Pueblo Grande Museum

On Saturday we decided to venture out and see some of the sites that Phoenix has to offer. When our family helped us move down here we took time away from unpacking boxes and we asked a local working at a Fazzoli's what there was to do here in Phoenix. His reply was, "there isn't anything you can do here that you can't any other place." So, Cory and I have taken it upon our selves to prove this minimum wage teenager wrong...


So on Saturday we went to the Pueblo Grande Museum. It is a 1,500 year-old Hohokam ruin village. It is really neat to see it. It is located right in the middle of downtown Phoenix. There really isn't a lot to see. There are still walls standing and what they call a "ball court" and some mounds that they have kept preserved. They have made replicas of the homes that the Hohokam people lived in. This little museum has a lot of history of the first people in the Phoenix area and how they lived it is really remarkable.

So it was a fun adventure. Jovin didn't like all the sun that much but he did enjoy the museum stuff inside. We'll keep you updated on the FUN things we see and do here in Phoenix.

The Grouch!

Well for the past week Jovin has been really grouchy, and clings to me during most of the day. I thought it was because he has a new tooth coming in on top. As, I found out the other day I was right, but there are 3 more trying to push through his gums as well. I can now understand why he has been Mr. Grumpy Pants for the past week. I would be grouchy too if I had 4 teeth coming in at the same time. I'd put a picture up of his teeth, but every time I get a picture it is blurry or he is crying... So I won't.

Also, another milestone for Jovin... He now holds his bottle all by himself. He did it for the first time on Saturday with Cory. He seemed pretty proud of himself too. (as we were also...) So now he likes to lay on the couch or on the floor with a pillow and watch the Wiggles on Playhouse Disney and drink his milk or juice.



I've put another picture of Jovin when he wasn't being so grumpy. One of his toys turns from a mat to lie on to a tunnel to crawl though... Since he can't crawl yet and he hates to lie down now he is pretty content with sitting in the tunnel. He also likes to play "peek-a-boo" through the window in the tunnle.

What month is it again?

I used to think it was CRAZY to have stores selling swimming suits in the winter. But now living in Arizona for the past month, and with it in the 80's during the day I can now see how they can get away with selling swimming suits. (for those of you who are in 40 degrees and/or snow, all we have to say is... HA HA!) We decided that with a heated swimming pool in our apartment complex, and with the 80 degrees outside it was time to go swimming. (and yes, we did buy swimming suits yesterday!)


Jovin loved the pool. To him I think it was like a huge bath tub. He would slpash with his arms and get water everywhere. He loved it. He would get really excited when Cory or I would swim to the other end and then come for him quickly in the water.



It was really sunny so some of our pictures have glare from the sun on them. I really don't think we got any tans from out little hour adventure in the pool. We are still white as a ghosts. (as you can tell in the pictures)

A whole new way to explore the world...

Hey for anyone who has ever wanted to fly to Hong Kong, Frankfort, Sydney, or anywhere else in the world. Now you can from the comfort of the office chair that you are sitting in. And best of all, it's absolutely free (except for the cost of a computer and highspeed internet, which if you are reading this shouldn't be a problem)! Google has made a pretty cool thingy that kills mapquest and yahoo maps by introducing the 3rd dimension and realtime panning. It's pretty fun, and now they have it for Mac so it's really cool. To download, go to earth.google.com. Have fun!!

Walkthrough Video

Well everyone, it's finally finished. As of last Saturday we are officially unpacked (except for the misc stuff that we don't know what to do with yet). But there aren't any more boxes to step around or piles to step over, so we are excited! We can finally feel like we're home. And so, for all of you who did not get to see the apartment, we've made a small home-made video of our place (as suggested by Chad). It ended up being 6 mins long, and I had a heck of a time trying to compress it but keep it's quality decent. So in the end, I broke it in half. (1st half - 8.1mb, 2nd half - 6.4mb) They're not exactly small, so it may take a little time to download. But enjoy!!

This is the first half...

This is the second half...

The things a 7 month old can do...

Jovin is learning to count, work on his balancing skills, and watch Toy Story at the same time... boy, Killpack's can sure multi-task.

One... Piece of cake!

Two... Keep 'em comin'!

Three... Wait a minute now...

Four... Holy Crap!!! ( I did it! )

The Phoenix Suns (Dogs?)

Well, I was there when Mom saw the wondrous sight in the sky on the family's fabulous trip to Arizona. At the time, I was slightly preoccupied with returning the rental truck and making sure the guy didn't charge me for anything else (after the place in Sandy doubled the price for a last minute upgrade to a bigger truck which was caused by a junk panic), but I did capture a glimpse of the said Sun Dog. I was a little disappointed that I did not relax for another moment or two to enjoy the doggy-dog, because it was actually pretty cool.

