greats and grands

This little bear hunter took his parents out on a trip so he could meet his great grandparents and an uncle. It was a great trip, but too quick. As they always are. Above was a picture of Mont in the Anchorage airport. you'll have to forgive most of these pictures were taken with my phone!

Mark is finally able to see his flyer-son. Mont did great (again) on these flights; all but the flight home, he was happy. SO happy. It may have helped that we were able to take his car seat along for the ride.

Mont's "conditional" Matador ... or MONTador ... costume. Mike brought it back from Espana! It's "conditional" because if/when Mike has sons he wants it back!! I can't blame him, it's too fun. Toro!

First look at Grandpa Reeder; it had been since October, so Mont needed to rememorize his face:

On Monday we jaunted down to Las Vegas to see my family. It had been 2 years since I last saw them all, and it was well past due for a visit. My Grandma let us stay with her, and it was so much fun. She had planned a dinner for us to see everyone.

Not a great picture of yours truly, but my Grandma just looks so happy here, so I had to put this one up. She is so happy around babies! And here are two granddaughters plus three great grandchildren for her to love on.

Even Megan was able to come to the dinner with her son and husband (her son William is only 2 days older than Mont - no it wasn't planned!). He is one CUTE little guy; hilarious and full of the best kind of energy - happy energy. He was grabbing Mont's hands and trying to eat them while Mont just stared at him. Maybe next time Mont will be able to keep up!

On our way back out to the airport, we swung by our old dating grounds and saw the Chinese New Year in the Bellagio Gardens. Still impressive, but not as elaborate as we remembered; I guess no one is safe from this economy!

More air travel landed us back in Utah once again.

And that just means more playing. Here is Mont atop Marty's shoulders at Grandma Reeder's house "on the farm." I love that the Reeders still have a working farm. I outfitted Mont in his plaid just for the occasion:

Then it was time to meet the Bensons. Here is Mark's Grandpa Benson, who is also his namesake. Mont has a lot to learn about his family!

And he has lots of toys to play with:

After lots of visiting, Mont learned to fall asleep in many different places; one of which, I loved to see. I love seeing Mark's family and my family interact with Mont. It brings out sides of them that you never were able to see as a child, but now get to see as an adult. Beautiful Stacey - too young and beautiful, I say! Check out Mont's thigh!! Holy ham bone:

One night before we left back for the white north, I met up with two of my freshman roommates. I love and miss these girls often. They are both in Utah, and though Ogden to Provo seems like a snap to me, these girls don't see one another that often, so it was a treat for us all!! They are still hilarious! and mighty small I might add. Jordan. Go eat a cheeseburger. oh wait, you did! haaaaaa

It was such a great, but ultra fast week. Tessa, we didn't get any pictures again!

very hungry caterpillar

In our hospital's pediatric clinic there are rooms outfitted with the cutest things. This last time (the last time was January) I was able to take some pictures on my phone of the room we were in; I was finally sneaky enough!!

Here is the cute little Montster all stripped down to his unmentionables, waiting to be poked and prodded. The staff was surprised with how many smiles they got out of him; I guess not many kids like them for some reason.

If it wasn't the doctors making him happy, then I'd imagine it was this room:

(by the door)

(walking into the room)

cute little lollipop. 

one summery piece of watermelon

Doesn't it make you want to eat something? or if you're good, just read the book again? eh. Go eat something. Calories are on me!

ARG

Anchorage Rockclimbing Gym. ARG. 

Few things are more humbling than being shown up by 7 year old spiders...
and big old hot spots on my hands!

But oh was it fun!! Hopefully I can go again soon. Real soon. ARG!

bottled sunshine

I'm no pharmacist, but I have definitely felt the 'fun' in this little pill. Meet vitamin D3, gel form:

The winters have finally hit hard. This is my 3rd winter in Alaska (2nd, full one), and it finally hit. The lack of sunshine, even with my furlough to the sunny islands, coupled with my body working overtime for my fun little squeaker, made for some unbelievably tired mornings and days.

