Sunday afternoon

for your viewing pleasure

happy bird day

We spent Thanksgiving with family in North Logan. We ate a lot and watched even more football. I'm glad there were lots of sisters to talk to instead of watching football ALL DAY LONG.

My thankful top 10 list includes:
1. Joe
2. Corban
3. extended family
4. friends
5. a job
6. a place to live
7. Panda Express
8. stuff to do/hobbies
9. cell phones
10. medicine

I hope everyone had a great holiday and traveled safe!

an old lady who lived in a shoe

My parent's have sold the house we've been living in for the past year. Yikes! We've been looking for a new place to live and haven't had much luck. We had two places we liked but were apparently too slow and missed out. We figured we'd always have a fall back and stay at campus family housing but they're full too!

I believe everything will work out eventually, it's just not working right now.

happy halloween

If you can't tell, Corban is a frog and Joe and I are both flies.

pumpkin walk

We went to the North Logan Pumpkin walk this year. Corban was 1 month old the first time we took him.

This is October 2010.

October 2009
October 2008. You can see Joe's head poking out on the right side. As I was taking the photo, some old lady commented on how little Corban was, that "that baby is too little to be out."
This was our favorite scene this year.

crafts

I've been working on some hobbies. I just finished the last page of Corban's quiet book. It took a long LONG time to finish, but I'm happy with most of the pages. The popping penguins is my favorite. Joe's favorite is the garden (those yellow things on the side are corn cobs). I'm also making my own jewelry: earrings and bracelets mostly. I have a few other projects in the works but will have to post more when they're finished.

patience

Everyone has gotten sick now. Yep, I've joined the ranks and am SICK! Both Joe and Corban threw up and felt bad for a couple of days. I guess the virus weakened a little going through two boys or this virus has a funny sense of humor, but I'm not throwing up I'm .... well, having trouble at the other end.

We went to a friend's birthday party last night. We bowed out early because I spent more time in their bathroom than I did conversing with everyone. Yikes! I practically yelled at Joe to drive faster because I didn't think I'd make it to the bathroom on time! "I'm driving safe, Amber." Don't tell me that! Just get me home!

Joe spoke in church today and I taught primary. I guess I should of stayed home and not infected everyone with my germs, but I'm a sharing kind of person and wanted to spread the love. I hope I'm better for all the Halloween festivities!

chunkage

For about 3 weeks, Corban has been sick. He's had molars come in, drank some acetaminophen, and gotten a gastrointestinal virus. Sleep is a luxury and our elliptical machine has stood dormant for all this time. The doc told me this pattern of throw up, no throw up could go on for another 5 days.

I was watching my grandma tonight and feeding her dinner when Corban looked at me and I looked at him and he just threw up. As I continued to stare at him, he threw up again! What kind of mom just looks at her son while he throws up? Oh, I'll tell you. A mom that has been thrown up on or seen her fair share of throw up to not want to do anything about it, that's who! This was at my parents house, on their hard wood floors. After the throw up stopped, I ran him to the bathroom to rinse off and wash away what I could. I then cleaned the floors. I guess I waited too long and some of it seeped through the teeny tiny cracks in the wood. Nice.

In mydefense, I did warn my mom what was happening and told her I was afraid of Corban throwing up tonight. She assured me that everything had been thrown up on before, but that's not so. They built their new house post kids! Oh, well. I tried spraying 5 year old Lysol but it ended up smelling more like stale, old perfume. Yuck! I had to open windows and hope the cold air would freeze those gross smelling molecules out of the house.

It's almost Corban's bed time. Should I work out or go to bed?

family pictures

My SIL, Peggy, went out with us in between conference sessions and snapped a few photos. Needless to say, we're not that photogenic.

Just the beginning.

What did you just say?
Cheese!
"Are we done yet?"
I'm tired.
Peace and love, baby. Peace and love.
Peggy was patient and stuck with us for over an hour and we did get good shots; I'm just not posting them until Christmas!

nap time

Joe was "playing" cars with Corban. Corban grabbed ALL of his blankets and covered his papa so he could take a nap. Corban even brought Joe a toy (look really close you'll see the arm of Buzz Lightyear poking out above Joe's neck)!

he's better

...

