Ambott Happenings

i always dreamed the world would know my name...

2012-02-04T19:08:00.000-08:00

...now it does. my world can say "dad".

that and a host of other words. our beautiful girl is finally becoming a little talker. we've decided her first word was "up", which she uses whenever she feels she needs to be picked up, which is often. her vocabulary also includes such classics as "mom" (though amber doesn't feel claire really understands what she's saying), "yeah", "no" (which scares us), "hot", "eye", "nose", "uh oh", "whoa" (one of my favorites), and her newest one, "treat". our "world" is getting so big.

our little girl making us smile

2012-01-23T14:31:00.000-08:00

this video is a little old, but we really like it so we wanted to post it still. we sure do love this girl.

and we wanted to show off one of her funny little quirks - this beautiful girl is such a noisy eater.

i'm a little concerned that one of her first words is "uh oh". :)

Family Pictures

2012-01-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

A while ago we got our family photos taken. We finally got them back just a little bit before Christmas. My sister-in-law Sherry and her photographer friend took them for us. I thought I'd share some of our favorites...

December C's

2012-01-04T11:25:00.000-08:00

For December, since it was a busy month with family and holidays and everything, my Create was simple. I made our 2011 ornament. I was looking for a little 2x2 block of wood to make it, but I couldn't find one that size that didn't require us cutting it. So while searching for a block of wood I found a little 2x2 rubix cube that I decided to use instead. I took off the stickers and mod podged the pictures on and well, here it is. I like how it turned out. :)

For my Cook I decided to make this crockpot Christmas breakfast recipe. I figured if it turned out good it could be our traditional Christmas breakfast since it cooks all night and it would be a nice easy warm breakfast in the morning. I think it turned out okay, but it wasn't my favorite, so I don't know if we'll try it again... oh well. :)

With so many family visiting, I had a few opportunities to take pictures. Nobody wanted to go outside for pictures though, so I had to find places to take pictures inside... I used the Tanner Building at BYU, I need to find new inside locations though I think cuz it wasn't the best place for family group photos. :)

I really did learn so much this year working on my C's and I'm so glad I decided to blog about them because it kept me going. There were so many projects and things that I wanted to try and do and photo things I wanted to learn and I actually did a few of them this year. It's been great and I'm grateful for the encouragement I got from family and friends too because it also kept me going. This next year I probably won't do my monthly blogs about them anymore, but I do want to continue making new things and taking photos and learning more. I have new resolutions to work on this new year though... #1 on my list is meal planning and eating better... anyone have tips for me on that? :) Happy New Year!

Christmas Time is Here

2011-12-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

A couple days before Christmas we made graham cracker houses. This was always the tradition growing up in our house. I hadn't made one in the last few years though, so it was fun.

Christmas Eve was spent with my family. We watched a Christmas movie and played games. Claire played dress up and had fun playing with cousins. Later that night, Grandpa read the Christmas story and we sang the carols along with it.

Claire dressed up her cousin DJ... I'm not sure he knew what to do about her. :)

Christmas morning we opened our stockings. We normally would have put an orange in Claire's stocking, but we figured she'd like the banana better. She was a lot more interested in opening presents this year, it was fun. After opening our stockings, we joined the family upstairs for breakfast and to open some presents with them. We then went back downstairs to our place to finish opening our presents.

Claire seemed pretty happy with her gifts. We got her a little table & chairs set that she started pulling around right away. :)

For church we went up to South Jordan to Lindy's ward where she was directing the choir in songs she had written and arranged. It was exciting to hear. After, we had dinner at their home.

After dinner we went back down to Spanish Fork to spend the afternoon and evening with Scott's family. We had dinner and dessert and celebrated our niece Tasha's birthday.
We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so nice to see and spend time with all our family. We are grateful for our Savior and his birth and this holiday season to remember him and the blessings that he's brought unto our lives.

25 Days

2011-12-28T19:17:00.000-08:00

we began the month with a goal: do something Christmasy every day of december before Christmas day. unfortunately, the month didn't quite go as planned. on some days we did multiple activities and other days we did nothing. some things were put off for next year and other things were made up on the spot. and a lot of Christmas movies were forced to be counted. we did a few other things as well i would count, but these are the ones i could get pictures for. hopefully in the future we can be better about sticking to our original plans, but it was still a fun month, full of fun activities. :)

1. visit temple square in salt lake city and look at all the lights
2. put up the Christmas tree and decorate it
3. watch 'how the grinch stole Christmas'
4. drink some hot chocolate/ apple cider
5. make our yearly ornament for our tree
6. buy a new Christmas movie and watch - this year it was a set with frosty, rudolph, and others
7. bake cookies and give away to our friends - mostly ate them though, sorry :)
8. attend our ward Christmas dinner/ talent show
9. read 'the polar express'
10. watch 'a Christmas story'
11. go up to idaho for heidi's graduation
12. post our Christmas card on our blog
13. watch 'a charlie brown Christmas'
14. buy a Christmas popcorn tin and eat it
15. go to the festival of lights down in spanish fork
16. watch 'a boyfriend for Christmas'
17. read the december 'ensign'
18. make snowmen - we unfortunately didn't get any snow, so we had to make them out of craft paper, which was a lot of fun still and we stayed warm
19. watch 'elf'
20. make gingerbread houses
21. go to church with lindy, amber's sister, who wrote and arranged several wonderful songs that the choir performed during sacrament meeting
22. watch 'it's a wonderful life'
23. eat a wonderful Christmas breakfast amber made
24. read 'luke 2'
25. open presents :)

heidi's graduation

2011-12-22T17:00:00.000-08:00

on the bright side, amber is officially a part of my family. see, we have this thing we lovingly refer to as the "bryson curse". in essence, we have not been blessed with the best of luck when it comes to automobiles. so when we decided to take a quick trip to byu-idaho to attend amber's sister's graduation, we had to worry a little. and sure enough, our 4 hour trip soon became a 9 hour one. amber had just taken over driving, so i thought we were safe. but 15 minutes later we found ourselves with a flat tire. the series of events to follow included discovering we had no tire iron, calling amber's parents for help, them being only a few miles ahead of us but having to drive 20 minutes before the next off ramp to flip around, them not having a tire iron either, looking for a walmart to buy a tire iron, realizing a little too late that our car has non-standard lug nuts, then waiting for aaa to come to our rescue. then, after an hour wait at the tire place, we found ourselves back on the road with a new tire and $300 less rich. good grief.

we finally made it up to rexburg, and after a quick visit with amber's aunt and uncle, we headed up to the college to see heidi receive her diploma. i'm a little jealous heidi. okay, i'm a lot jealous. i so can't wait to be done with school.
after the graduation, we headed back over to amber's aunt and uncle's to celebrate mom and dad's birthdays. we enjoyed some cake and celery sticks (for amber).

the next day we had a wonderful breakfast provided by the dawes, then we went for a quick visit up to the college to see amber's old stomping grounds. i guess it's changed a lot since her day. it's a nice campus, but way too cold for my liking. after our tour of the school, we went with the family to look at some cabins that amber's parents are looking into buying. it was a lot of fun looking at all these huge dream homes.

the trip home went a lot smoother. we stopped in ogden to visit with my brother and sister-in-law, kyle and courtney. they were having a family party and the frazier's were kind enough to let us crash it. after a quick visit, we continued on our way and were home a little bit later. it was a short little vacation, but it was much needed. way to go heidi. we are proud of you. :)

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-14T18:12:00.000-08:00

November C's

2011-12-03T12:29:00.000-08:00

Because this month was so busy, I have to admit I didn't put too much thought into my goals. Again, for my Create I made a few Christmas presents and so I'm not going to share what I made in case the recipients look at this blog. :) I am in the middle of a project though which I worked on a lot this month. I'm trying to make a jean quilt. I have the top put together, but now I have to figure out how to do the rest. :)

Scott chose what he wanted me to make this month for my Cooking goal and he helped me make it. :) We decided to make donuts and it was a lot more tedious and time consuming than we thought, but it was fun making them together and they were yummy to eat afterwards. :)

I wanted to make a Christmas card this year (I never have before) and we got family photos taken a while ago, but still haven't gotten them back so I decided for my Capture I would do my own little photo shoot to get some pictures that I can use to put a card together later. Claire was pretty good for it, but it is getting harder to get her to stay still and do what I want. :) Raisins are her favorite snack though, and they help tremendously in getting her to sit still and smile. :)

The Lights at Temple Square

2011-11-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

Since we had family in town until Saturday we decided to go up to Salt Lake City and see the Temple Square lights Friday evening. Last year we never went up because I was a little worried about bringing Claire out into the freezing winter air but this year we decided to go for it. She seemed totally unaffected by the cold air and I think she enjoyed looking at the lights. :)

Everything was lit up so pretty and despite the fact that most of our time was spent making sure we had everyone with us (there were so many people there), we really enjoyed seeing it all. :)

thank you day

2011-11-28T10:25:00.000-08:00

thanksgiving really is one of my favorite holidays. family, friends, football, food, and fun - it really is a perfect day. thanksgiving started this year (as it always should) with some football. this year it was the bryson family versus my brother's ward. it was me, my brothers kyle and ken, my sister becca, my nephew henry, and my cousins jake and pat. that poor ward may never be the same. :)

after football, i headed home to get some sleep because i had worked the night before, which meant i unfortunately had to miss some of the big mcclellan festivities. we had the browns visiting all the way from missouri, the dawes and heidi from idaho, the kerbys came down from south jordan, and the betts dropped by later for dessert.

one of my favorite mcclellan traditions is where they write out what they are thankful for on little slits of paper, then they link them all together and hang them on the Christmas tree. it really does help me remember what really is important during this holiday season.

after spending time with the mcclellan side of the family, we went and spent time with the bryson side. the elliotts had driven over from colorado, the dedows came down from bountiful, becca from salt lake, and kyle and courtney made the trip from ogden. we ate some food, played some games, ate some more food, then ate some more food.

it was such a wonderful day. we are so grateful to have seen so much family who could travel safely from all over. i wish everyday could be as much fun as this one, but we'd all probably weigh 400 pounds if they were.

November Tidbits

2011-11-27T21:25:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy month, hence the lack of posts this month. I can't say we've done a whole lot lately, but we've kept busy with the usual day-to-day things associated with going to school, working, church callings and raising this little girl. Claire has been growing so quickly and becoming less of a baby and more of a little person every day. We are loving it. :)

She is getting more independent every day. She knows what she wants and knows how to get it most of the time too. She loves to sit in her little rocking chair and watch Blue's Clues or Curious George. She also has recently decided that she must sit in the big chair instead of her high chair to eat her snacks. She makes the funniest faces sometimes. :)

She loves reading her books. There was a time period where I thought she had lost all interest in books. She would pull them off the shelf just to make a mess but she never would look at them. But now she pulls them off and brings them to me to read to her. Her favorite game at the moment is to go through each page and point out the dog, or the baby, or mouse, or whatever I ask her to find. It's fun to see her recognize words and know what it is I'm asking. :)

She is so proud of herself. We're pretty proud of her too. :)

October C's

2011-11-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

I'm a little behind on blogging right now, but I just wanted to do a quick update on my C's for last month. :)

Create: So I made something last month, but I can't show or tell what it is since it's gonna be a Christmas present. ;) I did make a little fall decoration though for our place. I found the idea off of Pinterest. It was super easy to do, pretty cheap and I think it looks really cute! (I put together the candle decoration, not the pumpkin).

Cook: This month I made Chicken Ranch Macaroni and Cheese, a recipe from here. It was a little difficult to make, but that was probably cuz I was just trying to follow a new recipe. It turned out really good actually and it made quite a bit so we had it as leftovers for a few dinners. :)

Capture: I actually had a few opportunities to take pictures this month, it was great! The first photoshoot was of a little girl in our old ward. Her mom wanted some 18 month pictures of her daughter and remembered that I had offered once before so she asked me and we took pictures in an orchard, which was really fun. The second was a soccer photoshoot that I mostly just helped out with. My sister in law was taking pictures of a soccer team and they wanted a few individual shots of each player and some team shots, so I came along and helped out. And the third was some family pictures my sister asked me to take of her. She wanted very fall looking pictures so we drove up the canyon to get some more fall looking photos. I think they turned out well, you can check out my photoblog to see more. :)

Halloween, Part 2

2011-11-01T14:01:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty busy Halloween weekend, but it was pretty fun. It started Friday night when we went to a party some friends of ours had down in Spanish Fork. We dressed up and ate yummy food. Claire participated in a cake walk and won a glow-in-the-dark wand. :) Saturday our ward had a Halloween carnival. We walked around the booths that they had, but they were more for older children so we ended up spending most of the time in the kitchen where I was helping with the refreshment booth. We got our family picture taken at the photo booth afterwards. :)

Check out our costumes... Scott is Bedtime Bear (not sleepy bear, grumpy bear, or goodnight bear, but BEDTIME Bear), I am FUNshine bear and Claire is Share Bear.

Our pumpkins were looking pretty sad by Saturday... Monday night, they were really scary considering they were both shriveled up almost to the point of not being recognizable. :)

Our little Claire Bear.

