MDG at 10 Months

It's been another month already!  Little Mister is growing so fast and keeping everyone in the family on their toes.  He's moving all over the place and yes, already walking.  He can often be seen standing up on his own and taking several steps, which is amazing and also pretty crazy.  He's a bottomless pit in the high chair, eating just about everything he's tried and always hungry for more.  He's found his wail at last, making himself heard quite often and seeming to make up for lost time, but never without reason (Feed him!  Hold him!  Put him to bed!), and never for too long.  He has this funny nasal whimper he does that makes it kind of hard to be upset at the whining, ha ha.  He's a good sport through some recent sniffles and once we put him in his own room -- blessed day! -- started sleeping through the night again.  We're thinking he would wake up in the night and see us there and be like, what the heck, why aren't you coming to get me?? when if the same thing happens in his own room he usually just realizes no one's around and goes back to sleep.  A plan has been enacted to turn sister's room into his own space.

Such a great traveler on the airplane back from CA.

First Easter!

Look at him smiling around that binky.

Supporting Mommy at her 5K.

Post-bath surprised faces.

10 months!  Look at that smile!  Look at how the hat barely fits!

Sweet boy, keep growing but stop growing.

Easter 2018

This year's Easter was a little different in a few ways.  It fell on General Conference Sunday, so we didn't have our usual church outing (and so The Wife couldn't figure out the right time to put together her Easter outfits, which it turns out didn't arrive in time anyway).

Easter morning was as exciting as could be expected.  It's amazing how much kids get such a thrill out of plastic eggs and candy, but I so love their enthusiasm for the magical and festive.

Everybunny is having a great morning.

We opted for a family brunch situation rather than the usual dinner, just for something different and since people might start having their own evening plans.  There were eggs to be hunted and so much delicious food.

When your sister is a pro photog you sometimes get the most lovely photos of your kids at special occasions!  See her work at Blue Hill Images.

In betweentimes we visited our new favorite tradition, this cool replica of the tomb, located right here in Alpine.

So nice, but I do mean to suggest to them to change up the music loop (that is, to include more than one song in said loop).

Then we invited Mom and Dad over and joined forces with Elise & Co. for their wonderful Mediterranean feast (it does make more sense as an Easter meal when you think about it), which we might have to make a tradition if the Rs are amenable!!!

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This was also the project of the weekend... Hurray, no more worrying about the giant gaps where the springs inevitably pop off every time I jumped on it.

The old ones looks so wilty compared, ha ha.

And that's all there was to it!  Julie made a marvelous angel food cake that was praised by all, the kids had a great time grounded in the purpose of the day, we caught some GC talks and discussed the news and overall enjoyed the spring weather (until it turned to winter again a few days later) (but now it's spring again so it's fine).

Bathrooms and Easter and Dentist

Things have been happening around here.  These things are closely related.

Thing 1:

When we moved in we had Big Plans to redo our kitchen and add grand wings and expand the basement by 1000 square feet or so (okay, maybe not those last two), but then I lost my job and we had a baby and were distracted and trying to put our money toward other things, so we decided instead to do a few smaller projects along the way and work up to doing the kitchen, maybe piecemeal.  So we've painted a couple bedrooms and artfully arranged some new and old art on the walls, but the latest, just in time for spring, was a freshening up of our main floor bathroom.

Going prematurely green.

It wasn't a full renovation, just a fresh coat of paint and some new cabinet hardware and wall decor, but it was just the thing.  The Wife had just the shade of green in mind (she has a way with color), and even though we were kind of anxious when we had put on the first coat, another time over and a good dry and pulling off the paint and we loved it.  You can read more of the details here.

We worried it was a bit too green but when it was all over we thought it was just perfect

Then when we were finished, because why let a half gallon of Cottage Grove green paint and an afternoon of napping babies go to waste, we decided to do the downstairs one too!  It's only a half bath so it didn't take long, and it sort of took care of the water damage from the Minor Flood of '14, so that's good too.  Lesson learned though: Just tape off the baseboards next time.

(It looks greener in the pictures than it actually is.)

It was fun and quick and pretty inexpensive, which is just how I like my mini-renos.

Thing 2:

Easters!  Hot on the tail of our fresh new springtime bathroom, springtime itself was on its way, which included a really nice Easter Sunday, which fun and candy and baskets and Easter egg hunt practice so that little people might enjoy it more than they did last year.  Nothing could go wrong on a day like this.

