My poor kid...

At least it's not swollen anymore. We took the bandaid off overnight and planned to just use the butterfly, but this morning, Joshua grabbed Cody's water jug and conked himself in the head with it and it started bleeding again. Sigh. I'm sorry we doomed you to a life of klutziness, my son! I had hoped that genetic defect wouldn't be passed on, but oh, well....

A picture is worth...well, a lot!

It's been awhile since I posted pictures, and since I finally found the cord to download pictures off our camera, I'm taking advantage. First off is Joshua reclining on the couch, drinking out of his sippy cup (which he had to put in a red plastic cup for some reason...):
Our ward Pioneer Day celebration included face painting, so Joshua got a sun and a dinosaur on his face, as well as some chocolate from the cookies, of course.
We were fortunate to be able to drive down to Hurricane, Utah for the funeral of Michael J. Ferrin, the father of my sister-in-law, Shelly. It was a very tender experience, and we are grateful we could be there to support him. Here are most of us at the luncheon following the funeral. L-R are Joshua, my dad, my brother Kendall, my sister Brianne, Kendall's wife Shelly, their daughter Audrey, my mom, and Cody. I'm taking the picture, of course.Joshua loved the rolls.Probably one of my new favorite pictures of me and Joshua:My mom with her youngest granddaughter, Kaitlyn:
Kaitlyn again. Grandma was having fun feeding her carrots:Kaitlyn snuggled up to Cody so willingly! It was adorable. She just laid into his shoulder, smearing her carroty-face all over his white shirt, and it seems Cody loved it. I can't wait to see him holding our daughter someday (and no, that's not an announcement...):The finale to our quick trip to southern Utah was a traumatic crash into a children's kitchen set at the Ferrins' after the funeral, resulting in a nasty cut across the eyebrow and black eye for our little guy:A little blurry but you can see the lovely shade of purple on his eyelid:Don't worry, though, he's okay. He's actually been in really good spirits and enjoys mentioning that he has an owie and wears a "ban-aid." I'm just glad it wasn't anything more serious.

That's it for pictures for now. We really should be better about them, but you know how it is! Love you all!

Life: just the blink of an eye

I am so saddened to hear of the passing of Michael Ferrin, my sister-in-law Shelly's dad, this morning. As far as I know, it was a heart attack in his sleep--very sudden and very out of the blue. My heart is aching right now to think that some members of my family are hurting so very much. I know that my little nephew and nieces loved their grandpa, and I can only imagine the pain that Shelly is feeling. She's my age, and her father was about the same age as mine...I guess that's what is bringing this home for me. Life is so fragile, you know? It can seem so long while we're living it, but in the eternal scheme of things, it passes by so quickly. I'm so glad that we know about our Heavenly Father's plan for us. This is not the end of everything. You will see him again, all thanks to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our prayers and thoughts are with you, Shelly, Kendall, Damon, Audrey, Kaitlyn, and the rest of the family we know and love, especially Carolyn (his wife), and their children, Liz, Mike, Becky, and Lindsey. We love you and pray that you will find comfort in the Spirit of our Lord at this very trying time.

Going Private...

So, a couple of changes are happening on the Alleman blog. First of all, you may have noticed I changed the background. Not necessarily my choice--I just went to my blog this morning and the background was blank. I think the one I was using expired or something, not sure. I like this background better anyway because it reminds me of California and Brazil, two things which have been on my mind a lot lately. I hope you like it :)

Secondly, I've been debating making this blog private for awhile now...especially since I get at least one random comment in Chinese for every post I make (and always from different people, not people I know, and they're often somewhat judgmental in tone), and it's really starting to get on my nerves. I don't like the idea of random people reading about my family, so we're going private. I'll invite everyone that I know normally reads this blog, but there may be some of you who read but don't comment. If you want to be invited, please either leave a comment or send me an email. Thanks for understanding--hopefully this doesn't deter anyone from reading about us in the future!

Note: Unless you are family or you and I email regularly, assume that I do not have your email address and thus cannot invite you. You can either email me (carinamenina at gmail) or leave a comment with your email address in it (I won't publish it so as to protect your privacy). Thank you!

