100!

The other day my sister was telling me how smart her daughter was when she was younger and how many words she knew at 18 months. So it made me curious. How many words does Morgan know? Using the internet we looked up the amount of words an 18 month normally knows. It was 20. And the child should know 50 by the second year. Morgan is 19 months and after making a list yesterday I counted 100 words that Morgan knows. 100! I kept remembering more that I didn't add to the list, so I bet there are still more that I don't remember. His first phrase was "I want one please, Mommy." So polite. It sounded more like, "I wa-one peas, mimi."
Anyway, thought I would brag a bit.

Say Cheese!

Lately Morgan has learned to really ham it up for the camera. He sees one and runs in front of it with a huge goofy grin while saying cheese. Then he wants to look at the picture. Here are some of Morgan's cheesy smiles.

Sleepy boy

Morgan has started to fall asleep in other places than his crib and carseat. I think it's fun! Here are some pictures of it.

We were watching a movie the other night and it was past Morgan's bedtime, but I let him stay up anyway. (It was the way I could be lazy). So he fell asleep on my lap. Awww. Now, I realize that kids probably fall asleep on the laps of their parents all the time, but Morgan doesn't. I liked it.

Here Morgan was just chillin' in his chair chowing down on crackers. Then he was asleep.

A tale to tell

This morning I decided to finally go to the aerobics class again. I'm not feeling as sick in the mornings, so it was time. So I put on my brand new exercise pants that I got for my birthday, and my new tennis shoes that I got for my birthday and I loaded Morgan into the car along with the diaper bag, water bottle, my new exercise ball that I got for my birthday and my new exercise mat that I got for my birthday. I was ready. I opened the garage and was immediately dismayed to see a huge construction truck and trailer completely blocking my driveway. There was no way I was getting out. So I stood in my driveway staring unhappily at this obstacle with hopes that a construction worker would notice my need to get out of my driveway and move their truck. But when that didn't work I decided I would just walk. It was already 9:00, so I knew I would be late. But the church building wasn't too far down the road, and since I was already ready I didn't want to stay home. So I loaded Morgan, the diaper bag, water bottle and exercise mat into the wagon. I saw no convenient way to take the exercise ball.
The trip there was all down hill. I walked fast and just made sure that the wagon didn't go faster than me. I arrived at the church and saw only two cars. Thursday's aren't usually very well attended though. No worries. However when I got to the doors they were all locked. The cars weren't familiar either. It took me a little over 10 minutes to get there so it was after 9:00 but it usually lasts till after 10. In fact, it often doesn't really get started until 9:15. By now Morgan was running around the lawn and having fun, so I dejectedly sat on the church steps and let him. No need to rush home, right? The sun was shining, the sky was blue with a few wispy clouds. That's why I was completely caught off guard when I heard a crash of thunder. I turned around and looked up the hill, the way we'd come and groaned in disbelief at our misfortune. Ominous, black thunder clouds filled the whole sky. (this picture doesn't do it justice)

