Here's the Deal...

Quick Update on James' new things

2010-03-06T18:04:00.000-08:00

James has been able to watch Paul ride his stationery bike a few times and has decided that if Dad can do it, he can do it too. It's hilarious to watch him sit on the handlebars, moving his legs and feet as fast as they will go and then see him look up with a thrilled look on his face as if to say "I can do it too! Aren't I amazing?!"

The other thing that James has really begun to love is watching different things on the T.V. He's still very selective about what he will site through. Most Disney movies are too long, but he does really well with the shows that are only about 1/2 hour long. You can see how intense he is when he really gets into a show, though. He's watching a Disney's Sing-a-Long video right here, and while he doesn't sing along, he very much enjoys the music.

New Songs

2010-02-10T18:50:00.000-08:00

Shhhh, quiet

2010-01-27T21:15:00.000-08:00

I'm back on the Radar

2010-01-10T14:31:00.000-08:00

I have not updated this blog in a while because my camera has been on the fritz and I haven't had pictures. I finally figured out the problem an dam now rectifying the situation. So here are all the pictures dating back from a month or so ago when I went back to VA to see Paul.

My pictures go from most recent to oldest, so sorry for the confusion. This first picture is a current picture of James. He really only gets his hair done on Sunday for Church (even though I would like it to be an everyday occurrence but usually when I finish, he decides he's going to style it his own way...)

James and I had an excellent time visiting Paul and seeing all the sights in Washington D.C. It was a little sureeal to be at all the landmarks that you see in so many movies. We were even lucky enough to see Air Force One (the helicopter, not the plane) taking off a few times coming from the White House.

This is a picture inside the Smithsonian Museum of American History. It was James' favorite display because there was an entire Semi-truck there. How cool is that?!

Paul and I decided that because of my morning sickness (well I guess I decided it) we wouldn't walk the extra couple of blocks to walk right in front of the White House, so this is the closest picture we have (you can see it in the distance off to the right of Paul).

I was pretty proud of Paul for squatting low enough and doing a sort of Cirque du Soleil move to get the whole Washington Monument in this picture.

Paul and James in front of the Jefferson Memorial. James is obviously very happy to be with Daddy again.

Me and James in front of the Jefferson Memorial...James is obviously less excited to be there with me.

This is a video of James doing somersaults. (It's kind of loud, so you may want to turn it down).

This is a video of James discovering my mother in-law's dog's door. I didn't show him this either.

Big News

2009-12-26T12:28:00.000-08:00

So as you all know, we are pregnant with Twins. My brother in-law is an ultrasound technician, so for Paul's Christmas present, I had Norm (by bro in-law) give me an ultrasound today so we could find out the gender of our babies. And I am excited to announce (I would have been excited no matter what we were having) that we are having TWIN GIRLS!

My little Reader

2009-12-15T08:50:00.001-08:00

Paul and I have made a concerted effort to keep James interested in books since he was really little because we want him to not just be a couch potato, but to really love learning and discovering new things. I've wondered at times if he just endures our reading times, but on Sunday I was getting ready for Church and walked into my closet to find this.

Needless to say, I was pretty excited that he would sit and read a book by himself (even if it was just a book that was mainly just stickers).

What is there to do in Utah?

2009-12-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

James and I have had fun over the last few days discovering (and rediscovering for me) Utah. While we haven't gone skiing or even gone up Provo Canyon, it's been fun to get settled and remember how life was when Paul and I lived here. Though James doesn't appreciate it, we drove by our old apartment and past some of the things Paul and I did when we dated. It was fun for me.

On the other hand, James has found lots to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mavis (my mother in-law) has some of the neatest things in her house and James has discovered that this is his favorite decoration. It is as soft and fluffy as it looks. James loves to just lay down when I'm changing him from pj's to clothes and clothes to pj's (cause he's mostly naked) and wiggle back and forth to feel how soft it is.

Another fun spot in Grandma's house is the truck that James can ride. He hasn't quite got the hang of moving himself around, so he moves really slow, but he loves that it's a truck and that it's his.

Grandma took James to the train at the mall today and let him ride. You should have seen his face when he saw it! I have never seen him looked that excited and he was literally dancing as he waited his turn to get on.

Update

2009-12-07T19:17:00.000-08:00

Yikes! So it has been way to long since I posted anything on this blog, but I do want you all to know that it is for very good reasons...

First, James and I had the wonderful opportunity to go visit Paul for three weeks in Virginia and I had no internet access there. But it was so great to be able to see Paul again! I did have to live in a hotel for three weeks which isn't the most fun thing in the world (just in case you were wondering) and weeknights Paul couldn't sleep with us--we could just see him for an hour or so on those nights--but weekends and Thanksgiving were awesome! Each weekend, we got him all to ourselves from about 6pm Friday to 9pm Sunday. It may not sound like much, but after 7 weeks apart, it was wonderful. We were able to drive into Washington D.C. several times to see different sites and go to the Smithsonian Museums. Well, we didn't make it to all of them, just four and we had to really keep a good pace through them to keep James happy. Why don't little kids like staring at old artifacts and reading the little placard next to it that describes what it is? Geesh, kids! Just joking, really he did quite well for how crazy busy the museums were and how small some of the things we looked at were. We visited the Jefferson Memorial, the Washington Memorial, saw the White House, the Capitol Building and the Pentagon, but unfortunately I can't post any of the pictures of it because I don't currently have the USB for my camera.

Anyhow, the second reason for the delay is that I am pregnant...with twins! That's right, I went in for my first appointment and they (luckily) did an ultrasound and the technician said, "Okay, there's the baby...and there's another baby" and had I not been able to see it clearly myself, I wouldn't have believed her. So needless to say, I am extra tired all the time and just trying to keep up with James has been quite the experience. I go in for my next appointment on Thursday, so hopefully I'll have more fun news then.

The third reason I haven't posted in a long time is that I have been traveling alot since coming back from Washington. As of yesterday, I'm finally settled at my in-laws house for the next little while in Provo. So hopefully I'll be able to post more often and get my hands on a camera so that I can post pictures of what we're doing.

Sorry this has been so much to read, but I guess since I haven't written in a while, this is pretty concise...

Long Time

2009-10-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

I feel bad that it has been so long since I have posted anything on this blog. Unfortunately, this one is not being updated much right now because I have created a blog for just Paul so that he can see all the little things that James is doing everyday and I don't want to overload this one with things that will only be interesting to Paul and me. But in an effort to let everyone know what is going on in my life, I will try to post something at least once a week.

