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.

This is one of the few pictures we have of all three of us. We were lucky to get to see Grampa Wiemers back in early April . He took this on our way to India's blessing. We were so glad to have Dad come visit us, and are anxiously preparing for our trip to Illinois and Iowa to visit Dad again and the rest of the family for India's first time.