Dylon's Big News

Dylon is going to be a Big Brother in June!

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Give Thanks

We were so blessed this year to have my sister Rebecca and her family come down for Thanksgiving. They were so excited to come down to the sun, which they did get, but unfortunately it did rain on Thanksgiving Day. We mostly relaxed with them, we did go to a few parks and a movie(quite the experience with Dylon!!), but we didn't overbook their days while here. One reason being is that after they left here they headed down to Southern California to surprise their kids with Disneyland. Their kids were completely clueless. In fact when we talked to my nephew he said he was going to school this week and was really excited. Hopefully he wasn't too disappointed when they end up in the Disneyland parking lot Monday morning!

It was nice to have my sister here to help out with Thanksgiving dinner. I've never cooked Thanksgiving dinner before. I was mostly concerned about the turkey, but it doesn't seem to difficult, just follow the directions on the bag. Next year we'll have to experiment with seasoning it. If anyone wants to go on a vacation next November, just let us know - book your Thanksgiving trip with us now:)

Dylon loved every minute of them being here, it makes us that much more excited to come to Utah for Christmas. He sure loved following his cousin Parker around. Poor guy seems a little bored this week with it just the two of us during the day again. Not only did he have his cousins here, but Dwayne had all of last week off too. What a nice break for all of us.

Here are a few fun pics of the riparian reserve

that we went to on Thanksgiving.

Are these two characters related??

Holy War

Utes 48 - BYU 24

Enough said!!

Anthem

Last Saturday we decided to go up to Anthem a community just before you come into the Phoenix valley. It definitely had the coolest park I have ever seen. The community was all designed by one planner - they had surveyed a bunch of people asking what they would want in a community and pretty much fit it all in. This park had many different sizes of play equipment for all age groups, a splash pad, train, pond, skate park, roller-hockey rink, basketball courts, and pretty much everything else you would want at a park. The rest of the community had the other things anyone could want. It was amazing, we heard there was a communtiy like that closer to us, so we need to find it so we don't have to drive so far. (click on the picture to enlarge it - also I realize there are two pics the same, I didn't count and I was too lazy to change them. Enjoy anyway!)

All about Dylon...

He won't wear a hat, but he will wear this cool whip container for hours at a time.

He loves his blue elephant Eddie.

He loves Elmo and Nemo and says them both as "Nelmo".

He loves cars and balls, especially dads racquet ball balls.

He is a good sleeper, he goes down with no problem. (knock on wood it continues)

If we get home at nap time he will not let me feed him, he just wants to go to bed.

He is copying what we say now, one word at a time.

He loves going outside, and loves playing with dad.

He loves to be chased.

He loves to run ahead of you, hide, and jump out and say "Boo"!

He loves playing the piano.

When he wants something he will give you a hug and a kiss to sweetin' you up.

Just Monkeyin' Around

We've anticipated this Halloween since we moved in because we were told that it marks when the weather will start getting cooler. This year may have been an exception, it was extremely warm. Dwayne took Dylon around a block or two, he hadn't gotten down trick-or-treat (even though we practiced it for days in advance), but he was really good at Hi, Thank You, and Bye. We were Zoo Keepers, some of the older couples got a kick out of that. Here a few pics for your viewing pleasure.

Don't Feed the Animals...

Protecting Our Liberties

I bring this subject to the surface again because I feel it is so important. Please stand up for your beliefs, make your voice be heard no matter where you are. This may not be an issue in the state that you are living in like it is in my situation, but it will be soon enough. It is going to affect us all, it already is and you may not even realize it. I know that not every one has the same opinion, but if you have the time, I encourage you to view these videos. They have very insightful information. Remember, this is not a matter of intolerance, it is a matter of protecting our liberties and the liberties of our children.

