Melinda's Thoughts

For those that don't know, Melinda has started a different blog which are her thoughts personally...kind of a journal style blog. If you want to check it out, the link is under our Friends and Family Blog Sites links on the right hand side of this blog. It is entitled Melinda's Thoughts

I think it is great! -Derek-

Books and Hair

My Aunt Elizabeth sent Ryan Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr. Grace reads it to Ryan all the time. He usually is a good audience, too! It is very cute. She is such a good big sister.



Here are a few pictures of Ryan. You can kind of see his curls in these pictures. I am not sure where the curl came from, but i will take it. Grace has a little bit of wave in her hair. It is only in the back on one side of her head.

Pictures

I can transfer photos from the camera to the computer now!! I also organized the pictures in my computer so I can find them easily. And now presenting some of my favorites from the last month!!


This one was just funny. About two seconds later he starts crying. I have got that picture too, but don't want to post pictures that can be used as evidence that I am bad mother. It is cute though!!







This was his first bath. He actually liked it!! The whole family helped. He still likes baths, but hates the massage with lotion afterward.





I thought that these pictures were so cute. My grandpa and grandma came down to visit and Grace convinced my grandpa to play with her on the computer.












My mom and Hyrum came down one day. Hyrum wanted to hold Ryan and Grace had to be a part of the pictures.













The other night I went in to get Ryan and I looked and saw Grace sleeping like this. She looked sooo sweet that I had to take her picture. She never woke up while I took it. The flash went off and not even a change in her breathing.


Grace likes to dress as a ballerina and pose for pictures. There are about 15 pictures similar to this one.








This was taken at my birthday party. I love Ryan's face. My dad is pretending he doesn't know the picture is being taken. Hyrum on the other hand jumped into the picture as soon as he saw the camera come out.

Ryan is such good luck! BYU winning streak!

BYU is 9-0 in basketball since Ryan was born. 2 of those wins came against that red team including a great win tonight at the Marriott Center that was a lot of fun!

This is Ryan giving us an example of summoning his focus and energy to provide continued good luck to the Cougs!

Needless to say, Boylen is less than enthused. I think steam is about to start coming out of his ears!

The day after Ryan was born, BYU beat the Utes in the Huntsman Center. I was born on the day of a BYU-Utah football game in November of 1979 and BYU won that game too.

The Jazz are 13-1 since Ryan was born too.

Continued luck to BYU who has 2 tough road games coming up next, first at San Diego State and then to the Pit in New Mexico...we will see if Ryan's streak of good fortune for the Cougs continues!!! Go BYU, Go Jazz!

One Month and Growing

Ryan turns one month old today. It is crazy to me how fast this last month has gone. Ryan has grown quite a bit. His little thighs are starting to get some meat to them. They are almost pinch-able. He has been working on a double chin, as well. For the most part he is on a consistent schedule. It was his doing, too. He goes to bed around 9 or 9:30 each night then needs a feeding around 4:30 and one around 8:30. He then needs a feeding every couple of hours during the day with several naps in there. He is the best baby!!


He is a very sweet boy that tolerates many, many kisses and hugs from Grace. I say tolerate because quite often her hair is in his face and he does not like that. When he has met his limit he makes a little yelping sound that sounds like, "Woman, back away!" The number of kisses he receives is measured in KPM, kisses per minute. It is somewhere around 45. Last night Grace told me that Ryan has a lot of kisses in his heart. She loves him sooo much.


I have decided that his hanging out preference is males. Grace didn't like being held by men(other than Derek), but Ryan loves hanging out with men. The other night he was agitated and my mother and sister, Brittany, could not calm him, but my little brother Joseph held him and he immediately stopped fussing. He does a similar thing with Derek. At the end of each day, around dinner time, Ryan is just agitated. Derek comes home and holds him and he calms right down. It seems like he gets sick of being with girls all day and really likes his "man time" with daddy.


He went to Church yesterday for the first time. We went for Sacrament Meeting and he did great.

Grace has done some funny things lately. She has been big into dressing up. She dressed up as an old woman with high heels, cane (a little bat, which she called a leaning stick), earrings, and a purse. She said, "Perhaps the old woman would like a snack." It was very funny.


She also dressed up as a princess with blankets tied all around her and a cowgirl with a bucket on her head. She would only answer if you called her by the character she was dressed as. We watched Game Plan and she now wants to be a ballerina. She puts on her leotard and tutu and wants to dance to ballerina music.


On Saturday we had a birthday party with a yummy raspberry cheesecake ice cream cake from Coldstone. I appreciate all the family and friends that came by. It was good to see everyone that came. We hiked up Ensign Peak in Salt Lake with my family afterwards. Grace had so much fun and tells me she wants to climb more mountains.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Today is Melinda's birthday! I just wanted to take a moment to honor her and tell her how much I appreciate her and love her.

For those of you that know Melinda well, you know one of the most charitable and sweet people out there. I consider myself lucky every day that she came into my life. I first met Melinda on December 6, 2000 at a devotional at Utah Valley State College's Institute of Religion. I returned from my LDS mission on December 5, 2000 in the evening. So, I met Melinda the day after I got home from my mission. I remember feeling how sweet and special she was and, of course, being wildly attracted to her as well. She gave the closing prayer at the devotional I was at with a bunch of my friends and made sure to go up and meet her after the devotional had ended.

