memory of a goldfish

dallin loves his uncles. and since greg has a bum leg (he just had surgery to repair a torn acl, meniscus, etc...), he spends a lot of time with uncle eric.



he's starting to play peek-a-boo! well, at least he lets us pop up and down laughs at our efforts. last night i kept popping up and down from behind the couch, and dallin was having a grand old time being scared to death then laughing every time i reappeared.

my brother greg was watching this, and commented, "he's got the memory of a goldfish."

how true that is.


i know, i know - another argyle sweater vest. but calm down already - both of them were donated to us from rich families (thanks to craigslist for enabling that one!). but come on - what a stud! he cracks me up - he folds his hands across his big tummy all the time. primary will be a cinch for him.


he looooooves the hammock. whenever we can't get him to calm down, we take him outside and swing in the hammock. usually we're holding him, but he sure likes flying solo.


notice the rolls. notice that you never see the kid's neck. it's a struggle to keep that thing clean. so today we're sitting in church and he had fallen asleep. totally relaxed, his head was bent back, exposing his neck. holy nastiness. he had this little line of dirt deep in the folds of his neck. poor guy. why doesn't his mother keep him cleaner? maybe we'll never know.

alright vern, two can play at this game

a couple weeks ago, a lady at church commented on how dark dallin looks to her, and asked me what nationality my husband is. i kinda laughed and said, "he's...white. very white."

but let me just tell you about this very white husband of mine. (this is gonna be sentimental, folks.)



he has an awesome smile, and gives the best hugs.



no parking spot is too tight for him to get into (which is pretty impressive in the truck).



he is the first to say he's sorry, and admits when he's wrong (which is rare. no matter what he says, he's right more often than he thinks.)



you know when those commercials come on and all you can do is roll your eyes and wonder who finds them so funny? and then you look over and find that your husband's face is bright red from laughing so hard? i can't help but love that.



when i got too sick to keep working while pregnant, he told me not to worry, and picked up more hours at work.

even though we were living off of a much-reduced income, no cherry limeade cost too much.



he's the guy who will clean up trash cans full of vomit, clean the bathroom, do the dishes, take out the trash, and will always kiss his wife - even when she's all vomitty.



he will listen to his emotional wife cry, and only occasionally laughs at the dumb things i cry about.

he also makes that emotional wife laugh.


he volunteers for diaper duty.


i love you very much sweetie! we're excited to see you again in a few weeks!

From Maxwell AFB

Yes, this is Jonathan reporting in from Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL. Earlier today Andrea and I were able to have a little "web cam" date with the Miller family's new web cam. (Thanks to Mel for getting such an awesome Father's Day gift). Since that fun experience I've found a little time this Sunday to reminisce of time with Andrea from first date to present and to look through some pictures on my laptop. Here are a few of the pictures that brought back the happiest memories of our time together thus far (I apologize to my wife if she thinks she doesn't look her best... I obviously adore her in these pictures):

The air show at Nellis AFB, Nevada. Despite having only been on a handful of dates, Andrea agreed to go and I'm glad she let her best self shine on that trip. It let me know just who I was dating and what she valued.Exploring together in American Fork Canyon. Fun times on new trails. Experimenting with hanging cameras and setting the timer for couple shots. A place we would visit again... only with more snow on the ground.

I didn't know it at the time but Andrea's co-workers were convinced that the upcoming date to the Salt Lake City Temple would result in a new ring on her finger. If she was nervous she didn't show it. We watched the Joseph Smith film and had some fun taking pictures around Temple Square. Andrea kindly followed me around as I came up with idea after idea of where we could take pictures. I think I was just impressed with how beautiful Andrea was that night.

Andrea taking one of our many breaks on the way up to where I proposed. She looks relaxed. I was more nervous and anxious than I've been before. Ever.

Do I look preoccupied? That's because I was. Where's the apple crisp?!?

