About two months ago Jonah took a serious interest in drawing. He would draw all day if I would stay by his side and continually praise him, as well as draw with him. He chases me down and hands me a crayon saying, "here mama." He waits to make sure I follow him back to wherever his art easel may be. And if by chance I don't follow him, right away, he gives me a piece of his mind. His favorite things to draw are, but not limited to: choo choo, snowman, plane, any kind of animal, truck, jeep, and stars.(occasionally they really look like stars too) He prefers to color with markers, of course, however after way too many mishaps of him either dropping them or running down the hallway with them, they have disappeared.. Here are a few pictures of him hard at work. :)

This was one of those run down the hallway and back drawings. :)

"Helping" Dustin with his homework.

This is usually how much he draws in a day or two.

In Honor of Finals Week

Abby & I Suck At Christmas!

So we got this really cool train table for Jonah. He will love it... or should I say he does love it. I saw it at home. (It came via UPS). I told Abby that it would be annoying to have to put it together Christmas day when we got home from SLC. So I told her that I should put it together in the back room so that we can just bring it out on Christmas. Next thing you know the table is together and Jonah and I are playing with his trains. I felt bad cause now it wouldn't so fun on Christmas morning. So after Jonah went to bed I packed it back into boxes hoping he would forget about it until Christmas.

So big..

So, this morning I was feeling extra sick and especially tired after another sleepless night. Dustin fed Jonah breakfast for me and headed off to work. I decided I needed to lye down for a bit, so I put Thomas on for Jonah and left my door open. About five minutes into the show, he rushed in saying, " 'mon mama, choo choo!" I told him mommy had to lay down just for a bit, so he ran back out to the t.v. A couple minutes later he comes running in again, stops and looks at me then goes over to a pile of clothes on the floor and grabs two articles. He rushes back to me and while handing me the clothes says, "here go mama" with a big grin on his face. He is so cute, I can hardly stand it sometimes! He is not my baby any more.. :(

This was this summer at Bear Lake, man he is cute. :)

Jonah, Jonah, Jonah...

So last night Abby and Mary were getting ready to go work out. I was putting Jonah down for the night. He was increda-pissed because we made him stop drawing, (he didn't want to). He was screaming at me as I was walking out of the room. I happened to turn and glance at him as I turned around the door and he had climbed over the crib railing and was headed to the ground. His face broke his fall. It freaked me out. With in 1 second he had climbed and jumped to his doom. I grabbed a light, to check for dilation. Abby wanted to know. He is fine. I stayed in the room pretending to be asleep just to make sure he was safe. Abby was sure he wouldn't attempt it again. I kn ow those stubborn Auman jeans better though. He did attempt it two more times before I took apart his crib and put his mattress on the floor. He was so upset! Long story short after jumping on the bed and hitting his mouth hard on the side he had a pretty bad night. But now Abby and I need to get this whole bed thing going. The crib doesn't fit his needs anymore. Needs being, keeping him in it. Oh well. So the pages of our lives turn. (dude! I got the right lives. usually I put lifes). PS increda-pissed is a trade marked word. It means so mad that the person affected has no conscious thought processes. Is extremely red in the face with snot, tears, and heat protruding from the body, and much like the Hulk has no recollection of their doings when they awake from their rampage. Yes even a small man consisting of only 25 lbs of blood and guts can become very intimidating when increda-pissed.

Halloweenie Fun

So first off Friday night we had a Murder Mystery Party that my sisters threw for my Birthday. If you have never been to one you should, they are hilarious, kinda scandalous, but hilarious. Most of us were Italian, Sam, Ann, and Sara did a super job on their accents, so funny. It was just my family and all about deceit and affair, sounds terrible... Josh made his famous pasta, amazing. And Sara made a really yummy cheesecake. It was a really fun night, thanks again guys!

