Changes...

Ever since Aaron and I have been married, we've only had 1 car. We just haven't been able to afford to get another one. So, we've always just delt with it. For a while, we were both working at Olan Mills, and he was at a permanent studio in Banning, and I was training at various studios in our district. So I would just drop Aaron off at work in the morning, and go to the studio I was working at, and then I'd pick him up after work and we'd go home. Then I got pregnant and was horribly sick and couldn't train anymore... and Aaron got promoted to a mobile studio... so I took over Aaron's studio in Banning and he traveled. So, the roles reversed... he dropped me off, etc... Well, one thing after another, we quit Olan Mills, and there were issues with our car... so Aaron found a job locally so he could walk to work. Then we got our car back, and he got laid off. Then he found a job in Moreno Valley as a cashier at Chick-fil-A. It's about a half an hour away... so the whole dropping him off thing wouldn't work. So every day, Aaron leaves for work and is gone with the car for about 10+ hours, and I am home with Connor. We've been fine with this for the past 7 months. My parents and sisters are close, so if we ever need anything, they're always there for us. Well... our car died. That was horrible. He was going to take the bus to work, but the bus system stops running at 6:30pm on his route, and he usually gets off at 10:30pm. So my wonderful parents drove Aaron to work and back every day for a few weeks. Then we were SOOO lucky and found a lady who was selling her late husbands car, for VERY VERY cheap (way below what she should have charged) because she just wanted to get rid of it. So YAY!! We were back with a car. And then, a few weeks later, Aaron and a guy from church were able to fix our other car for $40 when we were told it'd be $1500 at the shop (LOTS of labor time into fixing it!). Sooooo... this is the FIRST time that we have had TWO cars!!! It's such a different experience, being about to actually go grocery shopping during the afternoon, and not have to hurry and get out in the morning before Aaron goes to work! :)

Since we have two cars now, I decided that I would try to find a babysitting job. In my head, I thought up the perfect job. I wanted to find a job that was local. I wanted to find a job where I could bring Connor with me. I thought it'd be great if I could find a job where there was a kid that was Connor's age. I wanted to work between 25-35 hours a week. And I wanted decent pay. So, I went about all my ways, trying to find something. I went on all the normal nanny sites I've used before... but nothing was coming up. So, I figured I'd put a little ad on craigslist and see if I could get anything from there. I had a few people write me, but nothing came of it.

This Sunday, we had Stake Conference. There were three main topics that stuck out to me.


#1 Get an education


#2 Get out of debt


#3 Get your year supply of food storage



1. Aaron's been talking about going to school for a VERY long time. He wants to go to school and become and LVN. He's been looking into schools, programs, grants & loans. But... no matter what, we have to have money. Not everything can be covered even if he gets a grant. We make enough money at Aaron's current job to pay bills and everything, but there's nothing extra for school. So we were at a standstill on that subject.


2. We are lucky enough to not be in any debt


3. We don't have a year supply... but we do have a supply. We sort of came to a "we have no money" standstill on that subject to.



Another thing that was said during conference was that if you want these things to happen, that you need to make sacrifices. It's not going to come easy to you. You need to work for it. So with that being said, I made a decision... I needed to find a babysitting job. I would love it if my photography was making me millions, but it's not. And I needed steady money coming in, not money here and there from photo shoots. So, I continued my pursuit. With becoming night manager, Aaron talked to his boss, and if he can commit to 2-10:30pm at work, his boss will only schedule him then, so that he can go to school in the mornings. I wouldn't even consider asking Aaron to find a second job. He wouldn't be able to function. So... I went on my pursuit.



What I think is the most awesome thing though, is that Heavenly Father knows EXACTLY what he's doing. He's no dumby. What I was looking for in a job... that's not what I got. I did get a few aspects of it, but not what I was thinking.

