he wakes up at 2:00AM we check on him, he's fine. Well by 4:00AM he is still crying...AHHHHH...I didn't know what to do...well come to find out he had pooped....I felt so bad just making him scream in his poop. Well he finally fell asleep and woke up at 7:00AM with church at 9:00AM. WOOHOO! Gotta love nights like this. Sunday night I was prepared for torture again...I was pleasantly suprised...he fell asleep at 6:45 PM and didn't wake up until 1:30AM then he woke up at 4:30AM and slept until 7:00AM. I'm not holding my breath...we will see how it goes tonight, but it was nice to get some sleep even if I did wake up with clogged milk ducts!

Graham's 4 month check up

Well its official...my baby is huge! And I love it! He is weighing in at 18.2 lbs and 26.5 inches. I thought he was slowing down but I guess not. He is also teething which explains the endless amounts of drool and the need to chew/suck on anything that he can get his hands onto. This also means that we can let him go 8 hours at night! If only he would go that long...oh well at least I know that he can! He only cried for a minute when he got his shots. A huge improvement from last time. 

Last night I went to see my friend's new baby. He is so tiny and sweet! I don't think I realize how big Graham is until I see other babies. I don't think he was ever a newborn. Oh well, I love his chubbiness.

He is just getting so fun. He will babble on with squeals here and there...and then there is the giggle...oh I just love it. This morning I did Taebo and OJ did it with me to motivate me to get out of bed and do it. We must have looked pretty silly because Graham would just sit and giggle at us.

Graham's Room

When I was showing our finished apartment I never put up pictures of Graham's room. Here it is. I'll be sad when we move and have to leave all of our hard work :)

A Fish born on land!!

Sorry for the awkwardness of the picture, I had to take it with my computer since OJ has the camera. Look at those rolls! I love it!

I know I've posted about this before but Graham LOVES having a bath. He can be screaming his head off and the minute I put him in the bath all crying ceases and he is all smiles. I wonder how long he would last in there...I don't know that he would ever get sick of it!

I don't need to bath him every night.  I do it anyway just because I know he loves it.  Plus I think it helps him know it is bed time because every time I take him out he starts this little fake cry. Its pretty funny.

By the way OJ found an earlier flight and will be home on Sunday!! WAHOOO!!

OH SWEET SADIE!

If you weren't able to make it to the Christmas boutique make sure you check out this one! 

OH SWEET SADIE! It will be February 8th and 9th.

Check out the website...www.ohsweetsadie.com....to see what vendors will be there.

HONG KONG

I guess I just assumed that everyone knew of our plan to move to Hong Kong...for those of you who were asking questions...here is the scoop.

The company that OJ works for in Springville also has a plant in China. So the plan is...OJ will get his Masters at Hong Kong University in Engineering and that program is a year then he will work for his company in China for another couple of years. School starts September 1st so we will be leaving in the middle of August. We will be living in Hong Kong the whole time we are there since we need to be by nice medical facilities for Graham. For those of you who don't know OJ served his mission in Hong Kong so he is super excited. I am as well...probably just a little more nervous than he is! It will definitely be an adventure that's for sure. By the time we move we will have been in Provo for 4 years so we feel like we are ready to move on to a new stage in our lives. :)

And by the way...anyone is welcome to come and visit!

Survival MODE...

Yes the survival mode has switched on once again. OJ has only been in China for 4 days and I am DONE being a single parent. I've had lots of help from our families which I have appreciated so much but I am ready for OJ to come home. He is such a good dad and husband, he is so great about helping with EVERYTHING. Graham's sleeping has gotten worse and worse since he left. Last night it was about every 1 1/2 -2 hours that he woke up. AHHHHHH. I haven't slept at all today and i am so LOOPY. My body is just craving sleep. In fact, Graham just went down for the night (cross your fingers).... so I think I will go to bed too. One more week to go and OJ will be HOME!!

By the way he went to Hong Kong for church on Sunday and made some really great contacts to help us find a good place to live when we move next summer. That makes me feel better.

Anyway...goodnight!

The finished product...

Here are some pictures of the finished product with carpet and tile! It is so nice to have CLEAN carpet!

Christmas!!

        

Whew, I feel like it is too late to blog about Christmas since it is already January 5th. All the blogs I look at have had Christmas posts for days... :) At least I changed my template...right?

We had a nice Christmas this year. Christmas eve was spent at the Carlson's with Tyler and Jenni and their girls as well as Alex, Barney, and Cozette. We had a delicious dinner and then the kids opened pj's from Grandma and Grandpa. After Graham went down for the night we went down to the Hastings to see the kids nativity and to open some pj's then we came back to Carlson's to play some games. (good thing our parents live close to each other!)

Christmas morning we woke up and went to the Hastings and opened presents  and had some yummy breakfast casserole (only served on Christmas Day, which probably is what makes it so yummy!) Then we went back to Carlson's to open some more presents, eat lunch,  and play some guitar hero. It was a fun day and nice to just hang out with our families. Who knows if we will be able to come back next Christmas so it was nice to take advantage of being so close to both our families.

Just wanted to let everyone know....

that we are alive....I haven't posted anything forever. We had a great Christmas and New Year's. Now we are just running around trying to get OJ ready to leave for China in the morning. So, pictures are coming...I bet you all can't wait! :)