Explosion!

Ok, so this is a little morbid, I know, but it is one of the strangest things I've ever seen, so I felt the need to share.  This morning, James and I went outside to get in the car.  As we were walking to the car, I noticed a few fuzzy things on the ground.  I thought that was strange because there are no trees near our house that produce fuzzy things.  I was about to forget about it, but then I noticed feathers.  I looked around and there were fuzzies and feathers covering the driveway, part of the lawn, and my car.  I concluded that it was a bird, but how on earth could something like that happen?  I looked around and then glanced up and noticed the power lines.  I called Hans, being my electrical expert, to see if it is even possible for a bird to be electrocuted by power lines.  Apparently, it is.  Rare, but possible.  My next question was, "What would happen if a bird was electrocuted?"  The answer:  It would explode.  So there you have it.  This morning a bird exploded in my driveway.  Strange!

St. George and Halloween

It's been awhile, but I thought I should post a few pictures from our most recent adventures.  About a month ago we went down to St. George to do some swimming, hiking, and relaxing.

Hans towed down his land cruiser for some off-roading.  This is the first time he was really able to take it out and he loved it.  Here is James sitting in the back of the land cruiser.  He loved it.  He bounced around all over the place and got a big kick out of it.

We went on a short little hike up to Weeping Rock in Zion's National Park.  James did not love this adventure, but he sure loved being on Daddy's shoulders.

James found this stick when we took a bread for lunch.  He hardly ate anything because he was so preoccupied with it.  Amazingly, he pretty much only hit the ground and not other people.  That is until Marissa taught him how to sword fight.  Thanks, Riss.

We had a really hard time getting a good picture for Halloween.  Ironically, both James and Hudson were dragons.  It was so difficult to get both of them to look at the camera at the same time, so this is the best we could get.

It's a. . .

Ok!  I realize it's taken me forever to get around to posting this, so for those of you who haven't heard the news yet.  IT'S A BOY!!!  We are very excited and I'm sure if James understood what was going on he would be excited too.  It will be so fun (and exhausting) to have two little boys running around.  They'll only be about 19 months apart, so hopefully they'll be great friends.

The ultrasound was a few weeks ago and we found out that everything looks great.  So far, we seem to heave a healthy boy!  If you can decipher this picture, it's a little creepy.  Good luck trying to figure it out.

Beware! Political Meanderings!

My personal notes to liberal celebrities currently in the news.  (You may want to stop reading now if you're a democrat or otherwise offended by conservative ramblings.  Also stop if you are a Matt Damon lover.)

Dear Charles Gibson,

You are a biased idiot.  I find your patronizing facial expressions offensive and your manner demeaning.  You may think you're just being a good journalist, but you don't have to be a condescending jerk.

Sincerely,

A disappointed viewer

Dear Matt Damon,

I liked you, but your entitled attitude upsets me.  I wasn't aware that when dinosaurs lived was such an important political issue.  I will not be basing my vote on a candidate's beliefs regarding dinosaurs.  I believe there are much more pressing issues to follow in this campaign, ones that are actually relevant.  Oh yeah, and I think your comments are "absurd."

Sincerely,

An ex-fan

Dear Lindsey Lohan,

Are you serious?  Since when did you believe that anyone took you seriously?  I don't even know what to say to you.  I think you're crazy.

Sincerely,

At a loss for words

Lake Powell!

Well, we got back from our only vacation this summer.  It was tons of fun and so relaxing.  We went with Hans' family for a whole week.  Tons of thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for making it all happen.  James did so well the entire trip.  We had a blast.

Hans, James, Emily, and Cooper going for a swim.  

James hates the water, but he sure loved his ride on the molecule.

James got a diaper rash toward the end of the week, so he spent quite a bit of time in the nude.

Suckers were our saving grace and James favorite treat.  It just made everything a sticky mess.

Random!

I thought I would post a few random pictures from the last few weeks.  James just figured out that he likes to ham it up for the camera, so it's getting easier to get fun pictures.  He also decided that he's a daddy's boy.  He definitely prefers spending time with Hans than with me.

Just a day at the pool.  Believe it or not, we're making progress.  He doesn't hate it as much as he used to. 

He was munching on some cheerios and when I saw one stuck to his chin, I had to get a picture.  I don't know where he got this face from.

Do you think it's time for a haircut?

