Finding the good in everything

My aunt Tina had this post on her blog and I really liked it, so I am being a post stealer :)

I AM THANKFUL:

For the wife

Who says it's hot dogs tonight,

Because she is home with me,

And not out with someone else.

For the husband

Who is on the sofa

Being a couch potato,

Because he is home with me

And not out at the bars.

For the teenager

Who is complaining about doing dishes

Because it means she is at home,

Not on the streets.

For the taxes I pay

Because it means

I am employed.

For the mess to clean after a party

Because it means I have

Been surrounded by friends.

For the clothes that fit a little too snug

Because it means

I have enough to eat.

For my shadow that watches me work

Because it means

I am out in the sunshine.

For a lawn that needs mowing,

Windows that need cleaning,

And gutters that need fixing

Because it means I have a home.

For all the complaining

I hear about the government

Because it means

We have freedom of speech.

For the parking spot

I find at the far end of the parking lot

Because it means I am capable of walking

And I have been blessed with transportation.

For my huge heating bill

Because it means

I am warm.

For the lady behind me in church

Who sings off key because it means

I can hear.

For the pile of laundry and ironing

Because it means

I have clothes to wear.

For weariness and aching muscles

At the end of the day

Because it means I have been

Capable of working hard.

For the alarm that goes off

In the early morning hours

Because it means I am alive.

And finally, for too much e-mail

Because it means I have

Friends who are thinking of me.

I Love these cute kids!!

Just having fun taking pictures of the kids in the living room!! Look at these cute faces!!

Baby Beck

This is the Orton's new addition, Beck. Jill let me do some experimenting with my camera on her brand new little guy. He is such a doll. It was so fun for us to come up with these ideas. The cowboy hat was his grandpa Beck's, who he is named after. And the basket is a potato basket, Jill's dad is a potato farmer. I think they turned out pretty cute. What do you think?

Photography classes

I started taking photography classes from Inkley's. It has been fun to have this new hobby, that was kind of an old hobby. Well, I've always loved photography. And even more fun, Nannies is going to take the classes with me.

Piggy tails

Look at Ava's cute little piggy tails up on top!!!

More Grandmas

My dad had to perform a wedding ceremony on Labor day and Calvin asked me what Grandpa Jeffery was up to for the holiday and I said, "oh, he has to marry some people." And Calvin replied,"What, I am getting more Grandmas!" When I finally stopped laughing I explained to him what I meant.

Wahoo!!

Wahoo!! Ava has been having the rice cereal formula for four days now and hasn't spit up once!! I only give it to her 2-3 times a day and nurse her the others and she hasn't spit up breastmilk or formula. She is no longer taking the Zantac, hallelujah, I don't like giving little babies medicine. And She has slept from 9 at night to 6 in the morning for 3 nights. I wish the doctor would have suggested adding rice cereal to the formula sooner. He said this is one of the greatest things for babies with reflux. And it has worked. My mom and grandma also suggested it a while ago, I should have listened. But it was nice to hear it from a doctor and to hear how much to put in it. You can buy the formula that has it in it or just add a teaspoon of rice cereal to a regular bottle. It has worked like a charm. I hope I am not jinxing it by saying this :)

Kid Kicker Dragons

Last summer we let Calvin do a trial karate class at Bobby Lawrence karate. He loved it. So we told him that when he was out of preschool he could do karate. Our reasoning is, once we don't have to pay for preschool we can let them choose something fun that they would like to try. We went to 5 different schools, including a capoeira class, to try and pick the right one for Calvin. We decided on Omega martial arts. It is a mix of several forms of martial arts and I loved the class structure, the teacher, the schedule and the price. There was actually a big range of all those factors and this fit everything we wanted. We have heard there are so many benefits from karate: self discipline, respect, listening skills, confidence. Calvin doesn't struggle with any of that right now, but I love that they teach that stuff. He has been to a few classes now and he loves it. He goes every Monday and Wednesday from 4:30-5:15. I am not quite sure how I feel about tournaments, but we will see when we get to that point. Right now he is a kid kicker Dragon and they just have one optional tournament a year. We are excited for Calvin to be doing something fun and we think karate is a good thing for him to learn.

Labor Day Fun

We ususally head down to Onion Days in Payson for Labor day and see the play and the car show. This year Jon was working graves so it was too much of a hassle to get down there before the play started. So we decided to take advantage of the fact that Andy is the manager of Trafalga and go to Trafalga Lehi and ride the rides. Andy is so great, he got us on all the rides, 20 tokens each, and dippin' dots for free. We had a blast. Even the little rides were enough of a thrill for me. There roller coaster is pretty fun, Lily said it was too scary but Calvin went on it 3 times. The kids loved every minute of it, especially the pirate arcade game. We even left and had dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then went back for more fun. What a great family day.

Collage

I know I am way behind the times. I have loved how everyone does collages but I have never taken the time to figure out how. Well, with the new photo editor I downloaded it is a piece of cake. I love this Picasa 3 program, it is free to download and it has so many great features. It is what I have been editing all of those other pictures with. It is so user friendly, I love it. And I am sure that whoever looks at my blog is going to appreciate it too, because we all know I have a problem with posting so many pictures that look alike because I can not decide which ones I like the best. Now I can just pick one or two of my favorites to post big and then make a collage of the rest. Problem solved.

