Jamon and Staci and Liam

One and a Half Years

2012-01-15T19:05:00.001-07:00

Beware: more that usual thoughts by Staci

I can’t decide how to start this blog (other than how I just did). I have been so full of different emotions at Liam’s turning 18 months, Joy, Sadness, Anxiety, Excitement and so on. The only real milestones for this age are Nursery and more shots, but so much more is changing. Sunday Jamon and I took Liam into the far too small designated nursery room for the first time. Going in I was pretty excited. When we got there were kids crying (who have been in nursery for at least 6 months-what the heck), parents standing around, puzzles on the table and I had no idea who the leaders were. We sat Liam down at the table and he immediately started playing with the puzzle. He then got off his chair and tried to climb on another kids chair and then back to his chair and the puzzle, typical Liam. Then one of the Primary counselors came in, talked to us for a minute and then we said our goodbyes. I am not going to be the Mom that sneaks out when my child isn’t looking, although our departure probably would’ve been easier for him if we had. He started to cry, but the counselor took him and we just kept on walking. The emotion hit that I didn’t think would. How can he be big enough for me to leave him for 2 hours. Yes, we have left him with babysitters but he is usually asleep most of the time. I pushed the emotion away. People stared, with smiles, at us as we walked into Sunday School with no child. They knew it was a good day. And it was, but I was BORED. I’m used to entertaining or containing Liam and I didn’t realize I loved it. I MISSED HIM. Maybe I’m the one who needs Liam to sneak away from me so I don’t know he’s gone. I’ve spent 18 months weening him from nursing, bottles, pacifiers, being rocked to sleep, etc., I now need someone to ween me from him. I’m good through. Just need to get used to it, and let him grow up. Is this how it’s going to be all the time not wanting him to grow up…I’m in trouble.

As for shots…his 18 month well-baby checkup for some reason has me concerned for reasons I KNOW are not logical. Working in a Preschool for kids who have Autism you hear all the stories of how kids got Autism. There is Theory out there that 18 month shots have been the cause of Autism. I’m not going to get into a debate, but I don’t believe it. I do believe that the shots could be a trigger, just not the cause. Anyway Parents of most kids who have been diagnosed with Austism say that they started noticing digression in their child around 18 months. I didn’t want to be the Mom who worried about this, but I am. I am only because I know. If I didn’t know I probably wouldn’t worry. Since birth I have looked for developmental milestones, Liam has hit them all so far, I’ve even tried pushing milestones. So why the worry. Either way Life will go on and I know I can handle it. (Admitting that almost makes me feel like now he will get it…I’m ridiculous I know). I really try not to think about it, but I just felt like sharing it.

Now on to the fun part. The part where I tell you all all the fun things Liam does. We have not been to the DR yet so those stats will have to wait. Some of the things will be obvious that he can do, but it’s been 6 months since I have documented.

18 Month Stats:

Weight:
Height:
He now walks. Yes, I know my child’s amazing
He runs…fast
He is starting to eat really well with a spoon almost no spilling…almost
Stacks blocks
Can and will climb everything and anything
Loves to sit on the counter while I cook or clean the kitchen
When the TV is on he’ll turn look at it and laugh like something funny was just said or shown.
If he could would walk up the stairs. One day he even tried it. He only cried a little.
Says Thank you, please, dad, dog, shoes
He is very good at cleaning up. Usually cleaning up his own mess
Will help empty the dish washer. The silverware drawer looks awesome when he’s done.
Closes everything….obsessively
Likes anything with a Lid (see above).
Has his own Idea of where things should go. Example: Shoes in the measuring cup drawer
Wants to help us with everything…hope this never goes away
- taking out trash,
- building the fire
- putting clothes away
- putting groceries away
- sweeping
- opening and closing lids for us…obsessive
- Laundry
Went through a garbage can phase. Throwing things away, taking things out. I’m pretty sure he threw his croc away, Jamon’s wallet (which we saved just in time), and many other things.
Loves to jump onto the Love sac from the couch
Is still scared of the vacuum
Has become a horrible traveler
Loves Music. He always wants it turned on whenever we are in the kitchen.
Is becoming a very good dancer.
Gives incredible kisses

Now for pictures. Liam has a new smile…

Ridiculous. Where on earth did this come from? Every time I point the camera at him I get a variation of this exact face.

I wanted to Document his turning of 18 months, but not only does Liam pull weird faces, he won’t look at the camera, or won’t smile when he is looking at the camera. Taking pictures was frustrating. I did get a few good ones.

Best Picture of the Day

Love this guy!

It’s a Jolly Holiday

2012-01-04T21:32:00.001-07:00

Christmas was fantastic. It all started at my Parents house the Friday before Christmas and ended at my Parents house New Years Day.

My ENTIRE family consisting of 9 nieces, 8 nephews (that’s 17 total), 7 siblings, 7 in-law siblings, me, and a set of parents, all 34 of us, were all at one point during the Holidays in the same place. It was AWESOME! Christmas was spent with my Sister and her family and my Brother and his wife. It was so much fun opening presents with so many little kids around.

Christmas Eve we decided to actually act out the Nativity scene instead of just reading it. We haven’t done that in a long time.

Mary and Joseph played by brother Daniel and his actual pregnant Wife, Mattie

The Angel, played by Sis-in-law Kelly

King Herod and the Narrator played by Dad

Shepherds played by Mom, sister Jodee, Jamon and Liam.

One of the 3 Wiseman played by Bridgette

Other 2 Wiseman played by brother Mark and his son Nash.

Christmas morning happened early as it always does no matter how old we get. We were up by 6, including Liam, which we paid for later. We had so much fun with Liam. He actually seemed interested in everything he got.

One of his favorite toys…stacking cups. Something I wish I would’ve gotten him a long time ago.

His absolute Favorite present. He has enjoyed it since he’s laid eyes on it.

I wish I had taken more pictures, but Jamon spoiled me so much this year I didn’t have time between all the unwrapping, and it was just fun watching my nieces open up presents.

Other memorable moments:

visiting Grandma and Grandpa Twitchell and helping take down Christmas Decorations
Jamon not having to go home to work because there was an office in Cedar City
Jamon and I getting away to St. George for a night, by ourselves. Wonderful!
Playing in the Office building were Jamon worked in Cedar (more on that later)
Playing card game after card game
Eating DELICIOUS food
Finally not feeling nauseous…at all!!

Now for New Years.

First thing New Years Eve day my ENTIRE family, all 34 of us, dressed all fancy and went to the field behind my parents house were my cousin took our family pictures. She is editing them so I don’t have a lot to show off. Here is one she has finished.

The place Jamon went to work in Cedar was previously a fitness center. Most of it had been converted, but there was still a Basketball court and a Racket ball court. There was also a kitchen, two rooms with big TV’s and projectors, a room with ping pong tables and pool tables and 7 or 8 huge Love Sacs. We had so much fun playing there on Friday with everyone that we thought we would ask if we could use it for New Years Eve. The guy didn’t care so we packed up all our food, dressed in our comfy playing around clothes and went to the old fitness center.

The fun that took place:

Racket ball

Basketball

Eating

Watching football

playing all kinds of board and card games
Jumping from high places onto the Love Sacs
XBOX Kinnect: Just Dance

Ping Pong
Socializing
Pool
Corn Hole

All I can say is that it was a BLAST!

Excused Absence

2011-12-08T15:42:00.001-07:00

It’s true…I have excuses for not blogging in 4 months…procrastination only plays a…small part…

First Excuse: I am not in love with my laptop right now or our internet. Anytime I’m on using one of the two, or both at the same time, it seems to take forever to get anything done. So instead of getting frustrated I choose to stay away from it all. Here’s some things we did while the internet was slow…

Boating

Who else would we go boating with? Dave and Scottie, Jamon’s old roommates.

Texas

Cousin Brynlee did Awesome at getting Liam to eat.

Cousin Kylee and Liam

Liam’s first hair cut. Cut by my sister Camille

I think they’re in Love

Liam also learned how the boys dress in the 100 degree Texas weather.

