Pictures

All of Levi

First time with Santa was a success!

Lazy

I know, I know.... It's been a while. I bet most of you have stopped checking up on us because I haven't updated in forever. Sorry. (especially to carly because I have no pictures for you.) I feel like I can't do a new post until I get some pictures up, and I can't do that on my iPad. Or I just dont know how to. Blah blah Excuses I know, but here is an update on us.

Jordan is on his second week of finals at unlv law. This means that me and Levi have been kicked out of the apartment and are in stgeorge so he can study all day and night without interruption. He has finished 2 and has 3 more to go this next week.

I am now 13 weeks pregnant. Yay for the first trimester being over. (and if you didn't know I was pregnant then, surprise!) I am getting over being really nauseous and now just don't really like food in general. I'm feeling chunky and bigger now than this stage with Levi. Sometimes I can look really pregnant and others not so much. This is why I hate this stage. I want people to know I'm pregnant and not just gaining weight. I love when I finally got the baby bump, which happened between month 6 and 7 with Levi.

Well I hope you all have a great holiday season and hopefully I'll get some pictures up in a couple weeks...

It's happening again: going private

...So leave your address if you want an invite. If you've given it to me before you wont have to again.

Present for Olive

I recently finished making this pillow for a friend. She is about to have a baby girl and they have decided on the name Olive. Oh how I love that name! But...with our last name that will never work. Olive Gardner. Yum, I love that restaurant.

Anyways. Its suppose to be read {olive} you = i love you.

I am actually pretty proud of this pillow and contemplated keeping it.

The olive is made of felt which I just cut out free hand, and then hand stitched onto the fabric.

To paint the "YOU" on I found a font I liked on the computer, printed it out the size I wanted it to be and then traced it onto wax paper. I then used a blade to cut out the letters from the wax paper so that I had my very own personal stencil. Then I just painted the words on. In total the present cost me nothing {but time of course} because I already had all the supplies! Sweet!

Another project I finished last week was revamping this cardigan. Call me old, but I love lace. This too cost me nothing because I got the lace from Jordan's grandma. All I did on this one is sew the lace in place.

Shark Reef Aquarium

Saturday we ventured to the strip and went to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay.

Me and Jordan loved it; levi, not so much. All he really wanted to do was push the stroller around. He was interested in the fish for like 2 seconds. Its a little pricey to get in ($18 per person -kids free, $15 for locals) so I'm not quite sure how much I would recommend people going or if we'll go again, but it is really cool. I am glad we went, it was fun to see and it was another item we could knock off our Vegas bucket list.

Here is a picture of our happy boy!

Coming Back

WE ARE BACK! Not only back to blogging, but back to Henderson. Oh how I have missed you Henderson.We had a fantastic time in St. George. We were able to spend some quality time with family, attend many great weddings, camp, family reunions, cattle drives, plays and see a lot of our dear friends.
Here are a couple pictures from our summer:

Levi's first birthday (milk and cookies) was a complete success!

We went to the county fair

Celebrated Jord's (and meg and janece's) birthday in Pine Valley

Camping with the McDonalds. Me Cherri and the kids decided to "camp" in the cabin...

4th of July fireworks with the family 

Jord's bday again

Play dates with great friends

Surprise! Carly and Andy told us they are pregnant!!

Our cutie niece Sophie

We are fully back into the swing of things here in Henderson. Jordan is really enjoying his second year of law school. So far it has been a lot more relaxed and easier. Me and Levi have gotten back to our play groups with full force (we have one every day of the week!). I have loved coming back and getting together with a lot of our friends. We have had a couple great get togethers with our law school friends which included another pool party and intense pool basketball game. Levi is a full time walker these days and is a little bit of a trouble maker. His new fun thing to do is hide everything. I have found a couple pairs of my shoes in the trash, and the laundry basket and other things like lids and magnets in our clothes drawers and jordan's backpack. It is pretty funny, i'll admit. He is great at signing which has been awesome for us because I think it helps with him not throwing tantrums because he can't communicate. He also now folds his arms when we say our night time prayer. It is probably the cutest thing you have ever seen.

Levi: 10 Months, and STG

{10 Months}

This post is just a tad late..

-Levi can point to what or who he wants

-Says "dod"for dog,"nana" for banana and "mom" and "da" or "dada" 

-Doesn't like to eat baby food anymore. He only wants to eat what we eat. He especially likes Gramma Neece's garlic and onion black beans. 

-Cruises all over the place

-Can walk while only holding one hand

-Is down to 2 naps a day. It was hard work but is great because the naps last from 1.5 - 2 hours

-Wears clothes sized 6-12 months

-Loves to laugh

-Still no teeth!

