Just a Quickie!

This is just a quickie post with some photos from our recent trip to Wyoming and the few days before.


Finn- smiling! I have figured out how to get smiles again- Yay!!!



He loves to play in his car seat, as long as he's not in it. Then the toys are boring. (Note- this was before the 10 hour drive both ways... He's not so into his car seat anymore...)




Finn and Grandpa- right after church!


An actually decent family photo. Mostly decent, anyway.



Finley and his cousin? (My cousin's baby) Meliah. Meliah is a few months older than Finn. They rather liked each other.


Grandma feeding Finn some yummy tomatoes from his Great Grandma's garden!



Grandpa and Finn again, camping in the trailer.



Finn LOVES his Grandma's hair. This was a popular look for her this trip. She did like it, you know. Until he started to grab handfuls AND footfuls and pull in opposite directions. Ouch!



Finley also had his first real encounters with a dog. My old dog, Chaos. She is so good with him, too!

As a side note, Finn is getting another tooth. This makes three! And we had a great time in Wyoming. Got to eat Bobby Flay food- which was divine!, hang out in the mountains, see everybody around, and show off Finn. It was nice. Except for the drive.

Here's One for the Grandparents

Finn has been tons of fun lately! He is getting so big, and mobile to boot! At his 6 month appointment, he weighed 18.6 pounds and was 24.5 inches long. His weight is now in the 70th percentile and his height is in the 43rd, so he is growing pretty well.


This is his concentrating face. He makes it all the time when he's trying to figure something out. He is really pensive, and enjoys problem solving. I think he is a lot like Jason in that regard.


When my Mom came to visit, we went to eat at Chili's. We were having a hard time getting him to be happy, so we gave him a lemon wedge. He LOOOOVED it! I have never seen a baby go to town like that. It is especially funny because he makes sour faces. It's hilarious! He went through three wedges, and stripped them down to the peel. There is a video below. Notice that this was near the end of one of the lemons.


He also was funny because he liked his thumb flavored. (He also did this with a french fry.) He has to hold the lemon wedge and suck on his thumb. (With the fry he had to have both in his mouth.) If you try to take it away, he cries. It's pretty darn cute, for thumbsucking!


This is a video of Finley scooting. When he sees you over him, he gets all excited and squirmy. Then he starts scooting on the back of his head. It's pretty hilarious! It's also his main mode of transportation. I don't think he will ever grow hair in his bald spot.




This video is Finley using his switchback motion to try to get a toy. Well, he does give up, but it's still pretty cute. He rolls back and forth moving at an angle to move forward slowly. VERY slowly. But it works!

Blogging Rut

So, I have no idea what to blog about. I am ashamed because I have had plenty of things to blog about, but have not done it, and now I don't know what to say. It has been too long. And I am imagining all of you guys looking at me and shaking your heads in despair, and I feel ashamed. Oh, the joy. So, to appease the masses (well, mostly my own self) I am blogging about nothing of note.

Finn is now 18lbs 8 oz, which is MONSTROUS! I feel like my arm is about to fall off if I ever have to carry him around. Which I do, unfortunately! I also finally got around to buying him a crib. I haven't set it up yet. I think I will make Jason do it when he gets home from his camp out. Finn is now in 6-9mo clothes and size 3 diapers. He's getting too big. I don't even feel like he's a baby anymore!

I recently spent a week in Idaho for my cousin's wedding. It was lots of fun to see everyone and we all stayed up way too late. Especially my mom and I, staying up til 5am multiple times. It was sad, and I still don't think I have recovered on sleep. Or maybe I have recovered on sleep, but my house hasn't recovered from my recuperation period.

I have decided I need some shorts. Summer snuck up on me, and I am dying of heat. Some shorts would be nice. But, I don't want to buy any because I am hoping to lose some weight. I was doing so great throughout my pregnancy, only gaining 15lbs, but then I delivered and packed it all on. So now I weigh the same as I did before I lost any weight at all, way back at the beginning of last year. That doesn't make me too happy. I think I might start The Daily Plate again. But I am weighing it against eating. I mean, if I am just going to gain it all back the next time I have a kid, maybe I should just wait until I am done having kids to get skinny. (And I am going with the "your body has a weight it reverts to" theory because I am sure not going to gain 20lbs after every kid! I would be waaaaaaaay too fat then.)

