Sweet Helaman

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How did he get so big?!?

Well, Isaiah has decided he can walk! It all started when Grandpa Luis was babysitting on Friday night. He had Isaiah walking around pushing the Lion King car all night. He was doing it again on Saturday, so Greta and I decided to let him try. He walked between us a few steps and then fell. Apparently, falling is very very funny, because none of us could get him to do it again after that. He would just throw himself to the ground and laugh.

Then today, I was sitting on the coffee table in the living room and he was standing there holding on to my legs when he suddenly let go, turned around, and walked away! Well, he walked about 6 steps to the couch, but still! He has been trying to walk off and on all day now. He's not super stable yet, but he's getting there. *Sigh* How I am ever going to keep up with this one?

As a side note on his hugeness, his top two teeth broke through Saturday night, also. Now he has all four front chompers. And though I am yet to be bitten, I approach each nursing with great trepidation!

Find a Penny

My Grandma sent me this story, and I thought it was so sweet I had to share:

Several years ago, a friend of mine and her husband were invited to spend the weekend at the husband's employer's home... My friend, Arlene, was nervous about the weekend. The boss was very wealthy, with a fine home on the waterway, and cars costing more than her house.

The first day and evening went well, and Arlene was delighted to have this rare glimpse into how the very wealthy live. The husband's employer was quite generous as a host, and took them to the finest restaurants. Arlene knew she would never have the opportunity to indulge in this kind of extravagance again, so was enjoying herself immensely.

As the three of them were about to enter an exclusive restaurant that evening, the boss was walking slightly ahead of Arlene and her husband. He stopped suddenly, looking down on the pavement for a long, silent moment.

Arlene wondered if she was supposed to pass him. There was nothing on the ground except a single darkened penny that someone had dropped, and a few cigarette butts Still silent, the man reached down and picked up the penny.

He held it up and smiled, then put it in his pocket as if he had found a great treasure. How absurd! What need did this man have for a single penny? Why would he even take the time to stop and pick it up?

Throughout dinner, the entire scene nagged at her. Finally, she could stand it no longer. She casually mentioned that her daughter once had a coin collection, and asked if the penny he had found had been of some value.

A smile crept across the man's face as he reached into his pocket for the penny and held it out for her to see. She had seen many pennies before! What was the point of this?

"Look at it," he said. "Read what it says."

She read the words "United States of America."

"No, not that; read further."

"One cent?' 'No, keep reading."

'"In God we Trust?"

"'Yes!"

"And?"

"And if I trust in God, the name of God is holy, even on a coin. Whenever I find a coin I see that inscription. It is written on every single United States coin, but we never seem to notice it! God drops a message right in front of me telling me to trust Him; who am I to pass it by? When I see a coin, I pray, I stop to see if my trust IS in God at that moment. I pick the coin up as a response to God; that I do trust in Him. For a short time, at least, I cherish it as if it were gold. I think it is God's way of starting a conversation with me. Lucky for me, God is patient and pennies are plentiful!"

Slacker and the game of tag

I've really been slacking on picture taking, blogging, and all general forms of memory keeping. Because of this, I have nothing interesting to write about tonight. However, I have--for the first time ever--been tagged (by Marla). Since it makes me feel like I'm "in", I am happily willing to play.

So, some not very interesting things about me are:

• 10 Years ago I was at home from BYU for the Summer trying not to be in love with Omar, and failing miserably. I think we were "not" dating most of that summer....
  5 Year ago I the wife of a very unhappy probation officer, living in Gridley, and just starting to get rolling with my web design business, wishing I had kids to keep me busy.


• 5 Days ago I was filling out endless forms involved in house buying, worrying about all the details of house buying and thinking about pretty much nothing but house buying.

5 Things to Do on my LIST

1. Make zucchini bread (this is on my to-do-list every day and never gets done)


2. Clean the bathroom


3. Fill out change of address forms


4. Call my brother


5. Water Tara's plants

FIVE Snacks

1. Salted Oranges


2. Strawberry Special K Snack Bars


3. Chocolate covered pretzels


4. Kirkland Signature trail mix


5. Apples

5 Billionaire Things

This was hard, I don't even know how to think about that much money!

1. Pay off all of our debt


2. Build a house somewhere that probably isn't the desert.


3. Build temples, fund missions, and build up the kingdom


4. Something helping kids, probably lots of somethings--how do you decide?


5. Finance my own political campaign to run for president. :)

5 Places I Have Lived

1. Provo, UT (a BYU baby, and then a BYU coed)


2. Palo Alto, CA (at 18 months while my dad was an intern)


3. Gridley, CA (2-18, 22-29 - most of it in the same house, all of it on the same block)


4. Albany, CA (for a year while Omar finished at UC Berkeley)


5. El Cerrito, CA (for 2 months in my Great Aunt's basement when we first got married and couldn't find housing in the Bay Area we could afford)

5 People I Tag...

1. Tara Hepworth


2. Amanda Eccles


3. Emily Sorenson


4. Becca Fire


5. Cari Potter

And there you have it... a lot of really useless information about me. :)

Our House

We bought a house! Well, we're in escrow anyway! It's very exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time.  It definitely makes moving more exciting! Even Helaman is sometimes exciting about it. (Not always, but sometimes is a big improvement.)

Our house is right on the edge of town, which Omar is excited about. You only have to cross a couple of empty lots and one street and your out in the desert, perfect for motorcycle riding. It's got a patio on the side away from the gale force winds, so that's great, and we really like the layout. The colors, well, that's another story!

We went down to Ridgecrest on Monday and saw three houses that night and eight the next day. There were two that we really liked. Well, Omar really likes one and Jinny really likes the other. We stayed up all night making charts, and discussing, and heatedly discussing, and going over and over everything. We finally agreed on the one we thought was the best fit (well, Omar only agreed because that is what the decision matrix said, but it was his idea so...).

We made the decision, then went to bed and prayed about it. And decided to buy another house altogether, it wasn't even one of the ones we had been discussing. We followed the pattern, we studied it out in our mind, then asked, and, well, we had come up with the wrong answer apparently. Once we knew what to do we were both competely excited, there was no more "discussing" and it all went smoothly.

We called the agent in the morning and set up and appointment to see it again, then made an offer and did all the paperwork that afternoon. Then came the nerve-wracking waiting to see if they would accept our offer. We finally heart an hour after the deadline the next day that they had accepted, and we were in escrow.

Below is the video I took of the house while we were there with the inspector on Saturday. It might make you dizzy, and I apologize. I guess cinematography is not one of my talents!

Our Summer "Vacation"

We left town last Monday for our big summer vacation. No, that's just my joke, because it's the only trip we'll be taking this summer. (I always have such big plans. :) )

Monday morning we headed to Ridgecrest to find somewhere to live for the next adventure of our lives. We had planned on renting for a while, but apparently with all the base realignments, there is not much renting to be done in Ridgecrest right now. So, we were on our way to buy our first house. It seemed like a big moment before we did, boy did I have no idea how big it was! But house buying will be another post.

Omar's good friend Steven's mom, Nancy, was wonderful enough to let us stay with her while we were in Ridgecrest. We had a lot of fun with her, and she was an awesome host. Helaman loved her big t.v., more than is probably good for him. We stayed with her until Wednesday night, then went to San Juan Capistrano to spend the 4th of July with Omar's brother. Then it was back to Ridecrest on Saturday to be at our house when the inspector was there, and then a loooooooong drive home to Gridley.

It was a crazy trip, and we had tons of fun being together. For more fun details, or just details, it's all in the eye of the beholder, you can always click through the pictures.

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