Sunday was super busy. Just as a side note, I got a calling in our new ward as the Primary 1st Counselor and this Sunday was my first time teaching Sharing Time. It went alright, but I was happy to be done with that first one. Sunday night we had a family get together. We didn't get to show off our costumes or anything, but it was still fun seeing everyone.
And then Monday we wore our costumes most of the day. I had to work and I got to wear my costume to work. Scott picked me up and we took Claire trick-or-treating to a few family and friends' houses down in S.F., and then headed home and walked around our street a little. At first she was a little nervous about the whole thing, but towards the end, when she realized we were filling her little bucket up with things, she got pretty excited. :)

The first picture with me was at the beginning when she was a little scared and the one next to it was at the end, so you can see how comfortable she got later on. :)

After trick-or-treating, we came inside and helped pass out candy. Claire kept running over to our bowl of give-away candy and snitching some for her bucket. :) She really enjoyed this Halloween and it was so much fun for us seeing her get all excited. Happy Halloween!

halloween, part one

2011-10-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

i've never been a halloween guy i suppose. sure i love the free candy, but dressing up in ridiculous outfits? it's just never been for me. i have pretty much dedicated my life to trying my best to hide my goofiness from the world, so willingly putting on the goofiest clothes i can find has always seemed counter-productive. it's a pride thing i guess. i can't do too many silly things or i lose my "coolness", or whatever. it's funny how getting married and becoming a father melts that pride away. now all i want is to bring a smile to amber and claire's faces, and if that means being a goofball, i guess so be it. :)
so halloween has become a much bigger holiday to me in recent years. we now do it all: pumpkin carving, decorating, scary movies (not that scary), and yes, even costumes. we started the halloween festivities this year with pumpkins. amber and i used a couple patterns and carved up our pumpkins up real nice, and we're pretty proud of our finished products. but the funnest part of this year was setting a little pumpkin and some paint in front of claire and letting her go at it. she loved it! it was so funny to see her dip her little brush into the paint color of her choice and turn the pumpkin so she could get the side she wanted. we may have a little artist on our hands. :)
we'll leave you with the pictures and video of our pumpkins for now. stay tuned to see our fun costumes in our next blog. :)

Pumpkin Patch Playdate

2011-10-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

Last week we went with some of Claire's friends to a pumpkin patch. Claire wasn't sure what she thought of the pumpkins at first and was a little hesitant to get close, but she did seem pretty amazed at how big some of them were. :)

We then had Claire and her friends, Leah and Emma pose with their little pumpkins. They all look a little embarrassed... probably cuz us moms were all cheering and jumping and yelling their names trying to get them to smile. :)

After going through the pumpkin patch we went through the corn maze. It was tricky and we almost couldn't find our way back out! :)

There was a petting zoo, a playground and some other fun things for kids to do but I didn't get any pictures. The petting zoo had chickens and goats which the later I found out Claire isn't too fond of. She started crying when one of the goats started Baa-ing at us. :(
Overall though, I think she had an enjoyable time. :)

Up

2011-10-07T11:02:00.000-07:00

Some of our recent activities lately have included play dates with friends that almost always end with a treat. In this case it was a smoothie at Hogi Yogi. She was drinking from the straw but saw all the other little ones eating ice cream with their spoons and she wanted to use her spoon so I took off the lid to our smoothie and just let her go at it. She loved it. :)

Since then she now always wants to feed herself and will usually throw a fit if I don't let her hold the spoon. The other day I let her have her spoon but I was still feeding her (otherwise it would probably be all over her tray instead of in her mouth). She decided I needed to be fed as well. It was kind of funny. :)

If you haven't noticed already, her hair is growing! :) We are finally able to put little pigtails in it. This was the first time I put two pigtails in her hair and my mom said she reminded her of Boo from Monsters Inc. :)

Living at my parents house has been great. Claire has transitioned beautifully and feels so completely at home that she's been sleeping better than ever before (she's slept through the night for the last two weeks). We also get to spend more time with family. I love that whenever anyone comes to visit my parents we're right there to enjoy their visits as well. :) General Conference weekend we got to see my sister April and her family and Claire got to play with her cousins. She really liked playing with Andrew. She kept giving him toys and once she tried to put shoes on him. :)

Scott started playing in a Payson football league. We made it to the first game and it was a little rainy. Luckily it stopped and we enjoyed watching Scott play. Claire loves being out on the field. :)

Scott was putting together a bookshelf for our new place and Claire was being such a good helper! :)

Claire's first word is officially "up". She picked it up in just the last couple weeks but she really seems to know what it means when she says it. She'll come up to me with her hands in the air now and say "up" until I pick her up. It's so cute. She also says something that sounds very much like "hi" and of course she's been saying dada for awhile now but I think she's starting to realize it means daddy. :)

September C's

2011-09-30T09:14:00.000-07:00

Capture: So it's been a busy month with our move and everything and I was planning on just taking the month off from my C's and not stress about anything else besides this move. I got asked to take some pictures in the middle of the month though which I didn't mind doing because it gave me a fun break from all of our cleaning and the photoshoot itself was so fun. We went to some new locations and I was taking pictures of some good friends of ours and like always I learned a ton. You can see some more of my favorites on my photoblog.

Create: Scott figured our home counted for this one right now. We are busy organizing and trying to decorate our new place and make it more of a home so there is a lot of creating going on. We'll post more pictures of our new place when it's finished! :)

Cook: This month my parents got to sample my experimental cooking as well. :) I found this Broccoli Chedder Chicken Crescent Braid recipe by way of Pinterest (I love that site!). I don't think it was our favorite recipe but it was still pretty good and quick and easy to make so we'll probably make it again because it's also something a little different too.

Next month we'll hopefully be back into the groove and I can finish an actual project. I really enjoy my crafty projects and I feel myself getting a little itchy to make or sew something new. :)

moving

2011-09-26T19:03:00.000-07:00

i am never moving again. amber's mom and dad may not be too excited about the news, but i think it's in my best interest. :)
long story short, i have not taken the traditional path to finish college. i began nearly 8 years ago with no idea what i was doing or what i wanted to be. in those 8 years there have been many, many detours, obstacles, and a couple breaks along the way. so, while i have been attending school for what seems like forever, i still find myself forever away from finishing. and with my weird work schedule, i can only manage to go to school part-time at the moment. this is a problem.

i'm no longer on my own. i now have a pair of beautiful women in my life who deserve the world. i can't give that to them right now. i need to get graduated and get a grown-up job. to do this, full-time work and part-time school need to switch places, but this would leave us in a financial bind. so we weighed our options. one option that presented itself was moving in with amber's parents who live just 10 minutes away. we definitely had our reservations.

but it definitely made the most sense. so we talked with amber's parents and they welcomed us with open arms, as we knew our loving parents would (but i fear they have no idea what they're getting into - claire is going to ruin their peaceful retirement years. :) ) so the fun began.

we gave our month notice to our landlords and tried to make it a nice and slow, stressless move, taking the occasional box over in our free time. but that month flew by much quicker than expected, and we found ourselves with far too much to do with not enough time to do it. but thanks to friends and family, we got it done with a few days to get some mad cleaning in. i like to think amber and i are pretty clean people in general, but it's scary to see how much you miss and don't notice over the years. i just hope we get SOME of our deposit back. :)

so our game plan was to get everything from our old apartment into the new place, throw it all in the corner, and organize it once we were done cleaning the old place. i don't know if that was the most logical method, but i find myself loving it. it's like Christmas to me. yeah, opening presents is fun and all, but one of my favorite parts is figuring out where everything goes. i'm kind of an ocd nerd that way. but as much fun as it is, it's a lot of work, and we still have a lot to do.

a part of me feels like a failure. 30 years old and living in my in-laws basement - every man's dream. but this seems like the wisest choice at the moment. and it'll only be for a few years - amber's parents are going on a mission, so we'll be house-sitting for them and i should be done with school by the time they get back. and it really is a nice set-up. a private entrance, two bedrooms, a nice big front room, a ping-pong/pool table, and a way nice whirlpool tub. :) plus amber's parents are right upstairs, which means we can play games with mom, we get family sunday dinners, and we get the occasional babysitter (which i worry we'll abuse too much - sorry mom. :) ) we will definitely miss our first place together as a family, but we are excited for this new phase of our life. wish us luck.

september 11, 2001

2011-09-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

has it really been ten years?
ten years ago today i was serving a mission for my church in new york city. we and a hundred or so of my fellow missionaries were in queens for a meeting on this day. a friend had walked in and told us that a plane had just crashed into one of the twin towers. then news of the pentagon being hit had spread around amongst us all. i thought it was a joke. the way it spread, i was sure it was going to be some lesson on gossip from our mission president, so i actually started to tell people the eiffel tower had been hit too. i was wrong. it wasn't a joke.
we ran outside and beheld two of the tallest buildings in the world on fire. the smoke poured out across the sky. it didn't seem real. later we tried to drive down closer to the scene, but new york was shut down.

new york changed that day. what was once a wild and crazy city became serene and somber. i remember thinking in the weeks following how quiet it had become. while we continued to spread the message of our savior Jesus Christ, we found that the hearts of the people were softened. tragedies such as these are always horrible, but the Lord always finds a way to bring about good from them.
it's unfortunate how quickly we forget sometimes and just return to our normal lives. i suppose that is why the Savior constantly asks us to "remember" countless times throughout the scriptures. i know i'll never forget.
i unfortunately cannot nearly express how i truly feel, but today i heard the words of president thomas s. monson, and found them to put perfectly into words how i feel in my heart.

"The calamity of September 11th, 2001 has cast a long shadow. Ten years later, many of us are still haunted by its terrible tragedy of lost lives and broken hearts. It is an episode of anguish that has become a defining moment in the history of the American nation and the world.

There was, as many have noted, a remarkable surge of faith following the tragedy. People across the United States rediscovered the need for God and turned to Him for solace and understanding. Comfortable times were shattered. We felt the great unsteadiness of life and reached for the great steadiness of our Father in Heaven. And, as ever, we found it. Americans of all faiths came together in a remarkable way.

Sadly, it seems that much of that renewal of faith has waned in the years that have followed. Healing has come with time, but so has indifference. We forget how vulnerable and sorrowful we felt. Our sorrow moved us to remember the deep purposes of our lives. The darkness of our despair brought us a moment of enlightenment. But we are forgetful. When the depth of grief has passed, its lessons often pass from our minds and hearts as well.

Our Father’s commitment to us, His children, is unwavering. Indeed He softens the winters of our lives, but He also brightens our summers. Whether it is the best of times or the worst, He is with us. He has promised us that this will never change.

But we are less faithful than He is. By nature we are vain, frail, and foolish. We sometimes neglect God. Sometimes we fail to keep the commandments that He gives us to make us happy. Sometimes we fail to commune with Him in prayer. Sometimes we forget to succor the poor and the downtrodden who are also His children. And our forgetfulness is very much to our detriment.

If there is a spiritual lesson to be learned from our experience of that fateful day, it may be that we owe to God the same faithfulness that He gives to us. We should strive for steadiness, and for a commitment to God that does not ebb and flow with the years or the crises of our lives. It should not require tragedy for us to remember Him, and we should not be compelled to humility before giving Him our faith and trust. We too should be with Him in every season.

The way to be with God in every season is to strive to be near Him every week and each day. We truly “need Him every hour,” not just in hours of devastation. We must speak to Him, listen to Him, and serve Him. If we wish to serve Him, we should serve our fellow men. We will mourn the lives we lose, but we should also fix the lives that can be mended and heal the hearts that may yet be healed.

It is constancy that God would have from us. Tragedies are not merely opportunities to give Him a fleeting thought, or for momentary insight to His plan for our happiness. Destruction allows us to rebuild our lives in the way He teaches us, and to become something different than we were. We can make Him the center of our thoughts and His Son, Jesus Christ, the pattern for our behavior. We may not only find faith in God in our sorrow. We may also become faithful to Him in times of calm."

Mornings and FHE

2011-09-09T15:49:00.000-07:00

I love Claire in the mornings. :)

She's usually in our bed by morning. Even if she did have a good night sleeping in her crib, we'll bring her into our bed around 6am when she wakes up and (hopefully) get another hour of sleep at least. She'll cuddle up next to us and sleep a little longer. Then, when she's really awake, she's so cute. She'll look up at me to see if I'm awake or she'll pat daddy's back(or his face) if he's there. She'll sit up and start crawling on top of us. When Scott does work and gets home in the morning, she'll try to slip off the bed and go find him. She's so happy in the mornings and is such a joy! I love her all the time, but mornings with her are so fun! :)

For FHE we sometimes have a hard time of coming up with fun things we can do with a toddler. In our process of packing stuff up though we found some sidewalk chalk that was put away in the back of the closet, so we decided to try them out for our FHE activity.