I went on the interview this afternoon at 3:30pm... I spoke with the dad & daughter (they're divorced and the dad was hiring the sitter, not the mom). The interview went very well and he said that he'd like to talk with the girls mom and if I could call him at 6pm that would be great. So I thought/prayed about it for the next 2 hours, and when I called him at 6... he hired me and asked if I could start tomorrow :)


-It's only 3 hours a day, from 2:30-5:30... Tuesday through Friday (there will sometimes be more hours here and there, but for the most... 12 hours a week)

- They are only 5 minutes from my house

- I am able to bring Connor with me

- It's only one little girl, who is 9 years old

- It's decent money :)

Totally not what I was looking for... but I prayed for a job that will help to have enough money for Aaron to go to school & enough money to get our 1 year supply of food storage... and that's exactly what I got. No more... No less! The man told me that he's been looking at Craigslist nanny ads for a while now and nothing seemed to pop out at him, but he came across my ad, and e-mailed me right away.


So wish us luck on our new adventure. Lots of changes are coming our way!

I laughed... Connor cried...

Today my mom, sister, Connor & I went shopping. While we were out, we decided to stop in at a Halloween store. Bethany and I thought it would be fun to try on some of the masks. As we put them on, Connor was getting a little uneasy. He wasn't sure what the heck we were putting on our faces. We tried everything from werewolf's, scream masks, freaky clowns with scary teeth, zombie babies, etc... and Connor seemed a little scared, but kind of intrigued also. But then Bethany found and tried on an Obama mask, and Connor screamed, started crying & shaking/flailing his arms (terrified) & ran away from her.

He scares me to Connor...

He smiles!

Connor has suddenly decided that smiling for the camera is fun to do... as long as I let him look at his picture on the back of the camera afterwards! :)

You can see if you look VERY closely, that one of his teeth just broke through :) It's his upper left (our upper right looking at him) eye tooth... canine... vampire tooth?!? :) Not sure what it's called!

Connor has discovered that plugging his ears makes a different sound in his head, lol... he CONSTANTLY has his fingers in his ears... then he takes him out... then he puts them back in... over and over and over (as he laughs & sometimes even seems confused), lol

19 months and counting...

Where is time going? Before I know it, I'm going to be saying goodbye to Connor as he leaves for his mission. It's just going by way too fast, and I can't catch up to it. Stinkin' time!

Connor's getting bigger and brighter every day. He's such a little busy ball of energy, who is ALWAYS on the move. He just goes from one thing to the next, all day long. The only break he takes is his nap... and that's only because I make him.

He is learning and growing and finding out lots of new things.

Connor knows the numbers 9 & 10. Not sure why he picked those numbers to learn first... but if you count 1-10, and pause for a moment at 8, he'll start giggling, and then yell out "NINE! TEN!"

His favorite song is "I Am a Child of God." Every night when he goes to bed, we brush his teeth, read a few books, say a prayer, and then I sing him a few songs while I rock him, and then lay him down in his bed. I always save that song for last, because I know he LOVES it. He giggles and tries to sing along (and he doesn't do that with the other songs). And speaking of going to bed... he's doing VERY good in that department. He usually is in bed by 8pm (after our nightly ritual) and falls asleep on his own. Sometimes he'll wake up 1-2 times at night (not every night)... but I usually just have to go in there and give him his softies and paci and lay him back down and he goes back to sleep within a few minutes.

Connor LOVES flags & balloons. When he sees them in books, he starts laughing and pointing them out and saying "flag" or "boom" (and a few times balloon has been "za-boom"). While we drive somewhere, he always finds and points out flags and balloons, way before I even see them. Sometimes I won't even see them at all, and he's screaming and laughing and then finally I see them. On the way to church, one of the streets has about 25 flags lined up (it's for a new housing development) and he gets SOOOOO excited as we pass by!!!

He LOVES to eat. Luckily he is such a busy body so he's just growing taller, and not chubbier. He's a skinny little thing, but he eats more than I do. Some of his favorite foods are yogurt, cheese, applesauce, meatloaf, peaches, peas, sweet potatoes, bananas, bread, butternut squash, pineapples, dehydrated fruits, tomatoes, salad (LOVES Ranch), fresh asparagus, broccoli, and he still eats any kind of babyfood fruit or veggie that I give him

So far, I only know that he does not like canned carrots & canned asparagus (but who would?!)

