The Whitmer Family

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need

2012-02-12T19:12:00.002-07:00

For Joel's (Josh's baby brother)missionary homecoming today, the Whitmer family and spouses sang a beautiful and moving hymn entitled, "My Shepherd will supply my need". I've never been one for singing in front of groups, but slowly my musically gifted husband and his family of singers/pianists/guitar players are breaking down my fear and resistnace. I'm feeling more comfortable singing with them and I honestly love hearing them all together. All the Whitmers have the same tone or tombre (?) to their voice (and they somehow stay perfectly on pitch with the notes, kind of annoying!)and so when they all sing parts together it really is amazing. So without further ado, here is a clip of our song. Enjoy!

P.S. Joel is singing the solo at the beginning.

"My Shepherd Will Supply My Need"

Blog Catch Up

2012-02-12T18:55:00.002-07:00

For the sake of the blog (and some grandkid lovin’ grandparents) I thought I’d post some holiday pictures.

Christmas was so much fun with our little ones. They were so excited about Santa coming to our house…at least Matt was. He set out cookies and milk for him even. Everything about Christmas is magical for kids: lights, presents, Nativity story, family parties, Santa and reindeer. I’ll show you the joy in their faces…..

We went table shopping and came away with this gorgeous one from Ashley Furniture.

Emma had her first picnic with Dad and Matt. Great gift from Nana!

Matt was first on Santa’s lap. Emma did not share the excitement.We had a nice Christmas Eve party with Grandma and Grandpa. Here we are making chocolate suckers and candy molds. The kids just wanted to lick it all.

Christmas morning, the joy!

Of course, Emma was more interested in the candy in her stocking than the toys.

We took the kids to their first BYU basketball game and bowling over the break. It was a lot of fun to do some new and different things with the kids. Josh is really good at coming up with new things…all the time. Its one of his many daddy-superhero powers.

We went on a fabulous New Year’s Eve Date to Tepanyaki and Sherlock Holmes with all the Whitmer siblings and spouses. So great!

We’ve babysat our adorable nephew Caleb a few times. The kids get so excited to have him over. (And we do too )

Lastly, would be our Jordan World Circus outing. The kids (and Me) were super duper excited to go to the circus. It came at the end of January to the South Jordan Equestrian Center. It was SO fun. The had a ton of acts. We got to see lions, dogs, elephant tricks, tight rope walkers, trapeze artists, jugglers,clowns, twirly rope girls (don’t know their name), and several balancing acts. Matt cried all the way out of the circus and all the way home. We loved it! We will be going to the circus again someday.

Somersaults and singing

2012-02-05T20:16:00.003-07:00

Matt is quite the talented little guy these days. He is singing a Kenny Loggins Rainbow song. Such a cutie pie!

Girl after my own heart

2012-02-05T20:10:00.002-07:00

This is how I found my sleeping beauty today. We give her books to read to her dolls at nap time before she falls asleep. So CUTE!

Emma Doing Dishes

2011-11-28T21:58:00.001-07:00

Had a taste of paradise, now I want more!

2011-11-17T15:04:00.002-07:00

Josh and I just got home from a fabulous, wonderful, amazing, relaxing, much needed vacation to the Eastern Caribbean ( St. Thomas, Puerto Rico, and Grand Turk). We were invited along on a “birthday party” cruise for our dear friend Tiffany Booth. COOLEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER! We got to celebrate it on a week long cruise! (We are forever indebted to you, Rob and Tiff for such an awesome trip!)

Well, I’ll sum up our trip in pictures….s

St. Thomas: (our first port of call since we missed Half Moon Cay, Bahamas due to wind and choppy seas) It poured down rain most of the time…got about 20 minutes of sun on Magen’s Bay Beach. We would like to go back and visit again!

Puerto Rico: It started out sunny this day, as we walked around Fort San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan. It was built in the 1500’s by the Spanish (If I remember our intro video correctly). We were getting pretty hot in the sun and decided to head to a beach. Got changed into our suits and started the walk when it started raining! We persevered and swam in the ocean in the pouring down rain, again!

We were determined to get in our Caribbean Sea time. Then we gave up swimming to go eat an authentic Puerto Rican lunch of Mufongo (yucca mashed and fried into a bowl shape filled with meat). It stopped raining when we left the beach. We finished up the day with souvenir shopping. Our port time always went by too quickly!

The time on the boat was spent mostly eating. I tried to take a picture of most of our dinner dishes. We tried a few appetizers and entrees every night, such gluttons! Desserts were always beautifully presented! We had a midnight Mexican buffet one night, and a chocolate buffet for lunch one day.

We played cards for a few hours every night also. The entertainment was lacking on the boat (as you might have guessed if you know Josh and his desire to play games). We saw some comedy acts,danced, watched movies, and sang some karaoke. It was great to have so much time with my hubby without the stresses of school, work, and kids. And it was so fun to hang out with Rob and Tiff so much. You guys are awesome friends and travel buds! We are rooting for that job in SLC, Rob!

Grand Turk was our favorite port! It was gorgeous! (And the only day without rain) The water was crystal clear and warm. We took a catamaran snorkeling tour. Yeah they took us to a popular spot called the Library. It was 20-40 ft deep and then had a drop off edge where the ocean floor went down to 7000 ft.!!!!! Most of you know about my extreme (maybe irrational) fear of sharks and deep water (because that’s where sharks live). Well I had no choice really. I had to do some deep breathing through my snorkel most of the time and was constantly on the lookout for the mortal enemy. Josh held my hand for the majority of the 30 minutes we were in the water. He would ask permission to let go so he could dive down and get closer to the fish or go check out the drop off. There is absolutely no way I would/could have done this snorkeling trip without his reassurance and the feeling of protection I have when he’s with me. Anywho, we highly recommend Grand Turk. I don’t know how much there is to do except for the beach area and shops right next to the port, since we only had 2 hours to check it out after our tour. This was the hardest day to have to get back onto the boat. It was excruciating to leave such a tropical paradise!

Escargot! One of the many unusual things we tried out.

It rained our last day at sea. Bummer! So Tiff and I had some girl time and went the chocolate buffet, a Thriller dance class, and a mini makeover at the Spa while the boys napped. Later, Rob helped me out in the towel folding class, we were making a swan.

We had a night to spend in Miami until our flight Monday morning back to reality. We walked around South Beach and soaked up some sun. (Good thing we did, as its in the low 50’s and coollllddd in Utah now!!!!)

Sorry for the long post. I loved our vacation and am enjoying reliving it

P.S. The kids had a blast at Grandma’s while we were gone. Matt learned all these cool things he likes to show me and Emma ate a lot of food. (That’s good for her!!!) Its nice to be with them again…except when Emma starts screaming or Matt isn’t cooperating…then I just zone out and think of walking on the white sand beach holding my sweetie’s hand and looking for shells.

Trick Or Treat?

2011-11-03T15:42:00.001-06:00

We had an interesting Halloween this year. The good parts: dressing up for library storytime, Josh’s USANA party, Uncle Justin’s Pinnacle Party, and our annual pizza party with our good friends, the Smiths. Matt had a blast running to houses with Brenton and others and saying “Trick or Treat”. Emma, however, just wanted to eat the candy….all of it! She would chomp down on candy and get to it through the wrapper (most times) before we helped her eat it without the plastic. Matt has had 2 maybe 3 pieces total. He doesn’t have a sweet tooth.

So Matt picked our family costume idea this year (back in August) after his dad shared his favorite childhood book by Dr. Seuss. We were the Sneetches! Well, the kids and I were star bellied sneetches and Josh was Mr. McMonkey McBean (the guy who’s machine removes or replaces the stars on their bellies), also chosen by Matt. We got quite an array of puzzled stares by people, so here’s what our costume was based on…..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sneetches_and_Other_Stories

We had fun with pumpkins. Grandma and Grandpa came over to enjoy carving and the kiddos. It was a fun night!

Josh whipped out 2 awesome carvings, a spider and a witch, with his dremel tool. I think he’ll be using it in the future for sure! Matt had a blast carving the jack-o-lantern face with grandma. I spent too long on Matt’s pumpkin wish…Finn McMissile from Cars 2. But it was all worth the roasted pumpkin seeds!

The bad part to Halloween this year was that our shed got burglarized on Halloween night! Someone (probably a group) decided to take all of Josh’s power tools. It was a pretty new and nice collection due to his woodworking hobby. We aren’t really that angry over it, mostly we feel super violated that people would come into our fenced backyard with malicious intent. Thinking about it gives me CREEPED OUT GROSSY FEELINGS!!! We were definitely tricked more than treated this year.

More Halloween Fun

2011-10-28T11:17:00.002-06:00

Matt wanted to make another video with Aunt Amy, Uncle Justin, and baby Caleb. Enjoy!

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/KsVjChPk9EKDzhZK

Halloween Fun

2011-10-23T21:31:00.002-06:00

Josh and Matt had some fun creating a Halloween video for your entertainment. Click the link!

