Saturday, June 20, 2009

Word on the Street is...

We are still alive! Except for the small post the other night, I haven't posted in a while for various reasons-the main one being that we had a months worth of computer troubles. We actually thought we had lost everything on our hard drive, but luckily Chris did have everything backed up until last October, and some of the more memorable things since then. What a blessing! I think I might have died if we had lost all of our pictures from the last three years! So anyway, I kind of got out of the habit of having a functioning computer and haven't really gotten back into it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But I thought that I would start trying to blog again, and what better to start with than a fun trip to Yellowstone last weekend?!!

Chris's family has a time share and were able to book a penthouse condo for pretty cheap since it was last minute. It was super luxurious! It was really fun and relaxing to spend the weekend in West Yellowstone and all day Saturday driving through Yellowstone Park.
Chris and William getting ready to go down the big slide

Williams adorable cousins Trey and Jain

In Yellowstone Park: Two baby deer that we saw. It's funny that they are sitting in the exact same position. It looks like the picture is copied, but it's not. There was also an elk really close, but I can only add so many pictures.

Jain and William enjoying the outdoors

A herd of buffalo that came right past us on the road. It was fun to get to see the baby buffalo.

The three of us in front of Old Faithful. Too bad William's head is kind of blocked by the stroller! If only he would grow!

Everytime we were near water William would beg to go fishing, and since we have to take his fishing pole everywhere with us, we decided we would let him have his chance. Of course, he isn't actually fishing, but he sure thinks he is! And he LOVES it!!

This is at the fish hatchery on the way home. If you look closely you can see a fish jumping. William loved watching them and didn't want to leave.

In other updatish kinds of news:
Chris: Just started a new job working for StarWest Satellites. He installs satellites and does service calls all over South Eastern Idaho. Currently he is still training so he has been going out with another guy to learn how to do things, but after next week he will probably be on his own, which is scary and stressful, yet nice. He thinks he will really enjoy it once he really figures out what he is doing.
As for long term plans, he is looking into going into Physical Therapy and has done some job shadowing at a physical therapy place here in Rexburg. As soon as his job schedule normalizes he will start doing some volunteer work there because that will help him decide if it's for sure what he likes, and because you have to have at least 100 volunteer hours before you can apply to a PT program. If he decides he does really want to do it, then he will have a couple more semesters here at BYUI for prerequisites, and volunteer time, and then we will be applying to PT schools. He is also still the Elder's Quorum president in our ward, so that sure keeps him busy. And, of course, he fishes whenever he gets the chance!

Bita: Well, I am definitely getting bigger! It's hard to believe that in a little over two months we will have a baby. Crazy!! In the meantime I am keeping myself pretty busy with the normal household duties, chasing around a toddler who doesn't stop moving, teaching piano lessons etc. I am also currently preparing to do a recital on July 1st with my friend Halsey who plays the violin. We decided that we needed to have a reason to practice since it's hard to do once you are out of school and have other things going on. We are playing some really fun music including a Beethoven Sonata and the Flight of the Bumblebee (which, for the record, goes ridiculously fast). I am really excited about it (and stressed and nervous since it's hard to get a chance to practice without William) and it has been really fun for me to be playing some more challenging music again. Anyone who would like to come is more than welcome! July 1, 6:00 pm at the Piano Gallery in Idaho Falls.
I also just got called to be the 1st counselor in the Relief Society presidency, so I am trying to figure out what the heck I am doing there. I guess Heavenly Father decided I was just way to comfortable being a ward organist, so he decided to throw me WAY out of my comfort zone. It sure will stretch me, but stretching is good I guess :).

William: William continues to grow up at an amazing rate (well actually, in physical size he grows really slow-but you know what I mean!). He says new words daily and I am constantly amazed at the things he understands and the connections that he can make. His latest two words that he picked up entirely on his own are Circle (yes, he understands what it is too), and Violin (which he says Vio). He is completely obsessed with fishing (it must run in his blood) and I am convinced that he thinks anytime Chris leaves that he is going fishing. He likes to tell me all about how daddy goes bye bye in the car with the poles and the flies and the net to the water (wa wa) and the fishies. It's quite adorable. I have tried explaining that daddy goes to work and to meetings, and other places but I don't think he's convinced.
William also loves reading books and loves being sung to. He will tell you when he wants you to sing by saying "Oh-E-Oh-E-Oh-E-Oh." It's so cute and pretty much irresistible. For some reason his favorite song is currently "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean." I sang this to him once when he kept asking for more songs and I was running out of ones off the top of my head, and for some reason he loves it. It's so cute when he says "oh-e-oh-e-oh bonnie!" although it can get a little old.

