Smokey Mtns

So this is me being a not so assertive mom, "Jonas, how about we say prayers and then it's time for you to go to bed?" This is Jonas being a very assertive little boy, "How bout no." For all of his independence, we took him hiking this weekend at the Smokey Mtns National Park with Granny and Grandpa Powell, and when we really wanted him to be independent and walk part of the trails he decided that it would be easier for him if we just carried him the whole time. Actually he wanted just mommy to carry him. We still had a lot of fun though and I LOVED the smokey mountains. There are lots of beautiful waterfalls to hike to and places to just pull over and stare at the gorgeous view. Also, because this park gets soo many people visiting every year, there is literally anything and everything in Gatlinburg TN. Any type of entertainment or restaurant known to man is in that town. We mostly just focused on enjoying the park, but thanks to Granny we did get to go to Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. It's kind of like the knight show in Las Vegas where you don't get any silverware for your meal and you get to watch this cool show while you eat, only the show was different. It was all about cowboys and rodeo tricks and stuff. Jonas loved it and is still talking about it.

This month is what James calls celebrate Amber month. I have my birthday, our anniversary, and mothers day all within about a week and a half of each other. This is fun for me but then ya know all my special days are clumped together and James has a hard time thinking of what to get me for all three days at once. It's very stressful for him. But he does a great job. We planned on going to a rodeo on my birthday but a tornado came through and touched down at the fair grounds that night effectively canceling anything planned there. We ended up eating dinner with some friends and I got to play guitar hero for the first time. Yeah I wasn't very good but it was fun.
Then for our anniversary we had a hard time finding a babysitter at first, but we did eventually find some friends that watched Jonas for us while we went to a movie. We saw Iron Man cause everyone's been saying that it's just soo good. Then we picked Jonas up and went to a nice restaurant. For mother's day I woke up at 4 to a screaming child, went to church and chased after some 2 year olds in nursery trying to get them to make a mother's day card for their mothers and to keep their shoes on and not turn off the light etc etc etc. The rest of the day was nice. Talking to moms and just hanging out. So now I'm thirty years old, I've been married for 5 yrs., and I've got an awsome little boy who makes me so happy every day even though he wakes me up waaaay to early. Most friends and family know this by now but we are also expecting baby #2 in December. We are so excited and happy about being able to add to our family. Jonas is also excited and consistently will tell us when we ask him that he'd rather had a little brother than a little sister. He wants to name him Leo, Quincey, or Rocket. Can you tell what he's obssessed with right now? Well if you aren't into watching kiddie movies, it's the little einstiens. He even told us that he can learn little Rocket how to shoot his dart gun.
I also have to say that I'm so grateful for my husband.I can't believe that we've been married for 5 yrs. It's gone by so fast. James has accomplished a lot and I'm grateful for how motivated he is. Around our house I'm more of the procrastinator and James gets things done. He is very patient to put up with my moods too. Especially my pregnant moods. He doesn't let a day go by without telling me that he loves me and thanking me for making food for him. That's definitely the way to his heart! I can even occasionally get him to watch a chick flick with me. These are just a few of the reasons I love him, but I don't want to get too mushy on my blog. Well,celebrate Amber week is over for this year so I'll guess I'll start looking forward to Christmas :)

busy week

This last week was pretty busy for us. We had fun going bowling with a couple of friends. We went to the on post bowling alley. Imagine a 100% smoke free bowling lane. There are some advantages to army life. Unfortunately the smokefree air did not help my game and I am still one of the worst bowlers ever. Jonas had a lot of fun the first game. He of course would just basically drop the ball and we had to hurry and push it before it was out of reach so it would make it all the way to the pins. During the second game Jonas kind of lost some interest and just wanted to run around the bowling alley.

At the end of the week we went to Nashville for the 1/2 marathon that I had talked James into doing with me months ago. We did survive. BARELY! Just kidding we had a lot of fun, thanks to Laura and Drew who watched Jonas for us. On our way to the race I was anything but excited however because we had hardly slept the night before, we had to wake up at 4:30 to get there on time, I just wasn't feeling that well, and then while waiting in line for the shuttle to take us to the start of the race we got rained on which made us shiver cause it was still kind of cool outside. Of course once we started running we were fine and luckily the cloud cover kept up for the whole race. James who had not trained at all made it look easy and to his credit he stayed with me the whole time. I did a lot better than I thought I would and kept going until the last few miles where I started getting really really tired. There were thousands of people running in the race and so many people on the sidelines cheering us on as well. It was a great feeling to cross the finish line. We finished in our estimated time and we didn't puke which was one of my goals. Running the marathon made me think about how when we have to go through some trial in life that seems impossibly hard and long lasting, sometimes we have more strength to get through it than we think we do or else we are given more strength than we would normally have. Because I really didn't think that I was going to survive it and I did. That day we all three came home and crashed on the living room floor. The next day James and I were so sore that we were walking weird. But we both agreed that it was a very fun experience.

