Birthday Party in Cali

We had another fantastic birthday celebration for Easton while we were in Cali. He's going to start expecting dinners of frosting pretty soon.

Grandma Cali made this cake especially for him.
And Easton clapped while we all tried to get him to blow out the candle.

So mom provided a little assistance.

And then he stuffed his face.

Next it was on to the presents. He liked playing with the ones that were unwrapped by someone else.

But really just preferred the bows.

Thanks everyone--he and we had a great time!

Christmas Morning

These are not in any order. I'm too lazy to do that.

Easton loved checking out what everyone else got in their stockings. As you can tell by his tired eyes, this was shortly before taking a nap.
Giving Grandpa a "cheese" while looking at stocking goodies.

Easton loves his new little rocking horse. It sings, makes horsey noises and talks!

Posing for Grandpa in front of the tree.

This picture was post-nap, after most of us had opened presents and Easton joined us once again. He loves to rock out to his guitar.

Just a cute one--couldn't resist having it on here.

As you can see, the horse was a hit for the majority of the day.

He even learned how to do a proper cowboy dismount. I don't think he could show his face around his Wyoming friends if he didn't get that figured out in a hurry.

Merry Belated Christmas

Does the belated go in between the Merry and Christmas like when you are saying Happy Belated Birthday?


Anyway.


Merry Christmas from our household to yours.

A few things

I love about California when we come to visit*.

1. Getting out of the shower to a bathroom that is the exact same temperature as the shower I was just in. This NEVER happens in Wyoming. Especially in the winter.

2. Never putting on lotion. After 4 years of fairly regular trips to California, I now know that it is not my skin, it is the extreme weather of where I have lived/live. (I'm talking about you Utah and Wyoming).

3. I am reminded how slow life really is in Laramie, and how much I love it.

4. No coat necessary.

*Besides family of course. They are all a given.

A Personal Celebration

When it is the last night of finals-widow-dom and you have two-thirds of a pumpkin pie left over from your birthday dinner the night before (which request was made because there was NO pumpkin pie at the Thanksgiving Dinner celebration this year--a crime, I know!) and you are also watching the BBC production of North and South and your husband doesn't really like pumpkin pie that much...

this might happen.

I'm just sayin'...

Not that I would know or anything.

You know you are busy*

when you open up the dryer to start this weeks laundry only to find the last load of towels from last week still in there.

And you had no idea.

*or forgetful-take your pick.

Teaching

So, I teach Relief Society in my ward.

Once a month, I read the lesson, read it about five more times, prepare some questions, think about personal examples I want to share, and get ready to go.

I stick to the manual (all about Joseph Smith's teachings this year--hooray!) and the scriptures. Just like it tells you to do at the beginning of the manual.

I love it. Minimal time commitment (please don't say that comment is going to strike me down), great discussions with the women in my ward plus I get to really study what Joseph taught (although I realize I should be doing that anyway).

But, I have a little problem.

Controling my emotions.

No, I mean REALLY.

I warned the group when I first started teaching, and sometimes, when I know that the lesson is going to be particularly hard for me to get through--I warn them again.

But then things like yesterday just up and happen. The lesson seemed harmless enough. I focused on families, trust, and friendship and while telling a story about how my mom was a real friend to me in high school, I started tearing up.

No, tearing up is a bit to soft. Let's say crying openly, while trying to breathe with those gulping, gasping sounding breaths.

It took me a minute to get it under control, and then I moved on.

So what can I do? Cut onions all day long to make my eyes immune to tears? The last thing I want is less of the spirit there, but I really need to be able to talk.

The Gift that Made Ronnie's Day

Because he is a law student and spent countless hours last year studying the *actual* laws of property, Ronnie loved this gift!
I'm almost positive that anyone who has ever had to deal with a toddler will find it funny--but the law school connection pleased Ronnie to no end. In fact, he asked for this post on it specifically (a VERY rare occcurance at our house). Thanks Shorter Fam!

P.S. Party post up on Easton's blog.
P.P.S. I should probably clarify that this is a shirt for Easton, NOT for Ronnie. (just in case)

A Party Report

We had a wonderful party last night with family and friends. I'll warn you that there are lots of pictures, but this is Easton's blog and I can do whatever I want. So there! :)


I bought (well actually, my mom bought) super cheap party hats at the Dollar store and I covered and decorated Easton a special one. The funny thing was that he couldn't figure out how to take it off, so he wore it the majority of the night!

I bought the giant cupcake mold from Amazon.com and loved the effect. If anyone nearby wants to use it--please let me know, I'm happy to share!

It took Easton a few minutes before he figured out that the icing was good stuff.

This was his face when he finally started to "get" it.

After a while, using his hands was too much work, so he just sucked the frosting right off of the cake.

A side view of the frosting licking.

Easton's face after. He looks a little out of it--probably from the sugar high that was kicking in.

And this was the damage he did. He didn't really touch the cake itself, but loved the frosting!

After a quick clean up, we started opening presents. Easton helped with the first one....

And opened this one. He sat down immediately to play with it, and was just marginally interested in all other gifts.

