Grown Up

Our little India is certainly growing, and with that growth comes challenges and fun. Well, not always fun, but often after a good scolding, we have to laugh. Many of her mess ups are a result of trying to be too grown up. Erin baked waffles (is that the correct verb?). Afterward, India also wanted to bake. Not really bake, just eat powdered sugar. "MMMM!" She said after tasting it. She also found that the fluffy texture means a nice coating of everything when it is thrown. You can notice Erin's coat behind India with a coating of sugar. Erin was upset, but decided that taking pictures of the event was more productive than becoming angry. She's a good Mommy.

The next thing that India has started to do, which is hilarious, is hide. She has found that she can stay up a little longer and make Mom and Dad laugh when she hides from us. The game goes like this. We call out to her "India. It's time for bed." She hides from us. We then pretend not to know where she is. The best part is pretending to look for her. We say out loud questioning "Is India ..." We say different places that she could potentially could be. The funniest thing is that India responds with a voice hinting at foolishness "Nooooo." We then repeat the charade a few times until we guess the correct hiding place ending with India shouting "Grrrrrrr" to scare us. Some people read books to their kids at bed time. We play Scary Hide and Seek.

Doesn't she look so smart?

Essentially, she likes to copy everything that "grown ups" do. In fact, she thinks that she is one herself. This is especially true when she scolds us when we are getting in trouble. You know, really important things like not getting her sippy cup filled with "wah" quickly enough. This look is similar to the one we get when we are in trouble.

This past weekend was our first real snow storm of the season. It was also the first time India really played in the snow. Of course it was necessary for her to learn how to make a proper snowball.

In all, she is learning how to get in to mischief, make messes, drive us crazy, and other such things. At the end of the day, though, when she gets sleepy and snuggles close, we forget all of that and say to each other "We have a perfect baby girl."

Wiemers' Week

This week Ammon's dad, John, came out to visit for Thanksgiving! I hope we kept him busy enough. Over the course of the week, we saw Oliver at West Jordan High School, went swimming and hot tubbing, rode Trax to Salt Lake City, ate a lot of yummy food, and hung out with Hannah, Jeremy, Sariah, Dan, Jack, and Sophie as much as possible. India found a picture of candles I cut out from the newspaper and would come up to me and sing "Happy Birthday" to me then blow out the newspaper candles. Ammon did a great job heading up our Thanksgiving feast, and Sariah even made me a pumpkin cheesecake! Thanks to all of my cute friends and family who made my my birthday great!!! I'm so lucky!

Ammon and I took an extra trax trip down to Salt Lake to watch a Jazz game with my family. (We LOVE riding Trax. People are much nicer, it's cheap, and you don't have to worry about parking). My dad scored three extra cool seats, so we all took turns sitting on the 9th row at center court. Now, I'm not a basketball fan in the least, but being that close was incredible! I'm sure Ammon would feel the same way if he sat that close at a ballet. (Hint, hint).

There you go. They say I'm a genius!

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors. You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius. Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way. While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme. Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Eye Candy

I absolutely love Christmas! Ammon has forbid me to put out Christmas decorations until December 1st. We'll see. I'm all about celebrating Christmas on Thanksgiving because that's what I'm thankful for. Plus, my birthday is on Thanksgiving, so shouldn't I get my way?

Oh yes, and your treat? Click on the link below to check out Ammon's sweet dance moves! Shake it, shake it!!!

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9515573955

Our Little Dragon

India didn't like being in her costume, but after people started giving her candy, she forgot all about it. On our way to Eric and Camille's house, India kept rehearsing her script: "trick or treat", "thank you", "bye bye". Ammon and I "dressed up" as a king and queen, but all the kids at our ward party kept asking me if I worked at Burger King. I guess a crown doesn't make the cut for Halloween.

The City of Lights

A couple weeks ago, Ammon and I took a 33 hour trip with the Shumways to Las Vegas! It was our first time. We had an excellent road trip (thanks for driving Josh!), and within only a few hours, McKenna quadrupled my exposure to past and current bands and singers! We also found Kolob. I feel lucky because I don't think a lot of people have found Kolob, but the cows certainly have.