Claire hasn't quite learned how to use them the right way. She mostly enjoyed taking them out and putting them back into the container, but she did have some fun. :)

August C's

2011-08-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy month with Claire's birthday, the family reunion, plus we've started packing up for a move in the near future, but I still found some time to work on my projects. :)

Create: I found some fabric a little while ago that coordinated so perfectly together, I was excited to use it. I used this flirty apron pattern. It was super easy to make and I love how it turned out! Scott does such a good job modeling it, don't you think? :) And with the extra fabric I made a cute little skirt for Claire. I used this tutorial for the skirt. The skirt was also so easy that I'm sure I'll be making more of these for her. :)

Cook: I sorta slacked on this C for the month. I attempted to make sugar cookies one day. I wanted to make those kind that you cut out shapes and frost them for holidays... anyone have a good recipe for those? I did make some boring sugar cookies though, and they were good and gone within a day or two of making them, but they weren't as much fun to make. Next time... :)

Capture: My family put me in charge of taking our family photos at our family reunion and I also took Claire's one year photos. You can check those out on my photoblog. It was my first attempt at positioning a large group of people and I learned a lot from the experience. And I also learned that Claire is getting harder and harder to photograph because she's all over the place now. :)

One Year Facts

2011-08-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

Claire just had her one year check up and so I thought I'd do one last stats-and-facts blog. :)

1. Claire is one year old. Crazy how time flies.

2. She weighs 18 lbs 9 ounces and is in the 10th percentile for weight. According to her doctor, we need to feed her more fatty foods. I just need to figure out how to do that while still teaching her healthy eating habits...hmm. :)

3. She is 28 1/2 inches long and in the 45th percentile. A whole inch in 3 months, Go Claire! :)

4. Claire walks everywhere now. She's still a little clumsy and falls a lot which causes a lot of bruises, but she prefers walking to crawling.

5. She has gotten more shy and clingy than she used to be. We try and encourage her to smile and interact with others but it also feels so good when she turns her head into our chest or hugs us a little tighter when strangers are around. :)

6. If in a good mood she will clap, give high fives, give kisses or dance if there is music.

7. She loves the Backyardigans. It's a little kid show with lots of songs and music. It's the only show she'll actually watch and not get bored of quickly and it came in handy on our trip to Colorado. We put it on for her in the car and she was content to sit and just watch it for a good majority of the drive. :)

8. She loves being outside and going on walks. If you put her down to walk herself though she easily gets distracted by rocks and sticks and ants and will try to pick up as much of them as she can.

9. She goes through stages of sleeping well and then not so well... We're trying to break the habit of her sleeping in our bed. :) She's also in the process of going from two naps a day to just one, and the time inbetween her first nap and bedtime is still pretty big so it makes for some fussy evenings sometimes.

10. She's eating almost everything now and we've had no major allergic reactions. She doesn't like eggs or peaches but she loves most everything else. Especially ice cream and anything else with sugar. She already has a sweet tooth like her parents. :)

McClellan Reunion 2011

2011-08-17T15:13:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday we left for Colorado Springs to attend the McClellan family reunion. Being a little worried about how Claire would handle the road trip, we decided to put her in her first forward-facing car seat. It took a little while for her to get used to it, but by the end of our trip I think she loved it. She was being silly at one point and having fun putting everything on her head. :)

We were also worried about how long of a trip it would be, so we stopped half way to break up the trip. We stayed at a hotel and went swimming that evening. Claire loved swimming and she loved the hotel bed... too bad she didn't love actually sleeping in it. :)

Thursday was mostly spent driving and waiting for all the family to arrive. We stayed at my sister April's house. Most of the family camped out in the backyard, but we were lucky and got a room inside. Thanks April! Claire was a little shy at times, but enjoyed playing with all the new toys around her. :)

Friday morning we played a family game of ultimate frisbee. My mom was kind enough to watch Claire for us so both Scott and I could play. I used to be so much better at the game, so it's sad to see how slow I've gotten in just a short while. It was still fun though, and Scott enjoyed using his height advantage over my sister Heidi (who is super good at ultimate). :)

That afternoon we all went to the splash pad. The kids all loved it, and most everyone got at least a little wet. My mom even got drenched, but I think that was because some kids pulled her into it. :)

That evening we all gathered around the fire, enjoyed some delicious s'mores, sung some songs, and listened as my dad told us stories about our ancestors. Claire was pretty comfy in her chair. :)

The next day we went on a hike at the Garden of the Gods. We had brought a hiking backpack to carry Claire, but she would not have it. She was only slightly happier with being put in her stroller... (most of the hike was spent carrying her). Silly girl. Scott helped push other baby strollers. :)

That evening April put together a game involving marshmallows. It was kind of a mix of capture the flag, freeze tag and paint-balling, only with marshmallows. It was a lot of fun. :)

After the game we talked to my brother in Taiwan on Skype. :)

Sunday we took family photos before church. Here is everyone who made it. We're missing 2 sisters and my brother and their families, but it was still a pretty big group.

We ended the week with an awesome talent show, and the next morning we were headed home. Claire was absolutely wonderful on the return trip! She took good naps and was pretty chill just sitting back there in her seat. We loved it. All in all, it was a great reunion. We all can be a little crazy when we're together but we had so much fun. We can't wait for next year's reunion! :)

We Have a 1-Year Old!

2011-08-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was Claire's 1st Birthday! The day was a little busy with errands and work so we didn't get to celebrate too much on that day. We did have a mommy/daughter date to Dairy Queen though. She loved that! That night we let her open her presents. She insisted on sitting on the biggest one while doing so. :)

The rest of the weekend she spent playing with her two "big" presents from mom and dad... a Little People playhouse and an elephant riding toy.

Sunday evening we had a little party for her. We were lucky enough to have family and friends celebrate with us. Uncle Kyle and Aunt Courtney hung out with us for the whole day, and then we were joined by Aunt Lia, Uncle Ryan and the Betts cousins, and shortly later by Aunt Becca, Uncle Ken, Aunt Sherry, and all the Bryson cousins. Later, our friends Jake, Katie and their daughter Leah stopped by for a visit.

When everyone had arrived we first decided to open presents. She was a little timid, so mommy had to help. (We wanted to see if she fit inside the gift bag... she did).

Claire got a little upset that we kept taking her toys away from her right after she got them. She got over it pretty quick though once she realized she was getting more. :)

After presents we sang to her and let her blow out her candle. Both mommy and daddy helped her blow out the candle, because she didn't want to get too close to it. :)

We then took the festivities outside to devour the cupcakes.

First mommy had to give Claire a little off her finger so she'd realize how yummy it was.

And then... well the pictures tell the tale. :)

The rest of the party was lots of fun. Everyone ran around and played outside. Daddy got in a cupcake war with cousin Kaylee (luckily he had goggles to protect his eyes). :) And Claire was content to let cousin Tasha carry her around and show her the sights.

Happy Birthday Claire Bear!

thank goodness for nice, soft diapers

2011-07-27T06:39:00.000-07:00

Claire's Cake Smash

2011-07-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week we let Claire have a little cake before her birthday... I really wanted to take some cake smash pictures for her birthday invitations. :)

This is the cake and her before the "smash" (she wouldn't keep the party hat on, so this is the only picture I have of her with it on).

This was our whole set up. She wouldn't crawl over to the cake. She was super excited though "ooh oohing" for it and pointing. We tried to encourage her to "go get it" but in the end we had to put her right next to it. :)

She actually didn't get too messy with it, and most of the smashed cake part was our doing... he he. :)

And just as a side note... my whole July C's centers around these pictures. I'm counting the cupcake as my 'Cook'. I made a candy liner for the bottom. I think it looks a lot better than if I had tried frosting it. :) For my 'Create' I made the tutu, the party hat, the pennant banner in the background and a couple other birthday hair bows, (but of course she won't leave those in). And obviously the cake smash pictures are my 'Capture' for the month. I'll post more of them on my photoblog if you want to see. :)

As for the birthday invitations... I think they turned out pretty cute (in my unbiased opinion). :)

Can't believe our baby's almost one! :)

let freedom ring baby claire!

2011-07-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

oh, what fun and mischievous memories this holiday conjures up! there was that time my family sat so close that the remnants of the fireworks fell straight down into our faces. there was that year that my friends and i had a huge war with a ton of roman candles, each of us nursing our fair share of burns when we were done. there were countless independence days spent trying to blow stuff up with firecrackers, from barbie dolls to milk jugs filled with gasoline. there was that one late night that ended with us rolling a flaming trash can off a dock into the lake. and there was that one fourth of july that amber and i spent together, comforting our little girl and reassuring her that fireworks really were a good thing. :)

the day started nice and early. we were up at 5:45 to go see the local balloon festival. we weren't expecting a huge crowd that early in the morning, but we were proven wrong and we ended up getting in a nice long morning walk. we wandered around amongst the hot-air balloons as they were being blown up, then settled in to enjoy the spectacle of 30 balloons taking off at once. the weather had other ideas. a sudden gust of wind blew many of the balloons over so they decided, though not severe at all to us land dwellers, the impending storm would be a little too difficult to battle on its own turf in the sky. so we packed it up and attempted to go see the parade.

we held no hopes of getting a great seat at the parade. it seemed half of provo was already camped out along the parade route staking claim to the best of spots. we ended up lucking out and ran into a football buddy of mine who had some extra seats that we were welcome to. nice. well claire slept through most of it, and when she was awake seemed far most interested in everything other than the parade, but we still had an enjoyable time.

in the evening we headed up north to visit my aunt and uncle for some family fun. we did some grilling, played at the park, and got in a fun game of ultimate frisbee, amber's first time playing since getting pregnant. she still rocks at it. :) afterwards we headed to the church parking lot to enjoy the show put on by my cousins. after a few loud bangs, claire wasn't quite sure she enjoyed fireworks and started to give us a little whimper. after we explained to her how much fun fireworks are, she seemed to not mind them so much. :)

Another Birthday

2011-07-01T16:15:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely birthday thank you very much! :) It's been a great year for us and I've grown and learned a ton (it's amazing how much you learn just by becoming a mom... :)). I'm so ready for this next year and whatever it may bring!

We celebrated my birthday a day early by having a picnic at the park and going swimming at the Scera pool in Orem. It was such a nice warm day, we all loved it! And then that evening we went out to eat at Olive Garden. Yum! :) It's too bad I didn't get any pictures of that day though. On my birthday I woke up to these lovely flowers...

I do love getting flowers occasionally. We always say how we'd rather spend our money on something that lasts cuz flowers just die, but they do make me feel special when I see them so it's always nice to get them every once in awhile. :)

I had to work a few hours on my birthday and Scott had a football game so we had my cake in between everything. I love my ice cream cakes... they are so yummy! :)

Claire is going to be a pro at blowing out candles when we get to her birthday! :)

Just had to show these pictures... one of my presents was this little rocking chair. It's sort of a present to Claire as well, obviously. I'm excited to paint it a bright color though and use it has a photo prop for kids! :)

June C's

2011-06-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Create- We have wanted to make some "Bryson" blocks for our little shelf for a long time now. We got a scrap piece of wood to make them almost 2 years ago and it's just been stashed away in a closet this whole time. The hard part was cutting the wood into blocks. We didn't have a saw and so the whole project was just kinda forgotten. This month though I asked my little brother Daniel to help me out with it. He has taken a few woodworking or carpentry classes in the past so he knew what he was doing. We got my dad's old power saw thingy (like my use of terms?) out and cleaned it off (it was covered in cobwebs and dirt) and cut the wood into blocks. The machine kinda scared me so I only cut 2 blocks off and I let my brother do the rest. :) Then he showed me how to use the sanding tool on the power drill thingy, and I sanded and rounded the edges and corners with that. Thanks Daniel for all the help! After all that it was a lot easier. I just painted them, mod podged the paper and letters on, and decorated them a little with buttons and ribbon and stuff, and ta da... we finally have our "Bryson" blocks! :)

Cook- Like I've mentioned in a past blog, we love Fazoli's... and we also love Olive Garden! The thing that we love and always get at these places is the Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo. So this month I searched for a similar recipe and found this one. I even read the comments on the recipe and changed it up a little with some of their recommendations. We all loved it, including Claire! :)

Capture- At the beginning of the month my friend from work had asked me to take pictures of her family and her little girl that was turning one. I got to take pictures for them on her birthday! She was such a cutie and I had a lot of fun taking them. I also entered a couple of the I Heart Faces Photo Challenges this month so you can look at those on my photoblog. And then, just cuz I've been trying forever to get a good picture of Claire's eyelashes (which are so long!), I finally captured this one and so I thought I'd post it. :)

100th Blog Post

2011-06-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

I was about to do my June C's post but figured that was lame for a 100th post so instead I'm doing a post all about Claire. She's a whole lot cuter and more interesting than my C's (of course she's a "C" too, my favorite C- for Claire, get it? he he).

Claire is getting more and more personality lately and we love it. She's learning all these new things that make her seem more like a little girl rather than a baby.

She's getting into things and making messes...

She plays with her toys now like she knows what she's doing. I know this seems like such a silly and small thing to mention, but for us newbie parents every little accomplishment or new thing she learns is just amazing! I can't help but think wow, she's so smart! She learned how to put a ring on a post! he he :)

She hugs things she likes. Me, daddy, stuffed animals, her bottle, ect. I love when her little arm wraps around my neck and squeezes. It melts my heart. I so wish the first picture wasn't blurry. It's hard to get her to smile at the camera these days, I seriously have to jump around and act like a monkey to get her to smile, but then I'm rocking the camera a bit too much... :)

She's taking more and more steps as she tries to get from one place to another. And no matter how hard we try to slow her down by putting her in boxes, bags, and in her crib, she's still learning way too quickly. :)

We also spend time with friends occasionally. The other day we went on a bike ride, played in the sprinklers and ate popsicles. It was lots of fun. It's funny seeing her play and interact with other kids. She does get a little shy like her parents, but I know she's having fun. :)

Summer is here finally and she loves being outside. She points to the door a lot now letting me know she wants to go out. She points to everything and anything she wants. It's kinda funny. She's such a silly girl. We can't believe she'll be 1 year old in just a little over a month! whoa. :)

Splash Pad

2011-06-12T21:05:00.000-07:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words... how about a dozen pictures? :)

We'll definitely be going back soon...wanna join us? :)

3... 0...