Friends of mine up here have bounced around me proclaiming their love for this vitamin, but I didn't think the lack of sun was affecting me as much as it was.

When it hit, I rethought that previous notion.

My research led me to think that
- liquid vit. D (or gel) is most easily absorbed
- D2 is an artificial vitamin made to be given to plants, not people! Might as well take a mint
- D3 is most effective
- 2,000 IUs is what friends take up here per day
- won't affect Mont if I'm taking too much... and more than likely, I'm not taking too much
- taking Calcium with it helps absorption.

So I found Vit D3's partner in crime:

CALCIUM. 60% of the my DV. Looks like a horse pill! It's about an inch long! Holy strong bones, right? I hope so! My boy is weighing more every day, it seems. I better try to keep up.

Along with these two pills, I've begun to take a new Multi-Vitamin since I ran out of prenatals a while ago. That multi-vitamin has 10% dv of calcium, and 250% dv of d3, or 1000 IUs. So I'm now taking 2000 IUs of d3, and 70% dv of Calcium, plus lots of other good stuff.

This is my 3rd day in a row, and though my eyes could still use some more sleep, my body feels renewed and energized. And now I'm up at 12:04 am and I'm going to force myself to fall asleep so I'm not feeling like my old self again tomorrow. ha!

ps - I'm going to give my old camera a whirl again. I've not been as diligent at taking 'fun photos' like I used to... so back in the purse it's going!

4 years

This year's anniversary was the happiest of all because we had this little squeaker.
Here, he is so tired, it's just after 6 and he's been up since 2:30 (pm).
When he gets tired, he doesn't cry and scream... he laughs!

and he laughs hard:

street skating

The Reeder Olympics:

The warm(er) weather through the night brought rain. 

The rain made the snow melt.

The cold air made the snowy rain freeze. 

The ice made for some slick walkin. 

The slipping and sliding made us think of ice skating. 

Thinking of ice skating made us think of Mark's ice skates. 

Mark's ice skates have gone unused for a few years, 

so we put them to use 

on our DRIVEWAY!

Mark in his "getup." 

He had this old fashioned pilot's helmet made in Turkey

from Pop's Leather. He looked ... awesome. 

Took the bucket out to sit on 

so he wouldn't hurt the blades.

A thrilling wave from my very own Olympian: 

Here he is doing his Triple Sow Cow: 

 

But then was sick with disgust when he found out he only won Bronze.

So he took to the streets for more practice. 

George Washington

'Let your heart feel for the afflictions and distress of everyone,
and let your hand give in proportion to your purse.'

Happy President's Day

lovely lover's day!

Things we did today:

Woke up exhausted! ...(1 o'clock bedtime + 5 wake ups between then and 7:30 just doesn't cut it anymore..)
Gave Mont a bath ...(Buckwheat's turn tomorrow... dang it. Mont is so much more fun to bathe!)
Nap for Mont ...(lucky feller!)
Spiraled my hair ...(hello Jose Eber curling wand!)
Dressed for church ...(I love that part of Sundays!)
Mark gave a talk in Sacrament ...(very wonderful... made me cry!)
Cried some more in Relief Society ...(happy-lovey days make me weepy, I guess)
Mont finally napped at 5 o'clock ... (lucky feller!)
Mark cooked me dinner ...(yummy teriyaki steak and noodles)
I did dishes "the old fashioned way"with soap, water, and a washcloth ...(dishwasher died - I'm actually, very thrilled about that. Every time we used it you had to shout over the noise! New "silent" one comes tomorrow.)
Mark and I watched [and laughed at] clips of the Lawrence Welk Show ...(simply marvelous! Arthur Duncan is the happiest of happy feet.)
Mark and I watched Office episodes to catch up ...(and cringed when Michael had to let down the "Scott's Tots" - we both were jittery.)
I had some Rainbow Chip cake...mmm

It was an A+ Valentine's Day.

first food

Per Mark's request... Oreos was going to be the first "food" Mont tasted. I tried to get my cute little baby out of this, but Mark assured me he wasn't going to "consume" it, just "taste" it. So I surrendered.

