More birthday fun

Daddy thought that this was a good time to let alex play with a glass soda bottle- what fun we have in store.

We had the Florciks over for dinner. This is alex after he just woke up and their daughter sitting next to him.

Daddy's Birthday

We really enjoyed the cake, even with all of the spit on it from the blowing out of the candles. Happy Birthday daddy, thanks for letting me take my movie.

On a little alex note, today he was a fearless hunter. There was a fly that was kind of slow that would only land on the floor and alex would get really quiet and watch it and then go really fast to try to catch it-it was really cute. The fly was so slow that he actually caught it once.

These pictures speak for themselves

Note : No one was hurt in the taking of these pictures.

Cleaning.

My goal for the last couple of weeks has been to get our home completely clean for at least one moment. This is impossible; the only thing that I have accomplished is to exhaust myself. When the baby is sleeping instead of relaxing or taking a nap or reading, I am cleaning and organizing but I still haven't had everything done all at the same time. Instead of trying to achieve this goal, I''m now giving up so that we will be happy again and I can use my extra time to blog.

And for those of you who only read this for alex tid-bits....alex's favorite part of anything on the TV is the credits. He loves them he claps his hands and dances and we can't get him to look away from the screen. Sorry there are no pictures, I've been cleaning.

And don't worry, Keary, by the time that you get here I think that alex will need another haircut anyway.

Haircut

Rupert is my sisters computer.

We finally both agreed that it was time for little alex to get a hair cut; even if Alex didn't think that he needed one I would have given him one after he turned one year. This is a before picture.

I made this "during picture" large because I think that it is cute that you can see half of the head is cut and the other is still poking out all the time.

And this is an after picture. His hair is still sticking out a little, but I couldn't get rid of it all.

For Rupert, my sisters...other half

For now these are all the pictures that I have. I'll take some more in the near future.

Look at those cheeks.

giving his girlfriend a ride.


saying "silly mommy, let me help you with that camera."

pooping in the corner and then asking for some privacy.

One of my favorite outfits.


The two most handsome boys in the world.

Walking for real

alex has been walking for this entire week, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn't a phase before I told everyone. We have been asking people when we can say that our baby is walking, and now we think that we can say it because he walks more than he crawls. In fact, the only time that he does crawl is when he wants to get to something fast (like the camera) or he is really tired and can't stay up.

Throwing

This is a video of my boys playing catch (don't comment on alex's clothes, I know that they don't match). I think that he bends over after he throws the ball because that is what Alex does after he throws it. Alex bends over so that he can get the ball from where ever alex has thrown it; little alex bends over so that he can be like daddy.

alex knows that he needs to let go of the ball, he just hasn't figured out the timing yet.

Labor Day

The fire works that were canceled for the Forth of July were redone Labor Day weekend and we went to them. We decided to walk this time because last time it took us so long to get back home in the car it would have been faster if we just walked. We had a lot of room at the park because not very many people came so alex got to play in the grass and wander around without bothering anybody.

We were trying to get a shot like this but not blurry but this was the best that we could capture.

He definitely looks more like his dad than his mom.

The show was almost 40 minutes long and alex was watching it completely captivated and then he crawls off my lap lays down right in between us and goes to sleep, it was pretty cute and then he woke up for the finale.

Fire Works

The finale lasted for almost an entire song. We didn't get all of it on this one video but at least you get an idea of what it was like, and alex likes to watch it too.

California 2

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On Sunday night we went to go and see the Temple. It was really beautiful and we loved to get to see it.

You may not be able to tell, but this is a scary guy and to put him in his place you need to scrunch up your face as much as you can and growl at him. alex is very good at this; everytime he would see Vallen that is exactly what he would do. Sometimes he would try to ignore him but he would usually end up growling and making a face in the end. At church everyone around us would laugh when we would do this it was pretty funny. On the last day that we were there alex finally ended up calling a truce and hanging out with Vallen.

If we moved to California, alex would finally be on the schedule that we want him to be on. Back here he continues to stay up late and wake up late. We had a lot if fun staying up late and talking, sorry that we kept you guys up all night- but it meant a lot to us we had a great time.

We had a family night on the Armor of God in preparation for the start of the school year. Let me just say that it made my family night lessons look like a joke; for me to give a lesson like that with all the props that we had it would take me a week to prepare and I know that it didn't take Cathy more than an hour. Summer and Breck are really smart and we were glad that we were able to be a part of the lesson.

We weren't the only ones who got a car from them, they got a car for alex as well. Even though he likes to drive it around our house, I think that he misses their hard wood floors. He makes cars sounds when he drives around.

This is where our car broke down. We took this picture on our way out and if you notice, there are two more cars broken down and there was another car when we broke down the first time. We think that there is something going on with this strech if the highway. Luckily Vallen came and took another day off his incredibly busy schedule and saved us. Truth be told if I had to pick one of my pedals to stop working, I would definitely pick the gas pedal so we were lucky.

We gave alex some chocolate on the way back and he really liked it.

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.