Our Weekend

Jordan leaves by about 7:15 every morning, (by 6:45 on Monday mornings) and doesn't get home until around 6 unless he has to stop somewhere on the way home and then he doesn't get home until around 7-7:30. McKay has started waking up around 6 or 6:15 am (ouch!) and being ready for bed by about 7:15-7:30 so they don't get to spend a lot of time together. Wednesday when Jordan got home from work, McKay was super cuddly with him. McKay is usually not a cuddly baby unless he is sick. It was really sweet to see how excited he was to see his Daddy... and Jordan LOVED it!

This weekend Hensel Phelps had their summer family BBQ in Oakland at Robert's Park in the Redwood Regional Park just outside of Oakland. It was a BEAUTIFUL park. (sorry, no pictures!) They had 'Olympics' sponsored by each 'team' in the Northern California Office. They had a Tug-of-War, a football throw, a water balloon toss, and a few other games. After lunch they had a softball game. It was really nice for me to be able to put some faces to the names I have been hearing. We also got to visit with another couple from BYU who graduated the same time as Jordan. They were actually in my ward at Campus Plaza for the semester before they got married (Shawn & Bonnie Malloy). Small world!

After the BBQ we went across the street (almost literally) to the Oakland Temple. It was so beautiful! They have a really nice Visitors Center and currently have on display an original 1830 copy of the Book of Mormon. It was so wonderful to be on the temple grounds! We really enjoyed the beautiful flowers and the music playing. The Oakland Temple is beautiful and we are looking forward to doing a session there.

We noticed something rather interesting as we were walking around the temple. There was a couple who had just gotten married but the closer we got to the group we noticed the bridesmaid dresses were missing the shoulders and sleeves. Then we noticed the BRIDE was missing hers too! There were a couple of sister missionaries standing nearby so we asked them what was going on. They said that several couples get married elsewhere and then come to take pictures at the Temple 'because it looks like a castle'. Very interesting. Saturday's are the busiest day for people taking pictures so they have to put a sign by the temple gate entrance saying 'no limousines'. The limos can't make the corner... we saw a stretch hummer try it and lose his bumper. Luckily no damage was done to the gate.

With all the fires in California right now, our sky has been anything but clear. We have a lot of ash on our car and I even noticed some on the stroller after our walk a couple of days ago. You know there is a lot of smoke when you can take a picture of the morning sun.

New Skill

McKay learned a new skill today - without any help or coaching either. I was working in the kitchen and glanced over to check on him. He was putting the ring ON the toy! I've tried to get him to put the rings back on after he takes them off but he has had no interest whatsoever. His goal has been to make sure none of the rings are ever stacked up. It was cute - he was putting his finger through the hole in the middle and then it was like something clicked and he started putting the ring on the toy. McKay LOVES to play with his rings. He still crawls everywhere with one ring in each hand. Or he'll have a remote in each hand, or a DVD case in each hand or any other toys in BOTH HANDS. The other day I was putting away clothes and the next thing I knew he had two pairs of socks, one in each hand. But the one constant is his rings. So it is really fun to see him discovering a new way to play with his favorite toy!

This is McKay's wrist 3 days after he got hurt.

McKay - 11 Months

A few things about McKay:

• He LOVES to walk (or run) around the house holding on to Mommy or Daddy's hands. He has excellent balance but just needs the confidence to walk on his own. Probably this month...
• He likes to stand alone (this was more at the beginning of the month) and gets a grin on his face that says 'Woah! Look at me!' and wobbles until he falls over on you. Then back up again. He gets such a kick out of that 'game'
• He loves music. Anytime he hears music he starts bobbing his head back and forth, no matter what the source is, including walking down the street in San Francisco last weekend. He will start the music on some of his toys and watch to see if Jordan and I are dancing with him. He usually stops squirming in church when we start to sing a hymn.
  
