In Like a Lamb, Lion, Lamb... ???

Well, is anyone else ready for spring??? Silly question right? It has been really beautiful, and since Ethan has dropped the 3rd nap, we have had some time to actually go and do things. Just as we were starting to really enjoy our play time outside in the yard, bam... 6 inches of snow later... and Ethan is crying at the door wanting to play outside and we are stuck indoors. But now its nice again, there are even stars out tonight, just might have to go out and do a little stargazing in the 50 something degree weather...

As I mentioned, the 3rd nap is a gonner... which I am actually happy about in a way. We now have a few hours to go and run a few errands, enjoy some time outside, playing with new things, its been fun! It seems like every two hours, it was nap time, which doesn't leave a lot of time to accomplish much. Then Saturdays come around and it becomes errand day, when we really want to go do something fun as a family... so I've been able to run errands here and there with little Ethan, and then Saturday can be our fun day with daddy!

Other news this week, my boss wants me to take on a whole heap load of more responsibility... and I'm a little unsure of how exactly that would work! I work from 9-2, Ethan sleeps from 9-10:30 ish, plays in my office for about an hour, he drinks his juice, eats his lunch, I read to him, nurse him, and then he takes another nap till about 2. While he sleeps, I do my work. It works out alright, Ethan loves everyone in the office, plus he gets to hang out with daddy a little here and there when Tys is in the office and not out with clients. I realize that it isn't ideal, but we still are paying on some hospital bills from Tys being so sick last year and then having Ethan, and my little morsel of a paycheck really does help. I don't honestly feel like it hurts Ethan in any way, its probably hardest on me, just balancing my workload/deadlines/task list and most importantly, being a mommy to little Ethan bug. But, for now, its working, and I have a good life, and nothing to complain about. I'm grateful that I at least get to be with my baby boy all day, that my boss is generous enough to let him come with me. I'm realistic that this situation won't work with 2, but we're not there yet, so I'll worry about it when it comes.

Oh, thank you all for the well wishes, I think we are just getting over the past cold, and hoping to stay healthy here for awhile! Here's to hoping that spring gets here fast, and just lamb mode would suit me great ;)

Quilts and Colds

So, I actually found time to practice the piano, do some quilting, with a little help from my little man (see above picture of Ethan with yarn), and got all of the chores for the week done... but we are still battling a wicked cold and all of my piano, quilting, chores has set me back big time... I honestly hate being sick, I just hate it... but cute little smiles from Ethan (see above pictures) and tender care from my dearest hubby have made it AOK... I don't know what I would do with out them...

We found this adorable fabric with turtles, and we love turtles, and now have found out that Ethan loves them too! He has the cutest stuffed animal turtle that Tyson bought in Maui a few years ago. Tyson will say where is Mr. Turtle? And Ethan will crawl and find it, and then hug him and squeeze him, it is so darn cute!

Ethan is growing up all too fast! He is walking along things, like the entertainment center, stair railing, couches, beds, cupboards... anything he can pull him self up to... and now he is letting go and taking a step, falling of course, but I have no doubt he will be walking shortly. He will be 8 months old in 2 days, still no teeth, and he eats more than I ever thought a little baby could eat... looking forward to spring and being cold free! :)

One Day Late

Well, its Monday, and I have been trying to update on Sundays, but do you ever feel like Sunday's are one of the busiest days of the week? They definitely used to be one of our favorite days, and don't get me wrong, I still love going to church, but going with a baby changes things a bit... Tys is in the YM Presidency, and I'm the Secretary in the YW Presidency, so between Ethan and our callings, Sundays are busy... No matter what time church is, it interferes with "naps" My mom calls me the nap Nazi, but Ethan is such a more enjoyable baby when he is rested (and fed).

We had a great last week, we had dinner with Tyson's sister and her family, and also dinner another night with Tyson's grandma. We also spent the weekend in Vernal with my family. Its sure cold out there, we've been a little spoiled in SL, no snow, upper 40's every afternoon, burrr... But we had a great time with our family, Ethan loves playing with his cousins, aunts and uncles, and Grandma and Grandpa!

