A spontaneous trip

We decided to take a spontaneous trip up to visit Scott’s mom.  (For those of you that know me well, you will know that this is completely against my character.  But we needed a change of pace and work gave me 3 days of unrequested vacation time.)  Lily loved spending time with her Grandma Charlotte.  We wish we could have visited with Grandpa Michael, too, but he was out of town on business.

We did a lot of fun things: attended an elementary school dancing and drumming concert, went to the movie “Planet 51,” and took Lily sledding.

Lily quickly learned that it was more fun to go sledding with Daddy.  He would take Lily head first.  They also made snow angels together, and threw snowballs at Mommy.

After a while, Lily decided she would rather sit on a rock and watch us sled.  We were so proud of Lily when she decided to go down in the sled all by herself.  She was such a big girl!

 

We did take Lily over to see her Great-Grandma Allen, too.  But Grandma Allen was about to get in the bath and was not about to let me take any pictures of her.

Monster and Gremlin

So as most of you know, Lily’s nickname is “Monster” and has been ever since she was a tiny baby. I don’t even really remember how the nickname got started anymore. But we call her “The Monster” of “Lily Monster” or just “Monster” all the time.

 

We’ve already come up with a nickname for our unborn baby boy Zeke (Isaac) as well. Every night just past midnight, he decides that it’s time to play. Candice hardly even notices him all day long until midnight, and then at 12am sharp, it’s circus time! Because of his love of the nightlife and the midnight hour, we’ve decided to name him “Gremlin”.

I only hope that he’s cuter than a gremlin though!

Zeke in the daytime                      Zeke after midnight

Lights of the Season

Last Thursday, while we were visiting my family, we decided it would be fun to go see the local light display.  They have over 1/2 a million lights shaped like various plants and animals.  Lily loved all the lights!

We had fun looking for the different animals made out of lights: an alligator, a monkey, a spider, a macaw, and a slug (just to name a few).  We had a friendly competition to see who could find the slug first.  Mickayla tried to cheat by walking ahead of us, but in the end, I found the slug first! 

Lily was really good, and stayed in her stroller the whole time.  She thought it was fun to play peak-a-boo with us.

A kind stranger offered to take a picture of all of us together.  I’m glad Mom, Reed & Mic went with us.  It made it a lot more fun.  Plus, Lily loved Uncle Reed sharing some of his cookie with her.

Baby “Beaman’s” Name Revealed! [Updated]

I told you all that Candice and I wanted to settle early on a name for our baby this time, unlike we did with Lily, where she went the first 16 hours after being born without a name. This time we wanted to decide on a name quicker and let everyone know. We also said that as soon as we had decided, it would be final. So here it is: His first name will be Isaac! We will be calling him Zeke for short. The middle name is not yet decided though. We have concluded that the middle name will depend on the day that Isaac is born. He’s due on my dad’s birthday, April 5, so we’re considering naming him after my dad in some way or another.

The name Isaac comes with some family history. Isaac Wardle was a Mormon Pioneer, the first of my family to join the church. Beginning his arduous journey as a convert from Liverpool England, he crossed the plains to the Salt Lake Valley as a member of the ill-fated Martin handcart company (click here to read a brief journal excerpt from him regarding his immigration from England to the United States and his experience in crossing the plains with the handcart company).

Isaac Wardle was one of only a handful of pioneers that is honored with his name being placed on the Brigham Young monument at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.   He was instrumental in the building of Zion in the early days of the church’s history,  and was the instigator of a legacy of Mormon faithful that now expands many generations to follow, including my grandmother Reah Wardle (maiden name) and my Late father Jerry, on down to me and my family now. He’s a man I have admired my whole life, and I’ve long awaited giving a son his name in honor of one of my great-grandfathers, a pioneer and a saint.

Three years ago, when Candice & I were expecting Lily, we had settled on the name Isaac if we were having a boy.  So it was only natural that when we found out we were having a son, that we would want to use the name Isaac. We also wanted to honor my dad, especially where our son is due on his birthday.  We debated how we should honor him, and finally decided that our son’s middle name will be either my dad’s first or middle name.

