The end of 2009

Thanks to our loyal readers who have suffered through our empty posts. We have a lot of catching up to do, so here goes in a nutshell:
Thanksgiving: Our little family packed up and went to Moab to celebrate the holiday with Kelly’s parents. We had an amazing dinner, prepared by Kelly’s mom, and the rest of his family. I must admit, I did such a fine job of chopping up the celery for the stuffing. Don’t you forget it! Noah had a bad cold and had a hard time eating sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes that we made. The poor little man was pretty miserable, but was a trooper through it all. We enjoyed conversing with Kelly’s family from Moab, Las Vegas, and Grand Junction.
Accepted!!!: I have been accepted to join the 2012 School of Nursing Class at Westminster College. I begin classes on January 5th, at which point my life will become hectic, and chaos will commence. (Did I mention things will get a bit crazy?) My program is 5 semesters long, and I will receive my Bachelor of Science in Nursing. (Hooray for another bachelors!! HA!)
Christmas this year was truly great. It was Noah’s first Christmas, and this time of year is SO much more fun and enchanting when a little one is around. Noah is so spoiled by his grandparents, aunties, uncles, friends, (and maybe a little by us too!) He got so many toys that we had to set some aside, as not to over-stimulate him. We went to Christmas Eve service, which I really enjoyed. Noah chatted a bit during the service, but was very good. Christmas morning we spent with our little family, opening our stockings and presents from Santa. We then went to my parents house, in which my dad made us breakfast, and we opened presents with my parents, sister, brother-in-law and nephew. Noah was really tired on Christmas morning and didn’t quite understand the concept of opening presents, but he enjoyed it nonetheless.
My mom’s birthday is the day after Christmas, but this year I decided not to participate in the festivities. :( I awoke with a migraine that I was not able to control, so my wonderful mom and dad and took Noah on her birthday while Kelly and I went to the Emergency Room. (Thanks mom and dad!) We spent 6 hours medicating my brain, and went home to sleep off the rest of it. I was so bummed and frustrated, and I owe birthday dinner to my mom. Happy Birthday to you mom!
2009 has been a year of ups, downs, frustrations, excitements, bliss, and exhaustion. This year has been a true blessing, as this is the year we received our little man, whom we cherish and love. Kelly and I have grown so much in our marriage. We have been stretched, and have had to rely on each other more than ever. We look forward to 2010 and the adventures it will bring. Thanks to all of our family and friends that have made 2009 a very memorable year. Here’s to 2010!

The following are a whole bunch of random pics that make me smile to look at!

I probably deserve the "Mom of the Year" award for letting Noah play with my undies while I fold laundry! Distraction is GREAT when it comes to getting chores done!

Christmas shopping at the mall, disguised as a penguin.

He won't go anywhere without his thumb!

Showing off his top "snaggle tooth" He now has 2 1/2 teeth on top!

Chubbers and daddy playing

Sad baby showing off his two bottom teeth. Nana Pam is so proud!

Noah loves bathtime!


Smiley Chub!

Remember when...

Remember when we posted blogs? Remember when we promised a blog post from Hawaii? Remember when we were looking forward to vacation, not remembering it? Remember two months ago when the blog never showed up? Well, I have some promises to keep, even if they are overdue...

I would just like to clarify that I wrote this blog on October 12th, just after we returned from Hawaii. Unfortunately, given the extremely convenient usability of Blogger I only had to upload the photos and post, piece of cake, right? (Please note the sarcasm of the usability issue.) So, after several agonizing uploading hours and without further adieu, I give you... Hawaii...

[Okay, blog update. Despite my efforts the photos would not load correctly. You'll have to read on without, but you can check out the gallery of photos here]


After Noah's first plane ride, a straight shot six hour flight from Salt Lake City to Honolulu (which he did great on, by the way), we settled into the Hotel where Pam and Gary had already been for a couple of days. Pam was in Hawaii for a dental convention so we got to tag along and play while she enjoyed the interiors of conference rooms for the first few days. After claiming our bed and getting situated we headed down for an obligatory trip down one of Hawaii's most crowded beaches at Waikiki. We watched a beautiful sunset and then headed back for some much needed sleep.

