WE'VE MOVED

ATTENTION: Our blog will not be hosted at blogspot any longer. You now can get the latest on the Chapmans at
http://www.jtrevorchapman.com
This new site will be updated three - four times a week. Go there now and don't forget to comment!

Brief History

Make photo slide shows at onetruemedia.com

Update from the 12th to Yesterday

Cac - here are the pictures, you can write about it. If you don't want them all to be centered view the picture in large format (click on it), download the image then re-upload it.

Zions

Jeep - Zions

Trevor's Newswriting Class

Well, I am posting some of Trevor's articles from his comms class. He never conducts the interviews, so he makes quotes up for me and his friends. According to Trevor's Prof. he is the first one done with the articles and has the best grade (what the Prof. doesn't know is that he doesn't prepare).

This is Trevor - I am not extrememly proud of these articles--I whipped them up quickly so I could leave school and go home to Jace and Caci. But, Caci likes them, so we are posting them.

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War in Iraq? or China?

PROVO-UT. Years in Iraq, scores of deaths, new political party, new crude-oil-agreements, new uncertainties, new terrorist camps, new threats, new arguments and debates, but one old reason…

The communist state of China, estimated, in the next 20 years, to use twice the energy in one day of what the entire world currently consumes in one month—believed by experts to become the economical powerhouse of the world in the next five years; and with the largest population on the planet and nuclear capabilities the United States is not only threatened (being the only remaining superpower), but her very plush lifestyle may be pushed off the map by a larger, heavier, stronger and more demanding regime. Unless we imperialistically take the one element needed to survive this ever-growing potentially astronomical-tidal shift of powers, the US will be buried alive in a dark avalanche of socialist-world-domination.

How do we secure this magical element? We're America! We jump on oppurtunity--one such, a war, where the battlegrounds are directly above the most volatile and rich reserve of this "black" magic—the Middle Eastern States with all of her crude-oil.

This is a subject that few wish to speak candidly on because of the unstable nature of the debates surrounding it. Ironically, those that want the truth are the very ones that have made the truth impossible. They have done this by flooding the US with a sea of demand for political correctness which gives the illusion of "right" and "equality" and "tolerance" only masking the true face hidden from view.

"We're in Iraq for democracy." Right…and Bob and Tom in Massachusetts are just as "married" as my wife and I are.

Please don't misunderstand – creating a democratically equal government in Iraq is good. Demanding at gunpoint that terrorists stand down from free countries is good. But the reality of the matter is that there are no oil-reserves in the middle African states – therefore, we choose to call the same sick genocidal regimes and massacres "Tribal Warfare." Whereas, when this occurs where there is oil, we move in, take out what obstacles stand between us and the reservoirs of oil (usually this is the bad guy); then, in good Boy Scout fashion, we make the camp a little better than it looked when we arrived and never truly leave…after all, aren't we the world police?

Like always, college students seem to see the world with their still "20/20" vision. "I like my lifestyle and it is my government's responsibility to secure that lifestyle for me and my children." said Thor Hartwig, senior, studying Political Science. "China is our most imminent threat. Iraq is the key to winning the race."

Contrary, many fellow students, though seeing the true nature of our current situation and recognizing its ugly value, nonetheless, feel remorse for our unofficial imperialism.

"I'm just happy that I can elect people whom I hope make God-fearing decisions. Heaven knows I would never ask to be put into a situation where I have to decide what is currently being decided in reference to Iraq and China." said Caci Chapman, senior, majoring in Socio-Cultural Anthropology.

We might continue to lead our lives lethargically moving from one side of the debate then rolling to the other based on the whims of our moods and the writing style of the author of whatever article we read. We might even have a heavy opinion, but like Coolidge's "educated derelicts" we won't make a difference unless we act.

To the former, "The unexamined life is not worth living." That's Socrates. To the derelicts, no excuses, Beethoven was deaf. To the "make love not war" VW van dweller—to you I give respect for standing for what you believe; but, before you say another word or hold up another sign naked, try rationing your gasoline for a year, eating rice with your hands, go attempt to have a rational conversation with the Taliban and drop yourself in the midst of a suicidal terrorist camp. If you make it back – I'll listen to why we should allow them to fly planes into our towers without immediate and decisive response.

Finally, to the Taliban-sympathizers… we're coming to get you.

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Global Warming? Not in Utah!