2011-06-10T14:07:00.000-07:00

did you know that in thirty years a human being could walk around the entire earth... 42 times?! did you know that had i been wise enough to have saved one measly dollar every day for thirty years my entire college education would have been paid for? did you happen to know that had i hopped on a space shuttle thirty years ago, i would have been the first man to travel to the planet mars... and back... 10 times over? had i attempted to climb mount everest thirty years ago, i'd have been up and down that rock 1,560 times. thirty years ago, a light switch was flipped on. that light has since traveled 176,350,337,913,600 miles. wow. i'm so old!

to celebrate this scary milestone, amber treated me to a wonderful three day birthday celebration. saturday my niece was kind enough to watch our little claire while amber and i, along with my brother and sister, went golfing down in spanish fork. we definitely aren't ready for the pros quite yet, but we had a blast driving the cart around chasing after our golf balls, and we had enough good shots that we'll be back for more torture. that night amber and i got a pizza and watched a movie and had a nice relaxing evening.

i awoke on sunday to find amber and claire had put together a fun little happy birthday banner on the wall. it was so cute. after church, we spent most of the day opening presents. amber had 30 presents for me, so it actually took me most of the day to open them all. :) after presents, amber made the coolest cake ever, and we then headed down to my brother's for dinner, where all of my local family came to party.

on monday, amber surprised me by arranging for her mom to babysit claire while we went out to a movie. i love our little baby more than anything, but it sure is nice to get out and do stuff just me and amber sometimes. :) we ended the birthday festivities with bowling that night with friends, then more cake and ice cream at our place.

my wife spoils me way too much. i had a wonderful birthday celebration, which helped me keep my mind off the fact that i am now in my fourth decade of life. did you know that i am nearly one billion seconds old?! egad. :)

Brother's Big Day

2011-06-03T15:40:00.000-07:00

Earlier today we went to my youngest brother Daniel's graduation from Mountain View High School. I'm so happy for him and his accomplishment. I love him so much and we are all so excited for him!

Claire got a little restless and we had to take her outside for a bit but she was great through most of it! :)

I couldn't help but think of my own highschool graduation... 10 years ago! Wow! There are some funny similarities between Daniel and my highschools. I went to Mission Viejo and Daniel to Mountain View but we both share the name MVHS and the colors red and gold. :)

Love you Daniel! Thanks for letting us share this special day with you! Congratulations!

May C's

2011-05-31T17:02:00.000-07:00

Yep, I'm still doing this. Can you believe I've kept it up this long? I can't. :) May hasn't been too difficult. First, for my create I put aside the curtain fiasco for a little bit and made a skirt for myself. :) I feel pretty good about this one cuz I didn't use a pattern for it and I think it turned out nice. It's just a tad too big, but nothing a little safety pin wouldn't fix. :) I took a skirt from my closet that I've always liked and pretty much traced it and put this one together. And then I went back to the curtains... There is a picture of them finished and they turned out okay but I'm just glad to be done with them at the moment. :)

For my Cooking goal I decided to make asparagus. Scott hadn't ever had any and I have only had it maybe once before that I remember. I found a recipe that said to try grilling it, so we used our george foreman and grilled it. I actually really liked it. :)

For Capture I posted on my photoblog pictures I took for my brother's prom, tulip festival pictures for the may flower challenge on I Heart Faces, and Claire's 9 month photos. I also took some pictures of my coworker's baby but I haven't edited or posted them yet. It's been a busy month! :)

Firsts

2011-05-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

Only a few days after her 9 month checkup Claire started to drool more and not sleep as well... and we've discovered the culprit. Her once toothless grins are being replaced with some pearly whites. :)

Also, remember how I said she had taken a falling step once but we weren't counting it? Well, I've changed my mind. I'm counting it as her first step because she is quickly learning to take more and more. :) (hope the video works, it was being a booger to load!)

I can't believe how fast she's learning and growing! She's becoming more and more of a little girl and less of a baby. :)

Fun at the Zoo

2011-05-19T08:38:00.000-07:00

Since Scott has spring semester off of school we decided to have some of our summer fun a little early. So we packed up Claire and headed to the zoo in Salt Lake City. She won't ever remember this zoo trip, but we sure will! We had a lot of fun seeing all the animals ourselves and trying to point them out to Claire. :)

Most of the time Claire was more interested in the other kids looking at the animals than at the animals themselves. That Rhino was so close, only a few feet away with just some glass in between, but Claire is actually looking at a little girl a little below her. :)

We saw some of mommy's favorites... the elephants and giraffes!! I realized seeing them up close, how weird and funny looking my favorites are, but I still like them. :)

We saw the tigers...they were all taking naps when we saw them, so they weren't as exciting...but the sign made us laugh. :)

Claire kept wanting to get down and walk around, but as soon as we put her down to walk, she usually finds something to look at and she'll sit in the middle of the road. We saw these ducks with the baby ducks following and she wanted to walk closer to them. I had to actually hold her back because the big ducks were hissing at us. :)

I think our favorite part was seeing the monkeys. They were the most interactive. The one monkey came right up to the window and looked at Claire! I don't know if she even noticed it looking at her though, she was staring at the kid next to us. :)

And of course we had to do the whole comparison pictures... Claire's pretty close to the actual monkey size, don't you think? :)

It was a fun trip overall. Can't wait to do it again when she's a bit older! :)

Three Quarters of a Year Already?!

2011-05-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

Ready for some more fun facts about Emily Claire?

1. She's 9 months old now! That's three quarters of a year old. That's as long as I was pregnant with her. We have now known her longer out of my tummy than in! :)

2. She weighs 16 lbs 10.5 ounces and is now 27 and a quarter inches tall. Not a whole lot different from last time but still growing slow and steady.

3. She's in the 25th percentile for weight and 5oth percentile for height. My guess is that she'll be tall and skinny... or taller than me anyway. :)

4. Claire is crawling and cruising everywhere. She's even taken a few falling steps towards us... I don't know if we can really count them as her first steps though. :)

5. She'll give us kisses if she's in a good mood. Open mouthed and wet, but so cute!

6. She's also waving goodbye now. She's been waving her little arm occasionally for a little while, but just recently she does it when we are saying goodbye to anyone or when we are putting her to bed.

7. She loves solid food as long as it's something mommy and daddy are eating. She wants anything off of our plates. She doesn't like the gerber foods very much unless it's the finger food snacks. I wonder if it's a texture thing that she got from me... :)

8. She likes to blow on her food. I think she's seen me blow on some things I've given her to cool them off and now she thinks she should do it to everything she eats. She'll even blow on me occasionally when I'm nursing her, it's kinda funny. :)

9. She sleeps really well now. From about 8pm to 7am. She'll usually only wake up once during the night and if I can't get her to fall back to sleep right away she usually gets to come to bed with mommy and daddy. I don't mind at all, cuz she sleeps so much better with us, but Scott has gotten kicked off by her a few times... she just likes her space. :)

10. She's usually super happy. She loves to be around people, loves to be outside, loves her baths and loves swimming. She is still a momma's girl and doesn't like to be too far from me, but she still has fun with others and loves to play with friends and family. She's such a joy to us and growing so quickly. Before we know it she'll be a whole year old! :)

tulips galore!

2011-05-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

the weather was finally warm. after two weeks of wanting so badly to go, but being hampered by snow and plain bitter cold, we finally made our way to the tulip festival at thanksgiving point.

of course anytime we head up north for anything, we have to stop at fazoli's for some food. we really like fazoli's, and we sure do love those bread sticks. unfortunately they closed the only one here in provo, so we sadly only get some fazoli's when our travels take us up near salt lake. it was a good lunch before heading off to the gardens.

claire loved all the flowers. well she always loves being outside. we are definitely excited for the summer so we can spend some more time out in the sun.

thanksgiving point will always hold a special place in our hearts. we first visited the gardens on the day i proposed to amber (it was a major step in "operation: woo amber"), so when we get the chance, we love to go back for a stroll among the beautiful flowers. an extra bonus for us is that tulips were amber's bouquet at our wedding, so it made it even more special that the gardens were featuring a quarter of a million tulips for the festival. good times.

April C's

2011-05-02T08:04:00.001-07:00

I'm going to keep this month short. I did everything, but we also kept busy this month playing and doing things. Claire's also learning all sorts of new things so I've kept pretty busy with her too, which doesn't leave a lot of time for projects. :)

Cook: I've always loved quesadillas when we go out to eat, but when we'd make them at home they would usually consist of just cheese. Boring. I found a recipe for these Chicken Ranch Quesadillas though, and they were delicious. :)

Create: I've been wanting to make curtains for Claire's room for a long time (we had been using a blanket to keep her room nice and dark for naps). I figured curtains would be fairly easy to do... and they were pretty easy, I finished them with black out lining and everything. Only problem was when I hung them up they somehow turned out to be too small! :( I must of measured horribly wrong or something cuz they are just not wide or long enough. I'm still counting them as my finished project for April but I do plan on fixing them... Just need to figure out how... :)

Capture: Scott's brother and wife came down to visit for the weekend and let me take pictures of them. We went to this old, run down pallet factory site for a more urban look. It was tons of fun and I really did learn a lot from doing these. Take a look at the rest on my photoblog.

a week of easter

2011-04-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

this easter holiday has happily extended itself for much longer than the single day on the calendar would suggest. the festivities began the monday before as we spent the evening at mom and dad mcclellan's house for a wonderful dinner and an intense easter egg hunt. i would like to thank claire for writing such a fantastic blog chronicling the event - she is so talented at such a young age. :) since then the fun has only continued.

the rest of the week continued fairly uneventfully. on saturday i had my final tackle football game of the year. half of my team couldn't make it, which left me playing qb against a team of behemoths, behind a depleted o-line, with no subs, already sore from a brutal game the week before. i took quite a few hits. later that day, beaten and broken as i was, we were able to enjoy the company of some of our closest friends as we celebrated jake and katie's baby's first birthday. we had some pizza, ate some gluten-free cupcakes, and enjoyed good times with our circle of friends. i can't believe how fast these kids are growing!

the next day, after raiding our easter baskets of all their candy, we got dressed in our easter sunday best (my girls looked so beautiful in their matching outfits) and headed off to church for the last time. okay, that's a little misleading, but it sets up our next little story. we have been in this "married student ward" since we first got married two and a half years ago. it's been a good ward. we haven't made a whole lot of close friends (amber and i are just too darn shy sometimes), but we have come to know some really great people. but the church has decided to do away with a lot of the student wards in favor of more family wards. as with any change, we find ourselves both excited and nervous at the same time. we will definitely dearly miss those with whom we have come to know.

later that evening we headed over to my brother's house for easter dinner and some family time. we enjoyed a delicious ham dinner with corn and potatoes and the best rolls. mmmm. thank you so much ken and sherry. and thank you becca for an easter basket for claire - you're the best aunt. :) the next day we headed up to the lehi pool to enjoy some swimming and to hang out with our friends chance, sarah, and their little one. claire definitely enjoys her baths, and she had fun last time we went swimming, but she seemed to absolutely love it this time! she had a blast splashing everyone she could. i think our little girl is going to be a swimmer.

while that officially concludes "easter week" for us, we still have some other activities planned. we bought an easter egg dying kit the other day and plan on painting us some eggs here real soon. and we will be heading up to thanksgiving point soon to enjoy the tulip festival. we're pretty excited about that. and while all these fun activities and easter egg hunts and candy galore make the holiday a blast, we would be amiss to not mention the real reason behind the holiday - the resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ. very little in this life can equal the peace and comfort that comes from the knowledge that our family will be together forever thanks to the resurrection of our Lord. we know that death is not the end of the story, only the end of one chapter, with many more chapters to come. amber and i testify that Christ has risen from the tomb and broken the bands of death for us all. we echo the words of the prophet joseph smith:

"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!" (d&c 76:22)

A McClellan Easter Egg Hunt (from Claire's Perspective)

2011-04-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week mom and dad packed me away in my car seat for like the bazillionth time that day. I screamed, cried, begged them to take me out but it was no use, we kept driving. So I did the only other thing I could think of doing... I fell asleep. When I woke up though, I found myself at grandma and grandpa McClellan's house! I was so happy to see so many of my cousins there and they seemed pretty excited and happy to see me too. :)

We all ate dinner first, then I got to play with my cousins for a little bit. I even taught my cousin Kylie a new trick!

After a while mom got pretty excited and picked me up and we all went down into the basement for some reason. And then we just waited.

In the basement everyone just sat or stood around. My cousins ran around me and danced and the adults all talked...I didn't see Grandma, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Lia though. I wonder where they were...

And then...it was crazy! Everyone went upstairs and started tearing apart grandma's house! They seemed to be looking for things. They looked up high and down low, they opened cupboards and closets... and they kept yelling "I found one!"

