Surfer Boy

Okay so I have been wanting to get some pictures of Ethan in his little board shorts for a while now and I finally did! Dave, Ethan, and I went to the Rec Center on Monday for Family Home Evening... and it was so much fun! :) Ethan just loved having Daddy with him, and like always, loved the lazy river and the fountains. And Mommy had the chance to sit in the Hot Tub & the Steam Room while Daddy & Ethan played.

Ethan was getting a lot more adventurous this time... he kept putting his face in the water. Of course, every time he'd get a mouth full of water. Anyway, I just think that Ethan is the cutest little man in his board shorts (Thanks Heather & Myka!).

That's a smile you just can't resist. It makes me smile just to see this picture.

Swimming

So we (Grandma and myself) took Ethan swimming at the Rec Center (South Davis Rec Center to be exact). One thing I love about Utah is that they do Rec Centers right... I love ours. There's an indoor track, 4 pools, lots of space and equipment, etc. As for the pools- even the pools are awesome! The "Leisure" pool has a lazy river, a slide, and a climbing structure for kids. In the summer there's an outdoor pirate ship for kids to play on. I love it! :)

Anyway... back to the point. We went to the pool on Monday afternoon. It was actually the saving grace of our Monday (we were supposed to have a fun & fancy free day but nothing we tried worked out- until swimming). Ethan loved the water! I thought that we'd spend maybe 15 minutes in the water before we had to leave, but instead after an hour we were leaving only because we needed to get dinner- Ethan would have been fine to hang out a little longer. :) Ethan loved the various fountains and the lazy river. After just a few minutes Ethan was one relaxed baby! :)

We went again this afternoon. Both times I have wanted to take a picture of Ethan in his cute little board shorts (thanks Heather!). He is seriously so cute in his little trunks. But I left my camera in the car and I don't think the other ladies in the locker room would appreciate that. One of these days I'll get some pix of him. But it is so much fun to have one more excuse to go to the Rec Center! :)

Scooching, Teething & Waving...

Well the big action is finally hitting. Ethan has figured out how to get (almost) mobile. He's not crawling yet. But he's right on the verge. I have a feeling that one day, out of the blue, he's going to lean over and just start crawling. The past few days we've been placing objects just out of Ethan's reach (or sometimes what we think should be well out of his reach). And in the past few days Ethan has learned how to get himself to those objects (unfortunately for us, sometimes). It's quite cute. Although Dave might be rethinking his excitement in Ethan learning to crawl. :)

Ethan has also spent the past few days (weeks?) teething. He's not eating and sleeping as well, and this is really taking its toll on me. And on his grandmas as well... Ethan has been pretty grumpy because he is both hungry & tired. That translates to wanting to be held all the time. Yikes. I'm not sure how long it's going to take for those teeth to finally show up, but it can't be too soon.

And the cutest thing... Ethan has started waving. It kind of looks more like a salute, but I love it. If we wave at him he'll hold up his hand to wave back. And if we smile at him from across the room he'll wave at us as well. I love it.

Sorry no pictures this time, but I'll get there.

Family

Okay, so I finally got my camera back from Portland. And my brother is in town. So what does this mean? A whole bunch of pictures of Ethan to make up for lost time. Below you'll see Ethan on his own, with Grandma and Grandpa, and with his Auntie and Uncles.

Uncle Louie and Ethan (tired baby)

Sizing each other up.

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma

Grandpa

Uncle Doss

Uncle Doss & Auntie McKenzie

Henry

Auntie McKenzie

Auntie McKenzie & Henry

Happy Baby (standing on his own)

Happy Baby, sitting at the big table.

Things I'm supposed to be doing...

It's so funny the way I can be so productive, when I am trying to avoid doing something I really should be doing. Take for example today... I am supposed to be working on my lesson for tomorrow's primary class and, more importantly, I am supposed to be writing my talk for church tomorrow. So far I've got zip on either of those. But man, my house sure is clean. And I love the new paint in the bathroom.

