Home... Safe and Sound

And working on a massive update with tons of pictures for your viewing pleasure!

So we left Fontana, CA just before 4pm on Saturday afternoon. Sean was (and still is) pretty sick - very flu-like symptoms including cough, 102 fever, nausea and vomiting. With Sean in the passenger seat (barf bag within easy reach) and Ethan snacking, napping or watching a movie on the portable DVD player, I drove the entire way home. We made a stop at Pea Soup Andersen's in Santa Nella - Ethan and I got a little dinner to go, stretched our legs and did a bathroom break. Then it was on to Redding - we stayed the night and in the morning I drove the final leg of our journey. We were very happy to cross the border back in to our home state!! No snow or ice on the way home - just a bit of rain (some snow mixed in) and one major patch of white fog. But we're home now, and I'm off to work while Sean stays home with Ethan to rest and get well.

Check back soon!!

Merry Christmas!!

Hope everyone had a great holiday!!

We have been enjoying our time with Sean's family down in Southern California - Ethan's first Christmas down here. We had great weather on our drive down - not a single snowflake! And we are praying for weather that is just as good for our drive home. But... we have chains just in case!! So stay tuned for a LONG update with LOTS of pictures from all of our Cali adventures. Including...

* Cousin Spencer's baby blessing and temple sealing

* Back to Bethlehem event

* Disneyland!! (Ethan's first trip)

* Christmas Eve and Christmas

* Loads of fun with family!!

We are having a great time. Merry Christmas to everyone!

And to our family and friends in Oregon and anywhere else it's snowy, icy or just cruddy weather in general... drive safe or stay inside!

We love you!

Points for Politeness

As much as Ethan can be a little DESTRUCT-O, he is also a very sweet and loving little boy. And now, as he continues to learn new words and expressions every day, I am pleasantly surprised at how polite he can be already!

He says "Please!" when he wants or needs something and "Thank you!" when you give it to him - usually without prompting him first.

He also says "Bless you!" if he hears someone sneeze.

It's just so cute to hear these new expressions in his little voice. I love it! And I'm glad he's learning some manners already, even if he does turn around and pull all of the books out his bookcase or throw his dinner on the floor... again.

If you give a mouse a cookie...

...or in our case it was crackers. Goldfish crackers to be exact - and cheddar flavor at that!! Alas, it was a brand-new, BULK box of cheddar goldfish crackers that we had yet to open up. And I thought I was being so economical by buying the crackers in bulk - getting 3 regular boxes worth for the price of 2. Now we're just out $6 in crackers!

So this was not the first snack our little mouse had indulged in. Last week I found a Boboli pizza crust that had a good chunk out of it - he'd been munchin' on that one for a couple of days. But after finding the cracker box chewed in to, I told Sean to pick up some traps. Note that both the pizza crust and the crackers were in the garage - not the house, thank goodness. To date, no mysterious mouse nibblings found inside the house.

We (and by we, I mean Sean) set the traps Tuesday evening. We checked them before bed: nothing. Sean checked in the morning: nothing. I checked later that morning: nothing. I checked once Ethan and I got home that night: nothing... wait! One, two, three traps - where was the 4th one? And then I spotted it, on the garage floor was the 4th trap with our little mouse in it ("He's just sleeping, Ethan. Shh..."). I admit, I hate to use traps and kill it, but at the same time we can't afford to feed this mouse (mice??) and I especially don't want any around when we've got Ethan in the house. So it had to go. For now, the traps are still out and set in case our little mouse had any brothers or sisters who also enjoy munching on cheddar goldfish crackers or any other yummy snacks in our pantry.

The only other mouse I want to see anytime soon is this one:

Sick of being sick.

Last week Ethan was sick... Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and finally feeling a little better on Monday. He still has a very slight cough, but I'm sure glad to be done wiping that kid's nose every two minutes. I had Wednesday off and then took Thursday and Friday as sick days - of which I was told I'll only get paid for one per policy at work, but that's a rant for another day - and worked Saturday. Sean came home Wednesday and was also sick. I think he was finally feeling better by Monday too, so now it's my turn! Ugh. This morning was by far the worst morning, so hopefully it can only get better from here, right? Currently, I look only slightly better than death warmed over. Mainly I just have a stuffy head and really want a nap. I slept good last night, but my nose decided to wake up a little earlier than I did, so that kind of ruined my morning.

But... I am determined to get better ASAP! I intend to get as much rest as possible the next 2 days because I have too much to do this weekend and can not afford to be sick.

These are my incentives for getting better as quickly as possible...
* I intend to hold this little guy on Saturday.









My newest cousin (once removed): Baron James Graham, born Tuesday Decembeber 9th (to John and Stephanie Graham and big brother, Jackson).

* I'm ready to give my two favorite guys some kisses and not have to worry about spreading the germs.









This is an old picture, but I still love that you can see the baby drool on Sean's shirt!

* I need/have/want to finish my Christmas shopping.











* Because by the next weekend we'll be here:





and I want to enjoy every minute of it!
So I'm chugging orange juice and going to bed early tonight!

"That's not a ball!!"

Crash!

Too late.

Apparently, to Ethan, our Christmas tree is decorated with tons of bright, shiny balls. And what do you do with a nice, bright and shiny ball? Well, throw it on the ground, of course! And that's exactly what Ethan did on Thursday night after we had finished decorating the tree. I was back in the kitchen and next thing I see Ethan take one step into the dining room and throw the 'ball' down to the floor. Sorry bud, those balls don't bounce. So we've repeatedly corrected him when he eyes all of the 'balls' on our Christmas tree. "Those aren't balls, Ethan, they're ornaments. NOT balls. Ornaments. NOT balls...." Our tree is decorated with the previously mentioned jewel-toned spherical ornaments (we bought a large set of standard size and small ones for our first Christmas tree) and then a variety of Hallmark and other random, festive ornaments. We've only lost 3 of the spherical ornaments now and ironically all 3 have been gold colored. Maybe the tree thinks they clash too much with the silver snowflakes. Who knows?

But anyway...

Christmas has come to our house!! Actually, we decorated the mantle and put out the Nativity scene last Sunday, but I wanted to wait and include a picture of the tree - which we got on Monday, but did not finish decorating until Thursday.

It's still missing something, I think some sort of beaded garland, or ribbon or something to wrap around the tree, I just haven't found anything I like. I do like the addition of the long, curly silver ornaments, though. I forgot how limited my Christmas decorations really are - barely enough to do the mantle - so we filled in the space with some of our favorite Christmas books. I love Christmas books and I have made it a tradition to get a new one every year. I'm picky, though. They have to have a good, heart-warming story - usually some act of charity and kindness, really good illustrations and it always helps if the story makes me cry! My favorites are:

"Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect"

"A Christmas Dress for Ellen"

and last year's addition,

"The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey"

All three make me cry and the Christmas Dress one leaves me a blubbering mess!! I'm always on the look-out for a good Christmas book this time of the year. Does anyone have some good suggestions for next year's book(s)?? This year's is already on order and should be here (fingers crossed) before Christmas.

