Fall Update

I thought a little update was in order as the last time I posted was in the spring. We are loving Grand Junction, the weather is great, the people are nice, and there are more than 4 stores to shop at! Jocelyn is now 14 months old and definitely has her own ideas. She waited to crawl till she was 11 months old and we are still waiting for the first steps. I think maybe she is using her brain power building her vocabulary instead of mastering her balance. She can say several words: more, all done, wipe, wash, baby and please among others. She wants whatever Miles has and one of her favorite things is "helping" Miles play his learning games on the computer.

Miles and his dad have become fishermen and really enjoy fishing the many lakes nearby. Chad hooks them and then Miles steps in and reels them in. They have a great time together and sometimes us girls come along and have a picnic.

Miles also recently started preschool and he loves it!

Everyone dressed up for Halloween since we were going to the ward party. I was a boring cat, Jocelyn was a cranky witch and Miles and Chad had a great time being Buzz Lightyear and Woody. We bought Miles his costume in September so Woody just seemed like part of the family as Miles wore his outfit every other day. Overall it is just life as usual around here, we have fun playing together and enjoying life's changes and challenges as they come!

Kids Pics

So I finally got around to getting Jocelyn's picture professionally taken, and I figured why not get Miles done too and get them together in a picture. It was a workout but I had my mom and 2 of my sisters to help so we all survived and I liked the pictures! You can't ask for more than that when it comes to cameras and kids. We are all doing well in Wyoming, I think spring is finally here so it will be even better when things turn a little green instead of just brown, brown, brown. A funny story: Miles was driving his power wheels down the street when we went for a walk after dinner and was doing pretty well to steer on his own. We passed a house that had 6 little girls out in front playing and they all stopped to watch him, and he was waving and smiling and nearly drove off the road. The little girls were laughing and jumping and waving back. It was hilarious!! He kept looking back and waving as we passed. Guess it doesn't take long for instincts to kick in!

Forever West

Forever West is the slogan (i guess thats what you call it) for Wyoming, which seems weird for me because we moved east to live here . . . anyway. Yes we have moved to Rock Springs Wyoming and no we have not frozen to death, yet. Rock Springs is not too bad, they have walmart, ihop, mcdonalds and even a mall- which I intend to investigate soon! We are all doing well, we are loving getting to see Chad every day instead of just on his week off. A quick update, Miles has just turned 3 and is still a thomas the tank engine expert.He is still a little small for his age, but when you look at the genes he never had much of a chance to be tall anyway! Jocelyn is 5 months and "compact" as the doctor recently called her. 23 inches long and 15 lbs means her pants are either way too long if the waist fits or way too tight if the legs are the right length. She is a happy little girl and really wishes she were big enough to play toys with Miles. I am no longer working my one day a week and I have to say I do miss the conversation but overall am happy being at home. I will get around to posting some pictures soon . . . when I find out which box my camera cable is in . . .

Daddy's little helper

Miles woke one saturday morning to see Dad out raking leaves. He hurried and put his crocs on and wanted to go outside. I told him he had to have a jacket over his jammies and as he was going out the door he said he needed a rake too. Well, we only have one rake so the trusty swiffer had to do. Miles carried his "rake" out and began working on those leaves!

Blessing Day

We decided to bless Jocelyn at home to try to avoid catching any flu bugs. It was a lovely day!

Bobby Pins and Conversation

Not sure what else to title this post-- we had the joy of going to Primary Children's Hospital yesterday to have 2 bobby pins pulled out of Miles' stomach. I'm not sure why he decided to eat them or maybe he was playing with them in his mouth and they chose to slide down on their own. They had to put him under anesthesia so they could put a long cable with pinchers down his throat into his stomach to grab them out. Miles was very good the whole time and I don't think the whole experience really bothered him that much. As for Jocelyn she is a happy little thing- or I guess not so little anymore! She is growing so fast and lately has become quite the talker. She will carry on a conversation for at least 5 minutes and I am just sure she thinks she is making perfect sense! She and Miles had quite the dialogue yesterday in the car, with her babbling and Miles replying "oh really!" back and forth all the way home.

Jocelyn

Well, long time no post but we have been busy! Jocelyn Neva Heitz was born Aug. 30th at 4:07 pm. She was 19 inches and 6 lb 13 oz. We are all doing well! Miles loves snuggling and holding his new sister.

Summertime!

We haven't done a whole lot of exciting things but we have been having a fun summer! Miles has been busy breaking us in for the scary parts of parenting- burning his finger on a sparkler, falling in Willard Bay etc. We have been to Bear Lake several times and now we are just taking it easy awaiting the arrival of our baby girl in a few weeks!

Nicki's graduation

Miles has perfected his picture smile. Anytime a camera or cellphone camera comes out he is ready with his happy smile. I have to say that I think our next round of family pictures are going to go a lot smoother than last time! This is at my sister nicki's graduation- masters in social work- hooray nicki!

Baby Animal Days

We went to baby animal days with 3 of my sisters and my mom. Miles was more interested in watching the animals move around than actually petting them- but still fun! He liked riding the pony- I thought he would be scared- and the funny thing is his favorite part was wearing the helmet! He talked about that helmet for days after! P.S. I guess I should officially announce- no I have not taken up beer drinking- we are 6 months pregnant with a girl!

