6 Months Old!

Happy 6-Month Day to you. Happy 6-Month Day to you. Happy 6-Month Day to Corban. Happy 6-Month Day to you!










This was his first day eating Rice Cereal. YUM! He wasn't too excited about it, but not really disgusted either. He finished his whole 1 tbsp!

Jared insisted on making fun of me feeding Corban:

Amelia Orros and Melissa Stapley- 2 of the 4 illegal Sign Spinners for the free day in San Marcos (yesterday). Not that they were illegal workers- they are US citizens and their parents allowed them to work (since they are under age). But in the City of San Marcos, Sign Spinners are illegal and if you get caught you will get a ticket. Jared decided to chance it- and we had spinners all day!
It was a fabulous turn out for the free day. Maybe I will report later on that.

Jared entertaining me with his rag socks, cleaning up an unbelievable mess from dropping a closed Rootbeer can. Turns out that pressure is pretty high, covering all cabinets and the ceiling.

Last minute get together with friends down at La Jolla Shores: Barringtons, Allens, Ryans, and Us.



The Little Monkey- his feet like to wrap around.

The Bouncer:

First time in the bouncer. He loved it, but it didn't last long.

Second time in the bouncer. He loved it, but I still don't know that we are completely sold on it.

Family Email

As I reread an email that the family has been responding to, I have decided that I will put in on my blog so I can keep it as a memory. For the summer while the rest of us go about our lives in our respective states and cities, Miche and Linzi are in Bangladesh doing Breast Cancer Research. They started the following email chain (letters are very uncommon for our family, an email is getting hard to come by- so enjoy it when we get it!):

Well hello my family! We still don't know how to say
"hello" in Bangali yet, so I'm still using English.
What is weird is that I don't think that they really
have a word for "hello" because they never greet each
other like that, nor do they say "goodbye". My kind of people.

Just to update you, we are in Bangladesh (i'm sure many of you didn't know that) and it's not quite as uncomfortable as i expected: we only sweat half as much as i thought we would, and we are yet to get diarrhea (although linzi is a 2:1 favorite to be first, for all you betting people out there).

Our first day here started off with a bang! The doctor that linzi will be working with (Dr. Rehana) came and picked us up from our hotel in the morning and we went to her clinic. We saw some breast cancer patients that were hoping to become part of the study (which means they would get free treatment). One of the patients that really sticks out in my mind was a younger woman who had pretty advanced cancer, but she didn't meet the requirements to be a part of the study (her cancer didn't have the estrogen receptors) - and she being poor and desperate, unveiled her breast to show us (linzi and me - assuming that we make the decision since we're the americans) how bad it was. It was heartbreaking because you could feel her desperation by her actions, because I usually have to leave the room when they do the breast exam (since they are very private and modest about things like that), so for her to pull out her breast like that, said a lot. What was also
shocking to me, was when all was said and done and she was leaving, she was very gracious (but visibly disappointed) - their was no anger at us or storming out, which i would have expected. Situations like that have already happened several times, where I've been struck by how genuine and good of a people they are here.

Also that day, the manager of the hospital came in and wanted to take us on a tour of his hospital (it's actually a diagnostic center, so no beds like a hospital, but all the diagnostic equipment). So we went around with him as he proudly showed us how all their equipment was the latest and greatest - and whenever we'd walk into a new room (like the MRI or CT room, for example) the doctor or technician would stop what he was doing and explain the facilities. One moment that was very surreal was when we walked into the endoscopy room and the doctor was in the middle of an endoscopy, looking at a patient's cancerous esophagus, and he turns to us and says "oh yes, come in" and then without missing a beat he starts telling us what we are looking at; meanwhile, the patient is right there gagging on the bed. Then after he is done with giving us our tutorial we start walking out and the patient on the bed waves goodbye.

