Trading Sports

You've heard of the show, "Trading Spaces", well at our house we have given it a bit of a twist and are trading sports instead. Since my little brother, Donald, has come to live with us Sam has convinced him to take up cycling. Donald, who came to us with nothing but a backpack full of clothes and climbing gear now also owns a mountain bike and a road bike. (I won't get into how having six bikes inside of my little apartment has started to cramp my style.) The two of them have lots of fun riding together and spend the rest of their time planning new rides.

On the flip side, Sam is now set to become the next Chris Sharma. (You would probably have to be living with a rock climbing fanatic to know that he is the current rock climbing guru of the world.) Sam now owns a harness, climbing shoes, some special clips, the name of which I do not remember, and spends his spare time trying to figure out how to tie certain knots.

Oliver and I just sit back and watch. The one thing that I am grateful for is that Sam adopting rock climbing was a lot cheaper than Donald adopting cycling.

And we're back...

We had a wonderful Spring Break/Easter vacation. We went north to Salt Lake and visited with all our family. The trip included a Saturday picnic with four-wheeling and clay pigeon shooting with my family. Then church and lunch with Sam's dad and step-mom on Sunday and of course a scrumptious Easter dinner and easter egg hunt with Sam's mom and step-dad that evening.

As we are in the middle of March Madness, the trip also included a lot of college basketball. My parents bought a big screen HD TV for the occasion and Sam and Donald had the task of setting it all up in time for the first games. They did a good job and as far as I am aware the TV is still hanging in place. (I just have to mention here that after the second round of games my pick are actually doing better than Sam's. I picked Texas to win it, we'll have to see what happens)

When we got home from our Easter vacation our new camera was waiting for us. Yahoo!! This is Oliver showing off his two new teeth. (Look closely, you really can see them.)


This is a picture of Oliver on our walk this morning. I tried everything to get him to fall asleep leaning back against the stroller seat but he insisted on resting his head on the front tray instead. I am pretty sure that he learned this position from his Dad, who mastered this same sleeping position in church.

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!!