Day two was marked by an amazing tour all the way around O'ahu with tour guide Gary while Pam was stuck with more of those conference rooms and dental speak. The tour was capped with sights of North shore, the Dole plantation, Pali Highway and the Nu'uanu Pali lookout where King Kamehameha I staged one of the bloodiest battles in Hawaiian history as he conquered the island of O'ahu.

That was all in the afternoon however. The morning was all about Pearl Harbor. We took tours of the USS Arizona Memorial, the USS Missouri (site of the end of WWII) and Shelli even snagged a tour of the USS Bowfin Submarine. See the story goes, that while us law abiding citizens (Gary, Noah and myself) toured the small museum of WWII torpedos and weaponry Shelli snuck a free tour of the USS Bowfin while nobody was looking. Apparently she completed the tour unabated; however when Noah and I chased after her we were quickly halted and sent packing the other way be the security forces.

The tours of the USS Arizona and USS Missouri were incredible. It is amazing to be out there and see the places where all these stories took place. The heroism and strength of all those involved takes ones breathe away. The oil still bubbles out from the USS Arizona all these years later.

Day three we traveled again. We island hopped our way over to Maui where Shelli's grandparents have a time share they were more than generous enough to let us stay in. We were only a short walk away from the beach and it was such a great location. WE settled in and took off to the store to grab some grub for the week. THis turned out to be a little bit more of an adventure than we anticipated. We knew things would be more expensive in Hawaii, just not that expensive. I fail to understand how people can afford to live there, whew! $8 for a package of cheese. $6 for milk. ouch. Fortunately, after offering up our second and third born children we were able to discover that a short distance away in Kahului there is a Costco and Walmart which make things a little more affordable.

Our condo was in a little town called Kihei on the west side of the island. Day four we drove south and toured the west side beaches wn snorkeled around the reefs. We had a great time swimmin' with the fishes and kickin' bakc with the sea turtles. Its incredible what you can see out there on a clear day. After snorkeling to our heart's content we called it a day and headed back for some sleep. Mind you we still hadn't quite adjusted to the time change so it was only like 6pm when we'd all go to bed, but we also were up and rolling at like 5am.

Day five we decided to brave the road to Hana, a 68 mile "3 hour" drive along the north coast of Maui. We started out early in the morning making all our fun little stops along the way. We hiked up to Twin Falls where some gentlemen selling bowls and hats made form leaves fo some local plants made Shelli adn Pam a flower and Noah a little fishy. We proceeded along the road to Hana stopping occasionally to check out the sites including waterfalls, overlooks, the black sand beaches and lava tunnels at Waianapanapa State Park, and Hamoa beach for some body surfing before turning back and heading home. All in all our 3 hour drive took about 9 hours start to finish. But in defense of the inaccurate information I am pretty sure Gary got us home in like two hours. Nice driving. We went out fro a bite to eat at Moose McGillycuddy's and called it a night.

Though exhausting the road to Hana was a blast. The beaches were beautiful, the body surfing at Hamoa was a blast and the views were incredible. Probably won't be jumping on the bandwagon for round two anytime soon though.

The next morning we went out and rented a paddle board form one of the local shops. Just so you are in the loop this is a slightly larger surfboard you stand on with a paddle and paddle around the water near the beaches. We spent the day doing some paddle boarding and hanging out at the beaches. The paddle board was a blast you can just sit back and enjoy a calm relaxing paddle through the waters as you look below and survey the marine life, or your can paddle right into a wave and ride it in.

