I forgot to mention how exciting it has been with Jason learning his first real word. Want to take a random guess what it is? 'No'. It usually comes out sounding more like 'nnuooooo.' It's been great. Sorta. It has actually been helpful in figuring out what he wants. We have to use the process of elimination though. 'Do you want milk?' 'nnuooo.' 'Do you want cheese?' 'nuooo.' 'Do you want pretzels?' When we get to the right answer he'll giggle. That's his 'yes.'
He also signs more stuff now. He does dog, bird, more, help, please, play, candy. If you prompt him he'll nod his head for yes, shake his head for no and throw his ear into his shoulder for maybe. It's my new favorite (for real this time). He loves watching Signing Time and will ask for it by trying to sign 'signing' (it's basically the 'Do as I'm Doing' motion) and then when he's watching he'll ask for help and we move his hands to make the sign and then he can do it. It doesn't usually last longer than the show, but he loves trying and learning new things.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Projects
Mom-in-law and I started a few projects while we were up visiting. One of them is this cross stitch of the Nativity. It's 30 inches high and 60 inches long (that's 5 feet for those who struggle with conversions). I'm certain it will take me YEARS! to finish, but I'm excited to be see the end result!
We also worked on an advent calendar that Mark's Grandma had and given me a copy of. It's a nativity advent and it's way cute! There are 24 tiny figures (Mary, Joseph, Jesus, stars, sheep, wisemen, etc) and a cute backdrop to put one on each day. I don't have a picture of it because I left the original that Elaine and I were copying up in UT and forgot to take a picture before we left... I've had a few different people help me on that one. Danielle painted the figures (I struggle with that stuff - so THANK YOU!). With the fabric has been Meggie, my Mom and now my other Mom. For something I figured I could throw together with just the scraps in my mom's sewing room, this has sure turned into quite the project! Elaine and I were able to make real progress though and were almost done when camping called. Can't ignore the call to camp! There are rules you know :-)
We also worked on an advent calendar that Mark's Grandma had and given me a copy of. It's a nativity advent and it's way cute! There are 24 tiny figures (Mary, Joseph, Jesus, stars, sheep, wisemen, etc) and a cute backdrop to put one on each day. I don't have a picture of it because I left the original that Elaine and I were copying up in UT and forgot to take a picture before we left... I've had a few different people help me on that one. Danielle painted the figures (I struggle with that stuff - so THANK YOU!). With the fabric has been Meggie, my Mom and now my other Mom. For something I figured I could throw together with just the scraps in my mom's sewing room, this has sure turned into quite the project! Elaine and I were able to make real progress though and were almost done when camping called. Can't ignore the call to camp! There are rules you know :-)
Labor Day Campout
Mark's family has a tradition. They go camping every year at Labor Day up Santaquin Canyon. This year was no exception. We had a blast with the family. The kids had lots of playing in the river. Jason had lots of fun throwing rocks into the river. Julibeth taught him how to say '1 2 3 throw!' It came out more like 'uh uh eeh oow!' and then 'ehh ehh ehhh eeeeh eeh eeh oww!' Counting was not his strong suit...
Shelly had fun chasing Ethan around and we all had fun spending time together. I found a camping oven that fits on a stove top in my mom's DI stuff and snagged it and took it with me. We had a treat with fresh homemade cookies from dough that Elaine made and brought. It was lots of fun. I, of course, have no pictures. Just like me to not take pictures at exciting points...
Shelly had fun chasing Ethan around and we all had fun spending time together. I found a camping oven that fits on a stove top in my mom's DI stuff and snagged it and took it with me. We had a treat with fresh homemade cookies from dough that Elaine made and brought. It was lots of fun. I, of course, have no pictures. Just like me to not take pictures at exciting points...
Grandma and Grandpa Gardner
I usually try to visit my grandparents while I'm up in UT, but there are times when it doesn't work out. I'm really glad we went this time. We had a good visit. Grandma's hearing aid was working better than I've seen it ever work, Grandpa was fun to tease (but only a little - he wasn't very talkative) and the kids had fun showing off. It was a good visit. My Aunt Helen took pictures for us and it was fun to get to see her (even if her ice cream didn't make it home before it melted - Sorry Helen!).
