What's happenin' with the Fraziers?

The Fraziers are officially going to be Maine-iacs!

2012-01-25T22:12:00.000-07:00

Maine-inites? Maine-ians? Mainers? Portlandian Maine-o's? In any case, we'll be joining the ranks of the Maine folk come May. I was lucky enough to be accepted into the University of New England PA program in Portland, Maine. Hilary was able to come out to the interview with me and we both loved the city and the program. It was nice having Hils around for the interview and her aura of coolness definitely helped me seal the deal. I'm sure the interviewer was thinking, 'Wow, this guy is really awkward. And he kind of rambles on about stuff. But his wife seems attractive, hip, and normal so he couldn't be that bad. I guess we'll let him in.' Plus sightseeing by yourself is a drag. And eating by yourself in sit-down restaurants puts off the creep vibe.
Anyway, here are some of the things we really liked about the area:

a safe, compact downtown with a good mix of salty New Englanders and hip youngsters
fresh, cooked crustaceans
it is stinking beautiful
LL Bean boots, everywhere
proximity of the University to everything else
Tim Horton's donuts (a Canadian donut chain that we first had when we lived in AK)
lots of parks, trails, and green space
neat children's museum
the little transit system
the ocean will be at our doorstep

Downtown after the snowstorm. Lots of brick and cool little shops.

More downtown, good seafood restaurant, and Portland Head Light (I was protecting my lips from the o-so-cold wind)

Back Bay, Portland Head Light, Bean Boot, and naughty, pregnant Hils standing on an icy bench

Portland Head Light

Bottom line is we need to party with y'all (yes, I mean you) before we leave. So give us a call or else we might just show up.

Videos of Finn and shoes

2012-01-24T14:37:00.001-07:00

We introduced Finn to cotton balls the other day. He decided that it would be fun to put them in his mouth and spit them out.

He has also learned to jump and then land on his bum.

Besides playing with Finn, I've been making some baby girl shoes for Rowan. Here are some pictures of them.

I bought the 100% wool felt here, and the pattern for the shoes here. I kind of just made up the flower patterns from ones that I've seen. And I bought the ric-rac and pom-pom trim at a fabric store (I'm sure you could find it online too).

I'm not gonna lie... I'm super excited to have a girl! Most wouldn't pin me as the girly type, but I think there are so many cute baby girl clothes and accessories out there. Finn will be a great big brother to her, and I'm excited to see how he takes to her.

Good day

2012-01-14T09:11:00.002-07:00

Sometimes it's hard for me to live in the present. Really hard. I tend to worry a lot about the future. It's nothing in particular, and if you asked me what I worried about I probably couldn't pinpoint it... Yesterday I was able to live in the moment. Dennen, Finn, and I drove to Deer Creek to take pictures and so that Finn could throw rocks (one of his favorite past-times). It was a good time!

Showing us his handful of rocks.

The follow through!

I love these two with all my heart.

The backside of Timpanogos.

I haven't shared a song for awhile... So here's a really good one.

Northern Wind by City And Colour on Grooveshark

Christmas festivities recap

2012-01-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

Come to find out, Christmas gets a whole lot more fun when you have a kid. For the past few weeks Finn has been running on pure Christmas joy! My brother is in town from Boston, and both of my sisters, and brother-in-law have been here as well. Finn has tons of fun with all of them! Although I think Rachel might be his favorite so far...

Dennen and I have been able to spend lots of time with both families which has been really nice. We keep thinking that we'll be gone by May, so we are trying to spend a lot of time with family and friends. Speaking of moving, Dennen has been accepted to 2 schools in Pennsylvania. We're still waiting to hear back from the one in Tennessee. And on the 21st of this month I'm going with Dennen to Maine for another interview. We're super stoked to start a new chapter of our lives, wherever it may take us.

Now for an update on Finn. He is doing great!! We still can't believe the change that has taken place. I remember when the surgeon came and talked to us after his surgery and said, "We've fixed Finn's problem." In my mind I thought, "Yeah right. After 18 months of puking? That's kind of a rather big claim to make." But honestly, he likes to eat now (something I thought would never happen). He actually has favorite foods! Weird. I didn't think that could happen either. Before his surgery he would basically just eat foods out of necessity, not for enjoyment.

Some of his favorite foods are: pomegranate seeds, frozen blueberries, peas, cheese, salami, peanut butter and honey sandwiches, black beans, rice, and apples. Oh, and he really likes grape juice milk. Yep you heard right. Grape juice milk. It's the only way he will drink any milk now. I tried chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, and finally just mixed his grape juice with milk. He drinks it all the time. And yes, it's disgusting (we've tried it).

It's a...

2011-12-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

I had my 20 week appointment yesterday and everything looks good so far with our little girl. The nurse did mention that I have a little bit more amniotic fluid than normal... So they'll just keep an eye on it.

Dennen and I had the ultrasound tech put the gender of our baby in an envelope, and we didn't peek. We then took the envelope to Coldstone and had them write the gender on the cake (we got the idea from some friends in Logan). At 6:30 that night we had my family and Dennen's family come over to unveil the cake. It sure was hard to wait, but it was a fun way to find out!

We're still trying to come up with a middle name that both of us really like... So far we've got two different middle names. We'll let you know what we decide!

Finn's recovery

2011-12-04T19:17:00.001-07:00

So far Finn is healing really well from his surgery. The other day he ate bacon, pickles, and cheese for breakfast. It was awesome!! We're used to him only eating yogurt, Boost, baby foods, and cereals (because those were about the only things that wouldn't make him puke). Speaking of puke... It has been 3 whole weeks since Finn has puked. Let me just say that it has been glorious!!!! No more plastic table cloth under his crib.

Finn is a 100% different toddler now too. He is way happier and actually enjoys sitting down and eating. Meal times used to just include everyone except Finn because he never wanted to sit up and eat with us, so I'd just let him run around and do his thing. Now he loves meal times and will actually tell us when he wants to eat (I think his hunger signals were so screwed up that he never knew what was going on).

Finn enjoying a pickle, and me with a giant cold sore on my face because of a little stress.

It's probably hard to visualize what a duodenal web blockage is, so here are some pictures of Finn's scope and what the blockage looked like.

His doctor couldn't even get the scope through that tiny hole. No wonder solid foods couldn't pass through.

This is what a duodenal web blockage looks like.

I'm not going to lie... I kind of felt somewhat crazy when we didn't know what was going on with Finn. Being a first-time mom and trying to not be too paranoid is pretty hard. I would tell people I couldn't feed Finn solid foods because he would throw them up hours later. I felt like they just kind of looked at me like, "yeah right, he's probably just spitting up a little, no big deal." I had one nurse tell me that he just needed to chew his food better so he wouldn't throw up. Really?! That one kind of made me a little angry.

Thinking back, I still can't believe it took 18 months to figure out what Finn had. It's not like I wasn't bugging his doctors non-stop either. I don't particularly blame them though. He did have an upper GI done when he was 2 days old because they suspected a blockage, but the images of his intestines came back clear. I think that's why his doctors thought it was anything besides a blockage. They just kind of discounted it because he had already had an upper GI. All I know, is that if your baby is still puking regularly at 12 months take it into your own hands and demand that the doctor do a scope or upper GI. I was just trying to be patient and wait it out because various doctors said that he would probably just grow out of it. I guess I just learned patience by going through this. Thank goodness no permanent damage was done to Finn because of this (besides a psychological hate of food). Otherwise I might be singing a different tune...

Only 2 more nights getting tube feeds!

Thankful

2011-11-24T21:25:00.001-07:00

We are thankful for many things, but one of the main things is that Finn is out of the hospital!! He is so much happier and is enjoying life a lot more now that he doesn't have a constant tummy ache.

Another thing that we are thankful for is that Finn is going to have a new baby sister or brother in April!! Yep, I'm 18 weeks along and we'll find out the gender of the little nugget in about a couple weeks. Surprise! And happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Almost out of here

2011-11-20T21:04:00.001-07:00

For those of you who didn't hear... We had a little scare with Finn on Wednesday and he had to spend the night in the ICU. He had a pretty bad night on Tuesday and I called Dennen to come up at 3 a.m. that night. Dennen is so selfless. On numerous occasions he has shown up at the drop of a hat when I am by myself and am stressed or scared (even if it's the middle of the night and I know he's dead tired). I am so grateful he showed up that night. The next morning was a whirlwind of craziness.

All of Finn's vitals started going through the roof at around 8 a.m on Wednesday. His temperature was rising and his heart rate was above 200 bpm. Finn had a picc-line placed before his surgery to give him nutrition. They were giving him TPN and lipids through it. The infectious disease team of doctors came and told us that the picc-line was the biggest culprit for his infection. No sooner than those words came out of their mouth's, than a slew of nurses and IV team people came in and took out his picc-line and got an IV in each of his hands. They took some cultures from his blood and found out he had a fungal infection in his blood. Next, he was rushed to the ICU to monitor him while he got an IV drip of anti-fungal medicine. What they were really worried about was him going septic.

Long story short we had to stay in the ICU for about 24 hours (thank goodness it wasn't longer). The anti-fungal medication was working and Finn acted so much better. I am soooo grateful for modern medicine and life-saving drugs. There is absolutely no way Finn would have made it without those drugs. Thank you genius scientists for coming up with them!!

Hanging out in the ICU.

The surgery team came and talked with us this morning. They said basically now the only thing holding us back from leaving is that Finn still needs to be getting the anti-fungal medication through his IV for ten more days. The infectious disease team came and talked with us too. They're hoping that they can send us home with an oral medication that Finn can take. If the oral medication isn't the best match for the type of yeast he has in his blood, they're going to have to send us home with another picc-line. What the?! The doctors kind of calmed my fears though and said that probably one of the main reasons the yeast grew in his blood via the picc-line was because of the TPN he was getting. Apparently TPN has a lot of dextrose (sugar) in it and yeast live off of it. We'll know by tomorrow if it's the oral or the picc-line route. Either way we should be home by tomorrow night or Tuesday morning.

Out of the ICU! See the sugar candle in that chocolate goodie? Yeah, it was Dennen's birthday that day.

Getting reacquainted with food.

Finn got the suction tube taken out of his one nose hole. We're going to go home with the other one to give him night feeds. I'm sure some parents would be reluctant or nervous to go home with a feeding tube in their child's nose, but I am welcoming it with open arms. What a blessing at this point in time!

Speaking of blessings... I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father that helped us get through this. Throughout all of the procedures that Finn had done while we were here I was able to stay surprisingly calm. Today Dennen and I were able to go to an LDS church meeting here at the hospital. A member of the seventy said a few words about how children's hospitals have numbers of ministering angels and are probably one of the closest places that we can get to heaven and feel God's presence. I started crying when he said those words because I felt those angels and God's love for all of the children here. I always used to think, "How can God allow little children to go through so much pain and suffering?" But I can honestly tell you that those angels and God will never once leave the sides of these innocent and perfect children.

Finn's medical problems were not that serious compared to many of the children here, and I never really feared that we might loose him. The parents and children here are brave. I cannot even fathom how hard it must be for some of the families here. We are so blessed to have so many loving family members and friends that have asked what they can do for us during this time. Thank you so much!

Video and theme song for the day

2011-11-15T08:25:00.001-07:00

I love this song! It's got a great message, and is upbeat.

Keep on Pushing by The Impressions on Grooveshark

So far...

2011-11-14T14:23:00.001-07:00

Finn had a scope done last Tuesday. His doctor found a blockage in his duodenum (small intestine). He was admitted to Primary Children's that night. The next day he had a cat-scan to see what was causing the blockage; a tumor, his pancreas pressing on his intestine, or a duodenal web. He also had a picc-line put in that same day to start giving him nutrition before his surgery. The radiologist found from the cat-scan that it was a duodenal web blockage. Finn had surgery to remove it at 3 pm on Thursday. He is doing really well and was able to start the tube feeds through his nose today. We go to the playroom here quite a bit. I just have to push his Iv pole fast enough to keep up with him :) Well, that's all for now. I'll let you know when we bust out of this joint!

