JKWR

2009-09-03T08:12:00.004-07:00

THE incredible Edible egg...

Food Challenge #2 : EGGS

after almost 5 hours at Dr. Jones' office the results are in...

Wyatt can eat eggs!

2009-08-19T08:34:00.003-07:00

These eleven lovely pics are the vices of Wyatt's life...

We had his yearly allergy test just before his birthday hoping for that 5% chance that he had magically grown out of his peanut allergy, only to find that not only was it still present but worse. And to add to this disappointment we tacked on 9 additional allergies to be aware of:(

However, on the upside of things the Dr. told us to continue his diet as we have for the last 3 years... milk, bread and all. With these unexpected additions the Dr. suggested we start to challenge...YAY!

The food challenge is usually the last step when testing the seriousness of an allergy. As we became aware of all the new ones Dr. Jones suggested we start challenging the egg & peanuts.

Challenge #1 Peanuts : Very allergic - stay away from all nuts!
Challenge#2 Eggs : TBD

2009-08-04T21:45:00.002-07:00

Just in case there is still some confusion... yes i am prego, but with one baby not two! It was an April Fool's JOKE people. Apparently the greatest prank i shall ever pull off. And every time i run into an old school mate who heard through the grapevine that i am having twins, makes it that much more funny to me:) I will continue to laugh at my super funniness for years to come. For those of you out there who missed the funny part of the twins thing...well it was a joke. Sucker...

2009-06-15T08:29:00.002-07:00

Jinks....
I suppose I forgot to knock on wood. I posted my last post a few hours too soon. Wyatt peed the bed last night:(

Lesson learned.

more wyatt-isms

2009-06-04T17:45:00.009-07:00

First things First:

Wyatt has officially been a "big boy" who uses the "big boy tolet" for 10 days now. In these wonderous 10 days he has only had 4 accidents.

The Gwanket - ga wayne ket
M: ba -lane-ket = blanket

W: ba-lane-ket =ba-gwanket

I suppose one day he will get it, until then...?

"mom... i lub rocy, she's my favorite best fwend"

"this is deewishous, it's my favorite!"

When someone is getting ready to depart. For example - Josh is getting ready to go to work:

W: ohhh (said with such sad enthusiasm frown and all) i miss my daddy soooo much! Meanwhile Josh is not even out of the door yet.

From the mouth of Wyatt...

2009-05-03T10:59:00.007-07:00

I'm not tired, I'm happy

It's not time for bed, it's still summertime

Oh my gosh, oohh myy gooosh (second time said a lot slower)

You're not sad/mad, you're happy! (after i tell him it makes me sad when he does something naughty)

Momma you're beautiful... beautiful hair, beautiful ears, beautiful head etc..

Hmmmm, hmmm (tapping his cheek with his index finger) I don't know what happened ... it's just gone.

But I'm just sooo sad (when he doesn't get his way or when it's time for bed)

NIGHTLY BEDTIME RITUAL

W: i need a drink of water.

M: you have a drink it's right there.

W: i need a story.

M: we just read two stories, it's time for bed.

W: wait, wait mom. i need, i need, i neeeeed (little brain furiously thinking of something, anything that could postpone actually going to sleep) when nothing comes he resorts to "but mom, I'm just sooo sad" (done very well with the sulking stare, and a bowing head)

M: Attempts to sing 'think happy thoughts' song in the most annoying way from Yo Gabba Gabba to make him giggle. Once giggle is achieved i quickly give him one last kiss and say-Okay, goodnight i love you.

W: WAIT! i have a question.... he proceeds to tell me something that usually includes playing with one of his cousins and explosions with his hands are somehow tied in to the story which I'm really not following.

THE LECTURE
Preface: Wyatt is now in the nursery at church, therefore he colors pictures every week. Usually these pictures don't make it out of the church... somehow they find the trash can rather quickly:) But this particular picture didn't make it to the recycle can as quickly.

W: MOM! Did you throw this away?
This is my special paper! You don't throw my special papers away.

M: If you have special papers you take care of them - they don't become 'balls' (never fail, even if he doesn't have an actual ball to play with he will find one or make one)

W: Why did you throw this away, you shouldn't throw my things away.
I colored this picture for you mom. Don't ever do that again, that was not very nice.

This lovely little lecture lasted at least 5 minutes & I made it most of the way through without laughing too hard. Where the heck did this child come from- he's not even 3!

To the Gullible of Gullibles

2009-04-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

CONSIDER YOUSELF FOOLED:)

Double Trouble...

2009-04-01T14:28:00.003-07:00

As some of you may already know - we are expecting again... a baby that is. In comparison to Wyatt i have been ridiculously sick, ALWAYS nauseous!! But i went to the Doctor today for my 12 week check & found out some exciting and somewhat disturbing news... its not one baby but TWO! This isn't a very clear pic & its super zoomed in - but clear enough to see that there are two baby blobs in there!

A Quarter of a Century Old

2009-01-18T09:01:00.006-07:00

Today is Kayla's 25th birthday! Wyatt and I were procrastinators this year in the gift department. We usually get things well in advance but it was only yesterday that we went shopping. We got her some new clothes, a Rihanna CD and a Britta Water pitcher. Wyatt helped her open all the presents, then when the fun was over he went right downstairs to watch "TB" (that's what he calls it). I know it is lame but those are some of the things I would have bought her for Christmas. We went to go out to eat last night at Goodwood but the wait was an hour and ten minutes so we settled for Rumbi instead. Then we went to the Weber State basketball game. We'll have to make a trip, just the two of us, next weekend to eat the ribs we were craving. She is such a great mother and wife. We love you K! Happy Birthday to our quarter of a century year old wife and mom.

December 31, 2002 ~ December 31, 2008

2009-01-01T11:42:00.006-07:00

On this day six years ago I started the greatest adventure of the rest of my life.

New Year's Eve 2002 Josh and I were set up on a blind date.

~We have been together ever since~

Thank You Justin & Megan for making this wonderful life a dream come true.

We are forever in your debt.

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!

2008-12-20T23:14:00.002-07:00

The 12 pounds of Christmas

2008-12-09T19:13:00.004-07:00

At Hill Air Force Base, where I work, we don't celebrate the 12 days of Christmas. We celebrate the 12 POUNDS of Christmas. Each work day in December, except Friday, one person in the office brings something for the rest of the office to snack on. Well today was my turn. I took my sister-in-law's chocolate fountain and tons of good food. I couldn't decide on healthy, salty or chocolaty type foods so I took a little of each. We had grapes, strawberries, bananas, pineapple, oranges and clementines from the fruit department. Then for the dessert department we had cinnamon bears, cream puffs, rice crispy treats, marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate chip cookies and pretzels. Many of my co-workers commented on how nice it looked and how great it tasted so I took a photo and I thought I'd share.

But as you can see...if you eat like this for a month you'll gain 12 pounds just like I am on my way to achieving the 12 and probably then some. Today I actually skipped lunch because I ate too much junk food all morning long. Unfortunately, my boss is TDY to Virginia so he wasn't there to taste the goodness. But don't worry I texted him this picture just so he knew what he was missing out on!

Black Friday at WALMART

2008-11-28T17:22:00.004-07:00

This is a long post but it has a funny story that you can’t explain in a paragraph or less.

So like every other year in years past we decided to brave the crowds and go shopping at the busiest place in the world WALMART!! I mostly go for the entertainment of seeing it all and hope that I get a great deal. This year was no exception. I stood by the TV’s and Kayla stood by the Cricut. I had a pretty uneventful time. I just grabbed one and went on my merry way to the $2 DVD’s (we always get about 10 of them, this year 12). Kayla however had an experience.

The Cricut’s were few in number but she stood right there to get one. There was a larger woman that had been there since 2:00 am waiting to get herself one. Well she had parked her cart by the display and left to go and try and get some other stuff then would come back and put it in the cart. When you move you lose any advantage you may have had. Mistake number 1. So when she came back a lady let her in to stand by the display again to get one. Mistake number 2. The lady should have given up then. She was just foolish. At those types of sales do NOT move from your post.

According to the Wal-Mart ad, the black Friday sales start at 5 am. So about 4:40 am there was a tidal wave of people ripping black plastic from the displays to get to the bargains. Although it was 20 minutes early not even 500 armed soldiers could have stopped the madness. So back to the Cricut story…

When the tidal wave of noise started Kayla dove in on the ground, got smacked in the cheek by something hard, and successfully ripped one from the display and put it in her cart. Well the larger woman also went after one of those coveted Cricut machines, but wasn’t as successful. There was another lady who was also on the ground with her hands around the box so the larger woman decided to sit on the box…You can see where this is going…The lady on the ground is crying that her arm is broken, the larger lady sitting on the box is crying and saying it’s hers because she’d been there since 2 am. Next the police officer and the Wal-Mart manager show up and start yelling at the larger lady to get off the box. She continued to whine “It’s mine!!! I’ve been here since 2!!!” The officer told her he didn’t care and to get off the box so as not to hurt the lady on the ground any more. Dumb larger lady made an ass out of herself for a Cricut and she didn’t even get one.

Since there were so many people and carts by the Cricut machines there was a traffic jam. People abandoned their carts in the aisle and started walking towards the front of the store. So those that had stuff in their carts could not work their way out of the crowd. About 5 minutes later we rendezvoused at in the clothes section. At that point Kayla realized that her Blackberry was gone, it had fallen out of her hoodie pocket. I started frantically calling it hoping somebody would answer and give it back. No luck!! I thought oh great there goes a $300 phone! Meanwhile she ran back to the Cricut display and rummaged through the garbage and there it was just sitting there. She said it would have been thrown away with the garbage if she didn’t dig through it.

Black Friday morning ended with us waiting in line for 1 hour to check out. During that time you couldn’t move because there were so many people, carts and lines you had to ask 20 people to move if you wanted to go anywhere. Wyatt slept over at my mom and dad’s house so we didn’t have to take him with us. We stood in line next to a lady who brought her newborn. STUPID. You shouldn’t take them to Wal-Mart in the first couple months and let alone on the craziest shopping day of the year. We got several good deals. Afterwards, I always wonder if it is worth it though. But I think it was! And I am sure I will do it again next year.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T17:08:00.002-07:00

Thanksgiving was really nice. We went to my mom’s house for dinner. Most of my mom’s siblings were there with all of their kids. I think I counted about 43 people all together. That is not all of us either there were 2 more families that were out of state or going to the other family for dinner. It was really nice to get together with those you don’t see that often. However, for my family, Thanksgiving can be a particularly hard time. My cousin committed suicide the day before Thanksgiving a few years ago and that probably resonates in my mind, and probably my whole family’s too, more than turkey, mashed potatoes and pie. This year before we even started to eat we watched Jeremy’s funeral video. I don’t know that I saw anybody that wasn’t crying. We certainly miss him.

