Fancy Pajamas

Last week when we were at Grandma Stephens' house she put Bentley in these jammies to send him home. Yes they were too big for him, but they fit Hudson like a glove. She had them stashed in the hallway closet. Chod refers to them as the "dorky jammies". Last night after Hudson's bath these were the only pjs I had that would fit him. As he was running around the house in them Chod started laughing. "Those were Kensey's!" Kensey is Chod's younger brother. He is 24. Which makes these pajamas at least 23 years old. Nothing like an antique pair of pajamas. Anyway they made Hudson super happy. I think he felt stylin in them, cause well he was.

Buyer's Remorse

Everyone gets it. I get it no matter how long and hard I look into a purchase before making it I can always find reasons why I shouldn't have bought it.

Today I have it.

This morning Chod noticed on his fare watcher that tickets to Hawaii had dropped significantly. This afternoon we bought them. Buyer's remorse. I am excited to go to Hawaii, although I'm not sure what we will do once we are there, but it is Hawaii so it is bound to be new and fun. I can't decide if the cost of this trip is causing this, or if the thought of leaving Bentley for 7 days is already causing heart ache. Chod keeps reminding me that we can take him with us-maybe we will-maybe we won't. Chod is so excited to be going, so that is good. Maybe his enthusiasm will rub off on me.

What's something you have suffered over the purchase of?

Thanks Bob

Dad just shared this story with me and I thought it was blog-worthy.

A couple weeks ago at the Cassia County Fair Mom and Dad ran into Ryn Beck. He asked how Karisa and I were doing. They told them we were both doing good and in the Blackfoot area. Ryn mentioned that Blackfoot was a bad place for West Nile. This was just after I had posted about Chod diagnosing me with WV, so Dad said, "Yeah, Nik thinks she has it."

Speed up to today. Dad was leaving choir practice and saw Bob and Gale (Ryn's parents) in the hallway. They asked Dad how I was doing and he told them fine. They then mentioned that West Nile was awful stuff-it then hit Dad what they were talking about. He then had to explain that I didn't really have it, my husband had just diagnosed me. Bob then confessed that he has been really worried and can now stop mentioning me in his prayers!

I always knew Bob was a good egg. We have a good bond. He helped me when I was stranded in Russia and now he has been praying for my life. Its nice to know I have people who worry about me. Thanks Bob.

Front row for us

Today we sat on the front row at church. Looks like it may be our "new" spot. We used to sit on the front row, but since moving here we haven't had the courage to walk to the front and we usually arrive just as church is starting-another reason we have been back rowers. Bentley really liked having the bench to roll around on versus the chairs in the gym. And there is so much happening at the front. The conductor, the deacons, the speakers, the bishopric, and don't let's not forget all the people behind us. He loved standing up and looking back.

He was so good, the best he has ever been. We'll be moving up for sure.

A Quarter

Last night as we were returning from our spur of the moment, very short, but very productive trip to Logan we stopped at Maverick so Chod could get a drink. As I was sitting in the car waiting I noticed a payphone. I know they are almost extinct now, and why shouldn't they be even 6 year olds have cell phones. I was surprised to see that a payphone now costs $1! What happened to a quarter? I remember when they used to tell you to take a quarter with you in case you needed to call home. Then it changed to $0.35. A quarter and a dime, okay. And now its $1. I don't think I am that old, that inflation has pushed the price so high. $1 does let you call anywhere in the US, but it didn't say for how long. So now you wad a dollar bill in your shoe when you leave the house, not nearly the same as dropping a quarter in. No wonder everyone has cell phones.

I tried

Background info: I've been reading The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands and it is a pretty good book.

Last night I was in a hurry to get dinner fixed so it would be ready when Chod got home and I could head out the door to Enrichment. So after perusing many recipes and nothing sounding good (those that did I didn't have the necessary ingredients), I settled on one I came across in a cookbook-so it was a real recipe. I threw it together and it was lacking, so by trying to improve the flavor I doubled it in size and didn't change the flavor a whole lot. It was ready to eat as Chod got home, I handed him Bentley and left. When I got home he exclaimed,

"You've been reading The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands and you fixed this for dinner!?"

Apparentley my additives didn't do the trick, but the great part is we are eating the leftovers for dinner tonight, lucky guy!

What's the Deal

Maybe its in indelible ink on my church records or maybe its tattooed on my forhead and I have never noticed it, but in every ward I have been in since graduating from high school I have been given this calling. Enrichment. Every single ward. This ward is no exception. I am once again in Enrichment (don't worry they left me in nursery, just added to it). I'm not really complaining since I figure this will give me a chance to meet the ladies in the ward and not just 18 month olds. I do find it humurous though, its like I know what they are going to ask before they even start. Enrichment, my lifelong calling.