Skateboarding with Ammon and Jaxon

Liam really did like it. He didn’t want to stop.

The Race is on.

And the Winner is…

We really had a lot of fun while we were away.

Second Excuse: Quiet Book. I made a quiet book that seemed to take way longer than I thought it would. Whenever I had time I chose to work on it rather than do anything else.

Cover, I can change out the picture for future kids

The Frog’s tongue snaps to the flies.

Caterpillar made out of buttons on a string, and a Butterfly with flapping wings.

Owl with a flapping wing that has a mirror under it, and a Lion with textured ribbon.

Fish Bowl with velcro fish, and an Alligator with a zipper mouth.

Barn with finger puppets.

Excuse Number Three: I’m pregnant…need I say more? Due June 9th

Oh yea, I got my braces off. Remember this smile…

Now look

Amazing huh. To bad I don’t smile so you can see my lower teeth. They are equally if not more amazing.

Turning ONE is fun…or not

2011-07-29T08:44:00.001-06:00

Whoa what a year…a great year…a AMAZING year.

I made plans, decorations, sent out invitations, made food, bought food, cleaned the house all for Liam to…get sick. 102 temperature for 3 days.

He was miserable. He only wanted to sleep and be held. So I did. I held him and let him sleep.

As for his Birthday Party…his FIRST Birthday Party… CANCELLED.

I know he won’t remember, but it is still sad.

We rescheduled his party for Friday. Liam woke up from his nap that afternoon with a rash all over his body and torso. Party… CANCELLED.

With no time to reschedule we celebrated anyway. Guests included Jamon and Me. Who else do you really need.

We started out with the cake. All I have to say is I tried.

He didn’t want to get any closer.

Ah, a smile…almost

He enjoyed the cake long enough to get the must have cake eating pictures.

Then the presents

He loves this toy (and the one he got from his aunt and cousins)

He got puzzles. Some foam, some wood, some with a little Spanish persuasion.

and a fun tunnel from aunt Jodee. It took him until he felt better to like it.

As for my decorations

they never even got put up. We just looked at them all week.

So now on to Liam’s One year Stats and pictures:

Weight: 22 lbs (30th percentile)
Height: 30 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 45 inches (20th percentile)
Took his first steps.
Took his first steps without coaxing, but still likes to hold our hands.
Crawls up and down the stairs.
Favorite food: Cheese
Cut his second and third tooth, number 4 is on its way.
Makes sure all the doors are closed even if we want them open.
Likes to put lids on things and then take them off…and then repeat again and again.
Loves to play with Magformers. (don’t know what they are, check them out here)
Can sort squares and triangles.
Has a fascination with pulling all the sandwich bags out of the box.
Is still, if not more, a talker. He always has something to say and usually speaks with his hand raised.
Is starting to become a flirt.
Loves to go swimming in our pool.
Thinks the bathroom is the most fun place to be.
Started throwing his head back and cry to show he’s upset…okay he tries to tantrum.
Loves to play with his toys and will do it for a while alone.
Laughs at himself in the mirror

I don’t know if I can express how much Love I have for this kid. I just can’t get enough of him.

This is the hydrangea we planted when Liam was born. It is blooming like crazy a year later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAM!

What’s Up…

2011-06-21T17:01:00.001-06:00

What’s up with Liam’s hair…

is a question I ask myself almost every day.

A side view and a back view.

This is a special hair-do… remnant of a Mohawk that Jamon gave him for church.

I try…I do…to stick it down. I’ve given up. It wants to stick up and so I let it stick up and just sit back and enjoy.

11 Months

2011-06-07T21:52:00.001-06:00

It’s true…one more month till this little cutie turns one. Craziness.

11 Month things to remember

cut his first tooth, FINALLY
figured out how to do the “roll it” part in patty cake
wore holes in the bottom of his shoes from walking (with assistance) around so much
loves to push things around especially if it has wheels
likes to open and close things, mostly cupboards
figured out that he can crawl to get where/what he wants (Me, and I love it!), but sometimes forgets that he can
started climbing the stairs
drew blood from a wound for the first time and a second time
got his first bruise, not from the above wounds either, he’s been hurt a lot this month
he Loves to watch things drop and does it ALL the time, food, toys, stuff in my grocery cart. If it falls he drops it
clenches his fists and tenses up his whole body when he wants something

30 flirty and thriving…

2011-06-02T09:49:00.001-06:00

Okay so not so Flirty (well…), but 30 and thriving, yes.

Here are 30 facts, tidbits or assumptions about Jamon.

he is balding
his favorite cake is German Chocolate
his favorite sport is soccer
his favorite person is Me…Liam…Me…Liam..
he grew up in Sparks, NV
he’s the Elders Quorum President
he drives a burnt orange Element
he is very forgetful…except when it comes to sports, movies, music, and the gospel.
likes to sing
has an awesome blue suit that he wears frequently
If he had a choice he would eat Pizza every night.
takes the trash out every Wednesday
his favorite movie is the third Lord of the Rings (I don’t remember the name and don’t want to look for it)
he has a list of movies he either wants to see in the theatre, see at the $ theatre, buy, or see at the theatre AND buy. He is very excited about all the Summer movies.
is an Awesome negotiator at yard sales
whenever we play Ticket to Ride Europe, he always gets to start because he’s been to the most places.
loves, LOVES, Sweet Tart Gummy Worms or just any gummy candy, especially those covered in sugar
is becoming a gardener
reads like he’s got a book report due the next day
just got a job as a Senior Accountant
would play playstation/xbox all night long if I would let him
can grow an excellent head of curly hair and a massive beard to go with it
struggles when it comes to beating me at games
checks out 3 or 4 news sites everyday and always has an interesting story to tell
is very adventurous and would be more if he didn’t have a wife and kids to tow around
wants a bigger TV because 42” is not big enough
looks HOT in a cowboy hat
is a fantastic dad, Liam thinks he’s great
makes yummy pasta
he always puts me first and is very loving and caring

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

SWEETNESS

Lots of Love to you!

10 Months

2011-05-10T21:20:00.001-06:00

Holy cow 10 months already

10 month thing so remember:

Talks with his hands.
has decided that the army crawl is good enough to get around.
found out that screaming can get him what he wants (we are putting an end to this).
Loves, LOVES to walk around holding our fingers, and is trying to do it with one hand.
On his own will try to see how long he can stand up.
Dances when his activity table plays a song.
Has become attached to mom (this sucks, especially for babysitters).
decided, himself, that he doesn’t need to take naps (yea right is what I say).
Gets SUPER excited to be outside.
Likes to flip the pages of books and will even feel the “touch” books.
Gives kisses
Started to feed himself with a spoon – bring on the mess.
Terrified of the vacuum. He keeps a close eye on it (it’s a good way to keep him away from the stairs).
Likes to swing.

Sure do LOVE this kid. I could just squeeze him all day long!

Easter

2011-05-03T22:05:00.001-06:00

Liam’s first Easter

His Basket included a swimming suit, new Sunday socks, shoes, and bubbles.

He also went on an Easter Egg Hunt.

Just making sure something is in there.

Can you spot the other 5 eggs? Tough, I know (and I don’t think my child is dumb)

Don’t we look all festive and pastel-ly?

Liam’s fancy suit. Pants too big, shirt too small, but SO dang cute!

I tried really hard to get some nice pictures of Liam to document his first Easter (no, I didn’t already have enough) but he wouldn’t smile when he looked or just wouldn’t look at all. This was the best smile I got. Yup, just excited to eat the leaf.

Flat Stanley Visits

2011-04-27T21:14:00.001-06:00

My niece, Kylee, sent me her Flat Stanley to visit. For those of you who don’t know who Flat Stanley is I will explain. This is Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley is a boy who was flattened by a bulletin board. So now he can can do all sorts of things like travel in an envelope courtesy of the United States Postal Service. Here are our adventures with Stanley.

It had been almost 2 years since we had been to Jamon’s hometown Sparks, NV so we decided to travel the 8 hours to visit Jamon’s 2 brothers that still live there.