guitar
violin
trumpet


Jonas received a little t-ball set for easter. Now that it's nice outside we've been having fun with it. He likes it but likes to hit the ball vertically or just tap it forward instead of swinging at it. I think we did manage to finally get a few swings out of him last time. He has also been having fun taking the t-ball set apart and using it as different musical instruments. He likes to jam out to the songs from the movie cars especially "route 66".


He has also been going to "school". It's an in home day care on post that he's been going to two days a week so I can get some work experience. He did have some anxiety about it but he seems to be adjusting quickly. He likes being with other kids and there is a really nice dog at the house that Jonas loves. James is hoping that this will make Jonas less of a mommas boy. Hopefully it will be good for him. I think sometimes that it's harder on me than it is on Jonas. In other moments I am glad for a little break.

I took Jonas to the playground after dinner the other night. We were having fun and were about to go to the swings which are Jonas' favorite when he said to me, "are you my best friend?". Awww so cute.

A looong post

hotel in Atlanta


in the cave
in the cave
camping

James demonstrating just one of the several thousand uses of a bandanna while camping









new handles





I really appreciate the comments on my last post. Unfortunately since my last post I've experienced more public tantrums and aggression from the little guy. I've changed his timeout spot to a more undesirable one though so hopefully that will bring about some improved behavior. If not I guess I'll just have to wait for Seth's book about discipline techniques to be published.
I've had several posts that I've been meaning to do lately so I'm going to try and combine them in this one. The first picture is the hotel that James stayed in when he had to go to Atlanta a couple of weeks ago for a dental conference. It happened to be the very weekend that a huge tornado swept through the downtown area. You can see several windows were blown out. Luckily James' window was not. I was talking to him on the phone his last night there and he kept commenting on the huge storm outside his window. Then he made me nervous because he was sounding worried himself when he told me that huge chunks of something were flying through the air outside his window. It really takes a lot to get James nervous about a storm so I knew it had to be bad. I guess we need to get used to tornado weather while we continue to live in the south for the next few years. I just need to convince James that tornadoes are in fact dangerous and it is in fact a good idea to take cover when a tornado is coming through your area.

The few pictures after that are a trip that we took to mammoth cave. We got to go into the mammoth cave which is the largest in the world (over 300 miles). Of course we only got to see about a quarter of a mile of it but still very neat. At the cave's entrance Jonas got a little nervous because it looked so dark. He said" I don't go in the cave" but we got him in there and he loved it. We then went camping at a site nearby the cave. It was a lot of fun. Jonas kept himself busy around the campsite and went to bed that night without a peep.

The other few pictures are of the easter egg hunt we did for Jonas. We did the hunt on Saturday just inside the house. He loved it but it was similar to his birthday in that he was so interested in each individual egg he found that he really needed a lot of prodding to continue to look for eggs.

The last pictures are for mom and dad. I wanted them to see the new tv armoire we found on Craig's list. We removed the original handles to some more updated ones which was kind of a pain, but I think well worth it.

Okay I just have to tell the funny thing that Jonas said tonight. He was really having trouble falling asleep. So I let him get up and get a drink. Then told him to go back to bed. "Will you tuck me in?" he asked with his cute puppy dog eyes. So I tuck him in and kiss his cheek and decide to be so so nice and lay down to sing him twinkle twinkle little star before I leave. I guess he's outgrowing that song because I didn't get very far before he said, "now get out of my crib". His crib is more like a bed now but he still calls it a crib. Anyways, how rude but I was laughing too hard to really be hurt by it.

Fun at the Playground

I looove to throw these tiny rocks!





Who needs legs?





