Just Monkeyin' Around

More Spring Fun

We took an early trip to the Main Street park to play in the water with cousins, Jacqueline and Bronwyn. This is one of our favorite places in St. George.

Spring is here!

The weather has been so nice and I'm so grateful McKay has been able to play outside. This is our first spring with a finished backyard. I'm so glad we're able to enjoy it! It has been a blessing to have Nathan home while I've felt sick to entertain and play with McKay. They play in the dirt, play baseball and go on adventures through the field behind our house.

I love McKay's outfit in the following pictures. He still prefers to wear his snow boots outside. He also insists on wearing his bike helmet when he plays baseball. I love it!

We were surprised at how fast McKay got the concept of swinging the bat and hitting the ball. He is a natural!

I love the view from my patio and have savored the sight of all the blossoms on our trees we planted last year.

Shake-Up, Throw-Up

There really hasn't been any "throw-up", but it's definitely what I've been wanting to do. Nathan lost his job two weeks ago and I have been feeling so sick. Thoughts have been racing through my mind..."What are we going to do? How long is it going to take to find a job in this market? Are we going to be able to feed ourselves and continue to provide a roof over our heads for our little family? Will McKay be forever emotionally scarred from the stress of his parents? Do we sell our house? Where will we live?"...and so on.

I took so much for granted. Instead of loathing the intolerable St. George heat, I love it and am so sad at the thought of having to leave my home, my friends, and everything familiar to McKay. I'm so grateful for the gospel and a knowledge of a loving Heavenly Father. I know it's going to be a little rough for an unknown amount of time, but my eternal perspective is helping to keep me focused on what's really important. We have each other, we have our families, we have the gospel, we have our friends, we have the peace of the Savior. I know we truly won't starve and we will not have to live on the street. We have several lifelines to hang on to for the long haul. We are blessed. Thinking about the pioneers always helps me realize just how easy we have it.

I had a little surgery on my bottom lip on Monday. One side has been larger than other for several years and I tend to bite it, making it even bigger and discolored. I finally got the nerve to let my brother work on it. I passed out in the procedure chair after he numbed my lip. I felt so sick for the rest of the day. He removed a little cyst and a hemangioma. I've been feeling pretty sick all week. Every time I go to clean my lip or look at it in the mirror, I feel like I'm going to pass out again. Friday night I actually felt much more sick and I couldn't figure out why I would be feeling worse. A funny little thought popped into my head, but I pushed it out until yesterday afternoon. It turns out that funny little thought was spot on....I'm pregnant! What great timing. As the shock is wearing off I'm getting cautiously excited. We may be unemployed and expecting, but we have faith that everything is going to work out and we are especially looking forward to the middle of September.

Fire!

No, not really. But McKay got some special training, just in case. Our very kind friend invited us for a private tour of our local firehouse.



McKay's most favorite truck is the firetruck. We listen to firetruck songs, read firetruck books and pretend our van is a firetruck. He was awestruck to be up close and personal with a real firetruck. He was able to sit in the driver's seat of two firetrucks and an ambulance. He even got to try on a fireman's hat and uniform. We went at nap time, so McKay's expressions don't clearly show the joy he was feeling. Later that day, after his nap, he couldn't stop talking about it.

Thank you Lt. Randall!

Snow!

When I opened the door early Monday morning I was so pleasantly surprised to see a few inches of snow before me. It was a beautiful winter wonderland. I love the snow and wish it snowed here more often. We made the most out of it before it melted and built a snowman. McKay has been waiting and waiting for enough snow to build his own snowman. We've read several books about snowmen and he was excited to have the opportunity himself. So we bundled up and went outside to play.

McKay ended up playing in the snow while I built the snowman. He did get to put the hat on...

....and the buttons.

When we were done he gave him several hugs.

We named him Frosty (of course) and McKay told me, "He's my buddy."

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning was the best yet! We slept in, got up, got dressed and opened presents.

I think McKay was a little star struck by his new friend. Although, he expected him to stand up on his own:

McKay had to try the new spin toothbrush out right away!



Now we don't need to spend a half-hour in the bike section at Walmart anymore!

We spent the latter part of Christmas Day and the next day in Cedar City with our families. We had a reindeer join us for the ride:



We were lucky to have a little snow fall while we were in Cedar. Nathan and McKay went out to catch some flakes: