found a slide!

My dad put a little plastic pool in the backyard and Craig found it on Saturday! he had so much fun sliding down the slide on it, even without any water in it! he had so much fun on it. i will try and add a video but i have to edit it first. it is way too long right now! for now, just imagine, he says, "seaty, (ready and set combined) go!" each time before he slides!

We have these little curtains in our room, trying to create 'Craig's space' and help him sleep better. well, yesterday, he decided to play peekaboo with the curtains! it was so funny! he has been cracking Trevor and I up all weekend! we blew up his beach ball and he and Trevor were taking turns throwing it. it got stuck between the door and the wall and he couldn't figure out how to get it back. i got it for him, but then he kept trying to put it back in that spot! he's so silly sometimes! i love that kid so much! i sure am lucky to have him!

bobbing the head

Craig was able to go play with Aunt Nini (Anita) today! he always has so much fun with her and plays so much! he was tired on the drive home and i thought he was going to sleep, because he put his head down, his chin touching his chest. well, the music got a little louder and he started bobbing his head to the music and did it the rest of the way home, basically! it was so funny!

then, Trevor had out a ladder and Craig wanted to climb on it. it was ok for a minute, but he was able to reach Trevor's dresser, so i had to get him down, and him being so tired, he was not very happy. but then he got to play OUTSIDE!! yay!

well, i survived my first week of kindergarten! i had help every single day, but it is definitely getting better each day. i have a couple of handfuls, but they are still a good class. last night i couldn't go to sleep because i kept thinking about ways i could better help individual students! i really do enjoy teaching and helping kids learn!

Rain and more

This post is a little more of a journal, so feel free to skim. We got adorable pictures with crystal if you're interested. i will post them as soon as we get them back!!! yay for crystal!! see older posts for info.

Craig loves to put shoes on! he sees some and just puts them on, no matter whose they are. He saw Trevor's shoes and put them on and was so cute, i had to get a picture!

On Monday, it rained!! yay! it started out raining a good amount, but then it slowed down and was just a drizzle for a long time. it was so fun! Craig went out into it this time and stayed! he thought it was so fun to walk around in the rain!

These last couple of pictures are of Craig just being fun! he found a bin and emptied it all out and sat in it!! then, he was being silly with the chair and needed a picture. The high squeel at the beginning of the video is really Craig!! he is so silly sometimes! i think he might have been laughing a little too in the squeel!

Last, he has this big beach ball, that i bought for less than a dollar. well, i blew it up and it got flat really soon! it ended up having two or more holes in it! the black tape didn't really help. so every time he brings it to someone, we blow it up again, then he throws it around, and eventually ends up jumping on it and it is flat again. (jumps so his belly is on it and it rolls a little) this boy is so much fun for us!

I think i forgot to mention, but we took an overnight trip to st. George for our anniversary, thanks to my mom watching him, and when we came back, it was so fun to see Craig! it was so good to get a little break. i still missed him a little, but it was wonderful to come back and enjoy being with him even more!! i am very lucky! Craig and Trevor are such blessings in my life!

School is going good. I have one pm class right now and they are quite the handful, but i think things will be good. definitely a good experience to have. it is the third day of school and second day i have been there. yesterday was pretty miserable. We had about 3-5 adults in the room the whole time and it was still quite the handful! today, i had one lady with me the entire day and it was ok. we still have a couple difficulties (language barriers and others) but things will work out. tomorrow will be even better.

it's a little scary to think that i get to do this beginning of the new school year all over again when track 1 comes back and i take over for the maternity leave. but we'll see! at least i'll have a better idea for next time!

