I'm not THAT old!

I was just in the bathroom, looking at my reflection, and what did I behold? WHITE HAIR!!! And not just that my hair has turned white. But the tiny two inch long hairs that have grown in since I had the baby are bright white.

How old am I?

I came back into the bedroom and told my husband the terrible news. He says to me, "That's why we got married. To grow old together." What a sweet boy. I think that's why we got married -- to love each other no matter what.

But I'm not old yet!!

Learning to Eat

We're trying to teach Caleb how to feed himself. Yesterday, I cut up a little bit of banana and put it on his tray after I finished feeding him his baby food. He did really good at picking it up in his hand, but then he'd clamp his fist shut and couldn't figure out how to get the food into his mouth. I think he ate maybe two bites -- the ones we put in his mouth for him.

I bought him some of those Gerber finger food snacks (can't think what they're actually called). I got him the sweet potato variety since that is one of the two vegetables that he'll actually eat. I figured we'd save them for church and other occasions when he has to sit quietly in our laps and behave.

Today was church, so Caleb got to have his new treat. At first, he did the whole fist thing again, making it impossible to get the food in his mouth. He just slobbered a lot on his hand, which made the food start to dissolve inside his little fist (not the prettiest picture).

I started holding the food between my first finger and thumb (instead of laying it on my open hand for him to pick up) and he was able to grab it at the top of his fist and then feed himself.

But then he figured out that if he just grabbed my hand, instead of grabbing the food, that it was a lot easier to get into his mouth.

From there we progressed to Caleb simply leaning forward with his mouth open till the food managed to find his mouth. Very cute, but not quite what I was hoping for when I bought it.

Oh well. At least he liked it. Maybe next week he'll do a little better.

Shy Smile

When Nathan and his family were here, Caleb started to do his shy smile more. It's a super cute smile and he tucks his head into my body while he does it. Today, however, my mom came down and he was doing it for her when nobody was even holding him. So instead of tucking his head into my body, he was simply tilting his head to the side. He then proceeded to do it for almost everyone that looked at him the rest of the day today.

He doesn't do it for us, though, which makes me feel like he knows we're his parents. Or at least he's used to seeing us all the time. We do get other cute smiles. I think the shy one is precious when I'm holding him, since he cuddles more. But when nobody is holding him...it's just silly.

My mom was the one trying to get him to smile for today's photo shoot. So I ended up with several pictures of the crooked head tilt. I wonder what he'd be like if I took him to get professional photos.

Cornbellies -- Days Ago

A long, long time ago (Tuesday actually), we took Caleb to his first corn maze/pumpkin patch festival place up at Thanksgiving Point. It was so freezing cold. He hated it. I had brought his biggest and warmest coat for him to wear, but then we ended up wrapping him in his blanket too. He was still freezing. Eventually, Brandon zipped him up inside his jacket. It was really cute to see Caleb all bundled up against his daddy's chest. He fell asleep like that for a while because he was just too overwhelmed with the cold.

Before that though, we went on this fun cow ride together. It wasn't actually fun. It was so super bumpy and uncomfortable. What I didn't realize when I got in the little cow bucket was that there were two different sizes and the one I climbed into was meant for little kids, not adults.

Once the baby was asleep, the adults were able to have a little more fun. We went through the corn maze, as well as a couple other little mazes with special rules. There was a hay ride that was way cool because they had all these jack o'lanterns lit up that were intensely amazing.

Mirra, who's two, had a lot more fun than Caleb did, which makes me look forward to the days when Caleb is a little bigger and able to play more.

Applying for the Position of Tyrant

When I first thought about writing this post today, I only had one thing to say. Now that the baby is in bed and I can finally write, there's a whole list. I figure that I should apply for a position as a tyrant since I would be great at the job. And if it's the kind of job that requires a nomination, I think Caleb would be more than willing to nominate me.

The original reason I thought I could make a good tyrant is that I forced Caleb to eat an entire jar (stage one size) of green beans. He cried with every bite. I kept doing silly things to get him to smile and hence open his mouth, and then I'd shove another spoonful into his mouth. He did manage (against his will) to eat the entire jar and afterwards, I let him eat a thing of apricots with mixed fruit (apples, pears, and bananas). He really liked the apricots.

