The Jewels of January

Hello All! We hope your new year has started out with a happy bang! January usually brings the normal resolutions of losing weight and/or eating healthy. P'shaw we say! We've joyously been having a Homemade Pancake Fest! The Mommy has tried a few recipes for pancakes made from scratch, but we came back to, and settled on, a recipe that we received as a Christmas gift! (thanks, Amanda!) Let's just say buttermilk is becoming a household staple. Ohh! Sooo Yummy :) And speaking of food, my homemade organic bread actually didn't turn out so bad, but it wasn't as tasty as I thought it should be...what's up with that? Organic 'anything' is usually delicious beyond compare. But, I do more than baking. I do laundry, too. Well, sort of. If you hear muffled cries for help from the benches of Draper, Utah it's just me swallowed up in mounds and mounds of clothes and towels. I can't keep up with a family of 4!!! I'm pathetic, I know... but, I have a new plan, now, that I'm finally 'caught up'. We shall see how it goes. It's a lot of work being here all day! Where's my lunch hour?! Where's my benefit package?!

WHY...HERE'S A COUPLE OF 'BENEFITS' NOW ;)


Cali's first word was car, her first major motion picture viewed in a theater was Pixar's Cars, so her first daddy-daughter date was going to the car show! She is also working on her 'collection' of Matchbox cars like her daddy. She's quite the versitle child; from tea sets and doll houses, to cars and Tony Hawk's ProSkater 4 on the Game Cube (who needs a son??) Yes, she learned to 'grind' the skateboard and she and Daddy opened up a new city, Chicago, to skate around on the video game. She is amazing. She learns so fast. We also have been so fortunate and blessed to find a new eye doctor this month that will help her with her intermittent exotropia as well as her vision therapy. We have been doing therapy mostly at home with her for a couple of years now and we are so estatic to find out her vision is 20/20. She has worked very hard and it is paying off. We look forward to the day this disorder is a distant memory. Great job, Cal...we love you! :)

And can you believe Carice is already 6 months old! She is sitting up pretty much independantly now, started eating rice cereal and is for sure, sleeping through the night. Her physical therapy appointment went well. Her diagnosis of Right Torticollis/Plagiocephaly was on the mild/moderate cusp. We decided to make adjustment to her sleeping and playing habits and forgo the helmet for now. She will have another check up in February to see if her head measurements improve. She is a happy baby, but gets frustrated easily when she wants something she can't have...ie: paper and other stuff that she isn't allowed to put in that cute little mouth of hers! She likes to chew on everything! She's also found her 'comfort item'-her left thumb. (which is also the challenge with her Plagiocephaly!) She loves to suck that adorable little, stubby, digit when she's going to sleep. We just love our chubby little baby ;)

And finally, my 'companion benefit' has been working hard at takin' care of all of us. He has more side business to design for Detour Design. Also, he and Juna (his business partner) were contacted by Cafe Press, who was contacted by Univeral Studios, about their T-shirt designs for the TV show, "Heroes". We aren't sure what this all means, exactly, but it sounds exciting! And at his job at Dex, he did receive the position of designing spec ads all day. So, that is a happy report, too! He and I are also working together in our ward calling, now. We got called to teach the Marriage and Family Relationship class for the Sunday School hour on Sundays. It's been really fun and we are getting to know some great people in our new ward/class. And it's nice to serve and spend time with my hubby at church for awhile.

Everybody take care! And if you are interested in the 'specs' for the pancake recipe...let me know...it will make Saturday mornings even more rewarding :)