Fin Family Fun

A Day at The Beach

2011-10-02T10:22:00.000-07:00

Lion King 3D

2011-10-01T13:03:00.001-07:00

We watch Lion King at least once a day around here and even on the hottest days Ford loves to wear his Lion costume so we were very excited to hear about the 3D version that just came out.

Wade took Ford to see it at the beautiful Grand Lake theater here in Oakland. Ford even got to wear his lion costume and as they passed friendly people on the street instead of a hello Ford would growl at them.
This was his first time at the movies and he did great. He stayed for the whole movie although he only wore his glasses at the beginning. When he first put them on he said "woah!" Then at one point when it got really quiet in the movie he belted out "in the jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight." He had a great time on his special outing with his dad.

While those two were at the movies, my mom and I took Dock and Coast to Habitot a small museum/play place especially for little kids. Coast slept through it but Dock had a blast. He especially liked the craft room which had gack.

Coast

2011-10-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here is our new little guy. He was born September 15th at 1:30 in the morning. He weighed 10 lbs and was 21 inches long.

On September 14th at a week over due, I begged my doctor to let me be induced. She called over to the hospital and they said I could come over anytime after lunch. Wade had a few things to finish up at work that morning and my mom left work around noon to come watch the boys. We sang happy birthday to Wade and had some birthday cake before we left.

Just as we got to the hospital, L&D got busy. They got us right into a room but I waited a few hours before they got me started. I had them start the pitocin and the epidural at the same time. I was a little worried at first when my right leg didn't go numb but everything that really needed to be numb was, so I didn't feel a thing when the contractions started.

We still hadn't decided on a name so when my doctors and nurses found out about our water theme they pledged to spend the rest of their shift on Google checking out names. Wade mentioned that whoever could correctly guess the baby's weight could name him. Shortly after that, every doctor and nurse on the floor came to our room to introduce themselves and guess the baby's weight. They had made an impressive list of names alongside the weight guesses as their shifts ended.

Things were pretty quiet for the most part. We just watched TV and slept when we could. Around 1:00 I was starting to feel those contractions so I asked for more juice in my epidural and someone to check my progress. The anesthesiologist and the doctors were all busy with a C-section, so no more meds for me. When one of the doctors stepped away to check me, I was at a 10 and the baby was ready to go. Two pushes later he popped out.

We knew our little guy would be big but still all of the guesses underestimated his massive size. The closest guess was 9 lbs so we had to name the little guy ourselves. I hope he doesn't hate us for it later. We get some strange looks when we tell people his name is Coast but I think it will fit him just fine.

A Big Dog Party

2011-08-14T13:28:00.000-07:00

I haven’t updated the blog in ages although there’s been plenty going on during the last year but I’m not going to try and catch up in this post.

This little guy just turned 3 and since we’ve been reading a lot of books and watching a lot of shows about birthdays lately, Ford knew just what he wanted. On the top of the list were 1) a surprise 2) with decorations and 3) a blue cake. And since we’ve been reading a lot of Go Dog Go and Clifford’s Birthday we had a big dog party.

Here is the birthday boy and his dad just before we went to Antioch for the party.

When we got there I asked him what the sign said and he said “Happy Birthday Ford”. I’m not sure how he knew that but he was very excited about it. Dock just wanted a balloon. When we walked in the door everyone said SURPRISE! Party guest included Ford and Dock and their cousins Cash and Dodge and baby cousins Easton and Faith and all the grown up parents that came with them. Ford loved the surprise, but Dock was ready to turn around and go home.

Don’t even think about making me wear this hat mom.
Dock and his cousin Dodge happened to be wearing the same shirt, as if it isn’t already hard enough to call them the right name when there together. At one point Dock had gone missing for a while but I didn’t even notice because Dodge was there running around in a blur making me feel like Dock had never left. Dock was later found in the bathroom eating soap.
The birthday meal for the kids included the appetizers that you see here, cocoa puffs served in dog food bowls. Hotdogs and side salads came later. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of all the cute dog stuff. The whole place was decked out with dog balloons, stuffed animals, streamers, banners, and puppy paw prints. Number one and number two could definitely be checked off Ford’s list.
And here’s number three, the blue cake!
Everything was just perfect for Ford but it still got better. I don’t even think he knew about presents. He got toys, art supplies, and clothes. As soon as we got home we of course opened everything up and immediately played with it all.
And meet the hit of the Dog party, Chandler the dog. Our friend Robyn brought her very kid friendly dog and the kids loved him. She even brought a brush so they could pet him, brush him, hug him and generally bother him, but he was great and let them be all over him. Ford loved the dog! I feel like a bad mother for not getting him one and selfish for not even wanting to.
We didn’t do any structured games but the boys had a lot of fun when we pulled out the parachute. Each time the parachute when down and came back up it was like a battle had been fought underneath and all the casualties were lying down in different positions.

Ford loved all his presents, many of which came in handy at church today, but I was really excited to give him this lion costume. He’s been pretending to be a lion for weeks and makes me tie a blanket around his head as a pretend mane which usually gags him but he doesn’t care because he’s a lion.
Last night when he put this on we had a hard time getting him to take it off when it was finally time to go to bed. He just wanted to look at himself in the mirror. He said “I have a lion mane, and lion pants and a lion shirt, and a lion’s tail – stamp your self and go by mail” that last part is a funny little reference he remembered from his Dr. Seuss book Marvin K Mooney.
I just love this little guy and I’m so glad he had such a fun birthday. It really couldn’t have been better. Thank you Marmie for making it happen and all our cousins, and Aunt Peg, and Papa for coming and all the great gifts! And of course to Robyn for bringing Chandler, the best part of the dog party.

Summer Fun

2010-07-31T20:41:00.001-07:00

Here is some of what we've been up to this summer when we get a chance to hang around at home....The boys love playing in the water. Yes, I make them wear T-shirts and lots of sunscreen. Dock even has socks on in the picture.
We've been remodeling the basement- that is a separate post- but I got new appliances and a new sink when the old ones went into the kitchen we put in down stairs.
I love this new sink and since I spend a lot of time washing dishes or babies, I'm frequently reminded how nice it is. Black composite granite with two deep bowls, installed by my very handy hubby. I love washing both babies in it at the same time and they love it too. Look at those happy faces.
We saw an add in the paper that mentioned they would be launching hot air balloons so we just went to watch. When we got there they let us take the boys up for a ride for a small donation of $20 - what a deal.

Ford went up with Wade and Dock went up with my mom and Me. I'm terrified of heights so I was a little freaked out but Dock loved it.

We've been having a fun summer. Most of it's been spent here or there but not at home. We are glad to be back for a couple of weeks but the next few months each have a trip planned so it won't be long until we are off again.

My boys are so cute! Dock is sitting up well and loves tummy time but not crawling yet. He thinks food is fantastic and takes a bite of anything put in front of him including toys, people, paper, anything! We love his cute chubbiness. He is super happy and smiley except for right when he wakes up, it takes him a little while to warm up. He is a good napper and is sleeping through the night. He likes other people and is usually pretty willing to let anyone hold him.

Ford is a good boy. He is getting so big and so smart. Can I brag about my smart baby for a bit? I'm going to because this is my blog and that's what it's for. Ford isn't quite two yet and he can count to 20 and say his alphabet as well as recognize the individual letters. He can spell his own name and Dock's name. He knows the names of shapes but isn't quite interested in colors. He is great at remembering people's names when he meets them which is more that I can do. He talks a lot and speaks pretty clearly for a little guy. He is starting to say some cute things. He calls all balls meat balls. I love when he asks for "song bout rain-bows" or "five widdle ducks" (he can hold up one, two, four, and five fingers, but not three, that's a hard one. He asks his Dad "what's goin' on dad?" and asks me "You feel better mom?" He still loves to read books and will finish most of the sentences of his favorite ones. He also loves Sesame Street and singing songs. He has recently started to look at himself in the mirror while he sings, which I love because he carries a tune about as well as I do and I used to look at myself in the mirror while I would cry when I was little. Just in the last couple of weeks he has finally let go of the wall and taken those first few free steps. It has taken a long time and he still has a lot of practice ahead of him but he is getting more brave everyday. He loves to be held and a get soft tickle, he says "that tickles - feels good." He is at such a fun age. I love my boys. Thanks for letting me gush a bit.

Elko Rodeo

2010-07-31T20:22:00.000-07:00

Don't let anyone tell you there's nothing to do in Elko. It may feel true during the winter but even then there is the Cowboy Poetry Festival. During the summer there is the Basque festival, the Fair, Arts and Craft shows at the park, the beautiful Ruby Mountains and the Rodeo. My mom came all the way from California and my grandparents came from Idaho to see this big event. It may have had something to do with these two tough cowboys pictured below. My cousins Ace and Cole were part of the bronc riding portion of events and it was very fun to watch. Ford was excited to meet real cowboys. He can now identify all cowboys by big hats, even when Wade wears his big floppy gardening hat Ford calls him a cowboy.

Ace and Dock Cole, Ford, and Elmo of course

Hugs

Ford and Ace

Dock and Cole

Let's Back Up

2010-07-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

I have a little catch up to do. In the beginning of June my sweet Aunt Audry died and we were able to go up to Idaho for her funeral and to spend time with family. I'm so glad I was able to go even though it was a sad reminder of how quickly time is going by. Growing up I spent every summer in Blackfoot Idaho and it is still one of my very favorite places to be. Grandma and Grandpa are still there in that same house where I would spend those fabulous summers. Now my kids get to wander around the farm exploring, discovering and making friends with the curious cows. Ford checking out the rocks as Wade helped my grandma with her yard. My grandparents both think Wade is pretty wonderful (which he is). He is unpretentious and easy to talk to, he works hard, is always willing to help out, and knows a little about growing stuff - all things that are important to my grandparents. I think grandma and grandpa have been pretty pleased with all the spouses of their grandchildren so far, not to mention the grandbabies.
Speaking of grandbabies, here is curly Dock. I had to post some documentation of these curls because they are no more. Dock recently got a haircut and curls were clipped away.

My boys don't need much more than a couple of potato boxes to keep them entertained. They even come in Dock size - Dox Box...

My grandma is great at throwing together a dinner for a big crowd and since everyone was in town she threw an impromptu dinner. It's always fun to see my cousins and the weather was perfect for a little outside play.The traditional weenie roast. We can't go to grandmas without having one.

Ford enjoyed digging in the garden and getting dirty.

Ford and his cousin Zaida.

We put up lots of tents and this teepee for the party. This is the same teepee I played in when I was little.

I love this cute little guy and his funny faces.

That's all for now. I have a few more weeks to catch up on so there is more coming soon

Is This Heaven?

2010-05-19T14:55:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a long weekend in Oak City. It feels good to be there. Time slows down and we can just relax and enjoy ourselves and our family. The boys love it. Grandma and Grandpa Fin spoil them and they get to play with all their cool cousins. It's paradise for little boys, they have sheep, pigs, cows, birds, a horse, puppies and a school bus right outside and when they come in Grandma gives them chocolate milk and reads them books and lets them do whatever they want. Here are some of my favorite pictures from this weekend...

Wade, Lafe, and Ford had a good wrestle in Grandma's living room. Wade would pin Lafe then Ford would count to ten. Lafe always managed to get away before time was up. Dock in his fire hat with Grandpa just watching as the other kids play, taking it all in. Pat and Mel's dog had puppies so they brought them over for the kids to cuddle. Ford thought they were great, he helped them wag their little tails, but he didn't like being licked in the face.

Here are the cousins with the puppies. 10 out of 14 made it in this picture. We tried to take a family shot after this but it was a mess. From left to rightish - Lexa, Rylee, Myia, Kaetly, Millie, Sage, Raynee, Kaige, Lafe, Ford, and Wade. You can see that cool school bus in the background, Ford was very into it, we sang a lot of wheels on the bus this weekend and Grandma even let him get on and look around.
And here are my boys just relaxing in the grass. The weather was perfect and it was nice to be outside enjoying the sunshine.

CA to CO

2010-05-03T19:58:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to California. I wish I would have pulled the camera out more while we were there. We had a great visit. Here are the boys (Dodge, Cash, Ford and Dock) getting geared up to head into the Zoo.

The weather was perfect for us. Ford especially liked the giraffes.

He also thought this spider thing was pretty cool. He would climb up and slide down again and again.