Mother Love

I love the new Cingular commercial, the one with the mom and daughter. For those of you who haven't seen it here's a link. I was going to type the dialogue out, but I can't do it justice.

Mother Love

I'm not sure why I find it so amusing, maybe it is just the mother/daughter relationship and no matter what the content of the converstation the tone of voice says it all. It makes me laugh everytime I see it. Whoever thought of it was a genius!

Here comes Trouble!

Good or bad I'm not sure, but this morning Bentley has figured out how to crawl forward, yesterday he mastered reverse and in circles. But now watch out! When he figured out what he was doing guess what his first stop was, yep Dad's mess of cords. He started pulling on them and got bonked on the head with a pocket PC docking station. Looks like a good reason for the stuff to leave the house!

A Bunch of Crazies

Yesterday Bentley and I ventured out into the big city of Blackfoot to run some errands. They say Utah drivers are bad, holy cow we almost died no less than 4 times. One guy was on his way through a red light, so I slammed on my breaks, only for him to realize what he was doing and come to a stop in the middle of the intersection. That was close. Parking lots, stop signs, I don't know what the deal was but no one seemed to notice or care what they were doing. Even driving down the road I saw idiotic behavior. This guy in a smoking pickup went blazing past me (at least going 50 mph). I came to a stop at a red light and guess who was sitting there next to me, yep the smoking pickup. Don't know what his hurry was, but it didn't look like he was saving any time. I was so glad to get home and off the road. There are a bunch of crazy drivers out there and I don't think I could have handled another scare.

Last night we did a practice run of our dutch oven dish we are making for the Wilkins Reunion cook-off. Fair warning to the rest of you--it is stinking good!

Who said they were extinct?

Bentley is continuing to find his voice. A high pitched squeal, that sounds much like I imagine a pterodactyl sounding. It is the funniest thing. Lots of skreeches in a row, he starts out slow but the more he skreeches the more he likes it and the louder he gets. He continues to a point that drives me crazy. Then takes a break long enough for me to prepare for the next round.

He also sings in the bathtub-pretty sure he's a soprano. Its cute to hear him in there splashing and singing. He loves looking at himself in the little overfill drain cirlce on the side of the tub. He sings the baby in the circle songs, and the baby sings along.

Bentley and Pink

There was a little girl, probably just over a year old, sitting in front of us in sacrament meeting today. She was cute, wearing a little pink dress with pink little bows in her hair and a pink neckale on. Bentley stared at her the whole time. His eyes followed her, wherever she wandered. I leaned over and whispered to Chod. "I think Bentley has a crush on this girl." Chod agreed.

Then we went to nursery. A different little girl with a pink dress on was there. Bentley once again set his gaze on her.

Now I am not sure if it was a crush or if my little boy just likes girls in pink dresses.

Honeycomb

No one has found the Honeycomb. Bentley is feeling sad because it was his contribution to the photos. So, $1 to the first person to correctly locate Bentley's honeycomb in the mess of pictures below. Pretend its Waldo and start looking....$1!

Little Beaver

Bentley started using my coffee table legs as chew posts this morning. He rolls over and gnaws on them. I pick him up and move him and he rolls right back over and starts chewing. He has taken paint off, if this doesn't stop the table is going to be 3 inches shorted because of this gnawing. Maybe a puppy would be easier, at least I could lock a puppy in another room. I'll post a picture as soon as I catch him in the act. I usually walk over and he stops--he knows it is wrong.

Precision Ag Lab

We are running our own precision ag lab in our front room. For those of who you saw Chod's lab while he was at Utah State you will have a pretty good idea of what I am talking about, for those who never saw it let me describe. On the long counter in our kitchen (luckily it is on the front room side) we have 1 laptop, 1 desk top computer, and 2 pocket PCs charging. Now keep in mind this is all UI equipment, our personal computers are within 3 feet of the mess, making it looking only more labish. With all the electronic equipment comes cords-a tangled mess of cords. I am really hoping this doesn't last much longer, it is such an eye sore. As I am writing this Chod continues to pull stuff out, "You need a GPS unit if this is really going to be a precision ag lab." So the photos don't so a GPS unit, but believe me it is there now. I don't know if I need actually need to put in words how un-happy this makes me, but believe me un-happy is just the beginning. All of it will be re-located to his office in Aberdeen (long story) in the near future.

The only conclusion that I have come to is that Chod is home sick and misses the tangled lab in the basement of the Ag Sci building.

P.S. The Honeycomb is contributed to this blog by Bentley. Can you see it?