Yesterday, the neighbor's kids made Caleb cry (although in their defense, he was already really cranky and so it didn't take much to make him cry -- and the older three were actually trying to make him smile; the baby however, probably just thought he looked tasty and was hoping for a sample). Then today, we were sitting outside in our backyard and the kids were peering over at us, so I invited them into our yard to play. The 2 year old wanted to hold Caleb (he didn't like that). She also wanted to feed him (since I had a bottle of juice out there with us) and in the process, got juice all over him, including in his hair.

While it meant that Caleb had a great spiky hairdo the rest of the day, it also meant that he needed a bath. We don't bathe him very often. Usually, when we do finally break down and bathe him, I hand him to Brandon while he's already in the shower. Not tonight. Tonight, Caleb got to take a bath like a big boy. And he hated it. Cried pretty much the entire time.

Then, when I put Caleb in bed, after he fell asleep nursing, he woke up and started crying. But I just left him there to cry. Last night, about thirty minutes after I put the baby to bed, he woke up crying. I checked on him to make sure he was okay, but then left him to cry. An hour later, he went to sleep. Tonight he only cried for a few minutes, but still... Normally, Brandon feels responsible for Caleb sleeping and will rush in to put him back to sleep when he cries. But Nathan came up to help him on the kitchen, so he's been too busy to deal with the baby. So Caleb's gone back to the cry it out method that worked so well for us in Texas.

Regardless of the reasons for my tyranny, I still feel bad about it. It's been a hard and stressful day, can you tell?

Tagged Again

This time Jocelyn tagged me wanting to know six facts/habits about me. That's kind of vague. I'm not good with vague. So instead, you get six things I love (besides my kid, since everyone already knows that about me).

1. Butterflies -- I love the symbolism of butterflies. The whole transformation thing. Becoming more than you are. I think that each of us has our own butterfly hidden down inside of us, yearning to be free. We're all capable of so much more, but often limit ourselves to the life of a caterpillar.

2. Clocks -- I think every wall of every room could use a clock. I always need to know what time it is and like to be able to see a clock no matter what direction I am facing. I have no idea where my addiction to time comes from, but it's definitely there.

3. Candles -- There is something so soothing about candlelight. Sometimes when I'm stressed out or feeling down, Brandon will light a bunch of candles and it always calms my soul and makes me feel better. I also love watching the smoke curl up and vanish into the air when you blow a candle out. Plus, I think candles are beautiful even when not lit and I love using them just as decoration.

4. Books -- I love to read young adult novels. This is also my favorite genre to write. Something about teeny boppers falling in love... it makes me happy. There have been times in my life when I would go to the library and check out as many young adult novels as I could carry, read them all in a week and then go back for more. That's a lot harder to do now that I have Caleb, since I try to pay him attention whenever he's awake. I don't think I have a favorite book, although I can read the Harry Potter books over and over again. This summer, after Brandon bought me the 5th and 6th books, I read them and the then reread the 7th even though I had just finished the 7th book only a week or two before that. (And all when Caleb was sleeping, but he used to sleep more than he does now.)

5. Journals -- I don't actually like writing in journals, but I just love having blank journals. Once they're written in (even one page), I don't like them as much. I have tons of blank journals though. Sometimes I try really hard to write in a journal and will do good for a little while, then won't write for a really long time. Then, when I talk myself back into writing, I always want to start writing in a new journal, since I'm in a new and different place in my life. I guess that's one reason I love blogging so much; it's a much easier way of journaling. Plus, I don't have to write in any of my journals and they can all stay perfectly blank.

6. Picture Frames -- Even before I had such a cute baby to take pictures of, I loved picture frames. I own so many picture frames, yet they are still one of my favorite things to buy. They're coming in handy now, however, since I have so many cute pictures of Caleb that I want to hang up in my house. I don't actually have enough wall or shelf space for the amount of picture frames I own, but that doesn't stop me from finding new and cuter frames at the store that I just have to own. And it certainly doesn't help that everything at Kohl's is always on sale, especially the picture frames.

Now you know a little bit more about me. And something you may already know, if you read my post the last time I was tagged, I'm not good at the pass it on part of chain letters. So, as tempting as it would be to now tag Shannon six times, I'll pass. (Though if anyone wanted to write more about them on their blog, I'd love to read it. And you can consider yourself tagged, if you need a tagging in order to do it.)