It's a good thing I had lots of kiddo helpers to unwrap the presents and then show them to Easton!

The younger ones took care of playing with the toys after they were opened. {Brinley, Easton, and TJ}

When we got home, I tried to arrange all of the toys for a picture, but Easton had another idea--he wanted to play!

So, I waited until he was down for the night to take the final picture. Thanks everyone for your gifts!

And now the pictures of those in attendance. {The B. Family}

{Steve, Lindsey and little Brinley}

{Jeff, Rachel and TJ}

{Laura and Tucker}

{John and Carolyn}

{The other B. Family}

{Uncle Jord-man and Aunt Sassy}

{Grandma} I don't have any pictures of Grandpa on my camera, but he was there too.

And here we have a very short video of the birthday boy. It was the only one I could get uploaded before work this morning. More will be posted soon.

And then I sound just like every other mother I know

Easton turns one today.

ONE!

I can't believe it.

You can view a monthly update post on his blog.

He's One Today!

{insert ranting and raving about how I can't believe my BABY is one!}



You get the idea.



So, I'll skip all of that, and move right into the monthly update.

Easton is constantly babbling. When his binky is out of his mouth (and sometimes when it is still in his mouth) he is making noise--all boy (except for those girly screams he produces sometimes). He is saying a few new words, "buh-bye," "bampa" and "na" (which means something like the equivalent of "that").

He is *almost* walking. He will take 3-4 steps towards something and biff it, or he starts to look like he wants to walk and then he decides that crawling is still easier and drops down to do that.

Such a fun age! And if I could solve my sleeping through the night problems, it would be perfect.

And now a little update in pictures:


When we were in Cali to surprise Ronnie's mom for her birthday, we visited Easton's Great-Grandma and Grandpa E. Here is Ronnie's mom with Easton and Great Grandpa E.

And here we have Great-Grandma E. and Easton--he loved her stuffed bear.

At the restaurant with Great Grandpa E. Ronnie decided that Easton should try his first lime.

This was the face it produced. (Please ignore the other food on his face).

We were also able to visit my old roommate Cheryl and her daughter Allie. As usual, Easton was a hit with the ladies and got a kiss.

And here we have Allie, Cheryl, Me and Easton.

We spent Thanksgiving with family, did not take any pictures and took this picture just before we left town to drive home.

Last Friday, Ronnie's school had a Christmas Party with Santa. Easton did surprisingly well at first.

Then he began to look around trying to figure out what was going on and then he freaked out(which I did not catch on camera).

Since his little bff Brinley was there too, we decided to see if they could sit together and distract each other from what they were sitting on. We were very wrong.

We love our little guy and look forward to all of the fun times we will have together in the future!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Literally.

I felt famous tonight.

I jumped around the living room, babe in arms, yelping and causing a ruckus.


My stomach felt giddy and I could barely sit still in my chair.

I had three friends and cousins email me excitedly (friends and cousins who I adore but don't hear from that often).

Why all of the excitement you may ask?

That would be because I won.

I won a Le Creuset Dutch Oven from PioneerWoman!

Behold these beauties:

I know, you are jealous. It's okay. You are not alone. So are the other 10,381 commenters.

Sometimes it pays off to keep putting your comment in there (even when it seems hopeless)!

And in case you were wondering, I chose blue (but let's refer to it as Azure Blue--it sounds much more refined--and if this dutch oven is anything, it is refined).

But now the big question--what should I make in it first?

P.S. Thanks P-Dub!

Snow

We have lots of it.



I'm not complaining (for once--that should probably be written in all of your journals).

All of my life, I have believed that Laramie did not plow their roads.

They just want us all to be fantastic snow drivers (which I totally am by the way).

But then, the unthinkable happened this morning.

As I drove to work, I was following....




wait for it.





A snow plow!

That was actually plowing snow.

I sang a little song of joy and happily followed at 20 mph so that I could drive on plowed roads.

Loved it!

Picture blatantly stolen from my friend Jen's blog.

Whew!

We finally arrived home from a 10 day trip on Sunday. I am now knee deep in laundry and the like. (I'm sure you all know what I mean).

It was fantastic to see family. On both sides.

And surprise Karen on her birthday.

Traveling always brings up interesting topics of conversation and experiences.

Like driving behind my 16 year old, permit-holding little sister as she perfected her freeway skills. (Great job Sassy!)

Or fitting 30 people into my grandparents' cabin (mountain home).

Or Easton waking up 5 times (yes, I said 5) times a night while at said mountain home.

Or my sister's newborn sleeping better than Easton.

Or cuddling said newborn and finding myself a little baby hungry.

Or saying "said" about a million times in this post.

But in the midst of all of that, as I sat on a public toilet and stared at the graffiti scratched into the side of the stall I had a thought that I have not been able to resolve.

How does one do that scratching? Fingernail? Knife you just happen to have in your pocket?

Having never contributed any graffiti to bathroom stalls myself, I was stumped.

So now it's time to fess up. Have you ever done it? How did you go about it?

I'm also open to theories.