After our California trip we headed straight on to Colorado where we stayed with our friends Teri, Ryan, and Isabel. Here is a picture of the kids (p)laying around. Ford and Isabel both wanted to lay by Dock. Isabel liked Dock a lot. She wanted to hold him every day and when we went on long car rides she would hold his hand if he was crying to make him feel better. Dock liked the attention. Isabel and Ford also played pretty well together, they had fun wrestling and giggling.

Teri taught Ford about funny faces.

As soon as I feel like we're catching up after a vacation we head off again. This last weekend was spent in Salt Lake. Ford had a doctors appointment but while we were there we also got to see my grandma and we stayed in a hotel so the boys got to go for their first swim of the year. They both loved it. This weekend we are off to Oak City so the boys can see their Grandma and Grandpa Fin and all their cousins. After we get back maybe we'll finally get some time to work on our house and our garden.

This is our latest attempt at a Family picture. Not great, but it was the best of the bunch. Dock wasn't very happy but he's cute even when he's mad so it's okay. His bottom two teeth have broken through, we just started him on solid foods both of which are helping him sleep through the night more often. He is also sitting up and rolling over really well. He's right on track with his gross and fine motor skills and will be catching up to his brother in no time. He is such a smiley and happy baby. He is great at going down for naps all by himself without fussing. He is also a screamer. If I'm doing dishes or some other noisy task and he doesn't feel like he's getting enough attention he will start screaming really loud. It usually works, both Ford and I look at him and Ford says "TOP CREAMS" which means stop screaming. But the screaming doesn't stop until I get down and play.

Ford is still counting really well and now he knows his ABC's. He read is first sight word today "BOOM". I couldn't believe it! He has a lot of his books memorized and he knows BOOM from Mr Brown Can Moo, but when he read it in one of his new books today I was shocked so I wrote it on a piece of paper and showed it to him a few minutes later and sure enough he could read it. My little guy may be behind with his gross motor skills but he is a smarty! He also melted my heart when he said I love you for the first time tonight. Besides his books Ford also loves his stuffed animals, balls and sesame street. He is also recently into somersaults.

Both Ford and Dock are at such fun stages. I really like my two little boys.

Paintin' and Peddlin'

2010-04-06T20:34:00.000-07:00

My little artist likes to express himself on his canvas as well as with a little face painting.

The spring weather comes and goes but for a little while the snow cleared and Wade gave rickshaw rides to kids and lovebirds alike.

I've been on a roll with my post this week but now we are headed to California and then on to Colorado so there probalby won't be much news from us until we get back in a few weeks. I am so looking forward to this vacation.

Balls

2010-04-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

I don't have time or money to do a lot of crafty things these days, but when I get a chance, I do love a good project. These foofy yarn balls were a big hit this Easter. My Grandma taught my cousins and me how to make these one summer when I was a kid. We had a blast making them and then throwing them around (and at each other). Now it's time for the next generation to enjoy these crazy balls. Ford's not quite ready to make them yet but he sure does like to throw them around. He tosses them up and over his head then says "catch." Isn't it funny how it is the simplest toys that are the best. Balls just never get old, especially for boys.

This one came straight for my head. A lot of them hit Dock, but they're better than a lot of things that come flying in his direction, so he doesn't seem to mind too much.

Here's the how-to just in case you want to make your own. This is a cheap, easy and fun project!

Supplies needed...

1. Scissors

2. Yarn

3. Cardboard

4. and some circles to trace

Trace two circles onto a piece of cardboard (I used a lid from a small oatmeal container which is about 4 inches wide. I don't think I would go too much bigger but smaller would work.) Your circle size will determine your ball size. Then cut them out.

Make an inner circle. This one is about and 1.5 inches wide. I just eyeballed the center, nothing needs to be exact in this project.

Cut out the inner circle. Go ahead and cut right through the outer circle, you need a break in the ring to wrap the yarn anyway. Put your two circles together and line up the slits.

Start wrapping the yarn around your cardboard ring going back and forth again and again leaving a small gap at the slit.

You can switch colors as often as you like. Using two colors of yarn at once speeds up the process and gives it a speckled look and layers of yarn will turn into stripes.

Keep wrapping until you've got about as much as you can fit

Slide the scissors in between the two pieces of cardboard and cut the yarn.

It will be packed tight enough that the yarn holds its self in the cardboard ring.

Take a piece of yarn and slide it in between the cardboard around the middle of the ball, pull it tight and knot it off to to hold all the yarn in place.

You can then pull the cardboard off and use it again and again to make more balls. One pack of yarn will make about 5 balls and lots of fun. I tried regular yarn and this fatter stuff. Both will work but I liked the fatter stuff better because it was softer and making the balls went a little faster. Have fun.

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter morning. It was really nice to have General Conference today so we could spend the day at home with our boys while we listened to our Prophet and Apostles. It was a nice balance of fun and reverent. Here are some cute pictures of my boys in their Easter shirts.

Its so hard to get them to sit still, they just crack each other up.

Here's the loot. The big hits were the yarn balls that I just threw together yesterday and the bubbles. Ford also liked his eggs, he quickly learned which ones had the chocolate vs the marshmallows, he's no dummy.

This stacking toy was actually Dock's but that doesn't matter too much around here, we got everything out and played with it. It was a fun morning!

Here are the bubbles!

Dock especially liked the Easter grass.

And his eggs.

Our families' tradition is to take your clothes and make a nest for the Easter bunny, during the night he comes and fills it up with goodies. Not much candy but fun stuff for spring. The boys got some water toys and sidewalk chalk and other things to use as the weather warms up. We have a few other traditions that we didn't get to this year like boiling the eggs with onion skins to make them brown (because the Easer bunny lays brown eggs). Maybe next year I will be more on the ball. Here is Dock with his Easter nest. He made it out of diapers because if it were up to him that is all he would wear.

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

Hair Cuts

2010-04-03T21:17:00.000-07:00

The boys got their hair cut this afternoon. You can tell by these expressions just how much fun they were having....

(Dock still has his curls, but he was very disappointed to have his mullet shorn).

As Easy as 123

2010-04-02T18:09:00.000-07:00

This is what coloring Easter eggs looks like at our house. Ford will demonstrate... 1. You take the egg and submerge it along with your whole hand in the colorful water. (sometimes dipping it in one or two other colors before you decide which color it really needs to be).2. Eat lunch while the eggs soak in all that colorful goodness.

3. Carefully remove the egg, placing it directly on the table, being sure to splash Easter cheer and dye all over.
That's it, easy as 123 (speaking of counting - Ford can count to 12 now!). We had a fun day and are very thankful for plastic table covers.

Every week at the library they have story time then a craft for the kids. Wednesday was our first time and we loved it. Ford was a little timid at first and just took it all in with those big eyes. They read a couple of books about frogs then sang some fun frog songs and made this little frog. It was Fords first art project. I think he did a pretty good job.

I've been doing a lot of cooking lately and this little guy is usually under my feet. He really likes to be between me and the counter while I am cooking or doing dishes, so today I put him to work. I'm trying to be more comfortable with letting him explore and make a mess but I just want the batter to stay in the bowl and the dye in the cups. I have to keep reminding myself that it is okay to let my boys be messy sometimes.

And for all my mission buddies who probably don't really read my blog here is a recipe I just found for pao de queijo - Brazilian cheese bread. I made it last week, it was super easy and I thought it tasted fantastic (that magic combination of crispy outside and chewy inside). It brought back all sorts of yummy memories. Wade wasn't too impressed, he said it must be an acquired taste.

California and Birthdays

2010-03-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

My cousin Katie had a bridal shower this month so we got to head out to California for a quick trip. The weather was perfect and everyone was healthy- it was a wonderful trip. I wish this one could have lasted longer. While it was still a little fridgid in Elko we were able to enjoy the spring like weather in Antioch. (We'll be back again in just a couple of weeks)

Ford is just enjoying a wagon ride and a little sunshine. Marmie pulled him all over the yard. He can get her to do just about anything!

Dock is still curly! It's time for a trim but I'm afraid to cut those curls off. You can tell by those pink eyes that he was still a little sick when we took this picture, but nothing keeps this kid from smiling.

I had a great birthday. I went on an outing with the boys to the Library then Wade took us out to dinner. It was the first attempt to eat out at a fairly nice place with both boys. I was a little nervous but we timed it just right and they were both perfect little gentlemen. Wade gave me this double stroller for my birthday and it has been fabulous. The weather has been great and we've been on lots of walks. Ford loves it, I love it, and Dock just sleeps most of the time. If anyone is looking for a double stroller we have the Graco IPO. Its compact, light, sturdy, and a pretty dang good price. The sunshades are worthless but that's what baseball caps are for, right?

This was Wade's birthday present.

While we were in California we got to visit my Grandma Maxine. I try and visit my grandparents as often as I can because I feel time slipping away. I'm lucky to still have two grandmothers and a grandfather still living. I'm glad my boys get to meet their great grandparents, I hope they have time to really get to know them. Grandma Maxine is 86 and was just moved into a nursing home. She was so excited for our visit (so were a few of the other hall wanderers). We talked and sang songs like Wheels on the Bus, Grandma was just as delighted to sing and do the hand motions as Ford.

My Two Cute Boys

2010-03-01T18:34:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures of my two cuties. We haven't been up to too much since our last post, just taking turns being sick. Poor Ford, it seems like it's always his turn, Wade, Dock and I have been sick on and off but our little Ford has been sick with the flu, cold, or croup for the last five weeks. We're hoping he gets better soon because its no fun to be sick. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks.

I love Dock's little face. Isn't he cute. Our super talented friend Erin made this cute hat for Ford and now we get to use it again. I'm so glad we're getting to pull everything out for the second time. It's funny how some little outfits have such strong memories attached to them. It's fun to remember how little my baby Ford was and it makes me realize just how fast it goes by.
He's not my baby anymore, now he's a little boy. His dad cut his hair and now that he's loosing some of that baby fat he has started to look so grown up. He is talking up a storm. His vocabulary seems to have grown exponentially lately. Some of the things he says only I can understand but other things are clear as can be. He hasn't started to put phrases or even two words together just yet, but he can get his point across. He can count to three and we are working on four and five. His favorite things are balls, Elmo, chocolate and his baby (Dock).

Here are the boys playing in Ford's room. Ford still can't get enough of his little brother. There is always a lot of hugging and wrestling going on at our house. Dock is big enough now that he just smiles when gets bombarded by Ford.

Ford loves books. This is a book about Mr and Mrs Bird that his great grandma gave him. I remember reading it at her house when I was a little girl. (she gave him that hat with the dots too). I'm pretty sure he knows his favorite books by heart. When we read about something being upside down he turns the book upside down and if there is a part about noses he turns straight to that page and points to his nose. We just joined the Dr. Seuss Book Club and Ford got his first package in the mail last week. He was so excited to open up his new books, his face lit right up. Wade was also in the Dr. Seuss book club as a kid and he tells me some of his favorite memories are getting the new books in the mail and going through them page by page with his mom. Wade and I prefer reading Dr. Seuss books to a lot of other stuff that's out there, it really is well written (By the way, Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss)

We caught a ride to California with my Aunt and Uncle on their way through then rode the train back. I know I've said this before but it really is the best way to go. It takes a lot longer, well not much longer when you consider all the stops you usually have to make with little kids, but it is so nice to be able to move around and hold my babies.
Dock just hanging out on the train. He is such a good little baby, super smiley and happy all of the time. We are working on tummy time because that is something I didn't do very well with Ford. Today he did is first roll from tummy to back. He won't take a bottle but is starting to figure out a pacifier and loves to have his fingers in his mouth. He is a big boy at 16+ pounds putting him in the 87th percentile for his age. Before we know it he is going to catch up then pass up his big brother. I love his curly hair and his big gummy smiles.

I love this cute little Ford face. He spends a couple of hours out of every day standing at this coffee table watching his Elmo movie on the laptop. He is a huge Elmo fan. When he wants to watch it he just points to the computer and says "Elmo" or "show"

This is how Dock spends most of his day. He likes to sit in this bouncy chair and just watch what's going on. I think he feels safe in the chair because it's a little harder for Ford to climb all over him when he's in it.

And here are my two boys together in their matching shirts. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to be one of those moms that dresser her kids the same all of the time. Wade would hate it. Maybe I'll only do it when I want to make him mad.

Magical

2010-01-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

Look at these handsome men! They keep me pretty happy. Dock is becoming more vocal and likes to laugh and look at his toys. He's a chubby little dude at 13 lbs and already into his 3-6 month clothes. He'll be catching up with Ford in no time. Right now Ford makes him a little nervous, probably because Ford doesn't know the difference between a kiss and a head butt.