Shelli went the entire trip up to this point without a migraine, so thank God for that! It was wonderful to have soem time away with no headaches. Unfortunately that abruptly came to an end that night which led to a not-so-memorable seventh day. Day seven we went out in the morning and did some more paddle boarding before we had to return the board. Shelli and I both had a chance to paddle around with a sea turtle. It was amazing. He just hung around on the surface of the water swimming his was around the board as popped his head in and out of the water. After that we sent Pam and Gary out for some fun on the town while I stayed behind with Noah and took care of Mommy. By the afternoon Shelli had decided that she wasn't going to take any more from the headache and we headed out Lahaina just North of where we were staying. Lahaina is a beautiful little whaling town. Much more touristy than where we were staying, but a lot of fun. We walked around the old Banyan Tree and grabbed some dinner from a little Mexican restaurant. We hopped up to Ka'anapali and caught the sunset before heading back. We shot some photos of lil' Noah on the beach at sunset. What an absolutely unforgettable sunset, it was indescribable.

Day Eight we drove up to Haleakala, one of the volcano craters of Maui, and took a stroll around. Its a surreal place being 10,000 ft above sea level on an island. The views were a little masked by the cloud cover but it was still amazing to see. With all the lava rock and little vegetation you felt like you were on another planet. From there we kicked back a little and got the last little bit out of the snorkels and boogie boarding that we could. We toured a few more beaches and ended up landing at Big Beach for the day. Big Beach, along with being the largest undeveloped white sand beach on Maui, is the sight of several neck injuries which we quickly discovered that day. We bolted out to have soem fun on the boogie boards and in one commanding crash of a wave both Gary and I lost our glasses. I managed to locate mine a short while later buried in the sands and the bottom of the crashing waves, and then continued to look for Gary's (A little nicer and more expensive than mine) before I could find anything I was mauled by another ave which ended up popping then lenses out of my glasses that were in my hand. I conceded to return to the shore to discard the glasses and return to the search. eventually we spotted Gary's glasses, deciding it was either a stingray or his glasses. Thankfully (on several levels) it was his glasses. I spent some more time being pummeled by waves (Shelli tried too, but was immediately smashed by a couple waves too.) before tiring out and we packed up and headed home for the day.

After packing up a few things and getting some sleep we woke up ready for our last day, simply hoping that it wasn't really true. After spending the morning working through all the possible logistics of how not to come home and move to Hawaii, we resigned ourselves to having to coem home and darted out for some last minute snorkeling, turned in all our gear, got a delicious final bite to eat at the Five Palms, packed up, grabbed the final souvenirs and caught our flight back to Honolulu at 10pm. In Honolulu we had a short layover where we snagged a quick bite to eat with Shelli's Great Aunt and Uncle barely caught our next flight, switched planes in Portland and landed in SLC at 1pm on Sunday.

All in all, it was a much needed and wonderful vacation. Just need to figure out when we are going again now.


Thanks for waiting...

one big baby

September 3rd marked Noah's 6 month mark. (Yes, this means I am precisely 8 days behind on my blogging, and 6 months behind on my sleep.) The last month has been one of big milestones and accomplishments. All in one week Noah learned to sit on his own, he sprouted his first tooth, he learned to say "Dadadadadadada", and he became a steam roller, rolling like a rockstar. That makes for two happy parents, one goofy baby, and one dumbfounded dog. (Sam thinks we are the biggest dufuses ever when we cheer at Noah and his ability to roll over. After all, it only took him about a week of training to master the task!)

We took Noah in for his 6 month check-up and here's the stats:

Height: 28 inches (93rd Percentile)

Weight: 18 pounds (61st Percentile....He's thinning out!)

Head Circumference: 17.9 inches (91st Percentile)

Noah is a healthy and happy little man, and we have absolutely loved these past 6 months of watching him grow (albeit a little TOO fast!)

the best remedy

One of my favorite things in this entire world is the laughter of my boy. The last week plus has been extremely difficult filled with setbacks, trials, bad news and poor developments. I'll spare you the details, mostly because they are not the point. But, as I sat on the couch with Noah today laughing and playing I was reminded of how much I love those moments. Despite everything that is not good its so refreshing to have that, even if it is just a moment. 

