April 2004 Archives

04-18-04

We've made a lot of progress on cleaning up the yard since we last wrote. We had the huge pine tree in our front yard cut down and we are basking in the ability to walk up to our front door without being smacked in the head by a rouge pine branch. We have also discovered that we have a lovely view of the mountains and blue sky from our front window. On Conference weekend James tore down the garage that was attached to the south side of our house while listening to the prophets speak. There is now natural light coming into my kitchen because the garage is gone. It's so wonderful to wake up in the morning and make breakfast without having to turn on any lights. We tackled the piles in the backyard next and have filled two big dumpsters already. Hopefully we can get the rest of it in one last dumpster and then be done with all of the junk!! Our backyard looks so much bigger now that most of the junk is gone. There is a perfect tree branch that we are planning to hang a swing from for Seth. And we are also planning to do two 4 foot square vegetable gardens in the back northwest corner of the yard. My sister and I have been revamping the front flower bed, by creating a border with concrete tiles left over from my grandpa and by adding some new bushes and flowers. I hope it will look really nice sometime soon, but I definitely do not have a green thumb so it will be a challenge.

For Easter weekend we spent a lot of time with my family. On Friday they all came over to our house and helped throw stuff into the dumpster. We went out to lunch together and then headed over to the Natural History Museum on the University of Utah campus. The highlights of the museum were the huge dinosaur bones and the talking dinosaur that eats money. Hannah and Maggie were terrified of the talking dinosaur, but Seth was brave and when he got close enough to touch it, he gave the dinosaur a good smack to show that he wasn't afraid. We spent Saturday at Marrisse's house, James, Aaron (Marrisse's husband) and my dad spent the day building a new swing set for the girls to play on. After dinner we had a big easter egg hunt. James showed off his easter egg hunting prowess by finding seven eggs. Hannah was the queen of the hunt coming in with a whopping fifteen eggs. She had bragged earlier that she was going to find the most eggs and everyone had tell her their egg tally so she could see if her boasting proved true or not. Easter Sunday was spent going to church, reflecting on the Savior's atonement, and eating a big ham dinner at my parent's house.

Yesterday was my 28^th birthday. James has been gloating over the fact that he is only 27 and I am soooo old. He has been very sneaky this year and actually managed to keep most of my presents a surprise. The nicest thing he got for me was a new pillow. I had given him one for Christmas and have been jealous of it ever since. He also bought me some nice perfume, a self-healing cutting board for my sewing projects, and a wireless card for my kitchen laptop so that I can put it on the desk in the kitchen instead of having it take up precious counter space. He was so thoughtful and took me out to a movie and a nice dinner in the evening. I couldn't ask for a better birthday or a better husband. One other thing that happened yesterday was the monthly “Girl's Day Out” with all the girls in my mom's family. We made bead jewelry and I think that it's a hobby that I could get really addicted to. Unfortunately or luckily (I'm not sure which yet) it is a very expensive hobby and I won't be able to pursue it to any great extent right now. Jenni saw what I made and wants to get into it too, so maybe we can split the cost of materials or something.

Now for the part you've all been waiting for... Seth's update. I think that Seth has finally figured out that he really would like to be able to move around. He has gotten himself down on his stomach of his own free will several times now and has even propped himself up into the crawling stance. Usually in this position he ends up going backward instead of forward, but he's getting the right idea. He is also willing to launch himself at objects that he is interested in, without any forethought of the peril that launching himself forward onto his face might bring. I have a feeling he will be crawling by the end of the month and then LOOK OUT!!! He has gotten his first tooth and is working on his second one. He loves to run his tongue over his tooth and feel this new intruder in his mouth. Before the tooth showed itself he was making these funny faces (I think Jenni called it his gopher face) we didn't know why he was doing it, but when the tooth came in he stopped so we figured that must have been the cause. His latest new noise is to roar like a lion. Sometimes he wakes us up in the morning by roaring over and over. He also thinks that burps are lion noises so whenever James lets out a big burp, Seth roars his approval. He can also clap his hands and likes to do it with us when we sing “If you're happy and you know it”. He is making new discoveries every day and surprises me quite often with a new trick or noise. We are amazed at how much we can love a such a little thing, but he is the joy of our lives and we are so grateful for the opportunity to be the parents of such a wonderful baby.

I think that's all for this installment. Thanks to everyone who sent me cards and/or presents for my birthday. We love you all very much

Love, Miekka, James and Seth