What's that funny smell coming from the Christmas Tree??

As you most likely read below, we are kinda into our Daughter. She's pretty awesome. I never thought I'd be okay with cleaning a poo covered rear-end, but here i am.

The poor girl was sick this week. We spent most of the day yesterday chasing her around the house with a box of tissues. Every sneeze sent us running to catch things before they hit the floor.

My job has been even crazier in the last few weeks. I've finally gotten to the point where I know what is broken in the company and how to fix it. It's just a matter at this point of getting everyone else to align themselves. I have a big presentation on Tuesday to launch my plan to our executive team. Hopefully it goes well and I am successful. If not, I might not make it another year...

My stunning wife and I had the pleasure of spending the evening with my coworkers in an inebriated state in what was labeled our company holiday party. It was at a trendy place downtown and there were really good appetizers and an open bar - need I say more? (that's actually what the invitation said). Reva was gorgeous (as she always is) and I wore pants.

Other than that, our life is pretty normal. We are excited for the christmas season and even purchased a christmas tree from a local hardware vendor. We named him Harvey and haven't yet had the courage to tell our daughter that he's dead - so we will just leave him where he is until after the holidays (we figure why ruin her second Christmas with such a gruesome fact).

Harvey has 3 whole presents under his boughs - all of them are for Mommy. Baby is a little jealous (I can tell). She keeps trying to take them and hide them from us.

Our big girl has graduated from Formula to Thin Mints. Here's mommy giving her some of the yummy treats. Yes, she is stoned on them.

Have a great time shopping for presents for me!!

Our baby vs. the world

Today in Relief Society, mom made the comment that her children's blogs were a great way to stay strong and together, and that she checked them twice a day she loved them so much. So dagnabit, I figured I needed to give y'all something to read. No interesting pictures this week, unfortunately.

Tonight dad and I played at the Festival of the Nativity at our old ward building. Playing for half an hour to a MUCH larger crowd than I had anticipated - plus a nice huge introduction at the beginning with an extensive bio - made me pretty dang nervous. We pulled it off and people seemed to enjoy it, so all the education and years of learning to fake my way through performances paid off! Dad was a trouper too and played fabulously.

Afterwards I got to help wrangle Solei with mom and Jared as we tried to maneuver the crowded halls and talked to our friends from our old ward. We saw a few people we'd known that had children around the time Solei was born and I broke a cardinal rule... I KNOW you're not supposed to compare your child to other kids, but hey, how else am I going to tell if she's on the right track? Being patient and reading books just ends up getting me all nervous.

First off - Solei is way more mobile than most of the kids I saw. People say she was an early walker, but really, she had wanted to walk far earlier than when she did, so it couldn't have come a moment too soon for her! And she seems to run a lot more than the other kids I saw tonight. She doesn't really like to stop, poor thing. And when I say poor thing, it's because we wouldn't let her run around like she wanted to (Jared stopped her from demolishing a nativity set just in time).

And second - she's getting a hang of this talking thing kinda fast. She's mastered the words "Pease??" and "Up" and "Down" and she uses them like nobody's business. It's remarkable - she knows what they mean and resorts to screaming way less than she did before she figured out the word "Pease??" meant Mommy will give me Gerber Cheetos if I say this enough!!

And lastly - she's a big kid. I'm not saying she fat or an Amazonian or anything, but she comes up to 2 and 3 year olds to give them hugs, and they only have an inch or 2 above her. Maybe we just have short friends, but regardless, she's no tiny gal. People often ask "What do you feed this kid??" and the answer is simple - milk, croutons, Gerber cheetos and pork rinds. And peas and corn, but we've calculated only 3 pieces actually get in her mouth, so they don't count. Yes, the pork rinds are Jared's fault.

I could be way off on this, maybe all kids are this vocal and mobile, but I swear the kiddos we've been running into lately have been lethargic, mute and short. Maybe I should see if I can hang out with some genius babies to give me some perspective.