Ford is quite entertaining these days. When somebody says "who farted?" we've taught him to say "Meeeeee!" It comes in handy, especially when I make these delicious beans. I want to start working my way through my food storage, making sure we have what we need and rotating the older stuff. Beans are always hard to use because a No. 10 can makes a lot of beans (Does any one know how long dried beans are good after they've been opened?). Anyway, the trick to beans is a pressure cooker and ham.

I love my pressure cooker, Wade's parents gave it to us a couple Christmases ago and although it doesn't come out often it works miracles when it does. Those beans - 50minutes to perfection, artichokes - 7 minutes, and boiled potatoes - 3 minutes. I haven't experimented much beyond that, so if any one has a good recipe, send it my way. Yesterday we had the beans with rice, and today in homemade tortillas. Delish! and also not as hard as I thought. I've been cooking like crazy. I have to do something to keep warm in Elko. I just pulled the tortilla recipe off line but here is my beans recipe. These beans really are good, it's so nice to bite into a big ol' chunk of juicy ham!

2 1/2 cups dried pinto beans (don't soak them, you don't have to, but you can)

6 cups water

1 ham bone

2 1/2 cups cooked ham cut into big chunks (I used leftover holiday ham)

1 large onion diced

3 cloves garlic

1 Tbl chili

1/2 Tbl ground cumin

1/2 Tbl onion powder

1/2 Tbl celery salt

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Brown onion and garlic.

Add all the seasonings and brown until they are fragrant.

Add beans, water, ham and bone.

Bring pressure cooker to pressure and cook for 50 minutes.

Cool pot with cold tap water and remove lid.

You can make this in a crock pot as well but it takes 9-10 hours. (see what I mean about the wonderfulness of a pressure cooker)

Payin' it Forward in Twenty Ten

2009-12-27T19:51:00.001-08:00

So Wade and I went to bed just after eight last night. Sleeping just seemed like the best way to bring in the new year. Dock started to get fussy and when I looked at my watch it was 11:58 so we hopped out of bed and headed to the dining room window where we snuggled up and watched the fireworks being set off at Stockmans Casino. Then we went back to bed. Not too wild but also not a bad way to bring in the new year.

I thought this pay it forward post would be a a great way to start the year. Teri did it in December and now it's my turn so I hope everyone is up early this morning because the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the next year a special gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well. Before you leave your comment, write up a pay it forward post on your blog (or facebook page) to keep the fun going.

We had a great year and I am looking forward to all the adventures to come in 2010. I wish you all a fabulous year as well.

Grandma and Grandpa Fin

2009-12-27T19:44:00.001-08:00

We were so glad to have Grandma and Grandpa Fin come and spend a couple of days with us. Even though it's been a little while since he's seen them, Ford remembered his Grandma right away and they got right down to business reading books and playing with his new toys.

Dock was happy to get so much attention from Grandma and Grandpa. He gave Grandpa some big smiles and even a few giggles. Dock was also happy to finally get a bath. We ran out of fuel for our oil furnace on Christmas eve so we were quite cold until Monday afternoon when they could bring in some oil to fill our tank. With the house so cold I didn't want to get my little guy all naked and wet so he smelled a little like sour milk by the time he got a bath yesterday.

We love it when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit. They just left this morning but we are already ready for them to come back!

Piggies

2009-12-26T19:12:00.000-08:00

I wish it was warm enough to set my piggies free.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T15:35:00.000-08:00

Christmas was looking pretty bleak last night. We are far away from family and most of our friends and Wade was so sick he thought he was going to die but went to bed early instead. I stayed up with fussy Dock feeling lonely as I put the presents under the tree.

Today everything is much brighter. Wade woke up feeling much better and it was nice to be together this morning, excited to share the magic of Christmas with our boys.

Our best present this year came a little early...

Ford got to open both his and Dock's presents. It took a long time to get through all the gifts this morning because as soon as he got one open, Ford would need to play with it for a bit before moving on to the next one. This is the only picture we got opening gifts, we had our hands full with these two little guys.
Christmas Eve eve (the 23rd) was spent with our friends Lindsay, Mike, and their kids. We had a delicious feast and the kids got to play. Ford thinks these friends are pretty fabulous and so do we.

The Twelve Posts of Christmas

2009-12-18T20:37:00.001-08:00

After I made my first two posts this month I noticed that they had the numbers one, two, and three in the titles so I thought, "What the heck, lets keep going". My goal: to make it to twelve by Christmas. Sometimes I've had to stretch a little bit or get a little creative but I made it and it's been fun. It helped me think of things to blog about that I normally wouldn't have and gave me the motivation to actually sit down and do it. I wasn't ambitious enough to try for 30 days straight like fabulous Teri, but I'm feeling pretty good about the number twelve (actually it was only 11 because one and two were in the same post). The thing that usually holds me back is that I don't think that I'm a very good writer and I know I'm a terrible speller. I always have Wade check everything before I post it.

Wade is a fantastic writer but will rarely do a post on our blog. His excuse is that blogging is for girls and it's only my friends and family that check our blog anyway, he doesn't think they want to hear from him. So if you want a Wade post please leave him a comment. I think it will take at least 10 to urge him on. I'm not sure we have that many people that check our blog???

In other news, as I'm sure you could tell from the last post Ford was way past due for a hair cut so I put on an Elmo movie and we went for it today.

Look at that mop!

I love his little face in this picture even though it looks like I cut his hair crooked.

I did do a terrible job on his hair, but I like this picture because you can't tell quite as much. He's such a wiggly little guy, its tough to do a very good job especially since I don't really know what I'm doing.
And here is chubby little Dock. His hair comes out all curly and fluffy after his bath but it only lasts for a day or two. This cute kid is getting huge. We just hopped on the scale together and he is already 11.5 pounds. He's a hefty little dude.

11:00 pm

2009-12-18T20:36:00.000-08:00

Dock had just finished eating, Wade was sound asleep and I was well on my way when I heard the most heart wrenching cry from my baby Ford. At first I waited for him to go back to sleep and when that didn't happen I thought his hand or foot must have been caught in the railing of his crib so I went to check on him, nothing was stuck, he was just sad, so I gave him his monkey and went back to bed. A few minutes later I could still hear him, he sounded heartbroken so I asked Wade to hold him for a while. Poor Wade, he could sleep through anything, but the minute I ask, he is always willing to hold one of our crying babies in the middle of the night.

Wade went to Ford and I went back to sleep. A few short hours later Dock was ready to eat again. Wade still hadn't come back to bed and as I fed Dock I could hear Ford sounds coming from down the hall. When I went to investigate, there were Ford and Wade, both wide awake, playing with Ford's toys. Wade had held Ford until he fell asleep then he laid down on the floor with him and fell asleep himself. The next thing he remembers is being tapped on the chest with a Mr. Potato Head and Ford's silly smile. Who knows how long Ford had been up goofing around in the middle of the night while daddy slept.

Look at that hair!

Same kid, 15 minutes later

We've taught Ford a few signs to help him communicate since he doesn't say too much. One of his favorites is CHEESE, so when I tell him to say cheese because I'm going to take a picture he'll drop whatever he's doing and rub his hands together, making the sign for cheese.

I love this kid and his crazy antics.

Top 10 Choices

2009-12-18T20:35:00.008-08:00

Before Ford was born I had three names I really liked, of those Wade chose Ford. This time around Wade submitted 10 names and told me to choose. With each name came a small paragraph making each name special and that much harder to choose between them. I had it down to three but still couldn't decide. Dock didn't get his name until after he was born and we got a good look at him (and Wade threatened not to tell anyone he was born until he had a name)
Here is Wade's list for your reading pleasure...

As Misty refers to the diplomatic distribution of water into the air, and Wade suggests a similar act of liaison between air, water, and land- I submit these names for baby becoming and his nomenclatural congruence to our watercourse negotiator, Ford.

Blue The apparent color of aquatic members from afar. From the middle of the Great Basin- where no drop of precipitation finds it way to the ocean- the name reflects our dreams of being nearer to the sea. While the word often connotes feelings of sadness, our love of the color portrays a sense of satisfaction with the present as we sit under the spotted shade of a tree and view the grand color of the sky through the leaves, curious about what is beyond, but rather comfortable where we lie.

Eddy A surface reaction to conditions below; whether rocks, a drain, or other underwater movements. This action speaks to the honesty and consistency and our hope that such a name would lead our new one to be true to himself, us , and the robust set of religious doctrines that will shape him just as those elements that cause the phenomenon in the natural world. As water cannot drown, we hope the name will cause him to be resilient and whether or not is caught in sundry whirlpools, we expect him to adapt and flow on to the most suitable spot.

Rill This watery incision forms in disturbed landforms as a reminder that regardless of human and other uses, the earth must drain her topography into the greater watershed systems. From rill to creek to river, to lake or ocean, this name commands respect for higher systems and interdependencies. His motto would involve something like, “Lift where you stand,” “E pluribus Unum,” “Be There,” or “Whatever thou art, act well thy part.”

Bridge An engineered ford, the purpose is the same- get on the other side of the sinewy aqua-ribbon. This method employs technology, innovation, and creativity if the structure seeks to frame or supplement the surrounding wonders. The name would imply that the masculine line of our family is willing to try new things to make us collectively more able, as though wading and fording were fine for those who they served, but in today’s world, some people just shouldn’t have to get their feet wet.

River Whether the Snake, San Joaquin-Sacramento, Sevier, South Platte, and now the Humboldt, our lives have been shaped by these landscape signatures. Our river pedigree covers the three greater watersheds of the United States, The Atlantic, Pacific, and Great Basin. The feature itself is evidence of persistent obedience. They rarely flow uphill or altogether stop without severe intervention. Their seemingly mundane routine reflects their humility in drastically beautifying our world.

Beck While these smaller scale water thoroughfares do not have the volume and the impact of the grand passages mentioned above, they have no problem thrilling the senses in creating and maintaining evocative scenery. From cascading waterfalls to irrigation ditches, these components sew the landscape together and make us whole in the process. Despite a seeming inferiority to rivers, a beck will out dazzle as it loans itself to us as we are able to comprehend and enjoy it in a more personal manner.

Dock The edge of the land extended into the grasp of the water, this softened transition demonstrates a willingness to risk vulnerability in the quest for better conversions as the landed become seafarers and back again. It is the facilitated versatility that I hope the youngster would take from this title, the desire to welcome a variety of exchanges and to make whatever accommodations necessary for another to approach- even if it means making wood wade.

Ebb A calculated ocean rescinding its tide or a body of water donating its last drop to someone’s crop or shower- each allowing for a flow elsewhere. This understanding of balance and giving would allow a tyke to ponder in perpetuity on the give-and-take nature of happiness. He would pray for the communal benefit of all, knowing that a true answer to that divine supplication would instruct him to be temporarily inconvenienced.

Moses The Mandorla prophet of the world religions- one whose family life ceased when he was placed in the water, as his opportunity to lead commenced when he was taken out. He hit a rock and water flowed, He crossed a miraculous sea ford in an act of aqua-diplomacy that demonstrated a fine piece of faith. His shattered, mosaic law was part of tricky time living in the Elko of the Middle East, but by reassembling the broken pieces into something worthwhile, he got himself translated.

Well We drink from strategic holes that yield previously hidden water. Who the hell knows how aquifers work, but thank goodness we have these ambassadors who magically make geologic treaties with the underworld which allow us to be quenched. May a guy by this name soften the nastiest of dirt and rocks and carry on relations with these types in order to make the world better for everybody else.

Flashback Friday - Nine Years Ago

2009-12-18T13:26:00.005-08:00

I left on my mission in November 2000. I went straight to the MTC (CTM) in Sau Paulo, Brazil where I spent Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. You may think that sounds a little sad and lonely but it was awesome. I had a great district and there were lots of other fun Sisters and Elders there. I don't remember Thanksgiving much, maybe I wasn't really there yet, but Christmas was full of good food - lots of cookies and exotic fruits. We got to say up late on Christmas Eve and watch movies all day, we bought presents for each other from a little stationary store down the street and on New Year's Eve there were fireworks that we could see from our windows.

This was taken in my first area, Santa Cruz do Sul with my first companion, Sister Passos. I didn't understand her and she didn't understand me one bit, but she was really nice to me and would make me banana shakes for breakfast.

This is our shower. The heating element is in the shower head and we would sometimes get a little shock when we ajusted the water.