Jealous of Nora

p nnnnnnnnn .l./. , zzn oi, mnibnm m/ n, mmmmmmmm, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm cvvvvvvvvvvxz gfd z;ikkuj10111111111;; xxxzz 322214`32113 ,z bnnnnnnnnn v n jmn './ ,mn ' bbbbh,c, .8jmmmz 7ihc, vn

(Caleb is scared of the vacuum. Writing helps him relax.)

On our way to 80,000

Brandon did some calculating and estimated that if I keep at my current picture taking rate, by the time Caleb turns 16, we'll have 80,000 pictures of him. I doubt that's true (mostly because I'm guessing I won't be able to get my teenage son to sit for me long enough to get that many pictures).

But in the meantime, I thought I should post some more of the future 80,000 that I don't normally post. These were all taken today.

Seven Months

Caleb, I love you.

I love your smile.
I love your laugh.

I love how handsome you are.
I love your baldish little head and the cute blond hair trying to grow there.
I love your bright blue eyes.

I love the way you give me kisses (or rather, suck on my cheek when you're hungry. But to me they are kisses).
I love when you give me hugs (whether voluntary or not -- but the voluntary ones are way better).
I love the way you lunge dive when you see something you want and love it even more when it's Mommy that you want.

I love your soft hands. I love when they reach out to find me.
I love your cute edible feet. I love you can stick them in your own mouth. I especially love when you eat one foot and let Mommy eat the other one.
I love your kissable belly.
I love your ticklish armpits.

I love the way you gobble down your food, especially when it's carrots. You can eat all Mommy's carrots when you get bigger.
I love that no matter what food we feed you, you always make the "gross" face on the first bite.
I love that sometimes when you talk, you stick the back of your hand in your mouth and wave your fingers. It's so cute!
I love that you can roll anywhere you want to be, even if you end up under the coffee table.

I love when you smile when I get the camera out as if you know it makes me so happy.
I love that you are so photogenic.

I love everything about you. I'm so glad you came to our family. You bring so much joy to our lives. Happy seven months old day to you today!

(And don't worry. Daddy loves you too.

Daddy loves that you are training to be a bully by knocking all the toys over.
Daddy loves that you won't ever really be a bully because you got beat up by a girl in your first fight.

Plus all the things that Mommy loves about you, Daddy loves too.)

Finally!

I finally graduated! After all this time, I mean, really! Actually, if you read the diploma, it says that I graduated May 2006, which was technically a while ago. But I just got the diploma in the mail today, so it finally feels official.

I know. A year and a half later. I thought the reason I never got it was because I was supposed to do exit counseling for my student loans, which I didn't get around to for over a year.

After I finally did that this summer, and still didn't get anything from them, I started to wonder if I hadn't actually graduated. Maybe I'd failed a class without realizing it. Maybe the people I interned for never sent in the paperwork they were supposed to fill out saying that I had indeed interned there the required number of hours. Maybe all this time that I'd been telling people I had a masters degree, I didn't really have one.

But apparently that wasn't the problem at all. They mailed me the diploma right after graduation last year, but the address they sent it to was our Anaheim address and by then we were already living in Colorado. And as I've learned from this summer in Texas, even if you put in a forwarding address at the post office, you don't get much of your mail forwarded to you.

So, I finally got around to calling up Chapman and just a few short days later, I'm officially a graduate. Got the paper to prove it and everything.

I might as well be pregnant

Last night, Caleb and I went out to dinner with my mom and my aunt Cheryl. We went to Johnny Carino's -- which is kind of an Italian restaurant. My mom and I decided to share two things, so we got the Lemon Rosemary chicken and the Stuffed Roasted Vegetable Rigatoni. Both tasted so divinely good. Till about twenty minutes after I finished eating.

At first I thought the food just wasn't settling well. Maybe I ate too much, or too quickly. Give it time and it would pass.

By the time I got home again, I felt bad. And with a little more time, I wanted to throw up. Not to mention the heartburn.

Seriously, I felt like I was pregnant again. Although, if I was pregnant, I'd definitely have thrown up instead of just feeling like I needed to. But at least when I was constantly sick back in my prego days, I ended up with a super cute baby. Now I'm sick for no reason whatsoever.

