The Mercer Family

Eva Starr Loveridge

2009-03-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

Just about a week ago on March 23rd 2009, my dear sweet grandmother passed away at the age of 91. She was such a light to our family and had so many wonderful qualities that I can only hope to possess one day.

She was always a good sport and loved to be involved in everything around her. She loved her children, grandchildren, but most of all her great grand children. She lit up every time one of them came around. She would say, "Well look who came to see me!"

This is Holden and Gabriel one day with me at the rehab center visiting Grandma!

Just before her health took a turn downhill, I was able to spend a week with her. I will cherish that time I had with her for the rest of my life. I am so grateful for the little chats that we had and the wisdom that she shared with me. I am so grateful as well to the many neighbors that watched my children so that I could be with her just about everyday when she was in the hospital. I was able to hold her hand through the pain and be with her during painful procedures. I have to say that it was so hard to see her in pain and I am so relieved that she has been able to move on and be reunited with her 7 other siblings, mother, father (he died when she was 8 months old and she never knew him), and of course her beloved eternal partner- my Grandpa Loveridge. She was able to pass away peacefully with angels surrounding her to take her back home.

We had the funeral services this past Saturday and I just felt the spirit so strongly testifying of this beautiful woman that had touched so many lives and had been such an example to all of us. It was said many times at the funeral of her example of one who truly possessed charity- the pure love of Christ. She was loving, giving, meek, humble, unselfish, peaceful and strong and immovable in the gospel.

I don't often share thoughts that are very personal to me on this blog, but I feel in this case it's something I would like to do, so if it gets too personal, feel free to skip it!

I don't know why, but this is the first funeral that I've been to that things hit me a little differently. I thought about all of us taking pictures around her casket at the cemetery. This was a day of grieving for the loss of a dearly loved one, but truly was a day of great rejoicing for a reunion in heaven. It also became clear that this time on earth is a special mission for each one of us. Just as I served a mission in Spain, I was sent here on this earth to complete a mission and one day return to my Heavenly Father. I almost thought how lucky my grandma was to be finished with the hardships of her mission here on this earth, but I also thought what a valiant "missionary" she has been and what a faithful and wonderful mission she served here. She is one of the greatest examples to me of one who truly did her best to fulfill all that her Heavenly Father asked of her during this short time she lived on this earth.

Things are not always easy here, but it gave me a moment to reflect on how I handle the trials that are given to me and also to reexamine my relationship with my Heavenly Father and Savior. Am I where I need to be with them in order to have the full spirit with me to help me to know what my mission is on this earth? I believe our mission can change on a daily basis and therefore we need to be constantly listening to the spirit to be an instrument in God's hands. I am grateful for my grandma's example and for the great legacy she left behind.

Because of her example, I want to do better to be more Christ-like and be filled with more charity. She was someone I admired as she lived, and someone I will continue to admire even after her passing. I hope to fulfill my mission on this earth as faithfully as she did hers. We love you grandma and we will do our best to honor your name and our Heavenly Father's and Savior's names.

May we all learn from her life and example and do better in our lives to become greater examples to all who know us. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the true gospel on this earth. The restored truths we have today are from a divine and living God. He knows each one of us and loves us so dearly. I'm grateful for a living prophet who guides our church on this earth today with guidance from our Heavenly Father and Savior. I know families are eternal with the proper ordinances and covenants. I'm grateful for my ancestors who have gone before me and as mentioned in the funeral, have helped to pave the way for me to enjoy the blessings of the gospel I enjoy today. This is my testimony of the true church on this earth today. These these I am grateful for, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

4 Years and Counting!

2009-03-30T00:37:00.000-07:00

We had our fourth year anniversary on March 26th! At the last minute, we decided to celebrate early and go somewhere over the weekend. Thanks to our wonderful neighbors the Smiths for adopting our kids for a couple of days! We decided to go only a short distance to Salt Lake to stay at the Anniversary Inn. We had the most amazing room. I ordinarily wouldn't post pics of a hotel room, but I had to post these because we have stayed there a few times, but this was the best room we've ever had. It was soooo cool! It was The Mysteries of Egypt room and it really felt like you were staying inside of a pyramid! The coolest part was the tub. The shower was out of a cobras mouth and the rest filled up from a waterfall on rocks to the side of the tub. Niiiiice! Gotta get me one of those! hehe I recommend you go there- pretty cool!

We only stayed one day in Salt Lake and we decided to go to the 3D showing of a dinosaur movie. I was thinking the whole time how much Holden would have loved it! hehe Later we went go kart racing and had a blast! As much as I like to brag, unfortunately all of the bragging rights go to Josh- the amazing racer- who beat out guys that go every day!! Way to go hun!

We were supposed to go to the roof that night but we were both sick from the race cars, so we got PF Changs and dined in! We actually went a few days later to The Roof with the Smiths and had a very relaxing evening and a wonderful meal. It was nice to extend our anniversary celebration all week long! I highly recommend that too! :))

The next day on the way home we hit Mrs. Backer's Pastry shop and Hatch's Family Chocolates! Both amazing for desserts and sugar rushes!

We also went to the Grand America Hotel to eat and it was also absolutely wonderful and charming!

It was a great time to get away and be with each other! I have to say I am a TOTAL advocate of getting away once in a while with just my hubby! I think every time we do this, we come come home more in love and we have missed our kids dearly and can't wait to be with them again! So, I say thanks to my wonderful hubby for a great anniversary! I love him so much and am so grateful for the wonderful father and husband he is. Although we have our differences, I truly can't imagine someone more perfect for me. I love him with all my heart and am grateful that I will be with him forever!

Holden and the Terrible 2's Club!

2009-03-29T23:15:00.000-07:00

Holden made it! Yes that's right folks- Holden turned 2 years old on Feb 24th! I know I'm a bit slow, as I always am, but I thought it was time to do some catching up!

Holden is REALLY into animals right now and although he doesn't say much, the one thing he does well are his animal sounds! He knows what a bear, lion, tiger, dragon, dinosaur, leopard and cheetah all say! RAWR! hehe No, but he knows a ton of other animal sounds and that's about all that makes him interested in any sort of noise coming out of his mouth. That and CARS! His favorite movie that can keep him occupied for hours...I mean...I bet it could keep him occupied for hours...cough cough! :)) He loves making car noises and racing his cars around the house, especially on the rock fireplace!

So, that said, I decided to make him an alligator for a birthday cake! I found this awesome website that had all these homemade cakes and pics of all of them, so you can take a bunch of ideas from all different cakes and make your own! I had such a blast! I got the idea from my friend Rachel who makes neat cakes for her kids each year. I am DEFINITELY going to continue this tradition because it is so fun for me AND the kids absolutely LOVE it! Here is the cake in process and finally finished!

When I had the alligator finished, I showed Holden and he was so excited he just kept pointing and saying "CHMP, CHMP" his word for what alligators really say!

Earlier in the month we had a party with the Loveridge side of the family, and he was spoiled there with fun things from cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles! What a lucky kid!
The night of his birthday, we just had a small party with our friends, the Smith family. Eva Smith is Holden's best friend and he was so excited to have her over to show her the alligator! Grandma Mercer sent Holden such fun little gifts and spoiled him rotten! Thanks again to everyone for making Holden feel so happy on this fun day!

Holden truly is a great joy in our little family. He is such a happy little boy and is always running around the house trying to be good.

Example, I will find him at any given time vacuuming FIERCELY with his play vacuum- every nook and cranny. Might be because his mom doesn't do it enough! I just need to teach him how to avoid slamming the vacuum into the table, TV center, fireplace, doors...etc...lol but then again, he probably sees mom doing that too when she's in a hurry!

He will also find a bottle or binky and bring it to me to make sure I give it to Gabriel. He will find little pieces of garbage around the house...or maybe it's not even garbage...and put it in the trash to clean up. He even goes around shutting all of the doors in the house...I think he thinks it saves electricity...hehe Hopefully that will transfer to the light switches when he's tall enough to reach those!

As I said before, he is such a happy kid and he absolutely adores his little brother Gabriel. In return, Gabriel adores him. I will do silly things to Gabriel to try to make him laugh and he won't budge a smile. Then Holden will just walk pass, flash a smile at Gabriel and Gabriel is in stitches! Holden has so much fun trying to get Gabriel to laugh and will go as far as running across the room and belly flopping on the floor- anything to make Gabriel laugh! And BOY does it work!

He has such a sweet little spirit and when we are apart for a short time, he will always run to us saying "HIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEE" in a VERY high pitched tone. I later realized that I do that constantly when I see him! hehe

He is just starting with a few words like Yeah, and the dreaded NO. Except even when he says "no" I can't help but smile, because he never yells it or says it fiercely, he just says it in a very sweet soft voice. We were at the Grand America enjoying a meal (a VERY NICE MEAL- it was AMAZING!!! ) and the manager, (who was from Iraq but had worked in fine restaurants all over the world for 20 years- obviously knew good food) came up to us and saw Holden eating at his plate. He then assumed Holden could talk and preceded to ask Holden if the food was good. Of course the the only word out of Holden's mouth was a very sweet, small but definite "no". Then Holden continued eating! The man just laughed and said "well, I like honesty more than anything!" We then had to explain that he really couldn't say much but probably didn't understand the question!

Holden has a very special place in our hearts. He loves to dance and do actions to songs! He is full of life and energy and so curious that I can't keep up with him pulling my fingers to take me to show me something or have me help him with something! He loves to give hugs and kisses and he loves us to sing to him at bedtime and he just loves to be wherever we are and do whatever we are doing. We are so grateful to Heavenly Father for sending us such a beautiful and special little boy! Happy Birthday Holden! We love you!

Family Pics- 2008!

2009-03-07T14:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while, and I always feel like I'm 2 or 3 posts behind where I should be, but we'll start here. I thought I'd post these pics we had taken this year for Christmas. It was so fun and especially to add the newest member of our family- Gabriel or as we jokingly call him- Gabirel!! Without further ado, The Mercer Family Pics- 2008!

A Fun Filled December!

2009-01-06T13:47:00.000-08:00

Well, as usual, it's been about a month since I last posted, so again, you can look forward to a VERY long post! hehe We just has so much fun this Christmas season that I had to share everything...and I mean...EVERYTHING! SO>>> take a deep breath, here we go!

We kicked off our December by cutting Gabriel's mop! He had so much hair that we had to deal with it. I almost got my weed wacker out- but he looks so much better now! Here are the before(Like the bed head?) and after pics!

My friend Bethany and I threw a Christmas party for the toddlers in our neighborhood. It was so much fun. We played a game, decorated snowflake ornaments that were made out of popsicle sticks, and then sent everyone away with treat bags with the treats that everyone brought to share. Short, sweet and a lot of fun to get teh kids and adults together. We even had a surprise visit from a father- Glen- who was brave enough to bring his daughter to a party full of women! hehe We were glad he came!

