Southern Living

In case anyone is wondering if we actually live in the South, here’s a picture that will clear that up-

Also, there was a nice little built-in couch in the bed of the truck. Rednecks at their finest.

7 Months

It’s that time of month again! Time for me to ramble on and on about my child.

• This month we were able to get Kenny into the local pediatrician! I know this sounds really silly, but you wouldn’t believe how hard it has been trying to get him in to be able to see a doctor here in town. Seriously. They only accept newborns because they have so many patients, so I was going to have to drive 40 minutes to another city. After begging and pleading, the lady finally gave me the tip to try calling the first of the month at 8:30 am right when they open up. You better believe I was doing nothing but staring at my cell phone for the 10 minutes leading up to 8:30. Thankfully, it worked. I was so excited! Ken told me, “Man, the way you’re acting it’s like Kenny got into college or something.”

• I think this past month has been my favorite month thus far. Don’t get me wrong, I have loved every month, but I have especially loved this stage. I think the major reason for this is because, for the most part, we have naps down. (I hate to write this down in internet ink because I am afraid that I am going to jinx myself. It seems like whenever I feel like I have finally got a schedule, everything hits the ceiling fan and we start over. Hopefully that doesn’t happen.) Kenny usually takes three naps a day. The first one is typically about an hour after he wakes up for the day and then the other two are about two or so hours after he wakes up.

<< Doesn’t it look like he is taking a selfie in this picture? Haha so cute.>>

• We did a summer reading program with Kenny at the library. When we turned in his completion form, they gave him a medal. I put it around his neck to get a few pictures of him, and then this string of pictures came about:

<<1: “What? You’re telling me that my medal could be fake?!”

2. Only one way to find out . . .

3. “Man, I got ripped off!”>>

• Kenny has graduated to sitting up in the shopping cart!

<<First time sitting up in the cart. It looked like he was holding on for dear life.>>

• Kenny has also managed to get himself into the crawling position a few times. I have really tried not pushing him to start doing this, but he has just kind of figured this out on his own. (And with the help of his Uncle Jake.) I’m a bit reluctant for him to become mobile.

• Oh, and just this morning he managed to pull himself up from a sitting position to a standing position. Gah! Nothing is going to be safe soon.
• And little boy just loves to babble now days. He makes the “ddd” sound, “mmm” sound, and “yyyaaa” sound. (With a whole lot of other nonsense that only him and other babies seem to understand.)

<<Love this BYU football jersey! Raising this kid right.>>

• And this kid loves bookmarks! Seriously, he is such a sneak! Usually when I feed him, I am reading a book, so when he is done I sit him up to burp him. He immediately lunges for the book and swipes the bookmark out. Tricky kid that one.

<<This is a bookmark from Ken’s dad’s book called Civil War Saints. On the left is what a new one looks like and on the right is the one that has been destroyed from Kenny. He just wanted to make the bookmark look like it was from the Civil War era ;)>>

So that basically sums up the growing babe. And now for your viewing pleasure, feast your eyes upon my gangster, hoodlum child.

Looks like he is listening to his tunes. As I always say to Ken, “Am I right or am I right?” (And p.s. I actually never say that to Ken. It is just a known fact. ;)

Back to the UT

Phew! 4000-mile round trip in less than 72 hours? Yep, we made it to Utah and back to South Carolina in less than three days, and it definitely was a whirlwind! We had a ton of fun, though. We packed in as many activities as we could. (So much so that even though Ken and I were exhausted because we had to get up at 2:00 am to start our adventure, we didn’t want to take a nap.)

We went to Utah for the weekend because Ken’s grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary! It was a blast to be able to participate in the celebrations and to be able to learn more about Ken’s heritage. I really enjoyed it!

<<Aren’t they the cutest? I admire these two so much. I hope that I can be just as awesome as these two when I’m a grandparent.>>

We also took family pictures since the whole gang was in Utah. Right when we were about to go outside and take the pictures, it started raining. (Come on Utah. Really? We went to UT to get a break from the rain. I guess we brought it with us.) Thankfully, we were able to take some in a church with an awesome backdrop so you couldn’t tell that it was in a church. (But that backdrop really accentuated mine and Kenny’s paleness. Sorry that I passed that trait on to ya, kid.)