We dropped our bags off at the massive Excalibur and hit the strip. We loved the 3D movie at the M&M factory. At the Coke Factory, we sampled the "taste of the world", or a variety of coke products from different countries. I enjoyed Iceland's sprite-like beverage the best and despised Italy's carbonated cough syrup. Hands down though, the American stuff is the best.

Later that night, Ammon and I found the lion exhibit while the Shumways rode the roller coaster. It was way better than the zoo because they got the lions to move around. There is a section where you can walk under the lions, which is incredible. We watched the water show and saw some fireworks. Our celebrity sighting was John Walsh, who was actually taping America's Most Wanted when we saw him.

The next day we visited the Bodies exhibit, which was a bit creepy, but nonetheless, educational. My favorite part showed the development of a fetus every two weeks. Simply amazing and way better than pictures!

I'd like to present

Our first blogged home video starring India. (Many thanks to McKenna who figured out how to post this!) Our family LOVES to watch The Office together every Thursday night.

The Analogy

A typical week in the Wiemers' household is like a merry-go-round. It's got ups and downs, but eventually we get around to the next weekend.

Recent ups: Ammon's chili won first place at the ward chili cook-off! And we've got the ribbon to prove it. Ammon also made teacher of the month at school and received a hundred bucks for it. This is really cool because teachers are nominated by students rather than other teachers. Moving on. I made dinner 3 times last week. Ammon bought me a Harry Potter book and some new slippers for no reason in particular. If you know Ammon's feelings about Harry Potter, you know this purchase was a moral sacrifice. Lastly, I am happy to report that India is now good enough to go and participate in story time at the library again! We took a six month sabbatical from all public "playgroup" things because India would run away from me and tease other children.

Recent downs: Ammon's soccer team lost at region, but it was the first time they made it to regions in 7 years. Ammon is now shifting his extracurricular activities from soccer to debate. Next, India broke her first item at a store (worcestershire sauce), which made a huge, pungent mess. I fired her from grocery shopping with me in the future. On the flip side, today India fired me and Ammon. Then she found new parents. The new parents had way cooler toys and snacks. She and her new brother managed to escape from the new parents by crawling under pews and through a maze of legs. Then the new parents fired India, and we had to take her home with us.

What about our in-between moments? Here's an example: Ammon was intrigued by a few of our friends' ugly baby blogs, so he googled ugly babies. Unfortunately, we have found that India is terrified by the Mr. Bean baby. Shaking, screaming, running terrified. I kind of am too.

At any rate, last week was a good ride!

FOOD GOOD

Some of you fine people may wonder what the video means other than that it is hilarious. Now that I have a few minutes of stolen time, I'll explain.

Every day, I have my students write one half page on a topic that I give to them. The topics are questions that I think would be interesting to have them write about and also to discuss. You can, if you're really bored, go to my class web site and read all of the topics for the year. http://ammon.wiemers.googlepages.com

Lately, it seems like we've been talking an unusually great amount about food. For instance, I had them write about what their favorite kind of pie is. I was shocked to learn how many people don't like pie. I think that is too bad.

I've also noticed that I have wanted to eat yummy food more lately. Whether it is that the holiday food season is approaching, or that my natural instinct to fatten up for the winter, or that the opportunity has just arisen more frequently, I have been eating too much yummy stuff lately.

For instance, on Saturday I came home from buying food at Costco to find that one of our well meaning neaighbors had dropped of a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. Well, that's not nice. I made up my mind that I was going to do good, as far as diet goes, for the entire weekend. That usually is not so. But, there was a box of delicious sitting right there. So, I partook.

As I was eating the last one, (Erin and India helped) I went to the gym. I ran an extra mile, but I'm not sure it was enough. Sugar Good -- Sugar Bad.

So what does that have to do with the video clip? The line about how he's never really glad he ate a hot pocket when he's done. That's how I feel about donuts and other sugary things. Before hand, I think "this is going to be awesome." After, I think "that was awesome, but I don't feel good."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFFTwnYXI20

I'm sure that the holiday season will be difficult, but I'm hopefull that I can win. That is, the battle of the bulge.

