Baby Blessing

We blessed Tay on September 20th, our last Sunday in our ward. We wanted to do it where we knew our ward and where more family would be able to attend. It was well represented by my side of the family. We had my parents, Ben and Sharon, and Alli and Nic all there. It's the most family we've had at a baby blessing so far. It was such a beautiful blessing. Jefferson is so good at speaking with the spirit. And finally, somebody who spoke loud enough for the congregation to hear the blessing!! Tay was blessed with many wonderful things, among them to be an example to those around her, to maintain her health and proper growth, as well as her calm spirit, she was blessed to find a worthy companion by the guidance of the spirit who will take her to the temple, and she was blessed to look to her mother to know how a daughter of God should be. (No pressure on me). :)

It was a lovely day and after church we went to a park and had a picnic and let the kids run around and play. It was a warm, beautiful day, so just perfect for our plans.

After the picnic it was time for goodbyes. I did not handle them well to say the least, and if you look at the picture of us ladies, you'll notice we are all red and swollen eyed from the tears. (sneaky of you to leave your glasses on Mom!)

The boys eyes were pretty dry, but I could tell they were crying inside... ok, maybe not, but all the menfolk do get along great, so I know they will all be semi-sad not to be as close.

And best of friends, the little cousins. I hope they have some memories of all their fun times together.

Tay at Two Months

Taytum is officially two months old today. She is awake a lot more these days and is usually pretty happy and content. Smiles are still not flowing like I would like them to, but we take every one that we can get! We have not really heard her voice yet. A few "coos" have come out is all. She is very observant and will follow people around the room with her eyes. Tay sleeps for eight hours a night without getting up at all. It's been wonderful. She is great at putting herself to sleep. She'll get real crabby when she's ready to go to sleep and doesn't want to be held or rocked usually, so I'll just wrap her up, put her down, she'll cry for maybe one or two minutes, and then she's out for hours. She is definitely my baby that spits up the most. It's still not horrible, but she has to be burped a lot. But, what you all really want are pictures, so without further ado:

Our best photo of a smile yet, kind of sleepy and then kind of creepy :)

Just hanging out:

Carter Kick

*Carter came into our room this morning and our fan was on but not oscillating and Carter said, "Your fan is on but the batteries are too dead to make it spin around."

*Carter sneezed and said, "I have hiccups and 'bless yous' in my mouth."

*I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but on occasion, like tonight, Carter calls the moon a "moon ball."

*Carter calls camping, "panking." A few consonants are mixed up is all.

*I asked Carter what he wanted for lunch and he replied, "Chicken balls."

(Tyson's boneless buffalo wings are in the shape of balls and we had just had them a couple days ago during our mini football party... I thought it was funny).

*We have a few acorn squash on our counter and Carter calls them "acorn squishies."

Faith and Fear

Can they coexist? I don't know. A part of me thinks the gospel perspective would say that they cannot coexist. I, however, feel like I have been having a lot of both. Maybe "fear" isn't the correct term, but anxiety over our future and the unknown. I know that we are supposed to be here in Boise. We don't have a job, we have no income, but we know that this is where the Lord wants us to be. There have been little signs and inspirations all along the way that have led us here.

It can get confusing along the way though, and this has happened one other time in my life (well, I am sure more than once, but one particular instance comes to mind), when I feel like I am making a correct decision, but Satan tries to thwart our efforts in following the Lord. The confusion can come in when we go to make that decision and things don't go according to plan. Is that the Lord telling us it's the wrong decision, or is it Satan trying to make us think that it's the wrong decision? I have had my moments of doubt during this move. Things did not go according to plan, and anyone who really knows me knows that I like to have a plan and I like things to go according to that plan. However, during those moments of doubt, I have turned to prayer and once again been assured that we are supposed to be here. Whether it's to have things not work out and humble us (which I feel quite confident is not the case) or to live here for the rest of our life with a thriving practice (my vote is for that one)... I'm not sure. All I know is that this is where we are supposed to be and there is work here for us to do.

The other time in my life that I remember things not going according to plan when we were trying to follow the Lord's will was when we were going to Klamath for Jefferson to ask my dad for my hand in marriage. We were planning on driving to Boise the first night of our trip after Jefferson got off work. It was pouring cats and dogs when we left and not fifteen minutes into the drive we got a flat tire. It was pretty late so there was no one to change our tire and we had to stay the night and leave first thing the next morning. We made it to Boise the next day, stayed there for the night and the next morning the car battery was dead. We had to go get a replacement battery and were on our way once again. On the drive between Boise and Klamath I was told to go through Ontario, well, you have to exit the freeway to go through Ontario and I ended up just going past Ontario and continued in the wrong direction for quite some time. We ended up taking the back roads of Eastern Oregon and extending the duration of our trip by a good number of hours to get to Klamath. I'm so glad we didn't get discouraged or take it as a sign that we weren't supposed to get married, because we had felt the promptings of the spirit telling us we were supposed to get married. And look at us now, 6+ years of marriage and going strong!