James and I are currently living at my parents' house in Rexburg, ID. While it is substantially colder than we are used to, James has taken to it like fish to water and loves going outside as much as possible, especially if Grandpa is using his backhoe. James' absolutely favorite thing to do, though, is to wait with the kids at the bus stop in the morning. Seriously the first words out of his mouth each morning are Savanah (my little sister) and bus because he loves to wait with her at her bus stop.

James likes to go for walks because the blocks around here are huge and we can go on a 4-mile walk around just one block. Plus we see horses, roosters, cows and dogs.

So in a short little blip, that's what we have been up to.

Randomness

2009-10-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

I don't know how these two things could possibly fit together, but they happened one right after the other, so I thought it fitting that they should go in the same blog together. I know I'm biased because he's my son, but isn't it so cute?

My sister is doing the face-painting booth for her son's school, so we were her guinea pigs today. This first picture is of a witch's hat, a wand and some magic.

This is a ghost.

This is a bat.

Snowflake

2009-09-30T17:07:00.000-07:00

Many of you may think that I have died, or maybe just fallen off the side of the earth (or taken by aliens) but I've really just been pretty busy here in Snowflake. I know that may sound like a contradiction, but you'd be surprised at the many goings-on of a small town. To make a small list, I've been to a "Read under the Stars "(it is exactly what it sounds like), a soccer practice for Maeser, a soccer game for Maeser (can I just say how funny it is to watch little kids play sports), I've been to Show Low once (that's where the nearest WalMart is and I just couldn't bring myself to pay the exorbitant prices for diapers here in Snowflake), James has been sick three days this week with a fever and the only thing he wanted to do was hang out on my lap all day, my sister and I go walking for 3.5 miles everyday, I have run 3 times and I've been to the temple. Okay, I'm going to stop the list now because it's boring me to write it. But James and I have been having fun here. James is making huge strides in his ability to talk. Most of the time I still haven't the foggiest idea what he's saying, but every once in a while, he uses a new word and I know what he's talking about. Here are pictures of things James has done to keep himself busy. Enjoy!

Packing, Policeman and Primary Songs

2009-09-23T19:12:00.000-07:00

As you all know, Paul was accepted into the DEA Academy and left on Friday. His first few hours in D.C. were a little frustrating as he attempted to get to the hotel he was staying at that night. With my map reading skills and Paul's ability to follow my directions, we spanned the several thousand mile gap between us and got him to his hotel. Saturday, he checked into the Academy and this strange new experience really began. But back in Tucson, it was a little stressful on my own end as I packed the rest of our things and moved out of our apartment. Luckily I had some ward members and some very special friends, Troy and Eevi--and theirbaby, Saku--who saved me and truly were angels as they moved my stuff, helped me clean and enabled me to keep my sanity as I tried to make the move without Paul. I got on the road at about 4:00pm to go to my sister's in Snowflake.

On the way, I experienced something I've only experienced once before: I was pulled over by a policeman. Unfortunately for me, I was speeding 20 over in a work zone. But lest you think I am a terrible driver, here are the facts and you can judge for yourself whether a simple warning was justified, or whether I deserved a ticket. First of all, I thought the speed limit was 10 higher than it actually was (it was 30 and I thought it was 40). Second, I had just started down a steep hill, and so I was picking up the initial speed that you get right as you begin to put on the brakes. Third, James had just woken up and was throwing a royal fit (which, lucky for me, the policeman witnessed first-hand). And finally, I didn't try to make any excuses or beg him not to give me a ticket. I knew that I was in the wrong--sort of--and that it was what it was. Fortunately, the policeman had compassion on a stressed mother (he even noted that it looked as if we were moving and must have known the stress I was dealing with that alone) and let me off with just a warning. Luckily, nothing else happened and I made it to Snowflake with no further incident. And now I've enjoyed several relatively stress-free days in a row, thanks to my sister, Jeanette, her husband, Rhett, and her boys, Kade and Maeser.

As a side note, Paul and I have been singing to James a lot (well, I guess it's just me now) and this video is of James helping to sing his favorite Primary song: I am a child of God. We're still working on the rest of the song, but I'm happy that he is at least recognizing songs enough to know some words.

A New Job

2009-09-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

I am excited to let you all know that Paul just got offered the job with the DEA that we have been working towards for over a year now. He will begin the Academy on September 19 and will be there until February 6, 2010. Although this is going to be a long and arduous journey for our family, I believe we are doing the best thing ultimately for our family and that we will come out the better for it. I'm still not sure what I will be doing during these months. For the first month, Paul will not be able to leave the Marine Base where his training will take place. And then after that, he will only be able to leave on the weekends. This poses a dilemma for which we don't quite have an answer yet. Do I move back to D.C. and hope that we will be able to see him most weekends? Do I fly out several times during his stay there instead? How is James going to deal with all this change? These are questions that keep circling around and around in my head...I'm sure the answers will come to me. But I'm grateful for the peace that I feel because of the faith I have in a loving Heavenly Father and Savior who are always watching out for me and my family.

Building Blocks

2009-09-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

One of James' new favorite things is building with his blocks. I think the highest tower he's made is about 5 blocks, but he's getting better at placing the blocks so that they don't fall over. Here is one of his attempts. Is it obvious by his own clapping that we are quick to praise his every move? :)

Have you seen my keys?

2009-08-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

James has a new key fettish. Each morning, he looks for my purse and steals my keys so that he can go around the apartment and unlock all the cupboards and doors. Anything that looks like a keyhole, he is sure to put the key into. Luckily he's only tried to put the key into a socket once and we caught him before he could actually succeed. I think we scared him so much that he doesn't even want to try it again. I think the funniest place he's tried to "unlock" is his bellybutton.

Our California Adventures: Days 5 and 6

2009-08-20T10:41:00.001-07:00

Our Saturday was spent lounging around for most of the day and recovering from all the excitement and fun from the last four days. James went over and hung out with Aunt Jill and her kids while Mavis and I went to the Saturday Night session of Stake Conference. I was a little worried because he's never done very well with a baby sitter, but he loved being with his cousins so much that he didn't cry at all while I was gone. Sunday was a disaster at Stake Conference because James kept walking away or screaming at the top of his lungs or both. But we made it through and maybe he tired himself out screaming so much in Church that it enabled him to be good on both legs of our trip home on the plane. He was thrilled to see Paul again and he didn't want me to hold him for the rest of the night after we got home. Hurray for being home again! But thank you, Mavis, for giving us such a great trip out to California. It was so good to see you and hang out!