PROVO - With all the hype about globalwarming lately, one would think that we would be out in shorts and tank tops slurping down lemonade with those little umbrella straws—not so in Utah. No, Utah has been having one heck of wintertime; a winter even colder than in Nome, Ak. In fact, Utah isn't alone! Two weeks ago there wasn't a single spot between Fort Worth, TX and Anchorage, AK that was above freezing.

Yet, setting aside this immediate surmounting evidence, experts are claiming that the earth is getting warmer and warmer with each passing day. Interestingly, even government agencies are recognizing a trend leading us down the path to a tropical world. The EPA recently released its latest report stating that the average temperature trend from 1860 – 1900 compared with the trend of the last 40 years shows only a change of 1.4 °F warmer. And to add insult to injury, scientist claim that 1870 was the end of a minor ice age with temperatures colder than average globally!

So, despite all the horror stories, don't worry too much about waking up in a pool of glacial run-off – more likely, you'll first wake up in a sea of crude oil after the US gets done in the middle-east.

Even college students—historically, the radical "save the earth" via protest and drugs—are having a hard time stomaching the end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it-from-heat-stroke phenomenon.

"The earth has been undergoing its own 'seasonal' changes for millions of years. We enter periods of extreme cold [Ice Ages, the last major one ended 10,000 years ago] and then enter a period of warmer weather," said Caci Chapman, senior at BYU majoring in Socio-Cultural Anthropology. "This cycle will repeat itself. No need to fuss about it."

So, until you can fish in your backyard in a pool of glacial flooding or Robert Redford changes the name of Sundance Ski Resort to Sundance Sandboard-like-in-the-Sahara-my-brotha-dude, don't plan on cooking your meals via solar radiation flanking the o-zone. We're all still alive, and most of us whiter and colder than we'd like to be.

Since Sunday is the day to blog, I will give an update! However, since not much happened, I will mostly just put up pictures of cute little Jace. First off, Jace rolled over today!!! We never put him on his belly because he hates it. However, I put him on his belly today to see if he would roll over. I was getting ready for the day in the bathroom, so we laid Jace in the hall just outside the bathroom so he could watch me blow dry my hair (he LOVES to watch me blow dry my hair). So, he was laying there watching me, and then I walked into the bedroom. When I turned to look at him, he had flipped over! He couldn’t see me when I walked into the bedroom, so he flipped over so he could see me!! Isn’t that advanced?! He had no trouble doing it, either, so we think he has had the capacity to do it for a long time but has never had the opportunity due to the lack of belly time he gets. We know it was easy for him because we immediately flipped him back to his belly to do it again and then walked where he couldn’t see me and he flipped right over! He also had his first rice cereal today. He really really liked it, he just couldn’t figure out how to eat it—he had most of it all over his face, but really seemed to enjoy it. His little tongue was frantically licking all over the spoon like a hungry puppy—so cute.
Yesterday we all went to the Home and Garden show at the South Town Expo Center in South Jordan; it was a blast! Trevor went to every since chiropractor who had a station there, and incidentally signed up with each. He seriously signed up with five different chiropractors and even put down $20 deposits on the ones who requested it. I swear he is such an impulse buyer. Have you all seen those towels they have on T.V.? The orange ones that suck water up like crazy? Well, as soon as Trevor saw the demonstration he bought it—two actually. Every single person who gave a demonstration he bought from. He is so funny! I learned a valuable lesson yesterday—do NOT bring Trevor to event shows when he has cash in his pocket.
My favorite thing at the Home Show were the Sugar Gliders!! They were SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute! They are from Australia and Indonesia and they are these little mouse/monkey animals. They are pocket pets that are like puppies. They form very strong bonds with people and are loyal forever. They are SOOOO cute! They are those little gliding animals that you always see on T.V. that fly from tree to tree—a sort of flying squirrel. I had the time of my life playing with them. We think we will get one next year when Jace is bigger. Also, at one of Trevor's chirportactor stops, we saw the guy from the R.M. and American's Mormon! He was worried about his back, too. We all got a picture with him!
The weather has been GORGEOUS lately so today we went to the Heber City Railroad Park. It was so cute to see all the little kids fishing in the pond; five little freckle faced boys with Huckleberry Finn hair were all lined up with their fishing rods so Trevor went over there and asked them what they usually catch. They started telling him and then one of them was like, “Yeah, its way cool to fish, but you can only do it if you are 12 or under.” And then another chided in, “Yeah… or handicapped.” Then another added, “Yep! I’ll be able to fish for the rest of my life!” Aren’t 10 year old little boys so cute?
That seems to be all for now! Enjoy the pics of our adorable baby!