And then there were three

After many days of crankiness and drool the third little tooth in Bentley's mouth has come through. Its on the top and he isn't very willing to share. When I try to feel it, he clamps his jaws shut and shakes his head back and forth. I am pretty sure I can feel it though. Please tell me that teething gets easier the more teeth they have, cause I don't like having a grumpy baby. Ibuprofen has become my new best friend (and probably Bentley's too).

Tag Team

I put the pictures of Hudson and Bentley we had taken last week on a slide bar over in the column. That was quite an adventure. We were a few minutes late getting there to start the whole thing off. When we got to the mall both boys were asleep. Bentley woke up a little more quickly than Hudson did, but when we got inside they were both stinky. Luckily Penney's was running behind and not waiting for us, so we changed them both and tired to make them as alert as possible. It was a tag team, Bentley crying-Hudson smiling, Hudson glaring-Bentley smiling. The photographer was pretty good with them but had a really high shrilly voice and I think some of the crying was caused by that.

I think they turned out pretty well and make me laugh just looking at them. What silly boys they are. Next time maybe we'll try to plan around nap times.

Lucky Dog

Chod got pulled over today. He's registration has expired, his blinkers don't work, and he didn't have a current insurance paper. Guess what the officer said, "You need to get these taken care of. Have a nice day." What the heck!? I'm not complaining about not having a ticket to pay, but seriously who gets off of 3 offenses?

Attack of the Bottle

I think this picture is a funny one of Bentley. I gave him his bottle and when I came back he was covered in milk! The bottle won this round.

Sleepless in Island Park

I don't know what Bentley's deal was this weekend, but like mom's blog says we went to Island Park with them. There was so much to see and so much going on that Bentley fought falling asleep, and once he was asleep it never lasted very long. He woke up every hour on the half hour Saturday night-1:30, 2:30, 3:30, 4:30, 5:30, and was up for good at 6:30. He didn't nap on Sunday although his eyelids were so heavy. I've learned that when he doesn't sleep I am very grouchy.

Sunday we went to the Island Park 9:00 am sacrament meeting. It was a packed house. The cultural hall was completely full and when I took Bentley out I learned that every room in the church was full as well as most of the hall ways. Where was I supposed to take a crying baby as not to disrupt others meeting? We ended up in between the double doors with me singing/praying he would go to sleep and him crying. I thought I had him out, when a man walked in and said "Hello!" Ahhh--WHAT WAS HE THINKING!!! Bentley immediately jerked back to life, so no nap during church.

Bentley has taken good naps today, so I am crossing my fingers that we are back on schedule.

West Nile

Chod is convinced I had West Nile when I was sick a few weeks ago. Apparently I had a few of the symptoms, including the weird spots. My right hand broke out with this weird pattern of spots from my fingers part way up my arm. Yes Chod, the soil scientist, diagnosed me.

You need to remember that I went to the doctor, was diagnosed with innner ear infection and when I asked about the spots on my hand I was told that the antibiotic should clear it up, but if not I should go back in a few weeks and have blood work done. The spots are still visible, but have significantly faded.

If it was West Nile I had-I want you all to know that it wasn't nearly has bad as they make it seem. I don't know what all the hype was for. A few spots, some throwing up and head spinning and it is all over.

Bottle Boy

Bentley now prefers his bottle over his mom. I don't know if this makes him feel all grown up or what the deal is. It could be that he likes to roll around with the bottle in his mouth and watch everything that is going on and I don't let him do that. Usually he has to have his head covered by a blanket-and he hates that. He may think he is all grown up and doesn't need his mom any more, but like I told him yesterday-he still needs me cause he can't make his own bottle!

THUD

This is how he sleeps, sprawled out with his froggie covering his face-goofy kid.
Bentley has gone from sleeping in his carseat straight to a big boy twin bed. Why? Because its the only place we have found he will sleep. At first I was a little worried because he is so mobile, but he has never even rolled over on the bed, well until yesterday. I was on the computer and I heard him in there talking like he does. He sounded so happy so I didn't worry too much about him. Then all of a sudden there was a loud thud and then screaming. Yep people he had fallen off his bed. I ran in there picked him up, and the crying immediately stopped. He doesn't have a mark on him. Time to find some guard rails.

Spit On

This morning I washed my very dirty car. As I was washing I noticed black clouds on the horizon so I thought "I'll probably get rained on so this can be more of a rinse than a wash." Well the Lafonda (the Honda) came out looking pretty dang good. We drove to Firth and then on to Idaho Falls without so much as a drop hitting us, I even managed to dodge the road-hitting sprinkles. We arrived in IF just as the storm was leaving, phew no spots there. I even made it make to Firth and was just a few miles from home when I got spit on. I am not kidding you, no more than 100 raindrops hit my car-just enought to ruin a great wash job.