-Isn't too interested in his bottle or formula anymore

-Can drink from a cup {assisted}

Boxes to Ishinomaki Update

I am so excited and happy to report that our box made it to Japan! and look, we even have proof! Mr. Oikawa from Be 1 Project in Sendai, Japan is holding a picture of our family and our box!

{I kinda feel famous for having him hold our picture, I won't lie...}

We loved this opportunity to serve. We helped someone somewhere. Someone we don't even know will benefit by this and that just feels good.

Want to do something for Japan?: my cousin created a website for people who want to help the relief efforts in Japan. Go to this website and just click "support." You can click once everyday for about 84 more days. Every time you click 1 yen {which equals roughly .o1 US dollars} will be donated by a company sponsor. Sooo...all you have to do to help is to click a button on your computer. How sweet is that?

Check out this link for the complete post on The Sleepy Time Gal's blog that included the pictures of our family.

Mustache Pool Party

Jordan and his law school friends decided to grow mustaches the last month of finals. Here are the results:

 {Eric Carson, James Clissold, John Peck, Jordan and Alan Miller}

{next pics add Joe Bowen,  Kevin Day and Michael Lum}

Here is our law school family. We have had many great parties and get togethers over the past year. We are so grateful to have such great friends!

And hooray for Jordan being done with his first year of law! This summer he got an internship with Gallian Wilcox Welker Olson & Beckstrom in St. George.

Levi 9 Months

Our little one is 9 months!

Yay!

Here are his stats for our record:

Stands holding onto things

Claps his hands by himself and when he sees others clapping

Can still fit into some of his 3-6 month clothes

Wears size 3 diapers

Will "walk" when you hold his hands

Waves "Hi" and "Bye"

Gives kisses

Sleeps 7pm to 6am

Still no teeth

Loves prunes!

Shakes his head "No" (although I think it is more of his way of dancing)

Will give high fives

Such a momma's boy

Still takes about 3 naps a day - first 2 about 1.5 hours; the last half an hour

(We tried just going for 2 naps but he was sooo cranky. I do love his 3 naps!)

Loves when we sing "The Wheels on the Bus" - he'll stop crying and laugh

Most of his favorite toys can be found in the kitchen like: pots, pans and silicone basting brush

Boxes to Ishinomaki

(photo Here)

Me and Jo were devestated to hear about the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan this past March. We have wanted to do something to help but I wanted to do something more personal than just sending money. Then I found this website. I stumbled upon it looking for a tutorial on making a mat for Levi's highchair.If you have time check it out.

They started out sending boxes to the children of Ishinomaki. They have been able to send so many boxes (over 600) that the boxes have been going to other sites to help those in need.

Me and Jo finishd our box and sent it out Monday night.

It included:

Candy for the kids

A quilted baby blanket

Paper and Pencils

Hello Kitty bubbles

Hello Kitty socks/ Toy Story Socks

HK bracelets and neclace

Stuffed animal

Basketball

6 mini handsanitizers

Bottle of lotion

Hand and face antibactrial wipes

Pads

Tampons

Ramen

For the past couple months I have been trying to get back into studying Japanese from my old text books (and now from my awesome Ipad2). So, I added some post-it notes in Japanese to some of the items we sent. I also wrote out a card in Japanese to the recipient of the box (with help from my dad). It feels so good helping others. This was just the project I was looking for that made it seem personal.

If anyone else wants to send out a box let me know and I can send you the address (you will ship it right to Japan)!

Or you can go here and email Nicole and she will give you the address.

My Birthday

I got this movie:

(Did I tell you me and Jo are planning on taking Jiu Jitsu this summer?)

& we went to see this:
Wow! KA was amazing!!

Me & Jo decided that living in Nevada, about 15 min. away from the strip, is pretty awesome.
(I know STG isn't THAT far away from Vegas, but there is just something about being so close -and residents- that makes everything seem cooler).
You can bet we will see all the Cirque De Soleil shows before we move.

Levi did really good with his first time paid babysitter
(a YW who I got to know through basketball).
He went right to bed and didn't give her any problems.
He is such a good child.

Easter

Bunny Bunting

{A post for Janece}

Here is a picture of the bunny bunting I made last week.

I got the idea from this blog.

They're suppose to look like the peeps bunnies.

8 Months

Our little guy is already 8 months!

