18 Months!!!

This post should have actually been written on Tuesday, April 27th but I kept forgetting to take some pictures of Ethan until today. I simply can't post about Ethan being 18 months old without a cute picture of him actually being 18 months old. So here are a couple of pictures of my "actual" one and a half year old.

I must say one of my most exciting things about this milestone is that Ethan can finally go to nursery on Sundays so Daddy and I don't have to wrestle with him for three hours of church! So exciting!

Here are some of Ethan's recent developments:

-He no longer uses a pacifier

-He sleeps in a twin bed

-He has all of his teeth except his two year old molars

-He says "mmmwah" when he gives kisses

-He just figured out how to get out of his twin bed and can open the door to his bedroom

-He still LOVES stuffed and real animals

-He says tons of words. Enough that I have lost count. My personal favorites are: "Help mommy", "love you", "ni ni" for goodnight and "Ta tu" for thank you

-He will try to repeat any word you say

-He loves the Primary songs "Popcorn Popping" & "I Am a Child of God"

-He loves stories and demands several a day by saying "story" over and over again until I give in and read him another one

-He climbs on anything and everything

-He loves being outside and going places

-He is super clinging to mommy right now

-If he wants to get something that is too high he will push a chair over, climb up on it and get whatever is out of reach

-Says "Hi" to everyone followed by "bye bye" thirty seconds later

-He LOVES helping cook. He always says "stir" and puts his little fingers in everything.

-He is obsessed with lights and turning them on and off. He finds the lights every time we we got to Lowes or Home Depot. He can also spot any light fixture in any room

-He can turn door knobs

-He can open almost anything...mascara, a jar of peanut butter, toothpaste...you name it he can get it open if you let him play with it long enough

-He is great at folding his arms for payer and is even better at saying "AMEN" really loud after the prayer is over

These are just a few of the cute things he does. There are tons more but I don't want to bore everyone.

Happy 18 months Ethan! Mommy and Daddy love you so much and are so thankful that you are a part of our little family!

Curtains

I got curtains hung up in my house...well in the living room at least. It will be awhile before we have them up throughout the house. I have had this project done for a couple of weeks but haven't ever gotten around to posting pictures. Jared got me curtain fabric as my birthday present because I had been really really wanting curtains. I sewed them and hung them a couple of Saturdays ago and I am so excited with how much more cozy the house feels with them. I must say that I feel sorry for poor Jared. He is always willing to put up with all my home decorating schemes without complaint. I don't think he really cares if we have curtains or not but he knows it is important to me. What a great husband! Thanks again honey for the perfect birthday present. I LOVE IT!

Here is the completed project:

The Calling and an Unwelcome Flu Bug

I will start this story with a warning ahead of time. It is a story that involves throwing up. So if you can't handle stories about throw up stop reading now.

Ok, now that I have the disclaimer out of the way I will move on to the story. It's a pretty good one.

Jared got a call from the Stake executive secretary a couple of weeks ago asking if Jared and I could come in for an interview with the Stake President on the following Wednesday. We said yes and nervously waited for Wednesday to come. We decided it would be best to get a babysitter for Ethan so that we weren't in an interview with the Stake President with a very wiggly active 18 month old.

Wednesday night came. Ten minuets before we were walking out the door to take Ethan to the sitter he threw up. So GROSS! I had given him the bug I had two days earlier. I dialed the sitter and told her and her husband never mind about babysitting and that our son had a bug of some sort.

We had no other choice than to take Ethan with us to the church building. We waited in the foyer for about fifteen minuets. Right when the Stake President opened his office door and we were told it was our turn Ethan threw up. Jared ran and grabbed paper towels and we started cleaning up the mess. Luckily all that was in Ethan's tummy was water so it wasn't too disgusting. The assistant executive secretary insisted that we go in and meet with the Stake President and that he would finish cleaning up. This super nice man got down on his hands and knees in his suit and finished moping up my son's throw up. What a nice guy but I have to say that I was so embarrassed!!! Jared and I went into the Stake President's office with Ethan . I brought some paper towels with me just in case and it was a good thing I did.

At last we found out what our purpose in meeting with the Stake Prsident was. Jared was asked if he would accept the calling to be the Elder's Quorum president in our ward! We were both surprised and overwhelmed! Jared accepted the calling.

As Jared and the Stake President started talking more about Jared's responsibilities Ethan threw up again...all down my outfit. Once again just water thank goodness. So I am mopping up puke while the Stake President and my husband are having a very serious conversation. What BAD timing!! I was so embarrassed and I felt so bad for poor Ethan. I just wanted to be out of that office and at home and I am sure Ethan felt the same way. Finally the interview was over and we took Ethan home. He threw up another four or five times that night but was able to finally go to sleep around 10:00pm. He woke up the next morning totally fine and able to keep his food down. It was a weird bug and I can't think of a worse time for it to hit.

Looking back I am sure the Stake President will never forget us and I will certainly never forget that interview. It is actually pretty funny now. At the time it was horrifying. It may have been one of the most interesting interviews that our Stake President has ever conducted.

Today Jared was set apart as the Elders Quorum president and guess what, no puking toddler! YAY! I almost expected it. Ethan was very wiggly during the setting apart but we made it through.

So here we go...on to a new adventure. I know that Jared was called by the Lord and that he will do his very best. We both have faith that "whom the Lord calls He qualifies". I think we will be pretty busy with my calling as the Primary secretary, Jared's calling as the Elder's Quorum president and having a new baby in our home in a few short weeks. However, I have faith that we will find a way to survive. It will all work out. With the Lord's help it always does.

Happy Easter!

I just love Easter. It is so wonderful to remember and focus on the Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that He lives today. He loves all of His children and invites us all to come unto Him. It is through Christ that we might all live again...not just physically but spiritually as well. I am so thankful for Christ.

Among the celebration of Christ's resurrection we also participated in some of the festivities that come along with it. On Friday we went to the Easter pageant in Mesa. The pageant goes through Christ's birth, life, death and resurrection. It was amazing! On Saturday we participated in an Easter egg hunt with our friends Joe and Karen and their kids and family.

We also spent the evening with our good friends Laura and Raul and Raul's parents. Raul's mom got Ethan the adorable Easter basket shown in the picture below. She actually took the time to embroider Ethan's name! How sweet.

On Sunday we watched conference and gave Ethan his Easter present...some sand toys. Every time I take Ethan to the park and some other kids have some sand toys he always steals them and wants to play with them. So it was time to get him his very own set.

He played in the dirt. Here is his messy face.

We hope you all had a Happy Easter!

Mural Painting

I have talked about Jared painting a mural for a swim school in downtown Phoenix but it is time that I actually post some pictures. Jared has been doing freelance art work on the side and this is a huge job that he got in November. He painted one wall first and then his client decided he wanted an additional wall painted. Jared finished the second wall in March. Way to go honey! You are so talented! Thanks for working so hard for our family!