I took Jonas to the playground a couple of weeks ago to get these pictures. He is doing a lot more lately, learning so fast. He was climbing up this curved ladder at the playground and my tendency to be a helicopter mom was kicking in, but I let him try it and he made it up and back down a few times.It surprised me because often he's pretty cautious to try new things. He is now also very good at using the mouse on his leapfrog computer game. Just a couple of weeks ago he needed our help to play the games that used the little computer mouse but now he can play on his own and would do it all day if I let him. He is excited to go camping now that the weather is warm. He is also very into four wheeling in papa's truck or boony bouncin as James taught him to call it. Jonas once asked me if I would take him boony bouncin and I told him that only Papa knows how. Later he asked James to take him boony bouncin and James agreed and then Jonas said, "YOU know how". Of course with all this new learning also comes the desire to do everything independently, and have things his way. Jonas has always been very strong willed (wonder where he gets that from? =) I had my first experience with leaving my items where they were in the grocery store and dragging out a screaming flailing child to the car with many onlookers. Of course the fun times far outweigh the difficult and I just try to remind myself that he is still learning how not to be a little monster. Most of the time he does pretty well especially if his mom makes sure he gets enough sleep.

waiting for spring

future Bono

"should we play soccer mom?"

afternoon church

We have been very busy lately. James has been busy at work and working with the young men in our ward. He went on an overnight backpacking trip with them. Yes it was cold that night but the next day was actually warm and they all had a good time. Now it's cold and rainy again. I'm so excited for spring! Jonas got to come with me to work as I was in charge of a speech and language group for little ones last Monday. He had a great time and always loves being with other kids although he does turn into a "that's mine" monster at some point whenever he's around other kids. It was really nice that he could just come with me.
One of the funny things he's done lately is that he takes the wire for his monitor and puts the little end in his ear and holds the other end and then sings one line of a U2 song over and over like this, "he runs like a riverrrrrrrrrrrrr". I think he puts that wire in his ear because he saw this Disney music video and he really liked it so of course he wanted to watch it over and over and over again. I'm pretty sure he's trying to imitate those kids.

Perseveration

I need to know if other kids do this. After the 4th of July for months and months actually until Christmas Jonas kept telling us "firecackers are loud". I can't tell you how many times we heard this but it was several times a day. When we went home for Christmas my mom had some big nutcrackers on the fireplace. Jonas was very scared of them and would not get close to them. We had to tell him that nutcrackers are fake they're not real, they're made of wood. Ever since then Jonas seems to have forgotten about firecrackers, but he needs to tell me all the time that nutcrackers are fake. Then he tries to explain to me the process of cracking a nut in the nutcrackers mouth. He was even telling another little girl that I was babysitting that nutcrackers are fake. The connection between firecrackers and nutcrackers is that he was very scared of both of them. He seems to get fascinated with things that he is scared of.

Tagged again

It was fun to read your tag Jessica.
Sorry it has taken so long for me to do mine.

A. The rules are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names; then goes to there blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged.

10 years ago:
I was in my second year at snow college trying to decide what to do next.

Snacks I enjoy:
I totally agree with Jessica on one favorite snack, gummy bears, especially the chocolate covered cinnamon type. Another favorite is popcorn and lately I have loved snacking on nuts, dried cherries, pink lady apples, pretzels and peanut butter. I love snacks can you tell?

5 things on my to-do-list today:
1. take Jonas to his Dr. appt.
2. babysit my friend's daughter
3. check on my other friend's cats and get her mail while she's away
4. do laundry
5. call ward member about upcoming ward activity


Things I would do if I were suddenly made a billionaire:
Pay off student loans, buy a house, take me and my family and James' family on a tropical vacation, pay for a deserving student's college education




3 of my bad habits:
1. I love to eat really dark chocolate
2. I love to hit the snooze button instead of just getting up
3. Something that really bugs James, I don't squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom of the tube and I don't put the cap back on it either

5 places I have lived:
1. Kearns UT
2. Hungary
3. Logan UT
4. Ann Arbor Michigan

Jobs I have had: server at a wedding reception center, worked in the playroom at the bowling ally, scanning girl at Bear River Insurance co., teller at grocery store, graduate assistant, JC Penney salesperson, Speech Therapist, Mom

Things people don't know about me:
1. I just found out that I've lost some hearing in one ear so I'm partially deaf.So, next time you see me talk into my left ear.
2. I like to read encyclopedias
3. I am a perpetual toe stubber. I accidentally stub my toes almost daily.


I tag

Laura, Diantha, Courtney P., Amy P., and Kim B.

I've been tagged....by a book worm!!!

This one's from Laura.


Here are the instructions for those who I'm going to tag:

1. Grab your nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag 10 different people. (5 will do too)

Regimental headquarters' planes were the heaviest hit. Colonel Sink and his executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Chase, nearly suffered the same fate as Easy Company's commander on D-Day when both of their aircraft were struck by enemy antiaircraft fire as they approached the drop zone. As Sink saw a part of the wing dangle, he turned to his men and said, "Well, there goes the wing," but nobody seemed to think much about it.