Noah had been growing fast. He is already five months old, though you would never know it. He sports his 9 month clothing like it were going out of style. Our liitle boy is a very big boy, that why we have affectionately dubbed him Samoa Noah (We have decided that he is albino Samoan - from my side of course). He loves to laugh and play, especially with his little cow that I have dubbed Milford. It seems to be his favorite toy, though he is starting to enjoy some of his other toys too. He is almost rolling over, practically sitting up on his own and is amazingly curious. He is always reaching out for things and investigating everything around him. He is enjoying his Rice cereal though Shelli and I both think it might be time for even more solids as anytime we have something to eat he stares our food down like its high noon at an old western showdown.

I love my little boy. These past few moths have been crazy busy but some of the most amazing of my life. It has been so much fun watching Noah grow and discover the world around him. For right now I owe Noah a bit of gratitude for bringing me some joy when I needed it most this week. I even thought I would share it with you...

Feeding by Osmosis?

Instead of ingesting his rice cereal, we like to smear it across every available square inch of his body. We have a theory that he will receive the nutrients via osmosis. Okay, so maybe not. It's just part of being a baby, and it sure makes for a cute pic!

Top 10 Reasons why we haven't been blogging/Why we're slackers

The month of July has come and gone, and our poor little blog has been ignored. Sorry about the lack of posts, we have definitely been staying busy, playing outside, and enjoying the summertime! Here’s the Top Ten Reasons why we haven't been blogging!

Reason #10
We celebrated the 4th of July at Snowbird Ski Resort. It was beautiful, and we were able to catch up with a lot of friends from college at USU. We sure do miss them!

Reason #9

We’re going to be an aunt and uncle and cousin again! Adrienne is PREGO! They are expecting Baby #2 at the end of February! Be praying for a healthy and happy momma and baby!

Reason #8

Kelly and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary! Wow, how time flies. This year was a little less eventful than last year….(Remember, we found out that I was prego with Noah on our one year anniversary! Surprise!!! No more babies to report this year….that we know of at least! HA!) Kelly and I both took the day off of work, and spent the day with our little family. I had a terrible headache the entire day, so I ended up being a bit of a slug, but we enjoyed ourselves, nevertheless. My parents took Noah for the evening (thanks mom and dad!) and Kelly I headed up to Park City to enjoy dinner together at Zoom. It was delicious, and we really enjoyed some time with each other. Anniversaries (and marriage, for that matter) are definitely different when there’s a baby! We picked up Little Man, got ice cream on the way home, and enjoyed our day of celebrating two years.

Reason #7
We celebrated the 24th of July with my parents and the Lansings…(well, we actually celebrated the 25th of July!....Hooray for the Mormons coming to Utah…..yesterday!) We had fireworks and dinner, and enjoyed my dad’s biannual fireworks dance. Yes, my dad dances. On the 4th and 24th we see his talent for interpretative dance. It is quite spectacular actually. I’m not sure if I enjoy the fireworks or my dad’s pirouettes more!

Reason #6
Kelly went to Denver for a week. He led the Capital Youth Missions team to Colorado for some good times, and to share the love of Jesus! He headed up the team of 11 youth and 3 other leaders. Kelly’s group of 4 youth spent the week serving in an assisted living home. He came back with some fabulous stories of really neat people! (I feel like he should post about his experience, because I can’t do it justice!) Noah and I really missed him, but he gave us a little gift to open each day while he was gone, and prepared a video for us to watch each night before we went to bed. Noah LOVED seeing his daddy! Each night I would feed him, give him his little massage, and then start the video, and he would get so excited to see Kelly!

