Monday, August 25, 2008

Bogus Basin

On Saturday we went to Bogus Basin for a picnic with Tyler's family. Aunt Heather and Uncle Trevor got to ride with Quincy in the back of our car. It was a very nice day and a short ride for the most part. The only downside was that the roads up to Bogus were REALLY winding and we ALL felt SO car sick. I swore in my head I was going to throw up several times on the way up. Poor Heather and Trevor were car sick also, so I didn't feel so bad about wanting to puke. The view at the top was really pretty. There are actually evergreen trees in Idaho, who would've known! I'm only partially kidding, because growing up in SW Washington I saw alot more trees and the green was alot greener. But I have to say it was a beautiful view none the less.

We had very nice picnic complete with sandwiches, chips, watermelon, brownies, and pop. Of course Quincy refused to eat anything nutritious and only consented in eating the brownies, chips, and some root beer. He gets every ounce of that from his dad, NOT me.






Quincy went up with Aunt Kelly, Uncle Derek, and his Grandpa Kent to the top of this rock-- which wasn't too far from our picnic tables.

After our long drive up to have a picnic, a couple of hours exploring, and a lack of food in his stomach Quincy spent an hour like this at home:
He was thoroughly and utterly exhausted! It was fun though and we were glad to see all of Tyler's family, since most of them are in Utah now.
Thanks Guys!

The Fair

On Friday we decided to join Tyler's family for some Fair fun. We went with them to the Western Idaho State Fair. I've never been to an Idaho fair, so it was quite the first experience. We had the usual joy of trying to find a parking spot..... and Quincy refusing to eat anything. We even bought him some pizza from this booth and wouldn't take a bite at all. Stubborn little boy!
The refusal to eat food continued through the night unfortunately. Lately Quincy hasn't been wanting to eat anything. Eventually we got him to drink a fruit smoothie that was almost $5.00! I guess it was worth it because that was the only thing he ate all night. We are chalking up the lack of eating to teething. Although I have to say, as a mother, I'm especially concerned that he's not getting enough to eat. Oh well. We just keep trying.

We saw lots of interesting people, and even ran into our old friends and neighbors Holly and Corey Eisley. It was good to see them. They didn't have Caden, their little boy- who's about Quincy's age- with them, but it was still fun to say hello.

The picture above is of Quincy and his Aunt Kelly.

Quincy even got to see him Aunt Heather, who we don't get to see that often.
Tyler's engrossed in a hot tub coma. Kent and Teesy were hot tub shopping and obviously Tyler is enjoying the sales pitch. :)

Quincy got a few free things, a couple of balls, some fans, plums and this blue football.
After we walked around lots of the booths and Fair exhibits, we decided to head towards the fair concert, which was the Temptations. The stadium was packed so we managed to find some spots near the stage.
Everyone just hanging out before the concert started.
Quincy playing with his Uncle Trevor an Uncle Derek.
Tyler and Quincy answering the phone for each other.
A little family shot.
When the concert started we enjoyed watching the couple in front of us that were thoroughly enjoying the music with their booze. They were singing all the words and dancing.
Here are the famous Temptations:
Only 1 guy, the second from the left, is one of the original Temptations. The concert was great.... Quincy was so tired though, he almost fell asleep, despite the loud music and screaming fans.
We had lots of fun with the Howard's and are glad they invited us to the fair.

Brush your teeth!

Quincy loves to spend time in the bathroom, usually he's pulling our drawers out and emptying their contents, like the the picture below. He loves to wave byebye to his 'poo poo' in the toilet, and we've also had the pleasure of him trying to grab his poo in the toilet. Not so fun. Now that he's got a bunch of teeth in, we're stressing the importance of brushing his teeth and he's caught on pretty well. He enjoys it , but I usually have to coax him into doing it by letting brush mine.
He likes to be a big boy and do it by himself.


Wednesday, August 20, 2008

75 things you probably don't know about me:

1. I love to organize. Sometimes I think I should've been a professional organizer. I always see those HGTV shows where people go into other people's houses and help them sort out their crap. I always thought that it was something everyone was born with, but obviously not. There's just some unexplainable satisfaction that I get from knowing where everything is in my house.

2. I was born in Ellensburg, WA... which is a college city. Nobody really knows where it is, but in Central Washington State University you can go to the exact center of the state of WA. I can say I have been in the exact center of the state.

3. I have been in two states at once, LOTS of time, each time I crossed the I-5 bridge from Vancouver to Portland.

4. I lived in California for two years when I was younger and my best friend was a Japanese girl who's name was Maria.

5. When I was in the first grade I SWEAR I saw a real leprechaun, to this day I'm convinced I really did. I suppose you can see lots of things that you want to while you're younger.

