3.23

We went to Bloomfield for Melinda's birthday. Courtney and her kids came down from Utah for it as well.

Gabriella and Christopher holding the babies

 The amazing ice cream cake that Courtney made.

He's only happy when I eat if I let him feel very involved.

Where's Benjamin?

We take turns with Benjamin at church since we both teach. 

 Family Picture

My mom, Faith and I drove to Grand Junction, CO for Nonie Birkedahl's funeral. She was our first music teacher and taught us all a ton. We spent many hours at her house. It was nice to see lots of people from GJ and have some closure since I was in Oklahoma when my family moved!

The boys had a fun time together

I love these faces!

He takes such good naps with other people! Here Joy is babysitting him while I teach.

Playing with his toys

Lamoni is really good at getting him asleep. And himself asleep.

Feeling all grown up in his new high chair

Next baby we are getting a swing like the one Faith and Jason have. He takes such good naps in it!

At the Unser Racing Museum. The museum is only 3 minutes from our house and it's pretty neat! I had no idea we had something so cool so close.

Lamoni had spring break last week so on one of the two free days he had we drove up to Sandia crest. We couldn't walk around much because they hadn't cleared the trails of snow, but we had a nice picnic and enjoyed the fresh air.

On our trip to Denver for a business conference. I forgot the nipple to the bottle and we weren't able to stop and feed him when he wanted. I tried having him drink out of the bottle like a cup but he didn't like that very much. So he resorted to this.

When that failed to satisfy him and we had 40 minutes still before we could stop to feed him I bit out of my apple and let him suck on it. That was his first "food"! It kept him busy the full 40 minutes. Later that night Lamoni let him suck on a strawberry he bit out of. I don't want him to eat til he can eat our real food. No baby food making for me!!

Playing peek-a-boo can be a dangerous thing when he has long nails.

This is what he tries to do when we wrap him up to go to sleep....get an arm out. He is so proud of himself when he's able to do it!

His new thing is sucking on his bottom lip. I'm worried it'll get a sore but it's his favorite thing to do and of course there's no stopping him!

After teaching one morning at 7 a.m. I came back to this! (note how Benjamin has already started the sideways sleeping position)

3.18.14

Just a couple quick cute things that Benjamin's been doing lately. He has said "dada" before, but tonight he was going crazy saying "dadadadadadada" on and off all night. Lamoni came home early from class with another terrible migraine so I'd like to think it brightened up his night hearing his son say his name nonstop. :-) I know Benjamin probably doesn't know what he's saying but it's still adorable.

He also tries so hard to scoot! It really frustrates him. He rolls to his tummy (he rolls all over the place), and puts his arms and legs up in the air like he's swimming. Then he puts his feet on the floor and pushes with all his might...usually resulting in a few foofers. Then he very loudly complains when it doesn't work. The complaining includes a few "dadas."

He gives the biggest smiles whenever we smile at him or walk by a mirror. He LOVES playing. He's even figuring out peek a boo. If I'm going back and forth between places I come out of for peek a boo he anticipates where I'll be coming out of next!

He still gets the hiccups when he laughs. Melinda told me Lamoni would get them when he laughed too. It's cute to hear a big giggle and then a big hiccup! When he gets really excited he throws his arms down and hits his stomach with his hands. It's so forceful you can hear it! I'm surprised he doesn't have bruises yet.

I'd better go. He's loudly complaining "dadadadadadada!"

Everyday Life

Studying with Dad. 

 

 The only way he'll fall asleep is if we wrap him up really tight. 

                Talking to Jesus' picture                                               

1. All ready for church at Grandma and Grandpa Sam's house  

2. Walking around the house entertaining him

 This is his new favorite thing. He's only happy in it if we stay in front of him, however. Always within eyesight...

 He already loves to drive!

 At dinner together

Grandma Mary and Grandpa Harry's Birthdays

We drove up last weekend to celebrate Grandma Mary's and Grandpa Harry's 79th and 80th birthdays at the Sam's house. The original plan was for just Lamoni and Jason to go since it would be a lot of driving for just a few hours, but as we were leaving for church we all decided to go. So we left at 1:30ish, got there at 4:30 then turned around and came home at 9! It was a nice time, though, and Benjamin of course slept the entire way there and back. He sleeps really well with white noise. That's the only way we can get him to stay asleep at home is to turn on a toy that makes the ocean sound! Luckily Faith thought to give that to us when he was newborn and having difficulty sleeping. The only bad thing is that is has a timer for 45 minutes, so within minutes of it going off he wakes up!