William Tell Overture

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anSpBUxsgAU

This isn't quite my life yet, but apparently I've got a lot look forward to! (India loves to sing with this lady).

Irks, Quirks, and Smirks

So, I've decided to go against my better judgment and get all personal on ya'll. Not 'cause I really want to (‘cause I don't) or because everyone else is doing it (which they are), but because honestly I can't think of another topic better to write about. If that all doesn't make sense to all of you all. I'm about to go against one of the things I hate the most and make a list. A personal inventory/self reflexion of my self toward myself by myself ... self. I'm going to do seven of them. That is, I'm writing seven things I like, dislike and things like that ... like. No I'm not writing seven of each. I'm writing seven total -- wise acres. I think seven total is more than sufficient for all those nosy people who want to know all this stuff about me, but don't have the gumption to call me on the phone and ask me. 'Cause that would be weird. It's not like someone would ever call and say "Ammon? So what's your favorite, oh I don't know, brand of latex paint?" Somehow though, if I write it in my blog people will say to themselves "I didn't know that about him, and now that he says it, I'm glad that I do." Well anyway... here goes.

1. Lists.

I really don't like lists. Well, not all lists. Just lists of favorite things. I don't really have favorites of things. When someone asks me what my favorite something is, I start to feel bad thinking somehow I ought to have one, and why don't I?, and I think that somehow I'm not as good a person because I haven't thought of how important it is to have a favorite of that type of thing, and even worse is that I don't know that many types of that particular type of thing to really make an educated decision on the matter, so I just pick the first one that I can think of and then the look on their face suggests that I ought to have considered my options better, but I thought that I had, and then I think that those people don't want to be my friend anymore, and that's not good, so I really wish people didn't ask me things like what's my favorite. So, in other words I really don't understand the supposed need people have of rank ordering every aspect of their life. I have things I like and things I don't like. Sure. I don't though order those lists. I don't have a singular favorite of most things.

2. Books.

I really like many books. I am often asked what my favorite book is. I should probably get used to the question. It seems like the two questions people ask when the find out I teach English are 1. What is your favorite book? and 2. I hate grammar. The second isn't really a question, but they say it as if it was and they expect me to side with them. Anyway, usually I tell them the same thing I'm going to write here. There are many books that I would say are my favorite. Well, that really defeats the purpose of favorite now doesn't it? I'll list some of my favorites now.
· The Sun Also Rises, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, Death of a Salesman (yes I know it's a play), The Grapes of Wrath, Their Eyes are Watching God, Things Fall Apart. I'll stop there since this list has a theme of seven.

3. Transportation.

My dream is to one day convince Erin to let me get a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Once I have procured that, I will then begin trying to get a Corvette. Owning and driving both is part of my twenty year plan. Well I think that the Harley might come at around year ten (that leaves me six years on that one). The Corvette perhaps around year 20. If I can’t dream that one day I’ll drive a Corvette, what’s the point? I might as well just die now.

4. Dream Jobs.

There are a few jobs that I would choose if I had no other factors to consider than the merits of that particular job alone. That is, if I didn’t have things like wife, child, responsibility, morals, laws, and health to bog my decisions down.
· Pirate
· Chef/ Restaurant owner
· Meteorologist/extreme weather chaser
· National Geographic photographer
· Mob boss

So, obviously the above list of things that influenced my selection of career won out in the end. Yep, I teach English.

5. Time Wasting.

I can't decide whether this is one that I like or not. Well, let me explain. Right now, I'm sitting at work with a pile -- actually, that's not true -- several piles of work I should be doing. I'm not doing it though. I'm blogging. Is it a waste of time? I don't think so. It might be a misappropriation of time. So, instead of doing the work (I'm not doing it 'cause my mind is numb) I'm doing other "work" that I like better. I'll get the work done on Saturday. That's what I always say to myself. Really, I've come to accept that work doesn't ever get done. Piles get finished only to start new piles. I guess I just find a comfortable level of drownedness. Is that a word? And to get through it, I interject things like blogging and answering emails and reading the news. Is it time wasting or break taking? If it is called time wasting, I'm strictly opposed. If it is break taking, I'm whole heartedly in favor of it.

