7.04.08 - SUMMER FUN & EXCITING NEWS

SWIMMING WITH THE FETTERS

Ali and Lance trying to keep warm... they are so adorable.

This summer Lance has been able to spend a lot of time with "the cousins" (Lizzy, Ali, and Aiden Fetters) and has just loved it. He loves playing with other children, especially his fun, and sometimes crazy, cousins... the Fetters! We went to the Scera Pool in Orem a few times and it was a lot of fun. Lance loves the water and he tries to be like his older cousins and do all the fun stuff they do. I think it has helped to build his confidence and give him the desire to try new things (like jumping off the ledge into Mommy's arms).

Ali putting Lance in the choke-hold and Lance puckering up for a kiss!

The choke-hold was meant to be more of a hug... Lance understood.

Ali and Lance are only a year apart and they are so cute together. They are close to the same size and love being together. Lance will be at home with me and say, "Mommy, Lizzy-Ali house?... Peeeease?" He always wants to be with his cousins and it is so fun that he is old enough now that he can specifically ask for them by name.

BOISE WARD FRIENDS GET TOGETHER

Scott & Natricia, ___ &___, and Michael playing cards.

Some of Michael's friends from childhood through high school (many were in his ward) decided to get together and reminisce old times. Michael, Lance and I drove up to Boise and got together with these friends:

Scott & Natricia
Kevin & Hailey
Cameron & Lori
Jeremy &
TJ & Summer
Jared & Nikki
Holly & Dan
Tracy & Tony
Monte & Patti

It was really great to get together. I actually learned more about my crazy husband and heard some pretty funny stories. Nothing too surprising. But very funny none the less!


Monte Christopherson and Lance became instant friends.
They were playing a game where Lance would take whatever Monte had with his teeth!


FELT FAMILY REUNION

Lance in Daddy's sunglasses.

This year for the Felt Family Reunion we all got together up in Park City, UT and stayed at the 2 Marriott Hotels located there. It was so great to be together with all of the Felt Family again and spend a few relaxing days enjoying each others company. We got together at a park, swam in the pool, played tennis, and enjoyed the beautiful outdoors of Park City.


Lance is very sweet. He found this Lady Bug, thought it was hurt, and was trying to "kiss it better."

Tammy and Kirk Williams out on a great devotional the morning of the 4th of July. We talked about this wonderful country that we live in and also focused on remembering Grandma Felt. We all shared memories of her and Grandpa and spoke of how fortunate we feel to be a family and have so many blessings.


Michael and Lance in the hot-hot sun at the Mariott Hotel pool in Park City.

They even brought cinnamon rolls and milk to share for breakfast tin remembrance of Grandma. Kirk and Tammy went from Bakery to Bakery test tasting every cinnamon roll for miles around until they found one that was similar to Grandma Felt's.Of course the cinnamon rolls were good... but not nearly as good as the "real" cinnamon rolls.

Also on the agenda of activities was a Family Talent show. My brother and sister, Johnny and Katie, were the hosts and it was really great and funny. Lots of the younger children sang or danced or played the piano. Johnny did his "magic show" where he sings his own theme music, makes his thumb disappear and other funny tricks like that. I actually had a talent too... more like an announcement really... I'M PREGNANT!!! =)


EXCITING NEWS... BABY #2 ON THE WAY!

I am 3 months along and finally sharing the news! Michael and I already told our immediate families (which we didn't do with Lance until I was 3 months along) but I have been so sick, and Kathy and Becca are living with us (so even if I didn't tell them I'm sure they would have guessed) so we decided to let the family know.

I have been pretty apprehensive about this pregnancy all along and just found out about a week ago that I have some complications that may last my entire pregnancy. I have had some pretty serious bleeding and through an ultrasound the doctors were able to see that I have a subchorionic hemorrhage that measured about 8cm wide, 8cm long, and 4cm deep (that is really big for such a small baby). This basically means that there is a tear between the uterus and the amniotic sac. The baby looks great and unaffected by it, but it can be potentially dangerous to both the baby and I if the tear gets bigger. Dangerous for the baby because it could continue to tear and cause a miscarriage, and dangerous for me because if that does happen I could loose a lot of blood (which is bad because it wouldn't take long for it to be fatal). So, pretty scary.

I have been put on bed rest in order to keep us safe. That means no lifting of anything heavier than a gallon of milk, being careful not to take too many steps, or walk up and down stairs, or have any pressure put on my stomach, or strain my body in any way. So, that doesn't leave a lot that I can do but at least I am not confined to my bed. I can walk around the house and make meals but I have to be very careful. I'm sure I'll have read a lot of books by the time this pregnancy is through!