I didn't really see the big deal until Daddy picked me up and pointed to some kind of little green ball. To humor him I decided to try and pick it up. It wasn't too heavy and it rattled a little. Then Daddy opened it up and I found something else inside. It was pretty interesting but I guess I'll never know what it was cuz it was taken away. :( At least they let me keep the ball. :)

With Daddy's help I found a few of those round toys, which I guess are actually called "eggs". My cousins opened their eggs and kept finding things inside. At one point my cousin gave me something brown and a little squishy. I don't know what it was (I think my mom called it a tootsie roll), but it looked good... I almost got it into my mouth before mommy snatched it away!

After a while all the craziness died down and everyone started packing things up. I said goodbye to my cousins and then mommy and daddy packed me away again in the dreaded carseat and we all went home. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the fun time we had! :)

Randomness

2011-04-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Just for the sake of documenting these little things, be warned, this post may be a little random. :)

We love cookies. Especially oatmeal chocolate chip ones. mmm. We decided to make some the other night and Claire did not want to miss out on the fun! She's been pretty clingy lately and wants to be held a lot. :)

She's gotten tired of all her old toys so one day I busted out my old playing cards. She had a blast scattering them all around and knocking down the houses that I was trying to build with them.

Claire figured out how to get out of her bumbo so we had to finally get her a highchair. Scott was hiding behind me and she was looking for him in this picture. She'd bust out laughing when he'd poke his head out. She really does love the peek a boo game. :)

Finally a beautiful day off! The three of us went for a picnic. :) I think Claire was more interested in the grass than her food.

She loves walking around.

There was a beautiful view!And because we always like to show off her progress...

She pulled herself up to the bathtub the first time while I was getting it ready for one of her baths. This was her second time pulling herself up. I loved seeing how happy she was with herself and how she suddenly got independent and pushed me away cuz she didn't want me to hold her at all. :) Sadly she fell over a second after this video.

She's growing up so quickly and moving around more and more. We love it! :)

diamondbacks 2011

2011-04-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

another football season has begun. yeah, i pretty much get to play football year round with all those flag football leagues and just playing with friends, but this is the real deal. getting to put on the pads, hitting each other, getting bloody, and getting dirty. and oh, how dirty we got. it had been such beautiful weather the month leading up to our first game. that however changed the day before as snow began to fall.
i thought we were going to be lucky. it stopped snowing pretty quickly, and our game was later in the day so i thought for sure all the snow would have cleared up. but the morning of game day there still lay a nice blanket of snow on our field, and by the third game, that snow was turned into a nice big mud puddle. this did not play to our strengths, but it worked great for our opponents.
for the most part, my team is pretty small, but we're pretty quick. we excel in the skill positions and we have a nice balance between passing and running. well that balance is lost in the mud. the advantage usually goes to the bigger team that can control the offensive line. that was not us on this day. it was an ugly and sloppy game. there was probably close to 15 fumbles between the two teams. and i, being forced to play quarterback this season, often found myself being slammed into the mud. it was a rough game all around. in the end we came up just a play short, losing 12 to 9.
the second game was the complete opposite. we were blessed with a beautiful 70 degree day. this meant we could actually pass the ball as well as run. on my first pass of the day, i found my little brother kyle (who is driving down 2 hours every morning to play with us) for a nice 30 yard touchdown. i also later ran in a touchdown, threw 2 extra points, and intercepted a pass. we ended up winning the second game 33 to 0.
despite the miserable first game, the second game gets me so excited for the season. we have a good team. our biggest weakness will be quarterback (me). we've got half of the guys back from last year, plus some new studs, including my little bro kyle. we also may or may not have a certain former byu running back who now may play for the bears. i feel a little bad about having a nfl player on our team, but i want to win so i think i'll get over it. thank you stalled nfl labor talks.

March C's

2011-03-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

Create: So I see people getting things from D.I. all the time and fixing them up to look like new, and I'm always so amazed. When I look around D.I. I usually always walk back out disappointed cuz I don't see anything useful. I guess I'm just not good at seeing the potential things have. Early this month though I finally walked out of D.I. actually purchasing something! I found this desk for only $30. We had been looking for a desk for my sewing machine and for all the craft stuff I've slowly been accumulating, but never found anything we liked for a decent price. When we found this one, it actually had a very very ancient sewing machine still inside that little compartment you see on top. Scott was able to take it out though with no problem. It was a bit scratched up and dirty, but the wood is very sturdy and it was just what we were looking for. :)

So I've discovered refinishing wood is definitely not my favorite thing to do. I sanded the whole thing and Scott helped me put the primer on (which was a huge pain to clean up). The primer was so goopy and thick in some places I had to sand the whole thing again before I could paint it. Anyway, the whole thing took forever and I'm not wanting to refinish anything else anytime soon, but I'm pretty happy with how my desk turned out. :)

Cook: Scott and I love cinnamon rolls. I found this recipe and decided to try my hand at homemade ones. I thought they turned out really good...mmm. :)

Capture: Well, I actually had a couple photoshoots planned for the month, but first they got sick and then Claire got sick and then I got sick and so every time I ended up canceling. And then the last week we've had pretty yucky weather so no actual photoshoots were done this month. I did take pictures at Scott's tackle football game and entered this picture in a photo contest this week so I'm counting it. :) The theme of the contest was "Slice of Life". It was supposed to be a candid shot.

Peek - A - Boo

2011-03-23T07:47:00.000-07:00

In case you couldn't tell, I think she's enjoying her new found mobility. :)

Sick Again?

2011-03-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

So I heard somewhere that babies usually have up to 7 colds within the first year. If that is true I guess I can expect 4 more colds in the next 5 months! That's almost like a cold a month, not fun! I hope that's not the case, especially with summer coming up!
Claire has a cold again, but this time she has an ear infection and pink eye along with it, which has made night time not fun. We actually have resorted to the old trick of driving around town at midnight just in hopes that she'd fall asleep in her carseat. It works, until she wakes up a couple hours later anyway! Yesterday was probably one of her worst days. She wouldn't smile at all, she'd just sleep and want to be held constantly. She looked miserable. It was so sad seeing her like that and not being able to take it all away. :( Today has been much better. Still fussy, but smiling at least! She was playing with the humidifier and the air kept blowing into her face. She thought it was the funniest thing. :)

Hooray for Spring!

2011-03-11T19:58:00.000-08:00

So usually with the cold weather outside we spend our days doing things like this...

(She was 'helping' me with laundry)

...basically, I try to do things that need to be done around the house and entertain her in any way I can, all at the same time. :)

This week however has been much more exciting. Besides getting a root canal this last Monday (super fun... NOT!), I had the opportunity to go to a photography workshop with my fabulous sister-in-law. The workshop was AWESOME and I felt like I learned a ton! :)

The next day was so nice and warm I just felt like I HAD to go outside and use what I had learned, to take pictures of everything. So Scott, Claire and I went for a walk up the canyon and although the weather was beautiful, the scenery was not. It wasn't really the best time of day for pictures, but the walk was fun, and despite the looks on both of their faces, they did enjoy being outside. :)

We can't wait for more sunny and warm days this summer. We will be going on many more of these walks I'm sure. :)

Root canal, photography workshop, warm weather, new phones, plus a couple intramural games for Scott (which he won both, I might add) make for a pretty intense week. But we have one more bit of news... It's pretty exciting and scary all at once! :)

You ready for this?! You'll have to just watch and see...

Claire has mastered the technique of scooting around! Oh the places she'll go! One more reason to love spring. With her new found ability to get around, she's going to be everywhere and getting into everything. :) Being able to play outside will be like freedom (for her and me)! Hooray for spring! :)

claire bear's hair

2011-03-02T18:49:00.000-08:00

by writing this blog, i acknowledge that i risk my daughter one day hating me. i imagine, many years from now, our little girl wanting to read all about her first few years of life. i see her reading this entry, her mouth agape, and her yelling, "you said what?!" i see me, with my 5 olympic gold medals draped around my neck, pleading for forgiveness and trying to bribe claire with a brand new solid gold flying rocket car (cuz those will exist in the future) and a unicorn (those too). she'll storm off angry, jump in our private space shuttle, and take off to our cabin on mars to cool off for a few hours. with all this in mind, i write anyways.

our little girl was born a hairy beast. she had a nice full head of hair that the nurses promptly put up into a cute little fohawk. and on the not-as-cute side, her body was covered with little patches of hair. they were light patches, but they were noticeable if you really looked. she had them on her forehead, shoulders, lower back, and ankles. everyone couldn't help but remark on all her beautiful hair. those comments have since died down. while our little girl has grown, the one thing that hasn't grown with her is her hair.

in some cases, this is a good thing. her patches on her forehead, shoulders, and ankles have completely disappeared (though the one on her lower back is still there - at least it should keep her modest when she gets older :) ). but we're a little sad that the hair on her head hasn't grown much. i love the thought of amber doing cute stuff to our little girl's hair. but you can't do pigtails on a prematurely balding baby. her hair just won't grow. well, most of it.

amber has recently discovered that a few random hairs have sprouted up. we're not sure if you can see them in the picture, but they are there. a few have suggested that we shout cut these beautiful longer hairs to even them out with the rest, but we shun the idea! be shunned idea! these hairs represent hope in a world that needs more hope. they represent potential. little hairs from all over claire's head can look to these longer hairs as examples - as a light. they can stand tall and say, "i can do this! i can grow!"

and if we were to cut those standout strands of hair, the shorter hair would be scared to grow. we don't want to scare claire bear's hair. he he. scare claire bear's hair. i think i'll end on that little rhyme. :)

Create, Cook, Capture

2011-02-25T08:35:00.000-08:00

So this is just a little update on my goals for February, which Scott is now calling my three C's. :)

Create: I wanted to learn how to crochet and make all these cool things, but decided I should start simple so I made this small purse. It probably won't last me long before the strap is all stretched out or things are falling out of it. I now have something to carry my basic items though, so I don't have to carry around the big diaper bag when I don't have the baby with me. :)

I also learned how to recover a pillow. Yes, I'm starting out very simple with my sewing, but I'm happy with how they turned out. I recovered two pillows, but they look the same so I only took pictures of the one.

I like how the flowers look on it, decorating them up a little. :)

Cook: I put a little more effort into this one this month, since last month was just a spur of the moment thing. I found this recipe online for baked potato soup and I thought it would be fun in a bread bowl. No, I didn't make the bread bowls myself, but the soup was delicious in them! I was worried the whole time that I had ruined something, but it actually turned out pretty good. :)

Capture: Well this month was an easy one for me. Claire turned 6 months, so I took her 6 month photos. My sister Heather also came into town for a weekend and I took her family photos as well. You can see both of them on my photo blog. :)

My Two Valentines

2011-02-16T10:28:00.000-08:00

My two favorite people...

Our Valentine's Day wasn't extravagant at all, but it was lovely still. Every day is the best when I'm with these two. :) Scott spoiled me. He took care of Claire the night before so that I could get some sleep and he made a delicious breakfast for me before driving me to work, plus he put together and posted that video on the previous blog...and he bought me a new lens for my camera! I'm sad to say I didn't spoil Scott at all, but I hope he knows how much I love him! He means the world to me. Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

happy valentine's day beautiful

2011-02-14T00:30:00.000-08:00

i will never be able to say it enough times or show it in a grand enough manner, but i love you amber. i hope you accept this humble valentines this year. it's not shakespeare, but i hope it conveys somewhat how madly in love with you i am. tears filled my eyes countless times as i previewed this again and again as i pieced it together. you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and while i know i will never be worthy of you, i am thankful that you're too blind to see that. i love you amber. more.

Claire Bear's Stats and Facts

2011-02-10T10:13:00.000-08:00

1. Claire is 6 months old. Such a big girl! :)

2. She weighs 15 lbs plus 5 ounces and is 26 inches tall.

3. She's in the 45th percentile for weight and 55th for height. Her head is still small in the 10th percentile (but the doctor did tell us the nurse should of measured the largest area instead of the smallest so he said it's probably more in the normal range).

4. Claire does have a slightly flat head in the back. We were taking her to the orthotic doctor every 3 weeks to get her head measured and we are happy to say it is slowly improving so we decided a helmet is not needed. yay! :)

5. She can sit up now without being supported. It's so nice to be able to put her down to play and not have to hold her constantly.

6. So far she's loved everything we've fed her except for the mum mum cracker things that dissolve. She ate one of those and the first time seemed to like it, but ever since makes this face as soon as it touches her lips like it's the grossest thing ever.

7. She can roll from tummy to back (but only to her left) and back to tummy (both ways). This is making diaper changing and dressing her a lot more difficult! :)

8. She's not sleeping as well as she did before. Some nights are good, she'll only wake up once or twice, but other nights she wakes up about every hour... hope she grows out of that soon! :)

9. She doesn't seem shy at all (as long as I'm holding her anyway...)! We went to D.I. the other day and we passed someone in the aisle (have to admit, this person was a little strange), they weren't even looking at Claire, but Claire flashed them the biggest smile ever. She loves smiling at babies and little kids too.

10. We are loving this stage with her! She's so much fun and is so interactive. She laughs and smiles and talks and coos, it's so cute hearing her talk to herself and others. We love her so much! :)

Happy Half Birthday Claire!