And finally to complete the update here is Miles latest game. He just loves putting on my chapstick, or "lips" as he calls it. He pulls the lid off and goes to town. You probably can't see very well from the picture but the flavor of the day is strawberry chocolate and he has got it all around his mouth and it is about an inch thick on his lips. Well, not really but there is a lot! He will sit there for 5-10 minutes straight just rubbing it on. And then he cries when I take it away. Oh and he was sitting on his potty while he was doing it- with his pants on!

Here is our attempt at turning Miles into a shepherd. He would not wear the hat no matter how hard we tried. My family came up for Christmas eve and we all had to be a part in the nativity which was recorded for future laughing. Miles liked kissing baby Jesus and helping the wise man "give" the baby Jesus the gold (dropping the gold coins on baby Jesus' head). We all stayed up late playing games and Miles was loving having so many aunts to play with all night.

The end of October we headed off for a trip to Oregon with my parents. Definitely my favorite state to visit so far- so many trees and so green. We stayed about a week and then headed down through the very top so we could see the famous redwood forest-I can now cross that off my wish list. I am a plant person so this was amazing. You can see the size of the tree in the picture- and yes, those little people are us. The leaves from the trees were huge-pictures can never do it justice. Just try to avoid going when it is cold and rainy! I might have to go back one day in the spring or summer. That has probably been our favorite vacation so far.

In September Chad and I went to Disneyland (and left Miles behind, poor fellow!) Definitely the month to go- all the kids are back in school and the lines are a lot lot shorter. We both agreed that space mountain is still the greatest ride ever!

A lot of catching up to do!

So I haven't been on for 7 months and I'm sure you have all stopped checking this so if you just did- surprise! I thought I'd do a quick update of what we have all been up to.

We went to Vegas in August and had a lovely time- although it was quite hot. Our favorite part was the stage "jousting match" dinner we went to. If you haven't done one yet (they are not just in Vegas) you should definitely go!

We all had a great time relaxing mostly!

Brad's Wedding

I am a little slow to blog this but hey- it's my blog-- I'll be slow if I want to! My favorite brother Brad got married on May 16th. Chad was the best man and I was appointed last minute videographer (is that a word?)for the wedding. Miles was left to fend for himself with the aunts. It was a fun day and Miles was amazingly good for only getting a 30 minute nap for the whole day. Here are some pictures of the day. Brad and Tara live in Ogden so we get to see them a little more often. Miles did some service out on the lawn by picking their dandelions for them and passing them out to all my sisters, and passing out a few kisses!

Tales of the Widow

Getting used to Chad's new work schedule has been a little challenging. I think the hardest part is having to switch between being an independent, single mother to being a wife again! I must admit I think I am loving having Chad home for a whole week; it feels like a super long weekend. We just play together all day and go shopping too much! Miles is loving it too, he just follows Chad around all day and cries when he shuts the door to the bathroom or goes outside without him. Miles has become a little adventurer and has the injuries to prove it. He is always trying to climb everything or climb inside everything! He loves to pull out my cake pans and then sit in them. His new favorite phrase is "all gone". For him it means his snack is gone, he is done eating dinner and it also means he can't see the airplane in the sky any more. And- sometimes he just says it for fun I think!

My Mother's Day Present

I definitely got the best mother's day present last week. Chad is a little last minute on his surprises, mostly because he forgets until the day or two before, but he always finds the perfect thing. This last Saturday before mother's day he announced that he needed to take miles and he would be gone for a few hours. I love being a mother but I must admit it was nice to have a couple hours of freedom. I got the garden planted, fertilized the lawn and dug quite a few dandelions out of the lawn before they got back. They returned with flowers- who doesn't like getting flowers- and told me there was another surprise but I had to wait till Sunday. We went to a birthday party in Tooele and then he took Miles with him again to "finish the surprise". I went to the grocery store and wandered around for an hour since I am usually racing through the store hoping to get everything before Miles decides he's had enough! The surprise turned out to be a little handmade book, written by Miles, about why I am the best mom. There was a picture on each page and a little paragraph about different things that miles loves. It made me cry and it made us late for church since I had to read it again! It was definitely one of the nicest presents I have received! What a thoughtful husband I have! Thanks Chad and Miles- I love you both!

April Showers?

Well, I have not been on in a while so some serious updating is in order. Miles is growing like a weed and can say a few words- mostly only I can understand them though! He is definitely an outside boy- he loves rocks, dirt, sticks and leaves and loves to watch cars go by the house.

We have got the garden tilled up and just looking at that nice, soft brown dirt makes me anxious to plant but I know if I jump the gun a frost will come and kill it all. My seed starting operation is going well, I have doubled my capacity from last year and it still isn't enough. I have 2 fluorescent lights going and now some of my plants have to take turns getting direct light as there are now too many to fit. I have tomatoes, peppers, asparagas, tomatillos and a lot of flowers. The exciting plants this year are going to be the "flame" tomato- supposed to be yellow and red striped!, the tomatillo; which I have never grown and I am going to try carrots this year and see what happens. I have got my garden planned out so that not a foot is wasted- at the request of Chad. Hopefully that will mean less weeding too. I am also going to try a new thing this year- corn gluten. It is basically a byproduct of corn milling but they discovered it prevents things from sprouting and acts as a fertilizer too! So- I will be spreading it on the garden after all the vegetables have sprouted and we will see what happens. we are planning on using on the lawn this spring too, so I will spread the word when we have some results. Some other news, Chad is now working for Halliburton and so he goes to Rock Springs WY for 2 weeks and then gets to be home for a week. So we are going to plan some serious vacations!

I just learned how to make slideshows- check it out! In case you don't know, Miles is now 13 months old.