Summer Update

So what happens when a family of three becomes a family of four? While we are completely ecstatic about the upcoming arrival of or little boy, we are also having to make some major changes around here. For starters, our catchy blog title’s got to go. Any ideas? Secondly, Cam’s home office received an eviction notice so as to make room for the new baby tenant. We’re thinking a baseball themed room would be a winner! Then there’s the name. We’ve been shuffling through hundreds of boy names in search for the perfect pick. As Cameron puts it, “a guy can’t have a name that will get him beat up. It’s gotta be strong and strike fear in his foe’s hearts.” Needless to say, a lot of cute names may get shot down as a preemptive strike in defense of manhood. Cameron’s also polishing all his workshop tools in preparation for another man around here. It's going to be different. It's going to be great!

Cassie’s been wrangling the terrible twos while Lacey is constantly thinking of new ways to outsmart us. She sometimes reminds me of those tricky raptors in Jurassic Park. They are way too smart for anyone’s good. Just when you think you’re in control, they pop out of the bushes behind you and it’s too late! Lacey may not have a lizardly companion who’s luring our attention away from the eminent danger in the opposite direction, but she sure has a way of making the hunter the hunted. Ahhhh. It makes sense in an analogical way?

But seriously, Lacey is so cute and talks up a storm. We love her with all our hearts and can't imagine our lives without her. Pretty soon, we won't remember how we lived without or next one too! Lacey is growing up so fast. I guess that is why we knew it was time to have another baby. Our current baby isn't such a baby anymore! She is definitely a girl though, as is evident by the way she tries on all her shoes and won’t leave the house without a specific outfit on. Just don't judge us when you see our child wearing mismatched clothing. We are aware of it and are just avoiding some confrontations. What can I say, her style is a work in progress? She’s also learned to talk on the phone and goes through our wallets and takes out our debit cards. Nature vs. nurture? Hmmm?

Cameron’s been taking classes this summer through ASU. Come fall, he’ll be back in the full swing of things. Four classes and fifty hours a week. Needless to say, it’s wearing him down but getting him closer and closer to a career as a counselor for individuals, families and couples. Check out his blog at: cameroonie.blogspot.com. He’s also loving the fact that he’s a Sun Devil and really wants to go to a few ASU baseball and football games this coming school year. We especially want to see ASU up against UofA. Anyone want to go with us?

Aside from being more and more pregnant, Cassie has been teaching violin lessons. She’s also been taking Lacey to the AJ pool to learn how to swim. Lacey however, is more interested in the rubber duckies they let the kids play with after the class. Why would anyone however, show a child the reward for a good job before classes have even started? Swimming lessons therefore, turns into screaming sessions!

All in all, we are doing well and looking forward to the next half of 2011.

Cameron's blog

Hey everybody,

I just wanted to post an invitation for everyone to visit and browse around on Cameron's personal blog. As many of you know, cam's been in school to become a marriage & family counselor. Anyway, his blog is all about that sort of stuff, and is a great way to get to know him better. Take a look!

cameroonie.blogspot.com

Family Pictures

It only took us a year, but we finally got some official family pictures. Thank you to Robin again!

The Cousins Together in Utah!

Lacey and I got to go to Utah to visit with my 3 nieces Alex, Sidney, and Kennedy. We loved it!! Thanks so much, Sandra! We stayed over there while Carter and Sandra went to Boston.

This picture happened when we were giving Lacey a bath and Kennedy and Sidney really wanted to jump in too, so what the heck?

The Gateway Discovery place in Salt Lake was Lacey's dream come true! She loves colored balls to throw around! All the girls were so helpful to carry her around and help her play.

I love how Kennedy is through the glass handing us more balls..

Sidney and Kennedy were going to put on a Three Little Pigs play for us but all we had time for was for them to dress up. Cute picture anyway!

Playin' in the front yard! Again, a ball!

I loved the snowy mountains! I've missed seeing them!

The girls spiked up Lacey's hair after her bath. I love those girls! We had so much fun!

From one chocoholic to another . . .

Lacey's other birthday party at her aunt and uncle's house. This was to be ever-exciting, ever-suspenseful Cake Experiment #2. Will she like the cake?
I really botched up the frosting on the cake to the right. I put a lid on the cake right after taking it out of the oven, which trapped in the moisture, which made it too wet on top, which caused chunks of it to slide around.