We stayed with Cameron and Natalie on their small farm. They have some fun and unusual animals for a farm.

A Yak

Two Emus. One of them bite Flat Stanley.

A Llama who likes to give kisses

I think Jamon liked it.

They also have typical farm animals, cows, goats, dogs, chickens, cats, and pigs.

We also: played a lot of Kinect, which is so much fun, Jamon went on a ride-a-long with his brother who is a police officer, Had a dinner and a movie night, and Played Dance party (watch out Ethan and Kyle we’re going to win next time).

Liam started gnawing on a Clementine, which was quite entertaining. We all sat and watched for a good 20 min.

This is what it looked like when he was done.

Cousins: Emma, Austin/Ethan, Kaleb, Ethan/Austin, and Kyle. (I still can’t tell Ethan and Austin apart, I have to wait for someone to say their name in the morning and then remember what shirt they are wearing)

Thanks to Cameron, Natalie, Daron, and Jamee for letting us visit. We had TONS of fun!

Oh, wait do you ever wonder what a REAL farmer’s wife looks like…

straight from singing at a funeral to mowing lawns she can do it all, even in the same outfit. Amazing.

Wait!

Flat Stanley’s trip doesn’t end in Sparks NV, we drove home long enough to do laundry and then travelled to our favorite Idaho town, Ola, to help with the Round-Up.

Liam’s first Round-up. Doesn’t he looked impressed.

Instead of chasing the cows to the chute, Jamon just picks them up.

A decent family picture… in our work clothes…whatever works.

This is the new pet Turkey. Not by choice though, that is not by Mom A, Dad A, Weston, and Carrie’s choice. He just hung out with everyone for the weekend. And it was opening day of the Turkey hunt. Hmmm…

Liam and cousin Jaxon had fun playing and eating cheerios together.

Jamon and I went Shooting.

This is Daron, Jamon’s brother and police officer and my shooting instructor. He looks so tough.

Then on Sunday the river started to flood over so we checked it out and took these pictures

To end Flat Stanley’s trip to Utah he played with Jaxon and Liam and ended up loosing an arm. Sorry Flat Stanley

Thanks for visiting. When you come back bring my nieces with you.

9 months

2011-04-12T22:11:00.001-06:00

Whoa, three months went by SO fast. Liam is growing tons.

9 months stats:

Weight: 19 lbs (25 percentile, so they say, but we don’t think so. I don’t know how much bigger he needs to be to be in a higher percentile. Oh well at least he’s growing)
Height: inches (25 percentile)
Figured out how to role around to get what he wants.
Started to inch his way forward, but no crawling.
Sticks his tongue out all the time.
Likes things being thrown on him.
Loves to stand up on things, but prefers to use Mom and Dad’s hands.
Would prefer to lay down in the tub and roll around than sit up and play. He even tries to swallow the water sometimes.
Still sleeps through the night .
Eats whatever we give him.
Started throwing mini tantrums, by grunting and growling at us.
Makes an awesome horse sound.
So far, not a fan of grass. This better change.
His hair sticks up into a mohawk
Likes it when we tell him secrets in his ear.

We are LOVING Liam at this age. Every day with him is more and more fun!

8 Months

2011-03-09T21:06:00.001-07:00

Milestones:

Claps hands and will sometimes say “Yay.”
Thinks Jamon’s reaction to his Poopy diaper is SO FUNNY, and will laugh hysterically (Liam’s diapers, not Jamon’s).
Splashes so much during bath time that he leaves a layer of water all over the floor.
Almost doesn’t fit in his carseat anymore.
Gives High Fives.
Refuses to leave socks on while he eats.
Still babbles ALL the time.
Had a shower for the first time.
Laughs a lot over nothing sometimes.
Reaches for Mom (and I love it)

For Christmas Liam and Jamon got the same PJ’s. For some reason I never took a picture of them until now.

Dan + Matti

2011-03-09T17:12:00.001-07:00

What a week. It started out with going to the Temple with my brother, Daniel, and his fiance, Matti where they both took out their Endowments. It was so great. Then it was cooking, bridal/bachelorette parties, playing games, and more cooking. The week ended with Daniel and Matti getting married in the St. George Temple. What an Amazing day! Here are some picture highlights.

Pre-weddingUncle Jason playing with Bridgette and Liam, the babies of the family.

I laid Liam down to drink a bottle and when I went to check on him he had found a cookie. He thought he was pretty cool.

Pre-Coming out of the Temple

The Bride and Groom.

Don’t they both look SO Happy!!

The last time Jamon and I went to the St. George Temple we were getting married. We decided to re-create one of our favorite pictures.

Picture from 2 years ago:

Picture from Saturday, March 5.

Good Times at the Temple.

Liam Likes to Eat, Eat, Eat…

2011-02-20T22:01:00.001-07:00

Liam started eating solids, and he LOVE’s to eat. Here’s what he’s tried.

Rice Cereal: He seemed pretty nervous to try it.

If it looks like he is choking it’s because he is, but don’t worry he wasn’t in danger. He liked to choke himself the first week he ate cereal. He now loves eating rice cereal.

Carrots Sweet Potatoes

Squash Green Beans

Peas Pears

Bananas Saltine Crackers

Every time we would try a new food we would prepare ourselves, both of us huddling around him and camera ready. Except for the rice he never really pulled a face or hated anything he tried. He ate it all and loved it. I’m crossing my fingers that it will last for every new food he tries.

Second Year in Review

2011-02-20T20:01:00.001-07:00

Two years have flown by, and I mean that in a good way. Here is a quick review of year two of marriage.

Bought a house
Jamon went to Australia, which equals the longest we’ve spent apart.
Had a baby
Staci Retired
Went to Hawaii (Staci’s first time).
Jamon lost his job (don’t worry year 3 so far has treated us well).
Staci spent first Christmas away from home.
Jamon has had 4 callings, Staci 3.

I save all my mushy lines just for Jamon, so insert your own mushy stuff here. Well you can all know that I love Jamon, cause I do.

Six and Seven

2011-02-20T18:58:00.001-07:00

Have I been a slacker? Yes.

Because of a trip to Florida Liam’s 6 month appointment was delayed for a few weeks and I wanted to wait to have his stats before I posted.

6 month old Liam

Liam’s 6 and 7 month old stats (more like 6 1/2 month stats):

Weight: 15 lbs 14 oz (10th percentile)
Height: 26 1/2 inches (50th percentile)
Started eating solids and loves all food (future post about this).
Sits up all the time
Can finally roll over both ways, but prefers to sit up.
Thinks he’s pretty cool when he stands up (with the help, of course).
No longer has a clogged tear duct.
Went on second plane ride.
Played in snow for the first time.
Some how turns sideways in bed then cries so I will come put him back under the covers.
Loves snacking on: fingers, pretzels, and crackers.
Buzzes his lips, with much slobber, all the time.
Bath time is still his favorite time. He tried to turn sideways and ended up swallowing water (funny).
Ticklish pretty much everywhere.
Likes being held upside down.
Loves using his voice whenever possible and makes all kinds of sound.

Liam 7 months

We Love our little Liam J.

There and Back Again: A Baby’s Tale

2011-01-22T20:31:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time in a Happy Valley there lived a lad named Liam. At six month’s old Liam had great ambitions to one day roll over, walk, and talk. He had wonderful parents, whom he loved very, very, VERY much. They took him on the most excellent adventures.

A plane took Liam on his first adventure to a land called Hanalei (ok, so actually he went to Poipu which is on Kauai, but so is Hanalei and we went there too).

Liam had fun doing things such as:

Going to the Beach

Swimming,

Driving up Waiamea Canyon

and Hiking the Napali Coast

While he was sleeping his parents would check out the sea turtles

And while he hung out with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins…

his VERY APPRECIATIVE parents would play in the ocean, snorkel, and swim

What fun Liam had this adventure.

From this adventure to his next big adventure, Liam went to Enoch, UT for Thanksgiving, Ola, ID for Christmas, and Heber, UT for New Years. While in Heber Liam’s dad went snowmobiling, and Liam and mom stayed warm in the car.