Oh and here are some pictures.

The day after surgery. He was on morphine and toradol, so he pretty much looked like this for a couple days.

2 days after surgery. Moving around more.

3 days after surgery. Finally a smile!

Cookie Monster

2011-11-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

Last night Dennen and I took Finn to see Cookie Monster at Harmons. We weren't quite sure how Finn was going to react... It was a success, he loved him!! After Finn saw him we went to get a drink to buy. Finn kept trying to go back and see Cookie Monster. I'm pretty sure this kid is not going to be afraid of mascots.

In other news, we have a busy week ahead of us! Dennen flies out tonight to go to a couple of PA school interviews. He has one on Tuesday in Pennsylvania, and one on Thursday in Tennessee. I am so proud of him and know that he will do great!

This next topic I've wondered whether or not I should write about. Something that bothers me more than anything is when people complain about their kids. About how they won't nap, won't eat, and throw tantrums. Guess what? That's a big part of what raising kids is about. Don't get me wrong. I think that it's fine to state facts of life and what's going on. Mixing in humor is always nice too. But when people go off and basically whine about their kids, it drives me nuts.

That said, I'm going to tell you all what's going on with Finn. He has thrown up since the day he was born. On average he'll puke about twice a week. He can only handle foods that are pureed, or carbohydrates that are uniform with no chunks of any sort in them. If he eats anything else, it's a sure thing that he will puke it up 7 or 8 hours later. He has a very bad association with food because of this and does not eat much at all.

He has seen various specialists. From occupational therapists, to dietitians, to a pediatric gastroenterologist . When he was 15 months he weighed 18 pounds. He has gotten a lot worse in the past little while and pukes more and had diarrhea for awhile. Usually Finn is a pretty happy little guy, but we can tell when his stomach just hurts him. His eyes are sunken in and he has been very pale lately. We finally took him to his doctor and he weighs 17 pounds at almost 18 months.

His doctor said it was about time we start taking some major action and do some tests on him. They're testing for metabolic disorders, celiac disease, allergies, his red blood cell count, his white blood cell count, cystic fibrosis, and some others. At some point he might need a feeding tube as well. Tomorrow I am taking him to have a sweat test done to see if he has cystic fibrosis. Although that sounds like that scariest of the tests, I'm not too worried about it because he hasn't really had serious lung infections. Just the GI problems that are associated with cystic fibrosis. On Tuesday I'm taking him to Primary Children's Hospital to have an endoscopy done to see if he has any intestinal blockages among other things.

We really hope that they can figure out what is making Finn so sick. Whether it's serious or not, we just want answers at this point in time. We are so grateful for Finn and that he is relatively healthy. It would be way hard to be a parent and basically live in the hospital 24/7 with your sick child. And sometimes knowing that they would just pass away soon from whatever illness they have. Well, just thought I'd give you all the low down.

Here's a great song that I found recently. I first really liked Martin Sexton in high school. But haven't really listened to any of his new stuff. This song is great!

Halloween fun

2011-11-03T10:28:00.001-06:00

Halloween is probably one of my favorite holidays. I love getting dressed up! It's even better now that Finn is able to enjoy it. And enjoy it he did! We went trick-or-treating in Dennen's parents neighborhood with his cousin's Emma and Thomas. Derek, Mandy, and Dylan also came along. He would get a huge grin on his face whenever he ran up to knock on the doors. He got the concept down of getting candy from people and putting it in his candy bucket. It was way cute! Of course he had to eat the candy as he went along too. He really likes Dum-dum suckers and chocolate. Well, pretty much all candy :)

More knitting

2011-10-18T21:01:00.002-06:00

I just finished knitting this monster for Finn. It is made out of super soft yarn so hopefully Finn likes it. Plus it took me forever to make! I'm not the fastest knitter on the block yet.

In other news... Finn has been sick, sick, sick! But I guess most kids probably are around this time of year. It just seems like he gets over one bug, and then he gets another. Not fair for the little tyke :( This go around he got the dreaded cold sore virus from me (he shares my water bottle and I have a cold sore right now). They're all over his lips, inside of his mouth, and tongue. I took him to his doctor but it was too late. Apparently for any sort of treatment to work, they have to get the medicine within 48 hours of the first one forming. He also has little red spots all over his skin that are some sort of virus. I sure hope everyone else's kiddos aren't sick with anything. It sure isn't fun.

Snoozing with his animals

Finn is quite the little dancer and singer now. It is so stinkin' cute! He also knows how to make the sound of a lion, bee, snake, fish, and duck. He now says "da da"! So his words consist of "Eddie" and "da da." He can sign: more, all done, down, drink, and fish. Finn has a lot more personality latey and it's definitely a fun time.

A new love

2011-10-11T20:07:00.002-06:00

Of course Dennen will always be my one and only love... But I've just finished my first knitting project and love it!! I'm way glad I learned how to crochet first though. It has really helped me hold the yarn around my fingers at just the right tension. And truth be told, I am of the opinion that knitting is more difficult than crocheting. So getting crocheting down first has been very helpful. And what would I have done without youtube videos?! If you want to learn how to crochet or knit, there are tons of great videos on how to do certain stitches on the internet. Oh, and if you do really want to learn I can teach you. Just let me know. Well enough blabbering... here are the hats I made.

Finn was running around with a book the other day and he tripped and the book got him right between the eyes.

Pink and yellow baby shower

2011-10-04T10:58:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from my friend's baby shower. The theme was pink lemonade. It turned out really nice, and I'm glad that so many of her friends and family came!

I found those yellow striped straws at Zurchers and had to get them, the favors I made were lemon heads and pink strawberry gummies, the cupcakes were one of my favorites (I'll share the recipe with you), I also dipped Oreos in white chocolate and put them on sucker sticks

She's having her baby girl today!

For the non-sweet treats, I made sweet red pepper hummus, guacamole, liptauer goat cheese spread, tomato hazelnut pesto, and baked sweet potato falafel

Here are the links to some of the recipes I used. I got most of them from 101 Cookbooks.

sweet red pepper hummus
liptauer goat cheese spread
baked sweet potato falafel
quesadillas
secret frosting recipe Secret ingredient? Dream Whip. It seriously tasted like a gourmet cupcake! And I just used a lemon box cake mix for the cupcakes.

Freebies

2011-09-26T11:53:00.000-06:00

There are so many blogs out there that have links to printable freebies and fonts. I don't know how they find all the free stuff out there! I just usually find it via their blog's and let them do all the work. But here are a whole bunch that I found via How About Orange, one of my favorite design blogs.These are some freebies that How About Orange found on The Handmade Home. Click here to see them all.

Cute hot air balloon printable cards.

These would be way cute for a baby's room!

You could frame these for a little boy's room.

Here are 16 free printable invitations she also found on HGTV's website. I used the pink chevron one for an invite for my friends baby shower coming up. Click here for the invites.

Speaking of invites... Do you think that people RSVP less now than they used to, say 10 years ago? I sent out invites for my friends baby shower last week and only a handful of people have RSVP'd. I think it is so rude when people don't RSVP. I even gave people the option of texting me. So hopefully people have some manners and let me know whether they're coming or not. Do you get bugged by the whole RSVP thing, or is it just me?

Alta hike, Hogle Zoo, and Zions

2011-09-23T20:26:00.003-06:00

I've realized that summer is not the time that I want or like to blog. I guess that's because we're usually outside playing. I'll probably be better at keeping up-to-date with, "What's happenin' with the Fraziers?" as it starts to turn more chilly. Speaking of chilly, I hope Fall lasts a while... I think it's pretty much my favorite time of year.

On Labor Day we had ourselves a grand ol' time! Side-note: my mom was listening to the news on Labor Day, and a news reporter decided to do a story on how the unemployed feel on Labor Day. What the?! How do you think they feel? I think it would go something like this, "Ummm, well everyday is a day off for me because I don't have a job, so I guess it's just like any other day. Crappy." Continuing on... We drove up to Alta and hiked to Cecret Lake (yes it's spelled with a "c"). Afterwards we went to Snowbird to go to October Fest. Nothing like a bunch of drunks, yodeling, dancing, and wearing lederhosen to make you laugh.

Cecret Lake at Alta.

We had to get him a sweet Snowbird shirt!

A couple weeks ago I went with my friend Marissa and her twins to Hogle Zoo. Finn had so much fun! He especially liked the monkeys. I sure gained an appreciation for not having two kids the same age. But if anyone handles it well, it's Marissa.

Look at those cute little bums!

Dennen's cousin Casey got married down in Zions. So we went with Dennen's family and stayed a couple nights. His family rented a home in Hurricane that was sooo nice! It even had a pool and hot tub. Finn had a blast running around and playing (probably more accurate to say being in the same proximity) with his cousins. We also went on one little hike in Zions with all the kiddos called Emerald Pools.

Playing at the house and hiking.

At the wedding.

And here are a couple new songs that I really like lately. Does anyone else like Fleet Foxes? I first heard of them from a friend in Logan and have loved them ever since!

This other song I heard on 90.9 KRCL, one of my favorite radio stations. Well most of the time... except when their DJ's bash on Mormons. Nothing irks me more than when people think they can bash on Mormons, or any religion or group of people for that matter. "Shut your pie holes," is what I have to say to them!! Although, some people can do it tastefully, such as Stephen Colbert. Check out this skit that Stephen Colbert does about Mormons, sooo funny! One of my favorite parts, "high-five a tiger!" Wow, kinda got side tracked there...

First camping trip

2011-09-03T11:46:00.000-06:00

We took Finn on his first camping trip this past Thursday night. We went up AF Canyon and stayed at Timpanookee. Finn loved it! He was a big fan of how many rocks there were to play with. If he saw a trail, he'd start going on it and would swing his arms (a sure sign of happiness). He also loved sitting by the fire and eating dill pickle Pringles, and chocolate.

When he started getting sleepy, we put him in his pack-n-play with his lion and he conked right out. He even slept the whole night without a peep!

The next morning when we finished packing up, we saw 3 big moose! Finn kept saying, "eeee, eeee," (his word for any hairy four-legged animal). I don't think we'd been camping in over 2 years. Going, definitely made me realize how much I miss it. Hopefully we'll be able to go on another camping trip with him before it gets too chilly.

PA schools

2011-08-24T09:30:00.003-06:00

Dennen finished applying to PA schools this past week. Even though we won't be going until next summer, it's still exciting to think about! Here are a list of the 14 schools Dennen applied to (in no particular order).

OHSU, Oregon
DeSales, Pennsylvania
Duke, North Carolina
University of N.M., New Mexico
Drexel, Pennsylvania
Northeastern, Massachusetts
Trevecca Nazaraene, Tennessee
Lock Haven, Pennsylvania
Salus, Pennsylvania
University of New England, Maine
Marywood, Pennsylvania
U of U, Utah
Chatham, Pennsylvania
King's College, Pennsylvania

We'll probably hear back in November if he gets any interviews to the schools he applied to (fingers crossed that we have at least a couple to choose from). It would be fun to live in any of those places... Although Oregon would be my fave!

He has worked so stinkin' hard to get to this point, and I am extremely proud of him!! Dennen will be a great PA because he is one of the most compassionate people I know. The medical field definitely needs more people like him.

15 months

2011-08-21T21:55:00.001-06:00

Yep, you heard right! Finn turned 15 months old on the 18th. Crazy. He's 18 lbs and 28 1/2 inches tall. He's in the 3rd percentile for height, 0.35 percentile for weight, and 10th percentile for head.