It means even more that we went now that we know it was the last time we will get to see both Grandma and Grandpa together in this life. My Grandpa is finally losing the battle with Alzheimer's. They're already planning the funeral and are expecting to be able to have it this Saturday. There's a chance he'll make it longer than that, but for his sake I hope he's able to leave this trial and finally get some rest in the next life while he waits for his wife to join him. He lived a good life and deserves a break after all the trials of his life. Thankfully he seems to have been largely unaware of the trials (one of the few blessing of forgetting everything) but I'm sure it hasn't been easy.
Here's some of the photos from our visit.
That's my Grandpa!
We gave Shelly Grandpa's hat so we could see his face - now we just need them to look up! ;-)
Glad to be able to visit!
Everyone over 4 is smiling at least! :-)
Jason had fun sitting on Great Grandma's lap
Grandpa had fun playing with Shelly - not quite sure what they were playing, but they had fun doing it!
It means even more that we went now that we know it was the last time we will get to see both Grandma and Grandpa together in this life. My Grandpa is finally losing the battle with Alzheimer's. They're already planning the funeral and are expecting to be able to have it this Saturday. There's a chance he'll make it longer than that, but for his sake I hope he's able to leave this trial and finally get some rest in the next life while he waits for his wife to join him. He lived a good life and deserves a break after all the trials of his life. Thankfully he seems to have been largely unaware of the trials (one of the few blessing of forgetting everything) but I'm sure it hasn't been easy.
Here's some of the photos from our visit.
That's my Grandpa!
We gave Shelly Grandpa's hat so we could see his face - now we just need them to look up! ;-)
Glad to be able to visit!
Everyone over 4 is smiling at least! :-)
Jason had fun sitting on Great Grandma's lap
Grandpa had fun playing with Shelly - not quite sure what they were playing, but they had fun doing it!Ethan the Photographer
Ethan asked to borrow my camera while we were visiting. 46 pictures later I got it back. There were some good ones and some interesting ones. Here are some of my favorite:
This one almost looks like a tooth...
Shelly was getting a diaper change - good thing moved at the last minute or it could have been awkward to explain... :-)
I was trying to play with him - but he snapped a shot instead
We were trying to pray over dinner - seems like not all of us were into it. Some of us wanted to take pictures instead :-)
I call this one 'self portrait'
'Self-Portrait of my feet'
I can't figure out what in the world this is!
There's the wonderful cook, cooking
This one is actually quite impressive! Especially compared to the others. I wonder if someone else stole the camera... Go Ethan!
Sorry Grandpa - this one was too cute!
Because you've always wanted to look up my nose... [gross!]
'Self Portrait the Third'Rafting down the Provo River
Mark's aunt called up the house while we were there and asked Mark and I if we'd like to go rafting down the Provo River. I thought it sounded like a ton of fun and something I'd never done before - so I said yes while Mark was sleeping and recovering from his illness (we were in between illnesses at the time - but Mark was still slightly drained). After he woke up and we had lunch with other family that was there and got a phone call that we should head out, I explained to Mark what the plan was. Yup, I waited until we supposed to be leaving to inform him of the plans. I never intend to do it that way - I just forget! But it seems I forget often... Poor Mark - It's a good thing he loves me! :-)
There was a last minute addition of Mark's Uncle that changed the plans of who was going to be riding in what and Mark and I ended up taking two separate small rafts down (we found out later that the big double inner tube that aunt and uncle took was originally meant for us). It was quite an adventure to say the least. We were both wearing flip flops - which we were warned would be better left in the car, so we went barefoot. Mark had the car key his pocket and we left everything else either in our car or our ride further up the river. We pushed into the water and within 20-40 feet we had capsized and there was a ton of water in our rafts and it was COLD! We hadn't even made it out to the middle of the river yet, and already we were in trouble. Mark offered to get out and walk back to the car, but I didn't want to be a chicken and since