Our Big Disappearing Act

For everyone anxiously awaiting our return to blogging, here is our latest.

For the most part everything is same ol', same ol'. Jason and I are still working like crazy and the boys are growing up so fast. Parker is teething and chewing on everything from fingers and toes (anyone's he can get a hold of) to Walker's forehead. Sad but true. The two were playing on the floor together and Parker just went for it. He has been saying , "Ta-ta, Du-du, and Muh-muh". He's also been working on standing and cruising. Any bets as to when he'll walk?

We also had a wedding in the family. Jason's little sister, Heather just got married to David Turner. At the reception, Jason gave a speech. He did a little play on words that I thought was cute. He told them names that they could use for their future children. There's the obvious: Tina, Ike, and Paige. But I also like Ambi, Rebecca Elizabeth (initials would be R.E.-Turner) and Ursula (U-Turner). But we can also say now that Heather is the Head Turner.
Not many people know about my talent of doing flowers, but I have done them for weddings, prom, funerals, Valentines Day, and have made enough leis to cover the King Kamehameha statue in Hawaii by myself. Here are some pictures from the wedding.

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

So here we are mid through October playing catch-up on the blog again. In the past month Parker has gotten four new teeth and loves to chew on everything. He is a pro at crawling and sitting up. The first place he likes to go in the morning is Walker's room where all the toys are. He is becoming better at 'telling' me what he wants. Any of you other mothers know this to be the whining stage. Walker has been enjoying his preschool and loves to show me ALL of his papers from the beginning of the season. He is trying to get in all of his bike riding, sprinkler running and outside playing in before it really turns cold.

Walker and Parker have started to become fond of bath time together. We've spent two years teaching Walker to not splash the water outside the bathtub and now it's Parker who does the splashing. He LOVES being put in the bath. If these two faces don't say 'Double Trouble', I don't know what does.


Last week Sunday was a real eye-opener for me. I went to pick up Walker from nursery. I did my usual excited face and told Walker I was really glad to see him and told him it was time to go. As I waited for him by the door, his teacher came up to me and said, " So, uh, Walker said there's a baby girl in his mommy's tummy...." After giving her the 'deer in the headlights' look, choking on my gum and coming back from flashbacks of being GREAT with child, labor pains, 3 am feedings and no-shower days, I kindly shook my head and told her that was not the case.

If we rewind the Walker imagination train up a bit to about six months ago, we will see where this thought came from. Walker was getting into the car and wanted to sit next to Parker in the middle where there is no car seat. Jason came up with the logical solution, "Walker, when momma has another baby, then you can sit in the middle." End of problem-he got in his seat just fine. Walker then continued to tell our friends that when I have another baby that he gets to sit in the middle. Our friends thought it was the cutest.

I guess this is just his imagination spiraling dangerously out of control, but at least it gives me more incentive to exercise. So if you have been one of the lucky ones to find out this exciting news from Walker, just know if you don't hear it from my lips...double check the source.

Where were you?

As I've been looking at the news, I've been seeing a lot of posts and blogs about the anniversary of the attack on the World Trade Center, and thought I would make my mark for posterity.

The morning of September 11, 2009 started with a phone call from my Grandma in Utah. She told me that there had been an accident and that a plane crashed into the WTC in New York. (My parents had flown from Hawaii to Salt Lake to take my brother, Orlin, to the MTC) Mom and Dad were ok, but because flights had been grounded, they didn't know when they would be able to come back home. I didn't really think the 'accident' would be that bad, but I turned on the tv to see it for myself. I was flabbergasted at what I saw! The smoke, the sorrow, the chaos. I woke up my little brother, Matthew and told him to watch the news while I took a shower. After I got dressed I went out into the living room just in time to sit down and watch helplessly as the second airplane crashed into the second building. I remember the news playing the tape over and over again. As if seeing it once in my life wouldn't cement it to memory. The reporters were saying that the first crash had been an accident, but I knew the minute the second plane crashed that this was no accident.
I headed to seminary and to school where the current events were the only topic of the day. Lunch was more somber than I ever remember. My show choir class was even more distraught over the news. My friend had some family members living in New York and had cut class to try to call them to make sure they were ok.
We all know how the events unfolded that day...and the days following that have lead to years of rebuilding confidence, healing wounds that will never heal, and hearts that will never be whole.