It’s time for Christmas!

I love this time of year!  I love how people are nicer.  I love the decorations and lights.  I even love the music playing in the stores.  (That says a lot, because I’m forced to listen to it continually at work.)  I was so excited to set up decorations with Lily this year.  Lily was excited too.  It amazes me how much she remembers from last year.

  

She was very excited to inspect everything, put the star on the tree and start hanging ornaments.  Her excitement lasted for 10 minutes, and then she decided she would rather dance to Christmas music and watch “A Muppet Christmas Carol” while Scott and I finished setting up the decorations.  Here are the finished results: our Christmas tree, the Native American Nativity, and our stockings.

    

Lily did come back to help me set up the olive wood Nativity Set.  She decided that two of the wise men should be looking over baby Jesus more closely this year (I normally display them traveling to see baby Jesus).

A Day Away

I wanted to do something fun with Lily on my day off.  When we were eating breakfast this morning, I asked her, “Where would you like to go today?”  I was expecting her to say the park or her friends’ house.  Instead, she instantly replies, “Depot!” 

It looks like I’m on my own to come up with a fun activity.

Thanksgiving Festivities

This year, Mom’s two sisters came up for Thanksgiving.  It was so much fun to have them visit.  I think we all agree they should do it again . . . but there was some grumbling about the long drive in winter conditions.  (Not that I blame them for grumbling about it.  I’m not volunteering to cross two passes during the winter.)

Wednesday was spent site seeing.  Mom treated us to the Science Center (which included seeing “A Christmas Carol” in 3D at the IMAX).  Lily quickly informed me it was a “scary movie,” crawled on my lap and refused to look at the screen.  We also went on the Underground Tour.  I would highly recommend that to anyone who hasn’t gone.  (Warning: there are rats down there.  Our tour guide saw one during our tour. Yucky!)

Here is how everyone prepared for Thanksgiving dinner:

  

Scott was banished to his computer to write a 12 page paper; Mom, Cathy, Anita, Erin & I made dinner; Dad, Larry, and Reed watched football; and Lily & Will built block towers.

Then it was time for the Thanksgiving Day Flag Football Game:

Nikki, Ryan, Corey, Erin & Reed showing their tough sides.  I love this picture.  It totally cracks me up!  I was a little disappointed when they came back.  Ryan was the only one dirty, and it was on his back:

After dinner, we had pie and played games (two of my favorite things about Thanksgiving).  I think I need to add a new pie to my list of favorite pies: Aunt Cathy’s apple cherry pie.  It’s delicious!

Lily loved spending time with everyone, especially, her Grandma and Papa.

After a fun filled day, Will fell sound asleep.  I love his crazy raccoon hair and bare belly!

We have so much to be thankful for this year.  We have been so blessed.  I’m so glad our nation takes time each year to stop and remember the blessings God has given us.

The best way to wake up . . .

is a hot, relaxing shower.  Unfortunately, our water heater went out over the weekend so I woke up to icy cold water.  It definitely wasn’t my preferred way of waking up.  Luckily, our landlord came over this afternoon and spent two hours installing a new water heater for us.  (It’s times like this that I love renting instead of owning.)

An Early Thanksgiving Dinner

Scott’s family had a great idea of celebrating Thanksgiving a few days early.  It allowed all of us to get together and celebrate.  Naturally, there was a little chaos getting 13 adults and 5 children together in one room, but I think we all still had fun.  There was good food, and entertaining company.  What more can you ask for?

Apparently, I forgot to have someone take a picture of me . . . that’s okay.  Grandpa Michael took enough pictures of me eating to make up for it (he was sitting across the table from us).

The cousins had a lot of fun playing together. They loved to chase each other and play with the Fussball table.  Unfortunately, the Lily & the boys were running around too quickly for me to ever get a photo of them together.

The adults played a few rounds of This vs. That (a very fun game I would recommend to anyone that likes word games) and then a game Maddy put together for us.

