Baby Evan 10 months old and counting

Baby Evan is a busy boy these days. Some of his latest activities include:
crawling, crawling, crawling up on his knees and getting very fast!
getting into all the cupboards, bathroom, toilet, etc.
Getting four upper teeth!
standing as much as possible
getting more vocal everyday (he loves to babble- if only we knew what he was saying)
He is getting better at sleeping- taking two naps a day and sleeping pretty well at night
He loves to eat crackers and feed them to himself

Baby Evan's Sock Monkey Quilt

My mom helped me make this really cute quilt in Utah (and my sisters helped pick out the fabric. We BARELY finished this before we left and I did the binding on the long car ride home! It was really fun to make.


By the way, I love this blog but it's just too confusing to have two blogs, so I'm discontinuing this one and will be posting on jamesandcassie.blogspot.com for now on, so check there for pictures of our Utah trip.

The powerful results of What Not To Wear

This is one of my favorite shows and I had it on today while I was cooking. James was home, and he made some funny comment about the show and I said:
"Hey, I really love this show. It's really inspired me to try to dress nicer and not look so frumpy." (I was being very serious)
James took one look at me, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon wearing sweats and a sweatshirt, not having showered or done my hair or make-up at all, and he replied, "I can tell."
We both just started laughing! It was pretty funny. Here I was pouring out my testimonial of the show- but my clothes spoke a lot louder! Maybe you had to be there. Of course he was joking... Anyway, then we started discussing what Stacy and Clinton would have to say about my outfit- pink monkey sweatshirt and all. "How old are you, 13???" I guess I need to keep watching a little more since I still have a few things to learn. :)

Tagged

Okay, I'm finally responding to being tagged by my sis:
1.Do you like bleu cheese? Surprisingly I do like it with the right salad.
2. Have you ever smoked? No.
3. Do you own a gun? No.
4. What flavor Kool-Aid was your favorite? I didn't drink a lot of kool-aid growing up. But now I really like the invisible-aid- it's fun to surprise people by making them think it's water! And I'm sure it'll be great when Evan drinks it and spills it and it won't stain.
5. Do you get nervous about doctor appointments? Depends. I REALLY get nervous for the dentist ( like months in advance)
6. What do you think of hot dogs? Sometimes I really get in the mood for them.
7. Favorite Christmas movie? I recently watched Elf and that's a funny movie. Of course It's a Wonderful Life is a classic. I've yet to see A Christmas Story and I hear I'm missing out.
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? I hate to admit it, but I'm a hot chocolate addict.
9. Can you do push-ups? I used to do a lot when I did track- it's been a while. But I did do some abs yesterday- and I'm feeling it today.
10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? My wedding ring, although I'm still very sad that I lost the wedding band- it lies somewhere on Bulldog Blvd in Provo between the two jobs I used to work at. After endless searching and tears and offers of money to coworkers to find it, I had to give up the search. I can't wait to someday get a new one.
11. Favorite hobby? That's hard. It depends on my mood. I go through phases-I love to scrapbook or sew or cook or walk. Before I got married ice skating was my favorite.
12. Do you have ADD? I don't think so.
13. What's one trait you hate about yourself? Oh what is not to love? Just Kidding. I don't know, probably I wish I was more outgoing.
14. Middle initial? M.
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment? I should really go to bed since it's 12:30 I can't wait til James is done with finals. It is REALLY cold today.
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? water, juice, milk (but not very much milk, mostly with cereal or brownies)
17. Current worry? Driving to Utah with the weather
18. Current hate right now? James having finals
19. Favorite place to be? Anywhere very warm-at home, I am a homebody most the time, although I do get cabin fever and have to get out
20. How did you ring in the new year? Well that's about to happen but I don't know what we're doing. Last year we went to see the Rockettes in Des Moines around New Years. That was really fun.
21. Where would you like to go? Minneapolis to the Mall of America
22. Name 3 people to tag? Steph, Cindy, Jessica
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, really cute monkey ones from James- and they are cozy!
24. What shirt are you wearing? A purple pajama shirt
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? Never tried it.
26. Can you whistle? Barely. James is really amazing.
27. Favorite color? Have you seen my bathroom? Purple
28. Would you be a pirate? Random question- no. Why would I?
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? I usually don't, for the same reason as Melanie-listening for Baby Evan! But I do love to sing to baby Evan in the bathtub- you know, rubber duckie and Rainbow connection.
30. Favorite girl's name? I love the name Allison-Alli- I just have to convince James it's a cute girls' name
31. Favorite boy's name? Evan, Jamison
32. What's in your pocket right now? nothing
33. Last thing that made you laugh? Baby Evan being really cute
34. What vehicle do you drive? Oldsmobile Aurora- I'm really spoiled because it has heated seats- best thing ever in winter.
35. Worst injury? never broken a bone- can I call childbirth an injury? Just Kidding- although it was painful! Probably stress fracture from cross country- well I did recently sprain my wrist from lifting baby Evan...
36. Do you love where you live? Yes, although it's hard to be away from family- but it is bonding as a couple to live far away from family because you have to rely on each other more and you have more chances to create family traditions. But in terms of weather, today's not the best day to ask, considering it's practically a blizzard outside right now- so cold you can't breathe even if you're outside for a second- and you can hear the cold wind from inside... But yes, I love how beautiful Iowa is, and I love how Des Moines has so many beautiful walking trails and how down-to-earth people are... and interesting places to visit like Pella, Amana Colonies, Omaha- Zoo for sure, and more...
37. How many TVs do you have in your house? one
38. Who is your loudest friend? Have you ever heard baby Evan cry?
39. Do you have any pets? No, but I'd love to have a kitty.
40. Does someone have a crush on you? I hope baby Evan does. He's very flirtatious!
41. Your favorite book? That's hard. Good classics I like are Jane Eyre and To Kill a Mocking bird but I also like self-help books like Dr. Laura-don't laugh or motivational books but I can't think of any titles.
42. Do you collect anything? No. And I don't want to. I wish I owned nothing. After moving twice this summer I realize how awful it is to keep stuff- it's too hard. But it's also hard to throw stuff away and I still have way too much stuff.
43. Favorite sports team? I used to be a die hard Utah Jazz fan years ago with Stockton and Hornacek, but now I'd say BYU- since James is a die hard BYU football fan so I can't really escape it.
44. What song do you want played at your funeral? I don't know, but I have to agree Mel that Rachmaninoff's 2nd piano concerto is amazing. But I never think about it.

