Moving to our Summer Home.

I don't know how many of you recall our video of the basement and the room entitled "Don't Know What to do with Room" but Maria and I finally found a use for it. We are calling it our Summer House!

The basement has stayed at about 71-74 degrees with out the AC since we have moved in so we decided to move our master bedroom down there. Yesterday I moved our king size bed, our dressers, an entertainment center, Davis' crib and a bathroom cabinet down there. We took over one room and moved Davis into the other room (I am still trying to convince Maria to make the whole basement into a Master Suite and nursery but she is not going for it... yet!). Now Davis' Tree House room is a play room for him and his cousins.

The actual master bedroom can fluctuate in temperature so much due to the windows and door to the patio so we have made it into a guest room and will keep the door and all AC vents shut except for when we have guest to cut back on electricity. Now we keep the upstairs at about 80 and the basement stays at a cool 75 or so.

Word Cloud

My father-in-law showed Maria and I this great site where you can make these really cool word clouds like the one above. You just cut and copy a body of text or type in a bunch of words and click create and it generates a word cloud. Words that are repeated multiple times (except words like "a, and, the" etc) appear the largest. Spence did one of his personal mission statement and his patriarchal blessing and they both turned out really cool. You can pick colors, fonts, layout and more.

Maria and I tried making one of "The Family: A Proclomation to the World" to frame and hang in our basement. It was not working out just the way we wanted it to so I made our own in Microsoft Publisher today (above). We are going to print it and will hang it in the basement.

Check out the site here.

Rex Kwon Do

A couple weekends ago when Jake went up to St. Johns he brought home a trunk of junk from high school days. At least I thought it was junk till he pulled out these little beauties! Bow to your Sensei! I am one lucky woman!

Saturday Morning Photo Shoot

Sugar & Old Spice & Everything Nice

While babysitting Aubrey the other night I taught her how to apply deodorant. Now she sees deodorant and wants to put it on. When Lara got back she was not terribly excited about the scents being sported by her little girl. Last night while she was here she even asked for the deodorant so of course I let her have it.

They Grow Up So Fast

It is amazing to see how quickly Davis is growing and learning new things like the other day he was using a fork and knife to cut his biter biscuit. He also is able to sit up on his own and play with things - he still falls over but when he does he just rolls over and gets right back up. The other day I sat him in his car seat and went into the other room to grab his diaper bag when I got back he had buckled himself into the car seat! He has been saying "da-da" for a while but now he says "ma-ma" (only when he is mad) and "bathroom" when he goes potty. Maria came home the other day and found him crawling up the stairs. It is so much fun to see him grow!

(O.K.... so I may have made some of that stuff up but he is growing and learning very quickly!)

Maria and I both love this picture of Davis.

The Tooting Continues

This domestic life is starting to catch hold finally. Today I went grocery shopping and came across some cheap skillet steaks (that was thier name on the label - they were just tenderized steaks) two of them cost $2.39. I bought them and fried them in crumbled saltine crackers and cajun seasoning. I think they were really good and Maria would have liked them better if she was a bigger fan of chicken fried steak. (the picture does not give them justice)

School Update

Well I just finished up my first of four rounds of four classes every six weeks. Classes ended on Sunday (I was done by Saturday) and the next four started yesterday. I am not looking forward to the next six weeks (or the 12 to follow those) of school. I am so glad to be getting it done and as of right now I will be done with my last class on August 23!!

I want to toot my own horn for a bit (seeing as how no one else will) and let you all know that I basically kicked butt during the last six weeks and got 3 A's and one B. Believe it or not if I can keep up like this I may actually graduate with honors (like you Katy!).

The real reason for tooting my own horn is to thank everyone who has made it possible for me to do as well as I have.

First and foremost: Maria - Maria is such a strength. This girl is so dedicated to family and to me especially. She would do anything for me and I am so lucky to have such a loving and supporting wife.

Secondly: My Parents - If ever a tie for first should exist this would be the case. My parents pushed me to go to the University and the best part they have footed almost all of the bill! Walden U. is so much more expensive than ASU that recently we have taken out student loans but the majority of my education has been an investment by my parents.

Thirdly: Babysitters - Kelly, Lara, Karen, Quentin, Mom, Mom-in-law, Katy, and I am sure many others who I am now forgetting, you have no idea how much it helps to have you guys take Davis for a couple of hours here and there and let me focus on school.

I think that is enough for now if I have mistakenly left you out add your name in a comment!

It's all in your head...

I went to the doctors office to get some antibiotics for my double ear infection and sinus infection earlier this week. As they always do they bum me out by making me step on the scale first thing but to my surprise I had lost some more weight. When Maria got home that night I told her about my weight loss and she assured me it was all in my head (not meaning I was making it up but rather that my head looks less fat!). I laughed my "I hate you" laugh but she insisted and said "seriously I noticed it in the picture of you at the yard sale(above), your face is looking skinnier."

So as from June 10, 2008 when I went of sugar I have lost a total of 25 pounds from my head.

My Boy the Genius

Yesterday while I was in line waiting to get my lunch, I caught myself swaying back and forth like I was holding Davis in my arms.

On another note it seems we have a little genius on our hands. Davis at 5 months will repeat the word "Da Da"! He also is ready to crawl. He is able to get up on all fours and lurch himself forward or backward. I love my Davis!

I tried to get this picture of him while he was sleeping in his crib. I can never get a good picture of him while sleeping. I guess it has something to do with the obnoxious flash in his face.
He loves this pink elephant that was Aubrey's. We try not to let him have it in public or everyone thinks he is a girl.

Speaking of girls. Karen put this bow on his head one night before bedtime. I'm not sure what the deal is with the Halloween PJs in February.

My blue eyed boy!