food woes

I make Mont's baby food... I do! So far he's only had bananas, sweet potatoes, and rice cereal. But today I was trying all sorts of mixes. I have this yellow squash (above) in the freezer, along side pears ready to spring into action.

Since he got his first stomach flu bug earlier this week (thankfully he's all better!), he has given up solid foods cold turkey style (hey.. maybe he'd like that):

Here is he denying rice cereal (even had apple sauce in it!). Soooooo... I brought out the big guns:

And he takes a few bites, till I trick him with a punch of rice cereal:

Then he zips his mouth shut... and won't even let the good stuff in again.

Then we try again later in the day...

but it's a fail. ...  improvised bib still gets a good splashing.

So I try later in the day. ... and finally, with Mark dancing and doing other goofy things to smile, distract, and humor, Mont finally opens up enough for bananas and sweet potatoes (an old acquaintance). By the way, the only way he'll eat sweet potatoes is if the bananas are mixed with them to hide the flavor - or lack thereof? I think they taste just fine!

I'm up for ALL your suggestions. Please and thank you!

auction item

Tomorrow is my ward's Service Auction. Have you had one of these? No? If not, you should!

Thinking of something I could auction off, a friend suggested some jewelry. I haven't beaded since before Mont was born. But I didn't want to do just anything. There is a necklace I have had a screen shot of for a while now on my desktop. Here's the picture of what I wanted to do:

and from the side:

And here is mine:

It's a bit different but the idea is the same, plus I included earrings. I tried it on, and I really, really like it!

Oh it's nice to have beaded something after such a long little while; Mont got sick (ah! scary) while I was beading, so I bought a few tools and took off to my home to nurse him back to health with hopes of finishing this at home. He is feeling better and as you can see, I was able to finish the jewelry!

Do I hear one dolla, two dollas, five dollas to the woman in back!

world market

My favorite store is Cost Plus: World Market. 

I was telling friends just last night that when I showed this store to Mark, 

and saw that he liked it, I knew we were gettin' hitched. 

Mark laughed awkwardly and said, "what a great reason to marry me!" 

Well.... it was one of many other reasons, of course! 

While in the lower 48, we raced over to one of these fantastic stores 

and I snapped some iphone pictures (I know, I know.. but it was the fast thing to do) 

to remember what I liked. 

Fabulous toys for a little boy, right?! I know! They were very heavy. 

This fun little ruler-drawer would be a hit in my imaginary craft room:

Mark saw these two clocks before I did. They were tucked in the 'art section's' corner. 

I love clocks.. I rarely wear a watch, so I need them all over the house! 

At first glance while looking through my iphoto today

 I thought this said, "Breast Milk"

Whoops. 

I like this a bit better. Moooooo

I love elephants. 

I'm not quite sure why, but I always have! 

I think it's how round they are? 

Something protective (or dangerous? ha ha) 

about how huge they are. 

They are good mothers. 

They are mindful. 

They are gentle (unless you're a lioness... 

then they're just scary). 

Anyway, here's one with a clock attached. An elephant never forgets.

So on to the furniture. Mark and I used to have a table very similar to this one. 

But it had termites. 

Seriously! From India

Serious again!

I love the table we have right now, but it is awfully formal. 

I like formal. 

So if we ever have a formal dining room, 

that's where it will go. 

And THIS one will go in our informal 

eat in kitchen. 

Love those benches!

Our wood is so dark all over our house, 

and even though we adore it, 

we are thinking of introducing more woods into our 

... 'collection.'

Isn't it pretty?

Here is the buffet in the same collection: 

oooohhh so pretty! 

Also, in our 'next home', 

perhaps we'll have 

an outdoor living space. 

Wouldn't that be lovely? 

And for that outdoor living space, 

maybe we'll have some chairs like this:

or this: 

Wouldn't that be nice? 

I'd put up some wind chimes 

around a wood fire-pit? 

You could bring the mallows. 

I'll have the chocolate 

and graham crackers. 

mmm

tilt

*another iphone pic from January

Among the hustle and bustle of a usual Sunday morning around here, I was running back and forth between rooms when I realized there was sunlight in our bedroom! The weird thing about this is:

our bedroom faces NORTH.

This is normal for summers, but I was surprised to see it in March. Last year at this time I was still working, so it's no surprise to see it this year as I am home for all the sunny days.

It was amazing to me to realize how quickly the earth shifts on its axis. Here up north we just get to see the drama of such a slight tilt so much quicker, and

it's a lot of fun for us 

shadow dwellers 

when we 

make the shift to 

SUN dwellers! 

7 months

Happy 7 months, Mont!

*via iphone

Like father, like son. mmmm root beer and pizza today for lunch. Don't worry, he didn't drink it! But he did get a taste.

...and his eyes watered just like mine do.

10404

Here's my old house! We moved into this house when I was just about to start High School, and two years ago my parents made the move up to the North West. So it's been a while since I've seen this house; and it was where Mark and I met. So while Mark and I were visiting, we took a joy ride to my old neighborhood. We wanted to see if our favorite gate guard was still there... he was! So we gave him a cinnamon roll from my Grandma.

Here's Quentin, giving me his classic wave for a picture:

A baseball player bought our house, I think he used to play for the Red Sox.. yep. Just googled his name. I actually was in lots of classes with his daughter Katy in high school. They were going to regut the whole house!! I didn't want to knock on the door and get Quentin in trouble, so we just did a 'drive by.' Out in front he had this cute (?) statue put in the courtyard of 3 kids huddling during a baseball game. Dad, you should get one for the yard!

Lots of things were different. The color(s) of the house, the gates, the hedges are different, a tall tree is gone, the garage door color, and even the driveway color! If only I could have peered inside!

aaaahhhh.. my mom and I were just talking yesterday about the color of a Las Vegas sky. That blue is only found in Las Vegas; even a Utah sky is a slightly different color. Las Vegas blue skies are beautiful.

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!