origin

saw this video and just had to share.

"the best way of finding truth is simply going to the origin of all truth and ask"

no matter what faith you are, or what you believe, we can always turn to God and ask, He is always there for us, and I know if we ask with a sincere heart He will answer ALL of our questions, concerns, and fears.

if you were maxson

you would love to be in the bumbo watching momma in the kitchen.

but after 5-10 minutes of watching her you wouldn't quite so love it.

so then the momma would start giving you kitchen things to play with:

wisks, oven mitts, cups, you know, really fun kitchen stuff.
and then you'd be satisfied until the dishes were done.

you would devour oranges.

and once the slice was all juiced out, you would MOAN for more

you would love being outside with momma,

not caring if it's hot or humid, bugs or no bugs, day or night.

ALSO
if you were maxson you would have started LEGIT CRAWLING YESTERDAY!
go baby Max!
he's got the arms and leg movements down, slow, but they're there,
we're excited for him to be on the move!


ps- i put my blog on bloglovin'
apparently google reader isn't going to work starting july 1st, so if you follow my blog, or any blog for that matter, via google reader, you can now do so on bloglovin.
maybe i'll try getting the hang of it too!

fotos de iphone

a. constantly trying out crawling mode
b. not exactly the right way to put the paci in, but if it floats your boat!
c. high chair loving
d. my early morning cougar fan

a. excitement for getting out of church clothes!
b. he started in the circle of toys and somehow scooted over yonder
c. first time in the shopping cart, tear tear, he's growing up!
d. look at those cute baby boy sunday clothes, and that there skirt was made by yours truly in my buy sewing class nearly a year ago, i finally fit it!

a. trying to escape
b. storm clouds in nebraska
c. one day i looked over to realize my baby was actually looking at his toys, picking them up one by one to examine, tossing it to the side and starting on the next, it's almost like i can see him growing in front of my eyes! he loves little hot wheels cars.
d. more post church fun

a. outside air throwing
b. book club mini (and adorable) s'mores with sprinkles
c. probably my favorite outfit for maxson right now, plaid church shirt romper? 50 cents at a garage sale? yes please!
d. watching the church broadcast last weekend. he fell asleep soon after this picture. cue melting. i don't think i'll ever get over the happiness that comes to my soul when a babies falls asleep in your arms.

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a little video

here's a little video of our mr maxson!

mostly 4-6 months.

all cuteness!

Maxson 4-6 months

go here if the video isn't working on the blog

that one time with friends

sometimes we get to hang out with our friends.
we're lucky to have lots of friends around these parts:
dental, starr st, church, law, married, single etc.
this time we played with other dental school married friends.
bbqs,
babies,
the newlywed game,
and a very intense game of couples croquet made the evening quite successful.

maxson didn't appreciate the get together, his toys on the other hand, he was all over that :)

we heart our friends :)

dentist in training.

"hey come here, open up, i need to take a look."

"oh boy, you need lots of work done there!

you call yourself a dentist?"

"jeesh, i said i wanted money for that exam, not kisses!"

the end.

a very short story.

and we're back!

got a new charger for my computer and we're up and going,
i so happy.

90% of the time maxson is happy, content, wiggly, watchful, giggly, and pure happy.






but, sadly, sometimes we do get to this point.
poor baby.


the end.

and go

my charger is broken and i can't use my computer anymore.

do you know how much i hate being not able to get on my computer.

i also hate that i want to be on my computer so much.

but i just keep thinking 

i have pictures to upload!

blogs to blog!

videos to edit/make!

i want it back!

right now i'm using casey's old computer and it of course works just well enough but it's not my computer.

mentionables over the course of the past week:

1. maxson's on the move! scooting everywhere, i can't believe it! i put him down but 10 minutes later he's in a totally different area, it's so fun to see him very slowly move to get to a toy. mostly he does the downward dog move for a little bit, then brings his knees in closer, goes flat to his belly, reaches forward and starts the process again. all this creates very slow forward movement though it's happening!

2. casey was out of town for almost 4 whole days last week! luckily maxson was really easy when he was gone and i didn't get too tired, but by sunday night when he returned suddenly all my non-tiredness-this-is-easy stuff came crashing down and i was so worn out! those 15 min mommy breaks throughout the day are priceless to have!

3. father's day was uneventful (sadly). casey got home at 7:15 from his dental conference as mentioned above, and i made spud burgers for him and two other dads whose families were still out of town from their dental conference. spud burgers sounds like the weirdest meal, and it kinda is, but casey's grandma used to make it and he requests it every once and awhile!