I had written the previous post a couple days ago. However, I was unable to post it because Blogger decided that our blog was a Spam Blog and was trying to delete it! I had to write Blogger and tell them not to delete it! Anyway, all is cool now and we are back to blogging!
Davy and Mikey came up this past weekend to go to Trevor’s training meeting. A word on that: So, Orkin was supposed to have a big training meeting for all of the teams in Southern California but then things fell through and it got scheduled for the next week. Trevor has some guys in St. George who had already gotten work off in order to be at the meeting at the originally scheduled date. So, there was this conflict of dates, guys had already gotten work off, etc. etc. So, Trevor just held his own meeting with his guys and it was so impressive that Trevor’s boss asked Trevor if he could have his entire presentation to show the big guys over the entire sales program! Isn’t that cool?! Trevor is such a stud!
Anyway, the training meeting was a huge success and we had a great time with Davy and Mikey. We played a lot of video games, ate pizza, watched movies, and went to Tucanoes. We always love it when people come visit because then it is an excuse to go there! After Tucanoes we went to Casino Royal at 12:05am. However, Davy and Mikey both fell asleep 20 minutes into the movie so we just woke them up and went home. Highschoolers are not used to the late night partying that college kids are used to. In fact, Davy brought a queen sized blanket into the theater, curled up (before the movie even began) in that little section between the handicapped seats and went right to sleep. He didn’t even attempt to watch it, that lazy sack of potatoes!
Kinsi was a trooper at Tucanoes and entered the animal slaying den in order to be with the family. Although a strict vegetarian, she went and watched as skewer after skewer of thick bloody meat was brought to our table again and again. The things some people will do to be with family! On Sunday we went to church with Kinsi and then we all came home for spaghetti and Halo. Jini came over, too, and we played ticket to ride. I beat the PANTS of off EVERYONE! To say Trevor was utterly amazed would be an understatement.
It was Mom and Dad Suttner’s Anniversary on the 27th of February and Mom and Dad Chapman’s on March 3rd—Happy 25 years to you all!!!! To those who do not know, this is a very interesting phenomenon—Trevor’s parents lived in Philadelphia, PA and were married in the Washington D.C. Temple on March 3rd. My parent’s lived in Kentucky and Tennessee and were married in the Washington D.C. Temple just 4 days earlier on February 27th. Each couple was married in the same room, in the same temple, by the same sealer just 4 days apart from one another!! Isn’t that INCREDIBLE!? Who can deny that Trevor and I were just meant to be?! Again, not much to say, but pictures make up for it! The picture of Jace upside down on my lap is SO cute! We were sitting there watching T.V. and I had Jace on my lap, and he would scoot all the way down and hang his head over backwards so he could watch T.V., too. He is so cute! The picture of Jace falling out of his car seat is a new trick he learned. When we have him in the car seat when he wants to be held, he will scoot all the way out of the chair until he is on the floor and then we will come running and pick him up.

