Elves Are All Around Us

We caught this elf peeking in our window the other day. I caught him by the ear and had a nice talk with him. I explained that Seth is too little to be getting into any trouble. I pointing him down the road to a house with a little girl and her three brothers. I told him that house needs to be double checked to see what they are up too. I am not sure what is going on, but I hear a lot of screaming coming out of there. Now that we are coming down to crunch time, we best be on our toes and know that Santa is watching.

Christmas Tree

Our first Christmas together we got a $5 tree permit from the BLM and cut down a massive tree. It looked smaller in the wilderness. When we got it in our front room it took up half the space. It almost covered the TV. We had to sit on one end of the couch to watch movies. The next year we decided to just use an artificial tree that John and Misty had given us for a wedding present. The funny thing is that when we moved from Price to Cedar City we accidentally took Mom's tree. When we pulled it out of the box, it was pre-lite and a good looking tree. We did not even realize that we had the wrong tree until Mom told us that she could not find her tree and that she had ours. This year we went back to the $5 BLM permit and cut down another real tree. It is always fun to go up in the hills and search for a real tree; even if you get your truck stuck in the snow. One things about cutting down wild trees, compared to those trees found on Christmas tree lots, the branches and needles are thinner. There were not many trees to choose from. I thought about cutting down a bigger tree and only saving the top half. After only a half an hour or so, we found a good little six foot tree and cut it down. I need to thank Skip for the use of his shovel. It was helpful in removing the snow from the bottom of the tree for easy cutting and it was helpful in getting our truck unstuck from the ice and snow. I would have to say, this is the smallest tree I have ever had. The trunk is really skinny too. I could pick it up with one hand. We got the tree home, up in our apartment and in the tree stand, but could not secure it. If we let go of the tree it would tip over. I even cranked the fasteners all the way down; half an inch into the tree trunk, but still it was loose and wobbly. I then went back to Dad's old, proven, last resort technique. I ran across the street and found some rocks. Placing the rocks in the bottom of the tree stand stabilized it perfectly. Jennifer got the tree all decorated and looking great. This tree serves a dual purpose. It is nice to look at and get us in the holiday mood and it serves as a baby-sitter. When Jennifer is doing things that require both hands, she can lay Seth on the floor near the tree and he will be content gazing at the lights. It is a shame we cannot have a tree up all year long.

Thanksgiving at the Temple

Jennifer's family has started a tradition the day after Thanksgiving. Last year we went to the Ogden Temple, went through a session and ate lunch in the cafeteria. I had a chimichanga which was delicious. This year we went later in the evening because other suckers had to work on Friday. It was too late for us to enjoy the food in the cafeteria, but we got some ice cream. We went to Farr's Ice cream Parlor and pigged out. I had a rocky road sugar cone, which was delicious. The place was packed. It is in an older building and the sitting area has a maximum capacity of 6 people or so (maybe 20). They really need to look into expanding. The ice cream was good, but it was no temple cafeteria chimichanga.

Thanksgiving

Our day started out very early. We traveled to Clearfield Thursday morning because Thomas had to work late counting inventory. Our alarm went off at 3:30. We got ready, loaded the remaining things,woke Seth, feed him and then we were off at 4. The ride was great. Seth was content the whole way. It was great to be able to watch the sun come up. I really miss the days when I used to wake up early; 5 am to go to the BDAC.
We heard all week that it was going to be terrible weather, so we got new wiper blades and a window treatment. There was only a little bit of rain. The funny thing was though, we did not realize it was raining. We could not see the rain drops on the windshield. It was not until we got under the free way lights that we saw the rain beating up and running up the windshield. It was really cool. Since we traveled so early, there has hardly any traffic. We cruised along at 80 mph.
Thanksgiving dinner was great. We really treated ourselves right. We went shopping a bit, but avoided the crazy crowds. We hit the usual places like DI.