Some of you may not know that Finn still only eats basically baby food (pureed stuff), and bready stuff. It's not that he hasn't ever eaten whole table foods (such as bananas, pears, broccoli, carrots, peas, etc). It's that whenever he did he would puke them all up hours later. I took him to a pediatric gastroenterologist and she finally diagnosed why he has been barfing up raw fibrous foods such as whole fruits and vegetables. He has gastroparesis. Basically it's where his stomach doesn't move solid foods through quickly enough. When that happens, the food sits in his stomach for about 7 hours, ferments, and leads to him puking it all back up. She prescribed an antihistamine medicine that works on his digestive system. It's worked so far, and she said that he'll most likely grow out of it by about 16 months or so. Hooray!

Pictures before church. I love the one of Finn and Dennen!!

Now I'll catch you up on what he's been doing lately.

At around 13 1/2 months he started walking really well. Now he runs!
He loves playing "patty cake," as well as "head, shoulders, knees, and toes."
If you say, "Finn where's your head?" He'll put any object he has in his hand on his head (wow, tongue twister).
He knows where his ears, toes, mouth, and tummy are.
Gives open mouth kisses.
He knows how to give a high five and jump (basically just bending his knees and bouncing).
He goes up and down stairs really well.
Calls me "nana."
Loves, loves, loves dogs! The other day Eddie was licking Finn, so Finn decided to lick him back. It was pretty funny (:
He waves "bye, bye."
He signs "more."
He'll run to the bathtub if you ask him if he wants to take a bath.
He'll go to his crib if you ask him if he's tired and wants to take a nap.
He's learning how to go poop in the potty. No we're not really potty training him... It's called EC (elimination communication). Pretty much it's obvious when Finn is about to poop. When I can catch him in the act, I ask and sign to him, "do you need to go potty?" And then rush him to the toilet and he poops. So in a way, I guess it's actually training me... But I've read that they do catch on. Forget about the peeing though. I have no idea when he's going pee!

We had a Mexican fiesta for my sister Megan's birthday. I don't think Finn really liked the mustache. But we sure thought it was funny (:

Finn playing with his ball, rock, and favorite pal Eddie.

Wow, It sure seems like he's accomplished a lot lately! I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing us with such an awesome, fun, little boy. I know two couples whose babies recently passed away... It breaks my heart. They were both around 6 months old and had many medical problems and fought so hard to live. But finally returned to Heaven. I read a great book the other day and would recommend it to anyone. It's called, "Heaven is for Real." Has anyone else read it? Anyway, it really got me thinking about all the tough stuff that people go through. But that even though life can be full of heartache, we have a loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ that will help us along.

Reupholstered chair and stained table

2011-08-02T21:58:00.001-06:00

I finally did it. I finally reupholstered the $5 chair that I found back in January. Hooray!! I love how it turned out too. For a first reupholster job this one wasn't too difficult. My mom and grandma have reupholstered a lot of furniture in their day and were able to give me quite a few tips. A very handy tool to have when reupholstering? A staple gun hooked up to an air-compressor. That baby shot in the staples like it was butta!!

Before I got to the reupholstering I stripped the old stain, sanded, stained, and varnished the chair. While I was at it I also refinished a side table that I got at DI ages ago so it would match the chair. The wood grain on both pieces looks so pretty refinished!

This is the best before picture I could find of the end table. Kind of hard to tell, but it was painted a light brown color.

Dinner time

2011-08-01T20:20:00.004-06:00

Rock candy sucker in one hand + squeezing fruit in the other = a hilarious dinner time. We laughed sooo hard when Finn squeezes the honeydew after it falls on his chest. The face he makes is awesome!!

New ride

2011-07-27T13:13:00.002-06:00

A couple weeks ago we got a bike trailer/jogger. It has been sooo fun to have!! We had been looking on KSL for quite awhile, but found a better deal online from this site. They sell mainly returns so the prices are really marked down. We got Finn a little red helmet as well (we're still working on having it not fall over his face...). It sure is fun to ride around town with Finn now! I also thought that I would hate running with a jogging stroller, but it actually doesn't bother me. Granted, I still like to go on runs by myself. But I won't always have someone to watch Finn. Especially when Dennen is in PA school.

Awhile ago, Dennen and I ran the Battle at Big Springs 8k Trail Race. We both got 4th in our age division. Woot Woot! It was fun, and there were tons of tasty goodies at the end (one of my favorite parts of a race).

Today I took Finn to the Riverwoods to see if he wanted to play in the splash park down there. It's pretty cool, water just randomly shoots out of the ground in certain spots. He wasn't too excited about it... Oh well. Hopefully he'll like it when he's older!

Hikin', snakes, and swimmin'

2011-07-15T18:05:00.004-06:00

We've been hiking a couple times with our friends the Duncans. There is a really neat trail in Alpine that goes up a canyon called Dry Creek Canyon that I highly recommend. It is sweet! When we were hiking we saw the strangest looking snake that seriously looked like a turd. Dan found out it was a Rubber Boa. Apparently they are a really docile, non-venomous, pretty rare snake. Good to know. Yesterday we hiked Stewart Falls and Dan spotted 2 more! What are the odds, considering they are so rare in Utah?!

Us at Stewart Falls.

Dennen is holding the snake in the top picture. Dan is the "snake whisperer." And then come the two girls that hate snakes! We were having some snake therapy time to help us overcome our fear, and trying to look like we love it.

Dry Creek Canyon in Alpine. Finn and his hiking buddy Cody. I love it, they just take turns jabbering when we hike!

The other day, Dennen and I took Finn to the Lindon pool. We thought it was awesome!! Finn on the other hand begged to differ... He's been to pools before, but never ones where water dumped out of buckets onto his head randomly, kids were screaming and splashing, and the water was too cold. We'll keep taking him though and he'll like it sooner or later.

Videos of Finn

2011-07-15T12:55:00.002-06:00

For awhile, Finn had a fear of four-square balls. Yellow ones to be exact. I had to get it on video before he overcame his fear, so here it is. I know, kind of mean...

You'll never guess what Finn's first word was. My parents have a Jack Russell Terrier whose name is Eddie. That's right, his first word was Eddie. He loves that dog!

Now whenever Finn wants to see something up high, he makes it known. He really likes this picture at my parents house and always wants a closer look at it.

And last but not least... Finn is a full blown walker now!! I took this video when he was just starting to walk. Within a week he was a pro. Now he basically runs. Everywhere.

Our 4th of July

2011-07-07T14:24:00.001-06:00

The 4th of July has to be one of my favorite holidays! This year did not disappoint either. First, some of the fam road their bikes up to Big Springs for our annual 4th of July breakfast. My mom made this french toast that was embedded with sugary and buttery goodness, mmmm. We also enjoyed riding our bikes down the canyon, even though there were hoards of people. We even witnessed a guy endo after his whole family slammed on their brakes. He wasn't quite quick enough and flew over his handle bars. Oops.

Family picture up at Big Springs.

My mom, Rachel, myself, and Dennen, ready to head up to Big Springs.

Emma always pats Thomas and Finn on the head. I think it's pretty stinkin' funny. There was a bridge up at Big Springs where the kiddos enjoyed throwing rocks into the stream.

In the afternoon we played games, had some tasty food, and lit our fireworks. Umm...was anyone else blown away at all the aerial (used to be illegal) fireworks that people had?? Ridiculous. I would never want to buy them, first, because they're so dang expensive, and second, because you can just watch everyone else's.

One of the games we played where we had to make it to the end of the yard without dropping or popping our balloons.

Last Logan hoorah and Gruesome Grizzly 8K

2011-06-26T14:50:00.002-06:00

It's official we've moved to Utah Valley! We'll be in Orem while Dennen applies for PA school. And then it's off to, Oregon, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, or perhaps New York (yeah, pretty much anywhere). We are sooo excited to be closer to family and a lot of our old buddies!! At the same time, Logan was a great place to live (I lived there 6 years and Dennen 5). We have so many great memories of Logan and have met so many fun people, that we kind of had mixed emotions about moving. But it's like my Grandpa Mel says, "change is good." So we're happy with our decision. Here is a list of fun things we did / things we'll miss in Logan.

Oneeda Narrows Hot Springs
Riverdale Resort Hot Springs
Biking around the Wellsville mountains
USU cycling team
Numerous hikes
Meeting lifelong friends
Camping
Mountain biking
Demo Derbys
Fairs
Tandori Oven, Chespita Bakery, Charlies
Hanging out with all my siblings
Living right by a University

On one of our last days there Dennen and I went hiking with one of my good buddies, Lisa, who was in my grad program with me. She has a little boy, Benson, who is three months younger than Finn. Here are some pictures of our hike on the Crimson Trail.

Oh, and props to my friend for also being 4 months pregnant and doing this hike with us. She toted her little guy the whole way, and Yes, I did offer to carry him. But she did just fine.

Yesterday, Dennen and I ran a trail race at Canyon Glen called the Gruesome Grizzly 8K. I love races, the atmosphere, food, and everything! This one was pretty darn tough though. Dennen got 9th for his age group and I got 4th (there were a lot more guys, so Dennen had quite a bit more competition than I did). We're running another one on July 16th at Big Springs. We'll have a bit more time to train for the next one, so that will be good. Here are the pictures from our race.

Carhartts

2011-06-14T12:58:00.004-06:00

Before Finn grew out of these cute overalls, I thought I better take a couple of pictures. I found the overalls and t-shirt at D.I.

Videos and pics

2011-06-02T12:42:00.005-06:00

We took some videos of Finn recently and I think they are pretty funny (not that you can't tell from my giggling in them). The first is a card trick that he does with dad. And the other one is of him squeezing his animals! I finally got it on video, hooray!!

And here are some pictures of him out on our lawn.

Also, kid independent is doing a giveaway of 4 items from my etsy shop. So go check it out and enter to win!

What we've been up to

2011-06-01T18:40:00.003-06:00

We are now officially internetless. Our neighbors who we shared it with moved. At least it's summer though! Now I go to the public library or to USU. The public library is kind of strange sometimes... The other day when I went, there was this creeper guy next to me that had headphones on and was whispering "kill...kill...kill... kill... them..." etc., etc. Yeah, creepy. And the other guy next to me was looking at women in bikinis (at least the ones I saw) on myspace. Oh yeah, he was also 60 plus years old! Weirdos. So needless to say I won't be doing the bloggy blog thing for awhile. We'll be outside playing now so that will be nice.

Speaking of playing outside... We have been on a lot of fun hikes lately. I credit Dennen. He makes sure we go at least 2 x's a week. Finn absolutely loves it too!! He kicks and jabbers the whole time and then usually falls asleep.

Also, over Memorial Day weekend we went and put flowers on my Grandma Gwen's grave. My Grandpa Dean said, "Gwen would have got a kick out of Finn!" She sure would have. We love and miss you Grandma!

Chuckle of the day

2011-05-21T21:16:00.002-06:00

A few of my fave-or-it things

2011-05-20T19:46:00.004-06:00

First, this little ditty of an instrumental song and animation are quite neat.

Apache from oneedo on Vimeo.

And these things (all found on etsy) are pretty cool too!

1. jane foster
2. danger crafts
3. dee beale
4. old school stationers

Happy birthday Finn!!

2011-05-18T12:49:00.005-06:00

Wow, Finn is a year old! I'm not gonna lie. The first months of his life went by at a snail's pace. I would mark the days off the calendar waiting for the magical 4 month mark when supposedly everything would get better. And granted all of our spirits slowly improved, but it definitely took time.

Thinking back... The beginning was pretty rough (and still is at times), but he is such a joy in our lives and we love the little stinker to pieces!! Here are some fun facts about Finn lately.

tenses up and shakes when he smiles
loves story time
loves bath-time and splashes a lot
extremely energetic
likes crawling over us when we're laying on the floor
squeezes his stuffed animals and burrows his face into them
snuggles his face into us now (only when he's not giving us the stiff arm because he wants to get down)
really fast at getting from point A to point B
jabbers quite a bit with intonation in his voice, but no actual words yet
loves going on walks
very perceptive
loves playing on the grass and putting sticks, grass, leaves and anything else in his mouth
always gives dad a big cheesy grin when he walks in from work
pulls up all the time now and cruses along the furniture
determined
likes it when we sing and dance with him
will clap his hands together now when we say, "clap, clap, clap."
gives high fives
likes getting his teeth brushed (he has 6 now)

I can't believe how he's changed so much from when he was brand new baby that weighed 4 lbs 3 oz. He looks a ton better now! I made a collage with 1 picture from each month of his life. You can really see the difference with the pictures all next to each other.

