Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Ours was fun, except that everyone seemed to be sick. Tyler has had goop coming out of his eyes for 3 days now. He wakes up with his eyes glues shut every morning and after every nap. It looks like someone beat him up. He was up until 1am crying last night. I felt so bad for him! Jeff and I woke up with sore throats, and my voice is very hoarse right now. People in both my and Jeff's families were also sick, but still Christmas was very fun. We started the day out at Jeff's family's house. Tyler got a bunch of toys and clothes. He was pretty happy when he wasn't tired, even though he looked miserable. It was kind of funny, he got a Mr. Potato Head and a Little People Firestation Playset, but once he saw Sadie's Teaset, he forgot all about his toys and went to play with her. The two of them also had a lot of fun running from a Toy robot Brandon got for Christmas. Jeff got me an Ipod Nano, which I have been wanting forever! He really spoiled me :) I got him a shop vac and a couple other little things, nothing like the Ipod. We also got to talk to Scott, who is on a mission until May. Time really flies, it seems like he just left! Then we went to see my family. We had dinner and got a bunch more good stuff, and then had a wonderful dessert that Susan (the queen of delicious desserts) made. When we got home, Ty was a little tired, but still had fun playing with all of his new toys. I sure hope he gets better soon! Just as a little side note, I'd like to share our experience we had last night. Ty fell asleep a couple of times, but after a few minutes would wake up and scream for what seemed like hours. He looked and sounded so miserable. Finally, after feeling like he would never stop, I decided to ask Jeff to give him a blessing. Right when Jeff said the first sentence of the prayer, Tyler stopped crying. It was such an amazing experience. It really helped strenghthen my testimony. I don't remember ever having a prayer answered so quickly. We took Ty into the frontroom, set him on Jeff's lap, and he was instantly asleep and stayed that way for the rest of the night, even after we put him back in bed. Anyway, I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I hope we all can have experiences like this throughout our lives that will testify and renew our faith in Christ.

Halloween

I was just reading my sisters blog and realized that I didn't post about Halloween! I don't have pictures yet. I forgot to take my camera, but my Father-in-law and Mike took some that I will have to get and post later. Mike is a friend that we met on our online game, World of Warcraft. We have known him through the game for a little over 2 years. He came down with his friend from Australia for a month and stayed with us. He left on Tuesday. It was sad to see him go, it was fun having him here, but atleast now he can go home and live in a house that has a bathroom (work on remodeling our bathroom stopped while he was here, so we have been sharing with our renters).

Tyler was so cute! I dressed him up as a pumpkin and painted his face orange. Mike and I took him out because Jeff was at work. The whole time we tried to get him to say Trick-or-Treat, but he wouldn't. He didn't even look happy, and we couldn't figure out what was wrong. We only went up and down our street and then Jeff came home. We all got in the car to go see Jeff's family, and on the way Ty threw up all over his costume. I caught some of it in my hand, Yuck!! Maybe he was sick from eating too much candy (he really only had a few pieces). He had been throwing up a couple days before then, ever since he got his flu shot, but he seemed fine the last couple of days. Who knows. We decided to just take him home instead of going to Salt Lake to see Grandma and Grandps Johnson (sorry guys). Hopefully next year will be more fun for him.

Little Helper

Tyler has turned into quite the little helper. He is understanding so much more, so now we can ask him to do things, and he will do them. I was raking the leaves today, and when he wasn't ruining the piles I had just raked by running through and kicking leaves everywhere, he was picking the leaves up and putting them in the bag. Sometimes he would take them back out again, but oh well. I actually took some pictures, too!

Well, I can't find my camera and I usually don't like to post unless I have a picture to go along with it, but I decided it's time to give a quick update anyway. I have been babysitting my neice and nephew for a couple of weeks now. Tyler seems to really like having kids to play with. He has started to sit around and look at me like he is bored out of his mind when they aren't around and I am not paying attention to him. He is talking so much now. He repeats everything. He now asks for food and drink by saying "Cacko?" Which is supposed to be cracker. When he says good bye he says, "bye ty ty". He also sings the "e-i-e-i-o" part of old McDonald. He is getting 2 of his mollars, so now he has 8 teeth. I felt pretty bad, today I moved a chair he was sitting in and he fell back and hit his ear on it, it instantly bruised, he started screaming and then he started throwing up! Poor baby! He is okay, though he has a big black welt on his ear.
We have been remodeling our bathroom for the last week or so. Jeff works 11 to 8 on most days and we have renters that go to bed early, so we don't really have much time to work on it most days. We have everything cleared out, the lath and plaster, the laminate, the appliances, etc. Our house is covered in dust, and I am going crazy because I can't keep it clean!! I can't wait until we are done. We were going to work on the walls tomorrow, but Home Depot was out of the sheet rock we needed. What are the odds? We'll probably have to go to a different one. We have friends coming to visit in October from Australia!! And I want to have a bathroom by then, so if anyone wants to help :)

