Friday, December 26, 2008

Grandma, What Big Antlers you have

Last week, after going to the doctor, Baby got to visit Grandma Great.
He has always loved her, but there us just something extra special about a Great Grandmother with a pair of Antlers! Baby J was in Awe.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas

We learned that the baby really doesn't care about presents, just the bows on the presents. You can see 3 of his presents off to the right in the picture, a Teddy Bear, a Hippo and a Camel, he played with them after the bow was taken away.
Each year I try to surprise Ken with at least one gift and this year I did it well. Ken was happy and very surprised when he unwrapped the matching Giants hats that I made out of extra fleece from the matching Giants Blankets I made earlier this year. You can't see, but Ken's hat does not have a puff ball on top like the babies.
Don't you think the Giants should hire him as a model? They would sell more tickets if this face was on their billboards! I am sure of it.
Last night the baby played the part of Baby Jesus in the Turner Family Nativity.
Here is a Cast Picture, the youngest 7 of the 9 Turner Grandchildren.
Starting from the left- little A (3 years old), as the Princess Shepherd; Q, aka Obi Wan Quinnobi (5 years old) as Joseph; C (4 years old) as the Angel; E (7 years old) as Mary, Baby J (9 months old) as the baby Jesus; S (5 years old) as the Wise Man and finally little P (21 Months) originally cast as a sheep, she became a shepherd when she refused to put on her sheep hat.
Baby got another hat from Grandma T, cow fleece, and he, C. Gowans and E. Cousineau had a photo op before leaving Grandma's house tonight. Noooooo, that baby is not tired at all. His cousins love him so much.

Monday, December 22, 2008

The Sweet Swap-2008

We live in a very friendly neighborhood, and as such we have been given lots of treats this season. I don't want to eat them all, for two reasons- 1. If I ate them all I would gain 15 pounds and 2. Some of them are not my favorites. But I also don't want to waste them and so this year I am going to try something new- a Sweet Swap!

We have invited a small group of friends over after dinner on the 26th. The plan is for us all to bring treats that we have received and want to share, i.e. we can keep the treats that they want to keep all for themselves because they are so amazingly yummy, but bring the items they think others might enjoy more than we do. Once together, we mingle, enjoy other peoples treats, have some Hot Cocoa, maybe play some games, but mostly enjoy the company of good friends.

Now I have already royally messed up with the preparations for the inaugural sweet swap, I invited a couple through the Husband and the message didn't get to the wife, and Ken invited some friends and I am not sure the whole premise of the party was communicated to everyone. And as 2 of the 3 couples invited to the 2008 Wheeler Sweet Swap are regular readers I figured I would explain more on the blog. So to those people- Does this make more sense, we are not having leftover Christmas Dinner, just leftover Christmas Treats + Hot Chocolate with Whip Cream? I am super excited for the Hot Chocolate- which by the way is actually a gift from a neighbor- they gave us a huge bag of Lehi Roller Mills Hot Chocolate!

Those of you who might be interested in participating in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Sweet Swap can make yourselves known now. Any ideas for me about how to make the Sweet Swap better, or explain it to people better? Just as an FYI, the 2012 Sweet Swap is on hold- as the Mayan Calender states that the end of the world will come before Christmas that year, but I guess we could just have the Sweet Swap early that year, just because it is the end of the world doesn't mean we have to waste our treats!

Saturday, December 20, 2008

9 Month Olds are AMAZING

Hello, I am J, But you know me as Baby. Today I am 9 Months Old. As you may already know, I am much to smart for my own good, but that just makes life fun for my Parents. Right now I am using the Jedi Mind Trick on you..........These are not the droids you's looking for...........

This is a picture of what happened when I used the Jedi Mind Trick on my family, Specifically my Mom and my Grandpa T, they were eating chocolate cake.....Got to love the Chocolate Foo Man Chu. I spend most of my day in the front room while my mom tries her best to clean up toys and keep me away from Christmas decorations. When she goes in the kitchen to get me food, I follow her and try my best to climb over the gate- so far I have not succeeded, but I have faith in my abilities, I will soon have free reign of my home once again.

This is something fun I have discovered, Solid Food. Sure I have been eating Cereal and Baby food for a while, but recently my Mom has started giving me fruit, mostly bananas and grapes, inside this teething feeder. My Doctor gave me the OK to eat all different kinds of fruit, and so today I am going to try Strawberries! They are frozen strawberries and they will feel nice on my two top front teeth that are currently working their way through my gums.

I love Christmas- there are so many things to touch, or at least try to touch.

For those of you that are interested, here are my current Stats (as of Thursday).

Height- 29 inches- 77th percentile

Weight- 21# 7oz.- 67th percentile

Head- 17.75 inches- 42nd percentile

My Mommy and I are starting to learn sign language, we are starting with the signs for food, milk, water and more. If you have favorite signs that you think I should know too, please tell my Mommy.

Finally, I want to let you all know that I have been accepted as an early admit to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, here is a picture of my Sorting! I got into Ravenclaw!

Friday, December 19, 2008

A Friday Update

So as I said in my previous post, I went shopping today. And everything is alright, how could it not be, I now have "Ling Ling Pot stickers" in my Freezer, they will be in my tummy tonight and I will forget all about the ruined food from this morning.
Because of the snow storm expected any minute now, I let Ken take the Outback to work, which left me with the Accord and no car seat. So I asked a Good Friend to come watch the baby. When I got home, she said "He is really walking well with that walker". Surprised I questioned "Walking?" I bought the little fisher price walker to wagon on the day after thanksgiving, it was $10 and I figured it would come in handy, I put it together and he has played with the toys on it, and has pushed it while shuffling along on his knees, but when ever he stood behind it, it would move and he would not.....Timber! I tried not to laugh.
So I asked her to take a video while I unloaded the car, and then I tried to take one. Here is the proof. Baby will be 9 months old tomorrow, yesterday he had his well child check and the doctor said he was cruising, I now agree.

Early Morning Break Down

Sometimes all you really need is a good cry.

Ken’s alarm went off this morning at 5:30 and I rolled over, put a pillow over my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Unfortunately it was at this time that I remembered I had forgotten to put the freezer meals I made yesterday afternoon in the freezer!

I had been so happy while I made the 4 quarts of Hawaiian Chicken. It tasted so good last night when I served it for dinner. I had so lovingly labelled the freezer bags, filled them, and then let them cool a bit more on the counter before placing them in the freezer.............. and then I completely forgot about them.

So I lay there in bed, wondering how it had happened. How had I forgotten about the food. I had just wasted 3 pounds of Chicken! I basically cooked 4 full dinners and 4 lunches for Ken and I then dumped them in the trash. It was at this point that I decided to physically dump them in the trash and move on with my life. So at 5:45 I got up, picked up my ruined food and took it to the trash only to realize, as the empty tin cans fell from the top of the overflowing trashcan, that I had also neglected to take the trash out.

Not only could I not throw away my ruined food, but now I had trash on my kitchen floor. I screamed, “Stupid Trash”, went back to my room and knelt down. Well actually, I threw my body down, my keens hitting the floor and my elbow, sliding along the 350 thread count sheets. “Stupid Sheets!” I got a Sheet Burn on my right elbow, A Sheet Burn!

I began to cry and Ken came over to comfort me. He could sense my horrible mood, ( I guess it really didn’t take much sensing as suddenly everything in the house, including myself, was now being loudly labeled“Stupid”). Prayers were said and hugs were given and I got back in bed to do my morning gospel study, after which I put the pillow back over my eyes and tried to go back to sleep. No luck.