Holden also had his friends Eva and Sarah over and they made snowmen and layed under the Christmas trees with their flashlights!

I was giving Gabriel his bath first and Holden was so excited for his that as soon as I took Gabriel out, as soon as I turned around, Holden jumped right into the water- clothes and all and started washing himself down with the cloth. I won't even disclose what Gabriel did in the water before he was taken out! Nice.

The next activity was a visit from Santa Clause to our Family FHE party that my sister Kim and BIL John hosted. He told a story, listened to each child's wish and then made something out of balloons for each child. Holden...as you can see LOVED him! hehe Actually he really was excited and couldn't take his eyes off of him...that is until it was his turn to actually sit on Santa's lap- then it was a different story! However, Gabriel didn't mind at all! Holden also had fun with my niece's cat-Shadow!

Right before we left to Boise, I dragged my little family to get pictures taken. They turned out so well and the best part was that I feel like we got a great pic of the true little personalities of the kids! They were such good sports and I'm soooo glad we did it! That will be the next post! hehe

Christmas in BOISE!!!

Then it was off to BOISE for Christmas! We had to go a different way to Boise because the roads were closed on our usual route. We headed to Wendover- YES!!! It was late when we got there and decided we were too tired to drive the whole way so we stopped and got a room there. It was my first time and it was hilarious! We got a cheap room but it was amazingly nice. It had probably the biggest jetted tub I've ever seen- AND that Holden's ever seen. We let him take his bath in there and it was like pulling teeth to get him out- after he'd been in there about an hour. lol Seeing how we don't have a bathtub at our house...let's just say he was in heaven! We got up the next day and made it to Twin Falls before Holden had hit critical mass in the car! We stopped at a Walmart to let him run around. Well, a 15 minute "run-around" stop turned into 2 hours after both of the kids needed diaper changes...one of them twice! Seriously! However, we won't go into detail why it took so long, but man, I bet the people watching us go in and out of the bathroom multiple times were thinking we were crazy...or getting there really fast. lol Anyway, we finally made it to Boise on Christmas Eve just in time to step in for dinner.

It was so special because we haven't seen Josh's brother Joey or his wife Maribel for 2 years, so we were excited to be there. We also didn't make it there this summer so it seemed like a long time since we had seen everyone!

We started the festivities at Mom Mercer's house for Christmas Eve dinner and opening presents. Mom Mercer made an amazing dinner that was sooo delicious. She and Maribel really did an amazing job on the food! We also found out that Josh's brother Joey and his wife Maribel are expecting a child at the end of May, so we decided to let them really enjoy our kids...if you know what I mean! hehe I felt kind of bad however because Holden had a really hard time adjusting to a new place and was a little...okay...a lot irritable just about the entire time. It made me sad cause I felt like my inlaws were looking at my sweet little Holden as if he was the most spoiled bratty child in the world...which is TOTALLY NOT how he is. hehe I think I scared them for when their baby comes! hehe Oh well. I think one day or another they'll get a taste of that lol! :)) jk However, that said, Holden had a blast with Joey rough housing- or it was Joey that really got a kick out of playing with him! So, we'll see how it goes for them! I think he'll be a great dad!

Maribel looks so beautiful pregnant and will be such an amazing mother! They will be awesome parents! Also, you gotta admit that Josh's Grandpa is pretty cool with his shades. lol He's the grandpa that was a casino card dealer in Panama and he also plays pool like you wouldn't believe! hehe Still a young man at heart!

The next day we went to Dad Mercer's house to open presents and we even did the pickle tradition that my sister Tiffany introduced to us. You hide the pickle somewhere on the tree and Christmas morning, the first one who finds it gets an extra special gift. She does money, we did Premium M&Ms mmmmmm :))

Holden got an EXTRA special present from Grandpa Mercer named BROBIE- the green dancing machine!! hehe This thing dances and taught Holden a few moves. From now on we will all LOVE the phrase, "I LIKE TO DANCE!" lol

After all of the presents were opened we hung out and played games. A little later, we had a turkey dinner! Great job on the turkey Dad!

Josh and I decided to only get the kids one present- but in the end, it was a good thing because they were spoiled by their grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and cousins on both sides! They don't know how lucky they are to be in a family where they are so loved. Hopefully one day they'll understand.

On the 26th we decided to go and see the lights at the Botanical Gardens. That is where Josh proposed to me and we have great memories there. It was so much fun but SOOOO cold! We bundled up the kids in the double stroller and thanks to Joey, we made it to the top of the mountain to the overlook! We enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies. The cookies were Holden's favorite part...as you can see! My favorite tree there was a purple tree- it was so pretty!

THE DIRTY 30's CLUB!

On Dec. 27th, I had my 30th Birthday! It was an absolutely perfect day! I had so many phone calls from good friends and family! Thanks so much for remembering me! I went with my sisters in law and got a manicure, then we went shopping for a while and picked up some lunch. We went home and Josh took me on a horse drawn sleigh ride through the mountains, up to a cabin where we had dinner. There was a cowboy serenading us the whole time and the food was amazing. There were red potatoes, steak, carmalized carrots, huge prawns (which I gave to Josh to enjoy!) and berry cobbler for desert. We went up with a small group of people and had a great time chatting with them. We listened to Cowboy poetry and stories. They brought out a birthday spud with a candle on it and the cowboy recited this HILARIOUS poem about birthdays. After the ride down the mountain, Josh and I went home and thre was a little party there. Josh got me an amazing Cold Stone cake- I highly recommend them! Then we just played games til all hours of the night. What a perfect day. A couple days later we went to The Cheesecake Factory where we had a great meal and they brought out a little dessert for my birthday as well. SO... I feel I am well into the "Dirty Thirty's Club". ALSO- NOT KIDDING- The day after my birthday, I SWEAR I found 5 or 6 new gray hairs. OH GREAT! hehe

Ringin' in the New Year- Panamanian Style!

New Year's Eve was spent at Josh's cousin's house- Jaime! He is recently engaged to a wonderful girl Maddie and we are so excited for them. They are getting married on July 4th! It doesn't get more patriotic than that! Jaime served in the Marines and has been to Iraq a couple of times- maybe 3. He is so amazing and reminds us of all of the sacrifices that are being made on our behalf. Anyway, we spent the night playing games eating amazing food that Josh's Grandma and Aunt made. The food was Panamanian and it was to die for! We introduced Josh's family to the game of Settlers and they were hooked, so we spent a good amount of our vacation playing Settlers and Uno! Good times! We also had a dance party at midnight and Holden had an absolute blast dancing...AND showing us the new moves he learned from BROBIE!

One of the last things we did while we were there was going to play Vollyeball with Josh's dad. It was so much fun. I haven't played in years! Josh was a trooper and made some nice saves! :)) Grandpa helped on kid duty while Holden ran around playing. Fun stuff!

We spent our last night there at the mall actually :). We decided to take Holden there to run off some energy for the ride home. It worked beautifully. We had such a blast and we were sad to have to come home. We had a fairly quiet trip home...besides the man that was stuck on the side of the road at 3:30 in the morning. We left at 10:00 pm at got home at 6:00 am. I stayed up with Josh while he drove until about 4:00 am and I coudldn't hold my eyes open any longer. Man, Josh is a trooper, but I will say it wasn't without a little help from some Red Bull. lol Gotta love it for those special road trips! hehe

We just wanted to thank everyone for an amazing time. Thanks to Mom and Dad Mercer for opening up their homes and being such gracious hosts to us. Dad sacrificed his room for over a week so we could have room to keep Gabriel with us. How awesome is that? These people are the kind that would do anything for you and not think twice. It was so fun to see Joey, Maribel and Jeana again. What examples of love, charity and just how to be a loving and awesome family! We will miss you until we see you again! We love you guys so much!

That weekend after coming home, we went to my parents house to open presents with them and my sisters and their families- cousin presents and name drawing presents. It was so much fun to be with them since we had missed them over the holidays. What a great family I have and it truly makes us so happy that we are so blessed to have such wonderful families!

Thanksgiving Success!

2008-12-05T09:46:00.001-08:00

We had a WONDERFUL thanksgiving this year at my parents house. We had great food and company. A couple of days before Thanksgiving I got with my friend Bethany and we decided to make bread cornucopias for the rolls and pumpkin pie made from real pumpkins. It was a blast and they turned out so beautifully!

I was in charge of decorating the table which is my favorite thing to do! It took a while, but with my little brother's expertise (!) and my husband's new found love for napkin folding, we managed to get everything set up. Check out the cool napkins! Way to go Josh!

It was my family's "off" year so It was a small crowd. We had my parents, my little brother Christian, my older sister Jennifer and her family, my grandma, my Aunt Susan, my Uncle Kay and my cousin Bryan there to share the day with us. It was such great company and food. My sister did an amazing job on the turkey and my mom spent HOURS cutting these vegetables into tiny cubes. It looked and tasted amazing! I love how my family loves to try new recipes and how creative they can get!

Later that night we played games together and had a blast showing each other how smart we were in scattergories! hehe So thank you to everyone for making the day so wonderful! We have such a great family!

I spent the rest of the vacation doing puzzles until all hours with my mom and just relaxing with the fam. It was so much fun because I haven't done that in years. It was also so nice to be able to spend some one on one time with my mom- it's been a while since I've been able to do that...so thanks mom.

Gabriel also got his first online toy! hehe I got him a doorway bouncer on ebay. Holden absolutely LOVED it when we borrowed our friend's bouncer, so I decided to buy one. Gabriel is still trying to get the hang of it, but I think he will love it. He already smiles as he sits in it.

And this picture...I just thought I'd put in cause that's Holden's favorite position to sit in while he watches his morning cartoons! He loves to just lie on the table hehe!

Now with Thanksgiving over, I now have permission to start with the Christmas festivities! Yeah for Christmas! It truly is my favorite time of the year!

October Around Our House!

2008-11-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted so, I'm just gonna "highlight" some activities with some pics! Dunno how short this is gonna be! (or how long!)

One morning my cousin Bryan called us up to invite us to his parents house for a breakfast! We had good food and good company.

I always cut Josh's hair...except when he gets it cut on a lunch break...which..come to think of it is happening more often now. hmmm... Well... that's beside the point! Anyways...I would cut Holden's but he cries 'cause he hates the electric clippers, so I decided this time to take him to a "professional". hehe Anyways, he cried the whole time there too.. and now I've decided I can do just as horrible of a job by myself! :)) Lesson learned.

I got a snap shot of Holden's favorite past time. Seriously. Not Kidding. When Holden is bored, he will drag me to the closet where I keep the vacuum. He thinks it is a game...and his favorite game at that! Usually in the morning I will humor him and pull it out..and we do our daily vacuuming. But as the day goes on, we have a lot of tears as I try to explain to him that we've already vacuumed that day. He doesn't get it and is heart broken. lol The thing I can't believe is that he can not only lift the big vacuum by himself, but that he can push it all around and actually vacuum! Man, this kid thing isn't so bad..expecially when he does MY chores! :))

Holden figuring out hiding places!

