M at Sixteen Months

(Lambie is telling him a secret. Ha.)

The Bug-a-Boo has been a very busy boy this past month. This kid is always on the move. He spends much of the day pushing, pulling, riding, and most recently STANDING ON his Mickey Mobile. He is starting to try to climb on things and has given me a couple of heart attacks.



M puts all his most treasured possessions in the trunk of his Mickey car to carry with him always. I wish I would have taken a picture of today’s load. In addition to the sippy cup and socks, there was also a stacking donut, bath toy, and Telletubby (compliments of Aunt Michelle). It is always so fun to peek in there and see what he’s currently transporting. I swear it makes me giggle every single time.

M still loves to “help” us do whatever we are doing. He is so desperate to be a big boy and do adult things like unload dishwasher and type on the laptop. Spencer let M help (a.k.a. poke a screwdriver against the door for a minute) childproof one of the cupboards and M just thought he was the bee’s knees. 

Recently, M has been pulling all of the towels out of the guest bathroom cupboard and hiding in there. He thinks it’s his own secret clubhouse. He will even close the door and then open it a crack to peek up at me.

In looking at all of these recent pictures, I realized that it looks like I often don’t put real clothes on my child. I do, I swear. It’s been hot lately, and there have been a few days that we were all sick, so there have been a few times that he’s bummed around the house in a onesie. But we are normally a “get dressed for the day” kind of family.
I still love watching him sleep. I always forget all the mischief he got into earlier in the day (like tossing a sailboat in the potty or ripping up a story book) when I look at that peaceful little face. Such a sweetheart.

Speaking of mischief, M does this thing where he says “uh-oh” when he does something naughty (like throw his monkey overboard when I’m pushing him in the shopping cart). In some ways it’s a good thing because it can alert me to bad behavior if I hear an “uh-oh” from the other room. Spencer and I call them “on-purpose-oh’s.”

(Mom, puuuhleeeease can we be done with this photo shoot?)

We’ve been having such a fun summer. It has been so exciting to be able to take M on lots of outings and spend tons of time playing outside. M will sometimes do things like run all around the playground all by himself and it makes me feel like he’s such a big boy. But then there are other times when he pops his thumb in his mouth and plops in my lap for a snuggle that I feel reassured that he’s not so very big yet after all. My baby/big boy. I love him so.

Blurry

This is what all my pictures of M look like these days… BLURRY! That kid is a busy body, I tell you what. I love that he’s such an active little guy and loves to play with such energy. He started running pretty much the same day he started walking. It’s pretty funny (and slightly terrifying) to hear the pat pat pat of his little feet as he sprints down the hallway. It’s amazing that legs so small can run so fast.

In a way it’s rather appropriate that all of our pictures right now are blurry because that’s kinda how I feel about time right now. Natalie said it best when we were talking the other day. She said something along the lines of, “I never felt that time really went all that fast until M was born and now it’s just flying by.” I totally feel the same way. Life is so busy it’s sometimes blurry, but it’s also oh so very good.

A Camping We Will Go

Recently we took M for his very first camping adventure. We joined our ward for a camp out. M had a ball! He was happy as can be getting as filthy as he has ever gotten in his life. He was covered head to toe in dirt; he even had dirt in his diaper. That kid just loves to be outside.

We were nervous about how he was going to sleep at night (ok, mostly I was nervous, Spence had complete faith he would be fine), but M did great! It was the perfect temperature and M slept like a rock. He didn’t even wake up super early which totally surprised me. I guess he was just wiped out from all that playing.

My favorite part was playing in the creek. The water was so clear and pretty and it was just such a beautiful day. I wished we would have packed our swimsuits because I wanted to go swimming so bad. I guess now that we know M likes camping so much, we’ll have to do it again soon!

How We (Almost Didn’t) Me(e)t:

The past couple of days I have been reading through some of our old journals. Oh man. It has been SO much fun! Last night I was reading in Spencer’s journal about our courtship and engagement and it was all oh so nostalgic. I’m so glad he wrote all about it. It was just fascinating to read the whole thing from his perspective.

All this got me thinking that I should share some of our story here, just for fun, because I don’t think I’ve ever told it before.

So. Spencer and I met while we were both students at BYU. The short version of the story is that we both were in the same student ward (the 35^thward), and I was Spencer’s family home evening Mom. We still like to joke about our “incestuous” relationship’s beginnings.

If you’d like to hear the slightly longer version, keep reading.

Looking back at our story, we have since realized that there were a few things that had to have fallen into place for us to meet or we might have missed each other.

First off, before I had ever met Spencer, I had decided to serve a mission. My original plan was to serve as soon as I turned twenty-one (this was obviously before the lowering of the age at which girls can serve). I began to get ready and was excited to move full speed ahead. However, I only had one semester left of my undergraduate work by the time I turned twenty-one. After much fasting and prayer, I decided to wait to serve a mission until after I had graduated from school. Then, the plan was to come home from my mission and begin getting my master’s degree in Family Therapy. My dad had some health challenges, and I mostly felt very strongly that I wanted to finish my undergraduate education so I could become a little more stable before serving my mission. After all, I was so close to graduating. I could wait one more semester before I left.

Had I stuck with my original plan to serve right when I turned twenty-one, I would have already been on my mission, or at least been at home in California getting ready for a mission when Spencer joined the 35^th ward. Spencer and I met only two weeks after my twenty-first birthday.