Ethan came down with another cold, and this is probably the worst cold he has had. But he is a strong little guy, and is already starting to beat it. Now, Tys and I are just trying to stay cold free... I need to update some pictures, maybe next "Sunday" :)

As Promised... Happy Valentines

Well, its Sunday, and I'm taking a minute to post... as I promised myself I would try to do...

Ethan and I have had a little cold this last week. Tyson has been a wonderful husband, and has helped me so much with cooking, cleaning, and most importantly, taking care of Ethan. Wednesday, I called in sick, and Tyson came home at lunch and stayed home for the rest of the day. He let me take a 2 hour nap, which I really needed, and I felt so much better when I woke up... Mid nap, I mentioned to Tyson that my feet were cold, and asked if he could get me some socks... he looked through my sock drawer and couldn't find any "warm" socks, so he put a pair of his socks on my feet... When I woke up, I was a little surprised, but my feet were o' so warm :)

We always celebrate Valentines on the 13th, the restaurants and crowds are not too appealing to us small town folk out here in the city, so we go to dinner the night before. But this year, the 13th is on a weekend night, again, the crowds are not our favorite thing, so we went to a very nice lunch at Thanksgiving Point, at the Harvest. It was very yummy, Ethan was so good, and such a doll the whole time.

We also kind of "celebrated" last weekend. We went and saw Avatar in 3D. We've wanted to go for a long time, but 3 hours is a long time to be away from Ethan, and its hard to find/afford a sitter. Tyson's mom doesn't like to watch Ethan when he is asleep, and he goes down at or before 7 each night... So, we have a cute little gal from the ward, and she came down, and we went to Avatar last weekend! It was awesome, we loved it, and when we got home, Ethan had not made a peep the entire time we were gone! Little blessings...

I am so happy to have an extended weekend! Two holidays right in a row! We are going to work on our basement, lay low, and get well rested for the upcoming week! Tyson is making me crab, shrimp, and brie stuffed salmon, and I am making Pears Zbaglione for dessert, Happy Valentines and Presidents Day!

It has been over a month since my last blog, and have re-committed myself to blog every Sunday. I also write in my journal on Sundays, so I hope to be able to do a weekly post too.

I have started a little blog for Ethan, the link is on the right side, they are just quick little posts about the most random little things that he does on a daily basis, what a sweet little boy!

The last month went by so quickly, and I can hardly believe that it is February 11th… At times I don’t where the time goes, but I am working, have a mobile baby, an involved calling, and oh yeah, a life right??? Well, being a wife and mother are the most important to me, and I’m trying to not let those roles/relationships suffer at the cost of other less-meaningful pursuits (mainly, I mean my job).

A highlight of the last month was a trip to Portland, Oregon. My entire family went up for a funeral service for my cousin. He had bladder cancer and has been suffering, so although it was sad, it was a blessing. We haven’t seen that side of the family in many years, but they welcomed us with open arms and we had a great time up there.

Ethan, and his cousins, Rooks and Reese were so well behaved! They were smiley, happy, and just fun! The fam up there doesn’t have any babies right now, so they just loved on the kids as much as they could, it was so fun!

My sister, Nikki, and her family stayed an additional day with us after the funeral, and we drove out to the coast. Tyson and I honeymooned right across the street from where we ended up staying. We spent a little time on the beach, but it was cold and windy, but oh so beautiful… I have forgotten how majestic the ocean is…

Ethan sleeps to ocean sounds every night from the Ihome he got for Christmas from his Grandma Susan, and I promise Ethan all the time that I will take him to the ocean so he can see and hear the real thing. We are so blessed to be able to go on such a great trip, thanks mom for chippin in, we appreciate it so much!

A couple of funnies about this trip, we rented this Kia Minivan for Hackings and Wildings… well, it was a piece of crap! And we joked about what a junker it was the whole trip! We laughed and laughed at Nikki and her weight that she wants to buy from some infomercial. Our waiter at this place on the coast was as backwards as they come, and I still get a smile on my face at the thought of him with his battery operated pepper grinder in his little hip holster…

We played at the pool/hot tub with the kids, and I realized how fun having a family is going to be. I remember going on trips with my family when I was young and how fun it was to jump on hotel beds and go to the pool. Even though Ethan is little, I know we’ll have fun as a family and I look really forward to raising a family.

