never should have said yes

Every time Ransom and I go to the grocery store together he asks if he can drive one of the battery operated carts. Conrad always tries to go sit on them. I've never given in before, until last night. Conrad loved every second of it. Every once in a while Conrad would get the cart going backwards unexpectedly, but luckily no one got hurt! Conrad even left the store without crying when we took him off the cart.

When I got home from work tonight I found out that Ransom took Conrad to the grocery store just to play on the cart again. I see a bad habit forming already. I guess I need to be more careful what I say yes to when I have a husband that is a kid at heart! -Katie

All Bundled Up

Now that it's cold outside Conrad loves to get all bundled up under the blankets after bath time. -Katie

Breakfast

Conrad has a new favorite breakfast. He points to the cereal while he says "melk". He loves frosted flakes. We ran out one morning so I tried to give him Rice Krispies and he looked at me like what is this stuff. He just played with it for a few minutes before he asked for chicken nuggets. He is also starting to love bananas. He ate 3 after his nap yesterday. He would finish one and ask for more. He is a bottomless pit! -Katie

First Snow

I woke up this morning to Ransom and Conrad putting on snow clothes. This is Conrad's first time playing in the snow this year and he was in heaven. He just wandered around the yard, until he discovered how fun it was to knock snow off of the bushes. He would laugh so hard when he hit the bush. I can tell this is going to be a fun winter with Conrad!

My mom has always loved shrimp, but never got it because no one else in the family likes it. Paul, Ransom, and Josh all like it so tonight we had my family over for a seafood dinner. I'm not a huge seafood fan, but I love my mom's salmon she makes. She puts brown sugar and spices on it and it tastes just like candy! Ransom made pineapple and bacon wrapped shrimp. He also made some plain with garlic butter dipping sauce. The shrimp lovers were in heaven! -Katie

Pirate Island

One night when Conrad and I were hanging out together, I was trying to think of something I could do with him. When we hang around the house he just ends up making a mess of it so I took him over to Pirate Island, it is kind of like Chuck E. Cheese. It was really fun and Conrad had a good time so we decided to go there as a family. Abby came with us and we had some pizza and then went and played a bunch of games. Conrad loved the race car game and rolling the ball into the holes. He is an active little kid and he kept us running around trying to keep up with him. It will be fun to go there as a family once in a while. -Rans

Lost and Found

Sometimes we would let Guster out of his cage and let him jump around the yard. He looked so happy and he always stayed right by our house. I guess we left him out too long and he got curious because when we went to go get him, he was gone. Conrad was with us so we tried to sound happy so that he wouldn't panic. He was so cute because he would yell "buddy" and look all around for him. It was dark when we were looking so we thought we would look in the morning. Conrad cried as we drug him inside because he wanted his "buddy". It was so sad.

The next couple of days we tried looking all around, Ransom even knocked on some neighbors doors. Still no luck so we made missing bunny posters. The next day Ransom got a call from someone and she said the bunny was in her yard. Throughout the day he got more calls so we knew the general area of where he was. When Rans got home from work he tried to go get him, but he jumped right behind a bush. We tried a couple other times to get him, but he was happy with his freedom so he would jump into hiding when he saw us coming. Every time we pulled up to the house Conrad would cry for his "buddy".

Ransom decided to gather up some little neighbor kids. He assigned us each a spot for us to go so that Guster couldn't get to his hiding spots. This time we actually grabbed him right off. I think the little kids were disappointed that they didn't get to help at all. Conrad was so happy to see his "buddy"again. -Katie

Like Mother, Like Son

Whenever I do my hair (which is a very rare occasion!), Conrad hears the blow dryer going and he comes running into the bathroom saying "more". Once I finish I give him the blow dryer. He loves feeling the air coming out, but lately he comes and grabs the round brush and starts doing his own hair. He has even learned how to turn it on and off.

-Katie

On the Bathroom Floor

Conrad's new favorite place, right on top the heater vent!

Sunday Dinner

Ransom and I decided to start having our own Sunday dinner every other week so that we can spend more time as a family. Our life during the week is a little crazy with our work schedules and Ransom going to school.

