And they're off

So Joseph is very mobile now. Still not official crawling, but he gets around. (the noise in the background of the video is our dishwasher)
It is so funny to come into a room and see him on his hands and feet with his little bum in the air. Especially when he starts crying.
Yesterday I was doing some stuff in the kitchen and came around the corner into the living room and found this. He had wriggled right out of his diaper. He loves moving over to the front door and playing with the tile (I think he likes the two different textures, carpet/tile). I just never thought he'd make it out of his diaper. He thought it was so funny that he had gotten himself undressed. Lucky there were no accidents on the carpet.
I love this picture because we never get him to smile at the camera. This was basically a fluke that Josh got him to smile. He is so cute and has such a nice smile. Kindergarten will be good to him. Just hard on his mom as I try to keep all the girls away from him.
Here are some more pictures of this adorable boy doing his silly little boy things.

a couple of weeks ago I caught him trying to rip his crib bumper off the bed. I took it off and this is how he usually ends up if I let him play in bed for a little while.

here he was trying to move forward but just kept moving backward until he was so far under his bouncy seat that he couldn't even get out if he tried to. It's so fun to watch him and laugh at him (it makes me wonder how much my parents laughed at me when I was little. The joys of being the first born)
Josh and I got called to be primary teachers in our ward. We are teaching the 11/12 year olds. It will be a new thing for me to be in senior primary. I've been teaching sunbeams off and on since I graduated from high school. Another funny thing is that our class is bigger than the whole primary was in our last ward. We have about 10-14 children and on average we had four in the whole primary in Ogden. Interesting.

Happy Birthday

Well, Joseph is now five months old. I can't believe how fast the time goes. He's been alive over half of the time I was pregnant with him (think about it for a minute. You'll get it.) He is so much fun to be around and he is such a funny little boy. The top picture is from a bunch of pictures Josh took of him a week or so ago. He was just staring at himself in the mirror. He had a blast making faces at himself.
The second picture is what happens when we put him in bed and he doesn't want to be there. Josh had put him in bed and was laying on our bed reading. I was in the kitchen and heard Joseph start yelling. He was upset about being put in bed and had rolled himself up in his blanket. That made him even more angry. He is so funny sometimes.
But that's why we love him.
He's almost figured out crawling. It's more that he gets on his feet and chest and then pushes himself around. But he is mobile. Which is kind of frightening.
So I watched "Gone with the Wind" last week. I figured I needed to watch it after having read the book to see if the movie was any better. I will admit that the movie is well made. They spent a lot of money on the production and most of the actors did a very good job.
But it's so depressing and Scarlett is such an idiot. All she cares about is money and Ashley. And Ashley is a stupid man. My two favorite characters are Rhett and Melanie. In fact, they are the only two worth mentioning in the whole movie. Pretty much every one else is an idiot or on the verge of idiocy. I'm sorry to those out there who like this movie. But it is really stupid and depressing. I had to watch "Enchanted" two times (plus a few extra choruses of "How Will She Know" just to make myself happy again.

Summer Lovin'

I've been trying for four days to update this blog. Some days I am just amazed at how much work a 5 month old can create. And he's getting busier and busier.
Last Saturday we went to the Nature Center (free days are great). I don't know how many animals Joseph paid attention to. I think he just enjoyed being out of the house with both Mommy and Daddy. That doesn't happen very often. Usually Josh is at work and I'm taking Joseph shopping with me. He did love the trees and the plants. If he keeps this up we have our own little botanist on our hands.
He is so much fun. He makes the funniest noises and he gets excited about the funniest things. And he's so stinking cute. When is started to get to hot Joseph and I went to sit under a tree while Josh was chasing animals. Joseph lay on his back making the funniest noises. It almost sounded like he was crying or screaming or something negative. But he was having so much fun. He kept laughing and smiling.
Josh got some really cool pictures of some animals. Here are some of them.



