Cool like daddy...

These are some pictures of my boys playing with the new "man toy". I wish that you could see Alex dance around with the new man toy, I promise that you would have a smile for a long time especially if you could here him explaining how you have to wear the necklace when you do it because that is what is "cool". So this is one of the acceptable toys that little alex can play with so that when he grows up he can be "cool" like his daddy...the poor kid is doomed.

Alex got a new ipod at work; actually he got two and let me me return one so that I could get whatever I wanted as long as it was fun and not something "stupid"...he had to approve. So I got walki-talkis which I have wanted ever since I was about eight when I would get on my roof with the phone and talk to my friend who was on her roof with a phone a street away; this was the method we used when we weren't allowed to play. This situation didn't work very good though because our parents would discover what we were up to because of the lack of their phones. We thought that they best thing ever would be to have our very own waliki-talkies that would reach that far...my dreams have been answered thanks sweetheart.

Look What Awaits You...

As previously mentioned, alex loves to give kisses. Today he was particularly kissy so I wanted to let everyone see what happens when alex gets a hold of you when he is in a kissy mood. Be sure to bring a washcloth. We wish you all the best possible day.

Under the couch...

We're having a lazy day today we haven't even changed out of our jamies and it's almost 2 o'clock. Now it's completely normal for me to stay in my pjs all day, but I usually change alex when we change his first diaper...but not today we're doing laundry and organizing for our move which is now less then a month away, scary but exciting to think about. I though that you would like to see some pictures of alex trying to get under the couch. He did this three times before I finally got the camera out I can't figure out what he is trying to get but he wants it bad enough that he got his head stuck under there once.

Three Years...

I know that we haven't been married that long, but it relly seems like you are a part of all my memories and all my dreams. I can't imagine being without you but it works out perfectly because you are my favorite person to be with. When we first got married, I thought that there was no way that I could love you more than I already did...but that all changed when we had our baby. I have an overwhelming love for our baby that I didn't think was possible, but my love for you has increases exponentially as well. And even though there are some things that I wish were different about you (I wouldn't mind if you stopped wiping your boggers under the car seat and on the steering wheel), I wouldn't change them at the expense of changing who you are. Here are some of the things that I love about you:

• The way you play video games with your arms extended so that you can hold the baby but he can't "help" you play.
• The way you dance when you eat something you like.
• Your quick smile.
• The way you tell stories and forget what you are saying right in the middle.
• How calm you are.
• How you won't let me take out the trash.
• How you take showers sitting instead of standing.
• Your shaved face close up and your unshaven face far away.
• The way you always point out how lucky you are.
• Your love of the gospel.
• The way you shave your head.
• The way you give me hugs.
• Your jokes and sense of humor.
• Your love of sports and the outdoors.
• Your love of people and especially children.

There are so many more things that I love about you, but I'm too tired to name them all and anyways there are just to many to name. I love you so much and I just wanted to thank you for your love and putting up with me all the time. You are my perfect match. I hope that you have a good day.

Grandma and Grandpa...

We just had grandpa and grandma Nield come and stay with us, and we had a wonderful weekend. We miss you so much thank you for coming to visit, you are welcome anytime. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Grandpa discovered that alex likes to be thrown, much to grandmas dismay.

Grandma would give alex piggy backs and alex would grab on to her hair and slobber all over.

All the kids playing with their new toys.

alex is learning how to crawl, he learned this new talent this weekend so he would have lots of witnesses. So far only grandma Diana has seen him get on to his knees by himself, but we can't wait till we see it to.

And, surprisingly, the new digital camera has turned grandma into a marvelous photographer; I love this picture that she took, it's a new favorite.

Happy Birthday Kristy, I hope that you have a great day.

The Splinter...

I feel rather foolish putting this up right now because Zoe, my niece, just had to get for stiches on her chin after she decided that she wanted to jump out of the tub after her sister. But daddy is at work without us and he will want to know... alex got a splinter when we were playing outside. Now this wasn't enough for tears (not for daddy's little tough guy) but when he would grab my hands to sit up he would get a really straight face and his eyes would get big-and his eyes can get really big. So I looked in the palm of his hand and discovered the culprit- a half inch splinter sticking out.

Daddy-
We are sending this to you because even though you laugh when mommy or anybody else gets hurt, you always feel sorry for me. You don't have to feel so bad that you cry though, I'm okay. Love alex.

Chubby Legs...

I wish that I was a baby so that everybody would think that the rolls on my legs were cute. Some people find these cubby legs not so cute, but of course Alex and I think that everything on our baby is perfect. I don't remember if I said how big ales was so I'll say it now. At his 4 month, he was 17 lbs. 11 oz. and 26 inches long and that is only in the 90th percentile so he is going down in size.

Inspirations...