After lunch at my family, riding four wheelers, watching Hancock and Fred Clause, we went to Kayla’s Aunt’s house in Syracuse for pie. We haven’t seen a lot of this side of the family because they are actually step-family but since Kayla’s Grandpa Anderson died unfortunately, we just haven’t seen too much of them. It was nice though because most of Kayla’s siblings were there and many of the other cousins and aunts and uncles. Above all I am thankful most for my family, especially my wife and Wyatt as well as my immediate and extended family too. They are all great!

Uneventful Month but there was a semi-date

2008-11-23T08:33:00.004-07:00

Everything has been pretty much uneventful around our house. Hence, there have been no new posts of anything. Kayla continues to fight through her math class. There are only a few more weeks until it's over so it will be great once she is done!

Yesterday we did go on a semi-date. I use the word semi because I went to my parents house to take back a bunch of junk I borrowed and my mom said she would watch Wyatt for a while. So we got a free coulpe of hours together. (man those just seem so rare). We went and saw Twilight. I've read the books but Kayla hasn't but she still wanted to go see it with me. Overall we both liked it. We both though it was really slow at the first but got better as it went on. I do not think the characters of Edward and Bella are what I pictured from the books but I guess they'll have to do.

Anyways we are getting ready for the Holidays and we will be going shopping on Black Friday. I love it! It is almost more amusing at watching all the people fight over things than it is to get super deals! I will have to post about that next Friday after I set up our Christmas tree!

2008-11-01T19:43:00.017-07:00

milk's favorite cookie..

& the world's coolest dad.

All Hallows Eve

2008-10-22T18:36:00.023-07:00

The souls of the dead were left to roam the streets and villages at night as the Innocent sleep peacefully. The vile spirits were once thought to be friendly, so gifts and treats were left out to pacify the evil. From this custom has evolved - trick-or-treating... and PARTIES! Here are some fun pics a our 'all hallows eve' partay!

This year we are themed from the Shrek Movie! Josh is Shrek, Kayla -Princess Fiona, Wyatt is Donkey and Roxy the dragon. We were feelin crafty so Josh and I made our costumes. My wonderful husband who i love dearly thinks that because i can think up an idear i can execute it... not so much the case. The dress was a team effort inbetwixed me, Josh, and Momma Shar.. Let's just say it was a BEAST! It looks so awesome though.

Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and Dragon

Polygamists (travis & brooklin, nicole & nate)

Bubble Gum on the bottom of my shoe and partly cloudy.

prego rockstars (kendall & megan) Along side McCain and Palin (chris & kim)

More of the polygamist folk with the one who got away.. (nikki)

Maggie, Marge and Homer (ashley, mike & miley)

Ute fans eating dinner next to partly cloudy and a chance of showers. If you asked what they were Shay would say Partly Cloudy and Robbie would say with a chance of showers and spray you with is bottle.

Mid-Evil peeps (anna & shawn)

Weber State, Weber State, Great! Great! Great!

2008-09-27T17:03:00.005-07:00

I attended Weber State University for 4 years and Kayla has gone there for about the last 6 and neither of us had been a football game…until their homecoming game this year. Katherine and Marc (Kayla’s sister and her husband) are the biggest Weber fans I know. They go to every game, of just about any sport, have all the free stuff they throw out, and sport their “Weber Wear” everywhere. The game was ok…nothing nail biting close but there were a few really good plays. My favorite was when the ref got smashed –HARD! My next favorite was when Kayla caught the Wildcat Claw. Wyatt seemed to enjoy himself too. Here are the pics so enjoy!

My new closet

2008-09-07T19:05:00.006-07:00

So I’ve been so handy lately and that is not generally me. I finished installing our floor about 2 weeks ago and vowed to myself no more do-it-yourself home improvement projects until winter (when I have to be inside). That vow didn't last too long. About 5 months ago we went to IKEA and we bought some stuff to organize our closets and we made another trip on Labor Day and I bought some more. Well I decided to tackle the project. I always start strong and then finish wishing and promising I’m not ever going to do anything like that again. My closet is not that big but it is really deep so I decided all of my clothes were about to burst out if I didn’t do anything. So I split my closet in half and put two smaller places to hang clothes and with the other half I installed a pants hanger, tie/belt drawer, sock basket and another shelf. I’ve pretty much filled up the entire thing and am wondering if I made anymore space or just made it a little more organized or maybe I should get rid of some clothes?? Oh well another home improvement project down the drain… there will probably be more in a while (I’m thinking basement office or more closets). Until then NO MORE projects I promise! But I always feel proud to have completed something I wouldn’t normally do. Do you see my dilemma??

Before

All my junkFinished ProductAll my clothes put away

Happy Birthday

2008-08-31T15:37:00.003-07:00

August is birthday month for us. We started with Jaxon and Wyatt on the 9th and 11th. Then it is my dads birthday on the 14th. One week later it is mine on the 21st. About another week later it is my mom's on the 30th and then my sister-in-law Jen's birthday is today. WHEW!! Happy birthday to all!!

Lucky Peak

2008-08-26T21:08:00.007-07:00

This last weekend we packed our bags for a little vay-cay to Idaho...we went to visit Justin & Megan. These two are soley responsible for Josh+Kayla=Wyatt. They set us up on a blind date on New Years Eve 2002… and the rest is history, we’ve been together ever since. Anywho we decided to take out the boat to Lucky Peak Reservoir on Saturday and this are a few of the pictures of our fun in the sun. Thanks to JJ & MEG Patt - we love and miss you guys! It was a fun weekend – the drive not so much (there is only so much of scenic sagebrush one can handle!)

delema solved

2008-08-26T21:05:00.005-07:00

THANK YOU to all those who helped us in our predicament by voting for our new kitchen/dining room flooring. Hands down everyone in the bloggerhood voted for the darker of the two woods. However those who saw the options in person voted for the lighter wood. So we decided that although your help was much appreciated we thought best to go with the lighter wood. As we soon discovered deciding on the color of wood was the least of our problems! We thought this to be a project that might take a day and a half at the most – well we started Thursday evening worked on it ALL DAY Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday… I thought it might never end! It didn’t help that as we were finishing up the floor I decided it would be a good idea to paint… PAINT are you CRAZY!?! Yes, yes I am. So we painted as well. For three days our entire kitchen was in our living room- it was a dreadful few days! Done at last, done at last thank God all mighty we are done at last!

Just another Birthday

2008-08-21T15:02:00.004-07:00

So I am officially 27! Whoopie-do. To me it was just another day. I woke up, went to work, then came home. We did go out to dinner which is unheard of on a week night. After dinner Kayla gave me some really nice things (shoes, air compressor) then we went to bed because we were going to Idaho the next morning. When you are little you look forward to birthdays all year long but when you get older you just want them to come and go and have nobody make a fuss. Oh well we all get older at the same pace -- one day at a time!

Wyatt's 2nd Birthday

2008-08-18T08:44:00.008-07:00

A little late but this is Wyatt's Birthday post.

08.11.2006 --- 6lbs. 19 inches

08.11.2007 --- 18bls.

08.11.2008 --- 23lbs.

My baby is no longer a baby – he has officially entered into toddlerhood :0( And as Josh & I are finding out - it's no coincidence that some call it the terrible two's! He is one persistant little bugger! Turning two makes me a little sad but at the same time it is so much fun watching him grow and learn new things. One of his favorite things is playing with any sort of ball – but in particular baseball (I think it is because of the bat – which in turn can be used for so much more that just to hit baseballs!) So for his birthday we had a baseball themed party. Everything from the invites to the dinner to the cake to the presents. Cousin Jaxon’s Birthday is just two days before Wyatt’s so we tag teamed the birthday party’s. We ate hotdogs for dinner - you can’t go to a ball game without eating a hotdog! And then we went swimming at the Herfordshire pool. It was a fun day to be with our family & friends, we appreciate how much they love and care for our Wyatt… it really does take a village! Happy Birthday Wy!!!

Happy Birthday Grandpa

2008-08-14T21:12:00.001-07:00

My dad’s birthday is today. He is such a nice man. He spent his afternoon with Wyatt. I called to see how it was going and he said: “fine we are just eating crackers and watching TV.” Wyatt definitely loves grandpa. He is always asking where’s grandpa. My dad loves to play with Wyatt and take him for rides on the 4-wheeler and mini-bike. Kayla and I both love him too because he is always so willing to help and he always knows what to do or how to do our silly projects. When I went to pick up Wyatt after work I went in and found him asleep in my dad’s lap, well sort of. I just had to take a picture before I woke him up! Thanks for all you do. We love you and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2008-08-02T22:15:00.003-07:00

"... its the weirdest thing, they call him Blue.." -melissa

SHARK!

2008-07-28T12:46:00.005-07:00

tickle me twisted - but i love shark week! the last week in July on the discovery channel from 9pm to midnight - pure shark fest! don't get me wrong these gynormous fishes terrify the boogers out of me ~ but they are the most fascinating of creators. so if you get a minute take a gander & you'll be hooked! (i don't recomend if your planning a trip to the big salty seas anytime soon) *by the big salty seas - i am not refering to the great salt lake*

help i'm in a pickle..

2008-07-26T09:51:00.006-07:00

We have decided to put new flooring in our kitchen & dining area. It has been narrowed down to laminate flooring, we've agreed on the the grain & style - now we need your help in choosing the color! Please let us know what you think. One is a light-ish wood color (josh thinks it looks like a gym floor) and the other a darker maple-ish color. Our cabinets and dining table are a very rich dark redish brown (not cherry). PLEASE VOTE FOR THE ONE YOU THINK LOOKS BEST!

Lighter

Darker

sweet cheeks

2008-07-16T22:17:00.008-07:00

Our morning routine doesn't change much day to day. I wake up and start getting things ready for the day, Wyatt wakes up shortly after, we have breakfast - then bathtime. After all of this Wyatt & Roxy usually play while i get ready for work. On this particular day i was getting ready as usual - but Wyatt was extra full of it, laughing & running -pure silliness. I stepped out of the bathroom to find the following.

* i generally don't encourage running naked with trash cans atop the head - but i thought it was too phunny!

Bear World

2008-07-13T10:43:00.002-07:00

While in Yellowstone we didn't see any bears. We though we had but when we stopped and really looked closely---it was a buffalo. Kind of disapointing but oh well. So on the way home we stopped and went to Bear World. I was mostly a bear zoo with a few other things. They had some elk, we fed the fish and pet the other small animals like a goat, pig and deer. Not much to the place actually. Then when we were all done with that we got to play on their rides. The ride attendant looked to be about 12 or 13 so I wasn't so sure about how safe it would be. First we went on the small train. Safe enough. We went around a few times and Jaxon and Wyatt loved it. Next we went to the roller coaster. I was pretty sure Wyatt was going to fall out because it went faster than I though and the lap bar didn't even come close to touching him. Luckily Kayla was sitting with him and he didn't seem to mind. Then Wyatt and Jaxon rode on the cars. They looked to be pretty safe but when they came around in front of us the car started to buck like a horse. Wyat was oblivious to the danger and Jaxon "wanted off". If was funny to watch them. My overall thought of Bear World...The poor bears that have to be in there are so accustomed to humans it they would probably be more like a dog licking you to death if they ever got loose. It was fun for the kids but way to expensive.