6. Silly News

Is it wrong to read the news hoping to laugh? I'm sure that for the people involved in the stories I find hilarious, the story isn't that funny. Should I get pleasure and entertainment out of human suffering? I feel like the answer should be no. Well, I guess I need to explain. I don't look at natural catastrophes and laugh at people dying. That is wrong. However, when I read a story http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,298419,00.html about a man who has no arms getting into a fight with another guy and head butting him, for some reason that is funny. I often read Fox News' web site. They have a section called something like "most read." They usually have interesting funny and weird stories there.

7. Disney

I have found myself talking a lot about Disney lately. I think it is really quite amazing that people get so upset when they find out I hate Disney and especially Disneyland. There reaction is something akin to if I they found out I worshipped the devil. I don't by the way, but when people find out I don't like Disney they assume I do. I actually do have a reason for not liking it. I'm not just trying to be controversial. My major problem is their slogan "happiest place on earth." My objection to that is the place they have created, which is a false reality, they sell to us as authentic. Worse than that is that we buy it. People are lining up to buy a false ideal. It is not the happiest place on earth. It is a great a spacious place with lots of people laughing though. Hmm? Something about calling evil good and good evil. I don't know exactly. Anyway, I don't like it. Never have been there. Never will go there.

So that's my seven.

Picture Updates

This is India and her friend Raegan at the Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. The aquarium is 1/2 price the first Monday of every month: adults $4, children $3, age two and under free. It was cool, but definitely not more than a $4 show. The best attractions were the octopus suctioned to the glass, fluorescent jellyfish, and the stingray petting pool. Slimy!

Continuing the water theme. I had tried and tried and tried all day long to get India into a bathing suit, so she could swim in her pool. Through compromise, we managed a win-win situation.

Dinner time has become a battle of wills: India vs. me. This night India wouldn't eat anything I put in front of her. So I opened the cupboard and presented can after can to see what she wanted for dinner. She decided

on green chili peppers. I think I won.

Ok . . . I finally buckled.

I have actually been "tagged" a couple of times in the past, so I'm finally getting around to it.

1. My first job in college I was a model for the art department. (If you haven't figured out this is Erin writing, you can put your fears to rest). Once a boy left crying, and the only time I got embarrassed was when I found out that Ammon's roommate had been in one of the classes.



2. One of the few things that Ammon and I have in common is that we love to work outside. Mowing. Edging. Weeding. Mulching. We are definitely the weird couple who are obsessed with having the greenest grass on the street. Every Mother's Day, we've made a tradition of buying flowers to plant for the summer. I want to be able to grow things like my mom can.



3. I want to go back to school and get a master's degree. I'm not sure in what yet - maybe English, maybe counseling, maybe education. I want to attend classes at an established university rather than taking internet classes because I love being a student.



4. I lived in Roswell, New Mexico for three months when I was 13 years old. My family (2 parents, 8 kids, and 1 dog) lived in a small one bedroom/one bathroom apartment. Yet I can honestly say that was the best summer of my life. We went to the bottomless lakes 3 times a week, used the laundromat for the first time in my life, went on trek in the desert, bought alien t-shirts and alien paraphernalia, slept on sleeping bags every night, and Bryce and I got our patriarchal blessings from my grandpa that summer. My dad worked with the missionaries in our ward, and I felt so cool because my dad had the missionary hook-ups.



5. I used to hate dancing. I went to my first dance (a church dance for mutual) when I was 12. I cried and cried and begged my parents to stay home because I couldn't dance. Only my parents would force their children to humiliate themselves in front of everybody. I didn't go to another dance until I was 15 1/2, which was at EFY. After that, I was hooked and attended as many high school and church dances as I could. So - Mom and Dad, you were right and thank you!



6. I've gone sledding on a loveseat attached to skis. Exhilarating.



7. My all-time favorite books are The Grapes of Wrath, Things Fall Apart, and Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World. I'm not very good at writing poetry, but I love to read it.

Now I tag Ammon, Hannah, Jeremy, Ashley, Shumways, and the Hawes. Write 7 things about yourself!

Loud Sheets? And Shooting Stars?