Protecting our liberties

Defending an institution – not spreading hate

Not a matter of civil rights

An issue with broad support

Elder David A. Bednar of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

I tried some of the links and they weren't working for me, but they may work for you. If not, go to this website and you will find the videos there.

http://www.preservingmarriage.org/videos.html#current

Beware of Cheap Vacations

A few weeks ago when Dwayne had a three day weekend we decided to get away. We thought of going to Albuquerque, New Mexico for the balloon fiesta. One of the families that Dwayne home teaches is from there and said that it is a really cool thing. After doing research, we decided to go camping and then visit my Grandad and his wife. We thought that would be the wiser choice since it would be a cheaper way to go and we are trying to be more frugal. As it turns out Albuquerque would have been cheaper. As we were coming out of Payson AZ Dwayne was going with traffic (or so he thought) when he saw a flash. We just forgot about it since we didn't really know one way or another if a photo radar was up in that area. Well, sure enough we got a phone call from his mom yesterday and there was our proof that it was a photo radar. (Our car is registered in Logan still.) Merry Christmas Dwayne!! ;) A word to all of those who are going to venture down this way, always go the speed limit, there are photo radars and red light cameras all over the state.

Saltines and 7-UP

I have officially been initiated into another part of motherhood. A not so pleasant part, but another part none the less. When Dylon was little he of course had the stomach flu, but it is a whole new world when they are on "normal food" not just milk. Last night as Dwayne and I were about to get into bed we heard this weird noise. Well, it was Dylon, poor little guy was woken up spewing his days meals all over. Unfortunately I had picked him up thinking he was done and received a not so pleasant surprise in my hair and all over me. (This happened twice throughout the night.) Anyway, so the two of us had a long night together, and now we have a blanket spread on the floor in front of the TV and have been enjoying saltines and 7-UP (which Dwayne was so nice to pick up during his lunch break), oh and of course pedialite. It is so hard to watch your little ones go through this, but it is bringing back memories of when my mom or dad would bring home 7-UP, eating saltines all day, and watching TV/movies. Somehow even though I was in pain and didn't feel good, there is some how a comfort to saltines and 7-UP. I hope Dylon will enjoy these days of saltines and 7-UP even though it will be from the result of him not feeling good.

Rice to the Rescue!

In the past two months or so, Dwayne's phone has gotten wet twice. The first time it was knocked into a dish in the sink full of water, then the second time was yesterday. Dwayne worked all day getting in seed for our new backyard, mowing the front lawn, trimming all of the plants up front, putting together something to cover our propane for the fire pit, and any other thing he could fit into his day. While doing the seeding, he was watering the new dirt a lot to get it packed down and doing a lot of bending raking and whatever else you do when seeding a lawn. Well, amidst all that, his phone got wet again. Well, we have a wonderful remedy that has worked twice now for Dwayne's phone. He read it on the internet after the first incident. Put your phone and battery in rice. It worked wonders the first time and seems to be proving good yet again. So if any of you decide to send your phone swimming, just take it apart quickly and let the rice to the rest!

S'mores & Surprises!!

Last weekend we went camping up at Christopher Creek just outside of Payson. This was our first time camping with Dylon. He of course loved all the dirt rocks and sticks and was way to interested in the fire, he got way to close too much of the time. It was quite the adventure for us never having camped with a toddler before. We knew that it was going to be cooler since it is October so we didn't want Dylon to sleep in his pack-n-play. He kicks the covers off and we didn't want him to freeze. Well, we have discovered sleeping with him in our bed is not an option. I was falling off the air mattress most of the night. Dylon weasels his way in to your space and continues to push you out! I don't know how people get any sleep that let their kids sleep with them. Dylon moves way too much!! Anyway, lucky it was only one night. It was a lot of fun though, we can't wait to do it again.

I never think of "chicken legs" when I think of Dylon until this picture - must be the angle!!

Dylon enthralled with the fire.

We went to visit my Grandad and Step-Grandma (Val) in Pinedale since we were so close. Dylon kept giving Bo hugs.

On our way home from up north we got a phone call from Dwayne's parents. They were on their way down for Tom's work. It was such a fun surprise to have them come visit. Sunday we had Dwayne's cousins over for dinner too. (two of his cousins go to ASU) And then 1 hour before they came over for dinner they let us know their parents (Tom's brother) were going to be here too with their youngest daughter. We had a fun get together with everyone.