I think Josh had more fun than the rest of us. He loves looking at animals and could spend all day doing it. Regardless of the weather or temperature or time or anything.
But Joseph did have fun with his parents and we had fun with him. He's starting to have so much more of a personality. He is so curious of the world around him and he gets frustrated if he can't get things to do what he thinks they should.
I love my two handsome boys. I'm so lucky to have the two of them. Aren't they about the cutest two boys you've ever seen? And they are mine. Heavenly Father must love me a whole bunch to give me the two of them.
I can't believe my parents have been in Finland for over three weeks. It's almost been a month since they left for the MTC. I've been on almost every single airline website trying to find the most cost effective way to go visit them. Of course, prices will change like crazy before we get to the point that we can go. I think it would be a wonderful cultural experience to go visit there. Finland is totally unique from practically any other country in the world. First, it's the only country where they speak finnish (figure that one out :)).
I also think it would be a good influence on Joseph to watch his grandparents teaching the gospel. I think seeing them and what they are about could be a good thing for him to learn about work and the gospel and loving his Savior. Even if he's not quite old enough to understand it all now, it will bless him in the long run. I'm so grateful for my parents and their desire to serve the Lord like this. It is a great example to me.
Joseph is learning to sit up. He can sit for about a minute before he faceplants. He usually is leaning way forward over his feet and legs but he is learning to balance himself and he has the strength in his back to keep himself up for a while. Before long he will be crawling all over the house. I'm losing my little baby. He is becoming a little man.

Media Update

I figured I always talk about Joseph so today I'm going to talk about myself.
Last week I borrowed some Frank Capra movies from my parent's house. I watched "You can't take it with you". It was a good movie. Just like all of his movies. It is about this developer who is trying to buy up this large amount of land in the middle of the town. He is opposed by this old Happy-go-lucky type man who lives with his daughter, her husband, their children and others.
All this family does is whatever they want. So there is dancing and singing and other fun stuff going on all the time.
Anyway, at the end of the movie the developer decides he wants to be less driven by the ever loving dollar and everyone is happy (sounds like all of Frank Capra's movies).
What I'm trying to get to here, is that the man who plays the happy-go-lucky chap is Lionel Barrymore. He's the one who plays Mr. Potter in "It's a Wonderful Life". It's so interesting to see him play a part so totally opposite from that. I've never seen him in a part like that. It was good.
Also, this weekend I finished reading "Gone with the Wind". That was one of the dumbest books I've ever read. Scarlett O'Hara is the most stupid woman in the whole world. She is smart when it comes to running a business type smarts, but she doesn't have any common sense. She is selfish and arrogant and doesn't understand other people. I have never been so angry at a hero or heroine as I was when I finished this book. I think I liked everyone else in the book better than I liked her.
Yesterday, we went to see Wall-e. It was a good movie. If you are totally involved in watching a movie with loads of dialog, then you will not like this movie. It doesn't have much talking at all. But one thing I liked about it was Wall-e is obsessed with "Hello Dolly". So most of the movie has "Put on your Sunday clothes" or "It only take a Moment" underscoring it.
I left that movie with a mad desire to watch "Hello Dolly". Wall-e is very funny. I mean, he's been alone with a cockroach for 700 years. He doesn't understand how to be around others. So he made that movie worth while.
Well, that's my life recently, here's a note from Joseph.
gnvvb f b bcvcf xd dxd ffg t ghg f f errbv

Happy 4th of July

My sister Kirsten shared this quote with the family and I want to share it with all of you.

"From a speech given by the then, Governor Ronald Reagan, we get an experience that could have involved the Angel Moroni. Governor Reagan gave the speech in Seattle, Washington, Oct. 12, 1966. The excerpt follows:
Thomas Jefferson tells that on the day of our nation’s birth in the little hall in Philadelphia, debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign a Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words ‘treason, the gallows, the headman’s axe, ‘ and the issue remained in doubt. Then a man rose and spoke. Jefferson described him as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice failing, he said, “They may turn every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever.” He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed a document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors. Fifty-six men, a little band so unique, we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.”"

Isn't this a wonderful country that we live in? I'm so grateful to those men who willingly gave so much so that we can enjoy the freedoms we have today. It's amazing how willing they were to give up their lives and so much more so we can live in a free country. We are so lucky.

Here are some pictures of Josh and Joseph. They looked so cute sleeping together. After I took this picture I went in the bathroom to do my hair and makeup. When I came back into the room Joseph had moved his arm so they were in almost the exact same position. They look so cute together. Joseph loves spending time with his dad and I love watching the two of them together.