Homeowners

We are officially home owners!  Brad and I own a cute little home in West Valley City now.  It has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living room, a den with a fireplace, dining area, a small kitchen with a large pantry, a two car garage, and a large shed in the backyard.  The kids are very happy about our new home.  Scott and Emma will each have their own room, and we will be living only a few blocks away from their cousins.  Emma's room has an incredible view of the Salt Lake Valley and the airport.  Scott's room is ENORMOUS, and he gets his own bathroom.

On May 25th we officially became HOMEOWNERS!

We bought the house after its previous owners foreclosed.  The bank fixed it up quite nicely, making it look like almost a brand new house before they flipped it.  There is new two-toned paint and carpet in every room, and there's new wooden floors and granite counter-tops in the kitchen, plus a new sink. We are very excited to finally have our own place!
 

 

*So, technically this was posted on June 16th and not on May 26th, but I changed the dates to keep my posts flowing in order.  I have been so busy with the new house.  It's eaten up all my blogging time!

David's 7-Month Stats

Weight: 14 pounds 10 ounces, 2% for his age (he's so tiny!).
Height: 26.76 inches, 34% for his age.
Head Circumference: 17.1 inches, 25% for his age. 

7-Month David

 If I were to describe David in three words I would say he's laid-back, curious, and adorable. David has a very content, easy-going personality.  He loves observing people and exploring the world around him.  He's an attention getter.  His small size combined with his big smile and bright blue eyes attracts admirers everywhere we go.

New Developments In The Last 2 Months

• He is eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.  He's not a picky eater.
• I've introduced finger foods to him, although they're not a part of his regular diet yet.  He loves graham crackers best.
• His balance continues to improve.  He can sit by himself for short periods of time.
• He knows how to shift objects from one hand to the other.
• He can pull himself on the floor a little.  I think he'll be crawling soon.
• He babbles.  I love it when he says, "Ma-ma-ma-ma."
• He is finally getting some hair!  It sticks straight up!

Little quirks:

• He still only sleeps in his swing at night. He is a light sleeper.  I think he likes the snug feeling of being in his swing and hearing the white noise as he rocks back and forth.
• He is a tiny little guy, but he has a very healthy appetite.  He loves to eat.
• He is a social boy!  He is not shy or bashful about meeting new people.  He loves seeing new faces.
• He is very alert and observant!  He spots me everywhere I go.  I cannot hide from him or sneak away anymore. 
• He is obsessed with paper and plastic.  He's definitely in the "package-is-better-than-what's-inside" stage. 
• He is still Mr. Sensitive Skin.  We cannot use baby shampoo or any other fragrant soap when we bathe him, and we cannot put sweet-smelling lotion on him.  Cetaphil has become our new favorite brand.

Hello, Mr. Blue-Eyes!

May the Fourth Be With You!

Brad and I are such geeks. We had a fabulous time quoting Star Wars quotes on May 4th, particular Han Solo's and Princess Leia's lines.  I have always liked Star Wars, but being married to a true Star War's fan has caused me to appreciate it even more.  We enjoyed getting into the spirit of George Lucas' films today.  It was the first time we celebrated Star Wars Day, and I enjoyed it so much we'll have to do it again next year.

Han Solo:  Afraid I was gonna leave without giving you a goodbye kiss?

Leia:  I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee.

Han Solo:  I could arrange that. You could use a good kiss!

  

Something good happens each day. Here's what happened in April 2012:

Sun 4/1/12: I finished crocheting the most adorable little puppy hat EVER! It fits baby David perfectly. I love crocheting.

Mon 4/2/12: We had a lovely Family Home Evening tonight looking at houses. The kids had fun.  They were more enthusiastic about the houses we saw than we were.

Tue 4/3/12: I got done some shopping today, and Brad and I watched the next episode of "Once Upon A Time."

Wed 4/4/12: David turned 6 months old! YAY! We looked at two houses tonight-- that makes seven so far. We still like the Long Valley house the best.

Thu 4/5/12: Marilyn took me and the kids, plus Grandpa North, to lunch at Red Lobster today. After lunch I was able to sneak away and get my hair cut. It looks so cute now! In the evening, Brad and I took the kids to look at a house that showed up on the market today. We LOVED it! We put an offer on it straight away.

Fri 4/6/12: I'm making a little nappy cover for David to wear with his doggy hat. He's going to be so cute for his pictures tomorrow!

Sat 4/7/12: We took David to get his pictures taken at Fotofly, and they turned out wonderful! He's such a cutie. In the afternoon we had our Easter celebration with the Bruce Norths and Clarks, which turned out to be fun. I love my family!