I also made a movie comprised of videos we've taken since he was born. It's kind of long... But I'm sure family will enjoy watching it. Sorry the quality isn't that great. Our laptop just wasn't up to the task of exporting it at a higher quality.

Finn's 1st Year from Hilary Frazier on Vimeo.

Finn's 1st birthday bash

2011-05-16T17:20:00.006-06:00

Although Finn's birthday isn't until the 18th, we were down in Orem and thought we'd celebrate it with our family and friends down there. This post will just mainly be pictures. On his actual birthday I'll write a bit more about his first year of life.

I found a cute little Martha Stewart elephant paper punch at Robert's that I made tons of tiny paper elephants with.

All the animal fabric was from my grandma. Straight from the 70's! My mom made a quilt for Finn out of it, and the remainder I used to decorate for his birthday.

Couldn't quite get a smile out of him next to his birthday cake. Oh well (:

I made a little birthday wish book for people to sign, and I'll fill it with pictures from his birthday party later. I also made a collage picture compiled of 1 picture from each month up to a year. Crazy to see how much he has changed! He seriously used to look like a skinny, bald, old man.

He wasn't too hip about the cupcake and only ate a little bit of the frosting. Everyone kept trying to get him to eat some, and I loaded him up on cream cheese fruit dip which led to a barf-fest later that night. Woops (:

He kind of got in to tearing the wrapping paper off his gifts.

Finn playing with his cousin's Emma and Thomas.

I don't think babies really get what's going on for their 1st birthday. At least Finn didn't. And he seemed a little overwhelmed by all the people around. But he really enjoyed playing with the other kiddos that came! Thanks to everyone that came and for the love that you show Finn every day!

Peak Baggin'

2011-05-12T09:41:00.000-06:00

Finn hit a big milestone yesterday. I wanted to give Hils a little time to herself, so Finn and I decided to go on a father-son outing. I asked him what he wanted to do and he said his 1st sentence! He said, "Dad, I want to crawl to the peak of a mountain." I couldn't have been a prouder father. We sat down and had a talk about patience and the economy of walking vs. crawling and struck a deal. We agreed that as a father-son duo, we should bag as many peaks as possible this summer. We also agreed that, at least for this summer, I would play the role of porter-Dad-Sherpa until his personal mobility better lent itself to peak baggin'. Here is our first trip report:

Why'd we stop?

Don't make me crack the whip.

Dad, quit being a sissy and let's slay this hill.

Finn decided that the snowy summit, approaching rain clouds, complete lack of supplies, unnerving amount of deer droppings, and Dad's exhausted quadriceps necessitated a turn-around.

Views from the top

My legs are dead today.

Half way down...

Dad's droopy eye skin and a passed out Finn.

Where we went and another passed out Finn picture.

Finn stands!

2011-05-09T17:16:00.004-06:00

About a week ago Finn started pulling up and cruisin' along our furniture. It's pretty cool to see! He also crawls like a little speed demon. If he ever hears us open up the bathroom door or our bedroom door (both of which he is not allowed into), he will jet over in 0.5 seconds! He desperately wants to come in the forbidden rooms. Sorry buddy, not allowed.

We go out onto the lawn at our place quite a bit and he loves it. What baby doesn't love to be outdoors is what I want to know? We also went on our first hike of the season and it was so nice. Finn is a much more hiking friendly baby now. Good thing, because that is basically what we plan on doing this summer with him.

And here's a video of when Finn first began to stand.

Number 4

2011-05-05T09:08:00.009-06:00

It's our 4th anniversary today (happy cinco de mayo!) and I can hardly believe it... Time flies when you're havin' fun I guess! No need for me to tell you all how amazingly wonderful Dennen is, because most of you already know. This past weekend we took a little trip up to Jackson, WY to celebrate. Oma came and watched Finn for the weekend (thanks again!). We had quite the enjoyable time too. We went between their main seasons, so we got good deals and there weren't a lot of people. Sweet!

Since it's our 4th anniversary, I'll tell you 4 facts about Dennen.

He likes Sunset Magazine (he says it's because of the cool trip ideas... sure).
He sleep eats. I'll explain. He'll wake up at around 1 or 2 am and think it's time to get up for the day, so he goes in to the kitchen and chows down.
He loves thrift store shopping, maybe even more than me.
One of his favorite things to do is plan trips. Look at the picture below of all the maps and brochures! Yeah, enough said.

Oh, and here's a song that I like that sums it up, "home is wherever I'm with you." Love you forever and always babe!

Free crochet patterns

2011-05-02T08:41:00.002-06:00

I've come up a couple of crochet patterns that I'm selling on my etsy site. But for my fellow blog buddies, I'll send you the PDF patterns for free! Let me know if you want one or both of them.

24 hours later...

2011-04-27T20:10:00.002-06:00

We're home! I had to take Finn to the ER last night because he was very dehydrated. He started barfing at around 9 am yesterday and kept it comin' so I took him to see his doc at 4:30 pm. Pretty much his doc said that with Finn's weight as it is, I could either admit him right then and there (this was after he puked on the doc), or go home and try oral re-hydration with some Pedialite. I thought I'd give it a go and try to re-hydrate him on my own (Dennen was at work at this time).

We made it until around 8 pm and then I got pretty scared. He looked like a little skeleton and he wasn't being very responsive at all (just floppy and eyes rolling back in his head). We got to the ER and at first they were worried that he might be septic (serious scary stuff), but after numerous blood and urine samples said that he had a viral infection in his gut and started him on some antibiotics and a saline IV to get him re-hydrated.

Dennen made it to the hospital when he got off work to relieve some of the stress, and boy he did. Doesn't it seem like most males are the level headed ones and can stay calm, whereas females are usually bawling their faces off?? Or is it just me? We took shifts during the night giving him little sips of Pedialite. I probably got one hour of sleep and Dennen probably got two (I thought he deserved more because he had work the next morning at 6 am).

Long story short, we just walked in the door and it's about 7:30 pm. Whew, what a night!! Glad that's over.

Now for some pictures. "What?!" You say, "pictures??" Yeah, I know, who takes pictures of their sick kid. I couldn't believe how much skinnier he got with being dehydrated so I had to take some pictures. He went from 14.2 lbs, to about 13.5 lbs when I brought him to the ER.

Right when he was admitted to the ER (note the rolled back eyes).

Still skinny, but has the IV in his head.

Sportin' dad's glasses while he gets plumped up with some fluid.

Yay, all better in his freaky baby cage!

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T20:21:00.004-06:00

This past week we went to Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center here in Cache Valley. They held it a couple weeks back but it snowed like crazy so I guess they decided to put it on again. I'm so happy they did, I love Baby Animal Days!!

Now that we have a kid we have an excuse to go... Not just me asking Dennen, "can we go, can we go?!" Yeah, I kind of get excited about baby animals. It did not disappoint either. Finn may not have been totally in to it, but there weren't any crowds and I actually got to pet some baby animals. Versus other years where I have shoved kids out of the way so I can pet the fuzzy little darlins. My sisters Megan and Rachel came along too which was fun.

So... funny story. Look at the picture below of how cute and innocent that tiny calf is. Now look at the sheer terror on Finn's face! We wanted to get a happy little picture of Finn on that calf. Apparently it was not to be. I guess this is just as good because we got quite the chuckle out of it. And if you think we're cruel and unusual, then you've missed out on one of the joys of being a parent. Trying to get pictures of your kid in funny situations.

Last but not least, Dennen put together a little Easter egg hunt for Finn (eggs set on the lawn around him). He loves being on the lawn too and will crawl all over eating leaves and sticks.

And most importantly, we are ever grateful for a loving Savior that paid the ultimate price for all of us. We are thankful for this time of year that brings remembrance of Jesus Christ's atonement.

This n' that

2011-04-21T20:15:00.003-06:00

Finn turned 11 months on the 18th, so here are some pics of him. Dennen's shoe looks huge next to him! He wears a size 12, so go figure. Cold, rainy, windy, snowy, whatever the weather, I try to go on a walk with Finn every day or so. I'd been using the Baby Ergo we have, but we just got a new stroller about a week ago and I love it! It's a Maclaren umbrella stroller. Some cool things about it is that it has a sun shade that you can remove, and a rain cover. Plus, it's an umbrella stroller (the only kind of stroller I like).

For those of you that care for an update on Finn's anorexic behavior (which I'm sure you all do), we took him to see his doctor on Tuesday and he got Finn set up to see a dietician as well as an occupational therapist. I'm sure it will help.

My grandparents went to Germany awhile back and brought me this funny apron... hee hee (: Nothin' like a busty German gal cookin' up some dinner! The other picture is of recent finds from DI. You'll never guess how much I got that Kelty bag for. One dolla!! I also found Finn that cute little sweater (although he probably won't fit into it until next Spring). The sweet cowboy boots my friend Cashia found for me. Oh how I love thrift shopping! Hopefully I don't end up on the show Hoarders... Don't worry, I always try and take something to DI if I get something.

Best video to date

2011-04-16T13:06:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I wish I had a video camera taped to my forehead so that I could make sure and get videos of Finn doing new and exciting things. Finn does cute things all the time that I never get on camera. I was lucky with this one though.

Finn also had surgery the other day at Primary Children's Hospital. He had a minor hypospadia gap that they stitched up (his urethra wasn't closed all the way). Everything went fine and it was only a 1 hour surgery (although we were there from 9:30-3 pm). The only hard part was when he came off the general anesthesia. He was definitely not a happy camper.

As we were waiting with all the other parents in the waiting room we talked to a couple whose daughter has a cleft pallet. She was having her 2nd surgery and would still have to have 3 more. How worrisome to have a child have to go through that many major surgeries. We were grateful that Finn's was so minor.

Advice

2011-04-14T10:50:00.008-06:00

To put it bluntly, Finn is a crappy eater. What I wouldn't give for Finn to snarf down everything in sight like some babies I know... Since he was born I take him to get weighed every few weeks. Lately he has been doing a lot worse when it comes to gaining weight (he's basically leveled out). I took him today and he weighs 14.2 lbs and he'll be 11 months on the 18th of this month.

For those of you that have had picky eaters or kids that just don't eat much, what did you do/try??? What foods seemed to work? Here's a list of things that we've already tried...

doubled the concentration of his milk
solid pears, peaches, carrots, cottage cheese, kiwi, mango, and pretty much any other food in solid form. He just barfs it all back up. Or seals his mouth shut like an iron trap.
letting him feed himself. He'll grab anything we set in front of him unless it's food. I'm not kidding. The only exception is if it's crackers or cereal (dry things).

He does like yogurt, sweet potatoes, avocado on toast (sometimes), and prunes or anything else sweet. I really want him to have more of a balanced diet, so sometimes I won't give him the foods he likes until he eats something that he doesn't really like. By this point he's usually screaming because he's so hungry and he cries while he's eating the detested food (probably not the best move on my part). With your kids, do you just give them what they like no matter what, even if they eat only sweet potatoes 3 x's a day?? What do you think is better?

I know he's going to be a small kid. But that's not the point. The point is, that if he fails to gain weight (failure to thrive), other problems can arise. Why else would doctors be so worried about kids that have this problem? The first 3 years of life are very important for a kid's growth and development. So telling me not to worry doesn't help. I'm going to worry until the problem is fixed and we know what's going on.

Well, enough stressing for the day... (: Smiley face makes everything better! He has a follow-up appointment next week so that we can hopefully come up with another game plan with his doctor. Wish us luck! And I'm more than happy to welcome any tips from parents whose kids have also been picky/poor eaters.