My OB is my uncle, Ryan Jones. He is one of the best and most well known doctors in Utah Valley. I was pretty hesitant to have him be my doctor (because he is my uncle) but I kept having the feeling that I should. I feel so lucky to have him as my doctor and he has been wonderful. He is just the doctor I need because I know he will look out for me, will tell me the truth and what to plan on, and won't let me get too worked-up over little things.


INTERESTING APPETITE

Digging in.

The other day I asked Lance what he wanted to eat for dinner. He walked into the pantry, pulled out the peanut butter, sat in the middle of the kitchen floor and said, "Mommy spoon peeease." So, I got him a spoon and Michael and I watched as he opened the lid of the peanut butter, scooped a huge spoonful and ate it!


Big bite!

It was so funny. We just stood there and laughed at our crazy little boy. We got him some milk and he sat there for quite a while enjoying his peanut butter and milk. An interesting dinner, but we've seen worse.


Wash it down with milk.

MODELING FOR MOMMY

A typical summer day. Shorts and a tee shirt.

Every couple of months I get this urge to pretend to be a professional photographer (although I have never taken one course) and to take multiple pictures of Lance. He changes and grows so fast that I want to be sure to document everything (and I think he is so cute and we could never have enough pictures of him).

So here are the latest "model shots" at our front door of our home. Lance has always been good at looking right into the camera, even when he was just a baby. He actually really likes having his picture taken and says, "Cheese!" when he sees the camera (even if it's not on).


Reaching for the camera so he can see the digital image on the back.

He is getting to the point now where he understands that the digital picture will show up on the back of the camera and he doesn't want to wait for me to take the picture in order to see the "little picture" on the back. In the picture above he is starting to get upset because I want him to stand still for a minute so I can take his picture and THEN I will let him see the picture. He still doesn't quite get why he has to sand still first. =)

5.01.08 - FAMILY TIME

KING LANCE

Wearing his usual "hat"



Sitting on his throne.

Lance is continuing to grow and learn and it is so much fun. He just gets more animated and smarter by the minute. For quite a few months now he has loved when we call him "King Lance."

Lance loves anything that is his size. The lip of the wood burning stove is a perfect height for him to sit on... so he often does. It lookes like a little throne when he sits on it, so we started calling him King Lance. He picked up on the nick name and would say, "Mommy... King Lance!" whenever he would sit on it. He also says that whenever he stands on something tall or climbs into something. It's so funny.


Lance also thinks that anything that could possible fit onto his head belongs there. He loves to put his cereal bowl on his head, even if it still has cereal and milk in it... and is constantly saying, "Mommy, Daddy... hat!" He is so proud when it puts on a "hat" and loves to show us. He has been known to pull things out of the cupboards, find baskets, boxes, or anything else and run around the house yelling, "Hat! Hat! Hat!"


BOATING IN HURRICANE

Lance gets pretty spoiled when with Papa & Nana...
Nana, Jacob, John & Christine, Papa, Katie, Camille and Lance


Michael has been dreaming of a boat for a long time now (probably his whole life) and was finally able to get one! For the last few months of 2007 he did a TON of research on boats and search online for a long, long time until he found a killer deal and an awesome, brand new boat!

Michael arranged for the boat to even be delivered to our door-step so it would be ready to surprise the new owners on Christmas morning! Wow! Way to go Michael!


Twinkies... that is all Lance ate all afternoon.
Michael showing off his skills on the wakeboard.

There are 4 partners for the boat. Us, John & Kathleen Covey, John & Christine Covey/Dave & Tessla Welch, and Aaron and ____ Webber. We each get 1 week a month to claim the boat and we are able to swap weeks, weekdays and weekends as needed. It has been so great. Having partners is the way to go because we all get to split the cost, the gear, and everything else. It makes it much more affordable and do-able.

We have just LOVED the boat and decided to take it out as early as possible! We thought that it would be worth a trip down to the warmer weather of Southern Utah just so we could try out our new boat! It was so much fun!


THANKSGIVING POINT

Lina's daughter Ann, her sister, Nana, Camille, Christine, Johnny and Lance.
Lance kissing Ann on the cheek. He knows her name and will ask for her!


After Grandma Felt passed away Lina had her daughter and sister come to visit her from the Phillipines. We spent the afternoon with them at Thanksgiving Point at the Animal Farm and had a wonderful afternoon.




Lance and little Johnny got to hang out together, look at farm animals, and ride a little horse! These two boys are so cute and I am so excited that they are so close in age. They will be best buds for life!





Lance really loves animals and making animal noises. He knows a lot of different animal noises (even though he doesn't know what half of them look like) and it is so cute to "quiz" him and hear him make the sounds.