Liam did get to experience snow for the first time.

Liam enjoyed his first New Years party by staying up to ring in the new year.

After a quick trip back to Enoch for a funeral Liam hopped back on a plane that took him on his next big adventure to a land where the sun shines, and oranges grow, Florida.

Here he played with cousins

and his new favorite uncle, Albert, who was very happy to have another man around the house.

Liam had a cold when he left for Florida and was taking a medicine that made him have diarrhea and made him throw up for the first time, and the second time, and the third time. So no more medicine and soon after no more cold.

Cousin Kylee celebrated her 8th birthday while Liam was visiting. She had a crazy party with lots of screaming girls.

Because Kylee turned 8 she chose to get baptized. She was VERY Happy and couldn’t stop smiling.

One day sitting around watching his mom, grandma, and aunt play games Liam became hungry. Grandma gave him an apple which he LOVED.

The weather in Florida was much warmer than in Utah so everyone decided to go to the beach. Liam dipped his feet in the ocean, liking it much more than he did in Hawaii even though it was tons colder.

Liam’s mom enjoyed spending time with her sister Camille and Grandma.

Liam’s adventures have taken him from sea to shining sea and on two plane rides all by the time he was six months old. This is a great feat since his mom didn’t reach this accomplishment until she was 29.

Liam looks forward to many more adventures, but is SO glad to be at home, and hopes to be there for a while.

A Merry Christmas

2011-01-21T15:39:00.001-07:00

Christmas was a little different this year for two reasons. Reason 1: I am a Mom, Reason 2: It was the first Christmas away from my family. It was a fun Christmas though, and I enjoyed every minute of the week we stayed up at the Ranch. Here is some of the fun.

This is the Christmas tree at Jamon’s Parents. It was HUGE. Liam, Jaxon and Jamon were playing in the living room while I was decorating the tree. I must have pulled to hard on a bow that I was putting on the tree because it started to fall over. I screamed as I tried to catch the tree, but ended up with only branches in my hands. Jamon became the HERO as he leaped over Liam (knocking him down) and pushed the tree away from landing on the boys.

Liam giving his favorite cousin, Jason, a Christmas Present on Christmas eve day.

Liam on Christmas morning opening up his FIRST Present.

I think he likes his new Pajama’s

Jamon got a new Xbox with Kinect. It is SO much fun. Anyone want to play with us?

Grandma made these fun PJ’s for all her grandkids. Thanks Grandma.

Other Christmas Vacation pictures.

Yes…Jamon and Ammon went sledding like this. It was a really nice day.

We’ve been…

2010-12-24T16:50:00.001-07:00

This Winter we’ve been enjoying this.

Trying to avoid to much of this

And looking for the big man dressed like this.

Merry Christmas!

5 Months

2010-12-10T15:21:00.001-07:00

Liam’s 5 month old stats

Still Drools a ton- notice shirt
Grabs for everything. Favorite thing to grab, Mom’s hair.
Loves to spit, which only adds to the drooling
Prefers sitting up to laying down even though he doesn’t know how to sit up yet.
Still hates tummy time.
Making tons of new sounds and enjoys listening to himself.
Went on his first vacation where he flew on a plane, dipped his feet in the ocean, and swam all for the first time.

I hope to post Hawaii pictures soon so keep checking back.

4 months

2010-11-11T23:01:00.001-07:00

This post is a little late, because Liam’s Dr appointment wasn’t until today and I wanted to have his stats.

Liam: 4 months old

Weight: 12.5 lbs (10th percentile)
Height: 24 1/2 inches (45th Percentile)
Loves to look at anything mom is looking at, especially shopping adds and the mail.
Is all of a sudden very ticklish every where.
Loves to stand up and thinks he’s pretty cool doing it.
Still loves to suck on his fingers.
Laughs at others when they are talking (this is something we will have to work on in the future).
Drools all the time, as you can see in the pictures.
Loves to stare at Mom when Dad is holding him.
Loves to stare at Dad when Mom is holding him.

It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, No, It’s…

2010-10-31T21:56:00.001-06:00

Clark Kent, Supergirl, and Superman.

Superman and the Black Ninja (Jaxon), out to fight crime.

Liam’s first Halloween has been Great. We started out our celebrating by going to Jamon’s Halloween party at work. His dept created a haunted golf course. We played a round of golf. I wasted Jamon. Liam loved all the flashing lights. Jamon left work early and we traveled to Enoch to partake of this…

Snake

a better picture of the Melted Witch

Halloween is my Mom’s favorite holiday, so she loves to go all out and dress up. Thanks to my mom for spending so much time on all the food and making Halloween so fun!

The next day we attended this..

That’s right a Sheep Parade.

Tractors, horses, and sheep is all the parade consisted of, along with a few square dancers, and a fiddle band. Oh and people actually came and watched, a lot of people not just a few.

To my Ola, ID family: When it’s time to heard the sheep we like to do it in style.

We drove back to Orem that night ate Pumpkin Pancakes with Ammon and Leslie, played a game, and passed out candy to all the neighbor kids.

It was a fun Halloween

But Wait…

found out these two, my brother, Daniel and his gal, Matti are getting married. I am so excited for them. Love Matti already.

3 months

2010-10-07T00:10:00.003-06:00

Liam at 3 months

9 lbs 11 oz

22.5" long

Loves to smile until he sees the camera, and usually only for Mom and Dad

Likes to suck on his finger (boo), but is starting to suck on toys (yea)

Would rather be bounced then rocked

His tickle spot is his neck, and cringes when he is being dressed

Loves to take a bath and splash with his feet

Sleeps between 9 and 10 hours a night (but hardly at all during the day)

We are having so much fun!

Holy Posts

2010-09-22T17:37:00.001-06:00

That's right, about 5 or so. Keep Reading.

Take a Hike

2010-09-22T17:34:00.001-06:00

Liam’s first Hike

He loved it.

Babies Everywhere

2010-09-22T17:18:00.001-06:00

Last Sunday we went to Jamon’s cousins homecoming, and another cousins blessed his son. After we celebrated at his uncle Brian and aunt Elaine’s house. We realized how many baby’s there were and decided to take a picture.

Jen’s sister and son, Jen and Samuel (who was blessed on Sunday), Katia and Andrew, Carly with Lilly and Kate, Elise with Luke, Me and Liam, and Leslie and Jaxon. 8 babies all under the age of 7 months.

Grandma Andelin was also there

Something Blue…

2010-09-22T17:17:00.001-06:00

Don’t you love it when you all end up wearing the same color and you go out in public.

We do look good though.

2 Months

2010-09-22T16:35:00.001-06:00

At Liam’s 2 month appointment we found out he only gained 2.5 ounces in two weeks when he should’ve gained a 14 ounces.

Don’t worry a week later he gained 11 ounces, way more than we thought he would.

Road Trip

2010-09-22T16:19:00.001-06:00

Liam went on his first road trip to the Andelin Family Reunion in Ola, ID.

Liam did really good on the way there, especially when I sat in back with him.

Speaking on Family Reunion here are a few pictures from that weekend Brigham was SO excited to hold Liam.

The Entire Andelin Family

Picnic in High Valley

Jamon’s Mom made everyone an apron.

All the Andelin Boys (Men), minus Liam…Sad (he was sound asleep).

All the Andelin Girls

And Liam just being Cute

In case you were wondering Liam did even better on the way home until we were 10 min from home…so close.

A Mountain Playground

2010-09-22T15:08:00.001-06:00

Jamon won 4 tickets to Park City Mountain Resort. We invited Jamon’s brother Ammon and his wife Leslie. We enjoyed activities such as the Alpine Slide, the Alpine Roller, and Zip line. Ammon and Jamon at the top of the slide

Ammon and Leslie on the Coaster

Me and Jamon on the Coaster

Going up the Lift to get to the Alpine Slide

In case you were wondering, yes we took the boys with us. We just somehow didn’t get any pictures of them. Weird

My Little Buttercup has the sweetest SMILE…

2010-08-25T23:01:00.002-06:00

I would like to introduce you to a few smiles

This first smile is almost a perfect smile.

