My Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's Day!  It started a little weird, but soon became great.  When I walked into church, the bishop came up to me and said he had a special Mother's Day present for me.  I was a little confused.  Shouldn't he have a special Mother's Day present for his wife and/or mother?  Then he explained that what the ward was giving to the women for Mother's Day had nuts in it, some he had something for me that did not have nuts.  Thanks bishop for remembering my allergy to nuts.  It is not very often that people consider/remember my food allergies.  Then the bishop's son, Zach, gave me the gift with his eyes covered while holding it out.  It was really cute and funny.

Jon spoke in sacrament meeting and gave a great talk.  James was actually really good too.  We did not have to take him out in the hall once!  Normally he is whiny and screaming during sacrament meeting.  I think it helped that the family next to us had some cars that James played with the entire time.  Thanks Lau's for letting James monopolize your toy cars!

Then Jon taught Primary while I brought James to the nursery for his second time.  His first time in nursery was a little rough (he was tired).  I was expected a similar melt down, but he did better.  The second hour I asked the nursery teachers if they would be alright if I left him there and went to Relief Society.

Side note:  James is not 18 months until the end of this month so Jon or I thought we would stay with him in there until he is officially old enough.  Hopefully he continues to enjoy nursery this much.

Later that evening, Jon and two of our friends made dinner for their wives.  It was really good and we had a fun time with friends.

It was a great Mother's Day!

Happy Mothers' Day!

Just wanted to say Happy Mothers' Day to all those moms out there, especially my mom and Jon's mom.  I read and watched this story earlier this week on the blog for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It touched me, and I wanted to share it with all of you on Mothers' Day.  Being a mother is one of the best and hardest things in the world.  Here is what was written on the blog, followed by a video.

"The traditions of celebrating the role of a mother vary from country to country, but the universal message is we are who we are in large part because of our mothers.


"The Church captures on video one such mother, who, while her individual circumstances are certainly unique, helps to remind us that the message of motherhood is one of optimism, hope and fulfillment.

" 'I'm just grateful that I am here on this earth and I have the opportunity to be a mother and do the things that I love and enjoy," says Stephanie Nielson, a mother of four and survivor of a 2008 plane crash. "I view my role now as more divine.' "

Anniversary Celebration

Our anniversary was really good.  Once Jon got home from Fremont (where he has been doing his GYN rotation), we went out to dinner.  Thanks, Carters, for watching James for us!  The place we went to eat was not very kid friendly.  We went to Stella's in downtown Perrysbug.  The food was really good, but it was really pricy.  It was a good place for an anniversary, but we will likely not go there again.

Then we went and quickly walked around a few stores looking for the perfect anniversary gift for both of us.  We decided the ones at the first store were the best priced, so Jon was going to stop there on his way home the following day.  Good thing we waited another day because they were an additional 10% off because of Mother's Day.  We got a set of 600 thread count sheets for 55% off.  It was awesome to see that we saved more than we spent.  They are awesome too!  I love higher thread count sheets!

Six Years

I cannot believe it has been six years today since Jon and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.  Another fun fact about this anniversary is that it falls on the same day of the week as when we got married.  We were married the afternoon of Thursday, May 6, 2004.

Here is a slide show I put together of our adventures together.  There are lots of pictures.

Happy Anniversary!  I love you, Dude!

Bryan, Ohio and Wauseon, Ohio

Last Sunday, we went to the Bryan Branch Conference.  The Stake doubled the attendance of the little branch.  James struggled through sacrament meeting.  He was so tired, but would not go to sleep.  The combined Young Men/Young Women opening exercises where a little hard for James too.  The little room was packed and there was no room for him to roam.  When we split, James did much better.  He played in one half of the room while the Young Women had a lesson in the other half.  James also lost one of his toys in the organ.  When I was trying to get the toy out, I found a shoe.  A little sandal to be exact.  I found out later that sandal had been lost about a year ago.  They search everywhere for it, or so they thought.  Now they know there is a hiding place behind the petal of the organ.  By the way, I never found James's toy.  Oh well.

It amazes me that the smaller branches always provide lunch for the Stake Leaders after their branch conference.  It is not expected or required, but they always do.  Thanks for the wonderful lunch Bryan Branch!  It made having another meeting (the third one this month) about the up coming Leadership Training Meeting a little more bearable.  Side note:  I cannot wait for this Training Meeting to be over!