He loves music and dancing. Sometimes we just go into his room and have little dance parties :)

To add to the cow, duck, dog, & cat sounds that he already knows... he now does sheep & monkey

He's now a much better napper, as long as I wait past 1pm to put him down for a nap. I used to put him down between 11 and 12 because he would just be so tired... but he'd only sleep for 45 min. to an hour. But then one day for whatever reason, he didn't go down for a nap until 1pm and he slept 2 1/2 hours. So now I just put him down around 1 and he will always sleep between 2 to 3 hours.

He learned this week that he can plug his ears and that it sounds different when you do so. Now he's constantly plugging his ears (I'm assuming just to see what different sounds it makes).

He LOVES to ride on his popper car. He is on that thing 50% of the day. He LOVES to put things into the little compartment that he sits on (the yellow part... and if you can see in the left picture, his blue softies is stuffed inside of it).

Connor is basically "naked potty trained." If he's home and naked, he will pee and poop in the potty 95% of the day. But the moment I put underwear on him, he pees in them. So he basically wears a diaper while we're out and he's naked at home. I'm sure he'll eventually figure it out, but he's only 19 months... so he's got time and we're not rushing it :) Oh... and after he goes to the bathroom, he flushes it and puts the lid down. He started doing that without me even teaching him.

Connor LOVES to push cars/trucks/trains/buses around the house. And if he can, he will pack things inside of them... his softies, fridge magnets, small toys, small bouncy balls, etc.

(here's him and his bus)

If I don't keep the bathroom door closed, this is where Connor ends up (and don't worry, the crayons on the walls are washable bath crayons)...

He just absolutely LOVES the bath. He loves everything about it. And he doesn't care if there's water in there or not (of course he does prefer water in it). He's even fine getting his hair washed and water getting in his eyes.. and he only cries when I take him out.

Anyone who knows Connor knows that he LOVES his "softies" (little blankets) and he carries them EVERYWHERE. He can't go anywhere without them. Not sure why, but recently, he's been doing this with them (pictured below... his softies are over the handle bars of his car). He does it to shopping carts, ride on toys, the pews at church, etc.

He's been getting LOTS better with using a fork and spoon on his own. He LOVES to eat applesauce and yogurt all by himself. He's obsessed with yogurt. If I let him, he would eat it 5+ times a day. He'll go to the fridge and try to pull on the door, and when I open it, he goes straight to the yogurt and pulls one out and says "spoon??"

Connor is still obsessed with going outside (to play with the water hose). He will stand at the back door and scream and try to pry the door open (as pictured below). And if you will notice, when I don't come to the door and actually let him go out, he decided that picking the paint off the wall would be just as fun... (grrr!)

For a while, he would only wear this one particular winter hat (during the winter, not recently)... but he refused to wear anything else. Then he found this blue hat (the top picture), and decided he liked it and would wear it. But it's a size 6-9 months and he's in size 18-24 months... so it was majorly tight on his head. But I got another hat (the one in the bottom picture) and he'll wear it too. He just suddenly decided that hats are okay to have and he loves wearing them :)

He's getting much better at drinking out of a cup. He still thinks that he can walk around with it like a sippy cup and doesn't understand why it spills EVERY time... so I usually just have him sit at his desk and he does a little better then :)

New favorite food... blue berries. he's obsessed with them. I will give him a few and he'll inhale them and yell out "more... more... more... more..." until I give him more.



He LOVES his "bam bam stick" (aka a bat)... I am really trying to teach him that we can ONLY hit balls and pillows... of course he thinks it's funnier to hit people.




Little ball... big ball.... he LOVES anything having to do with balls. He will find them everywhere in the house and he always has one in his hand. He points them out in books and when he sees them while we're out... (he looks a little funny in the left picture because he was actually "saying ball" as I took it, lol)

Connor loves to "get dizzy." He laughs and laughs and thinks he's so funny when he does it. He also does "crazy legs" which I tried to get him to do in the video, but he wouldn't. He basically jumps around and wiggles his legs like crazy...

That's about all I've got...

Connor's a joy in our lives and we just love watching him learn and grow and change every day!

