Merry Christmas 2008

We had a great Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve we ate dinner with the whole family and had our annual chime playing extravaganza. I think we're getting better.

For as long as I can remember, we've had a breakfast at my grandparent's house on Christmas morning but we decided after so many years they deserved a break and so we had it at my parent's house instead. I was put on "pancake duty" which was my grandpa's job so it was a lot to live up to but they turned out pretty good. We only had a couple of casualties while I was attempting to flip them over. After we ate we opened a few presents and finally got Eliza changed out of her pajamas. She mostly got clothes from me and Matt which isn't terribly exciting but her grandparents gave her fun things. She got a big Elmo doll and a little picnic table from my parents. Matt's parents gave her some Elmo slippers and an Elmo doctor kit. We're hoping that will help her not freak out next time she has to get her ears checked at the doctor.

This Christmas was really fun to see Eliza a little more involved than last year. She figured out that she really likes opening presents and is willing to help everyone else with their packages. It's been nice this year too because my brother and his family that live in Phoenix are in town so we've gotten to spend the holidays with the whole family and they got to enjoy a very white Christmas.

New Baby Coming!

So a few of you already know but Emily and I would like to officially announce that Emily and I are expecting child #2. We had our 1st doctors appointment this morning and the doctor did an ultrasound and it brought back all of the memories of when Emily was pregnant with Eliza. Even though the new baby is just a little peanut right now, he/she was very active moving around inside. The doctor said Emily is about 10-11 weeks along and we are looking at a due date of July 6th. This is such an exciting time in our lives and we really feel blessed that we are able to bring another child into this world. Emily has been pretty sick lately and also very tired so it looks like I will be spending my nights watching sports alone after Eliza goes to sleep. This may be a little difficult to adjust to, not the watching sports part, but watching sports alone. Usually Emily blogs about Twilight and her dream man Rob while I yell at the TV during Jazz and Cougar games. In other family news, it appears that we have finally sold our condo and should complete the sale by Friday so we can officially start to search for a new home to live in. This has been a very frustrating process and we are are still cautious that things could fall through, but everything seems to be in good order this time. I really feel blessed that I have so much family that has supported us during this time in our lives and for a loving wife and daughter to come home to every night. I have been thinking about how sweet Eliza is and how much she means to me, even when she is throwing tantrums for no reason. I love to spend time with her and getting her to say funny phrases like "Boozer" during Jazz games or "Game Day" during BYU games. It always brings a good feeling to me at work when I look at pictures of Eliza and Emily and the best part of my day is when I walk through the door after work and get to see them. A lot of changes are coming for us searching for a new home to live in, a new ward to go to, and new neighbors and friends to meet. Child number 2 will be a big adjustment for us but we are up for the challenge and consider it a great blessing in our lives. Emily and I don't agree on any boy names so far and somewhat agree on a couple girl names but we will have plenty of time to find a name that we both agree on. Thank you to all of our friends and family who make a difference in our lives, even if it is the smallest thing. We love and appreciate all of you!

For those of you who can't read the small print, 2 pink bars=pregnant

This is the ultrasound picture. You can totally tell there is a baby somewhere on that screen.

Meeting Santa

My mom's work had a Christmas party Monday night. It was so nice! They had popcorn and cookies for all the kids. There was a magician and a face painter, as well. While we were waiting in line, Santa came down the hall with one of his 'elves' and Eliza got so excited. She started shouting, "Santa! Santa!" It's funny because she doesn't really know who Santa is or what he does but she recognizes him anytime we see anything with his picture on it. Once we got to the front of the line she was still excited but not so sure if she wanted to sit on his lap. She didn't cry but as you can see, she was a little worried. The whole party was so fun and I'm glad we haven't traumitized her yet and she's still excited about Christmas.

Happy Birthday!

Today Eliza turns two years old! On Saturday we had a birthday party which was lots of fun. I'm not sure she really understood what the big celebration was for but she wasn't complaining about all the presents she received. She got two new outfits, new pajamas, a Mrs. Potato Head, two dolls and a baby stroller. She also got a new book and a Signing Time DVD which she loves.

This is Eliza wearing the glasses from her Mrs. Potato Head. We think she looks like Ralphie from "A Christmas Story."