Big Creek and Mesa Falls

2008-07-12T11:34:00.000-07:00

So Yellowstone was quite an eventful day. A lot of driving so we decided to do some things by Island Park rather than driving back to Yellowstone. We went to Big Creek and fed the fish and seaguls. I brought a loaf of bread for the family. Wyatt decided he wanted to eat his piece rather than feed it to the fish and birds. Afterward we went to Mesa Falls. It was a nice little hike down a wooden trail and you ended up right on top of where the water started falling over the edge. It was so cool. It is amazing how we have seen so many beautiful things from mother nature this past week.

jellystone

2008-07-11T22:30:00.004-07:00

To save a bit of money on gas - we thought it best to carpool so we teamed up with Brian & Natalie, we hadn't even made it out of weber county before Wyatt & Jaxon started whining. " Wyatt scratched me! WYATT SCRATCHED ME AGAIN!" While Trevor is here we thought it would be fun to get the family together for a vacation. We rented a Cabin in Island Park for a few days. Lots of fun, but after a few days of irregular napping & lots of buddies to play with - all adds up to not one but seven crabby kids!

Jaxon and Jeffrey were playing hide-and-seek. Well the object of the game is not to be found and that is exactly what they did. We all were outside looking for them then come to find out they were under the beds in one of the rooms. They are so innocent and had no idea of what not coming out when a person calls your name can do to a family. To finish out the first night we went fishing at the kids pond. Lauren was the only successful one. She caught a 6 incher. After fishing we came back to the cabin, the kids played Yellowstone bingo then went to bed, ½ the adults played hearts and the other ½ played the wii. It was just really nice to relax and not have to worry.

Yellowstone is a fun place to visit every few years ESPECIALLY if your lucky enough to spot the exotic hard to spot Buffalo... psych! They're everywhere! It was a long drive for most of the day. I was glad we decided to take Brian's Expedition. We saw Old Faithful, Lower Falls, Gibson Falls and Mamouth Hot Springs. Neither of us have been there for quite some time so it was good to see all of the tourist traps and take a few photos. We had fun spending time with Kayla's family and it was nice to have a "family vacation" while Trevor was here.

Island Park Cabin

2008-07-11T20:03:00.001-07:00

So while Kayla's brother Trevor came to visit from Korea we decided to go on vacation to Yellowstone. Unfortunately everything in West Yellowstone was booked on that short of a notice so I found a cabin in Island Park. The cabin was awesome. After much deliberation and talking with the rest of the family I booked this cabin and I think everybody was pleased with what we got for the money. $105 for each family was a steal of a deal. It was perfect for the entire family and it was way cheaper than all of us renting our own hotel rooms. This way we were able to be together and make our own food so we wouldn't have to eat out every meal. It got a little hectic with all of the kids playing all the time but overall it was such a great layout so I think most everybody was comfortable. I took some video footage of the cabin so when i have a cabin one day I can make something similar. There were a few things I would change but it was actually really new, clean and well layed out to accommodate the entire family. It was just a really neat place and it could be that I have cabin fever and would love to own something like this for my family. Watch the video if you want but it was a nice place for a family vacation.

Cabin over the 4th

2008-07-06T15:30:00.002-07:00

We decided to go to my uncle’s cabin for the fourth of July this year. Just like last year it was a “family reunion” but with no scheduled activities. We went up on Thursday came home on Saturday. We rode the 4-wheelers, watched some movies, played cards, and Kayla was re-taught how to crochet. Last year my Aunt Deana taught her how to do it so she has meddled in it for about a year, now this year she re-taught her because she had semi-forgotten. Anyway she is pretty much “old lady pro” now. When we originally decide to go we were only going to stay until Friday afternoon because we were going to come home and watch the fireworks. But we stayed until Saturday night instead. It was actually really nice to have a carefree schedule to allow us to stay if we wanted. One night me and Wyatt ate S’mores and it was fun to watch him try and roast marshmallows. While there my Cousin Brandon’s daughter, Loralie (not sure about the spelling), was blessed by my Grandpa. A cabin is kind of an unusual place for a blessing but it was still very nice. Maybe we can tell her she is one of the “pioneers”. I am sure that is where they did them. So no fireworks this Fourth of July but come this Sunday we’ll be sure to make it up to Weber State for theirs.

Water Skiing at Pineview

2008-06-29T21:10:00.000-07:00

Courtney is going to be moving away to go to dental school in August so we decided to have one last hoorah before he leaves with all the old group of friends. It was really cool to get everybody together and just hang out. Justin broght his boat down from Idaho and we spent a few hours on the lake. Afterward we came back to my house and had a BBQ. Fun Times!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Baltimore

2008-06-26T20:59:00.002-07:00

My cousin Michelle lives near Baltimore. Since I was so close I thought it would be nice to visit her and her family. It has been about 10 or 12 years since I had seen her so it was good to catch up and get to know her family. I didn't get to meet her husband because of his work schedule but her kids were fun. After we walked around DC all day we went to her house and talked until about midnight. The next morning she made us breakfast and we went to the Baltimore harbor. It was really nice. We ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. The pictures are at the harbor in front of the boats. You can pay to go on them but we didn't have enough time...Maybe next time!

Sam and Abby

Washington DC Weekend

2008-06-25T14:03:00.003-07:00

We went to Washington DC to see all the historical sites. On Friday afternoon after class we went to Arlington Cemetery. We decided to do this on Friday because it is a little out of the way and we were able to drive right there. It was really cool. We went to see the Kennedy’s Gravesite then to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. This was pretty cool. We saw the changing of the guard. They are very professional and serious when they do it. After the ceremony somebody touched or knocked over the chain surrounding the tomb and the solider stopped marching and began to yell at him. It was interesting because the only thing they do is march and to see this guy yell was totally out of the ordinary. I was glad we went and saw this on Friday because Saturday was such a long day of walking and we were so tired.

Saturday we jumped on the Metro (DC’s subway system) and went to the National Archives. We saw the Constitution, Declaration of Independence, and Bill of Rights. In the building you can’t use your flash on the camera so all of the pictures were so dark. This was about a 20 minute wait to get in but it was totally worth it because you don’t get to see all that stuff in real life (just copies).

Next we went to the Museum of Natural History. This is where we saw all the dinosaur skeletons, the big elephant and lots of other prehistoric skeletons. It was really neat but we were just really rushed and that place was packed with people. It was cool though.

Next we ate lunch in the Ronald Reagan building. It is a joke to get into any Federal Building because the security is so crazy. It is like going through the airport to get into any of the buildings. Anyway to each lunch we had to go through security and show our IDs.

We then walked to the White House. It really wasn’t too intriguing since it looks like a mansion with a big fence around it. However, there was a tour guide there giving a brief speech and there is a woman that live across the street from the White House. She lives under a tarp and has been there since 1982. She is protesting Nuclear stuff. So if she ever leaves to go to the bathroom or something like that she has to get somebody to take her post or it will become illegal to protest in front of the White House.

Finally toward the end of the day we went and walked to the Lincoln Memorial. On the way we caught the Washington Monument and the WWII memorial. Afterwards we saw the Vietnam Wall. There was an excellent speech from a forest serviceman that explained all of the significance. It was super informative and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We rested on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial then walked, what seemed like 1000 miles to the train station. We made it back to the Metro Station then we were off to Baltimore to see my cousin Michelle and her family.

TDY

2008-06-18T04:29:00.003-07:00

For those that might not know TDY means Temporary Duty Yonder. That means I am in the city of California Maryland attending a class and not at my regular desk at Hill AFB. I left last Sunday morning which was hectic because Saturday was graduation and Kayla had a wedding shower for Anna Parker at our house so we were rushing to et the house clean and food cooked in between all of the festivities of the graduation. I didn’t get my bag packed until about 11 pm and had to be at the airport by 6:30 am. Wyatt wasn't much of a helper to get my bags packed because he would unpack everything I packed. Then he'd jump in there and play around. I didn’t forget anything but I hate being rushed. Well I made it to the Baltimore airport but my luggage didn’t. So my options were to drive the hour and a half to the airport and have them bring it out in two days or wait in the airport for two hours and take it with me because it was on the next flight. I chose to wait and they gave me a voucher for food, so I went and ate dinner free…then they gave me a $150 travel voucher because of my willingness to stay and not be so mean. I didn’t really have anything to do. My suitcase came in on the next flight, I picked up my rental car (a dodge caliber – sparkly blue) and made my way to my hotel. I am so glad I had my GPS. I would recommend it to anybody because it is a life and time saver!! Such a great invention and well worth the investment!!! My hotel room was a smoking room with two double beds but on Wednesday I got to switch to a king suite! It is twice the size, a huge jetted tub (Kayla loved it) and a couch, chair, table and non smoking!

Graduation (yes again)

2008-06-14T19:52:00.001-07:00

I know I already posted about my graduation but here are the pictures. It was so great to actually have the official ceremony. There were actually tons of people there. I was really excited to get my name called and my hood placed on. Right after they read my name they read my mom’s then they mentioned we were a “mother and son team.” It was neat and several people chuckled. The group picture is the group of contracting people that I did all of my classes with and work with everyday. They are great people and were equally as excited as I was. I am so glad it is over!! After graduation we ate at Golden Corral with my family then went home where Kayla was waiting with balloons and a gift. She got me a Nintendo DS. AWESOME!! THANKS!

Where's Grandpa, Where's Grandpa, Where's Grandpa?

2008-06-07T20:51:00.002-07:00

Wyatt is obsessed with saying “grandpa”. At least three times per hour he will ask “where’s grandpa?”, “where’s grandpa?”, “where’s grandpa?”. It is a little annoying but it is great to hear him form sentences and be so attentive to things. Another thing Wyatt is obsessed with is “blue” and "Duke" some of the other horses. So last Sunday we went to my parents and my dad (aka grandpa) had Gus the mule saddled to take Wyatt for a ride. Sure thing he could not get enough of it. When he came in he would run to the back door and ask for “duke” one of the other horses. I think he says Duke because it is easier for him than Gus. He is so attentive about what is being said to him. He will usually try to say something if you ask him too.

mother's day (may)

2008-06-02T09:18:00.002-07:00

Happy Mother's Day! This is my second official Mother's Day and it was a fabulous day! It actually started at about 12am as i finally got to bed Saturday night there was a small box and card on my pillow. Josh knows how much i love to spoil my own surprises- so he decided to give me my mother's day gift Saturday night. He and Wyatt gave me a willow tree figurine of a mother holding her toddler - of course it made me tear up like a big baby, but i really do love it! And in the card was a gift certificate for the Women's Wellness center in South Ogden to have laser hair removal for my underarms. Hooray! No more shaving the pits!!! Sunday morning Josh surprised me with breakfast in bed. I love being a mom - it is really one of the most difficult & rewarding opportunities i have ever known. I certainly appreciate my mom more, now that I know what it means to be a mother. I have the greatest mom in the world!

love you grandpa... (april)

2008-06-01T20:35:00.003-07:00

On April 7, 2008 We made a final farewell to one of the Greatest Men I will ever know. Harold R Taylor 'Grandpa' passed away April 1, 2008. He was truly an incredible man who did incredible things over the course of his life. Lucky for us - we will always have grandpa in our hearts with our little Wyatt. It will be fun to tell my son stories of the grandfather his middle name originated. Never did he have anything negative about anyone, all situations had something positive - even as he lay in the hospital dying of a failing heart. He loved my Grandmother so very much - it has been the most difficult with his passing, to see her alone - and to know her partner for 60 some odd years has gone to a beautiful place - without her. We love them both and know that they will be reunited again one day. We love you and miss you!