Reason #5
While Kelly was gone for a week, we stayed super busy! We went to lunch with Kali to say farewell as she heads off to Denver seminary, went to a horse show with Nana, celebrated Poppa’s birthday (Happy 55 DAD!!!), went to Cowabunga Bay water park with Nana, Poppa, Aunt Adrienne, and Ty-Ty, went to dinner with Rachel, and went to a Relay for Life for our little friend Lola. I met Lola at Primary Children’s where she is a patient. She was diagnosed with cancer of her eye (retinoblastoma) when she was merely 7 months old. She had had dozens of chemotherapy treatments, surgeries, and examinations, and has been CANCER FREE for over a year! She is now two years old and full of LIFE! Lola and her family have become really great friends, and we were honored to be a part of her Relay for Life team! This was such a success, and raised so much money for cancer research for the American Cancer Society! If any of you want to get involved with Relay for Life, or would like to donate to the American Cancer Society, let me know! Amazing things are happening here.

My dad with Tyler on my dad's birthday.

Noah and Shelli floating the lazy river at the water park.

Worn out after a wild day at the waterpark.

Fun times at Daybreak pool.

Playing at Kearns pool with AD and Ty.

Shelli & Lola (AKA: Cancer Survivor Extraordinaire!) at Relay for Life.

Reason #4
Kelly came back home, we had just enough time to give him a hug and kiss, and he hit the ground running! He’s so busy with work, and is in overdrive to get videos, graphics, pictures, etc. etc. done. We are happy to have him home though!

Reason #3

I am starting with a new neurologist. My migraines have been absolutely out-of-control, and my friend Trina referred me to this new doctor. Neurology clinics don’t really know what to do with migraine patients, and therefore, we kind of get the run-around when it comes to treatment. My current treatment was obviously not working, so I decided it wouldn’t hurt to try a new doctor. He has such a passion for treating migraine patients, and suffers from migraines himself, so he gets it and has an incredible amount of compassion and sympathy for this blasted ailment. Please pray for some relief, and that this new physician would get me on a treatment plan that is more successful.

Reason #2

We just booked tickets to go to Hawaii! We will be going at the beginning of October, and can’t wait to feel the sand between our toes! We will go to Oahu for a few days. (Kelly and I would really like to see Pearl Harbor), and then head to Maui for a week. We are meeting up with my parents, who will be there for my mom’s national dental convention. (What a bummer, huh? Her work sends her to Hawaii for a darn business trip! ) This will be Noah’s first plane ride, and biggest vacation, so far. Maybe he will learn to surf while we’re there! Eh?


Reason #1

Why would I want to be staring at a computer screen, when I could be playing with this cute face instead!?

Phew, I feel justified now!

4 months young!!!

Noah celebrates his 4th month of life today!


Here's his stats from the pediatrician:
Weight: 16.0 pounds (74 percentile)
Height: 27.5 inches (99 percentile)......TALL little man!
Head Circumference: 17.5 (90 percentile)


Likes:
*Mommy and Daddy (of course!!!)
*Laughing and Smiling with daddy
*Cuddling with mommy
*Eating
*Playing with (and eating) his toy cow
*Sitting up in his Bumbo
*Standing (when we try to make him sit he becomes stiff as a board...He insists on standing!)
*Walks in the stroller
*Kicking
*Leg Massages at night time
*Bath time
*Sucking his thumb
*Books
*Being tickled
*Being held
*Hiding small animals in his chins
*Music
*Being naked (that better change before he's a teenager!!!)


Dislikes:
*The car seat
*Taking naps
*Sitting
*Being put down
*The wrong temperature of his milk. We didn't realize an infant could be so picky about food temp!
*Tummy Time (He just growls at us the entire time!)


Still trying to figure out:
*Rice Cereal (pushing all of that food to the back of the mouth and swallowing is hard work!)
*Sammy (also known as annoying furball!). Noah doesn't quite know what to think about him.
*He's trying to figure out his world by putting everything into his mouth! This includes anything from his body parts, to toys, cameras, anything!
*Rolling over

Noah and his cow!