Don't they all taste the same??  Apparently they have new "flavors", which sound gross.

The morning was all flowers and sausages, the perfect start to a special day.  I don't understand why the Easter Bunny is kind of like Santa Claus for some people these days, but our little poopsies were thrilled with their jelly beans and chocolate and plastic eggs.  (Baby's featured mostly squeezy pouches of baby food, which she enjoyed very much.)  (Also the new Easter basket grass is just the best thing ever.)

What ho, Easter Bunny!

We went to church and had a very nice time, adorable new clothes and a fun Easterish Singing Time in Primary, and then we plated up our asparagus and headed to my sister's house for the fun and festivities (and to "see cousins"), where there was an amazing dinner and lots of playing in the fun basement and thence to The Hunt!

Me and my little people

The Boy was much more into it just like we hoped, and the practice seemed to pay off, even for adorable adorable Baby, who was very glad to gnaw on the two or three eggs she found (and the Prince Charming she had brought from inside).

C: O, here, Baby.  A: *om nom nom*

I mean, really?!?  (Also, note:  Prince Charming.)

Which leads me to...

Thing 3:

... which I will list separately so as to keep the memories of Easter fun and only dampened by a slightly overcast afternoon.

So as the egg hunting was winding down we decided to go look at the horses on the other side of the backyard fence, and as we were approaching (and it actually occurred to me that he shouldn't get too close in case the horses nipped him or something) The Boy fell teeth-first onto the iron bar of the fence.  Tears, blood, restrained panic, taking him inside, thinking one was broken and the other was gone, not finding any on the ground, calling the emergency number to see if he needed to visit the ER, being asked ridiculous questions (is he complaining about pain??  Didn't I just say he was crying and covered in blood??), texting a picture to the on-call pediatric dentist, calming down, worrying about potential lifetime trauma, hugging and kissing and trying to examine teeth, choking up when a tiny voice says "my teeth are gone...", all aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents being very supportive and helpful and nice (and feeling guilty -- stop it), and eventually...

Putting on pajamas, borrowing toys from aunt and uncle, and heading home, but not before chasing down the kitty to tell it that he bonked.

Phew.

The dentist said not to panic and if he wasn't in pain or bleeding he should be fine and to bring him in in the morning.

So we did!

Here we go...

We hadn't really planned on his first visit to the dentist being under these circumstances, but it could have gone worse...

Show us your teeth.  And don't be afraid of the impending x-ray chair.

He liked the exciting and interesting ocean-themed office and the movies on the ceiling, but when it came time to sit in any chair he was pretty distressed.  But they were quick and professional and gentle and nice, and told us that [AMAZINGLY] baby teeth sometimes just get pushed right back up where they came from and gradually grow back down just like they're coming in for the first time.  He had a few chips, but nothing close to the root and no nerve exposure, and overall we're just so grateful.  I mean, can you even imagine if that happened to an adult?  I think my teeth would just break clean off and I would pass out from the pain.  I tell you, kids are just designed to withstand bumps and bruises and bounce back.  In the end they gave him a token for the toy machines, from which he picked a grow-in-the-water dinosaur (that hardly grew at all), and as we drove away he proclaimed, "That's not so bad!"  It was still a little heartbreaking whenever he realized that things were different, and when -- the ultimate betrayal! -- his binky took some adjusting before he could take comfort in its companionship, but after a long night and some helpful medicine, the long day came to a close.

After that we were worried that he would have some painful association with horses or Easter or cousins or whatever, but it seemed like the lingering feeling of trauma had faded pretty quickly when he wanted to say hello to the horses down the street and visit the cousins shortly thereafter.  We almost had an episode trying to wear his Easter shirt again a couple weeks later (after the blood actually came off pretty easily), but that was more of a sleeves/sleepiness issue.  Phew.

We had a followup appointment this week (which was much less traumatic, though he still didn't care for the x-ray part of the process) and it looks like they're coming in already, which even we could see as the days have gone by, and, especially after the swelling and tenderness wore off, we're used to our boy's new temporary smile.  He's cute enough that he can pull it off.  He even told the doc that "My teeth are coming back!"

(I also learned that you can't just add your kid to your dental insurance for the first time any old day.  Good to know for future.)

(And I realize now that my post is a bit redundant if you've read The Wife's Easter/teeth report, but that's okay.)