Man, the food was yummy. Southern Brazil is know for its churrasco (Brazilain style BBQ) but this was my favorite place. This was at a Brazilian/German tea house. We got herbal tea which came with lots of salgadinos and docinos (sweet and salty apitizers).

I got a lot of support while I was on my mission. My mom was the one who planted the seed and was my biggest cheerleader (she always is). My grandma wrote me every week and even though my dad may have wished I wasn't there he did send the best packages. He saved up all the funny papers for me and sent me things like canned raviolies and peanut butter, oh, and pez, how I loved the pez.

Only Eight Left

2009-12-17T15:29:00.009-08:00

That's how many pie pops are left this afternoon (I won't tell you how many there were to begin with). I saw them here and had to try them! Their pops are way cuter than mine, but it was my first time so I don't feel too bad. I was planning on having them for book club tonight but at the last minute EVERYONE couldn't come. I guess that is good and bad, I was looking forward to a girls night but now I don't have to clean my house and all the pie pops are for me (and Wade I guess)!Fun, easy, and yummy. I used blue berry filling, which was good, but next time I would use something a little tart, like cherry. This was also my first attempt at pie crust from scratch. I think it went pretty well.

As for book club, we read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It is a kid's book, only 75 pages long, so I thought it would be a good one since we are all supper busy around Christmas. I was also looking for a book that has withstood the test of time. It seems like all the Christmas books coming out now are a little cheesy. This one was written over 30 years ago and is still getting great reviews. I enjoyed it, it had a great message. I'd like to make it into a Christmas tradition and read it to my boys every year. Neither of them would be into it just yet but in a couple more years it would be fun to read by the light of the tree.

Here are the dwarfs my kids represent in the last post: Doc(k), Bashful, Dopey, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, and Happy.

The Seven Dwarfs

2009-12-16T16:26:00.003-08:00

Tonight Wade and Ford watched Snow White while Dock and I fiddled around in the kitchen. I bought a bunch of VHS Disney movies off a friend for a dollar each and we have been loving them. Well, Ford isn't quite as into them as I am, but they sure are nice to have. If anyone else wants to get rid of their old VHS tapes, I'm looking for more Disney Movies. Here are some pictures of my little Dwarfs, see if you can guess which ones they represent.

Six Years

2009-12-13T09:46:00.004-08:00

I didn't know what I was jumping in to but I'm sure glad we took the plunge. I'm a lucky girl, these last six years have been pretty fantastic. We've lived in two fun cities (and Elko), we've bought two houses, sold one, aquired one associates degree, two bachelors, and a masters, been on lots of fun vacations, made life long friends, and now have two cute and cuddly little boys.

Happy Aniversary to us!

Five Little Seconds...

2009-12-12T15:45:00.005-08:00

...is all it takes. Look away for that long and before you know it Ford is pressing the power button on the computer, has his hands in the toilet, or has tackled Dock in a crushing bear hug. His enthusiasm for his little brother has not diminished as I had hoped it might. Ford still likes to smother Dock in kiss and huggs. The only problem is Ford gets really excited and forgets to be soft.

Dock is a good little guy, although kind of a bed hog. He has been sleeping with us so I can feed him on demand during the night. Its not as easy as everyone makes it sound, but it is better than getting up two or three times a night.

In the last couple of weeks Dock has rewarded us more and more with his sweet little smile. I wish I could get a picture. It sure is fun to see his eyes light up. He changes so fast. I love his fat little cheeks and his sweet little cry and when he laughs in his sleep. I love these boys!

4 Sandy's Birthday ...

2009-12-05T16:19:00.012-08:00

My little sister, Sandy, has a birthday that falls quite close to Christmas (tomorrow). In an effort to make her birthday special every year my mom would throw her a birthday party with lots of kids and fun activities. One of the favorite activities was making ornaments. Every year there was a fun, kid friendly ornament to work on. My mom still tries very hard to make Sandy's birthday a special one, so while they were here this year for Thanksgiving we made ornaments in honor of Sandy's birthday.

Happy Birthday Sandy!!!

This is Sandy now

This is Sandy then.

These are the ornaments we made from bottle caps.

I put pictures of my boys in the back of each cap .

I made the extras into magnets.

Most of the ornaments and magnets will go to the grandmas and grandpas as Christmas gifts and I'll keep just a few for us, although I like them so much it will be hard to give them away. Ford loves playing with the magnets. For more pictures of Sandy and the ornaments go to Sandy's blog.

All I Want for Christmas is My Three Front Teeth!

2009-12-05T15:30:00.003-08:00

See these two cute teeth? Well now there is one growing in between and perpendicular to them. We are now accepting donations to the "Ford is sure to need braces someday" fund.

Two for the Price of One

2009-12-01T17:54:00.008-08:00

We've been meaning to have Ford blessed for quite a while but with moving from place to place and so many little sick episodes it just didn't happen, then when we found out Dock was on his way so we decided to just take care of it all at the same time. We hadn't planned for Sunday, but Grandma and Grandpa Fin were in town so we just went for it. The bishop and his counselors were nice enough to come to our home. Ford just fit into his little outfit that we bought for him years ago in China Town way before kids were even really on our agenda. At the time we didn't know how tiny a new baby really was. We got the smallest size we could find and thought it would be fine. Luckily we didn't use it right away anyway. Dock didn't get the traditional white ensemble but he did have brand new jammies from his Papa George and his Aunt Sandy's blanket from when she was a baby, so he had a couple of special things all his own and didn't have to wear blessing hand-me-downs. They both received beautiful blessings. My grandma says babies are always better once they've been blessed but its hard to imagine how my two little guys could get any better.

This Month in Review

2009-11-28T16:50:00.015-08:00

This last month has been crazy. My Mom, Grandma, and Aunt Janice came right after Dock was born. They got right to work on my house. We had just closed on the house a few days before Dock was born, so there hadn't been time to do much. My Grandma cleaned my blinds while my Mom and Janice painted my living room, dining room, and the boy's room. It was a little hectic for those first few days, but it feels so nice to have it done. My bathrooms and floors also got a good scrub and I didn't have to lift a finger. It was wonderful!

This is our cute little Dock, doing what Docks do best - sleep. He still spends most of the day snoozing away.

This was the day we brought our new little guy home. Ford was so excited. I thought the excitement would quickly wear off, but it has not. Ford loves his little brother. It is fun to watch as he tries to give Dock hugs and kisses. He is still a little to rough to be let loose on his brother but we are working on being gentle.

This is my sweet boy before we left the hospital. Labor and delivery went really well. My contractions started early in the morning but I thought it was probably false labor. In the late morning my water broke but it was more of a small leak so I still didn't think it was really time. We spent the morning getting the house together, packing a hospital bag (just in case), and we ran over to Home Depot to pick up our new cupboards and paint (I'd much rather be shopping during labor than sitting at home waiting for the next contraction). We picked up lunch and brought it home to eat. Wade had planned on going to a church activity for a little bit and I thought we had plenty of time and told him to go but he said "Misty you've had four contractions in the last 20 minutes, I'm not going". At that point I decided to check in with my OB. They told me to head to the hospital right away. I asked for one more hour so Ford could take a nap, but they said NO! It was a good thing we got to the hospital when we did. By the time we were all checked in and I was in a bed it was already 3 o'clock and I was ready for them to give me my epidural. Things went quickly after that, Dock was born at 5:05. I had been a little worried about having a baby in a small town hospital, but I had a great experience! The nursing staff was fabulous, they took great care of me and baby Dock.

Now that Dock's around we make Ford do all the work. It's a hard knock life!

Dock has been such a good baby. When he cries it's loud. Wade says he sounds like a peacock. Luckily he doesn't cry much. He's pretty content to just eat, sleep, poop, and hang out.

I love this little kid and his crazy hair

Our little Dock with his hair all combed.

Ford got a new rug for his room. He thinks it's way better than bonking his head on the hard wood floors so when it's just me and the boys we spend most of the day just hanging out in his room.

Me and my boys. Ford still isn't walking so there is two of them to lug around. We tried going on an outing just once, we wont do that again. We may wait till spring to leave the house.

Ford thinks Dock is cool

Ford is trying to get past my mom so he can attack Dock with kisses (which are a lot like head butts). You can see that Dock is a little alarmed.

Sleepy boy

Dog pile!

A rare moment when Dock is up and looking around. He prefers sleeping but for an hour or two in the morning and at night just before we all go to bed he is wide awake and alert.

We were excited to have my Dad and his wife, Madelyn, come to visit us. My dad doesn't leave his beloved home state of California very often, so it is always a special treat when he comes. They came with gifts and a lasagna and while they were here they got our basement all cleared out and organized - ready for some remodeling. My Dad was our lender and we wouldn't be in this house if it weren't for all of his hard work (and it did get hard). Thanks dad! ~If anyone out there needs a home loan let me know, I'll give you his number.

Ford likes to help with the dishes. He thinks sharp knives are especially interesting so we don't was those in the dishwasher anymore.

This picture demonstrates two of Ford's favorite things. His monkey and socks on his hands. He is always pulling his socks off his feet so when he does we put them on his hands as "punishment". He leaves them there for a really long time as he claps or crawls around. They just feel better when there on your hands I guess.

Puppy Ford helping in the kitchen. He crawls from the dining room to the living room and back again and again as I'm cleaning or cooking in the kitchen.

Dock's belly button finally fell off and he got his first bath.

When I told my mom I wasn't going anywhere with a new baby for Thanksgiving she said she would come to me, so my sister Sandy, her hubby Pete, and my Mom came to our house for Thanksgiving. We had a fun week. We mostly just played with my babies -my boys love having people around. Thanksgiving dinner turned out so good. It was beautiful, I wish I had a picture but the camera ran out of batteries just when I needed it. Wade's parents introduced us to smoked turkey last year and it is so tasty so that's what we had again this year and it turned out so pretty and yummy. Pete said it tasted more like a ham. It really did have a lot of flavor. We also did the rest of the Thanksgiving basics. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be to make Thanksgiving dinner. It all came together really smoothly and we had a great time.

A Busy Time of Year

2009-11-01T20:38:00.002-08:00

You may have thought that with everything that was going on we would have forgotten all about Halloween, but how could we. While we were at the hospital on the 30th (occupied with other things) Ford got to attend the ward trunk or treat with his friends. I hear he loved it.

We made it home with our new little Dock just in time on the 31st for Ford and Wade to throw on their costumes and head out to gather the spoils of Halloween. Ford went as his favorite stuffed animal, Curious George, and Wade got to be the man in the yellow hat - He's a good sport.

They only went to one house and got caught up visiting for a long time then finally came home. Ford didn't seem to mind. Dock will have to wait until he's a little bigger to join in to the festivities.

Day Two

2009-11-01T20:19:00.002-08:00

We are so glad to have this new little man home. It has been a great two days. I feel fabulous, Wade is a great dad, Ford has taken to Dock right away, and so far Dock is a very mild baby, just happy to hang out.

Here are some of our recent pictures for your viewing pleasure...

This little guy was born fast but as soon as she got word my mom hopped in her car and headed out to see us. She was our first visitor, popping in to visit at 1:00 a.m. (as soon as she got to Elko)
I thought moms were supposed to be the comfy ones because they were so nicely padded but but my boys prefer their dad.

All dressed up and ready to go home

Look at that cute face!

Getting to know his momma

Ford and Dock finally get to meet. As you can tell from the video in the last post, Ford is pretty excited about having a little brother. We have to hold him back a bit because his squeezes are just a little more than Dock can handle and when he cries, Ford gets really worried about him.

We love these boys!!!

To Brotherhood

2009-10-31T20:13:00.005-07:00

Ford was quite pleased with his new toy. He couldn't give Dock enough hugs and kisses. Nice to be together.

Moredockpix

2009-10-31T12:08:00.003-07:00

Dock Patrick Fin

2009-10-30T19:36:00.002-07:00

Here's our second son, Dock. We checked into the hospital at 2:30, Misty delivered him at 5:05. From where I stood, it went pretty smooth. Misty is doing well and seems fond of this guy. I'll post more tomorrow night. For you oddball scorekeepers; 7 lb. 15 oz., 21.5 in. biceps, peed two minutes into life.

Elko Peace Park

2009-10-26T10:23:00.004-07:00

Wade, in his modesty, left out a bit of information from his last post. The Peace Park, here in Elko is still in its beginning stages of development, a perfect opportunity for a budding landscape architect.

Wade was able to work with the Peace Park committee to help bring the park a little closer to completion. He designed these fabulous rolling hills (that the kids already love to roll down) and he worked with local community businesses to fund the project and provide the laborers. Home Depot and Silver State Fire each donated $5,000 worth of grass and trees as well as volunteers and lots of other stuff.