But to my appeasement, within a week there was another one. And after talking to Mom, we concluded that they must occur often here in Phoenix (with no mountains to block them or something like that). Which reminds me, it's funny - the locals refer to Phoenix as "the valley". Just today, I was asked, "So you just moved to the valley, huh?" I about died of laughter as Phoenix is a flat as a true flat screen TV compared to Salt Lake! What valley?! I think that our days are actually about 10 minutes longer then back there in Salt Lake. You know, less time being blocked by the mountains and all...

So anyway, Jovin is sure growing up fast down here. We just got his elementary school class picture, his teacher sent him to the Principal's office for it.

Just kidding, she sent him straight home without storytime or graham crackers. He was pretty upset about that...

So anyway, thanks again for all of you who helped directly or indirectly in getting us down here. We are loving it. We are close to being totally unpacked (the progress slowed once I started work), but as per Chad's suggestion - we hope to record a walk-though once we are done. Then I will try and post it to the blog for everyone that didn't come with us.

So until then, I will be here playing on my computer... and you can go to this.

PS- A junk panic is a term used in the moving business for when a person has too much junk and begins to panic at the thought of having to move it all and worrying about how on earth they can get it all to fit.

We Made It!!!

Well we finally made it!! The trip went well to Phoenix. Cory and my Dad (Dirk) got up early last Friday and got all of our stuff and themselves here safely... (Dad almost got a speeding ticket!) Cory's Mom (Dianne) and Chad left about 2 hours after Cory and Dirk and they didn't catch up with them until they were about 2 hours outside of Phoenix. Jovin, I and Angie (Chad's wife) flew Friday afternoon and got to the apartment about an hour before everyone else. The apartmet is AWESOME!!! It is SO MUCH bigger than our little shoebox of a home we left behind in the student apartments at the university.

Mom, Chad and Angie left us Saturday night. Dad left Sunday afternoon. It was wonderful to have their help in getting us down here and all moved in. We have only been here a week and we are missing everyone... I think it is because we are now realizing that we can't just drive to Mom's for dinner or hang with friends on the weekend... We now have to fly.

We'll post pictures of the apartment once I have it all organized and stuff put where it belongs. The reason it took so long for us to post anything was because we FINALLY got our phone, cable, and internet hooked up about 30 minutes ago. I never realized how much I use the internet until I didn't have it for a week. "I Love Technology!"



Well 2 days ago Jovin turned 7 months old and I think he is looking more and more like Cory... What do you all think? He is sitting up A LOT better now and rolling all over... he some how did a 180 in his bed the other night... He also just learned to do raspberries... (which makes feeding time a lot more fun and entertaining for me!)

Anywho, more from us later! Miss you all!

Movin Time

I am pretty sure that we have mentioned it to everyone that reads our blog by now, but I thought that I would make it official and ask for assistance. Next Thursday we will be packing our truck and cleaning house. For those who can help and want to help we'd appreciate it. We plan to start around 10:00 or 10:30 am and will be going until the place is empty and spotless (with a break for food somewhere in there). Anyway, thanks!

Christmas Party Mainia...

Well last night we had a double header for family Christmas parties. First we were off to the Johnson family Christmas party. It was fun and Jovin had his first opportunity to sit on Santa's lap. He doesn't really look like he cares too much, but at least he didn't scream and cry at Santa. Oddly enough as I was standing outside with Grandpa Johnson (waiting for Santa to show up so I could sneak Jovin's present on top of everyone else's so we could leave early and get to the next Christmas party that was waiting) I found out from Grandpa we have had the same guy come and play Santa at the family Christmas parties for the last 10 years. Which means that Cory and I have sat on the same Santa's lap as Jovin... (if I could find the pictures and scan them in I would.)



After Jovin opened his present from Santa (and enjoyed the wrapping paper more than the present like every other 6 month old does) we were gone as quickly as we could and headed off to the Partridge family Christmas party. We got there just in time to sing "Joy To The World" with the Killpack family and then participate in the traditional "white elephant" game. Cory got a game called Guillotine. We've played it before on our trip to Oregon with Kip and Kris. And we seemed to be the only one's at the Christmas party last night that wanted the game. Everyone else that had played it hated it. So we are hoping that it is still a fun game and that it wasn't just fun to us cause we last played it with Kip and Kirs. I got a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper... YES! Although, my mother-in-law was eyeing it too but I retired it in the game before it was her turn and since I know that is a favorite drink of hers (as well as mine) I split it with her.
All in all... It was a wonderful evening to spend with two families and eat a lot of good food.