(oh, and she's also the most social baby in the history of babies. But that part isn't a surprise, seeing as her mommy is a bona-fide people addict too.)

Happy Thanksgiving!! We celebrated this year in Colorado with my family and are very thankful for it! (and Starbucks by the way - more on that later:)

I was SO nervous for the flight that lasted over 6 hours - just Solei and I, but we pulled through. She was wonderful and we got a few awesome blessings along the way.

Like a row all to ourselves on the second flight - wohoo! And even though for some reason all her formula went MISSING before we got on the flight - (no food for a 6 hour flight?!?!) I said a little prayer and found a Starbucks that sold me a warm milk that she thankfully drank. Woohoo!Then the next night, Jared showed up. He's showing Solei her first snow here!

My parents have LOVED having her here! She loves both of them like crazy (like with most people, but since they love her as much back, she is in serious love mode!) Here's my dad:
And my mom:

Day after, we headed down to see Jared's friends Justin and Dixie.

The visit was lovely, but the drive. traffic was loooong. Lots of accidents, but it gve us time for this Kodak moment:

But then Jared left, oh no!! This is a pic for him to remember me if Solei does indeed kill me on our next 2 flights home:

We were all amused at Solei's amazing connection to music - anytie she hears it - she's up and loking for it, sometimes dancing. Here's a quick video of Solei's Pavlov's dog-type tendencies when she hears my cell phone ring.

Our last pic is of my adorable baby with her even more adorable uncle Dallin. Anyone know any hotties that play piano who wouldn't mind checking out my bro? He plays violin better thanme and is a semester away from an engineering degree. Also, he is incredibly hot and nice and funny and cooler than you. Email me a resume and we'll talk:)

Talking???

Jared was trying out a new recording device and lookit what he caught!! Listen close - Solei says 2 words!!!!

Click here!!
OR just listen to it here:

Octoberation!!!

Before we begin here is a short rant brought to you by Stooped Googles

So, Google hates me. Which is fine with my because the feeling is beginning to become mutual. If you are going to be emperor of the internet - you should make sure that people can access your internet, otherwise you are an elitist snob webempire. My guess is that google would probably want to be a non-elitist snob webempire. But that's just my guess.

And now to the real posting.

So- google hates me. No seriously they wouldn't let me log on or something so there have been no postseses in the last forever. All of our halloweeneeneen pictures are on this computer and it hates google.

Anyway- last month was halloween and we celebrated by putting our very cute daugher in a very cute costume and then trying to keep ourselves from passing out from over excitement due to over-cuteness-stimulation (which can be a very serious illness if not treated properly - stupid owls).

Look away now if you haven't be immunized for cuteness:

The event was brought to you by our ward trunk-or-treat party. Mommy made daddy dress up for halloweenennennenn. I dressed like spongebob squarepantses. I looked pretty cool.

Our real halloween wasn't too eventful. Apparently none of the kids think it's cool to go as mountain climbers so none of them had the equipment to get up our steep driveway. Their loss. We actually had candy this year (unlike the previous years where we gave out pinecones with peanutbutter and seeds that they could put out to attract wildlife). I'm blaming the internet generally and google specifically.

Work has been insane for daddy. People keep leaving and he has to pick up a lot of slack. I do enjoy our time together as a family!

That's all for now.

Parrrtay!

Happy First Birthday Solei!!

Her first little family birthday party was quite the event. I learned a few things about the do's and don'ts of the baby's first cake rampage, which I will share at the end of the post. A few pictures for the fans:

Celebrating with Nana and Papa

The happy family (although mommy is seriously mad that she looks pregnant in this picture - and NOOO I am not!!)
I got one of these for my very fist birthday too!!
Tunnel thanks to Nana and Papa - we loves it!!

And well... you'll just have to experience the cake rampage...