How many chins can you count?

One Great Daddy

Happy First Father's Day to one amazing dad! Noah and I love you SO much and are so grateful for all you do for our little family!

Poo-Splosion Round Two

Many of you may remember "Poo-Splosion" Round One, when Sammy decided to decorate our living room with his intestinal contents. Pretty gross, I know. Prepare my friends, for "Poo-Splosion" Round Two!
Noah has failed to poop since Sunday. Today is Friday. Go ahead, count the days...One, Two, Three, Four Five. Five days of storing up for a blow-out! He's been incredibly grumpy, and even more gassy. (Can you blame him?) Kelly and I were getting a little concerned, so I called his pediatrician who wanted to see him. My wonderful mom took him in yesterday, while Kelly and I were at work. After a half of an hour of swooning the ladies in the waiting room, Noah was finally seen by the doctor. He said to try prune juice to get things moving along. My wonderful parents went to Harmon's and picked up the prune juice (ONLY prune juice), and in turn got some pretty great looks by the checker who obviously knew what prune juice is used for!
I syringe-fed Noah the juice last night because he refused to drink the nasty sauce voluntarily.
And so we wait.........
Much to my dismay, no poops in his morning diaper. Bummer. I lie him on the playmat in the bathroom while I take a shower, and 10 minutes later, I hear the most beautiful sound I could have hoped for! (I'll spare you the "Juicy" details!...no pun intended!)
Success! The diaper was full to the top, wall to wall with glorious (horrifically stinky) poop! I have a much happier baby who also weighs about 3 lbs. less now!
I should probably consider putting a disclaimer on our blog, considering this is probably too much info. However, these are the new joys and excitements of my life! Hooray for Motherhood!

Mmmmm....tastes like chocolate

Noah found his thumb! He has decided it is his new favorite invention! Kelly and I also set up a savings fund for orthodontics! I sucked my thumb until I was about 8 years old (pathetic, I know!), and I had some sweet bucky teeth to show for it! (Thanks mom and dad for investing in braces, and sparing me the embarassment of a lifetime of looking like I grew up in a trailer park!)

100 Days of Noah

Our sweet little Noah is 100 days old today, and wow has time flown quickly! We are so excited to have a 100 day baby!

Firsts

We have been staying incredibly busy this last week. Noah is growing faster than we can keep up with him, changing every day! He is quite a cheese-ball! He is constantly pulling funny faces, smiles, and laughing! It has been so so much fun to see him grow these last few months, and he has had a load of "firsts".

First bike race: Noah and I went with Nana and Poppa (Kelly was still quarantined with the Swine Flu). The race was at Sugarhouse Park, and it was a lot of fun watching the bikes go around and around! (I failed to get a pic of the actual race, however! I was too busy looking at my cute fam!)

First baseball game: We went to the Bees game last friday. We went with Adrienne, Travis, Ty-Ty, Nana, and Poppa. (Plus Kelly was out of his quarantine by now, so he got to go too! Woohoo! Welcome back Kelly!) There were fireworks after, which Noah slept through!...but I guess that we can consider that a "first" too!




First Concert: Daybreak (the community we live in) has fun little events for residents, (and whomever else wants to come). We went to a concert at the lake, which was really fun! We had a picnic dinner, and listened to the music, which was great.

When we first got to the lake, the sky looked like this, and we weren't sure we were going to stay very long. Infants + rain/lightening does NOT equal fun time!


But, we bundled up sweet little Noah and waited it out.


Within a few minutes, the sky was looking like this, and it turned out to be a perfect night.

From afar, Sam saw a puppy that he was anxious to befriend.

Turns out, it was a plush little pup that this cute little girl was dragging around. Sam didn't seem to care, he just wanted to be friends!

Noah and I danced to the music, and enjoyed our night out as a family.

First birthday party: Uncle Travis turned 28! Happy Birthday T-Rav! We went to The Pie, and back to the Lansings for ice cream cake.



