California

We just got back from visiting Alex's sister and family in Irving California and I have to say that it is one of the most perfect places that I have ever been in my life. Not just their home (which is perfect and exactly what I want my house to be like when I grow up) but their city is amazing. They took us to wonderful restaurants which we didn't have to run into to enjoy the air conditioning but instead stayed outside next to fountains and enjoyed perfect weather while we ate-in the middle of the day; as opposed to here where I am hard pressed to open the blinds because it's so hot outside. AND contrary to common rumor Cathy is a great cook, we loved having dinner at home and stealing all of Vallen's Birthday cake!

They took us to the beach but I was so excited to be there that I forgot to get the camera out of the car to take pictures, sorry. After alex took care of his nap he liked to dig in the dirt and even went a little ways into the water to play. Summer is a great body surfer and could surf way farther than Alex when he was teaching her how.

After the beach, we went to the pool in their neighborhood to rince off; it, like everything else, was beautiful.

The water had a slightly salty taste and the whole time that alex was in the pool he was licking his lips.


Action shots.

On Saturday we were antisocial and watched football while everyone went shopping. Alex and Vallen played catch, and Breck showed off his amazing spiral- that boy can throw!
Then at night we went to their ward luau- where we also had great food. If you can believe it this is actually their ward parking lot. I thought that we were at some kind of a resort or something-what a desert rat I am.



Breck is a really cute kid, he told us lots of stories most featuring "phantom fishies" and starting with "once upon a time". Our favorite was when he confessed "when my mom's not looking I pee in the shower"...it's hard to listen to such a confession and not laugh. Apparently he and his uncle Alex have a lot in common, and I foresee many conversations concerning bodily functions in the future.

Summer gave little alex a holahoop and alex started to bang it on his daddy's head.








This is a picture that Summer took of me and my dashing nephew. Before it was taken he said "make a face" so I did and he smiled all handsomely.

I have lots more to tell but I can't finish right now so I'll put this up and tell the rest later sorry it's so much.

Eight

Yesterday was a big walking day: a lot of twos, more fives, a six, and then an eight! However, I could still not capture it on film.

Summer and Breck, we are so excited for alex to come and play with you. He loves kids and I know that he is going to have a great time. Can't wait 'til we see you.

Pacifier

alex's favorite use for his pacifier is as a theether. He never just leaves the thing in his mouth, he has to hold it in there. I tried to get a video of his further away, but whenever I get out the camera it becomes the favorite toy.

Update

I haven't been blogging much lately because like everyone else I have been busy with the end of summer. So here is an update on what is going on with us.

Me: My great-grandmother died. I got to go and say good-bye to her this summer, and although it is always sad at any death, I think that she is happier where she is now.

Alex: It seems like Alex is working all the time (because he is), he has been picking up extra shifts so that we can keep our air conditioner on-last month our bill was seven times what we paid in Utah. alex is always happier on the days when his daddy is home, we love him so much and are thankful for everything that he does!

He is testing for McKinney some time this month (we hope) they keep changing the testing dates on him so we aren't sure if he will be able to get off work or not.

He is the best dad ever. I took him with me to get alex's 9 month shots. Although alex screamed his head off on every previous occasion he didn't even lift an eyebrow (a new favorite expression) or grunt, I was flabbergasted and when I finally regained my power of speech I immediately informed him that he should take alex to get all of his shots- he has yet to except the gracious offer.

alex: alex's new number is five. He still hasn't taken more then five steps before sitting down or falling, he has five (technically four and a half-but we round up) teeth and he won't stay in his high chair for more than five seconds to eat.

Just kidding about the eating part. He is getting a little better at eating; he mostly likes to chew and then spit it out rather than eat it so we are working on that part of his technique.

He now likes to sleep in his own bed rather than ours.

His hair is growing a lot now (for him at least). After I brush his hair it stays in place for about 10 seconds before it is completely disheveled. Here is a picture of it before it gets all messed up doing manly stuff like wrestling.

And he got new shoes; they are size five and are a little to big but the size four was just a little too small. Right now they cramp his style a little but I think that after a while he'll get used to them. Now he can play outside without getting all the little cuts on his feet (but it has been so hot we haven't had a chance to go and test them outside yet).

