Halloween... a little late

He was the cutest little puppy for our ward party (we're a little lazy and this was super easy)...

Then he was going to be an adorable mechanic until he peed all over his outfit...

So per family tradition he decided to be a tiger for his first Halloween.  This picture is for Tonya...

This one is frightening of me, but Mark wanted me to post it.

Mark and I played Trick or Treat.  We rang the doorbell at my parents, pillaged their candy then played the best trick of leaving them with Erik while we ran to the gym.  Overall not a bad Halloween.

My Awesome little sister took some fun Photo's.

Baby Erik, Looking ever a Little Man.

Don't you just love his Sweater Vest!?

Erik Having a Ball in the Bathroom Sink!

Sunday Afternoon Ride

Mark wants to go on a Sunday afternoon motorcycle ride almost every week.  This week I finally went with him and it rained on us like crazy! We were freezing, but we still had a good time.  Natasha rode with Mark's brother Stephen and Natalia rode with Stephen's friend Kim.  Josh left his prego wife to come by himself.

I hope Mark enjoyed it, because it will probably be a while before I go again.  Although, I have put 500 miles on my scooter this summer... which amounts to roughly 5 gallons of gas.  Not bad.

He's a mover and a shaker (and a chewer)

Erik really gets around now.  He can get across the room in almost no time (by rolling or scooting) and always seems to have something in his mouth.  Most of the time it's fingers

Sometimes it's toes.

When I try to get any work done from home, he goes for the papers...

Then I tried to feed him solid food.  It says to start with a teaspoon, but even a third of a teaspoon took too long because every bite that went in, came right back out.  Finally he discovered the bib...

So solids may take a while, but at least he is still good at feeding himself.

Planning your estate

Everyone knows they need a will, but most people don't get around to ever creating one.  In fact, 85 percent of American adults don't have one (truth be told, I haven't drafted one for myself or Mark yet).  That's no excuse for any of us.  If you have children and not many assets, a simple will can dictate at least who will be the caretakers of your children should you and your spouse die.  Most legal documents should be drafted by an attorney, but if that isn't going to happen for you now, you can create one yourself.  Make sure you date it and have a few disinterested parties witness your signature (if they receive any sort of gift in your will they are not disinterested).  If even that seems too hard, write something out on a blank piece of paper in your handwriting, date it and sign it.  In Utah that is sufficient.

In a few years when we start to acquire more assets, it is more critical to get a trust to protect those assets.  That's a much more lengthy post that I don't want to get into tonight, but it's also something that should NEVER be done without an attorney.  We have a case where some people created multiple trusts without an attorney and more than a decade after they passed away their children are still fighting to figure out what part of the trusts are valid.  The assets are basically gone, but they are still fighting and it has destroyed their family.  Less effective.

Final consideration: a lot of families are torn apart when the parents die and the siblings fight over who gets what.  There are several creative ways to avoid many of these fights.  One that I heard of today was a family who gave each of the children monopoly money and allowed them to bid on items with the money.  One son really only cared about one item so he bid his full amount on it and walked away happy with it. When all of the money was gone (and all of the items people really cared about had been "bought") they divided the rest if anyone wanted it as a bonus to them.  There are other options, the best of which is to have your parent designate items in advance, if that doesn't happen think of something that is fair and easy to implement.

I'll post more later about some of the other documents, but for today, start thinking about it and talk to your spouse then put something in writing.

Legal advice?

If you ever call an attorney to ask a simple question you may find that it's almost impossible to get a straight answer.  It was one of the things I hated the most about law school.  There are two reasons you won't be able to get a quick answer over the phone, 1) the answer to almost any legal question is "it depends."  It can become infuriating when you just want to know, but unfortunately the law is almost never straight forward.  If you ask a question that can easily be answered like "what is the statute of limitations for this?" You might get a response like 4 years, but even that can depend on the facts of the case.  If you ask something harder like "do I have a case" or "how long will this take" well then the attorney may need a crystal ball in order to answer your question. The problem is, some people look like they have a great case at first, but they fail to give us all of the information.  Conversely, I have a case that we originally thought was pretty worthless, but after some additional investigation (called Discovery - which is a very long process) we found the case is likely going to be quite lucrative.  It always depends.

2) If an attorney were to answer your question and only spoke to you that one time, without all of the information, your subsequent actions may set him or her up for a malpractice suit.  The problem is, the attorney-client relationship is whatever the client thinks it is.  So even if you never talk to that attorney, if you get all of your advice from a blog and act on it, you could technically sue that attorney later if it all goes wrong.

