What's Up: Happy December!

So, we have been up to a lot this past month. Finals are pretty much out of the way, and work is at a pause, more or less. Harrison has also been busy and doing so much. Here's an update:

Harrison started eating baby food last week! His first taste was squash, which is Jason's favorite - literally. As the week has progressed, Harrison likes it more. Really, I don't think he cares, just as long as he's eating.



The pamphlet we have said to introduce sippy cups now. HA! 6 month olds don't want sippy cups. Harrison pretty much chewed on it. Since then, I've tried again, but he doesn't know how it works. We'll try again later.



Harrison holds his bottle, now. Sometimes it's to get the bottle to his mouth faster, other times it's because we need our hands free. He likes it, and it allows Harrison some freedom to take it out when he's all done. He likes to chew on the nipple and hold the bottle after eating, then drop it. If the bottle gets taken away when he's not ready, look out! That's a scream you do not want to hear!


We had a 'gingerbread' (graham cracker) house making party. It was tons of fun with creations galore! They're so nummy to eat afterwards, too!

Lyman and Jenn had twins! Just kidding. That's Hannah and Harrison. Hey, twin names!


I'm not sure if it's okay to put our friend's names, but here they are with their fun houses:


And, finally, Jason with his fun Christmas train. It's so cute, Elisha hasn't been willing to eat it:)


Hope all is well with everyone! Have a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Santa

Harrison had his picture taken with Santa! Not too sure of the guy, but no screaming.

First Thanksgiving

Yeah! We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Jason's family (Karen, Jeremy, and Brandon) came down. It has become a tradition for everyone to come down. We weren't expecting the family to come until Thursday afternoon, but were lucky to have them come late Wednesday night. As always, Jeremy and Elisha made a fantastic meal! Yeah candy yams;)

Gotta have a fork-in-the-mouth shot!

Thanksgiving cereal...

...Thanksgiving bottle...

...and Thanksgiving yams!

Thankful For...

It wouldn't be right to pass this wonderful day without giving some thanks. (We're doing this instead of going around the table).
Items are not in any specific order

Angels
Soldiers, especially Shea and his platoon
Baby Harrison
Baby breath
Family Kendall
Diapers
Family McCullough
Education
Religion
Close College
US Freedoms (voting, speech, religion, have +++ kids, choose career, go wherever whenever)
Driving
Jason's done with his capstone project
Home
Elisha has 4 months left
House/roof
Be able to travel
Jobs x 2
Been able travel
Cars
Have family all over the world, and close by
Airplanes
Make-up
Husband
Clothes
Wife
Chocolate
Bed
Electricity
Blankets
Grocery stores (thanks Harmon's!)
Heat
Harrison takes naps
Food
Harrison's smiles
Oven (we just recently - Tuesday - had to get ours fixed. Whew!)
Dishwasher
Extended family
Washing Machine (no hand washing unless I want to!)
Hot water
Letters in the mail (no bills, please)
Formula
Amazing teachers
Pre-made food
Moving films
Computers
Testimony
Amazing books
Gas stations that dot I-15
Comfy husband shoulder
Cute baby cheeks
Harrison's laugh
Harrison's determination

(Sorry it's long. I tried to make it 2 columns.)

Georgia with Shea

Two busy weekends in a row!

We were lucky to have the opportunity to go see Elisha's younger brother, Shea, who is stationed with the Army in Hinesville, Georgia (Ft. Stewart). It was so great, and we wish we could have stayed longer than one short weekend.

Last weekend started out by heading to Vegas on Thursday evening to stay with friends: Cambra, Andrew, and Jocelyn. Cambra was one of Elisha's mission companions, so it was fun to see her again - of course! It was a great, fun night full of playing, pizza and sweets.

Friday morning was early - too early. Our flight was at 7am! So, waking up at 4:30am was super fun! We did make it to our gate on time, with 45 minutes to spare. That worked better for Harrison, and we decided we'd wait until the last minute to get on all the rest of the planes.

After a 4 hour flight to Atlanta, a 3 hour layover, and an hour flight to Jacksonville, we made it! You might be thinking, "Jacksonville? Isn't the title Georgia?" Yep! Jacksonville just happens to be closer to our destination:)

We finally arrived at 5pm. Shea picked us up, but not in his limo, like he had said:(. We were excited with either way!