• McKay loves to be outside. He gets SO excited when I take him out to the grass, especially since he has been sick and has had to stay in. He loves to go for walks and to look at flowers with me... though he still isn't sure what to do with them!
• He wants to eat anything we are eating. He grabs your arm and brings your hand, with the food in it, to his mouth. He is actually pretty strong!
• McKay has started reaching for things. If there is anything close to the edge of the kitchen table or desk (like a stack of newspapers) he will pull it off to the floor. The other day he pulled my water bottle off the desk. Lucky for me, it wasn't full! He is also getting good at seeing where we have put his pacifier and reaching to get it.
  
• He is a very social little guy and wants to see what people around him are doing. He'll usually grin at them if they give him any attention at all. Or if they ignore him he still grins for a minute.
• He has started calling 'Aa' when he wants me. Usually this is when he is waking up or is looking for me around the house.
  
• He has a new fascination with the stereo. Probably because now it is low enough he can reach it. If it is accessible, he will be turning knobs as fast as he can, watching you to see if you see what he is doing, because he knows he isn't supposed to touch it.
  
• Whenever the fridge, the bathroom, the front door, or the pantry doors are open (basically anywhere we don't let him go as he pleases) he bolts to the door as fast as he can. It is funny to watch him start to make his way over until he sees you watching him or starting to head over to it and then he turns on turbo speed.
• McKay loves to clap his hands, give kisses, and wave 'bye bye'.
  
• He loves to explore and touch everything, especially if it makes a noise. He has some toys he knows make noise but hasn't figured out how to get them started so he just hits them as hard has he can until they make noise. This also goes for his little space heater.
  
• McKay always has a grin for you, especially when he wakes up from his naps. He is an easygoing happy little guy.
• McKay likes to have conversations with us consisting of aaas. High aaas then low aaas. He'll keep going as long as you will. He also likes to clap his hands or hit the table, first Dad or Mom then McKay, back and forth. We usually tire of this game much sooner than Mr. McKay will!
• Just in the last week or so he has started doing high fives and giving you five. Another new and very fun game!
• McKay is pretty funny when I vacuum. He crawls from room to room as fast as he can, usually he doesn't stay in the room I am in but he'll peek around the corner at me. Once in a while he'll sit and watch the vacuum for a minute and then he is off again.

We love our sweet little boy and are so thankful to have him in our family.

Ouch!

I had quite the scare tonight. McKay likes to be in the kitchen with me while I am cooking dinner so I try to keep him occupied by letting him play in the Tupperware cupboard or in my lid drawer. Tonight was the Tupperware cupboard. He was playing and having a great time. I only opened one side of it (they are old so he can't get them open easily on his own) and he had the front half of the top and bottom shelf cleared out and onto the floor and was slapping the top shelf as hard as he could. I glanced down to check on him and saw blood all over the floor and shelf. McKay noticed his wrist was hurting then and started to cry. I searched for the source of the blood and found a piece of glass about 1 1/4 inch long sticking out of his wrist. His whole sleeve was soaked with blood, blood was running down his arm, and he had it on his shirt and pants. I pulled the glass out, put him up next to the sink, and used cold water to rinse his hand. The blood was gushing out into the sink so I grabbed a paper towel and applied pressure to his wrist. The blood stopped gushing and I tried to call Jordan at work. Since we are down to one car, I don't have wheels at home and we forgot and left the car seat in the car. When Jordan didn't answer after 5 calls, I left him a message and sat down, still holding McKay and putting pressure on his wrist. I tried to put a Band-Aid on it to see if it could put enough pressure to stop the bleeding and didn’t have enough hands to do it and his wrist started gushing again. Back to the sink we went. Then I heard my next door neighbor with her little dog outside. She is a medical assistant (anyone is welcome at this point!) so I went outside and called to her. She was surprised when she saw all the blood and offered to help me. I had blood all over my hand and running down my arm (somehow through it all I didn’t get any on my clothes…) McKay has a little puncture in his wrist, probably about a ¼ inch in diameter. She thought for sure he would need a couple of stitches and offered to take us to where she works a couple of miles away. Without the car seat and insurance (we just have a temporary plan on McKay until we are covered at Jordan’s work in September) we thought we would just see if it would stop bleeding. Jordan finally answered his phone and left work to come home right then. With my neighbor’s help, we were able to get a Band-Aid on his wrist. By the time Jordan got home, the Band-Aid was still stopping the blood so we figured he would probably be okay. We changed his Band-Aid a couple more times tonight and he seems like it will be okay. I have not broken anything here yet and that cupboard only has Tupperware in it so somehow that piece of glass made it past the cleaning when the family before us moved out (my neighbor said the previous tenants were ‘clean freaks’) as well as cleaning before we moved our stuff in. Yet my boy found a piece of glass!