2011-02-05T10:58:00.001-08:00

6 month stats and facts coming soon! :)

Resolutions...

2011-01-31T14:33:00.000-08:00

So I admit we are a little behind in making our resolutions for the new year, but better late than not at all, right? :) I actually have been thinking a lot about resolutions this whole month, so I haven't completely put them on the back burner. I usually start out well, but as the year progresses... well you know what happens. So this year, I thought I'd write a monthly blog about my progress for a few of my goals, to keep me going. I figured if I knew I needed to write a blog post about my goals, I'd have an incentive to work on them. :)
Every year I feel like I make the same goals... work out, eat better, go to bed earlier, blah blah blah. Those are still on my resolution list, but for this blog post I'm going to focus on just these 3 goals:

1. Complete a project every month
2. Cook something new every month
3. Do a photo shoot every month

Hopefully what I've heard is true... practice makes perfect... I'll learn more and get better in these areas. :)

I've recently found this blog that I love reading, called Enjoying the Small Things. I love the pictures, I love her optimism and her writing and her stories from her life. I was reading one of her blogs from awhile ago and read this,

"No one really does it all. We all just try like heck to prioritize, be with our kids, fulfill our hobbies, make a living, etc. We all do it differently, and every time you see a mama shining in one area, I promise you, there's shadowy areas that she'll need to tend to later. And I love the fact that every day is a clean slate. Even on the busiest, craziest days, there are small fueling moments that allow the bulk of life to rise to the top."

I thought about this as I was setting my goals for the year. I see others and think wow, they're so good at keeping their house clean, or making clothes and crafts, or actually starting businesses, or inviting family and friends over for dinners and being more social, etc. I find myself wanting to be like them. But I can't do it all all the time, I can try little by little to improve in certain areas though.

So now on to my January goals...

1. Complete a project. I've actually completed 3 and a half projects this month... go me! :) Scott got me a sewing machine for Christmas and so I was able to first make this jean skirt for Claire out of a pair of baby jeans.

I'm not sure how long they'll last before the stitching totally falls apart, and if you look really close you would totally see how uneven and funky they are, but I don't care. I made something for my baby! :)
Actually all 3 of my projects are for my baby. The second thing I made was a crinkle toy. She loved it for a total of 1 day... now she'll grab it occasionally, but it's not as fascinating to her. :)

The third project I finished was a bow and headband holder for all of Claire's bows. :) I just got a frame from d.i., glued on fabric and ribbon and screwed in some hooks into the sides. Now I just have to remember to actually put headbands and bows on Claire. She usually only wears them to church. :)

2. Cook something new. So I have to admit, I'm not the best cook and it's not something I really love doing either. I enjoy cooking with people, especially with Scott. It's fun being in the kitchen together making dinner or some goody. It's just not something I would do as a past-time by myself. I would like to learn how to make some new dishes though so we're not always making the same things. However, this month I have to admit, since I put it off until today I just kept it simple. So last minute I found a quick easy recipe for peanut butter fudge. It was a fun yummy ending to our FHE tonight. :)

3. Do a photo shoot. Scott had a friend from work who asked if I'd take pictures of their family for them. It was fun learning and practicing on people other than my family, although somewhat scarier too. You can look here though if you want to see the pictures from that photo shoot. By the way, since I'll be wanting to do a photo shoot a month, I need people willing to let me take pictures of them... let me know if you want to help me out with that! :)

Well that's it for this month. Wow, this is a long post! Usually Scott's the writer and I just post pictures. Hope I didn't bore you, but this is basically for my own benefit. Thanks for reading though if you did. :)

Sick Baby

2011-01-26T15:55:00.000-08:00

This last week Claire has just about had all she can take of these...

She's gotten so mad at me this last week (for trying to make it easier for her to breathe!). She's done everything in her power to keep them away from her, crying, screaming, wiggling, shaking her head, kicking and pushing me away... but I always know she's forgiven me cuz she still manages to give me the best smiles afterward. :)

And today she actually took her naps like normal so the end of this cold is in sight (I hope)! :)

A Typical Day

2011-01-21T09:02:00.000-08:00

I thought it'd be interesting to write a blog about our typical day, more for our sake than for our readers. Claire's schedule is going to be changing soon I'm sure, she'll either start taking shorter or fewer naps and our activities will probably change and so it'll be fun to look back and see how we spent our time at this stage in her life. :)

7:15 Scott comes home from work

7:30-8:00 Claire wakes up and Scott plays with her for a bit to let me sleep in a little longer.

8:00 I get up and feed Claire

8:20 Scott goes to bed

8:30-9:00 I try to get Claire to play in her jumper while I eat breakfast and then pump. If she doesn't want to play in her jumper, I usually wait to do those things until she goes down for a nap. And then I'll sing silly songs with her and play with her in my lap instead.

9:15-9:30 Claire gets grumpy and I put her down for her first nap

9:30-11:30 Claire usually sleeps the whole 2 hours and I get things done... showering, cleaning, sometimes a work out on the wii, sometimes I work on a project or craft (at the moment I'm working on crocheting a little purse) or on my really lazy days I end up playing on the computer the whole time and wonder why she's already awake. I try to remember to eat lunch before she wakes up too. :)

11:30-12:00 Feed Claire and get her dressed.

12:00-1:00 Play. I usually put her on the floor with all her toys and try to give her as much tummy time as she'll let me. Now that she's figured out how to roll from her tummy to her back she'll flip as soon as she's put down so I have to lay with her and keep flipping her back. Sometimes we'll go out and run errands or visit family but since it's so cold outside we usually stay inside where it's warm.

1:00 Claire starts getting grumpy so I put her down for her second nap. This nap varies, but it's usually about an hour or an hour and a half long. While she sleeps I'll try to do whatever I didn't get done the first time.

2:30 Claire wakes up and I feed her.

3:00 Scott usually wakes up around this time and gets ready for the day/night.

3:00-5:00 Depending on the day and if Scott has class, we'll either play until he leaves for class or go and run errands if he doesn't have class.

5:00 Scott goes to class, Claire goes down for another nap. I usually relax and play on the computer or watch a show (right now I've been watching Eureka), and I have a pre dinner snack. (If Scott doesn't have class we'll usually start making dinner together around 5:30)

6:00 I maybe start on dinner, Claire usually wakes up and I feed her first. I nurse her and then feed her a little solids. (If Scott didn't have class we'll eat all together at the table, Claire in her bumbo.)

7:00 Scott gets home from class and he usually finishes making what I started, or makes it all while I give Claire a bath, or plays with Claire so I can finish making dinner.

7:30 We eat dinner and then I feed Claire

8:00 I put Claire to bed. I put her pajamas on, read her a story, rock her and sing a song and lay her down and leave the room. I'll sometimes need to go back in after to return her pacifier to her mouth, and pat her until she's calm. She usually falls asleep pretty quickly though.

8:30-9:45 Cuddle time with Scott (love this time!)

9:45-10:10 Pray, read scriptures together and make Scott's lunch.

10:10 Scott goes to work and I get ready for bed. Scott and I text each other a little before I fall asleep.

11:00 Sleep! :)

and because every blog post needs a picture...

Please Mom...Can I Have Some More?

2011-01-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

A couple days after Christmas we decided to feed Claire her first bit of rice cereal. As you can see, we think she liked it! :)

fiddler on the roof

2010-12-29T11:07:00.000-08:00

i love traditions. there is just something about them that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. and, in my opinion, there is absolutely no better time for traditions then Christmas. i look back fondly at the many Christmas traditions of my family - pizza on Christmas eve, calling your spot around the tree, reading 'the polar express', and many more. i was saddened to recently learn that these "traditions" are only a few years old and that they don't date back to the dawn of time as i imagined them to. but traditions have to start sometime, and what better time to start new traditions then now with our small, but growing family.

unfortunately, one growing tradition for us seems to be working on Christmas eve. amber worked til 6 and i had to go in at 10 that night and wouldn't get off til 9 in the morning. this meant a Christmas day wasted away sleeping instead of with my family, which did not sound fun at all. as soon as amber got off work, we headed down to my brother's house for dinner (we had pizza by the way, so tradition = check). we then headed home to squeeze in a few more traditions before i had to get off to work.
we gathered our young family around the tree and started our Christmas by reading luke chapter 2, the story of the birth of our Savior. we then read part of 'the polar express'. we then opened one present each. and between the activities, we made sure to sing a Christmas carol or two. it was a wonderful evening. we then put claire to sleep because word on the street was that santa was on his way.
well i was off to work, but fortunately was back home 30 minutes later because my bosses love me. so having actually slept during the night, i was ready for a day full of Christmas fun. presents were a bit different this year. instead of trying to surprise each other, we sort of just told each other what we wanted, in some cases helping to actually buy it. while this did eliminate most of the surprise factor, we knew for sure that we'd like everything we got. :) among other presents, i got some movies, a video game, and a filing cabinet! (i'm so ocd.) amber got a tripod for her camera, a knitting and crocheting kit, and a sewing machine! (so she could, to quote amber, "get her craft on!") and claire got a mobile, a tray for her bumbo, and a couple bowls and spoons to go along with her brand new box of rice cereal! we are so excited to feed her solid-ish foods for the first time.
after presents, we headed over to amber's parents' house for Christmas dinner. we were joined by daniel, amber's sister lindy and her family of 9, and heidi, who brought along not 1, but 2 boys to dinner. what a player. :) it was a wonderful dinner, followed by plenty of games and good times. later that evening we headed back to my brother's house for some cake and ice cream to celebrate my niece's Christmas birthday.
this Christmas marked our 4th Christmas as a couple, but this was our first as a family. i'm sure our beautiful daughter claire won't remember a single moment of this Christmas, but amber and i have found so much joy in sharing every little tradition with her.
tradition!

"there was ten in the bed and the little one said..."

2010-12-18T15:08:00.000-08:00

what kind of parents would we be if we didn't boast of every little thing our little girl did? :)

our little claire is discovering all the little noises she can make. she just loves sitting and talking to herself. she also has recently discovered her mouth, so everything she can pick up heads straight there. she loves sucking on her fist and it is amazing how far she can get it in her mouth. :)

and now, for claire's latest trick...

amber had tried for days to get a video of her rolling over, but the stars were never quite aligned right. but on this day, she was a rolling machine. she seriously rolled over 5 or 6 times in a row as we were trying to take this video. as soon as we put her on her stomach, she was on her back again. you can see at the beginning that i had to force her not to roll over til we were ready to record it. :) we love that she's learned that if she throws that little arm of hers in the air, her momentum takes her over. this will not help with tummy time. :)

and just for a good laugh... :)

Feeling Crafty?

2010-12-16T13:30:00.000-08:00

So every once in a while I just get that urge to make something or be crafty in some way. A couple weeks ago Scott and I were talking about some wall decorations for Claire's room. We could have bought something, but figured we could save money by making something ourselves. Plus, it would be something fun to do together and to pass time while Claire's napping. So we decided to paint our own canvas pictures. :) We bought the canvas at Joann's for like 4 dollars each, bought some paint and brushes and went to work!

We drew the pictures of the animals using pictures online as guides but then changing them a little more to how we liked.

We cut them out, traced them onto the canvas, painted them, and outlined them with a sharpie

Voila! The first finished project! :)

I didn't take pictures of the rest, but you get the idea...

I like how they turned out, I hope Claire enjoys looking at them! :)

And speaking of crafts... Every Christmas since we got married (so this is only the third) we've put up an ornament with a family picture in it. We thought it'd be a fun tradition and we could see our family grow with our ornaments. The last two years we bought ornaments and just put a picture in them. This year I decided to put together my own ornament. It was a little more difficult and didn't quite turn out exactly how I wanted, but I think it'll work. :)

I just got a clear plastic ornament from Michaels, put some red berries and our picture inside (tricky business!) and put little snowflake stickers on the outside and a ribbon on top. :)

Now that I'm done with these I need a new project...I'm thinking maybe crib bedding to match the canvas pictures or learning how to crochet a hat for Claire...I don't know yet. :)

10 More Facts About our Eclaire

2010-12-07T09:25:00.000-08:00

1. Claire is now 4 months old. (Wow, the time flies!)

2. She is a whole whopping 13 lbs and 6 ounces. And stretches out to a good 24 1/2 inches long.

3. She is now in the 55th percentile in weight and height but she must have a smaller head cuz she's in the 25th percentile for head circumference.

4. We are now calling her by her middle name, Claire. We don't care if others still call her Emily, we like both, but we think she's looking more like a Claire. :)

5. She has a cute funny laugh that we hear occasionally, but mostly she likes to squeal and squawk and make as much noise as she can.

6. She's still in the process of learning to roll over. It's only happened 5 times now, but she lifts herself up on her arms so well now, in no time she'll be rolling all over the place!

7. She loves looking in mirrors. (I hope she doesn't get too full of herself! :) I stand her up in front of a mirror and she'll laugh and smile at herself and entertain herself for a good amount of time.

8. She's sleeping really good from about 9pm to 6 or 7am, then she'll stay up for about an hour and then sleep another 3 hours. Occasionally she wakes up and needs a pacifier but will go right back to sleep. Love it!

9. We've taken her swimming twice now and I'm pretty sure she loves it. She just stares and looks around at all the water in amazement.