July

We have done a lot of fun things this July. At the begining of the month, I went to the Manti Pagent and to Young Women's camp with my ward. Both trips were very fun and spiritual. I forgot my camera on both trips, so I don't have any pictures. On the weekend of the 13th our famiyl went to a family reunion at Bear Lake. It was fun! We went last year when Tyler was only about 6 months old. He hated the water and didn't sleep very well at night. This time he loved the water, and slept half way through the night, then woke up to come sleep with me and Jeff because it was cold. The water was freezing in the Lake, and it was pretty shallow in the part swimmers were aloud to go in. This was a good thing for Tyler, since he was able to walk on his own and play without being in his baby floater. He still fell down quite a bit and got his first taste of swimming lessons. He and his cousin, Jackson, played in the buckets of water we had for the hole in the hose we used to fill up water balloons. Ty loved the ballons, too. There was one time I was eating with him on my lap. He had a balloon that wasn't very full, so I didn't think he could pop it. Well, I was wrong, half way through the meal we were both soaking wet. There is also a picture I am posting where Tyler did a face plant in the sand. It was sad to see him cry, but so funny to see him totally covered with mud because he had been playing in the water so he was soaking wet when he fell. It was a pretty fun trip. Then this last weekend we went to Ashley National Forest on the North fork of the Duchesne. I may have spelled tha wrong. Anyway, we went with my parents, my cousin Susan, and my sister Brittany and her family. It was a fun trip. There was a river that they fished in (we didn't have a lisence), and we played card games and went on a couple of walks. It was a very peaceful place, except during the first night when there were some loud drunk people that were driving their truck around dangerously in the middle of the night. Tyler spent most of the trip playing with Jackson, and trying to run away. That's one hard thing about taking a toddler on camping trips, they have way too much space to explore. He didn't take very long naps while we were there. I am glad we don't have any more trips planned at the moment so he can catch up on his sleep. He has started to copy sentences. He can say, "I love you" and a bunch of other stuff. He's really grown fast mentally in the last little while. I love him so much! Anyway, thanks to all my family who made the last camping trip so fun!

It's A Miracle!

It's a good thing my computer saved my name and password to this blog, because I don't remember what they are. I know it's been a very long time since I posted, but I either forget or just don't have time. Anyway, here's a quick update. We have loved living upstairs with a bedroom for Tyler. I have definately been able to get more things done without his crib being in the frontroom. I have also been more aware of keeping my yard clean. I planted a flower garden, and my sister-in-law, Angie, helped me plant a vegetable garden, which is growing fast. Our house is really starting to look better. We hope to paint it some time this summer if we can afford it.
Tyler is getting so big (for Tyler), he weighs a little over 20lbs and can finally wear 12 month clothes, although he is still able to fit into 3 month shorts. He has been learning pretty quickly these last couple of months. He copies what people say, although you can't understand him. His favorite word right now is "ewwww", and he pronouncing that quite clearly and loudly. He can say, "up please", which sounds more like, "uh mmm", but it gets the point across. He also copies sounds, like a chair scraping across the floor, someone whistling, or if the phone beeps when it's battery is low. It's funny to see what sounds he is tries to immitate.
Tyler loves the water. He loves taking a bath. I think that's the time when I see him the happiest. He splashes and scoots around on his tummy. By the time it's time to wash his hair, it's already soaked. He has learned to climb into the tub, so I frequently find him with a soaking wet bum because our faucet leaks. Jeff put him in the sink one day. He was entertained for about an hour. I had to pry him out of it so I could get stuff done without worrying about him doing a faceplant off the sink. So if you are ever babysitting for me and he is being hard to handle, put him in water!!
There was a deer in our yard today. It was huge! I posted a picture of it. I can't believe I actually had a camera when I needed one! Well, that's all the new stuff I can think of right now. Hopefully I will be able to post again soon!