Tomorrow Dave and I are giving a talk on the Plan of Salvation. A nice wide subject. Dave already has his talk prepared and nicely printed out. I made him read it to me in hopes that there was something in there I could steal. :) Dave makes things look easy- like when it's his turn to teach our primary class. The kids actually pay attention and things go great. When it's my turn, it's crickets and/or barely controlled chaos. Same goes for this talk- his was done within 24 hours of getting a phone call about it- and it's really good. I love him, but man, I am a little bit jealous.

Wish us luck!

Companies I hate

Okay, so I keep putting writing this blog off... but really, I spend time thinking about how much I hate some companies every day. I know I should be using my thoughts/energy more wisely, but DANG! Some companies just really get under my skin.

I am finding that more and more there are fewer and fewer companies that I am okay with giving my money to. There are entire industries that I hate (banks, cell phone companies, internet providers are the big ones). It just seems like it is getting more obvious that companies are taking advantage of their customers- there doesn't seem to be this "I provide a service or product and the customer pays for it" anymore. Now it seems to be more of how little of a service or product can I provide and get as much money as possible out of the customer?

I am an econ major so I understand the mechanics of the market. However, it really seems to me like the power is getting too one sided- consumers really don't have a choice in things anymore. I am finding more and more that I am trying to use my money as my voice- I don't give my money to companies I hate (or I try to give them as little as possible if I have no other option). It seems more often that the first thing I think about when thinking about purchasing something is "can I live with giving that entity my money." I am comfortable paying more for something that I feel comfortable supporting (local stores or something that has meaning).

Anyway, the thing that brought on this gripe today? Qwest. We finally got the internet at home. We didn't have it at home for many reasons, but working from home necessitated getting it. Man I am already pissy about it. It costs so much money for something so basic and then! I found out that Qwest actually charges it's customers a service fee FOR PAYING THEIR BILL. I have seen other companies that do this as well (big banks and credit card companies). Whatever happened to customer service? What the hell is the reasoning in charging your customers extra for trying to be good customers?

Economics also talks about barriers and it seems to me adding a "pay your bill" fee is one more barrier between receiving money and not. But I guess companies just figure that customers will roll over and pay the fee. I think it's crap.

I can already feel my blood pressure flying through the roof when I think of all the different ways companies are using the system to screw the consumer. Between subsidies and bail outs and fee increases and general inflationary increases (heaven forbid the average worker actually gets a raise to stay in line with the cost of living increases). Yikes. I am going to work myself into a frenzy.

My advice? Put your money where your mouth is... pay cash, and support companies you can live with.

And We're Back

Man, so my schedule has just been so messed up over the past 2 weeks. I don't think I have had a moment to myself in that time. Let's see 2 weekends ago Dave went to Ohio to visit his friend Jason. That was pretty great for him, but left me on baby duty 24/7 for 4 days (Meghan, I don't know how you do it). It was actually my first time completely alone with Ethan for 4 days in row- and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't have to worry about keeping the house clean or cooking dinner while Dave was gone, so it was surprisingly easy. Well, easy isn't quite the right word, but that's the idea in general.
And then last weekend Ethan and I went to Portland to visit my family. That was awesome and I definitely learned something... I need to pay more attention to when I am flying. The flights to and from Portland happened to overlap both of Ethan's naps (his morning and afternoon nap) and his lunch. So I flew to Portland and back with a very angry little baby. That was NOT fun. But I learned to pay more attention about when I schedule flights, and maybe even that driving is easier. As far as Portland- it was a blast to hang out with (Ethan's) Grandpa & Grandma and his Auntie McKenzie and Uncle Doss. We played Killer Bunnies, which is one of my new favorite games... if anyone out there is interested in playing call me, I need game buddies. This is the part where I would be posting lots of pictures of Ethan with various family members, but my camera is actually still in Portland. It's one of many things that I left there (I'm great at packing apparently). On the other hand I did find my teddy bear from when I was a baby and brought that back with me (yes, it is on the bed now).
Anyway, so now we're working on getting back on schedule.

And We're Off!