our car was further down the river we would have had to wait outside on the ground until everyone else finished and then were able to drive up to pick up the other car. So, off we went. About 10-15 minutes later I realized that my toe was hurting more than it should have been. After recently bumping it pretty good I figured it was just a bruise on top of the other bruise and didn't worry about it. About 5 minutes later I got curious... I grabbed my toe to see just how bad I had bumped it and saw a flap of skin that shouldn't have been there. I think that was about when the shock/panic set it. I was in an unfamiliar setting doing relatively unfamiliar things with an unknown injury and an unknown end to the situation. I had no idea how much longer I was going to have to be on the river and suddenly I had a gash on my toe and was terrified of falling out of the raft again and causing more unknown damage to my already damaged foot. Thankfully I had spent a summer or two in middle school with some friends camping near a river and had learned how to paddle a canoe fairly well solo. I think it was the only thing that saved me. I would have really lost it (more than already had) if I didn't think I could handle the paddling. Another problem was that our rafts were rather low in the water and the river had quite a few shallow parts. Mark figured out that if he used his shoulders and legs to lift his rear out of the water he wouldn't hit as many rocks with his rear. I didn't like being in that position because it was too hard to control where I was going - I couldn't paddle like that. I did take me a good amount of prayer and almost an hour to finally realize that my best chance of survival was to stop freaking out and gain control of myself and the situation. It's sad that it took that long... Once I got control of myself again, it was rather enjoyable - at least as much as it could be with a throbbing toe, a sore bum, a fear of falling in and being freezing! Mark and I decided that while the first time might not have been anywhere near ideal, if we ever did it again we'd be better prepared and would be able to enjoy it.
So we finally were able to pull out of the river and we started unloading all our stuff - taking off life jackets, etc. Of course we were barefoot. Normally being barefoot doesn't bother me - but with an open wound on my foot, I was a bit hesitant. Mark is not a fan of going without shoes (probably a product of growing up on a farm with puncture weeds and manure and rocks and ants and stuff - strange how he got that habit...) and his feet aren't well suited to doing it without pain. He planned to walk over the gravel driveway to find out parked car a few hundred yards away and went to get the key out of his pocket and realized it wasn't there. My spare keys were in our car as were our cell phones and anything else we needed or thought might be useful. We were also the first ones of the group out of the water (I think it's because we were so low in the water that the current was able to take us faster - both good and bad), and we spent a good 5-10 minutes waiting for the others and trying not to freak out more. I decided to check the corners of the rafts to see if it was maybe still in the raft and not under the water up where we had fallen out just after getting in. We struck out on finding the key in the raft, but just as Mark was putting his raft back on the ground I spotted a life saving glint on the ground! The key had fallen out of Mark's pocket and stayed in the raft until we got out and turned them upside down let the water out while we waited. We were feeling both a little cursed and quite a bit blessed that day!
Those of you who are squeamish - don't look! I'm going to put up a picture of my toe. It's the least gory of the ones we took, and doesn't really show how deep it was, but at least an idea of where it was on my toe. Mark made me go to the insta care to get stitches. I don't have insurance that works in UT - and it's a high deductible anyways, so I get to pay for the entire cost of the stitches. I'm excited for that bill to come! :-) The doc said that stitches might not be necessary but he wanted to check for dirt and needed to numb it to look, and as long as it was numb, he'd stitch it up for me. It took two stitches and Mark's cousin who's a nurse took the stitches out for me so I didn't have to go back and pay even more! :-)
Wow! This one is really long! Sorry for my over-explained story. I should have just said: Mark and I went down the river. I cut my foot and needed stitches. Here's a picture. Sorry! I'll do that next time :-) maybe....