I'm feeling better today, but not all the way, so Brandon is having to take care of the baby more, while still working on our kitchen.

(But don't worry, I'm definitely NOT pregnant. And it's also definitely not my gall bladder, since I don't have one of those anymore either. Should be up and running again soon. Although I never run, so...)

The morning after

Proof that we all need our beauty rest -- Caleb's so much cuter (and much more willing to smile) after he's had a full night's sleep. Or a mostly full night's sleep.

Pumpkin Carving

Caleb thought he was the scariest jack o' lantern of all. Mostly, he just wanted to compete with his Mommy and Daddy who were busy carving pumpkins of their own.

Caleb thought carving pumpkins was really fun. It meant that Mommy and Daddy sat on the floor with him while he played with his toys. (But first, he had to pose for a picture of course.)

He really wanted to help Daddy though.

Brandon had to be careful not to cut the little fingers as he finished up his pumpkin.

Brandon, Caleb, and Brandon's finished pumpkin. It turned out really good.

Caleb thought the pumpkins were more fun when he finally got to beat on them.

The finished masterpieces: Jacob's, Cristal's, Brandon's, and mine.

Projects

Brandon's still working on remodeling our kitchen. It's coming along quite nicely. The other day though, as he was tearing up the laminate flooring, he discovered this nice green floor underneath. I was sorely tempted to leave it. :) It does explain the ugly green paint we found behind the fridge when we moved that though.

Tuesday night, I left Brandon home with the baby and went out to be crafty. Babies R Us was having a scrapbooking class and I got to make this for free! I felt so crafty doing it too, although the lady in charge already had the pieces cut out and everything, so there was very little work on my part. It totally made me want to make a scrapbook for Caleb. Or maybe just hire this lady to make one for me.

Nostalgic

I was reading John's blog the other day about his trip to Washington DC and it made me miss living there. I don't know why, considering I didn't really like living there when I did live there.

But there were some things that I did like and that I definitely miss. One of the things I miss the most is all the good places that there are to eat in the DC area.

When I lived there, we lived near the Shirlington area in Arlington, VA. There was this Thai restaurant over there that made me fall in love with Thai food. The helpings were huge and the food was delicious.

So, feeling nostalgic after reading John's blog, Brandon and I went out to dinner tonight (since we have no kitchen) and I suggested Thai food. We went to this little place near our house here in Provo. It might have been Brandon's first Thai experience. And it was less than mediocre. Barely tasty. And not that much food. I was sorely disappointed.

Next time we try something ethnic, I think I'll take Brandon out for Indian, since he's never had that either and I know Provo has a least one good Indian place.

Picture collage

I've been uploading pictures onto Picasa lately as an easy way to share them with others. Mostly I've been doing it because I'm lazy and both Laura and Holly have been asking me for pictures and instead of going through all my pictures myself and then emailing them, I've just been uploading all of them and making them sort through them themselves.

Since all our photos are now stored on our old PC downstairs, instead of on the Mac, I've discovered that Picasa works very differently on a PC rather than a Mac. And using the PC, I was able to make this collage of photos from this month. I thought it was cute, so I'm posting it.

Now back to uploading photographs...

Remodeling

We've officially begun remodeling our kitchen. Brandon's been wanting to do this for a really long time. My mom gave us their old stove from their house in St. George. She brought it to us on Sunday. So yesterday we went to Lowe's and bought new cabinets and new counters. We still need to pick out new tile for the floor since we didn't like anything they had at Lowe's.

Today is the demolition day. Brandon is banging away in the kitchen. Half the time it scares the baby, the other half the time he is so fascinated. The difference is whether he can see what's going on or not. If he's in the living room with me, the loud noises scare him. If we put him in his exersaucer to watch Brandon from the dining room, he thinks it is the most exciting thing ever.

I asked Brandon how long it'd take for him to remodel the whole thing. He figured seven days (and pretty much not doing anything else for those seven days). We'll see how that turns out. I want to have a Halloween party here, so that gives him all of two weeks to get it done. Our neighbor came over earlier to see what Brandon's working on (since our old stove is sitting in the front yard currently) and said it took him a month to remodel his kitchen. Keep your fingers crossed it'll be done in time.