I haven't posted in a while and felt sort of bad (bad, not guilty). Corban is working on his last molars and we're all feeling it. Joe and I have either been thrown up on or cleaned up throw up at least twice, EACH! We're all not sleeping at night because Corban has a double ear infection. Nice. Post more later.

happy birthday

Corban is 2 years-old! We celebrated with Lily and my mom because their birthdays are all one day apart.

Our theme was polk-a-dots. We had sprinkled and M&Ms cupcakes, played a treasure hunt with the clues in plastic eggs, and played guess how many skittles.

I can't believe Corban is two already. He's definitely not a baby any more, but a little boy.

eye problems

We recently bought Netflix (and we love it!). Here, Corban is watching Blue's Clues. Just a little too close, huh. This is after I put him on the couch. I guess he likes to be right in the action.

what do you do in the summer time?

Bottle peaches. And lots of them!

first day of school

It's that time of year again where I become a school widow. Joe is taking microbiology, physics, and a computer class.

mowing

rolling stones

Joe had a kidney stone removed last Monday.

He came home early from class and looked terrible. He had hoped it was just gas, so he went inside and laid down. It wasn't. After dropping Corban off at my mom's house I took Joe to the ER.

Joe had thrown up right after he got out of class and he felt like throwing up in the ER waiting room. There's no quicker way to get admitted without filling everything out like having to throw up! Within 10 minutes of getting hooked up to IVs and such, the ER doc had a diagnosis: kidney stone.

Because Joe didn't have a history of kidney stones he had to have a CT scan. They got an image and guessed the stone to be about 6 mm (the size of the stone in the picture). The stone was just too big to let it pass, they need to go in and get it. They were going to load Joe up with pain meds and send him home to come back the next day to get the procedure done, but they made a few calls and Joe was scheduled to get it removed later in the day.

We went in around 11 a.m. He was discharged around 7:30 p.m. Joe is doing better. There was some damage to the ureter wall so they had to put in a stent that comes out on Tuesday. I hope this is a dietary thing that we can control and this NEVER happens again.

jumpin' king

burn, baby burn!

Our elliptical still in the box, just inside our garage. We unloaded it from my parent's trailer right before a cloudburst. As you can see, the box would NOT have fit in our teeny, tiny car.

It was heavy. It weighed over 200 pounds! I helped by pushing while Joe pulled.

Once inside, we put it on a scrap piece of carpet and dragged it the rest of the way into the living room. Joe wanted it downstairs. I said fine, as long as he did it by himself because there was no way I could help him move it down that many stairs.

The finished product! Please notice all the cardboard and plastic in the background.

My goal is to lose 5 pounds in 1 month; Joe's is to lose 10 pounds in 2 months. Wish us luck!

i was asleep

He wasn't too happy that 1) I woke him up and 2) there was a camera in his face.

up on top

We downloaded a few caches and headed up Logan Canyon by Third Dam. We found the little truck in Corban's hand (he seems thrilled doesn't he?) and we found 35 cents. We found a dollar last Monday and decided that we are going to save all the change we find from now on and buy a little treat at the end of the summer. I'm hoping it's enough to buy ice cream for everyone.

pretty bird

This poor, stupid bird gorged itself on cherries and got sick on our deck! Three giant poops and three pits sat around it until Joe scooped it up in a snow shovel and placed it in the shade next to the house. I like to drink water when I don't feel good, so I made Joe scoot a bowl of water next to it. It disappeared the next day so I think it flew away. At least, I hope it flew away.

celebrate america

Chris and his family came up for the 4th. We all went to the parade in Hyrum. This 2 hour extravaganza loaded us up with enough candy to last a long long time. We bought matching Old Navy flag T-shirts, waved to all the pretty beauty queens, got a little wet, and ate a lot of candy. It was a good day.

all work & no play

go wolves!

We spent this last weekend in Green River, Wyoming for the Beck family reunion. Corban slept with us in our room and, consequently, neither Joe nor I got much sleep. Joe was so worn out by Saturday night that he fell asleep in a chair!

We went to a park Saturday afternoon where all the kids played on this wicked awesome jungle gym that reminded me of a pirate ship with rigging everywhere! Cousin Dax helped us a lot by playing with Corban.
Scott and Bri blessed their sweet little Isabella so most of us could be there. She is so cute and precious. I love her little hands and her tiny feet! Bri wasn't feeling so great. We really appreciated her willingness to have all of us over for lunch after the blessing though.

are you my mother?