Here's a recent picture of the little man at my sister Rachel's birthday bash.

And tell me this is not one of the best songs! I love songs with rockin' piano beats!

To start off your Monday

2011-04-11T09:45:00.010-06:00

This is Rosi Golan and her music is great!

My parents came up yesterday to celebrate my youngest sister Rachel's birthday. She's 21, I can't believe it! I don't know if anyone else thinks this way... But does your youngest sibling always seem to stay a certain age to you? Rachel will always seem 12 to me. Weird.

And this is my favorite picture of Finn and my dad.

Find me some Scandinavian fabric

2011-04-08T10:31:00.002-06:00

I will give $100 to anyone that finds fabric like this for sale. I tell you, it can not be found! I want to find fabric like what these are made out of so that I can make Finn some cool clothes. I'm not going to spend $30 for a onesie (I rarely spend that on a pair of pants for myself). You can go here to see more outrageously priced cute kids stuff.

What in the world?!

2011-04-07T20:17:00.001-06:00

I saw this on etsy today. Pretty flower thingy, but not on a pregnant belly. Fashion faux pas. Absolutely horrendous. Need I say more?

Laughing and crawling

2011-04-01T10:36:00.000-06:00

It's kind of hard to tickle Finn and hold the video camera at the same time. So I put it on a tripod and was able to get him to laugh. Also, as of yesterday Finn has started to do the traditional crawl! He has been doing the army crawl for sometime now and would only get up on his knees occasionally. Now he gets up on his knees all the time and can finally get himself down from a sitting position. Time to barricade the house!

9: A picture of my friends

2011-03-31T20:06:00.002-06:00

Sometimes don't you just want one day back when you hung out with your friends all the time and had (it seemed) little responsibility? I love this stage of my life, but if I was to go back to a favorite time of my life it would be 3rd grade and my early college days. 3rd grade because I distinctly remember having so much fun with friends at recess! I loved recess, sniff, sniff. My early college days because my roommates rocked (and of course still do). Here's a picture of all of us. Marissa, Kali, Kelly, mwha, and Kim. Stephanie was missing in the top pic, so I included the bottom one with her.

Here's a picture of all of us now. Kids and everything! Time sure does fly...

And how can I forget my high-school buds? They are great too! Here's a picture of Gina, Chelsy, Rissa, and Amandah at grad night. The other picture is of me and my friend Cashia skiing.

I am so thankful for friends. They help make the world go round. We've had tons of good times together, and laughed a lot (the most important part). Thanks you guys for being great pals!

Learning new camera tips

2011-03-30T15:12:00.001-06:00

When I graduated with my bachelors degree, my parents bought us a super nice camera (Canon EOS 40D). Until now, I haven't really had the time to read the camera book that came with it to learn about all that it can do. Actually, lets face it, the real reason that I didn't take the time to read about it was because I was intimidated by all its features (still kind of am). And I hate reading instruction manuals.

Today I was able to adjust the white balance and ISO speed to take some pictures with a light box that I made. Here's the tutorial on how I made the light box. It was super easy and only took 15 minutes! I had never really fiddled with all the adjustments until today, for fear of not knowing how to change the camera back to its original settings. Although the instruction manual may seem daunting at first, I highly recommend reading the one that came with your camera. You'd be amazed at all of the functions your camera probably has!

I'm sure glad I ventured out and decided to learn some more about our camera, because I was able to take some fun product shots. Now I'll be able to take professional looking product shots for my etsy site. Hooray! The top picture is the best one. The bottom two pictures I didn't adjust the white balance as good.

Check it out

2011-03-29T21:51:00.004-06:00

I was perusing one of my new favorite websites and look what I found! I've never commented on the site or anything, so it is kinda crazy they found my esty shop... KidIndependent is an Australian website all about kid stuff. It's rather fun to look at. Finn made "Music Week - Hijinks, Hilarity and Harmony."

Cool beans huh? Go here to check out the whole post and the website (you have to scroll down a bit to see Finn).

For Grandpa Garth

2011-03-26T16:55:00.002-06:00

My dad said that he wanted to see some more pictures and videos of Finn on our blog. So here they are dadio. I took these pictures of him this morning when he woke up, hence the no smiles and crazy bed-head.

Here are some videos of Finn. He really likes to spin in his jumper! Also, I have really been wanting Finn to eat foods besides orange ones. I have been trying all sorts of green vegetables, but to no avail. We had tried avocado before (just plain and mashed up), but he didn't dig it. So this time we added spices to the avocado and spread it on toast. He loved it!

There you go dad! And thanks again for the great ski day last weekend. My parents rented a cabin up by Beaver Mountain and we went skiing. It was tons of fun! My mom watched Finn in the morning, and believe it or not, my dad watched Finn in the afternoon so Dennen and I could go skiing all day.

Blocks

2011-03-24T21:43:00.006-06:00

So the other day I was stressing out that Finn needed blocks. I had read in some parenting magazine that kids his age should start playing with blocks. When I read the article I had recently been worried about his cognitive development and wasn't sure that I was interacting/playing with him the right way, or that he had the right toys (don't worry, it was only my illogical mind that thought that way). So, had I read the article in the magazine at any other time I'm sure I wouldn't have freaked out like I did. "Blocks, blocks, blocks! Finn needs them now or he won't learn how to read, which in turn will lead to him dropping out of school!!!"

The next day I dragged Dennen and Finn along to go look for blocks. Logan doesn't have a wide array of choices when it comes to retail sometimes. We looked everywhere and finally ended up at Wally World. Huzzah, they had blocks! Even better, the blocks were small which equals perfect for storing. Even better better (what's better than better? Better better of course), $5!

I am sad to say that my impulse buy was not one of my finer moments. I've always wanted to get quality toys for our kids. Which doesn't necessarily mean expensive. The blocks I bought are not quality (come to find out). They are made of composite wood, the paint job is less than par (I'm really hoping it's not lead paint), and please tell me what in the world some of the pictures on the other sides of the blocks are?!?! Oh, and did I mention they were made in China? Don't worry, I love China. Just not when they use lead paint on my kid's toys.

I should have gotten Finn these blocks instead. I love them. But who is going to spend $45 on blocks?!

Check out some of the rest of the toys this etsy shop has. It's all so pretty... and looks a ton better than the cat-seal blocks I got Finn (that's what one of the pictures looks like to me).

Moral of the story? Is Finn a genius now that he has his toxic blocks? Nope. Just goes to show you, don't buy into the hype. And don't buy toxic blocks with weird pictures on them.

What do you think?

2011-03-22T17:30:00.001-06:00

What fabric do you think I should recover this chair in (yes, the puke green one)? I'm going to strip the varnish off of the wood, sand it down, and re-stain it basically the same color. The only thing I have to decide now is what fabric to use to recover it... I've narrowed it down to these 4. Let me know what you think.

Just ignore the carpet... O' how I loath thee carpet!

10 months old

2011-03-18T10:46:00.013-06:00

You heard it right, Finn is 10 months old! He weighs in at 14 lbs and is 26 inches long. I said before that I would try to think of some personality traits or tidbits about Finn. Here they are.

He is really perceptive. Whenever we go into a new room or place he observes every part of it, like he's trying to memorize it.
He is very active! He's got the army crawl down and can move pretty fast. Sitting still is definitely not his favorite thing to do. I see some people that can sit down with their baby on their lap forever. It lasts about 30 seconds with Finn. Because of this he is not a snugly baby at all.
He likes change. Lately, he's been getting very bored being inside the house. He loves going on outings and is ready for winter to be over.
If he gets excited and he's on his belly, he'll scrunch up his face and pull his hands and feet off the floor. It's almost as if he is balancing on his belly button. Like the superman pose.

Another things that he does when he gets excited is put his mouth into a Cheerio shape, and then he kind of makes a sound like a monkey.
Eating is not his favorite pastime. Because he was a late preterm infant, the cards were stacked against him when it came to feeding problems. Late preterm infants get tired easily and a lot of times aren't strong enough feeders to drink enough breastmilk to gain weight. This in turn led to me not making enough milk. He has been doing well with most of the pureed foods, but he will only eat about half of the stage 2 bottles. We tried to give him more solid foods (instead of just pureed) the other day and he hated it. To make matters worse he barfed 7 times that day because of it. I think we'll hold off on trying that again anytime soon.
He loves being outside! I think this stems from the hour walks I'd go on with him when he was a newborn. Nothing else I could do at the time would sooth him, nothing. It was very tiring going on 3 walks a day that were each about an hour long, especially right after giving birth. I'm glad we have an outdoor enthusiast though!
He likes taking baths and hangin' out in his jumper. His jabbering increases whenever he is doing either of these activities.
The most ticklish part on him is his neck. He's a light tickler though. If we ever tickle him too hard he just stares at us blankly like, "what in the world are you doing?"

That's all I can think of for now. I have learned a lot about being a mother in the past 10 months. One of the most important things I have learned though has been to not judge other mothers for how they do things or why they do certain things. What made me learn this so quickly? Breast-feeding. I have always been a super big advocate of breast-feeding. But when things seemed to spiral out of control with feeding Finn I was devastated. I saw multiple lactation specialists, and my doctor. I took blessed thistle, fenugreek, Reglan, and drank Mother's Milk Tea. I used an SNS, and pumped every 2 hours. I had people tell me all sorts of advice and I wanted to punch them in the face!!

I used to be judge mental about the whole breast-feeding thing and thought mothers were doing a disservice to their babies by not doing it. Well, things change pretty quickly when you see the other side. I have had friends whose milk didn't come in at all. Friends whose babies chomped them to death from day one and wouldn't stop. Friends that got so stressed out by it all that they hated it. And other friends that decided before hand that they weren't going to breast-feed at all.

I have since learned that I was wrong to place any sort of judgement on a woman for her decision about breast-feeding, and am truly sorry because of it. Obviously, not judging others is a life long thing that I need to work on. Just a word of advice though, (not like you asked for it, but don't worry it's good) to any soon-to-be mothers or current mothers... DO NOT judge a woman's choices about feeding her child, about wanting to work or having to work, about the cleanliness of her home, or about raising her child. I'm sure every mother is trying her very hardest to be a good mother. She judges herself enough and doesn't need more people judging her. That is all.

Andrew Bird

2011-03-17T21:15:00.008-06:00

Tonight I went to one of my sister Rachel's club parties with Finn. We watched a little bit of an outdoor documentary and had some popcorn. Well, I had some popcorn. Finn will put everything in his mouth that we hand him except for food. Silly kid. Anyway, Rachel is always up-to-date on good music and one of Andrew Bird's songs was in the documentary. Thanks for keeping me in the loop Rachy!

In other news, last week we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum. Finn had a good time and was jabbering the whole time. An old guy (probably a former pilot) that was a volunteer there whipped out this little plane for us to take a picture of Finn in. I don't think he's too sure what to think... at least in the bottom picture.

8: A place I've traveled to

2011-03-16T19:54:00.005-06:00

Dennen and I worked in Skagway, AK for two summers. When the next summer rolled around we were sick of telling people how tall certain mountains were and that they couldn't pet the bears (seriously, some genius lady asked me if she could). Instead, we decided to make it our summer of traveling.

As soon as school got out we headed to Europe with some friends of ours. First we went to Germany. We stayed in a home close to Frankfurt that Dennen's parents own. Dennen's mom came with us and I was able to meet all the relatives. It was neat to actually stay in a home there and visit Dennen's relatives. I love German homes. The doorknobs are different than ours and are more like handles. The windows open from the top so it looks like a V when they're open. The toilets have the tank up on the wall above the toilet. There are definitely a lot of other things that are different but I can't remember everything right now.