We feel very fortunate that McKay did not get hurt worse. He did not hit an artery - probably a capillary. He is such a tough little guy, the only times he cried were right after it happened and when he would start bleeding again. My neighbor kept commenting on how calm he was. Definitely made it easier for this Mommy!

BTW: I am sure my family is wondering if I got sick at all during this – I am proud to report the only time I felt a little light-headed was after my neighbor came in and I finally had help. On an empty stomach even!

Happy Father's Day!

We were all really tired after our long weekend so after church and dinner we all took a nap. McKay slept 3 hours and Jordan and I slept about 2 1/2. We all needed it.

McKay wins the award for the best hair!

We had a nice, relaxing Father's day. We had a great steak dinner, a nice long Sunday afternoon nap, a bowl of ice cream and a new season of Monk and Andy Griffith to watch. This was Jordan's first official Father's Day and he made the most of it. We were talking to my Dad yesterday evening and he commented that if you can't get something on Father's day you might as well forget it! We enjoyed visiting with our Dads. Jordan is a good father to McKay and McKay loves his Daddy!

San Francisco

Last Saturday, June 14, 2008 we went to San Francisco. We went to Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39 all the way down to Pier 1 to the Farmer's Market, to the Coastal Trail to Land's End, and to the Golden Gate Bridge. The highlight for us was the Coastal Trail, which we accidentally found. It was absolutely beautiful. This time we were smart and brought our Atlas and the map of California Aunt Mary gave us. We drove home on the 280, which was a beautiful drive. It was a fun day scratching the surface of what there is to see and do in San Francisco.

What a Mess!

While I was gone to the store, McKay discovered a box of tissues that was much too convenient. Unfortunately, it was also a relatively NEW box we opened since McKay has been sick. (Good job Jordan for catching him in action!)

McKay loves it when I leave the lid drawer open! When I am working on dinner and need to be free from the ball and chain around my legs (ie. McKay) I leave the lid drawer or the tupperware cupboard open and I am free for 10-15 minutes and he loves it. I like to hurry and pick up all the lids and put them back into the drawer just to watch him rush back to empty it again. Cheap entertainment!

Stuck!

I was working at the computer and McKay started making an awful sound. He was trying to get my attention and since he still isn't over his sickness, it sounded terrible. He had gotten his right hand stuck in this toy. Luckily for him, he could still reach another toy so it wasn't too urgent that I come (so I could feel okay about leaving him stuck to get the camera)

Then later the same day, he got his arm stuck again only this time he was really stuck and panicking (this picture is of later on in the day when he got it stuck again and wasn't quite as worried about it). He was trying to reach the wash cloth on the chair behind him and his arm got really stuck. He hasn't gotten stuck very often but yesterday he did twice!

Garden Tuna Pasta Salad

I got this recipe at an enrichment activity just before we left Utah and it is quickly becoming a favorite.

1 cup Mayo or Miracle Whip (1/2 c. of each is best)
1/3 cup milk
1 TB Vinegar
1 tsp Salt
8 oz Spiral Pasta cooked & rinsed in cold water
1 6 oz can Tuna drained
2 medium tomatoes diced
1 small cucumber

Combine the first 4 ingredients. Add Pasta, Tuna, Tomatoes, and Cucumber. Best served chilled.