Apparently this is what you have to do to get it.

Don’t I look excited?

This Smile is because he got a new Job!

Same company, new position in the finance department. As of August 31st I will be unemployed and this new job comes with a nice pay raise. Hmmm…I wonder who planned that? We are truly blessed.

Our next smile or should I say smiles is by far the best.

Gardening anyone?

2010-08-12T16:22:00.006-06:00

This summer has been so great, unfortunately we haven't spent nearly us much time outdoors as we would normally like because we've been keeping Liam indoors as much as possible, but it has been well worth have a healthy and happy baby. I have really enjoyed going in our backyard check out our garden to see its progress.

We have both been fortunate enough to come from gardening families and were excited to put all the skills we learned to the test. Anyway, here are some pictures to give an update on our garden.

Our garden is producing so many cucumbers, it is great to be able to give away produce to friends, and if anyone wants to give us a canner we could even try our hand at making pickles.
In Nevada, we never managed to grow carrots very well, I'm not sure why that was, but we are certainly doing great with these carrots.

We will be picking our first watermelon very soon, it will be great.
Our peppers are doing great.
Our tomato plants have grown a lot but haven't produced as much as we thought they would, we will get a good amount eventually but they seem a little behind on the production.

We didn't plant the rhubarb, but has really grown a lot.

The watermelon and pumpkins we planted have really grown out of control, we even have the pumpkin plant invading our neighbors yard (although I don't think they've noticed).

Our complete garden, we have plans to expand the garden size and improve the watering system for next year, hopefully we can double the production.

Cheers,

Not everything was a success, here is where we planted one of our tomatoes, but it didn't make it.

Blessing Day

2010-08-04T16:30:00.001-06:00

Liam was blessed Sunday August 1, by his daddy, Jamon.

My mom made is blessing outfit, which was a little to big, but I loved it. Especially the vest and bowtie. Thanks Mom!

(Please try to ignore his baby acne.)

Jamon gave Liam a perfect blessing. I am so Lucky to have Jamon, and for him to have the Priesthood. He blesses my life every day!

The whole Gang. Thanks everyone for coming.

The Wilcock Family

The Andelin Family

Our Family

And Now.. it’s time for more pictures of Liam. He is all I do now.

Liam Jamon

2010-07-12T21:50:00.001-06:00

I don’t even know what to say.

We just LOVE him SO much!

Baby Andelin

2010-07-07T07:20:00.004-06:00

In the year of our Lord two thousand and ten, on the sixth day of July at 6:45 pm, Staci brought into this world our son via C-section. He was 7 lbs 2 ounces and 20 1/2" long. He is super cute, see for yourself.

Here is Staci meeting her son for the first time.
Mother and Baby are both doing great, Staci is super, super tired. Unfortunately she wasn't able to get any sleep last night because of different monitors beeping all night, she is sleeping now and hopefully will continue to do so throughout most of the day. We haven't decided on a name yet but I think we're getting closer.

Staci started having contractions at 11pm on Monday night, we went into the hospital at 4am, and they decided around 8:30 to go for delivery and around 9 she got the epidural. She then had around 9 more hours of intensive labor before the doctor decided it would be best to opt for a C-section, for reasons I won't go into now I am confident that was the right choice.

I love my wife so much, what she went through to bring our son into the world is amazing. And I love my son so much, I don't want anything bad to ever happen to him. I am excited for this fatherhood business.

Australia: Part 2

2010-06-17T03:39:00.016-06:00

Since my last post I've had some pretty great experiences, I really do love this place. I always knew that Australia had some great wildlife but I didn't fully realize it until being down here and hearing about everything they have. Did you know there is a huge population of exotic birds down here. I think Australia has the most parakeets anywhere in the world, also there are cockatoos everywhere, it is so cool to see them flying through the trees. My friend down here said they get dozens in their yard some mornings. Fantastic!

Sunday was a great, relaxing day. I was able to spend the entire day with an old mission friend of mine, Alex Booth. He and his wife have been super hospitable this last week, they've made the trip so much better. I went to church with them and then hung out with them and their families the rest of the day as well as all day Monday. I am happy to report that the Church is the same here in Australia, although I did discover they are doing their tithing settlements right now as opposed to at the end of the year; I was super surprised when I found that out. A couple other things about Church, a guy in the ward gave a great talk in sacrament meeting, then afterward the bishop got up to talk and he informed the congregation that he had asked the brother to speak right before sacrament meeting started, no actually the guy volunteered to speak when he heard that the people who were supposed to speak didn't come. I was super impressed with him, not only for volunteering and giving a solid talk, but for not calling the Bishop out for giving him such short notice. It was very refreshing to not hear someone say, "when I was getting ready for bed last night the First Counselor called me ....", I'm glad he just gave the talk and didn't call unnecessary attention to himself, (I have been guilty of that at times and need to do better). In Gospel doctrine (taught by the same guy actually) I learned the story about Jonathan and his armor bearer found in 1 Samuel 14:6-15. What an amazing story of faith and courage, I am slightly embarrassed that I didn't remember that story. Monday was a great day; I went to the Healsville Sanctuary, it is essentially a zoo with only animals native to Australia. I saw some pretty cool animals; it was here that I started to realize the amazing heritage of wildlife that

Australia has. Some of the animals that I saw are:

Tasmanian Devils (way smaller than I thought, and a marsupial, meaning they carry their young in pouches like kangaroos, their gestation period is 3 weeks, wouldn't that be nice. But then the baby grows in the pouch for another couple months before it comes out.)
Platypus (I couldn't get a good picture of this because the cages were so dark seeing how they are nocturnal animals)
Kangaroo (these animals were so overfed, the workers would hand out pieces of carrots to anyone who wanted to feed the kangaroos, but those animals were so full that they couldn't care less about eating a piece of carrot.)

Emus (not that big of a deal for me because we used to raise them)
Brown Snake (most venomous in the world, but rather plain looking so I didn't post a picture of it)

Shingleback lizard (the tail looks like the head)
Frilled neck lizard (possibly the coolest lizard ever, and super expensive to buy in the States, hundreds of dollars)

Wombat (I didn't get a good picture of this)

Koalas

Echidna (I had no idea what these were until Monday)

Lyre bird ( a pheasant looking bird, it can mimic almost any sound, including drills, cars starting, etc. The pic I got wasn't all that great.)

Tree monitor (Alex said on campouts they would chase these lizards, and they aren't small, maybe six feet long, Australia has more monitor lizard species than the rest of the world combined.)

Bearded Dragon (I didn't take a picture of one because seeing one in a cage isn't a big deal because I had one for a while, but that they are wild in Australia is awesome)

Dingoes (a lot smaller than I expected, they walked two of them right by me, when I asked if I could pet them the trainer said I wouldn't want to because they had just been rolling in wombat manure, like I would let that stop me from petting a dingo. Unfortunately she kept walking really fast and didn't let me give a rebuttal.)
The area we visited that day was quite beautiful, it is called Yarra Valley. It is known for its wineries, not very appealing to me but the scenery was fantastic. Below is just a sampling of the area.
It was a great day, and a great thing about it was it was a national holiday here in Australia (the Queen's birthday) so I got an extra day off this year. My boss didn't realize there was a three-day weekend between the two weeks he planned on having me here, all well.

More to come, I love it here but I have never been more excited to come home from a trip, I miss my wife so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so so (I think you get the picture) bad.

Australia: Week 1

2010-06-12T04:22:00.010-06:00

I will give a general update of how things have been here so far.
My first morning I woke up at around 4:30, but the clock in my hotel room was off by more than an hour so I thought it was 5:30. I left for work at what I thought was 7 but actually 6, when I got to work there was no one at the office yet and almost nobody on the street.I had to wait about an hour and a half before I could get into the office to start working, not the best start to the week.

For most of the week I have just been waking up early (around 1, then 2, then 3, then 5 every morning), working then going home.
I have been getting pretty good at navigating from my apartment to work and back, and I also feel pretty confident with driving on the opposite side of the road. It is fun to see people's reactions when they find out I've never driven on the left side of the road until this week. They are always surprised that I am driving, but impressed that I've picked it up so fast, at least that's impression I get but I could be totally misreading them.

