It's the Holiday Season

What a day it has been! Uriah woke up at 6:30 to have a bottle and the weather outside was absolutely frightful! I checked the 511 and interstates all over are closed: to Utah, to Rupert, to Idaho Falls, to almost anywhere! The snow is piled up right to our door and we have a huge awning over our door and snow never gets up to it! Our car is parked under an awning and it is completely covered in snow. It is 11:30 and it is still snowing! It has been a wonderful way to start Uriah's first Christmas. At 8:30 we finally got up to feed Uriah breakfast (Rice cereal and pears) and then we started opening presents. Uriah loves to rip the paper off of the presents. He got a box of cereal, two blankets, two outfits, a Dr. Seuss book, some toy links, and a Little People Aeroplane! It is so cute. Jared got some body wash, a big jar of Jelly Bellys, a Philadelphia Eagles blanket, a new white shirt and tie, and The Battle for Middle Earth computer game anthology. Jared got me the Twilight book series in hardback, the first book is the special collector's edition with the author's signature on the front page. Jared's parents got me some makeup and The Tales of Beetle the Bard. I also got some warm vanilla sugar soap and lotion from my mom and dad and the 9th season of Frasier (my favorite TV show!) We have had a wonderful morning and we hope that everyone else has an awesome Christmas. If anyone travels, we hope you are all safe. A white Christmas is lovely, but it's not always the safest (^_^) Happy Christmas!

Bushel of Birthdays

What a weekend we had. Friday night we babysatt Miranda and then Jared's uncle and aunt made him a cheesecake for his birthday. It was very delicious. Saturday morning we went and did some shopping for a family we know who is in need and then we grabbed some presents for their kids (with a little help from a family in our ward) and we took all the stuff over to them Saturday afternoon. They were so grateful. I had a hard time not getting teary-eyed because I know what it is like to be in need, and to know that we provided Christmas for their children made me feel really happy.

So since Jared's birthday was Sunday I had decided we were going to celebrate on Saturday. After we delivered our secret santa stuff I took Jared roller blading at Deleta. It was a BLAST! It took us a while to get balanced because it has been at least 10 years for each of us since we've been skating at all, and Jared biffed it once, but it was a lot of fun. It really made me feel like a kid again, and roller blading is so much fun anyway. Then after that we got a Papa Murpheys pizza and took it home and watched a movie.

Then at 6:30 saturday we went to my nephews birthday party. He was born on Jared's birthday one year ago. His name is Phoenix, and he's a cutie. Anyway, we watched him eat his first cake and open his first presents. Jared got to open his birthday presents too. He got a box of chocolates from my sister, a box of chocolate covered cherries from me, a Philadelphia Eagles tie from me, and a collection of Christmas cartoons (also from me).

On Sunday I made Jared a special dinner of lasagna, garlic bread and veggies, with leftover cheesecake, and we watched some of the Christmas cartoons he got the day earlier. He said he had a great birthday, and I am glad that he did. His happiness means everything to me!

So then I get up this morning to go to work, and I'm calf-deep in snow and brushing snow off my car with my broom....crazy! I did not see this much snow coming at all! Besides that, it has been snowing almost all day long, and I am really hoping they cancel work for the rest of the week, but we will have to see (^_^) I would really love to just stay home to get some rest and recover from these sniffles I haven't been able to get rid of, but oh well. Only 3 more days until Christmas! Merry Christmas everyone!