6 months, and loving it...

Well Jovin is 6 months old already! How time flies by. He had his 6 month check up today. 17lb 9oz, 27 inches long, which puts him in about the 70th percentile for his age. He sits up on his own okay, but if he gets excited he will kick his feet and fall backwards. He loves to talk now too. He's ba ba baaaing, da da daaaing, and well everything else in the middle, but no ma ma maaaing yet. He has also discovered that he can be really loud now too. If he really wants your attention he will scream "Da da da da" until you give him your full attention.
Still just the two teeth so he is drooling on everything and there is a constant river of drool from his mouth to whatever he is touching. We will be starting more solid foods now too. (pictures of that to come...)
Jovin is really grumpy today. He has a cold and on top of it he got 3 shots at the doctors. But here are some pictures of him that we took of him yesterday. He was sort of happy yesterday because all he had was just a cold. Unlike today with the cold and shots.

Christmas Lights

Friday night we went to Temple Square to go and see the lights. They were as always really beautiful.

It was really cold and Jovin wasn't too happy about being stuffed into his coat. But I think he liked the lights.

We wanted to go and enjoy the lights since this is our last Christmas here. (unless we come back to visit during the holidays.) I'm really going to miss this temple.

Who we look like....

Well we took the advice of Holly and went to
MyHeritage.com Face Recognition
to find out which celebrities we look like. What you do is upload a picture and it will find the faces in the picture and then match it to different celebrities. It's pretty fun to do. Try to use a picture where the face is straight on. It works better. Have fun!!



Cory's was pretty interesting...
Tim Robbins, Samuel L. Jackson, Anthony Hopkins, Robert Redford, and my favorite David Beckam.




Ang's are as follows...
Meg Ryan, Avril Lavine, Julianne Moore, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie.





Jovin pulled up...
Michael Phelps (US gold medalist winner), Pierce Brosnan, and Ewan McGregor.

I wish, I wish, I wish

Many thanks to Homer for helping put up the tree this year. We got our own lighted tree this year (which didn't fit in the Jetta trunk or back seat - we could have used Mum's little blue truck... You should have seen us three squish in the car with the tree taking up the passenger side front and back) Anyway, as Christmas is now just around the corner, gifts start comming to mind of what we want.

Actually, we'd like to know what everyone else wants - just makes the shopping easier. So we thought that we'd help all you out...

Below are links to our families Amazon wishlists. (Just in case you want to buy us stuff we want... no obligations though...)

Cory's Wishlist

Angela's Wishlist

Jovin's Wishlist

Family Pictures

Well we got our pictures taken today. So here they are...

Don't Eat Me!

Well today we discovered that Jovin now has two teeth. He doesn't look to happy about showing off his new teeth.
So we took a picture. Can't you see them?



Didn't think so... So here is the original zoomed in.



His appetite has grown along with his new teeth. Milk and cereal aren't enough... He wants fresh meat too. So he's eating Cory.

Phoenix it is

Well it was a tough decision. But it is final... We're moving to Phoenix, Arizona. For all those of you who don't know where that is with respect to Salt Lake City - I have included a map. Perhaps by now, all those who read this blog already knew we're moving; but I figure that by posting it, it will help me to come to the realization that we're actually leaving. We are excited, and can't wait. But there is a lot to do before then. (Heck, I still need to graduate!) Anyway, we'll gladly accept visitors if you want to get away from the cold for a little bit.

Blah!

Jovin got his first tooth!!! He has been chewing on everything! (as most babies do) Well he grabbed my finger and put it in his mouth and well, he bit me!! Drew blood any everything. This week he has been sticking his tongue out a lot. I thought it was really cute. I now know why... he likes to feel his new tooth. It is the bottom right tooth. I tried to get a picture of it, but his little, yet fat and long tongue is always in the way. So you'll have to take my word for it, or let him put your finger in his mouth and you can find out for yourself!

How Many??

Just how many binkies does Jovin need? Well if you ask him... Two. One to hold and one to try and chew.

We have a calf for a baby...

He like's milk and almost moo's now.
This is a really late picture in Jovin's Halloween costume. My mom bought it for him on a Halloween clearance sale. (You can't beat $3.00) He wore it to the Veteran's Day concert at the U. (I think he looks a lot like Cory now...) hee hee hee

To Suck Or Not To Suck...

