Happy Birthday, Joshua!!!

Yesterday was Joshua's birthday (I know that's obvious from the post title, but meh)! I can't believe we have a one-year-old. It's so strange. Anyway, we had a little mini-party for him that evening, and Aunt Kirsti and Uncle Rich were kind enough to come over and help us out with taking pictures and stuff. I think he felt pretty well-celebrated! He got a Learn & Groove Musical Table (thanks for your suggestions, everyone!) and three pairs of shoes (he was in desperate need)...not a ton of stuff, but he didn't really seem to care anyway. It took him forever to get into the cake itself, but once he did, he had a grand old time, as evidenced by the picture--which is probably one of my favorite pictures of him ever. Thanks, Aunt Kirsti, for taking it! I've posted a ton of pictures over on our website, so go there to see more of the action. Happy Birthday, Joshua! We are so grateful you came into our lives one year ago, and we hope many many more years lay ahead of you!

We also took videos, and I now know how to post them. I know, I know, it's about time. There are quite a few, so we split them up. Feel free to browse through them as you so desire. The first one is of opening his first present with Daddy:

We switched places for the next present. Make sure you watch the end, as he really starts to get excited about his present. =)

And finally, here's the birthday cake! We tried to get him to blow out the candle himself, but 1) he wasn't really cooperating and 2) even if he had, a bunch of spit probably would have come out as well, and we didn't really think Kirsti and Rich would have liked Joshua spit on the cake. But it's still cute!

Sad news...There is one more video of him doing the cake smashing (which took a lot of coaxing and prodding, but he eventually gave in...who can't resist chocolate?), but it's too big to upload here. You'll have to be satisfied with the pictures on our website, and if you want to see the video, come visit us and we can show it to you! =)

It's almost Joshua's birthday...

First of all, for those who aren't already aware, Joshua turns the big 0-1 this Thursday! I can't believe it's been almost an entire year since he came into our lives. My little guy is growing up...*sniff sniff* In case anybody is interested, we're going to have a little mini-party, cake included, that night around 6:30. If you'd like to show up, we'd love to have you! But please let me know if you're coming so we can make sure we have enough cake. Just email me or leave a comment.

And now, pictures! I know it's been awhile since I've posted pictures of him. The first two were taken at a Christmas dinner we had with some of my old roommates. Joshua just happened to be wearing overalls and playing with the plastic fishing pole and accompanying fish that my mom got him for his birthday (they're bath toys), and I saw this hat lying around (also courtesy of Grandma), so I put it on him and Cody ran for the camera. This could have been a Halloween costume, don't you think?And here's our Christmas tree. We decided to get a real one for the last time, and hopefully there will be some artificial ones on sale after Christmas (we're looking forward to a pre-lit one!):Here's Cody and Joshua during our ward Christmas breakfast yesterday morning. I was really trying to get Joshua to smile, but...silly kid. He had a great time crawling around the back of the cultural hall while about five other kids walked around him. You could almost see him thinking, "Someday I'll be able to walk around like them!" He does walk a little, as I think I've mentioned before, but I think he might have been a little intimidated yesterday. And he can only do about 8-10 steps at a time before he topples over. He's getting the hang of it, though. Now that we have our video camera fixed, I should post some videos...hopefully soon!

On a sad side note, unfortunately Cody was let go from his job at Target on Friday night. He showed up, all ready to work, and for some reason he wasn't on the schedule...after talking to the team leader, he found out they had let him go (without even telling him!), apparently because they hired too many people for the holidays. It was a big blow, as now we're looking at an even slimmer Christmas, but at least we'll have him home for sure on days like Christmas Eve. Just please keep us in your prayers--money is extremely tight, as I'm sure it is for everyone!

Our New Car!!!

There it is, our new car. It's a 2007 Toyota Camry, with about 36,000 miles on it, CD player, keyless entry/alarm, cruise control, and plenty of leg room. We got a great deal on it. We had to drive up to this place in Bountiful to get it, but it was worth it. The only hard part about the whole thing is that now we have a monthly car payment...but hey, it'll be worth it! Yay!