On the Upside

I know that Utah isn't everyone's cup of tea. When I first moved to Utah back in 1998, I wasn't a fan either. In fact, the first time I saw that white stuff falling down from the sky, I called home wanting to cry, while all my roommates went outside to play in it. Over the years, I've come to love it here.

One of my favorite things about Utah is the seasons. I know there are a lot more places in the world that have seasons, but having grown up in Southern California, seasons are still new and exciting to me.

After the adorable fall photos I took of Caleb two weeks ago, I was eager to get back out there and take some more before all the good colors are gone. Friday afternoon, we set out for another photo session. By the time we left our house, there was probably only a good hour left of sunshine, which made me nervous to drive all the way back to Provo canyon. So instead, we just drove around our neighborhood and were able to find some great spots to take pictures.

I love that you can find beauty almost anywhere if only you just look for it.


I really want to go to a pumpkin patch to get a good shot of Caleb, but until then, this one will have to do...


Oh, and since moving back to Utah, I've discovered one of the pluses to living in Houston. I never needed to use lotion there. My heels, which seem to always be dried and cracked, were beautiful while we lived in Texas. Oh well. I'm glad to be home again anyway.

Eating Like a Big Boy

We went out to dinner at Red Robin. It's one of my favorite places to eat because I love their french fries. When I was pregnant, it was probably the one thing I craved the most often. (Other random cravings I had for a good stretch of time were cake doughnuts and potato soup -- both of which were extremely hard to find in Provo.) It seemed only fitting that after all those potatoes the baby wanted while in the belly, that it should be his first real food.

He's had bits of real food. We've fed him rice cereal and baby food from the jars. He's also had a couple grains of actual rice (cooked of course) and tiny little bits of bread from my pizza crust the other night. But this time, he got his own piece of potato and just chowed down on it. He was so cute to watch. He absolutely loved it too.

We were going over to some friends' house after, but needed to get a few things from home first. While I ran into the house, Brandon checked Caleb for the remains of his potato but couldn't find anything. He was a little worried that the baby had actually eaten the whole thing. But then we when we got to Springville and took the baby out of the car, I found the rest of his potato on the floor. He did eat a great deal of it though.

Since he's our first baby, little things like this excite us.

I love the look Caleb's giving Brandon in this photo.

Sorry for Slacking

During the long intermission when we didn't have the internet, Jill tagged me and I've totally been slacking on following up. So here, long overdue, is my response.

4 Jobs I've Had
Caleb's Mommy
Substitute Teacher
Secretary
Sandwich Artist (aka I worked in the Cougereat)

4 Movies I Could Watch Over and Over Again
Bring it On
Mean Girls
The Notebook
The Family Stone

4 Places I Have Lived
Chino, CA
Arlington, VA
Broomfield, CO (Denver suburb)
Stafford, TX (Houston suburb)

4 Favorite Places to Visit
The beach
Provo Canyon
NYC
Cancun (well, it's on my list of where I want to go on vacation next - I haven't actually been)

4 Favorite Desserts
Sara Lee poundcake (from the freezer section of your grocery store)
Chocolate covered strawberries (when the chocolate is still warm)
Chocolate cake
Rice Crispy treats (homemade, not store bought)

4 Favorite Dinners
Lemon chicken (though I don't have a good recipe)
Kabobs
Filet Mignon
Vegetarian Fajitas

4 Websites I Visit Daily
The Collinwood Clan blog (I'm so addicted)
Gmail
Google reader (since I'm often too lazy to visit actually blog sites)
and then usually I'll check our blog again to see if anyone has made a comment (I love getting comments)

4 Hobbies
Taking pictures of my baby
Writing
Quilting
Smothering my baby with hugs and kisses (he'll need a therapist later in life)

4 People I Tag
Shannon Fox
Shannon Fox
Shannon Fox
Shannon Fox
(I'm not really good with chain letters, but I figured since Jill already tagged Shannon and she's been slacking worse than I have...maybe this will help motivate)

Home Bodies

We're finally starting to relax into a everyday life here in Utah. We've been home for a while now and don't have any more trips planned until Thanksgiving time. Now that Brandon is done working for a bit, we have so much time to do nothing. Luckily, nothing is my favorite thing to do.

