Are You Trying to Tell Me Something?

This is how my child communicates to me when he is tired. Notice he won't open his mouth. It cracks me up.

Week in Review

    Really I'm just blogging because I am avoiding the dishes right now. Last week started out great because we organized Tim's mission pictures in chronological order and put them in albums. Hooray! It felt like such a big accomplishment. Tim is still obsessed with his mission, so he had to approve of every picture I threw out, but it was fun.
       After that I had a rough week. This is usually the time of year when I'm reuniting with my classmates, seeing friends on campus, fall weather, living near my sister and cousin, etc. The state of my loneliness in TX began to set in. Everyone in my ward and my neighbors are really nice and welcoming, but I look forward to having some friends that I can chat with on the phone and just hang out with. I know it'll take time. One day, in the middle of my somber, I said a quick prayer. It was something like, "Please help me make friends and stop feeling sorry for myself." After that I did the greatest thing--I took my frustration out on my house and cleaned the entire house. Kyle even napped extra long for me to get everything done. It felt so great!! Heavenly Father knew I needed to focus on something else and it worked. The next day I was able to enjoy myself instead of cleaning like a franctic lady during Kyle's nap. So I balled my eyes out reading this book:     "Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of SEAL Team 10." Despite the heavy cursing, this book was amazing. It provided me with a better perspective of military personnel and the sacrifices they make fighting the war going on right now. Tim and I both read it and loved talking about it afterward.
    Did anyone watch the Relief Society broadcast? I got to go out to CPK for dinner with a group of girls and then watch it at the stake center. Although I was tempted to just watch it at home when I found out it was on our tv, it was nice to get out and I'm sure Tim loved his bonding time with Kyle. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk. He is such a funny guy.

    We also got Kyle's shelf up in his room and so I hope to have that put together in a couple of days. It's finally starting to look like we didn't just move in. I'm so excited! 

Here's to a brighter week!

 

Food

Victims number One and Two: Biter Biscuit and Puffs:
    I know it's blurry, but check out this smile. His teeth crack me up. He'll even grind his teeth to the side. Now he is getting two more in:Victim number Three: Sweet Potatoes

Look how tired he was!

    My friend Megan gave Kyle this adorable shirt, so I was trying to get a cute shot of him in it. Because he was so tired he would only give me the serious look:

He did give me a courtesy smile in the end:

Thanks Megan! I need to take shopping lessons from you!

My Personal Hero

Dear Jerry,

  I could picture my husband's head shaking in dismay as I told him over the phone that I mailed our mortgage payment without the stamp. Your co-worker was only rude to me. You, however, became my personal hero today. Thank you Jerry for going outside the post office and finding my envelope in the drop-off box. When you asked if I had a stamp and I told you that I needed to buy one, you pulled a couple of stamps out of your pocket and placed it on my white envelope. Thank you Jerry. I told you I would bring you cookies, and you relayed to me that you were really  a carrier, but working in the back that day. I wish I knew how to repay you. Thank you Jerry for going out of your way to help me. You were more than my personal Newman today, you were my personal hero.

Jennifer

Don't Forget to Vote!

Don't forget to vote this election. 

Many of you live out of state for school and other reasons. If you are from Maricopa County, here is the information you need to request a ballot if you are out of state.

On a piece of paper you need to write that you are living out of state and include:

1. Your full name

2. Your address in AZ (this would be my parent's for me)

3. Your date of birth

4.  The address where you want your ballot mailed to (this would be my new TX address)

5. Your signature (this part is very important!!)

 Then, you can either fax that paper or mail it to the Maricopa County Elections.

The fax number is (602) 506-8049

The address is 

Maricopa County Elections

510 South 3rd Avenue

Phoenix, AZ 85003

You need to request your ballot before Oct. 24th and return it before Nov. 3.

If you are from another county, I encourage you to find out how to request a ballot. You can call Maricopa County Elections Office at (602) 506-1511.  My wonderful Grandma Curtis gave me this information.

I took this pic from my friend's blog. I thought it was hilarious!

A Few More

    Here are a few more pics from my trip to AZ. I left my camera in TX and used my mom's. Thanks madre!

  We made a visit to see my Papa and Grandma Curtis. Unfortunately most of these pics have some crazy red eye. Here is Kyle with his Great Grandma Curtis. 

    My grandparents own a dog named Rusty. Kyle loved him! He was smiling and kicking his legs watching him. He even tried getting out of my grandma's arms to touch him. I let him get a little closer to the dog. I was quite surprised when he touched him and then he tried to eat the dog's nose!

Looks like Grandpa and Rusty have a new friend!

     The night before we left I went out to eat with Tim's fam. Meet my nephew Moose (aka Logan). He is a few weeks younger than Kyle. I hadn't seem him since Kyle's blessing, so I was so excited for them to get together. Unfortunately we had a late dinner and I think both Logan and Kyle didn't like the camera at this point.

Roger tried to distract them with his keys.

   The whole reason for the trip was to "watch" Taylor while my parents were gone. (Ok so maybe it was just a great excuse for me to come). He is so good with Kyle. I have no worries when I leave Kyle with him. What other 15 year old boy can you say that about?   When my dad saw this picture he said, "This must be an illusion. It looks like Taylor is sitting on the island." Oops. Sorry Dad! Talking about Taylor made me remember--He got his PERMIT yesterday! Watch out AZ drivers!! Ok, I'm about 99% sure he's a better driver than I was at that age, but it still freaks me out. I remember him in diapers and now he holds a permit. Scary. 

  Kyle loves being with his grandparents, and I love spending time with my parents too. Thanks so much!

