Graduation

Here I am walking into the Commencement ceremony. I put this here because I am impressed my wife got this picture. She must have been paying strict attention, graduates had been walking in for about 15 minutes at this point.

Where's Waldo?

It's okay, I can't find me either. This semester there were 1280 graduation candidates.

At the convocation ceremony I gave the opening prayer and so I got to sit on the stand which was weird enough. To add to that akwardness President and Sister Clarke (President of BYU-Idaho) and Elder Richard G. Scott (not pictured) were also on the stand.

Elder Scott, President Clarke, physical sciences dean Kendall Peck, Mark Lovell standing in for geology chair Dan Moore, and Brian and Lauree Hawkes (my former bishop and his wife) participated in the awarding of the diploma covers. The physical sciences and engineering college did not have many graduates this semester, around 50 I think.

My empty diploma cover!

Even the kids got to meet President Clarke and Elder Scott. Sebastian was afraid of both these men in their robes, but warmed up to President Clarke when he bent down. they eventually shook hands. Sebastian was not so fortunate to shake Elder Scott's hand, but he did get a warm smile. Sebastian did understand that he was a prophet, but he was still afraid of him. Elder Scott attended our convocation because he was a nuclear engineer by profession. He told us of some of his work experience and how his undergraduate studies helped him in his field. It was great to have him at our ceremony.

No I have not grown, my dad is still taller; the picture is just a little crooked. It was wonderful to have my parents in town for this event and celebration. I think they were truly amazed that I graduated college. Sometimes I think they wondered if I would even attend college because of my "love" of high school.

Elizabeth's parents showed up unknown to me - apparently only me. It was a great surprise to look up in the stands halfway through commencement and realize who was sitting with my wife. Yes, it took me an hour to realize they were there. Darkness + nosebleed section = longer than normal recognition times. It was wonderful to have my family here for graduation. Thank you all for coming!

Paige update

12/10 Some fun pics and updates of our little Paigie Pie:
Silly Paige...she'll crawl someday...Baby pushups, anyone?12/9 Paige has started get up on her hands and knees finally....but she is still in reverse mode. I have found her in some silly places

Not too happy with her backwards crawling....
12/9 When I took this picture I hadn't noticed the poop in the tub yet. Funny that I accidentally got a picture of it. We did an emergency tub evacuation when I realized it.12/6 Chris was having fun taking pictures and got this fun one through the ottoman

12/3 Newest headband and flower bow, on a cute baby....

11/30 I snapped this picture on my phone...like brother, like sister. Paige had been kind of tired whiny, but I think I was doing the dishes, or otherwise distracted. Next thing I realized it was pretty quiet, and I found "Sebastian"(with pink shoes)

11/3 In the tub with Eliana (cousin) and Sebastian (I love the water droplets)

I just love this face...

Update on Sebastian...

Some random fun things Sebastian has done lately:

12/10 Sebastian has developed a great connection with his monkey especially since Paige was born. He does everything that I do for Paige, or that we do for him, with his monkey. He even gives his monkey milk--yes, my son breastfeeds his monkey. Here he is making his monkey fly like an airplane. He wanted me to help monkey put his legs out =)

**Last night, I woke up to Sebastian screaming...when I go closer I heard him saying: "Don't leave me, momma. Don't leave me, momma" It was so sad! His eyes were open and he had a few tears on his face...a true nightmare? sad =( I gave him some love and let him come lay down in momma's bed...which he comes and does most morning now anyway**

12/9 Sebastian is "making dishes" in this picture

11/30 Sebastian helped us decorate the Christmas tree this year. He loved "making Christmas." We did this for our FHE, Chris taught him that Jesus Christ is Heavenly Father's Son and now every time he sees a picture of Christ he says: "Jesus is Heavenly Father's Son" over and over again until we acknowledge him.

Decorating the Christmas tree

11/16 So...if you know anything about my son, this picture will seem oh so typical. This child can fall asleep anywhere if he is tired enough. He asked me to wrap him up in Paige's blanket (like a towel) then he laid down...

**Also, in the middle of November he started "being" a dinosaur and lion...One night I said "Sebastian, hop into bed" and he replied "I not Bastian, I'm a lion!" He's been an airplane and other things too, but he is a lion or dinosaur the most often

11/2 And a picture with his pumpkin...the only pumpkin that's handle survived...he loved taking the lid on and off...and definitely loved his airplane =), great idea Dad! He also helped me throw all of the pumpkins away. He carried his pumpkin all the way to the dumpster and then I let him be the one to drop them all in...that way it wasn't sad =)

Halloween

Sebastian hard at work tracing his pumpkin design. He didn't so much like the gutting the pumpkin though. He kept wanting to wash his hands. The airplane was his idea. So I did my best at drawing an easy design to cut out.

All 3 of our finished pumpkins. From left to right: Sebastian's airplane (yes he had help cutting it out), my Batman silhouette with projected bat signal, and Elizabeth's skull. Note: it is not her actual skull.

A closer look at the coolest pumpkin I have ever carved. I must admit the projection idea was not my own, but combining it with Batman was. I think it was a pretty rad idea.