May we never forget that day.

Toothless Joe no More!

Parker is finally cutting a tooth! I know, I know...you're thinking, "what a momentous occasion-not!" But it really is, considering he has been chowing down on solids for about a month now. I'm not really excited for the fevers and fussing, but I am excited for him to look like a Toothless Joe! The real question is whether or not this guy could get his mouth any bigger!

The Peace and Quiet Days of an Immobile Baby Are Now Gone

That's right folks. Parker is officially crawling! It's time to get on my hands and knees and crawl around my house to baby proof. My life?, nay, my insanity is coming to an end, I can feel it. He has been able to plank up on all fours for about a month, and the past couple of days he has been mastering how far he needs to crawl before plopping in front of an object. Today he is crawling, tomorrow, who knows, maybe he'll conquer climbing the dresser. And then the day after that he can be swinging on the shower curtain rod. And the day after that maybe he'll play Tarzan, swinging from window blind string to string. Okay, okay, I may be pushing it just a bit, but I might as well prepare myself for the worst. Right?

Fixing the Car

I had been planning on writing a cool little Post about the Survival High Adventure from last week, but decided to tell another Tale.

This one is about fighting, I mean, FIXING the car. I will spare all the details, but will outline what I remember from the 2 week dilemma.

Step 1: Fix the brakes on Infiniti (yes, this did take a couple of days, because I did the brakes AND the Calipers.)
Step 2: Run to the grocery store one morning to get brake fluid to refill. What was that noise I heard on a 1 mile trip? That grinding sound is really weird. I should take a look at it.
Step 3: have 4 other 'experienced' car people take a look at my car.
Step 4: sit bewildered because nobody had ever heard that sound coming from a car before.
Step 5: guess that the sound is, indeed coming from the alternator, because that is something that I could do myself, whereas the whole A/C condensor I couldn't fix.
Step 6: spend several hours trying to look up how to take off my alternator. Nothing online? At All? What? Oh, I come to find out that a 2002 is just too new to have any type of DIY repair manuals. It should be out some time in the next year.
Step 7: I start the car again - wait, where did the noise go? I only loosed a couple of screws. Why would this noise disappear?
Step 8: Decide I need to quit second guessing myself, and take it to Satan. Wait, Dennis Dillon. Sorry - no harm intended, we have just had a terrible experience with them. However, taking it in so that can make a diagnostic only is not above me.
Step 9: They only take 45 minutes to come look at the car, but yes, they agree that it is definitely the bearing inside the alternator that is out. (good news I think)
Step 10: Go home and try to take it out. Spend a few more hours. Realize that the A/C condenser has to come off so I can get that last stupid bolt out. (just unbolt the A/C, don't remove any hoses, that would be bad)
Step 11: Yes, this gets a step in and of itself. Get the LAST bolt out. Most of you know I have pretty small hands. And if I can't reach a bolt, you know it is TOO SMALL OF A SPACE. This last bolt took approximately 1 hour. It was that hard to reach, and a small ratchet didn't fit. I'm shaking my head in disgust just thinking about it.
Step 12: Try to decide best course of action - have somebody fix it (supposedly I've heard that they can get fixed in 20-60 minutes if you have the right tools, and that it can be cheap)
Step 13: Get lied to by Huskey Electric. Don't ever go to them. They are scumbags. They "took it apart" and "it can't be fixed." And then they tried to charge us $40 after they told us it would be a free diagnositc. They didn't even take it apart, and we had already tested the bloody thing at 3 different places. We new that the alternator was doing what it should (recharge the battery) but the bearing was broken.
Step 14: Find a bearing. Call every parts/auto mechanic in town. Call the Bearings specialist. When I take it in, they say, "I've never even heard that part number before." Oh great. I could order 1000 bearing online if I want. Finally get ahold of Durabilt in Nampa. Yes, we have several of them in Stock. Come get it, its $24. (much better than spending $200 on a new one right?)
