Solomon

I haven't written about Sol much in the last few months so I thought some of you may appreciate a post on our little sunshine. He is a delight!

• He is a very happy and pleasant child. He loves people, loves to talk, loves to tease. He's a lot like his parents that way.
• Sol LOVES Ella. He always greets her every morning with a "Hi Ella! Hello!" and tells her "night night" before he goes to bed. He gives her loves, throws her ball for her, and occasionally try's out some karate moves on her. When I tell him that's not nice he's quick to give her loves.
  
• Sol loves books (finally!). He's starting reading to himself explaining what everything on the page is.
  
• Sol has a pretty big vocabulary and its increasing daily. He constantly asks "Whats that?" and usually remembers the answer.
• He loves cars, trucks, trains, tractors, anything with a motor really. He can make all the sound effects quite well.
• Sol loves to say his alphabet and count to 10. He has to have help from mom and dad but we don't mind. Its amazing to see how quickly he is still developing.
  
• Sol is very loving. He loves to give hugs and kisses and cuddles.
• He loves his uncle Mike. He loves to sit on his lap and watch football and videos of Mike's cat on his phone. Whenever Sol sees anything red or with the University of Utah logo on it he says "Mike?" One time he even saw a picture of Jesus and asked "Mike?".
  
• On the other hand he saw a picture of a wanted criminal on the news and asked "Daddy? Daddy?" I didn't really see the resemblance...sorry hun.
• Sol still loves his 'baby' (blue stuffed elephant) and takes him everywhere. I have to sneak baby away to wash him as often as I can. When we recently traveled to Connecticut and Oregon baby didn't leave his side as we traveled through 7 airports. (yuck) He badly needed a washing then.
• Sol loves his Daddy. He's tries to be just like him and I can get Sol to do about anything if I tell him Daddy would do it. He gets so excited to see him at night. It makes my heart so happy.

I know its kind of a 'brag about my kid' post but hey, I'm his mom. And like my dad once told me, "Everyone needs a mother" to praise and adore them their whole lives through.

Camera Gods, how have I offended thee???

So you know my cute little red camera that I finally got after like 6 months with no camera? Well I can't find it...I won't say its lost, but its location is unknown. Ug! In fact I couldn't find it right before Christmas so no Christmas pics. :( I feel like I should be learning some lesson like "Don't be so materialistic" or "write in your journal more" or "Don't take so many dang pictures!" But I refuse to learn it. A camera is kind of essential in my book.

In other news:

We had a great Christmas at home. Dave's parents joined us, which was so fun. Opening presents took 2 hours cause Sol wanted to sit and play with everything. It was kind of funny.

We had a great New Years too! We've been able to have lots of family around just hanging out. Its been great to have company and to just chill.

Finally, I'm pregnant! I'm really happy and excited about it. However I'm not happy or excited about being dog sick most days. :( I've definitely been more sick that I was with Sol. Were getting through it though. The due date is August 4th so that makes me 9 weeks. 31 to go! Woohoo!

{Insert cute picture of Sol wearing an "I'm the big brother" tee here}

Hopefully we'll find the camera soon! Hopefully its not gone forever.

oh and

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Goodbye for now Grumpa

Dave's sweet Grumpa passed away last week. We will miss him so much. We got these pictures the last time we saw him, this summer at his 80th birthday party. He was a perfect grandpa or "Grumpa" as they've always called him. He loved people. And people loved him, he was an instant friend. We love you Grumpa! And we'll miss you so much!

We are all moved into our new home. Its actually really great! Its so big. I'm not bragging, its just the truth. Way bigger than we can fill. Its nice to have so much room. I'm afraid we'll be spoiled living here the next few months.

We got an early Christmas present, a camera! Thanks to Dave shopping the early sales on black friday we got a great little camera. I'm used to not having a camera so after uploading the pictures from the week I realized I've gotten out of the habit of taking them. I thought you might enjoy a few that I did get.

Christmas came a little early for Sol too. G&GW gave him a rocking horse. Sol LOVES his new 'see see'. I wanted them to see him get it so they gave it to him while they were here for Thanksgiving.

Christmas tree hunting at a local lot. Right after this he tripped and smacked his head on the pavement. So sad. Our hunt ended quickly after that.

We had a really nice thanksgiving here with my family. We got to see Dave's parents too as they were in town. Lots of great family!

"Life" to Megan and Dave - "I think I'll go with a curve ball!"

I should be packing. "Packing?" you say. Yes packing. We are moving...again...I don't really want to go into the details...

Yes, it was unexpected.
No, were not mad. Life throws you a curve ball every now and then. Its an adventure.

We're basically trading houses with my cousin in Saratoga Springs which is about 20 min from where we live now. Its a nice area, good neighborhood. And it will keep us until we hopefully buy a house in the next few months. I'm freaking out just a little. I'm so sad to leave our little home near the "see see's" ('horses' if you don't speak Sol). We already love our little ward and community. But this will be an adventure, right? (insert nervous laugh here).

I better go pack...

Thank you.

I wanted to make this post 2 days ago, on Veterans Day. But I'm a mom. Things just don't get done.

When I was in high school I was part of the Plainsmen Singers. It was kind of like Glee with out the pop numbers. And my teacher wasn't a Mr. Schuster, she was more of a Sue Sylvester. (if you watch Glee you'll understand) We did a lot of different types of performances from Native American to Jazz to Broadway to classical. It was a lot of work but well worth it. My all time favorite performance was one we did with several groups in the community, for the community. It was a Veterans Day celebration USO show with a variety of numbers highlighting songs and dances that were popular during the second world war. We did some really fun stuff including a swing number where I got thrown and flipped all over. The audience was really fun, probably because it was made up of more than our parents and peers. There were many Veterans in the audience that lived, and at one time loved, the stuff we were performing.

For one of the last numbers of the night we sang "Salute to the Armed Forces." We sang the song for each branch of the military: Army, Marine Corp, Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Force. As we sang each song veterans who served in that military branch came up to the front and stood by their flag. Many of the veterans proudly wore their pressed uniforms and shiny black shoes. Some men were very old and had to have help walking up to the front but they'd hobble up there, with tears in their eyes, proudly representing our country's finest.

That one song changed me. I don't know if I've ever felt truly patriotic before that moment but to see these brave men and women, some so old and crumpled that they could hardly walk, proudly wear their uniforms and salute the flag of the United States of America, with tears in their eyes, made me realize what it meant to pledge alligence to America. I know I don't appricate the freedoms I've always known. I know I don't understand the immense sacrifice that has been made on my behalf so that I could live in this incredibly unique and blessed country. But I know it is significant.

I thank you, all who've served our country, for the freedoms and opportunities I've always known.

We clean up pretty good

Handsome little devil.