Go Rockies!

2011-09-30T21:18:00.005-06:00

(The Marv Jenson 3-4 yr old division that is.) Matt is playing t-ball this fall with his pal Brenton. They are really cute while sitting and waiting to bat (usually this involves a lot of grass picking). And Matt gets so excited when its his turn to bat. He has hit a few coach pitch balls but mostly has success off the tee. He runs the bases and listens to instructions (mostly). His coach is very involved, practices throwing and tries to improve their batting stance. He also does little cheers and chants between innings. Then there is the matter of playing outfield….. Matt gets really bummed when he doesn’t get to the ball first, as to be expected. He likes to make several trips off the field each inning, to come say hi or try to sit in my chair. But overall, its really exciting and fun for us to do something as a family that is centered on Matt. He gets pretty pumped on game days!

P.S. Don’t you love the way Matt insists on resting/wearing his hat on the top of his head (2 pictures up)!

Virginia Beach Vacation

2011-09-30T15:21:00.003-06:00

We were able to go back to Virginia Beach for a week at the end of August to visit my family……and be visited by Hurricane Irene at the same time. We had a great day at the beach on Friday, as Irene was moving up the U.S. coast. The kids loved the sand and Matt especially loved running into the ocean. Saturday, Irene came to visit. It was mostly just rain and some intense wind. At one point during the Hurricane, Josh was sitting in a camping chair on the front porch holding a sleeping Matt. (We had lost power by that point and it was hot and humid!) It was also my mom’s 60th birthday that day. We had lots of family there and it was fun to celebrate that milestone all together!

We also went to the Norfolk Zoo (after hubbies had to fly home for work and after Irene had passed on by). The kids loved all the animals and Emma was really fascinated with the giraffes and elephants.It was a really cool zoo. The animals were in habitats with other species, kind of like they would be in nature.

It was so great to see Angel, Donnovan, Jazzy, Betty and Brenda. We had a lot of fun playing rook…even when our lives were on the line during Irene (jk) . Like always, we ate like kings and queens while we were there. Southerners sure now how to cook!Thanks Nana and Papa for a GREAT visit and a super FUN time. We love and miss you everyday!

Emma’s Walking

2011-08-06T14:36:00.001-06:00

Emma starting taking unassisted steps about three weeks ago and well, as of this week she has no problem getting around the house. We’re all trying to adjust to having a tiny little girl sneaking up behind us. She’s so small that I think you could breath and knock her over so its been a bit of a challenge, but its so much fun seeing kids grow and develop.

The kids and the playhouse

2011-07-14T11:02:00.002-06:00

We haven't really updated our blog in a while. Somehow the duty always seems to fall on me instead of Heather. Things have been going well for us as a family. I've had a couple weeks off from school and it's been great to spend more time with Heather and the kids. We've actually spent some real time together which has been awesome. Sadly, I head back next week. But during my break I somewhat finished a playhouse for the kids in the backyard. It's nothing amazing or anything but they seem to enjoy it. Maybe it's my way to try and play with them when I'm not around. Here's a little video of Matt and Emma and the playhouse.

Latest Carving Project (Not finished yet)

2011-04-22T17:07:00.002-06:00

This is my latest carving project. It’s not finished but its just a tulip carving that I spent some time creating. The pictures are really grainy becaused they are off of my phone, not because my carving isn't good :)

Happy 3rd Birthday, Matt!

2011-04-17T16:08:00.002-06:00

Matt celebrated his 3rd birthday this past week. We had fun shaped pancakes for breakfast. Then we met Josh for lunch at Chic-fil-a where he got to drink chocolate milk and play on the playset (2 of his faves). He was excited for his friends to come over, for balloons, and new toys….but to my surprise he was VERY excited for his birthday cake (He must have a mom that really gets into cakes or something). So he to got to help make the cake and icings with me. And even help decorate. He picked out which toys to put on his cake, and we even had to have a practice candle blowing before the party. It warmed my heart that my little man enjoyed doing one of my favorite kitchen past times with me!

Thank you all for coming or wishing Matt a Happy Birthday!

Matt, thank you for being the cute, sweet, and smart little boy you are! You bring so much joy to our lives and family everyday. We love you Matt!

Home Remodeling in 2008

2011-04-09T10:10:00.003-06:00

So I thought I'd give you a little insight into our home remodeling back in 2008 when we purchased our home. The following 4 posts contain links to videos kind of documenting the remodeling we did. They are out of order, sorry but thought it might be fun to revisit our home construction since its been 3 years this month that we moved in. just click on the picture to see each video.

Home_construction week 4

2011-04-09T10:09:00.000-06:00

Week #4 of our home remodel back in 2008

Home_construction week 3.5

2011-04-09T10:08:00.000-06:00

Revisiting our home remodeling back in 2008, this was week #3

Home Construction Week 1

2011-04-09T10:05:00.000-06:00

Going back and revisiting our home remodel in 2008. This was week #1

Home construction week2

2011-04-09T10:04:00.000-06:00

Week number 2 of the home remodel back in 2008

Once there was good weather

2011-04-09T08:58:00.001-06:00

Once upon a time it was the end of March and the weather was awesome. As you can tell from the pictures, it was good enough for Heather to get a sweet sunburn on her legs and arms. Unfortunately the last week the weather has taken a turn for the worse. It’s snowed or rained the last 5 days which is sad because we finally got our fence installed in our backyard (which means we can now just send Matt out back to run around without worrying about him getting lost or stolen or something). Hopefully the weather turns soon so that when family comes out the end of this month we can play outside.

Just like mom and dad

2011-03-08T20:14:00.001-07:00

Matt Loves to help and it definitely is better to let him help than to let him terrorize our home so

Just like mom……

Just like dad…..

Latest Wood Projects

2011-03-02T14:33:00.001-07:00

I finished this clock a little while ago. It took some time to make (mostly because I don’t have a ton of free time to work with) but it’s finally finished.

The for my dad’s birthday I carved him a lighthouse that I glued to a rock. It’s not amazing but it was fun to do.

Growing Kids

2011-02-27T14:14:00.001-07:00

The kids are definitely growing. Matt is officially potty trained. I’m pretty impressed with him, I don’t think he’s had an accident during the night for over two weeks (however if he has I’m not the one that would wake up and deal with it so I can’t promise I’m accurate in my assumption).

Emma is growing (although very slowly). She’s tiny tiny for her age but development-wise she’s doing great. She definitely knows what she wants and she definitely knows how to throw a fit when she doesn’t get it. She scoots around getting into everything that Matt is playing with, drives him crazy.

I think we are all pretty excited for the weather to warm up so we can start playing outside. We did have a nice couple of days last week when we got to take the kids out and swing.

Pictures From Christmas

2011-01-30T16:34:00.001-07:00

Christmas was awesome at our home. We’re so far behind with getting updates on our lives that we thought we just throw some pics on here to share and show how the kids are growing.

Christmas is just around the corner!

2010-12-19T19:21:00.008-07:00

We are so excited for Christmas in our home. Matt has asked Santa for a soccer ball. We've watched a lot of Christmas related shows. We made a fantastic gingerbread house. We've talked about baby Jesus and all the people in the Nativity story. It is so fun to share all of this with Matt! Another fun part of Christmas (for me) is the cute Christmas outfits. Nana sent Emma some gorgeous dresses and Matt some studly sweater vests. So I was very excited to get my cuties dressed up for church today. And I had to take a picture (or 3) of their adorable-ness.

Latest carving and our new front yard

2010-11-28T19:30:00.001-07:00

Finished up my latest carving yesterday. It’s a pinecone Christmas ornament carved from pine (I think). I think it turned out pretty well.

Also, we had the pine tree in our front yard removed about two weeks ago. It’s nice to finally have a front yard to play in. Here is a before and after and then a couple pics of the process.

Halloween

2010-11-12T18:13:00.002-07:00

This year's Halloween was a lot of fun for us. Matt got to be Buzz Lightyear, thanks to his pal down the street. Emma was a darling flower. We got to dress up for Toddler Time at the South Jordan Library, Josh's work party, and of course trick or treating. Matt really got into character and would fly around and shoot people with his laser beam, all the time doing sound effects and saying Buzz phrases. Its so cute to see him love characters so much and to get so excited about them. He also liked the candy :)

On Halloween, we got a visit from Princess Peach and her bomb. Becca and Katie stopped by to say Hi, and their costumes were the best I saw this year. We had a yummy Jack-o-lantern pizza with our friends the Smiths and our kiddos hit the rainy streets to beg for candy. They lasted 2 circles.

Happy Belated Halloween!

(Josh’s mad carving skills….wood, pumpkins its all the same)

South Jordan #18

2010-09-16T12:04:00.002-06:00

Just saw today that money magazine came out with the best cities to live in the US. South Jordan came in at #18 because of 'strong schools, low crime rate, and an excellent Country Fest Celebration. Not sure about the country fest stuff and my kids aren't in school, but I do enjoy the city in which I live.