SPUD BURGERS:

open a hamburger bun.

place a hamburger on one side.

place a heaping ton of mashed potatoes on the other side.

slather both sides in gravy (i just use packet gravy's, this time turkey was what i had on hand).

devour.

simple.

barbaric-like manly.

filling.

let me know if you try it!

4. maxson's talking has reached a new level. of course not real talking but he's constantly making sounds, moans, grunts, spits/blows bubbles. just lots of cute baby talk going on around here

5. i can't believe he's 6 1/2 months old. SIX AND A HALF!!! on friends' and family members' birthdays of 25 i tell them they're closer to being 30 than they are 20, and that probably makes them feel bad but i think it's funny. well flip the joke on me, i was thinking my baby is now closer to being 1 than he is to being a new baby! i want to cry every time i think about it! it goes TOO STINKING FAST so i'm trying to soak each day in. i also wonder how in the world people can only have 1 child? only getting to enjoy this adorable baby stage once?

6. more on maxson because he is my life right now: he is getting more playful by the day. his excitement level keeps building each day when we hide (behind doors and walls and furniture) to play peek a boo with him, just yesterday he began tensing up his whole body in excitement after we'd pop out and added a new giggly, overly excited laugh to it, I LOVE HAVING A CHILD AND BEING A MOM.  i really don't think i could be happier!

7. on the note of happiness and children, maxson really does make me so happy all day long. there's only maybe 6% of the day right now where life with him seems hard and that 6% is usually is only when he wakes up from naps too early. but really, this whole motherhood thing is magical. the first week you're love drunk in cute new babyness. the first 2 months are a blur of cuddleness. months 3 and 4 is beginning to be awakness and cuteness. and 5 and 6 he's interacting and becoming a little person to play with and don't even start me on the cuteness overload because now he gets SUPER excited when i come into the room/view and cloud 9 couldn't be closer! i know the coming months are so fun too though, raising this baby is so fun!

scripture power!

a few weeks ago, the sister missionaries in our ward challenged casey and i to read the book of mormon for 30 minutes a day.

and before them actually, the mission president in our area challenged us too, but that was before we went on all our trips and i forgot about that one.
ps- i LOVE sister missionaries, they are the BOMB

i'm closing in on 3 weeks of diligent, daily 30 min reading, and it just feels good.

it feels so good to dedicate 30 minutes to reading the book of mormon everyday.

the stories in the scriptures all mesh together, they're not just a bunch of separate chapters.

also, i'm reading from a completely new book of mormon without any of my notes and hi-lights from all my previous years of life. it's like i'm reading it for the first time finding my own truths all on my own!

i used to diligently workout during maxson's first nap of the day but i decided after all our trips more importantly than working out is reading my scriptures, and it has made all the difference.

i'm happier.

i'm more patient.

i'm more optimistic.
i'm more forgiving.

i'm closer to the spirit.

i just feel like i'm a better all around person when i read for 30 min in the morning.
hopefully soon i'll find a new good time to workout but more importantly is me time in the scriptures.

i can promise you, that if you find time to really read your scriptures everyday, be it 10, 15, or 30 minutes everyday, you will be given more power, strength and courage to get through your day. you will grow closer to god. even in these short 3 weeks, i have seen such a difference in my life. we've been promised that when we read the book of mormon each day, we will grow closer to God than any other way possible. i know this to be true. the book of mormon is the work of God, He speaks to us through the words in His scriptures!

so dearest friends, i invite YOU to read the book of mormon.

read it in a way you've never read it before.

be it quickly, in depth with references, a new, unmarked book of mormon, or just try reading it for the first time.
and then ask heavenly father if it is true.
i know your life will be blessed!!!

ps-if you don't have a book or mormon, i would be delighted to give you one :)

that one time casey and i actually were diligent at working out

this post is kinda old but should be documented nonetheless. 

back at the beginning of march, casey and i decided to insanity.