6. I'm afraid of worms. I hate worms, which is ironic because I love to garden and be outdoors. I know worms are good for my garden and so I don't bother them, but I can't stand touching them with my bare hands. It makes me want to squeal like a little girl and run away. Yuck!

7. Despite being afraid of worms I have eaten TWO night crawlers. My family had a Fear Factor game with two other families and one of the challenges was to eat two worms.... they all figured I'd wimp out at the challenge, but I wasn't about to give them the satisfaction of making me drop out so easily. I choked them both down after a quick cry before the actual deed. I will never do it again. They tasted like rubber filled with dirt.

8. I have been hit by a semi truck and lived to tell the tale. The car I was in was a little dae woo, like a geo metro, and was completely smashed. Needless to say I was on my way to see Tyler and had never felt more relieved to see his face than I did that day. I think to this day I still have some minor problems with my back and am still unable to lift heavier things.

9. I failed 'backing around the corner' on my driving test, but still managed to pass the first time. (I didn't make a complete stop and so she failed me on that part.)

10. I love Bunny Tracks Blue Ribbon Ice cream.

11. I worked at Jamba Juice in high school and still know most of the recipes for homemade- wanna-be Jamba smoothie recipes.

12. I also worked at the movie theatre, one of the best perks was being able to take family or friends to any movie for free... and we got free popcorn and drinks. I brought my whole family, including my aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents to Pirates of the Caribbean. Of course my parents wished I still worked there.

13. I'm scared of the ocean. I've never had any horrible experiences in it, just have alot of respect for the enormous body of water. Something that big scares me because it's so powerful.

14. I was almost an April Fools baby. I was born April 2, 1986 at 12:42am.

15. My favorite part about grocery shopping is coming home and unloading all the groceries in the cupboards and fridge. I get the happiest feeling just looking in my cupboards and seeing them so full. It makes me feel so good.

16. I love palm trees.

17. While we lived in Cali. I was playing tag with my brother in our front yard when our neighbor dog, who was excited because his owner had some car keys and was headed toward the car, leaped across his yard and into ours, taking a huge bite out of my left thigh. I remember to this day being in the ER, having my dad and another person hold me down while they stitched it up. The anesthetics didn't work and I felt every stitch! Ironic enough I'm not afraid of dogs.

18. I love strawberries, when I was little I would even pick the green ones and eat them.

19. I don't like Jello, which is sad for Tyler because he loves it. I sometimes have a sensitive gag reflex and Jello occasionally makes me want to throw up. The only way I can eat it is if I swish it around in my mouth until it's like cool aid and then swallow. Weird I know.

20. I hated Vancouver when we first moved there. I was only in the 2nd grade and cried every day because I didn't know anyone. My mom didn't even know. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Huson-- who I still see every now and then, "assigned" me a friend. I am still friends with my "assigned" friend Kaycee Krebs to this day.

21. I have been baptized twice, because my toe came up the first time, and also received my patriarchal blessing twice. It was lost on the way to salt lake and so I had to go in again. There were only a few very minor word changes that I noticed, which made me feel good, like it didn't happen because of something I did.

22. My secret caffeine drink craving is Dr. Pepper. I gave up all soda while I was pregnant, but now that I'm not breastfeeding anymore have been able to indulge myself in it a couple of times.

23. I have A negative blood, so does my mom, her mom and Quincy. It's unfortunate we didn't know that Quincy did before he was born because then I wouldn't have had to get that rotten RH- factor shot.

24. I love to read... and thank my mother for that. Quincy also likes to read, and I'm glad that I can instill that love in him. I can read most anything, but prefer fictional books... mystery ones and romance.

25. I love to bake. In my parents house my snickerdoodle cookies were often coveted.

26. My deepest darkest secret is that I love to watch Nip Tuck, Lipstick Jungle, and most recently Gossip Girl. I know they're all slightly trashy, and a little dramatic, but I figure since I don't engross myself in celebrity gossip, it's all good.

27. I loved to play with barbies. Being the only girl growing up meant I didn't have to share them either. My friend Rachelle Kays and I would draw floor plans on my bedroom carpet and fill each "room" with all the barbie furniture I had. We made our very own Barbie house.

28. My favorite cartoons were: Smurfs, Care bears, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rainbow Bright, and although my mom would never allow it, Power Rangers. I can't remember the others now, but I will always hold a special place in my heart for Looney Toons. I wish they would keep cartoons like those around on TV. The humor is good and they don't have anorexic girls with huge boobs and disproportionate bodies like in all the Japanese animation. I still enjoy watching Mister Rogers, Reading Rainbow and every now and then Quincy and I will watch Sesame Street.