A Slightly Early Christmas

This last week we went to Jared's parents to spend some early Christmas time with them because we won't get to see them on Christmas day. It was also my family's big yearly Christmas party where we take things to auction off for the family mission fund. That is always a blast and there is always a ton of good food. After the party Uriah went to great grandma's house and had a great time talking to her. She doesn't get to see him very often so she really enjoyed his company. Uriah also got to have his first up close and personal meeting with a dog. He liked the dog a lot, and would pull on his lips and his ears, but the puppy didn't mind. We just made sure to wash Uriah's hands after that, cuz the doggy was kinda smelly :) Before we came home grandma let Uriah open his very first Christmas present. I helped him get a good grip on the paper and then he just let-r-rip! And what did he find? An adorable snowman stocking cap that grandma had made for him. It's so cute and has little jingle bells on it. Grandma also made him his very first Christmas stocking that has a toy train on it. It's so cute. I'll have to post pictures of it some time. While we were driving home the roads weren't the best, but we made it safely and are happy to be home.
This week is finals week and I have two on Monday and Jared has one on Tuesday and one on Thursday, and then we are done for 3 weeks! And then after that, just one more semester for me. I am very excited and I will feel relieved when I'm done.
Kudos to Crystal for being so close to finishing too!

'Tis the Season

So, ever since we have been married we have had a potted Christmas tree. This is the first Christmas tree we ever had as a couple. It's potted, but at least it was real. We never had the money to go and buy a big one and my husband always insisted on real ones over fake ones, so we would just get potted ones and buy small decorations for them. There was nothing wrong with a potted tree, and I didn't mind having them, but they somehow died before Christmas came, and they were a mess to clean up...needles all over the place and what not. Christmas trees of '05, '06, and '07 basically all looked the same as the above pictures. Well, now that we have a baby, I told my husband that there was no way our little guy was going to be opening his Christmas presents sitting next to a potted tree. So this year I asked my dad to help us buy a tree. We were getting ready to go pick one out when my husband decided he didn't want to have to deal with the mess of a real one and that it would be best to get a fake one, even if they didn't smell as nice as real ones. So we made a mental u-turn and went to Wal Mart and got a nice one for only $40 and some decorations. Jared put the tree together and I decorated it. Here is our beautiful, long waited for Christmas tree.

I personally think it looks excellent!

One thing that I love most about Christmas is being able to put up Christmas lights. When I was growing up, my parents always strung Christmas lights across the whole living room ceiling and across the archway to the living room. I loved it so much at night when all the lights in the house were off and all you could see were the Christmas lights, bright and glowing and all different colors, especially the ones on the tree. This year the lights on our Christmas tree slowly fade in and out one at a time. I don't like it when lights blink really fast, but this fade setting has one color fade at a time, so our tree never looks like there aren't any lights on it, and that is especially fun to watch at night time. So, because I loved lights so much as a child, I decided to get a few boxes of $2 lights and put them up around my house. And this year I bought a wreath for our door because we had never had one before. It is so much fun to have a Christmasy house!

We are trying to teach Uriah how to sit up. He is doing very well at getting on his hands and knees or on his hands and tip-toes, so we thought we'd help him practice sitting up. He does great if he sits oriented by the middle of his body, but if he tries to lean one way or the other, he just keeps going and falls over. I tried to take a picture of him by his first Christmas tree, but he would only stay sitting up for about 5 seconds because he was being a stinker, so the pictures turned out blurry because he would start to sway just as I clicked the button.

Here are a few more pictures of other decorations I have up around the house. The paper ones are heirlooms from my family decorations when I was young, and the nativity was given to me by my ma-in-law.

Santa ALWAYS comes to my house, and with all 9 reindeer. Rudolph looks special because...well, he's special!

This is my snowman nativity. Cute, huh?

Well, I've got to get off to bed. I've got an awful headache and it has just been one of those typical Mondays when you are just so thankful to get back into bed.

Five Months and Forever

Uriah is five months old now! I know I've said it before, but I feel like he has been with me for so much longer than that. But 5 months is a great milestone. Uriah can roll all around the room and lately he has been getting up on his elbows and knees, enough to lift his chubby tummy up off the floor. He can sit up himself as long as he doesn't lean to the left or right...then he falls over, but I'm sure that very soon he will be crawling and sitting up all on his own. But I don't want him to grow up too fast. These moments are precious and few, and I hope I never forget them. Uriah is such a joy and treasure, and I thank Heavenly Father every day that He has given me such a blessing.

