A chef in the making

Jamie has finally started his dream of going to culinary school. He started yesterday at Utah Valley University in the culinary arts program. The program runs for 4 semesters (2 years). He is excited but nervous to start this new stage in his life. It has been a desire of his from the time he was little. He will finally be able to have a degree next to his name and call himself a bonafide chef. He couldn't stop talking about he stuff he learned yesterday. Even though it is something that he loves he realized yesterday that it is going to be hard work. There is quite a bit of extra out of class work that he is required to do. After much counseling with people who understand Jamie and his abilities we have decided to have Jamie focus only on school work and be a full time student during the coming Fall and Spring semesters. He will sell some firewood on the side during this winter however most of his time will be dedicated to his school work and family. We will rely heavily on careful financial planning and the blessings of our Heavenly Father to get us through the next two years. I am proud of Jamie and his desire to get schooling in something he has a passion for. He is going to do great.

Happy 7th Anniversary

No pictures to post this time, sorry. We planned and enjoyed a great trip to Rocky Mountain National Park for an early anniversary (due to school schedule) and I forgot to bring my camera. We had a great trip. We stayed in our Worldmark Condo in Estes Park and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. We went hiking, explored the shops down town, swam in the resort pool, and entertained family. We spent a day with Jamie's uncle Dave and his wife Hillary who are expecting their first baby soon. We also had a day with Jamie's dad and step mom Denise and her mother. His sister Laura, her husband Jake and their little boy Jake Jr. came up and we all enjoyed a hike to some beautiful waterfalls. Man I wish I had my camera! Denise was nice enough to agree to watch Matthew Thursday and Friday night so that Jamie and I could have some alone time for our anniversary. It was really hard for me to leave him overnight. I was the first time I was without him overnight since I became pregnant. It was nice however I was glad to have him back. He had a great time with Grandma and cousin Jake while he was there.
It is hard to believe that is has been 7 years since Jamie and I were married at 12:00pm in the Mount Timpanogous Temple on August 27, 2003. Time goes by so fast. So many things have changed and I have grown tremendously in that time period. It is amazing to see how time has a tendency to change people not only physically but emotionally and spiritually too. I have grown so much in passing through the trials of the past 7 years. Even though they have been hard I would never give up the lessons that I have learned through it all.

Matthew is finally crawling!

So finally after 9 1/2 months Matthew has begun to crawl. I was getting worried however he did it this morning. Once he decided it was okay to get up on his knees it went really fast. I made a bed with Jamie this last Monday that he would be crawling in a week and he is! I knew it. I really thought he would crawl a lot faster than this because he rolled over for the first time really early at 5 weeks old. I also was a quick learner as a baby and walked at 10 months. This came in great timing because I planned on baby proofing the house today. Now I am stuck, I have to make sure everything is put in it's place or Matthew will be all over it. Life is about to get crazier!

Sick

We have had a really sick household the last few weeks. It all started with Jamie getting chills about 2 weeks ago. His fever just kept going up over the weekend and I finally convinced him to go into the doctor on Sunday. Good thing he did because he was diagnosed with right lower lobe pneumonia. He is now officially done with his antibiotics and feeling much better however shortly after Jamie was diagnosed Matthew started coughing and refluxing a lot. He was placed on prevacid for the reflux which helped however he continued coughing a lot. I came down with the same thing a few days later. Now we are all coughing. What a strange time to get sick. I usually never get sick in the summer. I hope we all get over it soon.

Happy Birthday Cousin Sage

Sage had her first birthday this week and Matthew attended his first ever birthday party. He had fun hanging out with his cousins.


She sure loved digging into her very own cake!


Matthew thought the best thing about the party were the hats.


Matthew with Dr. Wold, the doctor who delivered him.


The three cousins all together.

My Little Man

I bought this cute little suit for Matthew at Sam's Club the other day and I couldn't resist taking some pictures of him. It was labeled for 12 months but the shirt and vest were to small, the coat was just right and the pants were too long.

Nine Month Checkup

Matthew turned 9 months old on July 13th. He went to his checkup the next day and he is doing great. He weighs now 20 lbs 8 oz and he is 28 1/2 inches long. He is in the 50th percentile for weight and head circumference and in the 75th percentile for height (go figure, his parents are both short). He is pretty much on track except he doesn't want to crawl yet. He is getting closer. He is now going from sitting to his hands and knees pretty well but he doesn't like to stay on his hands and knees very long and ends up on his tummy. He still can't go from laying to sitting. I have seen a lot of progress in the last few weeks so I hope that continues and he's crawling soon. He certainly isn't taking after his mommy because I was walking by 10 months. I think he is just more laid back and we come to him. He doesn't have an older sister to run after. I again can't be more grateful to have such a perfect baby. I thank the Lord every day for him.