Three years

last wednesday was our three year anniversary! i can't believe that it has been three years. both in a good way, i can't believe it's only been three years and other times it seems like it's been so much shorter and we just got married!

for the past three years, we have gone to Tuacahn amphitheater, in St. George, UT. we LOVE it! this year, we were able to see Le Mes, last year, My fair lady and the year before, Peter Pan. This theater is awesome! it is an outdoor area, within a canyon! the background for the stage is actually the mountain! it is always so fun to go up into nature a little and experience wonderful music and performance.

we were able to go up with trevor's parents and my mom and megan watched craig for us. it was fun, we saved gas by driving up together. we left friday morning, ate at Cracker Barrel (yum yum! another part of the tradition) and then drove back to mesquite because we were a little bored. i was able to get a FREE room for trevor and i since i was a substitute (CCSD teacher appreciation). then, we ate dinner at the Pizza factory and headed off for the show. it was wonderful!! i had listened to the music many times and even sang a couple of the songs, but never seen it. trevor saw it on broadway several years ago.

then, saturday, we relaxed and drove back home.

Here are some pics from over the years!

this was in san diego on the uss midway on our honeymoon!

~crayons in the tub~

while in san diego, cyndi had these bathtub crayons and craig loved it! well, we bought some here and craig loved them too!! that was wednesday.

then, thursday, when we went swimming at anita's, craig loved playing with Jenna! i really think hanging out with emma helped him realize that jenna (who is about the same age) would be fun to play with, because he sure is playing with her more than usual. he would have her walk to the hot tub with him and he loved to jump to her from the step. she was so good with him! she would catch him and when he went to go to the pool, she said "oh, i can go with him" to me, so i didn't have to get out of the hot tub. of course, i usually did anyway, but it was so fun! i couldn't believe the adorable picture of the two. they were just sitting up there so i ran and grabbed my camera before they moved! not even posed!

In the jacuzzi, craig loves to splash the water into the other pool and loves playing with Trevor. that night, he would jump off the first step into the hot tub. he even tried to do it a couple of times wihtout jumping to someone. so we had to remind him to jump to someone if he was jumping in. but it is so fun to have him love swimming so much!

updates

I got a substituting job, a hair cut and have been married for three years! thank you thank you thank you!!! i felt so loved reading everyone's comments and knowing people were praying for us!


i get to substitute for a half-day kindergarten pm class at marion earl elementary and the am teacher will go on maternity leave spetember 15th and i can take over her class too! so things really worked out for us. I sure do need to keep up my faith because Heavenly Father is always watching over. eventually, the freeze will be over and i can get hired as a teacher.
i was able to get my hair cut thursday, before we left for st. george. i love getting hair cuts so much! i always put the date in my calendar so i know exactly when it's exactly three months! they always straighten my hair for me and it is just enough of a change. i love my curly hair, but it is fun for a change for a day or two. it is a little shorter than i usually do, but i cut it about this short four years ago, when i first cut about 10 inches off. i really like it. that night, thursday, we went over to Anita's and swam and craig splashed me, helping me decide to have it curly the next day.

cheap good pics!

i just thought i would pass the word along, in case anyone misses it. also, check out tara's blog, that's crystal's sister and where i first heard this. http://thealmanzafamily.blogspot.com/

Pictures Anyone?I have known this woman my entire life and shes trying to expand her portfolio and get her name out there. ANYONE who is interested in having your photos done, this is a great opportunity. She is having a cheap week $30 ONLY . That includes pictures outdoors and she will give you a CD with 5 different images that you can have printed where ever you would like!! She does great work, just needs help getting her name around. There's no catch, All she asks is that she be able to use those photos in her portfolio and that you spread the word to your friends!! PLEASE!! If this caught your attention, go check out her website and blog and set up an appt. Thanks Everyone!! http://imagesbykrys.blogspot.com/ http://www.imagebykrys.com/

August 25th-28th Pictures to be taken anywere outdoors in Las Vegas (Excluding Red Rock, ect) Groups to be smaller than 6 people. These images are just for portrait sessions only not for business use.

i have known her family my entire life also. she takes great photos! check out her blog!

no job

I wanted to update everyone, i am still without a job. i thought i might have a long term sub position, but things did not work out :( i'm really trying to keep a positive outlook on things, but it is getting harder. o-well, maybe my parents will let us live with them forever? ha, like that could ever happen. we'll see what ends up happening, but for now, i have no job, with CCSD school starting monday and that means getting a house gets pushed further and further. bummer. if you have time, keep us in your prayers. thanks!

