Mom blogs

So I'm going back and reading my old blog posts (it's kind of like a journal and worth doing every once and a while) and I realized my mom blogs are, well, boring. There are pictures of Graham and short details about Graham.... and that's it.   I realized what little time I get on the internet I usually use to buy mom things (onsies, search for cheap blankets, etc) or post pictures of my (still) freaking cute baby.   So I"m going to try and break from the mold a little bit. No pictures of Graham (unless I find a real good one) and a little bit more ranting and updating.

1. We MOVED to SLC!
   Crazy, I know. I didn't ever expect to find myself living in SLC. Like seriously when we would drive by it as a kid I thought I would like to live in a big city, but not SLC (cuz it's not really big anyways).  And then whenever we have driven through SLC, I've always been miffed with 13th South. As you drive down it there are some cute little houses, but all in all it is kind of ... trashy.  Well guess what... be careful of what you say you will never do. I sooo live in downtown SLC and right off 13th South. We looked at a few other apts, but this one was the best fit. It turns out to be super handy to live right off the freeway exit since I COMMUTE down to SF three days a week. (I know... what wife is a commuter? And acutally I like to stay down in SF with family if I can.).
     The apt is really spacious for the three of us.  We have 2 large rooms, a tiny living room, a tiny dining room, and a galley sized kitchen. Our massive couch fits... a total plus... and if I can ever get the rest of my junk put away, actually provides a lot of great living space. I am having a lot of fun picking out my own decorations, bedding, and curtains. Mostly we have spent a lot of time at Walmart and Ikea; living cheap is the way to go for now. We can't paint the walls or anything, but it is still nice to have a clean slate where "the clan" won't be upset if I change something.

2. Our ward is a little psycho. Literally
  So our fabulous apt is a low income housing project. We had to go through some serious rigamaroo to get in proving we won't make more than $34,500 this year just to get in. Then we go to church. I guess I didn't really think about who would be long term residents of low income housing. Turns out people who are on disability, or partial disability, tend to be very long term residents here. They continually qualify as low income, yet are high functioning enough to pay rent. And I could just see the missionaries happy faces as they convert these little souls and then gratefully turn them over to the ward members. So as a ward member I have had some funny experiences.
       One fellow bellows out the lesson and chapter we are on each Sunday mutiple times... at very odd times. His wife dutifully wears her jean Harley Davidson jacket to church and tries to explain to our Mongolian Sunday School teacher (who still has a little trouble with English) that her husband just doesn't understand. The Mongolian is great, except he struggles with a few words, and with some of the harder to deal with members. The piano teaching mom who last taught the lesson ended up fighting with the bellow-er, becuase she (very sharply) was going to give the lesson she prepared, not the one he wanted her to teach. The whole confrontation ended with the bellower very loudly saying "Well that is just STUPID."  It was an interesting way to start the lesson. RS started out with a 200+lb lady wearing make-up like a 5 year old asking each pregnant lady if she was still pregnant. One lady later confessed to me that she would switch up her answer just to throw the make-up lady off! The RS president announced we would not be doing Good News moments anymore, becuase they were getting too depressing. She then continued to conduct the music and explained we are going to try and train everyone to conduct, because she cannot play, conduct the music, and conduct RS. Her husband also happens to be the 1st counselor in the Bishopric!
  I was just called to teach RS. I'm actually really happy about it, and think we will have a good time. I may just need to work on saying No to some of the more crazy comments. My last ward was definately preparatory to my new ward... and I think we will all have a really good time. I keep thinking of it as just more oportunities to serve and hone my skills :).   I moved to Utah expecting to be in super "mormon" wards. BYU copletely lived up to my expectations, but then the family wards I've lived in have just been... well not very active. Both wards I've lived in only have about a 20-30% activity rate. A lot of the kids come from split or broken homes. All the girs/ yw struggle with really hard things... not the easy dumb drama I suffered from in my ID home ward. It is just odd, I expected to move into some super active, super perky family wards... and have yet to even find one in UT. I just find it odd.

Ok this is getting really long. Other than that Graham is eating solids like a pro. He loves his rice cereal as long as there are bananas or apple juice in it. He still loves his mom best (sorry again Kim!). And he is almost 17 lbs. Yes, he is a fatty. But he is my fatty so we'll keep him. I'm super stoked about Redfish and will have to post some pictures when we (Graham and I, no Seanypoo yet again) get back.

Consider yourself updated.

Firsts

First time eating rice cereal!!!

First time Graham's crib has been assembled (correctly). I choose not to put up the 4th side since he doesn't roll, and I HATE HATE HATE bending over and hurting myself on the stupid crib edges.

Not that he sleeps in it!

First time mom put in me my ridiculous (ly cute) monkey hat!