Good thing, because Mont sure loved it!! What a mess-pot!

some funny fluff

Last night while taking videos of Mont for Mark and our parents,

Buckwheat must have been feeling stardom right around the corner

b/c he wanted to have the main part!

They are now the two best "Buckwheat Videos."
Ever!

tasty

He loves those toes almost as much as I do. 

big little laugh

Mont has a new, bigger (yet, still just as deliciously cute) laugh as of two days ago. I was determined to get it on camera, and this morning I succeeded!

He has this "old man face" (what I call it) where he smacks his tongue against his gums, but as I was recording this and doing MY old man face AT him to get him to do his - wow, did you follow that? - I noticed he probably thinks it sounds like KISSING noises! SO... as a mother in love with her baby boy, I now think he is trying to make kissing noises at me. I love, love, LOVE it! 

Already trying to tell me he loves me... no? ha!

shuffled

Do you ever feel so excited over something and then realize that it's really not that exciting?

That just happened as I looked at the before/after pictures of my book case. When I found my very yellow Van Gogh book and World Art book this week, I knew I wanted them on my book case somewhere. It took about half a day of going back and forth between shuffling and reshuffling, shifting and reshifting shelves.

I didn't want an entire column full of dark of bright books, so I had to get it 'just so.'

Here is my before....

I liked it, but I was still frustrated with Mark's huge white binders (that I never see him use!), so I covered one of their shelves with a piece of artwork (bottom right, up one), and I didn't like my two shelves of cook books (top left corner, and also one down).

So here is my after (including the two new books (up and center))...

See? No big deal, but I am still SO excited about it.

The photo albums that I am working so hard to get done, will go on the bottom left shelf. WOOHOO for another project complete!

On a side note, here is one of my favorite shelves. I love elephants... and I love The Jungle Book... combine the two and........ woohoo!

*Mark's white binders are now in a snug little place in the crawl space, easily accessible. I think he was just happy I found a nice place for them that I was happy with.

little things

There's a little surprise in this little bag for someone pretty little. 

My mom made me six burp rags for Mont by hand, and they are so dang absorbent I had to share the wealth. And today... I finally put myself to action for a girl in my ward. Except, I made hers miniature so she can pack all three of them in her diaper bag, and use them as she needs, one at a time, and still absorb a lot. 

Don't judge! I love them. Tomorrow I will make 3 bigger ones. For each 1/3 yard cut, I can make three 6x10, and three 8x10. I think those were the right measurements: 

See the tip of my pin cushion? wanna see more? okay: 

Those little bowls are from Hawai'i, just wrap up some cotton fluff with fabric (oh-so-tightly) and glue it on down! (hint: you can use any bowl you want.. glass, porcelain, wood, or plastic). 

peak into memories

I've been going through old pictures for a few days now, cataloging and organizing. I remembered some CDs Mark thankfully saved of all our pictures from dating. I found this one tonight:

I clipped it from a video he was taking of me. I had three marvelous things right at this moment:

- Mark

- a horse

- long hair

aaannnd... that's my BYU identification I was about to lose.

Happy memory!

hop skip and jump

Mont had such a fun time with Mark's family this weekend. It was so nice to have company up here! We were lazy most of the entire 4 days they were here, but we did have time for some adventures as well:

Stacey liked how I get Mont ready: in the closet. I keep his carseat on top of the hope chest Mark built, so I don't have to have it out anymore, and he's still so tiny I can just put him in the carseat while it's still in the closet! I guess it is kind of strange... oh well. He doesn't mind!

Molly is taking water samples from various locations for a science project she is doing for the fair, so it worked out perfectly that she was coming to Alaska for the weekend. We drove around and found a few different 'samples.' This is a creek in Eagle River. The actual river, even though I can see it from our back porch, is about a mile's walk through woods and deep snow. So we skipped that idea!