Blonde

Well we haven’t written in awhile and I don’t really remember much, so I will give a brief update and then just make up for it in PICTURES! Brooke and Rose came down on President’s Day weekend and we had a great time! We went right to work playing video games until 4:00 in the morning, shopping, challenging the limits in Ticket to Ride, and of course: TUCANOES!! We had a bit of a mishap, however, on the way to church on Sunday. We accidentally slept through ours (those video game parties are not conducive to arising at a decent hour) so we went to a freshman ward. On our way there to pick up Brooke’s car, we discovered that her tire was completely flat. So we went to sacrament and then tried to get the tire repaired so we could head up to Salt Lake for some fun at Temple Square. However, flat tires and Sundays in Provo don’t mix. We drove all the way from Wymount, down Canyon Road, and then up through Center Street all the way to Wal-Mart. We encountered just on that route at least 12 tire repair shops, but not ONE was open. Finally (much to Eli’s dismay, I am sure) the Wal-Mart tire repair shop came to the rescue. (Sidenote-- In that picture with Jace and the hat, he is singing. Isn't that cute?!) Three hours later the tire was changed—it was quite the ordeal; especially for Brooke due to Trevor’s unique ways of consoling the distressed.
Another monumental event was Kinsi’s 19th birthday; still a teenage but not TOO much of a teenager I guess! We celebrated by going to this really good Indian restaurant in Provo. It is called the Bombay House and it looks like an Indian house, all the servers dress like Indians, and it is just super fun! It was really funny, though, because at the table to our right were like six girls (probably roommates having a culture night) all dressed up in traditional Indian garb. Some had even painted red dots on their foreheads. It was quite funny because I think the traditional Indians were quite irritated. Happy Birthday to Kinsi!
Trevor and I also had a MONUMENTAL weekend. Last Friday for the first time since Mom and Dad Chapman left when Jace was 3 weeks old, Trevor and I went on a date by ourselves! We gave Jace to Daniel and Katherine and then went on a midnight hike through Provo Canyon—it was very beautiful and peaceful in the silence of the night and the beauty of the snow. We had so much fun, in fact, that the next day we gave him to Grandma and Grandpa Chapman and then went to Salt Lake and played at the Gateway.
Now... the biggest news of the Blog: I’m BLOND! Yep, you heard me right: blond! We have been talking about going blond for California (you know, to fit in with the surfers) for quite awhile. Finally we decided to do it! We went to the salon and after five hours of trying to strip layers and layers of dark brown dye, blond was achieved. My stylist was incredible; I don’t think anyone else would have been able bust through the brown. Since I had so much dark brown dye, they had to do a heavy weave, and then in a month I will do another heavy weave and then probably one more and then it will be done! I had no idea it was such a process.
That’s the news of the hour! Not much to say, but aren't those some dog gone cute pictures? Jace is SOOOOOO Sweet!!!!!!!!!!

Tricks

OUR SCARY NEWS OF THE WEEK: We have been poisoned by Salmonella. I was watching the news this morning and in Utah the “Great Value” brand peanut butter and the “Peter Pan” peanut butter were being recalled because the batch number starting with “2111” was contaminated with salmonella. No joke. So, after I heard that, I ran to the cupboard, pulled the Great Value peanut butter down, and frantically read the bath number. Yes, unbelievably, my batch number was 2111. Trevor, Jace, and I have all been poisoned. If not for your prayers we might all be dead by now. Our jar is a 28oz one and it is almost gone! That means we ate almost 28 oz’s of Salmonella! Isn’t that exciting!?!!! Here's the proof!
Valentines Day was so much fun! Trevor and I had a picnic up in Rock Canyon Park in the exact spot he proposed almost 2 years ago. We then drove to the first place we said, “I love you” and exchanged gifts. Jace was a sweetheart and gave us the gift of sleeping through everything—what a good baby! We then went to the mall and walked around with Jace looking at all the fun V-Day things and Trevor got his traditional large fresh squeezed lemonade from the Pretzel Maker. He says it is the nectar of the Gods.
Apparently Jace got sick of being a good baby because he started inconsolably screaming his head off at the mall and we had to quickly run to Blockbuster and get a movie and pizza and rush home to console him.
Jace is growing more and more every day and learning so many little tricks! His newest trick is a devious one, if I do say so myself! He just developed the “arch the back to get picked up” move. So, I will set him in his swing and he will swing quietly until he realizes that I am not there and then he will start calling for me to come get him. If I don’t pick him up immediately, his yells will get more and more ferocious until he is really telling me “what for”. Finally I will come over to see what the problem is and when he sees me there, he will quickly arch his back so that he is being supported by his shoulder blades and heels of his feet in the swing just centimeters from rolling out of the swing. This is to say, “If you don’t pick me up, I am going to throw myself over the side of this swing!” It works every time, that conniving little boy!
Jace hates to be set down. Sometimes I can trick him into laying on the floor by doing the “diaper changing maneuver.” He loves to have his diaper changed, so I will lay him on the floor next to the T.V. and change his diaper. I do it really slow so that he will get engaged in the T.V. show. Then, when I can tell he is really interested, I will slowly slip away and he doesn’t even know I am gone until the show’s over. It’s great! He also has started taking baths alone. I used to have to hold him the whole time or else he would get afraid. Now, I just put a little water in the bottom of the tub, set him in, and he has the time of his life! He has started kicking and splashing himself and it is SOOO cute!
Another new thing he has started doing is “sit-ups”. We will have him on the ground and he will use his stomach muscles to lift his back and head off the floor to a 45 degree angle—it’s incredible! And when we lay him on the couch, he will do the same thing. He is so tough! We are still waiting for him to finish rolling over—he just can’t get his little shoulder out of the way, but he is making great progress! All these pictures of Jace and Grandpa Chapman are adorable! We went to visit them a couple Sundays ago and Jace and Grandpa looked like twins in their matching Sunday outfits, bald little heads, and cute cheeks! Look at those two handsome men!