Sun 4/8/12: We had a nice, uneventful Easter this year. We had our traditional big dinner yesterday, so today we made taco salad. Mmm Mm!

Mon 4/9/12: We had our annual Easter FHE tonight. We dyed eggs, watched "The Lamb of God," and ate Easter candy.

Tue 4/10/12: Our second offer was accepted! We are going to be homeowners!

Wed 4/11/12: I had fun playing with my baby on my bed today. All I had to do was say "bah" and he would burst out in laughter.

Thu 4/12/12: Tricky and Rosie showed up today! Rosie will be staying with us for about a week. Rosie is Lizzy's new best friend. I love watching them follow each other around the house.

Fri 4/13/12: Scott has become quite popular in school lately! He has been dressing up as a character from a video game every day this week (Inspector Cabanela), and he's been dancing in school (voluntarily!). He learned the dance from a video game as well. He's such a geek.

Sat 4/14/12: All of the family (minus Amanda's family) came to visit Tricky and Rosie at our house this morning. We BBQ'ed some hamburgers last-minute and had a yummy lunch. Scott and Emma accidentally ended up staying with us this weekend, which turned out to be perfect for us. They had fun with their cousins.

Sun 4/15/12: Scott has been having a blast on his new Facebook account. I uploaded the link of him dancing in class from YouTube and he now has it on his wall.

Mon 4/16/12: Brad took off work today for our new home inspection. Brad's dad and Tricky came to see it, too. Ben Bailey said that was the smoothest inspection he'd ever seen. Very minor issues. I liked hearing that!

Tue 4/17/12: Picked up "Master of Heathcrest Hall" from the library tonight. SO EXCITED!!!!

Wed 4/18/12: I loved window shopping at Walmart and Sam's Club tonight. I can't wait to have our own home.

Thu 4/19/12: My little boy is getting bigger! He's starting to lift his body up on his knees now when he's lying on his tummy. He's pretty good at rolling over. I can't leave him on the bed anymore.

Fri 4/20/12: Brad and I went to see the house tonight and made some measurements. It's smaller than the house we are currently living in, but it will give us more space, since we are currently sharing the space right now. Strange how that all works.

Sat 4/21/12: Had a great birthday today! Brad and I took the kids to Centennial Park in West Valley City for a picnic lunch. It will be one of the parks in our area after we move. In the afternoon, Brad and I went on a window-shopping date to look at furniture, appliances, and plants for our new house. We had pizza casserole for dinner and ice cream cake.

Sun 4/22/12: I made a blueprint of our new living room using measurements and a website at UrbanBarn.com. My idea for how I want my living room is going to work!

Mon 4/23/12: I went visiting teaching today, and Lizzy and David came with me. Lizzy calls Sister Breese, "Nursery," because she is one of her nursery leaders. I think that's cute.

Tue 4/24/12: Lizzy was thrilled that I picked up some DVDs at the library for her to watch. She has become a big fan of "Curious George" and "Cat in the Hat" lately.

Wed 4/25/12: I went to Book Club tonight. I brought "Master of Heathcrest Hall" with me. It was nice escaping the babies for a little bit and hanging out with other women.

Thu 4/26/12: Brad and I took Lizzy and David for a walk around the Dixie Valley neighborhood tonight. Lizzy especially liked that.

Fri 4/27/12: I made a delicious Pinterest meal tonight... Four cheese pasta with shrimp, and baked Parmesan crusted asparagus. YUM! For dessert I made a simple angel/blackberry cake with homemade whipped cream. It was soooo good.

Sat 4/28/12: Got done some more window shopping today. Spent some one-on-one time with my wonderful husband. I love that guy.

Sun 4/29/12: I enjoyed walking through our soon-to-be neighborhood with my family and the Bruce-clan tonight.

Mon 4/30/12:  I am LOVING the book "Master of Heathcrest Hall."  It is very well done, indeed!

Scott's New Look

Scott is going through a phase right now.

A geeky, teenage, dress-up-like-your-favorite-video-game-character phase.
It started about two weeks ago...

Scott brought home a brand new lab-coat he received from his counselor at school. The coat instantly reminded him of a character in a new video game: Inspector Cabanela.

Inspector Cabanela is from the video game, Ghost Trick.
He likes to dance everywhere he goes, even up and down stairs.
Here's a clip of him on YouTube:

Using the lab-coat and his character as inspiration, Scott began to assemble miscellaneous items throughout the house and began creating a new look for himself. He found an old discarded red scarf in the laundry room. He grabbed a black Darth Vader t-shirt, turned it inside out, and wore it under his lab-coat. He also put on his new black Sunday school shoes. He made a pretty good Inspector Cabanela, I thought.