here is the huge turtle that we saw in san diego! it was selling for $2000 i think. it was crazy!

all worth it!

yesterday, i had a bad day. first of all, we were back to vegas! uggh. o-well. then, craig woke up at 6:30, then again at 7 and that's too early for me still. i don't like mornings much.


then, craig was grumpy and was throwing everything. he threw my phone twice and broke it! uggh! phone problems. next, he threw a metal dust pan and hit me, and then another thing that hit me. i wasn't very happy. he wasn't happy, because he was in time out and he knew that he hurt me. once we got over the throwing thing and calmed down, he wanted to watch a movie, so i let him watch it on our bed. well, the next thing i know, he's asleep and it makes up for it all! he is so cute!

here's a video of craig from our san diego trip. he loved jumping on the little hook things on the ground. he also was running around almost the entire time. it was very fun.

running for the hills!

look for all the fun pics in my album! there were way way too many cute ones to include them all!



well, maybe not really running for the hills, but on Monday last week, Trevor decided we really needed to get out of here! so he took Friday off and we left for san diego Thursday night. yay! thanks so very much Cyndi for letting us crash with you guys for the weekend. it was so much fun! Craig loved playing with Emma, getting so much attention from his Aunt Cyndi. and the turtles were so much fun!




Friday, we hung out on the beach. Saturday, we went to a park for a ward picnic and then got free tickets to go see the USS Midway. we spent about 3 hours there! Craig loved walking around. we then went to a delicious Mexican restaurant, Pinata in old town and saw pet kingdom! totally cool! and of course, a treat at Golden Spoon! yummy! Sunday, we went to sacrament meeting and then travelled home! we had pretty good traffic both ways and Craig just got a little anxious about an hour out of vegas.

While at the beach, Craig loved to just jump onto the sand, similar to a belly flop! he loved it though! he did it several times. also, when we went down by the water, he took a handful of sand with him several times. it was so funny! Cyndi and i would crack up over it! we would step in the water and Craig would run back up to the sand. he grabbed a handful of sand and then i could walk him back out by the water. Then, Emma had karate that night, so we left around 3. which was nice, actually, because by then, we were all pretty tired and full of sand.

that night, we just relaxed. Craig had fun looking at the turtles. we all got baths and showers and felt better.

the next morning, we got ready and went to a fun park right by the beach and had a ward picnic/barbeque. after that, around 1, we took off for the U.S.S. Midway and we spent from about 2-5pm there. it was very nice. Trevor and i had already been there, but there were some new things that they had fixed up and had to tour. also, there just isn't enough time to really get everything in. it is always fun going somewhere like this with Trevor because he knows a lot about planes and helped all of us understand things. Craig loved walking around, especially up on the flight deck! he would just walk around jumping on the hooks.

yummy ice cream

Anita made some delicious raspberry ice cream, using Trevor's Grandma Abbott's recipe. and it was so delicious. Craig had so much fun eating it. later, he got a rash on his belly and under his china and so we think he was allergic to something, probably raspberries. so we need to be more careful.

but it was a fun night! we went swimming at Anita's and made ice cream and I played ROCKBAND! practiced a little on the drums and failed miserably on medium level. ha ha. o-well.
Curtis and his whole family, ours and wonderful Anita, sharing her living area!






I feel like Craig is always getting pictures taken with no pants on and in this one, NO CLOTHES! i promise he wears clothes. But in this case, it was 10:00 (bad parenting keeping him up late) and i didn't want to get him in pjs just to get them all dirty and he'd wear no clothes on the ride home.

lots of lovin

For Matthew's birthday, a family friend came over and they have two kids. well, Craig really liked the little girl. she's 16 months and Craig is almost 20 months. so he is bigger and can walk and run better. plus he's a boy and likes to be a little more rough. well, he tried holding this little girl's hand and having her walk with him. a couple of times, he made her fall.

at the end of the video, he came over and helped me film her. he even tried to kiss her at one point, but i didn't think her mom would like it, so i didn't let him. silly Craig!

then, Craig likes to sit by Jacob. At Sara' kindergarten graduation, he liked to watch Jacob and touch Jacob. Well, Megan was holding Jacob and Craig had to join in!

birthdays

the last picture here is Craig over at Anita's on her birthday.