Orkin

Well, Trevor has been recruiting for Orkin Pest Control and he is filling up the teams quickly! He had a HUGE recruiting meeting today. It was really neat because yesterday he was like, “I want to recruit a bunch of people tomorrow.” So he made a bunch of phone calls, rented a conference room at the La Quinta hotel, got some games together, ordered a bunch of pizzas and drinks, and had a HUGELY successful meeting! It was AWESOME! He recruited some really good guys who are going to sell excellently. When Trevor wants to kick butt, Trevor kicks butt! He is the top recruiter for all of this region of Orkin. GOOOOO Trevor!
Jace continues to dazzle us with his charm. He has figured out how to suck his little thumb and it is SOOOOOOOO cute! He shoves his whole fist in his mouth and roots around for awhile trying to find where his thumb is. Finally, after much grunting, repositioning and slobbering, he finds his thumb. He then spends the next couple minutes trying to secure a good grasp on the little guy. Once he gets good suction with it, he is SOOOO content and happy sucking away like a little leech. He even has his own special way of sucking it. He doesn’t suck it in the traditional way like Jini and Julia did (perpendicular to the floor), he sucks on it parallel to the floor (if that makes sense). It is really cute. Oh! Also, he loses the strength to keep his thumb in his mouth (since he is doing it in such an odd way) so he takes his other little hand and braces his thumb with it. We will take a movie of the whole process—it is SOOO cute!
I finally decided to tackle the massive job of reorganizing Jace’s room since Mom and Dad Chapman left. Jace had yet to step foot in his room since he was born, so we thought it would be a big treat for him to see his crib for the first time in 3 months. We had been using it as a storage room and so organizing it was quite the endeavor. After a trip to Wal-Mart at 2:00am to get a bunch of free boxes and 18 hours of tedious work, I had the thing organized! Jace had a marvelous time sleeping in his crib for the first time! That is, until he noticed 5 minutes later that we weren’t there, woke up, and screamed bloody murder until we took him back to bed with us. We’ll see how this goes.
I know that pretty much the only reason people check our blog is to see picture of Jace, so I will post a bunch to make up for lost time! ENJOY!

Jace's Sleeping Patterns

Well! So much for the constant updates I promised! I didn’t realize being a stay at home mom was so time consuming! Jace and I are having a great time spending the days together and Trevor is having a hectic time trying to balance a full school load, a full time job, and Jace and I. Such is life! Jace had his 3 month checkup yesterday and he is doing great! He is 13.12 lbs and 23 inches long. His head is like 17 cm or something but I would have to go check the paper to make sure. The doctor was extremely pleased with his strength and cognitive abilities; she said that she rarely sees such an advanced baby and he has the skills and strength of a 5 month old! He is able to stand by himself for an extended period of time (we just have to let him hold our fingers for balance) and he is able to keep his head in line with his body when he is being lifted from a laying position. What a stud! Also, today he was laying on the floor watching Myth Busters and I was making dinner and Trevor was reading a book. All of a sudden Trevor said, “Did you lay him on his side?” And I looked and there he was all rolled up on his side! And I was like, “No! I laid him flat on his back!” And by the time we looked at him again he had rolled up on to his OTHER side! He is going to be turning over before we know it!
Currently one of our favorite things is his wakeup routine. So, we all go to bed around 12:00 together. When Jace falls asleep we put him in his car seat which is next to our bed. He wakes up at around 7:00 so I pick him up and let him sleep with us so he will sleep longer. Finally around 9:00 (I know… we get up late….) he is just sick of laying there while we sleep so he starts grunting and thrashing around and kicking the covers off and cooing really really cute until I finally can’t ignore him any longer. As soon as he sees that I am awake he bursts out into giggles and just thrashes around wildly as if to say, “It’s a new day! Let’s play!!!” It is SOOOOOOO cute!!!
He is also SOOO cute when he wakes up from a nap because he always does the same stretches. He raises his tiny little arms up to his ears and then arches his back like a cat and just stretches for all he is worth in all directions. He then rubs his eyes and usually lets a stinker or two amid all the stretching. It is really funny.
Oh yeah--the doctor was also very pleased with his “turn taking skills”. We will talk to him and then he will talk back to us. For instance, Trevor and I will be talking for the longest time and Jace will be silent. Then, we will ask him a question like, “How are you doing Jace?” And he will answer with goos, gahs, coughs, and coos. It is SOOOO cute! So we will have an actual conversation with him with each of us taking our turns. Jace will even have correct intonation like he will talk angry or sweet or excited and will make the proper facial expressions. I am telling ya—we have a prodigy on our hands!