Baby Cutler #2: Well, this isn't really like me, but I am going to go ahead and say that we are pretty positive this baby's name is Isaac Stephen Cutler. Both Chris and I really feel like we have a little Isaac in my belly and we call him that all the time. It wasn't that way at all with William. We knew we liked the name, but we weren't sure that he WAS William, even until a little while after he was born. This one we just know is Isaac. So unless we have a different baby than we think we are having, that's who he is. He moves CONSTANTLY!!!! Seriously, I was in the temple yesterday and one of the ordinance workers commented on how "the little one was sure making his presence known." She could SEE him wiggling all around. I feel like he is continually changing his position completely in my stomach, or trying to just push through to the outside. It makes me somewhat apprehensive to consider that it looks like I am going to have two very active little boys. AHHHHHH!!! What am I getting myself into?

Whew!! That was really really long. I guess that's one way to get myself back into blogging. If anyone read this far you deserve a cookie!

Friday, June 19, 2009

What a Man!

Chris started a new job this week and worked 53 hours in 4 days. Sick, I know! Today (well actually yesterday since it's now Friday) he worked from 6:30am to 12:30 am. Yes, that's an 18 hour day. Seriously!! That's ridiculous! And then he still had to drive home from Idaho Falls. I sure am grateful to be married to a man who is willing to work so hard for his family! And I sure am happy that he doesn't have to work the rest of the week! Yippee!!

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Little Things that make a Difference

-Showering, getting dressed and (if I'm lucky) doing my hair and makeup before my son wakes up

-Making my bed

-Doing the dishes after every meal

-Baking bread

-Having an interesting book to read

-Prenatal Yoga

-Having a reason to make time to practice the piano

Friday, April 17, 2009

WILLIAM HAS SOMETHING TO SAY...


That's right! We are pleased to announce

Unmaker 2: The Sequel*

And we are so excited! I kept telling myself that it was possible for us to have a little girl next, but deep down I really think I knew that this was a boy, and Chris actually felt the same way although he didn't admit it until after we found out. I honestly would have been fairly shocked if it was a girl. And although the idea of dresses and bows is VERY appealing, I could not be more thrilled to have two little tow headed boys who want to go fishing with their daddy.

*William is officially The Unmaker i.e. one who takes things apart, creates chaos, and generally un-makes

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

BEBE!!!

Lately every time William sees a baby in the store, or a picture of a baby (when I'm looking at blogs etc.) he gets this cute grin on his face and says really sweetly Bebe!! (baby). We had some friends over for dinner on Sunday who have a little girl who is 2 or 3 months old and he was really sweet and gentle with her. We brought out our boppy for them to lay her on and now when he sees the boppy he gets excited and says Bebe! again. It's really cute.

He also has taken to wanting to give me kisses on my stomach. I absolutely love it! I'm just hoping that this fascination and excitement for babies will last when he finds he has one permanently installed in his house, taking up his mothers time, attention and energy and crying all the time. Keep your fingers crossed!!

*Some exciting news to come this week!!*

Monday, April 13, 2009

Yipee!

Congratulations to Chris! It's kinda weird, but as of Friday, our time at college for undergraduate work came to a close. Chris graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History and we are happy and excited to see what comes next in our lives. Here are a couple of pictures. It was kind of bright, so it was hard to get William to smile. Oh well!

(William was trying to give Daddy a kiss too, but the tassle kept getting in the way)
Chris with his parents-Isn't my husband handsome?!!! Even in a funny hat!
Us with my parents. William was off chasing dogs by this point, not to be contained for pictures!

After the ceremony we all went out to lunch, then our parents left and we went home, all had a nap, and then Chris went out fly fishing and caught a whole passle of fish. All in all a good day!!

I love you honey!! I'm so proud of you!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

18 Month Stats

Height: 30 1/4 inches
(Short!)
Weight: 21 lbs. 10 oz.
(Light!)
Head: 18 3/4 inches
(Super brainy for his size!)

I had to document this because I think this is the first (and may be the only) time my child has been to the doctor for a well-baby check on time. It's just something I struggle with-perhaps because he is pretty much just a healthy kid so I don't feel super pressed to take him in. Or maybe I'm just negligent :).

It's actually pretty funny because even though William is in the 4th percentile for weight he actually seems pretty chunky because he is so short (5th percentile). He definitely isn't what you would call skinny.

One other thing I thought was funny was that at 18 months they do an autism screening (just a series of questions) and my pediatrician said "I guess we can go ahead and do the autism screening, but I can already tell you, he definitely isn't autistic." It made me laugh.

It's crazy to me that he is already a year and a half! Where does the time go?