Halloween, Dustin had the clever idea last year of making Jonah, "Jonah in the Whale" we never got around to it. We figured next year he will have an opinion about what he wants to be, so we got an early start on it this year, and with some help from Jackie accomplished it pretty well. He was the cutest whale I've ever seen. We spent the day with Barney, Jackie, Kate, Mandi, Haylie, Sara, Bella, Rhi, Jacob and last but NOT least Ann! :) We started off at the mall, WAY too many people, and then hit up Main Street, and ended doing some around the neighborhood with Sara and the girls. When Jonah received his first piece of candy in his bucket, a tootsie roll, he immediately took a big bite out of it, wrapper and all! He hasn't done that since he was really little, not sure why he did it. He continued to instantly grab each piece of candy for the first 6 or 7. Needless to say he ate way too much candy that day, and really not much else. He didn't really get the whole going around to different stores thing, he really just wanted to eat his candy and play. He was so hyped up on candy he never took a nap, never stopped jumping around really and crashed hard at about 7.

Rocco Scarfazzi and Tara Misu, look at that chest hair... :)

Mama Rosa and Father Alfredo

Angel and Bo Jalais

Marco Roni, and Clair Voyant

We look good...

His first stop! He wasn't so eager like this every time.

Eating candy...

This was what he liked doing most. :)

Princess "Belle," she is really good at being a princess. :)

Ready to go!

Jonah's First Pumpkin Carve!

Since fall, Jonah has noticed the "punkin's" everywhere we go, he loves them. He loves scouting them out and drawing them. So we decided to let him carve a pumpkin, or rather watch Dustin carve the pumpkin. :) Of course we did a "choo choo" and Jonah thinks it is the coolest thing ever! He wanted my knife when i was cutting the top off, so we gave him a plastic one, he wasn't tricked though. He enjoyed helping me dig the seeds out, though he did make a nasty face at first. His favorite part of all though, was putting it on the porch and putting a candle in it! Oh, and taking the lid off and on. :)

Hard at work

The finished product

Pumpkin Walk

We went to the Pumpkin Walk this last weekend with Sara, Josh and their whole clan, Mars, and we even happened to run into Ann and Casey! There was a huge line to get inside, were still not sure why we stayed..But we did enjoy ourselves!

The girls were super excited about getting their pic with the witch! :) Jonah is busy watching the tiny pumpkin ride a tiny bicycle overhead.

I figured I better put one picture of the pumpkins, this was pretty cute, Jolley Green Giant.

They had this for the kids to try on a Star Wars one. He was pretty proud of himself for hitting it.

The walkway was lined with carved, lit pumpkins, and Jonah had to stop (like this) and look at each one. :)

Ann (What more could someone want?)

Ann is a great sister and all around gal.

We all love her to pieces.

What exactly Ann means to all of us would be hard to some up in words. She is just terrific! She has a great smile, and personality to go along with it. When ever Ann is around people are just happy.

American West Heritage Center

We went to the American West Heritage Center on Saturday with our friends, Ben and Meagan and their kids, Andrew and Olivia. We had so much fun, there was so much to do, the train, animals to pet, a corn maze, a giant slide, a pony ride, and lots of tractors everywhere. Jonah is obsessed with "choo choo's," when he saw the train there, he was in heaven. We went on it several times, not enough for him of course. He was really excited to see the baby goats, they were half his size so he kept chasing them around grabbing at their tails. He kept calling them, " aminals!" Had we let him him walk through the corn maze I think we would have slept there, he wanted to stop and admire every stalk of corn. He loved the big slide, but had more fun when he went with dustin. Dustin did flips and all kinds of crazy stuff while holding him...scared me a little.

He saw Andrew hiding in the corn, so he coppied. :)

Going for a Train ride, he really is beaming inside...

Andrew and Jonah chasing the chickens.

Dustin and Jonah going down the slide

He liked petting the horse.

Flight of the Indian

Today I noticed a large Indian guy get up from his chair in my sociology class. What was so significant was that he looked exactly like Jemaine from Flight of the Concords. No lie. Serious, the hair the face structure, the mouth, the glasses... Even the way he walked! The only thing I couldn't tell was about his teeth. But really. No lie, an EXACT duplicate just with darker more chocolaty skin.

Going to bath myself!

Jonah decided he wasn't going to wait for mom or dad to help into the tub. I got too quiet. I came back to check on him, and this was what I found. -Dustin

Squirrel Nut Zippers!

