From wild screams to sweet snuggles, Preston is growing up. Today, Preston turns 10 months. Oh, how the time flies by and at the same time stands still. This little boy is crawling everywhere, especially towards his puppy. Preston loves Henry more that anyone else and Henry tolerates him decent. Preston has just learned to climb up the stairs in the last week or so. He is not super stable yet but does a pretty good job. This also means the purchase of baby gates, mostly for safety reasons. The one at the bottom of the stairs opens so we don't have to move it from the wall everytime we want to go up the stairs. That is also nice for Henry, so he doesn't have to do acrobats evertime he wants to go up and down the stairs.

We are also discovering the voice of Preston. He is even more loud and vocal than before. This boy loves to talk, he just haven't learned volume control yet. We are working on it but he just likes to hear himself speak.

We have also introduced a special word, that we love and Preston hates. the work is "NO." When he hears the word, he looks at us at usually starts a pretty fake and short cry. For instance, Preston was heading towards Henry's water bowl the other day and so I said, "Preston, no." He looks at me and kept going towards the forbidden object, so i said it again. This times he sits where he was and just starts crying. then he looks at the bowl, looks at me and cries some more. It was pretty pathetic and cute at the same time.

Preston has also started taking all his baths in the big boy bath. Oh how he loves the bath. I think he loves being naked but then add water and toys in the mix and you have got a little piece of heaven. My favorite part is getting him out and wrapping him a towel. He loves to snuggle and be warm in the towel after a fun bathtime experience.

Henry has been in a world of hurt for quite awhile now. his allergies are so bad that we had to get a blood test done on him. the only problem was that the test cost $350 so we had to wait for our tax return to be able to afford the test. Well, we got the results back this week and it turns out that Henry is allergic to 18 things and is borderline allergic to 3 more. We are going to try a food change and benadril to see if that will help him. unfortunately, Henry is allregic to beef, corn, oats, alfalfa and carrots which happen to be in 95% of all dog foods and the foods that don't have those things cost a ton of money. The one food at the pet store that I found that would work costs $40 on sale for a 35 pound bag, normally $50 per bag. It is quite different than the 50 pould bag we were getting for $20 at sam's club. If the food switch doesn't work than we are going to have to get serums specially made for henry that will be another $200-$300 more. good thing we love our dog or I don't know if this would be worth it.

Well, Preston is ready to eat breakfast, until next time....

The teeth are coming...

This week has been an exciting week for Preston, he just doesn't know it yet. He is finally getting teeth. All Preston realizes is that he doesn't feel good. He is a trooper and hanging in there. Preston is currently getting his bottom teeth. Preston also turned 9 months this week. That means that in 9 more months he gets to go to nursery, time sures flies. I am excited for that prospect just because he will be such a big boy, I don't even take him on Sundays because Preston and Primary do not mix well. The other moms and their babies are testament to that. All the loudness from the babies detracts from the reverence or the attempt at reverence we are trying to get in primary. So, Dallin or Vicki graciously take him for me. I can't believe that 9 months has flown by so quickly. Anyway, Preston is not on the move yet but is still trying hard.
Funny story...This happened at Sunday dinner at my parent's house. Preston and Hailey (cousins) were playing on the floor together nicely and having a great time. All of the sudden, Preston decides to pull Hailey's hair. Just reached up, grabbed a handful and yanked on it. Of course Hailey started to cry and so Papa picked her up. Well, Hailey still had the toys she was playing with in her hands. It turns out, a couple seconds later Hailey dropped those toys right on Preston's head. And the tears start from him as well. I said, "well buddy, that is called payback"
Moral: Be nice to people and they will be nice back or at least not drop stuff on your head.

The puzzle

This is a picture of the puzzle I just finished, exciting I know...

Living Life

Well, this week has been pretty normal for us. We have just been living life...Preston is still working hard to crawl but is not there yet. He loves practicing. He has also discovered throwing balls and laughs every time he does it. If Dallin gets the chance, he will put the video up today. Preston is a chatter box that always has something to say but in what language he is talking, we are not sure.
Dallin has been kinda stressed about work because people got laid off this week. I think that we will be OK but who knows with this city council of ours. I know, no matter what that things will work out the way that they are suppose to. He is getting pumped up for basketball season that should be starting soon for the stake.
I have just been tutoring and teaching flute lessons. Next year, I am going back to work, which is not that exciting to me but it will help us when Dallin gets another pay cut. We have to do it so that we can be more financially secure in the future. I also finished the puzzle I have been working on this week, it was a 1000 piece puzzle of zebras. It was one of the hardest puzzles I have ever done.
Henry is doing decent, his feet are healing up good from our walk last week where he got destroyed by the ice. He is still allergic to life but we are trying to save up to get him an allergy test. He is still my sweet baby who loves to cuddle his momma.
I guess I am lucky in that way because all of my boys love to cuddle.
There are your random thoughts of the week.