• Still not crawling but he tries. He does what we call "swimming." He frantically moves his arms and legs, only problem: they are in the air. No contact with the ground.
• Loves eating whatever we eat. He'll get mad if you don't share.
• Is starting to wave
• Love Love Loves to bang things together.
• Can stand up with our help. Can stand up by himself holding onto the coffee table.
• Loves animals, especially dogs. He'll scream all day at them.
• Is great at car rides now.
• SOOOOO happy. Honestly the happiest baby I have ever seen.
• Sleeps 7:30pm to 6am
• Just got over a sinus infection :(
• Will look for airplanes when he hears them. He can find them when we point them out too.
• A great jumper in the jumper.
• STILL no teeth. The doctor said it should be coming within the next couple weeks.
• Likes to feed himself finger foods.
• Can say "mmmMom" now too.
• Rolls around to get places.
• Likes to wrestle with his daddy.

We love our little puppy. Ahh I wish he was awake cause I wanna squish him!

ABC

FINALLY! It only took me..uh..7 months to finish.

Probably cause it took more than 12 cans of frozen apple juice to go through.

But im really happy with it.

I don't really remember what blog this ABC Tin craft came from but Levi seems to like it. Given he won't be learning his ABCs for a while but he likes to clap the letters together, pull the letters out of the bucket, pour them out and suck on them.

I saved out extra "L" "E" "V" "I" tin letters that Im going to put magnents on to use for the fridge.

Grandma Tutu

My Grandma Tutu a.k.a Harumi "Dustie" Sasaoka Waggoner

Has been staying at my papa's house for the past couple months.

She has lung cancer.

We love her so so much.

Everyone who has met her loves her.

They can't help it though.

She is so genuinely sweet to everyone.

She is a hoot to be around.

Her smile and laugh is infectious.

Although Grandma loves a lot of people, there are few she loves more than Levi.

Whenever she sees him she says "Smile for me. Give me a big smile...A bigger one!"

And Levi never lets her down.

He always gives her the biggest smile.

Which melts Tutu's heart.

Lately Grandma hasn't been doing too well. She hasn't eaten or really even opened her eyes to acknowledge people.

But

When me and Levi came to visit, Janice leaned over and told her Levi was there to see her.

She opened her eyes and said

"Levi? Give me a smile."

She then tried to reach for Levi.

I brought Levi close to her and he giggled and held on to her finger.

Those two love each other.

When we first found out that Grandma had cancer I decided I wanted to make a book of her life.

She is pretty amazing.

And has some good stories.

The family has been spending the past couple weeks asking Tutu questions and writing her history.

One of my favorite stories has to be about her experience living in Hawaii as a Japanese American during WWII.

She lived near Pearl Harbor when it was bombed.

She said on the morning it was bombed she was at a Japanese Buddhist school doing the morning prayers outside.

She looked up and saw a fighter plane flying low.

She saw the Japanese flag on the side of the plane.

It flew so low that she saw the man in the plane.

He was waving at the kids, telling them to take cover.

The teachers told the kids to hurry and run home.

Grandma remembers taking her time walking through the sugar cane fields.

She doesn't remember too much after that.

She never had to go to a internment camp for Japanese Americans during that time.

She said it was because they were pions. Not important enough.

Her family was discriminated on constantly.

She said that people would say "A good Jap is a dead Jap."

She also told us about her own Rosa Parks story.

It really shows how tough my Grammy is.

She said that in Hawaii the whites would sit in the front of the bus, everyone else sat behind with the Japanese Americans in the very back. Tutu being the rebel she is decided she wasn't going to sit in back anymore and sat in the middle. The friend that was with her asked her what she was doing and that she was going to get in trouble. Grams just said "Im going to sit here and if they want to make something of it then let them."

Seriously. She is tough.

It has been so awesome to hear stories of my Grandma and her family.

We are so blessed to have her in our lives.

We love love love her!

Sorry

Sorry, but we have the cutest baby in the world.

7 Months

Look who's 7 months old!!

Hes 16 lbs

26 inches long

not crawling

& no teeth

we sure do love our chunky monkey

Handprint/Footprint Fun

We decided to make some art out of Levi's handprints and footprints. We found this fun idea from the blog "I am Momma - Hear Me Roar". I am really really happy with the way it turned out. Jordan decided to have some fun with the paint afterwards as you can see from the picture.

Sippy Cup, Sick baby and Sleep

Our little Levi has been drinking from a sippy cup successfully for a week now. He doesn't drink a ton from it because I think it comes out a little fast for him, but hes got the hang of it. What a big boy!