We were able to use our fire pit for the first time and we made S'mores. Yumm!!

Fight to protect the definition of marriage!

This election is a very interesting one in so many ways. Prop 102 is one item on the ballot we should all take very seriously. Though my religious and moral beliefs are the foundation of my opinion on the subject (refer to The Proclamation to the World), there are so many other things we need to take in to consideration. If same sex marriages are legalized, it will effect us in so many other ways. This first video is one example of how it is going to effect our children in public schools. Visit some of the sites on my side bar and you will see so many good examples of how it is going to effect us and so much more. "Having tolerance without condoning. We can love someone while still maintaining and advocating our standards and beliefs. Unless Proposition 8 (proposition 102 in AZ) passes, California society will soon undergo a profound change in its basic understanding of marriage and family life. That will affect everyone in numerous ways. Over time, greater acceptance of nontraditional marriage will be demanded of all people. This could impact the ability of any religion to teach and practice its beliefs." "Failure to pass Proposition 8 will hurt churches. The court’s decision will inevitably lead to conflicts with religious liberty and free speech rights. Society will become more and more hostile to traditional beliefs about marriage and family."Read more http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewXaVmfOj2w http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l73BT6TWGj8

They should put salsa on the table!

My new obsession is fresh salsa - tonight we had tamales so I thought that fresh salsa would be a perfect side. Dylon has decided that he is now a big boy and wants to eat what we eat (well, most of the time). I thought it was cute how he had to dip his chips like us.

He is always doing what he can to be silly and make us laugh!

Zoo Day - Hooray!!

We went to the zoo on Saturday with some friends, it was fun for the kids to get out and see animals. I have to say, I was a little disappointed on the lack of animals that they had at the zoo. Hogle Zoo definitely has more. On the other hand, the zoo is much bigger which makes it possible for them to have really great habitats for the animals that are there. It was amazing, the spider monkeys were not in a cage, they are just out on an island and that is where they stay. They never try to get off of it because it is their home. There were some other smaller monkeys that we were able to go into their habitat and walk around them. They would run up right next to us. The giraffes were in a huge area with Texas longhorns, and many other animals, I can't remember them all. Oh, and as you entered the zoo, there was a huge lake/pond that was full of huge gold fish and other fish and turtles, it was pretty cool.

Anyway, here are some fun pics of the day!

This is only half of the turtles that were swimming around the pond. They had them throughout the park too in the different ponds.

We were watching one of our friends little girl Belle. The island with the Spider Monkeys is behind them.

Dwayne, Dylon, and the ringtailed monkeys.

They had little fun caves for the kids to look through at some of the animals.

Kyden, Dylon, and Belle. Dylon had crackers in his mouth - he was being a little dare-devil up here. We were worried that he was going to knock Belle off or pull Kyden down.

There were two fun little water areas in the park.

Ready, Set, Go...

Each Sunday morning we are frantically getting ready so that we can get to church early. Not for the obvious reason of being on time...we are trying to beat all of the older couples in our ward so that we can get a pew (hopefully one against the wall so we have the double barricade of parents on one side with the wall on the other). We are definitely at a disadvantage considering most older couples get up at 5:00 am in the morning, and do not have toddlers to wrestle with. In contrast to us or maybe I should say me who is trying to get every minute of sleep that I can before having to get up, get Dylon breakfast, get ready, get Dylon ready, and get Dylon's church bag together. Lucky for me that Dwayne gets ready fast so that he can get Dylon's church bag together, get Dylon dressed, and deal with any other things that might pop up. (The usual dirty diaper because we are in a hurry.) We laugh as we are driving on our way to church wondering if 15 minutes early is to late and wondering if we will have to sit back in the folding chairs that fill our gym. Our ward is HUGE!!! We dread for the winter because of all the snowbirds that will be coming (not that we don't love the older couples because we do). We've decided we are going to have to leave by 8:00 am to get a good seat for our 9:00 am church.