Walking the Des Moines Skywalks

I don't know about you, but for me one of the hardest things about winter is exercising! Walks are my main form of exercise, but temperatures in the teens combined with wind and ice don't entice me to get outside much. I'm desperately out of shape, so I've been brainstorming various solutions to my exercise problem: walking at the mall, buying exercise dvds, getting a pass to the Drake gym next semester... But yesterday my solution was to walk the skywalks downtown. One unique thing about Des Moines downtown is that is has skywalks connecting practically every building. They are generally used by people who work in the buildings and they have many interesting features:
-beautiful views of the city
-lots of places to eat lunch
The Hub of the skywalks is kind of like a mini mall consisting of a few shops, including a cute little toy store and Christopher and Banks. There used to be a Younkers (department store) but sadly it went out of business). There are some gift shops and fancy dress stores. I wish it had more stores, I think it would make the coolest mall
-The skywalks take you past all the big businesses, insurance companies, banks, through lots of different buildings
-at Christmas time different buildings have Christmas lights or trees and decorations. One building had an enormous wreath
-There are lots of doors you go through in the skywalks, but they are almost all automatic, so with the stroller I never have to stop to open them!
-You don't see a lot of people walking through them- their high traffic time is before, after work and during lunch
-I do wish the stores were open later- their hours cater mostly to the working people and they close around 5.
Anyway, that's a little overview, but the point is, I walked the skywalks yesterday and really enjoyed it. It was warm and I felt like I got a good walk in and I got to feel like I was walking through a city and it was just nice to get out.
Here's the problem:
I've been struggling trying to figure out where to park to walk the skywalks. And I've done lots of research. Weekends all downtown parking is free, so Saturdays are great days to walk and I know where to park close to skywalk entrances. But on weekdays there are parking meters everywhere and the garages cost. So I tried the downtown library, but they have all these posted signs saying you can only park there WHILE IN the library. And they have signs about video cameras. So I don't want to get arrested as a mom trying to get exercise walking the skywalks. anyway, the library is a little far from the skywalk entrance and would mean I'd have to spend a short time outside- and that wouldn't be ideal- but I'd do it if they didn't have those signs. So- I looked online and drove around downtown but there is no free parking anywhere near the skywalks on weekdays. So either I pay for a meter- around 75 cents for 45 minutes- which would be fine- or I just walk Saturdays. So, I love the Saturday idea and I may pay the 75 cents every once in a while if I'm desperate to get out and really want to do it. I'm disappointed about the parking thing, but I'm glad I at least have another fun indoor place to walk( malls get old). Any other suggestions on how to get winter exercise???