Our California Adventures: Day 4

2009-08-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

Another amazing day was planned for us in California. This time, we drove about 45 minutes north of Monterey to the city of Gilroy where we enjoyed an amusement park called Gilroy Gardens. It's set agains some beautiful hills and is full of all sorts of trees and flowers (hence the garden part of the name). Most of the rides are geared toward younger children and I wasn't sure how James was going to react to them because it was his first time on a ride by himself. This picture opitomizes how he felt about the first ride. I'll admit, it was a little fast and up-and-down to be his first ride. I guess I'll live and learn. Everyone who was waiting for their children had to laugh every time James came around because he was the only one not thoroughly enjoying himself/herself.

I decided to try one more ride and thank goodness our next attempt at an amusement park ride went much better. He has really fallen in love with fire trucks, so he enjoyed just going around and around in his own little fire truck. And I was grateful that the whole day wasn't filled with me trying to entertain James while my nieces and nephews went on the rides.

This was James' favorite ride by himself. It was pretty much the same as the fire truck ride except that you could turn the steering wheel and you would move closer to the middle and then further away.

James and I enjoyed riding the ferris wheel 3 times with my niece, Lily. She had fun going up and down and seeing the world from the top. It really was a beautiful view.

They had the biggest set of jungle gym equipment I've seen in a long time and James loved going up and down the stairs and across the bridge that moves and turning the x's and o's. Oh and did I mention that he loves to go down the slide and then climb back up it and then slide down. I tried my darndest to get him to go up the stairs and not the slide, but eventually I got tired of having to take him off of it. Lucky for me he really enjoyed a twin slide so if a child wanted to go down, there was always the one next to James that they could use. :)

I don't have a picture of it, but my sister in-law, Jill, and I went on the roller coaster 3 times. (We probably would have gone more, but they closed all the rides down for the day after our third time). It wasn't the most thrilling one I've ever been on (because it was geared for younger kids like 10-12 year olds) but it served its purpose of giving Jill and me a break from watching our kids for a few minutes. My mother in-law and Kaia were sweet enough to watch them while we let the kids in us out and whooped and hollered with our hands up in the air. :)

Our California Adventures: Day 3

2009-08-18T11:23:00.000-07:00

Grandma was pretty tired after two full days of fun and adventure, so we went to My Museum (a children's museum in Monterey) to give Grandma a bit of a break. James had oodles of fun running around the whole museum checking out all there was to see. He and his cousin Henry (as seen in the picture below) had fun doing this slide in the baby area.

There was an entire area devoted to produce where there was a "garden" with wood vegetables stuck in Styrofoam so that they could "pick" fruit and vegetables. James loved pulling up the carrots. :)

James and Henry loved playing in the grapes casket together where you can "stomp" grapes to make wine. They loved seeing how many pounds of grapes they had stomped.

During this trip, James has had the opportunity to learn how to go down slides better. I laughed so hard while I was taking this video of him.

Since he began to walk, James has loved going up and down stairs. I'm not sure what it is that he loves about it, but he could do it for hours. This was a great staircase for him to learn on because the banisters were perfectly spaced and just short enough for him to use.

Our California Adventures: Day 2

2009-08-18T11:01:00.000-07:00

Grandma had another awesome day planned for us at the Monterey County Fair. I was really excited that James was old enough to do the Pony Ride this year. Because we go and visit the horses here in Tucson, he was really excited when he saw them and he loved the whole ride. (Although he was distracted for a few moments by some balloons that were by the ride).

There was a kiddie spot where they had some fun things to build with and James loved to carry them around. (For those of you who remember Tinker Toys, they were exactly like that except bigger.)

The fair itself was pretty big and they had lots of big kid rides and little kids rides. The train ride was James' favorite!

My niece, Kaia, was there as well and she wanted to go on some of the big kid rides, but was a little afraid to go herself, so I rode some of those rides with her. It's been a long time since I have been on any carnival rides, so it was lots of fun for me too.

Our California Adventures: Day 1

2009-08-18T10:40:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday, my mother in-law called me and said, "I found a ticket for a great price from Tucson to San Jose tomorrow. How would you like to come and visit?" I said yes (of course) and James and I flew out Monday to California. We didn't get to Grandma's house until late in the evening, so we pretty much just rested an hour and then went to bed. Grandma had a wonderful day at the aquarium planned for Tuesday. I was a little worried about how James would like the aquarium, but he loved all the little kids areas they have there.

The otter exhibit was fun, but there were too many people there for James to see the actual otters, but he loved this kids' exhibit where you push the button and the otter goes around and around. He pushed it for seriously five minutes.

James was enthralled by the the little shrimp. I think his favorite exhibit was the sardines. The exhibit is up above your head in a dome and they just swim around and around. He LOVED them!
My personal favorite exhibit were these little...umm...actually I'm not sure what they are, but aren't they neat? They're like a mix between worms and eels.

We spent about 2-2 1/2 hours at the aquarium and as evidenced by the following picture, James was ready to go by the end. It was past his nap time and it was lunch time, so the fit was pretty understandable.

First Haircut

2009-08-07T12:39:00.000-07:00

James has always been a little challenged when it came to growing hair. He was born with a pretty good amount, but it soon fell out and it's taken until now for it to be long enough to cut. I didn't do an extensive haircut, but it was starting to look like a mullet in back, so I just trimmed it a little to help it have a more boy look.

Animal Sounds

2009-08-01T10:28:00.000-07:00

While waiting for Paul to come out of work one day, I was trying to get James to do all the animal sounds he knows. I didn't quite get them all because he was distracted by the people who were getting into their car in front of us, but here are a few of them. My personal favorite is the cat.

I'm on the Phone

2009-07-25T09:31:00.000-07:00

Being such a talker, I find that I'm on the phone with people several times a week having long conversations. James has really learned to loathe the phone because he knows that he doesn't get my full attention, even though I can still build with the blocks, look through books, help him stack the rings and all sorts of other things while still chatting away. The other day, I realized how much I really must be on the phone when I found James playing with my phone like this.

I guess it was inevitable that he would learn to use a cell phone at such a young age.

Picking up Sewing

2009-07-15T17:23:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day, Paul got me a sewing machine which I've wanted for a long time. I haven't had as much time to play with at as I would like, but I have begun a few projects and I was even able to finish this latest one. I don't know about everyone else, but I haven't been able to find an affordable diaper bag that has as many pockets as I would like, is the size I would like and has the right design. So my friend Eevi turned me on to this wonderful book of baby crafts from the library and I knew I had to make my dream diaper bag.