It's funny the things that can inspire you to be better. I was recently inspired to pull up all of my flowers in our flower bed after a little girl came to me and said " Hey, I know you, your the lady that doesn't water her plants" right in front of a ton of people. The girl that alex is looking at is the girl that aksed, we call her and her sister the red headed girls. The other three kids live upstairs form us, and everybody is sitting in front of the plants that I don't take care of.

Alex and I are so worried about when little alex grows up and starts repeating the things that we say or do. We're trying to watch the things that we say but it is already painfully obvious that it is a losing battle that we are fighting and we might as well except the fact that we are going to be embarrassed...frequently we expect. I thought that you all would have lots of stories along these lines, we would love to here them.

Cathys Questions...

1. What is your occupation? Food maker and laundry doer.
2. What color is your underwear? White.
3. What are you listening to right now? Alexs video game.
4. What was the last thing you ate? Red grapes.
5. Do you wish on stars? Of course, how do you think I got married to such a great guy?
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Macaroni and cheese yellow.
7. How is the weather right now? 27 degrees and snowing (but it is night time right now).
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Kelsey Prettyman.
9. How old are you today? 22 years.
10. Favorite drink? Water.
11. Favorite sport to watch? Football and sadly Golf on the TV. In person Basketball and Baseball.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Once bright red but I always wanted to dye it gray when I was growing up... my mom would never let me and now I like it the way that it is.
13. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Nope.
14. Pets? Future dog or I think my husband will leave me.
15. Favorite month? August.
16. Favorite food? Spaghetti.
17. What was the last movie you watched? Pride and Prejudice.
18. Favorite day of the year? Probably Thanksgiving.
19. What do you do to vent anger? Cook or clean.
20. Hugs or kisses? Depends on from who.
21. Cherry or blueberry? Both.
22. Living arrangements? With my Alexes in my apartment.
23. When was the last time you cried? When alex was born from all different kinds of reasons.
24. What is on the floor of your closet? Gift bags from our wedding, a car seat, fireman boots, rope, and clothes that Alex was going to wear but decided not to after he took them off the hanger and didn't hang back up or clothes that he pulled off the hanger while trying to get another piece of clothing.
25. Who is/are the friends you have had the longest? My sisters, my cousins and all the girls from the ward I grew up in.
26. What did you do last night? Had friends over to play games and video taped Calixta dancing....sorry Calixta I couldn't resist.
27. Favorite Smell? Rain.
28. What inspires you? The thought of failing.
29. What are you afraid of? The dark.
30.Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Spicy with everything on it except cheese.
31. Favorite car? Most any Volvo.
32. Favorite dog breed? I like good sized muts the best.
33. Number of keys on your key ring? 3 (this is the first key ring that I have had since high school and I just got it yesterday).
34. How many years at your current job? Seems like forever and I don't want it to stop.
35. What is your favorite smell? See 27. ...ummmm... still the rain.
36. How many states have you lived in? Three.
37. How many cities have you lived in/name them? In the US six. Provo, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Rio Rancho, New Mexico; Payson, Utah; Orem, Utah; Dallas, Texas.
38. What was the last book you read? If you set aside Green Eggs and Ham it was Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth...how do you underline things on here? Does anyone know?

Baby Alex...

I was just informed that I don't keep the people that read this blog updated enough on my baby, now I thought that this was very strange because alex is pretty much all that I talk about here so this is for you Teda...I hope that this is enough info.

alex loves to give kisses, and you may be thinking "hey if he is giving kisses like that it means that he is hungry" but no when I try to feed him when he is in one of these kissing frenzies he gets very mad and starts to yell at me...it sounds like he's chewing me out. I know that this isn't a good picture of me, but once he gets a hold of you he doesn't let go.

This is alexs friend Limo (like Finding Nemo but with an "L" instead of an "N" it's short for limon). He is trying to crawl to him. Limo is alexs favorite toy to talk to besides Alex and I.

I think these are about the coolest thing ever, you just don't get better than dinosaur camo socks.

This is the way that alex sits every time that I put him in the highchair...one foot up and one foot down.

And these are pictures of the two people who love him most.

Eating...

alex is learning how to eat, and we are having lots of fun practicing (except for when Alex gives the baby tabasco). We aren't really taking it that serious though because I'm not ready to switch over yet. I figure that I'm going to be feeding kids baby food for the next decade or so, so why should I be in a hurry to start. Besides, I think that nursing is great (now that Alex has gotten over the whole "you can't feed the baby while I am in the room" thing); not because I think that nursing makes any difference in baby size or intelligence, it's because it is so easy and I don't want to add one more thing I'll forget when we go out. alex doesn't really eat that much (only about 5 times a day...I really don't know how he got as big as he is) and when we are moving and going on our trips I want eating to be a hassleless as possible.

Speaking of food, I need you to start thinking of your favorite recipes because I'll be calling you for them sometime before December . For Christmas I'm going to put together a cook book (don't worry about measurements in your recipes if you don't want to, just a general idea of what goes in is perfect).

