Window shopping

I'm not much of a 'shopper'. Maybe if I was skinnier and had an obscene amount of money, I'd enjoy it more.

Since having the Little Man, I do almost NO shopping. I barely even browse the clothing section of Target while walking towards the formula aisle.

I used to have a (severe) problem with internet shopping.

Me and Amazon.com were BEST friends (along with the credit card company that got all of my interest for a couple of years). Since getting my finances in order (and getting married, but trying to get my finances in order did come first) I don't do much internet shopping anymore.

Except for Christmas. 75% of the last couple years of Christmas gifts have been delivered right to my door.

So... I've actually enjoyed researching and finding my next purchase. A new camera. My current digital camera was free (from Justin's work) and wasn't a bad little camera 3 years ago. It's NOT a good little camera anymore, and since the Little Man has come around, I feel like it's important to have a decent camera. (Okay, I just really want one).

I decided early on I would either get a Nikon or a Canon. Somewhere deep inside I secretly wish I knew more about photography and would like to become more skilled at taking pictures.

That does not mean I could justify getting an SLR camera (and the price tag that comes along with it) but I did think I could handle a nice point and shoot with an option to use manual settings.

First I thought I wanted a larger camera, but then I figured that if it was going to get used, it would need to be pretty compact.

There are at least 50 other features I wanted or did not want, and I won't bore you with the details. I finally settled on this.

It's a Canon sx200 IS.

Only problem is... I can't seem to buy it anywhere. The Canon website says it will be released March 2009, and last time I checked... we're about 5 days away from it NOT being March 2009. I found a couple of websites (claiming) to have the camera -and for super cheap. One google search later, and I found out these companies will take my money, and I'll never see a product (yes, not only do I research the items I want, I check out the companies too!).

So, I get on Amazon.com every day -and sometimes twice to see if it's for sale yet. I can pre-order it there, but I kind of want to know it's in stock first.

I guess I'm learning patience, but the thing is, I've been saving all of my Christmas and Birthday money to get a new camera. I've already learned patience. What I want is to learn how to use my new camera!

In case you were wondering...

So... for those of you who see the Little Man and see a mini-Justin (which is most of you)... here's a bit of proof that he has a mother too!

You'll have to excuse the scanned photo's. We unfortunetly started scrapbooking before scrapbooking was 'cool' -we cut almost EVERY photo like these. Including MY 5 generation picture!

If you chance to meet a frown...

I try so hard to not always post about baby that sometimes I feel like I NEVER post about the Little Man on this blog.

So... you've been warned, it's a baby post.

Today was such a nice day we wanted to take lunch up the canyon and go for a walk. While it wasn't very windy in the valley, the Little Man could hardly catch his breath because of the wind once we were there. So, we ate our sandwiches while he slept in his car seat and then just walked around the campground for all of 5 minutes.

The Little Man REALLY hates being shoved in his car seat (as I refer to it as) most of the time. I think he just doesn't like being constricted and left by himself if I'm the only one in the car. These photo's are (obviously) with me back there with him, but I must have not been keeping him entertained... watch the progression.

I guess I could have put the camera down and tried a little harder.

And this is a video I took last week. He's starting to like this bouncer almost as much as his baths! He just always has to be moving!

Oh... have I mentioned his tongue? It's ALWAYS out -we've started referring to him as our little St. Bernard!

Just call me Suzie

Or... maybe just Betty.

If I was Suzie Homemaker my house probably would have been cleaned as well today. You never hear about that Crocker chick cleaning anything.

My oven was on ALL DAY long today. I was making dinner (sweet & sour meatballs) for us and some friends that just had a baby and decided to try and stock up on freezer foods. So... instead of making the 30 or 40 meatballs that the recipe called for, I made about 125, a give or take a few and froze the bulk of them. After those were done I made a couple batches of the sauce, some chocolate-chip peanut-butter cookies and the rice.

Since the Little Man does everything quickly, as my dad puts it (is happy for a short time, ornery for a short time, power naps and starts the process over again) it makes for a very long, sporadic day.

Other than that, there's not much to blog about at the moment. Plus, I'm researching a new digital camera -and for those of you who know me, you can only guess where all of my time is spent when I'm on the computer! I think I've finally settled on one -only problem is, it hasn't been released yet!

How many?

Find TV Shows at LocateTV

Find Movies at LocateTV

I think this just shows how fast I can type. Plus, I thought of a few one-word titles before I tried it.

Merry Christmas & Happy Birthday

To me, that is.

Well, we not only survived our vacation, we had alot of fun too!

Kathy took some stay-cation days and hung out with the Little Man and I for 5 days in Yuma, Arizona (my Christmas and birthday present from Justin). We hung out with a lot of her friends; visiting the 'dunes', eating taco's at 'roach coaches' and going to Midnight at the Oasis. To be honest, I was surprised how well the Little Man did. We had some rough nights and some screaming time before going out to the Sand Dunes, but considering his schedule (or lack there-of) I thought he was a trooper.

