3 Months In One

This updating the blog thing I had planned at the beginning of the year is not working out so well.

August 2011

This month seem to fly by. We did not got to Idaho for the fair like we normally do. Chris had to work and we really wanted to support the Night Out Against Crime that Friday evening. Katina had a booth on Prepaid Legal (now Legalshield) and gave out information on this important program. Daniel and Katina spent the first week of August sick with the stomach flu. Both spent a lot of time throwing up and in the bathroom. Good thing Daniel can entertain himself because Katina spent one day sleeping on the couch most of the morning.

September 2011

This month also went by quickly. There was a trip planned to Idaho for RJ's baptism, but due to a planning problem, was cancelled at the last minute. Daniel turned 18 months and was able to attend Nursery for the first time. We had been taking him a few weeks prior, but him staying the entire 3 hours was a big deal. He actually does quite well in Nursery. He really likes the Nursery workers and loves snack time. He has never given them any problems, even when some of the other kids are crying or throwing toys.

October 2011

We started this month by enjoying General Conference and very nice weather for most of the month. We went to Idaho Falls the 3rd week for RJ's baptism and Merritt's ordination to the priesthood. We went to my parent's house afterwards and Katina had to deal with a very scary experience of dealing with a driver who hit and killed 4 of her parent's cows. She felt very grateful for the Holy Ghost in helping her deal with the driver and emergency crews. At her parent's ward on Sunday, they had a musical sacrament meeting where members could go up and share their favorite hymn and the congregation would sing a verse of it. Very cool sacrament meeting!

Katina also spent most of this month looking for some part-time work. She finally found a job doing custodial work at the University of Utah. She works from 10pm-2am Sunday through Thursday. The job actually is not bad and she enjoys it. She doesn't need to find a babysitter or worry about lunches, so it saves on money.

Daniel was a horse for Halloween. He was so adorable. He made quite a hauling on the candy. Chris and Katina did a good job eating the candy Daniel couldn't eat!

I will post pictures later next week. Blogger is so slow at uploading pictures.

July 2011

July was not too busy of a month for us. As per tradition, we went to the Pioneer Day parade downtown. Daniel was not a happy camper to have to be up at 6 am. He was very cranky and did not like to sit that long. We were glad to be home.

We also saw Chris's aunt Susan, who is staying in Utah taking care of her mother. She went with us to the float preview party and we enjoyed having her come for dinner.

Daniel has really starting talking. He is always saying words, but most of them are not understood by us. We gave up on him wearing his glasses. We have new insurance for him, and his eye doctor is not on the approved list. We will be taking him in to another doctor for a second opinion.

Here are a couple of parade pictures. Many more can be found on our Facebook album.

Ronald McDonald at the parade.

Our favorite marching band performing.

Pictures(finally)

Daniel in his glasses. He looks very handsome.

June 2011

Here is a rundown of our busy June:

Chris started the month working, which has been a huge blessing. His work really started to pick up two weeks ago. Currently, he is working for the same company, Manuals Access, but is working on location downtown for the next few months.

We spent some much needed time in Idaho over Father's Day weekend. We enjoyed going out to dinner with Katina's family and seeing Katina's aunt in Idaho Falls. Daniel did pretty well on the drive there and back.

The last weekend, we went to Taylorsville Dayzz, an Anthony tradition for the last 4 years. Friday night an Elvis impersonator entertained the audience with a great fireworks show afterwords. This was probably our least favorite year of it so far. We enjoy seeing the Beatles or Jason Hewlett perform there. Daniel was also crabby that night and had trouble staying still. A good thing came out of the night though. Katina entered a drawing from IHC and won a rolling cooler!

We also saw Extreme Makeover: Home Edition while they were building a house in Daybreak. We saw the nearly completed house and, more importantly, Ty Pennington without a shirt on. He was intentionally sinking a canoe in the lake and they were filming it.

Daniel has mastered walking and is working on running. He has starting using a lot more words. He also got glasses a few weeks ago. They are supposed to help his lazy eye, but we are having a hard time with him keeping them on his head. He likes to take them off and try to stretch them.

Pictures will have to come later as Blogger is incredibly slow right now.

April and May

I know, I know. . . . I promised to update this blog every month. I am a little behind. Here are the major events of the last couple of months:

April was spent enjoying General Conference. The next week we went on a family vacation to Bear Lake with Katina's parents, grandma, and sister's family. We were a little bummed because the pool got shut down and we could not use it. We ended up going to the city pool where it was way too crowded. It also rained the entire time we were there. It was still great to hang out with the family.

how much snow there was at the top of the lookout

Daniel having fun with his cousin Faith

Daniel mastered walking two weeks ago. We didn't know if he would ever start walking. Now that he is walking, there is no stopping him. He has started carrying things over and finds great joy in piling books on top of Mommy's lap. He is getting taller and now can reach on top of the table. He is still a really happy boy and has this cheesy grin that makes us laugh. He also carries things around in his mouth. He actually won't sit still for a picture as he is too interested in the lens cover.

Chris found work at the end of May. He works with a guy in our ward who has his own business. Chris worked with him a few weeks last year. This job is perfect for Chris as he will have enough work to do for at least 2 years and is only 2 blocks away right now. They will be getting a new office in a few weeks. This company is unique and the only one that can do this in the state. The company basically takes anything that has to do with a building (floor plans, exit, directions on how to use the fire extinguisher, etc.) and puts it into a PDF format. It is a great job and we feel so blessed to have found it. Thank you all for your prayers in helping Chris find a job.

My aunt Irene was involved in an accident last week. She has a diabetic dog who is blind and deaf. He was under her feet and she went to avoid stepping on him and whacked her elbow down hard on the kitchen island. She ended up breaking the tip of her elbow off and shoving it up her arm into her muscle. She had surgery yesterday and is doing pretty good. They ended up taking the broken part out of her arm and sewing on the triceps tendon back to the arm bone. Talk about painful!

Katina's dad is doing very well. He only has to use a cane now and has most of the feeling back in his arms. They will be seeing her parents over Father's Day weekend.

Major Update

We have some sad news to share. Chris is looking for work again. He was working at Mozy through a contract company. Mozy offered him a job and told him they would be him emails about insurance and other benefits. A week later, the contract company contacted him and told him his contract was suspended. He tried to get a hold of his boss that morning, but couldn't. He ended up driving down to Pleasant Grove only to find that he really was fired and it was not a miscommunication. We did talk to one of our friends who works in HR for Mozy. He stated that all the contract workers, minus one. were fired. Only poor excuses were offered for a reason. Our lawyer (thank you Prepaid Legal) said nothing illegal took place, but something definitely unethical. We are planning on filing a complaint with the Labor Commission.

We have kept this news a secret for the most part because we feel that other people think we are doing this on purpose. That is far from the truth. We would love a full-time job.

Daniel's first birthday

I can't believe Daniel is a year old. He is the sweetest little guy. He really enjoyed his birthday. We invited some of our dear friends and had spaghetti, alfredo, salad, and cupcakes. Here are a few of our favorite pictures:

Daniel eating spaghetti.Loving his new laptopLooking in the bag for his next present

blowing out his candles. He was afraid of the flame as the look on his face suggests.

February 2011

This month seemed to go by quickly. Daniel kept growing and ended the month by repeatedly climbing onto the couch and head-butting the cat.

Katina's dad got out of the hospital only two weeks after having surgery. He is doing great and got his neck brace off at the end of the month.

Chris spent a couple weeks sick with a head cold. Luckily, Katina only had it for a few days. Amazingly, Daniel did not get it at all. Katina did however get a horrible case of the 24-hour stomach flu.

Chris and Katina enjoyed going down to Provo to watch the Cougars play University of Utah. We were at the very top, but could see everything well. They enjoyed watching Jimmer make 3 throws and beat the Utes.

Jimmer blocking the Utes from scoring.

The most exciting thing to happen this month took place on Saturday the 26th. Katina was preparing dinner and Chris was on the phone with his family. We heard a big crash and a loud cry. Looking over, the dining room chair was on top of Daniel. We quickly picked him up and checked him over. We knew something wasn't right when he wouldn't crawl or stop crying. We took him up to Primary Children's Medical Center where they took x-rays and discovered he had a broken wrist. He will have a cast for three weeks. He can't have a regular bath and can't wear long sleeves. Hopefully, the time will fly by.

Chris got called as the Sunday School 1st Counselor. His main job will be monitoring the halls for slacker people who don't want to go to Sunday School. Most likely, it will be Katina in the hallway with a rowdy baby.

Daniel with his splint two days after the break. He got his regular blue cast two days later.

January 2011

I can't believe we are already done with one month of 2011. How time flies!

Katina celebrated her 30th birthday on the 6th. She went to book club that night and then her and Chris went to the Old Spaghetti Factory on that Saturday.

Katina got her coveted calling--Relief Society Instructor. She has always wanted to be a RS teacher because you only have to teach once a month and the women are so great at making positive comments. She teaches Teachings for Our Times and loves to study the conference talks. Chris was finally released as Scout Master and Deacon advisor. We don't think he will be without a calling for too long, though.

On the morning of the 19th, Katina got a call from her mother saying her dad was in the hospital. He had slipped on the ice after the basketball game and couldn't feel his feet or arms. Since they have lifeflight insurance, he was airlifted to Blackfoot due to the fog and then taken by ambulance to Idaho Falls. When the neurologist came to check him the next day, they ordered emergency surgery. They cut open his neck and fused the C4-C6 vertebrae. They originally told him he would have to stay in the hospital a month, but was only there two weeks. He looks like someone slit his throat! He got home on February 1st and will be in a walker to help him get around. He also has to wear a neck brace for awhile. He did get a blessing from the LDS missionaries in IF, which I believed helped him heal so quickly. It was a scary time for awhile, but we are grateful for all the support we have felt.

Right now, Chris is battling some nasty illness. It started as a head cold, but has turned worse with a cough. He got the flu shot and we are hoping the dr. can tell him what will make him feel better. Luckily, Katina and Daniel have not gotten it. (Cross your fingers!)

Daniel is still the busy body. He loves to chase the cat, pull the books off the book shelf and pull everything out of the kitchen cabinets. He weaned himself earlier in the month and is loving whole milk. We are trying to teach him not pull Sam's hair or tail. Luckily, Sam has only slapped him and not bitten him yet.
Daniel riding with grandpa in his wheelchair.

the mess Daniel makes in the kitchen. I clean it up--20 minutes later it is this way again.

Sam sleeps her to avoid the baby.

New Year, New Blog

I have decided that I like blogging because it serves as a journal of sorts. This year I have decided to be more diligent about this blog. I have changed the name and design. I think I will post monthly unless something important happens that can't wait. Enjoy the new blog!