And that is about all the things on my mind at this moment. Have a nice day! :)

A New Post, But Quick-like!

I am sad that I haven't posted in a while, so I am updating. It has been nuts around here, but in a good way! My whole family came up for Christmas, which was fun, and will get some more attention later. My Mom and brother Preston are still here. Preston is moving to Provo, and we are so happy about it! My mom is just staying until Jan 9th, to help out me and Preston get settled in our new roles.
I also got to see my aunt Emily for an afternoon, which was so much fun! She is pregnant with twins, and is getting so big! She also took some pictures of Finn, which I cannot wait to see! (And Emily, if you are reading this, I also want all the bad photos. And you don't have to edit them.)
And to end, some new pictures of Finn. He is getting much more chunky, which is weird, but also fun. It's strange to think that he is still smaller than most people's babies when they are born. I can't imagine having to give birth to a baby that big! But I guess I will get a chance to later. Hopefully not.
Grandpa and Finn taking a snooze together!
Grandma and Finn. She is loving this!
Daddy and Finn. Finn loves to sprawl out. How he can sleep like that, I have no idea.
Mommy and Finn. This has to be one of my favorites. He was sleeping with his hand up like that.
Finn is getting a little chunkier, huh? And he looks so much like his dad!
I love this picture of Finn! He is such a sweetheart! He has a huge mouth, huh? I think he might get it from his mom. Poor guy! :)

Amanda is... !!

Yes, it is really true!! I am pregnant, and we are really really excited about it! Here is what we know so far:

Due Date: Christmas Eve (I am not too thrilled about having a Christmas baby, and am really hoping I deliver early. Like somewhere between the 11th and the 18th would be great!)

Weeks along: Eleven, currently. I just had my first appointment on Monday, which was super cool! I loved hearing the heartbeat!! 150 BPM, if anyone wants to know!

Sex: We are not planning on finding out. That is the plan, but it is easy to stick to when you don't have a choice. It will be harder when we could know RIGHT THEN!

Other information- Jason is really shooting for multiples, but we won't find that out until the 20 week ultrasound. We were hoping that we would find out yesterday, but they said when they are that small it's impossible to know from the heartbeat if there is more than one baby.

I have been feeling really good. I don't have any morning sickness at all, which is really surprising. I guess you just always expect to get all the bad symptoms! Other than that, I am super tired, and I can't sleep at all. Not on my stomach, not on my back, and I have to wake up about every hour to flip sides. Not so fun. I am also extremely weepy and emotional. We went to see UP last night, and I cried at least six times. It was WAY too sad for me! Although, I haven't cried at a commercial yet, so that is good!

My Mom, Dad, and brothers are all way excited. I got some funny reactions out of them- especially out of Logan. I told him I was pregnant, and he was like: That's cool! I need a girlfriend! And then he said the same thing to my mom when she talked to him about it. I laughed. My mom has become a baby quilting machine. She even has a broken wrist, and she has already embroidered 6 and the partial squares (from the last time she gave me a count which was more than a week ago) and every time I talk to her she tells me about some new cute blanket pattern or fabric she bought. It is really quite funny! And my dad is way excited. He told my mom that he thinks about the baby ALL the time, if he isn't thinking about anything else. He has always talked about being a grandpa, even when I was little. Needless to say, it will be a very spoiled baby, no doubt!
Me at 9.5 weeks. I think I am already showing. I wish I had a good comparison photo, but I lost all that weight, so I didn't have a current one.

Birthday Fun!!