Knotts Berry Farm

I know I can get all these images in order, but I have been having so much trouble with uploading pictures to this post, and everything else in between... they are just going to stay where they are. Soooo... they are a little out of order, but who cares... right?! :)

My mom, my sisters Bethany and Katie, Katie's sister-in-law Hannah, Katie's brother-in-law Matthew, Aaron, Connor & I went to Knotts Berry Farm last week. It was SOO much fun (minus the over 100 degree weather). This was Matthew, Hannah, Aaron & Connor's first time going there. This was Connor's first real amusement park too! I was a little worried at how Connor would do, but he was absolutely amazing. We were basically there all day long (from 10am til 9pm)... and I did not hear a single cry out of him the whole day! He also only had one 30 minute nap (in the stroller) too! He LOVES people and being outside and just observing life! But like I said, there was the only negative of being over 100 degrees. It was REALLY hot!!! But Connor kept his hat on, and would even let me put sun screen on without complaint! And I just kept food and liquids in him all day long. Only drawback to the liquids was that he was a peeing machine and went through about 4 outfits because he filled and leaked through his diapers (and I even put him in disposibles because they can hold more and he never leaks in them, compared to cloth). But that's ok... we managed.

Connor loved going on the rides. His Aunty Ya-Ya was the first one who took him on some rides while the rest of us went on some roller coasters. So of course I don't have any pictures of those. But I did find out that Connor is afraid of heights. She said that he freaked out on the rides that went high... but was fine on the ones that stayed on the ground. He's just like his Mommy! :)

Here he is with his Auntie Kate... (as you can see, this is a kid ride... but it zooms around those corners.... look at Katie's hair!)

He kept pointing at the car, wanting to go on it... wasn't too happy standing in line! Luckily, it wasn't very busy, and the most we stood in line for a kid ride was 5 minutes, and the most for an adult ride was 20 minutes :)

Having a little snack (peaches) while I had some funnel cake, lol :) He had a little funnel cake too

yummy peach hands!

Funnel cake... yummy! :)

Beth and her funnel cake

At first when he got on this ride, he had this little pouty lip and looked like he was about to burst into tears...

but then he realized how oh so fun it would be to honk the horn, and was all smiles...

and didn't want to get off the ride...

I love his sweet little face :)

He was such a good boy...

Hannah & her chicken :)

I think this is our only family picture from the day. Here we are on the train. Connor LOVED the train.

checking everything out...

looking out the window as the train flew by (ok.. not really flew... more like crawled)

LOVE this one

Hannah, Bethany & I did NOT coordinate what we were wearing... yet we all matched so nicely :)

this is what happens when you own your own business and you try to have fun... (this is Katie's husbands brother, Matthew)

Hannah & Matt (Katie's in-laws) at the all-you-can-eat BBQ buffet :)

Kate & Boo

Connor basically wanted ONLY watermelon for lunch... luckily I sneaked some other foods into him. But here he is with his beloved fruit! :)

My Favortie one! :)

After the park, we went to Pinks hotdogs for dinner (so yummy!).

All in all, we had a great time... and now, more than ever, I want to go to Disneyland! Tax return time can't come fast enough! :)

HE DID IT!!!

Connor was such a good boy at church today! After only a couple weeks of struggling, he ONLY cried for 15 minutes when I dropped him off in nursery. He actually played... ate snacks... and was semi-social :) Each week is getting better and better, so lets hope for no tears next week! :)

18 month stats...

Connor had a doctors appointment today. He had to get 2 shots which he wasn't very happpy about. Actually, he wasn't very happy about being at the office in general. He's very much in the "I hate everyone besides my mommy" stage, and so when the nurses/doctor/etc. walked into the room, he'd start crying... then when they'd try to touch him to examine him he'd cry even louder... and when he got his shots, he screamed bloody murder! :( Poor little guy. And he HATES band-aids... which they put on his legs and made it worse.

Everyone is always telling me that Connor's tall and big, but I never really think of him as big.

At doctors today he's:

Weight: 25 lbs. 6 oz. (45th percentile)

Height: 34 inches (88th percentile)

Head: 19.5 inches (90th percentile)

So he's tall with a big head, but skinny/average in weight, I guess... :)

(The big head is because he's so smart and he has a large brain with lots of information!) ;)