Happiness

 Blogging. We finally have wifi and I am on our old computer, browsing blogs like the good old days in Maryland when my babies were small and they would play or watch t.v. and I would read blogs and write and cry and laugh and thank God for the internets. One of my favorite bloggers has written a book and in celebration of such wonderfulness (bloggess turned official book writer), I am going to write and enjoy writing. As you know, I have a killer headache. Killer. It's not killer all the time. Just whenever I think "I have a killer headache!" Which is about 60% of the time. Lately.  I've gone through lots of stages with this headache- denial- this isn't here, anger- are you serious?, extreme anger- wanting to throw things anger (on a few occasions), submission- ok, what can I learn? and finally, today, humbleness . Humbleness.  I jumped in the car tonight to grab a walking toy for Declan from a facebook yardsale group ( the boy is nine months and so ...

***Disclaimer- I am typing this from a computer at the Library- we still have yet to get internet in our new home (quite a long story) and so all of my pictures of Declan at 9 months are still on my phone or other computer. Imagine, if you will, a round headed, bald, toothy baby. That should help! Declan at 9 Months: -ABSOLUTELY LOVES Sadie the Dog. So glad we got to keep her! (We're renting and weren't sure if the home we were to live in accepted pets. This one kindly does. A friend was watching her for us and happened to be in Utah for Christmas and dropped her off). Every morning when he wakes, he sees her and squeals and tries to get out of my arms to pet her/pull her whiskers/pull her hair. When we first got her back, Sadie would see Declan crawling toward her and run away. Now she kindly tolerates him and looks at me with big puppy dog eyes that say "Please be gentle!" -Crawls very well- all over, pulls himself up, and even cruised across the coffee tab...

You can add visit to a naturopath to the list of Drs. I've seen (Christmas and New Years were wonderful by the way). The Dr. is my Dad's cousin and her office is a mere 8 minutes door to door trip from my house (while Walmart, the library, post office and almost everything is 15 minutes away. Although the outlet stores are 5. Yep, we live on a mountain right behind the Point of the Mountain Outlets- Annie's Pretzels in 5 minutes? Yes, please!). The Dr. was very sweet and told me to immediately toss all vitamins bought at Wal-mart (I agree), to eat healthy, whole food (which I will try- it's New Years, isn't it?) and to get a shot of magnesium (which I promptly received). It was a good visit but I won't be going back. I've learned a few things and one of them is- This headache is here to stay. For awhile. And I'm okay with that. (Lessons to be learned and all that). (pics of our home to follow)

In November we moved in with cousins and Josh's brother and sister in law in Draper, Utah. For about 5 weeks. They have five kids, we have five kids. It was quite the party! Lots of time was spent playing with cousins, visiting the Draper Temple and enjoying the lack of snow but cooler temps. And it did snow a little for one day- and then promptly melted- my favorite kind of snow!  Thanksgiving came and went and was delicious! This little one loved his first Thanksgiving!  At the local library.  At the Bean Museum, that has been renovated (so cool by the way!). I'm married to this handsome man! I'm such a lucky woman!  Elizabeth at the Bean Museum The park in Draper where they put a lot of lights on one tree and they call it The Tree of Life. It is gorgeous.  Meeting our newest cousin- Emeric- so cute!!  Declan learning to stand- this is his favorite place to go and try and climb.  Jonah in the...

This last month was filled with packing, cleaning, saying Good-byes and moving. It was busy, hectic and quite stressful. I need to remember this next time we move.   Baby in a Box! Baby on a walk!   A Smiling Baby! We had a farewell party and the boys invited their friends over for games and pizza.   More Friends! D. turned 7 months old! He started sitting (he now crawls and pulls himself up), got two teeth and decided to be a terrible teether- up all night, congested, unable to breathe. Poor baby! He's doing the same all over again now with his top two teeth except he can breathe better. And we packed up and moved to Draper, Utah, to live with Josh's brother until we find a place of our own or until the end of the year.  

Jonah is thankful for Chocolate. I am too! At Church today, I heard something neat:  "The difference between Gratitude and being Thankful is the act of showing it." (or something to that effect)- whether it's taking care of the things we have been blessed with, or showing appreciation for acts kindly done. And so, in an effort to be Grateful, I would like to document the things I am thankful for (that's showing, right?). -The realization that health- and not wealth is- the most important thing in life. -The goodness of dear, kind friends who help when help is needed. -Good books to read. -Hot Chocolate -Phone calls from home from Mom or Dad. -A healthy Grandmother and those that care for others -Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays -Comedy videos on Youtube (Ryan Hamilton) -Jimmy Fallon -Temples -Dogs -Jewelry - Neighbors who are kind and loving -Pizza -English Muffin Pizzas -Chocolate Pie -Sea Turtles I'm off to take a ...

And now blogging from Draper, Utah--- October was the kid's Fall Break and we headed out to Southern California (and mid California) to see both sides of our families and Grandparents for the kids. It was the first time Josh's Parents met Declan and it was so good for them to see him! Our first stop was Victorville and after seeing my Parents, we walked to my sister's new house a few blocks away. It was great to see them and we loved Quincy's 2 year old exclamation "We have black widows!" Arthur, Declan's cousin that is 2 month's older- is the same length as Declan! What a tall baby! Fox is teaching 5th grade this year and it keeps him super busy! Amy is home schooling her two little ones and is probably equally as busy!   Arthur and Declan- cousins two months apart.   Aunt Amy and Arthur   We went to this really cool rock shop in Barstow, CA. We bought some metallic rock shavings, tiny geodes and an opaque white rock that shines ligh...