I LOVE My Life

I really, truly do. Do I love the fact that we are in school with no income? No. Do I love those digital numbers on the scale? No. Do I love cooking? No. Laundry? No. A teething baby? No. Living away from family? Watching friends and family suffer with different trials? Going to church for 3 hours when for 2 of them I am usually in the hall with an overly tired (not to mention loud) baby? No. No. No.

But I do love my life. Some days are harder than others, but I know it could always be worse. Am I really as happy as this blog portrays me to be? Yes.

It has been a little bit of a hot topic lately "why" people blog. Some people complain that others blog and make their life seem perfect because they are only blogging about happy things, thus creating a "picture perfect life." 

I blog as a way to keep in touch with family and friends. My close family and friends know the trials I go through, so why put it on the internet for everyone to read? I don't think that is the right place for it. 

I blog because I love to write.

I blog because I love to take pictures and it allows me to share them.

I blog to journal.

I blog because it is fun.

I blog because it's therapeutic.

I blog for advice.

I blog when I'm bored.

Whatever reason, I think blogs are great. I love looking at your blogs. I wish people would update them more often. Especially since I'm so far away from family and old friends now.

That's it. I just had to vent. 

(I blog to vent).

One Face, Two Face

     Kyle has two great expressions. Either he's happy or he's very, very serious. Aunt Nina bought him the cutest Polo shirt so I was trying to take a pic of Kyle today to email to Tim. We go home tomorrow, but I just couldn't get over how cute he looked and wanted Tim to see it ahora.
     I took pics of him before we ran errands. He was happy, hence the smile.

    These pics didn't seem to capture it for me, so I tried again when we got home from errands. Here is two face: He was extremely tired, hence the serious face.

    (Remember, I was taking it of Kyle, not of me). There was no chance of getting a smile out of him. It's when he makes this face that I think, "He's a little Tim!" We're excited to see TRay tomorrow, just wish he was coming to AZ instead of us going to TX (although we are enjoying it there!)

Dear Dad,

Mom and I miss you a lot while we are in AZ. We miss you so much that we have tried to keep ourselves busy so that we don't sit here feeling sad. Here are some of the things we do to keep our mind off of you at home:
1. I love to take a bath in Grandma's kitchen sink.
I even learned to turn the hot water faucet on--all the time-- while in the sink, so Mom had to move me back to the tub.
2. I had a play date with my buddies Julia and Catcher. Mom seemed to forget about me while she talked to Kassidi and Megan.

3. After swimming I played with my favorite toy of Grandma Heyman's--this talking frog that drives Mom crazy!! Luckily, Aunt Nina played with me and I watched everyone play Rock Band.
4. On Friday my cousins Gabby and Grace came over to play. Then I ate lunch with Grammy at the mall (she bought me this dog). I went and saw Aunt Nina at Nordstrom too.

Grandma and Grandpa Heyman are back in town so now I get to have fun with them!! Hopefully I'll get over my fever from my fourth tooth soon!
Love
Kyle (and Mom)

San Antonio "The First"

Should I be proud?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/oukoe_uk_usa_energy_excrement_odd
I don't think I'm ready to call it "home."

8 Months of Pure Love

I can't believe I've spent every day of the past eight months talking to someone who doesn't talk back to me. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Advice

    I'm traveling again with Kyle soon, except this time I will be taking the big carseat and not just the travel system. So, experienced mothers out there, how do you usually fly with the carseat? Do you check it in with baggage, bring it on the plane, or check it in at the gate with the stroller? I would love your advice. I used to just bring the smaller carseat on the plane. Luckily the SA airport has a security line just for families, so that shouldn't be too bad but I've been trying to figure out what to do about the carseat.   I put the recipe for my mom's delicious chocolate chip cookies on Jenny's cooking blog. I should have waited until after the wedding to make these. I just don't have the will power to not eat them. I even put some in the freezer so that I wouldn't snack on all of them that were out but, mmmm, do you know how good they taste frozen?? I love them even more that way! We're off to playgroup. If you have any advice about the carseat (or how to not eat cookies) please leave it!

Slacking.

    My mom informed me that I am slacking on my blog, so I picked up the camera the last couple of days to capture some of what we've been up to. Kyle had his first play group this week. I was so excited because I love watching him play with other kids. He even got to hang out with cousin Sadie. I didn't bring my camera to that. Lugging Kyle up apartment stairs is work enough!

1. The boys finished tiling downstairs. Tim took a quick photo of the bathroom before: You can't really see it in the pic, but the flooring was stained yellow. Gross! After much hard work, we now can look at pretty tile:The tile is more brown than grey, but you'll have to picture it yourself. We hung out with Andy, Hillery and Sadie this weekend which was also fun. 

2. On Sunday I witnessed a moment that proved to me Kyle is my son. As soon as I pulled out the camera, he gave me this:      A great big smile! Growing up I LOVED to be in front of the camera. 99% of our home videos include me jumping in front of the camera (huge glasses and all) trying to get on tape. My biggest dream growing up was to be in a commercial for my dad's law firm. Give me the lime light! Unfortunately, it never happened. Fortunately for everyone else I've grown to love being behind the camera. Otherwise all these pics of Kyle would probably be of me :).

This is the closest Kyle is getting to crawling:

   He's pretty good at face planting. I don't blame him for not moving around yet. I think his arms have to get strong enough to support all that weight. 

3. Kyle loves bath time. The water really does something for his hair.

   He loves to touch the running water! 

4. Tim really liked his first week of school. On his day off we watched Arrested Development on his computer in bed.

We hope everyone had a safe holiday!