4th Sunday

Every first Sunday of the month (fast Sunday) we spend it with my family in Magna. Every fourth Sunday we spend it with Bob and Debbie (Rick's parents) and whomever of his siblings are around. Some go to other states for the summer or so forth. Anyway... This Sunday we had them to our house. After dinner Rick's brother, Ryan, had to leave for work but Bob and Debbie stayed for a bit to chat. So... we introduced them to the Wii; or so I thought. Apparently they have played it before, but they were really getting into it this time. They were yelling and laughing and fighting! Sword fighting, table tennis, basketball, etc. It was so fun to watch them get so excited!


We love you Bob and Debbie! Thanks for having fun with us!

6 months

Levi had his 6 month check up today. He was brave when he got his shots. He weighed in at 17lbs and 10oz. He is 28" long.

It is hard to believe that he had black hair and dark eyes when he was born...

And now look at him! My sweet little blonde boy with blue eyes.

He loves to splash which is a new occurrence. He usually doesn't play in the water when he takes a bath or is in the pool, but the past week he has started to figure it out and play.

He is starting to fit into some of the cutest outfits we have received for him. Too bad it's a little hot for some of them.

We love cuddling with him in bed.

Isn't he adorable?!

We love our sweet boy! He is such a curious little boy. He loves to try and figure out the buckles on his car seat and he stroller seat. He is always smiling. Literally... he even smiles while he is crying sometimes. He is doing really good at sitting up and loves grabbing at his food when we are trying to feed him. He sleeps about 10 hours at night and is very strong and healthy. The funny things he does are so cute. For example his favorite part of his exersaucer is the tag on the pole. You can't really see it in this picture but he is holding it in his hand. He loves to run it through his fingers and suck on it. What a cute monkey!

WAAAAYYY under qualified....

Last week a member of the bishopric in our new ward came by to get to know us and extended an assignment to us. They asked us to lead the Young Men and Young Women in a choir for a sacrament program next month. Rick and I said "Yes." I figured Rick could do it better than me because he knows beats and notes and I don't really know that kind of thing. Well after we said yes we realized that the practices are going to be Wednesday nights and Rick starts school this week on Wednesdays. So... the task is now mine.
As I sit here thinking about it this morning I am so overwhelmed. I am almost in tears. How am I supposed to get in front of a group of 40 youth and be confident enough in my abilities to tell them what to do and how to do it?! Are you kidding me!!!??
My sister, Emily, is going to help teach me how to conduct a choir and hopefully she can pass on some of her confidence and knowledge to me! The Lord really does ask us to do things that are way out of our comfort zone to teach us faith in him. Although, if I can't pick it up too well I think I still might back out. *SIGH*. What do I do?

Porcupine Reservoir

Rick and I have both been to Porcupine Reservoir up in Cache Valley separate times before we met. We both loved it so much we decided to plan a trip to go together and invite some friends! We loved spending time with my cousins (Jessie and Joe, Brian and Bethany, and Olivia) and a few of Rick's friends (Mitch, Creighton, Alex, Isaac, and a couple others). I was not able to take my camera to the lake because it is not waterproof and I didn't get any pictures around the campfire! I wasn't the best photographer this trip, which is funny because I love taking pictures of everything! Anyway, we went up Friday night after work and had smores and talked around the campfire until almost 1 in the morning. The next morning we woke up and ate some breakfast then did some cliff juming and played at the lake until 3pm. We took a small break for lunch. It was so much fun! We had some very courageous people that jumped off the high jump and some not so courageous (me) that only did the low jump! I got burned as usual, but it was worth it! I think the hardest part about the trip was Levi staying with Rick's mom. She was so good with him and I knew he was going to be fine, but as we drove away leaving him with her overnight I got teary eyed. It was the first time Rick and I had been away from him overnight. It was good to see him Saturday evening and take him home with us.

Our campsite

Jessie peeking at me as she woke up. Joe and Olivia were still passed out!Brian and Bethany came! They got married two weeks ago. They were so much fun!Olivia, Jessie, and I after coming back from the lake.This is a picture I took from across the lake so it isn't very good. I labeled it for your viewing pleasure! ha ha.Rick and I at the lake.

I think we are going to make it an annual tradition since everyone had so much fun and so did we!

My Birthday

My birthday was last week. I already told you about my Rock Star Party!!! There was more that happened for my birthday though. So here is the quick run down. First off, two months ago Rick got me this.

I had wanted a porch swing/glider for a long time and so he broke down and got it early for my birthday present. We have enjoyed many evenings during the summer on this. I'm glad he got it early so we could enjoy it before Fall.

