Midway Utah Summer Conference 2009

We had a fun weekend with Anji's family in Midway Utah. Every year I go to a summer counseling conference and usually I spend it with other counselor in some hotel in SLC. This year we booked our condos and I commuted to SLC. I had loads of fun and hope that this becomes a tradition. It feels less like work and more like a vacation when my family is there.

Teaching RJ to drive....yeah my kid is a little ahead of the curve

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

This is where Anji found RJ

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Reverse works.....

Anji came and got me and wanted me to come see where she found RJ.  It really isn't a big deal but given the few seconds of worry that RJ cause her...its worth mentioning.  Anji laid RJ on the ground to get some tummy time and went into the kitchen...when she couldn't find him she looked a little harder and he had reversed himself right back into a little cubby hole.  Picture will be coming soon

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Zowie giving me kisses

This is a little clip of Zowie giving me kisses and RJ just loving it. RJ just can't get enough of Zowie unfortunately the love doesn't go in both directions. In Zowie's defense most kids can be really mean (unintentionally) to animals. Zowie has put up with a lot of hair pulling and general harassment from RJ and lot of other kids at this age and a little older. Zowie's initial reaction with RJ is to keep her distance....and I let her. I don't want to hinder Zowie from doing what comes natural when she starts to feel anxiety and that is to get away from the object that is causing the anxiety. I am trying to help Zowie feel more comfortable with RJ and I have been feeding her with RJ close by trying to send the message that...Hey yeah there is a baby next to you but your Ok …..no one died and your actually doing something that you love doing......Eating....so be happy and enjoy the world! I hope that one day soon I will have RJ feeding Zowie and throwing the ball to her, being soft (but more importantly) not grabbing her nose and feet and trying to chew on them.

I wish I were like you easily amused.

I love how kids have such a fresh take on life. It makes you stop and think about everything we take for granted. Here is Zowie just doing a little Roll over trick and yet RJ thinks that it is the coolest, funniest thing he has ever saw in his short little life. Carpe diem Son.....Carpe diem!

Illegally running with Zowie during race (again)

Anji is such a rebel that she blatantly disregards race rules time and time again. It clearly states that running with pets is prohibited but does she care....no! She endangers the lives of all around her (including the livestock in the fields surrounding) with this little stunt. I am posting this evidence as proof that she indeed broke the rules and ask for the officials of the Hurricane Half Marathon to ban her for life for pulling this little stunt.

Dancing with Grandpa

This is RJ and Grandpa dancing. Typically son you usually dance with members of the opposite sex but since you are so young we let Grandpa teach you a few moves.

I love to laugh.....haha ha ha....long and loud and clear

RJ loves to be tossed around. I am sure that this isn't good for your kid....I hope that he doesn't lose to many brain cells.

Silly hat day...

Thanks to Aunt Aimee we had this awesome hat at our house and the day Anji ran the Hurricane Half Grandpa and Grandma Findley thought it was cold enough to warrant wearing this one-of-kind-winter-wonder-head-gear. RJ is a little on the chunky side (ok...he is a lot on the chunky side) and because of that he runs on the hot side of the body temperature gauge and seems to enjoy having less clothes on (Ok.. he seems happiest when he is naked). Even though he wasn't a happy camper this picture was too cute to pass up.

Two cool cats

RJ and Zowie started a sunglasses and silly hat club and said, "Tick, tock the club is locked" so Anji and I couldn't join even though we threatened them with not feeding them....they wouldn't budge and asked us to respect the rules of "Tick, Tock"

RJ and Emma

This is a picture of RJ and Emma. Emma is the daughter of Brooke and Ben Neumann. Brooke is a counselor at Snow Canyon Middle School who I have had the privilege to work with for the last three years. Emma is a hopelessly addicted booger eater and you can't see it in the picture but RJ is sporting a big green one and she is in the process of intercepting it so it isn't wasted.

Zowie is sneaky....

Anji showed me RJ's bear (His name is Tex) and we noticed that something was missing. Zowie knows that she isn't supose to play with RJ's toys and for the most part I haven't seen her touching them but the evidence is right there before my eyes....a missing ear. Either RJ has grown some teeth I am not aware of or Anji is secretly framing Zowie for some unknown reason other than those two explanations the most logical one is Zowie has been chewing on his toys. At first you could get mad but considering several things what you see before you is quite impressive. First, she will normally attack the eyes first so the fact that Tex still has his eyes suggests that she knows that she isn't supose to play with him and she is trying to do something different than what she normally does. Second, she normally takes her stuffed animal victims to certain parts of the house to pull out their cotton batting slowly and painfully where other stuffed animals can't hear their screams. She instead keeps Tex in realively the same place she found him again demonstrating a higher level of cunning and intellegence. Third, Anji pointed out to me today that "Doggy"'(RJ's stuffed dog) has gone missing. Usally "evidence" is strewn all over the house when Zowie commits a crime againt the peaceful loving stuffed animals yet no evidence can be found that could link Zowie to this crime....she is becoming a crimnal mastermind and soon we will be powerless to stop her stuffed animal killing spree.