Ethan and I are heading to Portland (Oregon) tomorrow morning. I am quite excited. It's Ethan's first trip to Oregon (well, the first time he could "see" everything) and he's going to meet one of his Grandmas for the first time. I swear this kid has traveled more in the past 7 months than I did in my first 10 YEARS. :) I love traveling with Ethan though- he's so chill and such a sweetheart. He just likes looking around. :)

We'll be back on Sunday- with lots of pictures and stories. :)

Almost crawling! Ethan's newest trick is rocking back and forth on his hands and knees.

Onions

I can't keep a house plant or a garden alive for the life of me but apparently I can grow onions without trying.

Baby ear gear

Ethan is so cute in his hat!

Pray My Neighbors Away!

Okay, this morning I have to admit that I am just not up to par. In fact, I am close to hating everyone. Okay, that's definitely an exageration, but you know the feeling where you wake up and you just don't have enough patience to go around? I kind of feel like that- everyone annoys me, well except my husband and my son.

Things have been going well in general for all of us out here in Utah. Dave is going to Ohio this weekend. I am excited for him and nervous for myself- it will be the first time that it's just going to be me, Ethan, and Pookie for 4 days. I love those breaks that Dave provides and I know it's going to be a long weekend without him. :(

The following weekend I am going to Portland (with Ethan). I am pretty excited about that. I am so excited for my dad and step mom, and my sister and bro in law to see Ethan. He is just the cutest! This weekend we practiced having him balance on his hands and knees. He's getting pretty good at it! Not long til he's crawling now!

Dave and I are also extremely excited to announce (hahaha... I can imagine all of you thinking the worst)... that we've finally paid off all of our credit card debt. It's been a hard road, but we are so proud of ourselves! We have so much more freedom now and things are looking on the up and up. Now just to tackle those pesky medical and dental bills.

Anyway, back to the subject of this blog posting... Dave and I have had the most horrible neighbors for over a year now. Last night I honestly spent over an hour in prayer trying to figure out why we had been stuck with them. Did we need to learn tolerance? patience? how to literaly love our neighbor? did we need to learn how to stand up for ourselves? WHAT!? Off and on our neighbors have been loud, rude, destructive, and generally a thorn in my butt. They have two pit bulls that they don't pick up after- even when it's in front of their door. They have parties consistently complete with multiple people slamming doors all night and cursing and loud bass. Last night it really felt like the last straw. Dave and I were up until 3 AM after having gone over there to ask them to quiet down and having called security twice. Believe me, if we could move we would have. Sounds like our condo complex is trashy huh? It's not. It's filled with (generally) wonderful people and Dave and I have loved our condo, but our neighbors just drive us crazy. So my new campaign is to "pray my neighbors away!" Sounds silly or even blasphemous? Then pray that the Lord provides us with a new home! Who knows. Something needs to change though.

New Phone!

So I got a new phone after Ethan destroyed my last one. In fact I'm using my new phone to post this! How cool is that?

Calling

So a member of the Bishopric came by this afternoon and left Dave and I with a calling. We knew it was coming (The Bishop dropped a big hint during Tithing Settlement like "We need to get you a calling!"). Anyway...

So today Dave and I found out we are going to be teaching primary for 6 or 7 year olds. WOW! Dave hasn't taught anything for a long time and as for me... I'd been praying I wouldn't end up with a teaching calling. To be honest I am a bit intimidated. I've never been to a single primary class and I don't even know any primary songs. I don't feel that confident in my ability to teach ANYTHING let alone to KIDS, let alone something as important as Church Stuff.

Oh boy. Wish us luck. Our first lesson is next week.

Sales Tax

Okay, I almost feel lame about posting about this, but it is something that I ran into just this month...

You should know your area's sales tax. Hopefully you can recite off the top of your mind, if you don't- take the time to look it up. And this second part is a little more complex... you should know what is taxable and what is not.

Here in Utah there's a sales tax rate for Food is 2.75%. And depending on where you live the general sales tax rate averages around 7% (in North Salt Lake it is 6.5%). And if that weren't enough, there's another tax rate for restaurants.

