A little update...

I don't know where to start, but I'm updating my blog so that's a big step anyway.

My birthday was in February and my mother and father-in-law came down to visit us. It was so much fun and so nice to have them here. They are such amazingly giving, selfless people. And they're funny. And they're caring. And my mother-in-law is adorable and dresses cuter than I do. Basically, I have the best in-law's in the world. They make even strangers want to be around them.

We went to the zoo while they were here and ate lots of yummy food and we even got my father-in-law to play cards (he HATES games) and he kicked our trash. :)

For my birthday Chase got me a new straightener to replace the one I have had since Jr. High. And my in-laws got me a new lens for our camera! Well, in a round-about way they did. I'm still learning to use it but I love it already. I just love that we can take photos inside now without having to use flash!

In other news, Finn got a big boy haircut. He really likes haircuts. Almost as much as getting shots.

He was quite thrilled.

And I think this next photo may be my favorite picture ever so far. Or at least it makes me melt every time I see it. :)

This little boy is really a toddler now. He's doing so many new things every day!

• He dances as well as his mama: he bends his knees and pops his bum up and down to the beat of whatever song is playing, but his torso and arms just stay completely straight and don't move. It's hilarious.
• It's so fun to see him actually understanding things: he knows dog and loves to say "DAH!" whenever we see a dog or hear one bark. He knows duck, or "DECK!" and when you say drink, he runs to the fridge. When you say let's go outside, he runs to the door. When you say bath, he runs to the bathroom. When you say shoes, he grabs them and brings them to you. It's fun. :)
• He loves his blanket. Anytime he's in his room and I hear him start to cry, sure enough when I go in there he's frustrated to tears that he can't pull his blanket through the slats of his crib. When I get it for him he immediately puts it to his face and collapses onto the floor with it.
• He is always getting hurt. Scrapes turn into huge scabs no matter how little damage is done. Poor buddy. But you can't keep this kid down. He will not sit on your lap unless he's really ridiculously tired. At church he is the most active kid in our ward. 
• He really is crazy, but he's also charming and knows how to get people to smile. That's what I love most about him - he seems to know just how to cheer people up. A lady in our ward came up to me at the end of church and said that her teenage son had been having such a bad morning and was so grumpy until the sat behind us and Finn grinned at him. She said it was the first time he smiled all day. I love that even though Finn is so active to the point of driving us nuts, he's so sweet and just wants everyone to smile and be happy. I hope that he stays that way forever.

Why did the duck go to jail? Because he was a quack dealer.

They had him at last. Years and years of long, strenuous surveillance and hard work finally found its prize. And there he was, cuffed and turned so he was viewed in profile. His good side. There was something about him that demanded… not respect, but something similar. It demanded that you reached out your fingers and tickled him. Or told him a clever joke to try and get those mischievous beady eyes to glimmer. 

Even the fellow taking his picture had to resist the urge to tackle him to the ground and give him a good wet willy.  The chains at his feet clung to his ankles as he turned to face the camera for a frontal shot. “Stripes aren’t my style, eh?” he murmured to the photographer, chuckling slightly at his own lack of creativity. The photographer eyed him without a change in expression, still wondering how unprofessional it would be to start a tickle fight with the inmate. Deciding it wouldn’t bode well with the boss, he concentrated on taking the mug shot. “So, uh, what’re you in for?” he asked, trying to sound casual. SNAP. He took another picture. Blinking the dizziness out of his eyes, the inmate was thoughtful for a moment. “It’s a long story son. I’d tell you I’m innocent, but look at me—we both know what I am. There is no denying it. I’m as guilty as the day I was hatched! I… I…. I’M A QUACK DEALER!” and with that the inmate let out one loud, enormous quack. Immediately doors swung open and dozens of officers and guards flooded into the room. 

Feathers flew up in the air as the duck was tackled to the ground. One officer jumped onto the photographer and slammed him to the floor. “Don’t worry, you’ll be alright!” he yelled over the quacks now resonating through the small room. QUACK QUACK QUACK. The duck was in a frenzy! The officers, finally pinning him down, looked like they had just had the pillow fight of their lives. “What are we gonna do?! This quack dealer is out of control,” shouted one young officer, clearly a rookie. “Wait!” the photographer cried. “I know what to do.” Everyone stared at him, even the duck, although he continued quacking ridiculously loud. The photographer rolled the slightly overweight cop off of himself and stood up, cracking his fingers menacingly at the duck. “Time to break out the fluffy fingers,” he murmured under his breath, his eyebrows arching with excitement. Secretly, he was ecstatic that he now had a valid excuse to tickle the duck. The other officers looked on in envy as he got ready to unleash his fingers. Who could resist tickling a cute little duck after all? The photographer began gently and then went into a full assault, causing the duck’s quacks to sputter and transform into laughs of glee. Suddenly, all the officers forgot their roles of honor and civic duty and began tickling the duck as well. 

As the laughter subsided, they all lay there smiling and content. The duck let out a few chuckles every few seconds, but no quacks came out of his beak. Then the dean of the prison walked through the half-open door to see the scene of feathers and officers sprawled out on the floor. In horror, he pointed dramatically at the grinning duck and shouted, “Duck, you’ve dealt your last quack!!”

Mustache Thank You Postcards

I sent out thank you postcards for Finn's mustache birthday party (even though we said no gifts, thanks to those who did, so sweet of you!) and to make them a little more personal I took photos of him playing with each toy he received. Just printed on some card stock on our computer and then on the back I wrote out a message and put the address and stamp. He didn't really want to smile in any of the pictures though - he has a really hard time doing anything but trying to eat rocks when we go outside. :)

P.S. If anyone reading this gave him a toy camera, let me know. Funnily enough, not one gift he received had a tag on it, so I'm trying to track you down, gift-giver!

One Year

Finn is ONE! Like, officially mama's-weeping-in-the-corner-and-silently-sobbing one. And what new things come with being a big-boy one year old? Well let me tell you:

• He is almost to the point of mastering throwing tantrums. He's just not quite there though. By that I mean that when he throws a tantrum I just crack up laughing at him because it's cute. Annnd I'm sure that will last another day or two.
• He is super clingy to me, which I kind of love because my non-huggy baby is suddenly a cuddle bug now.
• He is eating 100% table foods, mostly consisting of yogurt, berries, cheesy eggs, cheese sticks, cheese crackers, peas, mac & cheese, and lots of pasta.
• We just had his one year check-up and he is the 50th percentile for height and 10th for weight. My little boy is a whopping 20 lbs exactly.
• His red hair is growing out!! We are so sad about this (cue me sobbing in the corner again) but the hair coming in underneath is a lovely golden blond. So he'll still be a heart throb and I'm sure he'll have a red beard like his papa. See how I'm consoling myself here?
• He has had a total of 7 hair cuts since birth, his last being a fantastic bowl cut, due to him screaming uncontrollably every time the scissors came near him.
• We are realizing more and more what a performer and a charmer he is. He will stop at nothing until he gets any human in a 20 yard radius to smile at him. And when he has more than one person watching, he runs around like a giggling maniac.
• He finally learned to clap and give high fives! But he's not very generous with them. He'd rather run up to you and dangle his fingers JUST over your hand and then run away laughing, hoping you'll chase him down for a proper high five.

I'm sure I could go on and on... I'm trying to blog more often so that I don't forget the sweet/funny/crazy things he does all the time. He makes life so fun and - even though he's such a handful - surprisingly easy.

And also, I feel bad adding this in at the end, but the Chaser had his birthday a couple of weeks ago! He is 26 now! An old man. Finn and I surprised him at work the day before his birthday with a candy bouquet and a plate of cookies - complete with a Ron Swanson card and Tom Haveford's head saying "TREAT YO' SELF!" Because that's just what you gotta do.

Happy Birthday Chase! You are such a perfect husband and father - you make Finn and I want to be better each and every day. Love you!

Christmas 2011

I know it's late, but I wanted to post about Finn's first Christmas! We didn't take a lot of pictures which I am so bummed about. But oh well.

To start off, this was Chase's beard right before we went up to Idaho. Fantastic, right?

This year (err, last year I guess) we went to Idaho for Christmas. It was so fun and we had a great time - we didn't want to leave! Finn was a little bit sick while we were there so he was kind of a grump most of the time, but that didn't stop his Grandma Child (who was also sick, poor mama) and his aunts from cuddling him right up. :)

Most of the trip was spent relaxing (and recuperating) but it was perfect. On Christmas eve we went to Chase's Uncle Rob and Aunt Steph's for dinner. We had fun with the family, reading the story of Christ's birth and opening presents from Uncle Rob and Aunt Steph (Finn LOVES his pillow pet! Thank you!)

Christmas morning we went to church and then came home to open up presents, but by then Finn was so very, very ready for a nap. So while he slept we opened gifts and ate breakfast. By the time he got up the living room was full of wrapping paper and boxes and when we tried to show him his gifts he hardly cared. But he was a happy boy anyway.

Chase and I each gave the other a few nice gifts and one homemade gift. Chase made the most amazing perfect awesome wall clock!! It is seriously so cool. It isn't finished because he wants me to design the faces (there are two, one is the hours and minutes, the smaller one is just seconds), but I'm so in love with it already! He is such a talented guy and he spent hours in the garage making it. Ahh, I have the best hubs. :)

For him, I made a website for his music and recording information. Check it out and listen to his lovely songs on the "Music" page: http://www.whatlightmusic.com annnd since I kind of ran out of time, but mostly because I wanted Chase to write the content, it's not quite finished. But all his songs are up and I was able to have a bunch of people listen and comment on them so he could read nice things on Christmas morning.

Eating Grandma's hair... and Grandma's tissue paper.

He loved playing in the snow, but he loved his Grandma Child even more. :)

Anyway, it was a great trip and it just reminded me of how much I love my in-laws. They are such amazing, loving, selfless and FUN people. I adore them! It's no wonder that Chase turned out they way he did. 

And just because I don't want to forget it, my favorite memory of the whole trip was the first morning there, Chase went to go work with his dad on a plumbing job and Finn woke up when he left so I brought him into the bed with me and he fell back asleep. I tried so hard to move softly and reposition myself (he was hogging the bed!) but out of no where he sat right up on his bum, eyes half closed, looked around at me and gave me the biggest, cheesiest grin (exactly like the photo below) and then flopped face down on the bed, fast asleep. Without a doubt the cutest thing I have ever seen.

So surprisingly the plane ride home was fantastic! Finn was super happy the whole entire flight (even though he'd been sick and grumpy the whole trip) and near the end he started to get really sleepy so he wrapped his arms around my neck and smiled and babbled to me for 20 minutes until he dozed off. We're talking about the boy who is notorious for NOT cuddling or hugging. It was by far the best Christmas gift I could ever ask for. I love my sweet boy!

Just one more thing. I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. I'm grateful that He loved His enemies when no one else would. I'm grateful He embraced the sinners when others would stone them. I'm grateful He willingly gave His life when no one else would or could. I know He is the Son of God and that because of Him, I have the privilege to live on this earth and learn the difference between right and wrong - because of his example. I have the opportunity to have a family who I can be with forever. I have the blessing of going through trials that make me stronger and teach me about the power of prayer and faith and the healing that takes place when I put my trust in Him. I know that life is a gift, an opportunity to become more like Christ and I know that because of his atoning sacrifice, I can live with Him, with God, and with my family again after this life. This is the true meaning of Christmas - to celebrate the birth of the Son of God whose perfect example and loving sacrifice I so often take for granted. 

Mustaches on strings are the finest of things.

My dapper little man is turning one on Wednesday so we just had his birthday party this weekend. He told me he really wanted a mustache party, so that's what we did! Okay, he doesn't talk yet. But I could just tell he wanted one.

I had so much fun throwing this party! I saw a lot of ideas online that gave me a pretty specific plan in my head of what I wanted, and it actually turned out almost how I imagined. First I designed, printed, and cut out his invitations. Then I sewed each one with my sewing machine to create the "strings". That was a pain, but I like how they turned out.

I love this sweet little boy! We drew his mustache on with eyeliner. And the little bow tie he's wearing is just a felt one I saw on Pinterest that took about 5 minutes to make.

I was bummed that is was so super sunny on the day we had it, so the pictures are kind of lousy. The backdrop is just striped wrapping paper. All the platters were old rusty copper ones I found at the thrift store and painted white. The cupcake stand is just 3 old plates and 2 wine glasses turned upside down. It was so fun to transform them, especially since I usually really fail at spray painting things.

The menu/labels:

Cheesy Bow Ties - "The perfect side for a cheesy mustache"

Buffalo Chicken Dip - "Finner Finner Chicken Dinner" (our *long* nickname for Finn)

Fruit Kabobs - "They'll put hair on your lip"

Chocolate Top Hats - "Banana & Oreo delicacies"

Chocolate Cupcakes with Lindt truffles inside and cream cheese frosting.

A mustache smash cake

Chocolate Mustache Pops, or Flavor Savers - "Please take one if you really (picture of mustache)"

I loved making his cake! I found the idea just googling one day, but you just take a 2-layer 9-inch cake and cut an "S" shape in it. Then flip one of the halves over to make a mustache.

The labels have stripes on them, but it's hard to see in the sun. These top hats were so tasty and easy to make! I'd seen people do them with marshmallows, but I thought frozen bananas would be way yummier! I just sliced bananas, stuck them on Oreo halves with a little chocolate, then drizzled chocolate over each one and put them in the freezer. 

This dip was so delicious! Everyone kept asking for the recipe, which you can find here. Really easy to make.

Of course I did the chocolate mustaches on sticks that everyone does. 

We played Pin the Mustache on the Fox! I just painted this fox on some brown paper my mom had and taped it to a piece of wood. The kids had a ton of fun with this!

When guests arrived they took these mustache necklaces that I made using Shrinky Dink sheets. I had never seen these before but apparently everyone and their mom played with them when they were kids. Clearly I missed out. But I made up for it by making 30 of these mustaches! I don't care how old you are, watching plastic stuff shrink in the oven is always fun.

It's hard to see in this photo (I'm kind of bummed I didn't take more/better photos before everyone came, but I ran out of time and didn't even put up half of the mustaches I had planned on) but there are three strings hanging from a nail on our house and branching out to the walls, each with a dozen mustaches hanging from them. My awesome sister-in-law cut them out for me with her Silhouette machine. I really want one now, it is so cool!

Finn liked his cake after his initial "Why the heck is this stuff sticking to my hands!?" reaction.

One thing that worked out really great was to have a place for all the kids to play in the yard. We set up a couple of Ikea circus tents and tunnels, a slide, and some balls. That way the parents could eat and the little ones still had fun too!

I think it's safe to say that the little man had a good time too.

And here are our some of our friends and family modeling their lovely mustaches!

I love my sweet little family! :)

Chase shaved his beard into this nasty/awesome thing.

It just doesn't get any better than this little boy. He makes my life so beautiful in every way.

Anyway, the party turned out just fine and I think everyone had a blast! I felt like it was a bit of blur, but I did learn that if I ever do this again, I need to give myself twice as much time to set up! But I enjoyed making all the decorations and food so much. Thank you to my amazing mom and friends Lauren and Aubrey who helped so much with everything! Couldn't have done it without you.