When the cake flavor was changed to chocolate, was there ever a question?

ABC food! And her enthusiasm for this treat! Like mother like daughter!

Upon completion of her piece, Lacey stares at the table with a satisfied smirk.

The Embarrasing Dialogues: Part 2

This is a confession. One time about 10 years ago I was housesitting at Max Tanner's while they were all out of town. They had a huge bathtub in the parent's room with jets. I wanted to take a bath in it and I was really into one of the Work and the Glory books my grandma let me borrow. (it was a 500 page hardcover) So I decided to take the book to the bathtub with me.

I set the book on the side of the tub on a towel and turned on the water. I remember thinking, "I need to be careful with that book." The tub starting filling up. Well, little did I know that before you turn on the jets, the water level in the tub must be above them.

I turn on the jets, and 2 huge bursts of water come gushing out, one aimed straight at the Work and the Glory book. I remember it like it was yesterday. I can see it in slow motion. The water hitting the book. Me trying to grab it and turn the water off.

Afterwords, the Tanner's immaculate bathroom with a glass shower had water droplets all over it. I had to clean it but I was not good.

Here the most shameful part of the story. I actually tried to return the book to my Grandma without telling her what happened. I just handed it to her. I was broke and didn't think I could buy her a new one. But I could've and I should've!!!! What kind of white trash mooch was I?
I just reviewed this with her 2 months ago and offered to buy her a new book. She said she doesn't remember that incident and doesn't know where the book is.

I learned some valuable lessons that day. Don't be a cheapskate. Don't bring someone else's book in a tub. Don't turn on jets before the tub's ready. Don't take baths in other people's houses in case something goes wrong.

Happy Anniversary!

Happy fifth Anniversary!

Birthday Party Number 1

Since Lacey was our February baby, we decided to throw her a Valentines themed party. This entailed using only the colors red, pink & white in all our decor and food products. Unfortunately, strawberry flavored cake and icing is an acquired taste. Lacey wanted nothing to do with her first cake. We should have known you can never go wrong with chocolate. Oh well.
No party would be a party without pin the tail on the donkey! Lacey did a great job too. Maybe that had to do with the fact that she wasn't blind folded, got carried over and had her hand guided to the right spot. But hey, we're still proud of our little b-day girl.Then there was the heart shaped cookie decorating station. Has a child ever had to have their stomach pumped out for consuming too much sugar?

Happy Birthday Lacey!

Cookin' Up Some Fun

A borrowed hat from the Howe's! (photos by Jen)

The Twins: Part 1

My sister Tracie got Lacey and her cousin Rylee (Justin and Kayli's baby) some matching outfits for Christmas. Thanks Trace! Some llong-awaited pictures are here, with more to come!

Happy Birthday Lacey!

One years old today! We did some fun things! This afternoon we had a little photo shoot. Ill post the other things she did today later.

Our friend Jen made Lacey this tutu and took some pictures of her. They look so good, Jen! Thanks!

An Unfortunate Event

"What happened here? Well, Mama got a little distracted and trapped me in my pants!"

She looks a little pensive here.

Another day I took this picture to record this cute sweater from Jeanne Mason and also to document Lacey's weird hair.

And today I took this one. Look! No more sticky-straighty-uppy hair!! It's getting longer. Now I'm nostalgic for it. My baby's growing up, man!

Need an Interesting V-day date idea?

Why not install a bath tub? What's not romantic about that? You can shimmy it up onto a dolly. Then gather your friends and family to wheel the 500 pound tub through your house. Maybe you could sneak a wink at your significant other, or perhaps a smile. When he gets tired from the strain, pat him on the back and say, "Good job!"

This bath tub date can last for hours. You can start around 7 pm and it can go all the way until 12:15 am! Must be a great date to last that long! Between 11 and midnight, you work on lowering the tub down onto the floor using a special hook with a ratchet chain to lower it. This is a way to bond with those you love! The adrenalin is pumping, and when that porcelin hits the floor without cracking, boy do you feel satisfied!

Tub installation = romance!!!!!!!!!

