Life As It Is

After much deliberation, we decided to take our blog private. It will be here: Hop on there and let us know if you need an invitation. Hope you’ll join us!

Is Cameron really a year old already? I can hardly believe it. He is a ton of fun, and we had a good time celebrating on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with a variety of relatives. I felt a little guilty putting a candle in pie for his birthday (with a birthday so close to Thanksgiving, will he always have pie?), but he LOVED it.

And of course, it was more of a birthday for JJ than it was for Cameron, as JJ was dying to blow out Cameron’s candles (I think we sang 5 times during those four days), had us put a candle in his pie and sing Happy Birthday to JJ, and of course open Cameron’s presents and play with them more than Cameron does.

Here we had to stop singing because JJ was crying for the ABC toy that also sings Happy Birthday.

Here we are with the toy, a little higher than we would have liked!

We started a tradition of doing a little video interview with the birthday boy about all he can do and things he’s learned over the past year. The video is long, but here is a list of things he’s done:
- Stands up for 30 seconds or more, takes a step ocassionally
- Says “Hi Da!” and “Mama!” (when we’re lucky)
- Had some drama with his off the charts head, along with an ear infection, yeast infection under his arm, and a diaper problem before we moved to Colorado, but is just fine now and did great on the drive
- Has 8 teeth
- Is very cuddly
- Likes to play with JJ and will go try and wake him up after their naps if Cameron wakes up first
- Either puts his hands together or claps when we say it’s time to fold our arms for the prayer
- Likes to play peek a boo with the bedroom door
- Loves playing in the kitchen, climbing into cabinets, and especially loves carrying a spatula or mixing spoon around with him.

This week we’ve been reading and talking about the story of the ten lepers with JJ for scriptures, etc. He’s really gotten into it and doesn’t want to read anything else. He always turns to the page in the Gospel Art Book and wants to talk about the “people with the owies”.

Today he came and found me in the kitchen and we had the following conversation:

JJ: “I fell down and hurt myself.”
Me: “Are you okay?”
JJ: “Yes, Jesus healed me.”
Me: “Oh good, did you remember to tell him thank you?”
JJ: “Not yet.”

Cracked me up. If he actually did fall, I think he may have done it on purpose. He appears to have absorbed more about healing rather than the gratitude message we were hoping for, but I guess that’s how it goes! It’s sure fun to see his little brain working!

These little boys are certainly keeping us entertained! And busy, and going and going and going and going. JJ reminded me of the Engergizer Bunny today, it’s a miracle I ever got him in his room for a nap. I don’t think he’s sleeping, but hopefully he’ll remember to stay in there until “it’s not time to be sleeping anymore”. Funny little guy. He doesn’t want to miss a thing, so every time I put him down, he wants to make sure I come and get him when it’s not time to be sleeping. He usually beats me to it, getting up as soon as he can see a sliver of light in the morning. On the afternoons he does actually fall asleep though, he is out like a rock. Yesterday Cameron and I went in to wake up JJ, and it feels like trying to wake up a teenager. Cameron was crawling all over JJ’s bed and and JJ barely opened his eyes. Sigh.

Cameron is getting closer to walking. We’ll see what he does. JJ was walking at 11 1/2 months, and Cameron will be 12 months in just over a week. JJ has always had really strong and sturdy legs though, and I could tell it was going to take Cameron a little longer to get to that point. Cameron is standing up unassisted though for a good 5 -10 seconds now, and taking a little step here or there before either falling down or letting himself down. Dustin actually saw him take two big steps yesterday. He’ll say “Hi Da-!” When Dustin comes home, which we are counting as his first word. I think it’s more of the fact that we celebrate whenever we hear him say anything that resembles “dad”. But now he does say it quite often when Dustin comes home, and seems to know what he’s doing.

JJ has been doing this funny thing with his lips, and now Cameron has caught on to doing it too. It’s pretty hiliarious. Cameron can actually do it better than what you see here, but you know how it is trying to catch things on video.

The boys were darling little animals for Halloween – a bear and we got to use the lion costume again. JJ kept asking if Mom and Dad were going to dress up–he wanted us to be a monkey and a chimp! Maybe next year, Bud. The boys were both sick and the weather wasn’t looking good, so we made a quick trick or treating trip to a few friends in the ward. The weather got better so we were able to stop by a few more houses and JJ was getting the hang of it. He had a little trouble figuring out when to say thank you and when to say trick-or-treat though–there were a few times when they opened the door, we coaxed him by saying “what do you say?” and he said, “thank you” before they gave him any candy! It was cute, and at least he’s grateful!

Dustin and I are doing well. Dustin is working extremely hard in school and the job search. He will have taken 5 trips this semester attending job conferences, interviews, and a very intense (and expensive!) certification exam. Just about everything is really demanding on him right now, and he frequently gets to bed around 3 am, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to return to a more balanced life soon!

JJ has been saying some cute things lately.

At lunch he made his own sandwich – cheese, green beans, honey and peanut butter. And then he said, “delicious”. Not exactly the word I would use to describe it.

He likes to pray and say, “we’re grateful for” and list everything he sees. So tonight it was, “we’re grateful for mom and Cameron and Dad and the bankie, (blanket), and the books” and in a second prayer “we grateful for the rock-a-bye chair (recliner), and the toys, and the movies, . . . .”

He also likes to get out Dustin’s old camera (that uses film, if you can remember what those look like), put the zoom all the way out, and hold the lens to his eye and say, “smile for the camera mom and dad.” A picture is worth a thousand words here, I’ll see if I can find one.