This morning we took Eliza to get her pictures taken. Her aunt Megan made this adorable outfit for her. The shirt has her name on it and the skirt is so cute. Eliza got a little tired of posing after a while but hopefully the pictures turned out okay.

Return of the chicken

For Halloween this year we decided to recycle Eliza's chicken costume from last year. It still mostly fits. The pants are a little short but that's okay. On Monday night we took her to Murray Park for their Haunted Trail Halloween party. It was only $1.50 and if you survived the scary walk you were rewarded with a donut and hot chocolate. After standing in line for over an hour we finally got on the trail. It actually was a little scary but I don't think Eliza is old enough to know that it was. She was probably just wondering why we were walking for so long in the dark. One of the scary people that jumped out from behind a tree was dressed like a monkey and she really liked him and wanted to pet him. After we finished we got our treats and headed home. It was fun and also a great way to tire Eliza out before bedtime.

On Tuesday night we had our ward Trunk-or-Treat. Eliza was excited to wear her costume again. We have a pretty small ward but there was a good turnout and we had a fun time. They had a pinata for the kids. Eliza was a little unclear on the concept of what to do but she did get the hang of holding out her bag and getting free candy, and that is really the most important thing.

We are carving our pumpkins tonight so there should be more pictures coming soon. Happy Halloween!

4-year anniversary

Yesterday Matt and I celebrated our four year anniversary. I can't believe it's been four years already. Does anyone else feel like time is flying by too quickly? Anyway, Matt had the day off work which is always nice. He surprised me with beautiful flowers and a basket full of my favorite treats which he told me were my "Twilight treats" for the movie. Somehow I don't think many treats will survive until November 21st but we'll see.

During the day we mostly just took it easy and ran some errands. In the evening we left Eliza with Grandma and Grandpa and we went out to eat at The Cheesecake Factory. Luckily, the novelty has worn off a bit and since we were there fairly early we didn't have to wait at all to be seated. The food was good, but pricey. You wouldn't want to eat there too often. We decided that since we were at The Cheesecake Factory we better get a slice of cheesecake for dessert. It was fantastic! I'm not sure it was worth $7.00 for one slice but hey, it was our anniversary.

I'm very thankful for these past four years with Matt. He is a wonderful husband and father and I'm grateful for his hard work and all he does for Eliza and me. We love you!

Life at grandma and grandpa's

No news to report on the house hunting so I thought I'd just post a couple fun pictures and an update on Eliza. She is talking more and more each day. I think she learns to say a new word almost every day. No real sentences yet but she can definitely communicate what she wants. She knows how to count to ten (for some reason she skips "seven") but she won't do it when we want her to so we have yet to catch it on our camera. She knows her colors and a few shapes. She loves to sit at the piano and pound on the keys. My mom and dad have pictures of all their grandchildren on the piano and Eliza trys to say all of their names.



The other day my dad brought home a crown for Eliza. You can't really tell in the pictures but it lights up too. Matt took her in the bathroom with the lights off so show her how it looks with the lights on. Pretty cool. After anchoring it to her hair with all sorts of clips and barrettes she wore it all day. It hasn't even broken yet either which is pretty remarkable.

Eliza loves books and takes great joy in getting every single one off the bookshelf and putting them in a pile. It's a big mess but she doesn't mind helping put them all back. Here is a sample of what she does almost every day.

I can't believe she will be two in just over a month. This whole year has just flown by. Hopefully we can celebrate her birthday in our own house but we'll see. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

I literally can't stop laughing

My cousin Liz and her husband, Nate, had such a funny post on their blog about misused words and phrases. It reminded me of how Matt and I find it hilarious when people use the word "literally" but they don't really mean it, well, literally. It seems like people throw that word into a conversation in order to make a really strong point but if you think about it, it's just silly sometimes.

Example 1 - The other day, we were watching a football game (well, I was reading and Matt was watching) and the commentator said that the defense had "literally shot themselves in the foot" due to all the penalties they had gotten. Really? They actually got a gun and shot themselves in the foot?

Example 2 - When discussing the weather someone stated that it was "literally raining cats and dogs out there." That's just a funny mental picture.

Example 3 - "That car was going so fast. I mean, it was literally flying down the street!" Cool, I wish my car did that.

Example 4 - "That movie was terrifying. I was literally scared to death."


Anyway, you get the idea. I guess we're easily entertained.