We went on a drive up the canyon. Lots of the leaves have already fallen off, but it was fun being together. After we came home and made dinner. Yesterday we cleaned out the freezer and found a big bag full of unfrosted sugar cookies from almost a year ago. We pulled them out and decided to finally decorate them. After Ransom intricately decorated a few cookies he looks at me and says, "As fun as this is, this is going to get old fast." After that it was one color of frosting and lots of sprinkles. Conrad was just happy licking frosting off of the cookies! We didn't quite finish so I think I'm going to get stuck decorating the rest of the cookies.

I think I am really going to like having a whole day with just the three of us. -Katie

Aren't Ransom's cookies cute?

Our Little Lefty

Whenever Conrad sees someone writing on a piece of paper he seems to think that he needs to take over and start drawing. He draws the cutest little scribbles and it looks like he is going to be a lefty. My dad says that he can make lots of money if he becomes a professional pitcher so we're keeping our fingers crossed :) -Katie

Stolen Identity

One day I found my wallet on the floor and it had obviously been tampered with. Conrad has always liked to go through my wallet and Katie's purse. When I looked through it I found that my driver's license, my debit card, and several other cards were missing. This was right before Katie and I were leaving to San Diego so it was bad timing to lose a driver's license. I looked all over the house, everywhere possible. We even took apart the furnace vents to see if he had shoved them down there. They were no where to be found so we went to San Diego with hopes that we wouldn't get pulled over. A few days after we got back I was stumbling around the room in the morning and I happened to see something reflecting from the inside of our guitar. I looked closer and I saw all my missing cards! I started to shake them out and along with the cards came a big rock. You can never be sure what Conrad will use for his next hiding spot. -Ransom

A Gift for Conrad

While we were in San Diego I told Ransom I wanted to get Conrad a gift. I wanted to get him something so he would know we thought about and missed him like crazy. I know it's weird because he doesn't really understand and he was just fine without us, but it just made me feel better. Ransom just laughed at me, but helped me pick out something.

Conrad LOVED it. The first time he caught a bug he got the biggest smile and he made his goofy happy scream. It's the longest I have seen him interested in one thing. He hasn't quite mastered putting the bugs back, but he seemed to think that if he pushed hard enough he could get it in! -Katie

An Unforgettable Trip

Ransom and I had been planning a trip to San Diego for months. His mom and David were nice enough to drive up from Arizona to come and watch Conrad for us (thanks!). It was a long drive to San Diego, but we made it. We stayed at this weird little hotel called The Pearl. You could hear people hanging out at the restaurant and by the pool well after 1am. It was quite the party place.

A little bit of background about Ransom's eye. He gets this weird thing where his eye will start watering and hurt a little bit. He usually takes some benadryl and it goes away.

The next day we went to go look at a lighthouse at Point Loma. Ransom's eye was starting to water a little bit, but he didn't want to go get any medicine. The lighthouse was a disappointment because it was being fixed so it was all covered. Next, we decided to go to Balboa Park. It sounded like a cool place, but there was absolutely nothing to do so we decided to go to Old Town. We started walking around and I could tell his eye was really starting to bother him, but he still didn't want to get any medicine. All we could see were Mexican restaurants and tourist shops that sold a bunch of junk. We couldn't figure out why people loved this place until Rans finally decided it was hurting bad enough that he wanted to go get some medicine. As we were trying to find the car we found all the cool places. I was kind of bummed to leave, but I could tell he was miserable so it really wouldn't have been that fun to stay.

We went and got his medicine and I took him back to the hotel so he could get some rest. After a few hours it was a little better, but it was weird it hadn't gone away. We decided to go and get dinner. He went and asked the front desk for a good bbq place. They recommended a place called Phil's and it was packed. You had to stand in line and it was over 25 minutes. I was happy staying, but Ransom didn't want to so we went to find something else. We had my parents GPS and you can tell it that you want to go get food and it will show you all the closest places. We tried to find 3 or 4 of them, but none of the places existed when we got to the destination. It was funny the first couple of times, but then I just got frustrated and wanted to eat. After about 45 minutes of driving ALL over San Diego Ransom finally picked a place that was right by our hotel.

On Saturday his eye still wasn't doing any better. I told him I thought we should go to the ER, but he refused. We went to this huge aircraft carrier that had been decommissioned. It was so amazing to see how the men and women had to live while they were on it. It gave me a much greater respect for them because I could never do it. Ransom was miserable through the whole thing. He tried to fake it a long, but I knew he wasn't having fun, especially when he turned down a flight simulator. I finally told him that we were going to the ER.

