Living in an apartment is so special

We had a wonderful Christmas with my mom and sisters, Whitney and Julie! I have tons of pictures of the fun we had, but I left my SD card in Valencia so I'll post this weekend when we go back. We were there for over a week and Teagan wasn't sleeping too good with us in the same room. We didn't want to sleep in TEagan's room (as soon as he saw us he'd start screaming at like 4 or 5 in the morning...no fun) so Whitney slept on the couch and we got her bed. It was just rediculous that Teagan needed his own room and we were missing our bed and were ready to go home and reorganize and figure out our Christmas toys so we left a little early.

We got home to a very special surprise. While putting away our stuff I went into our walk-in closet and realized it was soaked. All the carpet was SO wet. I looked in the bathroom and it looked like someone had dumped dirty water on the floor and then let it dry. It didn't stink, which was lucky.

After we called our manager she took action imediately and had people in ripping out our carpet and drying it out and replacing the padding. We had to take out all of our clothes and put them on our bed so guess where we slept last night, on the couch. Luckily we have a super comfy hide-a-way bed, but it was just kind of ironic that we were on a couch the night we came home to get back to our own beds.

Apparently the people above us were flushing paper down the toilet and clogged it up, we got the back up I guess. We have no idea how it got into the apartment though! I think maybe the toilet overflowed from their back up??? The bottom of the toilet lid was nasty and I scrubbed the whole bathroom the day we left so it's my only explanation.

Luckily, our manager is awesome and sent in a cleaning crew to scrub the whole bathroom for us. That is what I would expect from a manager, but how often to managers actually do what is expected?

I've decided that having someone else clean the bathroom is something I'm very interested in later in life. If it wasn't for wanting to teach my children to work I think I'd insist on a maid! Once the kids are out of the house I'm totally paying someone to clean my bathrooms! I HATE cleaning bathrooms!

Anywho, if you live in a house consider yourself lucky...apartments are no fun

Happy 1st Birthday!

Friday was Teagan's first birthday and it was so fun! He loved the balloons and the cake, but the presents weren't that impressive to him...shocker. He got mega blocks, baby chain links, and a funny little dog with a pull string. I made my first non-rectangular cake which was a big step and Teagan loved the little fish that he got to eat. I couldn't decide on a single picture so I'm just including all of them.:) There is something about a shirtless one year old covered in cake that is simply adorable!
Teagan grabbed my mom's hair when she got to close. She got a little covered in frosting, he LOVES his grandma packer. He has started following her around everywhere in hopes that she'll give him some ice.

Top 10 reasons to build a gingerbread house

10. It gives men opportunities to fine tune their architectural abilities
9. It gives men opportunities to compete for the tallest, biggest, sturdiest, and most "livable" house without having to fork out money
8. It gives women the opportunity to practice their exterior decorating skills without having to fork out money
7. It gives everyone the chance to stuff their faces with frosting covered graham crackers and candy
6. It gives us the excuse to get together with friends
5. We get to dream about the sweet pent house we'll live in one day
4. It provides snacks for the following days when you just need an m&m
3. They make great Christmas decor
2. It makes the gingerbread man jealous of what he could be living in if he was friends with you.
1. and the number 1 reason to build a gingerbread house is so that you can blow it up with fireworks after Christmas!

"That not cracked..."

Friday was the ribbon cutting ceremony for Zac's school. They have been in a business building while waiting for their new campus to finish. We got to take a tour and it is SOO pretty. The classrooms have lots of fancy technology and Zac is really excited about all the study rooms and the big library. Teagan LOVED the stairs. As soon as he saw them he freaked out and ran for them. All he wanted to do was climb up as fast as he could. (we don't have any stairs) Zac is really excited to have a nice campus dedicated to physical therapy. He's also really excited because there is a guy in our ward at church who just got accepted to his school. Out of over 100 students he is the only mormon, so he's pretty stoked to not be the ONLY one who doesn't drink and the ONLY republican anymore.

After the next three days of finals he will be able to fully enjoy life. This morning when he left for his first final he was really nervous. I wish that there was some way I could help him. He is really smart though so I'm sure he'll do fine. He has gotten A's on everything so far so I'm sure he'll just keep it up.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So a couple days ago I was cleaning the toilet and I noticed a tiny tiny crack on the toilet seat. I called Zac in and said "look our toilet seat is cracked, do you know how that happened?"

