New Mormon Messages

There are some great new Mormon Messages on You Tube;

- Watch Your Step

- Moments That Matter Most

Let me know what you think!

Eric's Final Presentation - April 22nd

For details on Eric's Final Studio presentation, go to this link. It will be at Trolley Square on April 22nd from 5:30 to 7:30pm with awards and remarks at 6:30pm. Hope to see you there!

The Longest Week and a Half

I'm fully expecting the next week and a half to be the longest yet in our marriage. Eric's finishing his final project, which he will present to a jury on April 18th. He will then just have a few little things to do before graduation. This week he's been focusing on his drawings and he hopes to focus on his model next week. Last night he was working on it in the studio at school until 5:30 or 6:00am. Then he came home and slept until 9:30am and got up, got ready, and went back to the grind. He's gradually eliminating sleep during the night. I think that will be the norm until the night of Apr. 18th. Then he'll crash for sure. But at least he'll be done - we can't believe it!

Conference

Latter-day Saint General Conference was last weekend and I just love it! I love being able to hear words from modern-day prophets and apostles. There is always something I need to hear that applies to my life and the concerns/worries/thoughts, etc that I have had of recent. Fortunately, I caught a few pearls of wisdom (I loved Elder Oaks' talk on desires... see/hear/read it at http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2011/04?lang=eng). Unfortunately, Otto is a bit busier and constantly distracting. I'm not gonna lie... there were a few talks I wished I heard more of. In spite of his busy behavior, when a speaker or prayer would finish Otto would say "Amen!" and then continue whatever he was doing.

During the Saturday afternoon session, Otto randomly said, "All done" when he felt like it was time to turn off the TV and stop watching conference. So, I decided it was time for Otto's afternoon snack (he's usually more focused when food is involved). I sat him in his high chair and gave him his snack. He then looked up when a member of the 70 was speaking and immediately folded his arms and bowed his head. He waited a few seconds, said "Amen!" and looked up to see that the general authority was still at the pulpit. He immediately refolded his arms, bowed his head, waited a few seconds then said, "Amen!" Heedless of my comment between prayers that the general authority wasn't praying, Otto repeated this about 5 times until he kind of just gave up on it. It was adorable. We love him so much and in spite of his busy, energetic spirit, are so happy to see that he catches onto things that we try to teach him.

Otto & Friends

Anyone who knows Otto, knows that he's a social bug. He LOVES being around other people. He loves learning from others, watching them (so close he's in their faces sometimes!), being the center of attention, etc, etc. So, here's a little feature of a few of the wonderful buddies he has the pleasure to be around often enough for me to snap an occasional photo (which I need to be better at!).

Playing with towels from our bottom kitchen drawer...

"Oushide!"

I love how all three of these guys are looking in different directions, discovering their own little worlds!
Not a glamor photo of Otto... just getting up after joining his friend on the floor.
"Social time" at the gymnasium of our church building on a cold day...

So, here's to all of the little kids who make it possible for Otto to be thankful for his friends (and possible for him to list them one by one in prayers or wake up saying their names or walk around the house begging to play with one, or all, of them...). Thanks to those not pictured, too! Thanks for being so fun!

Spring Fever

"I've got the madness... I've got cabin fever!!! I've got it toooooooooo!" Name that movie and you get a prize... :)

This warm weather has been a nice break from the bitter cold we had a bit ago. Unfortunately, I don't think it'll last much longer - the news reported snow beginning this evening. I guess we'll have to start bundling up to go "shouside" when Otto requests it. *sigh*

Fun with talking

Otto is beginning to get better at talking and is getting a larger vocabulary quickly. So, before it gets better and I begin to forget, I just wanted to share some of the fun things he says/used to say;
- "ga!" which means, "grandpa" or "grandma" (which is now "ga ka!"or "ball"... not sure how the two are connected
- "die!!!" (with a wave) which means, "Bye!"... I keep worrying our friends with English as a second language will think, "why does he keep yelling that to us as we leave?!"
- Eric taught him that when a truck goes in reverse it goes "beep, beep, beep" and then when it stops it goes, "cshhhhh" (the air brakes stopping). So now he does it when he's walking in reverse as well as when he's playing with his trucks. SOOO cute!
- "gurt" for yogurt
- names (Aub-ah for Aubrey, Syce for Bryce, Ash for Charlotte, Ad-uh for Aida, Gee-yun for Jillian... and more)