So things are going very well here! They've put us right to work and got us going on our research - and we have a much better idea of what we are doing - which definitely eases the anxiety that we had. Hope all is T-riffic with you guys.
Love you all,
Miche and Linz
Family Responses:
So wonderful to hear from you!!! Glad that you are safe and sound from your travels :) We are so excited to have you share your next six week with us--but I must say I'm not so sure my heart can take it. It overwhelms with sadness that you are not going to be able to help everyone...we will keep you all in our prayers. We know that this will be such a valuable and worthwhile experience for you and so many others that you come in contact with. What heroes you are to us!

Things are pretty t-riffic for us here--but rather mundane comparatively.Jacob and Ellie are out of school for the summer and Chase has one moreday :) Then it is off to the beach for us!

So...yeah...not much else to say...I mean, you're in Bangladesh saving people's lives. Its a good reminder for me how truly blessed we are--very
humbling.

Take care, we love you and are praying for you,
Heather (and fam)

What? You're on summer break from med school? You're in Med school???!

Nah, seriously, love that you are keeping us posted. But keep in mind that there is a post-partum momma reading, so keep the tear jerking stories to a minimum. My little heart can't take it. Like Heather and Monda said, it makes me feel so blessed and also makes me want to give back more... strap the little fella on my back and save the world on soul at a time. Unfortunately, diaper changing, feeding, nap schedules, crying jags, bouncing, and juggling make that dream a little harder to fulfill (at least in a timely fashion) but I am still in.

Although the Forsythe's aren't not exactly praying for you, we are sending you love and good vibrations. If you haven't felt them already, you should be getting them shortly...we had a bit of a delay extracting a few stragglers that got lost in Sinjin's fat roles. Cheeky little monkey.

We love you and hope all continues on a good path. I am proud to call you family (yes, jared, i am still proud to call you family, too).

Love,
Kimmie, Davey Baby, and Sinjin-pooh

Kimberly, I would dare say you are currently saving the world “one soul at a time” by raising your wee little one. The other day I got this not-so-profound, though maybe quite profound in our day, thought that even though I don’t feel like I get much accomplished by changing diapers, sitting and holding Corban, playing on the floor with 0-6 month toys, reading children’s books (I think I might be getting better at reading for myself), singing lullabies and action songs, making up a few stories and songs here and there, and getting very few (but at least some) chores done around the house,"If I weren’t doing it somebody else would be". Boy am I lucky to be the one that gets to call this my job! And when I see him learning to roll over and just about crawl, when not too long ago he was completely dependent on me, that is when I realize raising children is helping save the world. Look at the accomplishment mom and dad have made with just there 5 children. At least one of the five is giving back in a big way :) Just kidding, I think we all are in one way, shape, or form.

Love the “extracting a few stragglers” line! So descriptive!

Love you all! Keep on saving the world in whatever way you can!

Amanda and my Boys

Hmm, Guess we're the stragglers here, but then you you should know how very busy grandparents MUST be if you-all are THIS busy just being plain old parents.
Yes PK, those good vibrations of yours are coming through just fine, every bit as powerful as the prayers from the rest of us...same process really...just a different name.

It's good to see that you kids are carrying on some of the grand traditions started by your parents 30 + years ago. We spent our Med School summers in poverty stricken Sanpete, cutting up dead turkey breasts and letting two little larsen babies run naked in the yard. And now Miche and Linzi are spending their summer break in poverty stricken Bangladesh doing research on diseased people breasts.
Kimberly is storing wheat, collecting her mother's best recipes, and raving about the great kitchen in the house she wants to buy
Monda traded her career in for days filled with reading children's books and singing lullabys to babies - and never quite getting around to cleaning those pesky windows.
...and those two little naked larsen babies? Well, they're now quite seasoned parents in their own rights. Interesting - this cycle of life.