Making the News-Almost

Did anyone (locally) watch ABC 5 news at 5:00 yesterday (Tuesday). Well I wasn't on there. But I almost was! I was interviewed by ABC 5v in the grocery store parking lot... A lady came up to my car so I rolled down the window and she said, "Hi I'm doing a story about Payday Loan/Check Cashing businesses. Do you have two minutes for me to ask you some questions?" So I said sure, and next thing I know she goes to her car and gets a camera and comes back. I'm like, "woah you didn't say anything about a camera." Of course I knew it didn't mean I'd be on tv, but still it's not everyday you have someone pointing a camera at you and asking you questions. She had me say and spell my name and she told me to talk looking at her left eye. She had me answer questions about if I'd ever used a check cashing business like payday loans. I said no and then she asked why and she proceeded to talk about legislation that's in discussion about reducing the high interest rates these companies charge. She asked my opinion. I have NEVER been good at such on-the-spot questioning so my answers were terrible, not eloquent at all. James is the law person who speaks well, not me! And I'm very camera shy, so I sounded retarded. Well she was nice and all and went on to interview someone else but I knew there was little chance I'd make the news. And I didn't. But let's be honest- I would have DIED of embarassment if anyone had heard me! Actually I watched the news story and they were looking for people who'd had some bad experience with getting charged insane interest at one of these businesses so I wasn't even what they wanted to find- at least it makes me feel like my not being picked was more than because I sounded dumb! But it was fun- definitely not an everyday occurence to have the news interview you!
Of course, what I really wish would happen would be to have Curtis from Take-Home-Chef meet me at the grocery store!

By the way, someone is having a little trouble waiting for Christmas Day. He was caught in the act of peeking. Not real sure what to do about this problem:

My Personal Interior Decorator-My Mom's Visit

My mom came to visit this past week. What a fun week! We did soooo much. One of the perks of living far away is that when people do come and visit it is one-on-one attention and very memorable. So my mom did so much to help me decorate my house. Here are a few things she helped me with:
my beautiful couch pillows (I love the fabric Steph helped me pick out!)
hanging my living room curtains
making a valance for Evan's bedroom window
dustruffle for Evan's crib
adding cute duck fabric to Evan's crib bumper pad
But no we didn't sew the whole time. We also did some traveling:
Amana Colonies-lots of fun shopping
Outlet malls in Williamsburg-I bought some cute baby clothes-see the picture of Evan in the blue sweater- $2 at Children's Place!
Iowa Falls, visiting Wilma and Karin, my old neighbors
visiting Amish villages-hence the picture of the Amish buggy parked at the grocery store
lunch at the Botanical Center "Riverside Cafe"
Indoor Farmers' Market downtown (Christmas Tree picture)

My mom never stops doing projects! I wanted to take a break for a short nap one day and she just kept on working! She really wanted to get the dustruffle done before she left but Sat night there was an Elders' Quorum Activity at our house for the BYU Utah Football game, so we hid in the bedroom and sewed! We BARELY had enough fabric for the dustruffle- all that was left were a few tiny little scraps- my mom is good at measuring! I've never seen someone sew as fast and well as my mom! Thanks mom for all the fun and gifts and decorating help and everything...
WE had so much fun and of course it was fun to see her and Evan interact!