Step 15: Get the bearing back on. - wait I skipped a step. Somewhere previously I took it to a machine shop to help get it open. He accidentally cracked the casing - it was still good, just cracked. He also Cut off the previous bearing, no big deal as it was shattered and in a million pieces anyway.
Back to Step 15. Get the New bearing on. Not too difficult - just take a hammer and bang away at it.
Step 16: Put the casing back together, lock the brushes up so that the shaft can fit through. (brushes are on the opposite half as the bearing.) Wait, why did one of my brushes just fall off? Not just fall off, but it is broken in half. Hmm, I guess I need to replace that now too.
Step 17 : This is getting pretty long isn't it? Find that the brush assembly is just as hard to find as the bearing, but I can try calling around tomorrow. For now I will just try to get it off.
Again, using the hammer, screwdriver etc. I guess the brush assembly is only meant to be taken off by a pro, cause I spent about an hour on that, and the only progress I made was a few Hammer-in screws that came out and a whole bunch of broken plastic. Well, I guess I gotta get a new one anyway, so I may as well tear the crap out of this one, so next time I will KNOW what I am doing. Nope, it never did come off. It had a bracket, and I could never get it off.
Step 18: Call B & W auto salvage. Go pick up the used alternator. It had been there for 988 days. $65 for the little guy. Doesn't look pretty (at all). In fact it looked as bad as mine did, and mine was smashed into pieces mostly)
Step 19: Put alternator back in. Walker decides to play "52 card pickup" with my tools and bolts/nuts. While I am under the car. So several things get stuck under the hood in different cracks. Some of them hiding behind/underneath things in the garage.
Step 20: Find all the parts/pieces. Why won't this bolt go back in? there are only 5 left, 1 of them has to go in! Walker decides to quietly spill a bucket of paint in the little nook behind the water heater. Why is he being so quiet? Oh, because there is a HUGE pool of paint, and he is quietly brushing it on the walls/fertilizer machine, everything else he can reach. (I just left it there, it will dry up right? Then I can peel it off the concrete in a couple of weeks)
Step 21: Get the belt back on. This goes around the alternator, A/C condensor, Engine, and another pulley (I forget what it is called) Would it surprise you if I said that was the Easiest part of the whole project? That is usually one of the most difficult parts is getting belts back on.
Step 22: Tighten all the bolt. A bit of WD-40 does miracles on bolts. They went on 10 times easier than they came off. Only 30 minutes to get all of the bolts back on, and that is because of the allignment portion. Meaning getting the whole and the bolt lined up.
Step 23: Hook up all the cables. Again, pretty easy. Hook up the battery to the alternator etc.
Step 24: Take it to Schuck's to make sure the alternator is working right. They run a test, and say everything is fine. They check the tension on the belt. Say its good. How did I manage that?
Step 25: Hope that is doesn't happen again!

Total spent: Hours ?? No clue. $$ - $65 got used alternator, $24 on a bearing (can't return it)
$50 on some Angle-adjustable Ratcheting Box wrenches. Those do come in pretty handy.

Milestones

It's official! Randy and Kristen are finally married! Yay!!! Randy, we couldn't be happier for you and Kristen, you look just beautiful. I especially love this picture.

Walker was being a little cranky due to lack of food by picture time, but considering he's in some of the pictures we got, he did OK.



Amazing what some bread and some one on one time with Daddy will do. Walker requested a photo shoot with just Jason. I am shocked at the result of such good pictures! This one is my favorite!



or maybe this one....



Nope! THIS ONE!!! Does this one look like "Blue Steel" or "Magnum"? Come up with a name of your own and let me know.



Me and the boys.



Our 'Happy' Family. Parker didnt' like the reflection off of the other building.

Parker is so close to crawling! I thought for sure he would get it down before Jason got home from Denver, but alas, he is still doing this.

Me...Roadrage?