On the morning of my birthday I went to water aerobics with my friend Amanda. When I walked in the door I had breakfast on the table ready for me. But this wasn't just any old breakfast it was some of my favorites. I LOVE french toast and Rick's eggs. He makes them so fluffy. I also love fruit and yogurt! Yum. Rick must have gotten up 45 minutes early to make this for me! So sweet and YUMMY!

And!!!.... Rick changed Levi's morning diaper. Which is usually the worst!
The evening of my birthday my in-laws came to watch Levi while Rick took me to dinner at Mary Calendars then to see Despicable Me in the theaters. It was so much fun and so nice for Rick's parents to come all this way to watch Levi.

The next day we went over to the Summerfest festivities at the South Davis Rec Center lawn and saw some cool performances and looked at a bunch of booths they had set up. It was nice to walk around as a family and enjoy some hometown fun!

Family picture at Summerfest!

All in all I had such a good birthday. Thank you Rick for making it special and for taking care of Levi so much so I could relax on my birthday weekend!

The Happenings

So last week was Summerfest in Bountiful. Wednesday night they had a street dance on Main Street. We decided to go check it out. It was neat to see all the people there dancing and having fun! They even did the National Dance Day Dance that So You Think You Can Dance had choreographed. You can learn the dance here. I learned the dance and was tempted to go dance it with everyone else, but I used my better judgement and decided against it!

This is us waiting for a Scoopology ice cream cone. The peach was to die for! Here are people dancing.
On another note: I'm so grateful for my cousin Olivia who is always so willing to help with Levi and she is really good at getting him to sleep. I think Levi is good at getting her to sleep as well.

Sometimes in the morning when I am trying to get ready or when I'm trying to get dinner ready at night I will lay Levi in two pillows and he will take his bottle like this. Rick and I call it his soft taco bed.

Levi got his first haircut. Well he has had a few trims here and there, but this time I got a lot of his hair trimmed up all over. I just laid him on a burp cloth and trimmed with a comb and scissors. It took a while because I waited for him to look different directions to get all over his head instead of forcing him to hold still while I cut. It worked out okay. lol

That is what has been happening in my life. We are liking our new apartment. I love the location and the opportunity to have the recreation center so close. I have been working out like mad! I sure hope to see some results soon. The hard water here is difficult to deal with. I am going to go to the store to find some solution to help with hard water in our dishwasher. I hear there is something called LimeEase or something like that. I sure hope it works!

Also, just an update on Rick's job. He is doing really well at his new accounting job. He has a lot to do, but is impressing his supervisors daily with how well he is learning and tackling projects! Good job sweetie... I'm so proud of you!

Mushrooms and Zumba

So I got out some mushrooms today, sauteed them with a little salt. Sat down with my fork... had a bite and then threw the rest away. This is why. As I put that mushroom in my mouth I remembered someone tell me that the way they grow mushrooms for grocery stores is they take cow pies and stick them on shelves then wait... and voila! Mushrooms! YUCKY! I used to love mushrooms and now I can't get that vision out of my head. This is definitely a situation where ignorance is BLISS!!

Rick and I joined the Recreation Center which is 3 minutes from our new apartment. I went every day last week and have only missed a couple days this week. My new found love... ZUMBA! Now I know that many of you that read this have already done Zumba forever. I tried it once about a year and half ago and thought it was fun but nothing special. Well I L.O.V.E it! So hopefully by the time December is ending I will be back to my pre-pregnancy weight! GoooooOOOOO Alexis!

Rockstar Birthday!

So I decided to throw myself a themed birthday party. Who said that themed parties are only for 4 year olds!? Ha! I decided it would be a rock star party! This is the sign hanging on the door as everyone showed up. This picture is a little flashed out but we had fun wearing our rocking makeup!
Rick, Andrew, and I made this guitar cake.

Levi even dressed up like a rock star. You can't see it but there is a monkey playing a guitar on his shirt. Monkey is our nickname for him so that shirt fit perfectly.

Rick decided to be the ultimate POP star, not a rock star, but Michael Jackson is amazing none the less!

Cami and I rocked out.

We played lots of Rockband

Some played a little more than others!

Even the littlest one played! It was a fun night and I thank everyone that celebrated with me!

Homemade Apple Pie

All I have to say is that I tried my hardest and it didn't turn out very pretty! It sure tasted delicious!! Yum!

I think Rick ate most of it, which is a good thing because I probably would have if he didn't.

More Personal

I realized I only blog the surface of what is really going on in our lives. I don't know why but I feel like sharing more personal things is too much for you guys to read about. However, there are things I really want to remember and seeing as this is my journal I should start to share more.