This Tuesday will mark the fourth anniversary of Erin and me getting married. Sort of related to that, we got new sheets for our bed. After four years they have become fairly worn. UMMM? Well anyway, we got new sheets. I went to the store and got what looked like good sheets. The main thing I learned is that the higher the number the better the sheets. So I thought 800 was a nice number for sheets -- thread count that is. What I didn't know, and I have subsequently come to understand, is that the higher the number also means the louder the sheets are. I've never been awakened in the middle of the night before by the sound of fabric. I know -- you are probably wondering what a sheet could sound like that could be that loud. Really, there is no other way for me to properly convey the sound that kept waking Erin and me up all night. It is an altogether new sound. Krinkly, rustly, crumply, and flappilty are words that I'm not sure are actually real, but they are something like the sound that I'm talking about. The first night was the loudest, and each night either the sheets are simmering down or we are getting used to it. You can't argue against the comfort, but the noise was something else.

Tonight we went to see a meteor shower. It's called Perseids or something like that. Anyway, we were certainly underwhelmed. We went up onto the mountain and stayed for about an hour. I saw three. Erin saw one (India was distracting her). Jeremy saw the most -- 5. In a word, the meteor shower was really not all that very fantastic. (I like to say "in a word" and then not give the one word -- it's a little trick I know.)

The plans for celebrating our anniversary include staying in Park City for the night and waking up to go mountain biking. I'm so excited. Erin's excitement does not nearly match mine, but is growing. It's going to be awesome. We will ride the lifts with our bikes and ride the trails back down. So we get all of the fun of mountain biking without nearly as much work. It's the American Dream. Wait. Is that the American Dream? All fun and no work? Well, I'm not going to comment too much on that. In fact I don't care, at this point, if our vacation plans align with my or anyone else's conception of what it means to be American. All I know is that it's going to be freakin' sweet, and that's all I'm worried about.

I realized that today is my last Sunday night before a monday that I have to work. Now for the rest of the year, I'm going to go to sleep on Sunday night with the certain doom of waking up to go to work. And you may say "lot's of people go to work on Monday," but it's hard for me, so BACK OFF. That's all to say that I have to go back to teaching after a wonderful summer. I knew it had to end eventually.

Big Gulps Huh? Well, See you later.

I'm So Excited About Number Seven

I've never been happy about the release of a book -- that is until just this week. Yes, I'm talking about the release of the seventh and final installment of Harry Potter. The difference between my excitement and the excitement felt by most people is that I'm only happy because it is the final Harry Potter and we are that much closer to being done with that stupid little boy witch. (And to all those who will say "he's a wizard" I say "he rides a broom -- he's a witch.") I just can't wait until the final movie. Honestly, I don't get any of the genuine excitement that people won't shut up about. And no, that isn't just because I haven't read any of the books and if I did I'd understand. I will never read even one page of one of those books. That is enough about that. I'm actually a little embarrassed about having written the words Harry Potter. I hope that is the last time I ever will.

Erin and I are on the cusp of beginning a new diet. She has determined, and I said I'd do it too, that this is the best diet to try. We are going to start The South Beach Diet tomorrow. Oh boy. We went to Costco yesterday and bought a would be starter kit for the diet. I've never bought so many vegetable at once in my entire life. It felt wrong. Not only that -- we didn't buy anything with sugar in it. That also felt wrong. So, for the next two weeks we won't be eating any bread, fruit, juice, well basically anything yummy and tasty. Essentially, for 14 whole days we will be cutting as many carbs as possible. Apparently, there are good and bad carbs and we're getting rid of the bad ones (whatever the aitch that means). Alls I knows is that we gots a list of good foods and bad foods and I ain't allowed to eat none from the bad list. Yes I know the grammar in that last sentence is awful, but I feel like a moron learning how to eat. I mean honestly, I've been doing it for a while now and I thought I had the general idea of it down -- eating. Nope. I've been doing it all wrong.

Well, that's all for now. And bring on the lettuce wraps. Lettuce wraps?

Summer Fun

It's been way too long since I've sat down and flitted my fingers across the keyboard in order to bring an update about our little family. Addditionally, we tremporarily misplaced the memory card for our camera rendering it useless to take pictures of our baby. Good news though -- we got it back and have some recent photos to share.