One of the things that I love about Germany is how clean and tidy it is. They also have cute little cobble stone roads and old homes and cottages that look like gnomes and woodland creatures would live in them. Last but not least... the bakeries!! Mmmm, just thinking about them makes my mouth salivate. Every little village had a bakery. Even the campgrounds we stayed in had fresh baked goods each morning.

After being in Germany for awhile, we headed out on a European road trip (we were so lucky, Dennen's parents also have a car there). We went to Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. I'm pretty sure that every day I got gelato. That was about all the German I learned while we were there, how to order a gelato. There was so much to see and do. We had a blast! I'll let the pictures do the talking now.

The left two pictures are in Hallstat, Austria; and the right one is in Munich, Germany.

Frankfurt, eating dinner with some of Dennen's relatives, the LDS temple in Frankfurt

All of these pictures were taken in Hallstat, and Salzburg, Austria

The top left picture is one of the campgrounds we stayed at and our little blue car we drove, outside the coolest Christmas store ever, Dennen standing by a delivery vehicle of some sort, enjoying a sandwich

These are just some pictures from one of the markets we went to in Germany. Those eggs were as fresh as you could get! The old dude in the lederhosen was pretty hip too.

Rothenburg, Germany

I can't wait to go back to Germany someday (although it probably won't be for a long time). I am so happy that we did quite a bit of traveling before we had Finn. We also went to Peru that summer. But that's another story. My advice to those of you who don't have kids yet? Take a big awesome trip somewhere where you've always wanted to go. I am so glad we did!

7: Favorite movies

2011-03-14T13:00:00.003-06:00

When it comes to movies I am very picky. I have no problem turning off a movie if it stinks. When I do watch a dumb movie I feel like part of my life gets sucked away, and I hate that feeling. I rarely take others advice as to whether or not a movie is good. Here are some movies that I do like though. When I say that they're my favorite movies, I mean that I have no problem watching them multiple times. Kind of like a good book.

I absolutely love this movie! The music is so great.

One of the character's names is Finn in this movie.

Really great music in this movie too.

I cry every time I watch this movie.

I love every single one of the Ocean's movies!

Such a classic.

Well, there are some of my faves. I also really like most all Disney movies. But I don't like the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th of them.

I survived!

2011-03-08T20:44:00.004-07:00

All I can say is that I am so glad to be well again! The flu hit me hard about a week ago. I wore doctor's masks non-stop around Finn and did all I could to prevent him from getting sick. And it worked! He didn't get sick. It definitely helped to have Dennen and my mom around to take care of Finn so I had minimum contact with him.

I am so grateful that I don't have to take all these meds anymore.
And happy that I don't look like the unibomber (creeper) anymore.
Don't worry I didn't go out into public with the mask, just the sunglasses.

Let me just say that the flu I got was nothing, compared to what else I got. A double eye infection. Has anyone else had one of these infections straight from Hell?!? I got some antibiotic drops for them that hurt like the dickens. That was actually one of the side effects from the drops. More pain. What the?! You know that song, "I wear my sunglasses at night, so I can, so I can...?" That was me. I was wearing my sunglasses at night because my eyes hurt so bad that any bit of light burned them like a hot poker. The only thing that made them feel better was keeping them closed. So Dennen led me around like a visually impaired person. Maybe I should have rented a seeing eye dog... Can you do that?

Oh to be well again, hallelujah!!!!

On to non sick topics. Grandma Marci sent Finn some cute new clothes. Check out that little striped vest. Adorable! And apparently he really digs the cardboard box too.

Today we went on a little jaunt in the new snow we got. Finn seemed to enjoy himself. How could he not? I would love to ride around in a backpack like that!

Life is good. I'm glad I have my vision back so that I can see this little cu-tie.

A little unexpected setback

2011-02-28T20:19:00.006-07:00

Finn had his 9 month appointment today. We thought, "of course he's below the growth curve, and probably will be for awhile." We just didn't expect him to be losing weight especially when he's not sick and doesn't have a temperature. He's fine with his height and head measurements... but take a look at his weight on the chart.

Yeah... That dot below the other dot? Not supposed to happen. Some of you may not know that Finn has Duarte's Galactosemia (thank goodness it's not Classic Galactosemia). Basically it's a genetic disorder (not an allergy) where the liver's enzymes can only break down 25-50% of the sugars in any animal milk, including breast milk. So when my milk dried up his doctor got him on a soy formula. He was diagnosed at birth with it and we were told that he may always be on the small side because of it. This wasn't the reason for his loss in weight though.

He has been on and off constipated since the end of December. No fun for anyone. If his food is not coming out, there's not much room for more to go in. Hence the weight loss. You know how your child (most) screams bloody murder when they get their shots? That is how he screams until we help him get it out. His doctor gave us quite a bit of advice on what we should try now. We're putting him on this super stinky formula that has the proteins broken down to their simplest form. If that doesn't work, we'll get him on Miralax which should hopefully move things along.

We love our little nugget and obviously will do anything we can to put some meat on his bones! Wish us luck (or more appropriately Finn)!

This picture says it all. Finn feels bloated and melancholy.

Just hangin' out in my hat

2011-02-26T09:08:00.009-07:00

Finn rarely hangs out in just his b-day suit. I would let him more but he rolls all around and whizzes everywhere. Plus, I don't want him to get cold. Come summer time though he'll have a lot more freedom. I gave him a bath the other day and decided to take a few pictures afterwards (note the strategically placed dog). I love that he will actually smile for the camera now. I'm pretty sure he thinks we're playing peek-a-boo.

Finn is also 9 months as of the 18th of this month! I'll do an update of all his stats and what not on Monday because that is when his doctors appointment is. I hear other moms and dads say what their kid's personality is like and their different mannerisms. I have such a hard time with this. I've been thinking really hard about Finn's personality traits so that I can write them down and I am drawing a blank. Does anyone else have a problem with this, or is it just me?? I guess I'm still not very perceptive to the whole baby language thing. Right now if someone were to ask me what Finn is like I'd say, "he's like a baby. He eats, poops, pees, laughs, smiles, sleeps, whines, and cries." Lame I know. I'll work on it.

An oldie but goodie

2011-02-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

I watched Harold and Maude the other night. It is definitely a strange movie, good though. Has anyone else seen it? I really liked the music. It was basically all Cat Stevens and I had actually never heard this song.

Finn snorting

2011-02-24T20:44:00.000-07:00

I finally got it on video! He doesn't scrunch up his nose that well in this video though. But it's the best I could get. He also lunges for the video camera and kind of hits the door frame (I think). He really likes the jumper we got him and will finally bend his legs and jump! Some of you know that Finn is a rather stiff/rigid baby, so this is quite a feat that he will bend his legs in this thing.

Etsy jewelry

2011-02-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

I made a treasury list of all of my favorite gold and turquoise jewelry. I'm pretty sure it's my favorite combo for jewelry. Click here to see the whole treasury.

Snowshoeing at Bryce Canyon

2011-02-23T10:25:00.001-07:00

For presidents day we took a little trip down to Bryce Canyon with my parents. It was the Winter Festival when we were down there, so there was a bunch going on. They had snowshoeing, cross country skiing, kayaking demos in the swimming pool at Ruby's Inn where we stayed, and more.

The drive down was less than enjoyable. Finn threw up 5 times (threw up/barfed/up-chucked, not spit up, it was the whole enchilada). A three and a half hour drive turned into quite a bit longer. We definitely got a taste of what it's like to travel with a kid.

We got a foot of snow on Friday night which was awesome! The top right picture is before the storm. The bounteous amount of snow we got was just perfect for snowshoeing. Finn pretty much slept in the pack when we went out, so I guess he enjoyed it too.

Finn had a great time with his grandparents too! More energy coming from other people to entertain a baby is always welcome. He had a lot of encouragement to try crawling and I think he's going to get it down soon.

We can't wait to go on more trips with our little bug!

6: a picture (and video) that makes me happy

2011-02-22T12:22:00.006-07:00

Every time I look at this picture I have to laugh. When he was just a newborn we'd swaddle him up and he would just stare. Why do babies not have to blink? I used to have staring contests with Finn and he would always win.

I think he kind of looks like hypno-toad.

Lately Finn has been scrunching up his nose and snorting like a bull. It's pretty darn funny. And if we do it to him he'll copy us. I'm trying to get him to do it in this video but instead he decides to sing. I'm glad he did because it's pretty funny.

Horse Feathers

2011-02-17T20:47:00.002-07:00

Funny name for the title of this post... It's the name of a band. Here's a song that I love of theirs. The violin is really pretty sounding to me.

Horse Feathers

New lamp

2011-02-15T21:55:00.002-07:00

The other day I bought a lamp off ksl. Have you ever bought something you love off of craiglist or ksl? Aren't those sites just the bee's knees? Side-note: have I ever told you how much I love ksl? I love is soooo much! It's like a garage/yard sale all the time without the driving involved and rummaging through people's old stuff. Very efficient. The lamp needed a little tlc, so Dennen helped me sand it and then I spray painted it white. Next I headed off to good ol' Wally World to get a new drum shade for it. I was thinking about recovering the whole shade with fabric and this is a good tutorial if you ever want to, but decided that a little orange trim would suffice.

First, I botched it and tried to glue ribbon on the shade. Problem being that it wasn't cut on the bias so it didn't lay flat on a slightly tapered object. Solution? Bias tape, duh. I used a sponge brush to paint on the tacky glue as I went along and clipped it to hold it.

Da-da-da-daahhhh! I like it much better. I think the built-in table thingy is kinda neat too.

5: My sibs

2011-02-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have three siblings. Each of them are so unique when it comes to their personalities and style. They are all great and I love them a ton! Sorry I was a jerk to you guys while we were growing up... Aren't most siblings like that though?

This is Tyler. He goes to school at Brandies in Boston. It's a small Jewish school and he's getting his masters degree there. He is a very determined hard worker who loves Snickers bars, flat Diet Coke, and burritos.

Megan is a very likable person who is genuine to others. She is getting her masters degree at USU in school counseling and I'm sure she'll be great at it. Bubba is her pit-bull and he's a pretty cool dog.

This is Rachel, the baby of the family. She's getting her bachelors degree at USU in environmental studies, and is active in all sorts of clubs on campus. Rachel is probably the most laid back of all the sibs. It takes a lot to get a rise out of her, so sometimes we tend to push her to her limits to see if we can achieve it.

My guys

2011-02-14T19:46:00.004-07:00

Finn and Dennen gave me some homemade Valentine's Day cards (Dennen helped Finn with his). I'm am such a lucky gal to have them and am so grateful that they bring smiles to my face every day!

I'm going to let you in on a little secret about my husband... He's kind of domestic. He loves cooking, making man crafts (like tyie dying), making me homemade cards for every occasion, and looking at Sunset Magazine (he says he likes it for the traveling articles). I hear of husbands that don't give a rat's batooty about doing thoughtful things for their wives. That, or they're just plain dumb as bricks. I'm so grateful Dennen is not one of those clueless husbands.

My card from Dennen that had a nice note inside.

Soooo, I should probably explain the "helping me poop" part of Finn's note. Ever since we've started him on solid foods he has had problems with being constipated. I've never heard him scream like a banshee until this constipation thing happened to him. He has definitely been in a lot of pain. It doesn't help that he won't drink water or any juices either. He just doesn't like them. Weird. To help him poop I occasionally have to pump his legs back and forth towards his belly and rub his belly in a counterclockwise motion. Occasionally a suppository was necessary as well because his little bum hole would bleed when he would finally poop out rocks (I know too much info). We finally got him on pureed prunes and life for all of us has been a ton better!

My good lookin' valentines!

Our place

2011-02-12T13:44:00.006-07:00

My friend Amandah has been stressing a little bit about decorating her place and committing to a style. Everyone's been there right? I know I have. I guess it's easier for me to decorate our place because we don't own it and I don't care if I bash nail holes in the walls (that's what putty is for). Also, it doesn't matter to me if we're only going to be somewhere temporarily. I need to decorate it to make it feel like home to me. I'll show you some pictures of our place and then tell you how I made something or where I got it, along with some tips.