Twilight

Okay, so I have been holding off reading this series until I finished The Work and the Glory. I finally finished...9 books is a lot of reading!! Anyway, I am a huge fan! ( Big kudos to Stephenie Meyer) I read the first book in 3 days, yes I have been a neglective mother, poor Dylon! I heard the movie is coming out around the holidays so I had to look up the trailers. So for all you fans out there, here is a little snipit of what is to come!

Sour & Sweet

Some of you have heard us refer to Dylon as a "sour patch kid", here is the commercial that we are referring to when we say that. He can be so sour sometimes, then 2 seconds later he is completely sweet.

Lawn Vacuum

We ended up getting an electric mower, we had been checking out Craig's List to find one at a good price since we moved here. Our yard is really small so size wasn't really a concern. We ended up getting a 13" mower for a good deal. What I didn't realize when I picked it up is that there was an important part missing. A part that went on top of the bag to hold all the clippings in. Dwayne has rigged it up with cardboard and duct tape. So now we have a doll size ghetto lawn vacuum.

Reminiscions

I was going through some old pictures of mine that I took while in Afghanistan and came across this picture. I smiled as I looked at it and reminisced. This was a picture of the wall next to where I slept at nights. This was my corner of the world--my wall, a place to come home to. As I look at this picture a flood of memories poor out. You see, no matter what happened each day I came back to this same wall and these same pictures and they were always there--day after day. I never grew tired of them. They always were a welcomed image to my eyes. I was so proud them. I would grin from ear to ear when people would see and comment on my beautiful wife. I remember a few times I had Afghan workers in my room and they would see the pictures and comment on my wife and congratulate me. That would just make my day. They were good people. I liked the Afghan people. They were my good friends. I really felt like they were my brothers. Their circumstances were so humble and meek. A man I particularly liked was one of our workers on base who was a graduate from Kabul University with a degree in library science. He was the only worker who wore tennis shoes. Most of the workers wore the typical Middle Eastern sandals but he was wearing tennis shoes. The shoes were given to him through some relief agency. He was so proud of the 2nd hand tennis shoes. He had a large family next to the base and was very proud of them too. His children were in the local elementary school that had been reestablished after the Taliban had been kicked out of the country. He always had a smile on his face. This attracted me to him and always left me curious. He had become a day laborer after the economy had gone bad and was living off of about 40$ a month. His home had a dirt floor and only a few rooms but he seemed like the happiest man in the world. I had a lot of respect for him and always had a better day after I would see him. I was lucky during my deployment. The latest technology allowed me to have a daily telephone conversation with my wife through my computer phone. She would usually call me in the mornings when it was after 9:00 pm her time. She would call when she had free minutes on her cell phone. We would talk every morning just before I would go grab a bite to eat--usually a bagel, some scrambled eggs, and a few slices of bacon. I liked breakfast sandwiches. The mornings were always bright and beautiful. The air was fresh and the base was full of energy. Sometimes I would pull my phone line outside and sit in front of my door and watch all the people start their day as I talked to my wife. We would talk about everything but what I was doing in Afghanistan. I enjoyed hearing about her and what was happening back home. There was little I was able to say about Afghanistan because of security reasons. At times the internet would disconnect and I would sneak over to the PRT building and get on their wireless internet if that didn't work I would borrow someone’s satellite phone. I had it all figured out and rarely missed a day talking to my wife. Being in Afghanistan was like having an 84 hour work week back home except you didn't go home at nights you slept where you worked. I managed the prison facility on base and conducted all of the interrogations of prisoners captured in the Northern Provinces of Afghanistan. Interrogations were interesting. I learned a lot about the people through the long hours I spent at the facility trying to get the prisoners to talk. They all talked but not about the information I needed. They would always tell me how they loved the Americans and how they were framed by some local tribe who had a vendetta against their family. Sometimes they were framed and I got to talk to them anyways and learned a lot about them and their community. By the time I left Afghanistan a prisoner could tell me the village they were from and I was able to name off a handful of prior prisoners to them from the same village and ask how they were doing. It seemed so unusual but that is how it was. That was an unsusual year--a year of yearning, a year of challenges, and a year of opportunities to make a difference somewhere else. I am proud of that time and grateful to have served. I appreciated the support of my wife, family, friends, and those special people in the country who just cared about the service men and women in far off lands.