BABY ryker (april)

2008-06-01T19:09:00.002-07:00

On the 21st of April at approximately 6:00 pm Ryker Brian Vincent was born - weighing in at 5 lbs 2 oz. Both mom and baby are doing great. Hang in there Nat - you'll be up and running after both Jaxon and Ryker before you know it! This is a picture of Jaxon and Ryker. Jaxon is already an awesome big brother! He is very protective of his little brother making sure that everyone washes their hands with the "special" soap and sits down to hold him:) Ryker is beautiful! We are so excited to have another cousin - Ryker makes eight grandkids for Grandma & Grandpa Anderson. Congratulations to the proud parents Natalie & Brian! We love you!

my apologies ... (january)

2008-06-01T08:43:00.001-07:00

First things first... i am sorry that my loving husband so thoughtfully posted those fear-provoking photos, in the very early morning hours of THE BIRTHDAY . YIKES!

I know this is so lame but as i sat in school that day, it happened to be the birthday of the girl sitting next to me. Never in my life have i felt like i was getting old.... today i felt OLD! My professor asked how old we were both turning if we had anything fun planned. Her response: my friends are throwing me an awesome party and it will probably last all weekend! My response: hmmmm.... i have a sick child, so probably a flick from redbox & if we are really feeling wild grab some take out for dinner.... i know, so lame. i did however have a wonderful Birthday, any day with josh.wyatt & roxy is a geat day! - Thank you to all the thoughtful well wishers.

The beginning of year 4

2008-05-21T19:37:00.002-07:00

So today we have been married for 4 years. It is amazing how fast time flies. I cannot believe it. Our tradition is to watch our wedding video and then do something. (we were so skinny 4 years ago) For our honeymoon we went to Hawaii, year one was Park City, year two Las Vegas, year three Cirque du Soleil. This year we will watch the movie, eat Applebee’s To-Go and watch the season finale of American Idol. It seems it is getting much simpler as time goes by. However, we will be going to Washing ton DC in June so we’re going to count that as being our anniversary trip. I will actually be there for work from the 15-27 of June so Kayla is going to come out for the weekend and we’ll tour downtown DC and see all the sites. We can’t wait!

Father and Son's Overnighter

2008-05-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

Wyatt and I went on the Fathers and Sons overnighter to North Fork. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go especially taking a 21 month old. But we did it. I was so concerned that Wyatt would get really cold, or cry the entire night. Well i don't think he got cold because he spent the entire night flipping and flopping out of the sleeping bag and off the air mattress. Needless to say... I didn't sleep a wink mostly because i was worried about him getting cold but it didn't help that i kept getting kicked and that my air mattress went flat about half way through the night. I am glad it was just an overnighter because i wouldn't have made it any longer. It was fun to play with him on the swings and T-Ball but that is all he wanted to do. I think we might try it again a few more times this summer.

School’s out FOREVER!!

2008-05-12T19:03:00.000-07:00

So on the 12th I had my last class for my Master’s Degree. I am so glad it is over. I thought I’d have tons of spare time to do whatever I wanted but; I think I always did whatever I wanted, now I don’t have to feel guilty about putting off homework to do it! I don’t really feel that much smarter. That’s not to say I didn’t learn anything from my program but I think it will serve me better in the future. Now that I can do more stuff with my free time I think I want to learn to play the piano and read a few more books. I have tried several times to learn it on my own but I need someone to teach me. Generally speaking I am not a leisure reader but there are a few things I’d like to finish. So that is on my list of things to do now that I’ve GRADUATED!!!

Mothers Day

2008-05-11T18:57:00.002-07:00

So I am behind a few days but at least I keep posting. Mother’s Day was nice. We ate with my family then went and visited Kayla’s. At my parents house we rode the 4-wheelers and played outside. At Kayla’s aunts house we sat and talked outside while Wyatt entertained himself with a croquet mallet. He is becoming so much more fun. We gave my mom and Grandma a family picture. The first one ever of all of us together. It was taken at Grandma Steed’s funeral and I cropped out the background and put it on a photo studio backdrop to make it look like we went and had them taken somewhere. We gave Kayla’s mom and Grandma a planter to hang outside. They were really cool. Kayla got the Demdaco statue (you know the ones without the face) and laser hair removal for the underarms. She is really excited about both. All of the motherly influences I’ve had in my life are all for the positive. I am grateful them!!

Dinner with Lourdes

2008-05-06T19:52:00.001-07:00

So you may have read about my trip to General Conference with my Argentine friend Lourdes. Well we took her out to dinner and I thought I would share some of the pictures. My companion that i served with while in her area was going to be there too but unfortunetaly his daughter got sick and he had to take her to the hospital. We ate at Chili's. She had never been there before so i thought that we'd give her a taste of corporate america. She really had a great time. I want to give her as much as possible because i feel so grateful for what she did for me while i was there i want to do the same for her.

New bed for Wyatt

2008-04-27T14:09:00.004-07:00

Wyatt is growing way to fast. We decided to take down the front rail on his crib and turn it into a toddler bed. So far, so good. He only fell out two times and those were about 5 minutes after we put him in and shut the door. It is taking a little getting used to. He can get out of bed and walk around and come and cry in my room at 4 am. I tried to put him back in and get him to fall asleep but he just wouldn't stay. I then brought him into mine and Kayla's bed because i was just too tired to sit at his bedside. He fell asleep, no problem at all but he did not lay still. Oh well we did get a few more hours of sleep. Naptime has become more interesting because if he doesn't want to sleep he will stand by the door and cry until we come open it or start playing with toys. I think we have it safe for a few more months until he can start opening doors. He is been so fun because he already thinks that he can do just about anything. He has two little car things and he will stand on the seats then "crash" (falls gracefully) and thinks he is all strong and daring. He is great!!

Miss Utah 2007

2008-04-12T09:12:00.003-07:00

For work i am involved in a group called National Contract Management Association (NCMA)and we had a luncheon last Thursday with Jill Stevens, Miss Utah 2007. Aside from being beautiful she was an excellent speaker, a diverse person, and very friendly. She shared her experiences as she was in Afghanistan as a medic and she also shared her experiences as a pageant Queen. Both sides of her stories were excellent. She said she was the most tom-boyish person she knew and she wore boots not high heels. But thanks to a friend she was coerced into running for Miss SUU and she won. That is how she got involved in the pageant thing. She was part of the top 16 in the US and was voted "Americas Choice." She was just a really great person to talk with and had a great view on life as she related it to her military experience. Keep focused on your target, set new goals, try new things and you'll be able to hit your target most of the time. The experiences you gain will be invaluable and life's lessons just for you.

Sunday Morning Session

2008-04-07T15:25:00.004-07:00

So Kayla and I went to the Sunday morning session of General Conference. It was certainly a long morning. I had a member from one of the ward that I served in on my mission coming to watch conference and I wanted to make sure she got a seat. So i asked my bishop if the ward had any tickets. He told me to ask the stake. I asked the stake but they didn't so i wasn't sure how i was going to get any tickets so she would for sure be able to go. The bishop then told me that his wife, who is in the Tabernacle Choir, always gets two tickets so he would check with her. Sure enough she had two and was willing to give them to me and my friend Lourdes from Argentina. We had pretty good seats. We were in the plaza but all the way to the side but it was still nice to sit there and feel the spirit. So while i was waiting to go to the Priesthood Session my bishop's wife called Kayla and said she had two more tickets. So Kayla was able to come with us. The other ticket we gave to a lady in the parking lot. She rushed over to us and said do you happen to have an extra ticket to conference? We gave it to her and she started to sob and said "God does answer prayers." OK, he certainly does.
After the session we walked around and took a few photos, then Jeanie came out and met my Argentine friend. Lourdes was so excited to meet her she could hardly stand still. Jeanie, in her broken Spanish, tried to tell her how she learned to speak and how she loved to sing in the choir. After a few minutes of chatting Jeanie gave Lourdes two CDs of the choir and Lourdes started to cry. I think she was so grateful that somebody who didn't even know her would do something like that. Anyway long story short, time was running out for Jeanie because she had to get back to her seat and Lourdes had to go inside for the last session. But before i left Lourdes thanked me a million times over and said how grateful she was to have had that experience. All in all for both of us it was definitely one for the memory books.

Easter

2008-03-24T14:56:00.004-07:00

Easter was great! We actually pulled out the Easter baskets and eggs this year. Last year it came and went before we realized it. They were on the coffee table for a while until Mr. Wyatt got a hold of them and poured them out all over the place. The stupid grass stuff is a pain to clean up. Easter morning was calm yet Wyatt had fun picking up the eggs and he would throw them in his basket. The clothes he got he could have cared less about. He just wanted all the candies that were in all the eggs. We went to church then we went to my parents for dinner but he would only eat candy. So on the way home he barfed in his car seat. I know it is gross but i am pretty sure he ate way to much sugar. The shorts and tee shirts we bought are just in time for spring. He certainly needs them because he is growing so fast!

A little white mule named Blue

2008-03-18T18:33:00.006-07:00

So you can obviously see i changed the design of the blog. It's actually all original. I made the background picture but i was inspired by a template i found online. It was actually quite easy.

Now for the post about Wyatt, Jaxon, My Dad and the white mule named Blue. Not confusing one bit is it? So Wyatt gets watched by Kayla's mom during the week and then every other Friday he goes to my parents house. Well two weeks ago was that day. There must have been spring fever in the air because Wyatt and Jaxon played outside for a lot of the afternoon. Jaxon was with Wyatt because he too gets babysat by Kayla's mom when Natalie has to work. It was actually really cool because they both love to play with each other. I don't think either of them have ever been on a horse but they both really liked it. My dad loved this. He always loves to tell Wyatt he is going to go on a horse ride.

For a beginner they rode the right mule. Blue (the little white mule) is my dad's very first horse. So needless to say he has been around for a long time and he is really old. Nobody ever rides him because it would probably kill him but for a little kid it is probably exhilarating and for the mule that always gets overlooked probably felt wanted once again. I know that he is around just because it was the first that we owned and he would not be really useful for anything else. Hope you enjoy the pics.