Where before there was nothing but desert, it is now lush and green. There is still a lot to be done in this little park but it is amazing the difference a little grass has made.

Before
Wade working really hard

View from the top of the hilll

Doesn't that grass look lovely

Kids having a great time on the hills

Home Depot volunteers that helped lay the grass.

Larvae Arborvitae Memoriae

2009-10-24T19:56:00.009-07:00

Why not enjoy this photo of my bride with a peculiar protrusion that will likely be mitigated in the coming days? Official due date is Nov. 5th, I've got a hunch this young man will come on a waxing gibbous moon, which should be this Thursday or Friday. However, it has been obvious to me lately that the cosmos are really trying to piss me off* so the child will probably arrive on Monday during the store brand of lunar phases- the first quarter moon- yawn!
You, dear friend/meandering visitor/cyber perv, have noticed a space between posts to this blog. I won't try to fill them here, but I'll annotate a few photographs taken since we last exchanged sensitive personal information.Ford turned one in August and my gift to him was a bath in couscous. During his first year he demonstrated an affinity for the texture, flavor, and blatant intercultural embrace found in every bite of the spherical granules of semolina wheat. Truth be told, he was moderately freaked out by the proposal, but I managed to track down these two pics where he hid his hatred for the event. We recently took the short drive to Angel Lake, near Wells, NV. Ford Loved it! To our native Coloradoan, there is nothing like leaving the rather desirable late summer temps in the city to visit alpine lakes on a chilly day.
Since he forbade the "get out of the car, take picture and go home" approach that his mother and I had planned, we had to skip a meal. Despite his familiarity with the generally accepted notion that quaking aspen leaves are toxic to neonate larvae (Manuwoto, Scriber, Hsia, and Sunarjo, 1984), said he, "am I a caterpillar?"Now that fall is here, our leaf foraging snob is less condescending as his habit has gone dormant for the next 8 months of Elko winter. Meanwhile, we remain quite fond of this man as seen in the backyard that it took his parents over 100 days to close on.

After some fiscal finagling, we are homeowners again. We are excited to be partakers in that American dream of plumbing issues, obscene utility bills, and removing that really bushy arborvitae that is about to cover the front door.On the inside, we just wear socks on our hands all the livelong day. We love it, and we don't care what you think.

In parting, let me present the album cover for Ford's grungy alternative snowboard band, "Off the Hook." He's got it all; long sleeved tee, pseudo serious expression, upside down image, phone off hook.

*Honestly, I regret using the term "piss me off" earlier. It has always sounded abrasive to me but I could not find a suitable replacement that would achieve equal comedic effect. I don't understand what it means and my usage of it suggests an intellect of sewage and rot. I am a skank.

Elko City Park

2009-07-27T15:51:00.002-07:00

We went to the park for a little afternoon picnic on Saturday. The weather in Elko has been great this summer and this weekend was no exception.
Ford thought it was cool, but I don't think he enjoyed it as much as his mom and dad.

We went with our friends Lynsie, Joey, and little Franklin. Ford loves to give Franklin hugs!

At one point Ford accidentally found himself on the grass. I guess he forgot that he hates grass.

By the end of the picnic Ford was getting a little angry. When he gets mad he says maaam maaam maaaaam, in a very mad voice while blowing spit bubbles. It makes it a little hard to take him seriously. He only says maaaam when he's mad. I try to tell him that that's me but I don't think he gets it.

This is how we knew it was time to go home. He crashed as soon as we got back and slept for almost 3 hours. I thought he was never going to wake up. I get a little lonely for him while he is sleeping. He is such a fun little guy these days, I just want to sneak into his room and wake him up so he will play some more. We sure do love our little man.

Not Just a Milk Moustache

2009-07-26T09:50:00.005-07:00

Milk does a body good, right?
I've heard it's great for your skin and hair as well as your bones.

If I could just figure out how to use this dang cup without flinging milk all over I would be all set, but sometimes a like to shake things up before I take a little sip.

Mmmmm, milk!

My Friend Frank

2009-07-25T20:48:00.003-07:00

This is Ford and his friend Franklin. Franklin is a four months old and Ford makes him a little nervous right now, but they are bound to be great friends someday because we love Frank's mom and dad.

You can see that Ford always likes to keep one hand on his friend to make sure he doesn't go anywhere. Poor Franklin isn't quite mobile enough to escape Ford's loving attention. I think Wade is doing pretty good holding both these boys. When our next one gets here he'll sure have his hands full all the time.

We don't really do too much TV around here but I picked up a Winnie the Pooh video at the library this week. Ford was captivated for about one minute then his attention went elsewhere. I love this picture of him staring at the TV although I'm glad he wasn't that into it. We had a great time at the library. It was Ford's first trip. We looked at lots of books but they also had some great wooded kid toys that Ford liked. We were there for almost 2 hours before we finally had to head home for nap time.

Bulking up

2009-07-15T19:56:00.001-07:00

Wade thinks Ford needs to bulk up a bit so he has put him on a strict fitness program. We’re working on pull ups right now, eventually we will also work on crawling and walking but Ford thinks the best way to get around is rolling for now.

Otter Pops, Garden Club, and House Hunting

2009-07-15T18:34:00.003-07:00

There isn’t much going on around here. We don’t have any big trips planned for now so we are just in Elko enjoying the summer. Ford loves summer because we go outside a lot more, he gets to wear practically nothing, and he gets to eat otter pops. Wade eats about seven of these a day; Ford is lucky if he gets one.

This is a picture of my boys while we were out with the Garden Club touring notable gardens in Elko. That’s right, we were hanging out with the Garden Club. Some men use babies to get chicks, well it worked for Wade. Those ladies loved Ford and Wade was able to successfully use that to his advantage, by stealing horticultural secrects that may be useful in the future.

Ford has been very patient with us as we’ve searched high and low in Elko trying to find a home to buy. So far Elko hasn’t been too good to us in this respect but we’ve found a house we like and we’re optimistic that everything will fall into place. This is Ford in said house, waiting patiently as mommy and daddy take a look around.

Weekend Hike in Lamoille Canyon

2009-07-08T07:51:00.003-07:00

Wade had Friday off so we went on a little family outing. This was Ford’s first hike
That big belly of mine kept us from hiking too far. We were in Lamoille canyon in the Ruby mountains, just outside of Elko. It was beautiful! We had a great day together. It is nice to have such a beautiful spot not too far away. I guess Lamoille canyon can be added to my “10 things I like about Elko list”

Daddy and Ford are funny

Wade and Ford wading across the ford in the river.

Here it is, my big ol’ belly. I still have four more months to go, this thing is going to be out of control by November. I feel like my belly is growing a lot faster this time than it did last time. I still like it though. I really enjoy being pregnant.

4th of July

2009-07-08T07:37:00.003-07:00

Our 4th of July started with high expectations. We started out at the town parade then had a BBQ with some friends. We had hopes of watching the fireworks but must have worn the little man out. He went to bed at 4:00p and stayed there. Here are some of the days pictures

Watching the Parade with daddy and mommy

Cheerio nose

I love Cheerios!

Just a few Ford pictures

2009-07-07T20:47:00.003-07:00

This first picture of Ford is mostly for my grandma, even though she never reads this blog. I want her to know that sometimes we do comb Ford’s hair.

We were several months overdue, so Wade finally broke down and registered our car in Nevada. We are now Nevada residents and have Nevada plates. It was a sad sad day.

This is one of the only pictures we got in Portland before our camera ran out of batteries. We went to a fun little gelato shop. Ford likes his posh icecream.

When our little guy is hungry but doesn’t really want mommy to feed him I will give him shredded cheese. Ford loves cheese! (Who doesn’t?) It is super messy as you can see and usually means a bath soon after.

Vacation

2009-06-30T17:58:00.003-07:00

We just got back from two fabulous trips, one to Denver to see old friends, and one to Portland to visit my sister and her husband. We had a great time on our vacations, but plan to stay grounded in Elko for the next little while. We forgot the camera in Denver, then the battery died in Portland so no pictures this time. Thanks everyone for showing us a good time!

By the way, we found out that our next is a boy!

Family Photos

2009-06-17T07:40:00.002-07:00

Here are the family photos we took while we were in Idaho.

Wade, Misty, and Ford

Marta, Misty, Wade, Ford, Sandy, and Pete

Cole, Ace, Ott, Aunt Merl, Uncle Jack, Sage, Uncle Thadeus, Adam

Misty, Marta, Grandpa Tom, Grandma Harriet, Aunt Jannice, Adam, Sarah

Pete, Sandy, Wade, Ford, Zena, Eden, and Zaida

Grandma Harriet

We've been busy.

2009-06-15T12:56:00.009-07:00

While I'm updating I should probably mention that I'm pregnant again. We've been slowly spreading the word for a couple of months now. This baby is scheduled to arrive on November 7th. I'll find out if were having a boy or a girl this Thursday. I'm not sure I have a preference this time. It would be fun for Ford to have a little brother to run around with (they'll only be 15 months apart) but a girl sure would be fun too!

Also new - I finally got a book club started with my friends here in Elko. For our first gathering we brought our favorite children’s books. I got a lot of great ideas about books little boys might love from some of my friends. The book we are reading for next month is Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. If I ever blog again, maybe I'll let you know how it was.

We recently had another stay at the Hospital. Ford picked up a bug the last few days we were in Idaho. On the way home he was having more and more trouble breathing so we made a slight detour to the Burley, Idaho Emergency room. I'm leaving out lots of boring details but we ended up going via ambulance to Primary Children’s in Salt Lake, where Ford received excellent care. Wade met us in Burley then had to head straight to Salt Lake. Poor guy, it was a long day and a lot of driving for him but I really couldn't have done it without him. We were there for two nights until Ford was breathing well again. It was a little stressful there for a few days but things are all better now. We have a happy healthy boy again and are happy to be back home.

Here are some other faves from our trip...

Ford and his Great Grandpa Tom. The rattle Ford is holding was Grandpa's when he was a baby.

Ford and Daddy. Wade was a Ford-hog the whole weekend. I didn't even get to hold my own baby until he left.

My Mom and my Grandma Harriet. Happy birthday Grandma.

Taking family pictures is exhausing!

Ford and Daddy again, just sharing a stick.

Here is another one of Ford and Grandpa Tom. Ford is looking like a mean little kid. It took him the whole week to warm up to everyone and when he finally did it was time to go.

What we did at Grandmas....

2009-06-15T10:05:00.006-07:00

Like always we had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house. We went up to Blackfoot, Idaho for my Grandma's 80th birthday party. Tons of people were there, I guess after 80 years of livin', you know a lot of people. Uncle Jack made his famous bbq chicken for the event and everyone had a great time. Ford and I spent a whole week there and Wade came up for the weekend. While his daddy was around, Ford wouldn't have anything to do with anyone else.

We all had such a fun time. Here are some of the things we did...

Ford played with his cousin Zaida.

Sittin' on the fence with dad, watchin the cows

Weenie roast with the fam

Watchin Grandpa, cousin Sage, and uncle Jack brand the cows. Cousin Ott was there too, ropin' them like a true cowboy.

Grandma made homemade doughnuts. These are better than any other doughnuts on earth, soft and warm and chewy. She gave me the recipe but it's mostly a little of this and a little of that. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to obtain that same perfection as Grandma.

So Sunny

2009-06-13T12:56:00.004-07:00

Has it really been 3 months. Sorry. Well if anyone is still checking in on us here are some cute pictures of our boy. He hates the sun in his eyes, but he's not quite sure about these glasses either.

Sleep Training

2009-03-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

We’ve been rocking our baby boy to sleep since he was born but we decided it was about time to start sleep training, you know the whole cry it out method. I had been nervous about letting him cry himself to sleep because sometimes he does that pass out thing. Last night was his first night going to bed all by himself. We read a book, said prayers, and I put him in his bed with a couple of his favorite friends, the cat in the hat and his giraffe. I left and didn’t hear a peep from him. When I finally went back to peek in on him he was sound asleep with the giraffe on his head. Tonight I figured I wouldn’t be so lucky, Wade was at a church meeting so I was preparing to withstand his crying all by myself but to my surprise, my sweet boy went right to sleep again. He makes me so happy. Best birthday present ever!

Look into my eyes...