Home-Sweet-Home

Those that have been to our home have wondered how some of our projects have turned out. Here are a few before and after photos we took to keep you updated. We're lucky that the owner's let us paint to make it feel a little more like home to us.

Dylon's room before

Dylon's room after

Kitchen before

Kitchen after

Dylon's bathroom before

Dylon's bathroom after

Scrapbook/guest room before--the after pictures are forthcoming Curtain divider between living room and dining room

Classic 80's

Tonight Dwayne and I watched the first film of the "Back to the Future" trilogy, what a classic. One of my numerous favs from the 80's. We laughed at what Doc was dressed in when he came back to get Marty. That was supposed to be 30 years ahead of 1985 which would be 2015. I sure hope we aren't dressing like that in 2015. I would on the other hand, not mind having an alternative fuel option of garbage. Back to the subject on hand, what a great decade for movies and music. After the movie we discussed all of the great flicks of that decade. There are so many that we couldn't decide which one was the best. I looked up an 80's site that listed the top twenty films, (in case you would like to reminisce with us, here is the website www.inthe80s.com). The number one film was "The Breakfast Club" I do agree that was a great flick, but what about all of the others? To name a few of the many: Ferris Buhlers Day Off, Footloose (who didn't get up and dance with Kevin Bacon?), Sixteen Candles, ET (I loved those reese's pieces), The Goonies, Better Off Dead (I couldn't eat hamburgers for weeks), The Christmas Story, Top Gun (we all remember Tom Cruise in this one), The Princess Bride (Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder tooday), Karate Kid, oh and one that is easy to forget, but I was reminded of it just the other day from my friend Christina, Troop Beverly Hills. I'm sure most of you gals remember that one! This is just to name a few of the great hits, so reminisce with us, remind us of all the other great 80's flicks that have not been mentioned.

Webelo Mom

Marie is the new Webelo Den Leader for our ward Cub Scouts! Her calling was a shock for both of us and I couldn't keep my composure and ended up laughing out loud when they told us. I just try to picture her in the Cub Scout uniform entertaining a group of excited boys working on their projects. I can't stop grinning and I am very eager to see how it works out for her. So if anyone has done it before I am sure she could us some advice and some friendly teasing.

Its cold down here?

I had to post Marie's picture after coming home from church. She was so cold she ran in our room and put her winter cloths on. I couldn't believe it. It is 110 degrees outside and 78 degrees in our house. That goes to show that Marie has adapted quit well to our new environment. One of our envelops has turned into a hat. Dylon enjoys it when I put it on my head. He also likes to wear it and we caught a funny video of him wearing it.

Sunday Entertainment

This is Dylon's and our new entertainment Sunday nights.

Since it is so hot here we have to be creative on what to do to entertain Dylon. Dwayne is always coming up with fun things, Dylon of course loves every bit of it. We get two in one with this new activity - Dylon is having fun and our floors are getting a good cleaning!

Happy 90th Granddad

My Granddad turned the BIG 90 on Friday the 25th. Before the family headed up to visit and celebrate in Pinedale Arizona, my parents and my sister Michelle and Debbie and her kids came into town to see us. When we got to Pinedale, we were pleasantly surprised to see our cousin Kaylyn who we haven't seen in years. With Dwayne's parents coming down with us when we moved in and my family coming down it is as if we never left. We've seen them as much now as we did before. All of that will change in the weeks to come though. I was also lucky enough to have one of my good friends Michelle Meacham come down and visit. She also has another friend down here that she visited as well. If anyone else wants to come and visit, you are all welcome!