Last night I met up with an old mission buddy and his family. I drove out to his house, about 30 minutes outside of the city, and had dinner with them. It was so nice to have home cooked food again. After dinner we went to an Aussie rules football game, known as simply the AFL here. I was really fun for me but not as much for Alex, my friend. They team he roots for was playing a much worse team but ended up getting crushed in a huge upset. But it was fun watching the game, the field is huge and there are a ton of guys on the field at the same time. If I try to explain the game in this post I'll just ramble on and I probably won't be very clear anyway, so just enjoy a couple of these video clips. Oh, I also learned the rules to Cricket, that's an interesting game.Also yesterday I visited a couple buildings in the city, including the aquarium. It was pretty small but the main attraction is a huge aquarium with sharks, snappers, and huge sting rays. Divers go in and feed the fish a couple times a day and create huge feeding frenzies with hundreds of fish, it's pretty cool.

Today, I went driving on the Great Ocean Road. A beautiful drive that goes on for hours, I only went on a small portion because of my time restraints.

I went swimming in the ocean despite it being super cold, I couldn't pass up a chance to swim off the coast of Australia. I was really hesitant until I saw some local teenagers going to swim without wet suits. So I hung out with them, getting pounded by the huge waves, and freezing in the water (and rain).

I also saw a couple wild koalas. There was a car pulled off the side of the road with its occupants taking pictures of something so I stopped to see what the hubbub was about. Sure enough there was a koala really close to the side of the road, I saw her climb down a tree, walk on the ground and up another tree. I was super happy to see it. Seeing animals in zoos and seeing them in the wild just feels different.

That's all for now. Enjoy the pics.
Here are a couple video clips of Aussie rules football.

I come from a land down under.

2010-06-06T22:44:00.002-06:00

I am in Australia! My company sent me to Australia to do some internal audit-type stuff. I am super excited to be here; I am looking forward to really doing well on this business trip to further show my worth to the company in hopes that I will get great compensation (a raise) and more chances to travel. The only bad thing about this trip is my wife can't be with me because she is 8 months pregnant. Everything that I do here will be done with a tinge of regret because my wife won't be with me. I am also very concerned about the baby coming early. I will be praying for the baby to be patient and I won't mind if readers of this blog do the same. I am very grateful to have great family close by to take care of Staci while I am gone.

The time difference will make chatting with my wife over skype a little interesting, the plan is to talk during my lunch and her evenings. I will be a day ahead of her. Looking at the clock on my laptop, it should be Sunday afternoon at 2:49, but here it is Monday morning at 6:49. Hopefully I will get over jet lag fairly quickly.

Wish me luck, but more importantly wish my sweet wife luck.

Oh by the way, I will be in Melbourne, the second largest city in Australia, for two weeks.

You may think I don't look that great in this pic, I had just gotten off a 14 hour plane ride with only standing up once; my feet and legs are still swollen from the trip. When I told Staci, she really got a kick out of it, I now have a tiny idea of one of the many things she is going through being pregnant.

Happy Birthday

2010-06-03T06:34:00.001-06:00

29 years

My “Jamony” turned 29 yesterday (I remember those days)

We celebrated by having a few friends over for Calzone’s. We all had a good time sitting outside on our patio enjoying the warmth of the day.

Make a Wish!

Doesn’t he look good in this picture? I think So!

(Don’t mind my belly with flour all over it)

Present time: Jamon got Avitar that he was supposed to open over Memorial Day weekend so we could watch it at his parents house on the big screen. With my memory these days that didn’t happen. He’ll now have to watch it on our little 42” screen, bummer.

He also got some fun magnet toys that he couldn’t get enough of at my niece Addison’s Birthday party. Come over and let him show you how cool they are.

He also got a point and shoot camera. He needs it for his upcoming adventures. Look for future posts about these adventures.

Jamon is so great. He did so much to help me get ready for his own party. Next year I promise I will do it all!

Love you so much Jamon. Thanks for stepping up everyday to make my day a little better! I just think you are the BEST!!

A For Real Married Couple

2010-05-26T22:05:00.004-06:00

Thought we would post some pictures of our fantastic yard that we bought.

We really got lucky that the previous owners took such good care of it. Now all we have to do is keep it up with a little weeding here and there and mowing the lawn, which Jamon does so well.

I, of course, couldn’t go without planting my flower pots.

Jamon working the soil.

And we planted a Garden. Our first garden…tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, pumpkins, carrots, and watermelon. We really tried to do things just by what we have learned from our parents, so we are curious to see if things will really grow and produce. If not, it will be fun trying.

Disclaimer: Our garden producing or not producing in no way reflects the teachings of our parents. They taught us well by example and putting us to work. If we get no produce it will be because we wanted to do it on our own, and we will make sure we ask more questions for next year. We love our Moms and Dads.

How for real of a married couple are we? A house, baby on the way, and a garden. It really feels official when you have all this going on.

And since I’ve been slacking on my Prego pictures (Sorry Stephanie) here I am at 35 weeks.

More House Pictures

2010-04-26T19:44:00.001-06:00

Formal Living Room and Kitchen

Upstairs Bathroom and Master

Baby’s Room and Extra Room Upstairs

Family Room (These Pictures are of the same room)

We signed ALL the Papers today and are moving in Saturday.

WOO HOO!!

Designer’s Needed

2010-04-18T21:07:00.001-06:00

We need help. We’ve bought the material (shown below) that I will be making all the bedding, curtains and such with for the baby’s room, but we have run into a dilemma…

What color should we paint the room?

Right now it is a true baby blue and definitely needs to be painted. I wanted dark wood furniture, but we’re ending up with white, which I really am fine with. So with these bright colors and white furniture what color/colors/other idea’s do you suggest?

March-ing on

2010-04-06T20:29:00.001-06:00

I Love March!

Here are some things that either I or Jamon or both of us have done this month.

Jamon went to Arizona with two of his brothers to visit another brother.

While Jamon was in Arizona I went to Enoch to see my new niece, Bridgette. Check out her hair.

This is the material that I bought for the baby’s room. This will make a baby bumper, quilt, curtains, and anything else we can make out of the rest of the material. It’s a little bright I know, but I love it!

We Participated in the filling out of March Madness brackets. We didn’t do so hot. (orange are the games we won)

I got kicked in the stomach and later kneed in the stomach, but I have since had a Dr. apt and ultra-sound and baby is fine. Being a mix of Andelin and Wilcock he has to be tough!

I Celebrated my birthday early with the preschool on the 26th. Only because I had a self imposed no treat pact going on till my birthday and if I celebrated it early then I would be able to have treats early. Smart thinking right? I was SO excited to have treats/cake/ice cream/chocolate and all else sweet and yummy.

For my real birthday We both went to Cedar for my niece’s baby blessing. It was fun celebrating with Daniel, my brother, whose birthday is on the 27th and with Bridgette, my niece, for her blessing.

I got my first credit Card. Still haven’t used it, but I have it.

Last, but not least, We bought a house. Actually we are under contract and will close on April 28th. If everything goes as planned we will be moving May 1st. Woo Hoo! Here are the specs on the new place.

4 bedroom
2 bath
2 car garage
updated kitchen with all the appliances
formal living room
Awesome family room
Fenced in Back yard with tall trees, patio, garden area, and sandbox
big Storage room and pantry
Basically move in ready. No need to paint, change carpet, or upgrade anything. This doesn’t mean that we don’t have plans to do some of these things, but only for our benefit and liking.

Can’t wait to move in and most importantly be settled, before baby comes into the world, which is in 12 weeks. Here is me at 28 Weeks…

Prego Update

2010-03-04T20:34:00.001-07:00

23 Weeks

Other than the extra pounds I’ve been feeling Great. He is kicking like crazy, just not where Jamon can feel him. His favorite spot just happens to be my bladder and anything else surrounding that area. Very rarely does he kick my stomach, I’m sure that day will come, or at least I’m hoping it will for Jamon’s sake, and my bladders.