She printed off 9 8-1/2 x 11 pages that when put together made a picture of someone in the family.  She did this for 6 photos.  We were put in pairs and assigned a member of the family’s photo to assemble.  We didn’t know which picture it was, just who we were looking for.  The pages were all face down, so we had to pull a page out at a time, determine if it was ours or draw another picture.  (We were too busy running around to take pictures of us playing the game.)  Grandpa Michael and I were on a team.  We weren’t very good, but we had a lot of fun.  We only had 2 of the 9 pages of our picture when the game was over.  In our defense, we had the hardest picture to assemble.

Chocolate Milk

Candice and I were lying in bed not sleeping this morning but not wanting to get up yet either. Suddenly we heard Lily in her bedroom shout, “I want chocolate milk!” Assuming that she had just woken up and was ready to get up, Candice got up to check on her in her room.

However, when Candice looked into her room, Lily was still sound asleep. Apparently she was dreaming about chocolate milk and shouted out in her sleep that she wanted some. We both laughed at the realization that Lily is exactly the same in her sleep as she is in real life.

Our little man . . .

That’s right . . . we found out bright and early this morning that we’re having a baby boy!  When Scott told Lily, she replied, “I want a sister.”  Up until today, she has told us that she wants “a brother and a sister.”

The baby is big and healthy.  The doctor thinks he stands a good chance at being bigger than Lily (8 lbs 15 oz).  Oui!  But I can’t complain.  This pregnancy has been so easy for me.  I just hope the delivery follows suit.

(his feet)

Now we just need to decide on a name . . . which is easier said than done.  (Apparently, Scott and I have very different taste when it comes to boy names.)

Welcome Home Uncle Reed!

Lily was excited all week for her Uncle Reed to come home.  After praying for him every night, and drawing pictures for him for two years, she was looking forward to Reed coming home.  She informed Scott and me several times that Uncle Reed is her friend, not ours and that he’s going to take her to the park and go down the slide.

She wanted to make sure we didn’t leave her at home, so she decided to pack herself in our suitcase!

When we got to the airport, there was a lot of waiting around.  Naturally, Reed was the last one off the plane!

 

(Mom, Ann & Erin took pictures of Reed, but we video taped him, so I don’t have any photos to post of his actual arrival.)

We had a lot of fun that weekend welcoming Reed back to non-missionary life.  We played games, went shopping for clothes (he came home with practically nothing), and did a lot of catching up.

Lily informed me today that she “likes Uncle Reed.”

We’re glad you’re home Reed!

Halloween

We took Lily down to my parent’s house for Halloween.  We had a lot of fun going to Mickayla’s soccer game, trunk or treating at the church . . .

 

trick or treating, and going to a Halloween party with Erin, Mickayla, and Will

 

I love how all six of us matched the farm theme even though we had planned our costumes separately.

Celebrating Fall

A week ago, I came home to a very excited Lily Monster.  She went with her dad to the store and bought a pumpkin!  While Scott did homework, Lily & I painted her pumpkin (or rather Lily painted her pumpkin while I did the only thing Lily would let me do: supervise). She had a blast mixing all the different colored paints on her pumpkin.  After it dried, I painted a spider, spider web & the words Happy Halloween.  I need to take a picture of the finished product.

Last week, I took Lily to a local pumpkin patch.  We had fun petting the animals, going on a wagon ride, exploring the very muddy corn maze, and eating pumpkin pie together.

On Saturday, our ward had an early Halloween party that Scott took Lily to.  Isn’t my daughter the cutest chicken ever?  She even bawks when she wears her costume!

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

This lady makes beautiful costumes, and is giving this set away. I can't believe she can stand to part with it, after working so hard on it for so long.

Publish Post

Scott loves Alice in Wonderland, so I know he would love it if we won the costumes and Lily could dress up like Alice or the Queen of Hearts.