India is growing so fast. We have a hard time keeping up with her, because in addition to her rapid development, she also has an independant streak. Well, not a streak so much as an entire personality. She loves to copy whatever we are doing, and we are amazed at how well she mimicks what we do. Now -- if only we could get her to stop eating her chalk. This first picture is of her sitting so proudly in her little red chair. She feels so accomplished when she sits all-by-herself in her own place. Another place she likes to sit is on the bottom shelf of our bookcase. She clears the shelf of all its posessions and arranges herself next to her toys. It seems as though it was made just for her.

The remaining pictures have a common theme that I just noticed. And fittingly for summer, that theme is water. Erin and I have determined and subsequently invested a considerable amount of time this summer to keeping our yard green. It is turning out to be more of an accomplishment than I hoped for considering that we live in a desert and the temperature outside during the day is just short of -- I don't know -- an errupting Mount Kilauea. I've heard that not much grass grows in that type of heat, but we're not letting that stop us -- at least not all the way. India, as I mentioned before, really enjoys "helping" water the lawn.

On the July fourth, we went up in Provo Canyon to play in the water. We failed to realize that the water in that particular river is just warmer than snow and much too cold to play in. We didn anyway -- for just long enough to take a couple pictures and leave. India had a great time, but it was just too cold to stay for very long.


She does look very cute, though, sitting on the rock.

We are enjoying our summer and will hopefully have many more pictures to show for it. That's all for now.

Playing in the Yard

It was a wonderful Saturday. I woke up early -- for a Saturday -- and went golfing. I had a great time. Several people from the ward all went together. That is part of the reason my face is a little over sunned in the picture.
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Another reason is that Erin, India, and I went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point with Grandma and Grandpa Parker. The flowers, bagpiper, along with all of the gardens were beautiful to look at. Mostly though, it was nice to spend time with Erin and India. I can't wait for the summer when we can spend much of the time together.
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After we got back from the gardens, we took an amazing nap. Each of us was very tired. Erin said she didn't want to take one, but finally gave in to the sleepy disease that is Saturday afternoon -- resistance is futile.
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After the nap, we all went outside and played in the Yard. We all had fun. We played soccer and a really fun version of catch. Erin took the pictures and gave motherly advice of "don't drop her" and "you be careful".

Happy Birthday

If the first year is the hardest, we are over it. If it is the easiest, oh boy here we come. We have just finished one year of parenthood, and in all I think we fared pretty well. For her birthday India got a highchair in which Erin and I will feed her. It's really a present for Erin and me, but India thinks it's pretty cool too. She enjoys the wonderful tone she can make when she bangs whatever she is holding on the plastic tray. She also got some toys which she loves. Among her favorite toys is her xylophone. Although Erin noticed that the "a" is flat, India just likes the noise regardless of the tonal quality. Oh yes, and she loves the maracas. She could pretty much care less what clothes she wears -- she might rather not wear any. She does love, though, showing off her Sunday dress and laughing when people -- mostly her mom and dad -- tell her how beautiful she looks. The best part of her birthday party was the tearing apart of her very own baby cake. It took some encouraging, but once she realized that we weren't kidding about letting her have it, that cake and baby both became a mess of some sort of purple goo and yummy. She loved it.

I'm continuing the fight at West Jordan High School and Erin is still at Discovery Academy. I got in my mailbox today a form to fill out saying whether or not I plan on returning next year. I'm leaning toward staying. Recently the debate coach asked me if I wanted to take over the program, and I'm probably going to do so. I might also have the opportunity to be an assistant coach for the girls soccer team, which I would love. So, in the end I'll most likely decide to remain at the school for another year.