Don't you love the big flowers? And there are pockets on both ends on the outside as well that are perfect for a bottle or a sippy cup or a water bottle. The only thing that I wanted that it doesn't have is a snap to keep it a little bit more shut, but I'm really happy overall with how it turned out.

In Daddy's Footsteps

2009-07-15T11:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I decided that it was WAY too hot and that James and I needed to go swimming. Being the wonderful mom I am, I got James' swimsuit on first and then went to get into mine. He usually follows me around, trying to get me to hurry, but yesterday he decided he wanted to hang out by himself instead. Thankful for a moment to myself, I took my time getting my swimsuit on, putting my hair in a ponytail, getting my flip-flops on and slathering myself in sunscreen. After really relishing in my time alone, I realized that it had been several minutes since I'd last heard James. Like any good mother, alarms immediately started going off in my head. Silence means a mess. Silence means he's doing something he shouldn't be doing. Silence means he's probably standing on the kitchen table with a pair of scissors cutting his own hair!! Silence is NOT good!!!! Kicking myself mentally, I knew I had to sneak up on him otherwise if I freak out, he'll start freaking out and hurt himself even more. Quietly I made my way around the corner and saw him doing this. Lucky for me, the camera was close by. These moments are so precious and I'm grateful that this was one of those good quiet moments spent in learning and exploring not in pain and destruction.

Hunter Family Reunion

2009-07-07T14:16:00.000-07:00

During the week just prior to the 4th of July, I was able to go to my family reunion in Snowflake, AZ. Because there are eleven of us kids, it's hard for all of us to get together more than just once a year. In an effort to make sure it is at least once a year, we've begun having an annual Hunter Family reunion. Each year, a different family member is in charge of the food and activities during the reunion. This year, Jeanette was in charge and it was a blast!!! This is a homemade pinata that she made. The kids had so much fun trying to crack it open. In the end, it was so well made that an adult had to break it open.

This was the youngest niece to give it a go. She's just five months older than James, but she did a good job of banging away at that pinata.

On Independence Day, we went to the parade in Show Low. It was very exciting for all the kids because they still throw candy from the floats there in Show Low. But this was my favorite part of the parade. I love horses anyway, but Clydesdales are really amazing. As you can see, their backs are as tall as a grown man. I would be terrified to ride one of those. It would be a long way down!

One of the activities that is becoming an annual event is the kid's olympics. They are placed in categories according to age and they compete to get "medals". This is the finish for the 8-9 year-olds.

James didn't quite get the whole "race" thing and opted instead to sit and cry at the starting line. We eventually got him to run, but he was very frustrated that he had to wait until someone said "go".

Sorry this picture is so fuzzy, but I had to throw it in there. It's a picture of all the kids showing off their medals. The contests are so different (from running to jumping to throwing) that each child is sure to get at least one medal, and boy are they excited!

One of the favorite activities for everyone was making fourth of July garlands and hats so that we could keep track of everyone in our group at the parade. They turned out really cute and the kids had a blast making them.

These are my sisters, nieces and Mom making their hair garlands.

On one of the days, we went on a walk through all the Museums and fun things to do in Snowflake. James had a hard time appreciating most things, but he was a champ through it all. But he really went crazy when he say this plastic horse. He wanted to go touch it and sit on it and play with it. He was sad when we had to leave. This is James with his cousins Levi, Megan and Bryson.

Jeanette planned a wonderful day at the park filled with slides, swings, waterguns and jump rope for the kids. Not to be outdone by the kids, we sisters decided to make sure we could do all the same tricks we could when we were young. I surprised myself by being able to recite the little rhyme we would jump to as well.

This is Megan, who was James' play-pal through the whole reunion. Surprisingly, they played together very well, which was amazing because kids usually don't play together at that age.

This is James and Megan getting ready to go down the slide. Taking another step toward being a big kid, James went down the slide all by himself, climbing the stairs, sitting on the slide himself and everything.

Megan and James really enjoyed each other's company. Belinda (Megan's mom) and I just had to laugh when we saw these two doing this.

All in all, it was a great reunion. Though there were 39 of us, Jeanette has a big enough house that we all stayed there. In the evenings, the adults were able to play games and chat. I was sad to see it end, but I'm very excited for next year's reunion.

Sprinkler Time

2009-06-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

As everyone who has ever been in Tucson during the summer knows, it is hot, Hot, HOT!!!! James loves to get in the water as much as possible, whether it be swimming, the splash pad, sprinklers, the bathtub or the toilet, he loves to be in the water. Our friends, Troy and Eevi, have a wonderful backyard with sprinklers and they were nice enough to let James run around for a few minutes in them. And we forgot our camera, so they took these pictures and this video of him. :)

Recent Activities

2009-06-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

I feel like James and I do pretty much the same thing every day, so to keep myself from being repetative, I decided to just post these videos as the hi-lights of this week.

My brother thinks that James makes the funniest noises ever. Since he was just a couple of months old, James has had what I call his old man wheeze where he makes noise in the stereotypical wheezy way that older people speak. But I think that we've got a new noise that even tops that with that snorting at the end of the video here. Although, he has started a new noise that I haven't yet been able to get on camera, but when he does, I'll make sure to post it because it's hilarious!

And last, but not least, my best friend, Eevi, had her baby this week. He is such a cutie! Congrats you two!

James Talks

2009-06-19T07:57:00.001-07:00

James has been able to say a few things for a while now, but I haven't posted him saying it because Paul said that he wasn't really saying anything that anyone else could understand. So I ask you all to be honest, aren't these words very discernable?

A Trip to Las Vegas

2009-06-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

James and I took a trip this past week to Las Vegas so that I could see my family. Stacey and Josh are blessing their baby today, so my parents and sisters (well most of them anyway) were there this weekend. Although James had a hard time without Paul there, we still had lots of fun. I got there before anyone else, so Stacey and I went to a pet shop the first day to show James some puppies. Even though the Chihuahua and the Dachshund were the smallest puppies, they were still a little scary to James because they liked to jump up on his legs. But we had fun anyway.

James and I stayed at Stacey and Josh's while we were there and James had fun playing with new toys. He never liked the swing when he was really young, but he sure loved swinging back and forth as fast as he could this weekend. Sometimes I was afraid he was going so fast that he was going to flip the whole thing over. Fortunately, he never did. I loved watching him play on the John Deere tractor! It was the first time he's really figured out how to scoot himself along with his own feet.

My brother, Robert, and his wife, Cami, have a family staying with them for a little while and one of their boys is close to James' age, so they had fun playing together. Their favorite toy was my shoes. I didn't know that boys like to try on shoes too, but these two had a ball trying to walk around in the flip-flops that were about 10 sizes too big for them.