Link to Money Magazine Best Places to Live

Picture Frames

2010-09-10T21:32:00.006-06:00

I finally finished the picture frames that I was working on for my moms birthday this year. The pictures are some paintings she did in college. For the past who knows how long she's had these in a closet so I decided to try and make some matching frames so that she could hang them up in the house. I think they turned out pretty okay.

Matt Singing Nusery Rhymes

2010-09-05T22:14:00.001-06:00

More adventures with 2 kids

2010-09-03T13:27:00.008-06:00

So our typical day goes like this:
"MMMMOOOOOOOOMMMMM!" That's my wake up call from Matt usually around 7 a.m., which usually wakes Emma up too. I then proceed to change diapers, get clothes on and feed the kids. Would you believe that usually takes until 9:30 a.m.? I then get Emma down for a nap and eat and get ready myself. Matt usually gets lucky and watches a show during that time. If I am getting out of the house at all it usually happens between 10-12 a.m. Errands work best for us then. Lunch is at noon. And then comes the epic battle to get Matt to take a nap. Its even more frustrating these days because I want to take a nap too! And I can't until he does.... So naps usually go until 3 or 3:30. Then its time for snacks and the 20th diaper change of the day and time to play until Dad gets home around 5:30. Oh and somewhere in there I clean and cook dinner. Josh comes home and I breathe a HUGE sigh of relief. Just knowing he's on his way home to use up some of Matt's energy and to give my arms a rest from Emma makes me relax. I don't know how I would survive without my sweetheart! Our nights go by super fast with dinner and baths and the bedtime routine. We finally get some down time around 9:30 (if Josh isn't schooling it). Whew. I'm exhausted just thinking about my day!

Also, I am finally brave enough to take the kids out on regular errands, outings, and what not by myself. The 3 of us have done everything from shopping to library visits, feeding the ducks to playing at the park, and even attending ward functions! You seasoned moms out there are probably laughing at me, but it took quite the courage and energy to attempt such things with a rambuncious 2 yr old Matt and a reflux-crying Emma. I go on such outings mostly for my sanity, but Matt has fun getting out of the house as well. So here are some pictures of our adventures...

Emma is a smiley cutie pie these days!

Matt's first bandaid. It's a Buzz Lightyear bandaid of course. He loved it at first and that lasted 3 minutes or so and then he wanted it off.

Matt and Blueberry feeding ducks and throwing rocks into water. We love Daybreak Lake!

Matt likes to push the limits. He's "staying in his room" to sleep, barely!

I can bathe 2 kids by myself! Mad skills, huh?!

I love my little smiley flower! She has the best cheeks for kissing!

Matt loves swimming. Just don't get his head wet.

Matt coming down the slide at the pool. Josh caught him at the bottom.

One time was enough for Matt.

Me and the kiddos on one of our family fishing outings.

Matt at Skye Park

Matt is climbing on the playground. Emma is looking at me, like I want out Mom!

Pictures of my day to day with 2 kids

2010-08-05T19:26:00.004-06:00

Emma doesn't really like taking pictures.... A rare happy Emma (its not her fault! She has reflux.)

Matt entertaining himself while I take care of baby sis.

More of Matt entertaining himself.
Matt in the morning.

Getting ready for the day, almost.

Cute siblings

Matt is a sweet older brother!

Emma on her blessing day.

Two planter boxes

2010-07-02T09:10:00.004-06:00

Here is the latest in my woodworking adventure. Pretty much right now I decide what to build based on what wood I have available (that's because I found a furniture shop who lets me come and get their scraps for free and so I only work with what I get from them).

So the latest project was building planter boxes for our back patio. I made the first one (the tall square one with the plants in it already) and Heather and I really liked how it turned out so I scrounged up just enough pieces of wood to make a second one (the rectangle one that doesn't have flowers yet).

Our new cutie pie

2010-06-18T19:57:00.007-06:00

So I had some fun today dressing Emma up amd taking tons of pictures of her. Enjoy :)

Meet Emma Claire

2010-06-13T20:47:00.001-06:00

Little Emma was born on Friday, June 11th. She came out of mom weighing 6lbs 13oz and is 19 inches long. Her and mom are both healthy and doing really well. Here are a couple pictures of our new little girl.

Memorial Day

2010-06-04T09:44:00.004-06:00

Hope everyone had a lovely 3 day weekend and Memorial Day! We made our last road trip/overnight vacation as a 3 person family last weekend. (Do I sound like Josh and his "lasts"?) We headed down to Huntington to see Grandma and Grandpa Grange as well as our cousin Jordan's home coming from his NY Mission. Matt had a blast. He got to play with cousins, grandparents and farm animals. He wasn't really afraid of the pigs and chickens...I am pretty sure I was more wary of them than he was. We visited the Huntington cemetery and placed flowers on our loved ones' graves. Its a special tradition that the family does every year (I'm sure many of you out there do too) but growing up I don't remember this being part of our family's memorial day activities. It was a great (but short) getaway to distract me from being 9 months pregnant.

Bookcase for the Nursery

2010-05-20T20:11:00.001-06:00

Finally finished a bookcase I’ve been working on for a couple weeks. We are pretty pleased with the results. It’s going to work out perfect for the nursery.

Catching Up

2010-05-20T20:09:00.002-06:00

April and May are two very busy months for our family. It starts off with Easter, then Matt's birthday (april 13th) then my birthday (april 24th) our anniversay (april 29th) mothers day (the second sunday in May) and finally heathers birthday (may 10th). This first pic is of our family on Easter.

Matt turned 2 this year and he has a bunch of his friends over for a party. My parents own a bounce house and so we borrowed that from them and luckily it fit perfectly in our basement (the idea was to do it outside but it was way too cold).

For my birthday Heather invited a ton of friends over to a park to have cake and play kick ball. It was a surprise and it was really fun. She always does such a good job at making my birthday special.

For our anniversay we dropped Matt off at my mom's house and headed up to Logan for a weeknd getaway. It wasn't anything fancy but it was so nice to spend two fulls days just the two of us. We had a lot of fun together. We saw a movie and went antique shopping (I bought a block plane which was awesome).

Mother's day was good. Matt got Heather a facial from some spa place and I made a picture frame for a painting Matt made a couple months ago that Heather has had hanging on our magnet board.

Heather's birthday was good. All our friends were burnt out from Matt's party and my party so we had a smaller get together with family. Heather got some flowers/plants to put in the yard and then clothes, a pedicure and manicure from another spa, and then a hammock chair swing for the backyard (that finally arrived this week).

So that's what's been going on. Heather is due in a month. Can't believe we're that close already. Heather has done a ton of stuff to get the nursery all ready and cute and what not. She's started to sew quite a bit these days. She finished a valance for the nursery last week and before that she made a cute little crib skirt a blanket for Matt’s big boy bed and a cover thing for the car seat.

Wood Carvings

2010-03-21T11:12:00.006-06:00

If you've been following our blog at all you know that I've taken up woodworking as a hobbie over the last couple of months. Well, I have two new projects that are almost done, both are carvings. The first is a turtle that I carved out of a 6 inch long and about 4 inch round piece of aspen.

The second carving is of a seashell. The idea is that if I ever get good enough to make bookcases or desks or chairs I want to be able to do a relief carving in them to make them unique so with that in my I decided I needed to practice. This was carved out of a 5"X4" piece of pine that I had laying around. And just so you know I didn't smooth out the background on purpose. Heather and I both liked the 'rough' look of it so I left the chisel marks as they were.

Tubes

2010-03-19T10:53:00.003-06:00

After not being able to get rid of an ear infection for over 6 weeks our doctor finally decided it was necessary for Matt to get tubes put into his ears. The surgery was on Wed March 10th at 6:30AM (ask me how excited I was to wake up that early). For the surgery Matt had to be put under anesthesia which was okay except for the part when we woke up. For about 4 hours the boy was not alright. I suppose it was just him feeling weird and not knowing how to deal with it but there was definitely a lot of crying after surgery. Thankfully by the end of the day he was back to normal.

Anyway, here a couple of pics of Matt in his hospital garb

A lot to catch up on!

2010-02-08T13:18:00.020-07:00

So I haven't blogged in oh, a few months. Luckily, Josh has posted some to give you all something interesting to read. I will give you a quick summary of life since November. We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family in Virginia Beach. We had warmer weather than Utah :) and got to enjoy trips to the beach (just to watch the waves/birds and play in the sand). We had a lot of fun with everyone together.

December was busy with Christmas decorating, shopping, and all the functions and activities that seem to fill up the month. Matt loved the Christmas tree and lights. Everytime we turned them on he would say ," Wow!". So cute! He loved opening gifts and playing with all of the fun new toys.