There was a last minute addition of Mark's Uncle that changed the plans of who was going to be riding in what and Mark and I ended up taking two separate small rafts down (we found out later that the big double inner tube that aunt and uncle took was originally meant for us). It was quite an adventure to say the least. We were both wearing flip flops - which we were warned would be better left in the car, so we went barefoot. Mark had the car key his pocket and we left everything else either in our car or our ride further up the river. We pushed into the water and within 20-40 feet we had capsized and there was a ton of water in our rafts and it was COLD! We hadn't even made it out to the middle of the river yet, and already we were in trouble. Mark offered to get out and walk back to the car, but I didn't want to be a chicken and since our car was further down the river we would have had to wait outside on the ground until everyone else finished and then were able to drive up to pick up the other car. So, off we went. About 10-15 minutes later I realized that my toe was hurting more than it should have been. After recently bumping it pretty good I figured it was just a bruise on top of the other bruise and didn't worry about it. About 5 minutes later I got curious... I grabbed my toe to see just how bad I had bumped it and saw a flap of skin that shouldn't have been there. I think that was about when the shock/panic set it. I was in an unfamiliar setting doing relatively unfamiliar things with an unknown injury and an unknown end to the situation. I had no idea how much longer I was going to have to be on the river and suddenly I had a gash on my toe and was terrified of falling out of the raft again and causing more unknown damage to my already damaged foot. Thankfully I had spent a summer or two in middle school with some friends camping near a river and had learned how to paddle a canoe fairly well solo. I think it was the only thing that saved me. I would have really lost it (more than already had) if I didn't think I could handle the paddling. Another problem was that our rafts were rather low in the water and the river had quite a few shallow parts. Mark figured out that if he used his shoulders and legs to lift his rear out of the water he wouldn't hit as many rocks with his rear. I didn't like being in that position because it was too hard to control where I was going - I couldn't paddle like that. I did take me a good amount of prayer and almost an hour to finally realize that my best chance of survival was to stop freaking out and gain control of myself and the situation. It's sad that it took that long... Once I got control of myself again, it was rather enjoyable - at least as much as it could be with a throbbing toe, a sore bum, a fear of falling in and being freezing! Mark and I decided that while the first time might not have been anywhere near ideal, if we ever did it again we'd be better prepared and would be able to enjoy it.
So we finally were able to pull out of the river and we started unloading all our stuff - taking off life jackets, etc. Of course we were barefoot. Normally being barefoot doesn't bother me - but with an open wound on my foot, I was a bit hesitant. Mark is not a fan of going without shoes (probably a product of growing up on a farm with puncture weeds and manure and rocks and ants and stuff - strange how he got that habit...) and his feet aren't well suited to doing it without pain. He planned to walk over the gravel driveway to find out parked car a few hundred yards away and went to get the key out of his pocket and realized it wasn't there. My spare keys were in our car as were our cell phones and anything else we needed or thought might be useful. We were also the first ones of the group out of the water (I think it's because we were so low in the water that the current was able to take us faster - both good and bad), and we spent a good 5-10 minutes waiting for the others and trying not to freak out more. I decided to check the corners of the rafts to see if it was maybe still in the raft and not under the water up where we had fallen out just after getting in. We struck out on finding the key in the raft, but just as Mark was putting his raft back on the ground I spotted a life saving glint on the ground! The key had fallen out of Mark's pocket and stayed in the raft until we got out and turned them upside down let the water out while we waited. We were feeling both a little cursed and quite a bit blessed that day!
Those of you who are squeamish - don't look! I'm going to put up a picture of my toe. It's the least gory of the ones we took, and doesn't really show how deep it was, but at least an idea of where it was on my toe. Mark made me go to the insta care to get stitches. I don't have insurance that works in UT - and it's a high deductible anyways, so I get to pay for the entire cost of the stitches. I'm excited for that bill to come! :-) The doc said that stitches might not be necessary but he wanted to check for dirt and needed to numb it to look, and as long as it was numb, he'd stitch it up for me. It took two stitches and Mark's cousin who's a nurse took the stitches out for me so I didn't have to go back and pay even more! :-)
Wow! This one is really long! Sorry for my over-explained story. I should have just said: Mark and I went down the river. I cut my foot and needed stitches. Here's a picture. Sorry! I'll do that next time :-) maybe....
Random Pictures on the Farm
I didn't take nearly as many photos as I was expecting to. My mom-on-law got quite a few though, so I think I'm covered. Of course, she has them and I don't so I can't put them up here (not yet anyway). Here are some of the better ones I did get though!
Jason was trying to hard to get the cows to eat out of his hands!
This was one of Shelly's favorite past times.
It was a first for her and she still tries to swing whenever she can.
Jason, Ethan and Shelly loved going on wagon rides!
