Can you believe it?

Can you believe that just under 3 years ago, Landon looked like this:

And just under 4 years ago, Jon and I looked like this:

And in about 7 months, I'm going to look like this again:

It's just crazy to think about how time flies by.  The past 4 and a half years have gone in the blink of an eye!  Sometimes I'm left searching for the pause button, hoping for just a few more months of Landon's cute ages & stages.  And other times, I'm scrambling for the fast forward button, trying to get out of the uncomfortable, early parts of pregnancy.  Too bad neither is available, huh?

Just a quick update as to what's going on in our lives, NOW, Jon is taking two classes online, Theatre and Ethics and Values.  He's LOVING all the papers he has to write (NOT), and he's really buckled down and is working hard.  I, on the other hand, am not taking any classes this semester, as it turns out that the chemicals used in lab aren't compatible with pregnancy (unless you desire a baby with 3 arms and one eye, which I don't!), so I'm not taking ANY classes this semester.  I was really looking forward to it, but I'm quickly realizing how much I truly enjoy school, and am more than a little sad to be missing out this semester.  Landon, however, is clearly LOVING having me home all the time, so that makes the transition a little bit easier.  I think I'm going to sign up for a cake decorating class at Roberts in February, though.  It certainly won't be physiology, but it should be fun, and give me a little bit of grown up time each week.

I probably won't update too much over the next few weeks.  My Mom and step-Dad get to town tomorrow morning, and we have plenty of fun activities planned to keep us all busy.  Including fighting the crowds in Park City for the Sundance Fest.  Then, next Wednesday, Jon and I are leaving to meet my brother and his girlfriend in Las Vegas for the weekend.  My Mom is babysitting, and I'm so excited that she's able to do that for us!  Landon will be SO spoiled when we get back.  Then, my brother and Shannon are coming back to Utah with us for a week, and they leave on Feb. 7.  Feb 11, Jon's parents FINALLY get back from their mission, and we will be waiting dutifully at the airport for them!  

So, if you don't see much from us over the next few weeks, you know why!

THANK YOU MR. PRESIDENT

Okay, after reading this article ( http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=5330424 ) , along with thinking about all of the other negative press, that PRESIDENT Bush (not just Bush, or W, he is the President of the U.S.) has gotten, I'm so fed up, I just have to say something. 

I think that it is absolutely shameful the way our media, and our citizens have treated President Bush throughout his administration, especially as it nears an end. Don't get me wrong, I certainly haven't agreed with every decision he's made, but I also do not doubt for one nanosecond that EVERY decision he's made has been in the best interest of our country, nor do I wish to EVER be in a position to make some of those decisions.  

I think it's absolutely ludicrous the way average citizens talk about our presidents, and events they know absolutely NOTHING about. How many of us are qualified to make a decision about war? How many of us have any CLUE whatsoever what sort of formulas and thoughts go into these choices? I can guarantee you it's not as simple as the media, and left wingers would have us believe (Iraq has oil, so let's declare war). 

How many of us have ANY IDEA how many times America has been saved from another attack thanks to measures put into place, in part, by President Bush. How many of us WANT to know? Laughing at people in other nations throwing a shoe at our PRESIDENT is shameful. I am ashamed that so much of our country treats our president like some nerd who shows up uninvited to a party. Regardless of our politics, we should be able to get behind our president and stand UNITED. Lest we forget that "United we stand, divided we fall."  

I certainly didn't want Barack Obama to be elected as President, I don't agree with his proposed policies and politics, but you can be sure that on Jan. 20, 2009, I will refer to him as PRESIDENT Obama, and I will support him and pray for him as the president of this great country.  

I do NOT think it's "ethnocentric" to believe that America is the greatest country on Earth. To echo PRESIDENT Bush's sentiments from his speech last night, millions of people risk their LIVES every day to just get the chance to experience American life. We have more opportunities available to us here than any other place in the world, if we'll only take advantage of them, and I think the only way we can continue to maintain this lifestyle and to be this strong, great country, is to STOP APOLOGIZING for our success, and our patriotism. When did patriotism become politically incorrect?

I for one am PROUD to have voted for PRESIDENT Bush, and proud to stand behind him today, and THANK HIM for his service to this country. He has been faced with some of the hardest decisions of any president in the last several decades, and he handled them with graciousness, with earnesty, and with a heavy mantle on his shoulders. I believe that history will judge him more kindly than we do today, and it will come out eventually, the sacrifices he made for this country, to his own detriment (as the yellowcake issue this past July clearly shows, but was not reported in the liberal media). I am grateful that he was never afraid to mention the greatness of GOD in his speeches, and his daily life, and that he didn't sugarcoat the truth of good and evil in this world.  