Well, yesterday was my birthday, and it was a crazy but good day. I guess birthdays are usually like that. It started out with a phone call from Suzanne (who is the choir director in our ward) who was wishing me happy birthday (I'm not even sure how she knew it was my birthday...) and wanted to know if we wanted to go over to play games in the evening. Then I had a meeting, and I got sung to. Then Devera (one of the other Beehive leaders) came over with a card. It was very sweet of her. Then I went to babysit Jack, and as I was getting there, Marilyn (another YW leader) sent me some texts telling me how great I am and also wishing me a happy birthday. Then it all calmed down some. Jason Acosta also sent some birthday wishes my way. Then I got home and I was surprised with flowers and a cool pancake-waffle pan from Williams-Sonoma (shown above) that I have been lusting after for a while. Seriously- delicious. Then we went over to Suzanne's for games and had a great time. It's so fun getting to know people! It was a great birthday!
But of course, birthdays tend to bleed over a few days. It started with my mom's gift arriving about a week ago, which was all sorts of cool spices and a cookbook and some recipes. I might do another blog jst about that. It is oodles of cool spices! Mostly Indian and Morrocan. Sunday, Lauren and Adam came over to hang out with a cake (it had strawberries on top and between the layers- yummy!) and a cute pink sweater, some beads, and a cute zipper pouch she made. Today, I am going shopping with Faith, and she will be getting me a present, but I don't know what it is yet!! It will be so fun!

What a Week!

Well, I have been sorely remiss at blogging lately. Luckily, I have a fantastic excuse, so you can all forgive me! :) Last Tuesday, my Mom flew in, and we took off to visit Nampa, and all the family around there. We only got to stay for a few days, but it was loads of fun! The first night, we all played games. We had so much fun!
In order from left to right: Julie, Kristen, Maegan, Mom, Katie. We played Last Word and Apples to Apples. As it got later and later, we got weirder and weirder, and this was one of those many moments. I would like to point out the food all over the table. (Yes, all of it junk food.) I didn't eat any of it! Well, okay, I did have a small piece of pie with ice cream, but who can resist that? It was delicious!
The next day, we all went over to Kara's house for lunch. All of us being: Britta and Sam, Kara, Shawn, and Jack, Laura, Clyde and Alice/Gertie, Maegan, Elena, and Kristen, Mom and Me, Julie, Jeremy, Nora, and Opal, Katie, Atticus, Thomas, and Violet. It was very full, and very fun. We made Korean Pancakes (basically grated veggies with egg and some kind of Korean sauce), Paninis, and Monte Cristos. It was delicious! Laura went through all of her jewelry, and brought a piece of jewelry for everyone. She also brought me a bad of jewelry that is either broken or strange to remake, and I can't wait to get started on it!! I am really excited, and you can expect to see pictures of them as I make them.
Then, Mom and I went to my Grandma's grave site, which was nice, although we had a bit of a hard time finding the cemetary. Then we went to Britta's to say hi to Morgan, Jared, TJ, and Hunter. Then we headed over to Katie's for more games. However, on the way was a bead store, so you know we had to stop. I was pretty good, and got some great stuff. Once we got to Katie's, we ate some delicious dinner. Pizza and Fruit Salad. The fruit salad really hit the spot. It was soooo good! With cantalope, honeydew, watermelon, blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and grapes. It was delicious, and I ate a ton of it. Then, we decided to do a bit of beading. Katie made this beautiful piece with Labradorite and Pumice (or Lava or something):
Unfortunately, you miss all the cool parts of the piece with the camera. The smaller greyish stones have a beautiful bright blue shiny thing. Kindof like cat eyes in the dark. Then my mom and I had a beading contest where we both had to use the same stones as a base. You have to tell me which one you like better and which one you think is made by who. The base stones (featured in Necklace #1)
More Necklace #1:
Necklace #2:
So, don't forget to tell me your thoughts! Then we played Rummikub, which was great fun. Some photos:
This is a very typical photo of my mom. Not so photogenic. She is wearing the beautiful pin Laura gave her. It doesn't match so well, but it's a gorgeous pin.
This is Katie. She looks a little weird in this photo. Or maybe she just looks like that all the time! Just kidding!
This is Julie, who Jason thinks looks just like my mom. I don't really see it. Anyway, the last half day we were there, we hung out at Kristen's. We looked through a whole bunch of stuff from my Grandma, and there was alot of cool stuff and heirlooms. We also looked through an old catalog from the 60s that had us rolling on the floor. There was one page of coordinating outfits for yourself and your husband. And they were exactly the same! One of the sets was blue jumpsuits (can you say Janitor?) Another one that was great was the swimwear. I think they just used the same bottoms for both, which looked really hilarious. Then we had to head back to pick up Dad and Dillon at the airport, since they were coming to ski. We had a great, but busy, few days with them. They were pretty uneventful. Nevertheless, it was a great week. Sorry this post is so long! I guess I just had a lot to say!