It's Friday

My apologies about being sporadic with the blog posting lately. A few things going on in our lives right now:

Cody has his LAST CLASS/FINAL for his AS degree tomorrow morning! He is so ready to be done and we're excited to have our Saturdays back (he's had a Saturday class every semester since last August). He's had a few interviews here and there, but no job offers yet. We're praying something comes soon.

I actually just finished a round of interviews with my job--I needed to hire two new afternoon assistants. There were so many good applicants! I had a hard time narrowing it down, but finally made a decision, and both of them will start in the next couple of weeks. I wish we didn't have to let student employees go once they graduate. I'm enjoying my job, and I'm glad that it pays (some of) the bills.

Joshua is talking more and more, and it thrills us to no end. Some of his favorite phrases these days are: "Are you ready to race?" (imagine a high voice going even higher toward the end of the sentence), "I think it's funny," and "I did it!" Oh, and "Thank you, thank you" as he bows to the right and to the left. He sings along with us to his favorite songs, such as ABCs, Teach Me to Walk in the Light (ah walk-a light), I am a Child of God (chy-da God), and I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus (wike Jesus). He loves to help clean up--when he wants to--and is becoming more aware of bodily functions...I think potty training might be coming up sooner than we think. He gets a kick out of nursery and spending time with his aunties, and he loves having daddy home during the day for the time being. I can't believe he's growing up so fast.

I hope to post pictures/videos soon. Hope you and your family are happy!

Scuff Mark Bug

A recent text conversation with my sister Brianne (she was watching Joshua at her apartment while Cody had a job interview):

Brianne: Joshua just had a mini freak out… He thought there was a bug on my kitchen floor when really it’s just a scuff mark from shoes, of which there are many on my floor. He was hiding in a corner and wanted me to kill it, and he wouldn’t believe me that it wasn’t a bug…he finally left the kitchen but he keeps talking about it =P

Carina: Hahaha…wow. Where did this fear come from? Silly kid!

B: He was telling me to get a shoe, so I did, and I kept hitting the spot where he pointed it out (there was nothing there, but he wouldn’t go near it)… Eventually I had to switch back and forth between “there’s no bug” and “it’s gone, I killed it” to get him to leave the kitchen =P

C: Hehehehe…oh, wow. I sure do love that kid =P

B: What a silly pants.

C: Quite. I thought little boys were supposed to love bugs.

B: Yeah, I dunno. He was occasionally shrieking , and started to cry when I left the room to get the shoe he wanted… Heaven forbid I leave him alone in the room with a scuff mark bug… =P

C: Ahahaha…I shouldn’t laugh at my son’s fears, but wow…haha

B: Hahaha well the spot was kinda big ish, so that could have contributed to his fear. Has he ever shown fear or anything like that before? Or do you or Cody do so around him? =P

C: He is currently afraid of ants…wouldn’t even walk on our front lawn on Saturday, even though I didn’t see any ants around. We don’t get bugs much around here, so it seems to have come out of nowhere…

B: Interesting. Perhaps he saw Arachnophobia on tv. =P

Just a brief glimpse into the current life and fears of Joshua Logan Alleman.

Farewell, little Kia...

Anybody remember the oil change fiasco we had a year and a half ago? Well, ever since then, our little Kia has been sitting out in front of our house, gathering dust. I don't know why we let it go for so long, but we finally put it up on www.ksl.com on Sunday night. Less than 24 hours later, it's been sold! Hooray!

It was kinda weird to say goodbye to that car...it holds so many memories for me. First of all, it used to be my brother Dana's car, and I remember taking a road trip in that car, along with my brother Kendall, his wife Shelly, and my sister Kirsti, from San Francisco down the PCH. This was right after Dana's wedding. Then, while I was on my mission, my sister Kirsti and I decided to buy it from Dana, and we shared it for the 2005-2006 school year while we were roommates. Cody and I had a lot of dates in that car. We drove to the temple to get married in it, took our honeymoon in it, eventually brought Joshua home from the hospital in it...you get the idea.

But anyway, it's gone now, so we are moving on. Here's to you, little Kia Sephia!!!