A rare happy moment on the boat.  Sometimes I don't even know why we do it.

Yes, he got in all by himself.  He can entertain himself like this for at least a half hour.  He just climbs right in on top of all the toys and then proceeds to empty the entire thing.  Sometimes he'll open a book in there and quietly look at it for awhile.  A precious few quiet moments for me.  And it's cute.  I love it!

I'm still alive!

Don't worry! I haven't dropped off the face of the planet. We've had a busy couple of weeks, but I thought I'd give a quick little update. James is finally walking. I can't decide how happy I am about that. I love watching him grow up and learn new things, but it sure makes my life harder. We're working on getting rid of the bottle and making it through church without any major meltdowns.

I think I'm finally past the morning sickness, so hopefully I'll be feeling good for at least a few months. I feel like I'm already showing. I guess the second pregnancy can be pretty different than the first. In other good news, I have my ultrasound scheduled so it will only be about 4 more weeks until we find out if James will have a brother or sister.

Hans is in seventh heaven because he finally got his Land Cruiser registered. It was quite the ordeal. Much thanks to Linsi for her help. Other than that, he is busy as can be with work and with our little house projects to get it ready to sell.

Well, that's pretty much our lives. A little boring, I know. One of these days I'll be back with some fun pictures and maybe even an exciting story.

SWIMMING!

I'm sorry, I don't have any pictures, but I felt this was worth mentioning.  Yesterday, James went swimming in his little pool that Grandma and Grandpa gave him for his birthday.  Believe it or not, it was a major success.  He walked all around the edge, threw toys around in the water, and even crawled around quite a bit.  Some of you may think this is totally dumb, but if you knew the extent of his fear of the water, you would be amazed.  So there is hope for him after all.  Hans is overjoyed and I'm starting to feel like he might actually be my son.  Lake Powell, here we come!

Crazy Weekend!

We had a very eventful weekend.  It was tons of fun and James enjoyed every second of it.  Ok, maybe not every second.  Just the parts that didn't involve water.  On Saturday, we went up to Deer Creek to spend a little time out on the boat.  James pouted and whined almost the whole time except when he got to sit on Grandpa's lap and feel like he was driving the boat.  If he has a steering wheel and buttons to push, he's feeling great.

Hans got to do a little wakeboarding.  Check out that sweet tan!  I even got up for a bit.  It was far from graceful, but I haven't been wakeboarding since before I got pregnant with James.  Looks like I'll be taking another break for awhile.

On Sunday, we had a combined birthday party for James and Kaden with my family.  Kaden is six years old!  So for the festivities, I was in charge of the cake.  I wanted to do something a little different.  This is what I came up with.  It took me all day and I had to have Hans help me a little bit with the head after I kind of had a breakdown.  Anyway, I'm glad it turned out.

James is trying to figure out what he's supposed to make of that candle.  Good thing Marissa was there to blow it out for him.

On Monday, we had another party with Hans' family.  This time, we went with a store-bought ice cream cake.  I couldn't handle another marathon baking day like the one before.

Happy Birthday James!!

I can't believe it's been one full year.  A year ago on this date at 2:40 pm we finally welcomed our little James.  We could never have anticipated how much our lives would actually change, but we're so glad they did.  James is everything to us.  We love watching him grow up and joking about how much he is already like his dad.  He has been such a joy to us in this past year.  We're so excited to watch him continue to grow.  We are especially excited to see how he will grow and change with a little brother or sister.

It's sometimes hard to imagine he was ever this small.  He was just a few minutes old in this picture.  This is my very favorite picture of him when he was brand new.

And here he is one year later.  This is him eating birthday cake.  He didn't really feel like smiling while he was busy with the cake, so this is the best we got.

Summer Fun!

Happy 4th of July!  We had such a great holiday this year.  We went to a few family bbqs and it was James' first experience with fireworks.  He actually liked them.  He didn't even freak out when my dad pulled out the really loud illegals.  It was really fun to be able to spend the day with family and enjoy a little time off.

Here are a few older pictures.  This is from a few weeks ago when we went to the Orem Summerfest parade.  This is my favorite parade and I'm glad we went because we didn't dare brave the Provo 4th of July parade.  Katie caught a UVU sucker and James couldn't get enough of it.  He had a green mouth for the rest of the night.

