A Mission Fulfilled

When I found out I was pregnant with Liam I thought what any parent first thinks of: "Now I get to cash in on the free candy this Halloween and Easter!" The latest event… Easter egg hunting with an almost 1 year old Liam. So what my kid can’t walk- I can! I can also pick up eggs lying on the ground and steal jellybeans from 2 year olds. That qualifies me to hunt right?!
My friend Myla came. She has a 5 month old, but hey, it’s free candy for crying out loud!!!

Here I took a mad dash for some Easter eggs while Liam hung on for dear life. Liam picked up one egg (only because I put it in his hand). We came home with 16.

Hunk Of Burning Love

Death doesn’t scare me (unless it’s me whose dying). But that’s why I perform these stunts: to show Fate that I’m the one in control, not some silly cookie at the New Hong Kong restaurant.

Anyway, I did it for Liam. I figure when he’s older, and he sees me wearing a smock to work everyday he may think I’m kind of boring, maybe even a nerd, even though I’ll basically be a legit, licensed drug dealer, and most kids think drug dealers are cool. My boy will be able to look at this picture and realize that his old man is quite extreme at heart.

Feel free to copy this photo and blow it up and tape it on your bedroom wall to motivate you to become more like me.

Carrie Angel and Tanner Landing

Tanner's parents treated us to some awesome hiking at Zion's National Park and Bryce Canyon this past week. This picture is during our hike to Angel's Landing. It is pretty cool because it ascends 1500' and is 5 miles long. This point is about 2 miles up and is right before you have to start using chains to hike the rest. This is also the point where I commanded that Liam not go up any further!

Thanks to the encourgement of Tanner's parents, and their offering to hike Liam back down, we were able to hike the rest of the way to the top. You can see the chains needed to help the hikers... on the other side a drop off to the bottom.

It was so awesome at the top. You can see the tiny road that kind of puts into perspective how high up we were. We had so much fun with this hike- I think it was because it was so satisfying to know you hiked the whole way up from the bottom. We would love to do it again.

We also hiked at beautiful Bryce Canyon. We had a great time hiking here because of the awesome rock formations we saw. I was so happy to be outside and with my family-check out my stride!!

"Mossy-wait no, Icy Cave- no..... lover's cave..."

Liam was so much fun to bring and did awesome as we hiked him around everywhere. He was extra cute in the little backpack and drew in attention from the other hikers. At one point we passed some foreign hikers. One of them looked at Liam and said, "Hey little clime-Ber." We all laughed- it was a fun time.

Two Sick Boys and Only 1 Mom

Liam's getting a couple of teeth on the top row. Although we could see the whites of the teeth through the gums for some time now, they only actually started to break through about a week ago. But for this past solid week he's been miserable.

He acts like he's in so much pain that he always gets to be by Mommy's side; always has to have her hold him. He cries, she runs to him. He gets to rock with Mom anytime in the chair and gets fed whenever he's hungry. So where does this leave me? By myself, without any love.

Oh! But for some reason he's happy all of the sudden when he gets to play with a ball, or eat oatmeal and baby mush. And the pain swiftly disappears when Mom plays games with him. You thinking what I'm thinking? That's right, Liam, with his big, fake, disproportioned teeth gets whatever he wants whenever he wants. Well, you know what? I'VE BEEN SICK FOR THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME!

No......I already have my teeth. Had 'em about 26 years now. I've even exchanged the old ones for new ones between then and now. Instead, I've had flu-ish symptoms. I won't tell you much about them because of all the runny, gooey, sticky, gummy, gelatinous, stinky, poopy, barfy, hurty, achy details which may make you sick. Anyway, I've felt like crying just as much as the little boy, but I refrain; I'm bigger than that. Doesn't Mom realize that I need her more in these types of situations than a faking baby does? I've had to deal with it all alone AND had to go to all of my classes and work (although I didn't). Any of you know what TLC is? Tender, Love, and Care. Well, it seems that when a baby comes along all of Mom's TLC goes to him/her and leaves us (spouses) empty and alone. What am I supposed to do when I'm hungry? Where's Carrie to scratch my back when I need put to sleep? What happened to our ball playing time?


As you all know, when teething, much slobbering occurs. With a fat neck all the slobber collects in the crevasses. Check out the rice crispies caught in Liam's neck-swamp!



And here's what my head feels like with all my congestion. Who looks the sickest to you?

Living the Dream

The other night I was setting up for an event in the gym of our local church. As we were setting up some fourteen year old boys came up to me with a basketball in their hand and asked if they could play.

"Sure," I said, "but only if you let me take a shot."

The boys were all about that. They tossed me the ball, and I walked to the three-point line and shot up a prayer. Swooosh! What a miracle! All of us were amazed. As I finished and was exiting the gym, I called out to the boys to give me one more shot. "I'm hot tonight," I said. They tossed me the basketball and ladies and gentlemen I made not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR three pointers in a row. I was really shocked.

What's funny about this story is the fact that I have been dreaming lately about being an awesome basketball star (I'm talking at least 3 dreams about this), so to have this lucky incident happen when it did is just comical.

As I was shooting the boys were saying all sorts of compliments. Their comments (combined with me making shots) made it all surreal. One kid made me laugh because he asked if I ever played college ball. "I'm a born natural," I replied. I think I'll take a trip to the local sporting goods store, and if anyone is asking, yes, I am available for any autographs.