Excuse the Absence.

We didn't disappear off the face of the Earth or anything. Well, we sort of disappeared from Vegas for a good 4 of the last 8 weeks, but that's not why I haven't posted anything.

I can't download pictures anymore because it keeps telling me we ran out of room...so I finally asked Nate and he said he knows how to clear them out so I can download again.

It's too bad, too, because life has been really interesting the past two months. I just don't like posting things without corresponding pictures. So stay tuned. Nate will get to it sometime this summer :)

Oldies but Goodies

I recently ordered a personalized calendar online, so I've been browsing through my pictures. It became apparent that with toddlers you can pretty much exchange the face in the picture for any other kid's face, from any decade, and it's all the same. In every recent picture, Grayden is doing something messy, naughty, or goofy. Which is understandable, since those are the three verbs that best describe him at the moment. Or I could substitute them all for one word: Funny.

I also found some pictures of him with Grandma and Grammy, so this is for them:




















You may notice that many of them have to do with hats. He's a little obsessed with putting everything on his head. I don't have a picture of him with his BYU beanie, but that's because he wears it so often we don't think of it as interesting or cute anymore.

But I do think he is interesting AND cute.

Growth Spurt

The entire pan of Campbells chicken noodle soup, two pieces of toast, half a baked potato dipped in A.1., and a few handfuls of grapes.

Lunch for my one-year-old. And he's asking for more.

The past week has been really interesting at mealtime. Grayden is eating everything we put in front of him, even if he hasn't liked it in the past. He has 2-3 bowls of cereal and a banana for breakfast, and then is crying for more food 1-2 hours later. He cries for more food after he's eaten a hot dog with bun, tomato slices, and apple wedges for lunch.....isn't this supposed to happen when he's a teenager, not now??

Family Pics

WOW.

Some of you may remember my super awesome story about9 hours of jury duty.

If not, maybe you remember my excitement when the ten dollar check came in the mail.

What I didn't know then, that I know now, is that when I entered that ten dollar's worth of income into Turbotax, it would lower my return by five dollars.

That's right, 50%. Gotta love it.

He has Calvin hair

But still so cute.

Why I'm Not Smart Anymore

I'm feeling like my I.Q. has dropped significantly in the last few years. I had to help my 13 year-old niece with her Algebra homework last week and I seriously wanted to cry I miss math so much. I miss being good at something. I miss feeling smart. I miss intelligent conversation. My most recent conversation went something like this:

Leaving the cousin's house for the airport:

Grayden: uh bye bye, uh Devon. Me: Yep, we said goodbye to Devon. G: Uh bye bye, uh Josh. Me: That's right, we said goodbye to Josh. G: Uh, yeah. Bye bye uh Lyssa? Me: Yes, Alyssa too. (Repeat for Brianna, Zach, Mckenna, and Cameron). G: Mommy? Me: Yes Grayden? G: Black. Me: You see something black? G: Yeah. Mommy? Uh pink. Me: You see something pink? G: Uh yeah. Mommy? Uh Red. Me: What do you see that's red? G: Uh flag. Me: You see a red flag? G: Uh yeah. More? More flag? Me: We can try and look for another flag. G: Uh please? Me: I don't see another flag, but I'll look for one. G: Uh car. Mommy, uh car. Brown. Me: You see a brown car? G: Uh yeah. Mommy? Uh airplane? Uh sky. Me: Yes, we're going on an airplane in the sky. G: Uh fly? Mommy, uh fly? Uh airplane? Me: That's right, it flies. We're going home to see Daddy. G: DAAAAAAAAAAD! DAAAAAAAADDDY! DAAAAAAAAD! Uh work? Me: Yes, Daddy's at work, but we're going to see him tonight. G: Mommy? Uh flag?

And it continues. I'll put you out of your misery. But that's a really good snapshot of the 45 minute drive. Don't get me wrong, it was hilarious. I love talking to him. It just doesn't take a whole lot of brain power, you know?

So, I'm trying to think of ways to use my brain. I haven't come up with any good ideas.....aaaaaand we're back to the whole I.Q. problem.

Super. Annoyed.

Can someone who is more tech savvy than Nate and myself please tell me why our family picture is perfectly crystal clear as our desktop background, in Picasa, when printed out, and when shown in the blogger uploading window, but then is a blurry mess when I actually open my blog and see the header?

I'm too grumpy to spend any more time on it. I request help from anyone who reads this.

Thanks.