James really missed Paul while we were gone, so I got this look ALOT while we were there. I had my little sisters (well younger anyway...I think they're both taller than me at this point) babysit him so I could go to WalMart and then to the temple and he wouldn't let me out the room for the next several hours after I got back. I think we need to train him to be okay with babysitters...what do you think?

I decided to put pictures of my family on here because I don't get pictures of them very often. But they're a huge part of who I am, so here they are. This is my sister April (she's 15) and my niece Megan. Megan is just 5 months older than James, but they're about the same height, so James was really interested in playing with her because, well she's cute, and she was a little person too!

This little whipper-snapper is Hailey. She has been one of Paul's favorites since she was born because she could just charm him and get him wrapped around her little finger. She's five now and is as spunky and cute as ever. She's impressing us with her cherry-drop (or whatever it's called nowadays) abilities in these pictures.

This little girl is my littlest sister Lizzie. (She usually doesn't close her eyes for pictures, but it was windy, sandy and sunny out there that day so this was the best I could get). A you can see, she has curlers in her hair. She LOVES being a girl and looking really cute, so she had her hair in curlers for Church today.

Beautiful Bekah is my sister's (Belinda) daughter. She is eight and is the older sister to three brothers and a sister (Megan who you already saw) and is a great help to her mom.

This is my sister Kristy. She is a freshman at BYU and wants to major in some sort of film something-or-other. But she'll always be Musty Krusty to me. :)

This is April (again) and my brother in-law Josh with his daughter Berlynn. He's such a good dad!

Stacey, my sister that is just younger than me (married to Josh and mother of Berlynn), is deep in concentration in this picture. Brave Stacey decided to make her daughter's blessing dress. It turned out VERY beautiful. Way to go, Stacey!

This is Belinda (my sister) and Levi (one of her twin boys). I don't know how Belinda can look as beautiful and serene as she does in this picture because she is the mother of five and earlier the morning this picture was taken had run a 5k.

This beautiful girl is my sister, Miranda and Camille her daughter (to the left) and Sydney (my brother's little girl). Camille is seven and has the most beautiful smile and contagious laugh you've ever heard. Sydney is just a happy baby. She smiles at everyone and goos all the time.

So that's my family in a nutshell. I didn't get pictures of everyone there, but I was so glad to be able to see them all and hang out, even if it was only for a short time.

Recent Activities

2009-06-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

James and I have been keeping very busy recently. We've been to the park a few times where James is becoming a master at going down the slide. It scares me sometimes because he thinks he's bigger more adept at navigating through the playground than he really is. Unfortunately, he's discovered the joy and challenge of climbing up the slide which is never a good idea when there are so many kids on the playground.

James has also been keeping Daddy busy by insisting on horse rides. He again has to show his dare-devil side by trying to do it with no hands, and then when you least expect it, try to jump off one side. But most of the time, he lands on his feet (somehow).

I made my first attempt at cooking with James' help the other day. It was relatively successful because the cookies did get made without any of the strange ingredients that could have made it in there, courtesy of James. He did like to play with and eat the flour, though, as seen in the pictures.

Possibly my favorite thing that James has started doing, though, is eating with a voracious appetite. Sometimes I look over to where he's eating and see his finger holding food in his mouth because he can't quite close his lips around everything he's tried to stuff in there.

One thing that I wish he'd stop doing, though, is making this face at me. It's so hard for me not to laugh.

A week or so ago, it rained here in Tucson and there were puddles. James walked through one and saw how much fun he could have, and I couldn't resist getting a video of it.

But his favorite thing to do nowadays is play with his new set of blocks.

Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, we were able to go visit Paul's family in Pebble Beach. We had a great time playing with Lily, Olivia and Henry (who has figured out the art of scooting...Go Hen!) and Uncle Reed who was also able to make it there. Saturday night we enjoyed an amazing dinner at the Club, where I had the most decadent desserts ever. One was a chocolate mousse that wasn't too heavy or rich and then a sort of pistachio cream inside two sort of sugar cookies. It was amazing! Sunday we enjoyed a wonderful day at Church and then an amazing drive down the coast. Monday, we didn't do much besides just hang out and enjoy each other's company, but we were able to get some sweet pictures of James golfing. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get pictures of Paul and Reed's polar swim. They decided to test their bravery with a short jaunt into the ocean that lasted all of about 10 seconds (from what I hear, they wouldn't let anyone go with them to take pictures, so I'm beginning to wonder whether they really did it at all). :)

Where's the beef?

2009-05-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I decided to try to keep James' interest in eating by letting him try to feed himself. The first few attempt were disasterous, but he's getting much better. Now he won't eat without a spoon in his hand.

Splash Pad

2009-05-13T14:02:00.001-07:00

Since it's getting really warm here in Tucson, James and I try to do something everyday outside that involves water so we can keep cool. Yesterday, the mother's group that I am a part of, decided to go to the Splash Pad at one of the parks near us. I wasn't sure it James would enjoy it, but you can judge for yourself. He's checking out the water with his new shades.

A Tribute to Mothers

2009-05-10T20:48:00.001-07:00

I just want to give three cheers to all the mothers out there. Being a parent is no easy task, and it's amazing to see all these women who give up so much of themselves in order to make their kids into responsible, well-mannered, mature adults. My little guy is the most exasperating, rowdy, rambunctious kid that I've ever laid eyes on, but he is also the second most treasured blessing (after my sweet husband, Paul, of course). Even after the most difficult day of dealing with James, I still am able to go in and see my little boy sleeping with such a cherubic face, and the anger and frustration melt away into an overwhelming feeling of love and happiness that one can only feel when looking at their children. I'm sure that as time goes on and he does things to intentionally irritate me, one look at the sleeping boy will not be all it takes to feel that, but I am forever in debt to my Maker for giving me the blessing of being a Mom. And to all you other Moms out there, I say you are amazing and may our Ultimate Parent bless you for the time, love and devotion you give to your children.

Here are some pictures of my Mother's Day.

James is taking up a new Sport

2009-05-10T20:31:00.001-07:00

James is really starting to get good at refining some sports skills. Check it out:

Soccer Star

2009-05-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

We've been trying to teach James some new moves as he gets older. Kicking is the newest one that he has been practicing, so I thought I'd show you how good he is at that.

Here's a video of his less successful attempts. (But they became more successful with Daddy's help).

And here's just a short video that I just happened to catch at the right time. (I thought it was hilarious!)