The past couple of weeks Walker had started to use the word 'stupid'. I think he picked it up from neighborhood kids or other friends. I have told him this is a naughty word and he should use nice words instead. He gets time outs for using the word and has even told Jason that HE needs a time out for saying 'stupid'! Last Sunday, Jason forgot he has a hole in the pocket of his Sunday slacks and was dropping change left and right while getting out of the car. "I hate this stupid hole!"
"Daddy! Don't say 'dat word. 'Das a naughty word!"

(Twice, Jason did this! (hillarious))


So today while we were driving through traffic, I kept hearing Walker mumble to himself. Then he asked me if I heard what he said. Obviously not, so I asked.
"Walker, what did you say?"
"Mama, I said, "Rrr. Drive!.... Some People!" 'Das what I said."

So apparently I have a road rage problem. But I think I'm OK as long as I don't say, "Stupid Drivers!"

4th of July Festivities

Only a week behind blogging schedule, but here are a few things we did on the 4th. Jason was doing a booth at the 'fairgrounds' in Melba as were Don and Mary, so the boys and I stuck it out. We had breakfast at a friend's house and headed out to Melba at about 9:30. We made it there just in time to find a parking spot and see the parade. Finding Jason wasn't hard at all. Walker had fun seeing all the vendors and games and PLAYGROUND!!!! Parker was chillaxin' most of the time in the stroller. In the past, I must say we have had much hotter summers, but it was pretty hot for the boys. One of Jason's friends was kind enough to let us crash at her place for the afternoon napping hours. Walker had tons of fun with all their toys.


Parker took, maybe, a two hour nap and stayed up the rest of the night. There was just so much to see and do. You can really see it in his eyes. Walking around, Walker was given a beanie baby toy that squeaks like a bird. I like it because it's not too incredibly annoying. Walker has liked making Parker laugh with it, so it has been passed down to him.
But my favorite, was amidst all the craziness of the day and all the fireworks and fun, Parker somehow ended up with what I like to call the "Born to Smile" tattoo on his leg...

Whirl-Wind Adventures

While Jason is on the topic of how many pictures we have on our computer I thought I might as well post some. Here are the recent pictures for the month:



Parker is making new faces, and keeping some old ones. Here are some of my favorites:
Eating solids and sitting up a little bit have become some of his favorite activities.



He has also been playing with his toes which is an amazing feat considering how much of a chunky monkey he has become.




Walker got some new shades but wanted to share them with Parker. I love that they almost look like the Blues Brothers!

Walker has also taken to the hobby of photography. Most of it could be considered abstract, I mostly delete those, but he has taken some good ones:


These boys love to play together.

And Walker has started to help me do the dishes!!!!! I could not be happier about this one. No broken dishes yet. I know it will happen someday.


This past weekend, Walker, Parker and I went to Utah to attend the blessing of my neice, Eva. We were able to go to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house and see lots of extended family. We stayed at some of my parents friends, the Bartons. Walker liked going for a ride on the 4-wheeler with Orlin and Rachel.

The Bartons have a toy stash where Walker found these glasses. He wouldn't take them off the whole first day.
The boys and I also went with Mom, Dad, Orlin, Rachel and Matt to Ogden for some skydiving. I'll see if I can get any pictures from Orlin. I went, but I didn't let Walker go. I think he would have been to scared.


And Jason through it all found that he goes crazy without the three of us in the house!(photography also care of Walker)

Part 2: Enough!

Okay - so first things first - I understand that you can never have too many pictures. (That is arguable. I would say, however, that MOST of us do not take enough pictures. We usually go on spurts getting 1000 over a week, then nothing for another year or 2)

The correct answer lies somewhere in between. When I asked, it showed 9985. When I looked the next day, it showed "more than 10,000." I deleted one, and it showed 9999. So who does that make the grand winner? Yes. 10,000 is the correct answer. However, we have since uploaded pictures (about 150) and it shows that I currently have just under 13,000. About a thousand of those are different built-in clip-art pictures. So, total of around 12,000. But the Macintosh obviously feels that 10,000 is enough, to answer the question. Anything more than that is unimportant.