After a quick call to my mom, we were on our way. We waited in the waiting room for 2 or 3 hours. I felt so bad for Ransom. He really looked miserable. After we got called back we probably waited another hour or 2 before the doctor came to see us. Ransom was at least in a semi comfortable bed, but the pain was getting worse. He said that it felt like someone was drilling in his eye. They gave him some eye numbing drops and checked out his eye. They said it was just an infection and gave him some antibiotics he needed to take. He started feeling a lot better after they numbed his eye.

While they filled his prescription we went to find a place to eat. We played the same GPS food game. I don't think there is a road we didn't travel on by the end! Finally we just went and picked up the prescription and decided to just eat once we got to Coronado. I was looking forward to visiting Coronado more than anything. It's a little beach town and it is so beautiful. When we got there it was so foggy you couldn't even see anything. We ate at a yummy mexican restaurant and walked around a little bit. It was the funnest part of the whole trip because Ransom finally felt good!

On Sunday we drove home. I was so excited to go and see my little Conrad. I missed him so much. I think it will be a while before I'm ready to leave him for that long again. -Katie

1 & 2: Ransom at a Police Museum

3: us by the ocean

1: San Diego

2 & 3: Ransom on an Aircraft Carrier

4: Ransom in the ER

Up to Something

Conrad was being really quiet in his room so I knew he was up to something dangerous. When I walked in his room I saw him petting the dinosaur and giving it kisses. He can be such a sweetheart sometimes. -Katie

Broken Glasses

The other day I was cleaning my glasses and they just snapped right in half. I have had them for over 6 years so I guess they just got worn out. I super glued them back together and quickly made an eye appointment. They kept breaking so Ransom thought it would be a good idea to Mighty Putty them back together and then maybe I wouldn't need a new pair of glasses. He tried a few times, but it just took too long to dry so he gave up and went back to the super glue. $400 later I got a new prescription, new glasses on the way, and contacts. I hate having bad vision! -Katie

Snuggle Time

This is one of my most favorite parts of the day, snuggling with Conrad. I would give up just about anything for more snuggle time. Lately when you put a movie in for Conrad he pats right next to him so we will sit by him. How do you resist that? I sure love him! -Katie

Fun in the Dryer

Conrad and me hanging out in the dryer. It was so cold today that I thought about turning it on while we were in there, but decided against it! -Katie

goodbye 8:30, hello 10:30

For the past year we have had church at 8:30 in the morning. Way too early for me! Today was our first day at 10:30 and I can tell I am going to like it a lot better. Ransom thought it would be fun to have Conrad match him so he put him in a matching shirt and put a tie on him. It barely lasted long enough for me to get a picture because Conrad HATED having something around his neck, but he sure looks cute!

-Katie

Staff Infection

While we were camping Conrad got a scrape on his wrist. We didn't think much of it at the time. It started getting bigger and it looked like there was puss inside. We tried popping it, but nothing was coming out so we decided to go to the doctor. It turned out that there was a little piece of wood stuck in there. They called a few days later to let us know he had a staff infection. He went on antibiotics and it should hopefully clear up soon. Every time he looks at it he will say "ow". It's pretty cute when he says it, but I feel bad for the little guy. -Katie

a New Hiding Place

I was folding laundry to get ready for our camping trip this weekend when Conrad decided he wanted to climb in the dryer. He had fun climbing in and out and exploring everything that you can in a dryer. When Rans pulled up I climbed in with Conrad. It took him a few minutes to find us! -Katie

Little Monster

Last night Conrad decided he didn't want to fall asleep so around 1am I decided that if I was going to be awake I might as well work on projects. Conrad helped me finish his "little monster" book I had started a little while ago. I thought that project fit how the night was going! He loves to look through the book and always points at the monsters to say "monner". It's pretty cute. A little before 4am he decided to fall asleep. He's a night owl just like I am!

