Christmas 2007

Christmas was good this year.  We can't believe all the stuff Clayton got.  He was so funny Christmas morning.  He woke up, and came downstairs and didn't know what to think.  He slowly walked around all his toys and didn't know what to play with first.  Santa brought him a ball pit (which he is now scared of), a basket ball hoop, tons of books and toys and that was just Santa!  We spent Christmas morning with my family and spent the afternoon with Jared's family.  It was good to see everyone, and Clayton had fun playing with his cousins. 

Before we had our family Christmas parties, Clayton hosted a party with a couple of his friends, Will and Nadia.  They had a lot of fun chasing each other around and playing.  

 

Much longer overdue update

Okay, it's been a REALLY long time since we updated this page.  Far too long.  So we are turning over a new leaf, and we are going to use this page to share updates about our family with everyone.  And both of us will be contributing.  So anyway, a lot has happened since the last time we updated this, which was in April.  Construction on our new house in Draper, Utah was just getting started then.  They finished building the house in September, and we moved in the week after labor day.  Here's what the new house looks like. 

Right after we moved into the house, my friend Jamil from high school came out to visit with her husband Mike and their cute daughter Hailey, who is about the same age as Clayton.  They had a lot of fun playing together.  It was great to have them out here, and we hope Hailey can come visit Clayton again soon.

Also since April, Clayton has been growing like crazy.  He turned 1 year old on August 29, and now he is walking around the house and trying to talk to us.  He had a luau party for his birthday with just a few of his friends, and they all went swimming in the pool at our old place.  It was one of the only times we ever used the pool in the three years we had our townhouse, but Clayton was very cute.  He thought swimming was great.

Clayton is very active and mischievous.  One night Clayton was playing in the kitchen (we keep the sharp stuff out of the unlocked drawers so he can play), and then it got quiet.  Jared went into the kitchen to see what Clayton was doing, and Clayton had figured out how to climb into the drawer.  Jared took pictures.

Clayton also had a very cute Halloween costume.  He was a spider.  We didn't take him trick-or-treating, since he couldn't really eat most of the candy.  But next year I think we will take him.  Or at least Jared will.  I won't go out in the cold.  

Overall, Clayton is doing great.  He's still big and healthy, and he likes music and books.  He is very funny, and he always likes to be included in any joke, making a point to laugh whenever anyone else does.  He doesn't quite realize what is going on with Christmas yet, but he likes the Christmas tree.  His favorite word is "light," and his latest thing is to point at the light switch and keep repeating "ight" until Jared or I turn the lights on and off.  It never gets old.  Okay, it gets old.

In other news, not much else is going on.  Jared has been working at his new firm, Howrey LLP (we hate the name) for almost a year, and he likes it a lot.  It has been a good move, even though he has had to work very hard sometimes (like in July, when he was in D.C. for three weeks straight).  We all got very excited when the Red Sox won the World Series, and again when Boston College made it up to #2 in the country, but it's been a bit of a letdown since then.  I have been taking ceramics classes with Dina, Olivia, and Casey, and that has been fun.  Clayton and I went to music classes with his friend Will and Will's mom, Sara, in the fall, and we will probably start some new classes soon.  Mostly for the past few months I have been occupied with trying to put the house together and keep Clayton under control at the same time.  We are still not completely settled in, but things are put together enough that it is starting to feel like home.  One great thing about being in the house is that we are part of a neighborhood now, with lots of young kids around.  I have been playing Bunko with the girls in the neighborhood, and everyone is really nice.  We really like it here.  Anyway, I guess that's all for now, but we plan to post on this page a lot more from now on.  We have a guest room in our house, so we hope to have more friends come visit us soon. 

Long overdue update

When we created this blog last year, we had great intentions of frequently updating it with pictures of Clayton and family news and everything. As it turns out, babies are time- and energy-consuming (who knew?), so we haven't kept it up to date. In fact, we never updated it when The Boy was born. We will try to do better.

Here are a few recent pictures of Clayton, who is almost 8 months old. In other news, since this page was last updated, I have changed jobs. I left my old law firm, Parsons Behle, and am now in the Salt Lake office of the D.C.-based firm Howrey LLP. It was hard to leave a great place like Parsons, but overall the move has been good, and the people at Howrey are great.

Tina has had her hands full at home with Clayton (pictured with his uncle Logan). They took a music class with other moms and young kids this winter, and Clayton is showing early signs of being musically inclined. He thinks he's singing along to the radio whenever we're in the car, but he seems to have forgotten all the words. He also likes being sung to, particularly "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" and some song about rolling off the bed that Tina and I had never heard before their music class. Now that Clayton is old enough to entertain himself a little, Tina will be taking some online classes during the summer semester. Also, next week, Tina and Clayton will be traveling with Clayton's cousin Olivia to Charlotte, North Carolina, so that Clayton can see his girlfriend, Hailey. It will also let Tina see Hailey's mom, Jamil, Tina's best friend from high school.

The main other news item for us is that we are building a house. The house will be in Draper, Utah, a little farther south than our current home in West Jordan, but not as far west. It will be pretty convenient for me to get onto I-15 for my commute. Here is a picture of our lot, which was taken before construction started. Since then, our hole has been dug, our foundation walls poured, and our underground utility connections have been installed. Framing should begin shortly. We'll try to post more pictures soon. We're pretty excited about the whole process. The new house will give us a lot more space and privacy than our current townhouse, which is quickly becoming too small as Clayton outgrows his clothes, toys, swings, and pretty much everything else.