San Fran pics

at the pier

Japanese Tea Garden

at the pier

Preston Dalli ride the merry-go-round

our adventures at KfC

San Fran 2009

Well, for our last trip for the decade, we headed west to town of San Fransisco. We made this journey with Martha and Jonathon. On this trip, we made a variety of stops along the way to make this more than a trip but with an adventure. After leaving, we soon realized two things, we forgot the play pen for Preston to sleep in and we brought along tour guide Martha. The first thing was not so bad because Preston could just sleep in the bed with us, it worked out because Preston ended up being sick and needed the extra comfort because he was up most of the night anyway. The second thing, tour guide Martha, had its perks as well as a fascinating way of making Jonathon crazy.
As the pictures will indicate, we stop for lunch at KFC which happened to have a Col. Sanders there, I knew that was a sign to the beginning of a great trip. Soon, after we left KFC, we made it to the Jelly Belly factory, which apparently so did the rest of California. The place was packed so we decided, to forgo the tour for now. More about that later.
We arrived to San Fran, 5 1/2 hours after we left Reno and found our Motel. It was a bit scummy but cheap. All 5 of us made our way to room 216 at the Surf Motel Inn and found that the reason why the room was so small was because the bathroom was huge.
We went to the SFMOMA which is the Museum of Modern Art. It was cool but I didn't find it as interesting as the NY version. That night we hit Chevy's for dinner. We could have tried a local joint but with an 8 month old, you have got to go where you know whey will have high chairs. You can't mess around with that in a city that has horrible parking and traffic, especially when the driver gets road rage. Anyway, it was a successful first day.
the 2nd day of our adventure was jam packed full of fun. We started out by going to the pier and fisherman's wharf. We we to the aquarium which everyone loved. I got a bit unnerved in the underground tubes of fish and things. I had to make it quickly to the other side so I would not pass out or throw up. Fish and water are not my favorite things. Preston did love looking at all the fish, he stayed with Dallin in the tubes.
We also went to the exploratorium, where I learned many things. First, a lot of interesting science. sSecond, that kids in San Francisco and surrounding areas are brats and should be slapped. Third, I learned some valuable lessons that I will teach my kid about manners.
We also made it to the Japanese Tea Gardens that day, We thankfully got there right before closing so we did not have to pay to get in. That saved us $5 each, not much but still I am grateful. It was a very pretty garden and we enjoyed looking around there. We hit the IHOP next to motel for dinner, again convenient and kid friendly and had an enjoyable night playing games in our room.
We left pretty early the next morning so that we could get to the Jelly Belly factory before the rest of the world. This worked out in the end because there was not much of a wait when we got there but by the time we left it was completely full. Unfortunately, because we went on new Year's Eve, the factory workers were not working but at home with their families. Boo for me, good for them. I had never gone to the factory before this time and so had to use my imagination through the whole tour. We got delicious Jelly Belly's on the way out and headed home safely. we did make a pit stop on the way into town because Preston was sick and had ear infections but he is fine and is a champion.
I am getting this all out now so that when testimony meeting comes around,I won't feel the need to share it over the pulpit. Our next big adventure, the Redwood trip April 2010.

Here at Christmas

Well, this is my third attempt at creating this blog posting, so here is hoping that it actually works.
This Christmas we are staying Reno, that has to do with Dallin working on Christmas. We are not too upset about Dallin working because someone has to and we can still enjoy Christmas even if it is at the firestation. This Christmas we did something different, we got everything done as soon as possible sothat we are able to just enjoy the Christmas season. For instance, Christmas cards were sent out at the beginning of December. Also, shopping was done quickly and effectively so I would not be stressed out and do any lst minute rushing around. I think that it helped that i made a list so I was not walking around aimlessly through crowded stores.
The biggest project that I encountered was trying to get pictures of all the grand kids on both sides. I asked everyone in September to give me 1 or 2 wallet size photos (depending on the person) of their kids. Not a hard task especially because they could of sent them to me on email or got them printed, as I did, at Wal-Mart for $0.63 for 2. Anyway, I finally got the last one 2 days ago. I took these compilation of photos and made brag books for all the grandmas and Jenny, who is on her mission. They are cute and the grandma's will love having a picture of all their grand kids with them at all times.
We are looking forward to talking to Jenny and to see Grandma Jean for the Christmas holiday.
We also, as we try to do every year, did some anonymous service. We hope this person really enjoys the service that we gave to them because we had a fun time doing it. Giving service has been a great way to really keep the holiday spirit and not think so much about ourselves.
We hope everyone has a great holiday season and we promise to be better at blogging next year.