Husband Tag

Mel tagged me. This was the first I'd seen of "husband tag" but it really doesn't matter what I write cause J never sees the blog anyway :)

What is his name? James

How long have you been married? 4 years

How long did you date? 1 year

How old is he? 29

Who eats more? hmmmmm. Usually him but sometimes I do cause I can pack it away

Who said "I love you" first? James

Who is taller? James

Who sings better? James. In fact he was sought our for the ward choir in Michigan, and he's often singing around the house and making up his own songs about food.

Who is smarter? Depends. James doesn't remember names and faces very well at all. I always have to tell him who people in the ward are. In fact he didn't even remember my face a few days after we met. However, he would generally be the smarter one cause he's definitely got a more curious mind, and can remember detailed information especially from science classes and also just lots and lots of random facts that most people would never bother to learn in the first place.

Whose temper is worse? Mine

Who does the laundry? I do

Who does the dishes? We usually do them together unless James is giving Jonas his bath and getting him ready for bed while I clean up.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me

Who pays the bills? We both do.

Who mows the lawn? James, and he almost started to enjoy it as much as my Dad does which I didn't think would be possible. I had to talk him out of it sometimes when the lawn really didn't need it that much.

Who cooks dinner? Me. James occasionally does. He especially likes to be involved if we are cooking for others.

Who drives when you are together? James

Who is more stubborn? Definitely James.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Probably me. James will admit when he's wrong, it just takes him a little longer.

Whose parents do you see the most? Well, I think it's pretty equal although maybe mine a little bit more.

Who proposed? James. He recreated our first date and also gave me a dozen beautiful roses.

Who has more friends? Probably me.

Who has more siblings? We have equal amounts, James has 3 sisters and I've got 3 brothers.

Who wears the pants in the family? Welll, I'm not always great at being decisive so a lot of times James makes up for that although if I do happen to feel strongly about something and we disagree, James will hear me out and if it's that important to me he'll give me my way.

I'm tagging Laura, Diantha, and Kim

2 kinds of people

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who HAVE puked in a small airplane and those who Will puke on a small airplane. This is an actual quote from James that he told the young men in our ward as they were earning their aviator merit badges. Not one of those young men threw up, but guess what kind of person James is and guess what's in his beanie. I know it's really gross, but it was so funny. James just had to get a ride in the one plane that was a trick plane.

Happy Birthday Jonas!

Jonas turned two years old on Saturday. He was so happy with the balloons we got him that we probably didn't need to get him anything else but of course we spoiled him with lots of fun toys. He loved all of his toys soo much and has been thoroughly enjoying them ever since. We want to thank Grandma and Grandpapa Atkinson for the clothes, helicopter, and puzzles and Granny and Grandpa Powell and Aunt Mo for their gift (darn post office), as well as Great Grammie and Grandpa Marv for their card and money. Jonas had a great day playing with his new toys. In the evening we invited a few friends over for cake and ice cream. Jonas seems to always end up with a couple of girlfriends. We can't believe that he is already two but he reminds us daily that he is now an independent little guy who needs frequent time outs. He also makes us laugh and entertains us every day. We are soo happy that he is ours.

Thanksgiving

We ended up in Mississippi for Thanksgiving this year as we visited with James' cousin and his wife and daughter who is the same age as Jonas. We had a lot of fun. The town where they live is just outside of Memphis so we spent the next day in Memphis. We took a tour of Graceland which I've always wanted to do but never thought that I would be doing it in connection with the Thanksgiving holiday. It was very crowded and we were not allowed to take our strollers in so James had the privilege of holding Jonas almost the whole time. At one point Jonas was standing and holding my hand and in less than a second he was under the ropes and in Elvis' Hawaii room. Yikes! Thanks to James' quick action he caught Jonas right before he would have been out of reach. Jonas let out a very loud "OOOOUUUCH!!!" which was a little embarrassing but much less embarrassing than having your child violating Elvis' house and possible touching his precious aritfacts and furniture. We also got to visit this famous hotel where they keep live ducks in their lobby and walk down Beal street. On the way home we happened to eat lunch right next to a Casey Jones train museum in Jackson TN. Jonas was in heaven.

Diwali

This post is for Jonas' uncle Vick who is from India. We are a little late but we wanted to wish Uncle Vick a happy Diwali. Diwali is a holiday celebrated in India and is also called a Festival of Lights. We know that Vick is missing his family right now and is wishing he was with them celebrating Diwali so hopefully this message from Jonas helps him to feel a little less homesick.

Enjoying Fall

While the weather is still pretty nice we've been to the parks, feeding the ducks and going on a short hike. Unfortunately, we are also dealing with nasty coughs and congestion that's going around.

J's project

I'm proud of James for finishing his first woodworking project. James, being the meticulous guy that he is about some things, made this box as a way for us to organize all of our bills and stuff we need to take care of. We call all that stuff our "whats it" and sometimes we even have a whats it night where we try and take care of as much stuff as we can. And then we have some chocolate. I'm putting a picture up for my Dad cause he helped James so much with the box. Thanks Dad.

Costume Pics

We had a pretty fun night at the Ward Halloween Party. They held the party at the church owned farm complete with a haunted barn. Jonas didn't want anything to do with his costume so it was quite an effort to get it on him. James put his costume together two minutes before the party. I thought it was genius. For those of you who are not aware, James holds in his heart a long cherished desire to be a breakdancer.

Tagged

So I think Jessica tagged me on her blog. Unless she was meaning a different Amber. But seeing as I'm her sister in law I'm probably the most important Amber in her life right Jess? Anyways, I guess I'll try to think of 6 facts about myself to write I'm not sure if they're interesting but for now it's the best I could do.