With all of that said, I have some knowledge, that I have discovered people should know, but don't.  I am going to start to share some of my knowledge on this blog (since it's private I can limit the exposure), but please understand this is not advice.  If you have a question, call me or another attorney.  But be prepared to get the answer "it depends" because that is likely to be the first thing out of my mouth.

Thank goodness for family

It's so fun to have Wyatt home again! I hope Erik grows up to be just like him, he's such a good kid and a great example for the rest of us.

I also have to say that I am SO grateful for my wonderful family.  They have saved us many times this month.  All summer my mom has had one goal, to paint her bedroom.  Finally the weekend before school was starting back up she was determined to get it done.  Of course that was the weekend we asked if we could leave Erik overnight with them (the day after he got his 4 month old shots). From her reply you would think she had nothing planned.  We drove all night to get back as soon as we could and it was obvious my parents were EXHAUSTED.  I took Erik out of their room to feed him while Mark gathered his things.  It wasn't until Mark hit their door with Erik's swing that my parents woke up and realized we had been wandering around their bedroom, kidnapping their grandbaby.

It has been the same all month, whenever we have a need they figure out a way to help.  Sometimes the twins pitch in but if they can't and we're in a bind, my mom is there for us.  She has taken Erik to work with her a couple of times and she has taken him to the doctor, even though she was going in to get an MRI.  We couldn't have survived this month without all of their help but especially hers. They are the best and I love them for it!

Addendum: I realized that in my blogging life I haven't posted anything about my most wonderful husband.  He is amazing and the best part of my new family.  He is the most talented, wise and wonderful man and I love him lots and lots and lots.

Sleeping

This picture was taken a couple of months ago before our move.  Almost nightly Erik would freak me out because I would wake up to check on him and his face was pressed against the mesh on the far wall of his co-sleeper. One night I watched as his little two-month-old mummy-wrapped body wiggled its way over to the edge, it was only then that I realized he was looking at the night light until he fell asleep.

Mark and Erik both like to sleep with their eyes a tiny bit open, which doesn't work well when they need to sleep during the day.  Luckily Jennifer had a mask they could borrow.

Last week our doctor told us it was time to teach Erik how to fall asleep on his own and how to sleep through the entire night.  Mark insisted that I let him cry for five minutes before going in to check on him.  When the five minutes were up I rushed in, calmed him down then put him back in his bed. He fell right to sleep.  Ever since then, I wrap him up, read him a book, give him a kiss, lay him down and he doesn't even whimper, he looks at his night light until he falls asleep.  

Best baby ever... Not the best parents. 

We're trying to get better about putting him to bed at the same time each night.  Sometimes we're a little late and he passes out on his own.

 

San Diego

A little late, but I didn't want to put too much into the last post.  We had a great time in San Diego and Erik did a great job on his first mini-vacation.  He couldn't have been better on his first flight, he was so happy it was quite a relief, but I made Mark fly home with us because carrying all of his baby stuff and him through the airports was not my idea of fun.

He had lots of fun in San Diego visiting my Aunt Pat and Uncle Steve and especially going to cruise night (okay, maybe Mark had a little more fun cruising around in my uncle's matching Cudas)

 

Mark went for the bike auction, and (for once) found a bike that he didn't want to buy:

August already?!?! A little update

Okay, so I'm officially very bad at blogging.  Since my last post we moved (back to Orem), bought an old-school nine-passenger suburban (for real), welcomed my brother home from his mission (Wyatt, SC spanish speaking), survived a week without Mark (he went camping and left me to figure out who would watch Erik while I was at work), bought me a mini-chopper (pretty sure this is another baby step towards a full size motorcycle for me), went to San Diego (cruise night!), bought Mark another motorcycle (yes, another!), said goodbye to Paul and Erin (we'll visit you in Grenada), bought a new car (biggest purchase of my life), went to Las Vegas (for 4 full hours to see Rawlaw get married), returned our new car (apparently getting married did not resolve my commitment issues) and looked for another new car (this is getting ridiculous).  It's been a busy month and we have had quite a few new vehicle registrations.

So now for the cute stuff.  Erik is adorable!  He is in the 25th percentile for head size and weight and the 75th for height.  The little guy is growing up fast.

He is now a pro at rolling over... He was doing it for days before I happened to catch it.  Mark would give him tummy time 3 times a day so usually it only takes a couple of seconds for him to flip.  After a few times in a row he got tired and slowed down enough for me to catch it on video:

He also has started to laugh all of the time.  I tell people all of the time what a great baby we have, but I don't think they believe me until we ask them to babysit.  He truly spoils us (even when he is tired or hungry).

