David "crawling"

David started to do an army crawl last week and is getting around quite nicely.

But before he had the army crawl down, he did this adorable thing where he would get all excited and it was like his body wanted to move, but everything just wasn't quite all put together yet. The video below shows how this worked. I'll post a video of his army crawling soon (but this should make you smile in the meanwhile).

I finally went to Tennessee!!!

I went to Nashville for a conference, but there was plenty of time in the evenings to have a little fun in the place I've dreamed about going to since I was in the 5th grade! We went downtown and met this guy . . .
We had fun exploring downtown and ate at the most amazing BBQ place called Jack's. Yummmmy!
Nashville completely deserves it's title of being The Music City. Everywhere you look there are performers. Even the street performers were AMAZING! We had to take a moment to just stand there and soak in all the great LIVE music we could hear from everywhere.
We went to Tootsies which is famous for the place a lot country singers claim they got their start. We listened to a wonderful band. We were drawn in by their great rendition of Bon Jovi's I'll be there for you. These guys were so fun to listen to.
Some Marines were walking by so the singer pulled them up on stage and started singing Toby Keiths Courtesy of the red, white and blue. The crowd loved it and started giving the soldiers money and hugs and cheers. It was great.
We had five students attend the conference with us. I always enjoy having them come and getting to know my students on a more casual level.
Friday night we took a river boat excursion which was lovely . . .
People ask me all the time why I want to go to Tennessee. I think this picture sums it up quite nicely. Is this place gorgeous or what?
We stayed in Opryland which was this huge city type hotel that I kept getting lost in. There is literally a river that runs through the hotel and you can take a boat ride on it.
And just to make the experience all the more authentic, we were under a tornado watch for about 24 hours while I was there. We learned to head for a bathroom or a stairwell on the main level (or below if it exists).
As we were loading our plane to come home, they kept saying that a storm was headed our way and if we didn't load and get going before the storm we were going to be grounded (literally). I'm glad we stayed focused and beat the storm because by that time I was really ready to get home and see my babies (all 3 of them). Thanks for the memories, Tennessee!

1st Purchase

My very first purchase using my Swagbucks! It's for sure legit-I didn't have to pay a dime for this beauty (a heating pad) I bought from Amazon:




If you haven't started, get going! Click here

If it's electric . . .

David loves it! Computers, phones, copy machines, ipods, microwaves . . . this boy loves to study anything that has an on button. I'm currently missing the alt button on my computer because of this obsession-good thing it doesn't do much.

THIS face

Is the face we get whenever David appears to be: frustrated, anxious or excited and it cracks us up!!!

We're sharing

We're sharing REAL recipes on My Good Friend's Blog. Check it out!

Easter 2010

You didn't think we'd forget to tell you about our Easter did you?

When we woke up, we found our Easter Baskets the Easter Bunny hid for us.

David thought it was great to dump all of his new things out.

Then we found the eggs the Easter Bunny hid (well we actually found about half and found the other half the next day-that was all our attention span lasted for).

Then we went to Uncle Kevin & Aunt Jennifer's to join our family for Easter lunch and to watch conference. The cousins kept themselves very entertained with the Zhu zhu pets from the Easter Bunny.

It was a wonderful way to spend Easter. Surrounded by family and listening to the Apostles of God witness of Him and our Savior. I gained such comfort and peace as I listened to their words. My favorite talks were from President Eyering and Elder Holland. Powerful, true and full of comfort.

The HUNT

First we must celebrate that Easter is almost here with a dance by Braden & Lucy . . .

Then we must decorate the eggs without letting the adults get too stressed out . . .

Then we must let the baby play with an egg (especially since it's his first Easter) . . .

Then we can join the neighbors and begin hunting!

Lucy knew just what to do . . .

Then we must take a picture of these 3 cute cousins altogether (I think Eliza is cold) . . .

David wants to attack the big basket of eggs . . .

We did it! Another successful year of hunting! Go team!