Ok, so this really did happen on our Valentine date night. For those of you who know my dad, you know he will work as long as it takes and ask for the help of whoever is around. Thanks needs to go out to my cousin Kara for letting her husband and son work for many an hour on Saturday!

Also, a big thanks goes out to Cameron for being a good sport!!!! He had helped our home teacher with some drywall for a few hours that day. He was pooped from a long week of school and work too. And then the bathtub thing was pretty much he and my dad crouching down and sawing wood and pipes in a hole for 5 hours. So Cameron's dedication has to be applauded.

As a side note, we did go out to eat at one of my favorite places.


I had a grilled chicken quesadilla and it was the best quesadilla of my llife! But the crowning moment was: I poured water from the water pitcher right onto my lap so my lap was soaked all through dinner. That was the actual fun /semi-romantic part of the date night.

Oh well. If we rank V-day activities on uniqueness, this one will for sure take the cake!

Two Outstanding Women

I borrowed this pic from another blog (Thanks, Jenny!). This is what we're reading for one of my book clubs. This book has been named one of the 100 most important books of all time. If you want to see someone with a positive attitude, read about Helen! She was blind and deaf and still learned to read, went to college, and wrote beautiful words full of figurative language and vivid description. She lived life to its fullest! I still have NO idea how you could learn to write that way and learn French, Latin, history, etc. by having it finger-spelled into your hand! I'm flabbergasted! Anyway, there are a couple of slow parts but this story is only about 115 pages and it's worth it!

The second book I've read recently is Sarah Palin's autobiography. Now, for those of us who began to think, "Maybe she isn't very smart." We were dead wrong. I was absolutely blown away by her vocabulary, her knowledge of the oil and renewable energy industry, her knowledge about how to get laws passed. The media did a good job of sensationalizing her, isolating her bad moments, etc.

Every scandal about her has been mistold. Her interview with Charlie Gibson had a bad moment, but he was ticked at her 'cause most people in Alaska didn't know who he was. The Katie Couric interview was 4 or 5 hours long but cut into 10 minutes and only the 10 when Katie was condescending and trying to make Sarah look bad. Of course Sarah reads! She had had op-eds published in the NY Times prior to that as well as had her words published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine and others. Thanks Katie Couric, for interrupting Sarah when she was trying to explain that Alaska's geographic location near Russia has caused many dealings with their government. Not only Russia but she has worked extensively with the governments of Japan and Canada.

She was being asked , "How do we make our state budget so well managed (With a surplus!) and how do we create clean energy and get the private sector to drill and make pipelines that benefit the American people like you did? " This woman accomplished more in 2 years than almost any governor ever has.

Got corruption? Sarah will waltz in, with Republicans fighting against her, and get several lawmakers charged with crimes and thrown in jail. Need to reign in greedy oil companies? Sarah told them to shape up or leave. And they shaped up!

She didn't ban books. She didn't fire the Police Commisioner b/c of her brother-in-law. The guy was insubordinate --said "no" to her so she legally could fire someone in her cabinet. (Besides, her ex-borther-in-law threatened to kill her dad and did taser a little kid)

Finally, why did she resign as governor and why do I think she shouldn't run anymore for anything? She resigned because several Alaskans were paid by millionares to make it their full time job to destroy Sarah and her staff and her family. Each bogus charge had to be investigated, which took 10,000 sheets of paper each case and thousands of dollars in lawyer fees. Her staff and family were going broke and so was she. She literally could not do her job. She didn't want to see her family and friends finances destroyed. She was seen as a threat, and some powerful people in this country would never have stopped harassing them.

She was destroyed using tactics described in a book called "Political Warfare." Attack the person, not the ideas. It's been done before to people like Newt Gingrich. All charges against Sarah have been dropped, as they were against Newt. But these 2 politicians are onto new careers. ( I thnk) So Sarah shouldn't run for anything because of the way she's been painted, but she's still one of my American heroes!!!!

Are We Obsessed?

This is what I found when I went to check on Lacey the other day. She was fast asleep. "Oh, the joy! The pure joy of having these binkies in my hands! I will clutch them forever! I'll never let go!"

l The flash of the camera wakes her up. She examines her loot. "Yep, still got 'em."

"Three of my most prized possessions."

She cracks us up.