Guide me, O Lord, in all the changes and varieties of this world; that in all things that shall happen, I may have an evenness and tranquility of spirit; that my soul may be wholly resigned to Thy divine will and pleasure.
-Jeremy Taylor

Nursery

Today was McKay's first Sunday in nursery. My baby is 18 months old! I think Jordan was the most excited out of the three of us. They have a junior nursery and a senior nursery. There were about 5-7 kids there today. We hung out in there for the first 45 minutes or so. McKay seemed to enjoy himself and has been playing with a lot of the kids in our little 'pre-nursery' in the gym for the last few months or so. The nursery shares a wall with my young women classroom so even though it is a little distracting and noisy sometimes now that my boy is in there it is kind of nice. I heard some crying once today and listened carefully... nope, not McKay. Now I guess we have to start going to sunday school again. Wonder where they hold it... just kidding. ;)

Rancho San Antonio

Yesterday we went to Rancho San Antonio County Park. After all, it is January and it was about 70 degrees outside... we couldn't pass up the beautiful day! With the exception of when I did my winter internship in Phoenix, neither Jordan nor I have ever experienced such lovely weather in January. We love it! We had heard about San Antonio before and that there are lots of great family hikes and it is only about 15 minutes away from us. We printed a map of the park, grabbed the hiking backpacks, picked up a Subway and headed out. Not too surprisingly, lots of other Californians had the same idea. People were circling the several not-big-enough parking lots in hopes of happening upon someone who was leaving at the right time so they could flip on their blinker and snatch the spot. We were about ready to give up when a lady waved to me that she was leaving. Yay!!

We decided to walk to Deer Hollow Farm, which is a historic farm that has been restored and is still used to raise animals people can see. We got a kick out of people taking pictures of the jersey cow like they have never seen a cow before. Crazy city people! :) McKay wasn't too sure what to think of the roosters who were having a crowing competition. I am not sure if he made the connection from his toy animals to the real thing or not but he seemed to enjoy seeing them and did a good job making the animal sounds. They had one cow, several sheep with a couple of baby lambs, goats, a couple of huge pigs, lots of chickens and a couple of roosters, geese, and ducks. They sell eggs and milk as well as baby animals, such as the lambs born last week, to help pay for the place. It was a fun destination for our hike.

We all enjoyed being outside. Between bites of his sandwich McKay would 'explore'. When people would jog by, he'd run after them - SO happy to be outside. It was a perfect day and we were amazed at how much it felt (and sounded) like we were miles and miles away from anything - yet the freeway was right around the 'corner'. When we were walking back we saw a couple of deer across the meadow. Definitely a park we will visit again.

Hensel Phelps Holiday Party

Saturday the 10th was Jordan's work holiday party. It was kinda nice to have it after the new year, though the red and green name tags seemed a little out of place. The party was held at the Claremont Resorts & Spa in Berkeley, California. We drove up Saturday afternoon to take McKay swimming and check the place out. Of course, he wasn't done swimming when it was time to go get ready for the formal party but the promise of a bath helped.

We took McKay to the babysitting room (the company provided babysitters) and headed to the reception. We enjoyed visiting with Jeff & his wife Sarah (Jordans Project Manager) as well as another couple Jordan works with. We sat with the Malloys and another couple from BYU, the McPhees) at dinner. The servers couldn't believe it: none of us wanted wine or coffee when it is all free! Dinner was Grilled Fillet Mignon and Jumbo Shrimp. We enjoyed our meal and getting to know the other couples better.

After dinner was the 'Casino Night'. We each got $500 we could turn in for tokens to gamble with. Jordan and I went to get McKay and put him to bed. The McPhees were also taking care of their little 2 year old and 4 month old boys. As we were leaving, they told us they had decided to just go home and gave us their tokens. SWEET! We put McKay to bed, using our cell phone monitoring system (leave one phone in the room and call the other one to listen to him) and got our tokens. We played a couple of games and then it was time to turn in our tokens for raffle tickets. There were about 15 prizes ranging from a huge LCD TV (that everyone wanted) to a kids scooter to an Ipod, video camera, camera, portable dvd player etc - all really nice gifts. Plus, each couple got to put their name in a 'mystery bag' for a chance to win one of the 15 cash gifts on the tree. There were about 300 people there. Long story short, Jordan won $50 and I won a Blu-ray/DVD player. We did get a few comments like 'wow, you guys really cleaned up tonight' and 'you know now you can't win anything next year.' We were pretty excited. It is fun to win!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Too much happened to go into too much detail so I've decided to use bullets and pictures (the few I have from others' cameras) to record the last couple of weeks.

• We flew out of San Jose Christmas Eve and had a very uneventful trip to Idaho (thankfully!) McKay was a GREAT traveler.
  
• Christmas Eve and Morning with Grandpa and Grandma Moser & Kim & Frank.
• Opened presents 3 times: In CA, the gifts we didn't want to pack, Christmas Morning, and at Grandma and Grandpa Cardon's house, the day after Christmas.
• Lots & Lots of snow!
• Lots and Lots of people celebrating Kent's birthday.
• McKay fell down the steep stairs at Grandpa & Grandma Mosers.
  