Bronchitis & A New Job

Last Wednesday morning (the 4th) McKay woke up with a temperature of 101.4 and a small cough. The fever went down by Thursday afternoon but his cough has progressively gotten worse. Saturday morning we took him to an urgent care clinic (we will never go back there again... talk about ghetto!!! We were afraid to touch anything! Who lets a dog into a doctors office??) and got a prescription to help open up McKay's bronchial tubes. His cough has loosened up, he is sneezing all the time and seems to be sleeping more so we are hoping he is getting better. I feel so bad for him when he has a cough attach or I have to wipe his nose. No fun having a sick baby!

So worn out!

Cute even when he doesn't feel well!

Jordan has now completed his first week of working for Hensel Phelps Construction. Yeah!! The first week is behind us! By the end of the week he was starting to actually do some work and really enjoyed it. So far it seems like the job is everything he hoped for and probably more. He is assigned to work on the ConRAC for the San Jose Airport. The starting price tag is $217 million, which happens to be the largest municipality project being built in the nation right now. He is working as an office engineer and was pleasantly surprised by his large office with a view and his name on the door. It has been a bit of culture shock for him to see what is common place with people he works with.

McKay and I are enjoying the beautiful weather. Every day is nice!

Gilroy

Thankfully, our drive home was much less eventful than the drive there. We stopped at a fruit stand in Gilroy and got some fresh strawberries, cherries, onions, and garlic. Gilroy smells like garlic. Seriously! You don’t even have to roll down the windows to smell it. In July they have a Garlic Festival celebrating garlic. Gilroy is also home to a huge selection of outlet stores. We’ve been told that even people who don’t like to shop will like shopping there. And it is only 45 minutes away from us. Garlic and shopping… what a great combination!

Lunch with Elder McCleve

My brother Christopher is currently serving his mission in Southern California and Mary lives in his mission. In fact, he served in her ward for a few months. Well, transfers were June 1 and he was pretty sure he was going to be transferred so he had called Mary to see if she wanted to go to lunch. He was serving in Reseda, about 2 hours or so away from Mary’s home in Palmdale. We were glad we would be visiting before transfers just in case he happened to be transferred further away. Well, the weekend before we went, Chris was emergency transferred back to Palmdale! Perfect! When we talked to Chris on Mother’s Day I mentioned we would be coming down and would try to take him to lunch or something. Of course Aunt Mary didn’t say a word to him about us being in town and coming to lunch with them. Well, Chris said he wanted to eat Italian so we decided Olive Garden sounded good. I figured Christopher probably remembered we would be coming but I didn’t tell him exactly when so we went to Olive Garden while Aunt Mary went to get Christopher and his companion. Afterwards Chris said he fully expected to see us in the car when he got in and was a little disappointed we weren’t there. On the way there he was talking about how we were going to be moving to California soon. I wish I had had a video camera to see his face when he saw us waiting for him at the restaurant. It was a ‘wow!’ and a quadruple take. Pretty cool. Aunt Mary said when they were leaving the restaurant she and his companion were talking about how Chris was mid-sentence when he saw us and that was the end of that story!

Christopher’s companion is Elder Jolley from Brigham City, Utah. He said he knows the Robertsons. He seems like a really nice guy. It was so neat to be with the missionaries and to feel the Spirit they have with them. You could tell they are following the rules and working hard to serve the Lord. My little brother has really grown up and I am proud of who he is. And I don’t just mean that now he is 6’ tall!

Somehow McKay made it in every picture!

HWY 198, Brant & Disneyland

We still had our complimentary tickets to Disneyland from our honeymoon that had to be used up by July 1^st of this year so we decided we had better use them up before Jordan starts working. Pretty lucky to get a second chance at a honeymoon. This time it didn’t rain on us, Disneyland wasn’t sold out, and Jordan didn’t get sick. Much better!