Things I learned about baby's first cake:
* Super moist cake (3 eggs, 1/2 cup oil) turns into pure pudding very quickly when mashed around by an excited birthday girl.
* Not-too-moist cake is way easier to hose off a baby. Pudding?? Oh man, you're just lucky we didn't tape the cleaning "wrath of baby" aftermath.
* A cupcake size is juuuust fine. if your brain says "I could make this bigger for dramatic effect" - whack it, fast! You want to clean up 10 cups of pudding?? Neither did we. (Thanks Nana, Papa and Scooba!!)

After all this, she's still speaking to us. Well - screaming mostly. We still love her lots though!!

Lucky guy...

So- My little girl turns one year old tomorrow. That means that I've been a father for one whole year. It's been an amazing change. It really has been a change. I never guessed that I could love as much as I do now. I have an amazing wife who loves me more than I thought anyone would. I've seen her grow and change so much in the last year. It's been inspiring to watch her bloom as a mother.

Our daughter has been the light of our life. Her mom called her sunshine from the beginning. She is the light of our life and the sunshine in our day. She is such a happy baby and has loved everyone from day one. She definitely gets her outgoingness from her mommy.

I love being a father. I have no idea what on earth I am doing. Unfortunately there is no class for being one. Never would I have imagined that I'd love a child the way I love her. She's loud and smells like a child, but she's mine and I love her like crazy. She has such her own little personality. She wants so much to be like us already. She plays in the dishwasher, eats pork rinds, "talks" on her phone (even though she just babbles), she talks to anything she sees, she is so curious and SO persistent. She loves exploring and figuring things out.

In the last few weeks she's learned how to hug back when we hug her. What a treat to have the little girl you love so much wrap her arms around your neck and squeeze. I do miss her wanting to cuddle me as she falls asleep. She's into putting her self to sleep now.

My heart hurts every time I leave for work in the morning. Leaving my two favorite girls for the day makes me wish that I could find some job where I never had to leave them and could spend all day with them. Suddenly I don't care at all about money, job title or anything. I just wish that I could just retire today and spend the rest of my life with them.

I'm so glad that my wife was willing to have our daughter and be her mother. I'm amazed by the amount of love she has for her and how seriously she takes her responsibility as a mother.

I am one lucky guy...

Photoshoot

What happens when the best mommy friend a mommy can have hijacks your kid and your camera? Best. Photoshoot. Ever. (what I want to know is how in the world did she get that bow in her hair?? AND IT STAYED for 3 hours!!!!)

"Silly paparazzi, no pictures, please!"

"You want attitude?? I've gives you some attitude!"

"You wanna piece of me??"

this one is just too cute, I can't even caption it!!

This is the face I expect her to be making at me when she's a teenager.

Such a money shot...

This is right out of a loungewear ad...

"Kiss ma grits!!"

She's almost a year old... and she looks like she's going on 13 already!!

So...

I should probably clarify that even if the internet says that I should vote for someone, I'll still end up voting for the best representative of my personal views - Myself. Unfortunately, this won't really count until the next election. SO- remember Jared 2012!!! (I'll actually be old enough to be president!)

I figure I must give my obligatory "I have the best daughter ever" paragraph. We especially love that she is so happy. When we laugh at dinner, Baby tries to join in the laughing - although her attemps to mimic only come out as a cross between a grunt and a cough. It's very cute and just makes us laugh more - which makes her try harder. It's very cute

Baby is unbelievably inquisitive. She LOVES pushing buttons. Remote controls, TVs, Computers, Cable Boxes, Phones. ANYTHING with a button she pushes. She's learned where the off button on the TV is and how to change the channel on the cable box. She also loves turning off daddy's computer.

As, for us - we are very well blessed. My job is beginning to become more managable. We are focusing on being a "company" instead of a "small company." It's been a hard transition for everyone. We've made a lot of our customers angry for one reason or another, but our product is flying off the shelf, so they can only be so mad.

