We're Moving!

No, not like that... just the blog. With a recent foray of blogger and personal web domain issue we are transitioning our entire blog over to Wordpress. Don't worry we're still easy to find at http://jfamilyblog.wordpress.com. Eventually we'll work on password protecting our site, but until then you can read and follow along just as rarely as before - since we never post anything. By the way how is this for the most lame blog update after a four month hiatus?

This also means that any of you that currently have an email for Shelli or I that point to the @keldesignonline.com address is now utterly useless, so delete that from your address book.

That's all for now. More to come, but not here. No more to come here - ever. More there, so go there. Hurry, go now. Stop reading and do it already. No really, nothing past this point is worth reading. Stop. Now. Fine, I am not typing any more then, that'll show you. I'm done. No more. Starting right... n_

date night

Funny thing happens when you get married. You tend to go out less. Not because you're less in love, or because you don't want to make the effort anymore, but mainly because instead of having to make plans to spend some quality time together, you're always around each other, thus lowering the necessity and expectation to "go out" but not eliminating it.

When we were first married Shelli and I actually went out pretty regularly, despite this fact.

When you have kids - this is when things really change. Its at this point you transition from going out less, to desperately needing a night out. Now all the time you have is shared with a little one and in order to exit your home to go anywhere it requires a massive procession of tasks lists and check-marks:

"Hey, Honey, did you get the sippy-cup?"

"Don't forget the wipes!"

"Did you remember the toys?" (I'll come back to this one.)

"Did you grab his food?"

And so on. The list can be so long and exhaustive that you are guaranteed two things: you will be late and you will forget something.

So anytime someone comes along and says "Hey, if you guys want a night out just let us know." You both look at each other with that inquisitive "You think they're serious?" perplexity on your face. This is also why when anyone calls back moments later and says "How about next Saturday?" and you have it free, you gasp with excitement and dance around your living room like you're in a Steve Carrell comedy, all the while trying not to let on to the person on the other end of the phone.

So, thank you David and Liz for your overwhelming generosity and persistence, it was an enormous blessing and overwhelmingly needed.

Last Saturday, David and Liz watched Noah for us so we could have a little date night. Which when you haven't been out together in a while can kind of fall apart, but more on that later.

After packing up the Noah and racing through the checklist, making sure to check everything and be certain we forgot nothing, we raced off to drop Noah off at David and Liz's. We of course were running drastically late, not guarantee number one. As we traveled down Bangerter Highway and turned left to head to our destination we both came to a startling realization: yes, we forgot the toys (note guarantee number two). Oh well, too late now. Fortunately, David and Liz had plenty of plastic kitchen utensils, so everything was fine.

After we dropped off Noah, we went out for a nice dinner and a to take in a movie. We first headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner (all to be covered by gift certificates) but instead realize that in our delay we had overrun our time and wouldn't be able to make it there in time, nor back to the movie. So, we settled on a subpar salad bar from Ruby Tuesday in Jordan Landing where we would be seeing our movie. That is, until we realized that our movie gift certificates wouldn't apply there, so we adapted once again and hurried over to the District to catch a movie. Minus some upset stomachs and poor driving, which provided for some funny dialogue, everything worked out nicely. We saw the Blindside, which we both thoroughly enjoyed, and headed on over to pick up the Little Man, before we called it a night.

While nothing went as planned, and the overall night would statistically be considered a failure based on things that went the way they were suppose to, we had a great time and it was so nice to be able to spend some time together just the two of us. Sometimes we can get so caught up in our lives that we forget to let the ones we love the most, know how much we love them, by just spending time with them and honestly, there is probably nothing more important that we will ever do with our time.

Thanks David and Liz, we needed that.

and... we're off...

So much has transpired in the past few days... wait... weeks... I mean months since we last updated you about the comings and goings of our life via this blog.

A few holidays passed, a lock-in, a new year, some birthdays, nursing school began and we had some "new" stuff, whether it occurred or it was obtained. Let me briefly recap.

Since the end of 2009, I wrapped up the annual youth New Year's Eve Lock-in, went comatose for a day - panicking Shelli for a brief moment when I failed to resurface in a timely manner - recovered and returned to the daily grind. Shelli's birthday came and we celebrated the wonderful quarter-century turn of the clock as Shelli went from college student to well... college student, but more mature and sophisticated.

As I alluded to, Shelli is full-swing into Nursing school and life is a blurry mess of studying, tests, baby firsts and baby lasts, work, and a pinch of sleep in there somewhere. She is performing incredibly having scored well-above the class average on all her tests and, despite the exhausting downside, she is loving it.

I am going through a ton of learning and transition at work as we continue to grow at Capital and the organizations changes I can feel my role and job portfolio shifting. I am not sure exactly where it will end up in the immediate future, I am however very certain that in the long-term I will become more of a Creative Director than a designer/youth leader. As much as it saddens me to think of my role with the youth decreasing, I know it will by far be the best in the end. Other than that I have enjoyed a short-term increased role in teaching and running youth on Wednesday nights, while the group continues to grow and amaze me in their personal spiritual growth.

Little man is growing like a tree. Compared to the clothes we first brought him home from the hospital in, he seems to be a redwood. A very fast redwood. We at one point were convinced Noah would be walking before crawling and then one day he decided that there was too much to discover to wait for that. Noah loves to walk around all over the place while you hold his hand (though he is a little wary of releasing his kung fu grip from your finger), but don't you even think of sitting down and taking a breather, he has no tolerance for such laziness and will be screaming you back to your feet like an angry football coach before the big game. If for some crazy reason you decide you just can go any further, he will resort to speed-crawling his way across the floor. Don't even think about taking a bathroom break unless you tie him down because he'll be in the next state.

In addition to the quick transition to crawling and hand-held walking, he is almost fully onto solid foods (eating only the occasional formula bottle now) which he loves to eat while sitting high in the high chair that Papa Gary custom made for him.

Noah loves to play and is fascinated by balloons, which he affectionately calls "booon" or "Bwah" which sounds almost like a grunt. he still shouts "dadadada" and has added high pitched screaming and grunting to the mix, though at all times he is really referring to Mama, whose arms he would always prefer to be in. He still loves to cuddle and is sleeping wonderfully through the night in his own room in his crib.

He likes to roll around in his walker and loves, loves Gerber Graduate Puffs and any food made of or with fruit. Although, as expected vegetables don't carry the same appeal. He's learned to clap and has no reservation applauding his accomplishments. Along with his likes and dislikes he has become the most curious and adventurous little fella I have ever seen and I can't forget to mention one of his favorite games he has discovered. We'll call it Keep Away. This involves Noah holding out some object, usually a puff, until you reach for it and, at the last second, pulling it swiftly back into his body far away from any of your pursuing fingers. He will then return his hand to the out-stretched position, as if trying to tempt and entice you to have another try, all the while repeating the original process to the tune of his happy little laugh.

Well, january has passed and we're half-way through February. We spent some time in California with Shelli's family in January, but I will let her update you on that journey soon. In addition, there are a few more things to tell you about, but rather than catch up on everything in one blog, we'll just try to blog again sooner, rather than later.