By pure luck (or destiny) we ended up in the same Institute class at the beginning of the next semester and became great friends. I remember many nights we would stay on the phone until 2 or 3 in the morning and then be at the Institute building at 6 am for a leadership meeting. I have always been amazed by her capacity to serve others and the way that she can sense if others are struggling and reaches out to help them. I also remember almost every teacher and leader in the Institute program stopping me in the hall while Melinda and I were dating and telling me how special she was and, more or less, how each of them would hunt me down if I ever did anything to hurt her. She has always been respected by her peers and any other individuals who have had the chance to work with her or get to know her.

I love Melinda's happy demeanor, I love her charitable nature, I love her smile, I love her sense of humor, I love watching her care for our children, I love watching and listening to her play the violin, I love her selflessness, I love how she can make anyone in the room feel special, I love her patience (she has a lot, she has to be married to me after all), I love how hard-working she is, I love her beauty, I love how she makes me feel when I am in her presence, I love her messages she leaves for me or sends me telling me how much she loves me, I love her charisma, I love her! The list could go on and on...she truly is the light of my life!

Melinda is an amazing person. I think it quite a tribute to her that she has 2 children and a college degree and is just now turning 25. She finished her degree when only 23 years old and had Grace when she was 20 and Ryan just before her 25th birthday. She has always been driven and passionate about the things she chooses to involve herself in.

Melinda, I love you so much and wish you the happiest of birthdays! I want to thank you for everything! Love, your hubby forever -- DC

Fat Tuesday -- Mardi Gras tradition

I am obviously not familiar with the traditions of Mardi Gras. But I guess today is Fat Tuesday. One of the traditions on Fat Tuesday, as I (Derek) understand it is that when you eat a King Cake (which is essentially a really big French pastry) they put a little plastic pink baby in the pastry and whomever gets the piece with the baby in it...is the next person to have a baby. Well, today one of my clients brought in a King Cake for the front office to enjoy for Fat Tuesday...and guess who ended up with the baby...

...that's right, yours truly! Having just had a baby join our family only 2 1/2 weeks ago, this was not welcome news. It was, however, quite humorous for everyone else in the office!

The funniest part about this whole thing is hard to determine...is it A) Melinda's reaction when I called her on the phone to tell her...or B) The fact that I was the first to get a piece because I was sure that the baby wouldn't be in the first piece and I just wanted to get it out of the way...oops!

I've Been Tagged...

...we are still pretty new to this blogging thing and I got tagged a few weeks ago by my friend Lisa.

Here is the info:

Two names I go by:
1. "Mama" -- by Grace
2. "..AHHH!!!! (or a series of grunts)" -- by Ryan

Two things I'm wearing right now:
1. Blue toenail polish
2. My normal pants again!

Two of My favorite things to do:
1. Get a pedicure
2. Watch Derek play with Grace

Two things I want very badly at the moment:
1. A good night's rest
2. Vanilla ice cream with fresh fruit on top

Two favorite pets I have had/have:
1. An Irish Setter named Collin -- he had hair the same color that Ryan has...so cute!
2. My brother had a cool fish named Oscar -- it was also an Oscar Fish, very fitting

Two things I did last night:
1. We had Family Home Evening with Derek's family, lots of fun driving through the snow storm
2. Zonked out on the couch with Ryan after feeding him

Two things I ate today:
1. Pairs
2. Popcorn with Grace (that is one of her favorites)

Two people I last talked to:
1. My friend Ang
2. Ryan (or myself because he isn't really responding yet)

Two longest car rides:
1. From Billings, Montana to the historic church sites in the Midwest (Nauvoo, Winter Quarters, etc.)
2. From Orem, Utah to California to visit my grandparents and to attend a family reunion

Two favorite holidays:
1. Valentine's Day/My Birthday (I can count that since they are just 2 days apart)
2. Thanksgiving

Two favorite beverages:
1. Anything cranberry (since it is usually combined with some other fruit)
2. Some kind of fruit smoothie (does that count as a beverage?)

Thanks Lisa, that was a nice diversion from all the craziness right now!

I tag Jana, Kenna, Melissa.

Adjusting to Life as a Family of Four

It is hard to believe that Ryan has been with us for over 2 weeks now. Because of his infection and the extended time in the hospital, it doesn't feel like it has been that long.

Grace is such an amazing big sister. She likes to read to Ryan and loves to hold him and talk to him. Her favorite thing to say when he starts crying is "Ryan, your big sister is here...don't worry!" She loves Ryan so much and it is so much fun to watch her look after him and take care of him.

She loves to hold him when we read scriptures as a family every night and also when we say our prayers. She is so cute! Here is a picture of such an occasion, she is decked out in her cupcake pajamas!

Here was another cute picture of Ryan with his daddy, look at all of that red hair!

Otherwise we have just been busy adjusting to life with Ryan here. He had his 2 week check-up yesterday and got poked and prodded some more...poor kid. Anyway, he seems to be healthy and doing well.

Derek went to President Hinckley's viewing with the Bishop that he serves with. We watched the funeral today and it was so special. We will miss President Hinckley.

We love you all!