Reverent t-rex

Tonight, just like every night, before putting Ethan to bed, we knelt next to his bed for a prayer. We have to remind Ethan, not every day, but frequently, that he should fold his arms. His big toy t-rex is there next to where he kneels and he grabs him and makes sure his arms are folded too. It's too cute. I have to say that Ethan has always loved to pray and will often remind me to say a prayer at lunch after his lunch is in front of him. He's learning to pray by himself too. He misses the whole "thank thee" and "bless" or "we ask thee" thing, but he sure has the first and last parts down. Hopefully he'll learn before he starts primary next year. (It's hard to think that I will have a Sunbeam in just a few months!)

Last ones

Last night Mike and I went to the temple. We caught the last session of the day and I have heard that when you get into the celestial room, they will turn off all the lights but the big chandelier. Our session was small and we were the last ones left in the celestial room when the lights went out. It was so beautiful and the spirit was so strong and comforting. As we drove home, we just had to stop and look at the window in the celestial room. This is almost as beautiful as it really was.

8's

8 shows I love to watch:

Gilmore Girls

Cosby

Designed to Sell

House Hunters

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

Friends

Jon & Kate plus 8

House

8 favorite resturants

Los Hermanos

JCW's

Mimi's Cafe

Cobblestone Pizzaria

Wendy's

Hogi Yogi

Gandolfo's

Cheesecake Factory

8 things that happened yesterday

I slept in

I watched my mom fix my sheets, again

I cooked dinner

I taughted the FHE lesson

I bathed Ethan

I ate birthday cake in bed

I checked out my comments on my blog

I paid the city utilities bill

8 things I am looking forward to

Mike getting an offer for a new job

Mike starting his new job

The snow

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law coming to visit in 3 weeks

Halloween and seeing Ethan all dressed up as Spiderman

Getting new carpet in my house (which won't happen any time soon)

Painting my living room

Making cookies this afternoon with Ethan

8 things on my wish list

For Mike to get an offer for a new job TODAY

To get new carpet throughout my house

To eat lots of cookie dough

To be able to eat all the cookie dough I want and still keep my girlish figure

To have another baby before Christmas 2009

To connect more with my best friend I met while we were living in Bakersfield

To drive a mini van someday

To play, play, play with my kids all day long and not have to clean, cook, or do anything like that

8 people I tag

Mom

Jenessa

Stefani

Angie

Julie Callister

Melody

Aimee

Teasha

My little super hero

Yesterday we were at my parents' house and my mom found this cape she made for Donovan when he was a devil for Halloween one year. Ethan loved it and ran around the house all evening "flying" through the air.

Holy cow, we were young

Not the best shot of me but holy cow we were young!

This was taken 5 years ago!

"It's too loud"

This morning when I was looking at blogs, my songs were playing and the Jets were on, you know, "I Gotta Crush On You". Anyway, Ethan was singing that song and when we went upstairs to do more stuff for the day, I turned on the radio and found a song I like. Ozzy was on "Mama I'm Coming Home" and I was singing. I asked Ethan to sing too and his response to that was, "No, it's too loud!" I thought it was funny!

Back and Out

Yesterday we had play group here and Ethan loves to play on the swings. Sometimes I'd rather talk to the other moms and not push Ethan so I tried to teach him to pump. He's catching on and when I heard him saying, "Back and out, back and out..." I knew he was cating on.

Here he is "back"

Here he is somewhat "out"
(He's really saying "cheese" in these pictures not just looking goofy!)

Hannibal and Glumda

Saturday night Mike and I went to a How to Host a Murder party at our friends' house. It was the first time for both of us and it was a Halloweeny one. We had dinner that was fresh veins topped with eyeballs and guts (spaghetti and meatballs), brain (blue jello with cottage cheese and bueberries on top), garlic bread, juice, and the best trifle you will ever have, complete with a chocolate spiderweb on top and a spider to top it all off. Dinner was great and then we played the game. I was Glumda, the Wicked Witch of DePressed and Mike was Hannibal Schecter, "the world's only documented kosher cannibal." We dressed the parts and even painted our faces, aren't we lovely?