So I got up, washed all my pots and pans. Ken, lovingly, collected all the garbage in the house, including my ruined food, and took it out to the dumpster. I put all my kitchen towels in the wash, sat down on the couch and turned on the news. Ken had, by this point, left for work and there was a little boy sweetly talking to himself in the babies room and I realized that my life was not so horrible.

I will buy more chicken and make more freezer meals for my family, this next batch will just cost $1.10 per serving instead of $0.55, that is still not all that bad. I have learned a lesson- set a timer or some sort of reminder to let me know when my food is cool. Today is going to be much better than it seemed it would be at 5:30. After all it is Friday and I am going shopping, (food shopping, but that is still shopping).

In the Immortal Words of the Bare Naked Ladies, “You know that it’s going to be all right. I think it’s gonna be all right. Everything will always be all right, when we go shopping!”

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

The Great Jammie Caper of 2008

Ken left for work at 6:30. Before he left he told me that he had checked on the baby at about 6:15 and he was asleep and breathing! I always ask if he is breathing. So anyway, at about 6:32 I heard some coughing and then at about 6:40 I heard the "Clack, Clack, Clack" sound of the crib side when it is being shaken by a standing baby. As he still had 50 minutes to sleep I left the lights off and snuck into his room, hoping I would be able to get him wrapped up and back to sleep. It was too dark in his room and so I had to turn on the front room light.

When I returned to the babies room, this is what I found.
These are the babies Pajamas.........And here is the Baby, not only is he shaking the crib but he is also singing a happy little song.
I laughed, and he smiled, so very proud of himself. He has never taken his clothes off before. So now I am going to add a new question for Ken in the morning.
"Is the baby sleeping?"
"He is Quiet"
"Is he breathing?"
"Yes, I heard him breathing."
"Does he still have his clothes on?........."
Today the answer would be "No".

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Let it Snow!

Can you see the street? It has been snowing all night and there is no street to be found. My Pumpkins, now have little white hats. I opened the door to get a picture and within seconds I had a little friend at the door, pounding to get out.
"Oh, I wish I could open the door!"
"Please can we go out there?"
"Oh well, I guess I will just stand here and enjoy the view."

Monday, December 15, 2008

First Brush with Santa

Our Church held is Christmas party on Saturday Morning. Everyone was invited to wear their Pajamas. I wore my pink fluffy robe, which was nice because it was very very cold and snowy on Saturday Morning.
And the Baby met Santa. As you can see at first, he wasn't quite sure about the guy in the red suit. But then, he decided that he might be willing to give a half a smile. Pretty Cute, I think.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Keeping Secrets

Ken and I have had a secret that in the past few months I have started to share with people. It came to the point that people were going to know anyway, and I didn’t know why it even needed to be a secret. I will start at the beginning and let you tell me what you think, Should I be ashamed or my secret or revel in my future opportunities because of the secret.

A little while after we purchased our house, we also purchased a “Vacation Club Membership”. (Another name for Vacation Club is Time Share). Why did we do this? Well, the opportunity presented itself, and we discussed it, when it came down to it we realized that purchasing this membership would force us to take a vacation at least every 3 years, and we would even have lodging options in such places as Hawaii or Europe, not to mention the fact that there are 4 resorts right here in Utah.

You should know that we didn’t need to finance this, we paid for it, and it is ours. We have also prayed about it and feel like it will be a good thing for our family. So why did we keep it secret, and why do we wonder if people judge us after they know we have a time-share? Telling some members of my family this weekend made me feel like I was confessing some great sin! Why? Really, Why?

Anyway, I am excited. Next year is going to be fun. Right now the plan is to take a 3 or 4-day trip to St. George with some friends in the Spring- before it is too hot. And then in June I hope to take another 3 or 4-day trip to Bear Lake to support any of my family members who run the Bear Lake ½ Marathon, I am even considering running the 10k, more on that to come later.

So now that you know my big secret, do you still love me? Do I need to go looking for new friends? Or are you all going to be lining up at my door asking if you can vacation with me?

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

ESCAPE!