Zac's reply: "That's not cracked, let me see it." He grabed the toilet seat and tried to bend it where the crack is at to show me it was fine and what happened??? He broke it in two. I was cracking up, but now we are going to have to replace it. I guess he just doesn't realize his own strength...what would it be like to be made of pure muscle...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You know when you get to pull out a new outfit from your babyshower that your baby finally fits into and it looks so dang cute? That happened today and I got a little carried away with taking pictures. I can't get enough of Teagan's toothy grin and funny personality!
Fell asleep in his favorite position...the squat

He Understands

I have to post about a few recent developments/funny things for Teagan.

1. When he wakes up from a nap he always has a bottle right away. Yesterday when I went to make the bottle I set him down and he fell to pieces, bawling and bawling (must have not gotten a good enough nap). I squatted down next to him and said "Teagan your *bubba is in your room, you can go get it if it will make you feel better, do you want your bubba? Go get it in your room." He looked at me, his hysterics turned into a quiet wimper, he hurried into his room and retrieved his "bubba" and came out with a smile.

I couldn't believe it. I had NO idea he understood what I was saying to him, I know that doesn't seem like that big of a deal, but I am so proud of my little boy!

*we call binkies/pacifiers bubbas. We adopted this from Julie and Jeff :)

2. I don't know how anyone can sleep with a kid in bed. Teagan woke up early yesterday and Zac didn't have school so we were totally bummed that we couldn't sleep in. I brought him into our bed hoping that he would just relax. Me and Zac just laid there and Teagan kept trying to "get comfy." He was SO wiggly! He kept moving positions every 2 seconds. He went from laying on my shoulder, to putting his feet on my face, to laying on Zac's tummy, to laying on my neck, to laying on our arms and legs, all in a matter of a few minutes. We were trying to pretend we were asleep and it was so hard to keep from laughing! This kid is a mover! Eventually we gave up and got up and on with the day.


PS. I'm starting a birthday tradition for our family. I have been trying to decide what to do with all of the hundreds of videos I take of Teagan. I didn't want to just store them on a DVD so I decided to make a movie.

The tradition: Every year I will make a home video of Teagan for his birthday. While we eat cake and ice cream we'll watch the movie and see how Teagan has grown and changed over the course of the last year. As we add on kids I want to keep doing it for each child for their birthday. I know this is going to be hard, but it is something I really want to do!

I'm almost done with it and I've only put about 3 hours into it. That's pretty good considering the high number of videos I've had to pick through! Zac has a really simple program on his computer that allows you to make movies. I can add in cheesy transitions, effects, and music and clip the videos down to only the good parts with the click of a button. I'm adding in a few pictures as well. It has been such a fun project for me to work on and I'm really excited about it. Out of the 2-3 hours worth of videos I've taken I narrowed it to 17 min. That is a pretty long movie, but I couldn't resist so many of the cute movies.

And that is my money's worth!

I have been trying to get a good picture of Teagan standing or sitting in front of the Christmas tree, this is harder than you would expect. He will only hold still if he has a toy in hand, if there is a toy in hand it goes in the mouth, if he has no toy he runs to the nearest one in sight. With Zac's help we still weren't able to get a good one. I'll post it when we do get a good one. Until then, enjoy our atempts!

I decided to ride my bike to wal-mart yesterday to pick up a small Christmas present for a family member. While there I got a little carried away. I found these oversized legos for $5 for a bag of 100 and got one for me and one for Julie. I was so excited about the legos that I forgot that I had brought the bike instead of the car. I remembered that I needed diapers and picked up a box of those as well along with a few other presents that can't be mentioned on the blog. :) As I walked out of the store trying to remember where I parked I saw my bike..... oops! I had a cart load of stuff and only a small bike trailer to get it home with. I tucked in teagan with a blanket and then surrounded him with all the stuff. On the way home he fell asleep and scrunched into the corner, poor kid. He is such a good boy, he never complained once. All I can think about is how much gas I saved by trucking the 50 pounds of stuff home myself instead of the car.

PS: It is really hard to go up hills with all that "stuff" plus a baby in the trailer, WHAT A WORKOUT!

<3 attack!