In other news, I decided to buy Wall-E, even though I had never seen it before. And guess what? I LOVED it! I loved it from the very first second, when it started playing "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" from the musical Hello, Dolly! Besides the music, the movie itself is very fun and enjoyable. Who would have known a robot could have looked so cute? What is even more interesting is the bonus features, where they have a special clip about building a movie from the "sound up" and all the different ways they made the noises for the movie. It was pretty darned awesome. My husband is going to take me to see Twilight tomorrow, which is really exciting and surprising at the same time because he told me he had absolutely no interest in that movie whatsoever, and maybe he still doesn't, but at least he loves me enough to take me to a chick flick movie (^_^)

I feel a great weight lifted off of me tonight, because I finally finished my last big paper project of the semester. After tonight, I've got nothing to worry about except finals, which will be in three weeks. It will feel great to finally have this semester over with, but I know that next semester will be the hardest because it will be the last semester I will have left to graduate, and I know I will become what missionaries call trunky. Although I know it will be hard, it will be worth it to have a degree, something no one else in my family has, and that after five years of college I can finally figure out what to do with my life. I am so thankful that I have been able to received the education I have, that there is such a thing as financial aid to allow those students who do not have the money to receive an excellent education.
I'm sticking in this extra picture and video of Uriah, for all those who like to see them. Jared took the picture of Uriah. He fell asleep in the car seat but when Jared tried to get him out Uriah would not let go of his toy elephant, even in his sleep! The video is just of Jared and Uriah messing around and having a good time. Jared is such a good daddy and takes such good care of Uriah. I don't know where I would be without either of them.

Stiff Upper Lip

So, Uriah has discovered his bottom lip, and it is the CUTEST thing ever! He has found out that he can suck in his bottom lip, and it just makes us laugh so hard because it is so cute. I just had to get a video of it because I know you will like it too.
Besides that, we are excited to go to the Twin Falls temple this weekend for my brother-in-law. Uriah gets to spend time with Jared's parents and I know they are excited about that. We've only got one more week until Thanksgiving break (woohoo!) and I've almost got one paper done (due tomorrow) and the other is due next Friday, so after that, things will be easy peasy. I can't wait to take a nice, long break.

Sweetheart Tag

Because Crystal tagged me!

Each person answers questions about their sweethearts.At the end of the post, the person then tags 6 people and posts their names; then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged.

What is your husbands name? Jared

How long have you guys been married? 3 years, 3.5 months

How long did you date? We knew each other in high school and I wrote him for two years while he was on his mission but we didn't date until he got back from his mission March 05, got engaged in May and married on July 22, 05.

How old is he? 24

Who is taller? Jared, but just barely.

Who can sing best? Well we are both choir peeps, but I have the claim to the largest range :)

Who is smarter? Jared has a ton of street smarts and common sense, but I'm book smart. It all depends on how you look at things.

Who does laundry? Mostly me, but if I wait too long Jared will get frustrated and do his own load.

Who pays the bills? That would be me. I have tried to get Jared involved but he just isn't interested.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me...interesting how that works, huh?

Who mows the lawn? Unforunately, we don't have a lawn. Apartments don't come with your own personal lawn.

Who cooks dinner? Weekdays, me. Weekends, him.

Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? Me, because Jared is never wrong.

Who kissed who first? Well, we both kinda went at it at the same time.

Who wears the pants? We both do...it depends on the situation. We are both very stubborn.
I tag Amber.