Here's a great show for you sometime when you have 20 mins and want to be inspired. http://www.byu.tv/index.html?start=50400&stop=52200&show=&ep=http%3A//qmplive.xlontech.net/byutv/stream/070923.qvt

In the last few weeks I've come to the conclusion that I am more blessed than I deserve. I already knew this, but it's become much more obvious. I have basically everything that one could want - a wonderful wife and daughter. We live in comfort and compared to most of the planet extreme luxury. We have supportive family and friends and a family that will be together forever. We even have a programable Bread Maker that has hot fresh bread ready for us in the morning.

PS- I was recently conned into creating a facebook profile. No doubt some google hoak to get me to give them more personal info... Anyway - I'm failing to see the major difference between a facebook page and a myspace page. We are all going to look back on these with the same level of fondness that we look at garbage pail kids or pet rocks. Jerks.

Jared's a WHAT??

Heh, how is this for hilARIOUS?? I just took a survey to see which candidate fits me best, and I ended up with Joe Biden. I'm not politically affiliated, but apparently I'm over 80% compatible with Democratic candidates like Biden, Obama and some Gravel dude. I guess living with a raging political lunatic has had an effect on me. I guess being against the Iraq war tipped the scales, but there's all the social issues that are not usually liberal-friendly. Odd. But here's the best part - Jared just took the same test and his top compatible candidates are all Republicans!!

How embarassing:)

Take the test yourself!

Fall?

Hrm... our template is all kinds of out of whack. Maybe if I post something it'll go back to normal.

Fall showed up! Bam, Sunday morning, out of the blue, we were chilly. This is the creepiest feeling ever. For most of the last year, we've lived in nothing but spring or summer and I have spent most of my time trying not to die of heat exhaustion. Solei is really not used to wearing clothes, and yesterday when I tried to put a jacket on her she flipped out. I rushed to the store to buy some pants for the poor girl (fyi, Old Navy is having a wee sale on kids clothes, I got a few essentials). All of the sudden, I'm trying to keep her warm - I can wear pants again - and wear anything else I want because I won't eventually pass out from overheating. I missed fall last year, and now it's just weirding me out. I love fall most of all the seasons, but I'm just confused it's here!

We are just under a month away from Solei's first birthday, and it's hitting us hard too. I can't say I miss newborn Solei or the first few months of her life because in all honesty, I'm really not sure if life can be worse than it was back then. I was putting away her tiny clothes yesterday and expected to get misty, but I was mostly relieved. Jared and I are so thankful for our lives now - surprised, really. But then there's also an unsettled feeling as well - how much longer can something like this last? Jared is just getting comfortable with his job, I'm teaching a nice bit and gigging almost too much, and we've got this Solei thing down pretty well. Of course we don't see much of Jared, but that's the way it's been since we got back from Brasil and I'm finding things to keep me busy.

But for the last 10 years, everything has worked out in year increments - I moved every year. I've never decorated or unpacked fully, and I'm still shy to do it here. I HATE packing, and the more we unpack and settle, the more I have to pack again.

And now summer has moved to fall. I never thought it would again - the inevitable switch that I eluded all year, like some massive holding pattern and suddenly life is back to normal. I've rejoined the world again. I don't know whether to fear it or embrace it, just in case somehow it leaves me again.

At least I have an excuse to go shopping!! Yay warm clothes!

video yuminess

For my mom:

Swingin' Babe:



A girl who knows what she wants:




Enjoy!

she WALKS!!

TADAAAA!!!!!!!!

More than we wanted to know

You can thank mom and dad. This ended up being our FHE.

(Reva, Jared)
4 Random Things about US:

1. I can bend my index finger on my right hand all the way back so it touches the back of my hand.
2. I love oranges but orange juice makes me want to throw up.
3. I woke up hysterical that I was making the biggest mistake of my life on my wedding day and cried so hard I woke up the entire house.
4. My family is still worried that I'm going to up and run out on Jared and ask me if I'm planning on staying. I pretend I'm not sure just to freak them out.