Seth Can Walk

This morning I woke up to the sound of someone in the kitchen. To my surprise it was Seth. He was trying to get into the Zingers. I got him down off the stool and helped him get some cookies instead; the Zingers are mine. He washed the cookies down with a tall glass of milk. Not 2% or skim, mother's milk. As I was getting ready for class, Seth was running around playing with anything he could reach. I was telling him how much he has grown. Seth wanted to know how tall he really is. He needs to know because he is having a suit made. This is a picture of him standing up tall next to wall to be measured. He has seen, in other houses, that kids will mark on the wall how tall they are so they can look back and see how much they have grown. I told Seth that we live in an apartment and ask him if he thought is was appropriate. He answered, "Dad, it's only a rental. Grandpa Jenson wouldn't mind if we wrote on the wall at the Cougar House." I had to agree with him. I got a black magic marker out and drew a line just above his head. Next to it I wrote "Seth 3 Months." It was then time for me to go to class. I told Seth to go climb back into bed before his mother woke up and saw him up running around. He is such an obedient little boy.

Its a Love Hate Relationship

I love DI. I always go there not looking for anything in particular and not know what I will find. You have to go with an open mind and a closed wallet. There are a lot of things in DI that are good deal, but you have no need for them and have no business buying them. It feels good to buy things from DI that are a good deal and you know that you will use them. We have been looking closely through the movies lately; they are usually $1. We purchased this little treasure just the other day. As we got home and popped it in to enjoy it, we found that it was not quite the treasure we had thought. It ended up being a blank tape that someone had recorded some air plane evacuation procedures on. You think the dorks that work at DI would check this stuff before they put it out on the shelf. I hate to learn lessons this way. I hate to hold it against DI, because I love the place so much. It will all be ok. I
am sure that the next time I go into DI and smell the smelly smell of DI all my anger will slip away and we will return the relationship that we once had. Learn from my mistakes. Check your crap before you step up the register. After all you are buying AS IS.

A Day in Nature

Here in cedar it has gotten rather cold and wet. We have not been able to get out much, but Saturday was really nice. The sun was out and the wind was not blowing so we took advantage of a great opportunity.
Skip and Amy Jo were nice enough to invite us to enjoy different parts of Cedar City with their family. We went up the canyon a little ways and found a great spot for a picnic and fire. We gathered wood from the dying trees that were near by and made a pile for our fire. The Gordon children sure know how to have a good time at no cost. They love the hills and collecting pieces of nature. Tyler has sharp eyes. He was finding little pellets in the dirt.

Seth was dazzled by the flames of the fire. He was very content and sat quietly and enjoyed the night. I love the smell of camp fire and it had been a long time. Mariah told stories and we all enjoyed the night around the camp fire. It is great to have Skip and Amy Jo so close. It gives us some where to always go for a good time.

Seth Can Do Tricks

Up to this point in his life, Seth has not done much. He just laid around the house and ate and cried and whined about his life. The other day he actually moved. He is not up and running, but it is a start. He deserves a reward. Tyler, give that boy a cookie.

Like Mother Like Son

Can you see the family resemblance? Doesn’t Seth look great in his new glasses? Our little baby is up ready to learn. He did not want to change out of his pajamas. He just wants to get right to helping Daddy with his accounting homework. The glasses are from Thomas work and we popped the lenses out so that Thomas could dress up as an auditor for Halloween. Seth has started to grab things, so we have to keep things out of his reach. I especially have to keep my hair out of his face so that he does not grab on and pull. Seth is growing up quickly and at the end of the month Seth will be going to the doctor and we will discuss if he is ready to start cereals. I don't know that I am ready for him to start cereals.

