It's been a while...

So, my dear friends, but mostly just my parents who read this, it's been a while. And it's been mostly out of laziness but a little out of business. I've been taking a class--Critical issues in secondary education. It was mostly about the racial achievement gap in urban high schools and little about reducing the size of high schools and my research paper was on the efficacy of single-sex schools for boys. It was interesting enough. I'm still sending Rex to a charter school populated mostly by rich white kids. It's really nice to talk about reform for other people's kids, but for mine...well I'm going to be selective. My kid deserves more because I am an educated white girl who know where to send to her kid to school.

So now I will post this and then I will make other posts of what we've been up to, but you'll read them in reserve order and this will be last, but such is life and the world of the blog.

My Famous Baby

So few weeks ago Rex and I ran to the duck pond on the south end of campus to feed the ducks and it just so happened that on that same day at that very time a film crew from BYU-TV was filming the duck pond as one of the many things that families or anyone can do for free on campus, so my adorable little baby got filmed feeding the ducks.

Here's the link: He's in the June 27th edition.

http://www.byutv.org/byuweekly/

And for those of you who don't live in Provo and don't care about the free things that we can do here, Rex is in minute 23.

The Pole

So Greg's sister Andrea is living in our basement and has recently become much involved in pole dancing. I know what you're thinking, but you're wrong. It's a legit sport and is ridiculously difficult. It's only dirty when you take your clothes off while doing it. To help her improve her pole dancing skills, Andrea bought her very own and Greg helped her set it up in the basement. And then we just had to try it out. Compare Greg and Andrea and then try to tell me it's not a legitimate sport. I would post the pictures of me, but...no.

*Also I apologize for the videos being sideways. I couldn't get the whole pole in the regular way, so just tilt your head and you'll get the idea.

The pole has an option to spin, so this is Andrea with the pole spinning getting very dizzy. I don't know the names of all the moves but one is called the martini.

Here's Greg trying to do the same thing:

It's a more legitimate sport than trampolining. You can come try it out. It's really hard.

Dance Rex Dance

Rex is Aryan. I don't know why but the poor kid is blonde with blues eyes and, to top it off, he was born in Orem. Naturally, I was/am a bit concerned about his dancing skills. And, in fact, for a long time, he refused to dance or clap or acknowledge music at all. But I persisted. I played Elvis nearly every day while making dinner and had private dance parties while Rex gave me the what-do-you-think-you're-doing-woman look. And then one day, he did it. He danced. He also learned how to turn the CD player on and off. So ignore the disorganized mess in the background, and enjoy some excellent Aryan baby dance moves.

The (Play)house that Greg built

I must admit, I was more than a little concerned when I left for California last week. Last time I left Greg by himself, he had to pay his sister to clean the house before I came home and this time every time I talked to him he said he had been "a very busy boy" but wouldn't tell me what he'd been doing. So naturally, I expected to spend the entire week cleaning up after him and finding fun presents in unfun places. But the concern, though legitimate, was unfounded. I came home to a wonderful playhouse/swing set hand-built by my wonderful husband. To make it better, to fund the project he sold one of his precious guns. While the playhouse is still not quite done yet (I am searching for a slide and some rock wall rocks), Rex loves the swing, as evidenced by the video below.

California Funeral

My grandpa Dick passed on last Sunday and Greg was kind enough to fly Rex and me to California for the funeral. I loved seeing almost my whole family and getting to spend some one-on-one time with my grandma. It's funny how it takes a death to make me finally sit down and ask my grandma about her life. I missed the opportunity with my grandpa, so now I don't want to miss it with her.

Wednesday: We flew out early in the morning and then hung out at Grandma's all day, went to the park I went to as a kid, and played with cousins. Rex thought running the circle through the den into the kitchen and then around the living room was just about the coolest thing ever. He also enjoyed the in-and-out game. That's where he goes outside runs a lap around the yard and then comes back inside. Needless to say he needed a bath by the end of the day. Here's Rex going down the slide. Sliding, as mentioned in a previous post, is one of his favorite things.

Thursday: Funeral. Long day. We had to be to the church by 8:30 for the family service, then the viewing from 10 to 11 and then the actual service from 11 to...well it was only supposed to be an hour, but then it was almost two (which Rex, thankfully, slept through in the port-a-crib I so wisely set up for just such a purpose in the Mother's Room), so then to the cemetary to dedicate the grave, and then back to the church for the dinner, and then my mother not wanting anyone to work alone offered to help clean up so of course I couldn't leave her alone (quite literally, she was my ride). And then back to Grandma's to play with cousins some more.

Here we have Grandma with her brothers Jimmy and Johnny, Johnny's wife, Grandpa's sister, Linda and her husband Doug and their son Sean.

By the time we got to the cemetary, it was nearly 1 and Rex just couldn't take it anymore, so we had a picnic right there. He was in a much better mood after wards.

Rex and my cousin Heidi's daughter Persley sharing a sippy cup.

Friday: Beach. Rex could not get enough of the sand. Aunt Amber buried him, which he thought was pretty much the greatest thing. He also enjoyed throwing it, crawling backwards in it, crushing sand castles, and other such sandy activities. He also wasn't wearing a diaper; I bet you can guess what his little bum looked like. The water he also found entertaining. He thought the waves coming over his legs was pretty hilarious, and then he realized how frigid the water was and that ended the water adventures.

Water with Grandpa Brian.

Friday: San Diego. I had planned to spend the whole time swimming in Traci's pool, but that didn't work out, mainly because I didn't bring my bathing suit. So we went to McKay's baptism instead. Rex had not really had a nap yet, so he was not on his best behavior. He spent most of the baptism in the hall, but at one point did push an old lady's walker around for a while.

Here's McKay. I'm pretty sure McKay is the only kid who is honestly cuter than Rex. Girls are going to be all over that curly hair. I can't even keep my hands to myself when I'm around him, and I'm married, and his cousin.

Sunday: We came home to this. It's a playhouse/swing set. Greg just decided to build one while we were gone. He even sold a gun to fund the project. He is so thoughtful. I may go on vacation without him more often. It's not done yet, but he only started last night.

Memorial Day

Seeing as Monday Greg didn't have to go to work and I was very easily able to convince Greg that yard work could wait for another day, we took a little family trip up the canyon to Bridal Veil Falls and had so much fun. The weather was a bit overcast and warm but nowhere near hot; the water felt like liquid ice. None the less, Rex enjoyed playing with the rocks and took a few attempts at getting in the water, but a few steps in started crying because he was getting frost bit on his toes. Emma was so kind as to come with us and be our photographer. We repaid her by taking her to get shave ice (not shaved ice, there's a difference, I just don't know what it is).

The whole family in front of the falls.
Rex showing off his rocks.