At the requst of Grandma V...

Walking lessons with C





Do you like C's Santa pajamas I got at a garage sale for $1? D's convinced that's what she's wearing when he flies with her to Utah next week.

Mugshot

On Saturday, D's sister and her husband (the agent) invited us to the FBI Christmas party. It was a lot of fun. C got to ride a pony, eat cotton candy, and get her, hopefully, first and last mugshot taken.

Rise and Shout

As is customary for me the Saturday after Thanksgiving, I woke up with my stomach in a knot. Even though I KNEW BYU would win all along (okay, maybe I doubted a little on 4th and 18), I still felt like throwing up from the time I woke up until the game clock hit 0:00 and BYU had pulled out another stellar, come-from-behind victory over the Utes. Whoever claims God doesn't care about BYU football must not have seen the last two BYU-Utah games! Even B managed to stay awake for the whole game, although she refrained from the screaming, swearing, praying, and other goings on that will one day mark her true conversion to BYU football. Good times. Go Cougs.

Videos

Cake


More Cake


Presents

We have a one-year-old!

Yesterday was C's first birthday. Here are the highlights.

First, we crowned her the birthday girl.

Then dinner was served. Macaroni and cheese is her favorite meal.

Finally, the moment we'd all been waiting for. CUPCAKES!

She made a fair mess. Nothing spectacular, but not completely lame.

The birthday girl was re-clothed for present time. Here she is with her loot.

She got clothes,

books,

shoes,

and a cute little apron.

It was a very happy birthday. I'll post the videos soon.

Bulls on Parade

Yesterday B and C came downtown for the annual cattle drive through the middle of downtown. Each year a group of cowboys and rodeo queens drive 100 head of longhorns right through the middle of the skyscrapers to kick off the Texas Stampede (rodeo). As you can imagine, it was quite the spectacle.

Incidentally, the longhorn parade reminded me of one of my favorite songs of all time, "Bulls on Parade," by the incomparable Rage Against the Machine. B won't let me listen to it anymore though, ever since I confessed that the song was the soundtrack to a dream I had once which involved me going on an angry killing spree.

Halloween and Other Stuff

For Halloween, C was a happy little kangaroo. I had to add the pink bow because people kept mistaking her for a boy kangaroo. D named the baby kangaroo in the pouch Kimmy.

Boo!

C's new trick.

We visited Uncle Garrison at the airport on Tuesday. He had a layover here on his way to the Brazil MTC.

And, I think she likes her new car seat.

Our Little Pumpkin

It wouldn't be Halloween without pictures of our baby in a pile of pumpkins. We took these at the Arboretum last weekend. So, here she is...

in a wheelbarrow,

in some grass,

eating straw,

and surrounded by pumpkins.

Adventures in Painting

Two weekends ago, we painted a chocolate brown accent wall in our room kind of on a whim. We really like how it turned out. Now we just need to get something to put on that wall to break up the brown.

When we first moved into our house, we painted C's room like this. We really liked the bright colors when they were on the swatches, but they were a little too bright for her small room. You'd think after 3 months of walking into the room several times a day, you'd get used to it, but it was still just as shocking every single time. We couldn't take it anymore. So, we finally repainted it and are very happy with the new, soothing, light green paint. I suppose D was right to go with gender neutral colors since our new baby is a boy!

Funny?

So I don't know if this is "blog appropriate" material, but this picture seriously cracks me up. My brother Darl sent me this treasure along with the caption, "Just a friendly reminder to visit the temple this month." Works for me.

*For any non-Mormons who are reading this blog...eh, nevermind.

Hot Air Balloon Festival

Last weekend, we got up early and drove for the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. We were right on the edge of a big field full of hot air balloons preparing to launch. There were all sorts of crazy shapes like a tree, a cow, and my personal favorite, a daisy. I think about 70 balloons total were launched. It was pretty neat and fun. D even suggested we drive to Albequerque the next weekend for an even bigger balloon festival. I was impressed by his enthusiasm for hot air balloons until I found out that BYU plays New Mexico that weekend in Albequerque, which was the real source of his enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the hot air balloon festival in Albequerque isn't the same weekend as the game so we decided it's not worth the trip. Oh well.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

People are always asking me which one of us C looks like. To answer the question, here is a side by side comparison of me as a baby (left) and C. D came into the room when I had the picture of me as a baby pulled up and he thought it was C. The crazy thing is that I am 3 months younger than C in that picture. C gets tons of attention because of her hair, but I must have been quite the little freak show with a mane like that at 6 months. C did get one thing from her dad though. She's in the 95th percentile for height, which she certainly didn't get from me.

Cheerios

I came into the kitchen the other day and found C looking down her shirt like this.

I figured she was looking for the missing cheerio stuck in her bangs.

Later that night when I undressed her for her bath, I discovered four wet cheerios down her shirt, plastered to her diaper. Lately, she sucks on her cheerios and then spits them out so we end up with cheerios stuck everywhere. Naughty little baby.

Baby Loves Whipped Cream

This went on for about 5 minutes.

The BIG 2-9!

Love,

Mommy and C

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Two years ago today...

As our anniversary present to each other this year, we went to an art shop and got some stuff for our new house. This huge antique world map is D's new pride and joy.

See how huge it is. Maybe we can get some furniture for that room for our next anniversary.

We finally put up the Van Gogh painting we ordered a while ago.

And, happy birthday to my little brother Garrison.

Cute Video

Be prepared to miss her even more.

"So lonely, I'm Mr. Lonely, There is nobody, I'm on my own..."

Who knew Mr. Akon could offer such insightful and deeply meaningful lyrics? Today is Day 12 since B and C abandoned me for Utah, and I'm pretty much miserable. Between spontaneous sobs, I ask myself, "What happened to the awesomely independent, I-don't-need-no-stinkin'-wife-and-kid, maverick you used to be?" Well, that guy is LONG gone. I've tried to make the hurt go away by watching movies (3 trips to the theater in 7 days) and reading East of Eden. Heck, I even weed-whacked the entire lawn and laid some sod the other day out of sheer boredom. But nothing seems to work. So I guess I'll go on with the Mr. Lonely routine for a few more days until I hop a plane to Utah myself.

Crawling...sort of.

C has taken her sweet old time in the crawling department, but we finally have some forward movement.

"All who seen the leprechaun say YEAH"

My mission buddy Jake sent me this clip the other day. I've watched it at least twenty times and laugh myself sick every time.

Fourth of July

I'm feeling left out because everyone I know has cute pictures of their kids decked out in red, white, and blue for the fourth. Here is the only picture we took that day. But, this picture is an important one. It documents the first time C held her bottle all by herself for the entire feeding. Independence day indeed.

Sippy Cup Training

It's harder than it looks.

Happy Birthday!

Today B hits the big 2-5. I'm especially excited because it means I'm now only three years older than her (for two months, anyway). Hopefully B likes her birthday present - we're closing on our house this afternoon! Happy birthday to the most wonderful wife I could have ever hoped for. Love you!

Our Little Swimmer