I hurried and loaded Morgan into the wagon again. No time to rest or play if we were going to beat this storm. It took me over ten minutes to get there going quickly down hill. How long would it take to trudge up? At least I had my running shoes on. I envisioned what I would have to do if it started raining hard before we made it home. To protect my summery dressed son I would have to use my exercise mat to create a sort of covered wagon. I kept following the lightening strikes up the hill wishing that I had taken a stroller instead. It's easier to push a stroller up than it is to pull a wagon. I was getting closer and closer with no downpour yet. I might make it after all. Suddenly a strong wind hit. My slumped and forlorn shadow disappeared with the sun. But we were almost there. So I pushed on through the wind and flying dust, anxious to get my boy out of the cold. We finally made it home. The truck still blocked my driveway. I left Morgan in the wagon and ran inside to open the garage. When I got back out to Morgan and the wagon something was wrong. My brand new, never been used, fresh out of the package, exercise mat was no longer in the wagon. UGHH! How long had it been missing?! I looked all around and caught no sight of anything blue. I walked down our street and peered around the corner. Still nothing. I walked out of our little neighborhood and looked down the long street we walked up. I didn't see it anywhere. But there was a little curve up ahead. So I pulled Morgan down the street further, that just minutes before we were happy to escape. As I rounded the curve I finally saw it. It had been blown up to the median in the road, the curb blocking further progress. I walked swiftly down the middle of the road knowing that the wind could take it at any moment. Sure enough, when the mat thought we were too close for comfort, it sprang to life, leaping over the median, across the street and down the road. This mat is still so new that it's shape is rolled up into a scroll. Perfect for being blown down a hill. Perfect for rolling away from me. So I ran. I am not a runner, it gives me asthma attacks, but to rescue my mat I ran. With a wagon and toddler in tow. Fortunately there was no traffic on my side of the street, but I needed to get to the other side, so as soon as there was a break in the median I crossed. Actually, I had to wait for two cars to pass, losing precious time. The mat was blown out into the street right in front of one car that I almost ran out right in front of. So wreckless, this mat. The chase continued, the wind propelling us both onward, though doing much more for the mat that was winning this race. I was getting desperately tired and was losing faith. But lo! A hero in form of a repair man! Being downwind of the mat, he stopped it cold when it reached him, and pinned it to the curb. *Cue the victory trumpets* My chase was over! With nothing but thanks to offer my hero, I wedged the delinquent mat into to wagon and recommenced my climb to home. We still beat the rain.
I took the pictures on the walk back up, (while inside to open the garage I also grabbed the camera) and I took the pic of the truck blocking our driveway when we got home. About a half hour later the foreman of the construction in the neighborhood came to the door to apologize for the truck parking in my way and said he could make them move if I needed to go somewhere. I'm pretty sure that someone saw me take a picture and was worried that I was going to try to make trouble. :) Whew!
Sorry this was so long. Good on ya if you read it all!

Bath time!

Morgan had his first shared bath while we were visiting Idaho. He had fun playing with his cousins. And it made for a great kodak moment. I don't think I had a bath alone until I was well over 5 years old, but since Morgan's the oldest he has to play alone. That will change soon.

Climbing trees

While visiting Grandma and Grandpa Nelson's house Morgan decided to climb the tree. His first time. :) It's a great tree for climbing, and Morgan is an excellent climber. However, this time "climbing" entailed being carefully placed in the tree by Daddy.

Adventures

We spent Memorial Day weekend in Idaho with family and all had a great time. (Especially me, since I had my birthday there and got lots of presents. ) I will post some pictures later.