16 Again

10 Years Ago....
1.) I was 16 and had not gotten my driver's license.
2.) I had yet to really discover that I have naturally wavy/curly hair, thus my hair was in a ponytail 95% of the time.
3.) I was in the middle of my 3rd season on the SHS Varsity swim team and perfecting the backstroke. During the winter, swimming was my life and meets usually coincided with mutual, so it looked like I was inactive for about 3 1/2 months - even though I still went to church on Sunday and was the Laurel class president. I was pretty much Laurel president the entire time I was a Laurel.
4.) I had not yet met my wonderful husband. Instead I went on my first date - too see 'Pleasantville' - and the guy held my hand! First date and this guy had guts! Of course, neither of us could drive (as previously mentioned), so we had to have the parents do drop off and pick up. It didn't last. Although... the next year when he asked me to Homecoming and I couldn't give him an answer right away (I was waiting for some details of another plan to work out) he went ahead and told the ENTIRE Symphonic Band class (of which I was not a part of) that we were going together. Yeah, that was a fun mess to straighten out. And in conclusion to this long story, the guy that I went to Homecoming with that year ended up marrying one of my best friends (on the same day that Sean and I got married!) and they now have a beautiful little boy (Ethan's age) and a girl on the way! Small world.
5.) Other than swim team, my high school life was busy with Orchestra, SODA (Students Opposed to Drugs and Alcohol) Club - I was president, and of course, AP Calculus, AP History, AP Comp and Physics. Yeah, it was a hard year.

5 Things On Today's List Of Things To Do....
1.) Work
2.) Avoid my work Christmas party - a potluck in our showroom. Lame. Last year it was catered and on the top floor of the Hilton. Much, much better.
3.) 2-hour host shift at the Creche
4.) Snuggle with my sick little boy
5.) Finish an Amazon.com order and pray it gets here before Christmas

5 Snacks...
1.) Crisp, juicy apple
2.) Fruit smoothie or chocolate/banana protein smoothie
3.) Wheat Thins - don't know why, but the Reduced Fat ones are the most crunchy
4.) Cottage cheese with fruit - I need to start eating this more often
5.) Cold cereal

5 Things I Would Do If I were A Millionaire...
1.) Pay off all debt.
2.) Quit my current job to stay home with Ethan.
3.) Buy a house with new furniture.
4.) Travel. 1. Just Sean and I. 2. A family trip. 3. An extended family trip (maybe a Disney cruise??)
5.) Help others: Family, friends, etc. And then invest/save for the future.

5 Places I've lived...
1.) Duplex with my parents - when I was an only child.
2.) House with my parents and sisters.
3.) Technically I was briefly homeless while Sean and I were in LA to get married and then on our honeymoon. I had moved all my stuff into his place, but didn't spend a single night there (obviously!) - I unloaded the last of my boxes and then we loaded up Sean's car to drive down to his family's house.
4.) Double-wide trailer with Sean.
5.) Duplex with Sean and Ethan. Maybe next year I can finally add Salem to this list!

5 Jobs I have had...
1.) Yamaha of Springfield - my grandparents owned the business
2.) Harry & David - one season at the call center
3.) Ramsey-Waite Co. (service dept, parts dept and accounting office) - I've worked here NINE years, so my list is pretty small
4.) Wife
5.) Mother

I won't tag anyone... unless you want to be tagged that is!

"He's Such a Boy!"

I've always known that there are distinct differences between boys and girls, but seeing as I have only younger sisters, Ethan is the first boy I have lived with from day one. He is such a BOY!! Cars, trucks, "choo-choos" and balls are his favorite toys. And I'm already getting glimpses into what our grocery bill will look like once the teenage years hit. For a toddler, this kid eats a lot! Anyway... The other night, he proved that he was his father's son. As we were unlocking the front door to go into the house, Ethan noticed a daddy-long legs spider on the front porch. "Spider!" he said. First of all, I didn't even know he knew the word spider, so I was pretty impressed to hear another new word and see that he was able to identify it. Then, it true boy fashion, Ethan leaned down and picked the spider up!! That's right. My little boy is already picking up creepy-crawlies. Dang it! I'm not afraid of daddy-long leg spiders, but as a rule I hate spiders. Sean does most of the killing of them for me, though occasionally I have to pick up the slack when he's gone. I've also been known to trap them under a container in the bathroom and leave instructions on the door for Sean to dispose of it! Still, I could not believe that there was no hesitation on Ethan's part - he just bent over and picked up a spider like it was no big deal. Yikes!