All pictures were taken at our last family gathering in Virginia/Washington DC in April 08

"Waiting for my Husband" Excuse

Jared has given me the excuse of getting on and blogging because he has not yet made it home from the San Marcos Free Day...oh darn! Corban is crying. I will go nurse and hopefully be back to write something.
I love nursing! Looking at his precious face, listening to the gulp-breathe, gulp-breathe, feeling his hand push away from my chest while the other occasionally strokes my rib cage, his feet sometimes completely relaxed, while other times they are pushing at the arm chair or whatever lay at his feet. Corban is now getting to the point that he is easily distracted when eating, which makes me fear that these sweet moments that I cherish are soon passing. We are starting solids tomorrow for his 6 month-from-birth-day. Man how time just keeps ticking away- I guess that is what it is suppose to do. Sometimes I wish it would forget it's job!

So I have yet to write my Father's Day post for MY dad. I couldn't have chosen a more perfect father! He is perfectly human, flaws and perfections included! And I love him for both! He was a great dad as a child because I knew he loved me. I remember countless times he would spend with us as children, doing whatever we were interested in, be it swimming, soccer, hiking, camping, shopping, etc. The shopping! That is definitely a memory- the ever so patient father when it came time for School Clothes Shopping in Vegas at the end of every summer. He was the bag holder, Michael entertainer, and inventory consolidator when it came time to packing it all in to go home. He has always been this for my mother, having met every challenge she has given him with the fabulous finds she comes across while out and about. Even still to this day I will call and when asked what they are doing, the answer so many times comes back"shopping". Boy did my mom marry right!
I don't personally have an experience, but there were multiple occasions where he happened to be the cause of great physical pain for my siblings: breaking Kimberly's eardrum and breaking Heather's nose. This may have been considered a flaw, however, he used his perfection to fix both! But Kimberly has since broken her eardrum numerous times. His art of healing came in handy more than once for me, with my head getting cracked open time and time again, twice while riding in the ambulance (family car on occasion when in Africa), my elbow getting dislocated half way up to my shoulder, many sicknesses that you come across as a child, and broken hearts from broken relationships. It is moments like this that daddy's are just the cure!
I have this memory of a conversation I was having with my father during a weekend of General Conference. I was about 13 or 14 years of age. A speaker had just spoken on keeping the sabbath day holy. So I asked my dad if he thinks he is keeping the sabbath day holy when he works on Sunday. He was running the Emergency Department at the IHC hospital in St. George at the time and worked on Sundays quite a bit. At the time I remember this conversation didn't go over very well, as he got a bit defensive and I was probably being a bit self righteous. But I somehow came away from the experience, having looked back on it often since then, more aware of how I spend my sabbath day.
He courageously allowed an 11 year old to make an outrageous bet of being the Best Teenager, with the stake being $1000. For seven LONG years this was a constant reminder anytime I acted up- "You're going to lose your $1000 if you continue to act like that." The day of my 18th birthday greeted me with a smile and a framed $1000 bill. The joke was now on me because I couldn't go and spend the $1000. It was funny back then, and still is today. But there is also a very precious symbol in there that I know my father (and mother) was aiming for with this gift. I really should think about more often, as it could help me to be a better wife, a better mother, and better all around person.
I could go on and on because the more I write the more I think up more things for which I am grateful to my dad. But to get to my Sunday meetings in the morning, I will end with this one. My dad has always been one that keeps himself very busy. He is engaged in many goods things, lots of BETTER things, and it could be argued that a majority are the BEST things. Nevertheless, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for him to make a decision when it is between two BEST things. My best guess of how he makes up his mind is that he gets down on his knees and asks the one who is so much wiser (speaking of Heavenly Father, but his wife fits this part just as well). Well, early this year I believe he was facing one of these hard decisions and only he can say if it was the BEST decision, but to me it meant the world to have him at my first son's baby blessing, Corban Axel Crane. I understand it is such a short moment in time that is spent in the circle, hands laid on the child's head as the priesthood brethren present the child to the Father. I would be the first to say "it's just a blessing, you don't have to be there", and I did say this. But deep down I really did want him there. He did come and was only able to spend a few days, but every minute was appreciated and enjoyed. I will forever be explaining the real reason my sons middle name is Axel, and the answer not being "I am in love with Axel Rose". To me and to my son this name will carry great meaning and I will do my best to raise him in a manner that he lives up to it. Dad may have not really enjoyed his middle name, but all the more stories to tell Corban as he grows up with this family name.
Lastly and most importantly, my dad is the greatest because he knows and admits he is only great because of the woman that stands by him. My parents together are so sweet in their older age (notice I didn't say "old", but I chose "older"). I have seen their challenging times- some of which lasted for years and years- maybe a majority of my life. I am sure what I watched them go through was not as bad as the "bad" relationships, but it surely wasn't as good as the "great" relationships. For me it was real, it was worrisome and I felt I had reason to pray. I am grateful that it was out in the open for me to witness, as I am now more appreciative of what I see in them now. I am also more realistic about my own relationship and hopefully have developed within me a value of enduring through the toughest of times- they are yet to come!
Thank you for being supportive to me through my schooling, my single life, my boyfriend sagas, my engagements, my marriage, and now as I venture into parenthood. I love your analogies that continue to teach me in life's lessons where they apply- I wish I was able to hear them more often cause I could really use one for each lesson. I love your humor, your shared wisdom, your work ethic, your sweet Father's Blessings, and your philosophy about dessert- eat dessert first, or always save room for it. You will continue to be the man I look up to and go to for much advice and I am grateful that you will be the grandfather of my children.