( I will not disclose who was the murderer, just in case anyone plays this version!)

News, news, news

We have some exciting news in our family. Mike got a new job!! Yipee! No more 60-65 hour weeks. No more leaving the house hours before the sun comes up and coming home after it's already down. I no longer have to think, "Hmm, I wonder if I should start dinner now or wait an hour until I know Mike will be closer to home?" No more wondering, on my part, if Mike will make it home in time for me to go to young womens without Ethan. No more hour commute. No more working Saturday mornings. No more irregular paychecks.

Instead Mike will have a 40 hour week. He'll leave the house just before 8 and come home just after 5. He can cook dinner a night or two a week. I know for sure he'll be here long before I have to leave to get to young womens and I won't have to take Ethan with me. A 15 minute commute (roundtrip). Sleeping in, mowing the lawn (or shovling the snow), painting the living room, bathrooms, kitchen, hall and entryway, fixing and replacing things and just plain puttering around the house on Saturday mornings. And best of all, we will know FOR SURE what every paycheck will be! Oh and there are quarterly bonuses!

Mike has been offered a job at DirectPoint in Lindon. He will be an accounts manager and get to learn lots of fun IT stuff. He is so excited about the job and is looking forward to getting paid at least the same, but after bonuses it'll be more, and working less. His direct boss is his home teachee. Now, after a few more years of experience, Mike will be able to go back to school to get his masters and have his school and work schedules work better. Oh, and if he studies anything related to his job, DirectPoint will pay his tuition!

CONGRATULATIONS MIKE!

Bunch of smarties

Everyone guessed it. Ethan is wearing half of a coconut bra. But I have to say that it is NOT mine! It is Mike's. He had it for some funky costume something. I'll have to ask his dad for the picture of him in it. I have to clarify that I haven't worn it, ever!

Way to go all you all!

What is this?

Ethan found this yesterday and decided it looked like a cool helmet. I'll give a prize to whoever can tell me what this is, and be right!

Here's a top view.

Last but not least

Now that I have shown pictures of Ethan and his cousins, I have to put one more of Ethan and Clara. Well, kind of. This is the best picture I have of the two of them. Ethan got a cool new toy for Christmas and shared it and played very well with his much younger cousins.

Looks like Mike had fun too!

My favorite picture of Ethan and a cousin

My mom let us borrow her portable DVD player for our plane ride to MN. It came in handy even after the plane landed. We hooked it up in our family's bedroom so Ethan could watch a movie when he wanted to. His cousin, Daniel, came over to join once in a while.

Ethan and Gabe

Gabe was the newest cousin when we visited Minnesota. And boy is this boy fun and cute. Ethan loved playing with Gabe. I got a cute picture of the two of them on Grandma's couch holding hands. Isn't it adorable?

Ethan doesn't sit still for very long, but I think Gabe liked Ethan so much that he didn't want him to go. He held onto Ethan's hand tight.

Ethan, Nathan, and Thomas

Ethan has 6 Herrington cousins, but has only met 5 because one is only a few months old. He met these 5 cousins when we went to Minnesota for Christmas last year. He was so excited to meet new cousins and got a long GREAT with them. He was super excited to go sledding too, until he realized how cold the Minnesota snow is. Here are Ethan and two of his older cousins ready to hit the hills.

Ethan and Jyllian

Eventhough she lives far away, Ethan loves playing with Jyllian too. Last July 4th, those two had a fun time playing, reading with Grandma, and watching fireworks. I'm not sure what is going on in this first picure, but it sure is funny!

I guess Ethan figured out that Jyllian doesn't bite, at least not him.
Look at that, they even ended up in the same chair together. They are thumb sucking buddies. We love you Jyllian!