These are the animals he knows:


Cow - Moooooo!
Horsie - Nhaaaaaaa! (he even makes his voice shake)
Monkey - Oooohh Oooohh Eeehhh Eeehhh! (while scratching his tummy and head)
Sheep - Baaaah (shaking his voice)
Squirel - (smacks his lips together)
Puppy Dog - Ruff Ruff!
Kitty Cat - Meooow Meoow (which also usually includes licking)
Goat - Baaaah (shaking his voice)
Donkey - Heee Haaww! (he learned that today!)
Owl - Hooo Hooo!
Gecko - (sticking out his tongue and spreading out his fingers)
Snake - Ssssssssss (pretending his hand and arm are a snake)
Frog - Ribbit! (squating and jumping)
Fishy - "swimming swimming" (and sometimes doing fishy lips)
Bunny - "hop hop" (and hopping)
Ducky - Quaack Quaack!
Chick - Cheep Cheep!
Turkey - Gobble Gobble Gobble! (flapping his arms and turning around in circles)

... there are probably more but that is all I can think of at the moment!

4.01.08 - HAPPY EASTER

COVEY KIDS


Apparently Lance is going for a new "look" now.



The immediate John & Jane Covey Family went on a trip to Jerusalem to "walk where Jesus walked" and strengthen their testimonies of our Savior. They were away for 10 days and Michael and I watched the Joey and Tammy Covey kids while they were away having this special experience.



James and Lance dancing on the coffee table.
The picture does not do it justice... it was so funny!


It was fun and challenging to play "Mom" to 6 children. It really gave me a greater appreciation of the role of a "stay home mom" and also gave good insight to parenting ideas. I was very impressed with these kids and how well behaved they were. They all had daily chores and responsibilities and were, for the most part, really good at fulfilling them.



Lance LOVED the play set and especially the swing!



It is hard to raise kids in the world today and it was so encouraging to be with such a loving a functional family. I hope that when our kids are at that stage they are as good and responsible as the Covey kids are!





EASTER

Taylor, Maddie, Andrew, Emma, Lance and James.





We spent Easter with the Covey kids and had a really great time learning about the Savior, His Resurrection, and the reason we celebrate Easter. We went to Church and then came home for some fun activities. We had the Easter Basket Hunt, painted hard boiled eggs, and an Egg Hunt in the yard.


For the Easter Basket Hunt each child had to find their Easter basket that was hidden by the Easter Bunny (aka Michael and Camille). These Easter baskets were decked out and had lots of fun stuff in them, so the kids were anxious to find them! Joey and Tammy even made a basket for Lance that had treats and toys in it! They are so thoughtful. After that we painted eggs, had Michael hide them, and then had an Egg Hunt in the back yard. It was a lot of fun. It was fun to watch all of the kids raced around to find the eggs and put them in their baskets.





EASTER WITH THE BENNETT'S

Lance experimenting with the hard boiled egg.
Angie, Becca, Ali, Lance.



Becca, Lance and Michael on the Egg Hunt.



Combining two families through marriage is so wonderful for a lot of reasons... and one of the most fun reasons is that we get to celebrate every holiday at least twice! Easter this year was no exception. We got together after Michael and I got home from watching the Covey kids and celebrated with Kathy, the Fetters, Becca, and Angie. We all gathered at our house, painted hard boiled eggs, hid them in our yard, and had an Egg Hunt! It was a lot of fun.



While all the Coveys were gone a lot happened. Even a couple of unexpected and difficult things during those 10 days. Michael lost his job, and Grandma Felt passed away.





LOSS OF JOB
Michael had been working for a company called Think Partnership that was recently sold by the owner, taken over by new owners, and had the name changed to Kowa Bunga!. These new owners very suddenly decided to let go about half of their employees, Michael being one of them. He basically got an email stating that he was no longer employed and to not come back the following day.





MARTHA AFTON FELT

Grandma Felt holding Lance at 10 days old.

Grandma Felt had been living at my parents house in the apartment that was built on specifically for her. She had her own little place and she liked it a lot. She ate breakfast with the family every morning, had her own kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom, and laundry room. And for about the last year she even had he own live-in helper, Lina. Lina is an angel who was brought from the Philippines to the USA by Brady and Terri Whittingham (Michael's boss). She started working for them, then came to work for us to take care of Grandma. Grandma thought of Lina as another daughter and Lina called her "Mom." Grandma wasn't able to do everything on her own anymore, had symptoms of dementia (would often forget things and people) and could no longer drive, so Lina was the perfect fit.