And What to our Wondering Eye Should Appear...

2010-02-23T13:06:00.003-07:00

February 16th I got a text from my brother Mark informing me that his wife, Kelly, was in Labor. Total surprise since she was not due till March 10-ish. So I was anxiously awaiting the text that would follow with "here HE is", along with the weight and length and of course a picture. Instead I got the following picture and text.

"Well what a shock. A baby girl!!!"

It took several texts back and forth to realize that my brother wasn't kidding. They really had a girl instead of the boy everyone was expecting! I don't mind though, niece or nephew I just love 'em all!!

Check out all that hair.

Happy Valentine’s Day

2010-02-14T13:45:00.001-07:00

One Year Down and…

2010-02-13T15:45:00.001-07:00

One year down and ___to go.

Wow…one year down. I’m sure everyone says it, but I can’t believe it’s already been a year and at the same time it seems like it’s been a lot longer. However we were feeling we knew we needed to take a trip back to California (destination of Honeymoon #1). We had this trip planned at 6 months of marriage, before we knew we had a bun in the oven. So we did what we could with me being pregnant.

We took this picture exactly a year from the time we were married. Feb 7 12:00 pm.

Here are some of the things we did

Sea World: We spent two days here. Thursday and Sunday.

We saw animals:

This was the Dolphin we played with.

We saw the shows:

We decided to sit in the Wet Zone. We got just a little wet.

We saw the Sea Lion each day we went. Both times we saw the show it was different, and all because of this seal. He decided to ruin the show in different ways. It was really funny.

Journey to Atlantis-Roller coaster

We watched several people come out of the ride and none of them were coming out wet. So Jamon decided that he would take a turn. He didn’t have a dry spot on him.

And now it is time for our Favorite Sea World game: What in the SEA WORLD is that?

Here's how you play: We show a picture and you guess what it is. Answers below

Universal Studio's:

Our short half hour drive ended up taking 1 1/2 hours. It ended up raining the whole day. We had fun, but we could have done without the traffic and rain. It also took us just as long to get home.

You would think he got wet from the ride. He didn’t. It’s just from the rain

The only dry place I found the whole day. I sat here while Jamon went on all the rides. He was able to go several times, because of the rain and time of year. He had fun.

The Beach:

Saturday it was raining most of the morning so we just hung out, then all of a sudden the sun came out so we decided to go to the Beach. The sun went away immediately when we arrived.

Huntington Beach:

Laguna Beach:

AHHH….The sun was out for good on the last day of our trip. It even reached 70 degree’s. We both got a teeny sunburn.

Jamon Really couldn’t stay dry. Every place we went he ended up wet, most of the time really wet.

Showing off the baby bump.

We love the Sun!!

So what do two people do when they have just been gone for 5 days...

Yup, we both had so much work to catch up on. This is what we looked like all night. We only got up to change to laundry. It was well worth it though!

Answers to What is the SEA WORLD is that?

1. Lion Fish 2. Star Fish 3. Eel 4. Sting Ray How did you do?

It's a...

2010-02-03T14:51:00.002-07:00

BOY!!

ALL IN ONE

2010-01-07T13:13:00.017-07:00

So I decided since I'm to busy (and tired) to sit and post everything I would like to that I would put the last two months into one post. I'm writing this on my lunch break (which I don't get to often) so we'll see how long it takes to finish.

December started out by Jamon going back to Folk Dance. It was the 50 anniversary to they called everyone back. He got to dance in the beginning number and hold a flag at the end of the show. You can't take pictures of the actually performance so here are some after. He got to dance in the beginning number and hold a flag at the end of the show.

Jamon really wanted to make treat plates to take to his primary class so we went shopping and whipped everything out in just over 3 hours. We went easy, except for the fudge and Jamon really wanted to try making it. It tasted great, but didn't ever set up.

For Christmas we went down to Enoch to spend the week with my family. We got there Tuesday afternoon and didn't leave until the next Monday. We did a lot of game playing and movie watching. Christmas was fun. My family still gets up at 6:00 am. Jamon got piano lessons, sweaters/jackets, and playstation controllers. I got a remote for my camera, a GPS system, a nice coat/jacket, and a cozy warm house robe that is turning out to be the best present!

One of the kids my mom babysits likes to play with this marble set. I'm pretty sure Jamon had more fun with it. If you've never played with a marble set you are missing out. It really is quite fun and entertaining. Jamon built this one all by himself, with no help. Good Job!

The day after Christmas we woke up early and went Ice fishing. My family loves to Ice Fish and Jamon has never been. We bundled up good because it was SO COLD. We drilled our holes and droped in the poles. Jordan caught the first fish, but it was too small to keep. Through out the morning I think 10 fish were caught, but I'm not sure how many we could keep.

Pictures:

Jamon Drilling a Hole

Wade and Jordan with the first fish

Jodee, Mark, and Mom

Tayson

Dad

Jamon

Jamon and Me

The Crack in the lake

We cut our Christmas Vacation a little short because my good friend/roommate/gym buddy got married. We drove through the snow Tuesday morning to the Mount Timpanogos Temple. It was a good and short ceremony. We went outside in the freezing cold for pictures. Then later that night we met Scotty and Dave for a movie and then the reception. It was a good day and I am so happy for her. I will miss her since she moved to West Virginia. Jamon is now my gym buddy.

Jamon and I have a picture similar to this from our wedding.

So the next day Wednesday, we woke up early and left our house around 6am to drive to the Ranch in Idaho for New Years. It took us 8 hours to get there, 1 1/2 hours longer than normal. It was very snowy for the first part of the trip. Up at the Ranch we enjoyed more games and movies and tons of sledding/tubing/snowboarding. We had an early New Years with the kids and then when the New Year really rolled in I was sound asleep in bed while Jamon and others were watching a movie. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've slept thru New Years.

I told you this post would take forever. Almost a month. I'm not even going to promise to try and do better in the future. I'll just get to them when I can. Sorry to those who want updates more frequently.

Gettin' Ready

2009-12-14T16:20:00.004-07:00

Friday night Jamon and I went to Heber to babysit my two nieces, Ashlyn (4yrs) and Addison (1 1/2 years). I have babysat Ashlyn before, but never Addison. I haven't even been able to spend that much time with Addison. We got there as the girls were finishing dinner. I was able to distract Addison while Mom and Dad left, by playing Disney Princesses with the girls.

It took Addison a good 30 min before she realized Mom and Dad were gone. When this happened I was ready to pick her up and comfort her, but, No, she wanted nothing to do with me and even cried harder when I tried. Jamon on the other hand was able to pick her up and entertain her and make her smile. Ashlyn, who is SUPER shy and scared of men, other than her Dad, even had fun with Jamon. It was a huge break through for Jamon.

The only thing I could come up with while laying nauseous on the couch was "talking pants." I told Ashlyn that my pj bottoms, which have "Merry" written all over them, said "Merry Christmas" and she took it very literally. She said "you have talking pants?" I said yes every time you touch them they talk. So every time she touched them I would say "Merry Christmas" and she would give me a good laugh. Even though most of the time it sounded fake, it made me feel funny.

So Jamon spent the whole night holding Addison and when it was time to get her ready for bed he chose not to change her diaper, which made her mad because I had to do it and she didn't want anything to do with me. We got through it and Jamon was able to put her asleep not only once but three times. She kept waking up when he would try and lay her down. So finally he just laid her on the couch next to him while I slept on the bean bag. Don't worry I put Ashlyn to bed before I fell asleep, so I was a little help.

Ashlyn

Jamon trying on Ashlyn's Hat

Watching a Movie with the girls

Putting Addison asleep. Good Job Jamon!

It was a good experience for Jamon. He had most of the responsibility that night, not by choice, but it was his and he did great. I was very impressed. It makes me even more excited for June 29th to arrive (this is the due date for a little one to arrive). We may not be ready yet, but we are Gettin' Ready!

Late halloween update

2009-11-19T13:53:00.005-07:00

So I realize I should have posted this a month ago but I figure better late than never.