Starting with the main picture. We just recently got the round rug from overstock and I love it! I had looked high and low for a round rug, but to no avail. Finally overstock helped me out. I've been on the look out for a round coffee table, but for now it's Finn's baby arena. One thing that I have learned with decorating is that it's a process, it doesn't all have to happen at once.

I find things I like for way cheap at thrift stores. Even if it doesn't have a place right away, I hold onto it if I really like it until I find somewhere for it to go. The green chair under the Salt Lake Temple picture? I found it for $5 at DI and am in the process of recovering it. Make thrift stores your best friends. I'd say 90% of the things in our place are from thrift stores. End table? Thrift store. Furniture? Thrift store. Frames? Thrift store. Dishes? Thrift store. You get the idea. Best thing about thrift stores? When I don't like something anymore I just sell it on KSL or take it to DI and we're not out any money. In the top right picture, the people that lived in our place before us left that cabinet. I painted it white and modge podged paper to the front of it (there used to be two plants on the cabinet, but of course I killed them). The clock is from Michaels and I painted it blue.

All of the pillows in the picture I recovered. Sick of your pillows? Visit the fabric store. I'd say changing up our pillows really helps me not get bored of the same old thing. I got our duvet cover from Downeast. The copper bowls, fruit hanger, and canisters were all finds at thrift stores.

Display artwork and other items that mean something to you. This skiing picture is probably one of my favorite pieces. Dennen and I found it in Italy when we went to Europe. I like it when people ask about certain things in our home when they are from our travels. The item seems much more personal. Start with framing some pictures that you've taken on trips that you really like.

My mom gave me the wooden chairs and I recovered them. I found the tables at a thrift stores and painted them blue. I modge podged paper that I liked onto the frames. Don't be afraid of color. Our place is really dark with the wood paneling and color really helps it feel brighter. It may look like the color fairy barfed all over our living room, but I like it that way. It makes winter not feel so dreary.

Become a collector (not a pack rat). Decorating and thrift store shopping are hobbies that I love! And when I say "not a pack rat," I mean get rid of stuff you don't like anymore. If you haven't liked it for a long time, chances are that you're not going to like it in the near future. Get rid of it! I always try to get rid of something if I get something new. As much as I'm constantly finding things at thrift stores, I'm also taking stuff to DI. Dennen and I have become mug and cup collectors as you can see... All of our mugs are from thrift stores that we got for 50 cents each. We found a bunch of cool plates too. Dennen got me the llama South American poster for Christmas and it's another one of my favorites. The doily looking flower thing is a rub on decal that I got on etsy.

One last tip. Don't be afraid to copy! Newsflash... No one is really that original. If you like something that someone else has done, do it too. Chances are they probably didn't come up with the idea themselves either.

Hope this helps Amandah!

Tunes

2011-02-09T12:37:00.018-07:00

I thought I'd share some music that I really like. Beirut is the name of this band. They have the coolest sound, and remind me of strolling down the cobblestone streets in Europe. Here is one of their songs for your listening enjoyment (it was really hard for me to pick just one song because they're all so good). You can go here to listen to more.

Here is the cover art of one of their cd's. I think it looks pretty sweet.

Invisible book shelfs

2011-02-08T15:25:00.005-07:00

For awhile now, I have been wanting to move the books on Finn's dresser so I could put a globe that we have on it. I saw some invisible book shelfs online and finally got around to putting some up. They used brackets, but all I had around were book ends from Staples. There was just one hole on each of the book ends, so I used those to put a screw into the wall. Next, I bought some 1/8" mirror mounts which cost me $1.50 for the pack and used them to help give the book ends more support. Kinda getto looking without the books on them... Oh well, they hold Finn's books fine.

I will love it when we don't have dark nasty wood paneling anymore.

Skiing!!

2011-02-07T20:13:00.000-07:00

My parents came up to par-tay for my birthday this last weekend. They took Rachel and me skiing at Beaver Mountain (Dennen was nice enough to watch Finn so I could go). It was the first time I've been skiing in over a year and it was so awesome! I was pregnant last ski season so I couldn't go. And now that we have Finn, our days of hittin' the slopes are going to be few and far between... Sad day. But what must be, must be, and we're making the best of it.

Let me just say that every muscle in my body feels like it's been ripped to shreds. Partly due to the lack of my wimpy muscles not being used to skiing. And also because my only skis are my old GS racing skis that weigh about 200 lbs each! I definitely need to get myself an all-mountain ski.

After our day of skiing, we went over to my sister Megan's house to partake of some tasty food. My mom made the most delicious carrot cake ever! It even had 6 carrots in it, so I counted the piece I ate as one of my vegetable servings for the day. Everyone was there except for my brother Tyler (he goes to school in Boston). Missed you Ty!

My Special Lady

2011-02-05T11:26:00.001-07:00

Hils workin on the train in Skagway. I really like this picture.

Well, I'm a little behind. Hils b-day was a few days ago and it is hard to do a secret post when you live together. But today she is skiing and Finn is snoozing so conditions are perfect. Anyway, one of the reasons I love my wife so much is because she has gumption. She does a lot of things that I would either never do or procrastinate doing for long periods of time.

gump·tion
–noun Informal .

1.
initiative; aggressiveness; resourcefulness: With his gumption he'll make a success of himself.
2.
courage; spunk; guts: It takes gumption to quit a high-paying job.
3.
common sense; shrewdness.

Examples:

How our place would look if it was left to me...

What happens when Hils goes to work...

When we moved into an apartment that had purple walls, it was painted within 48 hours. If not for Hils, our living situation would probably resemble a dorm room.
She's tough. She rarely naps (and calls me a "sissified tweety-bird" when I do) and has seemingly endless energy.
She never procrastinates. When she wants to do or learn something, it happens immediately. Lately, she's learning how to re-upholster furniture. You've probably already noticed how often she updates the blog. She's also the one that puts up recent pictures on Facebook. I think I only have one photo album on my Facebook page and she was the one who uploaded it for me.
She's surprisingly strong for her size. When she gets wound up and comes after me, I get nervous.
She likes to shovel snow. She'll even chip off all the ice, regardless of how long it takes. The winter after I got back from my LDS mission, a friend and I shoveled snow off of cabin decks around Sundance to make a few extra bucks. Hils came up once to help and this guy was watching her shovel from inside the cabin. He came out and complimented Hils on her shoveling prowess. He was amazed that such a little lady could shovel so hard. He even gave us Cokes (would've preferred hot chocolate, but oh well...) because of how hard we (Hils) were working. It was just one more sign that I had found a good woman.
On top of everything else, she is a good hearted and genuinely concerned about the needs of others. She is giving, as those who have been recipients of her workmanship can attest. She is always thinking about how to be a better person and is the best mother in the world.

Oh Portland...

2011-02-03T10:19:00.003-07:00

There's a new show out called "Portlandia", and it looks pretty funny. This is a funny bike clip that definitely has truth to it. Favorite line, "I don't have a drivers license, I don't need it!"

4: My parents

2011-02-03T09:54:00.000-07:00

Mom: motivated, goal oriented, go-geter, skier, runner, enthusiastic, playful, determined, hard worker, awesome mother and grandma

Dad: kind to all, listener, goofy, hard worker, skier, racquetball player, charitable, music lover, peacemaker, awesome father and grandpa

My hip parents and us at Willow Park Zoo

I love my parents a ton and am so grateful I have good ones! They have always been supportive and loving.

Dennen & Finn photos

2011-01-30T18:24:00.012-07:00

Oma and Opa Frazier gave Finn the cute little white knit sweater that he's wearing in the pictures. It also came with some white knit pants and a white beanie that were supposed to be for his blessing. All that Finn fit in at the time was a newborn size onsie (and even that was pretty loose on him). Finn finally fit in the sweater today. Hooray! So he wore it to church.

Kind of a crusty face in the bottom right pic...

In other news, Finn is an ah-mazing sleeper! Routine: Finn rubs his eyes and whines a little, take him into his crib and cover him with his two fuzzy blankets from Great Grandma Jane, brush his face with his lion hand puppet and set it to the side of him, he reaches over and plays with the lion (specifically the tail) until he goes to sleep. Usually he doesn't even need his binky. Magic I tell ya! I'll have to get a video of him playing with his lion as he goes to sleep sometime. It's pretty comical. Especially because he usually jabbers away to it.

3: My first love

2011-01-27T10:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know if you'd call it my first love, but my first crush was on two boys in my first grade class. They are identical twins and I couldn't decide which one I liked more. Here's a picture of my class and my boyfriends.

This might sound strange or cheesy, but my actual first love really was and is Dennen. I had dated (went on dates) with other guys before Dennen, but never loved any of them. So I guess Dennen is my first and only. And I'm just fine with that because he's da bomb.

1: Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

2011-01-25T19:24:00.006-07:00

Me llamo Hilary Smith Frazier. Yeah, sad I know, I don't have a real middle name. Just my maiden name. Here is a recent picture of me when we went swimming with Finn up at the USU pool.

Hmmm, 15 things about myself eh? I'll try my best. Some are probably going to be stupid because 15 is a lot to list.

1- My feet are always cold. Dennen got me a hot water bottle for bed because of it (or he was sick of me sticking my frigid icicle feet on him).
2 - I have two fillings in my whole mouth. Thanks for the fluoride parents!
3 - I like running and biking.
4 - Tomatoes were my most hated food as a child and I swore I'd never like them. Now I do.
5 - I'm 5'2"
6 - My feet and toes are probably my most favorite features.
7 - I like to read, but only if I get into the book within the first 5 pages.
8 - When I worry A LOT about something scary, bad, or stressful (Finn when he was first born) I stop eating because I loose my appetite (kind of like when you're sick).
9 - I trust Dennen's opinion probably more than anyone's. Even when it comes to fashion, decor, and hair.
10 - I really miss skiing.
11- I wish my hair was thicker.
12 - I don't have a ton of friends, just a few close ones.
13 - It takes me a long time to make friends.
14 - I love music.
15 - I can wiggle my ears.

Factoids

2011-01-25T19:02:00.002-07:00

So I've been wanting to do this for awhile now. A fellow blogger (Kari) has done a couple of these and I thought it sounded like kind of a fun thing to do. I don't want to do them all in a row, so I'll do 2 days and then 3 days off. Also, I'm gonna cut some out. Meaning behind our blog name? Pretty self-explanatory. And perhaps I'll do some of them out of order... Who knows. Let's see how it goes shall we? Maybe I'll get Dennen to do this later.

Day 1 - Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts
Day 2 - Meaning behind your blog name
Day 3 - Your first love
Day 4 - Your parents
Day 5 - Your siblings
Day 6 - A picture of something that makes you happy
Day 7 - Favorite movies
Day 8 - A place you've traveled to
Day 9 - A picture of your friends
Day 10 - Something you're afraid of
Day 11 - Favorite TV shows
Day 12 - What you believe
Day 13 - Goals
Day 14 - A picture you love
Day 15 - Bible verse
Day 16 - Dream House
Day 17 - Something you're looking forward to
Day 18 - Something you regret
Day 19 - Something you miss
Day 20 - Nicknames
Day 21 - Picture of yourself
Day 22 - Favorite city
Day 23 - Favorite vacation
Day 24 - Something you've learned
Day 25 - Put your iPod on shuffle, first 10 songs
Day 26 - Picture of your family
Day 27 - Pets
Day 28 - Something that stresses you out
Day 29 - 3 wishes
Day 30 - A picture

Photo and video update

2011-01-24T15:16:00.008-07:00

Whenever we take him swimming now, he holds onto his little whale bath toy. I guess it comforts him (:

In this first video Finn was laughing so hard before I whipped out the video camera. And then of course he stopped. He sure makes some funny sounds though!

We decided it was time to give him a little taste of apple... We think he kind of liked it, but couldn't tell for sure.