January went by quickly. We had some family functions in preparation of sending off Josh's youngest brother, Joel, on his mission. It was awesome to go through the temple with all of the siblings and their spouses and parents! Just amazing! The sibs sang together during the "last talk" in sacrament for Joel. As did the cousins. So there were some practices for that. It was so sweet to see all the little guys (even Matt, although he just stood there) and gal singing "I Hope They Call me on a Mission". Joel is officially a missionary now and reported to the MTC just last week. He heads out to Ventura, CA in 2 more weeks. We are excited for him!

Matt has been playing with his friend Michael during some doctor visits.

Matt has had a double ear infection for 3 weeks now and had a bad allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics. POOR GUY!
The cake for Joel's open house. I love chocolate and peanut butter together!

Matt playing at Children's Musuem with Taylor Booth. We got to visit with our friends (the Booths) while they visited family around Christmas.

Josh is really enjoying his wood working hobby. This is the first stages of a movable work table for his saw and router.

Oh, by the way :) WE ARE PREGNANT! I've been postponing blogging lately mostly because of that fact. I like to nap during Matt's naps these days to get some extra rest in. I am 21 weeks along, so over halfway done already! I feel great, other than getting really hungry or really tired. We found out last week we are having a GIRL!!!! We are so dang excited for another little one. Matt doesn't quite understand yet, but he is really cute with little babies. He is going to be a great older brother! And, duh, guess you want to know when to expect this new arrival....

JUNE 20!

We have inherited an awesome fish tank from Dad Whitmer. It came complete with rocks, plants and a cute frog figure. We just had to supply water and fish! We have 3 platys right now. Matt (and I ) absolutely love it!!! It is so fun and relaxing to go over and watch them swim around. The first thing Matt says when we go see him in the morning is "FISH!" Matt even has their names memorized: Mickey Mouse, Lola and Prince. So fun to have a pet.

Sorry you had to read all that! I'll be better at posting more frequently from here on out :)

Videos and Pictures

2010-01-30T12:05:00.001-07:00

We haven’t posted any videos or pictures for a while so I thought I ought to get something on here so you can see Matt and how things are going.

Wood #2

2010-01-11T20:09:00.003-07:00

This is my second wood working project. We had a mirror in our master bath that was just a mirror, no frame nothing. It was something the previous owners of this house left behind. They had it hung on the wall by duct taping a metal hanger thing on the back. For christmas I wanted to make Heather a frame for the mirror so it looked a little nicer and was a little more sturdy. Here is the finished product.

My New Hobby

2009-12-24T11:21:00.005-07:00

Heather doesn't like it when I 'show off' but I have a new hobby (woodworking) and I finished a Christmas Tree that I've been working of for a little bit and I wanted to share. I carved it from one of the branches of our Aspen tree that fell over this summer. And just so we are on the same page, I'm not 'showing off' I'm just excited that it turned out okay.

Some Matt Updates

2009-11-06T13:18:00.004-07:00

Here are some random things about Matt....

He liked to be in the snow a few weeks ago, but didn't like to touch it. He now can say "shnooow".
He developed some weird rash on his stomach this week. The doctor called it erythema multiforme....a sort of allergic reaction to a viral infection. Its getting worse but he doesn't seem bothered by it.

He is trying to bring carboard box hats into style :)

P.S. He didn't have pants on in these pictures because he refused to put them on this morning. He kicked and said "NNNOOO" over and over.

He sure is fun these days. He can communicate more with me and likes to help me do whatever task I am working on. I love my MATT!

Happy Halloween, Part 2

2009-11-01T09:24:00.005-07:00

We had a fun Halloween with Matt last night. It was his first year of trick or treating. We got dressed up and went to our neighbors to show off our cute little boy. He quickly figured out that when you go up to a door you knock (while saying "knock knock", he never really got the trick or treat saying down) and when someone holds out a bowl you reach in with your whole fist and grab as much candy as possible! We had to take a few pieces out of his hand each time just so the other trick or treaters would have some candy later on.
So, drumroll please..... This year as a family we dressed up as the Teletubbies (thanks to the Fords for the awesome costumes!). Josh was the purple one, Tinkie Winkie. I was the red one, Po. Matt was the little baby in the sunshine that always laughs and giggles. Well, we got lots of strange looks and a good bit of chuckles from passerbys. It was fun to drive around in the costume and see other drivers do double takes. We went over to our friends, the Smiths, for a yummy dinner and more trick or treating. Their little kiddos had cute costumes and Matt really liked playing with them (and all their cool toys!). Then we came home to answer doorbell rings and pass out candy for another 30 mins or so. All in all, a fun day with the family.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-24T17:37:00.003-06:00

Click here:
Happy Halloween from our family to you!

Matt got stung by a BEE!

2009-09-28T19:35:00.004-06:00

Yesterday morning Matthew and I were out planting some perrenials when I heard a buzzing noise close by. All of the sudden the buzzing stops and Matt starts screaming. He was rubbing his right eye so much at first I thought the stupid bee stung his eyeball...but the sting was really on the inside of his eyebrow (next to his nose). We get inside the house and I try to put some ice on it, a few mintues later this is what it looked like...SCARY!It was red and swollen and he was a sad boy most of the afternoon. Well, this morning I go into to get him from his crib and I expected to see the swelling gone down....but to our dismay it had gotten worse! It is so swollen Matt has a hard time seeing where he's going. There's been a lot of bumping into things today. The redness and swelling has moved on to his left eye now. The doc had a look and gave him some antihistamine and said to keep an eye on it in case it turns into an infection. So that's what we are doing today...keeping an eye on Matt's eyes. I feel so sad for my little guy! He seems happy and fine today despite the puffiness. He sure is tough. I would need constant cuddles and attention if it were me!

The Swing and the Tree

2009-09-20T16:16:00.003-06:00

Took Matt out to swing the other day and I jumped up and grabbed a branch because sometimes I get bored just pushing him. Well, turns out he finds me grabbing tree branches extremely funny so I thought I'd share.

Matt's many faces

2009-09-15T20:20:00.007-06:00

So we were trying to take some family photos on Sunday and Matt was pretty hilarious. He was not really patient or interested in smiling for the camera.... here are somre cute examples.

We did get a couple pics of his adorable smile.

FuN iN cIrCLeS

2009-09-06T19:00:00.003-06:00

Matt discovered turning around in circles today. It is cute to watch him turn around and laugh at himself for doing something fun. It seems like there is a new discovery everyday for this curious boy.

The long awaited video of Matt walking

2009-08-29T16:40:00.004-06:00

Here is Matt taking some steps. Notice how his arms are above his head, I guess this helps him balance because he always holds them up there. Its fun to see him become more confident and daring the more he walks.

Fun in August

2009-08-24T18:03:00.004-06:00

We've had another fun filled month. Matt loves to help me out at home, from laundry to making dinner. He is picking up on things so fast these days, its so cute to see him learn new things. He is walking more these days and can go for a whole room's distance before he decides to sit down and continue crawling. We helped Amy and Justin move to Pleasant Grove into their new condo. They didn't have very much to move since they moved all of the small things earlier that week. There were no big appliances just some furniture. Matt and I cheered all the movers on as there wasn't much for us to lift.
We had a mini-emergency last Monday night. Josh was doing some wood carving and I startled him as I came outside to see him. His chisel missed the wood but carved into his thigh instead. We headed to the instacare where the 3 inch gaping tear got stitched back up (There are some pictures of it on our site but they make it look so small).Josh and I backpacked into East Shingle Creek Lake last weekend. It was as hard to find as it is to say. Luckily, we made camp before dark and Josh even had time to catch a few fish.
We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Dedication on Sunday which was such a neat experience. I love President Monson! We baby swapped with Ashlee and Mark (Matt for Blueberry). She is such a cutie pie, but she got a little angry when Josh tried to hold her.
Anyways, here is a link to a photobucket album. I can't get the slideshows to work anymore.
http://s632.photobucket.com/albums/uu42/hnf04/August%2009/

Another Matt video

2009-08-14T09:31:00.003-06:00

I was having a hard time posting more than one video on the same post, so I thought I would make a slideshow. Hopefully this works!

Matt video

2009-08-12T18:51:00.004-06:00

Here is a random video of Matt. This is from our backpacking trip to Fehr Lake. Enjoy :)

Catching up the blog

2009-08-11T13:20:00.006-06:00

Summer has been fun this year. Matt is enjoying playing outside and we've been able to do some fun things with him.
We met Josh at a park for a lunch playdate last week.

Matt loved the slides and tunnels.

Last Thursday, there were some really strong winds ( is there such a thing as a wind storm?) in SoJo. We lost our biggest Aspen tree :( That night was spent chopping up wood and clearing branches out of the yard, roses, and street.

Last night, we went for a hike up to Lower Bell's Resevoir. It was completely uphill as we had to climb to the top of a ridge to where the lake was. Matt was a trooper. He loves being outside and does well in his backpack. He was mostly interested in throwing rocks in the lake. "Sorry Dad and Grandpa for scaring away the fishies." Matt told me to type that.