Walking, Walking

2009-04-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I walk with two friends along the Rillito River trail. We walk between 3 and 4 miles (we think...we haven't actually measured it or anything). Since this is something I do so often, I decided to take a picture of us all and post it. So here we all are. Tess is in the middle with her son, Timothy. She is also pregnant and due in July. Jennifer is on the right with her two daughters, Emily and Merideth. It's funny to watch the kids try to interact with one another as we walk. Each of us mothers brings treats for our child and they share as we walk, reaching out their little hands to see if they can touch each other and pass the food between the strollers without dropping it. It's hilarious! They are getting quite good and we only have spilled food every once in a while. It's ironic because we tend to have more toys and such somehow find its way out of the strollers than we do food. Hopefully the weather will continue to be cool enough in the mornings so that we can keep going. If not, we may have to switch to swimming. :)

Berlynn Noelle Johnson

2009-04-25T07:35:00.000-07:00

I made it down to Vegas to see Stacey's baby this past week and I'm so glad I did. She is the cutest little baby! She was born at over 8 pounds, but I'm telling you I have no idea where she's hiding all that weight. Of course, I'm just used to holding James who's about 25 lbs now and was in the 90-95 percentile for his height, so he's my little giant. But Berlynn was so much fun to hold. She's is surprisingly alert for being so young. And even though babies shouldn't be able to focus, she would follow people's faces with her eyes when they came into her line of vision. It was pretty amazing. When she cries, she has a little squeak to it and it's just so adorable. I just wanted to squeeze her! We're happy to have you in our family Berlynn.

Congratulations to Stacey!

2009-04-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

My younger sister, Stacey, had her baby, Berlynn Noelle, on April 18. She was born at 4:56am and weighed 8lbs 5oz and 20 inches long. I'm supposed go to Las Vegas tomorrow to go visit them, but I had food poisoning or the stomach flu this weekend, so that trip may not happen because I would bring the flu to them. I'm going to wait for a few days to make sure that no one else in the house gets it. But I just wanted to let everyone know how excited I was to be an aunt...again.

New Title

2009-04-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

As you who are very astute may have noticed, my blog has a new title. Paul had come up with the last title, and I never really liked it, but I wanted him to feel a part of the blog. I've decided that putting his picture in and letting him help me with some of the entries is good enough. After all, the title is a very important part of the blog, is it not? So I just want to ask each of you whether you think this is a good title for my blog in particular because I decided I wanted it to be something that was unique to me. I think this is one of the sayings that I use the most, so I figured it was very fitting. What do you all think? Can you think of anything better that describes me? I'm just not very good at this...

The Real Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

James got the hang of this Easter Egg Hunt a little better than the first one in which he participated. Because he's still so young, we decided to put raisins in the eggs so he didn't have an overload of sugar. I think this was pretty smart on our part because he was better in church on Sunday than I think I've ever seen him (well at least during Sacrament Meeting) which was very good because I was asked to lead the singing, so Paul got to take care of James all by himself.

Peter Piper's Pizza

2009-04-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Paul and I have been seeing commercials for Peter Piper's Pizza since we moved here to Tucson and we decided the other day that we needed to take James there so that he could play some of the games. It was disappointing, to say the least. We're used to things like the Nickelcade in Orem and the Showbiz Pizza (which is now Chucky Cheese), so we expected lots of games and pretty mediocre pizza. The pizza was pretty much what I thought it would be (although the pepperoni tasted unlike any other pepperoni I've ever tasted), but the games were pretty lame. There were only about 20 games in all. Of those, about 4 or 5 were out of order. But we managed to still keep James' interest with the Kermit Car and the driving simulator (he loves to sit on my lap in the car and play with the steering wheel when we're picking up Paul from work, so I figured he'd love the simulator as well). I do have to say, though, that we can't charge Peter Piper's with false advertising. For those of you who don't know, their catch phrase is "Peter Piper Pizza's the one, where the food's as good as the fun". And unfortunately, the fun was just as good as the food--which I wasn't expecting. I guess it's one of those places where things seem so much cooler when you're a kid...cause James seemed to have as much fun there as anywhere. So in reality, it was a bust for Paul and I (kids that we are at heart) but to the true child, it was very entertaining.

This is NOT James' favorite toy

2009-04-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

A few months ago, Paul and I were at the Dollar Store just looking around (I don't know if you've ever done that, but it's something fun to do if you're bored). I'm not sure what possessed him to get it, but Paul thought that James would really love the sound of a whoopy cushion. When we finally got it home that night, James was completely unimpressed, so we haven't really shown it to him again. Today, I decided to see if he was any more excited by the noise, but this was his reaction (hopefully you can see it). I'm such a terrible mom that all I could do was laugh.

Adorable Moments

2009-04-09T15:28:00.000-07:00

I drive Paul to work every day because we only have one car, which means sometimes the mornings are a bit of a rush to get everything ready to get him to work on time. (As a side note, I never appreciated how my mom was able to get all of her children up and ready and out the door with a lunch and all the homework to turn in, and on top of everything else, remember to make my dad a lunch and get everything all done without so much as breaking a sweat). Anyway, so this morning I was rushing around trying to get everything ready for Paul to get to work on time and I came around the corner and saw this and I had to stop and take a picture. James LOVES brushing his teeth!

Another adorable moment happened yesterday when I was sweeping and wiping up the kitchen floor. James always wants to play with the broom and dustpan, so I've given him a small brush and a dustpan so he can feel like he's doing the same thing. He's finally started to understand how to do what I'm doing.

Trip to the Zoo

2009-04-07T11:17:00.001-07:00

I realized just now as I was looking back through the blog that I didn't write about the zoo trip that we did a couple of weeks ago with this same group. I can't say that James pays much attention to the animals themselves yet, but he did enjoy a few of the exhibits. I think the more that we go, the more he'll like it. Luckily, the price for a year pass is very good, so I think we'll have to get one of those so that we can have that be one of the things we do fairly often.
It was spring break here on the day we went, so the exhibits were pretty packed, but it was still fun to get out and to show the animals to James that we read about in his books. I don't think he really understood that these were the same things, but he'll get it soon enough.
Unfortunately, two memorable things happened that day--one to me and one to my friend.
James lost a shoe at the zoo that day (I know, not a huge deal, but very frustrating because he wanted to get down and walk, but I didn't want him getting out without shoes on). The other thing was one of the women that I went with lost her daughter for about 10 minutes. It was obviously very scary for her and we all ran around the zoo searching for her. Emily (the little girl) is only three and gets scared of people she doesn't know very easily, so, needless to say, she was very frightened by the time mother and daughter were reunited. It reminded me of the time I got lost at the Thomas and Mack Center when we were there for a regional conference (that's the big sports arena on UNLV campus). I haven't thought about that much since it happened, but as a mother now, I realize how scary that is to realize you have no idea where your child is. Hopefully that will never happen to me!