Dad, I love you for you! I truly feel blessed to be your daughter!

My sweet hubby will be walking in the door very soon- 1:00am in the morning! I best be preparing for his arrival, as there will be much shuffling of junk into the house.

What we accomplished this week

Looking back on the week I realize this has been a LONG week.

Monday was quite the long day for all of us, but Jared definitely took the cake. We all awoke at somewhat of a normal time- 6:30 am. Jared had plans to hit Staples to pick up some essentials before going up to San Marcos. I had plans to finish MY commitment to the stores first day: Manager Binder and Flash Drive. Seemed simple enough, which is why I procrastinated the "easy" part of the project until Monday. Turns out making copies turns into more copies when you really delve into the project. I had also committed myself to getting a hefty check to the Seller by 2 pm. Easy enough...if that was all I had planned on accomplishing. Life back in the fast lane of Golden Spoon work doesn't easily coincide with the slow lane motherhood. Really, I was able to make my commitments, especially the time commitment, but I was quite surprised when it was "just barely". Because of the time commitment, I took all the copies up to the store to put together there, which then turned into staying at the store until 8 pm. So that was more than a full days work for me and Corban- Jared's was a given. Corban handled it like a champ. He loved being held by anyone and everyone willing; hence, the reason we were there until 8.

Tuesday I was committed to a RS Presidency Meeting, so I knew I wouldn't be working a 14 hour day. I spent the morning with Meg Ryan, after she so kindly watched Corban during my massage. We visited long enough for her to feed me lunch. It is interesting to me that food that you eat at an other's home can taste so much better than if fixed at your own home. We had a basic sandwich that tasted AMAZING to me. There was the addition of chips and dip, which I never have at my own home, that added to the novelty of the meal. I left with enough time to go home and grab the items that I needed for my 3 pm meeting.

Upon arriving at home, I let Nika out of the garage, thinking I would give her some attention before I had to go in another 30 minutes. While in the kitchen doing some odd job, I hear Nika let out a yelp- which I only hear if she is in pain. I ask her to come over to me, which she does very slowly, and hesitantly. I begin to examine her for any kind of sign that would be causing her pain. I see nothing, but notice that one ear is extra tender and she shakes her head quite often. I vacillate back a forth a few moments in my head whether I should take her to the Vet, which I know will cost A LOT, or just let it go for a little while to see if it persists. During this vacillating I realized the new world I have just entered into with having a child. It used to be that I get away without seeing a doctor for years, knowing that I would just "get over" anything I was suffering from. Thinking of Nika like I would Corban in this situation, knowing that she was definitely acting different and definitely was in pain, I opted for the "better safe than sorry" plan. Once at the Vet, I wasn't so sure this was the safer route, seeing that the doctor wouldn't even so much as touch my dog to examine her. Ha, they put a mussel on her! If you saw sweet Nika, our little Shih tzu, you wouldn't trust this Vet either. Being under the time constraint that I was, I decided to leave my puppy at the Vet after signing a paper that said I would pay anywhere from $74-$170 for anesthesia for them to get a closer look at what might be the problem "without her wiggling around". In the end I was happy that I chose to take her, as she was suffering from Fox tails that had wiggled their way into her ear canal, and would have soon started causing a great infection. Nika has been her happy self, $120 later. Well worth it!