Can you tell that I miss my wife? I love you, sweetheart!

summer days

the past few days have been oh-so eventful. melinda came out to visit for a few days, and we went to town.

or rather, we went to the mountains. we drove to some hot springs a couple hours from boise, making a stop on the way to do a little hike, and to allow eric to do a (very) little bit of fishing. the springs were pretty cool - in a hot sort of way. they are on the banks of a river, which was extremely high due to all the rainfall. there were several different pools to sit in...some hotter than others, but all pretty dang warm. there were a couple that burned when i put my foot in. anyway, we hung around for a little while, and even found a little pool cool enough for dallin to stick his toes in, and then we left. it was good timing too - there were a couple old men just arriving when we were leaving, and i didn't see swimsuits in their hands...

and then we went to a boise hawks game tonight. dallin and i left early, due to his apparent distaste for the smell of beer in the air? or maybe it was the fact that all the clapping and cheering scared the poor guy to death. or maybe it was the sun that was in his eyes. or maybe he was just grumpy. i suppose we'll never know. in any case, it was fun to get out and about some this weekend.

and now for the pictures.

here's dal-pal (as melinda likes to call him) sitting all by himself in the "big-boy" armchair. pretty impressive, eh?


...and here's eric fishing...


here's a shot of melinda, eric and me in front of the springs (note the old men in the background...)


me and dallin at the ball game (the cap is sideways to help block the sun.)


here we are leaving the park...


dallin, with the beer lady in the background.


too bad i had a rat-tail going on. that sure is unfortunate. good thing dallin is so dang cute.

dear dad,

sometimes when i fall asleep my head gets too heavy to hold up anymore and mom laughs at me.


uncle eric holds me a lot - usually so he doesn't have to do the dishes or take the trash out or something. but i'm okay with that. and look - i can spread my toes apart like mom!


also, i look awesome in argyle, but i try not to look happy about it, or mom will go nuts and dress me in it allll the time.


yep, that's about as exciting as it gets around here.

we miss you tons and love you more!!!

love,

dallin and mom

just some videos

we miss you, sweetie! here are some videos for you...


and of course they are of guy smiley... :)

pictures for daddy

you're just going to have to forgive an increase of pictures in my posts for the next month or so, while jonathan is gone. i get to talk to him most every day, but we haven't worked out skype yet. hopefully i'll figure out how to load videos soon. and so we have a bunch of pictures. some of these were taken a few weeks ago, and they are not really in any paricular order...

here is my parent's kitchen - we painted it yellow this past week. the camera doesn't do a very good job of showing the color...it's not as dark and lemony in real life.


and the dining room...

and maybe not my best, but it's a great shot of dallin...


jonathan took dallin running one night. we put on his nike sweats (second-hand...notice the hole in the crotch?) and the beanie, and sat and laughed for a long time about this one. poor kid.


on our last free saturday in utah, jonathan and i were able to go back to the manti temple. it was just a perfect day. thanks SOOO much, elin and forrest, for watching dallin for us!


check out those eyelashes and clear complexion. his sisters are really going to resent him for that.


this is really getting to be quite common.

he's getting really very drooly.


my sweet boy.

a boring baby post for enemy

one of my favorite things to do is watch other people dote on dallin. it just confirms my beliefs that he really is as adorable as we think he is. and so, going to my parent's ward at church on sunday was most enjoyable. they ooh-ed and ahh-ed over dallin's hair, his smile, his dark skin, his size, his eyes, how strong he is, etc. one lady sat and told him over and over that he's "a genius" for being able to hold his head up so well.

it's true. he is a genius. (or something:)

anyway, yes, he holds his head up, he can stand up (just so long as you help him balance), and has started scooting around on the floor. on his back, he can scoot a foot or more, while on his stomach, it's limited to just a few inches at a time.

and he's not even three months yet.

i'll maybe post some more about the move later...things stay pretty busy out here, but it's a good thing.