This morning Matt and I went to the Gale Museum in South Jordan as part of an Enrichment activity. The museum has an exhibit on the early settlers of this area. There were several ladies that came and half of them had small children. Matt was the least interested in the tour until we came to the hands on part of the museum. He was sad when we had to leave. He got to milk a cow, collect eggs from a chicken, catch fish, and drive an old car. He would have liked being a pioneer.

Matt eating lunch

2009-08-03T09:19:00.002-06:00

This is one of Matt's favorite video to watch. He is eating chicken tenders for lunch all by himself. Too cute!

Matt's 1st Backpacking Trip

2009-07-28T15:42:00.004-06:00

It's been so fun to have "first" things with Matt as he's grown over the last 15 months. Just about everything is a first, but it's exciting as a parent to see the excitement in Matt for a new activity or experience. So Thursday night we drove up to our favorite mountains, the Uintahs. We packed in a whooping .5 miles to Fehr Lake and setup camp that night. Matt absolutely loved being carried in his backpack, playing in the dirt, and throwing rocks. We watched Josh fish for a while. We played at our campsite and fun around the fire. I know its hot and its summertime, but a fire is an absolute must (if allowed) when camping. Plus, it helped smoke all the buggies away.

We walked around the Fehr lake, its was gorgeous and fun to be in the outdoors. Josh gets this like primal, manly energy when he is in the mountains. He wants to scout out the area, fish, climb around, basically anything but sit and relax (which is what I love to do on our backpack trips). He is the happiest guy in the world when he is outdoors.

Matt didn't sleep the best in his sleeping bag, didn't let him roll around easily. So we weren't very rested when the sun came up at 6am Friday. But we ate breakfast, and packed up for our hike to Shepard Lake. It was about another mile from our camp, but it was all downhill going (uphill coming back, ahhh). It was worth the effort. There was a waterfall that fed into the lake, which was significantly bigger than Fehr Lake. Josh fished for a bit and caught 3 or 4 brookies. It was so much fun for him, he hasn't fished in ages! Matt liked watching Josh fish and would point to his rod like he wanted to hold it and cast himself. Matt got to hold onto the rod when a fish was on the line and Dad pulled it in. Then Josh held the fish close so Matt could get a feel. Look at his poor, dirty hands in the picture. My baby loved the dirt soooo much! I could only wash and wipe those hands so much while camping. Anyways, we had a great first experience with Matt and backpacking. Who knows, there might be another one in store this summer for him!?!? P.S. Josh has been growing his mustache out for 2 weeks, a buddy dared him. (Thanks Mike!) So that is the reason his upper lip looks shady and dirty looking. It is gone now, WOO HOO!

July At Our House

2009-07-25T11:45:00.007-06:00

Here's whats been going on at our house this month:

Matt eats adult food spaghetti all by himself for the first time....what a mess!

Matt figured out he could throw all of his stuffed animals and blankets out of his crib. This is the first of such daily episodes. He was mad that I wouldn't pick him back up to rock him back to sleep after he woke up a few minutes into his nap...so to show me how mad he was he threw everything in reach (which is usually how he shows his temper). I thought this was so hilarious that I grabbed the camera and then he thought it was a fun game to throw things out. And of course, I picked him up and gave him love.This was Matt helping dad work around the house. Guess who Matt looks up to? (haha, cheesy joke)

The headlamp was so much fun to wear, Matt had to have to see his cheerios the next morning.

We celebrated Rob's 30th birthday with his family and a game of kickball. It was a blast!

Josh and Matt after kickball. Matt has a hilarious expression and no, thats not sweat running down his forehead, its water.

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House. It is a gorgeous temple and we are so blessed to have it within 2 miles of our house!

Matt helping dad water the flowers in the yard. He is such a good helper.

2009-07-13T20:15:00.003-06:00

Too much fun in Jamaica

2009-07-13T15:02:00.004-06:00

We just got home from our 10 day family vacation to Montego Bay, Jamaica. We went with Josh's parents, his 3 brothers and their families. It was an absolute blast! We had sunny, warm weather everyday and it only stormed twice at night. The water was bright turquoise and crystal clear! A couple beaches we went to were the epitome of Carribean beaches: white, soft sand and warm clear water. You could walk for a while out into the ocean and it would only get waist deep. We got our fill of swimming in between the ocean and our hotel pool. Matt loved swimming and would point to any body of water we went passed and grunt like "Hey mom and dad take me swimming!". He had this yellow baby float and some foam balls that entertained him for hours in the water.

We had 2 rental vans the whole time so we made lots of excursions out and about the island. Jamaicans drive on the left side of the road, so Josh got the nerve racking experience of leading the way through narrow streets and backwards (to Americans) round abouts. He did a great job driving though, and by the end of the week he didn't have to think so hard behind the wheel. There were some key phrases we learned: " Ya, mon.", "Respect, mon", "Its Jamaica, no rush mon", "No problem, mon" , "You want to PARTY?" this meant do you want to buy my drugs! The people at our hotel were so kind and helpful and easily fell in love with all our babies. We made good friends with a couple of them. Jamaicans outside of the resort....well, lets say they wanted any money you would give them. Overall, it was a great experience and I would highly recommend planning a trip to Jamaica.

Here's the run down of our week in Jamaica:
Thursday- flew to Dallas, TX and spent the night in a grumpy hotel
Friday- flew to Jamaica and relaxed at our resort Coyaba
Saturday- played on our beach
took Matt paddle boating in the ocean
went on a couple's Sunset cruise
had authentic Jamaican dinner with Jerk pork, bammy, callaloo, conch fritters, and a Steel band for entertainment
Sunday- played in the pool
went to Falmouth LDS branch for church
went to Dr.'s Cave beach and hung out all afternoon/early evening
Monday- drove to Ochos Rios to Dunn's River Falls
hiked and played in 900 ft (gradual downriver) waterfall
got harassed at Jamaican craft market by vendors
Tuesday- everyone but me, Jenny and babies went Scuba diving
souvenir shopped
swam/played in pool and beach
had delicious dinner at "Seafood night" at the hotel: seafood chowder, grilled shrimp,
awesome tuna, jerk crawfish, crab cakes, and callaloo mashed potatoes
Wednesday- drove to Negril beach and saw Negril lighthouse
Josh nearly gave me a heart attack as he jumped off a 40 ft cliff into ocean
swam in most gorgeous ocean water I've ever been in
haggled vendors for better prices on souvenirs
Thursday- deep sea fished in the a.m. I caught a 3 ft barracuda, no one else caught
took Matt ocean kayaking and swimming
went to Luminous Lagoon at night to swim in glowing microrganisms, tough one to
explain.
Friday- woke up for an early morning drive/swim at Wiltshire community beach- this gorgeous
spot of ocean off the main road that all the locals swim in. Josh had his eye on it all week.
took family pictures around the resort
packed and went to airport with sad faces
nearly missed flight and were running all over the airport while Matt held on for dear
life in his stroller.
arrived in Dallas, TX to stay the night (this time at a nicer, happier hotel)
Saturday- arrived in SLC! we were so excited to get home and have normal food and milk, and
of course to relax. Vacations can wear you out!!!

And I couldn't write this post without a HUGE, heartfelt, neverending "THANK YOU!" to Josh's parents. Our amazing trip wouldn't have been possible without them. Thanks for all the hard work and planning, mom and dad! We love you!

Weeding the Garden

2009-06-28T10:02:00.004-06:00

Heather and I spent a good portion of Satruday morning trying to weed our garden. Long story short, it didn't matter how many toys we gave to Matt, he was only interested in one thing and that was helping mom and dad. Lets hope this helping just ins't a phase.

Hogle Zoo Father's Day Outing

2009-06-26T16:48:00.004-06:00

For Father's Day this year, Matt and I surprised Josh with a day of fun (Saturday before Father's Day). We read him this cute book about a day out with Dad. We followed along the story with a yummy breakfast, playtime, a trip to the Zoo, a picnic (in the car since it was pouring outside) and a pizza dinner. We had a fun day as a family. Matt liked the larger animals at the zoo, like the giraffes and zebras. Here are some pics of Matt's first trip to the zoo! Oh and Happy Father's Day to all you Fathers out there!

Yummy Broccoli Chicken Casserole

2009-06-25T21:11:00.003-06:00

Thought I would share the latest delicious recipe I've found. We had our great friends The Booths over last night for dinner. They were my guinea pigs, but it paid off! We had this over rice. Everyone had seconds or thirds :) It was great to see them and catch up. So, here's the recipe Tiffany and all those other chickies who love comfort food!

Broccoli Chicken Casserole
Layer the following top (1) to bottom (5):
1. 1" buttered cubes of French bread (about 1/2 loaf)
2. 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3. sauce (see below)
4. 2 cups cooked cubed chicken breast
5. 2 cups steamed broccoli

Sauce:
2 cans cream of chicken soup
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 Tbsp lemon juice
-Mix sauce ingredients together before adding to casserole layer.