Wednesday was another enjoyably relaxing day, while Jared continued to labor away with the new store. His day started at 5 am! Yikes, that is insane for him since he didn't get to bed until about 12 or 1 am that morning. I did get him to come home early since he had to watch Corban while I instructed the Step Class. I also convinced him he had put in enough work for the day and we all enjoyed going to bed early (I had to teach the 5:45 am Body Works class at the gym).

Thursday I spent the day at home. You would think I would have accomplished a lot, but this hot weather has made me sluggish. Jared is working double time, so I have resorted to half time. We don't want to over do it. I made up for my laziness that night while at the Cannery. With my position in RS, I am more motivated to heed this long standing council from the Brethren (same reason I am a "Group" fitness instructor, I am motivated by motivating others). We have had a lot of sisters ask for this, and with food prices rising, more people are interested in getting their food storage. It has definitely put the flame under my behind, and I am starting to get ahead. It feels so good getting this accomplished, though the more I talk to people, the more I find out what I need to add to my storage. Oh, and just a note, I need a bigger, cooler house just to store my food storage because apparently the garage is the worst place to store it. Good luck finding any other place for it in my 2000 sq ft home. And the temperature in my house is no cooler than the garage, so I doubt it would help even if I found the space.

Friday I was to Miramar Lake 15 minutes past "walking time". This is another one of the commitments I have made for RS Enrichment: Activity Groups (no one else wanted to be in charge). No one was there to meet me, as usual. Lucky for Nika I have committed myself to walking at least enough for her to go to the bathroom every time we go, whether or not there is someone to walk with. We were late because as I walked out of the house (only 10 minutes after Jared), I saw bees swarming a palm tree that was very close to the truck, so I had to take another route for putting Corban in the car. I thought the bees had a hive there and I was very concerned that I would have to bring someone in to excavate it; however, it turns out they were only pollinating, which took all of one day.

Corban loves nectarines. I couldn't resist, even though I promised I would feed him veggies first.

Corban enjoyed his second day at the beach. This time Meg and Indy joined the crowd, and Kim brought two more children and her husband, Ben. I picked up a new tent shade, that was fabulous with keeping out the sun AND heat. The babies got a little grumpy an hour into it, but we pushed through another hour.

Jared called me at about 6 pm with his tail feathers all ruffled over "incompetant people". After listening to his reasons, I advised him to come home and I would fix him food. When he walked in the door and removed his clothing (this is normal behavior, whether it be 100 degrees or 50 degrees outside...garments stay on), he asked if he had permission to "zone out". This completely rejuvinated him, and he finished the night with doing some work on the guest bedroom closet. I got a tummy ache and was no longer any help. I retired to bed early.

Saturday would have been a likely day for Jared to sleep in, but he charitably awoke at 6:45 to pick up a matress with Mike Seymour at 7 am. I think the only way he made it through was the thought he would come home and take a nap. This would have been nice, however, Corban wasn't keen on the idea, so the nap was cut short. Jared got up, we got ready and went to an afternoon showing of "Get Smart". Corban was great through a majority of the movie, but the excitement in the last 20-30 minutes wasn't enough so I had to take him out. I like to think I saw the better part of the movie anyway. Afterward, Jared went into work and had a successful day. He came home pumped about his efforts from the week. Customers had been commenting on the changes the store has undergone with new management/ownership. His goal of a return of 50 Free Cards a day has almost been met in the first week. He is doing awesome and it looks like his efforts are already having a return! We are proud of him! All we did in his hours away at work was learn a few signs, try to get the fuss out, and make granola. The granola was the most sucessful part, and Jared seems to enjoy it too.