Preschool

Lily has started preschool at the Nae-borhood preschool with Miss Janae. She lives in our old ward. Calvin went to Miss Janae his first year of preschool and he absolutely loved it. He was so excited when he heard that Lily gets to go there. Lily loves school. She is so great at the crafts. She loves to make stuff and paint and color and she is quite good at staying in the lines for a 3 year old. Miss Janae says she loves Lily, and that she is very smart and such a good friend to all of the kids in the class. Lily only goes to school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings so when we drop Calvin off at school she always says, "I miss Calvin already." And what was really cute is Lily had school when day when Calvin didn't and Calvin said the exact same thing when we dropped Lily off. With all this back to school stuff going on we did manage to catch the first cold of the school year. Thank goodness it was a mild one. It is going to be a fun and busy year.

Kindergarten

Wow, my little guy has started kindergarten!! You always know this day will come, but you don't realize how fast it will be here. I wasn't worried one bit about it, Calvin was so excited and ready to go, I just figured it was like glorified preschool, 5 half days a week instead of 3. But when I took him to school the first day, I got all choked up. It was hard dropping him off at that great big school. He is going to Manila by the way. He was ready to go and I just cried as I walked back to the van. I drove him the first day of course, but we are lucky that he has class with a couple of kids in our ward, so we carpool. I only have to drive 3 mornings a week instead of driving and picking up 10 times a week. It is great.

He has loved every second of kindergarten so far. His teacher is Miss Myntti and he asked her is she smells like mints. At his assessment before school started he got to sit down and talk to Miss Myntti and tell her all the stuff he knows. He did such a great job. I asked her what I could work with him on and she said, "Nothing right now, he knew it all." We have been reading with him every night and he is getting really good at reading small books. He says he loves math time. He also loves recess, P.E. and the library. It is so fun to hear him talk about his day at school. He is such a good kid.

His teacher sent me an email that said this:
Calvin is doing fantastic in class! He is an amazing listener, a great friend, and a hard worker.
Miss Myntti

I am very excited about elementary school. I loved elementary and I am excited to get in and get involved. I signed up for the PTA, just a volunteer, nothing big. But it is going to be fun to help in his classroom and go to school activities. This will be a fun new adventure.


And just a side note. We have been working with him all summer on riding his bike with no training wheels and he is kind of getting it. He is not quite there yet, but he can go a few turns without any help from us. I think a little more courage and he'll be off and going in no time.

The wisdom of a child

We listen to primary songs a lot on Sunday mornings before church. One Sunday morning we were singing the 2nd Article of Faith. "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression." and Calvin says, "Mom, that one is wrong. Men and WOMEN will be punished for their own sins, not just men!" I started laughing and said you are right Calvin. The men in the song stands for men and women.

My little Avsy Babsy

I did a little photo shoot of her in the backyard last night. I love this little face.

Ava is now 4 months old. I can't believe how much she has grown. She is smiling and laughing all the time now. And she puts everything into her mouth. I just love her to pieces. She is still not a wonderful sleeper but she gives me good 8 hour night here and there. She still prefers to sleep in the swing, however she is doing better in the crib. She has the happiest little personality. She will laugh and laugh at the kids. She is very ticklish and she will smile at anyone just because they smiled at her. She can also roll both ways, tummy to back and back to tummy. It is fun to watch her do that.

She still has pretty bad reflux. She has been on baby Zantac for 2 months and she still spits up everything. For an hour after we feed her it would just come up and out. At her 4 month appointment yesterday the doctor suggested the formula that has rice cereal in it. He says it works really well for reflux. We used it today and she didn't spit up once. It was a miracle. I think her tummy was a little upset from the heavier formula though. I breastfeed her half the time and she gets formula half the time. She spits up breast milk the worst that is why she gets formula. It is heavier and sits in her tummy better.

She had a big growth spurt when we started her on formula. She now weighs in at 14 lbs 2 oz (50%) and she is 25 inches tall (75%). She is very tall. She must have gotten the gene somewhere, both of our families have some very tall people.

She is a blast and we are so blessed to have her in our family!!

At the Provo temple for Amy's endowment

Travis and Amy

My brother Travis married this beautiful, sweet girl, Amy, on August 27th. They make such a great couple and we are so happy for them. Amy has 11 kids in her family and they are all so nice. Her family is a lot of fun and we are really close with her aunt and uncle and cousins, Brent and Carla Garner, so it is fun that we are related now. Travis and Amy were married in the Manti Temple, their luncheon was in Santaquin and their reception was at Amy's parent's home in Elberta. The weather was a little crazy for the reception. It was a good thing her dad has a big garage filled with cool things to look at. Because a lot of us hung out in there for most of the night. It was a beautiful wedding and a fun day. We wish them an eternity of happiness!!

Aunt Bambie made this beautiful cake.