Early in March Grandma woke up one morning and was having a harder time than usual. She stayed in bed for a couple of days but the doctors didn't think too much was wrong. She was doing pretty well before all of the Covey's (including my parents) left to Israel and we all thought everything would be just fine. We found out during the time everyone was away that Grandma had a stroke the family was told very contrasting information from different doctors. Along with many other things that happened, one doctor said that she would like for over 6 months, another doctor said that it would be a matter of days.

It was in the Lord's hands. Grandma lived a few more days and passed away in her sleep. We know that her husband had been waiting for her a long time and my mom was quite surprised that he hadn't come and convinced her to go to heaven with her sooner. =)

She was an incredible woman who taught me many things and I feel so blessed to have her as my Grandmother. I was named after her and have always felt very lucky to carry her name. When I have a daughter I want to name her after Grandma Afton Felt.

3.01.08 - NEW CHANGES FOR THE NEW YEAR

A FULL HOUSE

Becca taking Lance for a walk.
Our friendly boy waving at passing cars.

Back around Christmas time, a couple months ago, Michael and I decided to offer Michael's mom Kathy and his sisters Rebecca and Angie a place to live with us. We have a 4 bedroom home here in Pleasant Grove and told them that if they go to school full-time and work they can live with us for free. They are all attending school at UVU and by not having to pay rent they hopefully will be able to focus on getting their degrees and paying off their debt.


Lance and Mommy. Fishy-lips and reaching for the camera. Mad that Mommy won't let him hold the camera.

Kathy moved in with us in January and Becca followed soon after. Lance loves having his Grandma and Aunt Becca around more and is becoming quite attached to them already!


Lance sitting inside our bathroom cupboard.

Lance is one and a half now and still loves to climb into things and see where his little body can fit.


Lance sitting in a decorative basket in the kitchen.

Lance will get into anything he thinks he can fit down, sit in it and say, "Mommy, Mommy! In basket!" He is speach is improving more and more all of the time. He really is understanding the consept of sentances and using words to tell about what he is doing. It's so fun to watch him learn!


GO COUGARS!

Lance liked Cosmo from a distane, but didn't want to be held by him. I don't blame him; I can see how a huge cougar could be scarey to a one year old.


Nana and Lance hanging out and watching the game.

When Michael and I were first married we used to love to go to the BYU Basketball games together and sit on the front row in Grandpa and Grandma Felt's seats. Now living back in Utah we take the opportunity as often as we can to go.

2.01.08 - NO SHAME

Lance is so much fun and is constantly mimicking what he sees. For example: Mommy putting on her make-up.

Here are some pictures of Lance after he got into my make-up bag, opened my mascara, and attempted to "be like Mommy" and put it on his eyes (and the rest of his body). =)

No shame for this boy. Look how happy and proud he is of himself!

I know that Michael is going to tell me that I am crazy to take so many pictures because they all look "the same"... but to me they all look totally different! I want to remember every funny facial expression that this cute boy makes!

12.25.07 - MERRY CHRISTMAS

BUSY BUSY BUSY
Christmas this year has been so crazy!!! Christmas Eve was wonderful, and Christmas Day was wonderful and super busy!!!

Christmas Eve was spent this year with the Felt Family. In the past we have gone up to Grandma & Grandpa Felt's Hobble Creek Cabin, but the cabin was recently sold to create better accomidation for the 11 Felt children, their children, and their children... (that's a lot of people) so now the family reunions will take place in a location where everyone will fit.

This year we got together at my parents house. We had the traditional "Nativity Production," ate, sang Christmas songs, opened presents from Grandma Felt, and had a wonderful time. Later that night, with just the John & Kathleen family, we each got to open one gift and then we were off to bed for the "slumber party" with all the kids and grandkids in the basement!


Michael's Work Christmas Party. Santa brought EVERYONE presents! Thank you Brady and Terri for always being so generous.

Christmas early-morning was opening presents with the Covey's. Then Christmas later-morning was opening presents with Kathy and kids at her condo. Then Christmas early-afternoon was the John & Jane Covey "Brunch" and gift-giving. After that we got ready for the day (finally) and then headed up to John & Debbie Bennett's for more Christmas celebrating, gift opening, and dinner. Then back to our house in Pleasant Grove to sleep. Wow. That was a lot of of driving and A LOT packed into one day! Although it was a little overwhelming we are very grateful to be near our families and lucky to get to see all of them at this special time.


THE ANDERSON'S

The future bride and groom... even kissing on the lips! Whooo! Whooo!

Earlier this week we got together with our friends Spencer and Rachel Anderson and their daughter Ella. We got together with them last Christmas, and the Christmas before, and it is always so fun to catch-up. Rachel is expecting baby #2. Because the events in our lives have been so similar we have a joke between us that whatever happens to one, will surly happen to the other soon... so we will see! =)