We headed out on Tuesday, May 27^th. We were planning on leaving early in the morning but alas, it took too long to get in touch with the State Farm agent in Utah (I guess they get a lot of calls after a long weekend) and the corporate division tried to give Jordan a hard time and claim that the tire wasn’t the cause of the damage and they didn’t have to cover it. Yeah right! Luckily (I guess) for us, the day before we left Utah his car was in the shop getting new struts and Jordan had the guy check the tires. The back tires were fine to be pulled to CA. So State Farm will pay to have it fixed, which it is looking like the car may be totaled. We are probably going to be in the market for a ‘new’ car sooner than we had planned. Anyway, the car took a while and then we had to wait for a repair man to come look at our washer drain… the pipe in the apartment was plugged and the washer couldn’t drain the water. Luckily I was in the kitchen and heard the water spilling out onto the floor before we had too big of a mess. So we didn’t leave Santa Clara until almost two and we didn’t have the internet yet so we were relying on the maps in the car (yes, we left our atlas at home). The 5 does not go to San Jose. We would have to go to Oakland (an hour backtracking) and then start going south. The 101 Freeway goes from San Jose, near the coast down to LA, but not through Palmdale, where my Aunt Mary lives nor through Bakersfield, where my cousin Brant lives. To get to Bakersfield we needed to be on the 99 and to get to the 99 we needed to get over to the 5. So, an hour after we left San Jose, the only connecting road between the 101 and the 5 that does not backtrack is the 198. What? You haven’t ever heard of the 198? Hmmm…

Well we started down the road and it was really a beautiful drive. It reminded Jordan of the happy cows from California commercials. You get the idea. THEN we came to a fork in the road. I was in the back seat feeding McKay. I told Jordan I thought we should not take the fork… just keep going straight. Well, there was a guy in a truck ahead of us backing up to take the other road… so Jordan figured we must want to be on the other road too and looked over his shoulder and saw 198 with an arrow pointing to the road we came from and the road we were on… but from his view it looked like the arrow was pointing to the road we came from and the fork. So he backed up and took the fork. Next thing I know, Jordan says ‘I’m not too sure about this road’. I looked up to see the road had narrowed to a one lane paved 4 wheeler trail with dozens of squirrels darting across the road trying not to get hit by Jordan going 70 mph! We passed several abandoned farms and hoped we would get to the end of the road before our gas ran out (we still had over half a tank thankfully). Finally we saw human life at the side of the road so I strongly suggested we stop and make sure we were headed in the right direction. Jordan asked the lady if this road would take us to the 5. The 5?? It was like someone stopping in Preston and asking if they were on the right road to I-15. Uh, not really! In fact, the road we were on loops around and connects back to the 101! Needless to say we were not supposed to take the fork in the road. Suddenly the drive was not quite so pretty as we waited and waited to reach the end, going around curves, trying to avoid all the semis on the road. A few miles from the 5 we hit Coalinga, where one of Jordan’s classmates got a job working for Granite Construction. Now he agrees with him that it is in the middle of nowhere! We got so frustrated with the horrible signage but finally did arrive at the semi infested I-5. Whew! Quite a bit later than we were anticipating but oh well!

We got to my cousin Brant’s place in Bakersfield around 8 pm (BTW we anticipated getting there around 3 or 3:30 before the day started…) It was great to see Brant and to introduce him to Jordan and McKay. I hadn’t seen Brant since Mary brought him to the Cardon Reunion at John & Debbie’s 8 years ago. He was excited to see us, especially McKay. McKay’s blond hair reminded Brant of him when he was a baby. We got to Mary’s around 10:30-11 pm (poor McKay had finally just fallen asleep). We got McKay to bed and then had to look at a map to show Mary where we came. Confirmed: the 198 was our only option since we had already passed Gilroy! We found another road that looked shorter from the 5 to the 101 going through Gilroy we decided to take on the way home. Aunt Mary decided we needed her map of California worse than she did. Wonder what gave her that idea...

Aunt Mary very kindly offered to watch McKay for us while we went to Disneyland. After eating a delicious breakfast and getting McKay down for his morning nap, we headed out. The odds were completely in our favor to have a better time than we did 2 ½ years ago on our honeymoon and we did! The longest line was about 15 minutes except for waiting in the Indiana Jones tunnel for the ride to be fixed (is it just me or does it seem like Indiana Jones breaks down a lot?) which was about 45 minutes and just before we took a break for lunch making the wait feel like 2 hours. It was so nice to be able to leave McKay and not have to worry about him because we knew he would be okay. And I think both McKay and Mary had a great time!

One Adventure After Another

We’ve had enough ‘adventure’ in the last few weeks to last us a really long time (we hope). Thanks to a couple of great neighbors and Jordan’s parents, we were able to get our 24’ Budget truck loaded and on our way to California. Jordan and his father were driving the truck and I followed Jordan’s Mom to the airport with McKay to drop off their car for when they flew back home on Sunday. After a few detours, we were on our way to catching up to the guys in the truck. We figured it shouldn’t take too long since their max speed was 68 mph. We underestimated just how long our detours took and were quite a way behind them… even with them stopping for a steak dinner at a casino in Wendover. Everything seemed to be going okay… Jordan and I had just exchanged what mile markers we were close to (we were still 30 miles behind them) when I got a message from him saying they had a problem and were on the side of the freeway 10 miles from Elko, please stop. Apparently all the rubber I had been seeing on the freeway was from Jordan’s car we were towing with a dolly behind the moving truck. After I stopped seeing the rubber it was another 5-10 minutes before we saw the big truck on the side of the freeway. The back left tire on his car had blown, almost all the rubber was gone & the car had been dragging on the rim. The worst part of the damage isn’t visible. The guys put the donut on the car and we slowly drove the remaining miles to Elko where a Les Schwab changed the tire immediately. There was just enough rubber left on the rim for the rim to be bent but still usable, a good thing since the rims have been discontinued. We drove the rest of the way to Reno and got to our hotel (thanks for booking it for us Dad) around 9:30 pm. (BTW: we left Orem at 9:45 am). We were all SO exhausted and hungry so we ate dinner and got to bed around 11:30 pm (remember we lost an hour getting to Nevada… )

Poor little McKay did NOT want to get back into his car seat the next morning! Who can blame him? After driving through a spring storm over Donners Pass (yes, snow there) we finally got to our little duplex in Santa Clara. Everyone was hungry so I set off to find the Subway Jordan and I went to when we were here looking for a place to live. We were both sure it was on Homestead (a major street near where we live) and that it was on the corner by Safeway. I looked for that place for a solid hour before I just stopped and got something else. I even went into a bagel store to see if they knew where it was. Talk about frustrating. Right after I got back with something other than Subway and everyone was taking a break to eat, 3-4 guys from our new ward arrived to help us unload. ‘Dinner’ was put aside until about 45 minutes later when the truck was empty and the guys had gone home. We were all so grateful to see those guys. It would have taken 4+ hours for us to do it alone!

