Abundant Recompense Copy

After a few surprises and a whole lot of packing tape, we made it to our new house! We are loving it so far. Our town is a good mix of little and big, with sheep, horses, and fruit stands, but all the shopping and restaurants you could want (including the Burger Bar, home of the most delicious onion rings in the world) and a Walmart five minutes away from our house. We had a few Elders Quorums and some family to help us move in, and Nate's Mom was able to come up and stay with us for several days, which was a huge help and lots of fun. One last lunch with Nate before we moved far away from Temple Square, where he works. Despite all the annoyances that come with moving (living out of boxes, never being able to find anything, 3 trips a day to the store), we are still having a ball playing house. It's fun to put things just where we want them and to have room for everything and then some. And, WE HAVE A WASHER, DRYER, AND DISHWASHER!!!!!!! I feel to break into an exuberant hymn of...

Addison is cute. Really cute. So cute that today I went and got his cuteness professionally documented. Thanks to an amazing coupon, we went to Kiddie Kandids and got some amazing pictures for FREE. They took a ton of pictures and were super nice and we got a collage-type print with his name on it for zero dollars and zero cents, plus they emailed us the individual portraits for free. They didn't even pressure us to buy anything else or come back next month or anything, and I left the store photos in hand. They only took about five minutes to print. I'm a believer. If anyone is intrigued, I've got a few coupons to give away. Just let me know if you want one. You have to get moving because they expire on August 2, but it is so worth it. And there are Kiddie Kandids stores all over the country, so I'd be pleased as punch to mail you a coupon. So now that the commercial is over, I'm pleased to report that Addison did great. I think he was the only kid there tha...

I've nothing more to say.

You may or may not recall that Addison has refined tastes when it comes to sucking. No pacifiers for him. Only Mom's right pinky or Dad's thumb. All sorts of reactions spring forth from this little quirk of Add's, ranging from bewilderment or chuckling to commiseration all the way to an old man in church telling Nate that his finger tastes bad and to get it out of Addison's mouth. Nice. Today may be the dawning of a bright new era for those of us with pruney fingers, however, because I caught our little picky sucker doing the unthinkable:

I pause for a moment from eating a delicious piece of Father's Day cheesecake to reflect on my remarkable good fortune. The evidence: Exhibit A. I have a perfect son. You'll excuse the exaggeration; why, it was just yesterday that I was completely exasperated at the little guy for taking a 4 1/2 minute nap and deciding that was enough to get him through the afternoon. But he's sleeping like a little champ right now, and he came and woke me up this morning with a huge grin, like he knew who I was, and he laughs at my funny faces and expertly scoots around backwards in his walker, and he SITS UP ON HIS OWN THESE DAYS! Doesn't get more perfect than that. And I hate to say this, but I often wonder if parents-to-be ever look at him and think, "Well, dang, there goes my chance to have the cutest baby in the world." Exhibit B. I managed to marry the sweetest girl that ever was. Without getting overly mushy, I'm just blown away by her caring and sensitivity. Addis...

If you've been feeling picture-starved lately, this post is here to fix that. I don't really have anything witty to say, except for this great joke: Why did the old man run all the way to the other side of the playground? To get to the other slide!!!! Ha! Ten minutes later, now that you've stopped laughing, I hope you enjoy this little catch-up session on the adventures of Nate, Michelle, and Addison. I have a weak spot for a ticklish baby in a diaper. The second video shows off his new trick we like to call "the inchworm." Addison wins the "youngest baby to compose a song" award, beating Mozart by two and a half years! Thanks to Micah (Lindsey's boyfriend)'s family, we got to go on a very fun (and very free) trip to Lagoon. Z and Micah got really wet. Mmmm. Prunes. Cool toys, huh? Look again. Let's just say t...

We're moving to our very own house on Saturday! We had a leisurely final walk-through yesterday and we've decided yet again to go through with it. We're scheduled to close on Wednesday and we get possession on Saturday at noon. Yeehaw! In the meantime, however, we've just barely begun to pack. That means that our house has gone from its normal level of disaster-ness (which, out of ten I'd say is about a 2 or 3 - maybe a 4 depending on the day) to an 8 at least. Considering the circumstances, I'm okay with it as long as it's clutter and not filth and as long as Addison doesn't get swept away in an avalanche. I am NOT okay with the fact that our landlord is now showing our apartment. I understand that they want somebody to move in ASAP, and frankly I do too so that we can be partially reimbursed for our rent this month, but a little notice would be nice. Even 5 seconds would be appreciated. As it stands, they come by whenever anyone decides to show u...

First of all, cool face lift, huh? It's all Nate and his mad computer skills. He let me help pick the colors too. What a great guy and what a spiffy-looking blog. We realized last week that we've never been to the Salt Lake City DI before, so we jumped in the car and paid them a little visit. Wow are we glad we did. We found a walker for Addison for four dollars! Unbelievable, I know. We packed it in the car and gave it a good scrubbing when we got home and it's as good as new. And you should see Addison scooting around in it. Talk about rippling leg muscles. Addison also celebrated his 6 month birthday this past Sunday. I cannot believe that he is half a year old. It seems like he's hitting milestones all over the place lately, especially in the eating department. He eats rice cereal, fruits, veggies, mashed potatoes, graham crackers, and the doctor said that he can start having water out of a sippy cup! Nate has dreamed of this day for months. Really.