The next day was church. He has been getting so noisy!! I love his noises, but what happened to the reverent Mont everyone admired? haha! Now we both get looks (even though they're smiles), so I get nervous and have to walk him outside until he's done "talking" a.k.a. squealing. He's so funny.

Monday was our most adventurous day yet.

We drove around the coast to find access to the salt water, but we had no such luck. Everything was barred or gated off. So we found a little restaurant next to ship creek near the RR station and port. It had a little access to the scary ice. So Mamie was the brave one and got as close as she dared and smashed off some ice with a screwdriver for Molly's sample collection. Love those hot pants!

Mamie was doing a 'science project' of her own and wanted to find walrus teeth for her beau. I had the idea for her to call around local taxidermy shops and see if there were any sort of teeth (walrus or not) that she could buy off them. Many said no... until she called this place:

They were nervous to say the least. It was pretty funny though. There was a kid in a window above this door that kept waving at us and then he came back to the window to show me his T-Rex toy and smash it against the window like it was going to bite us - cutie patootie.

Nervous smiles!!

When they walked in with the guy, Stacey and I looked at each other and thought, "umm... Where'd the go? You better go in!" It looked so crazy. Not a happy or a smell-good place. Not that I expected it to be..

The guy was really nice though. And pretty willing to get a picture taken for Mamie's "science board."

They said, "it smelled really bad in there!" ... I wonder why? HA.

Here are some wolverines... SCARY!

Here's the loot: a bear claw, a bear tooth, and two deer teeth. Can you guess which is which?

The bear tooth is the top one, and the two on the right belong to deer. The one on the far right was SOOO white and smooth; just like an ivory piano key. Though.. the bear tooth and deer molar were pretty gross. Very cavity-riddled. I believe the claw belongs to a black bear; short and very curved helps the black bears climb trees. Brown bears (grizzlies) have longer, straighter claws for digging up roots and stuff.

Then it was off to a much happier place: Borders bookstore. I'm rarely in that part of the city, so when we passed it, I thought to go in and look for some bargain art books. I found two!! picture coming soon.

After a quick spree in the store, I nursed Mont before we left for home. Afterwards, he had the WORST diaper he's ever had. Not stinky (thank goodness..), just a lot. A lot, a lot. Here he is while doing the deed. Stacey gets pictures of nearly every moment - quite the thorough documenter:

little stinker.

Later that night, after another yummy dinner, and while Mont was in bed, Molly, Stacey and I went to Fred Meyer for gas, gifts, and groceries.

While there I thought to browse the baby clothes since I was there with Mont earlier this week and couldn't browse too long with him being fussy. Everything was on sale!!! Look at all this I scored (again, thanks for the pictures, Stacey!):

Lots of 6 and 12 months, one 9 month shirt. I saved $46.00 on all of this... I mean, you have to spend to save, right?? One of the outfits for 12 mo. was on the rack by accident, so it was only 4¢! It was one of my favorites too. On the front it has three little sea critter pictures with their names: 'eel' for the eel, 'fish' for the fish, and 'inkie' for the octopus. I love that.

Mont misses his Aunts and Grandma Stacey! I'm SO glad they could come out for a fun weekend.

table reclaimed

Here is a play-by-play of the buffet table that I just 'reclaimed' from Mont's cute little behind.

All cleaned off and polished up:

Halfway through... loved it this way, but still didn't have everything I wanted:

love these vases and barnwood frame!!

Then.. after some finishes... and some everyday "stuff" like my bag, and the print boxes from China that have not had a place to rest since coming home with Mark, the table is ... complete:

When Mark showed me the panoramic pictures of China's Great Wall, I was more impressed with the boxes than with the photos (that you can see where they pieced the pictures together to make them panoramic!). Mark just can't see the charm I see in them, probably because he was immune to old world charm after seeing it up close and personal. At least that's the flattering excuse I came up with. Can't you see the charm?

even though it's old and broken? Just say yes. Thank you.    

ha!