This is the whole family (with the exception, of course, of Steven who is in Brazil for at least another year), at Lori's wedding, 11/25/06. l to r: My sister Jaime (18), sister Denise (25), my parents, Gary & Terri, brother Mitchell (15), sister Shauna (23), Christopher (17 months), Myself, and hubby Joel is in the back.

Snowed in!!

Well, it's almost Christmas, and we've been snowed in for 2 1/2 days. My dad just finally came to shovel out my car, but I still haven't attempted to drive. We've accumulated over 2 feet of snow since the storm started Wednesday. People are stuck here who don't want to be here and others can't get here. Denver International Airport was closed for 2 full days. It's a little crazy : )

Christopher and I have been getting a little stir-crazy. Joel came home from work early Wednesday and stayed home yesterday, but they had to open the bank this morning. We've gotten a lot of cleaning done and I colored my own hair : ). We have yet to even start our Christmas shopping, and I'm sure everyone in the metro area is at least behind, so the next couple of days should be fun : ).

December was very busy for our family business, as usual. Christopher has spent a lot of time with baby-sitters. I got called as the Beehive Advisor at church just at the beginning of December and am enjoying getting reacquainted with the Young Women Program. Joel got a promotion and, therefore, transfer almost 2 months ago and tho he doesn't love the hours, seems to be doing well there.

Last month our big project was my cousin Lori's wedding. She got married out here the weekend after Thanksgiving, so we had around 40 people for Thanksgiving and then put on a wedding. Hopefully I'll be posting pictures of that soon.

We hope everyone is happy, healthy and having a great holiday season!

no more baseball

Well, baseball season is over which means I am looking for a job. Joel is up for a promotion so I'm waiting to see what happens with that. I would really like to be able to go back to the Rockies next year, but we'll see. I would also really like to get going building a hair clientele. I just have to make sure I can pay for care for Christopher and still make money.

The end of the season was sad, because the Rox had started off so well and then plummeted after the All-Star Break; but still fun because I love most of the people there. They had an end-of-the-season party for employees and their families last Sunday. It was fun because they let us down on the field. I had only been on the outfield before, but they were letting the kids run the bases, so we took C down. He scampered off the grass (he still hates it) and hung out around 1st base most of the time, so we decided he's a firstbaseman. He was mostly just playing with the dirt (it's a lot harder than I thought it would be, like big gravel. I feel bad for all of the infielders who dive for catches on that stuff!), but then he ate a little bit. Most mom's would probably be disgusted, but I just thought "Cool, my son has a piece of a major league ballpark in him". I guess I'm a little weird.

We're settling into the new house and we love it. I'm already looking forward to redecorating and doing some projects, but it's going to be a little bit before we have money for that.

I'll post some pics soon!

1st birthdays, 1st time homebuyers

Well, as you can see from the pictures, we had Christopher's 1st birthday party. I can't believe it's been a year! We had a Blue's Clues party, Jaime's friend Meggie did a great job with the cake. We had it at my parents and Rick& Kathy(my uncle and aunt), Jenny (my cousin), Carol (my cousin), her two boys, Eilio & Kyrelle, Lorae (close family friend), her 2 kids Lily and Jo-Jo, Joel's parents, Joel's Nana, and of course my family were all there. When we wanted C to blow out the candle (I thought he might at least try because he blows on food to cool it down), or dig into the cake; instead he grabbed the flame of the candle, but wasn't really hurt. Just a little scared of the cake after that! He got a bunch of presents, so we have tons of toys around the house, but that's ok, because we're about to have much more space for that kind of stuff. More about that later.....