On a slight tangent…The first time we met, I was handing out fliers for a ward activity. I noticed Spencer right away and thought he was pretty cute. Spencer doesn’t actually remember this first encounter, however, so we kind of count our second meeting as our first. Our first/second meeting was at the premiere of Spiderman 3. Nearly our entire ward went, and it just so happened that Spencer and his roommate, Brandon, sat in the row behind my sister and I. To be honest, I had had a kind of crappy day and wasn’t even sure if I wanted to go to the movie. But, obviously I decided to go. When Spencer and Brandon sat down I recognized them as new in the ward and thought that the nice thing to do would be to say hi. We ended up talking for nearly an hour before the movie started and having a really good time. Spencer told Brandon after the movie that he “was going to ask that Whitney girl on a date.” Looking back, I’m glad that I was able to put aside my crappy day and try my best to be friendly. At the time, I was tempted in my sour mood to just kind of keep to myself. Had I done that, I might not have made a very good first impression.

Ok, back to the main story. So while I was deciding to postpone a mission for the time being, Spencer was deciding where to live upon coming home from his mission and returning to BYU. He had originally planned on living in Chattsworth since his family owned a condo there and most of his siblings had lived there. But two of his mission companions, whom he wanted to room with, suggested the Elms. The three of them agreed to sign contracts at the Elms, thus landing them in the 35^th ward—my ward.

True to his word to Brandon, Spencer did end up asking “That Whitney Girl” on a date (maybe more on that another post).

So there you have it.

I’m not saying that the stars had to align or that we met in the pre mortal existence or anything. But I certainly am so grateful for the way things played out.

Bum Sticker Outers

For the past couple of months, Spencer and I have been walking everywhere hunched over (in the most flattering way possible, I assure you) holding the hands of cutie pie while he marched up and down all around the town. And though sometimes I felt silly waddling along with my bum sticking out, one of my favorite things in the world was looking down at M’s little head bobbing along as he took those unsteady steps. Something about seeing his pot belly thrust forward as he toddled along holding my hands… It was just the cutest thing.

I even recorded him marching along from my eye level the other day just because I have always loved it so much and know that the days that he needs me to help him walk are quickly waning. I never want to forget how sweet it was to watch him determinedly move forward, his little hands in mine.  

M at Fifteen Months

M has recently become very attached to his stuffed Curious George. In fact, attached may not be strong enough a word. Obsessed might be a better way to describe it. He literally carries him with him everywhere and wants to bring him on errands. He has to have his Curious George, Lambie, and giraffe rattle to sleep at night. When we say “give the monkey loves,” he will hug and kiss him and hold him close. It’s so cute because M developed this attachment all oh his own. And I often find his Curious George in odd places like the bathtub or kitchen cupboard.


Speaking of, M’s current favorite pastime is pulling all the pots and pans out of the cupboard and banging on them with a spoon. He loves getting into all sorts of things he knows he shouldn’t get into. Like the fridge, dog dishes, photo albums, and potties.

M’s other favorite toys include his toy hammer (which he bangs on everything in sight from morning ‘til night), his Mickey car, his story books, and his ball.

M is very expressive and has us constantly laughing at all of his silly faces. Our favorite is what we call the “Oh” face (it looks like he’s saying “oh”). That’s the face he usually makes when he gets in trouble (see photo below). He also makes a stink face that always makes us laugh.

M is getting better and better at walking. It is our favorite thing in the world to see him stoutly marching towards us with the biggest grin in the world on his face. His little waddle is so cute, I can’t stand it! M is proud as pie to be walking like a big boy. It makes me so happy. He also likes pushing his Mickey car around as fast as he can go. He does everything as fast as he can go. 

Even though he’s such a busy body, M is still very affectionate and will sometimes pause during playtime to give us an unprompted kiss or hug. Though cuddling is becoming more scarce, M still likes to be rocked and sang to before bedtime or naps for as long as I will sing to him. This is my favorite part of the day, the one time M will lay his head on my shoulder and just let me hold him for as long as I’d like.

One of my favorite things that M has been doing lately has been answering every question I ask him with a resounding “Yeah!” or “Yep!” I love that when I ask him if he’s hungry or if he wants to go get daddy he enthusiastically replies, “Yep!” My favorite is when we’re driving in the car and I ask him, “Bug, are you awake?” and he answers “Yeah.” It’s exciting to me that he is learning how to answer questions.

We have been trying to introduce M to lots of new foods. M is almost always more willing to eat new vegetables than fruit. He loves spinach, beets, and peas, but so far doesn’t seem to care for watermelon or grapes. I find this surprising, but think that he might like those foods someday as he continues to try them. When M is eating something he particularly enjoys he will say “MMMMMMMMMMM,” very loudly over and over. It’s pretty cute.   

As M get’s more mobile, he gets increasingly hard to contain. This is, of course, to be expected but church has just been HARD lately. Hopefully when he can go to nursery in a few months it won’t be so bad, but for the time being church has been one of the most difficult parts of the week.

M is very attached to the pictures in his room of his Natty. He points them out to me every single day. It is the most precious thing ever. We have been trying to teach him to say, “Natty,” but so far he calls her, “Daddy,” I guess because Natty is still just a little hard to say. He’ll get there though :).

My Boys

These are some of my favorite pictures that I have ever taken of my boys. I love that they are the best of friends.