Then, we had Matthew's birthday. in the pictures were Craig, Sara (my niece), Santiago (just a friend), Matthew (my nephew) and Santiago's sister Mariah(?) and Jacob (my nephew). it was fun to get together.

so, i decided that we, Trevor and I, should never have a baby in August! we just have too many birthdays already in this month in our extended family. on Trevor's side, we had Karl, Cyndi and Anita and on my side, Matthew and Heidi. They are just all together too! all by the 14th. so i guess we could as long as it was the last of the month.

olympics

We saw part of the opening ceremony for the olympics. We would watch a little and then watch something else. but we caught the very end of it and the lighting of the torch. WOW!! it was amazing. they had a man in the air, making a running motion. you really have to see it. maybe try looking it up on youtube or something. it really was amazing. and then at the very end, there was the biggest firework show! seriously, this cannot be topped! even the reporters were saying that this opening ceremony could not be topped.

playing the horn!

on sunday, Luke was practicing a little on his mellophone and Craig decided he wanted to try playing too. here is a funny video. i couldn't believe that he was actually playing it! not just blowing air into it, but getting sound out!!! he is 1 1/2 and already playing. i really think this little boy is talented musically. maybe it's just because i'm his mom, but i thought is was good. He had already been playing for a couple of minutes before I grabbed the camera, so his lips were getting tired.

more updates!

well, still no teaching contract. bummer. There is still a hold and it sounds like principals are worried it might be until the end of September!

i got a call yesterday seeing if i wanted to do a long term half day substitute kindergarten position at the school i was at for both student teaching and my practicum. however, i am also hoping that a school in southern highlands would hire me as a sub for a first grade position. then, once hiring hold was over, they could possibly hire me for the first grade teaching position.

but the half day kinder needs a response asap and the first grade sub can't talk to me until Tuesday! AHH~! we'll see what happens.


Craig has been getting so funny! he has started making silly faces when we ask him to smile. He likes to close his eyes partially. it cracks me up all the time. i've been taking more pictures these past couple of days just to get him to do it.


Yesterday, he was fascinated with these two extra computer mice we have and trying to get the batteries out and back in. he saw me use a pen to help get out the batteries once and decided that would help. excuse the mess on our table behind him. just look at the adorable face please.

Yesterday, my niece, Sara, graduated from kindergarten! it is so crazy how fast these kids grow up! but it was very fun. Here are some fun pictures.

sharing

We have been so blessed in many ways, but i wanted to make note of one in particular. before Craig was born, many people in our life shared with us their blessings! We received many clothes from kids that had outgrown them. Some were given and some were borrowed. But we have been so blessed because of this.

We have had to buy a couple of clothes, but compared to the thousands that we would have had to buy. here is Craig in one of his 'new' outfits.

Yesterday, I took out more clothes for Craig, 2T. we had too many summery clothes that i didn't have room for them all!! I picked out some of the cuter, less stained, less able to stain and put them away! the many others, i put back away in boxes and kept them in mind for later in the year, or next summer.

then, since we have some clothes, I have been able to share with my brother who has a baby! I am so very grateful for all those who thought of us. If you read this, thank you for your kindness!

swimming

On friday, for our ward's playgroup, we went to Multi-generation pool in henderson. It opened at 11, but Craig and I didn't really get there until about 12:30, so everyone was gone already. but Craig and I had fun! the pool has a larger area that is zero entry and up to 2' 6". so craig had lots of areas to walk around. he was more adventurous. he would go through all of the falling water. It probably helped he always had his hat and sunglasses on, so he didn't get water in his eyes.

we had so much fun. we stayed about an hour. They had a break for applying sunblock and craig had fun kicking a ball I brought. Yay for summer! it sure was fun to cool off and get out of our house.