Scott dressed up as Inspector Cabanela EVERY DAY last week. Surprisingly enough, the school had no issue with him dressing that way. In fact, his Social Studies teacher, Mr. Fries, even offered Scott extra credit if he wore the same outfit every day for the rest of the school year. Scott, of course, has accepted that challenge. But even that did not prepare me for what else he was doing to fit into character... Scott began dancing. DANCING IN SCHOOL!

Turns out there was a dance in the same video game called "The Panic Dance," which was danced by another character: Officer Bailey. Here's the video:

Scott memorized the dance moves after watching this clip a few times. Without even practicing, Scott began dancing this dance in one of his classes at school one day. When we asked him why he did, he simply answered he was bored. Then he did it again in another class. And again in the lunch room. Before he knew it, Scott was dancing this geeky dance all over the place! He was a hit! Everybody LOVED it! Scott loved the attention he got, and it made him more popular in his school, too. Everyone began recognizing him as the lab-coat dancer. His schoolmates began capturing his dance moves with their cellphone cameras, which resulted in Scott ending up on YouTube:

All I can say is WOW. Is this really the shy, anti-dance boy who used to cringe at the thought of being the center of attention?

David's 6-Month Photo Shoot

He's so super cute!

The Highlight of My Day: March 2012

Something good happens each day. Here's what happened in March 2012:

Thu 3/1/12: My little girl was delighted to see the snow this morning. Mother Nature decided to dump a few inches of snow on us last night-- the first real snow of the season. Lizzy had to go outside on the porch and dance with her snow boots on.

Fri 3/2/12: Scott and Lizzy had a blast playing in the snow today. It was very fun to watch them. I was so glad the cousins came early enough to spend time with Scott and Emma before they left. I could tell it made Scott and Emma happy. I also organized three shelves in the pantry this evening while the kids were having fun. I found some long-forgotten candy that the kids were more than happy to help get rid of.

Sat 3/3/12: Brad and I took a stab at making homemade tortillas tonight for dinner. Who'd have thought that making tortillas could be such a fun little at-home date? The tortillas turned out pretty yummy, too!

Sun 3/4/12: Brad told me this morning that David has been rolling over for the past few days. WHAT? How did I not know this? Apparently, he only felt like rolling over while Papa was watching him. Now he's rolling over much more frequently. Silly boy! Oh, and Amanda came to visit us today! We loved having her over. The Bruce Clan and the Clarks came to visit, too. It was a lovely Sunday.

Mon 3/5/12: I enjoyed looking at family photos today. I love my family.

Tue 3/6/12: We had a pretty heavy snowstorm tonight. I went to the library by myself and picked up "Mockingjay" and "Breaking Dawn Part 1." Looking forward to reading the last book of the Hunger Games!

Wed 3/7/12: I introduced sweet potatoes to baby David tonight. He LOVED it!

Thu 3/8/12: Lizzy and I built a cowgirl snowman today while we were playing outside. The air wasn't cold at all, so we did not wear jackets. We uncovered an earthworm while we were rolling the snow around in the yard. Lizzy named it Lucky Charms.

Fri 3/9/12: Brad and I dropped off Lizzy at her Aunt Marilyn's house before heading over to the stake center to hear Brother Brad Wilcox speak for our Stake Women's Conference. He was an excellent speaker.

Sat 3/10/12: I enjoyed hearing Colleen Terry speak at the morning session of our Women's Conference. I liked her emphasis on being happy, even if circumstances aren't exactly the way you want them to be. That stuck out to me more than anything else.

Sun 3/11/12: I enjoyed watching house-buying shows on TV today, then I watched Brad do some house-buying homework on his spreadsheet, and I looked at some houses online. Fun stuff!

Mon 3/12/12: For Family Home Evening tonight we played one of our favorite family games: "In Plain Sight." I stumped the boys pretty well on my turn. I stuck the Catwoman Lego figure on the lamp in the living room, and the boys looked and looked and could not find it. Emma was the only one to find it without any hints. Go Emma!

Tue 3/13/12: I love Daylight Savings! It was lovely going to the library tonight with the sun still up. We ended up going twice, because we forgot to grab the bag with our returned items on the first trip. Brad and I talked a lot about "The Hunger Games" and "Catching Fire" on our trips to and from the library. I love talking to him about books.

Wed 3/14/12: Lizzy learned how to open the front door today. She escaped into the yard and came inside carrying a small bouquet of white, yellow, and blue crocuses. Spring is almost here!