Here's Gabriel's "I'm telling on Holden" face. lol He is a very patient kid with a big brother who loves to play with him!

A fun event to go to is the witches display at Gardner Village. I went last year with my sisters, so I took Josh this year. This is Josh having a good time! :))

Holden had fun running around. He loved the witches that moved the very best! He especially loved the witch that was hiding a cat under her skirt! heheGabriel on the other hand just chilled in the stroller.

And don't ask me how he did it, but somehow Josh found a shark in one of the shops. Seriously...he can go anywhere and find a shark! hehe I find cute nice things for Holden...he finds sharks...I guess it's a dad's job!

We met for our big family FHE at Tim and Tiff's house. We had our annual Haunted Gingerbread House Event! :) Tiff made the most yummy soup and we all went to town with the thousands of pounds of candy! :)

Holden actually had so much fun. Except he was more into eating his house than building it. I built the house but he did all of the decorating! I was so proud of him!

Gabriel just chilled with the other babies! Maybe next year he'll get his own house!

We also had a beautiful day for Holden's blessing. Our next door neighbors and good friends Jim and Bethany Smith offered to host our family's big day. They were so welcoming and wonderful to complete strangers! Thank you again! It was a blessing to have most of my family there (we missed you Amy, Marshall and fam, and Johnny 5) and Josh's mom, dad, aunt's and uncles.( We missed you Joey, Maribel and Jeana!) But Josh gave a beautiful blessing and the lunch after was so nice. Thank you sooo much to everyone for the wonderful food you brought. I know (especially in certain cases) that your sacrifices of time were great to prepare the food you brought. We definitely have some amazing cooks in our family. But the part is oc course our sweet Gabriel. We are so blessed to have him in our family. He is so darling and is getting his cute personality, laughing and babbling all of the time now. I can't believe how fast time flies. I can't imagine our family without him!

Now for the actual Halloween festivities!

A couple of nights before Halloween, I got these cute pumpkin bread bowls. I forgot to get the soup to put in them, so Josh had the great idea to toast them and put spaghetti in them. It was soooo yummy!

I made our costumes this year. Holden was a spider (the costume I made him last year), Gabriel was a sushi roll, and Josh and I were Egyptian...well...hmm...Egyption people. hehe Some would say King Tut, or Cleopatra...whatever suits your fancy! They turned out soooo awesome it was fun to wear them. Only downside, I was sewing 'til 4:00 amd the night before and up until we went trick or treating with the kids! hehe Oh well....so much for procrastination!

We also went trick or treating down Center Street in Provo- good times!

At night while trick or treating, we went to visit some old friends in the RR 1st Ward. The handsome man pictured with me and Josh is Bro. Heinz. He and is wife are two amazing people who have been such an awesome example to me and Josh. Great people! We're glad to have him assigned to our ward as a high councilman.

We've had a busy month, and I feel like I'm already behind for November, but we're happy and healthy and adjusting to life with a second child and loving it!

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

2008-09-26T11:22:00.000-07:00

Well, life has been moving pretty quickly since Gabriel joined our family! I haven't been the best at keeping my blog updated. We have had so much fun getting to know little Gabriel and watching Holden make the transition from only sibling to a big brother! He is doing well and getting so big! He is a sweet little guy that is mellow and so easy going! Also, can I just say...We love his hair!

To recap in a seriously quick way... :)

Holden loves his little brother and loves to be around him. When he wakes up in the morning, Holden will run into our room and go right to the cradle to give Gabriel a kiss. Whenever he hears him crying in another room, he'll go there to make sure that all is well.

Holden will always lie down right next to Gabriel so he can be as close as possible...sometimes he gets a little too close- if ya know what I mean. However, Gabriel is a VERY patient little guy! :)) heheThis is Holden getting his "Pacifier Fix"! We have started to "wean" him from this so when he finds them- he goes absolutely crazy! He actually had 3 in his mouth at one time but by the time I took the pic, one dropped out of his mouth! :) Crazy kid!
They had their first bathtime together and to make it sweeter, we got a new shower head. Reasons: 1. For our convenience when we wash him and 2. To let him have a little fun while he bathes...it's a win-win situation!As you can see...Gabriel is as happy about his bathtime!
But in the end, they were both happy AND clean!

After a few weeks of settling in with a new baby, I decided my play time was over...okay..not really, but I figured I needed to be more in touch with my domestic side! So, I got together with my friend Bethany, and we took on the great task of canning some peaches and pears. With some tips from my mom, after hours on peeling, cutting etc...the peaches turned out to be amazing!

We also decided to take a family vacation of some sort since we hadn't gone anywhere this whole year! hehe Since we could only be gone a weekend, Labor Day looked great for a little getaway time! We headed up to Park City to go to Swiss Days and then to spend the rest of the weekend there doing some fun activities. WELL- we got the car all packed and as we were driving out of our street, we noticed we had a flat tire. We had to unpack everything, find the spare, drive to Walmart and wait only to find that the tire was too damaged to be repaired. We ended up getting to Park City late, so Swiss Days never became a reality. Then the next day we headed up to the Olympic Park to check it out. Our friends the Smiths came up to joing us. It was actually really cool. I was on my mission when the Olympics were in SLC so it was really neat to see the museum. We also watched as skiers jumped the ramps into a swimming pool. Cool stuff. We hadn't been there too long when a major storm hit. They made us stay inside because of lightning. So, as you can guess, we nixed the outdoor activities that they had there. But it was still a fun weekend! Holden and I did the bobsled while Josh went skiing! Nice face huh!?As we moved into September, we celebrated Josh's 28th birthday! What a grown-up! Isn't he cute!? Now, funny story! See that pie? It's apple. I got it for him cause I was sure his mom made him one every year for his birthday growing up- so I thought I'd be sentimental and get him an apple pie. Well, his friend Jim Smith had taken him out for sushi that day for lunch and we was still so full that he told me he was "too full" and didn't want any pie right then. I didn't mind, but I then told him I didn't really like apple pie so I bought myself some angel food cake. Well, when he heard that I didn't like apple pie, he thought he'd better come clean. He told me he didn't like apple pie either.... WHAT?????? He then informed me that it was PUMPKIN PIE that his mom made him!!!! BOY--FAILBOAT!!! I am such a dummy. I thought I knew my hubby....guess not! lol Oh well...can you imagine if he'd held that in? He figured he would not tell me and just let me eat the pie over the next week! That I wouldn't notice that I was the only one eating it! hehe He would have gotten apple pies on his birthday for the rest of his life! LESSON-- be honest with your spouse, even if it does embarrass or make them feel dumb for a minute! A minute is better than a lifetime of birthdays spent suffering! hehe For his birthday, he bought himself parts to build a computer sice all 3 of ours were going out at the same time! He did a lot of research and got a great deal on the parts and I was so proud of him that he built this thing all by himself! What a smarty pants!
We also went to my parents house for a birthday celebration! He is here with my dad and Gabriel. Notice the dang nice kitchen! My mom and dad have spent almost 1 year remodeling it. Isn't it sooo beatiful? Good job mom and dad!
I thought I'd just add this pic. These are our friends Cameron (Josh and I know him from our dance team at BYU) and his girlfriend Jen. They have been so cool to come and hang out with us. We have had so many fun weekend nights playing new games and eating treats! Settlers is the big one right now! Good times!

Gabriel Alex

2008-08-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

Gabriel Alex MercerWe are excited to announce the birth of our second son! Gabriel Alex was born on August 7th at about 6:35 am. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 19 inches long. For being over 3 weeks early...he was a pretty good size. Everything went smoothly considering I went to the hospital thinking I was just having really bad gas pains. hehe Josh was the one who convinced me that we needed to go. They informed me after checking me, that I was indeed in labor and at a six, almost a 7 in dialation. So...I guess it's a good thing we went when we did! After getting to the hospital, I was in labor for 4 hours and then the baby came with a little coaxing! He had a lot of dark brown-black hair. It was a lot darker than Holden's was. Holden has turned quite light now, so it will be interesting to see if Gabriel sill stay this dark. As for his eyes, we are still waiting for him to give us a good glimpse! The kid is pretty tired all of the time still.

It was quite a surprise and something we were not expecting when we sat down to watch a movie that night! We called our landlords to take the monitor and to get Holden in the morning. Thank goodness for wonderful friends and neighbors! It was so wonderful to have friends and family come to visit us in the hospital. We have been the recipients of so many wonderful people giving amazing service. Thanks again to everyone for your love and support! We are so thrilled for Holden to have a baby brother.Holden was so excited about the baby, he just kept wanting to give him kisses! The two get along so well and Holden has only had a few little behavior changes! :)) But he is such a good brother and whenever the baby is in his bed crying, Holden will come to get me to rescue the baby! lol Getting home, Josh had decorated with the cutest decorations; signs, balloons, streamers and other stuff! Josh's mom and sister also made the long trip from Boise, Idaho to come and see Gabriel and Holden. They stayed with us for a few days to help me out around the house and to help with the new lifestyle of 2 kids....lol oooooh...hehe They spoiled the kids so much- Holden loved having them around to play with!

It's an adjustment, but it's going pretty well! We feel so blessed to have this little miracle in our home. He brings such a wonderful spirit with him.

2008-07-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

TAGGED!

Gotta admit...this is the first time I have EVER been tagged...besides the tags that say , " and everyone reading this is tagged..." hehe So, I will tell you I have never responded to any of those tags. I figured if anyone was really interested in having me reply..they would have put my name. I hope that didn't come across as snotty...I think I'm just lazy! hehe

So...the rules as I understood them are as follows: You have to take the pictures right away...no cleaning up or straightening things...actually dressing your kid...etc. Let your conscience be your guide! hehe

Child #1 right now- Eating breakfast (my blog time!) and trying to look around me 'cause I'm blocking his view of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Seriously.

My side of the closet. Actually I get the whole thing. It's practically a walk-in in case you can't tell! hehe :)) Also, the sparse clothing is because right now all my regular clothes are packed away and I have a shortage of maternity things! hehe I guess it keeps my choice of what to wear everyday easy!

My Toilet! Nice eh!? Yes, that is a FULL trash can! Also, Holden's other favorite toys in the house are on the left side of the toilet.

Child #2- It was feeling a little shy so this is the best picture I could get! Only 7 weeks to go! Man, it won't come soon enough!

My Frigidaire! Front is for Holden's artwork and for our abandoned scripture reading charts! The right side is for coupons, calendars and my weight chart! hehe The right side is to hide dishes that are either in the sink or drying on the counter top! This fridge has multiple uses!