My Conversation Skills are Shot

The more that I get out and talk to people the more I realize that I am getting worse and worse at having conversations. I have come to the conclusion that the origin of this deterioration can be traced back to two factors: 1) my son and 2) my husband. This is why...all day long I talk to alex about nothing because he likes to here my voice; to do this I just say the first thing that comes to my mind and sometimes I just repeat the "words" that he uses (which I can't use in most of my conversations). As you have probably experienced, saying the first thing that comes to your mind is not beneficial. The other person that I talk to is Alex. In these conversations...well actually we have more debates than conversations (I knew that he was listening to too much talk radio) we usually end up in an animated "nu-ahh" "uh-huh" war; while children find it impressive that Alex can win any of these wars (and prides himself that he can) I am not impressed that I too have adapted this "talent". Adults don't seem to find a good "nu-ahh" a correct response to any incorrect statement..go figure.

Last night I went out to throw away some trash and since I was just going to be out there for a second I didn't wear a coat (bad idea) the lid was frozen to the dumpster as hard as I tried I couldn't get it open. When I got back in it took me 5 minutes to stop shivering....I can't wait for Texas sometimes.

Sleep.

Whenever I get really tired, I do things at night that I can't remember. On Wednesday of this week, I was exhausted and sometime in the night I found time to take out the trash, do the dishes, marinate some chicken, and bring the baby in to sleep with us. I wish that I would do all of my chores in my sleep at night then my life would be perfect. I think that this is my moms fault because growing up if we would go to bed without having done our chores she would get us out of bed and make us do them while she watched. Alex says that when I get caught in the act it is really funny because, although I'm alert, the things that I do are incoherent and irrational...some of the things I think that he makes up though.

alex is now in the 90th percentile and Calixta say that that is the normal place to be so its good to know that he is still perfect...as if I would think anything else.

Sometimes you just have bad days.

This is one of those days. Both of my Alexs have a lot of stuff going on in their lives right now and you can definitely feel it. Alex was going to get a second job so that we would have enough money to move to Texas, but we just didn't feel right about the job and now we met our goal with what we got back from taxes. So now he is preparing for all the tests that he is going to have to take and that includes physical tests (so he's always tired) and he is filling out applications and he had a really bad day at work today. To top it all off, last night I had to go to the store to get some "oralgel" (which they didn't have) and some other things while Alex stayed home with the baby who immediately started to cry and Alex didn't know what to do.

Little alex is starting to eat the rice sludge, getting some teeth and yesterday he got his shots...let me tell you he did anything but hug the nurse. Even though he is doing better than the last time that he got shots he is still sore and he has a fever; when he gets like this he only wants me to hold him, daddy will do for a little bit as long as he can see me but for the rest of the time he wants me. This is so stressful for us because alex almost never cries and when he does its obvious what he wants and as soon as we take care of it he's better, but today even if I am holding him he will still cry I just pick that over me putting him down and him screaming.

Now the point of this blog, and for those of you who think that I shouldn't be married to Alex because he is so gross he'll corrupt me don't read this and just keep thinking good lies about me. For those of you who know the truth go ahead and proceed. So because of everything that is going on I have been holding alex the entire day and we have been doing everything together. We exercised, watered the flowers, did the dishes, did laundry, cooked...the only thing that I put him down for was to go to the bathroom, I haven't stooped to Alex's level yet. Anyways, one thing that we did was brush my teeth and when I went to spit alex flung his hand out and caught it, got excited and started to fling it everywhere. I thought that it was so funny I barely caught his hand before he got it in his mouth...then we took another bath. That was the biggest that he has smiled all day.

Calixta and Ciria: Sorry we keep bugging you guys by coming over so much, we are just going to miss you when we leave and we want to see you as much as we can. Know that you and your families always have an open invitation to come when ever you want.

Our Daddy Saved Us

We drove out to Payson last night because Kelseys baby was getting blessed and we went over for dinner. On the way home we got a flat tire on a very long bridge and we didn't think that we would make it over the overpass without ruining our wheel so we drove to a part of the bridge that was bigger than the rest and stopped. As Alex started to get the stuff out to change the tire I asked him if he wanted me to do it; he said in an indignant voice no and asked why I would think that he would want me to do. I told him that I didn't think that he could change a tire and he was shocked. You see one time Alex told me that he was no good at changing tires and although I was shocked at this I didn't push the issue because this was coming from a man who when I told him that I was going to buy a screwdriver, a hammer and some pliers he told me that we didn't need them because he would never use them. Happily Alex has used our meager tool supply many times and changed our tire to get us home safely.

More Pictures of my Boy

Smiles.... Daddy taking advantage of my love, he laughed that I didn't relize that there was something on my back.
More Smiles.

Playing with my toys.