Corban has spent the entire week tumbling around, since he learned to roll over last Friday. He is now working on crawling. It starts with him laying on his belly, putting his forehead to the ground, "walking" his feet up so his bum goes in the air, and then pushing forward. Looks like an inch worm. It is hard to watch him grow up so quickly, but it is just too cute to stop him. We also started baby sign lanuage. I think I will really enjoy learning it, whether or not it actually teaches Corban a way of communicating.

On the not-so-cute side, he has been spending many hours inconsolably fusing. It starts roughly at 1 pm (today it started the 2nd hour of church- 10:45am) and lasts 'til about 5, when he finally settles into slumber, which lasts through the night, only waking to eat. It has been nice to have those extra hours, though ,like I said earlier, with this heat I have been sluggish. So some of the time is spent napping aside him and the rest is spent wasting away the time until Jared comes home and I go to bed.

Corban's way of sleeping: head against something, be it the couch, his crib bumper, or his daddy's back.

That was the week! This next one doesn't look much easier for Jared, and it will end with a Free Day on Saturday. That will probably be my long day of work, since Heather has willingly volunteered to watch Corban so I can help out in the store.

This is the heart melting look I get when I call for Corban and he finds me.

Our Father's Day

What a great Father's Day it has been! Jared slept for 4 1/2 hours this afternoon, so I had plenty of time to beautifully wrap his present in excess paper bags from Henry's. I just have to tease him a bit with being "Green" because the whole global warming stuff chaps his hide. Love his strong opinions! I also made him a nice dinner of Thai Curry, but I had planned on him being up hours before, so it had sat on the stove for about 2 hours cooling down, and the rice had stayed on "warm", which means it is still cooking. Needless to say, it was a little crispy. Oh, and while I was making dinner, Heather called to ask me a few questions, which turned into a 20-30 minute chatting session, during which I realized I was baking cookies. Oops, that batch got a little browned- crispy peanut butter chocolate chip cookies! We have a crispy theme going on here.

I also got to talk to mom and dad during Jared's nap (it turns out that one can accomplish a lot in 4 1/2 hours). Every time I am on the phone with them I wonder why I don't call and talk to them more often. You never really grow out of needing your parents- just like you never grow out of parenting once your children are grown. Mom told me how she woke up in the middle of the night one night thinking she needed to call me and advise me to buy my carpet now. Carpet is petroleum based, so the price is going up rapidly, just like gas.

We chatted a bit about "borrowing " money. I shared with them a story Jared told me today about our home teachers- Glenn and his son Cole (age 15). Cole had wanted a Air Soft Sniper Rifle really bad, but he was $10 short. He asked his dad if he could borrow the money so he could have the gun now. His dad made a deal with him that for every day that went by without paying the money back he would owe another $1. It turns out that he paid back $19 because it took him 9 days to get the money to his dad. What a great lesson on "credit", and a much needed one in our day. This lead to a conversation about paying off our house and the priority I should put on it, rather than frivolously spending our discretionary income. Budgeting, what a novel idea that would be. I guess this means I need to stop buying decorative benches and the like. Target really shouldn't be so accessible.

Jared did finally arise from sweet slumber at 7 pm. YIKES! That is close to my bed time. Not really. We had enough time for him to call his dad while eating dinner before he was off to quartet practice. Once returning home he has been alarming with "Oh Know!", "Shoot!" and other such phrases while working behind his computer. He is preparing for the big day tomorrow of acquiring the San Marcos Golden Spoon (an existing store) and is realizing the things he has not yet accomplished. This makes baby number 6! (I always compared the stores to having children because each one felt somewhat like taking care of a child. You have to give each one tender loving care. Now that I have a child of my own, I would say real children are easier- at least infants) Underneath the little bit of stress he is experiencing, Jared is thrilled with this new addition. This is the first store he has been completely involved with since the thought of taking it over (PQ and RB were already in the works when he came into my life in October of 2005). All his work, from decision to possession, has happened in a week's time. It has been a little hectic for him, but he still managed to watch the last hour of a Laker's game, go to the Driving range, take me to the temple (thank you for watching Corban, Heather), tear down a closet shelf and rod in the guest bedroom, put up base boards in our guest bedroom, help me move a desk to my "craft area", play a couple hours of Guitar Hero (thank you, Brent and Jen), and watch a few episodes of The Office . Must not be too overwhelming.