We had a nice visit with Joel's parents, who were here from Florida; and his Nana, who came for a couple of days from Utah. Christopher got used to a LOT of Grandparent lovin' really quickly! I think we'll be undoing that for a while : )

So, we are entering into buying our first home. We are actually doing a lease option for a year, so we're not quite buying yet, but we're pretty sure this is the place where we're going to live for a few years. We can get at least 2 more kids in there. It's a condominium a little south of where we live now. We're buying it from a couple in our ward, and they've done some great things to it. Hardwood floors, custom cabinets, new appliances, etc. We didn't expect to be moving so soon, but the opportunity arose, so here we go! We're very excited, and a little stressed, but I think it will be great.

I think that's it for now. As always, we hope everyone is doing well!

Recent Pictures!

This is when he stood on his own for the first time, It was turned right-side up, I swear!








Riding Lightning McQueen, a birthday present, and eating the little car phone that came with it.







Look, I do exist! (I just don't like to be photographed : )) Shauna made his "I love Kelly Clarkson" shirt. Surprise.







Right after this is when he grabbed the flame of the candle! Ouch!




Yay for presents!

July, 1st birthday

I can't believe what a slacker I've been. We have been pretty busy, but over a months is horrible!

Well, it's getting toward the end of July and close to Christopher's 1st birthday. It does NOT seem like it's been a year. He's so much fun right now. He's still got just those 2 middle bottom teeth, and he loves to play with them and see what thy do. He finally has a significant amount of hair on that little head, too. He's taking a couple of steps and seems pretty controlled balance-wise, but usually decides that crawling is a faster route. And he IS really fast on all fours. Except when he tries to hold things in both hands and go somewhere. He knows "nose" "ears" and sometimes "mouth". He LOVES "Patty-Cake" (some of the adults are getting pretty sick of it : ) ), and we've starting switching it up with "Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree". He'll also throw up his hands and say "Woo-Hoo!" (Shauna taught him that, it's a Kelly Clarkson thing). I have to get a picture of him scrunching up his nose too, it's so cute.

I haven't been as good at taking pictures. I have a few, but I think I'll wait until this weekend and get some birthday pictures up too. We're going to have a little party for him at my parents this coming Sunday (the 23rd), since the day after that I have quite a few games in a row. Joel's parents arrive this Thursday and will be here for 10 days, so we should have lots of fun.

Oh yeah, Joel and I are pretty good too : ). We're still considering buying a house or condo this October, but are also considering just cutting back on our rent for a while to save more. We'll see what happens. Joel's doing well at FirstBank, and my 2nd season with the Rockies is half over. We've also been working events for Local Affairs and I still do quite a bit of hair. So, with all of that and church stuff, we stay vary busy! Hope everyone else is doing well!

Ramblings.....

Well, there's not too much going on. I have an almost 2 week break from my job with the Rockies, and I will be going back to a new (hopefully not micro-) manager for my cleaning crew. It's been a lot more stressful this year. I haven't gotten to just sit and watch the game quite as much as I'd like to! So, this week C and I have been taking it pretty easy. Next week, we have to wake up early to baby-sit most of the week.

C is doing awesome. He's all over the place. I usually don't have to worry too much about him, because wherever I go, he follows me : ). He pulls himself up on furniture and does what they call "cruising" (moving around on his feet while holding on to something) and will occasionally let go and balance for a few seconds. Walking is iminent and I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it! He's getting pretty good about going to bed, whether it be for naps or the whole night. He's drinking regular milk most of the time now. We just nurse in the morning and at night and occasionally mid-day. He's been to more major league baseball games than most adults I know, and everyone at the ballpark loves him. His bottom two middle teeth are poking through but seem to be taking forever to grow in. But most importantly, he's healthy and that makes us happy.

Joel spent most of his day off cleaning the nursery/office that has had boxes in it since we moved to this apartment last October. I helped, but Joel did the majority and it looks great. So, now C can play in the room and he loves it! We were concerned he might start confusing the crib too much because during the day we put toys in for him to play with. We want to make sure he knows his crib is always for sleeping.

Last week Jaime graduated from high school, and after 3 graduations ceremonies just this year, I'm excited that we're done for a while.

Well, I think it's nap time, so we will go put that crib to use! Later!