Farewell to Grandma Steed

2008-03-12T18:12:00.001-07:00

Seems like just yesterday that I posted about my Great Grandma Steed turning 87 years old. Today I post a farewell post in her memory. I remember her always telling me she never expected to live this long. For the most part she was a very independent and healthy woman. She lived on her own up until the day she passed. On Sunday night my mom called and told me I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible to give her a blessing. So we packed up and went there immediately. My dad anointed her with oil and I gave her a blessing. I told her she had lived a good life, she was a choice spirit of our Heavenly Father and that she would be comforted. Amidst all the tears, emotions and noises from the hospital machines I think she felt comforted. When we were done she took my hand, looked up at me and said in the most faint voice “you take care of yourself, OK” I couldn’t say anything. I knew and I am positive that she knew too this was it. All of my family made it up to see her as well as Betsy’s family. I think we are all glad we did. The doctors tried several times to keep her heart rate down but to no avail. Kayla, Wyatt and I left the Intensive Care Unit at about 9:05 pm. Mom called at about 4:45 am Monday morning and said she had passed about 20 minutes ago. I again was overcome with emotions. They were filled with tears but I was excited for her because she could finally rest, feel no pain and see Great Grandpa Steed, my Grandma Farr (her daughter) and all the others she has been waiting to see for a long time. The viewing will be Friday night and the funeral Saturday morning. I am sure it will be emotional again but I am honored to be a pallbearer and a speaker. Grandma Steed – I love you and you will be greatly missed by everyone.

http://www.webfh.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=171881&fh_id=11049

Back to Reality

2008-03-05T21:04:00.005-07:00

So i know it has been a few weeks since I have posted but relax I finally updated with all the fun things we have done the last month. A lot of our pictures are posted below of the cruise and all the fun stops. The reason I labeled this back to reality is because since we are back I have to cook my own food, make my own bed, find my own entertainment and work. I don't mind doing all of that stuff but when you are pampered it is hard to let it go.

I just finished my second to last class for my Masters degree yesterday so come May I will be finished with school and i will be able to post more often. So don't worry we are alive and well just busy with everyday life and trying not to let our tans fade too much before summer hits.

If you get tired of hearing my song then go to the Cozumel post and click the speaker in the bottom left corner!

What we did while aboard the Carnival Liberty

2008-02-25T20:31:00.004-07:00

For the last 3 years we have been on a cruise with Kayla's work. They are very generous in taking us places and rewarding their employees. It is very nice of them and we are glad they take us with. I would have to say this is the best cruise we have been on as far as the boat but last years stops were better. See the pictures below about our stops. As far as the boat we enjoyed the food, entertainment, and actives much more this time than in the previous two years. We were on the Carnival Liberty. It is only two years old, the length of 3 football fields and taller than the statue of liberty. I enjoyed going down the water slide and Kayla really liked the Karaoke Bar. She did even get up to sing Walk Like and Egyptian. We went to a few of the different Las Vegas style shows and one of Kayla's co-workers performed as James Brown in the Carnival Legends show. The ship puts on a production of famous music artist like James Brown, Madonna, Garth Brooks ... It was pretty good. We went to the Midnight buffet which was really cool. The chefs on board are culinary geniuses. They have some amazing talent. I wish I could prepare food like they do. Flowers out of vegetables, amazing cakes, and squash shaped like birds. I think because we involved ourselves more with what the boat had to offer, and not play cards for hours like we did the last two times, we enjoyed it a lot better. One night we even stayed up late and danced. It was so fun because you would go from bar to bar then they ended up on the Lido deck, (top floor) and danced some more in the Mardi Gras celebration. It was a BLAST! Kayla participated in some group called "Ocean of Gratitude" when the lunar eclipse came they got out some drums and chanted to the moon. I thought it was really weird but she said it was actually quite fun! Anyway we had an awesome time on the cruise but reality hit us like a ton of bricks on Monday when we got home so I took an extra day off. Now that I am back I will be more frequent with the posts.

Panama

2008-02-21T20:13:00.001-07:00

The last stop of the cruise was in Panama. We of course went to see the Panama Canal. It was only a 2 hour bus ride, one way, to get there but it was worth it. We did however, start off with some trouble. Our group of 40 went out to find the tour guide a little early. If you have ever been on a Cruise you know that the locals swarm you when you get off the Pier because that is how they make a living. Well our tour guide was not there so we asked for some help. BIG MISTAKE. The company that helped us tried to sabotage the other company that we actually went with because i am sure they wanted our business. Needless to say we sat in our bus for about 45 minutes waiting for them to negotiate with the Panamanian police and the other company. Well, we finally got to the Panama Canal and it is very Americanized because it was part of the US until December 1999. The locks though are really not that big. I was thinking huge but a cruise ship could never fit in it. But it really does save time for the cargo haulers. The toll is really expensive but they save time and gasoline by using it. After we saw the canal we went to the capital city and saw their version of the White House. What a dump and the city surround it is the same way. We also saw the set of the new James Bond movie that is coming out this year. It was also a dump but they had tried to clean it up a little for that. That is all we had time to do in Panama because of the length of time it took to get back to the ship. We arrived back right on time but the ship did leave two hours late because of one of the ship tours was delayed. Overall it was really cool to see the Panama Canal but everywhere else was very dirty and i don't think i would want to just fly there for a vacation.

Costa Rica

2008-02-20T19:57:00.002-07:00

Costa Rica was the second stop on our cruise. Here we had booked a tour with the majority of Kayla's office. It started off on a river boat tour where we saw some monkeys, sloths and caiman (small crocodiles). Then we went to Cahuita National Park where we got to walk on the beach again. Here we saw the Howler monkeys much closer and even heard them howl. SCARY because when they howl then throw thier poo at you. We ate some lunch and saw many different parts of the country. We spent a lot of time driving but as we did our tour guide kept us informed about the culture and animals. As an FYI a male snake has two penises and a female bat gives birth to her young while upside down so she has little catcher thingies to help out. Our guide was actually really smart but she could have been a little more tactful and not so racist against the Nicaraguans. The first thing she did tell us though was to watch out for the little kids because they are the ones that will rob you. So we were nervous from the get go but overall we had an enjoyable time and did our souviner shoping inside the port.

Cozumel

2008-02-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

Our first stop on the cruise was Cozumel Mexico. We decided to just go to the beach and then to some Mayan Ruins. It was a really fun stop. The beach could have been a little bigger and less rocky but the weather was excellent and the resort was actually really clean. After we went snorkeling we got our bus driver to take us to the Mayan Ruins. They were really cool and old. It was supposed to be some sort of temple where people would go to get married or pregnant. We did stand under the fertility arch but we are NOT going to have another baby. We shopped for a couple of hours before going back to the ship. It was fun just to hang out and be on vacation.

A quick trip to Idaho

2008-02-10T18:16:00.003-07:00

February was a month of vacations. The 8th – 10th we drove up to Kuna Idaho (by Boise) to visit our friends Justin and Megan Patterson. The drive is sooooooo long but it was worth it. We watched movies, hung out, ate and found me some new shoes. Kayla and Megan have been friends for a long time and Justin and I have been friend for a long time too. In fact, it was them who set us up on our first blind date. And here we are married now for almost 4 years. It is good to have such fine friends. My other good friend Brady came with us. The pictures are mostly of Jaca, their dog who was named after the Brazilian fruit. It was a great weekend I just wish they didn’t live so far away.

Wyatt was certainly not a fan of riding Jaca

Brady is not much of a dog fan either but he seemed to like Jaca

Happy Early Valentines Day

2008-02-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Kayla and I have a couple of busy weekends a head of us so we decided that we aren't going to celebrate Valentine's Day. In the past I tend to have gone overboard, and for some unknown reason end up at Kayla's work with flowers and candy. But this year I am really not going to do that. This year the day after Valentine's Day we will be on a plane heading to Florida to go on our cruise so any flowers that I purchase would just sit in our unattended house to die. Totally not worth the $50.00 to not enjoy them. So to make it up to Kayla I made her chocolate covered strawberries, pretzles, cinnamon lips and straberry flavored peeps (shaped like hearts of course.) Even though we don't need these delicious treats I couldn't help but let them get the best of me. I ate 3 tonight and will probalby eat several more tomorrow. I love my valentine.

Here's the picture of how they turned out. They are sooooooo good. I am hoping to be able to save some to take on our trip to Idaho this weekend. but my sarcastic, yet practical, inner-self says YEAH RIGHT!!

Happy Birthday to GREAT GREAT GRANDMA STEED!!

2008-01-27T16:00:00.000-07:00

So generally we have a birthday dinner for all those in my family in the month that there is a birthday. Well my family is a bit unique, in that EVERYBODY has a birthday in January or August, except for Cody who is in June. On the 27th we celebrated Hadly, Kayla, Sandi, Weston and Great Grandma Steed's birthday. It was actually quite good. We ate ham and potatoes at my parents then all went to see Grandma Steed. It was actually her birthday and it was quite squishy in her little apartment with 9 people. First off she doesn't have that many chairs so we had to pull two in from the hall and secondly there is barely room for the stuff she has without having to add 4 chairs from what is already there. I think it was everything an 87 year old woman could want. We all don't get over there as often as we should and to have us all there at once was great for her. She loves our family very much. Enjoy the pictures of her and her GREAT GREAT GRANDCHILDREN...... It's almost a miracle she can handle both of them on her lap but you can tell she loves it.

When we got home from Grandma's we turned on the TV and saw that President Hinckley had passed. It was with great shock to me but I thought it was great to have had him as president of the Church. I really don't ever remember any other one because I was either inactive or didn't care really about what was going on in the church. A great thought I heard at church went something like this...

When I die I want to buried with my fork. My fork, because you have to "keep your fork for dessert." So it can be said that the best is yet to come. Lucky for him he can be with his wife and other family. Oh the greatness he has set forth and blessing we enjoy because of him.

Happy Birthday KAYLA!!!

2008-01-18T08:24:00.000-07:00

So today is Kayla's 24th Birthday. I got her a few gifts: A really big, cute leather watch set and a green colored workout suit. She said she like both of them very much. I made her open them this morning before she was all beautified with makeup but she still looked fine! She had told me that her new car was good enough for a birthday present but i wanted to make sure she had something for her special day. Kayla is so special to me and Wyatt. We love her very much! HAPPY 24th BIRTHDAY!!

Hodgepodge Of A Post

2008-01-16T14:28:00.000-07:00

So this has been a long time coming. I am a real slacker and haven’t posted much of anything lately but I promise I am still alive and have been doing things too. Since I don’t want to bore with all the details I will keep it short and sweet.