Halloween

As we were deciding what to be for Halloween, we started by looking for Seth's costume first; we then developed our costumes based on his. If you can't tell, we went as the Frankenstein family. We bought Seth's costume at DI and then made our costumes out of things we already had around the house. Here we are prepared to go to the ward trunk-or-treat party. For anyone who has ever painted their face on Halloween, you can relate with how it itches or it wipes off when you touch it. As a result I have never liked painting my face much. This year we had a great idea. We painted our faces with water colors. I'm sure it has been done before and it is totally original, but I was a first for me. It worked great. It dried quickly and did not make my face itch. If I did need to touch my face, it did not wipe off. I was able to pick my nose all night and not mess up my makeup. As always half the fun of dressing up is finding things that will
actually make the outfit work. I wanted to be taller like Frankenstein,
so I cut up some phone books, spray painted them black, duct taped them together and tied them to my feet with some old shoe laces. They made me tall and completed the costume. The ward decided to make the trunk-or-treat more like a carnival. Instead of going around begging for candy, the kids would have to perform some activity to get the goods. Others chose the normal games like bean bag toss, fishing pond, horse shoes. We decided to make a miniature golf game. I took an old board that I have had laying around for a while, cut a hole in it and painted a ghost on it. The board is actually a door off of an old cabinet from the Cougar House. We propped it up on some old 2X4s and it worked great. Everyone told us how creative it was. Seth did well at the carnival. He did not get a chance to try out any of the other activities, but he had fun watching.

He is a picture of Seth sitting next to our pumpkins. I thought it would be funny to make a snowman out of pumpkins and it turned out exactly as I had dreamed it would. Seth gracious lent us his had for the pumpkin man.
Seth will not keep his hands out of his mouth. It is a constant battle to stop him. He only likes his hands or your hand. He will not take a pacifier. I think I may need to to something drastic. May be if I cover his hand in lemon juice or chili pepper, that will deter him. May be he just needs a Snickers to suck on.

Grandpa Jenson

This is a picture of Grandpa, Jennifer, and I that we took back in May of 2006. Looks like Grandpa has not changed much.

We went down to St. George with Mom and Dad and Amy Jo. While we were down there we were able visit Grandpa Jenson. It was good to see him. He told us all the same jokes. He looks the same as he has for years. I was loving his pants. I wish I could find some like that at DI. We were able to take this picture of four generations. Grandpa touched Seth's little arm and said how soft he is. We asked him if he wanted to hold Seth and he said no. He couldn't resist. Grandpa sat down and held Seth on his lap for a minute. He then let Seth down like he was going to walk off. It was funny. Dad scoped Seth up and held him. Grandpa was smiling and happy. He said it was great to see such a little baby.

Seth's New High Chair

Seth is starting to get big enough that he wants to sit up rather than lay down. Amy Jo found this high chair at DI and has been using it for Tyler. She thought that Seth could use it. We were happy to try it out. He loves it. He is not quite strong enough to hold himself up yet, so we prop him up with a hand towel. Now he can sit up while we eat and talk to us. Now he can be in on the party, rather than laying behind us on the floor in his bouncer.

BYU vs USU

It has been a couple of weeks now, but we went to the BYU vs USU football game. The weather was great. I expected it to be windy and cold. The wind is hard on Seth, since he has to stay covered up. We bought tickets to general admission and then sat in the students section with Erica and Cody. It was pretty fun. The only draw back was be visitors. I have never been to a BYU game outside of LaVell Edwards Stadium before and I do not think I will do it again. The fans were jerks. They had nothing to cheer about, so they cheered every time BYU messed up. We sat next to some kid that did not know diddly about football. He kept yelling "Light him up" every time Max Hall had the ball. I yelled "Shut it up", mocking him, it sort of worked. After the game Cody got us free Aggie Ice cream and it was excellent.

SUU Football Game

You may wonder why Seth is wearing RED....Well let me explain. We took Seth to his first SUU football game. We wanted him to be warm. Thomas was not home when I dressed Seth. That was the only reason I got away with this one. The red did not touch his skin. He was wearing a BYU BLUE shirt under the red. That is the only way I get away with having Seth in Red. Thomas went to the game wearing his BYU Shirt.

We had a great time at the game. Seth was content for most of the first half, until he got hungry and tired, he did not want to have his face covered as a shield from the wind. He wanted to talk with everyone and cheer for the Thunder birds. He loves to look around at everything. At half time I feed him and then I rocked him to sleep. He did not wake up until he had to be placed in his car seat to come home. SUU was so close to winning. They were on the 1 yard line with 50 seconds to go and they were unable to get the ball in the end zone.