Conversations with Lucy

Dad: "Are you poopy?"
Lucy: "No."
Dad: "I think you're poopy."
Lucy: "No."
Dad: "Are you poopy?"
Lucy: "You already asked that question."

While Lucy was drawing with chalk I could hear her talking about various things. Then I heard this:

"And David was born and the doctor used the booger sucker."

We have an official 1st word!

And it's, "MOM." Oh, this kid sure knows how to keep me wrapped around his pudgy little finger!

Seeing

You may have noticed the "Seeing" button I have on the left side of my blog. This is for an absolutely amazing magazine about the everyday moments of our lives that are extraordinary. We will be featured in their next issue and their wonderful photographer, Brad Slade, gave me some copies from the photo shoot. I love these pictures and I love everything about their magazine! Enjoy.

Lucy's #1 favorite pass time at the moment

It's amazing how long a $1 worth of sidewalk chalk can entertain these kids.

Easter Preview

I cannot even begin to tell you how much fun I had putting Lucy's Easter outfit together. She loves wearing her hat. I have had to hide it from her several times so it will not be ruined by the time Easter is actually here. And do you see how stinkin' cute David's bow tie is? Love it!

Free Gift Cards

This is NOT a scam!

My friends have been telling me about all the great things they have been buying with Swag Bucks. I thought it sounded like a great idea, but never did anything until my friend Jackie explained the process on her blog.

You basically download their search bar (powered by Google) and then get Swag Bucks just for searching (like I got 10 Swag Bucks for when I searched for "Sesame Street"). You can redeem your Swag Bucks for all kinds of great gift cards (Amazon being my personal favorite). Friends of mine have used Swag Bucks to fund their entire Christmas. It seems like a great idea. If you want to try it (it is absolutely FREE) go here:

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/marcnkatie

And yes, we will get Swag Bucks for referring you and you will get them when you refer your friends. So give it a try!

Such Relief

This little guy has been fighting a cold for a week and a half now and last night was the first time since he's been sick that he slept through the night again. Is there any more restful feeling than waking up only to realize you just slept through the night? Oh it was wonderful.

What she chose to wear on a Wednesday afternoon

Cuteness on a Sunday afternoon

What they should really teach in health class

Let me preface this by saying I was 30 years-old when I finally became a Mom. I waited a long time for this blessed event and I truly revel in every moment of it. With that said, I am not going to lie and say it has all been a walk in the park (and actually now that I am a Mom, the idea of walking through a park doesn't sound very easy anymore either) at any rate, Motherhood has been full of the good, the bad and the absolutely disgusting.

So if I were teaching a high school health class and I was trying to teach the realities of growing up too fast to all those teenagers who think they are ready to be a Mom already, this is what I would tell them:

As a Mom you will:
-be thrown up on
-fish poop out of the bathtub
-never sleep a solid night of sleep again
-clean more poopy diapers than you can keep track of
-clean poop off of every possible section of your baby's body, crib, changing table . . .
-play "Is it poop or is it chocolate?"
-clean vomit out of every crevice of a car seat
-pick your child's nose
-strip and clean your child's bed from throw-up in the middle of the night more times than you care to count.

And what else should be added to this syllabus of Parenting Reality Check 101?

9 Month Stats

Height: 30 inches: 93rd percentile
Weight: 22 lbs 5 oz: 72nd percentile
Head: 87th percentile

Still a nice big healthy boy! Marc pointed out that he is practically half my height already-Crazy! I can't believe it has been 9 months. David, you have been the brightest ray of sunshine to enter our home. Our family is so much better off since you joined us. Your smiles and giggles are the best part of our day!

David loves wooden spoons

and it cracks me up . . .

Another thing that cracks me up, was when I was laying David down for bed last night. He was pretty much beyond tired, but didn't want me to leave so I stayed by his side and sang him a few songs. The whole time I was singing he was cracking up laughing. Literally, this kid was in hysterics with laughter. I kept laughing in-between trying to sing. Oh it was so funny. This kid is such a joy!