1. I like sleeping on the floor.
2. I eat hot dogs.
3. My grass needs to be mowed.
4. It's hot outside.

Favorite four jobs I've held:

1. Disneyland
2. hmmm gigs count, right? The band played the Chattanooga Riverbend Festival last year and it was AMAZING.
3. Teaching violin in Brasil to Leandro.
4. I don't like working.

1. Unemployed.
2. FARMS
3. Keyboardist
4. Missionary

Four (or ANY) movies I can watch over and over again:

1. Singin' in the Rain
2. Hitch
3. Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail
4. Drop Dead Gorgeous

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. October Sky
3. Radio
4. Remember the Titans

Four places I have lived:
1. Chicago
2. Mesa
3. Golden
4. Denton, Tay-hass

1. Spirit World
2. St. Louis
3. Rio de Janeiro
4. Georgia

Four t.v. shows I watch:
1. Lost
2. Iron Chef
3. Sesame Street
4. On Demand, woohoo!

1. MythBusters
2. Dirty Jobs
3. Simpsons
4. Lost

Four places I've been on vacation:
1. Australia
2. skiing in Chile
3. all the freak over Europe
4. South Dakota

1. Bahamas
2. Rockport, MA
3. Seattle
4. DisneyWorld

Four favorite foods:
1. pizza
2. sushi
3. guacamole
4. dead animals

1. bread
2. sushi
3. picana
4. sleep

Four websites I visit:
1. bloggity blogs
2. http://www.askaninja.com/
3. http://www.emotioneric.com/ (run!! RUN!!!)
4. http://www.zombo.com/ (go here!!!! RIGHT NOW!!!!)

1. http://www.woot.com/
2. http://www.ldstoday.com/
3. http://www.nytimes.com/
4. http://www.slickdeals.net/


People that we want to tag:
Jared wants to know if it's in the gangster way for the word "tag" -because that means you'd shoot them. And yes, that IS the case:

1. Castro (both of them)
2. Picasso
3. Jessica Simpson fans
4. The color "sea foam green"

1. Dave Matthews
2. Singapore
3. Plague rats
4. Cockroaches

Now we can close with a song and a prayer. It's his turn.

24 Hrs...

Here's a look at our Saturday (like you weren't secretly following us around).

We left early and took a trip to Amacalola Falls in North GA. There were some nice views and pretty pictures.

If I do say so myself, we have the cutest family ever:
Baby girl getting her feets wet:

So, she giggles like crazy whenever you put her on your shoulders. She thinks she's being tickled

Daddy and baby on the stairs up to the falls:
Mommy was holding her much more securely that this photo would indicate:
Daddy and his little girl. (Daddy carried her all the way up the trail...)
That night Reva played with her new Trio - Tres de Solei. Anna sat in that night on Bass.
A view from the back...

She danced up a storm while mommy played.

Pure glee!!
Today was "ride daddy around" day. We didn't get too far. Someone needs to learn to hold on.

Oh, and this little guy decided to finally drop by last week:

All done.

Potter-heads

Ah, I see the Floyd is still not posting. More of the same here, Solei is trying to eat every inedible object in sight and is still .4 seconds from taking her first steps. Oo, she has loads of hair, which is a relief seeing as just about everyone in Brasil would make the joke that she had my eyes and his hairline.

Yesterday the final Harry Potter came out and of course, I HAD to go get it. And then read the entire thing in one day. Hey, I hadn't planned on it, but I'm a really good speed reader and it just happened. I just want to say THANK YOU J.K. Rowling, for giving me such an incredible story to read and love for all these years!! For having to wait this long for the final installment (I've been reading them since book one came out, arg!), it was heavy, full of fabulous plot and worth the wait.

