Beautiful Midway

After graduation, Levi's parents invited us to stay with them at a condo in Midway. I LOVE this part of Utah and I've always fantasized about living there. It is growing so fast, though, who knows what it will be like by the time we settle down!

We had so much fun and we are so grateful for such wonderful parents/grandparents. Gideon wanted to spend every minute with Grandpa and Grandma, and still asks where they are!We had beautiful weather and Gideon spent tons of time just chillin on the patio...
Gideon, Levi and Grandma went swimming in the freezing cold pool- G LOVED it! We bought him that little ring in the lobby and by the end of the day he could kick himself all the way across the pool. He never quite got that if he steps into the water by himself he will sink and not come back up... something I really want him to learn- any suggestions from water experts out there?

Catch Up

Why is it that when it comes to posting on the blog, time flies, but when you are counting the weeks/days until a new baby comes time drags unbelievably slow?! I am repenting for my lack of posting and turning over a new leaf (again!).

This is April, in between Farm Country and Graduation...

Here's Gideon with his morning paper and a hot cup of "Jo."

CHEESE!

It was really just blueberries, and no, as wonderful and bright as our child is, he doesn't read yet! He saw the comics sitting there on the table and pulled them over and spent quite a while just leisurely perusing them.

One cold, snowy April morning after we dropped Levi off at school, we stopped at the tiny Provo Bakery for a fresh loaf of bread and some donuts. Gideon picked out his very first donut all by himself... he picked the "Choclak" one with sprinkles. He loved it!

BYU Graduation

Yipppppeeeee! Levi did it- he graduated from BYU with a Bachelor's in Biology! We are so proud of him! It was a special occasion for a number of reasons- first being that he is amazing and deserves to be celebrated- second, my mom graduated with her Bachelor's degree after much hard work and sacrifice- third, my sister, Cara, graduated from the Nursing Program (cum laude), even with a baby and a husband working on a Master's degree- and, Levi's parents made the trek from Washington to celebrate and visit. Wow, we are blessed.

Levi and my mom walked with the nursing program so we could all be there for all three to receive their diplomas, from my Dad! It was awesome... there they were, going along all dignified, handing out diplomas to a smattering of applause and an occasional whistle. Then came our three. I think there were at least 24 of us in their cheering section- there were, "Go Grandma's," and "Way to go Mom/Cara/Levi's!" We believe this is an event to be celebrated with cheering, not golf applause. It was so fun! Not so much for Gideon, but he was a champ through the two days of graduation (and surprisingly enough, it didn't put me into labor chasing and entertaining him).

Gideon kept pulling on the tassle and saying, "It says 8," and the second picture is his pained, "cheese," face.

I Got Tagged!

I'm finally going to post because I got tagged (thanks Natalie)...
10 Years ago:
I was just about to graduate from Prairie High. I worked for Paul Ceczesky making hot tub covers.

5 Things on my to-do list today (Monday):
1-Feed Gideon and watch Curious George while Christine is at the doctor
2-Go to school and spend all day studying for a Biochemistry final
3-Talk to my new boss (Bob) about the two guys we’re going to hire to sell pest control with me this summer
4-Mail my Kaplan DAT prep stuff to a guy in Texas who bought it from me via craigslist
5-Get to bed before 1:00 am

Favorite Snacks:
-ROOT BEER POPSICLES!!!!! Root beer popsicles must be the best food ever. I think manna (like the Hebrews ate in the wilderness) must taste like root beer popsicles.
-Peanut M&M’s
-Pizza
-Cheese and crackers before bed

What I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire:
-Brand Spanking new Cars- for me a Toyota FJ cruiser with every possible option and a -McLaren F1 LCD, for Christine a Land Rover, for Gideon Pow Pow Power wheels, Pow Power wheels, Power Wheels, now we’re driving for reals!
-New toys, Four Yamaha Raptor’s, a WR450, and a Malibu Wakesetter!
-I would move somewhere warm, buy a home with a yard and start a small business so I don’t get too lazy.

5 Places I have lived:
-Winston Salem Nort Carolina
-Vancouver WA
-Provo UT
-Ouray CO (pronounced your A)
-Corona CA

5 Jobs I have had:
-Little Caesars Pizza, it was my first job
-Pacific Coast Spa Covers
-Provo Canyon School where I was used and abused by my coworkers, but met Christine so it was totally worth it!
-Moxie Pest Control, summer sales in orange county CA, this was the best job I have ever had!
-Harker Microbiology Lab research assistant, studying the enzyme kinetics of extreme halophiles from the Great Salt Lake.