First Horseback Ride: Cowboy Noah "rode" Summer today! Summer is the ONLY horse in this world that I would trust with my 3-month old on her back! Noah kind of thought we were looney for putting him on top of this huge creature, but it made for a cute picture and fun memories! Summer is my horse, that I competed on since I was 8 years old. She is amazing, and I hope she is around for a long time so Noah can learn to ride on her also.

Happy 32 Years!

My parents are celebrating their wedding anniversary today, and 32 years of marriage! Wow! Congratulations mom and dad on 32 years, and many more to come!
I love you!

life inside the box

So I am currently about two days into my quarantine sentence. This means I have like 3 days left. It sounds longer when I say it aloud, I have to be honest. I am just extremely thankful for my family, especially my amazing wife, who has been there to peek her head in and see how I am doing and bring me jamba juice and make me food. This would be a lot harder without her. And, of course, the little man for whom I am hanging out in here to begin with - knowing I am keeping this dreadful illness away form him is well worth it.

Well that being said, the answer to your question is... yes. Oh my heavens, yes. I am bored out of my mind! Which is probably why I have lost it - wouldn't be having this problem if I had just stayed in it. Alas, I digress...

Welcome to the ramblings of isolation and medicinal hallucination.

Actually, it is rather hard to be in here all day - could be so much worse though. On one hand I want to get out and do something and yet on the other I lack motivation and strength. As my body is filled with medicines and allocates numerous resources to the viral battle raging within I find myself weary and unmotivated. However, every ounce of energy remaining in me wants to go run around outside and play like a 8 year old awaiting the bell for recess. It is amazing what conflict your body and mind can be in when working toward the same goal.

I have not been idle though. I have been taking my time to piece together a little photo journal of my fun and exciting day. One day I will blog about something relevant and worthwhile, don't you worry, but that day is not today. Today is about carefully worded nonsense. So far I have enjoyed a rousing day of cinematic entertainment...



And thanks to the modern marvel of television contained on digital video disc I have more than caught up on my Office trivia.



I plugged in some valuable literature time; expanding my knowledge and prowess so that I may converse among the elite high society. (why are you laughing?)





I have certainly performed my share of chemistry experiments...



I enjoyed some of the finer things in life - such as the joy of plucking the ol' six string. Mind you it's been a while and there was less plucking and more mashing. (If any of you watch the Simpsons (Ooo! I know what season series I'll be watching next (Hey! does lack of human contact cause ADD? (Wait! what was I talking about...))) do you remember the episode where Homer tries to get out of going to work by gaining several pounds and filing for disability? There is a part where Homer tries to use the phone but can't dial because his finger are too fat. The operator tells him "If you would like to order a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad now." Wow, did I really just write all that? why? Oh well, too late now I already typed it. Moving on...)





I did what I do often and dabbled in technology. Canon Rebel XSi, MacBook Pro, iPod Classic, iPhone, wireless mouse, all in a day. Did manage to get some work done, though found myself lacking motivation for much of it. Managed to do a blog post - er, umm... doing a blog post.



And finally, I decided what I needed to do most was find someone to talk to. I would like you to meet my little round-headed friend Morty. He is my solitary friend. He is kind of soft spoken and reserved but once you get him out of his shell he is a riot.





Well its time Morty and I got back to whatever it is we do (psst... its nothing. We do nothing! lame.) and bid you all adieu. But, before I do I wanted to mention one more thing I did today. I spent a lot of time thinking. I thought a lot about my family and friends and how valuable and amazing they are. I thought about how much I love them all, and how worthless everything is without them. I thought about what an amazing wife I have and what an adorable and healthy son we have been blessed with. I spend a lot of time thinking about them and every moment I am in here I miss them even more. I realize I am not far away - but I long to hold them both in my arms; God willing that will be sooner than later. I love them both with everything in me. For now I thank God for everything I have in my life.