Benjamin is 18 pounds now and puts EVERYTHING in his mouth still. Including cousin Jared's hands. It was the funniest things I've ever witnessed. They were next to each other and Benjamin lunged himself as far sideways as he could and started to grab Jared's sleeve so he could get his hand. Jared was screaming and flailing his arms so Benjamin started screaming because Jared wouldn't give him his hand. Eventually Benjamin one and got his hand and plopped the whole thing in his mouth while Jared was still upset. We laughed so hard. Poor Jared is supposed to be friends with Benjamin, not grow up being scared of him!! It doesn't help that he's so big and makes scary sounds. He also salivates when he there's something that he's trying to reach to eat.

Benjamin attacking Jared

He grabbed Jared's hand and stuck it in his mouth!

Last week (this was written a few weeks ago and I'm just now posting it) I was planning on going to a mommy/baby group at the birth center where Benjamin was supposed to make his appearance. The night before, though, Heidi Smith from church, invited us to go with her and baby Ruth to the library for story and song time for 0-2 year olds. That was fun. There were about 30 babies/parents there! I looked for moms with babies Benjamin's age and talked to them. A few of them were smaller than him but I didn't meet a baby younger than 6 months old and he was 3 months at the time! Everyone comments on how he has such a wise look. He makes eye contact with anyone who talks to him and his big thing now is to grunt back. He thinks he's talking - it's so cute. He also smiles at anyone who will give attention to him and is a big favorite because of that!

Lamoni has been going to school full-time and working still. He just got a raise! School has been hard on him this semester because he has his Associate's now so he had to transfer to Highlands University for his Bachelor's. It's a lot more intense and he doesn't agree with everything that's being taught so it's very draining for him. I'll be excited when he's done (and I'm sure he will too!)! 6-8 more semesters til he has his Master's and can be done!

Grandma Mary, Grandpa Harry and Aunt Marilyn. We gave Grandpa Harry a ride back afterwards and while talking found out that he used to be a code talker in the war! That was neat to learn.

I had to throw this one in there. :-)

Las Vegas

We got home from Europe on Monday night. We were home Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, then left early Friday morning for Las Vegas! We had Winter Conference for our business there! Wow. 9 hours there then we left Saturday at midnight and drove 9 hours back. Lamoni couldn't get Friday and Saturday off from work so soon after our Europe trip so he flew to Vegas after work on Saturday. He arrived Saturday p.m., was there for the evening session and then turned around and drove back with us! I drove there with Sara (Joseph's wife), Jacob and Benjamin. Benjamin slept most of the time, making us stop 3 times to eat and change explosive diapers! On the way back, early Sunday morning, we met up with Mommy and Daddy who were also driving back, gave Sara and Jacob to them, and took a detour to Bloomfield to see Mel and Melinda for the rest of Sunday and drove back to Albuquerque Monday night so I could teach at 7 a.m.! I think others would say we're crazy and I think I'd agree!

In the mother's room at the function

Backstage with Grandpa. Grandma Kara and Grace also took turns holding him so I could sit in the meeting with Lamoni!

Europe Trip - Switzerland

On the train going from Vienna to Zurich. It was absolutely gorgeous! About 9 hours long, but it was like being on a scenic tour train. We stayed in Winterthur, just outside of Zurich, with the Neukomm family. Jenifer Neukomm was one of my last mission companions. After a day with them the father and Jenifer took us up to their family cabin in the mountains for a few days. It was like heaven! It was everything I've ever stereotyped the alps as. It was one of my favorite stops.

 If you've been to Ouray, CO you know that its nickname is Little Switzerland. It's completely true. There were so many little villages that reminded us so much of Ouray. Here is a view of some mountains from the train.

 A castle on the hill. Mountains surrounding us and crossing an idyllic river.

Benjamin loved looking out the windows of the trains. 

We took a train to see a fortress.

 Here is the valley where we stayed for a couple days in their family cabin. It was idyllic. We stayed in their family's 200+ year old cabin that still had ancient furniture and keepsakes inside. It was like a museum. They even had the stove that you had to put the fire in and the big ceramic fireplace that took up a chunk of the living room. 

Here is the view from the top of the mountain where we hiked.

 We took a lift up to the top of the mountain where there is a ski village that only has horse drawn buggies, ATVs and miniature trucks, because they don't have any way to transport cars up there! It was an hour walk to go to their cousin's restaurant that is only accessible by foot.

    

Here is their family's restaurant. They either raise/grow all the food or else it has to be brought in by helicopter!

Inside the restaurant. Benjamin was happy because after sleeping in the wrap (Lamoni carried him both ways!) the entire hike he proceeded to explode his diaper and soaked through everything, including his snow suit! 

I can't believe this is the only picture we have of Jenifer. We must have more pictures somewhere. Our camera broke on the train ride to Switzerland so it was hard to take pictures! These are all from Lamoni's iphone.

We did a whole bunch of fun things in Switzerland. Next time we go back we'll have to go with lots of money because it's EXPENSIVE!!! We toured Laderach chocolate factory, saw a family dairy in the tiny village, walked around Wintertur, made Mexican food for the Neukomm family and much more!