29. I love to color! I like coloring with crayons especially, but any form of coloring is so relaxing.

30. I used to kill everyone in the card game 'speed'. I was undefeated... and my family used to think that I cheated.... which I NEVER did. I also have a special love for the card game 'spoons', but have witnessed too many accidents with it. People really get violent.

31. I hate watching sports on TV, and I think I even more so hate it because of the sports announcers. I can't stand all those "has-beens" explaining what the current athletes are doing wrong because they've "been there." Please! Who cares that you won some award 20 years ago, you're never going to do it again, get over yourself!

32. For my tenth birthday party we went to a roller skating rink. I remember going a lot when I was younger, and it was SO much fun.

33. I love to shop, although I haven't done much of it lately since we're stretched a little tighter for money-- which I've realized happens when you have a baby. I used to go shopping about twice a month or more, but now it's been at least a year. So sad.

34. My favorite movies include: My Best Friends Wedding, Mean Girls, The Hills Have Eyes, and
Mr. Brooks. I love scary movies, but find that I get scared more easily now. I think it's because I've got a baby and when I watch movies about scary people who are lurking around homes just to kill someone, it makes me think it could really happen to me. Good thing I have Tyler to protect me.

35. I could recite about every line in the movie The Lion King. It was one of the first and few movies we had as kids and we watched it over and over and over. I still remember so many lines from it. Grease, was also a favorite of ours and Home Alone 2.

36. My dad hates animals, probably due to being raised on a farm and getting all the animal responsibilities. He would never let us have them growing up. We got lucky that we were able to get fish... I still don't think fish can be considered a pet....hello you can't pet them! After years of begging I was able to get some hamsters. I can't remember my first hamster-- that became old and sick and my dad "took care of ", but I remember the next two I got... their names were Pete and Teddy. Teddy was always beating up on Pete and even went as far as trying to chew off his leg! They always seemed to escape from their cage.... which had a wire mesh lid on it. One time my mom left my clean underwear on top the cage and they chewed them to shreds! I even remember waking up one time in the middle of the night with a hamster escape-ee on my chest. Freaked me out!! No more hamsters.

37. When I was little I watched the movie Milo and Otis, with the Little orange kitten and the pug dog. From that point on I always loved little orange kittens, especially those with blue eyes. I still prefer cats over dogs.

38. When I was in the 4th grade I had pneumonia really bad. One of my lungs collapsed and the other was filled with fluid. I spent about two weeks in the hospital having a chest tube put in to drain all the fluid. To this day I struggle with running because I'm a shallow breather.

39. I've been on TV and in the newspaper.

40. I was a cheerleader in high school and on varsity for three years. I didn't try out until my sophomore year. I was a 'flyer' and also for part of my senior year a 'base', which anyone who knows cheerleading was a bad idea. I should've never been lifting girls the same size as me. I incurred a back injury from being a base right before our first competition. I was pissed because I had to take a girls spot as a 'base' because she quit two weeks before. I don't know that I've really forgiven that girl for quitting on our team.

41. I team teach in primary for the CTR 5 class. I dread each week. I know I shouldn't say that and that each of those children is a child of god.... But we have church from 3-6PM and those kids are SO unmanageable the last few hours.... which is when we're blessed to "teach" them. I miss Relief Society and the social scene... which I don't get as a stay at home mom with no car. I know I should start loving it, because that's when they'll finally release us, but what for.... to call me to something else? I'm sure I will just have to learn something from this calling.

42. I could eat pizza any time of the day. I even love cold pizza. I hate rewarming pizza in the microwave because the crust gets soggy and so I would much rather just eat it cold.

43. I've had many concussions... some from cheerleading and swing dancing-- one time I even blacked out. I got a slight concussion after being dropped from 15 feet in the air in our gym on the hard wood floor. It's a wonder I never died or suffered from more serious injuries.

44. When I was pregnant I gained close to 50 lbs. I never got morning sickness and ate pretty well balanced meals... I was very light headed and nauseous my first trimester. I craved fresh oranges all the time. They seemed to be one of the only things I could eat without feeling sick. It's a good thing I never craved fast food or I can only imagine how much weight I would've gained!

45. I woke up at 5:00Am every morning for early morning seminary. It always makes me sick when I hear about people in UT and ID who had release time. I even had two days a week of early morning cheerleading practice where I got up at 4:45AM to be there at 5:00AM.

46. I had lesbian math teachers from 6-10th grade. Which is probably part of the reason why I hated math so much... and they were horrible "math" teachers.... who could never explain the subject, or were really french teachers filling in a math teacher position.

