Published

Several months ago I wrote four articles on modesty and submitted them to the online LDS fashion magazine Jen Magazine. I never heard back from Jen, the creator, so I posted the articles on my Mormon Light blog and deleted the Word documents. Then a couple weeks ago I got an email from her saying she wanted to publish all four articles! And I would get paid 5 cents a word.

This is the first time my work has been published! And paid for! I am so excited. To read the first article she posted on the site, go here.

Toddler

"Cheese face"

Caden can walk! He officially took two steps on Independence Day. How suiting. Since then he's slowly built up his courage and is now able to walk all around the house. And last Thursday evening he stood up without holding onto or pushing off of anything. Caden looks so funny when he toddles around. He's still a bit unbalanced, making him look drunk, and he puts his arms up in the air, like a chimp. He thinks he's so big and bad now that he can walk and loves when we cheer him on or chase him. He hates shoes (the photo was taken while he was upset, but once he saw the camera he smiled).

Another silly thing he likes to do is the yoga position downward dog, but with his head touching the ground. He is just so cute! And mischievous. Wednesday he took off his diaper.

Caden is a little Narcissus. He loves the mirror. If he wasn't banging on it, he was just sitting there gazing at himself and laughing once I caught him doing it. It calms him down when he's crying too. We had to move it (who knows when Justin will put it up) because it fell on him one day. Caden also enjoys shutting doors and putting his toys in his drawers. He's obsessed with his toes. When he's on the potty or just randomly sitting down he'll stare at them while wiggling them around. He inherited playing with his tongue from Justin's mom. They both stick it out slightly and bite on it when concentrating. Speaking of biting, his four top two teeth are coming in. It's been a nightmare. Caden's hair is getting long and curly. He looks less like a baby each day. Something random: he always smells like applesauce, even if he didn't eat any.

Every night we put away the toys before bed while singing the "Clean Up" song. Caden joins in with "ee-nuh." I'm not sure if he associates it with actually tidying up because he says it sometimes when he sees his toys during the day. Can I count them as his first words? I think he knows Dad(a) too, but he makes that sound for other things as well.

Caden still spends most of the night in bed with us. And let me tell ya, this guy is a little gymnast in his sleep! He ends up sideways, upside down, or on his side arching his back and head into a C. We are working on getting him back in his crib because we can't stand being pushed and kicked and rolled on anymore!

One more month and my baby will be one years old. I cry if I dwell on it.

My Life Is Over

I was transferring files from one USB drive to another and accidentally deleted some file folders. I'm not even sure how many I lost, but it was a lot and most of it was important and irreplaceable. Does anyone know how to recover them? I thought they would go to my laptop's Recycle Bin, but apparently I'm wrong. Please help!

Bittersweet

Yesterday I saw the final Harry Potter movie. I can't believe it's over. The books ended first, and now the movies. No more to look forward to. It's a bittersweet feeling. It's crazy how emotionally invested you can become in a book, especially in a series with film versions that lasted for 14 years. In fact, Harry Potter is the only series I have been so passionate about. I love Narnia too, but I don't get that same feeling of excitement pondering plot intricacies and watching the movies. (I've also realized I have a thing for British authors--besides Rowling and Lewis, add in Agatha Christie, another ultra-successful writer.)

I loved the movie until Harry and Voldemort fought. Not the dramatic ending I was expecting. And you'd think with such great makeup artistry these days, they'd do a better job making the actors really look 19 years older. So for me, about the last 15 minutes were a disappointment. But for the rest of the time, poor Justin's arm was squeezed blue and my eyes were cried red.

Justin's Birthday Weekend

June 11 was Justin's 26th birthday. We couldn't go rock climbing (no sitter), so we all went golfing at Justin's work instead. I even played a few holes. I hadn't touched my clubs in two years! Of course I was terrible, but I did have a couple good shots and putts. Caden was great! He was quiet and cooperative and loved being outside. He lost a sock though. He hates wearing socks. Like me. Anyway, we put Caden on the grass while we putted. It was his first time on grass. At first he was a little timid, but then he wouldn't stop crawling all over the green. We only played 12 holes because Caden was really tired by then (we had woken up at 5:30). He fell asleep on my lap on the ride back to the car.

Once home Justin opened his presents: Napoleon Dynamite from Caden and How to Train Your Dragon and Pop Tarts from me. We then changed and headed to Benihana's for lunch. We shared a table with another family whose father was also celebrating his birthday (as were half the people there). Again Caden did great, though he did scream every now and then for fun. He loved the show and thought it was funny. After lunch we went to the dollar theater to see Rango. We thought Caden would fall asleep. He did--but woke up as soon as we got there. We decided to try taking him anyway, although I had vowed never to be one of those people who take babies to movies. Bad idea on two accounts: 1) Caden was too noisy and wanted to move around, and 2) the movie was terrible. I didn't even mind sitting out in the hallway for most of it. Afterward we let Justin shop for basketball shoes at the mall as another present. He didn't buy them yet, but he found a couple he liked.

On the way home we picked up Papa John's, Justin's favorite, and ate it while watching the rest of the third Narnia movie which we had rented the night before. On Sunday we made Justin's cake, German chocolate as always. He also got to participate in a baby blessing. On Monday we watched his new movies. Justin says he had a good birthday and that his favorite was golfing with his whole family. Caden and I agree.

The following weekend was Father's Day. Justin had to work and we had Justin's brother and his wife staying with us. So when he got home he got his present, a charcoal grill, and we used it to make dinner. He's used it several times since and loves it!