-Layer ingredients in a greased 9X13 glass dish. Bake at 350 degrees about 30 mins. Bread will be toasted and cheese will be bubbly.

I want to be like Dad when I grow up

2009-06-15T16:54:00.006-06:00

Matt likes to play with Josh's things during the day. He came up with a game where he puts Josh's crocs on his arms and crawls around. He even puts them on the right sides! The first time he did this I laughed so hard.

Here is Matt in one of Dad's t-shirts. He really is a mini-Josh :)

Also, this week Josh hooked up Matt's carrier and they went on their first bike ride together! It looked so fun, I think Matt liked it a lot. He didn't want to get out afterwards.

We sure love Josh. We are so glad when Dad comes home everyday and we get to play and spend time with him.

OuR bUsY wEeK

2009-06-08T12:45:00.008-06:00

Last week was full of fun! How about a photo recap:

Kevin and Jenny went through the Temple and then were sealed as a family! We are so happy for them. This was a great night. It was wonderful having so much family in the temple together.

On Friday, Joel graduated from Granger High School. Congratulations Joel! We are proud of you, and wish you the best as you go onto BYU!

Saturday, we did some yard work to get ready for our first BBQ of the summer. We picked a ton of strawberries, hung a hammock chair I got from Cancun several years ago, and played with our happy babe in the backyard. We had a great time with our friends that night and thankfully the weather held out for us.

Sunday was Katie's baby blessing in Provo. Brian gave her a beautiful blessing. Unfortunately, we didn't take our camera so here is a picture of newborn Katie instead :)

Also, yesterday, we got to visit Amy and Justin. We stopped by their ward and Elder Oakes was visiting for his granddaughter's baby blessing or something like that. We got to see him, although we didn't wait in line to shake his hand. You can feel the Spirit just by looking at an Apostle. It was a neat experience to see him close up. We visited with the Blackhams and they made some yummy taco salads for lunch. (PS. This is a pic of them in Vegas, not Sunday dinner)

All in all, a great week! Now we need a break, jk.

For the Fun of Sunglasses

2009-06-01T17:20:00.004-06:00

Matt is obsessed with sunglasses these days. Anytime I have a pair on, he points to them and "talks" until I put them on him. So here are some pics of Matt in mom's sunglasses. Hope you enjoy.

The Whitmer Rose Garden

2009-05-30T18:27:00.004-06:00

Well, its getting to be my favorite time of the summer....when my roses start to bloom! For those of you unfamiliar with our yard, its on a corner and it is edged with about 60 rose bushes. They are a lot of upkeep, but when they bloom they are out of this world gorgeous! Here are a couple pictures of the first roses to bloom this year. They are all hybrid tea roses which I think means they are known for their flowers (which are humongus) more than other types. They smell super floraly-sweet and are all different colors. So if you are ever in the neighborhood, stop by to see our gorgeous roses!

Yummy Corn on the Cob

2009-05-28T21:26:00.005-06:00

We had corn on the cob for dinner tonight and Matt wanted to have some too. Up until this point he had only nibbled off our cobs. Well, I thought it would be cute to see him try to eat it all by himself. And it was so much more than cute! He held it on the ends and nibbled every last kernel off it, which was only a few when I gave it to him. It seems like everyday Matt does something new and adorable which makes me love him even more (didn't think that was possible!).

Staying busy and having fun!

2009-05-02T20:01:00.014-06:00

Me and Matt on the trail to Delicate Arch

Josh and Matt at Arches National Park

Our lives have been pretty busy the last few weeks. We had our first mini family vacation to Little Wild Horse Canyon/Moab. We celebrated Matt and Josh's birthdays, Amy's graduation, and our anniversary. My family flew out from NC and spent a week with us. We had some cement poured to give us a full driveway/RV pad. Josh has been working hard on his Oracle presentation and paper. We've spent this weekend getting ready for our trip to Orlando for Josh's Oracle convention. We will be there for a week. Amy and Justin are going with us, which is awesome! They will keep Matt and I company during the day while Josh is doing his Oracle thing. We are planning on going to Sea World and Aquatica (the awesome water park inside Sea World). You get to go on this water ride/tube thing through a dolphin tank. How amazing is that. Then, Amy, Matt, and I are flying on to NC to visit the family while our hubbies fly back to Utah. Anyways, here is a photo summary of the last few weeks.

Our family about to enter the narrow "slot" canyons of Little Wild Horse.

Me and Matt at our campsite in the middle of the desert (aka San Rafael Swell area)

Matt was quite the trooper. We hiked around 8 miles that day and he had a blast in his backpack.

We went with our hilarious friends (the Fords). Here is Mike lifting a boulder out of our path.

Some tough chicks (me and Chrissy) getting their hike on.

Josh and Mike went rock climbing, or chimney-ing?

Me and Matt taking a walk in the slots.

Panaromic of Arches National ParkMy happy babe

The breathtaking Delicate Arch

Our new concrete

The proud parents of another college grad!

Amy and Justin

Amy and our Aunt Betty (her first trip to UT!)

Happy Birthday Josh! I love you babe!

Happy Birthday Matthew!

2009-04-15T11:59:00.006-06:00

We celebrated Matt's first birthday on Monday. I can't believe that he has grown so fast. This past year has been full of new experiences and we've learned a lot as new parents. Matt is such a blessing in our lives. He has a lot of energy and fun to be around. He is drinking from sippy cups now or steals sips from our cups...he loves drinking from real cups. He is eating real food mostly, getting baby food fruits still. He can pull up to anything that has any kind of hand hold- stereos, drawers, fireplace ahhhh, sofa, toys, and his crib. He likes for you to hold his hands and let him walk around. He is still army crawling even though he gets up onto all fours and looks like he is considering to really crawl. He takes two naps a day, which is a huge blessing for me! Matt likes to hide things, or put them into drawers, shut the drawer and then open to find his toy still there. He loves books. When we are putting him to sleep, we sit in the glider and he pulls books off of the side table to read. If I pick one he is not interested in, he will push it away without hesitation. I guess he knows what he wants at such a young age. His new favorite thing to do is to point to things. He points to his humidifier a lot because it glows. He points to our drinks. He is always pointing to outside, he loves being outside. Anyways! Here are some more pictures of his party. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated with us!

Weekend Fun

2009-04-06T15:51:00.005-06:00

With the warmer weather and sunshine, Josh and I took Matt to our neighborhood park this past weekend. They had kiddie swings and Matt seemed okay to swing by himself. We also took the chance to snap some family photos with our new lens. Enjoy....

Upcoming Birthday Party

2009-04-06T15:48:00.002-06:00

We are celebrating Matt's 1 year birthday on Monday April 13th at 6:30pm. Please stop by for cake and ice cream, and of course to watch Matt destroy and eventually wear his cake! Call me or Josh if you have any questions.

Videos, and videos, and more videos

2009-04-04T09:19:00.005-06:00

Matt enjoys reading books more than playing with his toys these days

Could this be the beginning of an artistic film career, or maybe just an 11 month old with a camera turned on

Matt loves to stand up in his crib lately

To My Awesome Husband

2009-04-01T12:22:00.002-06:00

Josh and I are coming up on our 3 year anniversary at the end of this month. I know its a little early to start celebrating, but whenever April rolls around I always think back to the start of our lives together. April is kind of "our month". Josh and Matt both have April birthdays. And then the obvious, our anniversary. I just wanted to take a moment to tell my sweetie how much I love him and how blessed I feel to have him by my side. I feel like we are such a perfect fit for each other. Josh brings so much fun and excitement to our home. He always has new ideas of things to do or places to go. Matt is always glad to see him after being with Mom all day. Anyways, I love you sweetheart! Thank you for such an amazing, joyful 3 years!

Bath Time Fun

2009-04-01T12:03:00.005-06:00

NEWSFLASH: MATT STILL LOVES HIS BATH TIME!!!!

He even gets excited when he hears the bath tub water coming on. He loves to "swim" in the tub- if we sit him on his toosh he immediately moves to his belly and does his army crawl in the tub. The end result looks like an attempt to swim. He swats at his toys and then all the sudden will back up to the opposite end of the tub. His latest trick is to try to drink bath water- GROSS! He will lower his face oh-so-carefully till his mouth hits the water then he jerks his head up again. Also, if we turn on the water while he is in the tub he tries to stick his hands or head under it. All the many things to explore in the tub. He has some toys that squirt water and he is fascinated with how Dad and I can get them to magically squirt water when he tries so hard and can not do so. Here is the real reason for this post....more pictures of my baby! He is growing up so fast, he will be 1 year in less than 2 weeks. I am working on a small party- cake and ice cream- will let you all know the details soon!