He is not crying, in fact I think there was a squeal of delight when the door closed after he had made it safely out of the house. I use the word "Safely" loosely, because after this squeal of delight he rolled over and was inches from the two front steps........... Still there was great joy, on his part, for the accomplishment of what I am sure was a long planed escape.
It all started when I decided that I hated the fact that our glass door slammed shut. About two weeks ago I adjusted it so that it didn't slam, but now it takes about 5 minutes to shut. Baby has been interested in the slow closing door for about a week now, moving towards it whenever someone leaves the house.

Today, I was preparing for our morning walk, I had just set up the stroller outside and when I came in to get the baby I noticed that there was an email from Ken, so I quickly checked it. I was sure that the baby would not be able to get to the door. On of our biggest fears is that the baby will get hit by the door as it closes. Well, Baby is much faster than I thought. I heard the door shut, I didn't hear a whine of annoyance, or a scream of pain, in fact I didn't hear much at all. I ran to the door and discovered that he had successfully escaped!

Monday, December 1, 2008

Legally Cute!

This is a picture of the babies new suit!
It is even cuter when he wears it.
We bought it for the baby to wear to the Big Wheeler Wedding in January, but I couldn't wait that long to see him in it. I figure by January he will be walking or at least standing on his own which will only make him look like a little man that much more. Adorable!


Friday, November 28, 2008

Thanks for Giving Me Food!

There is not much better than a large family gathering, but I think we were able to add to the beauty and excitement of the occasion by letting Baby participate! Really, there is something magical about a chubby little cherub sitting right next to you as you eat your Turkey! And this cherub took his cherub duties seriously, he even let me strip him down to his diaper (he thought it was for fun, I knew it was for ease of cleanup afterwards).Baby got to feed himself, he was given mashed up sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, and some pieces of homemade roll. As you see, he wasn't quite sure if he liked it.

One thing was sure, he enjoys squishing food with his tiny little fingers.

This was Grandpa Turners view of Baby, he claimed it was the best view of all and I am tempted to agree.

This was Lucy the dogs view of the Baby, She thinks it was the best view with the best benefits, I was glad for the help with the cleanup.

We knew that Baby wasn't getting a ton of food in his mouth, but what we didn't know was that he has already learned the fine art of hiding his food.


So we had a wonderful day. We arrived home just after bedtime and Baby slept through the night without even a peep. Ken left at 5:40 or so to go shopping this morning and Baby started talking to himself around 6:30. As babies wake up time is not until 7:30 and as he wasn't crying, I let him talk to himself while I read. At 7 I took pity on him, entering his room in the dark (just in case he was just stuck somewhere in his crib that he didn't want to be and would easily go back to sleep after being repositioned) and I had a hard time believing what my eyes were telling me. The Babies head was hovering a few inches above his crib. I turned the light on, and sure enough, the babies head WAS hovering a few inches above his crib.
This is a picture of the first time he stood up in his crib. He was stuck, and he was proud!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Celebrate Good Times

I slept ALL NIGHT last night! Why is this something to Celebrate? Because it means that Baby slept all night last night too! For the past 5 days or more Ken and I have been awakened several times a night and we have sometimes spent several hours a night comforting our uncomfortable baby.
So today we are Celebrating Thanksgiving early- I am thankful for Antibiotics, Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen, and Yes, cuddle time with my sweet baby. I am also thankful for Ken and his patience with me and our baby- for example two nights ago, at about 1 AM, Ken made a Crib, for baby and me, in our front room by pushing our two couches together. Why did he make a crib for us, well all I could do for baby was hold him, he was calm if I held him, but I was afraid that I would fall asleep and lose my grip on baby and so Ken made a soft place for us to cuddle, and sleep without fear of falling onto the hard floor. Don't worry, I didn't drop him.