Yesterday, we went to the Wauseon Branch Conference.  James did better.  He was still tired during sacrament meeting, but Jon got him to fall asleep during the combined Young Men/Young Women opening exercises.  Then he slept through most of the Young Women's lesson.  One funny story, one of the speakers had just said what a beautiful morning it was to drive, when it started to rain and hail so hard it could be heard inside the chapel.  It was so loud!  Everyone was looking around with wide eyes.

When we got home, I realized I had left my Young Women's binder in the Young Women's Room.  Good thing the Stake Young Women's President is from Wauseon and I will see her Thursday night, because everything for my calling is in there.  It is also a good thing I do not really have anything in there that I need to get ready for Thursday's Training Meeting.

Babies and Missionary Work

This picture was taken about a year ago. 

It is all the babies in the ward at the time (under the age of one and present the Sunday we took the picture). 

A little background before I go on.  Dr. Rhee is a great OBGYN doctor.  There are quite a few sisters in our ward who have had babies recently (with in the last two years or so) who go to Dr. Rhee.  Six of the babies in the previous picture, and at least four that were not there that day.  In the last year, some have moved away.

When this picture was taken, there was a thought to take a picture of the mothers, who saw Dr. Rhee, with their babies.  Then we would give that picture to Dr. Rhee with a Book of Mormon.  Sadly, it did not happen.  Someone got offended, and no one wanted to cause more hurt feelings.

Fast forward, Jon just finished his OB rotation.  One night while he was on call, he worked with Dr. Rhee.  He told her about this picture taken almost a year ago.  She got almost teary at the thought of a picture like this.  I email the picture to Jon for him to show it to her.

Then, I got an idea.  We should try again to get a picture with all the moms and babies.  Here are two of the pictures. 

Again sadly, we were not able to get everyone.  When there are so many involved it is hard to get everyone at the same place at one time.

Now, we are working on writing our testimonies in a Book of Mormon to give to Dr. Rhee with the picture.  When the Book of Mormon is finished, I am going to see if I can set up a time to bring it to her, and get as many of the moms (and kids if necessary) to come with me.  Should be a great experience!

Zoo

Here are a few random pictures for the zoo the last few time we have been there. James loves buttons and was in heaven pushing this button.

Turtles are outside!

These next few are Ohio turtles. How many can you see in this picture?

Some of the African animals are out too!

Boot

James likes his snow boots. He will bring them to me occasionally and want me to put them on his feet. Then he will wear them most of the day while he plays. Here is a video of him walking around wearing one boot.

Side note: We bought these boots a little bigger so they will fit next year when James will actually walk around in them in the snow. So these boots are about 2 sizes too big right now.

When we have a question, we look IN A BOOK!

James still loves books, but only if he can turn the pages. He looses interest fast when I read to him. Here is a video of him looking at one of his newer books.

He will sit for about an hour at a time looking at books. It is great!

Are You Bleeding?

Fun James story...

This happened about a week ago.  I did not get any pictures, but will explain why later.  I was working on the computer.  Doing some stuff for my calling.  James was as usual play around the computer desk.  He recently wants to be right by mom.  It is fine with me because then I can make sure he is not getting into trouble.  Or so I thought.

While I was working, I looked over at James and his mouth and chin were bright red.  It looked like he was bleeding.  It was all over his hands.  It was on the bookcase next to the computer desk and the computer desk.  I even noticed a little on the floor last night.  I started looking for a cut in his mouth, wondering what he cut himself on.  Nothing!  I was a little confused until I saw in his hand, a stamp that is also it's own red inkpad.

I hurried to clean it up so that it would not be spread any father.  My thought was I do not want everything in the apartment to be red, not I need to get a picture of this.  I got it clean up the best I could, but his mouth was still really red.  I called my mom to make sure the ink would not hurt him.  I could not get a hold of Jon to check on this.  Jon wishes I had gotten a picture.  Now I wish I had too but at the time it was the farthest thing from my thoughts.

After I got James down for a nap, I inspected the stamp.  He had bit a chunk out of it, but it was still mostly attached.  I tried the stamp and here is what it looks like now. 

The one on the white paper was done this morning.  It will still work.  I still do not know how he got a hold of that stamp!

The World is My Playground (Or At Least the Couch)

James has begun climbing.  It started with the couch cushions. 

Now it is mostly just the couches. 

If someone is sitting or lying on the couch he is sure to climb up next to them and sit down, or climb on top of them.

(Sorry the pictures are blurry.  The zoom on my camera does that.)