The weather has been great lately, so when we do start to feel a little bit of cabin fever, we can just go outside and are instantly cured.


Caleb loves our little excursions into the world, even if they are only to our front yard.

Yesterday, we took him outside and let him sit and play in the grass. So far, he's not too interested in the grass, but rather with all the fallen leaves that litter our yard. He thinks they are even more fun to eat than his toys are. But given the choice, I'd venture to guess that his favorite thing to eat is still his mommy's hair.

Another fun place that we like to hang out is our backyard. I know, we really are quite the travelers. Because it's Utah, we're not big on fences here. There's a semi-fence like thing between our yard and our neighbors (the ones we like, not the ones that complained about the fiber optic cable hanging too low in their yard). Our (good) neighbors have a garage like storage shed in the backyard near the edge of their property. Typically we think of our backyard as starting at the edge of the garage/shed, but technically they still have another foot or two. So we joined with them in making that extra little spot a shared wood pile for us all to use.

We really like our house. It's so nice to have a place to call home.

Conference Weekend

We really enjoyed Conference this past weekend. Ever since I read that President Faust had passed away, we've been speculating as to who they would call to take his place. There was much anticipation for the Saturday morning session. Then, as life would have it, the baby slept in and we were fifteen minutes late turning the television on. The rest of the meeting we kept wondering who they had called. Every time someone got up to speak, I'd say, "It's not him." When the lights came up in the conference center for the choir to sing, I tried as hard as I could to see who was sitting in that chair. Then, right before President Monson's closing talk, I see that it's Elder Eyring. Of course, President Monson then says it in his talk, so all my strugglings to find out were unnecessary. Elder Eyring wasn't who I speculated it'd be, but I think he'll do an amazing job and I really like him, so I'm happy.

My favorite talk was probably by Elder Oaks who talked on making the best use of your time. It's funny that I liked that one so much, but had to totally tune out Elder Hilbig's talk on pretty much the same subject. I think it was when he said something about spending too much time on the internet. I guess that one is a little bit of a sore subject for me. (Yes, I'm addicted. But I'm not ready to give it up just yet. Or probably any time in the near future.)

Caleb really enjoyed watching conference as well. Granted, he plain old enjoys watching television, but I like to think there was an extra special love for conference. The picture above, where he's smiling, was taken while the choir was singing. As you can see, he's surrounded by tons of toys, but he didn't care. He just wanted to watch tv.

Sometimes I wonder when we forget about the life we had before this one. Sometimes I feel that babies still remember. Or at least recognize to some extent. When Caleb was little, like a week or two old, he used to stare at the one picture of Jesus we have up in our house. We thought it was just something odd, though sweet, that he did. But then we took him to someone else's house that also had a really large (but different) picture of Christ on the wall and he totally stared at that one too. He was five weeks then, I think. Having that second experience to back up the first made us think that he really did remember to some degree.

But he still does it even now. I took him to the distribution center the other day while we were waiting for Brandon to switch our cell phone numbers to Utah numbers. Caleb was in his stroller and I was showing him all the different pictures. Pictures of the temple, of Joseph Smith, of President Hinckley. When I showed him a picture of Jesus, he nearly leapt out of his stroller (except that he was strapped in). I unbuckled him and picked him up and he lunge dived for the picture I was holding. He doesn't do this with any other pictures. Not even pictures of himself, though he really likes looking at them.

So Saturday night, while Brandon was at the priesthood session learning to not get angry all the time, Caleb and I went shopping at Deseret Book where we bought Caleb a picture of Jesus to put up in his own room. It was a lot of fun. I'd hold up a picture and ask him if he liked it. Sometimes he would look away after a bit; twice he tried to grab the picture from me. So then I let him choose between those two pictures which one he wanted and then bought the one he picked. We haven't hung it up in his room yet, but I really like the picture. He made a good choice.

The last of the Hawaii pictures

The last day we were in Hawaii we finally went to the beach! Actually, we went on Tuesday as well, but that beach was hardly a beach at all. The one on Thursday was a long, beautiful stretch of sand with beautiful ocean waves crashing. The way a Hawaiian beach should be. It's amazing how few beaches the big island has considering when you think of Hawaii (or at least when I do), you think beaches.