December 31st –

We finally broke down and bought a new car for Kayla. Her old Buick is still running but it was time for a new car. She has wanted one for a long time and we finally got the guts to buy one. We bought it from The Sherm’s Store in Ogden. The manager is in my ward and gave us a really good deal. It’s a 2007 Toyota Highlander. I love it and I think Kayla loves it even more than I do.

After putting ourselves into debt we went and saw I Am Legend. I didn’t know that it was such a suspenseful movie but it was and I liked it. Kayla watched the majority of it with her faced covered by her coat. But ever since our first date (December 31st 2002) we have gone to a movie. It is kind of a fun tradition that we have.

We also went and celebrated the new year with the Cave’s. It wasn’t much of anything. We watched Spider Man 3, ate some food, watched the ball drop then went home. It was still fun to hang out with them though.

January 2nd --

So we decide to redo our kitchen cabinets. It was such a long process because we used oil paint that took 16 hours to dry. We added a bead board insert in the middle of all the doors then painted them a brown-orange color… It is a little too orange for me. I am not a fan but it is still growing on me. It really does look OK but I don’t want ever re-paint them again. After they were painted we drilled holes and added handles and that took FOR EVER. Take a look, here is a before and after picture.

January --

Our friends, the Cave’s, came over for dinner. We were going to build a snowman but by the time we made it outside the snow was too hard and would not roll into a ball. That’s OK we just played in the snow for about 10 minutes then went inside. Wyatt was so cute. He looked like the camouflaged stay-puff marshmallow man. We have this snow suit from my parents and this is the first time it has been used. It was hard for him to move but he liked to lick the snow and throw it too.

January 9th --
It snowed like no other. I was amazed how much snow I had in my drive way. It took me 2 hours to shovel it all. The neighbor let me use his snow blower but it only blew the first 8” off the top. I had to shovel the rest. We had about 13” total from the storm. The next day I could hardly move!! Just two days before this huge storm I took in my parents snow blower to get fixed so I could use it. He called and said it would work but I would have to shut off the gas after each use. My mom told him just to keep it until he could get it fixed all the way. My dad told me I could have it but it would be a family snow blower. I told him that was fine but I was going to store it at my house. It was just a few days too late. Now that it is fixed it won’t snow anymore.

Our Christmas Morning

2007-12-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Since things happened mostly on Christmas Eve we had a pretty quiet Christmas morning. Wyatt is still too young to be really excited about the whole thing but I think I managed to pick up the slack there. I asked Kayla if Santa had come at 6:30 am but she rolled over and said “no, he’ll be here in an hour. Go back to sleep.” So I did but right at 7:30 I got the dog out, woke up Wyatt and we gathered around the tree. Wyatt wasn’t fully awake so he was a little cranky. We gave him his 10 pack of Matchbox cars and that is all he needed. He could have cared less about anything else. We pretty much opened everything else for him because all he wanted to do was play with the cars. We gave him a jump-o-lene (an inflatable trampoline) and a pump. The pump didn’t work so I ended up blowing this 7-foot round tramp with my mouth. It took me about 25 minutes but I think Wyatt has enjoyed playing in it so far. Wyatt a lot more fun this year because he could make noises and somewhat understand what to do with the gifts and such. Next year it will be really fun because he will know all about Christmas and Santa.

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

This year most of our celebrating was on Christmas Eve. We had a party with the Anderson’s from 11 – 2:30 and then a party with the Farr’s from 5 – 9. We did the traditional dinner then we opened presents at both parties.
For Kayla’s side we went to the church where Jeff had a badminton, foosball, ping pong and basketball all available. It was actually quite nice because all of the grandkids could run free, throw the balls and make as much noise as they wanted without driving everybody nuts. At noon we at ham, rolls and several different salads, then it was time for the gifts. Things were great. We had purchased our own gift and then we gave it to Marc and Katherine to wrap and give back to us as our present. This why you get what you want and don’t have to burden somebody with the most frequently asked question “what should we get them?” Oh yeah we bought ourselves a food processor.
For my family we went to my mom and dad’s house and ate prime rib and sparkling potatoes. It is the same traditional meal that we every year. It was great. My grandparents joined us. After dinner we read out of the scriptures about the birth of Christ then the annual family newsletter. It was a tearful event just as in the years past. My mom does a great job of putting everybody’s yearly accomplishments and the presents received on the back of the news letter. Opening the presents was great. Mostly we just focused on Hadly and Wyatt because it is a new thing for them. Wyatt did manage to whack Hadly with a wooden puzzle right in the forehead. I think their favorite gifts were the child sized camping chairs that they could store their bottles in. It was another fun Christmas Eve party for both sides of our family.

Skiing with Justin and Brady

2007-12-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Justin came down from Idaho for Christmas so we decided to go skiing, (I snowboard) to Snowbasin. It turned out to be an extremely awesome day. It was a little windy at the top of the lift but it was definitely a great day for skiing. I am a little slower than them but it was still fun. About 10 years ago we would have been going as fast as possible, hitting all the jumps, and not leaving a second before the resort closed. But this time we stayed on the same run about 85% of the time, took our time, screwed around a little and left about an hour early. But I still felt I got my monies worth. It was kind of like old times: Justin kept picking on Brady the entire day. The only thing that could have made it even more like high school days if Cody and Courtney would have came. Those are my other friends that couldn’t make it. Before this I hadn’t been snowboarding for two years. It came back fairly quickly but I did take a pretty hard crash about an hour before lunch. It was great to get a chance to hang out with friends that I don’t see that often and do something that I love.

Making Chocolate

2007-12-18T21:03:00.000-07:00

So Kayla and I decided to make homemade chocolates to give away for Christmas this year. I went to Grandma Sherrod’s house and got her recipe. She gave me the one for fudge, almond joy and peanut butter cups. As she gave me the recipe she proceeded to tell me that it was for a double batch and it would make a lot of candy. Well even though I heard her I should have made just half of it because it made SOOOO much.
First off we decided to make the fudge. EASY as pie! But then we decided to make the peanut butter cups. First you have to make the peanut butter filling. This is where things went horribly arye. I had copied down the wrong kind of sugar. I wrote just sugar but it should have been powdered sugar. I called my grandma on Sunday morning to ask what I could do. She said to mix a little water with it to try and dissolve some of the sugar grit but as I did the peanut butter mixture lost its fluffiness. I ended up throwing all this mixture away and started over. I’ll just call this the practice run because it was edible but I just didn’t want people think that they were eating sand when finished. Overall, after all the mistakes, the peanut butter cups were my favorite, then the almond joys and fudge. It was cool to actually lean how to make candy but I don’t know if I will have the time or drive to do it again.

Sub for Santa

2007-12-15T21:04:00.000-07:00

Every year my parents pick a family to help out or we go and find an Angel tree and donate to it. This year was no exception. We got together as a family and went shopping for a family who was in need. Of course like any other year the store was crowded but this year it was PARTICULLARY crowded. We all went in and found the things we wanted to buy for the person we were given and my dad stood in line about 4 different times just waiting for us to come and jump in with him. Afterward it was pretty good when we all went to eat at Crown Burger.
Once our bellies were full we went back to my parent’s house and started wrapping the presents. There were about a million. I was great to see them all especially when we left them all on the porch at the family’s house. It is better to give then receive.

Our Little Dipper

2007-12-02T19:43:00.001-07:00

Not too long ago we went to Wendy's for dinner and Wyatt got the 99 cent chicken nuggets with BBQ sauce for dipping. We went to my mom's house where we put him in the high chair and let him eat and taught him how to dip. Let's just say he is a natural born dipper. Now if we can't get him to eat something we just put a blob of dipping sauce in front and show him what its for then we have a good eater. The video is from yesterday when we got him to eat some chicken. He, like most other kids, is a double dipper too. Or he'll just eat the sauce plain. We think it is hilarious but judge for yourself. Oh yeah, I love when Roxy is around because she will pick up all the left over food. She'll also take advantage of Wyatt if we aren't watching closely but she certainly is close by when Wyatt is eating.

The joys of ownership

2007-11-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

I know that you probably know what I am going to write about from the title but here goes anyway...So ever since we moved into our house we have had this weird humming sound that comes from the showers when the hot water is on. We just recently we noticed that our water pressure was way low and our washer would not work on the hot water cycle. It would just get an error and stop working. So we looked in the owners manual to see what the error meant: "Low hot water pressure or leak" I was grateful it wasn't a leak. So my mom asked a plumber in her ward what the symptoms were if you have great cold water pressure and nothing for hot. He said we needed to shut off the water, take off the pipe and drill out the build up. So i did just that. My first impression was how did the water even get through all that junk in the first place. There was not even a small hole. Nothing and it was solid too. So needless to say i got it all fixed and drilled out. I actually felt quite accomplished because i saved myself some money by fixing it on my own. The washer works great now and there is no longer a humming sound in the shower. Now i have so much pressure i am going to have to clean the drain because it doesn't drain fast enough now. Oh the joys of home ownership!

THANKSGIVING

2007-11-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving turned out to be rather fun. We at with my family at 11:30 and then hosted Kayla’s family at our house at 3. It was actually quite nice to have it at our place because we were all able to sit around the same table. Kayla did an excellent job of putting all the place settings together and the table was packed with food. Katherine and Marc were the first to sit down at the table and first thing she did was knock over her drink. Oh well, no big deal we hurried to clean it up before it got on to the chairs and the floor. Then about half way through our meal, CRASH—BREAK—SCREECH and I thought the little kid table had been overturned by rowdy children but I was only half correct. On the half wall right beneath the little kids table was a clock that Kayla salvaged from her mom. It had fallen off of her wall about 4 years ago and Kayla fixed it. Well anyway, Jeffrey hit the wall with his head and needless to say, down came the clock. It was shattered, Kayla wanted to fix it but I plead with her just to throw it away which she did crying “it’s all in splinters” but it was time.
The other cool thing about thanksgiving was that we were able to have a webcam conversation with Trevor who is in Korea. We had a few technical difficulties to start with but after that it worked smoothly and we were all able to see Trevor and he us. It was really cool. Trevor said he really enjoyed it and thought that Grandma Taylor was scared of the new fangled technology because she sat down, said hello Trevor then said well I guess I will let you go so others can talk. That was all she wanted to do with that.
It was great to spend thanksgiving with my family as well. We at Lances then everybody played the Nintendo Wii. It was fun to see the “older” people play like my aunt Jodie and my dad. The Olympics were fun but it was most entertaining to watch the boxing. I played a few rounds of boxing and it definitely kicked my butt. My shoulders were sore the next day.

Pumkin cake

2007-11-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

So any time Kayla or I make a cake for a work function or party, about this time of year, we always bake a cake that looks like a pumpkin. Well today for my class I make one of these cakes and it turned out to be a hit with everybody in my class. We made a process flow chart on how I made this cake. It was actually quite funny so we had a person take a picture of it so we could put it on our PowerPoint presentation. This cake is generally hit with everyone because it is so festive. All you do is bake two bundt cakes, trim off the tops to make them flat and then frost them. We usually spray it with Orange spray food coloring because our orange frosting generally turns out peach colored. Then we just use an ice cream cone for the stem. It is probably a tradition to make at least two of these per year. We are pretty much pros now. Just a tip if you want to try it: 1. use Duncan Hines spice cake mix, 2. substitute milk for water and this will make the cake much denser and easier to work with...if you don't then it will just fall apart and will not look like a pumpkin.