That night (still Saturday the 24^th), Jordan was outside in the dark looking in the trunk of his car for his dad’s sweater. There is a hole in the trunk now so everything was wet, including his golf clubs, his guns, the laptop bag and a few other things. Nothing was ruined and it was mostly just the cases everything was in that was wet. As Jordan was going through everything in the trunk, he set the laptop on the side of the car, between the tire and the curb, in the gutter… and forgot about it. He didn’t realize what he had done until the next day after church when he wanted to type up all our relocation expenses to turn in to the company. Talk about a sick feeling. We looked everywhere for that bag but to no avail. It was gone. We asked a couple of neighbors as we were leaving for and returning from dinner (one of the elders who helped us move invited us over for dinner and to use their internet. Oh yeah! We do have to eat! It was fun to meet them, they are a nice family.) if they had seen anything at all. No luck, though everyone felt bad for us. The biggest thing I was sick about was that all of our pictures are on that laptop. We decided I could pull the heart strings the best and so I started knocking on all of our new neighbors doors, starting with our landlady. Both she and a lady we spoke to earlier said that the man who lives two doors down from us would be a good person to ask, they had seen him out the night before. The landlady said he looks rough and is in a band but had been nice anytime she had spoken with him. I figured I didn’t have anything to lose. I walked up to the door and knocked on the screen. The door was open and I could see a man sitting on the couch inside. After my knock a gruff voice said ‘is that my door?’ The man on the couch said it was. Then ‘Who is it?!? Who is it?!?” to which I replied with a ‘Hello!’ A little less gruffly (very slightly less) he said, Oh, I’ll be there in a minute. As he comes around the corner drying his hands he asks what he can do for me. Imagine if you will, I am down on the doorstep so he looks even bigger and taller to me. He is a big man, with long curly hair and a partial goatee, just the part on his chin but the hair is divided into two sections and twisted together to be pointy and resemble fangs. I start out by saying I have a strange question for him, we just moved in yesterday (he nods… like everyone else in the neighborhood he saw the truck) and we left a black bag next to our car… at which point he cuts me off with ‘I’ve got it here for you.’ I couldn’t believe it! We were so worried about it, not to mention that we would have to buy a new computer, an expense we aren’t ready for right now. I was so relieved and told him he made my day and that I might cry to which he responded that he would get me a tissue. He said that his girlfriend found it in the gutter last night and that it was all wet. He didn’t go knocking doors because he figured people would say they had lost a laptop even if they hadn’t and he figured whoever lost it would come asking. If not, he got a new laptop. The guy on the couch asked why where we were coming from (we have found that people look at us and it is obvious we are not from California… J) I told him Utah and that Jordan is in Construction Management working on the airport. Turns out that this guy is an estimator for cabinets. So now we have a new friend. Yes, we did find a good neighborhood to move into. Whew, what a relief!

Pictures

As promised, I am finally scanning & posting McKay's 9 month pictures as well as the family picture we had taken a couple of weeks later.

Santa Clara

Last weekend we flew to San Jose to find a place to live. We got there Thursday and went to look at a place that night. I was very discouraged after we saw it. It was quite small, had a cracker box kitchen, and was in a huge complex of condos. Not only that but they wanted $1650/month for it. Jordan had several appointments set up for us on Friday. One apartment was actually quite nice but all the places in the neighborhood were behind bars - the windows, the doors and even the front yards. After driving around that neighborhood I didn't even get out of the car to see the place. We really liked another apartment but nothing (park, shopping) was close and it was not family friendly at all. After giving up on finding our way to our 2:00 appointment, we went to our 3:00 appointment in Santa Clara. Jordan had found it on Craigs List the night before. After walking through it we gave them half of a deposit - we knew we wanted it and their phone had been ringing off the hook. They didn't even bother to do a credit check. In fact, we were there the same time as another single woman and the lady showing us the place said she was waiting for her to leave so she could get her mother, who actually owns the place and lives next door, to come and meet us. It is in a nice, normal neighborhood with a huge park, library, and grocery store within walking distance. It felt like home! It is a 2 bedroom 1 bath duplex (yeah!! not an apartment or even a condo!) with a one car garage, a utility room, a small yard, and a fenced in patio. It is also one of the few places with air conditioning, which was very exciting considering we were there during an unusually hot spell (100+ degrees!) and none of the rest of the places we had seen had it. The duplex is about 10 maybe 15 minutes away from the San Jose airport where Jordan will be working. We were very excited to find it. Oh, and it is $1550/month. Definitely a tender mercy from the Lord, as this whole experience has been.

The garages are between us and our neighbors.

The kitchen is out of date but it is quite large. No dishwasher, disposal, or microwave and you've gotta love the yellow with green trim, and the gold stove/oven!

McKay - 10 Months

Another month has passed already! Amazing how time flies. Especially when we are so busy transitioning into a new phase of our lives. And McKay just keeps on growing. For his 10 month birthday we were in California looking for a place to live. He is such a good baby, we are so lucky to have him in our family.