First Tubby pictures to go online

And one outrageously cute smily picture to top it all off!

The Way We Look

Graham is cute as usual. However he is getting bigger and bigger all the time!

I decided to go from this:

To this:     !!!!!!!!!!!

 

I've decided my face in general is just a little too big (no harm in that, more to kiss anyways) and bangs could probably help balance me out. Also, I don't know if you people suffer from this: but I lot a TONNE of hair after having Graham. It is all growing back, but my part and hairling look ridiculous!  So bangs should cover up my bald spots with fuzzy regrowth as well.  Sorry I'm not smiling in the bang pictures... it was a rough Sunday morning.

U v the Y

So Sean is officailly in and going to the U Accelerated Nursing Program. He is missing out on all the fun family reuinions (on my side anyways), and we have had one other little dilemma

Um... who do we root for now?

Graham would just rather not choose. I of course will bleed blue... but we'll see where Sean ends up.

My son, the Genius

Look how SMART Graham is:

Okay,  really it was just a thing he kept doing over and over. I may or may not have timed my question to perfection coincide with what I knew he was going to do. But it is still really cute regardless!

Oh and this is pretty hilarious, I love little baby laughs.  (The noise comes from my mouth, I promise.)

p.s. I took these both with my phone, and I've never posted a video on blog before... so forgive me if the quality/sound/functioning sucks.

We're goin.... We're goin... We're going to...

HAWAII!!!!!!!

Sean can't figure out why I won't stop dancing around the living room...

YaYaYAH!!

and coming up with song lyrics that happen to include the name Hawaii...

eeeheheheheee

I'm really excited!



While the baby sleeps...

Look what I made today!

It isn't really all that impressive, we are trying to work through some of our old food storage and I found I have a ton of cake mixes. Hence, Cake Cookies. These ones I didn't have a 1/3 cup measuring cup, so I added too much oil and they are really flat. I put a little icing in the middle and doubled them up. I'm also testing out my skills with icing tips. (I think most store bought icing is nasty by-the-way.) I also took a picture of this:

for cuteness. I especially liked the juxtaposition of these two good things I have made lately.

EASTER

Last year I found a Paas dye kit on sale that allowed you to create monsters. I just couldn't turn down the idea of creating little monster eggs to find. Turns out I must have known we were going to have a little boy all along :). We dyed eggs with the inlaws on Sat. I think these are a few of the really good ones. The inlaws did an awesome job of filling up big eggs for us to find. Graham was the only little kid, but he was pretty good at finding those eggs if you ask me. Here we all are with our haul. (I ate most of Graham's candy yesterday... it felt sooo good to be so sick from eating candy ;) ).
We still aren't sure if there might be an egg or two hiding out in the back yard. Ojiichan says it is pretty normal to be mowing during the summer and have one or two fly out! I'm just hoping I don't have to smell it when/if it happens!

Graham's Baby Blessing / Birthdays!

FYI: this happened before the 2 month dr's visit! I'm just a slow blogger.

Graham had the cutest outfit my sister let me borrow! Unfortunately I never got around to doing a photo shoot. We did get a few shots of him on the day of:


Both the boys were not very excited, but Graham was a rock star for the blessing. Sean did a great job and didn't do anything wacky like name him Jehosifat.

We had a nice brunch at Grandma's big house, and both sides of the fam were able to come.


(p.s. Graham just woke up. typing with one hand is slow so pardon the short phrases and lack of capitals)

I turned 25 this year and had a weird birthday. My mom's present still hasn't shown up (if one of the clan took it there will be fireworks). I went to a lunch with the "clan" that really was for Sean's uncle (I was feeding Graham in another room while they sung happy birthday). We also did cake and ice cream with the inlaws (and again I was in the other room feeding Graham while they sung happy birthday). I did plan a bbq with Nater and got my own cake etc. I decided to go pretty unique for my own little dessert, and I made Nate, Kim, kids, and Sean sing to me during half-time of the BYU bball game.

(Yes, there is a giant donut on top.)
We also went out to Tucanos earlier in the month for Sean's, mine, and Sean's mom's bday. It was great, but all in all pretty weird. All my days seem to focus around Graham now... even my birthday... and I wouldn't have it any other way. He is the bomb. Sean's birthday was also pretty mellow and I didn't even get out the camera. He got a sweet leather jacket (that we had to send back to get the right size) and I forced him to go out to dinner even though he wasn't really hungry. (It's a rough life.)

Graham 2 mo !!!!

Graham Toshiro

2 mo Well Visit.

23.25 inches -- 47%

11 lbs 15 oz --- 41%

Head is 75%

Bilirubin: 6.7 (totally normal)

Stinking cute. Well that's my professional diagnosis. :)