In thinking and researching faith and fear I found this wonderful quote by Jeffrey R Holland:

"First, we must never let fear and the father of fear (Satan himself) divert us from our faith and faithful living. Every person in every era has had to walk by faith into what has always been some uncertainty. This is the plan. Just be faithful. God is in charge. He knows your name and He knows your need."

How reassuring is that? I was reading through my patriarchal blessing today and it said that I would be successful in all the decisions that I make. Of course, the promise is contingent on my following the gospel and living in accordance with the spirit. Well, that's what we are doing, so I know that this decision will work out how it's supposed to and that it is the Lord's will whatever happens. I have just had a few faltering moments along the way, but onward in faith I go.

I'm going to miss OMSI

Tay was blessed last Sunday so we made a family weekend out of it. My mom and dad came up on Friday night and we met up with Ben and Sharon and their boys at OMSI on Saturday. We had so much fun with everyone. My kids just love their cousins so much and it was great to get them together one last time. Gray and Carter hold hands a lot without being asked to. Every time we tell Andi that we are going to see Calvin she says "No pushy Cal," because she frequently pushes him when we are together and frequently gets in trouble because of it, but she does love him. Whenever we talk about birthdays Carter asks if Gray is going to be at the party. And my kids also love their Aunt Sharon and Uncle Ben. We asked Andi if she knew who we were going to get to see last weekend and the first person on her list that came out of her mouth was, "Uncle Ben." Then when we got to OMSI it wasn't mom or dad's hand that she held, but Uncle Ben's. Needless to say, we are going to miss that little Stewart family.

So we had a great time at OMSI. The kids ran around and played while us grownups sat and chatted while keeping an occasional eye on the kids.

Nic and Alli met up with us at OMSI and we all headed over to Chuck E. Cheese's. The kids had a blast! And maybe the adults did too. :) We had plenty of tokens for all of us to get our fill of ski ball, Gray made a girlfriend, all the kids got a cool cell phone case, we got to dance with the Chuck, and we got little pencil drawings done. It was a grand time. Unfortunately the cameras didn't make it out, but trust me, it was a treat.

Two months.... almost.

Taytum had her "two month" appointment today, just about a week and a half early. Our doctor sneaked us in a little early so that we wouldn't have to worry about that when we moved to Boise. Anyways, her stats:

Height: 23 1/4 inches 89%

Weight: 10lbs 13.6 oz. 65%

She is one growing girl!

Taytum is still such a good baby. She is definitely out of that sleeping all the time baby phase. We love seeing her little eyeballs. She smiled for the first time last Tuesday, September 8, but they are still very few and far between and we have yet to catch it on camera. It is sure priceless when she does smile. She still has her head full of dark hair. She does not love being restrained. Swaddling her when she's sleepy will calm her down and help her sleep, but she dislikes greatly being put in her carseat, being in the baby Bjorn or the Moby when she's awake. Once she's asleep she doesn't mind the confinement, but it sure makes it difficult to carry her around a lot when she hates those two modes of transportation. And lastly, Taytum loves being talked to and sung to. She just looks around and takes in whoever is talking to her. We love our yummy little Tum-tum!!

Done and done.

Ok... I think have a few posts that appear quite similar to this one, but I assure you, this is the real deal. Jefferson is officially done with school forever! Classes, tests, finals, national exams, clinic hours, clinic visits- it's all DONE!!! He checked out of his clinic at 10am and was home an hour later, never to return to WSCC or the CIC as a student. This has been the weirdest "lasts" of them all. I am sure the reality of it all will sink in sometime next week, or next month, or maybe not until next year. But, it's officially official, I would like to present to you

Dr. Jefferson Harmon (and fam):

(This is the first time that it is legal to call himself a doctor, I think.)

Last days of Portland

We have been filling our days with as much play time with friends as possible. We have managed to have some good times between all our packing.

Last week we went to 'Out of this World Pizza and Play' with our playgroup friends. It is a huge warehouse pizza place filled with blow up bounce house/slides, a little 'bike' course, a huge climbing jungle gym, and tons of other toys to play on. We had a great time.

And it was Nicholas' birthday so we got to end with cupcakes!

We squeezed in one more playdate with Carolyn and her beautiful kids; Isaiah, Ava, and Eli. This was the best that I could do:

Our last playgroup. We have been playing with these ladies, Carolyn, Jamie, and Rachel, one day a week for over a year. These playdates have been sanity saving some weeks. All of our kids get along so great and we have enjoyed rotating houses each week with them. Thanks for all the good times ladies!

