gardens

Here are a few pictures from our little dilly-dally to the Bellagio Gardens on our way to the airport. Mark was quick enough to snap a picture before we passed and after we passed the Las Vegas sign; they have now set up a "picture-place" underneath the sign. Pretty neat that they did that for tourists; much easier than running across Las Vegas Blvd dodging traffic then standing on rocks and dirt to get a picture with the sign!

As always, the flowers in the Bellagio gardens are breathtaking! I love the look of orchids; they look almost fake they're so perfect.

This one was weird - almost reminded me of colors you see on exotic butterflies. Weird, huh:

This one looked like wax to me, how the pedal edges are a little jagged:

Now for the set ups. Nee-how-ma (I don't know how to spell that; Mark always says it though):

Panda bears:

Chinese Lanterns were everywhere! 

Then they had lots of them strung together above the walkways:

It was pretty fun acting like tourists there. Another parent holding a young boy asked us, "how is your boy adjusting to Vegas?" Mont didn't know what to do when the sunlight would hit him in the face - since then he's learned to cover his eyes with his fists, but at the time he would make a sour-like face and turn his head as far to the left as he could. Poor guy!

Till next time..

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.