Favorite Sunday Quote

So Billy and I both teach primary Sunday school classes, and every week we always come away with one or two quotes that are just a crack up! Today the blue ribbon goes to...... Calvin!

Here is a picture of the little guy. He is so hilarious! While Billy was teaching the 8-9-year-olds about Joseph Smith in Liberty jail, Calvin raised his hand and very somberly asked: "Have I ever told you the story about Hitler?" He then went on to explain ALL about nazis and what happened. Haha...priceless! I love these little kids!

Ode to Hot Dogs

As it was Mary-Anne's birthday recently, I decided to dedicate an entire post to hot dogs - one of the greatest foods ever created. In fact, I think there may have been some divine intervention where hot dogs are concerned.

Ode to Hot Dogs

You are wonderfully delicious

Irresistibly Scrumptious

If I wasn't already married to Billy

I'd love for you and me to marry

You're good in the microwave or pot

So good when you're piping hot

You good right out of the fridge

That word rhymes with poridge

I really really don't like fish

You're especially good with relish

I know you're Mary-Anne's favorite

So I thought I'd add some whit

To her favorite food!

Happy Birthday Mary-Anne!

Pittock Mansion

After we went to the Rose Gardens, my mom, sister, and Billy and I hit the Pittock Mansion in Portland. Apparently this guy owned the first newspaper in Portland or something - I actually don't remember, but I'm pretty sure that's the case. This house was so full of character. Out here there are so many spec homes, it's nice to see an original piece of architecture (that is not identical to all the other houses in the area).

View of the mansion from the front. This is bad, but all I think about when I see big homes is how long it would take to clean!

This ceiling is silver leaf. Isn't that crazy? I wonder if they had toilet paper or just used dollar bills...

This sewing machine was just tiny, but look how ornate it was. Amazing how things have changed.

Check it OUT! They not only had a top nozzle, but they had side ones too. I saw this at the parade of homes in St. George thinking it was an original idea, but apparently it's been around for a century. They need to do that in all bathrooms, it would make my shower much faster.

I just stuck this last picture in here b/c I'm proud of it! This was taken at the very top of Silver Falls, within feet of it actually. Crazy how it can be so serene and gorgeous just feet from a cliff. Just gorgeous. Can't wait to go back!

Silver Falls

One great thing about Mom and Kenzi coming to visit is that it made us a bit more adventurousthan we are normally inclined to be. We decided to take them to Silver Falls, which we have actually never been to before. It was gorgeous and I'm so glad we went! I can't wait to go back - although I hope I am in better shape next time!

I don't remember what this is called, but it's a hole created by water flow. So the sun shines through the big hole in the rock. It was a lot more gorgeous in person!

Ethan having a wonderful time as usual! The trail was pretty rocky so Billy spent about half of it physically carrying the stroller and/or Ethan.

These pictures were of the lower south falls. It was smaller than the big south falls, but still just as gorgeous!

This is South Falls. It was huge and absolutely gorgeous! Such a good time.

This is the view from behind the waterfall.

Us behind the waterfall. It was beautiful and absolutely exhilarating!

Ahhh the Beach!

My mom and sister from South Dakota were awesome enough to come visit me for a week and it was GLORIOUS! We started their trip off with a day in Lincoln City. We went shopping at the outlets (of course) and then headed to the beach expecting a few hours of fun.

Although it was quite windy, it was absolutely gorgeous - nothing can beat the beach, right?

This is what Ethan thought of the beach. Apparently the wind is VERY scary to a 3-month-old. I think I will wait a bit longer to take him back to the beach. Kenzi and I literally walked onto the beach and walked right back off!

Calling all Moms!

Ok,

I'm going CRAZY at home and have realized in the past week that I need a little structure - some reasons to, you know, shower and get out of my pj's. When I was telling my mom this, she mentioned she and her friends did a play group. During the summers they would go to parks, and then when the weather was horrible they found a church that would let them use their nursery.

Well, school is starting soon. So...I want to organize a play group (I just typed "study" group - I need to get out of school mode and into mom mode!). Is anyone up for a group that meets at a scheduled time once a week? Am I the only one going absolutely bonkers at home alone from 8-5 every day? I'd be happy to organize the group, I just need people to join it so the good times can start! Please let me know if you'd like to join and when works best for you. *Seriously let me know. The walls are closing in fast!*

SCHOOL!