5 Random things people don’t know about me:
-I crashed a high school kegger in a stolen cop car.
-I have jumped of the Moulten Falls bridge, I think it’s about 85 feet over the water.
-My favorite book is Enders Game, by Orson Scott Card.
-I graduated high school with a 1.8 GPA.-I’m weirdly possessive of my cell phone and keys and hate to let Christine borrow them.

I'm going to tag... Ethan, Jeff Davis, Mikael, Jeff England, Dustin Norris

Farm Country Videos

This is Gideon's "Horny" Cow

If you listen closely, you can hear Gideon's giggle through the wind... then he does his cute "gut" laugh.

Farm Country- Thanksgiving Point

So, Saturday was not a warm day here in Utah...

Since we had to go towards SLC to pick something up, and I suggested we go to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point. In passing, I mentioned something about Farm Country (big mistake). Gideon heard me (he's never been there, but he heard something about cows), and insisted that we go to see the cows. We tried everything to get him to the Dino Museum, but cows it was- so, we froze for the hour+ it took to see all the animals. It was really fun, just cold. Gideon LOVED the animals and hasn't stopped talking about seeing the cows. Especially the "horny" cow that he saw... I'll attach the video!

This pregnant goat was the highlight of Levi's day at the farm... he followed the poor girl around for at least 10 minutes trying to get just the right shot of her that would show how huge she looked.

Hmmm, wonder why he thought it was so funny?!?

Baby Stats

We still have quite a bit of time left, but we decided to start taking predictions on the new baby's stats...
Date of Birth
Time of Birth
Height
Weight
Good Luck! Levi and I submitted our predictions to each other in a closed meeting tonight... we'll let you know what our predictions are in a few weeks.

Temple University

Temple University School of Podiatric Medicine has accepted Levi and offered him a scholarship... it was his first choice and we are so excited and SO proud of Levi. This has been such a journey of answered prayers and evidence of the Lord's hand in our lives- He is aware of all of us and quietly guides us every day.

So... Philadephia, here we come!

Levi can't wait to run up the Rocky (Museum) steps, and I am excited because there is so much history in Philadelphia and the surrounding area! It will be so cool to go to Manhattan to attend the temple- wow. New York is a little more than 1 1/2 hours away and Washington, D.C. is about 3 hours away. I'm sure many adventures await us!

So, we will be moving in August and EVERYONE is welcome to visit!

Hottie

Levi really needed a new suit for interviews, so for his birthday, his family pitched in and got him a suit, and my parents got him a new tie- so HOT! Thank you family!

Gideon and Daddy

Aren't they adorable?!?

The other day Gideon found Levi's sandals and put them on, went to the door and said he needed to go to "class." Then he remembered he needed his backpack to go to school and grabbed his McQueen 'backpack', and went back to the door, saying he needed to go- then, he said, "Oh, I need some food for class!" He went to the fridge and got some food then returned to the door and said now he was ready to go to school. It was so funny to watch the whole process- this is how it turned out...

(These are both the special "cheese" faces!)

Photo Shoot

This is the typical process we go through to get a picture of Gideon... he has started doing a "CHEEEESE" face where he scrunches up his eyes and nose and smiles a really fake smile- SO cute!

This is the "Cheese!" face.

Baby Belly

Gideon loves the little baby in my belly already. He always wants to "cuddle" up to my belly if I'm sitting down which is painful at times, but really cute! After I read stories and rock him at night, I have to lie down for a few minutes just to recover from the pummeling. At least the baby will be somewhat used to it by the time he's born (hopefully- or he'll get used to it quickly)!

New Baby Ticker

Do you like the new baby ticker? I picked that one because that's exactly what I look like- just a long skinny twig with a basketball belly. Oh, wait, that's just what I wish I looked like when I'm pregnant (shoot, that's what I wish I looked like when I'm not pregnant)! Ahh, the joys of being 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide... in high school my best friend commented once that when I was pregnant I would probably look like a bowling ball- how right she was! I'll post some pictures one of these days... as soon as the swelling in my face goes down... way down. Hee Hee. I guess you'll just have to come visit to see the old belly!

Easter Fun

Gideon got to do 3 Easter egg hunts this year... he had a blast! He really "got" it this year (especially after the first one when he learned there was candy inside the eggs), and he loved it.

I tried so hard to get a cute picture of him eating his candy... these are all I could come up with- I couldn't resist posting them while he's still to young to stop me!

Racing Machine

This is a video Levi did when he was home with Gideon the other day...