This was so funny to watch, but I missed all the best photo ops! Jason was chasing down a cat he's seen run in there, but there was too many leaves in the way to actually follow it.
Jason's favorite past time (other than trying to run across the road to see the cows all the while saying 'bbrrroooo' - that was his 'moo') was getting to go on rides on the bike. He loves that thing!!
We forgot to bring Jason's crib back from camping, but he was so tired! Mark rigged up a crib using the couch and it's cushions. Jason was out!
Jason was trying to hard to get the cows to eat out of his hands!
This was one of Shelly's favorite past times.It was a first for her and she still tries to swing whenever she can.
Jason, Ethan and Shelly loved going on wagon rides!
This was so funny to watch, but I missed all the best photo ops! Jason was chasing down a cat he's seen run in there, but there was too many leaves in the way to actually follow it.
Jason's favorite past time (other than trying to run across the road to see the cows all the while saying 'bbrrroooo' - that was his 'moo') was getting to go on rides on the bike. He loves that thing!!
We forgot to bring Jason's crib back from camping, but he was so tired! Mark rigged up a crib using the couch and it's cushions. Jason was out!Jason's First Haircut
We figured it was about time for Jason to get a hair cut. Really it was probably past time, but he his still a baby - so we thought we could get away with it... He was starting to get a mullet though, and he was also starting to get hair in his face and into his eyes.
We took him to a girl in our old ward, Mandy - and she also happens to be related to Mark somehow, but so was most of the rest of the ward, so it doesn't really narrow it down much... :-) [Side note: The first time I went to a Family Reunion for that side of the family, I thought there had been a scheduling problem and we'd shown up at a ward function by mistake - I had only been in the family and ward for about 3 months and I struggle with facial recognition on a good day, but I did recognize many of the faces from church, and assumed the unknowns were just less familiar ward members. It took a good few minutes for Mark to explain that I wasn't nuts]
Anyways - Back to the story:
Jason sat quite well for his haircut. He let her do whatever she wanted. She was impressed that he didn't even flinch when she started using the clippers. He did try to turn around to see her baby who was rocking in swing behind him, but she just followed with the scissor and kept right on cutting. Grandma Schofield came with us so she could take pictures and we were both quite impressed with how well he handled it.
This is the 'before' picture I forgot to get, he is just getting his hair wet instead- I liked the almost mohawk.
This was the worst face he made the whole time! It's a keeper though
Jason with an itch and Mandy
It's too bad this is fuzzy!
Here's an after from the front - Don't mind the flash in the mirror in the background!
Here's an after of the back. Much better than the Mullet!!
We took him to a girl in our old ward, Mandy - and she also happens to be related to Mark somehow, but so was most of the rest of the ward, so it doesn't really narrow it down much... :-) [Side note: The first time I went to a Family Reunion for that side of the family, I thought there had been a scheduling problem and we'd shown up at a ward function by mistake - I had only been in the family and ward for about 3 months and I struggle with facial recognition on a good day, but I did recognize many of the faces from church, and assumed the unknowns were just less familiar ward members. It took a good few minutes for Mark to explain that I wasn't nuts]
Anyways - Back to the story:
Jason sat quite well for his haircut. He let her do whatever she wanted. She was impressed that he didn't even flinch when she started using the clippers. He did try to turn around to see her baby who was rocking in swing behind him, but she just followed with the scissor and kept right on cutting. Grandma Schofield came with us so she could take pictures and we were both quite impressed with how well he handled it.
This is the 'before' picture I forgot to get, he is just getting his hair wet instead- I liked the almost mohawk.
This was the worst face he made the whole time! It's a keeper though
Jason with an itch and Mandy
It's too bad this is fuzzy!
Here's an after from the front - Don't mind the flash in the mirror in the background!
Here's an after of the back. Much better than the Mullet!!Visit to UT and the Bean Museum
Mark finally had some time off between school and work and we took 2 weeks and went up to UT for a good long visit. It's a good thing we planned to be there for so long too, because we spent at least half of it sick and in bed... Mark got it first and just as he was recovering, the kids and I came down. We weren't able to see all the people we were planning on, but we did get a few good visits in.