Happy New years!

Happy New Year to you all! We’ve had a great Christmas vacation and are excited to go back to BYU tomorrow to start Winter semester. We came down to St. George on the 23rd of December to see my Grandma—Nanni—who had flown in from Kentucky to spend a few days with the family. It was soooo fun to see her after not seeing her for almost 10 years! We had a great time singing songs, telling stories, and playing games. She left that night. We were so anxious to see Nanni that we worked like mad-men to get everything accomplished by the 23rd—Trevor and I each had 5 finals, we had to get everything squared away with Trevor’s work, get Trevor ready for Europe, and on top of that, have our own mini Christmas, and then get Christmas presents for everyone else. It was chaotic to say the least! But, we were able to get it all done, and see Nanni, and do it all with a newborn—PHEW! So, after Nanni left it was up to the Suttners, Collings family, and us to party it up! It was so fun to have the whole family together! We must have played 30 games of “Ticket to Ride” and I must have attempted 30 times to get Lia and Justin to play “Munchkin” but every attempt was a brutal failure. I have faith that in time they will see the error of their ways!
The Sommervilles (our neighbors) were out of town and lent their big house to the Collings family and us so we were more than comfortable! However, once they got back, things got CRAMMED! We had Dad, Mom, Jini, Kinsi, Davy, Chari, Gabe, Boe, Justin, Lia, Julia, Eli, Caci, Trevor, and Jace—15 people—staying in a 3 bedroom house. People were draped on every couch, laying in front of every door, packed 2 deep on every bed—the things a family will do to stay in touch!
Christmas was so much fun and everyone got a lot of really neat things—Trevor got a trip to Europe! On December 28th my dad and I dropped Trevor off at the Las Vegas airport. It was super super sad, but he was super excited to make a film series all over Europe called “Forgotten Planet” which he will air on PBS stations. Our sadness was intermingled with excitement, but after 5 days being apart, there was not an ounce of excitement mingling with that sadness—the sadness had eaten it all up! So Trevor tried to but on a happy face for the camera as he toured Rome, Venice, Munich, Zurich, Amsterdam, and a plethora of other places. It got so bad, in fact, that his film crew told him they would not film another shot unless he put on a convincing smile. We were able to Skype (video chat) almost every day, so that was good. But, the woe is over because HE COMES HOME TODAY!!! HOORAY!!! Jace and I leave for the airport in 2 hours!
It was been really sad having him gone, but it has been a lot of fun playing with my family! All the kids love Jace to death and no one seems to be able to get enough holding time. I especially have to battle Davy over him, because he always wants to snuggle and kiss him; it’s really cute. It was super fun to see Beth and Laura last night! Laura with her 8 month old, and Beth with her tiny 18 week tummy—it is amazing to see how things change!
Jace and I will be heading out to get Trevor, like I said, in 2 hours, and then we will be in Provo tomorrow! And I promise I will quit being so negligent in our Blog keeping—I was doing so well before Fall semester started, you have to give me credit for that! I am now just a stay at home mom—how wonderful!