We decided it was time to get James in the water.  We were both pretty sad to find out that he hates it.  Who would have thought that a kid of ours would be so afraid of the water.  He's pretty much fearless when it comes to everything.  We bought a punch pass to Veteran's Pool with the hope that by the end of the summer he won't be such a scaredy cat.  Hans is determined to make his kid a swimmer.  So if any of you want to go for a swim, we're always up for it.

This was James' favorite part of the day.  As soon as he was out of the water and wrapped up in a towel, he was happy as a clam.

On Saturday, we went down to the courthouse where they have all the booths set up for the Freedomfest.  We just strolled and grabbed some lunch.  James loved it too.  As long as he has something sweet, he's in good shape.

The Word is Out!

I know it's been a while since I've posted.  I kind of felt like there was nothing interesting in my life worth posting about in the last week or two. . . until now.  We've just started to spread the word.  Are you ready for this?  I'm pregnant with number two.  Can you all believe it?  Well, I'm having a hard time.  We waited a few weeks to tell everyone and I think it's mostly because it took a while for me to really digest it.  It wasn't exactly planned, but we're really excited.  The baby's not due until February.  Thank goodness!  For once, I'm glad that pregnancy lasts as long as it does because we definitely need some time to prepare and James still needs to do some growing up before I'll feel like I can handle him and a new baby.  My favorite was when I went to a shower the other day with my mom and the word got around that I was expecting.  One girl there said, "Wait a minute, don't you already have a baby?" It made me feel like I was crazy.  Maybe we are a little crazy, but I'm sure it'll work out great. 

Boating!

The weather was finally warm enough for us to go out on the boat for the first time this season.  We just went to Utah Lake and it was cold!  That's ok.  James and I pretty much stayed out of the water.  All we did was dangle our feet in, and James didn't think that was too cool.  Surprisingly, he did pretty well in the life jacket.  As long as he didn't have the sun in his eyes, he was a happy camper.

I love this picture.  He was having a hard time sitting still on the way back to the marina.  So, we just let him kind of do what he wanted to, and he thought this was pretty fun, but only for a minute.

A Few of My Favorite Things!

We are absolutely loving this nice weather.  It's about time we got to enjoy a little sunshine.  James has discovered that he loves being outside.  This last week we've discovered a few of James' new favorite things.  We live really close to the Provo River Trail which runs right along a park at the end of our street.  The other day, we went on a walk to 7-Eleven on stopped at the park afterward.  On this outing we discovered that James loves swings.  He was laughing so hard the entire time.  We kept having to give him breaks because we thought he was going to hyperventilate.

He also loves slurpees.  You'd think he would have gotten a brain freeze, but no matter how much or how fast he drank it, he only wanted more.

What's better than combining two of your favorite things?

He has also figured out in the past week how to throw a ball and he's pretty good at it.  He picks it up, throws it, watches it bounce, and laughs.  He gets such a kick out of it.

Camera Woes!

Ok!  So if you're wondering why I haven't posted in a while, it's because of the camera.  I'll give you one guess as to who broke it.  Hint:  He's about 2 1/2 feet tall.  I was totally bummed.  We didn't get any pictures of our Memorial Day Weekend, which was great.  My old roommate, Joylyn, came to visit us with her little boy Landon.  He's only about a week older than James.  It was really fun to see them playing together.

On Friday, we went to Katie's High School Graduation.  I always think it's fun to go to Orem High events.  I saw a lot of people I knew from my high school days and several of my old teachers.  And thanks to Katie, I got a great workout.  About ten minutes before everything was supposed to start, Katie called me from way down in the tunnel of the Marriott Center and told me that she forgot her tassel in her car.  After running up and down the steps in the Marriott Center about ten times and getting seriously lost in the parking lot, everything turned out ok!  So Katie had a tassel to move from one side of her hat to the other and I have some incredibly sore calves, but I'm glad everything worked out ok.  Congratulations, Katie!

Unfortunately, the camera was still broken, so I didn't get a picture of the graduate in her cap and gown.  We went to dinner at the Cracker Barrel afterward.  Reed was playing with James and sat him down in this little rocking chair while we were waiting for our table.  It was so darn cute, I thought I'd pull out the camera and try it.  Miraculously, it worked.  I was so excited.  So here's James in the rocking chair.  This was about the only thing that would make him happy after having to sit still in the Marriott Center for two hours!  He even figured out how to make it rock.