Now for the real reason I started writing tonight. Happy Father's Day! I am grateful for my father and the experiences I have enjoyed with him in my life. Look for a post specifically on him in the near future. I am also grateful for the father of my child. Jared is a wonderful father in that he makes it a point to make me his number one priority (actually #2). He shows me and tells me everyday just how much he loves me. He makes me feel like I am his world and all that he does revolves around me and our family. He spends quality time with Corban and can't wait until there is more interaction in play time. He has a strong testimony of our Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ. He enjoys serving others and always does it with a smile. He is a hard worker, willing to put in countless hours (though, sometimes we do count). He is a man I will be happy my boys can look to as an example and claim as their hero.

Well, I best be motivating his bum back into bed so he gets the rest he needs for his super long day tomorrow. Here is Corban enjoying our Father's Day dinner:

Priorities: a small testimony shared on MyFamily.com

(This was my response to Colleen's list of callings she has had from 1975 to 2008)
WOW! That is a lot of callings. Nice variety, too. I don't know that I have ever not felt my bishop was inspired, but I do echo your testimony of how doing your best will bring great blessings. To that I would add a comment about the priority our callings are to take in our lives.
Our bishop (Bishop Del Stapley) shared with us some counsel before he left us for the Stake Presidency (2nd Counselor). Our first priority should be ourselves- making sure we are taking care of number one makes it possible to do the rest. 2nd priority is our spouse and cultivating a close relationship with them. 3rd is our children (I think mom's sometimes put this one 2nd...I could do better at this). 4th is our work/career (for us stay-at-home mother's, it seems a bit like #3, but there is more to this, I believe). 5th is our calling. So it is pretty far down the line, though it is relatively towards the top when you think of the many things that compete for our time. I just think this is interesting to put into focus. I know when I was working I had a difficult time giving as much as I wanted to my calling (this was when I was a primary teacher with Jared, last year). I usually felt guilty that it was only a Sunday calling for me. How this was a growing experience was that I actually thought about the priority I was putting on my calling. I never was able to give as much as I am able to currently, but I still feel that I grew so much. Point is this, Heavenly Father knows where you are in your life and what you can give. He is pleased when you give what you can without wearing yourself thin and forgetting about the number one priority, yourself. I am so grateful for prayer and the peace it can give when trying to handle all that is thrown at us daily. I still have a long way to go!

Beach Day

Friday's are Beach Day with the ward. As it turns out, not very many people go. There was Kim Garcia, her boys, and Corban and me. Then as we were leaving we saw Hannah and Kathy Mendenhall. Being in charge of the activity groups makes me want to support them by attending, which I don't mind. It just keeps me really busy. In fact, I am starting to wonder if I am mostly in this calling for myself- for me to make up things for me to do. I also went to Walking Group this morning, since I am currently the group leader. That wasn't well attended either- just Corban, Nika and me. So we made it a short one for Nika.
This beach day will be great, because I might not go otherwise. Why pay to live in expensive San Diego if you're not going to take advantage of the perks? Kim and I had a great time talking while her boys played in the sand. It was Corban's first time at the beach, and he loved it! He was so quiet in the beginning- almost like he was trying to take it all in: the cool breeze, the crashing waves, airplanes overhead, sun kissed beach, and sand in between his fingers and toes. Probably not the smartest thing for a 5 month old- the sand- but you can't go to the beach without getting in the sand!

