We're Back!!

Thanks to those of you who have kindly reminded me that I haven't blogged since August.

I appreciate that you missed me. Only problem was, I didn't have a lot to say.

Or time to write once I had something to say.

Or time to find pictures to help illustrate the things I wanted to say.

And then, I wanted to be chronological about the things I wanted to say, and that was far too overwhelming.

So, today, we will start where we are.

And today, the most exciting thing is that this guy is coming home early from his business trip to sleep in his very own bed.

Not Diggity's bed...

We're pretty excited about that around here. Since we haven't seen each other for a couple of weeks.

And I'm pretending that the coming home early (even a day earlier than the original "coming home early" date) has nothing to do with the total-hormonal-crazy-coming-home-traveling-breakdown that I had yesterday afternoon, combined with the still-recovering-from-the-back-injury-and-I-can't-do-anything-frustration I'm dealing with right now.

But I suspect that it does.

I'm good either way.

Because we've decided - no more long separation trips like this. We all had a lovely time on our trips (G and I to New England, Diggity to California, then Taiwan and China), but this being apart for long periods of time is not for us.

And we've lots to catch up on, so stay tuned...

The Beach!

We've discovered something that G-Man loves - the beach.

When our cousins were visiting from China last week, we joined them and some other friends down in Newport, RI at the beach. It was a cold, windy day, but G-Man LOVED the sand. I turned around to check on him, and found this:


He was laying on his tummy in the sand and kept putting his face right in the sand. He was even more dirty about 10 minutes after this was taken. We spent a little time in the water, but he was mostly interested in the sand.

We were able to go to the beach again today with some friends, and it was a perfect beach day. (You may have heard, we've had a bit of a heat wave around here. If you've never visited the Northeast and don't think that heat in the 90s doesn't sound like any big thing, well...you're mistaken. I used to wonder why huge snow storms and heat waves always made the national news, and then I moved here. People die when it gets this hot because of the humidity. We've been really grateful for our central A/C this week. In fact, we don't leave the house unless we absolutely have to.) And this time, we made it to the water. He still loved the sand, but we spent a ton of time in the water. G-Man was even brave enough to let go of my hand a couple of times as we "jumped" on the waves.


(thanks for the picture, Allison!)

We had such a great time. Though, I was annoyed to arrive home and find that I didn't do a good job with my sunscreen. Ouch.

Project 365-Day 1

*In future posts, when you see the logo above, that means I have posted a photo for my new project - One photo every day this year. The photo won't always get posted that very day, but it will be taken. Commentary may or may not accompany the photo, but the date will always be someplace on the photo. It's a way to document our year, as well as sharpen my skills. Basically to make sure I take a photo every day.

How cute is this?

I put this on my photography blog today as well. I just think it's such a cute photo. We took it last fall one day on the way to Aunt Carolyn's house. He was such a good sport when I was figuring out my camera last summer and fall.

And I can't believe how much he has changed.

A Day in Boston - November 9, 2009

On Monday morning, G-Man and I went to pick up a new lens I just purchased from the awesome people at LensPro to Go. (Seriously, if you ever have need to rent a lens or camera, give Paul a call.) I'd also promised a trip to the park. Since we were already in Concord and it was a beautiful day, we just kept driving to Boston. I needed to do some location scouting, and I thought G-Man would like the Public Garden and Boston Common. I love walking around Boston. It's such a beautiful, unique city.

And I was thrilled to discover, among other things, that Boston Common has a playground. I think that was the highlight of G-Man's afternoon. My highlight was these photos of him and of some of the sights around the Common and Public Garden.

He's Gifted

We figured he'd enjoy music, since both Diggity and I love it so much, but we never expected this...



*grin*

Happy Halloween!

...from G-Man, the cutie pie dragon!

To see more cute, cute dragon pictures, click here.

Gap Casting Call

It's that time of year again. The time of year where I enter cute pictures of G-Man in the Gap Casting Call and he doesn't win. ;)

He totally gets robbed, I tell you.

One thing that is new this year is a voting competition for Fan Favorite. I entered the second to last day of the casting call this year, so we're a little behind in the voting, but if you have time to vote for him (you can vote once a day until November 17), here are the links:

For this picture:



Vote here

For this picture:



Vote here


For this picture:



Vote here


And for this picture:



Vote here

If you want to vote for all four, that would be awesome.

If nothing else, I love that I had an excuse to take some fun pictures of him over the last couple weeks. He's getting pretty good about posing and/or looking at the camera if I can catch him in the right mood.