10. She's a fun, active girl that definitely likes being entertained. She's started getting bored very quickly lately and wants to be picked up or played with almost constantly while she's awake. We both love her so much! :)

A Day of Thanks

2010-11-25T15:20:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time of year to remember the things that we are grateful for. Recently we had a power surge that hit our apartment and we lost a few of our luxuries of life. While we do miss our toys, we are thankful for the opportunity to focus on the things that really matter and are important to us. This year we decided to make a list of a few of those things of which we are so grateful for...

Scott is thankful for...

1. my fantastic beautiful wife amber
2. my little claire bear
3. netflix
4. the ability to play sports, even though i'm old and fat
5. a good book
6. Christmas lights
7. trials that make us realize what's really important
8. the new homemade pizza recipe amber found
9. continuing education (thanks byu for taking me back)
10. the gospel of Jesus Christ

Amber is thankful for...

1. My wonderful handsome husband Scott
2. My beautiful daughter Emily Claire
3. A Heavenly Father that loves me
4. A warm comfortable home
5. Summertime and sunshine
6. Photography and the ability to capture memories
7. Music and the ability to hear
8. Friends that we are privileged to spend time with
9. Modern conveniences (microwaves)
10. Temples close by and the blessings we get from them

Emily Claire is thankful for...

1. mommy and daddy - my maid and butler
2. my play mat
3. my pacifier
4. not tummy time
5. the ability to hold my head up now
6. all the fun noises i can make
7. bath time
8. naps
9. clean diapers
10. all the funny noises and faces people make to get me to smile :)

Recent Happenings

2010-11-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Okay so I know I take entirely too many photos, but what can I say, she's our first and she has a mom that loves to take pictures! :)

Her neck muscles are getting stronger. She still doesn't like her tummy but she tolerates it a little better now.

Remember these ladies from my work...

We were able to get together for a little play date. :)

I love this look

She loves playing with Daddy!

...and she's already standing! (with a little help of course)

I love this girl with her round belly and chubby legs! :)

Anyone see the family resemblance? :)

Two Wonderful Years

2010-11-15T12:43:00.000-08:00

So it's been a couple weeks since, but at the beginning of this month we celebrated our two year anniversary! We were able to drive up to Park City for the day and stay a night. We had to take our little Eclaire with us, but she was an angel the whole time and we didn't mind one bit. We got a way nice deal on the hotel we stayed at, seeing as it was a slow business time for Park City. Not warm enough for summer activities but no snow for the winter activities. :) We walked up and down the historic main street and shopped at the outlets. It was way fun!

Check out our room, including a fully stocked kitchen, so cool! :) Claire took over the whole king sized bed! :)

It's been an amazing two years. We've had a wonderful time together and I look forward to many more years and an eternity with Scott. I love you Scott! Happy Anniversary!

Lions and Tigers and...Elephants, Oh My!

2010-11-03T10:32:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween fun started the Monday night before when we carved pumpkins! :) If you asked Emily she might say we were having a bit too much fun trying to get her to pose for us in the pumpkin...

Now some people might say that carving a pumpkin from a stencil is cheating...and maybe it is. I grew up carving pumpkins without using stencils and only in the last couple years have I started to use the stencils and I just have to say this - whether it's cheating or not, it's just as fun. It's still challenging (if not more so), it's still messy, it's still spending time with family. The only difference to me is I love how my stenciled ones look afterwards and I'm not as embarrassed to display them to the neighborhood. :)

Saturday night we celebrated Halloween by crashing a ward trunk or treat. We had bought Emily's elephant costume a week or two before at Walmart when we saw it. I love elephants so it was an easy choice for her costume. I've never been extremely crafty or creative but this year I sorta wanted us all to dress up with a theme. We thought maybe we could be safari guides or something to go with the elephant costume, but looking online we came up with the ideas for a tiger and lion costume. I glued felt to my shirt and made the cat ears and glued felt loops on one of those winter hats that buttons under the chin for Scott's mane and our costumes were pretty much set. Only problem was we realized lions are native to Africa while tigers are native to Asia. So all together we're just zoo animals. :)

Thanks Emily for getting us some candy with your cuteness. It was a hard day's work for that little girl. She deserved a break. :)

moments in white

2010-10-26T06:28:00.000-07:00

i know i have a tendency to write more than is ever needed. this is one situation however where pictures leave me speechless. well... nearly.

family gathered from near and far so that we might give our little emily claire a blessing. mom and dad mcclellan were kind enough to open their home to the forty or so of us, allowing us to bless our little angel in white in a personal and intimate setting surrounded by friends and family. it really was a wonderful experience.

she looks so beautiful. a little more like her mother everyday. far too soon she'll be dressed in white once more as she enters the waters of baptism. and far, far too soon she'll again find herself in white and amber and i will have to watch her as she kneels at the altar in the temple. it brings a tear to my eye to think about. at least we have her for the moment. and thank goodness for pictures that leave me speechless... nearly.

Morning Fun

2010-10-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

Well we have a baby blessing post still to come but Scott's writing that one, so until then, enjoy these cute videos of Emily I took this morning that I just had to show off! :) She's getting better at lifting her head up when on tummy time, and she just loves that little monkey hanging from the gym. So cute! :)

10 Fun Facts About Our Eclaire

2010-10-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

1. Emily is 2 months old now!

2. She weighs 10 lbs 9 oz and is 22 1/2 inches long.

3. She is in the 5oth percentile of everything, so she is your average everyday beautiful baby girl (although she is above average to us!! :)

4. She smiles a lot now and I love it! (And I think I've heard her laugh in her sleep, no joke!)

5. She likes to see what's going on around her and so she likes to sit up against the couch or look over your shoulder. She is getting better and better at lifting her head too.

Watching general conference with mommy

6. She hates tummy time.

7. She's discovered her tongue, she sticks it out all the time. She tries sucking on her hands and fingers, but usually ends up gagging herself with them so instead of self soothing, it tends to just frustrate her more.

Bath time

8. She's been sleeping through the night since she was about 4 weeks and the last week and a half she's slept 8 hours straight! (I've been so lucky!)

Taking a nap on Daddy

9. She is definitely spoiled by her parents who can't help but buy her cool toys like the play mat in the picture (she loved it!).

10. She is the most beautiful girl in the world despite her smelly toots ALL the time and we're not biased or anything! ;)

Cheering at Daddy's football game

grandma bergstrom

2010-09-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

i did not know my grandmother well. definitely not as well as others knew her. i never saw her as the adorable daughter, as the beautiful young woman, as the loving wife, or as the caring mother. i rarely got to see her as the spoiling grandma. i was too far removed. distance played a factor. i didn't get to see her much. texas and california are too far apart for frequent visits. but visits did occur. and the phone was never too far away. i suppose i never really got to know my grandma because i get too caught up in my own life. what a sad thing that is to say. i suppose the old adage is true - you don't know what you got til it's gone.

we made the drive over to california just in time to meet mom and dad at the airport. this marked the first time that my parents got to meet their newest grandchild, emily. while mom smothered becca and amber in hugs, dad made his way straight to me so that he could hold emily. he knew that once mom got a hold of her, he wasn't going to get another chance. amber and i quickly began to fear the same. :)
grandma bergstrom's funeral was the next day. it was a beautiful tribute to a woman who has blessed innumerable lives. stories were told, music was shared, tears were shed, smiles were... smiled. :) luella bergstrom was buried on a hill beside the love of her life and eternal companion, gordon. the overlooking view of the city was beautiful. the following days were spent together as a family, telling stories of the great woman who brought us all together. i never knew my grandma could hit a curve ball. :) i never knew a lot.
i don't recall ever speaking with my Father in Heaven face to face. i couldn't tell you what He looks like. i couldn't say what His voice sounds like. but i can say i know Him. i see Him in his many creations. i see Him in miracles and wonders. i have come to know Him as i have come to know those He has touched.
my grandmother was a truly great woman. i know that because i know the people she has touched. i have seen those wonderful individuals she has raised and those she has befriended. my uncle and my many aunts. my cousins. and especially (to me at least) my own wonderful mother, who has taught me so that i know without a doubt that families are eternal. i look forward to the day i can take a walk with my grandma and hear all those stories i missed out on in this life. maybe we'll play some catch.

A Smile Is A Curve That Sets Everything Straight

2010-09-17T21:25:00.000-07:00

Our baby is smiling! She has been for a couple weeks now, it's just hard to catch them on camera. But these are the real thing! No more of just those gas smiles or sleep smiles (which are still adorable too), these are real! And they just melt our hearts. Have we told you how much we love this girl? ...Cuz we love her a lot!!! :)

back to school

2010-08-31T15:40:00.001-07:00

not to brag or anything, but once upon a time, i used to be pretty good at school. back in the day i was a straight-a student, in all the advanced classes, and a general nerd. but that was waaay back in the day. that was before my arch nemesis reared its ugly head - homework. teach me something in class and test me on it next week and i'll do fine. but tell me to go home and not play sports or video games and instead do school work and we have a problem. school-work. home-fun. not home-work.
when homework was introduced into my life, coupled with the emotional roller coaster that is puberty, my success at school began its downfall. i went from a gifted young child to a failing goof ball. i would still test well for the most part, but my grades as a whole suffered. i took a state assessment test in high school one day and just about aced it. my high school counselor called me into his office. in one hand he had my test scores. in the other my failing grades. he was baffled as to why the two were so different. i suppose that is me in a nutshell - an average amount of knowledge but absolutely ignorant when it comes to applying said knowledge. i would not have even graduated high school had it not been for a church youth leader, my football coaches, and of course, my parents, who never gave up on me, even though i had.
it took a two year church mission for me to finally appreciate the blessings of knowledge. i returned home unsure of what to do next, but determined to seek higher education. my sights on schools weren't set too high because i knew i would still be hindered by my high school transcript. i finally enrolled at a small local college, angelo state university. i was determined that i would do my homework, study, and try my hardest. a year and a half later, i transferred up to brigham young university, proudly boasting a 4.0 gpa. unfortunately that 4.0 didn't last long.
byu started well enough. i was so excited to be going to such a prestigious university. but to pay for school, and rent, and food, and gas, and insurance, and all those other luxieries of life, i had to get a job. so i began working nights. i thought it was a perfect situation because i would be able to do all of my homework while at work. it was beautiful at first, but soon life set in. a full-time school schedule, a full-time job, a social life full of way too much drama, and of course, sports, left very little time for sleep. so classes began to be skipped.
i still passed my classes, but my gpa took a hit. the skippings only occurred more often the next semester, and even more the semester after that. finally, mid semester, i gave up on school all together. not wise, i know, but that's kind of the theme of this blog. i always figured i'd go back, as soon as i could get my life simplified. well three years later and life doesn't seem any simpler, but i am finally going back to school.
thanks in large part to my wonderful wife (you can do anything when you know someone believes in you), i reapplied at byu. i thought that there was no way that they would take me back, but for some strange reason they did. the plan this time around is to take school a bit slower. i'm still working full-time, and now i have a wife and newborn baby to keep me busy, and of course, i still have my sports (though much less now that i'm an old man), so i'll only be taking a couple evening classes this time around. sure, i won't be done with school anytime real soon, but i'm at least finally moving in the right direction again.
and don't you dare diss the superman lunch box. :)

3 Weeks Already!

2010-08-24T12:39:00.000-07:00

Hopefully I can get this done before I have to change the title to my blog yet again. It's been a busy few weeks. :)So let me tell you a little bit about our little Eclaire, besides the fact that she's already 3 weeks and a couple days old! First of all, I was starting to suspect Emily was narcoleptic. She sleeps ALL the time. She was even sleeping 5 hour stretches during the night sometimes. At first I had to wake her up to feed her every 3 hours until the doctor said I could just let her sleep (so wonderful!). I knew newborns slept a lot, but this was a lot more than I thought. She is starting to be more awake now though. :)
Emily likes to be held and cuddled. For the most part, we both love it. I love holding her and having her fall asleep right by me or in my arms. I just hope she doesn't get too used to it and won't sleep unless we're holding her! :)
So the first two weeks were spent recovering from labor and trying to figure out breastfeeding (not the easiest thing!!). We were starting to adjust and we were doing well. We went to Emily's two week appointment, where they weighed her at 7 pounds 5.5 ounces. She had gained back all her birth weight plus a little, yay! They told us she was doing really well and we went home feeling pretty good. Right after that appointment though, Emily developed her first cold. It was sad hearing her all stuffed up. :( She started spitting up a lot. We weren't too concerned though, she was still eating and sleeping and seemed happy and I thought getting better. We spent her 3 week birthday though in the hospital. The night before she started spitting up and it turned into throwing up. She kept this up for like an hour and it really started to scare us. At first it was just the milk in her tummy, but the vomit soon became yellower and yellower as the night went on. We took her to the doctor's office that night and while we were there she was still vomiting, this time with a little blood in it. Since it was so late, they sent us to the hospital so they could monitor her through the night. They took a few tests and hooked her up to an IV and we waited there with her through the night. She did really well at the hospital, she stopped throwing up and she got fluids in her. She slept most of the night and in the morning we started feeding her again. One of the tests came back positive with a little cold infection. The doctor said her congestion could have caused the irritated tummy. We took her home the next day and since then we've just been trying to get her through this cold. It's sad to see her not feeling so well and there isn't much we can do. Hopefully she gets better soon!

