Our Kids are Growing Up

A few notable things occurred this last week. Dallin had his 9-month birthday (one of these days, I will stop counting his birthday in months) and Jaren had his first full week of successful potty training. Most of this occurred while George was two hours away on a 96-hour alert, so I am quite proud of myself that I was able to potty train Jaren while George was gone for five days.

I am so happy that our kids are growing up and becoming more independent. I love the immobile baby stage (less kids to chase), but I am thrilled to see Dallin moving around more and wanting to be active. Thus far, he has shown little interest outside his little circle around him on the floor. I believe it was Karl G. Maeser who said,"Stand me on the floor and draw a chalk line around me and have me give my word of honor never to cross it. Can I get out of that circle? No. Never! I'd die first." Maybe Jaren tricked Dallin into giving his word to never cross an invisible circle, who knows? Maybe it's a sign of his future integrity? Or maybe (most likely) he just has no desire for crawling or rolling across the floor? Well, that's beside the point. What I'm really trying to say is that although he is still not crawling yet, he has become fascinated with standing and jumping. He spends most of his day now in the Johnny Jump Up or on my lap standing and pulling/eating my hair. Jaren was never a big fan of the Johnny Jump Up, so to see Dallin having so much fun in it is really fun to watch. He learned pretty quickly to turn himself around in a circle and then to lift up his legs and let go. It's hilarious to watch.

So, even though these events are small milestones, they are big steps for us! Hoorah for us! Here's a video of Dallin in his new favorite toy.

Brazilian Steak - A Testament to George

You know when you have those nights where you sleep very lightly and thus have vivid, memorable dreams, I had one of those last night or this morning. I woke up and had to tell George all about it. In my dream, I was visiting my family in Washington and ran into an old boyfriend. Although in real life he is married, in my dream he was divorced. He was hitting on me and trying to convince me to leave George. My protective older brother, who was also in my dream and loves George like a brother, explained to me, "Erin, George is like the Brazilian steak he makes. He is full of flavor and adds zest to your life. Adam is like a nice steak you can get anywhere, but you still have to add sauce to it to make it taste better." This is such a true statement and makes me laugh that my subconcious can come up with such an accurate comparison better than I could conceive when I'm awake. This was so funny, I just had to share it.