Let's evaluate all of our pictures: (this will not be a complete list, but a summary) 119 from our Wedding, 108 from our Wedding Reception, about 150 of April 2006 (when Walker was born, baby blessing newborn pics), 10 of my dead nasty toenail that fell off in Christmas time 2006, (disgusting, I know), 54 of Walker's 1 year birthday (or thereabouts), June and July of 2007 (Chicago Summer pics), 700 pictures taken in Costa Rica (the last class I took before graduation), 91 from our Hawaii Trip in December, and 109 of Christmas/Parker's Birth. There are also uncounted amounts of "untitled" sets of pictures that I didn't care to look through and count. That totals.......Wait, do the math. Yes, that is less than 1500. So what are the other pictures? I know, I already threw in the 10 of my toenail. We probably need to keep those for posterity's sake. Again, this is not a complete list - I did not include any from some of our other vacations, other Christmas pictures, or the all-important "MAN-TRIP" Sponsored by Woodbury's. (which, for those that aren't in the know, may be the 8th of September, correct me if I am wrong)

So, let me ask you this - How many pictures are on YOUR harddrive? How many important ones and how many could you get rid of?

When is Enough, Enough?

Does anybody remember the inspirational "Enough is Enough" campaign? It was an anit-drug campaign (probably my freshman year).

That thought just popped into my mind as I was starting to write this blog. I am going to make this a 2-part MINI series. I want to get people's responses before I post the 2nd part. I will give you the reason behind the title in the next posting.

First things first - How many images are stored on the hard drive at this Woodbury Household? Any guesses? Respond in the comments section, and I will continue the posting in a couple of days. I will add 1 or 2 here, just for fun. These will be random - I am not looking at them before uploading. Just gonna throw a couple on. (I will try to make them recent pictures)

Teach them early.

I know, I know, I know.....I haven't been on here for a while. (This is Jason, by-the-way) I've been super busy, but something funny happened today, and I just needed to put it out there for everybody. (those that have done sales can appreciate this more)

This summer I stayed in Boise, and have been running the Office out of my house. We have a goal board, white board, motivational posters....The Works. Of course we do trainings, etc every morning. This is where I teach people about how to knock doors i.e.: How/where to stand, non-verbals, what to say, tonality, etc. etc. Since we are at the house, I have all of my guys go outside and actually knock on the door, as opposed to imitating it inside. (seems more real, makes it more legit.) Apparently, Walker has taken notice. He has been going out he front door, locking it as he goes out, so we have to come open it when we ring the doorbell. This morning as Correlation was getting over, walker was doing his best "initial approach" when we opened the door to let him in. He wasn't saying anything word for word, but he was mumbling and imitating a bunch of the stuff that I have been teaching my guys.

Sarah thought it was pretty funny.

(Parker's first words are gonna be "super Cheap")

It's Me or the Xbox!!!

My schedule last night:
8pm-kids are in bed
9pm-dishes are done, things are picked up. Go visit with friends before Jason's 'xbox' night begins.
10pm-read my book. It's taking me a little longer to get into it than I like.
10:01pm-It seems like it was only a minute that I could keep my eyes open.
About 3am-Roll over in bed. Jason is not there. Hmm...
5am-I'm not sure on the exact time, but it was light outside when I heard Jason coming into our room to go to bed. I can't believe this guy! We have church at 8:30 and YOU decide to stay up until the wee hours of morning?! Playing XBOX?!
7am-get up and get ready for church
8am-tell Jason it's time to get up
8:01am-"Jason. It's time to go."

As you can see, I totally thought Jason stayed up playing xbox. Hey! It's happened before...

Here's what really happened:
10pm- I go to bed while Jason stays up with some friends playing xbox.
12am- Jason's friends leave and he comes to bed.
2:30-Walker comes in, wakes Jason up and asks him for water. Jason gets up and stays up with Walker until he falls asleep. Falls asleep himself.
5am-Jason comes back into our bed.
8am- He wakes up to me being cranky at him for "playing xbox" all night.


We both got a pretty good laugh out of this one.

If Evolution works, then why don't moms have more hands?