I know that if Conrad was on a schedule that we wouldn't have these problems, but when Ransom is in school he can be gone from 6:30 in the morning until after 10 at night. I just figure it's more important that he gets to spend some time with his dad rather than be on a schedule. When Rans graduates we will have the difficult challenge of getting Conrad on a schedule! -Katie

Guster

These are the first pictures I've taken of Guster and we've had him since July. Kind of sad. We lovingly named him after a character from out favorite show Psych. He is a bottomless pit. When he hears us come outside he runs to the door to see what we brought him. The constant eating has helped him grow a ton since we first bought him. He is pretty calm and puts up with Conrad pretty good. Conrad has gotten a lot better with him. He doesn't squeeze anymore and only goes for the face a few times. It's a huge improvement. He loves Guster. Whenever we get home or first thing when we go outside he runs to see the "buddy". Whenever we bring Guster inside he loves to hug him, give him kisses, and pet him. He is always sad when it's time to put Guster back in his cage. -Katie

Thumb Update

I am happy to say that when we changed his bandage last night there was no more bleeding. The cut doesn't look as bad as we thought, but it looks painful. His thumb constantly feels like it's pulsing no matter if he takes pain medicine or not. On the positive side for him he gets out of dish duty for a few weeks until it heals! -Katie

$2 Tuesdays

We have been wanting to do two things for a while now 1: Watch Grayden. and 2: Go to $2 tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point's dinosaur museum. We got them both done today! After work I went and picked up Grayden (he is a little boy in our ward, I home teach his family) and picked up Katie from work. Then, we met up with some of Katie's family and headed over. Grayden and Conrad are good buddies and they were really funny to watch. Grayden kept saying "We going to see Big Dinosaurs!!" Once we got into the museum we could hardly keep those two in the strollers! They were both saying "wow!" and pointing to everything. Soon it was too much and we had to let them out and they went crazy! Luckily we had some other people there to help us push the strollers. Grayden was running around saying "Oh my gosh!! See that?!!" and Conrad was trying to climb into every exhibit! They were really fun to watch but very tiring. They had a short time in the sand because they threw sand and Conrad kept throwing his brush. Katie's family just had to wait around and watch a lot while we chased them around or let them play in the dirt. I kind of felt bad for them, but we appreciate their help.

Out in the parking lot the boys were in their stroller and Katie and I were racing around the parking lot with them. They were loving it, Conrad would say "More!" and Grayden would say "1, 2, 3, GO!".

On the way home we were making videos of Grayden dancing in the back seat. He would dance for a few seconds and then say "I wanna see!" and reach for the camera, then he would say "again!" and we would make another video. We had a lot of fun. -Rans

Monday's

On Monday's after work this summer Amy Burton (my best friend growing up) and I would always do something. It didn't work out every week, but it was nice to have a scheduled time so that we would actually see each other. We were happy to run errands with each other, go roller blading, play at the park, or whatever else we thought of.

Today was our last Monday now that school starts up again. She recently just got engaged to a boy named Sam. They are a perfect fit for each other. I am so excited for her. We spent our last Monday trying on wedding dresses. Luckily Conrad slept through most of it since he decided to wake up at 4:30 this morning. -Katie

a Trip to the ER and a Fireman Party

I had been planning a back to school Fireman Party for Ransom for over a month. When we got home from camping I started to tidy up the house and get dinner ready. I had Lindsey buy me a slicer from Williams Sonoma (she gets a 40% discount) to cut all the vegetables with. Ransom wanted to help so I had him start on the vegetables. Before I knew it there was blood in the sink and he was swearing. He had cut off part of his finger and nail. I thought we should go to the ER, but he thought he could stop the bleeding. We wrapped it up and applied pressure, but it just wouldn't stop bleeding. After about an hour he finally thought that going to the ER was a good idea. I frantically called my family to see if they could come finish dinner while I took Rans and Conrad.

After a couple hours in the ER we learned that he couldn't get stitches, but would have to wrap it up with some thrombin and that should stop the bleeding. They taught me how to change the bandage and sent us home with a bag of supplies. We came home and my family had finished dinner for me. It's not often you invite people over for dinner and they end up cooking it, but I'm thankful they were willing to help. Dinner was delicious. We had fajitas and homemade strawberry lemonade.