The tricky part is that Utah doesn't tax services, but it does tax products. That's kind of a "duh" statement right? It's a SALES tax. Anyway, Dave and I had to replace our tires the other day and we were over charged on our sales tax. The company we went through charged us a sales tax on the untaxable services they performed. LAME! I know it's sounds pretty anal to get all crazy about it, but considering the fact that they overcharged us, they're probably overcharging every customer and then we're talking LOTS of money.

Anyway, just be aware.

Ethan is 6 Months Old!

Ethan's 6 month check up was on Wednesday! Our big boy weighed in at 21 pounds 11 ounces and 27.5 inches long. It was also time for more immunizations. I swear those are harder for me than they are for him- Ethan recovered from them faster than I did. Maybe I'll make Dave take Ethan to his next appointment so I don't have to hold his little hands next time he gets his shots. :)

Ethan has been sitting up on his own for quite a while now. Now Ethan is to the point where he's comfortable leaning forward a good distance and to the sides- putting his weight on his arms to reach for toys. I love it! :) I keep saying that I am not excited for the crawling stage, but I am- babies look so darned cute when they crawl around. :)

The other day I managed to capture some pictures of Ethan sucking on his bottom lip. This is one of my favorite faces that he makes. It just cracks me up. :)

It's been a while

Well, I've been busy out of my mind lately... between work, Ethan, and trying to keep the house clean, I don't have a moment to myself. Sometimes it feels like the days pass so quickly, but we're still here in the middle of January.

Thigns are going well over all. Today we're doing house projects (another item on the to do list that is my life). Dave is hammering in the last of the base boards right now... next up is caulking them into place and ultimately painting. We're trying hard to break all of our projects into small pieces or we're going to get overwhelmed too quickly. There's lots we want to do with the house and we have a plan, but it's hard to pace ourselves. :) Luckily, the projects we do tend to wear us out so we have to take a few weeks off.

Last weekend Dave, Ethan, and I went to Wendover, Nevada. Wendover is this little town on the Utah/Nevada border with like 10 casinos. We had received a free night and a free dinner at one of the casinos so we went for it (free mini-vacation!). It was fun, but I did feel bad the first moment we walked into the casino and the noises (and smoke) hit us- and Ethan. We got checked in as quickly as possible and took Ethan up the room. That night Dave and I took turns going down the casino. We both played a little roulette and won! :) So we got a free night, a free meal, and $100 bucks! :) It was a good vacation. :)

As for things now... well, back to the day to day stuff. Sometimes I feel like my life is just one big to-do list. Sometimes it doesn't feel so much like I am living my live as much as I am trying to navigate a giant "To Do" jungle. There's a certain satisfaction at the end of the day knowing I got stuff done, but the down side is when I finally have a moment to sit down, I just thinking of checking off "relaxing" as another item done. It takes the fun out things.

Handy Husband

On Friday I got the urge to do some house projects... you know, just little things to get organized for the new year. Well, Dave and I really went for it! Lowe's had a great deal on some wood laminate and we had been talking about doing that for a while... so we did it! Talk about spur of the moment.

My husband is so wonderful... we woke up early on Saturday morning and started ripping up the carpet and the mat below it. Then we had clean up the dust, dirt, and staples. Then we had to take the floorboards/molding out (I wanted new boards). Our "little" project kept growing... Our "one day" project turned out to take two (which isn't bad considering we replaced our floor!), required the help of various family members at different times, and Dave and I only snapped at each other a few times. :)

Anyway... the before and after pictures...

Apparently I suck at before pictures, because this is the only one.
Let me describe our carpet to you... It's one of those things where once you replace it you wonder how you could have lived like that for so long (another example would be our bathroom).
Our carpet wasn't bad, just really really old. And dirty. I kept meaning to get it cleaned, but time just got away from me...

The New Floor! It has made the room seem so much brighter, more comfortable, and warmer. We also took the chance to rearrange. I quite like how we rearranged- it's different. Not all of the furniture is just pushed against the wall anymore. And the room feels bigger!

The new molding.
Dave learned how to cut and install this himself- and believe me, it's pretty tricky! I'm so proud of him!