2009-03-04T08:07:00.002-08:00

Our pediatrician recommended that we take Ford to the eye doctor between 6 and 12 months. She said it was free with the InfantSee program, so I figured why not, although I wasn’t sure how they were going to do an eye exam on a 6 month old. We made an appointment to see Dr. Alleman, who was one of the first and nicest people we met at church when we moved here. I was excited that he was part of the InfantSee program and probably wouldn’t have taken Ford so soon if we couldn’t have seen him.

Ford didn’t have to read the lines on an eye chart, he just looked at some ping pong paddles with smiley faces on them as well as some other toys and had a few annoying lenses put in front of his eyes while he tried to reach for toys. After only a few minutes Dr. Alleman could tell that Ford is using both eyes, is slightly far sighted, and has an astigmatism just like his mom and dad. I asked if he was going to need glasses or something but he doesn’t, apparently far sightedness is normal for babies his age. I also asked about the gray parts around the whites of his eyes which I had been a little worried about - also normal. So we just don’t do anything for now, but I’m glad we went in, we learned a lot about our little man.

1/2 Birthday

2009-02-26T10:41:00.003-08:00

Ford hit six months old on Valentines Day – Wade and I took him out to dinner, which doubled as our romantic date, then we went to the Elko museum. I expected lots of cowboy paraphernalia and maybe some rail road stuff and even local wildlife. I thought it was a little weird when we found that the museum was filled with exotic animals from all over the world. It didn’t compare with some of the museums we have been to in other bigger cities, but it wasn’t too bad for Elko.

I also wanted to do a little half birthday party for Ford. We invited some friends and theIr kids over for dinner and games. The kids frosted cupcakes and played pin the heart on cat in the hat. We had a fun day.

Videos Of The Little Man

2009-02-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

I’m not going to post videos of our little guy because for some reason I hate watching videos on blogs, especially boring ones, but if you enjoy watching stupid videos of other peoples kids just go to youtube.com and type FordTom in the search box. There are a few in there, none of which are especially exciting but I recommend sticky buns and jumping.

10 Things I Like About Elko

2009-02-24T11:41:00.004-08:00

Sometimes I have a bit of a negative attitude about Elko but there are a few things in no particular order that make living in Elko okay.
1. The smell of sagebrush – When you go outside on cold days the air is infused with the smell of sagebrush. It smells so good, I love to take in a deep breath when I go outside.
2. Friends – We are beginning to make some great friends that we like a lot.
3. Water Aerobics – Twice a week I go down to the community pool for a water aerobics class. It feels great and gets me out of the house.
4. Wades job – Wade likes his job and I like that he likes it. I also like that he gets to come home everyday for lunch and his day ends at 4:00 so I feel like we get to spend a lot of time together.
5. Spending the day with my little guy – I feel so lucky to be a stay at home mom. Ford and I hang out all day together and he makes me so happy.
6. In the middle of everywhere. – Although Elko is in the middle of nowhere we are also centrally located. We are just a few hours from our families in California, Utah, and Idaho.
7. View – I love looking out my window and seeing nothing but desert and mountains. I am beginning to see the beauty of the desert.
8. Church – The one thing I can count on no matter where we go.
9. Friendly Folks – Elko seems to be filled with friendly people that love to chat and don’t mind a good wave from a stranger passing by.
10. Weather – I’m still getting to know Elko’s weather, but so far so good. We’ve had a little rain and a little snow – both great in small quantities. The winter has been pretty mild so far and I am looking forward to the summer when I hear the temps are in the 80’s and 90’s.

Peepee

2009-01-05T19:22:00.002-08:00

Happy 2009 everyone. I was a little behind so I just added several posts. Sorry for throwing it at you all at once.I just had to add this pic because I thought it was funny. Ford peed right onto Wade’s pants in the middle of a change.

New Year's Eve

2009-01-05T19:14:00.004-08:00

For this New Year’s Eve we brought back some of our favorite things from the past – our friends. The Rissers and the Granges are some of our favorite people on earth and somehow we talked them into making the trek out to Elko Nevada from New York and Colorado to spend the New Year with us. One nice thing about Elko is that when people come to visit, you know they are there to see you. There were 6 adults and 3 babies in our little two bedroom apartment, but we made it work. Ford got to hang out with his friends Van and Isabel although the three of them rarely seemed to be awake at the same time.

On New Years Eve we had fondue and stayed up way too late.

Here are the Granges in their party hats.

We talked and laughed and had a great time. We miss them a lot already

Date

2009-01-05T19:11:00.001-08:00

My mom tries to get me to leave the baby alone with her at every possible chance (it still makes me a little nervous to leave him with anyone, even my mom), so she bought Wade tickets to San Francisco’s Academy of Science Museum for Christmas and sent us on a date. The place was packed and we didn’t make it to all the cool stuff but we did make it to the top of the building to see the fabulous roof garden.

After our walk through the museum we met my sister Sandy and her hubby Pete for lunch at the Beach Chalet where we had a great table overlooking the ocean. We then hurried home where I found my baby peacefully sleeping and undamaged by my mom. Thanks mom!

Family Time

2009-01-05T19:05:00.004-08:00

Ford got to spend a little quality time with his Great Grandma Maxine. She liked him a lot and wanted to hold him, that made me a little nervous but they did okay. She kept forgetting that Ford was a boy and would constantly ask “what’s her name?” When I would answer she would giggle and say “oh, I was going to call him chevy.” We eventually developed a little name tag for him although it didn’t help much.

I don’t get to see my Grandma very much so it was great to be able to spend the whole evening with her even if I did have to answer the same questions over and over.

We stayed at my mom’s house and ended up spending most of our time there. We did go to my Aunt Peg’s for my Uncle Ed’s birthday party, all sorts of relatives were there and it was so fun to see everyone!

We popped in and out of my Dads house throughout the week, although not as much as he or I would have liked. Here is a picture of the boys playing Sorry.

Roll Over

2009-01-05T18:59:00.003-08:00

While we were in California Ford went for his first roll over. He and I were both very surprised.

Clackity Clack

2009-01-05T18:56:00.001-08:00

Ford and I set off for California on December 18th via Amtrak. I was a little nervous traveling without Wade but glad not to be stuck in a car with my little man. The train worked out great for us. We upgraded to a sleeper car and although it took a lot longer than a car ride, we were free to stretch out and relax for the duration of the trip – as far as Ford was concerned it was much better than being in a car seat. Wade came out a few days later and we all rode the train back together. It was much more fun with the three of us.

No, It's Not Rudolph

2008-12-12T18:47:00.008-08:00

There is Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen but do you know the most famous reindeer of all - Ford the pissed off reindeer.

Okay, maybe he isn’t that famous but he sure is a funny little man. He wasn’t too happy about getting all dressed up in the first place then his very snug reindeer hat squished his eyebrows down and made him look really mad. Wade and I just think he’s funny.

Once we got his hat off he turned back into our little angel.

Here is our little over-achiever sucking not just one but both of his thumbs. He’s no slacker, this is how he likes to suck his thumbs on a regular basis. I guess one is just not good enough.

2008-12-01T12:23:00.002-08:00

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Ford got to see his Grandma and Grandpa Fin and all of his cousins. They were real nice to him and he had a great time, we can’t wait to go back.

Thanksgiving dinner was a big party this year. Wade’s mom’s side of the family all got together for the big turkey dinner. About 100 people showed for the feast. Everything was very tasty.

Ford thinks his dad is real funny. I love it when he gets this big smile. He just melts my heart. His mommy loves him!

We are back in Elko now. We are still trying to get everything unpacked but feeling more settled everyday. Our little guy is doing really well and likes it here a lot. Mommy and Daddy still don’t have any friends but we have pretty high standards so we were not going to just settle for anyone. There are lots of couples with new babies in our ward so maybe that will be our in. Wade’s pretty upset because we’ve gone to church three weeks now and the bishop still hasn’t come up to say hello, not the welcome we’re used to but we’ll get to know folks eventually.

Elko!

2008-11-22T18:58:00.009-08:00

We have settled here in the Paris of the Great Basin. FordTomFin is thrilled, but sometimes when we view the famous landmarks, his emotions surface. You can't blame the little man, the confluence of the tower's majesty and his being fed up with his fathers' unwillingness to pay admission to the observation area of the structural icon below, justify the pouty face.

However, this fine Nevada town has facilitated more smiles since our arrival two weeks ago than any location he's known in his three months. He still grunts with fondness of his memories of his upbringing in the Mile High City and brief stops in Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and California- but now that he hangs his Huggies in the Silver State, he wears a grin as he seeks to flourish in the desert.

I foresee that he will take note of Artemisia tridentata, the Nevada State flower whose friends call it "Common Sagebrush." The species wastes no time fretting over clay soils, little annual precipitation, or proximity to a big city mall. This shrub shrugs the claims of its vegetal peers across the continent who from their fertile vales call this peculiar space between the Rockies and Sierras a barren one, for the Sagebrush rules the region and its hardiness suggests a higher level of relative prominence.

And now for your blogstalking pleasure, compare the stunning picture of dazzling entertainer Liza Minelli with Ford's Halloween pix from yesterpost.

Jail Bird

2008-11-03T05:11:00.005-08:00

Yes, we are still hanging in there. We have spent the last few weeks visiting family in Utah, Idaho, and California. Our little Ford has been a trooper as we drag him across the west. We’ve been on the move since the beginning of October, but we are finally getting ready to settle down. Wade accepted a job in Elko, Nevada with the city’s Parks Department. We had initially hoped to be in California but the job in Elko offered him design opportunities that as a new graduate he wouldn’t have any place else. We are excited for this new adventure.

Poor Ford, he didn’t get any candy this year, I don’t think we’ll give him any until he has teeth to rot out, but we did kick off his first Halloween with a fun costume. My little man was a jail bird. He’ll probably be very embarrassed by this picture in years to come, but at two and a half months he thought the feathers were fascinating!

Home at last.

2008-10-10T01:41:00.001-07:00

It feels so good to be home, even though home is all boxed up.

The whole hospital thing was a little scary for me. Here are the pictures of Ford getting his EEG, which measured his brain waves. This is the test that he didn’t mind much. Putting all those wires on his head actually put him to sleep. Every other test usually involved putting something up his nose and was torture. I never thought I would be one of those moms paranoid about germs, but now I am. At least for this season or until my little man gets a little resilient to a simple cold.

All ready to go home. Getting better is exhausting!

Meeting the Cousins

2008-10-10T01:32:00.003-07:00

This is a little late but here are a couple picures from our trip to Oak City.

Here are all Ford's cousins on the Finlinson side (there is one more that isn't quite here yet). It sure was hard to get everyone to look at the camera at the same time.
Ford loves his Grandma and Grandpa!

Atrial Septal Defect

2008-10-08T13:15:00.002-07:00

Test results are all back and things look pretty good. Ford didn’t have any of the dangerous viruses that are out there, he only has a nasty version of the rhinovirus so either he is going to turn into a rhinoceros soon or he just has a plane old cold. The congestion is still causing him to have low oxygen levels and since they know we will be moving they are going to keep us here until he can go home without oxygen. We are fine with that since our house is all boxed up anyway.

Since we were here anyway they have done quite a few tests to see if they could determine the cause of Ford’s purple pass-outs. Our ENT doc did the bronchoscopy and based on the results believes Ford has laryngomalasia or his larynx is closing off when he gets worked up due to swelling caused by reflux. (Can you tell I’ve learned all sorts of new vocabulary words since we have been here?) He is being treated for that with reflux medicine. Our attending, on the other hand, isn’t convinced that’s the problem so she ran several other test., none of which proved to explain his passing out so she believes the pass-outs are a result of breath-holding spells more common in older children. Either way, we’re glad to know it’s not a problem with his brain or heart.

While in search of the cause of these mysterious pass-outs the doctors came across and incidental finding. Our little man has a hole between the upper chambers of his heart. It’s not life threatening or even really dangerous, it’s just another thing for his momma to worry about

This morning everything looks great. Ford passed the “room air challenge” this morning when they took him off oxygen for an hour then permanently (we hope). If things keep going so well we should be heading home by dinner time!

Still Here

2008-10-06T22:59:00.000-07:00

Hello All. We are still here at The Children’s Hospital where we have been receiving excellent care. Ford has a crush on all of his nurses, who have been so good to him and mommy is learning lots of handy tricks to take care of him.