One of Those Days

Yesterday was quite the day. A few weeks ago we found a guy who wanted to buy our trike from us and pay $800 for it (which is a great buy, if you know how much trikes actually cost). He was an older gentleman and was hoping to find something he could ride without much stress on his body, which is exactly what recumbent trikes are for. Anyway, the money would have really helped us out a lot because things are very very tight now, and I definitely got my hopes up way higher than I should have. So the gentleman came over to our apartment yesterday, listed a whole bunch of good things about the trike and sounded like he really wanted it, but when he found out that it was too big to go through his door (without him having to pick it up) he decided he didn't want it and would look for something else. I'll admit I cried. $800 would have been a huge blessing for us, but I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and there was a reason we didn't get the extra money yesterday. I just wish I knew in advance, but that's not how it works (^_^)

Baby Videos: 2-3 months

Da Baby

So I decided I would just get it over with and put up most of the stuff I have of Uriah right now. He was born 21 June 2008, weighed 7 lbs even and was 22 inches long. He is a very very long little guy! Long and skinny, like...well, not like his daddy, but a lot like quite a few of his aunts and uncles on his grandma mccurdy's side. He's got what we like to call a little pirate eye. It's not a lazy eye, because his actual eye is just fine, it's just that his eye lid doesn't open up all the way, but the doctor says it will eventually, and that it probably had some extra pressure put on it during labor...which is kinda funny because I only pushed for 20 minutes. We love him no matter what he looks like though (^_^) He has been the most joyful thing in my life, and even though he is only four months old, I feel like he has been mine forever. Being a mother is one of the happiest things in my life, although everyone says that will change when my baby can start to crawl or walk, but who cares, I know I'll still be happy.

Uriah is the first and only grandbaby of grandma and grandpa McCurdy, and boy do they love him to bits. Even though grandpa McCurdy is afraid to hold him sometimes because he thinks he will get spit up on or pooped on, I know he wouldn't really mind if it happened. Poop happens, as those baby onesies say. I just wish we got to see G&G McCurdy more often, but the fact that we are poor college students kind of gets in the way of that. It's all right though. Things always work out anyway. Uriah is now 4 months old, 16.5 pounds and 27 inches long. His cousin, who is 10 months old, is only one inch longer than Uriah, so Uriah is catching up quick!

Uriah can roll over from back to tummy and then again to his back and he talks like a maniac. He reaches and grabs and can hold things, which I love because he loves to grab my shirt when I am changing his diaper or something like that. He is just too cute! He even grabbed daddy's hair one time while we were in bed. I guess he wanted daddy to wake up. Uriah's best friend is Jeriah Grayson (8 months), whom he spends three hours with on Wednesdays and about five hours on Fridays. They are pals and like to lay on the floor and talk to each other. Jeriah is a fat, chunky little thing, and Uriah is long and skinny, so I like to pretend that when they grow up Jeriah will be the bully and Uriah the skinny little whimp, but they will still be best pals. I will have to get some pictures of them together. Well, that's all I can think of for now. If I remember anything else to say about Uriah I will post it.

In The Beginning There Was...

So, this whole blog thing seems to be pretty popular nowadays, and a good way to keep in touch with what people are doing with themselves, so I thought I would start one up, just for fun.

Uriah has had a double earache this week, which has made things a little difficult. We bought a small Vicks Vaporizer and that has been a miracle worker for getting him to sleep all night. He is on some antibiotics and is doing much better, but Wednesday he must have felt the world was ending because he had a pretty rough day. Anyway, he is on the mend and back to his cute smiling self. He was a horse (or giraffe, whichever you prefer) for Halloween, and because I had my party on Halloween night I took him trick-or-treating to a few houses the night before. The poor little guy just couldn't keep himself awake though, and didn't even make it to the second house before he was sawing logs in the back seat of the car. He was still fun to show off though. He was pretty stinkin' cute.

The Halloween party was a blast (thanks to Matt and Amber for lending their house) ! We got home at about 2:30 in the morning and were just exhausted, but it was all worth it. That is definitely one of the things I look forward to every year, and we actually had a good turn out; at least 15 people at one time were there. I have yet to take down my Halloween decorations though. Call me a slacker, but the weekend of Halloween I was way too tired and busy, so I plan to do it tomorrow... we'll see if it happens. It's getting close to school being over...only about 4 more weeks, not counting Thanksgiving week and finals week. I can't believe that I will be done with school after next semester. 5 whole years of college...and then what do I do? Who knows, but I know that no matter what happens I will do what I was meant to do, whatever that is.