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Fun Videos!

Going through my photos and videos, I discovered some videos that are just too cute to pass up. Here are some I couldn't resist posting.

I found my old keyboard, and James was obsessed for a long time. Like mother like son! I love his dancing.


Right before bed, James gets punch drunk. Here is an example of his escapades. Don't mind the American Idol in the background. (It was the 16-year-old red head, for those AI fans)


Dancing with Daddy! He loves IPhones. Like father like son. This was the night he learned how to climb on the couch. He is now very good at it!



Chris taped this while I was upstairs one Saturday morning. He had put on cartoons and James loved them.


James LOVES "Hot Potato" by The Wiggles. Thanks to my obliging husband who will always sing that song for him!

Elder Williams

Well it's official! My youngest brother Peter is now an elder. Chris picked him up at the airport yesterday morning and brought him back to the house to hang out for an hour before lunch and the MTC. It was wonderful to see my brother making such a selfless and righteous choice by serving a mission. I am so grateful for his example to our nieces and nephews.

Once he arrived, James was a little timid at first. He's always that way when seeing unfamiliar men. He eventually warmed up though.

We had an hour to kill before heading out to lunch. Naturally, we turned to Skip-Bo. I'm not sure how it happened, but Peter won both times. He must already be getting blessings for serving a mission!


Afterwards, Peter decided that since he will be serving in Brazil, it was only right to eat lunch at Tucanos, a DELICIOUS Brazilian restaurant. I hadn't eaten there in years, and it was every bit as good as I remembered. To get Peter introduced to the cuisine, we had him try a chicken heart. We don't blame him one bit for spitting it back out. I doubt that will be a frequent dish on his mission menu.

After eating, we rolled ourselves over to the MTC to have our goodbyes. I am so proud of my little brother, and Campinas, Brazil is lucky to have him!


It will be nice, however, to have a 2 year reprieve from his constant razzing.



See you in 2 years!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Chris!
Thanks for being my valentine everyday of the year. You are such a sweetheart and I am so grateful for your hard work and dedication to this family. You are patient and kind, and a wonderful father to the luckiest son in the world. Here's to the last 7 and a half years, and the rest of eternity we get to spend together!
I love you!

No Vacancy

It's hard to believe that it's been a month since my last post. Lately I feel like we've had a "Vacancy" sign hanging over our house, what with all of our visitors! We have loved having family stay with us, and James has been especially thrilled with all this extra attention. Grandma Margie came to stay at the same time Uncle Danny was visiting, and she brought out Danny's Bassett Hound, Maggie. It was like having a built-in babysitter with Maggie around. James just followed her around half-terrified, half-amazed. She would often take him for walks around the living room.



Shortly after they left, Shannon and her Siberian Husky puppy came to live with us for the next few months.



Chris instantly took this as the perfect opportunity to turn our garage into an extra room (which will then be turned into his "man cave" when she leaves). With the help of Danny, we now have an extra, fully insulated room where Shannon stays with her pup. It has definitely added some extra fun to our otherwise low-key days, for which I am very grateful.





On top of all this, we had Danny's wife Elaina and son Daniel (7 months) come and stay for 8 days. It was quite the full house, and if I never see the movie "Baby Songs" again it will be too soon! We had a great time having the cousins play together ("play" as code for James pinching and tormenting Daniel...) and are looking forward to the end of March when Elaina and Daniel move in for a few months. I think by that point we'll have maxed out our living space and will change the sign to "No Vacancy."


On a side note, we got to visit my sister-in-law Mal and her three cute kids up in SLC. She was visiting her parents while my brother was off "working" in New Zealand!! All jealousy aside, it was great getting to meet my new 3-month old nephew, Rhys.


I am already counting down the days until March 14th, where James and I will be traveling to Oregon to visit my family for 2 weeks. Although I already have re-occurring nightmares about the flights and layovers with a rambunctious 15-month old, I know it'll be worth it once I'm there! My parents haven't seen James since last August, and they don't know what's going to hit them!! James has turned into such a hysterical kid. I can seriously spend my whole day just watching him play with his toys. He loves to climb on anything, and is very adept at climbing on the couch and playing with our blinds. I can already tell he's got quite the imagination just by listening to his gibberish while playing or reading his books. He has become obsessed with the "Hot Potato" song by The Wiggles and will take anyone in a dance-off. He also loves pretending to sleep and waiting for us to laugh at him. He loves plopping on our laps to have us read him a story, and has recently discovered his bellybutton. He's learned to say "doggie" and, courtesy of Shannon, has learned to go "ahhh" after taking a drink. I just wish he wasn't such a picky eater! He does NOT like meat or veggies. He loves yogurt and bananas, and that's always a constant. I'm sure he's cutting more teeth right now, which has accounted for his short naps and fussiness, and I'm hoping that goes away by the time we fly next month! By that point he will be out of his helmet for good. This second helmet hasn't done anything, and in fact his head shape hasn't been altered since last September! Good or bad, we'll be finally out of this situation in less than a month.