Oldgeezer Says . . . My Personal Blog Moved

I don’t know how many of you actually followed my private blog, but I decided to discontinue it, and start a new one that I titled “Oldgeezer Says . . .” I decided, like Erin, that I just wanted to have somewhere that I could go to share my ideas, and I didn’t like the name of my old blog or it’s URL because it didn’t really speak to the purpose I wanted. Oldgeezer Says . . . is intended for my ideas on life, politics, technology, and just about anything else I deem worthy to discuss. So it’s sort of a broad range of my ramblings if you will.

 

Because I will discuss some things political, it may be a slight bit controversial to some. Feel free to disagree with my opinions and comment in support or in opposition to them if you like. I don’t claim to be an expert in any particular topic, so I accept difference of opinion. I only ask that all comments be pointed to the discussed topics and not made into personal attacks. I promise to do the same.

If you want to check out my blog visit:

http://oldgeezersays.blogspot.com/

October Kids’ Clinic

Home Depot has free Kids’ Clinics the first Saturday morning of every month.  The kids get to build the monthly project with the help of their parents, and get a pin for their Kids’ Clinic workshop.  I wasn’t scheduled to work until 12, so I decided to take Lily to the clinic.

Lily had a lot of fun going to Home Depot with me.  We made a fire station savings bank together, met paramedics and firefighters, and went inside an ambulance.  Lily loved being inside the ambulance and talking to the paramedics and firefighters.  It was a fun mommy-daughter outing.

Scott’s 30th Birthday

I couldn’t let Scott turning 30 go unnoticed.  We went out for lunch at Red Robin for his birthday.  Of course, I made sure the waitress knew why we were there so that she could embarrass Scott with balloons, ice cream, and a song.  Scott was kind and shared his balloons and ice cream with Lily.

That weekend, we had a party at our friends’ house to celebrate.  We didn’t get a group picture, so just image 3 families running around.  Thanks Mike & Tiffany for letting us use your house for the festivities!

Scott’s brother, Shane, and his family came up to help celebrate too.  They got caught in traffic and couldn’t make it until the end of the party, but Scott and Lily got to hang out with them the next day.

Dacian liked to hold Lily’s hand and lead her around to various places.  Lily didn’t seem to mind at first, but then she got tired of holding hands.  I think it’s cute!

Thank you to everyone that made Scott’s birthday special!

Did he really just ask me that?

Today, my supervisor gave us a list of stuff to do before we left.  It was a long list that mainly consisted of heavy lifting, which I can’t do.  That left me with the “clean the bird poo off the vanity mirror signage” assignment.  Not a task I was excited for.  I slipped my wedding ring off and put on some no so fashionable latex gloves.

I went over to the appliance department to get the cleaning supplies when a spotted two customers and no sales associate.  They needed help, so I paged for Ric to return to his department.  While I waited for Ric’s arrival, the customer (a male in his late thirties or early forties) told me what he was looking for.  I tried to look at our displays and identify the right product.

While I’m looking, he asked me, “Did it hurt?” Oh no.  I know where this is headed. “Did what hurt.”  “Did it hurt when you fell out of heaven?”  Did he seriously just ask me that question. “Yes!”  I continue looking for the product, hoping that I just shut him up.  Nope.  “Someone as beautiful as you has to be heavenly.”  Dang it!  My ring is in my pocket.  This guy can seriously not be finding these latex gloves attractive. Give me a break!  “Thank you.  My husband thinks so, too.” He stares at me while I look for the product.  “I don’t see your wings, so you must not be an angel. You must be a goddess.”  Wow. This guy doesn’t quit. I wish I had thought of a quick come back like, “Are you practicing your lines for the bar, because these aren’t working?”  Instead, I just said, “Thanks.  Ric will be here in a minute to help you,”  and walked off.

I was so relieved to go clean bird poo.

I’m Not The Man I Want To Be

I haven’t written poetry since I was like 10 years old. And honestly, I don’t even like poetry most of the time. But today something just came over me, not sure what, but I just felt like writing a poem. I can’t say I’ve ever had that feeling before. But anyway, just thought I’d share the end result. Click on the picture to enlarge the photo to make reading easier.