47. I got a D+ (the lowest grade I'd ever received in my life) in the only math course I took in college.... it was the only one required to graduate with my degree. I was so happy I passed.... I didn't even care it was a D+. Just as a side note, the class average was a D-. The professor was new and they were giving him a trial teaching period before he got the job, needless to say he didn't get the job. Too bad for our class and me! I think I did pretty well considering the facts. :)

48. I lived in a town called George, WA. when I was little. We lived in a trailer and my dad worked on the family farm. I think we've all come a long ways since then.

49. I found out I was officially pregnant without Tyler. He was taking a test and I went into the student health center on campus to find out if I was pregnant or not. It took everything in me to keep a straight face when I picked him up and not blurt it out immediately. I handed the paper with the test results and we were both overjoyed!!

50. I love vacuuming the carpet and seeing all the lines on it. Tyler always complains having bathroom towels we can't use and rugs that I fluff and won't let him walk on, but I just like having everything look clean and being able to admire it for the short time it lasts.

51. I've become the biggest baby since having a baby. I find that I cry about anything and everything at one point or another, though I've got pretty good about holding back and disguising it. I suppose you look at the world in a new way and things touch you in the simplest forms, yes even sweet commercials.

52. I love tomatoes.... and fresh peas out of the garden. Which is why I'm so determined to have my own big garden someday.

53. My mom used to sew or make almost all my clothes until I was in the fourth grade, when I insisted on wearing store clothes. Poor mom.... I admire that she was actually able to make them, I could never do that, nor do I have the talent she does.

54. We, my brothers and I, used to can with my mom.... apples mostly. I wish I had paid more attention.

54. I like talking on the phone... Tyler doesn't, which proved to make things difficult when we were dating long distance. I find that I can easily talk to my mom for an hour or so. Tyler could never talk longer than 15 minutes with his parents.

55. I like watching sports in PERSON, I hate watching them on TV, but something about being in the atmosphere there and watching first hand is so much better.

56. I will never consider myself to be an Idaho-n. I always will be a Washingtonian at heart.

57. I like rap music... I know, I shouldn't, but Tyler and I got rid of all our music that had swear words in it before Quincy was born, now we only have edited stuff. I also like country, pop, and easy listening music. I can't stand alternative, punk, hard core rock, emo, jazz, or blues.

58. I used to hate classical music, until I learned that it was one of he easiest ways to calm Quincy down in the car and go to sleep.

59. I had my first real kiss at age 14.... my dad told me if I waited until I was 16 he'd give me a $1000. I should've waited... the kiss was sloppy and not that great at all, definately not worth a thousand dollars.

60. We used to go my cousins house almost every summer for a few weeks... they lived on the "farm" as we called it. One summer we were riding banana seat bikes down the gravel driveway to go feed the sheep. As we were going around the corner my bike slip out from under me and I bit the big one. I still have a nasty scar on my knee to show for it. I should have got stitches but was traumatized from the dog stitches I refused them.

61. I started coloring my hair at age 13 and did it until I got pregant with Quincy. It's officially been 2 years since I've done anything to it.... after seven years of blond higlights... I really am starting to miss them.

62. I love kissing Quincy's big chubby cheeks, they are so soft and it's even better when he's all clean and smells like baby lotion.

63. I told Tyler when we found out that Quincy was a boy that he was going to be the best dressed boy there was, which means I will not let him wear any action figure stuff of that sort.

64. I love tickling Tyler... because he IS ticklish and he laughs like a girl really hard. His laugh makes me laugh.

65. My favorite color is pink.

66. I love that I can wear high heals and still be shorter than Tyler.

67. While Tyler and I were dating we stayed up until midnight every night and then he would meet me at my apt. at 7:30 in the morning to walk together to our class. It's amazing we were never exhausted every day... now we can hardly stay up until 11:00pm!

68. In our first months of being newly weds we went rafting the Boise River almost every weekend.

69. I don't like chocolate flavored stuff, pudding, pop tarts etc. I will eat them, but I prefer not to.

70. I like the smell of matches and sulfur from fireworks.

71. I sleep wth my arms above my head, usually a pillow covering my eyes and another pillow under my knees. I have quite the routine to go to sleep.... but it's the only way I'm able to sleep comfortably.

72. I like to sing to the radio in the car... when I'm in by myself I like the blast it really loud!

73. My senior year of high school I was involved with Student Govt. and I'm so glad I did it. One of my regrets was not doing it sooner. It was such an amazing experience being involved in school event desicions, and being able to give the students a real voice. I will encourage my kids to do things out of their comfort zones.... If I had got out of mine, then I would have probably accomplished much more.