Yesterday we had a bit of an adventure. To tell that story I will back up a few days. Since Aaron has all Friday's off we decided to drive up to Caldwell after he got off of work on Thursday. That meant it was going to be almost 7:00 all ready. To save a few minutes I met Aaron at the grocery store where his van pool drops him off so he wouldn't have to drive home. So we left the little car in the parking lot the whole weekend. So yesterday we got home, unpacked then headed to the grocery store to pick up the car. Aaron was also going to go into the store to get mouse traps, (we found a dead mouse in the basement upon our return!) so I dropped him off and took Morgan home. Before he got out of the car he made a comment akin to "Maybe we should check to see if the car will start first." But then he dismissed it as unnecessary. Okay.
I went home. Aaron didn't. I kept wondering what was taking him so long to get mousetraps. Then I thought of his random, dismissed comment. Then I thought of my phone. I had left it in the car. So I went to get it to see if I missed any calls. Indeed I had. I had 3 calls from an unrecognizable 801 phone number. I remembered that Aaron's phone was dead. I called the number back but only got the voicemail of one called Karen. So I loaded Morgan into the car and headed to Smith's in a heroic effort to rescue my husband. The whole way there I paid very close attention to all the cars going the opposite direction in case one of them was Aaron. Upon arriving at the store my first item of business was to locate the car. It wasn't in the same spot as it was in when I dropped Aaron off, but I soon found it a several yards away parked somewhat diagonally in two spots. Aaron wasn't to be seen though. So I went and looked through the whole grocery store for my missing husband. I didn't see him anywhere. I went back to the car with hopes that Aaron had returned. No such luck. I studied everyone at the gas station. Perhaps Aaron had no gas and had to go to the Smith's gas station for some gas. Not there either. So I got into the the little car and tried to start it. It made the strange sounds that I attributed to a bad battery. So maybe Aaron got a ride to a car parts store? Perhaps he got a ride home and was wondering where I was. I tried calling the unfamiliar 801 number again but got the voicemail. I called my home to see if perhaps Aaron had called there to get a phone number of my relatives that live near by so they could help him since I didn't answer my phone. But no. So I decided to go back home to see if Aaron was there waiting for me. (Though that answer didn't make much sense because he would have plugged his phone in and tried to contact me again.) When I was almost home I discovered why he hadn't done just that. He was walking! Oh, poor Aaron! He was almost home too. Of all the scenarios that I imagined, him walking home wasn't considered. The store isn't really very far, but he had just had a tiring day of driving and such. Also, most of the walk is up hill. I probably didn't see him walking on the way there because I was so focused on all the cars. I'm afraid I don't make a very good hero.
Aaron told me his side too. The car did have a dead battery (for no known reason) and Aaron went back into the store to the customer service desk. I think they used the loud speaker thing to ask if anyone had jumper cables. There was no response. The lady there let Aaron use her phone to call me. That was less than 10 minutes before I checked my phone. So Aaron went back out to see if he could start it again. He tried to push start it, which is why it was in a different spot. When that failed he saw his only alternative as walking home. This all would have been avoided if I had my phone with me. Or even if Aaron had his on, so I could have called him. Oh well.

Do as I'm doing

Most mornings Morgan watches me apply makeup. To an innocent 18 month old, eyeliner application must look like nothing more than poking myself in the eye with a pencil. The other morning I was putting my makeup on while Morgan was in my bedroom doing who knows what. Soon he enters the bathroom with a black pen that he had de-capped pointing the tip precariously close to his eyeball. Upon confiscating this instrument of danger I noticed black markings across the bridge of his nose and very near the corner of his eye. Oh, my child! Doesn't he know that only girls wear makeup?
Morgan also often tries to touch his eye. He plays the game of identifying body parts, so touches his nose while he says nose. When he says eye, and goes to touch his eye, he doesn't close it first. He also tries to catch his unsuspecting parents off guard with a curious touch to their eyeballs. He's fascinated by them.

Big and pregnant

Warning! Rant ahead!

I'm secretly (not a secret anymore!) hoping that I'm having twins, simply for the justification I would receive with my already pregnant appearance. With Morgan I was wearing my regular pants until I was in my 7th month. I even had a size 5 pair of pants that I wore to work all the time when I was very pregnant! I never fit back into those... :( This time around, my much larger sized pants are already getting very tight, my shirts make me look like a stuffed sausage, and I'm only 2 months preggers. Now, I know that your 2nd pregnancy and on you will show sooner than your first, do to stretched ligaments and such, but this much?!
Today I flipped through a photo album that had side pictures of pregnant me. They were spaced about a month apart and were meant to illustrate how much my tummy grew each month. At 9 weeks I look about the same size as I did when I was 4 1/2 pregnant with Morgan.
So what do you do? Lay off the food? Nope! That would make me oh so sick. Eat healthier? Eh. I don't think I'm doing awful. Like last time, my sweet tooth nearly vanished and I rarely eat sugary things. I'm big in to fruits and veggies. (And Toquito's.) Exercise more? Here I must admit that I have taken a break from the aerobic class that I'd been attending. Last time I went it made me extra nauseous, and I just don't have any energy. (I do plan on attending once the morning sickness fades though) Also, I refuse to break out the packed away maternity clothes yet. Too soon! They would only serve to make me look even farther along than I do already. So the way I see it, my only option is to silently hope for twins. I'll deal with the double crying and feeding and birthing later. For now I just want an excuse for my pre-mature abdomen engorgement.