My favorite room. A nice place to hang out especially with the new couch addition! Good for reading and naps! Holden's favorite room too...this is where he communes with higher powers such as Little Einsteins and Backyardigans. Very important!

Laundry Room- Well...it's actually in the back of the bathroom...but we take what we can get. It also serves as a storage space for Holden's bathtub (Big Duck!) The duck especially likes to sit on the dryer when it's going because it's nice and warm! :)

Favorite shoes! Yeah...some of my favs...unfortunately I can't wear them too often because right now being prego...they aren't too comfy! Also, I LOVE Holden's Sunday shoes so I put those in here too!

Kitchen Sink! Not much to say...but I do have Emilie's sippy cup sitting in the window. She may get it back one day! Also, our sink leaks...so I don't know if you can see but we cut off a bottle nipple and attached it to the faucet to serve as a short-term remedy. Brilliant!

Thanks for the tag Emilie. I actually had fun doing this one! I now tag- hmmmm...Tiffany, Kim, Christina, Amy (this should be interesting!!! lol)- that takes care of family and I also tag Shannon P., cause I think she'll actually do it! hehe

4th of July Fun!

We seriously had such a great 4th weekend. My family decided to do a HUGE family camp out. It was seriously one of the most fun times I have had in a long time. (not to downplay other fun times...but this was just plain awesome!) We started the night with a big barbecue...with steaks, hot dogs...not to mention the bratwurst. (sp?) We had a ton of fruit, drinks, chips and last but not least...treats galore! We finished dinner and we got ready for the camping part.

Every family brought a tent to sleep in...of course the kids also slept outside the tents to really "rough" it! So we set up tents and then my BIL John brought his projector and we watched a movie on a huge screen my dad had. It was so much fun to sit outside in the nice weather, watching a movie. While we watched the movie, my little bro Christian had built a firepit and we roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores. We didn't have a ton of wood so the fire went out...so being the modern day girl that I am...I turned on the grill and roasted my marshmallows over the grill. WAAAY easier and faster...not to mention I got a nice crisp outside and soft inside! Nicely done! The kids loved it and had so much fun being outside and with the cousins. Holden couldn't get enough of the big screen!

We had so much fun telling ghost stories that night and when the kids fell asleep, I stayed up with my sisters just chatting until 4:30 am. We finally crashed and slept very well....that is until the kids woke up at about 6:30-7:00 am. NOT FUN! lol But I was able to tune them out and sleep until 9:00 am. I'm good at that...just ask Holden! We got up and got breakfast going. Tiffany made big breakfast casseroles and Kim made Blueberry pancakes! I lended my cooking skills to them by cutting up fruit! I'm a master! It was a great breakfast. This is Christian )little bro) serenading Holden at breakfast. Holden was so mesmerized by Christian's singing and playing. He would just sit by Christian and stare at him. Christian also had a memorable time finding out he had his first broken finger. Poor kid. After that we cleaned up and just hung out for a while. Growing up music was such a beautiful and big part of our family. We really haven't done a ton with music for a long time. We were in the living room and I asked my mom (who always used to play her guitar as we'd sing) to play a song for Holden. She began playing and singing to Holden! He loved it. Other grand kids came in and we all began to sing. This lead to my other sisters coming in and singing 2 and 3 part harmony songs that we had learned when we were young. It was so fun to bring back some of those memories! I told my mom she needs to bring out that guitar more! I miss those days!

After spending a little more time together, we packed up and headed for home. Josh and I decided to spend the night with some neighbor friends. A few families pitched in to buy fireworks. We all got together and had fireworks and an awesome treat table! We were with the Smiths, Thaxtons, Wongs and the Nielsons! It was a blast. Holden was very cautious about the fireworks and just started to cry every time there was a screamer. He made it through though. I caught a picture with tears rolling down his face! Good times! hehe Josh and I got separate pics with Holden with the fireworks in the background, but by the time we got the family pic, the fireworks were done...so...oh well. We actually started pretty early(about 7 pm) and ended at about 9:30. We cleaned up and we were ready for a night of relaxation. In past years, we always do fireworks a lot later, and when you finish you're so tired etc. But it was nice to get them done, put Holden to bed and then Josh and I had time to relax together. We got in bed...and Josh read Harry Potter to me for a while. I of course fell asleep very fast, but it was a nice ending to a great holiday! Thanks to our neighbors for a really fun night!

2008-06-25T16:47:00.000-07:00

So, we've been up to a bit of stuff, but I'm gonna make it short and sweet!....well...the writing anyway!

Father's Day Weekend!

Josh in his element racing cars!

Josh and Holden in a mini golf cave!

Holden and I cheered Josh on as he raced!

(I didn't realize I couldn't go bein' prego :( )

A quiet dinner together! We were amazed how good Holden was.

These days...a rare thing at a restaurant!

Josh's Ice Cream Cake- Choc, rasp, and brownies... AMAZING!

Josh and Holden...I think Holden is only interested in getting some of that cake!

Josh's breakfast in bed!

New Bathtub Fun!

Holden got too big for the blue tub, so we are now using this! Abuela Mercer sent it to him! We'll see how long we can keep him in this!

He loves this tub sooo much and didn't want to get out. I pulled the plug inside the tub to let the water drain thinking when he got cold enough he'd want to get out. No, no....he just laid down in the tub to try and keep warm. I finally had to just take him out crying! hehe Man...the power ducks have over children these days!

FHE in the Canyon!

Josh teaching Holden all there is to know about fire starting! Josh was supposedly the "One Match King" in scouts growing up! uh huh! lol

Me teaching Holden the most important thing about camp fires- S'MORES!!

What a Way to Visit Teach!

This month my visiting teachers decided to do a pool party for the kids as our visit! I absolutely loved it! They are such good women and it was so fun to be with them and share a spiritual message as well!

Holden getting anxious to get into the pool!

Teddy Bear's Picnic at the Library for FHE

They had puppet shows, stories and songs. People had their blankets and snacks! Holden got to meet Flash Fox! Holden also got a balloon animal as we left!

Fun at Chuck E Cheese with Eva

This is Holden's first date and boy what a ride he pulled up in to get Eva! :)

He was actually petrified of the singing animals on stage. Man, I looked and they are kinda creepy. Chuck was missing an eye! Weird...but after he got warmed up, he dared to get a little closer to the other animals- still not too close to Chuck !

Baseball with the Bees for FHE

My BIL Marshall and my sister Amy planned the monthly FHE at a Bees game. It was so much fun and Holden held up really well. We all had a really good time! Thanks for planning something so fun you guys!

Making Cookies with MomHolden helped me make cookies so I let him lick the beater. Man the beaters these days are 10 X the size of our beaters growing up...lucky kid!

Some Spring Fun!

2008-06-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

I'm already gonna tell you in the beginning, there are gonna be a lot of pics because I loved all of these and wanted them for our fam! So, Like my last post, this might be long, and I don't expect everyone to be really THAT interested in our little activities! You might fall asleep while reading...I wouldn't blame ya! :))

Aaron's Baptism!

To start this all off, we went to my nephew's baptism last Saturday! It was so sweet. As we sang the baptism song, I couldn't help but shed a few tears. I don't know why but especially since I've been the primary chorister, these little children are the most sweet, glorious in this world. They are pure and wonderful and hold such a great responsibility on their shoulders as the future of our church! What may seem so simple as the decision to be baptized, is such a great and significant and marvelous thing it makes my heart burn! It is one more child that has chosen to strengthen the fight against Satan and join the army of the Lord! I'm so grateful for the church and the gospel and especially for these sweet children that are such great examples to all of us adults!

That said, we had a beautiful time and afterwards the children had so much fun playing together. These pics just show a small portion of the joy Holden was feeling being around so many other kids! Love his grins!

Prankers on the Prowl

Niki, Emilie and I took a portion of the night to go decorate for Sara Reinwand's birthday! We went at night as to be really sneaky to decorate her house for the next day. Well, as soon as we jumped out of the car, Niki and I soon realized just what a rebel Emilie used to be. She was dressed in a black hoodie and she definitely knew what she was doing. We taped plastic over Sarah's door and filled the inside with balloons so that when she opened the door, the balloons would fall inside the house. Emilie was shocked when Niki and I had told her we had never heard of that before. She said, "You mean you guys never did these pranks when you were in college?" 'Nuf said about Em! lol :)) Good times!

Just Mom, Dad and Hurricane!

The next is of me and Holden just hangin' out! I love this kid!

This is just one of the many things Holden loves to do with Dad! He climbs on his back and holds on for dear life as he gets a pony ride! He will just squeal the whole time, especially as Josh makes sharp turns and bounces up and down!

Watch out Old MacDonald!

On Monday we went with Emilie and chillins to the Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. I guess it's a popular thing in our neighborhood to have a pass there. I am SERIOUSLY considering it. There is so much to do. Well...enough for Holden anyways! He absolutely loved the animals. I guess they have gardens, a dinosaur museum and more! Another time!

Anyway, Holden and McKenna had such a good time petting the bunnies and watching the donkey pace back and forth(he seemed a little wild to me lol ). We were also proud of the kids for being so brave on the pony ride. McKenna made it for the first time through the entire ride. I was also able to get pics of Holden because he sat on the pony without me. He held on to the saddle and was a true cowboy!

Our Top Gun Days

Saturday after the baptism, Josh had been fighting (and still is fighting ugh!) a cold but our awesome home teacher had been trying to get us to go flying for months! So, we decided since Josh slept until 1 pm that getting out of the house would do him some good! hehe I was a little nervous to get into a small plane being pregnant because I get really car sick these days. I was hoping things would be different here.

We got to the airport, got into this little plane and had a great ride. We were really impressed that our home teacher knew how to do this. Now, for details... lol The first 10 minutes was great. Josh was in the front and Holden and I were in the back. Needless to say, it was a bit hot and not too much air reached us in the back. He let Josh fly the plane for a bit until Josh got a little scared and nervous that he was gonna crash the plane! hehe We made some really short turns and needless to say, it threw my stomach for quite a few loops! Not good. I got EXTREMELY sick. lol Holden started looking green as well and started crying. hehe Well, Dave was quick to hand me a little white paper bag lol and we proceeded to the airport terminal! I should have known that would happen. I told them they should go next time but take all the fellas, and Holden and I would wait at home! It was soooo nice of him to take us though...it was really quite exciting and neat. I just felt bad that I got sick cause the first part I quite enjoyed! Thanks again Dave!

Summer Saver!

Now, I made a little purchase at Target. It was $8 and I didn't know if it would be a waste of money or a good investment. It is a little water toy that looks like a four square grid that fills up with water and also sprays water through holes throughout the whole grid. When you step on the sides the water sprays higher. We hooked it up to the hose in the backyard and Emilie and McKenna (and Hadley) came over to try it out! It was a total success! I couldn't believe it! The Wong kids played with us and they are older and they even loved it. Holden and McKenna were timid at first but then really got into it! We took a swing break and Irina Wong pulled out the slip and slide. The kids had fun on that as well. It's a good little toy for summer and something I'm sure we'll get our money's worth out of!