Ahhh....so I am still working on finishing my stupid degree. If we had just stayed in Provo for one more year I would have finished at BYU with time to spare before Ethan arrived. However, I worked it out so that I just take classes up here at the wonderful Chemeketa Community college, which I can then transfer back to BYU for credit. The only problem is that Chemeketa has terms, which are just a bit shorter than BYU semesters, so every credit I take there only counts as .6 credits at BYU, which means I have to take TWICE the classes I would have had to take in the first place!

Also, did I mention Chemeketa is full of weirdos, some of which scare me? To start off with, my journalism class had several ex-cons, one guy who told me he wanted to be an "erotic photographer" as well as for me to give him a Book of Mormon, and an anarchist who defended child molesters. That's just one class people. In my Study Skills Class - which was torture I might add - one lady admitted to me that she thought the class was actually a study hall. Like, in high school when you had quiet time to do your homework - she thought she would get 3 credits to sit down and have quiet time to do homework! Then there was my Psychology class with the dude that wanted to talk publicly about his serious depression issues, and the girl who always wanted to talk about her anxiety and what meds she was currently taking - in a class with like 50 students.

Can I just say this was a whole different world compared to BYU! I didn't realize how good I had it until I lost that intellectual atmosphere. It really does make me cringe at the thought of doing one last term at Chemeketa...I really don't want to feel annoyed everyday when I think of going to class. I had one class - my Chicano Studies class - that I literally dreaded all week until Saturday mornings when I had it. I would count the number of days in my head every time I thought about that class. My professor was a crazy-person who carried around his thesis so everyone could see it, and then always asked me uncomfortable questions because I was the only white person in the class. Luckily my classmates were super nice or I think I would have dropped the course.

Done with the negatives, on to the positives:

Chemeketa is a piece of cake (at least the classes I took). I didn't even buy my books for most of my classes...but I think my teachers were just so glad someone would actually come to class and pay attention that they gave me good grades. In one of my classes she even had open-note tests! In several of them I didn't even have a final - it made life a lot less stressful, that's for sure.

Ok, well that's the only positive I can think of, but it doesn't matter, I need to finish this degree already! ....sorry, I needed to rant. I feel better now :)

Oh come on...we all know who this blog is about!

So I don't have much discretion when it comes to weeding out pics....and I couldn't fit all the pictures I wanted to in the last post! So this is a compilation of random photos I thought were cute.

This might sound bad...but some of my favorite time with Ethan has been when he's sleeping for the following reasons: 1. He looks so angelic 2. He's not screaming in my ear 3. He's not pooping 4. He makes these random smiles and laughs that are just so precious!

Here is a pic of Kenzi and me with Ethan. Did I mention my little sister is gorgeous? Did I ALSO mention she's not so little anymore?? She's starting BYU THIS MONTH! I know she'll do so well - did I also mention she's super smart and definitely scored 4 points hire than I did on the ACT?

This picture is one of my faves because I'm pretty sure this wasn't intended to be a belly shirt..just a guess though.

This one is my all-time favorite! Does anyone have a 1st grade picture that looks like this? Remember when you didn't know how to smile and your mom would say, "Just be natural, don't be so weird?!"

Father-son bonding time. Ethan loves it! You two are going to be best friends someday....probably after the part where Ethan hates us because we give him "rules" and "boundaries."

Destination: Utah

We headed out to Utah two weeks ago to spend some time in Orem/Provo and St. George. My grandma's 85th birthday bash was down in St. George, and then we were able to bless Ethan back up in Orem. Billy's friend Justin found out we were going to be in town and was able to give Billy 6 days of work at the LDS film studio! Feels good to put some money in our bank account...it's been a while :). Here is a rundown of what we did:

Derek brought his little bundle of love Cameron, who had a TON of fun in the pool with Nana and Kenzers. On an unrelated note, I don't want Ethan to ever turn two - maybe he could just skip that year altogether.

Ethan trying out the pool...he's concentrating, trying to decide if he likes it or not..

Nope, it's scary - get me out! (I also had my mom take a video of this, but half of it was her asking how to "turn this thing off" - love you mom!)

Nana and grandpa at Ethan's blessing. Also joining us were Denisha and Alex, Grandma Boaz, and Kenzers. Thanks for making it so special guys!

Haha....Ethan had enough of people by this point. I think it was an overwhelming week and a half for him, and I'm sure he's glad to be home where we have a routine and people aren't always up in his bidness.

On a side note, thanks Billy for being the amazing husband and father that you are. I'm so glad I have you to lean on and that Ethan will have a positive role model in life. I love you more than words can express.