Good Night Avengers!

I LOVE taking pictures of my boy sleeping!  When I go through my past photos I have a overwhelming number of pictures of my son sleeping.

There is a short story behind this picture.

Grant has really grown up this last year in many different ways, but one of the most obvious is his pretend play.  He has started getting into the action figures, especially the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the Avengers.  As I mentioned, Granny got Grant a whole bunch of Avenger guys for Christmas.  He loves them!  He has even expanded his collection with a little Christmas money people gave him.   I am very proud of him for not just buying stuff at the store.  In the past his money literally burns a hole in his pocket, but this time he has been looking for some very specific figures.  He saved his money until he found them.  

A few nights ago I went to turn off his light to find him asleep with blanket neatly laid out on a pillow next to him. 

I looked under the blanket to find all the Avenger guys neatly lined up in a good guy line and a bad guy line.  Obviously, even super heroes have to get some sleep.

Silly Boy

I took this picture during the holidays, but forgot to post it.  It is such a great picture I have to post it!

Bed time is one our favorite times of the day.  We always read stories, including a Book of Mormon story, and say our prayers.  It is the one time during the day Grant and I have a few minutes of quiet time together.  

Once in a while Grant has a hard time settling down to go to sleep.  He gets a little wound up and needs prompting to settled down.  On this particular night he was quite wound up.  I had been in his room to remind him to get to sleep a few times.  I went in a little later to find him almost asleep with his swim goggles on.  He is pretending to be asleep in the picture, but he is obviously not asleep.  If I had waited 10 more minutes he would have fallen asleep with his swim goggles on.  Silly boy!

Fall of Giants

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this is probably one of my favorite Ken Follett books.  I still think Pillars of the Earth is my favorite, but this one is a close second.
The story was very intriguing to me!  I loved Ethel and Billy's story the most interesting.  Ethel was such a strong character with so much personality! I also loved Ethel and Billy's dad!  I wish he had more of a roll in the story, but when he did he was a fire house of strong will!
The only part I didn't like was the political story between the different countries.  I don't find the politics very interesting and it wasn't the best part of the book.
There are a few sex scenes, but not explicit or graphic detail.  There is very little swearing throughout the book until the war scenes.  During the war scenes the soldiers swear a lot and it is not necessary, in my opinion.
I really enjoyed this book and can't wait to read the next book in the series.


View all my reviews

Learning New Things

I am so excited to have a little girl in the house!  I am nervous about one thing.

Doing hair.

I have to confess I rarely do Grant's hair!  Kyle actually combs and gels Grant's hair more often than I do.  

I know that with a girl I will have to at least run a comb through her hair on a daily basis.  It is going to take some getting used to that is for sure!  

As I get ready to do these little locks I have started practicing doing hair on myself.  I was pretty proud of myself when I got this braid to look as good as it does.  Go me!

The Mission Field

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints we have often heard people talk about "the mission field" and see picture similar to the ones posted above.  

First, some back ground information...

Today at church we had a missionary farewell for Sister Sadie Peterson, who is going to be serving in the Oslo, Norway mission.  Kyle served in Oslo and since the mission isn't very common, like Brazil, she was really excited to talk to Kyle.  She mostly wanted advice on climate and what to expect for weather.  

Sister Peterson is full of the love of the gospel and will make a wonderful missionary.  Hearing her talk about going out into the mission field reminded me of a childhood memory.

As a child I remember having "fancy" pictures on our sacrament meeting programs.  There were a couple of different missionary ones, but one I remember specifically had a picture of two missionaries standing in a wheat field.  People would often talk about heading into the missionary field, serving in the mission field, finding investigators in the mission field, and so on.  

I remember thinking it was great to have all these wonderful experiences in the mission field, but I couldn't help wondering how they found all these people in a wheat field.  I also found it somewhat of a tragedy to have all these handsome young men and women in nice dresses and suits basically farming!  I also could never imagine going on a mission myself and having to wear a dress just to work in a stinking wheat field.

Sister Peterson made a comment today about she has always known she wanted to serve a mission.  She told a story of how even when she was a little girl she would one day serve a mission.  I on the other hand had no intention what so ever of trying to find people in a wheat field, or any other type of field for that matter.

January 9, 2013

On January 9, 2013 we got to look at our beautiful little girl for nearly 30 minutes!  We got loads of pictures and a couple of video clips.  We are so excited to do the whole pink thing!  

Grant came with us to the ultrasound.  I don't think the tech appreciated his presence, but he was so thrilled to see his little sister.  

We actually knew this baby was a she before January 9th.  In December, I had a bad case of pregnant brain and showed up on the wrong day for my check up.  I showed up at the right time, but a day late.  I felt terrible.  I am not one to space my appointments and I know OB offices are busy.  I was lucky because normally my doctor isn't in the office on Fridays.  This Friday he was in the office as the doctor on call and agreed to see me. My doctor was very sympathetic and he could tell I felt awful about messing up my appointment time.  He tried to cheer me up, but I still felt so stupid.  Finally, he said, "hey I have a few minutes before I go to surgery. If we go look at your baby will that cheer you up?"  Of course I agreed!

The first thing we saw were the baby's legs and almost instantly he said, "this baby is a girl."  I felt bad that Kyle couldn't be there, but so excited to know a month early!

I have to say my pregnant brain has cost us two entire crock pot meals ruined.  I put the stuff in the pot and then forget to turn it on.  I have locked my keys in the car twice.  I have messed up my work schedule more times than I can count.  I have forgot to set my alarm clock and slept through the whole first hour of church.  But, for the first time my pregnant brain benefited me!  

I am so grateful to have such an understanding doctor.  He has really been wonderful!  I am grateful to Lise for referring Dr. Lowder to me.  Thank you!

Happy New Year!

We decided not to stay in Utah for New Year's Eve.  Let's be honest, New Year's Eve is not really the funnest holiday as a parent.   Last year, we put Grant to bed early and then we stayed up to party.  The problem was the next morning when we were exhausted and wanted to sleep in.  Grant woke up at the usual time bright eyed and bushy tailed.  

This year since Grant doesn't get the concept of time yet we rang in 2013 at about 10 PM.  We just told ourselves we were celebrating with the East coast.  

Our celebration included playing a whole pile of board games!  Grant loves board games and we played all the favorites.  Hungry Hungry Herd, Monopoly Crazy Cash, Guess Who,  and a few others.   We had BBQ ribs from Costco, one of our favorites, and green beans. It was so yummy!  We also had some sparkling grape juice for toasting.  

Kyle's toasts included losing weight, making more money, and better health.

My toasts included having a healthy baby, being a better mom, and better temple attendance.

Grant toasted to turning 5, getting a new red coat, and blue shoes.  (Don't ask, I have no idea where his toast ideas came from.)

Grant has had sparkling juice before, but he must have forgotten because he thought it was the best thing he had ever tasted!  We were cracking up at his reaction to the bubbles on his tongue. 

I publish this last picture because as a child...and maybe as an adult...I have way too many pictures with my mouth WIDE open!  I guess this is proof Grant is my child!  

We are so excited for 2013!  Great things are coming!