It has been a good month.  Now let's see if I get any better at keeping up with this now that things have calmed down!

Nuggie rocks!

this is the super cutest little guy that there ever was in the whole earth.

Spicy Nugget

Mark likes to call Erik "Nugget".  I came home from work today to find Erik sitting in the family room all by himself.  Mark said he was being a spicy nugget today because he was hungry and impatiently waiting for me to get home so Mark wrapped him up so he couldn't move and left him there to wait for me.  He seemed perfectly happy when I came in, but Mark insisted he was a spicy little guy today.

(Here's a zoomed in version so you can see his eyes)

Growing up so fast!

I decided to post one more for tonight because I have a few pictures of Erik that I just love and Erik is asleep on my lap so I might as well finish up before his midnight feeding.

Mark sent me this picture at work yesterday.  That bottle is only 4 ounces but it looks huge!  Only Mark would get a 2 month old to hold his own bottle.

The little guy looks like Mark but he definitely got my body temperature.  Before we put him in the bath we start the space heater then we put him in front of it while we put his lotion on.  Otherwise he just seems so cold and sad.  

This one just makes me laugh.

And the mobile on his swing makes him laugh. 

I try to always put him in these warm dress-like pj's.  Mark hates them, but they are the best for a cold blooded baby (and a mom that wants something simple for those nighttime diaper changes).

My Mechanics

Erik spends a lot of time watching Mark tinker around the garage during the day.  Today I came home from work to find this scene...

That would be my baby laying on the floor of the garage to get his diaper changed.  It's probably a good thing I don't know what else happens while I'm gone.

Country Bumpkin

Mark brought Erik to my work yesterday dressed in overalls with a plain onesie and no socks.  When I asked where his outfit was that I had put on him Mark told me there had been a blow out.  When I asked why Erik wasn't wearing socks (trying not to show too much dismay at the outfit Mark had selected) he said: "I took them off.  I thought he looked more like a country bumpkin this way."

What Would You Do?

I've been thinking about starting a blog for a while to help me be better at keeping in touch with friends. I thought about it after talking to Mark's sisters and cousins at a baby shower. I thought about it when I would make a new craft. I thought about it when Erik was born. I thought about it when I realized that in my attempt to be private, many of my friends have no idea how blessed I am to be married to the most wonderful person I have ever met. I thought about it when I realized that I am a horrible journal writer, but a great emailer. All of these thoughts, but the one that pushed me over the edge to sign up? A TV show.

Tonight I watched an episode of "What Would You Do." I've only seen a few episodes but I love seeing people willing to take a stand for what they think is right. I also like that the show makes me ponder my own actions and responses.

Tonight's show was in Dallas and the people on this episode were especially great (I guess it's normally filmed on the East coast). Tonight there were several hugs and prayers offered for the actors in need and overall a stronger feeling that strangers became neighbors when they help each other out. After tonight's show, a memory forgotten years ago pushed its way back into my mind.

I had just moved to Vegas, it was my second or third week but I had not yet found my ward. I got in a huge fight with my roommate, a boy I thought I loved broke my heart, I hated law school, the transmission had gone out in my car so I couldn't leave, I didn't have a friend for miles and miles, I was hot and miserable, I was surrounded by strangers and I was on the verge of breaking.

I found the ward I was supposed to be in, which met at the institute building in the middle of UNLV's campus. Things only got worse while I was at church and I broke down. I went outside hoping no one would see me cry, but soon people started to leave church and one by one they walked past me, while I sat on the curb bawling. I sat there trying to figure out how I was going to brave the extreme heat to get back to my apartment miles away.

I didn't move from the Institute property, soon the flow of people leaving church decreased to the occasional passerby. Still no one said a word to me. A little while later, a black car pulled up and the window rolled down. The guy inside clearly did not belong to my ward. He called out to me and said that he saw me when he was leaving campus and wanted to make sure I was okay. He offered to buy me a coffee and listen to me talk. I declined the coffee, but stood on the curb talking as he listened for some time. He gave me his business card as he drove away and offered his help if I ever needed it.

Many others walked by having just learned about Christ, but interestingly, the one who didn't go to church that day was the most Christ-like person I met. I wonder how many times I have prayed to be able to help someone in need and then walked by oblivious to the obvious.

Nearly five years have passed without me thinking about the lesson I learned that day.  I didn't want to forget it again, so I decided to make it my first blog entry... let's hope future entries aren't as lengthy!