Halloween at Sirsi Dynix (where I work) was pretty relaxed and I have the pictures to prove it. But don't let my boss see them. :)

Everyone was encouraged to come dressed up and luckily Staci had a last second costume idea for me although admittedly it wasn't much of a costume.
That is an authentic Brazilian national soccer jersey, and by authentic I mean actually purchased in Brazil by my bro-in-law, Mark, while he was serving his mission there when Brazil won its last World Cup, coincidentally this was the same time that I was serving in Italy and had to witness Italy with a terrible performance in the WC that year; however, they did regroup and won it four years later in Germany, Forza Azzurri! But that is beside the point.

The fun times came when we went over to where another work station where some employees had set up rock band. The excuse was they decorated their work station with a rock star theme for the company decorating contest, they didn't win the decorating contest but if it was a popularity contest chances are they probably would have won.
So as you can see in these pictures I passed some time shredding the guitar and grooving on the bass. I didn't try the drums this time nor did I display my vocal skills. But it sure was fun. Our best song was "Livin' on a Pray" by Bon Jovi, we ended in the high 90s, pretty sweet for a band thrown together at the work place. :) A random fact, Jon Bon Jovi's last name is actually spelled Bongiovi but he changed the spelling to Bon Jovi, why you ask, because it's better I guess, but it is pronounced the same.

In this second picture we look like we're in a trance, which isn't too hard to believe considering we're playing plastic instruments and feel like we are actually rocking out. :)

Later on in the day, everyone's kids came around trick or treating thus creating enough of a distraction that I was able to take off early.

And today I just got back from a company provided Thanksgiving feast and we get all of next week off.

I love my job. (sometimes)

Fish Out of Water

2009-10-19T10:10:00.004-06:00

Here is a picture I tried to take of some ducks in the water, which didn't work because it was to dark and I have yet to figure out how to use my attachable flash. As I took the picture a fish decided to jump out of the water. How many times do you catch a fish doing that in a picture? Anyway, I just thought it was cool.

HOT HOT HOT

2009-09-27T15:04:00.005-06:00

This is what happens when you win second place at the Ward Chili Cook-off.

(yes, there was more than 2 entries)

Prize: Everyone will FINALLY know who we are and... a dinky candle.

(except that no one still knows who we are)

Back to School

2009-09-02T19:16:00.005-06:00

If someone would've told me that I would be teaching my 5th year of Preschool (and even starting to get used to being called a teacher), even two years ago I wouldn't have believed them. Yet here I am. I think I'm still enjoying it. For the most part I do. I could do without the whining from moms all day or the crying when I make a child do something they should already know how to do, or the standing and peeing all over the floor, or the hands in the pants when there is poop in there, or the bus that shows up 30 min late. So I know what most of you are saying, this is what moms do everyday. Okay, I agree, try 12 kids doing anyone of these randomly throughout the day. What I can't do without: having them finally put a piece of food in their mouths (after a week and a half of school) by THEMSELVES, remembering how to walk in a line, peeing in the toilet, better yet pooping in the toilet, remembering my name, the faces they make, the funny things they say, and just how super cute they are just to look at. I wish I could post pictures just to show you what I mean.

(Jamon got up early to take my first day of school picture)

So here's to another year of stress and fun, most likely FUN!

Off to the Lake

2009-08-26T20:45:00.013-06:00

Once again Jamon and I are off to the Lake. This time not for fishing, but for a little boating fun.

Boaters: Jamon, Me, Scotty West, Steve-o, Dave McMullin and two of his friends, and our driver, Dave's Dad.

First we did this...

Then we did this...

"The Torpedo"

Jamon and Steve-o really rode it like this

We did A LOT of this...

And then we did some of this...Wave Surfing

All because of this guy

Dave Mcmullin

Dave and Jamon danced on the Folk Dance Team together, lived together several times for years at a time, and have been friends the whole time. Dave was my home teacher. He put up the blinds in my apartment, got me addicted to several new TV shows and introduced me to the world of Hip Hop music. He has been a great friend to both of us at different times in our lives. We will miss him as he goes to PT School in the heat of Arizona.

Other pictures of our day...

Zion, Mountain Meadows, and...

2009-08-25T09:38:00.010-06:00

So Staci has posted about the first half of our summer vacation in July so I thought I would finish up and post about the second half. On a side note, does it bother anyone else how tiny of a window it is to see your post while editing it, and how hard it is to arrange photos? It totally bugs.

This is a picture from the fishing trip that I really like.

On one day we drove to Enterprise, UT to visit Staci's grandma and afterwards we drove to St. George. On our way we stopped at the Mountain Meadows Massacre memorial for a couple minutes. That was such a tragic series of events, check my other blog for some ramblings on it. The picture below has the actual location where the massacre took place in the back ground.
We stayed in my grandma's house in St. George, which is available for family use (a great place to have available, the last time I stayed there was the night before we married). We woke up early and headed for Zion National Park (not Zion's National Park, thanks Tyson for correcting me, albeit in an insensitive and arrogant way :) jk).

I have been wanting to hike Angel's Landing for quite some time now and I finally made it down there to do it. It was a great hike, definitely worth doing, and starting early in the morning is a must for hiking in the summer. We got a little later start than we had hoped but still early enough so we were done a little after noon. We felt bad for the people just starting as we were finishing.

When we got to the top we actually had a couple minutes with nobody else up there with us. It was very nice to have a peaceful couple minutes up where the angels land with my very own angel....oh Staci I know you love it :-)
We found that the chipmunks are very friendly at the top, a little too friendly at times.
This was the closest I've been to a vulture this big so I had to take a picture of it.
This is a real pic, I wasn't photo shopped in.
And then we went down.

That was the highlight of the vacation, so much fun.

The following week we went back down to Cedar City for a couple birthdays and a baptism. After our nephew Tasin was baptized we had a picnic at the park and played around. It was fun playing in the park with my nieces and nephews.I played with a Transformer

Played soccer with Tason
And played tag on the toys, (having the Spiderman t-shirt on helped me climb on the toys much better. It was lot of fun. Oh and we couldn't touch the ground.

But they did wear me out very quickly, I was always so confused as a kid when people would tell me I had too much energy for them, I couldn't understand how, I guess I still don't know why but I do know that little kids have so much stinkin energy.

In the end we spent three weekends in a row in Cedar City/Enoch but all things must come to an end sometime.

(hint, I put the picture of the sunset to represent our summer vacation coming to a close)
I know I was inconsistent on having explanations to photos switching from being above the pictures and below the picture; but I couldn't do everything perfect otherwise there would be nothing for me to improve upon. :-)

Yankee Meadow

2009-07-27T18:13:00.009-06:00

Early Tuesday morning Dad, Tason & Jordan (nephews), Jamon and Me headed out to Yankee Meadow. We were going to get some fishing in before everyone else came up.

Jamon catching some shut eye & Dad setting up poles for the boys.

Tason, Me and Jordan.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy

We had fun and caught bigger fish then we did at Fish Lake, not as many though. Four total, but we let quite a few go.

Jamon helping get the boat hooked up.

I caught the second biggest fish. I'm really not as disgusted as I look.

The Beginning and Birthday's

2009-07-25T14:40:00.023-06:00

The Chapman's are finally here. We (the Wilcock family) can't wait for this time every year. Albert, Camille, Kylee, Brynlee, and Haylee drove into the drive way at 7:00 pm Saturday night and won't leave until the 26th. I have missed my nieces SO much! Saturday and Sunday we all played games and had fun talking.

Kylee, Brynlee, and Haylee

Monday was Brynlee's Birthday so we had a fun party/BBQ with two other brothers and their families.

Top Pictures: Roasting hot dogs and playing with polywogs and frogs.

Middle Pictures: The amazing pinata Jodee made and the birthday girl taking a swing. Jodee dumping out the rest of the candy and yup that's Jamon getting in there too. Actually he was helping Brynlee get the most candy.

Here are the amazing cakes Camille made and all the cousin's and one friend who came to the party. (It's a flower and butterfly)

Enjoying the Party