Parker had his first taste of rice cereal today! I did have help from the Bumbo chair (bless you Shae!) but with Walker eating lunch, Jason having a meeting in our living room, eating my own lunch and getting dishes done, it's no wonder I didn't get a picture of it!

No pics for this post....

Just wanted to let you all know that I totally missed out on Parker's first time Rolling over! I don't know yet, but I don't think he has done it a second time yet - We will see if he will do it for Gramma Berry this weekend!

"Knoooooooow......" (Because I don't hear it enough during the day!)

So I just spent the last two hours or so singing songs from 'Enchanted' and 'Mulan' with Walker...same songs. During dinner, Walker kept asking me to sing "love her". With hot dog bites in his mouth, he would hum along with me singing while I did the dishes. Amazingly enough, he is for the most part in tune. Way to go! Here's what he did during the movie:

I love how he applauds at the end! Priceless!



I also got a couple good pictures of the boys. Here is Parker. He hasn't rolled over yet, but with how strong his neck and back are, I don't think it will be too long. He coos like crazy and drools like a never ending fountain.


FINALLY! A normal picture of Walker! Usually he puts his hand in his mouth or squints his eyes, but I coaxed him to 'smile nice'.

Happy Birthday Jason!

Just had to put a little blurb in here about how much I love Jason. He does SO much for our family and deserves the BEST of everything! I love you Sweetie! Happy Birthday!

A New Look

Not quite what I wanted to see at 8pm on a Thursday night. On the 8th, Walker broke out in hives! This picture doesnt' begin to show how bad it got. They covered him head to toe-one even covered his back entirely. When I took him to the doctor the next day, I think it would be safe to say our doctor was absolutely stumped. She said it MIGHT be a reaction to a virus he MAY have gotten. Some Benedryl and cortizone cream cleared him up by the end of that weekend.


For lack of other posts, I am now playing catch up. It turns out that Birthday week turned into birthday month. Grandmother and Grandpa Clements made a quick trip for their anniversary this month. They weren't here for Walker's party, but they did bring him pineapple and a new book to oogle over. He hardly ever stops talking about pineapple. Every time I ask him what he wants for lunch or dinner..."Pie-apple".


I also (through no small miracle) got my piano delivered by my FAVORITE cousin, Danny. He totally saved the day by picking the piano up at the shipping company with one night notice. Not to mention the blizzard he had to go through to get it. (This is starting to sound like ye olde story of 'up hill in the snow both ways'.) Danny...deepest and warmest THANK YOU! Coming all the way from Hawaii and all the temperature changes I thought the piano would have to be tuned pretty desperately, but it actually doesn't sound that bad! Walker loves playing on it, but insists that there be a music book for him to look at in order for him to play. Hmmm...maybe I can teach him to read music soon.
Parker sleeps through the night and has for quite some time. The sleepless nights seem to have lasted much longer and seem to have been much less bearable with Walker than they have been with Parker. I don't know if that's because I got used to it, or if Parker turned out to be a natural sleeper. Either way I like it.


Parker loves to suck his bottom lip. No pacifier needed! He has started to 'chew' on his hands, but I think that's just part of learning coordination...and teething soon. He hasn't rolled over yet, but he's working on it. This is also the before shot of...





his haircut! Although his hair was cute and long and we had fun with different 'do's', it was time for his first haircut. It was past his collar, (totally out of standards) and the bald spot in the back wasnt' very becoming. I don't think his hair will come in quite as dark though. It was starting to lighten up a bit and his eye brows have never been dark. What do you think? Blonde, Red or Brown?

A Tribute to Randy!

It must run in the family Randy! These are two different shots of Walker, and I'm in utter awe of how many times I can catch this face on camera. I thought I would give this post tribute to you for graduating. I mean, it's not everyday you can go into your counselor's office and have them say, "oh, by the way, you can graduate this semester". I'm happy for you and send our love!

(for those wondering about the pictures of Walker and how they it relate to Randy, I only wish I had a picture of him to compare. The Randy Woodbury traditional picture is 'eyes half shut and a goofy smile')