Cakes

I've discovered I like to make cakes (with a little more time and alot more money I think I would try something new every day)! I probably prefer the one's that look and taste like they are out of a fancy magazine, but I like to see the end result of the fun birthday cakes as well. It's usually an experiment from start to finish (with no set pattern and very little training), so it's especially satisfying when they turn out kinda cute. Here are some of the cakes I've done for recent birthdays (I'll try to find the other ones that I've done and post those pictures another day).

This Strawberry Shortcake was my first attempt at fondant... it was for my niece's 3rd birthday... it was done in a really big hurry (we were still dismally late for the party) on a very hot day in July. It was fun and Levi helped me a ton!

This was Levi's birthday cake a couple of weeks ago... I didn't get a really good picture of it, but it was a VERY chocolately three-layer cake.

This was my most recent cake (last night, actually)... for my nephew's 4th birthday party with a pirate theme. It was an adventure and experiment from the beginning (I'm glad it worked!). It was funny because I did it in the living room on the floor (with an assortment of cutting boards and a blanket underneath to catch the huge mess), because we were trying to watch a movie and I couldn't do it on the table. It was pretty funny trying to knead fondant on a cutting board on my lap or the floor with my 7 month pregnant belly in the way (cutting straight lines without the help of a table was also a pretty funny joke). Levi helped with the kneading when I couldn't do it anymore (takes alot to get a brown like that)... he was also the creator of the lock portion. He's always a big help with cakes when I am stressing out and need help (whether he wants to or not... how awesome is he?!?).

I'm making another chocolate layer cake for the Relief Society birthday dinner on Tuesday... I signed up for March thinking it would be fun to try something green- but a classic chocolate layer cake tastes so much better than fondant, so I'll have to see what I can add that will jazz up the March theme. Any good cake recipes... or frosting?

So like me...

I got this forward from a friend the other day... it's so like me it's almost scary...

*Recently, I was diagnosed with C. A. A. D. D. --
"Child Activated Attention Deficit Disorder"

This is how it manifests:

I decide to do the laundry. As I start toward the laundry room, I notice that there are cheerios all over the floor and my car keys are in the cereal bowl. I decide to pick up the cheerios before I do the laundry. I lay my car keys down on the counter, put the cheerios in the trash can under the counter, and notice that the trash can is full.

So, I decide to take out the trash. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the trash I may as well pay the bills first. I take my checkbook off the table, and see that there is only one check left, my extra checks are in my desk in the office/playroom, so I go to my desk where I find a sippy cup full of juice.

I'm going to look for my checks, but first I decide I should put the sippy cup in the refrigerator to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the sippy cup, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye --they need to be watered.I set the sippy cup on the counter, and I discover baby wipes that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back in the bathroom, but first I'm going to water the flowers.

I set the wipes back down, fill a container with water and suddenly I spot the TV remote, one of the kids left it on the kitchen table. I realize that after school when they go to watch TV, I will be looking for the remote as they fight over who lost it, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the den where belongs, but first I'll water the flowers.

I splash some water on the flowers, but most of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back down, get some paper towels and wipe up the spill. Then I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.

At the end of the day: the laundry isn't washed, the bills aren't paid, there is a warm cup of juice sitt ing on the counter, the flowers aren't watered, there is still only one check in my checkbook, I can't find the remote, I can't find the wipes, and I don' t remember what I did with the car keys.

Then when I try to figure out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day long, and I'm really tired. I realize this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail.

Do me a favor, will you? Forward this message, because I don't remember to whom it has been sent.

This is Fun- Thanks Amy!

Take the Quiz here!

"You're a monkeybird Daddy!"

Last weekend I was playing with Gideon and I picked up his Tigger (stuffed animal) and asked him "who's this?" and he "said T-I-double Guh-Err (tigger)." I was teasing him, and I said "Noooo, it's a monkeybird." Gideon was not impressed, and yelled back "NO, it's a tiggery-guy!" I thought that was pretty funny so I kept teasing him that all of his toys were monkeybirds which he was not happy about, but he soon caught on to my laughter and laughed along with me. I hadn't thought much about it afterward, and I left town for a couple days and totally forgot about the whole incident. On Thursday after I got up in the morning, Gideon was playing with his tigger and he walked up to me poked me in the chest and said in a loud, laughing voice "YOU'RE A MONKEYBIRD, DADDY, HA-HA!" and then ran into the other room.
I am amazed at how much kids will learn when you least expect it, and at how smart and funny they can be! So, remember don't mess with a 2 year old and his stuffed animals because they will get even with you when you least expect it!
-Levi

Singing with Mommy

Gideon has been singing so much more lately... He's learning the words and sings to himself and his toys. He doesn't usually like to perform because he's so busy all the time, but he does love to see himself on the camera, so I tricked him into singing for me.