Our Crib has been pushed apart and we have two couches again, this is what the sweet little baby looked like this morning as he made his daily appraisal of his Kingdom. "It's good to be King!" he says.
Something else to Celebrate is the possible end to the sleep deprivation that I have been suffering from this past week. Yesterday seemed to be the worst, brain function was at its lowest in months. As an example- I was responding to an email my brother in law sent to us, he told us about an accident that his fiance had been in, and how she had lost her grandmother. I asked him to "send" our love etc to her, but then after spell checking my email I decided to change "send" to "express". I didn't spell check again, after all I know how to spell express. Well turns out I didn't quite delete "send" completely, so I sent an email to my engaged brother in law, asking him to "sexpress to her, our love, our regards, our condolences, and our excitement over what is going to happen in 6 or 7 weeks"- it takes on a whole new meaning. Yesterday I was horrified. Today I think it is kind of funny.

So after sending my emails in the morning, I decided the best thing to do would be to lay on the couch all day. I was able to take a nap, which was nice, and baby showed me his newest talent. He would crawl over to me on the couch, put his hands up onto it and then, very slowly, stand up. 90% of the time his feet were actually about 18 inches away from the couch and so instead of standing he was actually doing an elevated push up, but it was still cute. As this picture below proves.
I don't expect the "Cruising" to begin for a few more weeks, he isn't very stable once he gets up, but it sure is sweet to see him crawl toward me and then do everything in his power to get to where I am.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Hero Worship

I don't know why this never posted- it is from back in November and I think that it is pretty funny, and quite typical of my little family.

After breakfast this morning Baby was given free reign of the front room, he went to the toys (which can be seen to his left in this picture) but then the video tapes started calling him and the toys were quickly forgotten. As you can see, a greater source of power was found. That is right, the TV, apparently, was in need of worship.

Oh, Sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you! And it only took 8 Months.

The little worshiper was quickly taken from his false god and the path to said Idol was blocked by the toy basket, and this time for the first time, the leg straitening muscles were deployed in an attempt to climb over an obstacle. I predict I will have a cruiser in a matter of weeks.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Double the Ear Infection, Double the Fun!

Our Sweet Baby has had a runny nose since Monday, but on Thursday there was a very evident change. My sweet independent boy suddenly was very very needy and pretty much wanted to be held constantly, then at night every few hours he would have a scream fest. Thursday night I took his temperature before he went to bed and it was 101.4, this has never happened before and it scared me a little. We gave him some Motrin and proceeded with the regular bedtime routine. I decided that if he still had a fever in the morning I would take him to the doctor. At 11 pm, I was awakened by the pain cry, and so baby and I cried together, I, because I had no Idea what was wrong with my baby, and he, because he was trying to tell me something that I just didn’t understand. Well, Friday morning the fever was 100.2, and so he was given some Tylenol and taken to the doctor.

After a thorough inspection the baby was pronounced Sick! Both ears are infected, one much worse than the other. So the pain cry was caused by actual pain, I suddenly understood why the pain cry went away when I held him, i.e. his head was elevated. So now along with Cherry or Orange flavored painkillers, baby gets to have two servings of Tropical Fruit flavored antibiotics per day. The Doctor said we will probably have a clingy baby for another day or so but he should be back to his independent little self very soon. I am glad that I listened to the little voice inside my head that said “Take him to the Doctor”

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Katie Says Relax!

At 11am today I started thinking about all I had accomplished this morning. After all, I was showered and dressed and thinking about doing the dishes and it was only 11am! Oh Yeah, I had also done one load of laundry too. But I was pretty proud of myself, why? Because I have a silly little baby who decided that he wanted to wake up at 5am. It took an hour or so to convince him that it was not “Morning Time” yet, after which, he and I both went back to bed. I woke up a little more than an hour later after having had one of those horrible dreams where you wake up and cannot move or yell, mine usually starts with the front door opening and I am not able to find out who is in my house. Today’s dream included the baby. I heard him giggle and then heard the door close, thus in my mind I knew that my baby had just been kidnapped and I could do nothing about it because I couldn’t move or scream for help. Arghhhh, needless to say, I did not wake up rested this morning. Luckily for me the baby made up for his hour of missed sleep, plus some, finally waking at 8:45!