We had a little dessert and playtime at the park last Sunday with the Trujillos and Cards. We had ice cream and brownie sundaes and played soccer with all our kids. Again, why weren't we doing this once a month for the last three years?! We had a great time with the families, even when my competitive husband took out Kirstin, who apparently is equally competitive busting out her cleats! :)

And for just over the last month or so, Rachel, Kirstin and I have been doing date nights once a week. We went bowling the first week and laughed really hard. I have to wait for pictures from Kirstin for that one and maybe a video or two. You will want to see our impersonation of the monkey man bowler. We also hit up some yummy dessert joints, Bumpers, Applebee's, Papa Hayden's, Pix, or I mean, Claim Jumpers :) . It was a lot of fun to spend some quality time with these girls before we move away.

On Monday I made it to one last, what I lovingly dubbed the Old Lady Stamp Group. It's just because I am the youngest one there by a good twenty-thirty years. I have met together with these ladies once a month for a long time. It has been so much fun to mix and mingle with these "seasoned" ladies. I find that I get along with them better than most girls my age. Maybe I have an old soul? It truly has been a joy to know these ladies and share our love of crafting/stamping.

On Tuesday I had one last hoorah with my girlfriend Robyn. She has also been an integral part to my experience here in Portland. We have enjoyed many a card class together, not to mention recipe exchanges, helping each other move, and just some good old fashioned girl talk. She took me and the kids out to lunch as a goodbye gift and we said our "see ya laters." Thanks for getting us out of the house Robyn! You knew just what we needed. :) Photo courtesy of Carter:

And in case anybody is missing my 10 for $10s, Robyn has taken over as official card class guru and is holding 10 for $10s in the Hillsboro area. Let me know if you are interested in getting her emails.

I love you my Portland friends! Thank you for all the fun times and good memories. We will be expecting visits just down the 84 in Boise. :)

Popcorn Popping

Jefferson adjusted Carter today, which he thinks is hilarious by the way, and laughingly said, "It's like popcorn popping!"

Boise or bust

We made a trip over to Boise last week to try to get everything lined up for our move in just over a week. It was an eye-opening experience, but we got our housing lined up and are figuring out the business part of it all. Jefferson had the chance to shadow his dad. It will be nice to have Jon close by to learn some of his adjusting techniques.

Yes, Jefferson looks very much like his dad. So much so in fact, that while we were in Taco Bell with just our little family of five, we noticed some lady looking at us rather frequently and after we were done eating she came over and asked Jefferson if he by chance was related to Jon Harmon. She was a patient of Jon's about a year ago. We just had to laugh.

After a couple of days we headed down to Twin Falls and stayed with Jefferson's Aunt Diane and Uncle Dave (who somehow escaped being in any pictures). Jefferson shadowed his uncle (who is also a chiropractor) and we played around Twin.

Aunt Di (aka Jefferson's second mom):

We went to a Bruin's football game (Jefferson's high school alma mater). Carter loved watching them and would not take his eyes off the field. We might have a future football player on our hands. Both Carter and Andi would stand up and dance every time music came on over the loud speaker. They kept us and everyone around us entertained.

We went down to Burley for an afternoon to visit Jefferson's Grandma and Grandpa. There is never a shortage of delicious food, and this time was no exception. We ate a delicious meal with homemade wheat bread with homemade jam with homegrown veggies, topped off with homemade apple pies. This is Great Grandma Berna with my kiddies:

Ali came over from BYU-I and Ashlee and Emmett came down with their kids. They spent a lot of time here enjoying Aunt Di's home baked goodies and treat drawer:

We also got to hit up the fair. All the kids loved the animals and tractors and mac trucks:

Tiffanie and Taylor did a lot of children herding for us. It was so great to have them around. They are awesome girls and I wanted to bring them home with me!

When it got too late Jefferson and Emmett took the kids home and put them to bed so the ladies could have an evening out at the rodeo. (sounds like such a selfless thing right? and it was, but who are we kidding, there was college football on). The rodeo was awesome. I decided that I really want to ride around the arena on a horse as fast as I can. It looks like so much fun! We got a good laugh over Ali hitting on one of the clowns... No, she really did. She went up to him after the rodeo to tell him that she thought he was "attractive." It was hilarious.

All the ladies minus Taytum, Kaleeya, and Aunt Di:

Then, the main purpose for all that family in one place was the blessing of our niece Kaleeya. It was a special day topped off with... you guessed it- more food! My kids enjoying their meal on the patio:

GB and Great Grandma Berna with their newest great grand daughters:

Kaleeya and Taytum, only 19 days apart:

We had a great time with everyone. Ashlee took some great pictures on the blessing day, so we'll be posting those as soon as we get them. There will be more to come on the Boise move soon...