I just read a post on someone else's blog that reminded me about church on Sunday. I got to teach my first lesson in young women's and it was about learning to love ourselves which in turn helps us to see the good in others and be more kind and understanding.

At first I thought it was kind of a weird lesson, but then I realized how easy it is for girls to have low self esteem. We are constantly comparing ourselves with the movie stars and it is easy to get down on ourselves when we're getting compared to them! When we feel bad about ourselves we sulk around all day and check to see if anyone has commented on the blog, right? I know that when I'm feeling down I'm not really up for being kind to others.

For part of the lesson I had the girls "heart attack" themselves. I passed out some hearts and told them to write something that they love or like about themself on each heart. I was surprised at how hard it was for me and them and the other leaders to think of positive things about ourselves. I think it is really important for us to see the good in ourselves so lets start thinking about what makes us unique and amazing! I am starting a tag.

Here's the tag:

Write 5 things that you like or love about yourself. They can be personality traits, physical traits, mental traits, any postive attribute about wonderful you! This is a step towards being a more confidant you. Be proud of you, God made you unique for a reason, now share with the class!

1. I am friendly
2. I'm not afraid to ask for help/advice when I need it.
3. I can read other people's emotions really well, it's like a sixth sense.
4. I'm a good cook
5. I clean up real nice :)

Okay, I put myself out there, but hopefully someone will do this tag and realize that they are awesome. Get thinking!

I tag people related to me by blood (cousins/sisters (in-law too!) or related by Teton Valley. If you can't think of anything positive tell me and I'll tell you all about how great you are!

Emerging Personality

I've been going through post withdrawls! I felt like I should leave up the "going private" post for a while so lots of people would see it, but I can't wait anymore. We have brought in the Christmas season with a bang and it is so fun!

This week we had a ward Christmas party and it was so fun! I made sugar cookies, which happen to be my favorite and I ate TONS of different yummy sweets. Zac was teasing me becasue I color coordinated the spoons with the frosting, why mismatch when you can match...that is my only reply.
A lady in our ward gave us their AWESOME pre-lit Christmas tree after she used it at the ward party! I know the picture isn't great, but you get the idea, lots of ornaments on top, few on the bottom. We have a few "child friendly" ornaments that we put low enough for Teagan to play with, he's managed to ruin those too, funny kid...I've been trying to get Teagan to clap his hands for about 5 months now and yesterday out of nowhere he started clapping and won't stop now (unless I'm trying to video tape it, of couse). He loves the "If you're happy and ya know it" song and claps whenever he gets excited. He also charges at the camera woman when he gets excited, I apologize for the long length.

I LOVE when I snap a random picture and I catch a funny face, it cracks me up. Teagan is so funny and he has so much personality! I love being his mom!

This is the new favorite location in the house. Teagan loves to climb up the couch, throw his toys on the ground, climb down, retrieve the toys and carry them back up. As long as I am sitting in the room offering encouraging words he'll go on forever! He especially loves when Zac plays with him. Zac is definitely the favorite these days. Tonight he screamed and screamed because I was putting him to bed and not Zac, he is a daddy's boy for sure. He always says "dah" and reaches out his arms when Zac leaves the room (when I say always I mean for the last week or so). It is so cute to watch Teagan light up when he hears Zac unlocking the door, he gets really excited and runs to meet him at the door. Consequently, Zac can't get much studying done at home. If he tries to study in our room Teagan runs to our door and starts banging his hands on it and crying for Dad.

Going Private

Hey everyone, I'm joining the band wagon and going private. Please leave me your email if you'd like to keep an eye on the blog. I know some people I've never met (mostly Valley folk), but even if you're just lookin to keep tabs on Zac and don't know me then feel free to leave your email. I will delete your comment as soon as I get the email so you won't have to worry about creepos!

(I know it's kind of a pain, but such is life)

PS: the due date is Dec 10

Safety in Numbers

We put 3 binkies in Teagan's bed when he goes to sleep so that when he wakes up throughout the night he can always find one. By the morning they all end up on the floor around his crib. After he had his bottle today I set him down in his room and went to clean the bottle. He came walking out of his room with all 3! I guess you could say he likes his binkies!