74. Being a wife is one of the most complicated things I have done and has also been one of the most rewarding things. I am so grateful to have a man who loves me for better and worse, who will always be there to support me physically, emotionally and spiritually,who will be with me for eternity, who is the provider for our family, and the head of our home. I know there are so many women who are single mothers and widows who aren't as forunate as I am.

75. Being a mother is one the hardest, by far, things I have done in my entire life. I loved Quincy from the first time I knew he was growing inside me. He is such a joy to be around and it's so rewarding watching him grow and learn. He helps me remember my reason for being here on Earth and my purpose in life. I want to teach him everything I know and hopefully more. I want to provide the love for him that my parents gave to me.


Okay now I know Katie Stacey killed me with 25 more things... so now I challenge all of YOU to come up with 100-- or 75 if you can't do that many :)-- things people might not know about you!! Good luck

I can do it myself mom!

We are becoming more and more aware that we have a soon-to-be toddler on our hands. Quincy is striving to become more independent about certain things and, yet he will still demand simple things from us. He's in the transition of baby growing into toddler.

Quincy has recently gone through this phase of loving hats. He loves to put them on, only he has to do it himself. See how he likes to balance his hat. He thinks it's really funny to do it because it's not really put all the way on and they fall off easily. When they fall off he laughs really hard.

More hat balancing tricks.

Before his birthday we went to a party store and had fun trying on of different hats. (These are the pictures I thought were erased... lucky for me they weren't!)


Fit for a little prince.

Getting ready for the Olympics? :)

Upper-class China man.

Beach Bum.

Little Cesar.

Chief fireman Quincy Bear.


Hola Amigos!

Arrrgggg maties!!

Funny Faces

I thought these pictures were funny. This first picture he looks especially serious in.

And even though his eyes are closed in ths picture, I like that you can see his teeth.

Just like Daddy

Despite being a crab a lot of the time- due to teething, Quincy does have his happy moments. He looks pretty happy to escape the dreaded pajamas.

And he's even more happy to be just like his dada eating popcorn. He was too full for eating his dinner, but of course there's room for extra salty and buttery popcorn.

More please!

He loves to watch TV and eat popcorn with his dad.

Like father like son!

More Teething... ugg!

Quincy now has all four teeth and is again, working on four more! He got his shots last friday and has since been very irritable, partly because of the shots and partly because of his teeth. This is his mad face, more pouty than mad though.

No words on reassurance can make him happy.

He even goes as far as throwing the couch pillows around to show his displeasure with the teething circumstances.

And who to our surprise is able to comfort his teething ailments? Of course, Jeopardy!

Last Saturday

Like I said in the previous post, we went to the Farmers market in down town Boise last Saturday with my family. It was really fun. The Olympic cyclist from Boise ID, Kristen Armstrong, was having a home coming "race" though down town and people were invited to join her on their bikes too. My brothers and Tyler went to the Capital Building where the "race" ended to meet her; They also got autographed pictures and got to hold her real gold medal. Scott, my brother, said it was heavy. Pretty cool.

After we all finished looking at the booths and other things.... we ended in the usual spot, by the fountain in the grove. Tyler tried to convince Quincy to play in it, but he wasn't enthusiastic about getting too close to the water. I'm glad, since I didn't want him dry clothes to get soaking wet.

After the hotel, we headed back to my parents hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites which was one street over from the farmers market. It is seriously a beautiful and fairly brand new hotel. Sweet for us that my other brother, Spencer, works for the Hilton and gets good hotel deals.

Quincy's getting ready for floating the Boise River, again.

I didn't take any pictures before we all got in the river, Tyler's family, my Family, and us, but this picture is after we finished. Quincy looks slightly happy.

For dinner we decided on Red Robin. It was supposed to be all our families there together, but Tyler's decided to ditch out early to go to some party or something or other. It's too bad, because the food was great and we indulged ourselves in mud pie for dessert.

THANKS MOM AND DAD!!!!

This is everyone, from bottom left clockwise it's: Johnathon, Spencer, Kati, Tyler, Quincy, Dad, Mom-- who's taking the picture, Scott and Karter-- who has that band aid on his face because he had a mole removed. We called him Uncle Band aid face. :) Ha ha!

Nice that we have a picture of us two, since it hardly ever happens with a baby.

Quincy was more interested in the balloon he got than smiling for the camera.

My parents.

The young Howard family. Again, Quincy's too distracted by everything.

Thanks again mom and dad. It was REALLY nice of you guys to treat us to a great dinner!!