Hello Santa!

Yesterday we bundled up in warm clothes to brave the winter snow storm we have been having. All for the new adventure of...meeting Santa! I think I was more excited than anyone else about this. We drove over to the Cedal Hills Mall and met up with Kelsey and Jayden there...then in we went!
Luckily we got there early so the line hadn't had a chance to grow too long. Even standing in line was fun. All the moms were chatting and all the kids were staring. Rylend was smiling at everyone and completely enjoying all the attention and "aw how cute!" comments coming his way. Then our chance came.
We went up to Santa and Daddy held Rylend in his lap to meet him. Rylend just stared like "whats up with all the red?" until Santa pulled out a teddy bear and started playing. Rylend loved it and started to giggle and smile.


So onto Santa's lap he went!
I was actually nervous to see how he would react. Like most of you know, the first Santa visit usually seems to consist of pure terror and crying...
But here my kid is, cuddled onto Santa's lap, smiling for everyone! There was alittle knob on the chair that he was FASCINATED with, so we had to keep diverting his attention back to us...but other than that he was happy and content with the whole experience. When we picked him back up, he wouldnt stop staring at Santa, like "Hey wait..I forgot to tell you what I want!" Shane did call it though...we got one pic where he is staring RIGHT at the big white beard like "WHAT is that??" Ha!

hear about those calendars?

Ok, I need to do a Jenni rant.


Have any of you heard about those calendars made by the mormon guy? You know...he made a calendar taking pics of hot young men who just returned from their missions and BOOM...huge controversy! He got excommunicated and the calendars are all over the news. NOW he does it again...except with hot mormon moms. And once again, it hits like wildfire across the news. "Will these moms be kicked out of their church" blah blah

SIGH

When interviewed, one of the moms was asked how she felt about the possibility of being excommunicated. her reply was along the lines of "well if it happens it happens. " with a shrug and a smile

Ok, honestly!

ONE: Why is this even on the news?? Woo...so some guy decides to make calendars with concenting adults that know what they are doing...and he gets excommunicated for his choice. NOT the first time this has happened. I have this feeling that he KNEW it would happen, and that if he contacted just the right people he could get the unneeded and rude attention for the church that he wanted. i mean come on, the news wouldn't have known about the "scandal" of these calendars unless someone had told him...and it just feels too simple. When you see him smiling and being all cool, you know this hasnt hurt him...ge is getting better business than ever!

TWO: In my oppinion, these models also do not care. Obviously shown by the woman who just smiled and shrugged away the possibility that she could be kicked out...and the coolness of the calendar maker... How can they rant and rave about how they might be excommunicated while at the same time they claim they dont really care? They dont realyl believe, thats is clear. If you have a testimony and faith in something, ANYTHING, you dont do something you know is wrong and shrug it off like nothing as happened. They know the teachings of the church...

THREE: There are many LDS models and actors out in the world. There have been for a long time and there will be for a long time to come. They dont flaunt it. And they do their job. Yes, modeling means you cant always wear "modest" clothes. And acting means you cant always be "molly" or "peter" (sorry...mormon slang...er..."very mormon") But they still live their LIVES in their belief. No one is perfect and no one can ever EXPECT perfection. So I say la de da to the fact these returned elders and mothers have decided to do this. I know that I have no where near the ammount of self esteem you ever need to model at all...
The fact that bugs me is that they made their choice to do this...then had to rub it in everyone's face. "ooo I modeled for a calendar...I dare you to kick me out."

Im sorry people, but you dont dare God.
He will always take you up on it...and not in the way you thought.

Though I dont flaunt it much...I DO believe in this church. I am so happy I was able to get married in the temple and that I know what I do. That the Prophet is on this earth today and that we have the priesthood. I have seen it in action and know how true it is. Faith is a hard thing to have, especially today. Times are way hard and temptation is rampant. People dont LIKE it if you believe and they swerve away from truth like it were a disease. I am no missionary, no saint. I am not perfect and I hate preaching and driving people nuts. But I do firmly believe this faith.

And the fact that it is getting attacked more and more...and people will so willingly throw it away with a shrug...and that people LIKE attcking it more than ever...

ever hear of signs of times?
i think we are getting there people.

8 months old!

It has been a long time since I last posted. What with chasing after this little boy and trying to keep my home in order, I just havent thought much about this blog. But for you all to know, we are doing great. Money is tight...very tight. But we are happy and still have enough in our bank for bills.

Rylend...
Wow this kid is amazing. I know you read about my saying that all the time, but it is true. I cant believe my little man is 8 months old now! He is an EXPERT at crawling. I love it when he gets excited and speed crawls to us...so cute! He has also taken to standing up against EVERYTHING. Even if it is too tall or short...he finds a way to use it to stand. He hasnt really tried to walk along things much. When he does, he gets stuck and falls over...which is cute too. When we try to help him walk, he always ends up and dropping to his knees like "hey, crawling is easier!"


A couple weeks ago two more teeth came in. Now he has his top two and bottom two...like a little turtle! There is a gap between his two top teeth and his smile is even CUTER now...if that is possible! Along with that, his vocabulary now consists of " mama" "dada" "hi" "baba" and "nana"
Shane and Rylend have a cute little game they play now too. Shane will shake his head back and forth, yelling. Then he stops, looks at Rylend...and Rylend does it back...then looks at Daddy. Now its gotten to the point that RYLEND starts the game with almost anyone..play with me!
We just had to pack away his beloved walker. It has risen as tall as it will go...and he is too tall for it. He isnt happy...but it was making it so he was walking funny and wasnt helping anymore. Sigh...


Along with all of this, Rylend laughs even more now, pays SO much attention to everything I am just waiting for him to say something like "mom, no...THIS is how you do it!" and almost everyone who sees him falls inlove. I can see why. God must have really loved us to send us this child. He is so smart and funny...though I do hate waking up at 7 am every day...dealing with his whines and woes because thats the only way he can communicate...not being able to just go somewhere...I would NEVER trade it in EVER for anything else.

Christmas is in just a few weeks. I cant wait to see him open his presents and experience the holiday. We will only be able to buy him one gift it looks like...but that doesnt matter. Even watching him open that one gift will be amazing.