Update #2

OK! And now for update #2! I know we have been ridiculously lackadaisical in our blog updates, but things have just been absolutely crazy here! I am going to try to remember what happened since our last post.
Our friends Jonas and Dohnele stopped by on their way to their new home in Oregon so it was a lot of fun to chat with them and have our babies play with each other. Their baby, Emma, is 3 ½ months older than Jace but so much bigger! We thought this picture of their size difference was hilarious; she is so cute! Trevor’s dad arrived a few days later and we had a great time with him! He also helped out watching Jace, taking us to classes, fixing our car lights, etc. He was a lifesaver, too, and we are so thankful for the time and help he and Trevor’s mom gave to us. It was so much fun playing X-Box until 3:00 am with them!
Jace was blessed on November 19th. He was SO handsome in his little tuxedo! I had bought his tuxedo for him when he was still in embryo, but we thought the tiny thing would for sure fit him when he got here. However, when we went to try it on him the week before the blessing we found that the tiny little outfit was GIGANTIC on him. So, Trevor’s mom and I went on a mission to find a blessing outfit that would fit him. We went to store after store to no avail. There was not one tiny tuxedo in the whole of Utah Valley. We gave up on finding white tuxedoes and were ready to settle on anything white we could find. Finally we found this adorable little white sleeper that said, “Grandma’s Little Angele” on it. He looked radiantly handsome in it, but Trevor refused to have his first born blessed in a sleeper with cartoon animals on it, so I went to work miniaturizing the already minute tuxedo. The end result was well worth the work because he looked like a miniaturized James Bond—what a stud!
My family came up for the blessing and Trevor’s grandparents and Aunt and Uncle and cousins and a bunch of others came to the blessing. Afterwards we had a hamburger cookout. It was so fun and the weather was beautiful.
We went down to St. George for Thanksgiving with my family. As always we had our annual turkey bowl (minus the over-inflated turkey this time). The Thanksgiving menu was Martha Stewart’s suggestion. Everything was divine and ranged from maple syrup turkey to cranberry apple stuffing. It was DELICIOUS! Trevor trounced Davy in one game after another: first at football then at trampoline basketball then at Monopoly. I think there are going to be a lot of rematches this Christmas! I trounced everyone in “True Colors” and once again another person was victimized by the ferocious “True Color” questions. My dad will never forgive the family for choosing Trevor over him for who they would most trust to catch them on a flying trapeze. So many complexes are born out of that game!
Once we returned from Thanksgiving we set to work on the Christmas season. We went to Orem to have our very first Christmas tree. We went to the Christmas tree lot and picked a magnificent Noble Fir. “Shocked” would be an understatement when I saw that beautiful Christmas trees really did exist. I was so used to the Christmas bushes we always haul off Pine Valley mountain—I thought those Christmas trees you see on Christmas post cars and Christmas movies was always an “ideal form” something like Plato's theory of forms-- something not truly reachable by any pine tree in nature. I wonder if my parents know that their Christmas trees don’t always have to look like front yard shrubbery.
We then went to Wal-Mart and stocked up on Christmas decorations which should last us until 2015. We got lights, bulbs, popcorn tins, cookie tins, poinsettias, tinsel—you name it. If it has to do with Christmas, we got it. Trevor is a Christmas FANATIC!
The next day we bought a cute little Santa outfit at Wal-Mart and then took Jace to get pictures with Santa in the mall; Jace was a celebrity! Everyone wanted to look at him. He was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute. He was such a success, in fact, that every time we go to the mall now we dress him up in it and prance him around so everyone will ooh and ahh. It works every time. We will see how well it works in July—I wonder if people will be sick of it.
I know we are leaving a lot out but I can not as of now think of anything. We are just going crazy with finals. This next week I am probably going to have a nervous breakdown, but after that I am done! No more school! Just Jace! Trevor leaves for Europe on the 28th so that will be a lot of fun for him. He is doing a TV series called “Forgotten Planet” that explores diverse places around the world. He will be there from Dec. 28th until Jan. 10th filming everything from Germany down to Italy. He might go over to Greece but we are not sure yet.
The monumental news in Jace's life is that he now weighs 11 lbs!!!! HOLY TOLEDO! Just 2 weeks ago he weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and now 11 lbs! He is seriously a little porker. What a beef! Also, no one is going to believe us but we saw it with our own eyes: Jace crawled today!! Trevor was laying on his belly on the bed so I put Jace on his belly on Trevor’s back. Jace was apparently uncomfortable because he kept fidgeting around and grunting. I didn’t move him because I thought it was so cute to see him laying there on Trevor’s back. Finally he got sick of it and decided to take matters into his own hands. He put his little feet down and CRAWLED all the way up to Trevor’s neck! It was so AMAZING! Anyway, I am going to keep this updated as soon as finals are over. Merry Christmas to you all!