Easter Egg Hunt

2009-04-07T11:16:00.001-07:00

Each Tuesday, there is a play group in which James and I are involved and today's play group was and Easter Egg Hunt. The women who are sort of "in charge" of the group have set it up so that each week has a letter theme and todays was E (obviously fo

r Easter). We each had to bring twelve eggs so that we could have enough for all the kids (some parents have 2 or 3 kids so it worked out so that they only had 4-5 each). It was hilarious to watch the kids go around and gather the eggs because you can really tell the difference in ages. James is the youngest that can walk, so he was the most distracted and ineffective hunter of them all. I helped him find his first one (well they were all sort of just lying there on the ground, so they were really easy to spot) and he picked it up and shook it to hear the candy inside. He was so excited about the first one that he hardly had time to go around and get any more. But once he saw that the other ki




They are sizing each other up

ds' baskets were getting more full than his, he decided that he would rectify the situation by trying to Easter Egg Hunt from their baskets. Luckily I caught him in time and just brought him over to where some unclaimed eggs were. I think he had alot of fun and I can't wait to do it on Sunday with Paul's help, so that he can be there to enjoy it as well. Plus, James can take his time because he won't be racing against other kids to try to get the eggs first.

James with his Egg Hunt booty

Ramblings

2009-04-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

I am lucky enough to have two friends from my old ward who have invited me along to their M-W-F morning walks along the Rillito River trail. We do three miles each day and it definitely makes me feel better having done something that day. But today Jennifer and I talked about our physical goals for the upcoming little while and I decided that I need to share them with you all so that you can keep me on track. We both decided that we would love to do a half marathon. Now I haven't decided whether I want that to be a real one, or one that I just get out there and decide I'm running 13 miles, but I really think I feel a sense of great accomplishment either way. Anyway who knows me (especially Paul) knows that I didn't have a great love of running when I was a teenager and into early adulthood. Actually, to tell the truth, I hated every time I ran. I felt AWFUL each time I would attempt that first run after a long, long time of no running, and it kept me from ever trying a second run. Every six months or so, I would forget how bad I hated it the last time and try it again, but it never stuck until now. After I had James, I wanted to so badly to be back to the size/weight that I was before I got pregnant with him that I was willing to try anything...even running. And I've found, now that I've done it for a few months now, that I actually quite enjoy it. It's the first week or so that's REALLY bad, and then you slowly acquire the running legs. I'm still not very good, but I'm getting better bit by bit, day by day. Anyway, so after that long explanation, that is how I came to the decision of today that I would like to run 13 miles. I don't want to really shoot myself in the foot and try for a whole marathon the first time and never want to run again after I do it. So I figure if I take baby steps, then I'll eventually be able to run faster, longer. I've tried running on a treadmill near a mirror and watch myself so I can fix my form, but all I can do is just watch as my face gets beet-red and my semi-normal form slowly creeps into the wounded-deer form that is quickly becoming my trademark. But all that aside, I need you all to keep me honest and keep me in line. Ask me how I'm doing so that I don't give up. :)

Paul's new Job

2009-03-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

We are happy to announce (finally) that Paul has a job at the Social Security office here in Tucson, AZ. It has been a long road, but we know that the Lord has blessed us along the way to always have enough and now he's given Paul this awesome job that is very secure in this time of uncertainty. He started yesterday (Monday) and even though he still isn't quite sure exactly what all his job entails, he said he is very excited about it. There were several other people who started yesterday as well, and they all came to a consensus that about half of what was said comepletely went over their heads. I guess there are alot of rules and regulations that you have to go over whenever you start a government job. And Paul had to take an oath in front of the flag that he will uphold the Constitution, so they really take working for the government very seriously.

As a sort of last hurrah before starting his job, we went and visited my in-laws in Palm Desert. We had lots of fun swimming in the pool and hanging out with Jill and her three kids. James loves being around them and always wants to follow the twins around (they are nearly 3) and do what they're doing. It's so much fun having so many cousins for James to play with. He loves people!

Our Day at the Park

2009-03-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

We brought James to the park the other day and let him go down the slide for the first time. He wasn't sure whether he liked it the first time down the slide, but after climbing back up the stairs and standing at the top of the slide, he knew that this was something he had to do again...and again...and again. I think he went down the slide 20 times before he started looking for something bigger and better. I took him down the big slide a few times and he really seemed to enjoy that as well. We tried the swings, but they had some weird swings that I'd never seen before. They had the normal ones for older kids and then they had some that looked like a captain's seat, but it didn't have anything to secure them with, so we didn't really want him to try it. He wasn't sure what to make of the wood chips. He would pick them up and look at them, but I think the texture deterred him from actually trying to put it in his mouth. Always curious, he decided that after he'd had enough of investigating the wood chips, he would see what all the rest of the playground was about. So he tried to climb up several things--including the slide--that were way to hard for him. When he started throwing a tantrum because he couldn't do it, I knew it was time to say goodbye to the park for the day. We're excited about bringing him back and letting him try the slide again.

Happy Birthday James!

2009-03-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

James celebrated his first birthday last Wednesday. We didn't do anything really big for his birthday, but he did get a few presents and we had cake--which he did not enjoy at all. I thought he would love a chocolate cake, but when I put it on his tray, he just played with it. And even when I put some in his mouth, thinking he would see how good it was and gobble it all up, he just spit it all out and threw it on the ground. It was disappointing. Hopefully next year will be better. Oh well.

He did enjoy his pool toy that we got for his birthday. It's warm enough down here in Arizona that we could go swimming...sort of. The pool isn't heated so even though it's 85 degrees down here, it's still pretty cold water. So we just soaked in the warm hot tub for a while and only dipped our feet in the pool itself. It is getting warmer each day, though, so it shouldn't be too long before we're swimming in the pool itself.

Grandma and Grandpa Hunter got him the cute church clothes. Thanks! And surprisingly enough, he didn't suck on the tie (even though he loves to suck on Daddy's ties).