A Tribute

Many of you out there have met my wonderful car, Miguel. His full name is Miguel Manuel Santa Fe. (We had a naming contest among my friends when I purchased him. We wanted a name that fit his personality and heritage as a Santa Fe. *grin*) My first car purchase as an adult, he and I have had many wonderful adventures together. Road trips, daily rides to school, driving members of the 2002 Savior of the World cast to the Conference Center...I'm quite attached to him.

As you might imagine, when Diggity suggested at the beginning of this year (after another large repair bill from Miguel's yearly inspection) that we should replace him, I balked. I was not keen to replace him. I did not want a car payment. I was fine, thank you. I may have refused to discuss the matter whenever Diggity brought it up.

Then, President Obama announced the CARS program.

And we found out that Miguel qualified as a "clunker." (Don't worry. I didn't tell Miguel. I didn't want to hurt his feelings with a label like that.)

And then we found out the CARS program was ending soon. So we looked. And we found a new car. And the new car arrived a couple of days ago, and today was the day we had to turn Miguel in so he could be crushed into sheet metal.

Poor Miguel.

I took a few pictures of Miguel in our driveway before we took him to the dealership this afternoon.

I told G-Man we were taking mommy's car bye-bye and bringing home a new one, and he gave Miguel a hug. Awwwww...

We brought home a Subaru Forester. My family drove Subarus until we got a minivan when I was in junior high. I like them, and I'm pretty excited. I was sad to see Miguel go, but I must admit, when the salesman was showing me the car (Auxiliary plug for my iPod! Functioning lighter plugs so I can actually charge my phone! A mute button for the stereo ON my steering wheel! And MORE!), I got more and more excited to have a new car.

Here's our new car (no name yet):

Thanks, honey. I'm glad you insisted. And you even found a way to get me the seat warmers. I love you.

Any name suggestions?

This is What Happens...

...when you don't apply sunscreen evenly to your son's face.





Why, yes! I am an awesome mom! :)

Sheesh.

Luckily, it was gone by the next day. I thought he was breaking out in hives or something. Then I remembered that I sprayed my hands with the sunscreen spray and wiped it on his face. We'll use lotion in the future.

Playground in American Fork, Utah

G-Man - July 2009

Driving...

...me a little bit crazy today. I'm trying to focus on cute pictures of him so I don't lose patience until I can take a nap.

*sigh*

He IS cute. And we're the ones that taught him to talk and to ask lots of questions.

Bikes

Grammy showed him how to honk the horn on the tricycle.



I'm not sure what he thought this would accomplish, but it sure was cute.



And then a "crazy bike ride" with Grandpa Toad.



Basically a perfect evening in Utah.

Pre-Wedding BBQ

We had the chance to get together with Darren's family the night before Darren & Amanda got married. Aunt Bev was kind enough to host us. It was great to have everyone in the same place and have a chance to relax before the big day.

It was such a hot day - I think G-Man drank 10 bottles of water and kept asking for more.



Chris holds court with his posse:


Ike cools off and models Grandpa Toad's sunglasses:


Our lovely chef:


Shots of the crowd eating and Amanda & Darren greeting:



The kids had a great time playing:


We ended the evening the right way - with a delicious dessert Amanda requested from her grandma. This was Amanda's portion:


We had a great time and it was a wonderful way to kick off the weekend. Stay tuned for more pictures!

The Memory

G-Man's memory, that is. It's starting to alarm me the way he remembers things. Like today for example. We were in a Michaels Craft store in Massachusetts about a month ago looking for some ribbon. When we were in the store, we saw some cute felt hats and G-Man wanted to try them on.




So, today, we went to Michaels in Orem. We had been at JoAnns Fabric looking for some ribbon, and went to Michaels to see if they had a bit more. We walked in the door, G-Man looked around and looked up at me and said "Hats. Where hats?"

We found the hats. He put one on, and looked up at me and said, "I say cheese. Cheese!" So I took a picture:



Then he tried on a different hat and said, "I go show Molly and Alice." So, we walked through the store until we found Molly and Alice and then he wanted another picture.


I didn't think he was going to part with the monkey hat for a minute. I really had to convince him the monkey hat was staying at the store.

Stories like this are becoming more frequent with him. I tell Diggity all the time when they happen and he's been really kind to listen and smile and be interested. But I'm not sure if he really believed my stories. Can't blame him. Then last Sunday when we were at church with Matt and Emily, he and G-Man were walking down the hall during Sacrament Meeting, and G-Man looked up at him and said, "Daddy! Let's go get grapes!" In February, I performed my motherhood cabaret-style recital at a women's conference in Nashua in a church that had the same floor plan as Matt & Emily's church. Diggity and G-Man took several walks during my performance and stopped a few times in the kitchen to get grapes from the women who were preparing the luncheon. And he remembered just from being in a similar building. It's wild.