Halloween!

2007-10-31T20:16:00.000-07:00

So this post is a little late compared to all the other blogs I have read but like the old addage goes: "better late than never" This year has been so hectic with school for both Kayla and I that I barely keep on top of things. So after reading the two comments from the Jackson Sisters and my mom's comment "I noticed you haven't updated your blog lately" well here I am.

Halloween is probably one of my most favorite holidays but this one was by far the worst. I had to go to school. We normally all dress up with a family theme but without a lot of time, failure to plan ahead and school we (Kayla and I) just didn't dress up. After looking at all the pictures I think I should have anyway.

Our theme, if we would have had one would have been barnyard animals. Both Wyatt and Roxy were chickens. I have noticed that the chicken costume is a popular one. I noticed a couple of kids at the 2 ward parties we went to that had them, and Halle from the Buxton's blog too. Then the other day when I took Wyatt to my brothers house I noticed that my niece Hadly had the same exact costume. I couldn't believe it. They are all so cute though. Anyway here are the pics. Enjoy

Sharleen's Birthday

2007-10-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

So Sharleen had a birthday about a month ago (September 22nd) and I am just now posting the pictures from it. It was a fun party. We (the kids and their spouses) took charge and made her dinner. She is always so nice to invite everybody over about once a month to have dinner for people that had birthdays that month but this time we decided to make dinner for her. I made the chicken and I cooked it on my new grill and the others made food to go with it; salads, dessert, rolls, baked potatoes. It was quite nice and I am sure it was a welcome relief to her to eat a nice meal, with her family, and not have to cook it or clean up after. Anyway, happy birthday to Sharleen and sorry it took me so long to post the pics.

Hand prints in the cement

2007-10-12T19:44:00.000-07:00

So we finally poured cement for the fence and we also poured a little bit of cement to put the hose on so it doesn't have to sit on the grass any longer. The pad for the hose was a last minute thing because we had so much left over. We decided to put our hand prints in it. It brought back lots of memories from my childhood when my parent poured cement and we got to put our hands in it. It was really quite fun. Kayla, Wyatt and I all did our hands (and Wyatt's feet) Roxy did her paw print by just wanting to be part of the action and my parents were there to place their hand prints too. It was just a fun thing to do.

I'm finally putting up a fence

2007-10-05T11:01:00.000-07:00

So about a year ago we got a nice brick fence along the back of our property but it was only for 90% of my property. The owners of Sparrows put up a nice retaining wall fence but they stopped at their property line which was about 15 feet from my property line with my neighbor. So needless to say we have had a crappy chain link fence there that has been falling down with every gust of wind. I went and purchased the vinyl fencing now it is just the hassle of installing it. My dad and i have been working on it and we are to the point where we can pour the footing but it is supposed to rain so we are going to have to wait until after the weekend. BUMMER! But i will be so excited when it is all competed because then i wont have to go out there and keep picking it up and it will look so much better. Roxy will finally be able to run in the back yard and we wont have to worry about where she is. Your work always seems to be so much more worth it when you do it yourself.

Let the races begin

2007-09-17T17:07:00.000-07:00

So i thought i would post a small clip of Wyatt learning to walk. This was taken about a week ago and since then he has gotten so much better and so much faster. It is kind of a pain to keep chasing him down but it is so fun to watch him grow and develop. He will definitely come almost running if you have food in your hand to bribe him with. He is so fun! PS ignore my voice. I sound like Kermit the Frog; I hate listening to myself speak because in my ears I don't sound like that.

Grandma Taylors Birthday, She turned 81 I think?

2007-09-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Grandma Taylor's trailer and had cake and ice cream for her birthday. It was really nice. They haven't lived up here in the northern part of the state for a while so it was really good for her to have all of her children and other family around her. I know she really enjoys that. I hope one day i live to be this old and still be able to move around like they do.

Labor Day, and we did just that.

2007-09-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

So for labor day, Kayla and I both didn't have to work. It makes it nice to have some free time every once in a while so that you can catch up on the chores around the house. And that is what we did. I was able to clean out the garage a little bit and also work in the bathroom. I'll have to take some pictures of that for a later post. Well as part of our "labors" we went to Target and bought the Dyson DC17 Animal vacuum.

First off, let me just say YECK! We vacuumed our house with our old vacuum and then did it with our new Dyson and I thought i was going to puke with all the dirt and Roxy hair that it picked up. However, i was so impressed at all the power it has and how it left our carpet so soft and actually clean! I can't believe i put Wyatt on that stuff as filthy as it was. I would HIGHLY recommend buying one to anybody! They are expensive but worth every penny! And ladies if you are hesitating spending that much just think a guy becomes motivated to do more stuff around the house if you have a fun "toy" to use. I know i sure am!

Mom's Birthday and 4 Generation Pictures

2007-08-30T20:24:00.000-07:00

Today is my mom’s 47th birthday. We celebrated by having a family dinner with everybody. It was quite nice. My dad made steaks, corn on the cob, sparkling potatoes and vegetables. My Grandma and Grandpa Sherrod were there and my Grandpa Farr showed up too. It was nice to see him. It has been about 3 years since I last saw him. I took advantage of the moment to take a few pics with my cell phone, (they are really hard to see) but at least g0t a 4 generation picture of Wyatt, Me, My Dad, and My Grandpa. Cody did the same thing with him and Hadly. It turned out to be a very nice evening. Kayla wasn’t able to go because she has started back to school. I am really proud of her for going back. If she can get over these dang math classes she’ll be home free.

Happy Birthday to me, I turned 26

2007-08-21T20:12:00.000-07:00

So I guess you could say that I am getting older. But it will always be a relative term. By that I mean if you are older than me you'll always be older than me, and vice versa. This birthday just kind of felt like any another ordinary day. Although, it was nice to hear from friends and family wanting to wish me a special day. I didn't do anything to celebrate -- rather I was at work all day then school at night. I did take my office bagels and they devoured them. When I got home from work Kayla had made me a special birthday treat. It was a carmel corn cake. It looked really cool and it tasted good too. The only thing about living with two people is that you have to eat everything yourselves and you can't pawn it off on the kids yet because he can't eat it. So I ended up taking it to work and it was AGAIN devoured by them. Overall, my birthday was great although it was just another day.

Wyatt's 1 Year Pics

2007-08-18T06:32:00.000-07:00

We went to Kiddie Kandids in the New Gate Mall on Saturday and got Wyatt's pictures taken. I was really impressed with their quality of service and friendliness. They were really nice. You have to pay a little more for the pictures but the quality is way better than Wal-Mart or Target. And in all actuality, since we got a free 8X10 we got the sheets for about the same price. We picked the one of him on the bench as the 8X10 and him on the beach as a 5X7 and him with the football as the other 5X7. Enjoy!

Wyatt's Birthday

2007-08-11T17:42:00.000-07:00

Wyatt’s first birthday was a blast. We spent the day working around the house and making a cake for him. It was actually quite fun because to keep Wyatt entertained we gave him all kinds of junk food that he never had before. The picture with him all covered in blue is when he was eating a blue fruit roll-up. We had family over to the Herfordshire pool for hotdogs, salads, lemonade, cake and of course a dip in the pool. Since Wyatt is allergic to eggs Kayla made him his own special little cake without eggs. She used a Weight Watchers recipe. It calls for 12 ounces of diet soda verse all of the normal stuff like eggs, oil and water. It worked out pretty well but I didn’t care to eat it. Wyatt didn’t seem to mind. He got it all over him. It was great!!! After dinner and cake we opened some presents. Like most one-year-olds he could have cared less what was in the packages; but would rather play with the paper. All of his cousins were a big help in opening them. After presents most of us got in the pool and swam for about an hour. It was definitely a good first birthday. One I think that he’ll never remember but one we certainly will. I know I have written it before but I will write it again…It is amazing how fast he is grown up.

I Finished HARRY POTTER 7

2007-07-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

So I have been in Port Hueneme California since the 24th of July for my job and i have been reading Harry Potter to pass the time when i get out of class. First off, to me, this was probably the best book I've read. It picked right up and started tying up all the loose ends. J.K. Rowling did a very good job with the series and especially this last book. I am not a reader but i have read all of these books. To prepare myself for this book i got online and read a cliff notes version of book 6 so i could remember what had gone on. I am really glad that i did. Also while online i decided to read a couple of spoilers (this was before the book was released) but none of the three that i read were true so it must of been a bunch of hype. So everyday after school i would come back to my hotel room and read the book in my chair. It would get so good that i wouldn't want to put it down. The book got a little slow for me in the middle because it felt like they kept doing the same thing over and over and over and over (i guess you get the point) And probably the one part i didn't really care for was the epilogue. Of course it was written 8 years ago or whatever but i just seemed like it wasn't part of the story line. I am really glad that it didn't get spoiled for me from the news or anything and that i could read it for myself. I am not going to give it away but those are just my thoughts. Highly recommended from me to anyone. I cant wait for Kayla to start reading it so we can talk about it!

HOLLYWOOD

2007-07-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

So for the other half of our vacation in So Cal we went to Hollywood. YES! The traffic was horrible. We were hoping to be able to catch a movie down there before we had to get Kayla to LAX so she could go home but we spent over 2 hours waiting to go about 8 miles. It was horrible. But when we got down there we walked down the Walk of Fame. That was cool to see all those stars on the side walk that you only hear about on TV. We took a picture of a couple but mostly there were too many people to do anything like that. It reminded me of a mini version of the Las Vegas Strip. It only lasted for about 4 blocks but it was crazy.
They had entrepreneurs on the road dressed like characters (i.e. sponge Bob, and the Little Mermaid) that would take pictures for tips. The mermaid kept saying “I only take pictures for tips” So I didn’t want have her say anything to me because she looked scary. The Aladdin was caring a chi Wawa instead of a monkey. It was just weird. And most of them were dressed just enough that you could tell who they were and that was it. It wasn’t a very good costume. Anything to make a buck!
Then we walked inside the Kodak Theater where they do the finale of American Idol. That was cool, but again it is just like Vegas because it was a mall inside then the theater is at the top of the stairs. Also within the mall was a bridge to where you could take a picture of the Hollywood sign. That was really cool to see.
We also waked by the Chinese Theater. They usually hold lots of premiers here but they were doing anything like that when we were there. In front of the theater were cement pieces that had stars that had put their hand prints and wrote in the cement. It was cool too. We finished everything off by looking through the souvenir shops but that was just to see what they had.
We got Kayla to the airport on time but she called me when I was driving back to my hotel to tell me that her flight had been delayed an hour thanks to inclement weather in New York.