Watch and Learn

Morgan is at a stage where he observes everything and takes it in like a sponge. Some of the things he does are quite funny. Saturday, my very capable Aaron changed the break pads on our squeaky car. It was a nice day, so Morgan and I were outside with him for some of it. Morgan got his big car, flipped it on it's side and started playing with the wheel. He's going to learn so much from his daddy! He worships him.

Dodge Durango!

So, we bought a Dodge Durango. We were down to only one car which was kind of unhappy sometimes. Especially at 5 in the morning when I had to get up to take my husband to his vanpool so that I could have use of the car for a day. Also, our other car is pretty compact and there wouldn't be a way to fit a second carseat in there. So, we were going to need another car. And we figured, why get a car that we would just grow out of in another few years when more children come? Why not get one that we can reasonably have for 10 or more years? So we thought a 3 row SUV would suit us well for awhile. We aren't van people.
It's a 2005 with 39,000 miles. It should last awhile. We got a great deal on it too. A few thousand less than the blue book said it should be. And my favorite feature is the DVD player! Woot!

Thar she blows.

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Publish Post

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's. A day late.
In our ward they asked for members to submit something about their mothers. I love my mother because... is what we were to work with. Then yesterday in church they passed out little books to all the women that had all the submissions in them. The primary had little one liners that went something like this: I love my mother because she cooks good food. Or, I love my mother because she brushes my teeth when I'm too tired. I love my mother because she is nice.
Then there was a page from the elders quorum with a sentence or two. They went something like this: I love my mother because she cooked good food, was a wonderful mother and went to my sporting events. Or I love my wife because she is a great mother, makes good food, and is good looking!
Then there were the submissions from the relief society members that were a paragraph or two long that were detailed and usually didn't mention food. I submitted one. The Relief Society president asked me specifically to write something because I mentioned to her that I liked to write. I hope she wasn't disappointed. Anyway, here is my tribute.

I love my mother because she always put the Lord first. Her #1 priority was evinced in her uncompromising standards in what she said, what she did, and how she raised her children. Although we weren't #1 in her life, we were never neglected. In putting the Lord above all else she raised her kids as He would have her do. It was because of her great love for the Lord that she took on the task of homeschooling her six kids after feeling the promptings of the Spirit to do so. I know I have benefited from this decision as well as many others Mom has made under the direction of the Lord. Thank-you, Mother, for your example and diligence in loving God with all your heart, might, mind and strength.

Dinosaur Museum

A few weeks ago my parents came to visit for my cousins mission farewell. While they were here we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. Aaron probably had the most fun, reading all the plaques and learning everything there is to know about dinosaurs and taking way longer than the rest of the party. :) But Morgan had lots of fun too. He didn't care too much about the bones and fossils as he did about the kid stations. There was a cave at one point that Morgan loved and remembered where it was. Even when we were far past that point he would escape and run back to the cave. It was kind of exhausting.
My dad thought to bring his camera, so he took the pictures. Thanks Dad!

They had this big tub thing of water and sand and little trees and dinosaurs that you could play with and make islands or whatever. Morgan was too short.

One of the kid stations. Morgan is wearing a little dinosaur apron thing. He didn't want to leave this station.

Morgan riding the ceratops-sort of dinosaur.

At the end of the museum they had big sandboxes full of bones that kids could go and use little paint brushes to uncover them. Morgan didn't do much of the excavating, but he did have fun in the sand with the brushes!

Lunch time fun!

What's fun for Morgan isn't always fun for Mommy. Today I gave Morgan his spaghettio's lunch and left him to it without much supervision. Oops. I was close, but not attentive. What brought my attention back to him was the sound of the bowl hitting the floor. Great. He threw the bowl down, but apparently that didn't mean his was finished. He continued to eat the canned pasta rings off the table until it was all cleaned up. I don't even know why I bother with a bib.

I was tagged!

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? I was still 13, hating having to do school, loving boys, waiting for Wednesday's so I could go to mutual and probably annoying my family.

2. What was on my to-do list for today? Clean the living room and kitchen, (always) clean my bedroom and bathroom, clean Morgan's room, shower (sad that it has to go on a list!), hang pictures in Morgan's room, take a walk with Morgan, maybe to the park.