Yesterday my baby boy woke up happy and smiley. He had an EEG done in the morning to measure his brain waives. This was done to determine if he was having small seizures when he was mad, causing him to stop breathing. He never got so mad that he turned purple and passed out, so I’m not sure that they got all the information that they needed. He actually kind of enjoyed the process of getting the EEG. He loves it when people mess with his head and EEG involved attaching lots of little wires via wax and tape to his head. He was sound asleep by the time he was all hooked up. We tried to get him mad so they could get the information they needed but he didn’t get mad enough, it only worked him up for the rest of the day making him quite fussy. They also tried to do an echo cardiogram but by then Ford was too worked up and wanted nothing to do with it. Having cold jelly squirted on his chest for an ultrasound wasn’t quite as nice as the head rub he had received earlier. We’ll be trying again today.

He spent most of the day wide awake just wanting to be held by his mommy. By the end of the day I was starving and exhausted, luckily he knows his bedtime is 6:00 and finally went to bed so his mommy could get a few things done.

We really appreciate all of the love and prayers of friends and family and are very grateful for the “angels” who have come to visit and take care of us here in the hospital. As I listened to Elder Holland’s talk the other day I realized that I knew quite a few angels. THANK YOU

I apologize to everyone that has called to check on us but I haven’t called back. My free time comes in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning as I pump milk for my little guy’s next meal. I am hoping we’ll be out of here soon and life will settle into a more normal pace. The cold that got him in here in the first place is much better and I think we can go home as soon as he is off his oxygen.

We love you all!

Purple

2008-10-04T03:48:00.001-07:00

Besides the vicious cold that put us here in the first place, Ford, has since birth, turned purple and stopped breathing after a really hard inconsolable cry. This has worried me from the start so I talked to his pediatrician about it at several of his first few appointments. I also talked to his ENT doc (Dr. Yoon) about it when we went in to get his ears and uvula checked. The response I continually got was that small children quite frequently do this. It is a way for them to control there environment when they are really upset. He would grow out of it and I shouldn’t worry. I tried not to worry, but no mom likes to see her sweet baby turn that color and stop breathing so when the doctor mentioned low oxygen saturation levels I again brought up the fact that my little man holds his breath when he gets really mad. This time we got a lot more attention. While in the ER we got to see a different ENT doc who was concerned enough to do a laryngoscopy, which involved putting a little camera through his nose and down his throat to take a peek at his larynx. She believed the problem was related to reflux which was causing the tissue above the larynx to swell and cut off Ford’s air supply when he was trying to breath really hard. She prescribed some reflux medicine and told us it may get worse before it gets better but to check back in 2 weeks.

When Dr. Yoon found out we had checked into the hospital yesterday she decided to take the opportunity to check a little further down his airway to rule out other problems. So yesterday my little guy got a bronchoscopy, which involved a small camera going through his mouth and down his throat, past his larynx and into his bronchi to make sure everything down there was okay.

This time my little man had to go to the OR and be put under anesthesia for a little bit, which really made me nervous. That combined with little sleep made me a little sensitive yesterday. Luckily Children’s Hospital it right next to University Hospital where I had been working in the Professional Risk management department. Julie, the Risk Manager over surgery and anesthesia among other things, came and stood by while little Ford went in for his procedure. She explained things to me and asked the doctors all the right questions and helped me feel a lot better about this really scary thing I was about to do. I waited in the lobby for a very nervous 30 minutes until the doctor came out to talk to us. She ruled out several other possibilities and is pretty confident about her first diagnosis. Before the surgery Dr. Yoon talked to us about maybe trimming the tissue above the larynx to prevent it from closing up and cutting off Ford’s air supply, fortunately she did not have to do that. It will take a little while for the swelling to go down but we are hoping the reflux medicine will do the trick. My little guy is a little horse and has a very soar throat after all of that, but he came through just fine. Eating seems to be a little harder for him now but that should bet better as his throat heals from this procedure as well as his cold. We are still battling the cold by the way. While he is on oxygen he has been doing very well. He had a couple episodes yesterday when his saturation levels became quite low and they have taken some tests that wont be back until the end of the day on Saturday, so we are here for at least one more night, maybe more.

Plans Change

2008-10-03T02:42:00.003-07:00

I guess it’s time for a blog update. I was hoping to post about how we were all packed and ready to move to California with a few stops in Idaho and Utah on the way, but that has been postponed. This morning before we went to pick up our rental truck we took Ford to his 8 week check up (hopefully to get the all clear before heading to the land of no insurance coverage).

Our little man has had a little cold but we were unconcerned because we knew he would get one sooner or later. Because of the cold, his pediatrician decided to check the oxygen saturation in his blood before giving him all sorts of shots. On the plus side we never made it to those nasty immunization shots. His oxygen levels were a little low so his doctor recommended that we take him to the Emergency Room. Not what we had planned for the day, but our lives revolved around our cute little guy so we headed straight for the ER. He spent several hours under observation and was finally admitted to the NICU late last night. He should be okay but we have been told to plan to stay at least until Saturday.

Forms of Life

2008-09-16T23:18:00.005-07:00

Our fabulous landlords, Bill and Disa, have a casting studio called Forms of Life (http://www.formsoflife.com/). They offered to cast Ford’s hands and feet for us so we went down yesterday to have the molds made. We can’t wait to see the final results.

This isn't Ford's hand and foot, his isn't done, but this is an example I found on their website.

Our Special Guests

2008-09-16T23:07:00.002-07:00

We haven’t been updating our blog too much because our little man is keeping us very busy. Since our last update my mom and Aunt Peg came for a visit. It was great having all the extra helping hands and advice. Ford loves his Marmy and Aunt Peg.

Meeting Marmy at the airport

Aunt Peg with fussy Ford

Can I borrow your glasses

Our Little Guy

2008-08-28T20:05:00.006-07:00

Well the Finlinson’s are doing great. We love having our little guy home. There has been a lot to learn but he has been a great little guy, and very patient with us as we figure things out.

Our first visitors have been Wade’s parents, Jack and Valene; my grandparents; my little sister, Sandy; and tomorrow my mom will get here. Ford loves all the attention he’s been getting.

Look at all those Fin's

Grandpa took us out to breakfast

Ford got his middle name from my Grandpa Tom and for all the other Tom's we love

Ford and Aunt Sandy

Our handsome little man has been here two weeks now. At times it has been a rough couple of weeks. He was born with facial palsy that has been a worry to his momma. I’m told it should go away within the month and it’s already quite a bit better, but that doesn’t mean I worry any less about it. He also has a gruff little cry that sounds like a little growl when he gets mad. When I asked the doctor about it he looked down his throat and told me he didn’t have a uvula (you know, that thing that hangs in the back of your mouth). That was a possible sign of cleft pallet so we went to an ENT specialist. It turns out that our lucky little guy does have a uvula, he just pulls it back when he cries really hard. The ENT doc was fabulous and so gentle with our baby boy. While there he did have his first taste of cosmetic surgery. His tiny ears were folded a little funny when he was born so she fixed him right up with a little tape and wax so he will have great ears in just a couple of weeks. He may look a little dorky now but I think he’ll appreciate it when he turns sixteen. These last couple of weeks I’ve been very grateful for our healthcare coverage and for access to fantastic doctors.

Fords ears before

Fords ears all taped up

Other than those very little things to worry about, we have a very good boy. He spends most of his time sleeping and wakes up like clockwork every three hours for a little snack and a diaper change. Wade has been so great about getting up with me all through the night to change diapers and feed our little guy. We love all this time we get to spend together.

More pictures

2008-08-15T17:31:00.006-07:00

Hello Everyone! Wade is snuggling with our little guy so I thought I would take a second to write a note. First of all let me clear up some misconceptions that may have been caused by Wade’s previous posts. I think this whole thing may have been a little traumatic for him as he stood by and watched wanting to help but neither of us could do much as things started to fall into place. Labor and birth actually went exceptionally well. It wasn’t what I had anticipated but it was mostly pain free (until pitocin took over but we got things back under control fairly quickly with the epidural) and full of energizing anticipation. When Ford finally decided to come, he came fast. No pictures of those first moments because I was just bawling at the sight of my baby. I love him so much already.

Here are some of the other pictures we have taken since the last update...

Ford and daddy relaxin'

Nap time

The lactaion nurse came to give us some great tips. Our little man is eating like a champ. I love this picture because it shows all that hair he has and his cute little butt crack.

Time to go

What an awesome dad!

Home sweet home

Our Blonde Baby

2008-08-14T14:39:00.007-07:00

Ford Thomas Fin

2008-08-14T09:28:00.003-07:00

Okay, so I believe in God again. This is our boy Ford. 7 pounds and 20 inches. My Misty is doing well.

8.14 6:45 am

2008-08-14T05:10:00.003-07:00

Let's review. Magic pill 'A'-uneventful. Second attempt of Magic Pill A- nothing. Enter Magic Intravenous Oxytocinous Goo- turbulence, sideways babies, sore back. Then came a successful third attempt at Magic Spinal Embroyderic Treatment that left numb legs and a very friendly patient. Around 2:30 am, the midwife checked the nether region to determine metric diameters and Ford got a little upset with the intervention and his heart rate got quite low. Magic Intravenous Oxytocinous Goo went on hiatus and Magic Labor Damning Shot acted as uterine bridge troll who will not allow passage as a result of any answer.
Baby eventually returned to a suitable heart rate and position, and the Goo resumed it's attack on my dear wife. She got some good sleep despite the evening of torture. It feels like this little man will never come. My arm is getting tired from shaking my fist heavenward for letting my precious lady face this.

I'm getting a vasectomy

2008-08-13T23:37:00.003-07:00

I'll never do this to my Misty ever again. Got an epidural in a bizarre procedure that took forever to pull off. It mitigated her back pain, shivers, and a bunch of other stuff that was painful to watch. She's sleeping now, baby will probably come during breakfast or lunch- just to anger me further. What a gal!

8.13 11:06 pm for those keeping score at home

2008-08-13T22:06:00.002-07:00

Having proper contractions, Misty and Pitocin hate each other. There's got to be a better way. I'm more partial to the stork theorem now than ever before. I think we'll be here forever.

Update 4:30 pm 8.13

2008-08-13T14:54:00.006-07:00

If young Ford is to share birthdays with Annie Oakley, Dan Fogelberg, Fidel Castro, and Don Ho, he will need to be a bit more aggressive in the next 7.5 hrs. After our dear Mistified (pictured above) emitted some sort of substance known to environ fetal chaps at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon, she and I have had a rather splendid, relaxing stay here at the infirmary on Colorado's main street.

We were counseled to check in to this upscale establishment on Colfax at 9:30pm so we supped together at Little Ollie's and gathered applicable knick-knacks, sundries, odds 'n' ends, and bric-a-brac that would supplement our little getaway and commenced our impromptu spa trip.

Since then, no contractions worth getting uptight about, just a fair piece of down time. A few uneventful placements of Cytotec in the undercarriage have yet to induce child's arrival, but dear Misty is not feeling any pain- feeling boredom, no pain.

Perhaps in the coming hours, plans for the water birth may be abandoned if we reach for the pitocin, but nobody except our own mothers are in a rush.

Nice to have you with us, cyberchums, stay tuned.

What We've Been Up To

2008-07-30T17:16:00.003-07:00

We’ve been keeping busy while we still have a little control over our schedule. Last Thursday we enjoyed an evening at the park visiting with our friends the Granges as we listened to the Symphony play in the background. It was delightful. Wade had promoted the free event as an Elders quorum activity on Sunday so a few other people from our ward were there also – that may have just been a coincidence.

As I noted in my last post, Wade is done with school so to celebrate I took him up to Bolder Friday night. We stayed at an interesting historical park called Chautauqua. Had I been more on my game we could have rented a whole cottage for pretty cheap but because of my tardiness we ended up in a small dorm style room with twin beds. It was very romantic. We went to the Symphony again that night and saw a crazy Navajo Oratorio called Enemy Slayer. It was both good and terrible but I’m glad we went to see it. It’s just the kind of thing Wade likes to do.

On Saturday we headed up to the Titze’s cabin for a ward activity. After driving around for 45 minutes Wade finally called and got directions – we were so close and yet so lost. Once there we had a fabulous time just relaxing in the cool mountain weather and enjoying all the delicious food. It was fantastic. It didn’t get my camera out too much but I couldn’t resist this picture of all these happy muddy children. You can see that they also had a great time.

Success

2008-07-25T13:39:00.002-07:00

Wade’s last class was today. He now has a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture!

Success: To laugh often and much, to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children, to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others, to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded! ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

If this is the definition of success I think maybe Wade can just sit back and relax for a little while because to me this is who he already is.