Emily's First Bath

emily claire bryson

2010-08-17T11:14:00.000-07:00

amber waited all day for the call. she attempted to keep busy, and thereby distracted, but her thoughts never veered from the approaching adventure, and her phone was never more than a foot away. after an agonizing day of pacing back and forth, we finally had enough and called the hospital in fear that we had been forgotten. we were told to gather our bags and come on in. thus began one of the most exciting, as well as ridiculously nerve-racking, journeys of our lives.

after 9 months and 1 week of waiting, we finally found ourselves in the room where our little girl was supposed to be born, though fate had other ideas. we got comfy, amber was given some medications to start the dilating process, and we then settled in for a long night of waiting. had we been wiser, we would have tried harder to get a good night's rest, but the excitement of it all left us wide awake, so most of the night was wasted away playing on the laptop and tv. the night passed and in the morning amber was checked to see what progress she had made. we entered the hospital the night before at a 1, and we began the next morning at a 2. for those of you who may be ignorant to pregnancy terms, such as i was, that isn't much progress at all.
the next day was spent playing with the meds, trying to get amber's contractions to work in our favor. unfortunately they did not. they were either too spaced apart, too close together (often one starting before the last one had finished), or simply just not strong enough. amber was given an epidural and her water was broken, both with the hopes that they might speed up delivery. both failed to do so.
between the crazy contractions, the constant examinations, being stuck in bed unable to move, a crazy tingling sensation caused by the epidural, a catheter, not being able to eat for a whole night and day and night, and being pricked and prodded since minute one, amber's word for the day was 'miserable'. thankfully she had her mom and sister lia there for much of the time to lend us moral support. but that seemed to be one of the few bright spots because after a full 24 hours in the hospital, amber was officially dilated to... drum roll please... a 5. it was progress, but it meant she still had a long way to go. and in the next 4 hours, amber progressed absolutely no further.
i suppose that a c-section was always a possibility in the back of my mind, especially considering that amber is a smaller woman, but when the doctor recommended it, we both were a little scared. surgery is not a thing to take too lightly after all. but it meant there was an end in sight. and after a day of non-stop torture for amber, that sounded too good to be true. while she got an increased dose of drugs, i was given an awesome white jump suit to wear, complete with all this year's must-have accessories - a surgical mask, hair net, and little booties. that gave amber something to laugh at before she was wheeled into surgery.
some of my friends have recently told me how cool it was to watch the whole surgical process of their wives' c-sections. not i. i found myself quite content to hide behind the little curtain the doctors had raised to keep amber from seeing herself cut open. but after only 5 minutes or so of amber being on the operating table, our little baby girl was introduced to this crazy world. she was immediately taken away so she could be cleaned up, examined, and monitored for a bit, but a short time later, our beautiful daughter was laid in her beautiful mother's arms. we are officially a family now.
she was born at 10:04 p.m. on the 4th of august 2010. she weighed 7 pounds and 2 ounces. she was 20 inches long. she has dark hair and a whole lot of it. she has big beautiful eyes and when you look into them, you instantly fall in love. she is beautiful. she is our angel. her name is emily claire bryson. you can call her eclaire for short, if you want. :)
and reader, if we didn't express it enough, we love her with all our hearts.

Baby Update

2010-07-28T14:25:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update. Today is my due date but it doesn't look like she's on her way at all. I'm not dilated at all, not even enough for them to strip my membranes or anything, which they said could hurry it up. I haven't felt any contractions either. They made me take a non stress test which went really well. The baby still has enough fluid and her heart's beating perfectly. It quickens when she moves, which was kind of cool to feel and hear at the same time. :) Everything looks good, too good. She's just way too comfortable in there! Anyway, they've scheduled me to be induced sometime Tuesday evening. So there is an end in sight! :) Wish us luck!

Check out my Photo Blog

2010-07-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

So what do you do to keep yourself motivated and improving a hobby or talent? I'm not really sure, but I'm hoping this new blog will help me. I started this blog recently, mostly just for my benefit. I figured I could post my pictures for me to see and post what I'm learning. I thought if I had somewhere to post my favorites it would entice me to take more pictures, improve them, practice and what not. We'll see if it works or not. :) Anyways, I thought I'd let others check it out too if they wanted, to give me a little more feedback. It's www.amberbrysonphotos.blogspot.com so please take a look if you want, I'd love comments, suggestions, ideas, opinions, whatever! If you have any ideas on a name for my little blog let me know that too!

One Crazy Month, Part 6- Another birthday

2010-07-11T18:28:00.000-07:00

So I have a pretty wonderful husband. The last little bit of of our crazy month last month included my birthday and if anyone knows Scott, you know he couldn't pass it by without doing something totally amazing and creative. My birthday last year included a fort he made in our living room with lights strung up and paper stars. It sounds so simple, but it was so romantic and cute and I loved the creativity. The year before that he surprised me with a movie out in the park. He had a little show set up where his nieces and nephews came and dropped off little gifts and then sang Happy Birthday to me all dressed up. They left us to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's on our love sac with little lawn lights surrounding us...very romantic. :) Well this year was no different. I woke up and walked into our front room to find this...So all during the month of June, Scott had been packing scissors, paper and origami instructions to work at night and making tons of little animals and flowers and boxes that on my birthday he had hanging from the ceiling and sitting everywhere in our front room. It was very colorful and magical walking out into it all. He always makes me feel so special. :) He made me some omelets for breakfast that morning (so delicious!) and then later that morning he took me to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens for a walk. That's where we had went the day he proposed so it was a fun little walk down memory lane as well. :) The rest of the day was spent with family and good food and best of all, an ice cream cake! It was a fun, wonderful day. Thank you Scott!! I love you! I can't believe I'm 27 though...I feel so old. ;)

one crazy month, part five - surprise!

2010-07-06T16:25:00.000-07:00

have we mentioned that it has been one crazy month? to keep the month of a thousand stories going, we must now tell the tale of an ancient old man - my elder brother ken, who has turned 40. we don't write about siblings' birthdays too often, but this one was so full of twists, turns, and surprises for all that we just had to tell this story.
here was the plan as we knew it - my big bro turned 40 on friday, so on saturday we were to have a giant surprise party for him. simple enough. there would be dinner and dessert, family and friends, sun and fun. that saturday morning, my sister becca took me and ken golfing. i had been working the night before, so i was pretty filthy tired and not thinking very clearly, which left me worried that i would blow the surprise that awaited my brother. to avoid too much chatting time with ken, i cleverly spent 95% of my time looking for golf balls that i purposely hit into the rough. i almost had a slip of the tongue once, but i left the golf course sure that ken had no idea. i thought to myself, "what a sucker! he has no idea what's coming! he's going to be so surprised!" little did i know then that a few minutes later it would be i who would be picking my jaw up off the floor.
i pulled up to our apartment complex, tired, sleepy, beaten, worn out, and sun burnt. i start to slowly climb out of my car when another car pulled up behind mine. when i saw who it was my first thought was that i must have fallen asleep. i must be imagining this. mom and dad? here? no way. they're in texas. that's too far away. what on earth was going on here?! despite my disbelief, my mom and dad really were there. they flew down for the weekend to surprise us all. they had already gotten becca, kyle, and courtney, but other than that, no one else in utah knew they were there. a few embraces later, and after a quick tour of our apartment and baby's room, my parents were off to maceys to surprise amber at work.
upon seeing my dad from a distance, amber's first thought was, "i know that guy." a moment later, amber's next thought was, "I KNOW THAT GUY!" amber then got the chance for a short visit where she proudly got to show off her big ole baby bump to the in-laws.
that night we gathered together for the party. knowing that my parents would be sneaking up in a few minutes added an extra level of excitement. sherry was the mastermind behind the whole surprise party, but even she did not know that mom and dad would be soon joining the festivities. the parents eventually arrived, so becca and i decided to distract ken long enough for them to sneak up. while becca and i had ken posing for a picture, mom and dad snuck up and jumped into the back of the picture. my favorite part of the picture is sherry in the background, who was obviously pretty shocked. i wish i had got a picture of ken's face as he turned around, but i found myself laughing a little too hard.
we ate, played games, busted open a pinata, sang 'happy birthday', and had some cake. after the festivities at the park, we went to ken's house for a night of chatting. sunday we all met together for church, then spent the rest of the day socializing. we had to say our goodbyes that night because mom and dad had an early flight the next morning. so just like that, they were gone.
it was a short weekend, much shorter than it ought to have been, but good times seem to always be like that. it was a fun weekend full of the best kinds of surprises. it was so nice to see our parents, if only for a short while. and since it was my brother's birthday that brought us all together, i should probably give him a special shout out. i never knew ken much when i was growing up. we were separated by a pretty big age gap. but in the past 5 years or so i've been privileged to learn that i've got a pretty decent big brother who is willing to always help anyone he can. thanks ken for all you've done for me.
and while it was ken's surprise party that brought us together, my dad's birthday was actually the day after ken's, so i must say a word about daddy. all i can say about my father is that i hope i can be half as good a father as he was to me. thank you dad.

one crazy month, part four - manti

2010-06-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

in a month such as this, so full of fun activities and memorable events, some stories must inevitably be passed over and sacrificed for the sake of time. this is probably one such story because not much actually happened. but this one has a special place in our heart. on saturday, the 19th of june, we headed down with family and friends to watch the mormon miracle pageant held at the manti temple, the same temple amber and i were sealed for all time and eternity.

we've seen the pageant a few times now, so it really was nothing new. but, like any good story, certain elements stand out to you differently at different times in your life. amber found herself touched a little more than usual when the children ran to meet Jesus Christ, without a doubt because of the little one who will shortly be joining us. i personally got a little misty eyed when the man died in the wilderness and was led by his wife, hand in hand, into the next world.
in some ways, it seems like only yesterday amber and i stood at the top of that hill, looking forward to the rest of forever. but in another way, it seems like forever ago. i find it hard to remember a life without amber. as we sat there enjoying the wonderful show about God's perfect plan for us, it was hard not to glance up at the temple and find the window of that special room where the two of us knelt across from each other. Heavenly Father really knows what he's doing. sometimes i sadly don't realize that. but sometimes i really, really do.

One Crazy Month, Part 3 - Baby Shower

2010-06-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

First of all, I can't thank my sister enough for all the effort she put into planning my baby shower. Thank you Lia!! :) She had planned a garden theme baby shower and it was suppose to be outside but like most of our plans that weekend, the rain moved us inside for the event. I still thought it was so fun though and all the decorations Lia made were so cute! She's so crafty, I need to learn more from her. :) I also loved the fact that I had 6 of my sisters and 3 sister-in-laws all there! I'm grateful for everyone that was able to make it and for all the gifts! Our little girl has just about everything she needs now! :)

All the very cool decorations

Sisters

My niece was extremely helpful taking the gifts away from me to show them off to everyone! :)
Thank you!

One Crazy Month, Part 2- Family Reunion

2010-06-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my family got together for our yearly family reunion. Everybody met up at my sister Lindy's place up in South Jordan. All 32 of us. We were missing MaeLyn and Jarom and their families but everyone else was able to make it, including April and her husband Dean, who surprised us by showing up when originally they weren't going to be able to make it. That was a fun surprise. :)
So Thursday evening we got together and the plan was to eat dinner and watch a movie outside projected on a big sheet and then camp out in my sister's backyard. However, the weather wasn't on our side all weekend so some plans changed. It was nice for awhile so we ate outside, but we ended up having to watch the movie inside...all 32 of us... Camping was fun, it wasn't too cold (although I had like 3 blankets and 5 pillows around me so maybe it was cold, but I was good!).Friday morning we played games inside and then headed down to Orem to my parents house. The plan was to go to a park for a big lunch and games, but the rain kinda ruined our plans there a little bit too. No biggy though. We played games at the church instead. :) My sister had to lead a group in some activities for a class assignment, so we happily became her guinea pigs. The first activity was set up outside (before the rain came). We had to guide each other through some mouse traps, learning to trust and follow the directions coming from someone on the other side of the traps.The next activity was another trust one, you had to run through a tunnel of arms. Everyone got in two lines and put their arms out and you make a wave as someone comes running through (sorry if this doesn't make much sense, but it was actually kind of fun!).For the third activity, everyone gathered and stood on a mat. The object was to completely turn over the mat without anyone having to step off. I watched this one from a distance, but it looked interesting. People were supposed to learn to work together. It was fun watching my family all kinda doing their own thing. Some were actually working on turning the mat while others whole objective was to just not fall off!And then for the kids sake, we played a huge game of duck, duck, goose. :)That evening, after dinner some of the adults were able to go do sealings at the Mt. Timpanogas temple. Neither Scott nor I had ever done sealings before, so it was a cool experience. I'm glad we got to go. :)
Saturday morning we all went out to eat at Golden Corral, and then some of us headed to the park to play frisbee and let the kids play on the playground. I miss being able to play ultimate frisbee!! Saturday afternoon was set aside for my baby shower, but I'll cover that in our next post. :) Some family headed home that evening, but Scott and I still had fun playing games at my parents house that night. I love my family! I'm so glad we were able to get together and see everyone. It's a bit crazy now and then, but I love it! :) Sorry I don't have pictures of everyone, but here are a few!