Moving and Teething

In the past little while I have not had very much free time. We moved at the beggining of March into the upstairs of our Duplex, and it's been quite time consumming to get it straightened out. I love it though! Tyler has his own room, which is by far the best part about it. Living in a one bedroom apartment was getting pretty hard. I like that I can clean the house and have people knock on the door and call on the phone without waking Tyler up from his nap. Speaking of sleeping, Tyler has been taking very long naps lately. He has been teething, so maybe that is the reason. One of his top front teeth has broken through, and the other seems to on it's way through too. He has been pretty whinney since we moved. He cries when I leave the room and follows me everywhere throwing tantrums. He's only happy if I am in the same room as he is, and he has to have atleast one of his hands or hip or leg touching me. He's so clingy! He has been learning a lot lately pretty quickly. I taught him how to blow kisses yesterday, and he even remembered how to do it when he woke up from his nap. He copies people a lot, not with words, but with funny sounds. And when he falls, if he doesn't get hurt, he will raise his eyebrows and say "Oooh" with his lips in a very exaggerated "Oooh" position. It's so funny! He is also very good at climbing on and off of things, but he still cannot walk without help. He is getting closer, though. He and Sadie love to climb on our Love Sac.
We have new renters named Jeanell and David Mansfield. Jeff knew them and his mission, and he actually baptized Jeanell. I love have them live downstairs! They are fun and they keep me company a lot when Jeff is working. I miss having the Perkins living here, but I still babysit Sadie, so I see Angie a lot. We are also going to plant a vegetable garden, and Angie said she would help with it. It's going to be fun!!

Update

It is very hard to come up with titles to my blog entries. Anyway, I took Tyler to the doctor about a week ago. He had ear infections in both fo his ears, and he was starting to get dehydrated from throwing up so much. He had stopped throwing up the day I took him, in, so they just told me to watch him and give him as many liquids as I could. I also got an antibiotic for his ears. He is healthy now. He didn't smile or laugh when he was sick. It was very depressing, but now he smiles and plays and laughs all the time. It's so nice to have him back to normal! He says "uh-oh" all the time. At first he would just randomly say it, but now he says it as he is throwing something on the floor, or if he falls and doesn't get hurt. He has started to play a game where he will just let himslef drop on a pillow or our love sack and say "ah-boo" because I say "ah-boom" when I do it. He loves it! And it's so fun to play with him. He loves Jeff. Jeff will come home from work and play with him and getting him to laugh until he has tears in his eyes. He's still afraid to let go of things when he tries to walk, and he still only has 2 teeth! Well, anyway, here are some pictures I took yesterday and a couple from his birthday party (3 weeks ago :o)

Sick Household

Almost everyone that lives with us right now (including the Perkins family) either has a cold or the flu. Unfortunately, Tyler has both. He started throwing up on Saturday, and has been sleeping and crying ever since. He just lays on the floor all day, rolling around crying. He can't keep any solid food down. He follows me when I leave his side, and if I am sitting on the floor, he lays his head in my lap and falls asleep. I though he was getting better because he had so much energy yesterday, so I gave him some yogurt today. He took a nap, woke up in dire need of a diaper change, I gave him a bath and he threw the yogurt all up. He then slept most of the day again. It is so sad to see him like this. It makes me feel bad for complaining about how much he cries to be held when he isn't sick. He is so much worse right now. I have a pretty bad sinus cold, and every time he cries I feel like my head is going to explode. I think I will wait on taking him into a doctor, a nurse I talked to (my sister, Katie) told me they wouldn't be able to do anything unless he is dehydrated. The bug just needs to work it's course. I hope he gets better soon. I really miss his laughs and smiles!

I'm Not Very Good At This Blog Thing

I usually don't like to post a new entry unless I have a picture, which has been the reason it has taken so long to post again. I still don't have a picture, but I am still going to post. Anyway, we had a pretty good Christmas and New Years. We had a lot of family in town because my sister-in-law, Katie, got married on December 30Th, so we got to spend Christmas a New Years Eve with family who normally would have been in another state. Sara and Jay (Jeff's sister and her husband) came from Oregon, and Katie (who normally lives in Wyoming, but has been in Utah for the past couple of months). Plus a couple of extended family members. Tyler didn't seem too interested in what he got for Christmas, or even in trying to open them. But he has been playing with them a lot lately. He likes to put stuff inside of boxes and garbage cans, and then take it back out. He got a tooth brush for Christmas that I let him chew on, and it suddenly went missing for about a week. One day I decided to look in the bathroom garbage, and there it was! Luckily there wasn't anything gross in the garbage. I've also found clothing and toys in the garbage. He is starting to understand and obey things, like when I ask him what he has in his hand or mouth, he will reach it out and show it to me. He can clap, which is something he does whether he is happy or crying. He can climb on things. The other day he was by my nightstand and there was a little tiny box on the floor that he decided to use for a step stool. It was funny because he could only fit one foot on it, but still tried to put them both on. I can't believe that he is turning 1! And his birthday is tomorrow!!! It's crazy how fast time goes by. Anyway, I intend to take pictures of his birthday party, which won't be until Sunday, and I will post them as soon as possible.