Rockies vs. Dodgers

2008-07-23T12:25:00.002-07:00

Wade loves the Dodgers and has grown quite fond of the Rockies as well so on Monday night we went with our friends Ryan and Teri and little Isabel. Teri and I spent more time talking and people watching than actually paying attention to the game. I think the guys had a great time. The Dodgers won by lots but the Rockies at least scored their 7 so Taco Bell could do their promotional four tacos for a dollar. I craved tacos a lot at the beginning of my pregnancy and some days they still sound pretty good.

Update

2008-07-16T11:17:00.003-07:00

See the several posts below to see what the Finlinson's have been up to since April.

A quick update - 5 more weeks until my due date and I’m still feeling great. Wade’s last class will officially be on July 25th and he will have his Masters in Landscape Architecture then I guess real life can begin.

4th of July Weekend

2008-07-16T11:13:00.004-07:00

This was a rare 4th of July that I actually got to spend with Wade. Most years since we have been married it seems he has been working at a baseball park somewhere. This year we spent a fabulous weekend in Oak City. We went to the parade in Delta, had a family BBQ in the afternoon, then took Kage and Kali to see the fireworks in the evening. It was a long but fun day. Wade and Mama and Papa Fin

Wade entertaining the nieces and nephews

Misty 33 weeks Eden ~29 weeks

We took the long rout home and stopped in Ogden so I could meet my cousin Eden for lunch. She is going to have a baby girl in September. It is going to be so fun to have some babies in the family!

California While Wade Was Away

2008-07-16T11:11:00.003-07:00

At the end of June my dear husband left me for 10 days to do a class in the wilderness called Ecology of Residency with Terry Tempest Williams an environmental conservationist writer that Wade has a not so secret crush on.

While he was gone I was a little lonely so I went to see my family in California. It felt so great to be there. My home town has changed quite a bit but it’s still home. It was nice and HOT and I got to go swimming every day and spend lots of time with my family. I love every minute of it. I don’t have a lot of pictures, but we did get this very important picture to show my belly at 31 weeks (and it’s still growing).

Showered with Love!

2008-07-16T11:08:00.004-07:00

In June the wonderful women we work with threw Kasey and I a shower. It’s going to be sad to leave such a great office. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. Bobbie made my little guy a gorgeous quilt and the other ladies pooled together and bought me a car seat. Laura, Julie, Patty, Leslie, Bobbie
Kasey, Sue, Me

24 hours in NY

2008-07-16T11:00:00.010-07:00

Since we were already so close We also took a quick trip to New York to see GK and Susanna and Steve and Hillary. While in New York we had to make a stop at Yankee stadium to see the field before it’s gone forever. Wade took several pictures of the filed and grass and explained grass fungi to me – yuck. I was a little chilly and it was starting to rain so I bought a souvenir Yankee blankee. It was a little pricy, but it kept us warm. I hope baby Fin is a yankee fan.

Wade contemplating life while we wated at the Long Island Airpor

Susanna, GK, and Reggie - We love these guys

Breakfast with the Riss at Dizzy's

Me and Wade, Steve and Hillary, and Susanna and GK

The fabulous Waffle truck. This is a must find in NY!

And the Yankee blankee!

Baltimore

2008-07-16T10:45:00.016-07:00

It has been so long since I have posted. Sorry! Hopefully I can get back in gear now. Well let’s jump back to May. Wade had a green roof conference in Baltimore. He spent most of his time at the conference. I got to relax and spend time with friends. We stayed with Michelle and Lauritz, who showed us a great time and I got to see my friend Sarah while I was there too.

Misty, Lauritz, and Michelle at Five Brothers (a burger joint)

My beatufil friend Sarah and her little guy, Carson

The Holy Cross Abby

2008-04-18T08:57:00.012-07:00

Our first stop on a whirlwind weekend vacation was the Holy Cross Abby where my Dad went to school in Canon City Colorado. I’ve always wanted to check it out and knew I may never be quite so close again so this was my chance. The Abby was gorgeous! It is fun to imagine a bunch of boys so far from home all going to school. I’m sure those monks had there hands full. My dad attended all 4 years of high school here.

The Abby is no longer owned by the Catholic church. A portion of it is now a winery and the monastery is now rented out for weddings and youth group activities.

These are the choir benches.

There wasn’t really anyone to show us around or tell us what was what but I gather that this is one of the bed rooms where the monks stayed.

This is a telephone booth in the hall.

I think this is the Abby’s sister school St. Scholasticas where my Aunt Peg and Aunt Joanne each attended a year of school. It’s now a boarding school for troubled Utah teens.

Royal Gorge Train

2008-04-18T08:55:00.008-07:00

I am a teeny bit scared of heights. I was just thinking this week how weird it is that my sister is such a little rock climber and I don’t even like to look out the window in a tall building. Wade kept saying how much he wanted to see the Royal Gorge while we were in Canon City and I kept saying that I would wait for him on solid ground while he peeked over the edge. I think we came to a fantastic compromise by taking in the sights from down below on the Royal Gorge Train. We did lunch on the train which was fabulous and we had a great view. I loved being so close to the river. Our waitress said that in the summer the rafters like to display their bare bums as the train goes by. Rafting would have been fun, but in my current condition, probably not a good idea. This is something everyone needs to do while they are in Colorado.

Lark Landing B&B

2008-04-18T08:52:00.008-07:00

We stayed at a wonderful little Bed and Breakfast in Florence a little town just outside of Canon City. Our hosts at Lark Landing, Barbara and Mark, were delightful. In the evening we sat around the campfire with them and ate s’mores as we chatted. They only have one room and it is separate from the house, over the garage so it was very secluded. Our balcony overlooked the Arkansas River. Their five acres of land was filled with beautiful trees, flowers, ducks, goats, and a lovely dog named penny that even I, a non dog lover, loved.

The Breakfast was fantastic. We had the choice of eating with Barbara and Mark, in our room, or anywhere on the grounds. At a warmer time of year we probably would have chosen somewhere outside but since it is still a little bit chilly Barbara made us our breakfast in a basket and Mark brought it to our room. It was lovely. It came with a paper that Wade red outside on the porch. He loves to read the paper. I snuggled up on the couch inside and read my book.

Bishop's Castle

2008-04-18T08:45:00.008-07:00

We saw what we wanted to see in Canon City so when we woke up on Sunday morning we decided to head down to Trinidad Colorado for a little more family history touring. I will get to that in a minute, first you have to see Bishop’s Castle. We ran into this little place on the side of the road as we headed through the mountains. This was by far the freakiest thing I have seen since I’ve been in Colorado, maybe anywhere. The castle itself was pretty cool. But the builder, Jim Bishop, happened to be there. We spoke with him as we stood on a tall balcony about to head up another level until I quickly realized that the maker of this fantasy castle was a little bit crazy. He started ranting about the government and spouted off all sorts of conspiracy theories. He was very upset that he and his castle hadn’t been on the news recently and mentioned that it was because he wasn’t a liar, and that if he had been a liar like George Bush he would be on the news too. We slowly backed away into the castle as he continued to vent his frustrations. I no longer felt safe in a castle made by this man so we headed back out, ignoring the donation box and sign in book – I didn’t want him to know my name.

This is me just as we got out of the car. I'm not worried yet.

Wade may be a litte worried. The stairs up the castle turret were a litte steep and skinny.

I, however, was still not smart enought to be worried so we headed highter into the castle.

This place was huge, and all built by one man, it is pretty amazing.

This is where I realized that I should be worried. As the caslte builder chatted with us from down below I thought to myself that he proably didn't heed any building codes or other regulations that might make this castle safe for thousands of people to visit each year.

You can see one of his signs indicating a big worry he has regarding driving regulations in the United States. Similar signs are posted through out the property and castle.

I googled Bishop’s Castle when I got home and started to learn all sorts of stories. The following is all gossip via the web and my coworkers.

Jim, a high school drop out was given the land by his father. Together they began to build a small cabin or cottage beginning with a large water storage tank. As they covered the tank with stone it began to look like a tower and the town’s people joked with him that he was building a castle. I guess he liked the idea because it has really gotten out of hand. The project started in the late 60’s and he hasn’t stopped.

Sad story: He has lost one child to this building project. In the process of removing a tree from his property one of his small children crawled into the whole left by the roots of the tree. Some how a chain snapped and the roots and tree stump fell right back into the hole killing the child. Maybe I should cut him a little slack.

The dragon head at the front of the castle doubles as a chiminy and is also fitted with torch so it can blow fire. Jim is also working on a mote. He will probably need it to protect him from the wacky government spies that are trying to ruin him.

Trinidad

2008-04-18T08:39:00.016-07:00

This was the last stop on our quick Colorado road trip. My Grandma was born and raised in Trinidad and although she may not remember many things, she remembers Trinidad as clearly as ever. When I called her to tell her where I was she was so excited. She gave me her old address- 1415 Arizona St.- and I talked to her as I sat in front of her childhood home, built by her father.
The Catholic Hospital where my great grandfather worked is no longer there. It has been replaced by an ugly newer hospital, but his doctors office was over the store then over the bank for a litte while so we got pictures of that. Down Town Trinidad was so cute. The streets were made of brick, each one stamped with Trinidad.

This is the Catholic school where my grandma went and the Catholic church was right next door, both on Church Street. It was on church street where a guy I know found a loose brick and swiped it for me as a souvenir.

It's ah.......

2008-03-28T09:02:00.005-07:00

Well the words out. The little baby growing in my belly is a BOY and he looks fantastic. Here are some pictures of the little guy. The top two are profile shots. Bottom left is a clear pic of his little guy parts and the picture on the bottom right are his arms with hands at the left. I know, its hard to tell what anything is but it really was amazing seeing my baby as the images came up on the screen. It was the best birthday present ever.

Now here is a picture of me. This picture was taken on our way to Utah for Easter. Our car finally hit 100,000 miles and Wade wanted to take pictures of the car and surrounding area to commemorate the big event.

My belly is really poking out these days but I already had a little head start in that area. I am very grateful to my cousins Amy and Lindsay for all the clothes they are letting me use. I got a whole new wardrobe and it’s fantastic.

Wade is always very good to me on my birthday and this year was no exception. After I got home from work (where I was also spoiled this year), Wade took me to a fabulous restaurant for dinner then we went to Baby Gap and got little baby boy fin his first outfit.

Since I’ve known Wade he has always made my birthday special and taken me someplace nice for dinner. Last year he took me to New York – that was a big one. This year we are going to see the Musical My Fair Lady. I’m very excited.

Here is where we’ve gone for the last few years (all fabulous and we highly recommend them):

2008 - Highlands Garden Café in Denver http://www.highlandsgardencafe.com/

2007 - Tavern on the Green in Central Park in New York http://www.tavernonthegreen.com/

2006 - Lambs Grill Café in Salt Lake (Utah’s oldest restaurant) http://lambsgrill.com/
2005 - Bambara in Salt Lake http://www.bambara-slc.com/
2004 - Melting Pot in Salt Lake http://www.meltingpot.com/
2003 - Fresh Strawberries at Canyon Entrance Park in Logan

This Week's Scoop

2008-03-17T13:07:00.004-07:00

Hello friends. Sorry for the long delay between posts. I keep trying to convince Wade that it is his turn to write something since he is the much better writer, unfortunately Wade has decided that blogging is a girl thing and has sworn off it for the time being. Maybe you all could give him some encouragement. Other than that Wade is great. He just made it through a very stressful week of midterms and can’t wait to graduate. For a guy that took his time getting his Bachelor’s Degree that is a minor miracle. If all goes well we hope to be done this August.

We started a Book Bunch (club) this weekend. I tried to get one together while I was in the Relief Society but I was restricted to church books that were also widely accessible so the ladies wouldn’t have to buy them. Unfortunately the Denver library just doesn’t carry that many LDS books (I wasn’t really interested in reading them anyway). We had our first get-together on Saturday afternoon. It was a lot of fun. Everyone brought their favorite children’s books and we decided on the books we are going to read for the next two months – for May we chose a newer book, The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards and for April a classic, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Teri has started a website for our book club, it's at http://denverbookbunch.blogspot.com/

This weekend is Easter and although we have several obligations here, I would really, really, really like to go to Oak City for the weekend and see the fam. We are working on weaseling out of a few things to make it happen but I’m not sure that we can.

I am very excited for next Tuesday. Not only is it my birthday but we will also get our first ultrasound and hopefully find out if we are having a boy or a girl. Our unofficial poll is below. What do you think it’s going to be?

Opinion Polls & Market Research