• Sledding, soup & scones at Tyson & Mandi's. McKay's first time sledding. He also saw a horse for the first time and loved it.
  
• Celebrated our anniversary: Dinner at Blackstone in Logan.
• We bought 19 #10 cans and 2 37# buckets of dried food storage at Macey's
• I enjoyed my christmas present from Jordan: a massage and an adjustment at Ira's office. Jordan got a much needed adjustment & orthodics.
  
• Jordan went to Nicky & Ira's in Smithfield for a New Years Eve party while McKay and I stayed home and had a nice quiet evening together. McKay got his many times asked for bath and we read lots of books. We went to bed early... the staying asleep part was the hard part.
• We enjoyed a delicious turkey dinner at Grandma & Grandpa Cardon's in Benson on January 1 to celebrate Brigham & Bridgers 10th birthday.
• We enjoyed Japanese food and entertaining conversation at Nicky & Ira's to celebrate Shawn's birthday.
  
• We watched the Utes beat Alabama.
• I got a much needed haircut.
  
• We visited Jordans friend Nick.
• McKay decided he can feed himself all by himself all the time, no matter what he is eating.
• The Moser Family Biggest Loser Contest rules were officially set... after much discussion. :)
  
• We went to Salt Lake with Kent and Kathy on the 3rd. We stopped to see Travis and his girls and Robin, Reece & Taylor. We also enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Cracker Barrel.
• We flew home early on the fourth after a VERY short night. So nice to be home! We were welcomed by 50 degree weather and green grass - not to rub it in or anything of course... :)
  

McKay was very careful opening up his gifts. After he tore off each little piece, he took it to the trash.

LtoR Jordan & McKay, Ira & Kamden, Shawn & Ryan, Derrick & Desmond, and David & Marley standing.

"I need to go help Mandi help the kids over the fence." Lets just say he didn't make it before the kids were all through the fence and on their way up the hill. The snow was deeper than it looked!

Thanks to Nicky & Kelli, McKay had winter clothes to wear sledding. The hill the rest were going down was a bit too much for McKay (plus, how could we get across the snow to the hill?) so Jordan did the next best thing...

Yes that is the snow that has been packed on the road. The first time was a little too fast for McKay so Jordan used his feet to control the speed and McKay kept asking for more and more.

His boots were a little too big for him to walk so we just carried him up the hill.

Up close and personal...

and lovin' every minute of it!

Things to Remember

12-31-08
McKay mimics what he sees others do. If someone yawns, McKay starts yawning. If someone uses their hands while talking, McKay mimics the movement. Sometimes it is pretty funny to see his interpretation of what we are doing.

The never-fail method of breaking the ice with McKay while visiting in Idaho was giving 'knuckles' to everyone in the room. Once in a while, if someone was a little too overbearing, they would get skipped as McKay made his way around the room.

12-22-08
Lately McKay has been sticking his tongue in his cheek, especially when he is concentrating. It is really cute.

12-16-08
Usually when it gets 'too quiet' you need to check on your child. With McKay, when he is quiet he is usually reading a book somewhere. His favorite place is in the corner where the two couches meet.

McKay likes to stand in my closet with his face in my skirts and wait for me to ask where he went. He also hides his face in the mattress of our bed. Just another version of hide-and-seek/peek-a-boo.

Yesterday McKay put his Legos in Jordan's shoes and the lids in the dishtowel drawer that was left open an inch or so.

Lately McKay has started singing. I have been playing Christmas music a lot and he usually starts singing with the 'gloria's in 'Angels We Have Heard on High'. He also LOVES to have Jordan or I dance with him, especially when we spin. He dances on his own too: turning in a circle & bending his knees to the 'beat'.

This morning we finished off a gallon of milk with breakfast and McKay watched me as I smashed the empty jug with my foot. This afternoon we were in the utility room doing laundry and McKay saw the empty jug waiting to be taking out to the recycling bin. He put it on the floor and proceeded to step on it. Nothing gets past this kid!

12-9-08
When we lay McKay down for a nap or for the night, if we don't pat him on the back, he pats us to remind us. Sometimes it turns into a game.

Whenever McKay is on my shoulders or standing next to me on the bench at church or any other time he can reach my hair, he likes to play with it. Once in a while he pulls but that is quite rare. He just likes to run his fingers through it and twirl it around. It actually feels pretty good!

12-3-08
Today at the playgroup at the church, McKay and another little boy were playing with the pom poms. Several of the plastic 'strings' fell out and McKay picked up each one and took it to the trash can. Thats MY boy! :)

12-2-08
When he isn't in the fridge as soon as the door opens, McKay likes to go to the other side of the door and peek through the crack at us as we get what we need out. Another game that doesn't seem to get old!

12-1-08
McKay loves the 'Itsy Bitsy Spider' especially 'when the rain came down and washed the spider out.' He laughs every time.

When we got home from being gone for about 4 1/2 days for Thanksgiving, McKay ran all over the house squealing with delight. He'd take a big breath and let it out in a squeal. We enjoyed watching him. He was so happy to be home and out of his car seat!