Sebastian in his clown costume with fireman boots, red nose and all. He was very excited to carry a pumpkin around to collect candy in, especially because his real pumpkin was much too heavy for him to carry more than a few yards. Notice the lack of a jacket. He was wearing gloves only because it was windy. It was the warmest Halloween I have ever had here, a whopping 50 degrees...whoo hoo!

Classic Sebastian, always sticking his face in the camera.

Love the facial expression, too cute to not let everyone see.

One of my favorite pictures I have taken of Paige. She is the light of my life, I think you can see why. She is almost as beautiful as my lovely wife.

Our happy family.

Our Friends in Logan

We had a lot of fun in Logan visiting Melinda, Jacob, Dessie, and Andrew. Our family became friends with the Christensens when we both first moved into Wagon Wheel in August/September 2007. Sebastian and Dessie were just 9 months or so but they've always played well together. I love this hug!
Sebastian is 2 weeks younger than Dessie.

And here is Andrew adn Paige. Andrew is just 1 month a day younger than Paige.

If either of the girls decide to fall for the boy, they'll have to deal with the fact that they boy is younger...oh well =)!

Anyway. I had a nice visit with Melinda and her family. It was fun to help them as they are renovating their house. I can't wait to see what it all looks like when it's put together. Is the laminate in? baseboards, etc?

The faces of Paige

Chris took this picture of Paige today and really liked it
Last night with Sebastian

She is such a happy girl! She loves her toys!

Cheeser!

Always eating nowadays...she loves it!

Visiting Temple Square

I took the kids down to Utah this past weekend while Chris went to a GSA conference (Geology) in Portland. In anticipation of going to Utah I decided that I wanted to take Sebastian to temple square. I knew he would love to see the statues of Christ and the big temple. We went with Tom, Sara, and Kyler and my cousin Kelcie met us there also. It was a beautiful day...in the high 70's, low 80's and was just perfect for some good pictures.

The reflection pond.....I can never resist taking pictures of Sebastian. He is always so photogenic.

Sebastian wouldn't come pose with us, but atleast he liked the Christus

Paige and I...once again, Sebastian did not want to be photographed...he was running around pushing an empty stroller.

The end...Paige is sleeping and he is minutes from sleep!

Sitting Up

I started trying to work with Paige sitting up at the end of September. On September 30th and October 3rd she was sitting up for long enough to get pictures and for me to think she was getting pretty close and by October 5th I would say she could sit on her own and I didn't surround her with pillows =)! The pictures go backwards in time with the ball popper being the first day I got pictures of her sitting (notice the pillows)

CAUGHT IT!!

Well, we caught the mouse. Chris and I met with the manager Monday night about some things and I remembered to mention our mouse. He offered to bring over a mouse trap...so we said, sweet! Yesterday I got a knock on the door at like 2:30 and it was him with the trap. So much better than what I was thinking he was going to bring. No poison, nothing to harm a little child if they accidentally were to touch it. he set it up in the corner of the kitchen and in less than 9 hours we caught it!
My sister Angela had been over and we were just chatting in the living room. I started hearing this odd noise that I couldn't place. It sounded like the mechanics of a baby swing. I guess Angela had been hearing it too but she just thought it was the dog eating (No, we don't have a dog...but Angela does and so it made sense in her head). Once she stopped talking I kind of cocked my head to where she noticed that I was hearing it to; at once she realized it wasn't the dog and then decided it must be the mouse! We jumped up and checked...sure enough the red bar was on the "mouse caught" section. The noise we had been hearing was either it "scratching" or it moving the trap...it was super creepy! Angela was brave enough to set it outside for me so that I didn't have to be haunted by the noises until Chris got home. So, if you need to catch a mouse this was an amazing mouse trap, and the bait: peanut butter!

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie...

Last week sometime I was just home with the kids when I first saw the mouse. I was in the living room, Sebastian was in the hallway and started to freak out right when I saw the mouse scurry on the floor at the back edge of the table. I couldn't focus on it because Sebastian was screaming. I think he did see the mouse though. After Sebastian calmed down for the next hour I heard: "where'd mouse go? where'd mouse go?" and i had to explain that "he's all gone" but maybe he'd come back.

Well, I hoped maybe it was just a freak thing. It had just gotten cold the night before it must've found solace that day...not lived here forever. But I think I am wrong.

I just walked into my kitchen and for a split second I saw a mouse scurrying on top of my stove, and then it was gone. If I hadn't seen it last week I'm not sure I would have known what it was. Where do they go??? I think it might live in my oven...is that possible? I titled the post thus because there was one last cookie sitting on the countertop and I looked at it and the mouse at the very top off. So, that proves it: Mice like Cookies!

Any ideas of what I can do to get rid of it??

Cute Kids

I wanted to make sure I got some pictures of Paige in September for her scrapbook so I took some today. She is getting so big. She's learning to sit at the present, so hopefully she'll master that soon. Sebastian is the sweetest brother. They play sooo well together! I really love my two children. Chris just melts over his little girl and he has so much fun with Sebastian!