1-I won first place in the science fair in junior high 7th or 8th grade. I can't remember which one. I know it's a shocker and I did have help from my dad for the great project idea. Thanks Dad.
2- Also in Junior High my mom talked me into getting what is now a very infamous (at least in my mind)haircut. Shorter on one side, longer on the other. I try not to think about what I looked like back then.
3-I turned into a brace face very early in life. It was during third grade complete with head gear which thankfully I didn't have to wear to school but only as soon as I got home from school. My braces stayed on for 4.5 looooong years. But at least I got them off at about the time a lot of kids were getting them on.
4-Like Jess I hate the feel of newspaper and other certain things too like my wooden cutting board that doesn't have any kinds of shiny finish on it, or chalk, or receipt paper.
5-I love all things Jane Austen. I just never get sick of her stories or watching the movies adapted from them.
6-I've got some pretty good puke stories and I'm only putting this one in for Jess cause she was with me at the time. I actually puked on public transportation. If you ever feel sick while riding a bus. It's really worth it to stop the bus get off and puke outside. The bus driver will thank you.

Okay this is getting embarrassing. I'm glad that I'm done thinking of things now.
I'll tag Amy ,Diantha, and Laura. You're it. 6 facts about yourself.


I coudn't not post a picture of Jonas. Here he is in his new PJs from children's place.

Big Boys

Jonas and I took a trip to the mall with my friend Laura and her son Caleb who is the same age as Jonas. They are both big boys for their age and both extremely cute and wonderful etc etc etc right Laura? They are both very well behaved too. They never disobey a direct order or whack their moms in the face or run away from them as fast as they can to see the merry go round. Anyways, we had a great time. The boys were soo cute together and they had lots of fun running around the food court and going on the merry go round. They didn't like watching us shop though, but we had fun while it lasted. Thanks for the great time Laura and Caleb. We'll have to get together again soon!

This morning was very nice outside. Just a bit of a breeze but felt really good. I finally get Jonas into the jogging stroller to go for a jog (which takes some effort since he's decided that he doesn't like getting in there anymore) and we go for a jog. I was about 2/3 of the way through my jog when this psycho dog comes out of no where, running loose, and starts barking at us in a really mean way. I would probably have just kept jogging and tried to stay calm but he looked like he was going to go after Jonas so I start running as fast as I can and yelling at the dog to go away. He's chasing us and looks and sounds like he's after some blood growling and showing his teeth at us. This all probably looked really funny to anyone watching but oh well. James has told me before that it's better to not run from a mean dog but in that fight or flight response moment I usually end up just running away as fast as I can. This isn't the first time we've had a mean dog who was just loose in the neighborhood trying to bite us either. I've always had dogophobia (just ask my mom), and my recent experiences aren't helping me overcome that at all. Jonas on the other hand, just loves them. He's a lot more scared of people than he is of dogs. It really didn't bother him that this mean dog wanted to kill us. He just found it amusing. He loves animals and got to see some this weekend at this farm that we went to. It was very nice weather and they had lots of activities for kids. We got to go on a hay ride, pick pumpkins, and pet some animals. Then we went pretty much straight from that farm to the one that the church owns for the youth activity where James had been asked to give a talk about proper dating. You can probably imagine how amusing it was. He did a great job. He's been very busy with work, callings, and helping the missionaries but still finds time to be with us too.

Skinned knees and camping

Jonas has taken to wanting us to kiss his owies better. This week he fell down and got some pretty skinned knees. He's getting hurt a little more often lately because he likes to run a lot more and when he runs he says " I have ta run" " I have ta run". We also got to go camping at the LBL (code name for Land Between the Lakes) in Kentucky. Even though it was only for one night it was soo nice to be outdoors for a while. The scenery was beautiful. We camped right by a lake and the leaves were just starting to turn colors. Jonas got to experience a campfire with hot dogs, marshmellows, and papa playing the guitar. He did not like going to sleep in the tent by himself though. He cried and cried and cried and cried until we finally gave up and just went to bed so he's stop crying. So much for star gazing. James is pretty good at pointing out the major constellations to me. It always gets me thinking about how vast the universe is and how amazing Heavenly Father's creations are. It was a great beginning to conference weekend. We made an extra effort to be back home in time for the first session. Well worth the effort.

Groovy

Jonas knows a lot of the words to wild thing and it's so fun to hear him sing them, but I decided to post the clip of him dancing because he gets soo into it. Jonas is learning a lot lately. He is learning how to pray and thanked Heavenly Father for tractors three times in his prayer last night. The other pictures are mostly from the last couple of days. We took a walk in the park today and watched the helicopters fly overhead. We see a lot of those around here. The last picture is our "little" friend who lives on the side of our house and really freaks me out. .

cooler weather

The weather has cooled a bit which we are all grateful for and we've even been getting some much prayed for rain. James' schedule is getting very full. He was just called to be the first counselor in the Young Men's presidency in our ward. He was also given a bunch of families to home teach. He's excited for his new calling and for the chance to be involved with scouts. He says he's always known he'd work with the young men cause he was such a trouble maker when he was a young man. In my opinion he still is a young man and a trouble maker too but we love him anyways. Jonas loves his papa and LOVES his papa to play guitar for him. As soon as James walks in the door Jonas says HI! Play guitar for ya? Play guitar for ya? He repeats this over and over until he is at least told , "later". Jonas' favorite song was "sweet home alabama" now it "wild thing". Jonas is a great dancer when he gets his groove on. Jonas and I have also been enjoying trips to the Clarksville library together which has an awsome play area for preschool kids. Our latest adventure as a family was rock climbing on labor day with some friends in our ward. Jonas got bored and tired of watching us climb and after a while he started to try to climb freestyle. Then he got tired and tried to take a nap on a rock. I wish we would have gotten a picture of that it was so cute.