September 2012

Sunday, September 2 was Jeric's third birthday. My parents and sister came down on the 1st and we celebrated that night (they stayed overnight and went to the first hour of church with us the next morning, but had to be home by 4pm so didn't get to celebrate on his actual birthday). Jeric made the following demands for his birthday:

-A blue chocolate cake.
-Blue ice cream.
-Balloons.
-A robot.

I am pleased to announce that all of these expectations were met! A resounding success, I would say.

Of course, though, I only took video...I think my dad and sister might have some photos on their phones, which I will try to get from them soon. [Incidentally, I also just found a hidden folder on my computer that contains more than a few pictures that I nearly forgot about, and which belong with months that I've already posted about. So you might be getting some pictures-only posts in the next month or so.]

We took the easy route on the cake and got a small round cake (chocolate cake with blue frosting, per list of demands) from Wal-Mart. Jeric LOVED being sung to and blowing out candles. We ended up doing it four days in a row, until the cake was gone. That was a lot of fun.

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Wednesday, September 5 was Husband's birthday (27) (and also my brother Daniel's -- 23). Poor guy was at school or work all day. I really wanted to surprise him with a cake, but OF COURSE I couldn't find a recipe that included only items I already had at the house (I had no car all that week). Wife fail. I felt awful.
He actually didn't really care; he's not big on sweets and had said I didn't need to worry about baking him a cake.

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Rosebud learned to climb on things (I'm sure she'd have been climbing stairs at this point if we had any stairs):

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Some other cute pictures of the girl:

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My mom, dad, and sister came down to visit us on the 29th of September. (Mostly because my mom couldn't stand the thought of not seeing her only grandbabies until Thanksgiving...) They happened to come on the day of a local heritage festival held in a field at Husband's university, so we headed over to check it out. After we ate fried food and enjoyed some gospel bluegrass (it was awesome, truly), Jeric got to eat his very own BLUE snow cone. Behold:

Other pictures from that outing:

And finally, a funny story.

As we were headed out to the car, we passed a row of brightly-colored port-a-potties. Jeric was riding on my dad's shoulders, I was wearing Rosebud in the Ergo, Anna and my mom had stopped to look at some cute little piglets, and Husband wasn't with us because he was working at the Chemistry Club drink booth. Jeric saw the port-a-potties, and you can imagine that they were a curious sight for a three-year-old.

Jeric: Grandpa. What are those?
Grandpa: Those are potties.
Jeric: I need to go potty.
[Insert maniacal laughter here.]
Grandpa: ...Are you sure?
Jeric: Yep.

So off to the port-a-potty they went. My dad intentionally chose one of the handicap-sized ones (more room to move; besides, it also happened to be blue). A moment later, they came back out and went in a different one. Again, they exited too quickly for any business to have been completed. Jeric had this look of consternation on his little face, and my dad's expression was of mingled horror and amusement.

Apparently, when they went into the first port-a-potty, my dad told Jeric not to touch anything ("Why?") before they approached the seat. He said Jeric kind of looked in (I called my dad to refresh my memory of this story, and he couldn't stop laughing when he thought of the expression on Jeric's face at this point) and then decided it was too dirty and he wanted to try a different potty. So they did, but Jeric decided he really didn't need to go potty, after all!

March 2012, Part 2

March 25 was my 25th birthday, and we celebrated by blessing Rosebud in church that day (kind of like a christening in other Christian churches). Several family members were able to come, so it was a special day. Husband, my dad, Husband's dad and brother, Husband's grandfather, and my uncle were all able to participate in the blessing, along with our bishop. My sister-in-law took all these pictures after church at our house.

The whole group, minus my aunt and uncle who had to leave church early. I wish Papaw wasn't hidden, and I have no idea what Jeric was trying to do.

Weirdo.

"See my muscles!"

Family. Jeric got that bruise from falling down at the playground and hitting his head on a metal bar just a few days before this.