That is the question. Jovin has just realized that sucking on his thumb is a fun thing to do. (Why I bought all of those binkies I don't know...) He hasn't mastered it totaly yet. He needs to learn to close his fingers. He has poked his eyes many times trying to suck his thumb. Live and learn I guess.

Whoa!

Apparently Jovin was a little taken back to have me take a picture of him naked... and he looks a little mad about catching him eat his rubber ducky. What he needs to realize is I need embarassing pictures for when his is older. :^)

Happy Halloween!!!

We hope you all have a very scary Halloween!!

Phoenix, baby!!!

Well the trip to Phoenix was great! The flight down to Phoenix on Thursday night was full so I had to hold Jovin on my lap. It wasn't too bad. He slept for about a half hour and then he was awake and he was happy and then I fed him a bottle while we were descending. I couldn't believe how busy the Phoenix airport was on a Thursday night at 9pm. We got our luggage and picked up our car rental. (A mint green Nissan Altima... Very nice! It is A LOT roomier than our Jetta.) We found the hotel just fine and got settled in just nice. They had a crib in our room for Jovin but it was kind of scary looking so luckily our room had two beds and since Jovin isn't rolling over very much I just stuck him on the extra bed next to ours.
Friday morning Cory met with the president of LSW Engineers and it went well. I stayed at the hotel and stared out the window cause I wanted to see Phoenix. Cory came back and we went apartment hunting. It was about 90 degrees out and poor Jovin was tired of being in the car seat and then being pulled out of it to see apartments, only to be put back in the car seat to travel to the next apartment. We saw all of the apartments that we looked up on the internet on Friday. We then went out to dinner and then went back to the hotel and crashed!

Saturday morning we got ready for the day and then packed up and drove around Phoenix some more. It is a really pretty city. Palm trees everywhere!! Since we noticed how busy the airport was on Thursday we didn't want to have to rush at the airport so we turned in the rental and headed for the airport. Well it wasn't that busy at all. We were 2 hours early for our flight. So we ate lunch and Jovin enjoyed watching the airplanes land and take off. We fed Jovin and noticed his huge tummy. Hence the tummy picture. :^) The flight home wasn't full so we got to keep Jovin in his car seat. He slept the whole way home. We are glad to be home... It's nice to have your own stuff around (like Jovin's toys and crib).
Well that was our trip in a nut shell. We will let you know when we decide if it's Phoenix or Salt Lake City as our future place of residence... :^)

Shhh....

I'm tryin' to find Bert! I know he is hiding somewhere...

Daddy & Me, Mommy & Me

These are just too cute to not put on the blog. (of course he is a lot happier with Daddy!) :^)

Here it comes...

Well the doctor said it was okay to start Jovin on rice cereal twice a day. So last night Jovin had his first attempt at some very runny cereal. It was everywhere and I've learned that I need about four arms to feed Jovin. 1, to hold the bowl of cereal, 2, to feed him, 3, to hold his arms and hands down so he'll stop putting them in his mouth and getting cereal all over him self, and 4 to wipe up what he spits onto me. :^) It is a fun learning experience for all of us. Cory got a kick out of taking pictures of Jovin eating... most of them turned out blurry except this one.

4 months old TODAY!!

Well Jovin is officially 4 months old today. He had his 4 month check up too! He is 27 inches long and 14.7lbs!! The doctor said he is doing really well. He also got 3 shots today and combined with the tylenol I gave him he is sleeping... (yes!!!!!) He is a little grumpy but not too bad... yet.

New Toy!!

Well I finally broke down and bought Jovin an "activity center". Jovin is at a stage right now where he either wants to sit up or stand up. His rocker seat doesn't sit him up far enough cause he keeps raising his head to sit up farther. Also, I want to try and get things done during the day like dishes, laundry, and other tasks, (fun, and boring) but I can't get a lot done when all Jovin wants to do is stand... that means I have to sit on the floor and help him stand. So far the past couple of days Jovin has really liked his "new toy" he likes to be in it. The only frustrating part is when he spins himself around in the toy and he can't see me or he is facing the wall and there isn't much to look at. So here is a picture of the happy little boy in his "new toy"!

Footprints in the Sand

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord.
Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.
In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand.
Sometimes there were two sets of footprints,
other times there were one set of footprints.

This bothered me because I noticed
that during the low periods of my life,
when I was suffering from
anguish, sorrow or defeat,
I could see only one set of footprints.

So I said to the Lord,
“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you,
you would walk with me always.
But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life
there have only been one set of footprints in the sand.
Why, when I needed you most, you have not been there for me?”

The Lord replied,
“The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
is when I carried you.”

- Mary Stevenson