We are all looking forward to the BYU game in Logan where we will be wearing our BYU BLUE.

Little Brother Ricky

I really had nothing to say. I just wanted to put this picture of Erica and I up for everyone to enjoy. So...enjoy. (She has always been a good little brother!)

First Haircut

Yesterday Seth had his first haircut. He is only two months old, and his hair is still thin. His hair has always been kind of long in the back. It was starting to bother me that his hair would hang over his collar. Amy Jo was kind enough to help us out. Jennifer held him while Amy Jo did the snipping. I did not help. I was outside with Weston and Chace; trying to stop them from fighting with all of the other kids in the apartment complex. Chace did this sweet flying kick on this older kid. The older kid had no chance to fight back because he was laying on the ground and Weston kicked him in the back. By time he got up to fight back, I was grabbing the boys. Chace then decided that I should follow him as he ran to all ends of the apartment complex. When he saw that I was not following he came back. Seth was no trouble. As you can see he slept the whole time. He then woke up at the end feeling a little sheepish. Seth was very grateful. He loves his new haircut. He says he will look great for the BYU game in two weeks. We set up the next appointment with the beautician for the third Thursday in October. He needs to look good for Halloween too.

Day out of the house

Seth and I have been fighting a little bit of a cold. I have not been daring to take any medications or to give anything to Seth so we have just been staying home and wading it out......but today we are feeling better and have places to go. We started our day off by going to SUU and listening to Thomas Favorite teacher (Joe Baker) speak in a Convocation. It was not what we had expected but we made it through. Seth sat quiet the whole time.....and yes he was awake. We then went to the library. Where Seth made sure that everyone knew that he was there. He sure has a set of Lungs. He let me know that he was just tired and ready for a nap. After he settled down and went to sleep I was then able to prepare my sharing time while Seth napped in the stroller. We did some more sight seeing around campus and that was the extent of our day. I think that it went really well and we will have do it more often.

Wrestling Baby

When Amy Jo found out that we were having a boy, she gave us a bunch of baby clothes. One of the outfits that she gave us is the same outfit that we have on our doll, Linus. We took a picture of Seth with the doll in the same outfit. It was way cute, says Jennifer. Then as we were looking at the camera to see how the picture turned out, Seth started to wrestle with Linus. He had him in the figure four and then after doing a back breaker on him, Seth pined Linus. Linus did not seem to mind. In fact he did not even wake up. We thought it was kind of funny that he had been Linus. Seth is undefeated. We then began to worry a little bit. What is Seth going to do when he has a little brother. I guess his little brother will have to toughen up quick. Seth said he is willing to take on all challengers! Bring it!

Like Father Like Son

Seth is now 3 weeks old. He shaved for the first time today. Not really but he does seem to have a little bit of facial hair. Since this is my first child, I do not really know if little babies are hairy. He sure is. When he was first born, I noticed that he had longer, dark peach fuzz on the side of his face. If the light is just right, it looks like he has long sideburns. I am so proud of him.

DI Rocks

I love Deseret Industries. They have the best stuff at the best prices; most of the time. I found this sweet little deal in the DI in American Fork. It cost me only two dollars. I had to rip it out of John's nubby little fingers. I have been looking for a little blue cooler for a while now and this is exactly what I was looking for. The refrigerator at my work broke last winter and I have been eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches since then. Sandwiches are the only thing that would not go bad if they got warm. As with all the things that I buy at DI, I always fix them up and make them mine. I used carbon paper to transfer this BYU logo on to the cooler and then I painted it by hand. I then covered the area with clear spray paint to keep the logo from chipping or getting scratched. Now I am the "envy of the all the camp."