I was on the radio!!!

I always listen to Christmas music while I'm at work...since I don't have any decorations up in my office and I have no windows to look outside at the (nonexistent thus far) snow, it helps me remember that it really is December and Christmas really is only two weeks away (holy cows! I need to do some shopping!). Anyway, for those of you who are not familiar with Utah radio, FM100 plays continuous Christmas music starting November 1st (although I haven't been listening to it since then, don't worry). So, when I got to work this morning and started up the Christmas music, I heard something about sending an email to enter some contest. I didn't even hear what it was for, but I figured, hey, why not?

Seriously, less than five minutes after I sent my email, I got a phone call..."Hi, this is Brian and Rebecca from FM100's morning show!" Aaack! I was totally taken off guard. They joked about me working in an engineering department and asked me if I knew how to make a diamond, to which I told them I didn't but maybe someone in my department did. Come to find out, I had won their "Diamond Days" contest, meaning I got two tickets to Neil Diamond's concert in SLC next Friday night, plus a $100 gift certificate to Morgan Jewelers! I have to drive up to Salt Lake to pick it all up, but hey, that's fine with me. And then about 5-10 minutes later, I heard myself on the radio. So surreal. I'm famous! (sorta)

So, anybody want some Neil Diamond tickets? =P

Needing ideas...

Cody and I just realized this morning that 1) Joshua's birthday is in two weeks and 2) Christmas is in three weeks. There's a lot to do before those two events! We promised ourselves when Joshua was born that we would do our best to keep his birthday separate from Christmas, so even though he won't remember this birthday, it has to be a special occasion. I'm looking for ideas--what kind of presents should we get for him? I've heard some say that we should get him stuff for him to play with now for his birthday, and get stuff for an 18-24 month old for Christmas. That way, we can save the Christmas presents and bring them out during the summertime. We may do that...I haven't talked to Cody about it yet, though, so we'll see.

That being said, what kinds of things do you get for a child between the ages of 12 and 24 months? To give you an idea of where he's at developmentally, he just started walking, babbles constantly, loves climbing onto things (a very recent development), and seems to have a 2-minute max attention span (I know that will change soon, though). I think we have plenty of clothes for him for now...I would get clothes for him for next summer, but the stores don't really have those out in December yet, so we'll have to wait on that. I'm thinking books and toys, but what? I've been thinking about getting this table. Apparently it should still be interesting to him until he's 2 or 3, so I'm hoping it's a good investment. Or would it be better to get a bunch of little toys? All of you experienced mommies out there, please give me your ideas! And anybody else that wants to chime in as well, please do so, of course...your opinions are just as valid =) Thanks in advance!

Fun with Family...and other things

Well, they came and they left...my parents, that is. They drove in from California last Wednesday, and they left this morning. It was so good to have them here. We had a wonderful time. We hosted Thanksgiving dinner at our house on Thursday--we had 9 people: Cody, Joshua, and me (of course), my mom and dad, my sister Kirsti and her husband Rich, my sister Brianne, Rich's brother Rob, and Cody's grandpa (his grandma would have come but she got sick that morning, sadly). That's a lot of people to cook for! But I'm happy to say it all turned out most amazingly, and we still have tons of leftovers.

Friday and Saturday, Cody and I went car shopping. Not much success, sad to say. We're still waiting to hear from a dealer about whether or not they could find a bank to finance us for the car we selected...apparently our financial history and current status aren't being very kind to us right now. We're not sure what the next step is, but hopefully we can find something soon because we need to return the car to Cody's grandparents...

Joshua is totally walking now--he started really walking over the weekend, and he can go about 8-10 steps at once now. It's amazing to watch! He's started clapping, too, and he loves smiling and laughing with people. We really should be better about taking pictures, but we'll just have to get copies of the ones that my dad and Rich/Kirsti took with their cameras. I'll have to post later.

Anyway, there's not much else to report right now, but I just wanted to let you all know that we're still alive and well, that we're still looking for a new car, and that we're excited for Christmas to finally be here! I love this season!