(mostly it was me who wanted to do insanity and begged and pleaded casey to do it with me and then he came to like it/be glad he did it).

i was inspired by this post of a blog i read.

she too had a baby roughly the same age as mine which inspired me to say "yes, it IS possible!"

neither of us followed the diet plan because

a) neither of us have that kind of self control

b) i was too worried about losing my milk supply

we both probably could have gotten way better results if we had but we didn't care that much.

working out at home with a baby is DEFINITELY a challenge but DOABLE!

at first, we tried working out together in the afternoon right after i fed him so he'd be happy but he wasn't really that happy about it and it was always me who ended up not getting to do the full workout.

so then we tried doing it during his nap, but it was always a short nap which would cut the workout short which was frustrating too.

we finally decided to workout separately.

i'd do it in the morning during his first nap which was usually long at that time, if he did wake up early he was usually content with watching me for the last 5-15 min while still swaddled in his carseat/bouncer.
sometimes the last 5 minutes had to be skipped but nothing too bad.
after school casey would come home and do it by himself.
because we both decided to be dedicated for 2 months to working out, we were actually able to finish to the end!

insanity is pure cardio,
it's a beast, but then you realize how strong you've gotten since you started and it's not as bad.
i sweat so much more during these workouts than i ever have before.
casey sweat like a maniac during it, and that was super gross.
we were always so exhausted, but good exhausted, after the workouts which helped keep us going.
the first month is about a 40 min workout 6 days a week: TOTALLY DOABLE
don't get me wrong, it was still hard, but the really hard part of the workout was only 20ish min.
the 2nd month is about a 60 min workout 6 days a week: still doable but it kicks your butt and is so hard.
6 days a week going hard each day is so tiring.
the last 2 weeks were hard mentally because by that point, we DID want to be done with program, but weren't.
but we made it to the end!
hooray!

here's casey's before and after



i would post my before and afters but you literally can't see a difference with all my clothes and i just look silly,
ha, so i'll just spare us all.
but i did slim down a little and tone up a little.
i'm so glad we did it!

i would definitely recommend doing trying out insanity post-baby to start back into working out.
reasons:
a. you can do it by yourself at home so you don't have to be self conscious of your strength level in front of others etc, though there's still an instructor pushing you
b. it's a smooth transition to working out your abs again since there's no crunches anywhere but you still get a good ab workout through other movements
c. you can workout around your baby's sleeping schedule and not have to worry about going anywhere.
d. there's like 10 different discs/routines so he workouts get switched up.
e. even if you're not post-baby, it's SUCH a good workout program!!

let me know if any of you decide to do this!!

happy father's day!

dearest casey,

you're gone in wyoming today.

a father missing his child on father's day is a sad day.

luckily you will be back in the evening to see your oh so adorable wife and child who will celebrate you the way you deserve.

your first father's day with a child here on earth will forever be one to remember.

i hope you remember this feeling of looking into maxson's happy face and knowing he is happy because of you.

you make him laugh.

you make smile.

you tickle him.

you help him balance.

you encourage him.

you teach him.

he already loves you so much.

like i say almost every year, i feel so proud to have picked such a wonderful father for my children and such a supportive spouse for myself.

we love you!

i'm so incredibly blessed to have a wonderful father i grew up with, i love you dad, you'll forever be my knight to the rescue!
to my father-in-law for being so loving and accepting,
and to my 4, older, wiser, loving brothers: weston, logan, scott, and kirk:
i love you 4 dearly, you are all such wonderful fathers!

happy father's day!

little love letters (with pictures)

dear casey,
remember when we were dating and life was so simple?
the only thing we had to worry about was taking tests and when we got to see each other next?
now it's bills, a baby, and much harder schooling.
it's all good, i like it better this way.

dear nebraska,
your crazy amount of green trees and lawns everywhere is making up for your awfully long and cold winter.
keep that rain coming

dear maxson,
after you spit up,
please don't play with/in it,
that's seriously yucky...

dear sky,
thank you for this wonderful sunset last week.
it was so beyond beautiful, too bad this tree was in the way

dear maxson,
you are consistently inconsistent with the amount of time you sleep,
BUT we are seeing leaps of progress in your ability to sleep longer,
thank you a gajillion times over for napping longer and going to sleep by yourself in your crib.
it's kinda made all the difference in the world to this here momma.

dear husband, mom, dad, camille, megan, blair, amanda, and katie,
congratulations.
you should know that you are officially on my favorites list!
be proud of your accomplishment.
to the rest of you, please don't be offended.
ps- katie i fixed the spelling of your last name :)

dear maxson,
remember that one time you fell asleep at 6:30 pm for "another nap" but i had to wake you up at 8:15 to eat but you promptly fell back asleep for what i thought would be the rest of the night and then at 11:30 pm you were like "JUST KIDDING!"
not cool, not cool

dear pinterest,
thank you for being my companion during that last hour of maxson's said awake time.
namely, my friend amber p's fashion board.

dear 2013 photo album,
i'm already dreading you...

dear kitchen and dishes,
i think we need start seeing other people.
it's not me, it's you.
i give, give, and give, doing all the work,
and in return you just give me more work.
when i scream at you "we were on a break!"
i mean for that break to last forever.