Sorry for the long post and I'll try to do better at writing more frequently so as to avoid these long sagas. But...I gotta admit that there seems to be so little time that it is almost appealing to do a lot and then report. I'm feeling like I don't have a ton of time to blog these days! So bear with me! I also love reading everyone else's blogs for summer fun ideas!

Goings On

2008-05-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well, this past little while, Holden and I have been getting out of the house a little more. It's good for me, but I'm sure Holden appreciates it even more. Our basement can get a little boring day after day!

We have had some great times, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera for some of them.

A little while ago, we took my little brother Christian and went to the Aquarium in Sandy.

Christian, Josh and Holden Chowin' down before the AquariumIt was so fun! We had a great time and we all loved touching the sting rays. Ask Christian...he was a man when it came to that! hehe Then again, I wasn't so great either! :) Holden loved every fish and would cry when we would walk away from one until we got to the next one. He loved driving a fishing boat they had and all the fish in general! Good times!

Christian...being a macho man!We also have a new addition to our home. After three years of sitting on our landlord's hard rock futon, my parents were so generous in sharing credit they had at a furniture store. We were able to get an amazing and comfortable couch. It has been so nice. We absolutely LOVE it! Thanks again mom and dad!
We went to the Museum at BYU with all of the stuffed animals. We took Holden in Dec. but I think he was still a little too small to really enjoy it. So, recently we were able to go with Emily and McKenna Adams (and of course Hadley!). Holden just loved the animals and was just babbling the whole time!

We also had Eva Smith over for some play time. She and Holden spent most of the time sitting in this big blow up duck. They would find some toys and take the toy with them to just sit in the duck. I don't know. Maybe if I had a duck twice my size, I would want to sit in it too. hehe
Eva and HoldenWe went to a fun birthday party for our niece and nephew Abby and Aaron at Bouncin' Off The Walls in Sandy. I had never been before but it was so fun. Holden seemed to really like it.

My brother Jeff and HoldenI took him around for about fifteen minutes, bouncing, climbing, going through tunnels and down slides...then my tummy had had it. I started to really cramp up so I had to take it easy for a while. I have decided that vigorous exercise and pregnancy don't go hand in hand for me. Either that or I'm just out of shape and not too worried about it. :)) But thanks to them for a great party.

My Sister Kim and HoldenThey were so cute to send everyone home with a little toy/treat bag. We were spoiled!
We have also started to go to Lap Time (Story Time) with Bethany and Eva Smith at the library. Holden will usually make it through 1 or 2 stories before he looks around at the millions of books and wants to go read them instead of sit. Which I am happy to oblige! Yesterday the woman reading stories brought a bubble blowing machine- Holden and Eva absolutely loved it. Gotta get me one of those!

We also decided, after a 6 month absence, to go to Music Makers in our ward again. I felt Holden was a little too small to really know what was going on. Now, he can enjoy it a little more, but he'd still rather run around and explore rather than sit nicely on the floor or chair. hehe Maybe one day! Afterward we went to Chuck E Cheese for the first time (well, since I was about 5 or 6). Holden loved Chucky(I have no idea how to spell the name hehe) We went with Adams and Nikki Michaelis and her 3 kids. Holden loved to just sit in any game or ride that had a steering wheel. I didn't even need to pay to turn the ride on...he was content just to be in the ride and turn the steering wheel. Ahh...so simple to please right now. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Josh had work off on Saturday, so we took advantage of the weather and went miniature golfing at a course right next to our house. It was so fun, but extremely sunny. They have actual water traps in the mini course. Well, it was hot and I thought as every naive mother does, that Holden would just splash a little in the water. WELL...while bending over to just splash( I believe that was his real intention) because it was a little downhill, Holden toppled over into the water. He was soaked from head to toe. Well, at least he was cooled off a bit! But he loved running around and getting our balls out of the hole...that is once we actually got them in! Then we went to the park and sat under a tree to relax. Holden loves the parks and all of the dogs that visit the park as well. We took him to the play set where he met some fun little friends and went down some really big slides. Josh also pushed Holden on the swings...he couldn't stop laughing and smiling.He loved them- I was pretty proud of him! It's so nice to spend time as a family-they are the best times ever!

Also, as a family we enjoyed a nice Sunday dinner at the Smith's home. We put our cooking skills together and came up with some yummy kabobs, rice and salad. After dinner we showed our competitive sides and played Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? It was so fun because the kids were able to play and have fun as well. Too bad the girls didn't end up being as smart as the boys. :( We'll have to have a rematch!

Tuesday I was enjoying the final of American Idol when I got a call from Sarah Reinwand inviting me to a celebratory ice cream trip in honor of her due date that had come and gone without incident. :( hehe So I went with her and Nikki to Cold Stone to get Sarah her first Cold Stone. Seriously...where has she been all this time to have never had Cold Stone!????? hehe It was fun just getting out of the house with some friends and enjoying some high fat and high calorie ice cream! Did I mention I LOVE chocolate? Thanks for the invite- we'll have to do it again!

Yesterday was my Grandmas birthday and my dad took us (my sisters Kim, Tiffany, and Amy and kids) all out to lunch at his most favorite restaurant EVER....CHUCK A RAMA!!!! It was quite interesting with 9 children but we pulled it off! We went to my aunt's house after to relax and just chat for a while. It's fun having my little sister Amy here from Washington for the summer. I'm sure there are many more good times to be had!

On the same note, my Grandma Loveridge is the most amazing woman. She is truly the most wonderful grandma to us. My cousin sent an email pointing out her great qualities and I just wanted to echo what he said. She makes each person feel so loved and special. She makes an effort to go out of her way to hold each great-grandchild, making them feel so important. She is kind and loving and will just call you randomly to see how you're doing and to tell you about her life as well. She'll tell of her latest dentist appointments and how the birds are gathering outside in the backyard. I love her so much and am so grateful that she has eaten her oatmeal everyday and her ensure so that she could be with us this long. She turned an amazing 91!!!! She is so wonderful and we love her sooo much!

Well, I think that's enough of a recap. It may be long, but I wanted to write some of these memories down for the future. I think we're just really trying to soak up as much time with Holden one-on-one as we can right now. He is such a joy to us and such a sweet boy! Sometimes I really wonder how things will be once the baby comes. So here's right here and now and life in general! It's wonderful and although we have our trials, as Josh had Holden on his shoulders running back to the car and Holden giggling all the way, I thought to myself, "Thank you so much Heavenly Father for my amazing husband and little boy." I truly feel blessed in my life to have them. It just made me realize that with all the uncertainties in life and with our future, at least I have them and that is THE greatest joy. When they are happy, I feel so much thanks and joy in my life as well! Three cheers for eternal families!

Independence Day!

2008-04-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, well, at least the first of a lot of Independence Days to come! Josh finally graduated from BYU after taking a break and finishing his last 2 religion classes! YEAH! lol There was a ton of drama because BYU wasn't going to accept his institute classes after telling him they would. They finally told us on Monday that Josh would be graduating on Thursday. Ummm...not much time to plan! Josh did not want to do the whole graduation thing and his opinion was that it was overrated and he really only feels that it will be a big deal when he graduates med school. Phooey (is that a word?) to that is what I say. It is a big deal and he has worked many years to achieve this goal. So, with a little arm twisting and some guilt trips, he surrendered and decided he would walk the walk!

Thursday, I dropped Josh off at the Marriott Center and went to park. They were selling these fun leis outside for the graduates so I picked up one for Josh. I was able to get seated with a friend's family and then I called Josh and was able to intercept him before he got in the Marriott to give him his lei! It was a wonderful ceremony. Elder Bednar spoke about learning to love to learn and how this graduation was just the beginning of the learning that would and should take place the rest of our lives. It was so wonderful to hear the wonderful talks about taking what the graduates have learned at BYU to serve the community and in the Church. I thought they were so inspirational and wonderful. Josh and I attended that alone, and I had told him that no one from my family could come and also that none of his family from Idaho would be able to make the trip either because of the short notice!

Thursday night at about midnight, Josh and I had fallen asleep on the Lovesac watching TV when there was a knock at our door. We woke up and I acted confused and said, "Who on earth is knocking at our door at 12 o'clock at night?" He got up to check and I stayed back a bit. He looked through the peep hole and looked at me and said, "It's my dad." I think at this point he was still asleep. He turned to me and so I said, sort of mocking, "Are you sure?" So he, taking me seriously, went to look again through the peep hole. I just started to laugh. It was midnight and freezing outside. I finally just said, "Honey, it's your dad....just open the door!!!" It was a great surprise for Josh!

Then later at about 4 am, all was well in the Mercer home when there cam another knock at the door. It was Josh's mom and Aunt Vicki. Another surprise for Josh! We thought they wouldn't be there until morning, but had come to stay the night as well! With a little game of musical beds, we were able to figure our sleeping situation out! Holden of course woke up with all of the commotion and Mom Mercer decided she wanted to play with him. So, needless to say we played until about 5:30am then decided it was probably time to quiet down.

Josh and I spent an eventful night on the Lovesac and woke up a little tired! lol Well, just when it was about time to leave, my parents came to the door and surprised Josh that they were also coming to the graduation. It was a great morning.

We headed off to the graduation and decided to take Holden with us to spend time with Josh's parents since they don't see him that often. He was actually better than I thought he would be. Every time a name was called and families would clap for the graduate being called, Holden would also join in. It made me laugh. There was also a couple in front of us and the guy was rubbing the girl's back. Holden was watching as this went on. Well, the guy stopped and Holden squirmed to get off of my lap and went right over to the girl and started scratching her back. It was hilarious. They were playing with Holden the whole time and making faces to him etc...so rather than an awkward thing, it was actually sweet and funny! I just wish that I could train him to do that for me!

We were watching the graduation and I happened to look down and I saw the Hales family that had come from California for my cousins' graduations. How crazy! Afterwards we were able to catch up with them a bit.

After the graduation we went to the Pizza Factory with everyone including our friend Cameron (who was also graduating) and his family. Let's just say it took forever to seat us then even longer for food to come. Josh's mom and Aunt had to get back so we bid them farewell. Then I had called Josh's boss to make him come back to work for a couple of hours so that we could get the surprise party for Josh put together.

We went to my Aunt and Uncle's house to decorate and put the food out. It was fun to have my mom and dad, Josh's dad, my sister Kim and her hubby John and kids, my other sister Jennifer and her hubby Michael and their kids to celebrate with us. They were so amazing! Everyone worked so hard and they were so generous to bring the food to the party! Another Loveridge event- successful! We had croissant sandwiches, veggies, fruit, drinks, chips, cream puffs, cheesecake, and cake brownies! Man, I couldn't believe how nice everyone was to do this on such late notice and to take time out of their lives to be with us! Thanks again to all- it was definitely a night to remember. Josh walked in and had no idea-well, besides the sign out in front-lol. He was so overwhelmed- he is not a man of many words in a situation like this. He just kept telling me afterwards how he couldn't believe how nice everyone was to do this for him. We have an amazing family and we are so grateful for the support that we have gotten from all of you! We love you guys!

All aboard the Failboat!

2008-04-24T20:14:00.001-07:00

I was trying the other day to be social and actually hang out with someone for once. Well, one thing after another on my part...(and hers as well...lol :)) ) and we found ourselves at the end of the day without any "hanging out" success. So, I decided to just accept the facts...I think all of these pictures describe very well what I am feeling at this moment! HEHE Hope you enjoy! Reading this late at night when you're in a silly mood will help as well! Em- these are for you! :))

Em, we're on it!

Uhh...yeah

Walmart Fail

Poor Thing

Helmet Fail

Hmmmm....

Well, hopefully we ALL feel better about the moments in our lives when we feel that we fall short! Alright...don't worry..I'm not crazy, tomorrow I'll post a "serious" blog! But it was good to laugh for just a moment!

Holden's Independent Side!

2008-04-16T12:50:00.000-07:00

Holden is really in a stage right now where he is exploring his world and is learning very quickly the things that he is capable of doing himself! Once he finds he can do it himself, he rarely wants help! (Great for him, frustrating for mom and dad sometimes! :)) ) He will go to the bookshelf and pull down his books, read them and then pile them back on the shelf. I wish he could speed things up and learn how to change his diaper himself! :)) lol But I'll take what help I can get!

Finger Paintin' Fool

AFTER his bath...I don't know why I do things like this AFTER a bath, but I did. Just like when I gave him a bath, put STICKY Eucerin lotion on him and THEN decided to give him a haircut...the hair did NOT come off easily! Anyways...I decided that it was time to pull out some finger paint and paper I had bought a while back for when Holden was "old enough" to want to finger paint. Let's just say, I don't know if he's old enough yet, but he seemed fine enough with it.

Painting away(well, it was after he painted and I cleaned him up!)...or eating away...one of the two.

It did take some coaching and me getting my fingers into it for him to trust getting his fingers dirty. He finally broke down, but would only dip the very end tip of his finger in the paint and drag it around. Better than nuthin' I guess. Man, I gotta get that kid outside in a dirt pile to play so the other little boys don't make fun of him! :)

After finishing, I posted the pic on the fridge. Unfortunately, Holden could reach it, so I had to remove everything on the upper part of the fridge and give it the full spotlight it deserved. You can see where mommy MAY have helped Holden a bit in his painting endeavors!

Proud of his artwork!

Then to celebrate, I turned on the ITunes and we danced for a good long while, helping to tire him out for a nap! Ahh...Peace! :)

Orange "All Over" Julius!

This morning I thought I would make Josh a yummy Orange Julius from a recipe that my friend Camille had posted on her blog. It was yummy yummy! Josh had some, I had some and guess who was feeling left out!? So, to appease the little Master Holden, I put him in his chair to drink some of the goodness. I knew it wouldn't work through a sippy cup, so I took the lid off and hoped for the best.

This is his Orange Julius mustache!
Drinking from the cup without sippy top! Not too bad...UNTIL!

He actually did really well for the first few sips- but then his independent side took over in a flash. He saw me reaching to help him because he was spilling a little and WHOAAAA did that cause a reaction!!! He started shaking the cup up and down extremely fast trying to make sure I wouldn't get it. Well as you all know, without a lid, the OJ didn't stay put very long in that cup! Before I knew it, I had OJulius all over me, it was on the floor, the high chair and of course- ALL over Holden. It was pouring all down the front of him. He was so shocked he just looked at me with HUGE eyes, then started to cry. Evidently- he could feel it running down his body and his arms and did not like that one bit.

He HATES to be dirty. If there is one little thing on his face when I feed him his oatmeal in the morning, he will use his hands to wipe his face until he feels clean. Kind of like a little cat I guess! :) Well, all I could do was laugh because all I could think was, "it serves him right!" I was only trying to help and he freaks out! lol Then after laughing, I decided to be a good mommy and clean him up! I took the empty cup away...and you can guess...it led to a RIVER of tears! My oh my...we are really going through a stage right now. It's the same if I give him anything sweet...the second it's gone- he WAILS! Not mad cry at all...but the kind of cry that makes you think that his heart has just been broken! What is a mommy to do? :)) Well, I let him cry, then try to distract him to something new. If that doesn't work, all I gotta say is that he has spent many "1 minute" segments in his crib! LOL

Applebees Blondies and Macaroni Grill Rosemary Bread

Blondie

So I've been on a kick to make some fun food. No not necessarily healthy food, just yummy food. Josh had the idea to make a dessert on Sunday. So he picked Blondies. I then recommended we see if we could find the Applebees recipe online. Well, a million calories, and grams of fat later, we found it! :)

This is Josh just thinking of how yummy it will taste in his mouth!

Then yesterday with spaghetti, I thought it would be fun to have some good bread. So I got the fake Macaroni Grill recipe for the bread. Not too shabby! Yum...a little Olive oil and Balsamic vinegar and we were in heaven!

Rosemary Bread

Ultra Alien Sound

We had our first Ultra sound last week and it was great! I saw so many things and was assured that everything looked normal and healthy with the baby. If you see anything in the pics..please don't say because to us we see the major things and don't want to know if it's a boy or girl! I just thought these pics were awesome.

The first is of the legs, bum and back. Way cool pose kiddo!

The next is of the little scrawny legs crossed.

The last- my favorite...is of the alien looking face! The baby gets all its looks from dad! :))
We only hope it comes out this cute!

Time with Grandpa Loveridge

Holden and I went to my Aunt Susan's house with my dad to pick up my Grandma. This is just a pic of Holden and Grandpa! It always takes a little time for Holden to warm up- then he's a gem! He really seems to love the men in the family- and in general for that matter. I think it's because they play chase and throw him around unlike any woman could ever do! lol

Happenings!

2008-04-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

Interview Time!

Well, Josh made it home safely on Friday from his adventurous trip back east. He loved it even though it was crazy. He went to Vermont- and was disappointed that he couldn't make it to the Ben and Jerry's factory. Dang! He also went to Michigan, and lo and behold, right now it is his top choice to go to school. He thought it was a great school but also thought that Holden and I would enjoy this place more than any other to live while he is in the library 24/7!

Company!

Friday night, Josh's dad came from Boise to stay at our house for conference- a little tradition that he started! It was so fun having him here for the weekend and it's always sad when he has to leave. These are the boys getting ready to leave for the priesthood session-well, not Holden but you get the point.

The next couple of days wasn't so fun. I got food poisoning and was down in bed while Josh got to take off yet another day of work to stay home to take care of Holden. What a guy! I love 'im!

Library Looney!

This morning I finally felt better and took Josh to work. After dropping Josh off, I took Holden to the library for Lap Time. They had songs and stories and fun little activities for the kids to do. Holden is getting to a better age to enjoy those things. Although there was a HUGE shelf of books behind us so it wasn't long before he just started pulling books off of the shelf, bringing them to me to read to him. For the next half hour, I just let him climb on some carpet steps they had with a bunch of little kids his age. He was in heaven. Who would've thunk it? Stairs...so simple...yet so profound! :)

Good News From Doc!

After the library it was nap time, then it was off to the doctor for our first Ultra Sound of Baby #2. It was hilarious that I had wild dreams of Holden sitting perfectly on the floor reading his books and playing quietly until I was finished. NO WAY! The second I climbed up on the bed and the nurse started the ultra sound, he obviously felt totally left out of all of the action and was scraping to get up to see what was going on. She put him on my legs to see, but of course the first thing he did was try to crawl up on my tummy...not really good when that's the area of focus for the nurse. So, it was down on the floor. After minutes of crying the nurse finally called in another nurse to come in to aid my ailing child. She was so wonderful, and took him out gave him juice and a sucker and took him to meet everyone else in the clinic!

Good surprise from the doctor was that my due date was moved up a week! Yeah! So, the official date is now August 24th! We all know how that last month of pregnancy goes...so although it's only 1 small week- I'll take it! :)

My Duck Loving Son!

After the doctor I picked up Josh to go to an appointment on the BYU campus. While we were waiting for him, I took Holden to feed the ducks. It was his second heaven. He just squealed in delight at all of the moving creatures! I threw some graham crackers to feed the ducks and I thought I'd give Holden a try. I gave him a cracker- and well...let's just say he didn't really get the point of feeding THE DUCKS! lol He just ate everything I gave him. FINALLY, he dropped one for the ducks- how generous!

Yum Yum with Good Company!

After we dropped Josh off at work yet another time- we headed to Brick Oven to meet my Uncle Kay, Aunt Susan, Grandma Loveridge and my handsome cousin Bryan! Bryan is here for a quick trip for a few days from Boston. It's a party when Bryan comes into town! We had a great meal, minus the child throwing oyster crackers and anything else in his reach-on the floor. :) But at least he seemed happy!The crew at good ol' Brick Oven! Both Holden and I are hunching over...don't ask me why. We were both probably stuffed! LOL We love these guys and are so blessed to have such a wonderful family! Definitely my second mom and dad. Or are those my In-laws!? lol I guess it's a tie! But we had a great time. Needless to say, after that Holden and I were pooped so we picked up Josh from work and blasted Wicked all the way home! Popular! What a good day!

Good Times

2008-04-01T10:29:00.000-07:00

OLD FRIENDS!!!

This last weekend we were able to meet up with some of my friends from my mission to Spain. We saw the Martins, Cooks and the Gibbs. The dummy that I am, I forgot to take any pictures. Josh and I had been runnin' crazy getting him a new suit and other fun stuff for his interview this week but made it in time to the restaurant to catch our friends. They were just finishing eating when we arrived so we got our food to go. The waitress had to wait 10 minutes to get our food for us so we apologized as we were leaving for taking up the table an extra 10 MINUTES. She just huffed and said, "yeah, and it's my money making table too!" What a brat! I have been a server and you have good nights and bad nights. You have people that eat like there's a fire and then you have people that eat like snails. Sorry, but that's the biz you're in. After that rude comment I was like, "No tip for her!" lol I gave here a small tip but still...how rude!

After dinner we headed to Springville the the Cooks home and played some games. The Martins also made this yummy fruit dip. It was so fun to just talk and laugh with them. The Cooks have a little boy not too much older than Holden and they had so much fun playing together. We had a blast and we need to do that more often!

FAMILY FUN!!