Comments

I love when people leave me comments. I check my email just to see if there was a comment left. It doesn't matter what they say, I just like knowing that I provoked some kind of thought. It doesn't have to be a profound comment, just something that lets me know you understood what I was saying. So, go ahead push that little comment link and let me know you read this!

Nursery

At 7 mos. Bentley gets to start going to nursery! I don't know if his wiggling and screaming have anything to do with it, but the 1st counselor in the bishopric invited me to start taking him. He said they usually don't like to start them at this age, but...he never finished the but. Maybe it was "But he is so cute", or "But he is such an interruption to the rest of the ward", but most likely it was "But since you are going to be a nursery leader and your husband teaches the 9 year olds it looks like it is our only option".

Reunion

Saturday was the annual Parish reunion. It had fairly poor attendance and was raining when we got there. The highlight of the day was the auction. Uncle Dwight usually does the auction, but since he was AWOL Chad Jones played auctioneer. It was the funniest thing. So many people brought junk, not Junk Market junk, serious dollar store junk. Chad did nothing to raise the value of things. "Can I hear $1 for this ugly fake Barbie?" He was hilarious. Gary D. was a frequent bidder and would buy anything going for $5 or less (including an empty bag of chips Chad picked up off the table). Chad would also change prices after an auction had ended. Someone would bid $5 and Chad would say "SOlD! $10!" We ended up with a Star Wars X-wing model rocket that Chod got for $10 (but that was really the bid he gave). Lucky us.

Me, a Scrapper?

I've never really gotten into the whole scrapbooking thing. Well, unless you count when scrapbooking first started and I chopped up a bunch of photos (I still wish were whole) and stuck them on solid colored paper and plastered it with stickers (but I don't count it).

Anyway this digital scrapbooking thing has really interested me as of late. Yesterday I started downloading all sorts of free kits, and I just put together my first page. It isn't spectacular, but I had a good time doing it-which means I might continue doing it. Bentley might end up with a scrapbook after all...

I'm a Winner!

So I have played Zions Bank Cash Back Boulevard a total of 2 times, and today I got an email saying I was a winner! How exciting is that. I won 2 brunches at Atla's Rustic Lodge (if you hurry and look you can even see my name as a recent winner). In all reality we will probably never use them, but I am just excited because I won! Now I am going to play every single day and maybe I can be the grand prize winner-a trip to Cancun. If you are a Zions customer disregard this message as you playing the game will only reduce my chances of winning.

Where did my baby go?

It seems like yesterday that Bentley was a roly-poly little guy who would hold the smell of baby lotion as I held him close. Now he is a little boy. In the last few weeks he has grown 2 inches! He has slimmed down so much and is now this skinny, curious, giggly little guy who usually smells like a combination of baby food and poop. Even 20 minutes after a bath he no longer has that baby lotion smell. It is a smell I could never get enough of and would breathe deep breaths of as I held him.

I guess this little growth spurt explains why he has been sleeping so much this week. He has taken between 7-8 hours of naps every day. I guess growing takes a lot of energy.

There is no changing what is happening and I know that I can't stop him from growing up. So I will try my best to enjoy every minute of him. I love watching his face as he discovers new things, just like a little sponge absorbing everything around him. Today he was fascinated as we walked down the isles of the grocery store. I've never noticed all the variety of a grocery store before. The shelves are lined with so many things to look at-all the bright colors and different shapes. I am excited to re-discover the world with Bentley.

11 pair and not 1 decent

A little update on the work jeans. Yesterday Chod wore the forbidden-1-good-pair-of-jeans he had left to work. When he was home for lunch I asked him to change. He told me that he wasn't going to get them dirty and he just really wanted to wear a nice pair that day, and that he would be really careful. Around 6:30 he calls and says, "Hi Nik, I'm just going to be honest with you. I just sprayed sulfuric acid on myself, so my jeans are totally ruined."

I tried to warn him that on the days you try to be super careful that is the day something crazy happens and your clothes get ruined. I can't even count the number of days I was going to be really careful and ended up coming home from the lab with holes in my clothes. The joys of working around acid.

I didn't say "I told you so!" like I really wanted to. I didn't even rub it in that I was right (he already knew I was). Instead I pulled out the baking soda, made a paste and tried to salvage what was left. Looks like he now has 11 pairs of work jeans. 11! that's a lot of jeans.

Manners?

How does a 7 month old become so demanding? When Bentley is out of Honeycombs (or rather they are on the other side of the high chair tray-out of his reach) he sits there and hits his hand on the tray until more appear. Where did he learn this? Chod and I do not sit at the tabel pounding our fists until food arrives. I do not know where this behavior was learned, but I must admit that I do my part at reinforcing it, because as soon as the little hand starts hitting the tray, more Honeycombs appear. I can't wait to see what kind of bad things he picks up from pre-school, or on the bus...