Mandi gave me some of these candies the other day because they reminded her of me. I don't know why. Maybe because I ate a couple squirrels, or just because its a ridiculous name. In any case I got to thinking about the name and realized that there is a ska band called "Squirrel Nut Zippers". So I thought that they must be named after these candies. They were actually named after moon shine. Nut zipper is a term used for moon shine in the south. In the 1920's a man got drunk and climbed into a tree. The police came and tried to talk him down but he would not come down. A newspaper asked why, and his reply was simply, "It must have been the nut zipper". The title of the article was, "SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPER". So out of curiosity I looked up the history of the candy. Squirrel Brand Company made this new candy in the 1920's and needed a name. The article caught the attention of the owner. See, both the candy company and the newspaper that printed the article are in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The article ran during the same time the company was looking for a name. Nut Zipper's are now owned by NECCO. -Dustin

What would I do?

What would I do with out Abby and Jonah? Really though. When Abby leaves to Salt Lake City or I'm just not around I get so lonely. Just from one night! Abby went to Slat Lake yesterday. Last night when I went to bed I saw that some of Jonah's PJ's where left on our bed. So what do I do? I sleep with them next to my face because they smell like Jonah. Sometimes, like any one I wonder how I would survive if they were taken from me. This is why I'm sure they won't be. Because I don't think I would survive. I love them so much. It will be nice to have all of lives in perfections gone so that we can devote all our self's to loving each other. Not having to worry about everything else.

I love my wife.

Abby and I came up to Boise today to see Emily her sister, get her endowments taken out. Everytime we are in a Temple session I get overwelmed with how pretty she is. I feel so lucky to be married to such a sweet, and beuatiful women. It's hard to not just stare at her the whole time. Today I was just very happy to be there with her. I love her a lot. I was watching her and she just glowed. Sometimes I just look at her and get happy. She is a good wife and mother. Jonah and I are blessed.

My little ball of curiosity

Jonah is now 19 months old, but has the attitude of a 2 and a half year old. He recently started going to nursery and learned that to get what he wants he just has to scream NO really loud while clenching his fists and making his whole body tremble. What happened to my sweet baby? Hes still there sometimes like when he wakes up in the morning and wants to cuddle, or when he wants me to read him books and he comes and sits in my lap. Unfortunately, I Mostly see the "I have gone bonkers" side. :) He is so curious about everything, he wants to know what everything is, what it's called, what it does and then he studies how it works. I hear this about 40 times a day, "Mama, what this?" We have lots of fun, and some days spend lots of time in time out...

His favorite thing to do right now is to ride his "bike." Its an old worn out Tricycle we got at a garage sale for a couple bucks. His legs are about a foot and a half to short to reach the peddles, so he uses his feet as peddles, and goes pretty fast, and has also mastered the steering. He watches all the neighbor kids ride their bikes and envies them by saying "WOW! Look Mama, bike." He is Also obsessed with trucks, or "bucks" as he says. He can spot one out of nowhere. He is also great at spotting Jeeps (since he loves Grandpa's) he even spots the Cherokees which don't really even look like a Jeep. He is all boy. His other favorite is to wrestle with Daddy when he gets home from work/School. He giggles and giggles and says, "gin, gin" (again) He is very much like a sponge right now and reemembers everything we tell him, everything he hears, whether we want him to or not... We love him so much, the tantrums and all.

Its hard to believe how fast he went from this...

To this...

To this...

Just washing my balls.

I have been teaching Jonah the importance of washing his balls. It seems he's getting it.

First Day of School

Just wanted to mention a funny thought I had while walking to school. It always seems like the first day or even week of school there is a lot of perfume lingering around. But after that it seems to die off a lot. Like people are trying so hard to make a good first impression. But don't care any more after all the excitment goes away from being new to school. Ellie Katies friend is in one of my classes. Awkward. Just to show you that every time you decide to change a major the younger your classes get. I just can't believe they are in college. I also made a friend today. His name is Xu Ling. You pernounce it, (Shoe.) He didn't seem impressed that I knew how to pernounce it from seeing him write it. He is from Bejing, and seems like a good kid. He says that it seems popular if you are married to play frisbee around here. Why he asked. All you do is say here you go, now throw it back to me. I explained Ultimate to him. He still didn't get the point.

where oh where could he be?