Update

I know it's been a long time since I've posted anything and, unfortunately, there's not much to report still. On Labor day we recruited family and friends to help us and we moved out of our condo and into my parent's basement. It's actually been working out great so far. A lot of people say that they live with their parents and roll their eyes but we've had a great time so far. Eliza loves being here because there is a yard to play in and the basement alone has more square footage than our entire condo did. It's really a step up for us! Plus she loves getting to see "Pa" and "Cat" everyday. You might be wondering why Eliza calls her grandma "Cat." My mom has little cat hand puppets that Eliza loves. So whenever I asked her before if she wanted to go to grandma's house, she would say "cat!" Thus, my mom is now "cat" to Eliza. The funny things is, Matt's parents have a real cat and Eliza doesn't call them that. Go figure.
The man buying our condo should close soon and then we'll start looking for a house more seriously. We found one a couple of weeks ago that we absolutely loved. It was just what we were looking for but the day we made an offer, they also received two other offers. So that one didn't work out for us but we're confident that we'll find the right house for us soon.
We'll keep you all posted on what we find. I don't have any fun pictures to share today. I suppose I could go take a picture of all our belongings piled up in the garage but I'm sure you can imagine the clutter. Thank you to grandma and grandpa for letting us move in!

House hunting

After having our condo on the market for close to a year we finally got an offer! So on Saturday we're starting the process of finding a new house. It's really exciting for us but at the same time, kind of sad. This is the only place we've lived since we were married and the only home Eliza has known. Plus we really love our ward and will miss all the friends we have made. However, we won't miss walking up three flights of stairs or our cramped space.

The other day we decided to take a drive out to West Jordan, which is one of the areas we're looking at. We drove around for a while and really like the neighborhoods. It would be a pretty long commute for Matt but it seems like homes closer in are way too expensive so we may be investing in a bus pass for him. Here is Eliza enjoying the ride (well, she enjoyed it for about 15 minutes).
Wish us luck!

Another play date

My friend Shelly and I took Josh and Eliza to the zoo this morning. It was really crowded and not overcast like we thought it would be but still a lot of fun. Josh and Eliza were really good and liked looking at the animals (the ones that they could see from their strollers, anyway.) As soon as Eliza saw the carousel she started crying so we had to go buy a ticket for it. I know... I give in too easy. She cried the whole time we were walking through the line and was so happy when we finally made it. But, of course, the ride wasn't long enough for her and she started crying as soon as it stopped. We hurried down to the giraffes to distract her and it seemed to work. We also rode on the train which is actually pretty boring and uncomfortable. The only animals we really saw were a couple of very hot looking buffalo and a rabbit that I'm not sure was even part of the zoo. Oh, well. The kids enjoyed the ride. The gift shop was probably the best part for me and Shelly because of the wonderful air conditioning inside. Some of the little houses and areas inside the zoo are so humid! Here is Eliza holding her souvenirs. Thanks Shelly and Josh for the fun morning!

Five more days!

I know there are a couple of Twilighters like me that read our blog and I hope you are as excited as I am for this Saturday. Only five more days until Breaking Dawn!! In honor of the book coming out this week I thought I'd share some of my favorite icons that people have made that make me smile and if you're a fan of the books like me, you'll appreciate these. I can't take credit for any of them. People far more creative than myself made these. They are from Twilightmoms.com and Twilighters.org. By the way, doesn't December 12th seem way too long to wait to see the movie? It looks excellent and I love the people they cast for it. Even Stephenie Meyer said that Edward and Bella in the movie are almost exactly how she pictured them in her head, especially Rob Pattinson as Edward, and well, she knows best. Happy reading!

P.S. Steve - you are not allowed to make smart-aleck comments about Twilight. You have a Breaking Dawn countdown widget on your blog so I know Mary is as excited about it as I am. : )

My personal favorite...

And because they are just so beautiful...

Zoo day!

