CALIFORNIA!!!!

William and I spent a glorious 10 days in the lovely weather of Southern California during the beginning of April. It was a much needed vacation and visit with my dear friends Richard and Karin Mallard. Unfortunately, work prevented Tyler to join us on this trip, and I tell you what, I hope to never travel by myself with an infant again! We also celebrated William's first birthday on this trip at the beach. I also don't recommend taking a child who puts EVERYTHING in his mouth to the beach. He ate several "SANDwiches" while we were there.

This was the beginning of one of our long walks. I've found California is NOT a big believer in sidewalks...so we spent a lot of time dodging cars on the side of the road. William put a lot of miles into this stroller on the trip.


We spent a lot of time outside, and it was fun to see William and baby Ezri interact with nature. You can get a good picture of how big the Mallard's english mastiff dog Grizzly is. He is a great dog!


Look how precious Ezri is, she just turned 4 months. William and Ezri are betrothed to be married when they are 39 (if they are both single).


We saw a TON of Peacocks on one of our walks. They are free roamers in the city of Arcadia (city bird) and you can get a hefty fine if you hit one. Fitting we saw one on the "stop" zone of the road. : )


William got a short ride on Grizzly, he really enjoyed that.


Karin and I did some temple work at the Los Angeles temple while Richard hung out with the kids. It was a gorgeous visit, and William enjoyed tasting some "holy" grass.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM! We had fun at the beach, and I let William put his feet in the ocean. It was pretty cold, but he liked the wet sand. He also got his first Happy Meal today (mainly for the toy) and loved the french fries and apple juice! I love his one tooth, but he does have another one starting to peep through.


William loved exploring every aspect of the sandy beach. You can still see traces of sand on his face. 3 handfuls of sand made their way to his mouth, and he would crawl in the sand and dunk his head to get sand all over his face. He thought it was funny...


This is what happens when you travel alone. I had William in a front backpack carrier, my diaper bag on my left shoulder, dragging my check on back and carrying William's car seat in my right hand. The winter weather made me late to the airport and I literally had to run through the airport to catch my flight. Luckily I don't remember getting these bruises because of the adrenaline, but they were a pretty stark battle scar of the day's events.


I thoroughly enjoyed this vacation and look forward to doing it again some day, only Tyler will join us!

Update

Quick update-sorry no pictures today. William is approaching his 11 month mark, so we will be celebrating a birthday in just over a month, I'm so excited. He is becoming quite a monkey with his sounds, and crawls all over everything. I love it when he crawls after me, and he is even starting to try standing/kneeling up to the furniture. And the big news of all...he has a TOOTH! It has just broken the surface! Funny how he has very little drool, and isn't too fussy, so what was going on those days/weeks where he was drooling a gallon a day and continually fussy? Oh well, we love it all anyway!

I'm officially working 3 jobs at the moment! Crazy I know, but I tend to thrive on stress...thus here I am. I work for my mom with Guardian Angel finishing up the ski season, I am still working as a temp at Beehive, and I work for the U.S. Census. So when you get the questionnaire in the mail-do me a favor and fill it out, it's not a hoax! It will have more benefit for you than you think. Anyway, most of it will slow down in a month, but March will be busy! Tyler is signing up for classes, and hopefully will be able to work full time in April...

I made my first fondant covered cake, and it's not too bad for being my first one. I made a small chocolate rectangle cake with cream cheese frosting and then marshmallow fondant with white stars on top. It is absolutely delicious! I'll be making another one next week for the Relief Society birthday party.

I'm traveling to LA, California the first week in April, and I'm so anxious to get there. I need a break and serious vacation. Tyler won't be able to come this time, but I hope to have a relaxing visit with some friends. It will be a great time for William and I to share together.

William-10months!

Look at those big blue eyes!!! All I can say is watch out ladies! William obviously is still very much toothless, but he takes on any challenge when it comes to food! He started crawling at the end of January, and now he is becoming quite the mover! He is so happy to be free to move around, but I've discovered he has taken an unusual liking to chewing on carpet lint!

He is still my snuggle buddy, and loves to play with flashlights while he is crawling. I am so pleased with his healthy developments, and he passed his last check up with flying colors. He is now just a few ounces shy of 24 pounds, which makes for a healthy workout for me every day. He loves to play with Tyler and his flight simulator game flying airplanes. In fact, he flies his toy airplanes already!!! He has really added so much to our lives, and I feel so lucky to be his mom. It is strange to think he is approaching his 1st birthday, but I'm happy that he is learning so much and enjoy every moment! His adorable chubby cheeks are so kissable, I have a feeling I'll miss them when he grows up. He has helped me enjoy the simple things in life and keeps me in the "now" rather than rushing from one thing to the next. Boy do we love him!