Ransom still wanted to play the games my mom had planned so he covered his hand so it wouldn't get wet. We played:

1. Water Balloon Toss

2. Build a fire in a metal bucket and climb on the roof an throw water balloons to put it out

3. Hip waders, carry a hose, and save an animal relay race

4. Fire Hose Unscramble (Rans had to sit this one out because his thumb started to bleed really bad after he tried pushing Josh out of the way during the relay race)

We all had a lot of fun playing games and then went inside for Ashlee's chocolate cake she made while we watched how fire trucks & engines are made. It turned out to be a fun night and now Rans has a fire truck lunch box and some other new fire truck toys to play with. Hopefully he can learn how to be safe himself before he becomes a fireman! Thank you family for all your help and support. -Katie

Camping

Everyone but Lindsey and I left for camping on Friday night. Linds had to work and I had to go grocery shopping for a fireman party on Sunday (I was going to go shopping earlier, but our Jeep blew a head gasket and our Impreza is in the body shop so I was without a car - my parent's were nice enough to lend me their Forester). It was nice to have a night by myself, but I missed my Ransom and Conrad!

Lindsey and I left the next morning. We were told to go up Spanish Fork Canyon and look for a Thistle turn off and then my family would meet us in Fairview. We got all the way to Helper and still didn't see Thistle. We finally got a hold of my family, found out the Thistle sign didn't exist, got better directions, turned around, and after another hour made it to Fairview. Ransom had been waiting at a gas station for over an hour for us so that he could take us to the campsite. When I saw Ransom I found out that Friday night he was breaking up firewood and a stick came up and went straight for his head. He said it bled like crazy, but Ashlee was a good nurse. I'm glad I missed it because I don't handle that kind of stuff well (bad for a mother of a boy!).

The day's activities: Conrad was happy throwing rocks in the creek all day, while driving around to find a campsite my mom was obsessed with finding we got stuck in the mud (luckily someone came to pull us out), my mom wouldn't let me help Conrad when he was sad because she wanted my help stitching squares for Kelsie's quilt, while my family went to the lake Ransom and I took Conrad to take a nap - we slept and he stayed awake, Ashlee and my mom went skinny dipping or took a "bath" in the creek in daylight, tin foil dinners (some were cooked too long and it looked like part of their meal evaporated!)

That night as we were getting ready for bed we were telling true stories about creepy people looking in your window at night. After that Ransom decided he wanted to sleep outside. I was a little hesitant to after that, but in his spanish accent he told me he would push the man away with his little knife. It didn't really make me feel better, but I slept outside with him anyways. We woke up a few times with a little sprinkling, but we just covered out heads. Once the rain picked up and the thunder/lightning started we went to sleep in the trailer. You could hear talking, lights turning on, and people moving around for the rest of the night. Not the best night's sleep for any of us. Plus, Rans had some nasty smelling gas.

The next morning we all sat in bed talking and eating breakfast while my mom slept. When she woke up we packed everything up and headed home. It was nice to get away. -Katie

baby signs

When Conrad was just a tiny little baby I had bought all the baby signs stuff to teach him, but just never got around to it. One day Ashlee decided to teach him to say "thank you" and later "I love you". I'm grateful she taught him those two words. I can really see the benefit to baby signs now and will definitely get around to it with child #2 (and no that doesn't mean I'm pregnant!). -Katie

thank you

i love you

Confessions of a Picker

I know this sounds gross, but I love to pick things. When I sit still for longer than 2 seconds you can catch me feeling all around my face looking for something to pick. I don't know what it is, but it is just addicting. I think most people in my family are like this too because my mom is always saying that we belong in the monkey family. My dad is always trying to make us stop when he catches us doing it. At least I'm not like Ransom or my mom where they will start popping anybody's pimples, anytime, any place.

Yesterday I decided I should try to break the habit. My scabs always take FOREVER to heal and who wants a bright red spot on their face for a month. I told Ransom he needed to think of some reward that was good enough to make me avoid temptation. He told me that if I can get through Sunday without picking my face that he would take me to Cold Stone. I've stopped myself a few dozen times from picking so I think I'm going to need some kind of miracle. Wish me luck! -Katie

Kelsie

Conrad and I were talking to each other (really me trying to get him to say words) in the car and I thought I should get it on film before he changes how he "says" Kelsie.