We got dinner at Krystal's, a cool hamburger place. They make the cutest, small burgers! It's a southern thing, so we had to go! Other nummy southern places we ate at were the Waffle House - wow! and Sonny's - amazingly REAL SOUTHERN BBQ!

Saturday we headed to Savannah's waterfront, an original line of shops from the colonial US times! It even still has where slaves were kept until they were sold in tunnel-like ports. The area across from the shops also has vendors, which was super fun! We spent ALL day here, and it was beautiful weather! We ended the day at Hilton Head, South Carolina. They were having a shrimp fest, so of course we ate some! WOW!

Yep, the river in the background at the historic Savannah port.

The 12 Tribes (a religous group) was showing and touring this ship, made in Brasil.

We headed back Sunday:( On the way, we stopped at Jekyll Island. What do you do on an island? You walk the beach!!! The weather was wonderful enough that is was a pleasure. Even Harrison's first time! Too bad the water felt chilly, or else he would have had to play in it.

Freaky horseshoe crab! They're very alien-like.

Shells in the cement! Cool!

Jekyll Island helps sea turtles who are sick or injured, so we got to check out and learn about them. It was way interesting and fun. Did you know we can't tell if a turtle is a male or female until they're 35 years old?!

Moss all over the tree. All the trees have moss with all those bogs and swamps.

The trip was wonderful, and we're SO glad we could see and spend time with Shea. Thanks for everything!

We liked playing with Sadie!

Homecoming 2009, "Lucky"

Our Homecoming dance is over, but it was a blast! The eventual event was nothing like what was planned, but the night was quite a success.

Our original plans were to go for a ride on the Heber Valley Railroad's Comedy Murder Mystery Dinner Train. Hence the train in the background of the poster. Sadly, the railroad called the day before to cancel because the cast had H1N1.

We had less than 24 hours to scramble for plans. Thankfully, Jeremy came to my rescue. Within minutes he found us a backup plan in Park City.

After a fun family dinner, Elisha and I went on a double date with Jeremy and Brandon to the Egyptian Theatre for a night of stand-up comedy. Unfortunately, some of the acts balanced funny with vulgar, but overall we were able to enjoy the evening.

The best part: Jeremy and Brandon slipped away from dinner early and headed back to our hotel so they could decorate the room to look like a Homecoming dance should. They left flowers on the table, a bottle of sparkling cider in a bucket of ice, and this year's song was repeating on the CD player. There were streamers hanging from the walls, and lots of good luck charms everywhere.

Elisha wasn't expecting the tinsel on the floor, it was the first thing she noticed as we walked through the door. While I was busy turning on the fireplace, she thought the room had been broken into and trashed. Once she heard the music playing, she realized what was going on. Of course, then her heart melted.

Thanks for your help guys.

Namaw

Namaw (Jason's mom) came to visit for Halloween. We love having family come, and it was a special treat. She even joined in on our Scooby Do costume set, which made it super fun! We didn't go anywhere, besides Jason's work. So, really, we dressed up just 'cuz. Namaw's Velma, Elisha's Daphne, Jason's Shaggy, and Harrison's Scooby. Harrison zonked out while putting on his costume.

Halloween's fun, and we hope you had a great one!




Oh, we also found this ghoul wandering around our yard. We decided to adopt him:) (thanks Aimee!)

She Said Yes!

It's that time of year again. That's right, Homecoming time.

Our theme song this year is "Lucky" by Colby Calait and Jason Mraz. So I used the lucky theme to ask her.

First I gave her a bag of fortune cookies. Inside the cookies was a message:


It says, "So you think you're lucky? To find out just how lucky you are meet me at the Lucky Buffet right now."

I was a bit annoyed to find out that they changed the name from Lucky Buffet to Ichiban. It kinda ruined the theme.

Regardless, once she got there I was sitting at the table with our poster and some flowers, so I asked her to go to Homecoming with me.


Imagine my excitement when she said yes!


I came home from work and our bedroom was decorated. On the bed was a note:


Click on the picture to read it. (I know the note implies that I will be taking Napoleon Dynamite to Homecoming, but that was just to get the voice effect going.)

The dance is on November 7th. I'm not saying what we're doing or where we're going because Elisha doesn't know yet.

