Reflections

Here it is, the latter half of October and I am reflecting…reflecting on how my life has changed so much in one short year and how grateful I am for change. I can’t say that I’ve always been grateful for change. In fact I’m ashamed to say that in the past, anytime something changed without it being my idea, I’ve become ornery and pessimistic. I liked having familiarities in my life. Now that I’m a little older, I don’t mind it so much. I’m realizing that it’s hard to progress without change. A year ago, I was 33 weeks pregnant and we were getting ready to move into our new home in South Jordan. I was nervous and hesitant. It was nerve racking, and it didn’t help that I was already hormonal/emotional/exhausted from the pregnancy. But moving ended up being a fresh start-new house, new baby, new school for Clay, new ward, neighbors, etc. And thinking back, things transitioned very smoothly for us. I know we didn’t do it by ourselves, the Lord was helping us to progress. Other reflections: In August and September, Clay was in swimming classes. We spend a lot of our time in the summer at the lake (Willard Bay) so I figured it was time for us to take swimming seriously. I was truly amazed at how much he learned and was able to use in the 12, 30 minute classes he took. He had a great time and we’ll probably do it again next year. Cody has two (bottom) teeth and is so close to walking. He doesn’t talk yet but imitates people and their sounds. He says “mama” and “dada” but I don’t think necessarily knows who that is. He also waves bye-bye, to himself-but won’t do it on command. He likes to dance or “bob”, whatever you want to call it. And loves, loves, loves the dogs. Cody likes to help me unload the dishwasher, even when the dishes are dirty, and likes to empty my hair product drawer while I’m getting ready for work in the morning. He’s a pretty happy baby, but EXTREMELY independent. See my two teeth? Helping Mommy with the dishes. Loving on Hurley. Cody playing with my mixing bowls. Clayton goofing off with Cody and the mixing bowls. I, myself have been very busy. Let’s see, #1- My hair clientele has seemed to double in size, so I’m always doing that. Not complaining though cause it does bring in some extra, very needed cash. #2-I took on a new calling in my ward, as one of the Nursery teachers. It works out good cause then Cody can come in with me without being a distraction. He just watches the other kids, very intently. #3- We had our family pictures taken…very quickly. Cody is very wiggly. He does NOT like to sit still. So in between doing family portraits of my Uncle Dave’s family-I had them snap a few quick pics of me and my fam. #4-Last week, my company flew me out to Seattle, Washington for two days for an RQIT meeting. (Don’t ask me what RQIT means cause I can never remember.) It’s basically an HR group/committee. We help plan company parties/potlucks, take care of any issues in the office, serve as a mediator between employees and overall try to boost the moral in the office. So my company sent me and another colleague of mine up there to meet with other RQIT groups within the company. While I was there, I toured one of our terminals, T18. I was able to climb up in the cabin of the crane (170 feet up in the air) and operate it, as a vessel (the Vancouver Express) was coming into port underneath me. The vessel was MASSIVE. I imagine it’s every guy’s dream to drive/operate such heavy machinery. Chris tells me he was pretty jealous. There are guys at the terminal that have worked there for 20+ years that have never even been up in the cabin, and I got to drive! I got some pretty cool pictures but they just don’t do the view justice. It was amazing! The view of downtown Seattle in the background, from the Outgates at the terminal. The Vancouver Express coming into port. Me driving the crane. #4-I decided to make Cody’s Halloween costume (“Perry the Platypus”) by hand. They aren’t selling it in stores so I had to use my imagination. I think it turned out pretty cute, considering I didn’t have a pattern or anything but a picture to go off of. I like it when kids are Cody’s age, then they can’t argue with you about what they want to be for Halloween. Unlike Clay, who wants to be Batman again this year. I had to coax him towards something else…he had changed his mind to the blue power ranger, but with no luck finding it (only found the white and red one) he settled on the “Leonardo”, the blue Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. And no, I did not make that costume by hand. We bought that one. Perry the platypus Hey! Where's Perry? #5- Last Saturday, we took the boys (and their cousin Carter) to the Pumpkin patch. We’ve never been to an actual Pumpkin Patch before. We are almost always, scrambling last minute to get (a pumpkin) whatever we can find at Smith’s. So it was fun to watch the boys run up and down the rows to find “the perfect pumpkin”. Cody rode in the wagon, obviously so he could hold the pumpkins for us-not because he can’t walk or anything. :D The weather was perfect. So I snapped a few pics. We’ll definitely be doing that again next year. Riding with the pumpkins My lil' pumpkin with all the big pumpkins "Batman" driving the tractor #6-Last but not least, our cruise. We haven’t actually taken it yet, but I wanted to prepare you for it. (Like my little “lure”? Mostly I’m just writing this paragraph as motivation so I’ll remember to write about it and post pictures when we get back.) We leave in 3 weeks, to go to Belize and Cozumel on the Royal Caribbean. My parents, my siblings and their spouses, and their children are all going. I’m a little nervous (because I’m afraid of deep water) but I think it’ll be a blast. We are SO excited! I honestly think that’s all the news I have right now. Thanks for visiting!