Beyond Band of Brothers
The War Memoirs of Major Dick Winters

I'm going to take Laura's approach and tag people that don't even have a blog in the hopes that they will happen to see this and feel the desire to get one going. I tag Angie H., Liz P., Melinda C, Kerry P., and Kristin K.

Tornado Weather

The last couple of days have been so warm here which we though was great but then we were warned by locals that it's actually a bad sign of tornado weather. Last night, in the middle of the night, the wind was howling and the thunder was booming so loudly that it woke us all up. Then the rain started driving against the house so loudly that I thought it was hail and that it was actually coming in. I got up and checked on Jonas. He was trying to sleep through it all by covering his ears but he never got scared by any of it. Then this loud siren was wailing and there was even a voice with the siren although I couldn't tell what it was saying. It was the tornado warning and I'm sure we should have taken cover in a closet or bathroom. Instead, we just stayed in bed and after a while all was quiet and we were able to go back to sleep. I was sorry to hear of people who had died and had their homes wrecked by the storm. I think next time, I will definitely take cover as advised. Last night despite the warmer weather here, I was missing the safety of Salt Lake's beautiful mountains. What is worse, putting up with a whole mess of snow, ice, and freezing wind, or potentially dying and/or having your house wrecked by a tornado?

Long Weekend

James had a Friday and following Monday off of work for MLK day so we took advantage and wend to Nashville on Friday. We had a lot of fun at the mall there where we went to an aquarium restaurant. On Saturday James and I went out to see National Treasure 2. James even liked it and was prepared for the somewhat hokey plot this time so he didn't make fun of it as much as he did the first one. On Monday we got invited to one of James' patients' house for lunch. His patient just happens to be Hungarian and was very surprised when James told him that his wife had been to Hungary and can speak Hungarian. He made us one of my favorite Hungarian meals that I miss a lot, plus some very tasty desserts, and not only that but he made tons of extra and sent us home with quite a bit of food plus some more recipe books. He and his wife were extremely generous and kind which is how I found most of the Hungarians to be, especially when it comes to making food for others. Jonas had a great time at their house too. When we first arrived he was acting kind of funny. Not only shy but kind of listless. We sat down to eat and he wanted to sit in my lap. A few moments later he was throwing up. But this time thanks to James I was prepared with a towel to catch it. Luckily there wasn't very much and a mess was avoided. This was much better than the last barfing episode which took place at church during Sunday school with absolutely no warning and landed all in mommy's lap. Only there was a lot more of it in that case.
We took off the front part of Jonas' crib so he can climb in and out. He's been pretty good about staying in bed when we put him down. I think it's just because he is so used to the routine. I wonder how long it will last. His new phrase: "I'm so excited"

New Goals

I'll probably be cursing myself for a while over the next few months, but I decided to make one of my goals this year to complete the Country Music half-marathon in Nashville in April. This is an attempt to motivate myself to get in shape. I love running but I need a motivator. So far, I'm motivated and so is James cause I talked him into running it with me. He's gonna really enjoy all that nice country music while he's running. There are supposed to be live bands playing for the runners along the way. I've started working out on post and it's so nice to have a place to run where it's not cold and I don't have to worry about killer dogs. Wish me luck.

Jonas had a hard time when we got back from vacation. The terrible two's syndrome was in full swing for a while and he was spending a lot of time in time out. However I think, although it's nowhere near over, that he might have learned some things because he's been a lot better the last couple of days. He's really picking up on a lot of our expressions. He was trying to get my attention the other day as I was walking down the hall. I was just trying to get some things done and I guess not paying enough attention to what he was saying cause he followed be down the hall saying "look at me Amber, look at me!" I'm so grateful to have a little one that cracks me up every day.

Happy New Year

It was great to go home for the holidays this year. Jonas had a great time following his cousins around. He was even bordering on friendly with Aunts and Uncles and of course had no problems warming up to both sets of Grandparents. Instead of being super clingy, he didn't really want a lot to do with us because there was always so much going on at both houses. He's been asking for people, namely Preston, Wesley, Granny, and Aunt Mo. He enjoyed his airplane rides and wants to do that again very soon. He is still trying to catch up on his sleep though and we are certainly paying for that. He's been either extremely mad or extremely happy. Maybe that's just cause he's two.

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.