dear national donut day,
i wish you were every friday.

dear dental school,
you are so hard,
can't you calm down?
max has had enough of casey's constant studying that he ferociously crumpled study pages and spit up all over them to really show you who's boss.


dear green pepper plant,
my excitement over your little pepper beginning to grow is pretty much my favorite thing ever when walking outside.

dear maxson,
you're starting to show tons of signs of crawling...
ooy, i don't know if i'm ready for that yet!


dear titus,
your grandpa is in our ward,
so by the transitive property we know,
and we think you are so cool!!!!!

dear daddy-newbie tumblr,
you make me laugh so hard.
thank you for a great parental relief.

dear shade,
thank you for making the noon day sun bearable.
too bad you have no power over humidity.

dear karma,
remember when i sent casey a fake parking ticket in the mail for april fool's day this year?

and remember when we visited indiana last month?

well guess what. he got another (real) parking ticket while there.

that was dumbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb.

dear readers,
thank you for reading my little blog and saying such nice things to me through online comments and in person.
i really appreciate it.
it humbles me that you take an interest in our silly, simple lives but i also hope that i can inspire you to see joy in the simple moments of life,  to love and serve others, to appreciate the beauty of this life, to find truth, and to just be happy.
at times, i'll look back at the blog during months of our lives that were hard for some reason or another but because of this blog, it helps me remember the happy moments of those months.
there truly is beauty all around.

donut day!

i love donuts.

i really do.

some people love cupcakes, like that's their "specialty" dessert of choice.

for me, it would be donuts.

(chocolate chip cookies didn't make the cut for "specialty" dessert in my book, i'm not sure why, maybe there's a separate cookie category they are king over...)

i don't make donuts at home nor can i replicate their quality goodness.

so i really love donuts.

not sure how i've missed out on national donut day over the past few years, but i will make sure not to from here on out.

i met up with a couple of my friends to the all star downtown donut place in lincoln, Lamar's.

a. it was crazy busy.
b. my cute friends and our cute babies who apparently ALLLLLL like to eat their hands

c. i had the yummiest m&m sprinkled donut.

d. they ran out of donuts while we were there.

see you next year donut day!

BAHAMA BUCKS loving

with this trip to bahama bucks we knew we wanted to get baby maxson to try it out!
the first time we went he was asleep the whole time, so we'll count this as his first REAL bahama bucks experience.
he could have cared less about the whole excursion but we loved taking him there with the little girls.
annalee and phoebe always look forward to going to bahama bucks when we come to town, it's the fun thing they get to do specially because of us.

but here's maxson's first little taste of the goodness!
i believe i let him taste watermelon.
if you can't see the video on the blog, go here to watch it on vimeo

Maxson's 1st bahama bucks

teehee, we thought it was funny :)

a. doesn't casey look natural with 3 kids?

b. maxson can't decide which color he wants...

c. blue is the best because it leaves lots of great stains all over children's teeth, tongues, mouth, and clothes. i.e.: phoebe

d. not so sure about the cold stuff.

a. sample cups holding over the chillins
b. bahama bucksing
c. a taste here, a taste there
d. on the way home, casey squished himself between 2 carseats in the back of the mini van to keep maxson happy while entertaining phoebe and annalee, he's a keeper

we love you bahama bucks!

6 month update

happy half birthday to mr maxson!

he turned 6 months on the 1st and we celebrated with half a birthday cake.

casey was just sure i should let him eat some 

this little boy is a stud.

we are enamored by him everyday!

he sits up like a boss.

sometimes i still can't believe it,

he's a rockstar, bending way over to pick something up without losing his balance.

he does fall here and there but doesn't too often,

it's so fun to watch him discover his toys and reach for them,
it's as if the same toys are new everyday.
his discovering is just thrilling to watch as a parent

he loves to be outside,

we're always taking him outside to sit on the ground,

be with other children playing all around him,

or in the swing,

it's a nice break in the day.

we've dubbed him moaning maxson,

he's usually quite the content baby (except that one weekend when teething reached a new level of fevers, runny noses, and mouth pain),

but if he's ever not happy with something,

he moans,

it's funny.

i'm just happy it's not scream crying.
*update* i wrote that a week ago and within the last week he's found his chilling scream...not very fun...

due to the hot weather in arizona, we had to emergency unswaddle him for all kinds of sleeping.

i start him out on his side cuddling his BYU monkey and he usually ends up on his stomach.

sleeping on his side/stomach unswaddled has definitely improved our chances of long naps in the crib.
actually, they've completely improved!

still wakes up in the night though, eh, it's a work in progress, i'm not worried.