Grandma

Grandma, Elisha's mom, came to visit for the week. Harrison LOVES Grandma and had fun playing with her. They spent all day together, which was nice so that we could do homework and go to work without worrying about the babysitter. Thanks so much, Mom, for coming to play! We can't wait to do it again.

A mae de Elisha visitou essa semana. Harrison AMA sua vo e tive um bom tempo brincando com ela. Eles ficando o dia tudo juntos, que foi bom pra nos pra fazer tarifas de faculdade e trabalhar sem pensar na baba. Muito obrigada, Mae, por vendo pra brincar! Vamos fazer de novo!

Here's Harrison laughing hysterically with Grandma. Too much fun!
Aqui 'e Harrison rindo muito com Vo. Bem divertante!




Also, here's a close-up of Harrison's tooth! Awesome! And, we think he's working on more...ouch!
Tambem, aqui 'e um foto da dente de Harrison! Legal! E, parese que vai ganhar mais, ooo!

News Flash!

Guess what! This morning, while feeding Harrison, I kept feeling and hearing a scraping on his spoon. So, I felt his gums, and YEP! Harrison has his first tooth - on the bottom! Yeah, for him! We couldn't get a picture of it. Every time Jason pulled Harrison's lip down, Harrison stuck out his tongue. But, here's a fun picture. He loves to hang upside down.

FOOD!

So, Harrison started eating cereal on Saturday night. At first he probaby wondering, "This is food?" But, then he couldn't get enough! The kid LOVES to eat!








Today, Monday, Jason had the opportunity to feed Harrison. So cute to watch him get the hang of it. I think Harrison was ruling the moment, forcing Jason to go faster, plus figure out how to keep feet, hands, and objects in order. You did great, Cutie.

Baby-cises

Harrison has become more and more active. He can focus and grab things now and is a rolling wiz. He even loves to gabber, and has picked up some signs. Dad is his favorite person, and signs DAD often.

Here he is doing some Pilates to encourage Mom.
























And, what's this? ----v


Yep, looks like he'll be mobile in no time. Aaaaaaaa!

Harrison had his 4 month check-up (yes, he's actually 4 1/2 months). Here are the stats:

• 16.8 lbs
• 26 1/4" long
  
• 44 cm head circumference

All this info means is that he is in the 85% bracket of kids his age. This is good, because even though 95% looks good on a report card, it doesn't in size.

Harrison will soon be learning to eat rice cereal, too! Not Rice Crispies, but baby cereal:) Since he smacks his lips and seems to want to try our food, I think it'll be a success! We'll let you know!

First October...

and that means first Halloween! Grandma Mc. gave Harrison a present to open for October. This video is of him trying to open it, and he's doing a great job for being only 4 months old! I think it's because he's so smart, though some may say it's because the paper's so fun! Either way, looks like he's going to be ready for Christmas! Hope he's not crawling yet...

Dad (that's so fun to call Jason) also got into to the fun of opening the present.



We're excited for the grandma's to come down!

4 Months

Our little Harrison is 4 months old today. We can't believe how fast the time has gone. We LOVE you, Harrison, more and more each day! Now, please stop growing.

Harrison was laughing and talking just before the camera came on. He does this all the time: whenever he's acting cute, we bring out the camera, and he freezes. But, it's cute daddy-son time.



Now Harrison's rolling and scooting on his back. On this video you can't tell too much, but he had started in the middle of the blanket, and now he's off! We've been finding him in the corner of his crib in the mornings. This morning we found him rolled over onto his stomach. Too bad he hasn't figured out that he can roll back over!

Company Party

Normally, my company party wouldn't be worth a blog post, but since I have an amazingly beautiful son, everything becomes post worthy.

It was a fun little party. We had a whole park to ourselves. There were bounce houses for the kids, as well as a rock-climbing wall for everyone:


That's Lyman and I as we're about to race up the wall. We both fell off. Lyman eventually conquered his climb, but I had to go to the kiddie side to enjoy the satisfaction of sounding the siren at the top.


Additionally, there were little games for the kids, plenty of food, and Bingo. There was also face-painting:


And that is what happens when you let Lyman babysit. I guess it could of been worse; they were doing tattoos as well.

I took this picture with my phone, so the lack of light makes it hardly worth posting, but he is just so cute.


We finished the night with a quick game of basketball. Of course, my team won.


Overall, it was a pretty fun experience, and we even won a watermelon.