Thu 3/15/12: I fell in love with house today. *sigh* I haven't felt that much infatuation in a while. Looking forward to owning a house in the near(ish) future!

Fri 3/16/12: I picked up my mommy from the airport tonight! I am looking forward to spending the weekend with her! When we got back to the house it was almost midnight, but my mom was so anxious to show us our gifts we spent the next hour going through everything in her luggage. Lots and lots of clothes for Emma and Lizzy!

Sat 3/17/12: Best St. Patrick's Day EVER! Having my mother in town has been a blast! We had a yummy green breakfast, consisting of green french toast and green tropical smoothies. We went to Woody's for lunch, then Wheeler Farm right after, and Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. In the afternoon, my mom watched Lizzy and David while Brad and I spent some one-on-one time with Emma. We bought Emma a new mattress for her bed and went shopping with her. It was lovely!

Sun 3/18/12: I made a yummy St. Patrick's Day dinner tonight! Shepherd's Pie with corned beef and cabbage. Scott made some hot chocolate, which we drank with homemade butterscotch biscotti.

Mon 3/19/12: I took a little nap this afternoon to make up for my busy weekend. Lovely!

Tue 3/20/12: Got another Reader's Choice book from the library tonight: "No Biking in the House Without a Helmet."

Wed 3/21/12: I had a great time in bed with my two cute little kids this morning. Lizzy had fun entertaining her little brother, who was completely fascinated with her.

Thu 3/22/12: Brad and I took the kids (minus Scott) to the park tonight, after dinner. Emma and I spent a great deal of time on the bridge overlooking the duck pond. I let Emma borrow my camera and she took snapshot after snapshot of pretty things she saw. She's got a good eye for great shots.

Fri 3/23/12: Brad and I watched the Hunger Games today! It was well done!

Sat 3/24/12: Brad and I were pre-approved! YAY! Marilyn babysat for us while we were gone, and I invited her to stay for dinner after we got back. We had salmon covered in white Parmesan sauce with rice and spinach. YUM!

Sun 3/25/12: I made pizza casserole today-- a recipe I found on Pinterest. It was an instant hit! Everyone loved it. In the evening we drove around Bruce and Loralee's neighborhood and looked at houses. I'm excited with the thought of owning a house.

Mon 3/26/12: I found my lost library book! HOORAY!!! I had been looking for it for over three months, and today was the last day I could turn it in without having to purchase it. I felt like I was led right to the book, even though in my mind I told myself I had already looked in that spot a few times, as well as Brad. I'm very grateful for answered prayers.

Tue 3/27/12: I'm so excited about seeing houses tomorrow! I can't wait!

Wed 3/28/12: Brad and I went with Ben to look at houses tonight. We saw three in the area we're interested in. Didn't put down any offers, but it was still a very positive experience.

Thu 3/29/12: I bought Wicked tickets today! Yay! Lizzy and I headed downtown and spent an hour on Temple Square before meeting Rick, who sold us the tickets. It was nice. But the biggest news is... (drum-roll) we put down an offer on a house! YAY! We're number 5 on the list, so chances are we probably won't get it, but still, I'm having fun picturing myself in that house. I'm very excited!

Fri 3/30/12: I loved seeing my two little ones playing with each other this morning. Lizzy enjoyed holding her baby brother.

Sat 3/31/12: We enjoyed watching the first two sessions of General Conference today. Emma, Lizzy, David, and I went to visit Loralee and the girls for dinner. We drove by four on-the-market houses that I've been following, including the one we put an offer down, and Emma was very excited about it.

Cutest Little Kids

Get ready to see the cutest little kids, EVER! I took these photos yesterday when Lizzy asked to have her little brother on her lap. They were so cute together, I had to rush to get my camera. This morning when I was loading the pictures up, I started tearing up when I saw how cute the photos turned out. I LOVE my kids! They are so, so cute!

Grandma's Visit and St. Patrick's Day

My mother came to visit us over St. Patrick's Day weekend. Her visits are always a treat, especially now that she has little grandchildren to spoil. Baby David LOVED his grandma, and Lizzy had a blast with her, too!

One of Lizzy's favorite games to play with Grandma is throwing the ball down the slide. Grandma is a great sport and very fun to play with. I could hear Lizzy screaming with laughter from every room in the house. I'm sure the neighbors heard her, too.

My mom is so good with children! Lizzy loved all the attention.

Grandpa North took us out for lunch at our favorite diner: Woody's.

After Woody's we headed over to one of our favorite places, Wheeler Farm.

The baby animals were adorable!

We love it when Grandma Whitcomb comes to visit us! Hopefully we can see her again soon.