3. What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire? More like, what wouldn't I do? First of all, I'd go on a cruise! Travel a lot, invest, buy a nice house and lots of land, maybe buy houses on the land for all of my family too! And we'd get new furniture!

4. 3 Bad habits... I procrastinate housework, I don't signal soon enough before I turn when driving, and I'm always late for church. (even now, when the church isn't even a block away!

5. Places I have lived..... Utah, Idaho, Utah.

6. Places I have worked... First Seminis, doing controlled pollination in a cornfield, then Community Partnerships working as a developmental technician, then Mancino's baked subs and pizza, then Community Partnerships again, then back to Seminis, then one more round at Community Partnerships, (I HATED that job this time) and then Washington Group International doing data entry and auditing. Much more adult.

7. 3 Things people don't know about me....1) NOBODY can touch my neck or my belly button besides myself. I hate the way it feels when my belly button is touched, and I don't trust anyone not to strangle me when they touch my neck. I get all tense and can't breath. Weird, I know. 2)I'm a big penny pincher. Spending money makes me anxious. I'd much rather see the numbers increase in the bank account than see anything going out.
3) I'm a big video gamer. Sort of. I attribute it to having four brothers and a dad who played video games. I was always there with my brothers watching my dad working through Wolfenstein and always was happy to join in the network games of Descent. Now I particularly like the first person shooter games. (Half Life, Resistance-Fall of Man, James Bond, etc.)

Okay, now I'll tag Janelle, Alisha and Bobbi.

Sunday drive

Sunday we decided to take a drive into the Uinta's via American Fork canyon. (Have I been up that canyon before, parents? I wanted to say it looked familiar, but maybe it was a different tree-lined river canyon). We came upon a lovely little reservoir where we stopped and had a bit of a picnic. Morgan loved watching the ducks, (which were mating!) and throwing rocks into the water. He loves being outside. It was a good way to spend the evening.

Hogle Zoo

On Friday the weather was okay so we decided to go to the zoo. We went with some friends, (Aaron's old mission companion and his family) and had a bit of a double date. We had fun at the zoo. It's a pretty good zoo with a lot of animals. I was kind of hoping Morgan would be more excited about seeing some of the animals that we'd read about in books and stuff, like elephant's and giraffes, but he took it all in stride. I think he liked the animals that he thought were kitty's the best. Like the fox, and some wild cats. He also really enjoyed the merekat's. They had a glass wall that the little creatures would come right up against. Morgan tried to touch it but the darn glass was in the way. So he just put his finger next to his eye and said "eye" wishing he could be poking it instead of the glass.

We took the little train ride. Did you know it costs a dollar now? It's not worth a dollar! You get on the train, wait a few minutes, finally go. The announcer starts: To the left is the duck pond where for only 25 cents you can feed the ducks, to the right is the zoo's gift shop where you can go and buy lots of stuff. Be sure to check it out. Don't miss the gift shop! There's some turkey's in those trees, and over here we have fake gravestones of outlaws. Please exit to your left. And then it's over.

Me and Morgan on the train. Mark and their girl Elizabeth in the background. She is about 6 weeks younger than Morgan and they get along great.

All of us on the train. Notice Morgan's cup in both pictures. All I can say is, at least it's not his bottle anymore!

Observing the giraffes!

After the zoo we went out to dinner. Morgan and Elizabeth played together while we waited for a table. I didn't get the picture at a good time, but they were having fun.

Random pictures

Here are just some photo's I took. Morgan's cute. You can never show too much of him. :)

This picture is a bit fuzzy and he's blinking, but I thought it was really cute anyway, and he looks so much older than an 18 month old here.

Aww, so cute and charming.

This is my introspective look.

Patty cake!

At the park

We had one day of spring last week, so I took Morgan to a neighborhood park. The play equipment is really pretty good. Morgan had a blast. But he often complained that the surfaces were hot. Going down the slide he'd say, "hot! hot!" or climbing up the plastic steps. He liked older kids being there and would try to follow them around and play with them. He's a socialite.