After eating his lunch I laid him down on a towel in Kim's tent, thinking he was tired and would go to sleep. This was when he decided he would take advantage of the slightest of inclines and practice his rolling. This is the first time I have witnessed him go both ways- front to back, back to front. In all this rolling, he rolled right into a sandy foot print in the tent. He had sand all over his face. I was just a proud mom at that point, not too worried about the risks involved with a sandy face. Good thing it didn't get in his eyes. He didn't end up taking a nap, that is until we packed up and started walking the length of the beach back to our cars. (Click on the image to make it bigger so you can see the sand)

Kim's boys were being so cute. Roman was independently walking ahead in the tracks of a beach cruiser, Issac was dawdling by himself in the rockier parts of the beach. As I was taking pictures of Issac, Kim drops her stuff and starts running after Roman (being 5-6 months pregnant). When Issac realized she was going faster, he dropped the two pairs of shoes he was carrying and starts running too. I was able to stop him and explain what mom was doing. Once the boys were together, they walked together in the tracks. Cute! I am sure glad I have a boy!


Here is Corban in his car seat- zonked from the big day at the beach. Love this kid!






Heather is coming down today to show me her new car- Mini Cooper- bring me wheat (which Kimberly bought in Utah for a GREAT price: $25 for 50 lbs), and mostly to see Corban. She has volunteered to watch Corban so Jared and I can go to the temple. There are more reasons than this for which I wish family lived in the same town.

Random thought- I think someone needs to invent a courtesy horn for the car. This would be a more polite sounding horn that you could use to inform the person in front of you that the light is green, "ask" pedestrians to move out of the park stall (Kim G. experienced that one today), to inform the person you have come to pick them up, and a myriad of other reasons.

More pictures of the boy:

Corban Blue Eyes

Lady Bug Night Light

Mohawk: The first day I did his hair...you can hardly tell.

"And above all... Think Chocolate!" -Betty Crocker

I have been thinking a lot about chocolate today. Maybe it is because I have chocolate fudge sitting on my counter, along with the dark fudge brownies that I made last night (they're not as fudgey as I wish), the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate bars in my cupboard, sitting along side the chocolate orange sticks (also from Trader Joe's), and the single serving size dark chocolate Hershey bars that are on the counter AND in the freezer, not to mention the 2 quarts of chocolate frozen yogurt, Fudgesicle being the one I am most tempted by.

For anyone who really knows me, this should be a shock to read. Me thinking of chocolate alone is surprising; the vastness of it's existence in my home is stupefying (I like that word, I think I will use it more often). This is coming from a female that has "claimed", so they say, to not like chocolate. It is not just a "claim" , I really don't, or didn't, like chocolate. I would like to believe I will one day return to the more stupefying state of despising chocolate, as it looks nicer on the figure. But as it remains for the time being, I am a chocolate enthusiast.

This all started sometime in my pregnancy with Corban. There are a lot of fallacies when it comes to weird things that happen to you when you become pregnant, strange "cravings" isn't one of them. I don't know that I would really call it a craving, per say, but I definitely began to enjoy foods I truly didn't like before. Like fried food, butter, steak, beef of any kind, olives (still not a favorite, but I eat them more enjoyably that before), cheese (still can't do the cheese on pizza), and chocolate. As my sister, Heather, looks back on the year and remembers the one late night I ordered fried chicken nuggets from Jack in the Box, she realizes that should have tipped her off to my being pregnant. Gotta love it!

Now that I have joined the ranks of the 99.8% of women who love chocolate, I thought I would voice my opinion of the best chocolates around: Jer's Chocolates. They aren't cheap, but what habit of women's is? Jared bought these for me for Valentine's Day this year because they came highly recommended by Brent Allen, who had had success in buying them for his wife Jen the previous year. Simply delectable, if I do say so myself. Trader Joe's dark chocolate bars are what I would call cheap, but not cheap tasting- they are really good. They come from Belgium, so that says something, right? I am not a fan of milk chocolate, unless you are talking about the frozen yogurt flavor , and then it has to be Golden Spoon brand.

Hurray for chocolate! Let's all enjoy while enjoying is good-you never know when it's going to end! (You are welcome to come share some of mine)