McKay is always on the go and ready with a grin. He is a very social baby and smiles at everyone he sees. No matter where we go, people look at him and smile, especially this past weekend in California. My blond hair blue eyed boy was quite the attention getter! He has several teeth now that he grinds together (any suggestions on this? I just give him a cheerio or his pacifier to get him to stop) and he loves to experiment with standing alone. He'll stand there for a second with a huge grin on his face and then hurry and catch you like he thinks he will fall (he isn't going to but it is part of the game) and laughs and tries again. He loves to hold onto our hands and walk as well as walk along the furniture or pretty much anywhere he has something to hold onto with at least one hand. He loves his 'rings' (see previous post) and I love to re-stack them so he can take them apart again and crawl around the house with them. Once he's got them in his hands, he doesn't let go very easily even if it makes it hard to climb up on mom's leg. McKay is a very good sleeper and when he is awake nothing escapes his attention. We adore our little man!

This wasn't meant to be a 'reflective' picture...

His hair is always so crazy when he wakes up! (This is a VERY mild example)

McKay had the WORST diaper rash I have ever seen. He got it right after we got home from Idaho for Mother's Day. Here we were letting his bum get some air (much easier to do when you are not at home.) I can't remember why he doesn't have anything else on though! He loved playing with that door stop. A&D Original (without Zinc Oxide) finally did the trick. Thank heaven (and Jennifer for the suggestion!)

This chair is at my Grandma Cardon's house and all the kids love to sit in it. It fits just right!

We're Moving to...

San Jose, California. Hensel Phelps is working on a new wing for the San Jose Airport and Jordan will be working on that job. He wanted to work on the airport so we are really excited about that! Next week we will fly out to find a place to live and the week after that (the 22nd or 23rd) we will close and move out. Yeah!!

Rock Canyon Park

Saturday night we decided to go and do something in Utah that we wouldn't be able to do once we are gone. So we decided to go to Rock Canyon Park in Provo. It was almost a nice night - as long as we weren't facing the wind coming out of the canyon we were okay. McKay really doesn't like the wind in his face. He gasps and acts like it is taking his breath away. We walked up the wrong path initially and Jordan and I ended up carrying McKay and the stroller until we met up with the paved path. Toward the end we were both laughing so hard it was difficult to keep moving!

Not exactly a stroller friendly path!

It was a beautiful evening and we all enjoyed being outside!

Women's Conference

Wednesday, April 30th we had a get together with the McCleve cousins and Aunts who were in town for Women's conference (it was supposed to be a BBQ but it turned out that Justin & Jennifer Maner and Jordan & I were the only families to use the grill - the rest had an uncommunicated goal to get food from a different fast food place than everyone else!). We haven't had a cousins party for quite some time and a lot of us are moving (CA, WA, FL & HI) so we thought we had better get together. We had a lot of fun visiting and catching up on what everyone is doing.

Then on May 1st, we met Grandma Cardon, Aunt Mary, Kathryn (Mary's daughter) and Barbara (a lady from Mary's stake in CA) for dinner at Shoots. It is a Chinese restaurant located in The Shops at Riverwoods in Provo. It is one of our favorite restaurants. Requirements for a Jordan and Maria Favorite: Good food, little or no wait, and not too expensive. Therefore, Shoots is a favorite. Anyway, we had a great time.

Can you tell who are related? (Hint: look at height... )

Aunt Mary had an extra ticket to Women's Conference so I went with them to the humanitarian service project and to the concert in the Marriott Center. I also left work early on Friday to join them in the Marriott Center to hear President Monson speak. There are no words to describe what it is like to hear the Prophet of the Lord speak. The immediate hush as he enters the room is so amazing. Thousands and thousands of women who had been chatting moments before are completely silent as the Prophet enters the room. Then someone started singing 'We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet' and the organist quickly chimed in. Simply wonderful. President Monson spoke about enjoying EVERY DAY as a special occasion and not postponing anything that will make you happy. The day when we will have time to get everything done will never come. And childhood never comes back. We should focus on our accomplishments and the good we have done. After the meeting was over and President Monson was leaving the room, he noticed a few women in front of him waving to him and he stopped and looked all around that huge room as we all waved to the Prophet and he turned slowly, waving in each direction. What a wonderful experience.

Grandma was too busy to take time for a picture!