I think we are a much safer nation today than we were 7 years ago, and that we all owe a huge debt of thanks to this man, who had the strength and fortitude to make decisions that he felt were in the best interest of our country, even when it hurt him politically, and garnered world criticism.  

My politics, and personal opinions notwithstanding, I wholeheartedly support President Bush, and hope that you will also be willing to put aside your politics, if only for a small second in time, to take a moment to thank the man who has run our country for the last 8 years. I also put aside my politics and issue a solemn prayer and support for the man who will be our president for the next 4 years, and I hope that the rest of this great nation will get their heads out of their butts and do the same.

The Poppyseed...

We've been calling this new little one, "the poppyseed," after reading last week, or the week before, that the closest approximation to size is to the lovely poppyseed.  This week, the baby is the size of a sweet pea, or roughly half the size of a blueberry, but we're kind of stuck on "the poppyseed," so it remains the nickname of choice.  Much better than "it," don't you think?

I am lucky enough to have an AWESOME sister-in-law who is also an ultrasound tech, so last week, when I was feeling crampy, she took me back to assuage my fears!  And, we got to see the lovely little sac, that the poppyseed is calling home!  This might not seem so amazing to you, but it's pretty amazing to me, and more importantly, there was only ONE little sac, and it was in the exact right location, which is even better!

Other than being an incubator (Anne said it best there!), things are pretty good around here.  I'm starting to adjust to being home, and not in school, and Landon sure seems to like it that way.  This week's goal is to NOT go into town everyday, and so far, I've only gone in once since Saturday, which is some sort of personal record for me!  Today's plans are to bake some bread, or some cinnamon rolls, to actually make a homecooked meal for dinner, and to just relax and try to kick this cold to the curb for good.

First Kiss!

Yep, it happened.  New Year's Eve was so magical, Landon had to grab his first kiss!  It was with our good friends Nate and Camille's little girl Brylie, and was too cute not to grab a picture!

Going for it...

GOT it!

Christmas!

Okay, I figured I owed some Christmas pictures, since it has been over a week already!

Christmas Day for our little family:

The Stockings after Santa left:


The tree after Santa left:


Landon sleeping peacefully when we went to bed (about 1 am!) on Christmas Eve:


Landon seeing Santa's "cresents" for the first time:


Learning to use his favorite new four-wheeler:


Me, with my new Bosch and attachments (isn't my hubby the BEST?!):


Jon opening his new Blu-Ray player:


Landon opening his new guitar:


I'll spare you the rest of the present-opening pictures, as they're all the same, just with different gifts! After a VERY exciting gift-extravaganza, we went to Jen's (or Dayne & Sarah's, or Mom & Dad's) house for family breakfast, which was really great, though I forgot to bring my camera so I can't share the festivities. We spent the rest of the day as a family at Andrea's house, just helping the kids with their new toys, and playing games. It was a really great, relaxing day, and we felt so blessed to have had such a great Christmas morning, given the economy, and so many who are suffering right now.

On Tuesday, Dec. 23, we had our annual family Christmas Eve party here at our house in Payson. I'll share a couple of those pics with you, including the one of Jon's parents up on our big screen!

The adult table in the living room: (the gifts under the tree are the ones that my family sent from Ohio...think they spoil us a little bit?)



The food-we had a turkey, dressing (or stuffing), brisket, green beans & bacon, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, salad, sausage balls, deviled eggs, I think we had it all...except for Chucky Chicken!:



The desserts-My Mom shipped me the amazing strudels overnight from a bakery in Ohio. Isn't she the best?:



And of course we can't forget the time-honored (and my FAVORITE) family tradition of singing family songs after dinner. This is something I always imagined families doing together, but never thought they actually did, so this tradition holds a lot of meaning for me. And this year even Anne joined in the festivities, and not only did she join in, she LOVED it! She and Granger updated the songbooks to include some songs from our generation, and it was really neat to have oldies like Dad's favorite, In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree, juxtaposed with some new songs like The Way I am.

Granger with his guitar:




Dayne & Sarah:



The kids, singing:



Mom and Dad on the webcam:



After we got smart, and put Mom and Dad on the big screen!



And it should be noted that we owe LOTS and LOTS of thanks to Nick, who wasn't there, but covered LOTS (like 5) of cases that evening so that Jon could be home and help me with the party! That's one great boss (and a pretty good brother-in-law) right there. So thanks to Nick (and Andrea) for their sacrifices! And even more thanks to Granger and Anne for coming over early (like 6 HOURS early) to help me get set up since there were so many surgeries that day, and Jon couldn't do the prep work with me! We are lucky to have such a great family! I get homesick for Ohio, and my family there, quite a lot, but having such a great family here makes it easier to be so far from home...though I did tell my Mom that if I'm having twins like Jon keeps taunting me about (I'm not BTW) she has to move here for at least two years!