When the song "Kelsey" came out by Metro Station that is all we heard when we were around Kelsie. She was ALWAYS dancing around and telling everyone how cool she was because she had a song with her name in it. She did it so much that now whenever you ask Conrad to say Kelsie he starts dancing to the song and he won't even try to say it. It makes Kelsie so mad, but I think it's pretty cute and funny! -Katie

Lion King

I thought Conrad loved 101 Dalmatians, but then he watched Bolt and seemed to love it more. Now all he wants to do is watch Lion King and I think he likes it more than Bolt. You mention Lion King and he runs happily to the couch, floor, or love sac to get comfortable. His whole face lights up. At the beginning of the movie he loves to point at all the different animals and try to say their names. He can't say most of them yet, but you can hear "bird", "baby", and "lion" pretty good. When Rafiki opens the fruit he always says "ewe" and he always claps after Simba is presented. My favorite one is when Scar catches the mouse he always gasps! He is pretty cute to watch during the movie.

Every once in a while he wants to watch Madagascar 1 or 2, Kung Fu Panda, Pocahontas, Cars, or Bolt. It takes a few minutes to figure out what he wants to watch. I'll hold up a movie, he'll pause for a second like he's thinking really hard, look at me and say "no". We repeat that until he smiles and goes to sit down! -Katie

Conrad's Daily Diet

When Conrad is standing by the fridge it generally means one of two things. If he grabs ketchup he wants chicken nuggets and if he grabs chocolate syrup then he wants chocolate milk. He loves the ketchup so much that sometimes he holds the plate right to his face and licks up all the ketchup.

Conrad used to love having yogurt everyday, but now when I ask him 9 times out of 10 I get a "no" from him. It's cute how he says no and that he knows what he does and does not want, but sometimes I think chicken nuggets and chocolate milk for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is a bit excessive! Every once in a while he'll eat strawberries, grapes, pineapple, bread, granola bars, popsicles (really any treat), and a select few other things. Veggies are definitely out of the question. He'll just take them from me and then put them in my mouth or say "buddy" so we can go feed our bunny. -Katie

Uh oh, here we go again!

Ransom, Conrad, and I were all taking a nice Sunday nap. Apparently Conrad woke up early, dragged a chair to the counter, opened a couple bottles of nail polish, and dumped it all over his legs, hands, face, the floor, the counter, the chair, the rug. It was definitely not a fun discovery when we woke up!

Conrad got into my nail polish a few months ago. I had left it on the floor because I was in a hurry and had no idea he knew how to open them. Well I learned that lesson the hard way. He got it all over himself, but luckily not a lot on the carpet. I think it's because he tried to drink it. We found it caked in his mouth. At least he didn't drink it this time! -Katie

While Rans was busy cleaning, I took pictures!

Arizona Trip Day 3

Sunday morning Ransom's mom and Emily made us some yummy breakfast burritos. While we gathered and packed everything, Ransom's family watched Conrad vacuum up all their rocks outside. We were going to be taking Shima back to Utah with us so my parents were nice enough to let us borrow their Forester so that we had room for all her stuff.

It was nice to be able to sleep in the car! Conrad was happy doing finger plays with Shima, reading books, watching movies on the laptop, eating, and napping. I bought him some mini muffins because I thought they wouldn't be too messy. I'm not sure what I was thinking. There were muffin crumbs everywhere! Around Monticello Conrad had enough of the car so we stopped to let him get some energy out at the park. It was a nice break from the car. I'm glad we were able to go see Ransom's family and hope Anne, Wes, Andyn, and Emily have fun in Texas.

Conrad doing finger plays with Shima

While we were gone we asked a little neighbor boy to feed Guster (our bunny). When we got back we found this note by the bunny cage. Apparently Josh Balmforth had been coming to feed the bunny too! We couldn't stop laughing when we read the note. He had even left the crayon by the note so they could reply! -Katie

It says, "Whoever is feeding the bunny STOP! What's your name? Why are you doing it? Sincerely, Simote"

Arizona Trip Day 2

The next morning Ransom's parents and his Shima came to go to the Snowflake Temple. While they were at the temple the boy's went and moved the wood pile. When they got back we attempted to take a family picture. We took one the last time we went, but by the time everyone got together it was so dark outside we had to take it inside. We still never quite got a perfect one. After a couple pictures everyone would just start walking away. It's nice when my mom is there because she can get people to sit there a lot longer then they want and position everyone to look good. We had several family picture attempts throughout the day!