What did I do during that extra alone time? I relaxed. I ate breakfast and checked out other people’s blogs. I watched the morning news and rescheduled our daily walk until later in the day. I took phone calls from friends and family and discussed insurance options with my husband by email. I did start the laundry but it was quickly forgotten, after all, I was relaxing. It was fun.

So there I was at 11, walked, clean, dressed and doing dishes, I had the TV on, as I often do. As I was happily going about my domestic duties I started to think about a conversation that Ken and I had with our Sister in Law out in Colorado. She asked what we do in the evening and Ken told her that we usually watch TV or movies together. This amazed her because after all, that would be something like 3 hours a night! “AMAZING! ...Really?” we heard those words several times, and as we went to bed that night we wondered, Is this really such a bad habit? I haven’t thought about it much since, but today as I was doing the dishes I heard the TV, it was on Studio 5 a local public interest show, nothing too horrible, but I started to really think about my TV habits.

Here is what I decided. Yes the TV in our house is on quite a bit, for many different reasons.

I like to watch the news; I like to know what is going on in the world, and so in the morning and then again in the evening I watch the news. Not a bad thing to do.

During the day I keep the TV on, but I don’t necessarily pay attention to it, it is background noise. If I knew where my Ipod was, or if we had a stereo on the main level of our home I would listen to music, but I currently do not have that capability and so the TV fills the void. What is the Void? I thought about that for quite awhile today. I have heard several times that you should be at peace with yourself in the silence and I don’t mind silence, but I am very much accustomed to noise. I grew up in a house with 5 sisters, not the quietest place in the world. Before having the baby I worked for a decade in loud places, Fred Meyer- Constant Music, IHC Hospitals and Clinics, Constant Chatter (I worked in offices full of Women) as well as several different radios on several different desks all tuned to several different stations. Silence has never been an every day part of my life. I am OK with that.

Then comes the evening, and my 3 hours or so of TV time with Ken. Ken and I both enjoy Movies and now that we have the Tivo, we have plenty of movies to watch, we also have several shows that we enjoy. Before we were married Ken had me read about the 5 Love Languages and take a test to see what mine were, my two top languages were physical touch and quality time. So by spending 3 hours with me on the couch, letting me put my legs over his lap, (or quite often letting me fall asleep with my head on his lap,) fulfills my 2 top love needs, thus Ken can keep his wife happy and be very well entertained in the process. As I thought about this today I recognized that this is true, I really do feel quite loved by the time we go to bed. By the time we go to bed, I am relaxed! I don’t think that I could manage without my Ken/TV downtime each evening. Thanks Ken!
So I don’t feel any inclination to change, at least not right now. Right now, Katie says Relax.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Catching My Breath

The past two weeks feel like they have flown by, in my previous post I told you what happened in the middle, but it seems like a lot more has happened in the past two weeks than our trip to Colorado. One of the biggest being that the Baby has truly come into his own, crawling wise. The smiles on his face, because of his new freedom, are amazing!

Don't worry, he didn't go down any hills in his "That'sabowl Toboggan", I just wanted a picture of him in the snow in it. Especially as so many people felt that it was an inappropriate snow vehicle- we agree, as soon as he was on the snow, he fell over.

I have been making Amish Friendship bread for a few months now. Ken really enjoys giving it out to neighbors. Two weeks ago I made one batch of Chocolate and one batch of Vanilla and cut it up and put pieces of each onto paper plates. I put plastic wrap around the plates and the combination of cheap paper plates and strong plastic wrap turned the treats into little paper plate taco's. Well I didn't really think the Taco's were that cute, but then I remembered that it is "Turkey Time", with the help of some construction paper, a glue stick and some tape, our Taco's turned into really cute Turkeys, with snoods and all! (I just learned what a snood was this week too, it is that red thing that hangs over the turkeys beak.) The Turkeys looked so good sitting on peoples porches that we might dress up our friendship bread that way until the end of the month.

