Sunday, March 28, 2010

Sunday Drivin'

We went on a Sunday drive this afternoon post-naps. Some extra gear was stowed in the back and we found ourselves digging up the side of a mountain in our Mountaineer. Liam had his first shooting experience today (that didn't include a camera in hand). He was beyond excited to have his Daddy show him the ropes of the 22 rifle.

It was a gorgeous day to be on the bench of mountain looking over Utah Lake. After running out of bullets we continued a nice drive around the lake and met a few furry and feathery friends.






Yep, the Mom was there too!














Friday, March 26, 2010

Mama got a new lens



Amazing focus, amazing light... with no flash!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

The death stare

Sometimes we'll be driving around on a Saturday and Liam will start to get really drowsy. We try to talk to him so he'll stay awake. This is the look we get in return.


Photo taken March 12, 2010

We proceed to chuckle then try again in a minute... and get that same stare. At some point we let him be. And then he looks more like this.

Photo taken Jan. 24, 2010

Much sweeter.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Our Saturday

This morning we just hung around the house. Here is Liam listening to my tiny (dollar store) mp3 speakers. He was carrying them all around the house jammin' to the music.


A little later he worked on his Transformers puzzle.


We got showered and dressed then left to go take the car to the shop to get fixed. From there we went to check out Star Mill in American Fork. That place is so awesome! My friend Lindsay gave me the tip because I asked if she knew of any cool places to take photos in that area. This place didn't disappoint. An old mill converted into an antique shop. There were so many things I wanted to buy! Just the tiny room full of apothecary draws and zillions of jars made me smile!


After Star Mill we grabbed some lunch then went to Wal-Mart to find Liam a helmut so he could ride his scooter safely. He selected a very yellow Bumblebee Transformers set complete with elbow and knee pads. After that we made another stop at Kohl's to find me some jeans. Ian was very accommodating at bringing me pair after pair in the dressing room. Liam entertained himself with his Bakugan during all this.

On the way home we stopped by Utah Lake to throw rocks into the water. Liam had a great time! Check out this rock throwing sequence:





(Can you tell I'm enjoying how fast my camera is?)


When we got home Liam wanted to test drive his new safety get-up. We headed towards Joslyn's house, but she wasn't home. Just Jered and baby Ty. We had a good time with them though. Jered was working on a really cool hobby RC car that runs on fuel. He gave us a demo of how it works. It was pretty amazing how it maneuvers and does ramp jumps. Liam was jumping up and down he was so excited by it! After the show, Liam looked under the hood while Jered explained how it all worked. He's a mechanic by trade and we could tell how much he enjoyed this little powerhouse of a toy.






When we got home Liam played his Mater video game on the Playstation while I uploaded photos.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Ninja Photo Op





Clean Teeth



I saw Ian brushing Liam's teeth the other night and had to grab the camera. They are such cute guys. Daddy seems to make everything fun and/or funny!

Friday, March 05, 2010

Monday, March 01, 2010

4 Years, 4 Months

Dear Liam,

I thought I'd write you a quick note and tell you how much I love you. We have our regular battles with each other and I feel like I don't tell you I love you as often as I used to. Bedtime comes to mind when I say the word battle. You about fight to the death to avoid laying down and staying in your bed each night. Short of tying you into bed doesn't spell love to me so those sweet nothings we used to say every single night are slowly dying off. I need to find a way to make bedtime more meaningful and agreeable like it once was. I miss the reverent prayers and "good-night-don't-let-the-bed-bugs-bite" moments.

You are so grown up in so many ways. I think just being four and moving up to a higher pre-kindergarten class at school has boosted your confidence. I smile when you talk like an adult with your vocabulary full of correct pronunciation and regular use of the adverb "also." It also makes me smile when you start a story off with, "Hey Mom, remember when I was three..." As simple and as regularly said it is, it speaks volumes as to how you feel about your maturity.

Your teachers at school and at church love you so much. They tell me often how smart and creative you are. This spells trouble in a lot of cases, but the fact that they appreciate your level of energy and charisma makes me happy.

You are getting so clever and persistent lately. Saturday morning we were running errands and you kept on saying that we needed to go to the store and buy Bakugan. We repeated many times that you didn't have enough money saved to buy that toy, so when we got home you made it a point to do as many chores as you could to get some allowance saved up. You already had a 2 dollar bill that Grandma and Grandpa sent you, so you had to come up with 3 more dollars in a matter of hours. You vacuumed out the couch, folded your own clean laundry, made your bed, cleaned the toy room, and many other tasks that I came up with so you could get that money fast. You are still figuring out that tricky math about how many quarters equal a dollar. You are so funny when you count your quarters and give us the total. Being told that 12 quarters equals 3 dollars doesn't always sit well with you.


Your artistic side is still alive and well. You draw and color on a daily basis and love to show us your work as you go and when it's finally completed. You like to go online and find coloring pages to print out. It's neat to see how well you can occupy your time and focus on your projects.

You are growing so fast. This past week or so you have been eating like a teenage boy. You can't get enough food. You even happily eat healthy foods, which is a nice change. You've been waking up in the night to tell us you are starving and your belly hurts so bad. I will eventually comply to your requests and run downstairs to get you a cup of milk to tide you over until morning. This has been a reminder of your newborn days and how much I do not miss waking up in the night. I do have confidence that this is a short phase, though, and we just have to cluster feed you before bed to ensure you sleep through the night. (And along with your growth, we are trying to keep up with shoes and pants that fit you.)

You are loved, Liam. I am really glad that I am your mom. Thanks for continuing to forgive my shortcomings. I have many of them and still have lots to learn about parenthood. You are a light in my life and I am so proud of you.

Love you,
Mom