Hugs.

And done.

Daddy and Rosebud. 

Mommy and Rosebud. 

And then we did a little impromptu photo-shoot. This blanket is the same white blanket that we used for Jeric's baby blessing. We've decided to make it a tradition. And that's the only time we're using the blanket, because I just don't want it to get ruined!

Jeric's "Golden Birthday"

Jeric turned 2 last Friday on the 2nd. (Thus the "golden birthday.")

We had some family over to celebrate his birthday. He was SO EXCITED about the cake! All day when you asked him what day it was, he'd say "CAKE!!!!" Too funny.

Here are some pictures from the festivities:

I also took him to the doctor for his well-child checkup yesterday. He is growing like a weed and is perfectly healthy.

Jeric can count to 10 (with help, and to 5 without help except he skips 3 :)). He knows some shapes and we're working on others -- yesterday he told me (without prompting) that his chicken nugget was a triangle. When I ask him what color something is, he tells me and is correct about 80% of the time, and gets it right on the second try the rest of the time. He consistently speaks in multi-word sentences and reads books to me (describes what is on the page). He is a very active little boy and is a joy to be around. I am so proud of my boy!

Last weekend

Last week, my mom's sister, her husband, and their five younger children (ages 20, 17, 14, 10, and 7 -- they also have two older sons, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson-on-the-way) were in town from Utah, so I took a couple days off from my babysitting job and we went to visit with family. We haven't seen them since we moved back from Utah more than a year ago, and it's been a while since they were in NC -- my aunt and uncle came for our wedding, but my cousins haven't been here since the 17-year-old was a baby! So only two of these five have ever been here, and they were too young to remember.

It was a fun weekend. Saturday was also my sister Anna's 15th birthday, so we ended up going hiking down to some waterfalls. My camera was (oh-so-typically) dead, so the only pictures I have are ones my dad took with his phone. Most of them are of Jeric!

I don't know why, but I labelled all the pictures in Paint. Maybe you won't even be able to read the font size, but at least the brightly colored arrows will show who is a part of our group!

******IMPORTANT: To our wonderful nephew Lathen, who turned 7 on the 6th and had his birthday party the same day as this hike, we are so sorry we didn't make it! We wanted to and it just didn't work out. But we will come and see you (at your new house!) very very soon. We love you!

And now, the pictures:

Husband's birthday

Last Sunday (September 5) was Husband’s 25th birthday!
It was a pretty busy day because he found out that morning that he needed to teach the lesson in Elder’s Quorum (he’s 1st counselor), and then we had family over for a party in the afternoon. Both of his brothers and their wives and children came, and his grandparents stopped by for a little while. It was a lot of fun, but chaotic and long!
Joseph and Julie and their three left around 5 or 6, but Kevin and Joni and their three stayed later. Husband, Robbie, Kevin, and Joni played several games of Rook before they left. I played one game too, but I’m not very good and Kevin (he took a break so I could play on Husband’s team) pretty much told me every play I should make. Oh well. We did ok, I guess.
Here is some of what I wrote about Husband in my journal on his birthday:
“I’m so glad I have [real name]. He is so good to me and so patient when I am not at my best. He loves me unconditionally and is always glad to spend time with me and our boy. He is a wonderful father and works so hard while going to school so that he can provide for our family. I’m glad he is mine forever.”
And, because I am a slacker wife and don’t have a good recent picture of the two of us, here are a couple from the last few years.

Thanksgiving 2007. We were engaged.

Christmas 2007. Goofing off.

The night before our wedding after I received my endowment in the Washington DC Temple.

Coming out of the temple, just married!

April 25, 2008

Newlyweds in our first apartment. May 2008.

Thanksgiving 2008, spent in Texas with family.

Jeric's baby blessing. September 18, 2009.

Thanksgiving 2009. Spent in Arizona with family, picture taken by my Aunt Cassie.

Making s'mores a couple of weeks ago.