Gettin in trouble

We tried to babyproof our kitchen with the cupboard latches, but the ones we got didn't work with our cupboards an so Teagan currently enjoys the luxory of opening and emptying my drawers and cupboards. Luckily his favorite drawer is my overmit drawer so that is pretty easy to clean up.Teagan can be across the apartment and if I open the dishwasher he hears the click and comes runnin'. He runs into the kitchen with a huge goofy smile and tries to get to the dishwasher before I close it. I accidentally left it open yesterday and this is how I found him. He is so funny!
Do you like the color scheme for my bedroom? I wish I had this one on video. We keep our cell phone chargers back where Teagan is sitting and he is not allowed to suck on them, obviously. I moved the chair so he couldn't get back there, but nothing can stop this kid. I walked in on him throwing himself against the chair and doing a sort of flip/somersault over the edge into the corner where he is sitting. I should have stopped him, but it was too funny and I had to watch.
He loves it when we put our couch pillows on the floor and he can run and jump onto them. Whoever says he is still a baby is crazy, this kid is going at full speed all the time! It is so fun to have a little guy with all that energy, until I completely worn out. Luckily he plays so hard that he naps about 4 hours a day and sleeps 11 hours at night.

We went to the beach with some friends on Saturday and while Zac was out learning how to surf (what a stud!) Teagan was rolling around in the sand, trying to run/walk down sandy hills and doing lots of screaching with the birds. We had a lot of fun, even though it isn't really beach weather anymore with our friends. Me and Bethany went on a walk on the pathway that follows the beach and it was so fun! I love walks on the beach and I love watching Zac play in the water. Life is good, Zac is good, Teagan is crazy!

Update on Bike Trailor

So, as we all know I bought the bike trailor as a surprise for me without consulting Zac first. I really don't do that usually. So I convinced him that it was a great idea and that it was going to be a way for me and Teagan to have cheap fun while I get in shape. So now I have to ride it around all the time to show him how much I'm using it.

I forgot to check out the roads around our house first!!! HOLY COW! It doesn't matter which direction I leave in I have to go up and down hill after hill. I had no idea we lived in such a "hilly" area, but we do and my legs and hind end are feelin it! I am so sore! Today we rode to the park and then to Vons and my legs feel like complete jello. I can't stop now though, cause I'm still trying to show Zac how much I love riding it, but packin a 20 lb kid around is TIRING!

It's like that Friends episode where Monica buys the SUPER expensive boots against Chandler's will and she finds out they're WAY uncomfortable and gets blisters, but she still has to wear them to show Chandler that she was right...I'M MONICA!!!

Budgeting for Christmas.

So I've been doing a lot of research on inexpensive Christmas gifts and I found a GREAT one! Everyone always loves getting slippers for Christmas, so I found instructions for making your own. I was so excited because I already have all the supplies that I need to make them, leftovers from when Teagan was born. Here are the instructions for anyone else who is in need of a cheap Christmas present idea.

How to make bedroom slippers out of maxi pads:

You need four maxi pads to make a pair.

Two of them get laid out flat, for the foot part.

The other two wrap around the toe area to form the top.

Tape or glue each side of the top pieces to the bottom of the foot part.
Decorate the tops with whatever you desire, silk flowers (this is most Aesthetically appealing), etc.

These slippers are:

* Soft and Hygienic

* Non-slip grip strips on the soles
* Built in deodorant feature keeps feet smelling fresh

* No more bending over to mop up spills

* Disposable and biodegradable * Environmentally safe

* Three convenient sizes: (1.) Regular, (2.) Light and (3.) Get out the Sand Bags.

I've attached a photo of the first pair I made so that you can see the Nifty slippers for yourself....
Awaiting your response. It's crucial that I get the right size for each One of you.

Cute Cute Cute

So I totally splurged, and I got a lecture because of it, but it was totally worth it!!! I've been eyeing bike trailors since Teagan was born and I have wanted one badly. When I found out that they were about $200 new I started looking on Craig's list. All of those ones were usually really NASTY or still out of our price range. Yesterday I found one that was priced at $40. It was in great shape, but pretty dirty so I offered $30 and she sold it to me! YEAH! We have a rule about buying ourselves presents near christmas, but I kind of forgot and got caught up in the moment, I told Zac that it can count as my Christmas present!

I spent the afternoon scrubbing it out and trying to polish it up and today we had great adventures!