I love him so much..

OK first off, I know when Dustin reads this he will be shaking his head at me...this happens often, he is far more cautious then me. Today, well yesterday since it is early morning now, I lost Jonah in Ross for 4 minutes. I was helping Isabelle and Mariah look for school clothes, he was 5 feet away from me near the toys. I was admiring one of the girls choices and glanced back to his spot, gone. I went around the corner expecting to see him, there was only an elderly lady and the most horrible stench. My first thought, he's pooped and he must be near! Second thought, wow that lady smells awful! (rude I know) I panicked asked Sara and the girls to help, I believe there were 2 more times I smelled that same nasty stench and couldn't see him. After what felt like forever, and the start of tears, Sara found him. She found him near the cash registers with a Tonka truck set, she said he looked like he was waiting in line to buy them. I think I shop to much. He of course was the source of the smell. I have a leash, he really hates it and throws tantrums when I put it on him, well the one time I put it on him. Plus people judge you, I got some nasty looks. I really am going to be more careful, I promise Dustin!

I apologize to everyone.

I am sorry for the long blog last week. I was just typing and did not realize the length of it. We all know I can TALK! But I will try and keep it short here on out. Today was a day where I didn't know what my future in tells. I still don't. But I was to the breaking point where I felt like I was going to ooze bodily fluids from my pores. I felt too much wait on me to handle. Then I had a impression. All the pressure lifted off my chest. I was happy and uplifted. Things are going to be okay. Just wanted to let you know that when you feel like you are at the end, He is there with you. Just hang in knowing that there will be a release just in time for your next trial. Love you guys.

-Dustin

Driving, driving, driving...

I went to Composites One today to pick up some resin and acetone for the shop. I have been trying to watch my speed a lot in the last year or so. I put the truck on cruise control the whole way down. Kept it at the speed limit. Anyway, one thing that always boggles my mind is most everyone else on the highway. Sure i'm not a great driver, I know that. But man, some people! People will be passing me with probebly a 10 MPH difference. Next thing I know I am passing them at over a 10 MPH difference. What?... Thats ruffly a 20 MPH speed flucuation. It will be in 1, and 1 and a 1/2 minute intervals too. So what, they are reving their engine to the max just to push on the brakes? Are they testing their brakes? Maybe, I guess. Then you have the people who tail you like a mad man. When you get over to let them pass, they do too! You have to speed up, pull some tricky manuver, just to get them far away from you cause their crazy! Also you have the impatiant drivers. They usually drive a BMW, Sequia, Caddy, or Acura. You occasionally get a teenager in a beater who has to impress others some way other than the coolness of his car. This is how it happens. You will be slowly passing someone on the left, than all of a sudden you have 5-6 cars from no where riding your butt. You give your sefl proper distance between you and the driver you just passed, you flip on the signal, then BAM!, all the cars from behind you hop into the right lane cutting off the guy you passed. They speed up giving you nasty looks for not pulling into the right lane. The teenager and Beemer man usually cut you off too, to let you know they are annoyed. So watch out for them. Last but no least one of the worse, the Sunday drivers. Why the worst? Cause unlike the other drivers who you can excape or will pass you and never see you again, you are stuck with these ones. They are the drivers who are driving behind another car going about 10 under. You are about to pass them and then they go to pass the car in front of them. The problem is that they never seem to pass them. So if you are in the last streach to Brigham and there are only two lanes, you're hosed. You gently ride up on them, back off, ride up, back off. Yeah, they never seem to grasp any concepts. It's like they are so high on life, with out a care in the world. What do they see? Is it like Zippity Do Daw in their head? Are cartoon birds singing on their shoulder? Do they imagine and enjoy a good talk with Aunt Jemima on their dash? What is going on? Well, next time I am going to put a big sign that says highly explosive with a nuclear symbol over it. They might stay away then. -Dustin

(for your viewing pleasure).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcxYwwIL5zQ