Happy, Happy, Happy

Okay, I just have to say how grateful I am for blogs. I have found lots of my old friends from Bakersfield! I hope you all don't mind my snoopyness. It makes me happy to be able to keep up with them. As much as I didn't want to move to Bakersfield, I'm grateful we did so I could meet all you wonderful people!

Little Ethan and his Ellen

When Ethan was just a few months old, Mike was at home in the mornings and would watch Ellen. From then on, Ethan became obsessed with her. Here he is at about 7 months old watching Ellen. He still sucks his thumb, it's changed to the left hand though. And he's asleep when Ellen is on so he doesn't watch her anymore.
We sent these pictures into Ellen in hopes that she'd show them, but we never saw them. Did anyone?

Tagged!! Me, A-Z

A--Attached or single? Attached and have been for 5 years next Saturday. (The anniversary of our first date.)
B--Best friend? My mom!
C--Cake or Pie? I'd have to say chocolate pie! I'm making on today!
D--Day of Choice? Saturday, but only when Mike has it off and we can spend the whole day together as a family.
E--Essential Item? Dove chocolate. Kristen says it has fat burners in it!
F--Favorite Color? Purple, the same color as my birthstone.
G--Gummy bears or worms? Bears, the worms creap me out!
H--Hometown? Orem, UT
I--Indulgence(s)? Diet Dr Pepper, chocolate, and Gilmore Girls, all at the same time.
J--January or July? January.
K--Kids? I have one, Ethan, he's 2 1/2. He's a great kid and I hope the next one is just like him. I watched a kid today who screamed for an hour and a half! There was nothing I could do to console him, but it didn't keep me from wanting another one of my OWN!
L--Life is incomplete without? Laughter.
M--Marriage date? December 20, 2003, Mike's 22nd birthday! What a youngin'!
N--Number of siblings? 4
O--Oranges or apples? Apples.
P--Phobias or fears? SPIDERS! Cockroaches when I lived in Bakersfield.
Q--Quotes? "Copperboom!" and "Oy with the poodles already!"
R--Reason to smile? Right now, Ethan is napping. And most of the time, I have a great husband and son. A great family and in-laws.
S--Season? Fall, I love the colors and wearing sweaters.
T--Tag 3 friends? Jenessa, Audrey, and MOM, yes you Mom!
U--Unknown fact? I'm a sucker for Hannah Montana lately! Thanks Kristen, Mattison, and Isabel.
V--Very favorite store? Target.
W--Worst habit? Sitting down at the computer to do my young woman's lesson and getting side tracked by my friends' blogs.
X--X-ray or ultrasound? Ultrasound, I've never had an x-ray but it was cool to see Ethan when I was just 10 weeks pregnant.
Y--Your favorite food? Pizza.
Z--Zodiac? Aquarius.

Happy Thursday!

Today my mom took me and Ethan to lunch. I had a chicken sandwich, fries, and a DP, no surpeise for those of you who know me. Ethan got his chicken and fries, just like he likes, and a chocolate milk! Thanks Mom for the fabulous lunch, visit, and pj's for Ethan!

Happiness Journal

This year's theme for girls camp is "Happily Ever After." The stake camp committee came into young women's Sunday and gave us our camp challenge. The challenge is that three times a week every week until girls camp, every girl, is to write down one thing that made them happy that day. I decided this was a good challenge and I want to do it too. We were asked to write it down in a journal, we could text it, or blog it. So I thought, I have a blog, I'll blog mine!

Today I was looking at Becca's picasa albulm and found a picture of all of us eating yummy food and enjoying eachother's company (the picture is posted below) and that made me happy. I had such a good time and I really felt like this last trip to Minnesota helped me get to know my in-laws even better! You all are great and I love you!

Don't bother me, I'm reading!

Last night Ethan picked up Mike's book and sat down on the couch to read it. I was lucky enough to get him to look around the book so I could capture the moment on camera.
Then it was back to reading. I guess it doesn't bother him that the words are upside down!
Oh, here he is, putting the book down just long enough to say, "Cheese!"

My new favorite resturant, The Cheesecake Factory

When we were in Minnesota for Christmas, the adults went to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and had a blast! I have to say that I didn't want that dinner to end. Not just because we were all childless, except for my in-laws, all thier kids and their spouses were there, and Beth and Trent, but Gabe slept through the whole thing, what a great boy, but because I was having such a great time. I haven't laughed that hard since! Thanks everyone for making that experience such a great one. I stole this picture from my sister-in-law, Becca's, picasa photo albulm. I hope you don't mind! There she is in the left!
Everyone was really enjoying their desserts! What are you doing, Sarah? If anyone ever wants to go again, call me!

Our little chick magnet

When Ethan was a little guy, we thought he was so cute, we still think he's cute. Mike was looking on the internet and found a onesie that would announce to the world what Ethan would grow into, so he bought it. It didn't fit very long, but man, was it fun to have.
Today Ethan has a shirt that says "Mr. Mischief." (He's wearing it in the picture of him talking to Lightning McQueen, the next post down.) I guess we should have found one that was size 3-6 months for him to wear in this picture. He still likes to pull glasses off!