Biggest loser...baby!

Last day of school, I get a phone call from Brooke and she tells me that my heroes are in town. I asked, "Who are my heroes?" and she replied, "Filipe and Sione". She had heard them on the Radio and told me that they were at the local Honolulu Grill and I told the office I will be out for a bit, jumped on my motorcycle and headed down there. They both looked great and it was fun to see them in real life. It must be weird for them because we (the fans) know so much about them and they know so little about us. I had to restrain myself from giving them a big hug although I felt comfortable around them I am sure that a total stranger wanting to give you a hug would be freaky, but thats how I felt. They have been part of the inspiration I felt to change my life...and in that way they I guess I feel I know them and they know me. I wish I would have gotten a picture with both of them but they had a bunch of other people there so I took what I could get. Anyways, it was fun getting to briefly talk to them about their experiance, both of them were just as nice as you could be. After I left and was riding back on the motorcycle I thought of a bunch of questions that I wished I would have asked but didn't. Like, "How many Mormons were on this season and was there any missionsary moments?"

This last week was a fun week. Jesse and Leslie (Ryan's brother and wife) came to St George to visit. We dog sat there dog "Roper". He is such a good dog and he is not at all afraid of RJ. (Zowie still keeps her distance). We had a family dinner at their condo, its fun to see everyone and eat yummy food.


Tammy, Rachel, Carlie & RJ

RJ and me in our swimming suits


Leslie and RJ


RJ and Roper

RJ LAUGHING

Sanity Saver!!

K, I know this is overkill on pics and stuff. But I just had to add this video, its adorable---but i am extremely biased!!! This bouncy chair had totally saved our sanity. Seriously I am always saying...."I don't know how the pioneers did it!"

More catching up!!

So I was going through all of our pics and decided to post more. We have just had so many neat/fun experiences these past few months that We want to share.

This is RJ's first trip. We went to Viva Las Vegas with the Grandmas and Grandpas. (Ryan couldn't come because he had to work). Although, RJ pretty much slept most of the trip....So I guess for him it was Siesta Las Vegas!



We went to see Mamma Mia in Vegas. We met Aunt Dorothy and Margaret (from Texas) there. It was a fun week!

K, RJ doesnt really like his pacifier (we have tried). As you can see he really likes his fingers or thumb. (P.S. gotta love the slobber stains!!)
RJs baby blessing. (Thanks Mike and Heather for letting us use your blessing outfit). Our bishop told us that during the blessing RJ was watching Ryan the whole time. I don't blame him...I can't keep my eyes of that big hunk either! :)
RJ and Zowie's secret hand shake!!

Catching up!

Well the last few months have been crazy busy with me going back to work and all we really havent blogged much in awhile. We are getting great support from family while Ive been back to work. Special thanks to Mom and Dad for coming down to watch RJ those first few weeks I went back to work and also special thanks for Vonnie (ryans mom) and Zeffie for watching RJ during the week. ...We love you guys.

Here are some fun pictures that may help catch you up on whats been going on the last few months. RJ is really growing and getting so big...I mean that literally. He is a whopping 18 lbs at 6 months. Needless to say I have had to go to the Chiropractor 3 times, but totally worth every second!!! :) But it is so fun to see his developing personality and we are truely blessed to have this little munchkin in our lives!!! --Anji


I just had to post this classic pic of uncle Scotty and RJ. We always tease that when RJ is upset he looks alot like Scott....what do you think?!
Heather and me over Christmas break with our two new boys!
This is my beautiful Grandma and RJ over Christmas time.

Rj eating like a big boy at the highchair!!!

Aunt Priscilla and Uncle Joe came to visit from Texas. It always fun to see these guys. They are so much fun! I hope RJ inherits Aunt Priscilla's fun and outgoing personality/sense of humor!
Rj and cousin Spencer. They were born 2 days apart. It was fun to see them together. We were hoping that Spencer's chilled attitude would calm down our hyper little boy! We think its working a bit!
RJ chillaxin' in his jogging stroller.

RJ's first sunglasses

This was taken spring break on the trip back from Worldmark condos 09