For the past week he has also gotten his first diaper rash and now he has a congested nose. I never knew how bad a diaper rash could be for a baby. I felt so bad for him :(. We have been taking it easy with him at bed time and getting him out every time he cries to change his bum or make sure he isn't in pain. This has set back our sleep progress, but I think these are pretty normal set-backs. He still has a congested nose but we are trying to get back into our sleep routine. He use to wake up once around 4-5am to eat then will sleep another 1-2 hours. For the past week he has been waking up multiple times at night. Last night we decided he would be ok to get back on his sleep schedule. He went to sleep at 7:30pm then woke up at 9:15pm. We let him cry and it only took 10 min for him to fall asleep again. He then woke up at 2 am....bleh. He cried for 20 min, I changed his diaper and gave him some medicine for his slight fever, then put him back in bed. He cried for another 20ish min then fell back asleep and slept until 6:12 am. This is the time he has been waking up for the day but I decided to feed him and see if he would sleep some more. It is now 8am and I am going to go in to wake him up. I would be lovely if he would sleep until 8am every morning! But last night was not fun at all. It was like sleep training all over again. Yuck. Hopefully he'll get back on his schedule! {fingers crossed}

Vegas Vday

Jordan was in charge of valentines this year.
He came home from school with flowers and a card for me :)
Then we went out for ice cream. oh yum.
We then headed to the Bellagio.
Inside the Bellagio they have a botanical garden and they decorated it for the Chinese New Year. It was so beautiful. We then went outside and watched the fountains dance.
It was so fun to get out and enjoy a piece of what Vegas has to offer.
We decided that we are going to make a Vegas bucket list of things we want to do before we move.
There really are a lot of cool things to do here (that dont include sinning).

Daddy Love.

Levi misses his dad.

Six Months

SIX MONTHS

No teeth yet

Will eat anything: puree fruits, veggies, meats, oatmeal, cereal..etc. And gets mad if we're eating and he's not. Last night we went out to eat at a little restaurant and he was not happy that he didn't have any solids to eat. His bottle just wasn't cutting it. We bought him a little loaf of bread there and was totally content afterwards.

Can feed himself bread

Reaches for you to pick him up

Sleeping GREAT: He'll go a solid 8-9 hours, wake-up then we'll feed him and he'll sleep another 1-2 hours

Naps every 2 hours for 1-2 hours: He actually really likes his nap time now...and so do I. He goes down really easily. I just tell him its nap time. Go to his room give him a kiss, wrap him in his blanket and give him his binky and hes out with no crying! oh I love it!

Getting more hair

Loves to nuzzle: Levi loves to bury his face into things when hes sleeping; ie my arm, blankets, pillows, my neck and shoulder. I love it when Im holding him but it also makes me a little nervous for when hes alone.

Refuses to roll over: He has actually done it 5 times this week but if we try to roll him over he resists it by arching himself back the other way. The little stinker.

Knows his name: He'll look at us when we say his name.

Has been sitting like a champ: He loves to sit up by himself and has been doing it for a while now.

LOVES to hear himself yell: I can not over emphasis this statement. He especially likes to do it when its quiet, like during the sacrament...haha. He just likes to shake things up a bit.

Says "dada..": But has not yet associated that with his "dada"

Starting to get his knees under him when hes on his tummy

Smiles and flirts constantly: especially when we're at the gym or our play groups.

Size 3 diaper: and still fits in some of his 0-3 month old clothes.

Best baby in the world: period.

We have been loving the stage Levi is in. He is so active and interacts so much with us. It is so fun to make him laugh and its what we spend the majority of our day doing. Me and Levi have been soaking up everything Henderson has to offer lately. I joined the Las Vegas Athletic Club so we go there 4-5 times a week. They have an awesome playroom that is huge and the staff there is so nice. We also have joined two playgroups that the St.Rose hospital puts on, one focuses on child development through movement and the other focuses on food. They each meet once a week and seem pretty cool so far. Also if the weather is nice we usually go out for a walk everyday. We have a little library on our block we walk to and a park another block away. I tell you I am definitely not missing the Logan weather right now. Its usually always sunny and hasn't gotten colder than 45 degrees, which is pretty rare. Of course the summers might not be too fun...


Well there you have it. We are all doing great.


Sooo...Superbowl tomorrow...
Looks like we are going to be getting together with a bunch of Jordan's law friends to party; even though we both don't care too much for the Superbowl. Jordan says him and his friend James are going to be sharpening their knives and making soda pop can stoves during the game :)

Las Vegas Spring Preserve

This last weekend we visited the Las Vegas Spring Preserve. Its kinda like Nevada's own Thanksgiving Point. They have museums, galleries, outdoor concerts and events, a botanical garden, and trails. It is set up to commemorate Vegas' history as well as provide a vision for a sustainable future. We thoroughly enjoyed the desert animals they had there to look at as well as the "Wings Over Springs" event in the outdoor amphitheater where they introduced different sorts of birds of prey as they soared and dove around us. Jordan loved speaking to the Native Americans from the Paiute tribe that is indigenous to the area. They had a spot set up to do dances, answer questions and to give out samples of some food. Jord spoke to them about native plants and the secrets to living off the land. :) Levi was an angel during the whole event. We had a great time.