The Sand Dunes were awesome. We didn't stay out there long, but Kathy's friend Mark took us on quite a ride. The Little Man stayed back at the truck with one of us while we went. We ate authentic Yuma cuisine most nights and had Sunday dinner with the Ellsworths (which was quite entertaining).

I didn't take many pictures of anything but the Little Man, so enjoy.

Come Home Please

What can I say except that I am nothing without my family...come home please? :)

Unforgettable

Well, so far the last few days have been full of 'unforgettable' moments.

The flight couldn't have gone better. I was so nervous about the Little Man on the airplane, but he did great. He ate when we were taking off, stayed in his car seat the entire flight, and slept most of the time. There were no less than 10 other babies (including a set of 10 month old twins) on the flight. You could see the look of relief in all of the mother's eyes as we realized we wouldn't be the only ones (potentially) to have screaming kids. I think you could also see the fearful look of dread from the other passengers. All of the babies did good though.

The best part of the flight? Not the little bag of pretzels or flying over the Grand Canyon. It was the flight attendant as we were heading into Phoenix. One of the flight attendants got on the intercom, thanked us for flying, and told us we (the passengers) were unforgettable and they (the attendants) were too. Then, she sang. I'm not kidding. She sang "Unforgettable" over the intercom. She was dead serious too. I don't know how long the song actually is, but she sang at least two verses. I couldn't look up at her for fear of making eye contact and busting up laughing.

Due to scheduling changes Justin and I arrived in Phoenix at the exact same time. (Justin was on a different airline, and wasn't suppose to leave SLC until almost 4 hours later). So, Kathy ended up picking both of us up at the airport and we went to lunch before we parted ways. Kathy drives a convertible car that isn't known for having alot of cargo space. And, unfortunately, we had a lot of cargo. So, for a short time, we had to drive top down with me, baby, and stroller in the back seat. I was a little windblown by the end of that little trip.

After we dropped Justin off, it was the three of us heading to Yuma -about 2 1/2 hours from Phoenix. At least on this leg of the trip we drove with the top up. I will say that it is super easy to get a car seat in and out with the top down, but the Little Man didn't like the wind much. We met some of Kathy's friends at a local mexican restaurant. I had my first experience changing a diaper without one of those little changing tables. The food was really good (once it finally got there). I guess the place was busier than usual, and it kind of appeared that some of our orders were lost (it's never a good sign if the waitress is asking you what you want on your taco 70 minutes after you ordered it). We may have waited a while, but it was a fun wait.

After dinner we finally got the Little Man home for the evening. A quick bath in the sink, and I tried to put him down to sleep. All things considering, he did pretty good last night. We've definitely had better nights, but it could have been a lot worse.

So far we're enjoying our vacation, and I think Kathy's enjoying her 'stay-cation'. Doing nothing, watching TV all day and hanging out with friends at night isn't a bad way to spend a weekend.

No photos... you'll have to wait until we get home. It's been fun putting the Little Man in short sleeves for once!

One of THOSE moments

I've heard the stories growing up in church. Someone realizes they weren't charged the full price while looking at their receipt or their kid was playing with a toy and they forget to pay for it. It had never happened to me though.

Today the Little Man and I went to the store for a few last minute items before our trip on Thursday (Yes, it might be warm (50's) and windy here, but in two days it'll be 80 degrees and sunny!). I wanted to buy a real binky and not one of the hospital ones we've been using. Or, NOT using. As a previous thumb-sucker, I'm doing all I can to encourage the binky, but he doesn't seem to like it much. Not to mention, we needed to find a few things that Justin can eat while I'm gone -Wendy's can get a little old after 5 days.

I went in for 6 things, and as usual, came out with 3 bags worth (re-usable bags -they hold a lot more). Since going into a store requires ALOT of stuff when you have a little baby- carrier, diaper bag, wallet, bags... my cart is nearly full when I start shopping. I'm actually surprised this hasn't happened already.

As I'm loading the bags into the car, I notice the binky's, underneath the diaper bag. I finished loading the grocery's and head back to the store. It's windy, as I previously mentioned, and the package that was sitting on the carrier blew off. So, on my way to pay for the binky's I had just stolen, I had to first chase them down in the parking lot. I paid and we finally left the store.

So now, I have one of those stories about doing the right thing, even if you can get away with it.

To be completely honest... I don't know what I would have done if I had found them at home or something. I'd like to say I'd go back and pay for them, and I probably would have... eventually. One trip to the store is a lot in one day. Maybe I would have sent Justin.

Oh... can't have a post without a picture, now can we?