Wedgewood Apts

Jennifer and I have moved. We moved into some government subsidized apartments. It is based off of your income, so it should be cheaper for us. The best part about it is that the Garvins live in the same apartment complex and are in the same ward. We got the key on
Tuesday evening and started moving things immediately. I worked until about midnight, hauling things in my truck. It was nice to have my mother here to help us. She helped load boxes and most of all she helped clean the old apartment. It was also nice to have someone to help hold Seth. We got all of our things moved in and it feels like we have more space. We live in the upstairs apartment and it has a back balcony. It will be good to store our bikes out there and other things that we do not need. The best part is that we get to use our own couches. The old apartment had built in couches that were not very comfortable. It is nice to be able to relax and be comfortable while watching TV on our own couches.

Seth

Here he is world. Seth Thomas Jenson was born July 22, 2008 at 4:05 am. It is great to finally have him here. He has be a little delight. He does not cry much. He has been very calm and easy going. The first two days he did not sleep much. Then the next few days he sleep all day long only waking to eat. He makes the cutest little grunts in order to get attention. We are happy to have him here and are excited to see what he will teach us.

Our Garden

This summer we planted a garden in our Neighbor's garden. We only planted in two rows. In our rows we have Pumpkins, Zucchini, and Crook neck Squash. All of the plants are growing like weeds. We try to water 2 or 3 times a week but the weather has been really nice and it has rained several times. The rain has been great. As I have become more pregnant it has become harder to get over to the garden and pull the weeds, but it is good exercise. I hope that my baby will come soon so that I will not have to deal with the heat as much. Though it has been fairly mild and I couldn't ask for better temperatures.
This is the first Fruits of our Garden. I saw it a few days ago on the plant and was very excited about it. I took Thomas over to the Garden so that we could pick it before it started to rot. When we picked it was not as big as I had remembered. I must have over exaggerated it size when I saw it the first time. Either way I will taste good in Zucchini Bread.

Wiring Issues

As long as I have had my truck, the sensor in the door has been broken. It was not really a problem except that the truck thought (if a truck could think) that the door was open all the time. When I would put the key in the ignition to start it, I would hear the ding that tells you that you still have the key in the ignition and the door is open. I fixed this problem by unhooking a wire that is connected to the ignition. The truck no long dings at me. The other problem with the door sensor being broken is that the dome light would always stay on because the door was thought to be open. The only way that I could shut the light off was to take out the bulb. Then there is the annoyance of not having a light in your vehicle at night. After three years I have had enough. I have seen in other trucks a similar dome light, but one that has a switch. Three setting; Door, On and Off. If I had one of those I could turn the light On and Off as I please. I went to the auto salvage yard the other day in search of a dome light with a switch. I found a few Ford Rangers that would have had the exact dome light that I was looking for. Unfortunately for me, someone else had already kyped those dome lights. I ended up buying a dome light out of a Toyota 4-Runner. When I hooked it up in my truck, it did not work. When I hooked back up the original dome light it did not work either. After fiddling around with it for an hour or so, I figured it would not work. I then tried touching the wires of my new dome light directly to the battery. It then lite up. For some reason the original wires did not work anymore. I ran some wire, that I had laying around, from the battery, under the plastic door molding and up to the dome light hole. I hooked up the dome light and it works like a charm. I waited for it to get dark and then later that night I went out and sat in the truck, just enjoying my new dome light. I told Jennifer that I wanted to read the scriptures out there, but she refused. I had a great time and enjoyed my day off and it only cost me $10.

Little Man is on his way

Jennifer is due on July 30, 2008. I could not be more excited. Everyone keeps asking me if I am nervous for the baby to come. I am not nervous. I am excited. May be I do not know all that the new baby will bring and what I should be nervous for. I am not the type that worries about things. I prepare and then do my best. Worrying about something will not make it go any better when it does finally get here. I have been feeling Little Man through Jenni's belly and I am ready for him to come out and play.

Starting a blog

It has been just over two and a half years now that we have been married and time has just flown by. All of my sisters seem to like blogging and it seems to be an easier way to share pictures with family and friends, rather than sending them in an email. You can only send three or four pictures at a time and then you have to send two or three emails. This will be a lot simpler.