On Tuesday my mom's work had their zoo day which meant that when it closed at 5:00 pm for everyone else, we had it all to ourselves. Thankfully it wasn't too hot and we were able to have a really fun time. They had hamburgers and hot dogs for dinner which Eliza thoroughly enjoyed. Lately she loves anything she can dip in ketchup (pizza, pickles, goldfish crackers...) We also got to ride the train and the carousel which was fun for Eliza. Eliza has learned to make a lot of animal sounds so that made it very entertaining. Then we went to the bird show. They have trained most of the birds to fly right above the crowd's heads and Eliza liked that a lot. She got a good view of them. After that it was getting a little late and Eliza was starting to get cranky so we quickly made our way down to the big cats and the giraffes. When we looked into the cougar's area Eliza started shouting, "cat, cat, cat!" which made us all laugh. That's definitely not the type of cat you want to pet, though.

Thank you to Grandma for letting us come to the zoo with you and for the fun time! And for going on the exciting train ride so many times. : )

Happy "Fore"th of July

So I don't claim to be a great golfer. On a good day, I will get a couple pars, several bogeys, and usually that one forgettable hole where I take a "gentleman's 8". Also, every once in a while, when all of the stars are aligned, I will get a birdie. Needless to say, I am not about to quit my job to focus on becoming a professional golfer. On the 4th of July, my dad invited me to go play golf with him and some of my uncles. We played out in West Jordan at a course called Mountain View. I have played there several times but this time it was completely different than every other time I have played there in the past. On hole #8, a short par 3 that only requires a pitching wedge and also borders a busy street, I put my ball down on the tee, took the club back, came through and blasted a high shot to the right of the hole. I thought I saw it come down right along the fence line and I went and put my club back in my bag. What happened next surprised all of us. We saw a grey Jeep Liberty pulled over on the side of the road just ahead of the stoplight. While driving in the golf cart approaching the green, a young lady got out of her car and said in somewhat shocked voice, "I think one of your golf balls, just hit my windshield." My heart dropped as my dad and I went to speak with her. Sure enough, her windshield had a huge crack that extended from the top to the bottom. I really didn't know what to do or how to handle the situation. I gave the girl my name and number (yes I did give her my real name) and she hasn't called yet. When she does call, I am sure that we will be out a good $200 to buy a new windshield. I know this will be my most expensive round of golf ever.

This is the actual golf ball that hit the window.

After the whole golf debacle, we went to Riverton Park with my family and had dinner. Eliza got a chance to ride a pony. She had a good time even though it was really hot. We then came home and went swimming to cool off and by 8 O'clock, Eliza was asleep and it was an average night at the McCann home.
Special thanks to Grandma McCann for paying the $2 for the pony ride. She can be seen in the background of the 2nd picture.

Tim McGraw

On Friday night Matt and I went to the Usana ampitheater to see Tim McGraw in concert. It was awesome! I had never been there before but it was kind of fun just sitting on the grass on blankets. He put on a great show! They did a lot of new songs that I didn't know but he also sang lots of his classics. Being at a country singer's concert I knew we were bound to see our share of drinking, tight Wrangler jeans, huge belt buckles, and cowboy hats and we weren't disappointed. I wish I had my camera out to catch a picture of the hillbilly that was also there. This guy had on overalls with no shirt underneath (he was not a small man either). Whatever's comfortable, I guess.

Probably the funniest thing that happened was when we asked the lady sitting behind us if she would take our picture. We knew she and her husband had had a few beers but now I wonder how many she actually did have. Matt handed her our camera and showed her which button to push. She held it backwards at first and very nearly took a close-up picture of herself. After Matt turned it around for her she pointed it at us and pressed the power button instead. She didn't know she had just turned it off instead of taking a picture and handed it back to us saying, "Okay, there you go!" Matt politely said, "I'm not sure the flash worked, can we try it again?" He then gave it to her husband hoping for better luck. Her husband held it the right direction at least, but instead of holding it out a few inches from your face like you're supposed to do with a digital camera so you can actually see what you're taking a picture of, he held the corner of it right up to his eye like with a point-and-shoot camera and snapped the picture. We thanked him and thought we'd just go find someone sober to take it but the picture actually turned out okay.

Anyway, it was a really fun evening and a good concert. If you ever get the chance to see Timmy in concert, he puts on a really great show. Oh, and thank you to grandma and grandpa for tending Eliza and thank you to Eliza for actually going to sleep for them.

Here's a little clip of "I Like it, I Love it, I Want Some More of it." That is not me cheering or singing along that you can hear, it was the drunk people next to us. Sorry it's so blurry, we were pretty far away. And I hope I don't get in trouble for some copyright violation for posting this.