So then we took our trip. I am learning quickly that Baby likes his bed, naps on our trip were not the best and so we let him sleep whenever he wanted. I must admit, I enjoyed holding my sleeping angel, I don't get to do this much anymore. We are still recovering and trying to reprogram the babies sleep habits from both our vacation and the time changed that happened a week before our trip.

So the crawling only got better and better while we were gone, I blame it on the open floor plan of T & L's house. When we got home our front room was not enough space for Baby. He has now discovered our kitchen and he wants to continue to discover more of the house every day. We do not have a baby gate. The only way I could get any cleaning done was to corral Baby. He has never been corralled and as such he didn't like it at first. I am currently in the process of trying to find a baby gate that will fit our house, unfortunately our smallest opening that I want to gate is 45 inches........no cheap gates seem to go past 41 inches. (Cheap being under $20).

Finally- I won this cake! And then I ate half of it! So much for losing weight this week. There are somethings that are very much worth it. Suffice it to say, I have not yet learned how to have my cake and eat less of it too. I froze a few pieces for later. Mmmmmm Rocky Road.
I have been doing a lot of thinking over the past two weeks, about politics and the future our nation and the world. I don't know if I will share many of those thought any time soon, but I will say that I feel pretty comfortable with the state of the world. It is not perfect, there are a lot of people out there who don't like my religion much, but I know what I believe and I have peace.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

I should be cleaning....

But I would rather tell you about our Trip.

We went to Fort Collins, Colorado and spent time with Family and Friends. Here are some Pictures.
I had a hard morning on Friday, I had planned to pack, pack the car and then get as much cleaning done around the house as I could before leaving on the trip. Well, I packed and barely got the car packed, no cleaning was done and I didn't eat lunch. So I convinced Ken that we should stop and get some Hamburgers at McDonald's. I had no Idea that people in Wyoming didn't know how to sit on Chairs. Apparently it is stand and eat or saddle up and eat. Baby chose to saddle up.

Once again, Other Peoples toys are the best! Baby is getting really good at sitting up on these push toys, he can not go forward but on Saturday he did push himself backwards once, it scared him.

Music to my ears! OK, so his music is not very harmonious, but he has fun with these piano toys (Anyone want to give him one for Christmas?)

Baby was able to finish up his Christmas shopping at Kohl's, for Dad a 300 piece "24" Puzzle on sale for $2.99, and for Mom a cute Shirt/Dress for $4.00. It took so much effort that soon after finding the last item baby fell fast asleep.

Well, the camera battery just died so I can not upload anymore pictures today, but do not fear, more cuteness will be coming your way soon.

Driving 6-7 hours is not my favorite thing to do, but it was well worth it to spend time with Ken's Brother T and his family, plus visiting with other good friends who have all found there way out to Fort Collins.

Fort Collins is a great place, every time we visit, I tell Ken that if we had to move I would be OK if we moved to Fort Collins. The past two times we have been out there we went to dinner at a restaurant called "Hu Hot" it is basically just a Mongolian Grill, you take a bowl and pick your meat, noodles, Vegetables or Fruit and your sauce or combination of sauces, then you take it to the "450 degree circle" and they cook it for you. YUM YUM YUM! We have got to find somewhere like that around here! This year we went down to the Outlets that are just outside of town. Our new favorite store? The Carters Outlet. Luckily they have just opened one in West Jordan.

And as we left Colorado, we filled up the car with gas for $1.99! It has been years since we filled up for less than $2 per gallon. I was going to say- na na na na naaaa na we got gas for $1.99, but then on the news this afternoon they said that gas in Utah has hit $1.99 so I guess I can't be too snooty about it. But really, it is a magical feeling, I can not wait to see how cheap it gets!