Or should I say back here? It’s been almost two months since the boys and I packed up and drove back to Utah. Dustin joined us the next day after finishing his internship, and we barely made it to my brother James’ wedding dinner. We enjoyed the wedding, happily adding our long lost sister Taryn to our family, then got new windows and doors on Monday, moved in Tuesday and Wednesday, drove back to Colorado on Thursday for the open house Friday, came back on Saturday, then Dustin started school on Monday. We stayed in 4 different places over the course of nine days, which included moving into our house! Whew. Now I can happily say that everything is back in it’s place and we are back in our routine.

School is in full swing and keeping both of us busy. The boys are a riot and like to play with each other. One night we found them boy having a party in the crib shortly after we put them to bed. Cameron had a huge smile on his face like it was the most fun he’d had all week. JJ always talks about how he wants to get big so he can drive the car. And we’ve captured both of them playing peek a boo behind the bedroom door.

Here is Cameron’s Peek A Boo game:

Sorry it’s so long and not cropped.

I also have a long list of things I’ve discovered lately that I LOVE:
Frozen Spinach Smoothie kits – I put all the ingredients for a smoothie (including a chunk of oj concentrate) in a freezer bag and pull one out when we want one. Now I don’t have to worry about having fresh spinach on hand (freezes great for smoothies and cooking!), OJ made, etc.
Chia - This stuff is amazing. Dustin’s good cholesterol is a little low, so we’ve been focusing on Omega 3′s. Read all about Chia here: http://www.grainmix.com/chia-flax.
Christlike Parenting and The Power of Positive Parenting by Glen Latham. These books are so good and so helpful, I would love to buy them for everyone I know. Implementing Dr. Latham’s approach of giving kids lots of love and attention when they are behaving well has made a huge difference. It feels much more like the kids and I are on the same team, rather than on opposing team. It’s fantastic.
Spinning – I’ve managed to make it to a 5:15 am spinning class a few times lately. It’s a ton of fun.

I suppose I’m failing in the blogging department . . . we have been crazy busy! Here are a few of the things that have kept us busy:

Trips, Trips and more trips. By the end of the summer, we will have driven 3000 miles and flown about 4000–we are suddenly pro-travelers! I am working on a super-organized checklist to help make things more smooth . . . sometimes your brain is so dead the night before it’s really hard to think about what you need and where you need it (with you in the car, in the trunk, etc.), especially when you’re packing for kids. We made two more whirlwind trips back to Utah for Dustin’s brother Mike’s endowment and then his wedding 4 weeks later, and went to Florida for a week in between that. JJ is adept at opening presents in the car . . . we began wrapping cheerios, goldfish, old junk that my sister Carrie was getting rid of. It was all about having something to open. Dustin even got a few presents on this last trip (some new music and talks to listen to on the drive). We were thrilled that things worked out that we were able to be there with Mike and Miriam for these happy steps.

Our trip to Florida was lots of fun too. Most of the time when I tell people my grand-parents live in Florida, I think they assume that my grand-parents are snowbirds that have gone there to retire. That is anything but the case. We have long-time roots in Florida and the South, and my grand-parents have lived on a farm for the past 30 years. Now they just farm trees (plant and then harvest 30 years later), but they have a huge garden with the tallest tomato plants I’ve ever seen, blueberries, grapes, and three energetic grandsons living next door that keep them busy. It was my fourth trip to Florida, and I always appreciate getting a taste of the southern culture–we had boiled peanuts, Sonny’s Barbecue (Sonny was my grandpa’s cousin!), and a driveby tour of the University of Florida, home of the Gators where my Grandpa taught for many years. We made it to the beach twice and tubed down the Ichetucknee River. And of course we had a great time seeing almost all of our family–there are 8 children, 30 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren.

Today we made it out to the reservoir and got to swim in the open water swimming area–fabulous practice for open water swims in triathlons (which we just registered for one in September!). It was great, and when we got out of the water we realized that I had misread the sign–we swam a mile, but only meant to swim a half mile. Good to know we can do it! Then thanks to my mom and Carrie watching the boys some more, we were able to get in a good long bike ride.

We’re pooped!

Right in the middle of all of this craziness, Grandpa got sick and ended up in the hospital. He’s surprised a lot of doctors and nurses with his ability to recover from some serious things and is doing remarkably well for being 94. We love Grandpa–he is very determined to get well and get back to life!

(JJ sneaked a ride on Great-Grandpa’s walker while he was gone, don’t tell Grandpa!)

JJ trying out his wedding clothes at the piano.

And I decided that it was high time Cameron lost his mullet and got his first haircut BEFORE the weddings–it doesn’t look bad until you put a collar on him.

Last month I was asked to speak about making the most of our life’s circumstances at a Relief Society Meeting with this theme. I was grateful for the opportunity because it’s something I’d pondered a lot–as it seems like everywhere you turn there are people with seemingly huge trials to overcome. I have a strong testimony that God loves us and He wants us to be happy, and that there is purpose in trials and suffering. My testimony was strengthened as I read, and I ended up with a lot more great quotes than I could have ever used, so I thought I would publish a few here.

“It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. If you do your best, it will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. … If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers” (Jordan Utah South regional conference, priesthood session, 1 Mar. 1997). Gordon B. Hinckley, “Latter-day Counsel: Excerpts from Addresses of President Gordon B. Hinckley,” Ensign, Oct 2000, 73

Orson F. Whitney said:

“No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God … and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we came here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven.” (As quoted by Spencer W. Kimball, in Faith Precedes the Miracle, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1972, p. 98.)

President Ezra Taft Benson:

“Men and women who turn their lives over to God will discover that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities, comfort their souls, raise up friends, and pour out peace. Whoever will lose his life in the service of God will find eternal life” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1988], p. 361).

We’ve always loved this story, now it’s a movie!

Enjoy: