Being Ripped Off by the BSA

Nat has been the 2nd Counselor in the Young Men's for about 8 months now and he just got around to buying himself a scout uniform seeing as he's over the scouts. Do you want to know what you get for $58.00? A shirt, a few lousy patches and a handbook. $58.00?? Seriously. I do believe that the Boy Scouts of America are ripping off the very people who are serving these boys and it's WRONG! How much does a khaki shirt really cost anyway? And forget about buying "official" cargo pants! I think we'll find those ourselves thank-you-very-much!

Really though...Nat is happy to serve! :)

15 Months Old

Adam is now 15 months old and just had his check-up. Here are his stats:

Height: 31.5 inches (70th percentile)

Weight: 21 lbs. 2 oz. (10th percentile)

He's so skinny! He was in the 20th percentile at his 12-month appointment and only gained 11 oz. in the past 3 months! His doctor is a little concerned but just said to give him as much whole milk as possible and just keep plugging away at feeding him. Adam is sometimes a great eater and sometimes not. He loves veggies and although that's great, they don't provide a lot of calories. He will eat his weight in peas, carrots, or corn if we let him! Let's hope that trend continues in the coming years....assuming we can get him to eat the other things we put in front of him.

Here are the words and signs that Adam knows right now:

Words he says on his own:
Ball (both for the object and for basketball on TV)
Mama
Dada
banana
clock
cracker
stinky stinky stinky
beh-buh for bellybutton
pee-pee
book
Jesus
"Baby, baby" - he sings this all the time when he wants to watch his Baby Signing Time DVDs...it's the theme song and although it's cute that he can sing it...it gets old when he sings it over and over and over again and begs to watch it!

Words he repeats but doesn't say on his own yet:
shoes
socks
block
hat
"Love ya"
ni-night
diaper
bear
nose

Signs he makes (and usually tries to say the word at the same time):
more
please
eat
milk
banana
cracker
drink
baby
shoes
socks
ball
hat
Mama
Dada
dog
cat
bear
car
bath time
brush teeth
wash hands
airplane
bottle
stinky (bottle and stinky are signs he made up on his own really early on. Bottle is basically waving bye-bye and stinky is waving his hand in front of his nose)

I'm amazed at the list of signs! I didn't realize he knew that many. I have to say, although I hate sitting him in front of a DVD, he sure learns a lot from them and it's helped him communicate with us so much better!

I love this little guy and am really enjoying the "boy" he's turning into! Although I miss my little cuddly baby, it's so much fun to see his personality develop!

Playing Ball

Since some people (ahem...Heather) tell me I don't update my blog enough...here is something random and pointless, but nonetheless an update!

Adam loves throwing a ball around and also everytime Nat turns on a basketball game, Adam runs up to the TV, points, and says, "bah!". For some reason he loves the sounds and sights of basketball. Go figure. I thought this video was funny because he looks so confused after he says "bah" for the TV and then looks down at the ball in his hand! Poor guy can't figure out how those two things can have the same name! This was taken a couple weeks ago and since then he now signs the word "ball" although it looks a lot like his "more", "please", and "shoes" signs. Oh well. He's trying.

Oh, and normally he is much better at blowing kisses....just so you know. :)

German Festival

A few weeks ago we went to the annual Hof Winterfest in Ogden. Any chance that Nat gets to eat authentic German food he jumps at! And Adam loved Oktoberfest last year so we headed up for some German food and music. I personally find most of the food disgusting and smelly, but I can appreciate a good Weinerschnitzel as long as it's made from chicken and not veal.

Adam enjoying his sauerkraut....gross.

Watching the German couple dance

Doing the Chicken Dance which is apparently extrememly popular amongst Germans and Austrians!

Good Deals!

Albertson's was having an awesome deal this week. If you spent $30 worth of certain products, you got a coupon for $15 back. They were also doubling up to 6 manufacturer's coupons! So all this stuff would have been $39.70 but I used $5.20 in coupons plus an extra $4.60 in doubled coupons minus the $15 I got back for a grand total of $14.90! I love adding to our 3-month food storage for cheap!


I also went to Walgreens and got each of these products for only .99 each! Gotta love Walgreens!

A "New" AG and a Freezing Archuleta

My Dad was sworn in for his 3rd term as Attorney General for the State of Utah last Monday. The crazy Governor thought it would be "green" to hold the ceremony outside on the steps of the Capitol instead of inside which would require extra lights and heat (oh wait....people work in the Capitol everyday so no extra lights or heat needed) so we sat outside in 20 degree weather.

The highlight of the event was David Archuleta singing The National Anthem. Although I prefer the more rugged David Cook, I must admit, the kid can sing!

My parents being escorted down the steps of the Capitol

President Monson gave the closing prayer. We were hoping to be able to shake his hand aftewards but he left right after the ceremony.

My Dad taking the Oath of Office

David Archuleta singing The National Anthem

(I think Pres. Monson was either very moved or very tired and cold)

Mr. Archuleta likewise left right after the ceremony so no hand shake or autograph from him :(

Adam wasn't all that thrilled about being bundled up like this.

But this is how he passed the time.....Eskimo Kisses over and over between Nat and I. Apparently Channel 2 News filmed it and showed it as part of their news coverage.

My famous son!
And this is how Adam kept busy while we were waiting for my Dad to finish mingling. Are you allowed to slide down the banister at the Capitol??

Christmas

We had a great Christmas spending time with our family! Adam loved all the attention from Grandma & Grandpa & his uncles and aunts and Nat and I loved spending hours playing all our new games.

Christmas Eve

The Animal Train that Santa brought Adam

Opening a present

Adam's first Christmas Egg Souffle breakfast!

"Playing" a new Wii game

And this is what my wonderful parents got me....

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Can you hear the choir of angels singing?

1-Year Old Pictures

Here are Adam's 1-year old/family pictures we just had taken. He saw this bear on the prop shelf and wouldn't stop whining for it so it got in the shot and it turned out to be our favorite one! We also love the close up of him. And I think the family one turned out really cute too. I'm amazed at the pictures we got since Adam wasn't in the best mood to begin with!

Santa & Fun at Grandma & Grandpa's House

Adam got to sit on Santa's lap at our ward Christmas party last week.
Did he like Santa? Not so much.
Did he like the candy cane? You betcha!!

Here's a video we took at my parents' house last week. Adam had been talking back to the giant nutcracker but of course as soon as I started filming he stopped. Still, it's a good representation of what we do when we're together.....laugh at the toddler! (at the end I was trying to get him to say "Pooh Bear" because he had said it for my sister Danielle earlier.....you can kind of hear him say "ooh beh" in the same inflection we had been using so I think that counts!?

Happy Birthday to Adam!

Adam celebrated his 1st birthday on Friday! We had a party with pizza, presents, and cake and it was crazy but fun! I had a barnyard theme and made a cow cake that was gigantic and a lot of work! Adam was overwhelmed with presents but loved trying everything out. Now that Christmas is less than a month away, I think this child is going to have toy-overload!

Getting ready to open presents

All his helpers....aka cousins

Opening a present all by himself

Cow Cake (that took me 2 hours to bake and 4 hours to torte, fill, & decorate!)

"What is this? Should I eat it?"

"Let me get a closer look"

"Yum!"

He was a very tidy eater and didn't eat much past the frosting! Maybe that had to do with eating an entire piece of pizza shortly before?

After we put Adam to bed that night, Nat and I talked about how lucky we are to have such a wonderful little boy and how we couldn't imagine the past year without him. I'm sad my baby is moving into toddlerhood but I'm looking forward to all the fun things we'll be able to do with him and watching his funny personality blossom!