When Levi is upset and I can't calm him down by my usual method (I bounce him on those exercise balls.... we have a giant one at home that isn't very portable), I have found that singing to him quiets him quickly. The general vision I see in my head is of a mother rocking her child to sleep singing to him quietly and the whole world is at peace. That is not what happens here. Let me paint a scene for you as an example. We are driving in the car and he is so tired he can't put himself to sleep peacefully so he is screaming. I try and see if he will calm down quickly and doze off, when he doesn't I start singing primary songs. I don't sing them quietly, OH NO.... I almost shout them to him, while still carrying a tune, and I have to sing them very fast. Then he quiets right down and drifts off. Once he has calmed down enough I can get quieter and slower. I think I am having to match his intensity of crying with my singing in order to get his attention. Ha ha. I laugh because Rick was with me the other day when this happened and I felt silly singing that loud and fast in front of him, but he was in awe when he saw how well it worked!

Another thing to mention if you didn't know was that we have moved. I will be honest... I DID NOT want to move. However, now that we are here I can see how wonderful of a change this is for us. We loved the apartment we had before. It was beautiful and easy to clean. We LOVED the ward and had some really good friends in our neighborhood we were sad to be leaving. Here our apartment is not easy to clean because it has been neglected for so long. I am not sure if you know this about me but I am obsessed with cleaning and having a spotless house. The last few days I have been spending time bleaching walls to get the smell out and scraping faucets to get grim off that has been there for what I assume to be at least a few years. I shall show you an example of a before and after picture. Look closely and you will see what I am talking about.

BEFORE

AFTER

The shower is the worst. If I can get it clean of rust and build up then I will begin to feel much better about the place. The GREAT thing about this apartment is that we can put furniture wherever we want. I can decorate how I want. I can hang more pictures than in our previous place. Our previous place was partly furnished and the room was limiting as far as how to arrange furniture. The previous place already had certain color schemes going on and not a lot of wall space for pictures. ANYWAY.... I'm happy to be here. We are saving money for a house so I just have to be here for 1-2 years. Hopefully closer to one year!

Rick got a new job as an Accountant for SkinCare Rx. He is doing an amazing job and is gaining a TON of experience which will make him more marketable in the future. This company is growing a ton and we are hoping for a couple raises in the future.

Being a mother couldn't be greater! I absolutely love my son. I say this to people so some of you may be sick of hearing it but here it is anyway so that you understand how adorable he is... You have to look away from him every now and then or you will die from a smiling overdose. He does this thing where he will be playing in his little seat thing and I will look over at him. He will make eye contact then just start grinning and we will stare at each other and grin for upwards of a minute straight. He doesn't break eye contact and he doesn't stop smiling at me. I have to look away or my cheeks start to hurt.

He is beginning to sleep better now. He is very consistently sleeping at least 7 hours every night. Sometimes more. I'm very happy to be Levi's mother. He is just an angel.

One more thing. Yesterday we had our Internet set up at our new place. I've been trying to share the gospel more and follow the example of my mission president's wife, Sister Lindley. She is a powerhouse of testimony and enthusiasm for missionary work. She has been home from their mission for about a month now and I am sure she has given away at least 30 pamphlets to different people at the dentist, on the road, at the car wash, etc since being home. Anyway, back to my story. So the guy that came to set up our Internet was in my home playing with wires and such and I thought it was a good opportunity to talk to him and find out his story. He was a sweet man. He grew up in North Salt Lake and when he was a senior in high school his parents moved to West Jordan. He had a really hard time leaving his home and moving and kind of went off the deep end. He since has been married, moved back to where he grew up, and had two kids. He said he takes his girls to sacrament every other week, but doesn't believe that drinking makes him a bad person and just doesn't agree with some of the teaching of the church but still believes it is true. This always makes it hard for me to know what to say. I want to shout out, "STOP MAKING EXCUSES AND JUST DO WHAT YOU KNOW IS RIGHT." Long story short.... I should have been more bold and invited him to read a pamphlet the church puts out on the Word of Wisdom and invited him to pray and find out for himself if it is true. Instead I just bore a weak testimony on getting answers direct from God and not thinking you know it all by yourself. I know I just met the man for a few minutes, but I can honestly say I felt his sincerity in wanting to be a good person. So... here's to you, Internet Man... I'm praying you find what you are looking for and that you get your answer direct from God because then you can't go wrong!

That's enough for today. If you made it this far in reading this post I admire you and realize you as an amazing friend! LOL