While we were taking the pictures, we noticed that it had stopped raining outside, so we decided to take a few outside as well.

We also got to hang out with Stacy and Levi, but I didn’t get a picture of it. I almost did, but Stacy, Levi, and Ken all refused to kiss a random boy who asked to be kissed on the cheek for a scavenger hunt. I don’t really blame them, though.

Also, we got to see both Suzanne’s and Christine’s new houses! They are both very nice houses, and it makes me really excited for when Ken and I will be able to buy a home. (At least 2 more years until we settle down into a more permanent location.)

And coincidentally we were in town for Katie Cutler’s mission homecoming! It was so fun to be able to see her (and Kelsey Kerr!) again after serving for a year and a half.

<<This picture was taken 2.5 years ago, but it’s the only picture I was able to find of the 3 of us.>>

While we were in the chapel listening to Katie give her awesome talk, Danielle nabbed Kenny and played with him for 3/4 of Sacrament meeting. It was great! I don’t think I’ve been able to listen that well to talks in a long time! And Ken and I were even able to hold hands during a bit of it since we weren’t constantly entertaining the babe. It was pretty refreshing.

Oh yeah, and Stacy and Kennedy were at the homecoming as well. Wish I had taken a picture of everyone.

Anyway, I love the UT and visiting it this past weekend made me feel like I was just coming back home. I wish we didn’t have to say goodbye to it.

Look Who Dropped By . . .

Guess who dropped by last weekend? My family! (Minus my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. They were moving that coming week and had a lot to do to get ready. Missed them.) It was so fun to see my dad, mom, and brother though.

And holy moly! Have you seen how tall my brother has gotten? When did that happen?

<<We went to rival high schools. Him Turpin and me Anderson (Anderson is OBVIOUSLY better). It looks like I may be supporting Turpin in this picture, but look closer. It says “Beat Turpin” and the mascot has a mustache. I used to wear that shirt in high school.>>

<<Kenny loved seeing “Poppers” and “Nana”! My mother requests to be called “Nana” because she says that she is not old enough to be a grandma. I think Nana makes her sound older. Am I right?>>

<<Kenny’s shirt says, “Send me to: Grandma’s. Special Delivery.”>>

We only had a few days with them, but we managed to do a lot of activities still.

We had a BBQ at a friend’s house who lives on the lake. Afterwards Jake and Ken went kayaking.

<<This is our friends’ backyard. Beautiful, huh?>>

Ken told me later that every time a boat came by and created waves, they would “ride the waves” and pretend they were huge swells that were about to tip them over, but in reality they barely rocked their kayaks. Seriously, Jake brings out the inner kid in Ken. Those two stayed up late and played video games together, constantly teased me, played frisbee golf, and managed to dunk me in the swimming pool (I knew I shouldn’t have worn make-up or done my hair that day).

We went to the Jockey Lot, which is a haaa-uge flea market.

<<65 acres of redneck randomness>>

Jake bought a huge belt buckle that says “Bubba” with a confederate flag in the background. I think it will go well with his pocket watch he bought the other day. (What? Who does that? haha it is pretty cool, though.)

<<And Jake just had to buy Ken a Ken barbie doll since they share a name.>>

We also went to an auction. Apparently the locals go here on the weekends just to hang out. We decided to stop on by and check it out.

<<It was so hot in the warehouse. And it smelled exactly how you would imagine a warehouse filled with old items would smell.>>

<<Some of the items Jake really wanted (creepy doll head and doll, tractor seat, and bust). He almost got the bust, but right when it went up for bid, they took it off the floor for some reason. He was bummed.>>

And if you thought the creepy doll was scary, take a look at what we saw when we walked out of the auction house.

Bah! Banana spider! It was at least the size of my palm. Of course the boys decided to terrorize the spider. Ken finally spat his gum and hit the spider, and then they ran away.

So glad that we were able to hang with this fun bunch for a bit! It is nice to live on the same side of the country now.

Double Footing It

 

 

 

Want to know some profound wisdom taught by Kenny?

When life just gets you down and one foot isn’t good enough, just grab the other (because we can all so easily grab our feet and put them in our mouths like this).

Wise.