Masquerade Ball

Sorry I'm so late with this. Tyler took me to a Masquerade Ball on October 23rd, my first masquerade ever!!! Needless to say, I felt like Sarah in Labyrinth, finally with the Goblin King in a romantic setting. Well, the music was more swingish, but we had a grand time anyway. We even ran into my cousin and his date, we enjoyed knowing at least two other people there. We had a blast, and Tyler looked SO handsome. Definitely my Knight in Shining Armor (although Zorro and James Bond come to mind with this picture). I hope to be able to do this again some day. Masquerades are just fantabulous!

Crystal Clear Crafts

Hey everyone, I just posted new stuff on my Crystal Clear Crafts blog. Check it out and tell me what you think. I'm anxious for anything I can do to improve it. Life is good at the moment, we are trying to simplify our lives quite a bit. One of the ways I'm trying to simplify is not being a demonstrator for Stampin Up!. I'm sad to be stopping for now, but hopefully in a few years I can get going with it again. My last party is November 19th at 7pm at my house. If you want to come, let me know. I can put in orders until the end of December, so if you are interested in getting anything through me, now is your last chance.

October!

Finally, I have some fun pictures of William this month.

Here he is with his keys. The ONE time where we will willingly give him keys...he reminds me of the knockers on the movie Labyrinth, the one that holds the knocker in his mouth, funny moment.



William loves his dad Tyler. Whenever they sit together, William loves to watch his dad's every move. (the fact that Tyler is eating food is irrelevant) I love it when they bond!



Ever since we starting feeding him in the high chair (he eats baby food now, yaya) he likes to see all the different positions he can fit into. This way he has easy access to nibble on any unsuspecting toes and fingers.

We have had a lot of fun watching this little guy grow, and he grows well. He has tapered off at 20 1/2 pounds (for how long, I don't know) and a little over 30 inches. I'm grateful he is so great for the camera most days, so we can capture all his funny faces. If anyone can give me pointers on readjusting the pictures so they aren't sideways, please let me know! Stay tuned to more pictures after Halloween, we are going to have TOO much fun. Just the way I like it!

Back to Reality...

So I am still at a loss with getting pictures and film on here the way it's supposed to be, so I reluctantly can only provide written memories. Oy.

We came back to Idaho just after Tyler's birthday so he could start school again. Oh, the joys of getting an education...time consuming, great learning, and lots of studying. Tyler only has about a year left, and then he will go on to get his masters or work for a few years. That one is still up for debate.

William has been sitting up pretty well on his own since September 30, but not for more than about 5-10 minutes. He still struggles to regain his balance when he reaches for things, or he gets tired of holding himself up, so he tips over. He has quite a large vocabulary in the 'babyish' language, which is really enjoyable to listen. He screeches occasionally (something he gets from being around girlies) and I'm not such a big fan of the sound, but he pulls a pretty funny face when he does it.

I can't believe he is already 6 months old. Well I can believe it, but the time has really sped up over the past few months. I have a feeling it will only continue to speed by. We are feeding him rice cereal these days, and he took to as though he's been eating from a spoon his whole life, he doesn't spit much out at all. I'm still hesitant on feeding him baby food, maybe in a few weeks. He is the captain of his toys and will roll over to reach what he wants. He is very laid back (ha ha, no pun intended since he's usually laying on the floor) and very curious with everything around him. I have to work for him to smile, but when he does, it lasts quite a long time. I am convinced Tyler will always have the magical power of getting William to giggle on command. They spend a lot of time together when Tyler isn't at school, and they are great friends. There is a strong bond between them, I love to see it.

I have been working as a temp teller at Beehive, and I've been able to work for the past 3 weeks quite a bit. It has been a great blessing since I acquired a hefty ER bill from September 11. Once again, not the best day of the year. We are staying afloat, but I admit I do look forward to being established in a home of my own and Tyler having a successful career (in whatever it is he decides). Life now allows us to appreciate the simple things of life and grow closer together through the hard times life throws at us. I know now more than ever how lucky I am to have Tyler and William in my life, they have made my dreams come true and superceded all my expectations.

Long story short, our lives are good, we've encountered some bumps (what can you expect when we live in a mortal world) but we have enjoyed the ride and try to do our best to make lemonade. Oy, the only thing I'm not too thrilled about is the cold and snow, but that's what happens when you live in the 'burg! :)