Then Sunday was the blessing of my niece Bethany. What an angel. It was a beautiful blessing and fun to get together with my family afterwards for a pot roast dinner. Josh and I headed home pretty early to finish his packing for his trip. We were up until 2:30 am. We had gone to Mr. Mac against our better judgement to get a cheap suit. Well, when they tailored it in 5 minutes, they shortened the pant legs about an inch too short. They looked like floods on him. I decided to use my hemming talents I learned at good ol' Tuxedo Junction! I unpicked the crappy stitch and measured exactly one inch from where they had sewn (thinking they were professionals and all I needed was another inch added to the length) and sewed my own stitch to lengthen the pant legs. It was after doing this that I noticed they had sewn the pant legs crooked. Fools!! hehe One leg was one inch even shorter than the other. ( I knew it was their fault because I hadn't ironed the crease their stitch had made yet). I was already an hour into it and the stitch I sewed was a little more complicated to unpick. Sweet Josh spent the next half hour unpicking the stitch from the really short leg. I had him try on the pants (the right way) and I measured the legs, sewed them, ironed them and luckily they looked great! I was exhausted and SICK of sewing!

NOT A GOOD START!!

We got up Monday morning with plenty of time to spare- but not knowing that there would be wretched, horrible ice on the car and all on the streets and freeway. We headed out and traveled at about 30 miles an hour on the freeway, fish-tailing on the ice. We knew we were in trouble. We got to the airport with only 45 minutes to spare. Needless to say- the airport on a Monday morning at 9:00 am is a madhouse- and he missed his flight. I have spent the last month planning this trip to a tee! There goes his 3 flights for this day to get to Vermont and his hotel reservation. They couldn't get him to Vermont- only to New York for the night. He would have to travel to Vermont the next morning just in time to arrive for his interview. :( So, I spent a couple hours trying to find a hotel in New York that was under $250 a night that was close to the airport. UGH! Josh just called me and all is well. He made it to his interview and hopefully everything will go as planned this week for his next 6 or 7 flights, taxis, shuttles and hotels! Poor boy- he needs a nap! He'll be gone until Friday night, so I have some playing to do so I don't miss him too much!

GOOD ENDING!

Yesterday I went with my parents and Kim and some of her kids to my Grandma's house for her birthday. We spent the afternoon playing Pollyanna- an old family favorite. It was so much fun and my grandma was glad to have some company. I came home exhausted so Holden and I ordered pizza. We ate and went right to bed! What a good day! :)

SO...SPIDERS

2008-04-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

So the other day I was going to cook some hamburger- harmless right? Well, as I pulled and pulled to get the right pan out...I let out a scream of horror! Alright...maybe not horror, but fright! lol Crawling around in my pan was a hairy 8 legged creature! I do NOT like spiders..and considering we live in a basement apartment, we have seen very few spiders. Josh is always kind enough to tackle the discarding of such creeps in our house! Well, Josh didn't get home for another hour, so this was up to me. I hate killing anything. Not that I mind the killing part so much, but the squishing of their little bodies makes me sick. SO- I opted to take the whole pan outside and let him go. I avoided the squishing once again! But yuck! Although...Holden actually thought it was awesome...so I let him watch it for a while. hehe

3 Years and Counting!

2008-04-01T09:55:00.000-07:00

We had our 3 year anniversary on March 26th! At the last minute we were able to go on an overnight stay at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. We left Holden with the Johnson family (who were nice enough to take him on such short notice! Thanks Tim and Tiff!) and headed to Salt Lake. That is always a fun hotel to go to with the rooms decorated in different themes. We stayed in a French room. Fun stuff.

The next day we went to the University of Utah campus to relive my old days as a U of U student. It was fun being there. It really is a great school. Josh had the idea to get some pizza slices at The Pie Pizzeria. It is great pizza and in a fun little place. I definitely was reminded of my college days! We then set out to find a place to get Josh's hair cut. Romantic eh!? lol Great clips took him in and he looked like a million bucks. We then shopped all of these little old antique shops- you know...the kind you never go into that are quaint and small. We found the most awesome children's store. It had beautiful clothing...only about $100 a pop. hehe But the coolest things in the store were all of the children's books. Josh and I were agreeing that books are the best thing to give kids as they grow older. Holden loves books so much. He loves his toys, but I love it every day as he will sit himself in front of our bookshelf and "read" to himself. He will bring me books all of the time to read to him. My goal is to help him to continue to love reading as much as he does now!

After reading kids books we went to the dollar theater and saw Cloverfield. Hmmm... it was okay- it had great potential but we felt it ended unfinished. It was also hard to watch because of the camera work. We had to keep looking down because we would get motion sickness. Glad we only paid 1 buck for it! lol We then headed to the Mayan restaurant where we had a fun time watching the divers and the fire throwers. It's a fun little place.

We had such a wonderful time. Again, as I have said before- I think "mom and dad time" is so important. It was so nice to be with Josh and to go back to our "pre-kid" days. We missed Holden so much, but it was so nice to rekindle some sparks, have some great conversations and really enjoy each other. Periodically I think it is so important for moms and dads to do this! We came back rejuvenated and also feeling blessed to have Holden in our lives. Marriage is amazing and I love Josh more than ever! I feel like we're more in tune with each other and life gets better every day! He is sweet , charming, fun, caring and takes care of our family so unselfishly. He is a great father and is enjoying fatherhood so much. Three cheers for three years! :)

Easter Weekend Fun

2008-03-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

Where to begin? First of all I apologize that this is so long, but again, you can skim and skip to read what you want, but again, this is for our family history and journal, so thanks for bearing with me!

Saturday was the first day after two weeks of being sick that I felt somewhat better, so we decided to take advantage of Josh's day off and go have some fun. We started the morning (I mean 12:00 pm hehe) off by going to IHOP for some silver dollar pancakes! We then set out for a huge day of shopping. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Earlier, I had gathered up all of the gift cards that we have received over the years. We're not very good at remembering we have them, and they sit in our wallets! So, we pulled some out that we got for our wedding 3 YEARS AGO! We had some to Walmart, Babies R Us, JC Penney, Dillards, Subway, Hobby Town, Old Navy, Express, Blockbuster, Cold Stone and more! We thought it was time to get going on them!

Well, we decided to hit Walmart first. We had no idea how much was on the cards so we went to customer service to find out. They were so old that they couldn't pull it up so we had to call their customer service line. Well, one had $10 on it, but the other card, to our surprise, had a whoppin' $100 on it! WHOO HOO!!! Seriously...we had no idea! We were dying! So, we went and got some plastic Easter eggs and a couple bags of candy eggs to hide. But our greatest blessing in all of this, is that I've been worrying about our computers gong out and me losing all of our pics and videos. I have tried to copy the videos we have onto CDs with no luck. It keeps telling me the format is wrong, so my dad suggested we buy a back up hard drive. Well, they're about $100. So, we decided that this was a sign that we were supposed to buy it! hehe :). No, really, I can't tell you the peace of mind I have now that all of my pics and videos are safe!

After Walmart, we headed to Babies R Us and we spent it on Diaper bags so we don't have to run the diapers outside after every change! yeah! Then we went to Toys R Us and we decided with the gift card we wanted to get Holden a walker. We found the walker we wanted and then we noticed they were having a sale buy one get one free on any Fisher Price Toy! So, because his walker was Fisher Price, we got to choose any Toy under $20 for FREE!!!! Man this was DEFINITELY our day! We had some money left so we went to the board game section! Guess what, another buy one get one half off! So, we got Taboo and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader DVD Game. I'll just say this, we've played it and Josh is not smarter than a fifth grader and neither am I! hehe Although, I did win one game! Fun stuff! Now we just gotta find people to Play Taboo with us!

After that we went to Subway and after a half hour wait ERRRR!- we got our lunch! Then we went to Hobby Town and found Settlers. We were sad to give up on our old Settlers game that is lost somewhere in this great wide world. We have no idea at whose house we left it. So, we finally broke down and decided to buy it again. We spent the night covering the back of every piece with rubber backing so they don't slide around. Needless to say, after doing that we did NOT feel like playing it! hehe

After Hobby Town, we (rather Holden) had had enough. I was so surprised that Holden was so good for those four hours we were shopping. We decided to head home to check out our spoils! My plan was to do an Easter Hunt, but I was honestly beat, so we just spent the night relaxing and playing 5th Grader.

Sunday morning we got up, I finished some stuff for primary music time, we got ready and man, it was a rough morning. We got to church not early, not 5 minutes late, but 15 minutes late. The whole morning I was ranting how I didn't want to be late...and what'd ya know? I'm late. UGH! But we were able to enjoy a beautiful meeting. The choir sang a descant to I Know That My Redeemer Lives while the congregation sang the chorus and it was beautiful! The spirit was amazing! It was also my first week of being back to church after 2 weeks of being sick, so I think maybe I was extra emotional. After being gone from church, you realize how beautiful and what a blessing it is to be able to go every week.

We headed home, picked up some things and had an amazing visit from our Home Teachers. We love them so much and can't wait every month until they come! They are wonderful to talk to and then they always bring the spirit into our home so strongly with their beautiful lessons. Thanks to Bro. Holdsworth and Bro. Hilton for your time especially on Easter. Sorry to Liliana for keeping your husband over a half an hour! :))

After the home teachers left, we decided to play Easter bunny and got the baskets ready and Josh put Holden's walker together. I then found the song Here Comes Peter Cottontail on the internet and played it to wake up Holden from his nap! (Thanks to Kim for calling in the morning and singing it to me bringing back many wonderful memories!) I had to pass on the memories of my mom singing it to us growing up!

We put Holden's bunny ears on and brought him out. He loved his walker and his Easter Egg basket. I hid little eggs around the house and with some help he found them all and was so smart and good to grab them and then put them right into his Easter basket and not in his mouth! hehe He did try to quickly sneak one or two when we weren't looking, and when I would catch him, he would just start to laugh. So cute! He knew he was playing a game trying to see if we could catch him!

We then dyed some Easter eggs, some glitter, and some camouflage. I'm not very good and dying eggs...I'll just admit right now. Oh well, they turned out colored and that's all that matters!

After our egg dying session, we wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather outside so we wanted to to an egg hunt with the plastic eggs outside. We went outside and Wongs had already FILLED the yard with their eggs and it looked like they had a ton of company at their house. So, we decided to go to a nearby field to hide them. It was nice and quiet. We took blankets, and I sat with Holden while Josh "hid" the eggs in the grass. You can imagine they were all in plain sight! Holden had fun picking up the eggs and then later opening them all. We then walked on the path with him. He was just excited to be outside. We read some books and by that time it was getting chilly so we decided to call it a day. We came home and all crashed and took naps! It was a beautiful day. It was such a blessing to be with my husband and baby. We were sad not to see our family but I didn't want to give anyone what I've had this past 2 weeks, so we tried to make the best of it and it turned out lovely. We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Update City!

