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.

We're starting to get more used to Tennessee. It's stinkin hot here and the area is experiencing a drought. We spend a lot of time inside during the day. Jonas has become very enthused with Buzz Lightyear. I got a few shots of some of the things he's been up to lately. Just like Tea, he loves dress up. James will be seeing his first patient here soon. I wanted a shot of him in his army fatigues for everyone at home.

New Place

It feels good to be settling somewhere. We both had a great time at home. James said it was one of the best vacations he's ever had. Jonas felt kind of disoriented but he had so much fun playing with the cousins and terrorizing the pets. He loves our new house and is really enjoying seeing all of his old toys again. Our new house is a little small for the amount of storage we've acquired but too large for the amount of furniture we've acquired. It's also nice and very close to James' work with the added bonus of having a park right across the street from it.

May 2007

Graduation Time, WOO HOO!!

I know it's been a long time since I last updated the blog. Ever since I started working, my spare time really gets away from me. There hasn't been too many changes though. Despite it's being April we are still freezing cold here and even had a full blown snow storm last week. James completed his last day of classes and clinic last week and is now officially on vacation. He's going to be working on getting a license and we'll both be working on packing up. Jonas is now walking and getting faster every day. His latest hobbies include: talking a whole bunch of jibberish, learning new words, chasing a raquetball around the house, watching helicopters and airplanes, dancing to a rap song about spring break on homestarrunner.com, playing on his "computer", and having contests with James to see who can most emphatically say YUMMYYYYYY during a meal. He still loves to read books and pretty much just do whatever he sees James doing including push ups.

Neverending Winter

We are so ready to get out of the cold. It seems like it has been snowy and cold FOREVER. We are starting to forget what warm weather feels like. Jonas is doing his best to stay entertained while indoors all the time. He is starting to walk but still prefers crawling for most of his getting around.We took advantage of being close to Detroit and went to the car show for the first time. James also had his last rotation in a town on the west border of the state. Jonas and I traveled to visit him half way through the week. Jonas chose this time to lose his lunch all over himself. It was quite the adventure.