Finn's main mode of transportation is rolling right now. He had tried multiple times to escape his room, but the door frame always stopped him. He finally escaped in this video (and yes, we have nasty carpet).

Winner

2011-01-21T11:39:00.001-07:00

According to random.org, the winner of the 5 x 7 print is Megan!

Finn, please don't stab me

2011-01-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Don't turn your back mom, this crazy kid has got a weapon!

The Guggenheim Grotto

2011-01-18T12:57:00.002-07:00

Dennen heard these guys on npr the other day and I think they're great! I love it when Dennen finds new music because I pretty much always love it.

Hot springs

2011-01-17T20:47:00.015-07:00

For the past couple of weeks Dennen and I have tried numerous times to take Finn swimming. Our hopes had been dashed because every time we tried the pools were closed. We had wanted to go to hot springs but it has been way too cold outside for Finn. Today was our day though! It reached a balmy 40 degrees and we ventured to some hot springs in Idaho.

Almost there...

The hot springs are in this canyon, and the reservoir is called the Oneida Narrows. It was a pretty drive and we even saw a whole bunch of swans on the reservoir. Swans, what the?! Anyway, we had a bunch of fun, and so did Finn we think (sometimes he's pretty emotionless).

My sis Rachel came along too. Side-note: lately, a couple of people have said that Rachel and I look like twins. Really? Do you see it?

Dennen squinting into the sun, and Aunty Rachel telling Finn, "there, there, everything is going to be alright."

In other news, Finn has learned to hold his own bottle! Just look at that little stud relaxin' on his salmon pillow. He loves feeding himself too, and gets so excited about it. He kicks his feet and shakes his whole body to watch the milk slosh around (kind of a messy business).

Give away!

2011-01-14T11:48:00.004-07:00

I ordered a print for Finn's nursery from this etsy shop. She sent me a free print because shipping took a little bit longer than expected. I have no room to hang it and would like to give it away. It measures 5 x 7 inches.

Just leave a comment and I'll pick the winner by next Friday. Good luck!

Teeny tiny

2011-01-10T19:02:00.001-07:00

I've been crocheting these little flowers out of crochet thread. Let me just say that I'm glad I have good eye sight because I dare say this has been my most intense crochet project yet.

I've had some friends say that they have wanted to learn how to crochet. The book I used to learn is called "I can't believe I'm crocheting!" You think the title is great? Check out the girl on the cover.

Haha, she's a cheese ball if I've ever seen one!!

Anyways, this is a great book to help you get started. Some of the more complicated stitches aren't in this book, but you can just look them up online. You can find patterns on Etsy and on Ravelry. Just choose a beginner pattern and you're on your way. Good luck!

By the way, thanks for updating your blogs everyone. I think a lot more people than normal posted recently.

Do it! Or else...

2011-01-05T20:40:00.005-07:00

There are people on our blog list that haven't updated their blogs in a year or more. You know who you are... But just in case you don't, here are some: the Matthews, Rissa, Mimmi, and Stephanie. Just to name a few.

You know when you get sick of hearing yourself talk? Yeah, that's me right now with blogging. I don't blog a ton, but I try to on somewhat of a regular basis. I feel like I'm just blabbing (blogging) away and no one else is saying (blogging) anything.

If you people who I named don't update your blogs, I'm deleting you off our list. There, I said it. I really enjoy reading other people's blogs (even though I may not always comment) and love it when there is a new post. Even if it's just once a month. Come on people!

Fun times with Finn

2011-01-04T18:38:00.003-07:00

Lately, we have been trying to get Finn to learn how to hold his own bottle. He has done it a couple of times. Dennen propped his bottle on this dish cloth to give him a little help. But it looks as though Finn is being a lazy, naughty baby (in the words of my friend Amandah) and letting the dish cloth do all the work.

"Ahhhh, this is the life..."

Finn also loves to chew on his little bath toys. This one in particular was his favorite today and he played with, chewed, and talked to it all day long. When he chewed on it, it sounded like squeaky cheese from his gums rubbing on the plastic.

Whenever this little bath toy talks to him, I use a French accent. I have no idea why.

Time for some improvements

2011-01-01T19:41:00.008-07:00

To ring in the new year, we went to Hardware Ranch today to see the elk with my sister Megan and brother-in-law Josh.

Dennen keepin' Finn warm, Megan and Josh, the elk chowin' down

Like many of you have probably done, or are planning on doing, I am going to make some goals for the coming year.

The reasons I'm posting them is because I kind of got some ideas from other people posting theirs, and because by writing them for other people to know, I think I'll do a better job of adhering to them.

#1 Dennen and I were talking about how we could save more money this year. We live very thrifty lives and the only thing that we could come up with to save on was groceries. We are going to start using Deals to Meals (a coupon program). Dennen signed us up the other day and I am ready to give this thing a go. I've never been a fan of coupons because I think sometimes coupons make you end up buying things that wouldn't have otherwise bought. In addition to saving money, it might be kinda fun too.

#2 Live a more Christ-like life by being more sensitive to those in need. I truly believe that Heavenly Father puts people in our lives' for a reason. I know when I've prayed for help, often times Heavenly Father helps me by putting people in my life that can empathize with me and help me with what I'm dealing with.

#3 Learn to knit. Yes, I know, I already know how to crochet, but learning to knit can open up so many more possibilities (those that know how to knit or crochet know what I'm talking about). My aunt taught me how to knit once and I made a squiggly scarf and gave up. Knitting is definitely more hard to do.

#4 Service. I crocheted an amigurumi monkey for my nephew and I want to make a bunch of stuffed animals for Primary Children's Hospital. Ever since I've had Finn I have felt truly blessed and grateful for his health. 4 lbs 3 oz and absolutely no complications? I still think to myself, "how was that possible?" Soooo many parents have children that have terminal illnesses, disabilities, and other diseases. How is it fair that they have to go through something so difficult? It's not. But that's life I guess.

As you probably saw, my husband made far more goals than me. I'm really not the type to make new year's goals/resolutions or whatever you like to call them. I feel like if I don't make them, I won't be let down when I don't accomplish them. I guess that could be another goal of mine... #5 Not being afraid to make goals and self improvements.

Milestones

2010-12-31T19:23:00.001-07:00

This past Tuesday Finn really got the hang of sitting up! Yeah, he's pretty much a pro now. He's got two tiny bottom teeth that are making their way out of his little gums as well. Also, he's finally starting to eat solids on a consistent basis (mainly this was my fault that it didn't happen more often, I was kinda just lazy with the whole thing). Unfortunately, his system is still getting used to the new foods and he's been constipated on occasion because of them. When something new happens, it definitely seems to have a domino effect. It's pretty neat to watch it all take place!

Sittin' up at Grandma Marci's

Holiday Tidbits

2010-12-29T16:25:00.004-07:00

As always, Christmas was a blast. We spent loads of time with family eating, laughing, watching sports, and having an all around good time. Most of Hilary's extended family was in town for the holidays which was, as always, extra fun. We were able to spend time with them for a few days before Christmas. This year, I had to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas day so our little family celebrated the holiday in Logan. It was the first time since we've been married that we spent Christmas away from our families and although we missed everyone, it was very pleasant.

In between my morning shifts, we sang some Christmas songs and opened gifts. Finn was most excited that we cleared room under the tree so he could lay underneath the limbs and attempt to stick electrical cords in his mouth. We then spent most the day gorging on copious amounts of chocolate and I made a potato casserole with the assistance of our sweet new food processor from Oma and Opa Frazier.

Finn getting some Great-Grandma love.

One thing that is great about this time of year is that we tend to reflect on life and the Savior and think about how to squeeze a little extra sugar out of life during the coming year. And by that, I mean we usually think about setting some goals. I figured I would share some of my goals with the blog-o-sphere so I'll have a little extra motivation to fulfill them. I'll make a blog post about each of them during the coming year. So here it goes:

Goal #1: Become an expert at making thin crust pizza (b/c Hils loves it and it is the bee's knees of all pizzas).
Goal #2: Become an expert at making Brazilian rice and beans and pao de queso.
Goal #3: Don't be clumsy. Lately I've been getting clumsier. I've been breaking dishes, knocking over bottles, and doing idiotic things. Today I was cleaning the blade of our immersion blender with my fingers while it was plugged in and I had my other hand on the "Go" button. If the clusmy fairy had sprinkled idiocy dust on my finger at that moment, it would have been a terrible afternoon.
Goal #4: Simplify. I was doing some organizing today and realized we have tons of stuff. I realized I need to prioritize my life a little, buy less stuff, focus my energy towards less things, and get rid of things that take up lots of space. And this may include selling a couple bikes (**Ouch**).
Goal #5: Learn to run without getting hurt. Every time I run consistently for a few months I tend to get a sore knee or a stress fracture in my foot.
Goal #6: Learn Spanish and CLEP out of the first 2 Spanish classes.
Goal #7: Learn to use coupons when grocery shopping.
Goal #8: Make slow cooker yogurt.
Goal #9: Create 2 pieces of art per month.
Goal #10: Study scriptures 365 days this coming year.
Goal #11: Learn how our DSLR camera works.
Goal #12: No candy, soda, or cake (except on birthdays) for a year. I know this goal has something to do with my perpetual tummy ache I've had since Christmas.

12 goals. 12 months. 12 posts. That works great.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T13:14:00.001-07:00

Oh Christmas tree

2010-12-16T12:49:00.002-07:00

I probably thought about putting up the Christmas tree this year for about a half a second. I don't really like our tree, it's super scrawny and bare looking. I came home one day though, and Dennen had put it up. He even put 5 strands of lights on it to make it look good! I definitely like our tree now. He also set it up in Finn's room because Finn loves to lay under it (plus, it was the only place in our house where it would fit).

We also did a craft swap with our friends the Banburys. They sent us these sweet ornaments! I am working on sending them hats (I just have Trey's left to make guys, sorry it has taken me forever).

Gotta have a picture of Finn in front of the tree.

Finn sportin' his cute jacket from Grandma Marci.

I hate this

2010-12-14T17:09:00.002-07:00

What do I hate most when I go to the gym? Seeing people with the sleeves of their t-shirts cut off!! Why do you think tank tops were invented? So you don't have to do this to your shirts!

Believe it or not, girls have even joined in too! I saw a girl at the gym that was wearing a shirt that looked like the guy in the purple one (the best pic I could find of a girl was Hilary Duff).

You may only wear a t-shirt like these if you look like this dude.

Now he knows how to rock a cut off t-shirt!

Give away galore!

2010-12-06T21:08:00.001-07:00

I have been pretty busy lately with my crochet hook... Here's a picture just to prove it.

Finn drowning in yarn

Well, onto the title of this blog post. The give away! Go here and just follow the directions to enter. There are a lot of cool vendors giving away stuff.

My lovely sisters styled my headbands for my etsy site and the give away. We went up to USU and I used an old brick wall from one of the buildings as the background. I really like the look. Thanks again sistas!

And finally I had to take a picture of Finn in his sweet mobile command center (as Dennen would call it). Dennen and Finn went on their first little jaunt today with it.

Dennen looks stoked, Finn looks confused

Feist

2010-12-01T09:58:00.004-07:00

Happy December 1st!

Lately I've been loving this song. The music video is pretty cool too.

Thanksgiving and Tree Day

2010-11-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

We had a great time with our families over our little break! On Thanksgiving we had dinner with the Frazier relatives, which I always enjoy. The day after Thanksgiving we had dinner with the Smith fam and grandparents. The next day was Tree Day (a holiday invented by my aunt where we put up the Christmas decor and get periodic presents). Last but not least we celebrated my dadio's birthday, as well as Dennen's. Thanks everyone, we love and appreciate you a lot!!

I love this picture of Finn and my dad!

Rachel and Finn (he wasn't too happy when I stuck his his tree day attire over his pj's), sleepy me and Dennen, Finn looking a little bit more chipper