Can I just say that we have awesome neighbors? The little girl with Teagan is Kylie, I think she is 15 months or so and she is so cute with Teagan! They had a blast riding in the trailor together and they were so nice to each other. Kylie kept telling Teagan Hi! over and over, so cute! Her mom is Megan and I love having her live close by so we can hang out all the time!

The neighbors right across the way are awesome too! There are 3 kids, 16 (Mariella), 14(alexis), and 11 (Yesenia) and the 16 and 11 year old girls watch Teagan for me almost every day, the 14 year old boy helped me fix my bike so I could ride it around last night. Their parents make us YUMMY Mexican food and give us free treats from Albertson's bakery (the dad is the manager). We are so lucky to live in such a great community. Friendly neighbors are the greatest!

Quiet times

Ever since Teagan started walking we have discovered that as long as he can wander around he is exremely happy and well behaved (if he is in a child proof environment of course). Now we are facing the time when we have to decide what to do with him during church. On Sunday I took him out because he was being wild during sacrament meeting. While we were out we were joined by at least 5 other parents taking out their kids. Teagan was the youngest and the oldest was 3. They all ran around and played and had a blast and then it hit me....I FELL INTO THE TRAP.

Zac and I always told ourselves we wouldn't be the parents that let their kids run free when they were being bad in church ( now I COMPLETLY understand why they do!!!). Then our kids would learn that if they are bad in sacrament meeting we'll take them out and they can run through the halls. We would be teaching them that it is okay to behave badly.

I believe that my brother Brian used a method with his kids that worked fairly well. While in Sacrament meeting they could color, play with toys, and walk around within their own pew. If and when they misbehaved he'd take them out and slice off a finger. They seem to do pretty well now. hehe jk No, he would hold them on his lap and not let them go, even if they were screaming (in a classroom or something). Eventually they must learn that it is better to be in the meeting than alone with dad.

I want to implement something like this eventually to teach Teagan that he simply must behave in church, but I'm not sure if he is old enough.

What have you tried, oh ye wise ones? When did you start teaching your kids that they have to be quiet in church? If you are the family with all the children quietly sitting in a row coloring or even listening PLEASE share your wisdom. I know Teagan is a baby and babys are babys, but I want to teach him to be well behaved. Now is your time to brag about your excellent parenting skills. :)

The Book

The Art Show

Well, I arrived home safely and now it's the post we've all been waiting for...or at least I have been waiting for.

The art show was great. There were a few different artists, but my mom had the front little area. She didn't bring everything that she does, she just chose the best ones. This is her and Judy (the gal in charge).

Elephant Therapy is a group of collages that she made that are awesome. She made a postcard and after having thousands printed off realized that there was a small gramatical error on the back so she cut them up and made them into a bunch of collages. Here are the ones she took to the show.The stuffed animals are great! Each one is completely unique and they are hilarious! She uses the coolest fabrics, buttons, and other artsy stuff to make animals with a ton of character. She made the displays and everything inside of them (Well the tree she cut down from her yard, but you get the point). One of the stuffed animals sold opening night, yay mom!My favorite is the 12 Days of Christmas set of postcards. She painted all twelve days into one painting, but the whole painting was then cut into twelve sections, each representing one day, that could be sent as postcards. The idea is to send one postcard a day for the twelve days leading up to Christmas day. As the person receives the cards they can put them together like a puzzle. I think it is SO original and who wouldn't want to receive mail 12 days in a row???Kirby Heyborne was there performing throughout the better part of the show and it was great. There is something about fabulous music that makes looking at art even better. Most of you probably know Kirby as a cheesy Mormon actor, but he actually is an extremely talented musician and has a few CD's out. I LOVE his music, it is really soothing and he has a great voice. If you go to his website you can listen to his music. Whitney took a video of him at the show, but I think she kept making faces at him to make him laugh...hehe
http://www.kirbyheyborne.com/

So the room that connected my mom's area with the rest of the artists was W-I-L-D! The whole room was painted with bright stripes. Thanks go out to Whitney for getting the rest of us to take our group picture, me and whitney don't look alike do we?

In the Rainbow Room they served wine and cheese and grapes and Teagan figured it out quick! He had many many blocks of cheese on sticks. If there are two things Teagan loves they are cheese and Grandma Packer. It was a very fun evening and I loved being able to see my mom get the credit she deserves for being a wonderful artist! Go Mom!