Even baby Bryton came to the festivities.  Pay no attention to his onesie.  It's such a shame, it would have been a much cuter picture without the Laker logos.

A New Car!

I don't know what got into me, but one day I decided to allow Hans to buy a Land Cruiser.  I know, it's crazy.  I must really love him.  So, he drove up to Evanston last night and came back with this.  I have to admit that I do like it.  It definitely needs a new paint job and a better smell, but it is pretty sweet.  It's a 1977 and it's really in pretty good shape.  There are just a few problems.  I'm no good with a stick and there's no back seats.  So, I won't be driving it until I get some serious lessons and James won't be able to come along for a while.  

James already acts like he knows just what to do.  Doesn't Hans look so proud that his little boy already shares one of his great loves?

Hans wasted no time.  As soon as he got home from work today he went to work on the car.  This is something he really loves and he hasn't had a chance to do much car stuff in a long time, so it's fun for him to finally be able to practice his hobby.

Just another cute picture of James behind the wheel.  He really seemed to get the hang of things quick.  We didn't have to show him anything.  We just sat him in the seat and he knew what to do.

Jazz Shout Out!

I'm going to deviate from my usual format for a moment here and vent.  First, I want to send a big shout out to my Utah Jazz.  Yes, they lost in LA last night, but can you really blame them.  I mean they struggled in the first quarter, but then seemed to kind of get things together and played up to the Lakers level, even, in my opinion, outplaying them for much of the second half.  However, it seemed quite obvious to me that the omnipotent officiating crew had it in for my beloved Jazz. 

Did it seem strange to anybody else that as soon we start really getting opportunities to start taking the lead, outrageous calls start coming from the officials.  Not to mention the blatant fouls on the Lakers that seemed to slip by.  In my opinion, the NBA wants to protect their precious MVP.  I mean, he is the MVP, so wouldn't it be a shame if he didn't win a championship this year?  NO!  If the Lakers don't earn a win, they shouldn't be given preferential treatment to make sure they get it, no matter who they have playing on their team.  All I'm asking for is a little fairness here.  I've watched the Jazz for years and I'm tired of them getting the short end of the stick when it comes to the calls.  They're an incredibly talented team and I think they could really do great things if the officials quit betting on games and put their prejudices aside.  So, they're not the most popular team out there.  We don't have a Kobe Bryant or a LeBron James, but don't we deserve just as much of a chance as any other team out there?

Ok!  All that being said, I still believe in my Jazz.  Every article I've read completely discounts the possibility of a game 7.  Come on, show a little faith.  The Jazz have too much pride to let the Lakers take a game 6 in the ESA.  And I think the Lakers should be very worried about a game 7.  Yes, it's in the Staples Center, but why can't they win?  Stranger things have happened in the playoffs.  Game 5 proves to me that the Jazz can outplay the Lakers in the Staples Center.  It's just a matter of whether or not they can outplay them enough to overcome the preferential treatment that Kobe and the rest of the team receive from the officials.

For those of you who are still reading, thanks for letting me vent.  I hope you all tune in tomorrow night at 8:30 on KJZZ to watch the Jazz stomp on the Lakers.  GO JAZZ!!

There Can Only Be One: Derek Fisher and Deron Williams

I love this commercial!

Baby Bryton!

On Tuesday, little Bryton finally came into the world.  A big congrats to Reed and Megan.  It was a race to see who's birthday he would be born on.  I was betting it would be mine, but he came a little slower than we thought (and much slower than Megan would have liked).  So, in the end, Marissa was the winner.  Lucky her.  We were able to visit at a rare moment when his eyes were open.  Isn't he so cute.  It's easy to forget how little brand new babies are when I have this huge kid crawling all over the house.  It's so fun to just hold a baby who will lay still and not try to go somewhere every second.

This is the closest we let James get.  He thought the baby was pretty cool, but we thought it best to keep them apart.  James has a new fascination with noses, ears, hair, and anything else he can pull so it looks like Bryton will be off limits until he has gotten well past this stage.

I love being an aunt.  It's so fun to be able to hold cute babies and do fun stuff with nieces and nephews and then let their parents do the dirty stuff.  I have my own dirty diapers to deal with.

Here's the birthday girl with the brand new birthday boy.