Family: We finally got some bunny ears for the television and for the first time in our marriage watched TV in our home. We watch a pre-season game which was fitting because the only reason we got the antenna was because of football season.

And the most exciting event in our lives is our trip to California! We are going to visit Alex's sister Cathy. We are going to fly there and then they are going to be the nicest people in the world and give us their car which we are going to drive back in. We can't wait to see them, I'll have pictures when we get back.

Computer trouble.

I just spent about three hours trying to print up one recipe-how embarrassing. I was trying to fit four recipes on one page so that I could save paper so it took me a while to get all of the text set up right so it would look like a recipe; then I spent some time surfing on the web so that I could find a good picture to go with the recipe. I finally got everything so that it looks perfect I pushed print and it some how changed all of the heading print and instructions into "ArabicScript Sihafa". I couldn't leave it like that because you couldn't understand it; so I went though and changed everything back so that it was in New Times Roman and it just had different size and color so it still looked kind of nice. This time when I printed it up the title was cut halfway off. I made everything a little smaller and decided that I would just save it before I printed it this time because it was almost time for Alex to be home (and then I could ask him if he liked the picture that I put on or if he thought that I should pick something different); so I go to push "save" and then the little window pops up and says there was some kind of error and it was sorry but all the work that I had done and not saved would be lost. Then I came here to write this blog because I couldn't stand to look at that recipe one more time.

What is the point of all this?

Besides being able to articulate my frustration, I was planning on making a recipe book of sorts for Christmas and I am coming to the realization that it is going to take me a tad bit longer than I anticipated so Nields (or those of you who were once a Nield) start thinking of recipes: family favorites, birthday favorites, traditions, ones people always ask for the recipe of, some you just like, some you just want to share or pretty much anything. You could call, wait for me to call you, or send them to kikiora@gmail.com . We think that it would be fun to share what we eat over long distances (but most things won't hold up in the mail so this is the next best thing).

Back Scratcher.

The new story. Alex was standing up by the couch and then sat down and got an uncomfortable look on his face. I looked down to see what he had sat on and saw the back scratcher; he sat on the one arm that was sticking up. Then he moved around a little and tipped the bask scratcher so that he was sitting on the three end and balancing on the one leg. He thought that this was pretty cool so he would lean one way until he almost fall over and then he would go the other way. When he finally fell off and then tried to get back on he couldn't do it. I tried to get a picture but it was too late.

This is when he hit himself in the head with the back scratcher.

Walking

Alex put the title of this blog up and then told me that I should write a blog really quick. Although I left the title that he put up, I would have called it "Not Falling" and without further ado I will let you choose what you think it should be called. (And no we are not telling people that our baby can walk because obviously he can't)

Texas BBQ

I forgot to put this up a while ago and I still wanted to put them up. We had a wonderful time together and I'm so glad that you all came to visit us in this great state of Texas.

These are some pictures of alex eating some Texas BBQ you left for us. He seemed to like it a lot, althought he thought that it made a really good face mask, too. We found a great place and can't wait to visit it again.

Americas passtime...

Sorry I haven't written in a while again, my computer hasn't been working that well and I had to wait for it to recover. I also am not feeling too well so I hope that this blog makes sense.

We went to a rough riders game for Nicks birthday

The Birthday boy and his little girl. Her shirt says "I'm a pooper". The field is the "Dr. Pepper" field so Kiley and Melonie got on TV because of their shirts (Melonies said "I'm a Pepper").

Here are the two dads teaching their kids the intricate details of the game. Just before I took this picture Kiley had her arm around alex. It was so cute that is what prompted me to get the camera, even though this picture is cute, too..

We sat on a grassy field in the back. The horse that they had rid by would go right next to us so the alex could see it pretty good. I think that he was grateful that there was a wall separating us and the horse.

This is how tall alex is going to be when he grows up and that is how we are going to have him dress, too.

By the end of the day we were very tired but glad that we had so much fun at the game. alex slept until the fireworks went off at the end of the game.