all things go directly into his mouth,

he loves balance standing on casey's hands.

he gets so happy looking at others while he's doing,

he'll shrug his shoulders up high or put them out to the side like an airplane,

purse his lips or giggle and smile,

and his little baby tummy sometimes does jerky movements casey has to quickly compensate for, it's just so fun to watch!

i am definitely beginning to be a favorite with him,

casey still has his magic touch but for the most part when others are holding him, casey included,

his eyes just follow me the whole time,

eagerly awaiting when i will hold him again.
there have been a few times when he's not in a good mood and casey is holding him, and if he catches a glimpse of me and i disappear, he goes crazy
cue very loud screams (hoping that phase doesn't last long)

his arms are always moving keeping him very busy.
when he's nursing, his right arm is usually flapping up and down and up and down.
if he's playing with a toy, often times his left hand holds it while he strums/hits the toys with his right.
i love watching him learn!

this may be an odd thing to share,
but beginning in arizona we started having him poop on the toilet.
i know, sounds silly for a 6 month old.
but when we can tell he's beginning to poop we stop everything we're doing and run to the toilet (and with that excited run he usually stops for a little bit because he's amused at the running/undressing up the stairs).
from there i just put him on the toilet and he does his business, easy as that!
he's pretty predictable to always go in the morning ;)
benefits:
a) no messy bums to wipe
b) poop goes in the toilet where it belongs
c) it's an incentive with me doing cloth diapers because then i don't have to worry about the poop hitting or not hitting the liner and all that jazz.
d) i've heard it could help them potty train sooner since they've always been used to going on the toilet, we shall see...
but even beyond that, it's just amusing as parents to have your little baby pooping on the toilet, ha!

and lastly he's begun reaching his hands towards me when i hold mine out to him.
I. LOVE. IT
seriously i melt inside.
other times he'll start flapping his arms fast like a bird and show us a big smile when i reach my arms toward him,
i love it.


stats:
height // 27" // 64%ile
weight // 17# 9 oz // 51%ile
head // 17 1/4" // 50-75%ile
that's one average baby.

picturas de iFono round dos

onto arizona.

i find myself taking more pictures when i'm outside,

and because we're often outside in arizona, there's always more pictures i think.

the plane ride!
a. maxson really did do great.
the first ride casey was with me and helped a lot with maxson and gave me confidence that i could do it by myself next time.
b. casey watched batman while maxson slept but after that it was baby team tagging from there.
c. caught the husband doing a little nose digging...
d. the flight to utah by myself: there were lots of empty spots so he got to sleep next to me in his carseat!

a. a swimmin!
b. a swim watchin in the shade
c. asphalt cracks filled with flowers
d. we did lots of walking around the neighborhood there

a. cousin play time
b. trying to figure out the hot weather swaddling thing, ended up just having to ditch the swaddle, let him fall asleep on us, and carefully switch him to a bed or pack n play on his stomach where he would sleep for a reasonably long time in comparison to when we swaddled him!
c. baby rolls
d. the early morning alarm

a. watching annalee's dance recital with phoebe
b. annalee after her dance recital. i don't exaggerate one bit when i say she was the star of her performance (and the whole night) she got out there and knew the whole dance perfectly and confidently looked at the audience! she was a BOSS
c./d. we took her out to bahama bucks afterward to celebrate
she kept telling me this was the best night in her whole entire life, made my heart melt

a. WATERMELON SEASON. makes me so happy!
b. maxson loved it too!
c. had to have us some artichoke while there, it's a woodruff special/special dinner staple
d. on my last day in arizona my mom and i went to tia rosas together and it made me so happy. i think salmon tacos may be on my list of top 5 favorite foods in life

a./b. getting my hair did by the famous brandi
c./d. bike riding with grannnnnnnnnny

a./b. baby-man-play-date with mr oliver! this is brandi's little boy, 1 week older than max, they were adorable together, same size, same stage in life, same cuteness.
differences: oliver smiles when you just look at him and he has a much bigger head than max
c. moonlight walking with granny by the pool
d. papa pushed maxson around in the car and although my inner mama scare thought the whole time "don't let him slip through!" he loved it, he held onto the steering wheel tight, balanced perfectly, and papa pushed him around everywhere. inside i loved it

a. baby snuggles
b. the chubby evolett
c. walking
d. tasting a lemon! he kept a sour face the whole time but kept licking, so odd...

we also went to a diamondbacks game with my brother logan while there!
maxson loved being by so many people and new things.
and casey loved that members of his fantasy baseball league was there in real life