What an eventful weekend.  So many things!  But they are all turning out all right, and even if some of them involved some trauma and tenderness and tears, everyone is fine and we are really enjoying spending time out in sunshine.  And really, what a way to be reminded of the true meaning of the holiday.  We felt a lot of love and comfort through the fear and pain, and it's always good to be reminded to have gratitude.

My teeth hurt while I was writing this.

The Poppy's First Month

As of last week The Poppy is already a month old!  It has gone by very quickly.  She's a good girl and has been doing great (as has her mommy).  She eats well and sleeps well and she can get squirmy and grunty and seem like she's a bit cranky but she gets it out of her system and snuggles up and is as sweet as can be.  The Wife posted a great update with stats and photos here, so I'll just get on with some Instapictures.

Clearly the most comfortable way to recline

I was singing to her one night and she smiled right at me.  No, it wasn't gas, IT WAS SMILING AT MY SINGING.

I was trying to get a snuggly post-bath picture but I was doing it wrong.  The second try worked much better.

Such a sweet baby burrito.

General Conference notes.  It's getting there.

Siblings on Easter Sunday.

We three love our little girl!  She's already grown so much, but we can't (and also can) wait to see her keep growing.

Various Springtime Weekend Goings-On

There have been goings-on going on for the last few weekends since my birthday, so I think I'll just do a little bullet list of them.  Here goes!

•  The morning after our epic night of Hunger Games I ran the annual stake 5K (Julie opted out of this one this year).  It's a fairly nice course, and there was a much higher attendance than last year.  This also means that I didn't place quite as high as last year, but I was still in the top 10 (6th place overall, 21:14, after adding a little to make it a full 5K).  They even had age groups, the "Senior" division breaking off at age 40, much to the delight (and probably request) of the stake presidency and such.  There were a lot of runners from the ward, which was fun.

Me after the run.

How I really felt after the run (we stayed up too late the night before).

•  Later that day we went to see Beauty and the Beast at Capitol Theatre.  Now, I have seen this show twice (thrice?  I can't remember now!) already, but every time it comes through town I wonder, do I need to see it again?  Then I remember Be Our Guest, and decide, yes, yes I do.  It was an interesting little quest to find tickets, since of course I procrastinated and there weren't any decent seats left, and if they were, they were single, not to mention outrageously expensive.  Thanks to a fellow who posted an ad on KSL, I was able to score a couple of tickets in amazing seats for an amazing deal.  It even included free parking and bottled water!  We dressed up, ate delicious things at Olive Garden, and sat right there on the Orchestra level, probably 10 rows back from the stage.

As for the show itself, um...  So apparently, as it's been running for some fifteen years, they decided it was time to update the production, or, as they call it, "streamline," I guess.  I was interested to see what this would mean, and after seeing the new show, as far as I can tell, that basically translates to cutting some songs, making the rest of the songs REALLY fast, adding and expanding some scenes (complete with deep, psychological, sort of out of place dialogue) and therapy between Belle and Maurice or the Beast, scaling back the sets and costumes and cast significantly, and adding a few puppets in place of previously cooler special effects.  We were assured by the souvenir stand girl that we wouldn't be disappointed, but secretly we were a little.  It was still fun, and Be Our Guest was still cool, we just wanted, and were expecting, a little more spectacle.  But it was great to go out anyway!  I'm glad I was diligent and was able to find such an awesome deal on tickets and surprise mine wife with them.  (She wanted to go so very much this time.)

I'm pretty sure our seats were season ticket spots, and every seat had a long-stemmed rose placed upon it.

Soooo exciteeeed!

 •  The very next day was the ward choir Easter program.  Now, a couple weeks earlier I had received word that our program, originally scheduled for two weeks AFTER the actual holiday (to resolve conflicts of General Conference and Fast Sunday), was going to be moved to two weeks BEFORE Easter.  O.O  Apparently they were informed that it's preferable to have the program before Easter Sunday if it's not possible to have it ON Easter Sunday.  Anyway, I rallied my choir and they were able to pull together and really great program, the highlight of which was this, which I have wanted to do with a ward choir for lo, these many years:

(I realize I also posted this video in the link above, since we apparently sang it last year before I was director.  Eh, the ward changes so much and so quickly I doubt anyone realized it, or if they did, I doubt they minded.)  It was probably my final hurrah as ward choir director, and it was great to leave on such a positive note.  This ward has always had pretty great talent, and (when I was able to corral them up for rehearsal, which was at times quite a task), they could do some incredible things.  That Christmas program is one of my very favorite ward choir director experiences ever.

•  The weekend following was General Conference.  We decided to go up and try to get tickets for the Saturday afternoon session, which of course we were able to, and then for the Priesthood Session I did my usual bit of translating.  President Uchtdorf stayed on his script mostly, but even when he jumped around I was able to keep up with him more or less.  And no aviation vocabulary to try to wrangle!  *Phew.*  On Sunday we were able to enjoy both sessions in their entirety in our jammies in our living room, just as it was always meant to be (ha ha), and then we spent several more hours on the couch rewatching Pride & Prejudice, which of course is fantastic.

At some point on Sunday, this little event took place:

•  Then the next week this happened, which was delightful:

... then we went running in it, which was a little less delightful.

•  Then we had Easter, which was also delightful.  We all had a delicious dinner at Cami's house and Julie made a cake for dessert, which doubled as Cami's birthday cake, which made sense since Easter doubled as Cami's birthday.

It was incredible, and a huge hit, but somehow we also ended up with leftovers, about which we were certainly weren't complaining.

•  Last weekend we took a little weekend jaunt to Park City.  Here's the story:  Last fall there was a Living Social deal that offered a night at a Park City resort for a great rate, with a few little perks thrown in, so I bought a couple of nights, sure we would be able to use it for a little getaway sometime the next winter or spring.  Well, imagine my surpreeze when a few months ago I realized that they expired in an incredibly hasty fashion, so here I was thinking I had just wasted a nice couple hundred dollars, which vexed me greatly.  I tell you, I put on my squeaky wheels, and was definitely rewarded with some appropriately applied grease.  They let me know that I couldn't get exactly the same deal, but I could use the vouchers for a couple of nights in the future, up to the amount I paid for them, and then pay the difference for a stay at the place, which of course varies based on the time of year.  We estimated after Easter and General Conference we would be ready for another weekend away, and it worked out pretty well.

So on Friday night, after dinner at a favorite Mexican place in Midway, which features a most beloved salsa bar, we head up to the Park City Peaks Hotel, which was fairly nice (though not as nice as where we stayed for our last Park City/Midway getaway).  But we had a great time relaxing and staying cozy while the occasional snowstorm swirled outside our window.  We went to a couple of movies (The Hunger Games again--still awesome, and Wrath of the Titans--at the request of The Wife), watched The Aviator in our room, enjoyed a discount at the (so-so) on-location restaurant, took advantage of the indoor/outdoor hot tub/pool (outdoor hot tubbing while the snow gently falls FTW), did some fun shopping, including the discovery of a new and exciting store to us, World Market.  We didn't take many pictures, as it turns out, but we did have a great and relaxing time, and it was fun to stay somewhere new and actually understand the geography of downtown and local Park City a little better.  It seems like until now I had mostly just gone out of the way into the outlets part of town.

•  Just a few days ago, we participated in another stake 5K, this time at the old home stake with Mom and Dad.  It was a pretty good turnout, and there were runners of all ages.  I started out pretty strong, then still managed to pass one or two more people to finish 2nd overall (20:34), and was rewarded a ribbon and a watermelon for my efforts.  Right on!  Great prize.  Julie and Mom and Dad all did really well too!  It was a pretty good course through the old neighborhood, though those last couple of laps over grass around the elementary school soccer field were pretty brutal.  Give me pavement or give me death!  Okay, not death, but still, I prefer to run on pavement.

Then last Sunday, just because it's fresh in my mind, the men of the ward choir put together a nice ensemble of Brightly Beams Our Father's Mercy, and the The Wife and I enjoyed a nice picnic in the warming weather with some friends.

And that's about it!  Some fun weekend happenings.  Stay tuned for bewildering, bothersome news, followed by exciting, excellent news.

Non-Denominational Springtime Sort-Of Holiday Weekend

For those who are wondering why I gave this post such a ridiculous title, see this link.  I'm not going to elaborate on it, because it's absolutely ridiculous, but in this day and age when Christmas is under annual attack, it shouldn't come as a big surprise.  I will say that, erm, eggs are NOT even spherical.  *shakes head*

Anyway, we had a blessed Easter weekend, and I will now outline some of the events that took place.