Traffic, MLB, and the Beach

2007-07-28T12:55:00.000-07:00

Since I was going to be in California we decided to take advantage of the weekend and fly Kayla out. So when she flew in on Thursday night I went to get her and it took about 2.5 hours to get to LAX when it should have taken about just over an hour. LA traffic is HORRIBLE. It was fun because we got to go to a MLB game on Saturday (we ate a hot dog and everything). Of course the traffic was atrocious to get to the stadium but it was worth it. The Anaheim Angels played the Detroit Tigers. It was an afternoon game so pretty much the entire stadium was blasted by the sun. After about the 4th inning though, our seats finally got to be shaded and it was so much more bearable. It was fun to see it in real life. I don’t watch baseball at all but it was just fun to go in person. There were 43,122 people there so that made it better, especially when they hit a home run.

After the game we didn’t want to rush into traffic to get back to the hotel and sit so we went to Newport Beach and drove around that city and then parked and walked on Huntington Beach. Of course traffic was a “beach” getting out of there so we just took a short detour, ate some Asian food then worked our way back with fairly little traffic. That was a first. I am amazed at all the houses and glamour there is around this beach area. But I guess that is California for you.

Fun at Sandridge Park

2007-07-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

We went and hung out with Kayla's childhood friends at Sandridge Park. We ate pizza, squirted each other with water guns, played catch and just sat in the shade. It was nice. We really don't spend time with these guys and it was good to get together with the. Wyatt hated being squirted and didn't care to be in the sand too much. He did like the swing though. As I watched the two and three-year-olds play I thought it would be fun for Wyatt to be that age but all in due time.

Block Party

2007-07-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

So we have lived in our house for just a little over 2 years and we know about 4 of our neighbors. So our bishop and neighbor across the street

planned a BBQ with ribs and chicken for the entire block. The food was EXCELLENT. We took a fruit pizza that was a smash. (look at it...you'd of loved it too!!) It was pretty much the only dessert that was completely eaten. It was a really good opportunity to met all of the people we didn't know. They are all so nice I can't believe that we haven't gotten out to associate with them before. I hope that we get to do this every year.

Harry Potter 5, The movie!

2007-07-13T18:13:00.000-07:00

So Kayla and I, along with Katherine and Marc, went to see HP5 at the new movie theaters in Ogden. First off the movie, I think, was the best out of all of the movies. I didn't really care for the book because it was such a downer the entire time -- and UMBRIDGE?? But the movie's special effects with the magic was excellent! I realized they couldn't fit everything into just two hours but that the directors did a great job. Kayla also liked it! Now we can't wait for HP7 to come out! We keep debating on who is going to read it first. I know it will be me because i will be traveling that week and I'll need something to do on the plane. She can read it when she comes to visit.

The new junction theater in downtown Ogden is exactly what they needed! That place was pretty busy so i don't think it will be going any where soon. The theater was clean and i really loved how they had assigned seating because it allowed us to get there right when it started and not have to wait in line for an hour! We did sit in the wrong seats to begin with but that was because i couldn't see what row we were on! I think i will go to this theater for my last couple summer must see (Hairspray, Transformers, and the Simpsons)!

Happy 11 months to Wyatt

2007-07-11T20:06:00.001-07:00

Another month has passed and many more to come. Wyatt is so mobile now. He isn't walking but he is very close. The coffee tables are his best friend now. He loves to stand up with them, take everything off of them, smack them with his hands, then do it all again once we put everything back. Occasionally he will loose his balance and whack his head into it so if you see us out and about and he has a bruise on his head its most likely from the coffee table. He definitely has his own personality, and I would dare say it is a fun one but if your a stranger then he is instantly shy! He has successfully climbed all the way up the stairs by himself. I did stand on the side of him while he did it but that was just in case he decided to stand up then go tumbling down it backwards. So far he has only fell down them once and that was a couple of months ago before he could crawl. Like most parents can probably attest to your kids grow so fast and you wonder where and how has time gone by so quickly.

Yes I am still alive

2007-07-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

I bet you might be thinking no posts…what happened to him. Well nothing has happened to me but I just have been extremely busy and I can no longer access my blog from work to update it. But I’ve made it up by going back for last weekend and writing a little about camping. After getting home from camping it was clean, laundry, school and fixing the water pump in the Jeep that has kept me so occupied. I love to go camping but you almost need to plan an extra day of vacation time to come home and get everything put back together. Besides that I needed to finish my mid-term for my class and in the back of my mind was that I needed to fix that stupid water pump. But everything now is going the way it should, at least for now.

Family Reunion

2007-07-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

Most of my aunts and uncles went to the family reunion at Dean’s cabin. We are always so excited to see one another. At first everybody loved to look at Wyatt and play with him but I think by the end they were tired of him being so whiney. He is still fun though. My family is card players, always have been and always will be. They played Texas Hold’em and another really long game…I think called Rummy or something like that. I usually like to get in on them but this trip I felt like just relaxing so all I did was watch movies and go on 4-wheeler rides. My mom took Kayla and I to see Lilly Lake and then on another pretty good trail. It was really fun and we even went through the river. I was smart enough to lift up my feet but Kayla’s got soaked. She did say though that it was the best part of the ride. Wyatt didn’t care too much for the ride I gave him. But I think all in due time he’ll love it. We stayed in my parents trailer and Lance and his family stayed in his because the cabin was pretty full but I didn’t mind and it felt great because it was about 25 degrees cooler than home. I sleep so much better when it is cool! It was good to see all the family, crazy as we are, we just hung out on the back porch and let Lance and Deana cook for us. It was pretty good food. There is nothing like relaxing around the ones you love. There was talk of making it a yearly event so I guess we’ll see.

Them there are sheep in the road

2007-07-05T19:38:00.000-07:00

My Grandpa Sherrod decided that it was time to have a Sherrod family reunion. I always remember doing stuff with my mom’s brothers and sisters but as everybody got older they kind of went their separate ways. Needless to say I rarely see them but I guess that is our own fault because we all live fairly close to one another. The majority of us went to Dean’s cabin at Manor Lands. We left on Thursday afternoon and on our way up we saw SERIOUSLY about 500 sheep just being herded down the Mirror Lake Highway. It was a sight to behold. Sheep had cars pinned in to where they cold not move and we were following them so we couldn’t just go around them either. Finally they got them to move to the side of the road but it seemed like about a half of an hour had passed I whish I had a better picture but this one will do I guess. Things like this give me more reason not to live on a farm or in Wyoming. And besides who wants to drive on a highway that is covered in sheep poop. Oh yeah, and on the way home we probably passed about 100 of those sheep again but this time they were just lying in the road like they had been hit. Since when do sheep have the right of way??

Wyatt's First Haircut

2007-07-04T19:49:00.000-07:00

Wyatt's first first hair cut. At first our intentions were to just trim the fly-aways... then Josh decided to get the CLIPPERS so Wyatt got a buzz. His hair was surprisingly long about an inch and a half. He looks so much older now. :( my little punkin pie is growing up!!!

Independence Day

2007-07-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

It was our first Independence day with Wyatt. After his fresh new haircut he was set for the night time festivities. He played with Kayla's cousins for a while before they actually started. The first initial bang was a shocker to him but after that he was mesmerized. But that only lasted about 8 minutes. He then got bored and tried standing up on his own. I was pretty impressed at his efforts. Overall I think he really liked the fireworks.

Swimming with Trevor

2007-06-29T19:31:00.000-07:00

Well we hadn’t seen Trevor since October but he came home for a couple weeks. We only saw him a few times but it was fun to hang out with him. We went swimming at the pool and had a BBQ.

We went over and ate at the Anderson a couple of times as an “entire” family. You can look at the Treasure the Memories post for Natalie’s version of the same thing. We went with opening night with Trevor, Marc and Katherine to the drive-in and saw Ratatouille. It was pretty good. I am a fanatic for Disney Pixar movies. They are probably my favorites of all time. I wish however that I would have seen it at the regular theater because sometimes the drive in just looses your attention. But back to Trevor. We talked for quite a while about how Korea is and what he likes and all the same old stuff that he probably told everybody else. I bet he got sick of answering the same old questions. Anyway it was good to see him for a couple weeks and we are glad that he came to visit.

Top of Thousand Lake Mountain

2007-06-24T15:44:00.000-07:00

We hiked to the peak of Thousand Lake Mountain, elevation approximately 11,300 feet. I am pretty sure we started at about sea level (there was a lake when we started so I think that counts) and it was straight uphill, practically vertical, from there. OK well maybe not that extreme but it was definitely steep! Once you got to the top it was a plateau and a nice walk to the peak. At the top of a pile of rocks there was a mail box and some paper where you could sign your name. We took Roxy with us and I think she made the hike about twice because she ran up and down the trail then out in the woods just sniffing like a Hoover vacuum. I packed Wyatt, in the Snugli, on my back the entire time. I didn’t think it would be that difficult, and it really wasn’t, until he fell asleep then I was just hauling dead weight. He didn’t cry or anything so I think that he enjoyed it ok. Kayla made it about ½ way before her asthma kicked in pretty bad and she just decided to sit and wait for us because she didn’t have an inhaler. It felt like it was only about 20 minutes to climb down after it took about 90 minutes to climb up. It was a fun hike but I won’t ever do it again. Sort of a been there done that attitude I guess, but I did enjoy it.

Marc and Katherine

The Stuart's and Megan

Anderson Family Reunion

2007-06-22T15:33:00.000-07:00

We had the Anderson family reunion this weekend. We were going to take the Jeep and just sleep in a tent but when I left work on Thursday afternoon it began leaking anti-freeze all over. So I determined that my water pump has gone out, AGAIN! It is awful because I am not a mechanic and I just replaced it last April. Needless to say I wasn’t going to drive it down to Fish Lake National Forest. We ended up taking my parents truck so we decided to take their trailer too. Katherine and Marc came with us. It is a very long drive hauling a trailer but it was good because we could set Wyatt down on the floor and that way he wouldn’t have to play in the dirt the entire time. This was his first camping trip and I think he really was AMAZED with fire, DESPISED bug spray being sprayed on him and HATED sleeping in his pack n’ play…other than that it was awesome.

We were at Elkhorn campground which was a really NICE site but the first 3 miles of that dirt road are really, really bad (washboard) then the last mile is lots of switch backs on a narrow road. I was a little nervous pulling the trailer but it all worked out ok. Our directions were pretty clear on how to get there and where to turn but the sign that told us where to turn was broken so, needless to say we passed it by about 40 miles. It was awful but on our way back we found it no problem because the sign for those going south bound was in perfect condition. Anyway, there wasn’t as many people like in years past but it was still fun. We went geocaching on Saturday with Kayla’s aunt and uncle’s family. I think I found me a new hobby and both Kayla and I really liked it. It’s kind of like a modern day treasure hunt with a GPS. Sunday we went on a hike it was almost a straight up hill climb but it was good at the top, then we drove home.