The Tuesday beach didn't go over so well as far as the baby was concerned. After a good nap on Thursday, however, he was much more willing to play. And pose (to his mother's delight).

Here's some shots from Tuesday. You can see how scared he was of the water.




Then Thursday where he conquered all his fears.

Chad and Leah's Wedding pictures

I actually finished the pictures from Chad and Leah's wedding a while ago. If you want to view the rest of them, you can view my public gallery on Picasa. Hopefully that works.

I know I didn't say much about the wedding last time I posted about it. Now it's been so long that I hardly remember any of the people's names or what went on. Their wedding colors were red, white, and blue. It was in Greg and Marilyn's backyard at their house in Chino Hills, California. They'd planted a bunch of red, white and blue flowers so the yard looked absolutely beautiful.

The ceremony was performed by Chad's biological uncle (I think -- it took me a while to realize their was any relation at all and now I'm not certain that I've gotten it right). Chad and Leah had written their own vows for one another. They needed a little help getting their rings on, but other than that, they did great. Even got a nice juicy first married kiss in there.

After the ceremony, there was complete chaos as the professional photographer hired tried in vain to organize group photos. (Yeah, that was me.) But I think some of the photos turned out okay. It was really hard for me since both Chad and Leah were in wheelchairs and hence couldn't get very close together. Then, this one lady, who I'd never met before, keeps asking who I consider to be Chad's family when I announced that picture. I told her that if she considered herself to be family, then jump in the picture. Now, keep in mind that Chad is Brandon's brother, so I figured I knew everyone that was Chad's family. But the strange lady, after asking several times for clarification, says she's going to go get Chad's biological dad and uncle. It wasn't until after she left that I remembered Chad was adopted and it all finally started to make sense to me. The strange lady was Chad's biological mother whom I'd never met and hence was only strange to me probably.

Needless to say, being a professional photographer is hard work when you aren't at all professional. Oh well. It was actually my third wedding. Maybe one of these days though I'll take pictures at a wedding and get paid for it. Maybe then the stress will be worth it.

By the time the reception came around, I was more than ready to quit my job. That's when Brandon took over and finished the job (I think there are a whopping six pictures in my gallery that Brandon took at the reception). Most of the reception took place inside, in the new addition to the house, since it was cold outside. The DJ was outside still, so Caleb and I made our way out there once Brandon took over the photography duties. It was fun to get to dance with my cute baby and even more fun once his daddy joined us.

And we're back!

Yesterday the guys from Provo City came and hooked up the fiber optic cable to our house (which made our neighbors really angry and many words were shared between them and the Provo guys outside my bedroom window while I tried to get a few more z's before Caleb woke up). Then today the internet people came and I don't know exactly what they did but we have internet now. We're trying to do wireless and it's still not as fast as I think fiber optic should be, but at least we're up and running again.

Since we've been "gone," Caleb has learned how to roll from his back to his stomach (and for those new to reading our blog, he mastered the stomach to back thing a while ago). So now he no longer stays where we put him. He doesn't crawl yet, so he can't get too far. Sometimes it's really funny to see where he ends up when you leave him for a while. The other day, he managed to roll all the way under our coffee table. Only his head was peeking out. It was hilarious. By the time I got the camera out (or rather, had Brandon fetch me the camera), Caleb decided to begin the rolling process back out into the open. But it's still cute.

Another fun new development in Caleb's life is that he is now ticklish. Yes, he's been ticklish for a while but only if you used your nose or mouth to tickle him. Now, he's ticklish from fingers. It was an exciting landmark for Brandon, who loves to tickle our son. I think Caleb likes it so far, although it doesn't always work. He's also ticklish on his feet, but that one doesn't make him laugh. Just jerk his feet away.

Hmmm. Can't think of any other new developments off the top of my head. There was something just last night that I was going to write about, but I don't remember now. Oh well. At least we have the internet now and I can post whenever I get the fancy (as long as my baby cooperates).

Another break

I thought the internet problem was fixed and that our friendly backyard neighbors were once again faithfully paying their bill. But the internet no longer works at our house. So...ours gets installed on Tuesday and then we should be set for life. Or at least till we go out of town again.