On Saturday morning, we attended our stake 5K for our April race.   We had planned on doing one in Pleasant Grove that day, but there was some inconsistent information online, and it turned out to be a lot more expensive than we thought, and they didn't even have t-shirts unless you registered like three weeks early...  So when I received an email update a couple days before the event, we decided to support our stake instead (and it was free anyway!).

There were about 35-40 runners present, and it was a fun course that followed the paths along the Provo River.  It was a cloudy, chilly morning, but a good way to start Easter weekend.  The race was actually a little less than a full 5K, but I placed second at 20:14 (plus about a minute, when I kept running to make it 3.1 miles), coming in just seconds after the hardcore winner (I knew he was hardcore because he had long Under Armour pants and wasn't wearing any shoes), and Julie came in soon after.  They even had prizes!  Sort of.

They gave lanyards to everyone who participated, and for coming in second I was given a certificate (made out to "Drew Grahm") and a blue Gatorade.  Score!  The rest of Saturday was spent at Mom's house for Britney's bridal shower (I had a tea party in the attic with the toddler nieces) and having dinner and a HP7.1 party with Cami and Jake.

We also did a little grocery shopping for the coming week, and I was dismayed to find that they were completely picked clean of decent Easter candy, including Peeps.  I don't need much these days by way of Easter treats, but I always need a pack or two of Peeps, and I remember last year we had trouble finding them on Easter Eve as well (I mean, I know it's the day before, but come on, stock enough of the basics!), and ended up finding them at Walgreens the next Monday, which we figured we would do again this year.  I said something overdramatic on Facebook about my sorrow at not having been able to find Peeps, which started a brief and amusing discussion between me and my friends about the deliciousness (or not) of these sugary marshmallow treats, when something magical happened...  It was after midnight when we were startled by a knock at the door.  I hesitantly turned on the porch light and looked outside, when what did I see left on the doorstep?

They're even my favorite color!  I will take Peeps of any kind, but I'm attracted to all things blue, so that was a bonus.

It was such a little thing, but at the time it was one of those amazing little moments that makes you feel all tingly and giddy.  It was an Easter candy miracle!  We thought it might have been the sort of mystery we never solve (perhaps we would determine that the culprit is the same still-anonymous giver of the Wii game from last Christmas), but it didn't take long to discover that the party responsible was one of my mission friends who had been involved in the Great Facebook Peep Debate (and who happens to dislike Peeps, much to his wife's dismay, as she had bought some for him).  I'm so glad the unwanted Peeps were given a good home where they were certainly wanted.  I still think it was some kind of a miracle though, in that it was such a delightful and thoughtful thing to do, right?

Sunday was also very nice, and I wore my new pink tie that The Wife picked out--I'm not too cool for a nice pink tie.  Although I'm sometimes annoyed that our ward choir performs every week at church (except Fast Sunday), I still feel like I need to support it and participate and increase its membership numbers.  This week we sang this:

I have performed it with bigger and more... trained choirs in the past, and in much bigger venues, but the beauty and truth of this piece affected me this time just as much as it ever has.  I'm not ashamed to admit that I shed tears during the last verse, and especially the final lines.

We then had a great family dinner at my oldest sister's house, where Julie's maple dijon asparagus was a big hit, and there were incredible desserts, of which I'm not embarrassed to say that I had plenty.  I helped hide eggs, and then proceeded to help make sure the younger kids found some of them (we found some pretty good spots).

(Thanks to Amber for the pictures, which I swiped from her blog.)

Dad also shared a "special part" of a video he saw on the news earlier that morning, and which he recorded and copied onto DVDs for everyone (it can be seen here).  It's an entertaining Easter musical number by a huge group of people who aren't afraid to celebrate and proclaim their faith--and then, why not turn the event into a service project?  Christian pop is hit-and-miss, but I thought this was pretty neat.  I love how some of the dancers are obviously experienced, but others are there purely for the joy of expressing what they believe.

Easter is a delight, and this weekend was pretty much perfect.  I always get a really strong urge to watch The Passion of the Christ this time of year...  Maybe sometime I'll experience that epic movie again.

P.S.  While I'm at it, why not link to this as well?  A lot of people were linking to it on Facebook over the weekend.  I finally watched it today and thought it was inspiring.  I've always liked Carrie Underwood (and will often remind people that I picked her to win just from her audition, back in my American Idol-watching days), and as much as I don't generally care for country music, one thing that must be said of them is that they're not afraid to sing the praises of Jesus. Bravo, Carrie.


Spring Spheres? NONSENSE. Happy Easter, one and all.