Our little nutshell

Another week has found us without a camera. However, I did not want to neglect keeping everyone up-to-date on our lives, just because we can't showcase our bright, smiley faces. So here is our week in a nutshell:

1. Oliver is now the proud possessor of two teeth, or at least one full tooth and one tiny white stub. His newest interests include eating bites of whatever mom and dad are eating, standing on his own while holding onto furniture and chewing on peoples noses. This is his new twist on the "kiss", he has found that his tooth comes in much more handy if applied to the nose rather than the cheek. He is very proficient at it, just ask his uncle Donald.

2. Sam was offered a fellowship at the Colorado School of Mines and officially submitted his acceptance letter this week. We are excited to be making plans to move to Golden, Colorado. Wherever that may be. Sam also got a taste of rock climbing this week as we tagged along with Donald and Caci to the "Bowling Alley" a bouldering area just a few miles up Cedar Mountain. Sam did really great, especially considering the fact that he was wearing loafers. Sam officially gave up desserts and candy this week and managed to maintain the eyesight in both his eyes (inside joke) during those rough first days. Unfortunately, Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream went on sale and all of Sam's healthy ambitions were left by the wayside. How could anyone turn down a scoop of chocolatey, fudgey goodness like that?

3. We have decided to move in with my parents for three months this summer to save some money for graduate school so I have spent the week mentally packing my apartment. It is no fun but I can't seem to think about anything else. I have this nagging suspicion that by the time I really do put everything into boxes I will have already had to mentally pack and unpack it all at least 20 times. I have started sorting through things that will be going to the D.I. I am not a pack-rat, so it has amazed me the amount of stuff I have found to get rid of. Aside from my new packing fetish, I have gotten hooked on a new genre of books; historical fictions about the settling of the western frontier. I checked out "Lonesome Dove" from the library and plan to begin tackling it soon.

Any advice would be great...

In case you haven't noticed, our blog has been sadly lacking in pictures lately. The reason for this is that we lost our camera. We are sad to have lost it but I must admit that I am inwardly rather excited for the opportunity to upgrade. (Don't tell Sam, he might think I lost it on purpose.) Anyway, we are in the market for a new one and the options appear to be endless. So, if anyone out there has a camera that they love or knows of a good one. Please let us know. Thanks.

Kissy, kissy

This might be one of those "you had to be there" moments. But I thought it was pretty funny. Oliver has learned to give kisses and will happily apply his wide-open mouth to your cheek and suck heartily if you ask him to give you one. This weekend we were in Salt Lake and staying at my parents house. My little sister, Whitney, who is a professed baby-hater but is absolutely gaa-gaa over Ollie, was holding Oliver while I fed him. Half way through his sweet potatoes my brother instructed Oliver to give Whitney a kiss. He promptly turned his messy face towards her but was denied the privilege of giving kissing because he was covered with sweet potatoes. When he realized she was not going to let him kiss her he got mad and started to cry until she relented. He happily smeared her cheek with a liberal amount of drool and baby food then turned back around and finished up his dinner. What a cutie!!

I want to be a loser too!!!

At the start of the new year my family decided to start our own "Biggest Loser" competition. Everyone put $20.00 into the pot and the person who loses the largest percentage of their body weight by May 1st gets to take it all. I must say that while I started the year off great, my weight loss has been at a total stand still since January 2nd. It really is time for me to kick it into gear (I say that every week) but with someone like Oliver around who makes eating look like so much fun it is easier said than done.

It's about time...

This past week we have all had horrible colds and I have avoided blogging just in case germs are transferable via the internet. Sam, Oliver and I all take turns coughing and keeping each other up at night. Just as we were beginning to contemplate forming our own coughing choir, "The Hacking Harmonizers", things started to get better.

Being sick is pretty time demanding so we don't have much to update you on, but I will do my best. To begin with, Oliver got his first tooth. As of right now it is a cute little white bump on his bottom gum. He also had his six month check up and is doing great. He is a whopping 17 pounds and is 26 and a half inches long. Once again those measurements place him in the 50th percentile for both height and weight. Ollie has quickly become the most popular baby in our new ward (and there is quite a bit of competition). Oliver smiles at absolutely everyone. His favorite past time during Sacrament Meeting is to turn around and make faces at everyone behind us. I get stopped at least ten times each week by people telling me what a cute and entertaining baby I have.

Since our last entry we made a trip up North to attend the funeral of two family friends who passed away from cancer. While they may not be enjoyable, funerals inspire a certain introspection. The first funeral was for Vickie Bigelow, who has been one of our closest friends and neighbors since my family moved to Riverton 16 years ago. Vickie was always serving others. She was a list maker and I am sure that my own name appeared on her lists more than once along with special things I was in need of. While we were sick I pulled some blankets out of the closet and realized that Vickie had quilted both of them almost entirely on her own. I remember her at my wedding shower and again at my baby shower working away at the quilts and staying late to make sure that they got done. She was a doer and has left her mark in many ways. I started to think about traces of love and service that I have left in my wake and realized that I am sadly lacking. I hope I can be more like Vickie.

The second funeral was for Seth Shaffer. To me Seth was alway the red-head who sat on the second row in the chapel every Sunday. While I was never close with Seth, I knew his wife well and taught his kids in primary. As I sat at his funeral and listened to the awesome stories that were shared about him I realized that I had truly missed out on something special by not getting to know him better. I made a commitment to myself that I wouldn't find myself in that situation again. I want to make more of an effort to get to know that people that I associate with everyday. After all, God put them in my path for a reason and I am only hurting myself by not loving them and learning from them as much as I can.

In the end I just want to say that I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who has a plan for all of us. It is comforting to me to know that Seth and Vickie are still Seth and Vickie, we just can't see them.

Happy Valentines Day

We just want to wish all of our friends and family a very happy Valentines Day. We love you all so much and are so grateful for your friendship.

Unvelievable

Sam received his first acceptance to graduate school today. He got an email from the Colorado School of Mines where he applied to study Operational Research, i.e. Mathematical Engineering. The Colorado School of Mines was his first pick and he wasn't planning to get in so we are very excited. Way to go Sammy!!!

In a class all my own!

So, I saw this on a friends blog and thought that it was kind of fun. Of course, it was no shocker to find out that I am the only Janell Peay. Could there really be another one of me? Who cares if there is not one specialty key chain or other useless trinket engraved with my name at the gas station. I am original.

JANELL PEAY

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 0 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

SAMUEL PEAY

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 5 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

OLIVER PEAY

HowManyOfMe.com

There is 1 person with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Time Marches On

So, last week I was updating some of our old family pictures (i.e. wedding pictures) with our new family pictures. When I saw them side by side I was shocked by the changes that I saw in Sam and I. We looked so much older (and chubbier), and it has only been a little over three years. In my mind I am still a young twenty-year-old. I can't imagine what I will think of myself when I hit forty. That is one thing I have noticed about growing older, every time I hit a certain age I really never feel as old or as mature as people that age always seemed to be. Is it just me?

The Superfan

Here is our "little t-bird" cheering for the SUU gymnastics team. Thank goodness SUU has at least one team worth cheering for. I must say that the football and basketball teams are pretty worthless (don't tell Sam I said so).