Too funny not to post

2009-03-20T10:17:00.006-06:00

We've set up Matt's pack'n'play so he can play outside when we are working in the yard. (Hooray warm weather!) So Matt was playing in it and thought it was hilarious to push his face up to the netted side. The result is hilarious looking faces captured on camera! Also, Matt got some new big boy pajamas that look so adorable on him. ENJOY!

My Sick Boy

2009-03-19T16:54:00.003-06:00

Well, Matt is finally recovering from a long month of sickness. He got some kind of cold-RSV-bug this time last month. He had fevers and a pretty bad case of chest congestion. It was getting better slowly, until this time last week. His cough started sounding deeper and wetter and he started wheezing! We woke up several times Friday night and eventually Saturday morning Matt was running another fever, 101.5 degrees. I got dressed quickly and threw a coat on Matt and we went to beat the crowd at the Instacare. The doctor listened for a while to his lungs and then threw me this curve ball---- Matt had mild pneumonia! He also was wheezing from what he called "viral induced asthma". We got his first prescription ever for antibiotics and came home to cuddle and rest with him. I felt so horrible that my little guy was so sick, and that I've never experienced that kind of illness before so I didn't know how to relate 100%.

Matt slept alot that weekend and was still grumpy and fussy Monday, so we headed into his pediatrician's office. Dr. V listened to his chest and heard the wheezing but not the wet crackles of pneumonia (the antibiotics must have kicked that infection swiftly). Then he checked out his ears. And I was hit with another curve ball---Matt had a double ear infection now. My goodness, how much can one little babe suffer! My heart started hurting again for my little trooper. So Dr. V upped the antibiotic dose and sent us home to wait and watch. That night, Matt got a blessing by his amazing dad and Grandpa. He slept through the entire night Monday and woke up Tuesday happier and more energetic than he has been in a couple weeks. He loves the antibiotics (Augmentin for those of you who are curious). However, the medicine has given him diarrhea which has led to his worse case of diaper rash to date. That whole situation is looking better each day. Thankfully, I can now say Matt is on the road to recovery.

Something that just popped into my head about all of this is that I am blessed in more ways than I'll ever know. I know my son has been through some terrible illnesses and pains, but it could have been worse. I am blessed that he has a strong body capable of recovering. I am blessed to have access to medical attention. I am blessed to have a loving husband who would just hold Matt on the couch and let him watch cartoons and fall asleep with him, so I could rest too. I am blessed that Josh is a worthy Priesthood holder and can give blessings to help heal in time of sickness. I am blessed to know that our Savior Jesus Christ atoned for us and in that process experienced our pains and sorrows. That knowledge is dear to my heart. It allows me to pray and feel his love for me and my family. It helps me to know that even though I've never suffered pneumonia and I can't relate to the pain Matt was in, Christ knows and is there to succor us in our time of need.

Videos of the Boy

2009-03-14T10:42:00.005-06:00

So, rumor has it that Gma and Gpa in some other state would enjoy a few more videos of Matt. Well, here you go. Don't mind the bare hairy leg in the first one, I really do have clothes on.

So here is video number one. This was last Saturday as well when Matt and I were home alone. He was standing next to the couch and wanted to come over and get the remote and started on his way over so I thought I ought to try and get it on video. In the video he's going after some cereal.

This next one if kind of funny. Last year Heather got me this head massager thingy for christmas. I saw it on our dresser and wondered if Matt would like a head massage.

Matt and the Backyard

2009-03-09T19:07:00.007-06:00

Well, Heather went to work this past weekend so it was Matt and I home alone. Those days are always nice because if he gets upset he can't go crying to mom, after about 15 minutes I think he realizes its just me and him so he deals with getting whatever comfort he needs from me.

Anyway, it was a somewhat warmer day so we decided to go out and play in the backyard, well, more like on the back patio. He loved to sit there and watch the cars go by. Here's a little clip of him enjoying his outside time.

Also, here are some pics of people besides Matt as it seems like he's the only one who gets any love on the blog (okay, so he's in the pictures too)

Matt and his lovely momma

Matt and dad

This is my brother Joel, we took some senior pics for him this past week and this is one of the ones that we liked.

Internet Problems

2009-02-19T10:38:00.003-07:00

Heather, funny that I have to post a blog entry to have you do a couple things to try and fix our https problem. (for anyone else reading we currently cannot connect to any secure website, which means any website that starts with https, which means no email or anything which requires that you log on)

Brian says to click the start button and on the right side by where the control panel is click 'run' and type "cmd.exe")

a new window will open with a black backround, type "telnet google.com 443" (without the ")
it should say "connecting to google.com..." for a second and then go to a blank screen.

If that doesn't work try typing "telnet google.com 80" and that one should definitely work.

My (latest) favorite recipe

2009-02-17T19:36:00.003-07:00

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1- 1/3 cups water
3/4 cup uncooked, regular long grain rice
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Stir soup, water, rice, onion powder, black pepper, and vegetables together. Pour into 8X11" shallow baking dish.
2. Top with chicken. Season chicken as desired. Cover.
3.Bake at 375 degrees for 50 minutes or until chicken and rice are done. Top with cheese and let casserole stand til cheese melts.

I found this recipe in a magazine and it screamed "easy" and "comfort food" to me. I made it and it was delicious! Talk about an easy meal. Anyways, just thought I would pass on the yummy goodness of this easy recipe.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-16T18:09:00.004-07:00

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day. Josh and I had a fun date during the day, during Matt's long afternoon nap. We went to the Utah Museum of Fine Art up at the U of U. It was an interesting change of pace from our normal go to dates...fast food and/or a movie. We had lots of yummy treats at our house, thanks to our family for sharing :) Matt's favorite gift was a bunch of balloons Grandma and Grandpa Whitmer brought over. He loved to pull on the string and bounce the balloon off his face. I've never seen someone blink so fast! He was very entertaining to watch, so of course we got it on video for everyone's enjoyment. (Sorry if it is dark)

Big Boy Bath

2009-02-06T20:34:00.003-07:00

Matt got a big boy bath tonight and he had a blast. It was Dad's idea (he always comes up with fun new experiences first!). Matt loved slapping the water and got totally soaked. Here are some pictures to show just how much fun bath time can be.

Wow, I can login at work

2009-01-30T10:57:00.003-07:00

So, usually I don't get a chance to view anyones blog or write in our blog all that often because my company blocks 'personal' websites and when I get home from work there's too many other things to do then sit infront of a computer (I chose to sit infront of a television instead).

Anyway, I can't believe January is over. Work has been very busy the past month and Matt has become a lot more active over the past month+ so it always seems like there is something that has to be done (Heather is rolling her eyes right now thinking, 'what, you think you're busy when you get home from work, give me break!') and so it feels like time is just flying by. I'm sure you parents of multiple children get a kick out of the those of us with one babe when we think we are busy but compared to the lax life we used to live this sure is a change.

The past couple months we've been thinking that we'd sure like to get back to enjoying life a little more like we did when we were single(not single as in unmarried but single as in only the two of us) so at the end of February we've planned a get away, our first one with Matt, and are headed down to Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse for an adventure. I'm excited and Heather is definitely ready for something other than taking care of a baby and a husband (although she'll probably have to do that during the trip anyway).

Next topic, my wife is amazing. This past month as I've looked back over the whole break my arm and become incompetent for a full month thingy, I'm amazed at how well she handled it all. I think during that stretch I whined more than Matt (luckily we had some very kid baby sitters to take care of Matt) but she never got sick of me and she always tried her best to make sure I was comfortable. I bet she loved having her family here for Christmas so that she could get a break for the first time in 7 weeks from doing EVERYTHING around the house (Thanks momma Jean, Amy, and Angel for all of that).

Dang it, I'm at work so I don't have any pics to post which means this post is exactly like the type of post my dad would write. Dang it Dang it Dang it.

I love KSL!!!

2009-01-28T14:59:00.004-07:00

Last week I was looking on KSL Classifieds and found a super bargin. A company in Orem was getting rid of extra office furniture and I landed this desk for $25!

Happy 9 month Birthday, Matthew!

2009-01-15T15:26:00.004-07:00

Matthew turned 9 months this week. We celebrated by getting him dressed up all cute and taking pictures! Ok, I'm sure it wasn't the best birthday party for him. But mom enjoyed it! Here is our boy....

Life in 2009

2009-01-15T14:39:00.002-07:00

I forgot to say "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" I hope everyone has had a good start so far this year . Life around our house is back to normal. We partied hard around the holidays with my parents and sister's family driving out from NC to join us. We had a blast and loved being surrounded by our family. Matthew really enjoyed all the extra play-mates and attention. And Josh and I really enjoyed all the babysitters!!!

The normal daily routine is back now and its just me and Matt hanging out all day. Routines, even though they feel boring sometimes, are actually a great thing. I get a lot accomplished around the house because I follow the same routine almost everyday. I know how to allocate my time around Matt's schedule.

Bedtime routines are the most amazing things ever! Josh and I have read a lot of baby sleep books the last 9 months...(Matt hasn't been the easiest babe to put to sleep)...and they all talked about the importance of establishing and keeping bedtime routines. Doing the same thing at the same time every night helps babies realize its bedtime and it helps them to fall asleep. Well, until 2 weeks ago we've fought with Matt every night to get him to go to bed and stay asleep all night. Finally, we started making a routine around 8 pm. We get him ready for bed (bath, pj's). We read books(even though he shows no interest in listening and would rather eat the book). We turn on a Primary CD. We give him his pacifier and a blanket. We rock him for 10 minutes or so (until he is pretty drowsy and almost asleep). Then, miracle of all miracles he goes to sleep when we lay him in his crib at 8:30! If he does wake up and fuss, it is for literally 15 seconds. Then he falls right back asleep. We should have tried this sooner.

THIS IS A HUGE, LIFE CHANGING DEAL FOR US! We used to spend up to 2-2.5 hours every night putting Matt to bed. We would be grumpy and exhausted because our baby would wake up and cry an hour after we thought we had him asleep. Now, its 30 minutes total and its a happier time for Matt. He only fusses now if we are running late for his routine. I think Matt likes having a schedule. Now, Josh and I get to relax and enjoy a couple of hours together every night! Those baby book authors must know what they are talking about.

Obviously, that's the best part of 2009 for our family so far. I've started to use our recycling can this month, and its been fun to figure out all the things we can recycle. Its amazing how full it can get in a week, and it makes me regret not recycling sooner. Josh has been busy at work and often comes home with "Thinking too much" headaches. Seems like they were anxious to get him back to work after his break and the Holidays. Josh went to his ortho doctor last week. The break hasn't healed all the way yet, but the doc gave Josh full use of his arm from now on. He can start lifting things heavier than 2 lbs (even though he already was, shhhh!) and he can play sports again, as long as he is careful.

Whew, I think I'll call it quits.

Christmas Slideshow

2008-12-31T12:56:00.003-07:00

More pictures

2008-12-16T11:51:00.006-07:00

Here are some more pictures of my cutey pie. I finally edited some more from our mini-photo shoot and there are some from last Saturday when it snowed all day. Enjoy!

Another post on Matt

2008-12-13T14:28:00.003-07:00

My baby is growing up so fast. He is attempting to army crawl now, but usually gets so frustrated that he can't move that he just rolls over to his back and finds something else to play with. He has his first tooth showing through the gum (his top left front tooth). I don't think I'm ready for little baby to have teeth! He is sleeping all through the night now, which is a huge blessing. He likes to sit in his high chair and eat food whenever we are eating a meal. Overall, he is at a really fun and cute age (except for the teething pain). I've taken a lot of pictures of him recently, surprise surprise :) Here are some of my favorites....

Christmas time

2008-12-08T08:22:00.006-07:00

Last night, Josh and I went to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional at the Conference Center with Amy and Justin. I wanted to say, "Thanks"again to them for inviting us. Josh and I have been to the Devotional every year since we've known each other, I think. It was an awesome date. Matt got to play with Grandma during the devotional, so I could sit and pay attention with out a lil' wriggling baby on my lap. I forgot how much you could learn if you just sit and listen! I felt so uplifted by the messages and the beautiful music. I love our First Presidency. I was really moved by all of their messages, if you didn't get a chance to hear it, you should definitely get your hands on a copy. They spoke about being kind this Holiday season to those around you who are in need. Which got Josh and I thinking, "Who can we serve?". My sister was an example of that on our way from the parking lot to the Conference Center. She gave a lady in need of us a bus fare, the full amount for her ticket. President Monson told us he knew that each of us had the desire to grow closer to our Savior. And that now, this time of the year, is a perfect opportunity to do so. It really made me want to focus our Christmas celebrations on the birth of Jesus Christ this year. Josh's family has a tradition of lighting a Christmas candle and reading a Christmas story every night. We've thought about finding a good collection of uplifting stories and starting that tradition. Anyone have special traditions they do this time of year?

After the devotional, we walked through Temple Square and enjoyed the beautiful lights. I had to play crowd blocker to Josh's broken arm, but he made it through unscathed. It was so much fun to be on a date with my hubby and be all dressed up downtown. Thanks for a great night Sweetie!

My lil' boy is growing up

2008-12-05T18:44:00.005-07:00

So we've taken some really cute videos of Matt over the last week. The first one is him eating some real food. He loves to eat whenever he sees Josh or I eat. Sorry the video is a little dark.

This next video is him holding and drinking a bottle of apple juice all by himself. We were surprised at this new skill because Matt rarely gets bottles.

This last video is my favorite ever! We got a Wii today and Josh was playing a baseball game. Matt thought it was hilarious whenever Josh's guy swung the bat. So every 5 seconds or so Matt would bust up laughing. Thats quite a feat for our baby, because he usually makes us works really hard for the tiniest of laughs. I hope you enjoy!

Three Weeks Later

2008-12-04T16:17:00.004-07:00

Well, it's been three weeks now since I broke my arm. I had surgery on the 19th of November to place a plate and 12 screws along the humerus bone in my arm. I got all 35 of my staples removed this past Tuesday, Dec 2nd, and now I just have a 9 inch scar waiting to get ugly. Doc says I'm not allowed to lift anything over 2lbs so that makes me pretty much useless around the house. Heather says she doesn't mind, but we all know that is a load. I'm pretty much a 2nd baby for her to take care of until January.

I thought I'd include a couple pics for your visual enjoyment. The first one is an xray of my arm after surgery and then before surgery.

This second pic is of my arm before I got the staples taken out. It just gives you an idea of how big the incision was and how huge of a scar I'm going to have for the rest of my life.

How did I forget Halloween?!

2008-11-18T09:03:00.003-07:00

Sorry if you've been anxiously awaiting Halloween pictures...somehow I forgot to post them. We had a fun Halloween with Matthew. Josh and I were farmers and Matt was our Peapod. He didn't care for his costume too much (didn't allow for much movement).

Updates on Matthew

2008-11-18T08:36:00.005-07:00

My cute little boy is now 7 months old! He is such a quick learning babe. Here are some updates on him:

-He rolls all over the place.

-If something is out of reach it drives him crazy and he will try his hardest to get it.

-He is eating stage 2 baby food and loves it.

-His all time favorite food is carrots.

-He is eating finger foods.

-As of Sunday 11/16 he can pick them up with his pinchers and feed himself.

-He enjoys playtime on the floor with his toys.

-He still prefers to be nursed and rocked to sleep.

-He wears size 6-9 months and 9-12 months clothes.

-He has some ticklish spots on his shoulders close to his neck, underams, and legs.

-He is a watcher, loves to watch kids and adults interact.

-He has him mom and dad wrapped around his little finger.

My Broken Husband

2008-11-18T07:49:00.005-07:00

For all of you who are about to play an innocent game of dodgeball....please reconsider!!! Josh was playing in his company's dodgeball tournament last Thursday when he broke his left arm in 2 places. He was simply throwing the ball trying to get out as many opponents as possible and the torsion and force of the throw sent electrifying pain up his arm. He walked off the court and knew something was very wrong with his arm. After a trip to the instacare, he learned that his left humerus had a horizontal fracture and a spiral fracture below it. The X-ray was unbelievable. The bone was diagonally severed for about 4 inches, the bottom completely detached from the top of the bone. It was the worst break I've ever seen. Even the doctors couldn't believe he received this injury from throwing a ball. So then we rushed to an Orthopaedic doctor that could see him on such short notice (also happened to be Pioneer Valley). They finally gave him pain medicine, oh, 3 hours after the accident, and took X-ray after X-ray without much success of a good picture. Josh was put in a splint and lots of ace bandages and told it should be fine to heal on its own.

Well, after a long and hard night Thursday we started to think we should get a second opinion. Josh can feel the bone moving around in his arm at the slightest movement and it burns and aches and throbs all at the same time. He was in so much pain and I felt helpless. All I could do was sit and watch him suffer. It was a horrible feeling.

Another trip to the doctors (we saw a specialist and a surgeon yesterday) and the verdict is : He needs surgery. He will get a plate and screws in his arm to stabilize the bone and help him heal faster bright and early Wednesday morning.

If you are reading this, please keep Josh in your prayers.

Autumn in Utah

2008-11-13T13:01:00.005-07:00

Well, Matthew and I are home now. The weather is a little chillier here and the leaves aren't as brightly colored as in NC. But, Its great to be home with Josh!!! The leaves are falling off our trees, so we took some pictures before we raked and bagged them. Enjoy!

Autumn in NC

2008-11-05T15:58:00.005-07:00

Matt and I are in North Carolina visiting my family for a week. We have been living the good life...getting treated to yummy meals (I don't have to cook!) and visiting with family. While its very fun to be back....we miss you Josh!

The leaves are changing and are gorgeous shades of red and yellow.

Matthew and my dad about to take a walk on the Greenway trail.
We wore Matt out by the end!