Calling Lightning McQueen

Ethan picked up Mike's old cell phone and his car he's named, Lightning McQueen, and told me was going to call Lightning McQueen.
Here he is, talking to Ligntning McQueen. He's so funny when he picks up the phone. He says, "Hello! Yes!" This time, he laughed after he said, "yes."

Fun with Tyler, Charli, and Mitch

We had a great day! We went to Carl's Jr. for lunch with Julie and Stacey and their kids, and Aunt Grace. After chicken, fries, and rootbeer Stacey dropped her kids, Tyler, Charli, and Mitch off at our house so she could run an errand, childless. First off, they all headed for Ethan's room and played with his toys. Ethan was very nice to share his dinosaurs and all his toys with his cousins.
Wow, look at all the dinosaurs!
After a couple of pictures, the kids realized what I was doing and posed to say "cheese!"
Mitch is growling in this picture and showing the camera the big T-Rex!

Happy Birthday, Sarah!

This weekend Mike's sister, Sarah, came into town and we celebrated her birthday, a day late, but there was cake. Here she is making her wish and blowing out her candles. I hope your wish comes true, Sarah.
Ethan dove right in to the cake, eventhough it wasn't his. Sarah didn't seem to mind that much. Thanks Sarah!
Ethan waited very patiently for his piece of cake. We hope you had a great time with us, Sarah. We love having you so close to us.

Wake up, Ethan!

We have church at 9:00 Sunday mornings and I usually have to wake Ethan up. I try hard to wake him up subtly, ie open his door while we are getting breakfast ready, open his blinds so the sun will come in, this was a particular bad morning. The sun was bright and this is the reaction that I got when the sun came blaring in
This is the next reaction.
And finally, he's up and ready to get ready for church.

Meet Ethan's new best friend, T-Rex

Ethan got some money for Christmas from his Great-Grandparents so we took him to Toys R Us so he could pick out his own toy. He loves dinosaurs and he picked this big T-Rex! He loves it so much, he got up from his nap, got his dinosaur, and hopped back into bed to take a nap. This is what I found when I went into his room.

Tune in next week...

So this week for my flashback I wanted to post pictures of my college grauation. Sadly, we didn't have a digital camera way back then and our scanner isn't working. I'll have to find another way to get those pictures for next week. So I decided just to post a picture of Ethan the day we made yummy cookies. (Oh, Mike got me flowers for my birthday and those are them in the background.)

"Count Ethan"

So last night we put Ethan to bed and after about 15 minutes, we heard him talking to himself. Not just the same old stuff we've been hearing, "Momma, Dad, Dinosaurs..." etc., this stuff is not very interesting or important. No, no, this time we heard him counting, but not just the one, two, three...thing, he was counting like the Count on Sesame Street. We heard, "Two, ahh ahh ahh." Then nothing. Mike and I both laughed and laughed, I hope you think it's as funny as we did. I guess it's better when you know what he sounds like when he does the whole "ahh ahh ahh" thing.

Time to go back in time!--Mike's graduation from BYU!

So maybe I haven't gone way back in time this week. I'll have to do think about it more for next week. Two years ago this April, Mike walked for gratuation. (He actually graduated in December 05, just before we moved to California. We came back so he could walk and wear his nifty gown.) Here we are just after his ceremony.
My dad was able to give Mike his degree holder.
Look at Ethan, so little and yet so round! He was just 7 1/2 months old at the time.
Someone, I can't remember who, thought it would be fun for both me and Mike to wear his graduation gown, so here we are. Aren't we so cute?

Ammendment to the next post...please read on

Okay, to clarify the post after this one. To complete one of my faith value experience, I need to discuss with other mothers, a grandmother or two, and other women "the qualities a woman needs to teach children to have faith and to base their decisions on gospel truths." What did you mothers do for or with your children in this regard? (The manual mentions the example of Helaman's stripling warriors, found in Alma 56:45-48 and 57:21.)

For all you mom's, grandma's and women

As a young women's presidency, we are encouraging the young women in the ward to start on, continue, and work hard on their personal progress. To help encourage the girls, we have decided to earn our medallions too. One of the value experiences under faith requires the young woman, or leader in my case, to discuss "the qualities a woman needs to teach children to have faith and to base their decisions on gospel truths." So, what do you all think? (If you need some inspiration, look at "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" and read what it says about a mother's role in the family.) Thanks! I look forward to your opinions and what you have to say on this subject. Oh, and check back in a month or two, I'll have another question to help me with my personal progress.

Flashback Friday!

I saw this on Kristen's blog and thought it'd be fun to do. So here goes. Three years ago today I heard Ethan's heartbeat for the first time. It was amazing and then seven months and five days later, here he is, just minutes after he was born with his favorite man, Dad.
Now, here he is just over a month ago. Looks a little less squished doesn't he? He sure is a happy, go lucky guy and we love having him in our family. He brings many, many laughs to us daily!