One of our visits was to Aunt Becca. She had a lot of fun playing with the kids. She took Shelly on a walk through the house and when she saw Aunt Danielle's wedding pictures she said 'Aunt Danielle went to the temple and got married and turned into a princess!' It was way cute. I have no idea where it came from either. They did learn about temples in nursery though, so that might have been part of it - but we thought it was super adorable. Then we had Shelly tell Aunt Becca all about her dreams. Shelly has had what we can only assume are recurring dreams about alligators. They want to eat her, but she either gets saved or the alligators eat food instead of Shelly (we don't have the heart to tell her that she would be food to an alligator). Becca was reminded of the Bean museum and she looked up when they were going to be open and found a reptile exhibition. We figured the kids would love that - so we set a date to go. The Schofields came with us and the three cousins had a blast running through the place and the adults tried to avoid headaches trying to keep up and keep them out of trouble!
At the reptile exhibition there was a small dead and stuffed alligator (Mark will tell you it was something else, but I can't think of the right name). Shelly saw the 'Shelly sized alligator' and fell in love! She also had a blast touching all the live animals they brought. The next morning Shelly told us her dream about the 'Shelly sized alligator' and that it wasn't scary. I haven't heard much about alligator dreams lately, so I think she's past them now. I'm sure if I asked her what she dreams about she'd say alligators - but I'm thinking it's more of an automatic reaction and memory than what she really dreams about any more. I could be wrong - I should ask her one of these days...
Shelly and Ethan touching the Iguana
Something spooked her, but at least she's having fun!
Ethan is totally chilling loving being so close to anything icky! :-)
One of our visits was to Aunt Becca. She had a lot of fun playing with the kids. She took Shelly on a walk through the house and when she saw Aunt Danielle's wedding pictures she said 'Aunt Danielle went to the temple and got married and turned into a princess!' It was way cute. I have no idea where it came from either. They did learn about temples in nursery though, so that might have been part of it - but we thought it was super adorable. Then we had Shelly tell Aunt Becca all about her dreams. Shelly has had what we can only assume are recurring dreams about alligators. They want to eat her, but she either gets saved or the alligators eat food instead of Shelly (we don't have the heart to tell her that she would be food to an alligator). Becca was reminded of the Bean museum and she looked up when they were going to be open and found a reptile exhibition. We figured the kids would love that - so we set a date to go. The Schofields came with us and the three cousins had a blast running through the place and the adults tried to avoid headaches trying to keep up and keep them out of trouble!
At the reptile exhibition there was a small dead and stuffed alligator (Mark will tell you it was something else, but I can't think of the right name). Shelly saw the 'Shelly sized alligator' and fell in love! She also had a blast touching all the live animals they brought. The next morning Shelly told us her dream about the 'Shelly sized alligator' and that it wasn't scary. I haven't heard much about alligator dreams lately, so I think she's past them now. I'm sure if I asked her what she dreams about she'd say alligators - but I'm thinking it's more of an automatic reaction and memory than what she really dreams about any more. I could be wrong - I should ask her one of these days...
Shelly and Ethan touching the Iguana
Something spooked her, but at least she's having fun!Ethan is totally chilling loving being so close to anything icky! :-)
More Fair Photos
Shelly had a lot of fun climbing on the cheese.
She tried to slide down, but it didn't work out so well...
Shelly is a Lemon Head!
Shelly 'Visited Centennial Farm'! :-)
So did Jason... He was a bit more excited though :-)
I don't remember what they were looking at, but they were hooked.
The form might be different, but the picture is still accurate. Mark misses the farm!Great Balloon Park for Becca's B-Day
I forgot to post this two months ago... Here it is finally! Happy (super late) B-Day Becca!
So Much Has Happened!
Just in case you hadn't already caught on - I'm a slacker! It's been over a month and a half! Much fun and excitement has happened and I've been to busy/tired/lazy to put anything up here...
OC Fair
We went to the county fair. The kids had a ton of fun playing with the animals. There was an awesome petting zoo with a wide variety of animals. Shelly would have spent all day in there if we'd let her. Jason was also having fun, but I'm not sure the animals we was petting were enjoying it quite as much as he was... :-)
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