Saturday morning I woke up all a-flutter and grabbed Solei to head to go buy it ASAP - even before either one of us had showered or eaten anything, I was too excited. I hadthe nice lady at the store take this picture to document it - so that when Solei is old enough to read and love the Happy Potter books as much as I do, she'll know she was THERE on July 21st, a part of the history already!

*As I said, one of us had DEFINATLY not ha a shower yet, but who cares, we needed to capture the moment!

Solei, you can borrow this when you are old enough. But then I'll get you your own, this one is mine:)

Happy birthday America!!

* the shoutout to Solei's country of origin was his idea.

etsy fun

Its called an Apple Jacket. I can't remember the last time I ate an apple, but dagnabit I want one.

heehee

This picture is for Annie. If this was a dictionary entry, I'd say the word that fits this is She-Male.
I can't explain why, but it just makes me giggle and I can't stop. Thank you, pop culture!

new site

SO, first step to trying to get my life back to normal is getting back to teaching. I made a website today to advertise and make my name stand out when I post on different sites. It's pretty basic, and a work in progress. I'd appreciate any advice you can give me, internet world!

Click here please!

Merci much!

Its been 2 weeks since you looked at me

Sorry for the 2 week pause. I keep thinking Jared will write something, but alas, you are stuck with me.

Interesting things of note here: I told Jared he could buy a scooter if he found a deal and got life insurance. One trip later, he and his BFF Mike are proud owners of Italian import Piaggios - that in a former life were actually used as mail delivery scooters in Italy! Don't have a picture of ot yeat, but ask mom or dad, they've both ridden it and approve. I am still wary of it, since, Jared has the worst sense of balance I've ever seen, but his legs are as of this posting, still intact.

And Solei has not only figured out how to pull up and stand on everything, she also crawls all over the house (she disovered doorways) and last week at a wedding, she saw another baby climb some stairs, so she went ahead and tried it!

And now, some video proof of how she is indeed keeping her title as the cutest kid I have ever had.

(this one is her standing up )


This one is my favorite - laughing like a crazy person!

New house, same tools

Last week was Jared's 31st birthday and it was celebrated in the manner it deserved (he got a desk missile launcher for work and Simpsons paraphernalia). I would discuss it more in detail, but he has already been asked to blog and has declined. In fact, it looks like yours truly has written the last 8 posts.

Hmmmm... someone is slacking.

It may seem to us in the middle of the storm that not much is going on, but when you look at it from a distance, you realize we are going positively crazy. We bought a house, and are attempting to move into said house. No, you can't see pictures of the house. It's really uggo. Seriously, I wouldn't even go look at it for weeks after Jared found it because it was so freaking ugly.>

But the inside, man... well, it's cool. One of the big reasons I gave in is because there is a room in the basement for a teaching studio for me! And then the upstairs is a ranch layout, so no more running up the stairs to get a burp rag for Solei, it's just down the hall!!

We've also discovered we don't own any furniture, at least to fill up the big spaces in the house. Jared is beginning the planning on building a book case (and has also have to replace the dishwasher hose, replace tubing in the A/C system, cut a hole in the ceiling to facilitate said A/C repair, replace the shower head in our bathroom and convince me the washer isn't broken. And he hasn't even started on the poison ivy sanctuary that is our front yard - eep!)

Oh, and also Solei has learned to crawl now that there is carpet everywhere - we have footage of her desperately trying to crawl in Nana and Popa's house but she couldn't get traction on the wood floors. Her knees are well protected as well, as evidenced by my last Miss Cheapskate post. I'm proud of myself for that one:)

Okay, random picturitity:

Jared and Solei sharing a moment at the Atlanta Jazz Festival.

Solei pulling herself up for the first time on moving day!

The family room of the new house... it won't look this neat and clean until we move out again, methinks.
The way cool basement that I plan on turning into a bean bag sanctuary.
The new kitchen, sans the fridge Jared found on craigslist for $300, woohoo.

Have a loverly day!