A black bird couple recently made this little hole their home. Very quaint. After adding a few little touches, they had babies. Those babies grew up and flew away. And the couple had more babies. It is because of me that they are still alive.

My dad thought the babies were gone and nailed the hole shut. He called up to me (our backyards conjoin) to notice the fixed hole, but all I saw was a death trap and heard tiny chirps coming from the now sealed hole! Me, Connie, and my mom all pleaded with him to fix the hole. And after a little while, he conceded.

I happy to say the babies are still alive and the parents did not abandon them! Even though they will grow up and chirp incessantly from sunrise to sunset, I'm glad I saved the baby birds the their home under my eave.

to: papa

over the rainbow

Our summer has been pretty bizarre in Logan this year. Warm one minute, freezing the next, and then a downpour. Like I said. Bizarre. After this particular storm, Joe and I scanned the sky to see any lingering rainbows. We did. The further the sun sank, the brighter the bows got. The flecks in the sky aren't a dirty lens. They're raindrops!

locks of love

Not me, of course, but Corban.

I didn't donate his hair (it wasn't nearly long enough), but it was time to loose some of that hot HOT hair.

Before:

After:

He seems okay with the change.

remembering

Mike, Vickie, Jeff, Chris and their families came up for Memorial Day weekend. We went out to Richmond and Clarkston cemeteries Sunday. It was a cold weekend, but fun.

Wii are having fun!

When Joe sits on the couch, Corban will open the cupboard, grab two remotes, and hand one to Joe. It's very cute. We don't let him actually play, but Corban will move the remote side-t0-side and shake it, just like his papa.

mother's day

As you can tell, we're not that photogenic. I guess it's hereditary! Technically, I wasn't supposed to get anything for Mother's Day because of my wicked awesome blender, but Joe got up with Corban, made me breakfast, and got me flowers. What a guy!

four!

Joe and I are taking golf lessons at Eagle Mountain Golf Course in Brigham City. Our 1.5 hour lesson made a bit stiff and sore this morning, but I'm excited to be getting instruction from an assistant golf pro. Joe and I both have bad habits to break, but like our instructor said, "you get her playing and you'll play a lot more!"

to mother's everywhere

snob hill

Corban usually goes to bed around 8:00 p.m. and wakes up anywhere from 8:00-8:30 a.m. We wake up, eat breakfast together, and play around until about 9:00 or 9:30 a.m. The reason for the wait is in hopes that he will poop in his night-time diaper and that I only have to change one diaper in the morning. This usually happens, but there are those days that he'll wait until he has a clean diaper on to poop. How did I raise such a snob?

family ties

Denise and her boys have been in Logan for the past month. Vickie, Jeff, Chris and their families came over and up this weekend and we went geocaching.

pickie vickie

My sister and I are doing a food blog. We're still trying to get things aesthetically pleasing, but check it out: http://pickievickie.blogspot.com/

geocaching

Our new found hobby is geocaching. We love it! It seems like every free moment we have Joe want to go find another one. I love being with him and I love finding the treasure-filled caches. We sold our old camera and are waiting for a memory card for our other one, so pictures to come at a later date.

**NOTE: Geocaching is using a handheld GPS to find caches. These caches could be as big as an ammo box or as little as a medical tube to test blood. Joe and I are still working on recognizing caches.

kid tested

I guess he was hungry.

exercise, exercise

Here's Corban working out pretty hard. Look at those big, lean muscles.

Viva Las Vegas

The whole family went down to Las Vegas to visit Alyn, Joe's brother, and his family. It was warm and sunny, but a little breezy, but A LOT warmer than here. We went to the shark encounter at Mandalay Bay, The Blue Man Group, shopping at the outlet mall, watched some hoops, and ate a lot of good, good food.

The Vegas Becks have a guest suit that includes a king sized bed. Joe definitely got too used to that bed. Two nights here in Utah and I woke up with a knee in my back. A king-sized bed is most definitely a purchase we will be making in the future.

Corban did pretty good in the car. He napped for about an hour both ways and then watched DVDs. I use "DVDs" loosely because he really only watched one DVD multiple times. By about Provo, on our way home, he was screaming, "Out!" It's funny now, but I'm sure glad we're all out of that car.

We had a blast and can't wait for the weather to catch up here and get warmer. Thanks Vegas Becks for a fabulous weekend!