Happy 2007

We are now into the full swing of things. It was especially hard to return to normal, after a great Christmas break. We had a wonderful time visiting with family. We spent most of the time with Erin's side, but were glad to add Hannah and Jeremy too. They came over on Christmas morning to eat more waffles than we should have. India had fun opening presents for about 19 seconds. we had to coerce her into continuing -- she thought the wrapping was the present. She was really happy when she saw the blocks, clothes, puppets, and soccer ball (which I have taught her to kick, and she does a great job). She is our continual cheerleader -- it scares me for the future, but it's cute now. She constantly walks around clapping and saying "YAAAAAY." Another of her tricks is her victory dance. After she does something she is especially proud of, she raises her hands in the air as if she just won something and runs around cheering. The scary thing is not that she expects us to also cheer or that she is disapointed when we don't immediately. The scary thing is that we usually cheer and don't wonder that we are cheering for no apparent reason other than that India decided that we ought to. This 11-month-old baby gets us to do whatever -- within reason-- that she wants us to.

Erin and I learned what may be considered a useful skill. That is how to not lose our minds after changing 742 thousand poopy diapers in one week. That isn't an exxageration. Erin kept a tally. In other words, India was yucky-smelly sick for over a week. I think it was harder for me and Erin than for India. She was smiley as ever, except for the unusually cuddley disposition India took on while she was sick. It was nice to get to hold her. She usually doesn't like to be held for very long. She'd much rather be free to run around and socialize as she pleases.

(Switching gears . . . Erin speaking now because Ammon is talking to his dad on the phone). I have been taking India to laptime (aka - reading and singing time for infants) at the Orem library. Last time the librarian got mad at India because she wouldn't stop ringing her jingle bells (or trying to eat them) when the librarian said "ssshhhhhh!" Go figure.

Ammon and I are waiting for everybody at the gym to give up their New Year's resolutions, so we don't feel like we're working out in a can of sardines. I can benchpress 75 lbs! (This is a MAJOR improvement. When we started I could barely lift the bar 8 times). Ammon can benchpress a whopping 225 lbs five times! So, even though I'm getting stronger, I always look like I'm benchpressing cheerios next to Ammon.

Looking back at 2006, I'd say the highlight of our year was definitely welcoming India to our family. I retired from full-time teaching, and Ammon started his teaching career. You know, I always knew what my life would be like 5 years after high school. However, I'm not sure what the next 5 years will be like now. Oh well. Ready or not, here we go.

The Bargain

People, when is it legal to begin celebrating the Christmas season? I believe that the day after Thanksgiving is reasonable. However, Ammon is a man who barely believes in holidays occuring in August through April. So it is understandable from a holiday grump's point of view to see why it is ridiculous to put up the entire five Christmas decorations we own six days before December 1st. But I've got good news. We worked out a compromise. If I wait for December 1st to decorate, Ammon said I could go out and buy more Christmas decorations. So three miniature Christmas trees, twenty bucks in ribbon and ornaments, and a nutcracker later, I can't complain. And I can't wait until next year.

India just had her 9 month check-up. The results: she's perfectly healthy and received her first flu shot. She has 4 more teeth coming in, and she dropped from the 10th to the 3rd percentile in weight and height - due to the many calories she burns from crawling and WALKING! Not only walking, but even running, kicking, and jumping when Ammon plays "I'm gonna get you" with her. India has added kissing the pretty baby in the mirror to her bag of tricks. (Occassionally, mommy and daddy get kisses too, which is cute, but slobbery). Also, India now spits, dances on her knees, knocks down blocks, steals binkies from other babies, and throws tantrums. The funniest tantrum she's thrown yet was when the people behind us in church started eating their snacks without sharing any with India.

Last week India met Grandma Garey who surpised my dad with a birthday visit. Next week we will do something fun to celebrate my 24th birthday. We will also be starting a new Thanksgiving tradition: the homemade pie contest. Yummmmmm. Meanwhile, Ammon will continue to persevere through high school (again), and I will maintain my part time teaching at Discovery Academy. Cheerio!

Silly Brain

My dad sent this as an email a couple of days ago, and I thought it was really cool. I just wanted to post this and let everyone else read it. I don't have much time to write so I'll just leave with this.

More Brain Stuff . . . From Cambridge University.

O lny srmat poelpe can raed tihs. cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy. it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid de os not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs psas it on !!

The Pink Nightmare

Yes, it is official. Erin has begun to sell Mary Kay cosmetics. I am really happy for her -- she is excited to get started. I hope that it doesn't turn into a huge hassle. I'm sure it won't. Erin has her eyes on earning a car. And that ain't bad.