Here are a couple pictures, and I will try harder to comment on all of your blogs and actually post on mine… Have a great Valentines! Love, Dani

Oh my sides...

For your entertainment... I need to update, just uploaded pictures, so new post coming soon...

We Work With Santa... and more!

Ha Ha Ha! Yes, we get to work with Santa! Our office just hired a new drafter and he just happens to be Santa Claus! And Ethan actually likes him! We didn't get the traditional picture with Santa over the holidays, so this is the next best thing. I guess economic times ARE hard, Santa got a job during the off season! :) :) :)

Well, its a new year... wow, I'm not sure where 09 went, but 2010 is here and we are excited for the fun to come! Hope you all had a lovely holiday season! We had a wonderful, but quick Christmas and very uneventful (thankfully) New Years... let me explain...

First, we traveled for a week during December, who does that? I mean, Christmas always comes fast enough anyways, but take an extra week out of December and Christmas shows up on your front door ;) We wanted to travel out to Vernal and take a little extra time with family, but the no good weather made that impossible for us, so we drove out the morning of Christmas Eve. As giddy new parents, we were so excited for our first Christmas as a little family! Ethan liked the ribbon.. of course! But we read the story called the The Tale of the Three Trees, you need to read it, its so good, and it was a very special experience. Christmas morning was exciting, Ethan made a haul, but was a little over whelmed with it all and took a nap while we opened up his goodies!

We had a great Christmas day, played games, ate yummy, and I mean yummy food, and just enjoyed being together. But then, it got very cold, and not just outside, Vernal is frigid, but in the house, the temperature was dropping drastically, and the furnace was blowing cold air! Well, the handy dandy furnace guy came and took a peak, and yep, my parents furnace was pooped out, and had to be replaced. Not only was it not working, but it had been leaking carbon monoxide. How much and for how long, we don't know, but SCARY!!! We bundled up, collected every space heater we could, and tried to get some rest.

Next day, furnace guy comes back with a detector for CO, and yeah, it was going off constantly, so we packed up, and came back to our home in the city. I'm a new mom, and when we found out about the carbon monoxide, I fell apart... you see on the news the families that never wake up... that could have been us, I am so thankful that the furnace started blowing cold. We can deal with cold, but CO, its not to be messed with.

Just a few days later, my little sis, Jacky, had a little episode of vision going out in her left eye for about an hour and a half. The next day, she was on an ambulance to Primary Childrens... and after every imaginable test, the doctors are stumped and she is A O K! No stroke, no problems with her vision, her heart, her blood pressure, nothing, nada, zilt. Which is frustrating, because an answer would be great, but our family is so grateful that nothing serious is to be found. Jacky has been through a lot, the Lord must have a grand plan for her I tell you, she is one special young lady. But her and my mom drove back to Vernal on New Years Eve day, and Tys and I put Ethan to bed, had some dinner, and just relaxed after a nail biting week at Primary Childrens. I have spent a lot of time there during the years of my sister being treated, but never as a mother, and my heart was touched during my visits last week. I can't express my gratitude in words, simply put: I am so grateful and blessed for the health of my beautiful son, husband, and family... so grateful.

So, like I said, quick Christmas, and uneventful New Years... but all is well!

I have a six month old... oh goodness, 6 months, and I just adore this kid more and more each day. He is getting to be really fun, he has the cutest darn personality, I love it when he gets excited about something, his smile warms me through and through. He had his 6 mo. appt. and he is in the 85% percentile. He loves to eat, I swear, if I let him, he would eat all day, and that would explain him weighing in at 18 pounds 3 ounces! He is crawling around, sitting up, figuring out a sippy cup, loving trucks, making truck engine sounds, eating anything and everything we give him, and loves Elmo!

For some reason, that I can't fix, the pictures are first, thanks for reading my extremely long post, but had to get caught up! Hope you all have a great start to 2010! I am going to try and enjoy the moments more, life is short and there is so much to enjoy!