Car Crash

2009-03-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

Paul, James and I were travelling to Las Vegas so that we could catch a cheap flight to Idaho to visit my family. On the way, we stopped off to get a little In N Out Burger. While Paul had his head out the window at the drive thru, ordering our food, an 18 year-old kid, hit us from behind. His excuse was that he had tried to put his car in park and it just kept going. From the look of the pictures, I think that he should have actually tried stopping first, before he tried putting it in park. It's a little obvious with the damage of the car that it was hit with a little more force than a car just rolling forward because it wasn't put into park properly. Oh well. We didn't get to go to Idaho, but luckily for Paul and me, we stopped at the In N Out Burger that is not too far from my sister's house. So we stayed the weekend with her instead and went to the beach. That was loads of fun. My sister, Belinda, and I were very brave (for it being the last day in February) and we got in up to our necks...well I did anyway, she didn't quite make it that far. The tide was going out, so it was all we could do sometimes to not be swept out with the waves. We were shell-seeking for Belinda's kids. They were so excited with each new shell that we brought up. Probably the best part was Bekah (Belinda's 8 year-old daughter) screaming at the top of her lungs each time she saw a big wave coming. I actually appreciated it because sometimes I wasn't being terribly observant and a wave would hit me from behind and I'd almost do a face-plant. It was great, though. And really warm when we got out of the frigid water.

2009-02-21T13:29:00.001-08:00

My mother in-law has lots of decorations all around her house that James likes to play with and get into. I've taken the breakable things out of his reach, but every week or so, he discovers something new for the first time. I was cleaning in the next room and I could hear something metal scraping on the tile, so I went to see what James was doing and whether I had to take something away or not. I found him as you see him in the picture, riding the cat. I'm not exactly sure how he figured out how to put his leg over the cat, but I couldn't stop laughing because he was trying desparately to get off...until he realized that the heavy metal could hold his weight, then he wanted to sit on it for a little while.

Our Walk

2009-02-19T15:21:00.001-08:00

So I guess I need to just see more of the exciting in the day-to-day things that James and I do all day because nothing really substantial has happened in the last little while, but I feel like I need to write. Otherwise life will have slipped by in the day-to-day and I won't have documented the things that will eventually have made up my entire life.

James is as cute as ever. I babysat for my sister in-law yesterday and took her twin girls and James on a walk (luckily Jill had left her triple stroller over here so that it was possible). I didn't get a chance to take pictures then, but it was a blast watching James and the girls get so excited about the walk. In the beginning, the girls wanted Paul and me to jog so that the stroller was going fast. We did this, and the girls laughed in delight while James just stuck his tongue out while grinning as widely as he could. When Paul and I were tired of jogging, we came up with the brilliant idea to see if the girls wanted a turn pushing. They of course did, so they took turns helping to push the stroller. They were hilarious because they took it so seriously and pushed as hard and as long as they could. Lily was amazing pushing it all the way up the hill (with my help) and keeping a very fast pace for such a little girl.

Today, James and I went on a walk down to the ocean. Although I don't think James really understands the significance of how much water he's looking at, he is interested in how the waves crash on the rocks. When we were walking past the marshes, it was amazing to hear the chorus of bullfrogs. They were so loud and there were so many of them. I wish that I'd seen one, but they're really good at hiding in the rushes. These pictures of James are during the walk and at the very end, once we got back to the house.

James' Black Eyes

2009-02-08T13:28:00.001-08:00

So I'm not sure if you can see it, but James fell and smashed his face and eye and got two bruises. I have to admit, I've tried not to bring him out in public the last few days so that people don't see them and think I beat him. He's just now beginning to walk and he face-planted on top of a toy that gave him the nasty bruises. But this video is of a more successful walk.

Our little Vacation to Paul's job interview

2009-02-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted anything new for a while because we are currently in Southern California. Paul had a job interview in Tucson, so we decided to make it a family trip and all go down. We were there just long enough to get the interview done and then we came back to Palm Desert to hang out with Paul's family (his sister travelled down to be here with us too). The interview went well, but we probably won't hear anything for sure for at least a few weeks while they get everyone else interviewed and make their decisions and all that good stuff. But we're hopeful that Paul will get a more permanent job soon. The caddying has been great, but a little more settled job would be even better.

We've had lots of fun on this trip, though. Paul's dad was here by himself for a few days and wanted us to stay with him, so during that time I played more golf than I've played in my life--24 holes in 2 days. I even got blisters in the right spots on my hands to show all the effort. We've also eaten the most amazing food. Paul's dad makes it a habit to know all the good spots in every place he visits often, so we've had the best meals.

A Crawler No More

2009-01-24T08:57:00.000-08:00

Well, the title isn't exactly true, but last night, James took his first step...and his second...and his third. It was amazing because he took one step at a time at first and then all of a sudden, there he was taking three steps right in a row! (Then he fell). But he definitely is more daring in trying to walk, so I'm sure my life is going to change again here in the next month where I'm going to have to chase him around at an even faster pace. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get his steps on camera (he was a little camera shy when we finally got it there). But as soon as I can, I'll post a video of it. But here's a video of him standing so that you can kind of get the idea.

James...James, what are you eating?!

2009-01-22T22:26:00.001-08:00

I turned my back for 1 second and James had managed to get these from their hiding spot behind the table and chow down half the bag. I never suspected a thing until it had been suspiciously quiet for more than one minute. He loved them so much, I almost felt bad taking them away. Poor little guy probably was wondering why the food we usually feed him doesn't taste that good. I'll never figure out how he inately knew that it was edible.

Just getting Started

2009-01-22T17:45:00.000-08:00

I decided that all my friends have blogs that I love to look at and know what they're up to, so I'm going to try to be on top of it (like them) and give them the same opportunity to know what I'm doing as well.

James is now 10 months old and is standing by himself and walking around the furniture. Today for the first time, he picked up one of his feet and repositioned (I wouldn't really call it a step yet) so he's well on his way to walking. I'm excited and scared of this. He's already getting into everything, but I'm sure it's going to be ten times worse when he can actually RUN away from me instead of just crawling quickly. But we're having fun all the same trying to teach him and watching him discover new things for himself.

Paul and I are still in Pebble Beach looking for a permanent job. While caddying is a good paying job, it's not exactly what we had in mind for his career. But we're grateful for the blessing of having it all the same. He's just finished up this week with the last thing he needs to do for the border patrol application, so now it's just a waiting game until they finish the background check and let us know. Possibly the strangest thing he's had to do for either of these jobs is the psychological exam that he completed on Tuesday. They had him fill out a questionairre that had 170 questions ranging from whether he has suicidal thoughts to whether he feels extremely scared of hurricanes to whether he liked to play with dolls as a child. It was REALLY weird! But luckily for him, that's all over.

So that should bring everyone up to speed on our lives for the last few months.