In other news, I am still kind of hanging out waiting for school to start. I'm reading a book that I think I'll teach this year, probably in the spring. It's called The Secret Life of Bees. I'm about half done with it. The book isn't the greatest ever, but decent. I kind of have little dilemma. Girls will read "boy" books, but boys won't read "girl" books. This book is definitely a "girl book." I'm going to teach it anyway. I think it is good for boys to be exposed to the feminine perspective. I also think it is valuable for girls to have their own perspective shown in a positive way. I don't know how well I'll do. Erin could perhaps teach the book much more effectively than I, but I'm still going to give it a shot. I'm just a little nervous. As I said earlier, I'm not teaching it until the spring, so I have plenty of time to get advice from some of my colleagues. I'm one of two male English teachers, so I will find several people who can give me support. I'll also teach plenty of "boy" books as well as more somewhat gender-neutral books. I still don't have all of my curriculum hammered out, but I do know where I'll start. With the tenth grade I'm going to work on writing. With the eleventh grade, I'm going to dive right in to a two play unit. We'll be reading A Death of a Salesman and A Raisin' in the Sun. It should be fun.

We've got a couple more weeks of summer, and I plan on enjoying all of them. We have a couple of fun things coming up on our horizon. Next week we will be spending a great deal of time with family. We'll start off next week seeing Gramma Clark, Aunt Deb, and the Merrills. We'll end the week spending time with Erin's extended family. I'm hopeful that the time will be fun and exciting.

busy week

I don't think anybody has been reading this, but I'm going to update it anyway.

We had a really busy week this week -- not quite as busy though as last week. Tuesday was the fourth and I've decided that -- I guess this is just the first time I've thought about it -- The Fourth of July is my favorite holiday. You can't go wrong with fireworks and barbeques. We did both with Erin's family. A couple of days later we went back to Centerville for Bryce's (Erin's brother) reception. He got married about a month ago while we were in Illinois, so they had another reception so we could be there. Well, not exactly. There were many other people who couldn't or didn't want to make it up to Idaho for the first one.

Included among the people we were glad to see was Erin's Grandpa who came from Rhode Island to see all of the family. It was the first time that India has gotten to meet him. She was mostly all smiles. I think she likes him.

I got to barbeque three times this week. That's pretty good, but someday I'll go a perfect 7/7. It is the perfect way to cook. Yes, combining open flames and meat seems to call back some of the basic instincts leftover in our genetic makeup from primal man. I feel like ripping my shirt off grunting and howling to the fire gods. One of the best parts is the sizzle of cold meat being slapped on heated metal. Oh, it is wonderful.

I don't have any new pictures to introduce -- and I'm too lazy to charge up the batteries and go take some, so it'll just be typing for today.

When will life get back to normal?

This is just about the cutest baby ever.






After only spending ten whole days at home in the entire month of June, we are hopeful that we can get some sort of a routine soon. I'm not exactly sure what normal for us is yet this summer. We have so much time on our hands, but rarely have trouble finding something to do. I don't really mind having the summer off as a teacher. I'm also enjoying the fact that I have a job, but start out my employment not working for a couple of months. I'll be plenty busy soon enough.

India is growing so fast. It seems as though she has learned something new nearly every day. I still feel sort of strange sometimes when I realize that I am talking about goofy baby stuff. I mean big deal right? So she rolls over a lot now and likes to sleep on her side instead of her back -- it's not like she cured cancer. For me though, it is almost that exciting. I really like that I've gotten to spend so much time with her. I'm not very hopeful I will have similar opportunity with the other children we plan on having in the future. This is very much a unique time of life.

I'm not spending as much time as I probably should preparing for the upcoming school year. I have the rest of my life to plan. I think I'll just relax. I'll start stressing soon enough. For now, Erin and I have been spending much more time trying to get healthy. That's something we have neglected for far too long (more me than her).

We haven't gone fishing enough yet to justify the money we spent (again mostly me) on the fishing equipment. However, we still have ample time left in the summer to do so.

I went swimming for the first time in several years. Well, I didn't actually swim. I pretty much layed on noodles and got my tan on. I had a really great time and can't wait to lounge some more soon.