On the way back to Eagar we stopped off at a yummy Mexican restaurant called La Cocina de Eva. If you are ever in Snowflake you should stop there to eat. Ransom was anxious to get back to Eagar to see his friend Cord who came up from Phoenix to see him. Those two and his brothers were off doing crazy things all day. The rest of us just relaxed the rest of the day. Conrad loved to shove Andyn's binky in her mouth, even when she didn't want it. That night Ryan and David got all their friends and we played Fugitive. I wasn't much of a help since I have no idea where anything is, but everyone seemed to have fun. -Katie

1- Conrad with Grandma Bigelow's dog

2, 3, & 6 - family picture attempts 4- lunch at Eva's

5- chickens (they were babies last time we saw them)

6- Conrad and Andyn 7- Ransom & Conrad 4wheeling

Arizona Trip Day 1

Ransom sold his bright blue truck to his sister's (Anne) brother-in-law in Arizona so we quickly planned a trip to take it to him. That meant I would be driving in one car with Conrad and Ransom would be in the truck. I wasn't looking forward to driving the whole time. The timing was pretty perfect because Anne, Wes, baby Andyn, and Emily we're moving to Texas the week after our visit for Wes's ranching school.

We left for Arizona Thursday after Ransom got off work. The plan was to drive until we got tired and then we would stop at a hotel. Conrad slept most of the way so it wasn't too bad. He did wake up hungry once and I gave him a granola bar. After that he wanted a drink and we didn't have any and it was 30 minutes before we got to another gas station. He cried that whole time. We ended up stopping in Monticello at a really old hotel that was only $50. We brought some of Conrad's favorite Disney movies and watched them until he fell asleep.

The next morning we woke up, got ready, ate some breakfast, and then continued the drive. It's really not too bad of a trip when you break it up. You drive through a lot of indian reservations. Instead of seeing dead deer on the side of the road, you see horses, dogs, and cows. They just let their animals roam free. We've never stopped without being asked for money for food. I'm amazed Conrad and I made it there safe. He loved to throw whatever he was holding and throw it on the ground and cry until I picked it up for him. We played that game a lot!

We drove to Snowflake to stay with his Grandma Bigelow so we could help her around the house a little bit. All of Ransom's siblings came too. Ransom went around her yard with a weed eater. She gave him some of his Granpa's old clothes to wear and he got to keep them. She made us a delicious hamburger dinner. After, the boys went outside to play some football.

That night it was boys vs. girls in pictionary. His grandma kept us laughing the whole time. She always said her drawings were perfect whenever anyone would make fun of them. She can really get worked up! It was a lot of fun and I definitely think we'll go stay with her more often when we go down. -Katie

1- Ransom & Conrad watching movies

2- Conrad sporting his Burger King hat

3- Ransom weed eating 4-the boys playing football

Birthday #23

My mom and sisters were nice enough to make me delicious crepes for my birthday breakfast. It all ended badly and I spent the rest of the day crying and in a funk. Ransom had been planning all week to work a half day and had all sorts of things he had planned for my birthday. It didn't quite go as he planned, but he tried to cheer me up all day. I just don't function well when I'm not on good terms with my family.

I did have lots of fun, happy moments with Ransom and Conrad. We went up South Fork and Conrad got to run around in the mind numbing cold water. Ransom made me my all time favorite dinner, shredded beef tacos. Thank you Ransom for always trying to make the best out of every situation and for always being there for me. -Katie

South Fork

When I was little I remeber going with Shima and Peachy to South Fork. It is a park above Vivian Park in Provo Canyon. It is a really fun place. There is a huge open field and a little shallow river going through it. It had been a long time since I had been there so we went up as a family to play. It was the perfect place for Conrad because he loves throwing rocks in the river. The water was soooo cold but he jumped right in and played in that water for hours. Katie and I relaxed on the bank and kept our eye on him. We would take turns chasing after him when he would decide to run off. He loved throwing his toy in the river and watching me run to get it. His clothes got soaking wet so we took them off to let them dry. They took so long to dry that we kept needing to move them out of the shadows that were slowly getting bigger. After all of that effort, we forgot the clothes up there! Katie was devistated because she loved that outfit. But we had tons of fun still! -Ransom