2008-03-20T09:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been a little...well..you can probably guess. Sick! Yeah, it's that time of year for me to get the horrible cold/flu that I get just about every year. This year was a little worse I have to admit. I got sick on a Friday, and on Wed. I went to the doctor and he told me I had pneumonia. Not fun. There isn't a lot of medicine I can take right now with the bun in the oven, except for some medicated cough syrup to help with the symptoms a little. Luckily, Josh was able to take the whole week off to stay home and take care of Holden. I quarantined myself in my bedroom, petrified of passing something on to Josh. It is now 13 days later and I'm just now feeling just about normal now. I still have a sore throat, but I'll take it! There were so many good friends that jumped to my rescue...once again bringing dinner and offers to take Holden!

I felt really bad because my sister and her husband and kids made a surprise trip here from Washington to spend the week. They stayed in Salt Lake and because I was sick, I didn't get to see them at all. I was so sad with all of the fun activities going on, I was sick in bed! :(( (I hope you know Amy and Marshall that I was sad! Sorry! ) Anyways, because of the illness I haven't really taken any pictures, but I wanted to post something, so I found this pic and just laughed! I'm not quite sure what Holden thinks of these! hehe :)) Holden's Aunt Maribel and Uncle Joey gave him these ears for his birthday! Josh and I figured it was to watch the show Bunny Town! I had no clue what that was until JOSH filled me in! hehe I guess when you watch that show, in the beginning, they tell all of the kids to put on their bunny ears! hehe So, these are Holden's! But in the spirit of fun- can anyone say A Christmas Story!? LOL No, we love 'em but I couldn't help but think of the movie when seeing my child in these bunny ears! Congrats to my friends Niki and Emilie on their new arrivals! I'll get out here soon enough to come and visit! I feel like I've been totally out of touch with the world!

I also had my first doctor's visit this last week. I am due the 30th of Aug! My mom's b-day! how fun is that? So, we'll see how close I come to that date! Holden was pretty much right on time, so maybe this baby will follow suit! They aren't giving me an ultra sound until my next visit- which will be at 19 weeks. So, we should get a pretty good picture of the little one. So, I'll post it when I get it! I don't know why, but I am REALLY tempted to find out what the sex of the baby is this time. Josh wants to be surprised. I think we both loved the surprise when Holden was born. So, I'll probably wait. You know...as they say...there are very few true surprises in life! So, we'll see if I can hold out! Hope everyone is well! Have a great day!

Holden's #1

2008-03-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Okay, not that he's #1, but he's actually turned 1 on Feb. 24th! I can't believe how fast this last year has flown by!Our little boy is growing so fast has been such a joy in our home I don't even know where to begin. I guess I will start with telling you about a little b-day party we threw him!
It all started with my little sister Amy. She decided to send pics of a cake she had made to our family. She told of the easiness of making a professional looking cake and how fun it was! So, the wheels in my head started to turn.

Well, to explain first of all how everything turned out, as I just found out the other night my Chinese zodiac sign, or animal...is a horse! I found out among other things, that I tend to be ostentatious! Can you imagine that???? I mean....seriously! Okay, maybe there is some truth to that. What started out as a small simple little party in my head, turned out to be a huge party that took quite the preparation and energy to pull off! Thank goodness for friends and family, who despite my stupid overwhelming visions, were patient, loving, giving and generous with their time, talents and energy!

The day before the party, we had a little girls get together at my friend Rachel's house to make the Winnie the Pooh cake that I found online. How hard could that be...right? Hmmm Well, Rachel provided some treats to help us last through what would soon be a 13 hour long journey. Rachel decided to mix the cakes...and just ask her...NEVER try to mix more than 3 cake mixes in a Kitchenaid mixer! LOL She ended up making 8 cake mixes to fill all of the cake pans we had- if that even gives you an idea of how HUMONGOUS (is that really a word?) the cake was! My other friend Nikki heard what we were doing and decided to lend her cake decorating expertise...which she now regrets! hehe I can't believe how amazing she is and how many things I learned while watching her work. It truly was a work of art when she was finished! She worked tirelessly-not to mention on her feet all day at 8 1/2 months prego! What an awesome girl! Emily was there to keep up moral and also to make THE most perfect apple slices I have ever seen in my life! Liliana kept popping in and out and making trips to the store for more frosting! When we finished the cake and last bits of decorating, it was almost 11:00 pm. What a day! But they were all troopers!

Rachel was a gem for offering her house as the party spot! She has so much going that weekend, yet was kind enough to allow about 20 kids and about 15 adults overtake her home. We started the party with some pizza, and salad that my sister Tiffany brought and drinks that my sister Jennifer brought! I couldn't believe that as people RSVP'd...the first thing they asked was if they could do anything to help! My sisters jsut announced to me that they were bringing food to help out! I thought it was so kind and thoughtful! We then opened some gifts, then it was off for some Pin the Tail on Eeyore and Bean Bag Throw Through Pooh's Tummy! After game time we had cake and ice cream that my sister Kim brought! There were oohs and aahs as the cake was brought out! It was soooo HUGE! It weighed in at 21 LBS! Needless to say, I was giving out VERY LARGE chunks of cake for people to take home with them at the end!

There was one little surprise on the cake that made my mom start to cry! It was funny because when she started to cry, my sisters just thought she was emotional because it was a beautiful cake. It was only after a couple of minute that one by one they started to get it.

That's right, we are expecting baby #2 at the end of Aug! We are so excited and nervous! It will be interesting to see how we fare with two kids! But I am feeling better ever since Holden started walking because it has made him seem so much older! :)) Josh keeps teasing Holden that he's the 2007 Model and we're trading him in for the 2008 Model!

Anyway, the party was a complete success and again, all thanks to my friends and family! IT was so nice of them to drive all of the way from SLC to be there with us! My long lost roommate April was also able to come from SLC! It was awesome to see her and her cute little boy! It was so sweet of neighbors to bring their little kids as well! What a day! I didn't even imagine that it would turn out so well. But in the end, it was a HUGE party that I think I will never attempt again...lol...that is probably until my next child! hehe jk!

The next day, Josh's dad came into town from Boise! What a guy! It was so fun having him here for a couple of days to spend time with him. It was also fun for Holden to spend time with Grandpa! They got along great! On Holden's birthday, we stripped him down and placed a huge chunk of chocolate cake in front of him and let him go at it! He was timid at first dipping his finger into the frosting and tasting it. It didn't take much time before he was using both hands to shovel the cake into his mouth...and nose! :) He loves chocolate! I just KNEW he was my boy! It was a fun day though!
I just thought of my little sis's blog Amy and her little tributes to her kids and I thought I would do a quick recap of Holden's first year!

He is such a sweet boy and is always so happy. We love to go into his room in the morning and he can't stop smiling and when we pick him up, he just hugs us soooo tight! He loves Winnie the Pooh, Mickey Mouse and Little Einsteins! He absolutely loves bathtime and looks forward to it! It's all I can do to keep him from jumping in the bath fully clothed while I am filling it up! He splashes like crazy! Holden loves mommy, but the second daddy rattles the lock coming home from work, Holden is running to the door with his little squeels so excited to see dad! He runs and wraps his arms around Josh's legs and won't let go until dad picks him up! He also loves the game "chase" with dad! They run from room to room playing, but the best spot is our bedroom. Holden will sit on the bed, and dad will hide around the edges fo the bed and pop up somewhere unbeknownst to Holden! Holden will squeel in a high pitched tone! That's when we laugh and call him our little "Holdina!" He also loves going outside for any reason! Even if I'm taking out the trash, I can't leave the door open for one second without him already halfway up the stairs outside when I turn around!! One last thing about our little Holden is that he is a very determined kid! Whatever he wants he will try over, and over and over until he gets what he's going for! Even if it means crawling over the love sac, under the table, on top of boxes, over pillows etc! Nothing can stop this kid. He will be in tears after probably 10 minutes of trying to reach something, but he will not give up. I know, I sound like a mean parent..and why don't I just get it for him? Because it is so awesome to watch not only this determination but the joy and happiness when he finally gets what he's worked so hard to get! We love him so much and can't imagine our lives without this little boy that has made such a huge impact on us and our lives!

CURSES!!!!

2008-02-26T17:36:00.001-08:00

Okay, I have some cooling down to do! It took me all day to do the post for this weekend's events, and I tried to save but it kept saying auto save failed. So, right as I was posting it, the internet page just closed and erased everything. SOOOOO...It may or may not come out tomorrow. I'm just bugged and frustrated. lol I'm going to go eat some ice cream and popcorn and watch a movie. Good night! :)

Holden's Wonderlands

2008-02-21T07:51:00.000-08:00

This last week we tried some new things with Holden. My first attempt to shake things up at play time was to build a fort like we did when we were kids. I rounded up all of the blankets and got to work. I think I did a pretty swell job for not having built one in YEARS! :) Well, it was finished and the only thing Holden wanted to do was rip it down. :(( SO- then came the bribery! I put his books and some toys inside-but unfortunately it also took some sour patch kids to get him in there! I don't know why he loves them so much- he pulls a sour face with each one but keeps comin back for more! He stayed in there the whole time eating his treats- then...hmm....again, he was done! That is until Josh came home, and sure enough, he LOVED the fort with Josh! Seriously...I guess this is where Holden starts to show favorites. I have realized that when daddy's around, it's all fun and games. Truly, I am grateful that he adores Josh so much and vice versa. Watching them play together and listening to Holden's squeals makes me so happy. He's happy doing anything with Josh! Yesterday Holden and I were playing -with the front door out of sight! As soon as Josh wiggled the lock and opened the door, Holden let out the most GIRLY squeal EVER! lol He couldn't see Josh, he just KNEW it was him. He just walked as fast as his little legs would go to get to Josh! Gotta love that!

The next activity was to take Holden to the Disney store. Although we are throwing him a Winnie the Pooh party, he is HUGE into Mickey Mouse! The one show that he loves to watch is The Mickey Mouse Club. As soon as Mickey appears on the screen, he just squeals in excitement. So, when we got to the Disney store, the first thing he saw was a big stuffed Mickey Mouse. He was in heaven. The whole time in the store he just babbled like crazy and was sooo excited. I was holding him and he grabbed a little mini stuffed Mickey Mouse. SO- not wanting to spoil our child...lol...we bought it for him-uh....for his birthday..yeah.. that's it! lol But Josh tried to take it away from him to buy it and he just started to cry. It makes me laugh only because I don't think my kid is spoiled and I take things away from him all of the time. He doesn't really care about having things yet. So, that's why it was so funny that he was soooo attached to the Mickey Mouse. He carries it by the arm (there is a permanent dent there now) around the house everywhere he goes- as well as to bed with him.

So, that's the end of our new adventures for the week! This last pic is of Holden's REAL first haircut where I literally cut inches off of his mop! His hair was so light and fine, I didn't realize just how long it had gotten! But he was so happy after it was all done- okay, maybe not as happy as mom was- but still, happy!